Computer Assisted Language Learning

ISSN: 0958-8221 (Print) 1744-3210 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ncal20

Improving the English-speaking skills of young

learners through mobile social networking

Zhong Sun, Chin-Hsi Lin, Jiaxin You, Hai jiao Shen, Song Qi & Liming Luo

To cite this article: Zhong Sun, Chin-Hsi Lin, Jiaxin You, Hai jiao Shen, Song Qi & Liming Luo
(2017): Improving the English-speaking skills of young learners through mobile social networking,
Computer Assisted Language Learning, DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2017.1308384

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Published online: 12 Apr 2017.

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Download by: [Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi] Date: 20 April 2017, At: 13:45
COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2017.1308384

Improving the English-speaking skills of young learners

through mobile social networking
Zhong Suna, Chin-Hsi Linb, Jiaxin Youa, Hai jiao Shenc, Song Qid and Liming Luoa
a
College of Information Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Imaging Technology,
Capital Normal University, Beijing, China; bCollege of Education, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI, USA; cNo. 15 Middle School, Beijing, China ; dBaijiazhuang Elementary School, Beijing,
China

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Most students of English as a foreign language (EFL) lack English as a foreign
sufficient opportunities to practice their English-speaking language; speaking skills;
skills. However, the recent development of social-networking mobile learning; mobile
sites (SNSs) and mobile learning, and especially mobile- social-networking sites
assisted language learning, represents new opportunities for
these learners to practice speaking English in a meaningful
way. This study integrated a mobile SNS into first-grade EFL
classes in China, with the aim of determining its effects on
the students’ speaking skills. Two classes were recruited, one
as a control group that did not use the SNS, and the other as
the experimental group, which did. While both classes’
speaking skills improved between pretest and posttest, the
gains in English fluency by the experimental group were
significantly larger. Progress in accuracy and pronunciation,
on the other hand, were similar across the two groups. These
findings are discussed in relation to specific characteristics of
SNSs and mobile learning that enable learners to speak in
low-stress, situated contexts.

1. Speaking English in non-Anglosphere countries

English-speaking skills require, at a minimum, an authentic context and partners
to communicate with (McDonough, 2004; Yashima, 2002). Non-Anglosphere
countries lack such a context, and therefore, English as a foreign language (EFL)
students in those countries primarily practice English-speaking skills in their clas-
ses (Sun & Yang, 2015). Learners’ oral expression in non-Anglosphere countries
often remains ineffective due to insufficient aural and oral practice (Cheon, 2003;
Tsou, 2005) as well as shyness and anxiety (Liu, 2006).
These challenges are shared by many Chinese learners of English, who repre-
sent a high proportion of non-Angloshere English learners. Wei and Su (2012)
estimated that 390 million Chinese people had learnt English, and among those

CONTACT Liming Luo xg0801cnu@163.com

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 Z. SUN ET AL.

who had learnt any foreign language in China, an overwhelming majority of

them (from 83% to 99% in different provinces in China) chose English. Despite
these remarkable figures, however, the same study found that only 30% of EFL
learners in China used English in their daily lives, and only 21% believed that
their English-speaking skills would allow them to engage in sustained oral com-
munication beyond initial greetings.
Low speaking proficiency among Chinese EFL learners may be attributable
to a strong focus on accuracy. Speaking skills involve accuracy, fluency, and
complexity (Skehan, 2009), yet fluency and complexity do not receive suffi-
cient practice ), and many non-native English teachers in China still focus
most of their attention on the accurate use of vocabulary and grammar rules
(Zhao, 2014) and reciting dialogues and stories from textbooks (Hu, Li, &
Lei, 2014). In most English courses in China, students are treated as passive
recipients of knowledge (Huang, 2015; Jin & Cortazzi, 1998). In addition to
an arguably excessive focus to accuracy, other factors – such as teachers’ own
levels of English proficiency, lack of opportunities for students to practice,
and students’ anxiety – also help explain the poor speaking skills of Chinese
EFL learners (Zhan & Sun, 2015).
Technology-based EFL communication environments hold considerable
promise for improving the speaking skills of young EFL learners, who have
been found to experience lower levels of stress when communicating in these
environments than in ordinary face-to-face communication (Mostafavi &
Vahdany, 2016; Peterson, 2012). Some studies of social-networking sites
(SNSs) have indicated that communicating via such sites reduces learners’
anxiety about using their target languages (Chartrand, 2012; Lin, Warscha-
uer, & Blake, 2016; Young, 2003) and helps them connect with other learners
of the same target language (Lin et al., 2016). There is scant research evi-
dence on the efficacy and feasibility of mobile-SNS integration into formal
EFL learning in schools, but the studies cited above can serve as a basis for
further research on this important topic.

2. Literature review
2.2. Speaking in the sphere of mobile-assisted language learning
Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) – an emerging advanced technology
that fosters personal and learner-centered learning opportunities through ubiq-
uitously accessible and flexible practices – has become an important trend in
EFL learning (Ahn & Lee, 2016; Casta~ neda & Cho, 2016; Hwang & Chen, 2013;
Hwang, Shih, Ma, Shadiev, & Chen, 2016). Researchers have documented
MALL's effects on learners’ listening comprehension (Hwang et al., 2016),
vocabulary recall (Hwang & Chen 2013), reading ability (Lan, Sung, & Chang,
2007), and speaking skills (Hwang et al., 2016).
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 3

Only a few of the existing studies of MALL have examined its effects on EFL
learners’ speaking skills. Ahn and Lee (2016) found that a mobile-speaking
application with automatic speech recognition could improve pronunciation.
Liu and Chu (2010) reported that a ubiquitous environment led to improvement
in speaking skills and increased motivation among young EFL learners, but did
not specify which aspects of speaking skills showed improvement. Similarly,
Hwang et al. (2016)) indicated that a mobile game-based learning environment
they developed facilitated higher grade elementary students’ listening and speak-
ing skills, but they based their claim on students’ perceptions rather than on an
objective assessment of their speaking skills.

2.2. Mobile SNS use for EFL oral learning

A high proportion of studies of MALL have focused on human/mobile-device
interaction or on individual practice (Wu et al., 2012). Since interpersonal
exchanges of information are among the most important aspects of language
learning (Chappell, 2014), it is reasonable to expect that examining MALL tech-
nology in combination with social networking may yield fresh insights that lead
to more effective and authentic EFL learning.
To date, several studies have upheld the notion that SNS use can improve EFL
learning attitudes and outcomes (e.g. Al Fadda & Al Qasim, 2013; Chen, 2013),
but these studies have paid little attention to speaking skills. For instance, Lin
et al. (2016) review of thousands of users’ attitudes toward a leading language-
learning SNS known as Livemocha1 found that a majority of them felt more
motivated, confident, and comfortable chatting online than in person after using
it. While the same study analyzed perceived progress in speaking, it did not
assess participants’ actual progress. Sun and Yang (2015) used YouTube and
Facebook to integrate service learning into an undergraduate EFL speaking class,
and reported perceived gains in speaking and pronunciation as well as increased
confidence. Lee (2006) examined the use of blogs for heritage language mainte-
nance and found that her participants, two Korean-American heritage language
learners, felt more comfortable speaking Korean after several months.
Although there have been several studies of SNS-led speaking-skill improve-
ment in adults (Lee, 2006; Lin et al., 2016), the idea of mobile social-learning
environments aimed at elementary EFL students has attracted scant research
attention – probably due to the fact that many SNSs have minimum-age restric-
tions (e.g. Facebook, 2016). This gap in our knowledge now needs to be filled,
for two main reasons. First, prior research suggests that early access to English
instruction may reduce learner anxiety (Liu & Jackson, 2008); and second, the
use of mobile phones is becoming common in elementary schools worldwide,
and learners in that age group are in their vital period for EFL learning (Nikolov
& Djigunovic, 2011). Hwang et al. (2016) have suggested that mobile learning
systems motivate fifth graders to practice their English skills, and that those who
4 Z. SUN ET AL.

selected their EFL social-learning partners performed better than those who did
not. Using Twitter stimulated a different group of fifth graders to increase the
quantity of their EFL writing, and helped them communicate in English with
other Twitter users, regardless of the latter's grade levels (Kim, Park, & Baek,
2011). Nevertheless, there is little research evidence regarding the feasibility or
efficacy of using mobile SNSs to improve the speaking skills of very young EFL
learners such as first graders. Therefore, the present study examined the effects
of an SNS accessed through mobile devices on the speaking skills of a group of
first graders in China. As such, this study examines whether combining the real
and virtual worlds – i.e. by integrating a mobile SNS with face-to-face classroom
instruction – can improve elementary-school EFL students’ English-speaking
skills. The three research questions addressed in this study are as follows:

1. Is a voice-based mobile SNS environment able to improve first graders’

EFL speaking performance?
2. What are major intervention effects of the mobile SNS used in this study?
3. What are students’ perceptions of and attitudes toward practicing speak-
ing English on the mobile SNS used in this study?

3. Methods
This study used a quasi-experimental design to examine whether the use of a
mobile SNS can improve students’ English-speaking skills. To assess the partici-
pants’ progress in such skills, a pretest–posttest design was employed.
In fall 2014, an urban public elementary school in Beijing, China was selected
as the study site. This school was considered to be above average in academic
quality, as compared to other elementary schools in the city. Students at the
school usually received 40 minutes of English-language instruction three days a
week (i.e. two hours per week in total), and typically spent 10 to 15 minutes
completing assignments at home after each class session. More than 90% of the
school's students had smart phones or mobile tablets at home, and all of its first
graders had experience of using iPads in their English and other classes, as those
devices were integrated into the curriculum.

3.1. Participants
Two first-grade English classes were recruited for this study. Both were taught by
the same instructor, Miss Qi (a pseudonym), who had been integrating informa-
tion technology into her English classes for more than five years. Before data col-
lection commenced, the research team and Miss Qi invited the parents of the
children in the selected classes to the school. The aims of the study were clearly
explained, and all parents and students consented to participate in it. The
English oral pretest was then administered to the students (see data sources,
below).
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 5

After the pretest, one class was randomly selected as the control group and
the other as the experimental group. The control group consisted of 35 students
(21 boys and 14 girls) and experimental group, 37 students (20 boys and 17
girls); the average age across both groups was 6.5 years. Up to the beginning of
the study, both classes had received the same course content.

3.2. Contexts
To select an appropriate mobile application for first graders seeking to improve
their speaking skills in English, three instructors who had extensive experience
of teaching English in the target school were consulted. All three of them had
used mobile devices in lower-grades English classes over the previous two years.
Four applications that were mentioned by all three instructors were Papa, Sock
Puppets, Kids Fun Narration, and Speaking English Frequently. The three
instructors were then asked to rate these apps based on their ease of use and
appropriateness for first graders.
They unanimously gave Papa (http://papa.me/) the highest rating; one instruc-
tor noted that this app was “relatively safe for the students, because there is barely
any sexual or violent content in the mobile social network environment”. Papa is
a China-based SNS focused on online audio distribution (Figure 1), and is very
similar to the popular German platform SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/)
in the sense that it allows users to record, upload and share their music and other
audio. The main interface of Papa is shown in Figure 2. Despite Papa not having
been designed for language learning, all three instructors believed that its features
could be repurposed for practicing English-speaking.
Launched in October 2012, Papa attracted more than 20 million users within
its first year. At the time of the study, it had more than 30 million users (Guo,
2014). One slogan that Papa uses is “Why don't you let a good picture do the
talking?” (Baike, 2016). After a user creates her personal profile, she can choose
a channel of interest to follow, listen to, and comment on. Among those who
decide to share their audio, it is a common practice to post pictures as well, and
Papa's mobile application allows users to easily take a picture or choose one
from the albums in their phones. Once they choose their picture, they can press
the “record” button in Papa to add audio of up to six minutes. Subsequently,
other users can press a “like” button, or leave written or audio comments.

3.3. Procedures
The intervention started in week 2 of the fall 2014 semester and ended in week
14. All learning materials and assignments were the same for both groups, and
the only difference was the way the participants recorded their responses. A
sample oral assignment for both groups was to answer the questions, “What day
is your best day? And why?” To facilitate learning, the teacher provided a target
structure or word for students to practice. In the above example, the teacher
 6
Z. SUN ET AL.

Figure 1. Papa home page.

 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 7

Figure 2. The main interface of Papa.

asked students to answer in the format, “My best day is ____ because ____”.
Students in both groups were also asked to draw or find pictures related to their
responses, and those in the experimental group could take photos and post
them to Papa using their mobile devices.
The teacher briefed the control group's parents on how to help their children
complete oral assignments at home. Participants in this group were asked to
complete oral assignments with their parents and record their work using devi-
ces they were familiar with. Their parents would report via a parent-teacher con-
tact book on whether their children had completed the assignments at home, but
the children in this group were not asked to submit their recordings. To check if
they had completed a given assignment, the teacher would randomly pick sev-
eral students to present their answers to the class orally and show pictures or
drawings related to their answers; the teacher would then provide feedback.
With the experimental group, the researchers and the teacher demonstrated
to parents how to use the Papa mobile app to record students’ oral assignments,
and provided instruction sheets explaining how to guide kids in its use. Though
the members of the experimental group received the same oral assignments as
the control group, they were required to post their oral responses on Papa along
with pictures relevant to the question. As with the control group, the teacher
gave feedback to selected students, albeit on Papa rather than in class. The num-
ber of students to whom the teacher provided feedback for each assignment was
the same for the control and experimental groups (i.e. three or four students per
assignment). Neither group of students was required to provide feedback to their
peers or to revise their responses.
8 Z. SUN ET AL.

3.4. Tools
Data for the study included the students’ English oral skills pretest and posttest
results, and recordings/transcriptions of focus-group interviews with members
of the experimental group.
English-speaking skills: The participants were assessed at the beginning and at
the end of the semester. The pretest and posttest had the same format, but the
prompts were different. Each participant was given three minutes in which to
describe a randomly selected picture (out of 10 pictures) in English. These 10
pictures were adopted from the 2013 Chinese National Oral Test, and had no
relationship with the participants’ English curriculum.
Focus-group interviews: Focus-group interviews are useful when seeking
unique insights into existing beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes (Byers & Wilcox,
1991). As compared with individual interviews, the interaction among group
members can promote more thoughtful discussion of a specific topic (Bogdan &
Biklen, 2007). Focus-group interviews were used to gain an understanding of
the participants’ attitudes toward the use of the Papa mobile app for English
learning. All the participants in the experimental group were invited to one of
seven interview sessions, each comprising three to five students. The entire pro-
cess was digitally recorded and transcribed. Five students were unable to partici-
pate in any of the interview sessions due to illness or scheduling conflicts.
During each focus-group session, three open-ended questions were asked: (1)
“What do you like most about the use of Papa in your English studies, and
why?”; (2) “What do you like the least about it, and why?”; and (3) “What bene-
fits does using Papa provide for your English speaking skills?”.

3.5. Measures
The participants’ speaking skills were assessed in three aspects: accuracy, flu-
ency, and pronunciation. Before this experiment commenced, four raters
received training in how to evaluate each of these aspects. All the participants’
responses to English-speaking tests were audio-recorded and evaluated immedi-
ately by three of the four raters. Descriptive statistics of the pretest and posttest
results are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and t-test results, pretest, and posttest.

Pretest Posttest
Mean SD Mean SD t p
Control group
Accuracy .69 .471 .91 .284 2.758 <.01
Fluency .20 .473 .94 .938 4.785 <.001
Pronunciation .37 .490 .80 .406 4.170 <.001
Experimental group
Accuracy .54 .505 1.00 0 5.532 <.001
Fluency .16 .442 1.73 .871 10.262 <.001
Pronunciation .30 .463 .70 .463 4.117 <.001
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 9

Table 2. Analysis of variance of the pretest.

Experimental group Control group
Items Mean SD Mean SD F p
Accuracy .54 .505 .69 .471 1.586 .212
Fluency .16 .442 .20 .473 .123 .727
Pronunciation .30 .463 .37 .490 .435 .512

Accuracy: Accuracy refers to whether a participant was able to use the right/
relevant words and expressions to describe a picture's content. The scale used
was 0 for incorrect/irrelevant, and 1 for correct/relevant. The inter-rater reliabil-
ity for accuracy was 1.
Fluency: Fluency was operationalized as the number of sentences a participant
could produce about a picture within the time limit. The scale ranged from 0 to
3, with 0 representing saying nothing, 1 for one sentence, 2 for two to three sen-
tences, and 3 for four or more sentences. The inter-rater reliability for fluency
was .8.
Pronunciation: Pronunciation referred to whether the participants’ spoken
English was clear and comprehensible. Here, the scale ranged from 0 to 1, with
0 implying incomprehensibility, and 1, comprehensible pronunciation. The
inter-rater reliability for pronunciation was .88.

3.6. Data analysis

SPSS 18.0 was used to conduct all elements of the quantitative analysis. Before
addressing the first research question, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was per-
formed to determine if there were any relevant pre-existing differences between
the control and experimental groups. The ANOVA results are presented in
Table 2. The experimental group had somewhat lower pretest scores in accuracy,
fluency, and pronunciation, but the results of ANOVA indicated that there were
no statistically significant differences between the control and experimental
groups’ scores before the experiment began.
To answer the first research question, t-tests were performed on the data from
both groups to determine whether students had made progress between the pre-
test and the posttest. The t-tests were performed separately for the control and
experimental groups and for each of the three aspects of English-speaking skills.
The results are showed in Table 3. With regard to the second research question,
the gains in scores from pretest to posttest in accuracy, fluency, and pronuncia-
tion were computed for both groups, and ANOVA was performed to examine
the intervention effect. Lastly, for the third research question, pertaining to

Table 3. Analysis of variance of score gains.

Accuracy gains Fluency gains Pronunciation gains
F P F p F p
Comparison between two groups 3.87 .053 14.33 <.001 .03 .87
10 Z. SUN ET AL.

students’ attitudes toward using Papa, content analysis of the responses from the
focus-group interviews was concurrently performed by two members of the
research team. Data were coded on NVivo using a bottom-up open-coding
scheme (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Codes were then compared, sorted, and re-
categorized.

4. Results
4.1. Descriptive statistics
The control group's average accuracy was 69% in the pretest, indicating that the
participants had a grasp of some basic words that allowed them to describe the
content. As for fluency, the average was .20 (out of 3) in the pretest, indicating
that most participants in the control condition could not produce a full spoken
sentence. For pronunciation, the control group's average score was .37 (out of
1), indicating that they might not speak in a comprehensible way. Similar pretest
patterns were observed for the experimental group. The experimental group had
average pretest scores of .54, .16, and .30 in accuracy, fluency, and pronuncia-
tion, respectively.

4.2. Progress
As can be seen from the descriptive statistics in Table 1, both groups had higher
scores in accuracy, fluency, and pronunciation in the posttest than in the pretest.
t-testing of each of these three aspects of speaking skills confirmed this observa-
tion. The control group improved significantly from pretest to posttest in accu-
racy (t = 2.758, p < .01), fluency (t = 4.785, p < .001), and pronunciation (t =
4.170, p < .001). The experimental group's improvement was also significant in
all three areas: t = 5.532, p < .001 for accuracy, t = 10.262, p < .001 for fluency,
and t = 4.117, p < .001 for pronunciation.
Intervention effect: The experimental group had slightly lower pretest scores
in accuracy, fluency, and pronunciation than the control group did, but higher
posttest scores in accuracy and fluency (see descriptive statistics in Table 1). In
terms of pronunciation, the control group gained .43 from pretest to posttest,
while the experimental group gained .40.
ANOVA was performed to determine if these gains were significantly differ-
ent between the two groups. In the case of accuracy, a statistically significant dif-
ference was found, F(1, 70) = 3.87, p < .0053, indicating that the experimental
group did not make more progress than the control group in this area.
In fluency, the experimental group made significantly larger gains from pre-
test to posttest than the control group did, F(1, 70) = 14.33, p < .001. Regarding
pronunciation, the gains made by both groups were statistically comparable, F
(1, 70) = 0.03, p = 0.87.
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 11

4.3. Attitudes
Students’ attitudes toward using Papa were used to answer the third research
question. The results showed that their responses could be broken down into
two main categories: useful features, and areas for improvement.
Useful features: Students identified two main features of Papa-based English
learning that they found useful: (1) being heard and (2) having more opportuni-
ties to speak.
Being heard: National standards for English in China require first and second
graders to be able to exchange personal information (e.g. name and age), express
feelings, and describe day-to-day topics using normative pronunciations (Ministry
of Education, 2013). However, at the time the study was conducted, many English
teachers in the target school did not have any mechanism for student submission
of their oral assignments. Miss Qi was not atypical in this: before being
approached by the research team, she simply asked students to practice at home,
ideally with their parents. Members of every focus group said they were glad that
their oral assignments could “be heard” on Papa. As one student (#3) noted, “I
liked Papa so much because Miss Qi can hear my homework every time. You
know it is hard for her to do it in class”. Miss Qi only rated several responses on
Papa – as she did in the control group and would do in any traditional classroom
setting – but her students still clearly liked the possibility of being heard.
More opportunities to practice: Five of the seven focus groups noted that Papa
provided more opportunities for them to practice speaking English than they
would have had otherwise. These opportunities had two sources. First, students
reported that they practiced several times before posting on Papa. One student
(#12) stated: “I like to hear my own voice in English. My sound is a little differ-
ent than I imagined. I uploaded my homework after I practiced several times”.
Second, the active learning process made speaking English a less embarrassing
experience for students. As another student (#8) reflected, “I don't feel nervous
anymore when using Papa, because you can do it again if you made a mistake”.
This, in turn, led students to be more engaged in English-speaking activities and
to feel less stressed. As another student (#18) noted, “I practiced a lot. Some-
times, I wrote down what I wanted to say first before speaking. It is amazing
that I can read some stories now [which I could not do before] after practicing
for many times. That is why I love using Papa”.
In addition to practicing on their own, students reported speaking English
with their friends on Papa. As previously mentioned, the teacher did not require
the experimental-group students to listen to each other's assignments, make
comments on them, or do any more practice than the control group did; yet
many students in the experimental group did so anyway, indicating that using
Papa to communicate with their peers in English was convenient. Moreover, in
contrast to Papa, using phones or tape to record their oral practice did not allow
them to schedule mutually acceptable times to talk to each other.
12 Z. SUN ET AL.

Many students reported that using Papa to practice English was a joyful expe-
rience. As one (#16) said, “I really like playing games. Using Papa to do my
homework is just a kind of game. I can take photos, record my English speaking,
and chat with my classmates. Oh, I have a lot of fun”. Another student (#13)
remarked: “I like taking photos and sharing them afterwards. It's completely
game-like. I love it from the bottom of my heart”.
Areas for improvement: The focus-group participants also pointed out several
areas for improvement. The majority of complaints were related to hardware
issues or to the stability of Papa. One student (#22) complained in the interview:
“I dislike the process of logging in to Papa. Sometimes I still need help from my
parents, but actually I want to do it all by myself”. Some students stated there
were issues with loading speed while running Papa; that some of the pictures
uploaded on the SNS were blurry; and that their mobile devices sometimes
unexpectedly shut down while running the app (although this latter problem
may have been coincidental). Nevertheless, more than 90% of the students in
the experiment said that they enjoyed using Papa.

5. Discussion
The results of data analysis indicate that the control and experimental groups
both improved their English-speaking skills in all three dimensions – accuracy,
fluency, and pronunciation – over the course of one semester, but that the exper-
imental group made greater gains in fluency than the control group did. Gains in
accuracy and pronunciation, on the other hand, were comparable across both
groups. These findings provide empirical evidence for the use of an SNS leading
to improvement in speaking skills, which previous studies asserted based on
self-reported data (e.g. Lin et al., 2016; Sun & Yang, 2015) rather than on assess-
ment of speaking skills. In addition, the current study extends such an investiga-
tion to young children, as opposed to undergraduates and adult learners.
The improvement this study discerned can be attributed to four specific affor-
dances of mobile-based SNS use: the fostering of an encouraging environment;
reduction of anxiety; situated learning; and ease of use.

5.1. An encouraging environment

First, the Papa SNS created an environment that encouraged children to practice
their English-speaking skills. Miss Qi did not require her students to submit
more than one version of any exercise; however, their focus-group statements
and their actual submission histories confirmed that they wanted to submit
assignments of a high quality and often continued to submit additional versions
of their responses to an assignment until they were satisfied with the results
(Figure 3). Miss Qi assigned 14 oral tasks on Papa to the experimental group
during the semester, and the students submitted a total of 1159 completed tasks.
The average number of submissions and comments per assignment was 2.3,
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 13

Figure 3. Multiple submissions for one assignment.

reflecting that those students who submitted only one version of each homework
assignment tended to also leave one or more comments, as well as that other stu-
dents submitted multiple versions of the same homework. Though students in
the experimental group attributed their multiple-submission behavior to the
14 Z. SUN ET AL.

affordances of Papa – specifically, that it provided them with more opportunities

to practice – analysis of the focus-group interviews suggested that this submis-
sion of multiple responses might be better explained by the students’ increased
awareness of authorship and audience. Almost all the focus-group members
reported that they liked to “share” or “be heard” on Papa. They also reported
that they enjoyed taking pictures, recording their voices, and connecting with
friends as part of this new EFL learning process. For the control group, who
practiced their English-speaking skills mainly with their parents, a relative lack
of motivation to practice multiple times might be ascribable to the relative lack
of an active audience (other than their parents).
The young children in the study were unable to further articulate why they
liked to share, but the concept of being heard aligns with previous studies on
the sense of audience (Warschauer & Grimes, 2007). Such studies conducted
in face-to-face settings have normally dealt with the reading of texts aloud or
on paper. SNSs, on the other hand, are discourse communities that young
learners can participate in with their teachers and peers outside of class time.
In informal interviews, several parents told the researchers that their child
wanted to do oral homework using Papa, and that s/he showed active emo-
tional engagement with the tasks. Moreover, a number of students resubmit-
ted their homework if they felt particularly inspired, either by other students’
comments or by the assignment itself. For example, one assignment was
about favorite things, with the sentence structure “I have ____, and I like
____”. One student (#32) submitted on Papa four times – once each about
her balloon, apple, grape, and teddy bear – before she was satisfied. This sub-
mission history suggests both that she practiced this structure at least four
times, and that she was eager to share. This finding is consistent with ethnog-
raphy-based research by Black (2005), who reported that the peer-review
mechanism on Fanfiction (an SNS aimed at fanfic writers) helped an adoles-
cent immigrant English learner develop her identity as English writer, as well
as a strong sense of audience. The young children in the present study may
also have developed a sense of authorship and audience, which in turn could
have driven them to submit multiple homework responses and to share addi-
tional material that was unrelated to their assignments.

5.2. Reduced anxiety

EFL learners are likely to experience shyness or even fear in connection with
communicating in English (Liu & Jackson, 2008). Mobile-SNS-based oral prac-
tice reduced young learners’ anxiety about speaking English in the study. That
these learners had a high level of such anxiety is not especially surprising. Even
among EFL undergraduates, Liu and Jackson (2008) found considerable fear of
speaking English in front of the group, especially on the part of students who
were singled out in class.
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 15

In the present study, the first graders had the opportunity to pre-practice via
Papa as many times as they desired, and this appears to have reduced the feel-
ings of embarrassment, anxiety, and fear they experienced when speaking
English in public – not least because of the greater preparation time that Papa
allowed or encouraged, as compared to the traditional classroom. Azarfam and
Baki (2012) showed that language anxiety could affect the speaking skills of
learners, by lowering the quality of their oral performance as anxiety increased.
Thus, the participants’ improved proficiency may also represent indirect evi-
dence that their anxiety had lessened over the course of the experiment.

5.3. Situated learning

Some of the students mentioned in their interviews that using Papa to complete
homework was an interesting experience that stood out from their daily routine.
It enabled them to practice their English-speaking skills in an authentic context,
insofar as all the assignments were about daily life (e.g. favorite things, best
friends, bedrooms, and so on). As such, the students could find suitable materi-
als at home, in their neighborhoods or at school. For example, one assignment
was to describe your favorite things using “This is, That is”. A student submitted
the assignment on Papa as follows: “This is my iPad. I like my iPad. My iPad is
pink. Do you like iPad? Do you have an iPad? I like my iPad very much”.
Another student said, “That is a black cat. That is my black cat. Do you have a
cat? Do you like your cat? I very like my black cat. Goodbye”.
The major drawbacks of traditional foreign-language learning include over-
loaded non-situational information; indirect and abstract language knowledge;
and second-hand experience aimed at learners trapped in the classroom (Zhang
& Zhang, 2015). Situated learning, in contrast, offers more opportunities for lis-
tening and speaking. In the experiment, the content of the students’ assignments
on Papa indicated that the learning process had expanded from a non-situated
classroom setting to real life, as the students began to choose what ideas they
wanted to express. As Miss Qi put it: “Kids are keen on searching for materials in
their surroundings. Compared with the limited range of objects in the classroom,
students can easily find more objects they are familiar with and fond of, such as
books in their bedroom, toys at home, and trees in the garden. Children like to
participate in authentic contexts and it puts them in a relaxed and happy mood”.
Our findings confirm other researchers’ suggestions regarding authentic con-
texts for foreign-language learning. Ogata et al. (2008)) recommended integrat-
ing the knowledge acquired in the classroom with students’ real day-to-day
needs. Petersen and Markiewicz (2008) designed a system that enabled real-life
language-learning scenarios by providing personalized and contextualized access
to learning resources via a mobile device. Hwang and Chen (2013) reported that
the experience of familiar, situated learning in daily life was beneficial for EFL
elementary-school students, and concluded that situated learning with mobile
16 Z. SUN ET AL.

learning devices provided users with opportunities to practice listening and

speaking that would not otherwise have been available to them. Findings from
the current study also echo those of a study by Hwang, Shih, Ma, Shadiev and
Chen (2016), who developed a mobile system that provided an authentic context
in which elementary students could improve their English oral skills.

5.4. Ease of use

In addition to the affordances provided by the Papa SNS itself, accessing it
through mobile devices provided an easy means for young children to practice
their English-speaking skills. Papa's touch-screen operation and user-friendly
interface reduced the degree of technological difficulty for these young children.
In the focus groups, only a few technical difficulties were raised, all of which
were related either to the stability of Papa, or to the students’ own mobile-device
hardware. Some participants reported that they needed assistance from their
parents at the beginning of the semester, but most were able to use Papa on their
own. These relatively low levels of technological barriers may help to explain the
participants’ active participation on Papa; and prior studies of MALL reported
similar results. Hwang and Chen (2013), for example, examined how personal
digital assistants could enhance listening and speaking in an EFL learning con-
text, and found that these devices’ usefulness and ease of use greatly influenced
the frequency with which the participants utilized them; and this in turn was
linked to improvements in their listening comprehension. Other studies also
showed that the relative ease of use of mobile devices enabled people to practice
English more often and in more places (Hwang et al., 2016).
The experimental group showed a larger gain in fluency than the control
group, but no differences between the two groups were found in terms of
improvement in accuracy or pronunciation. One possible explanation for this is
that Papa did not provide additional English-language input materials for stu-
dents to imitate, a process that has been seen as critical to second-language
learning (Nagata, 1998). In addition, the Papa learning community created via
the experiment consisted entirely of non-native speakers from the same school.
The fact that no one in the experimental group had an opportunity to talk with
native speakers could have lowered the possibility that they would improve their
pronunciation, especially given the study's limited timeframe (Cotterall, 2000).
Also, given that the participants were in the earliest stage of learning a foreign
language, it is reasonable to suppose that more time and more native-speaker
language input would be necessary before they exhibited marked improvements
in their pronunciation (Blake, 2008).

6. Conclusion
Based on a combination of linguistic analysis and focus-group interviews, the
current study found that SNS use through mobile devices improved young EFL
 COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING 17

learners’ English oral fluency. This finding is important for practitioners, as it

suggests ways in which social media combined with mobile technology might
positively impact EFL oral performance, even in the lower grades of elementary
school. In particular, it appears that using an SNS in this way can be an effective
means of engaging young students, reducing their anxiety, and making EFL fun.
Researchers have reported some parallel findings in recent years (Ahn & Lee,
2016; Chartrand, 2012; Hwang & Chen, 2013). The main contribution of this
paper is to identify which areas English-speaking skills were improved among
Chinese young elementary students through the use of mobile SNS-based
learning.
The results of this study should yield improved methods of teaching speaking
skills in the EFL education of young elementary students in China and other
non-English-speaking countries. Specifically, these implied improvements can
be summarized as follows: (1) Mobile SNS-based EFL learning may effectively
support current language curricula if appropriately implemented in combination
with activities that promote social interaction. Activities rooted in task-based
approaches (van den Branden, 2006), such as information gaps and reasoning
gaps, have been found effective in promoting oral communication competence
(Lan, Kan, Hsiao, Yang, & Chang, 2013). For example, teachers can pair stu-
dents and provide each member of the pair with different information, so that
the students cannot complete a task unless they communicate with each other
effectively. (2) If lower-grades language teachers are to exploit the benefits of
mobile technology in their teaching, they should enhance their own mobile-
technology proficiency so as to maximize the impact of this new approach in the
classroom. In support of this, pre- and in-service teacher training should focus
on the pedagogical shift from teacher-centered knowledge transmission to stu-
dent-centered knowledge construction through social interaction and collabora-
tion (Pegrum, 2014). Frequent reflection and collaborations with other teachers
have also been found effective in professional-learning settings (Aubusson,
Schuck, & Burden, 2009). (3) First graders have the ability to use mobile learning
devices and social networking to learn independently and collaboratively, and
hence, teachers and parents should trust them to use such technology properly,
if given appropriate guidance.
Some limitations of the current study should also be noted here. First, the
sample size was small, with only 37 participants in the experimental group,
which limits its generalizability to a larger population. Second, the experiment
lasted for one semester, and repeating the study over a longer learning period
would help to clarify these findings. Third, given the participants’ limited
English proficiency, it was not possible to assess other aspects of their speaking
skills, such as complexity. Fourth, differences among participants other than
their speaking skills were not investigated. Motivation, access to English-learn-
ing materials, cognitive processes, and other differences among the participants
may have contributed to variations in their achievement.
18 Z. SUN ET AL.

Future study should consider recruiting elementary students from other grade
levels to further investigate the effects of SNSs on EFL oral competence. In addi-
tion, to verify the results of MALL, it might be useful to incorporate a broader
range of data resources: for example, learning-process tracking, production-con-
tent analysis, or thinking aloud. Extending the duration of future experiments
might help to enhance the reliability of this line of research. Lastly, the effects of
different teaching strategies and learning methods on oral competence in SNS-
based EFL learning should also be investigated.

Note
1. Livemocha was acquired by Rosetta Stone in 2013 and ceased operations in April 2016.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This study was funded by the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Imaging Technology
[grant number BAICIT-2016004].

Notes on contributor
Zhong Sun is associate professor at Capital Normal University, China. Her research interests
include mobile learning and technology enhanced language learning. Chin-hsi Lin is Assitant
Professor at Michigan State University. Dr. Lin's research focuses on Computer Assisted Lan-
guage Learning, online learning and teaching in k-12 and higher education, and program
evalution. Jiaxin You, undergraduate student, Capital Normal University, China. Her
research area is in mobile application development. Haijiao Shen, lecturer. No. 15 Middle
school, Beijing, China. Her research area is integrating mobile technology into teaching and
learning. Song Qi, Baijiazhuang elementary school, Beijing, China. She is a senior English as
Foreign Language teacher. She is experienced in integrating mobile technology into class-
room teaching. Liming Luo, Professor, Capital Normal University. His research area is soft-
ware development and machine learning.

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