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Use of Self-Assessment to Upgrade the Speaking Skills of A1 Level Students in a Virtual Classroom.

Abstract:

Evaluate and grade spoken English during virtual classes has become a tremendous work at public schools. Most teachers have identified adverse factors such as: limited learner proficiency, lack of previous knowledge of English, learner dependence on the teacher, limited exposure to English outside the classroom, lack of learner’s consistency, and teachers’ limited expectations of what learners can achieve. Speaking is expressing thought, ideas, and feelings, but seems to be difficult for English learners because they must produce sentences on the spur of the moment. Trying to produce those sentences without learning the grammatical structures and having proper knowledge of vocabulary is quite difficult. Since speaking ability plays a dominant role in communication, teachers are trying to enhance it. This action research took place over four weeks in an English virtual class. A group of young learners weren’t confidence enough to speak in English during virtual classes and the teacher was not able to give individual feedback to each student, considering the participation of more than sixty students per class. As the Ecuadorian program demands that students learn English and become more fluent, teachers need to implement successful activities to achieve this. Findings have revealed that feedback and a supportive learning environment are mechanisms which contribute to student’s learning, giving them the opportunity to take corrective measures on their learning. The main purpose of this action research is to improve English language proficiency in students by using Self-Assessment with the collaboration of “Flipgrid”, an online tool that allows users to create audio recordings and short videos. The participants were students of A1 level in a Language Center in a technical college in Babahoyo, Guayas, Ecuador.