Facilitating Self-Regulation with Mobile Devices to Improve Oral Interaction in Primary School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of self-regulation facilitated by mobile devices in learner’s oral interaction. Self-regulation includes self-assessment plus an action plan. Participants were a group of 21 students from fourth grade who were between eight and nine years old, 11 males and 10 females. This mixed-method action research collected quantitative data with videos which were analyzed pre and post innovation with a rubric. For qualitative data, a semi-structured interview and student reflections were used to know the student’ s perspective of this innovation. Results showed that students’ oral interaction improved with a large effect size of 1.86 and there was a significant improvement in the self- assessment as a result of the innovation. Of the three speaking sub skills studied, vocabulary, pronunciation, and interaction, interaction was the subskill with the most improvement. Interviews revealed that students’ perspectives were positive towards the use of self-regulation and self –assessment. This study confirms that self-regulation with mobile devices improves students´ oral interaction. Findings will benefit EFL teachers who want to improve students ‘oral interaction as well as those who want to have autonomous and independent learners.