Raising Vocabulary Development and Reading Comprehension of Language Learners in a Video Conferencing Setting

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Video conferencing as means of teaching strategy is now becoming popular. Furthermore, it is also used to assess speaking skills as well as writing skills of the ESL (English as a second language) or EFL (English as a foreign language) learners. The purpose of this study is to make awareness on how the video conferencing can be applicable in improving vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension skills of ESL learners. It also aims to improve the quality of assessing the ESL learners' skills so that they could be more proficient in speaking.

METHODS

Convenience sampling was observed in the selection of participants regardless of their demographic profile. The participants of the study were 40 regular Chinese students enrolled in Acadsoc Online Tutor Club. The research instrument used in this study were survey questionnaires adapted from Argyll Bute Council which was validated by a psychometrician in accordance with the research questions, objectives and content. The video conference-lesson was delivered by the researcher via Skype and Tencent Video or QQ. The topic was about American Slang or any English comprehensive lessons. The live lecture took25 to 55 minutes. This was a quantitative research design and used descriptive method to describe the students' impression about video conferencing as a tool in enhancing vocabulary knowledge and comprehension skills through survey questionnaire.

RESULTS

Most of the respondents agreed that video conferencing is an effective medium of teaching and learning the target language as it is more convenient and applicable to any level of students. Most of the ESL learners affirmed that it is more convenient to take lessons online because they do not need to go to an institution or an academe in order for them to learn as there is no time constraint since VC can be conducted any time of the day as long as the student and teacher is available because the time differences of the countries do not matter anymore.

DISCUSSIONS

The study reveals that video conference is an effective medium which can be used by the teachers in unlocking difficulties and helping the students understand the reading text which may also be an important part of mastering the target language, English. Based on the analysis of data gathered from the respondents, video conferencing is extremely useful for different particular purposes like researches and other future studies.