Melanie DunnFollow

Date

11-2012

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Amanda Rockinson-Szapkiw

Primary Subject Area

Education, Curriculum and Instruction; Education, General; Education, Language and Literature; Education, Secondary; Education, Tests and Measurements

Keywords

foreign language, foreign language anxiety, oral proficiency, technology, voice-conferencing

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods | Liberal Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the asynchronous voice-conferencing technology, Voice Thread ®, on the anxiety and oral proficiency of high school students in their third year of studying Spanish as a foreign language. In this quasi-experimental study students' foreign language anxiety levels and oral proficiency were examined to determine if a difference existed based on the type of practice used. The treatment group used Voice Thread ® to practice speaking. The control group used the traditional method of the language laboratory to practice speaking. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was used to measure anxiety levels and the Performance Assessment for Language Students (PALS) level three speaking analytical grading rubric was used to measure oral proficiency. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the foreign language anxiety data. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the oral proficiency data. Results for the FLCAS yielded no significant difference between the control and treatment groups. Results of the MANOVA yielded a significant main effect difference between the control and experimental groups. Posthoc pairwise comparisons revealed statistically significant differences for the subscales of task completion, comprehensibility, level of discourse and fluency. No statistically significant differences were found for the subscales of vocabulary and language control. Descriptors: foreign language, anxiety, oral proficiency, voice-conferencing

Download

Share

COinS