Setting and Participants
This research was conducted at a public university in Taiwan, where students learn English as a foreign language.
All the participants (N=75) were drawn from three intact classes of first-year English majors, averaging 25 students per class. The students’ ages ranged from 18 to 20 years. Based on their placement test scores, the
majority of the students were intermediate level learners of English, while a small number of them were at the
lower-intermediate level. They all enrolled in a required language course that was designed to develop students’
English proficiency in all four skills, while also expanding their vocabulary knowledge. In the course under
investigation, the students met three hours per week in a multimedia classroom, which was equipped with an
individual desktop computer for each seat.