8.1 Students’ speaking skills improvement by using online chatting
According to the results of the students‟ pre- and post-speaking scores, their speaking skills improved. To support this, Satar and Özdener (2008) proposed that the mean scores of speaking tests would increase, whereas the anxiety level of the text-chat group would decrease. The online chatting could encourage students to produce and practice language. One reason that Seferoglu (2007) mentioned was oral proficiency results based on the comparison of pre- and post-speaking test scores could improve after chatting. Online chatting could encourage students to practice the spoken language in real-time by using written-like-spoken language in the same manner as in face-to-face interactions. Abrams (2003) mentioned that the students who used online chatting could transfer the spoken language from the chat room to speaking in face-to-face interactions. To support the idea that speaking skills could improve in terms of language production and accuracy, the numbers and means of sentences and correct sentences produced by students increased respectively in ten weeks. The students in the current study were encouraged to produce the language and they had more chance to practice the target language by using online chatting. One reason Shekary and Tahririan (2006) mentioned is that online chatting could promote recognition of target language forms. The participants could produce correct sentences and the number of words increased in the post-tests. These studies supported the idea that online chatting had positive effects on speaking skills improvement.
8.2 Opinions on using online chatting
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The results of the questionnaire revealed that the students had positive opinions about the advantages of using online chatting and thought they could use this to improve writing, reading, and speaking skills. They believed that they had more self-confidence in using and producing the language. Another opinion expressed was that they enjoyed chatting and had fun learning the language. As mentioned above, online chatting could encourage students to produce and practice the target language. The studies supported the notion that it could encourage students to learn vocabulary and grammar with authentic input and output. The students practiced spoken language in the same manner as they would in face-to-face interactions. They paid more attention to both forms and meanings while chatting (Kötter, 2001; Lee, 2002). It also allowed students to participate equally in the conversations. They competed to produce language in chat rooms and they had more self-confidence to use English without shyness (Tudini, 2007). These studies supported the idea that the students could improve their typing skills after chatting because they felt free to type the conversations. They also competed with their friends in typing quick responses. However, the students gave opinions about the disadvantage that they could not practice listening skills and pronunciation. Online chatting, specifically text-chatting, allows students to use spoken language by typing messages but it cannot replace the face-to-face interactions in terms of pronunciation and listening practices (Volle, 2005). However, the voice-chatting can be used to overcome this weak point of text-chatting.
Furthermore, the students commented about the problems they encountered while chatting. First, they said that their language abilities, i.e., limited knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, poor reading skills, and poor typing skills, influenced their language production. They also had a lack of self-confidence while chatting. An idea proposed by Yang and Chen (2007) was that limited language skills could affect the understanding of and replying to conversations. Moreover, if the students typed slowly while chatting their motivation to produce the language could be reduced. One example given by Kitade (2000) stated that typing the wrong words could make other members in the same chat rooms misunderstand the conversations. Moreover, poor typing skills and limited language abilities discouraged them from producing the language. The last problem was the slow Internet connection