Providing new input in speaking activities. In some interventions, students were not provided with new information that they could use while speaking; and some participants felt that they did not progress when they only practised English by using their existing knowledge:
We did not learn new words. Therefore, we could only use the words that we had already known. So, we did not progress. (M2)
This suggests that some participants have an input-oriented view of learning, which sees providing some input as an essential part of speaking classes. However, relying solely on new information in a speaking class may be problematic because speaking is a complicated skill that requires a wide range and type of sub-skills (Tarone 2005). This also underpins Swain’s (1985) comprehensible output hypothesis, which emphasises the importance of learner’s output in language learning. This is confirmed by Harmer (1991, 40), who states that ‘exposing students to language input is not enough: we also need to provide opportunities for them to activate this knowledge, for it is only when students are producing language that they can select from the input they have received’. The participants in this study may not be aware of the function of output in language learning and the significance of the process of producing language in improving their speaking skills.