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Videoconferencing as a Tool for Developing Speaking Skills

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Issues in Teaching, Learning and Testing Speaking in a Second Language

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the possibilities offered by innovative language learning, in particular such that is aided by dynamically changing technology, and focuses on videoconferencing, a mode of communication that can foster the development of speaking skills in English. Since videoconferencing allows geographical distances to be bridged, it can be used by foreign language teachers who want to overcome the problem of limited opportunities for speaking practice in the classroom by exposing students to genuine interaction in which communicative experiences can be extended. We will discuss a project that involved several experimental sessions of videoconferencing, organized as a result of international collaboration between a Polish and a Spanish university. The project primarily aimed to develop students’ communicative language skills through audio and visual interaction in real time and to create a collaborative learning environment where the participants—in both cases studying for a B.A. in English—had to construct and negotiate meaning using task-based activities. Using the results of this project, as illustrated by the students’ evaluation questionnaires and the teacher’s observations, we aim to identify the potential benefits for language learning that might be offered by new technologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bielsko-Biała, Bielsko-Biała, Poland

    Barbara Loranc-Paszylk

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  1. Barbara Loranc-Paszylk
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Correspondence to Barbara Loranc-Paszylk .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts Dept. of English Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

    Mirosław Pawlak

  2. Dept. of English Language and Applied Linguistics, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland

    Ewa Waniek-Klimczak

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Loranc-Paszylk, B. (2015). Videoconferencing as a Tool for Developing Speaking Skills. In: Pawlak, M., Waniek-Klimczak, E. (eds) Issues in Teaching, Learning and Testing Speaking in a Second Language. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38339-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38339-7_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-38338-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-38339-7

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