Student-centered Writing and Speaking Practice on the Internet

Student-centered Writing and Speaking Practice on the Internet

  This study researched the effects of student-centered writing (key-pal) and speaking (using an MP3 player) practice on the Cyworld internet site on English writing and speaking. Forty-five students participated in this study. The students took the pre- and post-essay writing test and two types of speaking test: topic and picture-based. Their speaking, in terms of the picture task and writing, significantly improved after taking part in the speaking and writing activity, but the improvement in spoken performance for the topic-based task was not significant. The results of the questionnaire supported the idea that students considered writing and speaking exercises on the Cyworld as useful. The results of the study suggested that teachers use a bulletin board for practicing productive skills outside the classroom to improve their writing and speaking.