Exploring the Relationship Between EFL Students’ Extramural English Activities and Their Speaking Skills
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v14i2.12483Keywords:
EFL students, Extramural English (EE) Activities, Speaking SkillsAbstract
Extramural English (EE) activities are expected to be a promising solution for supporting EFL students’ speaking skills. This study aimed to explore the relationship between EFL students’ EE activities and their speaking skills at two distinct research sites in Indonesia. The objectives are: (1) to investigate a correlation between their EE activities and their speaking skills, and (2) to explore their perceptions of the benefits of EE activities for their speaking skills. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study involved a survey of 218 third-semester English majors from two distinct research sites in Indonesia. Of these participants, 30 completed the speaking test and constituted the sample for the correlation analysis, and eight of them were subsequently interviewed through semi-structured interviews for further exploration of the benefits of EE. Descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rho correlation analysis in SPSS 26 were used to analyze the quantitative data, while a thematic analysis in NVivo 14 was used to analyze the qualitative data. The quantitative findings revealed that the students’ EE activities correlated positively with their speaking skills (rs = .720, p < .001, N = 30). Meanwhile, the qualitative findings showed that the students highlighted several improvements in aspects of their speaking skills as benefits of EE activities (i.e., vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, comprehension, and fluency). The findings highlight a strong association between EE engagement and speaking skills and contribute to the understanding of EE in the Indonesian higher-education context. Practically, the findings suggest that EFL students should be encouraged to engage in meaningful and interactive EE activities rather than simply increase their exposure to English.
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