Author/s:
Ichiyama, Yoko*
Kyoritsu Women’s University, Japan (yichiyama@kyoritsu-wu.ac.jp)
Abstract:
The improvement of speaking proficiency is deemed essential in classrooms of English as a foreign language in Japan, but the amount of exposure to improve fluency is limited. Pair taping is a fluency-focused activity where learners record their conversations inside or outside classrooms, which is considered beneficial because it provides opportunities to speak more in a target language. Numerous studies on pair taping indicate that it has a positive impact on motivation to speak in a target language, but less is known about lexical gains as a result of pair taping. The aims of the study are to examine whether the vocabulary profile improves after learners participate in pair taping for one month and the impact of pair taping on leaner’s motivation in regard to lexical gain. There were no significant differences in the vocabulary profiles between before and after the exposure to pair taping except for the amount of words (t(49) = −3.98; p = .0001). Many learners, however, reported improved motivation to speak English, as well as increased interest in improving their vocabulary profiles while speaking English. These results indicate a need to provide more opportunities to practice speaking, as well as to raise learners’ awareness towards vocabulary sophistication with the help of pair taping.
Keywords: pair taping; English as a Foreign Language (EFL); speaking fluency; vocabulary profile; motivation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2019.4008
*Corresponding Author