A Study of Using Mobile-Based Dynamic Assessment to Develop High and Low Proficiency Thai EFL Learners’ Oral Accuracy and Their Perceptions

Abstract

Nowadays, digital technology is still growing and mobile phones are frequently utilized for EFL teaching and learning. However, integrating mobile phone in to improve oral accuracy in Thai school settings is still rare. In this work, a Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) as instructional intervention with dynamic assessment was studied by using a quasi-experimental method. This mixed-method study sought to determine how well the MDA intervention affected the oral accuracy of Thai EFL learners utilizing WhatsApp and investigated students’ perception toward the MDA intervention. With the two instruments for choosing the participants, Survey Questionnaire and English Language Level Test, thirty students from a secondary school in southern Thailand were chosen through purposeful sampling and assigned to the low and high English proficiency groups. In addition, six instruments, namely the teacher’s handbook, the student’s handbook, oral pre-test and oral post-test, five speaking tasks, perception questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews, were applied in this study. In the treatment section, the participants completed five oral tasks through the designed intervention on WhatsApp to develop their oral accuracy. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected to examine the students’ speaking development and the perception of students by using pre- and post-tests, questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews after the implementation of MDA. Within the same groups, the results revealed a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test following the application of the MALL-based intervention (p =.00). In comparing between the two groups, the results showed no significant difference between the two groups (p = .97). It can be concluded that the MDA intervention could level up EFL leaners’ oral accuracy for both high and low English proficiency groups. The learners also showed the positive perception toward MDA after the intervention in many aspects, namely learning affordances during the MDA intervention, the reinforcement from a teacher, the effectiveness of MDA, and the development of learners’ oral accuracy. With the positive perception and effectiveness of the MALL-designed intervention to develop oral accuracy, this study offers helpful advice on how to use mobile devices as possible way in Thai language teaching effectively.