The Study of Using Kakao Talk on TOEIC Speaking

Sunyoung Heo, Sanghee Bae
2021 The Korean Association of General Education  
This paper explores the effects of Kakao Talk, which is used by a majority of learners today, on TOEIC Speaking, along with the feedback of the learners to the activities using the main functions of this popular SNS app. Nine university students, whose majors and grades varied, participated in this study. The study was implemented for the subject of TOEIC Speaking, and the class proceeded with 2 hours over the course of 15 weeks. The researcher provided a Kakao open chatting room, wherein the
more » ... udents could take part in all of the activities with their classmates. Three main Kakao Talk functions were used: taking photos, text messaging, and voice recordings. To reveal the effects of these activities, three phases of TOEIC Speaking were selected: Describing a Picture, Responding to Questions, and Expressing an Opinion. Two tests, and a pretest and a posttest, were conducted, and the paired t-test was used to analyze the results of this study. To investigate the learners' feedback regarding the activities themselves, an open-answered survey and a class discussion were followed. The results of the research showed that all of the learners' test scores increased, and all of their levels were upgraded, even though this did not equate with any statistical significance. Among the three activities, the learners selected the activity of taking photos and sending them as the most effective one. Nevertheless, all of the learners regarded all of the Kakao Talk activities as useful. Thus, this study suggests that Kakao Talk has the potential to serve as a crucial tool in English education.
doi:10.46392/kjge.2021.15.2.57 fatcat:b3gd6oq45bap3jy2xrld7lpnba