Enhancing Japanese as a Foreign Language learners' oral performance with digital content creation: A student‐produced mobile video‐based learning approach

Abstract Among the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking is particularly challenging for foreign language learners due to the lack of practice contexts. Owing to the popularity of mobile devices and wireless networks, the mobile video‐based learning (MVBL) approach, which delivers instructional content via mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), has been recognized as an effective method to enhance spoken language proficiency in the target language. To motivate learners and to facilitate meaningful spoken Japanese practice, this study proposed an MVBL approach which enables students to leverage mobile technology for foreign language presentation by structuring learning content through student‐produced mobile videos (SPMV). This approach connects the learning process to real‐life contexts to create a multisensory and engaging educational experience. To assess the efficacy of the proposed methodology, a quasi‐experimental teaching approach was implemented in a Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) conversation course in the Department of Japanese Language at a university in Taiwan. Participants were two classes of first‐year university students. One class constituted the experimental group ( N = 34), which practised speaking training using the SPMV‐based learning approach, while the other class constituted the control group ( N = 31), which practised using the conventional MVBL approach. The results showed that the SPMV approach led to improvement in the Japanese oral performance of the experimental group, which performed significantly better than the control group in terms of oral performance, group self‐efficacy and satisfaction with the learning mode. It is recommended that second or foreign language teachers adopt the SPMV‐based learning approach. The findings can be a reference for teachers wishing to utilize this approach in the context of second/ foreign language education.