Enhancing Secondary School Students' Speaking Performance Via EAPTalk App

This study discovered the effectiveness of the EAPTalk platform in enhancing the speaking performance of secondary school students. The study involved speaking tests provided by the platform and testing students using the app, thus aiming to assess their speaking performance utilizing the platform’s features. 100 Grade 8 students participated in the survey, and only 30 joined an eight-week program, during which they used the EAPTalk platform to practice speaking English. To evaluate the impact, pre-and post-tests, mainly speaking questions provided by the app, were conducted to measure their speaking performance. In addition, pre- and post-questionnaires are administered to gather data on students’ earlier perceptions of speaking skills and their feedback on their experiences using the platform. The findings illustrated a subtle improvement in speaking performance, with students gaining more insights on enhancing their speaking skills by getting breakdown scores on specific, IELTS-based criteria. Thus, they found ways to improve their speaking skills. The survey results also compared students’ perception of English speaking before and after using the platform, showing that the app helped them improve their speaking skills. Based on these results, we recommend EAPTalk be an application to enhance speaking performance among secondary school students.