Enhancing students' speaking skills with Artificial Intelligence: Evidence from a senior high school class in Ternate, Indonesia

Speaking is a core skill for English learners, yet many senior high school students in Indonesia lack confidence, vocabulary, and opportunities to practice. This quasi-experimental study examined whether speaking practice with ChatGPT improves students’ speaking skills more than traditional materials such as books, audiobooks, and videos. Ten students from SMA Negeri 3 Kota Ternate were divided into an experimental group (n = 5), which practiced with ChatGPT, and a control group (n = 5), which used traditional materials. Both groups completed a rubric-based speaking pre-test and post-test adapted from Brown (2001). Perception data were gathered through an open-ended questionnaire and post-test interviews. The experimental group’s mean score rose from 64.0 to 74.4, whereas the control group’s mean remained nearly unchanged (48.8 to 48.0). The difference in gain scores showed a medium effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.66) but was not statistically significant (t(8) = 1.05, p = .324). Students in the ChatGPT group reported greater confidence, lower anxiety, and improved fluency and vocabulary, although they also noted accent misrecognition and unstable internet connections. The findings suggest that ChatGPT can serve as a useful supplementary tool for speaking practice, though larger studies are needed to confirm its effect.