ESL Learners’ Praxis of Asynchronous and Synchronous Modes for Spoken English: Notions and Optimizations

Abstract

ESL learners are faced with spoken English deficiencies such as mispronunciation, misrepresentation of phonetic sounds and poor intonation which have debarred them from approximating a degree of the standard form of Received Pronunciation. Since previous studies have investigated the effectiveness of asynchronous and synchronous tools on students’ learning, the present study investigates ESL students’ understanding of asynchronous and synchronous modes as tools for learning spoken English, and students’ use of the resources of asynchronous and synchronous e-learning tools for spoken English. To achieve these aims, an empirical study on 300 ESL university undergraduate students’ praxis of asynchronous and synchronous modes for spoken English was conducted. The results revealed that respondents had the knowledge of asynchronous and synchronous features as e-learning tools and as veritable means of teaching and learning spoken English, but they did not employ these tools with the purpose of learning academic contents. A number of pedagogical implications and recommendations were discussed.