The Effect of ''GO ENGLISH.ME'' A Virtual Learning Website on Lower Intermediate Iranian EFL Learners Speaking Ability

Abstract

GoEnglish.Me can provide EFL learners with authentic materials in a variety of topics. In addition to authentic materials, the site can offer an opportunity of learning real Spoken  English by American Native Speakers. To achieve the purpose of this study, you can probe the effect of GoEnglish.Me on lower-intermediate EFL learners' speaking ability. 44 female subjects from a language institute in Mashhad were selected and randomly assigned to control (N=22) and experimental (N=22) groups. Participants in experimental group received the internet and were allowed to employ the materials of GoEnglish.Me in order to practice speaking. Participants in control group practiced speaking traditionally, that is, they did not have any access to computer and internet ,and the practice was done through face-to-face conversations, teacher-student interaction and etc. Finally, it was found that experimental group outperformed the control group in posttest (p<.05). Also, the finding provides pedagogical implication for employing GoEnglish.Me as an effective virtual environment in order to help EFL students improve their English language skills.