DEVELOPING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH SIMULATION-BASED INSTRUCTION.

Foreign language teachers and researchers face a major challenge enabling students' learning. Not only must they provide training in the target language, but they must also find ways to optimise class time and enhance students' communication skills in the target language. How does technology intersect with English teaching in ways that benefit learning? A possible approach would align with integrating web-based strategies and optimising class time through new methodologies, techniques and resources. In this study, a group of university engineering students were taught with simulations to aid their learning of English as a foreign language. These engineering students were taught English through both class-based and a large-scale real-time web-based simulation. We present the results of quantitative analysis of students' oral production. The goal was to show whether simulation-based instruction contributes to significant progress in oral language production in English. The results indicate that students progressed significantly in four language-related areas: vocabulary, pronunciation, variety of expression and grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]