Gamification as a Multimedia Methodology Strategy in the English Language Teaching Process for EFL Learners

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, traditional educational methods work less than before because they are designed to make students fundamentally passive. Within this research work, it has been proposed to develop gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the English language teaching process for EFL learners, thus developing techniques that help improve and develop the skills of English as a foreign language in the UTB-EQ students’. The introduction point concerning this research work starts from the best-known and most common methods used in the English language teaching process, thus pointing out the appropriate way they have been helpful at the time to help students acquire EFL. Within the methodology, the methods used to obtain relevant information about the current investigation, the field methods were used: inductive-deductive, analytical-synthetic, and scientific methods served as primary drivers for getting the results of the application of the gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy. The results show this teaching strategy’s contribution to the EFL. Finally, the discussion provides significant answers on how this strategy is unique and effective in developing EFL students’ skill development.

1. Introduction

Does it ever feel that learners are stultified, bored, and unmotivated? Maybe it is not the subject but the way is taught. Competing for the divided attention of learners has never been perplexing. It has become a chronic situation familiar to all teachers struggling to motivate learners. Currently exist a generation of children who have never known a world without video games, mobiles, and the Internet. Demographics of the workforce mean that those retiring are being replaced by people who grew up with these things (aged 18–40). We now routinely divide our attention between many things simultaneously.

Traditional educational methods no longer work because they are designed to make learners fundamentally passive. They focus on instructing learners in specific and limited processes before testing what learners can remember from what they have been told. Often, tests do not consider the variable factors that can affect the trial’s outcome: learning styles, ages, and abilities, learners’ performance on a particular day, whether they have had enough sleep the night before, or whether they have eaten before taking the test. Moreover, when teachers are on their feet and teaching for 6 or 7 hours, all day, every day, it is all too easy for them to reteach literally by the book to achieve school goals.

Sticking rigidly to the textbook, delivering teacher-centred lessons without considering students’ learning styles and experiences, and assessing students based on what they can remember all result in inferior education. Students do not need textbooks. No number of books and no amount of class time will do any good. There is no engagement. Essentially, there is no learning.

Learners need hands-on, interactive experiences that stimulate their understanding and aptitudes to help them deal with real-world concerns. As a manner of fact, learners should be actively involved in the education process. It is where play-based wisdom comes in. Gamification, game-based learning, or game-based learning refers to a game with clear and defined learning outcomes. It means using well-designed digital and non-digital games to stimulate learners’ language, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Include game elements in the learning environment to drive engagement and participation. A group of people sits while the teacher gives them a game. Not all games are the same. Teachers need to reconsider the structure of the play experience: are the learning outcomes clear, and could it leave learners frustrated or bored? Ultimately, all learning environments should encourage active and critical learning, not passive. Game-based instruction furnishes this flawless background. The best matches are those that actively immerse learners in experiencing the pleasure of exploring and apprehending a new system.

Well-designed games, played in diverse ways, using mixed media and platforms, can mainly cut through distractions and engross learners in a way few other ways can. Games can include word, language, narrative, and role-playing games and digital platforms. Multimedia can be used at almost all ages and language levels, from acquiring literacy skills and practising listening and speaking to improving critical thinking and problem-solving skills and developing digital literacy skills (collectively known as twenty-first-century skills). The beauty of gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the learning environment is that learners quickly develop autonomy and can easily self-correct with minimal emotional stress. There is a clear progression path, and learners can learn at their own pace.

2. The evolution of the methods used in English language teaching

2.1 Early beginnings (The Latin and Greek Heritage until the nineteenth/twentieth century)

Latin was the dominant language of education, commerce, religion, and government in medieval and early modern Europe. Thus, relevant people studied Classical Latin in grammar schools, where teachers focused on the analysis of its grammar and rhetoric in grammar schools. The emphasis is put on the study of declensions and conjugations, translation, and the composition of sample sentences [1].

While Latin was the most dominant language in the Middle Ages in the Western world, in the sixteenth century, we appreciate a change. Such languages gradually replaced Latin as Italian, French, and English. Little by little, Latin fell into disuse as a language of spoken and written communication, and it survived mainly as a subject in the school curriculum [1].

2.2 The grammar-translation method (1840–1940s)

The literature study is essential to support mental discipline and intellectual development in this method. Teachers used to focus on reading and writing, and students elaborated bilingual wordlists to learn vocabulary quickly. The basic unit of teaching was the sentence and the emphasis on accuracy. Grammar was taught deductively instead of inductively. In class, the student’s native language was the medium of instruction [2].

2.3 The reform era (mid-nineteenth century)

Scholars started to consider that child language should be the model for language teaching. Thus, they centred on the contextual use of language and language acquisition was developed through a sequence of related actions, for example, “I walk toward the door—I walk”. Consequently, they focused on spoken language and phonetic awareness with an inductive approach to grammar teaching. For them, it was relevant to establish associations within the target language rather than between native and target languages. Because of this, it was common to present new words in meaningful contexts. The main leading developers of this method were C. Marcel (1793–1896), T. Prendergast (1806–1886), and F. Guin (1831–1896, [3]).

2.4 The direct method (late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries)

It was also known as the natural method, as observing naturalistic principles became essential. It led to a monolingual teaching approach, emphasising everyday spoken language and supporting direct and spontaneous use of the second language. The grammar was taught inductively, focusing on correct pronunciation and grammar. Teaching was done through demonstration, mimicking, and using pictures, with a gradual progression in difficulty. It was popular in private language schools (Berlitz Method) [4].

2.5 Audiolingual method (middle of the twentieth century)

This method responded to the structural view of linguistics and behaviourism as a learning theory. Language is considered a system of structurally related elements for coding meaning. Their goal was the mastery of all the aspects of the language system (phonological units: e.g., phonemes; grammatical units: e.g., clauses, phrases, sentences; grammatical operations: e.g., adding, shifting, joining, or transforming elements; and lexical items: e.g., function and structure words). The usage of new media (e.g., tapes) was introduced for continuous practice of listening, speaking, reading, and writing (pattern drill). The focus was on spoken language [5].

2.6 Audio-visual method (the 1960s)

This method was not used sparingly, as it required watching films in monolingual classes. The lessons were strictly divided into phases, focusing on dialogues and classroom discourses [6].

2.7 Main methods nowadays

Nowadays, new needs have conveyed a change in language teaching methodology. One of the most relevant aspects of society today is group work, and this trend has also reached education. In this section, we will present the two main methods of group work: cooperative and collaborative learning.

2.8 Cooperative learning

It is an educational approach which aims at turning classroom activities into an academic and social learning experience and has been described as “structuring positive interdependence”.

Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively. Unlike individual learning, students’ cooperative learning can capitalise on one another’s resources and skills (asking one another for information, evaluating one another’s ideas, and monitoring one another’s work). On the other hand, the teacher’s role changes from giving information to facilitating students’ learning. Cooperative learning has also been linked to increased levels of student satisfaction, as everyone succeeds when the group grows [7].

After the first approach in 1994, Johnson and Johnson [8] posited five variables that mediate the effectiveness of cooperation and become essential elements of cooperative learning:

Positive interdependence: students must fully participate and put forth effort within their group. Each group member has a task/role/responsibility; therefore, they must believe that they are responsible for their learning and that of their group [9].

Face-to-face promotive interaction: members promote each other’s success. Students explain what they have learnt or are learning and assist one another with understanding and completing assignments.

Individual and group accountability: Each student must demonstrate mastery of the content being studied. Each student is accountable for their learning and work, eliminating “social loafing”.

Social skills:

• Social skills must be taught for successful cooperative learning to occur. Item Skills include effective communication and interpersonal and group skills.

• Leadership.

• Decision-making [10].

• Trust-building.

• Friendship development.

• Communication.

• Conflict-management skills.

Group processing:

• Group processing occurs when group members.

• Reflect on which member actions were helpful.

• Decide which steps to continue or change.

• The purpose of group processing is to clarify and improve the effectiveness with which members carry out the processes necessary to achieve the group’s goal.

Cooperative learning is developed using tasks that must be intellectually demanding, creative, open-ended, and involve higher-order thinking tasks. Additionally, they must have two features for the students to achieve significant improvement [11]:

Social skills.

• Individual responsibility and accountability must be identified. Individuals must know their responsibilities and that they are accountable to the group to reach their goals.

• All group members must be involved for the group to complete the task. For this to occur, each member must have a job they are responsible for that cannot be met by any other group member.

2.9 English language teaching using ICT in the EFL classroom and their evolution

In the 1980s, some publishers began to include recordings in cassettes or single discs so pupils could practice their listening skills. Later, the tapes evolved into CDs. With the introduction of personal computers in the classroom, teachers started using PowerPoint or Word documents to make learning more enjoyable. Then we saw the introduction of software such as interactive CD-ROMs. Finally, in recent years, the Internet has been a revolution with its introduction into the teaching-learning process through tablets, various tools, and other applications [12].

It is true that with the development of new technologies, some of these tools are no longer used today—think of cassette or video tapes—but some are still useful and can help us in the teaching-learning process, such as CD-ROMs or Word documents. [12]

2.9.1 How can we implement ICT tools in the classroom?

Implementing ICT in the learning process is more than just having a computer in the classroom and using it to watch some videos or listening exercises or to project the units on the blackboard, where we can practice some easy exercises. Nor is it just having an Internet connection in the classroom to quickly access films or activities on the website of the book we are using. The core of this implementation is that the teacher can develop their exercises and integrate the Internet with tasks that help students to be active in the learning process [13].

Along with the above concepts, it has discussed the history of ICT used in the classroom; for this, we must include two images, CALL and TELL.

CALL: It stands for computer-assisted language learning and refers to the first computer-based language teaching materials, which appeared in the early 1980s. They used to be basic exercises (by today’s standards), such as text reconstruction or gap-filling. However, they are still helpful today. For example, publishers still offer such exercises on the CD-ROMs distributed with coursebooks [14].

TELL: In the 1990s, [15] coined another term, TELL (technology-enhanced language learning), by which he referred to the evolution of CALL as the CALL activities or format that adopted Internet and web-based tools. In this way, the range of activities was extended, offering more possibilities for teaching and learning a foreign language.

The concept of gamification takes an additional perspective when the components, perceived as critical elements, become instrumental in developing and applying the idea. For example, the vision will involve game elements, design, and non-game context concepts. Also, gamification is diverse and has different uses [16].

2.10 Gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy

The concept of gamification is new, and according to [17], it is the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-game contexts. It builds on the gaming industry’s success, social media, and decades of research in human psychology.

Any task, assignment, process, or theoretical context can be gamified. The main objectives focus on increasing a person’s participation, often referred to as a “user”, and motivating them by incorporating game elements and techniques, such as leaderboards and immediate feedback. It gives the users a sense of empowerment and engagement in working through the processes and achieving the tasks. In addition, understanding basic gaming concepts is essential when outlining and using gamification as a strategy [18].

ICT can expand how the outside world is brought into the classroom. It can also offer students and teachers the opportunity to communicate with others around the world. English can provide a varied context for many aspects of ICT, which could enhance the teaching and learning process. It can contribute to developing ICT skills among learners and to more comprehensive technological literacy.

Gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy is now a fundamental element of literacy in a modern technological society. All students have the right to communicate effectively using new technologies, which go hand in hand with the English curriculum. Experience shows that ICT is most effective when incorporated into the curriculum, integrated into work programmes, and not seen as an add-on [13].

The Internet is a communication tool that makes collaborative work more exciting and fun for learners. As an information tool, it allows us to use authentic materials, especially ELT materials, and provides educational resources to create their materials [19]. On the other hand, proposes the following ways in which ICT help students of ESL (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

How ICT helps ESL students. Based on Miles [19].

According to [20], there are five primary benefits for our students of using technology in the classroom:

• Improves engagement: technology provides different opportunities to make learning more fun and enjoyable in terms of teaching the same things in new ways. For example, teaching through gamification or taking students on virtual field trips. In addition, technology can encourage more active participation in the learning process [20].

• Improves knowledge retention: students who are engaged and interested in the things they are studying are expected to have better knowledge retention. As mentioned above, technology can help encourage active classroom participation, which is also a significant factor in increasing knowledge retention [20].

• Encourage individual learning: no one learns similarly due to different learning styles and abilities. Technology offers great opportunities to make learning more effective for each individual and their different needs. For example, students can learn at their own pace, review complex concepts, or skip content if needed. The Internet allows learners to access various resources to research in different ways, increasing engagement [20].

• Encourage collaboration: according to [20] named the “5 Basic Benefits of ICT in EFL” (Figure 2), where students can practice their collaboration skills by participating in online activities, for example, working on different projects by collaborating with others in forums or sharing documents through virtual learning environments, both within the same classroom and school and even with other classrooms worldwide (Figure 2) [20].

Figure 2.

Benefits of ICT in ESL. Adapted from [19].

3. Material and Methods

3.1 Type and level of research

The present research corresponds to a quantitative research methodology that explains how gamification as a strategic application of the multimedia methodology in teaching the English language to eighth-semester students of the Technical University of Babahoyo, Quevedo campus (UTB-EQ) assigned as an effective tool in the EFL classroom. The field and applied research was analysed based on the facts and personal experiences of the researcher and the students who served as the experimental and controlled group.

3.2 Place of the research and informants

The research was carried out with a section on the subject of English as a foreign language, in the career of Hospitality and Tourism, in the Faculty of Legal, Social and Educational Sciences of the UTB, Quevedo campus, during the second semester of the academic year, 2021–2022 (October, November, December, January). Fifty students confirmed the control and experimental groups from the eighth semester of the Hospitality and Tourism career. The learners were selected because they were finishing their studies in hospitality and tourism career. After all, it is one of the demanding subjects they need to acquire knowledge. Furthermore, of course, their willingness to collaborate with the researcher.

3.3 Sessions and activities

During the second semester of the academic year 2021–2022 (October, November, December, and January), 50 students confirmed the control and experimental groups (25 each). The participants were from the eighth semester of the Hospitality and Tourism career; the period of the experiment was for 16 weeks, 2 hours per day with a total of 6 hours per week; the activities planned for the experimental group in this research were:

1. The activities for the experimental group’s lesson plans were developed around the gamification and multimedia methodological strategy in teaching English to EFL students.

2. The participants for the experimental group partook in observed class lessons applying gamification as a multimedia methodological strategy in teaching English to EFL students.

3. The most relevant activities were using platforms in daily classes; for example, it can name: Kahoot was used at the beginning as prior knowledge and at the end as a formative assessment to measure their academic performance. Educaplay, which through videos, helped to develop and engage the participants’ listening skills, Mentimeter was also used to practice writing skills, and small quizzes were used after each meeting; the techniques used in class consisted of developing oral and written skills.

The activities for the control group were the same but only using paper, board, and books.

3.4 General Methods

• Select relevant and corrected sources to elaborate the theoretical framework and analyse the diagnosis results. Throughout this method, it was possible to analyse and systematise the results to generalise the problem.

• Particularised the problem at the Technical University of Babahoyo, Quevedo campus (UTB-EQ). Analyse the information collected in the research. In addition, the partial data were gathered as a whole, allowing the analysis and interpretation of the information obtained in the research process and drawing conclusions and recommendations.

• Establish facts objectively through testing and experimentation. Supposedly, it demonstrates multimedia methodology using Kahoot games and Mentimeter, and Educaplay to assess students in the EFL classroom. It can be crucial to apply gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the English teaching process for EFL learners. The essential process involves observing both groups (control and experimental) and creating prediction metre tools. In that case, the process involves conducting an experiment and finally, analysing the results.

4. Analysis tools

The present research was aimed at young adults between 20 and 23 years old studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism at the Technical University of Babahoyo, Quevedo campus (UTB-EQ). The research was developed at the Quevedo campus 100 kms from the matrix in Babahoyo, Ecuador. According to their curriculum and the CEFR, they learn English because they need to pass a B2 level and the regulations established by the university to obtain their degree in Hospitality and Tourism.

This experimental research was carried out qualitatively to investigate the factors that improve the development of oral skills of EFL undergraduate students from hospitality and tourism careers. A confidence factor gradually developed over the 10-week 2-hour 3-day-a-week session with 60 hours of regular writing and speaking course. A task-based pedagogical design provided by applying gamification as a multimedia strategy offered learners various opportunities.

Fifty students fitted the control and experimental groups, 25 participants for each group from the eighth semester of the Hospitality and Tourism career. The learners were selected because they were finishing their studies in hospitality and tourism career. After all, it is one of the demanding subjects they need to acquire knowledge. Furthermore, of course, their willingness to collaborate with the researcher.

To obtain the statistics results from it was used an ICT tool, as was SPSS, to calculate the arithmetic median, standard deviation, and t-value. It is meaningful to mention that this analysis corresponds to a quantitative research methodology because it explains how a new multimedia technology strategy can help develop the EFL classroom effectively. Achieve goals in the student’s knowledge, and help them develop their oral and written skills.

In this section, the formulation developed for the control group where the media to the pre and post-test are less significant than the experimental group. This class has yet to apply gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the English teaching process for EFL learners. All 25 learners were evaluated at the beginning and the end of the experimental research, and it was not noted that there were any improvements (Figure 3, Table 1).

Figure 3.

Control group-data analysis pre-test and post-test.

Group	Test	No	Media	Standard deviation	t-value
Control	Pre-test	25	7.12	2.09	0.93
	Post-test	25	7.18	2.04

Table 1.

Control group-data analysis pre-test and post-test.

To see a better result of the process, the researcher adjusted the row of the media to get a better understanding of the simple classes in the classroom, with a less oriented focus on developing English language skills for their professional life.

In this section, the formulation developed for the experimental group where the media to the pre and post-test are significantly better after taking the class using gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the English teaching process for EFL learners for 16 weeks, 6 hours a week. All 25 learners were evaluated at the beginning of the experimental research. It is noted that if gamification is used as a multimedia methodology strategy in the English teaching process for EFL learners, learners can improve their skills (Table 2).

Group	Test	No	Media	Standard deviation	t-value
Experimental	Pre-test	25	7.00	1.44	4.91
	Post-test	25	7.80	1.03

Table 2.

Experimental group-data analysis pre-test and post-test.

Table 2 shares the information concerning the media analysis where. It starts at six and end at 8. It is noticeably a significant difference in improvement using gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the English teaching process for EFL learners to develop English language skills for their professional life (Figure 4).

Figure 4.

Experimental group-data analysis pre-test and post-test.

4.1 Control group pre-test and post-test

The pre-test was a tool assessment that helped measure participants’ knowledge before undergoing some treatment as part of the research study. The pre-test test for the control group from the hospitality and tourism course consisted of answering 20 random questions on a piece of paper about professional, personal, and goals in their life in a communicative and written form. The researcher wanted to develop this part as quickly as possible.

The post-test was administered to the control group participants through three forms: oral presentations, short, and significant conversations between peers and developing some worksheets using topics from the taught classes. All of these apply in the same way they were taught, corresponding to how control participants were introduced in this long experiment, 16 weeks in total. The classes were developed regularly, as in an EFL classroom, using only paper, audio recordings, some books, and common EFL resources, the techniques used in class consisted of developing oral and written skills.

4.2 Experimental group pre-test and post-test

The pre-test was a tool assessment that helped measure participants’ knowledge before undergoing some treatment as part of the research study. The pre-test test for the experimental groups from the hospitality and tourism course was the same for both. The pre-test consisted of answering 20 random questions on a piece of paper about professional, personal, and goals in their life in a communicative and written form. The researcher wanted to develop this part as quickly as possible.

This part of the post-test was administered to the experimental group participants through three forms: oral presentations, short, and significant conversations between peers and developing some worksheets using topics from the taught classes. All of these apply in the same way they were taught, corresponding to how experimental group participants were introduced in this long experiment, 16 weeks in total. The experimental group participant experimental tones of classes by applying gamification as a multimedia methodological strategy in the English teaching process for EFL learners; the most relevant were the use of platforms in daily lessons, as an example, we can name Educaplay, which through videos, helped to develop and engage the audio part of the participants. In the same way, Kahoot was used at the beginning as prior knowledge and at the end as a formative assessment to measure their academic performance, Mentimeter was also used to practice writing skills, and small quizzes were used after each meeting; the techniques used in class consisted of developing oral and written skills.

5. Results

First, in the control group, all classes were taught as simply as the teachers used to train many years ago. The existence of demand for the type of students that exist nowadays means getting better as teachers and preparing ourselves to hit another level in the daily teaching practice. Concerning the type of learners from this twenty-first century, education has experimented with a low academic program resulting from undermining and disusing multimedia methodology strategy in the EFL classroom as a gamification tool.

Second, using gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the EFL classroom requires adequate training for the teachers to employ it commonly in the EFL classroom. The new gamification and the application of a multimedia methodology strategy in the English teaching process for EFL learners is an excellent way to teach speaking and writing skills for their everyday professional life; its goal is to produce understandable communication. It focuses on more than just grammar. The goal is for students to communicate based on context and other aspects of language.

Thus, gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the EFL classroom is one of the best ways of teaching English that teachers should use in their daily teaching practice. This research proved that it is an excellent way to teach speaking and writing skills for everyday professional life. Its goal is to produce understandable communication. It focuses on more than just grammar. The goal is for students to communicate based on context and other aspects of language.

The noticeable and variable results from the control and experimental groups showed that in the control group, if teachers do not employ gamification as a multimedia methodological strategy in their daily EFL classrooms, it would not be relevant to help learners develop their English language skills for their professional life. However, it was evident within the experimental group that if teachers used gamification as a multimedia methodological strategy in their daily EFL classes, it would be essential to help students develop their English speaking and writing skills for their everyday professional life [21].

6. Discussion

Language is an essential means of communication; the ultimate goal of language learning is to put it into practice and communicate better with people. People will be limited in real work if they only learn to listen and read without sharing spoken English in everyday life and study. Moreover, it takes work to have a job in today’s competitive situation. Therefore, English language teaching aims to improve oral communication by enhancing students’ English language skills for their professional life.

The use of gamification as a multimedia methodological strategy in teaching English to learners of English as a foreign language has several advantages in the learning environment. Learners quickly develop autonomy and can easily self-correct with minimal emotional stress. There is a clear progression path, and learners can learn at their own pace.

The reviewed studies reveal and demonstrate through this research that the appropriate implementation of gamification as a multimedia methodology strategy in the language classroom promotes learning and enhances interaction and communication. Boosts autonomous learning, maximises intended outcomes, motivates learners, and helps them improve their EFL classroom performance. Using appropriate pedagogies and methodologies, such as multimedia methodology strategy, can make a difference, bring positive changes in the EFL classroom and turn classrooms into open digital learning environments. However, using ICT without careful planning and well-defined objectives will likely waste time and effort. The use of ICT in English language teaching, particularly in multi-sensory teaching, also has its limitations. The cultural component of teaching materials can be complex and confusing.

As Blake said, it insists that “teachers inexperienced in the use of technology often harbour the belief that simply transforming an activity into a web or CALL format will guarantee its success for learners. Again, any activity without proper pedagogical planning—technologically enhanced or not—will produce unsatisfactory results with learners, even if it is engaging from a multimedia point of view” [22].

7. Conclusion

This study aimed to help students develop and improve their English speaking and writing skills for their everyday professional life. It was proposed to carry out a pre-test and a post-test while in the classes; the formative evaluation was an essential tool for measuring their development. The most relevant need in this research work was to discover the problems teachers and students encounter in the daily EFL class. At the end of the study, the demand to improve English speaking and writing skills in EFL learners became the most discussed topic. Getting students to communicate and express their ideas through a written text takes time and hours of hard work to make them feel confident enough to achieve that goal.

Some suggestions for improving participants’ speaking and writing were mainly related to listening skills. These activities included listening to each other, teacher readings, and frequent practice of listening and speaking skills. Multimedia websites such as Kahoot were used at the beginning as background knowledge and at the end as a formative assessment to measure their academic performance. Educaplay, which through videos, helped to develop and engage participants’ listening skills, Mentimeter was also used to practice writing skills, and short quizzes were used after each class. The techniques used in class consisted of developing oral and written skills. In addition, task-based learning design was applied to promote a particular skill or an integrated skills pedagogy in EFL language learning contexts.

It must be said that all learning environments should encourage active and critical learning, not passive. It is why this experiment decided to employ game-based knowledge to learn English as a foreign language using gamification through a multimedia methodology which in this twenty-first century provides this ideal environment for EFL learners.

The participants in this quantitative research work had the opportunity to practice speaking and writing skills in different situations, which helped them improve their vocabulary and broaden their English lexicon from different topics related to their professional life. The creativity of the topics was considered a strength of the speaking. At the same time, pronunciation errors and writing structure were classified as weaknesses to make them feel more confident and comfortable.

Abbreviations

CALL	computer-assisted language learning
CD-ROM	compact disc read-only memory
EFL	English as a Foreign Language
ICT	information and communication technology
TELL	technology-enhanced language learning
UTB-EQ	Technical University of Babahoyo, Quevedo campus