The Effectiveness of Participating in an Online English Club to Improve Speaking Skills

Speaking English is a cumulative ability that needs a significant amount of language input in terms of language exposure, scaffolding, drilling, classroom lively engagement, and a supportive effective atmosphere (Patsy, Lightbown & speada, 2011). The aim of the action research is to find out the effectiveness of taking part in an online English club to improve speaking skills for second-year English major students. The participants are 15 members of the Online English Club. Three instruments were used to collect the data: questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The questionnaires were distributed to all the participants, however, the interview was just conducted with 5 students. Furthermore, ten online speaking sessions were observed during the 1st semester. The data were collected and then analyzed using descriptive qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results reveal that the students have some difficulties when taking part in the Online English Club, and the activities of the Online English Club are very beneficial to them. Some suggestions are recommended to help the students improve their English speaking skills in the next cycle. Keywords: English speaking skills, Online English Club, action research