Implementing Online Tools for Improving English Competencies of Elementary EFL Students

Abstract

The study aims to implement various online tools in an elementary English classroom and explore their impact on promoting students’ curriculum competencies. To achieve these objectives, the researcher derived principles for selecting appropriate online tools from literature review, selected two classes from a public elementary school each as a control group and an experimental group; and visualized the network among students and online tools based on Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The control group studied English with textbooks and worksheets, while the experimental group used online learning tools including Vita, AI Pengtalk, Wordwall, Padlet, and Kahoot!. To identify the impact of using online learning tools on curriculum competencies, quantitative data from student survey results and qualitative data from a semistructured interview were collected and analyzed. A map of the ANT network indicating how online tools affected students’ curriculum competencies was developed through this study. Results indicated that students actively interacted with online tools and the English competencies of the experimental group improved significantly. This study suggests teaching and learning methods using various online tools in EFL situations, which also could be applied in remote classrooms.