A research paper presented as a conference paper and subsequently published in an academic journal

Comparing the Effects of Face-to-Face and Online English Lounges on Students’
Speaking Ability and Attitude Toward Foreign Teachers
Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya, Hyun Jung Lee, Joung-Hyun Ham, Randy S. Tolentino,
Thomas Edward Farrell II, and Christopher Glenn Gunther
2021 Second International Conference on Innovative Technology and Convergences, Dec 8–9, 2021, Virtual
DOI 10.1109/CITC54365.2021.00011

Research Summary

English conversation lounges provide university students with opportunities to use English beyond the formal classroom and engage in meaningful interaction with foreign language teachers. At the respondent university in South Korea, this type of out-of-class learning was institutionalized through the English Café Program (ECP), an optional, non-credit program established in 2014 to supplement classroom instruction and strengthen students’ English-speaking ability. The program was also intended to foster more positive attitudes toward foreign English teachers through direct interaction. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced university activities online in 2020, the ECP shifted from its traditional face-to-face format to virtual sessions, creating an opportunity to compare the perceived effectiveness of the two modes.

The study employed a descriptive-comparative survey design covering the face-to-face implementation of the English Café Program in 2019 and its online implementation in 2020. It investigated the extent to which each mode affected students’ speaking ability and attitudes toward foreign teachers and examined whether teachers’ educational qualifications and length of service were associated with these outcomes. The researchers also tested whether students and teachers differed significantly in their perceptions of the effects of the two delivery modes.

The study involved 800 student respondents and 19 foreign teachers in each phase. The same group of teachers participated in both the 2019 and 2020 phases, while 800 students were randomly selected for each phase from the relevant student population described in the paper. Two versions of the questionnaire—one for students and another for teachers—were used to assess the effects of the program on students’ speaking ability and attitudes toward foreign teachers. The surveys were administered online through SurveyMonkey. Data were analyzed using frequency analysis, mean comparisons, t-tests, Pearson correlation analysis, and SPSS version 23.

The findings showed that both students and teachers perceived the face-to-face English Café Program as improving students’ speaking ability and attitudes toward foreign teachers to a great extent. Student respondents reported a weighted mean of approximately 3.95 for speaking ability and 3.94 for attitude toward foreign teachers, while the teacher respondents likewise evaluated the program positively. The online implementation produced similarly favorable assessments: both groups perceived the online English Café as improving speaking ability and promoting positive attitudes toward foreign teachers to a great extent.

Importantly, the statistical comparison revealed no significant differences between the respondents’ perceptions of the effects of the face-to-face and online implementations on students’ speaking ability and attitudes toward foreign teachers. The p-values were greater than .05, indicating that the differences observed between the modes were not statistically significant. The results therefore suggested that, from the respondents’ perspectives, moving the English Café Program online did not substantially diminish its effectiveness.

The correlation analysis produced another important finding. In both delivery modes, students’ speaking ability was strongly and positively correlated with their attitudes toward foreign teachers: r = .881 for the face-to-face program and r = .889 for the online program, with both relationships significant at p < .01. The study interpreted this relationship as indicating that students who demonstrated more positive attitudes toward their foreign teachers also tended to report greater improvement in their speaking ability.

Teacher characteristics produced less consistent relationships. Teachers’ educational qualifications were not significantly related to the other variables examined. However, in the face-to-face implementation, teachers’ length of service showed a significant negative correlation with students’ speaking ability (r = −.532, p < .05). This relationship did not appear in the online implementation. The paper consequently emphasized the importance of the student-teacher relationship rather than assuming that formal qualifications or longer teaching experience necessarily translate into stronger perceived speaking outcomes.

Overall, the study concluded that English conversation lounges can remain effective even when delivered virtually. Both face-to-face and online formats were perceived as providing meaningful opportunities for English practice while helping students develop more positive attitudes toward foreign teachers. Because students’ attitudes toward their teachers were positively associated with speaking ability, the researchers stressed the importance of rapport, trust, and meaningful interaction between students and foreign English teachers. They further recommended that universities consider online conversation lounges as a means of reaching students who may be unable to participate regularly in face-to-face sessions.

Research Contribution

The study contributes to research on out-of-class language learning and technology-mediated English-language education by providing a direct comparison of the same university conversation-lounge program before and during its transition to online delivery. Conducted across the 2019 and 2020 implementations, it captures an unusual natural transition brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrates that students and teachers perceived both delivery modes as similarly beneficial.

Its findings also highlight an important pedagogical dimension of language learning: the quality of the relationship students develop with their foreign teachers may matter alongside the mode through which instruction or interaction occurs. The strong positive associations between students’ attitudes toward foreign teachers and speaking ability in both face-to-face and online environments provide empirical support within this study for designing conversation programs around meaningful interaction and rapport rather than technology alone.

Keywords: English lounges, speaking ability, attitude toward foreign teachers, teachers’ educational qualification, teachers’ length of service

Publication Information

The paper was published in the proceedings of the 2021 Second International Conference on Innovative Technology Convergence (CITC). The proceedings carry IEEE publication information, and the paper was assigned DOI 10.1109/CITC54365.2021.00011.

Full Text

The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.