INTRODUCTION

Speaking skill is one of the components evaluated as a proficient user of the English language. It is also part of the MUET paper in which it is compulsory for students to take before applying to further their studies in local universities as it is part of their academic criteria to be accepted into the university. 

As limited hours is allocated for speaking activities and taking into account the number of students in a class, it is thus difficult for lecturers to be able to observe and evaluate every single individual’s speaking performance and also provide constant feedback. This, in turn, might present a demotivating factor for the students as they do not get the feedback to correct their errors and improve their speech or the content of the speech topic given. 

Students are discouraged from further practices as they do not see the purpose of practising without guidance and feedback from the lecturers. In addition, weak students might have a higher tendency to not or limit their participation in speaking when the discussion is dominated by more proficient users or of the fear of getting it wrong publicly. This has led us to look for tools in which we are able to record their speaking practices and provide individual feedback to each student’s speaking performances. 

We have then introduced GOOGLE CLASSROOM which is a virtual classroom alongside with the normal traditional physical classroom that we have implemented in the lessons of class S1K4T4 with a total of 18 students. This virtual classroom allows lecturers to keep a detailed record of the speaking practices that have been assigned to them, allows students to upload their audio or video recording of the speaking practices and feedback can be given individually. It also provides a grading system (optional) which allows the lecturer to award a mark on the assignments which they have submitted. Comments and feedback could be given to the respective individuals (with the purpose of privacy as students might shy away if feedback was viewed publicly) or publicly on the main assignment page. Student’s submission of work can be compiled and shared to the whole class if required as peer learning materials.

Keywords: Google Classroom, virtual classroom, speaking practices