Abstract

This research focuses on the perceptions of students about TED talk videos and their effects on speaking skills. This study follows an experimental research design. The researchers, by using the purposive sampling technique, took a sample of 50 undergraduate students studying in SE college, Bahawalpur. A questionnaire was proposed to know the learner's perception about videos and a speaking test was also conducted as an instrument for data collection. The data was analyzed using SPSS. The findings of the study showed that the average mean value for the questionnaire was 4.36, with an SD value of 0.89.  The researchers estimated that in the control group p-value is larger than 0.05 both in pretest and post-test. Similarly, the experimental group p-value is also larger than 0.05 in pretest but smaller than 0.05 in post-test.  They finally concluded that TED Talk videos were very helpful for undergraduate learners.

Key Words

Advancement in Technology, TED Talks, Speaking Skills, TED Talks, and Speaking Skills

Introduction

In this era of globalization, English is the bridging language which is the medium of communication between all the communities and the nations who do not share a common language. Thus, it has gained the status of "Lingua Franca."  It is seen that the world language English  is learned and taught  both as a foreign as well as a second  language even in the countries where it has no native speakers. English is divided into four skills. Out of these four skills, two are productive, and two are receptive skills.

Four Language Skills

Speaking skills are one of four competencies of the English language. Speaking is the phenomenon of speech production, and it is an inseparable part of human life (Thornbury,2005). To the extent that a second language is concerned, the mastery of speaking skills is the most difficult among all four language skills. According toLeong & Ahmadi (2017), ESL students find more difficulty in developing speaking competence because they have to excelseveralsubstantial components in terms of grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, pronunciation, and fluency in the target language. Therefore, ESL students face many difficulties while learning to speak fluently and efficiently in the target language (Dimyati, 1989). These issues are caused by both internal and external factors. The learners' attitude, skills, and motivations are internal elements, and family, environment, and educational institutions are external variables.

Speaking allows people to share their opinions, feelings, and messages as well as receive information from others. The ability to converse in a second or foreign language is seen as an essential skill for all ESL learners (Hamuddin, Syahdan, Rahman, Rianita, & Derin, 2019). Furthermore, English is the most frequently spoken language on the earth, according to Demirel(2012). Despite the fact that other foreign languages have more speakers, English continues to be the central language since it is not only used as the language of individuals who speak other languages, but it also accounts for more than half of all information in cyberspace(Junaidi, Hamuddin, Julita, Rahman, & Derin, 2020). Though speaking skills have much importance in learning any language but teaching English speaking skills has always been a difficult assignment for instructors due to the reason that the English language has been spoken as well as taught as a second language.

English is often utilized in official and formal learning environments like presentations or academic goals like analysis (Yudar, Gowasa, &Nursafira, 2019). It is for this reason that teachers must constantly seek out and execute teaching solutions to address skill-related issues regarding classroom-oriented (RO, 2019 & Susilo, 2019. Students require continual practice in the same environment in order to improve their speech expression and language skills.

Students' ability to improve their speaking proficiencies is influenced by a number of things. These traits may effects how successfully learners present their oral and spoken proficiency during the passage of time. Their ability to communicate, whether in a private or public environment, is used to gauge their progress in learning a language. M. S. Nursafira, (2020). The first requirement is that you have a decent grasp of the English language. The non-native speaker confronts major difficulties due to minimum storage of words bank in mind and lack of understanding of tone and intonations ( Hamad, Metwally, &  Alfarque,2019). The students who are not provided the exposure of English speaking as a second language due to the non-native environment not only fail to learn vocabulary but also become helpless to learn instead of their own efforts. 

Anxiety and fear, according to AlSobhi & Preece (2018), impede progress in speaking the target language. When dealing with people, students find it challenging to maintain self-control.  It is hypothesized by Anandari (2015) about the reasons regarding anxiety that it is a complicated issue and it causes fundamental aspects in genesis anxiety due to the learners' involvement of the psychological state. This is why many students fear speaking skills, especially those who lack self-confidence, affecting their ability to communicate in English. Aside from these two variables, technology has an impact on pupils' speaking abilities (Derin & Hamuddin, 2019).

Literature Review

The skills in spoken proficiency are the most important as well as challenging skills for undergraduate students to learn.  SARI (2018) explains that language speaking is an excess of constructing and sharing meaning with the help of paralinguistic and linguistics features in different situations and circumstances.  The main aim behind teaching such kinds of skills is to develop abilities among students to speak effectively in language which they have learned..

 Nunan (1989) has said that conversation is measured fruitful if it delivers the phonological aspects of the language in an understandable way, understanding intonation patterns, accents, and rhythms, intensifies good fluency, managing interactions, discussing meanings, and improves spoken listening skills. Numerous presentations by various speakers, including English speaking as first as well as a second language, on a variety of issues e.g. cultural, political, scientific, and academic topics, have been made available through TED Talks, which can inform millions of people. TED is a free and open online learning media platform. The TED Talks series is known as a collection of public lectures delivered by speakers who are not related to the professional domains (Kedrowicz& Taylor, 2016).

TED Talks have become one of the most prominent forms of the modern era. The TED Talk, along with video lectures, is also available in masses to understand it. Thus, it is also feasible to be achieved original materials for learning speaking skills. The original nature of the TED presentation allows students to be exposed to real-life presentations (Aleles& Hall, 2016).

It is one of the most popular sites for acquiring information for presentations, according to Cong-lem (2018). The TED Talks series has risen to prominence as the new gold standard for public speaking. Not only have TED Talks been made available on video, but a number of books have been written to help people imitate TED presenters. As a result, communication skills can be very easily improved by using TED Talks.

Talking is the creation of speech that is an ornament for individuals to maintain daily life (Thornbury, 2005). Talking in various languages, e.g., mother tongue or foreign language, is one of the abilities that EFL students at the university should develop. In truth, EFL students have some difficulties learning to speak. These issues were caused by both internal and external factors (Dimyati, 1989). The pupils' attitude, skill, and drive were the internal elements. Meanwhile, family, environment, and university were external factors. The challenges that EFL students had were due to the lecturer's use of media. The media employed remained boring as if it were a handbook of speaking topics (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007).

Communication is the primary purpose of learning any language. Speech, in this sense, is a crucial component regarding oral engagement that logically meanings are conveyed by words, phrases, and expressions.  The basic prestige of foreign language speaking is that students, as well as EFL teachers, aim to improve. At the same time, as a lingua franca in international relations, speaking English is an important talent that may be used in and out of the classroom.

Furthermore, speech has traditionally been regarded as the most crucial of the four language abilities that EFL students must acquire. It is also argued by Ur and Khamkhein (2010)   that language use is a skill which is production oriented and it plays an important matter in language development, particularly because it detects the mistakes of learners during the use of language as well as it surveys all the capabilities linked with language learning.

Nowadays, audiovisual media is widely used as a tool for educational purposes. Endahati & Purwanto (2016) states that audiovisual media aids language learners in various ways. It not only motivates them but also help them in developing good fluency in spoken English. To summarize this, it can be said that teachers should use audiovisual aids in order to maximize the speaking skills of ESL learners. TED is considered the basic resource in audiovisual techniques available on computer-oriented media websites, e.g., YouTube, etc. TED Talks covers a wide range of topics, including scientific, cultural, political, and academic challenges, and millions of people can learn from them. According to Sailun&Idayani (2018), TED Talks is a forum that informs, educates, and inspires students and may be used in the environment of studying.  It is also said by them that the TED Talks are very accommodated to students to improve their language and presentation skills significantly. According to a study done by Aleles & Hall (2016), students' determination and enthusiasm are enhanced with the help of TED Talks for the improvements of their skills.

TED is a non-profitable organization that indorses the spread of ideas through concise, influential talks. TED, which developed as a conference in 1984 and it brought nearer to entertainment, technology, and design. It includes nearly every topic in over the storages of hundred plus languages. It covers science, business and communication according to the demand of modern world challenges. TED Talks received its one billionth video review in the fall of 2012. TED Talks continues to be watched around the world, and it has a satisfactory ratio of seventeen pages looked in a second-round the globe. It is described by Pell (2015)  According to Pell (2015), it is conveyed that the English of students can be improved their language skills at home  by using TED simultaneously. It is also clarified that how teachers can promote the performance of students in classroom settings with the help of it.  In the recent decade, technology and internet services have advanced dramatically, and language instruction has benefited as a result (Hashimoto, Fakuda & Okazaki, 2015).

In a research analysis completed in 2018, Mara et al. (2018) found that students from Colombia who were utilized as research samples gave positive replies. In terms of student participation, TED Conversations enable students to speak in a range of cultural, social, and political situations (Takaesu, 2013). Students can also make inferences about what they believe about a given issue based on the speaker's experience. If they are in dispute, they can use the expressions they learn from watching TED Talks support their positions. Students are also more eager to attend English classes. Many TED Talks deal with motivational topics which justify these strategies that teachers can enhance the learning desire of students ( DaVia Rubenstein,2012).

In addition, the self-confidence of students in expressing their ideas is built, and they can express their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about socio-cultural matters with the help of it very well.  Furthermore, students are helped in pronunciation with the assistance of TED Talks in many countries, and it justifies that it is very suitable to help the students in learning effective spoken English. He also added that if you continue to train, you will really achieve perfection.  So it can understand that TED Talks is the best information computer technology source for language learning, and it is very supportive in promoting skills that are linked with speaking, e.g., pronunciation, confidence, and grammar (Salem, 2019).

Based on the above statements, the researchers chose one of the new media tools that can help learners solve speech learning problems.  TED is a short form of three words, i.e., Technology, Entertainment, and Design which is called an abbreviation.  Less than eighteen minutes of talk on TED                has the power to hit unique ideas which are presented in passion (Windingland, 2014). It is a way of speeches in a series by prominent and notorious people. The wide range of topics offered by TED presentations helps stimulate students' inspiration and innovative ideas (Lee et al., 2016). The difference between this study and the previous study is the implementation of TED negotiations to improve the speaking skills of EFL learners. This research is determined to evaluate the issues which are linked with student spoken proficiency, their improvements in speaking skills, and the performance of students in speech learning with the help of TED Talks in English as Foreign Language circumstances.

Questions 

1.        What are the students’ perceptions about TED talk videos?

2.       What is the effect of TED talk videos on students speaking skills?

Methodology 

This present study is quantitative in nature. The data required to support this research was collected from the sample of50 undergraduate learners, using a convenient sampling technique, studying in S.E college. The data was analyzed using a t-test and calculated using SPSS 2.4 version.

Data Collection

In collecting the data, the researcher used a questionnaire and test. The researchers firstly collected data from the learners to know their perceptions about TED talk videos by filling out a questionnaire.A test was accomplished to determine the learners' ability to communicate. According to Brown (2003), the test is a means of assessing skill and knowledge. The test consists of two tests: pretest and post-test. The second questionnaire dealt with the impact of TED talk videos on the aspect of students speaking abilities. The researchers took a pretest in which researcher asked some open-ended questions to know their early speaking abilities. After the pretest researcher-made two groups of learners: experimental and control groups. By exhibiting TED talks videos to students in the experimental that were exposed in three meetings determine the student's speaking abilities after the treatment after a few days, the researcher took pretest.

Data Analysis

Table 1. Students’ Responses towards the Effect of TED Talk Videos with Respect to Improve their Speaking Ability

From the table above, it is clear that the majority of students gave positive responses. The percentages in the first and third questions are quite high. The mean value for the first question was 5.32, and the second question was answered by 4.61. The TED Talk video is a good tool because it can increase students' interest in speaking English. As a result, students do not get bored in the learning process. 2the highest mean value was 5.61 while the lowest mean value was 3.18 that are greater than 2.55. According to the respondents, the TED Talk video had a positive effect on their public speaking skills.

Paired Sample Statistics

There was a significant difference in the Scores for Pretest for control Group 1 (M=4.4245, Sd- 1.8901), for Experimental Group 2 (M= 4.021, SD=1..432), for Posttest for Control Group 1 (M=4.21, SD=1.1053), and for Experimental Group 2 (M= 5.612, SD=.1.5218. Based on the results in table 1 it can be seen that the mean score of Pre-tests in Experiment Class was Higher than than the Pretest in Control class. Therefore, it seems that the Students'' Speaking performance was average to good.

Paired Sample t-Test

Based on the results of the test the findings expressed that the results and Conditions for pretest and posttest for control group were (M=4.4254, SD=1.72485), (M=4.021, SD=1.12316) and t (49) =-1.558, p = .126,.153 respectively. The results of pretest and posttest for experimental group (M=4.5465, SD=1.7127) and (M=5.6131, SD=.339 and t (49) = -3.386, p= .13,.0021 respectively.

Findings and Discussion

The findings of the study revealed that the students were aware of the TED Talk Videos. They found videos quite interesting. The results also show that TED Talk videos influenced the speaking skills of learners positively. They preferred to learn through media instead of traditional ways. The learners were of the view that they practiced pronunciations after

watching TED Talk videos.

Based on the results of the test the findings expressed that the results and Conditions for pretest and posttest for control group were (M=4.4254, SD=1.72485), (M=4.021, SD=1.12316) and t (49) =-1.558, p = .126,.153 respectively. The results of pretest and posttest for experimental group (M=4.5465, SD=1.7127) and (M=5.6131, SD=.339andt (49) = -3.386, p= .13,.0021 respectively. Both (the control and experimental groups) had significantly different post-test results. In posttest the learners of experimental group   achieved good marks than the learners of control group. In the pretest, the experimental group's p-value was larger than 0.05, and in the post-test, it was less than 0.05. This demonstrated that the results were reliable and that the TED movies were effective in improving speaking skills. As a result, these findings imply that TED Talk videos have an impact on learners' speaking abilities. The findings suggest that students who watched TED videos scored higher than those who did not.

Conclusion

The researchers conducted this research to determine the undergraduate learners' responses towards the application of TED Talk videos in class and to measure the effect with respect to improve their speaking ability. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researchers used questionnaires and tests a tool to collect data.The questionnaire was filled from the respondents, and the researchers took speaking proficiency test and noted the results. The learners were divided into two groups: control group and experimental group. Experimental group learners were exposed to TED Talk videos for twenty days while the control group learners were taught through traditional ways. After a period of twenty days, the researchers took language proficiency test again.From the above results, it is concluded that TED Talk videos were very helpful for undergraduate learners on the aspects of improving their speaking skills. The learners also improved pronunciation vocabulary and fluency. The learners were more inclined towards watching TED Talk lectures than reading from books. This is evident from the results that the learners who were exposed to TED Talks Video Lectures got good grades and were more fluent than the learners who were taught through traditional ways of teaching.

This Study Suggests:

·         The use of TED Talks video ESL as well as EFL learners in speaking classroom.

·         To involve greater respondents to achieve the results.

·         To conduct research on fluency and accuracy achieved due to TED Talks videos.

·         For future researchers, it is suggested to conduct research on the implementations of the TED Talks videos on other language skills