PHONE-BASED INTERACTION (PBI) AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: A CASE STUDY OF AN ADULT'S ENGLISH LEARNING IN EFL CONTEXT

摘要

For the last two decades, phone-based English interaction (PBI) has been a highly popular way of improving English oral proficiency in Korea. However, no empirical research on its effectiveness has been conducted, which is precisely the purpose of this case study. The current case study closely examined the pedagogical benefits of PBI with regard to EFL learners' development of second/foreign language (L2) communication competence (CC), which involves grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence. The results of this study support that PBI facilitates an authentic L2 context to interact in highly intensive one-on-one conversation, and it contributes to learners' sociolinguistic and discourse competence very significantly. Also, the present study suggests that PBI's provision of a private sphere to interact with an English speaker can effectively encourage EFL learners, who have low willingness to communicate, to participate in L2 conversation more actively.