Innovation in Language Learning

The University of Veracruz considers the educational experiences (EE) of Language 1 and Language 2 as mandatory for all its students. One of these EE is English 1 which is offered in different modalities such as in-person, blended, virtual and autonomous. The virtual modality has become relevant in recent years due to its flexibility in time and schedules. However, the practice of oral expression in this type of learning environment is often complicated for some students who have difficulties to practice the language synchronously. Therefore, this research paper aims at describing an intervention project designed to provide asynchronous oral practice opportunities for virtual students. The strategy was carried out through the qualitative action research methodology and consisted of performing self-recordings of different conversations with the basic contents of the course in the target language to improve the pronunciation and fluency of the students. The strategy resulted in a significant improvement of the participants’ oral production as well as a good level of performance in their final exam and a positive opinion about this pedagogical intervention.

Keywords: self-recording, oral production, pedagogical strategy.