AsiaCALL Online Journal Received: 03/01/2021 ISSN 1936-9859; https://asiacall.info/acoj Revision: 28/01/2021 Vol. 12, No. 2, 2021 Accepted: 05/02/2021 pp. 58-71 Online: 06/02/2021 58 Improving English Speaking Ability Through E-Learning Su Ai Anh Thu1*, Cao Thi Xuan Tu1, Le Do Lam Vy1, Nguyen Le Ngoc Trinh1, Nguyen Thi Lan Anh1 1Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City *Corresponding author’s email: khanhhang61@gmail.com Abstract E-learning is an alternative approach to education, which mentions the utilization of information and transmission technologies to allow the way to online learning. Many previous studies have compared E- learning with face-to-face learning to determine the benefits and drawbacks of each method and see if they could substitute the other. However, few studies examined whether e-learning affects English as Foreign Language (EFL) in speaking skill; some were successful in investigating, but some were not. In order to fill this gap, this study demonstrates the effectiveness of e-learning in improving English speaking ability. The researchers used a random sampling method with twenty questionnaires and five questions to interview to achieve the goal. Participants were fifty junior students of the Faculty of Foreign Language who had two years of experience of studying speaking skills at Van Lang University (VLU) in Ho Chi Minh City. The procedure of collecting results lasted two weeks, and data collection was analyzed based on the results presented in the chart. These findings shed light on the difficult factor students encountered when speaking English and highlight development-speaking ability progression via E-learning. Keywords: E-learning, speaking ability, traditional learning, EFL INTRODUCTION Background of the study According to Kauffman (2015) [13], the improvement of technology, involving the internet, has influenced education provision over the world. Therefore, educators sought a new technique of learning based on technology, which is called 'E-learning'. E-learning has become a popular form of training all over the world for many years (Bui et al., 2020). Some developed and developing countries have been using traditional and E-learning to facilitate students' learning environments. Allen and Seaman (2004) reported that most students in the USA attended at least one online class, and about 91% of the public schools in the USA offered online classes (cited in Bonk and Zheng). According to Bui et al. 2020, E-learning is an impressive and highly powerful way of learning and a very appropriate approach to meet society's requirements. E-learning is defined as an instructional approach where the teachers and students are divided by distance and by time (Boyette, 2008) [4] and mainly access to learning knowledge via the applying of technology (Benson, 2002; Carliner, 2004; Conarad, 2002; Moore et al. 2010). E-learning refers to using content distribution tools such as a personal computer and smartphones to interact and take part in a diversity of educational activities (Boyette, 2010). Therefore, online learning offers some advantages that traditional learning does not. Online education provides convenience and flexibility in time and space, especially for those learners who want to balance work, school, and family mailto:khanhhang61@gmail.com ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 59 (Kauffman, 2015) [13]. Furthermore, online students can be motivated through (or by) self-learning and self- directed (Kauffman, 2015) [13]. English has indeed become the international language, thereby increasing the demands of learning English. As English is worldwide, according to Boonkit (2010) [3], he suggested that English speaking competence should be advanced together with other skills (listening, reading, and writing) so that both native learners and foreign learners could develop interaction accomplishment. Speaking is one of the four main compulsory skills in English, which is used as a means of transmission, especially when learners are not interacting in their native language (Boonkit, 2010) [3]. Speaking integrated with writing are the two productive skills in the development of successful communication (Boonkit, 2010) [3]. Speaking skill or communicative skill plays a significant role in life; therefore, successful conservations usually provide an amount of value for both learners and business organizations (Boonkit, 2010) [3]. However, students who learn English have limited chances of speaking English outside the traditional classroom (Zhang, 2009 cited in Boonkit 2010) [3], which is why students are afraid of speaking English and unwilling to communicate with foreign speakers. Therefore, students need to spend more time practicing speaking by applying different methods, including E-learning instruments. In order to improve English speaking skills, students have the opportunity to practice speaking through electronic tools such as videos on YouTube, BBC News, Duolingo, ELSA, online dictionary, etc. All tools are free online learning, and students need to contact the internet to access software. Duolingo, according to Garcia I. (2013) [8], online learning with no cost helps students to learn English by doing some exercises. To the students, in other words, these activities assist them in becoming more active and being able to communicate confidently. To the teachers, E-learning also provides particular software to upload and make suitably material learnings (Cohen & Nycz, 2006) [5]. Teachers use PowerPoint to demonstrate and make lessons more exciting by adding videos. For E-learning, teachers become instructors and facilitators (EL- Deghaidy & Nouby, 2007) [7]. Therefore, E-learning is considered a useful tool for learning English speaking. Statement of the problem While many countries in the world have been successful by applying blended learning, which combines E- learning with face-to-face learning in education. For instance, in the United States, thirty states and further than half of the schools suggest online learning, and more than 40% of the students in high school and middle school are fascinated by online learning (Watson, 2008) [21]. Furthermore, in China, the school conditions are poor both in the developed and undeveloped regions. A larger number of students could not go to the highly regarded universities, and the universities generally lack good-condition educational sources. With rapid development, the Chinese now can offer better alternative methods in education and other basic conditions for schools and universities. It is believed that E-learning is a talented method because it advances different ways for students to interact with their teachers. On the other hand, in Vietnam, E-learning is quite strange to both learners and teachers because they prefer face-to-face learning. To Vietnamese learners, traditional learning has been a vital and successful approach in education. Nevertheless, due to the explosion of the corona epidemic over the world in early 2020, education has been seriously affected and stayed longer. In order to avoid long delaying learning, online training is considered the best choice to meet demand. From that point, some students and teachers adjust new approaches, and ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 60 then, they find some positive impacts of online learning during the process of learning and teaching. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of E-learning on the English speaking ability of college students. Significant of the study. The study proves that E-learning is beneficial for students and undergraduates who still hesitate whether to use a wonderful method to improve English speaking skills or not. According to Newton (2003), applying E- learning can improve the accessibility of the educational system and training process, enhance the quality of teaching and learning, and alter higher education institutions to maintain the advantages in a transformation for students undergraduates. LITERATURE REVIEW What is e-learning? Moore et al. (2010) stated that the definition of e-learning is not specific; the authors refer to a certain definition of e-learning based on their own observations in their studies. In 2003, Nichols defined E-learning as accessible using electronic tools such as web-based, web-distributed, and web-capable. While in the study of Manocher (2006), e-learning was referred to using the use of processes to learn and electronic applications like computer-based learning, web-based learning, digital collaboration, and virtual classrooms. As well, in a website, ISP (2004) reported that the content of e-learning is delivered via the CD-ROM, TV, Internet, and Intranet with multimedia capabilities. However, Triacca (2004 cited in Moore et al., 2010) presented that e- learning was a kind of online learning. According to Stockey (2003), E-learning is a curriculum program that involves using electronic means to deliver learning material. E-learning was the first internet-based training broadly used in education since the mid-1990s (Solak & Cakir, 2014) [19]. As a result of model alteration from traditional classrooms to e- learning classrooms, Solak & Cakir (2014) [19] report that students who take responsibility for learning prefer online learning despite arguing whether face-to-face learning is better than e-learning. Many previous research studies have compared the function of e-learning and traditional learning, and the purpose of this study is to verify the sight of English language learners towards e-learning and face to face learning, at the same time, determine the role of academic accomplishment, which is the output of education (Solak & Cakir, 2014) [19]. Hence, researchers found that there are many notions of e-learning. Nevertheless, in this study, e-learning is defined that students use electronic devices to support their learning, such as computers, laptops, and smartphones through websites or applications. Some difficulties in English speaking skills. Al-Eiadeh, Al.Sobh, Al-Zoubi, & Al-Khasawneh (2016) [2] reported that many students have difficulties in speaking English, such as misunderstanding and lack of confidence because they did not practice speaking sessions accurately in school. They do not know how to practice speaking effectively or use it in communication. Besides, there is a limited amount of vocabulary among students. Because most Vietnamese classes are big, both teachers and students hardly communicate in English. Instead, they only focus on reading skills and grammatical lessons. Furthermore, students are afraid of speaking English. According to Hosni (2014) [11], students have no object to explain themselves and lack confidence about their pronunciation. Therefore, Nakhlah (2016) [17] ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 61 recommends creating an environment for learning and stimulating students to speak English smoothly to improve advanced English speaking. But in this study, the researchers only concentrate on five factors that strongly influence students’ speaking ability. 1. Pronunciation 2. Vocabulary 3. Stress 4. Intonation 5. Undetermined: grammar, structure, miscomprehension Some effects of E-learning on English speaking skills. Mohammadi, Ghorbani, & Hamidi (2011) [15] proved E-learning's effects in learning a language. Through some advantages of E-learning, they found that it is like a communicative method of learning languages, which gives learners opportunities to interact with learners peacefully. They are able to use electronic devices and study whatever they want. According to this study, the teachers can use sounds, pictures, and actions on the televisions to attract learners' attention. Sometimes, online games are also language teaching devices. By using this method, learners easily study vocabulary and practice pronunciation. In addition, learners use the internet and multimedia technologies to study English. For instance, learners can look up new vocabulary via online dictionary websites, practice speaking through videos on YouTube, or enhance various listening, reading, and writing papers. In conclusion, it is believed that e-learning is a useful method for learning the language. Previous research studies Many previous researchers have compared the function of E-learning and traditional learning. Students in the combined courses were more motivated and supported by their teachers, and the course was likely to create higher learning consequences. The participants' higher academic accomplishment gets positive views towards e-learning. Besides, students' attitudes toward e-learning depend on what they perceive as benefits and drawbacks to this educational method. According to Zabadi and Al-Alawi (2016) [22], factors such as endurance, self-awareness, the facility to use soft wares, the good technological ability to manage time affect attitudes of students toward e-learning, so that attitudes can be positive if the new educational method is suitable for students. On the other hand, Bhatia (2011 cited in Zabadi and Al-Alawi) [22] states that the attitudes can be negative if the students are unable to fit into the new system because they do not have the necessary set of traits. Al-Eiadeh et al. (2016) [2] found some suitable ways to recover limitations in English speaking ability are recorded by using various media, such as a recording device or a smartphone with a recording application. Then, the interview questions and the student answers are written down on paper, and hard duplicated for statistical analysis. The result indicated that other researchers should conduct studies at many different universities to compare similarities and differences in teaching speaking skills. And in the second study, the researchers advised that students should use modern majority media such as Facebook, YouTube, Duolingo, and so on. According to the research study of Shen and Suwanthep (2011) [20], they surveyed to investigate ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 62 how E-learning constructive role-plays influences on speaking skills of Chinese learners in the seminary classes via New Horizon College English (NHCE) e-learning. Data collection was assembled by using speaking pretests and post-tests, students recording analysis, questionnaires, and interviews lasting 18 weeks. The participants were 300 junior undergraduate students with non-English major enrolling in college English advanced classes. The students were divided into three groups based on high, medium, and low language proficiency level terms. After the scores from their previous English final exams and English pretests, 260 students were selected and randomly allocated into an experimental group of 130 students and a control group of 130 students. While the experimental group worked in a constructive role in the one-hour computer lab class, the control group worked with the present behavioral role in NHCE e-learning in the one-hour computer lab class. After 18 weeks, both groups were required to take the speaking post-tests to determine the role's effects on their performances. The results can be examined in terms of speaking performance, language productivity, and students' attitudes toward applying constructive role play. It is proved that the e-learning constructive role plays have a positive effect on improving the speaking performance of the students in the experimental group at all language proficiency levels. Moreover, data collection from questionnaires expressed that students are interested in learning language through e-learning constructive role plays and the process of learning to speak English more collaboratively and enjoyable. The majority of the students also agreed that constructive e-learning role plays provided valuable information on how to speak English. From the results of the study, the researchers proved that e-learning constructive role plays have a positive effect on students' improvement in English speaking. Besides some previous studies investigating E-learning's effectiveness in improving English speaking ability, some studies also indicated that EFL learners also recover the factors like vocabulary or pronunciation, which seem to be important to learn a second language. The study of Ahmadi (2012) stated that vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in learning foreign languages. In addition, Zhang and Anual (2008 cited in Ahmadi, 2012) examined the connection between vocabulary knowledge and foreign language learning. The results indicated a strong, meaningful relationship between learning a foreign language and vocabulary knowledge. According to a study by Stahl and Nagy (2006 cited in Ahmadi, 2012), learning vocabulary is difficult. Therefore, Ahmadi found a solution to improve foreign language vocabulary through reciprocal teaching methods. The goal of this study is to identify whether mutual teaching methods enhance learners' vocabulary or not. As well, Ahmadi defined vocabulary into two forms, one is oral vocabulary, in which words are spoken and read verbally, and the other is printed vocabulary, which learners understand when they are reading or writing. Accordingly, the better comprehension of vocabulary definition is, the better comprehension of the whole description of the content would provide. In addition, Ahmadi stated that the reciprocal teaching method is one of the successful approaches in teaching foreign languages and also provides learners environment learning to improve students' learning level. This method points out reading skills, reading motivation, and vocabulary learning. The mutual teaching method has four strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. Each strategy has its own benefit, but in general, they help students motivate in reading and have a clear set of goals in learning vocabulary. In addition, teachers have to prepare new vocabulary, hold up students' activities, and adopt reciprocal teaching strategies to improve various topics of vocabulary for students. For example, to memorize words for a long time, teachers should include some pictures or colors which describe the vocabulary to make it easier to learn vocabulary. Therefore, the teacher's teaching strategy can help and improve the vocabulary in which students have difficulty. Consequently, the result of this study ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 63 indicated that the reciprocal teaching method has significantly positive effects on improving vocabulary. Pronunciation features should be recovered as well. According to Scriven (2005 cited in Yangklang, 2013) reports that it is important for undergraduates to learn more pronunciation because they need to understand more in English. Furthermore, intonation is also a significant feature that helps learners know when speakers complete their point (Harmer, 2007 cited in Yangklang, 2013). About 2,800 were undergraduates who applied English Foundation I course taught by e-learning. Learning goals are the undergraduate's feeling and attitude toward e-learning programs. The undergraduates will be checked pronunciation by the speaking test in that program. A questionnaire was used to examine after the post-test to evaluate the students' learning. Relied on the students' scores, the researchers summarized that students agree that E-learning is worthy and able to help them boost their pronunciation strongly. This study represented the undergraduates' pronunciation ability after using e-learning. Speaking is a macro language skill that is actively used to convey messages and meanings (Hosni, 2014, Afshar & Asakereh, 2016, & Leong & Ahmadi, 2017). The dissemination of English as a language requires learners to achieve communicative competencies for various practical purposes (Copland, Garton, & Burn, 2014). And speaking in the EFL context is not an easy task; researchers from English contexts such as Foreign Languages (EFL) choose a solution to develop students' speaking English skills. In this study, researchers synthesized studies performed from 2013 to 2018, nearly six years in different contexts. This study aims to identify English-speaking learning problems EFL learners face as related to curriculum, teaching methods, learning activities, psychology, and testing systems. Research on EFL learners' speaking problems is in non- native language contexts. They need to communicate a lot with foreigners by directly or indirectly communicating through social networking sites to increase their speaking English reflexes. In addition, teachers and administrators also need to provide learners-appropriate methods and curricula (EFL) so that they can improve their speaking skills most effectively. English speaking skill is one of the main goals in most Vietnamese universities' English language curriculum. However, it remains a challenge for many undergraduates, especially freshmen of Can Tho University (CTU) in Vietnam. In order to help first-year English majoring students learn their speaking skills more effectively, this study explored difficulties in teaching and learning in the English language from 131 students, interviews with lecturers, and classroom observations. The paper by Gan (2012) explored students' obstacles to speaking skills specialized in English and found that students encountered some problems such as lack of vocabulary, focus on a lot of grammatical structures, no opportunity to speak English in class and outside environments. According to Kabir (2014) and Izadi (2015) 's research, they are recommended for both Faculty and administrators to provide support to improve students' speaking practice. For example, teachers and administrators should encourage students to improve their English by organizing activities such as English rhetoric, English speaking contest, or presentations in English. In addition, timely findings from learners' weaknesses in English speaking and suggest the need for teacher readiness support by diversifying their teaching activities. In 2011, Bashir, Azeem & Dogar reported that using short conversations and asking some short queries could improve students' English speaking skills in classrooms. Teachers could give students dialogues and show structure for them to repeat. They also designed a survey to investigate the influences that affect English speaking skills of secondary level students. All the teachers and students of 9 to 10 grades in Punjab's province were the participants in the study. The investigators will give them questionnaires, which are respectively designed to fill. The data collection will be organized in tabular form with a particularly calculated percentage. Relied on the result, the interactive techniques are used by both teachers and students ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 64 during the course. This study also counseled that teachers should boost more English culture of communication in the course and inspire students to speak English with their friends. According to Liao (2009), she reported that integrated skills mixed with listening, writing, reading, and speaking would boost students' speaking ability. She also showed the problems that in China, teachers concentrated too much on reading and writing, so that speaking was not emphasized. Furthermore, teaching activities are not exciting because they depend on traditional styles, which were all on the papers, and the students are not inspired. Examinations and tests also do not include speaking skills. The same as China, Vietnam also has the same method in teaching English speaking skills. The students do not consider speaking as an important skill because they rarely have opportunities to speak with native speakers. In addition, most entrance exams of high schools and universities do not include speaking tests. In fact, speaking skill is important to express feelings and information and improve writing and reading skill. If teachers are not good at speaking, it is impossible to emphasize speaking skills in the class. Instead, they use dialogues of native speakers to bring authentic accents. By combining four skills in activities, the teachers bring chances to perform the oral activities. The researchers conduct a class with integrating skills by giving students clues. They also use questionnaires to obtain data collection or let students work in pairs to conduct quizzes with factual answers. On the other hand, in 2018, Lumettu and Runtuwene have reported a way of teaching English is called 'Impromptu speaking' method, which is conservation with little or no preparation. They conducted a survey to investigate this method's effects and compare it with total memorization. The participants were the students of the Tourism Department of Manado State University. They used qualitative methods and some techniques to gather the data, such as inspection, interviews, and papers. The students were divided into two groups; each group had ten members. One group applied the 'Impromptu speaking' method, and others learned by heart the full text. Based on the result, 'Impromptu speaking' was effective in flowing and natural because students could use their imaginations to speak. However, the other group was mostly unsuccessful because students were anxious when they could not remember the words or sentences. Hence, this study counseled that this amazing method should be applied more in improving students' English speaking skills. Research Questions 1. Which difficulties do students have in improving speaking skills? 2. How do students use E-learning to improve their difficulties? 3. Is there any effect of e-learning on students? METHODOLOGY Research context and participants. This survey was conducted at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Van Lang University, one of the principal majors in higher education coaching. Each year, the number of candidates applying in the Faculty is more than eight hundred students. Thus, the number of classes is increasing. During the first two years, with the English language, students had to learn four compulsory skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing in order to acquire output standards. Students are also trained in four optional majors: business, ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 65 teaching, tourism, and translation. During the curriculums, the Faculty has organized some contests such as Foreign Language Contest (FOLA Contest) and the speaking English contest to help students communicate confidently and improve speaking skills and essential skills. In particular, to facilitate students to study abroad, the Faculty co-operates with International University to obtain a Master degree and Ph.D. in some countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. Sampling method These survey participants were 50 third-year students who have completed two years of studying English speaking skills. Their ages average from 20 to 23. They improve their English speaking skills with upgraded infrastructure such as computers, projectors, smartphones, etc., every day. This survey was conducted with random sampling, which was a probability sampling technique and convenient sampling. It took two weeks to collect answers and information. In week 1, fifty students were given questionnaires through a group of the Faculty's third years on Facebook. The questionnaires were designed on Google form, which is a tool for conducting surveys. In a second week, ten random students were picked to interview. After collecting answers from 2 weeks, the answers were divided into five factors, which are the difficulties in English speaking skill: Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Stress, Intonation, and Undetermined. All these questions are aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of e-learning in improving students’ difficulties in English speaking ability. Research procedure All the assembled data will answer two main research questions. It is simple for students to answer the questions, and questionnaires are flexible and multiform. The questionnaires can be printed on paper and extensively shared on Facebook. There are 20 questions, 10 of which will ask issues related to e-learning and students’ comprehension of e-learning, and the others are about difficulties in speaking English and how to improve English speaking through e-learning. Also, students’ names are perceived as anonymous to guarantee their privacy. There are 10 questions for the interview, which clarify the problems students face when speaking and improving English. All answers in the interview were recorded. The more questions were sent and shared, the higher the response rate the researchers have. Kučírková and Jarkovská (2016) [14] claimed that a high response rate also evaluates the accuracy of the study. Data collection and analysis Answers collected from questionnaires and interviews were gathered to analyze. The questionnaires are the process of gathering quantitative, and the interviews are qualitative. The purpose of quantitative questions was to discover how difficulties students have in speaking English. The purpose of qualitative questions was to find out how effectively students improve speaking skills through e-learning. The researchers analyzed the data through software and displayed the graphs or figures' data. The researchers show data by percentages or average in relation to quantitative data. ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 66 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Research question 1: Which difficulties do students have in improving speaking skills? The purpose of the paper's first research question is to discover difficulties students have in speaking English, and the data collection indicates that almost (95%) students in this survey get hardship to communicate in English. In order to recognize elements, the researchers gave the students five aspects as pronunciation, vocabulary, stress, intonation, and undetermined to decide which elements students encounter when speaking. In the circumstance, the supposition was precise; the study could explore how students improve all these skills in speaking English through e-learning. Chart 1 presents the comparison of the percentages of these five factors. Chart 1. The percentages of five factors Chart 1 shows the results of the percentages of five elements students find difficulty in speaking; thus, these also cause a lack of confidence when communicating (55%). As can be seen, in a number of difficulties, two factors with high percentages were pronunciation (70%) and vocabulary (50%). The other factors are the average proportion of 31.6%. This result indicated that most students have difficulty pronunciation and vocabulary, which blocks them from speaking English. Chart 2. The most complicated factors students find difficult in speaking English. 70% 50% 35% 40% 20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Factors 22% 32%13% 20% 13% THE MOST COMPLICATED FACTORS Pronunciation Vocabulary Stress Intonation ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 67 However, according to the most complicated factors present in chart 2, vocabulary takes up the highest proportion with 32% whilst pronunciation has a second position with 22%. The other factors also seemed to be difficult but not worth considering as getting a low average proportion with nearly 15%. Basically, it can be concluded that both vocabulary and pronunciation are the significantly difficult factors of speaking English skills. These results resemble previous research, such as Gilakjani (2011) [10] claimed that pronunciation is one of the most significant factors of a personality's communication. Bad pronunciation is unable to listen and leads to misunderstanding. Therefore, this conclusion was the foundation for the study to explore how students improve English speaking skills through e-learning. Research question 2: How do students use E-learning to improve their difficulties? At the second research question of the study regarding how students use e-learning to improve their speaking English skills, the researchers aimed to ask about e-learning instruments and the progression of enhancing the difficulties in speaking. Table 1 presents the e-learning instruments and educational applications. Table 1. The E-learning instruments. Instruments cellular phone 65% computer 35% Table 1 shows the results of the e-learning instruments and education applications. As can be seen from the table, most students use cellular phones (65%) for studying while the other students choose computers (35%). The result showed that a large number of students often use cellular phones for learning because cellular phones are convenient to bring out and full of necessary functions. Computers are also chosen to learn but less than cellular phones. Chart 3. Apps for e-learning 55% 5% 15% 17% 8% APPLICATIONS RELEATED LEANRING ENGLISH YouTube Duolingo ELSA T-Flat Others ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 68 Hence, 85% of the respondents get the applications of education related to studying English. The researchers highlighted some applications as characteristic models such as YouTube, ELSA, Duolingo, and T-Flats for students. Table 1 indicates that students often apply YouTube (55%) for improving speaking skills and use T- Flat (17,5%) for learning languages. Subsequently, it can be assumed that students tend to utilize e-learning as an instrument for studying. The study also found that 70% of respondents learn vocabulary through movies or TV shows, 75% of those learn vocabulary by listening to a song or reading a journal. Especially, nearly 93% of students often repeat the impressive sentences in the movies that help students practice pronunciation. These results resemble preceding study such as Kar, Saha, & Mondal (2014) [12] and Celee-Murica (2001) found that students in university had an auspicious and agreeing attitude towards accepting e-learning strategy for studying; thus, the study revealed that listening and speaking could expand English speaking skill. Research question 3: Is there any effect of e-learning on students? For the third research question of the study regarding whether e-learning is effective in improving English speaking skills, researchers ran a simple interview to determine the result of the improvement procedure. Chart 4. Improvement of skills As can be seen from the data in chart 4, vocabulary is the most developed factor with 50%. Pronunciation is also improved but not as significant as vocabulary with 33%, while other factors are not outstanding advancement, especially stress with 0%. Hence, the researchers could conclude that students can improve their vocabulary and pronunciation through e-learning effectively. However, the study figured out that e- learning is just effective in two factors above when others are not improved. At the second interview question, the respondents are asked about which factors students want to improve first. Most of them choose the two-first-factors: vocabulary and pronunciation. Half of them improve vocabulary first, and the others improve pronunciation. When asking about the reasons why respondents chose that factor to improve first in the third interview question, the respondents offer many reasons. Firstly, they seriously lack vocabulary; some consider vocabulary a basic standard in speaking. On the other hand, the respondents who chose pronunciation said that having good pronunciation is the most important for listeners to comprehend. From the result, the researchers concluded that vocabulary and pronunciation are 33% 50% 0.00% 8.30% 8% Series 1 ACOJ- ISSN 1936-9859 AsiaCALL Online Journal Vol. 12, No. 2; 2020 69 the most important and priority factors in speaking English skills. At the fourth review question, the researchers asked respondents what advantages and disadvantages that they found in e-learning. Most claimed that the network is too weak for them to access the materials, limitation in interactions among learners, less concentration on the lessons, and less satisfaction. In contrast, they also pointed out some advantages of e-learning that are convenient, saving time and money, and flexible. The researchers could assume that e-learning has both benefits and drawbacks. Discussion This result is the same as the study of Gilakjnai (2011) [10], who found that many English foreign language learners have crucial difficulty with English pronunciation and vocabulary while learning for many years. More importantly, the use of e-learning positively influences on improving English speaking skills. The progress of enhancement could take a long time, but the improvement ability is significantly increasing. These seem to maintain the view about the advantages of e-learning because it encourages students to self- discipline and gain more knowledge through the lessons on videos and dialogue. The result of Rodrigues and Vethamani (2015) found that e-learning helps to increase language proficiency and boost students' confidence. Hence, Rodrigues and Vethamani (2015) recommended that e-learning be combined in English language programs because it improves oral skills among learners. CONCLUSION In conclusion, this study successfully replied to all the research questions that discovered the effectiveness of e-learning in improving English speaking skills. Using cellular phones, computers, and some educational applications can enhance the ability to speak. However, the study has some limitations. The researchers just focus on five difficult factors of speaking, and that did not figure out all other complicated aspects of whether the respondents can increase self-confidence to communicate. Besides, the number of the participants is very low, with 50 people, which cannot claim the effects of e-learning in improving English speaking, and the researchers need more participants. 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