Application Note—VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and Its Future VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and its Future https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v11i6.6926 Radzuwan Ab Rashid!!", Saiful Bahri Mohamed Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia radzuwanrashid@unisza.edu.my Mohd Fazry A. Rahman Shah Alam Community College, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia Syadiah Nor Wan Shamsuddin Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia Abstract—Learning a second language is not an easy task. Learners need to have enough support in terms of learning materials in order to be successful in mastering the language. One of the common problems faced by the second lan- guage learners is the difficulty to find the learning materials to develop their speaking skills. This is in contrast to the materials for the development of other language skills, such as reading and writing which are easily accessible from bookstores and resource centers. This paper introduces an innovative applica- tion named Virtual Speaking Buddy (VirSbud) which is specially designed to help second language learners develop their speaking skills. It is hoped that this application will be a useful resource to improve the standard of speaking skills among English language learners. Keywords—Educational application, English language learning, speaking skills, VirSbud. 1 Introduction VirSbud stands for Virtual Speaking Buddy. It is an innovative application that is designed to aid young learners in learning to speak English and develop their confi- dence to use the language, which is the official second language in Malaysia. Similar to other second language users of English worldwide, many Malaysian users have problems to master speaking skills despite their ability to read and write well in the language [1],[2],[3],[4], [5]. This is perhaps due to the emphasis given in schools where reading and writing are given extra attentions by the teachers compared to the listening and speaking. In Malaysia, reading and writing are the two language skills tested in examinations for primary and secondary schools whilst listening and speak- ing are only tested when the learners sit for Malaysian University English Test (MUET) when they further their tertiary education [6]. Because of the lack of empha- 158 http://www.i-jim.org Application Note—VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and Its Future sis on these two skills, resources to develop the skills are very limited. VirSbud appli- cation is designed to address this problem so that learners are accessible to interactive application in order to develop their speaking skills. The first version of VirSbud has been tested with a group of primary school stu- dents and based on the users’ feedback, its revised version is currently being devel- oped. This paper aims to share the key characteristics of this application, how it can be used as a tool for the second language learners to develop their speaking skills, and its future development plan. 2 Key Characteristics VirSbud is designed based on two interrelated concepts: Fun Learning and Auton- omous Learning. Based on the fun learning concept, VirSbud is designed to be ap- pealing to young learners by having an animation as its main character, as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1. The animation in VirSbud The animation serves as the virtual speaking buddy to the learners. This speaking buddy invites the learners to speak to him by asking several questions to the learners. The questions are arranged according to three level of difficulties: beginner, interme- diate and advanced. An example of question for intermediate level is shown in Fig. 2. iJIM ‒ Vol. 11, No. 6, 2017 159 Application Note—VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and Its Future This application is made interactive by having the virtual speaking buddy asking follow up questions to the learners. The follow up questions are smartly designed so that they are responsive to the answers of the earlier questions given by the learners. This is done by designing the follow up questions as broad as possible but within the scope of the earlier questions. An example of the follow up question to the question shown in Fig.2 is shown in Fig.3. Fig. 2. An example of question of intermediate level Fig. 3. An example of follow up question designed for interactivity 160 http://www.i-jim.org Application Note—VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and Its Future 3 Application of VirSbud in Teaching and Learning Virsbud can be integrated in teaching and learning in several ways. Firstly, the teachers can use the application as a teaching material in the classroom as the prompts in VirSbud are designed based on text book syllabus. It can be used for ‘Set Induc- tion’ stage to stir the learners’ interest in learning the topic of the day, ‘While Speak- ing’ activities for students to complete the speaking task or the ‘Post-Production’ stage as an enrichment to what have been taught. Secondly, the learners can be assigned to use VirSbud as a homework as learners can easily access the application through their computer regardless of their geograph- ical distribution. This is another interesting characteristic of VirSbud that it can be accessed at anytime and anywhere thus encouraging the autonomous learning. Upon the completion of the homework, the learners can show the recorded conversation with their speaking buddy to their teacher for feedback. In addition, the learners can use the application as an informal learning tool with- out the teachers’ presence. This is because the recorded version can be accessed by any ‘more-knowledgeable others’, such as parents, brothers, or friends who can give them feedback on their recorded conversation. This is very useful as some students are too shy to show the recorded conversation to their teachers. As mentioned by some of our participants when we tested the application, they learn from the parents and brothers’ feedback as much as they learn from the teachers’ feedback. In other words, VirSbud encourages the ‘social learning’ [7] to occur. Some other participants use the opportunity to show the recorded conversation to parents when they are prac- ticing the conversation. This lack of dependency to teachers is good as it reduces the teachers’ workload. As mentioned by [8], teachers in Malaysia mostly suffer from the heavy workload. It is only when they have satisfied with the conversation that they show the recording to the teachers who can then give marks to them, as shown in Fig.4 below. Fig. 4. An example of scoring by the teacher iJIM ‒ Vol. 11, No. 6, 2017 161 Application Note—VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and Its Future 4 The Future of VirSbud In its current form, VirSbud has won several awards at international innovation competitions. This includes a gold medal at Innovation and Invention Competition through Exhibition 2016 (iCOMPEX’16), a silver award at International University Carnival on eLearning (IUCEL) 2016, and the main prize (Diamond Award) at Inter- national Invention and Innovative Competition (InIIC) 2/2016. These competitions, even though held in Malaysia, were participated by innovators from several countries including Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. Based on the feedback given by the judges, VirSbud is going to be further de- veloped. It is in the process to be transformed into a language learning hub where users of this application will have the opportunity to learn five different languages including Arabic, Malay language, English, Korean, and Mandarin. The addition of these languages are hoped to attract more users as the languages are popular among the young learners besides being useful in their daily lives. 5 Acknowledgment This project is funded by Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia, un- der the DPU Research Grant UniSZA/2016/DPU/03. 6 References [1] Rashid, R.A. (2011). Vocabulary learning among young adults using children’s stories. Mextesol, 35(1): 1-11. [2] Ismail, A., & Yusof, N. (2016). Readability of ESL picture books in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1): 60-70. [3] Rashid, R.A., Vethamani, M.E. & Shireena, B. (2010). Approaches employed by teachers in teaching literature to less proficient students in Form 1 and Form 2. English Language Teaching, 3(4): 87-99. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n4p87 [4] Yunus, K., Mohamad, M., & Waelateh, B. (2016). The breadth of receptive vocabulary knowledge among English major university students. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1): 7-17. [5] Mihat, W. (2016). ‘Bertehtuh’ English: The experience of a Temiar girl in acquiring Eng- lish. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(2): 25-37. [6] Albury, N.J. & Aye, K. K. (2016). Malaysia’s national language policy in international theoretical context. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1): 71-84. [7] Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Interaction between learning and development. In: Cole, M., John- Steiner, V., Scribner, S. and Souberman, E. (Eds.) Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes, pp.79-91. Cambridge, MA: Havard University Press. [8] Rashid, R.A., Rahman, M.F.A., & Rahman, S.B.A. (2016). Teachers’ engagement in social support process on a networking site. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1): 34-45 162 http://www.i-jim.org Application Note—VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and Its Future 7 Authors Dr Radzuwan Ab Rashid is the Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation at Fac- ulty of Languages and Communication, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia. Associate Professor Dr. Saiful Bahri Mohamed is the Director of Research Man- agement, Innovation, and Commercialisation Centre (RMIC), UniSZA Mohd Fazry A. Rahman is a lecturer at Shah Alam Community College, Malay- sia. Dr Syadiah Nor is currently the Dean of Faculty of Informatics and Computing, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia. Article submitted 20 March 2017. Published as resubmitted by the authors 13 May 2017. iJIM ‒ Vol. 11, No. 6, 2017 163 iJIM – Vol. 11, No. 6, 2017 VirSbud: Key Characteristics, Applications, and Its Future