A Blended Training Model Using Mobile Devices to Enhance Speaking Ability of Local Tour Guides
Keywords:
Training Model, Mobile Devices, Local English-speaking Tour Guides, Inter-rater reliabilityAbstract
The purposes of this study were to develop a training model called A Blended Training Model Using Mobile Devices to Enhance Speaking Ability of Local Tour Guides and to evaluate its effectiveness in enhancing local tour guides to be more confident and efficient in their delivery of tour guiding commentary. The training was delivered into 2 sessions: 66 hours in 22 days of in-house training and 4 weeks of self-training through iPod Touch devices. The implementation and evaluation were carried out by a 1-group pre-test and post-test design experimental study. To prove the participants’ oral English competency, the pre-test and the post-test results were compared and assessed by three raters using a 4-level scoring scale in order to see degree of change in seven spoken language components:content, organizational pattern, language functions, pronunciation, spoken grammar, spoken vocabulary, and communication strategies. A nonparametric test, Krippendorff’s Alpha, was used to assess inter-rater reliability. Moreover, to evaluate if the training model met their needs, the trainees completed five questionnaires to examine their attitudes towards the in-house training and self-training sessions through an iPod Touch. The findings revealed that, based on a 4-point scale, 13 trainees’ performances reached a higher level (Level 3), 1 reached a much higher level (Level 4), and 1 showed no change. The selfassessment scores, before and after training, were significantly different at the level .001, indicating that the trainees assessed themselves positively. In brief, the findings affirmed the effectiveness of the constructed training model for local tour guides.
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