The effect of using e-mail on the improvement of students' productive and receptive language skills

In Iran most language institutes are just getting familiar with the notion of using electronically mediated devices to promote learning and teaching quality. The present study aimed at investigating the use of e-mail as an electronically mediated device in language teaching and its effect on the improvement of learners' language skills, namely listening, writing, and speaking. It compared e-mail mediated teaching with direct or face to face teaching and learning in classroom. To do so, first a group of 30 female students learning English at a private language institute named Pooyan Language Institute were selected. Next, they were randomly divided into two groups: treatment and control group (Each group consisting of 15 students). A pretest was administered to check the homogeneity of the two groups. The control group attended all the classes, did its homework and was taught traditionally, that is, paper and pencil homework, and face to face teaching. On the other hand, the treatment group received the lessons and submitted its homework through e-mail. Like control group, they received the same lessons and homework, but they did not have direct contact with the teacher and did not attend the classes. However, if the learners could not make sense of the lessons or homework at home, they could ask for help from their teacher via e-mail. The process of doing the homework was also different. The research was carried out during a term. At the end of the semester post tests were administered and students' skills were checked. T-test was used to compare the performance of the two groups. The results showed that the treatment group had performed by far better than the control group in writing, but the control group had outperformed in speaking. The result also showed no significant difference between the two groups in regard with the listening skill.