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This thesis investigates the potential of e-mail communication between EFL learners and
native speakers for the development of the learners’ speaking ability. The hypothesised
correlation between pedagogic e-mail activity and L2 spoken production takes support from
several lines of research.
The thesis includes a critical analysis of relevant literature followed by an experimental study.
The study involved the analysis of the spoken English of two groups of EFL learners: one
engaged in e-mail interaction with NSS, and a second group not engaged in e-mail activity.
Data was obtained from interviews conducted at the beginning and end of the spring 2000
semester, together with questionnaire data eliciting learners’ intuitions regarding the
usefulness e-mail interaction for their learning. The study revealed that levels of participation
among the e-mail students improved to a slightly greater degree than among the non-e-mail
students, while qualitative measures of general oral performance proved inconclusive.
Overall findings indicate that e-mail interaction with NSS can contribute to improvements in
L2 learners’ spoken language, and that larger scale studies may yield more conclusive results.