Universitas Terbuka
The ubiquity of mobile device technology and the appearance of new applications like Telegram give EFL students more options to enhance their speaking skills in their learning. The present study employed explanatory sequential mixed methods to investigate the effects and students' responses toward the use of Telegram­assisted picture-cued storytelling in speaking class. The independent variables in this study are Telegram and picture-cued storytelling, while dependent variable is students' speaking skills. The data were gained from pretest and posttest of 35 students in the experimental group and 35 students in the control group chosen purposively. The tests were analyzed by utilizing inferential statistics and t-tests. The questionnaires were on a Likert scale and the open-ended interviews were from six selected students and presented in themes. Students in the control group recognized a mean score improvement of 5.03 points, but students in the experimental group received an enhancement that was almost 13.14 points. The experimental group outperformed the control group by an average of approximately 7.09 points on the post-test. Findings show that Ha was not rejected, the most affected aspects of speaking skills were vocabulary, and the students got new beneficial experiences in learning. The experiences they gained built their self­confidence to have a better performance in speaking. Despite the quantitative analysis results showing an increase in students' abilities in the aspects of grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, the interview results revealed that there were still difficulties with these speaking components. To conclude, it is recommended to use the application to help students improve their speaking skills as the use of the application promotes entertainment and motivation, encouragement, creativity, and confidence to speak in English. The students need more treatments to reduce the difficulties. Nevertheless, it should be paid an attention that students' readiness concerning the use of technology, device compatibility, and internet connection play a crucial role.