A pilot study of exploring the use of an EFL speaking application called SBuddy
Guided by Design and Development Research Type 1 and the ADDIE and MUSIC models, this pilot study presents the development and evaluation of SBuddy, a GenAI-powered mobile app that effectively enhances EFL learners' speaking skills, motivation, and confidence through personalized, unrestricted conversational practice.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine you are trying to learn to play the guitar, but you live in a house where no one speaks the language of music, and you're too shy to play in front of anyone. You might practice in your head, but without a real partner to jam with, you never quite get the rhythm down. This is the daily struggle for millions of students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). They know the grammar and the vocabulary, but when it comes to actually speaking out loud, they hit a wall of nervousness and a lack of practice partners.
To solve this, scientists have been looking at a new kind of helper: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Think of AI not as a robot taking over the world, but as a tireless, infinitely patient digital tutor that never gets tired, never judges your accent, and is always ready to chat. But just giving a student a robot isn't enough; the robot needs to be designed in a way that actually makes the student want to talk. This is where a special recipe called the "MUSIC Model" comes in. It's a set of five ingredients—Empowerment, Usefulness, Success, Interest, and Caring—that teachers use to make learning feel exciting and personal rather than boring and scary. When you mix this recipe with modern AI, you get a tool designed to turn a shy student into a confident speaker.
This is exactly what Kamla Al Amri and Muna Aullad Thani set out to do in their recent study. They built a mobile app called SBuddy (short for "Speaking Buddy") to see if a smart, AI-powered conversation partner could help English learners in Oman practice speaking without the fear of being judged. They didn't just throw code together; they followed a strict, step-by-step blueprint called the ADDIE model (which stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) to ensure the app was built correctly. They also baked the five ingredients of the MUSIC Model directly into the app's brain, making sure it gave users choices, felt useful for their real lives, celebrated their small wins, kept things interesting, and showed they cared.
The researchers tested this digital buddy with a small group of ten students at Sultan Qaboos University. These students used the app for four weeks, chatting with the AI about various topics, from daily life to career goals. The app listened, corrected their mistakes, and even gave them digital badges for their hard work. The results were surprisingly positive. The students reported that the app was easy to use and, most importantly, it made them feel more confident. In fact, the average score for how much the app helped build confidence was a very high 4.5 out of 5. The students also felt the app was highly useful for improving their speaking skills, scoring that a 4.6 out of 5.
However, the story isn't a perfect fairy tale just yet. While the students loved the idea and the results, they did point out some glitches in the magic. About 40% of the users felt neutral about the technical reliability, meaning the app sometimes stumbled. Some students found that the AI didn't always understand them when they spoke quickly, or that the feedback it gave was sometimes too long or hard to understand. One student even mentioned that the recording button was tricky to click. These aren't fatal flaws, but they are like a guitar that occasionally goes out of tune; it still plays music, but it needs a little tweaking to sound perfect.
The study suggests that while this AI tool is a powerful new way to practice speaking, it is still a work in progress. The researchers found that the app successfully boosted motivation and made students feel like they were making progress, but the technology needs to get better at hearing different accents and offering clearer feedback. The students were so satisfied that 100% said they would recommend it to others, and 90% said they wanted to keep using it. Ultimately, this paper shows that an AI "buddy" can be a great friend for language learners, provided we keep polishing its voice and listening to what the students say it needs to become even better.
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