AUTHENTIC USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE EFL COMMUNICATION AND MOTIVATION THROUGH INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE EXCHANGE VIDEO CHAT

University EFL students in Ecuador do not have many opportunities to authentically practice English outside of the classroom. This lack of daily connections decreases students’ ability to effectively communicate and improve in language learning. Therefore, an international language exchange program was created with 17 students through video chat platforms. The objective of the research was to give students an opportunity to practice English to increase intrinsic motivation and oral communication. This study followed a mixed method approach using questionnaires, informal interviews and observations over a five-week period. The program showed increased confidence in speaking, students seemed to be more intrinsically motivated to improve and an increase in fluency was seen in overall communication skills.