Reception date: 06/30/2021 / Revision date: 07/27/2021 / Acceptance date: 08/06/2021

Introduction

Humanity is experiencing the greatest health crisis of this era. The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has become the protagonist of newspapers, newscasts, internet, and even everyday conversations. Undoubtedly, this virus has changed the way people relate to each other, cinemas, restaurants, museums, universities, and schools have had to remain closed due to the risk of contagion. Faced with this new reality, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) indicates that information and communication technologies (ICT) are playing a key role in the global fight against the new coronavirus.

Although not everyone has the same access to and knowledge of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the global trend is the rapid increase of new applications in the wake of the pandemic. This is one of the aspects to which, particularly, more attention is being paid within the educational field. The use of ICT has been increasing and is now redefining education.

With the emergence of ICT, the availability of information is abundant and the main challenge is in the selection, curriculum integration, and acquisition of skills for the use and management of information. Currently, society is immersed in scientific and technological advances, so that in the educational field the use of ICT has become widespread, which has optimized the teaching-learning process, according to Morffe (2010); the application of new methodologies and strategies such as constructivism and collaborationism, which consider as a mediating tool the use of ICT; specifically in the search and selection of information, critical analysis, and problem solving.

The incorporation of ICT in teaching allows the student to become an active participant and builder of their own learning and the teacher assumes the role of guide and facilitator, which varies the way of interacting with their students, the way of planning and designing the learning environment. For Pizarro-Chacón & Cordero Badilla (2013), these technological tools allow teachers to find innovative techniques to stimulate student motivation and improve their learning with the use of multimedia, hypertexts, image with audio and video, and other interactive systems, in addition to choosing those teaching resources that best suit the different areas of knowledge of students. (García-Cedeño, et al., 2020). According to Calderón et al. (2015), the choice of technological tools is not a whim or idiom but a pedagogical decision, which responds to our educational intentionality of teaching and learning highlighting its experimental nature, preparing the student to solve problems of everyday life but making provocative, motivating and challenging projects for students of different levels (Argandoña-Mendoza, et al., 2020). According to García-Martín & Cantón-Mayo (2019), the use that students make of technologies and the impact of several of technological tools on their academic performance allows these tools to facilitate direct and individualized communication, increases confidence, their self-esteem and the feeling of intimacy between them and others. The management of social networks allows students to improve their participation in chats and video calls, strengthening communication and interaction skills.

The application of ICT in foreign language teaching is progressive and there are a large number of classes in virtual environments; however, because there are few studies that analyze how teaching is being carried out in this medium, research on technological applications in the virtual field is necessary, especially if we take into account the growing number of universities that today have been forced to offer online classes due to the pandemic of COVID-19, as well as the constant offer of new technological tools. When working in virtual contexts, the emphasis is generally placed on written expression and oral production is the one that is weakened; since not all virtual platforms offer concrete tools for its development and the teacher does not always make use of the resources at his disposal. Similarly, in traditional face-to-face teaching, oral production has been one of the most neglected in language classes (Cassany, Luna & Sanz, 1994), that is, in the face of the teaching of grammatical and metalinguistic postulates in terms of reading and writing, teachers focus on being able to comply with the contents assigned for the teaching period, and they do not always have the time or space to be able to evaluate oral production individually; moreover, each academic period the number of students in the classes increases, and this has an impact on offering detailed feedback.

Because of the pandemic, the impact of technology has reached educational fields such as language teaching and learning, in such a way that it is being incorporated as a recurring theme in didactic and pedagogical practical reflections. Its inclusion in curricular plans and in classroom work makes it an object of interest for research and an obligatory topic in the most recent training courses, workshops, webinars, videoconferences, etc.

Orozco (2013), drawing on Ortiz (2011, p. 88):

Information and communication technologies offer the possibility to communicate in real time with any part of the world and also the easy and immediate access to an incessant flow of information that increases every day. Knowledge of a foreign language offers the possibility to communicate using it. Real and functional contexts of communication are created.

The use of ICT in the foreign language classroom is a very motivating method as it stimulates learners because they are attracted to it, and it can be used in different ways. Like all teaching methods, the use of new technologies has advantages and disadvantages. Orozco (2013), in the opinion of Ortiz (2011, p. 43), the use of ICT in the classroom has many advantages:

• Interest, motivation. Students are highly motivated when using ICT resources and motivation is one of the driving forces of learning.
• Interaction. Students are permanently active when interacting with the computer.
• Development of initiative. The constant participation of the students helps the development of their initiative.
• Learning from mistakes. Immediate feedback allows students to know their mistakes when they occur.
• Greater communication between teachers and students. The communication channels provided by the Internet facilitate contact between students and teachers.
• Cooperative learning. The tools provided by ICT facilitate group work and the cultivation of social attitudes, the exchange of ideas, cooperation.
• High degree of interdisciplinarity. The educational tasks carried out with computers allow a high degree of interdisciplinarity with different types of treatment to a very wide and varied information.
• Digital and audiovisual literacy. These materials provide students with contact with ICT as a means of learning and as a tool for information processing.
• Development of information search and selection skills. It requires the implementation of techniques that help to locate the information needed and its evaluation.
• Improvement of expression and creativity skills. The tools provided by ICT (word processors, graphic editors...) facilitate the development of written, graphic, and audiovisual expression skills.
• Visualization of simulations. Computer programs make it possible to simulate physical, chemical, or social sequences and phenomena, 3D phenomena and to experiment with them.

The use of ICT in the foreign language classroom involves an effort on the part of the teachers because they have to be constantly updating and receiving training to be able to use these resources when teaching. Teaching methods are constantly changing and nowadays the use of new technologies is something inevitable in teaching.

Baca (2010, p. 15) asks: "Why should the teacher use ICT as a component of teaching and learning methodologies? To live, learn and work successfully in an increasingly complex, information-rich, and knowledge-based society; students and teachers must use digital technology effectively." We can find negative attitudes among teachers when using these resources, for example, because they have little mastery of ICT due to lack of training, they feel incapable, they are afraid, they are anxious, they lack self-confidence, they do not calculate the time to prepare the necessary material, etc.

Loaiza (2010, p. 26) points out:

The concern of teachers often falls more on what we have to do than on what students should learn. The teacher's main function could be how teaching will promote relevant and meaningful learning that students can use inside and outside the classroom. The teacher should be concerned not only with what students say and hear, but also with what they retain and its potential usefulness in everyday life.

Therefore, ICT is not a substitute for the teacher, it is only a matter of applying them as a source of information in the teaching-learning process. Therefore, the teacher has to motivate and encourage the use of ICT during the learning period. It should be emphasized that the teacher's work is very important in the use of ICT, he/she is the person who plays the role of helping students to achieve skills in the use and learning of new technologies. Therefore, it is imperative that all teachers are willing to offer these opportunities to their students.

To this effect, Baca (2010, p. 16) points out: "New technologies (ICT) require teachers to play new roles and also require new pedagogies and new approaches in teacher training."

The integration of ICT in the classroom will depend on the willingness of teachers to make classes not follow the traditional method. The teacher has to be aware that he/she is a fundamental and important figure in the student's life and has to be willing to help the student to learn. Hence the importance of teachers being able to use new technologies in the classroom with their students.

There are several reasons for using technology in language teaching: it is motivating, the interactivity offered by many language exercises can be highly beneficial, and the kind of feedback offered by good interactive materials is often perceived as useful by learners. Added to this is the fact that the Net generation or digital natives (Prensky, 2001) expect a language program to respond to their particular needs and modes of communication. On the other hand, the use of classroom technology makes learners more autonomous, so that one of the most valued benefits of the use of technology in learning is that it allows practice and study beyond the confines of the classroom and limited exposure to the target language.

The discussion on the benefits of technology, including the exploration of certain technological applications to the specific area of language teaching and learning, considers the role of technology to be very useful in distinguishing between language skills (reading, listening, writing, and speaking), facilitating both the compartmentalized practice of each of these skills and the integration of skills and the incorporation of authentic cultural contexts important for language learning.

In any case, it can be stated without fear of dissent that nowadays teachers' and students' access to technology is key in a language program. Current teaching, focused on student learning, values the effort of learning by doing, driven by the use of digital technologies inside and outside the classroom, as a vehicle for generating and transmitting knowledge or as a means of communication; and, in both cases, between teachers and students or between students and each other (virtual campus, electronic resource platforms, media, thematic forums, blogs, wikis, simulation platforms and interactive games, augmented reality games, social networks, etc.). Evaluating the methodological plasticity and the adaptation of teaching tools (digital and multi-format) to the specific educational environment, as well as the effectiveness of their use, must be complemented with the planning of the training activities to be developed, ensuring that they contribute to the necessary development of the basic and specific competences in which the student must be equipped for the professional exercise aligned with their studies. In this sense, Toribio-Briñas (2010) points out that the basic competences are acquired through diverse educational experiences that allow them to be put into action in simulated contexts, which are considered to be faithful to the real life condition, given their quasi-authenticity.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of ICT has acquired great importance in the development of different educational processes. The use of e-learning has emerged as a response to the demand of society, strongly marked by the impact of Information and Communication Technologies.

Some of the strategies that the Directorate of Educational Innovation (DIE) at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras has adopted, regarding the use of ICT, is the collaboration in the guidance of other teaching colleagues who have a proactive and innovative attitude in the educational use of ICT. The DIE implements the methodology of peer education for which it requests the collaboration of innovative teachers from Faculties and Regional Centers with good practices in the use of ICT to advise and guide other teachers who wish to do so.

Method

Design

The research carried out is part of the research methods in language learning as a non-experimental ex post facto field study, of mixed exploratory-descriptive level, on a self-selected sample of 36 subjects in a single cross-section, to which a mixed self-administered questionnaire with items, both closed and semi-closed, was applied. In addition to the frequency of response to each item, presented in tabular and graphical form, mean difference, variance, correlational, and factorial analyses were also carried out, which will allow us to establish significant response patterns.

Participants

The study was carried out with teachers who teach general English classes in the language department of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH). I chose the general classes of the Department because it is the space where I work as a teacher and it is where I often hear the difficulties that exist in order to develop oral production. These classes are for students of the different careers offered by the UNAH. They are courses of 4 units with a duration of 50 minutes per hour of class, from Monday to Thursday. Each section has a number of 50 to 60 students.

Instrument

For this research work, the questionnaire was used as a research instrument. This questionnaire was published online via the LimeSurvey software (https://www.limesurvey.org/es/). The first approaches to the questions originated with representations of the teaching practices of colleagues and practitioners during chat sessions and at conferences. This led to informal interviews with language teachers, which helped with the creation of the options to be included in the questionnaire. For the validation of the questionnaire, six procedures were used: Questionnaire construction, expert validation, pilot test application, Cronbach's Alpha, questionnaire application, and result analysis. Five objectives were proposed for this questionnaire:

1. Collect data on teacher training and experience related to oral production work.
2. Collect data concerning teachers' knowledge of the effective use of digital tools to work on oral production.
3. Collect information about the teacher's perceptions on the implementation of ICT for the development and assessment of oral production in the language classroom.
4. Collect information about the tools used in the development of oral production in the present study.
5. Collect information on the degree of effectiveness of the use of the ICT tools chosen for the development of oral production.

The questions of the questionnaire were designed according to the research objectives and taking into account the population to be studied, the circumstances of the application, and the characteristics of the software used. Different types of questions were used: dichotomous questions that give only one option of two yes/no answers; closed polytomous or categorized questions in which the respondent selected different answers; numerical and open questions.

Data analysis

The following steps were carried out for the data collection and analysis process:

1. Elaboration and application of a questionnaire to collect previous information about the perceptions of the teachers about the use of ICT in virtual teaching, and the development of oral production in the classes of the Department of Foreign Languages of the UNAH.
2. After developing the first version of the questionnaire and after obtaining the responses for the pilot evaluation, an invitation was sent to the authorities, professors, and experts of the Language Department of the UNAH to take the questionnaire and provide feedback. The questionnaire was voluntary and anonymous in order to try to control possible limitations of the pilot study.
3. The online service, LimeSurvey, was used to create a first questionnaire, which was accessed through a link, as this company allows you to choose completely flexible templates to carry out the survey individually and choose the format you consider most appropriate.
4. Before conducting the pilot study, a specialist was consulted to review the format and corroborate the validity of the instrument in measuring the variables.

The data obtained after the application of the instrument were processed, organized, coded, and statistically tabulated. Being an exploratory-descriptive study, the responses to the questionnaire were processed through different analysis techniques. First of all, it was considered to describe each item separately, in order to know the frequency distribution of the answers given by the teachers; this was done through the elaboration of tables and graphs and allowed us to answer the research questions. The statistical calculations and data analysis were carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program for ease of use, in the latest version 26, for the time of analysis of this research.

Results

The results obtained on the demographic findings in the sample analyzed reveal that men have acquired their digital technology skills thanks to courses, workshops, and formal or informal tutorials, to a greater extent than women, who tend to do it mostly independently. Therefore, it can be concluded that the technological gap by gender is present in the English teachers of the foreign language department of the UNAH, and women manage to overcome it through independent training in the use of ICT and their applications in teaching; a phenomenon of "self-confidence" is maintained that could complement the way they will make use of these technologies in their classes, particularly in terms of taking risks associated with educational innovation.

Regarding the use of ICT in the teaching and assessment of oral skills, the teachers surveyed, regardless of the amount and type of technology platform (Virtual Campus (Moodle), Google Classroom, Tteams, Meet, Schoology) used to teach their online class during the II Academic Period (PAC) 2020, employed a high percentage of synchronous and asynchronous tools for teaching oral production. Contrary to what has been reported in the reviewed literature that foreign language teachers at the university level tend to use ICT for reading and writing and not for speaking (oral skills), the results of the present study clearly show that 12 teachers out of 39 respondents (30.77%) used ICT for reading and writing; and 10 teachers out of 39 respondents used ICT for reading comprehension, but at the same time 11 (28.21%) use ICT for teaching oral skills.

As a result of the confinement, these percentages have increased substantially, which could simply be a reflection of both the advance in the potential uses of ICT for teaching and the penetration of these technologies in the knowledge society; a phenomenon that is happening at an accelerated pace, as discussed in previous sections. Another finding was the use of social networks with didactic objectives: respondents reported that they not only made use of Moodle but also WhatsApp and Facebook. WhatsApp to share resources, have a closer communication with students, coordinate academic activities, clarify doubts, for direct and continuous synchronous communication with the class. Facebook for presentations of assignments, videos, give opinions, and written work. We found a high incidence in the study sample of teachers who currently teach oral production in their classes, with a high frequency of using tools that allow synchronous and asynchronous oral tasks and conversations, such as Vocaroo, Audacity, YouTube, PowerPoint, Zoom, WhatsApp.

Figure 1. Graphical representation of the ICT tools implemented to develop oral production.

It is worth noting as a relevant result and as shown in graph 1, the teachers surveyed in this study tend to use a greater number of technological tools, they are inclined to use them to a greater extent for teaching activities of oral production both individually, in pairs, and in groups. Also, these teachers tend to design speaking activities with both synchronous and asynchronous tools.

According to the results obtained, the tools most used by teachers to carry out individual activities were, in first place, Vocaroo, for audio recording, followed by YouTube to record videos and PowerPoint presentations by means of image and audio, and Zoom as a synchronous tool. The ICT tools used by the teacher to develop oral production in pairs in his virtual classroom are: the first two places are occupied by Zoom and Vocaroo followed by YouTube. We found that Zoom and Vocaroo are still privileged tools to work on oral production in groups. With regard to the assignment of oral production tasks and continuous assessment, 39 responses were obtained. 35.90% assign exercises from the platform between once and twice a week; 10.26% once a lesson; 2% assign oral tasks more than once a week; and 5.13% never assign oral production tasks.

Analyzing the responses to question G04Q17 about perceptions of virtual classes, the results reflect that most agree that the management and evaluation of an online class is more difficult than that of a face-to-face class. In the detailed analysis of all the comments that were generated regarding the teachers' concern that students look for other people to do the assignments and evaluations, there were diverse opinions. Many feel that it is imperative to require more synchronous oral production to ensure the validity that it is the student who completes the activity, and not someone else. On the other hand, several expressed concern about the impracticality of administering tests in real time. There are several who say they have done it in the past, and have not continued due to lack of time, or because of the difficulty of accommodating everyone with itineraries that fit into a work schedule, connectivity problems, or other problems such as power outages that often happen in the country without prior notice. Other teachers express concern that they are not paying enough attention to this issue and say they plan to devote attention to it in the future.

Regarding the results of question G03Q09 on the degree of benefit of teaching the competencies in the virtual modality, the competencies with the highest score were grammar and vocabulary, 45.45% "quite a lot." Then, in the "moderately" category, 50.0%, comprehension and oral production. As for the linguistic competence in which the teacher feels most comfortable working in virtual environments (G03Q10), it turned out to be oral production (45.45%), with 40.91% in the case of written expression. Of the teachers who answered the question, G03Q04, about the possibility of developing oral production virtually, 83.86% believe that it can be developed; these are the same teachers who usually benefit from oral production in virtual environments.

It is important to mention that in the transversal analysis of responses there is another group of participants who find it difficult to teach oral production virtually (G03Q06). In the detailed analysis of all the comments that were generated in this regard, some consider that it is imperative to require oral production due to lack of experience, accessibility on the part of students, number of students per section, number of subjects per teacher.

Regarding the results of the question G04Q07, about whether the compulsory use of ICT in classes during the II Academic Period 2020 and the confinement favored them, many consider that it helped them, 95.95%. In the detailed analysis of all the comments that were generated regarding the achievements obtained due to the health crisis, it is observed that it allowed them to be trained more in the use of ICT and how to use them for oral production, to know aspects of ICT for teaching from which they can get a lot of benefit. It is important to mention that in the cross-sectional analysis of responses, a large part of the participants belonging to 59.09% were not prepared to teach in virtual mode at the time when the activities were suspended due to COVID-19. However, these teachers had already received courses and workshops, help from colleagues and others learned along the way.

From the results of the correlational analysis carried out in this study, it stands out that the teachers obtained significant achievements in the teaching of oral production during the confinement. The following results were also obtained: more student participation in the development of oral production; the use of individualized audio and video assessment, which allows students to practice more, to know tools, such as Vocaroo, Zoom, Souncloud, Teams, and YouTube, that they did not handle before; motivation and confidence to practice in synchronous sessions with students; satisfaction of listening to students through audio and video recordings. Students were introduced to new ways of practice and a more personalized class, students feel more cared for, more opportunity to give feedback to each student, more work on oral production individually, in pairs and groups. These teachers also reveal that they achieved their goals in teaching oral production with very good results.

From the results of the correlational analysis carried out in this study, it stands out that teachers who have a more favorable attitude towards ICT are also those who have achieved proficiency in ICT use, and in fact use ICT more frequently and intensively for a wide range of online teaching activities, including the teaching of oral production, as well as for the assessment of this skill, both asynchronously and synchronously. These teachers also reveal greater motivation in relation to the topic of ICT and the use of ICT in their teaching, as indicated by their greater interest in answering the questionnaire in this study.

Discussion and conclusions

With the findings found throughout this research, we can validate our alternate hypothesis; H1=The effective implementation of ICT tools would favor the teaching and development of oral production in the English A1 student of the UNAH.

Despite the fact that the English teachers in the language department were not prepared for virtual teaching or experienced in working with their students' oral production in a virtual environment, these teachers had a generative¹ resilience in the face of the crisis that the global emergency generated by the pandemic of the COVID-19 virus has specified.

¹According to Román et al. (2020) "generative resilience" is linked to the virtue of generating options, metamorphosis, and continuing to live. Generative resilience allows experiencing adversity as an opportunity for growth and development. (p. 77-78)

The teacher of the language department of the UNAH, through a resilient performance, managed to look for ICT tools that favored him to work on oral production (OP) in his English class. 63.64% of the individuals reported having used once or twice a week tools that allow synchronous oral communication in their virtual class, they reported that students practiced OP more than in a traditional classroom; they made use of ICT tools that allow working asynchronous oral production such as Vocaroo, Audioboom, Anchor, Voicethread; PowerPoint presentation including audio, video via YouTube; they managed to work with synchronous ICT tools in which Zoom, WhatsApp, Teams, Meet stand out. On the other hand, most of these teachers worked and evaluated this competence individually, in pairs and in groups.

Generative resilience allowed experiencing adversity as an opportunity for growth and development for both students and teachers. These subjects have seen the changes as opportunities to improve their practice with all the challenges this brings to their personal, family, and professional lives (Sierra et al., 2019).

"The resilient response capacity of university teachers² is influenced by the management of their sense of efficacy, their personal and professional identity, as well as by the management of the various aspects, variables, and scenarios in which they are involved" (p. 4); pedagogical actors have understood that it is not only the student who learns, but that the act of "learning" is continuous and permanent, especially for those who "teach." It is just the attitude to "learn," "unlearn," and "relearn" in the knowledge society, which makes the teacher a resilient being by nature. (Sierra, Sevilla & Martín, 2019, p. 4).

²So that pedagogical resilience is established in the transit of the educational process in which many difficult situations happen, from which the teaching staff feels committed to come out successful, so it seeks in the refraction to develop empathy, self-knowledge of having a durable and sustainable life project (Segovia, Fuster & Ocaña, 2020, p.6).

Didactic implications

The main purpose of this study was to carry out an exploratory analysis to provide the academic community with results that show the resources and tools used by the teachers of the foreign language department of the UNAH in the development and evaluation of oral production in the English A1 class in virtual teaching.

In order to update the methodology of language teaching and adapt it to the characteristics of the net generation and today's society, it is necessary not only to integrate ICT in teaching and learning but also to encourage changes in teachers' didactic strategies and in the way of teaching. Much emphasis is placed on new technologies, as well as new applications, but teachers are not always provided with support programs for their implementation. The preparation, updating, and motivation of teachers is encouraged, especially at university level, but the commitment of institutions is also needed to promote the appropriate use of ICT and the provision of courses that meet CEFR standards.

Numerous studies have been conducted to compare the virtual, face-to-face, and hybrid teaching models, but those that specifically assess oral proficiency in foreign language acquisition in a virtual environment are very few (LeLoup & Ponterio, 2007; Volle, 2005). It should be noted that this will be the first study at UNAH on the development of oral production in a virtual environment.

In a study by Langone, Wissick, and Ross (1998), which found that most teachers learned to use ICT outside of training courses. The results obtained in the present study concur in showing that teachers' digital competence responds mainly to individual initiative, as it has been mainly the result of self-directed learning, hours of personal research, practice and error, help from colleagues.

What does stand out in a large number of responses is the separation between the university and the teaching staff in the preparation, training, and support to stimulate didactic innovation. In other words, teachers find it necessary to acquire digital competence on their own initiative.

Figure 2. Graphical representation of the level of experience in teaching oral production in virtual environments.

With respect to oral skills, the teachers reported not having had any training in developing this competence in a virtualized environment, that is 72.73% of the respondents. In the comments of the participants, this represented a challenge since for most of them it was the first time they had taught a virtual class; on the other hand, the level of management was that of a beginner, as reflected in graph 1, so they need more training in ICT in general.

The university needs to be involved in processes of quality improvement and professional innovation for e-learning. It is important to have institutional support. In the results it was seen that the highest percentage of teachers' instruction in ICT is independent study but by not having a common competency framework or a model to follow, there is no way to know if the educator has been adequately trained to conduct classes virtually specifically in the area of languages. In order to respond to current needs and challenges, educational institutions must review their regulations and promote innovative experiences in teaching-learning processes supported by ICT and the specific needs of each department.

Teachers need to accept the new practices as well as the concepts associated with e-learning. It is also important to educate students so that they have a clear notion of what online learning implies. The most important points to be highlighted as a recommendation of this study is that starting from the fact that there is no regulation in what is done, that is, although it is said that the CEFR standards are available, everyone does what seems best to them, and due to the speed in the increase in the supply of virtual classes, it is imperative to advocate for a uniform criterion of minimum standards to ensure learning and be willing to accept the inevitable changes that are generated with virtual learning. In addition, ICT must be incorporated in a responsible manner. It is no longer a question of whether or not it will be possible for ICT to be part of language teaching but how effectively it can be included.

With this research work, we humbly hope to open some possibility for foreign language didactics to become the door that allows the entry of technological resources and tools that make teaching practice and language learning and interaction more effective. It is important to consider the use of this or that technological tool from the perspective of an approach or method whose use responds to the proposed objectives and designed activities. It is not a question of accommodating the curriculum to technology but rather of seeking within the variety of resources those that facilitate instruction, favor learning, and motivate students for practice, creativity, and collaboration. Most of the tools found in this work have been used with a pedagogical intent by teachers and can be adopted and adapted to serve the purposes of foreign language education and teaching.

In the same way that student learning is constantly evaluated, the effectiveness of the resources used needs to be subjected to a serious evaluation process. Technology in itself does not guarantee learning, but rather the appropriate use of technology adjusted to the particular circumstances of those who use it. Excessive enthusiasm or an apathetic or reluctant attitude towards technology can at some point undermine the potential and risks involved. Only technological education of teachers and students can minimize the risks and maximize the potential.

It is clear from this study that the added value offered by ICT to language learning lies in the possibility of increasing practice, enriching communicative interactions, favoring the autonomous organization of work, and improving attitudes due to their motivational potential, which undoubtedly leads to an improvement in the student's oral production.

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