The Investigating the Effectiveness of the Cake Application for Improving EFL Speaking Skills among Junior High School Students in Southwest Papua

Abstract

This study investigated the specific impact of integrating Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) via the Cake application on improving the comprehensive English-speaking proficiency and behavioral classroom participation of ninth-grade students at SMP Negeri 1 Kabupaten Sorong, Southwest Papua, where instruction is traditionally textbook-bound and challenged by a complex multilingual environment. Employing a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test non-equivalent control group design, a purposive sample of 64 students was divided into an experimental group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 32). Primary oral performance and behavioral data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), with Shapiro-Wilk (p > .05) and Levene’s test (F = 0.137, p = .712) satisfying all parametric assumptions. The independent samples t-test revealed a highly significant statistical difference in post-test oral scores, t(62) = 6.171, p < .001, with a substantial mean difference of 12.88 points favoring the experimental group (μ = 83.75 ± 6.24) over the control group (μ = 70.88 ± 5.96). Furthermore, effect size estimations yielded exceptionally high values (Cohen’s d = 1.57, Hedges’ = 1.55, and eta squared η²= 0.381), indicating that 38.1% of the variance in oral performance was directly attributable to the technological intervention. Concurrently, time-sampled observations confirmed that the application successfully lowered students' affective filters, driving a composite classroom participation rate of 82.03% (High Engagement) in the experimental class, drastically outperforming the control class at 47.66% (Low Engagement). These findings conclude that gamified, AI-assisted tools function as highly effective pedagogical scaffolds that bridge structural educational divides and enhance communicative automaticity in peripheral educational ecosystems.