Capturing Feedback on Live EFL Academic Presentations: A Design-Based Study of a Web-Based Tool

Abstract

Feedback on oral presentations in English as a foreign language (EFL) courses is usually delivered orally and immediately, which makes it difficult for students to retain and for assessors to record while still observing a performance. This study aimed to design, refine, and evaluate a web-based tool for capturing scores and written comments during live academic presentations in a blended EFL academic speaking course at an Indonesian state university. Following design-based research, a needs analysis preceded two design cycles in which two pre-service teaching interns (TIs) assessed 22 undergraduates. Data were drawn from document analysis, non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion, a student questionnaire, response-time measurements, and automated page audits, and were integrated in a joint display. In the first cycle, repeated data entry and submission delays disrupted the interval between presenters, and the TIs bypassed the analytic rubric because criterion scores were judged too general to convey specific weaknesses. The second cycle introduced roster retrieval, a single form for assessors and students, and a holistic score with narrative comments; mean response times fell by 33% for retrieval and 16% for submission. The TIs reported a lighter workflow, and students valued revisiting written comments before later presentations. Five design principles are proposed. The findings show that tool design relocates, rather than resolves, the tension between rubric-based standardization and real-time judgment in L2 speaking assessment, which has implications for classroom-based speaking assessment, language assessment literacy in teacher education, and the design of technology for language education.