The Perceived Influence of Student’s Exchange Experience towards Students’ English-Speaking Performance

Student exchange programs became increasingly popular among university
students, where the students can explore new experiences outside their college life.
And it is no exception to students of the English language education department
of UIN Ar-Raniry. This study aims to investigate the students’ perception of the
student exchange experience’s perceived influence on their speaking performance.
The participants of the study were eight students of the English language
education department of UIN Ar-Raniry, who had participated in some exchange
programs with diverse backgrounds. This research used purposive sampling to opt
the participants who fulfilled the criteria of this study. The researcher used
qualitative research by using semi-structured interview via telephone to obtain the
data. The results of the study revealed that students detected some challenges in
English speaking namely; un-confidence, vocabulary problem, and
misunderstanding. Nevertheless, they had several ways to resolve their challenges
by practicing, habituating, and cooperating with peers. Furthermore, students
perceived that the exchange experiences influenced students’ speaking-performance on some aspects, those are; improving pronunciation ability,
enhancing fluency, better used of vocabulary, better used of grammar, and
improving students’ comprehensibility. Moreover, students also gained secondary
influence on their personal advantages such as international experience, the
opportunity to expose to English, fostering self-confidence, and gaining new
insight. From this study, the researcher hoped that the university more opens and
considers student exchange as a forum that has the potential to increase global
competitiveness among students.