From Silence to Speech: The Role of Digital Interactive Platforms in Motivating Reluctant EFL Speakers

The unwillingness to use English as a foreign language (EFL) in classrooms is a long-term challenge to the language educators. Communication apprehension, language anxiety, or the lack of motivation is a problem that many learners face and prevents oral participation and the development of communicative competence. The emergence of digital interactive technologies, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Flipgrid, and Padlet, has created the opportunities to motivate unwilling speakers to engage in speaking activities in non-stressful, adaptable, and interactive forms. This paper investigates the use of these platforms to motivate reluctant EFL learners to transition from silence to speech. Using theories of affective factors in language learning, motives to communicate, and self-determination, the study investigates how the digital platform can be used to provide a less threatening context during oral practice, higher autonomy among learners, and the enhancement of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It was also a mixed-method study that involved 60 EFL undergraduate learners who went through both face-to-face and digitally mediated speaking assignments. The results prove that online interactive tools can greatly enhance the desire to communicate and reduce anxiety and encourage continued oral involvement among learners. The study suggests implications for EFL pedagogy, particularly regarding the inclusion of digital tools to support learners who might otherwise remain silent in traditional classrooms.