THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VOICE NOTE-BASED READING PRACTICE IN IMPROVING STUDENTS' READING ABILITY

The rapid growth of mobile instant messaging applications has opened new opportunities for language teaching beyond the classroom, particularly through asynchronous voice-based communication. This research investigates the effectiveness of voice note-based reading practice, delivered through a mobile messaging application, in improving students' reading ability at Stai Mempawah. The voice note strategy required students to read assigned passages aloud and record their reading as voice notes, which were then submitted to the English’ teacher for feedback on pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension. This research employed a quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group, involving an experimental group that received voice note-based reading practice and a control group that received conventional reading instruction over a six-week treatment period. Data were collected through a validated reading comprehension test and a reading fluency assessment based on words correct per minute and a pronunciation accuracy rubric, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, normality and homogeneity tests, and an independent samples t-test. The findings indicate that students who engaged in voice note-based reading practice demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in reading ability, particularly in reading fluency, pronunciation accuracy, and comprehension, compared to students in the control group. The results suggest that voice note-based practice provides a low-cost, flexible, and motivating medium for extensive reading practice, and that it can effectively complement conventional classroom-based reading instruction by extending guided practice time and enabling individualized, asynchronous feedback. This study recommends that language teachers integrate voice note-based assignments into reading instruction as a means of increasing learner autonomy, reading fluency, and comprehension, and offers practical guidelines for classroom implementation.