Transactional and Interactional Strategies on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Spoken Language Performance

Subject Areas : Journal of Teaching English Language Studies

Mohammad Taghi Hasani ¹ (Assistant Professor at Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch & Imam Hossein University, Tehran)
Maede Siamakani ² (Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch)

Received: 2014-01-25 Accepted : 2014-03-05 Published : 2014-05-01

Keywords: EFL learners, Transactional, Interactional, Spoken language performance,

Abstract :

This study investigated the effect of transactional and interactional strategies on developing Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ spoken language performance. First of all, to homogenize the participants, the researcher administered IELTS speaking tests to 50 participants as the pre-test in order to select the main sample of the study which were 30 students. That is, those participants whose scores fell between one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the mean were selected and randomly divided into two groups of 15 at intermediate level of proficiency. These groups were taught through transactional and interactional strategies using Speak Now books. After the treatment period and as the post-test, some IELTS speaking tests, which covered all the materials, were administered to these groups. After collecting the data, to test the research hypothesis and to answer the research questions, the researchers used t-test to investigate the effects of interactional and transactional strategies on spoken language performance of Iranian EFL learners. The findings showed that although the speaking performance of the learners improved, the differences among the groups were not statistically significant.

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