The effect of using the native language as a pedagogic intervention on Iranian EFL learners' complexity of English oral productions

Zahra Alimorad; Mohammad Sadegh Zare Bidoki

doi:10.30827/portalin.vi36.15745

Authors

Zahra Alimorad Shiraz University
Mohammad Sadegh Zare Bidoki Shiraz University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi36.15745

Keywords:

spoken English, Iranian EFL learners, L2 grammatical complexity, L2 lexical complexity, native language

Agencies: Shiraz University

Abstract

The present study aims at investigating the effect of using the native language as a pedagogic intervention on the complexity of Iranian EFL learners' English oral productions. A sample of 39 male and female adult English learners of B1 and B2 CEFR proficiency levels was recruited to participate in this study. They were placed into two intact classes (i.e., as already determined by the institution’s authorities) and each class was randomly chosen to serve as either the experimental (EG) or the control (CG) group. Improving the learners’ speaking ability was the focus of both groups while only the EG was asked to orally produce the equivalents of Persian sentences presented to them. In order to measure the lexical and grammatical complexity of oral productions of the learners, two parallel speaking tests of IELTS 10, in the form of two oral interviews, were used as pre- and post-test oral interviews. A MANCOVA test was run to compare the performance of the two groups in terms of their lexical and grammatical complexity after the treatment. Results indicated that the EG's lexical and grammatical complexity improved as compared to the CG, and the improvement in both of these variables was statistically significant.

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Author Biographies

Zahra Alimorad, Shiraz University

Zahra Alimorad is an assistant professor of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics at Shiraz University, Iran. She is currently teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and has supervised graduate theses. She has published several papers in quality national and international journals and presented in national and international conferences. Her areas of interest include (critical) discourse analysis, (de)motivation, perceptions and practice, productive skills (speaking and writing), and identity.

Mohammad Sadegh Zare Bidoki, Shiraz University

Mohammad Sadegh Zare Bidoki is an M.A. graduate of TEFL. He is currently teaching English at private language institutes in one of the cities of Iran. His areas of interest are language teaching and learning, speaking, and grammar.

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