Abstract:
This study attempted to investigate whether there was any significant difference between the speaking achievement of learners who were trained by means of audiotaped dialogue journal, dialogue journal writing, or traditional free speech. The participants, 45 male and female students aged between21 and 32, were selected by random sampling from among free speech classes in an English teaching Institute in Tehran. On the basis of the scores obtained from an oral interview, a one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, and it was proved that the three groups were homogeneous in terms of their speaking ability. Yet, the ANOVA performed on the scores of the learners after the treatment showed that the oral proficiency of the three groups differed significantly. A follow-up Tukey test revealed that the audiotaped dialogue journal group did not have any advantage over the dialogue journal writing group, whereas there was a statistically significant difference between the audiotaped dialogue journal group and the traditional free speech group.
Machine summary:
The Journal of Applied Linguistics Vol. 1, No. 3 Autumn 2008 Audiotaped Dialogue Journal: A Technique to Improve Speaking Skill of Iranian EFL Learners Mojgan Rashtchi Babak Khoshnevisan Islamic Azad University-North Tehran Branch This study attempted to investigate whether there was any significant difference between the speaking achievement of learners who were trained by means of audiotaped dialogue journal, dialogue journal writing, or traditional free speech.
Review of the Related Literature Dialogue journal writing, although almost neglected in Iran, is a popular technique which helps teachers to communicate continuously with their students on topics of interest for any of the two sides (Peyton, 2000).
Dialogue journal writing is, also, compatible with learner- centered approaches to teaching because students have more freedom to choose their topic of interest, and depict an authentic purpose for their writing (Peyton, Staton, Richardson, & Wolfram, 1990).
Regular language production in audiotaped dialogue journals gives learners the ability to think in English, and hence conduct a supportive role for their performance in the classroom (Ho, 2003).
Procedure In order to determine the extent to which dialogue journal writing, audiotaped dialogue journal, or traditional free speech could enhance the speaking ability of the students, 45 EFL learners whose scores in an oral interview fell above 6 were selected.
Discussion and Conclusions As stated previously, the present study attempted to examine which of the three classroom techniques of dialogue journal writing, audiotaped dialogue journal, or traditional free speech could be more useful in improving the speaking ability of Iranian EFL learners.