The Comparative Effect of Purely Online, Blended, and ‎Conventional Instruction on EFL Learners' Speaking Accuracy and ‎Fluency

This research endeavor explored the differential effects of purely web-based, blended, and ‎traditional instructional methods on the speaking proficiency, encompassing both accuracy and ‎fluency, of Iranian EFL learners at the intermediate level. The participant pool comprised ninety ‎EFL learners enrolled in a private language institute. Participants were assigned to one of three ‎groups (online, blended, and conventional) after being assessed for homogeneity using the Oxford ‎Placement Test. The pre-test and post-test employed the speaking component of the Preliminary ‎English Test. The online group received instruction via VoiceThread, a platform facilitating ‎interaction with the instructor and receiving feedback on recorded speech samples. The blended ‎group benefitted from a combination of VoiceThread and face-to-face instruction, whereas the ‎conventional group received instruction solely in a face-to-face setting. Following a four-week ‎intervention period, both online and blended learning groups demonstrated statistically significant ‎improvements in speaking accuracy and fluency. Interestingly, the blended learning group achieved ‎the most pronounced gains on the post-test. These findings tentatively suggest that blended ‎learning may be the most efficacious instructional approach for fostering speaking skills among ‎EFL learners.‎

کلیدواژه ها:

Online learning ، blended learning ، speaking accuracy and fluency ‎