AUDIO TEXTS AND ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY: EVIDENCE FROM IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of using audio texts as a classroom activity in teaching English speaking skill on Iranian EFL learners’ speaking ability. The questions this study tried to answer were 1) whether using audio texts might enhance a more acceptable speaking performance in Iranian learners of English at university level, 2) whether there was a difference between the means of the experimental (treated) group and the control (placebo) group of the study. To answer the questions, 60 junior undergraduate translator trainees participated in the experiment of the study. They were randomly selected from among a population of translator trainees via an OPT test score of at least one standard deviation below the mean. They were then divided into two groups of 30 and were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. A pretest of English speaking was administered to both groups, then, they were taught speaking for 10 sessions but with different methodologies: the experimental group received a treatment of audio texts while the control group received a placebo. A posttest of speaking was then administered to both groups. The data of the study were analysed using the t-test to indicate the groups mean difference, and the degree of progress from the pretest to the posttest of the study in the experimental group was indicated by calculating the ANCOVA coefficient. The results indicated that the Iranian EFL learners in the experimental group received higher speaking score after being treated with 10 sessions of audio texts.