A Comparative Study of the Impact of Oral Conferencing and Consciousness-raising Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Performance
Title
A Comparative Study of the Impact of Oral Conferencing and Consciousness-raising Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Performance
A Comparative Study of the Impact of Oral Conferencing and Consciousness-raising Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Performance
Keywords: No Keyword.
Author
Mostafa Mirzaii
Mostafa Mirzaii
Iran University of Science and Technology
Department of Foreign Languages
Master’s Thesis
A Comparative Study of the Impact of Oral Conferencing and
Consciousness-raising Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners’
Writing Performance
Thesis Advisor:
Dr. Parviz Maftoon
Thesis Reader:
Dr. Shahin Vaezi
Abstract
The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of written corrective feedback provided through oral conferencing with that of instruction in writing given through consciousness-raising tasks on the writing performance of 61 Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners studying at Kish Institute of Science and Technology. To this end, the participants under study were assigned to two experimental groups: the oral conferencing group and the consciousness-raising group. Prior to the treatment, to ensure homogeneity among the study participants, both groups took a proficiency test, i.e., the Preliminary English Test. In the course of the study, the participants in the oral conferencing group were required to write one-paragraph expository compositions on five topics. Subsequently, they received feedback on their compositions through oral conferencing. The participants in the consciousness-raising group, on the other hand, were taught writing through consciousness-raising tasks, accompanied by the strategy of input enhancement. To compare the writing performances of the two groups, a pretest prior to the treatment and a posttest after the treatment were administered, both in the form of in-class one-paragraph expository compositions of about 150 words within a time limit of 20 minutes. While both groups made statistically significant improvements, in terms of writing, data analysis indicated the superiority of oral conferencing in comparison with consciousness-raising regarding the participants’ writing performance on the posttest.
The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of written corrective feedback provided through oral conferencing with that of instruction in writing given through consciousness-raising tasks on the writing performance of 61 Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners studying at Kish Institute of Science and Technology. To this end, the participants under study were assigned to two experimental groups: the oral conferencing group and the consciousness-raising group. Prior to the treatment, to ensure homogeneity among the study participants, both groups took a proficiency test, i.e., the Preliminary English Test. In the course of the study, the participants in the oral conferencing group were required to write one-paragraph expository compositions on five topics. Subsequently, they received feedback on their compositions through oral conferencing. The participants in the consciousness-raising group, on the other hand, were taught writing through consciousness-raising tasks, accompanied by the strategy of input enhancement. To compare the writing performances of the two groups, a pretest prior to the treatment and a posttest after the treatment were administered, both in the form of in-class one-paragraph expository compositions of about 150 words within a time limit of 20 minutes. While both groups made statistically significant improvements, in terms of writing, data analysis indicated the superiority of oral conferencing in comparison with consciousness-raising regarding the participants’ writing performance on the posttest.
Category: Thesis
