چکیده:
Speaking is one important skill in language learning. EFL students are sometimes faced with problems, while speaking to their interlocutors due to the lack of sufficient linguistic knowledge, and they have to quit the conversation. This study examines the use of speaking strategies by some Iranian male and female EFL university students .The use of these strategies was examined in relation to the EFL university students’ gender and their proficiency level based on which, they were classified as low, intermediate and high-proficient groups .A sample of 100 Iranian EFL students was randomly selected .The sample consisted of students with different gender and proficiency levels. The questionnaire of communication strategies use was administered. It included five main categories in 30 items for speaking. The results showed no differences related to the use of speaking strategies by EFL students and their gender. In relation to the use of speaking strategies by EFL students and their proficiency levels, no differences were observed, either. The implications of this study are discussed in this article.
خلاصه ماشینی:
To sum up, researchers have seldom examined the effect of variables such as gender and English proficiency level on communication strategies use in Iranian context.
The aims followed by this study are: 1-examining the relationship between the use of different speaking strategies by Iranian EFL students and their self-evaluated skill level and gender.
The use of speaking strategies by high-proficient EFL University students in a descending order based on the obtained values shown in the above table is as follows: Negotiation while speaking, accuracy-oriented, social affective, compensation, fluency- oriented strategies.
The use of speaking strategies by low-proficient EFL University students in a descending order based on the obtained values shown in the above table is as follows: Social affective, negotiation of meaning while speaking, compensation, accuracy-oriented, and fluency-oriented strategies.
As seen, social affective strategies are the most frequently used strategies by low- proficient students meaning that they are very likely to have a high degree of anxiety while communicating in a foreign language, so they pay more attention not to fluency but accuracy to avoid making mistakes and losing faces in an English conversation.
Fluency-oriented is the least used speaking strategies by low-proficient EFL students which is in line with the finding of Nakatani’s (2006) study that EFL learners seem less likely to use strategies that are geared toward helping them maintain their fluency while communicating in English.
Second, in this study the relationship between the use of oral communication strategies by EFL students and their gender was examined .