THE EFFECT OF CLASSROOM STRUCTURE ON SPEAKING SKILLS OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The present study investigated the possible effects of classroom structure on the speaking skills of Iranian English as foreign language (EFL) learners. A further concern of this study has been on whether learners perform better in competitive, co-operative or individualistic environments. In order to arrive at a logical answer to the research questions, a sample population of 160 male pre-university students majoring in mathematics was selected. 120 participants were selected and randomly divided into four homogeneous groups, including three experimental groups and one control group, each including 30 participants. All the three experimental groups were taught English for general purposes (EGP) regarding the various classroom structures, while the control group received the conventional and common practice in a speaking classroom environment. The participants took a pre-test on speaking skills at the beginning of the course. Then a post-test of speaking was run after the sessions. The data were analyzed through One-way ANOVA. The findings revealed that the treatment groups performed significantly better than control group, so the classroom structure affected speaking skills (p < 0.05). Following the One-way ANOVA the post-hoc Scheffe test was run to determine the effects of each classroom structure in teaching speaking skills among the groups, and the results showed that there were no significant differences among the individualistic, competitive, co-operative and the control groups.