THE EFFECT OF PRE-TASK PLANNING THROUGH INFORMATION GAP ON SPEAKING SKILL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNER

This study was an attempt to examine whether implementing pre-task phase through information gap in EFL English classrooms affects students’ speaking abilities. A standardized test was administered to 34 female low intermadiate students studying English in a language institute in Amol, Iran, to sample nearly homogeneous subjects. The 34 students were divided into two equal groups: the experimental and control group. Then, as a pretest, a standardized speaking test, which was in the form of an oral interview, was administered to both groups to determine their level of speaking. Afterwards, sets of pre-task planning and communicative tasks based on the information-gap principle were adopted. The tasks were presented to the experimental group as treatment within 16 sessions during the last ten to fifteen minutes of the class time. In the end, the standard speaking test was administered to both groups as a post-test and the results were analyzed according to t-test. There was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group performance on post-test was better than control group. It can be concluded that the treatment made difference. Furthermore, the results of the t-test indicated that the pre-task planning through split information activities enhanced speaking skill.