The Comparative Effect of Scaffolding Techniques on Iranian Upper-Intermediate EFL Learners Speaking Accuracy and Fluency

The present study sought to compare the effects of two scaffolding techniques as cooperative strategies i.e., Team-Pair-Solo strategy and Think-Pair-Share strategy on Iranian upper intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ oral proficiency, more specifically their speaking accuracy and fluency. To this end, a total of sixty female Iranian EFL learners from 18 to 25 years old were selected and then were randomly divided into three groups of 20, one control group and two experimental groups.  Speaking tests were implemented to the three groups both at the introduction of the study and after accomplishing the specific treatment to the experimental groups. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out to the outcomes of the pre-test of speaking to determine the homogeneity of the participants in terms of speaking skill at the outset of the study. After giving the determined treatments to the experimental groups, a posttest of speaking was directed to the three groups. In order to supply the answers for the research questions, One-Way Analysis of Variance procedure along with Post- Hoc Scheffe test were run to the results of the posttest of speaking test. The results showed that both strategies affected speaking accuracy and fluency significantly better than the control group. The results also revealed that “Team-Pair-Solo strategy” improved the participants performance on speaking test in terms of both accuracy and fluency better than “Think-Pair-Share strategy”. However, the differences between the effects of “Team-Pair-Solo strategy” and “Think-Pair-Share strategy” were not statistically significant. The findings have some implications for teachers, material developers and language learners.