The Effects of Brainstorming as a Pre-reading Strategy on EFL Learners’ WTC in Reading and Reading Self-Efficacy

The present study aimed at exploring a sample of Iranian EFL university students to investigate the effects of brainstorming strategy on willingness to communicate (WTC) and their self-efficacy in reading. Two groups of EFL learners, who were selected based on convenience sampling, participated in this study. The study applied a qusi-experimental approach. The participants were selected from among Adineh Elmi-Karbordi University EFL learners. The initial sample consisted of 70 non-English major students from ESP classes. After administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT), the researcher selected 50 students, of both males and females, who were homogeneous in terms of their scores for the study. Then they were divided into two groups, namely the experimental group and the control group.The students in the control group received the traditional method of teaching reading but the students in the experimental group were taught reading by applying brainstorming strategy as the treatment. Moreover, the participants’ WTC and reading self-efficacy were measured by the relevant questionnaires before and after treatment to compare the likely effects of the treatment. The results showed that brainstorming does not bring about any significant change in Iranian EFL university students’ WTC. The results, however, indicated that brainstorming as a pre-reading strategy significantly affects the participants’ reading self-efficacy.