Focusing on the Relationship between Speaking Fluency/Accuracy of EFL Learners of Both Genders and their Listening Comprehension

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the role of gender on Iranian intermediate learners’ oral accuracy and fluency. It also attempted to explore which one speaking fluency or accuracy had a more meaningful relationship with the participants’ listening comprehension. Initially, out of 20 intermediate classes 3 classes of female and 3 classes of male learners comprising a total number of 45 male and 45 learners were selected randomly from the pool of Tehran Institute of Technology. A validated pre-test was administered to the participants to assure homogeneity in terms of overall language proficiency and accordingly, 30 male and 30 female learners were identified as the legitimate participants who had been interviewed drawing on the some speaking tasks. The speech of the participants were recorded and subsequently analyzed by two raters based on the fluency and accuracy measurement criteria. Inter-rater reliability was established for both the fluency and accuracy (87% and 83%, respectively). Having finished the analysis of the participants’ performance, the researcher administered the listening comprehension test. The obtained data were analyzed to investigate the role of gender on oral accuracy and fluency and their possible correlations with listening comprehension performance. The results indicated that female participants outperformed the males in terms of fluency while males were superior in terms of accuracy. Moreover, it was found that a strong correlation existed between female participants’ listening comprehension and speaking fluency while for the male participants this correlation existed with the speaking accuracy. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3p444