The Impact of Teaching Compensatory Strategies on Iranian EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill: The Case of Approximation, Appealing for the Help, Code-switching, and Time-gaining

Abstract

This study examined the impacts of using Compensatory Strategies (CSs) on speaking skill of Iranian EFL learners. To conduct this research, 50 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were chosen among 80 students and then, they were divided into two equal groups- one experimental group and one control group. The groups then were pretested by a speaking pre-test. After that, the participants of the experimental group were taught by using the CSs including approximation, appealing for the help, code switching, and time-gaining. On the other hand, the participants of the control group received traditional activities in learning speaking such as repetition and over-learning. After the treatment, both groups took the post-test of speaking. The results of paired and independent samples t-tests indicated that the experimental group outflanked the control group on the post-test. The results revealed that there was a significant difference between the performance of the experimental group and the control group on the post-test.