Seyedeh Masoomeh Asaei - Department of English Language, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
Ramin Rahimy - Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran

The impetus for performing this study came from Thornbury's (۲۰۰۵) approach to teaching speaking in which he claimed that awareness-raising techniques and appropriation strategies facilitate the developing speaking skill. Accordingly, this study explored the impact of an appropriation-based syllabus to teaching speaking by using chunks-on-card activities based on quasi-experimental method. To do so, ۳۰ Iranian intermediate EFL learners were selected from four classes in a language institute and the classes were randomly allocated to two groups: an experimental and a control group. To observe the effect of the treatment, the participants underwent pre- and post-tests on speaking skill. They participated in ۱۴ treatment sessions in which the experimental group practiced the chunks-on-card approach through drilling while the control group practiced the conventional approach. The findings of the Independent-Samples T-test as well as the Paired Samples T-test revealed significant differences among the pre- and post-tests scores of both groups. Thus, the hypothesis of the study which postulated that the appropriation-based teaching of lexical chunks had a significant impact on these intermediate EFL learners’ speaking skills was confirmed. 

Lexical Chunks, appropriation, Speaking Skill, EFL learners, Collocation