Exploring the Impact of Linguacultural Competence of Iranian EFL Learners on their Speaking Performance

Abstract:Linguoculturology is a new field of linguistic research dealing with manifestation of culture of different nations that are reflected in ELT situations. Accordingly, the aim of the present investigation was to examine if teaching English in EFL Iranian secondary high schools can make a change in their linguocultural competence and to empirically test the extent to which teaching EFL Iranian secondary high school students in a linguocultural context was likely to impact their speaking skills. To achieve this goal, the study was carried out in an Iranian secondary high school, in Dezful, Iran. In the first phase of the research, to assess 100 female participants’ knowledge of the Iranian linguocultural context and to increase the participants, linguocultural awareness and their subsequent linguocultural competence a standard checklist was employed. A pretest-treatment-posttest design was used in the respective linguocultural situation with 50 of the students participating in the real instruction to verify their probable speaking promotion. The study was conducted over a four-month time period. The data gathered from filling out a standard checklist and from the students’ performance on pre-posttests was analyzed using SPSS software. Results indicated that, at least for the participants in the current experiment, the type of instruction embedded in the Iranian linguocultural context was significantly effective in promoting the learners’ linguocultural competence and their speaking abilities, respectively. Recommendations for ELT in comparable circumstances were given.Key words: linguacultural competence, EFL Learners, Speaking Performance

Exploring the Impact of Linguacultural Competence of Iranian EFL Learners on their Speaking Performance Keywords:

Key words: linguacultural competence , EFL Learners , Speaking Performance