The Effect of Immediate and Delayed Error Correction of Speaking on Iranian EFL Learnersꞌ willingness to Communicate (WTC)

The present study is designed to investigate the effect of immediate and delayed error correction of speaking on Iranian EFL learnersꞌ willingness to communicate (WTC).Ninety intermediate students learning English as a foreign language in Adib Language Institute in Ardabil were selected among one hundred and twenty students based on their scores on administration of homogeneity piloted Nelson test. Among 90 selected intermediate students, 60 male and female learners selected and participated in this study as main participants by administration of MacIntyre’s willingness to communicate inside the classroom test. The participants were divided non-randomly into two experimental (delayed and immediate error correction) groups. Observation sheet test as a pre-test was administered to both groups. In group one the learnersꞌ spoken errors were corrected immediately and in group two the learnersꞌ spoken errors were corrected with some delay, i.e. after finishing their speech and during the sessions. Having treated the learners for 14 sessions of 70 minutes the observation sheet test was administered as a post-test to both groups. The descriptive statistics, t-test, and analysis of variance were employed and the results showed that while both immediate and delayed spoken error corrections have positive effect on studentsꞌ willingness to communicate, the delayed error correction has more effect. The findings could be employed by ELT practitioners, materials developers end EFL teachers in an attempt to treat learners errors truly in the Iranian context.