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The impact of fluency strategy training on Iranian EFL learners’ speech under online planning conditions

The research findings reported on here confirm the facilitative role of pre-task planning on fluency and of online task planning on accuracy of speech. This quasi-experimental research was conducted to examine whether learners could be trained to attend to the fluency of their speech while planning online and whether such training might compensate for the trade-off effect between fluency and accuracy. Two intact classes comprising 50 Iranian English learners were randomly assigned to trained online and untrained online planning conditions. Both groups attended a 16-session conversation course. The last 30 minutes of each session was devoted to task-based performance under online planning conditions. Prior to performing the task, the experimental online planners were explicitly taught how to use different fluency strategies to improve the fluency of their speech while planning online. The results from a t-test analysis of the oral post-test data revealed that both groups achieved the same degree of accuracy probably owing to online planning, but significantly different levels of fluency. The trained online planners produced more fluent speech compared to the untrained online planners. Attention to fluency did not appear to compromise accuracy. The findings have important pedagogical implications for EFL teachers.