Effectiveness of the Production-oriented Approach on Improving EFL Learners’ Talk-as-Transaction Skills

Abstract

Talk-as-Transaction is a major type of speaking skills. This pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study attempted to investigate the teaching effectiveness of the Production-oriented Approach (POA) on improving EFL learners’ Talk-as-Transaction skills. Comparisons of the experimental and control groups’ pre- and post-test scores revealed: (1) the experimental and control groups did not significantly differ from each other in terms of pre-test complexity, accuracy, fluency, content scores; (2) significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups’ post-test complexity, accuracy, and content scores; (3) the experimental group has significantly improved the complexity, accuracy, fluency, and content on the post-test than on the pre-test. Different effect sizes of the POA on different aspects of Talk-as-Transaction skills were also revealed. The results indicated the POA has the potential to solve the accuracy problem in teaching Talk-as-Transaction and to substantially enhance EFL learners’ Talk-as-Transaction skills by promoting the content and complexity of their oral production.