The present study intended to examine the effectiveness of the Vaughan method for the development of EFL learners' speaking skill. The Vaughan method was compared with two other methods, namely the Audiolingual method and communicative language teaching with regard to the development of learners' speaking skill. In a quasi-experimental design, three intact classes of 90 advanced Iranian EFL learners were given a speaking pretest. Subsequently, the learners were taught with these three methods, and the learners were administered a speaking posttest. A posthoc Scheffe test showed that the learners in the Vaughan class had performed significantly higher in comparison to the learners in the Audiolingual class, but there was no significant difference between the Vaughan method and the communicative language teaching class in terms of developing the learners' speaking skill. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered to the Vaughan class to obtain learners' attitudes towards the effectiveness of this method for the development of their speaking skill. Finally, the learners in the Vaughan class were interviewed. The results of both the questionnaire and the interview indicated that the learners believed that explicit error correction, as a major tenet of the Vaughan method, had a significant influence on their speaking skill.
Quality teaching and prosperous learning in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context depend on the professional knowledge and skills teachers absorb from teacher education programmes. This study aimed to see whether there was any relationship between the awareness of teacher education philosophy and EFL teachers' professional knowledge in the light of Kumaravadivelu's postmethod parameters, considering teachers' gender, academic qualification, teaching experience, and age. A mixed-method approach employing the posttest-only equivalent-groups design was used. Then, 60 EFL teachers from four language institutes in Isfahan, Iran, were randomly appointed to experimental and control groups. The philosophy of adult education inventory was used for treatment, a book for placebo, a questionnaire, and an observation checklist were tools for data collection. Data analysis via T-test, ANOVA, and Mann-Whitney tests revealed a positive relationship between EFL teachers' awareness of teacher education philosophy and their professional knowledge. Besides, female teachers, bachelor holders, more experienced teachers, and teachers in the 36-45 age range showed better perception of the teacher education philosophy. The implications involve education policy-makers in outlining suitable materials, teacher educators in revisiting development strategies, and EFL teachers in enhancing their teaching competence and performance.
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