چكيده
The importance of collaborative guessing games is well attested in the context of foreign language learning. This study investigated the impact of employing collaborative guessing games, willingness to communicate (WTC), and speaking achievement of Iranian EFL students. Iranian female intermediate students from a private language institute in Mash-had (n = 80) constituted the participants of this study. To select participants of equal language proficiency, the researcher administered an EPT to the participants. The participants (n = 36) whose score fell between one standard deviation below and above the mean were selected. Then, the researcher checked the participants’ L2 WTC and speaking proficiency through respective pretest before the experiment. The participants were randomly divided into three groups; Experimental Group I (EGI, n = 12), Experimental Group II (EGII, n = 12), and control group (CG, n = 12). EGI worked in pairs, EGII worked in small group, and CG worked in a traditional setting. After the treatment, two different tests were employed to measure the students’ L2 WTC and speaking achievement. The results of One-Way ANOVA showed that participants who worked in collaborative groups or pairs outperformed the students who worked in an individualistic conventional setting. It was also proven that collaborative guessing games had a significant influence on the participantsʹ WTC and speaking skills in this piece of research. It was concluded that game-based activities should be practiced in speaking classes as they solve many of the problems that students face in traditional settings. The results of this study can lead EFL instructors and curriculum designers to provide new game-oriented learning contexts, and to provide more outlets for the betterment of L2 acquisition.
