چكيده
The FLE strategy recognizes communication and responsiveness as key factors that establish a classroom community. The idea is to align teachers and students on the same horizontal plane of communication by conversing as equals to model and encourage students to actively listen and value each other’s thoughts and opinions. On the other hand, new methods for learners’ interaction such as Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model play a vital role in promoting learners' willingness to communicate. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the effects of Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ willingness to communicate. Sixty (male & female) learners (30 students in each group) at Global Village and Arad-e Khallagh Language Institutes in Tabriz, Iran participated in the present research. They were selected based on their availability to the researcher and their proficiency tests. They were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The control group was subjected to traditional instruction and the experimental one was subjected to Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model. Both groups attended a pretest, and after an 8-session of instruction, a posttest was taken from both groups. The WTC questionnaire, developed by MacIntyre, Baker, Clément and Conrod (2001) was employed to find out how much willing the students have to communicate in foreign language classrooms. Scores obtained from pretest and posttest were analyzed using an independent and chi-square to compare the performances of the participants in the willingness to communicate. Findings revealed that Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model played significant role in improving Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ willingness to communicate. The information provided in this study can be useful for teachers, and material developers. This study has also some implications for the interested researchers in materials and syllabus designing.
