THE AFFORDANCES OF COLLABORATIVE DIALOGUES: THE CASE OF EFL LEARNERS' SPEAKING PERFORMANCE

AS THE PRIMARY GOAL OF MOST SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES IS TO MAXIMIZE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERACTION, COLLABORATIVE DIALOGUES OPEN NEW WINDOWS TO CREATE A LEARNING-RICH CLASSROOM INTERACTION. THE PRESENT STUDYIS AN ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE THE POSSIBLE EFFECT OF COLLABORATIVE DIALOGUE TASKS ON PRE-INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS' SPEAKING PERFORMANCE. TO THIS END, A PRETEST-POSTTEST EXPERIMENTAL METHOD WAS EMPLOYED WITH 70 PARTICIPANTS (MALE AND FEMALE). THE PARTICIPANTS WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS. THOSE IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WERE PARTICIPATED IN COLLABORATIVE DIALOGUE TASKS SUCH AS JIGSAW, TEXT-RECONSTRUCTION, AND DICTOGLOSS FOR AROUND SIX WEEKS WHILE THOSE IN THE CONTROL GROUP UNDERWENT NON-COLLABOPRATIVE ACTIVITIES. THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED BY COMPARING THE STUDENTS' SPEAKING PERFORMANCE. FINDINGS FROM THE ANALYSES OF DATA SUGGEST THAT COLLABORATIVE DIALOGUE PLAYED A CRUCIAL ROLE IN ENHANCING EFL LEARNERS' SPEAKING PERFORMANCE. FURTHERMORE, GIRL STUDENTS OUTPERFORMED THE BOY COUNTRERPARTS REGARDING THEIR IMPROVEMENTS IN SPEAKING PERFORMANCE.