دانشجویان و اساتید دانشگاه فرهنگیان

To answer the question exploring the effect of online strategies instruction on the speaking ability of Iranian intermediate students, the obtained data was analyzed through statistical procedures. The results revealed that the strategies instruction has had a great impact on improving the speaking ability of Iranian intermediate students. The results of the study also exposed participants in the experimental groups, who were taught to apply strategies, performed better. Strategies instruction improved their communication skills and increased their use of strategies noticeably. Findings also helped the researcher answer the second research question: (Are there any significant differences between the speaking developments of female and male Iranian EFL learners taught social and affective strategies?). As a result, gender does not have any function in the effectiveness of online social and affective strategies-based instruction on enhancing Iranian EFL learners’ speaking scores. Of course, the students in experimental groups had the opportunity to apply social-affective strategies such as cooperating, asking questions, expressing feelings and attitudes, and taking calculated risks among others effectively and receiving feedback from their teachers and other participants. Consequently, the exchange of these synchronous feedbacks leads to a more comforting and less threatening state in the educational setting. In fact, the results gave an affirmative response to the first research question. In fact, strategy training did have a positive effect on participants’ performances in the posttest. Affective strategies, also identified as self-motivational strategies, are helpful for learners in coping with individuality factors which may be significant in their language learning development such as destructive anxiety, low self-esteem, and negative attitudes (Dörnyei, 2003). These results are in agreement with the findings of the study on social-affective strategy use conducted by Chou (2004) who emphasized that social-affective strategies have the potential to enhance learners’ communicative competence and motivation. The results are also compatible with Hedge (2000), Méndez (2007; 2011), Mugford (2007), Nakatani (2005), and Canale (2014) among others, who showed that strategy training, 66 Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies 8(3), 51-71, (2021) enhances learners’ speaking abilities. Likewise, Nakatani (2006), explored strategy use among EFL Japanese learners, results revealed that students scoring high on an oral test applied social-affective strategies more than did those with low scores. The results are also in agreement with the findings of Hengki et al. (2017) who believed in the effectiveness of teaching social strategies in the development of communicative language function of speaking. Also, Griffiths and Oxford (2014) confirmed that strategy instruction may lead to success in language learning if explicitly incorporated in the curriculum. Besides, on the other hand, several reasons have been mentioned in the literature for the effectiveness of online courses. One of the factors which has been mentioned for the superiority of the online courses in second language learning programs pertains to affective factors. Motivation is one of these factors. In addition, a lower level of anxiety in computer-mediated classes is another advantage. These classes are especially beneficial for those who are introvert and don't like to get involved in group activities. The decrease in the level of anxiety stems from the absence of gazes and eye-contacts which are reported to be torturing for introvert students (Ahmadian & Yadegari, 2009). This benefit to the introverted students might be the reason that made the difference between the online and conventional courses. CALL can provide a situation in which learners are motivated enough to get involved in the process of strategies use and without experiencing the stress of conventional classes as students usually find the online courses appealing environment which can lead to their learning. As a result, learners are now invited to engage to investigate strategies for successful language learning in digital environments (Oxford & Lin, 2011)Considering both the findings and limitations of this study, certain conclusions can be drawn in terms of the pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research. The pedagogical implications of the study are quite noticeable. As the results showed, online strategy training has a positive effect on EFL learners’ speaking scores. The findings of this study can suggest different pedagogical implications. At the overall stage, administrators, policy-makers, and CALL program designers can apply the findings of this research in designing much more well-organized syllabi that are compatible with strategies learning. Moreover, considering strategiesbased instruction as a part of instructor educating or in-service programs can be useful. Abbasi, Chalak, & Heidari Tabrizi/ Effect of online strategies-based instruction on … 67 Besides, the educators, assessors, test-makers, and EFL students in various academic settings can exploit the results of this study. Experts in the field can apply social and affective strategies and related activities to enhance students’ speaking ability and also benefit from the integration of educational content with Internet and technological advancements. For this purpose, language teaching curriculums should introduce strategies efficiently, and administrate online courses. Teachers can also assess their students’ performances by applying technologies instead of traditional exams. Besides, such studies have a significant impact on the persuasion and encouragement of the students about the constructive function and effectiveness of online courses in learning English. The study was limited to explore the efficiency of strategy-based instruction on enhancing the speaking ability of participants. An important point to note is considering the limitations of this study. For example, this study was carried out with a restricted number of participants; it is recommended that you extend the replicates of this study to other language teaching contexts such as universities, or schools. Also, to achieve the intended goals, this study undertakes to investigate the effect of two categories of the strategies namely; affective and social which seem to be more efficient in enhancing EFL learners’ speaking scores. In addition, Moodle management service was applied as a course delivery platform in this study. There are various platforms for delivering online-based courses which can be good choices for further studies. Also, as another limitation of the study, the level of proficiency of the participants was limited to intermediate. Other studies can be done with groups at different levels of proficiency. Finally, focusing qualitative research could be appealing fields for further research. Whereas, Triangulation of different instruments such as interviews and questionnaires for both teachers and learners can also supply a better understanding of the effects of strategies instruction and online courses. .