Exploring the Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) Model’s Role on EFL Learners’ Communication Willingness (Research Paper)
نویسندگان
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چکیده
The Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) strategy emphasizes the critical role of communication and responsiveness in establishing a cohesive classroom community. By promoting a horizontal plane of communication, where teachers and learners engage as equals, the model seeks to demonstrate active listening and foster a culture that values diverse thoughts and opinions. This study investigates the impact of the Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model on the willingness to communicate among intermediate EFL learners. Sixty learners (30 in each group) enrolled in EFL perpetration courses in Tabriz university, Iran participated in the study. They were chosen according to their availability and performance in proficiency tests, then allocated randomly to experimental and control groups. The control group underwent conventional teaching methods, where the class environment was teacher-centered, lacking the emphasis on active student engagement seen in the Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model. On the other hand, the experimental group engaged with the Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model. Both groups underwent a pretest, taking Willingness to Communicate Questionnaire, and after ten instructional sessions, a posttest was administered. The WTC questionnaire employed in the study was developed by MacIntyre et al. (2001) to assess the participants’ willingness to communicate in classrooms. Analysis of pretest and posttest scores revealed that the Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model significantly enhanced the willingness to communicate among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. The normality of pretest and posttest data was confirmed through Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests, with all significance values exceeding 0.05, indicating normal distributions. This finding offers practical insights for educators, curriculum designers and contribute valuable information for researchers interested in language teaching strategies, materials, and syllabus design.