THE IMPACT OF APPLYING FILL-IN-THE MAP AND CONSTRUCT THE MAP TECHNIQUES AS A PRE-TASK ACTIVITY ON EFL LEARNERS’ USE OF TENSE IN ORAL ACCURACY

The majority of research to date on pre-task planning has investigated the impact of planning time on L2 learners’ oral production, and has generally reported its positive effect on their task performance. This study was designed to investigate the impact of applying fill-in-the-map and construct-a-map techniques of concept mapping as a form of pre-task planning on use of tense in oral accuracy of Iranian EFL learners at elementary level. To this end Key English Test (KET proficiency test) was administered to 140 male students to select our 98 learners as a sample at the elementary level of language proficiency. Then, a pre-test of oral interview was held to determine the learners’ use of tense in oral accuracy. Since measuring participants’ use of tense in oral accuracy was a necessary step in this study, the researcher used the Oral accuracy scale which is offered by KEPT to measure participants’ use of tense. The same oral accuracy pretest and posttest were used. After homogenizing the participants would be randomly assigned into two equal experimental and control groups. Experimental group were used concept mapping techniques (fill-in-the-map and construct-a-map) and the control group did not receive concept mapping. After the treatment, both experimental and control groups were interviewed again. And finally an independent t-test would be run between the obtained means of the experimental and control groups posttest on the use of tense to determine whether there is any significant difference between the performances of the two groups. And finally result of this study showed that applying fill-in-the-map and construct-a-map techniques as a form of pre-task had a significant impact on EFL learners’ use of tenses in oral accuracy. Accordingly, suggestions are put forward for teachers, learners and material designers.