The Effects of Negotiated Syllabus on Iranian EFL Learners’ speaking fluency and Self-efficacy

The history of pedagogy and education shows that syllabus has always had a crucial role in the success of every course. Nowadays, the course designers allocate an especial room for learners’ needs which are continuously changing in an expanding world. This demands a new vision in education through cooperation with others via negotiation for syllabus. Although a great body of research has been conducted in this area, little studies have been made about negotiated syllabus. This study attempted to investigate possible correlation between negotiated syllabus, speaking fluency and self-efficacy. To do so, sixty-two participants from intermediate level were chosen based on the results of PET and an oral interview to make sure that they enjoy the same level of proficiency. Then, they were randomly divided into two groups. The E-group was treated based on negotiated syllabus. The control group was exposed to a conventional speaking instruction. Finally, both groups were examined again as post-tests. To collect required data, four instruments including: The PET, an 8-items Academic Self-efficacy scale questionnaire, Speaking PET test and Real-Time Analysis of Speech Fluency were utilized. The results indicated that negotiated syllabus developed learners’ speaking fluency. Also some improvement was observed in self-efficacy of E-group.