The Effect of the Implementation of a Negotiated Syllabus on the Reading Achievement of Iranian Intermediate-level EFL Learners

The present study investigated whether or not the implementation of a Selective Procedural Negotiated Syllabus has any effect on the reading achievement of Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners. The hypothesis assumed in this study was that the treatment would accrue no effect. The study was conducted with the participation of 61 female intermediate-level EFL learners. The participants were grouped into four classes serving the Experimental Group (EG; n = 32) and the Control Group (CG; n = 29). The learners shared a homogenous English proficiency level and background (as well as in terms of materials and instruments). The classes were randomly assigned to EG and CG. The selected element of negotiation in this study was based on the interest areas of the EG learners. An interest areas survey (IAS) based on Likert scale (from value 1 as least interesting to value 5 as most interesting) was constructed and conducted to elicit EG learners ’ areas of interest on the basis of which passages with reading ease of ±2 standard deviations (by Flesch Reading Ease score) were selected. Items scoring highest on the IAS were selected for the purpose of text selection. Interest areas were not polled in the CG and the texts given to them were arbitrarily selected. In order to observe any change in learners ’ reading achievement, both groups were pretested at the outset of the experiment and post-tested at the end of the experiment with a valid reading comprehension (RC) test comprising 22 multiple-choice items. A two-way two-sample t-test was conducted to compare the means difference between the gain scores of the EG and CG over the two administrations of the RC test. The results indicated that the groups had performed equally well on the experiment and no statistically significant result was observed. This study was based on the natural-occurring pre-experimental intact groups framework of research design