Iranian EFL Learners Familiarity with Reduced Forms in Spoken English based on their Proficiency Level

Reduced forms are thought to have a significant influence on understanding spoken language. They are important aspects of spoken language which have sometimes been undervalued in material development, teaching, and testing. This problem is further aggravated in an Iranian EFL setting. In an attempt to address this issue, this study set out to examine the familiarity of Iranian EFL learners with reduced forms as well as the relationship between the proficiency level of language learners and their familiarity with reduced forms. To this end, a test of RFs on listening comprehension was developed based on the literature and findings of a pilot study. Afterward, 306 English language learners were selected from two Iranian cities of Shiraz and Ahwaz based on multistage cluster sampling to participate in the study. The results of this study indicate that Iranian EFL learners are not familiar with RFs in spoken language. However, in contrast to earlier findings, there was a significant difference between the performance of advanced and intermediate learners based on their familiarity with reduced forms.