The Role of Think-Pair-Share Interactional Activity on Improving Iranian EFL Learners' Willingness-To-Communicate

Think-pair-share (TPS) is a collaborative teaching activity first proposed by Frank Lyman of the University of Maryland in 1981. It can be used to help learners form individual ideas, discuss, and share with others in small groups. Willingness-to-communicate (WTC) can be defined as "an individual's volitional inclination towards actively engaging in the act of communication in a specific situation, which can vary according to interlocutor(s), topic, and conversational context, among other potential situational variables" (Kang, 2005, p. 291). The adopted design for this study was a mixed-methods one in a small sample size and was conducted in Kish Language Institute. For this purpose, nine upper-intermediate female learners participated in the study. During five sessions, voice recording and a willingness-to-communicate questionnaire were used. It was found out that the number of turn-takings and interruptions fluctuated between groups during sessions, but the main inclination was toward elevation. Furthermore, in terms of the questionnaire, learners' perceptions were more promising in posttest in comparison with the pretest. Finally, the results of the statistical analyses revealed that the willingness-to-communicate of EFL learners in fifth session was significantly higher than their performance in the first session. At the end, some classroom implications are provided.