Discussion technique in English conversation classes

ıu ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of discussion technique on students' communicative performance.. The study also aimed to determine if there was any improvement on students' fluency, motivation and participation. To these ends, in the study data were collected from Turkish military EFL students who were administered a pretest in order to determine their oral language performance level. At the beginning of Academic Year, the pretest which was developed by the researcher based on the test prepared by the Defence Language Institute (DLI), Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio. This test is also used by Turkish Air Force Academy to determine oral language performance of the students atTAFA: Descriptive statistics showed that in pretest the scores of experiment group followed those of control group 1 and then control group 2 in terms of their success. Yet control group 3 showed less performance than the experiment group as well as control group 1 and 2. Using multiple comparisons, instructors who administered the pre and posttests were compared within each other in terms of scoring; and no significant difference was recorded in terms of scoring rehability. This showed that scoring granted by the instructors was very close. At the end of the Spring Term, the experiment group and control groups were administered a posttest to determine the impact of discussion technique on the experiment group. Oneway ANNOVA test revealed that control group 1 (M=.7.5,4.0) had the. highest score, in the posttest, immediately followed the experiment group (M= 70,33). When these two groups, are compared, the difference in scores of these groups is not significant. Furthermore, when we consider the fact that experiment group was conducted from the students who got the lowest score among the four pre- intermediate level groups, this confirms considerable improvement in the experimentIV group. It also proves that discussion technique was effective on this group. Finally,, t-test reveals that the students have showed a great deal of improvement in the posttest since the Winter Term. It is concluded that discussion will work with the students at TAFA. Moreover, considering some factors such as choosing an interesting topic which will draw students' interest, giving students purpose for debate^ and careful planning^ the discussion technique will provide students with opportunity to practise fluency as well as communicative skill.