The Effect of 4/3/2 Technique on Iranian EFL Learners' Speaking Fluency: the Moderating Role of Working Memory

This study examined the effect of the 4/3/2 technique on iranian efl learners' speaking fluency by considering the moderating role of working memory (wm). the study involved sixty efl learners attending a language institute in shiraz. the participants, aged 14 to 18, all shared persian as their first language and were pre-intermediate learners of english. a pretest-posttest control group design was employed, with participants randomized into experimental and control groups. the 4/3/2 technique was implemented in the experimental group (eg), where learners performed a monologue task three times, each under increasing time constraints. the control group (cg) received teacher-fronted sessions. the pre- and post-test measures of l2 oral fluency were administered using syllables per minute, with wm span assessed using a reading-span test. compared to the cg, the results demonstrated a substantial improvement in oral fluency in the eg. furthermore, learners with higher wm demonstrated more significant gains in fluency following the intervention. the findings suggest that the 4/3/2 technique holds promise for enhancing speaking fluency in efl learners, with individual differences in wm span influencing the effectiveness of the intervention. these findings have implications for language teaching pedagogy and underscore the importance of considering cognitive factors in language learning interventions.