The Impact of Brain-Based Feedback Strategies on EFL Learners’ Speaking Fluency and Accuracy
Keywords:
brain-based feedback, speaking fluency, speaking accuracy, EFL learners, corrective feedback, neuroscience-informed pedagogy, oral performanceAbstract
Purpose: The present study aimed to examine whether brain-based feedback strategies grounded in educational neuroscience principles significantly improve speaking fluency and speaking accuracy among intermediate EFL learners compared with traditional corrective feedback.
Methods and Materials: The study employed a quantitative quasi-experimental design involving sixty adult intermediate EFL learners enrolled in a private language institute. Two intact classes were assigned to an experimental group receiving brain-based feedback and a control group receiving traditional corrective feedback. Participants’ proficiency was confirmed using the Oxford Placement Test to ensure group homogeneity. Data were collected through pre-test and post-test speaking tasks consisting of picture description and role-play activities. Speaking performances were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using temporal fluency measures (speech rate, pausing patterns, and utterance length) and accuracy indices based on error-free clauses and grammatical correctness. An eight-week instructional intervention was implemented in which both groups followed identical materials and lesson plans while differing only in feedback delivery. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics and mixed-design ANOVA after testing assumptions of normality, homogeneity of variance, and equality of covariance matrices.
Findings: Inferential analyses revealed significant main effects of Time for both speaking fluency and speaking accuracy, indicating overall improvement across participants. More importantly, significant Time × Group interaction effects demonstrated that learners exposed to brain-based feedback achieved substantially greater gains than those receiving traditional feedback. Large effect sizes confirmed that neuroscience-informed feedback practices contributed to accelerated development in speech rate and increased proportions of error-free production. The findings suggest that feedback aligned with attentional capacity, memory consolidation processes, and emotional regulation mechanisms enhances oral performance more effectively than conventional corrective feedback approaches.
Conclusion: The results provide empirical evidence that brain-based feedback strategies constitute an effective pedagogical approach for promoting simultaneous improvement in speaking fluency and accuracy in EFL contexts.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Samaneh Jafari Mehr (Author); Neda Fatehi Rad; Valeh Jalali (Author)
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