استخدام طلبة الجامعات العراقيين الدارسين للغة الإنجليزية لغةً أجنبية لاستراتيجيات التعويض أثناء مهام التحدث

الملخص

This study investigated the compensation strategies used by fourth-year Iraqi EFL university students during speaking tasks and examined their frequency of use based on Oxford’s taxonomy. A convergent mixed-methods design was employed to obtain quantitative and qualitative data on the participants’ use of compensation strategies. The study involved 120 fourth-year students from the Department of English, College of Education for Human Sciences, University of AL-Muthanna, during the academic year 2025–2026. Fifteen students from the sample were selected for semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were collected through an eight-item compensation strategies questionnaire, with each item representing one of the eight strategies included in Oxford’s taxonomy. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews to provide further insight into the participants’ use of these strategies during speaking tasks. The findings revealed that all eight compensation strategies were used by the participants, although their levels of use varied. Mimes/gestures ranked first (M = 4.17), followed by switching to L1 (M = 3.95) and selecting the topic (M = 3.87), whereas avoiding communication ranked last (M = 3.28). The qualitative findings complemented the questionnaire results by illustrating how the participants employed these strategies when encountering communication difficulties. The study concludes that the participating Iraqi EFL university students employed a range of linguistic and non-linguistic compensation strategies to overcome difficulties and maintain communication during speaking tasks.