Exploring inner voice in the EFL classroom: From materials development perspective

Several investigations in the psychology domain, educational psychology, and other related subjects have examined the inner voice. However, it has not been used as much in teaching foreign languages, particularly in developing learning materials. This study aimed to develop new English learning materials based on Tomlinson’s text-driven approach to enhance learners’ inner voice through instruction using the newly developed materials. The participants in this study were 40 intermediate female EFL learners, aged 20-35. All participants were selected through convenience sampling and were native speakers of Persian. The researchers then assigned the participants randomly into two experimental and control groups, each including 20 participants. Data were collected through an inner voice questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods to align with the study’s objectives, participant characteristics, and research questions. The quantitative data were statistically analyzed using SPSS (version 22), revealing that learners demonstrated a moderately high engagement with their inner voice after instruction with the newly developed materials. Qualitative insights emphasized key themes, including the natural use of English in internal thought processes, more frequent internal dialogues, and deeper mental engagement with the language. The study suggests that textbook developers and curriculum designers should consider new approaches to meet EFL learners’ psychological and cognitive needs, particularly in fostering inner voice processing for deeper engagement.