Advances in Asian Social Science (AASS) 764 Vol. 4, No. 1, 2012, ISSN 2167-6429 Copyright © World Science Publisher, United States www.worldsciencepublisher.org The effect of listening to self audio-taped journals on Iranian EFL learners' grammar knowledge 1 Mojgan Rashtchi, 2 Mehdi Nourozi Khiabani, 3 Nahid Roumiani 1 Department of TEFL, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of TEFL, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of TEFL, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Abstract-Audio taped journals have been employed in the development of various language skills and components since 1990s. A thorough review of the literature revealed that the effect of audio-taped journals on the EFL learners' grammar knowledge, especially in the Iranian context, is poor. 40 intermediate level foreign language learners of English took part in the study forming the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 10 sessions of audio taped journals while the control group received the conventional method of teaching grammar, which mostly relied on implicit grammar teaching. Pursuing the treatment both groups sat for the posttest of grammar. The results of the study revealed that audio taped journals highly affected the learners’ grammatical development. The findings of the present study could, hopefully, contribute to materials development, curriculum design, and classroom techniques in the domain of SLA and ELT. Key words: Audio taped journals; language skills; grammar knowledge 1. INTRODUCTION Audio-taped journals (Reed, 1982), have been employed to improve various language skills and components. These journals or as Winter and Conner (1989) puts it, “dialogue journals” are on the one hand in close connection with listening comprehension and on the other hand with the component under investigation. Listening comprehension as a prime source of language input has been under investigation since 1980s (Krashen, 1981; Anderson & Lynch, 1988; Doughty, 2003; Ellis, 2008).The effect of this active skill on the development of the second language also has been investigated (Nunan, 1997) and various aspects of "grammar" as a language component have been the home of choice for the methodologists and SLA researchers. The emergence of "out put" theory since 1990s also has energized research on the domain of second language development in general and grammatical knowledge development, in particular (Zhang, Wang, Wu & Huo, 2011). On the other hand, "conscious learning" and "focus on forms" learning underlined by Schmidt's (2000) "noticing theory" have been taken into consideration as the supporting vehicles of second language development. One classroom method which may help the EFL learners to improve their abilities is the use of audio-taped dialogue journals. Audio-taped journals, which are the recorded performances of the learners, could be effective sources of information and output leading to the conscious development of the second language. 2.REVIEW OF LITERATURE Listening is the Cinderella skill in second language learning. All too often, it has been overlooked by its elder sister- speaking. For most people, being able to claim knowledge of a second language means being able to speak and write in that language. As Nunan (1997) argues, “Listening and reading are therefore secondary skills- means to other ends, rather than ends in themselves” (p.48). During the 1980s, the proponents of listening in a second language were also encouraged by work in first language field. Here, people such as Brown (1990) were able to demonstrate the importance of developing oracy (the ability to listen and speak) as well as literacy in a school. Prior to this, it was taken for granted that first language speaker needed instruction in how to read and write, but not in how to listen and speak, because these skills were automatically bequeathed to them as native speakers (Gorjian, Alipour & Saffarian, 2012). Knowledge of the grammatical system of the language, it was argued, was but one of the many components which underlay the notion of communicative competence. However, to be considered a competent user of language, one needs to know not only the rules of grammar, but also how the rules are used in real communication (Zhang,Wu, Wei & Wang, 2011). During