هانیه دواتگری اصل

Abstract This study sought to explore the role of flipped teaching/learning in enhancing Iranian EFL learners’ awareness of reading strategies. To this end, two intermediate and two upper-intermediate intact classes participated in a quasi-experimental study. The classes of each proficiency level were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. Having been pretested in terms of reading strategies awareness, the experimental groups received out-of-class tuition based on a flipped classroom model. On the other hand, the control groups experienced the conventional in-class method of teaching after being gauged in terms of reading strategies awareness. The results revealed that flipped teaching affected the learners’ awareness of reading strategies positively, regardless of their English proficiency level. Additionally, the learners’ overall attitude towards the flipped classroom model was found to be positive. The findings offered an alternative approach to reading instruction in EFL contexts like Iran.            

The main purpose of the present quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effects of linear process versus genre-based approach on EFL learners’ written production. To this end, 40 learners of English at intermediate level were randomly selected as the participants of the study and assigned into two groups of experimental (process and genre) which received different types of instruction for 8 sessions. Narrative and process-tasks were employed to collect data from the participants. The collected written data was quantified in terms of the accuracy measure. Independent samples T-test was employed as the statistical means of analysis. The results of the study revealed no difference between the performances of two groups in written narrative task, however, the result of statistical analysis in process task was significant. The study might carry some pedagogical implications for second language teachers, SLA researchers, teacher education and task designers.

Development of science and academic knowledge has led to changes in academic language and transfer of information and knowledge. In this regard, the present study is an attempt to investigate lexico-grammaticality in academic abstracts and their full research papers in Linguistics, Chemistry and Electrical engineering papers published during 1991-2015 in academic journals from a diachronic perspective through quantitative research design. The focus of this paper is on transitivity, mood and theme analysis in the corpus according to Halliday's (1994) systemic functional linguistics model. So, all the attempts are to find the changes in abstracts and research papers of these disciplines and how they are to be positioned in different linguistic contexts over time. The results revealed that research papers employ the spectrum of possible lexical realization quite differently as compared to general English, especially concerning the use of specific lexical items. Also, the results of chi-squares of each discipline showed that there are significant differences between papers over time at .05 level of significance (.000< .05) with regard to the transitivity, mood, and theme. 

The need for a strong educational system is felt more than ever due to globalization. In this respect, teacher agency has an important role in educational change. This qualitative meta-study, therefore, addressed the attitude of the teachers towards agency and the way they enact agency to facilitate learning process. To this purpose, the needed data were gathered from the narrative of life, professional history and class observations of five English teachers in Iranian context. Then, based on the Grounded Theory Approach, the data were analyzed and the obtained results showed that teachers’ pre-teaching and during teaching processes were made up of complex relationships among different resources; that is, teachers’ life ideology (their perception towards themselves and their job) and financial status. At the same time, the results revealed that teachers’ instruction experiences highly affect both their magnification of agency and their decision-making processes. It was further seen that agency was not stable at all, meaning that social factors and environmental conditions played important roles in shaping teacher’s agency.

The present mixed-method study examines the effect of Iranian EFL teachers’ teaching experience and academic degree on five dimensions of reflective teaching. In this line, a 29-item Likert scale Reflective Teaching Questionnaire composed of practical, metacognitive, critical, cognitive, and affective dimensions was administered to a convenient sample of 142 male/female B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. EFL teachers with 4-30 years of teaching experience. Moreover, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 16 EFL teachers yielding more in-depth triangulated data on their reflection levels and the related problems. The MANOVA results indicated the significant effect of teachers’ experience and academic degree on their reflective teaching with the least effect reported on the affective dimension. The results indicated significant interaction of the two research variables with the dimensions of reflective teaching. Moreover, the interview results indicated that lack of time, prescribed syllabi, and ineffective teacher training programs were the main obstacles of reflective teaching. The findings may bear implications for Iranian curriculum developers, materials writers, teacher trainers, administrators, and EFL instructors.

Objective: The effectiveness of Lexical Bundle (LBs) instruction for facilitating writing skill development has been a controversial issue in language teaching. This study examined the impact of LBs instruction on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learners’ performance on IELTS writing task 2. Methods: To this end, first, 60 male and female ESP learners were randomly selected from among 150 ESP learners of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences as participants. Second, these participants were assigned to the experimental group and the control group, each with 30 learners. Both groups were then administered IELTS writing task 2 as a pretest. The experimental group was provided with ten sessions of IELTS-Task 2-related LB instruction.  The control group, however, did not receive this kind of instruction. Finally, the researchers administered IELTS writing task 2 to both of the groups anew as a posttest. Results: The results suggest that teaching the relevant bundles had significant positive impacts on ESP learners’ general performance of the relevant writing tasks, task achievement grammatical range and accuracy, vocabulary knowledge, as well as observing cohesive ties and coherence in their writing. Conclusions: The results may provide some useful insights regarding the instruction of LBs in IELTS preparation courses for the ESP learners.

An effective language classroom is a multifaceted and intricate setting that involves various dimensions and has gained increasing recognition in the academic literature. Insufficient information is available regarding the experiences and perceptions of EFL learners regarding productive English language classrooms. This research focused on understanding how Iranian students who are learning English as a foreign language feel about and have experienced effective learning in the classroom. The present study was based on a phenomenological study in which participants’ perceptions about effective learning in class were examined. The research utilized the critical incident interview method to gather information from 30 MA EFL students with extensive English learning experience, who were deemed capable of contributing valuable insights on the topic. Therefore, participants were selected through purposive sampling. The process of analyzing data has yielded identification of significant themes of 1) attention to learners’ opinions 2) material transfer 3) teaching enthusiasm 4) instructors’ competence 5) learning environment and 6) learning process. The present study’s findings have led to the provision of recommendations for researchers in the realm of language learning.

This study investigated the attitudes of Iranian female and male elementary English as a foreign language (EFL) learners toward peer and self-assessment of descriptive writing. It also attempted to find any gender-specific differences in their attitudes toward peer and self-assessment of descriptive writing. In so doing, the study relied on exploratory sequential mixed-methods procedures including qualitative and quantitative phases. The first group of participants was 40 EFL teachers (20 males and 20 females). The second group of participants was 50 individuals (25 males and 25 females) who took part in a five-session descriptive writing course, participated in interviews, and filled out the questionnaires. The content of the course was a combination of Bartlett's (2015) peer and self-assessment methods and Spencer's (2005) models of assessing composition. In the qualitative phase, a thematic analysis of the interviews, known as the constant comparative method of analysis, helped to extract four main themes shaping the participants’ attitudes, namely ‘Cooperation’, ‘Knowledge’, ‘Motivation’, and ‘Practice’. In the quantitative phase, exploratory factor analysis and a one-way MANOVA test were carried out to examine any gender-specific impacts on the learners’ attitudes toward peer and self-assessment of descriptive writing. Finally, the results of the study implied that the participants had positive attitudes towards the descriptive writing course, although females were more positive than males. This study has some educational implications for those involved in peer and self-assessment.

In today's society, it is important for teachers, particularly foreign language teachers, to understand that reflectivity is considered as a main factor in growing teaching profession. This study sought to examine the different dimensions of reflective teaching among Iranian EFL teachers considering the variables of gender, academic degree , teaching experience ,and interactional effect between them .In doing so, initially using an explanatory sequential mixed method survey design a five–point Lickert scale ,29-items Reflective Teaching Questionnaire including (practical, meta-cognitive, critical, cognitive and affective ) was distributed to 142 EFL teachers (male and female) with 4 to 30+ years of professional experience with BA, MA, and PhD. academic degrees. Considering teaching experience, the participants were categorized into three groups.MANOVA results indicated the significant effect of teachers’ experience on their reflective teaching with the least effect reported on the affective dimension. Secondly, sixteen EFL teachers were invited to participate in an interview. The results of the present study will be useful for EFL teachers to have effective teaching, and to involve themselves more in exploring their students’ learning styles and critical aspects of the teaching context. Obviously, reflective teaching would help teachers to foster their independence. The analysis revealed that shortage of time, prescribed syllabi, predetermined textbooks, and ineffective teacher training programs were the main obstacles to reflectivity as experienced by the teachers. The outcomes have pedagogical implications for Iranian EFL teachers and theoreticians in the area of language teaching.

Attitude plays a pivotal role in language learning as it influences learners’ motivation, engagement, and, ultimately, their proficiency. Recognizing the significance of attitude in language learning and toward language teaching methodologies, particularly Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), this study aimed to develop and validate a scale tailored to Iranian learners’ attitudes toward CLT, termed the CLTQ (Communicative Language Teaching Questionnaire). Using a correlational study, we constructed the CLTQ and checked its psychometric properties to ensure the CLTQ’s accuracy and appropriateness in an EFL context. The developed questionnaire was administered among a sample of 295 EFL learners and validated by means of principal component analysis (PCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results obtained revealed a 6-factor CLTQ with 31 items. The statistical findings also showed that the CLTQ enjoys acceptable psychometric properties in terms of reliability and validity. The research outcomes underscore the importance of locally relevant instruments such as the CLTQ in assessing attitudes toward CLT among Iranian learners, offering valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and researchers aiming to enhance language teaching practices in Iran.

Communication strategies (CSs) are systematic attempts by language learners to encode or decode meaning in a target language in situations where the appropriate target language rules have not been formed. Based on this view, communication strategies can be seen as compensatory means for making up for linguistic deficiencies of second or foreign language learners. Within the conceptual framework outlined, this paper is a report on a research conducted at Azarbaijan Teachers Education University on the students majoring in English Language and Literature. The main aim was to seek a relationship between the subjects’ use of communication strategies in solving communication problems and their proficiency levels in English as a foreign language. The data was collected by means of one-to-one interviews with the participants, and were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results indicated that the frequency of communication strategies applied by the participants varied according to their proficiency levels, i.e. low proficient learners tended to employ more communication strategies in comparison with high and moderate ones. The type of communication strategies employed also varied according to their oral proficiency level. It was revealed that high level participants employed more L2-based communication strategies where the low proficient learners used more L1-based ones.

The current study examines the impact of different task types on learning prepositions in form and meaning- focused interaction enhancement- based classes. The participants were 57 second Year University students enrolled in three intact lab classes at Tabriz Islamic Azad University. The first group was provided with form-focused interaction enhancement, the second with the meaning-focused interaction enhancement, and the third was the control group which received no interaction enhancement. During 12 sessions, the participants practiced using prepositions employing oral picture description and written picture description tasks. Having practiced using prepositions during the term using different tasks, the participants were presented with Oral Picture Description (OPD), and Written Picture Description (WPD) tasks in posttest. The results indicated that there are differences among the participants regarding their use of prepositions in performing oral picture description task in form and meaning–focused interaction enhancement- based classes. It also became clear that the group with meaning focused interaction enhancement outperformed the group with form- focused interactionenhancement and the control group. There were also differences among the participants of the three groups regarding their use of prepositions in WPD task in form and meaning -focused interaction enhancement- based classes.