شکوه رشوند سمیاری

Motivation and affect as two salient variables in L2 development are no longer seen as the stable individual difference factors they were once believed to be. Influenced by process-oriented approaches and by increasing understanding of how the complex dynamic system theory (CDST) works, researchers have been emphasizing the holistic, non-modular, dynamic and changeable nature of motivation and affect to-date. Accordingly, this study utilized the principles underlying the CDST perspective to examine the interrelationships between Iranian EFL learners’ motivational and affective factors mediated by working memory and gender over an academic semester. To this end, 445 pre-intermediate male and female students completed the motivation questionnaire and L2 Enjoyment Scale four times with one-month intervals during an academic semester and Working Memory Scale once in the beginning of the term. Relationships that emerged indicated both motivational and affective stability and fluctuation over a semester of instruction at one month intervals. The findings also illustrated how these factors are inseparable from students’ learning context. Implications of study and directions for further research were also discussed.

Recently, numerous studies have investigated the influence of technology use within the educational settings pointing that the perception of the students as well as the instructor towards technology use is indicative of how well technology might be integrated in instruction. Therefore, this study was designed to explore university lecturers’ perceptions toward instructional technology, their actual versus perceived ICT literacy, the extent to which they integrate technology in their instruction and the challenges they face in successfully integrating instructional technology in academic context. The study adopted a mixed method design and was of exploratory nature. The population consisted of 711 male and female university students studying in different majors including Science, Engineering, Humanities, and Art. Also, 111 instructors teaching different fields took part in the data collection process. Two different questionnaires were devised for the instructors and the students. Besides, for gathering more reliable data, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 51 instructors and 135 students together with an observation to give more depth to the data. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The study concluded that university lecturers had positive attitude toward ICT and were moderately proficient in the use of ICT while university students had different levels of ICT knowledge and were mostly willing to experience digital learning. However, some limitations were mentioned in the study which shows an urgent need for some measures to be taken for continuous training of university lecturers in ICT which in turn leads to training more knowledgeable digital generation.