درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study explored the status of professionalism and commitment among Iranian EFL Teachers. In doing so, 136 (86 private-and 50 public-sector) EFL teachers of different ages (25-55) from different schools and institutes in Tehran participated in this study. The participants completed the pertinent instruments (i.e., Teachers’ Professionalism and Organizational Commitment Questionnaires). Moreover, out of 136 participants, 40 EFL teachers were interviewed. The results showed that both professionalism and commitment along with their subcategories were rationally high among EFL teachers. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between EFL teachers’ professionalism and commitment. Besides, the content analysis of interviews indicated that professional teachers were committed to their teaching and were sensitive to learners’ needs. Likewise, committed teachers were actively looking for professional development opportunities. The results also showed that female EFL instructors had a higher level of professionalism and commitment than their male counterparts. Additionally, the results indicated that EFL instructors in language institutes had a higher level of professionalism and commitment than those in senior secondary schools. The findings can support EFL policymakers, supervisors, managers, and teacher trainers to grasp a better picture of professionalism and commitment in Iranian EFL educational contexts.

The present study aimed at investigating the impact of Multiple Intelligences inspired instruction on Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety (FLTA) of Iranian EFL teachers. To this end, an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach was employed and twenty males and females in-service EFL teachers were selected from different universities and they were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. In the qualitative phase of the study, the aim was to find the sources of FLTA among the participants. Two participants who showed higher FLTA were selected from each group. In order to homogenize the participants, a retired version of the IELTS test was employed in which no significant difference was reported. The Ryff's (2006) questionnaire was utilized as the pre-test and post-test of FLTA. The instruction phase took place on Skype since the participants were from various universities. The results of the study revealed that the members of the experimental group showed less FLTA than those of the control group. Additionally, extrinsic factors such as negative feedback from principles and supervisors, and losing job were found to be among the most significant sources of FLTA.  Accordingly, some recommendations for teacher training programs are provided to empower teacher trainers to be able to help trainees to decrease their FLTA. 

In this research, we carried out a meta-analysis of the effects of teacher scaffolding on EFL learners’ reading proficiency in which 28 experimental and quasi-experimental studies published from 2008 to 2022 and 39 effect sizes were reviewed and synthesized. Three questions guide this analysis: What is the overall effect of teacher scaffolding on EFL learners’ reading proficiency? To what extent moderator variables such as learners’ educational levels and proficiency levels modify the effect of the teacher scaffolding? What is the magnitude of publication bias in this analysis? The overall effect size was found to be 0.89, which represents a large effect size based on Cohen, Manion and Morrison’ (2007) scale. The effect sizes of moderator variables were calculated and it was reported that the scaffolding has the most effect in elementary learners and elementary school level. The symmetrical funnel plot together with the fail-safe N test indicates that publication bias does not have any significant effect on the effect size reported in this study. The findings of this meta-analysis have implications for EFL teachers, researchers, policy makers and curriculum developers.

Pragmatic comprehension is a central albeit under-researched dimension of pragmatic competence in which most EFL learners suffer from serious deficiencies; therefore, the current study was launched to compare the effects of the Non-Computer Mediated Instruction (NCMI) with Computer-Mediated Instruction (CMI), Multiuser Virtual Environments (MUVEs), and Mobile Augmented Reality Games (MARGs) on Iranian EFL learners’ comprehension of English speech-acts. Moreover, this study attempted to cross-compare the effects of the implicit, explicit, and balanced combination of explicit and implicit instruction and synchronous vs. asynchronous CMI impacts on learners' speech-act pragmatic comprehension. Seven equal size groups of 20 upper-intermediate EFL learners took part in this study. Three NCMI groups (implicit, explicit, and balanced explicit-implicit), two synchronous and asynchronous CMI groups (SCMI & ACMI), one MUVE group, and a MARG group were taught based on their assigned 10 two-hour sessions treatments. A validated listening pragmatic comprehension test was used as a pretest and post-test. Data analysis using one-way ANCOVA showed that the utilised MUVE (OpenSim) was more effective than other types of treatments on learners’ pragmatic comprehension development, and both CMI and NMCI were also better than the used MARGs (Batman Bat-Tech Edition and Harry Potter-Wizards Unite). Moreover, those explicit and balanced explicit-implicit interventions were significantly better than the implicit instruction. Finally, the SCMI could enhance L2 pragmatic comprehension significantly better than the ACMI. These findings pedagogically imply the use of MUVEs, SCMI, and balanced explicit-implicit interventions can strengthen L2speech-act pragmatic comprehension.

This experimental study aimed at discovering the impact of Metacognitive Intervention Program instruction on the reading advancement of Iranian dyslexic primary school learners. The participants consisted of 32 male and female, grade three primary school students, with the age range of 8 to 11 years and 90 to 110 IQ average. They were selected through convenient sampling and divided into two control and experimental groups of equal size. Then, the experimental group was exposed to the Metacognitive Intervention Program instruction for 10 weeks. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and Dyslexia and Reading (NEMA) tests were used as instruments.  To evaluate the participants’ reading progress, a pre-test and a post-test (NEMA) were conducted. The results of covariance analysis showed that the employed program was effective in the reading comprehension development of the participants. The findings of this study suggest that primary school instructors need to think more about using the Metacognitive Intervention Program instruction on different steps of reading comprehension and do more effective activities to assist students in removing their reading difficulties.    

Mastery of English phrasal verbs is regarded as a stumbling block for English language learners, even at advanced levels. Possible sources of difficulty can be a lack of clear meaning and the random nature of particles. The lack of an organized approach to present phrasal verbs to the learners might be a factor that could exacerbate the situation of learning them. This study takes this issue as its point of departure. It investigates whether employing radial categories, conceptual categories with one prototypical concept and some peripheral members that are organized around it, is influential in the learning and long-term retention of these verbs. Moreover, the effect of employing radial categories to teach PVs on learners' cognitive load is investigated. For this purpose, 60 intermediate high school students in 10th and 11th grade were assigned to two groups, one experimental and one control group, each containing 30 students. The study results indicated that the experimental group learners who were taught phrasal verbs using radial categories outperformed control group learners who were taught using a traditional approach. This result suggests that radial categories may help facilitate learning phrasal verbs.

Foreign language vocabulary learning is challenging and requires using an appropriate method. To this end, this study aimed to investigate the effect of listening and viewing BBC News lessons as a teaching and learning tool on high school EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. This quasi-experimental research was carried out in the twelfth grade of Shohada high school in Kalybar city in East-Azarbijan, Iran. Forty two high school EFL learners were chosen as participants from two intact classes. The homogeneity of the classes was checked through a KET test. Then, they were randomly assigned into the experimental (n=19) and control (n=23) groups. Target words were selected from the eight BBC News lessons for both groups. The unfamiliarity of these words to the learners was found through the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale. The experimental group experienced vocabulary learning through watching and listening to the BBC News lessons; while, the control group received the same target words through the traditional method. A vocabulary-based post-test was administrated after the treatment. The result of Independent-Samples t-test on the post-test scores of both groups revealed the significant outperformance of the experimental group compared to the control group. Practical implications are presented to teachers, researchers, and learners.

Flow, introduced as one of the founding concepts in positive psychology by Csikszentmihalyi (1990), refers to the complete absorption in a challenging mental, emotional, or physical task to the exclusion of attention to any other surrounding thing. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, whole aspects of human life have changed, and language learning is no exception. The present study explored various obstacles in experiencing flow among Iranian EFL learners while completing tasks in three different modalities: face-to-face (F2F), text-based, and audio-based interaction during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data were elicited from 55 upper-intermediate learners divided into three groups completing the tasks in pairs, each through one of the three modalities, as a part of their classroom activity. Immediately following class time, they were interviewed individually or through group chats via WhatsApp. Under the three different modalities, the qualitative content analysis identified obstacles in achieving flow and categorized them into five themes. The results revealed that the main barriers in the face-to-face group were related to contextual or environmental factors as well as to task-induced issues. However, technological, task-based, and teacher-related factors gained higher percentages among text-based and audio-based interaction themes. The findings offer insight into flow perception by second language learners in different task modalities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Collaborative dialogue (CD) in developing L2 skills known as ‘knowledge-building dialogue’, in spite of its momentum in foreign language acquisition, has rarely been conjoined and empirically investigated with a Task-based approach. To this end, the present research was conducted with a two-fold aim: firstly, investigating the effect of task-based collaborative dialogue on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ speaking ability, and secondly, exploring teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of the exercised treatment process. The participants of the study consisted of 100 Iranian B.A. TEFL and Translation Studies students were identified as relatively homogeneous with regard to their language proficiency through administering Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and ten Iranian EFL teachers. The experimental group was exposed to task-based collaborative dialogues, while the control group experienced conventional mainstream teaching the speaking skill. Upon completing the treatment, CD questionnaires were administered to the experimental group of learners and teachers to investigate their perceptions of implementing CDs in speaking classes. Subsequently, the teachers and 12 students from the experimental group attended the semi-structured interview sessions to explore their views regarding the efficiency of task-based CDs. The findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control one regarding speaking skill. The results of the questionnaires and the semi-structured interviews complemented each other and indicated that the teachers and the learners adopted positive views toward applying the task-based CD. The findings offer some implications for the stakeholders, including material developers, EFL learners, and teachers, to incorporate task-based collaborative dialogues in second language education.

Despite the fact that there exists a considerable amount of literature on pedagogically-oriented stylistics, a significant number of the often-cited articles turns out to be based on trust and intuition. This is what has been accentuated by prominent figures as Hall (2007), Carter (2007, 2010), Zyngier and Fialho (2010), among others, while calling for more robust empirically-based studies. The present study is undertaken to review 13 studies published from 2015 to 2022. In doing so, an adaptation of a coding framework was employed to serve as guideline for this review study. In this vein, three overarching themes were detected: 1) stylistics as accessible toolkit for teacher training, 2) stylistics' significance in curriculum and syllabus development and 3) stylistics as an opportunity for cooperation between higher education and language teachers. By detecting these emergent themes some uncharted areas of stylistics-inspired pedagogies as well as some rectified issues were revealed. Despite this, there still remains the issue of underreporting which is indeed undermining to the credibility of pedagogical stylistics. Thus, a set of recommendations were accordingly provided for further advancement in studies concerning pedagogical stylistics.

The present study aimed to examine the effects of an educational technology called smart learning pen (i.e., iPen) as an ICT tool on young Iranian male and female EFL learners' speaking accuracy and fluency. A group of 180 young (6-9 years old) male and female learners with no previous formal education in English were randomly assigned into three different conditions: those who used the iPen in class and at home (IPC), at home only (IPH), and those who did not use the iPen at all (NIP). As gender was an independent variable, each condition had male and female groups. To address the research questions, the participants' performance on the oral sub-test of the posttest was put into analysis. The two-way ANOVA run on the effect of the independent variables (iPen and gender) and their interaction on the participants' speaking accuracy, and fluency revealed that using iPen helped the IPC and IPH participants significantly outperform the NIP group in terms of both accuracy and fluency. However, such an analysis did not show any significant effect for gender, nor did it show any significant effect when the interaction of gender and other variables was taken into account. The study has practical implications for policymakers, language teachers as well as software, hardware, and mobile phone application developers.