درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The present study aimed to create a diverse curriculum model for teaching English in high schools in Iran. Utilizing an exploratory mixed-methods design to collect the desired data, the study enlisted the participation of 38 Iranian curriculum designers, with a gender distribution of 26 males and 12 females. To evaluate the model, a questionnaire was developed, and its reliability was gauged using Cronbach's Alpha. The validity of the curriculum model was established through Exploratory Factor Analysis employing principle component analysis (PCA). In qualitative phase, the analysis of the data uncovered several key components of the multicultural curriculum, including multicultural education, cultural diversity, and equity pedagogy, social, gender, and educational equality, prejudice reduction, upholding the intrinsic dignity, equity pedagogy, empowering school culture. Furthermore, the proposed model encompassed four essential elements: objectives, content and learning activities, methods, and evaluation. The results of quantitative phase of the study indicated that the multicultural curriculum model was deemed valid by designers in the field of curriculum development. As a result, it is recommended for adoption by English language educators in Iranian high schools.

Since teachers’ perceptions of work engagement can strongly shape their engagement level, it is imperative to explore how teachers perceive this construct and its associated dimensions. With this in mind, some researchers have evaluated teachers’ beliefs and attitudes towards this notion.  Notwithstanding this, to the authors’ knowledge, no study has examined language teachers’ viewpoints on this variable and its significance in online EFL classes. To bridge these gaps, this phenomenological study explored Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions and experiences of work engagement and its value in online English courses. To this aim, using the purposive sampling strategy, a total of 21 EFL teachers were chosen from different state, private, and non-profit universities in Iran. To obtain the required data, all participants were invited to complete an open-ended questionnaire. To reach more comprehensive data, from among the 21 participants, nine willingly took part in a 20-minute interview session. Results obtained from content analysis revealed that Iranian EFL teachers considered work engagement as a complex variable with four related dimensions of emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and social engagement. The results also indicated that Iranian teachers perceived work engagement as an important professional behavior that results in increased academic achievements, professional advancement, improved teaching quality, and strong teacher-student rapport. Hence, education leaders and teacher educators should support Iranian EFL teachers in enhancing work engagement dimensions to improve professional growth and teaching quality.

Multilingualism and its tangled relationship with culture have been the center of debate for many years. It still sparkles various conceptual arguments and day by day, more academic research is circulating on this subject. The concept of multilingualism and the arguments around this discourse roots in the language itself. To fully grasp the notion of cultural multilingualism, first, we need to perceive how and where language and culture are interlinked. The study of culture has the originality of studying history itself. The first studies on both language and culture date back to the earliest time human attempted to analyze and perceive history. The globalization of multilingualism has led scientists and experts to analyze multilingualism through a cultural lens. It's only in a few decades that perceiving and understanding multilingualism through cultural perspectives has opened the eyes of experts to new horizons. Concerning this fact, this study has evaluated Never Let Me Go, a 2005 Nobel-winning novel by the Japanese-British novelist and screenwriter, Kazuo Ishiguro according to cultural multilingual values. Additionally, this study questions the concept of cultural multilingualism, together with its significance in shaping one's identity and self as the main key in Ishiguro's novel. Proven by the given facts, the current study illustrates how cultural multilingualism forms the author's writing style and mindset as a multilingual individual.

Poor vocabulary retention is one of the major difficulties experienced by English as a foreign (second) language (EFL/ESL) students. To tackle this problem, the current study explored the impacts of the modified visual input and the modified oral input on the short-term and long-term vocabulary retention of Iranian EFL students and their perceptions regarding implementing these two types of input in their classes. The initial population consisted of 90 male and female students from Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch in Tehran, Iran. The convenience sampling method was implemented to select the participants. After administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT), 60 students were chosen to serve as the participants, and they were randomly divided into two groups of 30 learners, namely the experimental groups A and B, which received instructions based on the modified visual input and the modified oral input, respectively. Later, the participants received ten 60-minute treatment sessions. Next, the learners' short-term vocabulary retention was assessed using the same vocabulary test as the posttest. One month later, the same test was given to students to check their long-term vocabulary retention as the delayed posttest. The results showed that the two types of input had significant impacts on the vocabulary short-term and long-term retention of the Iranian EFL students to varying degrees. Moreover, the qualitative findings indicated that the learners adopted a significantly positive view toward implementing oral and visual input modifications in their classes. In the end, the implications of the study are provided.

This study conducted a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Arab English-language online newspapers to examine how the Israeli-Lebanese and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts are represented. Employing Fairclough's three-dimensional framework, the research explored the linguistic, discursive, and socio-cultural dimensions of media narratives, integrating framing theory to investigate how these narratives shape public opinion and geopolitical discourse. The study’s design involved the systematic collection and analysis of 50 articles from prominent newspapers such as Al Jazeera English, Al Arabiya English, and Asharq Al-Awsat, selected for their diverse ideological perspectives. The findings revealed distinct ideological framings employed by each outlet, ranging from systemic oppression narratives to calls for regional diplomacy. These narratives are shaped by geopolitical affiliations, cultural identities, and the affordances of digital media, including the role of algorithms and user-generated content. The research highlights how digital tools and social media amplify and polarize discourses, influencing public sentiment and policy debates. By addressing gaps in the literature concerning Arab media’s linguistic strategies and digital affordances, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between language, power, and ideology in conflict representation. Implications extend to both academic discourse and practical applications, providing a framework for policymakers, peacebuilding organizations, and journalists to critically engage with and promote balanced conflict narratives. This interdisciplinary approach underscores the evolving role of digital media in shaping political realities, offering a nuanced lens for future research on conflict discourse.

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, language teachers are presented with new possibilities for addressing challenges in language education. This intervention study aimed to investigate views from ESL teachers on the benefits and challenges of integrating ChatGPT, An artificial intelligence (AI) language model created by OpenAI in 2023, into ESL classrooms for personalized language learning. The study carried out in two upper-secondary schools, combines teacher questionnaires and interviews with a personalized learning intervention based on ChatGPT. The primary focus was on understanding the effect of ChatGPT-based personalized learning assignments on learners’ grammatical knowledge in a local classroom setting. Through the questionnaire, initial teacher concerns regarding the precision, dependability, and helpful application of AI tools were investigated. Despite these reservations, the intervention demonstrated a notable decrease in grammatical errors in student writing. Subsequent interviews revealed a positive shift in teacher perceptions, indicating increased receptivity to AI-based approaches after witnessing positive outcomes. The study highlights the importance of teacher training and hands-on experience in overcoming initial hesitations associated with AI tool adoption in pedagogical practices. Moreover, the promising results suggest that AI-powered instruments, like ChatGPT, have the potential to enhance personalized language learning. This underscored the significance of educators cultivating their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) to overcome hesitations and effectively harness the potential of ChatGPT for augmenting individualized learning. The study’s findings provided evidence supporting the utilization of ChatGPT-based personalized learning assignments to meet the specific requirements of the schools in question.

Pedagogic discourse is inherently multimodal, and teaching is a multimodal experience that takes place through the integration of (spoken) language and an array of other communicative modes. Similarly, modern multimedia platforms, such as Instagram, also have the potential to be used as multimodal educational tools that make use of different modalities alongside text. As such, the present study aimed to analyze three prominent Instagram pages, including BBC Learning English, Learning English with Oxford, and Learning English with Cambridge, through the multimodal discourse analysis toolkit proposed by Ledin and Machin (2020). Qualitative data analysis was run to analyze the data. The findings of the study indicated that the English Language Teaching (ELT) pages analyzed employed a diverse array of semiotic resources, spanning from the incorporation of various images to the careful selection of different colors and typography to effectively convey their intended meanings. Additionally, the visual representations employed in the posts were largely consistent with, and in some cases, complementary to the overall content of the posts, and the underlying messages they aimed to convey. Specifically, the visual representations in the ELT pages were purposefully designed to reflect the culture of the English-speaking community as a clear means of reinforcement.

Objective: Research on corrective feedback (CF) in L2 pragmatics instruction, especially in online teaching, is still in its infancy. To address this gap, this study sought to examine the types of CF provided by EFL teachers in online classes in response to the learners’ pragmalinguistically and sociopragmatically inappropriate production of the binary speech acts of request and refusal.Methods: Eighteen hours of online classroom interaction data were analyzed using conversation analysis and a taxonomy that classifies feedback into implicit and explicit input-providing and output-prompting CF.Results: The findings of the study showed that explicit output prompts were largely applied by teachers as the most frequent type of CF. The teachers tended to use prompting questions and metapragmatic clues to help learners better understand request and refusal speech acts, rather than directly offering input or reformulation. In addition, because of the face-threatening nature of speech acts of refusal and request, the teachers applied explicit output prompts as corrective feedback to reinforce the accuracy of learners’ production.Conclusions: It can be concluded that the online mode of instruction can impact the explicitness of pragmatic CF. This research is of great value for teachers to employ both implicit and explicit types of CF to develop learners’ competency in pragmatics in online instruction.