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This study aimed to explore the combined impacts of critical thinking and dynamic Assessment on enhancing the writing performance of Iranian EFL learners, specifically focusing on teaching writing strategies. We selected 80 intermediate-level participants from a pool of approximately 200 language learners at an accredited institute (Gooyesh). These participants were divided equally into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group (EG) received writing strategies through the application of critical thinking principles and dynamic assessment. The control group (CG) received writing strategies through traditional methods without receiving critical thinking or dynamic assessment principles. The two groups underwent a writing pre-test to assess their initial writing skills, and after the treatment, to measure their writing improvement, they took a post-test using the same evaluation criteria as those of the pre-test. Then, appropriate statistical tools were employed to gauge the participants' writing progress as a result of the instructional methods. The results indicated that integrating dynamic assessment and critical thinking strategies significantly improved participants' written communication skills. These findings hold promise for EFL instructors, curriculum designers, and material developers.

The study aimed to investigate the Iranian EFL teachers’ knowledge of educational ethical codes in academic settings through the employment of a newly-designed questionnaire, developed by the researchers. To this end, six university professors as experts were invited to participate in an unstructured interview related to the issue under study. The preliminary themes were extracted from the relevant literature and the experts’ opinions through qualitative analysis. Next, the initial questionnaire items were generated and approved by three experts. The reliability of the constructed questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. Afterwards, the 40-item questionnaire was administered to 400 EFL teachers resulting in the elimination of eleven items through exploratory factor analysis. Five factors were drawn from the responses of teachers through EFA representing their knowledge of educational ethical codes. Additionally, the confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the five extracted components of the newly developed questionnaire including educational, affective, socio-cultural, behavioral, and professional ethics factors were all acceptably loaded on their constructs at an acceptable level, and the scale can successfully determine EFL teachers’ knowledge of ethical codes in educational settings. The findings of the study have valuable implications for teachers, students, teacher trainers, educational policymakers and administrators.

The goal of this study was to explore English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ and learners’ beliefs and classroom practices in relation to task rehearsal as an operationalization of repeating a task, which entails learners’ awareness of the repeated performance before they do a task for the first time. Five intact EFL classes with five teachers and 32 learners were recruited. The teachers asked the learners to perform a task that was included in the textbook twice with an interval of one week, while they made the learners aware of the second iteration prior to their first performance. Data were collected through observing the two sessions of each class and interviewing both the teachers and the learners immediately after the second task occasion. Results indicated that the participants (both teachers and learners) believed that task rehearsal was beneficial for facilitating task implementation and task performance. Findings also showed that task rehearsal led the participants to show changes in their classroom behaviors related to this practice from the first to the second session, which clearly reflected their beliefs. Implications of these results for L2 task implementation and teacher education are discussed.

Teachers’ engagement in continuing professional development activities plays an essential role in the design, implementation, and effectiveness of in-service teacher training (INSET) programs. Understanding multidimensional orientations of teacher engagement in continuing professional development (CPD) activities, albeit fluctuations and deceptive images, may provide implications for the rate and pace of their professional development. To address this issue, the present study aims to understand teachers’ engagement orientations, namely cognitive, behavioral, and affective; as well as the levels, i.e. authenticity or fakeness of their engagement. In doing so, this study further aims to analyze how the participants with different engagement orientations revealed signs of fake and/or genuine engagement. The data collected from the observations of a six-week-long CPD course and semi-structured interviews conducted after the completion of the course indicated that teachers with different engagement orientations demonstrated various ways of genuine and/or fake participation in the CPD course. Pedagogical implications highlight an assortment of courses of action to maximize authentic teacher engagement.

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.

The present study investigates the effectiveness of a conceptual approach, grounded in cognitive linguistics, in enhancing the comprehension and production of phrasal verbs among Iranian EFL learners of English. To this end, 38 participants (16 males and 22 females) at intermediate levels of language proficiency were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group, and underwent instruction through the conceptual approach or the traditional method, respectively. A pre-test was administered to assess baseline performance, followed by the intervention and two post-tests (i.e., a cloze test and a story-retelling task) to measure changes in comprehension and production of the phrasal verbs. The cloze test measured differences in phrasal verb comprehension, while the story-retelling task assessed production and accuracy. The mixed between-within-subjects ANOVA (SPANOVA) revealed significant improvement in the experimental group on the post-test. Independent sample t-tests confirmed superior performance in the production and accuracy of phrasal verbs for the experimental group. This suggests that the conceptual approach offers a systematic method for learners to approach phrasal verbs analytically, contrasting with the traditional perception of these elements as non-analyzable. As a practical implication, educators in EFL contexts, are strongly urged to adopt the presented conceptual approach. This innovative pedagogical strategy not only enriches the learning experience but also addresses linguistic challenges associated with phrasal verbs, fostering creativity in the instructional process through situational presentations and orientational metaphors. 

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of metacognitive-cooperative training on the writing skills of Iranian EFL learners. The study employed quasi-experimental design. To this aim, four intact classes were randomly allocated into three experimental groups and one control group. The findings from the initial assessments indicated that the individuals involved in the study exhibited a similar level of language competence and writing skills, ascertained by the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) and a pretest specifically designed to evaluate writing abilities. Consequently, a total of 120 Iranian EFL learners, selected from a subject pool of 160 individuals at the upper-intermediate level, were designated as the participants for this study. The selected subjects were subsequently divided into four distinct groups, namely three experimental groups (EG1, EG2, EG3) and one control group (CG). The experimental groups (EG1, EG2, and EG3) received instruction on cooperative learning, metacognitive strategies, and a combination of metacognitive and cooperative learning, respectively. Conversely, the control group (CG) adhered to a conventional curriculum for writing. Subsequently, a posttest was conducted. Having conducted the Wilcoxon-Signed Rank Test, the researchers figured out that the instructional methods of cooperation, metacognition, and metacognitive-cooperation significantly influenced the improvement of writing skills among Iranian EFL learners. Based on the outcomes of the ANCOVA test, the researchers reached the conclusion that the metacognitive-cooperative group exhibited superior performance compared to the groups that received solely cooperative or metacognitive instruction. The study’s pedagogicalimplications have been thoroughly discussed.

In the dynamic landscape of English Language Teaching (ELT), the widespread reliance on commercially-produced textbooks has spurred a critical examination of their relevance to the diverse needs and interests of learners in global contexts. Typically originating from English-speaking countries, these textbooks predominantly feature neutral and non-controversial topics such as food, shopping, ceremonies, and travel, which may not align with the varied experiences of learners. This article, through a descriptive analytical approach, contends that the malleability of English language textbooks provides an opportunity for the application of Critical Pedagogy (CP) which can turn the classroom into a place where learners stop thinking about such topics. In such a situation, by integrating ‘Environmental Education’ (EE) - as a transformative process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment - it is believed that learners can develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills along with enhancing language proficiency. Showing the possibility of implementing the proposed framework, a sample lesson about ‘water crisis’ is provided and elaborated on. To highlight the broader educational backdrop, it is argued that this shift not only broadens the limited scope of language learning but also, by establishing clear personal relevance for learners in both their present and future lives, it can foster a critical and creative environment within English language teaching programs, contributing to the development of sustainable futures for the learners.

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of learner autonomy; however, the roles of teachers and language materials in fostering in have not received due attention. This mixed methods study investigated the association between what Iranian teachers perceived of LA and what they thought about the role of textbooks in fostering EFL learners’ LA, and to what extent they believed the principles of LA in their classrooms. The participating teachers were 200 male and female teachers that taught Iranian tenth-grade EFL textbook in senior high schools of Qom, Arak, and Karaj. The first instrument was a questionnaire developed by Borg and Al-Busaidi (2012), which primarily focused on the teachers’ perspectives and opinions about LA. The second questionnaire was used to investigate how Iranian EFL teachers think the EFL textbook Vision 1 helps foster LA. The questionnaire was developed based on the LA principles (Fenner & Newby, 2000). The last instrument was an interview protocol that was developed by the researcher to gain a deeper understanding of teachers’ promoting LA in their teaching. The interview protocol also was based on Fenner and Newbys’ (2000) principles. For this study, the questionnaire data were collected through two questionnaires. Moreover, an interview protocol was used to gather qualitative data from 12 teachers, who participated in the interviews (i.e., 2 face-to-face and 10 online interviews). The result of the bivariate correlation test showed that there was a significant relationship between teachers’ perception of learner autonomy and their opinions about the LA-fostering role of the Iranian 10th-grade EFL textbook. The results of the interview analysis showed that the principles of learner autonomy were largely approved of by the interviewees. The study has some implications for textbook developers, teachers trainers, and teachers.

Although intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has been foregrounded in L2 pedagogy, the status of intercultural pedagogy in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) education in terms of policymaking and planning stages has remained under-represented. Against this backdrop, the present study used interviews as a data source to explore the intercultural beliefs, knowledge, and planning of language institute managers and supervisors as micro-level policymakers. The findings revealed that, in general, participants were in favor of intercultural pedagogy and held positive views; yet, they lacked sufficient knowledge and neglected ICC in most aspects of their educational decisions and planning. In addition, their preference for considering learners’ L1 culture and the existence of restrictive macro-level language policies were among the factors that hindered intercultural practice. Overall, the findings can enhance our understanding of ICC practice in language institutes and policymaking for ICC pedagogy.  

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.

This study is an attempt to explore the integration of positive psychology within language testing, while assessing its effects on learner performance, self-efficacy, motivation, and test anxiety in EFL contexts. Postulated on a mixed-method approach, firstly, the study involves in a quasi-experimental design, where 100 EFL learners were assigned into control and experimental groups. The latter group experienced strength-based feedback and growth-focused assessment practices. The results of the paired t-tests and ANCOVA revealed significant improvements in the EFL students' language proficiency, with the anxiety construct reduced by 30%, alongside substantial increases in the constructs of motivation and self-efficacy. These outcomes can be taken into account as the highlight of the efficacy of positive psychology interventions, contrasting with traditional deficit-focused models of assessment. Afterwards, in the qualitative phase, the research advocates for a paradigm shift in language testing, while emphasizing EFL learners' emotional well-being, cognitive engagement, and learner autonomy. Furthermore, this study contributes to the broader discourse, representing implications on rethinking pedagogical approaches to language assessment, proposing more humanistic and learner-centered frameworks.