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Stance has been examined extensively in the past few decades. However, the majority of the studies have been synchronic, with the few exceptions being snapshot diachronic studies without trend-related inferential statistics. This study adopted a trend-related inferential statistical measure and a more continuous diachronic dataset to examine the changes in using stance in the research articles of English applied linguistics from 2000 to 2020. To this end, 416 articles were randomly selected from 10 applied linguistics journals indexed in the first quartile of Scopus and probed using LancsBox for normalized frequency of Hyland’s (2005b) list of stance markers. Results were then analyzed for trends using the Jonckheere-Terpstra test. The results showed significant decreases for the overall stance markers (J=37168, z= -2.85, d= -.28, p= .004)), hedges (J=37014, z= -2.96, d= -.293, p=0.003), boosters (J=36298, z= -3.47, d= -.345, p=.001), and attitude markers (J=36647, z= -3.22, d= -.32, p=0.001), while self-mention markers were found to have experienced a slight, non-significant increase (J=42527.5, z= .94, d= .096, p=0.349). The functional analysis of the selected excerpts showed that the quantitative decrease in the use of stance markers has been compensated for, with an increase in the modification range and strength of the used stance markers as the two ways we could discover. After discussing the findings, the paper ends with some suggestions for further research. 

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.

Nowadays, teachers are expected to demonstrate a notable level of digital competence. Therefore, the current study investigated Iranian male and female pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence. The study employed a mixed methods approach and three instruments including a questionnaire, structured interviews, and observations were utilized. Therefore, 157 Iranian in-service EFL teachers completed the DIGIGLO questionnaire. Also, 15 in-service and 15 pre-service EFL teachers participated in structured interviews. Moreover, 30 classes were observed. To analyze the qualitative data, thematic analysis was used and in the phase of quantitative analysis, descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests were used. The results indicated that the level of Iranian in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence was moderate to high. In addition, some similarities and differences could be seen in the interview questions between in-service and pre-service EFL teachers. Moreover, it was revealed that there were no significant differences between male and female in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence. Furthermore, it was found that a majority of teachers incorporated digital technologies into their teaching practice. The results of this study can help curriculum developers and teacher educators realize a better conception of Iranian pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence and their practices of using digital tools.

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.

Dissatisfaction with product-oriented and static forms of assessment led to the emergence of process-oriented testing or dynamic assessment. Learners’ involvement in the assessment process can enhance their learning autonomy and help them process linguistic features more deeply. Accordingly, using a quantitative quasi-experimental research design, the researchers sought to explore whether utilizing DA principles would have any differential impact, believed to be statistically significant, on the Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners’ learning and retention of English grammar. To this end, 30 EFL learners from two intact classes who were taking a general English course at Shayestegan English Language Institute, in Rasht, Iran were selected as a homoscedastic group of participants based on the scores they obtained on a sample copy of Oxford Solutions Placement Test (OSPT). The intact classes, each comprising 15 students, were then assigned to one experimental and one control group who then received treatment on their L2 grammar under different conditions: The experimental group received instruction on English grammar as per the principles of dynamic assessment in an eight-session intervention program. The control group likewise received treatment on L2 grammar over the course of the study, but they were trained using teacher-fronted instruction. Finally, the groups sat for an immediate and a delayed posttest of grammar to demonstrate their degree of learning and amount of retention of English grammar. Capitalizing on a 2 by 2 factorial design, which allowed for examination of both main and interaction effects of instructional modality and participants’ gender, the researchers employed a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to examine the participants’ performance scores. The results revealed that, regardless of participants’ gender, instruction as delivered through dynamic assessment privileged the participants in the experimental group much better than that of the conventional method in terms of their learning an

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.  

This study aims to explore the strategies Indonesian students employ in writing comparative Indonesian-English literary criticism within the context of EFL students. A qualitative approach was utilized, and data collection techniques included questionnaires and interviews. The data analysis technique used the identification, classification, reduction, and exposure stages. This study used four phases, namely the screening phase, the reading process phase, the interpretation phase, and the reflection phase. The results showed that in the screening phase, 14.1% of participants expressed a liking for English, while 85.9% remained neutral; the mean score of English obtained by the participants was 45.1% very good, 45.1% good, 8.5% sufficient, 1.3% insufficient; and regarding the English courses attended by participants, 62% never attended, and 38% had taken English courses. In the reading process phase, 74% of the participants searched for translated novels on Google, 7% translated English novels using Google Translate, 3.5% engaged in skimmed reading, 2.5% translated English novels using translators, and other reading strategies were below 3%. Participants who responded with ‘loved’ were 71%, participants who responded with ‘liked’ were 19%, participants who responded with ‘neutral’ were 7%, and those who responded with ‘disliked’ were 3%.  

Investigating learners' motivational factors from Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) has been prevalent in a foreign/second language domain, but there is a dearth of well-documented research on ESP instruction. This study addressed the void by scrutinizing ESP learners' BPN of relatedness, competence, and autonomy using a validated and reliable BPN instrument to assess online ESP practices and challenges within unideal EFL situations. A total of 617 ESP students and 94 ESP lecturers from 14 universities across provincial areas of Indonesia participated in the study. A mixed-method design administering questionnaire and interview was applied to draw ESP students' BPN from the perspective of lecturers and students. The results revealed significant differences between lecturers' and learners' perceptions regarding several indicators of relatedness, competence, and autonomy categories. While the lecturers' questionnaire and interviews reported that the ESP students had an acceptable level of engagement with wider ESP communities, the students mentioned their low engagement with content lecturers, stakeholders/experts, and communities. These differences are then utilized as a stepping stone to design a more 'ideal' ESP program using a specific BPN framework to enhance ESP lecturers' and students' specific English and content knowledge under the online learning platforms. The study implies that to help ESP students learn English, online ESP programs should be collaboratively designed by involving English lecturers, content lecturers, ESP stakeholders from relevant fields, and technology-related materials that meet English and specific content knowledge needs.

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.

Mobile technologies and portable devices have a crucial role in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). This paper evaluates the difference of gender in the improvement of oral skills via WhatsApp Application (WAA) and the impression of mobile devices on students’ motivation, satisfaction, and anxiety and the learners’ opinions. A mixed method study was used on the sample size. Quasi-experimental and non-experimental survey designs were carried out in this research. The study’s participants were composed of 30 EFL learners at an upper-intermediate level in Zanjan, Iran. A face-to-face verbal interview was implemented for recording the pre-test before setting up the experimental course on WAA and by creating the interaction group on WAA, the learners communicated (written and voice messages) with the tasks that they received every week for six weeks. Then the teacher ran another interview and used a questionnaire consisting of thirty 5-point Likert item questions adopted from Horwitz et al. (1986) to estimate the participants’ contentment and attitude with mobile education classes, the effectiveness of this process on their inspiration to get involved in class interaction, and the anxiety of learners in this approach. The findings displayed that the female participants’ performance was slightly better than male participants and the use of WAA on mobile devices can enhance speaking proficiency among EFL learners by decreasing their anxiety and increasing motivation resulting in their satisfaction.