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Prior to Covid-19 pandemic, online education was given little importance in the educational system of different countries, including Iran and Turkey. Actually, previously there was no need for online education. However, in pandemic situation the need for online classes and its significance in language learning became more ubiquitous. Thus, in view of the paucity of research on perceptions toward the efficacy of virtual learning, particularly the sheer dearth of comparative work on the issue, the researchers in the current study intended to investigate the practicality of commonly used online platforms in Iran and Turkey, i.e. Adobe Connect and Zoom. To this end, a total of 10 EFL professors (5 Iranian and 5 Turkish) participated in the interview session to deeply investigate their attitudes on the platforms of Zoom and Adobe Connect as regards issues related to materials and resources, instruction, and assessment. As the results of the interview showed, both Turkish and Iranian university professors had similar ideas towards the online platforms and they listed some merits such as easy access, attractiveness, and applicability for teaching and learning in Covid-19. Also, the demerits were low interaction and communication, being demotivating for non-disciplined learners, and so on. In general, based on the participants’ points of view, both online platforms were useful in terms of materials and resources as well as instruction; however, they had less control on cheating of tests, in terms of assessment. Different parties such as teachers, syllabus designers and materials developers will benefit from the outcomes study.

In today's society, it is important for teachers, particularly foreign language teachers, to understand that reflectivity is considered as a main factor in growing teaching profession. This study sought to examine the different dimensions of reflective teaching among Iranian EFL teachers considering the variables of gender, academic degree , teaching experience ,and interactional effect between them .In doing so, initially using an explanatory sequential mixed method survey design a five–point Lickert scale ,29-items Reflective Teaching Questionnaire including (practical, meta-cognitive, critical, cognitive and affective ) was distributed to 142 EFL teachers (male and female) with 4 to 30+ years of professional experience with BA, MA, and PhD. academic degrees. Considering teaching experience, the participants were categorized into three groups.MANOVA results indicated the significant effect of teachers’ experience on their reflective teaching with the least effect reported on the affective dimension. Secondly, sixteen EFL teachers were invited to participate in an interview. The results of the present study will be useful for EFL teachers to have effective teaching, and to involve themselves more in exploring their students’ learning styles and critical aspects of the teaching context. Obviously, reflective teaching would help teachers to foster their independence. The analysis revealed that shortage of time, prescribed syllabi, predetermined textbooks, and ineffective teacher training programs were the main obstacles to reflectivity as experienced by the teachers. The outcomes have pedagogical implications for Iranian EFL teachers and theoreticians in the area of language teaching.

In recent years, some language teachers have made investments in approaches and models such as mobile assisted flipped language learning. Some studies in Iran have examined flipped learning impact on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ language skills as well as language systems. However, no researches have been conducted on the impact mobile assisted flipped learning might have on improvement of intermediate EFL learners’ cohesive devices and their motivation to learn cohesion which is the focus of the current study. To this end, 40 female intermediate EFL learners in an English language institute in Kerman, Iran were recruited. Employing a quasi-experimental design, subjects were assigned to two classes of experimental (EG- N = 20) and control (CG-N = 20). Oxford Placement Test, researcher-made writing achievement tests, and Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) were utilized to collect the required data. The findings indicate that participants in mobile assisted flipped language learning group outperformed those in the control group. Moreover, the results of a chi-square test showed a significant relationship between mobile assisted flipped language learning and intermediate EFL learners’ motivation to learn cohesive devices. The findings might help stakeholders design, introduce, and address mobile assisted flipped language learning to their context-specific needs, thereby facilitating the language learning process.

Professional learning community (PLC) has been a generally recognized model for promoting teacher development, including EFL teachers’ writing assessment literacy, intercultural teaching competence, digital literacy, and so on. However, research on whether the changes in beliefs of teachers engaging in a PLC affects their teaching competence is relatively scant. To fill this gap, the present study investigated the extent to which a PLC with intercultural components changed EFL teachers’ beliefs in intercultural teaching, which in turn affected their intercultural teaching competence. In doing so, adopting an exploratory sequential method, qualitative data from teachers and a questionnaire from students were collected and analyzed through NVIVO 12 and SPSS 26.0. The data analyses revealed significant changes in the EFL teachers’ knowledge construction, motivation inspired by peer interaction, and reflection on intercultural learning and teaching practices. These changes led to the transformations in their beliefs and practices concerning intercultural instruction, although individual orientations were observed in their pedagogical approaches. Furthermore, the study’s findings were supported by evidence of corresponding changes in students’ learning outcomes in the development of intercultural competence. The study highlights the significance of PLCs in enhancing EFL teachers’ intercultural teaching competence and their professional development.

The current study investigates the feasibility of implementing EFL teachers' Individual Development Planning at Iranian public schools. It further explores the underlying reasons for the (imp) possibility of practicing this program and seeks the teachers' suggestions to improve the schools' condition. To this end, data were collected from 180 EFL teachers using a researcher-made questionnaire and a follow-up semi-structured interview. The results of one-sample t-tests revealed a slight possibility following the interviews which indicated 14 underlying reasons for the insufficient grounds at public schools. Participating teachers also argued that equipping a room with necessary technological tools, allocating monetary resources, assigning specific teachers time to practice IDP, taking advantage of head teachers, changing the school administration delegation, and performing advocating cultural acts can provide a ground for IDP implementation. The findings demonstrate the necessity of creating changes by policymakers, school principals, and EFL teachers so that they can all benefit from this program.

This research explores language assessment practices and training preferences in Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching, aiming to provide valuable insights into the current landscape among 363 Iranian EFL teachers. Data collection included diverse demographics, facilitating a thorough analysis of assessment practices and preferences. Statistical analyses, such as chi-square tests, revealed a significant gap between the perceived importance and the actual proficiency of Iranian EFL teachers. Speaking skills are prioritized while listening comprehension is least emphasized. Common assessment methods include active class participation, oral presentations, and closed-ended tests, with underutilized methods suggesting a need for broader teacher development programs. The study underscores the diverse terminology used for teacher-mediated assessments, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of EFL assessment practices. In summary, the paper highlights the significance of tailored assessment literacy programs to bridge the gap and enhance English language teaching in Iran.

Presenting the writer's voice and positioning it within the larger body of alternative voices is essential in academic writing. Realizing the challenges novice academic writers might experience while doing this, we selected and analyzed a corpus of 40 discussion chapters (timespan: 2010-2019) written by Iranian master's students. Following systemic functional perspective (Martin & White, 2005), we explored the engagement resources in the corpus to discover evaluative language choices and stance types. The results showed that although student writers actively engaged other voices and adopted a more balanced dialogically contractive and expansive stance, they employed fewer and less diverse linguistic devices. Moreover, these novice writers tended to avoid certainty and preferred more modest and cautious assertions. There was a great tendency to remain neutral toward other voices. In aligning with other voices, they preferred to present more supportive evaluations than critical ones as well as more explicit structures. They opted for implicit attitudes in evoking resources to show criticism. The implication of this study is for EAP and dissertation writing to novice writers. 

Reflective practice and noticing can be regarded as two essential concerns for novice teachers’ survival and development in their first practices. Therefore, this study was an attempt to explore how reflective practices activate novice English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ noticing. To that end, we conducted an instrumental case study to explore the role of reflective practice among Iranian novice EFL teachers in activating their noticing. An inductive-deductive thematic analysis of the data collected through teachers’ portfolios and semi-structured interviews indicated that novice teachers’ noticing could be activated and sharpened through teachers’ personal, cognitive, and professional developments addressed by reflective practice. Furthermore, the findings showed that there are relationships among novice teachers’ personal, cognitive, and professional developments and the components of teacher noticing, including framing, perceptual activities and exploration, and interaction, leading to sharpening novice EFL teachers’ noticing. Hence, it can be concluded reflective practice can activate novice EFL teachers' noticing, impacting their professional development through framing, interaction, perceptual activities, and exploration. The study has implications for EFL teacher education programs, where teacher educators can help teachers develop critical reflection skills to address problems in their classrooms.

The present study aimed to develop writing skills by using the blogging technique. This experimental research used a pre-post group design. The study had two groups; a control group (23 male students) and an experimental group (24 male students). The students in the control group were taught traditionally through paper-and-pencil assignments. On the other hand, blogging was taught in the experimental group. The topics focused on current global events, which were prepared and posted by the researcher. The learners were asked to search for photos, videos, or articles related to the assigned topic and write about these events in their own words. They also had to post comments and feedback on their classmates’ blog posts. The learners worked on their blog posts individually, in pairs, or in small groups. The researcher worked as a facilitator. Comparing the posttest scores using SPSS analysis of learners who blogged about current global events and those who only used paper-and-pencil tasks on the same topics showed significant differences in writing improvement in favor of the blog group. Moreover, students in the blog group showed positive attitudes toward the blogging activity. They enjoyed interacting and cooperating with their peers and reflecting on their performance in writing in response to the feedback and comments they got from other classmates’ blog posts. The study ended with some recommendations for intensifying the blogging activity of EFL students in writing courses. Also, blogging about current global events was confirmed to be efficient in raising students’ global awareness and promoting their writing skills.

This study applied multi-faceted Rasch measurement to investigate the halo effect in the performance-based assessment of writing across rubric criteria. Five raters who had received specialized training applied a four-criteria rating rubric to analytically rate writing scripts on two argumentative topics. Facets, a Rasch computer program, was utilized to pinpoint the halo effect by analyzing rater and rubric criteria interactions. After examining the appropriateness of the rubric in terms of functionality, the results showed that except for one rater, the raters did not exhibit any sign of the halo effect across rubric criteria. Generally, the severity hierarchies for raters and difficulty levels for rubric criteria suggested that raters’ training and their perceptions of the importance of criteria were associated with their manifestation of the halo effect. Pedagogically, through a detailed facet analysis of interactions between raters and rubric criteria, rater trainers may better realize how to design effective training programs to minimize raters’ variance including the halo effect and improve the overall objectivity of human rating.

Measurement invariance (MI) refers to the degree to which a measurement instrument or scale produces consistent results across different groups or populations. It basically shows whether the same construct is measured in the same way across different groups, such as different cultures, genders, or age groups. If MI is established, it means that scores on the test can be compared meaningfully across different groups. To establish MI mostly confirmatory factor analysis methods are used. In this study, we aim to examine MI using the Rasch model. The responses of 211 EFL learners to the listening section of the IETLS were examined for MI across gender and randomly selected subsamples. The item difficulty measures were compared graphically using the Rasch model. Findings showed that except for a few items, the IELTS listening items exhibit MI. Therefore, score comparisons across gender and other unknown subgroups are valid with the IELTS listening scores.

Since teachers’ creative behavior or innovation-promoting inclination affects the quality of education, some recent studies have aimed to explore teachers’ willingness to practice teaching for creativity (TfC) in various education contexts. As an attempt to identify the correlates of TfC, the aim of this research was to test a model of model of TfC in EFL contexts based on teachers’ creative self-efficacy and their growth mindset. A number of 472 Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers partook in this survey as the participants. The electronic versions of the questionnaires for the three latent variables were administered to the participants. Structural equation modelling was utilized to test the suggested model of TfC in the EFL context. The results indicated that both teachers’ creative self-efficacy and their growth mindset substantially influenced EFL teachers’ TfC although the contribution of creative self-efficacy was greater than. Additionally, teachers’ growth mindset had a slight effect on their creative self-efficacy. These findings can offer remarkable implications for EFL teacher educators

Given the significant role of corrective feedback and individual differences in the process of foreign language acquisition, in the present study we set out to investigate the effect of direct and indirect corrective feedback on impulsive and reflective EFL learners’ writing accuracy. Sixty learners were selected and randomly assigned to three groups including two experimental groups and one control group. The first experimental group received indirect feedback, the second experimental group received direct feedback, and the control group received no feedback. The instrument employed in this study to determine the impulsivity or reflectivity of the participants was Barratt's impulsiveness scale. Writing accuracy was scored by the scale provided by Karim and Nassaji. The results revealed that both direct and indirect corrective feedbacks were effective in reducing the written errors of all the earners. Moreover, no significant difference was found between direct and indirect corrective feedbacks in terms of increasing writing accuracy. Although there was no significant difference between the impulsive and reflective learners’ performance, the mean scores showed that the latter seemed to benefit more from indirect type of the feedback while their counterparts showed better performance after receiving direct feedback. The findings have implications for EFL teachers and learners.