درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Parallel with the global outbreak of Covid-19 disease in 2020 which widely affected the educational milieu, many institutions of higher education shifted to fully online blended and/or synchronous courses and programs. The extent to which each of these modalities (i.e. fully online blended courses versus online real-time ones) may contribute to language learners’ achievement is largely unknown. Previous studies on blended learning (BL) across various disciplines including foreign language teaching have largely focused on courses featuring a combination of face-to-face and online sessions. This quantitative quasi-experimental study presents an attempt to compare the effectiveness of a fully online blended technical English course with a mix of online synchronous sessions and asynchronous interactive content with that of an online real-time course. The language achievement of 25 university level students attending this online blended course was compared with that of students in an online synchronous course. Drawing on independent and paired sample t-test results obtained from two sets of pre and posttests, it was observed that while both groups performed significantly better in the final language achievement test, students in the fully online synchronous course outperformed those in the blended one. The findings speak to the significance of careful design of online blended courses in terms of session and content delivery along with the essence of increasing peer-to-peer and learner-teacher interaction opportunities to improve the effectiveness of these courses for language learners.

In recent years, the enrollment of English as a foreign language (EFL) has increased significantly in higher education. The aim of this study is investigating the impact of a group learning program which is implemented as online on learning motivation of English among Iranian university students. Forty four undergraduate university students (25 males and 19 females) with the age range of 18 to 30 participated in this study. The Dornyei theoretical framework (2005; 2009) was used to measure the three aspects of motivation (ideal L2 self, ought-to L2self, and L2 learning experience). A pre- and posttest survey and a semi-instructured interview were used as the main instruments. For identifying the differences of the scores of three aspects of motivation, a paired sample T-test was used. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in L2 learning experience prior to and after the program administration and no significant difference were observed regarding the two other aspects. The findings also showed the most motivating feature was interesting learning recourses and tools and the most demotivating feature was technology barriers. Moreover, the findings of the interviews showed that most of the students had positive experience of this project. With the increasing role of English in Iran in all aspects of teaching and learning as an international language, it is crucial for teachers and program developers to care about the motivational drives of learners due to the positive feedback of some programs as the project under the study.

Researchers have always been concerned with innovative approaches to facilitate the learning process for language learners. One of the facilitating strategies is guided discovery learning, which can help learners to develop their critical and analytical thinking skills. Hence, the present study is an attempt to discover the effects of guided discovery learning on the development of teenage and adult learners’ syntactic structures. The participants of this study were 34 male EFL Iranian learners in Iranmehr Language Institute, Aleshtar, Lorestan province, Iran. The participants were divided into two experimental groups based on their age (12 to 18 as teenagers, and 18 to 30 as adults). First, the Longman proficiency test was given to the participants to measure their language ability. After that, a pre-test was given to the students regarding syntactic structures before the treatment. Then, every two weeks a post-test was given to the students to assess their gradual development. One immediate and two delayed post-tests were given to the students. In this study, paired and independent samples t-tests were used to compare the development of syntactic structures in the studied groups. The results of this study showed that both groups (teenagers and adults) made an improvement but adults improved more significantly than teenagers. The findings of the study contributed to the practical employment of guided discovery learning as an effective teaching methodology, especially for adults in the process of language learning

The current study was an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model on the fluency of foreign language learners' speech. To this end, fifty undergraduate English Language and Literature students, who had enrolled in a "Listening & Speaking" course, participated in this study. Data were collected through a one-group pre-posttest design and semi-structured interviews. Two raters assessed the learners' four oral presentations. The Praat software and one-way repeated measure ANOVA were used for data analysis. The results showed that the flipped classroom model could significantly develop students' oral fluency. Meanwhile, the findings of the semi-structured interviews indicated that the students were delighted with this approach. From their perspectives, the cooperation and collaboration between students and teachers were undeniable. They also believed that their self-confidence increased. Correspondingly, the results suggest that the language instructors and stakeholders at any level can benefit from this approach, i.e., flipped classroom model to shift the instruction to a practical learner-centered approach.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of process-based and genre- based approaches to writing instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance across high and low creativity levels. The study followed a quasi-experimental design and it was conducted with a homogenous sample of 72 learners who were selected from an initial group of 90 participants from a private language institute in Urmia, Iran. Based on the results of an English proficiency test known as Oxford Placement Test and a test of creativity known as Abedi-Schumacher Creativity Test, the participants were assigned into four groups of 18. The treatment period lasted for 10 sessions including pretest and posttest sessions. The results of ANCOVA statistics showed that the type of instruction had statistically significant effect on the learners’ writing performance, with the higher performance of genre-based over the process-based writing instruction, while the level of creativity had no significant effect on the participants’ writing scores. Furthermore, a significant interaction was observed between instruction type and the learners’ creativity level. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for teachers, syllabus designers, and practitioners to use appropriate instructional methods in ELT with special attention on learners’ creativity levels.

Decision-making and pedagogical reasoning constitute the foundation of teacher professional practice. This qualitative study was conducted to explore novice Iranian EFL teachers’ professional decision-making and pedagogical reasoning in the three domains of (1) planning and preparation, (2) classroom management, and (3) professional responsibilities during the three phases of pre-active, interactive, and post-active teaching. Data from two sources including scenarios and audio journals revealed five novice teachers’ decisions in each domain and their relevant reasoning. Decisions in the first domain were discovered to embody teachers’ choices about materials, teaching methods, and assessment. In the second domain, teachers’ decisions were focused on management, flexibility, and accountability. In the third domain, their decisions were aimed at professional interaction and professional development. Moreover, a new decision domain, ‘dispositions’, was discovered, which comprised novice teachers’ choice of ethical conduct, care, and accountability. This led to the introduction of a new phase of teaching, beyond-active, which greatly influenced all other decision domains and teaching phases. Additionally, novice teachers’ pedagogical reasoning was uncovered to stem from their knowledge, skills, and personality attributes. These findings suggest that knowledge about teachers’ decisions and underlying reasoning provides insights into the scope of their professional knowledge and practice.

The conflict between form and meaning is not a new phenomenon, especially in the translation of sacred texts . The Quran's fusion of style and content, as well as the unparalleled quality of its structure, have made its translation an arduous task for translators. The aim of this descriptive study was to investigate the adjustments to form and meaning in three translations of Az Zariyat surah (by Arberry, Pickthall, and Shakir). The English and Arabic versions of this surah were contrasted based on the semantic and structural adjustments applied by Nida and Taber in the translation of the Bible. The results revealed that more than three-quarters of the adjustments were concerned with semantic adjustments, with lexical expansions being the most common. Furthermore, structural adjustments and reductions were made to a lesser extent compared to other modifications. Translators mostly chose to stick to the source text, describing only ambiguous or abstract words in the source text and avoiding significant reductions. This behavior can be explained by the sensitivity of the Quranic verses and the translators' willingness to remain faithful to the original text . The adjustment framework introduced in the present study may offer promising avenues for tackling the dilemmas in the way of rendering the style and content of the Quranic verses.