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"English Language and Literature" courses are essential components of university education. They provide a significant avenue for understanding the politics, economics, and customs of English-speaking countries. These courses facilitate a mastery of English grammar, which in turn enhances students' comprehension of spoken and written English content. However, traditional modes of instruction in English Language and Literature often lack engagement and interactivity, thereby limiting the effectiveness of learning in this field. In order to boost learners' interest and efficiency in studying English, it is imperative to shift away from conventional teaching approaches. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence in various domains, its integration with English Language and Literature education can yield intelligent learning experiences. This study employs a combination of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) to reform the teaching model in English Language and Literature. The results indicate that CNN and GRU methodologies offer substantial support in realizing intelligent approaches to teaching this field. These methods exhibit a high degree of similarity and accuracy in predicting linguistic features in English Language and Literature. They excel in terms of predictive and scatter error distribution, showcasing superior performance.  

This is a systematic review of Translator Translation Styles from 2013 to 2023, based on 16 highly relevant articles, which are included after searching a total of 193 articles in three databases using specific keywords. This review aims to investigate the current trends and development of the four core research elements, namely, the research topics, research approaches/tools, research objects, and research trends of Translator Translation Styles. Corpus-based research and computing technology have become the core research trends in this field. By taking the translated texts as the research objects and using a variety of research approaches to analyze and compile statistics on a large number of texts, researchers can accurately identify and compare the different emphases of their respective studies on Translator Translation Styles. At present, it seems that the research on Translator Translation Styles has established a system framework. However, it still needs to be optimized and improved in some aspects (e.g., the research objects are too limited and lack innovation in types), and future research can further explore those aspects. The present paper ends with some suggestions and recommendations for future researchers in academic contexts.

This study examined the comparative effects of online and offline blended teaching on EFL learners’ listening comprehension. Based on quasi-experimental design, this study engaged an experimental (No=30) and control group (No=30), each receiving two different types of treatment. For the experimental group, the teacher taught English listening activities using a mixture of online and offline mode, while the for the control group the teacher offered face-to-face offline mode treatment of listening. Independent sample t-tests and paired samples tests results showed a significant positive effect of blended learning on the participants’ listening skills such that the experimental group improved their listening comprehension more than the control group This is justified on the grounds that online learning with more accessibility, relatively low cost, time efficient, and suitably combined with offline learning can offer self-paced instruction for learners whereby they self-manage their learning and progress at their own convenience.

As a formative assessment procedure, self-assessment aims to converge learners’ and teachers’ views in assessment. Hence, reducing the perceptual mismatches between the learners’ and the teachers’ assessment would positively affect the learning process. For this aim, the present study investigated to what extent the learners’ assessment of their writing before and after being provided with a list of rating criteria, agrees that of their teachers. Therefore, a body of 6 EFL writing teachers and 27 EFL learners participated in this study. The learners were asked to rate their writing before and after being provided with rating criteria developed by the researchers. The teachers also rated the students’ writings following the same criteria. The obtained results showed a significant difference between the students' scores on the first and second assessment occasions. The teachers’ and the students’ assessment on the second time also were found to significantly correlate. Moreover, the analysis of the students’ comments showed that while they rated their writing on some limited aspects of writing in the first rating occasion, they assessed their essays using more components in the second assessment phase. Overall, the findings revealed that providing the learners with rating criteria would not only reduce the perceptual mistaches between the students’ and the teachers’ assessment but through involving the students’ voices in their assessment would promote democratic classroom assessment. Pedagogical implications of the study are discussed.

Cloze tests are commonly used in language testing as a quick measure of overall language ability or reading comprehension. A problem for the analysis of cloze tests with item response theory models is that cloze test items are locally dependent. This leads to the violation of the conditional or local independence assumption of IRT models. In this study, a new modeling strategy is suggested to circumvent the problem of local item dependence in cloze tests. This strategy involves identifying locally dependent items in the first step and combining them into polytomous items in the second step. Finally, partial credit model is applied to the combination of dichotomous and polytomous items. Our findings showed that the new strategy results in a better model-data fit than the dichotomous model where dependence is ignored but with a lower reliability. Results also indicated that the person and item parameters from the two models highly correlate. The findings are discussed in light of the literature on managing local dependence in educational tests.

The present study explored the effects of voicing and place of articulation on voice onset time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (F0) of onset of Persian oral plosives uttered by normal hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) children. Twenty-one NH children and twenty-one HI children matched for age and gender took part in this study. The participants were asked to repeat 36 CV words including all eight Persian plosives (/p/, /t/, /k/, /c/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /Ɉ/) in combination with the vowel /æ/. All syllables were recorded in a nearly sound-proof room using PRAAT Software. Independent samples t-test was used to compare the groups across gender. The results revealed: (a) HI children had higher VOT and F0 of onset values in nearly all aspects except for VOT and F0 onset of voiced plosives and F0 onset of alveolar and velar plosives; (b) both groups of girls had higher VOT values than boys did; (c) VOT is affected by the place of articulation and F0 is related to voiced-voiceless classification of plosives. Overall, NH children were able to distinguish and produce sounds more correctly, implying that HI children need further training. The study has implications for speech therapists, clinical linguists, and application designers to focus on speech sounds which are challenging for HI children to produce.  

Listening anxiety is the feeling of apprehension that learners might experience when trying to comprehend information from others. This anxiety associated with listening comprehension has been a significant focus of academic research for the past few decades. Foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) can be triggered by different factors, including affective pressure, cognitive load, or communication disorders. However, there is a lack of appropriate conceptual models to accurately pinpoint the sources of anxiety related to listening. This research introduces a novel model in a non-experimental correlation research design to scrutinize the efficacy of cultural intelligence (CQ) and reflective thinking (RT) in predicting the source of FLLA among EFL learners. To accomplish this, a sample of 250 EFL students was administered the three scales for the constructs under study. In terms of the statistical analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM) was run to examine the fit of the conceptual model. The findings showed that both CQ and RT affect FLLA. However, RT was a stronger predictor of FLLA than CQ. Notably, critical reflection was found to be the strongest predictor of FLLA in the RT. Besides, both cognitive and behavioral dimensions equally influenced FLLA for CQ. Lastly, the results and implications for reducing FLLA are discussed.

The integration of technology in second language education has made online collaborative writing (OCW) a valuable method for enhancing writing skills. Despite this, its effects on writing skills and technological self-perception in Ethiopia have not been thoroughly explored. This study aims to fill this gap by assessing the impact of OCW, through the use of Wiki and Telegram applications, on writing skills and technological self-perception within Ethiopia's English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. Forty-five intermediate IELTS candidates from a language school in Utopia were randomly divided into three groups: the Wiki group (n = 15), the Telegram group (n = 15), and a control group (n = 15). They participated in pre-tests, interventions, post-tests, and completed a technology self-perception survey both before and after the intervention. The one-way ANOVA results showed that the Wiki and Telegram groups outperformed the control group in post-test writing skills. However, no significant difference was found between the Wiki and Telegram groups' post-test writing skills. Moreover, both groups reported a more positive view of technology following the intervention. These outcomes hold significant implications for EFL stakeholders in Ethiopia and pave the way for further research.

The present study investigated whether individual or collective reflective journals could lead to teachers’ professional development and professional identity (re)construction. To this end, 30 Iranian EFL teachers were selected through convenience sampling. The participants wrote pre-workshop reflective journals individually and collectively and attended a reflective consciousness-raising workshop for eight sessions. The participants were informed about the major tenets of reflection, professional development, and professional identity (re)construction in the workshop. Afterward, they wrote post-workshop reflective journals again individually and collectively. The participants sat follow-up interviews for the researchers to find out which kinds of journals better helped them develop professionally and (re)construct their professional identity. The findings showed that individual reflective journals and collective reflective journals contributed to teachers’ professional development and professional identity (re)construction respectively. The findings might imply that stakeholders involved that is EFL education policymakers, curriculum developers, and syllabus designers hold interactive workshops for pre-service and in-service teachers on reflective journal writing which might lead to both EFL teachers’ professional development and identity (re)construction. Moreover, it is recommended that the decision-makers and senior managers develop systematic checklists addressing those influential factors found in the present study to contribute to teachers’ professional development and professional identity construction.

As a possible and influential factor in academic success, student growth mindset has recently received attention. However, the number of the studies concerning the effects of growth mindset on language skills in the context of Iran is not considerable and no study has specifically examined the influence of growth mindset on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary development. To fill this gap, this study was conducted in order to investigate if the intervention has any significant effects on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary development compared to those who do not receive such intervention. A quasi-experimental design in the form of pre- and posttest was used in this study. To homogenize the participants in terms of their proficiency, OQPT was used. Subsequently, out of 78 learners, sixty Iranian intermediate language learners were randomly assigned into two groups of control group receiving conventional vocabulary training and experimental group receiving a growth mindset intervention besides the conventional method for vocabulary learning. Vocabulary knowledge of the students was tested with the help of a vocabulary knowledge test that was specifically prepared and developed by researchers. To investigate if using growth mindset intervention had positive effects on learning English vocabulary by the learners in each control and experimental groups, two sets of paired-samples t-test were conducted. Afterwards, to explore which method had been more effective, the mean scores of the posttests of the control and experimental groups were compared by executing an independent two-sample t-test. The results revealed that implementing growth mindset intervention had positive effects on vocabulary development of EFL learners. Accordingly, this study has pedagogical implications for EFL teachers and students, as well as material designers.

The main purpose of this study is to present and evaluate a model to execute successful On the Job Training Course for Iranian EFL teachers. In order to achieve the goal of the study, 441 teachers of different language institutes in several cities of Iran were asked to complete a self-made questionnaire which was designed based on some face-to-face interviews and observation documents of 26 teachers. As factor analysis was the most crucial concern of this study, the 43 items of the questionnaire were piloted on a sample of 147 EFL teachers. Regarding this matter, the scale in this study enjoyed having a sufficient communality value greater than 0.5 for 25 questions in the questionnaire out of 43 questions. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling (SEM) were run to analyze the relationships among the components. The result revealed that the research model was in the domain of acceptance. The findings of this study can provide fruitful information for English teaching and learning stakeholders, educational policy makers, supervisors, and those involved in second language teacher education as well as English language teachers in EFL contexts.