درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

With the advent of advanced technology, a substantial proportion of reading takes place online. Reading engagement is an important factor which makes considerable contributions to reading comprehension. However, there is no valid and reliable measure for assessing learners' online reading engagement. Accordingly, this study constructed and validated a scale to gauge LORE. Initially, 20 EFL learners and 20 teachers were interviewed and based on the results of thematic analysis and extant components in the literature, an initial draft of the LORE was prepared. This draft became subject to expert opinion in a panel of three PhD holders in TEFL. Afterwards, the scale was distributed to 335 learners. The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach's Alpha yielded satisfactory psychometric properties for the 21-item scale consisting of six factors including affective, behavioral, cognitive, linguistic, agentic, and social dimensions. The analysis of aggregate means revealed that learners were highly engaged in behavioral and affective aspects, moderately engaged in the cognitive and agentic facets, but they had low levels of engagement in linguistic and social dimensions. Based on the results, the scale can be safely used to measure EFL learners' online reading engagement. Moreover, it is recommended that EFL teachers take measures to foster learners' linguistic and social engagement.

Improving the way of designing syllabus by making it more tailored to the needs and interest of the learners has been an important objective in language teaching, which leads to selecting and grading instructional materials with a consistent attention. This study focused on studying some dark areas of material selection in language teaching, aiming to make instructional materials more attractive to learners. There was also an attempt to see if learner's interest could affect reading and grammar differently. Lastly, the research also sought to find learners' perception on the use of interest in material selection and its possible effect in their performance. A mixed-method design was used to answer the research questions. The findings and results revealed that the use of interest in selecting class materials helped learners have better performance in reading, and the improvement showed a high correlation with learners' performance in grammar learning. Furthermore, the results of the questions asking for learners' perceptions disclosed the effectiveness of integrating interest to teaching materials in language learning. Researchers and teachers are suggested to seek ways to assist the syllabus planners to grow achievement by changing the materials to be more interesting, which can facilitate the language teaching and learning.

In recent decades, language educators have taken advantage of technological advancements in the language classroom, and L2 learners have voiced their interests, concerns, and preferences about those technological advancements. The current investigation was designed to find out the attitudes of Iranian intermediate IELTS candidates towards using digital multimodal composing (DMC) and massive online open courses (MOOC) in their speaking classes. To achieve this aim, a sample of 60 male and female EFL learners at the intermediate level were selected based on volunteer sampling procedures. Subsequently, the participants were assigned to the two conditions of DMC and MOOC. The two groups were exposed to the same instructional materials, with the difference being that in DMC, the learners had to produce videos during the course and post them on the Flip platform for their peers and teacher to review and comment. They then could use the feedback to make corrections/revisions; in the MOOC condition, the learners signed up for an IELTS course on futurelearn.com and received video presentations, pdf articles, and quizzes, and they were asked to leave comments or react to each other's' comments during the course. Each group received a researcher-made attitude questionnaire at the end of the course and expressed their opinions about the treatment they were exposed to. Not surprisingly, both groups welcomed the use of DMC and MOOC and had positive attitudes towards incorporating such techniques into speaking courses. Based on these findings, this study presents a discussion of certain pedagogical implications.

This study investigates the impact of Iranian EFL learners' motivational goal orientations on their behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement in the classroom. Utilizing a mixed-methods design, the research involved 200 intermediate EFL learners from language schools in Iran, who completed the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT), a Goal Orientation Survey, and a Student Engagement Questionnaire. The results show that mastery goal orientations, both approach and avoid, positively predict these engagement dimensions, while performance goal orientations do not significantly affect engagement. The findings highlight the importance of fostering mastery goals to enhance student engagement and improve language learning outcomes. The implications of this study suggest that educators should create a supportive learning environment that emphasizes mastery goals, thereby facilitating deeper engagement and better academic performance among EFL learners. This study investigates the impact of Iranian EFL learners' motivational goal orientations on their behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement in the classroom. Utilizing a mixed-methods design, the research involved 200 intermediate EFL learners from language schools in Iran, who completed the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT), a Goal Orientation Survey, and a Student Engagement Questionnaire. The results show that mastery goal orientations, both approach and avoid, positively predict these engagement dimensions, while performance goal orientations do not significantly affect engagement. The findings highlight the importance of fostering mastery goals to enhance student engagement and improve language learning outcomes. The implications of this study suggest that educators should create a supportive learning environment that emphasizes mastery goals, thereby facilitating deeper engagement and better academic performance among EFL learners.