Gender

Following an explanatory sequential design, this study explored the possible association between the Professional Identity (PI) of Iranian female EFL university teachers in the Habitual Burnout (HB) phase and their Emotional Quotient (EQ). In the quantitative phase, a Structural Equation Model (SEM) was developed to investigate the promising relationships. In the subsequent qualitative phase, their comments regarding the associations determined were analyzed to evaluate the model and seek remedies to help female EFL university teachers in the HB phase. To collect the required data from 67 conveniently selected Iranian female EFL university teachers in the HB phase, the Burnout Assessment Tool, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and PI Scale for Iranian English Teachers were employed. The results showed a significant causal relationship between the PI and EQ of the participants, and the findings of the interviews confirmed the causal association, providing some suggestions for female EFL university teachers to help them handle their severe burnout levels. The findings may provide implications for university EFL teachers, curriculum designers of TEFL education, and educational psychologists.

Gender and Third Spaces: Women's Perceptions and Experiences of Coworking Spaces in Tehran"New theories consider space as a social construct in which all members of society, including women, play a role in its production. Space is a domain for the reproduction of power and the representation of social roles. The concept of third space, despite being discussed by many theorists, was notably introduced by Oldenburg. Third spaces can be understood as places other than home and work where individuals spend their time freely, away from the formal constraints of work and the emotional and functional demands of home. Third spaces are arenas for the presence of effective social interactions and the expression of individual and collective creativity. This study employs a qualitative method, grounded theory approach, and in-depth interviews with 8 women who participate in coworking spaces. Coworking spaces have recently gained popularity in Iran, with many men and women engaging in work and activities there. The findings of this study reveal that women have transformed these spaces into professional networking environments and use them to navigate a male-dominated structure that limits women’s participation in professional activities. This indicates women’s agency in social spheresKeywords: Gender; Agency; Third Space; Coworking Space; Networking

 Objective: This study investigated Gender-Leadership in the ivory tower, a survey of higher education institutions in Taraba State, Nigeria.Methods: A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A simple random sampling method was used to select a sample size of 372 academic and non-academic staff for this study. The instrument used for the study was the Gender-Leadership Questionnaire (GLQ). Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using a t-test.Results: The findings revealed no significant difference in the mean rating scores of women representations in leadership positions in Taraba State institutions of higher learning between academic and non-academic staff. Furthermore, the findings revealed no significant difference in the mean rating scores of underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in Taraba State institutions of higher learning between academic and non-academic staff. Women's representation in leadership positions is lopsided in favor of their male counterparts.Conclusion: Factors that contribute to women's underrepresentation in leadership positions include cognitive bias, uneven access to knowledge, opportunities and administrative responsibility, and societal privileges that favor the males among others.

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

This study investigated the effects of dialogic tasks on Iranian English as Foreign Language learners' autonomy considering the mediating effects of the learners’ gender and levels of proficiency as well. A total number of 213 male and female Iranian EFL learners within the age range of 15-26 were selected through convenience sampling from three language schools in Fars, Iran. The Oxford Quick Placement Test was run to ensure homogeneity, and choose learners at two levels of proficiency (upper vs. lower intermediate), later assigned to experimental and control groups. Then, a translated version of learner autonomy questionnaire was run as the pretest and posttest. The treatment was dialogic tasks operationalized through storytelling and picture description tasks. Three-way ANCOVA was conducted to compare the autonomy posttest scores of the male and female learners in the two experimental and control groups at the two proficiency levels of lower- and upper-intermediate. The results of data analysis showed that dialogic tasks had a significant effect on increasing the autonomy among EFL learners. Nonetheless, levels of proficiency and gender did not have any significant mediating effects on the autonomy of the learners under investigation. The study will provide robust implications for language teachers and learners.

Turn-taking is a fundamental aspect of human communication, reflecting cultural norms, social hierarchies, and individual identities. This study examines turn-taking patterns in Iraqi Arabic and American English conversations, focusing on the influence of gender and age on conversational participation and power dynamics. Using a mixed-methods design, the study analyzes quantitative metrics such as average turn length, interruptions, and response rates, alongside qualitative insights into social norms and cultural values. The findings reveal significant cross-cultural differences, with Iraqi Arabic conversations characterized by shorter turns, more frequent interruptions, and pronounced age and gender hierarchies, while American English conversations exhibit longer turns, fewer interruptions, and more egalitarian participation. These results align with theories of cross-cultural communication, such as Hall's (1976) high-context and low-context cultures, and highlight the role of cultural norms in shaping conversational behaviors. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of turn-taking as a sociocultural phenomenon and offers practical implications for intercultural communication training, language education, and conflict resolution. Limitations include the reliance on televised and university-based data, and suggestions for future research include expanding the corpus to include more languages and informal settings, as well as incorporating participant interviews and experimental designs.

Critical thinking is one of the main functions of education and it is considered as learners’ use of prior knowledge to make judgments and solve problems. This study aimed, firstly, to examine the relationship between university EFL teachers’ critical thinking tendencies and their problem-solving skills, and secondly, to explore the prediction of university EFL teachers’ critical thinking tendencies by problem-solving skills, gender, and teaching experience. The study was designed in a correlational survey method. In total, 70 university EFL teachers (35 males and 35 females), from Azad and Payame Noor universities located in Isfahan and Ilam provinces teaching undergraduate students majoring in English, participated in this research. Data were collected via the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and the Problem-Solving Inventory. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, and stepwise regression analysis. The relationship between critical thinking tendencies and problem-solving skills was investigated through the Pearson Product Moments Correlation Coefficient, and stepwise regression analysis was run to determine whether university EFL teachers' problem-solving skills, gender, and teaching experience can significantly predict their critical thinking tendencies. The findings indicated that there was a positive, moderate, and significant relationship between university EFL teachers' problem-solving skills and their critical thinking tendencies, while there was no significant difference according to gender. In terms of teaching experience, the correlation coefficient for novice teachers showed a weak, positive, and non-significant relationship, yet the correlation coefficient for experienced teachers indicated a moderate, positive, and significant relationship. This study has both theoretical and practical implications for EFL teachers, practitioners, learners, and policymakers.  

The current study explored the status quo of L2 writing self-efficacy among Iranian English majors in light of their gender, level of education, and teaching experience. To this end, 193 learners who were students or graduates of English literature or translation at BA, MA and PhD levels and who ranged in age between 19 to 40 participated in this study. Data were collected using the Second Language Writer Self-Efficacy Scale that measures L2 learners’ linguistic self-efficacy, course performance self-efficacy, and self-regulation efficacy. Analysis of the data revealed no significant difference between males and females in terms of L2 writing self-efficacy. A significant difference was, however, found among all the three academic degree levels with the PhD group showing the highest level of L2 writing self-efficacy and the BA group showing the lowest self-efficacy. We set out to also examine whether experience in teaching English influences L2 writing efficacy. Our analyses revealed that the experienced teachers had a significantly higher L2 writing efficacy compared to the mid-experience teachers who were, in turn, less efficacious in L2 writing than low-experience participants. Implications of our findings for the writing courses and the what and how of writing instruction in the Iranian higher education curricula are discussed.

In a world with globalization and communication development as its main features, arriving at a common understanding and correct transition of meaning is an unavoidable necessity. Here the responsibility and duty of the people who hold the task of translation is of great importance and one of the issues that should be considered in translation is using euphemism. The current research seeks to find the relationship between translators’ gender, education, and age and their use of euphemisms in translation. The study consists of four hypotheses, this is descriptive research and a questionnaire is used to find the relationship between translators’ gender, education, age, and their use of euphemisms in translation. It has been distributed among the research population which consists of translators who are members of the Iran Translation Association. The results show that euphemism exists at a suitable level in the translation of the translators who are members of the Iran Translation Association. Moreover, the translators’ gender affects their use of euphemisms in translation. There is a direct relationship between translators’ age and their use of euphemisms in translation. Finally, the translators’ level of education does not influence their use of euphemisms in translation.

The ways individuals use words can reflect basic psychological processes, including clues to their thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and personality. This paper seeks to determine whether there is a relationship between Iranian EFL learners' writing styles and their personality and gender. It focuses on gender and two key dimensions of personality (Neuroticism and Extroversion), which were assessed using Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (revised version). The concept of formality/contextuality was suggested as the most important dimension of variation between linguistic expressions. An empirical measure of formality, the F-score, was suggested, based on the frequencies of different word classes. Nouns, adjectives, prepositions, and articles are more frequent in formal styles; pronouns, adverbs, verbs and interjections are more frequent in contextual styles. The frequency of positive and negative emotional words was calculated by the program Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. The result shows no significant relationship between these variables. The reason is supposed to be other non-linguistic determinants of formality (e.g. situation and educational level) which may have a stronger effect on EFL writing styles.

This study investigatesvariability in English yes/no questions as well as the commonalities among yes/no question variants produced by members of two different varieties of English: Canadian English native speakers and Iranian EFL learners.Further, it probes the role of gender in theEnglish yes/no question variants produced by Canadian English native speakers and those produced by Iranian EFL learners. A modified version of the Edinburgh Map Task was used in data collection. 60 Canadians and Iranians performed the task and made English yes/no question variants considering the informal context. Based on the results, the same types of yes/no question variants were produced by both groups. However, with respect to quantity, Canadians made more variants while the context of use was similar. Another difference noticed was the most frequent variant: Iranians’ frequent variant coincided with the informal context, yet the Canadians’ frequent variant did not. Regarding gender, Iranians did not produce any gender-based variant; while Canadians showed that their production of yes/no question variants was gender-oriented. These findings revealed that both Canadians and Iranians from two different varieties of English syntactically behaved similarly, but their sociolinguistic behavior was not the same.

Like conversation and other modes of communication, writing is a rich medium for gender performance. In fact, writing functions to construct the disciplines as well as the gender of its practitioners. Despite the significance of author gender, as one constitutive dimension of any writing, it has been relatively under-researched. One way, by means of which author gender is practiced, and revealed in written discourse, is the incorporation and use of metadiscoursal categories. Examining 20 applied linguistics research articles (10 written by native male English writers and 10 written by native female English writers), the present study sought to examine whether male and female native English writers differed in their use of metadiscoursal elements. For this purpose, Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse was employed as an analytical framework to identify the type of metadiscoursal elements. The results of Independent samples t-test showed that English male and female writers did not differ significantly in their overall use of metadiscourse; but, significant differences were observed in categorical distribution of metadiscoursal elements. The findings of the study can provide a sound basis for the development of pedagogical materials.

The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the impact of a metacognitive training program on university freshmen’s reading comprehension skill in a three-credit General English (GE) Course. The participants included eight groups of freshmen, in four disciplines: Management, Psychology, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Engineering. They were randomly assigned as four experimental and four control groups, each including approximately 30 participants. The same materials were taught to all groups after their initial homogeneity in English was assessed via Analysis of Variance of the pre-test scores obtained from a Key English Test (KET). In the experimental groups, one whole session was devoted to explicitly teaching three sets of metacognitive strategies and five reading strategies: skimming, scanning, previewing, using context clues, and making inferences. These groups also received metacognitive awareness-raising while applying the strategies in each reading lesson for six sessions. The analyses of the research data revealed that metacognitive strategy training promoted the participants’ learning when integrated with a reading-focused GE course regardless of their gender and a small effect from discipline. The findings have implications for teachers, materials developers, and teacher trainers.

After Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory (MIT), some language teaching practitioners set out to teach students in a way to help their dominant intelligence(s) blossom. In an EFL context, usually teachers’ main focus is to develop communication skills. Nowadays, writing is one of the main ways by which people communicate. Thus, this study aimed at investigating possible relationship between Multiple Intelligences and writing performance of Iranian EFL learners across different genders. To conduct this study, 15 male and 15 female advanced EFL learners from a reputable institute in Tabriz participated. They passed through a placement test to enter the course, yet the researchers administered a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to ensure homogeneity in the group. After a session of introducing the project’s purpose, Multiple Intelligence Developmental Assessment (MIDAS) questionnaire was administered for obtaining participants’ Multiple Intelligence profile. Later, the participants were given a text and asked to read and summarize it. The collected writings were analyzed for grammatical accuracy, complexity and quality of the writing based on Jacob et al.’s (1981) scale. The results of the correlational analysis revealed that overall Multiple Intelligences correlated positively with the quality of the female learners’ writing. The findings suggest that English teachers consider the role of multiple intelligences in learning and teaching process and provide more effective activities to help learners of different intelligences improve their foreign language writing skill.

Anxiety undoubtedly plays an influential role in the experience of foreign language learning. This affective factor has attracted lots of researchers and has been the subject pool of scholarly research worldwide. However, research on the effect of demographic variables on foreign language anxiety (FLA) and the effect of FLA on the learners’ intention to continue their English language education is still limited. Therefore, to bridge this gap, the present study intended to explore the role of gender and age in EFL learners’ FLA level. In addition, the potential effect of learners’ FLA in their decision whether to continue their English studies was tested. To this end, a sample of 295 university EFL learners completed FLA questionnaire and a demographic form. The findings showed that there was no significant correlation between the age of the learners and their FLA level. FLA differences with respect to gender did not reach the statistical significance either. However, it was found that FLA could significantly affect the learners’ willingness to continue their English language education. The findings were discussed and implications were made.

This paper examines the effect of gender and type of stem on Iranian test takers’ performance on the grammar section of a nation-wide language proficiency test. In so doing, the scores of 2931 examinees (1107 female and 1824 male) who sat Tarbiat Modares English proficiency test were obtained. The examinees’ scores on three types of MC grammar items with different kinds of stems (i.e., blank filling, error recognition, and cloze) were compared to see if the type of stem has any effect on performance. Grammar scores of males and females were also compared to see if there is an effect for gender on the examinees’ performance on the grammar test in general and on its three item types in particular. The results indicated that test takers performed better on cloze items than the other two types. It was also found that females outperformed males on both the whole test, and also on items with blank filling and cloze types of stems. Due to the particularity of the context and the small effect sizes found, the study calls for more research to be conducted on this topic.