English language learning
Jamshid Mashhadi
Abstract
Flipped classroom is a learning model where assignments are shifted, and learning happens outside of educational settings. This modern concept fundamentally refers to lesson input being conducted at home by the learner for sharing and applying knowledge. FL approaches have received considerable focus ...
Read More
Flipped classroom is a learning model where assignments are shifted, and learning happens outside of educational settings. This modern concept fundamentally refers to lesson input being conducted at home by the learner for sharing and applying knowledge. FL approaches have received considerable focus in recently with the power to encourage involvement and cooperative learning. The FC is a technique that flips the conventional education setting. The FC is accordingly appropriate for online or mixed learning. In this research, the effects of FLA on autonomy and EFL skill-learning of EFL learners were examined. The research questions were pertinent to the basic outcomes of the implementation of FC. The results demonstrated that those getting benefit of FC approaches more enthusiastically perused using them compared to those who had not employed them before. The research outcomes indicated contribution of FL on autonomy and EFL skill-learning of the EFL participants in the experiment group.
English language learning
Vahid Reza Mirzaeian; Katayoun Oskoui
Abstract
This quantitative study aimed to investigate Iranian EFL student teachers’ perceptions on the use of Machine Translation (MT) for foreign language learning in academic context. To this end, 107 EFL student teachers from a women-only state university in Tehran, Iran, completed a recently developed ...
Read More
This quantitative study aimed to investigate Iranian EFL student teachers’ perceptions on the use of Machine Translation (MT) for foreign language learning in academic context. To this end, 107 EFL student teachers from a women-only state university in Tehran, Iran, completed a recently developed and validated questionnaire in the field. The findings revealed that most participants were familiar with digital technology including MT and its different types such as Google Translate (GT). Satisfied with MT output, the majority of the participants in the study installed MT apps on their smartphones or used its website on their computers to complete assignments or to translate from Persian to English and vice versa. However, they were neutral about whether their instructors confirmed their MT use, or whether they preferred their teachers know they use MT or not. They were also not sure whether consulting MT was against the regulations. The results showed that authorities in the field of foreign language teaching are required to take a positive stand on this emerging technology; in addition, considering the importance of training for both instructors and learners, they should hold workshops for more responsible and effective MT implementation.
English language learning
Nargess Norouzi; Zahra Amirian; Mohammad Amiryousefi
Abstract
This study was an attempt to examine the intercultural experience of Iranian university students studying abroad and explore variables influencing their success or failure in intercultural interactions. A qualitative method involving semi-structured interviews and retrospective narratives were employed ...
Read More
This study was an attempt to examine the intercultural experience of Iranian university students studying abroad and explore variables influencing their success or failure in intercultural interactions. A qualitative method involving semi-structured interviews and retrospective narratives were employed in order to achieve an in-depth understanding of intercultural competence of the international university students which came to light from their reflections and interactions. The findings provided insights into three major components of intercultural communicative competence, i.e. attitude, knowledge and skill featured vigorously on students’ reflections. Most significantly, investigation of the data-set revealed several facilitating and debilitating factors contributing to intercultural encounters.
English language learning
Seyyedeh Fahimeh Parsaiyan; Mansoureh Jalilian; Khadijeh Karimi Alavijeh
Abstract
Visual literacy (VL), despite its significance, has not received deserved attention in EFL classes in Iran. Addressing this pedagogic and research lacuna, the researchers integrated VL practices into a General English course attended by female university learners, and examined the vision competencies ...
Read More
Visual literacy (VL), despite its significance, has not received deserved attention in EFL classes in Iran. Addressing this pedagogic and research lacuna, the researchers integrated VL practices into a General English course attended by female university learners, and examined the vision competencies developed by them. The analysis of the data collected through class observation, learner documents, and semi-structured interviews revealed that the learners developed the vision competencies regarding compositional, affective, and critical dimensions of visuals. It is hoped that the findings of this small-scale study encourage language planners, materials developers, and English teachers to pay heightened attention to the visuals’ potential and open more spaces for VL development in their curricula, materials, and language teaching practices.
English language learning
Amir Mashhadi; Abbas Al Suraifi; Ahmed Kadhum Fahad
Abstract
The expansion of mobile wireless technology into education in recent decades has offered an incredible opportunity to design learning differently and to enhance students' learning experiences that extend beyond the typical teacher-led classrooms. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent ...
Read More
The expansion of mobile wireless technology into education in recent decades has offered an incredible opportunity to design learning differently and to enhance students' learning experiences that extend beyond the typical teacher-led classrooms. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent closure of educational institutions around the world, distance/mobile learning has become a widely accepted form of information and communication technology-enhanced education. Given the infancy of technology-enhanced education at Iraqi educational institutions, this study was conducted to determine how Iraqi EFL learners preferred information and communication technology-enhanced education and how ready they were to adopt mobile learning for English learning purposes in higher education. This study also examined whether there were any significant differences in the learners' preferences and readiness for mobile learning considering their gender. Methodological triangulation was undertaken using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with some Iraqi EFL learners at four public universities so as to seek the research objectives. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data from the questionnaire. The data of the interviews were then analyzed using thematic analysis to identify and report the common themes of the two coders of the interviews. The findings revealed a plethora of evidence indicating learners' positive attitudes towards using mobile learning as a viable medium for language learning purposes in intra- and extramural situations, as it expanded the boundaries of learning beyond the limitations of traditional pedantic educational settings. Besides, no significant differences were found in the preferences and readiness of Iraqi EFL learners considering their gender for the adoption of mobile learning in higher education, though females liked mobile learning better than males.
English language learning
Shahram Ghahraki; Manssor Tavakoli; Saeed Ketabi
Abstract
Perhaps the degree of test difficulty is one of the most significant characteristics of a test. However, no empirical research on the difficulty of the MSRT test has been carried out. The current study attempts to fill the gap by utilizing a two-parameter item response model to investigate the psychometric ...
Read More
Perhaps the degree of test difficulty is one of the most significant characteristics of a test. However, no empirical research on the difficulty of the MSRT test has been carried out. The current study attempts to fill the gap by utilizing a two-parameter item response model to investigate the psychometric properties (item difficulty and item discrimination) of the MSRT test. The Test Information Function (TIF) was also figured out to estimate how well the test at what range of ability distinguishes respondents. To this end, 328 graduate students (39.9% men and 60.1% women) were selected randomly from three universities in Isfahan. A version of MSRT English proficiency test was administered to the participants. The results supported the unidimensionality of the components of MSRT test. Analysis of difficulty and discrimination indices of the total test revealed that 14% of the test items were either easy / very easy, 38% were medium, and 48% were either difficult or very difficult. In addition, 14% of the total items were classified as nonfunctioning. They discriminated negatively or did not discriminate at all. 7% of the total items discriminated poorly, 17% discriminated moderately, and 62% discriminated either highly or perfectly, however they differentiated between high-ability and higher-ability test takers. Thus, 38% of the items displayed satisfactory difficulty. Too easy (14%) and too difficult (48%) items could be one potential reason why some items have low discriminating power. An auxiliary inspection of items by the MSRT test developers is indispensable.
English language learning
Hadi Heidari; Ali Malmir; Abbas Ali Zarei
Abstract
The two most important defining aspects of L1 national identity are language and social belonging that are manifested through the individual’s inclinations toward the mother tongue or the official language and the sociocultural heritage of the country in which people are living. Moreover, based ...
Read More
The two most important defining aspects of L1 national identity are language and social belonging that are manifested through the individual’s inclinations toward the mother tongue or the official language and the sociocultural heritage of the country in which people are living. Moreover, based on the available literature, L2 identity may also exert an influence over the L1 national identity; however, this claim has not been securitized through valid large-scale and comprehensive surveys. Therefore, this study sought to shed light on the relationship between various second language identity dimensions (SLID) and L1 national identity. A sample of 1018 Iranian EFL learners who were selected based on the purposive snowball sampling filled out a researcher-made and validated Multidimensional L2 Identity Questionnaire (MLIQ) and a National Identity Questionnaire (NIQ). Data analysis using multiple regression revealed that the constructed SLID model could significantly contribute to the L1 national identity. The results also showed that the following four dimensions of SLID were significant predictors of national identity: transitive vs. intransitive, convergent vs. divergent, homogeneous vs. heterogeneous, and active vs. passive dimensions. Among these, active vs. passive and convergent vs. divergent dimensions had strong contributions to explaining the degree of the L2 national identity. These findings can help EFL teachers and learners develop a positive L2 identity with balanced dimensions that also promotes L1 national identity
English language learning
Fatemeh Hemmati; Maaryam Rohani Ravari; Afsar Rouhi
Abstract
Research to date has commonly suggested that meaning inferencing through concordance lines can facilitate vocabulary learning. This facilitative role, however, may be subject to mediation by the expanded contexts of the target vocabulary item in concordance and accurate meaning inferencing. Of these ...
Read More
Research to date has commonly suggested that meaning inferencing through concordance lines can facilitate vocabulary learning. This facilitative role, however, may be subject to mediation by the expanded contexts of the target vocabulary item in concordance and accurate meaning inferencing. Of these plausible factors, the length of the co-text of vocabulary items in concordance context remains under researched. The present study investigated how inferencing in the context of three varying concordance lengths (i.e., two complete sentences, one complete sentence, and a truncated sentence) affect EFL learners' accurate inferencing and vocabulary gain. To this end, 66 upper intermediate learners were assigned randomly into three groups and were asked to infer the meaning of 63 unknown words over seven sessions (nine words each session). For each unknown word, three examples in three different lengths were selected. Results indicated that two complete sentence co-text led to more accurate inferencing and vocabulary gain. The pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed
English language learning
Mohammad Hadi Mahmoodi; Hamidreza Sheykholmoluki
Abstract
This study explored the competition between semantic and morphosyntactic processing in L1 and L2. In addition, the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and L2 semantic-morphosyntactic processing was scrutinized. To this purpose, 73 Persian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) ...
Read More
This study explored the competition between semantic and morphosyntactic processing in L1 and L2. In addition, the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and L2 semantic-morphosyntactic processing was scrutinized. To this purpose, 73 Persian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) participated in an offline grammaticality judgment test (GJT), an L1 as well as an L2 semantically-primed test, and a WMC test. The results showed that L1 morphosyntactic processing was not affected by semantic priming. But, L2 morphosyntactic parsing decisions, irrespective of the participants’ WMC, was significantly influenced by semantic priming, indicating that L2 morphosyntactic knowledge in learners' interlanguage system might be shaky and subject to communicative aspects of input. Additionally, the findings revealed a significant relationship between the participants' WMC and their L2 semantic/morphosyntactic processing. The findings of the study provide some implications for foreign language teachers with regard to teaching morphosyntactic aspects of language and correcting morphosyntactic errors.
English language learning
Mohammad Hossein Ghane; Golnar Mazdayasna
Abstract
This study was conducted to explore the effects of genre-based writing instruction on thesis proposal writing self-efficacy and writing quality. Twenty-two graduate students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language participated in the study. Drawing on Bandura's (2006) guidelines, we developed ...
Read More
This study was conducted to explore the effects of genre-based writing instruction on thesis proposal writing self-efficacy and writing quality. Twenty-two graduate students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language participated in the study. Drawing on Bandura's (2006) guidelines, we developed a proposal writing self-efficacy questionnaire, which students completed at the beginning of the semester and the end of one semester. They wrote a preliminary proposal at the beginning of the semester, that is, before being exposed to a genre-based approach. For one semester the students’ awareness was raised concerning the generic structures of the sections included in the thesis proposal and relevant lexico-grammatical features were highlighted. Students initially showed strong writing self-efficacy, which significantly increased at the end of the semester. They also showed remarkably significant improvement in their proposal writing skills. Students’ pre-instruction skills perception was higher than their proposal quality, which may be attributed to their lack of knowledge of academic writing conventions. However, after receiving genre-based instruction, their proposal quality surpassed their level of self-efficacy. The results of this study are discussed, and implications of the study are provided.
English language learning
Mahmood Reza Moradian; Akram Ramezanzadeh; Saeed Khazaie
Abstract
Overviewing the current literature on Western and Islamic orientations to English language education and illuminating the advantages and challenges of each orientation, this study endeavored to critically examine English language teaching in the context of Iran. In effect, this study elaborated on modernist, ...
Read More
Overviewing the current literature on Western and Islamic orientations to English language education and illuminating the advantages and challenges of each orientation, this study endeavored to critically examine English language teaching in the context of Iran. In effect, this study elaborated on modernist, postmodernist, and Islamic orientations to language teaching. In tandem, this critical examination initiated from the modernist orientation because this orientation constituted the basis of contemporary academic disciplines. The findings revealed that there exists a strong similarity between postmodernist and Islamic orientations, when Islam is studied as an educational paradigm rather than a political issue. Moreover, the critical examination of the relevant studies on the context of Iran showed the prevalence of the native speaker ideology, systematicity, and standardisation as manifestations of the modernist orientation leading to unequal Englishes. In reality, unequal Englishes can be considered as a colonial enterprise illegitimizing non-native speakers and downplaying local varieties. Analyzing the concept of unequal Englishes, we have also argued that there is a real need to establish a dialogue across postmodernist and Islamic orientations to challenge power relations and foreground knowing as an act of identity. Accordingly, we called for an ontological turn in English language education in Iran, which revolves around super-diversity and perceives language as a practice situated in a social-cultural-historical context.
English language learning
Arezou Shahmoradi; Behzad Ghonsooly; Omid Mazandarani; Ghasem Barani
Abstract
This study aimed at identifying the ethical challenges encountered when developing a language education virtual environment that acts as a smart platform for managing reading comprehension instruction for EFL/ESL learners. Since Reading Instruction Management System (RIMS) is going to observe, monitor, ...
Read More
This study aimed at identifying the ethical challenges encountered when developing a language education virtual environment that acts as a smart platform for managing reading comprehension instruction for EFL/ESL learners. Since Reading Instruction Management System (RIMS) is going to observe, monitor, and supervise the learners' out-of-class activities and help teachers improve their teaching quality, it has to seriously handle humane elements which have not been seriously debated in the related literature on language education software development so far. To this end, this study has devised a qualitative study to further explore the aspects of ethical considerations that have to be considered when developing technological aid. Accordingly, 14 teachers and 14 students were selected based on the purposive sampling method concerning the condition that they will be among the teachers and learners who will use RIMS when it is officially launched in the institution. They were asked to take part in interviews which were held on a one-on-one basis and in Persian, the participants' mother tongue. The data were codded and the emerged ones were then classified under four themes including the challenges related to the teachers, learners, and institutions. Each of these has several aspects which are discussed, accordingly.
English language learning
Ali Yeganeh; Hossein Barati; Daryush Nejadansari
Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the effects of an educational technology called smart learning pen (i.e., iPen) as an ICT tool on young Iranian male and female EFL learners' speaking accuracy and fluency. A group of 180 young (6-9 years old) male and female learners with no previous formal education ...
Read More
The present study aimed to examine the effects of an educational technology called smart learning pen (i.e., iPen) as an ICT tool on young Iranian male and female EFL learners' speaking accuracy and fluency. A group of 180 young (6-9 years old) male and female learners with no previous formal education in English were randomly assigned into three different conditions: those who used the iPen in class and at home (IPC), at home only (IPH), and those who did not use the iPen at all (NIP). As gender was an independent variable, each condition had male and female groups. To address the research questions, the participants' performance on the oral sub-test of the posttest was put into analysis. The two-way ANOVA run on the effect of the independent variables (iPen and gender) and their interaction on the participants' speaking accuracy, and fluency revealed that using iPen helped the IPC and IPH participants significantly outperform the NIP group in terms of both accuracy and fluency. However, such an analysis did not show any significant effect for gender, nor did it show any significant effect when the interaction of gender and other variables was taken into account. The study has practical implications for policymakers, language teachers as well as software, hardware, and mobile phone application developers.
English language learning
Zahra Amirian; Mitra shayanfar; mohsen rezazadeh
Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the interrelationships between EFL teachers' mindsets, self-efficacy, and emotional experiences and Iranian EFL learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) and L2 motivational self system (L2MSS). The participants of this study were 100 Iranian teachers and 501 students ...
Read More
This study aimed at investigating the interrelationships between EFL teachers' mindsets, self-efficacy, and emotional experiences and Iranian EFL learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) and L2 motivational self system (L2MSS). The participants of this study were 100 Iranian teachers and 501 students of the same EFL teachers, both male and female randomly selected from high schools. To fulfill the purpose of the study, teachers were asked to complete four questionnaires to measure their implicit theories of intelligence, efficacy, and emotional experiences including their burnout symptoms. Learners were required to complete two questionnaires to measure their willingness to communicate and L2 motivational self system. The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed a significant structural relationship among all variables. Results also indicated that motivation was the strongest direct predictor of willingness to communicate. WTC was also indirectly correlated with teachers' implicit theories, efficacy, and emotional experiences through the mediating effect of L2MSS.
English language learning
Masumeh Sadat Seyyedrezaei; Mohammad Amiryousefi; Ana Gimeno-Sanz; Manssor Tavakoli
Abstract
The present study examined the comparative effects of Etherpad-based writing instruction and face-to-face writing instruction on EFL learners' writing quality and writing self-efficacy. It also aimed at finding the learners' attitude towards the influence of Etherpad and their reason for success/ failure ...
Read More
The present study examined the comparative effects of Etherpad-based writing instruction and face-to-face writing instruction on EFL learners' writing quality and writing self-efficacy. It also aimed at finding the learners' attitude towards the influence of Etherpad and their reason for success/ failure in this writing course. To this end, ninety students were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to one of the two instruction groups. In addition to an IELTS writing task, Self-efficacy in Writing Scale (SWS) was administered. During the course, the students received instruction on writing an argumentative essay. After the treatment, the SWS and another IELTS writing task were given. Subsequently, a semi-structured interview was conducted with twenty Etherpad-based learners to find their attitudes towards the reason for their success/ failure and the effectiveness of Etherpad. The results revealed that the Etherpad-based group significantly outperformed the face-to-face group in the writing posttest and demonstrated a higher level of writing self-efficacy. The interview data showed that the students attributed their success to both internal and external factors. Whereas, they ascribed their failure to internal factors rather than external ones. It was also revealed that the students found Etherpad as a predictor of their success in writing performance.
English language learning
Farzaneh Arjmand; Mohammad Bagher Shabani; Reza Khani; Abbas Ali Zarei
Abstract
This study represents the findings of a systematic review (SR) of literature in the teacher professional development (TPD) domain to outline the research patterns through content examination of 199 research articles (RAs) in the area of TPD over the previous 40 years (1982 -2021). RAs were investigated ...
Read More
This study represents the findings of a systematic review (SR) of literature in the teacher professional development (TPD) domain to outline the research patterns through content examination of 199 research articles (RAs) in the area of TPD over the previous 40 years (1982 -2021). RAs were investigated and their research content areas, utilized research methods, data collection procedures, and findings were analyzed and coded. The broad investigation of the RAs showed a wide variety of themes that corresponded to 22 research areas. TPD program effects, TPD & technology, and TPD & Sociolinguistics were the most searched content areas. It was also found that the qualitative method with 52.26% of occurrences appeared to be the dominant research method used in RAs. Exploring data collection procedures, it was uncovered that interview, questionnaire and observation were the main data collection strategies utilized within the TPD RAs. Analyzing the findings, changes in teacher practices, attitudes and knowledge, learner achievements, and determining priorities for TPD programs were the most reported findings in TPD RAs. This corpus-driven SR underpins the notion that TPD makes a difference in altering teachers’ practices and attitudes and improves learner abilities if specific characteristics are taken into account in the planning and administration of TPD programs.
English language learning
Mohadeseh Asghari; Minoo Alemi; Zia Tajeddin
Abstract
Teachers' decision-making and pedagogical reasoning and their improvement are key to the effectiveness of teaching. Although a number of studies have been conducted on these issues, there is still not enough information about teachers' interactive decision-making and pedagogical reasoning, and teachers ...
Read More
Teachers' decision-making and pedagogical reasoning and their improvement are key to the effectiveness of teaching. Although a number of studies have been conducted on these issues, there is still not enough information about teachers' interactive decision-making and pedagogical reasoning, and teachers also do not have the necessary skills in this area. To address this gap, the current multiple case study investigated four novice EFL teachers' decision-making and their underlying pedagogical reasoning in implementing instruction. The result of the constant comparative and categorical content analysis on the ten-session classroom observations and the transcribed stimulated recall interviews indicated common themes, including teachers' overusing of learners' L1, excessively using the deductive approach to teaching, failing to incorporate technology but using available resources in class during instruction, using whole-class or individual instructional techniques, and rarely emphasizing on learners' knowledge of the world. The targeted teachers made such decisions to perform their predetermined responsibilities, transfer the correct information, motivate learners, manage time, and help learners toward their language achievement. This study has implications for teachers to reflect on their instructional decisions and pedagogical reasoning, and for managers to provide them with opportunities for reflection.
English language learning
Hajar Ghafarpour; Ahmad Moinzadeh
Abstract
Classrooms can be regarded as dynamic systems in which behaviors of teachers and students affect each other mutually and in a spiral manner. In this study it was intended to investigate differences in interpersonal behaviors of a more vs. a less favorable teacher at micro- and macro-levels. To analyze ...
Read More
Classrooms can be regarded as dynamic systems in which behaviors of teachers and students affect each other mutually and in a spiral manner. In this study it was intended to investigate differences in interpersonal behaviors of a more vs. a less favorable teacher at micro- and macro-levels. To analyze classroom interaction dynamically and in real-time, State Space Grid technique was applied. On the macro-level, teacher profiles were determined based on vector method. 211 students of six classes rated the behavior of their own teacher and an imaginary ideal one. One teacher who was closest to and one farthest from that ideal were identified and their classes were video-taped. Two raters coded behaviors with a joystick and then content and structure of interaction were analyzed. Differences on the micro-level were especially noticeable in the strength of attractors, not in their position. Structurally, the behavior of the more favorable teacher had higher variability and less predictability. On the macro-level, the more favorable teacher had Authoritative, and the less favorable one had Directive profiles. The results of this study can be used in promoting interactive ground of the class and in teacher education programs.
English language learning
Mohammadreza Ghanbari; Aram Reza Sadeghi
Abstract
The most effective means of directing attention to an article in the academic community is to publish it in credential journals, however, writing in English can be challenging for novice writers especially non-native speakers (NNS) of English. Thus, despite the ample research in some fields, there is ...
Read More
The most effective means of directing attention to an article in the academic community is to publish it in credential journals, however, writing in English can be challenging for novice writers especially non-native speakers (NNS) of English. Thus, despite the ample research in some fields, there is a great need for studies comparing the rhetorical features together with move structure of sections of Research Articles (RA) written by native scholars with non-native (NN) scholars’ RAs to provide NN writers with academic writing patterns beside procedures needed for publishing in the field of Business Management. To this end, Hyland’s (2000) five-move model was employed for identifying rhetorical moves along with a “bottom-up” approach for realizing linguistic signals in the Abstract, Introduction and Conclusion sections of thirty articles from international and national journals. The study revealed correspondence of most international articles to Hyland’s move model, a tendency for writing informative Abstracts was apparent with the presence of all the moves in Introduction and Conclusion sections. Analysis of linguistic aspects of articles illustrated a striking difference in the use of language features between native and NN scholars. The findings of this study have some implications for people involved in genre analysis as well as teaching academic writing and material design.
English language learning
Arsalan Golfam; Matin Nahavandi
Abstract
In this paper, we argue the effects of explicit multimodal metaphor training in developing speaking and listening skills in an EFL context. To examine the effects of using conceptual metaphors in English language classrooms and assess the metaphorical ability of EFL students, we directed two measuring ...
Read More
In this paper, we argue the effects of explicit multimodal metaphor training in developing speaking and listening skills in an EFL context. To examine the effects of using conceptual metaphors in English language classrooms and assess the metaphorical ability of EFL students, we directed two measuring instruments: pre-test and post-test for control and experimental groups in both listening and speaking skills. The pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group who were exposed to explicit multimodal metaphor training were compared with the control group's scores through this bipartite study. The outcomes of this paper can shed light on teaching and learning the multimodal language in an EFL context. The findings showed that learners who were exposed to multimodal metaphors and received explicit instruction from their teacher resulted in better scores. In other words, this paper found that explicit multimodal metaphor instructions can lead to some improvements in metaphor comprehension and production in an EFL context.
English language learning
Ali Hashemi; Fatemeh Mahdavirad; Golnar Mazdayasna
Abstract
Writing a book review is an instance of evaluative academic writing where thewriter is involved in an interaction with the author and the reader, evaluates theviewpoints stated in the book and voices his own position and stance in a dialoguewith the reader. Working within the framework of Martin and ...
Read More
Writing a book review is an instance of evaluative academic writing where thewriter is involved in an interaction with the author and the reader, evaluates theviewpoints stated in the book and voices his own position and stance in a dialoguewith the reader. Working within the framework of Martin and White’s (2005)Appraisal Theory as an effective tool for studying the essential resources employedin this interaction and evaluation, the present study examined 60 book reviewsfrom the Humanities academic journals written by native male and female writers,and tried to investigate the type and frequency of the three Appraisal categories(Attitude, Engagement, Graduation). The findings indicate that both writer groupsmade extensive use of these resources in their writings. However, the male bookreview writers exceeded the female writers in all the three categories. In addition,the Attitude resources were used the most and The Engagement resources werethe least employed resources. The implications of the study for teaching writingskills and developing materials and tasks for writing courses at academic levels arementioned in detail
English language learning
Behnaz Hosseingholipour; Zari Saeedi; Esmaeel Ali Salimi; Sara Keshkar
Abstract
Writing effective and persuasive manuscripts for submission to the high-indexed Iranian and international English-medium journals for the purpose of publication deserves having to-the-point knowledge and proficiency, which the Non-Native English writers of the non-English speaking countries seem to be ...
Read More
Writing effective and persuasive manuscripts for submission to the high-indexed Iranian and international English-medium journals for the purpose of publication deserves having to-the-point knowledge and proficiency, which the Non-Native English writers of the non-English speaking countries seem to be lacking. Therefore, researchers need to identify problems and challenges that the group of writers encounter in the field of English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP). Therefore, this study aims to identify the ERPP needs of the Physical Education Ph.D. students and writers. Hence, interviews were conducted with a group of Physical Education content experts and Ph.D. students to identify the writers’ problems and challenges. The interviews were tape recorded as the participants had already been informed of the recordings and research aim. The tape recordings were then transcribed and analyzed in the thematic analysis and the grounded theory methods. The data analysis came up with four major themes (gained in the selective coding stage), 20 sub-themes (gained in the axial coding stage) and 83 themes (gained in the initial/open coding stage). The four major themes were `problem with language,’ `problem with content,’ `problem with journals,’ and `the demotivating factors.’ The fourth major theme, i.e., `the demotivating factors’, consisted of the sub-heading the technological illiteracy problem, which should be regarded as the novelty feature of this paper. The research is useful for material designers and instructors of the English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) and others to offer tailor-made education to the tertiary level Physical Education students.
English language learning
Shadab Moslehi; Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo
Abstract
The main objective of this qualitative-quantitative content analysis study was to compare IELTS Academic and TOEFL iBT four modules in terms of the cognition and knowledge dimensions of Revised Bloom’s taxonomy. To this end, two authentic tests including all major modules of speaking, listening, ...
Read More
The main objective of this qualitative-quantitative content analysis study was to compare IELTS Academic and TOEFL iBT four modules in terms of the cognition and knowledge dimensions of Revised Bloom’s taxonomy. To this end, two authentic tests including all major modules of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in each domain, namely iBT TOEFL and IELTS Academic exams were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. These tests were randomly selected from the collection of authentic tests available in trustworthy resources. The contents of these tests were codified using a coding scheme developed by Razmjoo and Kazempourfard (2012). In this coding scheme, English alphabets and numbers were assigned to levels of cognition and knowledge, respectively. The results indicated that in general TOEFL iBT codes are more inclined toward the higher orders of thinking and knowledge and the codes are not noticeably divergent; while, the majority of the codes in the IELTS Academic test are skewed toward the lower codes of the BRT. This shows the higher stance of the TOEFL iBT test concerning the higher orders of thinking and knowledge in the BRT. A significant difference was also found between the TOEFL iBT and IELTS Academic tests concerning the highest and the lowest levels of BRT.
English language learning
Majid Nemati; Mehran Ghafoori; Praviz Birjandi; Siros Izadpanah
Abstract
The effect of assessment types (self, peer, and teacher) on the EFL writing strategies development was examined in this study. Sixty upper-intermediate EFL learners at Qazvin Islamic university in four groups (one control and three experimental groups) were studied. One-way ANOVA checked homogeneity ...
Read More
The effect of assessment types (self, peer, and teacher) on the EFL writing strategies development was examined in this study. Sixty upper-intermediate EFL learners at Qazvin Islamic university in four groups (one control and three experimental groups) were studied. One-way ANOVA checked homogeneity of the groups prior to the treatments and, then, the participants’ records and diaries were employed to gather data. Explanatory and descriptive analyses were implemented to analyze and classify the strategies the EFL learners picked up. This provided the type, frequency, and percentage of the strategies the participants mostly employed. The results revealed that the experimental groups, namely, self-assessment group, peer assessment group, and teacher assessment group employed more cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies than the control group. Affective strategies were more appealing to the control group. Focusing on the diction of the words, concentrating on the complex structures used by different writers, and making use of the structures the participants became interested in or found suitable were the most frequently referred to strategies. Teaching strategies the participants more picked up in this study might enhance EFL learners’ writing development at TEFL centers.
English language learning
Sanaz Mohazabieh; Rahman Sahragard; Ehsan Rassaei; Mustafa Zamanian
Abstract
This quantitative study aimed to investigate the combined effects of two types of strategic planning, namely collaborative and teacher-led planning conditions and task complexity on Iranian intermediate language learners' oral production in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. To achieve this ...
Read More
This quantitative study aimed to investigate the combined effects of two types of strategic planning, namely collaborative and teacher-led planning conditions and task complexity on Iranian intermediate language learners' oral production in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. To achieve this purpose, 90 EFL learners were selected through convenience sampling from a language institute in Shiraz, Iran, and randomly assigned to two control and four experimental groups. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design in the form of pretest, treatment, and posttest. In the first step, all participants took part in a speaking pretest in which they were required to narrate a story based on a series of picture description tasks. While the experimental groups underwent 10 treatment sessions of picture description task performance along with two planning types i.e., teacher-led and collaborative planning conditions, the control groups were not allowed to plan the task performance. In the last session, the language learners took a posttest whose results were compared with those of the pretest. The findings revealed that the language learners in the collaborative planning groups outperformed the other groups in terms of both fluency and complexity. Further, teacher-led groups did better than the other groups in terms of accuracy. This study carries crucial implications for EFL teachers, material developers, syllabus designers, and speaking skill examiners.
