Sakine Ghahri; Abbas Ali Zarei
Abstract
The present study was carried out to compare the effects of prelistening activities of cultural awareness-raising, strategies-based instruction, and linguistic support on listening comprehension as well as listening anxiety of EFL learners. The participants were 90 students (40 males & 50 females) ...
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The present study was carried out to compare the effects of prelistening activities of cultural awareness-raising, strategies-based instruction, and linguistic support on listening comprehension as well as listening anxiety of EFL learners. The participants were 90 students (40 males & 50 females) majoring in English Language Teaching and Translation at Gonbad-e-Kavous University. The participants were selected out of 126 learners using the standardized Preliminary English Test (PET). The listening section of a PET and a listening anxiety questionnaire were given as both pretest and posttest to measure the level of listening comprehension and listening anxiety of the participants before and after the treatments. The participants were categorized into three groups. Each group was given listening instruction for ten sessions using one of the above mentioned prelistening activities. Data were analyzed using one-way ANCOVA. The results indicated that cultural awareness-raising and linguistic support were more effective in improving the listening comprehension and reducing the listening anxiety of the participants. Although the strategies-based instruction was positively effective on both variables, it was the least effective activity. The findings of the study can benefit material developers and teachers in making informed decisions about the type(s) of activities to implement in the listening courses.
Niloofar Daneshkhah; Ahmad Alibabaee
Volume 4, Issue 3 , August 2017, , Pages 95-118
Abstract
The importance of task-based instruction for developing writing as one of the most demanding tasks within SLA field is neglected in many EFL/ESL contexts. The researchers in this study intended to investigate the role of task manipulation in developing EFL learners’ grammatical accuracy and lexical ...
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The importance of task-based instruction for developing writing as one of the most demanding tasks within SLA field is neglected in many EFL/ESL contexts. The researchers in this study intended to investigate the role of task manipulation in developing EFL learners’ grammatical accuracy and lexical complexity of argumentative writing. Furthermore, the task-manipulation effects on the frequency of three meta-cognitive sub-processes of generation, elaboration and organization of ideas were explored. To this end, 50 Iranian EFL learners from Sheikhbahaee University of Esfahan were selected based on their availability and their performance on the Oxford Placement Test. Then, they were randomly assigned to three experimental groups, and one control group. The data were collected individually through a task of writing, think-aloud protocol and retrospective interview. The results showed positive effects of task manipulation along resource-dispersing dimension on the grammatical accuracy and the positive effects of task manipulation along resource-directing dimensions on the lexical complexity. However, the results of the frequency of meta-cognitive sub-processes were indicative of the positive effects of task manipulation on the generation and elaboration of ideas but not on the organization of ideas. The study suggests that there is a trade-off effect at work which is responsible for the quality of the writing and the frequency of the metacognitive sub-processes.
Khadijeh Mohammadi; Hiwa Weisi; Shahab Moradkhani
Abstract
Manipulation is an illegitimate mind control that can be performed via the triangular model of social, cognitive, and discursive strategies which leads to social inequality. This study aims to investigate the discursive strategies employed in Persian printed advertisements to manipulate audiences based ...
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Manipulation is an illegitimate mind control that can be performed via the triangular model of social, cognitive, and discursive strategies which leads to social inequality. This study aims to investigate the discursive strategies employed in Persian printed advertisements to manipulate audiences based on triangular model of van Dijk (2006). Since manipulation is a crucial notion of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the researchers have to utilize CDA principles of Fairclough (2013) too. To do this, an analysis was performed on the corpus of 160 Persian printed advertisements collected during one year, from 2016 to 2017. Half of the data were collected from real context of use in three different cities of Iran (Kermanshah, Ahwaz, and Mashhad), and another half were downloaded from different websites. Then, the corpus of data was analyzed employing triangular model of manipulation and CDA in order to determine the strategies used in those advertisements to manipulate audiences. The results revealed that the advertising discourse in Iran is completely manipulative which uses discursive, cognitive and social strategies to manipulate consumers. Furthermore, the results added more strategies such as (a) Religious messages, (b) Challenging hints, (c) Giving discount or rewards, and (d) Deadline, to the findings of previous studies.
Rajab Esfandiari; Mohammad Ahmadi; Aynur Ismayilli Karakoç
Abstract
There is currently a growing tendency to a meaning-based approach to the analysis of syntactic complexity in academic writing. While previous studies have offered illuminating insights into linguistic realizations of rhetorical structures in relation to syntactic complexity, they have typically analyzed ...
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There is currently a growing tendency to a meaning-based approach to the analysis of syntactic complexity in academic writing. While previous studies have offered illuminating insights into linguistic realizations of rhetorical structures in relation to syntactic complexity, they have typically analyzed lexicogrammatical features in a decontextualized manner. Drawing on a corpus-based cross-sectional design, this study takes a function-first approach to investigating the rhetorical functions of syntactically complex structures in research article (RA) abstracts in applied linguistics. To that end, a corpus of 270 texts from leading applied linguistics journals was constructed. Based on the model proposed by Pho (2008), we manually annotated the texts for the moves, and measured their syntactic complexity using phrasal, clausal, and global metrics. SPSS (version 25) was run for the analysis of data. Results of one-way MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) and Chi-square tests revealed significant variations among rhetorical moves in terms of clausal and phrasal complexity measures. The findings also showed that academic writers varied the complexity of their written structures according to their rhetorical goals. The results establish form-meaning mappings between syntactically complex structures and rhetorical functions. The findings carry pedagogical implications for student writers to adjust their prose using functionally appropriate complex structures following expert writers through comparing their own writing with that of expert writers to notice the gaps.
Naser Rashidi; Mohamad Rahimi; Farzaneh Dehghan
Volume 3, Issue 2 , May 2016, , Pages 96-81
Abstract
Writing academic texts is a challenging endeavour for novice L2 writers, which causes them to rely heavily on the original texts. Some studies have differentiated intentional acts of fraud (like plagiarism) from patchwriting which they claim is unintentional source text reliance. However, others have ...
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Writing academic texts is a challenging endeavour for novice L2 writers, which causes them to rely heavily on the original texts. Some studies have differentiated intentional acts of fraud (like plagiarism) from patchwriting which they claim is unintentional source text reliance. However, others have a negative view toward it. The present study explores L2 graduate student writers and their professors' perspectives about these different writing practices and how they may work for or against developing professional writing expertise in a discipline. Survey questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. The results were analysed through calculating frequencies and percentages as well as inductive data analysis for transcribed interviews. The results showed that many graduate students used patchwriting in their attempts to write academic texts unintentionally and intuitively. The reasons identified for patchwriting were students' lack of confidence to write independently, inability to paraphrase or fear of not expressing the writer's message thoroughly, and, in some cases, the writers' intention to get around plagiarism detection softwares. However, both students and their instructors had negative views about patchwriting. They believed that writing strategies like patchwriting could not lead to professional writing practices in a discipline. More importantly, the students seemed to continue this practice all through their studies, which may be a sign of not receiving enough instruction and feedback in this regard. The role of explicit teaching is emphasized in making students familiar with the differences between paraphrasing and patchwriting.
Davoud Amini; Zahra Iravani
Abstract
In cognitive process theories of L2 writing, the rich lexical knowledge plays a key role in facilitated writing performance. Therefore, the inquiry into the relationship between aspects of vocabulary knowledge and writing performance can proffer theoretical clues on L2 writing process. However, assessing ...
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In cognitive process theories of L2 writing, the rich lexical knowledge plays a key role in facilitated writing performance. Therefore, the inquiry into the relationship between aspects of vocabulary knowledge and writing performance can proffer theoretical clues on L2 writing process. However, assessing and researching writing is not independent from the type of tasks or genres that are used for eliciting samples of writing. Accordingly, this study probed into the association between vocabulary knowledge and L2 writing performance with a focus on possible differences originating from descriptive and narrative genres of writing. Four distinctive writing tasks were given to 101 Iranian advanced-level EFL learners whose depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge were measured with Word Associates Test and New Vocabulary Levels Test. The analyses indicated moderate positive correlations between depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge and writing performance in both descriptive and narrative genres. Moreover, the results of regression analysis revealed a significant positive predictive power for both depth and breadth in descriptive and narrative writings. Also, Iranian EFL learners performed better on descriptive writing than narrative writing. Genric differentiations in the relationship between lexical knowledge and L2 writing performance seem to be mediated by such factors as learners’ proficiency level and L1 cultural background. However, achieving an overarching view of the genric differentiations in affecting the relationship between EFL learners’ vocabulary knowledge and writing performance awaits further complementary research with a focus on all genres of writing while the multidimensionality of L2 vocabulary knowledge is taken into account.
Parviz Ajideh; Mohammad Zohrabi; Akbar A. Jahanbakhsh
Abstract
Inspired by the works of scholars who have done great efforts to improve study quality in second language (L2) papers in the recent decade (e.g., Hu & Plonsky, 2019; Larson-Hall, 2012, 2017; Plonsky, 2013; Norris, 2015), this paper aims to capture the perceptions of Iranian authors around issues ...
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Inspired by the works of scholars who have done great efforts to improve study quality in second language (L2) papers in the recent decade (e.g., Hu & Plonsky, 2019; Larson-Hall, 2012, 2017; Plonsky, 2013; Norris, 2015), this paper aims to capture the perceptions of Iranian authors around issues of quality that have been emphasized by publication manuals (e.g., APA, 2010; Wilkinson, 1999) and recommendation (e.g., Norris et al., 2015). The triggering idea behind the study was that in order to adhere to standards of quality, authors, first, need to perceive the issues highly-associated with the concept. Accordingly, a questionnaire of quality developed by Larson-Hall and Jahanbakhsh (in review) was used to capture respondents’ perceptions. Out of the 1029 authors who had published quantitative papers in 10 Iranian journals from 2015 to 2019, 885 authors could be contacted and 128 answered the questionnaire. The results showed that respondents saw fundamental issues like random sampling, reliability, validity, checking normality, and reporting inferential statistics as the most highly-associated features with quality while the concerned issues by scholars, like generalizability in convenience samplings, use of delayed posttest, reporting non-significant results, and importance of visual presentations are less acknowledged. Moreover, using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), it was revealed that a path of perception exists which starts from sampling issues and going through design and statistical to reporting practices. It was recommended that authors take the issues of study quality more seriously in both their works and the context of education.
Reza Abdi; Parisa Ahmadi
Volume 2, Issue 1 , February 2015, , Pages 99-85
Abstract
Metadiscourse refers to the evolving text, to the writer, and to the imagined readers of that text. It is based on a view of writing as a social engagement. This study draws on an interpersonal model of metadiscourse to examine disciplinary influences on the use of interactive metadiscourse in research ...
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Metadiscourse refers to the evolving text, to the writer, and to the imagined readers of that text. It is based on a view of writing as a social engagement. This study draws on an interpersonal model of metadiscourse to examine disciplinary influences on the use of interactive metadiscourse in research article introductions. The study examined the distributions of interactive metadiscourse markers in a corpus of 120 RAs representing four academic disciplines. Physics and medicine were selected from hard discipline, applied linguistics and Economics were selected from soft science to shed some light on the ways academic writers deploy these resources to persuade readers in their own discourse community. No statistically significant difference was found in the use of interactive metadiscourse markers across disciplines. The findings suggest how academic writers use language to offer an accurate representation of their work in different fields, and how metadiscourse can be seen as a means of uncovering something of the rhetorical and social distinctiveness of disciplinary communities. The findings are attributable to the knowledge-knower structures characteristic of the disciplines and the epistemologies underlying the research paradigms. These findings might have implications for the teaching of academic writing and for novice writers who would like to publish their research in academic journals.
Mohammad Amini Farsani; Vali Mohammadi
Abstract
Beyond the mono-method quantitative and qualitative research syntheses (e.g. meta-analysis and meta-ethnography, respectively) and with a pragmatic perspective on conducting mixed methods research (MMR), recently a very few research synthesists have adopted a Mixed Methods Research Synthesis (MMRS) approach ...
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Beyond the mono-method quantitative and qualitative research syntheses (e.g. meta-analysis and meta-ethnography, respectively) and with a pragmatic perspective on conducting mixed methods research (MMR), recently a very few research synthesists have adopted a Mixed Methods Research Synthesis (MMRS) approach to answer complex review questions. Therefore, to better understand the issue of quality, this study takes the initiative in aligning the mixed methods research quality with the Plonskyian views with specific reference to study quality proposed in methodological synthesis literature. The main purpose of the methodological synthesis here was to provide empirically-based evidence for describing and evaluating mixed methods studies in an Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context. We synthesized mixed methods theses in an Iranian EFL context by describing and evaluating three interrelated components of study quality through focusing on transparency and reporting practices related to: (a) MMR formulation stage (or MMR problem specification stage), (b) MMR design-related features, and (c) MMR interpretation and integration (or MMR implementation stage). The cumulative findings highlighted a set of deficiencies and strengths across MMR studies in the respective EFL setting. Of notable results were unsatisfactory attention to the issue of integration and transparency at the levels of design, method, and interpretation. The study has implications for designing and implementing sound MMR studies. Furthermore, it includes suggestions for doing solid MMR research as well as writing and preparing well-founded mixed methods articles.
Mahmood Safari
Abstract
University students are mainly advised to master the words in West’s General Service List (GSL) and Coxhead’s Academic Word List (AWL) in order to be able to read their academic texts easily and effectively. However, there are too many words in the two lists and a large number of them seem ...
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University students are mainly advised to master the words in West’s General Service List (GSL) and Coxhead’s Academic Word List (AWL) in order to be able to read their academic texts easily and effectively. However, there are too many words in the two lists and a large number of them seem to be of less frequency in many academic disciplines; moreover, there are many important general and academic words which are missing in the two lists. The present study explored a corpus of psychology texts containing 3.4 million running words to work out the most frequent words used in psychology, a less investigated discipline. The corpus was analyzed by some text analysis software (TextStat and TextAnalys) and a list of 1587 most frequent word families was developed for psychology. The list included general English and academic words and no technical words of psychology. The frequency of GSL and AWL word families was investigated in the corpus to find out the GSL and AWL words highly frequent in psychology texts and also other high frequency words of psychology which are absent in the two lists. The results revealed that 1077 GSL and 95 AWL word families were of low frequency in psychology texts and there were 189 high frequency general and academic words which are absent in the GSL and AWL. The coverage of the developed psychology word list over the corpus was shown to be 2.2% higher than that of GSL plus AWL, although it contained 983 fewer words.
Hassan Soodmand Afshar; Shabnam Ghasemi
Abstract
As part of a large-scale study, the current study explored the barriers perceived by Iranian EFL teachers to impede their professional development. To this end, 200 EFL teachers teaching at various private foreign language institutes participated in the study. The study enjoyed a mixed-method design. ...
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As part of a large-scale study, the current study explored the barriers perceived by Iranian EFL teachers to impede their professional development. To this end, 200 EFL teachers teaching at various private foreign language institutes participated in the study. The study enjoyed a mixed-method design. That is, first, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 50 participants of the study on the basis of which the barriers to teachers’ PD questionnaire (BTPDQ) was developed and validated. The results of the interview content analysis and the findings of the descriptive statistics of BTPDQ revealed the barriers were attributed to three major factors including ‘teachers themselves’ (e.g., lack of motivation, lack of teamwork spirit, etc.), ‘managers of the language institutes’ (e.g., institutes’ not having organized plans for PD, low payments, etc.), and ‘educational policy-makers’ (e.g., curriculum developers’ top-to-down managerial behavior, etc.). The findings might prove fruitful and innovative for the managers of foreign language education centers, teachers, and policy makers. Foreign language education policy makers, curriculum developers and syllabus designers are thus suggested to plan such effective and durable PD activities as teacher study groups, peer observation, online teacher PD methods and social-media-based programs in order to interest and involve EFL teachers in up-to-date PD activities.
Ahmad Khalifeh; Mohammad Bavali; Ehsan Rassaei
Abstract
The integration of technology into education has offered new opportunities for higher education students. Flipped class, as part of this opportunity, has inspired ample research recently. However, there is still controversy over its effectiveness. To shed more light on its potentials, the present study ...
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The integration of technology into education has offered new opportunities for higher education students. Flipped class, as part of this opportunity, has inspired ample research recently. However, there is still controversy over its effectiveness. To shed more light on its potentials, the present study compares a flipped class with a traditional and an online course in terms of their effects on developing the grammar knowledge of Iranian pre-intermediate TEFL students. In addition, the perceptions of the flipped group toward their learning experience in four areas were examined: motivation, effectiveness, interaction, and satisfaction. Finally, the potential of the flipped class to assist the instructor in presenting more topics was evaluated. Fifty-nine freshmen in two different classes were selected. Then, each class was randomly assigned to an experimental (n=31) or a control group (n=28). The former received instruction in a flipped class, whereas the latter attended a traditional class. Afterward, their performance was compared with that of another group attending an online course (n= 25). The data were collected through a timed and an untimed grammaticality judgment test and a perception scale. In order to compare the content coverage in the three classes, the number of units taught in each class was divided by the total number of units assigned for the semester. The results showed that instruction in the flipped class was as effective as instruction in the traditional class and both were more effective than the fully online course. Additionally, the flipped class seemed to be a satisfactory experience for the learners. The results also indicated that drawing on a flipped class can allow the instructor to present more content without compromising the quality of instruction and learning. The results can encourage language teachers, program developers, and educational policymakers to consider the flipped classroom as an acceptable alternative.
Mahzad Keyvanloo; Mohammad Reza Amirian; Marjan Vosoughi; reza Bagheri Nevisi
Abstract
The main purpose of the study was to explore the connection between teachers' critical thinking, autonomy, and their teaching experience among public and private English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. In addition, the differences between the two main contexts of English language learning (public ...
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The main purpose of the study was to explore the connection between teachers' critical thinking, autonomy, and their teaching experience among public and private English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. In addition, the differences between the two main contexts of English language learning (public and private contexts) were scrutinized vis a vis teachers' critical thinking and their autonomy. Two different groups of EFL private language institute teachers and EFL high school teachers were selected from two major cities in Khorasan Razavi, Iran. As the results of Path Analysis indicated, all subfactors of EFL teachers' critical thinking (analysis, evaluation, inference, inductive reasoning) except deductive reasoning were positive significant predictors of their autonomy. Additionally, the experience was a positive significant predictor of their autonomy. Furthermore, among five sub-factors of EFL teachers' critical thinking, four subfactors were predicted by experience including analysis, inference, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. However, the experience did not predict evaluation. Also, the results of the Pearson correlation indicated that critical thinking was positively associated with autonomy with a moderate connection, and positively and weakly with experience. Furthermore, the results of the t-test for independent samples indicated that there was a significant difference between the two different contexts in the level of autonomy with private EFL teachers being more autonomous than public EFL teachers. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference between the two types of context in critical thinking.
Esmaeel Ali Salimi; Meysam Khazaee Kouhpar
Abstract
Critical Pedagogy (CP) in Iran, among other countries, is still in its early stages, and there are various challenges facing the implementation of problem-posing education. To pinpoint the probable factors impeding transformation in the educational setting, the present research, using a convenience sampling, ...
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Critical Pedagogy (CP) in Iran, among other countries, is still in its early stages, and there are various challenges facing the implementation of problem-posing education. To pinpoint the probable factors impeding transformation in the educational setting, the present research, using a convenience sampling, investigated 64 Iranian EFL teachers’ beliefs and understanding of CP and its fundamental tenets. Furthermore, attempts were made to examine the way these teachers’ understanding of CP informed their beliefs of it. As such, a set of interviews as well as observations were conducted to capture the participants’ statements, intention, and behavior. As a result of a thorough thematic analysis, it was discovered that approximately 89 percent of the 64 EFL teachers participating in this study did not have a profound understanding of this approach. This finding can bear witness to the inefficient or insufficient pre-service teacher education. Regarding their beliefs about CP, these EFL teachers either resisted or disagreed with the fundamental tenets of CP. The findings of the present study hold much to contribute to the related literature, insofar as new doors will be opened for those whose area of interest falls within the purview of CP and student voice.
Majid Izanlu; Mohamad Reza Farangi
Volume 2, Issue 3 , August 2015, , Pages 103-87
Abstract
This study investigated the extent to which two types of scaffolding, namely symmetrical and/or asymmetrical scaffolding could contribute to the acquisition of grammar among Iranian EFL sophomores. To fulfill this objective, 42 female college students whose age ranged between 19 and 24 were selected ...
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This study investigated the extent to which two types of scaffolding, namely symmetrical and/or asymmetrical scaffolding could contribute to the acquisition of grammar among Iranian EFL sophomores. To fulfill this objective, 42 female college students whose age ranged between 19 and 24 were selected through convenience sampling and, after taking a pretest, divided into two groups of: symmetrical scaffolding (SS) and asymmetrical scaffolding (AS). The experimental group AS received instruction according to asymmetric strategy, while the experimental group SS was instructed via the symmetric strategy. To answer the research questions, a post-test was conducted, and its results were analyzed using independent and paired t-test. The results showed that AS scaffolding is a more fruitful strategy in improving participant's grammar achievement. The findings of this study have implications for teachers. Pair work is a central task in any language class and teachers usually do not know how to arrange the pairs. Some teachers arrange them by age, while other teachers arrange pairs by proficiency level. The results of this research indicated that when arranging pairs, teachers need to choose students from differing proficiency levels.
Mir Habib Aboulalaei; Jafar Poursalehi; Yase Hadidi
Volume 3, Issue 3 , September 2016, , Pages 103-83
Abstract
One important light in which to perceive the pendulum swings of the world of language teaching is the waning of the concept of method and its replacement by Kumaravadivelu’s post-method pedagogy, which is free from the constraints of methods. For several years, researchers working on the familiarity ...
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One important light in which to perceive the pendulum swings of the world of language teaching is the waning of the concept of method and its replacement by Kumaravadivelu’s post-method pedagogy, which is free from the constraints of methods. For several years, researchers working on the familiarity of EFL teachers with Post-method and its role in second and foreign language learners’ productions have pointed out that the opportunity to plan for a task generally contributes to language learners’ development. Such a post-method thinking has yet to find some prominent place with language teaching practitioners. This study principally sets out to explore any correlation between the field of study taught and the teachers’ attitudes towards the post-method strategies at hand today. One hundred and thirt one teachers from an English language institute located in Tabriz, Iran (i.e. Faseleh) were selected as participants. The attitudes of language teachers towards the Post-Method condition were assessed via a questionnaire that consisted of two main parts: the first part tapped into the participants’ personal information, and the second part included some questions on a 5- point Likert scale about the role of Post Method, their familiarity with it, and how it impacted their teaching and learning. The findings support the hypothesis that language teachers’ knowledge and awareness of post-method seems to play out as an important factor in their teaching, while they also carry certain pedagogical and theoretical implications in second language teaching as well as relevance to second language learning assessment.
Saeid Noorbar; Homa Jafarpour Mamaghani
Volume 3, Issue 4 , November 2016, , Pages 103-75
Abstract
Regarding the issue of whether or not the use of L2 learners’ mother tongue should be allowed in the classroom, there has been a discord among scholars, each giving reasons for their claim. Considering this lack of consensus, this study was an attempt to investigate the effect of code-switching ...
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Regarding the issue of whether or not the use of L2 learners’ mother tongue should be allowed in the classroom, there has been a discord among scholars, each giving reasons for their claim. Considering this lack of consensus, this study was an attempt to investigate the effect of code-switching (CS) on Iranian elementary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ oral fluency, accuracy, and willingness to communicate (WTC). To carry out this study, a sample of 60 high-elementary level EFL learners was chosen to take part. After a Key English Test (KET) was administered to ensure homogeneity of the learners, they were divided into two groups of experimental and control. The study used a quasi-experimental design. The instruments used to obtain the needed data were a WTC questionnaire providing quantifiable data on learners’ WTC both inside and outside the classroom, and the speaking section of a KET as pre-test and post-test to see whether the learners’ oral fluency and accuracy changed significantly over the course of the treatment. The results of a Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) statistical analysis revealed positive effect of CS on the participants’ WTC and oral accuracy and fluency. The results of the present study can contribute to the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) and be of use for practitioners and material developers.
Mobina Rahnama; Alireza Ahmadi; Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo; Omid Mazandarani
Abstract
The debate continues on what features of oral performance are influenced by oral feedback. The present study tries to provide an answer to this question in an EFL context. To this end the effect of six different modes of oral feedback on the features of oral complexity and accuracy was investigated using ...
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The debate continues on what features of oral performance are influenced by oral feedback. The present study tries to provide an answer to this question in an EFL context. To this end the effect of six different modes of oral feedback on the features of oral complexity and accuracy was investigated using data from 66 Iranian EFL learners who were selected conveniently from the Iran Language Institute. The participants were divided into experimental and control groups at two different levels of elementary and pre-intermediate. The experimental groups were presented with six different types of oral feedback modes (recasts, clarification requests, metalinguistic, praising, elicitation, and repetition) and at the end of the research they were tested by an in-class oral test to measure their complexity and accuracy (CA). To compare the participants’ oral features, a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and a Mann-Whitney U Test were run. The results indicated that complexity and accuracy significantly improved among the groups, moreover; there were significant differences in the post-tests between both elementary and pre-intermediate levels regarding CA. The results further indicated that Iranian learners of English would have fewer errors and would be more accurate when receiving oral feedback modes. The study highlights the complex relationship that exists between features of oral performance. The findings of the present study can have theoretical and practical implications for syllabus designers, teacher trainers, and testing researchers.
Shiva Kaivanpanah; Abbas Ali Rezaee; Morteza Neamatollahi
Volume 4, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 107-89
Abstract
Different from one-way provision of knowledge in transmission-based approaches, recent approaches to teacher education consider learning as a consequence of teachers’ active engagement in social practices. Prior studies have provided important insights into how sociocultural theory (SCT) works ...
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Different from one-way provision of knowledge in transmission-based approaches, recent approaches to teacher education consider learning as a consequence of teachers’ active engagement in social practices. Prior studies have provided important insights into how sociocultural theory (SCT) works in L2 teacher education. However, issues remain about the content and effectiveness of teacher education programs informed by the tenets of SCT on novice teachers’ learning. Addressing this gap, the present study set out to investigate the microgentic development of four novice EFL teachers during dialogic mediations with a teacher educator in some one-to-one development sessions based on samples of their actual teaching practices. Mediations were dialogic, graduated, and tailored to the needs of the teachers (i.e., from implicit to explicit) within each individual’s zone of proximal teacher development (ZPTD). A total of four hours of video-recorded teacher-teacher educator post-observation talk was analyzed. Results proposed a highly dialogic interaction with an approximately equal participatory role. Findings demonstrated that novice teachers’ agency and externalization of their thoughts in a supportive and interactive environment can result in their development. Finally, teacher educators were asked to include strategic mediation in teacher education programs and provide teachers with graduated assistance within their ZPTD.
Farid Ghaemi; Giti Sabadoust
Volume 4, Issue 1 , February 2017, , Pages 108-89
Abstract
Meta-discourse as a self-reflective linguistic tool has received considerable attention in recent years. Besides, it plays a leading role in exploring variations in the way authors pen a manuscript. The present study aims at investigating variations in the use of both interactive and interactional meta-discourse ...
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Meta-discourse as a self-reflective linguistic tool has received considerable attention in recent years. Besides, it plays a leading role in exploring variations in the way authors pen a manuscript. The present study aims at investigating variations in the use of both interactive and interactional meta-discourse markers among ISI and non-ISI articles written by Iranian authors in the field of Applied Linguistics. The corpora in the present study comprised a total of 8 Research Articles (RAs) in ISI and non-ISI journals published in 2016 and 2017. We described the distribution of interactive and interactional markers in Method sections using Hyland’s (2005) model as a framework. The results of the quantitative analysis disclosed that genre expectations of journals had a determining role in the writers’ choice of some meta-discourse markers. Owing to this fact, similarities were found in the use and distribution of meta-discourse markers across ISI and non-ISI data. In addition, a significant difference was found between the types of interactive meta-discourse markers as used in ISI and non-ISI journals. Moreover, the findings revealed similarities in employing the type of interactional meta-discourse markers in our corpora. Our study may promise some pedagogical implications for material development and English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
Mir Habib Aboulalaei; Jafar Poursalehi; Yaser Hadidi
Volume 3, Issue 1 , February 2016, , Pages 109-89
Abstract
One important light in which to perceive the pendulum swings of the world of language teaching is the waning of the concept of method and its replacement by Kumaravadivelu’s post-method pedagogy, which is free from the constraints of methods. For several years, researchers working on the familiarity ...
Read More
One important light in which to perceive the pendulum swings of the world of language teaching is the waning of the concept of method and its replacement by Kumaravadivelu’s post-method pedagogy, which is free from the constraints of methods. For several years, researchers working on the familiarity of EFL teachers with Post-method and its role in second and foreign language learners’ productions have pointed out that the opportunity to plan for a task generally contributes to language learners’ development. Such a post-method thinking has yet to find some prominent place with language teaching practitioners. This study principally sets out to explore any correlation between the field of study taught and the teachers’ attitudes towards the post-method strategies at hand today. 131 teachers from an English language institute located in Tabriz, Iran (i.e. Faseleh) were selected as participants. The attitudes of language teachers towards the Post-Method condition were assessed via a questionnaire which consisted of two main parts: the first part tapped into the participants’ personal information, and the second part included some questions on a 5- point Likert scale about the role of Post Method, their familiarity with it, and how it impacted their teaching and learning. The findings support the hypothesis that language teachers’ knowledge and awareness of post-method seems to play out as an important factor in their teaching, while they also carry certain pedagogical and theoretical implications in second language teaching as well as relevance to second language learning assessment.
Ehsan Narimani Vahedi; Mahnaz Saeidi; Nasrin Hadidi Tamjid
Abstract
The role of corrective feedback (CF) in language learning has recently gained prominence; however, ignoring the interwoven relationship between cognitive/affective factors, along with individual differences, may not lead to efficient results. This mixed methods research examined high/low emotional intelligence ...
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The role of corrective feedback (CF) in language learning has recently gained prominence; however, ignoring the interwoven relationship between cognitive/affective factors, along with individual differences, may not lead to efficient results. This mixed methods research examined high/low emotional intelligence (EI) Iranian EFL learners’ CF preferences. This study was grounded in the Chaos Complexity Theory of Larsen-Freeman (1997). Considering complexity theory, learners’ modified outputs were examined to find the related EI components in teacher-learner matched/mismatched conditions. First, using Bar-on Emotional Quotient Inventory,12 teachers and 223 learners were grouped as having high/low EI. Second, learners’ CF preferences were determined through Students’ Preferences Elicitation Questionnaire, including both closed and open-ended questions. Third, utilizing an observation checklist, teachers’ CF practices and learners’ modified outputs in summery telling activity were examined to find the associations among EI components and modified output in teacher-learner matched/mismatched conditions. The quantitative analysis using a number of Chi-square tests and the complementary qualitative data analyses revealed that the high/low EI learners preferred the different CF types. The most frequent successful modified output was associated with certain EI components in the mismatched conditions of EI and CF.The findings provide pertinent implications for practitioners regarding feedback implementation and successful modified output. Furthermore, the findings refer to the necessity of future studies in this area which are discussed in the article.
Abbas Ali Zarei; Hossein Rezadoust
Abstract
ُSpeaking in a foreign language has always been, and still is, one of the most anxiety inducing activities. This speaking anxiety may be both the result or the cause of low self-efficacy in speaking. Finding ways of improving the speaking self-efficacy and reducing speaking anxiety has long been a concern ...
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ُSpeaking in a foreign language has always been, and still is, one of the most anxiety inducing activities. This speaking anxiety may be both the result or the cause of low self-efficacy in speaking. Finding ways of improving the speaking self-efficacy and reducing speaking anxiety has long been a concern among teaching practitioners. The present study was an attempt to investigate the comparative effects of scaffolded and un-scaffolded feedback on EFL learners’ speaking anxiety and self-efficacy. The participants were 90 intermediate male EFL learners at Safir Language Institute in Tehran who were selected out of a total number of 120 participants who took a standard PET test. The participants were divided into two experimental groups and one control group. They were given questionnaires of speaking anxiety and speaking self-efficacy as pretests followed by 10 sessions of treatment using scaffolded feedback, un-scaffolded feedback and no feedback. Then, they filled out the same questionnaires as posttests. The collected data were analyzed using the one-way ANCOVA procedure. It was observed that scaffolded feedback could reduce the amount of speaking anxiety, while increasing speaking self-efficacy. This was followed by un-scaffolded feedback, which was presented through recast. These findings have theoretical implications for researchers and theoreticians as well as pedagogical implications for language teachers and learners.
Manoochehr Jafarigohar; Afsar Rouhi; Shirin Rahimi Kazerooni
Abstract
The use of paired speaking tasks for the assessment of interactional competence has recently attracted the attention of many scholars in language learning research. The present study aimed at investigating whether task type has any effect on promoting language learners’ interactional competence ...
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The use of paired speaking tasks for the assessment of interactional competence has recently attracted the attention of many scholars in language learning research. The present study aimed at investigating whether task type has any effect on promoting language learners’ interactional competence measured by means of multi-factor qualitative coding of paired speaking tasks. The performances of 92 dyads of conveniently-selected intermediate Iranian EFL learners on four paired speaking tasks were assessed using a rubric developed based on recent models for the scoring of interactional competence. To reveal the factors contributing to interactional competence, confirmatory factor analysis was run rendering the four-factor rubric developed in the present study as a valid measure of interactional competence through paired speaking tasks. In addition, to check the effect of different task types on interactional competence, the researchers calculated ANOVA estimates. Mean difference statistics computed indicated that some significant effect with large effect size existed for task type. Post-hoc comparisons carried out made it clear that from among the four tasks (i.e., Spot-the-difference, Story-completion, Decision-making, and Free-discussion) only the Story-completion task was the source of variability in the scores of interactional competence. The findings are of significance in that they point to the centrality of task type in assessing speaking through paired tasks. The study has certain theoretical and practical implications for foreign language teaching/testing researchers and practitioners.
Ali Roohani
Volume 1, Issue 3 , July 2014, , Pages 114-86
