Davood Gholami; Abbas Ali Zarei
Abstract
Given the importance of learning collocations, this study investigated the effectiveness of three types of mind maps, namely, bubble, double-bubble and multi-flow maps, on the comprehension and production of collocations. The participants were 120 upper-intermediate level male learners of English at ...
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Given the importance of learning collocations, this study investigated the effectiveness of three types of mind maps, namely, bubble, double-bubble and multi-flow maps, on the comprehension and production of collocations. The participants were 120 upper-intermediate level male learners of English at Qalam institute in Tehran, who ranged from 15 to 18 years of age. This study used convenience sampling based on availability. A pretest was used to ensure the participants’ unfamiliarity with the selected items. The participants belonged to four classes, each class being assigned to one treatment condition (one control and three experimental groups). All the groups had 12 treatment sessions, and in each session, eight collocations were introduced to the participants. After the treatment, two posttests of comprehension and production were given to all the participants, and the collected data were analyzed using two one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures. In both comprehension and production tests, the bubble and double-bubble map groups performed significantly better than the control group. Although there was a meaningful difference between the multi-flow map and the control group in the comprehension of collocations, there was no meaningful difference in the production of collocations. These results can have important implications for language teachers, curriculum designers, and educational policy makers.
Mahmoud Nabilou; Abbas Ali Zarei
Abstract
This study explored the effect of three models of flipped learning through shad application on lexical and grammatical knowledge of Iranian high school EFL learners. 120 male pre-intermediate English learners took part in the study. They were placed in four groups (three experimental and one control) ...
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This study explored the effect of three models of flipped learning through shad application on lexical and grammatical knowledge of Iranian high school EFL learners. 120 male pre-intermediate English learners took part in the study. They were placed in four groups (three experimental and one control) based on their performance on a placement test. The control group received conventional methods of teaching while experimental group one was taught through traditional flipping, experimental group two through demonstration-based instruction, and experimental group three through double-flipped instruction. Data were collected using pretests and posttests of lexical and grammatical knowledge. The results of ANCOVA showed that generally, the learners in the three experimental groups performed better than the control group, suggesting that using flipped instruction was effective in teaching lexical items and grammatical structures. The findings of this study can have valuable implications for those who are involved in learning and teaching English, materials preparation, and curriculum development.
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.
Maryam Mousavi; Abbas Ali Zarei; Saeideh Ahangari
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of form-focused and meaning-focused tasks with different involvement load indices on EFL learners' recognition of L2 idioms. To this end, a sample of 180 EFL learners (both male and female) in two language institutes was selected and randomly assigned into six groups. ...
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This study investigated the effects of form-focused and meaning-focused tasks with different involvement load indices on EFL learners' recognition of L2 idioms. To this end, a sample of 180 EFL learners (both male and female) in two language institutes was selected and randomly assigned into six groups. Form-focused tasks with involvement load 2 (Multiple-choice), 3 (Sentence-completion), 4 (Sentence-making) were used for three experimental groups, while meaning-focused tasks with involvement load 2 (Summary-writing), 3 (Writing with glossary), and 4 (Writing without glossary) were utilized for the other three groups. After the treatment, a 30-item test in multiple-choice format was administered to assess the participants' recognition of idioms. One two-way ANOVA and a series of independent-samples t-tests were run to process the collected data. The results indicated that the tasks with higher levels of involvement load were more effective on recognition of idioms. The results also showed that form-focused tasks were more efficient than meaning-focused tasks. Moreover, at involvement load of two, meaning-focused tasks were more beneficial than form-focused tasks, while form-focused tasks were more effective at higher involvement loads of three and four. The results of this study can have theoretical and pedagogical implications for language teachers, curriculum designers, and researchers.
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.
Abbas Ali Zarei; Mina Rahgozar
Abstract
One of the relatively neglected aspects of today's English language pedagogy is the differences between written and spoken grammar. Many language learners often find that what they have learnt in their grammar classes is either irrelevant or (sometimes) even contrary to what they need to use the target ...
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One of the relatively neglected aspects of today's English language pedagogy is the differences between written and spoken grammar. Many language learners often find that what they have learnt in their grammar classes is either irrelevant or (sometimes) even contrary to what they need to use the target language for oral communicative purposes. To fill part of the existing gap in the literature on this issue, This study was carried out. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of competitive and cooperative explicit and task-based instruction of spoken grammar features of heads, tails and ellipses on Iranian EFL learners’ awareness of these features. To this end, 90 female pre-intermediate EFL learners of Ghana Language Institute in Tehran were selected through convenience sampling. The participants were randomly assigned to four experimental groups, receiving explicit and task-based instructions in competitive and cooperative contexts. Prior to the treatment, a pretest was given to check the participants’ level of awareness of the spoken grammar features. After a 10-session instruction, a posttest was administered. The collected data were processed using the two-way ANCOVA procedure. The results indicated that competitive and cooperative contexts were equally effective on raising learners’ awareness of spoken grammar features. Moreover, there was a statistically significant interaction effect between type of instruction and the context of instruction. These findings may have important theoretical and pedagogical implications.
Abbas Ali Zarei; Behnam Feizollahi
Abstract
Persuasive/argumentative essays show how much a writer can implement his/her power to convince the reader in favor of his desired intention. However, many writers might encounter different types of challenges during the task of writing and wonder how to overcome them. The purpose of this study was to ...
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Persuasive/argumentative essays show how much a writer can implement his/her power to convince the reader in favor of his desired intention. However, many writers might encounter different types of challenges during the task of writing and wonder how to overcome them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of concept mapping and brainstorming on the lexical and grammatical accuracy and writing anxiety of Iranian EFL learners’ argumentative essays. In doing so, ninety male and female students ranging from 17 to 35 in Iran National Language Institution (INLI) in Tehran were selected through cluster sampling based on convenience. An essay writing test and the second language writing anxiety inventory (SLWAI) were used both as pre- and post-test. The students were randomly assigned to three equal groups to experience different treatments in a 15-session semester. For data analysis, three separate one-way ANCOVA procedures were used. The results showed that both experimental groups did better than the control group. In lexical accuracy, the two experimental groups had almost the same mean scores, but in grammatical accuracy and writing anxiety, the concept mapping group obtained the highest mean followed by the brainstorming group. The findings of the study can have useful implications for teachers, students, material designers, and language assessors.
