Mahmood Hashemian; Maryam Farhang-Ju
Abstract
The present study investigated the probable effects of asynchronous direct and metalinguistic computer-mediated corrective feedback (CMCF) on the writing ability (WA) and willingness-to-write (WTW) of upper-intermediate L2 learners. To this aim, a convenient sample of 90 upper-intermediate L2 learners ...
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The present study investigated the probable effects of asynchronous direct and metalinguistic computer-mediated corrective feedback (CMCF) on the writing ability (WA) and willingness-to-write (WTW) of upper-intermediate L2 learners. To this aim, a convenient sample of 90 upper-intermediate L2 learners volunteered to participate in this study. In the next stage, they were assigned into 3 intact groups. Intact experimental groups received asynchronous direct CMCF and metalinguistic CMCF on the different aspects of their writings, whereas the control group did not receive any CMCF. To check the (probable) impact of asynchronous direct and metalinguistic CMCF on the participants’ WA, the researchers assessed the participants’ WA before and after the treatment. Furthermore, participants filled out a previously developed and validated WTW questionnaire before and after the treatment, which measured their WTW. In the last stage, 16 participants of the experimental groups were interviewed to provide an in-depth understanding of factors affecting the participants’ WTW. ANOVA results revealed that the participants’ WA significantly improved due to both asynchronous direct and metalinguistic CMCF, with no significant difference between the efficacies of the CMCF types. Besides, the results indicated that both CMCF types resulted in an improvement in the participants’ WTW. Furthermore, the theme analysis of interview findings suggested that the participants perceived CMCF to be facilitative. The interview results were in agreement with those of the quantitative analyses. The findings of this study may contribute to understating L2 learners’ needs and considering pedagogical decision-making for course developers and instructors.
Anahita Sheikhipour; Mahmood Hashemian; Ali Roohani
Abstract
The flipped teaching has nowadays become a new movement in teaching and is getting pervasive in the educational system. The goal of this study was to explore if there was any significant difference between L2 learners’ oral complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in flipped and traditional classes. ...
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The flipped teaching has nowadays become a new movement in teaching and is getting pervasive in the educational system. The goal of this study was to explore if there was any significant difference between L2 learners’ oral complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in flipped and traditional classes. To do so, both traditional and filpped classes were resorted to in order to see which class matched the students’ needs. Moreover, this study was done to find out if it had any significant effect on the learners’ motivation, self-efficacy, engagement, self-confidence, and autonomy. Via an OPT, 40 homogenous, lower-intermediate students were chosen from a language school in Isfahan, Iran. Then, they were randomly assigned to experimental 1 and 1 control groups. Initially, all the students attended an interview session and their responses were audio-recorded; then, 2 teachers scored their responses to make certain the interviews enjoyed reliability. Afterward, the students took a pretest with 2 questions relevant to their actual life and the grammar they would acquire in the course of the treatment. After taking 4 treatment sessions, the students received a posttest to see how much they had progressed during the 4 treatment sessions. Also, a questionnaire was adapted from another study to figure out the students’ satisfaction regarding this type of teaching. The results revealed that the flipped class increased the students’ motivation, self-efficacy, engagement, self-confidence, and autonomy. However, no significant difference was seen between the learners in the flipped class and those in the traditional class, as far as oral CAF was concerend. Based on the students’ answers to the questionnaire, most were satisfied with the flipped model. To conclude, materials developers and syllabus designers should modify instructional materials and books taught in language schools and add some parts to them in line witth technology to satisfy digital natives.
Mahmood Hashemian; Maryam Farhang-Ju
Volume 4, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 45-33
Abstract
Differences in nonnative speakers’ pragmatic performance may lead to serious communication problems. Although previous research has investigated different types of request strategies employed by English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) learners, little is known whether they use different ...
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Differences in nonnative speakers’ pragmatic performance may lead to serious communication problems. Although previous research has investigated different types of request strategies employed by English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) learners, little is known whether they use different or similar types of request strategies in the faculty context. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate cross-cultural variation in the use of request strategies by EFL/ESL learners to their faculty. To this aim, the request strategies elicited from 38 intermediate Iranian EFL learners in Iran, 24 intermediate ESL learners in England, and 16 British native English-speaking teachers were examined. A discourse completion test (DCT) was used to elicit the EFL/ESL learners’ request strategies to the faculty. Frequency findings suggested preference for the use of conventionally indirect request strategies to their faculty by the participants. Moreover, chi-square results indicated that their first language (L1) had no effect on the choice of request strategies employed by such learners to their faculty. Conclusions are that EFL/ESL learners generally use more negative politeness strategies to mitigate their requests to their faculty.
Mahmood Hashemian; Helena Mostaghasi
Volume 2, Issue 3 , August 2015, , Pages 19-1
Abstract
As far as making errors is an indispensable part of L2 learning process, appropriate and pertinent corrective feedback (CF) is a significant medium for L2 teachers to prevent their learners’ errors from getting fossilized and assist them progress along with their L2 learning process. There are ...
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As far as making errors is an indispensable part of L2 learning process, appropriate and pertinent corrective feedback (CF) is a significant medium for L2 teachers to prevent their learners’ errors from getting fossilized and assist them progress along with their L2 learning process. There are various factors contributing to the efficacy of CF, but proficiency level is of paramount importance. In this study, various oral CF types preferred by L2 learners at intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced levels of proficiency were considered. For this purpose, 20 participants were selected for each level. Different types of oral CF were identified, and their distribution in relation to the proficiency levels of the learners was determined. After conducting chi-square tests and comparing the significance values with respect to their preferred CF types, it is observed that the most significant CF types among the intermediate participants were paralinguistic signals and clarification requests. Moreover, for the upper-intermediate participants, recasts and repetition were the most frequent and significant types of CF that assisted them to reformulate their utterances. Finally, with regard to the advanced participants, the results pointed out that as they became more proficient in terms of their linguistic threshold, they would show no significant positive or negative attitudes towards any certain type of CF for treating their errors. The findings suggest that L2 teachers should adjust CF types and correction techniques to their learners’ proficiency levels and provide proper types of CF that can foster a more productive learning milieu to enhance learning quality and speaking ability.
