1. The Impact of Genre-Based Instruction Treatments on EAP Students’ Writing Quality

Sayyed Mohammad Alavi; Majid Nemati; Sedigheh Karimpour

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 23 October 2019

Abstract

  The last decade has seen an increasing attention given to the notion of genre-based instruction, its application and efficacy in language teaching and learning. Regarding the benefits ...  Read More The last decade has seen an increasing attention given to the notion of genre-based instruction, its application and efficacy in language teaching and learning. Regarding the benefits of genre-based instruction in second language acquisition, there have been ongoing debates in pedagogical treatments associated with genre-based instruction in various educational contexts. The purpose of the current study was to examine how three genre-based instruction treatments affected medical students’ use of key features of the medical case report. A group of 150 subjects were selected from EFL medical students in Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Both male and female students were invited to this study. These students did not previously receive any genre-based instruction before the study. The participants were assigned to the “Experimental Group One”, “Experimental Group Two” and “Control” groups. The scores from the students’ pre -and post -essays were used to find out whether the students improved their writing from the pre- to post- tests. The groups were taught for one academic semester which consisted of 15 weeks. The analysis of pre- and post-essays showed that there was a significant difference in the writing qualities of explicit and implicit genre-based instruction groups. The students in the experimental groups actually outperformed on most genre move categories assessed in the posttests. Researchers and educators could benefit from an experimental study of the development of genre awareness through models with explicit and implicit writing instruction.

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2. Plagiarism and Academic Literacies: The Case of Iranian Graduate Students of Agricultural Sciences

Mahmood Reza Atai; Esmat Babaii; Elahe Fazlollahi

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 10 December 2019

Abstract

  The problem of plagiarism has been a hot issue of concern to the academic community in recent years. In this study, we probed the factors which overtly or covertly lead to plagiarism ...  Read More The problem of plagiarism has been a hot issue of concern to the academic community in recent years. In this study, we probed the factors which overtly or covertly lead to plagiarism growth among graduate students of agricultural sciences in Iran. To this end, we investigated the perceptions of 187 graduate students in the field of agricultural sciences towards: the nature of plagiarism, different forms of plagiarism, and the underlying motives for plagiarism through a questionnaire. Academic literacies model was adopted as a reference point to uncover those injustices in the educational sector deterring the literacy development. The results revealed that most graduate students of agricultural sciences had a rather good understanding to the nature of plagiarism, and considered it as an unacceptable serious problem which should be avoided. Nonetheless, in marked contrast, their perceptions towards different forms of plagiarism unfolded further doubts on their understanding to who should be known as author and who is deserved to be awarded authorship. The results revealed that recursive practice of a long list of violations, seemingly, made the academics blind towards their faulty nature, pushed back the borders of literacy and made them common academic norm. The findings further indicated that plagiarism grows hand in hand with deviation from scientific values and devaluation of science, marketization of science and violations of academic commitments, and politicization of science and alienation from the universal standards. The findings could provide useful implications for revisiting and reforming the educational policies in general and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs in particular.

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3. Effect of Online Strategies-Based Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners’ Speaking Scores: A Case of Affective and Social Strategies Instruction

Samira Abbasi; Azizeh Chalak; Hossein Heidari Tabrizi

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 05 February 2020

Abstract

  Enhancing speaking ability is an important component of the acquirement of a language. The present study focused on improving speaking ability through online strategy-based instruction. ...  Read More Enhancing speaking ability is an important component of the acquirement of a language. The present study focused on improving speaking ability through online strategy-based instruction. The innovation aspect of this study is applying the Moodle course management system as an instructional platform. To this end, a group of 80 Iranian female and male students at the intermediate level participated in the treatment. Participants of the study were divided into four groups of 20. The subjects in experimental groups benefited from two particular instructional focuses of this study include social and affective strategies. In order to assess the effect of the treatment pre and posttests design were utilized. Consequently, the data were analyzed through One-Way ANOVAs and t-tests. The findings revealed that strategy treatment was successful in improving the participants’ speaking ability. However, there was no significant difference between the performance of male and female treatment groups. Therefore, the findings suggest that online strategy-based instruction can positively influence the speaking ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. This study may have pedagogical implications for material practitioners, CALL package designers and distance learning planners to include strategy instruction in English courses. Keywords: Moodle, Online learning, Social and affective strategies, Speaking ability, Strategy instruction

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4. A Mixed-Method Study of Teacher Diary as a Reflective Instrument for the English Language Teacher Development

Mehrshad Ahmadian; Parviz Maftoon; Parviz Birjandi

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 15 February 2020

Abstract

  From the very outset, postmethod pedagogy has shaken the long-held concept of language teaching and has recognized the importance of contextualized language teaching in the field of ...  Read More From the very outset, postmethod pedagogy has shaken the long-held concept of language teaching and has recognized the importance of contextualized language teaching in the field of TESOL. Furthermore, and to respond to contemporary English language teaching requirements, language teacher education programs have also tried to furnish postmethod language teachers with the much-needed development to have their own contextualized praxis. By the same token, the current study aimed to find out whether involving language teachers in writing diaries of self-practice and peer practice and then discussing their findings with circle members in regular gatherings would nurture the required self-growth and self-development in language teachers and help them with (the underlying components of ) reflective teaching. To do so, the present research employed a mixed method design whose quantitative part enjoyed a pre-experimental design consisting of three phases--a pretest, an educational treatment phase, and a posttest – and for its qualitative part the current researchers asked the participating language teachers to keep diaries of both self-practice and peer practice. The results of the study gained through both quantitative and qualitative analyses bore witness to the significant changes in the reflectiveness of language teachers who took part in these collaborative language teachers' diary circles.

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5. Exploring the Impact of Scaffolded Written Corrective Feedback on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Quality: A Sociocultural Theory Study

Ehsan Abbaspour; Mahmood Reza Atai; Parviz Maftoon

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 15 February 2020

Abstract

  The prevalence of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) as a major theory in SLA has spurred a considerable number of studies to investigate the various aspect of L2 acquisition through the lens ...  Read More The prevalence of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) as a major theory in SLA has spurred a considerable number of studies to investigate the various aspect of L2 acquisition through the lens of this theoretical framework. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of Scaffolded Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance in terms of fluency, accuracy, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity. Additionally, the study sought to inquire about the Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward Scaffolded WCF through a series of post-interviews and a questionnaire. For this purpose, 25 students who had enrolled in a university-level writing course were conveniently sampled after a homogeneity test for the study. The pedagogical treatment the participants received throughout the study was Scaffolded WCF (i.e. a ZPD-based teacher/peer corrective feedback on their writing performance). The data obtained from the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest were analyzed using a series of ANOVA and Friedman’s tests. The findings indicated that Scaffolded WCF statistically significantly contributed to the participants’ writing performance regarding grammatical complexity, fluency, accuracy, and lexical complexity. The results obtained from the attitude questionnaire and the post-interviews also revealed that the participants held a positive attitude toward the adopted approach. The findings provide promising implications for the adoption of this approach in large classes typical of Iranian university-level writing courses.

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6. Exploring Iranian Pre-Service English Teachers’ Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Identities and the Role of Mentor Teachers

zohreh Hoominian Sharifabad; Ali Mohammad Fazilatfar; Massood null Yazdanimoghaddam

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 12 April 2020

Abstract

  Globally occurring changes in an ever-shrinking world acknowledge the goal of making effective communication between people with various cultural backgrounds (East, 2012; Jin, 2014; ...  Read More Globally occurring changes in an ever-shrinking world acknowledge the goal of making effective communication between people with various cultural backgrounds (East, 2012; Jin, 2014; Kramsh, 2013; Zheng, 2014) and hence the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in EFL context respectively. This longitudinal study based on mixed method sequential design, and random sampling procedure strived to investigate male and female Iranian pre-service teachers' intercultural communicative competence. It also tried to assess the effect of mentor teachers on pre-service teachers' ICC and to see how and to what extent those perceptions are reflected in their classroom practices. This investigation was done in two academic semesters with participation of 49 pre-service teachers (M= 29, F=20) who were in their last year of their teacher education program in Farhangian university of Esfahan, one of the biggest teacher training centers in Iran. the second group of the participants was four mentor teachers (M=2, F=2).Results revealed that the first group of participants achieved an acceptable level of ICC, with higher mean scores in the attitude dimensions and lower levels in skill and knowledge components respectively. The results also indicated negative correlation between the attitudes and skill components of mentor teachers and pre- service teachers. The results of triangulation indicated an apparent disparity between teachers’ ICC perception and practice.

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7. Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension

Fatemeh Karimi; Azizeh Chalak

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 14 April 2020

Abstract

  Abstract Pre-listening activity has a considerable role in improving listening comprehension. This research examined the effects of bottom-up and top-down pre-listening activities on ...  Read More Abstract Pre-listening activity has a considerable role in improving listening comprehension. This research examined the effects of bottom-up and top-down pre-listening activities on Iranian EFL students’ listening comprehension. It also investigated the potential interaction effects of language proficiency and gender with the treatments. Using the TOEFL (PBT) test, 270 learners were selected and grouped into three proficiency levels of elementary, intermediate, and upper-intermediate. At each level, 90 subjects were randomly distributed to one control (CG) and two experimental groups (EGs), each consisting of 30 learners. After giving the pretest, vocabulary preparation as a bottom-up pre-listening activity and content-related support as a top-down pre-listening activity were given to the two EGs for the treatment, but the learners in the CGs were demanded to listen to the audio tracks and go straight into the listening tasks without any pre-listening activities. The research lasted for six weeks and 12 sessions. At the end of the experiment, the posttest was given to the subjects to measure the effects of the treatments. The results revealed significant differences between the learners’ pretest and posttest performance. The analyses of the data confirmed the positive impact of both types of pre-listening activities on the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners based on their proficiency levels. Further analyses revealed the interaction effects between proficiency levels and treatments. However, there was no interaction effect between the learners’ gender and the treatments. The findings of the study could help practitioners in the field to assign more practical tasks to improve the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners.

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8. The Role of the Cognitive Status of Structures in CLI in Acquisition of English as the Third Language by Persian Bilinguals

Ali Akbar Jabbari; Abdolmajid Nazari; Ali Mohammad Fazilat far

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 01 June 2020

Abstract

  This study aimed at finding the impact of the cognitive status of the structures on the acquisition of third language (L3) English at the initial stages. To measure implicit and explicit ...  Read More This study aimed at finding the impact of the cognitive status of the structures on the acquisition of third language (L3) English at the initial stages. To measure implicit and explicit knowledge, 85 participants were tested regarding placement of adjective phrase (AP) and partitive structure (PS) by using four instruments: a timed and an untimed grammaticality judgment tasks, a metalinguistic knowledge test, and an elicited oral imitation task. The participants included four groups; the first two had Azeri as their L1 and Persian as their L2, but used Azeri and Persian as the language of communication (LOC) respectively, and the third one had Persian as the L1, Azeri as the L2, and Persian as LOC. The control group used Persian as the L1 and English as the L2. While AP in English and Azeri has similar pre-nominal syntax, in Persian, it is post-nominal. Unlike AP, PS which specifies the parts out of a whole (e.g. two of my brothers) patterns similarly in Persian and English, meaning the part-whole pattern, whereas in Azeri the whole precedes the part. The results challenge the previous models (e.g. the L1 Factor, Hermas, 2010; the L2 Status Factor, Bardel & Falk, 2007; the Cumulative Enhancement Model, Flynn et al., 2004; the Typological Proximity Model, Rothman, 2010) and are compatible with the Contact Language of Communication (Fallah, Jabbari, & Fazilatfar, 2016). Considering cross-linguistic influence as an ongoing dynamic phenomenon, this study proposes that at the initial stages of TLA, the cognitive status of structures is the main determining factor in specifying the source of syntactic transfer.

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9. An Evaluation of English Textbook “Prospect 2”: Teachers and Teacher Educators’ Perceptions in the Spotlight

Behrooz Ghoorchaei; Ali Derakhshan; Alemeh Ebrahimi

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 02 June 2020

Abstract

  This study endeavored to evaluate the local English textbook named “Prospect 2” taught in junior high schools in Iran based on a group of Iranian EFL teachers and teacher ...  Read More This study endeavored to evaluate the local English textbook named “Prospect 2” taught in junior high schools in Iran based on a group of Iranian EFL teachers and teacher educators’ perspectives. For this purpose, 10 (6 males and 4 females) teacher educators and 117 (54 males and 63 females) junior high school EFL teachers from Golestan Province, Iran took part in this study. To gather the required data, the modified version of Mukundan’s (2011) questionnaire was utilized as a textbook evaluation checklist to investigate the participants’ perspectives toward suitability, strengths, and shortcomings of the book. The outcomes of this research revealed that the participants of the two groups mainly had positive attitudes toward the book. Further findings of this research did not present any significant difference between teachers and teacher educators’ views toward the book. Finally, some concluding remarks regarding the overall findings of the study were presented. Main implications of the study were that teachers should attempt to incorporate suitable and practical methods for the instruction and promotion of the communicative language teaching approach in the class as an approach on which the book is based and try to cater for the shortcomings of the book through providing supplementary materials and alternative activities for the students.

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10. Developing and Validating an EFL Teacher Imposed Identity Inventory: A Mixed Methods Study

Azra Gholamshahi; Minoo Alemi; Zia Tajeddin

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 02 June 2020

Abstract

  Teacher-others relationship is one of the main features of teacher identity. As an aspect of this relationship, in some educational contexts, teachers experience imposition in their ...  Read More Teacher-others relationship is one of the main features of teacher identity. As an aspect of this relationship, in some educational contexts, teachers experience imposition in their work place. As there is no survey tool to measure imposed identity, the present study developed a questionnaire based on the relevant literature and interviews with 44 EFL teachers, resulting in a 45-item questionnaire which was disseminated among 450 EFL teachers. An exploratory factor analysis of responses of EFL teachers yielded eight factors, namely: (1) Instructional, assessment, and interpersonal expectations imposed by managers and Supervisors, (2) Teacher professional responsibilities expected by stakeholders in the institute and the family, (3) Restrictions imposed on classroom discussion topics, dress code, and new technologies, (4) Suitability of teaching profession as perceived by the family, (5) Teacher responsibilities as expected by learners’ parents, (6) Gender stereotypes imposed by colleagues and the institute, (7) Learners’ and their parents’ instructional expectations, and (8) Observational and gender perceptions imposed by supervisors and managers. This study revealed the multi-dimensional nature of imposition in relation to which elements of identity change and harmonize under the influence of individual, contextual, and socio-cultural forces. The results of the study suggest that this scale is a reliable and valid measure of EFL teacher imposed identity. The findings can help researchers understand in what ways identity may be imposed and how it may change. Supervisors, institute managers, EFL teachers, and stakeholders can find the results of this study beneficial considering the fact that identity shaped and reshaped will certainly lead to a better EFL context for teaching and learning a foreign language.

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11. The types of scaffolding used by EFL Teachers in Isfahan

Somayeh safdari; Momene Ghadiri; Zohreh Kashkouli

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 02 June 2020

Abstract

  Scaffolding helps students improve their skills and handle complex materials (Cloud, Genesee, & Hayaman, 2009). Although a number of studies have been done on scaffolding in Iran, ...  Read More Scaffolding helps students improve their skills and handle complex materials (Cloud, Genesee, & Hayaman, 2009). Although a number of studies have been done on scaffolding in Iran, few studies have identified the types and techniques of scaffolding used in English language classes. Due to the importance of scaffolding in the teaching process, this study aimed to investigate the types of scaffolding used by EFL teachers in Iran. Through availability sampling technique, eight EFL teachers in Isfahan were selected. Accordingly, their classes were all recorded, the discourse of which was transcribed, codified, and analyzed using the framework proposed by Wu (2010). The results of the study revealed that the EFL teachers mostly exploited cognitive, metacognitive, procedural, and context scaffolding. Motivational scaffolding, however, was not used in any of the classes. Moreover, the extent to which scaffolding was used in EFL classes equaled 35.8 %, of which 6.55, 11.71, 17.4, and 0.03 % was devoted to cognitive, metacognitive, procedural, and context scaffolding, respectively. This study puts forward the view that teacher educators and material developers should turn their attention to the development of tasks through which language instructors can take advantage of motivational and contextual scaffolds that actively involve students in learning.

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12. A Probe into Iranian Learners’ Performance on IELTS Academic Writing Task 2: Operationalizing Two Models of Dynamic Assessment versus Static Assessment

Arezoo Daneshvar; mohammad sadegh bagheri; firooz sadighi; Lotfollah Yarmohammadi; Mortaza Yamini

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 24 June 2020

Abstract

  Abstract Dynamic Assessment (DA) has been utilized for language evaluation. This mixed-methods study aimed to examine the potential impact of interactionist and interventionist models, ...  Read More Abstract Dynamic Assessment (DA) has been utilized for language evaluation. This mixed-methods study aimed to examine the potential impact of interactionist and interventionist models, as two significant offshoots of dynamic assessment on IELTS candidates’ performance in academic writing task 2. The study also compared the efficiency of these dynamic models and static assessment in the overall writing development of potential IELTS test-takers’ proficiency in writing task 2 in terms of IELTS writing assessment criteria. An experimental pretest-treatment-posttest design was employed. A qualitative approach was also conducted using field notes as a cross-validation strategy. To this end, 54 (26 males and 28 females) Iranian IELTS candidates aged 19 to 35 were randomly assigned to one control and two experimental groups (n=18). Initially, a pre-test was run to assess all participants’ developing writing skills. Afterward, the experimental groups received treatments based on interactionist and interventionist models, whereas the control group received no dynamic treatment in the form of interactionist and interventionist models and was trained according to the conventional static methods of writing instruction. Finally, a post-test was administered to check the treatments’ efficacy. The quantitative results demonstrated that the interventionist group’s writing performance was significantly better than that of the static group. However, there existed no statistically significant difference between the DA groups’ writing performance. The qualitative findings substantiated the quantitative results indicating the outperformance of dynamic assessment over the static assessment approach in the development of IELTS writing task 2 skills. The research findings have some pedagogical implications for IELTS teachers.

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13. EFL Professors’ vs. Teachers’ Home Culture Attachment

Saba Hasanzadeh; Elaheh Sotoudehnama; seyyedeh Fahimeh Parsaiyan

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 06 July 2020

Abstract

  The purpose of the present study is to determine whether studying or teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) will lead teachers to decrease home cultural values or help them to ...  Read More The purpose of the present study is to determine whether studying or teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) will lead teachers to decrease home cultural values or help them to develop their cultural values in both cultures. This mix-method research was conducted in two different contexts, university and language institute in Gorgan, Iran. To this end, the Home Culture Attachment Scale questionnaire was given to 50 English language professors and 50 institute teachers. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with ten participants from each group. The collected data of quantitative phase and qualitative phase were analyzed using multivariate ANOVA and thematic analysis, respectively. The findings of the quantitative phase showed significant differences between professors and institute teachers in terms of religious, western and cultural attachment. Besides, six themes were identified for the qualitative part including the changes, definition of culture, Iranian attachment, religious attachment, western attachment, and artistic attachment. Consequently, the study illustrates that whoever is dealing with English is in danger of losing his/her home culture and teachers must be aware of this. The results urge English language teachers to pay more attention to this issue because they can have a great impact on students in terms of beliefs and values.

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14. Demotivating Factors in EFL Context: Examining Nature and the Role of Socio-demographic Variables

Ebrahim ُSamani; Raziyeh Bagheripour; Sara Atarzadeh

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 06 July 2020

Abstract

  The concept of demotivation has received the same attention as motivation, especially in the EFL context. However, a review of the literature in Iran’s context indicates a lack ...  Read More The concept of demotivation has received the same attention as motivation, especially in the EFL context. However, a review of the literature in Iran’s context indicates a lack of studies exploring the nature of demotivating factors, that is internal or external, and the role of variables of the structure of schools, fields of study, and proficiency level. The context of the study was the schools of Bam City in Iran. Sampling technique was stratified random sampling, and totally 244 female students of different types of schools that are public, vocational, private schools, and school for the talented responded to a demotivation questionnaire. The analysis of the collected data through the questionnaire using factor analysis indicated that three factors of “learner,” “learning situation,” and “teacher,” were present. According to descriptive statistics, demotivated students considered themselves as the main reason for not progressing in English which emphasized the role of internal factors. In addition, according to one-way analysis of variance, demotivational factors did not differ significantly among different fields of study, however, different school types were significantly different from each other in terms of these factors. Finally, the result of the Pearson correlation test indicated the existence of a significant relationship between demotivational factors and students’ achievement. The findings of this study provide necessary insight to both teachers and their students in their act of teaching and learning languages.

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15. Postgraduate TEFL Students' Performance and Perception on Research Article Writing and their Challenges in Conducting Research

Leila Sajedi; Mahnaz Saeidi; Touran Ahour

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 06 July 2020

Abstract

  Writing publishable research articles is a great concern of academicians, which requires awareness on all its relevant aspects. However, the obstacles are elusive and postgraduate students' ...  Read More Writing publishable research articles is a great concern of academicians, which requires awareness on all its relevant aspects. However, the obstacles are elusive and postgraduate students' challenges are not fully explored. In this mixed methods research and for the purpose of investigating Iranian graduate and postgraduate EFL students’ performance on their research articles in terms of language and compositional conventions, 30 students participated. Their research articles were analyzed using a researcher-made scale. The same conventions were utilized as a questionnaire to investigate participants' perceptions on the essentials of language conventions in research articles to find the relationship between their performance and perceptions. Besides, a focus group interview was conducted among 12 of the participants to investigate challenges they face in conducting research and writing research articles. The results of the content analysis of the research articles indicated a mediocre performance, while the data analysis of the questionnaire indicated a high perception towards essentials of research article writing. This discrepancy was confirmed by the statistical analysis of correlation. The results of the analysis of the multifaceted challenges students have in both conducting research and writing a research article paved the way for pertinent implications to practitioners in terms of curriculum, syllabus, and methodology.

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16. Relative Clause Attachment Ambiguity Resolution in L1-Persian Learners of L2 English: The Effects of Semantic Priming and Proficiency

Mohammad Nabi Karimi; Eskandar Samadi; Esmat Babaii

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 21 July 2020

Abstract

  The present study explored the effect of semantic priming in the resolution of ambiguous sentences containing Relative Clauses (RCs) preceded by a complex Noun Phrase (NP) by L1-Persian ...  Read More The present study explored the effect of semantic priming in the resolution of ambiguous sentences containing Relative Clauses (RCs) preceded by a complex Noun Phrase (NP) by L1-Persian learners of L2 English. The type of semantic relationship examined was the one between the RC and one of the NPs in the complex NP to find out whether semantic manipulation through priming one of the NPs to the RC can affect L2 learners’ attachment preference. The participants were 60 L1-Persian learners of L2 English with different proficiency levels. In a self-paced Paraphrase Decision Task using E-prime software, their reading times and attachment preferences while reading ambiguous sentences were examined. The low-proficiency participants’ off-line (RC attachment preferences) and on-line data (reading times) were compared with off-line and on-line data obtained from high-proficiency participants. The results revealed that in both groups, semantic priming affected participants’ attachment preferences. These findings are consistent with Constraint-based Models of sentence processing, which assume that several sources of information, including semantics, are used in sentence processing. The results also support predictions of the Spreading Activation Model. There were also significant differences between the two groups, low-proficiency participants fully transferred their L1 (Persian) processing strategies to their L2 (English). However, high-proficiency participants processed sentences similarly to native English speakers even though there were still traces of their L1 parsing preferences which is consistent with Shallow Structure Hypothesis.

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17. The Dynamic Assessment of Reading Comprehension: An Exploration of EFL Teacher’s Perception and Practice

Saeed Mohammadi; Esmat Babaii

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 21 July 2020

Abstract

  This study investigates EFL teachers’ perceptions regarding Dynamic Assessment (hereafter DA) prior and subsequent to taking part in workshops and panel discussions. Twenty-five ...  Read More This study investigates EFL teachers’ perceptions regarding Dynamic Assessment (hereafter DA) prior and subsequent to taking part in workshops and panel discussions. Twenty-five EFL teachers participated in a semi-structured interview, 10 of whom were selected through purposive sampling to take part in a five-session workshop, which was held to familiarize them with the principles of DA. Following workshop training sessions, a panel discussion was run for 2 sessions and teachers shared their ideas and discussed their problems in applying DA in their classes regarding reading skill. Their classes were video-taped for further analysis and they were also asked to keep reflective journals regarding their practice. After these treatment sessions, a second semi- structured interview regarding EFL teachers’ perceptions about DA was run. According to the results of the discussion sessions and interviews, using them as the base of work, an observation checklist was created to assess the EFL teachers' classroom practices and see whether they correspond to their attitudes or not. The results of this study showed that EFL teachers found workshop training sessions both informative and practical. They mentioned panel discussion groups as a good platform to discuss their practice- related problems with their colleagues and writing reflective journals as an awareness raising act which help them improve their DA practices. Implications for teachers and teacher training courses are discussed.

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18. Employing Dynamic Assessment and Concept-based Instruction for the Development of English Phrasal verbs in an EFL Classroom

Fatemeh Akbari; Seyed Mohammad Reza Amirian; غلامرضا زارعیان

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 21 July 2020

Abstract

  Established on the basis of Vygotsky's SCT, this study tends to document the EFL students' development of phrasal verbs through two SCT-oriented approaches including concept-based instruction ...  Read More Established on the basis of Vygotsky's SCT, this study tends to document the EFL students' development of phrasal verbs through two SCT-oriented approaches including concept-based instruction (CBI) and dynamic assessment (DA). Moreover, the students' performance in the follow-up stage is explored to see whether they experience a conceptual development in a new context. Participants were 45 pre-intermediate and intermediate high school students who were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group. The study followed a mixed-methods procedure employing both experimental design and qualitative case study. To examine the appropriateness of the instruments and tasks, initially a pilot study was run in a one- to- one tutoring session. Subsequently, all groups were asked to go through the pretest followed by 10 sessions of instruction and posttest. Finally, DA and DA-CBI groups participated in a follow-up stage. ANOVA results on posttest showed the significant influence of integrating DA and CBI as a joint function on EFL students' conceptual development over the traditional control group, F (2, 42) = 14.27, p= .000

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19. Pedagogical Strategies of Positive Psychology Conforming to Neoliberal Ideologies in EFL Context

Seyyed Mohammad Ali Soozandehfar

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 26 September 2020

Abstract

  Neoliberal changes in pedagogy focus on marketization of teaching and learning processes through different innovative interdisciplinary strategies to evoke the collective appeal (Ross, ...  Read More Neoliberal changes in pedagogy focus on marketization of teaching and learning processes through different innovative interdisciplinary strategies to evoke the collective appeal (Ross, 2007). The concurrent emergence of positive psychology as both exploration of interdisciplinary positive emotional experience and as diagnostically neoliberalistic query (Freeman, 2020) and the complicated entanglement of neoliberalism and emotions (Pilkington, 2016) can imply that the integration of positive psychology into the educational context might be correspondent with a sort of neoliberalistic framing of pedagogy. This issue entails an exclusive scrutiny on pedagogical contexts, where such boundaries often coalesced into totally optimistic streams. Accordingly, this qualitative study aimed at exploring EFL teachers' different strategies in line with the tenets of positive psychology while, simultaneously, complying with the premises of neoliberalistic streams. To this end, postulating its design on Reflexive Grounded Theory, this research collected the data via the qualitative procedures such as questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, field notes, and content analyses. Totally 116 participants, i.e., 52 males and 64 females, purposively screened for homogeneity concerns via Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQ), were interviewed afterwards. Besides, diverse online/offline materials and sources pertinent to the objective were gathered for the analysis through the respective procedures of codification, memoing, categorization, thematization, and theoretical sampling. The qualitative analyses of categorization and thematization yielded five major themes as the final results: legitimation, collective empowerment, logical positivism, wisdom of negotiation, and identification approach, delineating those eudaimonic strategies which can trigger a sort of positive psycho-pedagogy susceptible to neoliberalistic intents. Finally, this study implied raising the consciousness of teachers in the EFL context with regard to the subtle interrelationships between positive psychology and neoliberalistic tenets in accordance to pedagogy.

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20. EFL Learners’ Attitudes Toward Flipped Teaching and Its Effect on Their Oral Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency

Anahita Sheikhipour; Mahmood Hashemian; Ali Roohani

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 26 September 2020

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 ...  Read More 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.

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21. Challenges of English Teaching in Engineering Courses

Edita Bekteshi; Melihate Shala; Brikena Xhaferi

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 28 September 2020

Abstract

  The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate English teaching and its impact on students from the engineering faculty in bilingual CLIL (Content and Language Integrated ...  Read More The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate English teaching and its impact on students from the engineering faculty in bilingual CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) application. It was conducted in a public Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Kosovo, at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computing in which data were collected from 180 students. There were 56 students involved in the experimental group, whereas the control groups comprised of 68 students following conventional Technical Drawing with Descriptive Geometry class in native /Albanian language, and 56 students followed conventional English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classes as the second control group. Two teachers, one in engineering field, and one ESP teacher were involved in this study throughout the semester, i.e. fifteen weeks. The study incorporated parallel teaching, the same content in two different languages in the experimental group: Albanian/native language by the engineering practitioner, and English by the ESP teacher. The results of three test terms for all the three groups were analyzed by applying SPSS statistical package, and revealed that the experimental group achieved higher success in learning. The study concluded that if there is no teacher available to offer CLIL to future engineers, then teaching engineering courses with the engineering practitioner can be conducted in parallel fashion with the ESP teacher, who can contribute to positive effect in terms of certain engineering subcategories and English professional vocabulary. As such, this study may be considered as a potential example in offering new professional engineering courses which include bilingual paired teaching, of English and a professional course.

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22. Impacts of Flipped Classroom on Micro/Macro Writing Subskills in Iranian EFL Context

Elham shooli; Fariba Rahimi Esfahani; Mehrdad Sepehri

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 12 October 2020

Abstract

  As a model for a new pedagogical approach, Flipped Instruction has been recently exploited as a worldwide modern technique where the actual classroom activities following assignments ...  Read More As a model for a new pedagogical approach, Flipped Instruction has been recently exploited as a worldwide modern technique where the actual classroom activities following assignments in conventional classroom are reversed in a logical sequence which often seems to integrate or supplement with instructional materials in video or PowerPoint forms. The current research strives to illuminate the effect of flipped classroom (FC) instruction on the achievements in macro/micro EFL writing subskills of Iranian upper intermediate students. For the purpose of this experiment, 78 male and female upper intermediate EFL learners aged 25-38 were selected from three language schools in Ahvaz based on their scores on the Quick Oxford Placement Test, and then equally divided into control and experimental groups. An IELTS argumentative essay was used as the main tool of the study which was considered both as a pretest and a posttest. Used as a pretest, the IETLS argumentative essay was meant to support the fact that both groups were of similar status with regard to the writing proficiency. Besides, the posttest was used to assess any distinguishing features between the two groups due to the treatment. The control group experienced the conventional classroom instruction whilst the experimental group received FC instruction. To address the research questions, a descriptive statistics and two one-way MANOVAs were implemented. The results indicated that the students treated with FC scored statistically higher on the macro-subskills and micro-subskills than the students experienced conventional instruction. The statistical analysis of the quantitative data revealed that FC was an efficient means of developing writing subskills for the Iranian EFL learners. Moreover, results indicated a certain amount of pedagogical implications for teachers, learners, curriculum designers, and administrators.

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23. Students' and Instructors' Views of an Online Graduate Program of TEFL: Contribution of Motivation, Readiness, and Barriers to Satisfaction

Adib Ahmadi Mahjoub; Mahboubeh Taghizadeh

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 26 October 2020

Abstract

  Satisfaction of online students is one of the important issues of online education, and identifying the predictors of satisfaction can improve the effectiveness and success of online ...  Read More Satisfaction of online students is one of the important issues of online education, and identifying the predictors of satisfaction can improve the effectiveness and success of online education. This study thus aimed to investigate online students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the influential factors such as motivation, e-readiness, and barriers for online satisfaction and to determine the contribution of these factors to satisfaction. The participants were 114 online graduate students of TEFL and 5 online instructors at Iran University of Science and Technology. Four questionnaires on learning barriers, motivation, e-readiness, and satisfaction along with 4 open-ended questions were administered in this descriptive study. The results revealed that most of online students were satisfied with the online graduate program of TEFL as online instructors provided students with lesson summary and class material prior to the session, had interaction with students through social networks, and held the online classes after office hours. The results also showed that online students' motivation was mostly instrumental, and some were not completely ready for online education. The results of multiple regression analysis also indicated that the contribution of motivation to satisfaction was higher than that of readiness and barriers. Online instructors need to solve students’ educational problems to make them ready for online instruction and to foster students’ motivation, which are influential in enhancing their satisfaction with online learning programs.

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24. The Effect of Technology-aided Project-based English Learning on Critical Thinking and Problem Solving as Indices of 21st Century Learning

Parisa Arabloo; Fatemeh Hemmati; Afsar Rouhi; Farzaneh Khodabandeh

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 07 November 2020

Abstract

  The present study sought to explore whether the incorporation of the integration of technology and project-based learning into the mainstream English teaching classrooms contributes ...  Read More The present study sought to explore whether the incorporation of the integration of technology and project-based learning into the mainstream English teaching classrooms contributes to the development of critical thinking and problem solving, as two skills essential for 21st century English learning. To accomplish such an objective, 35 Iranian learners of English were assigned to an experimental and a control group in a quasi-experimental study. Along with benefiting from a multi-skill textbook-oriented language instruction, which was the conventional teaching method of the class, the participants in the experimental group dealt with a variety of small- and large-scale technology-aided projects. The control group’s participants, on the other hand, received a multi-skill textbook-oriented language instruction in the absence of any technology-aided projects. The comparative analysis of the control and experimental groups’ performance on the critical thinking and problem solving pre- and post-treatment measures revealed a significant impact for the study treatment in improving the participants’ critical thinking and problem solving in English learning classes.The findings of the current study may be beneficial to those interested in exploring the contribution of technology to the modern educational system. Material developers and syllabus designers could also use the results of the study to augment their instructional packages for technology-assisted project based English learning.

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25. The Mediating Role of Self-Regulation between Student Engagement and Motivation among Iranian EFL Learners: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Yahya Ghelichli; Seyyed Hassan Seyyedrezaei; Ghasem Barani; Omid Mazandarani

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 07 November 2020

Abstract

  The relationship between student engagement and motivation has been shown to be significant. However, the nature of this association still needs to be further known. Self-regulation ...  Read More The relationship between student engagement and motivation has been shown to be significant. However, the nature of this association still needs to be further known. Self-regulation also has a close connection with both student engagement and motivation. The present study thus aimed at investigating this relationship by examining the mediating role of self-regulated language learning between the four dimensions of student engagement and language learning motivation among Iranian EFL learners. As an ancillary objective, the study tried to explore the relationships between dimensions of student engagement and self-regulated language learning. The participants, selected based on convenience sampling, comprised 146 young adult male language learners learning English at the Iran Language Institute (ILI), Gorgan, Iran. The participants were given three questionnaires. In order to analyze the data, structural equation modeling (SEM) was run by using the SmartPLS software, version 2. The results of path analysis indicated that self-regulated language learning failed to mediate between the four dimensions of student engagement and language learning motivation. The findings also showed that there were positive significant relationships between self-regulated language learning and three dimensions of student engagement, i.e., behavioral, cognitive, and agentic. However, the relationship between self-regulated language learning and emotional engagement was not statistically significant.

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26. The Impact of Digital Multimodal Composition on Writing Ability of Iranian EFL Learners with Respect to Their Self-Efficacy

Najmeh Maghsoudi; Mohammad Golshan; Amin Naeimi

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 07 November 2020

Abstract

  Despite the increasing attention of researchers to digital multimodal composition in recent years and the importance of self-efficacy beliefs in the development of writing ability, ...  Read More Despite the increasing attention of researchers to digital multimodal composition in recent years and the importance of self-efficacy beliefs in the development of writing ability, the instruction of writing skill has still remained traditional in Iran. The present mixed-methods study was conducted to examine the joint effect of digital multimodal composition and self-efficacy on the writing ability of Iranian EFL learners. In so doing, two intact groups including 59 sophomore students at a university in southeastern Iran participated in the study. The participants were assigned into two comparison groups of multimodal (n = 30) and monomodal (n = 29) compositions. The multimodal group composed five digital essays while the monomodal group produced five paper-based essays during the semester. Moreover, both groups’ self-efficacy beliefs were assessed through Second Language Writer Self-Efficacy Scale after they finished composing their essays. At the final stage of the research, semi-structured interviews were run to elicit the participants’ perception about digital multimodal composition. The result of two-way MANOVA revealed that the multimodal group outperformed the monomodal group in terms of content, communicative achievement, and organization, but not in language component. Additionally, self-efficacy had a significant impact on the writing ability of both multimodal and monomodal groups regardless of the type of writing they produced. Besides, the thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that highly-efficacious learners had positive perception about multimodal composition. The study concludes with the necessity of reshaping educational practices for English writing instruction in Iran and fostering the learners’ self-efficacy in the composition processes.

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27. Iranian Female EFL Student-teachers’ Conceptions of Their Future Professional Self-Images

Fatemeh sadat Tabatabaei; Mohammad Aliakbari; Reza Khany

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 20 November 2020

Abstract

  Teacher training programs play a vital role in developing student-teachers’ understanding of their professional selves as an effective factor in successful teaching. Though the ...  Read More Teacher training programs play a vital role in developing student-teachers’ understanding of their professional selves as an effective factor in successful teaching. Though the number of studies regarding the effects of teacher education on foreign language teachers’ self-images continues to proliferate, little attention has been paid to Iranian EFL student-teachers, particularly females, in terms of future images of professional selves being developed during their training at Teacher Education University. Using the Possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986), the present qualitative study explores and compares the future professional self-images of EFL student-teachers at Iranian Teacher Education University. Eight female student-teachers in the first, third, and last year of their studies from several female teacher education colleges around the country accepted to participate in the interviews. They were asked to discuss their desired and feared selves, as well as their plans for achieving or avoiding these selves, respectively. In-depth phenomenological interviewing was adopted to collect the data. Before fieldwork experience, student-teachers’ hopes and fears were mostly geared to classroom routines, while by the end, their statements were predominantly theory-based and sophisticated. Most student-teachers made reference to some plans for attaining their desired professional self-images and avoiding feared ones. The study put forward some implications for teacher training and education programs.

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28. Iranian EFL Learners’ Interactional Competence in Paired Speaking Tasks: An Account of Task Type Variability

Manoochehr Jafarigohar; Afsar Rouhi; Shirin Rahimi Kazerooni

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 28 November 2020

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 ...  Read More 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.

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29. Study Quality in Quantitative L2 Research: A Path Analysis on the Perceptions of Iranian Published Authors

Parviz Ajideh; Mohammad Zohrabi; Akbar A. Jahanbakhsh

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 14 December 2020

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, ...  Read More 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 (2020) 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.

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30. Depth and Breadth of Vocabulary Knowledge as Predictors of Narrative, Descriptive and Argumentative Writing

Mohammad Amin Karafkan; Ali-Akbar Ansarin; Yaser Hadidi

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 26 December 2020

Abstract

  Among intriguing areas in vocabulary acquisition research are such variables as breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge, and their predictability in writing performance. In this spirit, ...  Read More Among intriguing areas in vocabulary acquisition research are such variables as breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge, and their predictability in writing performance. In this spirit, this study set out to determine how receptive breadth, productive breadth, and receptive depth of word knowledge, using word families, predict total writing task score and the vocabulary component of EFL learners’ narrative, descriptive, and argumentative writing performance. To this end, by administering Oxford Quick Placement Test to the learners enrolled in an advanced writing course, 70 (49 males, 21 females) EFL upper intermediate learners were selected as the participants of the study. To determine the participants’ receptive depth, and productive and receptive breadth of the word knowledge, the Word Associates Test, the Lex30, and the Vocabulary Size Test were administered to the participants respectively. The participants also undertook descriptive, narrative and argumentative writing tasks. The results of the correlation coefficients and regression analyses of the data specified that: a) receptive vocabulary breadth and depth significantly contributed to both overall writing and vocabulary component of narrative, descriptive and argumentative writing; b) The breadth of productive vocabulary knowledge measured by the Lex30 only correlated with the vocabulary component score as well as the total score of narrative, descriptive, and argumentative writing. The implications include the fact that lexical knowledge aspects can be systematically used in both developing syllabus materials and classroom teaching methodologies.

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