research paper
Zahra Alimorad; Sasan Nobahar
Abstract
The present mixed-methods conversion-design study applied the engagement framework of the appraisal theory to disclose whether EFL students’ gender and proficiency level have any effect on their use of engagement resources in their expository texts. To this end, through a convenience sampling procedure, ...
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The present mixed-methods conversion-design study applied the engagement framework of the appraisal theory to disclose whether EFL students’ gender and proficiency level have any effect on their use of engagement resources in their expository texts. To this end, through a convenience sampling procedure, 60 expository essays written by both male (N=30) and female (N=30) students of a language institute across three different proficiency levels (basic, intermediate, and advanced) were gathered and analyzed. Results of the chi-square test revealed that although generally, all students preferred to use more heteroglossic statements than monoglossic ones, the distribution of heteroglossic resources was significantly different in the essays of the three levels. Disclaim resources were dominantly used in the essays of all levels; however, more proficient students tended to use more Expand resources to leave room for opposing viewpoints while Attribute and Proclaim resources were considerably neglected in their writings. Additionally, no meaningful association was noted between the students' gender and their use of engagement resources. However, all types of resources were more frequent in male students' essays except for Proclaim. Based on the findings, this study provided insights into the need for incorporating engagement resources in writing instruction in order to help students construct a well-argued text to be able to communicate their viewpoints more efficiently.
research paper
Akram Bagheri; Masood Siyyari; Mojgan Rashtchi
Abstract
The psychological constructs of teachers have become the focus of a growing line of research in numerous studies in both mainstream and second language teacher education over the recent decades. Many studies have addressed the relationship between teacher commitment and other variables; however, its ...
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The psychological constructs of teachers have become the focus of a growing line of research in numerous studies in both mainstream and second language teacher education over the recent decades. Many studies have addressed the relationship between teacher commitment and other variables; however, its interaction with teacher burnout and school climate has not received much attention in EFL contexts. The present study investigated the mediating role of teacher burnout and school climate in predicting teacher commitment among Iranian high school EFL teachers. In doing so, 417 teachers completed three measuring instruments: English Language Teacher Commitment Questionnaire, Revised School Level Environment Questionnaire, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The results of hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that teacher burnout and school climate could predict teachers’ commitment to their profession. Although both variables had a unique effect on teacher commitment, school climate was a stronger predictor of teacher commitment. The results can offer implications for EFL teachers, school principals, educators, and teacher education programs.
research paper
Godson Robert Mtallo; Gerald Kimambo
Abstract
The study aimed to investigate the influence of sociolinguistic factors on the acquisition of English vocabulary in multilingual contexts. It employed a case study design in Dodoma City and Chamwino District Councils in Dodoma Region, Tanzania. Purposive sampling was used to select eight English language ...
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The study aimed to investigate the influence of sociolinguistic factors on the acquisition of English vocabulary in multilingual contexts. It employed a case study design in Dodoma City and Chamwino District Councils in Dodoma Region, Tanzania. Purposive sampling was used to select eight English language teachers; all of whom had at least five years’ teaching experience. Selected teachers participated in semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative data, which underwent analysis through content analysis and Nvivo 12. The findings of the study indicate that sociolinguistic factors, such as the learners' home language, the level at which they started learning English, the education level of their parents, and opportunities to interact with English-speaking children, positively impact the acquisition of English vocabulary. Consideration should be given to the social and cultural backgrounds of learners when elucidating the process of acquiring vocabulary in a second/foreign language within multilingual environments. Based on these findings, teachers and policymakers should consider the sociolinguistic backgrounds of learners when designing language teaching programmes. They should provide support to learners who may have started learning English at a later age to improve English in multilingual contexts.
research paper
Zahra Fakher Ajabshir
Abstract
Recently, the use of machine translation (MT) to support the second language (L2) writing has increased. Since translation quality via MT matures every year, updated studies are required. The present study explored the quality of MT (Google Translate) outputs from Persian to English by comparing them ...
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Recently, the use of machine translation (MT) to support the second language (L2) writing has increased. Since translation quality via MT matures every year, updated studies are required. The present study explored the quality of MT (Google Translate) outputs from Persian to English by comparing them with the texts translated to English by 83 intermediate-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. After the instruction on the narrative genre was delivered to the participants, they watched a pictorial narrative prompt and wrote a narrative text directly in English. In the next session, they received training on MT use, watched another narrative prompt, wrote drafts in Persian, and submitted them to MT for translation. A comparison of the texts written directly in English by the participants and MT products showed that the use of MT was beneficial in measures related to mechanical aspects, lexical sophistication, and some grammatical aspects. Direct L2 writing, on the other hand, rendered better performance in lexical accuracy and some grammatical structures as well as the general understanding of the text. Based on the results, pedagogical implications for the use of MT in L2 educational contexts were presented.
research paper
Maryam Khosravi; Seyyedeh Susan Marandi; Leila Tajik
Abstract
One of the first steps toward improving online English language courses should be exploring and understanding the educational policies that shape them. Accordingly, the present study examined 191 educational guidelines and plans that were issued during the COVID-19 pandemic in a well-known Iranian language ...
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One of the first steps toward improving online English language courses should be exploring and understanding the educational policies that shape them. Accordingly, the present study examined 191 educational guidelines and plans that were issued during the COVID-19 pandemic in a well-known Iranian language institute, in order to identify the main concerns of the institute policymakers, as well as the shortcomings of the online language classes. This was done through applying qualitative content analysis to these documents. The emerging themes revealed that the focus of the institute policymakers was mainly on supporting teachers’ and learners’ technological literacy. On the other hand, some of the guidelines which were issued in response to the teachers’ questions and requests indirectly revealed their concerns, thus highlighting the shortcomings. These revealed that online teacher training can be more efficient by supporting online teachers beyond mere technology literacy support, and with more emphasis on effective technological pedagogical knowledge. Moreover, online teachers could play an influential role in the decision-making, development, and teaching of online courses. Recognizing their key role, providing them with more support as well as more freedom, dignity and respect, can lead to an improvement in teacher soft skills, such as patience and empathy with students in times of crisis. Furthermore, promoting the motivation, job satisfaction, and overall well-being of teachers is expected to similarly promote student engagement and improve their performance.
research paper
Ashraf Sadat Hosseyni; Moussa - Ahmadian; Majid Amerian
Abstract
Teachers as the backbone of education need to commit themselves to expanding their perception, sensitivity, and awareness toward intercultural communicative competence (ICC). By taking full advantages of quantitative and qualitative research methods, this study examines if novice and experienced EFL ...
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Teachers as the backbone of education need to commit themselves to expanding their perception, sensitivity, and awareness toward intercultural communicative competence (ICC). By taking full advantages of quantitative and qualitative research methods, this study examines if novice and experienced EFL teachers’ cognitions differ in ICC teaching. To this end, 153 (male and female) EFL teachers were selected through purposive sampling to take part in the quantitative phase containing a Likert scale questionnaire developed by Yang (2018). Among them, 15 teachers volunteered to participate in the qualitative phase of the study comprising an in-depth interview and 5 teachers volunteered for observation. Statistical and thematic analyses were used for the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. The findings showed that there is no statistically significant difference between experienced and novice Iranian EFL teachers’ cognition of ICC. It was also revealed that both experienced and novice teachers had relatively high perception of ICC which impacted their practices. Possible implications are discussed in the final section.
research paper
Hamid Marashi; Atefeh Moradian
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effect of teaching metacultural competence through two modes of teacher-generated and teacher/learner-generated materials on English-as-a-foreign-language learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, 60 male and female upper-intermediate EFL learners studying ...
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This study aimed to investigate the effect of teaching metacultural competence through two modes of teacher-generated and teacher/learner-generated materials on English-as-a-foreign-language learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, 60 male and female upper-intermediate EFL learners studying at a language school were selected through nonrandom convenience sampling and thence assigned randomly into two experimental groups, with 30 learners in each group. Prior to the treatment, each experimental group sat for a reading pretest. The treatment spanned 13 sessions of 90 minutes each where both experimental groups undergoing metacultural competence-raising activities, with the point of departure being one group receiving teacher-generated materials while the other group receiving teacher/earner-generated materials. At the end of the treatment, a reading posttest was administered to both groups and the analysis of covariance run on the participants’ scores on the pretest and posttest revealed that the experimental group receiving teacher-learner generated materials outperformed the other group. The pedagogical implications of the study and the suggestions made for various stakeholders in the community of English language teaching are discussed in this paper.
Research Paper
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.
