Research in English Language Pedagogy (original) (raw)
Papers by Research in English Language Pedagogy
The role of teacher variables has become a major trend of study in the ELT literature. To this en... more The role of teacher variables has become a major trend of study in the ELT literature. To this end, the focus of this descriptive study was to consider whether there is any significant relationship between novice and experienced EFL teachers’ perfectionism and professional development. In doing so, 60 novice and 60 experienced EFL teachers, aged 20-50, who were graduate and/or undergraduate students of EFL related fields participated in this study. The selection was through nonrandom convenience sampling; that is, the teachers who were willing to participate in the study and were teaching at language schools which were available to the researchers were chosen. The data were collected through two questionnaires: Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), Teaching, and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Once the researchers had both questionnaires filled by the participants, they conducted the relevant descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. The results revealed that both novice and experienced EFL teachers’ perfectionism was a significant predictor of their professional development. The main imply location of this study is that teacher education centers may wish to invest upon promoting teachers’ perfectionism in order to promote their professional development.
The field of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) has recently witnessed a renewed intere... more The field of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) has recently witnessed a renewed interest in pronunciation; nevertheless, this interest has been mostly directed toward pronunciation instruction even though learners’ instructional gains are heavily dependent on their attitudes and motivations. Thus, this study aimed to examine the construct validity of learners’ attitudes and motivations for pronunciation (LAMP) inventory in Iranian EFL academic context and investigate Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes and motivations regarding teaching and learning English pronunciation. Accordingly, the LAMP inventory was administered to 364 Iranian English-major undergraduates. The result of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 8-factor LAMP model fit the Iranian EFL context. In terms of English-major learners’ attitudes, findings revealed that although they had highly positive cognitive and conative attitudes toward pronunciation instruction, they were heavily influenced by negative affective filters acting as a hindrance to their progress. Regarding motivations, English-major learners were mostly influenced by intrinsic and curiosity drives. Nevertheless, contrary to some previous findings, the majority of the respondents showed integrativeness and strove for native-like pronunciation. Therefore, the results imply that syllabus designers and instructors for English-major learners need to place stronger emphasis on pronunciation instruction via challenging, meaning-oriented tasks and computerized methodologies.
Because of the significance of the textbooks in the teaching and learning processes, it is essent... more Because of the significance of the textbooks in the teaching and learning processes, it is essential to revise them permanently. This study investigated the readability level of the 12th- grade English textbooks and also examined if the reading texts used in Action Pack 12 were suitable linguistically for the 12th -grade students. This study adopted the qualitative descriptive design by using the Fry Graph to calculate the readability level. The researchers chose randomly 20 texts out of 36 texts as a sample of the study. The results revealed that 80% out of the 20 texts were under the level of the 12th-grade students in Jordan. Also, the results indicated that 15 % of the texts were invalid and only 5% of the texts were within the 12th-grade students’ level. The findings also indicated that Action Pack 12 was suitable linguistically for 12th-grade students. Several recommendations are put forth.
Islamic Azad university-Isfahan Branch, 2020
The present study investigated EFL learners’ perceptions of classroom ethics, and 60 EFL learners... more The present study investigated EFL learners’ perceptions of classroom ethics, and 60 EFL learners participated in an interview and an ethics questionnaire. The analysis of collected data resulted in 13 categories of classroom ethics, including ‘teacher punctuality’, ‘fairness and discrimination’, ‘respect and politeness’, ‘being humorous and energetic’, ‘discipline’, ‘rapport’, ‘commitment to the profession and colleagues’, ‘appropriate content of discussion’, ‘responsibility’, ‘adaptability’, ‘reliability and trust’, ‘avoidance of misuse’, and ‘dress code’. The findings showed that all the learners recognized ethics as an essential part of the classrooms while their views differed in ranking some ethics. The most and the least valuable ethics for the participants were ‘punctuality’ and “dress code and appearance” in order. The most important ethics perceived by the learners were ‘punctuality’, ‘rapport’, and ‘being humorous and energetic’. The findings illustrated that the learners’ consideration of ethics was focused on the teachers’ manner and morality in the classroom.
The literature review left the researchers with an unanswered query about whether teachers' years... more The literature review left the researchers with an unanswered query about whether teachers' years of teaching experience could act as an index for enhancing the quality of teaching learning output. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to propose a quality enhancement model for the status of private Iranian English institutions. An ex post-factorial design was employed for the study. Thus, 250 male and female EFL teachers filled a previously developed English Language Teaching Quality Indices Survey. The reliability and validity of the survey were checked by Cronbach alpha, 95, EFA and CFA. Then, the researchers calculated the means of ELTQI constructs. The aim was to pinpoint the most prominent components that impact the quality of ELT as "must" to be indices in any educational setting. Besides, the researchers utilized the index with the highest mean as well as the ones which were highly recurrent in the literature and shared relations/predictions with teachers' years of teaching experience. Then, a model was proposed by running CFA, AMOS Software. It included factors like years of teaching experience, 21st century skills, teachers' qualifications and recruitment, teaching activities and methodologies, CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and assessment procedure. The results revealed that all the predictions were supported except for 21st century skills. Also, Teachers’ qualifications and recruitment gained the most importance from the teachers' point of view. As the pedagogical implication, proposing a prospective quality enhancement model can bring about clarity among different stakeholders, teachers, and learners of what is exactly expected of them.
Studies of foreign language anxiety normally focus on either students at college or high schools,... more Studies of foreign language anxiety normally focus on either students at college or high schools, but this investigation concentrated on two junior schools: one consisting of migrant students; the other of urban students. It is intended to compare hypothesized differences between the two types of students concerning language anxiety. The research used the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to measure the level of language anxiety of all the participants. Using the same procedures and standards to collect data from two schools, it investigated whether EFL migrant students experience a higher degree of language anxiety than their urban peers. After looking at the three main components of foreign language anxiety-communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation, it is concluded that foreign language anxiety of migrant students was more significantly experienced by most of the migrant students in question as compared with their peers. The study went a step further to investigate the possible factors leading to language anxiety among migrant students. The data from interviews and the questionnaire conducted on these students showed that lack of continued and coherent instruction, teachers’ unawareness, parents’ inadequate attention, and stress from peers are found to be the major factors. New geographical and social surroundings were additional factors leading to a higher level of language anxiety which aggravates their low self-esteem and poor language performance. The study is of practical significance to language teachers as they might use the findings to guide their daily teaching.
Islamic Azad university, 2020
The actual classroom implementation and the possible final outcomes of the genre-based approach t... more The actual classroom implementation and the possible final outcomes of the genre-based approach to listening instruction have not been completely discovered yet. Therefore, this study investigated the impact(s) of genre-based teaching (GBT) on Iranian EFL learners’ listening proficiency across different proficiency levels. For this aim, 84 EFL learners were chosen. Group A (Experimental and Control Groups) included 40 participants and Group B (Proficient and Less-proficient Groups) consisted of 44 participants. Then the experimental group received the treatment which was teaching listening skill through GBT and the control group received a placebo. In the end, the researcher administered the posttest. Regarding Group A, results of one-way ANCOVA showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group indicating that GBT is a pivotal and fundamental factor for improving listening comprehension. Moreover, in Group B, the findings showed that the proficient group performed outstandingly better than the less-proficient group. The findings may denote implications for EFL listening syllabuses and provide guidelines to designers to accommodate the insights derived from the GBT viewpoint.
Islamic Azad University-Isfahan Branch, 2020
In the present study, the effects of four planning time conditions (pre-task, extended task, free... more In the present study, the effects of four planning time conditions (pre-task, extended task, free writing, and control) were investigated over the quality of expository and argumentative writings of 108 undergraduate EFL writers. The maximum time limit was 30 minutes for all the four groups of the study. The results revealed significantly higher writing quality in the free writing condition in both argumentative and expository writings. The results also showed that compared with the effects of the writing mode those of the planning time conditions were more decisive on the writing quality. Moreover, argumentative writings were of higher quality than expository writings. Being placed in different writing modes was not decisive in the choice of planning time conditions. The results may have pedagogical implications for EFL writing instructors and theoretical implications for EFL writing researchers.
Islamic Azad University, 2020
There has been a growing interest in the implementation of different types of assessment, includi... more There has been a growing interest in the implementation of different types of assessment, including dynamic and diagnostic, in L2 settings recently. Accordingly, this study tried to explore the effectiveness of dynamic and diagnostic assessment on improving EFL learners’ speaking ability. To this end, 82 intermediate-level EFL learners were selected based on their performance on IELTS (2016). The participants were then divided into three groups of dynamic assessment, diagnostic assessment, and control. In the dynamic group, the students received three speaking tests in the form of test-mediation-retest; in the diagnostic group, the participants received the same three speaking tests and feedback on their problems; and the learners in the control group went through the routine of speaking courses by focusing on the same three speaking tests. The speaking pretest and posttest were recorded and scored by two raters as well. To answer the research questions, a repeated-measures two-way ANOVA was run. The results showed an improvement in the three groups’ performance from pretest to posttest. More specifically, the diagnostic and dynamic assessment groups showed a significant improvement, however, the difference in their progress was not significant. Conclusions and pedagogical implications of the study are further explained.
Islamic Azad University , 2020
Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work ... more Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work in universities and quality education cannot be achieved without the supreme efforts of dedicated and committed university teachers. Hence, there is a call for more research concerning the notion of teacher commitment, its dimensions and the factors that influence it. The current study first aimed to set priority among the dimensions of EFL instructors’ professional commitment through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling and then investigate the effect of EFL instructors’ employment status as full time or part time on their professional commitment through two-tailed t-test. A previously validated EFL Teachers’ Professional Commitment Questionnaire was employed to collect data from 420 EFL male and female university instructors. The results exhibited a significant difference between these two variables in total. One of the important implications of this research is that EFL instructors inspire to evaluate their commitment regarding the priority of dimensions and their underlying components meticulously to find out what they should work on more to improve students’ achievements in the EFL learning context of Iran.
Textbooks have a chief standing as an essential element of language teaching; therefore, analyzin... more Textbooks have a chief standing as an essential element of language teaching; therefore, analyzing and evaluating them is imperative to guarantee their efficiency and consistency with the objectives set and expected in language classes. Hence, this study utilizing a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) model, examined Cognitive, Communicative, and Creature potentials of three Iranian recently published junior high school English textbooks, called Prospect Series. The results showed that the intended books aiming at following the CLT approach failed to satisfy communicative, cognitive, and creative potentials sufficiently and some crucial ingredients of CLT, such as strategy instruction, use of authentic materials, and skills integration. Additionally, the over-emphasis on Iranian culture caused sociocultural aspects of CLT to be relatively neglected in this series, and foreign cultures are roughly avoided. Although the development of the Prospects is surely a step forward toward designing high-quality Iranian English textbooks in Iranian schools, progressive modifications on textbooks are always needed to reach their greatest formats. The findings of this study have useful implications for the Iranian stakeholders in the field of teaching English as a foreign language and the authors of the Prospect series in terms of revising and modifying activities to achieve the highest congruency with CLT tenants.
To educate knowledgeable students in translation studies, it is essential to examine the real-wor... more To educate knowledgeable students in translation studies, it is essential to examine the real-world expectations of the students and investigate the teaching methods at universities. The main aim of this study was to examine MA students' expectations of Translation Theories as one of main courses in translation studies MA program in Iranian universities. To do so, MA classes of this very course were selected from different universities in Isfahan and were observed for one semester as the sample of the study. The participants were 107 MA translation students from three different universities in Isfahan, Iran. In order to collect the data, a student course evaluation questionnaire was used and the Chi-square test was run to analyze the data. The results revealed that the students were not satisfied with the course offered. They believed that theories of translation were not applicable because they did not learn how to use theories and how the theories could help them translate a text. In addition, the teaching methods were not satisfactory and did not encourage them for their future expectations. In order to reach its objectives, Translation Theories at the MA program needs revision and there must be a satisfactory coordination between students' expectations, course materials, and teaching methods. The findings of the study can help the curriculum designers to pay more attention to the learners' needs and help them design an applicable and comprehensive course.
IAU-Isfahan Branch, 2020
This research examined the effects of task-based planning on self-repairs as psycholinguistic mec... more This research examined the effects of task-based planning on self-repairs as psycholinguistic mechanisms underlying EFL learners' speech. To this aim, the influence of simultaneous use of strategic and careful online planning on the type and frequency of learners' self-corrections was investigated. Sixty Iranian intermediate learners were asked to orally narrate a picture-based story under four conditions: no planning, strategic planning, careful online planning, and the integration of both strategic and careful online planning. They were subsequently asked to verbalize their thought processes during task performance based on their audio-recorded narrations. In general, the results showed that learners' speech under careful online planning condition involved making more error-repairs and fewer different-information and appropriacy repairs. In addition, the results illustrated that strategic planning resulted in more instances of appropriacy and different-information repairs, and as such, simultaneous use of both types of planning brought about an overall increase in the use of appropriacy, different-information, and error-repairs. The outcomes of this study suggest that engaging the learners in planning can ease task demands; consequently, this task implementation option directs their attention to both form and meaning, hence promoting acquisition.
Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work ... more Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work in universities and quality education cannot be achieved without the supreme efforts of dedicated and committed university teachers. Hence, there is a call for more research concerning the notion of teacher commitment, its dimensions and the factors that influence it. The current study first aimed to set priority among the dimensions of EFL instructors’ professional commitment through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling and then investigate the effect of EFL instructors’ employment status as full time or part time on their professional commitment through two-tailed t-test. A previously validated EFL Teachers’ Professional Commitment Questionnaire was employed to collect data from 420 EFL male and female university instructors. The results exhibited a significant difference between these two variables in total. One of the important implications of this research is that EFL instructors inspire to evaluate their commitment regarding the priority of dimensions and their underlying components meticulously to find out what they should work on more to improve students’ achievements in the EFL learning context of Iran.
According to Montano and Kasprzyk (2008), attitude is determined by the individual's beliefs abou... more According to Montano and Kasprzyk (2008), attitude is determined by the individual's beliefs about outcomes or attributes of performing the behavior (behavioral beliefs), weighted by evaluations of those outcomes or attributes. This study examined Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward the Task-Based Language Assessment (TBLA) and the traditional assessment concerning their General English achievement. One hundred EFL students from Islamic Azad University of Zarghan, Fars Province with the age range of 20-35, participated in this study. The data were gathered using an attitude questionnaire. Frequency Analysis and chi-square were used to show the learners' attitudes towards the task-based assessment in General English ability. Regarding the attitude questionnaire, EFL learners had positive attitudes towards the TBLA utilization in improving their General English achievement and most of the students were satisfied with learning English through the TBLA.
This study examined attitude and motivation in teenage Iranian students learning English as a for... more This study examined attitude and motivation in teenage Iranian students learning English as a foreign language to explore whether they were instrumentally motivated or integratively. The participants were 85 eleventh-grade high school students who were in the 14 -18 age range. Their language competence was investigated through an EFL test measuring vocabulary, grammar, writing and reading comprehension. They were also asked to fill out a two-part attitude/motivation questionnaire. The SPSS, version 25 and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze data. The results proved that the male participants were equally integratively and instrumentally motivated. The female students were more integratively motivated proving the effect of gender on motivation. They had higher interest and a more positive attitude in learning English than male subjects. Better performance of females in language achievement test confirmed the major part of beginning age in learning English. Moreover, experiencing more dynamic and enjoyable teaching styles had an impact on language learning.
Self-regulated learning is among the factors receiving considerable attention in educational psyc... more Self-regulated learning is among the factors receiving considerable attention in educational psychology. Moreover, parents’ education and their academic involvement have found to have their own places in learners’ academic success. Considering the importance of the issue, the present study probed the relationship between parents’ education levels and their academic involvement, with Iranian ESP learners’ selfregulation and language achievement. The participants of this study were 460 Iranian
university learners selected out of 575 students. As the instruments of this study, a
demographic data sheet, Ryan (2005) Parental Involvement Questionnaire, as well as the
modified version of Tseng, Dornyei, and Schmitt’s (2006) self-regulatory scale were used.
In order to analyze the data, Structural Equation Modeling was used through the AMOS program. The results of the proposed model demonstrating parents’ education levels, parents’ academic involvement, as well as learners’self-regulation and language
achievement fit well with the data. The results of SEM showed that parents’ education levels positively and significantly correlated with the learners’self-regulation. Furthermore, the findings of path analysis showed a positive and significant indirect relationship between parents’ education and learners’language achievement. Therefore, it was concluded that parents’ involvement mediated the relationship between parents’ education levels and learners’self-regulation and language achievement
Among alternative assessment options, portfolios have received considerable attention in the fiel... more Among alternative assessment options, portfolios have received considerable
attention in the field of education, but there has been little research exploring students’
perceptions of the portfolio approach or its impact on the learning of writing (Lam, 2013).
Therefore, this study aimed at investigating students’ perceptions about the effect of
portfolio assessment as a process-oriented assessment mechanism on Iranian EFL students’
English writing and its sub-skills of focus, elaboration, organization, conventions, and
vocabulary. Moreover, the study dealt with students’ perceptions about the use of portfolio
assessment in EFL writing. Thirty university students were chosen as the participants.
They received the treatment i.e. portfolio assessment in an essay writing course. Students’
views and reflections about portfolio assessment were elicited via “Portfolio contribution
questionnaire” and individual semi-structured interviews. The results showed that most of
the students perceived improvement in overall writing and the sub-skills of focus,
elaboration, and organization. Furthermore, students had a positive attitude to the
implementation of portfolios. The results have some implications for teaching and
assessment of writing in the EFL context.
This study examined the oral communication strategies (OCS) employed by Iranian intermediate Engl... more This study examined the oral communication strategies (OCS) employed by Iranian intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and the relationship between the use of these strategies and the learners’ self-efficacy beliefs and anxiety level. To this end, 160 participants were selected through convenience sampling. Next, three questionnaires were employed to determine the strategies the participants employ for coping with speaking and listening problems, their anxiety level, and their general self-efficacy. The results indicated that the most and the least frequently used strategies were “accuracy-oriented” and “massage abandonment” strategies when facing speaking problems and “word-oriented” and “fluency-oriented” strategies when confronting speaking problems. In addition, the results showed a significant positive relationship between OCSs and self-efficacy beliefs of the learners and a significant negative relationship between OCSs and their anxiety level. The findings imply that OCSs are helpful in both increasing EFL learners’ self-efficacy beliefs and reducing their anxiety level. Further implications of the results are discussed in the study.
This study intended to explore the linguistic and rhetorical features of written narratives produ... more This study intended to explore the linguistic and rhetorical features of written narratives produced by language learners of different levels of proficiency. A large and comprehensive number of linguistic and rhetorical features were analyzed adopted from Hinkel (2002). Learners from a mixed-age group in a private language institute in Iran took part in this study. Three levels of B1, B2, and C1 learners were assigned into two conditions: Differentiated Instruction (DI, N = 84) that received individualized writing instruction according to each writer's needs and skills and Traditional Instruction (TI, N = 76) that presented the features followed by some exercises. Results revealed that both C1 and B2 learners used more accurate linguistic features, while only C1 learners were successful in employing rhetorical features. In TI, however, C2 learners implemented a restricted number of linguistic and rhetorical features. Significant differences were found between DI and TI groups in each proficiency level. A comparison of the effect sizes, however, indicated that DI was less effective in the case of rhetorical features.
The role of teacher variables has become a major trend of study in the ELT literature. To this en... more The role of teacher variables has become a major trend of study in the ELT literature. To this end, the focus of this descriptive study was to consider whether there is any significant relationship between novice and experienced EFL teachers’ perfectionism and professional development. In doing so, 60 novice and 60 experienced EFL teachers, aged 20-50, who were graduate and/or undergraduate students of EFL related fields participated in this study. The selection was through nonrandom convenience sampling; that is, the teachers who were willing to participate in the study and were teaching at language schools which were available to the researchers were chosen. The data were collected through two questionnaires: Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), Teaching, and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Once the researchers had both questionnaires filled by the participants, they conducted the relevant descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. The results revealed that both novice and experienced EFL teachers’ perfectionism was a significant predictor of their professional development. The main imply location of this study is that teacher education centers may wish to invest upon promoting teachers’ perfectionism in order to promote their professional development.
The field of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) has recently witnessed a renewed intere... more The field of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) has recently witnessed a renewed interest in pronunciation; nevertheless, this interest has been mostly directed toward pronunciation instruction even though learners’ instructional gains are heavily dependent on their attitudes and motivations. Thus, this study aimed to examine the construct validity of learners’ attitudes and motivations for pronunciation (LAMP) inventory in Iranian EFL academic context and investigate Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes and motivations regarding teaching and learning English pronunciation. Accordingly, the LAMP inventory was administered to 364 Iranian English-major undergraduates. The result of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 8-factor LAMP model fit the Iranian EFL context. In terms of English-major learners’ attitudes, findings revealed that although they had highly positive cognitive and conative attitudes toward pronunciation instruction, they were heavily influenced by negative affective filters acting as a hindrance to their progress. Regarding motivations, English-major learners were mostly influenced by intrinsic and curiosity drives. Nevertheless, contrary to some previous findings, the majority of the respondents showed integrativeness and strove for native-like pronunciation. Therefore, the results imply that syllabus designers and instructors for English-major learners need to place stronger emphasis on pronunciation instruction via challenging, meaning-oriented tasks and computerized methodologies.
Because of the significance of the textbooks in the teaching and learning processes, it is essent... more Because of the significance of the textbooks in the teaching and learning processes, it is essential to revise them permanently. This study investigated the readability level of the 12th- grade English textbooks and also examined if the reading texts used in Action Pack 12 were suitable linguistically for the 12th -grade students. This study adopted the qualitative descriptive design by using the Fry Graph to calculate the readability level. The researchers chose randomly 20 texts out of 36 texts as a sample of the study. The results revealed that 80% out of the 20 texts were under the level of the 12th-grade students in Jordan. Also, the results indicated that 15 % of the texts were invalid and only 5% of the texts were within the 12th-grade students’ level. The findings also indicated that Action Pack 12 was suitable linguistically for 12th-grade students. Several recommendations are put forth.
Islamic Azad university-Isfahan Branch, 2020
The present study investigated EFL learners’ perceptions of classroom ethics, and 60 EFL learners... more The present study investigated EFL learners’ perceptions of classroom ethics, and 60 EFL learners participated in an interview and an ethics questionnaire. The analysis of collected data resulted in 13 categories of classroom ethics, including ‘teacher punctuality’, ‘fairness and discrimination’, ‘respect and politeness’, ‘being humorous and energetic’, ‘discipline’, ‘rapport’, ‘commitment to the profession and colleagues’, ‘appropriate content of discussion’, ‘responsibility’, ‘adaptability’, ‘reliability and trust’, ‘avoidance of misuse’, and ‘dress code’. The findings showed that all the learners recognized ethics as an essential part of the classrooms while their views differed in ranking some ethics. The most and the least valuable ethics for the participants were ‘punctuality’ and “dress code and appearance” in order. The most important ethics perceived by the learners were ‘punctuality’, ‘rapport’, and ‘being humorous and energetic’. The findings illustrated that the learners’ consideration of ethics was focused on the teachers’ manner and morality in the classroom.
The literature review left the researchers with an unanswered query about whether teachers' years... more The literature review left the researchers with an unanswered query about whether teachers' years of teaching experience could act as an index for enhancing the quality of teaching learning output. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to propose a quality enhancement model for the status of private Iranian English institutions. An ex post-factorial design was employed for the study. Thus, 250 male and female EFL teachers filled a previously developed English Language Teaching Quality Indices Survey. The reliability and validity of the survey were checked by Cronbach alpha, 95, EFA and CFA. Then, the researchers calculated the means of ELTQI constructs. The aim was to pinpoint the most prominent components that impact the quality of ELT as "must" to be indices in any educational setting. Besides, the researchers utilized the index with the highest mean as well as the ones which were highly recurrent in the literature and shared relations/predictions with teachers' years of teaching experience. Then, a model was proposed by running CFA, AMOS Software. It included factors like years of teaching experience, 21st century skills, teachers' qualifications and recruitment, teaching activities and methodologies, CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and assessment procedure. The results revealed that all the predictions were supported except for 21st century skills. Also, Teachers’ qualifications and recruitment gained the most importance from the teachers' point of view. As the pedagogical implication, proposing a prospective quality enhancement model can bring about clarity among different stakeholders, teachers, and learners of what is exactly expected of them.
Studies of foreign language anxiety normally focus on either students at college or high schools,... more Studies of foreign language anxiety normally focus on either students at college or high schools, but this investigation concentrated on two junior schools: one consisting of migrant students; the other of urban students. It is intended to compare hypothesized differences between the two types of students concerning language anxiety. The research used the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to measure the level of language anxiety of all the participants. Using the same procedures and standards to collect data from two schools, it investigated whether EFL migrant students experience a higher degree of language anxiety than their urban peers. After looking at the three main components of foreign language anxiety-communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation, it is concluded that foreign language anxiety of migrant students was more significantly experienced by most of the migrant students in question as compared with their peers. The study went a step further to investigate the possible factors leading to language anxiety among migrant students. The data from interviews and the questionnaire conducted on these students showed that lack of continued and coherent instruction, teachers’ unawareness, parents’ inadequate attention, and stress from peers are found to be the major factors. New geographical and social surroundings were additional factors leading to a higher level of language anxiety which aggravates their low self-esteem and poor language performance. The study is of practical significance to language teachers as they might use the findings to guide their daily teaching.
Islamic Azad university, 2020
The actual classroom implementation and the possible final outcomes of the genre-based approach t... more The actual classroom implementation and the possible final outcomes of the genre-based approach to listening instruction have not been completely discovered yet. Therefore, this study investigated the impact(s) of genre-based teaching (GBT) on Iranian EFL learners’ listening proficiency across different proficiency levels. For this aim, 84 EFL learners were chosen. Group A (Experimental and Control Groups) included 40 participants and Group B (Proficient and Less-proficient Groups) consisted of 44 participants. Then the experimental group received the treatment which was teaching listening skill through GBT and the control group received a placebo. In the end, the researcher administered the posttest. Regarding Group A, results of one-way ANCOVA showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group indicating that GBT is a pivotal and fundamental factor for improving listening comprehension. Moreover, in Group B, the findings showed that the proficient group performed outstandingly better than the less-proficient group. The findings may denote implications for EFL listening syllabuses and provide guidelines to designers to accommodate the insights derived from the GBT viewpoint.
Islamic Azad University-Isfahan Branch, 2020
In the present study, the effects of four planning time conditions (pre-task, extended task, free... more In the present study, the effects of four planning time conditions (pre-task, extended task, free writing, and control) were investigated over the quality of expository and argumentative writings of 108 undergraduate EFL writers. The maximum time limit was 30 minutes for all the four groups of the study. The results revealed significantly higher writing quality in the free writing condition in both argumentative and expository writings. The results also showed that compared with the effects of the writing mode those of the planning time conditions were more decisive on the writing quality. Moreover, argumentative writings were of higher quality than expository writings. Being placed in different writing modes was not decisive in the choice of planning time conditions. The results may have pedagogical implications for EFL writing instructors and theoretical implications for EFL writing researchers.
Islamic Azad University, 2020
There has been a growing interest in the implementation of different types of assessment, includi... more There has been a growing interest in the implementation of different types of assessment, including dynamic and diagnostic, in L2 settings recently. Accordingly, this study tried to explore the effectiveness of dynamic and diagnostic assessment on improving EFL learners’ speaking ability. To this end, 82 intermediate-level EFL learners were selected based on their performance on IELTS (2016). The participants were then divided into three groups of dynamic assessment, diagnostic assessment, and control. In the dynamic group, the students received three speaking tests in the form of test-mediation-retest; in the diagnostic group, the participants received the same three speaking tests and feedback on their problems; and the learners in the control group went through the routine of speaking courses by focusing on the same three speaking tests. The speaking pretest and posttest were recorded and scored by two raters as well. To answer the research questions, a repeated-measures two-way ANOVA was run. The results showed an improvement in the three groups’ performance from pretest to posttest. More specifically, the diagnostic and dynamic assessment groups showed a significant improvement, however, the difference in their progress was not significant. Conclusions and pedagogical implications of the study are further explained.
Islamic Azad University , 2020
Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work ... more Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work in universities and quality education cannot be achieved without the supreme efforts of dedicated and committed university teachers. Hence, there is a call for more research concerning the notion of teacher commitment, its dimensions and the factors that influence it. The current study first aimed to set priority among the dimensions of EFL instructors’ professional commitment through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling and then investigate the effect of EFL instructors’ employment status as full time or part time on their professional commitment through two-tailed t-test. A previously validated EFL Teachers’ Professional Commitment Questionnaire was employed to collect data from 420 EFL male and female university instructors. The results exhibited a significant difference between these two variables in total. One of the important implications of this research is that EFL instructors inspire to evaluate their commitment regarding the priority of dimensions and their underlying components meticulously to find out what they should work on more to improve students’ achievements in the EFL learning context of Iran.
Textbooks have a chief standing as an essential element of language teaching; therefore, analyzin... more Textbooks have a chief standing as an essential element of language teaching; therefore, analyzing and evaluating them is imperative to guarantee their efficiency and consistency with the objectives set and expected in language classes. Hence, this study utilizing a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) model, examined Cognitive, Communicative, and Creature potentials of three Iranian recently published junior high school English textbooks, called Prospect Series. The results showed that the intended books aiming at following the CLT approach failed to satisfy communicative, cognitive, and creative potentials sufficiently and some crucial ingredients of CLT, such as strategy instruction, use of authentic materials, and skills integration. Additionally, the over-emphasis on Iranian culture caused sociocultural aspects of CLT to be relatively neglected in this series, and foreign cultures are roughly avoided. Although the development of the Prospects is surely a step forward toward designing high-quality Iranian English textbooks in Iranian schools, progressive modifications on textbooks are always needed to reach their greatest formats. The findings of this study have useful implications for the Iranian stakeholders in the field of teaching English as a foreign language and the authors of the Prospect series in terms of revising and modifying activities to achieve the highest congruency with CLT tenants.
To educate knowledgeable students in translation studies, it is essential to examine the real-wor... more To educate knowledgeable students in translation studies, it is essential to examine the real-world expectations of the students and investigate the teaching methods at universities. The main aim of this study was to examine MA students' expectations of Translation Theories as one of main courses in translation studies MA program in Iranian universities. To do so, MA classes of this very course were selected from different universities in Isfahan and were observed for one semester as the sample of the study. The participants were 107 MA translation students from three different universities in Isfahan, Iran. In order to collect the data, a student course evaluation questionnaire was used and the Chi-square test was run to analyze the data. The results revealed that the students were not satisfied with the course offered. They believed that theories of translation were not applicable because they did not learn how to use theories and how the theories could help them translate a text. In addition, the teaching methods were not satisfactory and did not encourage them for their future expectations. In order to reach its objectives, Translation Theories at the MA program needs revision and there must be a satisfactory coordination between students' expectations, course materials, and teaching methods. The findings of the study can help the curriculum designers to pay more attention to the learners' needs and help them design an applicable and comprehensive course.
IAU-Isfahan Branch, 2020
This research examined the effects of task-based planning on self-repairs as psycholinguistic mec... more This research examined the effects of task-based planning on self-repairs as psycholinguistic mechanisms underlying EFL learners' speech. To this aim, the influence of simultaneous use of strategic and careful online planning on the type and frequency of learners' self-corrections was investigated. Sixty Iranian intermediate learners were asked to orally narrate a picture-based story under four conditions: no planning, strategic planning, careful online planning, and the integration of both strategic and careful online planning. They were subsequently asked to verbalize their thought processes during task performance based on their audio-recorded narrations. In general, the results showed that learners' speech under careful online planning condition involved making more error-repairs and fewer different-information and appropriacy repairs. In addition, the results illustrated that strategic planning resulted in more instances of appropriacy and different-information repairs, and as such, simultaneous use of both types of planning brought about an overall increase in the use of appropriacy, different-information, and error-repairs. The outcomes of this study suggest that engaging the learners in planning can ease task demands; consequently, this task implementation option directs their attention to both form and meaning, hence promoting acquisition.
Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work ... more Instructors play an important role in educating the future members of society through their work in universities and quality education cannot be achieved without the supreme efforts of dedicated and committed university teachers. Hence, there is a call for more research concerning the notion of teacher commitment, its dimensions and the factors that influence it. The current study first aimed to set priority among the dimensions of EFL instructors’ professional commitment through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling and then investigate the effect of EFL instructors’ employment status as full time or part time on their professional commitment through two-tailed t-test. A previously validated EFL Teachers’ Professional Commitment Questionnaire was employed to collect data from 420 EFL male and female university instructors. The results exhibited a significant difference between these two variables in total. One of the important implications of this research is that EFL instructors inspire to evaluate their commitment regarding the priority of dimensions and their underlying components meticulously to find out what they should work on more to improve students’ achievements in the EFL learning context of Iran.
According to Montano and Kasprzyk (2008), attitude is determined by the individual's beliefs abou... more According to Montano and Kasprzyk (2008), attitude is determined by the individual's beliefs about outcomes or attributes of performing the behavior (behavioral beliefs), weighted by evaluations of those outcomes or attributes. This study examined Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward the Task-Based Language Assessment (TBLA) and the traditional assessment concerning their General English achievement. One hundred EFL students from Islamic Azad University of Zarghan, Fars Province with the age range of 20-35, participated in this study. The data were gathered using an attitude questionnaire. Frequency Analysis and chi-square were used to show the learners' attitudes towards the task-based assessment in General English ability. Regarding the attitude questionnaire, EFL learners had positive attitudes towards the TBLA utilization in improving their General English achievement and most of the students were satisfied with learning English through the TBLA.
This study examined attitude and motivation in teenage Iranian students learning English as a for... more This study examined attitude and motivation in teenage Iranian students learning English as a foreign language to explore whether they were instrumentally motivated or integratively. The participants were 85 eleventh-grade high school students who were in the 14 -18 age range. Their language competence was investigated through an EFL test measuring vocabulary, grammar, writing and reading comprehension. They were also asked to fill out a two-part attitude/motivation questionnaire. The SPSS, version 25 and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze data. The results proved that the male participants were equally integratively and instrumentally motivated. The female students were more integratively motivated proving the effect of gender on motivation. They had higher interest and a more positive attitude in learning English than male subjects. Better performance of females in language achievement test confirmed the major part of beginning age in learning English. Moreover, experiencing more dynamic and enjoyable teaching styles had an impact on language learning.
Self-regulated learning is among the factors receiving considerable attention in educational psyc... more Self-regulated learning is among the factors receiving considerable attention in educational psychology. Moreover, parents’ education and their academic involvement have found to have their own places in learners’ academic success. Considering the importance of the issue, the present study probed the relationship between parents’ education levels and their academic involvement, with Iranian ESP learners’ selfregulation and language achievement. The participants of this study were 460 Iranian
university learners selected out of 575 students. As the instruments of this study, a
demographic data sheet, Ryan (2005) Parental Involvement Questionnaire, as well as the
modified version of Tseng, Dornyei, and Schmitt’s (2006) self-regulatory scale were used.
In order to analyze the data, Structural Equation Modeling was used through the AMOS program. The results of the proposed model demonstrating parents’ education levels, parents’ academic involvement, as well as learners’self-regulation and language
achievement fit well with the data. The results of SEM showed that parents’ education levels positively and significantly correlated with the learners’self-regulation. Furthermore, the findings of path analysis showed a positive and significant indirect relationship between parents’ education and learners’language achievement. Therefore, it was concluded that parents’ involvement mediated the relationship between parents’ education levels and learners’self-regulation and language achievement
Among alternative assessment options, portfolios have received considerable attention in the fiel... more Among alternative assessment options, portfolios have received considerable
attention in the field of education, but there has been little research exploring students’
perceptions of the portfolio approach or its impact on the learning of writing (Lam, 2013).
Therefore, this study aimed at investigating students’ perceptions about the effect of
portfolio assessment as a process-oriented assessment mechanism on Iranian EFL students’
English writing and its sub-skills of focus, elaboration, organization, conventions, and
vocabulary. Moreover, the study dealt with students’ perceptions about the use of portfolio
assessment in EFL writing. Thirty university students were chosen as the participants.
They received the treatment i.e. portfolio assessment in an essay writing course. Students’
views and reflections about portfolio assessment were elicited via “Portfolio contribution
questionnaire” and individual semi-structured interviews. The results showed that most of
the students perceived improvement in overall writing and the sub-skills of focus,
elaboration, and organization. Furthermore, students had a positive attitude to the
implementation of portfolios. The results have some implications for teaching and
assessment of writing in the EFL context.
This study examined the oral communication strategies (OCS) employed by Iranian intermediate Engl... more This study examined the oral communication strategies (OCS) employed by Iranian intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and the relationship between the use of these strategies and the learners’ self-efficacy beliefs and anxiety level. To this end, 160 participants were selected through convenience sampling. Next, three questionnaires were employed to determine the strategies the participants employ for coping with speaking and listening problems, their anxiety level, and their general self-efficacy. The results indicated that the most and the least frequently used strategies were “accuracy-oriented” and “massage abandonment” strategies when facing speaking problems and “word-oriented” and “fluency-oriented” strategies when confronting speaking problems. In addition, the results showed a significant positive relationship between OCSs and self-efficacy beliefs of the learners and a significant negative relationship between OCSs and their anxiety level. The findings imply that OCSs are helpful in both increasing EFL learners’ self-efficacy beliefs and reducing their anxiety level. Further implications of the results are discussed in the study.
This study intended to explore the linguistic and rhetorical features of written narratives produ... more This study intended to explore the linguistic and rhetorical features of written narratives produced by language learners of different levels of proficiency. A large and comprehensive number of linguistic and rhetorical features were analyzed adopted from Hinkel (2002). Learners from a mixed-age group in a private language institute in Iran took part in this study. Three levels of B1, B2, and C1 learners were assigned into two conditions: Differentiated Instruction (DI, N = 84) that received individualized writing instruction according to each writer's needs and skills and Traditional Instruction (TI, N = 76) that presented the features followed by some exercises. Results revealed that both C1 and B2 learners used more accurate linguistic features, while only C1 learners were successful in employing rhetorical features. In TI, however, C2 learners implemented a restricted number of linguistic and rhetorical features. Significant differences were found between DI and TI groups in each proficiency level. A comparison of the effect sizes, however, indicated that DI was less effective in the case of rhetorical features.