محمدحسن تحریریان

This study applied a critical needs analysis approach to investigate investment (language learning commitment) needs and challenges of EFL upper secondary school learners from different socioeconomic backgrounds and school settings (privileged, middle-privileged, and less-privileged schools). To this end, Darvin and Norton`s (2015) model of investment was used as our analytic framework. The study took advantage of a mixed-methods approach. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire with 53 items and one open-ended question was administered to 759 learners from different school settings in Mashhad. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 24 learners for triangulation. The findings of the questionnaire and interviews revealed that speaking accurately, fluently, and professionally was the main priority for learners` investing in EFL learning. However, privileged, middle-privileged, and less-privileged upper secondary school learners perceived their needs differently regarding investment in English language learning. Although no statistically significant difference was observed between privileged, middle-privileged, and less-privileged school learners in terms of identity, they perceived their needs significantly different in terms of ideology and capital.The findings can bring high school learners` investment needs into focus and help the educational setting improve.

This study intended to explore the perceptions of Iranian high-school English teachers and the perspectives of policymakers on success in teaching English. Data were collected through questionnaires and curriculum documents. To this end, one-hundred-twenty Iranian high-school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers contributed to the research. National Lesson Plan and Fundamental Reform Document of Education (FRDE) were used to explore policymakers’ perspectives on success in teaching English at the high school level. The data were analyzed using both the Constant Comparative Method (Charmaz, 2006) and template coding to realize similarities and differences between the answers. General themes and patterns were recognized and discussed. The results of this study showed that while the teachers tended to improve students’ communication skills, policymakers must also be aware of the fact that change is an all-inclusive phenomenon demanding full cooperation and commitment from a host of policy workers. In conclusion, teachers’ perceptions of success in teaching English and expectations of educational change should be modified in such a way that the teachers see the importance and relevance of educational change to their professional success. In this respect, most Iranian high school EFL teachers are needed to modernize, i.e., to provide them with valuable pre-service and in-service courses with communicative frameworks that they can operate in their classrooms. The findings can be helpful for EFL teachers to reflect on their perceptions and accord them with their practices, use communicative activities that are more constructive in their classrooms.

Following the recent developments in educational technology-integrated learning, interest in the true implementation of flipped and blended classrooms as innovative approaches has become increasingly popular among language education authorities. This research aimed at comparing flipped, blended, and traditional teaching (T-learning) contexts on Iranian EFL learners’ grammar learning. To this end, 60 intermediate EFL students out of 80, based on their performance in an Oxford Placement Test (OPT), were selected and divided into three groups, including two comparative and one control group, 20 in each. At the beginning of the study, the three groups participated in a pretest to assess their initial ability of grammar knowledge. To integrate technology into their instruction, both comparative groups received the same treatment and materials based on the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model. The blended comparative group received instruction in both on-line and T-learning contexts, while the flipped comparative group received instruction in an online context. The control group received instruction in a T-learning context. After the treatment sessions, they participated in a post-test. The findings showed that reading interesting English newspaper articles, both in the blended and flipped classrooms had a statistically significant effect on developing EFL learners' grammar knowledge. The findings of the study may be beneficial for EFL teachers and material developers to reconsider the role of educational technology (Ed Tech) tools to support classroom-based learning.

مطالعات میان-رشته ای اخیرنشان داده است که امید نقش مهمی درپیشرفت تحصیلی وعملکرد شغلی دارد. با توجه به کمبود تحقیق درحوزه بینابینی امید وتدریس زبان دوم یا خارجی، برای اولین بار،این مقاله به ارائه مفهوم سازی طبقه ای امید برای تدریس زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی می پردازد. پس ازتهیه طرح تحقیق اکتشافی به روش ترکیبی، با استفاده ازتکنیکهای مشاهده وانجام مصاحبه عمیق، جمع آوری داده های کیفی بنیاد محورازمدرسان مجرب زبان انگلیسی تا هنگام حصول اشباع نظری داده ها ادامه یافت. 38شاخص مرتبط با هفت طبقه اصلی شناسایی گردید. برای قضاوت درباره اعتبار یافته های کیفی، پرسشنامه 38آیتمی امید طراحی گردید و سپس به صورت پایلوت اجرا شد. درمرحله بعد، به منظورآزمون نمودن تعمیم پذیری یافته های مرحله پایلوت ، پرسشنامه پالایش شده 35 آیتمی امید برنمونه کانونینس ازجمعیت ایران شامل 228مدرس زبان انگلیسی از استانهای تهران،چهارمحال- بختیاری، واصفهان اجرا شد. آنالیزهای آماری داده های مرحله آزمون، 35 شاخص مرتبط با هفت مؤلفه اصلی سازنده ساختار امید را تایید نمود. بنابراین،عوامل اصلی شامل ارتباط بین فردی، مقصد اجتماعی،هدف گذاری،احساس،یقین،منبع، وتلاش موردانتظارتأیید گردیدند. به علاوه ، طراحی ، ساخت، واعتبار سنجی مقیاس سنجش 35 آیتمی امید برای تدریس زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی در محیط ایران انجام شد. همچنین، قدرت توضیحی تمامی شاخص های دخیل در ایجاد امید برای تدریس زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی مورد آزمون قرار گرفتندوبرآوردشدند. یافته های این پژوهش، ساخت برنامه های مداخله گر آموزشی را روشن تر می سازد تا مدرسان زبان انگلیسی به سطوح بالاترامید برای تدریس زبان انگلیسی دست یابند.

Today, learners’ interaction and collaborative task performance have attracted increasing attention from language teachers and researchers. The present study investigated whether collaborative pre-planning, task complexity manipulation, and language proficiency level play a role in learners’ interactions. To this end, 128 EFL learners from two different language proficiency levels carried out three different tasks, whose complexity was manipulated based on Robinson’s task complexity framework. Retrospective semi-structured interviews were conducted which led the researchers to a better understanding of the unobservable underlying processes they underwent in the pre-task planning stage. The learners’ interactions were closely examined, analyzing all their language related episodes quantitatively as well as qualitatively. The results partially supported the Cognition Hypothesis and highlighted that cognitively demanding tasks provide more learning opportunities as learners confront more challenges, compared to undemanding tasks. The results were highly revealing about the process learners undergo in the pre-task planning stage, which can be considered by applied linguists, language teachers and material designers in providing considerable learning opportunities.

The objectives of the present study were threefold: First, it sought to investigate difficulties Iranian EFL high school learners face to understand English idioms. Second, it attempted to explore intermediate EFL learners’ language learning strategy preferences to comprehend idioms. Third, it aimed to examine whether there was a significant difference between successful and less successful students' strategy use in idiom comprehension. To this end, 200 Iranian male and female students of the three grades of different senior high schools in Qom, Iran, were selected through convenience sampling. They responded to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire (Alhaysony, 2017), investigating the challenges of idiom comprehension. Afterwards, they took the Oxford Quick Placement Test. Ninety-eight of them were selected as intermediate learners. Third, they took a multiple-choice test on idiom comprehension, developed by the researcher, and responded to the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (Oxford, 1990). Descriptive statistics, frequencies and means, and a one-sample t-test were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the participants complained that idioms were challenging mainly because they were not taught well in class and were not part of the course syllabi. They also revealed that successful learners in understanding idioms used all six categories of strategies in the high and medium levels. They employed metacognitive strategies the most (M= 3.88), but affective strategies the least (M= 2.84). The results of the t-test suggested significant differences between successful and less successful learners' strategy use. The results provide insights into the challenges and strategies of English idiom comprehension.

This study was an attempt to evaluate the undergraduate TEFL program at Farhangian University. The university specializes in educating prospective teachers and the program is important since it is expected to equip the student teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary for qualified teachers. Hence, in this study, measures were taken to investigate the merits and demerits of the implemented TEFL program and explore the domains in which the program needs to be improved. The study assessed the program from the perspectives of 220 student teachers, 32 teacher educators, and 12 heads of departments and experts including the university deans, deputies, and research and teaching staff, through using three instruments, i.e. questionnaires, interviews, and observations in a mixed methods design .The findings indicated that the TEFL program did not address some educational and administrative needs as the participants believed that they were not enriched with the necessary skills, the practice of the learned theories, problem solving, critical thinking, flexibility, and innovation. Furthermore, this study demonstrated several theory- practice gaps in the curriculum.

Understanding how to structure the “Statement-of-the-Problem” (SP) section of a thesis is necessary for EFL students to develop a logical argumentation for a problem statement. This study intended to compare Move structures of SP sections of theses written by native speakers of Persian (NSPs) and English (NSEs). To this end, 100 SP sections (50 SP sections written by NSEs and 50 written by NSPs) of theses in the field of English language teaching (ELT) were selected and analyzed by the researchers based on Swales' (1990, 2004) CARS models. The analysis of the data revealed that Move structures of SP sections of the two corpora were similar. In both corpora, the three Moves of “Establishing a territory”, “Establishing a niche”, and “Presenting the present work” were considered obligatory. There were some differences in the Steps and many Move pattern variations in the two corpora. The results can broaden the understanding of the nature and function of this genre and can have important implications for EFL instructors.

Research has shown that writing skill of Iranian learners is not at a satisfactory level. One of the ways to develop writing ability is improving strategic behavior of learners. The current study set out to compare writing performances and patterns of using metacognitive strategies in bilinguals and monolinguals as well as senior and freshmen students. A total of 176 English major university students took part in the study (88 bilinguals and 88 monolinguals). Data were collected through three instruments: a background questionnaire, a writing metacognitive strategy questionnaire, and participants’ compositions. A two-way factorial ANOVA was used to analyze the data obtained through the strategy questionnaire. Since the composition data were not parametric two Kruskall-Wallis tests were employed for data analysis. The results revealed that bilinguals used more metacognitive strategies and had higher writing scores than monolinguals. In addition, seniors had better writing performance than freshmen while the difference between them in using strategies was not significant. Based on the results it can be concluded that teaching writing metacognitive strategies may result in better writing performance.

هدف این پژوهش بررسی تاثیر یادگیری تلفیقی و استفاده از نرم افزارهای چند رسانه ای بر توانایی به خاطر سپاری کلمات بوسیله ی دانشجویان انگلیسی برای اهداف خاص می باشد. به همین منظور 120 زبان آموز رشته ی پزشکی به دو گروه آزمایشی و کنترل تقسیم شدند. کلمه ها به کمک نرم افزارهای چند رسانه ای به گروه آزمایشی تدریس شد در حالی که آموزش کلمات برای گروه کنترل با روش های سنتی صورت پذیرفت. جمع آوری اطلاعات بوسیله ی پس آزمون و نظارت بر کلاس ها انجام شد. نتیجه ی بررسی ها نشان دهنده ی اختلاف زیاد بین یادگیری کلمات جدید توسط این دو گروه بوده است. به علاوه، یادگیری از طریق تکنولوژی سبب مشارکت بیشتر زبان آموزان در فعالیت های کلاسی شد. با توجه به نتایج این تحقیق، پیشنهاداتی جهت چگونگی استفاده ی موثرتر از این نرم افزارها در کلاس های زبان انگلیسی برای اهداف خاص در ایران بیان شده است.

Although images are abundant and play significant aesthetic and pedagogical roles in today’s EFL course books, they are still one of the less explored areas of research. The present study is an attempt to examine the role and function of images in Iranian high school EFL course books; it also aims to cast a critical eye over their suitability and efficiency. To this end, Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006) model of visual grammar was adopted. The findings revealed that although the informative and/or illustrative functions of the images make them important resources in Iranian high school EFL course books, their full potential for language learning does not seem to be adequately exploited. This relates to flaws at the representational mode of meaning making, such as outdated portrayal of objects, gender stereotyping, and overdramatizing national identity as well as shortcomings at the interactive mode, such as poor modality due to grayscale printing and plain graphics with no contextualization or pictorial detail. These flaws make the images seem out of today’s world and hardly credible for high school students who are already adept at new technology. Since these shortcomings may sacrifice pedagogical objectives, the study calls for changes in both technical quality and underlying messages of images in the course books.

Being able to communicate effectively is the optimal goal of all language learners; therefore, despite difficulties they face and restrictions they have while expressing themselves, they rely on employing diverse communication strategies (CSs). This descriptive study was set to analyze Iranian EFL learners’ use of CSs in oral and written performances at two levels of proficiency. To this end, 60 university students of EFL were selected and assigned to two distinct groups. The participants’ oral and written performances were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using Dornyei’s (1995) taxonomy of CSs. The results of the study revealed that the context of communication plays a significant role in the use of communication strategies. The use of CSs by participants’ significantly varied by their level of proficiency. The most frequent problem areas were 'lexical gaps', 'problems in discourse management', and 'uncertainty in conveying the message', which can be considered by language teachers and material designers.