آرش سحرخیز عربانی

The present study sought to investigate the differential effect of using native-accent and non-native accent materials on the Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ listening comprehension. To this purpose, 60 primary EFL Iranian learners participated in the study. The participants were randomly divided into a control group (N=30) and an experimental group (N=30). First, a Quick Placement Test which consisted of vocabulary, grammar, and reading items was administered in order to ensure the homogeneity of participants. As the intervention of the study, the control group was provided with the listening materials accompanied by the use of their native-accent audio files, whereas the experimental group was exposed to the same listening tasks and materials which were pronounced by the non-native teacher. The experimental intervention lasted for six forty-minute sessions. To collect the data, the listening component of Pearson Test of English General (PTE General) was used as the pre-test and the post-test to measure listening comprehension of the participants. The results indicated that using non-native accent listening materials was more effective than using native-accent materials in enhancing listening comprehension of the EFL learners. These findings were discussed in the light of English as an International Language (EIL) debate and the theory of inter-language speech intelligibility benefit.

The use of Web 2.0 technology in language education has received much research attention quite recently. In an attempt to shed more light on the use of Google Docs as a kind of Web 2.0 technology in language learning, the purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of online collaborative writing using Google Docs and collaborative writing in a face-to-face classroom on the writing performance and writing self-regulation of EFL learners. A sample of 38 homogeneous intermediate learners was recruited as the participants who were then randomly divided to an experimental group (N= 19) and a control group (N= 19). The participants of the experimental group received online collaborative writing using Google Docs while the control group received collaborative writing in the face-to-face classroom. Two timed-writing tasks and the Second Language Writing Self-regulation (SLWS) scale were administered to gather the data. The results obtained from performing paired-samples t-tests and ANCOVA revealed that collaborative writing both via using Google Docs and in the face-to-face classroom significantly enhanced the writing performance and writing self-regulation of the participants. However, the gains experienced by the experimental group were significantly higher than those experienced by the control group. Pedagogical implications for Google Docs supported collaborative writing are finally discussed.

Due to the significance of teachers’ beliefs and individual variables, a bulk of studies has focused on teacher characteristics over the past two decades. As an attempt to further clarify the interplay between teacher-related constructs in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, the present study set out to explore the structural model hypothesizing the predictive role of teachers’ self-efficacy and collective teacher efficacy in affecting the psychological well-being of teachers in Iranian EFL context. In so doing, a sample of 179 English teachers was given the three self-report scales measuring the variables under investigation. As for the statistical analysis, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the fit of the hypothesized model. The results indicated that teacher self-efficacy accounted for 19.8% of the variance while collective teacher efficacy amounted to 11.3% of the variance in psychological well-being. In addition, it was revealed that although both predictors had a unique effect on psychological well-being, teacher self-efficacy was a stronger predictor of psychological well-being than collective teacher efficacy. The results and implications are finally elaborated.

کیفیت زندگی کاری (QWL) معلمان یک چترواژه است که به میزان رضایت معلم از شغل خود و شرایط کلی کار اشاره دارد که تحت تأثیر سه عامل حمایت سازمانی از جمله مشارکت در تصمیم گیری، انصاف درپاداش و فرصت رشد می باشد (ویلگاس-ریمرز، 2003). مطالعه حاضر رابطه بین حمایت سازمانی درک شده (POS) و QWLرا در بین معلمان دوره متوسطه زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی بررسی کرده است. برای این منظور از روش همبستگی توصیفی استفاده شده است که در آن تعداد 173 معلم شرکت کردند که به روش نمونه گیری خوشه ای چند مرحله ای از بین جمعیتی متشکل از معلمان زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی در مدارس متوسطه ی تهران (N=1826) انتخاب شدند. ابزار گردآوری داده ها شامل پرسشنامه نگرش مبتنی بر مدل POS آلن، آرمسترانگ، رید، و ریمنشنایدر(2008) و همچنین پرسشنامه QWLوالتون (1973) بوده است. برای تجزیه و تحلیل داده ها از روش های همبستگی پیرسون و رگرسیون خطی چندگانه استفاده گردید. رابطه بین POSو QWL0.71 یافت شد. به عبارت دیگر، سه بعد POSمی تواند QWL را 71 درصد تحت تأثیر قرار دهد. به طور خاص، سه بعد مشارکت در تصمیم گیری با 21.4، انصاف درپاداش با 24.7، و فرصت رشد با 64.1 درصد می تواند برای پیش بینی QWL استفاده شود. این یافته ها از آن جهت حائز اهمیت است که نشان می دهد POSبه طور قابل توجهی با QWLمعلمان زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی ارتباط دارد که آن نیز به نوبه خود می تواند بر عملکرد این معلمان در مدارس تأثیر بگذارد.