زینب سازگار

The statement stated in a multiple-choice question can be developed regarding two types of sentences: Interruptive (periodic) and cumulative (or loose). This study deals with different kinds of stems in designing multiple-choice (MC) items. To fill the existing gap in the literature, two groups of teacher students passing general English courses at Farhangian University were selected based on Cambridge Placement Test. The design of this study was a comparison group design. To verify the effectiveness of the stems, i.e., interruptive and cumulative stems, two types of tests based on the book entitled Thoughts and Notions 2, which was taught in General English classes, similar in content, but different in their stems, were designed. Each test contained 40 items, 25 vocabulary items, and 15 items of reading comprehension. The first group of students was given the test designed using only interruptive sentences as stems. The second group participated in the test, being prepared using only cumulative sentences as stems. After the data analysis via an independent t-test, it became apparent that the first group outperformed the second. Therefore, it was concluded that interruptive sentences as a stem in multiple-choice tests were more reliable and valid than cumulative ones. One of the study implications is that the interruptive stems can be used to assist policymakers and material designers, and language teachers to be considered for future decision making, and designing materials.

The perceived outbreak of COVID‐19 has forced the closure of schools in Iran. Alternatively, e-learning has emerged as a viable replacement for training students. The present study examined the comparative effects of applying Shaad as online learning versus face-to-face teaching on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ vocabulary learning. To achieve this aim, sixty ninth-grade high school students were randomly selected. The members of the study were assigned to the Shaad and control groups. The instruments were a Cambridge Placement Test (CPT) and a researcher-made test administered as a pre-and post-test. First, the CPT was used, then a pre-test was administered to members of both groups. EFL learners’ vocabulary learning was analyzed at the end of the research; thus, the students in both groups performed the vocabulary post-test. Descriptive statistics and independent samples t-tests were run to determine the effect of Shaad on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. The results revealed that teaching vocabulary through Shaad as online learning did not have a statistically significant effect on EFL students’ vocabulary learning. The results also showed a significant difference between the vocabulary learning of EFL students exposed to face-to-face teaching and those exposed to Shaad; thus, face-to-face learning is more effective. One of the study implications is that policymakers might provide infrastructure for virtual education to contribute to the improvement of EFL learning along with face-to-face education after the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, material designers can remove the deficiencies of the Shaad platform to develop the student’s vocabulary learning as an instructional aids tool.

Whether acknowledged or neglected by educators, the hidden curriculum is present in every institute. Therefore, studying the hidden curriculum is essential to understand how it functions within an English language institute’s setting and among those within it. The purpose of this study was to design and validate a scale to measure language teachers’ perspectives on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) hidden curriculum by the application of the Rasch model. The review of the literature indicated the lack of sufficient research on the investigation of EFL hidden curriculum components in the view of EFL teachers. To fill the existing gap in the literature, a 40-item questionnaire was devised and validated, then 164 Iranian EFL teachers, teaching at different language institutes were asked to reply to the questionnaire. In this study, hidden curriculum components were based on Saylor, Alexander, and Lewis’ (1981) perspectives. Accordingly, items were classified into three different constructs, namely the social atmosphere (including 15 items), the organizational structure of the English Language Institute (consisting of 14 items), and the interaction between teachers and learners (including 11 items). The results showed that the questionnaire items fitted the Rasch model after removing six items from the scale. Moreover, it was confirmed that the scale enjoyed suitable reliability. This proposes that the questionnaire is potentially valid and can be used as a measure of EFL hidden curriculum. One of the study implications is that the questionnaire designed and validated in this study can be used as a research tool in future research to assist policymakers and material designers, institutions’ administrators, and language teachers to be considered for future decision making, and designing materials. It also can be used as a research tool to measure the relationship between EFL hidden curriculum and other variables in future research.

Much of what educators address is the overt curriculum; however, there is a hidden curriculum that affects education in a very profound manner. In view of that, the purpose of the present study is to determine the relationship of EFL teachers’ perspectives on hidden curriculum components in the Iranian institutional context with their students’ self-efficacy and national identity. More specifically, the present study surveyed the probable existence of any significant correlation between EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components, their students’ attitudes towards their own national identity, and self-efficacy. For this purpose, a model was suggested and tested using partial least squares variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), to examine EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components contributing to their students’ national identity and self-efficacy. A total of 164 institutional EFL teachers in Iran completed the EFL hidden curriculum questionnaire. Besides, 987 students (about eighty percent of their learners) were asked to fill in national identity and self-efficacy questionnaires. Based on this model, all the correlations between the latent variables were significant except for three latent variables including the relationships among EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components (social atmosphere, organizational structure, and interaction between teachers and learners) and their learners’ self-efficacy. In addition, the results depicted all the relationships between latent variables was positive relations; while, the relationship between EFL learners’ national identity and self-efficacy was proved to be negative.