محمدرضا طالبی نژاد

This study investigated the effects of dialogic tasks on Iranian English as Foreign Language learners' language learning anxiety considering the moderating effects of the learners’ gender and levels of proficiency as well. A total number of 213 male and female Iranian EFL learners within the age range of 15-19 were selected through convenience sampling from three language schools in Fars, Iran. Learners at two levels of proficiency (upper vs. lower intermediate), were chosen and assigned to experimental and control groups. Then, an adapted translated version of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) was run as a pretest and posttest to measure the learners’ anxiety. The treatment was dialogic tasks operationalized through sequencing picture stories. The results revealed that dialogic tasks exerted a significant effect on reducing Iranian EFL learners' anxiety. Moreover, it was discovered that upper-intermediate learners experienced lower levels of anxiety than their lower-intermediate counterparts. Finally, it was found that female learners in this study suffered from more anxiety levels than male learners. Although integrating dialogic tasks into classroom activities has proved to be beneficial as learners could experience sufficient opportunities for speaking, this task could not assist learners of different levels of proficiency and gender in the same way. These findings will provide practical implications for language teachers and learners.

This study embarked on investigating the effectiveness of teaching ESP vocabulary via flipped classroom on improving Iranian students’ vocabulary learning. In addition, the attitudes of ESP learners towards the use of flipped classroom were investigated. In this study, a quantitative procedure was followed to collect and analyze data . In so doing, 60 ESP participants studying English in Payame Noor University were selected non-randomly based on their performance on Oxford quick placement test. All the participants were divided into two equal groups consisting of 30 participants and a pretest was administered. The participants of the experimental group received instruction through flipped classroom. The control group received vocabulary instruction through the conventional method that was popular in the university. A posttest was given to the participants of both groups in order to check the students’ vocabulary learning. To investigate the students’ attitudes towards using flipped classroom, a 10-item questionnaire was distributed among the participants after the treatment phase of the study. The results of one-way MANOVA showed that implementing flipped classrooms has significant effects on Iranian students' vocabulary learning in ESP courses. Furthermore, the participants of the experimental group acknowledged that implementing flipped classrooms has positive effect on their attitude in ESP courses. The findings regarding the effectiveness of flipped classroom and its prospected implications in developing vocabulary learning can pave the way for better communication in an ESP context and community.

Forty general English teachers at the university level attended three supervisory sessions. The qualitative data were collected through a triangulation of various techniques, including: pre/post-supervision semi-structured interviews, classroom observation checklists, reflective journals, field notes, and transcriptions of audio-recorded data from supervisory meetings. Thematic analysis was used to identify recurring themes at each layer of the onion model. The Chi-square analysis revealed a significant difference between teachers’ attitudes and strategies before and after the supervisory meetings. The results demonstrated that teachers experienced a process of growth with a developmental trajectory from the outer layers to the inner layers of the onion model fostering the core qualities of self-confidence, self-efficacy, self-awareness, and autonomy. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that the supervisor played a significant role in teachers’ development by using supervisory strategies such as: empathetic listening and accepting the problems, empowerment by activating core qualities, giving attention to inner obstacles, giving balanced attention to cognition, emotion, and motivation, and help to get autonomy in core reflection. The findings support making deliberate efforts to establish regular supervisory practicum meetings as part of academic professional culture, and the core reflection approach as a valuable strategy.

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of metacognitive strategy instruction intervention on reducing language listening anxiety of Iranian EFL learners in the light of 2 listening metacognitive strategy instruction models of Integrated Experiential Learning Task (IELT) (Goh, 2010) and Metacognitive pedagogical Sequence (MPS) (Vandergrift, 2004). Participants were 63 B1 level learners who were chosen through random sampling and were randomly assigned to 2 experimental and 2 control groups. Before and after the intervention, Kim’s (2000) Foreign Language Listening Anxiety scale (FLLAS) and the listening section of Preliminary English Test (PET) were administered to all groups as pre and post tests. All four groups were taught by the same researcher and the listening comprehension material was constant over the groups. The first experimental group received IELT intervention, the second experimental group received MPS intervention, and both control groups received traditional product-based listening comprehension instruction while the active control group also received explicit instruction of the metacognitive strategies. ANCOVA results proved that although both IELT and MPS were effective in lowering anxiety level, the performance of MPS was of a large effect size, and it was a better model to lower learners’ anxiety. Both models significantly improved learners’ listening comprehension.

The present paper aimed at highlighting the judicious incorporation of literary genres (i.e. novel, short story/fiction, drama, and poetry) as a supposedly inspiring teaching technique and an allegedly potent learning resource into ESL/EFL curricula. The rationale behind this pedagogical inclusion is to promote both teaching and learning effectiveness through capitalizing intensively on the genres so as to teach basic language skills and language areas- macro and micro levels. Much mention was made of the 'why' (i.e. justification and benefits), the 'how' (i.e. logistical considerations), the 'where' and the 'when' (i.e. spatiotemporal factors) aspects of introducing literary texts into the confines of the ESL/EFL classroom. What this vigorous discussion spawned was some detailed accounts of literary competence as an overarching term consisting of morphological, lexical, phonological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, discourse, stylistic, and sociolinguistic / sociocultural knowledge bases . Afterwards, evaluation process as the last but most important element of the teaching-learning process was explicated. In the end, seven solutions to the problems and dangers of using culture transmitters in the ESL/EFL classroom were suggested in an attempt to bring literature and ESL/EFL pedagogy into a happy contact leading to teaching and learning effectiveness maximization.

The present study investigates the effect of different exposure densities on third grade Iranian junior high school (IJHS) students’ EFL development and retention. It also attempts to explore whether there is any differential performance due to type of post-exposure assessment tasks (recognition vs. written production). Performances of five groups of learners receiving equal amount of exposure to EFL knowledge with different densities over different time spans were compared on both recognition and written production tasks. The results of the repeated measures analysis of variance and paired sample tests reveal that there seems to be a threshold exposure density for development of structure production, as well as for the retention of total EFL and vocabulary production. Analyses of variance for the five groups were performed on the raw scores obtained for a pre-test and two post-tests. The results further reveal significant differences for acquisition and retention of the target EFL knowledge among different groups. The results also suggest different optimal exposure densities for the target EFL knowledge development and retention.