مجید فرحیان

The present study sets to explore whether using peer feedback through Google Docs improves English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ classroom engagement. It also investigated the extent to which peer feedback through Google Docs improves EFL students’ writing achievement. Three groups of EFL students were involved in the study, namely control (N=23), experimental 1(N= 24), and experimental 2 (N=22). The control group received the treatment through the conventional writing course and the teacher read the writing task and provided feedback regarding the content, grammar, vocabulary, or punctuations. In addition to their regular in-class writing instruction, each student in the first experimental group was asked to choose a partner and email their drafts to them and the peers were required to provide feedback. In the second experimental group, the pairs provided the feedback through the Google Docs. One Way ANOVA was run to find any possible differences between the groups. Based on the findings, the second experimental group outperformed the other groups in their classroom engagement and writing achievement. The findings have implications for pedagogy as well as further research.

The present study aimed at investigating English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ level of reflection and the barriers to their reflection. To do so, based on an experimental research method, 98 EFL teachers were recruited and the English language teacher reflection inventory (ELTRI) was distributed among them. To consolidate the findings of the inventory, 20 volunteers from the same pool were interviewed. As the next phase of the study, to investigate the barriers to the teachers’ reflectivity, the same participants were given an open-ended questionnaire to probe their ideas about barriers to reflective practice. Based on the obtained data and the related literature, a Barriers to Reflective Practice Questionnaire (BRPQ) was developed and distributed among the participants. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, one sample t-test, and content analysis were employed. The findings revealed that EFL teachers did not practice reflection at high levels. They considered top-down curriculum, disrespect for teachers’ authority, teachers’ inclination to the conventional teaching practice, lack of appropriate context for reflection, teachers’ workload, and lack of appropriate training courses as the most important factors which bar their reflection. Teacher education programs should raise EFL teachers’ awareness regarding the concept and use of reflective practice.