فاطمه نعمتی

Concerning the limited capacity of working memory and drawing on Limited Attentional Capacity Model and Cognition Hypothesis, this paper examined the effect of planning time on Iranian EFL writers' performance and reported on the mediating role of educational contexts on the way of the planning process. Forty-one Iranian EFL learners in two contexts (university and institute) were asked to write in an argumentative genre under different planning time conditions (pre-task planning and online planning). The results revealed that the pre-task planning, by reducing the cognitive loads on working memory, helped the learners to have better performance in terms of fluency. However, it did not exert statistically significant differences in the complexity and accuracy of the written productions. Given the context of elicitation, the results indicated a significant effect on the participants' written performance regarding complexity and accuracy. Moreover, a significant interaction effect was found between planning time and context. The findings shed more light on the understanding of the planning process as a main cognitive component of the writing process in second/foreign language learning. Furthermore, the results of the study have pedagogical implications for utilizing the planning process to improve the writing performance of language learners.

Foreign language enjoyment and speaking anxiety in the classroom are two potential emotion-inducing factors for foreign language learning. This sequential mixed methods study investigated whether and to what extent Iranian EFL students experienced foreign language enjoyment and public speaking anxiety in their English classrooms, and how they characterize the sources of the enjoyment and speaking anxiety in such a context. To these ends, 128 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from several English language institutes, selected based on convenience sampling, took part in this research. They completed Dewaele and MacIntyre’s (2014b) Foreign Language Enjoyment and Yaikhong and Usaha’s (2012) Public Speaking Class Anxiety questionnaires, and write down about an episode in which they had experienced enjoyment and speaking anxiety in the EFL classroom. Quantitative and qualitative statistical data analyses were applied to examine foreign language enjoyment and public speaking class anxiety. Descriptive data analysis showed that the learners had a medium-to-high foreign language degree of enjoyment and a low level of public speaking anxiety. Besides, they reported more enjoyment than public speaking anxiety in class. Further qualitative data analysis revealed 12 sub-themes and four main themes of Teacher, Learning, Class Activities, and Class Atmosphere in explaining their enjoyment, as well as eight sub-themes and four main themes of Exam Phobia, Reaction/Feedback, Personal Failure, and Lack of Self-Confidence for speaking anxiety. The findings provide implications for language teachers and policymakers to gain better insights into factors underlying enjoyment and speaking anxiety in the field of foreign language learning.