حسین حیدری تبریزی

Self-efficacy, which is known as the teachers’ self-perception of their competence and abilities in doing specific tasks, has attracted considerable attention in teacher education. It is seen as the teacher’s belief in achieving specific outcomes for students in their teaching practices, but the main sources of EFL teachers’ self-efficacy have not been systematically explored in a single study.  Therefore, this study set out to present a systematic review of the studies on EFL teachers’ self-efficacy. To this aim, a meta-analysis approach was employed to systematically review closely related papers from Elsevier, Google Scholar, and ERIC. The articles examined the sources of self-efficacy in a different context. Through precise screening, 13 papers were found to be eligible enough to be included in this study. Findings revealed that ‘Mastery Experiences’, ‘Vicarious Experiences’, ‘Social Persuasion and Support’,                                 ‘Emotional and Physiological States’, ‘Language Proficiency’, ‘Intelligence’, ‘Teaching skills and experience’, ‘pre-service training courses’, and ‘professional development activities’ are the main sources of self-efficacy. The findings could be theoretically and practically significant to EFL teachers, teacher trainers, and researchers interested in teacher education.

Virtual learning has been defined as any system of education and instruction that brings together participants who are separated by geographical distances or time. Significantly, in a virtual learning environment, interactive telecommunications systems are utilized to connect learners, resources, and instructors. As such, the present study sought to investigate the possible effect of a synchronous virtual learning environment on the reading comprehension of undergraduate EFL university students. To this end, from the population of students majoring in English translation at Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran, one control group, and one experimental group were non-probabilistically selected based on their availability. Indeed, thirty students were chosen for the control group and thirty students were nominated for the experimental group. Live interactive teaching rooms were utilized in the experimental group during the term, whereas asynchronous instructional practices were adopted in the control group within the study. According to the results of paired samples t-test, the experimental group, which was instructed by live interactive teaching rooms over the term, progressed at the end of the period as compared to the beginning of the term. Moreover, the independent samples t-test showed that the students' scores on the post-test in the experimental group were higher than that of the control group. Evidently, the results of the present study may have practical implications for EFL teachers, online instructors, distance education programmers, materials developers, and syllabus designers.

With the rapid development of technology, multimedia comes into English classes and positively improves learners’ language proficiency. The present study attempted to consider the use of animated infographics on the vocabulary gain and retention of Iranian intermediate EFL students. The classes were held online through the Jitsi meet website in the autumn of 2021. To this end, 60 EFL students were selected among 90 students through a homogeneity test. At the beginning of the treatment period, a pretest was administered to both groups, and then, the participants attended 13 sessions. In these sessions, the animated group (AG) was taught through animated infographics, while the control group (CG) was instructed conventionally. The posttest and delayed posttests were administered to test the student’s vocabulary gain and retention. The findings indicated that the AG outperformed the CG significantly in the posttest and delayed posttest. Therefore, the animated infographics proved to be more effective in learning English vocabulary for these students. The results could have implications for teachers because it heightens their understanding of using technologies in general and animated infographics in particular and leads to more effective teaching methodologies.

Attention has been drawn to recent, expanding studies on Second Language (L2) online programs and problems with people with learning difficulties, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This group of learners suffers from feelings of detachment and low self-confidence due to their lack of Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in an online classroom. Thus, the current quasi-experimental study explored the impact of a supplementary intervention targeted at helping learners create, substantiate, and live up to their ideal L2 self-images on multivariate components of ADHD learners' WTC in online English classes. For this purpose, 29 Iranian ADHD learners selected through convenience sampling were divided into two equivalent groups based on their ADHD levels. The groups were then randomly assigned to an experimental (N = 15) and a control condition (N = 14). In the experimental group, the vision ignition intervention was integrated into a 10-week online English course, whereas the control group's learners received no vision-enhancement intervention throughout the course. The learners' WTC was measured through a standard psychometric survey at the outset and conclusion of the course. Multivariable Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted to determine whether a linear combination of the subcomponents resulted in significant differences between groups. Along with an overall significant between-group difference in WTC, the results revealed the intervention's significant impact on WTC's two subcomponents: communicative self-confidence and integrative orientation.

Translation of cultural-specific items (CSIs) has always been a challenge for translators. To overcome this problem, they employ different strategies. The present study focused on the role of CSIs in English translation of the Holy Quran by Irving and how he has used different strategies in rendering them. The design of the study was a descriptive one and the data were collected from the second surah of the Quran (Baqara). The theoretical framework was Venuti’s (1995) domestication and foreignization Model. This study analyzed the differences in the use of these two strategies through descriptive statistics by presenting frequency and percentage of each alternative.  The analysis of the data showed that Irving used domestication as the main technique to render CSIs. The findings of this study could be beneficial for both students of translation and the practitioners in the field to get familiar with the most influential strategies in rendering cultural specific items.

The hidden constructs underlying teachers’ professional identity at a given point of teaching life are presumed to account for their practical qualities. The current study explored the cognitive skills of three groups of Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers with scant, moderate, and considerable teaching experience. To this end, a convenience sample, including 382 Iranian EFL teachers from 660 branches of five countrywide English language institutions, participated in a sequential explanatory mixed-method study. In the quantitative phase, a multivariate approach to comparison was adopted, and the three groups were compared in terms of a linear combination of nine subscales representing teachers’ pedagogical knowledge base. As shown by the results, the between-group differences in four of the nine sub-domains yielded a significant between-group gap in the overall level of teacher cognition. These differentiating knowledge areas included knowledge of learning, teaching, classroom management, and professional self. A qualitative follow-up phase was then launched in which a 95-member sample of the participants attended a retrospective interview to delve deeply into the nature of the four differentiating subdomains. The qualitative results divulged the processes and reasons underlying the four differentiating knowledge areas. The findings may have new insights into the exact nature of Iranian EFL teachers’ intellectual peculiarities at different stages of a teaching career.

Although the EFL teachers' challenges in developing and enhancing Professional Identity Formation (PIF) in face-to-face and virtual instruction contexts have extensively been explored, there were a limited set of practical and advantageous strategies, particularly for the novice teachers, in promoting their PIF in E-teaching especially since the emergence of changed priority of teaching contexts amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Accordingly, this study attempted to check the Iranian novice EFL teachers’ PIF, uncover the potential impacts of utilizing Online Image Management (OIM) strategies in promoting their PIF, and identify the most-preferred OIM strategies. Based on the convenience sampling, 184 male and female Iranian novice EFL teachers were selected to participate in this quasi-experimental study. Two instruments, including a Questionnaire of Perceived Professional Identity (QPPI) and a series of Quantitative Online Interviews (QOIs), were used to collect the data via the virtual platform of Survey Planet. The descriptive statistics and Independent Samples t-Test packages in R were utilized to analyze the data. The results confirmed the low levels of professional identity among Iranian novice EFL teachers, verified the significant effects of OIM strategies in promoting PIF of Iranian novice EFL teachers, and shed light on reflection practices and strategies in enhancing digital literacy as the most-favored OIM strategies in promoting PIF among these teachers. This study may provide implications for EFL teachers and trainers in helping novice EFL teachers to promote their PIF with OIM strategies.

Following an explanatory sequential design, this study explored the possible association between the Professional Identity (PI) of Iranian female EFL university teachers in the Habitual Burnout (HB) phase and their Emotional Quotient (EQ). In the quantitative phase, a Structural Equation Model (SEM) was developed to investigate the promising relationships. In the subsequent qualitative phase, their comments regarding the associations determined were analyzed to evaluate the model and seek remedies to help female EFL university teachers in the HB phase. To collect the required data from 67 conveniently selected Iranian female EFL university teachers in the HB phase, the Burnout Assessment Tool, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and PI Scale for Iranian English Teachers were employed. The results showed a significant causal relationship between the PI and EQ of the participants, and the findings of the interviews confirmed the causal association, providing some suggestions for female EFL university teachers to help them handle their severe burnout levels. The findings may provide implications for university EFL teachers, curriculum designers of TEFL education, and educational psychologists.

The CTML served as the primary source of motivation for this investigation, which explored the effects of Immersive Learning (IL) and Communicative Language Teaching on the Oral Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency (CAF) of Iranian EFL learners with Expressive Language Disorder (ELD). Using a quasi-Solomon four-group design, the participants, who were all Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners with mild to moderate levels of ELD, were separated into experimental and control groups. There were a total of 36 participants in this study. The intervention consisted of virtual reality (VR) authoring eighty speech exercises in the form of learning chunks for twenty sessions lasting seventy minutes each. In the groups that served as controls, the content was presented using a method known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Both the pre-test and the post-test were conducted orally using the CAF test. In terms of oral complexity (syntactic complexity and diversity), oral accuracy (error-free sentences and accurate verb forms), and oral fluency (number of vocally generated syllables), the findings revealed that individuals who received IL fared better than their counterparts in the CLT group. The findings may have important implications for teaching English as a foreign language and for rehabilitative education.

Classroom management is a key component of teachers' professional competent for promoting learning. This study investigated teachers' classroom management strategies in responding to Iranian EFL learners' misbehaviours in terms of teachers' biological factors including age and gender. The participants of the study were 75 (41 females and 34 males) teachers at universities and in language institutes of Fars Province, Iran. The study enjoyed a descriptive design using two sets of instruments encompassing a Five Likert-scale questionnaire and a semi-structured interview for collecting the data. The questionnaire determined teachers' classroom management strategies and the interview collected their opinions regarding classroom management. To analyze the data, one-way ANOVA and an independent sample t-test were run. The findings indicated that teachers' age and gender had significant effects on the types of strategies that they used when they faced misbehaviour. The findings also revealed that male teachers significantly used the strategies such as verbal warning, and female teachers removing the student from the class. The age groups were different in terms of using two strategies namely reward student with free time or activities and lower students' grade. The findings could have implication for curriculum designers, EFL teachers, and policymakers because it could enhance their skills in better management of learners' misbehaviours.