درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The pluricentricity of English language has led to the appearance of new trends in English language education. This is especially important in Expanding Circle (EC) countries to develop intercultural communication among learners. The current study attempted to investigate the views of Iranian Englishteachers towards the relevancy of English as an international language (EIL) to their practice of English language teaching and the influence of teacher education on shaping their attitudes. To this end, a mixed method sequential research design was used to collect data, sing a questionnaire delivered to115 EC teachers who, at the time, were taking an online teacher education workshop held in a Language Institute in Tehran regarding EIL and varieties of English. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 34 teachers who had expressed their agreement to be interviewed. The analysis of the data showed that although the EC teachers had mostly expressed positive perceptions about EIL and varieties of English, their perceptions misaligned with their practices in ELT classes. The mismatch between teachers’ conception of EIL and its relevance to their context of teaching seemed to have undermined their self-confidence in applying this concept to practice. They seemed to have taken it for granted that American English is the sole variety to be practiced in Iran, as it is considered the most desirable target language variety. Implications of the results for educators and policy-makers on bridging the gap between theory and practice in ELT classes are presented.

This study represents the inaugural attempt at assessing the authenticity of the tasks encompassed in the IELTS Speaking Module. The evaluation is conducted from the vantage points of applied linguistics and general education, and serves to enhance comprehension of authenticity and authentic assessment. In order to achieve this objective, an analysis was conducted on the Speaking Module tasks using Bachman and Palmer's (1996; 2010) model of test usefulness from the discipline of applied linguistics, as well as Herrington and Herrington's (1998; 2006) inventory of the fundamental attributes of genuine assessment from the realm of general education. The results of both task analyses revealed low indices of authenticity of the tasks. The high degree of the convergence of the results from the analyses could open new horizons to experts in applied linguistics to exchange ideas about authentic language assessment with those in general education. Furthermore, such characteristics as problem-solving skills, higher-order thinking skills, integrated assessment, and multiple indicators of learning, are not included in Bachman and Palmer’s framework.

Written corrective feedback (WCF) becomes an essential part of students writing development. The efficacy of WCF for EFL learners has been the subject of numerous studies. However, the studies neglected the idea of the feedback literacy. Thus, this study aimed to investigate how two English teachers provide WCF, what students expect from their teachers, and whether or not both students and teachers share common grounds seen from the feedback literacy framework. Thus, thirty EFL students and two teachers from EFL writing classes of one Indonesian Islamic university participated in this study. The data related to students' expectations of WCF and teachers' practices were gathered through open ended questionnaire, interview, and observations. Positive attitudes toward WCF were shared by students and teachers. It was discovered that students place a higher value on direct feedback rather than indirect feedback. Students perceived their learning motivation is best preserved through a positive tone of feedback, such as interaction with teachers and teachers' compliments on their strength instead comments on deficiencies. The study indicated that there was a gap between students’ expectation and teacher practices about the type and relevance of feedback. Students perceived indirect feedback as less helpful in addressing their specific writing issues. While teachers have demonstrated feedback literacy in their practices, students' readiness and ability to fully engage in feedback literacy may vary depending on their proficiency levels and developmental stages. To bridge this gap, both students and teachers need to have good literacy in feedback. The findings highlight the potential significance of further exploring the impact of cultural factors in driving WCF decisions.

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of learner autonomy; however, the roles of teachers and language materials in fostering in have not received due attention. This mixed methods study investigated the association between what Iranian teachers perceived of LA and what they thought about the role of textbooks in fostering EFL learners’ LA, and to what extent they believed the principles of LA in their classrooms. The participating teachers were 200 male and female teachers that taught Iranian tenth-grade EFL textbook in senior high schools of Qom, Arak, and Karaj. The first instrument was a questionnaire developed by Borg and Al-Busaidi (2012), which primarily focused on the teachers’ perspectives and opinions about LA. The second questionnaire was used to investigate how Iranian EFL teachers think the EFL textbook Vision 1 helps foster LA. The questionnaire was developed based on the LA principles (Fenner & Newby, 2000). The last instrument was an interview protocol that was developed by the researcher to gain a deeper understanding of teachers’ promoting LA in their teaching. The interview protocol also was based on Fenner and Newbys’ (2000) principles. For this study, the questionnaire data were collected through two questionnaires. Moreover, an interview protocol was used to gather qualitative data from 12 teachers, who participated in the interviews (i.e., 2 face-to-face and 10 online interviews). The result of the bivariate correlation test showed that there was a significant relationship between teachers’ perception of learner autonomy and their opinions about the LA-fostering role of the Iranian 10th-grade EFL textbook. The results of the interview analysis showed that the principles of learner autonomy were largely approved of by the interviewees. The study has some implications for textbook developers, teachers trainers, and teachers.

Objective: Research on corrective feedback (CF) in L2 pragmatics instruction, especially in online teaching, is still in its infancy. To address this gap, this study sought to examine the types of CF provided by EFL teachers in online classes in response to the learners’ pragmalinguistically and sociopragmatically inappropriate production of the binary speech acts of request and refusal.Methods: Eighteen hours of online classroom interaction data were analyzed using conversation analysis and a taxonomy that classifies feedback into implicit and explicit input-providing and output-prompting CF.Results: The findings of the study showed that explicit output prompts were largely applied by teachers as the most frequent type of CF. The teachers tended to use prompting questions and metapragmatic clues to help learners better understand request and refusal speech acts, rather than directly offering input or reformulation. In addition, because of the face-threatening nature of speech acts of refusal and request, the teachers applied explicit output prompts as corrective feedback to reinforce the accuracy of learners’ production.Conclusions: It can be concluded that the online mode of instruction can impact the explicitness of pragmatic CF. This research is of great value for teachers to employ both implicit and explicit types of CF to develop learners’ competency in pragmatics in online instruction.

Nowadays, teachers are expected to demonstrate a notable level of digital competence. Therefore, the current study investigated Iranian male and female pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence. The study employed a mixed methods approach and three instruments including a questionnaire, structured interviews, and observations were utilized. Therefore, 157 Iranian in-service EFL teachers completed the DIGIGLO questionnaire. Also, 15 in-service and 15 pre-service EFL teachers participated in structured interviews. Moreover, 30 classes were observed. To analyze the qualitative data, thematic analysis was used and in the phase of quantitative analysis, descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests were used. The results indicated that the level of Iranian in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence was moderate to high. In addition, some similarities and differences could be seen in the interview questions between in-service and pre-service EFL teachers. Moreover, it was revealed that there were no significant differences between male and female in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence. Furthermore, it was found that a majority of teachers incorporated digital technologies into their teaching practice. The results of this study can help curriculum developers and teacher educators realize a better conception of Iranian pre-service and in-service EFL teachers’ digital competence and their practices of using digital tools.

Poor vocabulary retention is one of the major difficulties experienced by English as a foreign (second) language (EFL/ESL) students. To tackle this problem, the current study explored the impacts of the modified visual input and the modified oral input on the short-term and long-term vocabulary retention of Iranian EFL students and their perceptions regarding implementing these two types of input in their classes. The initial population consisted of 90 male and female students from Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch in Tehran, Iran. The convenience sampling method was implemented to select the participants. After administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT), 60 students were chosen to serve as the participants, and they were randomly divided into two groups of 30 learners, namely the experimental groups A and B, which received instructions based on the modified visual input and the modified oral input, respectively. Later, the participants received ten 60-minute treatment sessions. Next, the learners' short-term vocabulary retention was assessed using the same vocabulary test as the posttest. One month later, the same test was given to students to check their long-term vocabulary retention as the delayed posttest. The results showed that the two types of input had significant impacts on the vocabulary short-term and long-term retention of the Iranian EFL students to varying degrees. Moreover, the qualitative findings indicated that the learners adopted a significantly positive view toward implementing oral and visual input modifications in their classes. In the end, the implications of the study are provided.