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The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) Approach claims that there are some universalities in all languages. Speech acts seem to be present in all languages, but considering this approach, research has not indicated whether request speech act differs from one language to another. Thus, this study intended to investigate whether request strategies are used differently in English and Persian romantic novels and whether Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach can be considered in English and Persian requests. To reach these objectives, the corpus consisting of two English and Persian romantic novels were used. It was analyzed using Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984)’s classification. Results indicated that mood derivable was the most frequent request strategy in both novels. Moreover, a statistically significant difference was not observed between request strategies in English and Persian romantic novels and thus the Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach can be considered in English and Persian requests. The conclusion drawn is that considering the applicability of this approach, both American and Iranian native speakers can presumably use imperative structures, with the politeness marker please or without it, as a request strategy, when the interlocutors are close friends or members of the same family.

In a broad dichotomy, cultures are divided into collectivists and individualists. This difference between cultures is manifested in educational settings and the way students and teachers approach educational tasks and activities (Hofstede, 1986). This study investigated the way the dominant culture can affect the cognitive and affective load of classrooms and eventually account for the development of students` moral judgment. To this end, 400 Iranian university students majoring in English language and literature were asked to complete FAMC test (Javadi mehr et al., 2015a). This test measures the role of four factors of "focus, sharing, challenge and support" in the development of moral competency. The results revealed that there was a growth in the pattern of affective and cognitive factors from the first to the last year of studying in this major. The results also indicated that challenge was the least attended cognitive factor but support was always the most prevalent factor in all academic years. The findings are then discussed by taking into account the findings of other related studies conducted in individualist and collectivist societies.

This study aimed at examining prospective EFL teachers' views about quality of online English language teaching and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and the related skills. To this end, the viewpoints of 100 graduate students of TEFL (M = 23, F = 77) at Iran University of Science and Technology were investigated via administering two questionnaires, namely online teacher quality and frames of knowledge and skills, along with two-open ended questions to gain more insight into online teacher quality and their knowledge frames. Internet-based survey method was employed to administer the questionnaires and collect the required data. The quantitative and qualitative data obtained were analyzed through descriptive statistics and thematic analysis, respectively. With regard to online teacher quality, the results revealed that pre-service teachers agreed that an online teacher should be an organized mediator, communicator, and problem solver as well as being highly passionate, energetic, and competent in teaching. The results also indicated that having content and pedagogical knowledge, clearly organizing and structuring content, time management skills, using appropriate resources, and providing feedback and multiple opportunities for communication were the most significant knowledge types required of an online language teacher. Considering online teaching skills, effective online communication skills, effective content delivery, technological skills, and effective evaluation and assessment were the most frequent skills suggested for online language teachers. The findings of this study could give more insights into designing knowledge-based and skills-based professional development programs for prospective teachers to enhance the quality of their online teaching.

The male-female differences in burnout and its possible effect on EFL teachers’ performance has not received much attention in the literature of burnout. To address this issue, the researchers conducted this study to investigate the effect of burnout and, more specifically, its three subcomponents–Emotional, Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), and Personal Accomplishment (PA)–on the teaching performance of male and female EFL teachers in an L2 teaching/learning context. The participants of this study were 30 (15 males and 15 females) English teachers of five private language institutes and 150 students of the same teachers. The data were collected through the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey (MBI-ES) and Characteristics of Successful Iranian EFL Teachers Questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis, independent-samples t test and descriptive statistics were used in the data analysis process. The results showed that burnout does not influence the teachers’ performance in a significant way. Additionally, it was revealed that there was no significant difference between the levels of burnout in male and female teachers. The findings challenge the common belief that burnout can greatly affect the teachers’ performance and that female teachers are more likely to experience burnout than male teachers, revealing instead that burnout does not significantly affect the performance of teachers and there is no significant difference between male and female teachers in their levels of burnout.

The generalizability aspect of Construct validity, as proposed by Messick (1989), requires that a test measures the same trait across different samples from the same population. Differential Item functioning (DIF) analysis is a key component in the fairness evaluation of educational tests. University entrance exam for the candidates who seek admission into master's English programs (MEUEE) at Iranian state universities is a very high stakes test whose fairness is a promising line of research. The current study explored gender and major DIF in the general English (GE) section of the MEUEE using multiple-indicators multiple-causes (MIMIC) structural equation modelling. The data of all the test takers (n=21,642) who took the GE section of the MEUEE in 2012 were analyzed with Mplus. To determine whether an item is flagged for DIF both practical and statistical significance were considered. The results indicated that 12 items were flagged for DIF in terms of statistical significance. However, only 5 items showed practical significance. The items flagged for DIF alert the test developers and users to potential sources of construct-irrelevant variance in the test scores which may call into question comparison of the test takers’ performance, especially when the tests are used for selection purposes.

In an effort to examine EFL students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the role of implementing flipped teaching in the university context, a mixed-method research approach was employed. To this end, 80 male and female Iranian advanced EFL learners majoring in English translation, literature, and English teaching and 204 Iranian EFL instructors were selected. They answered the flipped teaching questionnaires, then ten percent of the participants (8 students and 20 teachers) volunteered for follow-up qualitative data collection procedures (i.e., the interview) to let the researchers produce more profound responses to the related concepts of the study. Then, the data collected from the questionnaires were coded and analyzed. Also, the qualitative analysis of the research was done using the interview transcripts to support the quantitative analysis results of the research. It included content analysis requiring the examination of the participations' interviews transcripts. The findings of the quantitative part revealed that a majority of students held positive perceptions about engagement, effectiveness, attitudes, and positive affect through flipped instruction constructs in the flipped teaching class. University instructors also had an inclination towards implementing flipped teaching on the whole for the constructs named language improvement, attitudes about flipped instruction, better education through flipped instruction, and difficulty of implementing flipped instruction. The qualitative investigation confirmed the previously-stated results to a great extent in that the EFL students and instructors generally preferred employing flipped teaching and they had positive perceptions about the role of this approach.

This paper deals with the contributions of a language teacher education model by Kumaravadivelu (2012) known as KARDS (knowing, analyzing, recognizing, doing, and seeing) to Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) university teachers’ professional identity reconstruction. The researchers used purposive sampling to select participants. A KARDS questionnaire designed, constructed, and validated by the researchers was used to group twenty teachers into a more KARDS-oriented group and a less-KARDS oriented group. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the questionnaire was both reliable and valid. Pre-course interview, post-course interview, teacher educator’s and teachers’ reflective journals, and class discussions were used to collect data. After the pre-course interview, there was a treatment during which teachers were familiarized with KARDS. Then, Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data. Findings indicated that there were two big shifts from “uncertainty of practice to certainty of practice” and “the use of fewer macro-strategies to the use of more macro-strategies” in teachers’ professional identities in both groups. The changes were similar and/or the same in nature but not in quantity, and they should be emphasized and included in teacher education programs. The findings may drive teacher education programs, teacher educators, and teachers to welcome and embrace uncertainty and confusion in classrooms. Suggestions to reduce “uncertainty of practice” by teacher education programs and teacher educators are presented in this paper.

Most of the validation studies conducted across varying test application contexts are usually framed within the traditional conceptualization of validity and therefore lack a comprehensive framework to focus on test score interpretations and test score use. This study aimed at developing and validating a collocational behavior test (CBT), drawing on Kane's argument-based approach to validity. Four types of inferences including observation, generalization, extrapolation and explanation were articulated. To verify the validity assumptions, both theoretical and empirical evidence were presented within the formative and summative stages of test development and validation. Followed from Kane, theoretical evidence was sought through test specification, item construction, and test construction procedures. Empirical support, however, was sought through examining the collocational behavior test (CBT) with a sample of 60 university students majoring in TEFL. Ebel’s criteria, KR-21 reliability and a series of Pearson-Product correlation were applied to analyze the data for both theoretical and empirical phases. The findings refer to the support for the assumptions proposed for test validity, suggesting that the collocational behavior test(CBT)may provide an appropriate and accurate indicator of collocational language ability for EFL learners. The implications for language testing and assessment are discussed

Although Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been widely advocated by a considerable number of applied linguists and English language teachers, its implementation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts has encountered a number of difficulties.  Reviewing the literature suggests that one of the reasons for unsuccessful implementation of CLT may be neglect of learners' beliefs in the process of learning. Using a Likert-type scale, the current study was undertaken to explore 242 Iranian EFL learners' beliefs towards six core tenets of the CLT approach: namely, the importance of grammar; the use of group work and pair work; the role and contribution of the learners; the role of the teachers in the classroom; the quality and quantity of error correction and assessment; and the role of the learners' native language in EFL classes. Analysis of the data revealed that although in some cases learners had viewpoints that opposed CLT principles, a considerable percentage of the respondents appreciated and had a high perception of CLT principles, indicating a welcoming atmosphere toward the implementation of CLT in Iran.