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Researchers have extensively studied factors that impact the development of fluency in L2 oral production while there is scant evidence regarding task variation-related effects. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the effects of task variation involving group dialogue, dialogue unscrambling, and dialogue completion on Iranian EFL learners’ oral speech fluency. To this end, 80 EFL learners were assigned to three experimental groups (EXG1, EXG2, and EXG3) and one control group shown as CONG. The EXG1 was treated by three tasks, i. e., dialogue completion, dialogue unscrambling, and group dialogue, the EXG2 through two tasks involving dialogue completion and dialogue unscrambling, the EXG3 by dialogue unscrambling task, and the CONG was instructed by teacher conventional method. The groups were pretested and posttested through the speaking section of Preliminary English Test (PET). The participants’ interview transcriptions were then coded for scoring and statistical analysis of fluency to show the effects of treatment for each group. The four groups received their required instructions for ten sessions. The findings revealed that task variation made significant differences in the learners’ oral fluency achievement. The analyses made through running ANOVA and Post Hoc yielded to the conclusion that EXG1, instructed through a combination of the three tasks, outperformed the other groups regarding fluency achievement. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for teachers, EFL learners, and syllabus designers.

Given the seemingly important link between children’s working memory (WM) and their scholastic performance, it would be a worthwhile research enquiry to explore language learning as one potential way to improve WM. To this end, the present study examined the impact of two language teaching paradigms, namely, Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) and Total Physical Response (TPR), on children’s WM over time. Seventy participants, aged 8 to 9 years, were administered tests of phonological, visuo-spatial sketchpad and central executive components, and made up TPR, PPP and control groups for a period of three months. Then, a posttest and a delayed posttest were administered to identify whether the treatments led to significant improvements. The results of the 3 WM measures indicated that the 2 interventions led to certain improvements. Whereas TPR led to significant improvements in the central executive, PPP produced significantly higher gains in phonological memory over time. Neither treatment induced any positive impact on the visuospatial sketchpad. The results lend evidence to the trainability of WM. It is also suggested that language learning experiences have long-lasting repercussions and that each language learning experience can impact certain components of WM.

Knowing how to think about the language learning process is conducive to effective learning especially in the case of grammar structures. Metacognition, a concept derived from cognitive psychology, can assist learners in this case. With regard to young adolescents at lower proficiency levels, there is a long-standing debate on whether to use L1 for teaching metacognitive strategies since learners might not be efficient enough in terms of understanding the concept of metacognition. Therefore, this small-scale experimental study focused on the effect of grammar instruction through the metacognitive intervention delivered in L1 on the EFL pre-intermediate learners' grammatical performance in English and investigated their attitudes towards grammar instruction delivered in L1. To fulfill these purposes, a homogenous group of 20 language learners was randomly divided into an experimental group ( n =10 ), which received grammar instruction through the metacognitive intervention delivered in L1, and a control group ( n =10 ), which received the instruction only in English without grammar instruction through the metacognitive intervention delivered in L1. The results of the independent samples t -test indicated that the experimental group did not outperform the control group in terms of all four English grammar points, namely present perfect, simple past tense, comparative and superlative adjectives, and past progressive . In addition, the findings obtained from the five-point Likert scale questionnaire which was distributed among the learners suggested that they had positive attitudes towards the use of L1 (Persian) in teaching English grammar. We argue that low working memory capacity, overreliance on translation, and less-cognitively activated L2 processes may account for the low performance of the experimental group learners in the grammar tests. The implication is that the L1 use in an L2 classroom can be helpful in teaching L2 grammar through the metacognitive intervention, but future studies need to examine how and to what extent L1 should be used to yield more effective results in the case of lower-proficiency learners in an EFL context.

This study is a mixed-methods parallel design aiming at exploring the perception of 49 ESP teachers toward formative classroom assessment with regard to their language assessment literacy (LAL) in Iran within the theoretical framework of Hay and Penney (2013). The data were collected through an online semi-structured interview and a questionnaire, extracted from Shahzamani and Tahririan's (2021) questionnaire, consisting of 13 Likert items and 9 open-ended questions which were validated for this study through confirmatory factor analysis. The results of a Chi-square test on the Likert items showed a significant difference between the participant’s responses to each item which revealed an overall tendency of the ESP teachers toward employing formative assessment as an efficient way for evaluating their own teaching efficacy, the quality of the teaching materials, and their students' progress. The results also revealed that the two features of 1) ability to assess learners based on cultural-related issues in a certain context, and 2) ability to design suitable assessment methods for multilevel ESP classes should be added to the components of LAL in the existing literature. The results have implications for teacher educators to consider these two features in teacher education programs. Also, academic authorities are to notice that reliance on summative assessment and evaluation merely based on final exam scores are not appreciated by most ESP teachers.           

Perhaps the degree of test difficulty is one of the most significant characteristics of a test. However, no empirical research on the difficulty of the MSRT test has been carried out. The current study attempts to fill the gap by utilizing a two-parameter item response model to investigate the psychometric properties (item difficulty and item discrimination) of the MSRT test. The Test Information Function (TIF) was also figured out to estimate how well the test at what range of ability distinguishes respondents. To this end, 328 graduate students (39.9% men and 60.1% women) were selected randomly from three universities in Isfahan. A version of MSRT English proficiency test was administered to the participants. The results supported the unidimensionality of the components of MSRT test. Analysis of difficulty and discrimination indices of the total test revealed that 14% of the test items were either easy / very easy, 38% were medium, and 48% were either difficult or very difficult. In addition, 14% of the total items were classified as nonfunctioning. They discriminated negatively or did not discriminate at all. 7% of the total items discriminated poorly, 17% discriminated moderately, and 62% discriminated either highly or perfectly, however they differentiated between high-ability and higher-ability test takers. Thus, 38% of the items displayed satisfactory difficulty. Too easy (14%) and too difficult (48%) items could be one potential reason why some items have low discriminating power. An auxiliary inspection of items by the MSRT test developers is indispensable.

Although global English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebooks have been subject to numerous (critical) analyses, the changes occurring to their contents over different editions have received scarce attention. In this study, the researchers examined the transformations over different editions of Interchange series (level 2) regarding some selected aspects of their textual contents. Seeking experienced English teachers’ views of the global coursebooks’ transformations over the past decade was another aim of the study. The analysis and comparison of the included topics and titles, characters, sites and contexts in Interchange series as well as interviews with 12 English teachers revealed that the content-based changes of different editions of this coursebook are superficial and cosmetic-like and despite the claims for globality, fallacies such as real-life-ness, representation and globality are still evident. We hope the findings of the study would aid curriculum and policy makers, institute managers, and language teachers to reconsider the functioning and value of current global ELT coursebooks.

The learners’ ability to write a well-organized argumentative essay has gained prominence within the last decades. The multiple intelligences play a significant role in enhancing the precision of both language and thought during the writing process. The current study aimed at investigating the possible relationship between linguistic and logical intelligences and the frequency of informal fallacies and evidence types in Iranian EFL learners’ argumentative essays. To the end, a total of 110 upper-intermediate EFL learners were asked to respond to the relevant items of Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scale (MIDAS) and to write an argumentative essay. The informal fallacies and four categories of evidence were identified using two models of argumentation. Among several categories of informal fallacies and evidence, only statistical evidence was absent in argumentative essays. The results of Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient revealed a significant relationship between the participants’ linguistic and logical intelligences and the frequency of informal fallacies and evidence types in their argumentation. However, no significant difference was found between male and female EFL learners in terms of the frequency of informal fallacies and evidence types in their argumentative essays. The findings contribute to enhancing the efficiency of writing materials and courses by considering the learners’ individual differences.

Acquiring vocabulary has always been recognized as a significant and challenging part of language learning process. In this study, the researcher examined the extent to which form recall of target lexical items by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) is affected by a) repetition and b) by the type of target item; single words versus collocations. The treatment consisted of non-communicative, (partly) decontextualized activities, in which the target items were taught and examined. For this purpose, 27 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were chosen and divided into two groups of A with 14 and B with 13 participants. In all activities, the participants had to supply the target items’ forms. Data were collected in a classroom setting in two groups, differing only in the type of target item. In class A, the research focused on single words and in class B the focus was on collocations. A pre and post test was administered to the participants before and after the treatment. The findings show a large effect of spaced repetition on form recall of single words and collocations. However, the participants in class A who were treated with single words outperformed the other group.

Teacher professional development, as a burgeoning term, has attracted a surge of interest in English language teaching. In second language (L2) professional development, the common orthodoxy has been one which considers teachers as that of knowledge consumers. It is commonly argued that top-down approaches to teachers’ professional development has done little to maximize teachers’ professionalism. To unravel the above-mentioned dilemma, this study was an attempt to implement collaborative action research, as a viable means, to boost teachers’ professional development in a networked community of shared knowledge. To this end, thirteen male and female Iranian English teachers, within the age range of 22-35, were selected through convenience sampling. The selected participants were added to a group in WhatsApp. The online classes began with plenary debate, mostly in the form of workshops through problematizing a particular topic, which were directly linked to teachers’ actual teaching experience. Insights into the EFL teachers’ professional development were acquired through the triangulation of data from four main sources (i.e., teachers’ professional journals, reflective journals, action research projects, and semi-structured interviews). The findings revealed that engaging EFL teachers in a collaborative dialogue in a networked community of shared knowledge ultimately culminated in development of action research projects which resulted in sustained L2 professional development, whereby participating teachers developed a broader understanding of research and adopted reflective inquiry in their L2 teaching practices. The findings have important implications for language teachers in general, and EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and material developers, in particular.