درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Regardless of the appreciation of language learners’ achievement in task-based language teaching, not much has been hinged upon learners’ perception and reception of various elements. This study examined task complexity and modality effects on Iranian EFL learners’ comprehension of task difficulty, competencies, and difficulty-skill balance as well as the learners’ task experience. The Flow Outlook features were also applied to investigate how difficulty-skill balance anticipated flow experience. Via a repeated-measures design, and with a focus on task complexity (simple vs. complex) and task modality (written vs. spoken), 49 EFL learners carried out four argumentative tasks (two simple written and spoken vs. two complex written and spoken tasks); then, they ticked the flow questionnaire to gauge their perception of task difficulty, competence, and task experience. Repeated-measures MANOVA revealed although task complexity influenced task difficulty and difficulty-skill balance significantly, the skill was not affected significantly; task modality influenced task difficulty and skill significantly while difficulty-skill balance received no significant effect. The follow-up post hoc test indicated that complexity and modality significantly influenced flow, attention, and control, but not interest. Linear regression revealed difficulty-skill balance was a predictor for learners’ flow experience for both writing tasks and simple speaking task but not for complex speaking tasks. Pedagogically, the findings of this research may have some implications for English language teachers, learners, and materials developers.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of the Flipped Learning Pattern (FLP) in terms of the Problem-Based Teaching Approach (PBTA) on the participants’ self-management, desire for learning, and self-control in learning English. The research design was quasi-experimental using pre-test and post-test. The participants were selected via cluster sampling from the English learners enrolled in Aladdin center in the 2018-2020 academic year. They were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (n=320). To collect the data, the self-directed learning questionnaire of Fisher, King, and Tague (2001) was used. The questionnaire contains 52 items and three subscales of self-management, desire for learning, and self-control. Findings showed that there was a significant difference in the effect of the method on three subscales of self-directed learning in the experimental and control groups. The results indicated that the value and acceptability of the pattern improve self-directed learning; and choosing the right teaching method with conscious design will have a great impact on learners’ high levels of learning English skills. Therefore, follow-up studies are necessary to investigate further the application of FLP in terms of PBTA in various lessons.

Although there is a large body of literature on the use of connectors by EFL learners in argumentative writing, African language learner groups are not represented and most studies have adopted a cross-sectional approach. This paper seeks to analyze how frequently connectors are used on the basis of pseudo-longitudinal data from first, second, and third-year undergraduate students from the Institute for Applied Pedagogy, University of Burundi. The study adopted the corpus linguistic and quantitative approaches. The data were collected through 2 writing assignments given to students in 2019. In total, 622 essays, amounting to 306,664-word tokens, were collected. Data preparation followed three steps, namely, typing the handwritten essays, preparing the TXT files, and metadata for the corpus. The latter was searched using AntConc tool, on the basis of a comprehensive list of 95 connectors, classified into 6 categories. The tool availed frequency information, that is, how often each connector occurs in the corpus. Percentages were computed using XLS facility and are presented in tables and graphs. Results indicate that 19 connectors were frequently used by learners, the most frequent ones being those which add information followed by those expressing a result relationship. However, connectors expressing transition and summation were found to be rarely used in the corpus. Another discovery is that learners in all three years of study seem to have the same preferences in terms of connectors. Furthermore, cases of misuse such as wrong combinations and incorrect spelling, semantic, stylistic and syntactic errors were observed at all levels. The findings of this study can be useful to learners, teachers, and material designers.

This inquiry investigates the impact of Computer Concept-Mapping on Iranian EFL learners’ writing complexity and accuracy. To this end, a total of 30 intermediate EFL learners aged 14 to 16 years were non-randomly selected, homogenized in terms of general proficiency, and classified into two treatment and control groups. Also, a pretest and a posttest on the participants’ writing performance were administered at the beginning and the end of the study.. Further, the ESL Composition Profile developed by Jacobs et al. (1981) was used as a criterion for evaluating the participants’ writing accuracy and complexity. The treatment group received computer-based concept mapping instruction, while the control group was instructed through conventional writing techniques. Then, the data obtained from the two groups’ pre- and posttests were comparatively analyzed through appropriate statistical tools. Parametric paired-samples and independent-samples t-tests as well as Pearson Correlation were also used to assess the inter-rater reliability indices of the participants’ writing tests. The results of data analysis indicated that computer concept-mapping instruction entails significantly better writing performance. This finding has implications for teachers and EFL programmers to use the latest methods and tools of instruction

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of multifactorial socio-educational variables of the family in the structural model of predicting the academic achievement of EFL learners and the mediating roles of parents' involvement and perceived autonomy support. The population of the study comprised all the high school EFL students in Urmia, from which 492 students (262 males and 230 females) were selected as the participants through Cochran's formula and stratified random sampling method. The study was conducted with a correlational design, using structural equation modeling method, and the assessment tools were standard questionnaires. The results of data analysis showed that perceived parental autonomy support, parental socio-economic status, and parents' involvement in education are significantly related to language learners’ academic achievement. Based on this finding, it is claimed that to improve the academic achievement of language learners, these three variables should be taken into consideration and strengthened as facilitating mediators.

This study aimed at proposing a framework based on Integrative Systemic Therapy (IST) for addressing foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) among Iranian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The effectiveness of the framework in reducing the levels of FLLA among language learners was investigated when implemented by a therapist as well as by learners independently. To this end, 30 intermediate EFL learners with high level of listening anxiety were selected as participants through convenience sampling. They were then randomly assigned into control group (n=10), therapist group (n=10), and self-therapy group (n=10). The therapist group met with an experienced therapist once a week for a month and self-therapy group was just instructed on how to use the framework independently during the same period. The control group received no treatment. The scale developed by Kim (2000) for measuring FLLA and an IELTS listening test were used to explore the effectiveness of the framework. The results of the study revealed that the proposed framework was effective in reducing the levels of FLLA both when implemented by the therapist and by EFL learners independently. The findings reflected the importance of personalization when selecting foreign language anxiety-reducing strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the foreign language anxiety management

The present study was conducted to identify novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers’ beliefs towards the most effective written corrective feedback types and the most serious errors they might address while correcting students’ paragraphs and see whether there exist any tensions between what they believed and what they practiced through the methodology of pre-observation interview, observation, and post-observation interview. The results revealed that for novice teachers, there were fewer tensions between their stated beliefs and observed practices, yet this tension was more obvious while interviewing experienced teachers. Some implications for language teacher education will also be discussed.

Classroom performance assessment has gained prominence parallel to the multiplicity of the purposes ahead of assessment. Of many, the major controversy, which was the motive behind this study, is the incorporation of L1-based elicitation as a valid measure of second language (L2) performance assessment. To shed empirical lights on this issue, this explanatory sequential mixed-methods research employed 87 Iranian intermediate EFL learners, whose L2 classroom performance was assessed through L1-based elicitation techniques. In order to validate this mechanism, multi-method mono-trait model (namely, Pearson correlation, structural equations, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, composite reliability and convergent validity) suggested by Henning and Mesick’s Unitary Concept of validity were applied. The results from these multiple sources of evidence yield support to their common consensus that L1-based elicitation techniques are valid measures of L2 performance assessment. The findings then offer legacy to the educational implications of L1-based mechanisms both in L2 instruction and assessment.

Teaching and learning languages via the Internet is becoming increasingly common all over the world and therefore, the experts growingly debate around the positive or negative effects of online education. The present study aimed to critically investigate into science and technology lessons of the VOA English Learning Website in a two-year interval, which claims to teach new words and phrases through the authentic VOA world news. Applying van Dijk’s (1998) Ideological Square Model of CDA, the researchers attempted to critically analyze the representation of the key term the United States within the collected VOA news story transcripts in order to observe whether the Website was trying to manipulate the learners’ minds through in-group favoritism and out-group derogation. The findings revealed that the VOA online lessons promoted certain American political, economic, cultural, social, and ideological values through particular discursive structures that tend to describe in-group members in a positive or at least neutral manner. Thus, as McPhail’s (2006) Electronic Colonialism Theory assumes such free online lessons on the VOA Website, which is a core country multimedia giant, struggle to convert and capture the attitudes, desires, beliefs, faiths, lifestyles, and consumer behavior of the other countries. Therefore, it is highly recommended that English teachers and learners try to inspect the content, reflect on the purposes, and evaluate the merits of similar online authentic materials before and while applying them to facilitate the language learning process.

This research study was conducted to investigate the most representative characteristics of the habitus developed by academically successful Iranian English majors. Learning a second or foreign language, like many sociocultural practices, from a Bourdieusian perspective, is informed by the interrelation between habitus, field, and cultural capital (CC). Within an exploratory qualitative design, utilizing the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method of both semi-structured and unstructured one-on-one interviews, seven academically successful BA students majoring in English language studies were studied in an attempt to explore their CC and habitus. Each participant was interviewed in 3 separate sessions. The constructivist grounded theory method was adopted to analyze the collected data. Constructed on 75 initial codes, 22 focused codes, 10 categories, and 4 themes, two major themes were most relevantly indicative of theoretical associations with the research problem. The findings suggest that the habitus developed by the English majors in this study was representative of their accumulation of certain forms of CC. Their habitus seemed to have been developed under the influence of their interaction with the mediatory field of learning and majoring in a foreign language. In an exigency-driven social quest for certain forms of cultural capital, the participants’ habitus were majorly characterized and influenced by their strategic accumulation of institutional and social capital, their field-oriented social identities, and their strategic administration of CC in the field. The knowledge developed by the findings of this study can provide useful sociocultural insights into academic achievements of English language majors.