Research in Techno-based Language Education

Vocabulary learning is a crucial part of acquiring a language. According to Webb (2014), learning vocabulary is essential for language proficiency, but learning words regardless of their relationship with other words is not enough. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the effect of teacher’s voice vs. written messages via WhatsApp on Iranian EFL learners’ learning and retention of lexical collocations. In order to conduct this study, 100 female English language learners were asked to take part in the OPT test and sixty participants whose score ranged one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected and divided into three groups, as one control and two experimental. Then the pretest was administered before any treatment. One of the experimental groups was treated via the teacher’s voice and the next one via written messages through WhatsApp for ten sessions. The participants then took part in the posttest. In order to test the participants’ retention of collocations, they were asked to take part in the two-week delayed posttest, too. The analyses of obtained data showed that the teacher’s voice via WhatsApp had a statistically significant effect on both EFL learners’ learning and retention of lexical collocations. However, the teacher’s written messages via WhatsApp just had a statistically significant effect on EFL learners’ learning of lexical collocations, and it did not have a statistically significant effect on retention of lexical collocations. This is study is significant for all EFL/ESL learners, teachers, and English language institutes.

Nowadays, digital literacy and the use of digital resources and communication tools in academic contexts have been promoted by the rise of digital civilization in the 21st-century. Thus, this research aimed to study the digital literacy of Iranian EFL teachers and students to find out any significant difference between them. One hundred and fifty Iranian EFL teachers, and 175 Iranian EFL students were invited to participate in this study. A 181-item standardized measure developed and validated by Khlaisang and Koraneekij (2019) was used to assess individuals’ three crucial 21st-century digital skills namely Information Literacy (IL), Media Literacy (ML), and Information Communication Technology Literacy (ICTL). To find that whether this difference is significant or not, a t-test was run. The results highlight that Iranian EFL teachers' scores were higher than students in all the three constructs of IL, ML, and ICTL, and ICTL had the highest mean score among all. The data regarding teachers’ and students’ digital literacy can be a reference for educational planners and decision-makers to identify digital skills which should be considered more seriously at the university level especially in these Coronavirus days.