جستارهای زبانی (پژوهش های زبان و ادبیات تطبیقی)

This study sought to investigate the probable relationships among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' active/passive motivation, their sense of efficacy, and burnout. To this end, the Active/Passive Motivation Scale (APMS), Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES), and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were administered to 245 Iranian EFL teachers. Next, in order to substantiate the construct validity of the APMS, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted. Moreover, correlational analyses and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were employed to explore the relationships among the variables. The results indicated significant relationships between active/passive motivation and all subconstructs of TSES, between active motivation and all subconstructs of burnout, and between passive motivation and two burnout subscales, namely emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment. Additionally, while no significant relationship was found between age and the three constructs, the results demonstrated that teaching experience and teacher’s sense of efficacy were positively correlated. Female teachers were also found to be less likely to feel depersonalized. Moreover, mediated by active motivation, teacher efficacy was a significant negative predictor of teacher burnout. Finally, the implications of the study for administrators and teachers were discussed and suggestions were made for further research.

Service-Learning (SL) has been internationally gaining in popularity in the field of teacher education in higher education thanks to its benefits. However, this pedagogical method is still new in some EFL higher education settings like Vietnam. This qualitative study investigates the undergraduate students’ attitudes after their implementation of an SL-integrated teaching practicum unit at some EFL community classes. In the study, seventy-eight fourth-year students of English in the pedagogy sector at a department of English of a university of foreign languages in Central Vietnam were involved as participants. They were guided to contact community learners of English, observe classes, design lesson plans, do micro-teachings, and finally write reflections. The findings from the reflections revealed that all of the students had positive attitudes towards SL and the teaching practicum unit, which made impacts on their personal growth, classroom management skills, profession, and community-related aspects. Recommendations concerning how to make SL and SL-integrated courses more effective were put forward at the end of the research study.

Scholarly publication has turned into a growing concern affecting the lives of academics across the world. The increasing demand by higher education institutions for publications in high-profile venues has created various policy issues, including the ones about the language of publication, and more specifically, about writing and publishing in English by speakers of other languages. In this study, we investigate policies of publishing in English in Iranian higher education based on qualitative content analysis of 30 national policy documents and 170 university bylaws released by 46 Iranian universities over the past twenty-three years. The emerging policy lines reveal that the research evaluation system and the structure of incentives as well as institutional pressure mechanisms all tend to act in favor of publishing in English in a context where it is the academic language of only a small minority. The implications of such policy directions for higher education in Iran are discussed along with possible messages for other contexts around the world.

Research on Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) has received much attention in language education in Vietnam. However, research on investigating perceptions of secondary school teachers towards TBLT implementation in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam is still scarce. The current study investigates secondary school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ understandings of task concept and TBLT principles. It also explores teachers’ attitudes and concerns in implementing TBLT. Ninety-eight secondary school EFL teachers participated in the study. Framed by TBLT principles adapted from Nguyen, Jaspaert and Van den Branden (2018), a survey was used to collect quantitative data. The results indicated that the teachers generally had a high level of understanding of task concept and TBLT principles. In addition, they showed positive views on implementing TBLT in their practices. The results also addressed teachers’ concerns in implementing TBLT into their teaching practices including time constraints, the mismatch between the reform goals proposed by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) and current teaching policies at the secondary school level as well as the large class size. Accordingly, insightful implications for a better TBLT implementation in Vietnam and similar contexts elsewhere have been taken into consideration.

The present study aimed to develop our understanding of various aspects of EFL teachers’ perceptions of professional development in Iran using mixed-methods design. After a review of current literature and questionnaires, in the qualitative phase of the study, interviews were conducted with 12 EFL teachers and teaching experts. The data obtained from the interviews was subject to content analysis and the results revealed 4 major themes. In the quantitative phase, based on the findings of the qualitative phase and the supporting literature, a 74-item questionnaire was constructed and administered to 250 participants, after pilot testing and reviewing of the items. The quantitative data was analyzed through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and a 4-factor structure was identified. After modifications in the questionnaire, the final version of the questionnaire was administered again to the participants and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) confirmed the construct validity of the EFL TPPD questionnaire and the four components. The results revealed that professional development activities, benefits, needs and barriers are the major dimensions of Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions of professional development. The proposed model can have theoretical and practical contributions to EFL teacher professional development.

The situation generated by the pandemic has caused irreversible changes in society and the educational world, manifesting a necessary change in methodology in the teaching and learning process. The purpose of this study, which is part of a doctoral thesis investigation, was to analyze the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the digital competences of teachers in the Foreign Language classroom, before and during the state of alarm provoked by the pandemic Covid-19, based on sociodemographic factors. A non-experimental, ex post facto, descriptive study was carried out using a single measuring instrument. The final sample consisted of 117 foreign language teachers from bilingual schools of Primary and Secondary Education in Andalusia (Spain), both public and semi-private. The results indicate that teachers improved their digital skills as a result of the increased frequency of ICT use during the pandemic, and men under 30 years of age felt more motivated to use and incorporate new technologies in their classes. Even so, teachers continue to express the need for greater training opportunities in the use of ICTs for both educators and students, which will pose new challenges in the acquisition and development of digital competencies and from which new needs will emerge.

Knowledge of speech acts and their functions are basic components of pragmatics and the request speech act plays a crucial part in everyday interactions. This study aimed to investigate whether native speakers of English make any differences utilizing the request expressions “would you like” and “would you mind”, their collocations in both spoken and academic contexts and the functional differences caused by the co-text. To this end, the data was retrieved from Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). The results revealed that such expressions in the spoken corpus were used more frequently in the transactional context with equal status and as interactional-oriented. However, in the academic corpus, the same expressions were used more frequently in the pedagogical context with the high-low status and as both interactional-oriented and task-oriented. The expression "would you like" was mostly used to give information, whereas "would you mind" was usually used to request an action. These expressions were not used for the purpose of imposition in any of the two contexts. The study revealed that the collocations didn't affect the function of such requests. In fact, it was the collocating words that changed due to the pragmatic functions and the objectives of the speakers. The findings might contribute to understanding of the variations which matter between the request expressions. Teachers and learners might gain insights into how and when they are used and which collocations are more frequent so as to focus more carefully on them and make informed and proper decisions within pedagogical settings.

The sociocultural theory has been considered an essential pillar for EFL teaching and learning; however, the existence of this theory has often been neglected in teacher professional development. This mixed-method study examined EFL teachers’ self-reported beliefs and practices in integrating digital literacy using a sociocultural framework during online teacher training activities in the Indonesian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. A total of 240 in-service EFL teachers from various secondary schools in the East Java province enrolled in the online professional training program. They were assigned to fill the three categories of sociocultural questionnaires during their online teacher professional development. Then, an interview was conducted with 60 selected participants to elaborate on their practices and challenges of implementing sociocultural theory in their online teacher professional program. The results from the three sociocultural dimensions indicated that the in-service EFL teachers attending the online training program had minimal sociocultural awareness and practices regarding global cultural integration with technology-based teaching. Pedagogical implications for improving the EFL teacher training program and recommendations for further studies were discussed throughout the study.

The present study explored the effect of explicit Communication Strategies (CSs) instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ usage of these strategies in their educational tasks at different proficiency levels. To conduct the study, the researchers chose 20 Iranian EFL teachers and their 150 students at two universities in Tabriz, Iran. Accepting a mixed-methods design, the researchers used a questionnaire, an English language proficiency test, and a semi-structured interview to collect the required data. The findings indicated that after receiving communication strategy instruction, teachers and students had positive attitudes toward the usefulness of CSs in the language learning process. However, learners in different proficiency levels had different preferences toward CSs. While advanced learners showed their inclination to use compensation strategies, intermediate learners preferred to use metacognitive. Elementary learners favoured using cognitive CSs. These differences can be attributed to individual differences and contextual factors that suggest pedagogical implications for both teachers and students and provide tentative subjects for further studies.

The present research explores the trajectory of changing emotions throughout the lifelong experience of English language learning and language use among English-as-an-Additional-Language (EAL) students at a Vietnamese university. It employs a qualitatively-driven mixed methods research design with two phases of data collection using initial and exploratory self-designed questionnaires, followed by semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. The quantitative data, collected from English majored students aimed to capture the range of emotions the participants experienced in speaking English. The qualitative data, collected from the students recruited from the questionnaire phase, revealed the complexity and dynamism of their emotions in the process of language learning and use. The findings show that the participants experienced shifting emotions across the different contexts of language learning, including school, out-of-school, and tertiary contexts. The emotions were seen to be dynamic, socially and contextually constructed, emerging from their social circumstances and interaction with others. They were interwoven with self-concept, language learning success, perceived standing in different communities, and relationships with others. The results also provide theoretical and practical implications for emotion research and pedagogies of EAL teaching and learning.

This article reports on a study examining the reasons for teachers’ codeswitching from both teachers’ and students’ perspectives. To tap into participants’ cognitions regarding this issue, data were collected from 83 EFL teachers and 160 students of English through a questionnaire developed based on the reasons reported in previous studies. An exploratory factor analysis was run to find the underlying constructs. The results eventually unveiled five factors including pedagogical delivery, limitation in resources, learner variables, establishing rapport, and compensating for low proficiency. A set of independent samples t-tests were run so as to compare teachers’ and students’ views and the results revealed statistically significant differences in all the five identified factors. Pedagogical delivery seemed to be the most acceptable reason for codeswitching since it had the highest mean score in both groups. At the same time, teachers’ and students’ mean scores regarding establishing rapport showed their very different perceptions about this justification for the teachers’ L1 use. The lowest mean scores for teachers and students were observed to be related to limitation in resources and learner variables, respectively. The findings of the present study draw attention to the teachers’ and students’ different cognitions on L1 use and the urgent need for more comparative studies in order to provide more satisfying and effective learning environments.

Many students, both at tertiary and secondary level, consider writing for academic purposes as a challenging task. It is of prime importance that students have sufficient content knowledge and basic understanding of different writing strategies to write coherent and cohesive texts. This study unveils the impact of writing strategy instruction on writing strategy use and performance of 40 undergraduates enrolled in an Academic and Professional Writing course. The design of the current study was experimental and data were collected using a questionnaire and students’ essays. The results of the t-test present that writing strategies training could be imparted to the students to improve their overall writing. The treatment group showed a significant improvement in their writing performance and writing strategy use after receiving strategy instructions. The study recommends explicit writing strategy instruction be incorporated into English writing courses and learners be encouraged to use them in their writing tasks.

The present paper synthesizes the germane studies on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ motivation and foreign language anxiety (FLA) and their role in working memory. Earlier investigations have proved that learner motivation accelerates the learning process in working memory. Literature shows that learners prioritize some typical information based on their learning motivation. Nonetheless, specific strategies can be employed in order to augment learner motivation, which per se speeds up cognitive processing. Furthermore, earlier studies indicate a negative relationship between learners’ FLA and working memory. Learners’ FLA limits the attentional control system, which negatively affects learners’ working memory. Furthermore, the study offered some implications and future directions for the individuals like EFL teachers, teacher educators, and foreign language scholars. The postulations can improve their awareness of learner motivation and FLA and their role in working memory.

The incorporation of applied games in university differentiated language instruction is increasingly prevalent. This interventional study was conducted through non-crossover design in the academic years 2020-2021 among the students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The quantitative and qualitative data were gathered by soliciting participants' attitudes towards English for Specific Purposes writing through (game)-based differentiated instruction, assessing their academic and professional writing, and debriefing their insight into how differentiated instruction might enhance English for Specific Purposes writing. While the quantitative data were analyzed through Wilcoxon signed-rank test and repeated measures ANOVA, the qualitative data were content analyzed through theme-based analysis. It was revealed that mixed reality harnessed the synergy of augmented reality and virtual reality in English for Specific writing education. Findings showed that single-minded preoccupation with a game type undermines the potential of game-based differentiated instruction in English for Specific Purposes writing. The results and implications are explained.

The study aimed to examine whether and the extent to which children’s self-concept of ability is predicted by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs. Next, this study aimed to investigate whether and the extent to which children’s dictation performance in their native language is predicted by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs, and self-concept of ability. Finally, the study investigated whether and to what extent children’s reading performance in their native language is predicted by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs, and self-concept of ability. A total of 89 Iranian Persian-speaking elementary school fourth-graders, along with their parents and teachers, took part in the study. Five instruments were used in the study: two tests measuring the students’ reading and dictation levels in their native language, one questionnaire assessing the children’s reading and dictation-related self-concept of ability, and two questionnaires assessing the teachers’ and parents’ beliefs regarding reading and dictation level of children. Descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression were run to analyze the data. The findings indicate that children’s self-concept of ability is affected by parental and teacher’s beliefs. Moreover, the results showed that children’s dictation performance is affected by their gender, self-concept of ability, parental and teacher’s beliefs. Finally, the study showed that children’s reading performance is affected by their gender, parental and teacher’s beliefs. Overall, the findings of the present study highlight the importance of children’s self-concept of ability and teachers and parents’ awareness of how their beliefs benefit students’ attainment and development of self-concept of ability.

Ces dernières années, l'importance des nouvelles technologies et leur rôle dans l'avancement des programmes éducatifs sont devenus plus clairs pour tout le monde. Avec l'épidémie de Covid-19, les activités sociales, y compris le système éducatif, ont été restreintes et même fermées. Dans une telle situation, la question de l'éducation basée sur les nouvelles technologies est devenue très forte. Par conséquent, le but de cette étude était d'analyser la mise en œuvre de l'enseignement en ligne du français en Iran dans un contexte institutionnel et d'identifier les défis et les opportunités qui en résultent. La population statistique comprenait des apprenants et des enseignants de la langue française qui étudiaient et enseignaient cette langue à l’Institut des Langues d’Iran. Les instruments d’enquête utilisés dans cette recherche sont trois questionnaires à structure de réponses fermées aussi bien que l'observation des cours en ligne de français. L'analyse des données a été réalisée à l'aide du logiciel SPSS 27. Selon les résultats, la mise en place de l'enseignement en ligne du français est modérée au sein des instituts en Iran et crée de bonnes opportunités d'apprentissage pour plusieurs personnes, mais, à la fois, les barrières économiques, techniques, éducatives, stratégiques, culturelles et juridiques sont identifiées comme les obstacles les plus importantes au développement de ce type d'enseignement. En même temps, en supprimant ces obstacles, une plate-forme pour le développement de l'éducation numérique dans notre pays peut être fournie et ses avantages peuvent être maximisés.

Les recherches abordant la question de la compétence éthique en didactique du FLE sont aujourd’hui au cœur de l’actualité et sont souvent reprises pour analyser différents aspects de cette compétence au sein du processus de l’enseignement-apprentissage des langues-cultures étrangères. Sans la compétence éthique qui a pour source la sémiotique, la didactique des langues-cultures étrangères ne peut Received: 31 December 2022 Received in revised form: 7 February 2023 Accepted: 18 March 2023 pas être perfectionnée. Cet article tente de répondre à la question comment définir précisément la notion de compétence éthique et comment l’intégrer dans les cours de FLE. Cette étude a donc pour objectif de proposer des tâches communes à accomplir par les apprenants afin de créer un espace de l’agir avec l’autre, un espace commun qui pousse les apprenants à partager des valeurs en devenir, des valeurs humaines non seulement dans la classe mais aussi dans la société. La manière dont la compétence éthique peut être acquise et développée parmi les apprenants de langue en tant des acteurs sociaux sera également discutée et abordée dans le cadre d’une recherche descriptivo-analytique de trois manuels de langue basés sur l’approche actionnelle et adressés aux adolescents de 14 à 18 ans. En analysant les tâches abordées dans les manuels de langue basés sur l’approche actionnelle nous allons comprendre comment l’éthique construit un espace commun de l’agir qui encourage les apprenants et les enseignants à partager des valeurs en devenir aussi bien dans la classe de langue que dans la société.