ثریا بهروزی زاد

Abstract Since student L2 achievement is the primary objective of all language education contexts, a huge number of inquiries have explored the role of various elements including teachers’ qualities in promoting their L2 achievement. Teachers’ qualities, such as professional commitment, have been shown to affect students’ achievements; however, some factors such as academic burnout seems to play a role in disturbing teachers’ commitment, even though the association between two concepts is not crystal clear. Due to the importance of commitment and burnout, this qualitative research intends to systematically uncover Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions towards the dynamic interaction between academic commitment and burnout. To this end, a sample of 50 EFL teachers from high schools and language institutes of Urmia, Iran was selected based on the convenience sampling and they were interviewed to express their perceptions towards different types of commitment (to school organization, to the teaching profession, and to students) they experienced, the role of burnout and its relationship between professional commitment and burnout level. Based on the thematic analysis, the results indicated that teachers in both high schools and private institutes were aware of three types of commitment and they believed in the negative interplay between the two concepts. The majority of the participants indicated that they feel stressed and anxious due to the heavy workload and low salary that resulted in limited opportunities for professional development.

A long-standing concern reverberating over the minds of intercultural scholars is how best to incorporate intercultural issues in English language teaching, an issue on which there has been little research in EFL contexts. To fill this gap, this qualitative study examined the efficacy of interculturally-laden tasks in promoting Iranian learners’ intercultural competency in Anzali, Guilan province, Iran. Thus, a group of 22 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were recruited through convenience sampling from a pool of 44 according to their score on Oxford Quick Placement Test. All the participants were 12 females and 10 males aged 21-30. Then, they attended eighteen sessions of intercultural training using Mirrors and Windows: An intercultural communication textbook and completed seven intercultural tasks as a pretest and posttest. Data was collected through seven intercultural tasks and reflective worksheets. Drawing on the qualitative content analysis of intercultural tasks, the findings revealed that the tasks could help the participants increase their intercultural competence. Moreover, three themes were emerged from the analysis of the reflective worksheets as follow: (1) the participants’ evaluation of the ICC course and intercultural tasks, (2) perceptions regarding intercultural development and (3) language skills and anxiety. The implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Reading comprehension is one of the essential skills for learning in every language and in Iranian educational system, there seems a need to make some revisions in teaching reading comprehension. In an attempt to address this problem, this research set out to utilize Directed Reading –Thinking Activity (coined by Stauffer, 1969) as a teaching comprehension model which was expected to enhance students’ reading comprehension ability of graded readings. To do this end, 50 intermediate students from Zabansara Institute were randomly assigned to two groups (one control and one experimental) each consisting of 25 participants.  Drawing on a mixed-methods design, the two groups were compared in pre-test and post-test in the quantitative phase. In the qualitative stage, fifteen students from experimental group were interviewed on the effect of implementing DRTA based setting on their comprehension of graded readings (The implemented readings in this study were narrative texts). The findings of the study revealed that DRTA had significant effect on participants' reading comprehension of graded reading. The study provides some pedagogical implications for EFL teachers and students, and suggests some possible avenues for further studies as well.