غلامرضا عباسیان

Collaborative dialogue (CD) in developing L2 skills known as ‘knowledge-building dialogue’, in spite of its momentum in foreign language acquisition, has rarely been conjoined and empirically investigated with a Task-based approach. To this end, the present research was conducted with a two-fold aim: firstly, investigating the effect of task-based collaborative dialogue on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ speaking ability, and secondly, exploring teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of the exercised treatment process. The participants of the study consisted of 100 Iranian B.A. TEFL and Translation Studies students were identified as relatively homogeneous with regard to their language proficiency through administering Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and ten Iranian EFL teachers. The experimental group was exposed to task-based collaborative dialogues, while the control group experienced conventional mainstream teaching the speaking skill. Upon completing the treatment, CD questionnaires were administered to the experimental group of learners and teachers to investigate their perceptions of implementing CDs in speaking classes. Subsequently, the teachers and 12 students from the experimental group attended the semi-structured interview sessions to explore their views regarding the efficiency of task-based CDs. The findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control one regarding speaking skill. The results of the questionnaires and the semi-structured interviews complemented each other and indicated that the teachers and the learners adopted positive views toward applying the task-based CD. The findings offer some implications for the stakeholders, including material developers, EFL learners, and teachers, to incorporate task-based collaborative dialogues in second language education.

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.

Theory and practice are two sides of one coin, and the way they are perceived adds to its practice. This holds true regarding teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) literacy status and its implementation. To shed more light on these issues in the Iranian EFL setting, t his study was designed to pursue a three-fold purpose: the status quo of the Iranian EFL teachers' TPACK literacy, the contribution of TPACK literacy, and perception developments in the light of TPACK intervention. For the intervention purpose, TPACK workshops were implemented with 15 teachers through employing the TPACK framework and the learning by doing method. The results of chi-square data analysis showed statistically significant differences between the participants’ TPACK literacy before and after TPACK workshops and also positive contributions of the intervention. Moreover, it was observed that participants’ perceptions towards TPACK literacy developed in the light of TPACK workshops. Thereby, the study develops a new perspective and provides empirical evidence to investigate incorporating technology and knowledge into teaching English and Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in Iran. Also, the theoretical and pedagogical recommendations for future research and practice are provided.

Despite the fact that interpreting has long existed in history and predates translation, the interpreter training as an autonomous discipline is non-existent at the graduate level in Iran. The paramount focus of this study was to probe into the status quo of interpreting courses in the Iranian academia and subsequently delve into the possible expediencies to establishing such a discipline in the higher education. To this end, 15 professional interpreters (9 from Iran and 6 from other countries), 10 interpreter trainers (4 from Iran and 6 from other countries) and 118 English Translation Studies students (32 M.A. and 86 B.A.) who were selected through convenience sampling participated in this study. The students filled out a 20-item researchers-designed Likert-scale interpreting status quo questionnaire and the interpreter trainers and interpreters were invited for a formal semi-structured interview. Findings, analyzed quantitatively by SPSS software version 28 and qualitatively by inductive codification process, revealed the existing situation of the interpreting courses in the Iranian academia in terms of needs analysis, objectives and syllabus, methodology, materials as well as course contents and ensured the significance of establishing interpreter training as an independent discipline in the higher education among all stakeholders, i.e. interpreters, interpreter trainers (teachers) and interpreter trainees (students) for a number of expediencies including non-existence of this discipline in Iran, the need for academization, its multidisciplinary nature, dearth of specialization, addressing stakeholders and researchability, generating pertinent activities, glocal reputation, and employability.

This study, contrary to the conventional research on PCK, which attempted to enhance the teachers’ PCK and single out its driving factors, aims to use PCK as an outcome-based lens for evaluating Iranian EFL teachers’ programs. To this end, two current EFL teacher-education programs (i.e., State and Islamic Azad universities on the one hand and Farhnagian Teacher Education University on the other), each with its specific approach to developing EFL teachers’ PCK, were selected. Along with administering a glocally developed and validated PCK questionnaire among 263 student-teachers, this study ran a one-on-one semi-structured interview with 80 student-teachers to capture a crystal-clear evaluation of the outcomes the programs were to cultivate. The results of running qualitative and MANOVA analysis methods showed the student-teachers trained in the program with a more finely-tuned PCK instruction, which was accompanied by four continuous courses of teaching internship, were more cognizant of the role of PCK in their professional development and enjoyed a statistically significant index of developed PCK. Although there existed some similarities between these programs in terms of reviewing high school English course books, evaluation and assessment, and applying technology in teaching English, student-teachers in both programs were not completely aware of different components of PCK, including curriculum design and materials development, language teachers’ technological knowledge, and professional development. The results imply that content knowledge, PCK, and internship should be fettered together. The findings suggest that EFL teachers’ PCK can be applied as an effective lens for delving deeply into teacher training programs.