شیوا کیوان پناه

Assessing learners’ writing is one of the primary responsibilities of English language teachers. Nevertheless, research on teachers’ writing assessment literacy (WAL) is scarce. To this end, this study a) explored Iraqi Kurdish EFL teachers’ writing assessment knowledge, beliefs, and practices and b) examined assessment strategies they employ to assess learners’ writing ability and the feedback they provide on learners’ writing performance. Data were collected from language teachers in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (N=80), who taught at universities, institutes, and schools, utilizing a modified version of the WAL questionnaire consisting of five sections, including teachers’ demographic information, assessment strategies, knowledge of WAL, beliefs about WAL, and practices concerning WAL. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a group of volunteer teachers (N=10). The findings highlighted teachers’ insufficient knowledge of writing assessments. A significant mismatch was found between teachers’ stated beliefs and their practices in the use of formative and summative assessment. The teachers had positive beliefs toward formative assessment; however, they preferred using summative assessment. The qualitative findings further pointed to a significant knowledge gap among teachers regarding specific terminologies, such as formative and summative assessment, as well as scoring rubrics. Finally, the results indicated that teachers used various feedback types to improve learners’ writing skills. The findings emphasize the need to improve teachers’ writing assessment literacy in order to bridge the gap between teachers’ beliefs and their practices of writing assessment.  

lexical diversity of argumentative and narrative writings of L2 learners, and the contribution of syntactic complexity and lexical diversity to the writing quality in the L2 argumentative and narrative writings of EFL learners. To this end, 46 pre-intermediate and intermediate Iranian EFL learners from four intact classes wrote one argumentative and one narrative essay in L2, and one argumentative and one narrative essay in L1 on different topics. Paired-samples t-tests revealed that lexical diversity surfaced more in the L1 writing of the learners. Multiple linear regressions indicated that among five measures of syntactic complexity, mean length of T-unit and clauses per T-unit better predict the quality of argumentative writing. In addition, complex nominals per clause are better predictors of narrative writing quality. Simple linear regressions showed that lexical diversity is a significant predictor of L2 writing in both genres. Based on the findings, writing instructors are advised to provide L2 learners with explicit instruction on the use of diverse vocabulary and different syntactic structures in order to help them improve the quality of their writing.

With the significant increase in academic publications and the growing emphasis on academic writing in recent years, the exploration of writers' authorial voice has become essential in the academic community. Therefore, the present study examined language learners’ preferences for the use of metadiscoursal elements of voice and the effectiveness of instruction in promoting the expression of authorial voice in academic writing among Iranian EFL learners. The participants were 143 intermediate English major university learners at Najaf Abad University of Isfahan who were randomly divided into a control group and two treatment groups. One group received explicit instruction and the other group received implicit instruction on the use of voice elements based on Hyland's (2005) interactional framework in the academic context. The control group did not receive any instruction on discourse markers. After an eight-session treatment, participants’ writings in the three groups were analyzed. The findings revealed that the treatment groups demonstrated a more significant improvement in their ability to express authorial voice compared to the control group. The group receiving explicit instruction utilized more stance markers compared to the group receiving implicit instruction. The findings highlight the importance of consciousness-raising in improving the use of discourse markers in academic writing.

Teachers’ beliefs play a determining role in the decisions they make and the strategies they employ to foster learner autonomy. Therefore, their beliefs and the strategies they use to foster autonomy merit additional empirical evidence. This study investigated the beliefs of 85 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Kurdish teachers towards learner autonomy and examined the influence of their experience in this regard. The data was collected using a newly developed questionnaire addressing learner autonomy from eight dimensions; the questionnaire encouraged teachers to reflect on their beliefs relating to learner autonomy. The findings indicated that teachers generally possess positive attitudes towards learner autonomy. Experienced teachers placed significantly greater emphasis on the psychological and political factors, the contributions of learner autonomy, and learning materials. The qualitative data indicated that both novice and experienced teachers stressed the importance of promoting autonomy through learner-centered teaching methods and student engagement. Experienced teachers employed more varied teaching methods and assessment techniques. While novice teachers preferred direct observation of their students during tasks and activities, experienced teachers adopted a more hands-off approach. The study underscores teachers' commitment to fostering independent learning across different dimensions of teaching practices. The differences in beliefs and strategies between novice and experienced teachers highlight the transformative impact of teaching experience on the promotion of learner autonomy. The findings implied that professional development programs should focus on shaping teachers’ beliefs towards using teaching strategies that foster autonomy.

This study is a longitudinal mixed method design investigating Iranian English learners' perception of native-speaker English teachers (NSETS) and non-native-speaker English teachers (NNSETS) in New Zealand and Iran within the conceptual framework of Kumaravadivelu (2003), Rudolf (2018), and Benson el al. (2013).  A semi-structured interview and a questionnaire (consisting of 21 Likert items and 3 open-ended questions) were used twice ten months apart in each context. An online narrative interview was employed in 2022 to supplement the data. Non-parametric data analyses were run on the Likert items. Several coding schemes were developed and a thematic analysis was employed. Findings revealed that NNSETS in New Zealand and NSETS in Iran were perceived by the learners as more effective in guiding their students toward developing a multilingual identity. This is interpreted as the "cross-actional influence of context in language learners' perception of teachers regarding L2 identity development in students" in this research. The findings also showed a shift in students' perception from NSETS to NNSETS in both contexts over time due to the better instructional strategies of NNSETS for teaching reading, listening, grammar, and their deeper understanding of the student's needs. This study informs language teachers, teacher educators, and education authorities on 1) the cross-actional influence of context on students' perception of teachers regarding L2 identity development as a normal procedure, 2) the pattern of a shift from NSETS to NNSETS due to the qualifications of NNSETS should be considered in teacher training programs to make the most proficient language teachers accordingly.

The present study compares the effects of the second language (L2) reading and listening on incidental vocabulary learning and retention of three dimensions of word knowledge (i.e., part of speech, syntagmatic association, and form-meaning connection) among EFL learners. The relationship between word exposure frequency and vocabulary learning is also examined in reading versus listening. Sixty-three pre-intermediate EFL learners in four intact classes were randomly assigned to four experimental groups based on the number of target word (TW) exposures (i.e., 1, 3, 5, and 7 exposures) they received in treatment texts. The experimental groups read and listened to four texts with 36 TWs. The scores on the immediate and three-week delayed posttests revealed that reading contributed to a greater amount of vocabulary learning and retention in the three dimensions of word knowledge. The results further revealed that an increase in the word exposure frequency had a significant effect on acquiring form-meaning connection through reading, and on three dimensions through listening. Moreover, frequency improved retention gains in both input sources.

علیرغم اینکه که مطالعات چشمگیری در زمینه تجزیه و تحلیل صدا و حضور نویسنده در نگارش های استدلالی انجام گردیده، هنوز در خصوص تأثیر آموزش بر این حضور تحقیقات کافی صورت نپذیرفته است. بنابراین ، مطالعه حاضر به بررسی تأثیر آموزش مبتنی بر مدل مارتین و وایت و الگوی تعاملی هایلند در شکل گیری صدا و حضور نویسنده و تعامل بین نویسنده و خواننده پرداخته است. برای این منظور، یک گروه کنترل و دو گروه تحقیق در مطالعه شرکت کردند. گروه های تحقیق در مورد عناصر تشکیل دهنده موضع نویسنده و تعامل با خواننده بر اساس دو مدل متفاوت آموزش داده شدند. تغییرات در استفاده از عناصر بین گروههای تحقیق و کنترل پس از آموزش بررسی گردید. زبان آموزانی که از تأثیر صدا و حضور نویسنده بر اساس مدل مارتین و وایت آگاه گردیدند، از موضع گیری تعاملی و تدافعی بیشتری در نگارش آیلتس استفاده کردند و تعامل قابل تو جهی با خواننده داشتند. نتایج حاصل از این تحقیق می تواند به مربیان کمک کند تا آگاهی زبان آموزان را از چگونگی حضور نویسنده در نوشتار بطور موثری ارتقا داده تا نوشتار های تعاملی متقاعده کننده ای را ارائه دهند.

Writing is thought as the most complicated skill in second language acquisition; therefore, L2 researchers have always been in pursuit of discovering an effective approach to improve it. One of the most debated ways is feedback which has a key role in improving the quality of writing. Much of the previous research on feedback has focused on analyzing different types of feedback and their effect on the learners’ writings and few studies have examined the effectiveness of computer feedback. Therefore, the present study was conducted to 1) determine what aspects of students’ writings receive computer feedback, 2) examine the difference in the effect of computer-generatedfeedback (CBF) and Teacher-based feedback (TBF) on improving the students’ writing quality and 3) compare the differences in Depth of Processing (DOP) in processing computer and teacher feedback. The results indicated that content, style and organization of their essays received feedback from the teacher and the computer. Teacher feedback was more effective in terms of its impact on improving the quality of the writing of the students than computer-generatedfeedback and it resulted in deeper processing of lexical items, whereas computer-generated feedback invoked medium processing on grammar.   

The importance of communicative ability in second language classroom context has increased the interest in interaction among foreign language learners. The quality of negotiations is influenced by so many factors that should be investigated in order to facilitate the process of second language acquisition. This study seeks to investigate the effect of task type on autonomous EFL learners’ interactive negotiation in synchronous computer-mediated communication context. Total number of 60 pre- intermediate EFL learners were chosen from Iran Language Institute of Birjand based on their performance on the language learning autonomy questionnaire designed by Zhang and Li (2004). They participated in three types of tasks, including Decision making, Jigsaw, and Opinion gap tasks via Telegram Desktop. The chat history of EFL learners was analyzed in terms of the model of interaction proposed by Tsui (1994). Three main moves of Initiating , Responding , and Follow-up were included in her taxonomy of interaction analysis. The results suggested that the learners tried to utilize different frequencies of appropriate moves to achieve the goals of the specific task. Practically, this study presented a revised model that can be used as a frame work for designing suitable task types in the process of computer-mediated communication.

This research was conducted to measure Persian EFL students’s degree of willingness to write in English. To reach the goal, semi-structured interviews were conducted, deriving inspiration from earlier works of McCrosky and Baer (1985), MacIntyre, Dornyei, Clement, and Noels (1998), and Yashima (2002) on willingness to communicate. The participants of the study were 29 individuals comprising 23 university students from different majors and 6 writing experts with academic statuses varying from BA holders in TEFL to university professors in applied linguistics. They were interviewed in two separate layers via employing the Delphi technique. Content analysis was conducted on the interviews and the components were extracted; the WTW questionnaire was then designed and developed for the first time and was validated via conducting factor analysis and was then administered to 257 university and IELTS students. The final version of the questionnaire included 38 items after having been factor analyzed. The results indicated that there are four factors underlying the construct of willingness to write, which are interlinguaprofession, cognition, involvement, and technology. The findings of the study can bring considerable benefits to EFL students to recognize the influential factors on their degree of willingness to write (WTW) and try to boost the facilitating factors to become more autonomous learners. Academic EFL/ESL writing teachers can enhance their students’ writing ability via embarking upon new strategies through which they can make learners more willing to write by promoting learners’ involvement and engagement in writing, as one of the findings of this study.

Assessment of writing skill is generally believed to be judged by a rater subjectively and qualitatively or by using analytic scoring rubrics which can potentially result in somehow not very reliable assessment. It seems that an evaluation of writing based on a model can result in a valid and reliable writing assessment. To achieve such an objective, this study firstly aimed to develop an assessment model based on Activity Theory (AT), i. e., Activity Theory-Based Assessment Model (ATBAM), and then to employ it in the assessment of writing performances of Iranian language learners in a private language college. And finally, to achieve the concurrent validity of ATBAM, its results were compared with those of a traditional approach. Three groups of participants took part in this study: a group of upper intermediate English learners (N=29) who submitted one writing sample per week in four successive weeks, teachers (N=6) who provided learners with feedback and assigned holistic scores and course supervisors (N=2) who reassessed the writing samples on the basis of an analytic rubric of writing assessment. The results showed that using ATBAM in writing assessment results in an exploration of not only learners’ but also teachers’ engagement in the development of learners’ writing ability. The role of teachers’ feedback and teachers’ and learners’ social interaction in the development of learners’ writing ability could potentially provide comprehensive, fair, reliable, and valid scores in this model.

Grounded in sociocultural theory (SCT), this study explored whether the hypothesized difference in task-induced involvement could affect the actual realization of evaluation, one of the cognitive dimensions of the Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH). A group of 24 Iranian EFL learners participated in the study. They were paired up to write a composition including ten unknown words in the first session and then completed a cloze task with another set of ten new words in the second one. Collaborative dialogues in both sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and micro-genetically analyzed to trace how the value of hypothesized evaluation could affect the manifestation of evaluation during collaborative dialogues. In line with the tenets of ILH, the results of the micro-genetic analysis demonstrated that using target words in the composition task could induce a higher degree of evaluation than using them in the cloze task. In light of the findings, researchers are suggested to look at issues from different standpoints rather than restricting themselves to one single theoretical perspective.

The present study aimed toassess the target and present reading comprehension needs and abilities of Iranian medical students with different levels of Englishlanguage proficiency. A total of 283 medical students and 23 ESP instructors were chosen through cluster sampling. The data collection instruments included the Persian version of Atai and Nazari’s (2011) needs analysis questionnaire and a 40-item language proficiency test. The obtained results indicatedthat ‘general vocabulary’and ‘medical terminology’were considered ‘important’ in facilitating the comprehension of medical texts. In addition, the findings revealed that medical students need to improve all reading sub-skills. Furthermore, the respondents’ perceptions were significantly different with regard to students’ target needs and present abilities in reading comprehension. Finally, there was no statistically significant difference in students’ target and present needs and abilities across different levels of language proficiency. The findings have potentialimplications for the improvement of medical EAP courses.

Although scientific forum has obliged its members to hide their presence particularly while they are discussing research outcomes to avoid personal biases, a recent trend is encouraging writers to demonstrate their identity as the author of the text through the use of first person pronouns in order to take responsibility for the content. Therefore, the present study focuses on intermediate and advanced EFL learners‘ adoption of first person pronouns so as to manifest their identity in argumentative and narrative writings. A total of 30 EFL intermediate and advanced students attending an IELTS preparation course were requested to write essays on narrative and argumentative topics. The comparison between their uses of self-mention pronouns revealed that there was not a significant difference between the use of first person pronouns which are adopted by advanced and intermediate learners in the use of pronouns in both modes of writing (argumentative and narrative essays). Moreover, by tallying first person pronouns, it is shown that advanced learners have exploited first person pronouns less than intermediate learners within narrative writings. In addition, it was found that learners used more first person pronouns in narrative writings than in argumentative ones. Findings imply that since argumentative writing requires logical reasoning, learners prefer to be cautious about the adoption of first person pronouns and revealing their presence to show their credible self. English language teachers are suggested to make language learners aware of the uses of self-mention pronouns while practicing different writing modes. Since the overuse of the personal pronouns as well as the absolute absence of the mentioned pronouns is not recommended in writing, explicit instruction concerning the use of self-mention in witting is recommended.