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Textbook evaluation is of paramount importance in ensuring that textbooks are of high quality and aligned with educational goals. This study evaluated two common English language textbooks in Iran (i.e., American English File [private schools] and Vision series [state schools]) based on the brainling (brain+ language) model, heeding EFL learners’ cognition, senses, emotions, and culture. To this end, a brainling-based scale was validated based on “cogling”, “emoling”, “sensoling”, and “cultuling” components of the brainling model and distributed among Iranian teachers (N=218) and EFL learners (N=236). It was found that there were significant differences in the brainling components present in English textbooks used in state and private schools. Moreover, the independent samples t-tests revealed that there were significant differences in mean scores for brainling components between the two types of textbooks for students. However, it is worth noting that such differences were not observed among teachers’ ratings of these components.  The results could assist content developers in incorporating brainling as a worthwhile scale for evaluating English language textbooks.

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.

This study aimed at investigating the L2 rhetorical organization of translation and free writing tasks in terms of cohesive devices used by Iraqi intermediate EFL learners in the narrative genre. To do so, 30 Iraqi intermediate EFL learners at Kufa university took part in the study. The participants were asked to translate three narrative texts from Arabic to English and write three narratives related to the general topics given to them as prompts. The narratives were coded and rated by two experts based on Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) framework. The data obtained from translation narratives were compared with a standard translation for each text. Results of the one-sample t-test performed on the scores of translation narratives indicated that Iraqi leaners produce shorter passages in the target language than in the source language; however, they used significantly more times than expected for certain types of cohesive devices. Moreover, comparisons between translated narratives and free narratives indicated no significant difference between the translated and composed narratives. It is argued that patterns of cohesive devices used in English output of the Iraqi EFL learners are compatible with properties of their first language. The findings also show that, unlike English grammatical properties, cohesive devices are not a problematic area and would not lead to fossilized errors in the performance of Iraqi EFL learners.

While different models and questionnaires have been devised and used to measure learners’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC), to date, few scales, if any, can be found to measure foreign language teachers’ L2 WTC (FLT WTC). Therefore, the current project was designed to address this gap in the literature through an empirical investigation of the factors affecting FLT WTC. Consistent with an inclusive review of the literature and expert panel consultations, a model of contributing factors to FLT WTC was hypothesized, a representative questionnaire was devised and went through Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. A large scale of 1044 foreign language teachers participated in different stages of the study. The statistical indices of the study confirmed that the model was fit and the questionnaire established appropriate levels of reliability, and face, content, construct, convergent, and discriminant validity. It was found that teacher perceptions, student traits, classroom atmosphere, classroom settings, and discussion topics play significant roles in FLT WTC. The study can draw the teachers’ / institutes’ attention to the factors affecting FLT WTC, and the validated questionnaire can be used as an instrument to measure FLT WTC in future studies.  

The current study aimed to investigate EFL teachers’ use of different corrective feedback types in face-to-face and online classes across levels of proficiency, as well as their perceptions of the use of corrective feedback (CF) in their classrooms. To this end, six teachers (three face-to-face and three online) from two language schools were selected as the participants based on convenience sampling. It’s worth noting that in terms of design, the current investigation qualifies as a case study. In an attempt to triangulate data collection, both observation and interview were used as the instruments for data collection. In so doing, each teacher’s class was observed for two sessions, and the interaction between learners and each teacher was audio-recorded. Furthermore, structured interviews were conducted with the participants following observations. The study was guided by Lyster and Ranta’s (1997) and Sheen’s (2011) framework for CF types. As the findings revealed, recast was the most commonly used CF type in elementary and intermediate levels in both classroom modes, as well as the advanced face-to-face class, with the only exception being the advanced online class in which elicitation featured as the most preferred feedback type. Furthermore, the results of the interview data revealed that all teachers had positive perceptions of using CF in EFL classrooms. The findings offer some fruitful implications for EFL teachers who are engaged with face-to-face or online modes of instruction, particularly as they highlight the importance of offering more explicit CF types to bring about more noticing and uptake.

Local item dependence (LID) refers to the situation where responses to items in a test or questionnaire are influenced by responses to other items in the test. This could be due to shared prompts, item content similarity, and deficiencies in item construction. LID due to a shared prompt is highly probable in cloze tests where items are nested within a passage. The purpose of this research is to examine the occurrence and magnitude of LID in a cloze test. A cloze test was analyzed with the Rasch model and locally dependent items were identified with the residual correlations. Findings showed that three pairs of items were locally dependent. When these items were removed from the analysis, test reliability dropped but item fit and unidimensionality improved. Removing the three locally dependent items did not affect person ability mean and standard deviation, though. The findings are discussed in terms of LID detection and modeling in the context of cloze test and language testing.

A sustained, school-based approach that offers in-service EFL teachers opportunities for collaboration in creating an environment that promotes their capacity-building and instructional growth is necessary for their professional growth. This study aimed to contribute to the growing body of research on the effect of distributed leadership in teacher professional learning. Specifically, this study scrutinized the connection between distributed leadership and professional learning of teachers, focusing on the mediating role of teacher agency. A cross-sectional survey design was applied, collecting data from 458 teachers in Iran. Teacher Professional Learning Scale, Teacher Agency Scale, and Distributed Leadership Scale were completed by them. Structural equation modelling was run to analyze the relationship between variables. The findings revealed a minimal direct relationship between distributed leadership and the professional learning of teachers, with teacher agency acting as a major mediating factor. These results contribute to existing research by suggesting that distributed leadership may not have a substantial direct effect on teacher learning, but rather indirectly improves teacher agency.

In recent years, Instagram has gained considerable attention in scientific research because of its popularity among English language learners. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of empirical studies that investigated the use of Instagram as a mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) tool in ESL/EFL and attempted to perform a scientific mapping of the literature. To this end, a corpus of studies since 2010 was retrieved in January 2023 from six academic databases and reviewed through the stages of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA). A critical appraisal of 48 experimental studies included in this review was carried out and a meta-analysis of 11 eligible studies was conducted. The results of the meta-analysis confirmed the significant effect size of the use of Instagram in ESL/EFL. The bibliometric analysis revealed that the research productivity is up and found writing and vocabulary skills as the main focus in most of the studies. This study could have implications for teachers and researchers to gain a broad overview of the integration of Instagram in English language teaching and to know the current research trends in the field for future research.

The advent of ChatGPT, an all-purpose intelligent Chabot created by Open AI, has created a multitude of prospects and opportunities within the realm of language education. Owing to its exceptional capacity to produce a wide range of textual outputs, ChatGPT responds to queries in a matter of seconds. The present study aimed to examine the appropriateness of ChatGPT-based instruction and flipped language learning instruction (FLLI) in classrooms in terms of enhancing EFL learners’ interactional metadiscourse realization across language proficiency levels. Sixty-three English language learners were divided into four distinct groups: 16 in the advanced and 16 in the intermediate FLLI group, 15 in the advanced, and 16 in the intermediate ChatGPT group. Before initiating the study, all participants were given a pretest that specifically assessed the use of interactional metadiscourse markers (IMMs) in argumentative writing. The four experimental groups were separately exposed to ChatGPT-based instruction and FLLI during eight sessions. Results from a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure through SPSS (version 25) revealed that the ChatGPT-based instruction was more effective than FLLI, and both intermediate and advanced language learners following the ChatGPT-based instruction used IMMs in argumentative writing more successfully. Moreover, the participants’ perceptions of ChatGPT and FLLI were analyzed through MAXQDA (version 2020), showing more positive attitudes towards using ChatGPT in language learning in general and IM realization in particular. The findings have the potential to provide advantages for teacher educators in terms of utilizing ChatGPT learning approaches.