درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Mastery of English phrasal verbs is regarded as a stumbling block for English language learners, even at advanced levels. Possible sources of difficulty can be a lack of clear meaning and the random nature of particles. The lack of an organized approach to present phrasal verbs to the learners might be a factor that could exacerbate the situation of learning them. This study takes this issue as its point of departure. It investigates whether employing radial categories, conceptual categories with one prototypical concept and some peripheral members that are organized around it, is influential in the learning and long-term retention of these verbs. Moreover, the effect of employing radial categories to teach PVs on learners' cognitive load is investigated. For this purpose, 60 intermediate high school students in 10th and 11th grade were assigned to two groups, one experimental and one control group, each containing 30 students. The study results indicated that the experimental group learners who were taught phrasal verbs using radial categories outperformed control group learners who were taught using a traditional approach. This result suggests that radial categories may help facilitate learning phrasal verbs.

AbstractThe resilience of teachers has arisen as a crucial issue in developing exceptional teaching and learning experiences. It is imperative to foster resilience, which entails the capacity to endure and overcome obstacles and challenges encountered during the teaching process. Additionally, research has demonstrated that the self-efficacy of instructors is pivotal in this regard. To investigate these features, this research aimed to inspect the role of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) teachers' resilience and self-efficacy. To this end, a total of 60 IELTS teachers were chosen from Oxford Language Center, Tehran, Iran thanks to the convenient sampling and they completed a self-efficacy scale, and a resilience scale and were assigned to experimental and control groups that the former were trained through self-efficacy workshop training course in Oxford IELTS center in Tehran, Iran. The findings of this study through running an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) indicated a constructive effect of self-efficacy on IELTS teachers' resilience after the workshop training course (F (1,57) = 60.00, p = .000 < .01, partial eta squared = .513, representing a large effect size). Correspondingly, it was revealed through Pearson Product-Moment Correlation that there is a positive and significant correlation between IELTS teachers’ self-efficacy and resilience (r = .462, p = .01 < .05). This study helps IELTS teachers improve their resilience. In line with these findings, some implications were presented to language stakeholders to consider the role of teacher self-efficacy.

This study explored the status of professionalism and commitment among Iranian EFL Teachers. In doing so, 136 (86 private-and 50 public-sector) EFL teachers of different ages (25-55) from different schools and institutes in Tehran participated in this study. The participants completed the pertinent instruments (i.e., Teachers’ Professionalism and Organizational Commitment Questionnaires). Moreover, out of 136 participants, 40 EFL teachers were interviewed. The results showed that both professionalism and commitment along with their subcategories were rationally high among EFL teachers. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between EFL teachers’ professionalism and commitment. Besides, the content analysis of interviews indicated that professional teachers were committed to their teaching and were sensitive to learners’ needs. Likewise, committed teachers were actively looking for professional development opportunities. The results also showed that female EFL instructors had a higher level of professionalism and commitment than their male counterparts. Additionally, the results indicated that EFL instructors in language institutes had a higher level of professionalism and commitment than those in senior secondary schools. The findings can support EFL policymakers, supervisors, managers, and teacher trainers to grasp a better picture of professionalism and commitment in Iranian EFL educational contexts.

Teacher assessment identity (TAI) is a pivotal segment of teachers’ professional identity and practice that has recently gained momentum in second/foreign language research. However, its developmental trajectories in light of digital technologies over time have remained uncharted, to date. To fill this gap, this study intended to unpack the dynamics of EFL teachers’ assessment identity through e-portfolios uploaded on a website. In doing so, 22 novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers were requested to prepare a series of e-portfolios for a period of two months across three phases. Furthermore, to capture the participants’ perceptions about TAI and its dynamism in light of e-folios, a semi-structured interview was held with 10 EFL teachers. The results of independent median tests demonstrated a significant difference between novice and experienced EFL teachers’ assessment identity at p < .05 with the experienced group being more affected by the e-portfolios. Based on Friedman’s tests, significant improvements in novice teachers’ assessment identity were found from phase 1 to phase 2, and phase 2 to phase 3 owing to the use of e-portfolios. However, the experienced participants did not show significant improvement from phase 1 to phase 2, while in phase 3, a significant improvement and jump were observed. Moreover, the thematic analysis of the interviews indicated that both groups concurred that e-portfolio could contribute to TAI development given its capability to inspire reflection on assessment practices. The study presents implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, and L2 researchers regarding the dynamism of TAI in light of e-portfolios.

Graphic organizers have been employed to facilitate second language learners' vocabulary knowledge development; however, the examination of the effects of these graphic organizer options on learners' collocation knowledge development has remained unexplored. This research investigated the effects of using teacher-generated, individually-generated, and cooperatively generated graphic organizers on Iranian English language learners' collocation knowledge. The present study examined these effects by studying 80 intermediate second language learners who were selected based on convenience sampling. The participants were assigned to four groups randomly. The collocations were provided on the board in the control group, and explanations were provided orally. In the teacher graphic organizer group, the teacher provided the learners with pre-filled graphic organizers with collocations. In the individually-generated group, the teacher provided the learners with a list of words in groups, and they had some minutes to generate their graphic organizers. In the cooperatively-generated group, the participants had some minutes to generate their graphic organizers cooperatively with their peers. Using a pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test, the researchers examined the effects of these conditions on learners' collocation knowledge. The findings showed that all graphic organizer groups were more successful than the control group in developing learners' collocation knowledge. In addition, the mean value of the participants’ scores in the cooperative group was significantly more than that of the teacher-generated and individually-generated groups, and there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the teacher and individual-generated graphic organizer groups.  

With the improvement of technologies in language learning and teaching, new models and approaches are being proposed to enhance the students’ performance. One of the practical models is Flipped Classroom (FC), which has been attracted by many teachers and researchers, especially in the K-12 education system. This study explored the effect of the online FC approach on the improvement of EFL learners' performance in high schools in Iran with a quasi-experimental design. To run the experimental study, through convenience sampling forty-three high school students were divided into an experimental group and a control group and to evaluate the efficacy of the online FC approach. The comparison of the results of experimental and control groups’ pre-test and post-test scores by an independent samples t-test revealed that incorporating the online FC approach into EFL educational context remarkably improves the EFL students' learning performance. It is significantly applicable for learning a language, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic which majority of the classes have been running online. Additionally, to manage online FC more efficiently, some suggestions are provided for teachers.

Despite the fact that there exists a considerable amount of literature on pedagogically-oriented stylistics, a significant number of the often-cited articles turns out to be based on trust and intuition. This is what has been accentuated by prominent figures as Hall (2007), Carter (2007, 2010), Zyngier and Fialho (2010), among others, while calling for more robust empirically-based studies. The present study is undertaken to review 13 studies published from 2015 to 2022. In doing so, an adaptation of a coding framework was employed to serve as guideline for this review study. In this vein, three overarching themes were detected: 1) stylistics as accessible toolkit for teacher training, 2) stylistics' significance in curriculum and syllabus development and 3) stylistics as an opportunity for cooperation between higher education and language teachers. By detecting these emergent themes some uncharted areas of stylistics-inspired pedagogies as well as some rectified issues were revealed. Despite this, there still remains the issue of underreporting which is indeed undermining to the credibility of pedagogical stylistics. Thus, a set of recommendations were accordingly provided for further advancement in studies concerning pedagogical stylistics.