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In Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, the way the Anthropocenic set of circumstances is narrated could not be easily explained away through giving precedence to either materialist or structuralist narratologists. In this sense, neither the materiality of the environment nor the arbitrary categories and models of structuralists such as Greimas could determine the ultimate narratological scheme with which one could make sense out of such set of circumstances. Only through modifying the extant narratological categories and models and exposing their arbitrariness via indicating their incapability to contain the formidable materiality of the environment, one could reach a workable semiotic framework for devising a narrative out of the anthropocenic set of circumstances. Reaching this framework would be the present study’s research objective. As its findings, the study recognizes that such a framework would not give the agency of devising narration to either non-human/environmental or human entities in the anthropocene, and at the same time will be the result of the uneasy, yet workable, coupling of these entities. This framework would also acknowledge the uncontainable nature of the environment in the anthropocene, and turn both human and non-human entities into mere actants that have no particular motivation. The study uses the modified narratological models of Algirdas Greimas and Amitav Gosh proposed by critics like Hanes Bergthaller, Marco Caracciolo and Jean Paul Petitimbert to reach this semiotic framework.  

The current study attempted to investigate the effect of a newly tailored curriculum on students’ general English achievement across gender as compared to the standard curriculum at Iranian tertiary education. The participants were 120 non-native undergraduate students of Pre-requisite General English course majoring in different disciplines at Ayandegan Institute of Higher Education in Tonekabon city. They were assigned into four groups including female control and experimental as well as male control and experimental. The experimental groups received teaching through the tailored curriculum and the control groups through the standard one. All the groups were given pretest and posttest on general English achievement. In order to analyze the data, a Kolmogrove-Smirnov test and an Independent Samples T-test were utilized. The findings of the study indicated female participant’s outperformance compared to the male ones, after being treated with tailored curriculum (TC) and standard curriculum (SC). However, the male participants experienced higher degree of progress after receiving TC as compared to SC, while such progress was not seen for the female.

Concern about the Iranian EFL learners’ dissatisfaction with their learning achievement motivated this qualitative study. While the importance of teacher feedback in English as a foreign language (EFL) and its correlation with self-directed learning (SDL) of EFL learners is recognized in the literature, there seems to be a gap specifically regarding the role of Iranian EFL teachers' productive feedback features in fostering EFL learners' SDL. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the teachers' self-reported productive feedback perception and practices in support of Iranian EFL learners’ SDL to fill in the gap. For this aim, fourteen Iranian EFL teachers were interviewed, and the data obtained from the semi-structured individual interviews were analysed through content analysis. According to the findings, the participating EFL teachers unanimously comprehended the benefits of productive feedback in the classroom in support of learners’ SDL. These benefits, emerging from the analyzed data based on teachers’ insights, may contribute to learners’ self-awareness, freedom, effective learning, and a stress-free learning environment. However, the presence of lack of time, teachers’ shortage of knowledge, and the top-down approach to the education system of Iran prevented Iranian EFL teachers from actually implementing these productive feedback features supporting learners’ SDL.

Although there is an increasing amount of research examining the efficacy of Witten Corrective Feedback (WCF) in enhancing the grammatical accuracy of EFL learners, only a few studies have explored the perspectives of EFL teachers regarding Formulaic-oriented Witten Corrective Feedback (FWCF) in EFL settings. Using a mixed-method approach, this interpretive exploratory study sought to understand the attitudes of Iranian EFL teachers toward FWCF. The analyses were based on quantitative data from a 13-item anonymous bespoke online survey, qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, and an open-ended question at the end of the survey. EFL teachers (n =137) responded to the online survey, and 7 participants participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that female teachers' favorable opinions about the effectiveness of WCF for improving EFL learners' writing performance resulted from their belief that the learners' capacity to use more formal and courteous language in their writing assignments was positively impacted by using these formulaic sequences. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that EFL teachers preferred direct WCF methods over indirect tactics. The most essential component that affected teachers' practices in the classroom was training designed to change their perspective of the valuelessness of WCF. The teachers' lack of satisfactory understanding of formulaic sequences stemmed from their lack of information. In addition, teachers' hesitancy to use them in the lower proficiency levels emanated from their misconceptions of their uselessness in the language learners' writing tasks.

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.

Possible selves represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become and what they are afraid of becoming. This paper, using a mixed method design, probes the possible teaching selves of 108 pre-service and 41 in-service Iranian EFL teachers to explore their professional fears and hopes. Data were collected via Possible Language Teacher Self Questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the qualitative data using MAXQDA demonstrated the fears and hopes of the teachers in terms of professionalism, instructional strategies, classroom management and professional interpersonal relationship. Moreover, both fears and hopes were found to be rooted in personal (cognitive and affective) and social (mostly organizational) sources. Further, analysis of quantitative data via ANOVA, independent-samples T-test also revealed that the pre-service teachers and their in-service counterparts are similar in terms of their feared and ideal to selves whereas their ought self has a determining role in justifying the observable variations in their possible self. In addition, pre-service teachers' year of education was also found to be a significant factor affecting their possible selves; that is, it was shown that first-year, second-year and third-year pre-service teachers' ought self is significantly different from that of in-service teachers. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference between fourth-year-pre-service teachers and in-service teachers in terms of their ought self. 

The success of language teachers and learners is definitively pertinent to the emotions they experience in academic environments. Accordingly, the factors impacting language teachers’ and learners’ emotions must be recognized. Many scholars have scrutinized emotional variables in response to this necessity through various methodological approaches. The present study aims to evaluate some of the innovative approaches to assessing emotional factors to see how innovative they are and review their positive points and shortcomings. To do so, Q Methodology (Q), idiodynamic method, Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM), Process Tracing Approach (PTA), Social Network Analysis (SNA), Nested Ecosystem Model (Ecological approach), and Retrodictive Qualitative Modeling (RQM) methods have been selected to be reviewed in this research. The findings highlight several strengths and weaknesses of each of the methodological approaches. It has also been reported that these approaches need to be context-specific and person-sensitive to generate more accurate data. Among the approaches, PTA and SNA have received scant attention in the investigation of emotional factors since the data in these two approaches cannot be reported precisely in narrative form. Our study would be conducive for all researchers, notably those working in the field of language teachers’ and learners’ psychology.  

Emphasizing the significance of students' attitudes and emotions in the learning process, this study utilized Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to investigate the roles of sapio-emotionality, angloemotionality, and sensory motivation in learners' academic accomplishments. The key aim was to devise a scale for measuring students' anglo-emotionality (a blend of native speakers' characteristics and emotionality) using SEM, while also scrutinizing the relationships between sapio-emotionality (intelligence entwined with emotionality), angloemotionality, and sensory motivation. Data was collected from 292 EFL students (156 males and 136 females) across both social and non-social sciences fields who filled in three questionnaires, namely sapio-emotionality, anglo-emotionality, and sensory motivation scales. The SEM analysis indicated that the anglo-emotionality scale has robust psychometric properties. Furthermore, it facilitated the revelation that sapio-emotionality is positively correlated with sensory motivation. However, no significant statistical correlations were discerned between anglo-emotionality and sensory motivation via SEM. Intriguingly, when mediated by angloemotionality, SEM revealed that sapio-emotionality cannot predict sensory motivation and English Language Acquisition (ELA). Also, none of the dependent variables emerged as predictors of ELA. The study concludes with a discussion of the results and their implications for future research, underscoring the utility of SEM in elucidating these intricate relationships.

Following an explanatory sequential design, this study explored the possible association between the Professional Identity (PI) of Iranian female EFL university teachers in the Habitual Burnout (HB) phase and their Emotional Quotient (EQ). In the quantitative phase, a Structural Equation Model (SEM) was developed to investigate the promising relationships. In the subsequent qualitative phase, their comments regarding the associations determined were analyzed to evaluate the model and seek remedies to help female EFL university teachers in the HB phase. To collect the required data from 67 conveniently selected Iranian female EFL university teachers in the HB phase, the Burnout Assessment Tool, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and PI Scale for Iranian English Teachers were employed. The results showed a significant causal relationship between the PI and EQ of the participants, and the findings of the interviews confirmed the causal association, providing some suggestions for female EFL university teachers to help them handle their severe burnout levels. The findings may provide implications for university EFL teachers, curriculum designers of TEFL education, and educational psychologists.