درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

As online learning gains popularity in educational settings, online exams have become efficient tools for evaluation. However, more research is needed on students' perceptions of online exams in developing countries like Iran. This study investigates the perceptions of 153 undergraduate students who have taken or are taking online general English courses at Yasouj and Shahrekord universities. The research aims to understand university students' perceptions of online English tests, including the ease and frequency of cheating, various forms of cheating, and reasons for cheating. A mixed-method approach was employed, incorporating interviews followed by a 19-item questionnaire. Parallel exams were conducted to compare students' performance. The analysis also examined differences in perceptions based on participants’ gender. The results indicate that cheating is easier and more prevalent in online exams than in traditional face-to-face exams. However, it does not occur more frequently in online English as a Foreign Language (EFL) exams than in other subject exams. The study identified various forms of cheating used by students and the reasons for cheating in online assessments. Additionally, gender was found to influence students' perceptions of cheating in online exams significantly. Based on these perceptions, strategies to combat cheating are proposed. The implications of this study are significant for educational stakeholders, particularly teachers and students, in their efforts to promote and maintain academic integrity.

Despite being a popular topic in language testing, cognitive load has not received enough attention in vocabulary test items. The purpose of the current study was to scrutinize the cognitive load and vocabulary test items’ differences, examinees’ reaction times, and perceived difficulty. To this end, 150 students were selected using cluster/convenience-sampling, and took the Cambridge Placement Test (CPT) and Vocabulary Size Test (VST; Nation & Beglar, 2007). After uploading the vocabulary-size test’s items in PsychoPy software, there was a behavioral stage to measure students’ reaction times and correct responses. Out of these 150 high school students, a total of 60 (20 from each proficiency level of elementary/intermediate/advanced groups) were selected. In this quantitative study, all 60 students were interviewed to determine their perceived difficulty of the international VST items and their item’s difficulty-index. The data were analyzed quantitatively via simple regression and qualitatively through the examination of the students’ perceived difficulty. The results and interview findings revealed a significant connection between cognitive load/reaction time, difficulty estimate, and perceived difficulty at intermediate level. In contrast, at elementary and advanced levels, these variables could not predict the cognitive load. The findings can help to test, course, and syllabus designers by educating them on the significance of cognitive load theory so that they can base their exam designs on its premises and alleviate students' increased cognitive-workload.

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.  

Learners’ self-regulation is of paramount importance in online language learning. Thus, the present study was conducted to compare three online instructional methods of Technology-Mediated Task-Based Language Teaching (TM-TBLT), Problem-Based Instruction Online (PBIO), and Online Flipped Learning (OFL) with each other and with lecture-based online teaching in terms of their effect on language learners’ self-regulation.  To this end, 120 intermediate-level English learners were selected through convenience sampling, screened through the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT), and assigned (randomly) to one control and three experimental groups. They received instruction according to the principles of TM-TBLT, PBIO, OFL and a conventional lecture-based method, respectively. The data were collected using an online self-regulated English learning (OSEL) questionnaire and analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings revealed that all three experimental treatments had significant effects on online language learning self-regulation. The comparisons showed that all three instructional methods were equally effective in improving the participants’ online self-regulation. The findings will have practical implications for teachers to choose the best-fitting online instructional methods for improving learners’ self-regulation in online contexts. These findings can also help syllabus designers and material developers to write syllabi or create materials with special attention to fostering language learners’ self-regulation.

While second language acquisition can be a complex and time-consuming process, developing efficient approaches that are less demanding on the part of the learner can greatly enhance the learning outcomes. The present study was an attempt to explore the potential application of priming as an approach to enhance the production of motion phrasal verbs. Ninety students were divided into intermediate and upper-intermediate groups based on their proficiency levels. The participants were required to narrate a silent movie as a baseline written production task. In the next stage, for the purpose of priming, they were required to read a storybook containing instances of motion events expressed in phrasal verbs. Immediately afterward, the participants were asked to narrate a second silent movie. The researchers also administered a working memory test to investigate its potential impact on the learning outcomes. The results indicated that only the upper-intermediate group benefited from the priming mechanism. Additionally, the results suggested that working memory did not show a significant predictive role in implicit learning within the specific context of motion phrasal verbs. These findings are in line with the processability hypothesis, which posits that developmental readiness plays a significant role in language learning.

The current study examined the effect of scaffolding through presenting examples and pictures on EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and retention.For this purpose, six research niquestions were posed and a quasi- experimental design was applied with two groups of learners who were selected as experimental groups. This research was carried out with a sample of 60 English students from Iran Zaban Institution. The data were collected using three instruments. Primarily, a standard test of Nelson which had 50 items was used to assess general proficiency of the learners for the purpose of their homogeneity. Then, in order to investigate the learner’s lexical knowledge before executing the scaffolding strategies used by examples and pictures, the researcher prepared a vocabulary test used as pretest. At the end of the treatment the students’ lexical knowledge was assessed by a posttest. Also a vocabulary test was used in order to measure their vocabulary retention after two weeks. The results indicated that employing examples helps vocabulary learning as well as retention. In addition, it was shown that using pictures helps both vocabulary learning and retention, and employing examples and pictures have almost the same effect on vocabulary learning. Finally, the results are discussed and compared with the previous ones, implications are explained, and some suggestions and recommendations are provided.

This investigation aimed to examine the impact of spaced and massed education on the reading comprehension and vocabulary gain of Iranian EFL students. The researcher selected 150 Iranian participants out of 300 based on their enactment in the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The selected medium participants were unsystematically assigned into two empirical groupings (spacing and massed) and one control group. The participants' reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in English were estimated using a pre-test. Three groups were provided with instruction on reading skills by English texts and new words from American English File 3. The massed group received a 90-minute session for each text, whereas the spaced group received three 30-minute sessions; the first session lasted 30 minutes, followed by two more sessions, each lasting 30 minutes, scheduled two days apart. Behind the teaching, a reading and vocabulary post-test post-test were distributed to the three classes. The results of data analysis utilizing independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA showed a considerable distinction between the post-tests of the spaced and massed groups compared to the control group. The findings demonstrate that the spaced grouping, which followed the specific recommended steps in their community, outperformed the massed and control groups (p < .05). This has consequential implications for English instructors, learners, and curriculum developers.

The mushrooming of private bilingual schools (PBSs) in large cities of Iran highlights the importance of equipping English teachers in these schools with the required knowledge to hold high-quality English classes. In the absence of publications on the status of English language teaching (ELT) and hence English language teacher education (ELTE) practices in PBSs of Iran, the present inquiry was initiated to explore these neglected aspects in five PBSs in Tehran. In-depth semi-structured interviews with two principals, four English supervisors, and 16 English teachers were used for data collection. Thematic analysis of the data revealed how topics such as teaching methods, materials development, religious values, native and foreign cultures, technological literacy, English accents, use of mother tongue, and teacher reflection were perceived in teacher education practices of the selected schools. This finding can provide policymakers, school principals, English supervisors, and teachers with insights into the value of ELTE programs and the areas needing refinement.   

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.

Teachers’ self-regulation (SR), which improves teaching practices, has not received due attention from EFL researchers. This mixed-methods study aimed to examine the SR strategies and teaching effectiveness of English language teachers in Iranian universities and institutes located in three Iranian cities. The first sample of this study comprised 172 EFL teachers (128 males and 44 females) from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Their ages ranged from 23 to 55 years old. The majority of them majored in the different branches of English—English literature (5 BAs, 30 MAs, 10 PhDs), English teaching (10 BAs, 50 MAs,16 PhDs), and English translation (7 BAs, 28 MAs, 16 PhDs). On the other hand, the second sample comprised 153 EFL learners, who were the students of the participating teachers (49 males and 104 females). The age range varied from 14 to 35, and they came from different socioeconomic backgrounds. A study was conducted Teachers completed a Teacher Self-Regulation Scale (TSRS) questionnaire to declare the types and frequency of SR strategies they used while the participating students completed the Characteristic of Successful Iranian EFL Teachers (CSIET) questionnaire, which included ten questionnaire items. According to the quantitative data analysis, SR strategies and teaching effectiveness were negatively correlated. Moreover, 20 EFL teachers were interviewed to determine their awareness of their teaching effectiveness. The study indicates that teachers were not familiar with SR strategies, which can negatively impact their teaching effectiveness. The findings of the study may have insights for teacher educators, administrators, and university teachers, highlighting the role of SR in EFL teaching effectiveness.