درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The objective of this study was to validate a bilingual Spanish-English version of the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) considering its potential use as a discriminator between learners in terms of language competence. This version was designed based on the two forms available on one of the creators’ websites as well as considering practices recommended regarding the elimination of cognates and loans. A one-way ANOVA test was used to confirm the test’s capacity to discriminate among learners of different linguistic competence. Additionally, Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) was conducted to revise the existence of only one underlying variable. As a result of this study, a VST version for Spanish speakers consisting of 9 vocabulary frequency levels is shared. This version is in line with validation standards put forward in previous research. It is expected that this instrument will help future studies that seek to measure Spanish speakers’ competence in English as a foreign or second language without having to deal with the interference of other intervening factors.

This study investigated the effects of corrective feedback (CF) and the Flipped Teaching Model (FTM) on English language learners’ overall and categorical grammar accuracy. The study was conducted at Payame-Nour University (PNU) of Mahabad, Iran. A total of 80 Iranian EFL learners participated in the study. The participants were randomly assigned into two flipped and two non-flipped groups of 20: one in each pair of groups receiving explicit and the other implicit CF. Data were collected across two time periods (pre-intervention and post-intervention). Two measures of Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) were conducted. The results revealed no significant differences in the effect of CF type in the flipped classes, and both led to the learners’ higher level of overall grammar accuracy. However, the explicit group outperformed the implicit one in the non-flipped classes. Explicit feedback in flipped and non-flipped classes led to the learners’ outperformance in acquiring specific grammatical structures, such as adjective/reduced adjective clauses, but not in others, like comparative/superlative adjectives, gerund/infinitive, word forms, word order, and apposition. These findings have implications for language educators seeking to enhance learners’ grammatical accuracy in both flipped and non-flipped classrooms, particularly in relation to the use of explicit feedback for certain types of grammatical structures.

Although listening is a crucial skill to enhance one’s position in academia, this skill is challenging for most L2 learners. The first step to improve L2 learners’ listening skill is to figure out their listening problems and to provide them with appropriate instruction. The aim of the current study was told-fold: (1) It explored Iranian intermediate L2 learners’ listening problems, and (2) it examined the effect of metacognitive strategies’ instruction on Iranian intermediate L2 learners’ listening comprehension. Participants were a random sample of 31 intermediate L2 learners in Iran. The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered to the participants to check their homogeneity. Also, the participants’ listening comprehension was pretested. After 10 treatment sessions, the participants were posttested to check the (possible) changes in their listening comprehension ability. In order to check the participants’ listening problems, they filled Liu’s (2010) Listening Comprehension Processing Problems Questionnaire. Data were analyzed through one samples<em> t test</em> and paired samples <em>t test</em>, whose results indicated that metacognitive strategies elevated the participants’ ability in terms of listening. Results revealed that the participants had problems in the steps of parsing and perception, although the problems were not significant. On the other hand, in the utilization phase, there seemed to be no problem. As a result, applying the findings of this research will help materials developers, curriculum planners, instructional decision-makers, and teachers.

Since language is an integral part of a culture, inspecting linguistic expressions can unveil the hidden cultural memes of a society, conceptualized as cultuling (culture in language) analysis. The present study examined the cultuling of ‘making accreditation with English’ used by Persian native speakers from the upper, middle, and lower social classes. To this end, 623 pieces of natural utterances, embracing this cultuling, were extracted from people's conversations in public and private places and from Iranian movies. Then, 279 utterances were analyzed from linguistic, cultural, and psychological perspectives based on the cultuling analysis (CLA) model. Additionally, more data were acquired through semi-structured interviews with 198 participants aged 19 to 54. The results of the study revealed that Iranians use English for various purposes in their conversations, including accreditation, power, education, superior identity, and higher social class in public/ private and formal/ informal contexts. Moreover, the analysis of Iranians’ different reactions to hearing English words in conversations manifested their hidden cultural patterns, including indirectness, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, high context, collectivism, low trust, and overstating

The study investigates English language teachers’ beliefs and perceptions in understanding the notion of differentiated instruction strategy in secondary schools in Uzbekistan. To achieve this, the researchers designed a questionnaire consisting of 3 parts, a question list for semi-structured interviews and an unstructured observation sheet. The instruments were used after having verified their validity and reliability. Our teachers participated in the research who took the questionnaires, 20 sub-samples were interviewed and 10 of them volunteered to conduct the classes per 2 observations, that is 20 observations in total. The results indicate that teachers have different points of view on differentiated instruction strategies based on their experience.  There was a big difference among questionnaire and interview responses compared to what was observed in classes in terms of applying elements of Differentiated Instruction such as Content and Process. The analyses of data show that being familiar with DI is statistically significant toward the age, working experience, and grade currently teaching. The study recommends organizing workshops for language teachers to train them to differentiate instructions and increase their awareness of the strategies of differentiation along with organizing lesson observation of those teachers who already implement differentiated instructions in their classes.          

The increasing popularity of self-assessment prompted several scholars to investigate its effectiveness and accuracy in relation to teacher assessment. However, most of these studies focused only on the consistency estimate perspective. Thus, the current study investigated the interrater reliability between self- and teacher assessment of students’ oral performance in Filipino. Specifically, this study used two perspectives (i.e., consistency estimate and consensus estimate perspectives) to see the full picture of interrater reliability between self- and teacher assessment. Fifty (50) college students from various specializations participated in this study. They assessed their respective oral performances using an in-class observation self-assessment with self-viewing. Findings reveal that teacher and students’ SA results posted a very strong positive relationship and that their ratings agree with each other. High positive correlations suggest that both the students and the teacher consistently apply the rating scale. These results were attributed to the use of a micro-analytic rating scale, assessment training, and rating procedure used during SA. Implications for classroom assessment and future studies were discussed.

Error analysis is considered as an invaluable pedagogical tool in teaching English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL). Despite abundant research, there are still lacunae in studies investigating the written grammatical errors among monolingual and bilingual male and female Persian and Turkmen EFL learners. To fill the gap, 158 Persian and Turkmen EFL learners from Golestan Province wrote two descriptive scripts that were examined for their most recurrent written grammatical errors. The errors were then analyzed and compared based on the framework of the study. Statistical analyses indicated significant relationships between Persian and Turkmens’ written grammatical errors and their gender. The frequency of monolingual Persians’ errors was significantly lower than that of bilingual Turkmens. These findings might interest EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and materials developers. Moreover, they could be a prerequisite to corrective feedback research while opening doors to further pertinent studies.

The present article experimentally studied the impact of mindfulness-cultivating intervention on various dimensions of learning. The mindfulness-cultivation techniques employed in the experimental group involved observance of all experience, analyzing, planning, judging, reasoning, and fantasizing (van Vreeswijk, et al., 2014). Furthermore, Pirson et al.’s (2012) contention that mindfulness encompasses four facets of attributes:; novelty producing, novelty seeking, engagement, and flexibility informed the selection of techniques. Learners’ level of proficiency was checked before the treatment. Before and after the treatment, three questionnaires were employed: 1) Langer Mindfulness Scale 2) Reflective thinking questionnaire 3) Positivity Scale. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) results demonstrated, approximately 50 percent of variance in reflective thinking was predicted by these techniques. Furthermore, the results via independent samples t -test demonstrated that positive orientation and language achievement promoted in the experimental group, thus implying that the intervention executed in the experimental group was effective in enhancing these two factors as well.