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Technological advancements such as computer-assisted language learning and mobile-assisted language learning have changed the scope and design of dictionaries. One advancement has been the emergence of online dictionaries, facilitating and expediting word queries and enhancing dictionary consultation with the addition of built-in features. One such online dictionary is Tureng, a commonly favored multilingual dictionary through its web-based and mobile applications. To this end, this review evaluated this online dictionary in accordance with the adapted and modified framework of Kohnke and Moorhouse (2022). The review found that Tureng has an easy-to-navigate interface and high-quality audiovisual content. It was also discovered that Tureng offers ample opportunities for learning vocabulary through its features such as word of the day, the idiom of the week, videos by Tureng, and newly-coined word of the week. It was further revealed that Tureng offers contextualized and audio-visually supported pronunciation learning through its YouGlish supplement. Moreover, practice and self-assessment of grammar, listening, pronunciation, and vocabulary through the test your English component is available on the web-based application. Nonetheless, the dictionary possesses specific technological and pedagogical limitations. More research, especially of an experimental nature, is needed to verify the analysis findings.

Willingness to communicate is subject to the moment-by-moment fluctuations in the classroom. Therefore, teachers’ decisive role comes to the foreground as they can increase learners’ desire to communicate at a particular moment by their interventions. Online instruction, despite furnishing learners with authentic material, has failed to culminate in communication thanks to connection problems or lack of non-verbal clues. Thus, the present study aimed to explore Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions of strategies to promote willingness to communicate of learners in online classes. The mixed-methods design was employed to answer the research questions. To this end, a self-designed questionnaire was first piloted and then administered to the main sample which included thirty-seven teachers. The questionnaire subsumed five effective factors garnered from extant literature. Five teachers were interviewed as to their perceptions of pros and cons of promoting WTC in online classrooms. The results indicated that teachers’ motivational strategies were perceived to promote WTC best in online classes followed by teacher immediacy. Qualitative reports also corroborated the numerical data. Lack of non-verbal clues i.e. body language was perceived to decrease learners’ motivation and participation; however, technological resources like games were reported to increase WTC in online classes. Teachers should pay heed to their crucial role in inciting positive atmosphere and get better equipped to capitalize on online affordances to increase participation in online classes.

The impact of humor on language acquisition has been documented in scholarly accounts. Hence, this study investigated Iranian pre-service and high-experienced and low-experienced in-service EFL teachers’ beliefs and practices of humor in the classroom. In order to collect data, the researchers adopted four distinct instruments including pedagogical humor questionnaire, semi-structured interview, observation checklist, and field notes. A total of 182 Iranian EFL teachers participated completed the questionnaires, while 10 in-service EFL teachers engaged in semi-structured interviews. Additionally, the second researcher observed 36 classes. The results indicated that both pre-service and in-service EFL teachers believed that humor was effective. Notably, high-experienced in-service EFL teachers displayed more pronounced positive beliefs in humor compared to their pre-service and low-experienced counterparts. The results also disclosed that humor was a routine practice for high-experienced teachers. Based on the findings of the present study, it can be suggested that it is essential to train and educate both pre-service and in-service EFL teachers in order to integrate humor into different EFL classrooms.

The process of foreign language syntactic development regarding learners’ L1 literacy level is different among adult learners. Many studies have shown that illiterate and low-literate learners follow the same path in the L2 morphosyntax development despite their L1 literacy level. However, little research has been carried out to focus on differences in the new language literacy development among learners with varying first language proficiency. Therefore, the current study was carried out to investigate the differences in learning English adjectival and prepositional phrases among three Kurdish adult groups of literate, low-literate, and illiterate learners in one term. Additionally, it probed the major difficulties they faced through the English phrase acquisition process. Mixed methods were used for data collection including observations of the classes supplemented by audio recording and English phrase tests. Through the application of three tests of recognition, matching, and multiple-choice type, the outcome knowledge of adjectival and prepositional phrases was assessed and compared among groups. The obtained data were analyzed through the Kruskal-Wallis test. Some tangible results were detected from tests that did not ascribe the differences in learning English absolutely to background schooling and literacy. In fact, they showed that there were significant differences among groups in matching and multiple-choice type post-tests, while there were no considerable differences in recognition-type post-test. Furthermore, results also revealed that illiterate and low-literate learners encountered further complicated difficulties and made an unusual combination of pronunciation and grammatical errors in their production.

Knowing how to think about the language learning process is conducive to effective learning especially in the case of grammar structures. Metacognition, a concept derived from cognitive psychology, can assist learners in this case. With regard to young adolescents at lower proficiency levels, there is a long-standing debate on whether to use L1 for teaching metacognitive strategies since learners might not be efficient enough in terms of understanding the concept of metacognition. Therefore, this small-scale experimental study focused on the effect of grammar instruction through the metacognitive intervention delivered in L1 on the EFL pre-intermediate learners' grammatical performance in English and investigated their attitudes towards grammar instruction delivered in L1. To fulfill these purposes, a homogenous group of 20 language learners was randomly divided into an experimental group ( n =10 ), which received grammar instruction through the metacognitive intervention delivered in L1, and a control group ( n =10 ), which received the instruction only in English without grammar instruction through the metacognitive intervention delivered in L1. The results of the independent samples t -test indicated that the experimental group did not outperform the control group in terms of all four English grammar points, namely present perfect, simple past tense, comparative and superlative adjectives, and past progressive . In addition, the findings obtained from the five-point Likert scale questionnaire which was distributed among the learners suggested that they had positive attitudes towards the use of L1 (Persian) in teaching English grammar. We argue that low working memory capacity, overreliance on translation, and less-cognitively activated L2 processes may account for the low performance of the experimental group learners in the grammar tests. The implication is that the L1 use in an L2 classroom can be helpful in teaching L2 grammar through the metacognitive intervention, but future studies need to examine how and to what extent L1 should be used to yield more effective results in the case of lower-proficiency learners in an EFL context.

The present study aimed at investigating the effects of applying yoga, visualization, and Rosetta Stone software on English achievement of Iranian senior citizen EFL learners. Prior to this study, the homogeneity of the learners was checked through conducting Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). Consulting the rating scale of OQPT, 30 female elementary level senior citizen EFL learners between the ages of 55 and 65 were selected to take part in the study. The participants sat for an English achievement test designed based on their textbook. They were, then, assigned to two groups of control and experimental. The members of the experimental group were taught English while practicing yoga, visualization, and applying Rosetta Stone software program, whereas their counterparts in the control group were taught via the conventional method of teaching English in the elderly day-care center. The procedure lasted for 30 sessions during the three-month treatment. Afterwards, the posttest which was similar to the pretest was administered to unravel the effect of the treatment. They were also given an attitude questionnaire to uncover their attitude towards the applied instruments. The results of the study indicated that the members of the experimental group outperformed those of the control group in terms of their English learning. The results of the attitude questionnaire demonstrated that they had positive attitudes towards the use of yoga, visualization, and Rosetta Stone software in learning English. The results of this study may offer implications for EFL teachers, curriculum designers, day-care centers of the elderly, well-fare organizations, and language schools.  

Researchers have always been concerned with innovative approaches to facilitate the learning process for language learners. One of the facilitating strategies is guided discovery learning, which can help learners to develop their critical and analytical thinking skills. Hence, the present study is an attempt to discover the effects of guided discovery learning on the development of teenage and adult learners’ syntactic structures. The participants of this study were 34 male EFL Iranian learners in Iranmehr Language Institute, Aleshtar, Lorestan province, Iran. The participants were divided into two experimental groups based on their age (12 to 18 as teenagers, and 18 to 30 as adults). First, the Longman proficiency test was given to the participants to measure their language ability. After that, a pre-test was given to the students regarding syntactic structures before the treatment. Then, every two weeks a post-test was given to the students to assess their gradual development. One immediate and two delayed post-tests were given to the students. In this study, paired and independent samples t-tests were used to compare the development of syntactic structures in the studied groups. The results of this study showed that both groups (teenagers and adults) made an improvement but adults improved more significantly than teenagers. The findings of the study contributed to the practical employment of guided discovery learning as an effective teaching methodology, especially for adults in the process of language learning

While the main focus of the studies in the literature is centered around EFL teachers’ identity construction in face-to-face classes regarding certain cliche factors, the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the potential of investigating EFL teachers' professional identity reflection in the developing contexts of distance education. Thus, this study examined the possible association between Iranian EFL instructors' Professional Identity Reflection (PIR) and their use of Achievement Orientation Strategies (AOSs) in the dynamic setting of E-teaching. Besides, this study evaluated the prediction power of the AOSs in determining the PIR of Iranian EFL instructors. One hundred four male and female Iranian EFL instructors were selected based on convenience sampling to participate in this quantitative correlational research. Two instruments, including Measure of Teachers Achievement (MoTA) and Questionnaire of Professional Identity (QPI), were used to collect the required data on the online platform of Type form. The R software's correlation and multiple regression packages were utilized to analyze the gathered data. The results indicated a robust direct association between the PIR of Iranian EFL instructors in E-teaching and their use of AOSs. Moreover, three out of four AOSs significantly predicted the PIR of Iranian EFL instructors in E-Teaching. Furthermore, the mastery-approach strategy had the most predicting power among the other AOSs. This study provides practical interdisciplinary benefits for EFL teachers, EFL teacher trainers, and educational psychologists in training EFL teachers who are aware of how their views toward achieving specific academic goals in E-teaching influence their professional identity in E-teaching.