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As the mainstream English course books on the market written by native speakers include concepts such as exchange students, host family, online dating, and the like not in line with Iranian/Persian culture and moral values, the present study worked on innovatively devising three contemporary storybooks. These storybooks were prepared based on shared moral themes extracted from the didactical Persian classic literature and further administered in practice. The current "classroom-ethnography" research explored the opportunities/challenges of practically implementing the locally devised materials for young learners in the real EFL context in Iran. These strengths/drawbacks were scrutinized through the "triangulation" technique in which the perceptions of the recipients of the storybooks, including the young learners and ten experienced teachers anticipating the process of study before the practical phase of the research were inspected. The researcher/teacher's observation of the study process and the class video recording were also investigated. Then, the common points extracted from the acquired data were classified and coded systematically. The research resulted in some opportunities, such as enhancing the young learners' English proficiency level and improving their critical thinking ability. However, the main challenges are the time restrictions and locating an appropriate English setting for the practical study of such local English materials. In alignment with the novelty of created storybooks and the entrenched moral themes illustrating Iranian moral values, the practical section discussing the strengths and drawbacks of implementing the devised materials in a real EFL context would differentiate the current research from the related literature in Iran.

The study examines the effects of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) on intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ L2 autonomous motivation, self-efficacy, and perceived locus of causality. Given the evolving paradigms of language teaching, SDLMI values ​​autonomy, competence and connectedness in teaching instruction and offers a distinctive approach. Drawing on contemporary motivational theories, the study examines how SDLMI impacts these key dimensions in intermediate EFL learners compared to a traditional instructional approach. Participants from four EFL classrooms completed SDLMI in the experimental group and conventional instruction in the control group. Instruments included the Preliminary English Test, motivational questionnaires, and SDLMI-based assessments. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent samples t-tests. Descriptive statistics for both groups (mean and SD) were calculated. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to compare the means between the experimental group and the control group and to examine possible significant differences in the effect of SDLMI on autonomous motivation, self-efficacy, and perceived locus of causality. The study contributes to instructional practices, advocating for autonomy-supportive strategies in fostering holistic language. 

Research article (RA) titles are one of the most important elements of a manuscript, influencing the reviewers’ decision and editors’ judgment, attracting the readers, and conveying the main idea of the article. Investigating 3197 RA titles published in 16 approved Iranian linguistic journals, this study aimed to map their pattern and portray their features of form and content. To this end, all the RA titles of the 16 Iranian journals publishing articles in applied linguistics up to 2022 (3197 titles) were collected. Then, they were analyzed for their length, presence of non-alphanumeric characters, syntactic structure, lexical diversity, as well as type and trend of information encoded.  Results show that RA titles in Iranian linguistic journals tend to be pretty long (average of 13.88) but mostly consist of non-repetitive words with high lexical diversity (.94). Authors mainly used colons (average of 82), hyphens (average of 79), and commas (average of 37) to form titles by nominal (average of 94) and compound (average of 82) grammatical structures. These titles mostly tended to embed information about the method, data, and results of the works and appeared to be highly informative. Interrelationships between features resulted in a checklist for RA title features that can be used by prospective researchers, academic writing instructors, and reviewers.

Advocating the inclusion of neurocognitive science concepts in English language teacher training curriculum is gaining more interest. However, little is known about the prospective teachers' perceptions of neurocognitive science core concepts. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the prospective ELT teachers' perceptions of the neurocognitive core concepts and the applications of them through the lens of four neuro-educational models in the classroom practices. Fifteen prospective Iranian ELT teachers were interviewed and the data were analyzed using the phenomenological method. The findings revealed that the prospective ELT teachers lacked a clear understanding of the neurocognitive concepts and their implications in classroom practices. The findings support the inclusion of neurocognitive science core concepts training in language teachers' professional development.

Considering that foreign language (FL) learning invokes a diverse brain network with different functions, this paper aims to discuss the activities proposed in a case study with a Brazilian participant with aphasia learning Japanese as a FL. We focus on the metalinguistic processes required from him to accomplish the Japanese tasks. The participant attended weekly sessions, one-hour per session, for seven months. The sessions were recorded and transcribed. Therefore, we explore the relation among language, brain, aphasia, and metalinguistic processes and embodied simulation in the context of FL learning activities. The results of this research support the idea that learning a FL might be a valuable technique for language intervention in aphasia.To our knowledge, this is the first work to address the FL learning by people with aphasia. Several questions still remain to be answered, such as the long-term effect of FL learning and the use of a broader variety of participants. However,  the findings of this study contribute to the discussion of language learning in aphasia rehabilitation.

Mounting attention has recently been paid to authorial stance in academic writing due to its important role in the interpersonal aspect of writing, encompassing the ways in which authors establish connections, convey attitudes, and engage with an audience. This study was an attempt to explore how native and non-native authors of Applied Linguistics deploy linguistic features to project their authorial stance. To this end, a corpus of 100 research articles authored by native and non-native researchers was collected from journals in the field of ELT. Hyland's Interpersonal Model of Metadiscourse (2005) was employed to differentiate the features produced and figure out how authors navigate the complexities of expressing their meaning while considering the ELT community expectations, and SPSS was used to analyze the data. Based on the results, the proportion of interactive resources was found to surpass that of interactional resources in both native and non-native writings, with transitions being the leading feature, followed by evidentials; and regarding the interactional resources, boosters, and hedges were the most dominant features employed by native and non-native authors, respectively. Overall, no tendency was found towards textuality through which authors consider the target audience (engagement markers), signal their confidence through the portrayal of authors' feelings (attitude markers), and take credit for their findings (self-mentions) throughout the whole corpus, particularly non-native writings. It seems that writing courses offered in non-native contexts require improvements to meet the standards of academic writing. Therefore, the study has important implications for both non-native and novice researchers and course designers.

English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks play a significant role in these cultural exchanges. On the other hand, English is known as an international language and acquiring a good Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in EFL classes is considered as one of the primary goals. The present research reports a qualitative study on firstly, the representation of the elements of intercultural competence in Iranian EFL high school textbooks (Prospect Series) and secondly, the potentiality of the textbooks to develop students’ ICC. To this end, an in-depth content analysis of Prospect 1, Prospect 2, and Prospect 3 was done based on Byram’s (1997) model. Next, a group of 300 Iranian high school students was provided with the AIC questionnaire (Fantini, 2009a, p. 196) to examine the extent to which EFL lessons in Iranian high-school English textbooks significantly develop learners’ intercultural competence. The results of the statistical analyses revealed that the cultural topics covered in Prospect Series have little emphasis on developing students’ ICC, and also the dimensions of ICC tasks in the textbooks are distributed unequally. Moreover, Iranian EFL textbooks could not significantly develop learners’ ICC to become aware of cultural differences by being a source of ICC experience.

Highlighting the inseparable link between language, culture, and technology in English as a foreign language education, this qualitative exploratory study examined the impact of cultural and multicultural awareness on Iranian EFL teachers’ professional development within augmented virtual reality (AVR)-based and conventional teacher education programs. Thus, 28 EFL teachers participated in semi-structured interviews and reflective inquiries following eight-week training courses. Data analysis was done manually via qualitative thematic analysis and by MAXQDA according to Guskey’s (2002) professional development model. Consequently, seven themes for the conventional group (maintaining a culturally responsive environment, enhanced teachers’ behavior, curriculum improvement, creative ideas, enhanced skills, efficient communication, and preparing students for effective communication) and five themes for the AVR group (experiencing authentic material and environment, accessibility features, less interactivity in the classroom, teachers’ passion and confidence improvement, and less cultural boundaries) were extracted. The study highlighted the crucial role of cultural and multicultural immersion and adaptive teaching strategies in creating culturally responsive environments. This approach equipped EFL instructors to address diverse student needs and foster inclusive learning spaces effectively. Moreover, the AVR technology deepened cultural immersion and supported modern teaching approaches, enhancing educators' ability to engage with diverse cultural classrooms. Despite the observed improvements in trainees’ passion and confidence, a need for reconsidering technological aspects in contemporary teacher education was identified. Ultimately, the findings offered pedagogical implications for EFL teacher education and teacher trainers to equip teachers with the necessary skills to address cultural and multicultural challenges in EFL teaching and stimulate their professional growth.

Materials evaluation plays an important role in language teaching as it helps practitioners to develop an awareness of the coverage and quality of the existing materials and as such, guides most instruction and revision decisions. Therefore, we sought to evaluate three English Vision textbooks exclusively written for Iranian secondary high school students through a comparison to the identical Interchange book series, the fifth edition. Following a model of nominal groups outlined here, the evaluation targeted the quantity and quality of the groups appearing in the two series as they are assumed to be an important part of authentic language. For the quantitative part, the results indicated a significantly higher use of nominal groups in the Interchange series. Similarly, in the qualitative analyses, we found higher quality nominal groups appearing in the Interchange books. The findings revealed inadequate inclusion of nominal groups' potentially useful structures in the Vision textbooks, supposed to help teachers to raise an awareness so as to come up with appropriate instructional policies, and the textbook developers to consider the findings when any revision is due.

The present study investigated the effect of dialogue localization as a classroom activity on intermediate EFL learners’ classroom conversation. To achieve this, 60 intermediate language learners were selected as convenient sample. The participants’ proficiency levels were determined through the administration of the OPT test. The OPT test utilized in this study comprises a total of 30 questions, distributed evenly across three categories: listening, vocabulary, and grammar, with 10 questions allocated to each category. The proficiency level of the students was determined based on their scores, with a range of 0-10 indicating a pre-intermediate level, 10-20 indicating an intermediate level, and 20-30 indicating an advanced level. Then, they were divided into experimental and control groups. According to Farhady, Jafarpur, and Birjandi (1994), a pre-test of speaking consisting of 7 questions was administered to both groups, and the participants were required to respond orally. The scoring system used for evaluating the participants’ speaking skills was based on the guidelines outlined in the book "Testing Language Skills from Theory to Practice." The experimental group was then taught localized conversation while the control group was taught non-localized conversation. After ten sessions of the treatments, a post-test of speaking was administered in which the participants in both groups were involved in the same activity as the pretest. The data were analyzed through calculating independent sample t-test. The results indicated that the means of the two groups were significantly different, i.e., the experimental group outperformed the control group in the speaking achievement. This means that localization in dialogue has the potential to enhance students’ speaking abilities during classroom conversations.

This study builds on previous reviews of technology-mediated feedback up to 2020 to provide an updated account of research conducted from 2020 onwards. It offers an overview of contextual trends, feedback focus, and the types of technology and software used. The analysis focuses on peer-reviewed studies examining technology-mediated corrective feedback on writing in EFL or ESL contexts, using quantitative or mixed methods approaches. Data were coded using an Excel sheet, and frequencies were reported as percentages. The major findings indicate that technology-mediated feedback is more prevalent in higher education, emphasizing the importance of leveraging technology for enhancing feedback practices. Additionally, half of the publications employed a mixed-methods approach, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. However, some studies lacked methodological transparency; therefore, the study highlights the need for stricter reporting guidelines. Furthermore, the findings reveal that teachers and computers are the primary sources of feedback in technology-mediated settings, aligning with their significant roles in traditional and online learning environments. According to the findings, educators are encouraged to adopt technology-mediated feedback in higher education and engage in training and professional development in this area. Moreover, researchers are recommended to continue conducting mixed-methods studies by following more rigorous transparency guidelines.

As a controversial subject, globalization has affected various aspects of our lives. Today, the intertwined world is run through complicated relationships and the education of competent human capitals has gained more significance than before. Recently, there has been a movement, known as Global Citizenship Education (GCE), toward a pervasive orientation to education in which issues such as Quality Education are the critical goals. The main aim of this study was to explore the extent to which The Iranian National Curriculum, The Doctrine of General Formal Education System and The Fundamental Reform Document of Education promote the GCE goals in formal English language education. Using a multi-concept model based on the GCE goals, the documents were the subject of scrutiny through document analysis. A survey questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were also utilized. Among 198 participants, 12 individuals accepted to be interviewed. The results of the document analysis and the questionnaire approved the documents’ theoretical promotion of the GCE goals. However, they were criticized for being idealistic and incoherent in the interviews and literature review. Also, their appropriate implementation, practical efficiency and convincing educational achievement were disapproved. The study emphasizes global-oriented approaches in the country’s formal education. 

House wives hold a specific position at home, as it is known to everyone. This study aimed at investigating the effect of virtual English language teaching on Iranian house wives’ emotional regulation, anger control, and domestic violence. In so doing, a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control group design was used. The target population of this study included all Iranian house wives. From the population, about 60 Iranian house wives from different cities of Iran were selected through available sampling. The participants were randomly divided into two groups namely, the experimental and control groups. The required data were collected through the following instruments: The Persian version of Anger Control Questionnaire, developed and validated by Buss and Perry (1992); the Domestic Violence against Women, developed and validated by Mohseni Tabrizi et al. (2011) in Persian; and the Persian version of the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski et al., 2003). The findings confirmed a significantly positive impact of virtual English language teaching on Iranian House wives’ emotional regulation, anger control and domestic violence. The findings have implications for top-level educational authorities, social emergency administrators, and future researchers.