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Over the past decades, writing assessment research has been concentrating on alternative methods with a social-oriented view of assessment, including dynamic assessment (DA). Given the lack of research juxtaposing the interventionist and interactionist DA frameworks in the area of narrative writing, this study sought to compare the effectiveness of Brown’s graduated prompts model vs. Poehner’s model in the development of one-paragraph narrative essays in terms of grammatical accuracy. The study followed a quasi-experimental design, with 15 Iranian EFL learners selected via convenient sampling from among the female students of a language institute in Tehran. The participants were then randomly divided into three groups: Interventionist group, in which mediation was based on Brown’s model in the sandwich format; interactionist group, where mediation was done using Poehner’s model in the cake format; and non-dynamic assessment (NDA) control group with no mediation involved. The research consisted of three pilot sessions and eleven sessions as the main phase. To analyze the data, both descriptive and non-parametric inferential statistics were run. The results conceded the superiority of both DA approaches to NDA, whereas no significant difference was observed between the two DA groups in their general performance on narrative tasks. However, the analysis of the number and types of required mediational moves over the DA sessions indicated the superiority of the interactionist model to interventionist framework in the development of grammatical accuracy in narrative paragraphs. The study offers some theoretical and pedagogical repercussions for educators, curriculum designers, and L2 teachers.

Teacher assessment identity (TAI) is a pivotal segment of teachers’ professional identity and practice that has recently gained momentum in second/foreign language research. However, its developmental trajectories in light of digital technologies over time have remained uncharted, to date. To fill this gap, this study intended to unpack the dynamics of EFL teachers’ assessment identity through e-portfolios uploaded on a website. In doing so, 22 novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers were requested to prepare a series of e-portfolios for a period of two months across three phases. Furthermore, to capture the participants’ perceptions about TAI and its dynamism in light of e-folios, a semi-structured interview was held with 10 EFL teachers. The results of independent median tests demonstrated a significant difference between novice and experienced EFL teachers’ assessment identity at p < .05 with the experienced group being more affected by the e-portfolios. Based on Friedman’s tests, significant improvements in novice teachers’ assessment identity were found from phase 1 to phase 2, and phase 2 to phase 3 owing to the use of e-portfolios. However, the experienced participants did not show significant improvement from phase 1 to phase 2, while in phase 3, a significant improvement and jump were observed. Moreover, the thematic analysis of the interviews indicated that both groups concurred that e-portfolio could contribute to TAI development given its capability to inspire reflection on assessment practices. The study presents implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, and L2 researchers regarding the dynamism of TAI in light of e-portfolios.

While the bulk of literature repletes with studies on emotional intelligence and its effect on teachers' performance and students' academic achievement, few have been released as to the potency of the factors that can foster emotional intelligence inside classrooms. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the extent to which spiritual intelligence could be a predictor of emotional intelligence. The data were collected through a merger of the Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale (BEIS-10) and Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI).  The evolved 34-item questionnaire was translated into Persian to ensure maximum comprehension of participants. The sample of this study consisted of 847 undergraduate Iranian EFL learners from two provinces in Iran. Three phases were in this study. First, an exploratory factor analysis of SISRI-24 was performed. Second, confirmatory factor analysis of both inventories, individually, was done by IBM SPSS AMOS. This was followed by CFA of the 34-item questionnaire. Last, multiple regression analysis was modeled to find the predictive relationships. The results of PCA revealed a three-factor model of SISRI (18 statements). CFA also verified both inventories under investigation. The model fit estimated of the 34-item questionnaire was sufficiently adequate to approve the model. Multiple regression analysis also indicated that critical existential thinking could predict both appraisal and regulation of own emotions as well as utilization of emotions. Likewise, conscious state expansion could predict the utilization of emotions. It was also found that personal meaning production could predict the appraisal of other emotions. 

Mastery of English phrasal verbs is regarded as a stumbling block for English language learners, even at advanced levels. Possible sources of difficulty can be a lack of clear meaning and the random nature of particles. The lack of an organized approach to present phrasal verbs to the learners might be a factor that could exacerbate the situation of learning them. This study takes this issue as its point of departure. It investigates whether employing radial categories, conceptual categories with one prototypical concept and some peripheral members that are organized around it, is influential in the learning and long-term retention of these verbs. Moreover, the effect of employing radial categories to teach PVs on learners' cognitive load is investigated. For this purpose, 60 intermediate high school students in 10th and 11th grade were assigned to two groups, one experimental and one control group, each containing 30 students. The study results indicated that the experimental group learners who were taught phrasal verbs using radial categories outperformed control group learners who were taught using a traditional approach. This result suggests that radial categories may help facilitate learning phrasal verbs.

As an inseparable part of teachers’ education career, practicum supervision can function as a double-edged sword that can generate pedagogical improvement or even make the worse worst in the class depending on the time and manner of its implementation. Given its significance and crucial role in EFL contexts, supervision has captured the attention of some scholars in this line of research. However, few studies (if any) have focused on EFL teachers’ beliefs about instructional supervision and its role in pedagogical development considering their experience level. To fill this lacuna, the current study examined the perceptions of 100 Iranian EFL teachers with different experience levels toward various supervisory practices and their contribution to teacher pedagogical growth using an Instructional Supervision Questionnaire (Kayaoglu, 2012). Furthermore, a semi-structured interview was carried out with 10 EFL teachers taken from the same sample. The results of analyses indicated that both novice and experienced teachers had a negative view concerning the existing supervision system in Iran. Additionally, no significant difference was found between the novice and experienced EFL teachers’ beliefs about classroom supervision (p > .05). The qualitative findings also revealed that both novice and experienced EFL teachers considered supervision as bureaucracy, fault-seeking, confidence-minimizing, and with little to no instructional worth. They also had similar beliefs as per the characteristics of an effective supervisory act. Moreover, supervision was perceived useful only when teachers were novice instructors, but ineffective as they became experienced.

Despite the fact that there exists a considerable amount of literature on pedagogically-oriented stylistics, a significant number of the often-cited articles turns out to be based on trust and intuition. This is what has been accentuated by prominent figures as Hall (2007), Carter (2007, 2010), Zyngier and Fialho (2010), among others, while calling for more robust empirically-based studies. The present study is undertaken to review 13 studies published from 2015 to 2022. In doing so, an adaptation of a coding framework was employed to serve as guideline for this review study. In this vein, three overarching themes were detected: 1) stylistics as accessible toolkit for teacher training, 2) stylistics' significance in curriculum and syllabus development and 3) stylistics as an opportunity for cooperation between higher education and language teachers. By detecting these emergent themes some uncharted areas of stylistics-inspired pedagogies as well as some rectified issues were revealed. Despite this, there still remains the issue of underreporting which is indeed undermining to the credibility of pedagogical stylistics. Thus, a set of recommendations were accordingly provided for further advancement in studies concerning pedagogical stylistics.

Foreign language vocabulary learning is challenging and requires using an appropriate method. To this end, this study aimed to investigate the effect of listening and viewing BBC News lessons as a teaching and learning tool on high school EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. This quasi-experimental research was carried out in the twelfth grade of Shohada high school in Kalybar city in East-Azarbijan, Iran. Forty two high school EFL learners were chosen as participants from two intact classes. The homogeneity of the classes was checked through a KET test. Then, they were randomly assigned into the experimental (n=19) and control (n=23) groups. Target words were selected from the eight BBC News lessons for both groups. The unfamiliarity of these words to the learners was found through the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale. The experimental group experienced vocabulary learning through watching and listening to the BBC News lessons; while, the control group received the same target words through the traditional method. A vocabulary-based post-test was administrated after the treatment. The result of Independent-Samples t-test on the post-test scores of both groups revealed the significant outperformance of the experimental group compared to the control group. Practical implications are presented to teachers, researchers, and learners.

In this research, we carried out a meta-analysis of the effects of teacher scaffolding on EFL learners’ reading proficiency in which 28 experimental and quasi-experimental studies published from 2008 to 2022 and 39 effect sizes were reviewed and synthesized. Three questions guide this analysis: What is the overall effect of teacher scaffolding on EFL learners’ reading proficiency? To what extent moderator variables such as learners’ educational levels and proficiency levels modify the effect of the teacher scaffolding? What is the magnitude of publication bias in this analysis? The overall effect size was found to be 0.89, which represents a large effect size based on Cohen, Manion and Morrison’ (2007) scale. The effect sizes of moderator variables were calculated and it was reported that the scaffolding has the most effect in elementary learners and elementary school level. The symmetrical funnel plot together with the fail-safe N test indicates that publication bias does not have any significant effect on the effect size reported in this study. The findings of this meta-analysis have implications for EFL teachers, researchers, policy makers and curriculum developers.

The present study aimed at investigating the impact of Multiple Intelligences inspired instruction on Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety (FLTA) of Iranian EFL teachers. To this end, an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach was employed and twenty males and females in-service EFL teachers were selected from different universities and they were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. In the qualitative phase of the study, the aim was to find the sources of FLTA among the participants. Two participants who showed higher FLTA were selected from each group. In order to homogenize the participants, a retired version of the IELTS test was employed in which no significant difference was reported. The Ryff's (2006) questionnaire was utilized as the pre-test and post-test of FLTA. The instruction phase took place on Skype since the participants were from various universities. The results of the study revealed that the members of the experimental group showed less FLTA than those of the control group. Additionally, extrinsic factors such as negative feedback from principles and supervisors, and losing job were found to be among the most significant sources of FLTA.  Accordingly, some recommendations for teacher training programs are provided to empower teacher trainers to be able to help trainees to decrease their FLTA.