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This study explores Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions of integrating job crafting interventions with reflective teaching to enhance their teaching practices and well-being. Using a grounded theory approach, 25 experienced EFL teachers (minimum 5 years of teaching experience) were selected through purposive sampling to participate in a multi-phased intervention based on the PERMA model. The intervention included training workshops, self-set job crafting assignments, and reflective practices. Data were collected through semi-structured and focus-group interviews and analyzed to identify recurring themes. The findings revealed three themes: 1) reflective mindset, 2) sense of belonging and engagement, and 3) reflective avoidance. Results indicate that job crafting improved teachers' self-efficacy, motivation, and resilience, though some experienced challenges in implementation. Practical implications suggest incorporating job crafting strategies into teacher training programs to foster reflective teaching and enhance teacher well-being. This research contributes to the field by bridging positive psychology and reflective practices in SLA contexts, emphasizing the value of teacher-centered interventions in professional development.

This article investigates how native Persian speakers process and comprehend affirmative and negative discoursal causal assertions. To examine this, an eye-tracking experiment was conducted with 10 male and 20 female Persian-speaking participants. The main experiment involved 32 Persian vignettes, each containing three sentences: an opening sentence, a target sentence (affirmative or negative discoursal causal), and a concluding sentence. The polarity of the target and concluding sentences was varied (affirmative vs. negative) within participants. When participants heard an affirmative discoursal causal assertion (e.g., Because my skin was dry, I applied moisturizer ), they primarily fixated on the factual phrase ("applying moisturizer"), with a fixation probability of 63%, whereas the conjectural phrase received little attention, attracting only 12% of fixation probability. A similar pattern was observed for negative assertions (e.g., Because my skin was not dry, I did not apply moisturizer ), where participants focused on the factual phrase ("not applying moisturizer"), attracting only 63% of fixations, largely ignoring the conjecture, with a fixation probability of only %19. Fixation data confirmed that factual phrases consistently received more attention than conjectural ones during early processing stages. In the final analysis, the effect of specificity on fixation patterns was tested. Results showed that specificity did not significantly influence either early attention or increased attention to factual content across polarity conditions. Overall, the findings align with Mental Model Theory, emphasizing the cognitive priority given to factual representations

This study examines the representation of moral values in English language teaching (ELT) textbooks from two distinct educational contexts: Iran and France. Building on existing scholarship that positions textbooks as ideological tools, the study examines Vision 1 and New Bridges 2e to investigate how moral content reflects national educational priorities. The research is guided by two key questions: how moral values are distributed across social, individual, cultural, and global categories in each textbook, and how these distributions align with their respective sociocultural frameworks. A mixed-methods approach was used, combining qualitative content analysis with quantitative frequency analysis. A total of 274 moral value instances were identified across 10 units from each textbook. The findings revealed that Vision 1 emphasized social and cultural values consistent with collectivist and religious ideologies. In contrast, New Bridges 2e focused more on global and individual values aligned with secular and democratic ideals. The results demonstrate how textbooks mirror national ideologies and contribute to shaping students’ ethical perspectives. These insights have important implications for curriculum developers, educators, and policymakers interested in promoting culturally responsive and ethically grounded language education. The study also highlights the need for increased awareness of the moral messages embedded in language materials and calls for further research on how such content is interpreted and enacted in classroom practice.

Speaking is a multifaceted skill that involves many different areas, such as discourse, grammar, and sociolinguistics. As a primary means of communication, speaking is essential in any instructional program for language learning. Besides, Photovoice is a participatory learning method that represents the viewpoints, issues, and experiences of individuals or communities through photography. Following a mixed-methods design, the present study tried to investigate employing Photovoice on Iranian intermediate language learners' skill in speaking English. It also looked at how the participants felt about using Photovoice to learn languages. Using a convenient sampling procedure, a total number of 60 participants were chosen. Once their homogeneity was confirmed based on the Preliminary English Test, they were randomly divided into two equal groups of thirty participants, one experimental group and one control group. While the control group received typical language teaching using conventional methods, the experimental group followed the PHOTO model, which emphasized participatory photography, as well as the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model for generating innovative solutions. Triangulation was also accomplished through conducting pre/post tests, a questionnaire, and an interview. Then, the data were summarized, and descriptive and inferential statistics such as one-way ANCOVA and paired samples t-tests were used. The results showed that Photovoice integrated with CPS was an effective method for enhancing students' speaking skill and emotional engagement in language learning. The findings can be helpful through new insights into language pedagogy, suggestions for researchers and language teachers in the study of speaking skill, and visual methods such as Photovoice.

Research on relative clause (RC) ambiguity resolution in first and second-language contexts has produced conflicting results, with some studies indicating a preference for high attachment, others favoring low attachment, and some reporting no clear preference. In conjunction with other variables, these mixed results may be due to variations in the methodological features employed across studies. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a systematic review of the methodological features of relevant offline tasks to evaluate how these differences may lead to conflicting results critically. To address this issue, a systematic methodological review was conducted analyzing 108 features of offline tasks, including identification, context, materials, design, administration, data analysis, open science practices, and transparency. The results revealed significant methodological variation in the literature and a moderate mean transparency score of 59.77. These findings emphasize the need for methodological standardization and greater transparency in future research to ensure reliable and comparable RC ambiguity resolution research results.

This study explores how Lacanian psychoanalysis governs and understands the mother-child relationships in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1944/2014) and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010). In so doing, the primary purpose of this study has been to establish the links between the central characters' behaviors and the psychoanalytic concept of 'deferral of desire’.' The research proposes a novel aspect of 'psychoanalytic meaning' by basing it on the counter-intuitive process of evading the jouissance of actualizing and immersing oneself in one's object of desire. To support the proposition mentioned above, this study has explored the eventual fate of the children in Black Swan (Nina), and The Glass Menagerie (Tom and Laura), analyzing their respective experiences of (dis)satisfaction after their ultimate success or failure in their attempts to attain their objects of desire . This study has employed the Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts of the objet petit a and register theory to posit that satisfaction lies not in obtaining one’s object of desire, but in repeatedly failing to do so, due to the fact that possessing the object of desire shatters the lack which is the necessary condition of maintaining the desirability of the object of desire. The article concludes that while we are intuitively equipped to think of satisfaction as the effect of the realization of the object of one's desire, psychoanalytically speaking, satisfaction is found in precisely the opposite direction, that is, in a repeated failure to obtain the object of one's desire .

This study explored the impact of etymological elaboration and captioned video on the development of English idiomatic expressions among Iraqi EFL learners. Recognizing the significance of idioms in language mastery, the research aimed to identify effective teaching strategies that enhance learners' comprehension and usage of idiomatic expressions. A sample of 70 advanced female learners, aged 19 to 26, was randomly assigned to three groups: an etymological elaboration group, a captioned video group, and a control group. The study employed a pre-test and post-test design to measure idiom familiarity before and after a 10-session treatment program. Results indicated that both etymological elaboration and captioned videos significantly improved idiom learning, with etymological elaboration proving to be the most effective method. The findings highlight the importance of integrating cognitive and multimedia strategies in EFL instruction to facilitate idiomatic expression acquisition. This study explored the impact of etymological elaboration and captioned video on the development of English idiomatic expressions among Iraqi EFL learners. Recognizing the significance of idioms in language mastery, the research aimed to identify effective teaching strategies that enhance learners' comprehension and usage of idiomatic expressions. A sample of 70 advanced female learners, aged 19 to 26, was randomly assigned to three groups: an etymological elaboration group, a captioned video group, and a control group.

This research investigated the complex processes of identity negotiation among Iraqi undergraduate students within a multilingual context. Using a mixed-methods research design, the study combined qualitative thematic analysis and quantitative data to examine how linguistic practices, such as code-switching (CS) and code-mixing (CM), act as resources for the expression of individual and social identities. Analysing transcripts from 20 episodes of Iraqi TV talk shows and interviews with 15 undergraduates, the study uncovers distinct linguistic patterns shaped by context: Arabic dominance in discussions of cultural topics and English dominance in discussions of academic and aspirational topics. The findings revealed that linguistic choices are not arbitrary but strategic, reflecting students' efforts to balance cultural heritage with global aspirations. The emergent strategies for bridging the cultural gap, making inclusivity possible, and negotiating social dynamics are CM and CS. Such findings foreground the crucial role language plays in the construction, maintenance, and negotiation of identities in complex sociolinguistic landscapes. Results for educational frameworks involve the inclusion of these insights into school frameworks and the recognition of linguistic diversity as a resource in the construction of identities and in intercultural communication.

The Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE-A), a widely used high-stakes language proficiency test for university admissions and migration purposes, underwent a notable change from a three-hour to a two-hour version in November 2021. The implementation of the new version has prompted inquiries into the washback effects on various stakeholders. Focusing on a small sample of Chinese test takers (n=10), this paper explores washback effects following the revision of PTE-A and the complexity of test preparation through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest a shorter test length is preferred and several different methods are adopted for test preparation which gives evidence to the positive washback. However, participants reported some confusion regarding certain test items, leading to the adoption of construct-irrelevant methods. This, in turn, may affect the face validity of PTE-A. While addressing the literature gap in this field, recommendations for improving the test design to better meet test takers’ needs are provided.

This study applies Jacques Derrida’s (1976) deconstructive framework to examine the traditional supervision model at the Iran Language Institute (ILI), a leading EFL institution in Iran with 290 branches serving 1.2 million students annually. Through a qualitative case study employing Critical Discourse Analysis, it investigates how binary oppositions—supervisor/teacher, expert/novice, evaluation/development—and aporias, such as standardization versus individuality and professional growth versus punitive evaluation, sustain hierarchical power dynamics that constrain teacher agency and pedagogical innovation. Data from semi-structured interviews, classroom and feedback session observations, ILI policy documents, and teachers’ reflective journals reveal that unannounced observations and rigid rubrics prioritize compliance over creativity. This approach fosters teacher anxiety, performative teaching, and punitive outcomes, such as demotion to lower-level classes. Key contradictions include: (1) ILI’s mission of quality education versus evaluative supervision; (2) standardized methodologies versus diverse classroom needs; and (3) professional growth goals versus punitive evaluations. To address these issues, the study proposes three reforms: dialogic feedback to foster reciprocal dialogue, co-constructed evaluation criteria incorporating teachers’ contextual expertise, and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to promote peer-driven learning. By addressing a gap in Middle Eastern EFL supervision research, this study advances theoretical discourse on power dynamics in supervision and offers practical strategies for equitable, teacher-centered practices at ILI, with implications for global EFL contexts seeking transformative supervisory frameworks.

Although instructional strategies, obstacles, solutions, and technologies designed to assist students with special educational needs (SEN) learning a foreign language were much discussed both in special and inclusive schools, little evidence addresses how English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers construct their identities as legitimate inclusive school practitioners as they witnessed and encountered a range of disabilities. To fill this void, this study reports on a narrative inquiry scrutinizing how Indonesian inclusive EFL teachers construct their identity in teaching 15 students with SEN. Drawing upon Johnston's framework of teacher identity, this study showcases how inclusive EFL teachers cultivated a positive rapport with students with SEN through the utilization of a personal approach and the incorporation of humor in teacher-student relation. Regarding professionalism, they perceived it as service-oriented by consistently motivating all of their students, particularly those with SEN, exhibited tolerance for the regular ones, and implemented co-education or peer-mediated instruction strategies. In light of teachers’ religious beliefs in English language teaching (ELT), they accomplished well by embedding numerous character values, referred to as profile pelajar pancasila, in English classrooms. The implications of this study are to bring potential implementations of specialized teaching strategies training of professional development for inclusive EFL teachers and differentiated assessment for students with SEN.