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Given that L2 engagement serves a vital role in students’ academic success, studying the predictors of this construct seems critical. Notwithstanding, factors influencing one’s engagement in an L2 context have remained unclear. To respond to this gap, the present research sought to unravel the effects of teacher support and teacher-student rapport on Iranian EFL students’ L2 engagement. To this aim, 216 Iranian students majoring in Applied Linguistics, Linguistics, English Translation, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, or English Literature were invited to cooperate in this investigation. To obtain the required data, three pre-designed scales were virtually distributed among the respondents. Then, through correlation tests, the association between teacher support, teacher-student rapport, and student L2 engagement was measured. Following that, the impact of teacher support and teacher-student rapport on Iranian students’ L2 engagement was assessed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The correlational analysis uncovered a strong, favorable association between constructs. The SEM analysis also indicated that teacher support and teacher-student rapport can strongly influence Iranian students’ engagement in EFL classes. The implications of the results are further discussed.

The present study aimed at investigating English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ level of reflection and the barriers to their reflection. To do so, based on an experimental research method, 98 EFL teachers were recruited and the English language teacher reflection inventory (ELTRI) was distributed among them. To consolidate the findings of the inventory, 20 volunteers from the same pool were interviewed. As the next phase of the study, to investigate the barriers to the teachers’ reflectivity, the same participants were given an open-ended questionnaire to probe their ideas about barriers to reflective practice. Based on the obtained data and the related literature, a Barriers to Reflective Practice Questionnaire (BRPQ) was developed and distributed among the participants. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, one sample t-test, and content analysis were employed. The findings revealed that EFL teachers did not practice reflection at high levels. They considered top-down curriculum, disrespect for teachers’ authority, teachers’ inclination to the conventional teaching practice, lack of appropriate context for reflection, teachers’ workload, and lack of appropriate training courses as the most important factors which bar their reflection. Teacher education programs should raise EFL teachers’ awareness regarding the concept and use of reflective practice.

Vocabulary learning is at the heart of language learning and language use. It is what makes the essence of a language. Having it in mind, most of the students always complain about lexical problems, and unfortunately, they are unaware of the different tools, which can help the students to learn vocabulary and improve vocabulary retention. A useful tool for learning and teaching vocabulary is a tool that uses authentic samples to enhance comprehension. Concordancing software is one of these digital tools that enable learners to explore billions of real-world materials. In this regard, the present study was conducted to investigate the actual effect of using this software on vocabulary retention. To gain this purpose, a sample of 54 intermediate female EFL students took part in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to two equal experimental and control groups. Before starting the treatment, the researcher gave the pretest to both groups. Then the treatment sessions were started for both groups, which lasted 12 sessions (4weeks); ten vocabularies were taught in each session and during this time the vocabulary of each lesson was taught by using concordancing software to the experimental group and by using a list of vocabulary to the control group. After the treatment sessions, the posttest was administered to both groups. The results of this comparison proved that the use of concordancing software improved learners' vocabulary knowledge. The outcomes have the potential to affect language learners' performance and teachers' beliefs about the effectiveness of using CALL programs, especially concordancing programs.

Despite many studies on the concept of learner autonomy and the relationship between teacher autonomy (TA) and learner autonomy, scant attention has been devoted to TA on its own. To bridge this gap, the present study used narrative accounts to discover language teachers’ autonomy in terms of self-directed professional development (PD), capacity for self-directed PD, and freedom from control over PD. To this end, eight English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers narrated their past stories regarding these three dimensions. The thematic analysis of their narratives showed that their main activities for self-directed PD included peer observation, peer coaching, making use of technology, continuing education, action research, interacting with professionals, and attending workshops. Regarding capacity for their self-directed PD, the teachers claimed they had the capacity and willingness to self-direct their teacher learning. External support, experience, motivational factors, and reading books and articles were instrumental in teachers’ capacity development. Moreover, the findings revealed that although teachers viewed financial problems, conference attendance, lack of time to do PD activities, and rules of the institutes as obstacles to their freedom over PD, they employed strategies to change them into opportunities. The findings suggest implications for teachers and teacher educators to acquaint themselves with different PD strategies and to raise teachers’ awareness about the value of PD, respectively. The findings might bear implications for institute managers as well.

This study intended to compare the effects of prescriptive and collaborative models of observation on EFL teachers’ perception of their self-efficacy. From among 80 participants, 40 teachers, including 20 novice and 20 experienced teachers, were randomly assigned to the collaborative observation group (experimental group) and another group of 40 teachers, which comprised of 20 novice and 20 experienced teachers, were randomly assigned to the prescriptive observation group (control group). A sequential explanatory design was employed so that both quantitative and qualitative data collection/analysis procedures could be employed. The quantitative data were collected through The Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale (OSTES) (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001), and the qualitative data were elicited through semi-structured interviews. The results of both quantitative and qualitative data revealed (i) the significant difference between prescriptive and collaborative observation in terms of teachers’ perception of their self-efficacy, and that (ii) in the collaborative observation group, there was a significant difference between novice and experienced teachers’ perception of their self-efficacy. The study has implications for both teachers and teacher educators, suggesting that collaborative observation could enhance EFL teacher development.              

Recent studies within the past four decades have confirmed the effectiveness of Student-Centered Learning (SCL) over Teacher-Centered Learning (TCL). Furthermore, the emergence of 21st-century learning skills and competencies necessitates education systems to change their previous practices and equip their students with these skills and competencies. However, implementing SCL has not gained considerable attention among education authorities and EFL teachers in Iranian high schools. This study aims to explore EFL teachers' understanding of SCL and their perceptions of the obstacles to implementing it in Kermanshah, Iran. To this end, the study employed a convergent mixed-methods design that combined 24-item questionnaire data with 9 structured interviews using the NVIVO Software Version10. The questionnaire analysis revealed that there is a wide gap between the participants’ perceptions of SCL and their practices in the classroom. Moreover, the analysis of the interviews led to extracting three main themes of institutional, teacher-student-parent, and socio-cultural obstacles that impede implementing SCL in EFL classes and indicate that TCL practices are still running. The results revealed that teachers hold general perceptions of SCL. However, due to some constraints, they adhere to the TCL.            

As in many other countries, universities in Indonesia have been closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and lecturers have been forced to adapt to online learning. Students in this online course admitted to feeling anxious when studying public speaking. This descriptive quantitative study aims to analyze the potential factors (English oral proficiency, personality, lecturer's scoring criteria, classmates' responses, pronunciation, audience familiarity, unfamiliar speech topic, preparedness, English grammar, vocabulary) affecting the students' public speaking anxiety at four different stages. The respondents of this study were 60 undergraduate students. A questionnaire adapted from McCroskey (1970) was used, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of IBM SPSS statistics 26 software. The findings of this study revealed that the factors affecting the students' public speaking anxiety through online learning varied by stages. Through online learning, English oral proficiency and topic familiarity could be the most influential factors on students' public speaking anxiety. The findings of this study are useful for educators in helping EFL students overcome their public speaking anxiety and enabling them to perform better in public speaking.

Research has shown that classroom management plays a critical role in facilitating effective learning, making it a permanent concern for teachers as well as researchers. In the related literature, one area which needs further consideration is to explore the effect of different personal and contextual factors on the way teachers choose to manage their classrooms. Therefore, the present study aimed at exploring the effects of age, gender, teaching experience, teaching context, and academic degree on Iranian English teachers’ classroom management behaviors. To achieve this, a researcher-made questionnaire based on four classroom management questionnaires was developed. The questionnaire was distributed among 152 EFL teachers teaching in different settings in Iran. To analyze the obtained data, Point-Biserial correlation followed by an independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA were used. The results revealed that men and women were quite different with regard to the classroom management behaviors they showed. However, age, teaching context, teaching experience, and academic degree did not significantly affect teachers’ classroom management behaviors. Possible explanations of the results in light of the previous literature are further discussed.

Critical cultural awareness (CCA) as an essential element of intercultural competence has attracted a myriad of scholars in the fields of language teaching, communication studies, cultural studies, gender studies, ethnic studies among others. That is why this study aims to investigate the attitudes of Iranian high school teachers and learners toward critical cultural awareness. The participants of the study included 307 teachers and 359 learners in different high schools in Qazvin. All the participants filled out the Critical Cultural Awareness Questionnaire. The data were then fed into SPSS software and were subjected to Principal Components Analysis. Three factors were extracted and named as CCA in ELT Programs, CCA in ELT Textbooks and Materials, and CCA in General Terms. The participants’ responses were analyzed based on these factors. The results of item analysis revealed that both teachers and learners indicated that all cultures should be equally addressed in ELT textbooks and materials. It was also concluded that the teachers' and learners’ awareness regarding the integration of culture into the mainstream teaching should be raised and they should put more emphasis on culture in their classes. One significant implication for EFL teachers and also syllabus designers is that an intercultural curriculum can enable learners to understand the target materials more efficiently.