درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study investigated the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence of Iranian undergraduate students in the English language and its relationship with their grammar knowledge. For this purpose, 139 male (N=46) and female (N=93) English language students aged 22 -32 years old were randomly selected as the participants. Multiple Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) and a grammar TOEFL test were used to evaluate the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence of the students and measure their grammar knowledge. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence of students and its relationship with grammar knowledge was gauged using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The means of males and females in grammar knowledge and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence were assessed through a one-way sample t-test. The findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence of the participants and their grammar knowledge. The findings also showed no remarkable differences between males and females regarding bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and grammar knowledge. The implication of the findings is that English language teachers should utilize the same effective grammar textbooks and tasks for both male and female students.

This study investigated Iranian English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) and its interrelationship with breadth of vocabulary knowledge (VK), depth of vocabulary knowledge and learning styles especially in relation to gender and age. There was a significant relationship between determination VLS and depth of VK. Learning styles of theorist, reflector and activist provided the basis for increasing and improving breadth of VK. Also, there was a significant and incremental (direct) relationship between theorist, reflector & activist learning styles with depth of VK. In three groups of theorist, reflector, and activist learning styles, social VLS provided the basis for increasing and improving breadth of VK. Also, in three groups of pragmatist, theorist & reflector learning styles, there is a significant and direct relationship between memory VLS and breadth of VK. In males group, there was a significant and direct effect between determination VLS and breadth of VK. Furthermore, in females group, there was a significant and direct relationship between social VLS and depth of VK. Considering the age of participants, in the age group of 20-24 years, there was a significant and direct relationship between metacognitive VLS and breadth of VK. However, in the age group of 25-30 years, there was a significant and direct relationship between cognitive VLS and breadth of VK. Given the important mediating effects of gender and age, it is proposed that vocabulary learning be strategically and stylistically integrated into the accumulative process of English learning.

Teacher identity has been studied from several perspectives. However, the present study makes an attempt to investigate the process of identity formation through narrative telling from the framework of complexity theory. In a case study design semi-structured interview data and teacher-produced diaries of a novice Iranian English teacher were analyzed in order to identify attractors of identity formation. As a result, four major attractors that had the strongest effect on the process of identity formation were detected. Then the mechanisms through which these attractors exerted influence on identity formation are discussed. Finally, it has been argued that narrative construction of identity requires the individual to stress different aspects of their identity at different times; and that the phase shifts that occurred when the identity system moved in the direction of another attractor were triggered by the moment-to-moment requirements of narrative formation. The findings are followed by a discussion of pedogogical and theoretical implications.

The CTML served as the primary source of motivation for this investigation, which explored the effects of Immersive Learning (IL) and Communicative Language Teaching on the Oral Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency (CAF) of Iranian EFL learners with Expressive Language Disorder (ELD). Using a quasi-Solomon four-group design, the participants, who were all Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners with mild to moderate levels of ELD, were separated into experimental and control groups. There were a total of 36 participants in this study. The intervention consisted of virtual reality (VR) authoring eighty speech exercises in the form of learning chunks for twenty sessions lasting seventy minutes each. In the groups that served as controls, the content was presented using a method known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Both the pre-test and the post-test were conducted orally using the CAF test. In terms of oral complexity (syntactic complexity and diversity), oral accuracy (error-free sentences and accurate verb forms), and oral fluency (number of vocally generated syllables), the findings revealed that individuals who received IL fared better than their counterparts in the CLT group. The findings may have important implications for teaching English as a foreign language and for rehabilitative education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the most significant disruption of education systems in human history worldwide. In the present condition, E-learning platforms have gained more importance and become a permanent part of teachers’ and students’ lives. Consequently, studying E-learning platforms from a systemic approach gained the most prominence. One of the available and most used online platforms in Iran is “Adobe Connect”. Therefore, this study has investigated the challenges and benefits of using “Adobe Connect” in the Iranian E-learning system from the point of view of EFL students and teachers. This is a case study in which an in-depth understanding of language learning through the mentioned online platform was sought. The participants consisted of 10 EFL teachers and 158 students studying English at Islamic Azad University and Ilia Language Institute in Sirjan, who were selected based on purposive sampling. The data were collected using a researcher-made five-Likert scale questionnaire, including 27 items and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated a moderately positive attitude of language learners’ toward “Adobe Connect”. In addition, the EFL teachers presented a series of advantages and disadvantages of this platform. The obtained outcomes could serve the online platform creators and developers, teachers and learners as users of this platform and as a model for countries with similar technology infrastructure and cultural features wishing to improve their e-learning systems.

The present study compares the motivation of Burundi junior high school students from urban and rural settings to learn L2 French and L3 English, mainly focusing on Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) L2 Motivational Self System. A total of 348 (grade 7 through 9) pupils participated in the present study which used a 40-item questionnaire to collect the data. The results indicated that the students from both learning contexts have distinct motivational dispositions for learning both French and English. French is more popular among rural school learners while English enjoys more popularity among urban school students. Moreover, region-specific differences were found in the participants with learners from rural schools exhibiting more positive motivation to learn both languages than their urban counterparts. The results also revealed that, independent of the region, L2 learning experience and ideal L2 self were the two variables that respectively predicted most the students’ intended effort to learn each target language. One region and language-related difference was that the variable of international posture emerged as a significant contributor to the students’ intended language learning effort only among urban school learners uniquely in relation to their English learning. In the light of the results of this study, pedagogical implications are provided.

This study examines grit— trait-level perseverance and prolonged passion for primary goals—in a foreign language learning context. The participants of this study were 384 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners from different academic majors studying at Yazd University. They had enrolled in General English (GE) courses. A questionnaire and an inventory were administered to assess their grit and a set of five assumed predictors, respectively. This investigation sought two main objectives: to examine (a) the relationships between grit and big five personality traits, and (b) the roles of grit and big five personality traits as predictors of L2 achievement. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we explored links among grit, five predictors of grit, and L2 achievement. The results indicated that three variables of big five personality traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience or intellect) are important predictors of grit in language learning. Furthermore, grit as a novel construct considerably predicted L2 achievement to a large extend and mediated the influence of the five predictive factors on L2 achievement. Grit, thus, constitutes a predictor of L2 learning and acts as an essential yet under-investigated role for success in language learning that is conceptually and empirically different from existing constructs.

This study was an endeavor to explore the main sources of EFL learners' writing problems through dialogic interactions. It also investigated the effect of metaphor and metonymy on EFL learners' writing achievement. To achieve this end, the researcher adopted mixed-method research with a sample of intermediate language students from both genders. In the qualitative section, 20 EFL learners were selected through purposive sampling, and in the quantitative section, 120 language students were selected through convenience sampling from a university in Gorgan. Data were gathered through Quick Oxford Placement Test (OPT), writing tests, and a semi-structured interview. After recording and transcribing the interviews, the transcripts of the interviews were formatted using the software NVIVO 11 Pro®. With the help of this software, the textual data were reduced into some statements which could reflect the main ideas of the participants’ lived experiences without any intervention from the researcher. However, the data of the tests were inserted into SPSS software and the ANCOVA test was run to indicate differences between the three groups in terms of their writing improvement. The main results suggested that metaphor and metonymy through dialogic interactions had significant effects on the participations’ writing achievement. As well as that, findings from the analysis of data revealed the four main sources of writing problems as linguistic, personal, epistemological, and ecological.       

The teacher, his instructional method, and indeed his characteristics are considered to be the decisive factors for the success or failure of education. The current study was carried out to determine the Iranian EFL teachers’ perception of immunity in their occupational contexts, that is in English language institutes and public schools. To achieve this objective, one hundred EFL teachers teaching in public schools (N = 50) and language institutes (N = 50), in Isfahan, were selected through convenience sampling to participate in this study. Then, the Teachers’ Immunity Level questionnaire was administered to them, and they were interviewed as well. The teachers were asked about their perception of immunity in their own occupational setting. All the teachers working in language institutes believed that teachers in these educational centers are suffering from low levels of job immunity. The teachers were also asked about the reasons underlying the high and low levels of job immunity in these two educational contexts. The teachers in language institutes believed that the dearth of monitoring by the government, the large number of unemployed educated people, employers’ greed, and lowering the value of education in the society are among the most important reasons underlying this catastrophe in language institutes. These findings can have some implications for the decision-makers in the Iranian Ministry of Education to provide language institutes with more support and attention with an eye to eliminating the mentioned problems.

Engagement and interaction have recently been considered practical activities essentially in educational settings. Due to the importance of this notion, this research paper reviewed the qualitative study aimed to find out the evaluation of Iranian EFL students’ emotional attitudes and perceptions towards interactive tasks on self-monitoring, self-regulation, and willingness to communicate in learning. Accordingly, the study as personality assessment developed the semi-structured interviews with 40 students in an experimental group and 40 students in a control group to explore students’ motivational beliefs and their attitudes towards interactive tasks influencing their performance in learning and assisting them to communicate successfully. Based on the attitudinal analysis as the results of this study, using the Transcribed Interview Sample with coding (an extract) clearly identified that students with interactive tasks mainly outperformed those with regular instruction. Furthermore, the findings of the research indicated that students’ achievement was improved in terms of their motivation, autonomy, and empowerment as contributed to their learning. However, this study revealed that teachers could increase the academically collaborative talk as well as social-emotional behavior of students in their teaching and learning environments to share feeling safe, taking risks, and enjoy constructive effects.

The main purpose of this essay is to investigate the role of becoming through political and social factors among the main character’s changing identity in Achebe’s No Longer at Ease. The researcher intends to depict the effects of political factors on the re-territorialization and territorialization of the main character through the framework of Deleuze’s theory. The current essay focuses on No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe to discover how becoming and transformation of identity take place throughout the novel and how the main character of the novel is going through constant change and becoming which are the result of different forces. Moreover, the researcher intends to investigate the character’s desires that result in the becoming process of identity deriving from social and capitalist factors in society. Since Deleuze and Guattari’s distinctive definition of literature investigates how minor literature is produced in the dominant narratives of major literature, it can critically assist the present research to discuss that Achebe prepares the ground for indigenous, anticolonial voices in his novel No Longer at Ease. It can be concluded that the main character of Achebe’s No Longer at Ease is in flux due to different forces, and his identity goes through constant becoming.

Test de Connaissance du Français (TCF), a French knowledge test for any non-native speakers of French, is an official language exam for the certificate of proficiency in French designed by France Éducation international (FIE) and accredited by le Ministère Français de l’Éducation Nationale, de la Jeunesse et des Sports (French Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports). To meet the need triggered by American TOEFL and British IELTS, TCF was created in 2001 by FIE (formerly Centre International d'études Pédagogiques) and has been administrated in more than 120 countries by more than 700 centers around the world and has served for more than 2,000,000 candidates by the year 2022 for personal, academic or professional purposes (France Éducation International, n.d.). The increasing number of French learners worldwide and the growth of popularity French enjoyed give rise to the need of more reviews of test fairness and usefulness on recognized French competence tests such as TCF. However, unlike the large number of assessment practices focusing on English language testing, only a few studies available show awareness about the assessment on world languages other than English. With the hope to enrich the body of research in the field of language testing and to expand the scope of assessment on world languages, this review aims at examining the overall usefulness and fairness of TCF using Kunnan’s (2018) most recent theoretical framework of test fairness and justice. As a result, our review shows that TCF test developers have made great efforts on addressing core issues of validity, reliability, and authenticity, while there might be room for improvement to provide more meaningful and useful information to all stakeholders.

EFL teachers’ conceptions of Alternative Assessment (AA) strategies in English language classrooms are of significance since they can affect the teachers’ overall performance in the classroom. This study aimed to explore Iranian EFL teachers’ conceptions of AA strategies. In so doing, a sequential mixed methods design was used. The participants of the study consisted of 30 (15 males and 15 females) Iranian EFL teachers with MA and Ph.D. degrees in English language teaching (ELT) who were selected through convenience sampling. To collect the required data, the Teachers’ Perceptions of Alternative Assessment Questionnaire (Elharrar) was used as an open-ended questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted through qualitative thematic analysis and presenting the extracted themes in frequency and percentage formats. It was found that most of the teachers perceived the positive influences of AA. Additionally, it was revealed that the teachers attached some advantages to AA that help them provide a more quality teaching environment. The findings of this study may render implications for EFL teachers, teacher trainers, and administrators.