درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate speech acts performed by Iranian EFL learners on the social network of Facebook in their interaction with their teacher and with their peers in response to divergent and evaluative questions. A page was constructed for the students in order to provide the opportunity for their answering divergent and evaluative questions posed by the researchers. A total of 240 comments including 1680 speech acts were collected from five EFL students during an academic semester. Content analysis of the collected data revealed that participants primarily used expressive speech acts in response to divergent questions and directive speech acts in response to evaluative questions. The results also revealed differences in using emoticons regarding the difference in power relations between the teacher and students. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.

Genre-based pedagogy has gained a lot of attention since the mid-1980s. Genre is defined in relation to the use of language in conventionalized communicative situations. In this research, there was an attempt to scrutinize the effects of genre-based pedagogy on Iranian medical researchers’ discussion writing ability. To examine the formulated hypotheses, A group of 35 subjects were randomly selected from medical researchers in Zanjan and Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences. Both male and female researchers were invited to this study. A within-group pre-test and post-test design was implemented. The instructional procedures went on for four sessions before the posttest was administered. The results of the paired t-test revealed that genre-based pedagogy had a significant effect on the discussion writing ability of Iranian researchers of medical sciences. Ultimately, in a Focus-group interview, the participants contended their expertise in writing significantly increased due to the treatment sessions. Implications of this study may include genre-based pedagogy in the Iranian ESP curriculum.

Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) have recently become very popular both for research purposes and for real testing endeavors for student assessment. A plethora of DCM models give researchers and practitioners a wide range of options for student diagnosis and classification. One intriguing option that some DCM models offer is the possibility of examining the nature of the interactions among the attributes underlying a skill. Attributes in second/foreign language (L2) may interact with each other in a compensatory/non-compensatory manner. Subskill/attribute relationship has been studied using diagnostic classification models. The present study provides a mini review of the DCM studies on the attribute relationships in L2 reading, listening, and writing. The criteria based on which interaction between the attributes have been inferred are reviewed. The results showed that the majority of DCM studies have investigated reading comprehension and more studies are required on the productive skills of writing and speaking. Furthermore, suggestions for future studies are provided.

The significance of fairness in assessment is not a subject of doubt for educationalists even with fundamentally contrastive perspectives, but the study of methodological means for safeguarding this concept in educational classroom contexts has only received the scant attention of the researchers and educationalists. On this basis, this study intended to conceptualize foreign language (FL) classroom assessment fairness from EFL teachers' perspective. For this purpose and as a part of a larger enterprise, the researchers first strived for the creation and validation of a Classroom Assessment Fairness Scale (CAFS). This process was informed by the related literature and applied a critical incident technique. To verify the scale's validity and reliability, it was first expert viewed and modified accordingly; next pilot-tested on a group of 250 teachers, and finally, the amassed data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses and internal consistency measures. The validated scale was taken by 120 Iranian EFL teachers. Descriptive analyses indicated that the EFL teachers were familiar with fairness principles in classroom assessment practices. They were aware of the significance of the opportunity to learn, the opportunity to demonstrate learning, the no-harm principle, the constructive classroom environment, and transparency as the constructive elements of classroom assessment practices' fairness. However, the same familiarity and awareness were not guaranteed for the score pollution component. The results further demonstrated that the teachers' gender, educational degree, teaching experience, and teaching context led to statistically significant differences among EFL teachers' attitudes to classroom assessment fairness.

The goal of the present study was to realize whether L1 (first language) or L2 (second language) affects the third language (L3) learning. Three mirror-image groups learning English were compared, as early learners of sequential Persian-Arabic bilinguals. The first group used L1 Persian-L2 Arabic languages. The second and the third groups used L1 Arabic-L2 Persian languages. Moreover, the first and the second groups used Persian, and the third group used Arabic as a language of communication. The Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) was administered to select initial L3 English learners. Sixty English learners participated in the study. The translation task and Grammaticality Judgment Test were administered to elicit English attributive adjectives. To compare the performances of the three groups, the non-parametric equivalent of One-Way ANOVA, which was the Kruskal-Wallis test, was used. Mann-Whitney U tests were applied to recognize the probably significant differences among groups. None of the Cumulative Enhancement Model (CEM), the L1 Factor Hypotheses, the L2 Status Factor, and the Typological Primacy Model was confirmed. However, the influence of the dominant language of communication on L3 learning supported data. Groups one and two had better performances in the comprehension and production of attributive adjectives. Group three obtained the lowest mean score. This study lets us determine the influence of earlier acquired languages, Persian and Arabic, on the initial stage of learning L3 English attributive adjectives. The results indicate that the language of communication has a substantial effect on transferring from the first and second languages into the L3 language.  

The teaching and learning of grammar have continuously been core areas of discussion among practitioners of TEFL. Despite significant investment in creating optimal conditions for grammar learning, it remains essential to explore innovative instructional methods that enable learners to engage meaningfully with grammatical structures, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of grammar acquisition. Learners may reconstruct various grammatical structures by interpreting grammar from their textbooks while drawing upon their own experiences, resources, and events from life. This is called a learning-oriented approach that involves hypothesis testing and conceptualization that, in turn, incubates awareness of one's limitations and needs. This study investigates whether the remodeling method of grammar instruction, where learners reconstruct grammatical structures based on personal experiences, significantly enhances Iranian EFL learners' grammatical and vocabulary proficiency. The research employed an experimental research design where a pretest was administered, and a posttest was administered. The study involved forty high school EFL students aged 15 to 16 from Imam Khomeini Technical High School in Shahreza, situated in the southern part of Isfahan province in Iran. While the performance of learners in the experimental group subjected to remodeling method interventions was obtained, their control group, which was not subjected to such intervention, was measured for comparison. The findings revealed that the experimental group recorded a higher improvement in grammatical knowledge due to the remodeling approach. Furthermore, the results indicated that engaging in the remodeling of various structures allowed learners to communicate more effectively in oral interactions and to enhance their understanding of grammar and vocabulary. Statistically significant differences were observed between the experimental and control groups. This study underscores the value of incorporating the strategy of having students remodel various structures based on their concepts in English language instruction to foster greater proficiency in the language. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends utilizing, activating, and implementing this strategy on the other skills of the English language.

This study aimed at investigating the psychometric features of the already-developed Language Teaching Aptitude Scale for Iranian EFL teachers. A correlational survey design was used benefiting from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study participants consisted of 300 (126 males and 174 females) Iranian EFL teachers who were conveniently selected from different Azad and State universities and various institutes and high schools of Iran. The instrument used for data collection was the already-developed Language Teaching Aptitude Scale for Iranian EFL teachers. This scale consisted of 90 Likert-type items that measured ten subscales (i.e., Good inter-personal behavior, Making students motivated, Time management ability, Recognition of students’ needs, Positive thinking skills, Critical thinking ability, Verbal intelligence, Mastery over different teaching methods, Evaluation skills, and English language proficiency). SPSS and AMOS 26 were employed to analyze the data, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s Alpha test. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, along with alpha coefficients, provided evidence in support of the validity and reliability of the developed scale. Therefore, it can be concluded that the already-developed Language Teaching Aptitude Scale for Iranian EFL teachers can be used in recruiting individuals for the teaching profession so that teachers’ professional development and students’ English achievement are guaranteed.

The current study adopted a qualitative-quantitative design to compare the effects of output-based production (OBP) and input enhancement (IE) as two teaching techniques on a group of EFL learners’ writing and also to seek those learners’ perceptions on the two instruction procedures. Accordingly, 65 intermediate learners were selected through convenience nonrandom sampling from among 94 students in intact classes based on their performance on a sample proficiency test (the test had already been piloted among 30 learners). These 65 learners were subsequently divided into two groups consisting of 33 learners in the OBP group and 32 in the IE group. The researchers also made sure that the learners in both groups were homogeneous in terms of their writing prior to the treatment. Next, the treatment in both groups commenced. Once the treatment was over, the researchers gave both groups the same writing posttest. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that the IE group outperformed the OBP group significantly in their writing. The participants further sat for a semi-structured interview comprising five questions about their perception regarding both instructions which demonstrated that the IE group was generally more satisfied with the course than the OBP group. The findings of this study suggest more attention to the incorporation of IE in both English language schools and pre- and in-service teacher training programs.