درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The use of educational technology (Ed-Tech) and the Internet in acquiring foreign language skills has led to an increased interest in alternative teaching strategies such as flipped and blended learning. This study investigates the effects of flipped, blended, and traditional face-to-face teaching methods on the utilization of cohesive devices in paragraph writing among EFL learners. From a pool of 110 junior EFL students, 90 participants were selected. Afterwards, they were randomly divided into three groups: flipped, blended, or face-to-face. To evaluate their paragraph writing abilities, a pretest was conducted prior to the treatment. The first comparative group received instruction using the flipped teaching method, while the second group experienced a blended learning environment (combining face-to-face and online classes). The control group received traditional face-to-face instruction. Following the treatment sessions, all groups completed a posttest on paragraph writing. The findings indicated that both the flipped and blended groups demonstrated significantly better performance compared to the control group. These results provide valuable insights for EFL teachers, curriculum designers, and learners.

Known as what educational contexts do not teach, null curriculum has been considered one of the most significant types of curricula due to its absence, being left out or overlooked. This non-existent curriculum brings an important theoretical tool to the field of curriculum development for the idea that something which is not offered to students has an educational significance and effect. To follow the purpose of the study which is teachers' perspectives on the null curriculum at the BA level, 300 university instructors were selected to participate in this study. To answer the research questions various statistical methods (one-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test, Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Scheffe’s test) have been utilized. Results of this quantitative study revealed that among the sub-constructs of the 21 st century, critical thinking, collaboration skills, creativity and innovation skills, self-direction skills, technological literacy, global and local connection skills, economic and financial literacy, business and entrepreneurial literacy and media literacy should be considered as aspects of the null curriculum in TEFL curriculum in BA level in Iran, and they should be added to the present curriculum; however, communication skills are not regarded as aspects of null. In addition, Iranian EFL university instructors’ ratings on different components of 21 st -century skills as one aspect of the null curriculum significantly differed. Finally, a model was proposed to describe the relationship between the ratings of the components of 21st-century skills as one aspect of the null curriculum by Iranian EFL university instructors. The findings of the present study can help to a better understanding of the ELT curriculum, aspects of the null curriculum, and 21 st -century skills in the Iranian context.

The present study addressed the effects of cognitive styles on answer-switching practices across online and traditional tests. After completing Ehrman and Leaver’s (2003) cognitive style questionnaire, a sample of upper intermediate students took pen-paper and online versions (59 test-takers each) of an already validated teacher-developed test of English. The data from think-aloud and erasure analyses revealed significantly more frequent total and right-to-wrong changes in the traditional and online tests, respectively. Multiple regression values explained more than 50% of right/wrong-to-wrong, wrong-to-right, and overall answer-changing variance based on cognitive styles in the pen-paper exam. However, the regression results from online performance analyses could not prove the power of thinking styles in predicting answer-changing strategies. Fisher’s exact tests showed significantly different answer-changing strategies adopted by field-dependent, leveler, analog, concrete, and impulsive individuals in the traditional test but no significant differences between the behaviors of individuals with different cognitive styles in the online exam. Based on the present findings, online and pen-paper platforms may require different test-taking strategies. Language instructors and test developers can use these findings to align their instructional and assessment practices with various cognitive styles and testing environments.

Many studies have advocated the importance of teaching critical thinking (CT) skills, and have also provided some suggestions for its effective pedagogy. However, there is a dearth of research examining the efficacy of such instruction. This quantitative(quasi-experimental) and qualitative study aimed to investigate the impact of explicit instruction of critical thinking (CT) on university students’ critical thinking skills measured through the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) used as both pre- and post-test. The participants comprised four groups of 15-16 students each. The groups received different CT treatments: Critical Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (group 1), 11 Questions (group 2), CL and CDA followed by Peer Evaluation (group 3), and a control group (group 4) that only read about CT without practicing it. After receiving instruction on CT, the three treatment groups (1-3) critically analyzed 33 texts over 11 sessions. The results of the study indicated that Group 3 (CT & CDA followed by PE) had the highest improvement in their WGCTA scores from pre-to post-test, followed by Groups 2 and 1, while the control group showed no significant gain. The findings imply that reflecting critically on language learning materials can reveal hidden cultural and ideological elements within the texts. This can significantly enhance learners' advanced thinking skills, as well as support them in resisting cultural imperialism.      

The study aimed to examine the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between coping strategies and language learning anxiety using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A total of 783 language learners participated in this research and completed Coping with Language Anxiety Scale, Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, and Self-Efficacy Belief Scale. The data were analyzed using SEM to test the hypothesized mediation model. Results indicated that coping strategies were negatively associated with language learning anxiety. Furthermore, self-efficacy beliefs partially mediated the relationship between coping strategies and language learning anxiety. Specifically, higher levels of self-efficacy were found to enhance the negative effect of coping strategies on language learning anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of promoting coping strategies and self-efficacy in language learning contexts to reduce anxiety. The implication of these findings for language learners, educators, and researchers are discussed, along with suggestions for future research in this area.

Due to the high development of technology and limited research on pedagogical integration of web 2.0 in K-12 English classrooms, the objective of this study is to understand the web 2.0 technology integration in pedagogy in K-12 English classrooms in recent five years, find the gap, and provide insightful suggestions for further improvement. A systematic review with PRISMA 2020 guidance and theme analysis were conducted to achieve the research goal. The findings of the selected paper indicated that current English teachers valued technology-integrated content instruction, preferring to use more relevant and acceptable elements of teaching tools. The ongoing usage of adopting web 2.0 tool not only benefited students’ effective language learning but also enriched teachers’ teaching methods and improved teaching levels. Additionally, some obstacles were also revealed to web 2.0 tools' successful adoption in education, including the tool, teachers, and external influences. Relevant suggestions are made to improve the pedagogical integration of various tools.

Reading is the main language skill in English as a Foreign Language (EFL)contexts, and the key to the reading skill is the knowledge of the alphabet. Although there are various approaches to teaching early reading and the alphabet in L1, such as whole language, language experience, literature-based, whole word, alphabetic method, and analytic and synthetic phonics, the topic of teaching alphabet and early reading is almost missing in language teaching methodology textbooks, and the few sources which deal with the subject seem to be mainly concerned with English as a Second Language (ESL) contexts where the learners’ mother tongue also uses a Latin alphabet. Early reading and alphabet teaching in EFL contexts has also received little research attention, and many aspects of literacy teaching in these contexts such as the effectiveness of different approaches for different age groups are still a mystery. ELT community, hence, needs to pay more heed to the needs of teachers and learners in EFL contexts. This paper intends to sensitize the international ELT community, including the researchers, teachers, and publishers to the importance and necessity of taking early literacy in EFL contexts into account.

Obituaries serve as the most viable means to announce a person's death. Regarding the socio-political changes in Iran due to the Islamic Revolution, this descriptive-analytic study reports on a move-based analysis of obituaries belonging before and after the Islamic Revolution driven by Swales' (1990, 2004) genre move analysis. We employed a move-based analysis of 100 obituaries from two distinct periods collected via a library-documentary method. Our primary aim was to disclose the influence of a socio-political phenomenon on this specific genre, i.e., an obituary. After identifying the major moves of the two obituary sets, their similarities and differences were inspected. The results indicated that after the Islamic Revolution obituaries contained twice as many moves as their counterparts. There were overlaps between the two data sets in four moves, namely (a) identifying the announcer(s), (b) identifying the deceased, (c) identifying family members, and (d) outlining the time and place of the funeral. Four moves were only present in after the Islamic Revolution corpus, which included (a) opening, (b) including the picture of the deceased, (c) showing sorrow for the event, and (d) characterizing the deceased. The moves discussion will be supplemented with explanations instigated from the socio-economic, religious, and political context of both periods.

The current study aimed to explore the impact of content and language integrated project (CLIP)-based instruction on electrical engineering students’ vocabulary knowledge. To this end, a sample of 60 electrical engineering students was selected based on their performance on the Cambridge English Objective Proficiency Practice Test (CEOPPT). The participants were subsequently divided into two groups including an experimental and a control group. The study comprised five main stages: administering the proficiency test, conducting a vocabulary pretest, implementing the treatment, administering a vocabulary posttest, and administering a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) questionnaire. Both groups received CLIP/CLIL instructions over the period of eight sessions. The experimental group, however, received their instructions enriched by the assistance of co-teachers following a team model and supplemented by video-based instructions. At the end of the treatment, the vocabulary posttest and a questionnaire were used to collect the data. The results of a repeated-measures two-way ANOVA revealed that CLIP instruction delivered through co-teaching had a substantial positive effect on the electrical engineering students’ vocabulary knowledge. This finding was further corroborated by the results obtained from the CLIL/CLIP questionnaire, showing the participants’ positive attitude toward CLIP instructions.

De nos jours, les communications ont un rôle important dans la vie, c’est pourquoi l'apprentissage d'une nouvelle langue étrangère, comme le français, est considéré comme un atout. Selon les dernières recherches, il est préférable de commencer à apprendre une langue étrangère dès l'enfance. Dans l'enseignement de la langue aux enfants, il est essentiel que les enseignants fournissent un environnement dans lequel les enfants peuvent s’intéresser à l'apprentissage de la langue. Notre recherche vise à évaluer le rôle des styles d'apprentissage dans l'enseignement de la langue française aux enfants iraniens du niveau A1. La problématique est la suivante : « Comment les enseignants du FLE, diplômés de la langue française ou maîtrisant cette langue, prennent-ils en compte les styles d'apprentissage spécifiques des enfants iraniens dans leur enseignement du français ?» Pour répondre à la problématique, nous avons préparé un questionnaire en ligne et nous l’avons distribué parmi 13 enseignants du FLE provenant de l'école primaire privée "Bamdad Parsi" et de l'institut "Iranmehr". A partir des conclusions, nous comprenons que le style d'apprentissage dominant de la plupart des enfants est visuel et kinesthésique. Les enseignants préparent et mettent en œuvre des activités didactiques qui leur conviennent. Dans des cours collectifs à effectifs nombreux, les enseignants conçoivent plus leurs activités didactiques en se basant sur trois styles d’apprentissage (visuel, kinesthésique, auditif).

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of immediate corrective feedback and delayed corrective feedback on EFL learners’ speaking fluency and speaking anxiety. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design with two experimental and no control groups. The participants consisted of 42 intermediate Iranian EFL learners at an English Institute in Tehran who were randomly assigned to two experimental groups. The instruments of the study included: the PET, teacher-made pre- and post-tests, and a speaking anxiety questionnaire. After the pre-test, the participants went through a ten session treatment during which the first experimental group received immediate corrective feedback while the second group received delayed corrective feedback. After the treatment process, a posttest was administered to both experimental groups to examine the effect of the treatment. Moreover, the participants in both groups filled in the speaking anxiety questionnaire to identify their anxiety level during in-class activities as well as those instructor’s behaviors and characteristics which might reduce their anxiety in class. The recorded data were transcribed and analyzed. The results indicated that delayed corrective feedback has a positive effect on EFL learners’ fluency and it also decreased their anxiety level.

This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between test anxiety and writing performance among Iranian intermediate EFL students. To achieve this goal, 50 participants of EFL students (male and female) at Iran, Tehran, were selected on the basis of sampling convenience. The instruments used in this research consisted of the proficiency test and TAQ (Test Anxiety) questionnaire. After homogenizing the students via a proficiency test (Cambridge Placement Test, 2010), those students who were selected as upper-intermediate ones were allowed to take part in this research. Their age range was between 20 and 40. Having collected the results, the researchers recorded the scores in computer files for statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.00. In order to measure the relationship between the variables (test anxiety & written performance) Pearson Correlation tests were run. The results illustrated that there were significant relationships between writing performance and text anxiety and all its sub-scales of worry and emotionality. In addition, it was proved that there was not any significant difference between male and female in respect to writing performance. It must be reiterated that a Pearson Correlation test was also run to measure the Inter-Rater Reliability. The results of this study will provide insights to help EFL learners reduce their test anxiety and increase the level of their confidence.

On a considéré la première traduction du Gulistan de Saadi en français par André du Ryer en 1634 comme un tournant dans l’histoire des échanges culturels franco-iraniens. De ce point de vue, cette première traduction d’un chef-d’œuvre persan en France est très importante ; elle fait connaître Saadi et son Gulistan non seulement en France, mais aussi dans le monde occidental. Autrement dit, c’est l’œuvre qui initie l’Occident à la poésie persane. Cependant, en lisant attentivement le Gulistan ou l’Empire des Roses, nous découvrons d’abord que cette œuvre n’est pas une traduction complète et qu’ensuite, elle porte de fréquentes et graves erreurs de traduction. L’objet de notre article est d’étudier les défauts de cette traduction imparfaite, à savoir sa monotonie (la présentation matérielle du texte original non respectée), les ajouts, les suppressions et les modifications injustifiables (ceux qui dénaturent complètement le sens des idées de Saadi, allant parfois jusqu’à les contredire) et le contresens dont les exemples ne sont pas rares dans l’œuvre en question.

The forced transition to online instruction due to covid-19 pandemic brought about many changes and challenges. Therefore, evaluating these changes is of utmost importance. The study aimed to contribute to the existing literature by investigating the online adaptation of Iranian EFL high-school teachers. Purposive sampling was employed to approach the 20 teacher participants of the study. To this end, the researchers used semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative data concerning their perception towards of online instruction. The results of the study were promising. Although they reported many challenges and shortcomings, they believed those weaknesses motivated them to increase their digital literacy and integrate ICT into their approach. Moreover, teachers saw the pandemic as a forced opportunity and believed it was time to harness the power of ICT integration in post-pandemic education. Finally, all the study findings and possible implications are discussed, and suggestions are presented to prevent barriers to online instruction.