درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Listening is referred to by many scholars as the most important as well as the most complicated skill in the language, which can cause mental fatigue in the learners. This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between L2 listening comprehension and listening fatigue among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, 86 intermediate and upper-intermediate Iranian EFL learners randomly selected after administering a paper-based TOEFL among an initial sample of 120 BA learners majoring in English language translation, took part in the study. A TOEFL listening test and a researcher-made validated listening fatigue questionnaire were utilized in order to gather the necessary data. Afterwards, during the qualitative phase, oral interviews were employed to obtain 30 % of the participant’s’ attitudes about the relationship between listening comprehension and listening fatigue. Applying a Pearson product-moment correlation revealed that there was a significant relationship between L2 listening fatigue and their listening comprehension. These findings were also supported by a small qualitative phase and learners gave their positive support and attitude about the relationship. These findings have some pedagogical implications for teaching and learning an L2, the most important of which is that in order to enhance EFL learners’ L2 listening comprehension, it is better to reduce their debilitative listening fatigue.  

Although grades are the most ubiquitous currency of educational measurement around the globe, their meaning, particularly in understudied settings as in Iran, is still shrouded in mystery. The purpose of this study was to investigate EFL teachers’ class grades by focusing on the less verbalized aspects of grading to see what a grade means. Five Iranian English language teachers working part-time in a private EFL institute were interviewed using the repertory grid interviewing technique, Kelly’s (1955) unique data collection instrument used extensively in personal construct theory (PCT). The results of the content analysis revealed that of the 92 elicited constructs, over 70% were categorized as non-academic, pointing to a heavy reliance on such criteria for grading, and consequently leading to the invalidity of assigned grades. Further, the results of principal component analysis (PCA) of each teacher’s elicited constructs endorsed hodgepodge grading by demonstrating single main components that accounted for the most variation in teacher grading and that comprised both academic and non-academic factors. However, this phenomenon was interpreted slightly differently when seen from the PCT perspective. Implications of this study for teacher professional development and teacher education programs are discussed.

The burgeoning prominence of information technology has positioned mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) as an integral milestone of English as a foreign language (EFL) learning. With its mark deeply left on multiple manifestations of language learning, the MALL has substantially revolutionized the way second languages are taught and learned. In this illumination, the widespread integration of highly prominent portable devices such as smartphones and tablets has introduced to the market multitude of mobile applications for L2 learners, broadening the ground of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) to integrate MALL as an innovative direction of L2 learning. The Cake software is one such application that is a promising venue that teaches learners the English language through realistic, interesting, and engaging English videos. The app is primarily intended to assist language learners in enhancing their learning experience through watching videos that focus on situationspecific linguistic material. The focal point of this article revolves around is to offer an overview of the Cake application by illuminating its key functionalities and discussing its upsides and downsides. The article suggests Cake as a platform for English language learners to improve their speaking and listening capabilities. Furthermore, the application may aid English language teachers in introducing the app to the learners as a supplementary resource.

L2/FL writing ability, which per se includes many different types, is considered a major skill in academic settings. However, little research has been done in this area and even less has focused on the effectiveness of task-based writing instruction on the two specific kinds; namely, referential writing and expressive writing. To this end, 60 English Translation sophomores of both genders were selected and divided into two classes after ensuring their homogeneity through the Quick Placement Test (OQPT). For the pre- and post-tests, the participants were required to take IELTS writing tests requiring referential and expressive types of writing. As for the treatment of the study, all participants were instructed based on the same content materials of advanced writing and a task-based framework. The results of the statistical analysis indicated significant improvements in the participants’ writing abilities in referential and expressive written tasks. Besides, the effectiveness of task-based writing techniques was approved in terms of referential and expressive types of language functions in the academic writing of Iranian EFL learners.

Iran’s educational system has undergone new reforms during the last decades. To investigate the effectiveness of the new reform in English as the lingua franca of the world, the current study emphasizes the reading comprehension abilities of grade twelve Iranian female students in English as a foreign language. To this end, 167 students' responses per item of three tests of English reading comprehension were gathered from four different high schools of Malayer. Students' responses in three different item types (three literal, three reorganization, and three inferential comprehension items) from three different reading texts were analyzed altogether. A quantitative design was employed to descriptively analyze the students' responses. The results of the analysis revealed that grade 12 students in Malayer are stronger in literal comprehension compared to the other two comprehension levels: reorganizational and inferential items. This indicated the students' lack of skill in reading between the lines as well as the inability to synthesize and analyze different implicit information in the text that leads them to make meaning. The results can be beneficial for language institutes, English Teachers, and practitioners. Keywords: Inferential Comprehension, International Reading Comprehension Assessment,  Reorganizational Comprehension

This study examined the effectiveness of Telegram social network on the writing performance of adult English as foreign language (EFL) learners at intermediate level. To achieve this, Oxford Quick Placement Test (2004) was administered to 46 EFL learners at Zaban-e No language institute in Talesh, Iran. Those who met the selection criterion, i.e., performed one standard deviation above and below the mean on the test were divided into two classes (n = 30): control group (n = 15) and experimental group (n = 15). Participants in the experimental group were provided with writing instruction and contributed cooperatively to the task of writing through Telegram for 8 weeks (2 sessions each week, and 90 minutes per session) while the control group underwent a traditional instruction of writing. Pretests and posttests of writing task were administered and t tests were used to compare means of test scores within and between groups. The results revealed that while the two groups were homogeneous in terms of their writing performance before the treatment, the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest. That is, teaching writing through the Telegram social network was a significantly effective model to improve EFL learners' writing performance.

Si nous admettons avec l’idée de la néoténie linguistique que « parler une langue c’est exister à travers elle », donc le passage obligé qui initie l’ultime étape de l’appropriation d’une nouvelle langue est le passage de la langue in fieri à la langue in esse. Dans ce passage, le locuteur-pensant étend son être dans l’accomplissement de lui-même en rapport avec sa conscience de soi qui fait partie de la subjectivité. La conscience de soi en tant qu’élément essentiel de la pensée et de la spécificité du locuteur-pensant réside différemment dans la capacité réflexive des locuteurs-pensants. L’énoncé produit par le locuteur est capable de porter la trace d’un retour sur soi grâce à la dimension réflexive alors que dans l’absence de cette dimension, nous assistons à une forme d’activité dans la subjectivité du locuteur. Cette recherche a pour but de se focaliser sur la conscience de soi, son rôle lors de la production d’un énoncé ainsi que son rapport avec des unités de représentation via l’interprétation des philosophes ainsi que celle des linguistes. Nous tentons de voir dans certains énoncés comment elle devient une partie consubstantielle de l’identité propre du locuteur-pensant lors de la production linguistique

Cognates are the words celebrating their similarities from phonetic, orthographic, and semantic points of view across two or more languages. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of cognate-based instruction strategy on vocabulary learning among Iranian EFL learners. To achieve the goal of the study, 80 EFL learners (15-27 years old) took part in the study; all of them were learning English at language institutes of Lorestan and Isfahan provinces in Iran. Half of the participants who were native speakers of Laki language were assigned to experimental group and the remaining 40 who were from Isfahan and not familiar with Laki language were assigned to control group. Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered to make sure that the participants were homogeneous. The participants in both groups were taught target words (42 English-Laki cognate words), by the researcher, during six sessions. A pretest was administered for both groups before the treatment and a posttest was managed after the treatment for both groups. Three weeks after the treatment, a delayed posttest was administered for experimental group, only. One sample t test for pre and posttest, and paired sample t test for delayed posttest were run. Findings of the study showed that participants in the experimental group outperformed the participants in the control group, resulting in null hypothesis rejection. In addition, the results indicated similar performance of experimental group in both posttest and delayed posttest, confirming that new cognate words were not forgotten over a period of time.

There have been some observed studies and developed applications (apps), with a concentration on Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), and no consideration of communicative needs of the learners; besides, these studies focused on either the theoretical aspects or the utilization of the available apps in the market (Burston & Athanasiou, 2020). Hence, Vocabulary Guru (VG), a custom-made mobile application, was developed based on a critical framework and an agile approach to fill out the gap. To tackle the issue, after carrying out a qualitative needs analysis via interviews, the first version of the app was developed and released to the target intermediate EFL university students. The next iterations were developed interactively and creatively, in congruence with the feedback received from the target learners. This cycle of incrementing and re-coding of the app continued until the attractor basins superseded. In the current paper, to shed light on how dynamically the interaction between learners and developers can yield in applications, which are more user-friendly and appropriate for a unique pedagogical setting, the life cycle of VG has been discussed. The agile app development processes of the current study may be useful for vocabulary specialists, teachers, educators, app developers, and pedagogical foundations involved in or considering the design and development of mobile apps by critically analyzing the unique needs of the target population in an interactive dynamic, agile life cycle. The developed app (i.e., VG) may also be utilized by EFL learners who would like to learn academic vocabulary in an educational context.

Multiple-choice (MC) item format is commonly used in educational assessments due to its economy and effectiveness across a variety of content domains. However, numerous studies have examined the quality of MC items in high-stakes and higher education assessments and found many flawed items, especially in terms of distractors. These faulty items lead to misleading insights about the performance of students and the final decisions. The analysis of distractors is typically conducted in educational assessments with multiple-choice items to ensure high quality items are used as the basis of inference. Item response theory (IRT) and Rasch models have received little attention for analyzing distractors. For that reason, the purpose of the present study was to apply the Rasch model, to a grammar test to analyze items’ distractors of the test. To achieve this, the current study investigated the quality of 10 instructor-written MC grammar items used in an undergraduate final exam, using the items responses of 310 English as a foreign language (EFL) students who had taken part in an advanced grammar course. The results showed the acceptable fit to the Rasch model and high reliability. Malfunctioning distractors were identified.