درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Despite widespread studies on language assessment literacy (LAL), there are still many unexplored areas about LAL (Gan & Lam, 2022). One of these areas is identifying various aspects of LAL regarding different language skills and scrutinizing the English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ involvement with these aspects. Accordingly, this study attempted to (a) explore Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions, preferences, and difficulties of oral/aural skills LAL and (b) develop a scale to measure these teachers’ oral/aural skills LAL. The study was carried out in two phases. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Iranian EFL teachers to identify their perceptions, preferences, and difficulties of oral/aural skills LAL. Second, the researchers developed a questionnaire based on a review of the literature on assessing oral/aural skills and the results of interviews. The questionnaire was reviewed by experts, revised accordingly, and administered to 150 Iranian EFL teachers who were selected through convenience sampling. The reliability of the questionnaire and its construct validity were then checked. The results of both phases of the study were compatible. The outcomes showed that almost all teachers represented dissatisfaction about their oral/aural skills LAL and they were enthusiastic to participate in assessment training courses. Furthermore, it was found that due to their lack of knowledge about oral/aural skills assessment, traditional techniques of assessment were widely used by Iranian EFL teachers.

Limiting the scope of Maritime English (ME) courses to nautical subject matters, due to the conventional views who define ME as the global language used at sea, may not be based on a real needs analysis of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses in ports and maritime related organizations. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to challenge this traditional perception through conducting an ESP needs analysis in Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) of Iran. All the 17 departments’ managers and/or their delegates were interviewed, then a researcher-made questionnaire which was developed according to the interviews was distributed among the experts (70 respondents). The deductive content analysis was used for analyzing the qualitative part, and the quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. It was revealed that the overall needs of PMO in terms of ESP does not concord with conventional nautical-based Maritime English courses, and it in fact encompasses a much wider variety of content areas such as “port economic, marketing and investment, legal, tariffs, agreements and contracts, education, research, strategic port administration, logistics” etc.

Speaking is one important skill in language learning. EFL students are sometimes faced with problems, while speaking to their interlocutors due to the lack of sufficient linguistic knowledge, and they have to quit the conversation. This study examines the use of speaking strategies by some Iranian male and female EFL university students .The use of these strategies was examined in relation to the EFL university students’ gender and their proficiency level based on which, they were classified as low, intermediate and high-proficient groups .A sample of 100 Iranian EFL students was randomly selected .The sample consisted of students with different gender and proficiency levels. The questionnaire of communication strategies use was administered. It included five main categories in 30 items for speaking. The results showed no differences related to the use of speaking strategies by EFL students and their gender. In relation to the use of speaking strategies by EFL students and their proficiency levels, no differences were observed, either. The implications of this study are discussed in this article.

Through a descriptive Ex Post Facto research design, the relationship between teacher reflection and classroom management, the predictive power of teacher reflection components regarding classroom management, and classroom management strategies used by high and low reflective teachers were examined. To this end, 113 EFL teachers completed the Attitudes and Beliefs on Classroom Control (ABCC) Inventory (Martin et al., 1998b) and teacher reflection inventory (Akbari et al., 2010). The results of the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient showed that there was a significant positive relationship between teachers’ reflection and their sense of classroom management. Moreover, a multiple regression was run whose findings revealed that practical and critical components of reflection are the best predictors of teachers’ sense of classroom management. Twenty teachers were also interviewed and the thematic analysis of the interview showed that high reflective teachers used different kinds of management strategies, for their students’ social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties using proper pedagogical planning and techniques of teachers’ teaching style, expertise, and experience in better assessment of the students in the classroom.

Iranian high school students confront various challenges in understanding reading passages and learning vocabulary since appropriate process-oriented assessment techniques with constructive and communicative feedback are not practiced to consolidate instruction and learning. The effect of formative assessment (FA) retelling strategy on vocabulary knowledge and understanding passages was investigated and scrutinized in this quasi-experimental study in the EFL context. Thus, a sample of 48 intermediate EFL students was selected and assigned to two intact groups. The retelling assessment was implemented for the experimental group (EG), while the product-oriented summative assessment was applied to the control group (CG). The pre-test scores were taken at the first phase of the study followed by the eight-week assessment process. Finally, the post-test scores were taken. For the purpose of the analysis, the Independent Samples T-test and the one-way  ANCOVA were utilized to compare and contrast the mean scores. The findings were in favor of the retelling technique which developed the vocabulary command and text comprehension in the EG. Moreover, little or no significant impact was revealed for the product-oriented assessment in the CG. The findings can be pedagogically rewarding for learners, teachers and theoreticians and may cast light on SLA research in applying FA techniques.

Learner attitudes towards a target language and its speakers as well as the use to which the language is put is fundamental in defining levels of success for the learning of that language. Ghana is dominated by several indigenous local languages. However, the official language as a medium of instruction in schools in Ghana is English language. Notwithstanding the use of English language as both official language and medium of instruction in our schools, disciplines specialize in the study of Ghanaian languages as a programme of study at the tertiary level. The study investigated the attitude that Ghanaian students have towards the study of Ghanaian indigenous languages and the motivational factors for the study of these languages at University of Cape Coast. Using a quantitative approach, the study employed 100 questionnaires which were administered to 50 Ghanaian language students and 50 non-Ghanaian language students in the University of Cape Coast. First, the analysis showed that students have positive attitudes towards the study of Ghanaian indigenous languages. Second, students have instrumental reasons for the study of the language. The findings of the study have implications for theory and policy makers.

Much has been done on assessment literacy (AL) components and job demand-resources (JD-R). However, an interdisciplinary look at AL components as the predictors of JD-R and its possible consequences in the engagement and burnout of teachers’ assessment performance has been neglected. To fill this gap, the present study explored this issue in the context of Iran. To this end, through convenience sampling, 146 Iranian EFL teachers were selected to answer questionnaires on AL, JD-R, burnout and engagement. A series of multiple regression analyses were run to analyze the collected data. The results showed that some components of AL such as test construction, administering, rating, and interpreting test, psychometric properties of a test, using and interpreting statistics and authenticity were significant predictors of job demand. Moreover, the results revealed that alternative and digital-based assessment, recognizing test type, distinction and function, and authenticity were significant predictors of job resource. Furthermore, test construction, administering, rating, and interpreting test, psychometric properties of a test, and using and interpreting statistics could significantly predict teachers’ burnout. In addition, alternative and digital-based assessment, giving feedback in assessment, and ethical and cultural considerations in assessment turned out to significantly predict teachers’ engagement. These findings can have theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders.

The present study strived to determine the utility of tailor-made and learner-difference-based teacher education for the amelioration of the EFL teachers’ productive teacher immunity. To this end, 62 EFL teachers were selected from 12 language institutes in Urmia, Iran. The participants were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group, and were asked to complete the teacher immunity questionnaire prior to the onset of the treatment sessions. In the treatment phase of the study, the experimental group received a tailor-made teacher immunity education on the basis of the overarching sub-constructs of the teacher immunity construct using a web conferencing system in ten sessions during a 5-week period. Notwithstanding, the control group received a learner-difference-based teacher education based on the predominant learner factors. Finally, both groups filled out the pertinent teacher immunity questionnaire anew, in order to examine the efficacy of the aforementioned treatments for the betterment of the teachers’ productive teacher immunity. The results of the study accentuated the fact that the EFL instructors’ teacher immunity was not impervious to the teacher education intervention. Furthermore, the tailor-made teacher immunity education had a more favorable impact on the improvement of the teachers’ productive teacher immunity. The findings might provide teacher educators with certain guiding principles that might empower them to revamp the current teacher education courses and tailor their education to meet the language teachers’ needs.

While the number of computers in the classroom continues to increase and tremendous support for technology integration exists in government, business, and academia, a major discrepancy exists between the level of technology use that is expected from the educators and the actual use and integration of technology in the classroom. However, effective technology integration in early childhood education depends on an early childhood program’s overall program goals and objectives, and the program’s goals and objectives for each student. Also, it depends on how computers are incorporated into the early childhood curriculum (Haugland, 2000).

Language transfer refers to the application of previous language knowledge to the target language learning. Using questionnaires, this paper investigates the lexical transferring behaviors of 230 Dongxiang-Chinese bilingual and monolingual students who are in the early stage of learning English vocabulary. The results display that Chinese predominates the transference, while bilinguals’ Dongxiang Language is described as a barrier during the process of English learning. To show the individual-level differences, several learner-based factors: age, linguistic background, social background, cognitive level, emotion, and learning attitude are also confirmed, which appear to promote or inhibit this transferring behavior. The experiment data suggest that there are two different types of the factors mentioned above, which depend on whether they are affected by context-based factors---learner-based factors and learner-context-based factors. The paper also concludes with suggestions to teachers and policymakers in Dongxiang area for the modification of current teaching methods based on the quantitative analysis of surveys.

The present research investigated the effect of self-regulatory approach (with two components of self-checking and self-efficacy) on pre-intermediate Iranian learners' lexical segmentation in listening comprehension via authentic listening comprehension texts. To achieve this purpose, the investigators administered an Oxford Placement Test (2007) to ninety-eight students of two girls’ private junior high schools in Abadan. The participants were in grade seven at pre-intermediate level. Ninety-two students were selected out of ninety-eight and after homogenizing the participants linguistically, they were divided into four groups. Twenty-three students of every 4 classes whose scores were nearly the same were considered as one group. There were one control group and three experimental groups. A teacher-made pretest which was piloted by the researchers was administered to all groups. Then, the experimental groups were instructed under an eight-sessions treatment which was self-regulated teaching via authentic and non-authentic texts. Finally, the participants took a posttest similar to the pretest on lexical segmentation in listening comprehension. Both pretest and posttest reliability were calculated with Cronbach Alpha. Statistical analyses were done through one-way ANOVA. the result of the study indicated that self-regulated approach teaching through authentic materials can improve learners’ lexical segmentation of listening comprehension.