درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This paper presents a critical evaluation of the English Test for International Communication (ETIC), a large-scale, computer-based, and criterion-referenced English language proficiency test developed by the China Language Assessment in 2016. The ETIC test battery comprises five categories: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, and Translation, with the goal of assessing test-takers’ oral and written communicative language abilities in workplace contexts. Given that a revised version of ETIC with many structural changes has been in use since 2021, and the recent growth of interest in assessing communicative language abilities, a critical review of ETIC is warranted. Drawing on Kunnan’s (2018) recent model of test fairness and justice, this review primarily evaluates the usefulness and fairness of ETIC Basic, ETIC Intermediate, and ETIC Advanced. Appraisals reveal that ETIC encompasses the philosophy of fairness, justice, and usefulness in the development, administration, and scoring procedures. There is, however, room for improvement in various areas, such as establishing a test inquiry and appeal service and keeping the channels of communication open. As reviewers, we hope this article will assist language testing researchers and practitioners, teachers and students, or even potential test-takers in better understanding the unique ETIC assessment scene in China and spark more discussions about communicative language testing worldwide.

This study aims at investigating second language learners’ preferences for receiving oral corrective feedback on lexical and grammatical errors in relation to their personality traits. Given the established benefits of providing corrective feedback, the question remains how to customize corrective feedback in order to be effective and appropriate to the individual’s personality. For this purpose, 324 language learners in a language institution were asked to complete Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and feedback preference questionnaires. T-test showed that more extroverted learners prefer explicit and immediate feedback while more introverted ones prefer implicit and non-immediate feedback. Moreover, introverts preferred recasts for lexical and grammatical errors while extroverts preferred explicit correction and metalinguistic feedback the most. A follow-up content analysis of interview data revealed learners’ reasons regarding their preferences for receiving corrective feedback. Interviewed extroverts mentioned that explicit correction eliminated ambiguities of peer correction and metalinguistic feedback helped to feel independent. However, recasts were disliked by extroverts because they could not notice the correction, whereas welcomed by introverts due to their least obtrusive nature.

This study investigated the relationships between Iranian EFL teachers’ conceptions of assessment and their self-efficacy. For this purpose, 154 Iranian EFL teachers were selected through purposeful sampling and completed the 27-item teachers’ conceptions of assessment scale (TCoA) (Brown, 2006), and the 24-item teachers’ self-efficacy scale (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Multiple regression analysis and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results showed that teachers considered assessment as a tool to determine how much have their students learned from instruction, assessment results can be used to modify teaching practices and assessment processes may be inaccurate. Moreover, they argued that assessment is an indicator of school performance and, at the same time, assessment results should be treated cautiously. In addition, the results showed that Iranian EFL teachers had a high level of self-efficacy, were good at asking appropriate questions and answering students’ difficult questions, can assess students’ learning, and provide alternative explanations and examples when learners are confused. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that school accountability and irrelevance predicted students’ engagement, students’ accountability predicted classroom management and improvement predicted instructional strategies. These results may have some implications for EFL teachers' professional development.

The objectives of the present ethnography were three-fold: exploring the MA TEFL students' expectations of the Advanced Writing course taken as part of their coursework in the MA program, unearthing the actual classroom practices implemented, and eliciting any possible suggestions for its improvement. To this aim, stimulated recall and ethnographically-oriented qualitative research were used to interview nine MA students at IAU, Isfahan Branch and unravel their perspectives concerning the writing course they had passed. Non-participant observation was also used to triangulate the data and verify the students' responses regarding the expectations/problems of the course and the classroom practices besides cyclical data analysis to find the recurring patterns and themes in the data. Results showed the most serious problems were lack of enough writing practice during the course, limited class hours, and lack of feedback on students' writings. The prevalent classroom practices, on the other hand, were covering the APA writing style, teaching how to write the different sections of a research report, and working on essay writing during the first few sessions of the course. Finally, the top suggestions made by the students were adding practical writing activities to the course, having more writing courses, taking advantage of group work for students to monitor each other's work and provide peer feedback, and offering the course right before students take their thesis rather than in the first semester of the MA program. These findings can heighten the educator's awareness and contribute to a better understanding of students' needs/expectations regarding academic writing. Overall, by addressing the gap in understanding advanced EFL learners' expectations, this study can have practical implications that directly impact the teaching of writing. It can guide curriculum development, inform instructional approaches, enhance learner motivation and engagement, promote learner autonomy, and improve instructional materials, ultimately leading to more effective writing instruction and improved outcomes for advanced EFL learners.

In recent years, the enrollment of English as a foreign language (EFL) has increased significantly in higher education. The aim of this study is investigating the impact of a group learning program which is implemented as online on learning motivation of English among Iranian university students. Forty four undergraduate university students (25 males and 19 females) with the age range of 18 to 30 participated in this study. The Dornyei theoretical framework (2005; 2009) was used to measure the three aspects of motivation (ideal L2 self, ought-to L2self, and L2 learning experience). A pre- and posttest survey and a semi-instructured interview were used as the main instruments. For identifying the differences of the scores of three aspects of motivation, a paired sample T-test was used. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in L2 learning experience prior to and after the program administration and no significant difference were observed regarding the two other aspects. The findings also showed the most motivating feature was interesting learning recourses and tools and the most demotivating feature was technology barriers. Moreover, the findings of the interviews showed that most of the students had positive experience of this project. With the increasing role of English in Iran in all aspects of teaching and learning as an international language, it is crucial for teachers and program developers to care about the motivational drives of learners due to the positive feedback of some programs as the project under the study.

Objective: Research on corrective feedback (CF) in L2 pragmatics instruction, especially in online teaching, is still in its infancy. To address this gap, this study sought to examine the types of CF provided by EFL teachers in online classes in response to the learners’ pragmalinguistically and sociopragmatically inappropriate production of the binary speech acts of request and refusal.Methods: Eighteen hours of online classroom interaction data were analyzed using conversation analysis and a taxonomy that classifies feedback into implicit and explicit input-providing and output-prompting CF.Results: The findings of the study showed that explicit output prompts were largely applied by teachers as the most frequent type of CF. The teachers tended to use prompting questions and metapragmatic clues to help learners better understand request and refusal speech acts, rather than directly offering input or reformulation. In addition, because of the face-threatening nature of speech acts of refusal and request, the teachers applied explicit output prompts as corrective feedback to reinforce the accuracy of learners’ production.Conclusions: It can be concluded that the online mode of instruction can impact the explicitness of pragmatic CF. This research is of great value for teachers to employ both implicit and explicit types of CF to develop learners’ competency in pragmatics in online instruction.

Over the years, teachers are considered as one of the most influential factors, which play an important role in pedagogical and educational settings. Numerous research studies have been done about teachers and their performance in the classrooms. Among the investigated factors motivation, anxiety, burnout can be considered as having higher importance concerning related literature. Therefore, the present study sheds light on their interaction and relationship with Iranian language teachers’ performance. To this purpose, 80 male and female English teachers with at least 10 years of teaching experiences were selected in Neyshabur, and their motivation, anxiety, and burnout were examined through filling out the related questionnaires. The design of the study was correlational, focusing on the correlation between each two variables. The data analysis showed that there is a significant correlation between teachers’ burnout and the research factors such as their motivation and anxiety. Finally, some pedagogical implications of the study concerning the improvement of teachers’ performance at schools are presented. The findings of the present study put much emphasis on designing and administrating teacher-training programs with especial regard to psychological traits such as language teachers’ motivation and anxiety to reduce the probable great burnout, which the majority of language teachers may feel after several years of teaching experiences.

Written corrective feedback (WCF) becomes an essential part of students writing development. The efficacy of WCF for EFL learners has been the subject of numerous studies. However, the studies neglected the idea of the feedback literacy. Thus, this study aimed to investigate how two English teachers provide WCF, what students expect from their teachers, and whether or not both students and teachers share common grounds seen from the feedback literacy framework. Thus, thirty EFL students and two teachers from EFL writing classes of one Indonesian Islamic university participated in this study. The data related to students' expectations of WCF and teachers' practices were gathered through open ended questionnaire, interview, and observations. Positive attitudes toward WCF were shared by students and teachers. It was discovered that students place a higher value on direct feedback rather than indirect feedback. Students perceived their learning motivation is best preserved through a positive tone of feedback, such as interaction with teachers and teachers' compliments on their strength instead comments on deficiencies. The study indicated that there was a gap between students’ expectation and teacher practices about the type and relevance of feedback. Students perceived indirect feedback as less helpful in addressing their specific writing issues. While teachers have demonstrated feedback literacy in their practices, students' readiness and ability to fully engage in feedback literacy may vary depending on their proficiency levels and developmental stages. To bridge this gap, both students and teachers need to have good literacy in feedback. The findings highlight the potential significance of further exploring the impact of cultural factors in driving WCF decisions.