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Learners’ self-efficacy (SE) is one of the vital driving forces for academic learning in general and English language learning in specific. Furthermore, learners’ SE can influence their self-regulated language learning (SRLL) strategy use both positively and negatively. This study, which adapted the post-positivist perspective for the research design, aims at finding out EFL students’ SE in English language skills, SRLL strategy use, and their relationship between the two mentioned variables. A cohort of 240 EFL students from a Vietnam-based high school partook in responding to the closed-ended questionnaire. The software SPSS was employed to process the gleaned data from questionnaires in terms of descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation. The findings were that high school EFL students’ SE in English language skills positively influenced their SRLL strategy use. They had a high level of SE in English language skills, resulting in the high frequency of SRLL strategy use. Pedagogical implications in relation to students’ SE in English language skills and SRLL strategy use are suggested in an attempt to leverage the quality of English language teaching and learning in the research context and other similar EFL ones.

This study was an attempt to investigate the impact of elementary learners’ L1 in consciousness-raising tasks on their L2 writing accuracy. To achieve this end, 32 male and female elementary EFL learners, aged 17 to 26, participated in this study. They were assigned to two experimental groups (L1 and L2 groups) using the intact group sampling technique. The treatment was 13 two-hour sessions in which the participants of L1 group were exposed to consciousness-raising tasks through their L1, but the L2 group experienced the same tasks in English. At the end, a writing test was administered for both groups and the data collected through the pre-test and post-test were analyzed using paired-samples t test and one-way analysis of covariance. The results of the data analysis showed that L1 group significantly outperformed the L2 group in writing accuracy. This finding verifies the rejection of the ideological dogma of using first language in foreign language classes.

Classrooms can be regarded as dynamic systems in which behaviors of teachers and students affect each other mutually and in a spiral manner. In this study it was intended to investigate differences in interpersonal behaviors of a more vs. a less favorable teacher at micro- and macro-levels. To analyze classroom interaction dynamically and in real-time, State Space Grid technique was applied. On the macro-level, teacher profiles were determined based on vector method. 211 students of six classes rated the behavior of their own teacher and an imaginary ideal one. One teacher who was closest to and one farthest from that ideal were identified and their classes were video-taped. Two raters coded behaviors with a joystick and then content and structure of interaction were analyzed. Differences on the micro-level were especially noticeable in the strength of attractors, not in their position. Structurally, the behavior of the more favorable teacher had higher variability and less predictability. On the macro-level, the more favorable teacher had Authoritative, and the less favorable one had Directive profiles. The results of this study can be used in promoting interactive ground of the class and in teacher education programs.

Flow, introduced as one of the founding concepts in positive psychology by Csikszentmihalyi (1990), refers to the complete absorption in a challenging mental, emotional, or physical task to the exclusion of attention to any other surrounding thing. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, whole aspects of human life have changed, and language learning is no exception. The present study explored various obstacles in experiencing flow among Iranian EFL learners while completing tasks in three different modalities: face-to-face (F2F), text-based, and audio-based interaction during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data were elicited from 55 upper-intermediate learners divided into three groups completing the tasks in pairs, each through one of the three modalities, as a part of their classroom activity. Immediately following class time, they were interviewed individually or through group chats via WhatsApp. Under the three different modalities, the qualitative content analysis identified obstacles in achieving flow and categorized them into five themes. The results revealed that the main barriers in the face-to-face group were related to contextual or environmental factors as well as to task-induced issues. However, technological, task-based, and teacher-related factors gained higher percentages among text-based and audio-based interaction themes. The findings offer insight into flow perception by second language learners in different task modalities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rooted in the Cognitive Load (CL) and Dual Coding theories, this sequential explanatory study examined the CL levels experienced by 36 available Iranian pre-intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in auditory and visual Phonemic Awareness Tasks (PATs). The PATs focused on 'th' sound variations that were specifically challenging for Persian speakers of English. Participants were divided into two equal groups. The first group underwent auditory and visual PATs (i.e., picture sorting and word discrimination). The second group faced auditory PATs only (i.e., rhyme recognition and sound isolation) structured around voiced and voiceless ‘th’ sounds. In the qualitative phase, 8 participants were randomly interviewed to discover the potential reasons behind various levels of CL measured in certain PATs. A Virtual Reality (VR) cognitive pupillometry analysis was performed for two groups in an immersive VR environment using VR Head-Mounted Displays (VR-HMDs) and Tobii Nexus software, followed by thematic analysis. GazeMetrics strategies were employed to validate and ensure the reliability of the data collection process. The quantitative results demonstrated (a) no critical differences regarding the CL experienced by the participants in each group concerning voiced vs. voiceless’ th’ PATs and (b) higher levels of CL (increased pupil diameter, decreased blink rates, and increased gaze pattern or fixation duration) among participants in the auditory PATs group compared to the ones in the auditory and visual PATs group. Besides, qualitative findings identified the following factors as the most probable causes of the observed differences in CL levels among participants: (a) segmental differences, (b) phonological transfer, (c) phonological fossilization, (d) working memory constraints, (e) cognitive flexibility, and (f) task delivery methods. This study contributes to cognitive phonology, phonological processing, perceptual-motor language functions, and English material development.

Paralinguistic features are indispensable and crucial aspects of communication without which any utterance would lose its identity. On the other hand, confusion in cross-cultural communication is most often assigned to paralinguistic features. Despite the significant importance of paralinguistic clues in humans’ communication, only limited studies have tackled this issue. More specifically, despite the fact that paralinguistic features are culturally different, no study has investigated the possible relationship between these features and speaking performance of Persian-speaking learners of English. Hence, with this existing gap in the literature, in this study, we tried to scrutinize the impact of paralinguistic cues upon EFL learners’ speaking fluency in the Persian setting. To this objective, we recruited 40 first-year undergraduate female students of Linguistics at the University of Gonabad, utilizing non-random sampling method. Their English proficiency level was determined as lower-intermediate via the administration of Quick Oxford Placement Test. In our pre-test post-test experimental research, we allocated a five-week span of instruction for the purpose of teaching paralinguistic clues to the experimental group to see whether it could have a significant positive impact upon their speaking performance. The instrument we utilized to evaluate speaking capability of our participants was Researcher-Made Speaking Test. The results of our study demonstrated that utilizing paralinguistic features boosted students’ speaking capability. On the light of our finding, it could be concluded that paralinguistic features could be employed for the first-year undergraduate students to enhance their communicative performance. Future studies in diverse EFL settings, could shed light on this conclusion.

The present study aimed to analyze English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and students’ perceptions on learning effectiveness, negative factors, positive features, and future directions of virtual education. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews, open-ended questions, and journals. All the data were carefully studied and coded through MAXQDA (version 2020) software. The results indicated that poor internet connection along with low interaction between students and the teacher were the most frequently noted negative points of online classes. Accordingly, providing high-speed internet, supporting students, and having more interaction are the first essential elements in virtual education. Besides, flexibility, time-saving, and reduced cost considerations were considered the positive aspects of online classes. Regarding students’ learning performance, the results were of mixed nature. Providing training courses for teachers, using different materials during the class, and the most importantly having high-speed internet are some implications of this study.

Digital formative assessment was considered as using digital tools and technology to apply formative assessment in the EFL classrooms. Moreover, language learners’ vocabulary retention and spelling abilities are at the heart of language learning. Therefore, the present study examined the effects of digital formative assessment in improving Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ spelling achievement and vocabulary retention in Mashhad. Fifty (N=25 male & N=25 female) pre-intermediate EFL learners into two groups took part in the study. The study was an experimental study with pre-test and post-test designs. The experimental group used the Spelling Bee application in contrast to the control group. This application could present corrected words to students when they did something wrong. Moreover, the teacher gave feedback to students during tasks. The control group did their tasks on the sheet and got feedback from the teacher. KET (Key English Test) test, vocabulary, and spelling test were used as the instruments of the study. At the beginning of the study vocabulary and spelling tests were presented as a pretest to participants in both groups. The participants answered the spelling and vocabulary tests as the post-tests. After the posttest, a delayed posttest was presented to assess vocabulary retention. The obtained results revealed that the use of the digital formative assessment had no significant effect on pre-intermediate Iranian EFL learners ’spelling achievement and vocabulary retention. Administrators, EFL teachers, and EFL language learners, can take advantage of the result of the present study.

Computer technology has provided language testers with opportunity to develop computerized versions of traditional paper-based language tests. New generation of TOEFL and Cambridge IELTS, BULATS, KET, PET are good examples of computer-based language tests. Since this new method of testing introduces new factors into the realm of language assessment (e.g., modes of test delivery, familiarity with computer, etc.), the question may be whether the two modes of computer- and paper-based tests comparably measure the same construct, and hence, the scores obtained from the two modes can be used interchangeably. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the comparability of the paper- and computer-based versions of a writing test. The data for this study were collected from administering the writing section of a Cambridge Preliminary English Test (PET) to eighty Iranian intermediate EFL learners through the two modes of computer- and paper-based testing. Besides, a computer familiarity questionnaire was used to divide participants into two groups of high and low computer familiarity. The results of the independent samples t-test revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the learners' computer- and paper-based writing scores. The results of the paired samples t-test showed no statistically significant difference between high- and low-computer-familiar groups on computer-based writing. The researchers concluded that the two modes comparably measured the same construct.

La pandémie de Covid -19 s’est propagée dans le monde entier, envoyant des millions de personnes en quarantaine. Parmi les mesures décidées par le gouvernement jordanien pour endiguer l’avancée de cette pandémie se trouve la suspension des cours dans toutes les universités et le passage à l’enseignement à distance afin d’assurer la continuité pédagogique. Cet article vise à proposer, à travers l’expérience vécue par les étudiants, une analyse de l’impact du nouveau contexte sur l’apprentissage de la langue française en milieu universitaire durant la période de confinement liée à la pandémie de Covid-19. D’après les résultats de l’enquête, il est clair que ce modèle d’apprentissage présente des avantages tels que le facteur de temps gagné, la prise en charge de l’apprentissage et la diminution de la barrière de peur concernant la compétence de l’expression orale, mais le manque d’interaction, la baisse de motivation et le progrès minime réalisé en compétence d’expression écrite sont les défis les plus identifiés.