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This study is an attempt to explore the integration of positive psychology within language testing, while assessing its effects on learner performance, self-efficacy, motivation, and test anxiety in EFL contexts. Postulated on a mixed-method approach, firstly, the study involves in a quasi-experimental design, where 100 EFL learners were assigned into control and experimental groups. The latter group experienced strength-based feedback and growth-focused assessment practices. The results of the paired t-tests and ANCOVA revealed significant improvements in the EFL students' language proficiency, with the anxiety construct reduced by 30%, alongside substantial increases in the constructs of motivation and self-efficacy. These outcomes can be taken into account as the highlight of the efficacy of positive psychology interventions, contrasting with traditional deficit-focused models of assessment. Afterwards, in the qualitative phase, the research advocates for a paradigm shift in language testing, while emphasizing EFL learners' emotional well-being, cognitive engagement, and learner autonomy. Furthermore, this study contributes to the broader discourse, representing implications on rethinking pedagogical approaches to language assessment, proposing more humanistic and learner-centered frameworks.

D’un point de vue sémiotique l’art est un effet de sens ; l’ effet de l’art , le saisissement artistique, est un événement esthétique, affectif, cognitif, présent dans toute œuvre d’art. Cet effet résulte d’un processus que nous pouvons reconstruire, l’ artistisation . Nous devons donc circonscrire un objet (l’ œuvre ), qui induit un effet (l’ art ), en exprimant un processus (l’ artistisation ). L’œuvre picturale ne se résume donc pas à des images : c’est un objet sémiotique composite, un hybride composé de processus, supports, matières, énergies, et tout ce qui lui confère un mode d’existence social et culturel. C’est précisément le cas des œuvres de Mehdi Sahabi ; nous ne pouvons examiner ici la totalité de ce qui en fait des œuvres, et nous nous limiterons au fait essentiel : une œuvre , pour Sahabi, est toujours une série , c’est sa manière de faire œuvre d’art . Nous examinerons donc dans ses séries picturales (1) les tensions caractéristiques de la « nouvelle figuration », et les manifestations d’une pratique inter-picturale ; (2) les isotopies et allotopies transversales de l’expression sérielle et multilinéaire ; (3) le travail des strates picturales et des couches actantielles, et l’expérimentation des dynamiques imaginaires. Le processus d’artistisation, en production comme en interprétation, est celui de l’ intuition (impression > synthèse > anagogie > imagination).

The global outbreak of COVID-19 necessitated a swift transition from conventional face-to-face (F2F) teaching to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in educational institutions worldwide. This sudden shift posed significant challenges for both teachers and students, particularly those in low-resource rural schools. This study sought to probe into this experience in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction, focusing on the perspectives of teachers and students in rural high schools within Iran. The study participants were 13 female EFL teachers and 15 female EFL students teaching and studying in rural high schools in different cities in Iran. Employing a qualitative approach, data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, online observation, and one of the researcher’s reflective journals. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the data, identifying several categories encompassing the hurdles encountered by the participants and the achievements they attained. The identified categories pertaining to hurdles encompassed technological, financial, educational, personal, professional, and well-being problems. Similarly, the categories pertaining to achievements comprised technological, educational, and professional progress, as well as enhanced convenience. Exploring the dilemmas and aspirations expressed by these participants can inform and better equip the educational system of Iran to effectively respond to similar crises in the future. Furthermore, this study offers insights to education authorities, aiding in the resolution of barriers to distance online education and facilitating enhanced preparedness for potential future emergencies.

Since comics comprise images and texts, the relations between them should be a major concern of comics studies. However, few studies have focused on the intersemiotic interaction between images and texts in the meaning construction of Chinese classic comics. This study applies Martinec and Salway’s system to Tsai Chih-Chung's English comic version of The Analects of Confucius (The Analects), attempting to explore the image-text relations in Chinese classic comics. It is found that the image-text relations in Tsai Chih-Chung's English comic version of The Analects can be summarized as unequal-status and logico-semantics combined. Quantitative analysis shows that the images are always subordinate to the texts, and in terms of logico-semantic relations, all of subsystems but “image more general” are included. Besides, the distribution of the logico-semantic relations of image and text indicates that two different subsystems, namely expansion and projection, integrate and work together to create meanings in this version. Qualitative analysis shows that the tactful deployment of the combinations of image-text relation in The Analects makes it visually-verbally coherent. The intersemiotic interaction between images and texts also contributes a lot to the discourse meaning construction of Tsai Chih-Chung's English comic version. However, in The Analects, the image-text relation relies too much on the extension of the image by the text as well as the projection of locution. This study provides a case reference for the analysis of Chinese classic comic as multimodal discourse, and also contributes to promoting the overseas dissemination of traditional Chinese culture.

The advent of AI technologies has been influential on the quality of language learning in EFL contexts. A plethora of studies have explored the employment of AI bots in academic writing. Yet, exploring the strategies employed by Iranian EFL learners while using an AI bot to complete academic IELTS writing task 2 has been underestimated. To address the lacuna, this qualitative study computer-recorded eleven participants’ interactions with AI bot to identify the strategies they employed to complete academic IELTS writing task 2. The researchers intended to clarify the intricacies of the human-AI interactions and infer the potential contributions of AI bots for academic writing in EFL settings. The findings revealed that despite the employment of several strategies by the participants to compose high-quality writing tasks, none of them fully trusted the AI outputs to use them without post-editing. They considered the AI bot as a writing assistant, used some revised segments of AI responses and added their own words respectively. The pedagogical implications for language teaching in general, and IELTS-oriented practices in particular to take advantage of the emerging AI technologies for better educational outcomes are provided. Moreover, avenues for future research on AI-assisted Language Learning (AILL) are suggested.

The application of comprehension skills as a general cognitive ability has long been discussed in the literature on second language reading comprehension. To trace second language reading comprehension difficulties back to the text or reader attributes, the present study investigates the optimum load of linguistic and non-linguistic components of second language reading ability. The study followed a quantitative method of research, and the data were collected on the performance of 164 Iranian foreign language learners with different educational backgrounds. A group of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) experts provided feedback on the specifications of the sample test items based on the Comprehensive Taxonomy of Reading Sub-skills (CTRS) derived from major taxonomies in the literature. Applying exploratory factor analysis and correlational computations, the results revealed that although the items were all convergent to measure the same latent construct, items aimed at measuring general cognitive comprehension skills had more contribution to the overall test scores. Teachers at both language institutes and ministry of education, test developing organizations, and students who seek to gain more success in reading comprehension examinations can benefit from this study feedback.

The aim of the present study is to investigate McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses which revolves around the relationship between John and nature with a focus on the horses. Different aspects of the novel including social, cultural, and spiritual ecology are studied. In ecocriticism, the otherness of nature is one of the main themes that signifies the gap between humanity and nature that eventually results in the destruction of the environment and nature. This study also shows how the main characters, John and Alejandra, are linked in the novel which turns the present study to an ecofeminist research. The novel mostly depicts the image of John wandering in nature and searching for his identity, to be punished. Therefore, the researcher scrutinizes the link between John, nature and Alejandra and tries to examine how the novel shows similar attitudes towards both women and nature in All the Pretty Horses.