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This study explored the use of meta-cognitive strategies (MCS) in reading comprehension among Iranian EFL learners with varying levels of proficiency (i.e. high proficient vs. low proficient). Furthermore, there was an attempt to investigate the impact of motivation on language learners’ MCS use. The proposed hypotheses predicted: 1) there is no significant difference between the high proficient EFL learners’ use of MCS compared to their low proficient peers, and 2) there is no relationship between the two groups’ MCS use and their motivation. One hundred participants, aged 16-24, were selected from the intermediate and advanced EFL learners in Jihad Daneshgahi Institute of Kermanshah. The data was collected through: a) a modified version of the FCE reading paper, b) a modified version of the PET reading paper, c) Taraban's (2006) MCS Questionnaire, and d) an adapted form of Gardner's (1985) motivation questionnaire, and was submitted to a series of independent samples t-test and co-relational analysis. The results indicated: 1) a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the use of meta-cognitive strategies, favoring the highly proficient readers, and 2) a significant relationship between the use of meta-cognitive strategies and motivation of the participants.

Oral participation (OP) in class is an important factor contributing to the development of oral fluency. Recent studies in language learning have addressed the necessity of classroom interaction, or rather students’ oral participation in class. A correlational research study was drawn upon to measure the oral participation and factors affecting oral activities of the ELT students studying at the M.A. level at Islamic Azad University of Ardabil in Iran. An initial pool of 93 participants was selected through purposive sampling. The data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results obtained indicated that there is a significant relationship between social and educational factors relative to the oral activities of EFL learners. The findings also showed that in oral participation, educational factors play the most important role in controlling the OP content.

As an integrative component of textual structure, formulaic expressions (FEs) play a key role in communicating the message and comprehending the text. Furthermore, interlingually contrastive features of FEs add to their both significance and complexity of their instruction. Given these facts, this study was an attempt to explore a sound mechanism on how to teach FEs; whether an explicit or CA-based approach to FEs instruction could entail various achievements among EFL learners’ reading ability. To this end, three groups of Iranian EFL learners, identified as homogeneous based on Nelson Proficiency Test, were classified into one control and two experimental (i.e. explicit and CA-based instruction) ones. They were exposed to conventional, explicit and CA-based instructions of a set of selected FEs developed into and presented in the form of an instructional handout. Their Knowledge of reading was also tested based on a researcher-made diagnostic test prior to the experiment. Both quantitative and qualitative paradigms were employed to measure both the achievements and the extent of contrast between Persian and English languages in terms of FEs. The former analysis revealed significance difference among the groups in terms of instruction type effectiveness; both explicit and CA-based instruction groups outperformed the control group; on the contrary, no statistically significant difference was revealed between the experimental groups. Additionally, the latter paradigm revealed differences and mismatches between Persian and English FEs in terms of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic parameters. The findings could be insightful for EFL instructors, learners, textbook writers, and syllabus designers to take into account issues like these in their pedagogical programs.

For centuries the speculations on man's mental functioning posed a great challenge for the scholars in various disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociocultural studies, education, ethnolinguistics, discourse analysis, literary criticism. Researchers have been pondering over the ticklish question: is it the mind making the human society, or is it the society that shapes up the human mind? Researchers not informed in Vygotsky's contribution to the resolution of the issue, may still find the vicious circular question glaring in the face. But thanks to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT), the hazy horizon has cleared away and today we are convinced of the truth of Vygotsky's claim that man's mental functioning is mediated by sociocultural artifacts (physical and psychological tools) which imbue us with the capacity the shape natural environment, and in so doing change the natural circumstances in which we live, and the capacity to organize and gain voluntary control over our biologically specified mental functioning. The pivotal concept in this outlook is that man, released from biological constraints, emerges as the master of his own destiny. It goes without saying that a conception as such invests the educationists, social reformers, statesmen with a grave responsibility regarding the necessity of providing appropriate conditions for individual's cognitive, ethical and social development. Indeed, Vygotsky's position on the genesis of man's higher mental functioning which is said to be hinging on the social, cultural, and historical variables provides a viable solution to the mind-society enigma. This said, we intend to submit some ethnomethodological evidence in support of Vygotsky's claim regarding the genesis of man's higher mental conditioning.

The current study adopted a mixed-method design approach to investigate the effect of the integration of the TPS strategy instruction into reading lessons on EFL students’ motivation to read. One hundred twenty Iranian intermediate EFL students (60 male and 60 female), studying English in a language institute in Iran, were selected and randomly assigned to an experimental group (N = 60) and a control group (N = 60). The experimental group received ten sessions of reading instruction based on the TPS-integrated reading strategy proposed by Baker and Westrup (2000) whereas the control groups received the same amount of instruction on the same materials based on the traditional direct instruction method. Then, the students’ reading motivations were measured using the revised version of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997). Besides, the students’ attitudes toward the TPS-integrated reading strategy instruction were examined by conducting a semi-structured interview. The analysis of the quantitative data showed no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of reading motivation. It was also revealed that the integration of the TPS strategy in the reading lessons affected neither the students’ intrinsic motivation nor their extrinsic motivation. However, the findings of the interview concluded that the majority of the participants had developed positive attitudes toward the TPS. Regarding the motivation for reading, however, the findings of the interview were mixed. Finally, the study suggested some practical implications for EFL classrooms.

Owing to the growing interest in communicative, cultural and pragmatic aspects of second language learning in recent years, the present study tried to investigate representations of pragmatic aspects of English as a foreign language in Iranian high school textbooks. Using Halliday’s (1978), and Searle’s (1976) models, different language functions and speech acts were specifically determined and examined in high school textbooks. The results indicated that there were major insufficiencies in pragmatic representations in these books. These problems were related to inadequate coverage of different speech acts and language functions, lack of authenticity in the dialogues, inappropriate simplifications and reductions, lack of grading, unsystematic presentations, providing no meta-pragmatic information, and presenting English speech acts embedded in dialogues with Iranian culture, religion, and norms. The results indicate that material developers and textbook designers need to consider these aspects to help learners to be able to learn second language more efficiently and appropriately.

This study aims to investigate the digital literacy of Iraqi Kurdish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. The study employed a quantitative approach with a sample of 418 participants, consisting of 228 females and 190 males, who teach English at Middle school, High school, and University levels. A targeted sampling was used to select the participants. A questionnaire designed by the Cambridge Assessment Center was used to explore the participants’ digital literacy. It was designed based on the Cambridge English Digital Framework for Language Teachers. The gathered data were analyzed using an independent sample t-test to compare the digital literacy of male and female Iraqi Kurdish teachers, and a one-way ANOVA test to explore any significant differences caused by different academic levels of the participants. The results showed statistically significant differences between male and female teachers in all six categories, except the evaluating learning category which deals with assessing digital resources and tools for language teachers. The results of the ANOVA test showed that there was not any significant difference between the digital literacy of middle school and high school teachers. However, it was found that the university lecturers were significantly more competent users of digital literacy skills than the middle school and high school teachers. The results also revealed that in general the Iraqi Kurdish EFL teachers demonstrated an average level of digital literacy and thus suggested more educational and technological support for the teachers at various levels across the region.

Research in L1 writing has found numerous benefits of employing collaborative learning in the classroom. The research findings on group work provide clear evidence that engaging learners in group activities increases opportunities for students to engage in the negotiation of meaning, which further leads to better acquisition. The present study, implementing two different collaborative feedback models, based on various sources and modes of feedback, examines the effect of each on the students’ writing quality. Sixty Iranian students, majoring in English Translation, were assigned into three homogeneous groups based on their obtained scores on Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and sample paragraph writing. They covered five topics in a sequence of ten written texts − before and after receiving feedback − over a 15-week semester. The results revealed that students incorporated both the teacher’s and peers’ oral/written comments in the process of draft editing, and that they benefited from the two collaborative feedback models almost equally. The interview results also confirmed co-operative learning as an effective teaching strategy that could be used to enhance achievement and socialization among students and to improve attitudes towards learning and working in groups, especially in EFL settings.

Among the major issues raised by classroom SLA researchers is the debate on the degree to which teacher’s or learner’s attention should be directed to linguistic features. However, one of the relevant variables in corrective feedback studies which seem to be less operationalized is the differential impact of different types of feedback on the accuracy of the oral performance of the participants. The merits of recasts as one type of feedback commonly used in the classroom have turned to be a controversial issue. The present study examined the impact of recasts in comparison to no-recast on the syntactic accuracy of Iranian EFL university students’ oral discourse. One hundred and nine male and female students majoring in English Language Translation at Islamic Azad University (Central Tehran Branch) took part in the study. The participants were attending the listening and speaking classes. Ten sessions were devoted to the treatment of the experimental group (n=54) who received recasts as feedback to syntactic errors. The control group (n=55), received no recast. A posttest was administered in the 12th session. The teachers introduced a topic and the participants were required to talk about it in 60 seconds. A total of 6540 seconds of the participants’ oral performance were observed and recorded. Analysis of individual participants’ oral data revealed that the recast group outperformed the no-recast group. In other words, recasts were effective in reducing the frequency of syntactic errors of participants’ oral discourse.

Linguistic information can be conveyed in the form of speech and written text, but it is the content of the message that is ultimately essential for higher-level processes in language comprehension, such as making inferences and associations between text information and knowledge about the world. Linguistically, inference is the shovel that allows receivers to dig meaning out from the text with selecting different embedded contextual clues. Naturally, people with different world experiences infer similar contextual situations differently. Lack of contextual knowledge of the target language can present an obstacle to comprehension (Anderson & Lynch, 2003). This paper tries to investigate how true contextual clue selection from the text can influence listener’s inference. In the present study 60 male and female teenagers (13-19) and 60 male and female young adults (20-26) were selected randomly based on Oxford Placement Test (OPT). During the study two fiction and two non-fiction passages were read to the participants in the experimental and control groups respectively and they were given scores according to Lexile’s Score (LS)[1] based on their correct inference and logical thinking ability. In general the results show that participants’ clue selection based on their personal schematic references and background knowledge differ between teenagers and young adults and influence inference and listening comprehension. [1]- This is a framework for reading and listening which matches the appropriate score to each text based on degree of difficulty of text and each text was given a Lexile score from zero to four.

Aiming at highlighting the important role of print media discourse in the implicit transfer of the dominant ideology of discourse context, the present data-driven paper demonstrates how the lexical features of repetition and synonymy as well as the structural and thematic features of passivization, nominalization and predicated theme were utilized by the discourse producers to mediate between their own underlying ideology and the target readers' understanding of the events of September 11, 2001. Through a comparative statistical analysis of the print media discourse of the data for the study written in two ideologically opposing contexts of Syria and America, we have tried to explicate how the discourse producers utilized various lexical and thematic strategies to produce different impressions of the event and implicitly impose the underlying ideology on the readers.

English cartoons have become increasingly popular as a resource for language learners worldwide. While the literature has primarily focused on their impact on English language skills and sub-skills in EFL education, less attention has been given to their influence on cognitive and affective aspects such as emotion regulation and self-efficacy. This study employed a mixed-methods approach with a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design to explore the impact of watching English cartoons on the emotion regulation and self-efficacy of adolescent Iranian EFL learners. 120 Iranian learners, aged 12 to 18, were recruited from English institutes in Tehran and randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group watched two 30-minute episodes of selected American-produced animated cartoons per week for eight weeks, totaling 16 episodes, while the control group did not. The MANCOVA analysis revealed significant differences in self-efficacy and emotion regulation between the experimental and control groups, indicating that exposure to English cartoons positively influences learners' emotional responses and self-efficacy. Thematic analysis of the interview data highlighted positive evaluations of the experience, identifying five themes: enhancement of language skills, positive emotions leading to increased motivation, the prominence of comedy, contribution to sustained learning, and varying effects on self-efficacy. These findings hold valuable theoretical and practical implications for the field.

The shift of emphasis away from written to oral skills has stimulated an incipient concern in second language research to investigate ways of helping second and foreign language learners achieve higher degrees of oral proficiency. Priority solely taken over accuracy, complexity, or fluency of speech might be justifiable with regard to the context in which learning takes place. Accuracy and complexity have been suggested as paramount concern in syntactic processing typical of instructional contexts. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of a training program on the grammatical complexity of 114 English Major Students at Islamic Azad University-Tabriz Branch at three different planning levels. A 2x3 factorial design was employed with two levels of metacognitive training, trained and untrained, and three levels of pre-task planning, on-line task planning, and pre/on-line task planning. It was hypothesized that the trained participants would produce more complex speech than the untrained ones, and that various planners would produce speech with varying degrees of complexity. Yet, the findings revealed no significant difference in terms of grammatical complexity among the trained and untrained participants. The findings suggest proficiency level and learners' attitudes and goals as main factors influencing the complexity of oral speech.

One of the main aims of the education agenda in the last decade has been to develop critical thinking and autonomy among children, in order to educate them to be activeand involved persons in society. The present study sought to examine the relationship between Iranian male and female EFL learners’ autonomy and their critical thinking ability. To this aim, the researcher used a language proficiency test, a questionnaire of autonomy, and a questionnaire of critical thinking. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, 242 third-grade high school students of Urmia city were provided with a Key English Test (KET). Afterwards, 162 of them were selected as the homogenizedgroup and were given a questionnaire of autonomy and questionnaire of critical thinking. Finally, the results of 144(because some of participants did not complete their critical thinking questionnaire) participants were analyzed. The Pearson coefficient of correlation revealed that Iranian EFL learners’ autonomy and critical thinking were significantly related. The findings offered important pedagogical implications for teachers, learners, and syllabus designers.