درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between test anxiety and writing performance among Iranian intermediate EFL students. To achieve this goal, 50 participants of EFL students (male and female) at Iran, Tehran, were selected on the basis of sampling convenience. The instruments used in this research consisted of the proficiency test and TAQ (Test Anxiety) questionnaire. After homogenizing the students via a proficiency test (Cambridge Placement Test, 2010), those students who were selected as upper-intermediate ones were allowed to take part in this research. Their age range was between 20 and 40. Having collected the results, the researchers recorded the scores in computer files for statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.00. In order to measure the relationship between the variables (test anxiety & written performance) Pearson Correlation tests were run. The results illustrated that there were significant relationships between writing performance and text anxiety and all its sub-scales of worry and emotionality. In addition, it was proved that there was not any significant difference between male and female in respect to writing performance. It must be reiterated that a Pearson Correlation test was also run to measure the Inter-Rater Reliability. The results of this study will provide insights to help EFL learners reduce their test anxiety and increase the level of their confidence.

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) are developing branches of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction in Iran. These branches have a marginal status in the tertiary education, and the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology’s high commission offers no clear guidance for selecting and developing basic academic instructional materials related to the linguistic or communicative standards expected by teachers (Mazdayasna & Tahririan, 2008). This paper tries to evaluate an ESP textbook written for BSc students of physics entitled, ‘English for the students of physics’, which is prepared by the Center for Studying and Compiling University Books in Humanities (SAMT). The present research was based on qualitative and quantitative research techniques and included two steps. First, internal, external and overall evaluation of the book was carried out based on McDonough & Shaw (1993) model. While conducting the external evaluation of the book, the intended audience, the proficiency level, the context of use, the language, the author's views on language and methodology, the inclusion of a vocabulary list/index, visual features, and the cultural aspects were examined. The internal evaluation included the presentation of the skills, grading and sequencing, discourse skills, listening section, the representation of different learning styles. And in overall evaluation, general suitability of the textbook was assessed. In the second step, six teachers each responded to a 22-item textbook evaluation questionnaire to express their perceptions concerning various aspects of the textbooks. The results revealed the extent of appropriateness of the textbook used by BSc students of physics. Suggestions are offered for the future revision and/or designing the textbooks.

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.

To identify the effectiveness of online observation for teaching, this study explored teachers’ conceptions of online classroom observation, focusing on the key components, instructional design considerations, and delivery strategies in virtual teaching environments. More particularly, in this multi-method qualitative research design study, the researchers did document analysis of a number of available classroom observation sheets to derive some themes and sub-themes regarding the components of online classroom observation. Subsequently, based on the derived themes, semi-structured interview items were composed. Through purposive sampling, eight Iranian experienced online classroom observers were selected to be interviewed. Using MAXQDA to do content and thematic analysis, the researchers found the eight components of instructional design and delivery, technology integration, student engagement and interaction, professional development and support, feedback provision, assessment of students’ learning and achievement, inclusive practices, and instructor presence and support in the data. Moreover, it was found that the integration of technology was highlighted to optimize observation experiences, student engagement, and instructional support. These findings have implications for professional development programs, re-evaluation of assessment practices, instructor presence, and technology integration in online learning contexts, all of which are crucial for equipping EFL instructors with the skills and knowledge necessary for effective online teaching.

The readers' ability to integrate current information with given information has been considered as an important component of reading comprehension process. One aspect of this integration process involves anaphoric resolution. The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of anaphoric resolution, focusing on inferential rigidity of different types of anaphoric ties. Ninety EFL learners were selected from the accessible population of undergraduate EFL students at a university in Iran. In this study an anaphoric resolution test, containing 30 different expository texts, was used. The participants were asked to underline the antecedents of the anaphors. Once the data was collected and scored, it was subjected to a number of appropriate statistical procedures. The Results of the analysis of variance revealed a significant effect of different types of anaphoric ties, F (4, 87) = 10.28, p

This mixed-methods study was an attempt to ascertain if experienced EFL teachers’ classroom management is related to their burnout and organizational commitment. It was also intended to unveil their perceptions and attitudes regarding the sources of their burnout and organizational commitment. For this purpose, 50 male and female experienced teachers were chosen from three English institutes in Tehran and were asked to fill up the three questionnaires: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Organizational Commitment Scale, and Attitudes and Beliefs on Classroom Control (ABCC) Inventory. They were further interviewed and observed in their actual classes. According to the obtained findings and results, the perceived classroom management of teachers did not significantly correlate with their actual management practice. Furthermore, there was a negative but statistically non-significant correlation between EFL teachers’ organizational commitment and classroom management. The correlation between teachers’ burnout and classroom management turned out to be positive but statistically non-significant as well. Considering the point that the correlations between the variables were non-significant, the predictability analyses were not conducted as the results would logically be non-significant too. Conducting the interviews, the majority of the teachers strongly believed that low commitment and burnout have nothing to do with their performance in classroom since there is something beyond the obligation to the organization, which is responsibility to learners, and no other external factors could interfere.

This study focuses on the effect of user-friendly, impersonal, and hybrid texts on the reading comprehension ability of Iranian foreign language learners. Forty-five students of AlzahraUniversity were selected on the basis of their performance in a recent TOEFL. They were given three different texts (each group of 15 students was given one type) describing the same area of English usage, which were all followed by a reading comprehension test. Also, a questionnaire containing two questions was given to the participants in order to tap their own personal feelings. Series of one-way ANOVA displayed that the mean differences among the three groups were significant at 0.05 level and the user-friendly group outperformed the other ones.

This study was conducted to examine the comments provided by ChatGPT 3.5 and doctoral students on doctoral dissertation proposals. Feedback receivers’ behavioral engagement with these two feedback types was also examined. The participants of this study, selected based on convenience sampling, were 28 Teaching English as a Foreign Language PhD students from three provinces who wrote their dissertation proposals in English. The first version and revised versions of their proposals and the provided comments were analyzed to identify the feedback types and the extent they applied the comments. Furthermore, stimulated recall interviews were used to identify the reasons why they did not apply some of the participants. Findings showed that both ChatGPT 3.5 and doctoral students were successful in providing both content-related and form-related comments. These two feedback sources also provided significant numbers of elaborated and justified feedback on dissertation proposals. Feedback receivers applied most of the comments provided by these feedback sources, and the specificity levels of comments affected the incorporation rate. The findings of the thematic analysis of the stimulated recall interview data revealed that the participants did not apply the comments because they were too broad, inaccurate, difficult to apply, and difficult to understand.

Online collaborative writing (OCW) is an essential pedagogical method in higher education, promoting learner interaction and shared responsibilities in academic writing tasks. While previous research has explored learners’ perceptions of OCW across various academic writing genres, there is a lack of investigation into how OCW impacts higher education students’ perceptions of their research article abstract writing performance. Utilizing an OCW perception questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, this study aimed to gauge the perceptions of 20 Iranian PhD TEFL candidates regarding an online collaborative academic writing course focused on writing research article abstracts. Quantitative and descriptive analysis of the questionnaire data and qualitative thematic analysis of the interview questions revealed that participants held positive views of technology-mediated writing instruction. However, they noted challenges faced, such as connectivity issues, software glitches, or time management. Besides, they offered recommendations, including exerting more rigid rules and defining more online assignments for the betterment of such online courses. The findings underscore the necessity of integrating technology-based writing instruction into teacher training programs to equip educators with essential skills for effective implementation. Besides, given the participants’ favorable looks towards interactive platforms like Google Docs, conducting joint research article writing programs can enhance the collaborative writing experience, ultimately leading to better academic outcomes for doctoral candidates.

Manipulation, one of the pivotal concepts in critical discourse analysis (CDA), is mainly considered a top-down strategy implemented by superior people on the inferior ones, who are passive recipients of power, to further their goals and benefits. However, the present paper highlights manipulative strategies exercised by a less powerful individual on the more powerful one who rather than being a passive victim, resists being manipulated by having gained counter-information to counterbalance the manipulator’s arguments. In the present paper, a critical discourse analytic approach is adopted to trace the power struggle in interpersonal relationships, taking advantage of a textual-contextual analysis to lay bare how power relations are detectable in discourse and what strategies are employed to exert or neutralize power. The selected excerpt examines the exchange between an irresponsible tour guide who is concerned with his job security and a dissatisfied tourist who threatens to disclose his incompetency as a tour-guide. To accomplish this end, several manipulative strategies are identified in the chosen excerpt, drawing on Teun A. Van Dijk, Eddo Rigotti, De Saussure & Schulz and Sandrine Sorlin’s proposed strategies.

Task-based language teaching, which requires learners to transact tasks resembling their real life language needs, demands language learners to perform planning at different stages of their learning. Since various types of tasks can be used in task-based instruction, the present study examined the effect of task types and various participatory structures during pre-task planning on the quality of learners' writing performance, (i.e., accuracy). Towards this end, 120 intermediate EFL students were randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups and one control group. While the experimental groups were subjected to different pre-task planning conditions, (i.e., individual, pair, and group), the control group performed tasks without any planning. During the treatment, they experienced task modeling, presentation and completion. A factorial design was followed in the present study, and the collected data were analyzed through ANOVAs that revealed task type and pre-task planning condition influenced the writing accuracy of the participants in a way that resulted in greater accuracy in the decision-making task in the experimental groups, thereby ensuring the effectiveness of the treatment in mitigating the long-standing problem of EFL learners in achieving higher levels of accuracy when a specific task type is concerned.

This study tried to examine EFL translators’ uncertainty and uncertainty management strategies through employing think aloud procedures. The participants of this study were some MA andBA translators selected from several universities in Iran. To this aim, a proficiency test was firstly administered among the volunteers. Then, think aloud protocol and retrospective interview were used to collect data. Meanwhile, Angelone coding system was used to categorize the data. To identify the significance of differences, chi-square nonparametric test was utilized. The findings indicated that MA translators had greater tendency to show uncertainty at larger chunks of language such as collocation and sentence, while BA ones were more inclined to show uncertainty in textual level. At the same time, behavioral and locus options were compared and contrasted between MA andBA translators. It was also found out that look-up and rereading strategies were frequently used to manage uncertainty. The findings of this study can be helpful for translators to improve their translation ability by being more aware of what is happening inside their minds. Awareness of a stockpile of strategies helps them have fewer difficulties while translating a text.

The study aimed to examine the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between coping strategies and language learning anxiety using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A total of 783 language learners participated in this research and completed Coping with Language Anxiety Scale, Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, and Self-Efficacy Belief Scale. The data were analyzed using SEM to test the hypothesized mediation model. Results indicated that coping strategies were negatively associated with language learning anxiety. Furthermore, self-efficacy beliefs partially mediated the relationship between coping strategies and language learning anxiety. Specifically, higher levels of self-efficacy were found to enhance the negative effect of coping strategies on language learning anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of promoting coping strategies and self-efficacy in language learning contexts to reduce anxiety. The implication of these findings for language learners, educators, and researchers are discussed, along with suggestions for future research in this area.

The term “ philosophy of research in applied linguistics” may be considered to cover a wide range of academically and philosophically important issues that have recently begun to capture the attention of scholars in research programs in their efforts, on the one hand, to reflect upon how they have traditionally approached their scientific practices and, on the other, to reconsider and redefine their research priorities in the light of new findings and revise their methodologies and designs in the very scope of their field. Language researcher’s personal commitments and presumptions and other issues of central importance will, definitely, influence future developments in research programs in applied linguistics and possibly result in fundamental changes in the way researchers in linguistics currently view their own work as well as research priorities in general. The research topics and approaches applied in the field of philosophy of research in applied linguistics, definitely, involve various philosophical and theoretical commitments, as well as methodological preferences and practices. In the present paper, alternative beliefs about the fundamental issues of the philosophy of research in applied linguistics and the central issues in research methodologies have been discussed.