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This study explores translators’ (in)visibility in translating English teen and young adult novels into Persian through various analytical perspectives. Five contemporary award-winning young adult novels were chosen for analysis. The textual aspect involved assessing the translator's influence using Baker’s translation universals: explicitation, simplification, and normalization. A sample of 300 sentences was scrutinized. The results indicated that translators utilized translation universals in 193 sentences, demonstrating considerable visibility. Four translators favored explicitation, while one preferred simplification, with normalization being the least prevalent strategy. The semiotic analysis of novel covers aimed to reveal the translators’ visibility. Utilizing Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006) framework, it was found that four covers featured smaller font sizes for translators’ names compared to the authors’, reflecting a diminished valuation of translators. None of the back covers acknowledged the translators, while authors’ names and images appeared on two, and publisher names were present on all five volumes. The paratextual analysis focused on the translators' presence in prefaces, postfaces, and footnotes. Three novels were devoid of both a preface and a postface. Translator acknowledgment was absent in the two novels with a postface, rendering them invisible. However, all five novels included footnotes, highlighting the translators' contributions and ensuring their visibility in this aspect. In conclusion, this study underscores the varying degrees of translators’ (in)visibility across different perspectives, particularly highlighting their underrepresentation in semiotic and paratextual domains.

The present study aims to explore Vietnamese English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers’ assessment strategies to support students’ preparation for industry demands in the hospitality sector. Using a qualitative design, it employed a two-staged data collection process comprising a narrative frame and semi-structured interviews with five experienced ESP teachers from a university in Vietnam. The data were analyzed drawing on an inductive approach to content analysis. The findings showed the teachers’ support for devising authentic assessment strategies based on available teaching materials and ESP resources to respond to industry requirements. They emphasized the need for more stringent collaboration between educational institutions and industry stakeholders to develop more relevant assessment strategies, and investment in dedicated learning resources to better prepare students for workplace communication. Additionally, the teachers advocated for specialized assessments that addressed the limitations of traditional language proficiency tests and aligned more closely with the linguistic and communicative demands of the hospitality industry. This study provides actionable recommendations for ESP teachers, program developers and course coordinators to design and deploy authentic assessment strategies that simulate real-life professional scenarios, consequently enhancing students’ employability.

This qualitative study is conducted to answer four questions: First, whether there is a difference between the grammatical competence development of a group of children aged 2.6 (two years and six months) and a group of children aged 3.6 (three years and six months). Second, whether there is a significant difference between the two age groups concerning their Mean Length of Utterance (MLU). Third, whether there is a relationship between the children’s MLU and that of the caretakers. Fourth, whether the normal limit proposed by Brown (1973) is observed in the acquisition of Persian. To this end, language samples of six children and their caretakers’ were recorded during a six-week period and studied afterwards. The results indicated neither an unequivocal yes nor a definitive no answer to the question of age difference and grammatical competence development, that is to say, in some cases there was a difference whereas in some other cases there was no difference at all. As for the difference between the two age groups concerning their MLU, there was a significant difference between the two. However, no significant relationship was found between the children’s MLU and their caretakers’. Finally, the limit proposed by Brown (1973) was observed in the acquisition of Persian.

The present study was an attempt, in the first place, to observe whether there was any significant relationship among teachers’ critical thinking, self-efficacy, and perception of effective teaching. Moreover, the researchers tried to examine which variable was a better predictor of perception of effective teaching. To this end, the measures of the critical thinking ability of 143 EFL teachers were obtained using Honey’s (2000) Critical Thinking Questionnaire(adopted from Naieni, 2005). Also, their sense of efficacy was estimated utilizing Tschannen-Moran and Hoy’s (2001) Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale. Moreover, their perception of effective teaching was determined employing Bell’s (2005) Effective Teaching Questionnaire. The results revealed a statistically significant relationship between both critical thinking and self efficacy of teachers and their perception of effective teaching. However, only two of the components of critical thinking, namely analysis and evaluation, were correlated with perception of effective teaching. Also, critical thinking components had a significant relationship with perception of effective teaching components. Additionally, it was found that there was a positive relationship between all components of self efficacy and perception of effective teaching and its components. Finally, the regression analysis showed that self efficacy was a better predictor of teachers’ perception of effective teaching in comparison with critical thinking though the margin of difference was not that large. This study has implications for the EFL teacher preparation and education programs.

This study investigates the impact of teachers’ rapport on classroom interactions and students’ participation in class activities, comparing experienced and novice EFL teachers. Rapport, defined as a positive, harmonious relationship between teacher and students, is often cited as critical for effective communication and a supportive learning environment. Despite the extensive literature emphasizing the importance of rapport in enhancing student engagement, motivation, and classroom dynamics, limited research has explored the role of teaching experience in moderating these effects. The study involved 40 EFL teachers (20 experienced and 20 novice) from Safir Language Academy in Tehran, with data collected through classroom observations. An independent t-test was used to analyze the differences in classroom interaction and student participation between the two groups. The findings indicate no significant difference between experienced and novice teachers in terms of the impact of rapport on classroom interactions and student participation. The study’s results challenge previous research, suggesting that the level of teacher rapport, regardless of experience, does not significantly influence classroom dynamics or student engagement. These findings imply that other factors may play a more substantial role in shaping classroom interactions and participation, warranting further investigation into the complexities of teacher-student relationships and their effects on learning outcomes.

Like conversation and other modes of communication, writing is a rich medium for gender performance. In fact, writing functions to construct the disciplines as well as the gender of its practitioners. Despite the significance of author gender, as one constitutive dimension of any writing, it has been relatively under-researched. One way, by means of which author gender is practiced, and revealed in written discourse, is the incorporation and use of metadiscoursal categories. Examining 20 applied linguistics research articles (10 written by native male English writers and 10 written by native female English writers), the present study sought to examine whether male and female native English writers differed in their use of metadiscoursal elements. For this purpose, Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse was employed as an analytical framework to identify the type of metadiscoursal elements. The results of Independent samples t-test showed that English male and female writers did not differ significantly in their overall use of metadiscourse; but, significant differences were observed in categorical distribution of metadiscoursal elements. The findings of the study can provide a sound basis for the development of pedagogical materials.

The interplay of Iranian EFL learners’ tolerance of ambiguity and their performance encountering unknown vocabularies in reading comprehension while considering their L2 reading anxiety was investigated in this study. A sample of 70 intermediate-level EFL learners from a language institute in Shiraz, Iran participated in the study. The Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (SLTAS) and the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) were used to measure participants’ ambiguity tolerance and L2 reading anxiety, respectively. To assess students’ performance in dealing with new words in reading comprehension, two vocabulary tests and two reading tests were given to them. The data were analyzed by both SPSS and PLS 4 software using Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings revealed significant relationships between ambiguity tolerance and reading comprehension performance encountering unknown vocabularies, between L2 reading anxiety and reading comprehension performance encountering unknown vocabularies, and between ambiguity tolerance and L2 reading anxiety. Additionally, L2 reading anxiety was found to play a significant mediating role in the relationship between ambiguity tolerance of Iranian language learners and their performance in dealing with unknown vocabularies in reading comprehension. Moreover, the study provides evidence that reading anxiety does not play a moderating and significant role in the relationship between ambiguity tolerance of Iranian language learners and their performance in dealing with unknown vocabularies in reading comprehension. The study suggests that ambiguity tolerance and L2 reading anxiety are important factors that influence Iranian EFL learners’ performance encountering unknown vocabularies in reading comprehension. This study highlights the importance of fostering ambiguity tolerance and reducing L2 reading anxiety in both language teaching and learning. In addition, it provides insights for syllabus designers to d

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of immediate corrective feedback and delayed corrective feedback on EFL learners’ speaking fluency and speaking anxiety. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design with two experimental and no control groups. The participants consisted of 42 intermediate Iranian EFL learners at an English Institute in Tehran who were randomly assigned to two experimental groups. The instruments of the study included: the PET, teacher-made pre- and post-tests, and a speaking anxiety questionnaire. After the pre-test, the participants went through a ten session treatment during which the first experimental group received immediate corrective feedback while the second group received delayed corrective feedback. After the treatment process, a posttest was administered to both experimental groups to examine the effect of the treatment. Moreover, the participants in both groups filled in the speaking anxiety questionnaire to identify their anxiety level during in-class activities as well as those instructor’s behaviors and characteristics which might reduce their anxiety in class. The recorded data were transcribed and analyzed. The results indicated that delayed corrective feedback has a positive effect on EFL learners’ fluency and it also decreased their anxiety level.

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on genre-based approaches to writing instruction. However, scant attention has been paid to the use of genre-based scaffolding in the realm of academic writing. Hence, in an attempt to tackle the problems prevalent in academic writing, this study set out to investigate the effect of genre-based scaffolding through sentence starters and writing frames on MA candidates’ research paper writing. To this end, twenty MA candidates majoring in ELT were randomly assigned to two homogenous groups, one control and one experimental group, each including 10 participants. Both groups were exposed to a five-session genre-based instruction while the experimental group benefitted from the additional provision of sentence starters and writing frames relevant to different sections of a research paper. The analysis of the results, using independent sample of t-test, reveals that genre-based instruction can be a useful tool in improving academic writing. Moreover, the outperformance of the participants of the experimental group is indicative of the beneficial effect of scaffolding through starters and frames.

Second language (L2) communication strategies (CSs) have traditionally been dealt with through either interactional or psychological perspectives. However, this paper is a critical attempt to question the status of the particular kinds of psycholinguistic and interactional approaches that currently dominate the field of second language acquisition (SLA). In this way, it expands the significance of CSs by examining the other important dimensions of language within L2 contexts that affect/are affected by CSs. The new paths to dealing with CSs proposed in this paper rely on three aspects. First, the abundant use of CSs in non-native teacher talk within L2 classroom contexts is dealt with. Second, the neglected role of discourse-based CSs in previous studies is taken into account. Third, the particular relevance of CSs to noticing function of output hypothesis is considered. By challenging prevailing views and concepts, and by critically examining theoretical assumptions, the ultimate goal is to argue for a re-conceptualization of CSs within SLA research.

ESL students who write in English may present written material in a rhetorical and organizational mode that reflects the pattern which is valued in their native culture and rhetoric. Considering the violation of English code of writing in the writings of Iranian students, we will notice one common characteristic: They are reluctant (or ignorant of) to write a unified paragraph. Their writing consists of one whole page or two. They do not divide their writing into separate paragraphs. The knowledge of the writer on any subject begins and ends as much as the time or space for writing allows with no paragraph separation. The length of sentences is extraordinary, and the position of modifiers does not seem natural according to the code of English sentence pattern. This means that elements transferred from L1 rhetoric result in a production which does not match the English language style and rhetoric, despite the fact that some students lack grammatical competence. As a result, this type of writing is labeled unacceptable, vague or erroneous by English language standards. The focus of this study is to use English major students' writings to identify the elements which violate English language pattern of writing. The sources of errors responsible for non-English language rhetoric will be classified after a short theoretical review in the literature and finally suggestions for the elimination of errors will be presented.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international comparative study of reading comprehension that is administered by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) to measure the reading competency of fourth grade students in the participating countries. The test is a very comprehensive measure of reading literacy which covers a wide variety of reading subskills and texts. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the psychometric qualities of PIRLS 2021 using the national data of Kazakhstan. The 2-parameter item response theory was used to evaluate the test. Item difficulty, discrimination, infit, outfit, and the root mean square deviance (RMSD) fit statistics were examined. The multiple-group IRT was used to examine differential item functioning. Findings sowed that PIRLS 2021 is a robust measure of reading comprehension and does not exhibit differential item functioning (DIF). However, based on the 2PL discrimination and infit and outfit values, several items are problematic. The implications of this finding are discussed.