درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The present study aimed to examine the differences between Iranian EFL teachers’ burnout in online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic in public schools (PSs) and private language institutes (PLIs). It also investigated the causes of teacher burnout in the two contexts. The participants included 268 Iranian EFL teachers (108 teaching at PSs and 160 teaching at PLIs). The study employed a mixed-method design. In the quantitative phase, 268 EFL teachers were asked to answer Maslach et al.’s (1996) Burnout Inventory and in the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 EFL teachers (10 from PSs and 10 from PLIs). The results of the first phase of the study indicated a significant difference between the two groups in the two dimensions of burnout including “Emotional Exhaustion”, and “Personal Accomplishment”. However, the difference between the “Depersonalization” aspect of burnout was not significant. The results of the second phase of the study indicated that factors such as challenges of online teaching, concerns about teaching effectiveness, lack of collegiality and principal/manager support, financial concerns and low wages, lack of job security, students’ misbehavior and lack of motivation, lack of teacher autonomy, heavy workload, as well as school/institute policies were conducive to teacher burnout.

In recent decades, numerous studies in Iran have examined entrepreneurial traits among university students. However, the entrepreneurial potential of undergraduate English translation students remains unexplored. This study investigates the entrepreneurial characteristics of English translation students at Islamic Azad University branches in Mazandaran Province and identifies key obstacles hindering their development. A sample of 106 English translation students from four branches was selected through convenience sampling. Participants completed a validated questionnaire assessing traits such as risk-taking, internal locus of control, success orientation, pragmatism, challenge-seeking, intellectual vitality, and tolerance of ambiguity. Additionally, they engaged in semi-structured interviews after being informed about the study’s objectives. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA analysis indicated that entrepreneurial traits were generally average, with no significant differences across the four branches. Qualitative analysis of interview data highlighted personal, financial, legal, and educational barriers as primary entrepreneurial obstacles.

English textbooks can be the frontiers of Second Language (L2) and world views for English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This qualitative study aimed to uncover how pictures of Iranian-published English textbooks represent identities in terms of gender, race, and nation. To this end, an intersectional lens was employed for analyzing the English textbook Vision 2 taught in Iranian high school as the subject of the study. Analysis of visual data, using the models proposed by Nelson (2019) and Zarza (2018), indicated that Vision 2 failed to offer a successful and realistic representation of gender, race, and nation for EFL learners. Insufficient representations of female characters, different races, and nations were the most prominent findings of the present research. This study provided some explanations and suggestions for the following revision of EFL textbooks.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the accuracy with which young children respond to different types of questions. Additionally, the study explored whether the children’s language development affects their response accuracy. They study was conducted in two kindergartens in Neyshabur, Iran, and the sample consisted of 25 Persian-speaking young children aged 3 to 6 years, who participated in the study by listening to a short story and answering 24 questions of varying types. The analysis of the results revealed that children's language proficiency significantly influenced the accuracy of their responses, with more proficient children providing more accurate answers. Further analysis of the results showed that children provided the most accurate answers to yes/no questions. Forced-choice questions elicited more accurate responses than open-ended questions. These findings suggest that children's limited language proficiency and their restricted memory span may constrain the reliability of their responses to certain types of questions.

I am delighted to be invited to write a paper for the inaugural edition of the journal Applied Linguistics Inquiry . I am also honored to be invited to serve on its editorial board. In this paper, I will first describe the seminal study reported by Biggs and Edwards (1991) to serve as a backdrop for a discussion of classroom communicative and interactional competence. The paper outlines how teachers can reflect on such competence by exploring teacher questions, teacher feedback, grouping and nonverbal communication, and classroom communicative and interactional competence. The paper end with a discussion of evidence-based reflective practice as professional development as well as the place of emotions in reflection.

Within the last few decades the conception of research engagement has been widely considered vital in teachers’ professional development. The literature is replete with numerous arguments both about the benefits of doing and reading research and the reasons for doing so. Within these discussions, however, the opinions of teachers are mostly ignored or reflected only circumstantially. The present study was conducted to investigate the reasons for which Iranian English teachers engage in research. First, a provisional survey questionnaire was designed, using experts’ opinion and a comprehensive review of the related literature. The instrument was then validated through conducting exploratory factor analysis on teachers’ responses to the survey instrument. Analysis of the results showed that teachers’ reasons and motivations for research engagement can best be categorized in four groups: benefits for professional development, instrumental and personal motivations, organizational expectations, and pedagogical benefits. Subsequent analyses also revealed that research engagement among Iranian English teachers is mainly shaped for personal and professional reasons. The findings point to the importance of developing a holistic perspective toward educational research in order to promote research engagement, making it a sustainable path to professional excellence for language teachers.

The purpose of the present research was to investigate if the type of feedback significantly affected EFL learners’ uptake. In addition, it aimed to search if feedback could lead to more learners’ attention in EFL classes. The participants were 60 EFL learners. The data were obtained from classroom observations in addition to running a test. In order to investigate the effects of teachers’ CF on learners’ uptake, the current study employed Lyster and Mori’s (2006) taxonomy of CF types and learners’ immediate uptake moves. All episodes which included learner errors were identified by the researcher. Then, instances with teacher feedback were extracted. In order to investigate the amount of uptake by the participants, an uptake sheet was utilized. the uptake sheet was facile and easy to understand. Corrective feedback and uptake were coded and tabulated. It was shown that recasts were the most highly frequent type of feedback followed by explicit correction and prompts. In addition, the frequency of uptakes followed by recast was higher than the uptakes followed by explicit correction and prompts. The results of Anova Test revealed a significant difference among various amounts of uptake followed by different types of feedback (p >.034).

Due to the high development of technology and limited research on pedagogical integration of web 2.0 in K-12 English classrooms, the objective of this study is to understand the web 2.0 technology integration in pedagogy in K-12 English classrooms in recent five years, find the gap, and provide insightful suggestions for further improvement. A systematic review with PRISMA 2020 guidance and theme analysis were conducted to achieve the research goal. The findings of the selected paper indicated that current English teachers valued technology-integrated content instruction, preferring to use more relevant and acceptable elements of teaching tools. The ongoing usage of adopting web 2.0 tool not only benefited students’ effective language learning but also enriched teachers’ teaching methods and improved teaching levels. Additionally, some obstacles were also revealed to web 2.0 tools' successful adoption in education, including the tool, teachers, and external influences. Relevant suggestions are made to improve the pedagogical integration of various tools.

Learning vocabulary seems to be a major focus of language instruction. The role of vocabulary knowledge in language learning has been studied by many researchers. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of using online Quizlet flashcards and student-created Quizlet flashcards on learning and retention of receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. Sixty Iranian elementary high school students who were randomly divided into 3 groups (twenty subjects per group) participated in this study. The materials and data collection instruments included the Quick Placement Test (QPT), the students’ textbook, Top Notch1 from which the vocabulary items were selected, a pre-test, an immediate post-test, and a delayed post-test. It should be mentioned that the control group was taught the words through the conventional method while the first experimental group received the words using online flashcards and the next experimental group worked on developing their own Quizlet flashcards. The results showed that in terms of receptive vocabulary knowledge learning, the students of the online Quizlet flashcards group significantly outperformed students of the control group and online Quizlet flashcards. In learning of the productive vocabulary knowledge, the learners of the control group performed significantly better than other two experimental groups. The results on vocabulary retention revealed that students of the student-created Quizlet flashcards group significantly outperformed students of the control group in terms of retention of the receptive vocabulary knowledge, and in terms of the productive vocabulary knowledge retention there were no significant difference between the groups of the study. These findings will be advantageous for English language teachers to choose the teaching techniques which can facilitate the process of language teaching and learning.

Audio description (AD) is a key tool for improving audiovisual accessibility, originally developed to support the blind and partially sighted community. However, its benefits extend far beyond its initial target audience, with users now including individuals with cognitive disabilities, older adults, language learners, and even sighted individuals in specific contexts. This article analyzes the inclusive potential of AD, tracing the historical evolution of AD from its initial beginnings in the 1980s to the current day as a recognized form of audiovisual translation. AD translates visual information into verbal description, enabling BPS audiences to access visual media on an equal basis as sighted viewers. Apart from accessibility, AD has increasingly been appreciated as a pedagogical tool to facilitate language learning, listening skills, and vocabulary acquisition. AD is also advantageous for individuals with cognitive disabilities since it provides clear, concise descriptions of visual objects, helping to focus attention and reduce cognitive overload. It can also improve the experience for sighted users where visual access is limited, such as while driving or multitasking. This study invites further investigation of the broader applications of AD, encouraging its use in different environments, including education, virtual reality, and interactive narratives. Seen in this light, the current study highlights AD’s potential to facilitate inclusivity and accessibility across society, for a wide variety of users beyond its current target ones.

This study addresses a significant knowledge gap in understanding the effects of task-specific enjoyment and anxiety conditions on the language mindset of Iranian EFL learners in a listening course. Using a quasi-experimental design, 75 male high school students were divided into three groups: a task enjoyment (TE) group, a task anxiety (TA) group, and a control group. The TE group participated in a low-stakes, autonomy-based listening task designed to foster enjoyment, while the TA group completed a high-stakes, evaluative listening task intended to induce anxiety. Data were collected using standardized instruments, including the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale (FLES), the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), and the Language Mindset Inventory (LMI). A series of T-tests and ANOVA were conducted to analyze pre- and post-test scores across the three groups. Results showed that the TE group experienced significantly higher levels of task enjoyment and subsequently developed significantly stronger growth-oriented beliefs regarding overall linguistic intelligence and second language learning compared to both the TA and control groups. Conversely, the TA group exhibited significantly higher anxiety levels and a shift toward more fixed language mindsets. No significant differences were found between groups regarding beliefs about age sensitivity in language learning. These findings highlight the importance of considering task-related emotions in language teaching and suggest that fostering enjoyment through autonomy-supportive tasks can promote a growth mindset, while anxiety-inducing tasks may reinforce fixed beliefs about language learning.