درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Teacher autonomy (TA), including its conceptualization and multidimensionality, has received increasing attention in the past two decades. Notwithstanding many attempts to measure TA, teachers’ capacity for self-directed professional action (CSDPA) has remained under-researched. To address this gap, this article delved into the status of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ CSDPA by developing and validating a questionnaire based on TA literature and semi-structured interviews with teachers. Employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the factor structures of 300 Iranian EFL   teachers’ responses were examined in terms of their CSDPA. The analysis results yielded five factors regarding teachers’ CSDPA, including their capacities for self-directed instructional and curricular activities, self-directed institutional actions, self-directed teacher learning activities, self-directed assessment and collegial negotiation activities, and self-directed relational and ethical actions. The research outcomes suggest implications for language teachers, institute principals, and teacher educators to attend to teachers’ autonomy as a key feature of their professional action.

The most crucial part of learning a language is speaking. The majority of EFL students struggle to express themselves verbally. Ten students from the English department took part in the research to address these problems. Some actions were performed to accomplish the goal. Due of the epidemic, the teacher substituted the customary classroom setup with a WhatsApp group. To start the class, he distributed the YouTube URL link. The pupils viewed and listened to the YouTube videos. They were able to use some of the provided tools to understand the subject as they went along. The pause, rewind, and fast forward buttons allowed them to pause, go back in time, and move forward. By recording their finished work on film, the students were able to recount the educational process. They started scribbling to increase their verbal fluency. They were writing on a piece of paper as they talked. Following the conclusion of the study, the students answered the questionnaire. The data from the teaching-learning process and the questionnaire were examined using a mix-method approach. Conclusion: Students' listening, vocabulary, grammar, and speaking skills are enhanced by using the offered URL, the WhatsApp group application, YouTube, recounting, and scribbling. Additionally, their practice was becoming less jittery and interrupted. Other educators who teach speaking and related courses could find this kind of discovery useful.

Pendant le COVID-19, les universités et les établissements d'enseignement supérieur ont été appelés à dispenser un enseignement en ligne en raison de la pandémie. Le nouvel environnement d'enseignement a créé une nouvelle méthode d'enseignement qui a inspiré la plupart des pays à adopter l'enseignement en ligne même après la pandémie. L'Université de Yarmouk, parmi d'autres en Jordanie, a établi ses classes post-COVID-19 entièrement en ligne ou hybride (partiellement en ligne). L'étude actuelle vise à révéler l'efficacité de l'apprentissage en ligne des langues étrangères après la pandémie de COVID-19 du point de vue d'étudiants universitaires choisis au hasard dans différentes universités. Pour mener à bien la présente recherche, nous avons élaboré un questionnaire et l'avons envoyé à des étudiants universitaires de différentes universités jordaniennes.  Les réponses ont été recueillies et analysées dans le programme SPSS. Les résultats de l'étude ont montré que l'interaction par le biais de l'e-learning a obtenu une moyenne de (3,09), avec un pourcentage de (62%). De plus, la capacité des étudiants à accéder aux ressources d'apprentissage en ligne a obtenu une moyenne de (3,06) et un pourcentage de (61,3%), tandis que l'efficacité de l'enseignement par l'apprentissage en ligne a obtenu une   moyenne   de (3,04)   et   un   pourcentage   de (61%).  La   recherche   a   abouti   à   plusieurs recommandations, notamment la nécessité pour l’administration universitaire de se concentrer davantage sur les besoins des étudiants en langues étrangères en matière d'e-learning à l'avenir et de développer des systèmes bien connus tels que le système modèle.

In this article, the plural marker in the Mahshahri dialect is examined. Mahshahri is the native language of the people of Bandar-e Mahshahr. This dialect has close similarities with other Iranian language varieties spoken in southern Iran, particularly those of other southern cities of Khuzestan Province, and Iranian language varieties of Bushehr, Fars and Kohkiluye and Boyr-Ahmad provinces. From a methodological point of view, this research is descriptive and analytical. The research data were mainly obtained through a questionnaire and by examining the text of a twenty-minute continuous speech from the Mahshahri dialect. The investigations carried out in this article show that the plural marker of Mahshahri is /-æl/, which, based on the phonetic environment of the base to which it is added, can have other allomorphic manifestations as well. The conducted studies also indicate that there are variations in the use of the plural marker in the Mahshahri dialect. These variations, in many cases, align with the replacement of the marker with its standard Persian counterparts. Therefore, the variations that can be seen in the use of the plural marker of Mahshahri can be considered in line with other current changes that are underway in the direction of leveling the dialect with standard Persian in Iran. 

Intercultural communication is a widespread matter in today’s world with the advent of globalization and social media. Thus, this study focused on exploring the role of cultural knowledge and linguistic knowledge in the formation of intercultural competence. The researchers selected 150 Iranian learners through a purposeful sampling procedure in a qualitative design. By using interviews, observation, and reflective journals the required data was collected. The researchers used inductive analysis and thematic analysis to analyze the collected data. The results revealed that cultural knowledge and linguistic knowledge are both equally important in the formation of intercultural competence of Iranian learners. Also, it is shown that Iranian learners make use of both linguistic knowledge and cultural knowledge to have effective communication, build trust and rapport, conflict resolution, and avoid linguistic and cultural misunderstandings. This study is important for language teachers, book writers, and curriculum developers in that they should pay more attention to both linguistic knowledge and cultural knowledge in their teaching, book writing, and curriculum development respectively.

The current study explored the effect of storytelling and translation techniques on learning proverbs among female Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners in online classes, which came into vogue after corona pandemic, and the attitudes of the learners toward proverb learning. In order to do these, participants who were 30 female high school students studying in Iranshahr whose homogeneity as pre-intermediate learners was checked via the Nelson Proficiency Test were assigned to two groups: a storytelling group, and a translation group; each group containing 15 students. Treatment lasted seven sessions and it included 50 English proverbs chosen based on the frequency of their use in Google search. In each session, the participants of experimental groups were engaged in learning seven English proverbs. The translation group were presented with L1 equivalents of the proverbs; the storytelling group were presented with a funny story about each proverb. An attitude questionnaire and a test of proverbs were applied prior to and after the treatment. The results of the paired t-test indicated that both storytelling technique and translation were effective in improving learners’ knowledge of L2 (second Language) proverbs. The results of the t-test depicted that there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in the post-test. These findings have implications for material developers, L2 instructors, and L2 learners about the importance of the use of L2 proverbs.

Implicitly biased teaching practices or the unconscious discriminatory actions of teachers create the learning-threatening illusion of being biased in the minds of learners. This study identified the main manifestations of implicitly biased teaching practices in online EFL learning, and then, delved deeper into the factors shaping their manifestations. Participants of the study were 45 intermediate-level EFL learners attending an online course in an Iranian public educational institute. Each participant was required to report on the biased teaching practices manifested during the three-month course. In the end, focused interviews were conducted to identify the contributing factors to their perceptions. Results of the study came up through content analysis indicated that intermediate-level learners perceive implicitly biased teaching practices as micro-assault (underrating) or micro-insult (demeaning) behavior each of which could result in a different reaction and participation pattern among themselves. This study concludes that false expectations, negative comparisons, and the online nature of communication are the main factors determining what learners regarded as biased teaching practices. Moreover, this study rejects the efficacy of micro-invalidation in preventing implicit bias in online learning. This study encourages EFL teachers to address their implicit bias through considering the participation and development patterns of their learners.  

The current study set out to examine the effect of pair and group virtual interaction in online classrooms on the development of speaking abilities of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. This investigation was based on the quantitative data collected based on quasi-experimental design. In order to do so, 45 students were chosen based on their scores on the CEFR placement test. These students were then divided into two experimental groups, namely group work and pair work as well as a control group who worked individually. Students had to participate in the IELTS Speaking test twice as pre-test and post-test. The course was held on the Skype platform for five weeks. Each session consisted of 45 minutes of speaking practice using the Talk a Lot textbook and 20 minutes of discussion. In order to compare the means of three independent groups, Kruskal-Wallis Test was used to compare pre-test and post-test results. The Post hoc test was used for multiple comparisons and the mean differences of groups. The findings indicated that there is a significant difference between the experimental groups and the control group regarding the effect of group and pair work in online classrooms on the speaking ability of EFL learners. According to the study findings, students who participated in pair and group work training in online classrooms had greater speaking performance than those who only received individual learning.

An appropriate and dynamic teaching method in EFL instruction is crucial for engaging, attracting, and supporting students. This study utilized a mixed-method approach to explore the effectiveness of synthesizing Engagement, Study, and Activation (ESA) with portfolio assessment on Iranian female students' emotive dimensions in writing skills. A total of 177 students participated in the experimental study, completing think-aloud protocols, questionnaires, and interviews. Quantitative analysis through MANOVA and qualitative analysis using NVivo demonstrated significant results. The synthesis of ESA with portfolio assessment yielded the highest mean scores in emotive dimensions related to writing skills, followed by pure ESA application and the control group. Additionally, pure ESA application outperformed conventional instructional methods in overall emotive dimensions. However, the synthetic approach proved to be more effective than pure ESA across all emotive dimensions. Qualitative data from think-aloud protocols and interviews further elucidated the impact of synthetic mechanisms on boredom, hopelessness, anxiety, anger, enjoyment, pride, motivation, motivation and relief. The main implication for the stakeholders is the feasibility, usefulness and applicability of dynamic assessment in accommodating emotive dimensions in the process of both instruction and assessment of language.

Processability Theory (PT) is a theory of second language acquisition (SLA) developed to explain developmental sequences in SLA as well as some other phenomena. Within the framework of Processability Theory (PT) and through analyzing the written performance of Iranian EFL learners, the present research focused on the acquisition of the morpho-syntactic structures of “do- s- v (o)” across five proficiency levels, from elementary to advance and compared it with the stage-like development model of morpho-syntactic structures proposed by Pienemann (2005a). The study followed a mixed method design and the data were collected from 350 participants in five different proficiency levels from elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced; furthermore, 45 pre-intermediate to advanced students were interviewed. The participants were asked to provide samples of their written performance on different tasks such as introduction task, habitual action task, and story retelling task, picture description task, composition, and communication task; furthermore, they were interviewed on the same topics. The data in this research were analyzed both qualitatively to identify and classify the type and order of the morpho-syntactic structures in the written and oral data, and quantitatively through inferential statistics. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that “do-subject- verb was concordant with Pienemann’s (2005a) model. This finding implies that PT is valid for Iranian EFL learners, considerably. The findings of this research can be of benefit for language teachers, learners, and syllabus designers.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, all face-to-face instruction at higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide has been suspended. Therefore, many institutions and universities relied on online learning to continue the instruction process. The perceptions of teachers and students who went through this experience can provide useful information regarding the success of the online instruction. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of teachers and students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. Additionally, it aimed at exploring the main advantages and disadvantages of online instruction during this time. To this end, 250 English language teachers and students were selected from different English language institutes and universities in Iran. Drawing upon Khan et al.’s (2021) questionnaire and an open-ended question, this study showed that both teachers and students had positive perceptions towards online learning and teaching during COVID-19 lockdown despite the fact that some students had not the necessary facilities and infrastructure for online classes. Furthermore, this study showed that validity, reliability, construction, administration, and effectiveness of online assessment was a major concern for both teachers and students. Besides, both groups expressed the benefits of online instruction more than its drawbacks. The results of this study have implications for higher education teachers, and stakeholders to get a better understanding of the students’ and teachers’ perception toward online instruction