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This article sets out to examine the effect of utilizing different culturally-based materials on EFL university students' foreign language reading anxiety, reading comprehension self-efficacy, and reading proficiency within project-based classes. The research was carried out with two classes of intermediate freshmen majoring in English Language Teaching. The comparison group had to present their projects based on the reading passages of the book "Active" (L2 culturally-oriented texts) and the experimental group had to deliver their projects based on their L1 and L2 culturally-based reading texts designed by the researcher. Reading comprehension self-efficacy scale, foreign language reading anxiety scale, and the reading section of the Michigan Test (1998) were administered to students as pre-tests and post-tests at the beginning and at the end of one academic year consisting of two project-based reading courses. ANCOVA was utilized for analyzing the data. The results indicated that although in both groups significant improvements were observed regarding the three aforementioned variables, it was the experimental group that showed significantly less degrees of anxiety, compared to the comparison group. However, no differences regarding reading self-efficacy and reading proficiency were observed between the two groups. The findings of this study suggest that EFL teachers, material developers and syllabus designers can take advantage of cultural familiar texts when generating their own learning materials.

Examining the effect of high-stakes tests on learners’ perceptions has been one of the strands of washback-related research. The present study purported to investigate the washback effect of the English section of the Iranian National University Entrance Exam (henceforth INUEE) on the pre-university students’ perceptions about the high-stakes test. The participants of the study were 218 female students at two pre-university schools in the city of Ahwaz, Iran. The data were collected through a validated questionnaire. Responses and reactions to the questions were found to be mixed: a sizeable segment of the students were positive about the INUEE, considering it a valid evaluator of academic knowledge and viewing the test as a factor which at least 'forced' them to study English. However, those with negative perceptions criticized the test for mainly being an evaluator of rote-memorization ability (rather than academic knowledge) and a major source of anxiety, and its multiple-choice testing format etc. The findings could be of pedagogic help and significance to policy makers, language testing scholars and teachers.

The purpose of this study was to probe the effect of metacognitive strategy instruction through dialogic interaction on the reading comprehension performance and metacognitive awareness of Iranian EFL learners. The data were collected through the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) and a reading test to examine changes in metacognitive awareness and reading performance before and after the intervention. The participants were 60 intermediate EFL learners in two groups. The experimental group (n = 30) went through an intervention program in which the learners were taught metacognitive strategy instruction through dialogic interaction for ten sessions. The control group (n=30) went through a conventional reading instruction program and covered the same materials without receiving metacognitive instruction. The results revealed that metacognitive strategy instruction through dialogic interaction helped learners develop their reading ability and raise their metacognitive awareness.

Almost in every stage of their language learning process, the learners have motivation for what they do and receive a negative or positive feedback for it. The current study was after finding the would-be effect of motivation on 58 elementary EFL learners’ pronunciation gains successive to teacher and peer oral corrective feedback. To this aim, two intact groups at elementary level of proficiency were employed as the study participants, each of which was exposed to treatment through one type of oral corrective feedback (either teacher or peer feedback type) following the initial administration of a tailor-made recognition test of pronunciation. Thus, following pretest, an adopted motivation questionnaire was assigned to participants in both groups to gauge their motivation type (intrinsic or extrinsic) in learning a foreign language. Subsequent to the treatment applied via teacher and peer corrective feedback methods, the posttest was administered to all the study participants. The oral corrective feedback was utilized to provide implicit instruction to the EFL learners regarding their pronunciation at the segmental level. The results revealed that no statistically significant difference existed between the two groups regarding their pronunciation enhancement. Thus, it was indicated throughout the research that neither learners’ motivation type nor the corrective feedback type offered by the study played a significant role in ameliorating learners’ performance on pronunciation posttest. The issue problematized in the current study may help teachers rethink the way they provide corrective feedback in their classes, and be more vigilant of and sensitive to the preferred ways of feedback provision on the part of learners in the light of motivational and attitudinal factors.       Keywords: motivation; second language pronunciation; oral corrective feedback   جستاری درباره تاثیر انگیزه یادگیرندگان بر بهبود تلفظشان در سایه دریافت بازخورد اصلاحی از معلمان و همکلاسان   یادگیرندگان زبان در هر مرحله از فرایند یادگیری از انگیزه برای آنچه انجام می دهند برخوردار بوده و بازخورد مثبت یا منفی در قبال آن دریافت می کنند. هدف تحقیق حاضر بررسی تاثیر انگیزه زبان آموزان سطح مقدماتی بر بهبود تلفظشان بدنبال اجرای جلسات بازخورد اصلاحی شفاهی بود. بدین منظور در ابتدای کار دو گروه از زبان آموزان سطح مقدماتی انتخاب گردیده و پس از اجرای پیش آزمون تلفظ، هر کدام به یکی از دو شیوه بازخورد اصلاحی (از طریق معلم و یا همکلاسان) مورد بررسی قرار گرفتند. همچنین جهت تعیین نوع غالب انگیزش زبان آموزان (درونی یا بیرونی)، پرسشنامه انگیزش توسط محققان ارائه گردید، و در انتهای کار پس آزمون تلفظ از فراگیران به عمل آمد. گفتنی است بازخورد اصلاحی شفاهی با هدف اجرای آموزش غیر مستقیم تلفظ به زبان آموزان صورت گرفت. بر پایه نتایج حاصله، هیچ تفاوت معناداری در میزان پیشرفت زبان آموزان دو گروه در پس آزمون مشاهده نگردید. بنابراین محققان از یافته های تحقیق حاضر اینگونه استنباط نمودند که نه نوع بازخورد اصلاحی ارائه شده و نه نوع انگیزش زبان آموزان هیچکدام تاثیر عمده ای در ایجاد تفاوت معنادار بین عملکرد دو گروه در پس آزمون تلفظ نداشتند. در نهایت چنین به نظر می رسد که نتایج پژوهش حاضر می تواند به معلمان کمک کند تا در نحوه ارائه بازخورد اصلاحی در کلاس تجدید نظر نموده و نسبت به ترجیحات زبان آموزان در این خصوص با توجه به انگیزه و نگرش های آنان آگاهانه تر و دقیق تر عمل نمایند.   کلید واژگان:انگیزش، تلفظ در زبان دوم، بازخورد اصلاحی شفاهی

The present study probed 409 Iranian English as foreign language (EFL) learners' motivation and attitude toward English as an International Language (EIL) by investigating the causal relationships of their facets via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To do so, the Persian version of the ‘attitudes toward EIL’ scale was designed and validated. It measures five constructs of: cultural realism, linguistic cultural disposition (negative), (dis)ownership of English, EIL posture, and localization. Then, the researchers utilized the validated scale along with the adapted Persian version of motivation scale designed by Taguchi et al. (2009) to explore the causal relationship among their facets. The latter scale measures seven dimensions of instrumentality prevention, instrumentality promotion, ideal L2 self, ought-to l2 self, learning experience, motivational intensity, and integrativeness. The findings of the study revealed that students' motivational intensity positively predicted by other motivational and attitudinal factors with 'ideal self' and 'instrumentality promotion' having the highest influence. It was also found that ‘cultural realism’ was a significant predicator of ‘localisation’, and ‘localisation’ was a significant positive predictor of ‘disownership of English’. ‘EIL posture’ was also in a positive direct relationship with ‘cultural realism’, whereas ‘linguistic cultural disposition’ (negative) was found to negatively influence other aspects including ‘motivational intensity’. This study has some implications for ELT professionals to revisit EFL motivation in light of attitudes toward EIL in expanding circle.

The aim of the present study is to investigate and compare the choice of language used in an online platform (Facebook) and during offline communication with reference to a family member, a friend, and an acquaintance in the same multilingual speech community. As part of this study, a structured sociolinguistics questionnaire was administered to 38 multilingual postgraduate students. This is followed by interviewing selected focus group to elicit more information on various factors that influence their language behavior. The major finding of this study is that apart from family circle, a majority of multilingual users in India prefer to use English for Facebook private communications only among friends and acquaintances while Mother tongue is the dominant language use for offline communications.