درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Grounded in social learning theory, this study examined Iranian English language instructors’ and students’ perceptions of the contribution of Vadana-Mediated Learning Management Systems (VMLMS) as a remote education platform to online English language learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 54 university EFL instructors and 164 English language students were selected through convenience sampling from Islamic Azad Universities (IAU) in Gilan Province, Iran. To investigate their perceptions of VMLMS, one common questionnaire (for both instructors and students) and two separate questionnaires (one for instructors and one for students) were administered. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the common and instructor questionnaires. Descriptive analyses indicated that both groups held unfavorable perceptions of VMLMS. The results of the MANOVA revealed statistically significant differences between instructors’ and students’ perceptions of VMLMS. The analysis also showed that students agreed they did not receive sufficient support from either instructors or the system. These findings may have implications for universities and educational administrators seeking to facilitate the implementation of online instruction in the Iranian context.

This study explores how Lacanian psychoanalysis governs and understands the mother-child relationships in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1944/2014) and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010). In so doing, the primary purpose of this study has been to establish the links between the central characters' behaviors and the psychoanalytic concept of 'deferral of desire’.' The research proposes a novel aspect of 'psychoanalytic meaning' by basing it on the counter-intuitive process of evading the jouissance of actualizing and immersing oneself in one's object of desire. To support the proposition mentioned above, this study has explored the eventual fate of the children in Black Swan (Nina), and The Glass Menagerie (Tom and Laura), analyzing their respective experiences of (dis)satisfaction after their ultimate success or failure in their attempts to attain their objects of desire . This study has employed the Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts of the objet petit a and register theory to posit that satisfaction lies not in obtaining one’s object of desire, but in repeatedly failing to do so, due to the fact that possessing the object of desire shatters the lack which is the necessary condition of maintaining the desirability of the object of desire. The article concludes that while we are intuitively equipped to think of satisfaction as the effect of the realization of the object of one's desire, psychoanalytically speaking, satisfaction is found in precisely the opposite direction, that is, in a repeated failure to obtain the object of one's desire .

This study explores Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions of integrating job crafting interventions with reflective teaching to enhance their teaching practices and well-being. Using a grounded theory approach, 25 experienced EFL teachers (minimum 5 years of teaching experience) were selected through purposive sampling to participate in a multi-phased intervention based on the PERMA model. The intervention included training workshops, self-set job crafting assignments, and reflective practices. Data were collected through semi-structured and focus-group interviews and analyzed to identify recurring themes. The findings revealed three themes: 1) reflective mindset, 2) sense of belonging and engagement, and 3) reflective avoidance. Results indicate that job crafting improved teachers' self-efficacy, motivation, and resilience, though some experienced challenges in implementation. Practical implications suggest incorporating job crafting strategies into teacher training programs to foster reflective teaching and enhance teacher well-being. This research contributes to the field by bridging positive psychology and reflective practices in SLA contexts, emphasizing the value of teacher-centered interventions in professional development.

The representation of future pre-configuration through policy-making processes has been an in-vogue area of study in the field of discourse analysis. Equally important is the reconstruction of future pre-configuration in the institutional translations of political text and talk. The objective of this study is to investigate the conceptualization of futurity in the preemptive policy-making in the speeches of the Iranian Supreme Leader and their English institutional translations. The data for the present study comes from 20 speeches of the Iranian Supreme Leader and their translations, spanning from 2015-2020, issued by the Office of the Supreme Leader. We employed semantic-syntactic analytical tools such as mood, modality, and aspect to study the conceptualization of futurity in the policy discourse. In conclusion, the findings of the study indicate that these reconstruction of futurity in the preemptive policy-making process in the English institutional translations are to a greater extent similar to the semantic-syntactic properties of the original texts. However, modalization and mood transformation are instances of differences between original and translated versions of texts. Besides, we argued that any instance of the occurrence of similarity or differences stems from on-line dialectic relationships between micro-pragmatic and macro-pragmatic factors

Productive skills have a vital role in learning the English language as they provide foreign learners with opportunities to practice real-life activities in the classroom. The photo-based method for teaching language skills has been developed due to advances in visual technology, the shift to student-centered learning, and the demand for 21st-century skills. Thus, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of utilizing Photovoice on Iranian intermediate learners’ English language productive skills. The research followed a quantitative quasi-experimental design that included pretest and post-test equivalent treatment and control groups. Sixty intermediate female language learners were chosen from a private institute in Isfahan, Iran. First, they were selected conveniently and then they were homogenized based on their performance on the Preliminary English Test. They were divided into two experimental ( n = 30) and control ( n = 30) groups. The experimental group received Photovoice as a methodological innovation, incorporating reflective and collaborative activities, while the control group received routine language instruction involving traditional teaching practices such as lectures, textbook exercises, and grammar drills. One pretest and one post-test were administered to assess the learners’ speaking and writing skills. Then, between-subjects MANOVA and t-tests were employed to analyze the data. The results revealed that Photovoice significantly helped students improve their speaking and writing skills. The present study might have useful implications for curriculum designers, language learners, teachers, and other researchers who are considering the use of Photovoice in language classes.

Feedback literacy as a knowledge vital for developing EFL learners’ academic writing might be associated with several factors, including learners’ second language (L2) writing engagement. Besides, variables such as learners’ proficiency levels can affect the relationship between feedback literacy and writing engagement. This study investigated the relationship between 234 elementary (n = 85), intermediate (n = 78), and advanced (n = 71) Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ writing feedback literacy and writing engagement selected based on convenience sampling. After taking a placement test, they sat for a writing task adjusted to their proficiency level. Next, they answered a scenario-based L2 Writing Engagement Measure (WEM) and completed the Writing Feedback Literacy Questionnaire (WFLQ). The Spearman rank-order correlation indicated significant positive relationships between the three groups’ feedback literacy and writing engagement. However, there were no significant differences in the relationships between EFL learners’ feedback literacy and writing engagement across the three groups. The study’s findings provide insights for L2 teachers, teacher trainers, and educationalists to enhance students’ writing ability, feedback literacy, and writing engagement. Some suggestions for further research are proposed.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international assessment that measures the reading literacy of fourth-grade students (aged 9-10 years old). PIRLS aims to evaluate and compare the reading abilities of students across different countries. It assesses how well students can understand and interpret written texts, which is fundamental to their overall educational development. In this study, psychometric analyses were run on a portion of the multiple-choice items of PIRLS 2016 taken by 4th graders in the USA. The 3PL item response theory model was utilized to examine the test. Discrimination, difficulty, and guessing parameters were estimated along with the fit values, reliability, item characteristic curves, and item-person map. M2, CFI, TLI, and RMSE statistics showed that the test is reliable and the model, overall, fits the data. Item fit statistics outfit and infit showed that most of the items fit the 3PL model. Findings showed that while all the items have acceptable discrimination values, two items have unacceptable guessing parameters. Examination of the ICCs showed that graphical displays are important, in addition to numerical values, for examining item quality. Item-person map showed that items do not target the whole ability scale.

The Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE-A), a widely used high-stakes language proficiency test for university admissions and migration purposes, underwent a notable change from a three-hour to a two-hour version in November 2021. The implementation of the new version has prompted inquiries into the washback effects on various stakeholders. Focusing on a small sample of Chinese test takers (n=10), this paper explores washback effects following the revision of PTE-A and the complexity of test preparation through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest a shorter test length is preferred and several different methods are adopted for test preparation which gives evidence to the positive washback. However, participants reported some confusion regarding certain test items, leading to the adoption of construct-irrelevant methods. This, in turn, may affect the face validity of PTE-A. While addressing the literature gap in this field, recommendations for improving the test design to better meet test takers’ needs are provided.

AI-enabled solutions and systems, including AI chatbots, are revolutionizing teaching and learning processes in language education programs and language classrooms, profoundly changing traditional methodology and pedagogy. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of implementing and utilizing three AI chatbots, Claude, Chat GPT, and Google Gemini, with traditional instruction in an academic writing course at Ilam University, Iran. To this end, of 39 TEFL MA students enrolling in an academic writing course, four homogeneous classes of nine students were organized. In three classes, the three AI chatbots were used for providing feedback, correction, revision guidance, and tips for outlining, moves, and paragraph organization. A class with traditional teacher-centered instruction was also organized. At the end of the course, students in all four classes were tasked with writing two essays. A team of three raters was asked to rate the essays based on a common rubric. The rating results showed that students who received AI-enhanced instruction through the use of Claude achieved the highest scores, followed by those who received instruction with ChatGPT and Google Gemini, respectively. The participants in all three AI-enabled classes outperformed the participants in the class with traditional instruction. The rating results confirmed the effectiveness of AI-enhanced writing instruction, highlighting Claude as the most effective AI tool, and ChatGPT and Google Gemini in the second and third ranks, respectively. Based on the course outcomes, AI-enabled writing instruction is more effective than traditional instruction.

Technology-mediated learning experiences are becoming a norm for today’s language learning. In the technology-mediated society, the production and transformation of information is not restricted to published works, but to anyone with access to basic technology resources. This study was an endeavor to explore the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) learners' overall views of technology-mediated language learning. The research also focused on the overall idea of the participants about the challenges and opportunities of remote learning. To this end, the current mixed-methods study was used. The data-gathering tools included a related questionnaire and interview. By scrutinizing satisfaction levels, benefits, drawbacks, and skill preferences, the study sheds light on the nuanced dynamics of remote learning. Results of the study indicated a high satisfaction level among participants with remote education. The study further demonstrated a prior recognition of benefits over drawbacks. Notably, vocabulary and reading emerged as preferred skills for virtual learning. In summary, this study contributes to the understanding of ESP students' views in the context of remote learning, offering remote education that can be an educational strategy for the future.

This study strived to specify and particularize Iranian medical field specialists and EFL teachers’ predominant and overriding textual interventions, which fall within the ambit of convenience editing. To this end, we required 20 field specialists and 20 EFL instructors to edit the unedited versions of 80 published medical research articles in a way that rendered them apt for publication in quality medical journals. We categorized the obtained data of the edited articles using an editing strategy framework that distinguished four editing micro-strategies and five macro-strategies. The findings revealed that medical specialists and EFL teachers’ micro-editing strategies outnumbered their macro-editing ones. Furthermore, there were significant differences between the editing micro-strategy uses of the above-mentioned groups of the participants. The results highlighted the need for a synergic collaboration between the medical field specialists and the EFL teachers to ameliorate medical articles’ formal, stylistic, and genre-related features and to expedite their publication process. 

The primary objective of this research was to explore how the mindsets and perseverance of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Iran impact their well-being. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), data from 375 EFL teachers, selected through convenience sampling, were analyzed. The results revealed a direct and positive correlation between a teacher's growth mindset and their well-being. Additionally, the study found that the relationship between a teacher's growth mindset and well-being was influenced by their level of grit. These findings suggest that educators can significantly contribute to fostering growth mindsets and perseverance among EFL teachers, thus improving their well-being. Ultimately, this research underscores the importance of these teacher characteristics in enhancing the well-being of EFL instructors and offers practical guidance for educators aiming to support them.  

The following paper was designed to focus on how learners’ process different communication inputs (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) and secondly, how gender differences play a significant role in this process. However, materials and instruction methods must also affect individual responses to given tasks. A study on these issues will necessitate the development of gender sensitive instructional materials with a special focus on improving individual comprehension strategies. First year graduate students with English as a compulsory subject of the two selected institutions were taken for our study. In this paper we have reported the differences between the male and female attitudes of the learners and their beliefs in acquiring LSRW skills for learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Survey questionnaires (through Google forms) and interview questions were designed. One sample T-test and paired sample test were taken whereas, interview question responses were analysed to validate the data. The findings revealed that average responses regarding the difficulty of listening skills are statistically significant and correlation between male students learning listening skills are better in the collaborative learning environment whereas the female students depict a positive and moderate correlation for the same. However, it is also found that there is no significant difference between the overall performance of female and male students and the implications have been discussed in the paper.