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Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) have recently become very popular both for research purposes and for real testing endeavors for student assessment. A plethora of DCM models give researchers and practitioners a wide range of options for student diagnosis and classification. One intriguing option that some DCM models offer is the possibility of examining the nature of the interactions among the attributes underlying a skill. Attributes in second/foreign language (L2) may interact with each other in a compensatory/non-compensatory manner. Subskill/attribute relationship has been studied using diagnostic classification models. The present study provides a mini review of the DCM studies on the attribute relationships in L2 reading, listening, and writing. The criteria based on which interaction between the attributes have been inferred are reviewed. The results showed that the majority of DCM studies have investigated reading comprehension and more studies are required on the productive skills of writing and speaking. Furthermore, suggestions for future studies are provided.

Unidimensionality is an important assumption of measurement but it is violated very often. Most of the time, tests are deliberately constructed to be multidimensional to cover all aspects of the intended construct. In such situations, the application of unidimensional item response theory (IRT) models is not justified due to poor model fit and misleading results. Multidimensional IRT (MIRT) models can handle several dimensions simultaneously and yield person ability parameters on several dimensions which is helpful for diagnostic purposes too. Furthermore, MIRT models use the correlation between the dimensions to enhance the precision of the measurement. In this study a reading comprehension test is modelled with the multidimensional Rasch model. The findings showed that a correlated 2-dimensional model has the best fit to the data. The bifactor model revealed some interesting information about the structure of reading comprehension and the reading curriculum. Implications of the study for the testing and teaching of reading comprehension are discussed.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of scaffolding genre knowledge and metacognitive strategy use on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ academic writing skills. The initial population was 100 EFL students from M.A. English language teaching (ELT) students who took academic writing course at Islamic Azad University, Tehran and Alborz branches. To homogenize the sample, Oxford placement test (OPT) was administered, and based on its results, 75 advanced learners were selected for the purpose of the study. After that, they were divided into 3 groups, namely the experimental group A (scaffolding genre knowledge), the experimental group B (metacognitive strategy use), and the control group. IELTS academic writing task 2 was administered as the pretest and posttest. The treatments lasted for 16 sessions. To explore the learners’ perceptions regarding the instructions qualitatively, the semi-structured individual interviews were administered to 20 students who were chosen from the experimental groups. The results showed that scaffolding genre knowledge and metacognitive strategy use had significant impacts on the Iranian EFL learners’ academic writing skill. In addition, the findings indicated that there was a significant difference between the effects of scaffolding genre knowledge and metacognitive strategy use on the Iranian EFL academic writing skill in which scaffolding genre knowledge had more significant effects on Iranian EFL academic writing skill than metacognitive strategy use. Furthermore, the qualitative findings showed that the learners adopted positive views towards scaffolding genre knowledge and metacognitive strategy use in developing their academic writing skill.

Recent developments in technology have affected various aspects of human life, including education. These technological advancements have resulted in the introduction of new trends in teaching methodology. These trends include pure online instruction, mixed online and face-to-face instruction (blended), etc. In order to identify the efficacy of such kinds of instruction in comparison with traditional methods, this quasi-experimental study was conducted to explore the effects of virtual vs. blended-language instruction on the development of listening and reading skills by Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To achieve this goal, 60 intermediate EFL learners were selected to participate in two experimental (virtual and blended) and one control (traditional face-to-face) groups. After the provision of the treatments in experimental (reading and listening through virtual and blended methods of instruction) and control (reading and listening through traditional method) groups, a post-test was conducted to measure the attainment of the participants in each language skill.  The results revealed that both virtual and blended methods of instruction could lead to better reading and listening performances. However, the difference between the effect of each treatment was more tangible in one skill scores (reading in the virtual group and listening in the blended group). The point worth noting is that the blended group could significantly outperform the other two groups. Comparing the results of all post-tests in reading and listening, it was revealed that blended instruction could result in better reading and listening; however, reading skill was more affected due to the higher mean difference between pre-test and post-test scores. This study has some implications for language teachers in taking advantage of technology in education in a balance with their traditional styles of teaching.

This paper aimsto reveal how the universals of translation (henceforth, UsT) can beregarded as a manner to examine the translator'sstyle in the TL. In doing so, this paper examines how Saleh Hosseini, as an Iranian literary translator,  made his style through the changes he completed at each micro-and macro-levels shift to result in his discursive presence and/or style in the novels he has translated into Persian. After having reviewed the main theories on shifts  including Nida, Catford, Leuven-Zwart, and Baker, this paper takes Baker’s definition of style as the translator’s ‘thumbprint’ as a way to approach the UsT in Hosseini’s Persian translations. Having occurred with the translated texts than with the original, the UsT are: ‘explicitation’, ‘normalization’, ‘levelling out’, and ‘simplification’ (Baker, 1996). Having selected 44 sentences from the three translated novels into Persian by Hosseini as a corpus, this paper indicates that the ratio of ‘normalization’ is much higher than the other three universals, meaning that Hosseini, through adhering to the norms of the Persian language, came to this universal as one of the signposts of his discursive presence, voice, and style in his translations.

This study investigated the impact of a teacher education course on pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. A sample of 84 Iranian EFL pre-service teachers who had just been accepted to Farhangian University were selected through convenience sampling. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, their pedagogical beliefs were measured through a researcher-made questionnaire before and after a training course on the philosophy of education for English language teachers. Moreover, the changes reported by the participants were traced through thematic analysis of their reflective journals. Finally, in a focus group interview, they commented on the contributing factors to the success of the course in changing their pedagogical beliefs. The results of quantitative data demonstrated the impact of the training course on changing the participants’ pedagogical beliefs. The analysis of qualitative data obtained from the reflective journals indicated that the changes that the participants professed were of two emerging themes of raising awareness of new assumptions and adopting new pedagogical beliefs. In addition, the analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that the participants attributed the course success to the implementation of appropriate teaching strategies, the course contents, and the teacher educator’s performance. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that EFL pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs can be modified in training courses of teacher education programs if a safe and collaborative atmosphere is created for them to critically reflect on their prior pedagogical beliefs within innovative theoretical frameworks.  

The Regulatory Focus Theory, a classic self-regulatory approach, posits that human behavior is significantly influenced by salient standards and reference points that are either situation-dependent or chronically accessible in a person's mind. This study examined the impact of regulatory focus orientations, namely prevention and promotion, on the willingness of Iranian EFL learners to communicate in an English class. We selected 48 upper-intermediate-level students via the Oxford Placement test. These students were divided into three groups: promotion-focused, prevention-focused, and control. The promotion-focused group was encouraged through positive reinforcement of their success and accomplishments when using correct linguistic features during class. Conversely, the prevention-focused group was immediately corrected when a linguistic error occurred to avoid further mistakes, and no praise was given for correct language use. The control group received no intervention. Results derived from a one-way ANOVA demonstrated a significant relationship between the regulatory focus orientation and students' willingness to communicate. EFL learners exposed to promotion techniques demonstrated a higher willingness to communicate. The paper concludes with a discussion on the theoretical implications and pedagogical applications of the study.

The study of request speech act has been considered by many researchers in various cultures and communities. In line with the goals of these studies, the cuurent article aims to extract and categorize the request speech act strategies used by Iranian teenager students (ITS) based on Cross Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) coding scheme proposed by Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989) with regard to the relationship between the social dominance (power) of the addressees on the type and number of request strategies. The data were collected via Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and role-play filled and performed by 100 Birjandi high school students of Persian (50 girls and 50 boys). The results of the Chi-square test and also the two data collection methods employed showed that there was a significant relationship between the addressee’s social dominance and the type and number of request strategies used by ITS. In addition,“Alerters”, “preparatories” and “grounders” were the most employed strategies by the participants in both DCTs and role-plays. Besides, the lower social dominance of the speaker towards the addressee resulted in the application of complex strategies. So, it seems, with regard to politeness, Iranian cultural system to be hierarchical. Moreover, regarding the use of the request strategies by ITS, the findings didn’t show any difference between the two corpora, i.e., the data gathered via DCTs and role-plays.

Appraisal theory has provided researchers with a powerful analytical tool to explore how language users express their feelings, attitude and judgments in texts. The present study was conducted to explore the use of appraisals in Persian recounts with a focus on the attitude subsystem. Forty-eight online recounts were selected (22 female writers and 26 male writers). The analysis was conducted two times at a one-week interval using the UAM corpus tool software. The results indicated that women generally used more attitude resources in their recounts compared to men and they also used more affect than men, both men and women encoded their evaluation more explicitly rather than implicitly, and in both types of recounts, attitude subsystems appeared in a special order in terms of frequency. In conclusion, predominant use of attitude in Persian recounts can be considered as evidence of effectiveness and applicability of the appraisal theory.

The significance of fairness in assessment is not a subject of doubt for educationalists even with fundamentally contrastive perspectives, but the study of methodological means for safeguarding this concept in educational classroom contexts has only received the scant attention of the researchers and educationalists. On this basis, this study intended to conceptualize foreign language (FL) classroom assessment fairness from EFL teachers' perspective. For this purpose and as a part of a larger enterprise, the researchers first strived for the creation and validation of a Classroom Assessment Fairness Scale (CAFS). This process was informed by the related literature and applied a critical incident technique. To verify the scale's validity and reliability, it was first expert viewed and modified accordingly; next pilot-tested on a group of 250 teachers, and finally, the amassed data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses and internal consistency measures. The validated scale was taken by 120 Iranian EFL teachers. Descriptive analyses indicated that the EFL teachers were familiar with fairness principles in classroom assessment practices. They were aware of the significance of the opportunity to learn, the opportunity to demonstrate learning, the no-harm principle, the constructive classroom environment, and transparency as the constructive elements of classroom assessment practices' fairness. However, the same familiarity and awareness were not guaranteed for the score pollution component. The results further demonstrated that the teachers' gender, educational degree, teaching experience, and teaching context led to statistically significant differences among EFL teachers' attitudes to classroom assessment fairness.

Objective: The present study sought to explore EFL teachers’ cognition of rapport establishment and maintenance, as one of the aspects of classroom management, in the context of Iran’s foreign language institutes’ face-to-face EFL classes.Method: The study involved 12 Iranian teachers who taught adult learners. The sample size was determined based on reaching saturation, and the participating teachers were selected through purposeful sampling. The main instrument utilized in this qualitative study was a semi-structured one-to-one in-person interview, which aimed to elicit the participants’ cognition of rapport development. These individual interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically.Results: The findings revealed that the participants believed in the importance of rapport creation for efficient classroom management. Besides, they recommended strategies for establishing rapport with learners, such as familiarization, verbal immediacy, non-verbal immediacy, attention to learners’ emotions, judicious L1 use, playing games, and utilizing social media. Moreover, they held that teachers’ personality traits and communication skills could impact their approach to building rapport.Conclusion: Altogether, the participants had a sound cognition of rapport maintenance as one of the aspects of classroom management. The findings of the current study provide implications for teacher educators, teachers, and institutes’ supervisors.

The area of Individual Differences (IDs) and their interactions with instructional conditions have recently been a point of interest in second language acquisition. However, the effect of such interaction on aural implicit grammar knowledge has not been researched exhaustively. This study thus examined the interactive effects of aptitude and treatment conditions on implicit grammar knowledge as elicited aurally. Grammar knowledge was operationalized as the ability to comprehend past/present simple passive verbs. To this end, 120 EFL learners were randomly assigned to four groups: three teacher-generated experimental (Isolated Form-Focused Instruction, henceforth FFI, Integrated FFI, and Incidental) conditions, each lasting for six treatment sessions, and a control group receiving the same content with no instruction. Initially, learners took a pre-test and cognitive tests (LLAMA-D, LLAMA-F, and LSPAN). They then received the treatments, and three days after the treatments, they took an Aural Timed Grammaticality Judgment Test as a measure of implicit grammar knowledge. Results of a general linear model revealed a significant effect for treatment. Additionally, LSPAN was found to mediate the effectiveness of instruction, with the highest effect on implicit grammar knowledge under the Isolated FFI condition. Post-hoc analyses also demonstrated that instruction made a significant difference compared with no instruction, though, in comparison with other conditions, Integrated FFI proved to be more effective. Results provide EFL teachers and curriculum developers with awareness concerning the interaction between instruction and cognitive differences. For improving the effectiveness of instruction and acquiring implicit knowledge, cognitive tasks, especially those boosting working memory, are suggested.