درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The digital information age requires skills and strategies that are crucial in comprehending online academic texts. Also, research has emphasized the crucial role of critical thinking (CT) in education. Thus, this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study aimed to (a) identify Iranian EFL students’ metacognitive online reading strategies and CT skills, and (b) investigate the possible relationship between Iranian EFL students’ metacognitive online reading strategies in academic texts with their CT skills. To these ends, 80 Iranian EFL university students, selected nonrandomly from Shahrekord University, took part in this study and responded to the Pookcharoen’s (2009) Online Survey of Reading Strategies and Facione, Facione, Blohm, and Giancarlo’s (2002) California Critical Thinking Skills Test. In the follow-up, to probe into metacognitive online reading strategy use, 10 Iranian EFL university students were selected to do think-aloud online reading tasks. The descriptive statistics indicated that the EFL university students greatly preferred to use problem solving strategies more, followed by different global and support reading strategies respectively. Also, evaluation and inductive (sub)skills of CT were used mostly by the university students. Moreover, the results of the think-aloud provided evidence in support of quantitative results, confirming various problem solving, global and support strategy use in online academic reading. Furthermore, Pearson correlations revealed a positive and significant relationship, though it was small, between metacognitive online reading strategy use and CT skills. Integrating the findings from the quantitative and qualitative components call for metacognitive strategy assistance and instruction and CT development to improve online reading comprehension.

While the use of apps specifically designed for language learning has witnessed a surge over the past decade, research on the productivity of these apps for language learning purposes along with their essential design and content features from students’ lens remains scant. The present paper illustrates an attempt to explore the way using language learning apps throughout an academic semester develops university level students’ semi-technical English language knowledge and the features and qualities they find essential in these educational apps. Drawing on empirical data obtained from pre- and post-tests and App Feature Interview form, it was observed that students who used language learning apps had a significantly better performance in a semi-technical English language post-test compared to the students who did not use language learning apps of their choice. Following content analysis, participants’ responses to an interview question were explored to determine the qualities they found crucial for language learning apps. Students highlighted 18 qualities, which were categorized under three main themes: smartphone, pedagogical content, and design features, as required for effective language learning apps. The findings of this study provide insights for educational app designers and educators on what works better in these apps from users’ perspective.

Various models of Dynamic Assessment (DA) have been used in L2 pragmatic instruction and have proved their significant contributions to pragmatic production; however, there is a paucity of research regarding their implementation for pragmatic comprehension. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the effects of interactionist and interventionist models of DA on the accuracy and speed of pragmatic comprehension among a convenience sample of 60 advanced EFL learners who were randomly assigned into two DA groups and a control group. A listening pragmatic comprehension test developed and validated by Garcia (2004) was used both as a pretest and as a posttest. During the 14-session treatment, the interactionist DA group received metapragmatic instruction about 28 conversations, and learners interacted with each other and the teacher. Assistance and scaffolding were continuously provided by the teacher as the more knowledgeable other (MKO) within the learners’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The interventionist DA class received its treatment based on DA procedures as presented by Lantolf and Poehner (2010). However, the Non-DA group only received metapragmatic instruction about the conversations from the instructor without any DA-based intervention or interaction. Data analysis using one-way ANCOVA revealed that study groups differed in their pragmatic comprehension accuracy and speed: DA groups significantly outperformed the control group. The interventionist DA group did significantly better than the interactionist DA group for pragmatic accuracy but nor for pragmatic comprehension speed. The pedagogical implication of the study is that teachers can utilize interventionist and interactionist DA to foster learners’ pragmatic comprehension accuracy.