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Despite its pivotal importance in comprehension and production, many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners struggle with retrieving and applying new vocabulary beyond class. This study investigated the comparative effects of the Ripple Effect Approach (REA) and the Word Wall Approach (WWA) on vocabulary retrieval and production among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. Sixty participants (30 females and 30 males), aged between 18 and 23 years ( M age = 20.5), were selected through the Preliminary English Test (PET) and randomly divided into two experimental groups. The REA group was taught through interconnected, contextualized vocabulary exercises, while the WWA group received visual aids and interactive word displays. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was employed, with data collected through vocabulary tests. Statistical analyses, including repeated-measures ANOVA and MANOVA, revealed significant improvements in vocabulary retrieval and production for both groups. However, the REA group demonstrated higher retention rates, with a mean increase of 3.6 points in retention from pre-test to post-test, compared to a 3.2-point increase for the WWA group. These findings underscore the effectiveness of interactive and varied instructional approaches in enhancing vocabulary acquisition and retention among EFL learners. Implications for educators suggest incorporating the REA and WWA to meet diverse learner needs and improve teaching practices, emphasizing the importance of integrating innovative, learner-centered techniques into educational curricula. Incorporating these approaches might develop adaptive and responsive educational frameworks, enhancing EFL learners’ learning outcomes and experiences.

Although generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping language education globally, its integration into English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instruction in Iran has remained limited by rigid curricula, restricted autonomy, and lack of authentic, discipline-specific resources. This study sought to address this gap by developing a contextualized co-design framework to align AI affordances with local pedagogical realities. Guided by theoretical triangulation, a hybrid methodology was employed that combined design-based research, co-design, and participatory qualitative approaches. The needs analysis phase involved twenty-six ESP stakeholders, including eight instructors and eighteen learners. In-depth interviews were then conducted with a subset of nineteen participants—eight instructors and eleven learners. Three instructors and three learners, chosen purposively among those involved in both prior phases, along with three policymakers and three AI experts, participated in the last co-design phase to ensure multiple perspectives in model development. As revealed by the findings, the learners prioritized personalization, writing support, and disciplinary adaptability, whereas the instructors emphasized controlled prompting, ethical literacy, and assessment redesign. Concerns shared between the two groups included overreliance, epistemic authority, and unequal digital access. The co-design process generated a cyclical instructional model incorporating dual human-check mechanisms, ethical self-reporting, bias-awareness checkpoints, multimodal feedback loops, and institutionalized teacher training. Offering a theoretically grounded and adaptable reference for discipline-specific AI use in ESP programs, this study’s framework can guide educators, curriculum designers, and policymakers in ESP contexts analogous to those investigated in this research.

Foreign language test anxiety (FLTA) affects learners' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to language assessments. Despite extensive research on its causes and effects, a comprehensive understanding from the learners' perspective remains underexplored. This study aims to synthesize qualitative and mixed-methods research on the antecedents and consequences of FLTA, with a focus on learners’ experiences and perceptions. A systematic search was conducted across primary education and psychology databases for studies published from 1990 to 2025. The review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research (ENTREQ) guidelines. Studies were appraised for methodological quality using the Enhancing Transparency in Reporting (ETR) checklist of the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). Thematic synthesis and meta-ethnographic translation were used to integrate findings from the selected studies. The review identified key antecedents of FLTA, including learner-level factors (e.g., low self-efficacy, perfectionism, prior academic failure, and inadequate self-regulatory skills), test-design features (e.g., time pressure, difficulty, unfamiliar formats, and unclear criteria), and broader assessment cultures marked by high stakes, exam-driven teaching, and social pressures. The consequences of FLTA were multifaceted, ranging from cognitive interference and reduced performance to avoidance behaviors, reliance on short-term strategies, and negative impacts on long-term engagement with language learning. Positive changes were associated with alternative assessment practices, such as portfolios and formative assessment. The findings suggest practical recommendations for language teachers, curriculum designers, and policymakers to create assessment environments that reduce FLTA and support learner well-being.

To be proficient in writing, learners of foreign languages are expected to communicate effectively and effortlessly with native speakers. Collocations, defined as the natural pairings of words, are essential for achieving proficiency in a language and enhancing writing quality. This research explored how incidental and intentional instruction of collocations affected the participants’ written task scores. This study included 60 students at the pre-intermediate level who studied English at Safir Language School in Tehran, Iran. These students were grouped according to their proficiency test results to ensure homogeneity. They used the Touchstone series and the English Collocations in Use as their primary textbooks. After each unit, they had to do a written task. The results indicated that both incidental and intentional instruction positively impacted the students' writing scores. Notably, those in the incidental instruction group outperformed their counterparts in the intentional group. The findings showed incidental instruction of collocations was more effective than intentional teaching.  The outcomes of the study can assist educators in choosing effective teaching strategies for collocations to boost writing performance, syllabus designers in incorporating these insights into educational materials to enhance vocabulary instruction, teachers in emphasizing the benefits of incidental learning, and learners in focusing on the importance of collocations, as unfamiliarity with these word combinations may hinder their writing skills. Conducting studies with larger sample sizes to validate the findings in broader settings, and exploring incidental/intentional teaching to students with varying skills, expertise, gender, and experiences are also suggested for further studies. 

Teaching and learning have long struggled with burnout, a condition of mental exhaustion. Burnout has turned out to be influenced by several antecedents; the effects of some such as self-efficacy, motivation, and enjoyment have already been addressed, whereas those of others remain to be considered. Due to persistent burnout among students and several unidentified contributing factors, this study investigates how proactive personality and L2 grit impact L2 burnout. The following are hypothesized: 1. proactive personality can negatively predict burnout among Iranian L2 learners. 2. L2 grit can negatively predict burnout among Iranian L2 learners. A total of 613 students, which comprise 315 females and 298 males, studying at various senior and junior high schools in Semnan, Iran, were selected through convenience sampling; they were provided with a questionnaire quantifying how proactive and gritty they are. Subsequently, the data was analyzed using SPSS 22, showing that both proactive personality and grit negatively predict burnout; proactive personality alone explained 6.4% of the variance (R² = .064), while L2 Grit explained 62.0% (R² = .620). It can be concluded that higher levels of both antecedents reduce learner burnout.

The present study examines the role of translation in promoting new sciences in Dar al-Fonun, the first modern school of higher education in Iran during the Nasseri period (1831-1896). Amir Kabir, the chief minister under Nasser al-Din Shah – following his modernization programs for the development of Iran subsequent to the Western industrial revolution after which Iran experienced a delay in benefiting from advancement in science and technology during the early 19th century – established Dar al-Fonun school in a Western and European style with the aim of promoting and strengthening science and knowledge so that Iranian specialists could be trained in various scientific fields. As a result, translation became one of the tools for introducing modern sciences to Iran in order to fight against the country’s backwardness in various fields. The period covered by this research is from 1851 to 1896 – from the foundation of the school to the end of the Nasseri era. The results of the study, conducted by using library method, second-hand sources and their content analysis, show that translation in various ways enabled Iranian students to benefit from modern higher education and after graduation, they served as experts in various fields, making a huge contribution to the expansion of modern sciences for the development of the country.

SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: Contemporary emerging spirituality is derived from spirituality in postmodern conditions, moving beyond the era of modernity toward a form of spirituality without religion. Thus, the formation of contemporary emergent spirituality arises in response to the spiritual deficiencies of modernity, characterized by a pursuit of tranquility, accommodation to existing circumstances, and a stance of moral and political disengagement. This study aims to examine the critiques leveled against the elements of humanistic spirituality in newly emerging spiritual movements situated within the postmodern framework. METHOD & FINDING: Using qualitative content analysis, the components of humanistic spirituality in emerging spirituality-based movements within the postmodern context were extracted and subsequently subjected to critical analysis and review. The findings of the study indicate that one of the defining characteristics of this movement is humanism, according to which the human being is regarded as the measure of all things and the axis of the universe, standing in contrast to the various forms of theocentric religious thoughts.  CONCLUSION: Prioritizing humanity and its desires over the primacy of God and His absolute will is a central consequence of humanistic spirituality, resulting in tendencies toward empiricism, pluralism, the pursuit of liberty, and individualism. Spiritual modernism is centered on a re-presentation of the sacred in a different form, and the stress on religious experientialism is rooted in an inadequate or flawed understanding of God, the cosmos, and the human being. With the introduction of religious experience, the legitimacy of every religion and denomination becomes dependent on the personal experience of each individual, making religiosity a relative matter and replacing religious realism with religious relativism.

Songs in animated musicals are far from homogenous; they belong to distinct genres, each fulfilling different communicative purposes, emotional tones, and narrative functions. This diversity requires genre-sensitive translation strategies, yet much existing scholarship continues to treat song dubbing as a uniform practice, overlooking how genre shapes translational choices. To address this gap, the present study adopts a functionalist, genre-based perspective, drawing on Reiss’s (1971/2000) text typology, to investigate the role of genre in shaping dubbing strategies in the Persian versions of animated musicals. The corpus consists of six English-language animated musicals and their Persian dubbed counterparts. Songs are categorized into three genres, including background songs, plot-related songs, and entertaining songs, and examined in relation to translation strategies adapted from Gottlieb (1992) and reformulated by Ghomi (2009). The analysis reveals a strong correlation between song genre and translation method, showing that genre-specific function in animated musicals plays a critical role in sustaining narrative cohesion and enhancing audience engagement. By demonstrating how song genre systematically informs translation choices, this study contributes to the expanding field of audiovisual translation and to the specialized area of song dubbing.

This study investigates the localization of the rulebook of the board game Modern Art into its Persian version, by focusing on multimodal translation. Taylor’s (2016) framework was employed to examine multimodal translation of the rulebook by focusing on four types of elements, being linguistic, semiotic, cultural, and narrative. To analyze linguistic changes, translation techniques proposed by L. Molina and A. Hurtado Albir (2002) were used, and the findings indicate that reduction, adaptation, and amplification were the most frequently used techniques. Regarding semiotic changes, the matrix proposed by Kostelnick and Roberts (2011) was applied, and the results revealed significant changes, such as modifications in images and the use of exclamation marks. Cultural analysis demonstrated major changes, including the replacement of all the artists featured in the board game. By contrast, the localized version of the board game did not alter its narrative. Overall, the localized version adapts the artworks and artists while preserving the mechanics and essence of the original board game.