درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Studying a foreign language in a rewarding and motivating atmosphere will create a perfect setting to enhance language proficiency. It appears that course books and class activities are crucial in this context. This experimental research aimed to find the efficacy of supplementary materials designed based on multiple intelligences on learners' attitudes towards classroom activities (enjoyment, engagement, choice, and challenge). To that end, a two-phase study was planned. First, the researchers developed tasks for each lesson of Vision series, the book taught in the high schools of Iran. Then, the experimental groups (N=60) were exposed to the designed tasks and the course book while the control group (N=60) were exposed just to the course book for four months The Babel proficiency test, along with the translated edition of the Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Activities Scale was given to the experimental and control group participants as the pretest and posttest to examine the impact of the developed tasks on their perceptions of classroom activities. The results of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that the designed tasks had positive and significant effect on the students’ interests, challenge, choice, and joy.

The aim of this research was to devise a framework for fostering critical thinking skills among students within high school environments in Kermanshah. Employing a practical approach, the study adopted qualitative methods to attain its objectives. Participants consisted of experts, practitioners, and researchers familiar with the subject area. Utilizing purposive sampling, 23 individuals were selected based on theoretical saturation principles. Through a combination of document analysis and semi-structured interviews, data were meticulously analyzed using coding techniques, with Grounded Theory emerging as the primary method for theory generation. Results underscored the pivotal role of cultivating thinking management in the pedagogy of critical thinking within high school contexts. Moreover, findings highlighted the significance of facilitators' and students' professional competencies and personality traits, thoughtful planning, and familial influences as key determinants. Contextual factors impacting thinking management education encompassed supportive frameworks for managerial development, emotional dynamics within the classroom, strategies for teacher engagement, and adherence to authoritative guidelines.

The term ‘teacher emotions’ is defined as feelings and affections teachers experience in their professional practice. Teacher identity, as the beliefs, values, and perceptions that teachers hold about themselves and their roles, holds paramount importance in the realm of education as it profoundly shapes the teaching and learning process. This study sought to delve into modeling EFL teachers’ emotionality and identity. In so doing, a quantitative correlational design was used. The participants employed included 200 Iranian male and female EFL teachers who were selected from different language institutes of Iran through convenient sampling. To collect the data, the Teacher Emotionality Questionnaire and the Revised Identity Style Inventory (ISI-5) were used. To analyze the data, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was run. As unveiled by the results, positive emotionality (i.e., enjoyment, responsiveness, emotional support and flexibility) was a direct and significant predictor of informational identity. Positive emotionality was a negative and significant predictor of diffuse-avoidant identity. Negative emotionality (i.e., anxiety and burnout) was a significant and negative predictor of informational and normative identity. Negative emotionality was a significant and positive predictor of diffuse-avoidant identity. Congruent with the findings, it is concluded that Iranian EFL teachers are exposed to different kinds of positive and negative emotions. The results also lead to the conclusion that diffuse-avoidant identity aspect is weak in teachers who experience positive emotions. In sum, it is concluded that emotionality and identity aspects are interrelated in EFL teachers. EFL teachers should make attempts to experience more positive emotions than negative ones so that their identity is developed in a positive and authentic direction.

This study, drawing on a dual theoretical standpoint constituting ecological systems theory (EST) and self-determination theory (SDT), compared Iranian novice and experienced EFL teachers’ remotivational strategies. The participants, selected based on convenience sampling technique, comprised two equal 32-member groups of novice and experienced EFL teachers teaching different proficiency levels at six language institutes. To gather data, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results of thematic data analysis indicated that novice and experienced teachers were approximately similar in terms of the emerging theme instances situated within the integrative SDT/EST framework. Nonetheless, novice and experienced teachers were markedly different concerning the number of theme instances for each SDT facet positioned in the EST layers. Moreover, the results of Chi-square test demonstrated significant differences between novice and experienced teachers in terms of the number of themes existing in the SDT/EST frame. The results, enhancing teacher educators’ understanding of the similarities and disparities between novice and experienced teachers’ perceptions of remotivational strategies, can provide teachers and teacher educators with awareness concerning how remotivational strategies are nested across multiple systems while simultaneously being informed by a certain motivation-specific theory.

According to sociocultural theory, dynamic assessment (DA) merges instruction and assessment. This study attempted to compare the effects of interactionist versus interventionist DA on the writing fluency and complexity of adult versus young IELTS candidates in an international language school in Tehran with the age range of 15-48. One hundred and forty students (90 males and 50 females) who had enrolled in the IELTS preparation course in the spring of 2021 participated in this study. The study participants were divided into four groups namely, young interactionist, young interventionist, adult interactionist, and adult interventionist. The participants in all groups were homogenized based on the result of their performance in a standard version of Preliminary English Test (PET). During the eight-week treatment period, the interactionist groups were given writing tests followed by the instructor’s feedback and guidance, while the interventionist groups received instructions and were given writing test samples without qualitative feedback. The pre-test and post-test comparisons among the four groups by Two Way ANCOVA showed that both young and adult individuals in the interactionist groups had a significant improvement in their writing performance compared to those in the interventionist group. In addition, the study revealed the significant impact of interactionist DA vs. interventionist DA on both young and adult participants' scores in both writing fluency and complexity post-test. Likewise, the results showed no statistically significant interaction between the type of assessment and the candidates’ age. The study presents pedagogical implications for teachers, students, and IELTS preparation program designers.

This study investigated the impact of teacher and peer scaffolding on the speaking performance of Iranian EFL learners. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, 60 intermediate-level female learners were selected from a population of 75, divided into three groups: teacher scaffolding, peer scaffolding, and a control group. The study employed the Preliminary English Test (PET) and speaking pretest and posttest to ensure homogeneity and measure the participants’ progress in speaking proficiency. The results of a One-way ANOVA indicated significant improvements in speaking performance for both scaffolding groups compared to the control group. However, no significant difference was found between the effects of teacher and peer scaffolding. These findings suggest that both types of scaffolding are equally effective in enhancing L2 speaking skills, supporting the theoretical framework of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The study underscores the importance of incorporating scaffolding into language instruction to foster better speaking outcomes.

This research tried to probe the effects of incorporating learners’ preferred learning styles in instructions on their narrative writing development and their mental patterns and imagination. 74 homogeneous secondary EFL learners were divided into three groups based on their sensory styles of visual, auditory and tactile. The learners in the three groups were provided with instructions anchored to their learning styles. In the meantime, they were required to produce narrative writings on a number of topics in accordance with their course book. Prior to narrating, they had to think loudly and record their voices to reveal the approach and pattern they utilize for performing the required activities. Their voices were transcribed and later analyzed by the researchers for further investigations. The obtained results displayed a significant improvement in their writings as well as an ongoing progress of their thinking patterns. Furthermore, the data revealed the dominant mental approaches of top-down, considering the whole plot of the topic in advance, and bottom-up, considering the details prior to the entire story, used by the students. The study also displayed the positive impact of instruction on the improvement of learners’ narrative writing revealing their self-imaging of the plot with which they could narrate the given topics in accordance with their own life experiences and understanding.