International Journal of Research in English Education

Motivation is one of the important factors which impact greatly on language learning. One of the most important factors which receives the special focus in foreign language teaching is reading motivation. More recently, studies on reading motivation have also gained much interest. This review paper is going to consider the impact of reading motivation on reading comprehension. In this paper, the researcher explains the terms reading motivation, different types of motivation, reading comprehension, and different models of reading comprehension. The review of this study showed that reading motivation had a considerably positive effect on reading comprehension activities.

Utilizing the resources of the web in educational practices has made instructional processes more efficient and interesting and has made the learning process on the other hand much easier and attractive. With the web, English language teachers now have the option of engaging learners in online (web-based) instructions in addition to the use of conventional classroom instructions or alternatively the use of a blended approach. Effective use of the web for instructional purposes requires basic knowledge of web design and development using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), CSS (Castigating Style Sheet), JS (JavaScript), Content Management Systems (CMS), and Adobe Software package for web design. Thus, teachers’ professional development needs to be redirected toward providing this knowledge and skills. Providing teachers with these technological skills would help them in acquiring the competence needed in designing and developing instructional websites that suites their peculiar pedagogical and content needs for effective teaching and learning using the web. This article examines the contemporary knowledge and skills needed by teachers in general and English language teachers in particular to effectively use the web for instructional purposes and how such needed knowledge and skills can be developed through teacher professional development programs and pre-service teacher training for good practice.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of teaching developmental grammatical errors on translator trainees’ L2 paragraph writing ability. After the administration of Oxford Placement Test (OPT), 40 out of 100 undergraduate translator trainees were selected from the Islamic Azad University of Tonekabon branch. Further, the participants were divided into an experimental and a control groups. A pre-test of paragraph writing ability was administered to both groups and the participants were asked to write a paragraph about the selected topic. Then, the experimental group received 5 sessions of treatments on teaching developmental grammatical errors extracted from their previous writing performance while the control group received a placebo. After five sessions of the treatments, the post-test of paragraph writing ability was administered in which the participants in both groups were asked to write a paragraph about a selected topic. Three raters corrected the paragraphs. The scores were analyzed using the SPSS software by applying Independent sample t-test and Pearson correlation. The findings indicated that subjects in the experimental group showed significant improvement in their writing performance.

Speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of effective communication. Speaking skill is regarded one of the most difficult aspects of language learning. Many language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language. They are generally facing problems to use the foreign language to express their thoughts effectively. They stop talking because they face psychological obstacles or cannot find the suitable words and expressions. The modern world of media and mass communication requires good knowledge of spoken English. This paper aims at establishing the need to focus on the factors affecting on language learners’ English speaking skill. This review paper traces out the body of research concerning the term speaking, the importance of speaking, characteristics of speaking performance, speaking problems, and factors affecting speaking performance. According to the review of literature, appropriate speaking instruction was found to be the learners’ priority and a field in which they need more attention. This study can be useful to teachers and researchers to consider their language learners’ speaking needs in English language teaching and learning context.

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether L2 minimal pairs practice would have an effect on Iranian intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ pronunciation accuracy. For this purpose, 30 Iranian intermediate EFL learners at Simin Institute participated in the experiment of the study. The selection of subjects was done from among 150 EFL learners at intermediate level. In order to make subjects homogenized an SPT was used, then they divided into two groups of 15 who were assigned to experimental and control group randomly. A pre-test of pronunciation accuracy was administered to both groups, then the experimental group received 5 sessions of teaching L2 pronunciation as well as Minimal Pairs Practice (MPP) while the control group received a placebo, in other words, teaching L2 pronunciation via the existing method. After the treatment again the same test was administered as posttest to both groups of the study. The data obtained from the tests were analyzed via independent samples T-test between the posttest scores of experimental and control group to see whether there is a difference between performance of the groups and the paired-sample T-tests was used between the pretest and the posttest of each group to show the progress. The results revealed that Iranian EFL learners in the experimental group performed better and received higher score in pronunciation test after 5 session of treatment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of CALL/Web-based instruction on improving EFL learners’ pronunciation ability. To this end, 85 students who were enrolled in a language institute in Rasht were selected as subjects. These students were given the Oxford Placement Test in order to validate their proficiency levels. They were then divided into two groups of 30 and were randomly assigned to two treatment conditions (experimental and control). A pre-test of pronunciation was administered to two groups, then the students were exposed to the treatments for 12 sessions. The CALL/Web-based instruction was used in the experimental group while conventional methods were employed in the control group. Based on the statistical analysis, there found to be a significant difference between the performance of the control and the experimental groups. The findings also displayed that the web-based learning was effective in enhancing learners’ motivation in improving pronunciation. The findings of the present study may have implications for L2 learners, teachers, and materials developers.

This study investigated the relationship between teaching L2 semantic tasks (collocation vs. definition) in vocabulary achievement of Iranian intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. To this end, 60 students at intermediate level studying in the Simin Institute were selected from a total number of 100 participants based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test (OPT). After ensuring the criterion of homogeneity, they were randomly assigned to two experimental and one control group each comprising 20 participants. Before starting the treatment, a pretest was administered to find out learners’ vocabulary knowledge. Then the experimental groups were instructed to use collocation and definition in vocabulary learning for 5 sessions while the control group received no treatment. After the end of the treatment, the same pre-test was administered to all groups as a post-test. Analysis of the results of three paired sample T-test and a one way ANOVA showed that the experimental group that received collocation task outperformed the other two groups (control group and second experimental group) in the post-test. It was concluded that teaching collocation task had a positive effect on learners’ vocabulary knowledge.