International Journal of Research in English Education

In the past few years, there have been many studies about how game-based learning can help people learn languages. Since little research has been conducted on games in the Iranian EFL context, a deeper study of how games affect vocabulary size and flow is needed. The current study, conducted as a quasi-experimental research design with a pre- and posttest control group structure, investigated this effect by recruiting 60 Iranian intermediate EFL learners through a convenience sampling procedure and assigning them to experimental and control groups. The researchers utilized the EF Standard English Test (EF SET) to ascertain the proficiency level of the participants. Before the treatment phase, version A of Nation and Beglar’s (2007) vocabulary size test was given to both groups, and their vocabulary sizes were measured. The experimental group then participated in an eight-week massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The control group only received traditional, ordinary instruction. After this, version B of Nation and Beglar’s test was conducted. Along with this, learners’ flow experiences in the experimental group were measured through a questionnaire adopted from Egbert (2004). A comparison of the experimental and control groups suggested a statistically significant difference between the vocabulary sizes of learners in the experimental and control groups, whereby an increase in the vocabulary sizes of learners in the experimental group was witnessed. Moreover, flow was observed in 83% of the participants in the experimental group. Implications of the study, including using games in language instruction in the Iranian EFL setting, have been considered.

The concept of an old-style teaching approach has changed totally over the past decade. Face-to-face classes have not been a unique method of learning with the advent of information technology. Improving information technology has changed the education system. The goal of the study is to determine what factors impact student satisfaction in online English classes. To achieve this goal, the questionnaires were distributed to a random sample of students in three branches of Islamic Azad University in Guilan province, Iran, in 2022. The branches of the university were Roudsar and Amlash, Langroud, and Lahijan. This paper explains the impact of the interaction in online English classes and technology tools as independent variables on the level of student satisfaction as the dependent variable. A simple linear multivariate regression was used to determine the significant relationship between the independent and dependent variables of the research. The regression model was estimated by applying the OLS approach using SPPS software. All hypotheses were accepted, which means that both independent variables impact the dependent variable. In addition, technology tools are more important than interaction to influence student satisfaction. In the end, several solutions were presented to improve the level of student satisfaction in online English classes.

This study is an attempt to determine problems and prospects associated with designing a fully online English program at private universities in Bangladesh and it reflects the experiences of faculty members and students who have participated in fully online semesters in private universities. It acknowledges that online education is no more a fantasy that receives criticisms at the beginning rather it is becoming a part of equal learning opportunity in global education where learners can carry out the desire for knowledge from any corner of the world. This paper aims at analyzing important factors and potential challenges regarding online English academic program in private university context in Bangladesh as the online academic program is becoming part of higher education around the world and COVID-19 has transformed all English programs into virtual classrooms and Bangladeshi private universities are performing the pioneering role in online education at this time of the pandemic. This study considers that traditional teaching-learning habits are challenging for online learning acculturation of learners in Bangladesh and it attempts to explore cultural contexts of online learning. It addresses the concept of research-based approaches that are required for an effective and quality e-learning environment which can be rightfully compared to face-to-face learning. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are followed for conducting this research and secondary data collection sources are also used to determine the impact of the teacherless classrooms in different settings. It represents data collected from 145 students and 20 teachers at five private universities in Bangladesh through questionnaire, interview, and focus group discussion. It reveals that online programs have many challenges but proper research based-policy and need-based programs can bring futuristic changes in higher education. Based on findings from collected data, some practical and pedagogical recommendations are discussed and some proposals are included for future research.

The present study aimed at investigating the translation strategies the Persian translator adopted for idioms from English into Persian. To do so, qualitative descriptive research, with special attention to idiom translation and to the way such problematic items were translated from English into Persian, was applied. Then, a comparison was made between idioms, which were extracted from Collins’s (2008) The Hunger Games, and their translation made by Akhtar (n.d.) according to Baker’s (1992) taxonomy of translation strategies, namely using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, translation by paraphrase, and translation by omission. Moreover, the chi-square test (X²) was used to see whether there is a significant relationship between the type of translation strategies and the number of them used by the Persian translator. The results revealed that Akhtar employed all four of Baker’s strategies to overcome idioms, of which the last two strategies were the most/least used strategies by him respectively. In addition, he preferred to apply the TT-oriented strategies rather than the ST-oriented ones. Misusing the TT-oriented strategies, in this case translation by paraphrase, did not allow him to create a good sense of some idioms in the TT and communicate effectively with the target audience. Thus, the translations he produced were not mainly acceptable and the target readers did not enjoy them to a great extent. The findings of the current study should be beneficial to translation students, newly researchers, and translation teachers. This study also suggested some pedagogical implications that could be helpful for those who benefit from the results of the study.

Curiosity about metadiscourse markers (MMs) use in written performance of different proficiency levels has grown among discourse researchers. The current study was carried out to examine whether there was any realizable relationship between multiple intelligences (MI) and interactional metadiscourse (IM) use across proficiency levels. Particularly, it centered on exploring whether MI correlated with the employment of IM by intermediate and advance EFL written performance and whether MIs could predict their IM use in their performance. Data were collected from 90 Iranian EFL learners at two English language institutes, taking the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP), and the McKenzie's MI Inventory. The data were analyzed quantitatively running a multiple regression procedure through SPSS (version 22). The result of the data analysis showed that none of the MI types were predicators of IM use by intermediate EFL learners. However, interpersonal intelligence was the only negative predictor of IM use by intermediate EFL learners. Advanced EFL learners’ IM use was highly and positively correlated with musical intelligence. The article suggests some implications for syllabus designers.

Teachers play a crucial and influential part in teaching/learning contexts and teacher-related features have gained a great deal of attention in the realm of teacher education and development. Among teacher-related factors, perfectionism and autonomy are regarded as two influential factors which play crucial roles in teachers’ and learners’ performance. Several research studies have tried to investigate their impacts on language teachers’ performance. However, no studies have so far explored the association between Iranian EFL teachers’ perfectionism and autonomy. Thus, the current research was undertaken to examine the association between Iranian EFL teachers’ perfectionism and autonomy. To do this, 82 English language teachers (34 males and 48 females) were selected as the participants of the study. They were asked to fill out teacher autonomy and perfectionism questionnaires. The results of the data analysis revealed that EFL teachers’ sense of perfectionism and autonomy were positively related. The findings of the present study can be helpful for syllabus designers, teacher educators, and language teachers.

It is possible that technology possesses a unique place in language teaching and learning. Research on CALL in the Iranian L2 context is rather scarce. This research intends to explore the impact of administering Nicenet as one of the virtual learning environments (VLE)'s on linguistic use and grammar instruction in writing. The design of the research was quasi-experimental method having a pre-test and a post-test. The subjects were chosen through the convenience sampling strategy and were assigned randomly into experimental and control groups (female = 21, male = 21) and control (female = 21, male = 21). The independent variable in this research was the teaching linguistic use (grammar) through Nicenet. The dependent variable was the participants’ linguistic use (grammar) as reflected by the writing test. The participants were chosen concerning their performance on the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and were homogenized accordingly. The outcome of inferential statistical tests, ran through Mann-Whitney, depicted that there was a statistically significant variation between the accomplishments mean scores of the learners of the experimental group who learned the grammar through computer and the control group who studied the same syntactic item utilizing the traditional strategy. The results also showed that the accomplishment in the post-test for both the experimental and control groups is related to the treatment. The results depicted that computer as an instrument and Nicenet as an application could assist learners to escalate their grammar acquisition.