مطالب

Critical Pedagogy (CP) is a prerequisite for a democratic society where pedagogy empowers teachers and learners to be both socially reasonable and knowledgeable. It is a novel and rather minimally investigated motif, being rarely noticed in the Iranian educational system. Recognizing the importance of fostering critical thinking and active engagement within educational settings, the current study intended to investigate perspectives on critical pedagogy among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers with different academic degrees and language backgrounds. Following a qualitative research design, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 18 EFL teachers to provide information on their perspective of CP to identify the challenges against CP awareness and solutions towards a balanced CP. Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) as a thematic analysis approach was followed for the purpose of qualitative data analysis. The results showed that although teachers were aware of the importance of critical pedagogy, they did not have the freedom to put it into practice. The findings yield implications for teachers, students, and educational systems, highlighting the need for greater emphasis on CP in the Iranian context.

Stance has been examined extensively in the past few decades. However, the majority of the studies have been synchronic, with the few exceptions being snapshot diachronic studies without trend-related inferential statistics. This study adopted a trend-related inferential statistical measure and a more continuous diachronic dataset to examine the changes in using stance in the research articles of English applied linguistics from 2000 to 2020. To this end, 416 articles were randomly selected from 10 applied linguistics journals indexed in the first quartile of Scopus and probed using LancsBox for normalized frequency of Hyland’s (2005b) list of stance markers. Results were then analyzed for trends using the Jonckheere-Terpstra test. The results showed significant decreases for the overall stance markers (J=37168, z= -2.85, d= -.28, p= .004)), hedges (J=37014, z= -2.96, d= -.293, p=0.003), boosters (J=36298, z= -3.47, d= -.345, p=.001), and attitude markers (J=36647, z= -3.22, d= -.32, p=0.001), while self-mention markers were found to have experienced a slight, non-significant increase (J=42527.5, z= .94, d= .096, p=0.349). The functional analysis of the selected excerpts showed that the quantitative decrease in the use of stance markers has been compensated for, with an increase in the modification range and strength of the used stance markers as the two ways we could discover. After discussing the findings, the paper ends with some suggestions for further research. 

Most EFL schools, both government-run and private, use materials developed based on the curriculum developed by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education in Iran started to update English textbooks for junior and senior high schools to enhance students’ communicative competence. To achieve this, there is a need for changes both in methodology and content of the textbooks in assessment methods. This study aimed to investigate whether teachers’ tests align with the changes in textbooks or assess students' knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, regardless of their communicative competence. A mixed-methods design was employed, combining quantitative data collected through questionnaires, teacher-made tests, textbooks, and qualitative interview data to provide a comprehensive understanding of the match. Thirty Iranian English teachers from different provinces participated in the study and 100 teacher-made tests were compared with the content and purpose of the updated textbooks. The results analyzed through chi-square test and thematic analysis showed no match between the theory of the tests and the textbooks and revealed that teachers' attitudes towards change of assessment tools contribute to the development of communicative skills. 

The present study investigates the effectiveness of a conceptual approach, grounded in cognitive linguistics, in enhancing the comprehension and production of phrasal verbs among Iranian EFL learners of English. To this end, 38 participants (16 males and 22 females) at intermediate levels of language proficiency were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group, and underwent instruction through the conceptual approach or the traditional method, respectively. A pre-test was administered to assess baseline performance, followed by the intervention and two post-tests (i.e., a cloze test and a story-retelling task) to measure changes in comprehension and production of the phrasal verbs. The cloze test measured differences in phrasal verb comprehension, while the story-retelling task assessed production and accuracy. The mixed between-within-subjects ANOVA (SPANOVA) revealed significant improvement in the experimental group on the post-test. Independent sample t-tests confirmed superior performance in the production and accuracy of phrasal verbs for the experimental group. This suggests that the conceptual approach offers a systematic method for learners to approach phrasal verbs analytically, contrasting with the traditional perception of these elements as non-analyzable. As a practical implication, educators in EFL contexts, are strongly urged to adopt the presented conceptual approach. This innovative pedagogical strategy not only enriches the learning experience but also addresses linguistic challenges associated with phrasal verbs, fostering creativity in the instructional process through situational presentations and orientational metaphors. 

Few studies have explored the relationship between non-cognitive factors in different educational settings and with different age groups. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a relationship between Study Habits (SH) and Commitment to Ethical Codes (CEC) and their ability to predict the academic performance of language learners in schools and universities (547 students aged under 18 – above 35 years old). The instruments used are adapted versions of questionnaires which were made into one survey tool with each measure in distinct sections. The results showed a significant relationship between SH and CEC displaying a positive relationship in all age groups (a highest relationship in the age group of 18-22, P< 0.05) and in both male/females with male participants reported having the highest relationship (P< 0.05). The study concludes that CEC needs to be considered and assessed during school years with additional training to language learners to help them learn or modify SH to increase their performance at the time of entry into university.  

The present paper examines Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist (1974) in order to present a postcolonial reading of it in light of Homi K. Bhabha's ideas. It firstly discusses the significance of this novel and its narrative style, along with its context (Apartheid and the Zulu culture). Then it examines the central characters (Mehring and Jacobus) with the help of Bhabha's key concepts of hybridity and mimicry. The paper analyzes the relationship between the foreign white master, Mehring, and his native black servants, and underlines that the displaced colonial subjects (such as Jacobus) can, through mimicry, defy the oppression of imperial hegemony from within. In the text of Gordimer’s novel we can witness the formation of new cultural hybrids. It is characteristic of Gordimer’s fiction to reflect upon interactions between European and indigenous cultures. It is also argued that the funeral at the very end of the novel is in fact a transformation; for one, it brings about a change of focus and the readers shall end the novel bearing the memory of the black man in their minds. 

The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which academic admission criteria predict prospective teachers’ competency during teacher education program. To this end, a total of 186 prospective teachers majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Teacher Education University in Iran were selected as the convenience sample of the study. They completed two questionnaires, Prospective Teachers’ Professional Attitude and Prospective Teachers’ Professional Identity. The participants’ high school GPA, university entrance score, and university GPA were also obtained. The results of Pearson product-moment correlations indicated a significant positive correlation among academic measures of high school GPA, university entrance score, and university GPA but no significant correlation was detected between these academic measures and nonacademic measures of professional identity and professional attitude. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that the two admission criteria had just predictive validity for university academic achievement; however they could not predict prospective teachers’ professional attitude or their professional identity. Based on the findings of this study, it would be concluded that the academic measures used for admitting candidates into the program have low predictive validity for predicting non-academic attributes of teacher competenc

Since teachers’ perceptions of work engagement can strongly shape their engagement level, it is imperative to explore how teachers perceive this construct and its associated dimensions. With this in mind, some researchers have evaluated teachers’ beliefs and attitudes towards this notion.  Notwithstanding this, to the authors’ knowledge, no study has examined language teachers’ viewpoints on this variable and its significance in online EFL classes. To bridge these gaps, this phenomenological study explored Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions and experiences of work engagement and its value in online English courses. To this aim, using the purposive sampling strategy, a total of 21 EFL teachers were chosen from different state, private, and non-profit universities in Iran. To obtain the required data, all participants were invited to complete an open-ended questionnaire. To reach more comprehensive data, from among the 21 participants, nine willingly took part in a 20-minute interview session. Results obtained from content analysis revealed that Iranian EFL teachers considered work engagement as a complex variable with four related dimensions of emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and social engagement. The results also indicated that Iranian teachers perceived work engagement as an important professional behavior that results in increased academic achievements, professional advancement, improved teaching quality, and strong teacher-student rapport. Hence, education leaders and teacher educators should support Iranian EFL teachers in enhancing work engagement dimensions to improve professional growth and teaching quality.

Multilingualism and its tangled relationship with culture have been the center of debate for many years. It still sparkles various conceptual arguments and day by day, more academic research is circulating on this subject. The concept of multilingualism and the arguments around this discourse roots in the language itself. To fully grasp the notion of cultural multilingualism, first, we need to perceive how and where language and culture are interlinked. The study of culture has the originality of studying history itself. The first studies on both language and culture date back to the earliest time human attempted to analyze and perceive history. The globalization of multilingualism has led scientists and experts to analyze multilingualism through a cultural lens. It's only in a few decades that perceiving and understanding multilingualism through cultural perspectives has opened the eyes of experts to new horizons. Concerning this fact, this study has evaluated Never Let Me Go, a 2005 Nobel-winning novel by the Japanese-British novelist and screenwriter, Kazuo Ishiguro according to cultural multilingual values. Additionally, this study questions the concept of cultural multilingualism, together with its significance in shaping one's identity and self as the main key in Ishiguro's novel. Proven by the given facts, the current study illustrates how cultural multilingualism forms the author's writing style and mindset as a multilingual individual.