مطالب

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of Gagne’s Learning Hierarchy on the cognitive and metacognitive skills of junior high school female students in Kerman. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test/post-test and a control group. The statistical population of the research included all the junior high school female students of Kerman (N=1125) in the academic year of 2022-2023. From among these students, two classes of 20 students were randomly selected as the experimental and control groups. The Gagne’s Learning Hierarchy package was implemented in the experimental group and both groups responded to Rastegar Metacognitive Strategies Questionnaire (2006) and Karami Cognitive Strategies Questionnaire (2005) in the pre-test and post-test stages. The obtained data were analyzed using univariate covariance with SPSS 20 software. The findings of the research showed that there was a significant difference between the cognitive and metacognitive skills of the experimental and the control groups and the cognitive and metacognitive skills of the experimental group improved compared to those of the control group. These results showed that learning English can improve students' recognition of concepts, processing, learning, and self-control.

This study followed discussion-based techniques using mobile phone technologies in order to compare Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions with their practices in higher education. Applying Convergent Parallel Mixed-Method Design, 73 English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instructors, teaching technical English courses to Law students at Islamic Azad University (IAU), South Tehran, Qods and Eslamshahr branches, completed a questionnaire, assessing teachers’ perceptions versus practices on the use of mobile phone technologies in discussion-based classes. Through typical-case purposive sampling, out of 73 ESP instructors, eight instructors (four traditional and four communicative), extracted through the questionnaire, joined semi-structured interviews, and their classes were observed during the semester by two observers completing the observation scheme. Afterwards, applying the grounded-theory-instigated analytical framework of Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie (2003), the triangulated observation-interview data were thematically analyzed through open, axial, and selective codifications congruent with Mishra and Koehler’s (2008) TPACK model components, i.e., technology, pedagogy and content knowledge. The results demonstrated EFL teachers' interest in interactional mobile phone technologies and in the content constituent, i.e., the second component of the questionnaire as well as the third module of TRACK model. Additionally, the results signified EFL teachers’ use of comparative translation activities for the reading comprehension skills via collaborative/cooperative reading strategies. Finally, this research represents some pedagogical implications for administrative executives in the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology to revise Law students’ curriculum, and positively alters material providers’ and ESP instructors’ attitudes toward using mobile phone technologies in discussion-based classes.