Engagement

This study investigated the relationship between classroom environment and teacher behavior, and EFL (English as a foreign language) learners’ engagement and state motivation. To do so, 110 intermediate Iranian EFL learners with an average age of 18.37 were asked to complete What is Happening Inside the Classroom scale (WIHIC), Questionnaire for Teacher Interaction (QTI), Student Engagement Instrument (SEI), and Student State Motivation scale (SMS). The results of statistical analysis showed that there was a moderate relationship between all aspects of classroom environment (student cohesiveness, teacher support, equity, involvement, cooperation, and task orientation) and learners’ engagement (emotional and cognitive engagement). Moreover, there was a relationship between some aspects of classroom environment (student cohesiveness, task orientation, cooperation, and involvement) and state motivation. However, there was no relationship between teacher behavior, learners’ engagement, and state motivation. Implications are discussed and avenues for future research are outlined.

In the context of comparative and intercultural philosophy the approach and engagement of one philosopher with another, is a very basic issue. With regard to this, I want to narrate Farabi’s special engagement with the Meno and Gorgias dialogues of Plato. His engagement can be named hermeneutic dialectical reading-here hermeneutic means the relation of Farabi with the Meno and Gorgias texts and also inside these two texts there are diverse and different levels, layers and mediations (though this is also true so far as my self as a researcher); dialectical means his reading is in the from of synoptic question (s) and answer; and reading means conversational construction of meaning in relation to the text and context. Farabi’s hermeneutic dialectical reading of the Meno and Grgias has these characteristics: he propounds these two dialogues thematically or in accordance whit their subject matter as two parts or orders in the whole of the Plato philosophy. Therefore for understanding these dialogues we have to put them in a broader context that heve interconnections whit the whole philosophy. Basides, the Gorgias is connected with or exists in a set of dialogues that collectively make a network that too has logical relation with the Meno. He says that plato philosophy as a whole begins with a search about human perfection as the first order that is discussed in Alcibiades I and then for getting this perfection we need knowledge that Theaetetus dialogue discusses thematically as the second order. After searching about eudaimonia in the Philebus and knowledge of eudaimonia in Protagoras respectively, Plato further searches about the possibility and the quality and how-ness of getting this special knowledge in the Meno. Farabi says that in the Meno (means fixing) dialogue as the fifth order or level of Plato philosophy he searches about this matter i.e. getting of this knowledge and the method if the answer is positive. Plato in this dialogue says that this knowledge is possible by means of Sana’t / art /τεχνη. Therefore the next step is searching for these arts that are well-known among citizens of different cities and civilities. Farabi says that for Plato these arts are six arts according to six dialogues-that begins with theological syllogism art in the Euthyphro and continues by language, poetics, rhetoric, sophistics and ends by art of dialectics in the Parmenides. According to Farabi Gorgias (means service) is after Ion dialogue about poetics, before the Sophist that is about sophistics. In this dialogue Plato searches two problem, does this art give us knowledge or only the method, and how much this art is knowledge?

Despite the importance of author engagement in the literature review of academic articles, many writers fail to publish their academic articles due to being incompetent in using conventional engagement resources. In view of this problem, the present study aimed to study linguistic representation of engagement as a dimension of evaluation in academic articles published in international and Iranian local journals. To do so, the literature review section of eighty psychology and applied linguistics articles as representatives of humanities and mechanical engineering and medicine articles as representatives of hard science articles published between 2008 and 2017 in the international and Iranian local journals formed the corpus of the study and were analyzed on the basis of the engagement resources proposed by Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal Theory The findings indicated that monoglossic resources were used more frequently in articles published in local journals than those published in international ones. Regarding heteroglossic resources, intra-vocalizing resources (countering, denial, pronouncement, and entertainment) were found more frequently in articles published in international journals. However, extra-vocalizing resources (endorsement and attribution resources) used in local journals outnumbered those used in international ones. The findings can provide insights for teaching academic writing in EFL contexts.

New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many researchers. This study aimed at investigating the role of Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes towards the value components of the Partnership Approach (PA) on motivating their active engagement in the learning process. A descriptive research method (survey study) was used, and 72 male and female Iranian EFL students whose ages ranged from 18 to 26 were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were asked to respond to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire addressing the objectives of the study, and then 30 of the participants were randomly interviewed to reveal the possible consonance with the questionnaire outcomes. The study was conducted at Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch. The findings indicated that although both male and female participants showed significantly positive attitudes towards the value components of the PA, except for the inclusivity value, female participants held significantly higher positive attitudes. The highest motivational value from both male and female participants’ point of view was for the challenge value component. However, reciprocity and inclusivity were the value components with the lowest motivational values from the male and female participants’ point of view, respectively. Focusing on the importance of the psychological factors in education, the findings of the study may encourage both education policy-makers and practitioners in the field to think more critically, and make more reasonable decisions for their policy and practice.

In educational psychology, mindsets refer to a set of core beliefs about intelligence and its role in successful learning in a specific domain. This study investigated the extent to which, the EFL learners’ mindsets might predict their English achievement considering the mediating roles of engagement and self-regulation. The data were collected by means of three questionnaires: The Language Mindset Inventory (LMI), the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI), and the Academic Self-Regulated Learning Scale (A-SRL-S), as well as the institutes’ reports on their English achievement. We analyzed the data quantitatively using the SPSS 20 and Amos 8 Software. The results revealed that there was a significant direct relationship between language mindsets and English achievement of the EFL learners. Besides, this relationship was significantly mediated by the learners’ engagement and self-regulation. Drawing on the findings of this research, the challenge for teachers is to cultivate in students the mindsets that emphasize growth and potentials rather than constraints and stagnation.

Online education, as a type of distance education, has attracted the attentions of administrators, instructors, and students in recent decades. In the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, online education has become an unavoidable need. Students' participation in such programs may have an impact on their learning and achievement. The current study looked at the link between engagement and achievement in online classrooms. As a result, the study used a correlational design to address the research questions using Dixon's Online Student Engagement Scale and a researcher-created achievement exam. The questionnaire was developed in 2015 and comprises four categories and 19 items on a seven-point Likert scale. In 2020, the questionnaire was modified with Google Form and distributed to 297 students enrolled in general English courses via a university LMS. The second instrument was a 40-item test of reading comprehension developed by the researcher. The examination was created on the basis of reading theories and was given as a final exam. The one-sample t-test findings indicated that students’ achievement and engagement levels are adequate. Quantile regression revealed a strong link between top achievers’ engagement and achievement. However, bivariate correlation revealed no statistically significant link between typical students’ engagement and achievement. However, students’ level of engagement perception was satisfactory. The concept of engagement applies to high achievers but not to ordinary or low performers, making measurement error possible.

In the context of collaborative online foreign language practice, we look at how metacognition and revealing of the self-combine when the full potential of the digital tools are put to use. We present a qualitative study of a corpus of written contributions by English as a foreign language distance French learners and look into a model for teaching and learning in which emotions are integrated. We study how expression of emotion and commenting on learning are combined in the learners’ discourse. Throughout our study, various appropriation regimes appeared, such as redundancy, in which the student publishes the same message on the forum and on the learning diary, or progressive appropriation, in which the student goes from a descriptive post about vocabulary to a post including the use of the first person pronoun “I”, to a socio-affective post using exclamation marks and reference to the family. There were cases where references to cognitive processes, inclusion of the peers, revealing of the self and use of technology form an intricate cognitive-socio-affective weaving. We relate this weaving to maximum engagement of the learner at the heart of a community of trust, and make an attempt at modeling this engagement.

Much has been done on assessment literacy (AL) components and job demand-resources (JD-R). However, an interdisciplinary look at AL components as the predictors of JD-R and its possible consequences in the engagement and burnout of teachers’ assessment performance has been neglected. To fill this gap, the present study explored this issue in the context of Iran. To this end, through convenience sampling, 146 Iranian EFL teachers were selected to answer questionnaires on AL, JD-R, burnout and engagement. A series of multiple regression analyses were run to analyze the collected data. The results showed that some components of AL such as test construction, administering, rating, and interpreting test, psychometric properties of a test, using and interpreting statistics and authenticity were significant predictors of job demand. Moreover, the results revealed that alternative and digital-based assessment, recognizing test type, distinction and function, and authenticity were significant predictors of job resource. Furthermore, test construction, administering, rating, and interpreting test, psychometric properties of a test, and using and interpreting statistics could significantly predict teachers’ burnout. In addition, alternative and digital-based assessment, giving feedback in assessment, and ethical and cultural considerations in assessment turned out to significantly predict teachers’ engagement. These findings can have theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders.

This paper aimed to study four translations of the Holly Quran using a comprehensive Appraisal theory approach by Martin and White (2005). In so doing, the Chapter Al-Munafequn (The Hypocrites) was considered as the source text and four English translations of the Holly Quran (Arberry, 1955; Irving, 1985; Shakir, 1999; Yusuf Ali, 1934) were considered as the target texts. The study used a corpus-based qualitative translation assessment design. The data collection was based on purposive sampling, and the data analysis was based on all the three sub-systems of Appraisal theory (Attitude, Engagement, and Gradation) based on a three point assessment scale namely ‘+’ meaning acceptable, ‘-’ meaning unacceptable and ‘≈’ meaning relatively acceptable. The study comprised two research questions: (1) What are the choices made by the four translations of the Al-Munafequn Chapter and how can the translations be evaluated individually? (2) Which of the four translations is most qualified in terms of Appraisal theory sub-systems? To answer the first question, data were collected from each source independently and then evaluated and tabulated based on the appraisal theory. Regarding the second research question the following results were obtained: TT1 (Arberry’s version) suggested acceptable translations in terms of the three aspects of Attitude, Engagement, and Gradation. TT2 (Irving’s version) showed a fairly acceptable translation quality by fulfilling most of the Appraisal features of the original verse with several shortcomings. TT3 (Shakir’s version) represented an acceptable translation as it dealt with many aspects of Appraisal in ST. Finally, TT4 (Yusuf Ali’s version) showed a highly acceptable transfer of Appraisals in its translation. As a result, from among the four translations, TT4 (Yusuf Ali’s translation) could be deemed as the most accurate version in translating the Appraisal sub-systems.

This cross-cultural study aims to examine how Iranian and American motivational speakers employ metadiscourse devices as a convincing tool to interact with their audience. To this end, eight motivational speeches in English and Persian were randomly selected from 2015 to 2021, and analyzed for the use of stance (i.e., hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mentions) and engagement (i.e., reader-pronouns, directives, questions, shared knowledge, and personal asides) expressions. The findings showed that self-mention and attitude markers were the most frequently used stance markers in English and Persian corpus, respectively. Moreover, hedges found to be the least frequently used stance markers in the two corpora. With regard to the use of engagement markers, results showed that reader pronoun is the most frequently used engagement markers, and shared knowledge and personal asides were the least frequently used engagement markers in both languages. Finally, the results of chi-square test showed statistically significant differences in the use of stance and engagement expressions in the two languages, confirming cultural septicity nature of metadiscourse markers, and that speakers of different languages employ interactional devices according to their context.

Presenting the writer's voice and positioning it within the larger body of alternative voices is essential in academic writing. Realizing the challenges novice academic writers might experience while doing this, we selected and analyzed a corpus of 40 discussion chapters (timespan: 2010-2019) written by Iranian master's students. Following systemic functional perspective (Martin & White, 2005), we explored the engagement resources in the corpus to discover evaluative language choices and stance types. The results showed that although student writers actively engaged other voices and adopted a more balanced dialogically contractive and expansive stance, they employed fewer and less diverse linguistic devices. Moreover, these novice writers tended to avoid certainty and preferred more modest and cautious assertions. There was a great tendency to remain neutral toward other voices. In aligning with other voices, they preferred to present more supportive evaluations than critical ones as well as more explicit structures. They opted for implicit attitudes in evoking resources to show criticism. The implication of this study is for EAP and dissertation writing to novice writers. 

Poète avant-gardiste et co-fondateur de la revue Souffles en mars 1966, Abdellatif Laâbi n’en finit pas de ressembler à son œuvre. Certes, l’auteur ne peut échapper à sa création ni la création à sa vie, cependant les épreuves traversées ont aiguisé sa plume et forgé son verbe. Derrière le « je peux ce que j'écris » qui structure l’œuvre, on sent la présence d’un « je peux ce que je lis » de la part du lecteur. C’est dire que cette voix singulière et féconde qui se joue des modes esthétiques et transgresse les genres invite le lecteur à explorer ses territoires nourris de doutes profonds et d’interrogations brûlantes. Cet article se propose d’analyser la manière dont l’engagement poétique de Laâbi évolue vers une forme d’engagement esthétique plus large, qui engage le lecteur dans un processus de coopération textuelle. En ce sens, l’analyse du concept de "mondes possibles", tel qu’il a été théorisé par Umberto Eco, permet de cerner cette ouverture et ce mouvement perpétuel caractéristique de l’œuvre laâbienne où le texte se conçoit comme un espace en perpétuelle recomposition, reflétant ainsi les potentialités multiples d’une résistance poétique à toute forme d’atteinte à la dignité humaine.