L2 grammar

This study was carried out to explore the effects of a mobile application on the learning of L2 grammar and vocabulary among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. In this research study, the target population comprised 30 male and female EFL learners who were identified at the intermediate level of language proficiency based on their performance scores on a sample copy of the Oxford Solutions Placement Test (OSPT). The participants were selected from among 40 learners who were studying EFL at Talk English Institute in Rasht, Iran. Using a digital randomizer called Super Cool Random Number Generator, the final pool of qualified participants was randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control, each consisting of 15 learners. Next, the experimental group received treatment on their English vocabulary and grammar during a four-week period where they were assigned to learn 20 grammar and 20 vocabulary items by playing games through a mobile educational game called Elevate. The control group, on the other hand, received treatment on the same L2 grammar and vocabulary items through a conventional method (i.e., teacher-fronted instruction). Analysis of the scores obtained on a post-intervention measure of L2 grammar and vocabulary knowledge revealed that both groups made significant progress over the course of the experiment; however, the experimental group performed significantly better than those who were trained using the conventional method. The results carry the implications that mobile applications provide a more felicitous condition for expanding learners’ L2 grammar and vocabulary repertoire.

Dissatisfaction with product-oriented and static forms of assessment led to the emergence of process-oriented testing or dynamic assessment. Learners’ involvement in the assessment process can enhance their learning autonomy and help them process linguistic features more deeply. Accordingly, using a quantitative quasi-experimental research design, the researchers sought to explore whether utilizing DA principles would have any differential impact, believed to be statistically significant, on the Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners’ learning and retention of English grammar. To this end, 30 EFL learners from two intact classes who were taking a general English course at Shayestegan English Language Institute, in Rasht, Iran were selected as a homoscedastic group of participants based on the scores they obtained on a sample copy of Oxford Solutions Placement Test (OSPT). The intact classes, each comprising 15 students, were then assigned to one experimental and one control group who then received treatment on their L2 grammar under different conditions: The experimental group received instruction on English grammar as per the principles of dynamic assessment in an eight-session intervention program. The control group likewise received treatment on L2 grammar over the course of the study, but they were trained using teacher-fronted instruction. Finally, the groups sat for an immediate and a delayed posttest of grammar to demonstrate their degree of learning and amount of retention of English grammar. Capitalizing on a 2 by 2 factorial design, which allowed for examination of both main and interaction effects of instructional modality and participants’ gender, the researchers employed a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to examine the participants’ performance scores. The results revealed that, regardless of participants’ gender, instruction as delivered through dynamic assessment privileged the participants in the experimental group much better than that of the conventional method in terms of their learning an