Iranian English As A Foreign Language Students Research Articles

The effects of instructor clarity and non-verbal immediacy on Chinese and Iranian EFL students’ affective learning: The mediating role of instructor understanding

Drawing on the rhetorical/relational goal theory, this study examined the role of instructor clarity and non-verbal immediacy in affective learning through the mediation of instructor understanding. Data were gathered through close-ended questionnaires from 756 Chinese and 715 Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) students, the factor structure and cross-cultural validity of which were supported via confirmatory factor analysis and testing measurement invariance, respectively. Path analysis results indicated that clarity and non-verbal immediacy positively predicted instructor understanding and affective learning; instructor understanding positively predicted affective learning; and understanding was a significant positive mediator in the relationship of non-verbal immediacy and clarity with affective learning. Except for the positive association of non-verbal immediacy with understanding which was significantly higher for the Iranian group, no significant difference was found between the Chinese and Iranian groups in all other associations, providing empirical support for the role of EFL teachers’ positive interpersonal communication behaviors in EFL students’ affective learning, irrespective of the cultural context.

INVESTIGATING THE PERCEPTIONS OF EFL STUDENTS TOWARDS PSYCHOLOGICAL CHALLENGES OF ONLINE EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This study aimed at exploring the psychological challenges of Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in online courses during the pandemic. The present research had a qualitative design and used thematic analysis (TA). The participants of this study were 50 Iranian EFL students, including 31 females and 19 males, who were selected from the English translation B.A. program of the English department of Islamic Azad University, Iran. To select the participants, the convenience sampling was applied. They were students of 6th and 7th semesters. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 participants of the study. Each participant was interviewed individually. The interview consisted of 15 researcher-made questions. The interviews were administered in ten one-hour sessions. Each session five participants were interviewed. The results of the present study showed that the main reasons and causes of psychological challenges perceived by the participants in online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic include on-line classes as a stress-provoking learning context, lack of digital literacy, low quality and speed of internet connection, platform issues, coronavirus disease stress, and lack of direct interactions. At the end of the paper, the implications of the study are presented.

Iranian EFL students’ perception of willingness to communicate in an extramural digital context

ABSTRACT This study explored factors that have influenced Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in an extramural digital (ED) context, an ever-increasing second language (L2) communication context. To this end, the researcher interviewed 50 Iranian secondary school language learners. Having used thematic analysis, four broad sources influencing students’ L2 WTC were found, such as educational practices (K-12 instruction), interpersonal variables (familiarity with the interlocutors and supportive communities), affective variables (L2 confidence and anxiety in ED context), and social variable (intergroup climate). More importantly, these factors seem to influence each other during communication in the ED contexts. This study can broaden our understanding of how Iranian secondary students use ED contexts to improve their L2 WTC. Understanding these factors can give insight to Iranian policymakers and teachers to promote the L2 WTC of Iranian students in classroom contexts.

Investigating EFL learners’ knowledge of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions in a culture-based instructional environment

This study attempted to investigate the influences of cultural background knowledge on improving Iranian pre-intermediate EFL students’ vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. To reach this purpose, the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) was performed on 100 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and 60 of them were selected. The selected respondents were then randomly divided into three groups: group A (Target Culture=TC), group B (Iranian Culture = IC), and group C (Culture-Free=CF). Afterwards, a vocabulary- idiomatic expressions pre-test was given to all groups. Then, the respondents of the three groups received three different treatments. Regarding the treatment, 10 texts pertinent to the customs and the culture of Iran were taught to the IC group, meanwhile, 10 texts with the new vocabulary and idiomatic expressions relevant to the target culture were taught to the TC group, and 10 culture-free texts including some new words and idiomatic expressions were trained to the CF group. After the instruction which took 10 sessions of 60 minutes each, the data were analyzed by using one-way ANOVA and paired sample t-test. The results depicted that the TC and the IC groups outflanked the CF group. This study has numerous implications for learners, teachers, and curriculum designers.

Investigating iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ writing skills based on principal component analysis

Identifying EFL writing components involves an intricate network of principles and approaches that also involve assessment models. Methods of teaching and assessing writing are normally compatible with the purposes or expectations of writing-specific courses/programs. This study investigated the most important academic writing constructs in Iranian EFL students based on principal component analysis. To this end, an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered and based on its results, 60 (out of 114) Iranian EFL male and female learners from Islamic Azad University, Broujerd Branch, Iran, were randomly selected as the homogeneous sample of the study. Additionally, 100 EFL teachers from four language institutes were asked to participate. Three instruments were used, namely OPT, a survey questionnaire, and writing tasks. The data were analyzed through principal component analysis. The findings revealed that the most important constructs in the Iranian EFL students’ writing skills were “mode”, “assessment”, and “mechanics”, respectively. The findings of the study suggested implications for L2 writing improvement from a practical and theoretical perspective. The findings, more specifically, could shed light on current practices and theories, and could prove useful for practitioners and future studies in the field of second language writing.

An Account of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Retention and Recall Through Spaced and Massed Distribution Instructions

There has been an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of spaced and massed distribution instruction in second/foreign language learning. A number of studies in the literature have investigated the impacts of spacing effect on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ vocabulary acquisition. This study aims to expand the body of existing research by exploring the impact of spaced versus massed distribution instruction on EFL learners’ vocabulary recall and retention. To this end, the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) was administered to 120 Iranian EFL students to determine their level of English proficiency. Accordingly, 75 intermediate students were selected and randomly assigned to three equivalent groups: two experimental groups, namely spaced instruction ( n = 25) and massed instruction ( n = 25), and one control group ( n = 25). After administering a pretest, the participants in both experimental groups received two different modes of instruction. The massed instruction group attended one intensive session to learn each set of target vocabularies; the spaced instruction group, on the contrary, had three sessions at irregular time intervals to learn the same vocabularies. The control group studied the same vocabularies but received no vocabulary-focused instructions. Overall, 180 vocabularies were taught to the students during a 12-week period (15 vocabularies per week). The instructions in each group took 60 min each week. Using a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest design, the students first took a receptive vocabulary pretest before the treatment. One week after the treatment, a receptive vocabulary posttest was administered. Finally, after a 4-week interval, the students took the delayed posttest. The results revealed that the spaced instruction group significantly outperformed the massed instruction group on both immediate and delayed posttests. The findings lend support to the modulation of spaced instruction into the curricula in instructional settings as a valuable vocabulary instruction technique to promote vocabulary learning in real classroom environments.

‘Should textbook images be merely decorative?’: Cultural representations in the Iranian EFL national textbook from the semiotic approach perspective

Studies examining culture representation in language textbooks have rarely adopted the semiotic approach, despite its potential for presenting and (re)creating cultural meanings at their various levels (i.e. cultural, intercultural, multicultural, and transcultural) in the co-instantiations of texts, tasks, and images. To address this issue, a qualitative analysis, embarking on the Peircean semiotic theory, was applied on the text-image-task semiotic relationship. It explored its potential for constructing and reconstructing cultural meanings relative to the Iranian national English as a foreign language (EFL) textbook, Vision 1, from the perspectives of Iranian EFL students, teachers, and teacher educators. Content and thematic analyses of the interview records revealed three themes: first, the co-instantiation of the image and text was indexical, cultural awareness and connotations were almost untouched; second, the textual and visual components driving intercultural meanings and interpretations were not in accordance with the tasks; and, third, some alternative more culturally engaging images were provided by the interviewees. On the whole, the findings confirmed the previous findings that the discourse of this brand-new Iranian localized EFL textbook leaves little space to raise cultural awareness for its users. Based on the findings, a dynamic model for evaluating cultural representations in textbooks is suggested, hoping to show how EFL textbooks can be developed, implemented, and received more effectively in instructional settings.

Investigating Foreign Language Enjoyment and Public Speaking Class Anxiety in the EFL Class: A Mixed Methods Study

Foreign language enjoyment and speaking anxiety in the classroom are two potential emotion-inducing factors for foreign language learning. This sequential mixed methods study investigated whether and to what extent Iranian EFL students experienced foreign language enjoyment and public speaking anxiety in their English classrooms, and how they characterize the sources of the enjoyment and speaking anxiety in such a context. To these ends, 128 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from several English language institutes, selected based on convenience sampling, took part in this research. They completed Dewaele and MacIntyre’s (2014b) Foreign Language Enjoyment and Yaikhong and Usaha’s (2012) Public Speaking Class Anxiety questionnaires, and write down about an episode in which they had experienced enjoyment and speaking anxiety in the EFL classroom. Quantitative and qualitative statistical data analyses were applied to examine foreign language enjoyment and public speaking class anxiety. Descriptive data analysis showed that the learners had a medium-to-high foreign language degree of enjoyment and a low level of public speaking anxiety. Besides, they reported more enjoyment than public speaking anxiety in class. Further qualitative data analysis revealed 12 sub-themes and four main themes of Teacher, Learning, Class Activities, and Class Atmosphere in explaining their enjoyment, as well as eight sub-themes and four main themes of Exam Phobia, Reaction/Feedback, Personal Failure, and Lack of Self-Confidence for speaking anxiety. The findings provide implications for language teachers and policymakers to gain better insights into factors underlying enjoyment and speaking anxiety in the field of foreign language learning.

Metapragmatic instruction (6Rs) versus input-based practice: a comparison of their effects on pragmatic accuracy and speed in the recognition and oral production of English refusals

ABSTRACTRecent findings in the field of pragmatics have revealed that pragmatic accuracy (knowledge) and pragmatic speed (processing ability) function as two distinct and non-parallel components of pragmatic competence. Anderson’s adaptive control of thought–rational (ACT-R) model, which emphasises the development of skill through repeated practice, offers a useful framework for understanding how pragmatic speed can be enhanced. This study set to examine the impact of an ACT-R based form of instruction, input-based practice, on the development of pragmatic recognition and oral production of English refusals in a group of Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. It compared the results from that pedagogic treatment with those from a similar group following ‘6Rs’ metapragmatic instruction, which does not include repeated activities. A total of 115 Iranian EFL students took part in the study. The findings suggest the value of both input-based practice and metapragmatic instruction in developing different aspects of L2 pragmatic competence; input-based practice was found to impact more on language learners’ pragmatic speed while the 6Rs approach had a more consistent impact on pragmatic accuracy.

Moving bravely towards mobile learning: Iranian students' use of mobile devices for learning English as a foreign language

In recent years, students have shown growing interest in mobile learning and the use of mobile devices for learning English as a foreign language (EFL). However, it appears that further research needs to be undertaken to identify students' use of mobile devices and their attitudes towards them, especially in developing countries. To achieve this aim, three instruments, i.e. questionnaires (n = 345), in-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 128), and non-participant observations (50 sessions), were employed to collect quantitative and qualitative data. The results indicate that Iranian EFL students are generally positive about mobile learning and the use of mobile devices for learning EFL. The perceived benefits of mobile learning comprised opportunities for ubiquitous learning and access to the Internet, use of multimedia in the classroom, and portability. On the contrary, the findings suggest that students might be discouraged from the use of mobile devices due to several perceived impeding factors. The analysis of the data illustrated that Iranian EFL students mainly use mobile devices for non-academic purposes. The majority of students own smartphones and laptops and prefer to use tablet PCs, smartphones, and laptops for language learning. The findings of the observations suggest that even though some Iranian EFL teachers favor the use of mobile devices in the classroom, some of them prevent students from such use. In light of students' proposed strategies to implement mobile learning, the study suggests guidelines to integrate mobile learning in the EFL context of Iran and other similar contexts.

Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners’ Argumentative Writing Performance in Private Language Institutes

Literature on Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ problems in their writing skills is lacking.The present study analyzes a group of Iranian EFL students' written samples to diagnose their main area(s) ofdifficulty in writing argumentative essays. For this purpose, a sample of 69 argumentative essays was collected.Two raters used an analytic argumentative writing scale to score the samples. Based on the scores assigned to theirwritten samples, majority of these students indicated excellent ‘content’ and ‘organization’ levels; competent ‘taskfulfillment’, ‘vocabulary’, and ‘style’ levels; modest ‘grammar’ levels; and finally, very limited levels of‘mechanics’ skills. The findings indicate the positive and promising role of English language institutes in students’writing skills. The results have pedagogical implications that will help English language instructors and programdevelopers in Iranian English language learning-teaching institutes improve the outcome of their instruction.Further research is necessary to study the EFL writing skills of Iranian school students.

Voices from the voiceless: Iranian EFL students' attitudes toward English

Some recent research has focused on the students' silence and inviting more student voice. This paper investigated the reasons behind Iranian undergraduate students' silence in English classes and stepped further to give voice to those students' attitudes toward English with the belief that inviting and including student voice could improve the overall participation of silent students in English courses. One hundred freshmen and sophomore undergraduate students majoring at the University of Isfahan volunteered to take part in this study. From among them, 60 students who indicated they were silent in English classes were asked to complete a survey adopted from Life. In addition, 20 of the students were interviewed to pinpoint the intentions behind their silence. Thus, the paper took an in-depth look at the reasons for the Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' silence, drawing from detailed examination of the students' own accounts, comparing and contrasting them. The results of this study explicitly states reasons behind the silence of the EFL students in English classes. It also put forth various solutions that could easily be implemented in pedagogical settings by English instructors to break the silence of EFL/English as a Second Language (ESL) students.

Effects of Receptive and Productive Tasks on Iranian EFL Students' Learning of Verb-noun Collocations

The current study is an attempt to investigate the effects of receptive (reading three glossed sentences) and productive (completing a cloze task) tasks on learning English verb-noun collocations in an Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learning context. To this end, ninety four EFL university learners were divided into two experimental (reading and cloze) groups and one control group. To determine the effects of the tasks, the participants in all three groups were given receptive and productive collocation pretests aiming at examining their existing knowledge of collocation and posttests to measure the learners' gained knowledge of collocation after being exposed to the treatments. The results of a Paired sample t-test revealed that both the reading and cloze groups had manifested significant enhancement in their knowledge of collocation after the treatments.

Effects of explicit instruction in cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies on Iranian EFL students’ reading performance and strategy transfer

This study explored the impact of explicit teaching of reading strategies on English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ reading performance in Iran. The study employed a questionnaire adapted from Chamot and O’Malley’s (1994) cognitive and metacognitive strategies framework. To test the effects of explicit teaching of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies on reading performance and strategy transfer, the study has a quasi-experimental design involving a contrast group and a treatment group, with whom an intervention program was implemented. The treatment group achieved significantly better results than the contrast group after four months of strategy-based instruction. Results of paired-sample t-tests and independent t-tests and effect size showed that reading comprehension and reading strategy use improved with strategy instruction. Moreover, SPANOVA analyses showed that the participants in the treatment group performed better than those in the contrast group in reading comprehension and reading strategy transfer. Results also showed that strategy instruction contributed to autonomous reading behaviors. Recommendations for further research are discussed.

On the Relationship Between Listening Comprehension Motivation and Listening Comprehension Among the Iranian Efl Learners

The present study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension (LC) and their English listening comprehension motivation (ELCM). It was also aimed at determining the role of gender and years of university study in LC and ELCM. Sixty four Iranian EFL students (32 males and 32 females), majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the Marvdasht Azad University participated in this study. They included freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Participants' listening comprehension motivation was measured by English listening comprehension motivation scale (ELCMS) developed by Hsu from Chang's Intrinsic Motivation Orientation Scale (2001). A portion of TOEFL test of language proficiency constructed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS, 2001) was used to determine listening comprehension proficiency level of the participants. The results revealed that the relationship between ELCM and LC was positive and significant. That is, the higher the level of ELCM of the students, the higher the score they attained on the LC test and vice versa. This result indicates that ELCM enhances foreign language listening. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the years of university study contributed to the level of listening proficiency. That is, the level of LC proficiency increased as a function of years of university study. Concerning the relationship between ELCM and years of university study, no correlation was found. In addition, in this study the data showed no significant difference between males and females’ listening comprehension motivation scores. Keywords : Listening comprehension (LC), English listening comprehension motivation (LCM), L2 listeners, English as a foreign language (EFL), motivation.

COOPERATIVE TEST CONSTRUCTION: THE LAST TEMPTATION OF EDUCATIONAL REFORM?

For decades traditional methods of testing have been criticized for saying relatively little reliably about students’ ability as well as causing anxiety, which can negatively affect students’ recall of learned information. The reform movement with its innovative approaches focusing on learner-centered education perceives assessment as an interactive feedback mechanism, which must provide for active, collaborative reflection by both teacher and students. This means that students must be active participants in designing assessment tasks and be given responsibility for using assessment data to monitor and improve their own learning (Valencia, 1990, p. 339). Focusing on alternative methods of assessment proposed by the opponents of traditional ones, the present study aimed at investigating the impact of cooperative test construction on Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students’ achievement as well as their attitudes towards such tests. The participants in this study were second- grade high school students (equivalent to Grade 11 in US senior high school) who were assigned to experimental and control groups based on their scores on a standardized retired version of Nelson test. Both groups received the same schedule of instruction for sixteen weeks. The students in the experimental group experienced cooperative test construction while the students in the control group did not have any role in the construction of their tests. The findings revealed statistically significant difference between grammatical knowledge of the students who cooperatively made their own test items and that of those who were tested traditionally. Furthermore, the students’ reactions to cooperative test construction were overwhelmingly positive.