Research in English Language Pedagogy: 4 (1)

Open Access Article

1 - On the Relationship between Iranian EFL Teachers’ Self-regulation, Self-resiliency, Gender and Teaching Experience
Nahid Partovi Dara Tafazoli

The present study aimed to explore (a) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and their resiliency, (b) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and their genders, and (c) if there is any relationship bet More

The present study aimed to explore (a) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and their resiliency, (b) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and their genders, and (c) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and years of teaching experience. Through a convenience method of sampling, the first group of participants who were 85 high school male and female EFL teachers were selected. The second group consisted of 200 high school students of the mentioned teachers participated in the current investigation. EFL teachers’ self-regulatory trait was measured by means of the Teacher Self-Regulation questionnaire. Data on EFL teachers’ self-resiliency was gathered through the Qualified EFL teachers’ questionnaire. The result from the Pearson product-moment correlation revealed that (EFL) teachers qualified by self-regulatory trait are more resilient in their students’ points of views. The findings will be valuable for EFL teacher training courses. This means that the central focus of teacher training programs in Iranian educational system in EFL teacher training programs can shift from focusing on the content to developing characteristics like self-regulatory and resiliency.The present study aimed to explore (a) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and their resiliency, (b) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and their genders, and (c) if there is any relationship between EFL teachers’ self-regulatory and years of teaching experience. Through a convenience method of sampling, the first group of participants who were 85 high school male and female EFL teachers were selected. The second group consisted of 200 high school students of the mentioned teachers participated in the current investigation. EFL teachers’ self-regulatory trait was measured by means of the Teacher Self-Regulation questionnaire. Data on EFL teachers’ self-resiliency was gathered through the Qualified EFL teachers’ questionnaire. The result from the Pearson product-moment correlation revealed that (EFL) teachers qualified by self-regulatory trait are more resilient in their students’ points of views. The findings will be valuable for EFL teacher training courses. This means that the central focus of teacher training programs in Iranian educational system in EFL teacher training programs can shift from focusing on the content to developing characteristics like self-regulatory and resiliency. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - A students' Needs-analysis Study of Translation Studies Curriculum offered at Master’s level in Iranian Universities
Navid Nasrollahi Shahri Zahra Barzakhi Farimani

This study aimed to investigate the program of Translation Studies, offered in Iranian universities at the level of Master, in terms of its curriculum through a needs analysis model offered by Altschuld and Witkin (1995). To do so, after a review of the related literatu More

This study aimed to investigate the program of Translation Studies, offered in Iranian universities at the level of Master, in terms of its curriculum through a needs analysis model offered by Altschuld and Witkin (1995). To do so, after a review of the related literature and conducting a documentary analysis, the researchers chose to look at the issue from different perspectives. Current instructors, professionals who are involved in the business of translation and a number of graduated students were interviewed so as to gather enough data to design a questionnaire, which constitutes the backbone of the study. Since the study aimed at students’ perception, the survey was conducted on students of Translation Studies program, which was based on the interviews with instructors, graduates of the program and the professionals working in the market. Afterward, the questionnaire data were gathered and, subsequently, went under statistical procedures. Based on the results, the researchers came up with practical recommendations for curriculum renewal, based on the needs-analysis model adopted. As this study has adopted a triangulation approach to investigate the curriculum, the results and recommendations, although limited, can be of great use to educators, curriculum developers and translator trainers in particular. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - On the effect of self-motivation instruction on the language learners belief on autonomy
Seyyed Taher Alavi Mohammad Mohammadi

Zoltán Dörnyei (2005) proposed a new form of motivation which is aiming at equipping the learners with a lifelong approach to motivation which is self-induced by the learner and it is not needed for any extrinsic mediation, having understood how to keep your More

Zoltán Dörnyei (2005) proposed a new form of motivation which is aiming at equipping the learners with a lifelong approach to motivation which is self-induced by the learner and it is not needed for any extrinsic mediation, having understood how to keep yourself motivated. This study was an attempt to find out the effect of self-motivation strategies instruction on the learners belief on learner autonomy in L2 learning. To find out the possible effect of our independent variable we selected one intermediate level class in grade 2 (25 male) in high school out of the whole population of high school students in west Azerbaijan, Iran via availability sampling. Having ensured for the homogeneity of the class members’ English proficiency through Nelson test, we gave them a questionnaire on the learner’s belief on autonomy in learning L2 to answer. Then within two months, in a separate class the students were given instructions on how to employ self-motivation strategies while learning English. After two months of instruction, they were given the same questionnaire again to get to know the possible effect of our independent variable. Having analyzed the obtained data in SPSS software, the results showed that our hypothesis was rejected and our null hypothesis was verified. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - The Effect of Movies with Different Types of Subtitles on Incidental English Vocabulary Learning of Iranian High School Students
Mahdi Mardani Abedin Najmabadi

This study investigates the effect of different types of subtitle on incidental vocabulary learning among Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 60 high school students in Behbahan were selected after taking a proficiency test. The test was administered to ensure participan More

This study investigates the effect of different types of subtitle on incidental vocabulary learning among Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 60 high school students in Behbahan were selected after taking a proficiency test. The test was administered to ensure participants' homogeneity. Participants were randomly assigned to three experimental groups, namely, Bimodal group (A), Standard group (B) and Reversed group (C). They watched ten video clips selected from three animated movies with different types of subtitles: A) Bimodal subtitles, B) Standard subtitles and C)Reversed subtitles. Research instrumentation included a pre-test and post-test. Participants took a pre-test containing new words selected from the clips. After ten treatment sessions, the post-test was administered. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. To arrive at any difference between the three different types of subtitles, the researcher conducted one-way ANOVA. The results obtained from the test showed that participants in reversed subtitling group performed significantly different and learned more new vocabulary items. Standard subtitling was the second type of subtitling which revealed to be more effective than bimodal subtitling. Also, the effect of different types of subtitles on incidental English vocabulary learning between male and female was investigated in this study. To arrive at any difference between male and female in incidental English vocabulary learning an independent samples test was performed. The results obtained from the test showed that there is no significant difference between male and female in incidental English vocabulary learning. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - EFL Teacher's Affective Constructs and Their Sense of Responsibility
Hamed Ghaemi Hassanali Abdullahi

This study, in the first place, attempted to examine the relationship between English as foreign language (EFL) teachers' affective constructs and their sense of responsibility. In the second place, the roles of teachers' gender, years of teaching experience, school set More

This study, in the first place, attempted to examine the relationship between English as foreign language (EFL) teachers' affective constructs and their sense of responsibility. In the second place, the roles of teachers' gender, years of teaching experience, school setting, and the number of students in the classroom on teachers' affective constructs and sense of responsibility were investigated. For this purpose, 110 EFL teachers were selected through availability sampling from different high schools in Neyshabur, Iran. The teachers were asked to fill out a multi-dimensional questionnaire including different affective constructs and responsibility subscales. The subsequent data analysis via correlation and multi analysis of variances revealed that there was a significant relationship between teachers' affective constructs and their sense of responsibility. Furthermore, significant correlations were found between teachers' experience and school setting with teachers' affective constructs and their sense of responsibility. But the effects of teachers' gender and the number of students in their classrooms on teachers' affective construct and their sense of responsibility were not significant. The conclusions and implications of the research are further discussed with reference to earlier findings. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - Investigating Competitive Forces of Emotions versus Intellects in English Academic Performance of Iranian University Students
Marjan Vosoughi Seyedeh Susan Marandi

To testify the contrastive properties of two combinations of Emotional Intelligence (EI) index including emotional vs. cognitive subscale dyads among some one hundred and twenty university students (52 male & 68 female), this study was carried out to predict their s More

To testify the contrastive properties of two combinations of Emotional Intelligence (EI) index including emotional vs. cognitive subscale dyads among some one hundred and twenty university students (52 male & 68 female), this study was carried out to predict their success in their General English (GE) course during one academic semester. Datasets were obtained through a self-report Bar's On EI Questionnaire (1977) and mapped over the participants' academic linguistic performance through Discriminant Function Analyses (DFA) techniques within two successive phases: In the first phase, the statistical results revealed that, overall, Wilks's Lambda was significant: ᴧ= .000, ᵡ2 (2, N= 120) = .000, p Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

7 - The relationship between the use of vocabulary learning strategies and gender of Iranian EFL learners
Mitra Ansari freidoon Vahdany Narjes Banou Sabouri

This research study aimed at examining the use of vocabulary learning strategies of Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners and the relationship between gender and the use of these strategies at Shokouh Language Institue in Iran. 80 EFL learners who were at in More

This research study aimed at examining the use of vocabulary learning strategies of Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners and the relationship between gender and the use of these strategies at Shokouh Language Institue in Iran. 80 EFL learners who were at intermediate level participated in this study. This study used Kudo’s (1999) classification of vocabulary learning strategies including metacognitive and psycholinguistic strategies. Kudo’s (1999) likert-scale questionnaire has been used in this study. In order to analyze data and answer research questions, descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS (21) used. The finding of the study revealed that the most frequently-used VLS by female group was “Use loan words” and by male group was “ Using a bilingual dictionary”. Both of these strategies were psycholinguistic strategy. The frequency mean for the psycholinguistic strategy use, metacognitive strategies as well as the overall frequency mean was slightly higher for the female learners. However there was no significant difference between Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners in terms of the use of vocabulary learning strategies. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

8 - Evaluating Speech acts in ELT Textbooks: The Case of Compliments and Complaints in the Touchstone Series
Mahdieh Jalilian Ali Roohani

Textbooks play an important role in English Language Teaching (ELT), particularly in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context where it provides the primary linguistic input. The present research was an attempt to comparatively evaluate the Touchstone series in te More

Textbooks play an important role in English Language Teaching (ELT), particularly in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context where it provides the primary linguistic input. The present research was an attempt to comparatively evaluate the Touchstone series in terms of compliment and complaint speech acts. Four Touchstone textbooks (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, and Book 4) were selected and content analysis was done using Olshtain and Weinbach’s (1993) complaint strategies and Wolfson and Manes’ (1980) classification of compliment. The frequencies and percentages of compliments and complaint speech acts were obtained. Data analysis showed that, first, the total frequency of the complaint speech act was higher in Touchstone, Book 4 than the other three textbooks; second, the frequency of complaint and compliment speech acts in the Writing section was quite low, but the Conversation section had a high frequency of compliment speech act in the Touchstone series; third, the expression of annoyance or disapproval complaint strategy was frequently used in the Touchstone series; fourth, the compliment strategy of ‘noun phrase + looks/is (intensifier) adjective’ was very frequent in the Touchstone series; finally, there was a significant difference between the frequencies of the two speech acts, in general, in the four Touchstone textbooks. Considering the weaknesses and strengthens of Touchstone series, implications for teachers, material developers, and textbook writers are provided. Manuscript profile

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