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    • List of Articles Saeideh Ahangari

      • Open Access Article

        1 - Impact of Teaching Metacognitive Strategies on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Accuracy in Proactive vs. Reactive Classes
        Fatemeh Jafari Nasser Ghafoori Shima Ahmadi-Azad
        The present study aimed to examine the impact of instructing metacognitive strategies involving planning, monitoring, and self-evaluation, within proactive and reactive classroom contexts, on the writing accuracy of Iranian EFL learners. Employing a quantitative quasi-e More
        The present study aimed to examine the impact of instructing metacognitive strategies involving planning, monitoring, and self-evaluation, within proactive and reactive classroom contexts, on the writing accuracy of Iranian EFL learners. Employing a quantitative quasi-experimental design, the research comprised 168 participants, drawn from an initial pool of 206 undergraduate students within the science and engineering department of Azad University, Tabriz Branch, who had completed a general English course during the Spring of 2021. Employing purposive sampling, the homogeneous sample was divided into two experimental and two control groups, aligning with the study's independent variables: the teaching of metacognitive strategies and the classroom environment. The experimental groups underwent instruction in metacognitive strategies, with one group exposed to proactive instruction before commencing writing tasks, and the other receiving reactive instruction when encountering writing difficulties. Pre- and post-treatment writing samples were collected and evaluated for accuracy, and ANOVA was conducted on the pre-test scores, establishing initial comparability among the four groups. Subsequently, a Two-Way Analysis of Variance was employed to assess post-test scores. Notably, teaching metacognitive strategies exhibited a statistically significant influence on writing accuracy only within reactive classroom conditions. Conversely, the classroom environment exerted a negligible direct influence on writing accuracy, though a noteworthy interaction effect emerged between the two independent variables. This study holds substantial implications for EFL instructors, learners, and curriculum developers, highlighting the significance of incorporating metacognitive strategy instruction to enhance writing accuracy within specific instructional contexts. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        2 - The Feasibility of Teaching Communication Strategies from the Standpoint of EFL Teachers and Students
        رضیه بهروزیان ناصر غفوری سعیده آهنگری
        The present study attempted to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and students’ perceptions of the possibility of teaching communication strategies (CSs) among pre-intermediate learners. A review of the related literature suggests that the te More
        The present study attempted to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and students’ perceptions of the possibility of teaching communication strategies (CSs) among pre-intermediate learners. A review of the related literature suggests that the teachability of CSs has been the source of controversy among different researchers. The participants of this study were 20 EFL teachers and their 110 students from three universities and a private Institute in Tabriz. In this mixed methods study, three research tools were used for gathering data: a language proficiency test, a modified questionnaire, and a structured interview. The quantitative phase included the administration of the CSs questionnaire at the beginning and end of the course and instructions on these strategies for 12 weeks. The qualitative phase included the analysis of the teachers’ responses to the interview and coding comments thematically by the researcher. After analyzing the quantitative data by running paired sample t-test, it was found that EFL students confirmed the possibility of teaching communication strategies and suggested that CSs are teachable and useful. The important implication of the study is that strategy training was the factor of progress and the teaching of communication strategies can be pedagogically possible and their instruction is beneficial to students. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        3 - The Role of EFL Teachers’ Socio-affective Strategies in Learners’ Willingness to Communicate: Learners’ Perceptions
        Nahid Zarei مهناز سعیدی سعبده آهنگری
        The present study set out to develop a willingness to communicate (WTC) questionnaire addressingteachers’ socio-affective strategies. It also aimed at exploring learners’ perceptions toward thesestrategies affecting their WTC. Participants of the study, who More
        The present study set out to develop a willingness to communicate (WTC) questionnaire addressingteachers’ socio-affective strategies. It also aimed at exploring learners’ perceptions toward thesestrategies affecting their WTC. Participants of the study, who were selected by a non-probabilityconvenience sampling method, were 153 English as a foreign language learner in three popular EnglishInstitutes in Iran. A questionnaire including 45 items was designed by referring to a previouslyconducted focus group interview of Iranian EFL teachers and the review of the literature. Afterthe questionnaire was administered to and completed by the learners, an exploratory factor analysis(EFA) was performed. The analysis yielded 37 items and six factors: (a) creating a positive interaction(8 items), (b) teachers’ enthusiasm (6 items), (c) teachers’ fairness (5 items), (d) teachers’ presence (6items), (e) teachers’ immediacy (6 items), and (f) teaching skills and participation in group activities(6 items). The reliability measures were also examined and the results were satisfactory. The sixfactors were compared against each other and teachers’ enthusiasm and fairness were found to be themost important factor in promoting learners’ WTC. Implications for teacher trainers and teachers arediscussed and suggestions for further research are offered. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        4 - A Cross-cultural Study on the Discussion Sections of PhD Dissertations with a Focus on Academic Collocations
        Vida Fathi Bonabi Nesa Nabifar Saeideh Ahangari
        The present study aimed to examine the rhetorical structure of the discussion sections of English PhD dissertations authored by Iranian students in an EFL context, Indian ESL students and native (English speaking) PhD students at Applied Linguistics. To this end, 300 di More
        The present study aimed to examine the rhetorical structure of the discussion sections of English PhD dissertations authored by Iranian students in an EFL context, Indian ESL students and native (English speaking) PhD students at Applied Linguistics. To this end, 300 discussion sections were gathered from three contexts under study at the time frame of 2005 to 2020. Following Benson et al’s (1986) model, the researchers analyzed the discussion sections of the dissertations for both lexical and grammatical collocations and their different sub-classifications. The findings showed that the natives overused collocations in a significantly greater number in developing the PhD dissertations discussion section than those of EFL and ESL PhD students' dissertations. Moreover, despite variations, there were similarities between EFL and ESL PhD students' dissertations in terms of utilizing the sub-categories of collocations that can be considered as signs for standardization of academic writing by non-native speakers of English. The implications for researchers, teachers and students were discussed. Manuscript profile