This study aimed to compare the effect of teaching metacognitive listening strategies through shadowing activity on the listening comprehension of field-dependent (FD) and field-independent (FI) EFL learners. Since the researcher had access only to female participants,85 female EFL learners from a language institute in Tehran, at the pre-intermediate level of proficiency with the age range of 18-35 were selected out of the initial 120 participants based on their performance on a piloted PET. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) was administered to the selected participants in order to categorize them into the two experimental groups (49 FD and 36 FI). The participants including both FD and FI sat in several classes. During a five-week instruction period (twice a week), both groups practiced listening comprehension for 45 minutes through a combination of shadowing activity, and metacognitive strategy instruction with no difference in treatment. The results of the independent samples t-test demonstrated that there was no significant difference between listening posttest scores of FI and FD groups. Therefore, it was concluded that metacognitive strategy training coupled with shadowing activity could be equally beneficial in terms of listening proficiency for all students regardless of their perceptual tendency (FD/FI). The findings of the present study have implications for language teachers regarding metacognitive strategy training and listening comprehension enhancement. تفاصيل المقالة

The present study was carried out to investigate the comparative effect of antonym in-text glosses and description in-text glosses on a group of Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension. To fulfill the purpose of this study, 60 female intermediate students between 18 and 19 years old were selected among a total number of 90 through their performance on a piloted PET. These 60 participants were non-randomly divided into two equally populated experimental groups. During the process of this study, in one of the experimental groups the participants were given reading texts with antonym in-text glosses and in the other group, the participants were given reading texts with description in-text glosses. A piloted reading comprehension posttest (derived from another sample of PET) was administered at the end of the treatment to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through an independent samples t-test. The result led to the rejection of the null hypothesis, thereby, demonstrating that the learners in the description in-text glosses group benefited significantly more than those in the antonym in-text glosses group in terms of improving their reading comprehension. تفاصيل المقالة

This research study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate the test takers’ perceptions and anx- iety in relation to an English language proficiency test called Community English Program (CEP). This study also evaluated the direct and semi-direct modes for speaking module of this test. To this end, 300 Eng- lish as Foreign Language (EFL) students were recruited in the study as test takers. They were invited to take the CEP speaking test using five tasks of Description, Narration, Summarization, Role-play and Exposition in both direct and semi-direct test modes. Their perceptions and evaluations of both test modes, through questionnaires, interviews and observations were examined. The results of the factor analysis revealed that test takers’ evaluations of both direct and semi-direct speaking modes were quite similar, yet not exactly identical. On the other hand, although test takers’ anxiety was shown influential, the findings showed that the most determining factor in test takers’ oral performance was their capability level. Capability level was the main reason why some test takers out-performed the others. The findings also demonstrated that test difficulty identification was complex, difficult and at the same time multidimensional. The quantitative re- sults displayed that the raters were scoring speaking performances differently; the qualitative results also provided logic for the reasons of these differences on the side of the test takers. Finally, the impact of test takers’ gender differences on their perceptions was found nonsignificant. تفاصيل المقالة

The purpose of this paper was to see whether any significant relationship exists among EFL learners’ autonomy, left/right brain dominance, and reading comprehension of the Academic Reading and General Reading Modules of IELTS examination. To this end, 100 female EFL learners were randomly selected from those who were attending IELTS preparatory courses at a language school in Tehran. All participants filled out the brain dominance and learner autonomy questionnaire. However, 50 participants took the General Reading Module and 50 took the Academic Reading Module of IELTS. Correlation and regression analyses demonstrated that learner autonomy did not have a significant correlation with the participants’ performance on the General or Academic Reading Modules of IELTS. However, brain dominance significantly correlated and thus, predicted the participants’ performance on both the General and Academic Reading Modules of IELTS. تفاصيل المقالة