This study examined attitude and motivation in teenage Iranian students learning English as a foreign language to explore whether they were instrumentally motivated or integratively. The participants were 85 eleventh-grade high school students who were in the 14 -18 age range. Their language competence was investigated through an EFL test measuring vocabulary, grammar, writing and reading comprehension. They were also asked to fill out a two-part attitude/motivation questionnaire. The SPSS, version 25 and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze data. The results proved that the male participants were equally integratively and instrumentally motivated. The female students were more integratively motivated proving the effect of gender on motivation. They had higher interest and a more positive attitude in learning English than male subjects. Better performance of females in language achievement test confirmed the major part of beginning age in learning English. Moreover, experiencing more dynamic and enjoyable teaching styles had an impact on language learning. تفاصيل المقالة

This study addresses the acquisition of the morphological markers in Persian learners of English as a foreign language. To this end, the accuracy order of nine morphemes including plural –s, progressive –ing, copula be, auxiliary be, irregular past tense, regular past tense –ed, third person –s, possessive - and indefinite articles was studied in 60 teenage Persian EFL learners. Placement and proficiency tests and a demographic questionnaire were employed to collect the data. The total production of 2160 morphemes was manually checked, classified, and counted to rank their acquisition order. The learners’ accuracy order was ranked in a decreased order from 1 to 9 as follows: regular past tense, auxiliary be, copula be, present progressive tense, indefinite articles, plural –s, possessive -, irregular past tense and third-person singular –s. The Spearman correlation showed that Persian students’ accuracy order had a moderate and weak relationship with the accuracy order of ESL and EFL learners, respectively. This finding proves that Persian EFL learners do not learn English grammatical morphemes in a natural order. Moreover, the universal grammar does not remain fully in these learners. The minor role of UG in EFL acquisition also indicates the important role of transfer in foreign language learning. تفاصيل المقالة