Technology has crept into every aspect of human life, and second language education is not an exception, giving rise to computer-enhanced language learning and mobile-assisted language learning. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of WhatsApp, Adobe Connect, and face-to-face classes on learning collocations by Iranian EFL learners in Qom, and to make comparisons among these three platforms. Thus, a quasi-experimental design was set up in which a number of available intermediate-level students were assigned to a WhatsApp group, an Adobe Connect group, and a Control group. The three groups were given a collocation pretest at the outset of the study and they were exposed to collocations, though through different media. In the treatment, which lasted for 10 sessions, for the learners in the WAG and ACG, the collocations were presented via a picture, an example sentence, and a follow-up quiz, which the CG learners received the same collocations in a similar fashion except that they were not provided with videos/pictures. At the end of the experiment, the learners were given a posttest of collocations, and the following results were obtained after running paired-samples t tests and a one-way ANCOVA: (a) the three groups of WAG, ACG, and CG were fruitful and the learners in all these environments improved significantly from pretest to posttest of collocations, and (b) ACG learners significantly outperformed WAG learners, who in turn could perform significantly better than the CG learners. The obtained results bear implications for education in general and second language instruction in particular. Manuscript profile

Given the role of lexical knowledge in language learning, strategies for vocabulary learning should be paid more attention in the literature. This study investigated the effects of visualization, drawing, and memorization on Iranian EFL learners' recall and retention of second language vocabulary using a quasi-experimental comparison design . To that end, three intact classes, incorporating sixty students in total , were randomly selected as the experimental groups of this study. Nation’s (2006) vocabulary size test was administered to them to homogenize them in terms of English lexical knowledge. The results of one-way ANOVA demonstrated that there were no significant differences among the three groups in terms of vocabulary knowledge. A piloted researcher-made vocabulary test was administered to the participants as the pretest and post-tests. The one-way ANOVA results showed that there were no significant between-group differences among the groups' performances on the immediate and delayed posttests. However, the results of a repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that the three strategies had a significant within-group effect on the three groups' vocabulary recall, while their vocabulary retention was found to have dropped significantly from immediate to the delayed posttest. All the same, the drawing group had the best performance from the pretest to the immediate posttest, and the control group was the weakest on delayed posttest. Finally, the findings are discussed, and implications are offered for EFL teachers and learners. Manuscript profile

The effect of task type on interlanguage pragmatics development has remained under-researched. This study aimed to explore the effects of an input-based task (i.e., consciousness-raising task) and an output-based task (i.e., discourse completion task) on learning the speech act (SA) of suggestion. To this end, sixty Iranian EFL ninth graders were selected as the participants of the study through convenience sampling. Then, they were assigned to three non-equivalent groups (i.e., one control group and two experimental groups). A 10- item scenario-prompted written discourse completion test (WDCT) was administered as the pretest and posttest to all three groups. Afterward, the input-based group received the target SA, enhanced with colored bold-face subtitles, and output-based group received the same clips with regular subtitles and were asked to do WDCTs. The control group was taught through a traditional instructional procedure with the same clips. Finally, they sat for an immediate posttest. The results demonstrated that input-based task had the most significant within-group effect on learning the target SA from the pretest to the posttest, followed by output-based task and traditional instruction. At the same time, no statistically significant differences were found among the groups' posttest performance. The implications are offered finally. Manuscript profile

Focused instructions in language teaching have gained weight during recent decades. As reading is a powerful tool for vocabulary growth, knowing which instructions have more effect on it is necessary. The effectiveness of focused instructions has been examined in empirical studies. But few inquiries compared the impacts of form-focused instruction like input enhancement with meaning-focused instruction such as Jigsaw on L2 development. Therefore, this research tried to examine a comparison between the impacts of input enhancement and jigsaw on reading comprehension of non-Iranian ESL learners.50 elementary ESL learners in an international primary school were chosen in three intact classes. In the first experimental group, input enhancement was used for presenting the target words; in the second experimental group, the jigsaw was used. The control group learned the same target words giving the participants a word list (traditional). Before applying the treatment all the subjects were given the teacher-made pretest. After five sessions of treatment, the post-test was administered. One-way ANOVAs were used to analyze the data collected from the learners’ performance on the pretest and post-test. The results announced that there was not any notable distinction between the post-test scores of the three groups. However, the paired samples t-test results revealed that the input enhancement and control group had reading comprehension development after the treatment. This research can inform teachers and syllabus designers about the efficiency of input enhancement and word lists on reading comprehension. Manuscript profile