This study aimed at investigating the effect of using Telegram stickers on EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. To this end, 60 Iranian intermediate EFL learners (30 males, 30 females) at Islamic Azad University, Shahreza Branch studying in the second semester of the academic year 2016-2017 were selected through the convenience sampling method. They were then assigned randomly to the experimental and control groups. Then, a pretest was administrated to measure the learners’ vocabulary knowledge in both groups. The experimental group took their lessons via Telegram while the control group experienced the conventional teaching techniques. After the intervention period, an approved post-test was administered to both groups in order to check the participants’ possible progress. The statistical analysis of the scores indicated that teaching vocabulary through Telegram stickers could lead to outstanding advantages for the learners. In other words, social networking had a positive impact on learning new vocabulary items among Iranian EFL learners. Findings have illuminative implications for language learners and teachers as well as materials developers. Manuscript profile

Abstract This study investigated the validity of processability theory proposed by Pienemann (1998/2015) among Iranian EFL learners’ oral performance. The theory defines six procedural stages for learners in the process of second language acquisition. In order to conduct the study, 10 intermediate EFL learners were selected based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test. Then, they participated in five tasks; namely, interview, spot-the- difference task, picture description, picture identification and story-telling task. Their speech was recorded and then transcribed according to predetermined structures (i.e., interrogatives, word order, and negation) called target structures. The frequency of the occurrence of target structures was calculated based on the emergence criterion. The results showed that Iranian EFL learners produced language structures in the predicted procedural stages as proposed by processability theory. Thus, processability theory can be valid for Iranian EFL learners too. Manuscript profile

This study aimed at finding about the extent to which ideological tendencies would influence the news writers’ strategies in providing the finished product. It also attempted to uncover the underlying ideological assumptions hidden in the source text and the target text. For this purpose, the controversial issue of Iran’s nuclear program was selected and the data was extracted from Tehran Declaration and the Iranian president’s speech together with their renditions in Western English newspapers. Then, the syntactic and semantic features of the original text were set against those of the English renditions based on Hodge and Kress’s framework (1996). The Chisquare test was used to determine whether there were any significant ideological differences. The results revealed significant differences in terms of ideological tendencies. Manuscript profile