Achieving proportionate levels of accuracy and fluency in oral proficiency seems extremely far-fetched to many adult learners whose enthusiasm to learn through participation in communicative tasks is adversely influenced by aversive affective factors like shyness and communication apprehension (CA). The present correlational study explored Iranian English learners’ shyness and CA, and the accuracy and fluency of their task-based performance for any probable association. The research participants comprised a homogenous sample of 50 female learners from a pool of 70 intermediate learners. The revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) (Cheek, 1983), and Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24 (McCroskey, 1982) were employed to measure the participants’ shyness and CA. A narrative picture-description task was used to elicit and record the participants’ oral performance. Further statistical analyses of the data verified that the group was within the shyness and apprehension range and that these features were negatively correlated with the fluency and accuracy of their speech. The findings underscore the need to help learners overcome these deterrent variables to enhance their disrupted and inaccurate performance. Pedagogical implications will be discussed in the paper. Manuscript profile

Correlational studies supporting the link between learners’ multiple intelligences and their learning are superseded by interventionist attempts to explore direct applications of Multiple Intelligence (MI) Theory in language teaching and learning. This quasi-experimental study examined the extent to which engaging ELT major university students in writing tasks, compatible to their dominant intelligences, might enhance the accuracy, organization, and fluency of their writing. The participants were 64 male and female English major sophomores. They were in three intact classes, randomly assigned to a control no task (NT) group, a task-supported (TS) group, and an MI-oriented task (MIT) group after their initial homogeneity was assessed. The fifteen-session treatment comprised pre-writing brainstorming activities in the NT group and a set of pre-writing tasks performed by the TS group. In the MIT group, however, individuals with the same dominant intelligences were grouped together to perform tasks that were compatible with their dominant intelligences. The one-way ANOVA analysis of the research data obtained from the post-test writing scores revealed that the MIT group surpassed the other groups in accuracy, fluency and organization. The findings underscore the necessity of taking learners’ intelligences into consideration as a criterion for task selection and offer important pedagogical implications for teaching writing. Manuscript profile

The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the impact of a metacognitive training program on university freshmen’s reading comprehension skill in a three-credit General English (GE) Course. The participants included eight groups of freshmen, in four disciplines: Management, Psychology, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Engineering. They were randomly assigned as four experimental and four control groups, each including approximately 30 participants. The same materials were taught to all groups after their initial homogeneity in English was assessed via Analysis of Variance of the pre-test scores obtained from a Key English Test (KET). In the experimental groups, one whole session was devoted to explicitly teaching three sets of metacognitive strategies and five reading strategies: skimming, scanning, previewing, using context clues, and making inferences. These groups also received metacognitive awareness-raising while applying the strategies in each reading lesson for six sessions. The analyses of the research data revealed that metacognitive strategy training promoted the participants’ learning when integrated with a reading-focused GE course regardless of their gender and a small effect from discipline. The findings have implications for teachers, materials developers, and teacher trainers. Manuscript profile

The sway of the pendulum in language pedagogy towards conscious learning processes marks the paramount role of metalinguistic awareness. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the impact of teacher-oriented vs. learner-generated metalinguistic awareness activities on Iranian TEFL students’ writing accuracy. Sixty participants in three intact classes were randomly assigned as one control, and two experimental groups. All the participants received the same process-oriented instruction based on identical teaching materials. In the first experimental group, the teacher-focus metalinguistic awareness (TFMA) group, however, a collection of various form-focused activities, compiled by the teacher, was assigned and reviewed in the class weekly. In the learner-focused metalinguistic awareness (LFMA) group, the same assignments were assigned as supplementary self-study activities. The control group did not receive any structural assignments. The treatment perpetuated for six sessions and the analyses of the data obtained from the writing post-test revealed that both TFMA and LFMA groups outperformed the control group by producing more accurate writing and that the TF group surpassed the LF group. The findings lend credence to the significance of language awareness in EFL contexts and offer a number of pedagogical implications. Manuscript profile

This study sought to investigate the probable effects of code-switching (CS) on Iranian bilingual English learners' reading comprehension. In this study, two intact classes of freshmen, taking the four-credit Reading and Comprehension Course 1, comprising a total of 70 participants, with 35 in each class, were randomly assigned as the experimental and the control groups after their initial homogeneity in reading comprehension was assessed via the reading section of the Preliminary English Test (PET). In the experimental group, the participants were allowed to switch codes during the twenty-hour-treatment that extended over five weeks. The participants in the control group, however, were required to rely exclusively on English as the language of communication and instruction with no CS. The independent samples t-test of the post test scores, administered at the end of the treatment, revealed significant differences in the reading comprehension of the two groups. The experimental CS group outperformed the control group. Since variables such as proficiency, teaching materials, and teach methodology, were kept constant in both classes, CS might be regarded as one of the probable causes of different levels of achievement in reading comprehension in both groups. Cautious use of CS to promote different aspects of the learning process will be discussed in the paper. Manuscript profile

Initiation, Response, and Feedback (IRF) is the dominant classroom interactional pattern that, if employed adequately, can facilitate learners’ transition from other-regulation to self-regulation by providing scaffolded learner-contingent feedback. However, the extent to which the teaching experience and learners’ proficiency level may impact teachers’ employment of this interactional resource still awaits scrutiny. Hence, the present ethnographic classroom research explored possible variations in novice and experienced teachers’ use of IRF patterns and graduated/contingent feedback (GCF) when teaching upper and lower intermediate classes. To serve the purpose, 20 English classrooms at nine branches of a well-known language school in Tabriz during the same semester were selected that were being taught by five novice and five experienced teachers teaching based on purposive sampling. The classroom procedures were observed, recorded, and transcribed based on a validated researcher-designed observation form. The frequency of the IRF and GCF in the transcribed data were estimated and analyzed through a Chi-square test to find out variations across the proficiency level and teaching experience. The results revealed that teaching experience could predict the frequency of the IRF pattern use but not the GCF in the final turn; GCF was significantly disproportionate to the general use of IRF patterns and more frequent at a lower intermediate level. Manuscript profile