Academic writing is a significant component of all graduate programs, but the majority of students lack basic writing skills. This problem is especially frustrating for M.A. students of TEFL who have to write academic articles in English because it necessitates time-consuming, extracurricular work that can occasionally be infuriating. The present study was carried out in the form of an action research project to explore the impact of process-based teaching of writing on the attitudes of 10 Iranian M. A. candidates of TEFL towards writing academically. The participants were TEFL candidates in Gonbad Kavoos, Iran. A qualitative method employing a collaborative action research model was used to find out how Iranian M. A. students of TEFL viewed the process writing approach. Phases of the course's procedure included receiving and putting into practice the instructor’s feedback on the texts' rationality, content, consistency, tone, and grammar and sending their finished writing assignments by deadlines. Each student had a schedule for in-person discussions about their progress. According to the results, the students believed that the teaching method helped them improve their writing abilities. The implications include creating a forum for oral feedback between teachers and students to supplement written feedback, fostering a sense of responsibility in students by helping them to self-organize, and recognizing that graduate students may require assistance with very fundamental writing abilities and knowledge. Manuscript profile

این مقاله درصدد است با نگاهی انتقادی به دوره های تربیت معلم ایران (TTCs) مشکلات اصلی و حلقه های گمشده را کشف کند. برای این منظور، 20 مدرس زبان انگلیسی (8 مرد و 12 زن) به تدریس دروس عمومی زبان انگلیسی در پنج موسسه زبان خصوصی در تهران و مشهد در این پژوهش شرکت کردند. از طریق رویکرد کیفی با استفاده از مصاحبه های نیمه ساختاریافته، داده های مورد نیاز جمع آوری و مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفت. شایان ذکر است که پژوهشگران حدود 200 ساعت دوره آموزشی معلمان را در ایران مشاهده کردند تا حتی بیشتر به این مشکل بپردازند. با استفاده از تحلیل محتوای استقرایی، داده ها مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفت و نتایج و یافته ها حاکی از مشکلات متفرقه در دوره های تربیت معلم ایران بود. مشکلات اصلی شناسایی شده فقدان تئوری، عدم آزادی انتخاب، عدم نظارت در دروس، عدم تأمل معلم، فقدان تکنولوژی در آموزش و عدم توجه به دانش قبلی معلمان. این مطالعه پیامدهای مهمی برای مربیان معلم داشت تا بیشتر بر روی دانش نظری خود کار کنند و معلمان دروس مناسب را برای رشد حرفه ای خود انتخاب کنند. همچنین این مطالعه با رفع این مشکلات به مدیران و برنامه ریزان درسی کمک می کند تا دوره های بهتری را برگزار کنند. Manuscript profile

This study examined the correlation between advanced EFL students' syntactic knowledge ‎and their writing and speaking proficiency to determine whether students' syntactic ‎knowledge can influence their productive skills. A total of 50 advanced students aged ‎between 18 and 25 were chosen purposefully to take part in the study. Four tests, including a ‎placement test, a syntax test from Oxford University Press, a writing test, and one test for ‎speaking proficiency were employed to collect the required data. Because the data for this ‎study were quantitative, a correlational/descriptive design was chosen for the data to be ‎analyzed. The researcher then decided to find a correlation between the students' writing ‎and speaking scores and their syntax scores based on the obtained data. Both the t-test and ‎the Pearson correlation demonstrated that there is no real correlation between the syntactic, ‎speaking, and writing proficiency of the students. Further findings showed that there is no ‎difference between the relationship between syntactic knowledge and speaking proficiency ‎and the relationship between syntactic knowledge and writing proficiency. The implication ‎of this study is that grammatical competence is not a valid predictor for the proficiency of ‎students in writing and speaking courses. If a student’s grammatical competence is low, his ‎proficiency in writing and speaking can still be average or even above average depending on ‎the process of assessing these skills. Additionally, learners must understand that possessing ‎a strong grasp of grammatical knowledge does not inevitably ensure their ability to produce ‎language effectively in spoken or written form.‎ Manuscript profile

The aim of the current study was to explore the effect of teacher-student rapport and student-student rapport on classroom sense of community and students’ classroom engagement among Iranian secondary high school EFL learners. For this to be done, 300 teenage students from different high schools in Golestan province, Iran were recruited through random sampling to partake in the study. For the data to be collected, three questionnaires (teacher-student rapport and student-student rapport scale, classroom sense of community scale, and students’ classroom engagement scale) were distributed among the participants. A total of 57 6-Likert items were answered by the students. Using Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Pearson correlation, and Mediation analysis, it was revealed that there was a significant correlation between teacher-student rapport and student-student rapport and classroom engagement and classroom sense of community. In addition to that, it was revealed that a classroom sense of community had a direct and significant effect on students’ engagement. The implications of this study are mainly for the teachers to provide a friendly relationship with their students and with the students themselves so that they can feel relaxed and safe to be engaged in the learning process. Manuscript profile

This study aimed to investigate the influence of two types of OCF on Iranian EFL learners’ speaking skills, the effect of SRS on EFL learners’ speaking proficiency, and the interactive role of self-regulation strategy (SRS) with the two types of OCF. The research involved 60 female teenage students from Gonbad-e-Kavous secondary high school in Golestan province, divided into three groups of twenty: ‘control,’ ‘implicit,’ and ‘explicit.’ The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to homogenize the students’ language proficiency levels. Consent forms and self-regulation questionnaires were distributed at the beginning of the experiment. The data was collected through pre-test and post-test speaking assessments (using IELTS sample tests) and analyzed using Two-Way ANOVA and Two-Way ANCOVA. The results revealed that there were significant differences between the explicit, implicit, and control groups' post-test means after considering the pretest's impact. Additionally, there was a notable variance between the low and high self-regulation groups' average scores in relation to their post-test results, even after accounting for the pretest's impact. Finally, there was no significant interaction between the types of feedback (explicit, implicit, and control) and self-regulation levels. The current investigation is of importance for language teachers to integrate supplementary techniques of corrective feedback in their teaching approaches, with a focus on explicit corrections during the oral assignments of students. Manuscript profile