List of Articles Fatemeh Behjat

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  1 - Iranian EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Professional Development, Creativity and Reflectivity
  Mehdi Abbasi Fatemeh Behjat Mohammad Sadegh Bagheri
  Teachers are generally believed to be one of the most important elements in the success of any educational scheme. Therefore, it is vitally important that teachers be well-prepared when they begin teaching and continue to improve their knowledge and skills throughout th More

  Teachers are generally believed to be one of the most important elements in the success of any educational scheme. Therefore, it is vitally important that teachers be well-prepared when they begin teaching and continue to improve their knowledge and skills throughout their careers. Despite the plethora of studies in teachers’ professional development, there is uncertainty about the relationships between teachers' professional development and their capacity for creative and reflective thinking. Additionally, how these elements might fit into the larger context of teachers' professional lives is under question. The present study was designed to explore the Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions towards professional development, creativity and reflectivity. To do so, 10 EFL teachers were asked to participate in a semi-structured interview. The results indicated that teachers’ professional development, creative and reflective thinking contribute to developing language learners’ language proficiency and motivation. The findings of this study assist teacher educators when these factors are included in language teacher education programs, it helps second/foreign language learners promote their proficiency in different areas of language learning. Manuscript profile
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  2 - E-Learning in the Context of English Language Teaching and Learning: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Approach
  Peyman Nouraey Mohammad Bavali Fatemeh Behjat
  available option for higher education institutions around the world. In Iran, universities used various platforms. For example, the Islamic Azad University started utilizing an exclusive platform (Vadana) and Payame Noor University used Adobe Connect. However, some chal More

  available option for higher education institutions around the world. In Iran, universities used various platforms. For example, the Islamic Azad University started utilizing an exclusive platform (Vadana) and Payame Noor University used Adobe Connect. However, some challenges and problems were reported by the educators and students using these platforms, somehow due to a lack of preparation and premeditation. This study focused on the problems and challenges in contrast to the opportunities and solutions associated with e-learning among university educators and students through a mixed-methods approach. On the quantitative side, two questionnaires were created and distributed among undergraduate TEFL students. In total, 216 responses were received. The findings revealed that the participants were mostly in agreement with the statements mentioned in both questionnaires. Later, using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, both questionnaires were validated. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 7 faculty members. Data saturation was reached after 5 interviews. The interview texts were then transcribed, and the findings were qualitatively presented and discussed. Based on the findings, the challenges and problems of e-learning encompassed technical issues, physical and mental concerns, additional burdens, assessments, proper training, IT literacy, and issues related to pedagogy. On the other hand, e-learning yielded benefits such as enhancements in communication, interaction, teaching, and learning, along with increased accessibility, convenience, productivity, and safety. The findings might be of value to students, educators, policymakers, and administrations involved in the delivery of online English language teaching in Iran. Manuscript profile
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  3 - A Systematic Review of E-Learning in the Context of Iran: Where Does English Language Teaching Stand?
  Peyman Nouraey Mohammad Bavali Fatemeh Behjat
  The first traces of e-learning in Iran dates to 2004, although this was not implemented until 2005. The present systematic review aimed at finding out where e-learning stands within the field of English language education also referred to as Teaching English as a Foreig More

  The first traces of e-learning in Iran dates to 2004, although this was not implemented until 2005. The present systematic review aimed at finding out where e-learning stands within the field of English language education also referred to as Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Data were collected through two main sources. The first source was MetSearch (Cardiff Metropolitan University’s e-library) which covers several reputable databases, yet we specifically looked into ProQuest Central, Scopus, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. The second source was Google Scholar which includes more publications but is less structured. Our search terms were e-learning OR elearning AND Iran OR problems OR challenges OR opportunities. We investigated a period of 15 years (i.e., between 2008 and 2022). Only peer-reviewed original articles written in English and addressing the challenges, problems, or opportunities related to e-learning in Iran were included. Our final search led to 12 original articles focusing on the aforementioned areas of e-learning. The findings revealed that the literature highly lacked studies related to e-learning in the area of TEFL in Iran. The included studies were mostly related to medicine and medical sciences, nursing, agriculture, technology, and sciences. With the increasing usage of e-learning among TEFL students and educators, especially after the strike of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers need to fill the huge gap that exists in the literature. Manuscript profile
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  4 - The Impact of Divergent and Convergent Tasks on Iranian EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension Success
  Seyyed Amin Azimi Fatemeh Behjat Ali Asghar Kargar
  This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of divergent and convergent tasks on intermediate EFL students' reading comprehension success. The participants of this study involved sixty male and female EFL learners who were enrolled in the intermediate level at K More

  This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of divergent and convergent tasks on intermediate EFL students' reading comprehension success. The participants of this study involved sixty male and female EFL learners who were enrolled in the intermediate level at Kish English Institute in Yasuj. To make them homogeneous in terms of their general English knowledge, they were asked to take part in an English proficiency test. Having been homogenized through an OPT test, sixty students were selected and randomly divided into a control and two experimental groups. Then, a pretest was run, and participants' reading comprehension was assessed. For the treatment, during eight sessions, the participants in the experimental groups were instructed on convergent and divergent tasks. The control group, on the other hand, received a traditional reading instruction. Finally, as the last step of data collection, all participants of the experimental and control groups took part in a post-test of reading comprehension. After applying statistical analyses, significant differences were observed among EFL learners’ performances, and those who had divergent tasks could improve their reading comprehension better than the other two groups. Manuscript profile
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  5 - Investigating the Use of Games and Flash Cards in Teaching Spatial and Temporal Prepositions to Iranian Pre-Intermediate EFL Learners
  Mansoureh Nikroo Fatemeh Behjat Arash Zareian
  One of the most problematic areas for teachers and learners in English classrooms is prepositions. Two types of prepositions in English are spatial (space) and temporal (time) prepositions. Prepositions are words linking two entities and thereby specifying the relation More

  One of the most problematic areas for teachers and learners in English classrooms is prepositions. Two types of prepositions in English are spatial (space) and temporal (time) prepositions. Prepositions are words linking two entities and thereby specifying the relation of the two. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the role of games and flash cards in learning place and time prepositions among pre-intermediate EFL learners. The most common prepositions in this study were in, on, at instructed through game and flashcard modalities. Participants were 75 Pre-intermediatestudentsdivided into three groups as one control group and two experimental groups. After receiving the pre-test, the two experimental groups received the instruction based on game and flash cards modalities while the control group received it based on the conventional methods in six sessions. At the end of the treatment period, to discover the impact of using these modalities, a post-test was administered to three groups. One-way ANOVA analysis of the data determined the positive effect of usinggameand flashcard modalities on improving prepositions among pre-intermediate EFL learners. Results showed that games were more effective than the flash cards in teaching English language prepositions. Yet, flashcards turned out to be useful, too. Manuscript profile
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  6 - Comparing EFL Language Teachers and Students’ Perceptions of Teacher’s Interpersonal Behavior: A Case Study in an Online Iranian Context
  Emad Omidpour Mohammad Bavali Fatemeh Behjat
  Teachers’ interpersonal behavior and the way it is perceived are considered to be determining factors in the quality of any educational context. However, due to the lack of face-to-face interactions in an online context, this issue is under question. Since this phenomen More

  Teachers’ interpersonal behavior and the way it is perceived are considered to be determining factors in the quality of any educational context. However, due to the lack of face-to-face interactions in an online context, this issue is under question. Since this phenomenon has not been studied in an online environment, the primary objective of the present case study was to explore how experienced EFL teachers and their students perceived teacher interpersonal behavior in online classes and the extent to which the two groups’ perceptions either converged or diverged in six selected online classes in Shiraz, Iran. The samples of the study were six EFL teachers and their respective 106 language students. To gather the data, The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was administered to both groups to assess the eight scales of interpersonal behavior and dimensions. To analyze the data, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was employed to compare the two groups in terms of interpersonal behavior dimensions and scales. Accordingly, the results revealed that the EFL teachers and their students perceived the teachers to be moderately dominant and highly cooperative. There was a high level of convergence between the experienced teachers and their students’ perceptions of interpersonal behavior in terms of the Influence and Proximity dimensions. The Student Responsibility Freedom and Strict scales, however, were rated higher by teachers than their students. Following the findings, the present case study provides particular implications in the field of applied linguistics. Manuscript profile