Engagement and interaction have recently been considered practical activities essentially in educational settings. Due to the importance of this notion, this research paper reviewed the qualitative study aimed to find out the evaluation of Iranian EFL students' emotional attitudes and perceptions towards interactive tasks on self-monitoring, self-regulation, and willingness to communicate in learning. Accordingly, the study as personality assessment developed the semi-structured interviews with 40 students in an experimental group and 40 students in a control group to explore students' motivational beliefs and their attitudes towards interactive tasks influencing their performance in learning and assisting them to communicate successfully. Based on the attitudinal analysis as the results of this study, using the Transcribed Interview Sample with coding (an extract) clearly identified that students with interactive tasks mainly outperformed those with regular instruction. Furthermore, the findings of the research indicated that students' achievement was improved in terms of their motivation, autonomy, and empowerment as contributed to their learning. However, this study revealed that teachers could increase the academically collaborative talk as well as social-emotional behavior of students in their teaching and learning environments to share feeling safe, taking risks, and enjoy constructive effects. پرونده مقاله

This study aimed to explore the combined impacts of critical thinking and dynamic Assessment on enhancing the writing performance of Iranian EFL learners, specifically focusing on teaching writing strategies. We selected 80 intermediate-level participants from a pool of approximately 200 language learners at an accredited institute (Gooyesh). These participants were divided equally into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group (EG) received writing strategies through the application of critical thinking principles and dynamic assessment. The control group (CG) received writing strategies through traditional methods without receiving critical thinking or dynamic assessment principles. The two groups underwent a writing pre-test to assess their initial writing skills, and after the treatment, to measure their writing improvement, they took a post-test using the same evaluation criteria as those of the pre-test. Then, appropriate statistical tools were employed to gauge the participants' writing progress as a result of the instructional methods. The results indicated that integrating dynamic assessment and critical thinking strategies significantly improved participants' written communication skills. These findings hold promise for EFL instructors, curriculum designers, and material developers. پرونده مقاله

Washback or backwash, used similarly, has been defined as the impact of testing on curriculum design, teaching practice, and learning behaviors. Iranian PhD candidates’ performance on this exam is required to pursue PhD study; therefore, degrees of washback both at the micro and macro levels are at stake. Despite the importance of this exam for the candidates, it seems that studies on washback and specifically washback effect of EPT on Iranian PhD candidates’ learning materials has not been given adequate attention in Iran. Given this, the present study attempts to examine the washback effect of EPT on Iranian PhD candidates’ learning materials. Based on sequential design, two phases of data collection were conducted with a two-week interval. In the first phase, attitude questionnaire was administered to 200 Iranian PhD candidates at Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) branch. In the second phase of the study, 20 Iranian PhD candidates were interviewed. Finally, the collected data from both the questionnaires and the interviews were analyzed via quantitative and descriptive analysis, respectively. The results of the study revealed both positive and negative washback impacts on learning materials. The findings of the study have practical implications for language teachers in general, and EFL language teachers, syllabus designers, and material developers in particular. پرونده مقاله

Abstract This study aimed at investigating the possible impact of gender and proficiency level on the relationship between autonomy and listening comprehension ability among Iranian low and high proficiency male and female EFL learners. One hundred six English learners, based on the results of Oxford Placement Test (OPT), version II, took part in this study. Both female and male learners with the age range of 13 to 29 from two girl language institutes in Khomeynishahr and one boy school in Shahrekord participated in the study. The instruments of the study consisted of an OPT, an autonomy questionnaire, and two listening comprehension tests. First of all, the participants were required to take the OPT and autonomy questionnaire and then in a different session they were asked to sit for the listening comprehension tests. The collected data were analyzed by means of SPSS and the results of statistical analysis indicated that (1) gender could not modify the relationship, (2) proficiency level, on the other hand, had a significant effect on the relationship between autonomy and listening comprehension ability and those with higher proficiency outperformed the lower proficiency learners. The findings of this study could have implications for learners, teachers, and material developers. پرونده مقاله

The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of cooperative error detection in an online context on ESP students' writing accuracy and their attitudes towards cooperative error correction. To achieve this aim, the researchers selected 60 ESP students after homogenization. The Barratt Impulsivity Scale (Barratt, 1995) was administered to the participants. The researcher randomly assigned the participants to two groups: the experimental group (n=30, reflective=13, impulsive=17) and the control group (n=30, reflective=13, impulsive=17). The experimental group received the intervention for ten sessions. Skype was used in this group. The participants in this group were divided into six groups of 5 members each. Then, in each session, the students were given a descriptive topic and they were supposed to write and share their writing in their groups. Other members of each group had to check each member's writing and, in case of a problem, underline the mistakes and share them with the group. Finally, they sent the revised writing to the teacher. In the control group, the participants had to write about the same descriptive topic. They wrote and gave their writing to the teacher who corrected it. The results showed that the participants in the experimental group performed significantly better than those in the control group. In terms of learning style, both reflective and impulsive ESP students benefited equally from the intervention. In addition, participants in the experimental group who received the treatment had a positive attitude towards cooperative error detection, seeing it as something positive and fun. پرونده مقاله

The current quasi-experimental quantitative study aimed to find out how interactive tasks could impact the Iranian EFL students’ self-monitoring, self-regulation, and willingness to communicate in a classroom setting. The study utilized there questionnaires, self-monitoring scale (SMS), self-regulated language learning scale (SRLLS), and willingness to communicate (WTC), to assess changes in interactive scores of 40 students in an experimental group with the interactive scores of 40 students in a control group. The results of this study, using the independent sample t-test, clearly revealed that the students with the interactive tasks mainly outperformed those with the regular instruction. In more, the study proposed that the interactive tasks were effective to improve the students’ achievement as well as alleviate and increase their performance through utilizing interactional competence. The findings of the research also indicated that the students were in an attempt to be the more adaptive and engaged learners which would be contributed to their learning. However, applying teaching methods should address interactive activities in an effective and meaningful way in a non-threatening environment in the classroom to increase engagement in the language classroom alongside the improvement of the students’ confidence and enhancing learning. پرونده مقاله

This study investigated the impact of web-based instruction Googling techniques (GT) and strategic and interactive writing instruction (SIWI) on the L2 writing performance of deaf and hearing-impaired (DHI) Iranian learners. To this end, 60 Iranian male and female DHI students at the elementary level participated in the study. The participants were divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group benefited from two particular instructional focuses of this study: GT and SIWI. In order to assess the effect of the treatment, a pre-test and post-test design was utilized and the obtained results were statistically analyzed. The findings revealed that online strategy-based instruction could positively affect the writing performance of Iranian DHI learners. The findings can have pedagogical implications for material practitioners, CALL package designers, and distance teaching planners to include strategy instruction in English courses for the DHI population. پرونده مقاله

Washback has been defined as the impact of testing on curriculum design, teaching practice, and learning behaviours. The English Proficiency Test (EPT) is a high-stakes test in Iran and is prone to bring degrees of washback both at micro and macro levels. This study was an attempt to examine the washback effect of the EPT on Iranian PhD candidates’ language learning strategies. To this end, a mixed-methods approach of data collection was used to collect, analyze, and integrate quantitative and qualitative data to reach a better grasp of the research topic and enhance the validity and reliability of the information. Based on the sequential exploratory design, two phases of data collection were conducted with a two-week interval. In the first phase, the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) was administered to 200 students at Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan). In the second phase, 20 students who filled out the questionnaire showed their willingness to participate in the interview session and write their language learning diaries. Finally, the quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed via descriptive and thematic analysis, respectively. The results showed both positive and negative washback effects on the students’ language learning strategies. The findings of this study have practical implications for EFL language teachers, syllabus designers, and material developers. پرونده مقاله

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Gardner’s multiple intelligence-based activities (MIBAs) to improve the oral performance of male and female EFL learners. To this end, 60 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were selected out of 120 learners based on their scores on a sample Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) and divided into two equal groups of experimental (n=30) and control (n=30). The IELTS speaking test was administered as a pretest. The experimental group was taught through some appropriate activities based on the definition of eight types of Gardner’s intelligences. At the same time, a method including conventional speaking activities such as repetition drills, memorization, reading texts, and answering some knowledge questions was employed for the control group. The treatment period lasted for 10 weeks. After the treatment, the oral posttest, the same as the pretest, was administered to investigate the impact of the teaching process on the learners' oral performance. The participants’ oral proficiency was evaluated using both the IELTS speaking band scores and a researcher-made evaluation sheet including eight speaking components. The findings revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group. The use of MIBAs significantly affected EFL learners’ oral performance and improvement regardless of their gender. The findings may offer some implications for the fields of teaching, material preparation, and curriculum designing. Additionally, the findings can make optimal changes for assessment methods. پرونده مقاله