The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of negotiated syllabus ondeveloping EFL learners’ writing ability and self-esteem. To do so, first Nelsonproficiency test was administered to 90 participants to select intermediate homogenouslearners. The scores were analyzed and the mean was obtained. Then one standarddeviation above and below the mean was considered as a technique to homogenize theparticipants. Therefore, 61 learners were selected as homogeneous intermediateparticipants for this study. The learners were divided into experimental group (n = 30) andcontrol group (n = 31). A writing test and self-esteem questionnaire (SEI) as pre-tests weregiven to both groups in order to determine their writing ability and level of self-esteembefore starting the treatment course. The control group received conventional writinginstruction but the experimental group experienced writing instruction based on negotiatedsyllabus. At the end of the course, the learners in both groups took a writing test and self –esteem questionnaire as post-test to find out which group had performed significantlybetter than the other. Independent samples t-test found a statistically significant differencein writing scores for experimental and control groups on the post-test favoring theexperimental. Besides, t-test found a statistically significant difference in self-esteemscores between the two experimental and control groups on the post-test in favor of theexperimental. Thus, the findings of present study indicated that writing ability and selfesteemwere more significantly affected in light of the treatment via negotiated syllabus. پرونده مقاله

The purpose of this cross-sectional mixed methods sequential explanatory study was to find out the effects of enriching McCroskey's (1992) Willingness to Communicate (WTC) questionnaire using oral-visual role-play on EFL responses from comparing the responses of 117 pre-intermediate EFL learners to this instrument before and after the enriching act. This study relates to sociolinguistic research in order to develop more authentic data collection and assessment. The quantitative results indicated no statistically significant effect in average score of the responses, and a decrease in reliability from original to the enriched one, but individual and item internal changes. Then, it followed up with 12 purposefully selected typical respondents to explore those quantitative results in verbal protocol after each administration of original and enriched WTC questionnaire that detected source of variability due to purpose, place, visualization, age, gender, and personality of the interlocutors in the role-plays. The quantitative and qualitative findings from the two phases of the study are discussed with reference to the prior research. Finally, implications and recommendations for EFL instructors, supervisors, and language assessors are provided. پرونده مقاله

The present study was mainly concerned with investigating advanced L2 learners’ pragmatic knowledge and the challenges of teaching and learning it. To fulfill the objectives of this study, a convergent mixed-methods study was conducted, and 196 advanced L2 learners and 10 experienced Iranian EFL teachers took part in the study. The results of the quantitative study yielded that, on the whole, the pragmatic knowledge level of advanced EFL learners is not satisfactory. In fact, advanced EFL learners are more skilled at receptive, non-interactive productive, and then pragmalinguistic tasks than sociolinguistic ones. In other words, they are good at intrapersonal perception of pragmatic knowledge but weak at interpersonal and pragmatic social interaction and communication. Furthermore, the gender factor was found to be insignificant. Additionally, the results of the qualitative study revealed five main challenges for teaching and learning pragmatics i.e., inappropriate pedagogical material, improper pragmatic assessment, pragmatically incompetent teachers, unsuitable instructional context, and insufficient time and effort. Finally, both quantitative and qualitative results confirmed and completed each other. In light of the findings, the study provides some pedagogical implications for language teachers, supervisors, language institute managers, material developers, and curriculum designers. پرونده مقاله