Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes
Volume:10 Issue: 4, Autumn 2021

This mixed-method study is an attempt to investigate the effects of the Project-based expressive and referential types of writing instruction on the Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ writing skill, and to explore the views of the learners towards implementation of project-based instruction (PBI). The convenience sampling procedure was used to select the participants of this study. The present study was conducted at Islamic Azad University, the South and Central Tehran branches. The initial population of the study was 60 EFL students (male and female) enrolling in B.A. English language translation program who took the advanced writing course. After administering Oxford placement test (OPT) as an English proficiency test, 50 participants were selected as the participants of the study based on the OPT results. The participants were randomly assigned to two experimental groups, namely experimental group A and experimental group B. The experimental A group received the instruction based on PBI in the referential writing form, and the experimental B group received the treatment according to PBI in expressive writing type. IELTS writing task 2 was administered as the pretest and posttest of the study. At the end of the study, the semi-structured interview was administered, and 20 EFL students from two experimental groups were randomly interviewed to explore their views towards PBI implementation. The quantitative results showed that project-based expressive and referential types of writing instruction had significant effects on the development of writing skill among EFL learners. And also the results indicated that there was statistically significant difference between the effect of project-based referential and expressive types of instruction on writing skill among EFL learners. The experimental B group outperformed the experimental A in improving writing skill. The qualitative results revealed that the participants adopted significantly positive attitude towards the implementation of PBI in the writing course. The pedagogical implications of the study are discussed at the end of the paper.

Teachers always face different challenges in their classrooms. One of the skills that might help them overcome these challenges is critical thinking. Since burnout has been mentioned as one of the most important challenges in reducing the efficiency of teachers, the purpose of this study is to investigate the extent of critical thinking skill among 303 Iranian EFL teachers from different universities and its relationship with their burnout. To conduct the study, the researchers selected 303 EFL teachers randomly and administered Paul and Elder Critical Thinking Questionnaire (2012) and Maslach and Jackson Burnout Questionnaire (1986) among them. Employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the researchers analyzed the obtained data. The results indicated that Iranian EFL teachers tend to be intellectually integrated. Besides, while gender had no effect on their inclinations, teaching experiences played an important role in creating critical thinking. The regression results also showed that the tendency to struggle with negative attitudes had the greatest impact on teachers’ burnout, and critical thinking skill has the ability to predict teachers’ burnout in general. Principals and stakeholders can provide regular opportunities for language teachers to reflect on their teaching experiences by collaborating with their co-workers, especially cooperation between experienced and inexperienced teachers.

There has been ongoing controversy over the effectiveness of explicit genre instruction, and relatively scant attention has been paid to the explicit genre-based instruction of an academic research paper’s whole sections simultaneously, construed as different genres. This study focused on instruction of generic sections of the M.A. research proposal (RP). The participants were 22 graduate students majoring in TEFL at an Iranian state university. Based on the findings of a needs analysis questionnaire administered at the beginning of the semester, students were taught how to write an RP. Employing different models (i.e., Swales, 1990; Pho, 2008; Lore, 2004), the moves and steps of different sections of an RP in conjunction with the related lexico-grammatical features were inductively highlighted. The students’ first proposals submitted at the beginning of the semester and final proposals submitted at the end of the semester were compared. Results revealed the explicit genre-based instruction promoted students’ genre acquisition as well as some aspects of writing competence. While students appeared to have an uncertain view of an RP in their first proposals as they missed some of the moves, especially Establish a Niche, in their final proposals they catered for different moves and the related steps to indicate their relative grasp of an RP pattern for its communicative purpose realization. Correspondingly, in an open-ended questionnaire, students contended their expertise and self-confidence in writing and reading academic texts significantly increased due to the awareness-raising activities. The pedagogical findings of the study are highlighted.

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of asynchronous computer-mediated communication condition on intermediate English language learners' engagement with speaking tasks and speaking accuracy, fluency, and complexity. The participants of this study included 40 intermediate undergraduate students who were assigned to two groups of face-to-face and computer-mediated groups. In the face-to-face group, the participants completed their speaking tasks in class and in a face-to-face fashion, and in the computer-mediated condition, the learners used an asynchronous computer-mediated tool (Edmodo) to accomplish the speaking tasks. During each task, the participants watched a monologue video, analyzed it, presented a similar monologue, and exchanged comments on their peers' oral products. The findings indicated the superiority of computer-mediated condition over the face-to-face one in improving foreign language learners' speaking accuracy and fluency; however, the complexity scores were not significantly different across the two conditions. The findings also showed that the learners in the computer-mediated condition provided a higher number of form language-related episodes and produced longer monologues.

Although it has been over three decades that teachers’ professional competence has gained considerable attention, its relationship with and effects on job satisfaction has remained unexplored in the EFL context of Iran. Thus, the present mixed-methods study aims to explore the correlation between Iranian EFL teachers’ professional competence and job satisfaction. To this aim, a total of 290 EFL teachers, including males (n=164) and females (n=126) for the quantitative part and a sample of 21 EFL teachers, entailing males (n=11) and females (n=10) for the qualitative part were selected using a random sampling method. The participants completed an EFL Teachers’ Professional Competence Questionnaire and Teachers’ Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, as well as participated in semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and content analysis. The findings evidenced a moderate positive correlation between the EFL teachers’ professional competence and job satisfaction. Additionally, the results documented that the EFL teachers’ job satisfaction was affected by knowledge, attitudes, and skills factors related to professional competence. Furthermore, the complementary qualitative results yielded four recurring themes, including ‘increased job motivation’, ‘improved teaching self-efficacy’, ‘promoted student learning’, and ‘effective organizational performance’. The study ends with presenting a range of implications and suggestions for further research.

In today's world, effective written communication can be considered a necessary skill for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Furthermore, writing assessment has always been a challenging problem for teachers and raters. In the light of the foregoing, this research endeavors to examine the role of personality traits, rubrics, and scoring methods in the rating of Iranian EFL students’ writings. To this end, data were collected from an initial sample consisting of 120 raters including both male and female IELTS instructors and EFL teachers teaching in English language institutes. Then 85 participants were selected based on the variability of their background to act as raters. A quasi-experimental and survey design was chosen to examine the variability and probable relations between and within the levels. This was done through a hierarchical model to investigate the relations beyond one level, thus including both a holistic rating scale and an analytic rating scale. The results revealed that multi-regression modelling was found the best model to overcome the deficiencies of the previous approaches. Besides, the findings showed that the multiple-trait scoring method specified more finely among the learners' writing capabilities, though both of these methods measured the same ability.

English for Academic Purposes (Specialized English) has been vastly explored through theory-driven and questionnaire-based studies. However, exploring students’ perceptions of the materials and methods used in EAP classes has remained relatively unexplored. To give voice to EAP students, this data-driven study selected 20 undergraduate and postgraduate students through purposive sampling procedures and explored their perspectives and suggestions through open-ended qualitative interviews. Students’ perspectives were then analyzed and conceptualized according to grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1991). The cyclical process of data collection continued until the emerged categories and propositions were saturated. The credibility of the findings was also verified through member checking. The constant comparative technique yielded a set of propositions which reflect students’ perceptions of EAP practice and suggestions for improvement. Among other things, the participants suggested that EAP instruction can be enriched by adding reading fluency instruction to reading comprehension instruction, going beyond teaching subject matter instruction, responding to the students’ needs, which was found to be speaking rather than reading, and replacing lecture-based instruction with discussion-based instruction. Since these suggestions give voice to EAP students, they have clear implications for both EAP materials writers and instructors.

Scaffolding as an interacture of self-evaluation of teacher talk framework is represented in materials, skills and systems, and classroom context mode with no characterization of its nature. The present study, using conversation analysis, was to examine representation of scaffolding in these modes for the Iranian novice and experienced language teachers. Three novice and three experienced English language teachers in a nongovernmental language institute were selected based on convenience sampling method. A 9-hour video corpus of their teaching at the intermediate level was compiled. The recordings were transcribed using conversation analysis conventions. Scaffolding interactions in different modes for novice and experienced teachers were selected based on criteria proposed by Walsh (2011). Then based on previous studies by Jefferson (1989; 1987), Radford (2010; 2014), and Radford and Bosanquet (2019), among others, the scaffolding extracts were analyzed. As a whole, both the experienced and novice teachers in the materials and skills and systems mode provided more information through models and hints. In the classroom context mode, less information was provided. The novice teachers used more overlapping and latching turns and were less contingent while the experienced teachers provided more interaction space and reacted more contingently. Practical applications for teachers and educators are emphasized.

As there are a multitude of cooperative learning methods, English-for-Specific-Purposes (ESP) instructors often wonder how to differentiate between the variations of specific cooperative learning methods and translate group learning principles into classroom practices. This study compares the effects of two evidence-based cooperative learning methods – Jigsaw learning and discussion-based learning (DBL) – on the achievement of psychology students in ESP education. This research drew on a nonrandomized control group pretest-posttest design. The investigator selected three intact classes including 86 master's students in psychology and assigned them to Jigsaw group (n = 28), DBL group (n = 31) and control (lecture-based) group (n = 27). Each condition received instruction according to its instructional tenets. The results of a 7-week-long treatment showed that there was a statistically significant difference among the Jigsaw, DBL and individualistic groups in terms of their overall ESP performance in psychology, p < .5, ωp² = .17. The study concludes that Jigsaw learning as a highly structured-learning practice is more effective than DBL, and individualistic teaching strategies in improving psychology students' understanding of psychological concepts in English. The implication of the study suggests that the interaction pattern based on positive interdependence and individual accountability in the Jigsaw classroom works better for ESP courses in psychology.

Feedback, one of the main components of learning-oriented assessment, has received special attention in recent decades. However, there are controversial remarks over the priority and importance of teacher and peer feedback. Therefore, accepting a pretest-posttest design, the current study investigated teacher feedback and peer feedback in comparison with mixed feedback in an EFL writing context as well as learners’ attitudes towards providing feedback as a crucial strategy. The pretest was a 45-min diagnostic essay on health and longevity, and the posttest was a 45-min essay conducted after working on different types of feedback. Then, using the adopted writing scale, the researchers analyzed the obtained data. In addition, to understand the learners’ attitudes towards peer and teacher feedback, the researchers conducted a focus groups interview with 15 learners randomly. Content analyses were employed to analyze the qualitative data. The results of ANCOVA analyses showed that there were no significant differences between the writing scores of teacher and peer feedback groups. However, the results revealed that the integration of teacher and peer feedback in a dialogic approach scaffolds the learners to outperform the other two. Moreover, the results of content analyses indicated that employing peer feedback might reduce anxiety and increase engagement and responsibility that lead to learners’ autonomy. In practice, peer feedback and teacher feedback supported by feedback training encourages learning and supports learners to become independent.