Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
Volume:10 Issue: 2, Jul 2022

This article both describes and explains the nature of system simulations—the generation of (non-)numeric models representing characteristics, behaviors, or functions of physical or abstract systems/processes under study. For ease of presentation, I first present some of the most pressing theoretical-practical considerations concerning implications for the gamification of education in general and foreign/second language education in particular. Structural, cognitive, and content affordances of gamified learning are reviewed next, and the relevant knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to the purposeful design and development of digital gaming and game-like activities for classroom or personal use are noted as needed, including the learning behaviors deemed critical in second language acquisition. Thereafter, I discuss how such behaviors are discerned and actualized in the entertainment/education software collectively named system simulations, the pedagogical benefits attained through their judicious use, and the key features of some notable reacting games, (real-time and turn-based) strategy games, simulation “sandbox-style” games, and, finally, single-player simulation computer/video games. I conclude the article with a brief summary of propositions deemed best to harness the power of gaming in foreign and second language education. Evolution, curiosity, and discovery are but three closing constructs I ask readers to heed in the months and in the years ahead.

Intensive project work framed within a directed motivational current theory can transform an assessment into an engaging learning opportunity. Accordingly, a project built around the “The BIG Issue” framework variant was implemented in an English as a foreign language classroom to explore the purposeful generation of group-directed motivational current experiences. The study additionally examined the parameters that facilitated total absorption in the project. To reach these aims, learner diaries were used to collect qualitative data from five students working in small groups. A thematic analysis of the data revealed that the participants experienced purposefully generated group-directed motivational currents. They also indicated that certain features related to well-designed projects, such as authenticity and congruence, engendered an exceptional productivity that helped informants sustain their heightened, motivational drive until they achieved their project work goals. As a result, learners’ test taking anxiety was maintained at an optimal level, which in turn fostered complete engagement in project work. The findings of the study not only provide empirical validity for the purposeful facilitation of group-directed motivational current experiences, but also suggest that language teachers can use these experiences as an alternative in second language assessment to increase learners’ engagement and productivity.

Research into instructed pragmatics mainly comparing implicit and explicit instruction has gained salience in language teaching research in the last two decades. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of cognitive and interpersonal task-based instruction on EFL Learners’ production of two speech acts of apology and request. To this end, 125 intermediate EFL learners were conveniently sampled, and randomly assigned to four experimental groups (EG) and one control group (CG).  The four experimental groups received task-based instruction on the two speech acts of apology and request (three 30-minute sessions on each), though instruction varied in terms of general tasks types (cognitive or interpersonal) and their specific variants (cognitive: predicting (EG1; N=25) and inducing (EG2; N=25); interpersonal: co-operating (EG3; N=25) and role-play (EG4; N=25)).  The control group (N=25) did not receive any speech act-specific treatment. The participants’ speech act production was measured through a 16-item written discourse completion test (WDCT) as both the pretest and the posttest.  The findings showed the significant effect of both cognitive and interpersonal tasks, but also the greater effectiveness of the latter for speech act production. The study has implications for pragmatic task design and classroom practice. More specifically, it shows the potential of task-based instruction and interaction for EFL learners’ pragmatic development.

It is believed that there is a significant difference between the use of technology in technologically advanced and advancing countries, and the users in the former act far better with technology than the users in the latter. However, there is not enough report on how this usage differs in terms of the independent use of technology in a foreign language or for learning that language. Therefore, the present cross-cultural case study was conducted to compare and contrast the patterns of using technology in two Asian universities, one in Japan (a technologically advanced country) and another in Iran (a technologically advancing country). The participants were 248 Japanese and 235 Iranian students. The data were collected through an online questionnaire that gained information about students’ use of technology in everyday life in their L1 (Japanese & Persian) and in L2 (English), students’ use of discipline-specific technology in English, and their attitudes toward the use of technology for language learning. The findings revealed that there is not a very significant difference between the patterns of using technology in Japan and Iran in both L1 and L2. The major difference was that the Japanese tended to use more information technologies in L1, while the Iranians leaned toward communication technologies. It was also found that Iranian students used technology in L2 more than the Japanese, especially in terms of communication technologies.

Diagnostic assessment (DA) in language classrooms is reported to have a substantial role in providing immediate and quality feedback for remedial work that would improve learning (Alderson, Brunfaut & Harding; 2014; Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Huhta, 2008; Jang & Wagner, 2013). However, applying DA in class remains a challenge for many practitioners for at least two reasons: First, there is no clear conceptualization of DA in the field of second language acquisition (Alderson, 2005; Alderson et al., 2015; Knoch & Macqueen, 2017). Despite advancements in teacher education (TE) programs, they mostly provide only a handful of courses to equip teacher candidates with necessary classroom assessment knowledge (Popham, 2011). To address the issue, this study attempted to explore DA practices and procedures of experienced university EFL instructors with the hope of developing a sound and empirically supported framework for classroom-based DA in the EFL context. The data came from 17 instructors with an MA in TEFL and related fields with more than 5 years of teaching experience. They received scenarios presenting certain problems, asked to explain what procedures and processes they would employ to diagnose the problem, and what they would do as remedial instruction. Based on the findings, we propose a data-driven framework for classroom-based DA. The paper also provides a discussion of the need to incorporate theoretical and practical dimensions of DA in pre-service and in-service TE programs.

The current study sought to investigate Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ willingness to receive feedback and its relation to burnout. To this end, Teachers’ Willingness to Receive Feedback Scale (TWRFS), along with Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were administered to 200 English language teachers working at different private language institutes of Mashhad. The data was analyzed by means of Pearson Correlation Coefficient, SEM Path Analysis, and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. Considering the directionality of feedback, the obtained results indicated a significant negative relationship between willingness to receive direct feedback and burnout; the more willing teachers are to receive direct feedback, the later they might experience burnout. With regard to the valency of feedback, willingness to receive negative feedback significantly predicted teacher burnout; that is, teachers who are more open to negative feedback seem to be more prone to burnout. Ultimately, the implications of these findings for the training and support of teachers were discussed, and interventions to treat or prevent burnout were put forward.

Recent discussions in language communication indicate the effectiveness of technology and computer-mediated communication. Research also highlights the central role of synchronous and asynchronous modes of interaction in second and foreign language development. Gaining insights from Vygotskyan sociocultural theory of mind, the present study employed a mixed methods approach to explore the effect of synchronous computer-mediated corrective feedback on EFL learners’ grammatical knowledge development. The participants were 40 Iranian EFL learners selected through a grammar-based pretest. Employing Skype software, the experimental group (N = 20) was exposed to online text-based chatting. The purpose was to provide the participants with online technology-based corrective feedback on their grammatical errors. However, the control group (N = 20) did not receive technology-enhanced corrective feedback during the experiment. The results highlighted: (a) the technology-enhanced, experimental group outperformed their counterpart with regard to grammatical accuracy, (b) the online Skype-based text chatting context played a mediating role in reinforcing the experimental group’s grammatical knowledge, and (c) the participants displayed a high level of motivation to initiate and engage in L2 communication. The participants’ experience of the Skype-based classroom emphasized themes of overcoming emotional problems in communication and fostering interpersonal relationship and rapport with the teacher and peers. Pedagogical implications focus on the potential of synchronous computer-mediated communication-based contexts as useful spaces for active collaborative learning and task engagement.

Inclusion as a vast-growing practice commits teachers, the central pillar of the inclusive education, to maximize learning outcomes for all learners. In spite of voluminous research on inclusion and the critical role of teachers in its successful implementation, there remains a paucity of research on EFL teachers’ practices for students with disabilities in inclusive classes. This qualitative study aimed to detect EFL teachers’ practices in inclusive English language classes and describe how inclusion may influence teacher practices. To this end, five English language classes were observed for sixteen 90-minute sessions (7200 minutes), and30 EFL teachers (15 male and 15 female) with the experience of teaching at least one learner with physical disability over the past six months were also interviewed. This multiple-case study revealed that EFL teachers' practices are partially, but not completely, tailored to the needs of learners with disabilities in inclusive EFL classes. A conceptual framework was also developed based on 483 extracted entries, according to which teachers’ inclusive practices in EFL classes were classified into support-oriented (and non-support-oriented categories. Findings also offered valuable insights into the current status of inclusive English language teaching in Iran. The pedagogical implications of the study are discussed in the paper.

Aijmer (1996) and Nation and Webb (2011) said it best: idiomatic formulas and repeated word combinations are of great value indeed yet challenging to learners. Why does it make more sense to say I did my homework versus I made my homework? Why do we say beautiful weather instead of pretty weather? The reason behind these specific word groupings is that they are collocations. Collocations are key to the acquisition of vocabulary, enhancement of reading and writing style, as well as the attainment of native-like fluency. According to Hinkel (2019), learning collocations is challenging for English language learners, and despite the hundreds of research publications about collocations, there have not been sufficient pedagogical materials for collocation teaching. Therefore, an overview of both practical and research-based foundations of teaching collocation is required. With its contributions by seven top scholars, Teaching Essential Units of Language is designed to provide a reference source to English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers taking part in teaching second language (L2) multi-word units (collocations). The motive behind the book is to present a thorough overview of the dominant principles and techniques of teaching L2 phrases in a range of instructional settings around the world.

While through the concept of dialogism, Mikhail Bakhtin decenters authors from their authoritarian position in Dostoevskian polyphonic novels (pp. 67-68), the authors of this book, David Bloome, George E. Newell, Matt Seymour, and Theresa Thanos, propose dialogic teaching as an approach to displacing teachers from their authoritarian position as the sole “dispenser of an academic tradition” in English language arts classes (p. 125). As Bakhtin argues, Dostoevsky's heroes are “not only objects of authorial discourse but also subjects of their own directly signifying discourse” (p. 7). In a similar vein, in Dialogic Literary Argumentation (henceforth DLA) students are subjectively involved in their own learning process by interactive inquiry with their peers, the teacher, and the text. Comprising eight chapters along with a Foreword written by Richard Beach and an Afterword by the authors, Teaching Literature Using Dialogic Literary Argumentation introduces dialogic approach as an alternative method of teaching and learning literature in secondary schools in the U.S. Each chapter elaborates on various dynamics of this approach by examining different classroom activities.