I am delighted to be invited to write a paper for the inaugural edition of the journal Applied Linguistics Inquiry. I am also honored to be invited to serve on its editorial board. In this paper, I will first describe the seminal study reported by Biggs and Edwards (1991) to serve as a backdrop for a discussion of classroom communicative and interactional competence. The paper outlines how teachers can reflect on such competence by exploring teacher questions, teacher feedback, grouping and nonverbal communication, and classroom communicative and interactional competence. The paper end with a discussion of evidence-based reflective practice as professional development as well as the place of emotions in reflection.

In this unorthodox autoethnographic study, we present a dialog between us - two transnational scholars. Throughout the manuscript, we explore several issues, which instantaneously came out during our unstructured, simultaneous, and casual conversations. We first discuss how our dichotomous relationships based on respect as an advisee and an advisor; a mentee and a mentor; and a student and a teacher has transformed into a sincerity-based friendship over time owing to our shared interest in autoethnography. We then move on to a discussion of our beliefs/thoughts/emotions about “home” in accordance with our lived experiences as transnational scholars. We scrutinize how inhabiting, knowing about, and becoming in academia complicated our understanding of where, or more importantly, what “home” was for us. Afterwards, we talk about the affordances and challenges of autoethnographic discourse agreeing that it required us to practice vulnerability in order for us and our readers to benefit from the therapeutic effect of autoethnography. Throughout the manuscript, we also discuss how using both singular and plural first-person voice provide us with the opportunity to maintain our individual voices in an interpersonal and collaborative relationship while achieving a multivocal tone. We hope that our discussion extends with our readers’ critique of, negotiation with, participation in, and/or resistance to our beliefs/thoughts/emotions as stated in our conversation.

Due to the high development of technology and limited research on pedagogical integration of web 2.0 in K-12 English classrooms, the objective of this study is to understand the web 2.0 technology integration in pedagogy in K-12 English classrooms in recent five years, find the gap, and provide insightful suggestions for further improvement. A systematic review with PRISMA 2020 guidance and theme analysis were conducted to achieve the research goal. The findings of the selected paper indicated that current English teachers valued technology-integrated content instruction, preferring to use more relevant and acceptable elements of teaching tools. The ongoing usage of adopting web 2.0 tool not only benefited students’ effective language learning but also enriched teachers’ teaching methods and improved teaching levels. Additionally, some obstacles were also revealed to web 2.0 tools' successful adoption in education, including the tool, teachers, and external influences. Relevant suggestions are made to improve the pedagogical integration of various tools.

The present study aimed to examine the differences between Iranian EFL teachers’ burnout in online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic in public schools (PSs) and private language institutes (PLIs). It also investigated the causes of teacher burnout in the two contexts. The participants included 268 Iranian EFL teachers (108 teaching at PSs and 160 teaching at PLIs). The study employed a mixed-method design. In the quantitative phase, 268 EFL teachers were asked to answer Maslach et al.’s (1996) Burnout Inventory and in the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 EFL teachers (10 from PSs and 10 from PLIs). The results of the first phase of the study indicated a significant difference between the two groups in the two dimensions of burnout including “Emotional Exhaustion”, and “Personal Accomplishment”. However, the difference between the “Depersonalization” aspect of burnout was not significant. The results of the second phase of the study indicated that factors such as challenges of online teaching, concerns about teaching effectiveness, lack of collegiality and principal/manager support, financial concerns and low wages, lack of job security, students’ misbehavior and lack of motivation, lack of teacher autonomy, heavy workload, as well as school/institute policies were conducive to teacher burnout.

The remarkable popularity and success of foreign feature films and television series as a source of entertainment cannot be disputed. The emergence of amateur subtitling communities has led to dramatic changes in individuals’ viewing habits and styles as fansubbers offer an ideal opportunity for people to access international audiovisual materials, especially in dubbing countries like Iran. However, empirical research on audience viewing preferences and habits in terms of audiovisual translation is scarce. To bridge the gap, over 1200 Iranian viewers filled in an online questionnaire. The results suggest the emergence of new habits and preferences as proportionately more Iranians nowadays access international films and TV series with Persian subtitles, at least among young adults. Also, a small number of the respondents prefer to watch foreign films and programs dubbed. Additionally, there was a weak interplay between viewers’ English proficiency and their tendency towards watching dubbed or subtitled programs, and national TV channels do not appear to be the primary entertainment source when it comes to international cinematic products. Understanding viewers’ preferences and viewing styles forges possible future paths for the translation industry to cater for the needs of individuals with different viewing styles and needs.

Within the last few decades the conception of research engagement has been widely considered vital in teachers’ professional development. The literature is replete with numerous arguments both about the benefits of doing and reading research and the reasons for doing so. Within these discussions, however, the opinions of teachers are mostly ignored or reflected only circumstantially. The present study was conducted to investigate the reasons for which Iranian English teachers engage in research. First, a provisional survey questionnaire was designed, using experts’ opinion and a comprehensive review of the related literature. The instrument was then validated through conducting exploratory factor analysis on teachers’ responses to the survey instrument. Analysis of the results showed that teachers’ reasons and motivations for research engagement can best be categorized in four groups: benefits for professional development, instrumental and personal motivations, organizational expectations, and pedagogical benefits. Subsequent analyses also revealed that research engagement among Iranian English teachers is mainly shaped for personal and professional reasons. The findings point to the importance of developing a holistic perspective toward educational research in order to promote research engagement, making it a sustainable path to professional excellence for language teachers.

I have briefly revisited Brown and Levinson’s (1987) universal theory which has attracted the attention of many linguists to the notion of politeness as an essential feature of communication. Although in studies on politeness this model is more or less considered the standard model, it seems that there is not an agreed upon consensus that the complex concept of politeness can be simply captured through this linear and static model. In addition, there is a paucity of investigations into the applicability of this model in various cultures. Therefore, I identified and analyzed the strategies found in Iranian English speakers’ requests and apologies following this theory. To this end, adopting a particular version of mixed-design research approach, data was collected through a multiple-choice item questionnaire and think aloud protocols. The results of the study revealed that the model can account for people’s choice of politeness strategies. However, the findings indicated that there are a few shortcomings associated with the model. The study suggests that the weight of politeness cannot be simply measured based on a linear, static basis. On this basis, I hypothesize that a systematic model of politeness can better explain the variations of individuals’ choice of politeness strategies.