Journal of New Trends in English Language Learning
Volume:1 Issue: 1, Apr 2022

This study was an endeavor to explore the relationship between advanced EFL students' listening comprehension strategies and their critical thinking ability. To do this, 75 Iranian EFL learners of both genders were selected as the subjects of the study. All of them were advanced learners that were selected based on cluster sampling. The employed instruments were two related questionnaires, Critical Thinking Questionnaire (CTQ) and Listening Comprehension Strategies Questionnaire (LCSQ). On the first day, the researcher explained the instruction of this survey clearly and the participants were provided with CTQ to evaluate the strategies employed by them. On the second day, LCSQ were distributed among them. The participants had to responded all the questions in the limited time. Fortunately, none of the students were absent during the data collection procedure, and this factor would increase the reliability of the results. Findings of the study revealed a significant relationship between advanced EFL students' listening comprehension strategies and their critical thinking ability. Results can be significant since identifying the strategies that students apply, assist them to overcome the difficulties they might encounter in different language skills.

Identity is a contested concept in the presently diverse and multicultural world, and is reflected in the works of literature as well. Great numbers of theoretical works have been applied to literary works concerning the issue of identity, the most recent of which is postcolonial criticism. Spivak, the prominent figure in postcolonial feminist criticism, mainly concerns her theory with the struggle of the minority (the colonized or the females) against the oppression and injustice of the dominant system of power, which denies them an identity through which, they would assert themselves as dynamic agents who can act in history, rather than being acted upon. The aim of this study is to analyze the ways by which the female characters of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, are objectified as groups rather than individuals, and in Spivak’s words, subalterns who have no voice and their identity is affected by the ideological system of power. The researcher eventually indicates that the subaltern, though being silenced, would find her own way to assert her subjectivity.

The current study was an attempt to explore the underlying factor structures of the new TPCF questionnaire designed to determine EFL teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of corrective feedbacks. To this end, 150 male and female EFL teachers from private language institutes were conveniently selected to participate in the study. To come up with a suitable sample for construct validation (factor analysis), care was taken to select at least 125 participants (5 participants per item included in the final version of TPCF). The participants were aged from 27 to 38 years old.  Two research instruments were utilized in the current study including an interview and a newly designed questionnaire by the researcher in the field. The findings revealed that underlying factor structures of the new TPCF included type of error & type of CF, time of feedback & teachers’ strategy, proficiency level & preplanning, perceived by learners, negative impression & gender difference, dominance, correction & CF enhancement. In addition, a new TPCF questionnaire designed for EFL teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of corrective feedbacks. Eventually, the implications of the study are presented. These findings have some implications for EFL teachers, learners, curriculum designers, and researchers.

The present study made an attempt to investigate advanced EFL learners' perception in a private language institute on the use of technology. It also analyzed the possible difference between the EFL learners' perceptions in terms of their genders. To do this, a quantitative study based on survey data and a structured interview was conducted. A group of 88 learners, 44 males, and 44 females made up the subjects. These learners had already studied in the institute using some technological devices; thus, they were familiar with the use of these devices in the language class. The questionnaire was distributed among the participants during their class time and soon after it, they were collected and submitted for analysis using SPSS. Afterwards, the participants were interviewed for cross validation purpose. The results of the study proved that the learners, both males and females, had positive perception towards the use of technology in their language class. In addition, all of the question items without much differences between them supported the positive effect of using different aspects of technology in the language class. In other words, both genders expressed the same type of attitudes towards the given ideas and not much difference could be observed between them. Findings of the present work can suggest the usefulness and practicality of educational technology in the area of language teaching and learning.

The objective of the present research was to probe the probable relation between translators' gender and transference of aesthetic factors in the translation of rhymed prose. The purpose was achieved through descriptive, comparative, and relational tests and analysis. A translation protocol, consisting of 10 rhymed prose sentences which were translated by 25 female and 25 male BA students of English translation. These students were selected amongst 115 students through the series of processes. Translated rhymed prose sentences were assessed by two raters who were MA student of English translation with Waddington model of translation quality assessment. After analyzing the assessed papers, the researchers came to this conclusion that male participants mainly focused on the diction and form of rhymed prose sentences whereas female ones mainly focused on meaning and grammatical points. So male participants could transfer aesthetic factors better and it revealed that there was a relation between translators' gender and transference of aesthetic factors in the translation of rhymed prose. The researchers used T-test operation and concluded that the relation between above said issues was significant.

The present study examined and analyzed the language learning needs of Tenth-grade Iranian Students. Despite the significant role of needs analysis in language learning, no attempt has been made to explore the current language learning needs of Tenth- grade students and these needs are apparently unknown at present.  To do this, this research evaluate and discussed the current language learning needs of Tenth-grade students. Also, this project highlighted the most and the least important language learning needs of them. To this purpose, the data was collected through questionnaire. 250 EFL learners of different high schools in Zahedan were selected to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire developed by Kittidhaworn (2001) and surveyed seven dimensions of language learning needs, and the extent of the importance, was remarked by Tenth-grade learners of high schools. According to obtained data, the most important language learning need was "listening Skill", and the least one attributed to the "Language Function" from their points of view. It is expected that the findings of this study may help teachers, students, and researchers who are interested in effective assessment of language learning needs and also administrators who are responsible for organizing and implementing them.