Journal of Applied Linguistics Studies
Volume:2 Issue: 2, Summer and Autumn 2023

The study of attribution and decision-making is a process that involves improving people's beliefs in the causes of their failures and success to promote future motivation for achievement. It is nowadays widely accepted that decisive teaching and making use of attributional implications is a vital ingredient of a superb academic life. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between different dimensions of decision-making types, attributional styles, and teaching effectiveness among Iranian EFL teachers. Further, this study tried to explore the mediating role of decision-making types between attributional styles and teaching effectiveness. As the study participants, 146 adult male and female EFL teachers aged between 25 to 40 years old at different language institutes in several cities of Golestan province, Iran, were selected based on a purposive sampling method and were given three questionnaires. To analyze the data, structural equation modeling (SEM) was run by using the SmartPLS software, version 2. The obtained results showed significant relationships between different dimensions of attributional styles, decision-making types, and teaching effectiveness. The results indicated that decision-making types could successfully mediate between the dimensions of attributional styles and teaching effectiveness. Finally, the findings were discussed concerning the context of Iran. These findings would hopefully be advantageous for EFL teachers (English as a foreign language), SLTE courses (second language teacher education), and also TTC centers (teacher training course) to shape and empower different domains of teaching effectiveness by exploring teachers' decision-making types and attributional styles.

The research on Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLSs) and Vocabulary Teaching Strategies (VTSs) has mainly focused on the quantitative approach and EFL learners in face-to-face classrooms. The present study, however, addressed learners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to probe into their views toward teaching and learning vocabulary in online and offline contexts. Through structured interviews, the study used a qualitative approach. A total of 22 undergraduate Iranian EAP students (humanities, engineering, and medical sciences) provided qualified responses to contribute to filling the research gap. After analyzing, categorizing, and organizing the data, themes and sub-themes emerged through coding. The transcripts and codes were rechecked to verify the data and check the validity. Interpretation of the data indicated that instruction of EAP vocabulary can be deepened by raising learners’ consciousness of VLSs, training teachers for EAP courses, adding activities, exercises, and tasks for the improvement of all language skills, and the use of technology for meeting the needs of EAP learners. The results also provide implications for improving EAP materials and promoting the learners’ motivation, autonomy and independence.

This study sought to investigate the culture-oriented concept in a literary text based on Newmark's (1998) model. More specifically, the study was conducted to find the applied strategies in English translation anecdotes of Gulistan Sa'adi. It also highlighted if Newmark's strategies distributed equally through the translation. Moreover, the shortcomings of the translation were presented. The corpus composed of the Persian textbook of Gulistan Sa'adi as Source Text (ST), with the English translation as Target Text (TT) by Rehatsek (2010). Data were analyzed and the results are presented in the form of tables. After analyzing and interpreting data, some major shortcomings have been observed in the English version as vague, unclear, meaningless translation and omitted words have been observed in the English version. Moreover, all the cultural strategies were applied by the translator, but none of them were equally distributed in English translation of Gulistan Sa'adi. Based on the received data, "Paraphrase" and "Synonymy" strategies have been used in many cases and frequently by translator. "Paraphrase" strategy is most commonly used in the cases that the translator could not find any equivalents for the source items and the translator is forced to explain the meaning of the cultural items and the explanation is much more detailed than the equivalents. In the case of synonymy strategy, the translator renders near translation of an SL word or expression with a TL expression, but not completely. However, the least frequent strategies were "naturalization", "shift /modulation" and "couplets" strategies which found just in one case.

This research was a review of the English-to-Persian translation of compound modifiers in press articles from 2014 to 2017 concerning quality assessment according to House's (1977) TQA model. To this end, 150 pieces of news containing the compound modifiers were selected from different newspapers and journals as the source texts, and their equivalent translations were published in local newspapers as the target texts. In the first step, the source text and the target text profiles were provided. Then, the overt and covert errors in translating compound modifiers in the press articles were identified. The findings showed that out of 150 selected compound modifiers, 97 were overt errors, and 53 items had no errors. The overtly erroneous translations had 36 instances of not translated, 23 cases of addition, 14 instances of a slight change in meaning, 13 cases of substitution, and 11 instances of ungrammatically. In terms of covert errors, there was only one error; in the target text, the translator took the author's stance instead of the journalist's. The findings also showed that translations of English compound modifiers of press articles do not undergo cultural filtering. Concerning the House's TQA model, the translation of compound modifiers of the press articles belonged to the covert translation.

This study aimed at investigating the prominence of language learning anxiety as the hindering factor that debilitates learning process and is to be managed successfully through Storch model (2002). The four phases of Storch Model should not be considered fixed and stable; hence, they could be behaved dynamically. The present study conducted in delving into the issue by having randomly assigned two identical groups of 23 intermediate EFL learners at Islamic Azad University as the control group and experimental one. The participants were all majoring at English translation discipline and participated in a conversation course. The study was in pre-test post-test design and learning anxiety questionnaire was administered before and after the treatment. The experimental group received treatment according to the dynamicity stance of Storch’s (2002) patterns of interaction coding scheme as: collaborative, expert/novice, dominant/dominant, and dominant/passive. The experimental group outperformed the control group. The findings showed that the application of dynamicity approach towards Storch model would diminish the learning anxiety index to a large extent. The results embracing Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory along the pedagogical implication would be beneficial for teachers, syllabus designers and materials developers in TEFL field.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the impact of technology-integrated multiple intelligences instruction on vocabulary learning and burnout of English language learners at a private primary school in Kerman. Over 6 months, two groups of 30 learners (15 students in two intact classrooms) were exposed to two forms of multiple intelligences instruction: the traditional and technology-integrated ones. The instruction was based on designing tasks to activate all intelligences in both groups. In the control group, participants received MI instruction from the teacher using classroom facilities with no use of technology. In the experimental group, participants received MI instruction through computer tools. Both groups received 24-week vocabulary training at a 30-minute interval at the beginning of each conversation class. Pre-tests and post-tests were used to measure learners’ improvements in vocabulary development and burnout (Khani et al., 2017). To analyze the data, One-Way ANCOVA was used to answer the research questions. The results revealed that the learners involved in the technology-integrated classroom proved superior compared to the traditional group in their English vocabulary and burnout. The findings suggest that nonhuman mediators (technology) are more effective than humans, possibly due to their enticing features that enhance learners' motivation and interest.

As a second or foreign language cannot be learned without knowledge of the cultural context in which it is used, it is generally accepted that language learners must also become cultural learners. Culture acquisition is as universal and natural as language learning. The ability of the individual to accept and learn new ways of doing and saying things determines how easy or difficult it will be for them to integrate into the new culture and language in EFL/ESL situations. The most readily apparent and accessible manifestation of a culture is its language, which serves as a medium for communication among its members. A person's worldview, sense of self, ways of acting, feeling, and communicating can all be affected negatively by a culture shock. Similar to how one must be able to think in a language in order to speak it well, mind is a very potent tool. Language is the lifeblood of the nation and its citizens. Since language and culture are closely interwoven, we should instead consider the pros and cons of intentional vs accidental exposure to culture rather than whether it should be taught as a subject in the foreign language curricula. In a word, culture is a way of life.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of explicit written feedback under metalinguistic feedback (WMF) on EFL learners’ grammar performance with involving gender factor. To this end, the performance of the male and female learners as a result of written metalinguistic feedback (explanation) was studied. Sixty homogeneous Iranian EFL male and female high school students were randomly assigned to male and female experimental groups. Afterward, a grammar test was administered to see the effect of the written metalinguistic corrective feedback. This study adopted a pretest-posttest quasi experimental design. The statistical techniques employed to measure such effects were a series of independent paired samples t-tests to analyze the data. The results indicated a significant effect of WMF on the reduction of grammatical errors. Meanwhile, there were no differences between genders in the learners’ performance as a result of written metalinguistic feedback. As for the pedagogical implications, written metalinguistic feedback is suggested as a profitable type of corrective feedback to improve and enhance error correction practices within Iranian EFL context.