Journal of New Trends in English Language Learning
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Jan 2024

An aspect responsible for lack of suitable communicative skills is inappropriate level of motivation among the learners. The goal of this study was to consider the impact of using film watching on the pragmatic motivation of EFL learners. To this purpose, an experimental study was carried out with medical students. The sample of the study was composed of 60 nursing students aged 19 to 24. To ensure that the participants English proficiency, Quick Oxford Placement Test (OQPT) was run. Finally, 54 participants established the subjects of the study; then, being randomly classified into two equal groups of experimental (EG=27) and control (CG=27). Pre and post Pragmatic Motivation Questionnaire (Tajeddin and Zand-Moghadam, 2012) were used to collect the data. The results of the study indicated that watching films by the EFL learners could impact their level of motivation significantly. The achievements suggested the extensive use of movies in the language classes that could lead to both pragmatic knowledge and the subjects’ level of pragmatic motivation.

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the acceptance and use of a learning management system called VADANA by Islamic Azad University (IAU) of Zahedan students based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). This was quantitative and a descriptive-correlational study using structural equation modelling (SEM). The statistical population of the study was all the undergraduate students of Islamic Azad University of Zahedan. The statistical sample of this study was 185 participants (65 males and 120 females) selected through convenience sampling. The data collection tool was a questionnaire adopted from Venkatesh et al. (2003). Data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. The results indicated that performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, and effort expectancy had a positive significant relationship with behavioral intention and use behavior of students in using VADANA. The results also revealed that social influence had no significant effect on students’ behavioral intention and use behavior. The results of this study will help IAUs prepare more efficient online learning systems, which is vital during a state of emergency such as that caused by COVID-19.

The investigation into the relationship between teachers' job performance and related variables in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting has been limited. In order to fill this research vacuum, the present study investigated the mediating effect of benevolence value on the association between job satisfaction and job performance among EFL teachers. A sample of 237 EFL teachers (105 males and 132 females) from different educational institutions (universities, schools, and language institutes) was selected for this correlational survey study. The structural equation modeling (SEM) framework was utilized to analyze the data. The findings reveal that there are significant relationships between EFL teachers' job satisfaction and contextual performance (CP) and the counterproductive work behavior (CWB) dimensions of their job performance and their benevolence value and their task performance (TP) and CP. Furthermore, it is observed that EFL teachers’ benevolence value mediates the relationship between job satisfaction and their TP and CP but not the CWB dimension.

The research on both receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge has attracted the attention of researchers, however, there is paucity of studies in these strategies on productive skills’ enhancement. Hence, this study aimed at finding the effects of receptive and productive types of vocabulary testing on overall and lexical writing performance of Iranian EFL learners. Multiple-choice format of cloze tests and C-tests were selected as receptive and productive forms of vocabulary testing, respectively. For this purpose, 60 Iranian EFL learners with the age range of 20 to 27 at the intermediate level took part in this study. The data gathering tools were Oxford placement test, a writing pretest, a writing post-test, and a rubric. The students were randomly assigned to one control group and two experimental groups whose vocabulary knowledge was assessed using Cloze tests and C-tests. The results of one-way ANOVA showed that using both C-tests and multiple-choice format of Cloze tests was effective in enhancing learners’ overall and lexical aspect of writing performance. The quantitative results approved by the semi-structured interviews from the C-test group that represented more positive attitudes towards the strategy. Analysis of the students’ responses revealed that they found C-tests more effective in improving their active vocabulary knowledge that assisted them in writing better essays. The findings of this study might provide new insights for language teachers and curriculum designers to apply receptive and productive measure of vocabulary to improve different aspects of the writing ability.

When a textbook is developed and used for an English Language Teaching (ELT) context, its evaluation is even more important because the pedagogical value of the textbook needs to be determined (Richards, 2007); however, ELT teachers’ perceptions regarding a particular textbook may differ based on their teaching experience or academic degree. Considering a model provided by McDonough and Shaw (1993) based on external and internal evaluation of textbooks, this study aims to evaluate ‘Prospect 2’, the main English textbook for 8th-grade junior high schools in Iran. In effect, 400 ELT teachers were randomly invited from three provinces of Iran (i.e., Mazandaran, Gilan, and Golestan) to participate in the study. The Participants were divided into two groups 1) the seasoned teachers with over 10 years, and 2) the novice teachers with less than 10 years of teaching experience, to explore their perspectives on (non-)alignment between their attitudes in teaching experience at ‘Prospect 2’. A five-point Likert-scale questionnaire with 55 items was adopted and submitted to both groups. Employing SPSS, the teacher-researchers analyzed the data, and it was revealed that the teaching experience does affect the perceptions of ELT teachers regarding the evaluation of a particular textbook. While seasoned teachers were not satisfied with some crucial aspects of ‘Prospect 2’ and believed it had not met its pedagogical objectives, the novice group revealed moderate satisfaction. However, several similar themes such as the lack of authentic language, variant dialects, motivating illustrations, and poor printing, to name but a few, were reported by both groups. 

The present study aimed to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions about critical issues of LOA using a mixed- methods design. To this end, a 35-item questionnaire for investigating perceptions towards LOA was designed and validated. A group of 213 high school EFL teachers in Torbat-e Heidarieh and Mashhad were selected based on simple random sampling as the main participants of the study, and 57 EFL teachers were selected to participate in semi-structured interviews to triangulate the results obtained from the questionnaire. The data obtained through the questionnaire were analyzed using different methods of analysis. First, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to confirm the construct validity of the questionnaire. It included seven subcategories: contextual, affective, interactional, instructional, learning, proficiency, and elicitation. Second, the data were analyzed using SPSS software- using frequencies and percentages, computing independent sample t-test and Pearson Correlation. The results indicated that females had a more positive view than males towards the use of LOA in Iranian language classes. Positive relationship was found between teachers' age and their perceptions of LOA. The results indicated significant relationship between teaching experience and attitude of LOA. The qualitative findings of semi-structured interviews supported those of the questionnaire, revealing that the vast majority of EFL teachers believed that the use of LOA was advantageous and productive. These results have implications for L2 teachers and teacher trainers.