Issues in Language Teaching Journal
Volume:12 Issue: 2, Summer and Autumn 2023

This study aimed at describing a causal model of variables influencing preservice EFL teachers΄ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). A descriptive correlational design was used to meet the objective of the study, therefore, 138 (67 male and 71 female) fourth-year student teachers in Teacher Education University were selected through convenience sampling method. A questionnaire including seven sections each of which measuring an aspect of TPACK was utilized. The sections of instrument were borrowed from those validated by Sahin (2011) for evaluating content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological knowledge, and by Chai, et al. (2011) for measuring technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge and TPACK. Path analysis and Pearson correlation were used for inferential statistical analysis. Results showed that there existed significant positive correlations between the TPACK constructs. Additionally, content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, unlike technological knowledge, were found to have a direct impact on TPACK. Moreover, it was found that, among the measured variables, content knowledge had the greatest total effect on TPACK whereas that of pedagogical content knowledge was the minimum. Therefore, the results of this study have implications for curriculum design, policy decisions and teacher education planning.

The importance of studying teachers' professional well-being has increased greatly in recent years. However, researchers have not paid enough attention to how teachers' levels of immunity, buoyancy, and emotion regulation (ER) in the classroom all play a role in shaping teachers’ L2 grit and mindfulness. This research seeks to address this gap in the literature by presenting a model of the dynamic interaction of teacher immunity (TI), teacher buoyancy (TB), teacher emotion regulation (TER), L2 grit, and teacher mindfulness (TM). To gather this information, 519 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers were given surveys measuring their levels of mindfulness in the classroom using the language teacher immunity instrument (LTII), teacher buoyancy scale (TBS), Teacher Emotion Regulation Inventory (LTERI), the L2-teacher grit scale (L2TGS), and Mindfulness in Teaching Scale (MTS). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) results indicated that EFL instructors who achieved a healthy state of immunity (TI), TER, L2 grit had higher levels of L2 grit, and TM. The research winds down with implications and future directions for relevant stakeholders to improve their understanding of the relationship between TI, TB, TER, L2 grit, and TM interactions and their potential to provide favorable educational results for EFL learners.

Teacher cognition, as a chief area within teacher education, is concerned with what teachers think, know, and do (Borg, 2003). One of the knotty strands emerging out of the past 50 or so years of research on teacher cognition is the misalignment between teachers’ cognition and practice. This study adopted a critical interpretative synthesis framework to identify factors generating such incongruence by dissecting 12 studies reporting on teachers’ cognition vis-à-vis their practice. The emerging themes were translated into each other and synthesised to form two lines of argument. The first one describes sources of teachers’ cognition and practice as ontological, epistemological, and contextual. Teachers’ apprenticeship of observation was found to exert the highest influence in fashioning their cognition and practice by sifting professional learning experiences and granting admission to only those commensurate with personal learning experiences. The second line of argument propounds that connate, personal, and contextual factors breed (mis)alignment into teachers’ cognition and practice. Furthermore, Cartesian dualism (Descartes, 1596-1650) and Heideggerianhermeneutic phenomenology (Heidegger, 1889-1976) were utilised to critically de- and re-territorialise the developed lines of argument. This interpretive conceptualisation of teacher cognition is rooted in but patently transcends the original studies in that it invites a fresh demarcation of the territory intensely occupied by contextual factors to allow teachers to practice ‘cogito, ergo I teach’. Finally, some suggestions are offered for the relevance of the results to teacher cognition research and teacher education and policy.

In line with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT) of mind, digital game-based language learning (DGBL) and dynamic assessment (DA) offer language learning opportunities via sociocultural engagement. This quantitative study explored the role of pragmatic learning strategies (PLSs) and gender in game-based group dynamic assessment. Our participants included thirty upper-intermediate EFL learners (15 males and 15 females) from two intact classes taking an English pragmatic course via game-based group dynamic assessment. Following a pre-test, treatment, and post-test design, the participants filled out a PLS inventory to identify the strategies for tackling L2 conversations in different situations. Besides, all learners were required to write reflective journals following each treatment session. Descriptive statistics and correlational analysis were employed to analyze the data. The findings indicated that the participants most widely used memory strategies, i.e., they relied more on memorizing and storing previous pragmatic knowledge. In addition, compensatory strategies were positive but weak predictors of the learners’ L2 pragmatic performance, and gender did not impact the learners’ use of different PLSs. The study’s limitation and its practical and pedagogical implications for educational policymakers, teacher education programs, and L2 instructors will be discussed in light of the posed research questions.

The neurolinguistic approach (NLA) nests the claim that both internal and external grammars (i.e., implicit and explicit grammar knowledge) develop through an intensive orality-based pedagogy. The present study put this claim to the test focusing on Iranian English language learners’ development of implicit and explicit knowledge of definite and indefinite English articles (EAs). Forty-three Iranian English language learners constituting 2 intact lower-intermediate classes were randomly assigned to a control group (CG; N = 20) and an experimental group (EG; N = 23). EG underwent four 1.5-hr project-based sessions of NLA-based instruction on definite and indefinite EAs. Each session began and ended with authentic oral practice of the structure under study. There was (a) a paragraph reading phase followed by rule induction and (b) a writing phase in between the two oral practice phases. CG was presented with reading texts (amply instantiating EAs), rule explanation, and communicative tasks. A timed grammaticality judgment test and an EA-focused oral proficiency interview were employed to estimate the participants’ implicit knowledge, and an untimed grammaticality judgment test and a metalinguistic knowledge test were deployed to measure their explicit knowledge. ANOVA results showed (a) EG’s development of implicit and explicit knowledge of EAs, but CG’s development of only explicit knowledge of EAs, and (b) EG’s significantly greater gain in both knowledge types. The findings reveal NLA’s potential for the development of both types of knowledge concerning definite and indefinite EAs, and have implications for the intensive instruction of knotty structures for low proficiency L2 learners.

In recent decades, many second language acquisition (SLA) researchers have identified the leading role of organizing sequentially cognitive tasks in Task-Based Language Teaching. Presenting types of different task sequence has become increasingly crucial for syllabus designers. This investigation examines the theoretical basis of task sequencing, which claims that pedagogical tasks should be developed and ordered cognitively from easy to complex. The current study aims to compare the performance of English learners in sequenced and isolated familiar tasks. Sixty EFL learners studying at the intermediate level in two private language institutes participated in this research. They were randomly selected as one experimental and one control group, each comprising 30 subjects. Before starting treatment, all the participants took a listening comprehension test as a pretest. The treatment took place over one semester, during which the subjects performed simple-complex familiar sequenced tasks while the control group received familiar randomized tasks. After treatment, the posttest of listening comprehension, which contained two complex task features, i.e., - Here-and-Now and - Planning time, was employed. The independent-samples t-test showed that the experimental group who received simple-complex sequenced tasks outperformed the control group in listening to complex tasks. The findings supported the employment of simple-complex sequencing tasks to foster listening task complexity performance.

Teachers’ beliefs play a determining role in the decisions they make and the strategies they employ to foster learner autonomy. Therefore, their beliefs and the strategies they use to foster autonomy merit additional empirical evidence. This study investigated the beliefs of 85 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Kurdish teachers towards learner autonomy and examined the influence of their experience in this regard. The data was collected using a newly developed questionnaire addressing learner autonomy from eight dimensions; the questionnaire encouraged teachers to reflect on their beliefs relating to learner autonomy. The findings indicated that teachers generally possess positive attitudes towards learner autonomy. Experienced teachers placed significantly greater emphasis on the psychological and political factors, the contributions of learner autonomy, and learning materials. The qualitative data indicated that both novice and experienced teachers stressed the importance of promoting autonomy through learner-centered teaching methods and student engagement. Experienced teachers employed more varied teaching methods and assessment techniques. While novice teachers preferred direct observation of their students during tasks and activities, experienced teachers adopted a more hands-off approach. The study underscores teachers' commitment to fostering independent learning across different dimensions of teaching practices. The differences in beliefs and strategies between novice and experienced teachers highlight the transformative impact of teaching experience on the promotion of learner autonomy. The findings implied that professional development programs should focus on shaping teachers’ beliefs towards using teaching strategies that foster autonomy.

In keeping with Control-Value Theory (CVT), learners’ achievement emotions and language achievement can affect e ach other. The flexibility of learners in academic settings can be a refugee from academic difficulties, and protect learners from discouragement after a negative emotional experience about achievement. Review of the literature proved the existence of several studies that have been conducted to support this theory. In this study, the possible contributions of eight achievement emotions (pride, hope, enjoyment, shame, anxiety, boredom, anger, and hopelessness) to language achievement in EFL context were examined to see if there was a relationship between them and learners’ language achievement. Accordingly, 279 advanced EFL learners (148 male and 131 female) of Iran Language Institute (ILI) took part. The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) was used to collect the data about the learners’ emotions and participants’ Grade Point Average (GPA) as evidence for their language achievement was employed to see how much of their achievement emotions could be contributed to their language achievement. The results of multiple linear regression revealed that enjoyment, hope, and anxiety were the three significant emotion factors predicting EFL learners’ language achievement and among them anxiety was the strongest predictor. In addition, based on the results of the independent-samples t-test, there was a statistically significant difference between the female and male learners’ achievement emotions scores. The learners’ emotions in language classes can be dealt with so that they can experience a better language learning experience. The findings are beneficial for EFL teachers, learners, and course designers.