Teaching English Language
Volume:2 Issue: 6, Spring 2008

This study examines how five experienced EFL teachers spontaneously initiated preemptive focus on form episodes (FFEs) to draw attention to form in elementary and advanced levels. In addition، the study also investigates the frequency and type of FFEs، i. e. vocabulary، grammar and pronunciation used by five teachers in ten intact communicatively-oriented EFL classes. To this end، seventy hours of meaningful interaction between five teachers and their students in five elementary and five advanced EFL classes were observed and audio-recorded. Then، the frequency of preemptive and reactive FFEs were identified، coded، and categorized. The findings revealed that the proficiency of the students did not affect the rate of teacher-initiated focus on form in the observed classes. However، it did affect the general distribution of the linguistic focus of FFEs across proficiencies. The study demonstrates the importance of taking teacher-initiated preemptive focus on form into account in EFL studies.

This research compared the effects of two types of help options (subtitles and transcripts) in a multimedia listening unit on EFL learners’ comprehension of an academic lecture. To this end, the two experimental groups under study listened to an academic lecture on “e-waste” under two multimedia conditions. The first group used the multimedia program comprising the video of the lecture coupled with subtitles and the second group used the multimedia program comprising the same video clip coupled with transcripts. The help options would be offered to learners in case of communication breakdown. The experiment revealed that those students who used video and transcripts obtained a higher mean score on the comprehension test than did those who used video and subtitles.

Grammar instruction and error correction are among the most hotly debated issues in second as well as foreign language education. Second language researchers and language educators have expressed different and sometimes contradictory ideas about them. Some believe error correction and grammar instruction are not only beneficial, but they are also necessary. Some others believe that only appropriate incorporation of them in the syllabus can lead to improvement in learning. And still a third group conceives of them as a waste of time and detrimental to the learning process. To gain a better understanding of teachers'' and learners'' perceptions regarding error correction and the role of formal grammar instruction on learning, opinions of 51 teachers and 627 adolescent and adult learners were surveyed by means of two equivalent questionnaires. The participants received two different kinds of treatment in terms of materials, grammar instruction and error correction moves. In one group, learners received more explicit grammar instruction and systematic error correction, while in the other group the focus was on meaning and no systematic correction was provided. The analysis of the obtained data from the questionnaires revealed that differences in the methods of instruction did not lead to a difference in the participants'' attitudes about error orrection and/or grammar instruction on learning. Also learners'' and teachers'' views about these two were close in many respects; however, error correction status diminished in the learners’ views as they improved their proficiency levels. On the other hand, more proficient learners considered more credence for grammar instruction in their learning.

This paper reports part of a large-scale study designed based on Stufflebeam''s CIPP Model (2002) to evaluate the TEFL curriculum in MA program implemented at nine major universities in Iran with regard to the Official Curriculum developed in 1987. Participants included 68 MA students, 34 instructors, and nine administrators. Required data were collected through three questionnaires, interviews, and written responses. Two course-based questionnaires including 3-point and 5-point Likert type items as well as one open-ended question for students and instructors were developed based on the Official Curriculum. To develop the Administrators'' questionnaire, several program evaluation questionnaires for administrators were consulted out of which items relevant to the Iranian educational context were selected. This questionnaire also included 5-point Likert type items as well as two open-ended questions. All the three questionnaires shared 23 items on the program''s work plan. Interviews were also conducted with 18 instructors and 30 students. The data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative procedures, but due to the large volume of analyses, this paper reports only the results of the qualitative analysis in detail. To validate and interpret the findings, the same were discussed with about 10 MA students and 2 instructors. The findings generally revealed that (1) there was no consensus among the participants regarding the overall aim of the program, (2) the implemented curriculum is partially compatible with the Official Curriculum, and (3) the participants generally felt the need for (a) the official curriculum''s revision, (b) reform in program delivery, and (c) reconsidering the screening system.

The present study investigates the effects of explicit and implicit lexical elaboration devices on the acquisition of L2 vocabulary acquisition through reading by 99 Iranian freshman students in Iran. The primary research questions are whether (1) explicit and implicit lexical elaboration devices have an effect on L2 vocabulary acquisition through reading، and whether (2) two specific types of lexical elaboration devices، explicit and implicit، differentially affect L2 vocabulary acquisition. Participants were exposed to 26 low-frequency target words (TWs) by reading one of the three versions of an experimental text containing these words. The study adopted two factorial univariate analyses of variance design with lexical elaboration with three levels (explicit، implicit، and unelaborated) as the independent variable and form- and meaning-recognition posttests as two dependent variables. The results were: (a) lexical elaboration devices did not aid form recognition of L2 vocabulary; (b) lexical elaboration devices assisted in meaning recognition of L2 vocabulary; and (c) neither explicit nor implicit lexical elaboration devices seemed to make a difference in the acquisition of either the forms or meanings of thepreviously unknown words in the text. Pedagogical implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are proposed.

Language testing researchers suggest various test formats and procedures to measure vocabulary knowledge. This study investigated a) the relationship between EFL learners’ self-rating of vocabulary knowledge on a newly designed self-assessment questionnaire and their performance on Vocabulary Levels Test, and b) the possibility of using self-assessment report as a valid basis for placement purposes. The results from three groups of participants (N=295) with different vocabulary proficiency levels show a) a high internal consistency among questionnaire items and b) a moderate correlation between self-assessment and VLT scores. The low group, knowing the most frequent 3,000 word families, tended to overestimate and the high group, with over 5,000 word families, tended to underestimate their vocabulary knowledge. The middle group with over 3,000 and below 4,000 word families was more realistic. Apparently, less proficient learners may have little knowledge about what they do and more proficient ones may be aware of the limits of their knowledge. This study suggests a) test developers to design innovative and systematic instruments for self-assessment, b) teachers to provide EFL learners with practice in self-assessment, and c) language testers to use self-assessment data elicitationprocedures along with a valid test for grading purposes and providing complementary information.