eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
1
17
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20362
20362
مقاله پژوهشی
Temporal Fluctuations in Foreign Language Motivation: Results of A Longitudinal Study
Mariusz Kruk
mkruk@uz.zgora.pl
1
University of Zielona Góra, Poland
According to Ellis (2008), motivation has received a lot of interest in language learning. It is unfortunate, however, that little attention has been paid to the dynamic nature of the construct, particularly changes in motivation within single classes and series of lessons. The study whose results are reported in this paper aims at investigating the dynamic character of foreign language motivation both within single lessons and sequences of classes over the period of several months. The participants were 52 senior high school learners. The study encompassed 121 naturally occurring English lessons. The data were gathered by means of a background questionnaire, motivational grids, observations and teacher’s notes as well as individual interviews and lesson plans. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results of the study demonstrate that language learning motivation changes not only during a single class but also from one lesson to the next. Factors responsible for such variations included lessons, learners and school.
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20362_ca36854e566607f00881549b2129d55e.pdf
foreign/second language motivation
changes in motivation
interest and involvement
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
19
34
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20363
20363
مقاله پژوهشی
Pragmatic Assessment of Request Speech Act of Iranian EFL Learners by Non-native English Speaking Teachers
Minoo Alemi
minooalemi2000@yahoo.com
1
Neda Khanlarzadeh
2
Islamic Azad University – Tehran-West Branch, Iran
Sharif University of Technology, Iran
The analysis of raters' comments on pragmatic assessment of L2 learners is among new and understudied concepts in second language studies. To shed light on this issue, the present investigation targeted important variables such as raters’ criteria and rating patterns by analyzing the interlanguage pragmatic assessment process of the Iranian non-native English speaking raters (NNESRs) regarding the request speech act, while considering important factors such as raters’ gender and background teaching experiences. For this purpose, 62 raters’ rating scores and comments on Iranian EFL learners’ requests based on six situations of specified video prompts were analyzed. The results of the content analysis of raters’ comments revealed nine criteria, including pragmalinguistic and socio-pragmatic components of language, which have been noted by raters differently through six request situations. Among the considered criteria, politeness, conversers’ relationship, style and register, and explanation were of great importance to NNESRs. Furthermore, t-test and chi-square analysis of raters’ assigned rating scores and mentioned criteria across different situations verified the insignificance of factors such as raters’ gender and teaching experiences on the process of EFL learners’ pragmatic assessment. In addition, the results of the study suggest the necessity of teaching L2 pragmatics in language classes and in teacher training courses.
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20363_4c7eb046470db40f6741fa50969adce9.pdf
interlanguage pragmatics
non-native English speaking raters
pragmatic assessment
rating criteria
request
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
35
54
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20364
20364
مقاله پژوهشی
Homework: Voices from EFL Teachers and Learners
Mohammad Amiryousefi
m.amiryousefi@fgn.ui.ac.ir
1
University of Isfahan, Iran
Previous studies have mainly focused on homework in courses such as math and physics with little attention to homework in EFL (English as a foreign language) classes. The main purpose of the study reported in this paper was to give a voice to both EFL teachers and learners with regard to English homework. To this end, 8 EFL teachers and 19 EFL learners took part in a semi-structured interview first. Then, based on their responses to the interview questions and a comprehensive review of the literature, a questionnaire was developed and validated to investigate EFL learners’ and teachers’ perspectives on different aspects of English homework. The questionnaire was finally completed by 283 EFL learners and 46 English teachers from two famous English institutions in Iran. Results revealed that English homework can help EFL learners with their language learning apart from enabling them to improve their reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar. However, the homework assignments that are currently being used are not very interesting and do not help EFL learners improve all their English skills. The majority of EFL learners usually finish their homework in a hurry just before class begins; others do not spend the time that their teachers require them to spend on doing homework. English teachers should, therefore, design homework based on their students’ needs and interests as well as resort to employing modern opportunities such as online resources and self-access centers.
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20364_67169bedd63f866535f82d1280645f67.pdf
homework
out-of-class learning
voice
needs
interest
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
55
68
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20365
20365
مقاله پژوهشی
The Effect of Written Corrective Feedback on Grammatical Accuracy of EFL Students: An Improvement over Previous Unfocused Designs
Mobin Khanlarzadeh
mobin.khanlar@ut.ac.ir
1
Majid Nemati
2
Imam Khomeini International University, Iran
University of Tehran, Iran
The effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) in the improvement of language learners' grammatical accuracy has been a topic of interest in SLA studies for the past couple of decades. The present study reports the findings of a three-month study investigating the effect of direct unfocused WCF on the grammatical accuracy of elementary students in an EFL context. The researchers selected two intact classes totaling 33 students, and assigned each to a direct feedback group (n = 16) and a control group (n = 17). The students produced eight pieces of writing (a pretest, three writing tasks along with their revisions, and a posttest) from which their grammatical accuracy was obtained. The results indicated that while the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the revision of the three writing tasks, no significant difference was found when the two groups produced a new piece of writing after a one-month interval. The study concludes that accuracy improvement caused by unfocused WCF during the revision process does not extend to EFL learners' future writing when no feedback is available, at least at the elementary level.
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20365_98347edc5ed36ace3fa72ba1a66d3dae.pdf
error correction
grammatical accuracy
grammatical error
writing
written corrective feedback
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
69
86
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20366
20366
مقاله پژوهشی
A Conversation Analysis of the Function of Silence in Writing Conferences
Milad Mirzaee
milad.mirzaeeg@gmail.com
1
Baqer Yaqubi
2
University of Mazandaran, Iran
University of Mazandaran, Iran
One of the recent issues in English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) writing instruction has been the quest for a more effective way to give feedback to L2 learners’ writing drafts. Although teacher- learner writing conferences have been increasingly used for providing ample opportunity for negotiating revisions, relatively little attention has been given to actual teacher-learner conversation. Drawing on sociocultural theory, which holds that all cognitive developments are results of ‘social interactions’, and drawing on conversation analysis as an analytical tool, this study attempts to explore the different functions of ‘silence’ in writing conferences during teacher-learner conversation. The data comes from transcripts of six 1-hour writing conferences video-recorded in a graduate program with 7 candidates in Iran. During the writing conferences, learners’ drafts were discussed. Findings of the study demonstrated that teacher’s silence can play a key role in the management of turns in writing conferences, thereby providing the parties with various opportunities for accomplishing intersubjectivity: the teacher used silence to rethink the information provided during writing conferences, and the learner exploited silence to revise the writing draft. The current study, reporting a range of functions of silence in writing conferences, offers an extension to the existing literature and draws language teachers’, specifically writing instructors’, attention to different functions of silence in writing conferences
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20366_7aa4becccfaadad2aeada6a94896e099.pdf
writing conference
teacher-learner talk
silence
conversation analysis
written feedback
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
87
103
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20367
20367
مقاله پژوهشی
On the Relationship between EFL Teachers’ Classroom Management Approaches and the Dominant Teaching Style: A Mixed Method Study
Ali Kazemi
akazemi@yu.ac.ir
1
Neda Soleimani
2
Yasouj University, Iran
Yasouj University, Iran
As a factor contributing to a successful teaching career, classroom management can be affected by many latent and explicit variables. In this mixed method study, the researchers sought to scrutinize the possible connections among EFL teachers' classroom management approaches at two dimensions of behavior management and instructional management and the dominant teaching style. To this end, the researchers administered the Behavior and Instructional Management Scale (BIMS) by Martin and Sass (2010) and the Teaching Style Inventory (TSI) by Grasha (1996) to 103 randomly selected EFL teachers working at private language learning centers. Following the quantitative phase of the study, semi- structured interview sessions were held to gain more in-depth understanding of the research problems. Descriptive statistics, Pearson moment correlational analyses, regression analyses and theme analyses were implemented to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that Iranian EFL teachers followed interventionist or controlling classroom management approaches (at both dimensions of behavior and instructional management) and predominantly use the formal authority teaching style. Moreover, their teaching style(s) significantly correlated with both behavior management and instructional management. The findings of this study have important implications for practicing teachers, teachers in training and teacher trainers. Practicing teachers need to examine their own classroom management approaches and teaching styles to see whether these practices are conducive to successful language learning.
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20367_1340afeee1900dfb8a2bbd2a58ecb34e.pdf
EFL Teachers
classroom management approaches
teaching style
Iran
teaching English
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
105
126
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20368
20368
مقاله پژوهشی
ADHD and Adolescent EFL Learners’ Speaking Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in English
Hamid Marashi
ahmuya@yahoo.com
1
Mohammad Dolatdoost
2
Islamic Azad University – Central Tehran Branch, Iran
Islamic Azad University – Central Tehran Branch, Iran
This study was an attempt to investigate the relationships among Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and speaking complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) among Iranian EFL learners. To fulfill the purpose of this study, the teachers and parents of 593 male students were given the Farsi version of the CSI-4 ADHD diagnostic questionnaire, out of which 61 students scored above the cut-off score of nine in both the teacher and parent questionnaires. These students then sat for a sample speaking section of the Key English Test (KET); the interviews were scored by two raters according to the measures of CAF. The data were thus analyzed and the results revealed a significant positive correlation between ADHD and speaking fluency; in contrast, a significant negative correlation was observed between ADHD and speaking complexity and ADHD and speaking accuracy. The regressions disclosed that ADHD is a significant predictor of complexity, accuracy, and fluency in speaking. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for both parents and teachers in contact with students with ADHD with respect to the importance of identifying such students and thus planning and monitoring their progress.
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20368_2581e47866b0d29637acc09e904d20b1.pdf
ADHD
speaking
speaking complexity
speaking accuracy
speaking fluency
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
127
130
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20369
20369
BOOK REVIEW: Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment
Karim Sadeghi
k.sadeghi@urmia.ac.ir
1
Teymour Rahmati Kelahsarayi
trahmati58@gmail.com
2
Urmia University, Iran
Urmia University, Iran
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20369_2cc63c35e3ebb4dac3278cf444fc27f7.pdf
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
131
134
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20370
20370
BOOK REVIEW: Teacher Motivation: Theory and Practice
Parviz Alavinia
p.alavinia@urmia.ac.ir
1
Ebrahim Isavi
2
Urmia University, Iran
Kharazmi University, Iran
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20370_cc77e445def4fca9fb27c7af478cde7b.pdf
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
135
138
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20371
20371
BOOK REVIEW: Teacher-Made Assessments: How to Connect Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Learning (2nd ed.)
Karim Sadeghi
k.sadeghi@urmia.ac.ir
1
Zainab Abolfazli Khonbi
2
Urmia University, Iran
Kosar University of Bojnord, Iran
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20371_87bcb241f766eefc2227fb09a1b01fff.pdf
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
139
143
10.30466/ijltr.2016.20372
20372
INTERVIEW: An Interview with Professor Diane Larsen-Freeman
Karim Sadeghi
k.sadeghi@urmia.ac.ir
1
Urmia University, Iran
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20372_dfd747a62fdc3b83f0bc631f1038c025.pdf
eng
Urmia University
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
2322-1291
2016-07-01
4
2
144
148
20373
Abstracts in Persian
https://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir/article_20373_0ee8694f60071d0ff9dacccd6dd9fd39.pdf