Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies
Volume:4 Issue: 3, Summer 2017

This study investigated the effects of Interactive and Collaborative Instructional pedagogies on Iranian EFL learner's writing. It adopted pre-test and post-test control group quasi-experimental design with two experimental and one control groups. The participants were 90 college students in two branches of Islamic Azad University. The main data collection tool was an essay writing task. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA. Pre-test post-test comparisons revealed that students who received interactive pedagogy gained the most from the instruction t= -18.302; p = 0.000; p 0.5. The total variance accounted for by all the independent variables taken together was 51% (i.e. W2 = 0.51%). Findings indicated that interactive pedagogies befitted students more than collaborative ones.

Spelling has become a remarkable aspect of learning and/or teaching English as a foreign language. This skill helps learners to write fluently without interruption in the flow of thinking caused by searching dictionary for the correct spelling. However, the number of practical simple strategies to learn and/or teach spelling is scant. This study was an attempt to introduce a simple strategy to learn spelling and to investigate its effects on learners’ progress in spelling. To this end, two groups of third grade students of secondary school were studied as control and experimental groups. A pretest was given, then the new strategy was used in the experimental group, and then a posttest was given, and finally the data were analyzed by using ANCOVA. The results showed that this new strategy of learning spelling has a positive effect on learners’ spelling performance. Findings show that this simple strategy can be effective in learning and/or teaching spelling.

Teachers wish their learners not to take all provided information for granted; rather, they expect to enable their learners to develop higher order thinking skills and to be reflective. When applied to academic contexts, critical discourse analysis seems to play an undeniable role in the development of reflective thoughts by students. The current study investigated the effect of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner’s critical thinking (CT) ability in economic translation texts classes. To this end, 60 undergraduate English translation students at the intermediate level of proficiency were selected and assigned into two groups of experimental and control. The experimental group received instruction in order to make critical analysis both on articles handed out by teacher as well as follow-up CDA based presentations. The control group learners, on the other hand, received neither instruction nor any practice with respect to critical discourse analysis of texts. The data obtained from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal were subject to independent samples t-test. The findings revealed that CDA had a positive and significant impact on EFL learners’ critical thinking ability with the ‘Interpretation’ and ‘Recognizing Unstated Assumption’ sub-tests of critical thinking being most influenced. The significance of this finding in light of critical discourse analysis and implications for educationalists are discussed in detail.

This study seeks to provide insights into the process of vocabulary learning and promoting vocabulary knowledge by tracking its development in dynamic assessment (DA) procedures through thematic and microgenetic analysis. In order to meet the aim of this study, three male and three female EFL learners were chosen non-randomly based on their availability. All the participants were beginners with regard to their vocabulary knowledge. The participants voluntarily attended 15 DA sessions throughout each session a few new vocabulary items were presented using different techniques of teaching vocabulary. The participants received corrective feedback within their zone of proximal development (ZPD). They were provided with appropriate levels of help by moving gradually and using prompts through the regulatory scale from the most implicit to the most explicit assistance which emerged from the individualized mediation between the mediator and the learners. The results of the study indicated that using DA procedure can enhance the development of vocabulary knowledge among EFL learners.

This study aimed at investigating the potential of different learning tasks in creating a medium for production of discourse markers (DMs). 60 Iranian female EFL (English as a foreign language) students with intermediate level of proficiency rated on Oxford placement test were randomly selected to participate in this study. They were randomly assigned into two groups of students performing optional information exchange task types (OIE) such as problem solving, decision making and opinion exchange tasks and required information exchange task types (RIE) such as storytelling, information gap and spot the differences. Students were instructed to perform the tasks for eight sessions and their performance was audio recorded and transcribed for further analysis. The results of chi-square and crosstabs analysis on frequency and types of DMs indicated that optional information tasks were significantly more potential in providing a medium for production of DMs. In addition, three types of required information exchange task types and three optional information exchange task types had significantly different potential in creating a medium for the occurrence of different types of DMs. Teachers, materials developers and researchers should make principled decisions about language learning task since tasks mediate attending discursive features of language differently. Suggestions for further study were discussed in the light of the limitations of the study.

The importance of task-based instruction for developing writing as one of the most demanding tasks within SLA field is neglected in many EFL/ESL contexts. The researchers in this study intended to investigate the role of task manipulation in developing EFL learners’ grammatical accuracy and lexical complexity of argumentative writing. Furthermore, the task-manipulation effects on the frequency of three meta-cognitive sub-processes of generation, elaboration and organization of ideas were explored. To this end, 50 Iranian EFL learners from Sheikhbahaee University of Esfahan were selected based on their availability and their performance on the Oxford Placement Test. Then, they were randomly assigned to three experimental groups, and one control group. The data were collected individually through a task of writing, think-aloud protocol and retrospective interview. The results showed positive effects of task manipulation along resource-dispersing dimension on the grammatical accuracy and the positive effects of task manipulation along resource-directing dimensions on the lexical complexity. However, the results of the frequency of meta-cognitive sub-processes were indicative of the positive effects of task manipulation on the generation and elaboration of ideas but not on the organization of ideas. The study suggests that there is a trade-off effect at work which is responsible for the quality of the writing and the frequency of the metacognitive sub-processes.