Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Jan 2018

Teacher principles encompass a teacher’s stated assumptions, beliefs, and conceptions about acquiring and teaching a second language (L2). Due to the complex and diversified nature of how principles take form, an individual teacher’s principles will influence their judgements, perceptions and instructional decisions, thus affecting the outcome of classroom practices. Exploring teacher principles and their impact on classroom practices and vice versa is an invaluable and necessary component to research in L2 teaching and learning since it plays an influential role in instructional outcomes.This paper explores the nature of the principles/practice relationship through an investigative case study with an ESL teacher of L2 speaking. Additionally, the results of research on principles and practices related to L2 teaching when conducted by academics rarely gets back to teachers in the front lines. Thus the researchers shared their findings with the teacher who as a result of reflecting on the analysis came up with a set of principles she says guides her teaching of L2 speaking.

Exploring opportunities by which learners can internalize new knowledge and consolidate existing knowledge has long been a point of interest in English as a foreign language research.This study investigated how meta-talk opportunities on discourse markers created by four task types including text reconstruction, dictogloss, translation and jigsaw can promote language learning at discourse level. To this end, 80 participants were assigned into four groups of twenty students. They were 10 pairs in each group. Having considered homogeneity issues in participant's selection, the researchers assigned one type of tasks to be performed in each group. Student's performances were audio recorded and transcribed for the purpose of analyzing the potentials of different tasks in engaging participants in language at the level of discourse through meta-talk opportunities. ANOVA results followed by post hoc pairwise comparisons indicated that translation and jigsaw tasks had the highest potentials and dictogloss and text reconstruction had the least potentials in creating meta-talk opportunities on discourse. The findings imply how design features of tasks set up differentiated language use. Also, the findings imply that teachers and material developers need to make principled decisions about which task has the highest potentials in maximizing learning opportunities.

According to discoursal views on language, variations in textualization strategies are always socio-contextually motivated and never happen at random. The textual forms employed in a text, along with many other discoursal and contextual factors, could certainly affect the readability of the text, making it more or less processable for the same reader. On the basis of these assumptions, the present study set out to examine how our data varied across genres and disciplines in terms of our target textual forms. These forms are as follows: the magnitude of T-unit (MOTU), the degree of embeddedness of the main verb in T-unit (DE), the physical distance between the verb and its satellite elements (PD), the magnitude of the noun phrase appearing before the verb (MOX), and the magnitude of noun phrase appearing after the verb (MOY). Our data consisted of 20 research articles randomly selected from two different disciplines of Biology and Applied Linguistics, to be analyzed in terms of the above-named textual strategies. One way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey tests were used for data analyses. The results revealed cross-generic as well as cross-disciplinary differences in the employment of the above textual forms. These findings were discussed in terms of the academic concepts and discourse on the one hand and the possible effect of the required textual forms on the readability of the text on the other hand.

Thesis supervisor supervisory styles play central roles in enhancing timely and quality completion of thesis works. To this effect, this study aimed at exploring TEFL graduate supervisees’ perception of their thesis supervisors’ supervisory style(s), the supervisees’ level of satisfaction with thesis supervision, and the association between supervisory styles and satisfaction with thesis supervision. Accordingly, all available TEFL graduate supervisees (N= 70) from three universities were selected as participants of the study. In order to answer the supervisees’ perception of their supervisors’ roles of guidance and support in the supervisory processes, and the supervisees’ level of satisfaction with thesis supervision, mean scores of questionnaire items were used. Pearson moment product correlation was also applied to examine the association between perceived supervisory styles and satisfaction with thesis supervision. To spot thesis supervisors’ prevalent supervisory style(s), scatter plot was utilized. The result indicated that supervisees perceived their thesis supervisors discharged their roles of supervision through provision of various supports which range from emotional support to helpful timely feedback. Similarly, supervisees felt that they were provided guidance for quality and timely completion of thesis works. In addition, supervisors were perceived displaying contractual and laissez-faire styles. Moreover, supervisees reported that they were satisfied with the supervision they were offered. Furthermore, significant and positive correlations were obtained between supervisees’ overall satisfaction with thesis supervision and the two supervisory styles (contractual and laissez-faire). Some recommendations were also forwarded to the concerned stakeholders.

Over the past few decades, research has shown that complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) cannot be promoted simultaneously during task performance because of limitations in learners’ attentional capacities. However, the behaviour of these three language dimensions has been mostly investigated under controlled classroom conditions which do not reflect real teaching and learning practices accurately. In response to this shortcoming, the present study set out to explore the effects of three tasks (personal information, narrative and negotiation tasks) on CAF levels during pair interactions in two uncontrolled English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. By drawing on metrics which index CAF levels, the findings corroborate that the learners’ CAF areas cannot be promoted equally during the performance of the three tasks. However, by closely looking at the transcribed interactional data, the findings suggest that learners’ agency plays an important role in approaching the tasks, shaping in turn their CAF levels in varied ways. Based upon these findings, the study puts forward the argument that learners’ CAF levels cannot be predicted because uncontrolled classroom interactions are environments where several, yet interrelated, factors come into play. Some of these factors are discussed in this paper.

In Thailand, the new educational policy is mandated to encourage content teachers to integrate English in content classrooms. The policy has created tensions and misconceptions among content teachers, who must change the medium of instruction from Thai to English. This paper presents an attempt to foster teacher knowledge about the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach in a teacher professional development program. Classroom language in English and CLIL classroom structure were provided for 15 teachers at a secondary school. Four volunteer teachers were observed to determine the extent to which teachers implemented CLIL. The findings revealed the teachers partly implemented classroom language in English and the provided CLIL structure was not evident. The contribution of this paper is to the literature of CLIL teacher professional development effectiveness and the implementation fidelity of a professional development program.

This paper has investigated the way the dissertation writing component of MA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) programmes in Iran has changed over the past decade in relation to globalization. The data, collected from 40 questionnaires completed by Iranian academic staff teaching these programmes, suggest that while change in the content and curriculum has been minimal, some major shifts are observed in the functions MA dissertations serve. The most fundamental change reported is that dissertations are now seen in this local context as an opportunity to respond to the global trend of publish or perish. The analysis of the data demonstrates a complex picture of how global trends, national higher education policies and regulations and the local initiatives interact with one another to turn MA dissertations into a source of research publications.

The present study was designed to test a group-based format of dynamic assessment (G-DA) in the context of writing over a time span of twelve weeks of instruction. A cohort of 60 students took a homogeneity test and based on the results, 44 students were selected to participate forming the two groups of experimental (N=22) and control (N=22). The study benefitted from a mixed methodology design comprising both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. The experimental group underwent G-DA instruction for a time span of 12 weeks and received prompts, hints and scaffolding during all stages of writing including topic selection, idea generation and revising while the control group was deprived of dialogic negotiation and interaction. The results of quantitative data analysis of pretest and posttest scores using independent and paired samples t-tests revealed the outperformance of the experimental group over the control group. The microgenetic analysis showed that the G-DA instructions could diagnose quite vividly the learner's sources of writing difficulties and help promote the abilities which are in the state of maturation. It was also found that the G-DA interactions could set the ground for creating a state of intersubjectivity and positive interdependence among the more and less proficient learners in the course of which they could trial their legitimate peripheral participation. The G-DA interactions had the function of moving the entire class forward in its ZPD while co-constructing ZPDs with individual learners within the social microcosm of the classroom context. On implication side, it is argued that the G-DA serves as a precise, teacher/learner-friendly and, thus, ethical procedure for the assessment of learner's writing abilities.

In the world of globalized English, the focus is more on learning practical skills of language than on language as a tool for expression. This concentration has marginalized English literary studies. The very little scholarship on teaching English literature either does not come from within the discipline or is not generally targeted at an EFL context. English Studies Beyond the ‘Center’ offers a long-awaited take on the why and how of teaching English literature in an EFL context from the perspective of a literature specialist. The volume is an attempt to address three interdependent issues: the place of English literature education in the world of globalized English studies, the main goal behind teaching literature as part of English studies and the way literature is taught. Indeed it seeks to “make a case for literary study in this expanded, essential, globalized English studies” (p. 1). As a Canadian educated in North America and a professor teaching in Japanese universities, Myles Chilton brings in his educational backgrounds from the ‘center’ of English studies and his experiences of teaching literature from universities ‘beyond the center’ to this book, making it very useful for people who are involved in teaching English literature especially in an EFL context.

Ethics can be regarded as an overarching criterion against which the soundness of research studies may be judged. Attention to ethical considerations in conducting and reporting research is increasing worldwide but despite sporadic mentions of its significance in research methods books on applied linguistics, there is no single volume devoted to the topic to the best of our knowledge. This much needed and timely edited volume, Ethics in Applied Linguistics Research: Language Researcher Narratives (ed.), is a collection of chapters edited by Peter l. De Costa with contributions by well-known experts in the field of applied linguistics research. The volume records the research practices of prominent applied linguists from a wide variety of subdisciplines and aims at preparing the next generation of applied linguists with the knowledge necessary to conduct ethical research. In addition to the list of illustrations, acknowledgements, foreword by Lourdes Ortega, list of contributors, and introductory chapter by the editor, the book is organized into four parts, with each part divided into subsections (i.e., part one into two subsections, part two into three, part three into four, and part four into three) orienting on ethical issues in research. The parts encompass twelve self-contained chapters, each authored by a prominent researcher or a team of scholars. Afterword and an index make an appropriate closing to the book.

Professor Bailey is the President of TIRF--the International Research Foundation for English Language Education. She has also served as the President of AAAL (the American Association for Applied Linguistics). She was a member of the Board of Directors of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from 1992-95 and again from 1997-2001. In 1998, she was President of the international TESOL organization. She has been a member of the editorial board of TESOL Quarterly, Prospect (the Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics) and The Modern Language Journal. She currently serves on the editorial board of Language Teaching Research as well as IJLS. She has co-edited nine books. Along with Ryan Damerow, she is a Series Editor for the Routledge Taylor Francis series, Global Research on Teaching and Learning English, which is co-published with TIRF. Her articles have appeared in TESOL Quarterly, TESOL Newsletter, Language Learning, Language Testing, and various anthologies. She is the co-author of Focus on the Classroom: An Introduction to Classroom Research, Pursuing Professional Development: The Self as Source, and Exploring Second Language Classroom Research, Learning About Language Assessment: Dilemmas, Decisions and Directions, and the author of Language Teacher Supervision: A Case-based Approach. She was the recipient of the Allen Griffin Award for Outstanding Higher Education Teacher of the Monterey Peninsula in 1985 and 2007, and the Leslie Eliason Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013. In 2007 she received the James E. Alatis Award for Service to the International TESOL Association, and in 2011 she received the Heinle Cengage Outstanding Achievement Award. She is currently a professor of applied linguistics at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey California (MIIS).