Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes
Volume:12 Issue: 3, Summer 2023

Educational psychologists and applied linguists have studied English language learners' self-efficacy, language anxiety, and language production separately. However, the structural relation of the English language learners' self-efficacy, foreign language anxiety, and oral/written language production has not been validated. A structural equation modeling consisting of learners’ self-efficacy as the independent variable, language anxiety as the mediator variable, and production tasks (oral and written) as dependent variables, was evaluated using Smart-PLS. The data were gathered through self-efficacy questionnaire, foreign language anxiety scale, oral production test, and written production tasks from 264 Iranian EFL learners who were selected through convenience sampling. Smart PLS software was used for analyzing the data. The hypothesized model was evaluated, and it was found that the model enjoyed an acceptable level of divergent and convergent validity and goodness of fit. The results also showed that language learners' self-efficacy reduces their foreign language anxiety. Moreover, learners' self-efficacy through reducing the learners' anxiety improves the language learners' performance on oral and written production tasks. The findings can be used by English language teachers and students to collaborate and apply coping strategies to reduce language anxiety. Furthermore, through reducing anxiety, the learners can develop foreign language skills, particularly oral and written productions.

The growing interest in using the technological advantages of Computer-Based Testing (henceforth CBT) over Paper-Based Testing (henceforth PBT) has led to concerns regarding how this transition impact test takers' performanc. The result of such an effect known as testing administration mode effect is the violation of reliability and validity of a test. The equivalency between CBT and PBT is intensively becoming a topic of discussion in educational contexts, especially after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Investigation of the equivalency of scores procured from two testing modes is required to discover if testing achievement is affected by the transition of testing administration mode. The current research delved into the score equivalence to explore the consistency of test reliability across modes. Moreover, the correlation of testing administration mode preference with testing performance was critically investigated. The findings reported the correspondence of two sets of CBT and PBT scores. Furthermore, sufficient empirical evidence suggested that there was not a statistically significant linear correlation between the testing mode preference and CBT achievement, though most test takers favored CBT. The quantitative research results regarding testing mode preference and CBT attitudes were also underpinned by the results of semi-structured interviews. The current research guides the development of effective strategies to convert PBT to CBT while maintaining the integrity of assessment and ensuring reliability, fairness, and accurate measurement of EFL learners' vocabulary knowledge.

The recent social turn that applied linguistics has taken defies monolingual ideologies and reorganizes multilingualism as the global standard. Accordingly, institutions are eager to encourage linguistic and cultural diversity inasmuch as several languages can be employed, contrary to neoliberalism, which promotes globalization with English, and neo-nationalism whose common thread is xenophobia. This study explores Iranian school officials and teaching professionals’ perceptions of adopting a multilingual education policy, which can accommodate more foreign languages other than English. Framed by interviews and drawing on experts’ opinions in the first phase, it then finds through a questionnaire survey that professionals and school authorities come up with similar ideas regarding the benefits that the language policy reform can bring about mainly for resisting English imperialism and taking account of personal preferences. Both groups also hold similar opinions on the requirements of the new language in education policy in that in-service education was reported as an urgent need. Professionals and school officials, however, perceived challenges to this proposed plan including inadequate staffing and pessimism, differently.

Formulaic sequences are commonly employed in general and educational communication, and come up with the construction of rationality in talking and non-verbal language, in addition to playing an essential role in the conception of communication. The current study examined the rate of formulaic sequences among competent non-native university students, structurally and functionally. Notably, a comparative corpus-based study was conducted to probe the accomplishment of formulaic sequences through administering the conversation in group discussions between native and Iranian speakers of English. For this purpose, four-word formulaic sequences were drawn out from a corpus of 21 group discussions and were categorized following Biber et al. (2004) taxonomies. Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) was employed as a native corpus. The results uncovered that native speakers employed more formulaic sequences than EFL peers. Besides natives utilized ‘discourse organizing bundles’ in functional classification, and ‘noun and prepositional phrases’ in structural classification. However, non-native speakers used ‘stance expressions’ in functional classification and ‘verb phrase fragments’ in structural classification. The outcomes present various educational suggestions for EFL teachers and learners.

In the present study the impact of employing interesting class materials on FL learners' interest level and their achievement in foreign language reading was investigated. The interaction pattern between interest and age in the context of Interest-Based Language Teaching (IBLT) was examined as well. Sixty-six university students of law and accounting in Hidaj IAU, Iran were used in the investigation. The participants were randomly divided into two groups of experimental (N=33) and control (N=33). Unlike the control group who received the instruction in the usual way, the experimental group received it in a way in which the reading texts were selected based on learners’ interest. The results indicated that the use of IBLT increased learners' situational interest and improved their performance in FL reading, though it was not statistically significant. Moreover, some patterns of interaction between interest and age were observed with respect to the participants' performances in FL learning. The study findings could offer efficient uses for FL teaching researchers, teachers, and particularly syllabus designers as applying interest-based materials in ELT instruction will bring considerable benefits for FL learners when materials are matched with their interest areas.

Rater negotiation is a score-resolution method through which raters review and discuss performance samples to resolve rating discrepancies. The success of this method depends on raters getting equally engaged in negotiations. This study explored whether novice raters remain equally engaged in negotiations or rater dominance occurs. Eleven English teachers attended eight negotiation sessions. They scored ten writing samples independently using the IELTS rubric and then discussed rating discrepancies in groups. It has employed a mixed-methods approach to see whether any traces of rater dominance are observed or raters are equally engaged in negotiations. The chi-square test results for score changes indicated that only in Task Response category, raters were inequitably engaged. No dominance was observed for other dimensions. However, qualitative analysis of the negotiations revealed various patterns of rater dominance. Furthermore, the analysis of rater interactions in negotiation sessions indicated that rater dominance is a nonlinear construct demonstrated in interactions of raters during negotiation rating sessions. The findings illuminated that while some raters attempted to scaffold each other to form a unified understanding of scoring rubric by sharing the floor in discussion sessions, some tried to dominate other raters. The findings highlight the utility of negotiation, not just as a resolution method but a procedure with training effects for performance assessment in EFL contexts where access to expert raters is usually limited.