فهرست مطالب fatemeh fazlali

This study investigated the status of professionalism and organizational commitment among EFL teachers in Iran. The participants included 156 EFL teachers, aged from 23 to 52, working at different public and non-profit schools in Tehran. A mixed method was employed in this research. To collect data questionnaires and interviews were used. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, and Independent samples T-test were used for data analysis. Thje findings showed that professionalism and organizational commitment of EFL teachers were at a high level and there was a positive correlation between professionalism and organizational commitment of teachers. The results indicated that female EFL teachers had a higher level of both professionalism and commitment in the context of Iran. Moreover, EFL teachers in private schools had a higher level of both professionalism and commitment than those in public schools. The content analysis of the interviews showed that the professional teachers were committed to their teaching and were therefore sensitive to the needs of the learners and actively sought professional development opportunities. The findings of this research can be useful for policy makers, supervisors, managers and EFL teachers.

The present study aimed at exploring the predictive validity of achievement goals for EFL university students’ attainment emotions, and academic success in the context of Iran. To this end, 440 EFL university students responded to the relevant instruments. The results revealed that learners’ mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-approach goals were significantly positively correlated with positive attainment emotions, and negatively associated with negative attainment emotions. Furthermore, EFL learners’ performance-avoidance goals were significantly negatively associated with their positive attainment emotions, and positively related to their negative attainment emotions. Additionally, EFL learners’ mastery-approach, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals were significant predictors of all attainment emotions, while EFL learners’ mastery-avoidance goal was a significant predictor of their hope, anger, and hopelessness. Besides, EFL learners’ achievement goals significantly correlated with their academic success. Finally, all achievement goals predicted students’ academic success, and also mastery-approach goal was the strongest predictor of students’ academic success. The results can benefit EFL teachers, and learners to grasp a better picture of the association between achievement goals and attainment emotions, and academic success of EFL students in the context of Iran.

This study explored the status of professionalism and commitment among Iranian EFL Teachers. In doing so, 136 (86 private-and 50 public-sector) EFL teachers of different ages (25-55) from different schools and institutes in Tehran participated in this study. The participants completed the pertinent instruments (i.e., Teachers’ Professionalism and Organizational Commitment Questionnaires). Moreover, out of 136 participants, 40 EFL teachers were interviewed. The results showed that both professionalism and commitment along with their subcategories were rationally high among EFL teachers. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between EFL teachers’ professionalism and commitment. Besides, the content analysis of interviews indicated that professional teachers were committed to their teaching and were sensitive to learners’ needs. Likewise, committed teachers were actively looking for professional development opportunities. The results also showed that female EFL instructors had a higher level of professionalism and commitment than their male counterparts. Additionally, the results indicated that EFL instructors in language institutes had a higher level of professionalism and commitment than those in senior secondary schools. The findings can support EFL policymakers, supervisors, managers, and teacher trainers to grasp a better picture of professionalism and commitment in Iranian EFL educational contexts.

Math problem solving requires improving both details and generalities perception by the brain's parietal cortex and in turn, achieving this ability requires the development of cognitive abilities. The purpose of this study was to improve cognitive abilities in math problem-solving through combined neurofeedback and transcranial electrical stimulation therapy.

This study was a quantitative study of the single case type with the ABAB design. The statistical population was the ninth-grade high school students referring to two counseling centers in Karaj. Among them, 5 weak students in math problem-solving were selected purposefully and voluntarily. The entry criteria were age between 14 and 16 years, a math score below 13.5 from 20 in the previous semester. Furthermore, participants should not have a diagnosis of learning disorders and coexistence, medical treatment, and a math reinforcement course. The measurement tools were the fourth edition of the Wechsler IQ test, transcranial electrical stimulation devices, neurofeedback, and math exam scores between two academic semesters. The combined intervention of electrical stimulation and neurofeedback was performed for 50 minutes, two months, and twice a week with the aim of promoting alpha and theta waves and suppressing beta three waves in the parietal cortex. Percentage improvement formulas, Cohen's effect size, and visual analysis were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that the combined treatment was effective in the mentioned brain waves. On the other hand, cognitive factors in Wechsler's intelligence scale, including active memory, processing speed, perceptual reasoning, and verbal comprehension, as well as students' math exam scores showed a significant improvement.

The findings showed that transcranial stimulation of the parietal cortex and neuro-feedback brain training are able to increase the learning ability of students who have problems understanding the details and generalities of mathematics. Therefore, this non-invasive combined method can be used as an approach to improve the cognitive abilities of students who are weak in solving mathematical problems.

Research on high-stakes tests indicates that increasing the stakes of large-scale English language tests will have consequential influence on teaching and learning performance and practices. However, evidence for influence on student ‘motivation for learning English (MLE)’ within such a context is still scarce. Taken this, the present study investigated the motivational level of high school students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in the context of university entrance requirement tests change in Iran (introducing high school national English achievement tests-NEATs- as new requirements for entrance into nation-state universities). For such a purpose, the MLE scale, taken from Gardner’s (2004) Attitude/Motivation Test Battery, was translated into Persian, administered among 451 randomly selected students supposed to take the NEATs for their admission to universities, and subjected to confirmatory factor analyses. The results obtained through within-group ANOVA comparisons of the construct-validated subscales revealed that under increased stakes of the NEATs the participants maintained moderately high level of motivation for the two components of ‘desire to learn English’ and ‘attitudes towards learning’; however, the level for the component of ‘motivational intensity’ was neutral/moderate. Similar result (i.e., moderate level) was found in the participants’ perspective of their overall MLE. The findings, overall, indicate that the NEATs-admission programme has not demotivated the learners yet they are not as highly motivated as intended by the change planners. Such a divergence between the ideal policies (i.e., high level of MLE) and what was observed in practice (i.e., neutral/moderate MLE level) has implications for test change contexts and their driving policies.

Flipped learning is a relatively new approach in teaching in which the place of teacher's lecture in the classroom and the students’ assignments are exchanged to enhance active learning, engement and achievement. Flipped learning can be applied for the professional development of pre-service and in-service teachers as well. This study investigated the effect of flipped professional development on the achievement of novice EFL teachers. For this purpose, 150 teachers were selected through purposive sampling from different language institutes and non-profit complexes such as Roshangar and Tazkieh in Tehran, district 2. The teachers were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was supposed to attend the flipped classroom whereas the control group attended traditional lecture-based classroom (equal N=75). Based on the teachers’ needs the course of "Classroom Management" was selected. “Farhangyada” which is a learning management system was employed to load content of the course for the experimental group. An instructor taught the content of the course for the control group in the traditional way for 6 weeks. To collect data, pre-test and post-test were conducted. Results achieved from the pre-test and post-test indicated that teachers in flipped professional development performed better than teachers in traditional professional development class

Flipped learning is a relatively new approach in teaching. In flipped learning the place of teacher’s lectures and the homework is reversed to enhance active learning and engagement. This study was done to examine the effect of flipped classroom on English language novice teachers’ engagement and to examine their attitude towards flipped classroom. About 150 English female teachers were selected among different institutes and private schools of Tehran. The teachers were divided randomly into experimental and control groups. There were 75 teachers in two flipped classrooms and 75 teachers in two traditional classrooms. They were taught a course of “classroom management” in 6 weeks. Data was collected by a questionnaire which was completed by teachers to examine their perception of their engagements and their attitudes on flipped professional development. Results indicated that teachers in flipped professional development had higher engagement levels than teachers in lecture-based classes. Furthermore teachers had a positive attitude toward this instructional model.