Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes
Volume:8 Issue: 4, Autumn 2019

The aim of the current study was to compare the influence of on-line planning and pre-task planning on the performance of EFL university students enjoying different levels of proficiency regarding accuracy, fluency and complexity. To this end a group of 134 EFL learners with different proficiency levels were asked to write narrative tasks under two planning conditions (Pre-task planning and on-line planning). The results of the investigation showed that neither on-line nor pre-task planning affected the accuracy of writing. It was also revealed that on-line planning led to more fluent written language than what pre-task planning did, and that pre-task planning, compared to on-line planning, caused the students to produce more complex written language. Another finding of the research was that students with higher proficiency levels outperformed their low-proficiency counterparts considering accuracy, fluency and complexity during both on-line and pre-task planning. In other words, no interaction was found between planning conditions and proficiency levels.

The current research was run through a non-observational research scheme tapping two groups of experts- Iranian versus non-Iranian expert university instructors who were indulged in EAP courses. The focus groups including seven Iranian and eighteen non-Iranian instructors/researchers (from both ELT and non-ELT domains) at tertiary levels were recruited and their views were collected through researcher-made questionnaires and an online sequential conference talk passing through the Research Gate social networking platform. Various online interviews with the target participants were managed to 1) peek into what had been lacking in previous EAP teaching models thus far regarding collaborative models of EAP both in Iran and outside the country, 2) gain English professors’ innovations as highlighted in their practices for upgrading collaborative EAP teaching, and 3) survey the co-presence of language and content teachers along with language learners in EAP classes. Findings after content analysis of the gained data demonstrate that Iranian ELT practitioners inside the country believed in collaborative practices, but they found it so hard to create such a situation due to some reasons related to mismatching psychological characteristics of content and language instructors as well as some other flawed educational arrangements in the country. Non-ELT teachers inside the country also constantly talked about two separate expertise which did not include language teachers as legitimate colleagues of their own in such courses. Across outside borders, the situation was far more satisfactory and showing a more optimum cooperation of language and content teachers.

This survey study aimed to investigate the attitudes of Iranian EFL teachers towards EFL teacher education and the role of mentoring in Iran. In so doing, 235 EFL language teachers in public schools (PSs) from 108 cities and 30 EFL teacher educators in various branches of Farhangian University (FUs) from 9 cities were invited to give their attitudes through using two close-ended questionnaires in relation to factors such as (i) employment of EFL teachers and teacher educators, (ii) in-service EFL teacher training programs, (iii) mentoring in EFL teacher education and (iv) the system of evaluation and feedback in Iranian teacher education. The study concluded none of the various ways of EFL teacher employment in Iran enjoys the standards of in-service developmental programs offered by the Ministry of Education. Similarly, the employees do not experience any mentoring scheme in their career and hence their teaching is rarely subjected to any feedback or evaluation. Moreover, the respondents believed that even the in-service programs did not gain their objectives as they generally suffered from inefficient planning as well as ineffective tutors. Such ideas were evident in the responses of both PS teachers and teacher educators at various branches of FU. The study, therefore, suggests that serious thoughts need to be put into EFL teacher education programs of the country, and that effective mentoring and evaluation schemes have to included in them.

While huge efforts have been devoted to rhetorical moves and the lexico-grammatical features of various sections of academic research articles (RAs) across various disciplines, studies that have focused on RA highlights and their linguistic characterizations are limited. This study involved compiling a corpus of 250 RA highlights sampled from five leading journals in applied linguistics. Guided by qualitative analysis and using AntConc 3.4.4</em>, which is a freeware corpus analysis toolkit, 1,116 highlight entries were studied and classified based on their communicative functions. Based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis, a classification of moves in the structure of research article highlights was proposed. Moreover, the metadiscursive devices and promotional elements deployed by authors in applied linguistics were examined using Hyland’s (2005) model of stance and engagement as well as Lindeberg’s (2004) taxonomies of direct and indirect promotional steps. This study offers insights into the type of entries and the promotional elements used in RA highlights by writers to highlight the value of their research. The pedagogical applications of our findings for academic writing pedagogy are discussed.

Abstract Publication in the Anglophone-dominant journals in the Education Internationalization Age is highly challenging for non-native writers, making it for instructors of the English for Academic Purposes and English for Research Publication Purposes inevitable to enhance the authors’ ability by informing them of the latest variations in research articles and their highly important part (abstract), caused by English as a Lingua Franca for Academia. To identify the rhetorical-linguistic variations in abstracts of two Physical Education sub-disciplines in the English as a Lingua Franca for Academia contexts, 120 Research Article Abstracts (60 in Sports Medicine and 60 in Sports Management) were randomly selected from six distinguished journals in Iran, India and America, that fall within Kachru’s (1985) Three-Circle (Expanding, Outer and Inner) World Englishes Model. The abstracts underwent analyses of move structure, using Hyland’s (2000) I-P-M-R-C model, and lexico-grammatical features. Results showed Move 3, I-P-M-R-C and `study’ were the most dominant move, move pattern and lexis, respectively, also highlighting move hybrids, repetitions, omissions and dispositions. The Expanding and Inner circle writers were highly homogeneous and closer than the Outer circle ones. This study has pedagogical implications for the Academic Writing and Research Publishing instructors, helping them design courses and tasks more insightfully. Keywords: Abstract, ELFA, Moves, Sports, Publication

The studies that have investigated the effects of multimodality on reading comprehension and vocabulary retention of EFL learners in the context of Iran through mixed methodology are very limited. Accordingly, this two-phase study aimed to investigate the effect multimodalities might have on reading comprehension and vocabulary retention of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, the first phase of the study included a sample of 30 male EFL learners selected through intact group sampling who were homogenized by using an OPT (Oxford Placement Test). Then they divided into experimental and control groups randomly. Passages used for experimental group were accompanied by visual images, videos, and audio tracks, while passages used for control group were the same texts without any of these. For conducting the second phase of the study, in the control group the teacher introduced the new vocabularies of each text only by their L2 definition but in the experimental group the teacher used L2 definition and image for introducing the new vocabularies. In the qualitative part of the study, an open-ended questionnaire and interview were used. By comparing pre-tests and post-tests using MANCOVA, the results showed the effectiveness of using multimodality in L2 reading classrooms and vocabulary retention of EFL learners. The analysis of the results obtained from the qualitative phase revealed that learners preferred texts to be accompanied by visual images.

The current study investigated the relationship between learner beliefs, learning styles, ambiguity tolerance and listening comprehension of Iranian senior students majoring in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Four hundred and eighty-seven participants participated in the study by completing the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) developed and validated by Horwitz (1987), the Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) designed by Reid (1987), the Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (SLTAS) developed by Ely (1995), and a listening comprehension test of IELTS. The results of Pearson Correlations indicated that there was a significant positive correlation between a) learner beliefs and listening comprehension, b) learning styles and listening comprehension and, c) ambiguity tolerance and listening comprehension of the participants. Moreover, the results of multiple regression analyses showed that ambiguity tolerance was a stronger predictor of listening comprehension of EFL learners. The results of the study might be of benefit to (foreign language) education policy makers, syllabus designers and teachers to enhance EFL learners’ ambiguity tolerance level, change their written-in-the-stone beliefs, and help them choose and use the type of learning styles which suit them most in order to boost their foreign language acquisition in general and their listening comprehension in particular.

Effective communication in a foreign language requires, among other aspects, not only a vast repertoire of single words but also to the company these words keep as collocations. This study investigated the effects of two glossing techniques (audio and textual) versus skewed input on EFL learners’ lexical collocation learning. To this end, 100 Iranian advanced EFL learners were assigned to four equal groups (n=25) based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test: Textual Glossing Group (TGG) was treated by textual glossing, Audio Glossing Group (AGG), through audio glossing, Skewed Input Group (SIG), by skewing technique. They were assigned as the experimental groups, and the Control Group (CONG) was instructed by L1 equivalents for L2 collocations as a placebo. A piloted collocation test was administered as a pretest and posttest. All groups went through their required instruction for ten sessions. The findings showed that the different techniques employed in the study were effective on the participants’ achievement in collocation. It was also shown that the TGG and AGG outperformed the other groups. The findings of this study have some pedagogical implications in EFL contexts for teachers, EFL learners, and syllabus designers.