Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes
Volume:11 Issue: 4, Autumn 2022

The present research aimed to conceptualize the construct of ERPP by designing and validating a questionnaire in the Iranian EAP (English for Academic Purposes) context. In so doing, a tentative scale with 60 items was piloted on 100 experienced Iranian EAP teachers. The results of the analyses, using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (EFA, CFA), led to the discovery of 37 items on a five-point Likert scale. Moreover, the results revealed that the construct of ERPP has 12 factors including “grammatical errors”, “proofreading”, “the quality of the English writing”, “supporting non-native English writers”, “sounding like a native English writer”, “the importance of the editors and reviewers to be native English speakers”, “advantages of using English as a professional language”, “English grammar and vocabulary”, “English genres and discourse”, “English research article structure and style”, “English journal submission and revision processes”, and “time requirements for article writing and revision”. Likewise, the convergent validity and reliability of the instrument to measure the construct of concern was statistically confirmed (CR>0.7; p>.05). The findings have various implications for ERPP teachers, teacher trainers, course designers, and language researchers by raising their awareness of ERPP and its underlying components. In particular, EAP instructors can employ various resources to promote the students’ awareness of how to get their papers published. Likewise, by taking part in ERPP courses and becoming familiar with the publishing practices and criteria, the students can enhance their academic authorship skills.

One of the major concerns in language education is making theory and practice to be visibly connected. Fulfilling this aim, the present study sought to introduce a new mode of strategically mediated reflective instruction, reflective reciprocal teaching (RRT), and investigate its impact on Iranian EFL learners’ academic self-concept by focusing on its components. To this end, the current study, adopting a quasi-experimental design, was conducted in a 6-stage treatment following the cognitive apprenticeship principles mentioned by Collins et al. (1989). Convenience sampling was used to select intact classes with 100 freshman EFL learners. A translated version of the Academic Self-concept Inventory was utilized as the pre-post assessment tool. MANCOVA was exploited to examine changes in group means and determine how well the intervention program worked to improve the learners’ academic self-concept. The numerical data signified that the RRT instruction significantly impacted the components of learners’ academic self-concept. In other words, increasing learners’ positive self-perception about their competence dealing specifically with creativity, intellectual ability, self-regulation, and motivation, could be fulfilled under special programs considering them as agentive figures with respected abilities when working cooperatively with significant others (teacher & peers).

The importance of communicative skills, especially writing, in today's world is undeniable. Therefore, teachers try to use effective strategies to foster language learners' writing skill. Among the strategies, creative writing has attracted the attention of applied linguists. This study attempted to investigate the effect of creative writing on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ writing fluency and writing confidence. Furthermore, it investigated the role of language learners’ personality as a moderator variable, i.e., extroversion/introversion. Participants of this study were 60 EFL learners selected from Daneshgah High School in Zahedan. They were randomly divided into two groups, namely, control and experimental. Writing fluency, writing confidence tests, and personality type indicator scales were used for collecting data. The data were analyzed using t-test and ANOVA. The results of the data analysis revealed that creative writing had a significant effect on learners' writing fluency and writing confidence enhancement. However, the interaction between the treatment and personality was not significant. It is concluded that creative writing can be used as a teaching strategy to foster EFL learners’ writing skills.

Writing poses a daunting challenge not only for learners but also for teachers who are assumed to have achieved native-like dexterity in and held self-efficacious beliefs about writing as a prerequisite for a promising teaching career. The present study, hence, set to explore Iranian EFL teachers’ writing performance and writing self-efficacy (WSE) in the light of their gender and teaching experience. To this end, a stratified sample of 80 EFL teachers (40 males and 40 females) was selected from a research population of about 120 at Shokouh-e-Iran and Jahad-e Daneshghahi English Centers in Urmia. The two groups were further subdivided based on their teaching experience into three groups of novice (N = 15) 1-4 years of teaching experience, developing (N = 13) with 5-9 years and experienced (N = 12) with over 10-years of teaching. The group members were requested to do a writing task and also complete the Teachers’ WSE Scale, the results of which were further analyzed through two-way analysis of variance tests (ANOVA) and a correlational analysis. The findings revealed a lower-than-expected average for the teachers’ writing performance score with novice teachers as the weakest with no significant difference between male and female participants’ WSE. However, teaching experience was found to significantly impact the participants WSE and further correlational analyses supported the significantly positive relationships between experienced and developing teachers’ writing performance and their WSE. The findings highlight the need to enhance ELT teachers’ writing if any significant improvement is expected to occur in their WSE.

This mix-methods study aimed to explore the impact of scaffolding genre knowledge on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) graduate students’ academic writing skills. The initial population included 100 (62 females and 38 males) M.A. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) students who took advanced writing course. They were selected from Islamic Azad University, Tehran and Alborz branches. The method for sample selection was convenience sampling. Oxford placement test (OPT) was employed to homogenize the sample, and 50 advanced learners, including 31 females and 19 males, were selected based on its results. Next, they were divided into an experimental group and a control group in which the experimental group was taught based on scaffolding genre knowledge, and the control group received instruction according to the class regular syllabus. After that, IELTS academic writing task 2 was used as the pretest. The treatments lasted for 16 sessions, and each session took 90 minutes. Upon finishing the treatment, the same IELTS academic writing task 2 was run as the posttest. Then, the researcher-made questionnaire was administered to the experimental group’s students to measure their perceptions quantitatively regarding genre knowledge. To explore the students’ perception concerning the instructions qualitatively, the semi-structured individual interviews were administered to ten students who were chosen from the experimental group. The results showed that scaffolding genre knowledge had significant impact on the Iranian EFL learners’ academic writing skill. Furthermore, the qualitative findings showed that the learners adopted positive views toward scaffolding genre knowledge in developing their academic writing skills.

Constructive alignment has been examined in recent years as an instrumental curriculum design notion in education; however, few studies have been done regarding its effectiveness in an EFL writing course. This study examined whether designing a virtual flipped classroom based on the Constructive Alignment principles made any changes in learners’ writing ability, self-efficacy, and attitude. Besides, the learners’ prior learning experience was considered to study whether prior distance learning or in-person learning experience had any effects on the results. To this aim, a homogeneity test was administered and 80 students from two Iranian universities were selected as the final participants. After being assigned randomly into four groups, two experimental and two control groups, some instruments including writing tests, a self-efficacy questionnaire, an attitude questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview were utilized to elicit the data. Over a period of one semester, both the CAFG1 and CAFG2, with different prior learning experiences, as the experimental groups were taught in a constructively aligned flipped learning mode in which the course plan including both cognitive and affective domains had been organized according to CA. The quantitative data of the pretest and posttest of a paragraph writing and self-efficacy questionnaire were analyzed based on One-way ANOVA and post hoc Scheffe’s tests indicated that both CAFGs outperformed the Non-CAFGs on paragraph writing and writing self-efficacy; however, the quantitative and qualitative data collected via writing attitude questionnaire and semi-structured interview indicated all the students’ positive attitudes toward writing. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications were further provided.