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Showing 12 results for Efl Learners
Reza Ghafar Samar, Mansooreh Amiri,
Volume 11, Issue 1 (3-2008)
Abstract
In order to investigate the relationship between aggressiveness and oral proficiency of Iranian EFL learners, first a TOEFL test was given to 100 EFL students in order to homogenize the sample. Out of this, 71 participants whose scores fell one standard deviation above and below the mean were regarded as intermediate and, therefore, interviewed. They were then asked to complete the Persian version of a validated aggression questionnaire. All the tape-recorded interviews were rated by two raters. Based on their scores on aggression questionnaire, the subjects were divided into two groups of aggressives and non-aggressives and the means of their scores in oral interviews were compared using t-test. Results of the t-test showed that, aggressive and non aggressive groups are different in their oral proficiency. Finally, the correlations between the two main variables and also between four subscales of aggression and all the components of oral proficiency were estimated to see exactly what the nature of the relationships is. Overall, the results of these calculations showed that aggression negatively affects oral proficiency of L2 learners. Moreover, verbal aggression and anger as different subscales of aggressiveness were found to have negative effect on the components of oral proficiency.
Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz, Soroor Ashtarian,
Volume 11, Issue 1 (3-2008)
Abstract
The present study investigated the relationship between the reading comprehension of three types of text and the gender of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, several reading passages with the same length and readability were selected based on which a reading comprehension test was constructed on three different text types namely essay, history, and short story. After determining the validity and reliability of the reading comprehension test, it was administered to 62 male and female students who were at the same level of language proficiency based on their scores on the TOEFL Test. A one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data, the results of which indicated that male and female EFL learners differ in their reading comprehension ability with females being better comprehenders of English passages. The results of a two-way ANOVA also showed that both males and females are better at comprehending essays followed by history and short story, i.e. different types of text are understood differently regardless of the gender of the subjects. The findings are interpreted to have direct implications for EFL teachers and instructors as well as syllabus designers and test developers.
Behzad Ghonsooly, Arezoo Hosienpour,
Volume 12, Issue 1 (3-2009)
Abstract
Recent growth of English as an international language of communication highlights the importance of speaking which everyone needs to use in a multiplicity of contexts. Scholars have shown that concept mapping increases vocabulary learning, and organization of knowledge. However, its impact on enhancing speaking fluency is overlooked. This research project investigates the effect of concept mapping on speaking fluency of Iranian intermediate EFL students. To achieve its purpose, the following research question was proposed: Does concept mapping have any statistically significant effect on speaking fluency of the aforementioned students? 80 second term EFL university students were randomly selected and were randomly assigned to a control and experimental group. We employed concept mapping in the experimental group for twenty two sessions. When the treatment was over a proficiency test was administered to the students as a post-test. The distributions of scores for each variable by all subjects were examined and the results showed that concept mapping had statistically significant effect on speaking fluency of intermediate EFL students.
Hamid Marashi, Layla Baygzadeh,
Volume 13, Issue 1 (3-2010)
Abstract
This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of fostering cooperative learning on EFL learners’ overall achievement. To fulfill the purpose of this study, 56 female students of Saba Language School in Tehran were selected from a total number of 90 based on their performance on the Preliminary English Test (PET) and randomly put into two experimental and control groups. The same content was taught to both groups throughout the 24-session treatment. The only difference was that the experimental group was taught through communicative language teaching with the use of cooperative learning activities, which consisted of the three-step-interview, think-pair-share, paired annotations, round robin, and learning together, while the students in the control group were taught through the communicative language teaching approach without the cooperative teaching procedure. An achievement posttest within the content taught was given to the students in both groups at the end of the instruction and the mean scores of both groups on the test were compared through an independent samples t-test. The result showed the rejection of the null hypothesis thus concluding that cooperative learning had a significant effect on the overall achievement of Iranian EFL learners.
Mahmood Reza Atai, Maryam Nasseri,
Volume 13, Issue 2 (9-2010)
Abstract
Informal fallacies of argumentation as pitfalls of reasoning appear frequently in students' written texts, specially EFL / ESL Learners' argumentative essay writings. The present study examines whether gender could be considered as a determining factor influencing Iranian advanced EFL learners' argumentative writings with regard to informal fallacies of argumentation. The corpus comprised of argumentative essays written by 120 Iranian male and female English language learners. The participants’ age and discipline were also included as independent variables. Nine major categories of informal fallacies were examined in learners’ texts and the observed frequencies were analyzed using MANOVA. The results of the Multivariate Tests for all independent variables and /or their interactions indicated no significant differences for the overall informal fallacies. However, three separate instances of differences were observed. Finally, the findings of the present are discussed in relation to the previous literature and some implications of the study are suggested.
Ali Rahimi, Ali Soltani,
Volume 14, Issue 1 (3-2011)
Abstract
This study investigated the probable relationship between Iranian EFL learners' language proficiency and intercultural sensitivity. It also looked into the feasibility of enhancing their intercultural sensitivity through actual classroom training. To this end, 36 male and female college seniors were randomly selected from two classes after being homogenized. The participants were required, initially, to complete an Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS).They, then, attended a half-a-semester-long intercultural sensitivity training course and completed the same scale once again at the end of the semester. The data obtained through pre-test and post-test were subjected to some statistical techniques such as the Wilcoxon Signed-rank test and the Chi-square test. The results of data analysis indicated that intercultural sensitivity training promoted Iranian EFL students’ intercultural sensitivity level significantly and that there exists a statistically significant relationship between students’ language proficiency and intercultural sensitivity. This study in turn confirms the possibility of teaching intercultural sensitivity and is hoped, if generalized nationwide, to enrich foreign language teaching. It can also encourage ELT practitioners to give due weight to intercultural competence as a crucial component of modern language education.
Fahimeh Marefat, Musa Nushi,
Volume 15, Issue 1 (3-2012)
Abstract
This pseudo-longitudinal study adopted typical-error and corrective feedback approaches to investigating interlanguage fossilization. The errors in the argumentative essays of 76 Iranian EFL learners within and across three proficiency levels were identified and classified using the model proposed by Gass and Selinker (1994). The learners were first provided with implicit and then explicit feedback to see if the two feedback types would improve written production, and if there were errors that persisted. The results indicated that word choice, plural, word form and article “the” were the most frequent types of errors, with word choice topping the list. The results also showed that, although providing learners with feedback could lead to a reduction in errors, explicit feedback was a more effective strategy. However, the t-test results demonstrated that the short-term impact of feedback could not be sustained over time, a finding congruent with those of Truscott (2007) who questioned the efficacy of error correction. Moreover, the findings revealed that the error categories of pronoun, word order, passive and possessive were likely candidates of fossilization because, although for all the other error types implicit feedback could be beneficial, these showed resistance to correction and needed explicit feedback to be eliminated.
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Volume 17, Issue 2 (9-2014)
Abstract
This study investigated the role of interactive output tasks in developing EFL learners’ vocabulary knowledge. The participants were 103 elementary female Iranian EFL learners who were randomly divided into three groups: input-only, input-output-no-interaction, and input-output-interaction. After all participants took a placement test and a vocabulary pretest, the input-only group was exposed to input tasks, while the other two groups received both input and output tasks with or without interaction. Then, all the participants took a vocabulary posttest. The results of ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests showed that the participants in both the input-output-no-interaction group and the input-output-interaction group outperformed the ones in the input-only group in the vocabulary posttest (in both the overall vocabulary test and in the productive vocabulary section). Moreover, the results of the t-test and the Mann-Whitney test revealed that the participants in the interaction and no-interaction groups performed similarly on both the overall vocabulary posttest and the productive vocabulary section. The findings of this study support the idea that output is a facilitative factor for the acquisition of L2 vocabulary and, specifically, productive vocabulary development. The results also suggest that both interactive and non-interactive output-plus-input tasks can lead to higher achievement in vocabulary knowledge compared to the input-only condition lacking output tasks.
Leila Hassanzadeh, Saeideh Ahangari, Nasrin Hadidi Tamjid,
Volume 23, Issue 1 (3-2020)
Abstract
In educational psychology, mindsets refer to a set of core beliefs about intelligence and its role in successful learning in a specific domain. This study investigated the extent to which, the EFL learners’ mindsets might predict their English achievement considering the mediating roles of engagement and self-regulation. The data were collected by means of three questionnaires: The Language Mindset Inventory (LMI), the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI), and the Academic Self-Regulated Learning Scale (A-SRL-S), as well as the institutes’ reports on their English achievement. We analyzed the data quantitatively using the SPSS 20 and Amos 8 Software. The results revealed that there was a significant direct relationship between language mindsets and English achievement of the EFL learners. Besides, this relationship was significantly mediated by the learners’ engagement and self-regulation. Drawing on the findings of this research, the challenge for teachers is to cultivate in students the mindsets that emphasize growth and potentials rather than constraints and stagnation.
Hamid Allami, Mohsen Ramezanian,
Volume 24, Issue 1 (3-2021)
Abstract
People are constrained by their culture and social life when telling stories. A second language learner then cannot be expected to tell stories in the target language without cross-cultural effects that influence the way of narration. The present study examined the role of the first language (L1) and second language (L2) in the organization of narratives by focusing on Persian speakers’ and EFL learners’ lived narratives. For this purpose, 125 oral stories were voice recorded. Seventy-five EFL learners’ narratives and 50 Persian narratives as told by Iranian native speakers were collected via classroom discussions and interviews. To examine the substantive effect of L2 knowledge, the EFL learners were selected from pre-intermediate and upper-intermediate proficiency levels. The Labovian analytical narrative model was employed for the analysis. The findings indicated that EFL learners’ narratives were mostly affected by L1 rather than L2. Furthermore, English linguistic knowledge, rather than the English narrative structure itself, affected the organization of EFL narratives
Naser Rashidi, Mehrnoosh Dehbozorgi,
Volume 26, Issue 1 (3-2023)
Abstract
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in understanding how cognitive skills influence second language acquisition. Cognitive control, a set of mental processes that include attention, inhibition, and working memory, has been shown to play a significant role in language learning. This study examines the impact of cognitive control skills on language development among adult Iranian English learners, comparing it both in online and in person settings. Forty adult EFL learners were divided into two groups and underwent a 9-week instructional period, with cognitive control skills assessed using the Attention Network Task (ANT), working memory tasks, and a Raven’s IQ test. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, regression, and ANCOVA to determine relationships between variables. The results of the study revealed that while aspects of cognitive control like orienting and altering do not have a significant impact on language development, the more complex, controlling aspect exhibits a positive relationship (F=4.937, p=0.033). This relationship was contingent upon controlling for differences between post-examination and primary examination of ANT results, indicating that controlling attention is a stronger predictor of language outcomes. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that the mode of instruction—online or in-person—has no significant impact on this relationship (F=0.009, p=0.925), suggesting that cognitive control operates independently of teaching mode. The study’s findings suggest that educators and curriculum developers should emphasize activities targeting the controlling component of cognitive control in language learning, as this is linked to better language development. Additionally, since the mode of instruction does not significantly impact this relationship, effective language instruction can be delivered in both online and in-person settings, providing flexibility in course design.
Kobra Tavassoli, Marjan Oskouiefar, Masoumeh Ghamoushi,
Volume 26, Issue 2 (9-2023)
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the impact of mobile-assisted learning-oriented assessment (LOA) on the writing ability of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. A total of 60 intermediate Iranian EFL learners were selected through convenience sampling and divided randomly into two groups: control and experimental. Both groups completed pretests and posttests, and the experimental group received nine 90-minute sessions focused on teaching descriptive essay writing using LOA syllabi and mobile applications related to the tasks. The control group followed a traditional writing syllabus without any LOA-related treatments. Both groups used the Adobe Connect mobile application for their online classes. Two open-ended questions were administered to the experimental group at the beginning and end of the course to measure their attitudes toward mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). The data were analyzed using a repeated-measures two-way ANOVA, revealing that mobile-assisted LOA significantly improved the EFL learners’ writing ability. The results of the two open-ended questions indicated that the learners had a positive attitude toward MALL in general but a somewhat negative attitude toward online classes. The findings have important implications for teachers, materials developers, and teacher educators.
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