Motivation and Quality of Work Life among Secondary School EFL Teachers

This study set out to investigate the relationship between quality of work life and teacher motivation among 160 secondary school English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Tehran, Iran. In addition, 30 of the participants were randomly selected to take part in follow-up interviews which asked why they felt the way they reported. The results revealed that the participants enjoyed a medium level of quality of work life and experienced a medium-to-low level of motivation. In addition, a significant relationship was found between motivation and quality of work life categories. Furthermore, the sub-scales of the quality of work life that best predicted teacher motivation were identified. The findings of this study have implications for teacher educators and educational decision makers in bringing about higher levels of motivation and quality of work life among English language teachers

Core Units of Spoken Grammar in Global ELT Textbooks

Materials evaluation studies have constantly demonstrated that there is no one fixed procedure for conducting textbook evaluation studies. Instead, the criteria must be selected according to the needs and objectives of the context in which evaluation takes place. The speaking skill as part of the communicative competence has been emphasized as an important objective in language teaching. The present study explored the core units of spoken grammar inherent in four widely-used ELT textbooks following McCarthy and Carter’s (2002) classification. A coding scheme was developed to make it possible for the researchers to use the classification in codifying the data. The data were then analyzed to detect the units of spoken grammar inherent in the target textbooks. Results from codification of dialogues and transcripts of audio recordings showed that the units of spoken grammar are not evenly distributed in these ELT textbooks. In addition, a significant difference was found between the textbooks in their inclusion of different categories of the spoken grammar

Exploring EFL Teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Ethical Climate: The Mediating Role of Organizational Justice

Organizational justice has been significantly considered in industrial psychology, human resource management, and organizational behavior studies (Ismail, 2015). However, this issue is less explored in educational contexts. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and ethical climate among Iranian secondary school EFL teachers. 386 EFL teachers selected via multi-stage cluster sampling responded to three questionnaires of organizational citizenship, ethical climate, and organizational justice posted online. To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics (structural equation modeling and regression analysis) were used. The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the organizational citizenship behavior and ethical climate within the schools. Organizational justice was also found to have an influential role in this relationship. In addition, OCB was highly influenced by the ethical climate

The cotton charcoal rot causal agent, Macrophomina phaseolina, biological and chemical control

The fungus Macrophomina phaseolina causes charcoal rot disease (CRD) in cotton, whose symptoms develop in the late stages of growth and result in wilting and death. Despite significant research efforts to reduce disease incidences, effective control strategies against M. phaseolina are an ongoing scientific effort. Today’s CRD control tends toward green options to reduce the chemicals’ environmental footprint and health risks. Here, different Trichoderma species were examined separately and in combination with Azoxystrobin (AS) in semi-field open-enclosure pots and a commercial field throughout a full season. In the pot experiment, the T. asperellum (P1) excelled and led to improvement in growth (13%–14%, day 69) and crops (the number of capsules by 36% and their weight by 78%, day 173). The chemical treatment alone at a low dose had no significant impact. Still, adding AS improved the effect of T. longibrachiatum (T7507) and impaired P1 efficiency. Real-time PCR monitoring of the pathogen DNA in the plants’ roots at the harvest (day 176), revealed the efficiency of the combined treatments: T. longibrachiatum (T7407 and T7507) + AS. In a commercial field, seed dressing with a mixture of Trichoderma species (mix of P1, T7407, and Trichoderma sp. O.Y. 7107 isolate) and irrigation of their secreted metabolites during seeding resulted in the highest yields compared with the control. Applying only AS irrigation at a low dose (2,000 cc/ha), with the sowing, was the second best in promoting crops. The molecular M. phaseolina detection showed that the AS at a high dose (4,000 cc/ha) and the biological mix treatments were the most effective. Reducing the AS chemical treatment dosages by half impaired its effectiveness. Irrigation timing, also studied here, is proven vital. Early water opening during the late spring suppresses the disease outburst and damages. The results demonstrated the benefits of CRD bio-shielding and encouraged to explore the potential of a combined bio-chemo pest control approach. Such interphase can be environmentally friendly (reducing chemical substances), stabilize the biological treatment in changing environmental conditions, achieve high efficiency even in severe CRD cases, and reduce the development of fungicide resistance

Modeling Structural Relationship Between Perceived Organizational Support and Quality of Work Life Among Secondary School Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

Teachers’ quality of work life (QWL) is an umbrella concept that refers to the degree of satisfaction a teacher experiences with respect to his or her job and the overall work situations which are influenced by three factors of organizational support including participation in decision making, fairness of rewards, and growth opportunity. The present study examined the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and QWL among secondary school teachers of English as a foreign language. To this end, employing a descriptive correlational method, the researchers selected a number of 173 male and female teachers who were selected via probability multistage cluster sampling from among a population which consisted of EFL teachers at secondary schools in Tehran (N=1826), Iran. Data collection instruments included an attitude survey based on Allen, Armstrong, Reid, and Riemenschneider (2008) model of POS as well as Walton’s (1973) QWL questionnaire. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data. The relationship between POS and QWL was found to be .71. In other words, the three dimensions of POS could affect the QWL by 71 percent. More specifically, the three dimensions of participation in decision making with 21.4, fairness of rewards with 24.7, and growth opportunity with 64.1 percent could be used to predict the QWL. These findings are important in that they demonstrate that POS is significantly related to the QWL of EFL teachers which can in turn significantly affect the performance of these teachers at schools

Academic Writing and Grammatical Accuracy: The Role of Corrective Feedback

As pesquisas sobre o efeito de proporcionar retroalimentação corretiva sobre escritura em L2 com frequência têm produzido resultados contraditórios. Este estudo se desenvolve sob uma linha de pesquisa que busca indagar sobre o papel da retroalimentação corretiva no processo de escritura. Da mesma, realiza-se um grande aporte à linha de pesquisar ao analisar os diferentes tipos de retroalimentação existentes em um contexto de escritura académica de inglês como língua estrangeira. A população objetivo do estudo foram quarenta e cinco estudantes de pós-graduação matriculados em um curso de escritura académica o qual tinha uma duração de doze semanas (24 sessões). Estes estudantes durante o curso receberam os seguintes tipos de retroalimentação: retroalimentação direta, reunião docente - estudante e sem retroalimentação corretiva. O estudo revelou importantes descobertas em quanto aos efeitos de receber retroalimentação de forma imediata ou tardia permitindo melhorar a precisão dos trabalhos dos estudantes. Com isto se sugere que as melhoras na precisão da escritura poderiam atribuir-se ao tipo de retroalimentação proporcionada.Las investigaciones sobre el efecto de proporcionar retroalimentación correctiva sobre escritura en L2 a menudo han producido resultados contradictorios. Este estudio se desarrolla bajo una línea de investigación que busca indagar sobre el papel que juega la retroalimentación correctiva en el proceso de escritura. Así mismo, se realiza un gran aporte a la línea de investigación al analizar los diferentes tipos de retroalimentación existentes en un contexto de escritura académica de inglés como lengua extranjera. La población objetivo del estudio fueron cuarenta y cinco estudiantes de posgrado matriculados en un curso de escritura académica el cual tenía una duración de doce semanas (24 sesiones). Estos estudiantes durante el curso recibieron los siguientes tipos de retroalimentación: retroalimentación directa, reunión docente - estudiante y sin retroalimentación correctiva. El estudio reveló importantes hallazgos en cuanto a los efectos de recibir retroalimentación de forma inmediata o tardía permitiendo mejorar la precisión de los trabajos de los estudiantes. Con esto se sugiere que las mejoras en la precisión de la escritura podrían atribuirse al tipo de retroalimentación proporcionada.Investigations into the effect of providing corrective feedback on L2 writing have often produced contradictory results. This study, following a line of research concerned with the role of corrective feedback in writing, contributes to this line of research by analyzing different feedback types in an EFL academic writing context. 45 graduate university students enrolled in an academic writing course were provided with different types of feedback (direct feedback; student-teacher conference; no corrective feedback) over a course of 12 weeks (24 sessions). The study found significant immediate and delayed effects for the student-teacher conference type of feedback on students` overall accuracy improvement. It is suggested that improvements in writing accuracy could at least in one respect be attributed to the type of feedback provided

La escritura académica y la precisión gramatical: El papel de la corrección

Investigations into the effect of providing corrective feedback on L2 writing  have often produced contradictory results. This study, following a line of research concerned with the role of corrective feedback in writing, contributes to this line of research by analyzing different feedback types in an EFL academic writing context. 45 graduate university students enrolled in an academic writing course were provided with different types of feedback (direct feedback; student-teacher conference; no corrective feedback) over a course of 12 weeks (24 sessions). The study found significant immediate and delayed effects for the student-teacher conference type of feedback on students’ overall accuracy improvement. It is suggested that improvements in writing accuracy could at least in one respect be attributed to the type of feedback provided.Las investigaciones sobre el efecto de proporcionar retroalimentación correctiva sobre escritura en L2 a menudo han producido resultados contradictorios. Este estudio se desarrolla bajo una línea de investigación que busca indagar sobre el papel que juega la retroalimentación correctiva en el proceso de escritura. Así mismo, se realiza un gran aporte a la línea de investigación al analizar los diferentes tipos de retroalimentación existentes en un contexto de escritura académica de inglés como lengua extranjera. La población objetivo del estudio fueron cuarenta y cinco estudiantes de posgrado matriculados en un curso de escritura académica el cual tenía una duración de doce semanas  (24 sesiones). Estos estudiantes durante el curso recibieron los siguientes tipos de retroalimentación: retroalimentación directa, reunión docente – estudiante  y sin retroalimentación correctiva. El estudio reveló importantes hallazgos en cuanto a los efectos de recibir retroalimentación de forma inmediata o tardía permitiendo mejorar la precisión de los trabajos de los estudiantes. Con esto se sugiere que las mejoras en la precisión de la escritura podrían atribuirse al tipo de retroalimentación proporcionada