Perspective Chapter: English for Academic Purposes Teacher Education – Prerequisites, Predicaments, and Perquisites

A scrutiny of the factors which sway language instruction in the context of the classroom has made the researchers cognizant of the fact that teachers perform a pivotal role in the process of instructed Second Language Acquisition (SLA). The apprehension of this issue has prompted a large number of researchers to use teacher education as a surrogate for the traditional term teacher training in order to illustrate the multi-layered nature of the prospective teachers’ preparation period. Meanwhile, SLA researchers have taken cognizance of the fact that even the state-of-the-art teacher education courses may not empower the language instructors, who teach English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses, to fulfill their potential in the pertinent courses. Considering the above-mentioned issues, this chapter strives to review the recent research in order to: (a) expound on the essential prerequisites for the development of EAP teacher education courses; (b) determine the probable major hurdles in the teaching of these courses; and (c) extol the virtues of the relevant courses in different academic settings

Anxiety: A Source of Test Bias?

The present study investigated the foreign language classroom anxiety and test anxiety as sources of bias in English vocabulary and grammar tests. First, 158 intermediate EFL learners were selected as the participants. Second, the participants respectively took the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986), Test Anxiety Scale (In’nami, 2006), the vocabulary test of the study, and the grammar test of the study in a 2-week period. The standard multiple regression was employed for data analysis. The results revealed that, classroom anxiety and test anxiety had significant negative correlations with the vocabulary and grammar test results.&nbsp

Type 2 diabetes remission after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), sleeve gastrectomy (SG), and one anastomosis gastric bypass (OAGB) : results of the longitudinal assessment of bariatric surgery study

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the staff at the Minimally Invasive Surgery Research Center (MISRC) in Rasoul-e-Akram Hospital. Funding Information: This study was supported by the Deputy of Research of Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

An Investigation of the Differential Effects of Visual Input Enhancement on the Vocabulary Learning of Iranian EFL Learners

This study investigated the effect of visual input enhancement on the vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL learners. One hundred and thirty-two EFL learners from elementary, intermediate and advanced proficiency levels were assigned to six groups, two groups at each proficiency level with one being an experimental and the other a control group. The study employed pretests, treatment reading texts, and posttests. T-test was used for the analysis of the data. The results revealed positive effects for visual input enhancement in the advanced level based on within group and between groups’ comparisons. However this positive effect was not found for the elementary and intermediate levels based on between groups’ comparisons. It was concluded that although visual input enhancement may have beneficial effects for elementary and intermediate levels, it is much more effective for the advanced EFL learners. This study may provide useful guiding principles for EFL teachers and syllabus designers. 

Linguistic Focus of Language Related Episodes in Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners’ Group-based Interactions: A Case Study

The present study investigated linguistic focus of language related episodes (LREs),in Iranian EFL classrooms. Eighteen male participants in the advanced and intermediate levels from Urmia branch of Academic Centre of Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) participated in the study. They were assigned to intermediate and advanced levels with one class at each level, based on their results on a placement test. Then, the data were collected over five weeks, two one-hour sessions per week for each class during which the participants carried out some communicative tasks. Next, these interactions were analyzed to account for the types and contents of their LREs. The results revealed that L2 learners in both advanced and intermediate levels were primarily concerned with lexical LREs. Furthermore, based on the results it was found that incidental focus on form lended itself more easily to vocabulary teaching compared to other language components while grammar needs more explicit techniques of focus on form instruction.

Linguistic Focus of Language Related Episodes in Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners’ Group-based Interactions: A Case Study

The present study investigated linguistic focus of language related episodes (LREs),in Iranian EFL classrooms. Eighteen male participants in the advanced and intermediate levels from Urmia branch of Academic Centre of Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) participated in the study. They were assigned to intermediate and advanced levels with one class at each level, based on their results on a placement test. Then, the data were collected over five weeks, two one-hour sessions per week for each class during which the participants carried out some communicative tasks. Next, these interactions were analyzed to account for the types and contents of their LREs. The results revealed that L2 learners in both advanced and intermediate levels were primarily concerned with lexical LREs. Furthermore, based on the results it was found that incidental focus on form lended itself more easily to vocabulary teaching compared to other language components while grammar needs more explicit techniques of focus on form instruction.

Linguistic Focus of Language Related Episodes in Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners’ Group-based Interactions: A Case Study

The present study investigated linguistic focus of language related episodes (LREs),in Iranian EFL classrooms. Eighteen male participants in the advanced and intermediate levels from Urmia branch of Academic Centre of Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) participated in the study. They were assigned to intermediate and advanced levels with one class at each level, based on their results on a placement test. Then, the data were collected over five weeks, two one-hour sessions per week for each class during which the participants carried out some communicative tasks. Next, these interactions were analyzed to account for the types and contents of their LREs. The results revealed that L2 learners in both advanced and intermediate levels were primarily concerned with lexical LREs. Furthermore, based on the results it was found that incidental focus on form lended itself more easily to vocabulary teaching compared to other language components while grammar needs more explicit techniques of focus on form instruction.

An Investigation of the Differential Effects of Visual Input Enhancement on the Vocabulary Learning of Iranian EFL Learners

This study investigated the effect of visual input enhancement on the vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL learners. One hundred and thirty-two EFL learners from elementary, intermediate and advanced proficiency levels were assigned to six groups, two groups at each proficiency level with one being an experimental and the other a control group. The study employed pretests, treatment reading texts, and posttests. T-test was used for the analysis of the data. The results revealed positive effects for visual input enhancement in the advanced level based on within group and between groups’ comparisons. However this positive effect was not found for the elementary and intermediate levels based on between groups’ comparisons. It was concluded that although visual input enhancement may have beneficial effects for elementary and intermediate levels, it is much more effective for the advanced EFL learners. This study may provide useful guiding principles for EFL teachers and syllabus designers. 

An Investigation of the Learning Strategies as Bias Factors in Second Language Cloze Tests

The present study investigated the contribution of the EFL students’ learning strategies to the explanation of the variance in their results on language tests. More specifically, it examined the role of these strategies as bias factors in the results of English cloze tests.  Based on this aim, first, 158 intermediate EFL learners were selected from among 324 language learners of a private language institute in Urmia (Iran) as the participants of the study based on their results on a proficiency test. Second, the selected participants respectively received Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and the cloze test of the study for the assessment of their learning strategies and English cloze test performance during two sessions in a one-week period. The standard multiple regression was employed for data analysis. The results of the study showed that, there were significant positive correlations between the learners’ metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies and their cloze test performance. Based on these results, it was argued that, the learners’ learning strategies may be systematic test bias factors in second language cloze tests. The results of the present study may have useful practical implications for the EFL teachers and syllabus designers. Moreover, these results may provide certain theoretical guidelines for second language testing specialists.

Anxiety: A Source of Test Bias?

The present study investigated the foreign language classroom anxiety and test anxiety as sources of bias in English vocabulary and grammar tests. First, 158 intermediate EFL learners were selected as the participants. Second, the participants respectively took the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986), Test Anxiety Scale (In’nami, 2006), the vocabulary test of the study, and the grammar test of the study in a 2-week period. The standard multiple regression was employed for data analysis. The results revealed that, classroom anxiety and test anxiety had significant negative correlations with the vocabulary and grammar test results