Grammar Teaching Revisited: EFL Teachers between Grammar Abstinence and Formal Grammar Teaching

Abstract: The study of English language teachers’ cognitions and its relationship to teachers’ classroom practices have recently been the focus of language teaching and teacher education (Borg, 2006 & 2010). However, rarely have the studies delved into teachers’ knowledge about grammar (reviewed by Borg, 2001) or investigated the relationships between teachers’ knowledge about grammar and teachers’ actions (Borg, 2003; Sanchez, 2010). Moreover, these studies have been mostly conducted by English native speaker researchers who do not necessarily have the same cultural or linguistic background of the participants in the studies (Andrew, 2001 cited in Sanchez, 2010, p. 45). Also, they are largely confined to English native speaker teachers and few have addressed non-native speaker teachers in countries where English is a foreign language (Sanchez, 2010, p. 45). In response to these gaps in the area of second language teaching, this study investigates four English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ views about grammar teaching to give an aggregate picture of the way they teach grammar. The research database consists of audio-recordings of these teachers’ lessons and interviews in which they explain why they adopt a deductive or an inductive approach, how they teach grammar and how they respond to students’ errors. Implications for non-native EFL teacher education are also discussed

Teachers’ Perceptions, Interaction Patterns And Strategies Towards Iranian Efl Students’ Willingness To Communicate Or Reticence

Kajian ini merupakan kajian bilik darjah yang menggunakan reka bentuk kajian kes kualitatif dengan analisis kuantitatif tambahan untuk menyiasat bagaimana guru EFL Iran mewujudkan atau menghalang peluang untuk bercakap bagi pelajar yang ingin berkomunikasi (WTC) dan pelajar yang kurang ingin berkomunikasi dengan menggunakan corak interaksi dan strategi yang berbeza. This study is a classroom research adopting a qualitative case study design with supplementary quantitative analyses to investigate how the Iranian EFL teachers create or obstruct opportunities to talk for willing to communicate (WTC) and reticent students using different interaction patterns and strategies

Technology in Language Education: Benefits and Barriers

Technology, especially e-learning technology, is being increasingly employed in instruction to enhance teaching and learning. This paper is a preliminary discussion of the advantages of and barriers to the use of technology in language instruction. Understanding the benefits and barriers of technology integration is a crucial step in integrating technology into education successfully. Lack of this knowledge may significantly impede stakeholders and educational centers from meeting the challenges of introducing and supporting the extensive use of technology by teachers in the classroom. Findings from empirical research in this area, as well as implications for language practitioners, are included in the discussion. Keywords: Language teaching, Technology, Barriers, Benefits

Internet addiction and its psychosocial risks (depression, anxiety, stress and loneliness) among Iranian adolescents and young adults: a structural equation model in a cross-sectional study

Internet addiction has become an increasingly researched area in many Westernized countries. However, there has been little research in developing countries such as Iran, and when research has been conducted, it has typically utilized small samples. This study investigated the relationship of Internet addiction with stress, depression, anxiety, and loneliness in 1,052 Iranian adolescents and young adults. The participants were randomly selected to complete a battery of psychometrically validated instruments including the Internet Addiction Test, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and the Loneliness Scale. Structural equation modeling and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between Internet addiction and psychological impairments (depression, anxiety, stress and loneliness). Pearson correlation, path analysis, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and t-tests were used to analyze the data. Results showed that Internet addiction is a predictor of stress, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Findings further indicated that addictive Internet use is gender sensitive and that the risk of Internet addiction is higher in males than in females. The results showed that male Internet addicts differed significantly from females in terms of depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness. The implications of these results are discussed

Increasing willingness to communicate among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students : effective teaching strategies

This article looks at English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) as one of the predictors of their participation in classroom activities and L2 use in the classroom. A review of the literature highlights the potential role of teachers’ discourse and interaction strategies as one of the causes of learners’ WTC. Through reviewing the relevant literature and by deriving some insights into the relationship between language teacher talk and learners’ opportunity to participate, we suggest ways in which teachers can intervene in their patterns of teacher-learner interaction to provide their learners with ample opportunities to volunteer ideas and to participate more in classroom activities