Iranian EFL Teachers' Familiarity, Attitudes and Willingness towards Different Internet Tools and their Applications

The purpose of this study was to explore the Iranian EFL teachers' familiarity, attitudes and willingness toward applying different internet tools in their classrooms. It also investigated the platform problems and teachers' main concerns towards integrating these tools. Accordingly, 263 EFL teachers who were randomly selected from different institutes in three Iranian provinces were asked to answer the researchers-made questionnaire. The results revealed that EFL teachers 1) are highly familiar with most of the internet tools; 2) have highly positive attitudes towards using and integrating internet tools in their classrooms; 3) are willing to use these technologies for developing certain language skills competency; and 4) are highly concerned about culturally inappropriate materials and students' internet dependability and autonomy. Furthermore, it was found that the results were affected by variables such as teachers' age and educational degree. Finally, it was concluded that in spite of the EFL teachers' positive attitudes and willingness towards these tools, still they are facing some challenging concerns about the application of the given tools due to some cultural and platform problems

An Analysis of the English Class Discourse in the Iranian High Schools

One of the decisive factors of students’ success in second language learning is employing interactive strategies related to Bakhtin’s notion of dialogic discourse. Following Bakhtin’s conceptualization of discourse (1981), monologic and dialogic patterns can be considered as the opposing ends of the teacher’s discourse continuum. Given this, the current research intended to find out whether the Iranian high school teachers maintain a monologic discourse in their classes or a dialogic one. To accomplish this goal, a comprehensive exploration of the related literature carried out to identify the features differentiating monologic and dialogic discourse, which proved to be around thirteen. Afterwards, based upon the enumerated characteristics of the two discourse patterns, structured interviews were conducted with ten high school English teachers. Moreover, one case study was conducted to boost the reliability of interview’s findings in which a teacher’s classes were observed, video-taped, transcribed, and analyzed for recognizing the type of discourse pattern used by the teacher. The analysis of the findings from both interviews and the case study using grounded theory and conversation analysis revealed that the teachers used a monologic discourse pattern in their classes. Implications are provided in terms of the Iranian EFL context

Iranian EFL Teachers' Familiarity, Attitudes and Willingness towards Different Internet Tools and their Applications

The purpose of this study was to explore the Iranian EFL teachers' familiarity, attitudes and willingness toward applying different internet tools in their classrooms. It also investigated the platform problems and teachers' main concerns towards integrating these tools. Accordingly, 263 EFL teachers who were randomly selected from different institutes in three Iranian provinces were asked to answer the researchers-made questionnaire. The results revealed that EFL teachers 1) are highly familiar with most of the internet tools; 2) have highly positive attitudes towards using and integrating internet tools in their classrooms; 3) are willing to use these technologies for developing certain language skills competency; and 4) are highly concerned about culturally inappropriate materials and students' internet dependability and autonomy. Furthermore, it was found that the results were affected by variables such as teachers' age and educational degree. Finally, it was concluded that in spite of the EFL teachers' positive attitudes and willingness towards these tools, still they are facing some challenging concerns about the application of the given tools due to some cultural and platform problems

A Model of Research Article Writing Sociolinguistic Competence (RAWSC): Evidence From Qualitative Meta-Synthesis and Follow-Up Interviews

The knowledge of sociolinguistic factors can be a remarkable component of competence in research article writing for learners’ successful handling of scholarly writing tasks in English for academic purposes (EAP) programs. This study aimed to present a model of Sociolinguistics Competence (SC) in writing EAP research articles. Give this, two stages were followed. Firstly, a meta-synthesis approach was adopted to investigate the available literature on various aspects of SC and extract the latent themes and concepts in the target model. As a result, two categories emerged from the combination of five concepts and 258 codes. Secondly, an introspective stage was followed to explore the perceptions of a sampled number of EAP Iranian researchers of features of research article writing sociolinguistic competence and their difficulties relevant to the sociolinguistic aspects of writing RAs. Data for this stage came from interviews with nine Iranian EAP researchers who have published in highly prestigious journals. Conducting thematic analysis in the introspective stage resulted in 118 codes and four subcategories. The interview findings confirmed the main categories obtained from the meta-synthesis. The combination of the findings of meta-synthesis and interviews yielded a reductionist yet inclusive account of EAP research article writing sociolinguistic competence

The Nexus between Iranian EFL Students’ Big Five Personality Traits and Foreign Language Speaking Confidence

This study sought to explore the extent to which Iranian EFL students’ personality traits influence their foreign language speaking confidence in the classrooms. To do so, Big Five Inventory questionnaire developed by John et al. (1991) and foreign language speaking confidence questionnaire, based on MacIntyre et al. (1998) heuristic model, designed by Apple (2011) were applied to collect the data. 217 Iranian EFL learners were invited to participate in the study. Multiple regression analysis revealed that learners’ foreign language speaking confidence is positively affected by their personality trait. Findings also indicated that favorable social conditions in the classrooms and classroom climate influenced learners’ speaking confidence. Concerning the relationship between gender and foreign language speaking confidence, statistically significant association was found. Various educational implications and recommendations for further works were proposed

The Nexus between Iranian EFL Students’ Big Five Personality Traits and Foreign Language Speaking Confidence

This study sought to explore the extent to which Iranian EFL students’ personality traits influence their foreign language speaking confidence in the classrooms. To do so, Big Five Inventory questionnaire developed by John et al. (1991) and foreign language speaking confidence questionnaire, based on MacIntyre et al. (1998) heuristic model, designed by Apple (2011) were applied to collect the data. 217 Iranian EFL learners were invited to participate in the study. Multiple regression analysis revealed that learners’ foreign language speaking confidence is positively affected by their personality trait. Findings also indicated that favorable social conditions in the classrooms and classroom climate influenced learners’ speaking confidence. Concerning the relationship between gender and foreign language speaking confidence, statistically significant association was found. Various educational implications and recommendations for further works were proposed

Iranian EFL Teachers' Familiarity, Attitudes and Willingness towards Different Internet Tools and their Applications

The purpose of this study was to explore the Iranian EFL teachers' familiarity, attitudes and willingness toward applying different internet tools in their classrooms. It also investigated the platform problems and teachers' main concerns towards integrating these tools. Accordingly, 263 EFL teachers who were randomly selected from different institutes in three Iranian provinces were asked to answer the researchers-made questionnaire. The results revealed that EFL teachers 1) are highly familiar with most of the internet tools; 2) have highly positive attitudes towards using and integrating internet tools in their classrooms; 3) are willing to use these technologies for developing certain language skills competency; and 4) are highly concerned about culturally inappropriate materials and students' internet dependability and autonomy. Furthermore, it was found that the results were affected by variables such as teachers' age and educational degree. Finally, it was concluded that in spite of the EFL teachers' positive attitudes and willingness towards these tools, still they are facing some challenging concerns about the application of the given tools due to some cultural and platform problems

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF TEACHER’S CULTURAL IDENTITY SCALE IN EFL CONTEXT: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING APPROACH

Due to the importance of culture in each society, several researchers have offered different definitions. Several studies have also been conducted on language, ego, ethnic, national, religious and modern identity. However, no validated model is proposed for Iranian cultural identity in English Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. Therefore, this research constitutes a relatively new area through developing and validating teacher’s cultural identity scale in the EFL context. Drawing on existing literature and various categorization of culture, the researchers used different sources, including Persian literature, social and cultural education, theology and history books to extract different components of culture. One hundred and thirty items were created primarily based on operational definitions of each component. The items were reviewed by a group of experts. After reviewing the items, the researchers piloted and tested the questionnaire using a sample of 305 EFL teachers. A final model of Iranian cultural identity with fifty-eight items underlying the eleven-factor model was specified in exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability of items with Cronbach’s alpha (a=0.864) for the whole instrument was found to be adequate. Furthermore, the convergent and discriminate validity of the items has been found to be satisfactory

How Creative Are Iranian EFL Teachers?

The study of creativity has been of great interest to educationalists in general and language teaching practitioners in particular. With all these however, very little if any has been reported on the issue in Iranian EFL context. Having this in mind and drawing on the latest profile of creativity, effort was made to see how creative Iranian EFL teachers are. In so doing, a total of 36 English language teachers filled a checklist designed based on EFL Teachers’ Creativity Profile (EFLTCP). The results indicated that the participants’ perception did not match the way they performed their activities in the classroom. The main discrepancies were seen in teachers’ Expertise and Management perceptions with their real practice in the classroom. The findings of this study can be used by language teacher educators, curriculum designers, and language teachers

The Nexus between Iranian EFL Students’ Big Five Personality Traits and Foreign Language Speaking Confidence

This study sought to explore the extent to which Iranian EFL students’ personality traits influence their foreign language speaking confidence in the classrooms. To do so, Big Five Inventory questionnaire developed by John et al. (1991) and foreign language speaking confidence questionnaire, based on MacIntyre et al. (1998) heuristic model, designed by Apple (2011) were applied to collect the data. 217 Iranian EFL learners were invited to participate in the study. Multiple regression analysis revealed that learners’ foreign language speaking confidence is positively affected by their personality trait. Findings also indicated that favorable social conditions in the classrooms and classroom climate influenced learners’ speaking confidence. Concerning the relationship between gender and foreign language speaking confidence, statistically significant association was found. Various educational implications and recommendations for further works were proposed