The significance of pauses in EFL listening comprehension tests

Many EFL (English as a Foreign Language) listening comprehension tests use multiple-choice formats. How well such tests are devised is a crucial issue in EFL assessment and instruction. An important aspect of such tests is the time interval between items. Pauses between items are highly significant because they affect the processing of oral linguistic data and EFL learners require time to focus on form, as suggested by Krashen's Monitor Model. The present study examines the effects of variation in time interval between test items on the performance of a group of EFL learners studying English for a BA degree at an Iranian institution of higher education. Twenty-nine undergraduate students in a listening comprehension class took part in the study. Data were collected on their beginning proficiency and listening ability. As part of their course, the learners also took three parallel listening comprehension tests developed by the National Test Center of the institution (the central branch of the University Of Payame-Noor). These three listening tests were modified and the tapes were rerecorded to include 10- 30-, and 60-second intervals between items. The analysis of variance between their performances on the tests indicated that the length of time interval between items was a very significant factor. Students performed significantly better on the test with 30-second intervals between items. The findings of the study sensitize EFL teachers to plan for the assessment of listening performance. They also contribute to arguments about the depth of linguistic processing and the issue of time in EFL listening comprehension

Professional Identity Construction Issues in Becoming an English Teacher

AbstractTeachers’ professional identity construction (TPI) is how teachers define their professional roles and integrate them with personal roles while becoming and being a teacher. TPI is influenced by various factors and conditions both inside and outside the classroom. The present paper reports a study of TPI in relation to prospective English teachers currently learning English at Iranian tertiary level of education. The study attempted to summarize the main findings of recent studies of teachers’ professional identity. These findings were classified under three categories: a) the construction of TPI, b) the characteristics of TPI, and c) practicing teachers’ narration of TPI., the major factors affecting TPI were also summarized in four categories, based on the related literature: 1) historical factors, 2) sociological factors, 3) psychological factors, and 4) cultural factors related to perceptions and notions of professional community. Informed by these ideas, the study presents findings of a survey of TPI issues reported by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) student teachers. 47 randomly selected student teachers in their senior undergraduate or graduate studies in EFL in a major university in central Iran responded to a five-point, Likert-scale, researcher-made questionnaire on TPI. The initial analyses of their responses, strengthened by follow-up focus-group interviews with eight of these participants, revealed that student teachers expected more support given from the authorities, sought for more cultural knowledge of English-speaking countries, expected a lax attitude toward the use of the Internet, audio-visual materials, and multicultural reading and writing materials. They would like to be equipped with more communicative teaching techniques and more power to develop up-to-date materials. This study have some implications for teacher education programs in Iran

The Effects of Task Complexity on English Language Learners’ Listening Comprehension

This article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the impact of manipulating task performance conditions on listening task performance by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was designed to explore the effects of changing complexity dimensions on listening task performance and to achieve two aims: to see how listening comprehension task performance was affected and to investigate possible overlaps between EFL learners’ perceptions of task difficulty and hypothesized task complexity. A purposive sample of 54 first-year EFL learners randomly assigned to two parallel conversation classes in an English department of a major public university participated in the study and performed listening tasks in a language lab. The instruments used for data collection were seven tasks taken from a TOEFL Test Preparation Kit, each followed by listening comprehension questions and an item on the participants’ personal perception of the difficulty of the task. During counter-balanced administrations, the tasks were manipulated for one of the four dimensions of task difficulty (adequacy, immediacy, perspective, and prior knowledge). The resulting data included the participants’ perception of difficulty as well as their performance scores under less complex and more complex conditions. One-sample T-test and correlation analyses of the data revealed that for all of the four complexity dimensions, the hypothesized less complex task condition led to better learner performance. The correlation between learner-assigned difficulty score for the task at hand and theoretical task complexity level was significant only for the immediacy dimension (r=-0.67, p<.05). The results offer support for task complexity frameworks, raise doubts about learners’ perceptions of tasks, and imply possibilities for task manipulation in language learning contexts

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SELF-ESTIMATES OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AMONG LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

According to Howard Gardner, human intellectual ability cannot be measured by a unitary concept of general intelligence, and the performance of cognitive tasks draws on different types of intelligence, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, natural, and existential. Despite the lack of adequate empirical support and recent doubts raised about its validity, this view of multiple intelligences has been extensively employed for the characterization of learners and the development of tasks for language teaching and learning. Whereas gender differences in the learning and use of language have been extensively researched, context-specific information on gender differences in different domains of multiple intelligences has not been seriously examined. The survey reported here is based on the hypothesis that multiple intelligences vary not only at the individual level, but also in the case of gender at a cultural level, and uses Mckenzie's Multiple Intelligences Survey to explore possible gender differences in Gardner’s intelligences. Questionnaire data relating to each of the nine intelligences was elicited from 300 undergraduate volunteers studying English at the University of Kashan in central Iran. The questionnaire included 90 statements and 10 items on each intelligence, and was used to identify the intelligence profile of the participants according to their own self-estimates. The scores for each intelligence type were calculated, analyzed and compared across genders. The results of the study showed that in contrast to the trend observed in previous research, female learners tended to rate themselves higher on most intelligences and their means were significantly higher than those of male learners in the areas of naturalistic and existential intelligences. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications not only for the reconsideration of previous claims that males rate themselves more highly with regard to intelligences, but also for the MI theory itself. 

Researching Aptitude in a Process-based Approach to Foreign Language Writing Instruction

In the study reported here, we explored writing processes employed by 70 undergraduate learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) through questionnaires and think-aloud protocols. Then we looked for possible differences in the writing processes employed by high- and low-aptitude learners. We observed that learners with higher aptitude scores devoted more attention to clausal complexity than those with lower levels of aptitude. Moreover, they resorted less frequently to their mother tongue while writing texts in English. High-aptitude EFL learners also used more global planning strategies than their low-aptitude peers and edited while writing much more frequently. Our review showed that even though aptitude has been extensively researched in second language acquisition and shown to correlate with the level of success in different skills, it has rarely been considered in relation to writing processes. We suggest that, as classroom teachers, EFL writing instructors accumulate and incorporate knowledge of their students’ aptitude in deploying their teaching strategies.

Uncovering Undergraduate English-as-a-Foreign-Language Learners’ Perceptions of Reticence

The study of factors influencing undergraduate learners’ participation and/or reticence in second/foreign language classrooms, a relatively recent line of research, can contribute to the betterment of language teaching and learning practices. In this work, we attempt to investigate the causes of a population of undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ reticence by focusing on their own perceptions and by seeing the problem from their perspective. 201 male and female undergraduate Iranian EFL learners selected randomly based on Krejcie and Morgan’s formula for determining sample size served as the participants of the study. The data were collected through interviews, observations and a five-point Likert-scale researcher-made questionnaire. The results of the analyses of the data through qualitative content-based coding of the transcripts, frequency counts, and factorial analysis of the questionnaire responses revealed the following: a) based on systematic class observations, most students appeared to understand teachers’ instruction, took notes, and spoke when addressed; however, they rarely asked questions or volunteered responses; b) unfriendly and competitive class atmosphere, boring and useless topics and materials, and having unmotivated and serious teachers were among the most  frequent  learner-perceived factors causing reticence; c) based on the results of exploratory factorial analysis, 12 factors including  learner anxiety,  poor class management, peer/ teacher correction,  background knowledge, grouping learners, and self-image were reported as the main causes of reticence. Based on these findings, we make suggestions for EFL teachers about how to consider students’ concerns and to promote class participation