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Guided by a revised version of Cross and Hong's framework based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological system theory, the present study adopted a mixed-methods approach to explore teacher emotions in an EFL context. It aims to better understand teacher emotions and the influencing factors of these emotions in the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem of the above-mentioned framework. A total of 109 university EFL teachers completed an online questionnaire survey, and seven of them participated in the follow-up semi-structured interviews. The quantitative analysis of the questionnaire data revealed that the participants demonstrated different levels of the five focal emotions (joy, love, anger, fear, and sadness), and joy was the most frequently experienced emotion. Results also suggested that interactions with students, colleagues, leaders and family (from the microsystem), struggle with work-family balance (from the mesosystem), the performance evaluation system (from the exosystem) and the curriculum reform (from the macrosystem) emerged as important influencing factors of teacher emotions. Implications were discussed, and suggestions concerning emotion regulation were offered to EFL teachers working in tertiary institutions within China and similar contexts., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Han, Wei and Wang.)

Introduction: The current study aims to investigate the impact of online language exchanges on the speaking skills and willingness to communicate (WTC) of Chinese postgraduate students in an advanced English program. The study compares two intact classes: e-tandem, who communicate with foreign English speakers through the Tandem language exchange application, and conventional, who participate in collaborative speaking tasks inside the class. The study also examines the attitudes and perceptions of the EFL learners toward the online language exchanges., Methods: 58 Chinese postgraduate students were recruited from a second-year advanced English program and divided into two intact classes: e-tandem and conventional. The e-tandem group used the Tandem language exchange application to communicate with foreign English speakers online, while the conventional group participated in collaborative speaking tasks inside the class. The data were collected through the IELTS speaking module, WTC scale, and semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics., Results: Both groups showed improvement in their speaking skills and WTC. However, the e-tandem group outperformed the conventional group. The findings indicate that online language exchanges have a positive impact on the speaking skills and WTC of EFL learners. The EFL learners also had positive attitudes and perceptions toward the online language exchanges, although some expressed reservations., Discussion: The study concludes that online language exchanges can be an effective tool for improving the speaking skills and WTC of EFL learners. The study also suggests that collaborative speaking courses in EFL settings should consider incorporating online language exchanges. However, the study also highlights the need to address the concerns and reservations expressed by some EFL learners regarding online language exchanges. Overall, the study has important pedagogical implications for EFL settings, suggesting that online language exchanges can enhance speaking skills and WTC., Competing Interests: The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Zhou.)

Positive psychology has recently gained a great momentum, which per se motivated us to scrutinize the correlation between teachers' positive psychological capital (TPPC) and their work engagement (WE). The correlation between these two variables has been discovered to be significant as it can create a friendly educational ambiance for the learners to passionately learn. Although several studies have been conducted regarding the aforementioned variables separately or with regard to some other variables, a study on their bond and importance has remained unaddressed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find the relationship between TPPC and their WE. The participants of this study were 412 Chinese teachers (including 82 males, and 330 females) of different ages and levels of education. Two online instruments were utilized in this study, namely Positive Psychological Capital Scale and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). The results showed a positive and significant association between these two variables. The implications of this study are finally discussed in light of previous studies. Some implications are also offered to EFL educators., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023 The Author.)

This article investigates the effects of stroke on students' L2-grit levels in an EFL context in Northern Iraq. A model was created to find how various components such as verbal, non-verbal, valuing, and activities that determine stroke levels affect students' grit. This study adopted the L2- Grit scale and a language domain-specific grit scale to measure the learners' L2-grit levels. Also, the Students' Stroke Scale (SSS) was used to measure the participants' stroke levels. The study's sample consisted of 199 participants from various academic levels, undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate at several Northern Iraq universities. The results reveal a positive and statistically significant association between the score on the L2-Grit scale and the score on the Stroke scale; more specifically, as the scores on the L2-grit scale rise, so do the scores on the Stroke scale. The mean of low stroke is lower than the means of medium stroke and high stroke indicating that as people's stroke levels grow, so does their L2-grit status. The regression coefficients estimated within the framework of the regression model structured with the logit, the link function, are the same in each category of the dependent variable, satisfying the parallel curves assumption. The overall results show that positive stroke helps learners' L2-grit levels to arise and lead to a better learning process., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Mohammed, Mohammadzadeh and Kiliç.)

Flipped classrooms have attracted widespread attention and interest from English for foreign language (EFL) practitioners and researchers and are regarded as a promising pedagogical approach to increase learning outcomes and facilitate learner engagement. This article takes stock of the publications on learner engagement in flipped EFL classrooms. In so doing, we aim to clarify the engagement construct specific to the EFL classroom setting, summarize the effect that flipped classrooms have on EFL learners' engagement, and identify factors affecting engagement. We find that there has been a range of debates and tensions regarding flipped classrooms and learner engagement in EFL settings, and that more theory-grounded empirical studies are needed to delineate learner engagement in localized flipped learning and teaching contexts. We would argue that in future research, multiple variables, including learner dynamics and social-psychological factors, should be considered while flipping the EFL course so that practitioners can provide tailor-made support to improve learners' engagement levels., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Li and Li.)

This longitudinal study analyzed university students' cognition in learning an English for young learners (EYL) course. A qualitative method was used to get the data from 28 students who took the tiered EYL courses, EYL 1, EYL 2, and EYL 3, at a private university by giving them open-ended questionnaires for three semesters, or one and a half years. Semi-structured interviews with those 28 students were also used as the triangulation data at the end of each semester. The findings indicate a very extreme change in pre-service teachers' cognition, such as motivation, perception, and belief. At the end of their lecture, students initially interested in learning English for young learners did not want to become EYL teachers. On the other hand, students who enrolled in the EYL course for non-academic reasons wanted to have a profession as an EYL teacher after completing the EYL courses. It proves that students' interest in teaching English to young learners and the length of time spent studying EYL teaching knowledge do not assure those pre-service teachers are increasingly convinced to have a teaching profession., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Astutik, Setiawan and Anam.)

Utilizing a pre-experimental pre-test post-test design, this study investigated the effect of an authentic audio-visual American sitcom ( Friends ) on the intercultural sensitivity (ICS) and intercultural effectiveness (ICE) of a sample of male and female upper-intermediate English students. To this aim, 34 Iranian EFL students were selected through convenient non-random sampling. In order to assure the participants' homogeneity in English proficiency, the selected students were given the Oxford Quick Placement Test prior to the intervention. Over a 10-week period, the participants were presented with nearly 30-min-long episodes of Friends in a flipped context, two episodes every week uploaded to the accompanying website. An online 10-item quiz on the day of watching and a next-day meeting were held. During the online discussion meetings, the participants discussed cultural questions tailored to the aims of the study. The required data were collected through the administration of the intercultural sensitivity scale (ISS) and intercultural effectiveness scale (IES) in pre- and post-test assessments. The analyses of the data indicated that both ICS and ICE improved significantly during the intervention. However, ICS indicated more improvement. In addition, a semi-structured interview was administered to the participants to examine their perception of the flipped classroom experience. Having analyzed the data using MAXQDA 2020, some significant themes emerged which are reported. On the whole, the participants portrayed positive attitudes toward using technology in flipped classes. The educational and practical implications are discussed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Khabir, Jabbari and Razmi.)