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The present study explores communication strategies used by Iranian advanced EFL learners to overcome communication problems. This study aims to explore EFL learners' awareness of communication strategies. To this end, 17 advanced EFL learners who were willing to participate in the study were selected through snowball sampling. Their awareness of communication strategies was then explored through open-ended interviews and analyzed in line with the coding schemes of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1991). Iterative data collection and analysis yielded four main categories including explicit, reciprocal, implicit, and reduction strategies. Each of these strategies covers some subcategories. To visualize the findings and explore the degree to which the abstracted strategies reflect the participants' perspective, the transcribed data, along with the emerged strategies were fed to MAXQDA. This study can contribute to effective oral communication by elaborating on the notion of communication strategies and reaching communicative goals. The findings have implications for language learners, language teachers, and materials developers.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of small-group student-led discussion as a pre-writing task on the writing performance of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, a quasi-experimental study design was employed in which 80 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, with the former being required to engage in small-group student-led discussions prior to writing paragraphs on a predetermined topic. Their paragraphs were subject to analysis focussed on the components of vocabulary, grammar, content, writing mechanics, and organization. Results indicated that, following the treatment, learners' writing performance improved significantly according to raters' holistic evaluation, as well as specifically in relation to the elements of content and vocabulary. Our study indicates that the socially negotiated nature of learners' interactions can help them engage with and develop a more wide-ranging and in-depth understanding of written content.

In line with the concept of mobile learning in English Language Teaching (ELT), the aim of this research is to explore how Iranian ELT practitioners take advantage of social media to propose supportive and impactful language learning programs by adhering to persuasive linguistic devices. The research design is nonexperimental and explorative. ELT-related commercial videos and pictures were identified on social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. We delved into the syntactic and pragmatic features of the data on ELT-related ads to identify the persuasive techniques and strategies these ads resort to for attracting language learners to online classes and services. To analyze the data, the widely-used and acknowledged Cialdini's (The psychology of persuasion, Quill William Morrow, 1984) principles of persuasion are employed. The results manifested that 'reciprocity' and 'scarcity' were the most used persuasive strategies, while 'commitment and consistency' and 'consensus' were the least favorable persuasion principles in these ads. The analysis of the Iranian ELT-related ads indicated that the language used within this context is purposeful and strategic. A contextual investigation of the ELT-related ads on social media can meaningfully contribute to social practices underlying English language pedagogy and digital literacy.

Research on the discursive features of graffiti in institutional settings is in its infancy and few studies have investigated the phenomenon and its implications in educational contexts. In this paper, we report on a study in which we employed systemic functional linguistics (Halliday in Learning how to mean, Edward Arnold, 1975). to probe communicative functions and gender differences in Iranian university student graffiti that appeared in all-male and all-female locations. The data comprised authentic instances of graffiti generated by students, analysis of which suggests that male and female university students each have their own distinctive motives for using graffiti, as realised in significant differences observed in the context-specific functions they perform. Graffiti pieces represented a distinctive and meaningful way of communicating, and its most salient features were creativity, simplicity and variation. Indications are that university students' graffiti reflects psychological and social challenges, and the thoughts, attitudes and feelings expressed through it serve students' personal and interactional purposes.

This study explores discourse markers (DMs) as they occur with compliment responses (CRs) in classroom interactions among Iranian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Using the tenets of conversation analysis, this paper draws on data from teacher-student interactions in several private language institutes in Iran. After audiorecording and transcription of the compliment-response exchanges, 148 DMs were identified within the responses. These sequences were analyzed to find out how DMs are combined with four distinct CR types; accept, mitigate, reject, and request interpretation. DMs were also identified and categorizedbased on their frequency of occurance and semantic features to allow comparison with previous findings. The results of this study revealed that Iranian EFL learners resorted to a limited number of DMs in responses to teacher-generated compliments, with "linking" DMs being the most favorable type. Moreover, some DMs were accompanied by a specific CR type which helped the formation of an intended illocutionary force by the complimentee. It was also observed that a DM or a combination of these markers can stand alone as a legitimate and functional response to compliments, which further reveals that DMs can contribute to both semantic and pragmatic meaning. These findings clearly suggest that explicit teaching of DMs in English language classes should be taken into consideration, as these linguistic elements can provide learners with important tools to convey their intended meaning more smoothly and effectively.

In the field of TESOL, teacher guides are widely used resources providing instructional support and guidance to English language teachers. Drawing upon Vygotskian sociocultural theory, this research explored how novice language teachers perceive the mediational roles of these artifacts in shaping their teaching practices and the affordances and constraints they attribute to them. Through examination of semi-structured interview data, this qualitative study uncovered that teacher guides function as potent scaffolding tools, providing teachers with procedural, instructional, and emotional support. However, despite these scaffolds, the teachers expressed their apprehensions regarding their excessive dependence on guides and their limited accommodation of diverse classroom dynamics and student needs. The teachers indicated their practice of appropriation, where they adapted teacher guide content to suit the sociocultural milieu of their classrooms and the diverse cognitive and affective needs of their students. Additionally, the teachers mentioned a gradual transition toward self-regulated teaching, where they rely more on personal expertise and creativity and less on teacher guides. This study contributes to our understanding of the complex dynamics and dual agency between teachers and teacher guides, emphasizing the need for more inclusive and reflective pedagogical resources to support teachers’ growth and autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactions to death have been examined in line with psychological, behavioral, and social perspectives (Zunin & Zunin, 2007). That being the case, the bereavement discourse has not been given sufficient attention appropriate to its communicative functions. This paper aims at investigating the bereavement discourse among Persian and English speakers, delving into the common communicative themes and extracting semantically meaningful categories. I also intend to make a cross-cultural comparison based on the common themes. The data of this study include 743 condoling sentences gathered through movie analysis, which can be a good source representing societal norms and cultural stereotypes (Pimentel, 2010). The bereavement discourse in movies was categorized under six general functions: (1) expressing regret; (2) offering condolence; (3) sharing feeling; (4) offering help; (5) extending sympathy; and (6) religious-oriented comments. The Chi-square test was conducted to find out whether the differences between these two groups of speakers are significant. I also discuss that the differences are meaningfully attributable to cultural conventions and social norms. Therefore, the relationship between micro and macro contexts is considered to make broader cultural inferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Activating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in the Language Classroom" is a book that explores innovative approaches to language education. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing the connection between language and culture and advocates for a dynamic and mediated understanding of language. The book presents the findings of the Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Reinvented (LINCDIRE) project, which aimed to transform language education through collaboration and the development of a learner-centered online tool. The book consists of 11 chapters organized into four parts, covering topics such as plurilingualism, holistic education, digital collaboration, and the implementation of innovative practices in diverse classrooms. The project's innovative features have the potential to empower students and teachers and enhance the practical implementation of plurilingualism and online technologies. [Extracted from the article]

In this study, an attempt is made to probe two sets of widely used ELT textbooks in the Iranian context based on the representation of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). In accord with the theoretical assumptions underlying ICC, we analysed seven English textbooks to find out how they take into consideration the intercultural components including intercultural knowledge, intercultural attitude, and intercultural skills. This paper manifested that unlike the locally produced Iranian Vision series, the Top Notch series was found to take a much broader international approach in representing cultural elements associated with the development of language learners' ICC. The Vision series has failed to include diverse intercultural components. This alienation is highlighted through insufficient references to the target (or other) cultures, whereby it results in the deprivation of language learners from the authentic, real-life cultural contexts, which adversely affects the development of language learners' intercultural competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the intricate dynamics of student–faculty interactions in asynchronous online communication, focusing in particular on professors’ responses to non-native English-speaking students’ (NNSs’) favor-asking during online exchanges. Through qualitative analysis of email exchanges, this research examines how students articulate their concerns and requests for grade reassessment, and how professors respond to such instances of favor-asking. This study indicates that politeness is a more critical issue in asynchronous email communication than whe face-to-face interactions. The findings reveal that students often challenge professors’ authority by questioning assessment fairness, whereas professors employ disaffiliative strategies to maintain academic rigor and uphold their authority. This study highlights the role of cultural norms and politeness strategies in shaping these interactions, suggesting that a lack of awareness regarding these norms can lead to misunderstanding and escalate tensions. Furthermore, this research underscores the necessity of teaching pragmatic communication skills to non-native speakers to enhance their engagement and effectiveness in academic discourse. This study illuminates the complexities of these exchanges, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by both students and faculty in the context of assessment and communication in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores three famous American newspapers as an attempt to find out how Iranian women are depicted in these three American newspapers. Three national newspapers (The New York Times , Los Angeles Times , and The Washington Post) were consulted as authority to gain information about Iranian women. Two hundred and thirteen headlines about Iranian women were identified in these three newspapers published over a period of 10 years. Through qualitative corpus analysis, we noticed that Iranian women are represented with regard to five generic categories (patterns): Ethics and Dress Coding (EDC); Political Activism (PA); Political System (PS); Social Condition and Trends (SCT); and Praising Comments (PC). The patterns identified in these three newspapers regarding Iranian women indicate that material culture (physical aspect of culture) is highlighted by the American press when referring to Iranian women. The article also concludes that these three newspaper agencies manifest a pseudo-logical representation of Iranian women, which fails to acknowledge the dynamic life of Iranian women, and ignores local identities at the expense of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the paucity of research done on the reported speech of L2 speakers compared with the body of work based on native speakers, particularly in the domain of education, this study investigates 'polyphony' (the dialogic nature of discourse) in the indirect reports of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in light of Bakhtin's concept of 'double-voiced discourse' (DVD) (Bakhtin, 1984; Zbikowski, 2002). The goal of the article was to characterise the types of reporting attested in L2 data in the language-learning classroom and to analyse instances of discord between speakers' voices to better understand what gives rise to these differences in an additional language. To achieve this, we observed naturally occurring interactions between Iranian EFL learners to see how they change the original speech in their indirect reports via the use of semantic and syntactic transformations. The findings revealed traces of distorted reported speech that not only refute the monophonic nature of indirect reports among the interactants but also emphasise the representational characteristics of DVD in its different forms. Samesaying and distorted reported speech are closely examined in accord with the nature of an L2 produced in a language-learning classroom. This article contributes to interlanguage pragmatics, with a focus on sociopragmatic variations that delve into intersubjectivity in language interaction in an institutional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to describe how metapragmatic devices can exert change in indirect reporting. This was achieved through the analysis of naturally occurring indirect reports during interaction. Specifically, indirect reports were extracted from a series of expert talks (≈800 minutes) broadcast by Iranian national TV. The analysis of these expert talks showed cases of communicative 'know-hows', where Persian speakers reflectively managed the dialogue in terms of their interpretation of the original utterance. Accordingly, Persian speakers negotiated the degree of reflexivity by changing the verb of saying and by adhering to specific syntactic markers. Thus, contrary to previous research, the present study revealed that Persian indirect reports can benefit from some syntactic markers to show that speakers do not perfectly adhere to the pragmatic force of the original speaker's utterance. By contrast, Persian speakers use classes of markers, or contextualisation clues (Gumperz 1982), to show their control over the utterances. These markers are generally used to indicate politeness, uncertainty, and summarisation in Persian indirect reports. Such markers can distinguish indirect reports in Persian from those of other languages such as English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of cognitive apprenticeship on the speaking proficiency of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. The study follows a randomized pre-test–post-test control group design, with an experimental group receiving instruction based on cognitive apprenticeship principles and a control group receiving conventional instruction. Sixty intermediate Iranian EFL learners participated in this study. The participants’ speaking proficiency was assessed using the Preliminary English Test (PET) and two IELTS speaking tests. Trained examiners evaluated the participants’ performance on the basis of established speaking proficiency criteria. The results indicate that the experimental group, which received instruction following cognitive apprenticeship principles, outperformed the control group in terms of speaking proficiency. The experimental group demonstrated significant improvement from pre-test to immediate and delayed post-tests in terms of IELTS speaking proficiency (t (29) = −7.57 and −6.97, p = .000), with a large effect size (eta squared = −1.7 and −1.3). This study contributes to the understanding of effective language instruction and highlights that cognitive apprenticeship can be a valuable approach to enhance speaking skills in EFL learners. The interactive and learner-centered nature of cognitive apprenticeship promotes active engagement, autonomy, and meaningful language use. The findings have implications for language educators in creating dynamic and learner-centered learning environments that promote speaking proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of cognitive processes in compliment-response (CR) exchanges is an underdeveloped area of investigation. This article aims to probe whether Persian speakers' responses to compliments change in line with their appraisals of the situation. To achieve this aim, Persian speakers' responses to compliments are analysed based on their first and second appraisals of the event. In this study, with a focus on the CR exchanges, Persian speakers (N = 160) were observed and audio-recorded during everyday conversation. The results of this study manifest that Persian speakers have distinct (and even opposite) reactions based on their first and second appraisal of compliments. This suggests, therefore, that Appraisal 1 and Appraisal 2 undergo different sociocognitive processes that reflect automatic and non-automatic responses to compliments. It is concluded that the relation between Appraisal 1 and Appraisal 2 is mostly contradictory rather than confirmatory, in that the first compliment is mostly appraised as a politeness strategy (a social lubricant), whereas the second compliment is frequently appraised as purposeful or strategic praise. In addition, the first compliment is responded to automatically, whereas the second compliment is approached non-automatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the study is to uncover responding patterns to compliments among Iranian learners of English (EFL learners) and native English speakers observed through online video chats on Skype. This study's participants were 40 Iranian EFL learners and 40 English speakers. The findings revealed that the compliment responses (CRs) of EFL learners were similar to those of English speakers with regard to global strategies (both accepted the compliments largely). However, it was revealed that EFL learners' CRs were to some degree under the influence of Iranian cultural values such as sha'n (dignity), shekasteh-nafsi (modesty), tarof (insincere offer), and adab-va-ehteram (courtesy and respect). These cultural values act as a moderator variable that Persianised the English responses that EFL learners provided. The findings revealed that the responding patterns of participants do not change when the medium of communication (e.g. face-to-face vs. online interactions) changes. This study also shows that for those who speak English as a foreign language, pragmatic competence may be greatly regulated by L1 conventions, the ramification of which is cross-cultural miscommunication and pragmatic failure manifested in L2. This study contributes to learning and teaching pragmatics in the EFL context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]