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The present study investigated the relationship between reflective thinking, general self-efficacy, self-esteem and academic achievement of Iranian EFL students. To this end, 132 Iranian EFL students from three state universities were recruited. To collect the data, the participants completed four questionnaires, namely background information questionnaire, the reflective thinking skills questionnaire, the general self-efficacy scale and Rosenberg self-esteem scale. The results of two correlation matrixes revealed that there were statistically significant positive relationships between general self-efficacy, self-esteem and academic achievement of Iranian EFL students, while reflective thinking had no significant relationship with self-esteem, self-efficacy and academic achievement of the participants; in addition, no significant relationship between the components of reflective thinking and academic achievement of Iranian EFL students was observed. Moreover, the results of multiple regression analysis showed that between self-esteem and self-efficacy, the former was a stronger predictor of academic achievement of the Iranian EFL students.

The present study investigated the possible contribution of Voice Thread (VT) website to the Iranian EFL learners' speaking accuracy in terms of using correct form of hypothetical conditional sentences. Moreover, the language learners' perception of the website was also explored. To this end, 18 English literature freshmen from a state university in Iran were recruited for the study. The participants were randomly assigned to control (n=9) and experimental groups (n=9). The control group performed merely face-to-face tasks while the experimental group conducted face-to-face and asynchronous online speaking tasks using VT website. The results of the mixed methods study revealed that both groups enhanced their speaking accuracy and the experimental group failed to outperform the control group. Furthermore, the findings of a semi-structured interview, which were corroborated by those of dairy writing, indicated that even though the experimental group appreciated the significance of the website, they assumed that it could not cater to their needs. The findings of the study encourage teachers and researchers alike to pay due attention to learners' perception of their learning experience in general and their experience with Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in particular.

The present study was aimed at exploring English teacher trainers' and pre-service and in-service English teachers' attitudes toward English as a lingua franca (ELF) in the Iranian education system. To amass the data, 68 pre-service and 118 in-service English teachers and 21 teacher trainers filled out an adapted ELF questionnaire and sat semi-structured interviews. The results of the study revealed that the participants expressed diverse attitudes to different aspects of ELF. However, generally, they showed further inclination toward native speakerism although some traces of flexibility were observed in their attitudes toward the mainstream English language teaching (ELT). Further, the results of one-way ANOVA showed that overall there was no significant difference between the three groups' attitudes toward ELF. Moreover, the results of Kruskal-Wallis Test also demonstrated no significant difference between the three groups' attitudes to each aspect of ELF. The findings of the study imply that the practitioners' fixed mindsets cannot change unless a significant change occurs in the education system of the country in general and teacher training programs in particular.

This study examines the listening and speaking activities of ELT textbooks adopted in Iranian junior and senior high schools, namely the Prospect and Vision series, with reference to English as a lingua franca (ELF) features. To do so, the researchers analysed the textbooks' activities against ELF criteria adopted from Caleffi's study (2016). The results of the critical content analysis revealed that the textbooks do not provide sufficient exposure to a variety of situational contexts, characters, and cultural elements, and do not provide sufficient opportunities for English teachers to implement the socio-linguistic and socio-cultural realities of the English language in their English classes. This seems to have resulted in unrealistic and unauthentic presentations of English in the textbook series. The findings can encourage national and international ELT textbook designers to eschew a fixed and monolithic approach to the English language and make more extensive use of ELF-informed materials in ELT textbooks.

This case study reports on critical consciousness development of a female school graduate in a reading comprehension course. Critical pedagogy (CP) principles were adopted in the course during which the participant was encouraged to read a set of passages critically and write critical journals. In addition, after reading each passage, she participated in a relevant critical discussion with the tutor. Thematic analysis was adopted to trace the participant's critical consciousness development. The results showed that even though she developed critical consciousness to a great extent, this could not modify her ideology about an issue affecting her life directly. Furthermore, thematic analysis of an unstructured interview revealed that the participant was satisfied with the implementation of CP principles in teaching reading skills. The findings suggest that teachers need to give further weight to students' critical consciousness and teacher training programs need to raise teachers' awareness of its impact on students' social life.

The aim of the current study was twofold: examining the influence of contextual variations on EFL teachers' attitudes toward accent and culture in the English as an international language (EIL) context and exploring reasons that shape teachers' viewpoints toward them. Data were collected from 43 public-school English language teachers and 63 private language institute instructors in Iran using a newly designed questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The results of t-test revealed that there was no significant difference between the two groups' attitudes toward the two elements of EIL. Participants in both settings considered the accents spoken in Inner Circle countries as an ideal pedagogical model. On the other hand, they believed both target and local cultures should be included in language classroom. They attributed their views toward EIL accent to the washback effect of standardized test, comprehensibility issue, and their own language learning experience. Teachers also referred to the link between language and culture and the significance of being aware of different cultures as the reasons behind their attitudes toward EIL cultural norms. The findings demonstrate the necessity of building a dialogic relationship between theoreticians/policymakers and practitioners to make EIL amenable for classroom settings.

Dynamic assessment (DA), having its theoretical base in Vygotskyan Sociocultural theory of mind, is a newly developed classroom assessment through which learners are helped to perform beyond their current ability. Drawing upon the theoretical aspect of DA, the present study explored the impact of DA on the development of speaking skills. To this end, a beginner and an advanced English language learner were recruited for the present study. To collect the data, the participants narrated a set of picture stories during which they received mediation based on their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Microgenetic and thematic analysis as a data analysis framework was employed to identify any possible changes in the participants' cognition development. Moreover, the participants' private speech was considered as an index of their movement toward self-regulation. The findings revealed a significant development in the participants' cognition and their movement toward further self-regulation. Furthermore, the results of thematic analysis of unstructured interviews showed their satisfaction with DA. The findings of the study call for teachers' and materials developers' attention to learners' individualized needs which require tailored mediation to help them move forward toward further self-regulation.

This study investigated the relationship between student satisfaction with speaking classes, speaking skills self-efficacy beliefs, and speaking skills achievement. To this end, one hundred Iranian EFL undergraduate students filled out two questionnaires; a research-made and pilot-tested questionnaire for student satisfaction with speaking classes, and a questionnaire for speaking skills self-efficacy beliefs, adapted from Rahimi and Abedini (2009), Gahungu (2007), Wang et al. (2013), and Saeidi and Ebrahimi Farshchi (2012). Participants' final scores in speaking skills were collected from their instructors and regarded as a measure of their speaking skills achievement. The results of Pearson correlation analyses showed that both student satisfaction with speaking classes and speaking skills self-efficacy beliefs had significant positive correlations with speaking skills achievement, with the latter being stronger. Moreover, the results of Pearson correlation analyses also indicated the existence of a significant positive correlation between student satisfaction with speaking classes and speaking skills self-efficacy beliefs. Multiple regression analyses showed that between the independent variables of the study, speaking self-efficacy beliefs was a significantly stronger predicator of Iranian EFL students' speaking skills achievement.

The present study investigated the speaking skills problems faced by Iranian EFL freshmen and seniors from their own and their English instructors' perspectives. To this end, 238 Iranian EFL students (138 freshmen and 100 seniors) and 30 English instructors from various universities participated in the study by completing a validated speaking skills problems questionnaire. To triangulate the data, 30 EFL students (15 freshmen and 15 seniors) and ten English instructors, selected randomly from among the participants of the study, also sat a semi-structured interview. The results of the study revealed that some socially-related and instructor-related problems, the lack of teaching facilities, and the curricula of the education system of the country were among the major problem-creating factors for the freshmen's and seniors' speaking skills. Furthermore, the t-test results showed that overall there was no significant difference between the freshmen's and the seniors' perceptions of their own speaking skills problems. The results of Chi-square analyses of the individual items of the questionnaire indicated that there was no significant difference between the freshmen's and the seniors' perceptions except for item 1 (I am afraid of making mistakes). In addition, the results of one-way ANOVA showed that overall there was no significant difference among the freshmen's, the seniors' and the instructors' perceptions of speaking skills problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]