EFL teachers have encountered learners with xenoglossophobia for many years. This establishes the urge to shed light on the components of this complication. This study elucidated the constituents of this language related anxiety and the subsequent (mal)adaptive coping strategies employed by Iranian EFL learners. A comprehensive Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted, incorporating 1119 qualitative and quantitative studies to identify the components contributing to this phobia. Subsequently, a series of focus group interviews were conducted with 96 Iranian EFL learners to gain insights into their (mal)adaptive xenoglossophobia regulating strategies. The components were validated through Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) using the developed scale for 349 available Iranian EFL learners. Also, the interviews were thematically analyzed. The findings indicated cognitive, emotional, behavioral, environmental, cultural, technological, and learning variables as significant contributors to this complication. Moreover, adaptive coping strategies included mindfulness, cognitive reframing, seeking support, and using Artificial Intelligence, ‘AI-driven chatbots’. Furthermore, maladaptive coping strategies were self-criticism, procrastination, absence or withdrawal, and disruptive classroom behavior. This study provides the key components of xenoglossophobia which may benefit EFL community members and educational psychologists. It is also beneficial to the formulation of targeted interventions aimed at advancing therapeutic approaches and counseling programs in clinical psychology.

Professional development is thought to be most effective when teachers participate and collaborate in groups. The present study was to find the collaborative inquiry role in EFL teachers’ professional development and their perceptions of collaborative inquiry benefits and challenges. In so doing, 185 Iranian EFL teachers were selected by convenience random sampling. The data were collected by Collaborative Inquiry Survey, Professional Development Questionnaire of Teachers, and collaborative inquiry interview and analyzed by multiple regression and constant comparative method. The findings indicated that collaborative inquiry affected teachers’ professional development regarding learning environment, cooperation, and educational planning. Furthermore, nine themes emerged from the analysis of the collaborative inquiry benefits and challenges interviews, namely awareness of colleagues’ interests and educational issues, collegial atmosphere for learning, new understandings and developing interactive activities, feeling confident about pedagogical competence, risk of losing face, unpredictable results, tight schedules, lack of discussion culture, and disinterest in changing (inflexibility). The findings highlighted the encouragement of teachers to be involved in collaborative learning, which has implications for policymakers and school staff.

The present study sought to find Iraqi EFL teachers’ perceptions of their language assessment literacy, their assessment self-efficacy, and the relationship between these two variables. For this purpose, a survey design was adopted, and 140 Iraqi EFL teachers were selected using convenience sampling. The data were collected using the Language Assessment Literacy Scale and Assessment Self-Efficacy Scale and analyzed using Pearson correlation, one-sample t-test, and descriptive analysis. The data collection process took four months, and informed consent was obtained from the participants. The findings indicated that the items of the language assessment literacy scale, included in the five sub-scales of teachers’ knowledge of assessment objectives, scopes and types, assessment use consequences, fairness, assessment policies, and national policy and ideology, were highly appraised by Iraqi EFL teachers. Regarding assessment self-efficacy, the teachers evaluated themselves as efficacious in assessing students measured by self-efficacy for summative and formative assessment, overall self-efficacy in assessment, and assessment avoidance. Additionally, teachers’ knowledge of assessment objectives, scopes, and types was positively correlated with self-efficacy for summative assessment, self-efficacy for formative assessment, and overall self-efficacy in assessment. Fairness was positively related to self-efficacy for summative and formative assessment, and the consequences of the assessment use were positively correlated with self-efficacy for summative assessment and overall self-efficacy in assessment. In general, Iraqi EFL teachers possess a robust understanding of the various aspects of language assessment and expressed a high level of self-efficacy in their assessment capabilities, especially concerning both summative and formative assessments. The positive correlation between language assessment literacy and self-efficacy further emphasizes the importance of equipping teachers with comprehensive assessment skills, as it not only elevates their confidence but also enhances their ability to implement effective assessments.

The proficient use of parallel structures in essay writing plays a vital role in enhancing language proficiency among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Exploring effective instructional strategies, such as input flooding, can contribute significantly to improved writing outcomes. This study investigates the impact of input flooding techniques on the utilization of parallel structures in essay writing among EFL learners, comparing two instructional settings: flipped online and flipped face-to-face. A total of 73 participants were randomly assigned to three groups: the flipped online group (n=24), the flipped face-to-face group (n=22), and a control group (n=27). In the flipped online approach, the participants were exposed to input flooding through pre-recorded videos and received online feedback on their essays, allowing for extensive exposure to parallel structures. In the flipped face-to-face approach, the participants received the same instructional materials emphasizing relevant structures and engaged in activities to promote the use of parallel structures. The control group followed their regular instructional method without any specific intervention. Following the treatment sessions, all participants underwent a post-test essay assessment to evaluate their proficiency in utilizing parallel structures. The results indicate that the flipped online group demonstrated the highest level of proficiency, highlighting the effectiveness of input flooding techniques in promoting the use of parallel structures in essay writing. Nevertheless, the flipped face-to-face group also exhibited improvement compared to the control group, suggesting the potential benefits of incorporating input flooding in the face-to-face approach. The study indicates that employing input flooding techniques, particularly in a flipped online instructional environment, can significantly improve EFL learners' proficiency in using parallel structures in essay writing. Moreover, the implications extend beyond the classroom, offering valuable insights for educators and policymakers to refine instructional strategies and shape language learning policies effectively.

The usefulness of using literature in language teaching has always been acknowledged by language teaching researchers who have studied the said issue from different aspects and in various contexts. The present investigation tries to discover if the use of authentic and simplified literary texts could improve learners’ reading achievement, and then check if the impacts of these two types of texts on the learners’ reading were significantly different. Employing a quasi-experimental design, the researchers included ninety high school students in the data collection process. These students were taught in three groups including two experimental and one control, comparing the two types of literary texts with the usual course materials. Using pre-tests and post-tests scores, the learners' performance was compared, then t-test and ANOVA were employed to analyze the significance of the differences found between the means. It appeared that the use of literary texts could assist high school learners improve their performance in reading compared to the use of usual course materials. The findings further confirmed that the use of simplified literary texts could improve the learners’ reading better than the authentic literary texts. The findings are specifically important in teaching reading, which serve as the basic skill for building the required knowledge in EFL contexts. Literature-based language teaching seems to enjoy the power to change and improve language teaching programs through presenting on-demand and productive teaching materials and add to learners’ life awareness besides the language knowledge.

This study investigates the impact of computer-supported input enhancement techniques on the mastery of parallel structures in essay writing among EFL learners within the contexts of flipped online and face-to-face instruction. A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of these techniques is conducted between the two instructional settings. The research involved 75 participants, randomly divided into three groups: flipped online (n=25), flipped face-to-face (n=23), and a control group (n=27). In the flipped online class, students accessed pre-recorded videos one week before class and received online feedback on their essays. In the flipped face-to-face class, students received printed notes highlighting relevant structures for each session. The control group followed their regular instructional method without any specific intervention. At the semester's conclusion, all participants completed a post-test essay assessment to evaluate their proficiency in utilizing parallel structures. The findings reveal that the flipped online group demonstrated the highest proficiency in employing parallel structures, emphasizing the efficacy of computer-supported input enhancement techniques in the online, flipped approach. Additionally, the flipped face-to-face group exhibited improvement compared to the control group, highlighting the potential benefits of input enhancement in the face-to-face flipped approach. These results offer empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of input enhancement techniques and underscore the significance of explicit instruction and practice in language learning. The integration of these techniques by language instructors and curriculum developers holds promise for enhancing the acquisition and application of parallel structures in language learning settings.

This study focused on investigating the effects of collaborative strategic reading (CSR) on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ reading comprehension, second language (L2) reading motivation, and metacognitive awareness. Following a quasi-experimental design, 48 Iranian EFL learners were selected from four intact language institute classes. Two of these classes were considered experimental groups (EGs), and two were regarded as control groups (CGs). Then, all four classes received the three pretests of the study (Reading Comprehension pretest, L2 Reading Motivation questionnaire, and metacognitive awareness questionnaire). Next, the treatment phase of the study began and all the groups received reading comprehension instruction. In the EGs, the teacher conducted the essential elements of cooperative learning through CSR strategies (preview, click & clunk, get the gist, and wrap up). On the other hand, CG learners received traditional reading comprehension classes with no group work. After the treatment, all four groups received the three posttests. The results of three one-way ANCOVAs revealed that CSR was significantly more effective than traditional instruction in improving EFL learners’ reading comprehension. In addition, it was found that CSR was significantly effective in improving EFL learners’ reading motivation and metacognitive awareness. The findings of the study can be utilized by language practitioners, materials, and curriculum developers to consider EFL students’ needs and goals in L2 reading.

Teachers’ collaborative inquiry is a process of learning through which teams of teachers evaluate and analyze their teaching practice, and reflective practice contributes to teachers’ professionalism. The present descriptive survey study aimed to investigate the role of collaborative inquiry in Iranian EFL teachers’ reflective teaching and whether teaching experience (novice and experienced teachers) affects collaborative inquiry and reflective teaching. For this purpose, 185 Iranian female and male language institute EFL teachers were randomly selected and responded to the survey instruments. The data were collected by the Survey of Reflective Practice and Collaborative Inquiry Survey and were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance and Pearson correlation. The findings demonstrated a significant positive correlation between pedagogical reflection and collaborative inquiry and a significant negative correlation between critical reflection and collaborative inquiry. Furthermore, novice teachers obtained higher scores in pedagogical reflection whilst their experienced counterparts were more critically reflective. The present study findings contribute to further uncovering the links between reflective teaching practices and collaborative inquiry of EFL teachers. Therefore, school principals can design collaborative learning experiences, especially for novice teachers, to foster reflection. Furthermore, teachers should regard collaboration as a self-growth opportunity and help their colleagues develop and improve their teaching practices.

The current study set out to investigate the effects of concurrent group dynamic assessment (GDA) and cumulative GDA on Iranian EFL learners' development of reading comprehension micro-skills. To this end, a convenience sample of 60 intermediate undergraduate EFL university students that were selected based on the results of a placement test and randomly assigned to two experimental groups participated in the study. The participants met once a week for 90-min lessons in a Reading II class over an academic semester. Each group received a concurrent or cumulative GDA mediation on reading tasks with a focus on activities involving five fundamental reading comprehension micro-skills, namely identifying the main idea, finding inferences, finding supporting details, understanding vocabulary, and finding references. A pretest/posttest procedure was used to compare the two group's achievements. The results of t test analyses demonstrated that both GDA approaches were effective but the students in the concurrent GDA group significantly outperformed those in the cumulative GDA group in terms of micro-skills of identifying the main idea and finding inferences whereas no significant differences were observed for other micro-skills. It could be argued that in concurrent GDA since the secondary interactants expect to be called on at any moment, they are more alert and attentive to mediational exchanges, and this contributes to enriching the micro-skills of identifying the main idea and finding inferences. The findings suggest that concurrent and cumulative GDA approaches when applied to teaching reading comprehension should be viewed as complementary. The concurrent approach works better with activities that require higher-cognitive functions and top-down processes such as identifying main ideas or finding inferences. On the other hand, both approaches could be equally beneficial and interchangeably used in activities that involve lower-level bottom-up cognitive processes such as finding supporting details, understanding vocabulary, or finding references. The findings offer significant implications for classroom practice and subsequent research that are discussed.

The present study aimed to examine the potential impacts of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) on Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ writing accuracy. Another study objective was to identify the learners’ attitudes toward using AWE in English classes. As such, 50 female EFL students at the intermediate level of language proficiency were chosen via convenience sampling to participate in the present study. They were then randomly divided into two groups of Control Group (CG) and the Experimental Group (EG), each consisting of 25 learners. Before the treatment, a researcher-made writing composition pre-test was administered to both groups. Next, the learners in the EG received the treatment in which an AWE system was employed to check the learner’s written productions. Next, learners in the CG were exposed to the conventional pen-and-paper methods of English writing classes. Then, a writing composition post-test was administered. The performances of learners on pre and post-tests were scored based on accuracy in terms of syntactic errors. After administering the post-test, EG learners were asked to fill in a questionnaire on AWE. Moreover, they were asked two questions in a semi-structured interview on their attitudes toward applying to the AWE program. The researcher recorded and later transcribed the learners’ answers for further analysis. The independent sample t-test revealed that Iranian EFL learners’ writing accuracy significantly improved after receiving AWE. Furthermore, the Chi-square test results, in conjunction with the interview results, showed that learners had positive attitudes toward AWE in writing classes. The study will have implications for the second language (L2) writing practices of EFL teachers and students.

As assessment plays an important role in the process of teaching and learning, this research explored the impacts of formative and summative assessments on academic motivation, attitude toward learning, test anxiety, and self-regulation skill of EFL students in Iran. To fulfill the objectives of this research, 72 Iranian EFL learners were chosen based on the convenience sampling method assigned to two experimental groups (summative group and formative group) and a control group. Then, the groups took the pre-tests of test anxiety, motivation, and self-regulation skill. Then, one experimental group was trained by following the rules of the formative assessment and the other experimental group was taught according to the summative assessment. The control group was instructed without using any preplanned assessment. After a 15-session treatment, the post-tests of the test anxiety, motivation, and self-regulation skill were administered to all groups to assess the impacts of the instruction on their language achievement. Lastly, a questionnaire of attitude was administered to both experimental groups to examine their attitudes towards the impacts of formative and summative assessment on their English learning improvement. The outcomes of one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni tests revealed that both summative and formative assessments were effective but the formative one was more effective on academic motivation, test anxiety, and self-regulation skill. The findings of one sample t -test indicated that the participants had positive attitudes towards summative and formative assessments. Based on the results, it can be concluded that formative assessment is an essential part of teaching that should be used in EFL instructional contexts. The implications of this study can help students to detect their own weaknesses and target areas that need more effort and work.

Students are essential parts of society, and their mental health and emotional safety as well as a sense of purpose, achievement, and success are the major objectives of successful education. They need to be armed with self-aid constructs to overcome academic setbacks and challenges. Despite the attributions of academic emotion regulation (AER), the core of self-assessment (CSA) to academic buoyancy (AB), no study has ever uncovered their relationships. To this end, the current research intended to test a structural model of English as a foreign language (EFL) university learners’ AER, CSA, and AB. The academic emotion regulation questionnaire (AERQ), the core of self-assessment questionnaire (CSAQ), and the academic buoyancy scale (ABS) were administered to 395 Iranian EFL university learners. Based on the results of structural equation modeling (SEM), AER and CSA predict learners’ AB. Additionally, the contribution of CSA to AB was confirmed. The implications of the findings are to raise learners’ awareness of their personality traits and self-assessment that can foster practical learning and assessment. This study opens new doors for future academic research. The implications of the study may help learners, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and curriculum designers.

Background/Purpose: This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of strategic planning and unpressured within-task planning on Iranian EFL learners’ oral performance. Methodology: Following a quasi-experimental research design, 60 intermediate EFL Iranian learners were recruited as the participants of the study and they were assigned into two groups of 30. In group one, the participants were asked to perform the task under unpressured online planning condition. In group two, the learners were asked to do the task under strategic planning condition. The pre and post-tests included story-telling narratives tasks followed with a 15-minute silent movie under two planning conditions for the two groups. Findings: The results of data analysis showed that pre-task strategic planning and within-task planning (online planning) had a positive effect on learners’ oral production; hence, planning time provided opportunity for learners to be able to produce more fluent, accurate, and complex language than no-planners. The results indicated that the participants in the strategic planning group (STPG) significantly outperformed the participants in unpressured within-task-planning (UWPG), leading us to claim that strategic planning was more effective than unpressured within-task planning in improving oral production. Contributions: This study has numerous benefits for language teachers and specialists in content production. Teachers should incorporate strategic planning in their regular teaching programs to encourage learners to balance their level of speech. Moreover, providing learners with the ability to plan the success of a task allows them to create a more fluent and nuanced language. Keywords: Accuracy, complexity, fluency, strategic planning, unpressured within-task planning. Cite as: Bakhtiary, M. R., Rezvani, E., & Namaziandost, E. (2021). Effects of strategic and unpressured within-task planning on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ oral production. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(2), 97-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss2pp97-115

Regardless of the appreciation of language learners’ achievement in task-based language teaching, not much has been hinged upon learners’ perception and reception of various elements. This study examined task complexity and modality effects on Iranian EFL learners’ comprehension of task difficulty, competencies, and difficulty-skill balance as well as the learners’ task experience. The Flow Outlook features were also applied to investigate how difficulty-skill balance anticipated flow experience. Via a repeated-measures design, and with a focus on task complexity (simple vs. complex) and task modality (written vs. spoken), 49 EFL learners carried out four argumentative tasks (two simple written and spoken vs. two complex written and spoken tasks); then, they ticked the flow questionnaire to gauge their perception of task difficulty, competence, and task experience. Repeated-measures MANOVA revealed although task complexity influenced task difficulty and difficulty-skill balance significantly, the skill was not affected significantly; task modality influenced task difficulty and skill significantly while difficulty-skill balance received no significant effect. The follow-up post hoc test indicated that complexity and modality significantly influenced flow, attention, and control, but not interest. Linear regression revealed difficulty-skill balance was a predictor for learners’ flow experience for both writing tasks and simple speaking task but not for complex speaking tasks. Pedagogically, the findings of this research may have some implications for English language teachers, learners, and materials developers.

This study aims to find out the role of games in promoting students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and their teachers’ attitude toward it. In order to collect the data, the researchers employed a 28-item questionnaire which was given to 60 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in an English institute. Then, the students were randomly divided into two groups of 30 learners functioning as control and experimental groups. The students in the experimental group received games in their language lessons and classes, while control group learners did not. At the end of the term, the same questionnaire was given to the students to know if playing games had a significant impact on their WTC. In addition, the teachers were asked to answer a 30-item questionnaire to investigate their attitudes toward playing games in language classes. The results showed that most of the teachers in this study believe that games have a positive influence on the students’ attitudes towards learning English and that using them in class serves many educational purposes. In addition, games played a significant role in improving the EFL leaners’ willingness to communicate. In the light of these findings, the researchers suggested using games as energizers and practical activities at the end of class not only to improve enthusiasm for learning, but also to improve the learners’ WTC.

Embracing a learner-based approach in line with a psychological perspective, the present study investigates learner autonomy (LA) in L2 writing with a focus on the role of academic self-concept (ASC) and academic achievement of Iranian English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) university students. The research entailed three interrelated phases: In phase one, the readiness of 69 EFL students in three intact English essay writing classes was measured in terms of certain factors of autonomy in writing. Besides, their ASC was surveyed and the participants were asked to report their overall grade point average (GPA) as an index of their academic achievement. In phase two, a focus group interview was administered. Three emergent themes were derived from their comments, namely, insignificant position of writing, insufficient strategy use, and instructors’ unconvincing support for autonomy in writing. The last phase of the study was assigning the findings of phase one to several regression and correlation analyses to investigate the triangular potential relationships of LA in writing, ASC, and academic achievement. The results of the study indicated that, compared with skills and strategy use, EFL university students were most autonomous in their attitudes towards writing, while they did not show a desirable level of ASC. Moreover, ASC and LA in writing proved to have a relatively significant relationship; nonetheless, academic achievement turned out insignificant in relation to them, proving no triangular correlation among the given variables. Implications for EFL teachers and materials developers focused on writing skill will be provided.

This study addressed the impact of teaching critical thinking (CT) principles through argument mapping (AM) techniques on the CT and reading abilities of a number of Iranian male and female EFL learners who studied English at a language institute in Isfahan province. For this purpose, 30 male and 30 female intermediate EFL learners were chosen on the basis of their performance on the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT); further, the reading section of an IELTS practice test was applied. For the collection of the required data, California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), which had been validated in Persian, was conducted twice, once before and once after the treatment. The study employed a quantitative pretest-treatment-posttest design in which AM techniques including information organization, structure reasoning, evidence consideration, assumption identification, evaluation of arguments, and communication of conclusions were introduced to the participants in 6 steps. Then, the CCTST and IELTS reading sections were administered again as the posttests. The statistical analysis of the obtained results using the paired-samples t test, based on the comparison of CT and reading ability according to the scores obtained from the pretest and posttest taken by the male and female learners, revealed the improvement in the five subcomponents belonging CT and reading ability from pretest to posttest. The present study provides insights useful for EFL teachers, learners and materials developers.

This study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (TSEBs) about instructional strategies, student engagement and classroom management strategies they adopt for teaching. It also examined the relationship between TSEBs concerning the three sub-efficacies and teachers’ use of (non) communicative instructional practices. The participants of the study were 48 EFL teachers in Iranian language institutes. A survey questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations were administered to collect the data needed. The results demonstrated that teachers regarded themselves as high-efficacious, and there was a moderate positive relationship between TSEBs in terms of the three sub-efficacies and communicative instructional practices. TSEBs towards instructional strategies had the highest contribution to explaining communicative practice, which was also confirmed by the interview results. The data from observations indicated that TSEBs were not realized regarding instructional strategies, but student engagement and classroom management strategies were reflected in teachers’ instructions.

This experimental study was an attempt to investigate the effects of class-based learning of English articles (i.e., a, an & the) through metalinguistic explanation and textual enhancement among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. In doing so, 80 EFL learners were randomly selected from an English language institute in Isfahan, Iran. The Quick Placement Test (QPT) was administered to select homogeneous participants so that 60 intermediate EFL learners were selected and divided randomly into two groups of Experimental 1(EG1) and Experimental 2 (EG2), each comprising 30. Both groups received a valid and reliable researcher-made pretest in which the items testing on the use of articles were taken from two popular grammar books entitled ‘English Grammar Digest’ and ‘English Grammar in Use’. Then the English articles were taught to the learners using ‘Four Corners’ book (Student’s book 3) through metalinguistic explanations to EG1 and via textual enhancement to EG2 in the class. After the treatment, both groups received a posttest. The results revealed that the learners in EG2 outperformed their counterparts in EG1 meaning that textual enhancement proved to be a more effective tool for teaching grammar in the class.