The literature of ELT is perhaps overwhelmed by attempts to enhance learners’ writing through the application of different methodologies. One such methodology is critical discourse analysis which is founded upon stressing not only the decoding of the propositional meaning of a text but also its ideological assumptions. Accordingly, this study was an attempt to investigate the impact of critical discourse analysis-based (CDA) instruction on EFL learners’ writing complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). To fulfill the purpose of this study, 60 female intermediate EFL learners were selected from among a total number of 100 through their performance on a piloted sample PET. Based on the results, the students were randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group with 30 participants in each. Both groups underwent the same amount of teaching time during 17 sessions which included a treatment of CDA instruction for the experimental group. A writing posttest was administered at the end of the instruction to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through a MANOVA. The results led to the rejection of the three null hypotheses, thereby demonstrating that the learners in the experimental group benefited significantly more than those in the control group in terms of improving their writing CAF. To this end, it is recommended that CDA instruction be incorporated more frequently in writing classes following of course adequate syllabus design and materials development. Manuscript profile

The present study compared the effect of cooperative group feedback and cooperative group writing techniques in writing classes. Accordingly, 90 male and female intermediate English language learners sat for a sample piloted Preliminary English Test and 60 who scored one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected as the main participants. Both groups were taught the same course book. Moreover, they received the same hours of instruction and teaching aids in the same physical environment; therefore, the most significant point of departure in the two experimental groups in the present study was the form of writing practices presented in the classroom. One group underwent the cooperative group writing while the other the cooperative feedback procedure throughout the treatment period. The findings of this study based upon the results gained from an independent sample t-test run on the two groups’ posttest mean scores revealed that the participants’ L2 writing improved more significantly in the cooperative group writing class compared to the cooperative group feedback. The findings of this study may be contributory to EFL teachers and syllabus designers in the process of developing more efficient second language writing courses. Manuscript profile

Listening is referred to by many scholars as the most important as well as the most complicated skill in the language, which can cause mental fatigue in the learners. This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between L2 listening comprehension and listening fatigue among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, 86 intermediate and upper-intermediate Iranian EFL learners randomly selected after administering a paper-based TOEFL among an initial sample of 120 BA learners majoring in English language translation, took part in the study. A TOEFL listening test and a researcher-made validated listening fatigue questionnaire were utilized in order to gather the necessary data. Afterwards, during the qualitative phase, oral interviews were employed to obtain 30 % of the participant’s’ attitudes about the relationship between listening comprehension and listening fatigue. Applying a Pearson product-moment correlation revealed that there was a significant relationship between L2 listening fatigue and their listening comprehension. These findings were also supported by a small qualitative phase and learners gave their positive support and attitude about the relationship. These findings have some pedagogical implications for teaching and learning an L2, the most important of which is that in order to enhance EFL learners’ L2 listening comprehension, it is better to reduce their debilitative listening fatigue. Manuscript profile

The present study was an attempt to investigate to what extent Iranian EFL teachers practice critical discourse analysis in the English language classroom during their teaching. To reach this aim, a 27-item questionnaire was designed and administered among 120 male and female Iranian English teachers in different language schools in Tehran. Following descriptive statistics through which the mean, standard deviation, and reliability of the questionnaire were calculated,a factor analysis was conducted to assess the construct validity of the designed questionnaire.The results of the statistical analysis clearly demonstrated the validity of the designed questionnaire.Once validated, certain within group comparisons (with respect to the demographic factors of gender, age, and educational degree) were conducted to see how the different demographic subsets of the sample responded to the questionnaire. The study also discusses the implications of such measurement for ELT and points out a number of suggestions for further study. Manuscript profile

This study was an attempt to investigate the comparative impact of Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) and Think-Pair-Share (TPS) on EFL learners’ listening. Accordingly, 60 female EFL learners selected from a larger group of 90 learners based on their performance on a sample piloted Preliminary English Test (PET) who studied at a language school in Tehran were randomly divided into two experimental groups. Both groups demonstrated homogeneity in terms of their listening at the outset. The same content was taught to both groups during 15 sessions with one experimental group undergoing STAD while TPS was used in the other group. At the end of the treatment, another sample PET listening section was administered to both groups. The result of the independent samples t-test run on the participants’ mean scores on the posttest revealed that the TPS group significantly outperformed those in the STAD group. These findings have certain implications which are discussed at length in the paper. Manuscript profile

This study explored the relationship among EFL teachers’ self-efficacy, language proficiency, and classroom management. A total of 110 Iranian EFL teachers of different levels of high schools and private language schools in Tehran participated in this research. The data were collected through two questionnaires and one test: the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale and a sample TOEFL were administered in two different sessions while two sessions of each teacher’s class were observed by two raters who used the Murdoch(2000) checklist to score the effectiveness of each teacher’s teaching. To find out the relationship among the three variables of this study, that is the teachers’ self-efficacy, language proficiency, and classroom management, a Pearson correlation was carried out. The results revealed that teachers’ self-efficacy was correlated with their language proficiency and that language proficiency and effective classroom management were not correlated. The study provides useful insights into the need to help teachers develop their language proficiency that, in turn, has relevance for their self-efficacy. Manuscript profile

This study explores the relationship and interconnections between EFL teachers’ beliefs and their motivational practices in the classroom. The present study combined qualitative and quantitative methods of research. First, the motivational practices of 30 teachers in two private language schools in Tehran were explored with a classroom observation instrument, the Motivation Orientation of Language Teaching (MOLT) which was used to estimate the time that teachers spent for each motivational strategy. Then, teachers’ beliefs were examined through the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) and an open-ended questionnaire aimed to assess beliefs about motivational strategies. The quantitative results indicated that the higher the teachers’ scores on the BALLI, the less frequently their use of motivational strategies in the classroom. The findings based on qualitative data, drawing largely on data from observations and the open-ended questionnaire, showed that although teachers were observed to generally follow their beliefs, there existed several points of difference between their beliefs and practices. Also, there was evidence that what teachers practice in the classrooms does not always impact their beliefs. Manuscript profile

This study was an attemptto provide detailed information of the strengths and weaknesses of test takers‟ real ability through cognitive diagnostic assessment, and to detect differential item functioning in each test item. The rationale for using CDA was that it estimates an item‟s discrimination power, whereas clas- sical test theory or item response theory depicts between rather within item multi-dimensionality. To ful- fill the purpose of this study, latent attributes are shown in a Q-matrix and 4200 participants who sought to pursue their studies at the PhD level at state universities were randomly selected. The test used for the present research consisted of two different reading passages with 10 multiple-choice items consisting of four options. The data were analyzed with the application of R studio package, GDINA, and DINA mod- els. Item and model fit indices were estimated and the Wald test was run. The result of the study revealed that some items flagged DIF. The study further concluded that CDA can provide pedagogically useful diagnostic information for test designers, teachers, syllabus and materials developers, and policymakers as a proficiency test needs to be valid, reliable, and fair in the context of high-stakes tests so that it im- proves the knowledge of test takers. Manuscript profile

This study was an attempt to investigate the comparative impact of concept map and mind map instruc- tion on EFL learners’ descriptive and narrative writing. To fulfill this purpose, 60 intermediate EFL learners were selected from among a total number of 100 through their performance on a pretest, i.e., a piloted sample Cambridge Preliminary English Test (PET). Then, the students were randomly divided into two experimental groups of 30. The scores of the writing part of PET were analyzed separately and the mean scores of the two groups were compared through an independent samples t-test in order to as- sure that the writing ability of the students was homogeneous at the outset. Both groups underwent the same amount of treatment (14 sessions of 90 minutes) three days a week with one group undergoing the concept map treatment while the other the mind map treatment. A posttest comprising a descriptive and a narrative writing were administered at the end of the treatment to both groups. The result of the Pillai’s Trace Test (F = 12.73 and p = 0.000 < 0.05) indicated a statistically significant difference between the two experimental groups with the mind map group that gained a higher mean in both posttests outper- forming the concept map group. Manuscript profile

This study investigated the influence of different input modalities on the Iranian EFL learners' listening comprehension. After administering a paper-based TOEFL among an initial sample of 120 BA learners, majoring in English language translation, 86 students were selected to participate in this study and were randomly divided into three experimental groups, namely, the audio group (A), the video group (V), and the audio/video/caption (AVC) group. Group A received audio treatment, group two received video intervention, and group three was taught listening through AVC treatment. Also, a TOEFL listening test was used as pretest and posttest. Afterwards, oral interviews were administered to extract the attitudes of 30 % of the learners toward the influence of the received treatment on their listening performance. Two-way ANCOVA revealed that input modality had a significant effect on listening comprehension. Results showed that the audio group had the best performance and the AVC group had the least significant performance. Qualitative findings also confirmed that learners gave their positive support and attitude to audio input modality as the best. These findings have some pedagogical implications the most important of which is the match between input modality and the learners' perceptual modality to help them improve their L2 listening comprehension. Manuscript profile