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Teacher care, which takes the form of supporting and trustworthy relationships between educators and students, has attracted many researchers in recent years. The purpose of the present study was to find out how Iranian EFL students and teachers perceive teacher care and to investigate whether there is a relationship between the two groups' perception of teacher care. Eight Iranian EFL students and eight Iranian EFL teachers participated in the current study. To gather data, semi-structured interview was employed. The interview questions were adopted from Schat (2021). The relationship between teachers' and students' perception of teacher care was assessed conducting correlation analysis. According to the findings, teacher-student relationships, knowing, instruction and curriculum as well as students’ well-being were mentioned by teachers most frequently, while student well-being, teacher-class relationships and knowing were most frequently mentioned by EFL students. Furthermore, the findings indicated a positive relationship between how students and teachers perceived teacher care. Teachers, material developers, and students can all benefit from the findings of this study.2
Technical words are the words that denote specialized meaning relevant to a specific field. By the development of interdisciplinary fields, technical words from different disciplines come together in interdisciplinary areas, and the need for knowing technical words from other technical disciplines arises. The current study aimed to develop a wordlist of frequent technical words in interdisciplinary research articles shared across three disciplines of computer science, industrial engineering, and mechanical engineering. The research enjoyed a hybrid method including keyword analysis and meaning analysis. AntConc. software was used to do keyword analysis, and meaning analysis was done through context and by checking the words’ meanings in technical dictionaries and glossaries. The final technical wordlist included 145 words grouped in 82 word families. The results showed that adopting a hybrid method of keyword analysis and meaning analysis could be more reliable than using each method alone. Also, the proportion (lexical coverage) of high-frequency and academic words in three disciplines was measured through a computer-based method called RANGE. The results showed that the coverage of general, academic, and Non-GSL/AWL words across three fields were very close to each other. However, it seems that computer-based methods that measure lexical coverage of the texts regardless of the words’ meanings in contexts might not be very reliable. In addition, the readability of the articles in terms of idea density in the three majors under investigation was measured by adopting CPIDR software (version 5.1). The readability of the three majors was compared, and computer science had the highest level of idea density and the articles in this major had the lowest readability. The target technical wordlist provides information about the nature and size of specialized words in interdisciplinary technical field, and it can be a vocabulary source in ESP (English for Specific Purposes) for learners and instructors.3
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is the gatekeeper for people
seeking education or profession in English-speaking countries. This exam tests the
candidates’ four skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Because of the
scarcity of the studies done on linguistic features of Academic IELTS Reading subskill,
the present study aimed to investigate lexical richness and syntactic complexity of the
Academic IELTS Reading passages and the relationship between the variables. To this
aim, lexical richness is further categorized to lexical density, diversity, and
sophistication, and a corpus of 192 passages from 16 published practice test books was
collected. The corpus analysis tool Coh-Metrix (Graesser, Mcnamara, McCarthy, & Cai,
2014) was utilized to determine each linguistic feature, and the results were compared to
the results obtained for TASA norm corpora of science and social studies, because
Academic IELTS Reading passages are said to be from sources available to nonspecialist
readers. It was concluded that the lexicon of Academic IELTS Reading
passages was about one percent denser, much more diverse, but as sophisticated as the
norm corpora if age of acquisition and concreteness indices were not considered.
Moreover, the syntax was seen to be more complex in three out of seven indices, as
complex as the norm corpora for two indices, and less complex for the other two indices.
It was also observed that syntactic complexity correlated negatively with lexical density.
Significant positive correlation was found between lexical density and the other
measures of lexical richness. IELTS candidates and instructors can utilize these results
to enrich their IELTS preparation activities such as choice of learning and teaching
material. Material developers can also use the results to provide candidates with more
reliable material. Furthermore, English assessment researchers can use the results in
comparative studies as well as studies related to test validity.4
The popularity of using websites for language learning has surged, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Students view websites as valuable tools for enhancing language skills and cultural knowledge (Kir & Kayak, 2013). However, scholars need to address the unique characteristics of EFL websites and course books for effective pedagogical use. This comparative analysis examined the linguistic features of instructional language in online websites and textbooks used for English language learning/teaching purposes. More specifically, this study investigated the possible differences and/or similarities in lexical density, referential cohesion, involvement strategies, and readability levels between textbooks and websites. The corpus used for this study consisted of five popular self-study books and twenty selected websites specifically designed for teaching English grammar. Toward this goal, the study adopted Halliday's (2004) Systematic Functional Linguistics as the analytical framework and utilized a three-step procedure for data analysis. The obtained findings revealed that textbooks exhibited lower readability than websites, likely due to their hierarchical and linear reading essence. In contrast, websites demonstrated greater referential cohesion, involvement strategies, modal verbs, and imperatives. Also, the frequency of engagement tactics on the internet was noticeably higher than in the textbooks. It was found that the textbooks possessed significantly and substantially higher frequency of this linguistic element compared to the websites. Overall, this research could shed light on the evolving discourse of instruction on language learning websites, highlighting successful and less successful aspects of their appropriation of traditional instructional methods. The findings imply the importance of utilizing digital texts as complementary or alternative tools to enhance language learning, considering the changing learning styles of students in the digital age. Teachers also need to understand the nature of digital reading and employ appropriate reading techniques to maximize the potential of digital materials in enhancing students' reading proficiency on computers.5
The present research set out to investigate the correlation between Big Five personality traits, perfectionism and emotional intelligence in Iranian EFL teachers. To this end, 141 EFL teachers including 48 males and 93 females were selected through convenience sampling. The participants work at language institutes, and they were selected from Isfahan, Tehran and Shiraz. Three questionnaires that were used to elicit the data consisted of NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), Hewitt and Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (H-MPS) and Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT). These questionnaires were mainly distributed online. Then, Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the three main variables, and linear regression analysis was run to investigate the predictive effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. The results indicated that there was a significant negative relationship between Big Five personality traits and perfectionism (r= -.224**, Sig= .008) in EFL teachers. The relationship between perfectionism and emotional intelligence was also significant negative (r= -.613**, Sig= .000), and the relationship between Big Five personality traits and emotional intelligence was significant positive (r= .604**, Sig= .000). The regression analysis also showed the significant predictive effect of EFL teachers’ emotional intelligence on their perfectionism (F= 83.598, Sig= .000, R squared= .376). Moreover, perfectionism could significantly predict the changes in EFL teachers’ Big Five personality traits (F= 7.358, Sig= .008), though it accounted for only 5% of the variation in EFL teachers’ Big Five personality traits (R squared= .050). The predictive effect of EFL teachers’ emotional intelligence on their Big Five personality traits was also significant (F= 79.929, Sig= .000, R squared= .365). Both teacher educators and EFL teachers can make use of the results of this study to notice and develop the traits that are linked to higher EI.
Keywords: Big Five Personality Traits, Perfectionism, Emotional Intelligence6
The present scoping review examined 60 research articles published between 2000 and 2025
on extroversion and introversion in relation to English language learning and teaching. The
primary aim of the study was the identification of dominant research themes, methodological
framework, key findings, limitations, and implications for future research. The scope of the
analysis was determined based on five inclusion and exclusion criteria. The collected data were
analyzed after examination of the whole studies through codification and categorization of the
data. The addressed studies covered introversion and extroversion in relation to different
language learning skills (i.e., speaking, writing, reading, listening, and vocabulary), language
learning strategies, cognitive and psychological factors, as well as face-to-face and online
instruction. The key findings indicated inconsistent findings about the successfulness of
introverted and extroverted learners on their English language performance. Some of the
studies showed positive relationship while others showed negative relationship. Additionally,
a considerable number of the studies showed no significant relationship between personality
types and English language achievement. It was revealed that the good performance of English
language learners is not only depend on their personality types. Methodologically, it was
reported that quantitative designs were more prevalent than qualitative and mixed-method
design, with a heavy emphasis on questionnaire-based data. It was reported that among the 10
identified themes and topics the majority of studies concentrated on the relationship between
introversion/extroversion and speaking skills, psychological factors and learning strategies,
while topics such as online learning and vocabulary received less attention. The investigation
of participants of the studies showed that most of them used adult EFL learners. Big Five
personality model and Eysenck’s theory were the most frequent theoretical frameworks that
were used in the studies. The findings can increase teachers and materials developers’
awareness of extroverted and introverted personalities. They can accordingly better satisfy the
language learning and communicative needs of English learners with such personality types.7
The present study attempted to analyze the patterns of emotive lexis in two different disciplines of applied linguistics and chemistry research articles. To this end, this study examined the types and tokens of emotive lexis, applied by writers; moreover, the lexical realizations and emotive dimensions were described to show the possible differences between both disciplines. The results showed that both writers in applied linguistic and chemistry primarily used emotive lexis in adjectival/participial forms rather than nominal and adverbial ones. In both corpora, the outer circle emotions or the least intense ones ranked as the largest category, while the inner circle emotions or the most intense ones constituted the smallest proportion. This could be due to the fact that emotions are undeniably ignored in academic discourse. We can also conclude that, while there is no remarkable difference in the preferences of lexical choices (parts-of-speech) and emotion sections of emotive terms used by the writers in both corpora, the writers who majored in applied linguistics, the soft discipline, proved the higher frequency and range in application of emotive lexis, which could be due to the more subjective concepts of soft disciplines rather than the hard ones. By comparing articles written by native English and non-native Farsi professional writers, we found that while native writers used more emotive lexis than Iranian ones, the total range in non-native articles was slightly higher. Additional investigations should take into account different texts, such as dissertations and theses written by native and non-native writers in various disciplines. Moreover, a wide variety of linguistic elements can be investigated for the sake of achieving a more comprehensive representation of academic writing.8
The purpose of the current study was to examine which circle of World Englishes- inner, outer, and expanding- was predominantly depicted in the animated films for young learners. To do so, a semiotic analysis of the animated series Dora and Friends: Into the City was done to explore the representation of diversity in English language teaching media. Barthes’s (1973) framework for analyzing visual and verbal signs was used to classify the identified signs from the screen captures into categories including names, animals, famous characters, food, mythical creatures, places, dance styles, music, clothes, ceremonies, music instruments, nature elements, and sport. Kachru’s (1986) concentric circles of World Englishes model was also employed to systematically categorize the analyzed signs to ascertain their representation within the respective circles. A total of 88 relevant instances were documented, revealing 38 instances associated within the inner circle. In contrast, the expanding circle contained 50 instances that highlighted linguistic and cultural diversity, including indigenous elements and local heritage. Notably, a significant gap was identified. No representation from the outer circle nations were found. Alongside to diverse portrayals of cultures found, the study also found specific cultural stereotypes associated with the World Englishes circles. Five cultural stereotypes from the inner circle nations and two related to the expanding circle nations were recognized. These findings have implications for how English language teaching (ELT) media can contribute to developing communicative competence by showcasing the diversity of linguistic and cultural representations. The presence of both the inner and expanding circles in the series reflects a range of cultural elements that can enhance learners’ sociolinguistic and intercultural competence. Additionally, the identified cultural stereotypes enable learners to better understand cultural nuances and avoid oversimplified views, thus enhancing their ability to navigate various cultural contexts effectively in communication.9
The study of lexical bundles, which are also referred to as fixed phrases, chunks, clusters, and multi-word expressions, has garnered significant attention in both written and spoken academic discourse. Previous research has primarily concentrated on the use of lexical bundles in various registers and disciplines within written discourse, with fewer studies exploring their use in spoken discourse. This current study aimed to examine the forms and functions of frequent lexical bundles in inspirational and scientific TED talks, using a two-phase approach: qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative phase involved the classification of lexical bundles based on their structure and function. In the quantitative phase, the frequency and comparative analysis of lexical bundles across scientific and inspirational TED talks were conducted. The research instrument employed for this study is Antconc 4.2.2, which enabled the identification of four-word lexical bundles occurring at least ten times in at least five different texts. To investigate the role of lexical bundles, Biber et al. (2004) functional taxonomy comprising stance bundles, discourse organizers, and referential expressions, was used. The study demonstrated that there were relatively more lexical bundles identified in scientific TED talks compared to inspirational ones. The results indicated that regarding the functional taxonomy, scientific and inspirational TED Talks exhibited varying patterns of usage. Referential expressions were found to be more prevalent in scientific and inspirational TED Talks. Notably, the inspirational sub-corpus displayed a significantly higher frequency of stance expressions compared to the science sub-corpus. Conversely, the science sub-corpus showed greater utilization of referential expressions, discourse organizers, and specialized lexical bundles. Regarding structural taxonomy, the science sub-corpus predominantly employed verb-phrase fragments. In contrast, the inspirational sub-corpus primarily utilized noun-phrase/preposition fragments. The findings of this study can assist speaking instructors utilize corpus-driven instruction to focus on lexical bundles and enhance language learners' public speaking abilities.10
There have been always an interaction between culture and pragmatics. Thus,
conducting studies which investigate pragmatics in the contexts in which it is used and
practiced is necessary. The purpose of the current study was to examine the advice
giving and receiving strategies used by Iranian EFL students and their teachers. To this
end, two questionnaires were designed by the researcher. Both of the questionnaires
were DCT questionnaires containing real-life situations for eliciting data from
participants. To expand the number of participants and to avoid possible ambiguities,
students' DCT questionnaire was multiple choice. On the other hand, teachers'
questionnaire was an open-ended DCT questionnaire. All in all 200 students and 15
teachers participated in the study. The data gathered by means of these questionnaires
made the researcher able to answer three research issues:1) Teachers' advice giving
strategies, 2) Students' advice giving strategies, and 3) Students' advice receiving
strategies. The main variable in the current study was social and institutional status.
Based on this variable, the situations in the DCT questionnaire were categorized into
two groups of equal and unequal. Equal situations happened between the peer or the
people with equal social status (e.g. classmates). On the other hand unequal situations
referred to situations which happened between people with unequal social status (e.g.
students and teachers). It was found that Iranian EFL teachers are conservative about
offering advice and in both equal and unequal situations preferred gradual advice. It
was demonstrated that the popular advice giving strategy among students is direct
advice. Moreover, it was found that Iranian EFL students prefer complex advice
acceptance more than any other method of reception. Social status was proved to be an
influential factor in determining teachers' and students' strategies. In addition, it was
found that undergraduate students were more concerned about the difference between
equal and unequal situations. On the other hand, M.A. and PhD students' responses
were more independent of this variable. The study had implications for both teachers
and students, and also the cultural administrators who can enhance the acceptability of
advice in the society.
Keywords: Advice mitigation, Advice strategies, DCT, Interlanguage pragmatics,
Pragmatics11
This corpus-based analysis compared the move structure and lexical bundles (LBs) of thesis abstracts written by native Persian (L1-Persian) and native English (L1-English) writers. The main aims of the study were to compare the move structures of L1-Persian and L1-English thesis abstracts, identify the most frequent lexical bundles per move in each language, expose significant structural patterns of LBs in both languages, and investigate their functional characteristics. With the use of qualitative techniques, moves were analyzed manually, while AntConc 4.3.1 software was used to identify lexical bundles, which were then structured and functionally categorized. Results indicated that L1-Persian MA and PhD thesis abstracts had more coherent organization, compared to their L1-English ones, with about 25% of L1-Persian abstracts including all five moves represented by Swales and Feak and almost half including four moves. In contrast, L1-English abstracts revealed a lower rate of full five-move patterns, while PhD abstracts were more organized than those of MA. Surprisingly, the L1-Persian corpus revealed a greater percentage of lexical bundles per move, reflecting greater structural coherence. Structural analysis found noun phrase-based and phrasal structures to predominate across both corpora, with no verb phrase-based structures appearing in L1-English abstracts. Functionally, the majority of LBs in both corpora were research-oriented. Furthermore, text-oriented LBs were more frequent in the L1-English corpus, whereas participant-oriented LBs were more frequent in the L1-Persian corpus. The results of this study could have significant implications for human’s knowledge about linguistic variations in academic writing, providing guidance for non-native English writers, guiding the design of academic writing courses, enhancing genre studies, and enhancing peer review and publication procedures.12
This research was an attempt to investigate the relationship between teacher care and four dimensions of student engagement (i.e., emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social) in online EFL classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. The participants of the current study were 58 female high school EFL learners from 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, according to the centralized K–12 education system in Iran. Two different raters observed online EFL classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to collect the data. The researcher codified data based on two checklists to find the frequencies of each behavior in online EFL classrooms. Then, through correlation tests and multiple regression, the association between teacher care and student engagement was measured. The results of the study indicated that there was a relationship between teacher care and student engagement among Iranian high school EFL learners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers who assist students, care about their presence, respond to their inquiries, provide feedback, and interact positively with students are influential in raising students' engagement. Teachers who care about students' mental and physical health are more successful in increasing student engagement in online EFL classrooms. The results of this study can be helpful for teachers, material developers, and students.13
This study investigated the relationships among personality types, locus of control, and foreign language anxiety within the context of Iranian EFL learners. The participants of this correlational study were 317 Iranian EFL learners who all were undergraduate university students from both genders. This study revealed significant relationships among participants ‘personality types (extroversion and introversion), locus of control, and language anxiety. The findings showed that there was a significant negative relationship between personality and locus of control and also a significant negative relationship between personality types and foreign language anxiety. Mediation analyses further illuminated the negative mediating role of the locus of control and the positive mediating role of the personality, shedding light on their nuanced dynamics. This study has implications for language educators, practitioners, and policymakers in terms of tailoring interventions to address individual differences and create supportive learning environments.
Keywords: Extroversion, Introversion, Foreign Language Anxiety, Locus of Control, Personality Types