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The present study explored the effect of a pedagogical blog on Iranian EFL learners' creative and critical thinking skills using a mixed-methods approach. In the pedagogical blog, the researchers asked learners divergent and evaluative questions based on Lindley's model (1993). The quantitative data were collected by administering Creativity Test Questionnaire (ATC) and the Persian version of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test and were analyzed using SPSS Version 16.0 software. The qualitative data consisted of the posts written by the participants of the study in the class blog and were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the pedagogical blog significantly improved the participants' creative and critical thinking skills, which were represented in their posts by the main themes of fluency, elaboration, and flexibility as components of divergent thinking and inference, evaluation, induction, and reconstruction as features of open and active critical thinking skills. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.

This grounded theory study explored the conceptualization of authenticity in language education. The participants were 30 Iranian English language educators, who were studied as adult learners. The findings revealed that authenticity was conceptualized by language educators as a social and reflective practice under the influence of the instructions of Islam and the collectivist culture of Iran as a country in the Middle East. Three main themes were identified as follows: three-way pedagogical relationship, reflectivity, and context-appropriate adjustments. Three-way pedagogical relationship addressed educators’ learning experiences, subjects driven from the context, and the importance of learners. Also, reflectivity included reflection on content, process, and premise. Furthermore, context-appropriate adjustments referred to the disagreement with conformity to educational systems encouraging nativeness. Indeed, the participants conceptualized authenticity as finding one’s own voice in the midst of the dominant native voices, while reflecting on one’s own pedagogical practices and respecting one’s own religion and context.

This study sought to probe higher education English language professors’ experiences in cultivating their learners’ authenticity. Using Barnett's (2007) theory of authenticity as the conceptual framework, the researchers explored authenticity as an authentic voice rather than a feature in materials provided by native speakers. The data were collected through interviews and personal documents. The data analysis was based on the interpretation process of modern social science hermeneutics and three core themes were extracted: critical knowledge in English language education, dialectical and reflective praxis, and a flexible and localised curriculum. Indeed, the findings of the study went beyond the exclusive boundary between native and nonnative speakers. It was also revealed that the cultivation of English language learners’ authenticity necessitates a space for diversity and inclusion in addition to epistemological, ontological, and practical spaces. Moreover, the study participants indicated that authenticity can be cultivated in their learners through critical knowledge, which can be acquired through dialogues with not only mainstream voices but also marginalised ones.