No abstract

Abstract-Textbooks and instruction materials are one of the most important components in any language classrooms all over the world. Considering the significant role of textbook in teaching/learning process, it is therefore very important to conduct EFL textbook evaluation so as to ensure ELT textbooks can effectively facilitate the attainment of the teaching objectives, and at the same time, be economically viable to teachers and students. The present study has attempted to evaluate the Iranian pre-university ELT textbook. To the end, four research questions were posed to determine whether the language used in the pre-university English textbook is authentic, whether the conversations, grammar rules, vocabulary words and expressions presented in this book are used in real-life situations, whether the activities and exercises included in the book are appropriate for communicative learning, and whether the texts, examples, and illustrations of this book are variable enough. Four EFL teachers and 335 pre-university students participated in this study. The evaluation was carried out through an ESL textbook evaluation checklist by Joshua Miekley (2005). The questions take the form of Likert scale. Rating scaled are numerically coded as 1 -totally lacking, 2 -poor, 3 -adequate, 4 -good, 5 -excellent. Following the submission of the questionnaire, the obtained data were analyzed by SPSS which revealed unforeseen results that the participants were not mostly satisfied about this English textbook, because the calculated mean for all the questions were below 3. Therefore the four null-hypotheses were supported.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ perfectionism and writing anxiety and their performance in the IELTS Writing Module. To this end, sixty-eight Iranian EFL learners were selected via convenience sampling. Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale developed and validated by Hewitt and Flett (1991) and Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory devised by Cheng (2004) were administered to the participants. The participants were then asked to write on an assigned topic from IELTS Writing Task 2. The findings of the study indicated that of the three dimensions of perfectionism (i.e., self-oriented, other-oriented and socially prescribed), none were associated with the learners’ writing performance, while a significant negative relationship was found between the learners’ writing anxiety consisting of somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety, and avoidance behavior and their writing performance. The results of multiple regression analysis suggested that somatic anxiety, and avoidance behavior were significant predictors of writing performance. The implications highlight the strategies that should be deployed by educational policy-makers, practitioners, and examiners to alleviate anxiety in L2 classrooms, promoting a safe and stress-free educational environment.

Abstract-In line with recent focus on learner characteristics in L2 learning, this study was conducted to explore the relationship between Iranian EFL learners' attitudes towards English language learning and their inferencing ability in reading comprehension. Investigating the performance of these learners on inference test according to their gender and different linguistic contexts were secondary goals of the study. After the homogenizing process, a group of learners of both sexes were put in the final group. The attitude questionnaire and the inference test were administered in order to examine the learners' attitudes and inferencing ability respectively. In order to investigate the role of linguistic context, the inference test was then divided into two sub-tests of short and long passages. The results of the analyses for the collected data indicated a moderate positive correlation between the attitudes of the learners and their inferencing performance. The effect of linguistic context on inferencing turned out to be significant too. However, no significant difference was found between the mean scores of the males and females on the inference test.

This study investigated the effects of metacognitive listening strategy instruction (MLSI) and learners’ locus of control orientation on the listening comprehension of EFL learners. 100 EFL students at the University of Zanjan and Imam Khomeini International University of Qazvin were randomly chosen. The participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (N = 50) and a control group (N = 50). The experimental group received 10 weeks of treatment including 10 sessions of metacognitive listening strategy training. Both groups took the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire and Rotter’s Internal-External Locus of Control Scale before the treatment sessions. Then, they took the listening pre-test and after the treatment, the listening post-test was administered and the required data was obtained. The findings revealed that MLSI had a significant impact on the learners’ listening comprehension for the learners with internal LoC; However, external LoC did not have any significant moderating effect on listening comprehension ability. Pedagogical implications are suggested for an EFL teaching/learning context.