If we intend to successfully integrate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the general educational programs, it is important to utilize available methods and resources. This paper argues that English Language Learning textbooks in Iran have the potential to be useful resources and a viable springboard for the implementation of ESD. For this purpose, the present study explores the content of English textbook series developed by Iranian authors through the lenses of ESD. The framework for analysis was based on UNESCO’s Earth Charter and the Roadmap for Implementing the Global Action Program on ESD. The findings reveal that the themes of sustainability are present in these English textbooks to a good extent. However, the results suggest that there must be a more even distribution of such themes throughout the series. Also, the role of the teacher as a facilitator in developing discussions around such themes is highlighted.
Task-based planning can be conceptualized as the opportunity to work out task performance before the actual performance. It allows learners to process the content and language of their planned production at a deeper and more meaningful level. In the face of the wide range of research conducted on the effects of pre-task planning on L2 production, relatively little attention has been paid to the impacts of pressured within-task planning. The present study was, therefore, primarily aimed at investigating the effects of guided pressured within-task planning and unguided pressured within-task planning on the fluency of EFL learners' written production. The participants of the study were 30 upper-intermediate EFL learners whose age ranged between 18 and 22. In both guided and unguided conditions, the participants were provided with two sample process-writings, the only difference was that in the guided condition, the participants were provided with the samples including underlined sequence markers, bolded passive verbs, and underlined simple present verbs plus a list of sequence markers to serve as guide during writing. The results obtained from independent-samples t-test revealed the fact that guided pressured planning condition resulted in greater fluency than unguided pressured planning condition. The findings of the study may have pedagogical implications for teachers to design sequences of instructional activities providing opportunities for the learners to benefit from different types of planning in task performance.
The present study investigated linguistic focus of language related episodes (LREs),in Iranian EFL classrooms. Eighteen male participants in the advanced and intermediate levels from Urmia branch of Academic Centre of Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) participated in the study. They were assigned to intermediate and advanced levels with one class at each level, based on their results on a placement test. Then, the data were collected over five weeks, two one-hour sessions per week for each class during which the participants carried out some communicative tasks. Next, these interactions were analyzed to account for the types and contents of their LREs. The results revealed that L2 learners in both advanced and intermediate levels were primarily concerned with lexical LREs. Furthermore, based on the results it was found that incidental focus on form lended itself more easily to vocabulary teaching compared to other language components while grammar needs more explicit techniques of focus on form instruction. Keywords: Focus on form, focus on forms, focus on meaning, Task-based Language Teaching, Language Related Episode (LRE) 1. Introduction Over the recent decades, focus on form instruction has been one of the debated areas in the field of foreign/second language teaching. In the context of performing a communicative task this kind of instruction is related to incidentally directing the learners' attention to the linguistic forms in their tasks (Ellis, Basturkmen & Loewen, 2001). The importance of the principles of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) such as meaningful communication, and also the explicit study of the formal elements of the language are emphasized in this kind of instruction (Poole, 2004). Many studies have considered the effect of focus on form instruction on second language learning (e.g., Doughty 1991; Pica 1994;Spada & Lightbown 1993).Some studies have considered the kinds of forms that learners attend to in second language contexts (e.g. Williams, 1999).However, only a few studies have considered the content of the forms that ESL learners attend to while performing communicative tasks (e.g. Poole, 2004). Furthermore, there is little information on the kinds of forms and their content that the learners attend to in EFL contexts (Poole, ibid). The present study by examining the kinds of language forms and their content which learners attend to in EFL task-based language classrooms aims to determine the methods of focus on form instruction which are effective at intermediate and advanced EFL classrooms. Review of Related Literature 2.1 Focus on Meaning InstructionAccording to Long (1991) and Long and Robinson (1998) focus on meaning instruction is a communication-based approach to language teaching in which formal elements of the language are not treated in an intensive way. Furthermore, Long and Robinson (1998) claim that language use in situations which are very similar to the real life in which meaning and comprehension along with acceptable fluency in the use of language are vital,...
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