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Drawing on the rhetorical/relational goal theory, this study examined the role of instructor clarity and non-verbal immediacy in affective learning through the mediation of instructor understanding. Data were gathered through close-ended questionnaires from 756 Chinese and 715 Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) students, the factor structure and cross-cultural validity of which were supported via confirmatory factor analysis and testing measurement invariance, respectively. Path analysis results indicated that clarity and non-verbal immediacy positively predicted instructor understanding and affective learning; instructor understanding positively predicted affective learning; and understanding was a significant positive mediator in the relationship of non-verbal immediacy and clarity with affective learning. Except for the positive association of non-verbal immediacy with understanding which was significantly higher for the Iranian group, no significant difference was found between the Chinese and Iranian groups in all other associations, providing empirical support for the role of EFL teachers' positive interpersonal communication behaviors in EFL students' affective learning, irrespective of the cultural context.

It has been postulated that emotions play essential roles in conflict situations and that excessive expression of emotions or inappropriate display can reduce the capacity to manage conflict. However, there is a lack of research that relates teachers' emotionregulation ability to managing conflict. To bridge this gap, this pilot study aimed to examine the relationships between teachers' emotionregulation ability and conflict management strategies used in the classroom. The sample consisted of 878 teachers (61% women) working in Portuguese schools, which completed an application of Mayer and Salovey's emotional intelligence model and Rahim's model of conflict management. Using the structural equation modeling, findings revealed that the teachers who tend to show a greater ability to regulate emotions use mainly integrating and compromising strategies to manage classroom conflicts more frequently than other strategies. In conclusion, it is necessary to create a curriculum in the pre-service teachers' education programs that includes emotional education, so that they can acquire emotional regulation skills, due to their importance in classroom conflict management.

Over the past decade, there has appeared a surge of research interest in language learners' academic engagement and psychological well-being as important factors in improving the quality of education. However, research on the roles of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' affective scaffolding in enhancing the academic engagement and psychological well-being of their students is relatively scant. Inspired by this gap, the current study aimed to investigate the impact of Chinese EFL teachers' affective scaffolding on their learners' academic engagement and psychological well-being. To this end, a total number of 1968 Chinese EFL learners participated in this questionnaire survey. The results of the study showed that EFL teachers' affective scaffolding positively and significantly predicted students' academic engagement and psychological well-being. More specifically, it was found that teachers' affective scaffolding explained about 73% and 65% of variances in EFL students' academic engagement and psychological well-being. Moreover, it was found that psychological well-being and academic engagement were positively correlated and predicted 56% of each other's variances. In accordance with these findings, educators are recommended to build up a harmonious teacher-student relationship to foster students' psych-emotional development.

To expand the literature on the rather new concept of student burnout, the present study examined the influence of teacher immediacy and stroke variables on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' experience of burnout. To fulfill this aim, a group of 631 undergraduate EFL students from various universities in Iran answered questionnaires including the "Immediacy Behavior Scale," the "Student Stroke Scale," and the "Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey." The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of immediacy and burnout scales demonstrated the validity of the two scales in the Iranian EFL context. Subsequently, Pearson multiple correlation coefficients and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data. It was found that student burnout subscales negatively and significantly correlated with teacher immediacy and stroke subscales. Moreover, the results indicated that teacher immediacy and stroke variables, in combination with their subscales, could predict student burnout. On the whole, it can be concluded that teacher immediacy and stroke concepts, characterized as positive teacher interpersonal communication behaviors enhancing rapport and positive interaction between the teacher and students in EFL contexts, are potential preventers of negative student-related outcomes such as burnout.

Despite recognizing the importance of critical incidents (CIs) in teachers' professionalism, there is a need for more research on novice teachers' CIs, especially emotional CIs. This study describes the emotional CIs of a novice language teacher during her first year of teaching by relying on Schutz et al.'s (in: Schutz, Hong, Francis (eds) Research on teacher identity: Mapping challenges and innovations, Springer, 2018) conceptual framework and Zembylas' (Journal of Research in Science Teaching 39:79-103, 2002) three-dimensional framework of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup levels of teacher emotions. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, observational field notes, stimulated recall interviews, and online narratives. The teacher's intrapersonal emotional CIs dominantly influenced her current functioning to eschew creating similar negative experiences for her students. The interpersonal emotional CIs created tensions that largely influenced her claimed identity as a professional teacher. The intergroup emotional CIs made her develop negative perceptions about certain ethnic groups and educational stakeholders. Moreover, the findings indicate that while the teacher could function agentively at the classroom level, her limited agency at the institutional level created tensions in her identity as a professional teacher. The study portrays how novices negotiate and construct their professional identity based on emotional CIs, shows how such CIs accelerate novice teacher attrition, and provides implications for reducing the emotional gap between policymakers and novice teachers.

To expand the line of research investigating individual teacher-related variables, the present research sought to test a structural model of teacher reflection, self-efficacy, burnout, and emotion regulation among Iranian EFL instructors. Moreover, a mediation model was examined, hypothesizing that emotion regulation would mediate the influences of teacher reflection and teacher self-efficacy on teacher burnout. Collecting data from a sample of 238 Iranian EFL teachers, a structural equation modeling (SEM) was embarked on to test the hypothesized relationships. The data of the study were gathered through the participants' responses to the four questionnaires related to the four variables under investigation (i.e., teacher self-efficacy, reflection, burnout, and emotion regulation variables). The outcomes of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) verified the fitness of the used questionnaires and the structural model. Considering the centrality of teachers' affective status in how they deal with reform initiatives, it is hoped that our results can contribute to the understanding of how teachers can take practical measures to monitor their emotional states in EFL education in Iran and in the broader international context. Additionally, EFL teacher preparation programs should consider more practical strategies to enhance efficacy beliefs, emotion regulation, and reflection for pre-service teachers.

While aptitude has been seen to contribute to second language (L2) development, most studies have examined its contribution as a fixed trait, rather than viewing it as a dynamic, changing variable. There appears to have been little or no investigation of the role that aptitude plays in the development of L2 pragmatic ability. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the contribution of L2 learning aptitude as measured by Grigorenko et al.'s (2000) CANAL-FT ("The Cognitive Ability for Novelty in Acquisition of Language as Applied to Foreign Language Test") to L2 speech-act knowledge among 121 Iranian upper-intermediate to advanced level EFL learners. In addition, a multiple-choice discourse completion test (MDCT) comprising three common English speech acts (Derakhshan, 2014) was administered to the participants. A multiple regression analysis revealed that all five components of CANAL-FT were significant predictors of L2 speech-act knowledge. The aptitude for learning sentential inferences was the strongest predictor, followed by the ability to acquire the meanings of the whole passage. The other three components of aptitude, namely, comprehending the meanings of contextualized neologisms, acquiring the language rules, and learning the meanings of paired associates, were found to be moderate predictors of L2 speech act knowledge. These results appeared to underscore the benefits of obtaining aptitude data on learners as a means for better understanding the dynamics of L2 development in the area of pragmatics.

The present study investigated the significance of teachers' Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs and views of research with regard to their success among a group of 177 Iranian EFL teachers. To fulfill this aim, the participants responded to three questionnaires; the Teacher Professional Development Needs Questionnaire, an English Language Teachers' Views of Research Questionnaire, and a Characteristics of Successful EFL Teachers Questionnaire. Pearson multiple correlation coefficients results revealed that teacher success was related significantly and positively to both teachers' views of research and CPD needs as well as all their sub-components. These findings were also confirmed by full Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) results; both teachers' views of research and perceived CPD needs were positive significant predictors of Iranian teachers' high perceptions of professional success. Based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that for EFL teachers to perform successfully, they need to hold positive attitudes toward research and also attend to their CPD needs. Teachers can hold more positive views toward research and become research literate through doing research in graduate and post-graduate programs, receiving research training within their workplace, attending online research courses, reading books on research, searching through research journals in their specific field, and participating in conferences, workshops, and forums on research-relevant areas. Furthermore, teacher educators, including those in the educational system of Iran, are encouraged to re-plan their professional development programs to meet the real needs of the teachers in their specific educational context instead of presenting teachers with theory-based universal programs if they are to prepare successful teachers who can deal effectively with the daily realities of the classroom.

Since its inception, pragmatic competence has been studied vastly; the majority of these studies, however, have examined pragmatic production, and pragmatic comprehension is chiefly under-researched. This lack of adequate research also stands true for the underlying pragmatic comprehension processes and strategies. Therefore, the present investigation aimed to find out L2 pragmatic comprehension strategies used by 40 (F=20, M=20) Iranian EFL learners and to discover whether there would be any differences between interlanguage pragmatic comprehension strategies used by male and female learners. Participants, selected based on stratified random sampling, were chosen on the basis of their performance on a paper-based TOEFL out of the initial sample of 90 students. Three data collection instruments were employed: a validated pragmatic test (Tajeddin & Ahmadi Safa, 2010), concurrent verbal think-aloud protocols, and retrospective verbal think-aloud protocols. Data analysis revealed three classes of pragmatic comprehension strategies. First, socio-pragmatic strategies that included politeness, formality, indirectness, and distance/power influences. Second, lexico-pragmatic strategies which were more frequent than grammatical strategies in the second category. Third, the cognitive strategies that comprised both top-down and bottom-up processing strategies in L2 pragmatic comprehension. Furthermore, it was found that gender did not play any significant role in the use of pragmatic comprehension strategies. Study findings suggest that explicit teaching of pragmatic comprehension strategies helps learners promote their L2 pragmatic comprehension.

Researchers and educators in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) have long been interested in the role of corrective feedback (CF) in language teaching and learning (Cohen, 1975, 2018; Ellis, Loewen, & Erlam, 2006). The main goal is to explore how to provide CF, the kind of feedback to provide, when, and by whom in order to facilitate learner's uptake and second language (L2) development (e.g., Carroll & Swain, 1993; Han, 2002; Lyster & Ranta, 1997). As Cohen (2018) states, aligned with more learner-centered approaches to language teaching, not only should teachers know how to deal with providing CF but they also need to promote learners' awareness as informed consumers of CF to optimize its effect in their L2 development journey with the highest level of efficiency (Cohen & White, 2008). CF is defined as comments on accuracy or suitability of students' comprehension or production of a foreign/second language. The extent of CF and the ways in which learners can strategically embark on such CF is still open to debate due to the fact that there are many mediating factors influencing the efficacy of CF. Consequently, being able to propose advantageous ways of providing CF by teachers and effective use of CF by learners in L2 education settings remains a desideratum which requires a systematic review of various aspects of CF and factors contributing to its effectiveness. To this end, the current paper opens by providing a definition of CF and delineating how it is operationalized in different theoretical schemes. Categories of CF are described as are technology-based means for CF, and key dilemmas regarding CF and its effectiveness are noted. The conclusion reached is that CF must be viewed as highly complex -- especially as it concerns learners' autonomy in L2 development and in effectively strategic use of CF. The article ends with some recommendations regarding advantageous ways of promoting CF practice in L2 classrooms.

We investigated the home culture effect with respect to students' perceptions about themselves and their instructors. This study was concerned with the cross-cultural analysis of Iranian and Iraqi students' perceptions of teacher success, credibility, and stroke variables. Willingness to Attend Classes (WTAC) was evaluated. Two-hundred-seventy-six Iranian and 150 Iraqi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university students participated in the study. Results of the multi-group modeling showed measurement invariance, both metric and scalar, across the groups. Afterwards, descriptive statistics indicated that both groups held high perceptions of their own WTAC and their teachers' stroke, effectiveness, and credibility. Next, correlational results indicated that the sub-components of perceived teacher credibility, stroke, and success variables were significantly and positively associated with Iranian and Iraqi students' WTAC. These outputs were approved in the SEM results, and the hypothesized relations between the variables were approved; perceived teacher stroke, success, and credibility factors were positive significant predictors of Iranian and Iraqi students' WTAC. On the whole, these findings provided empirical backing for the theoretically-rich claim that students' home culture background significantly predicts the way their belief systems are shaped and reshaped. Hence, teacher educators should be concerned with training teachers who not only effectively teach language to the students but also fulfill students' expectations of a successful teacher who is able to provide culturally-appropriate quality communication in the classroom and build a relationship of trust between him/herself and the students with the ultimate aim of enhancing student-related academic outcomes., Author(s): Reza Pishghadam [sup.1] , Ali Derakhshan [sup.2] , Kiyana Zhaleh [sup.3] , Liqqa Habeb Al-Obaydi [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411301.6, 0000 0001 0666 1211, Department of English, Ferdowsi University [...]

The present study sought to investigate the effects of Summary Writing (SW), Picture Writing (PW), and Topic Writing (TW) tasks on the accuracy and complexity of Iranian intermediate EFL learners' writing performance. To this end, of 61 students majoring English Literature in Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran, 43 (10 males, 33 females) of them were considered homogenous as intermediate learners. The participants were then randomly divided into three groups of SW, PW, and TW receiving six 60-minute sessions of instruction covering five units of "Improve Your IELTS Writing Skills" (McCarter & Whitby, 2014). With respect to the accuracy of writing productions, the results revealed that intervention was effective and reached the significance level, and the results of post hoc test illustrated that SW outperformed both TW and PW and that TW had a better performance than PW. Regarding the complexity of writing products, it was revealed that instruction was effective and statistically significant. The results of post hoc test demonstrated that SW had the best performance compared to PW and TW although no difference was found between PW and TW. Subsequently, the paper discusses implications for learners and teachers and suggests some avenues for further research.

As a growing approach to assessment, learning-oriented assessment (LOA) has recently flourished to position learning at the center of assessment practices. It aims to unify assessment, teaching, and learning. However, little is written and known about its benefits, challenges, and practices in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts. To shed light on these aspects, the present study was a bid to unpack Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions about the benefits, challenges, and professional activities that facilitate LOA understanding and practice. To this end, 40 EFL teachers including both genders were invited to a semi-structured interview held in person. The results of the thematic analysis obtained by MAXQDA revealed that Iranian EFL teachers had different perceptions regarding LOA. They argued that LOA is a process-based, feedback-oriented, formative, and alternative assessment technique that foregrounds feedback and progress rather than the final outcome. Furthermore, it was identified that LOA can be practiced by using alternative assessment, performance assessment, dynamic assessment, peer assessment, self-assessment, and portfolio assessment. Likewise, the results demonstrated that LOA is beneficial in enhancing classroom interaction, collaboration, and engagement, integrating assessment, teaching, and learning, and monitoring students' progress. However, the time budget, large classes, and teachers' lack of knowledge and training on LOA were perceived as challenges for applying LOA. Furthermore, it was found that Iranian EFL teachers supported the use of training courses, reading articles and books, and attending assessment-related workshops, webinars, seminars, and conferences to improve LOA knowledge and skills. The study provides implications for EFL teachers and trainers, who can use different assessment techniques/practices representative of LOA.

The concept of boredom has recently attracted the attention of researchers in L2 education. As most of the available literature has focused on traditional, in-person classes, very little is known about how L2 students experience this aversive emotion in online classes, especially those prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To fill this gap, this large-scale, qualitative study surveys the opinion of 240 demographically versatile English major students from twenty-five universities in Iran to identify the activity types that are more likely to induce boredom in online classes. Thematic analysis of data, collected through open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and analysed through MAXQDA software, revealed ten different activity types which were boredom-inducing due to their non-engaging or cognitively (un)demanding nature. The findings are then discussed in light of relevant theories of boredom, and suggestions are given for making these activities less boring in online classes.