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It is believed that there is a significant difference between the use of technology in technologically advanced and advancing countries, and the users in the former act far better with technology than the users in the latter. However, there is not enough report on how this usage differs in terms of the independent use of technology in a foreign language or for learning that language. Therefore, the present cross-cultural case study was conducted to compare and contrast the patterns of using technology in two Asian universities, one in Japan (a technologically advanced country) and another in Iran (a technologically advancing country). The participants were 248 Japanese and 235 Iranian students. The data were collected through an online questionnaire that gained information about students' use of technology in everyday life in their L1 (Japanese & Persian) and in L2 (English), students' use of discipline-specific technology in English, and their attitudes toward the use of technology for language learning. The findings revealed that there is not a very significant difference between the patterns of using technology in Japan and Iran in both L1 and L2. The major difference was that the Japanese tended to use more information technologies in L1, while the Iranians leaned toward communication technologies. It was also found that Iranian students used technology in L2 more than the Japanese, especially in terms of communication technologies.

Although CALL is still an emerging area of study in many countries, several studies have shown the significant contribution of these countries to the development of CALL worldwide, among which Iran is no exception. Contrary to the vast number of review studies on how this interdisciplinary area of study has been developed at the international level, there are very few studies presenting the development of CALL at the national level, especially in the highly contributing countries. Accordingly, the present study is an attempt to systematically review the trend of CALL in Iran focusing on research purpose, outcome, and methodology. The two major databases of WoS and Scopus were searched from 2007 to 2020. Following the exclusion and inclusion criteria, 229 studies were selected for the present systematic review. The research purpose and outcome of the studies were analyzed according to four classifications of linguistic, affective, cognitive/ metacognitive, and technology domains. The findings indicated a large number of studies in linguistic and affective domains with a positive effect of technology. Furthermore, a few studies have been conducted with a focus on the cognitive/ metacognitive and technology aspects. The analysis of the research methodology of the publications revealed a lack of sufficient data about participants, research setting, and duration of the treatment/tasks. More importantly, the absence of longitudinal qualitative studies in natural settings was found as a major shortcoming. It is worth mentioning that measurement instruments/data collection methods, data analysis methods, and the implemented devices were clearly explained in nearly all the studies.

One of the crucial issues for successful technology-enhanced out-of-class language learning (OCLL) is the learners' continuance intention to use technology. Considering the strong mutual relationship between learners' intention and motivation, the present study extended the technology acceptance model (TAM) with the self-determination theory (SDT) to investigate Japanese EFL learners' intention to use learning technologies for OCLL. The study was conducted in a technology-enhanced OCLL environment using a web-based e-portfolio system. The hypothesised model included two principal antecedents of behavioural intention introduced by TAM--perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use--in addition to the three psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness introduced by SDT. Path analysis was conducted to find the multivariate relationships between the constructs in the model based on the collected data from 162 Japanese EFL learners. The results indicated that SDT determinants could significantly predict perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, among which perceived competence was the most influential factor. Furthermore, perceived usefulness highly influenced the learners' intention to continue technology-enhanced OCLL, which in turn influenced their actual usage of the system.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 revolutionized education all around the world. The urgent shift to online education (emergency remote teaching) has been very demanding for administrators, teachers, students, and anyone involved in education. Although online and blended learning has long been practiced in education, this sudden unplanned shift created a different image, especially in less technologically developed countries. Accordingly, the present case study aimed at understanding the existing challenges and opportunities of this urgent shift to online education through the perspectives of Iranian EFL university students in online General English (GE) classes. A total of 68 university students participated in the study and the data was collected through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and students' reflection sheets. Content analysis using Nvivo 11® was conducted for the triangulated textual data. The findings were categorized into four major groups of challenges and opportunities, including technological, psychological/affective, linguistic, and environmental/social. Overall, 16 challenges and 11 opportunities were investigated that are discussed thoroughly in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]