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Despite English teachers' acknowledgement of the plurality of English and the emergence of different varieties of the language, the actual manifestations of this plurality and the associated principles do not seem to be equally embraced in their classroom approach. Against this background, this study investigated Iranian English teachers' conceptions of English as an International Language (EIL) and their corresponding instructional practices through semistructured interviews and non-participant classroom observations. Drawing upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB), as the theoretical/analytical framework, the researchers explored the participant teachers' behavioral, normative, and control beliefs underlying their intentions and actual classroom practices with regard to EIL. Findings revealed that although the teachers acknowledged the importance of raising learners' awareness of EIL in different aspects of their language use, they still leaned towards standard American or British English in their actual instructional practices. Such propensity was informed by their attitudes toward the inclusion of EIL principles, their perceptions of the existing social pressures, and their perceived difficulty of adopting an EIL-aware pedagogy. Moreover, the participant teachers' actual classroom instructions were found to be incongruent with their beliefs about the importance of raising students' awareness regarding different English varieties. Implications for language teacher education are discussed.

Developing L2 learners' emotional balance through adaptive regulation is a significant determinant of successful learning. Despite the recent surge of interest in emotion regulation (ER) programs, research on L2 learners' ER strategies is surprisingly underdeveloped. To address this gap, the current qualitative study explored ten L2 learners' understanding of achievement emotions and ER strategies throughout a longitudinal ER-oriented training course. Data were collected from four rounds of semi-structured interviews and diaries at different junctures of time. Data analysis revealed that the most frequent ER strategies in the pre-training phase were distraction and suppression, which showed a gradual decrease in the post-training phases. However, the use of self-regulated learning strategies and reassurance had the lowest frequency, showing a great improvement during the post-training phases. Additionally, the students grew in regulating their emotions across four major areas: (a) sufficient perceived control over negative emotions in high-stakes situations, (b) use of explicit ER strategies, (c) efficient use of competency-oriented strategies, and (d) decreased distraction as a function of negative simulators. The study provides implications for employing ER-based training to transform students' negative emotional experiences into positive emotions.

In a knowledge society characterized by an abundance of information sources that present conflicting perspectives on socio-scientific controversies, it is extremely important for readers to construct effective mental models of such controversies. Nevertheless, readers' mental representations of controversial information are assumed to be biased towards their pre-existing beliefs (text-belief consistency effect). This study extends earlier research on the effect to L2 reading contexts and examines whether L2 readers' prior beliefs affect their situation-model representations of documents that present opposing standpoints on an established controversy in language education: inductive vs. deductive approaches. Additionally, we examined whether the readers' strength of situation-model representations is affected by their proficiency level and whether proficiency moderates the effect. Fifty-eight readers read texts that presented conflicting perspectives on the controversy. A recognition task was used to assess the strength of their situation-model representations. The results revealed that readers' mental representations of the documents were biased towards the perspectives that aligned with their pre-existing beliefs on the controversy. The results further revealed a strong significant effect for L2 proficiency on the strength of the situation-model representations of the texts. However, proficiency failed to moderate the text-belief consistency effect that readers displayed when reading the controversial textual information.

When pursuing a controversial socio-scientific issue, readers are expected to construct balanced representations that include overlapping and opposing information. However, readers' mental representations are often biased towards their prior beliefs. Previous research on such text-belief consistency effects have been conducted mostly in monolingual contexts. The present study investigated whether document language, as a source characteristic, moderates text-belief consistency effects at the situation-model and text-base representation levels. Eighty-seven bilingual readers-selected from a larger initial sample-read two documents on the global spread of English. The documents were either presented in participants' first (Persian) and second (English) languages, or one was presented in Persian and the other one in English. A recognition task was used to assess situation-model strength and text-base strength. Overall, participants built stronger situation models for the belief-consistent information as opposed to belief-inconsistent information. However, document language moderated the text-belief consistency effect. When both texts were presented in English, the text-belief consistency effect was smaller than when both texts were presented in Persian. For the combination of English and Persian texts, the text-belief consistency effect was enlarged when the belief-consistent text was presented in English and the belief-inconsistent text in Persian but disappeared when the text-belief consistent text was presented in Persian and the belief-inconsistent text in English. These results suggest that document language can serve as a strong credibility cue that can eliminate belief effects, at least when the document language and the controversial issue are inherently related., Author(s): Mohammad N. Karimi [sup.1] , Tobias Richter [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.412265.6, 0000 0004 0406 5813, Department of Foreign Languages, Kharazmi University, , No. 43, South Mofatteh Ave., Tehran, [...]

Readers are expected to construct balanced mental representations of socioscientific issues discussed across controversial documents. However, readers tend to be biased toward documents that present belief-consistent perspectives and tend to refute documents that argue against their stance (text-belief consistency effect). Published studies on text-belief consistency effects have used imbalanced designs with all participants typically endorsing one standpoint in the controversy. The present experiment used a balanced design to examine the text-belief consistency in Iranian students of English as a foreign language and to investigate the extent that prior knowledge moderates the effect. Eighty-two students read two texts on an applied linguistics issue (native vs. non-native speakers as English as a foreign language teachers). Based on their performance on a prior beliefs measure, participants were assigned to three groups that varied in agreement to the stance of the texts. A recognition task was used to measure their situation-model strength and text-base strength. The results revealed a large text-belief consistency effect. Participants constructed stronger situation models for the text that communicated belief-consistent information compared with those who read the text that communicated belief-inconsistent information. No difference was found for text-base representation. Although prior knowledge was found to exert a significant positive effect on the strength of participants' situation-model representations, it did not moderate the text-belief consistency effect.

The article discusses the impact of L2 reader-writers' prior beliefs on their integrated written representations of controversial information sources. It also examines how strategic source processing affects the content of these representations. The findings show that pre-existing beliefs have a biasing effect on the content, and cross-text elaboration moderates the inclusion of pro-belief and contra-belief content. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to integrated writing instruction. The study examines how prior beliefs and strategic source processing influence the integrated representations of reader-writers when synthesizing information from diverse and contradictory sources. The researchers hypothesize that the written representations will exhibit a bias towards the reader-writers' prior beliefs. They also predict that strategic source processing, specifically accumulation and cross-text elaboration, will impact the overall content. The study involves undergraduate students majoring in English as a Foreign Language in Iran, with participants classified as holding a pro-stance or contra-stance towards the global expansion of the English language. The study examined how readers' pre-existing beliefs and strategic processing of conflicting sources influenced their written representations. The results showed that readers' prior beliefs significantly influenced the inclusion of content, with a higher proportion of belief-compatible ideas included. Strategic processing strategies, specifically accumulation and cross-text elaboration, also had an impact on the inclusion of content. The study suggests that readers' beliefs and processing strategies play a role in shaping their understanding and representation of conflicting information. The text discusses the impact of prior beliefs on the construction of cognitive models [Extracted from the article]

The present study aimed at developing a second language pragmatic aptitude test. To do so, the relevant literature was consulted, different components contributing to pragmatics aptitude were identified and tabulated and test items were developed for each component. The outcome was a test comprising four sections, i.e. memory for pragmatic rule learning, extroversion and cultural intelligence self-assessment questionnaire, mind-reading from films and mind-reading from voices. Three experts were invited to examine the face and content validity of the test. It was, then, administered to 40 native speakers of English. To establish the reliability of the test, the obtained data were subjected to Cronbach's Alpha Analysis. The results indicated that the newly developed test was a valid and reliable measure of aptitude for learning pragmatics. In order to ensure the construct validation of the test, it was administered to another 160 participants. The data gathered were analyzed using Factor Analysis. The results revealed that three sections of the test measured the same construct showing quite high correlations but extroversion and cultural intelligence self-assessment questionnaire did not. Consequently, it was removed from the test.

Despite English teachers' acknowledgement of the plurality of English and the emergence of different varieties of the language, the actual manifestations of this plurality and the associated principles do not seem to be equally embraced in their classroom approach. Against this background, this study investigated Iranian English teachers' conceptions of English as an International Language (EIL) and their corresponding instructional practices through semistructured interviews and non-participant classroom observations. Drawing upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB), as the theoretical/analytical framework, the researchers explored the participant teachers' behavioral, normative, and control beliefs underlying their intentions and actual classroom practices with regard to EIL. Findings revealed that although the teachers acknowledged the importance of raising learners' awareness of EIL in different aspects of their language use, they still leaned towards standard American or British English in their actual instructional practices. Such propensity was informed by their attitudes toward the inclusion of EIL principles, their perceptions of the existing social pressures, and their perceived difficulty of adopting an EIL-aware pedagogy. Moreover, the participant teachers' actual classroom instructions were found to be incongruent with their beliefs about the importance of raising students' awareness regarding different English varieties. Implications for language teacher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a knowledge society characterized by an abundance of information sources that present conflicting perspectives on socio-scientific controversies, it is extremely important for readers to construct effective mental models of such controversies. Nevertheless, readers' mental representations of controversial information are assumed to be biased towards their pre-existing beliefs (text-belief consistency effect). This study extends earlier research on the effect to L2 reading contexts and examines whether L2 readers' prior beliefs affect their situation-model representations of documents that present opposing standpoints on an established controversy in language education: inductive vs. deductive approaches. Additionally, we examined whether the readers' strength of situation-model representations is affected by their proficiency level and whether proficiency moderates the effect. Fifty-eight readers read texts that presented conflicting perspectives on the controversy. A recognition task was used to assess the strength of their situation-model representations. The results revealed that readers' mental representations of the documents were biased towards the perspectives that aligned with their pre-existing beliefs on the controversy. The results further revealed a strong significant effect for L2 proficiency on the strength of the situation-model representations of the texts. However, proficiency failed to moderate the text-belief consistency effect that readers displayed when reading the controversial textual information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing L2 learners' emotional balance through adaptive regulation is a significant determinant of successful learning. Despite the recent surge of interest in emotion regulation (ER) programs, research on L2 learners' ER strategies is surprisingly underdeveloped. To address this gap, the current qualitative study explored ten L2 learners' understanding of achievement emotions and ER strategies throughout a longitudinal ER-oriented training course. Data were collected from four rounds of semi-structured interviews and diaries at different junctures of time. Data analysis revealed that the most frequent ER strategies in the pre-training phase were distraction and suppression, which showed a gradual decrease in the post-training phases. However, the use of self-regulated learning strategies and reassurance had the lowest frequency, showing a great improvement during the post-training phases. Additionally, the students grew in regulating their emotions across four major areas: (a) sufficient perceived control over negative emotions in high-stakes situations, (b) use of explicit ER strategies, (c) efficient use of competency-oriented strategies, and (d) decreased distraction as a function of negative simulators. The study provides implications for employing ER-based training to transform students' negative emotional experiences into positive emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]