International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

International Journals of Foreign Language

Teaching and Research
Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch

License Holder and Publisher: Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch

Director-in-Chief: Seyyed Omid Tabatabaei, Assistant Professor, Islamic Azad University,
Najafabad Branch
Editor-in-Chief: Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi, Associate Professor, University of Isfahan
Managing Editor: Roya Baharlooie, Assistant Professor, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad
Branch
Editorial Board
Dr. Baharlooie, Roya, Assistant Professor, English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic
Azad University, Najafabad Branch
Dr. Bulbaw, Lynn M., Professor, College of Education & Human Development, Texas A&M
University
Dr. Eslami Rasekh, Zohreh, Professor, Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture, Texas
A&M University
Dr. Hayati, A., Majid, Professor, English Department, Chamran University, Ahvaz
Dr. Jalilifar, Alireza, Professor, English Department, Chamran University, Ahvaz
Dr. Larke, J., Patricia, Professor, College of Education & Human Development, Texas A&M
University
Dr. Shafiee, Sajad, Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, Shahrekord Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
Dr. Tabatabaei, Omid, Assistant Professor, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch
Dr. Taki, Saeed, Associate Professor, English Department, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza
Branch, Shahreza, Iran
Dr. Talebinejad, M. R., Associate Professor, English Department, Islamic Azad University,
Shahreza Branch, Shahreza, Iran
Dr. Tavakoli, Mansour, Professor, English Department, University of Isfahan
Dr. Vahid Dastjerdi, Hossein, Associate Professor, English Department, University of Isfahan
Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
License No. issued by Islamic Azad University, Deputy Office of Research
Affairs; 87/171272. Date issued: Khordad
ISSN: 2322-3898
Production Manager: Seyyed Mohsen kazemi
Persian & English Editor: Shima Ghobadi, Lecturer, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza Branch
Journal Office Coordinator: Leili Rezaei
Cover Designer: Mohsen Ghasemi
Address: International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, Faculty of
Literature and Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Isfahan, Iran
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Disclaimer
Neither the editor nor the Editorial Board is responsible for authors expressed views and the
contents of the published articles in the journal. The originality, proofreading of manuscripts
and language problems are the sole responsibility of the individual authors.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 2

Referees for this issue

Dr. Ahmadi, Alireza, Shiraz University

Dr. Alavi, Sepideh, Shiraz University

Dr. Ameri-Golestan, Ahmad, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch

Dr. Chalak, Azizeh, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch

Dr. Heidari Tabrizi, Hossein, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch

Dr. Moieni, Raouf, University of Kashan

Dr. Rezvani, Ehsan, Art Uiversity, Isfahan, Iran

Dr. Shafie, Sajjad, Shahrekord University

Dr. Tabatabaei, Omid, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch

Dr. Taki, Saeed, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza branch

Dr. Talebinezhad, M. R., Islamic Azad University, Shahreza Branch

Dr. Vahid Dastjerdi, Hossein, University of Isfahan

Dr. Zarei, Gholamreza, Isfahan University of Technology

 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 3

International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and

Research
Contents
Effects of Cooperative Learning on Vocabulary Achievement of Reflective/Impulsive
Iranian EFL Learners 11-24
Sajad Shafiee, Seyyedeh Raziyeh Khavaran

Verbs in Applied Linguistics Research Article Introductions: Semantic and syntactic

analysis 25-33
Abdollah Mohsenzadeh, Seyed Foad Ebrahimi

Examining Iranian EFL Teachers Demotivating Factors: Years of teaching experience in

focus 35-44
Najme Hojaji, Hadi Salehi

The Impact of Weblog Task Assessment on Iranian EFL Learners Reading Ability
Marjan Zamani, Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi 45-55

Effect of Oral Corrective Feedback on Iranian EFL Learners Phonological Uptake and
Retention 57-75
Amin Naeimi, Mahnaz Saeidi, Biook Behnam

Integration of Serious Games in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Iranian

Children 77-87
Azizeh Chalak, Behzad Ahmadi

An Insight into Professional Development Obstacles Facing Ethiopian Primary School EFL
Teachers 89-103
Belilew Molla Gebre , Haile Mariam

The Impact of Using Hyland's Mitigation Strategies on EFL Learners' Writing Ability: A
socio-cultural perspective 105-119
Shahram Afraz

Social, Cultural and Linguistic Factors Affecting EFL Learners Language Proficiency: A
Quantitative Analysis 121-135
Somaye Amirabadi, Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 5

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOREIGN

LANGUAGE
TEACHING AND RESEARCH
Notes for Contribution

The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, the refereed journal
sponsored by Islamic Azad UniversityNajafabad, solicits and welcomes the submission of
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The research areas include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
Teaching foreign language (including technology in the classroom)
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 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 6

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 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 7

Headings of APA

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Abstract (level 1)

Teaching communication strategies is one of the most challenging subjects which has its own
supporters and opponents.

Keywords: teaching, strategies

Teaching communication strategies is one of the most challenging subjects which has its
own supporters and opponents. Teaching communication strategies is one of the most
challenging subjects which has its own supporters and opponents.

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Participants (level 2)

Teaching communication strategies is one of the most challenging subjects which has its
own supporters and opponents.

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Teaching communication strategies is one of the most challenging subjects which has its
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 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 8

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International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

Effects of Cooperative Learning on Vocabulary Achievement of

Reflective/Impulsive Iranian EFL Learners
Sajad Shafiee*, Department of English, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Shahrekord, Iran
[email protected]
Seyyedeh Raziyeh Khavaran, Department of English, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Shahreza, Iran
Rezvan,[email protected]

Abstract
This study examined the effects of cooperative learning techniques (CLT) on vocabulary
achievement of reflective/impulsive Iranian EFL Learners. From among 130 students at Fajr
institute in Dehdasht, Kohkiloyeh and Boyer Ahmad Province, Iran, 90 participants were selected
based on their performance on the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The participants were then
divided into two experimental groups (comprising reflective learners and impulsive learners) and
one control group labeled as conventional instruction (CI) group. The instrument used to divide
the participants into reflective and impulsive groups was the Eysencks (1990) Impulsivity
Questionnaire. The experimental groups were taught with the student team achievement division
(STAD) technique, while the control group was taught through the traditional method for ten
weeks. To measure the vocabulary knowledge of the learners in different groups at the beginning
and at the end of the experiment, a pretest and a posttest, each consisting of 40 items on new
English words based on their book were used. Independent-Samples and paired-samples t tests
were used to determine whether there were significant inter- and intra-group differences. The
statistical analysis of the results showed that the experimental groups (reflective and impulsive)
performed better on vocabulary achievement posttest than the control group (CI), and also it was
revealed that reflective learners performed better on vocabulary achievement than impulsive
learners. In sum, cooperative learning enhanced learners vocabulary performance, especially the
reflective ones.

Keywords: Cooperative learning, EFL learners, impulsive, reflective, STAD, vocabulary

achievement
Introduction
In learning a foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role. It is one element that
links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing all together. In order to
communicate well in a foreign language, students should acquire an adequate knowledge of
words and should know how to use them accurately.
A few decades ago, a new approach called cooperative learning (CL) seemed to attract a
lot of attention and became popular. Slavin (1982) stated that CL refers to instructional methods
in which students of all levels of performance in small groups work together toward a common
goal which encompasses instructional methods such as student-team-achievement-divisions
(STAD), team-game-tournaments (TGT), team-assisted individualization (TAI), cooperative
integrated reading and composition (CIRC), jigsaw, learning together, and group investigation
(GI). Slavin (1987) pointed to STAD, TGT, and Jigsaw as the general methods which can be
used in all subjects and in all grade levels and TAI, CIRC, and GI as methods designed for
particular subjects at particular grade levels. This research utilized the STAD method to attain its
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 12

objectives. According to Slavin (1987), STAD has been used in such diverse subject areas as
match, language, arts, social studies, and science. This technique was chosen because, according
to Ghaith and Yaghi (1998), it has consistently been shown to be among the most simple and
effective CL methods in improving student vocabulary of well-defined objectives in various
subjects.
According to Celce-Murcia (2001, p. 359), learning styles are the general approaches
that students use in acquiring a new language or in learning any other subjects. Thus, one of the
many factors which can be related to learning style is the personality type of different individuals.
Among all different personality types and learning styles, the one which requires more study is
perhaps reflectivity/impulsivity learning style. Messer (as cited in Jamieson & Chapelle, 1987)
claims that reflectivity/impulsivity is the extent to which a person reflects on a solution or a
problem for which several alternatives are possible (p. 532).
In fact, reflective learners are as the persons who prefer to first think and then respond.
They often benefit from relatively complex thinking and tend to work accurately. However, their
slowness can result in incomplete work on tests. On the other hand, impulsive learners respond
very rapidly and tend to complete their work fast but often with less accuracy than do reflective
learners.
In academic settings, a reflective learner might be labeled slow. A very reflective learner
may have difficulty finding a test on time; however, the completed portions are probably correct.
On the other hand, impulsive learners are anxious because stress is induced by the uncertain and
ambiguous nature of the situation. Furthermore, impulsive behavior like routine actions and
thought processes are sometimes inappropriate and erroneous. It was the aim of the current study
to explore the possible differences between impulsive and reflective learners in terms of their
vocabulary achievements when they are exposed to CL.

Literature Review
Several studies have investigated the effects of cooperative learning on EFL learning. Pan
and Wu (2013), for instance, aimed to investigate the effects of using cooperative learning to
enhance the English reading comprehension and learning motivation of EFL freshmen by
comparing the cooperative learning instruction and traditional lecture instruction. This
experiment was implemented in a Freshman English Reading course, a two credit course, with
two hours of instruction per week, over a full semester. Seventy-eight EFL freshmen taking
Freshman English Reading courses participated in this study, with 44 participants in the
experimental group and 34 in the comparison group. The researchers employed a pretest-posttest
comparison group quasi-experimental design. The experimental group received reciprocal
cooperative learning instruction, whereas the comparison group received traditional lecture
instruction. Both groups were administered three English-reading achievement tests and an
English learning motivation scale. The data were analyzed by means, standard deviations, t tests,
and one-way ANCOVA. The findings indicated statistically significant differences in favor of
cooperative learning instruction on English reading comprehension, particularly among medium-
and low-proficiency students. Cooperative learning instruction also created a significantly
positive effect on student motivation toward learning English reading. In conclusion, they
strongly suggested teachers use cooperative learning instruction in university-level EFL reading
classes.
Moreover, HoonSeng (2012) investigated the relationship between cooperative learning
and achievement in English language acquisition in literature class in a secondary school. Four
instruments including pretest and posttest examinations, questionnaire, classroom observation,
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 13

and interviews were administrated. The results revealed a significant effect in posttest of
experimental group. The qualitative part of the research indicated that using cooperative learning
strategies could improve learners social behavior.
In a wide variety of studies, the potential of cooperative learning to increase student
achievement has been consistently shown (Ghaith, 2004). Liang (2002) conducted a study on the
effect of cooperative learning on EFL junior high school learners language learning, motivation
toward learning English and high and low achievers academic achievements with five structures
and models of cooperative learning. Liang found that the experimental group outperformed
control groups who were taught in Grammar Translation Method and Audio-Lingual Method.
Although results of the above mentioned studies have been supported by many studies,
which proved that there was a significant difference between the achievement of the students who
were taught by traditional method vs. CL method, there are some other studies that do not show a
meaningful difference in this regard; one such study is the study conducted by Dabaghmanesh
and Soori (2014) in the context of Iran. In their study, they intended to investigate the effect of
cooperative learning versus traditional method on English proficiency of undergraduate students
with different majors. This quasi-experimental research used a pre and posttest group design.
Sixty Iranian undergraduate students in engineering and business administration majors at Shiraz
Azad University who were taking General English courses participated in the study. They were
asked to do the Cambridge English proficiency key test at the level A2 both for pre and posttests.
The average gain score was taken to indicate students overall English language proficiency.
Results indicated no significant difference between cooperative learning and teacher fronted
instructional method in language learning in General English course. Moreover, the outcomes of
the study also showed insignificance of different majors through implementing cooperative
language learning.
In another study, Vaughn et al. (2000) examined the effectiveness of partner reading
compared to a comprehension-oriented strategy for third grade students. During a paired reading
session, a more proficient reader was typically paired with a less proficient peer. The proficient
reader read the material first to provide a model of fluent reading for the less proficient reader.
The less proficient reader subsequently read the text. While one student read, the listening partner
provided feedback and alerted the reader when an error was made. The results revealed that
partner reading significantly improved reading fluency.
As far as the effectiveness of the CL in Iran is concerned, Zarei and Keshavarz (2011)
studied the effects of two models of CL on reading comprehension and vocabulary learning, with
132 Iranian participants. They reported the success of the CL models as compared with the non-
cooperative control groups. In another study, Rahvard (2010) investigated the effects of CL on 16
Iranian students-as compared with control group-reading comprehension ability. She proved CL
as successful compared with the individually working control group. Also, in another research,
Momtaz and Garner (2010) focused on some Iranian students reading comprehension through
CL and proved it to be successful as well.
Even though there are a relatively high number of studies on reading and cooperative
learning, the existing literature seem to be deprived of empirical studies which have set out to test
the possible outcomes of leaning vocabulary through cooperative learning. The two available
research studies on the vocabulary learning in the literature are in learning vocabulary via
collaborative interaction (Huong, 2006), and cooperative through communication tasks (Newton,
2001). Huong investigated learning vocabulary in collaborative groups at Vietnamese university,
and the results showed that learning vocabulary was affected by group work.Newton investigated
vocabulary learning through communication tasks. One of the options employed in his study was
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 14

cooperative learning in pre-task. Students looked for meaning of the words in dictionary
corporately. The finding showed that cooperative learning helped to improve vocabulary learning
process in the pre-task stage of the lesson. The paucity of the studies on the effect of CL
(particularly STAD technique of CL) on the vocabulary learning of L2 learners provided an
incentive for the present researchers to make an attempt to delve into the matter by investigating
the effect of STAD on the vocabulary achievement of reflective/impulsive language learners.

Research Questions
To investigate the possible effects of the STAD technique of CL on the acquisition of vocabulary
by reflective and impulsive EFL learners, the following research questions were put forward:
Q1. To what extent do reflective learners who use STAD differ in vocabulary achievement from
reflective learners who do not use the STAD technique?
Q2. To what extent do impulsive learners who use STAD differ in vocabulary achievement from
impulsive learners who do not use the STAD technique?
Q3. To what extent, do reflective learners who use STAD differ in vocabulary achievement from
impulsive learners who use the STAD technique?

Methodology
Participants
A sample of 90 learners at intermediate level of proficiency at Fajr Institute in Dehdasht
city, Kohgiloyeh and BoyerAhmad Province, Iran, were chosen to serve as the participants of the
study. They were chosen based on their scores on the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and their
homogeneity was assured according to the OPT results from among an available population of
130 EFL learners. The sampling procedure through which they were accessed was simple random
sampling. Every effort was taken to select a homogeneous and representative sample of the
population. As the next step and on the basis of the results of a revised version of Eysenck
Personality Questionnaire (1990), the participants were assigned into two experimental groups of
impulsive and reflective participants and a control group as well.

Materials and Instruments

The materials included seven units of American English File 2 and the instruments
utilized in this study included an Oxford Placement Test (OPT), Eysencks (1990) Impulsiveness
Questionnaire, a vocabulary pretest, and a vocabulary posttest. The OPT was applied to
determine the homogeneity of the groups regarding their levels of language proficiency. A
vocabulary test was used as pretest before starting the experiment, and a posttest was
administered at the end of the treatment sessions. The pretest and posttest included vocabulary
items of the seven units of the book the learners were studying. In order to determine the
reliability of the vocabulary test, it was pilot studied on some L2 learners (N = 30) who were
similar to the learners of the main study. The results of the Cranachs alpha analysis showed that
both the pretest (r = .79) and the posttest (r = .84) were reliable. The content validity of the test
was evaluated by three experts who were PhD holders of applied linguistics with more than five
years of teaching and testing experience.

Procedure
As the first step of this study, the 90 homogeneous learners were chosen according to
their OPT scores in order to make sure that the results of the study were not due to the initial
differences between the participants. The OPT was for the assessment of the participants
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 15

language proficiency level, and it was given to 130 EFL learners to determine the proficiency
level with regard to placement test scores. After administration of the OPT, 90 out of 130
participants were chosen for the present study because all of them were able to pass the test with
a score of 40 to 60 out of 100, and according to the OPT booklet, the learners were categorized at
the same level (i.e. intermediate).
When the homogeneity was assured and later the impulsivity/reflectivity of the
participants was revealed, the participants were divided into three groups: two groups of
reflective (A) and impulsive (B) learners who were considered as experimental groups and the
other group (C) as the control group. As the next step, each of the three groups were taught by the
same teacher who had about 5 years of experience of teaching and also received training in using
the STAD technique.
Then, the instructional period started, and there were the same instructor and the same
book for the three groups, but their differences were related to the instructional strategies:
cooperative learning technique (CLT) was applied for the two experimental groups which
emphasized group working, and conventional instruction (CI) for control group, which
emphasized individual work. The students in the control group received ordinary classroom
instruction in each session which was a teacher-led method, as opposed to the experimental
groups which were student-centered classes. The details of instruction are presented in the
following sections.
The treatments continued for about ten weeks (20 sessions) comprising one introductory
session, sixteen sessions of treatment and three sessions of test administration (OPT, pretest, and
posttest). After implementing the treatments, a posttest was used in order to detect the possible
changes in the vocabulary knowledge of the participants. All sessions took place in the students'
classrooms about 60-minute period, and the time for pre and posttests was the same and lasted 45
minutes. This test would reveal that any change in the vocabulary knowledge of the participants
would be because of the treatments they received.

Vocabulary Instruction by STAD

In the experimental groups, the teachers had to use four steps of the STAD technique
process: 1) Whole-class presentation, 2) Group discussion, 3) Test, and 4) Group recognition.
According to the first step of STAD, the teacher divided the students in each experimental group
(N = 30) into five smaller groups (each group was composed of six members). In the class, like
all of the instructional classes, the teachers taught the instructional materials, which were related
to every units of the selected book in this research, at the first half of the class. The teacher taught
vocabulary through the five steps:
Pronunciation: Pronunciation was the first step. Here all students had to be involved in
saying the word together a number of times. Even for difficult words, separate syllables could be
emphasized. Explanation: Here a link had to be made between the new lexical item and students
previous knowledge. Example provision: Students would usually need, at least, two or three
examples of a new term to firmly grasp the meaning. It was an important that examples be drawn
from tangible contexts. Elaboration: Students were given chances to produce their visual
representations and additional examples. Assessment: Informal assessment was included in the
program.
The participants in the STAD groups were encouraged to work with a partner of a slightly
different level to teach and quiz each other. They were also allowed to work together as a whole
team if they preferred. The most important thing was for them to ensure that all the participants in
the group knew how to answer the questions. At the end of every two weeks, the participants
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 16

were instructed to turn their desks to sit in rows and were given a quiz. At this stage, the
participants were not allowed to help or speak to each other. After completion, the quizzes were
graded by the researcher. The teams were given back their quizzes, and improvement and team
scores were calculated. The teacher made an attempt to provide extra praise to the participants
and the teams that showed improvement (particularly low performing participants and teams) to
influence self-esteem and motivation. Immediately following the class, all teams had their team
photos displayed on the bulletin board till the next STAD quiz.
Because of the shortage of time, the teacher corrected the students' vocabulary papers at
home. After correcting their vocabulary papers, she gave their vocabulary papers back to them, in
order to correct their errors and help them refrain from repeating similar mistakes in the future
classes; she also gave the scores to them by her observation and pre and posttest vocabulary tests.

Vocabulary Instruction by CI
In group C, the traditional method group, which included 9 reflective and 21 impulsive
learners, the teacher wrote some words on the board, and asked the participants to repeat. Then,
the teacher explained the parts of speech, grammatical functions, collocations, and word usage.
The participants spent most of the class time listening to the teachers analysis of the words and
its related grammatical explanation, mostly in Persian, and sometimes practiced making
sentences. Once in a while, two or three of the participants were assigned to answer some of the
questions the teacher asked during her lecture. The learners had to apply what they had learned in
the first half time of the class. They had to write individually, without helping anyone. The
teacher, as observer, helped them to have better performance, and she finally corrected their
vocabulary papers and in addition to giving scores to each of them; in order to prevent them from
making similar mistakes in the future, she illustrated the learners errors.

Results
Results of the OPT and Eysencks (1990) Impulsiveness Questionnaire
Before conducting the experiment and to make sure that the participants were
homogeneous at the beginning of the treatment, an OPT was administered and the obtained data
were calculated and analyzed. The result of this test is tabulated in the following table:

Table 1. Sample Mean and Standard Deviation for the OPT

N Max Min Mean Standard
Deviation
90 60 49 55.57 5.24

Table 1, which is based on the result of OPT test scores, shows that the participants
approximately had a similar performance. Given the minimum and maximum scores (Min = 49,
Max = 60) and the standard deviation of the distribution (Std. Deviation = 5.24), it could be
construed that the learners had similar scores, and that they could be categorized at the same level
(intermediate level) according to the OPT result.
After ensuring the homogeneity of the participants, Eysencks (1990) impulsiveness
questionnaire was administered to classify the learners in the two groups of reflective and
impulsive learners, and a third group which comprised both reflective and impulsive learners.
Accordingly, the participants who received the scores between 58 and 95 on the questionnaire
were categorized in group Areflective participants, while the participants who received the
scores between 19 and 57 were categorized in group Bimpulsive participants. Finally, based on
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 17

their performance on this questionnaire, 30 reflective participants were assigned into group A, 30
impulsive participants were assigned into group B, and group C comprised 9 reflective and 21
impulsive learners.

Results of the Vocabulary Pretest

As the next step, a vocabulary pretest was administered to determine the students prior
vocabulary knowledge, the descriptive statistic of which is shown through Table 2:

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for the Mean Comparison of the Vocabulary Pretest of Reflective,
Impulsive and Control Groups

Groups N Mean Std. Std. Error

Deviation of Mean
Experimental Impulsive 30 11.81 2.25 .41
Reflective 30 14.05 1.58 .29
Control 30 12.63 2.35 .43

Table 2 displays the mean differences of pretest for the three groups. As can be seen, the
mean for reflective group is 14.05, while the mean for impulsive and control groups are11.81 and
12.63 respectively. As a result, the mean difference for reflective and impulsive groups equals
2.24, while the mean difference for reflective and control groups equals 1.42. The mean
difference for impulsive and control groups equals .82 which was in favor of the control group.
Figure 1 depicts the mean plot of pretest of the three groups.

Figure 1. The Mean Plot of the Pretest of the Three Groups

What needs to be noticed is that the mean scores of the impulsive learners were lower than
those of the control group. In other words, the impulsive learners had weaker vocabulary
knowledge than the control group at the onset of the study.

Results of the Vocabulary Posttest

 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 18

After the implementation of instructional period for sixteen sessions, a posttest was used.
The descriptive statistics for the posttest are tabulated in Table 4.3:

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for the Mean Comparison of the Vocabulary Posttest of the Three
Groups
Groups N Mean Std. Std. Error
Deviation of Mean
Experimental Impulsive 30 13.66 2.54 .46
Reflective 30 17.8 1.38 .25
Control 30 12.58 2.58 .47

According to Table 3, the mean for reflective group (M = 17.08) was greater than the
mean for impulsive group (M = 13.66) and the control group (M = 12.58). The mean difference
for reflective and impulsive groups equals 3.42, while the mean difference for reflective and
control groups equals 4.5. The mean difference for impulsive and control groups equals 1.08.

Figure 2. The Mean Plot of the Posttest for the Three Groups

It should be mentioned that the posttest scores were indicative of the fact that the two
experimental groups of the study experienced a noticeable vocabulary improvement. This is said,
not only the two experimental groups had a better performance after the treatment but the
impulsive group which had weaker pretest results outperformed the control group on the basis of
the posttest. This could be attributed to the effectiveness of the treatment (Cooperative Learning)
applied to these groups during the study.

Investigating the First Hypothesis

The first hypothesis of the present study which was formulated based on the first question
was that there is a statistically significant difference in English vocabulary achievement between
the reflective learners receiving STAD and reflective learners who do not receive STAD. To test
this hypothesis, the posttest scores of the reflective group comprising of 30 participants were to
be compared to the results gained by reflective learners who were categorized in control group.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 19

Table 4. Descriptive Statistics for the Mean Comparison between the Scores of Reflective
Learners Receiving STAD Technique and Reflective Learners Not Receiving STAD
Group Std. Std. Error of
N Mean
Deviation Mean
Reflective(receiving STAD) 30 17.08 1.38 .25
Reflective(did not receive STAD) 9 14.94 1.52 .50

Table 4 indicates that there was a great difference (2.14) in English vocabulary
achievement between the reflective learners receiving STAD (17.08) and reflective learners who
did not receive STAD (14.94). In order to justify the claim of significance, an independent
samples t test was run on the posttest scores of these two groups. The results are presented
through the following table.

Table 5. Results of the Independent Samples t Test between Scores of Reflective Learners
Receiving STAD Technique and Reflective Learners Not Receiving STAD

Levene's Test t test for Equality of Means

for Equality of
Variances

Mea Std.
%59
n Error
Sig.(2- Confidence
F Sig t df Diffe Diffe
tailed) Interval of the
renc renc
Difference
e e
Lowe Uppe
r r
Vocabul Equal
ary variances
2.13
achieve assumed .101 .753 3.97 37 0.000 .538 1.047 3.229
8
ment

Equal
variances 12.2 2.13
3.75 0.003 .569 .901 3.376
not 0 8
assumed
Since the p value under the Sig. (2-tailed) column in Table 5 was less than the
significance level (i.e. .000 < .05), it could be concluded that there was a significant difference
between the vocabulary achievement scores of reflective learners who received STAD and those
reflective learners who did not receive STAD.

Investigating the Second Hypothesis

The second hypothesis of the study proposed that there was a statistically significant
difference in English vocabulary achievement between the impulsive learners receiving STAD
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 20

and impulsive learners who did not receive STAD. To test this hypothesis, the performance of the
experimental impulsive group (amounting to 30 learners) was compared to the impulsive learners
(21 learners) of the control group.

Table 6. Descriptive Statistics for the Mean Comparison between the Scores of Impulsive
Learners Receiving STAD Technique and Impulsive Learners Not Receiving STAD
Std. Std. Error of
Group N Mean
Deviation Mean
Impulsive(receive STAD) 30 13.66 2.5 0.46
Impulsive(not receiving STAD) 21 11.57 2.27 0.49

Table 6 indicates that impulsive learners who received STAD scored more than 2 points
higher than impulsive learners not receiving STAD regarding their posttest. But it is difficult to
conclude based on the descriptive statistics whether the observed difference met the criteria of
significance. Thus, another independent samples t test was administered on these results to
technically scrutinize the claim of meaningfulness.

Table 7. Results of the Independent Samples t- test between Scores of Impulsive learners
Receiving STAD Technique and Impulsive Learners Not Receiving STAD
Levene's Test
for Equality t test for Equality of Means
of Variances
Mea
Std. %59
n
Sig.(2- Error Confidence
F Sig t df Diffe
tailed) Differen Interval of the
renc
ce Difference
e
Lowe Uppe
r r
Equal
variances 0.012 0.905 3.02 49 0.004 2.09 0.693 0.702 3.488
assumed
Equal
variances
3.08 46.5 0.003 2.09 0.697 0.728 3.462
not
assumed

The p value in Table 7 (0.004) was less than the required level of significance. This
means that the difference between the impulsive learners who received STAD and the impulsive
learners who did not receive STAD was meaningful. So the second hypothesis was supported.

Investigating the Third Hypothesis

The third and the last hypothesis of the study stated that there was a statistically significant
difference in English vocabulary achievement between the reflective learners receiving STAD
and impulsive learners receiving STAD. To test whether this hypothesis applied for the present
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 21

study, the performance of the two experimental groups of the study on the posttest was
compared.
An independent samples t test was applied on the results of posttests of the two
experimental groups to determine the group (reflective or impulsive learners) which had a better
performance regarding their vocabulary achievement. The descriptive statistics for this test are
tabulated in Table 8.

Table 8. Descriptive Statistics for Vocabulary Achievement between Reflective Learners

Receiving STAD Technique and Impulsive Learners Receiving STAD
Std. Std. Error of
Group N Mean
Deviation Mean
Impulsive(received STAD) 30 13.66 2.54 0.46
Reflective(received STAD) 30 17.08 1.38 0.25

Referring to Table 8, one can see that there was difference between the reflective learners
receiving STAD (17.08) and impulsive learner receiving STAD (13.66). The result indicates that
there seems to be a statistically significant difference in English vocabulary achievement between
the reflective learners receiving STAD and impulsive learners receiving STAD. In order to
ensure about the significance of the difference, independent-samples t test was run.

Table 9. Results of the Independent Samples t Test between Scores of Reflective Learners
Receiving STAD Technique and Impulsive Learners Receiving STAD
Levene's Test
for Equality t test for Equality of Means
of Variances
Std. %59
Sig.(2 Mean
Error Confidence
F Sig t df - Differ
Differ Interval of the
tailed) ence
ence Difference
Lowe Upper
r
Vocab Equal
0.04 - -
ulary variances 4.205 -6.46 95 0.000 -3.41 0.528
5 4.475 2.358
achiev assumed
ement Equal
variances - -
-6.46 44.78 0.000 -3.41 0.528
not 4.481 2.235
assumed

Levenes test depicted in Table 9 indicates that groups variances were not equal. Thus,
the p value in front of Equal-variances-not-assumed row should be checked. As can be noticed in
this table, the difference between the posttest scores of the two groups was significant at .05
alpha level (.000 < .05). In fact, reflective learners had a significantly better achievement on the
vocabulary posttest than their impulsive counterparts.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 22

Discussion
This study elucidated that cooperative learning enhanced students vocabulary
performance for both impulsive and reflective learners. Cooperative learning techniques like
STAD are supported by a multiplicity of theories from a variety of academic disciplines
including behavioral theory, cognitive developmental theory, as well as social interdependence
theory. Student Team-Achievement Divisions (STAD) is also supported by a large body of
empirical research across different time periods, subjects, and geographical locations and has
consistently found a variety of positive outcomesincluding accelerated academic achievement,
increased self-esteem, and motivation.
Examples of previous empirical studies which demonstrated the effectiveness of
cooperative learning techniques include (though are not limited to) the following studies: Ying
Pan and Wu (2013), for instance, investigated the effects of using cooperative learning to
enhance the English reading comprehension and learning motivation of EFL freshmen by
comparing the cooperative learning instruction and traditional lecture instruction. Their findings
indicated statistically significant differences in favor of cooperative learning instruction on
English reading comprehension, particularly among medium- and low-proficiency students.
Cooperative learning instruction also created a significantly positive effect on student motivation
toward learning English reading. Their findings are, obviously, in agreement with the findings of
the present study, which referred to the effectiveness of CL techniques for vocabulary instruction.
In another study, Tok (2012) investigated the relationship between cooperative learning
and achievement in English language acquisition in literature class in a secondary school. The
results revealed a significant effect in the posttest of experimental group. The qualitative part of
the research indicated that using cooperative learning strategies could improve learners social
behavior. This study as well backs up the results of the present study, and indicates the usefulness
of the CL techniques.
In another study, Vaughn et al. (2000) examined the effectiveness of partner reading
compared to a comprehension-oriented strategy for third grade students. The results revealed that
partner reading significantly improved reading fluency, which provides additional evidence for
the effectiveness of CL techniques.
In the context of Iran, Zarei and Keshavarz (2011) studied the effects of two models of CL
on reading comprehension and vocabulary learning, and reported the success of the CL models as
compared with the non-cooperative control groups. In another study, Javadi Rahvard (2010)
investigated the effects of CL on 16 Iranian students-as compared with control group-reading
comprehension ability. She proved CL as successful compared with the individually working
control group. Also, in another research, Momtaz and Garner (2010) focused on some Iranian
students reading comprehension through CL and proved it to be successful as well. Like all the
studies cited above, the present study verified the usefulness of the CL techniques, but for the
purpose of vocabulary learning by impulsive and reflective learners.
In cooperative learning, the students are given opportunity to say the word together a
number of times. Peer criticism aids them to have the high level of vocabulary performances,
since they have the opportunity of evaluating each others work separately (i.e. the student have
the opportunity of evaluating their own works). The students working with partners ask each
other for help and improve their attitude towards vocabulary.
In this study, before cooperative learning was incorporated in the class, the students
obtained low scores but after the implementation of cooperative learning for seventeen weeks, the
students scored significantly better in their vocabulary. Thus, it is obvious that the
implementation of cooperative learning in vocabulary has been proven to produce positive effects
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 23

in students learning of vocabulary provided that the personality types of the students are first
determined.

Conclusion
As this study has demonstrated, simply putting students in groups does not guarantee
positive results. Teachers cannot simply place students together and expect them to work well
with each other. Central components of effective CL must be in place so that students can come
to feel that they are positive contributors, not only to their teams, but to the class as a whole.
Most teachers are faced with large heterogeneous classes, making it difficult to serve the needs of
all students in the class. Cooperative learning techniques like STAD take advantages of this
heterogeneity, by encouraging students to learn from one another and from more and less
knowledgeable peers and they demonstrative more confidence in vocabulary learning decrease
their apprehensions towards vocabulary learning.
Although cooperative learning strategies are difficult to practice as novel strategies of
instruction, the learners show high level of enthusiasm, curiosity and involvement in being taught
through cooperative learning tasks. Thus, this study lends credence to the belief that cooperative
learning has positive effects on the students vocabulary performance. Therefore, teachers should
consider this learning approach as a viable alternative for teaching vocabulary.

References
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a Saudi Arabian school. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University
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Penn State and NEC. Retrieved March 12, 2015 from: http: //citeseer.ist.pcu.edu/rd/
Celce-Murica, M. (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd Ed.).
New York: Newbury House/HarperCollins.
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Ehrman, M., & Leaver, B. (2003). Cognitive styles in the service of language learning.
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Ghaith, G. M. (2001). Learners perceptions of their STAD cooperative experiences.
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279-294.
Ghaith, G. M. & Yaghi, H. M. (1998). Effects of cooperative learning on the acquisition
of second language rules and mechanics. System, 26(2), 223-234.
Haller, C., Gallagher, V. J., Weldon, T. L., & Felder, R. M. (2000). Dynamics of peer
education in cooperative learning work groups. Journal of Language Education, 8(3), 285-293.
Javadi Rahavard, Z. (2010). Cooperative learning strategies and reading comprehension.
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Klinger, J. K., & Vaughn, S. (2000). The helping behaviors of fifth grades while using
collaborative strategic during ESL content classes. TESOL Quarterly, 34(1), 69 -76.
Klug, D. (1999). A brief introduction to cooperative learning. In D. Klug, S. McGulren,
D. Johnson, and R. Johnson (Eds.). JALT applied materials: Cooperative learning (pp. 16-22).
Tokyo, Japan: Association for Language Teaching.
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LittleJohn, A. P., (1983). Increasing learner involvement in course management. TESOL

Quarterly, 17(4), 59-6.
Momtaz, E., & Garner, M. (2010). Does collaborative learning improve EFL learners
reading comprehension? Journal of linguistics and language teaching, 1(1), 15-36.
Pan, C.Y., & Wu, H.Y. (2013). The cooperative learning effects on English reading
comprehension and learning motivation of EFL freshmen. English Language Teaching, 6(5), 13-
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Slavin, R. E. (1978). Using student team learning: The John Hopkins team learning
project. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University: Center for social organization of schools.
Slavin, R. E. (1987).Cooperative learning: Student teams. What research says to the
teacher? National Education Association, Washing ton, D. C. (Eric. ED. 282862).
Tok, H. S. (2012). Cooperative learning and achievement in English language acquisition
in a literature class in a secondary school. Unpublished master thesis, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, Malaysia.
Vaughn, S., Klinger, J. K., Swanson, E. A., & Stillman-Spisak, S.J., (2000). Efficacy of
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 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

Verbs in Applied Linguistics Research Article Introductions: Semantic and

syntactic analysis
Abdollah Mohsenzadeh, M.A., Department of English, Sepidan Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Sepidan, Iran
[email protected]
Seyed Foad Ebrahimi*, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Shadegan Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Shadegan, Iran
[email protected]

Abstract
This study aims to investigate the semantic and syntactic features of verbs used in the
introduction section of Applied Linguistics research articles published in Iranian and international
journals. A corpus of 20 research article introductions (10 from each journal) was used. The
corpus was analysed for the syntactic features (tense, aspect and voice) and semantic meaning of
verbs. The findings showed that in both groups of introductions, the common tenses were the
present and past, rather than future. In introductions published in the international journal, the
present tense was used more often than in those published in the Iranian journal, whereas past
tense was used twice as frequently in Iranian journal introductions. Regarding the aspect of verbs,
the simple aspect was common in both groups of introductions, but more frequent in Iranian
journal introductions. The perfect aspect was more common in international journal
introductions. Concerning voice, the active voice was predominant in both groups of
introductions. Semantically, verbs with mental, activity, communication and existence meanings
were common in both groups. The semantic meanings of verbs were not significantly different in
the two groups of introductions. The findings of this study can have implications for novice, non-
native writers in Applied Linguistics in helping them design and write more appropriate research
article introductions.

Keywords: verb, tense, aspect, voice, semantic meaning, syntactic analysis

Introduction
An experimental research article (RA) is a text in which the developmental stages of a
scientific experiment are documented. It usually has a fixed format of sections, and generally
follows the Swales structure of introduction, method, result and discussion (IMRD). The first
section, the introduction, provides the anchor point, after the title. According to Jalilifar (2009),
this section is written to give information on several features of the research, such as the
background, rationale, gap in the literature, objectives and research questions of a study. These
functions mean that the introduction section is a pivotal sub-genre in academic writing, as the
likelihood of publishing a research article is highly related to how well this section is written.
Writing such an introduction section is challenging to RA writers, especially non-native writers
in an EFL context.

Review of Literature
In the last three decades, a number of researchers have studied research article
introduction sections (RAIs) from one or more disciplines, in order to investigate rhetorical
structure and/or linguistic features (Gledhill, 2000; Samraj, 2002; Fakhri, 2004; Hirano, 2009;
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 26

Ozturk, 2007; Loi and Evans, 2010; Sheldon, 2011; Martin and Perez, 2014). Samraj (2002)
investigated research article introductions from two dependent fields, namely Wildlife Behaviour
and Conservation Biology. She analysed 12 research articles introductions using the Swales
(1990) model of moves and steps analysis. The results of the analysis showed disciplinary
variation in the structure of introduction sections. In the Conservation Biology introductions,
writers fulfilled a greater promotional function than did those of the Wildlife Behaviour
introductions. This promotion was achieved through the use of steps, such as centrality claims.
Ozturk (2007) studied the rhetorical organization of RAIs in journals devoted to sub-disciplines
of applied linguistics, in order to highlight the possible variations. He analysed 20 RAIs extracted
from two journals of language acquisition and second language writing research. He used the
Swales (1990) CARS model for analysis, and reported that the variations found regarding the
rhetorical organizations of the two groups of introductions could be explained in terms of the
concepts of established and emerging fields of studies. Saz Rubio (2011) investigated the
rhetorical organization and metadiscoursal features of RAIs of agricultural sciences. He used the
CARS model to analyse the data, and found that the application of Swales CARS models
showed no major departure from the traditionally given M1 + M2 + M3 rhetorical pattern; he also
showed that particular step combinational patterns were used to attain different communicative
purposes. The findings revealed that evidential, transition markers and code glosses are the most
persistent interactive categories. Regarding interactional metadiscourse markers, hedges and
boosters received the greatest attention. Soler, Carbonell and Luz Gil (2011) focused on the
rhetorical organization of English and Spanish PhD thesis introductions. They analysed 20
doctoral theses on computing, written in either Spanish or English. The analysis followed the
Swalesian approach of move and steps analysis. Results showed that move 1 and move 3 are
obligatory moves in PhD thesis introductions in Spanish, whereas move 2 is optional. The
structure of English thesis introductions showed that they conform more closely to the M1-M2-
M3 arrangement.
Martin and Perez (2014) examined the rhetorical structure of the introduction section of
80 research articles Spanish and 80 written in English. The research articles were from four
disciplines in the fields of Humanities/Social and Sciences Health Sciences. To be more precise,
they focused on how writers show their research in move 3 following Swales (1990). Their focus
was on those steps that add promotional value to ones research. Findings of their studies showed
that in the same field, the English texts present a higher degree of rhetorical promotion than the
Spanish texts in each of the disciplines analysed (Martin and Perez, 2014 p.1). They also found
that, however, during the comparison of the two broad fields, the Spanish texts in Health
Sciences present a higher degree of promotion than the English (and Spanish) texts in
Humanities/Social Sciences. This indicates that, in shaping the promotional features of the (sub)
genre in question, when professional and national cultural variables interact simultaneously,
cultural factors tend to override the influence of disciplinary context. However, when broad fields
of knowledge are compared, it is the disciplinary conventions in specific professional sub-
cultures that seem to prevail over national cultural factors (Martin and Perez, 2014).
The reviewed literature clearly indicates that the RAI section has been mostly studied in
terms of its rhetorical structure, whereas its linguistic features have received little attention.
Therefore, this study aims to study the semantic and syntactic features of verbs used in the RA
introduction sections of Applied Linguistics research articles published in Iranian local journals
and in ISI international journals. The findings of this study could act an empirical guide to enable
writers to improve their skills in writing RAIs, and help them to be more successful in publishing
RAs in ISI journals. Thus, this study sought answers to the following research questions:
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 27

Q1.What are the syntactic features of verbs used in RAIs published in Iranian journals and ISI
international journals?
Q2.Are there any differences in the syntactic features of verbs used in RAIs published in Iranian
journals and in ISI international journals?
Q3.What are the semantic meanings of verbs used in RAIs published in Iranian journals and in
ISI international journals?
Q4.Are there any differences in the semantic meanings of verbs used in RAIs published in
Iranian journals and in ISI international journals?

Method
Corpus
This study was carried out using a corpus of 20 RAIs published in Iranian local journals
and in ISI international journals: 10 RAs were selected from two Applied Linguistics journals
published by Elsevier, which are indexed in Thomson Reuters. These journals are English for
Academic Purposes and English for Specific Purposes. The RAs were extracted from 2014 and
2015 issues of the journals, and their RAI sections were then separated for analysis. For RAIs
written by non-native writers, 10 RAs were selected from an Applied Linguistics journal
published by and indexed in ISC. To this end, 10 RAs were selected from the Journal of
Research in Applied Linguistics. The selected RAs were published in the 2014 and 2015 issues of
the journal.

Analytical framework
To analyse the data for syntactic features, the tense, aspect and voice of verbs were
considered. Tense comprises the three tenses of present, past and future. Aspect consists of
simple, progressive and perfect. Voice can be either active or passive.
To analyse the data for the semantic meanings of the main verbs used in RAIs, Biber et al.s
(1999) classification was used. Their classification includes seven semantic domains as follows:
Activity verbs which are concerned with what people do (e.g. use, give, make, build, perform,
measure)
Communication verbs involving such communication activities as speaking and writing (e.g.
describe, discuss, debate, argue, introduce, suggest)
Mental verbs describing cognitive states and activities (e.g. know, believe, remember,
understand, consider, design, study, investigate), which also include attitudinal or emotional
states (e.g. prefer, love, enchant)
Verbs of existence or relationship denoting a relation or a state exists between entities (e.g.
include, represent, define, link, associate, relate, influence)
Verbs of facilitation or causation indicating a new state of affairs brought about (e.g. cause,
allow, require, need, influence)
Verbs of simple occurrence reporting the occurrence of events (e.g. develop, grow, increase,
and change)
Aspectual verbs denoting the stage of progress of events or activities (e.g. keep, continue, and
hold).

Procedure
In order to analyse the syntactic and semantic structures of the data, the following
procedures were performed. First, the RAs were selected from the target journals. Second, the
RAI sections were extracted from the selected RAs. Third, the data were analysed for tense,
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 28

aspect and voice. Fourth, the main verbs were analysed for their semantic meanings. Fifth, a
sample of eight RAIs was checked by two experts in the area of Applied Linguistics, in order to
increase of reliability and validity of analysis. Sixth, the findings were tabulated and analysed.

Results and Discussion

The data were analysed in terms of tense types and aspects.The results are presented in
Table 1.

Table 1. Frequency and Percentage of Tense Types and Aspects

Present Present Past Other Total
simple perfect simple tenses and
aspects
RAIs written by native 147 (57%) 53 (23%) 41 (16%) 18 (7%) 259
writers
RAIs written by Persian 119 (59%) 23 (11%) 42 (21%) 18 (9%) 202
writers

The results in Table 1 indicate that simple present is the predominant tense and aspect in
both sets of RAIs. These findings are more pronounced than those reported by Salger-Mayer
(1992) and Li and Ge (2009). Salager-Meyer (1992) analysed RA abstracts, and found that the
simple present tense was used in 40% of the sentences. Thus, the difference between the findings
of this study and that of Salager-Meyer (1992) could be due to the difference in genres being
analysed. It seems that genre has an influence on the selection of tense types and aspects. Li and
Gee (2009) analysed RAIs from medical disciplines, and found that the simple present tense was
used in 25% of the sentences. The difference could be attributed to the different natures of the
disciplines: the present study focused on RAIs from Applied Linguistics, whereas Li and Gee
(2009) analysed medical RAIs.
The predominance of the simple tense could be due to realizing steps in RAIs, such as
making topic generalizations, indicating the research gap, outlining purposes, outlining principal
findings and implications, and indicating the research article structure (Examples 16).

Example 1: the study of academic discourse, or the language of the academy, is central to the
development of academic literacy as it models the diverse linguistic patterns valued in
educational context, particularly that of tertiary institutions. (International Journal))

Example 2: the current research investigates the use of evaluative language in a corpus of
doctoral discussions written by L1 Chinese and L1 English writers. (International Journal)

Example 3: the article is organized as follow. (International Journal)

Example 4: the current study has implications for the comparison of oral production and (the
more commonly researched) written production, for understanding the sequence of development,
and for planning EAP instruction and curriculum design. (International Journal)
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 29

Example5: As in many countries, teaching English for specific purposes (ESP) has a marginal
status in Iranian tertiary education. (Iranian local Journal)

Example 6: this study investigates how Iranian scholars revise their manuscript by comparing the
transitivity system of PS and AP versions of their manuscripts (Iranian local Journal)
The second most common tense in RAIs published in Iranian local journals was the past
simple, whereas in the international journal RAIs it was the present perfect. This difference might
suggest that Persian writers prefer to review earlier studies more than do writers of international
journal RAIs. This might result from the fact that most of the analysed RAIs were extracted from
thesis RAs. In such RAs, writers are mostly novice writers who construct their studies on
previous ones, and seek gaps in the existing literature (Example 7). The greater use of the present
perfect in RAIs published in the international journal might suggest these writers preference for
claiming the centrality of their study. They also prefer to convince editors and reviewers that the
investigated topic has been the concern of researchers over a period of time (Example 8).

Example 7: Some of these studies have provided an analytical description of the detailed steps
employed in developing students circumlocution strategies. (Iranian local Journal)

Example 8: However, few studies have compared the linguistic features of academic writing
with those of popular writing, which is viewed as rhetorical transformation of academic writing
(Swales, 1990). (International Journal)

Table 2. Frequency and Percentage of Passive and Active Voices

Active Passive Total
RAIs written by native writers 227 (88%) 32 (12%) 259

RAIs written by Persian writers 188 (93%) 14 (7%) 202

The greater use of the active than the passive voice was evident in both sets of corpora.
This result could be attributed to the fact that information, claims and literature presented in RAIs
are expected to be clearly stated and cited; thus, using the passive voice could create ambiguity in
RAIs. In this respect, Hacker (2003) states that active verbs express meaning more emphatically
and vigorously than their weaker counterparts, verbs in the passive voice, which lack strength
because their subjects receive the action instead of doing it (p. 128). The lower incidence of the
passive voice might suggest that in much scientific writing, the passive voice properly puts the
emphasis on the experiment, participants, or process being described, not on the researcher
(Hacker, 2003, p. 130) (Examples 910). Another justification for using the active rather than the
passive voice might be that some academic writing manuals emphasize using the active voice
whenever possible. The greater use of the active voice might suggest the increased use of
reporting verbs, which require the active voice.

Example 9: During the third stage or the phrase procedure level, the learner is assumed to
exchange grammatical information at intraphrasal level, without still being able to exchange
grammatical information at intraphrasal level (Iranian local Journal)
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 30

Example 10: the AWL was also assessed in a wide range of academic disciplines, and results
showed that it registered a fairly stable coverage of roughly 10% in various disciplines
(International Journal)

Table 3. Frequency and percentage of the semantic meaning of verbs

Semantic meaning RAIs written by native RAIs written by Persian
writers writers
Activity verbs 30 (17%) 22 (18%)
Communication verbs 24 (14%) 15 (12%)
Mental verbs 61 (34%) 44 (35%)
Verbs of existence or relationship 38 (21%) 17 (14%)
Verbs of facilitation or causation 16 (9%) 15 (12%)
Verbs of simple occurrence 8 (4%) 8 (6%)
Aspectual verbs 1 (1%) 3 (3%)

The results in Table 3 indicate that the most common verb type was mental in both
corpora. The frequency of mental verbs was less pronounced than in the findings reported by
Zhang (2015). The greater use of mental verbs in the RAIs analysed might be imposed by the
rhetorical functions of RAI moves and steps. In both corpora, these kinds of verbs were used to
report earlier studies and state the aim of the study (Examples 1114).

Example 11: Parkinson and Musgrave (2014) investigated the development of complexity by
focusing on different structures used by advanced EAP students to complexify noun phrases in
written texts. (International Journal)

Example 12: through an analysis of student reading blogs, we investigate the strategies students
report and the relationship between the strategy selected and text (see research questions 1 and 2
below). (International Journal)

Example 13: they investigated whether all learners who showed some emergence of the passive
construction in Japanese in a self-paced oral task would also use it skillfully in a time-consuming
task. (Iranian local Journal)

Example 14: therefore, this study investigates how Iranian scholars revise their manuscript by
comparing the transitivity systems of PS and AP versions of their manuscripts. (Iranian local
Journal)
Activity verbs received similar levels of attention from both groups of writers. More
detailed analysis indicated that this verb was mostly used to report the process of earlier studies
cited in the literature (Example 15-16). Thus, this verb is mostly used in realizing the step of
presenting the literature.

Example 15: Also, the acronym ERPP, first introduced by Cargill and Burgess (2008) has been
used to refer to a branch of EAP addressing the concerns of professional researchers and post-
graduate students who need to publish in peer-reviewed international journals (Cargill &
Burgess, 2088, P.75) and as an alternative term to phrases recurrently appearing in the existing
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 31

literature like English for academic publishing, English for research writing or English for
scientific research. (International Journal)

Example 16: Bhabhas (1994) widely used notion of unhomeliness and hydirdity have been
welcomed and critically examined by many writers and critics. (Iranian local Journal)
Verbs of existence or relationship were used by both groups of writers to present a) the
relationship between entities (Examples 1718), b) facts concerning entities (Examples 1920),
and c) definition of entities (Examples 2122).

Examples17: in a sentence with subject it-extraposition, the main clause expresses the stance of
the writer. (International Journal)

Example 18: The concept of dynamic assessment originated with Reuven Feuerstein (1980), who
believed in the facilitative and mediating role of the instructor (Schneider & Ganschow, 2000).
(Iranian local Journal)

Example 19: the assessment of student writing and speeches usually has included the
requirement to produce a variety of structures. (International Journal)

Example 20: Their usual problem lacks appropriate L2 words in their vocabulary repertoire to
express their meanings. (Iranian local Journal)

Example 21: As regards non-linguistic impediments, Canagarajah (1996) identified several

non-discursive requirement that interfere in publication and classified them into three
distinctive groups: material, financial, and social. (International Journal)

Example 22: Kluckhohn (1951) defined a value as an explicit or implicit conception which is
distinctive of an individual or a group and can influence the selection from obtainable modes,
means, and ends of action. (Iranian local Journal)
Communicative verbs (Examples 2324) received little attention from both sets of
corpora. It seems that the writers in RAIs only communicated earlier findings, and did not present
any claims in the RAIs. Other types of verbs also received little attention, which suggests that
such verbs could not be considered as a norm in RAIs.

Example 23: Accordingly, they argue for the need to develop academic vocabulary lists for
various specific disciplines. (International Journal)

Example 24: Based on these ideas, it can be suggested that traditional tests lack the merit of
measuring the knowledge and skills of language learners with high degrees of validity and
reliability. (Iranian local Journal)

Conclusion
This study investigated the semantic and syntactic features of verbs used in the RAIs of
Applied Linguistics RAs published in Iranian local journals and ISI international journals. The
results concerning syntactic structure indicated that in both groups of RAIs, the simple present
was the predominant tense. This appears to be because writers present facts, define entities, state
aims and outline purposes in RAIs; thus, the use of this tense is motivated by the rhetorical
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 32

functions of moves and steps of RAI. The results suggested differences between the corpora
regarding two other tenses that received noticeable attention. These differences can be attributed
to the differing language backgrounds of the writers. In RAIs written by Persian writers, the RAIs
were extracted from RAs mostly written as masters theses. In such RAIs, writers tend to cite
earlier studies and more frequently use the simple past tense. In RAIs written by native writers,
the writers prefer to signify and claim centrality; they add their study to the continuum of studies
conducted during recent decades by using the present perfect tense. To conclude, writers need to
be aware that tenses can help editors and reviewers to judge the skill and knowledge of the writer,
and they can play a pivotal role in the realizations of moves and steps within the RAI.
Regarding voice, the active was predominant, which may be expected given that it is the
preferred tone in academic writing. This is especially evident in the RAI section, where writers
have to claim the centrality, significance and importance of the study; this requires creating
structures where the subject is the performer of actions. Such structures are the norm in academic
writing, and this needs to be highlighted for novice writers.
Concerning the semantic meaning of verbs, three kinds of verbs were used especially frequently:
mental, activity, and existence or relationship verbs. These kinds of verbs are helpful in realizing
the steps and moves of RAIs; thus, writers need to be aware that such verbs play pivotal roles in
highlighting this process. It can be concluded that the syntactic and semantic structure of verbs is
highly influenced by and related to the realizations of steps and moves of RAIs.
This study could have implications for novice non-native writers in the Applied
Linguistics field of study. The findings of this study could be used to help design syllabi and
practices in teaching RAI writing.
Based on the findings of this study, it could be suggested that similar further studies on
the realizations of verb in other sections of research article from different disciplines could be
carried out. Such studies could add to the knowledge of developing the sections of research
article and plot the disciplinary influence on selections and functions of verbs in research articles
sections.

References
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Longman grammar of spoken and written English (Vol. 2). MIT Press.
Del Saz Rubio, M. M. (2011). A pragmatic approach to the macro-structure and
metadiscoursal features of research article introductions in the field of agricultural sciences.
English for Specific Purposes, 30(4), 258-271.
Fakhri, A. (2004). Rhetorical properties of Arabic research article introductions. Journal
of Pragmatics, 36(6), 1119-1138.
Gledhill, C. (2000). The discourse function of collocation in research article
introductions. English for Specific Purposes, 19(2), 115-135.
Hacker, D. (2003). A writers reference, fifth edition. Boston: Bedford/St Martins.
Hirano, E. (2009). Research article introductions in English for specific purposes: A
comparison between Brazilian Portuguese and English. English for specific purposes, 28(4),
Jalilifar, A. R. (2009). Research article in Applied Linguistics: A gender-based writing
guide. Ahwaz: Shahid Chamran University Press.
Li, L. J., & Ge, G. C. (2009). Genre analysis: Structural and linguistic evolution of the
English-medium medical research article (19852004). English for Specific Purposes, 28(2), 93-
104.
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Loi, C. K. (2010). Research article introductions in Chinese and English: A comparative

genre-based study. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9(4), 267-279.
Martn, P., & Prez, I. K. L. (2014). Convincing peers of the value of ones research: A
genre analysis of rhetorical promotion in academic texts. English for Specific Purposes, 34, 1-13.
Samraj, B. (2002). Introductions in research articles: Variations across disciplines.
English for specific purposes, 21(1), 1-17.
Sheldon, E. (2011). Rhetorical differences in RA introductions written by English L1 and
L2 and Castilian Spanish L1 writers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10(4), 238-251.
Soler-Monreal, C., Carbonell-Olivares, M., & Gil-Salom, L. (2011). A contrastive study
of the rhetorical organisation of English and Spanish PhD thesis introductions. English for
Specific Purposes, 30(1), 4-17.
Ozturk, I. (2007). The textual organisation of research article introductions in applied
linguistics: Variability within a single discipline. English for Specific Purposes, 26(1), 25-38.
Salager-Meyer, F. (1992). A text-type and move analysis study of verb tense and modality
distribution in medical English abstracts. English for specific purposes, 11(2), 93-113.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge
University Press.
Zhang, G. (2015). It is suggested that or it is better to? Forms and meanings of
subject it-extraposition in academic and popular writing. Journal of English for Academic
Purposes, 20, 1-13.
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

Examining Iranian EFL Teachers Demotivating Factors: Years of teaching

experience in focus

Najme Hojaji, English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Najafabad, Iran
[email protected]
Hadi Salehi*, Assistant Professor, English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad
Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran
[email protected]
Abstract
In spite of the importance of teacher's motivation only a limited number of studies have been
conducted on teacher's demotivation in Iran. This study was an attempt to investigate
demotivating factors among Iranian EFL language institute teachers in terms of years of teaching
experience. To this end, the researchers tried to utilize a questionnaire as a research method. To
collect data, a validated questionnaire was administered to a sample of 77 English teachers who
were teaching in Iranian language institutes in Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran. A convenience sampling
was used in this study. The data were classified and analyzed based upon the relevant research
questions. The one-way between-groups ANOVA conducted on demotivating factors showed
that there was a significant difference between professional development and other domains of
demotivating factors among the groups of English teachers. Moreover, it was uncovered that
insufficient income was among the most crucial factors providing dissatisfaction for Iranian EFL
teachers in the field of teaching process. Therefore, it is important for educational institution to
improve teachers perceptions of their job through improving job environment and condition or
payments to manage language learner institutes better than before.

Key words: Teachers demotivation, teacher's motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic motives

Introduction
Just like motivation, demotivation is a significant issue in second language acquisition
(SLA) research and language learning. A demotivated person can be identified as someone who
was initially motivated but because of negative external factors has lost it (Sugino, 2010). When
students have learned something from what they have been thought and find satisfaction in
studying, the teacher will feel motivated. Drnyei and Ushioda (2013) Stated that "if a teacher is
motivated to teach, there is a good chance that his or her students will be motivated to learn" (p.
158). If teachers are intrinsically motivated, correspondingly the learners will become
intrinsically motivated. However, if the teachers get bored or demotivate, the students will have
the same feeling ( Davis, 2009).
According to Drnyei (2001a), demotivation concerns specific external forces that
reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action (p.
143). A motivated teacher not only has been satisfied with his or her job, but also is encouraged
to attempt growth in their educational practices. More specifically, if teachers are extremely
motivated to teach English as an L2, this will help facilitate their L2 teaching and professional
development (Zhang, 2007). A motivated teacher supports learning experiences and consequently
educates well practiced and motivated learners of the target language.
In spite of the importance of L2 teacher motivation described above, recent studies have
demonstrated that most teachers are not adequately motivated and there is an overall reducing of
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 36

motivation among teachers (Dinham & Scott ,2000; Sugino, 2010). In the prior studies, most of
L2 teachers stated that they are unsatisfied with their current teaching conditions. The negative
attitude of the learners toward L2, the heavy projects and burnout are mentioned among the most
general reasons of this dissatisfaction. Therefore, it is important to recognize why L2 teachers
lose their motivation and become demotivated. However, being still in its initial stage, the
research of L2 teacher motivation has not entirely studied what factors have influenced on the
demotivation of EFL teachers and why they consider these factors unfavorable to their teaching.

Literature Review
Intrinsic motivation in teaching
Speaking generally, Drnyei (2001b) has described intrinsic motivation as "performing a
behavior for its own sake in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction such as joy of doing a
particular activity or satisfying one's curiosity"(p.47). Based on such definition, intrinsic
motivation is divided into most rewarding views of teaching such as the educational process
itself, and the subject matter. Teacher performance is accompanied with the first one by working
with the students and viewing the changes in the students' behavior and performance whereas the
second concerned with getting new information from the teaching environment to improve
professional skills and knowledge. This kind of intrinsic rewards help the teachers go for high
salaries and social recognition (Drnyei, 2001b).

Extrinsic motivation in teaching

In contrast to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation requires a factor between the
activity and some separable outcomes such as concrete or verbal rewards. Therefore, enjoyment
derives not from the activity itself but from the extrinsic influences to which the activity precedes
(Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991; Ryan & Connell, 1989).The activity is completed just
for receiving a reward or avoiding some punishment when it has been ended (Pelletier, Sguin-
Lvesque, & Legault, 2002). Extrinsic motivation refers to visible rewards such as pay, benefits,
work environment, work conditions, and job security (Mullins, 1999).
Although intrinsic motivation was known as self- determined, extrinsic motivation has
been shown as the reflection of a lack of self-determination. The researches have revealed that
extrinsic motivation does not necessarily reduce the effect of intrinsic motivation and it might
even heighten it, indicating that extrinsic motivation is unrestrictedly controlled. The significance
of extrinsic rewards suggested the lower level of interest and task enjoyment whenever the
learners have taught a skill by an extrinsically motivated teacher. Considering the importance of
teacher's motivation, Thompson and Phua (2012) suggested some strategies such as praising,
encouraging, honoring feedback, increasing teacher's control over his or her work, collaborative
relations and differentiating extrinsic rewards in the process of teaching and learning.

Teacher's demotivation
According to Drnyei (2001b), teacher demotivation is normally correlated with five
crucial factors: "lack of teacher's self-determination, lack of self-effectiveness, stressful nature of
the work, uninteresting content and inadequate profession construction" (p. 165). Factors such as
bureaucratic stress, lack of necessities, low salaries, teaching students with insufficient
motivation, the ability for handling the changes, being monitored by others, and the ambiguity
have been represented considering as the result of the teacher's stress (Drnyei, 2001a).
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 37

Related studies
Although research activities on L2 teacher motivation in the field of teacher education
have been increased, research on L2 teacher demotivation is in its nascent stage. Among the
available studies on teacher demotivation, Doyle and Kim (1999) in a study on teacher
motivation determined that salary, the relationship between teacher and administrator
advancement problems, curriculum, course books, heavy workload, lack of teacher's autonomy,
and job security were the factors leading to demotivation.
Kzltepe (2008) in a study tried to identify the sources of motivation and demotivation
among English teachers at a public university. The motivating factors were recognized as
learners, profession and social attitude, while the demotivating factors were financial status,
physical characters, research and working conditions. His research investigated the sources of
motivation and demotivation among teachers at a public university in Istanbul. He concluded that
students are the main source of motivation and demotivation.
Reflective on the above studies, Sugino (2010) organized a study on the topic of factors
which demotivate Japanese English teachers. He planned a questionnaire with 37 items into four
sub-sections of demotivating factors: student's attitudes, student's abilities, school facilities and
working conditions, and human relationships. Participants were 97 Japanese English teachers
working in universities. The first language of different participants was different as well. The
findings revealed that the most frequent demotivating factor is the negative attitude of the
students toward learning English and the least frequent factor is concerned with teaching
materials and divergence in student's competencies.
In a mixed method study, T. Y. Kim, Y.K. Kim, and Zhang (2014) tried to determine
differences in demotivation between Chinese and Korean English teachers. A questionnaire on
demotivation was distributed between 58 Chinese and 94 Korean in-service teachers to compare
the demotivating factors between two countries. The findings represented that the overcrowded
classes was significantly detrimental for teachers for both countries. Chinese teachers were
perceived to be more demotivated due to the expectations and the interference from the student's
parents. The lack of student's willingness in English classes and administrative tasks were
identified as the demotivating factors for Korean teachers.
Soodmand Afshar and Doosti (2016) conducted a research study on Iranian English
teachers at secondary schools to investigate factors influence on their job satisfaction or
dissatisfaction through a questionnaire. The results indicated that English teachers have the
feeling of satisfaction with the intrinsic aspects of their job. whereas paying insufficiently, not
adequate position in society, inadequate encouragement for creating teachers professional
development opportunities, lack of principals attention to encourage teachers and appreciate
their work, lack of students motivation, and not being given a leading role to the teachers in the
processes of solving problems and setting goals were among the most crucial factors contributing
to Iranian EFL teacher's job dissatisfaction.
The present study was going to evaluate teachers demotivation from a different point of
view. To this end, the following research questions were posed for this study:
Q1. What factors are salient for teacher demotivation among Iranian language institutes
teachers in terms of the years of teaching experience?
Q2. Are there any significant differences in the extrinsic and intrinsic demotivating
factors among teachers in Iranian language institutes in terms of work experience?
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 38

Methodology
As it is stated above, the current research aimed mainly at investigating the impact of
demotivating factors on EFL teachers in language institutes in terms of years of teaching
experience. In this section, a brief profile of the participants, the materials used, the procedures
and measures applied for eliciting the necessary data will be presented.

Participants
Participants of the study were 77 English teachers with BA, MA, and PhD degrees,
teaching in English language institutes in Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran. The participants were teachers
with various years of teaching experiences (from one to 10 years and above). They were divided
into three groups: The teachers with one to four years of teaching experience (novice), teachers
with 5 to 9 years of teaching experience, and the last group the teachers with 10 and above ten
years of teaching experience (experienced). Convenience sampling was used as a technique of
sampling in this study. It is a non-random sampling method and is defined as the selection of
individuals who happen to be available for the study.

Instrumentation and procedure

The purpose of the questionnaire used in this study was to investigate the demotivating
factors among EFL teachers in language institutes in Najafabad, Isfahan in terms of the years of
teaching experience. The teacher's questionnaire was developed mainly from the following
sources:
Teacher demotivating factors' questionnaire by Sugino (2010)
Lester's teacher's job satisfaction questionnaire (TJSQ) (1987)
Teacher motivation questionnaire by Mifsud (2011)
The questionnaire consisted of two sections and five subsections to provide the researcher
with an overall teacher's demotivating factors for teaching English as a foreign language. Since
the participants were English teachers, the questionnaire was developed in English.
In order to assure validity and reliability of the questionnaire, the researcher examined the
questionnaire designed for similar purposes (Lester, 1987; Mifsud, 2011; Sugino, 2010). The first
draft of the questionnaire was developed while considering the issues in the literature. To check
the validity of the questionnaire, it was sent to two experts to be observed in order to verify the
content and face validity of the questionnaire. Based on two criteria of the appropriateness of the
items regarding the topic and the accuracy of the meaning of the items, the content validity of
each item in the questionnaire was viewed by the experts. Some changes were made based on the
expert's suggestions; then the revised draft of the questionnaire was piloted with a group of
English teachers, and internal reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The
Cronbach's Alpha of scale should be above 0.7. Calculating the reliability of the items of the
questionnaire illustrated a high reliability among the items of the questionnaire.

Table 1. The results of the reliability of the questionnaire

Reliability statistics
Cronbach's Alpha Mean No. of items
.863 2.457 47
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 39

As shown in Table 1, the Cronbachs alpha value exceeded the minimum required value
of 0.7 and hence, the scale of variables was highly reliable.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts; the first part of the questionnaire was designed with the
detailed background information such as gender, age, academic qualification, and years of
teaching experience. Every participant was asked to read the statements and then decide if they
1= strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neither agree nor disagree, 4=agree, 5= strongly agree.
The second part of the questionnaire consisted of five sub- sections regarding teacher's
demotivating factors, including: 1. student's attitudes, 2. class facilities, teaching materials, and
curriculum, 3. working conditions and job satisfaction, 4. human relationships and supervision,
and 5. teacher development. Six items concerning student's attitudes towards teacher's
demotivation, seven items regarding class facilities, teaching materials, and curriculum for
teacher's demotivation, twenty one items concerning working conditions and job satisfaction for
teacher's demotivation, five items concerning human relationships for teacher's demotivation, and
eight items related to teacher development for teacher's demotivation were developed in this
questionnaire.
To analyze the quantitative data, the data were arranged and analyzed by a set of one way
ANOVA to find the differences between demotivating factors among four groups of English
teachers in terms of years of teaching experience.

Results
One of the purposes of this study was to investigate the factors which are salient for
teacher demotivation among EFL teachers in Iranian language institutes in terms of the years of
teaching experience. To this end, a descriptive analysis was used to examine the general
characteristics of demotivation factors and one-way ANOVA as well as post hoc test were
employed to probe into the specific differences in demotivating factors among different groups of
English teachers.
First, the descriptive statistics of items for demotivation of English teachers in language
institutes are reported in Table 2.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of items for demotivation of English teachers in language institute
Descriptive Statistics
Experience Mean Std.
Factors
Deviation N
1-4 52.6923 7.94533 26
5-9 60.3922 10.98499 17
Students' attitude
10 and above 53.3333 13.60828 34
Total 54.6753 11.66366 77
1-4 48.6813 11.03555 26
Class facility, teaching 5-9 49.4118 11.41806 17
material and curriculum 10 and above 48.0672 11.82161 34
Total 48.5714 11.33420 77
1-4 48.7912 8.01951 26
Working condition and5-9 51.4846 6.21306 17
job satisfaction 10 and above 49.1036 10.31675 34
Total 49.5238 8.75329 77
Human relationships 1-4 49.3846 10.17871 26
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 40

5-9 52.0000 12.24745 17

10 and above 46.8235 7.27166 34
Total 48.8312 9.63191 77
1-4 43.0769 9.06388 26
Professional 5-9 50.5882 11.67695 17
development 10 and above 43.0147 10.97137 34
Total 44.7078 10.85925 77

According to this table, among four dimensions of teacher demotivation in language

institutes, student's attitude section received the highest mean score (M=60.39, SD=10.98) while
professional development section obtained the lowest mean score (M= 43.01, SD= 10.97).
A between-subjects ANOVA was performed in order to compare the three groups of
teachers in the recognition part of the test. The results are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. A one-way between subjects ANOVA for demotivation of three groups of English
teachers

One-way ANOVA
Factors Sum ofdf Mean F Sig. Partial Eta
Squares Square Squared
Between 719.070 2 359.535 2.766 .069 .070
Groups
Students' attitude
Within Groups 9620.035 74 130.000
Total 10339.105 76
Between 20.962 2 10.481 .080 .924 .002
Class facility, teaching Groups
material and curriculum Within Groups 9742.303 74 131.653
Total 9763.265 76
Between 85.316 2 42.658 .550 .579 .015
Working condition andGroups
job satisfaction Within Groups 5737.813 74 77.538
Total 5823.129 76
Between 315.710 2 157.855 1.734 .184 .045
Groups
Human relationships
Within Groups 6735.095 74 91.015
Total 7050.805 76
Between 754.469 2 377.234 3.401 .039 .084
Professional Groups
development Within Groups 8207.706 74 110.915
Total 8962.175 76

The one-way between-groups ANOVA conducted on demotivating factors suggested that

there is a significant difference on professional development (p=.039< .05) and other domains of
demotivating factors among three groups (.001.05). The value of Partial Eta Squared confirmed
a moderate effect size (Partial Eta Squared=.084).
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 41

Finally, Tukey HSD test performed to find which groups exactly differ. Although no
statistically significant differences were reported by the ANOVA carried out on the factors
related to students attitude, post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that the
participants with 5-9 years of work experience responded significantly different from the
participants with 1-4 as well as 10 and more years of experience. A moderate size effect was
reported (Partial Eta Squared=.07).
This study also aimed to investigate whether there would be significant differences
between intrinsic and extrinsic demotivating factors among three groups of teachers in Iranian
language institutes. Descriptive statistics of extrinsic and intrinsic demotivating items are
presented in table 4.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics of extrinsic and intrinsic demotivating items

Descriptive statistics
Experience Mean Std. N
Factors
Deviation

1-4 49.4477 5.92599 26

5-9 52.5490 5.86983 17
Extrinsic
10 and above 49.2760 8.25583 34
Total 50.0566 7.08447 77
1-4 43.0769 9.06388 26
5-9 50.5882 11.67695 17
Intrinsic
10 and above 43.0147 10.97137 34
Total 44.7078 10.85925 77

As reported in Table 4, the difference between the mean scores of intrinsic and extrinsic
demotivating factors was calculated 52.54 for extrinsic factors among 5-9 years of teaching
experience, and 50.58 for intrinsic factors among 5-9 years of teaching. To test the
aforementioned hypothesis, another one-way between-groups ANOVA was performed. The
results are reported in Table 5.

Table 5. One-way ANOVA for extrinsic and intrinsic demotivating item

One-way ANOVA
Source Dependent Type Sum df Mean F
Variable of Squares Square Sig. Partial
III Eta
Squared

Extrinsic 180615.808 1 180615.808 3633.476 .000 .980

Intercept
Intrinsic 147449.505 1 147449.505 1329.393 .000 .947
Extrinsic 135.962 2 67.981 1.368 .261 .036
Experience
Intrinsic 754.469 2 377.234 3.401 .039 .084
Extrinsic 3678.453 74 49.709
Error
Intrinsic 8207.706 74 110.915
Extrinsic 196750.559 77
Total
Intrinsic 162868.750 77
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 42

The between-groups ANOVA results reported in Table 5 show statistically significant p-

value for the difference among the groups (.039 .05) suggesting that significant differences were
observed only in intrinsic factors with a moderate effect size (Partial Eta Squared=.084). The post
hoc comparisons by the use of Tukey HSD test were performed in order to find where exactly the
differences reside.

Table 6. Crucial extrinsic and intrinsic demotivating factors among three groups of teachers
Dependent (I) (J) experience Mean Std. Error Sig.
Variable experience Difference (I-
J)

5-9 -3.1013 2.19907 .163

1-4
10 and above .1717 1.83682 .926
1-4 3.1013 2.19907 .163
Extrinsic 5-9
10 and above 3.2730 2.09430 .122
10 and1-4 -.1717 1.83682 .926
above 5-9 -3.2730 2.09430 .122
5-9 -7.5113* 3.28487 .025
1-4
10 and above .0622 2.74375 .982
1-4 7.5113* 3.28487 .025
Intrinsic 5-9
10 and above 7.5735* 3.12836 .018
10 and1-4 -.0622 2.74375 .982
above 5-9 -7.5735* 3.12836 .018

According to Table 6, the participants with 5-9 years of work experience responded
significantly different from the participants with 1-4 as well as 10 and more years of experience
in terms of intrinsic demotivating factors (p=.025< .05).

Discussion and Conclusion

To investigating the impact of EFL teaching demotivation, the demotivating items were
factor-analyzed. Five categorized factors were identified. Cronbach's Alpha was calculated to
obtain the reliability of the items. Five demotivating factors were identified in this study: 1.
student's attitude towards teacher demotivation, 2. teaching materials and curriculum, 3. working
conditions and job satisfaction, 4. human relationships, and 5. proficiency development for
teacher demotivation. The proficiency development was the most prominent demotivate factor
between EFL teachers. The findings of this study were in line with findings of the previous
studies related to teacher's demotivation (Chen, 2010; Kzltepe, 2008; Spear et al., 2000;
Sudmand Afshar & Doosti, 2016). In their studies, they indicated that one of the most prominent
demotivating factors for EFL teachers was insufficient income. In contrast, Perie and Baker
(1997) in their report found that there was a positive rapport between teacher's fulfillment and
learner's behavior, support from supervision, and working conditions.
Whereas salary and benefits were not related to teacher satisfaction, Afshar and Doosti
(2016) in their study revealed that mainly satisfying factors for teachers are among the interior
aspects of teaching process, as they mentioned exterior factors such as insufficient income, low
status in society and occupation, lack of reinforcement in the educational system to create
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 43

opportunities for teacher's professional development, lack of principal's attention in teacher's

encouragement and their work appreciation , lack of student's motivation , and not being given a
prominent role to the teachers in teaching processes such as goal-setting and problem-solving at
schools were among the most crucial factors providing dissatisfaction for Iranian EFL teachers
in the field of teaching process. The findings of this study further support the results from Afshar
and Doosti's (2016) study.
When the relationships between teachers and the sense of competition are combined with
the sense of suspicion and nervousness, these merits likely have effect on teacher's motivation
(Barth, 2006). Some researchers in their studies found that one of the most effective factors for
demotivating teachers is the relationships among teachers, colleagues, and administrator (Aydin,
2012; Doyle & Kim, 1999; Hettiarachchi, 2010; Hettiarachchi, 2013). However, considering this
demotivating factor in previous studies, in this study this item was not between the prominent
demotivating factors. It was likely that the teachers were working in a positive environment with
a satisfaction rapport among teachers, colleagues, and administrator. They were observed to build
more professional relationships with their colleagues who supported a space for cooperation and
peer learning.
As the learning process demands teacher's creativity and effectiveness, the motivation in
teaching can provide the greater value in learning process. Thus, the results of this study can be
useful to teacher, educators and school administrators by helping them to understand the concerns
of beginning teachers and experienced teachers alike. Such understanding should lead to changes
in teacher preparation programs, better assistance during their beginning years of teaching, and
the improved professional development for teachers at all experience levels. Furthermore, it is
important for educational institution to improve teachers perception of their job through
improving job environment and condition or payments and to manage language learner institutes
or schools better than before.

References
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Drnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2013). Teaching and researching: Motivation: Routledge.
Hettiarachchi, S. (2010). ESL teacher motivation in Sri Lankan public schools .
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schools. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 4(1), 1-11 .
Kim, T.-Y., Kim, Y.-K., & Zhang, Q.-M. (2014). Differences in Demotivation Between
Chinese and Korean English Teachers: A Mixed-Methods Study. The Asia-Pacific Education
Researcher, 23(2), 299-310 .
Kzltepe, Z. (2008). Motivation and demotivation of university teachers. Teachers and
Teaching: theory and practice, 14(5-6), 515-530 .
Lester, P. E. (1987). Development and factor analysis of the teacher job satisfaction
questionnaire (TJSQ). Educational and psychological Measurement, 47(1), 223-233 .
Mifsud, M. (2011). The relationship of teachers' and students' motivation in ELT in
Malta: a mixed methods study. University of Nottingham.
Mullins, L. J. (1999). Management and organisational behaviour, 5th editionPrentice Hall.
Essex, UK .
Pelletier, L. G., Sguin-Lvesque, C., & Legault, L. (2002). Pressure from above and
pressure from below as determinants of teachers' motivation and teaching behaviors. Journal of
educational Psychology, 94(1), 186 .
Perie, M., & Baker, D. P. (1997). Job Satisfaction among America's Teachers: Effects of
Workplace Conditions, Background Characteristics, and Teacher Compensation. Statistical
Analysis Report .
Ryan, R. M., & Connell, J. P. (1989). Perceived locus of causality and internalization:
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57(5), 749.
Spear, M. G. K., & Lee, B.(2000). Who would be a teacher? A review of factors
motivating and de-motivating prospective and practising teachers.
Sugino, T. (2010). Teacher demotivational factors in the Japanese language teaching
context. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 3, 216-226 .
Thompson, E. R., & Phua, F. T. (2012). A brief index of affective job satisfaction. Group
& Organization Management, 37(3), 275-307 .
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A cross-cultural investigation in China, Germany, Japan, and the United States .Communication
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 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

The Impact of Weblog Task Assessment on Iranian EFL Learners Reading

Ability
Marjan Zamani*, English Department, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
[email protected]
Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi, Associate professor, English Department, Shahreza Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
h_vahid @yahoo.com
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of weblog task assessment on Iranian
EFL learners reading ability. To this purpose, a group of 30 English language students (both
male and female) in Rozaneh Language Institute in Najafabad were selected based on their
performance on the OPT. The researchers tried to select a homogeneous sample in terms of age
factor and proficiency level. The homogeneous students were randomly assigned to experimental
and control groups. With the exception of the control group, both experimental groups received
treatment. Group A received journalist tasks and group B received mystery tasks. The
experimental groups were treated through a weblog designed by the present researchers. Before
performing the treatment, all participants were tested to estimate their reading ability. At the end
of the experiment, the participants took another test on reading comprehension. The scores of the
tests were analyzed and interpreted using ANOVA. The findings revealed that the journalist and
mystery tasks groups outperformed the control group. However, the mystery task proved more
effective. The findings of the study can be very beneficial for the teachers of English who wish to
improve Iranian EFL learners reading ability. Actually, blogs enable us to exploit learning as a
natural part of everyday life.

Keywords: Weblog, reading ability, proficiency level, journalist tasks, mystery tasks

Introduction
We live in the age of computer, and there are growing demands on almost everyone,
including teachers, to become technologically literate. The use of technology in language
teaching and learning has been around for many years. Language labs, tape recorders, overhead
projectors, TV sets and videos date back to the 60s and 70s
Basically, weblogs are online personal journals which have been in cyberspace since
1998. The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. An Internet-based
weblog, also known as a blog, is essentially a homepage managed by a writer. In the other words,
a weblog or blog, is a listing of text, images, or other objects that are organized in a chronological
order. Blogs are often maintained and run by a single individual, updated daily, or contain
personal remarks about a topic, a personal ramble, or an update on the person's life. In many
ways, many weblogs are like a personal journal or a look into another individual's life and can be
a way to learn about people, events, places, and more from people around the world. As said by
Grewling (2004), the main reason for using blogs in language teaching is the way they are set up
because they invite participation and have the potential to democratize the classroom since each
student is given the chance to participate equally. This same author and Pinkman (2005) state that
blogs give students more control over their own learning, and, when created by students
themselves, blogs can also give students the ownership of a personal space, a sense of belonging
that is not so easily achieved in f2f environments. Parashar Panday (2007) assures that blogs offer
many benefits to our students since they help to enhance the skills of communicating, sharing,
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 46

analyzing, reflecting, reading, writing, keeping records and promote collaboration among grown-
ups.
The ability to read means extracting the information from the text and link with the
information they already have. In fact reading is a kind of meaning-construction process and it
involves an interaction between text and reader, careful attention, memory, perceptual and
comprehension processes, understanding words and sentences, along with a complex integration
of the prior knowledge, language proficiency, and metacognitive strategies (Poorahmadi, 2012,
p. 29). Readers can improve their reading comprehension of textbooks assignments and direction
on exams through appropriate reading materials. A reading skill can be described as a cognitive
ability which a person is able to use when interacting with texts (Urquhart & Weir, 1998). Thus,
unlike comprehension, which can be viewed as the product of reading a particular text, skills are
seen as parts of the generalized reading process.
Statement of the Problem
Past research on task based language learning and teaching has shown that implementing
tasks has beneficial effects on improving reading skills (Ellis, 2008). While much has been said
about the effect of tasks on reading, few published studies have tried to examine the effect of
weblog tasks assessment on Iranian EFL learners' reading ability. Most teachers in Iran feel that
there is something basically inadequate about providing the students with naturalistic language
learning. Using the weblog is a good chance for the teachers to improve Iranian EFL learners'
reading ability. The benefits and applications of the weblog in foreign language teaching,
especially in improving reading ability, are relatively unfamiliar to Iranian language teachers.
Thus, the present study tried to see whether or not weblog performance of task assessment has
any effect on reading ability. To do this, the following research questions were addressed:

Literature Review
Weblog and Second Language Acquisition
At the beginning of this century especially in the latter half of 2002, the blog got rapid
development, because of its advantages which are easy to search, share, communicate and that
are not confined by time. The study pattern based on blog provides English learners with more
widen virtual and free environment which can make students enjoy various study resources. As a
new kind of accumulating knowledge, managing knowledge and ex-changing, the blog is
concerned by educators' home and abroad, thus producing the new conception of Education
Blog. In foreign countries, many linguists and language-educating experts have made enormous
verifiable studies regarding the blog as method of teaching and communicating. At home, blog
teaching also gradually gains scholars and educators emphasis. Zhengjing YU deems that with
the help of the blog, English teachers authentically become guiders of study resources and
students become real constructors in exercising and learnings active work, meanwhile, it can
revive students active study, which makes them become active cooperators in the process of
teaching and learning.
Rahimi and Behjat (2011) did an empirical research on online and offline reading
comprehension for Iranian EFL learners and concluded that the learners' reading is fostered to a
higher degree when they are exposed to online texts which have links to other sites providing
more reading materials. Comprehending hypertexts can sometimes be difficult as they require
readers utilize different skills and strategies to overcome comprehension problems. The great
advantage of reading hypertexts on the net is that learners can have access to authentic texts.
Educational Use of Weblogs
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 47

In recent years, the adoption of technologies in education has accelerated to a relentless

pace. Barely little intervals passed between the arrivals of new technologies, which all claim to
bring revolutions to education. There is less and less time to investigate, reflect, and assimilate
the technologies to bring true values in teaching and learning. Weblogs represent the latest
communication technology to catch the fascination of educators after emails, discussion forums,
and mobile learning. Weblogs and other communication technologies, especially discussion
forums, share many similarities. They are both communication technologies; text is the
predominant medium of communication; the required computing skill is minimal; and perhaps
most significantly, they are both multiple affordances.
Many of the potential learning benefits of discussion forums also apply to weblogs such
as opportunities for active learning, collaborative learning, increased higher-level thinking, and
flexibility in course delivery (Wu & Hiltz, 2004). Ferdig and Trammell (2004) provided a
detailed discussion of the learning benefits of weblogs from the perspective of social
constructivism Many educational applications of weblogs were in subject areas that traditionally
relied on journal writing (Williams and Jacobs, 2004). Huffaker (2005) described a number of
instances where weblogs are used to improve writing and journalistic skills in classrooms of third
graders to high school students. Stiler and Phillko (2003) applied weblogs for improving
journaling skills of pre-service teachers. Weblogs have also been applied in other educational
purposes.

Studies on reading tasks

The review of related literature indicates the improving of reading comprehension ability
can be considered as a demanding procedure and it will help the acquisition of a second language.
Like any other EFL contexts, the importance of reading comprehension is undeniable in Iran.
Therefore, this issue has involved the attention of many researchers and applied linguists.
However, it seems that the majority of Iranian students may confront some problems to improve
their reading abilities. Although, some solutions have been proposed dealing with this weakness
among the students, they did not seem to be applicable. Consequently, the students require a
reasonable solution for their reading deficiencies that has been remained vague so far. Moreover,
this area needs more research which inspire the initiation of the current study.
Second language and foreign language teachers both seek to find the means, activities,
and tasks to help language learners achieve their goals in learning languages. Thus, task holds an
essential role in language pedagogy and SL/FL language research because it is used to assess
what learners can do in the L2. The definition of the concept of task can determine language use.
As Nunan (2004) claims, the concept of task has made its way in syllabus design, classroom
teaching, and learner assessment. It has also influenced pedagogical policies in ESL/EFL
classrooms. Task has been defined differently by different experts in the field (Lee, 2000; Long,
1985; Prabhu, 1987; Skehan, 1996).
Based on what was stated above, the following research questions were addressed in the
present study:
RQ1: Does the weblog performance of journalist tasks have any significant effect on
Iranian EFL learners reading ability?
RQ2: Does the weblog performance of mystery tasks have any significant effect on
Iranian EFL learners reading ability?
RQ3: Which weblog performance task is more effective on reading ability of Iranian EFL
learners?
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 48

Methodology
Participants
A group of 30 male and female English language students participated in the study. The
participants were Iranian EFL learners who studied English in Rozaneh Language Institute in
Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran. They were randomly divided into three equal groups, i.e. one control
group and two experimental groups. The researcher managed to select a homogeneous sample in
term of age factor and proficiency level. Actually, the students were selected from among the
learners whose age ranged from 13 to 20 years, and Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was
administered to select students with the same language proficiency level. Also, the students were
homogenized in terms of their reading ability on a reading test administered prior to conducting
the study.

Instruments
Oxford Placement Test (OPT)
The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to measure the participants language
proficiency. As a Proficiency test, it is expected to be norm-referenced and is intended to
measure global language abilities (Brown, 2005, p. 2). One characteristic of a proficiency test,
as a norm-referenced test, is that it should produce scores which fall into a normal distribution
(p. 5), which allows relative interpretations of the test scores in terms of how each students
performance relates to the performances of all other students (p. 4). The second characteristic of
the test is that the test must provide scores that form a wide distribution, so that interpretations
of the differences among students will be as fair as possible (p. 8). In other words, a proficiency
test tends to test overall general language proficiency. So OPT was used to make sure about
students homogeneity prior to the application of the treatment.
The OPT provides reliable and efficient means of placing students at the start of a course
for teachers (Allan, 2004). According to Allan (2004), the tests have been calibrated against the
levels system provided by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment (commonly known as the CEF), which has been adopted by the
Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) as well as by governments and major
institutions, including exam boards, throughout Europe.

Reading Comprehension Test

The participants were given a reading comprehension test. This test was an adopted
version of three TOEFL reading texts which was validated and used by Keyvanfar and Modarresi
(2009). The test included three passages and a total of 25 multiple choice times. Keyvanfar and
Modarresi (2009) reported the test to be reliable in the Iranian context. This test was administered
before and after the treatment as both the pretest and posttest.
Weblog
A weblog was designed by the researchers and used for the participants of the
experimental groups. The weblog contained some readings which were uploaded on it each
sessionThe participants had to read the readings and answer the questions related to each reading.

Procedures
This study had a quasi-experimental design (Creswell & Clark, 2007) which intended to
explore the impact of weblog task assessment on learners reading ability. The researchers
implemented a quantitative design which included assembling and analyzing quantitative data.
Before performing the treatment, all participants were tested to estimate their reading ability and
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 49

to make sure that they were all at the same level of reading ability. The participants of the two
experimental groups received treatments, i.e.Group a received journalist tasks for a period of 12
sessions, group B received mystery tasks, and the control group received no task of any specific
type. At the end of the experiment, the participants took a test on reading comprehension. It
should be noted that the participants were asked to perform the tasks online, using the Internet.
Because there were three groups in the study, and one dependent variable (reading ability), a one-
way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Then, Turkey post hoc test was
used to examine the areas of difference between the groups.

Results
The OPT was implemented for the selection of the homogeneous participants. The
participants were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In the next step, both
experimental groups received treatment and the control group received no task of specific type.
At the end of the treatment, the participants took a test on reading comprehension.

Results of the Tests

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the OPT
95% Confidence
Interval for
Std. Std. Mean
N Mean Minimum Maximum
Deviation Error
Lower Upper
Bound Bound

Journalist
tasks 20 33.1500 1.03999 .23255 32.6633 33.6367 31.00 35.00
group
Mystery
tasks 20 33.0500 1.05006 .23480 32.5586 33.5414 31.00 35.00
group
Control
20 33.3000 1.34164 .30000 32.6721 33.9279 31.00 35.00
group
Total 60 33.1667 1.13745 .14684 32.8728 33.4605 31.00 35.00

Table 1 indicates the mean scores of Journalist tasks group (M = 33.15), Mystery tasks
group (M = 33.05) and Control group (M = 33.17). It is obvious that there were slight differences
among the three groups. To figure out if the differences were statistically significant or not, One-
Way ANOVA was conducted by the researcher.

Table 2. Results of One-Way ANOVA

Sum of Mean
df F Sig.
Squares Square
Between
.633 2 .317 .238 .789
Groups
Within
75.700 57 1.328
Groups
Total 76.333 59
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 50

The results of One-Way ANOVA that are shown in Table 2 indicate that there were not
any statistically significant differences among the groups (p = .789). Therefore, it is concluded
that all participants were at the same level of proficiency.
The descriptive statistics for pre-test are presented in Table 3 below:

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for Participants' Performance on the Pretest

95% Confidence
Interval for
Std. Std. Mean
N Mean Minimum Maximum
Deviation Error
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
Journalist
tasks 20 14.8500 .93330 .20869 14.4132 15.2868 14.00 17.00
group
Mystery
tasks 20 14.9000 1.33377 .29824 14.2758 15.5242 12.00 17.00
group
Control
20 14.6500 1.03999 .23255 14.1633 15.1367 13.00 16.00
group

Total 60 14.8000 1.10162 .14222 14.5154 15.0846 12.00 17.00

As seen from the table above, the means of the three groups were nearly the same. On
collecting the data, ANOVA was performed using SPSS to see whether the differences between
the three groups yielded significant results as are presented in Table 4 below:

Table 4. One-Way ANOVA for Comparison of Group Performances (Pre-Test)

Sum of Mean
df F Sig.
Squares Square

Between
.700 2 .350 .281 .756
Groups
Within
70.900 57 1.244
Groups
Total 71.600 59

As seen from Table 4, the mean differences between the three groups were not significant
(p = .756). This shows that the students in the three groups were at the same level of knowledge.
Figure 4. shows a graphic comparison of the two groups on the pretest
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 51

Figure 1. Graphic Representation of Group Performance on the Pretest

The same statistical procedure was used for the posttest results. The statistical analysis of
the posttest for the experimental and control groups is presented in Table 5 below:

Table 4. Descriptive Statistics for Participants' Performance on Posttest

95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
Std. Std. Maxi
N Mean Minimum
Deviation Error Lower Upper mum
Bound Bound

Journalist
tasks 20 20.1500 2.64127 .59061 18.9138 21.3862 14.00 23.00
group
Mystery
tasks 20 23.6000 .99472 .22243 23.1345 24.0655 21.00 25.00
group
Control
20 15.1000 .78807 .17622 14.7312 15.4688 14.00 16.00
group

Total 60 19.6167 3.89303 .50259 18.6110 20.6223 14.00 25.00

The mean score of the first experimental group increased from 14.85 on the pre-test to
20.15 on the post-test indicating an improvement. The mean score of the second experimental
group increased from 14.90 on the pre-test to 23.60 on post-test indicating further improvement
than that observed in the first experimental group. The control groups mean score 14.65
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 52

improved to 15.10 indicating partial improvement. In order to find out whether there are
statistically significant differences in the learners performance in the three groups, the post-test
scores were inputted to a one-way ANOVA analysis with a between-group factor shown in table.

Table 5. One-Way ANOVA for Comparison of Group Performance (Post- Test)

Sum of Mean
df F Sig.
Squares Square

Between
731.033 2 365.517 127.701 .000
Groups

Within
163.150 57 2.862
Groups

Total 894.183 59

As seen from Table 6, the results (p < .5) showed that the difference between the
performances of three groups is statistically significant. In other words, the journalist and
mystery tasks had a supportive role on the Iranian EFL learners reading ability. To illustrate
where the significant differences exist among the groups, a post-hoc test (with an alpha level of
.05 was conducted with the results shown in Table 7 below:

Table 6. Post-Hoc and Multiple Comparison of Three Groups

95% Confidence
Mean Interval
Std.
(I) Group (J) Group Difference Sig.
Error Lower Upper
(I-J)
Bound Bound
Mystery tasks
Journalist tasks -3.45000* .53500 .000 -4.7374 -2.1626
group
group
Control group 5.05000* .53500 .000 3.7626 6.3374
Journalist tasks *
Mystery tasks 3.45000 .53500 .000 2.1626 4.7374
group
group
Control group 8.50000* .53500 .000 7.2126 9.7874
Journalist tasks
-5.05000* .53500 .000 -6.3374 -3.7626
group
Control group
Mystery tasks
-8.50000* .53500 .000 -9.7874 -7.2126
group

The results revealed that the journalist and mystery tasks groups outperformed the control
group. It can be concluded that the journalist task and mystery task groups had a significant and
meaningful effect on the participants learning. However, the mystery task group proved more
effective. Figure 2 shows a graphic comparison of the two groups on posttest.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 53

Figure 2. Graphic Representation of the Groups' Performance on Posttest

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of weblog tasks assessment on Iranian
EFL learners' reading ability. The first research question was ''Does the weblog performance of
Journalist tasks have any significant effect on Iranian EFL learners reading ability?'' In general,
the Weblog performance of Journalist tasks did not have any significant effect on the Iranian EFL
learners reading ability. As for the second research question, ''Does the weblog performance of
Mystery tasks have any significant effect on the Iranian EFL learners reading ability?'', based on
the results, the Weblog performance of Mystery tasks did not have any significant effect on the
Iranian EFL learners reading ability either. The third research question served to examine which
weblog performance task was more effective on the reading ability of Iranian EFL learners. In
this section, the three research questions indicated above will be discussed based on the results in
the previous section and in connection with previous studies. Actually, the results will be
compared to the findings of similar studies to see whether weblog task assessment could improve
the reading skill in Iranian EFL learners.
As for the first question, it was revealed that the participants in the treatment group who
had received Journalist tasks outperformed those of the control group. It can thus be stated that
the Journalist tasks had a significant effect on the participants learning. This finding supports the
findings of Keyvanfar and Modarresi (2009) who sought to find out whether using task-based
reading activities had any impact on the development of text comprehension in Iranian EFL
learners. They found that task-based language teaching was an effective, practical, and innovative
teaching method.
In connection with the second question mentioned above, the findings revealed that the
participants of the treatment group who had received Mystery tasks outperformed those of the
control group. This again is in line with the findings of Keyvanfar and Modarresi (2009), since in
both studies the participants who performed tasks had significantly better scores in comparison
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 54

with the participants who did not perform any tasks. It can be understood that Mystery tasks had
a meaningful effect on the participants learning.
The third question sought to explore which one of the weblog performance tasks was
more effective on the reading ability of the Iranian EFL learners. The results revealed that the
difference between the performances of the three groups was statistically significant. In other
words, the Journalist and Mystery tasks had a supportive role concerning the Iranian EFL
learners reading ability. To illustrate where the significant differences exist in the groups, a post
hoc test (with an alpha level of .05) was conducted. The results revealed that the Journalist and
Mystery task groups outperformed the control group. It can be emphasized, therefore, that the
Journalist and Mystery tasks had a significant impact on the participants learning, but the
Mystery tasks were more effective.
The findings of the present study are generally in line with those of Dalir et al. (2013)
who investigated the effect of weblogs on the improvement of the Iranian EFL learners' writing
skills. They proved empirically that weblog tasks improved the Iranian EFL learners' writing
skills. At the same time, the findings are also in line with those of Taki and Ramazani (2011) who
investigated the effect of using e-mail to improve reading in English as a foreign language. Their
findings brought to light the fact that e-mail had statistically significant effects on improving
students reading skill. However, the findings of the present study are in contrast with those of
Wu (2005) who concluded that Blogs have difficult potentials to use as a useful tool for the
teaching of EFL writing class.

Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of weblog tasks on Iranian EFL
learners' reading ability. The findings generally provided supporting evidence for the use of
weblog task performance in improving the reading skill in EFL learners.
As for the task categories, it must be noted that both the Mystery and Journalist serve the
requirement of communicativeness in that they one way or another get the participants perform a
particular meaningful task involving thinking constructively and solving a problem. As regards
the fact that Mystery tasks were more effective than the Journalist, it can be concluded with the
reservation that by all probability the former category is more contributive to the requirements of
communicativeness than the Journalist task.
Another definite conclusion that may be drawn from the discussion is that the more
communicative the function that the task category fulfills, the better the outcome of learning the
language and using it as a means rather than an end in itself.
In summary, there were three advantages of using a weblog to improve reading skills as
concluded in this study. Firstly, the use of weblog was found to be beneficial in terms of
motivating students to be more interesting to them. Secondly, it was reported that weblogs could
help students improve vocabulary and promote meaningful learning. Thirdly, the advantage was
that weblogs could help students improve their reading instruction.
The findings of this study may be very beneficial for the teachers of English as a foreign
language who wish to improve the Iranian EFL learners' reading ability. Different methods have
so far been adopted to improve the reading ability of EFL learners; however, most of them have
failed to overcome the obstacles and help learners with their reading. This study provided a link
between technology and reading instruction. The findings of this study will also be useful for
EFL teachers in Iran to build computer-mediated communication into a methodological
framework and use reading practices coupled with promoting communicative proficiency in the
students. Actually, blogs and other social software enable us to integrate learning as a natural part
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 55

of everyday life. The use of blogs in EFL learning promotes not only social interaction and active
and social learning but also knowledge construction within a learner-centered, constructivist
environment.

References
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Online and Offline Reading the Press. I-Manager's Journal on English Language Teaching, 1(2),
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linguistics, 17(1), 38-62.
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encouraging reflective practice among preservice teachers. Education, 123(4), 789.
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Urquhart, A. H., & Weir, C. J. (1998). Reading in a second language: Process, product
and practice. Routledge.
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International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

Effect of Oral Corrective Feedback on Iranian EFL Learners Phonological

Uptake and Retention

Amin Naeimi, Ph.D Candidate, Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Tabriz, Iran
[email protected]
Mahnaz Saeidi*, Associate Professor, Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Tabriz, Iran
[email protected]
Biook Behnam, Associate Professor, Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Tabriz, Iran
[email protected]

Abstract
This study investigates the effect of four types of oral corrective feedback, namely, explicit
elicitation, implicit elicitation, explicit recast and implicit recast on the most commonly
mispronounced phonological features among Iranian EFL learners through immediate uptake and
retention. Five classes were randomly categorized into four experimental groups and one control
group, each with 18 intermediate-level male learners. The treatment was conducted in the form of
a retelling task in nine sessions. During the feedback sessions, the learners uptake was recorded.
The learners retention was also perused in one immediate and one delayed post-test. The results
revealed that those learners who received explicit recast obtained the highest score in terms of
correct uptake, and that the groups performed differently across different time periods. The
learners scores enhanced over time; however, the increase then leveled off and even dropped in
the delayed post-test in all the experimental groups except for the group which received explicit
elicitation, apparently leading to more retention of the target phonological features. The study
offers insights to teachers regarding the effect of recast and elicitation in their explicit and
implicit form on L2 pronunciation.

Keywords: Corrective feedback, recast, elicitation, uptake, retention

Introduction
Sounds play an important role in communication, and language teachers are required to
take due heed of teaching pronunciation in their classrooms. Unless one has sufficient knowledge
of the sound patterns of the target language, he can neither encode nor decode the intended
message; there are glaring differences among the phonological systems of different languages,
lurking to flummox even the advanced learners, hinder the flow of communication and even lead
to ineptness, unintelligibility and misunderstanding (Yarmohammadi, 1969; Chu, 2011).
Navehebrahim (2012) asserts that many Iranian learners do not have a fixed idea of English
sound system and unfamiliarity with the English phonological rules is one of the factors that
affect learners errors in pronunciation (p. 524). Therefore, pronunciation instruction is
considered to be of great importance and utility for successful oral communication to take place,
and many strategies have been developed to enhance this component, including listening and
imitation, phonetic training, minimal-pair drills, using visual aids, working on tongue twisters,
developmental approximation drills, practice of vowel and stress shifts, reading aloud, recitation
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 58

and recording learners production (Hismanoglu, 2006, Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin,
2010).
When language teachers embark upon the task of providing their students with the
opportunity to reflect on their utterance and consider other possibilities, corrective feedback also
comes under the spotlight with the chief aim of decimating their errors in language production
and perception (Campillo, 2004). Corrective feedback most often refers to the linguistic and
verbal response by which an addressee endeavors to correct, or amend the speakers erroneous
utterance, usually consisting of phonological, syntactic, semantic or functional incorrectness.
Studies on corrective feedback have focused on its type (planned vs. unplanned), nature (explicit
vs. implicit), mode (written vs. spoken), frequency, role and required context in language
teaching and learning (Lyster & Saito, 2010; Lyster, Saito, & Sato, 2013; Nassaji, 2009; Panova
& Lyster, 2002). A variety of corrective techniques have so far been proposed in the literature,
including recast, translation, elicitation, metalinguistic cues, repetition and clarification requests.
Recast has been defined by Long (1996) as a discourse move that rephrases the speakers
erroneous utterance by altering one or two components while at the same time maintaining the
central meaning. Lyster and Ranta (1997) have defined recasts as teachers reformulations of all
or part of a students utterance, minus the error" (p. 46). Nelson, Carskaddon and Bonvillian
(1973) have been claimed to be the first researchers who have applied the term recast to refer to
responses by adults to childrens utterances (cited in Nicholas et al, 2001). Explicit Recast (ER)
is defined as a type of feedback that reformulates the pronunciation error and highlights it with
added stress and rising intonation (Nassaji, 2009). For example:
Student: And they found out my friend [pronounced as /ferend/] running away.
Teacher: OK, your FRIEND [pronounced as /frend/ with added stress] was running away.
Student: Oh, friend [pronounced as /frend/].
Implicit Recast (IR) is a type of feedback that reformulates the pronunciation error within
its larger context with a confirmatory tone and without any additional clue to highlight the error
(Nassaji, 2009). For example:
Student: And they found out my friend [pronounced as /ferend/] running away.
Teacher: OK, your friend [pronounced as /frend/] was running away.
Student: Friend [pronounced as /frend/].
Elicitation, as the other major type of corrective feedback, has been defined by Panova
and Lyster (2002), as a correction technique that prompts the learner to self-correct" (p. 584).
According to Lyster and Ranta (1997), pausing, asking questions, and asking students to
reformulate their own utterances are examples of elicitation. Elicitation has also been described
along a spectrum of explicitness (Nassaji, 2009). Explicit Elicitation (EE) has been referred to as
a type of feedback that elicits a reformulation by repeating and highlighting the error with an
additional metalinguistic prompt (Lyster & Ranata, 1997; Nassaji, 2009). For example:
Student: And they found out my friend [pronounced as /ferend/] running away.
Teacher: Is that correct, friend [pronounced as /ferend/]?
Student: Sorry. Friend [pronounced as /frend/].
Implicit Elicitation (IE) has been defined as a type of feedback that elicits a reformulation
without making any reference to the error, by simply asking for clarification or repetition (Lyster
& Ranata, 1997; Nassaji, 2009). For example:
Student: And they found out my friend [pronounced as /ferend/] running away.
Teacher: Im sorry, they found out your ?
Student: My friend [pronounced as /frend/].
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 59

According to Rezaei, Mozaffari and Hatef (2011), there are three ways to accomplish
elicitation during a face-to-face communication, each of which varying in their degree of
implicitness or explicitness. The first one is request for reformulations of an ill-formed
utterance. The second one is through the use of open questions. The last strategy, which is the
least communicatively intrusive strategy and hence the most implicit, is the use of strategic
pauses to allow a learner to complete an utterance (p. 24).
Another worthy-of-attention point concerning the impact of oral corrective feedback, of
any type, is the need to make a distinction between immediate uptake and subsequent retention.
Such differentiation is, indeed, crucial since equating uptake with retention will undoubtedly
confound the research results. Uptake is the immediate response to feedback, while retention is
the ability of subsequent, and of course appropriate, production and perception of the target
language. It has been claimed that uptake cannot be a reliable measure of language acquisition
(Lyster & Ranta, 1997; Lyster, 1998), that uptake does not mean that long term learning has
occurred (Nabei & Swain, 2002, p. 46), and that the best measure of learners language
knowledge is their subsequent production and perception of a linguistic skill or component
(Williams, 2001, as cited in Fotos & Nassaji, 2007).

Literature review
The findings of the research studies regarding feedback strategies and the effect they bear
on language learning have always been different, and sometimes despairingly controversial, to
the extent that some researchers have even cast doubt on their effectiveness, applicability and
reliability (Allwright, 1975; Chaudron, 1986, 1988; Ellis, Basturkmen, & Loewen, 2001;
Hendrickson, 1978; Kim, 2004; Long, 2006; Truscott & Hsu, 2008). Chaudron (1988) has
revealed that feedback is usually provided erratically and pretty often goes unnoticed by learners,
and Allwright and Bailey (as cited in Rezaei, Mozaffari, & Hatef, 2011) have argued that the
application of corrective feedback should be delayed to trigger the learners self-repair.
According to nativists like Krashen (1981), error correction is not only useless but also it might
be harmful for language learners.
By contrast, many others consider feedback as the information that is provided to the
learner to improve his performance. Lyster and Ranta (1997) studied the distribution and
frequency of four types of corrective feedback and French learners uptake in four elementary-
level immersion classrooms. The researchers then classified errors as phonological, lexical or
grammatical. Their study revealed that although recasts were the most frequently used method of
correction (55% of cases), they were the least effective method in eliciting learners accurate
immediate uptake, while the other types of feedback including elicitations, repetitions and
clarification requests resulted in more successful student-generated repair.
Leeman (2003) studied 74 learners of L2 Spanish who were engaged in communicative
interaction with her as the teacher; she came to the conclusion that only groups that received
recast and enhanced-salience of positive evidence could significantly outperform the control
group in the post-test, and that the implicit negative evidence could not play a major role in the
learners language development.
Ammar and Spada (2006) studied the impacts of recasts and prompts on L2 Learners
written and oral ability across different proficiency levels were analyzed, and prompts were
revealed to be more contributive to learning than recasts and the effectiveness of recasts was
shown to be sensitive to the learners proficiency level.
A major study carried out by Ammar (2008), on the effects of prompts and recast on
Francophone learners acquisition of third person possessive determiners, depicted that prompts
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 60

are more beneficial to language development than recasts, particularly for those learners who are
at the elementary level of language proficiency.
Nassaji (2009) attributes the effectiveness of recasts and elicitations to their
characteristics and degree of explicitness. He states that recasts can occur in the form of a
meaning-focused confirmation of a learners message with no explicit clues, in which case they
can be considered fairly implicit and possibly ambiguous in their function as corrective feedback
(p. 422). Recasts can also be considered to be more explicit and transparent when they occur
intensively and repeatedly in response to certain target forms or can be used in conjunction with
additional intonational signals such as rising intonation and added stress (p. 422). Besides,
several factors are shown to have an influence on the degree of explicitness including the form
and number of changes they involve or the length of the feedback.
Many researchers even believe that error correction can foster teacher-learner interaction
in language classes which is a key in the success of learning (Ferris, Pezone, Tade, & Tinti,
1997); in socio-cultural perspectives to language learning, correction has also been claimed to
have a facilitative and constructive role (Sheen and Ellis, 2011).
Sepehrinia et al. (2011) have considered recast as the most frequent type of feedback yet
probably the least effective one; while some researchers have criticized it as inefficient, others
have supported it as an unobtrusive type of feedback, especially useful during interactive
activities (p. 18). Two important factors, they have claimed, contribute to the effectiveness of
recasts, namely saliency or noticeability of recasts by the learners and also the learners language
proficiency.
Rassaei, Moinzadeh and Youhanaee (2012) studied the effects of two types of corrective
feedback, namely recasts and metalinguistic feedback, on the acquisition of implicit and explicit
knowledge by 86 Persian EFL learners via timed and untimed grammaticality judgment tests and
an elicited oral imitation test. Their results revealed a distinct advantage of the metalinguistic
feedback over recast in both post- and delayed post-tests and its contribution to the acquisition of
L2 knowledge. Besides, the effects of metalinguistic feedback were shown to be more invariant
than those of recasts.
The study conducted by Vahdani and khabbazi Alavi (2013) demonstrated that recast was
the most frequent type of oral corrective feedback for the classes. Also, they showed that the
recast method was mostly favored by high proficient learners while the lower level learners
preferred to be orally corrected by elicitation.
Saeidi and Raveshi (2013) studied the effect of the two types of corrective feedback (i.e.,
recast and elicitation) on 24 upper-intermediate L2 learners mispronunciation in terms of their
immediate uptake and subsequent retention (in careful and vernacular styles). Their study
revealed that recasts led to more repaired uptake as compared to elicitation; however, it was the
explicit elicitation method that resulted in a significant change in the learners use of careful and
vernacular styles.
Lyster, Saito and Sato (2013) compared the results of research studies dealing with the
frequency of corrective feedback across instructional SLA contexts, revealed the learners
corrective feedback preferences, and elaborated on the theoretical perspectives and research
studies in support of and against the use of different types of feedback, especially with regard to
the role of instruction, the overall purpose of the corrective feedback, and also the learners
uptake. They also introduce novel avenues in better appreciating and fortifying the role of
corrective feedback in class interactions.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 61

Based on Golshan (2015), the effectiveness of corrective feedback hinges upon on a

conflation of factors such as type, mode, complexity, timing and intensity of feedback as well as
the type of error and the learners language proficiency.

Research questions
The present study was intended to address the following research questions:
Q1. Is there any significant difference among the four experimental groups, receiving EE,
IE, ER and IR, in terms of uptake of the target phonological features?
Q2. Is there any significant difference among the four experimental groups, receiving EE,
IE, ER and IR, and the control group in terms of retention of the target phonological features?

Methodology
Participants
Ninety male EFL learners with an age range of 16 to 25 in five intact classes who had
already signed up for the intermediate level in a language institutes in Yazd, Iran were chosen.
The classes were randomly assigned to four experimental groups and one control group. Each
experimental group was supposed to receive a specific type of oral corrective feedback (namely,
EE, IE, ER and IR), while for the control group no feedback was provided.

Instruments and materials

To secure the homogeneity of the participants, the Preliminary English Test (PET) was
carried out, which is a kind of standardized examination designed by the Cambridge English
Language Assessment. To glean the research data and objectify the scoring in the experiment
sessions, some researcher-made pronunciation checklists were required for the observer to record
the number of phonological errors of the participants, the type of feedback provided for each type
of phonological error, and subsequently the learners uptake and retention. Besides, two
textbooks entitled Agatha Christie, Woman of Mystery by John Escott (2008) and Hamlet" by
Alistair McCallum (2008) were chosen. Based on the Oxford Bookworms Library, the difficulty
level of the books was the same, each being at stage 2 and having 700 headwords.

Procedure
This study lasted about eleven weeks (i.e., 20 sessions), including two observation
sessions, one session for the pre-test, nine treatment sessions, one session for the first post-test,
six sessions with no treatment (a four-week interval), and a final session for the second or
delayed post-test. Via cluster random sampling, five EFL classes with 90 students were selected
and categorized into five homogeneous groups. The groups were then randomly assigned to four
experimental groups and one control group. Each class was held two sessions a week, each
session lasted 105 minutes, and approximately 45 minutes of each session was allotted to the
study, centered on story retelling tasks as the main data-collecting tool, and the procedure of
offering corrective feedback by the teachers and tapping the learners reaction (i.e., uptake and
retention).
The classes were taught by different teachers, who were first trained with the specific type
of corrective feedback they were supposed to provide. The teacher in the control group was asked
not to provide any type of feedback for his students phonological errors. The researcher played
the role of the observer, taking down the learners correct and incorrect pronunciation, the types
of corrective feedback, and the students uptakes. The study details were not revealed to the
participants until the end of the experiment.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 62

The observation was conducted in the first two sessions. This was in the form of a very
accurate observation of the students activities in all five classes. Here, all the class activities in
which the students were engaged including readings, discussions, questions and answers were
focused. The main aim was to find three types of phonological errors with the highest and at the
same time most similar frequency across all the experimental groups and the control group. It is
important to point out that the (suprasegmental) prosodic features like intonation of speech,
rhythm, pitch or stress pattern were not taken into account due to the complexity of providing a
corresponding corrective feedback to the errors.
All the pronunciation errors of the students were sorted out based on their frequency of
occurrence in each group, and then three types of phonological error were chosen. These errors
were the use of long /i/ instead of short /i/, adding the /e/ sound to consonant clusters, and
pronouncing /v/ for /w/, which together comprised about 57 percent of the overall learners
segmental phonological errors. These three types of phonological errors, in turn, became the basis
of the pre-test, treatment, and the two post-tests. The frequency of each of these errors is
presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Frequency of each type of target error in the observation sessions

Type of error Frequency
adding /e/ to consonant clusters 22%
using long /i/ instead of short /i/ 18%
pronouncing /v/ for /w/ 17%

Some other types of phonological errors included the use of long /u/ instead of short /u/
(13%), short /i/ instead of long /i/ (10%) and /e/ instead of // (4%). The mispronunciation of
proper names was not considered in data gathering.
In the third session (i.e., after the observation), the pre-test was carried out. The students
were asked to retell an assigned part of the story Agatha Christie, Woman of Mystery. To
secure the validity of the experiment, the retelling task took two minutes for every student and it
was first modeled by the teacher; the students became familiarized with the required retelling
procedure and structure. The reason for applying the retelling task was that the target
phonological features could be focused better and in a more controlled manner; since the teachers
were supposed to continuously interrupt the students while retelling and provide feedback, the
retelling task was more appropriate than normal communication. That is because in retelling,
students are more prepared and apt to speak than in an on-the-spot interaction.
In the pre-test, the three types of phonological errors already chosen in the observation
stage were focused. Here, the researcher attempted to count the number of times each of these
three features was used by the students during the re-telling task. For the sake of consistency,
when a learner happened to repeat an error because of hesitation, each time the error was made
was counted. In sum, the number of correct and incorrect pronunciation of the sound /w/, the
short /i/, and consonant clusters were computed, based on which a score was given to the students
out of 20. No feedback or correction was provided to any groups.
After the pre-test, the treatment started; for each experimental group, one type of
corrective feedback was given to all three types of phonological error. Each student was asked to
retell a part of the short story Hamlet in two minutes. The learners in the experimental groups
were given the corresponding feedback by the teacher whenever they mispronounced a target
phonological feature, while those in the control group were not given any feedback. The feedback
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 63

was given once, and the learner who had committed the error was checked by the observer
whether he could successfully correct the error or not right after the feedback, which was marked
as uptake or no uptake. The learners pronunciation errors, the teachers feedback and the
learners uptake were recorded in the checklists for all the participants in each session and then
were aggregated for all the learners during the nine sessions in each experimental group. The
whole class was also audio-recorded, which helped re-checking the accuracy of the computations.
If the teacher missed an error or did not provide the proper feedback, or when the other students
provided the correct pronunciation before the learner got a chance to repair, the error would not
be considered. This happened just for about five percent of the whole feedback activities, and
hence was negligible. Besides, for some students it took longer than two minutes to finish their
retelling assignment; however, just the first two minutes was considered for the data collection.
In addition, only in about seven percent of the cases, the students could not continue retelling up
to the allowed time mostly because of being unprepared and/or forgetting a part of the story, yet
their performance was considered. Since no feedback was provided by the teacher to the control
group, no uptake was also expected either. Other activities were also taken up in the class such as
conversation practice, class discussions, grammar teaching and language exercises, yet the
teachers did not, as much as possible, give the students any other pronunciation clues.
After the treatment sessions, two post-tests were carried out in order to examine the
delayed effect of feedback types (i.e., retention) to see whether the participants could recall the
repaired uptakes or not after two logical time lapses. Both of these post-tests were quite similar to
the pre-test, in which the learners were asked to retell a similar section from the same story book,
and their performance was recorded. The first post-test was done in session 13, right after the
treatment. Then, from session 14 to 19 (about four weeks), the experimental groups were not
given any feedback (i.e., treatment) and afterwards the second post-test was conducted in session
20. For the purpose of data analysis, the scores the learners achieved based on their correct
pronunciations, errors and uptakes were calculated and became the basis for the statistical
analyses.

Results
The first research question dealt with the differences among the EE, IE, ER and IR groups
in terms of uptake of the target phonological features. Table 2 depicts the descriptive statistics.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for the performance of the learners in experimental groups in the
uptake
Group N Mean Std.
Deviation Std. Error
EE 18 12.6028 2.52915 .59613
IE 18 10.1000 3.47377 .81877
ER 18 13.6111 2.78270 .65589
IR 18 10.3556 2.92137 .68857
Total 72 11.6674 3.24917 .38292

The mean score in the ER group was the highest of all, followed by the EE and IR groups,
with the IE group in the lowest place. After ascertaining the normal distribution of the data and
homogeneity of error variances, One-way ANOVA was run to statistically compare the means
differences among the groups. The results are illustrated in Table 3.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 64

Table 3. One-way ANOVA for the uptake scores in the experimental groups
Sum ofMean Square F Sig.
Squares
Between Groups 158.951 52.984 6.100 .001
Within Groups 590.605 8.685
Total 749.556

There was a significant difference among the groups in terms of uptake. Tukey post-hoc
test was conducted to ascertain which contrasts were significant; the results are given in Table 4.

Table 4. Tukey post-hoc test for the uptake scores

(I) group (J) group Mean Std. Error Sig.
Difference (I-
J)
IE 2.50278 .98236 .062
EE ER -1.00833 .98236 .735
IR 2.24722 .98236 .111

IE ER -3.51111* .98236 .004

IR -.25556 .98236 .994

ER IR 3.25556* .98236 .008

There were significant differences between the IE and ER groups, and also between the ER
and IR groups; explicit recast, therefore, proved to be significantly more conducive to uptake
than implicit elicitation and implicit recast.
The second research question examined whether there was a significant difference among
the groups in terms of retention of the target phonological features. The descriptive statistics for
the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test are brought up in Table 5.

Table 5. Descriptive statistics for the performance of the learners in experimental and control
groups in the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test
Test Group N Mean Std. Std.
Deviation Error
12.580
EE 18 1.99975 .47135
6
13.801
IE 18 1.92244 .45312
1
Pre- 12.689
ER 18 2.15301 .50747
test 4
14.427
IR 18 2.52681 .59557
8
13.529
Con. 18 2.55491 .60220
4
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 65

13.405
Total 90 2.30414 .24288
7

14.631
EE 18 2.23857 .52764
1
14.896
IE 18 2.06752 .48732
1
Post 1 14.387
ER 18 1.78483 .42069
8
14.515
IR 18 2.52947 .59620
6
13.212
Con. 18 2.07999 .49026
8
14.328
Total 90 2.18493 .23031
7

14.590
EE 18 1.94814 .45918
0
12.739
IE 18 1.50913 .35571
4
Post 2 12.874
ER 18 1.88031 .44319
4
13.146
IR 18 2.27888 .53714
1
12.991
Con. 18 1.89499 .44665
1
13.268
Total 90 1.99323 .21011
2

To show which specific groups were significantly different from each other at each of the
three time points, again after ensuring the normal distribution and homogeneity of variances,
three one-way ANOVAs were run, yielding the results in Table 6.

Table 6. One-way ANOVAs for the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test
Test Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 10.846 2.148 .082
Pre-test Within Groups 5.049

Between Groups 7.637 1.646 .170

Post 1 Within Groups 4.639

Between Groups 10.231 2.781 .032

Post 2 Within Groups 3.679
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 66

Regarding the pre-test, there was not any statistically significant difference among the five
experimental and control groups. It means that prior to the treatment sessions, all the learners
started off at the same baseline. In regard to the immediate post-test, likewise, there was not any
significant difference among the groups. It means that none of the treatment interventions (i.e.,
types of corrective feedback) could prove to be different from the others in a short-term period;
although the mean score of the learners in all the experimental groups was seemingly higher than
that in the control group, it failed to uncover any statistically significant difference among the
groups. Regarding the delayed post-test, however, there was a significant difference among the
groups; the effect of the treatment interventions was somewhere different among the groups after
the time interval. The Tukey post-hoc test was conducted to address the comparison among the
groups considering their delayed post-test scores. The results are given in Table 7.

Table 7. Tukey post-hoc test for the delayed post-test scores

(I) group (J) group Mean Std. Error Sig.
Difference (I-
J)
IE 1.85056* .63931 .038
ER 1.71556 .63931 .065
EE
IR 1.44389 .63931 .169
Con. 1.59889 .63931 .100

ER -.13500 .63931 1.000

IE
IR -.40667 .63931 .969
Con. -.25167 .63931 .995

ER IR -.27167 .63931 .993

Con. -.11667 .63931 1.000

IR Con. .15500 .63931 .999

Although the EE group appeared to outperform the other experimental groups and the
control group, the post-hoc test revealed that the significant difference only lay between the EE
and IE groups. A comparison between the mean scores of the groups in the immediate and
delayed post-test reveals the fact that time interval played a negative role in the learners
retention of the phonological features. Yet, to check the main effect of the between-subjects
variable (i.e., group), the within-subjects variable (i.e., time) and also their interaction, mixed
between-within ANOVA was performed. First, the sphericity assumption needed to be ensured,
postulating that the variances of the differences between the related groups of the within-subject
factor for all groups of the between-subjects factor were equal. The results are illustrated in Table
8.

Table 8. Mauchlys test of sphericity a

Within Mauchlys Approx. df Sig. Epsilonb
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 67

Subjects Effect W Chi-Square Greenhouse Huynh- Lower-

-Geisser Feldt bound
time .962 3.290 2 .193 .963 1.000 .500

Since the probability value was greater than 0.05, the assumption of sphericity was not
violated. Table 9 illustrates the results of the tests of between-subjects effects.

Table 9. Tests of between-subjects effects

Source Type III Sum df Mean Square F Sig. Partial Eta
of Squares Squared
Intercept 50436.287 1 50436.287 5157.866 .000 .984
group 28.342 4 7.085 .725 .578 .033
Error 831.174 85 9.779

There was no significant difference among the five groups, and none of them could
outperform the others in each test. The results of the tests of within-subjects effects are presented
in Table 10.

Table 10. Tests of within-subjects effects

Source Mean F Sig. Partial Eta
Square Squared
Sphericity
29.930 16.685 .000 .164
Assumed
Greenhouse-
time 31.080 16.685 .000 .164
Geisser
Huynh-Feldt 29.930 16.685 .000 .164
Lower-bound 59.861 16.685 .000 .164
Sphericity
10.814 6.028 .000 .221
Assumed
time *Greenhouse-
11.229 6.028 .000 .221
group Geisser
Huynh-Feldt 10.814 6.028 .000 .221
Lower-bound 21.628 6.028 .000 .221
Sphericity
1.794
Assumed
Greenhouse-
Error(time) Geisser 1.863
Huynh-Feldt 1.794
Lower-bound 3.588

The first set of rows revealed a significant main effect of time; the scores the learners
obtained in the tests changed across the different time periods. Based on Cohen (1988), the partial
eta-squared value of 0.16 also reveals a large effect size. The second set of rows also depicted a
significant effect in the case of interaction between group and time. The partial eta-squared value
of 0.22 suggests a very large effect size. The significant interaction, indeed, shows that the effect
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 68

of treatment was influenced by the level of the time variable. The trend analysis of polynominal
contrasts is reported in Table 11.

Table 11. Tests of within-subjects contrasts

Source time Mean Square F Sig. Partial Eta
Squared
Linear .850 .406 .526 .005
time
Quadratic 59.011 39.505 .000 .317
Linear 15.834 7.562 .000 .262
time * group
Quadratic 5.794 3.879 .006 .154
Linear 2.094
Error(time)
Quadratic 1.494

The linear component for the interaction of group and time was significant. The quadratic
component for the interaction of group and time was also significant. The results reflect the fact
that the scores the learners obtained did enhance linearly over time; however, the quadratic
component also suggests that the increase then remarkably leveled off and even dropped at the
last measurement (i.e., the delayed post-test). Since there was a significant interaction effect of
group and time on the learners scores, the analysis of the means plots would prove helpful in
figuring out the trends on interaction. The data for each experimental group was hence compared
with those of the control group as illustrated in Figures 1-4.

Figure 1. Means plot for the EE group and the control group

Figure 2. Means plot for the IE group and the control group
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 69

Figure 3. Means plot for ER group and the control group

Figure 4. Means plot for the IR group and the control group

In the EE group, the rate of the scores significantly increased form time 1 (pre-test) to
time 2 (immediate post-test); the rate clearly leveled off and stayed at about the same level at
time 3 (delayed post-test). Hence, the treatment was quite effective in short-run and the effect did
not decrease in the long-run. As for the other groups, there was first an increase in the rate of the
scores; however, it then declined dramatically, showing the impact of time interval; the effect of
treatment was not long-lasting at all.

Discussion
Several studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of recast and elicitation, yet few
of them have taken a closer look on the degree of their explicitness, since elicitation is often
considered as a rather explicit form of correction, whereas recast is usually regarded as a rather
implicit type (Ellis & Shintani, 2013). The present study, however, made a distinction between
the explicit and implicit form of these two common types of corrective feedback.
In answer to the first research question, the results showed that there were significant
differences among the experimental groups in terms of correct uptake; those learners who
received explicit recast obtained the highest score. Hence, the findings are, indeed partly, in line
with the findings of researchers like Oliver (1995), Leeman (2003), Sheen (2006), Long (2006),
Lyster and Izquierdo (2009), Nassaji (2009), Asari (2012), Saeidi and Raveshi (2013) and
Vahdani and khabbazi Alavi (2013). Asari (2012), for example, states that short, declarative and
single-change recasts are capable of triggering repair. Nassaji (2009) also has shown that recasts
are more effective than elicitations in their immediate effect in identifying and correcting the
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 70

linguistic forms during interaction. In a similar vein, Saeidi and Raveshi (2013) have reported
that recast leads to more repaired uptake as compared to elicitation among upper-intermediate L2
learners.
According to Golshan (2015), recasts can provide learners with positive evidence (i.e.,
models in L2). Yet it is a matter of controversy whether they can provide negative evidence, as a
form of feedback on language features, as well. The important point, he notes, is that the type of
evidence that recast provides depends on learners perception, and it is illogical to predetermine
what type of evidence a recast supplies to the learner (p. 8-9). Regarding the greater
effectiveness of explicit recast in uptake, as compared to implicit recast, more research studies
seem to be welcome. It seems quite natural that greater emphasis and added stress on recast
culminates in its higher immediate effectiveness. The results also contradict those of many
researchers such as Carroll and Swain (1993), Lyster and Ranta (1997), Lyster (1998, 2004),
Panova and Lyster (2002), Loewen and Philp (2006), and Engwall and Balter (2007), who
believe that providing learners with other types of feedback would obtain better results, perhaps
because recasts are usually viewed by learners just as contributors to the flow of communication
and not correction, and they do not, in many instances, repair their utterances following recasts.
Panova and Lyster (2002) assert that recasts are harder to notice by the learners, who take them
as another way of transmitting a meaning rather than a corrective move. According to Loewen
and Philp (2006), successful uptake significantly occurs when the corrective feedback comprises
elicitation or metalinguistic information and not recast. Ohta (2000) even asserts that uptake
cannot be considered as an accurate indicator of learners use or not use of recasts, calling for
further attention to the context and nature of the instruction in this regard.
In answer to the second research question regarding retention, the learners from the
different groups performed differently across the different time periods. In general, the learners in
none of experimental groups could significantly outperform those in the control group; the scores
the learners obtained on the tests enhanced linearly over time; however, the increase then leveled
off and even fell in the delayed post-test for most of the groups. In other words, as the analysis of
the means plot showed, the effect of treatment diminished to a great extent over time in all the
experimental groups except for the EE group, where the effect leveled off but did not fall. The EE
group, however, only outscored the IE group significantly. Implicit elicitation was not shown to
be fruitful as the learners did not pay due attention to it. Sometimes, it even led to
misunderstanding and confusion; once a teacher corrected a learners error in pronouncing the
letter w in the phrase was tired, the student just replaced, erroneously, the word was with
were, again reiterating the error. Even in some cases, the learners avoided using the word that
contained the error and instead used another word of a similar meaning. For instance, the word
came was once used instead of entered which was corrected for the wrong pronunciation of
the beginning e. The same happened for vocabulary which was used when one student was
asked to correct his pronunciation of word, mispronouncing the initial w. This shows that the
learners sometimes cannot realize the reason for the teachers implicit feedback or figure out
which part is erroneous. Recast could neither prove much helpful in enhancing the students
performance on pronunciation in the long run. Learners seem to take for granted whatever a
teacher says in the form of correction and do not heed the intended grammatical, semantic,
syntactic or, as in this study, phonological point (Carroll and Swain, 1993; Loewen and Philp,
2006). This might be due to the fact that recast does not usually call for further attention to the
error. It is just a reformulation, a kind of repetition, and when students overriding focus is on the
meaning and content of the language, such form of error correction would not contribute to their
building a more accurate and enduring repertoire of language. Recast appears to be more tuned
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 71

with a focus on meaning and message rather than form. Mackey and Philp (1998) have similarly
depicted that recast and elicitation are not so much effective particularly for learners with lower
language proficiency since they usually lead to misinterpretation. These findings are, to some
extent, in support of the non-interventionist approach to teaching pronunciation which casts
doubt on the effectiveness and applicability of corrective feedback (Allwright, 1975; Chaudron,
1986, 1988; Ellis, Basturkmen, & Loewen, 2001; Hendrickson, 1978; Kim, 2004; Krashen, 1981;
Truscott, 2007; Truscott & Hsu, 2008). According to Krashen (1981), providing explicit
correction to learners error will only serve as an obtrusive technique which undoubtedly disrupts
the flow of communication and interaction. Chaudron (1988) has revealed that feedback is
usually provided erratically and pretty often goes unnoticed by learners. According to Lyster and
Ranta (1997), although recast and elicitation can serve as an effective tool in causing language
development by pushing students to self- or peer-correction, they do not lead to student-generated
repair of the target feature. Therefore, their effect does not seem to be sustained over time. These
findings, however, are not in line with those of many researchers including Lightbown and Spada
(1990), Long (1996), Mackey and Philp (1998), Doughty and Varela (1998), Ferris and
Hedgcock (2005), Ellis et al. (2006), Dabaghi (2008), Nassaji (2009), Lyster and Izquierdo
(2009), Chu (2011) and Rassaei, Moinzadeh and Youhanaee (2012). Doughty and Varela (1998)
have found that recasts can lead to the enhancement of accurate pronunciation. Lightbown and
Spada (1990) and Chu (2011) have also corroborated the positive and sustained role of corrective
feedback in improving oral English accuracy.

Conclusion
It has long been argued by many researchers that mentoring learners outputs and giving
feedback on their phonological performance is fundamental to successful acquisition of a
language. Developing intelligible oral skills has to be a permanent concern for teachers. At the
same time, they are also required to be able to have sound criteria in diagnostic evaluation of
their students pronunciation. Lots of programs, instruments and methods have been introduced
so far (Celce-Murcia, Brinton & Goodwin, 2010; Golshan, 2015). Teachers, however, are
themselves responsible for finding the best way for the very particular context they are teaching
in and the very particular students they are teaching to. A certain type of implicit corrective
feedback, for example, might not become useful in dealing with an error; in its explicit form,
however, it could prove remarkably effective. As the results of this study revealed, Iranian
intermediate EFL learners did not benefit from oral feedback very much, particularly in its
implicit form. Moreover, short-term training of pronunciation features did not lead to long-lasting
learning; explicit recast led to more uptake but the effect waned over time. In terms of the
retention of the target phonological features, explicit elicitation was shown to be more effective
than the other types of corrective feedback, especially implicit elicitation, yet none of the
experimental groups could significantly outperform the control group. Hence, teachers have to
opt for other instructional approaches and practice other types of correction, keeping in mind that
in a different setting everything might be strikingly different.
Hence, teachers need to have an enduring and comprehensive program for developing
their learners phonological competence, and this needs persistence, determination and patience
on the part of teachers as well as students. To help EFL learners develop their phonological skill,
on a par with that of native speakers, teachers are required not only to take sufficient heed of the
subject-matter teaching but also to different techniques and approaches of responding to their
students oral output, specially their erroneous utterances. In this regard, they need to know
whether, when, how and to what extent to correct their students phonological errors.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 72

Since this study limited its scope to a specific language proficiency, age, and gender, it can
be replicated with a larger and more diverse group of subjects in other contexts for more
generalizable and justifiable results. Further, the other types and modes of corrective feedback
might be considered, and their effect can also be probed in the development of other language
skills and components, for example writing and speaking as well as vocabulary and grammar
knowledge. Uptake, learning, and retention might hence be redefined in such studies, making it
more clear for language teachers what to teach and how to teach. Further, in this study, a retelling
task was used for the purpose of data collection by eliciting errors and feedback. Other tasks and
techniques might as well be considered, such as role play, reading aloud, group discussion and
problem solving to encompass other communicative activities that a learner is usually expected to
be involved in.

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contrastive sketch. TESOL Quarterly, 3(3), 231-236.
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

Integration of Serious Games in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to

Iranian Children

Azizeh Chalak, Assistant Professor, English Department, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
[email protected]
Behzad Ahmadi, MA in TEFL, English Department, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Isfahan, Iran
[email protected]

Abstract
Nowadays computers are increasingly being incorporated into school curriculums and serious
games are occupying the educational games markets. This article addressed the integration of
serious games as tools for learning and teaching English in Iranian schools to zero-beginner
students. An experiment was concluded using Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) to
investigate the effectiveness of using serious games; namely, Mingoville English as an
educational aid and also to examine parents, students and instructors attitudes towards using
serious games. To this end, 60 female students were chosen and divided into two groups. The
control group was taught in the conventional way and the experimental group received the
educational aiding material Mingoville, a web-based serious game program, as the treatment. The
results of the analyses revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group as the
method of teaching was changed. The study also showed the willingness of children, their
parents, and teachers toward using such games. It can be concluded that using serious games such
as Mingoville can be regarded as an effective tool in teaching English to Iranian EFL children at
schools and language institutes. The study can benefit teachers and heads of institutes to add
serious games as aiding instructional materials to their English classes.

Keywords: Attitude, CALL, Iranian EFL children, Mingoville English, serious games

Introduction
In the third millennium, where technology is the basis of each and every action and
children tend to spend most of their time playing computer games, there is a chance for teachers
to use CALL as an opportunity to employ the potential capabilities of digital games and serious
games in language classes. Recently, digital, serious games are receiving increasing attention
by different researchers and practitioners in different parts of the world in educational settings
(e.g. Squire, 2006; Gee, 2005; deHaan, 2011; Derakhshan & Davoodi Khatir, 2015). These
studies and similar research studies have emphasized that utilizing serious games could be
innovative and effective procedures in the teaching environments related to school children and
can help the educators to create situations in which the language is meaningful and
beneficial.
In the case of playful learning, it seems that it is more effective on children than other age
ranges. To the best knowledge of the researchers, there have not been many research studies in
Iran investigating the effectiveness of integration of serious games in teaching English to the
children. On the other hand, in recent years, the officials have tried to digitalize schools and train
school teachers to use technology in their classes. Therefore, the field is now open for trying to
train these children with digital games or serious games and see how they affect childrens
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 78

language learning abilities in comparison with conventional classes.

This study aimed at investigating the quality and the amount of learning among the
subjects of the study after an educational term of teaching them using serious games. It also
investigated the attitudes of learners, their parents, and teachers regarding the integration of such
games as educational tools. The emergence of technology and the integration of CALL in
educational settings could help learners especially, children to enjoy learning a foreign language
in a playful and cool environment. It could change the atmosphere of the class and reduce the
affective filter students might take to the classroom.

Literature Review
During the recent years, adaptation of technology in different environments, school
curriculums, and educational settings have increased. Computer games and serious games have
occupied educational games market. They are being used for different areas such as government,
military, hospitals, business, and education (Susi, Johannesson, & Backlund, 2007). Serious
games are not just used for teaching facts and rote memorization, but they also encompass
different aspects of education at different levels and ages (Michael & Chen, 2006).
According to Donmus (2010), educational games are activities that provide students with
the opportunity to reinforce the previous knowledge by repeating it in a more comfortable
environment. Educational games are software that help students to learn the lesson topics and
develop their problem solving skills by using their desire and enthusiasm to play.
The term serious game itself came into wide use with the emergence of the serious games
initiative in 2002. It is exploring management and leadership challenges facing the public sector.
Employing serious games in educational settings could provide important beneficial results for
teachers in teaching to learners. Because learners get the chance to experience and make mistakes
in a safe environment; the environments that parents want for their children.
In recent years, many of language researchers have worked on Computer Assisted
Language Learning (CALL) or Computer Assisted Language Teaching (CALT) and more
specific, on teaching through games especially serious games or educational games. McGrath
(2004) focused on a junior secondary English class at a school in Queensland. The students
undertook a curriculum unit that used a critical literacy framework to study the narratives and
cultural identifications inherent in a number of computer games. The study showed that using
narrative computer games as a form of text for study in subject English allowed for an
examination of new forms of literacies and the students found it more student-friendly.
Chuang and Chen (2007) studied the effect of digital games on childrens cognitive
achievement. Their study investigated whether digital games facilitate childrens cognitive
achievement in comparison to traditional computer-assisted instruction. The results indicated that
digital game playing not only improved the subjects fact or recall processes, but also promoted
their problem-solving skills by recognizing multiple solutions for problems.
Ranalli (2008) used The Sims game as a mass-market simulation games for CALL. Nine
intermediate-level students with different linguistics background participated in the study. He
reported that the study provided further evidence that commercially produced computer
simulation games can, with theoretical guidance, be adapted for use by ESL students; and further
that supplementary ESL materials used to support such play can contribute to vocabulary
acquisition (p. 13).
Turgut and Irgin (2009) studied young learners language learning via computer games in
Turkey. Their qualitative research investigated young learners experiences of language learning
through computer games played in the Internet cafes. They collected the data employing some
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 79

interviews and observations. The analysis of the data showed that young learners playing online
games promoted language learning and especially vocabulary gaining.
Wang (2010) examined the use of communicative language games for teaching and
learning English in Taiwanese elementary schools. The teachers received 150 some
questionnaires through which the author investigated the subjects perspectives on the use of
communicative language games in English lessons. The results of the study provided
encouraging evidence to indicate that the teachers generally appreciated the benefits and
effectiveness of communicative games in educational settings for teaching English. The
findings of the study also advocated that teachers should take into account students different
individual differences, linguistic backgrounds, wants, expectations, motivations, learning styles,
or needs and be more flexible in their use of communicative games in order to maximize
educational effect.
DeHaan (2011) worked on two aspects of games involving educational game designs and
game magazine creation. In the first project three students worked on designing games and
developing English language role-playing games on the library computers. Eight students
participated in the second project that was game magazine creation in order to create an online
and printed game magazine. At the end of the projects he reported that the projects motivated
the students, challenged the students, provided opportunities for authentic discussions in the
foreign language, and gave the students concrete language, technology, teamwork, and creative
experiences. (p. 52)
To the best knowledge of the researchers, not so many research studies have been
completed on the concept of serious games in Iran. Aghlara and Hadidi Tamjid (2011) examined
the effect of digital games on Iranian childrens vocabulary retention in foreign language
acquisition. They used a program named SHAIEX (Sistema Hipermedia Adaptativo para la
ensenanza de idiomas en entorno Linex). Their subjects were 40 girls, 6-7 years old, with no prior
knowledge of English. The subjects were divided into two groups as a control group and an
experimental group. The programs included some activity games and after a teaching period, the
children were tested for what they have gained during the course. The findings showed that
digital games had positive effects on the learning process and motivated the children and reduced
their stress.
Karimi and Nosrati (2012) discussed the basic principles and issues like motivation and
game facts like challenge, goals, and instructional games. Meihami, Meihami, and Varmaghani
(2013) used simulation games to teach English to adult sailors and mariners. Their experimental
group received treatment with navy simulator software, and the control group received ordinary
training. After the training period, the subjects were tested for what they had gained during the
course. The result showed that simulation game had a significant role in learning English
vocabulary and pronunciation of the experimental group. Rohani and Pourgharib (2013)
investigated the effect of games on learning vocabulary and concluded that the use of games
helps the teacher to create various contexts for the students to use the language to communicate,
exchange information and express their opinions. Most of the studies conducted in Iran have just
focused on vocabulary improvements.
Lack of studies on the effect of serious games in educational setting was the main
motivation for conducting this research study. Therefore, to investigate the contributory role of
games such as Mangoville and to describe the attitudes and perception of the students, parents,
and teachers, the following questions were posed.
Q1.Does the integration of serious games have positive effects on the amount and quality
of learning English by Iranian zero-beginner children studying in elementary schools?
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 80

Q2.Does the students motivation increase when serious games are utilized in EFL zero-
beginner classrooms?
Q3.What are the attitudes of teachers and parents towards the use of serious games in
schools?

Method
Design and setting
The design of study was quasi-experimental because it required the subjects to go under
some treatment and procedures where no random selection of the subjects was possible. In the
design of experiments, the experimenter is often interested in the effect of some process or
intervention or treatment on some objects or experimental units. The study was conducted in a
female students elementary school, in Isfahan, Iran. Two classrooms were used as the setting of
the experiment equipped with educational instruments and electronic aids such as laptops, video
projectors, loud speakers, and ADSL Internet connections. The classes were held during the
mornings from 9 to 11 a.m. in summer 2014. The virtual setting for the subjects in the
experimental group also included Mingoville English.

Subjects
The main target population of the study was all Iranian school children, but the sample
was chosen via convenience sampling from a female elementary school in Isfahan, Iran. A
sample of 60 female students aged between 7-12 years old was chosen. At the time of the study,
the subjects were studying in level two, three, four, five, or six of elementary school. Based on
the location of the school and the district, they were classified as middle low class in terms of
social class and economic statues. Because the subjects had no or very little prior confrontation to
English and learning English, there was no need for any pre-tests or placement tests in order. The
subjects were equally divided into two groups, an experimental and a control group. It is worthy
of mention that at the time of registration for classes, the parents were asked if their children had
prior knowledge and basic information on working with Windows based computers. If the
child did not know how to work with them, her name was registered in the control group class
and if the answer was positive, they were placed in the experimental group.
Moreover, addressing the second objective of the study, 17 English teachers, one of whom
was the same individual teaching the two classes in the present study, were asked to fill in an
attitude questionnaire. The instructors included were eight males and seven females, aged
between 18 and 30 (average=25) all living in Isfahan, Iran and teaching English for more than at
least 3 years in language institutes there. Their mother tongue was Persian and English was their
foreign language. They were familiar with computers and used it frequently. To collect the
required data for the end-users attitudes towards using series games to teach English, all the
students as well as their parents (N=60) were asked to respond to a survey questionnaire too.
Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the parents:

Table 1. Parents Demographic Characteristics

Gender Male Female

22 36.67 38 63.33
Having Pcs, Tablets, Yes No
Smart Phones 51.00 85.00 9.00 15.00
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 81

Below diploma 7 11.67

Diploma 29 48.33
Educational Bachelors degree 18 30.00
Background Masters degree 3 5.00
PhD 3 5.00
Total 60 100.0
Dial-Up 5 7.69
ADSL 38 58.46
Internet Connectivity Wi-MAX 5 7.69
Type Mobile Data 6 9.23
No access 11 16.92
Total 65 100

Materials
The main coursebook used in this study was the Starter coursebook of Family and
Friends Series written by Simmons (2012). The teachers book describes the series as a
complete seven level course of English for children in primary schools. It uses a clear
grammar-based curriculum alongside parallel syllabi in skills and phonics. In this way,
children develop the confidence and competence to communicate effectively in English, as well
as understanding and processing information from a wide range of sources. Family and
Friends combines the most effective literacy techniques used with native English speakers with
proven techniques for teaching English as a foreign language to children. The following key
features characterize the coursebook as publicized by Oxford University Press in the back of the
series:
Exceptionally strong skills training program
Amazing package of integrated print and digital resources
Step by step phonics program
Values syllabus - social and emotional skills
Testing resources - including Cambridge Young Learners English Tests and Trinity
Examinations practice papers

Children have different learning styles. Some learn better by seeing (visual learners), some
by listening (auditory learners), some by reading and writing, and some with movement
(kinesthetic learners). This book series were chosen for this study because it uses all of these
approaches to help every child realize his or her potential. The materials of this series are also
written in a way that was perfect to be used along with the treatment materials.
The instructional materials used as an educational aid for treating the subjects in the
experimental group of the study were a series of educational materials in the form of serious
games known as Mingoville English, a web-based program. This program can be accessed
through its official website (http://www.mingoville.com) which provides different versions of the
software for individual and schools use, both paid and free. For this particular study, the normal
free school version was used. Mingoville is a series of small games classified for teaching
different subjects in English. As stated in its website, it is a city where the flamingo family
Pinkelton lives. Together with the Pinkeltons, children learn English through a world of non-stop
activities that combine social interaction, pictures, animation, sound, and text.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 82

Instruments
Since the subjects present in the study were true zero beginners with no previous exposure
to English, unlike similar studies using the experimental design, there was no need for pre-test
inclusion to guarantee the homogeneity of subjects in terms of their proficiency level in English.
To measure the ultimate achievement of the subjects in both group, a researcher-made
post-test was developed and administered at the very end of the instruction. This final test was
constructed by the present researchers based on the instructional objectives of the coursebook and
was successfully piloted once before with some similar subjects in a private institute. The paper-
and-pencil five-page post-test had eight questions testing all four skills of language encompassing
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The first question evaluated listening comprehension
and pronunciation and also recognition of colors. The second question evaluated how the subjects
learned the alphabet and their sounds. The third question evaluated handwriting, reading and
vocabulary. The forth question was a repetition and replacement task evaluating both vocabulary
and subject pronouns. The fifth question evaluated letter recognition. The sixth question
evaluated vocabulary and handwriting beside letter recognition. The seventh question evaluated
English alphabet sounds and finally the eighth question evaluated vocabulary and small or capital
letter recognition.
In order to investigate the instructors attitudes and willingness towards using Serious
Games as an educational aid in their classes, a 10-page survey questionnaire developed by
Christensen and Knezek (1996) at Texas Center for Educational Technology University of North
Texas, was adopted and administered to 17 English instructors teaching in Isfahan institutes
including the instructor participating in the main study. This accredited questionnaire was chosen
because it is frequently used by the scholars and its reliability and validity are well established.
Moreover, a 30-item five-point Likert scale survey questionnaire in Persian was
developed and administered to the student subjects as well as their parents. Of course, due to their
age, the subjects were permitted to complete the questionnaire with the help of their parents at
home. In addition to its opening part asking the respondents for their personal demographic
background information, the questionnaire consisted of two different parts of equal size, both
having 15 items: the first part investigated their attitude towards using serious games and the
second part dealt with the possible educational barriers. It is worth mentioning that the content
validity of the survey instrument was checked with three experts in the field.

Data collection procedure

Following the twin objectives of the study, the data required for the present study came
from two sources: Treatment and Surveys.

Treatment
To achieve the main objective of the present study, first, the subjects were divided into two
control and experimental groups of 30. For both groups, three 90-minute sessions were held
every week for a period of six weeks in a row; thus, there were 17 sessions of instruction in total.
The classes were held in the same school where the subjects attended their ordinary school
classes. Both groups were taught in the classes well-equipped with modern laptops connected to
video projectors and connected to the high-speed Internet.
The subjects in the control group were taught the same English lessons as those in the
experimental group from the starter book of Family and Friends series of course in the
conventional way. The only digital instrument used for the control group was the audio CD
provided with the coursebook. The subjects in the control group used the workbook as their class
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 83

activities and exercises too. The normal routine of the sessions was a brief greeting at first and
then the teacher reviewed the materials taught in the previous session. Then, the class started with
students book materials including sections on words, grammar and song, sound and letters,
numbers and reading and writing skills. When the teacher started teaching each of the parts
mentioned, related audio parts were played multiple times for better comprehension of subjects.
The students were asked to chant with the audio or sing the audio track with the music. The book
includes a review after every three units that were covered during class time. For further
practices, the workbook exercises were also done every two sessions.
The subjects in the experimental group were taught the same book using the same audio
CD. The only crucial difference was that they were engaged in Mingoville activities instead of the
typical workbook exercises, using a laptop and video projectors. The workbook exercises were
done at home and checked by the teacher later in the absence of the subjects. Every session after
greeting and reviewing, the book was taught to the subjects and then a related part from
Mingoville was chosen and worked on in the class. For each activity, in Mingoville game series,
the teacher introduced the activity and gave the subjects a brief tutorial on how to play the game,
and then the students came in front and played the game one by one. Others were asked not to
interrupt or give hints to the person that was playing at the time. The students challenged other
players worldwide since the games were online real-time activities.
It should be mentioned that all of the subjects had the skill of working with computers as
the requirement for being included in the treatment process. After Session 17, an achievement
test was administered as a post-test to check whether the two groups were meaningfully different
from each other. As the post-test had some sections measuring the oral skills of the subjects in
English, to increase the reliability of the test scores especially for subjective items, it was decided
that every subjects were evaluated, during the same testing session, by the class teacher as well as
the two researchers themselves as raters. In fact, the subjects score recorded for the oral section
was the average of the four rating scores made simultaneously but separately to ensure the inter-
rater reliability of the test. The average amount of time spent for every subject for this part of the
test was about 15 minutes.

Survey
At the end of the instructions, the participant instructor along with 16 other English
instructors were given a questionnaire survey constructed by Christensen and Knezek (1996) to
be completed in a week. In order to avoid hastiness, stress and anxiety when filling the
questionnaire, the respondents were given enough time. In practice, the researchers made the
survey available online in Google docs platform and sent the link to the instructors by E-mail and
Viber. In addition to the first survey, the student subjects of the study as well as their parents
were given a 30-item questionnaire in Persian. Due to their age, the students were allowed to take
the surveys home, filling them with the cooperation of their parents and bringing them back at the
final-test session. These two surveys were supposed to determine how the teachers, students and
parents were motivated and willing to use these tools in their classes as teaching/learning aids.

Data analysis procedure

To analyze the data statistically, first the scores of the subjects on the post-test were
summarized as descriptive statistics; namely, mean and standard deviations. Moreover,
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test was used to check the normality of the data. To examine whether the
difference found between the two groups was statistically meaningful or not, the most appropriate
test in inferential statistics; namely, the MannWhitney U test was employed as the data
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 84

distribution was not normal. Unlike the t-test, MannWhitney U test does not require the
assumption of normal distributions. To run the tests, the researchers made use of the famous
software package IBM SPSS Statistics.
To codify, classify and analyze the non-parametric data elicited from the survey
questionnaires, the verbal and content analysis was done and the frequencies and percentages of
the instances were calculated and reported. The following section presents the results of the data
analysis.

Results and Discussion

Addressing Research Question One, the results and their possible interpretations are
reported and discussed here.

Results for comparing the post-test means

To start the data analysis, first, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was run to determine whether
the data distribution was normal or not. The results showed that the significance level
observed for the control group and experimental group was 0.001 and 0.037 respectively, both
lower than the p value 0.05. Thus, it was concluded that the data distribution in groups was not
normal. Table 2 presents the results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test:

Table 2. Results of Normality Tests

Groups Kolmogorov-Smirnov
Statistic Sig
Control .213 .001
Experimental .165 .037

Next, it was necessary to summarize the whole data for the post-test using measures of
central tendency and variability. Table 3 presents the means and standard deviations as
descriptive statistics for the performances of the subjects in the control and experimental groups
on the final achievement test:

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of Scores in Control and Experimental Groups

Score N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Control Group 30 34.00 50.00 43.2333 4.71742

Experimental Group 30 43.00 50.00 46.5667 2.28463

As evident in Table 3, the mean score of subjects in the experimental group was more than
that of those in the control group. Moreover, the subjects were more homogeneous in the
experimental group as the respective standard deviation was almost half of its counterpart in the
control group. In other words, the scores were closer in the experimental group; the minimum
score in experimental group was higher too. In fact, it seemed that the subjects receiving the
treatment outperformed those who did not.
However, to see whether the difference found was statistically significant, the Mann
Whitney U test was run as the data distribution was not normal. Table 4 summarizes the results:
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 85

Table 4. Results of MannWhitney U test

Score N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks
Control 30 24.63 739.00
Experimental 30 36.37 1091.00
Total 60
Mann-Whitney U 274.000
Z -2.620

As Table 4 reveals, the observed value was found highly significant at the value level of
0.0009 much lower than 0.05; thus, it was proved that the treatment was meaningfully effective.
The results of this study are in line with the findings of Chuang and Chen (2007), indicating that
digital game playing not only improves subjects fact/recall processes, but also promotes
problem-solving skills by recognizing multiple solutions for problems. Moreover, the results
confirmed those of Turgut and Irgins (2009); they reported that young learners playing online
games promotes language learning and especially vocabulary skills.

Results of the surveys

Addressing Research Questions Two and Three, the results elicited from the instructors,
students, and their parents via attitude questionnaires reported, discussed and interpreted here.

Results of instructors attitude survey

The overall results from instructors surveys revealed that the Iranian English teachers
were willing to use series games and similar computer-assisted web-based programs in their
classes; they showed highly positive attitude towards using computers and serious games in the
class and they liked the idea of employing Mingoville. This supports the findings of Wang (2011)
who examined the use of communicative language games for teaching and learning English in
Taiwanese elementary schools. The 150 teachers responding to a questionnaire, not only reported
benefits and valued features of these games but also were satisfied with using this method in their
teaching syllabus.

Results of parents/students attitude survey

As mentioned before, the questionnaire had two parts. The first part investigated the
attitudes of the students and the parents towards using serious games in teaching English. Figure
1 illustrates how they evaluated using computers and especially serious games in teaching
English.

25
20
15
10
5
0
Strongly Agree Agree No Idea Disagree Strongly Disagree
idea
Figure 1. Parents attitude toward using serious games.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 86

The results showed that about two third of the parents and almost all students liked the
idea of using computers and especially serious games like Mingoville as an educational aid in
teaching English to children. Based on the responses to the questionnaires, majority of students
and their parents reported that using series games like Mingoville increses motivation to learn
English. They found it mostly, exciting, enjoyable, pleasant, and natural way of learning. The
findings are in line with those of Ruphina and Liu (2011) on the potential integration of
Mingoville game program for learning English as a foreign language in two primary schools in
China. Their findings revealed that digital games has great potentials to motivate, engage and
provoke the interest of Chinese primary school students in learning English language. Likewise,
the findings also support those of deHaan (2011).
It is worth mentioning that disagreement with the using of these methods could be
attributed to the financial problems in these families for providing facility or equipment. This
conjecture was confirmed by the findings obtained from the second part of the questionnaire
which dealt with the effect of possible educational barriers. Reflecting their opinions in a five
point Likert-Scale survey, the parents reported that in their opinion the major dominant barriers in
incorporating this programs and other ones in the educational system in general and English
learning in particular included the high cost in terms of money, time, and expertise, unfamiliarity
of the teacher/student with the technology, and lack of facility among others.

Conclusion
This study addressed the integration of serious games as tools for learning and teaching
English in Iranian schools. An experiment was concluded using Mingoville as a serious game as
an educational aid. It also examined the learners, parents, and instructors attitudes and
perceptions towards using serious games. The control group was taught in the conventional way
and the experimental group received Mingoville as the treatment. The results of the analysis
revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group as the method of teaching
was changed. The findings also showed that the parents, children, and their teachers had positive
attitude towards using such games.
However, no research can be conducted under ideal conditions, and each research has its
own sets of limitations. Therefore, the findings of this study are only applicable to the setting and
subjects of this study. More studies are required to support and confirm the findings of the
present research. This study can be conducted with various levels of students with different
gender in different teaching environments or different software. The method can be implied in
teaching English in schools including Iranian school and also language institutes. The software
developers could also consider this point and design instructional software which are applicable
in Iranian educational settings considering cultural, social norms and scripts of Iranian society.
Language teachers could also employ such games to teach languages other than English. It is
hoped that the concept of serious games would be taken serious in childrens classes to make
language learning more beneficial for Iranian kids.

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International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

An Insight into Professional Development Obstacles Facing Ethiopian

Primary School EFL Teachers
Belilew Molla Gebre*, Assistant Professor, Dilla University, Dilla
[email protected]
Haile Mariam, Meles, M.A., Abi Adi College of Teacher Education
[email protected]
Abstract
This study was conducted to identify self-directed and external professional development
obstacles facing primary school EFL teachers in Southern Zone of Tigray Region in Ethiopia.
The participants of the study were 63 primary school EFL teachers, 10 school principals and 2
clusters of supervisors. School teachers were selected using random sampling technique whereas
school principals and cluster supervisors were selected by using purposive sampling. To gather
data for the study, questionnaires and semi-structured interview were used. The results of the
study revealed that lack of interest, having dissatisfaction in their job, unattractive salary, lack of
knowledge and skills in doing action research and misunderstanding of the concept of CPD and
how to do it were the major self-directed obstacles of professional development activities. The
study also revealed that in adequate in-service training, supervisors lack of knowledge, skills and
expertise in teaching English as a foreign language, work load, and lack of support and
recognition from stakeholders were the major external obstacles of professional development.

Keywords: external professional development obstacles, primary school EFL teachers, self-
directed professional development obstacles

Introduction
The needs and requirements of a communication skills classroom is constantly changing
as per the requirements of the industry and society. To meet these mercurial demands and
ensure quality teaching is a challenging task to the present English teacher. The challenge is
intensified when the teacher has to shoulder the responsibility of shaping a students career added
to the academic achievement. Such dynamic classrooms need teachers who are equally dynamic
and keen on professional development. Teacher quality alone is not the sole factor responsible for
students acquiring communicative competence. There are other variables like parental
involvement, peer pressure, self-motivation, medium of instruction during schooling, exposure to
the language, etc. However, teacher quality is definitely one of the strong influencing factors on
learners outcomes.
Successful teaching depends on many factors, including the level of instructional
resources available, staffing levels, continuing professional development, and support from
administrators and parents (Wallace, 1991).
The research conducted across the globe highlights the positive impact of the teacher
quality on students achievement. In Ethiopian context of teaching English as a foreign
language, a progressive shift from viewing teacher as deliverer of the text to teacher as a
facilitator, someone who can actually motivate and facilitate language acquisition, has
begun. This transformation to realize its objective completely needs teachers who raise up to the
challenge of constantly updating themselves and promoting qualitative teaching.
The diversity in students needs today demands teachers to be multifaceted, constantly
honing their skills. In a nutshell, in todays context, teacher quality defines the knowledge, skills,
and dispositions that teachers should demonstrate. If knowledge, skills and dispositions are the
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 90

three aspects that determine a teacher quality, the next question would be how can a teacher
acquire this teacher quality and maintain it? Do we have any sure means to achieve this?
One of the means to ensure teacher quality is to engage in lifelong learning. Teacher as a
lifelong learner seems to be the best way to ensure ongoing professional development.
This continuous professional development is key to students achievement. Self motivation,
willingness to learn, and constant practice are the characteristics of a successful language learner.
An intellectually engaged teacher can inculcate these characteristics in students and guide
the students better through the process of acquiring language (Richards & Randaya, 2002)
To ensure long term and ongoing professional development, we as teachers have
many opportunities like attending trainings, participating in workshops, presenting at seminars
and conferences, updating oneself with the new techniques and practices, reading journals,
conducting classroom research, discussing with colleagues, becoming member of teaching
communities, etc.
One of the excellent ways for a language teacher to update oneself is in-service
teacher training. No matter how qualified and knowledgeable a teacher is, he/she becomes
stagnant if the desire to update oneself is lacking. It is mandatory for todays language teachers to
not only develop knowledge of the subject but also to assess themselves and develop skills for a
flexible teaching style adapted to the needs of the students.
Training involves understanding of basic concepts and principles as a prerequisite
for applying them to teaching and the ability to demonstrate practices and principles in the
classroom (Ricahrds, 2005). This kind of teacher training is more useful than pre service training
as the teachers would be fully aware of the realities and problems in second language
teaching. They can select trainings that suit their purpose. The experience and expertise they
already have in teaching can be further deepened and broadened. The expertise gained will be
shared with colleagues and thus an ongoing professional environment can be ensured.
Teacher support groups are another wonderful means of collaborative learning. Though
unofficially support groups are part of any institution where teachers often discuss and share
aspects of subject they are teaching, teacher support groups should be made more systematic
streamlined. In the place of vague discussions and probable ideas, a well-planned support
group with clear goals and constructive agenda helps a lot in professional development of a
teacher. The peer support and advice extended in such groups helps teachers in resolving
issues smoothly and updating regularly. In a situation where a student needs guidance and a
single teacher cannot completely handle, she/he can take the help of the support groups to
resolve. Hence, these support groups indirectly extend support to students and influence
them.
Many scholars stated that English language teachers professional development is the
backbone of successful language teaching. For example, Kathleen, Baily, Curtis and Nunan
(2004), suggest that there are five reasons why teachers should engage in, and take control of
their own ongoing professional development: to acquire new knowledge and skills, to cope with
and keep up with the pace of change, to increase ones professionalism, status, and even,
possibly, income, to empower oneself through increasing ones knowledge base, and to combat
negativity and burnout.
Ur (1996) also sets this sense by defining the concept of professionalism in the context of
English language teachers. After discusing the notion of professionalism, she asks if we English
teachers can be professionals like this:
Do we belong to a community of professionals who interact and exchange ideas from the
purpose of developing our professionalism?
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 91

Are we a learning community which is interested in acquiring new knowledge and

experimenting with new ideas?
Are we committed to achieving certain desirable standard in our profession?
Are we autonomous enough to set professional standard so as to make sure that only meeting
the standards can take part in educating our students?
Unfortunately, the answers to those questions are not always in the complete affirmative.
Ur (1996) asserts that although we have seen a lot of progress, we have not yet reached a
satisfactory level of professionalism.
Ethiopia has made extraordinary achievements in expanding education at all levels of the
organization. However, this achievement seems in terms of students enrollment but not in
meeting quality standards. Currently quality of education has become a serious concern among
all stakeholders. According to MOE (2007, 2008) in many schools, children were not mastering
the basic skills including the EFL. Although the government made a huge effort, improving
quality of education, at the same time keeping the expansion of the education program has
become a challenge.
A review of the performance reports of Teacher Professional Development program I and
II showed tangible results and shortcomings both at policy making and implementation levels.
Evidence documented from research studies conducted by universities, reports complied from
field visits, and impact studies by the Ministry of Education showed that the TDP program has
brought promising changes in terms of targets set for the projects life span. Achievement
registered and problems encountered are linked to organizational arrangements and readiness to
implement the program by all stakeholders. In response to those problems, the MOE has worked
out a new toolkit for effective implementation of school based Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) at school level and particularly, School Based English mentoring to advance
and improve primary and secondary schools EFL teachers professional development (Desta,
Chalchisa, & Lemma, 2013).
Though those and other conditions were available for EFLT, having taught English for
around seven years, the researcher observed that primary school English language teachers
are not effectively undertaking professional development activities. Based on the researchers
observation and the report of MOE, there are muti-faceted problems among primary school
teachers who teach English. Thus, the present study tried to answer the following research
questions:
Q1. What are the self-directed continuous professional development obstacles primary school
English language teachers face?
Q2. What are the external professional development obstacles facing primary school English
language teachers?
Methodology
The purpose of the research was to investigate the major professional obstacles in
Southern Zone in Tigray Region of two woredas Primary schools English language teachers.
Therefore, to accomplish this task, the researcher used mixed-method research design. The
descriptive analytical methodology was adopted to describe and analyze the information taken
from the questionnaires and the interviews to explore the teachers professional development
obstacles.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 92

Subjects
The data for this study were obtained from primary school English language teachers,
school administrators, and cluster supervisors of Southern Zone of Tigray region. The subjects
were selected from primary school English language teachers, school principals and district
level supervisors. The researcher used random sampling for selecting English teachers and
purposive sampling techniques to select the schools, administrators, and cluster supervisors.
There were 8 schools in Maychew town and 14 schools in the rural woreda (Enda Mohoni).
Then the researcher selected 4 schools from the town and 6 from the rural district. Totally 10
primary schools were selected. In those schools there were 143 teachers: among them 61 teach in
the town and 82 teach in the rural district. Among 143 English teachers, 22 teachers were
selected from the town and 41 teachers were selected from rural district randomly. In short, the
subjects of the study were 63 primary school English language teachers who were randomly
selected from 22 schools. Among the subject teachers selected for the study, 21 were females and
42 were males. Ten school principals and two cluster supervisors also participated in the study.

Instruments
In this study, questionnaire and interview were used to collect data. Close- and open-
ended questionnaires were used as the main tools to gather the data. Here, the four point scale:
strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree was used. The questionnaire included three
different domains of professional development obstacles:
A. Self-directed professional development obstacles,
B. Professional development obstacles from the nature of the work (Environment),
C. Organizational professional development obstacles.
Likert scale was mainly adapted to analyze quantitative data. A numerical value
wasassigned to each potential choice and a mean figure for all the responses was computed at the
end of the evaluation or survey. Likert scales usually have five potential choices (strongly agree,
agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree) but sometimes go up or less. This way, the researcher
used four potential choices only in order to condense the options for it was not expected that the
subjects were going to say I have no idea since the subjects of the study were EFL teachers.
The final average score represents overall level of accomplishment or attitude toward the subject
matter.
The four scales: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree, shown to what
extent the respondents had positive or negative opinions about the professional development
obstacles. And the researcher analyzed the data in two ways. The first one, sum (% of strongly
agree + % of agree = Positive sum and % of strongly disagree + disagree = Negative sum) in
percent can help to decide which of those items were the major obstacles and were not obstacles.
So the three tables below show the major obstacles in each domain according to the data
collected from the questionnaires. The second and the main way of analyzing data were by
calculating the weighted average.
A weighted average is an average in which each quantity to be averaged is assigned a
weight. These weightings determine the relative importance of each quantity on the average.
Weightings are the equivalent of having that many like items with the same value involved in the
average.
There are two main cases where you will generally use a weighted average instead of a
traditional average. The first is when you want to calculate an average that is based on different
percentage values for several categories.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 93

The second case is when you have a group of items that each has a frequency associated
with it. In these types of situations, using a weighted average can be much quicker and easier than
the traditional method of adding up each individual value and dividing by the total. This is
especially useful when we are dealing with large data sets that may contain hundreds or even
thousands of items but only a finite number of choices. Rating scale questions calculate a
weighted average based on the weight assigned to each answer choice.
Interview was also used to collect qualitative data. Five purposely selected teachers, four
school directors, and one cluster supervisor were interviewed to triangulate teachers responses to
the questionnaire and to find out more information which was not possible in the questionnaire.
In the same way as questionnaire, interview questions were directed to:
I: Self-directed professional development obstacles
II: Professional development obstacles from the nature of the work
III: Institutional professional development obstacles

Results and Discussion

The study was aimed at investigating the professional development obstacles facing
primary school English language teachers. Here, the major research question is what are the
professional development obstacles facing primary English language teachers in Southern Zone
of Tigray region? To answer the major and specific research questions, three types of
questionnaire and interview were used. The researcher distributed 63 questionnaires to 63
primary school English language teachers and all the questionnaires were properly filled in and
returned.
Table 1. Weighted Average of the item of the domain (Self- directed PD Obstacles)

N Items(opinions) Alternative responses

o Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Weig
agree/4/ /3/ /2/ disagree hted
/1/ avera
ge
1 Primary school English teachers are - 4 24 33 1.52
interested in their job
2 Primary English teachers are 32 26 3 - 3.4
dissatisfied with& dislike their
profession.
3 English language teachers think - 3 37 21 1.70
professional development is
unimportant.
4 English language teachers are 1 3 30 27 1.63
interested in sharing experiences
with others.
5 EFL teachers have poor computer 10 19 24 28 2.83
skills and limited internet access to
update their profession.
6 English language teachers have 13 29 9 10 2.26
technology phobia/ frustration/ to use
internet
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 94

7 English language teachers dont have 5 11 28 17 2.06

good relationship with colleagues
8 Traveling to attend professional 10 20 27 3 2.57
training is difficult and costly.
9 English language teachers want to 40 13 8 - 3.52
change/shift/their profession/job
1 English language teachers have 14 15 29 3 2.65
0 negative attitudes towards lifelong
learning.
1 English language teachers have lack 20 17 15 9 2.78
1 of skills and knowledge to conduct
action research.
1 English language teachers do not do 25 29 6 1 3.27
2 Action research (CPD) about their
profession.
1 English Language teachers dont like 20 28 9 4 3.04
3 to participate in peer coaching
1 Some colleagues find errors in peer 19 28 9 5 3.00
4 coaching
1 Talking about profession with 17 19 21 4 2.8
5 colleagues is limited.
1 English Language teachers prefer to 21 29 11 - 3.16
6 keep their classroom experiences
private.
The formula used to calculate weighted average is
Based on the table above, the most self- directed professional development obstacles are;
low interest of teachers towards their profession and lack of doing action research. With regard
to attitude, the weighted average for item 1, 2, 9 are 1.52, 3.4, 3.52 and 2.65 respectively. This
indicated that English teachers are not interested in their profession and they are dissatisfied. As a
result, they want to change their profession rather than striving to be professionally competent
teachers.
In addition to the attitude of the teachers towards their profession, the data in item 7 with
weighed average of 1.63, 8 (2.05), 13 (3.04), 14 (3.00), 15 (2.8) and 16 (3.16), clearly revealed
that there is a huge gap in the conceptual understanding of the purpose of continuous professional
development. If teachers do not share experience, if they do not do peer coaching, if they are not
interested in observing colleagues and being observed by their colleagues, the purpose and the
way of carrying out CPD are totally misunderstood.
The other major factor that got in the way of teachers professional development is lack of
knowledge and skills in conducting action research. The data in item 11 with the weighted
average of 2.78 indicated that teachers do not have the required skill and knowledge of doing
action research. As a result, teachers rated their not doing action research with the weighted
average of 3.27. The data above clearly indicated that lack of interest, having dissatisfaction in
their job, lack of knowledge and skill in researching and mainly misunderstanding of the concept
of CPD and how to do it are the major self-directed obstacles of professional development
activities.
Interview data also revealed the magnitude of the problems. Teachers interviewed explained
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 95

that they were not happy with their teaching profession; for example, one of the teachers said:
I teach students simply to make my living. I am not happy with the teaching profession because
the society gives less value. Moreover, it is a tiresome job and you never end your work even
after finishing your daily teaching load. I have to prepare lesson plans, I have to check students
test papers and also I have to read for the next class. Having done all these activities throughout
the year, you never get rewards, the salary is not attractive and even it is not adequate to educate
my children and fulfill their basic needs. Sometimes, I feel that we, teachers are being exploited
by the government.
But one of them said that she reads sometimes, and she participated in an action research.
Teachers do not read because they are busy, she added. She also said teachers lack the computer
skills needed for researching and using internet. Moreover, since reading by its nature is a
culture, but we (teachers) do not have reading culture.
Maybe they [teachers] are busy and don't have enough time. Anyway, reading is a culture and
we do not have the culture of reading. I have once participated in an action research done by
one teacher from another woreda .They [teachers] do not know what action research is, or they
may not be good at researching and computer skills.
Other respondents also raised other PD obstacles. They said that, they did not like to share
experience with each other and they did not believe peer- coaching was good PD activity. That is
because teachers show off and undervalue what they have seen when observing other teachers
class. They also explained that they observe their colleagues for the purpose of filling in the
appraisal form rather than helping others develop their teaching skills. They added, most of the
time teachers focus on errors and leave good points. For instance, one of them said that:
Personally, I don't like teachers t o come to my class. Colleagues focus on errors and leave
all good things." "I don't think peer-coaching is a professional development activity. Each
teacher should feel and solve his problems alone"
On the other hand, one respondent sow that peer-coaching is very helpful and helps
teachers professional development. However, she said some teachers do not practice peer
coaching because of the negative comments. "Peer coaching is very useful. It helps teachers
learn from each others. "but Some teachers do not practice peer coaching because they don't like
criticizing comments or they don't want others to see the way of teaching she uses."
With regard to the self-directed professional development obstacles teachers facing, district
level supervisors and school principals were asked for their contribution in identifying and
empowering teachers with necessary knowledge and skills. They reported that they carry out class
observation twice a year to fill in teachers appraisal form. The purpose of doing so is to evaluate
teachers efficiency in knowledge and skills of delivering the lessons. They mentioned that there is
shortage of budget to conduct workshops and trainings. They also witnessed that they did not have
knowledge and expertise to train teachers how to conduct action research. They believed that
continuous professional development is only the business of teachers.
When they were asked about the activities in observing lessons such as pre-observation,
while- observation and post-observation, they replied that they never did such kinds of activities
rather they focused on how the lesson plans were written, the participation of students and time and
class management of the teacher. This clearly showed that school principals and supervisors had
limited understanding of how to carry out lesson observation.
They also mentioned that coaching and mentoring were not in place to help novice or less
experienced teachers. The said critical friends who observe the lessons of others and being observed
by others are not the culture of the schools. Even they did not have understandings of tools for
continuous professional development.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 96

Table 2. Weighted Average of items of the domain (PD Obstacles from the nature of the work)

No Items(opinions) Alternative responses

Strongly Strongly Weighte
agree/4/ Agree Disagree disagree/ d
/3/ /2/ 1/ average
1 English language teachers are 23 28 6 4 3.14
assigned to teach other subjects
in order to complete their load.
2 Teaching profession by its 13 20 18 10 2.29
nature is exhausting
3 There are extra tasks given to 18 25 12 6 2.90
English teachers.
4 Elementary English language 18 27 8 7 2.88
teachers training in Ethiopia are
rare.
5 The working environment inside 8 14 23 16 2.22
the school is uncomfortable for
teaching and learning process.
6 The community discourages 13 18 19 11 2.54
primary school teachers.
7 In primary school English 8 18 20 15 2.31
language teaching materials are
difficult to find.
8 The two-shift school timing - 15 25 21 1.9
stands as an obstacle towards
working to improve their
profession.
9 The heavy teaching load makes 23 26 8 4 3.11
teachers very busy during the
working days.
10 The academic year is too short to 9 19 24 9 2.45
cover the assigned content /text
book/.
11 Elementary classes are more 12 24 14 11 2.60
crowded than others.
12 These days teaching is 21 27 9 4 3.06
becoming boring profession
The formula used to calculate weighted average is

The result from Table 2 shows that the first four major professional development
obstacles which are raised from the nature of the work that resulted in ineffective professional
development activities are English language teachers are assigned to teach other subjects in order
to complete their load which consists weighted average of 3.14, the heavy teaching load makes
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 97

teachers very busy during the working days (3.11), extra tasks given to English teachers (2.9)
and teaching is becoming boring profession (3.06).
As the respondents calculated weighted average indicate many primary school English
language teachers agreed that Primary school English language teachers are assigned( EFLT) to
teach other subjects is the most obstacle of primary school EFL teachers PD. This indicates that
since the Ahadawi or self- contained program made primary school teachers teach all subjects
(Mathematics, Language, Environmental Science, sport & esthetics), they cannot give emphasis
separately for English language professional development rather they have to think about
teaching all the subjects. The heavy teaching load makes teachers very busy during the working
days is also another professional development obstacle from the nature of the work. This also
indicates that, due to a teacher is assigned to teach all subjects to one class/section/, he/she is
loaded because he/she spends all day (6 periods) per a day and has weekly 30 periods.
The other professional development obstacle from the nature of the work is that these
days the teaching profession becomes boring due to different factors such as the low salary &
status. So it is clear to understand that no one wants to continue teaching and stay in teaching
profession. According to the result, this is one of the major primary school EFLT professional
development obstacles which hindered them not to be committed to their profession.
On the other hand, the least professional development obstacles from the work nature are
the one that weighted 1.9 is the two-shift school timing stands as an obstacle towards working to
improve their profession and the uncomfortable school environment which weighted (2.22)
may not hinder the professional development activities. 50.8% of the respondents did not agree
that the working environment inside the school is uncomfortable for teaching and learning
process. This means that this is not a great factor for professional development.
The data from the interview yielded the same result as questionnaire. The interviewees
explained that teaching load, co-curricular activities, and overcrowded classes are the major
professional obstacles. For example, one of the respondents said teaching is a routine work
that makes teachers g e t bored. She added, teaching English to young learners in
particular is extremely exhausting. She also stated the busy working day for the primary
EFL teachers prevent teachers from thinking about development.
Primary teachers are busy by extracurricular activities such as giving tutorial & network support to
students. Participating in club, pedagogy center& CPD (even it is for nothing). And they write
monthly reports. This made teachers get bored by those routine activities. I dont think only about
EFLT because a primary school teacher is expected to teach all subjects. So Primary EFLT usually
are assigned to teach Mathematics, Amharic, Tigrgna and other sciences.
Another teacher also complained about teaching in general because it is a routine work.
He said teachers are given too many written tasks, and EFL teacher are given extra periods to
teach other subjects to complete the load." In general t eaching is a repetition of similar actions
and that is boring and teaching English to elementary boys in particular is very tiresome I
can't think of any professional development activities during the work day because I am
always busy."
Furthermore, some other respondents complained about the work load and attributed their
not reading and updating themselves and engaging in continuous professional development to it.
They mentioned that they are not good readers and writers. For example one of them said that, he
reads very rarely and never thought of writing a paper for professional development. He said he
had no time or no reason to read or write.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 98

There is no time to read since I am occupied all the day. H e w e n t o n m e n t i o n i n g

the scarcity of books to read for carrying out action research
and other components of professional development activities.
Teachers don't read because they dont know what to read, and because good books are not
available. Again there is no time and no reason to write.
In short, the majority complained about the heavy teaching load, the overcrowded
extracurricular activities in school prevent them from thinking about their profession. Even the
frequently meetings are also considered by the teachers as a work load.
With regard to the obstacles of continuous professional development because of the
nature of the work, principals and supervisors said that teachers are made to teach different
subjects and they are expected to take up the minimum of 25 periods a week in addition to other
co-curricular activities. Teachers are also supposed to work in two shifts. The reason for coming
in both shifts was teachers should focus on academic activities and develop teaching aids and
give tutorial classes for struggling students.
The principals and supervisors also mentioned that some teachers are not interested in
teaching profession for the small amount of money being paid and the work they are supposed to
do. They said that there are a lot of complaints when teachers are asked and assigned to do other
related school activities.

Table 3 . Weighted average for each item of the domain (Organizational PD Obstacles)

No Items(opinions) Alternative responses

Weight
Strongly Strongly ed
agree/4/ Agree/3 Disagree disagree/ average
/ /2/ 1/
1 Supervisors' supports are rare 14 20 21 5 2.67
2 Supervisors are only fault 21 27 9 4 3.06
finders.
3 Supervisors dont respect 13 12 17 19 2.31
teachers' opinion.
4 Supervisors lack experience in 23 34 4 - 3.31
primary English teaching
5 Supervisors often visit suddenly 18 27 3 9 2.75
6 English Language Teachers, 11 21 18 10 2.50
administrators& counselors
dont work together.
7 There is enough in -service 15 20 15 10 2.62
training.
8 In-service training is specialized 4 12 38 7 2.21
in primary English teaching.
9 School administrations consider 3 25 31 2 2.47
English subject is less important
than other subjects.
10 English language teachers 24 31 5 - 3.26
professional development efforts
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 99

are unrewarded
11 School administration has no 18 32 7 4 3.04
interest to facilitate English
language teaching materials.
12 School administrations do not 23 26 9 3 3.13
support EFL teachers action to
improve their profession.
The formula used to cumulate weighted average is x1w1 + x2w2 + x3w3 --- xnwn
Total
The data in Table 3 indicated that the most serious organizational professional
development obstacle is the unspecialized in-service training in primary English language
teaching with weighted average of 2.21 and the second major professional development obstacle
is supervisors lack of specializing in primary English language teaching with weighted average
(3.31). The third major obstacle is the practice of supervisors which is being fault finders with the
average weight of 3.06.
Based on the data it is possible to conclude that when teachers attend In-service trainings
which do not focus on specific specialization such as receiving diploma in English or
Mathematics they will not have adequate knowledge, skills and expertise in the subject. The
truth on the ground in Ethiopian Education policy is elementary teachers training is on the bases
of streams such as language stream, social sciences stream and so on. The major objective of the
training is to produce teachers who can teach different subjects in a self-contained classroom
from grade 1-4 which is labeled as first Cycle primary school. Because of the policy when
English language teachers are trained in colleges and universities, in diploma or in certificate
level, they are trained in general teaching language (Tigrigna Amharic & English). This means
like three in one. So this indicates that there is no specialization for English language teachers.
As a result, the policy has contributed its share for teachers in effective practice of professional
development.
The second major problem is quality of supervisors which weighted 3.31. The data
revealed that supervisors lack experience in primary English language teaching. Here, most of
primary school supervisors have not good experience in English language teaching. Supervisors
from district level have different backgrounds as teachers. Most of them are from general
education background and others have background of teaching mathematics and science. These
supervisors cannot support English language teachers since they do not have the knowledge and
skills in teaching English. However, the prime objectives of supervision are capacity building.
Supervisors are required to support teachers by giving trainings and workshops with regard to
bridging the knowledge and skill gaps. Further more, they dont have knowledge & skill of how
to supervise primary EFL teachers because they are not well trained in supervision. However,
teachers must be helped to enhance quality of English education and supervisors should support
novice teachers. The mismatch of the objective of supervision and lack of knowledge of
supervisors contributed much for the second major professional development obstacle.
The other organizational PD obstacles are not rewarding English language teachers
professional development efforts with weighted average (3.26) and lack of support from school
administrations for EFL teachers action to improve their profession(3.13). This shows that EFL
teachers are not supported morally and financially by the educational bureau, wereda or school
administrations. In principle, when people are encouraged and rewarded, they become energetic
and do their level best to accomplish their jobs. The opposite is true when their efforts are not
valued and overlooked.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 100

The interview data also support the results of the questionnaire. Almost all the
respondents expressed the importance of educational supervision. However, most of them agreed
that they are suffering from the less support or miss guide of their supervisors. For example, one
the respondents said that:
Most of the time supervisors concentrate in general teaching methodologies. They have specific point
they always focus and give similar suggestions. In fact, I only see the supervisor as an inspector. I
also believe supervisors judge in advance, and I do think that they don't respect teachers. However,
my supervisor this year has helped me when he suggested using a poster when writing evaluation tasks.
Although supervision is sometimes helpful especially for newly appointed teachers, it is more directive
than supporting in my case.
This means he believed educational supervision is a way for evaluation and he saw the
supervisor as an inspector. He also said his supervisor repeats the comments every time.
However, he did not deny the supervisor who has helped him though the help was general rather
than specialized in EFL teaching to young learners.
The other interviewee believed the advantage of educational supervision towards
professional development. He said that "I think if supervision is practiced on the right way, it
can help teachers in developing their knowledge and skills. He also added that the supervisor
visited him once in this year and the supervisor raised different issues such as writing good
objectives, evaluating textbooks, recording students' marks and application of a revision material.
He believed educational supervision is an important activity and plays a big role in improving
teachers professional development. However, he commented that teachers should not be visited
only once in a year for the purpose of filling in their appraisal form. He further mentioned that
supervisors and head teachers should organize trainings and workshops to build teachers
capacity to deliver quality language education.
Another respondent also said that:
Supervisors give comments in everything in general but they do not focus on certain points I
don't think they are practicing supervisor correctly. I think nowadays educational supervision is
meaningless. It is neither being a way of helping teachers nor evaluating them. They come
suddenly to school and class room and they want to see something special and unique because
the usually visit a teacher once or twice per year. She also mentioned that the supervision being
made are more of judgmental than supportive. She added that supervisors never carry out pre-
lesson and post-lesson discussion with teachers. That is why I say, Nowadays supervision is
meaningless.
The respondents also gave different response regarding to the in- service training. Three
interviewee believed that the ineffectiveness of in-service training due to different reasons. For
example one of the respondents said that "Trainers are either supervisors or psychology experts.
None is specialized in teaching English to primary learners" "I can say trainers are inexperienced
and unqualified to train teachers of English. All trainers I have met till now only speak about the
problem and never provide practical solutions to EFL teachers in particular."
Another respondent explained that she has been attending five years summer course in
Debre Birhan University. She said that: The way how we were trained is not very helpful. I
wanted something about teaching vocabulary for children, but still I didnt understand what the
best technique is in teaching vocabulary? ". This implies that the training they receive in
Colleagues and Universities do not help them grow professionally since the trainers are qualified
in education not in English language teaching.
The interviewees also addressed the role of school administration to improve EFL
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 101

teachers. One of them said:

t h a t i n his school no one has conducted action research a n d n o o n e h a s g i v e n u s
orientation about how to plan continuous professional
d e v e l o p m e n t a c t i v i t i e s . He was asked about his professional development needs before
three years, and the survey was general and not focused on EFL.
He further mentioned the school administration as well as district level supervisors did not
help them to carryout action research. He explained that school principals and supervisors never giv e
attention to problems teachers in the school are facing.
.
Another interviewee explained that she has been asked about her professional
development needs. However, the school administration role in EFL teachers' professional
development is "very low". She also mentioned that teachers good performances are not
rewarded. She personally did not receive any support from the administration."The role of
administration is very low. I mean they are supposed to make much effort to improve EFL
teachers teaching capacity. Teachers' good works are not appreciated, and I feel bad about
the negli gence of school administration.
The result of the interview with supervisors and principals were concurrent with
teachers interview and questionnaire results. They reported that they are not from English
language teaching profession rather they were trained in general supervision. They did not
have the knowledge, expertise and skills in helping English language teachers. They reported
that teachers in the same field help them when they supervise English teachers.
They also witnessed that they never arrange supervision schedule rather they suddenly
observe teachers who teach in different grade levels. Their sudden visit of schools as to them
is that teachers should always be ready and there is no need to fix schedule. The question of
incentive and recognition were never entertained in the schools for financial constraints.

Discussion
The research was conducted mainly to seek possible answers to the two major research
questions. Why primary English language teachers do not engage themselves in professional
development activities? This mostly refers to the factors/ reasons/ from the teachers themselves,
their work nature. The result revealed that the most self-directed professional development
obstacles are lack of intrinsic motivation and interest towards their profession, limited skill and
knowledge of professional development activities such as conducting action research, computer
skill, and lack of the culture of reading and writing. The lack of intrinsic motivation and interest
are associated with unattractive salary paid for teachers. Teaching profession is also not respected
and socially accepted as an important profession. This is associated with the standard of living of
people in other professions who have alternative means of income.
This finding is in concurrent with a study by Workneh and Tassew (2013). Their study
revealed that one of the major challenges of teachers PD was community perceptions of teaching
profession and in adequacy of teachers salary and their choice of career. Many of teachers and
head teachers from those who had been interviewed believed that teachers needed to love their
job. And in principle, teaching profession is not inferior to any other field of endeavor and also
considered that teaching is the basis of all disciplines. But in practice, many teachers wanted to
move away from teaching saying that their perception of profession had changed over time. The
main reason which was given for their dissatisfaction was their perception that the Government
and the society at large did not value the contribution of teachers and education to the countrys
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 102

development. One teacher said parents looked down teachers and refused to take their advice
about the importance of sending children to school.
The current finding is also similar to some previous research findings. Desta, Chalchisa
and Lemma (2013) conducted a study entitled School-based continuous teacher professional
development in Addis Ababa: An investigation of practices, opportunities, and challenges and
found that the mentoring process stood as number one contributing factor for teacher
professional development followed by action research and school in-house workshops. Lack of
knowledge and experience on the theoretical underpinnings, implementation inconsistencies were
obstacles for continuous professional development.
The study also revealed that the external professional development obstacles for EFL
teachers professional development are unspecialized in-service training, supervisors lack of
knowledge and skill in supervision practices, lack of reward, moral and practical support from
school administrations. These findings are similar to Elyas and Hanaitem Al Grigri (2014)
research entitled obstacles to teaching English in Saudi Arabia public schools: teachers and
supervisors perceptions The results revealed that there was a scarcity of in-service training,
weakness of in-service training programs. Weakness of the in-service training which was not
effective to the EFL teachers.
The results of the study also revealed that heavy work load, additional curricular activities
and large class size are the major obstacles. These findings are similar to the findings of Ahmed
(2011). According to his research finding, the majority believed the unbearable heavy
teaching load, lack of time, overcrowded classes, and absence of promotion are the
most important professional development obstacles from the nature of the work.
The findings of the current research revealed that though the community's inferior view
towards primary English language teachers is not a great obstacle towards professional
development, it has a great contribution to teachers professional development. Because if
teachers feel nobody appreciates their work, they would not be enthusiastic to work hard to
improve their teaching practice. On the other hand, if teachers knew their work is appreciated,
they would think seriously about their professional development. This finding is similar to
Tassew and Woldehanns (2013) study which showed that the major challenges for teachers
professional development was community and parents perception of the teaching profession.

Conclusions
The results of the present study revealed that lack of interest, having dissatisfaction in
their job, lack of knowledge and skill in researching and mainly misunderstanding of the concept
of CPD and how to do it, lack of knowledge and skills in conducting action research are the
major self-directed obstacles of professional development activities. Moreover, the burden of
school activities, negative attitude of the community towards the teaching profession and
unattractive salary force teachers to escape from the profession; instead of getting involved in
different PD activities.
The major organizational obstacles teachers face are teachers attend in-service trainings
which do not focus on specific specialization such as receiving diploma in English or
Mathematics. Teachers in primary schools are expected to teach different school subjects in self-
contained classroom. As a result, they received trainings on the bases of streams such as
language stream, social sciences stream and so on. Teachers complained that the training has not
helped them to gain adequate knowledge, skills and expertise in the subjects. As a result, the
policy has contributed its share for teachers in effective practice of professional development.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 103

The study also revealed that supervisors lack skills, knowledge and expertise on how to
supervise teachers and how to build their capacity. Supervisors lack experience in primary
English language teaching since they are from different background such as general education,
natural sciences and social sciences. These supervisors do not support English language teachers
since they do not have the knowledge and skills in teaching English and also majority of them are
not trained supervisors. However, the prime objectives of supervision are capacity building.
Supervisors are required to support teachers by giving trainings and workshops with regard to
bridging the knowledge and skill gaps. The mismatch of the objective of supervision and lack of
knowledge of supervisors contributed much for the second major professional development
obstacle. The study also revealed that EFL teachers are not supported morally and financially by
the educational bureau, wereda or school administrations. In principle when people are
encouraged and rewarded, they become energetic and strive their level best to accomplish their
jobs. The opposite is true when their efforts are not valued and appreciated.

References
Ahmed , A. (2011) Professional Development Obstacles Facing Primary English
language Teachers in Northern Gaza: The Islamic University of Gaza
Desta, D. Chalchisa, D. & Legesse, G. (2013) School-based Continuous Teacher
Professional Development in Addis Ababa. Journal of international Cooperation in education,
15(3), 77-94.
Kathleen, M. Bailey, Andy, C.& D. Nunan. (2004). Pursuing Professional Development:
The Self as Source. In Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R. (Eds.) The Action Research Planner (3rd
ed.). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
MOE (2007). Provisional Report of CPD Action Plan 2008-2010. Addis Ababa: Ethiopia.
MOE (2008). Review of Ethiopian Educational policy training and its implementation.
Addis Ababa.
Ur, P. (1996). A course in Language Teaching: practice or Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Richards,C.and W. Renandya.(2002). Methodology in language teaching. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Ricahrds J. C. (2005) Professional Development for Language Teachers: Strategies
for Teacher Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Tariq Elyas & Wassel Hanaitem Al Girgri. (2014). Obstacles to Teaching English in Saudi
Arebia Public Schools: Teachers and Supervisors Perceptions. International Journal of English
Language Teaching, 2(3), 74-89.
Wallace, M. J. (1991). Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Workneh,A & Tasese,W.(2013). Teaching training and development in Ethiopia;
improving Education quality by improving teachers Skill, attitude and work condition. An
international study of childhood poverty (2013) working paper 103.
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

The Impact of Using Hyland's Mitigation Strategies on EFL Learners'

Writing Ability: A socio-cultural perspective
Shahram Afraz, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Qeshm Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Qeshm, Iran
[email protected]
Abstract
This research chiefly focused on the application of mitigation strategies and traditional form of
feedback in writing development of the fifth semester University students majoring in TEFL and
English Translation fields based on Vygotskys sociocultural theory in general and the notion of
Zone of Proximal Development in particular. To that end, this study relied on a pre-posttest
experimental design which was mediated by different written types of feedback such as
mitigation strategies vs. error correction to find out if any gains in writing development of
participants could be achieved. It is to be noted that participants of this inquiry were 125 fifth
semester university students who were chosen and assigned to four experimental and one control
groups. The materials of this study consisted of a textbook called Writing Power by Nancy White
(2002) that the teacher taught during the course of instruction; a standard writing test of IELTS
(2007) as a pretest; another standard writing test of IELTS (2007) as a posttest. The results
showed that although homogeneity among the groups was observed on the pretest, writing scores
of those groups which received corrective feedback and paired comments outscored those of the
other groups. On the other hand, the interrogative forms and personal attributions had the least
increase from the pretest to the posttest. Hence, it is recommended that some teacher training
courses regarding the appropriate use of these strategies be held in educational settings in a way
that teachers can apply these techniques in the best possible ways in their writing classes.

Keywords: Mitigation strategies, sociocultural theory, writing proficiency

Introduction
Writing is considered very important in our global community, and instruction in writing
is thus assuming an increasing role in both second and foreign language education. Weigle
(2002) states that the ability to write effectively allows individuals from different cultures and
backgrounds to communicate whether used in reporting analyses, business reports, letters, or e-
mail messages. According to Hendricson (1978, p. 387), "making errors is a necessary and
natural process of language learning. Inevitably, learner errors and feedback towards errors have
been of great interest to language teachers and researchers." Nevertheless, there has been little
agreement on how teachers must respond to L2 learners' errors.
Hyland and Hyland (2006) regards feedback as essential for the development of second
language writing skills, both for its potential for learning and for students motivation. Keh
(1990, p.294) defines feedback on writing as input from a reader to a writer with the effect of
providing information to the writer for revision. Hence, feedback is supposed to show learners
what is right or wrong in order for them to produce better texts in future (Ham-Lyons & Heasley,
1987). In spite of there being several studies done on different forms of written feedback such as
error correction, peer feedback and so on by researchers and their strong ideas that these types of
feedback are important and influential on student writing, no real conclusions can be made based
on the interpretations of their findings on the effectiveness of them in improving students'
writing.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 106

As a matter of fact, Sociocultural Theory (SCT) refers to the theory of mental

development and functioning formulated by Vygotsky (1978), who introduced the term Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD) which refers to "the distance between the actual developmental
level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as
determined through problem solving under an adult guidance, or in collaboration with more
capable peers"(p. 86).
The present study is going to study the effects of interpersonal aspects of written feedback
or mitigation strategies on Iranian EFL learners writing development based on the concept of the
zone of proximal development in Vygotskys SCT. This framework was chosen because
receiving different forms of feedback students might move from reliance on teachers feedback to
the independence performance where they can write essays alone without any help.

Literature Review
Praise, Criticism, and Suggestion (Mitigation Strategies)
According to Hyland and Hyland (2001), there are three broad types of written feedback:
praise, criticism, and suggestion. Praising encourages the reoccurrence of appropriate language
behaviors where writers are accredited for some characteristics, attributes or skills (Holmes,
1988). However, Praise needs to be credible and informative as false praising is likely to
discourage their good writing (Cardelle&Corno, 1981, cited in Hyland & Hyland, 2001).
Moreover, premature and too much praise, especially at early stages of the writing cycle, may
confuse writers and discourage their self- revisions (Hyland, 2008).
On the other hand, criticism is a negative comment used by reviewers in expressing their
dissatisfaction with the text. Suggestion is the third category of feedback which is related to
criticism but has a positive orientation. Suggestion differs from criticism in containing
commentary for improvement. Productive suggestion is also known as constructive criticism
which includes clear and achievable actions for writers. In general, students remember and value
encouraging remarks, but they also welcome constructive criticisms rather than false positive
appraisals (Ferris, 1995).
Research on praise and criticism in feedback is fairly sparse. Several L1 studies suggest
that teachers attend to error more than excellence and tend to focus their feedback on the negative
aspects of the writing. Dragga (1986, cited in Daiker, 1989), for example, analyzed 40 student
essays and found that 94% of comments focused on what students had done poorly or incorrectly.
Experimental studies have often gone further to examine the different effects of focusing on
positive and negative aspects of texts.
Taylor and Hoedt (1966), for instance, failed to find any difference in the quality of
writing produced by students receiving either positive or negative feedback, although they did
show that negative feedback had a detrimental effect on writer confidence and motivation. Gee
(1972) also reported no significant differences in quality of writing, but more positive attitudes
from those whose writing had been praised.
One problem with these studies is that praise and criticism were contextually
disembodied, simply given mechanically according to the group writers were assigned to, with no
relationship to the quality of the writing, or teachers' perceptions of students' needs. Other work
has recognized that to be effective praise needs to be credible and informative, and that insincere
praise is unlikely to encourage good writing (Brophy, 1981).Studies of L2 students' reactions to
teacher feedback show that learners remember and value encouraging remarks but expect to
receive constructive criticism rather than simple platitudes (Ferris, 1995).
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 107

One feature which may influence the patterns of praise and criticism in written feedback
is teacher response style. Anson (1989), for instance, has argued that the ways teachers judge
writing and define their role when giving feedback are influenced by their belief system. Such
beliefs are partly the result of personal constructs, but they also originate in the social context in
which teachers work.
Teacher response style may also be influenced by other factors, which can include the
language ability of students, task type, and the stage at which feedback is given. Feedback
offered at a draft stage will often be different from feedback on a final product, intended to
perform a different function. Many teachers view feedback on drafts as more developmental and
offer more critical comments on specific aspects of the text, while feedback on a final product is
likely to give a holistic assessment of the writing, praising and criticizing more general features.
Thus, any study of teacher written feedback must take into account the interplay between
teachers, students, texts, and writing purposes and so consider written comments as
"multidimensional social acts in their own right" (Sperling, 1994, p. 202).
To sum up, there is no doubt that positive remarks can be motivating and that many L2
learners attach considerable importance to them (Hyland and Hyland, 2001, cited in Hyland,
2008). Furthermore, suggestion and criticism can be seen as opposite ends of a continuum
ranging from a focus on what is done poorly to measures for its improvement, so while criticism
is a negative comment on a text, suggestions contain a retrievable plan of action for
improvement, a do-able revision of some kind (Hyland, 2008). However, one important point to
consider, as mentioned above, is that when using these strategies, the quality of writing, the
teachers' perceptions of students' needs, and also teacher response style must be taken into
account (Brophy, 1981; Anson, (1989).

Interpersonal Aspects of Written Feedback: Mitigation Strategies

English second language writers are often insecure about their writing and can be
heartened by positive comments or devastated by criticism. Because of this, teachers often soften
the force of their comments using the various mitigation strategies, i.e., paired comments, hedged
comments, personal attribution, and interrogative forms (Hyland & Hyland, 2001). That is, they
use praise, criticism, suggestion or the combination of them to achieve this purpose. Praise is
viewed as an act which attributes credit to another for some characteristic, attribute, skill, etc.,
which is positively valued by the person giving feedback. It, therefore, suggests a more intense or
detailed response than simple agreement (Holmes, 1988).
Hyland (2000 a, p.44) defines criticism as an expression of dissatisfaction or negative
comment on a text. This definition thus emphasizes commentary which finds fault in aspects of
a text, and it is different from suggestion, which is regarded as coming from the more positive
end of a continuum. Suggestions differ from criticisms in containing an explicit recommendation
for remediation, a relatively clear and accomplishable action for improvement, which is
sometimes referred to as constructive criticism. To know what these strategies are, the
following table is provided (Hyland, 2008, p.191).
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 108

Table 1. Different Types of Mitigation Strategies

Paired comments: Combining criticism with either praise or a suggestion

Vocabul Vocabulary is good but grammar is not accurate and often makes your ideas difficult to
understand.

Good movement from general to specific, but you need to make a clearer promise to the
reader.

Hedged comments: Modal verbs, imprecise quantifiers, usuality devices

Some of the material seemed a little long-winded and I wonder if it could have been
compressed a little.

There is possibly too much information here.

Personal attribution: teacher responds as an ordinary reader rather than as an expert.

Im sorry, but when reading this essay I couldnt see any evidence of this really. Perhaps
you should have given me your outline to look at with the essay.

I find it hard to know what the main point of each paragraph is.

Interrogative forms: express elements of doubt or uncertainty in the comment.

The first two paragraphs-do they need joining?

Did you check spelling carefully? Why not make a spelling checklist of words you often
get wrong and use this before handing in your final?

Mitigation strategies in end comments

The use of such mitigation strategies can help moderate the teachers dominant role and
tone down what might be seen as overdirective interventions in students writing. In addition,
mitigation allows teachers to minimize the risk of demotivating students or of taking over their
texts, but it is possible to forget that students are reading feedback in a foreign language and that
being indirect may actually result in significant misunderstandings (Hyland, 2008).
Considering ZPD and how its notion is congruent with the assumptions of potential and
actual development toward receiving feedback in L2 writing, Aljaafreh and Lantolf (1994)
concluded that feedback might prove helpful if it is graduated and contingent. Put it differently, it
should be started from an implicit level and move on toward an explicit one. Hence, consulting
different panel of experts and filed specialists as well as teachers of writing, the researcher came
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 109

up with the following categorization of mitigation strategies from the most implicit to the less
implicit one:

Table 2. The Categorization of strategies from the most implicit to the less implicit one
Strategy Categorization

1 Personal attribution

2 Hedged comments
3 Interrogative forms

4 Paired comments

Hence, this study aims to answer the following research question:

1. Do mitigation strategies (paired comments, hedged comments, interrogative forms and
personal attribution) have any statistically significant effects on participants writing
development?

Method
In the present study, the data were gathered and analyzed quantitatively. The design of
this experimental study was pre-posttest oriented which was mediated by different written types
of feedback so as to find out if any gains in writing development of participants could be
achieved concerning the application of mitigation strategies in comparison to traditional form of
written feedback (Error Correction).

Participants
Participants of the quantitative phase of this study were selected based on a convenience
sampling from B.A. students of TEFL who were studying at the fifth semester and had taken the
Essay Writing Course. The researcher planned twelve extra-curricular sessions for the randomly
selected students of each class. It is to be noted that 125 students were assigned to four
experimental groups and one control group. Each group consisted of 25 participants.

Materials
The materials of this study consisted of a textbook called Writing Power by Nancy White
(2002) that the teacher taught during the course of instruction; a standard writing test of IELTS
(2007) as a pretest (Appendix A); another standard writing test of IELTS (2007) as a posttest
(Appendix B). With respect to the fact that IELTS tests of writing are of two types, i.e., task 1
(describing graphs, charts, and tables) and task 2 (writing about a topic), it is to be mentioned that
the researcher used two different forms of the task 2 as the pretest and posttest of this study.

Inter-rater reliability of the posttest

Because the scores assigned to students were rated by two more raters and the purpose
was to find the correlation among three or more raters, the use of correlation coefficient is not
recommended as it explored the relation between two continuous variables. To this end,
Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was used as a measurement of intra-class correlation.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 110

Table 3. Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha Based on

Cronbach's Alpha Standardized Items N of Items
.938 .939 3

As Table 3 depicts, Cronbach's alpha value in the Reliability Statistics table is .93
indicating a high degree of correlation among the raters.

Table 4. Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

Rater1postetst rater2posttest rater3posttest

Rater1postetst 1.000 .842 .828
rater2posttest .842 1.000 .838
rater3posttest .828 .838 1.000

The extent of correlation between the raters as Table 4 depicts ranges from .83 to .84,
which is satisfactorily high.

Data collection procedure

In order to carry out this study, four classes were selected randomly as the experimental
groups and also one class as control group from the universities which offer B.A. program in
TEFL. One week before starting the instruction, the five groups took the pretest. Then, the
teacher teaching a textbook called Power Writing by Nancy White (2002), used mitigation
strategies in experimental groups; that is, paired comments in class A, hedged comments in class
B, Personal attribution in class C, and interrogative forms in class D. Furthermore, in class E, i.
e., control group, he used the traditional form of giving written feedback which is referred to as
error correction.
The teaching period consisted of twelve sessions, during which time the researcher
worked on three types of essays, i.e., argumentation, cause and effect, and comparison and
contrast. Four sessions were dedicated to working on each type of the essays mentioned. After
that, participants in all classes took the posttest. The results of both pretest and posttest were
compared to see if the use of mitigation strategies had any statistically significant effects on
subjects writing in comparison to the use of the traditional way of giving written feedback in
control group or not.
The point which is essential to mention is that since four criteria of writing, i.e., grammar,
relevance to the main topic, vocabulary and coherence were considered by the researcher in his
scoring which was based on IELTS scoring procedure. To get more objective results, in addition
to the scoring that was done by the investigator himself, the students exam papers were rated by
two other outside raters preferably university teachers. In this way, the inter-rater reliability of
both pretest and posttests results were determined. Moreover, after a 20-day period of time, they
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 111

were asked to rate the scripts again to see if there were any changes in their ratings or not to get
the intra-rater reliability of both tests.

Data analysis
Regarding the statistical analyses, since there are five independent variables (mitigation
strategies and the traditional form of written feedback) and one dependent variable with different
levels (writing and its four criteria, i.e., grammar, the depth of vocabulary and ideas, coherence,
and the relevance of content to the main topic), one way ANOVA was used for the analysis of the
results of both the pretest and the posttest.

Results and Discussion

This section encapsulates the results of data analysis in line with the research question;
that is, if mitigation strategies have any statistically significant effects on participants writing
development As a result, a series of one-way ANOVAs was run and the results of which were
then summarized in the following tables.

Table 5. Totality of Descriptive statistics on the Pretest

Pretest
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
Std. Lower Upper
N Mean Deviation Std. Error Bound Bound Minimum Maximum
paired
100 2.8450 1.17732 .11773 2.6114 3.0786 1.00 5.00
comments
hedged
100 2.8675 1.28042 .12804 2.6134 3.1216 .75 6.00
commnets
personal
100 3.1000 1.02494 .10249 2.8966 3.3034 1.00 5.00
attributes
introgative
100 3.1600 1.13902 .11390 2.9340 3.3860 1.00 6.00
forms
corrective
100 2.8450 1.26020 .12602 2.5949 3.0951 .50 5.00
feedback
Total 500 2.9635 1.18326 .05292 2.8595 3.0675 .50 6.00

As Table 5 denotes, the highest mean score is associated to the interrogative forms
(M=3.16, SD=1.13). The Personal attribution and hedged comments with the mean scores of 3.10
and 2.86 stand at the second and third positions, respectively. The lowest mean score, however, is
attributed to the paired comments and the corrective feedback (M=2.84, M2.84).

Table 6. ANOVA Table concerning Totality of Pretest

Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 112

Between
9.454 4 2.364 1.698 .149
Groups
Within Groups 689.192 495 1.392
Total 698.646 499

To evaluate if the totality of mitigation strategies and corrective feedback groups scores
differed on the pretest, a one-way between-groups analysis of variance was conducted. There was
not a statistically significance difference at the p>.05 level among the five groups on the pretest
[df4, 495 = 1.69, p = .14].

Table 7. Totality of Descriptive statistics on posttest

Posttest
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
Std. Std. Lower Upper Minimu Maximu
N Mean Deviation Error Bound Bound m m
paired
100 6.3425 1.06045 .10605 6.1321 6.5529 2.50 8.50
comments
hedged
100 5.7550 1.07660 .10766 5.5414 5.9686 3.00 8.00
comments
personal
100 5.6010 1.00850 .10085 5.4009 5.8011 2.00 8.00
attributes
introgative
100 4.6900 1.07961 .10796 4.4758 4.9042 2.00 7.00
forms
corrective
100 6.9225 1.17352 .11735 6.6896 7.1554 4.00 9.00
feedback
Total 500 5.8622 1.31232 .05869 5.7469 5.9775 2.00 9.00

As depicted in Table 7, the corrective feedback with the mean score of 6.92 had the
highest improvement from the pretest to the posttest. The Paired comments (M=6.34, SD=1.06)
also had the second highest mean score. On the other hand, the interrogative forms and personal
attributions had the least increase from the pretest to the posttest.

Table 8. ANOVA Table concerning Totality of posttest

Posttest
Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between
280.869 4 70.217 60.083 .000
Groups
Within Groups 578.496 495 1.169
Total 859.366 499
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 113

To investigate if the totality of mitigation strategies and corrective feedback groups scores
differed on the posttest, a one-way between-groups analysis of variance was run. There was a
statistically significant difference at the p<.05 level among the five groups on the posttest. [F4,
495 = 60.08, p = .001].

Table 9. Multiple Comparisons of Totality of Posttest Mean Scores

95% Confidence
Mean Interval
Difference Std. Lower Upper
(I) group (J) group (I-J) Error Sig. Bound Bound
Bonferroni paired hedged commnets .58750* .15288 .001 .1564 1.0186
comments
personal attributes .74150* .15288 .000 .3104 1.1726
introgative forms 1.65250* .15288 .000 1.2214 2.0836
corrective feedback
-.58000* .15288 .002 -1.0111 -.1489

hedged paired comments -.58750* .15288 .001 -1.0186 -.1564

commnets
personal attributes .15400 .15288 1.000 -.2771 .5851
introgative forms 1.06500* .15288 .000 .6339 1.4961
corrective feedback
-1.16750* .15288 .000 -1.5986 -.7364

personal paired comments -.74150* .15288 .000 -1.1726 -.3104

attributes
hedged commnets -.15400 .15288 1.000 -.5851 .2771
introgative forms .91100* .15288 .000 .4799 1.3421
corrective feedback
-1.32150* .15288 .000 -1.7526 -.8904

introgative paired comments -1.65250* .15288 .000 -2.0836 -1.2214

forms
hedged commnets -1.06500* .15288 .000 -1.4961 -.6339
personal attributes -.91100* .15288 .000 -1.3421 -.4799
corrective feedback
-2.23250* .15288 .000 -2.6636 -1.8014

corrective paired comments

feedback .58000* .15288 .002 .1489 1.0111
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 114

hedged commnets 1.16750* .15288 .000 .7364 1.5986

personal attributes 1.32150* .15288 .000 .8904 1.7526
introgative forms
2.23250* .15288 .000 1.8014 2.6636

*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.

Post-hoc comparisons using Bonferroni adjustment indicated that paired comments group
mean score differed from those of hedged comments, personal attribution, interrogative forms
and corrective feedback. Also, hedged comments mean scores as another group varied from those
of paired comments, interrogative forms and corrective feedback. Moreover, personal attribution
means score was discrepant from those of paired comments, interrogative forms and corrective
feedback. Ultimately, interrogative mean score and corrective feedback mean score were
different from the other groups.
Discussion
This study investigated the differences in the totality of the effectiveness of mitigation
strategies and the traditional form of written feedback. Its results of the pretest showed that there
was not any statistically meaningful difference at the p>.05 level among the five groups on the
pretest [F4, 495 = 1.69, p = .14]. The results of the posttest, on the other hand, depicted that
corrective feedback with the mean score of 6.92 had the highest improvement from the pretest to
the posttest. Paired comments (M=6.34, SD=1.06) also had the second highest mean score. On
the other hand, the interrogative forms and personal attributions had the least increase from the
pretest to the posttest. Also, paired comments group mean score differed from those of hedged
comments, personal attribution, interrogative forms and corrective feedback. Also, hedged
comments mean scores as another group varied from those of paired comments, interrogative
forms and corrective feedback. Moreover, personal attribution means score was discrepant from
those of paired comments, interrogative forms and corrective feedback. Ultimately, the
interrogative and corrective feedback mean scores were different from the other groups.
The findings of the present study corroborate that of Chandler (2003) in that direct
feedback is the best way of correcting students' errors. The results also affirm Ferries and
Roberts (2001), Bitchener and Knoch (2010), and Rassaei and Moeinzade (2011) studies. Also,
Similar findings are shown in the studies conducted by Ferris and Roberts (2001), Nagata and
Hawisher (1995), and Nagata (1997).Moreover, the results showed that paired comments strategy
was highly effective after the corrective feedback. Gee (1972) also reported no significant
differences in the quality of writing, but more positive attitudes from those whose writing had
been praised. Hence, the results of the current study are congruent with that of Gee (1972).
Furthermore, several more recent studies have been conducted with the evidence in support of
written corrective feedback (Bitchener, 2008; Bitchener et al., 2005; Ellis et al., 2008; Poulos &
Mahony, 2008).
Considering ZPD and the relationship between its notion with the different types of
feedback used in this work to develop the participants' writing, this study showed that corrective
feedback as the most explicit way of correcting students' errors proved quite helpful. Paired
comments, as the Table 15 shows, was the most implicit way of correcting students' errors among
the other strategies and its efficacy was approved in the second place to improve writing ability.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017 115

Table 10. The Categorization of strategies from the most implicit to the less implicit one
Strategy Categorization
1 Personal attribution

2 Hedged comments
3 Interrogative forms

4 Paired comments

On the other hand, the results of this study refuted that of Rob et al. (1986) who used
direct feedback vs. 3 types of indirect strategies. He concluded that there was no difference
among the feedback types. Part of this incongruence might be explained in terms of cultural
divergence and various educational systems according to which students were instructed. Iranian
learners are less exposed to target-like English outside the classes as it might be opposed to
Japanese learners. Hence, Iranian students would like to receive the feedback explicitly since
there is no chance of being exposed to the correct form after leaving the classroom, but Japanese
might have more exposure to English even after the classroom.

Conclusion
As the participants of this study show positive attitudes toward teachers' corrective
feedback, the educational settings (the Ministry of education and universities) which offer writing
courses might consider adding this kind of feedback as a technique in teaching writing.
Furthermore, it is highly recommended that teachers be involved in training courses to show
them the importance of different feedback strategies specially the corrective one.
Regarding mitigation strategies, criticism is not acknowledged well by participants
because it bothers them; nonetheless, they admit that it helps them identify weaknesses in their
writing. That is, criticism is important but simultaneously needs to be mitigated by the use of
polite words (praise). Moreover, teachers must sidestep impetrative forms and instead use hedged
comments. The only problem in using hedging is that participants may not understand it very
well. To overcome the very problem, students can ask their teachers for more elaboration if
demanded.
The methods teachers select to express their feedback can influence both participants'
reactions to it and the extent to which they use it in their revisions. This especially can be
observed among EFL learners whose linguistic abilities and cultural expectations may have an
effect on the way they accept or process a feedback type.
Although the results of this study showed that the corrective feedback had the first place
among Iranian EFL learners in comparison to mitigation strategies, some of these strategies such
as paired comments and hedged comments were also favored by them. Hence, it is recommended
that some teacher training courses regarding the appropriate use of these strategies be held in
educational settings. As a result, teachers can apply these techniques in the best possible way in
their writing classes. In this case, keeping Vygotsky's ZPD in mind, EFL learners can move
smoothly from the potential to the actual level where they themselves can solve their writing
problems independently without the help of teachers.

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Appendices

Appendix A (IELTS Writing Task 2)

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:

There is evidence that inhaling cigarette smoke causes health problems not only for
smokers but for non-smokers who inhale other peoples smoke.

In view of this, smoking should be banned in all public places, even though this would
restrict some peoples freedom of action.

What are your views?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.

Appendix B (IELTS Writing Task 2)

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:

Modern technology now allows rapid and uncontrolled access to and exchange of
information. Far from being beneficial, this is a danger to our societies.

What are your views?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017

Social, Cultural and Linguistic Factors Affecting EFL Learners Language

Proficiency: A Quantitative Analysis
Somaye Amirabadi*, PhD Candidate, Department of English, Qeshm Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Qeshm, Iran
[email protected]
Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo, Professor, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
[email protected]

Abstract
Many factors may be involved in determining why some students are more and some are less
proficient in language. This study tried to explore the factors affecting Iranian EFL learners
proficiency. 221 students at second, third and fourth year of university, including 50 male and
171 female were selected randomly to participate in the study. A researcher-made questionnaire
and a proficiency test comprised the data collection instruments. The researchers were able to
identify three factors affecting language proficiency. They were classified as social factors,
cultural factors and linguistic factors, then a model was developed to represent the relationship
among these factors and language proficiency. In line with Bourdieus (1986), the results of data
analysis indicated that social factors are among the most dominant factors affecting the learners
language proficincy.

Keywords: Social factors, cultural factors, linguistic factors, Confirmatory Factor Analysis,
Structural Equation Modeling

Introduction
There has been a growing interest in theories and models of SLA that focus on social
context, though they do not address the social factor of the language and its relation to linguistic
and culture explicitly. Language, according to socio-cultural theorist Vygotsky (1962), comes out
from cultural and social activity and only later becomes reconstructed as an individual,
psychological phenomenon. In this way of thinking, SLL theory should be centered not so much
on the process of learning new structures and sounds and then using them to communicate, but
rather on the learner's participation in social activities such as having out-of-class conversations
or talking to classmates and teachers. Lantolf (2002) believed that one of the primary concepts of
sociocultural theory is that the human mind is mediated. Lantolf states that Vygotsky finds an
important role for what he calls tools in humans realization of the world and of themselves. He
maintains, Vygotsky believes that human beings do not act upon the physical world directly and
without the using of mediating tools. Whether symbolic or signs, Vygotsky considers tools as
artifacts produced by human beings under certain cultural and historical conditions, and they
carry with them the characteristics of the culture. They are utilized as aids in solving problems
that cannot be solved in the same way if they are not present. In turn, they also have an impact on
the individuals who make use of them since they increase the previously unknown activities and
previously unknown manners of conceptualizing phenomena in the world. So, they are
continually modified while they are passed from one generation to the next, and each generation
modifies them with the aim of meeting the needs and aspirations of its individuals and
communities. Vygotsky states that the role of a psychologist should be to recognize how human
social and mental activities are organized through culturally created artifacts.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
122

His most outstanding work is the concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD),
which is regarded as a remarkable contribution to the field of education and learning process.
Turuk (2008) mentioned that according to Vygotsky (1978 cited Lantolf 2000), the sociocultural
environment presents the child with a variety of tasks and demands, and engages the child in his
world through the tools. In the early stages, Vygotsky claims that the child is completely
dependent on other people, usually the parents, who initiate the childs actions by instructing
him/her as to what to do, how to do it, as well as what not to do. Parents, as representatives of the
culture and the conduit through which the culture passes into the child, actualize these
instructions primarily through language. On the question of how do children then appropriate
these cultural and social heritages, Vygotsky 1978 as cited in Wertsch 1985states that the child
acquires knowledge through contacts and interactions with people as the first step
(interpsychological plane), then later assimilates and internalizes this knowledge adding his
personal value to it (intrapsychological plane). This transition from social to personal property
according to Vygotsky is not a mere copy, but a transformation of what had been learnt through
interaction, into personal values. Vygotsky claims that this is what also happens in schools.
Students do not merely copy teachers capabilities; rather they transform what teachers offer
them during the processes of appropriation.

Objectives and Research Question

The sociocultural and linguistic factors affecting language proficiency was largely
ignored by researchers; thus, research into this area can be beneficial. It is actually beneficial to
develop a model to be representative of the factors affecting language proficiency. Specifically,
this study aims to answer the following question:
Q. What type of model can be developed to be representative of the factors affecting Iranian EFL
learners proficiency?
Literature Review
Social Factors
Age
Sadeghi (2013) suggested two basic different views regarding the age issue. He argues
that young learners are more efficient. On the contrary, he claims that adolescents are more
efficient and effective second language learners than young learners in all aspects. According to
Khalifa (2012) age has a significant effect on EFL learning since early exposure to language
learning leads to better performance.
In this same way, he also cites Snow (1993) and Taylor (1990) that they revealed that the
earlier the first language learning, the better the second language general fluency, and they
concluded that the performance of foreign language was better in students who started learning
English at an earlier age, for example five or six.

Socio-Economical Context
Another issue besides age is the social background in which learners are involved
constantly when they are learning a second language, and that is since learning is involved in
different contexts. Gholami (2012) suggests that the social context is believed to influence
motivation and attitude. These two factors are to a great extent compulsory when attempting to
learn a language other than their native language. Gholami (2012) established that the context
provides many learning opportunities which give heighten the learners outcomes. Learners
acquire and learn a language through social interaction; by the way, sometimes, the significance
of the social context is mostly neglected in EFL countries as it is stated by Gholami since their
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
123

social context is lost. Also, the researcher argues that a foreign language learner learns a language
through social interaction. For some people; however, the importance and necessity of the social
context is underestimated and neglected in most of the EFL countries. Thus, the final learning
outcome is not satisfactory to some extent.

Motivation
Research studies have proved that motivation is the major factor in second language
learning because it determines human behavior by energizing it and giving it direction
(Dornyei, 1998). The term motivation in second language learning context is seen according to
Gardner (1985) as "referring to the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the
language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity". (p. 10)

Educational Level of Parents

Based on Sui-chu & Williams (1996) one of the characteristics that may affect the value
of parental involvement in students academic achievement is parental educational level. The
literary review on students academic achievements has reviewed the importance of parents
education. Many studies describe that parents education level plays an important role in the
amount of parent involvement and the most of these research have been with secondary school
students. More findings describe that the higher education level of the parents, the students more
likely Journal of Education and Practice will have better academic achievement.

Cultural Factors
Culture Class
Recent studies focus on the seamless relationship between L2 teaching and target culture
teaching, especially over the last decade with the writings of scholars such as Byram (1989;
1994a; 1994b; 1997a; 1997b) and Kramsch (1988; 1993; 1996; 2001). People involved in
language teaching have again begun to understand the intertwined relation between culture and
language (Pulverness, 2003). It has been emphasized that without the study of culture, teaching
L2 is inaccurate and incomplete. For L2 students, language study seems senseless if they know
nothing about the people who speak the target language or the country in which the target
language is spoken. Acquiring a new language means a lot more than the manipulation of syntax
and lexicon. According to Bada (2000: 101), the need for cultural literacy in ELT arises mainly
from the fact that most language learners, not exposed to cultural elements of the society in
question, seem to encounter significant hardship in communicating meaning to native speakers.
In addition, nowadays the L2 culture is presented as an interdisciplinary core in many L2
curricula designs and textbooks (Sysoyev & Donelson, 2002).

Gender
Gender is an issue with important theoretical and pedagogical assumption in L2 learning.
A good number of studies found that gender can have a significant effect on how students learn a
language. A large number of researches worked on topics about gender, including language
learning ability, motivation, teacher perceptions, learning styles and strategies, classroom
interaction, teaching materials, testing and pedagogies. Many studies that examined gender as a
variable in the use of language learning strategies (LLS) reported that significant gender
differences almost always are the same, and they show greater use of LLS by females (see for
instance, Green & Oxford, 1995; Noguchi,1991). (Politzer, 1983) reported that females used
social LS significantly more than males. (Ehrman and Oxford, 1990), using the LLSL with both
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
124

students and instructors at the U.S. Foreign Institute came to the conclusion that compared to
males, females reported significantly greater use of LLS in four areas of general study strategies,
functional practice strategies, strategies for communicating meaning, and self-management
strategies.

Linguistic Factors
Linguistic Background
Brown (2001) claims that: The native language of learners exerts a strong influence on
the acquisition of the target language system. While the native system will exercise both
facilitating and interfering effects on the production and comprehension of the new language, the
interfering effects are likely to be the most salient. (p. 66). The Native Language Effect is
present during the learning process until the learner has reached a level of language
internalization; at this point the level of interference has lowered.

Word Order
Word order is the second linguistic factor which was considered in this article. Since
Greenberg (1963) initiated working on this issue, there have been many studies which have
studied linguistic universals based on word order characteristics of languages worldwide
Greenberg proposed 45 linguistic universals on the basis of a sample consisting of 30 languages.
28 of these languages refer to order or position of grammatical relations such as subject, object
and verb. Accordingly he assumed by his typology that languages are divided into one of three
types: SVO (e.g. English), SOV (e.g. Korean) and VSO (e.g. Welsh).

Methods
Questionnaire
In order to measure socio-cultural and linguistic factors among students, a questionnaire
emerged out of the qualitative phase employed in this study. The questionnaire consisted of 57
items. The items were scored according to the 5 Likert- type scale of five points ranging from (5)
Strongly agree to (1) Strongly disagree. The participants had 30 minutes to answer the items.
They were asked to read the items carefully and answer them completely. The reliability of the
questionnaire was calculated through Cronbachs Alpha. The scale was reported to have a
construct validity established by factor analysis and reliability was found to be 0.91. Generally,
coefficients greater than .70 indicate adequate reliability (i.e., consistency between methods
accounts for 49% or more of variance) (Stemler, 2004). In the current study, the analysis of data
included checking the reliability of questionnaire, checking the features of each individual items
and confirming validity of questionnaire through factor analysis.
In order to check the features of the questionnaire, it was piloted on a random sample
(N=90) of college students. The sample included 90 female students. Their age range from 18-25.
Enough time were given to fill the questionnaire.

Results of the pilot study

Item analysis and reliability
Results of CFA
In order to examine the validity of the questionnaire, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was
used. Among the 35 items of the Social factors (F1) seven items (8, 12, 16, 19, 26, 29, and 30)
were not significant and it was decided to delete these items. To check the model fit, goodness of
fit indices were used. The model with all factor loadings can be seen in Figure 1. Goodness of fit
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
125

indices can be seen in Table1. In this study, 2/df, GFI, CFI, and RMSEA were used. To have a
fit model, 2/df should be less than 3, GFI and TLI should be above .90, and RMSEA should be
less than .08. As Table 1 shows, all the goodness of fit indices are within the acceptable range.
Therefore, the scale enjoyed validity.

Table 1.Goodness of fit indices

X2 df X2/df GFI CFI RMSEA

Acceptable <3 >.90 >.90 <.08

fit

Model 2594.25 1171 2.215 .91 .94 .071

Moreover, to examine the reliability of the scale, Cronbach's alpha was used. The
reliability coefficient was .919 for this scale, which shows the scale enjoys high reliability (See
Table 2). It should also be added that because seven items were deleted in this pilot study the
numbering of the items in this questionnaire changed in the final draft of the questionnaire as
follows: Social items (items 1-28), and Cultural items (items 29-38), Linguistic items (items 39-
50).

Table 2.The Reliability Indices of Questionnaire

Subscale Item No. Cronbach alpha

Social factors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, .870

15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27,
28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35

Cultural Factors 36,37,38.39.40,41,42,43,44,45 .752

Linguistic Factors 46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57 .869

Total Scale .919

Main Study
After checking the reliability and validity of the newly developed questionnaire, it was
used in the main phase of the study. In this phase, a large sample was needed since the
relationship between the variables of the study was supposed to be presented in the form of a
model. Details about this phase of the research will appear below.

Participants
The participants in this phase of the study included 220 senior and junior students from
different state universities in North Khorasan, Bojourd. From among students, 46 were studying
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
126

in their fourth year and 87 were continuing their third year and 87 in the second year of studies.
Availability sampling was used as a large group was needed for this phase of the study. The
sample included 50 male and 170 female students whose age range was from 18 to 25.

Instruments
Two instruments were used in this phase of the study. It was the socio-cultural and
linguistic factors questionnaire and Proficiency Test. The questionnaire was constructed based on
the emergent findings of the qualitative phase of the study as well as theoretical and empirical
support from previous literature.

Data Collection Procedure

The validated questionnaire along with test of proficiency, test of TOEFL, was used to
gather data using a very large sample. For this purpose, the researcher gathered data in all
possible university contexts during data gathering processes in classrooms, enough instructions
were provided for the participants by the researcher before they completed the questionnaires.

Data analysis procedure

Structural Equation Modeling
Selection of a proper methodology is one of the most important and crucial part of the
research study. SEM is the second generation of multivariate technique that was applied.
Multiple regressions were suitable for assessing constructs and relations between constructs. The
first purpose of regression analysis is prediction while the intent of a correlation is to evaluate the
relationship between the dependent and independent variables (Tabachnick, 2001).
According to Dornyei (2007) the basis of SEM is on describing the relationship between
the measured variables and the hypothesized latent variables resulting in a measurement model or
a number of measurement models. As the second stage, SEM identifies links between the latent
independent and dependent variables. The outcome of this stage will be a full structural model
encompassing all the measurement models (Kline, 2011). Factor analysis can be either
Confirmatory or Exploratory. The both type of confirmatory and exploratory modeling can be
used by SEM. In other word SEM is also suitable for both theory extension and theory testing.
Based on the objective of data analysis, each of these approaches can be implemented. In
Exploratory Factor Analysis the researcher is looking for experimental data to discover and
identity indicators and terms without any imposed model. On the other hand, exploratory analysis
not only has proposal or under covering value but also it can be made structures, models or
hypothesizes. (Diana D.Suhr, 2003)
In confirmatory modeling which begins with a hypothesis as a causal model
representative, the model concepts must be operationalized in order to permit testing of the
relations of concepts in the model. Then the model will be tested against gathered measurement
data to check if the model fits the data (Bartholomew and Knott, 1999).

Results and Discussion

To explore the possible association between Social factors, Cultural Factors, Linguistic
Factors and Iranian EFL learners proficiency, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient was conducted.
Table 4 represents the relationship between Social factors, Cultural Factors, Linguistic Factors
and English proficiency. As it can be seen in the table, there is a positive significant relationship
between all three factors and English proficiency. As the results shows, the highest relationship is
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
127

between Social factors and English proficiency (r=0.812, p < 0.01), and the lowest relationship is
between cultural factors and English proficiency (r=0.492, p < 0.01).

Table 3. The Results of Correlation among Social factors, Cultural Factors, Linguistic Factors
and English proficiency

1. 2. 3. 4.

1. Social factors 1

2.Cultural .502** 1
Factors

3.Linguistic .541** .645** 1

Factors

4.English .812** .492** .507** 1

proficiency
**Correlation is significant at the level of 0.01

Results of Path Analysis

In statistics, path analysis is used to describe the directed dependencies among a set of
variables. It can be viewed as a special case of structural equation modeling (SEM) in which only
single indicators are employed for each of the variables in the causal model. That is, path analysis
is SEM with a structural model, but no measurement model. Other terms used to refer to path
analysis include causal modeling, analysis of covariance structures, and latent variable models.
To examine the structural relations, the proposed model was tested using the Amos 22
statistical package. A number of fit indices were examined to evaluate the model fit: the chi-
square magnitude which shouldn't be significant, Chi-square/df ratio which should be lower than
2 or 3, the normed fit index (NFI), the good fit index (GFI), and the comparative fit index (CFI)
with the cut value greater than .90, and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA)
of about .06 or .07 (Schreiber, et al., 2006).
As demonstrated by Figure 2, the chi-square/df ratio (7.167), RMSEA (.058), GFI (1.00),
and CFI (1.00), all the fit indices except the chi-square/df ratio, lie within the acceptable fit
thresholds. Hence, it can be concluded that the proposed model had a good fit with the empirical
data.
To check the strengths of the causal relationships among the components, the standardized
estimates were examined. As indicated in Figure 2, an estimate is displayed on each path. This
standardized estimate is the standardized coefficient or beta coefficients () resulting from an
analysis carried out on independent variables that have been standardized. It explains the
predictive power of the independent variable and the effect size. The closer the magnitude to 1.0,
the higher the correlation and the greater the predictive power of the variable is.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
128

Figure 1. The schematic representation of the relationships among Social factors, Cultural
Factors, Linguistic Factors and English proficiency

The results demonstrated that among three factors, only social factors (= .74, p<0.05)
are positive predictors of English proficiency. In other words, English proficiency is not
influenced significantly by cultural (= .09, p=0.09) and linguistic factors (= .05, p=0.35).

Conclusion
This study set out to investigate the development of a model of sociocultural and
linguistic factors affecting Iranian EFL learners proficiency. As the main issue, the problem of
lack of the efficient and adequate models in general, and sociocultural and linguistic factors in
particular were explored. Also, the aforementioned factors were surveyed on a researcher-made
questionnaire. All the methodological steps pertaining to the actual implementation of the study
were followed in an attempt to respond to the research question raised.
Vygotsky (1978) and Bakhtin (1981) represented, learning of any language is inter-mental
rather than intra-mental, indicating that sociological factors provide the learnings infrastructure
and the solid foundation of that language. Thus, according to the results of this study, it is fair to
claim that the social environment of learners help them manage, monitor, and plan or make use of
their analytical thinking.
Based on the final model presented and analyzed through structural equation modeling
and factor analysis, it can be stated that there seems to exist a relationship between social,
cultural and linguistic factors and language proficiency. Contrary to what may be thought, the
relationships established through SEM do not necessarily indicate a causal relationship (Kline,
2011; Lacobucci, 2009).
However, SEM procedures are able in casting light on the possible relationships between
latent variables in a study with a higher degree of confidence than other statistical procedures do.
In this study, social factors revealed to affect language proficiency more than the other two.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
129

These factors were age, motivation, social context, and economic position of parents, media,
technology and educational level of family. According to the results obtained through SEM
procedures, there seems to be a meaningful relationship between social factors and language
proficiency. In fact, social factors had just a significant relationship with language proficiency.
The results also revealed that lowest relationship exists between cultural factors and English
proficiency. Based on the findings of the quantitative phase and through path analysis, a model
was presented which clarifies the degree of relationship between each of the factors and language
proficiency. The causal claim of the model is similar to Ricentos (2005) identity and its
understanding. He argues that if a learner identifies herself/himself (known as sociological factor)
with another culture, she or he will be more proficient (known as linguistic factor) to learn the
target language. Furthermore, the results of the current study are in agreement with Bourdieus
(1986) socio-cultural and linguistic factors in educational achievement, in that the socio-cultural
factors have roots in linguistic factors. Also, the results are in line with Bourdieus (1986) idea
that socio-cultural factors are considered as a predictor of language learning than linguistic
factors.
The outcomes of this study shed light on the socio-cultural and linguistic nature of
language learning in relation to learners proficiency. Educational policy makers should take into
account that learners who have access to different social and cultural aspects perform differently
in academic achievement. Also, they should keep in mind that learners situation at home and
their access to cultural aspects not only affect learners achievements, but also explain those
factors. For instance, literacy as an important subcomponent of linguistic and social context
should be taken into account by teachers in foreign language classes, since learners may come
from various cultural backgrounds (Pishghadam & Zabihi, 2011). Therefore, teachers should be
alert to various levels of literacies at different social levels. This indicates that teachers are
required to know the learning problems of their learners outside the classroom.
Also, cultural and social factors are known as compulsory factors in educational contexts
which are usually provided by family. The role of family is a significant factor in determining the
extent to which a learner has acquired a specific cultural competence (Bourdieu & Johnson,
1993). Accordingly, parental education is of high significance role in learners achievement.
The implication of the this research for teachers in EFL contexts is that they should
enhance their socio-cultural and linguistic competence periodically, their overall communicative
abilities in general; and transfer their knowledge to students with new methods, progressing their
classes to be more communicative to achieve more proficiency in learners.
As it is obvious, EFL context of learning and teaching is affected by the different
situations of the classroom interaction. Such effects might encompass the learners inability to
achieve communicative and interactive tasks because of their incompetence in communicative
ability as well as barriers in their cooperative learning contexts, and lack of confidence in their
daily interactions. Besides, it also affects learners spirit of interaction with peers from various
backgrounds by causing learners to develop the attitude of new informations rejection
concerning other learners cultural linguistic realities. Moreover, effective teaching strategies that
take into account the learners backgrounds used to overcome the challenges of classes
interaction in EFL classes, would be helpful to gain the goals of EFL teaching.
Finally, it is of high importance to make situations to teach EFL materials which come
from different linguistic, cultural and social backgrounds. Also, there is a need to motivate the
learners in order to make them use the target language frequently.

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 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
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Appendix

Dear participant:
The following questionnaire has been designed for a research project which will
greatly help us in gaining insights with issues raised here. This questionnaire will
not be seen by any of the university authorities.
Only the researcher will have access to your answers. Please be as accurate as
possible. So, please tick the boxes below which best describes your characteristics.
The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out how you feel about English and
factors which you think might affect your learning of English. You are asked to
give your honest and frank opinions.

Please try and answer all questions

1-Birth year
2-Department
3-a- male b- female
4-How long have you studied English in secondary school?
(1)5 years
(2)6 years
(3)7 years
(4)Over 7 years
5-Parents 1- Literate
2- Illiterate
6-Marital Status: 1- Married
2- Single

7-Mother tongue: 1- Persian

2- Turkish
3- Kurdish
4- Other
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
133

Please answer the following questions with a Likert Scale.

Strongly Agree (SA) Agree (A) Moderate (U) Disagree (D) Strongly Disagree (DA)

Social factors: SA A M D SD
1-I think economic position has effects on EFL Learners'
proficiency.
2-I think social class has effects on EFL learners'
proficiency.
3-I think it is impossible to continue our education without
money.
4-I think if the students are from a higher social class, there
are more opportunities to attend more educational classes
and to have better teachers.
5-I think the higher social class causes the less stress for
education.
6-I think less stress for education leads to more progress.
7-I think economic position and the social class have no
effect on learning.
8-I think age has effects on EFL learning.
9-I think the best age to start learning a foreign language is
after learning mother tongue completely.
10-I think the sooner a child starts to learn a foreign
language, the better the pronunciation.
11-I think the children are more motivated to learn a new
language.
12-I think early teens are quicker and more effective in
learning EFL.
13-I think the best age range for children to start learning a
foreign language is when they are kids.
14- I think technology is essential in improving
foreign language skills, especially pronunciation
15-I think technology makes acquiring and developing
foreign language difficult.
16-I think it is important to use best facilities to teach a
new language.
17-I think achievement of a native-like pronunciation does
not mean just relying on black and white books. It can only
be achieved by new technologies.
18- I think social media will have greater presence in our
daily lives and a dominant influence over the evolution of
the English language.
19-I think educational level of parents affects their children
attitude toward language learning.
20-I think educational level of parents is the significant
predictor of children's educational achievement.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
134

21-I think the children are motivated to do well through

being observed by the parents at home.
22-I think educated parents can be good teachers and
motivators for their children.
23- I think context is the most effective factor in learning a
foreign language.
24-I think employment regulations motivate EFL learning.
25-I think society finds it necessary for people to learn
English language because there are so many needs.
26-I think families in our country do care about their
children's foreign language learning.
27- I think most of the people learn a foreign language to
get a good job.
28-I think many people learn a foreign language to become
more like valued people.
Cultural Factors SA A M D SD
29- I think culture of the people is one of the most effective
factors that cause learning language.
30-I think there are a lot of limitations of the country but
none of them will hold back men or women from learning
a foreign language.
31-I think both boys and girls can attend the foreign
language classes equally.
32-I think Iranian tradition prevented female students to
achieve good scores.
33-I think gender of the person has not been a limitation
for female students to achieve a good score in foreign
language.
34- I think learning a language helps to associate with
many people from diverse cultural and linguistic groups.
35-I think learning comes true through communication and
interaction with others.
36-I think tradition affects the way in which the English
Language is learnt.
37- I think positive intercultural perceptions helped us in
the learning of the English Language.
38- I think the country philosophy encourages the learning
of the foreign Language.
Linguistic Factors SA A M D SD
39- I think the native language plays an important role in
the acquisition of an L2 (second language)
40- I think mother tongue affects learning a foreign
language positively.
41- I think grammar is the backbone of language, it affects
language proficiency of the learners.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
135

42-I think with lack of grammatical understanding, we

cannot produce accurate sentences.
43-I think with lack of grammatical understanding, we
cannot produce fluent sentences.
44-I think learning grammar is an evil nightmare.
45-Without understanding grammar speaking even short
will be nonsense words.
46- I think without understanding grammar, we can put
words in a sentence to explain something.

47- I think eliminating exceptions makes learning structure

easier.

48-I think eliminating exceptions helps learners use more

correct structures during their speaking.
49-I think speaking to people with different linguistic
backgrounds helps learners to achieve proficiency in EFL.
50-I think field of study has an impact on language
proficiency.
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
137

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International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research Volume 5, Issue 17, Spring 2017
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