The Second National Conference of the Future School, 2021
This study focused on the attitude, knowledge, and challenges of English teachers of young learne... more This study focused on the attitude, knowledge, and challenges of English teachers of young learners about technology-enhanced learning using technological websites, applications, and tools in young learners' language classes. A workshop on technological tools for technologyenhanced learning in English classes of young learners was held by the researchers for 18 English language teachers of young learners working in language institutes and schools in Iran. The workshop was comprised of three parts: four open-ended questions as a pretest focusing on teachers' attitude, knowledge, belief, and use of technologies, 34 open-ended questions during the workshop concentrating on teachers' attitude about the benefits, outcomes, and their interest in using each technological tool, and five open-ended questions as a posttest on teachers' challenges, benefits, and attitudes to using technology in language classes of young learners after receiving instruction in the workshop. In addition, a focused group interview was performed so as to prove the mentioned above sets of questions. Themebased analyses were carried out to explore the participants' attitudes towards the use of technology-enhanced learning in language classes of young learners.
The potential benefit of employing a flipped learning approach, where learners are presented with... more The potential benefit of employing a flipped learning approach, where learners are presented with the content preceding the class time, is to make a shift from traditional teacher-centered learning environments to more learner- and learning-centered ones. As this content delivery should be short, small, fine, and powerful, ‘microlearning’ as a new method of content-delivery in mediated environments, is suggested. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of this flipped learning approach on raising Iranian EFL learners’ self-regulation. This study was undertaken on 26 intermediate students in a nine-week course held at an English Institute in Tehran, IRAN. Of the participants, 13 learned English using a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach in a non-flipped learning setting, whereas 13 studied English in a flipped learning setting. The data was collected in three sections: self-regulation survey flipped learning questionnaire and focus group interviews. Findings demonstrate that the latter were more aware of the learning process itself, playing a more active role in the classroom, while enjoying learning, as being more engaged in the learning progress, resulting in the development of their autonomy and self-regulated learning.
With the rapid growth in technology and the use of information technologies in today's language t... more With the rapid growth in technology and the use of information technologies in today's language teaching and learning, a recent educational site known as Edmodo came to vogue. Since writing is considered as the most demanding skill in technical English courses, this study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of Edmodo as a novel pedagogical platform on Railway Engineering students' academic writing. It also aimed to determine their perceptions of the advantages and challenges of writing academic texts via Edmodo. The participants were 20 railway Engineering students at Iran university of Science and Technology. A language proficiency test, a pretest, midtest, and a posttest followed by three open-ended questions were the instruments of this study. The analysis of the data showed that Edmodo had a positive impact on improving Railway Engineering students' writing performance. The results also revealed that low speed of uploading and access to Edmodo and uncertainty about the submission of the tasks were the most frequent drawbacks of Edmodo, whereas cooperation and sharing comments about other classmates' writings, having access to others' production, assisting classmates in solving their writing problems, using their comments and style of writing as a model for improving writing were the benefits reported by the students, respectively.
Online interaction tools are considered as one of the major causes of interaction in virtual envi... more Online interaction tools are considered as one of the major causes of interaction in virtual environment. Although a number of studies have been carried out on online interaction tools and online interaction, there seems to be no study investigating pre-service teachers' perceptions of online interaction. The purpose of this study was manifold: a) to examine pre-service teachers' perceptions of using online interaction tools for the purpose of outside class activities; b) to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions of the difference of interaction between face-to-face and online English classes; c) to investigate pre-service teachers' beliefs about teacher training courses and d) to determine pre-service teachers' perceptions of the importance of online teachers' roles in online English classes. The participants of the study were 100 MA students of TEFL at Iran University of Science and Technology. This study was conducted through administrating four open-ended questions. The results of the study revealed that (a) the pre-service teachers preffered face-to-face classes to online ones; (b) the pre-service teachers were of the opinion that online interaction tools could be useful for outside class activities; (c) the pre-service teachers believed that comprehensive training courses ought to be provided and (d) online teachers' role is vital in promoting online interaction in online English classes. This study has gone some way towards promoting EFL teachers' perceptions of their roles and attitudes, which are crucial for improving online interaction among learners. Additionally, it is necessary for pre-service teachers to receive a comprehensive training course. Future work may focus on the comparison of pre-service and in-service teachers' attitudes towards online interaction tools to foster online interaction in English classes.
The Second National Conference of the Future School, 2021
This study focused on the attitude, knowledge, and challenges of English teachers of young learne... more This study focused on the attitude, knowledge, and challenges of English teachers of young learners about technology-enhanced learning using technological websites, applications, and tools in young learners' language classes. A workshop on technological tools for technologyenhanced learning in English classes of young learners was held by the researchers for 18 English language teachers of young learners working in language institutes and schools in Iran. The workshop was comprised of three parts: four open-ended questions as a pretest focusing on teachers' attitude, knowledge, belief, and use of technologies, 34 open-ended questions during the workshop concentrating on teachers' attitude about the benefits, outcomes, and their interest in using each technological tool, and five open-ended questions as a posttest on teachers' challenges, benefits, and attitudes to using technology in language classes of young learners after receiving instruction in the workshop. In addition, a focused group interview was performed so as to prove the mentioned above sets of questions. Themebased analyses were carried out to explore the participants' attitudes towards the use of technology-enhanced learning in language classes of young learners.
The potential benefit of employing a flipped learning approach, where learners are presented with... more The potential benefit of employing a flipped learning approach, where learners are presented with the content preceding the class time, is to make a shift from traditional teacher-centered learning environments to more learner- and learning-centered ones. As this content delivery should be short, small, fine, and powerful, ‘microlearning’ as a new method of content-delivery in mediated environments, is suggested. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of this flipped learning approach on raising Iranian EFL learners’ self-regulation. This study was undertaken on 26 intermediate students in a nine-week course held at an English Institute in Tehran, IRAN. Of the participants, 13 learned English using a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach in a non-flipped learning setting, whereas 13 studied English in a flipped learning setting. The data was collected in three sections: self-regulation survey flipped learning questionnaire and focus group interviews. Findings demonstrate that the latter were more aware of the learning process itself, playing a more active role in the classroom, while enjoying learning, as being more engaged in the learning progress, resulting in the development of their autonomy and self-regulated learning.
With the rapid growth in technology and the use of information technologies in today's language t... more With the rapid growth in technology and the use of information technologies in today's language teaching and learning, a recent educational site known as Edmodo came to vogue. Since writing is considered as the most demanding skill in technical English courses, this study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of Edmodo as a novel pedagogical platform on Railway Engineering students' academic writing. It also aimed to determine their perceptions of the advantages and challenges of writing academic texts via Edmodo. The participants were 20 railway Engineering students at Iran university of Science and Technology. A language proficiency test, a pretest, midtest, and a posttest followed by three open-ended questions were the instruments of this study. The analysis of the data showed that Edmodo had a positive impact on improving Railway Engineering students' writing performance. The results also revealed that low speed of uploading and access to Edmodo and uncertainty about the submission of the tasks were the most frequent drawbacks of Edmodo, whereas cooperation and sharing comments about other classmates' writings, having access to others' production, assisting classmates in solving their writing problems, using their comments and style of writing as a model for improving writing were the benefits reported by the students, respectively.
Online interaction tools are considered as one of the major causes of interaction in virtual envi... more Online interaction tools are considered as one of the major causes of interaction in virtual environment. Although a number of studies have been carried out on online interaction tools and online interaction, there seems to be no study investigating pre-service teachers' perceptions of online interaction. The purpose of this study was manifold: a) to examine pre-service teachers' perceptions of using online interaction tools for the purpose of outside class activities; b) to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions of the difference of interaction between face-to-face and online English classes; c) to investigate pre-service teachers' beliefs about teacher training courses and d) to determine pre-service teachers' perceptions of the importance of online teachers' roles in online English classes. The participants of the study were 100 MA students of TEFL at Iran University of Science and Technology. This study was conducted through administrating four open-ended questions. The results of the study revealed that (a) the pre-service teachers preffered face-to-face classes to online ones; (b) the pre-service teachers were of the opinion that online interaction tools could be useful for outside class activities; (c) the pre-service teachers believed that comprehensive training courses ought to be provided and (d) online teachers' role is vital in promoting online interaction in online English classes. This study has gone some way towards promoting EFL teachers' perceptions of their roles and attitudes, which are crucial for improving online interaction among learners. Additionally, it is necessary for pre-service teachers to receive a comprehensive training course. Future work may focus on the comparison of pre-service and in-service teachers' attitudes towards online interaction tools to foster online interaction in English classes.
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