Applied Linguistics

Although professional development is a primary aim of teacher research, published studies tend to foreground research findings. This study focused on professional development outcomes of two collaborative exploratory practice projects. Using narrative inquiry as a tool for reflection, the participants identified turning points in the projects that led to professional development. In addition to learning about teaching, learners and research, developments related to working with others and the professional development process were identified as outcomes that have not previously been emphasised in the literature on teacher research. It is suggested that these professional development outcomes may be specific to exploratory practice and narrative inquiry, as flexible approaches to teacher research that are focused on understanding.

As a focus for understanding language practices in the context of global migration linguistic intermarriage is of great interest (Clyne, 1996. (1997); De Houwer, 2007; Okita, 2002; Pauwels, 1984, 2005; Pavlenko, 2004; Piller, 2001, 2002; Takahashi, 2010). However, the focus is almost always only on language maintenance. This research focuses on the language beliefs and feelings of monolingually raised English speakers who are married to migrant partners and seeks to contribute to the debate about language learning and use in the family in multilingual and multiethnic Sydney. I interviewed thirty participants over a period of eighteen months in Sydney, Australia, designed and collected a questionnaire and compiled a media corpus of articles on couples and bilingualism from Australian media sources. One of the early findings is that very few of the English-speaking background (ESB) participants had any consistent opportunities to study foreign languages (FL) in their schooling in Australia, which is typical for Anglophone countries where FL learning is weaker. This talk was presented at the Australian Linguistics Society Annual Conference at Western Sydney University in 2016, at a workshop on Language and Migration.

Linguistic intermarriage is of significant interest in understanding language practices in the context of global migration (Clyne & Kipp, 1997; Goncalves, 2013; Okita, 2002; Piller, 2001, 2002). However, the focus is almost always on the partner from the migrant and/or minority-language background. In contrast, this research focuses on those of English speaking background (ESB) who are married to migrant partners who speak a language other than English (LOTE). Using a questionnaire and interviews with 14 couples and 16 individuals which were collected over a period of eighteen months in Sydney, Australia, the role of language in the family was explored. Using discourse and content analysis, two key areas where language is implicated were identified: bilingual childrearing and communication with LOTE-speaking in-laws. It was found that expectations around bilingual childrearing and in-law communication intersected with gendered parenting roles. The research further found LOTEs were at times constructed as problematic in communication with in-laws overseas. This research has implications for the way that gendered ideologies play out in cross-linguistic intimate relationships and their intersection with dominant language ideologies such as the territorial principle.

Clyne, M., & Kipp, S. ( 1997). Language maintenance and language shift: Community languages in Australia,. People and Place, 5(4), 8.
Goncalves, K. (2013). Conversations with Intercultural Couples. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Okita, T. (2002). Invisible work bilingualism, language choice, and childrearing in intermarried families. In (pp. vi, 274 p.). Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/utslibrary/Doc?id=10022323
Piller, I. (2001). Linguistic Intermarriage: Language choice and negotiation of identity. In A. Pavlenko, A. Blackledge, I. Piller, & M. Teutsch-Dwyer (Eds.), Multilingualism, Second Language Learning and Gender. Berlin New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Piller, I. (2002). Bilingual couples talk : the discursive construction of hybridity. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins.

This study sought to look at the relationship between locus of control (LOC) orientation and academic achievement (ACH) of university-age English Foreign Language (EFL) learners. LOC is the extent to which individuals attribute their achievements either to ...

According to many researches, Vygotsky's concept of "scaffolding"(1978), which is defined by him as helping the learners to process the information, has significantly contributed to improvement of the three language skills of speaking, writing, and reading comprehension and particularly the two latter ones (writing and reading) among the EFL learners. It is while the effect of scaffolding on listening comprehension skill has been studied by very few studies. This study aims to investigate the possible effects of giving the related background such as telling the stories and experiences similar to the ones included in the listening materials on the listening comprehension skill among 60 intermediate level students through an experimental method in an English language institute in Kerman. The participants were chosen through matched cases method and 30 members were assigned to each of the control group and experimental group. The instruments used in this study were two listening comprehension tests. One of these tests was used before the investigation to recognize the listening level of each student. The other test which was different from the first one in content was given to both groups after the treatment to see if this treatment has any impact on the facilitating the participants' processing of listening materials. The results of the t-test for independent samples showed the experimental group who was provided with the related questions, experiences, stories and discussion before listening to the test materials got higher test scores than the control group that wasn't provided with any background.

This study sought to compare Iranian EFL novice and expert teachers regarding their professional knowledge at Iranian language institutes and universities. To achieve the aim of study, a questionnaire was developed based on the literature, the theoretical framework and the results of a qualitative study carried out by Yazdanpanah and Sahragard (2017). This questionnaire was administered to the whole sample of the study who was 200 Iranian EFL teachers from different genders and educational contexts. The participants were selected conveniently as going through random sampling was not possible. Based on the results of the exploratory factor analysis, six factors emerged under the main category of professional knowledge for Iranian EFL teachers. The findings of this study revealed that: (a) Iranian EFL expert teachers have higher levels of professional knowledge than Iranian EFL novice teachers (b) expert teachers have higher levels of knowledge about language and knowledge of language...

Mahbubeh Yazdanpanah Department of Foreign Languages, Literature and Humanities Faculty Hazrat-e Narjes University Rafsanjan, Kerman, Iran ABSTRACT Empirical studies have shown the occasional use of L1 by both teachers and students could create a peaceful environment for better leaning and help in overcoming the affective barriers of learning and bringing out learning motivation (Cook, 2001; Tang, 2002; Wells, 1999). The present study intends to investigate the effect of making Iranian intermediate EFL learners familiar with Persian translation of English poems on learning these poems. To achieve this goal, some English poems the difficulty level of whom was appropriate to the participants of the study were translated to Persian by the researcher. 60 EFL learners, identical in terms of their English proficiency level in one of the foreign language institutes of Kerman city, were randomly selected and 30 members randomly assigned to each group. The experimental group was taught both ...

This study sought to look at the relationship between locus of control (LOC) orientation and academic achievement (ACH) of university-age English Foreign Language (EFL) learners. LOC is the extent to which individuals attribute their achievements either to external influences such as fate or to their own efforts. The sample for the study included 120 students studying English literature at the department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics of Shiraz University. They were chosen conveniently, on a voluntary basis, from the sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The instrument used was the revised version of LOC questionnaire (Rotter, 2003) which identifies orientations of internality or externality. The participants' grade point averages were the measure of their ACH. A number of statistical analyses such as Pearson product-moment correlation, the regression analysis, and the T-tests for the independent samples were performed on the data to achieve the objectives of the study. The fi...

This study sought to compare Iranian EFL novice and expert teachers regarding their procedural knowledge in Iranian language institutes and universities. A questionnaire was developed based on the literature, the theoretical framework, and the results of a qualitative study. This questionnaire was administered to the whole sample of the study who was 200 Iranian EFL teachers from different genders and educational contexts. The participants were selected conveniently as going through random sampling was not possible. Based on the results of the exploratory factor analysis, seven factors emerged under the main category of procedural knowledge for these teachers. The findings revealed that: (a) Iranian EFL expert teachers have higher levels of procedural knowledge than Iranian EFL novice teachers (b) expert teachers have higher levels of classroom management knowledge, topic management knowledge and students involved in learning knowledge than novice teachers (c) expert teachers have t...

This study sought to compare Iranian EFL novice and expert teachers regarding their professional knowledge at Iranian language institutes and universities. To achieve the aim of study, a questionnaire was developed based on the literature, the theoretical framework and the results of a qualitative study. This questionnaire was administered to the whole sample of the study who was 200 Iranian EFL teachers from different genders and educational contexts. The participants were selected conveniently as going through random sampling was not possible. Based on the results of the exploratory factor analysis, six factors emerged under the main category of professional knowledge for Iranian EFL teachers. The findings of this study revealed that: (a) Iranian EFL expert teachers have higher levels of professional knowledge than Iranian EFL novice teachers (b) expert teachers have higher levels of knowledge about language and knowledge of language skills and components than novice teachers (c) ...

Empirical studies have shown the occasional use of L1 by both teachers and students could create a peaceful environment for better leaning and help in overcoming the affective barriers of learning and bringing out learning motivation (Cook, 2001; Tang, 2002; Wells, 1999). The present study intends to investigate the effect of making Iranian intermediate EFL learners familiar with Persian translation of English poems on learning these poems. To achieve this goal, some English poems the difficulty level of whom was appropriate to the participants of the study were translated to Persian by the researcher. 60 EFL learners, identical in terms of their English proficiency level in one of the foreign language institutes of Kerman city, were randomly selected and 30 members randomly assigned to each group. The experimental group was taught both the English poems and the Persian translation of these poems. The control group treatment was only the poems in English. At the end of the semester,...

Empirical studies have shown the occasional use of L1 by both teachers and students could create a peaceful environment for better leaning and help in overcoming the affective barriers of learning and bringing out learning motivation (Cook, 2001; Tang, 2002; Wells, 1999). The present study intends to investigate the effect of making Iranian intermediate EFL learners familiar with Persian translation of English poems on learning these poems. To achieve this goal, some English poems the difficulty level of whom was appropriate to the participants of the study were translated to Persian by the researcher. 60 EFL learners, identical in terms of their English proficiency level in one of the foreign language institutes of Kerman city, were randomly selected and 30 members randomly assigned to each group. The experimental group was taught both the English poems and the Persian translation of these poems. The control group treatment was only the poems in English. At the end of the semester, the two groups" grades in English poetry test were compared and by doing statistical analysis, the effect of exposing the learners to the Persian translation on learning these English poems was identified. Also, the relationship between English proficiency level and English poetry learning was realized.

This paper reports on a follow-up study to , in which a survey was conducted to investigate how tertiary-level Japanese EFL students understand and interpret their use or non-use of their institution's self-access centre (SAC). The survey data revealed general trends regarding the factors which motivate the students' use of the SAC as well as reasons why students choose not to use it, while also suggesting four types of students, via cluster analysis. Employing Dornyei's (2005) L2 Motivational Self System as a theoretical framework, the current paper attempts to probe deeper into the survey data, and specifically tease out the factors influencing the use or non-use of the SAC. It reports on a set of semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of nine students from amongst the survey respondents. The interviewees included representatives of each of the four clusters identified in the survey data. The interview transcripts were then subjected to coding and labelling, and key themes in the data emerged: the SAC as an environment; the SAC as a community of selves; the SAC as contrasted with the classroom. Related to these themes, it was found that in the first year of university, identities are forged, distinguishing regular SAC users and rare SAC users. The SAC is an attractive environment for students with strong ideal L2 selves, while being uncomfortable for less confident students. The former type of student is more likely to see the classroom environment as restrictive, while the latter views it as sheltered and supportive. Meanwhile, the level of English proficiency is not in itself predictive of SAC use, but rather the level of L2 motivation, in particular the strength of the learner's ideal L2 self. The paper discusses these themes and findings, and concludes with implications for the SAC, and suggestions for making the centre accessible and appealing to a wider cross-section of the overall student body.

This paper describes a pilot study attempting to discover whether a workshop program can help language learners at university level to increase their capacity to employ effective self-motivating strategies (SMS) in order to counter threats to their motivation. The paper discusses the theoretical background of SMS, before detailing the design and delivery of the workshop program, the rationale behind it, and the results gained so far, from what is still an ongoing research project. However, the main finding of the project is that a workshop program, based on a Scaffolding and Problem-based learning approach, can indeed help learners to enhance their capacity for developing effective SMS.

Relevance of CDST to social sciences There are various reasons why a CDST framework can be extremely usefully applied to the realm of social sciences, especially the area of learning and education. First of all, social contexts can easily be recognised as complex systems, containing sub-systems and contained within super-systems; and these systems are governed by lots of interrelated factors. Take a classroom for example: it contains students and teachers, while itself being contained within a department and a school; what happens in the classroom is governed by a wide range of different factors including the attitudes and behaviour of the teacher and the students, the nature of the learning materials being used, the policies of the school, the facilities in the room, the time of day, and even the state of the weather outside the building. These factors also influence each other: a prime example is the relationship between the teacher and the students. This brings us to the second reason why CDST is applicable: there is constant development in social contexts; in other words, as well as being complex, they are always in a dynamic process of change, and over different time-scales. To return to the educational context, the aforementioned teacher-student relationship is one in which each agent continuously acts and reacts in relation to the other. And this development can happen at the scale of task completion -for instance, the teacher sets up a task, but the students find it too difficult, so the teacher then pauses the task in order to explain it more clearly, etc. -or more broadly at the scale of semester -for instance, the students' test performance over the semester causes the teacher to incorporate more review lessons at the end of the semester, and the students achieve better end of semester test scores.