Ayatollah Fazelimania

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship among emotional intelligence, language learning strategy use, and writing skill of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 150 intermediate EFL learners form private language institutes in Hamadan were selected. They were asked to complete Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQI) and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) questionnaires. Furthermore, to gather the required data, two IELTS writing prompts were given to the learners to choose from and write about. The result of two Pearson Product Moment Correlations showed that there were statistically significant relationship between writing skill and a) emotional intelligence and b) language learning strategy use. Furthermore, the result of another Pearson Product Moment Correlation showed that between emotional intelligence and language learning strategy use, the latter was the better predictor or of Iranian intermediate EFL learners' writing skill. It was concluded that the success of EFL learners in writing skill did not depend solely on the classical concept of intelligence, but it largely depends on emotional intelligence. Furthermore, it was concluded that teaching language learning strategies to foreign language learners can positively improve their writing skill. It is recommended that the learners' LLSU be improved. In the end, on the basis of the findings of the study, it can be re recommended that material designers include more emotional factors in their materials. The study can be replicated in other contexts, and a longitudinal study can be done to find out the amount of language learning strategy use development over a period of time.

Contemporary educational theories refer to shortage of qualified teacher sand schools and institutions' inability to provide competent teachers for their classes as one of the main causes of poor performance of most educational centers. Identifying and minimizing factors that may lead to teachers' intent to leave their job can help administrators retain qualified teacher in schools and institutions (Johnson, 2010).The study reported here was an attempt to investigate the relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ job satisfaction, self-efficacy, job burnout, academic majors and their job attrition. To this end, 236 EFL teachers from private language institutes in Kurdistan province, selected through convenience sampling, took part in the study by completing the following questionnaires: Demographic Survey (Johnson, 2010), Anticipated Turnover Scale (Hinshaw, Atwood, Gerber, and Erickson, 1985), Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Soodmand Afshar&Doosti, 2016), Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001), and Maslach Burnout Scale (Maslach& Jackson, 1981). The results of three Pearson product-moment correlations indicated (a) a negative correlation between EFL teachers' job satisfaction and attrition, (b) a negative correlation between EFL teachers' self-efficacy and attrition, and (c) a positive correlation between EFL teachers' burnout and attrition. Furthermore, the results of an Independent-Samples t-test showed a significant difference between teachers holding a degree in an English major and those holding a degree in non-English majors with respect to job attrition, with English majors showing more tendency to leave their profession. Moreover, the results of a multiple regression showed that among burnout, job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and teachers’ academic majors as predictor variables, burnout was a significantly stronger predictor of Iranian EFL teachers’ job attrition.The results are discussed in the light of the existing literature and re

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of teaching note-taking and metacognitive listening strategies on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. Seventy-five intermediate EFL learners studying in private language institutes in Marivan, Kurdistan, took part in the study. The subjects of the study were selected via convenient sampling and were equally assigned into three groups (i.e., two experimental groups; a note-taking, a metacognitive strategy, and a control group). A listening comprehension pretest was given to the three groups. The experimental groups received note-taking instruction and metacognitive strategy instruction on listening comprehension, respectively; whereas, the control group received the traditional method of listening instruction. The subjects in the metacognitive group completed the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) twice: once before and once after their treatment. At the end of the study, a listening comprehension posttest was given to the subjects of the three groups. The results revealed that explicit instruction of note-taking strategies had a statistically significant positive effect on the listening comprehension of intermediate EFL learners. Explicit instruction of metacognitive strategies also had a statistically significant positive effect on the listening comprehension of intermediate EFL learners. Moreover, the results showed that there existed a significant difference between the effect of explicit instruction of note-taking and metacognitive strategies on intermediate EFL learners' listening comprehension with note-taking strategies having a statistically stronger effect. Regarding the comparison of MlLAQ, the findings revealed that explicit instruction of metacognitive strategies had a significant positive impact on use of metacognitive strategies by Iranian intermediate EFL learners.

Lack of job satisfaction is believed to result in reduced commitment and productivity, decreased ability to meet student needs, student absenteeism, teacher attrition, and both teacher and learners' poor performance (Karavas, 2010; Shann, 1998). This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship among Iranian EFL teachers' cultural intelligence, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction. The participants (150 EFL teachers, selected via convenience sampling from Lorestan, Iran) completed the three instruments of: Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen Moran & Hoy, 2001), Teachers' Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Karavas, 2010), and Cultural Intelligence questionnaire (CIC, 2005). Three Pearson Product Moment correlations indicated that there were statistically significant positive correlations between Iranian EFL teachers' cultural intelligence, self-efficacy and job satisfaction, but no statistically significant correlation between their cultural intelligence and self-efficacy. Furthermore, a multiple regression showed that between cultural intelligence and self-efficacy, self-efficacy was a stronger predictor of Iranian EFL teachers' job satisfaction. The analysis of replies to questions annexed to Job Satisfaction Questionnaire revealed that these teachers mentioned some intrinsic and extrinsic factors as reasons for being satisfied with their jobs. Among the intrinsic factors were their interest in a mentally stimulating job, love of the subject matter, helping the society, and potential for changing the lives and attitudes of the learners. Among the extrinsic factors they mentioned were salary and benefits, prospects for promotion, status of the profession, and approval by the family. Results are discussed in the light of the existing literature and recommendations and implications for further research are suggested.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between textbooks and the topic, type and organiation of discourse used in Iranian private language institutes in the two parts of of reading comprehension and conversation of common EFL textbooks used in Iranian language institutes. Besides, this survey sought to probe the differences beteen the viewpoints of Iranian EFL teachers and EFL students in private langugae institutes about the relationship between topic, type and organization of discourse used in private language insitutes. To this end, 120 (60 uper-intermediate and 60 advanced) selected from intact classes of Iranian male EFL learners from wo private language institutes in Sanandaj along with 20 EFL teachers from diffeeent language institutes took part in this study. The subjects were observed in reading comprehension and conversation classes and completed two separate questioniares. Using Chronbach's Alpha and factor analyses the questioniares were found to have acceptable reliability and validity rates. The results of three qualitative analyses of different reading comprehension and conversation extracts indicated that there were significant relationships between: a) topics of discourse and reading comprehension and conversation sections of EFL textbooks, b) types of discourse and reading comprehension and conversation parts of EFL textbooks, and c) organization of discourse and reading comprehension and conversation sections of EFL textbooks. Furthermore, the results of MANOVA revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the viewpoints of Iranian EFL teachers and learners about the realtionship between topics, types, and organization of discourse and EFL textbooks popular in Iranian language institutes and that the topic of discourse was the most important and influencing dimension of classroom discourse. Since the results of this study indicated that there was a significant relationship between the three di

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of culturally familiar texts on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension skills. It was also aimed at measuring the effect of culturally nativized texts on reading comprehension skills of Iranian EFL learners at different proficiency levels. A further concern of this study was to investigate the attitudes of Iranian EFL learners towards culturally nativized texts. To this end, 113 EFL learners at different proficiency levels, studying at two English language institutes in Malayer and Arak were chosen through the administration of Quick Placement Test (2001). In order to measure the effect of culturally familiar texts, a group of intermediate EFL learners were taught culturally familiar texts in 10 sessions. The reading sections of two PET tests were administered to them as pretest and posttest. In order to compare the effect of culturally nativized texts on reading comprehension skills of EFL learners at different proficiency levels, one group of elementary, two groups of intermediate, and one group of advanced EFL learners were selected. The learners were taught nativized texts in 10 sessions. The reading sections of KET, PET and TOEFL tests were administered to them as pretests and posttests. At the end of the study, 60 EFL learners were given an attitude questionnaire. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistics, Matched t-test, and Independent Samples t-test, and it was revealed that: a) Culturally familiar texts have a significant effect on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension test performance; b) Culturally nativized foreign texts have a significant effect on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension test performance; c) Culturally nativized foreign texts have a significant effect on Iranian elementary EFL learners’ reading comprehension test performance; d) Culturally nativized foreign texts have no significant effect on Iranian advanced EFL learners’ read

The main aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of morphological awareness instruction on the Iranian third grade high school students' vocabulary size development with gender as a moderating variable. Besides, this study sought to examine the difference in the effect of analytic (morpheme identification) and synthetic (morphological structure awareness) word formation approaches on EFL learners' morphoogical awareness. To this end , 66 (32 male and 34 female) students studying natural sciences and mathematics in Qorveh city in Kurdistan province took part in this study by completing the researcher adapted version of vocabulary Size Test (VST) primarily developed by Nation and Beglar (2007), and the Morphological Awareness Test (MAT) developed by McBride-Chang et al. (2005). The subjects had been selected via convenience sampling and were assigned into two groups-experimental (32students, 16 male and 16 female) and control (34 studnets, 16 male and 18 female). Using Chronbach's Alpha and factor analysis, the instruments were found to have acceptable reliability and validity rates. The experimental group received the instruction on morphological awareness, whereas the control group did not receive this instruction. The resuls of Two-Way ANOVA revealed that morphological awareness instruction had a statistically significan positive effect on the Iranian high school students' vocabulary size development. Furthermore, the results indicated that gender had no significant effect on the Iranian high school students' vocabulary size development. Moreover, the findings showed that the interaction of morphological awareness instruction and gender had no significant effect on the Iranian high school students' vocabulary size developlment.