The current study aimed to identify the most and the least important situational properties of second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) in an EFL context. After reviewing the related literature, 24 influencing factors were identified and then they were prioritized. 180 TEFL students participated in the study to answer the research…

This mixed method study was designed to discover the relationship between male and female Iranian EFL students' cultural schemata and their performance on three types of cloze tests. It also investigated the relationship between gender and Iranian EFL students' degrees of cultural familiarity with culture-specific cloze texts. In addition, the…

Glosses have been assumed to be effective for developing vocabulary. This article discusses a within-subject quasi-experiment which investigated the relative effectiveness of four vocabulary gloss types: L1 gloss, L1 gloss with phonological guidance, L2 gloss, and L2 gloss with phonological guidance. The participants were 63 Iranian undergraduate…

Inasmuch as the fact that writing is a cognitively demanding task and as a step toward overcoming some of the barriers English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners face during writing performance, this study attempted to investigate Iranian EFL learners' perceptions toward the most common writing difficulties. To this end, 120 Iranian EFL learners…

As far as reading comprehension is concerned, background knowledge bears significance for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners who take high-stake tests such as M.A. University Entrance Examination. The reading part of this test can pose a challenge for Iranian EFL test takers, some of whom may have enough background knowledge to enhance…

This paper tries to analyze the problems arising in translation of English adverbs to Persian. For this purpose, the researcher introduces all kinds of English and Persian adverbs for familiarity with them and then asks some translation students to translate some sentences (they are free to use a dictionary). Two English translation teachers were…

This study aims to provide sufficient information on the issues of the current approaches, materials, and curricula employed in the field of Translation Studies. To do so, the researcher investigated the demands of the market and the vocational realities so as to come to an understanding of the curriculum drawbacks. Furthermore, this study…

Following social-constructivist approaches in education, there has been a growing interest in employing Web 2.0 technologies in language classes. While the effectiveness of these digital teaching crafts has been corroborated in many studies (see Crook et al., 2008, for a survey), there is always doubt if they have reached a normalized state in L2…

Publication of research articles (RAs) in English seems a challenging task for native and non-native writers. The acquisition of rhetorical structure and function grammar can be very helpful for academicians to achieve the wanted goal which is, of course, the publication of their RAs. This study aims to investigate the current level of familiarity…

The Internet has increasingly influenced the information-seeking behavior of students in higher education over the past few decades. The mass availability of information on the web has seen significant changes in the electronic information needs, information retrieval, and communication patterns (information seeking behavior) of university…

With 73 students at an Iranian university, the present study investigated teacher's effect in topic familiarization in L2 reading context. The participants--Group B with and Group A without the presence of a teacher--experienced four pre-reading treatments and read four passages of unfamiliar topics, after which they were tested on comprehension…

The present study investigated the effect of context on the strategies the EFL learners utilized to process idioms. To do so, ten Iranian intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to two groups who then attended a think-aloud session. The 5 subjects in the first group were exposed to an animated cartoon including 23 unfamiliar idioms while…

The present study was carried out to determine the effect of general vocabulary knowledge and gaining familiarity with the specific vocabulary content of a reading or listening comprehension test on a group of Iranian EFL learners' reading and listening comprehension ability. Two groups of male and female English majors (N = 58) participated in…

The present paper discusses results of a study which aimed to explore the knowledge and use of Web 2.0 technologies by LIS academics in Iran and to explore the challenges they face for using these technologies. The research method was explorative and empirical. Data was collected through a web-based survey questionnaire containing both open and…

Reading skill has taken on an important role in most EFL teaching situations. While linguistic knowledge is only one aspect of this skill, background knowledge including culture can also play an important role (Alptekin, 2006; Johnson, 1981; Pritchard, 1990; Steffensen, Chitra, & Anderson, 1979). This study investigated the effect of cultural…