Abstract:

The study of language teacher and learner identity has turned into a vibrant line of research in recent years. Little research, however, has specifically addressed teachers’ understanding of learner identity and the contributions this awareness offers to various aspects of their work. This study explored fifty Iranian EFL teachers’ understanding of learner identity as relative to their practice in different language schools across the country. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed through content analysis. The teachers viewed learner identity as a multi-layered concept encompassing various sociocultural aspects external to learners as well as individual aspects internal to learners as influencing their identity construction. Regarding the nexus between teacher practice and learner identity, not all the teachers agreed with the goal of raising learners’ awareness of identity issues in practice, yet most of them referred to the substantial behavioral impact of teachers on learners’ identity construction. The study offers implications for systematic incorporation of identity-related issues in teacher education programs in order to further enhance the teachers’ associated awareness.



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The main purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the perspectives of female university students on how learning English, in the context of an undergraduate ELT program, could empower them. The research was conducted in a public university in Mexico and the participants were a group of female students during their first semester of college studies. Data gathering through written narrative inquiry was used to gather data from the participants at the beginning and at the end of the semester. The data obtained from the participants’ narratives were organized into timelines in order to follow their development and empowerment processes. Findings revealed that by majoring in ELT and especially by learning English, most of the participants broadened their worldviews and increased their expectations regarding their level of empowerment to face the future. Finally, the study shows that role models represent important figures who can lead women to get involved in an empowerment process through higher education. The study concludes that English and a support network may be key elements in an empowerment process of female college students in an ELT program.



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In line with the exponential growth in English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher professional identity research, the present study was an attempt to develop and validate a questionnaire on EFL teacher professional identity. Following Pennington (2015), we defined EFL teacher professional identity as “a unique blend of individual teacher characteristics within the disciplinary knowledge, standards, and practices of the field” (p. 78), which is further comprised of a set of core and peripheral elements (Beijaard et al., 2004). In order to operationalize this construct, a sequential mixed methods design was utilized. Hence, a total number of 24 participants and 750 EFL teachers took part in the qualitative and quantitative phases respectively. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed the features characterizing EFL teacher professional identity. On the basis of the qualitative results, the first version of the inventory was developed through exploratory factor analysis and was validated using structural equation modeling. In general, the results of the study paint a multi-dimensional picture of EFL teacher professional identity. This picture depicts the core features of EFL teacher professional identity and a number of peripheral elements which change and harmonize in response to the individual, contextual, and socio-cultural factors. (Beijaard et al., 2004).



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This paper investigates the effectiveness of students playing the Spaceteam ESL video game to enhance their pronunciation of English words and sentences. To achieve this goal, the researcher conducted a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest research design. The formation of the experimental group and control group employed the practice of convenience sampling. The experimental group experienced playing the selected mobile game during a weekly EFL class while the control group did not implement any mobile game during class time. Instead, the other students engaged in analog pronunciation games that paralleled the mobile games in terms of opportunities for language and pronunciation, but just in a different medium. The student participants in both the control and experimental groups were given a pretest before the treatment and a posttest after the treatment. These tests, along with qualitative measures, namely an interview and a questionnaire, revealed relevant results. The data illustrated that the experimental group showed significant improvements in their pronunciation skill. Thus, the students’ participating in the digital experimental group significantly benefitted from playing the mobile game, Thus, mobile gameplay can be considered an effective instructional tool, which can be used as an alternative resource in the EFL class where pronunciation is being taught as a learning objective.



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English Language Teaching (ELT) materials are not only pedagogical sources, but they also actively build a vision of reality, often reproducing, legitimizing and perpetuating certain hegemonic discourses. Even if injustice and inequalities are denounced in some materials, global issues are just mentioned rather than problematized and discriminated ethnicities are commonly represented as passive entities with no voice or agency on their own issues. In this article, a model and its operationalization are proposed in order to depict how language teachers can write materials to fight back passive constructions embedded in ELT textbooks and build, through activities based on critical discourse analysis techniques, strong and combative representations of discriminated minorities. The model seeks to critically engage learners in discussing social inequalities and encourage further analysis on how, through language, underrepresented minorities resist and debunk power. First, some examples are given of how weak representations of minorities are portrayed in ELT materials. Secondly, the model, based on Gee’s (2011) three-level definition and Macgilchrist’s (2016) generative perspective of discourse analysis, is explained. Finally, two examples of the model are presented in order to show how passive constructions could be dismantled by giving a voice to silenced ethnicities that are either challenging power or fighting for recognition through text or talk.



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It is well documented in the cognitive literature that visual stimuli create strong memory connections (Shapiro & Waters, 2005). In L2 research, mnemonic devices have been found to be a relevant factor in the development of vocabulary learning (Sagarra & Alba, 2006). However, the extent to which visual cues are needed in the association of an L2 item with an acoustic link has not been explored. Thus, the present study sought to compare two different versions of the Keyword Method (KM) (Atkinson & Raugh, 1975) in an EFL setting and to assess their effectiveness when compared to a group using Rote Learning. To this end, 37 EFL learners from a private university majoring in Journalism were divided into three groups (KM+visual cues, KM with no visual cues, and Rote Learning) and were exposed to the three different approaches to learn and retain 15 unknown target words. A Kruskal-Wallis test ran with immediate and delayed outcome measures (passive recall and passive recognition) showed that there were no significant differences in the three groups. However, a trend was seen where the version of the KM with no visual cues consistently had higher scores than the other version of the KM. Furthermore, it was found that rote rehearsal may be an effective vocabulary learning tool when the pedagogical goal is to learn and retain a discrete number of lexical items.



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The advent of postmethod encouraged much debate over the concept amongst researchers from different approaches. One approach was the concept of teacher metamorphosis, which posits that teachers should perform different roles and hence, teacher metamorphosis is considered a possible remedy for certain criticisms of postmethod. Although this metamorphosis is a solution that seems tenable, there remain many questions regarding its practicality. Considering that those who are most directly connected with the concept are teachers, the present study investigates the practicalities of teacher metamorphosis from teachers’ perspectives. To this end, ten teachers were selected and interviewed about their beliefs on teacher metamorphosis. Data analysis reveals that almost all the interviewed teachers agreed that there is a need for teacher metamorphosis, although they also agree that there are barriers including financial barriers, respect barriers, time-constraint barriers, and incentive barriers that encourage teachers to resist metamorphosis and that, therefore, needs further consideration.



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Recent research has shown the increasing number of non-native English-speaking teachers (NNEST) around the world. Research has also considered different attributes these teachers need to have in order to be effective in their professional practices. In this light, this study examines the relationship between NNEST’s language proficiency and their sense of self-efficacy in relation to students’ perceptions about teacher efficacy in three different dimensions: efficacy for instructional strategies, efficacy for classroom management, and efficacy for student engagement. A correlational quantitative design was used in which six private high schools from Cuenca, Ecuador, participated. Seventeen teachers from these schools were requested to provide an English proficiency certificate and respond to a self-efficacy survey. In the meantime, their 661 students completed a teacher’s efficacy survey. The results revealed that although there are teachers who have a good level of language proficiency, according to their students, it is not necessarily an indicator of efficacy in their practices. Suggestions for further research that might help to explain the current situation are given.



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This article aims at raising awareness of the need to implement indirect strategies in the language learning process to maximize results. Although there is a comprehensive classification of indirect learning strategies, a great deal of research and practices in the EFL classroom have been devoted to encouraging and polishing the students’ memory, cognitive, and compensation strategies only (Oxford, 1990). Indeed, metacognitive, affective, social (MAS), and indirect learning strategies in English language development have been overlooked and unexplored without recognizing their essential role in language success. The present study explores quantitative and qualitative data and is developed through a case study analysis. The sample population was comprised of 50 students who were either studying English Teaching or pursuing an Associate degree in English along with six teachers from the English Teaching faculty, all from Universidad Nacional, Pérez Zeledón Regional Campus in Costa Rica. A student and a teacher questionnaire allowed the researchers to collect and analyze the data. The results revealed the types of indirect learning strategies least used and encouraged by both learners and teachers respectively. In light of this, researchers recommend several ways to implement MAS strategies, promote an enriched vision to teach a language class using a broader array of techniques and activities, and enable both teachers and students to become more effective stakeholders of the teaching-learning process.



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This study was conducted to identify Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions regarding the most serious written errors made by young adult EFL learners, along with the most effective types of written corrective feedback to deal with them. Data were collected from 253 Iranian EFL teachers through a questionnaire made by the researchers and were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the most serious errors perceived by the teachers were verb form and verb tense, and word order driven by psychological verbs. The most useful feedback types to treat these errors were (a) direct, non-negotiated feedback and (b) indirect, negotiated. The findings contribute to the research concerning the most frequently noticed errors by EFL teachers along with the most frequently employed corrective feedback strategies to address them.



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Research on language and gender began in the 1970s with a broad interest, particularly from feminist researchers (Sunderland & Swann, 2016). The relationship between gender and language is of increasing interest to many scholars and researchers due to their bi-directional relationship. That is, according to Aydinoğlu (2014) “gender is reflected by language and language helps to shape gender” (p. 233). This study examines male and female representation in three EFL textbooks used in early elementary grades in public schools in Mexico. To this end, two types of analyses were performed to explore the distribution of males and females in terms of visibility in illustration and photos, and display of male and female occupational roles in the visuals. Findings revealed that there is not a balanced representation of characters in the three textbooks; males were significantly more frequent than female characters in the illustrations. In terms of photos, it was found that both genders were allotted a similar number of appearances Similarly, the results indicated that occupational gender stereotypes occurred in the three textbooks.



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Vocabulary knowledge plays a primary role in the ability to communicate in a second/foreign language. The present study examined how different input or output modalities combined with audiovisual input provided by TED-ED videos could foster vocabulary learning. In doing so, some written tasks and exercises were used to facilitate the process. Participants were 56 upper-intermediate EFL learners in four classes who were selected based on convenience sampling. They were randomly assigned to one control and three experimental groups. Audiovisual input was employed in the experimental groups and was followed by speaking (n=13), listening (n=14), and reading (n=15) activities. The control group (n=14) practiced the same materials via reading and listening to control the audiovisual input effect. A Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) administered at the outset helped in selecting 60 unknown words. After the instruction treatment, the participants took immediate and delayed post-tests. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that audiovisual input, followed by speaking activities was more effective than other types of classroom practices. The frequency of target words in the tasks and the results of statistical analysis (mixed between within-subjects analysis of variance) on the exercises confirmed the MANOVA results. The retrospective questionnaire underlined the role of the films in vocabulary learning. The researchers concluded that audiovisual input followed by spoken output was more useful than audiovisual input, alone, followed by listening or reading. In addition, although facilitative, written tasks and exercises did not have a differential role in the results. The study has implications for SLA researchers, language teachers, and practitioners.



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Supplementary file: Appendix 3
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Pre-service English teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching delineate how they plan, design, and perform in the classroom. The objective of this article is to report pre-service teachers' beliefs about learning and teaching and how those beliefs continued, changed, or disappeared once pre-service teachers faced English classes. This narrative study was implemented in an undergraduate program in language teaching with fifteen pre-service teachers. Data were collected using observation tasks and autobiographical narratives. The findings show they construct their beliefs based on their previous experiences as learners; most beliefs are maintained after the practicum with some changes and others appear when teachers face new situations in the classroom.



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The present study aimed to explore English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' first impressions of their language teachers. The participants were 679 male and female Iranian EFL learners from different age groups and English language proficiency levels at five language institutes and four universities. The main data collection instrument was a validated 47-item questionnaire. The findings showed that at the end of the semester, EFL learners' first impressions of their language teacher, formed based on short observations of thin slices of behavior (less than five minutes), did not change significantly. The results also indicated that there were significant differences in the extent of first impression changed between male and female participants and different language proficiency levels (low- and high-proficiency). Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference between different age groups (teenagers and adults) in terms of the extent of first impression change. The pedagogical implications of the findings regarding the impacts of language learners' thin-slice judgments of the teachers' success in EFL contexts are discussed.



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The goal of this paper is to describe a group of adult Mexican English learners’ ideologies about different APPRAISAL patterns in English-language scientific texts. APPRAISAL is a descriptive framework of the linguistic resources used to convey feelings and attitudes (Martin & White, 2005). This topic is particularly interesting in EAP (English for Academic Purposes)/EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts where L1 academic language ideologies proscribe the use of APPRAISAL features in scientific prose and where such proscriptions are followed in some disciplines and national contexts. Spanish-speaking countries often exemplify this. Forty Mexican undergraduate EFL students majoring in Health Sciences read two versions of the same short paragraph with different APPRAISAL resources. They were asked to say which of the two versions corresponded to a published research article and why. Evaluation patterns in their answers were analyzed using the attitude system of the APPRAISAL framework (Martin & White, 2005). The prevalent types of attitudes were valuation and complexity. While most students preferred the more personal text, a minority chose the more impersonal one. The latter group’s attitude constructs a language ideology that equates scientific rigor and technicality with impersonal prose; they also show less awareness of the relationship between APPRAISAL resources and writing for specialized audiences.



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English as a lingua franca (ELF) has created some sense of L2 learner identity in ELF communication. However, there is still a lack of exploration of EFL learners’ identities in the ELF context. This study aims to find out how EFL learners' identities are categorized based on global, local and glocal identities. The study falls into critical applied linguistics as it combines Norton’s identity theory and Walshaw’s subject position’s notion to reveal participants’ subjectivity. This research is categorized as a case study as it explores participants’ identity positioning towards ELF. The results indicate that respondents’ identity options resonate with global, local or glocal identity. Global identity is shown by the tendency of the Inner Circle accent, progress, modernity, and daily activity. Local identity is indicated by maintaining the local accent, and Glocal identity is pointed out by the tendency to blend two identities at the same time. Two of the participants have shown dual identities, while the last two participants only depicted one identity. Respondents’ identity options as the projection of their subject positions and subjectivities appeared in some way to be constructed by universities’ curriculum document policy, university vision and missions, regulation or English exposures in the former school including the curriculum, and informal learning experiences.



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This investigation focused on the speaking-skills component of the syllabi of Technical English I and II (Regulation 2013) at Anna University in Chennai, India. It was meant to formulate strategies for effective schemes to develop the English-speaking skills of engineering students in the colleges affiliated to the University. The major research tools consisted of data collected from: (1) A questionnaire for the students’ survey, and (2) Focus group interviews with students. The interpretation of the students’ survey was sub-divided into: (1) The learners’ background and their comprehension of spoken English, (2) The learners’ participation in the speaking activities, (3) The learners’ problems with the speaking activities, and (4) The learners’ expectations of their teachers and teaching. The focus group interviews were conducted after analyzing the responses to the questions in the students’ survey. The paper concludes with recommendations to enhance the speaking-skills component of the course.



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Supplementary file: Appendix 4
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La historia de la Facultad de Idiomas de la Universidad Veracruzana se remonta a 1952, cuando nace en la ciudad de Xalapa, capital del estado de Veracruz, México. Aunque en un inicio comienza como una simple escuela de enseñanza del idioma, su evolución pronto lleva a la integración de la escuela a la recién fundada Universidad Veracruzana. Desde ese momento, y hasta la actualidad, ha habido un sinfín de cambios, tanto internos como externos. Conocer esos cambios y contextualizarlos dentro de la historia de la institución y de los eventos en la disciplina se vuelve importante para conocer la forma en que diversas etapas institucionales han sucedido, y cómo estos cambios han impactado a la Facultad y la disciplina de enseñanza de idiomas. Debemos señalar que la Facultad de Idiomas de la Universidad Veracruzana fue pionera en la enseñanza de idiomas en México, lo que hace particularmente interesante el desarrollo de la disciplina de la enseñanza de idiomas en un contexto donde no existía la práctica ni escuelas o institutos donde se aprendiera sobre el tema. Dentro de la investigación doctoral que sustenta este trabajo nació la necesidad de elaborar esta cronología, de forma que fuera posible observar los acontecimientos que dieron cabida a la integración de tecnologías en la Facultad de Idiomas y quiénes contribuyeron a esta integración. Así, será posible observar en qué momento han llegado las políticas sobre tecnologías, principalmente digitales y de TIC, de la institución y bajo qué condiciones. Este trabajo, por tanto, elabora dicha cronología a partir de diversas fuentes escritas, y considerando las orales y anecdóticas, aunque tratando de ubicarlas en un plano documental. En este documento se buscó ser exhaustivo, pero las limitaciones de información hicieron esto difícil. No obstante, se logró un documento con información suficiente para contextualizar a las tecnologías digitales en la Facultad de Idiomas de la Universidad Veracruzana.



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