Language proficiency tests have become common instruments to judge people based on their performance. Thus, the scores on language proficiency tests, such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), play a crucial role in the test-takers' lives. Because of increasing demands on…

English language is an important international language and a considerable part of time and expenses is devoted to learning it. Since many academicians and common people invest a lot of time on learning it, an increase in learning speed is certainly an urgent need. The current study tried to empirically examine the influence of an affective factor…

In recent years attention has been accorded to language learners' affective factors and learning styles. Two of the significant learning styles are impulsivity and reflectivity which have not been studied as much as other styles such as introversion and extroversion. This study endeavored to find out whether or not impulsivity and reflectivity…

The problem which this research intended to resolve is that beside many differences between individuals' characteristics that might impact their language learning process, there's often a different neglected component which is "Intelligence". Although there are several researches about the relationship between students' multiple…

Speaking is a crucial form of communication in language learning settings. Through speaking skill, ESL/EFL language learners can communicate and convey information. Pictorial aids have been deployed as efficacious mediatory tools in teaching various disciplines such as language teaching. Still, to the best of the researchers' knowledge, a direct…

The current study aimed at investigating the status of Professional Development (PD) through examining teachers' perspectives over how effective they consider exam specific teacher training courses (IELTS in this case) which aim at increasing their PD. To this end, a group of EFL teachers, from different language schools in Mashhad, Iran took part…

This study investigated the relationships between the social anxiety, social class and listening-test anxiety of students learning English as a foreign language. The aims of the study were to examine the relationship between listening-test anxiety and listening-test performance. The data were collected using an adapted Foreign Language Listening…

The present study aimed at exploring the effect of reciprocal reading strategies instruction on reading comprehension of EFL learners. Emotional intelligence, another variable of interest, was assessed to indicate whether it plays a role in learners' comprehension. In a pre- and post-test study, forty-two learners went through a reciprocal reading…

Metacognitive strategy instruction (MetSI) has been shown to have a strong impact on various aspects of English as a second/foreign language instruction. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of MetSI on the improvement of listening self-efficacy among English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners. A group of sixty female undergraduate…

This study investigated the impact of metacognitive instruction on the listening skill, and metacognitive knowledge of a group of male students (N = 30) who were learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Iran. The study participants spoke Persian as a first language and were high-intermediate EFL learners. The participants received a guided…

This study investigates the effect of activating metacognitive strategies on the listening performance of English as a foreign language (EFL) university students and explores the impact of such strategies on their metacognitive awareness of the listening task. The participants were N = 50 students of English literature at the state university of…

The current study investigated the differences across the varying levels of EFL learners in the frequency and choice of learning strategies. Using a reading test, questionnaire, and parametric statistical analysis, the findings yielded up discrepancies among the participants in the implementation of language-learning strategies concerning their…

In most settings, task-based language teaching and testing have been dissociated from each other. That is why this study came to rethink of the learners' views towards awareness and implementation of task-based language teaching through IELTS listening tasks. To these objectives, after sketching instrumentation, the learners were divided into…

Speaking proceeds under the constraint of time. While speaking, speakers are under constant pressure to follow the message being received and to formulate rapid responses to their partners. In the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) Speaking Test, the communicative nature of the interview creates an ideal situation for applicants…

Hesitation strategies appear in speech in the form of filled or unfilled pauses, paralinguistic markers like nervous laughter or coughing, or signals which are used to justify units in the coming utterances in which the speaker struggles to produce. The main functions of these forms of hesitation strategies have been associated with speech…