A critical component of cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs) is a Q-matrix that stipulates associations between items of a test and their required attributes. The present study aims to develop and empirically validate a Q-matrix for the listening comprehension section of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). To this end, a…

This study explored the effects of concurrent group dynamic assessment (G-DA) and cumulative G-DA on Iranian pre-intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' interlanguage pragmatic comprehension (ILPC). To this end, a total of 97 pre-intermediate learners took the key English test (KET) test and 45 learners whose scores fell between…

Emergentist, usage-based L2 research has witnessed that emphasizing formulaic sequences as entry points in meaning-based instructional contexts contributes to the development of linguistic comprehension and production. Related studies have thus far striven to find the most effective methods of highlighting these word strings. This study explored…

This study investigates the relationships among working memory (WM), syntactic parsing ability (SP), and L2 reading performance across varying proficiency levels. A cohort of 120 L1-Persian EFL learners was categorized into beginner, intermediate, and advanced proficiency groups based on their IELTS scores. Participants completed a reading span…

The present quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design investigated the impact of back-translation teaching with collaborative activities on Iranian English translation students' translation achievement. To this end, 30Iranian EFL translation students studying at Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch…

The present study explored the effect of task repetition with and without explicit instruction on EFL learners' (n = 26) explicit and implicit English regular past tense structure development. One group (REP) repeated the same task (n = 12) while another group (EI + REP) received explicit instruction between performances of the same task (n = 14).…

EFL university students in general and Iranian EFL university learners in particular, specifically in the commencement of their study at bachelor degree prefer to have their assigned English texts translated into mother tongue since they do not have a good command of the language. Machine translation (MT) has recently turned into a favorite tool…

As language acquisition research supports the value of the interactive scaffolded environment and awareness-raising communicative tasks for the development of pragmatic knowledge, the present study attempted to investigate the effect of Collaborative Translation Task (CTT) on learning and retention of request speech act strategies. The main…

This study aims at investigating the relationship between student's second language lexical fluency and their C-test performance. Using cluster sampling procedure,75 undergraduate students of Engineering and Basic Sciences studying general English at Shahrood University of Technology were randomly selected to participate in this study. Controlled…

Following an emergentist approach, the authors examined the comprehension of four different types of restrictive relative clauses (direct object/oblique vs. subject/indirect object) with animate/inanimate referents by Iranian EFL learners. To this end, an Oxford placement test and two sets of comprehension tests within a week's interval were…

There has been a substantial body of research, in L2, documenting the central importance of strategic knowledge in reading comprehension and exploring the variables likely to influence strategy use by readers. All this research has, however, been conducted within the single-text tradition of reading research. With a movement toward the…

This mixed two-way experimental, cross-sectional study investigated fast-mapping (FM) of novel nouns and verbs in 63 Persian-speaking toddlers aged 30 months, including 31 late-talking (LT) and 32 typically developing (TD) matched with respect to age and maternal education. Toddlers were classified as LT if they had limited expressive vocabulary…

Since its inception, pragmatic competence has been studied vastly; the majority of these studies, however, have examined pragmatic production, and pragmatic comprehension is chiefly under-researched. This lack of adequate research also stands true for the underlying pragmatic comprehension processes and strategies. Therefore, the present…

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has recently been researched as a dynamic variable, with some investigations viewing it as a complex dynamic system (CDS). One important property associated with CDS is the notion of attractor states, which are characterized by stable patterns of behavior. The present study employed an idiodynamic method to monitor…

In the light of evidence that attention can facilitate and enhance learning, this study attempts to investigate the allocation of attention to meaning and form simultaneously in reading comprehension in the foreign language among monolingual and bilingual learners of English. To this end, three groups of learners namely, bilingual (knowing…