Teacher attrition is a pervasive issue that affects educational systems globally, contributing to significant challenges in maintaining a stable and experienced teaching workforce. While existing research has explored teacher attrition in various educational contexts, there is a scarcity of studies with in-depth qualitative phases specifically…

The rapid development of e-learning in higher education institutions has facilitated personalized learning pathways for learning to be relevant, catering to the individual learners' needs and expectations. In spite of the vast opportunities that e-learning offers, the online courses in distance language education in Iran failed to satisfactorily…

Scaffolding is a contributing factor to the effectiveness of pragmatic instruction. Although there is a large body of research on the means of scaffolding in second language teaching, research on scaffolding in L2 pragmatic instruction, especially in online teaching, is still in its infancy. To bridge the gap, this study investigated the means of…

Despite the substantial growth of research on identity construction in real-life contexts, little is known about PhD students' online identities, especially their identity shift from real-life to virtual contexts. The present study aimed to address this gap by examining the identity development of ten PhD students from the field of Applied…

During the period of school closures in Iran, the authors were interested in the different types of platforms being used during quarantine associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the instructors and educators' point of view while using them in formal education. Student and teacher surveys assisted the authors to gain information about the work…

Professional development (PD) has received a growing attention in teacher education research since it has the potential to affect teacher learning. More recently and in particular as an aftermath of COVID19 pandemic, online PD modes have overtaken more traditional face to face approaches. Despite this, studies on language teachers' preferences for…

For many years, technology has been applied to improve the quality of language learning and teaching. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the integration of technology in different language learning contexts. The sudden shift to online teaching faced educators with an array of challenges they had not experienced before. In…

This collection of case studies is special for several reasons. Firstly, because of the geographical and institutional diversity of the authors, bringing together experiences of teaching under COVID-19 restrictions in the university language classroom from 18 countries and five continents. Secondly, the publication is interesting because of the…

This study describes the changes in the instructional system experienced by the language departments in the University of Isfahan, Iran, during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak and the consequent national lockdown. After providing a very brief scenario of a regular academic year in higher education in Iran, this chapter focuses on the changes made to…

The aim of this article was twofold. First, it considered the effect of social networks (Telegram) on the vocabulary knowledge of the participants, then it compared the participants' responses in IRF (initiation, response, & feedback) pattern in two different settings (traditional class and the online one). A group of foreign language learners…

This report describes an online course developed to support education systems to build an aligned and sustainable approach to integration of 21st Century Skills (21CS). 21CS are those skills that are considered particularly important to succeed in today's knowledge-based society in which innovation and technology are predominant. Prominent…

This study sought to probe the effect of two non-conventional instructions namely Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) vs. Unplugged Classroom Model (UCM) on Iranian EFL learners' oral proficiency. Therefore, 90 upper-intermediates were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (30 each). The FCM and UCM participants were…

The present study reports on a collaborative writing project initiated and completed by 18 Iranian English language learners enrolled in an online writing course. Using a wiki as the core element of the project, the aim of the course was fostering learner autonomy in online settings based on the collaborative autonomous language learning framework…

The concept of language learner autonomy has influenced Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) to the extent that Schwienhorst (2012) informs us of a paradigm change in CALL design in the light of learner autonomy. CALL is not considered a tool anymore, but a learner environment available to language learners anywhere in the world. Based on a…

This study set out to explore Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' perceptions on the implementation of online EFL instruction. A mixed-methods design, including semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, was employed for the specific purposes of this study. A total of 242 EFL teachers participated in the questionnaire phase…