The present study investigated the extent to which four pre-listening activities, "pre-teaching vocabulary", "content discussion", "pre-reading questions" and "topic discussion," assisted EFL learners with their performance on listening comprehension tests across two different proficiency groups (elementary…

Although language skills have gained unparalleled momentum in language education, there is a paucity of research on one of the most significant subskills: vocabulary. Due to the underestimation of an efficient method to learn foreign language vocabularies, scant research attention has been dedicated to exploring the best vocabulary learning…

Traditional approaches to language assessment have been criticized for their inadequacy in taking account of language learners' potential for development. To obviate this pitfall in traditional assessment, language teachers and researchers have been paying increasing attention to dynamic assessment (DA), which is rooted in Vygotsky's (1978)…

The current study examined the use of electronic textbooks designed as mobile applications for learning vocabulary in English among Iranian university students. To this end, 95 university students in an experimental (N = 50) and a control group (N = 45) participated in the study. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was employed and over…

While existing research into L2 classroom discourse has highlighted how knowledge and knowledge positions are negotiated, no attention seems to have been paid to what might be called "conceptual epistemic domains." Drawing on 22 hours of video-recorded data from Iranian EFL classrooms, our conversation analytic study illustrates how…

This study aimed to investigate the effects of audio podcast retelling vs. corpus-based vocabulary learning on vocabulary knowledge development of Iranian English language learners. To conduct the study, 60 homogenous students were selected as the participants. They were divided randomly into three groups, two experimental groups and one control…

There has been an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of spaced and massed distribution instruction in second/foreign language learning. A number of studies in the literature have investigated the impacts of spacing effect on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' vocabulary acquisition. This study aims to expand the body of existing…

This research investigated the effect of three definitional, sentential, and textual vocabulary learning strategies on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning and retention. Based on Oxford Solutions Placement Test, of 94 total population, 66 Iranian EFL learners were selected as homogeneous participants at the intermediate level…

This paper aimed at examining and comparing the effects of different humor-based strategies (joke, pun, and limerick) on vocabulary learning of EFL learners at intermediate and advanced levels. To this end, 120 EFL learners in a private institute were asked to serve as the participants of the study. They were then divided into two groups according…

This study shed light on the effects of four modes of vocabulary instruction, i.e., extended audio glossing, lexical inferencing, lexical translation, and frequency manipulation of input on the learning of lexical collocations by Iranian intermediate EFL learners. In so doing, 80 L1 Persian EFL students were divided into four 20-participant…

While the study of serious games has received due attention, few studies have investigated their potentials of simultaneously offering a route to both content and language acquisition. Understanding the interdisciplinary educational affordance of serious game play is significant, as it might provide game designers and teachers with insight into…

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…

The current study was planned to find out if the use of blended learning as a combination of face-to-face instruction and mobile-assisted language learning using WhatsApp contributed to the vocabulary learning and autonomy of Iranian EFL learners compared to the traditional method. To assess their English skills, PET was given to 80 homogenous…

This study was designed to investigate the impact of visual mnemonic technique on young and adult Iranian English learners' vocabulary learning. The current study followed a quasi-experimental design. 48 female students were selected based on their performance on the Quick Placement Test. The participants were divided into four groups, two…

This study explored the effects of three types of lexical tools (MOOCs, E-dictionaries, and lexical concordancers) and three types of lexical applications (technology-mediated communication-based applications (TMCA), Anki as an e-flashcard application, and WordUp as a dedicated lexical application) on learning academic core words among a sample of…