The doctoral defence is the oral examination of the doctoral thesis. While it is a major milestone for doctoral candidates, this event is often shrouded in mystery. In this article, I explore the doctoral defence from an international perspective. I have studied the format of the defence based on written testimonies as well as the literature on…

This study, conducted in Iran, examined English teachers' experience of authenticity, as the performative dimension of authentication, through a conceptual framework revolving around Durchsichtig (seeing through) and Handeln (action). Data were collected via big and small stories, and were hermeneutically analysed. Authenticity was seen through…

Metaphor analysis has been used as a cognitive tool to raise awareness about assumptions and beliefs held by teachers and learners about the process of learning and teaching. Motivated by such an ambition, this study conducted with a quantitative and descriptive design examined the metaphors produced by Iranian high school students in an EFL…

This study probed EFL learners' negotiation of meaning and negotiation strategy in two unfocused and two focused tasks using a counterbalanced design. Each of the focused/unfocused tasks included one opinion-exchange and decision-making task type, which resulted in four particular task conditions. To this end, 36 Iranian intermediate EFL learners…

The documentation of test takers' achievements has been accomplished through large-scale assessments to find general information about students' language ability. To remove subjectivity, Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) has recently played a crucial role in perceiving candidates' latent attribute patterns to find multi-diagnostic information…

In today's educational system, teachers are highly accountable for implementing policy-driven changes in student learning and the development of the quality of educational institutions. The present study aimed to expand this research area by investigating the contributors as well as the manifestations of teachers' professional agency. To this aim,…

Purpose: Despite the growth of theory and research on young English learners and the widely-recognized importance of critical incidents (CIs) in teachers' professional development (PD), little research has examined young-learner teachers' CIs. This study investigated the impacts of a PD course structured around CIs sharing/discussing on 14 L2…

The purpose of the present study is to conduct a qualitative content analysis to explore factors affecting EFL learning in Iran. To achieve this aim, the researcher carried out face-to-face unstructured interviews with 10 EFL teachers and 12 university students. The researcher used MAX QDA 10 (Qualitative Data Analysis) software to analyze the…

With the shift from negative psychology to positive psychology in the field of applied linguistics, and in alignment with the dynamic turn in this filed, recent studies have tried to micro-map foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and foreign language enjoyment (FLE) from a dynamic perspective. However, the signature dynamics of learners'…

This study investigated the post-reading comprehension questions and task types in the "Four Corners" series based on Freeman's (2014) taxonomy, which was developed, specifically, for the L2 reading context covering a wider range of question types compared with previous taxonomies. While literature abounds with studies investigating the…

Purpose: This narrative study seeks to explore cultural identity (CI) construction of Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in light of Tong and Cheung's (2011) definition of CI. Design/methodology/approach: Ten language teachers were selected using purposeful sampling. Data were collected through reflective teacher journals and…

Although CALL is still an emerging area of study in many countries, several studies have shown the significant contribution of these countries to the development of CALL worldwide, among which Iran is no exception. Contrary to the vast number of review studies on how this interdisciplinary area of study has been developed at the international…

Today, it is necessary to learn to manage and administer organizations based on values, which is also influenced by the culture and atmosphere of the organization. No comprehensive research has been done on organizational culture and personnel values. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical framework based on the…

Citation is an essential part of academic writing and allows writers to make strong arguments, review previous research, and express their opinions. This study investigates reporting verbs as a part of citation practice in the research articles published in Iranian and international journals (with different linguacultural backgrounds) in…

This study attempted at classifying common errors found in the written performance of lower- and upper-intermediate Iranian EFL learners. It engaged a rich corpus of EFL writing samples collected over a course of 20 years (between 1992 and 2011) from lower- and upper-intermediate EFL learners studying at various Iranian universities to provide a…