Purpose: This study aimed to understand university students' knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) toward sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 567 students studying humanities, agriculture or engineering at public universities of Iran participated in this study. A survey was administered to investigate KAB of the…

Earlier studies have concluded that the religious sphere is less open to creativity than are other areas of human activities. Also, it has been suggested that artistic freedom and creative expression are unwelcome in the domain of religious iconography. In the present study, we address this subject with regard to children's artistic expression of…

This study investigates persuasive strategies used in the writings of Iranian university students in the field of teaching English as foreign language (TEFL). The study utilized the 7 principles of persuasive strategies presented by Cialdini (The psychology of persuasion, Quill William Morrow, New York 1984; Pre-suasion: A revolutionary way to…

The pivotal role of communication in second language (L2) learning has triggered plethoric research to identify factors that may influence learners' willingness to communicate (L2 WTC). However, there is a dearth of comparative research on L2 WTC, especially among EFL learners studying English at different educational institutions. To this end,…

Positive psychology (PP) is currently employing its modern research toolkit to examine how individual differences of hedonic (i.e. pursuing pleasure, fun, and painlessness) versus eudaimonic (i.e. pursuing meaning, self-worth, and growth) well-being motives play out against emotional and learning challenges or outcomes in life. Similarly oriented,…

Implicit theory (Dweck, 2000) suggests that learners' theories about the malleability of their individual traits (learning style, here) determine the extent to which they can stretch their learning style (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Young, 2010) and benefit from the instruction that mismatches their preferred styles. The present study aimed…

This article reports on a study that examined the relationship between language learners' L2 grit and language mindsets and their attitudes toward CALL. The participants of the study were 625 EFL learners (male = 165, 26.4%; female = 460, 73.6%) with the mean age of 24.4 years (SD = 1.74). They were asked to respond to questionnaires on language…

Relatively few studies in the field of second language acquisition have undertaken to investigate the interrelationships of constellations of individual difference variables. This is certainly true of how complexes of ID factors impact motivation to learn an additional language. In order to address this gap, the paper reports a study that examined…

Of the many possible institutional and individual factors bearing on test preparation, one is how individuals go about choosing their achievement goals. Yet, the literature on the relationship between the two phenomena remains slim. The objectives of this study are twofold. First, it explores the range of test preparation practices exercised by…

Educational directors and teachers have shown tremendous interest in developing interactive learning environments in educational contexts. This study examined the conceptualization of face-to-face teachers (n = 35) and online teachers (n = 26) in implementing interactive learning. A mixed-methods design using questionnaires and interviews was…

Framed in an interpretative phenomenological approach, this study explored the role of teaching subject (i.e. discipline) in Iranian teachers' online identity construction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from teachers of hard and soft sciences through semi-structured interviews, reported practices and online interactions. Data…

While there is a burgeoning of short-term research in self, peer, and teacher assessment, there is a paucity of longitudinal studies in this kind of assessment. Furthermore, oral assessment in English as a foreign language (EFL) context is relatively underexplored. The current study was designed to investigate the reliability and validity in 30…

The present study intended to investigate the possible effects of speech acts strategies on Iranian beginner and intermediate EFL learners' speaking ability. The first step in conducting this research was the administration of QPT [Quick Placement Test] as the homogenizing tool. It was administered to 180 beginners and intermediate EFL learners.…

Differentiated instruction (DI) has received extensive attention in general teacher education. Little research, however, has specifically focused on language teachers' understanding of DI, particularly the developmental trajectory of their understanding. The present study, framed within and informed by sociocultural theory, investigated EFL…

The current study aims to investigate Iranian EFL learners' cognitive styles and their explanations of conceptual metaphors, offering a possible range of individual differences in metaphor processing. 71 participants were asked to explain some established conceptual metaphors that are commonly used in English. Then, their cognitive styles were…