Searching for the real voices in regard to pedagogical challenges Iranian EFL teachers may struggle against seems to be an unexplored issue, which is the purpose of this qualitative grounded study. To achieve generalizable findings, based on the tenets of grounded theory, data were collected using an open-ended questionnaire with 187 Iranian EFL…

In an increasingly multilingual world, the question of how to improve foreign language speaking skills of pupils in British schools is of paramount importance to language teachers and policy-makers today. This paper examines how an explicit focus on metacognitive strategy use within secondary school foreign language lessons impacts pupils'…

The current study aimed at investigating the status of Professional Development (PD) through examining teachers' perspectives over how effective they consider exam specific teacher training courses (IELTS in this case) which aim at increasing their PD. To this end, a group of EFL teachers, from different language schools in Mashhad, Iran took part…

Developing a sense of autonomy in teacher trainees can be considered as a goal itself; and to this end, instructors' expectations that can help them become autonomous need to be identified through the perspectives of teacher trainees rather than accepting directly what is true for instructors. This paper aims to explore the trainee teacher…

Socio-psychological research and findings into learner differences led to the emergence of learner strategies research in the last century. With major contributions from the emerging field of Linguistics in the mid 1970s, language learning strategies began to receive considerable attention. It is worth noting that the primary concern of most of…

This study aims to elaborate a framework for both the foundation and application of professional standards for mother-tongue teachers. The main issue with which this study is concerned constitutes the lack of a set of clear standards for the initial training of mother-tongue teachers. In terms of theory, that which has currently been analyzed in…

In response to the research priorities of members of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), this study investigated language learners' realworld tasks in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) to inform the future development of pedagogic tasks for academic English as a second language (ESL) courses. The data included…

Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) requires teachers experienced in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) to acquire additional skills, abilities and approaches. Beliefs about CLT teaching may not be appropriate for teaching EAP, especially to low level learners. Making teachers aware of their beliefs is the first step in helping them to…

The primary focus of research on employment of language learning strategies has been on identification of adoption of different learning strategies. However, the relationship between language learning strategies and proficiency levels was ignored in previous research. The present study was undertaken to find out whether there are any relationship…

This collaborative research project sought to determine the attributes, skills and expertise/knowledge needed by distance language teachers. The first phase of the project explored tutor perspectives using discussion groups, questionnaires, interviews and a yoked-subject technique. Statements and categories of expertise were identified, elaborated…

The interdependence of language and culture highlights the need to find methods for second language students to acquire cultural information and practices. This article reviews definitions of culture posited by anthropologists and language educators and discusses problems related to the recent paradigm shift from "small "c" and big…

How is the quality of teaching portfolios being assessed in summative assessment contexts? This question is of special importance in the growing debate on standards and criteria in assessment. In our study we looked for contexts in which portfolios are used for summative assessment purposes and gauge the issues raised by assessors with respect to…

This report describes methodological problems encountered in categorizing or coding responses to a questionnaire. The survey in question was designed to investigate the problems encountered by language teachers in two African countries in teaching large classes. The key analysis was of the responses to two survey items: "Large classes make it…