zeinab kafi

Khorasan Institute Of Higher Education, English Department, Faculty Member

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Pattern Recognition of EFL University Students’ Online Behaviors through Data Science: Any Investment on English Language Components or Skills?

Indonesian journal of EFL and linguistics, May 1, 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) has played a crucial role in many fields of study, and its merits an... more Artificial intelligence (AI) has played a crucial role in many fields of study, and its merits and demerits have been investigated by related scholars. However, it seems a somewhat gray area when implementing AI in teaching and learning. This could be mainly because AI developers know little about learning varied sciences and they also lack pedagogical knowledge for implementing AI in teaching . Therefore, the current research aimed at gathering data regarding the online behaviors of 21 Iranian EFL university students through installing an application on their mobile phones for a period of eight days. Afterwards, the collected data were analyzed through Data Science methods and varied patterns of behavior were recognized. The results exhibited that messaging and social media applications are two great parts of the students' life. Also, there existed some common patterns regarding the applications students owned and the amount of time they spent on them. As a small case in point, the results of the study cannot be generalized; however, the outcomes highlight the proof that in an EFL context, serious steps need to be adopted by course designers and stakeholders in order to cultivate a greater and purposeful use of online learning applications, websites etc. among EFL university students so as to enhance the teaching-learning process. This gains prominence because any AI-mediated learning approach is believed to enhance students' second/foreign language motivation as well as self-regulation in learning. AI is actually promising a revolution in the realm of language education.

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Professional Development and IELTS Training Course: A Case of EFL Teachers in Iran

Journal on English Language Teaching, 2016

The current study aimed at investigating the status of Professional Development (PD) through exam... more 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 in this study. There existed 30 teachers, most of whom were professional in teaching and had a good English proficiency. This training course consisted of all the skills and sub-skills of IELTS as well as the best possible ways to teach different skills of English. Teachers attended this program three times a week which started in February 2015 and ended in May 2015. As the main data collection mean in this study was a qualitative one, two open-ended questions were employed in the data collection process which aimed at finding what the participants' ideas about the T.T.C course they took were and also what the main motivating reasons for the teachers were for taking part in the T.T.C program. The accumulated answers were then analyzed and categorized into different groups and the percentages for each extracted category were calculated through SPSS. Besides, as for the quantitative data collection phase and also in order to check the probable relation of the program and teachers' Professional Development (PD), a researcher made questionnaire was designed and expert validity was employed to carry out the instrument's validation process. Therefore, two experts' opinions in the field were accumulated and further comments and modifications were done accordingly. The questionnaire, using Cronbach Alpha, revealed to possess a high degree of .902 reliability. Afterwards, the PD questionnaire, which mainly focused on teachers' self-declaration with regard to this case specific teacher training program and how effective they believed the program to be on their PD, was administered. Finally, the results were correlated through Cross tabulation and Chi square test. The results exhibited that, there exists a significant relation between the two variables i. e. majority of teachers believed the T.T.C program has been "influential" in their professional development.

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Effective Teaching and Language Learning Motivation: A Study on the Interconnection

Indonesian EFL Journal, Sep 12, 2017

The present study aimed at examining the relationship between EFL teachers' effective teaching an... more The present study aimed at examining the relationship between EFL teachers' effective teaching and the language learning motivation of Iranian EFL learners whose English proficiency was upper-intermediate and above. To this end, 150 upper-intermediate and advance EFL students, from some language schools in Mashhad, Iran participated in the study. The participants were firstly asked to fill out a researcher made questionnaire which aimed at checking their opinions on how effective they considered their teachers in teaching (Effective Teaching Questionnaire). Afterwards, the same students were asked to fill out a questionnaire that investigated how much motivated they were for learning English (Language Learning Motivation Questionnaire). These questionnaires were validated by two experts in the field, also their reliability, using Cronbach's Alpha, was estimated to be .87 and .80 respectively. Afterwards the relation between teachers' effectiveness in teaching and the extent to which students were motivated as a result was investigated. For measuring the probable relation, correlation as well as multiple regressions was run for analysis of the obtained data. The results exhibited the existence of a positive relation between the two.

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An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

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EFL Teachers ’ Personality Type and Their Effectiveness in Teaching : Investigating the Relationship

The purpose of this study was to investigate the probable relationship between EFL teachers’ pers... more The purpose of this study was to investigate the probable relationship between EFL teachers’ personality type and their effectiveness in teaching from university students’ point of view. In order for this to be investigated, two validated and reliable questionnaires including Eysneck Personality questionnaire (EPQ) (1985) as well as a questionnaire on Characteristics of Effective Teachers by Khodadady (2010) were administered. Based on Morgan’s sample population table, the participants in this study included 171 EFL university students, mostly those studying at different departments of Islamic Azad University, and 20 EFL university teachers who have been teaching courses of General English or ESP at different universities (Islamic Azad University, and Sama college) in Mashhad Iran. Firstly, the EFL teachers were asked to fill out the personality questionnaire and following that their students were to fill out the ―effective teacher‖ questionnaire. In order to facilitate the process ...

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Language Teachers' Aspects of Identity and Their Professional Behavior: Identity, Behavior and Professional Change

Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 2016

1.IntroductionOne of the target issues of the modern education world of today is definitely the i... more 1.IntroductionOne of the target issues of the modern education world of today is definitely the issue of teacher identity in general and language teacher identity in particular which in contrast to years of remaining dark, has recently been receiving limelight. Moreover, as language teachers, you ,must have come up with the issue that why is it that some teachers, though coming from the same educational backgrounds and degree of education or even the same years of teaching experience, stand out more than their counterparts in their profession or let's say their immediate working context? Or you may even ponder upon the issue that why it is that such teachers are labelled as professionals in public eye? Is it something more attached to their self-identity that has ever urged them to behave professionally? This crucially occurs based on what Lundell and Collins (2001) propose, claiming that people construct their social selves, or better put their social selves, within the everyda...

International Journal of Instruction

As Campbell (2008) skillfully explains, “the field of ethics in teaching as a moral profession is... more As Campbell (2008) skillfully explains, “the field of ethics in teaching as a moral profession is a robust and compelling one. It captures the interest and imagination of scholars, researchers, and practitioners alike because it is very important and integral to the world of education” (p.21). Similarly, in many EFL countries including Iran, professional ethics has recently turned into a crucial topic. Consequently, further researches regarding the notion of ethics, its components and whether experience plays a role in this regard, need to be carried out. Throughout the current article, the researchers, at first place, illustrated the importance of professional ethics in teaching through a thorough review of literature. Afterwards, a previously localized code of professional ethics, which was transformed into a validated instrument for data collection, was deployed to gather data from 200 EFL male and female university instructors. Pearson Correlation was administered to investigate...

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Investigating the Notion of Demotivation among a Community of Efl Learners

Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 2016

1. IntroductionAccording to Koiso (2003, p. 96), motivation is considered to be one of the main d... more 1. IntroductionAccording to Koiso (2003, p. 96), motivation is considered to be one of the main determining factors of success in developing a second or foreign language (As cited in Razmjoo and Moiinvaziri, 2014). Following the work of Gardner and other renowned researchers and linguists in the realm of language learning, motivation has turned into one of the chief fields of investigation and enquiry for language teachers and policy makers as well as lots of others who are involved in how well learning can take place! Through time, this issue has turned into a concern and has had language specialists think of motivation from different angles of view (Alavinia & Sehat, 2012; Hirvonen, 2010; Hu, 2011; Kikuchi & Sakai, 2009; Kim, 2011; Sahragard & Alimorad, 2013; Sakui & Cowie, 2011; Seo & Kim, 2012; Tabatabaei & Molavi, 2012; Tuan, 2011). Therefore, the concept of demotivation gradually, peeped into the field of motivation research. Rashidi, Rahimi and Alimorad (2014) define demotiva...

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

Effective Teaching and Language Learning Motivation: A Study on the Interconnection

The present study aimed at examining the relationship between EFL teachers' effective teachin... more The present study aimed at examining the relationship between EFL teachers' effective teaching and the language learning motivation of Iranian EFL learners whose English proficiency was upper-intermediate and above. To this end, 150 upper-intermediate and advance EFL students, from some language schools in Mashhad, Iran participated in the study. The participants were firstly asked to fill out a researcher made questionnaire which aimed at checking their opinions on how effective they considered their teachers in teaching (Effective Teaching Questionnaire). Afterwards, the same students were asked to fill out a questionnaire that investigated how much motivated they were for learning English (Language Learning Motivation Questionnaire). These questionnaires were validated by two experts in the field, also their reliability, using Cronbach's Alpha, was estimated to be .87 and .80 respectively. Afterwards the relation between teachers' effectiveness in teaching and the ext...

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University Instructors’ Teaching Experience and Their Perception of Professional Ethics: Postulating a Model

International Journal of Instruction

As Campbell (2008) skillfully explains, "the field of ethics in teaching as a moral profession is... more As Campbell (2008) skillfully explains, "the field of ethics in teaching as a moral profession is a robust and compelling one. It captures the interest and imagination of scholars, researchers, and practitioners alike because it is very important and integral to the world of education" (p.21). Similarly, in many EFL countries including Iran, professional ethics has recently turned into a crucial topic. Consequently, further researches regarding the notion of ethics, its components and whether experience plays a role in this regard, need to be carried out. Throughout the current article, the researchers, at first place, illustrated the importance of professional ethics in teaching through a thorough review of literature. Afterwards, a previously localized code of professional ethics, which was transformed into a validated instrument for data collection, was deployed to gather data from 200 EFL male and female university instructors. Pearson Correlation was administered to investigate the probable relation between EFL university instructors' teaching experience and their understanding of professional ethics. Also, to prioritize the components of professional ethics based on EFL instructors' perspective, Friedman test was deployed and the results are disused according to EFL teaching learning context.

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The Relationship between Iranian EFL Students’ Brain Dominant Quadrants and Reading Comprehension Skill

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between reading comprehension skill t... more The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between reading comprehension skill through different types of reading questions and use of brain quadrants. In this study, two kinds of tests were used. One of them consisted of 60 questions that determine the students' brain dominance, and the other was a reading test that consisted of four different types of questions. Two hundreds participants from Islamic Azad University and Applied Science University in Mashhad participated in this study. The data were evaluated by the use of SPSS software through Chi Square Tests. The obtained results revealed a significant relationship between learners' performance on different reading comprehension item types and use of brain quadrants.

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On the Relation between English Textbooks and Iranian EFL Learners’ Acculturation

Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2013

The cultural influence of foreign languages has always been a matter of concern for the learners ... more The cultural influence of foreign languages has always been a matter of concern for the learners of languages. The present study aimed at examining the relationship between English Textbooks and the cultural attitudes of Iranian EFL learners at English language schools. To this end, two of the widely used series of English textbooks in Iranian context (Interchange and American File) were analyzed to extract all the possible cultural issues embedded within the units. A researcher made questionnaire was designed based on the cultural issues extracted from the English textbooks. It was validated by two experts in the field, also its reliability, using the data from pilot study through Cronbach's Alpha, was estimated to be (.870). The questionnaire was administered to 210 learners of English followed by an interview for follow up purposes. For measuring the probable correlation between the English textbooks and the cultural attitudes of the learners, Correlation as well as cross tabulation were run through SPSS for analysis of the obtained data. The results exhibited a significant correlation between English textbooks and the cultural attitudes of Iranian EFL learners. Moreover, the relationship found to be positive i.e. their attitudes significantly changed after studying these English textbooks.

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Developing, localizing & validating code of professional ethics through PLS-SEM: EFL university instructors’ perspectives

Cogent Education

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