The present study adopts the perspective that metacognitive strategy instruction is bound to occur inside the classroom especially on oral tasks. Accordingly, the researchers investigated whether metacognitive strategy instruction prior to oral tasks was more successful than conventional ways in improving EFL learners' oral proficiency. To this end, 56 participants studying in a language school in Tehran were selected based on their performance on the Preliminary English Test, an interview, and the Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL). The participants were assigned into control and experimental groups. The control group practiced oral tasks following a warm-up. The experimental group, however, practiced oral tasks after receiving metacognitive strategy instruction. A MANOVA comparison of the mean ratings of the two groups on the posttest interviews and the posttest SILL demonstrated a significant difference between the oral proficiency and metacognitive strategy use of the two groups. This result indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group leading to the conclusion that instruction on metacognitive strategy use prior to oral tasks had a significantly higher impact on EFL learners' oral proficiency and metacognitive strategy use as compared to the only warm-up preceding oral tasks.

This investigation aimed to examine the impact of spaced and massed education on the reading comprehension and vocabulary gain of Iranian EFL students. The researcher selected 150 Iranian participants out of 300 based on their enactment in the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The selected medium participants were unsystematically assigned into two empirical groupings (spacing and massed) and one control group. The participants' reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in English were estimated using a pre-test. Three groups were provided with instruction on reading skills by English texts and new words from American English File 3. The massed group received a 90-minute session for each text, whereas the spaced group received three 30-minute sessions; the first session lasted 30 minutes, followed by two more sessions, each lasting 30 minutes, scheduled two days apart. Behind the teaching, a reading and vocabulary post-test post-test were distributed to the three classes. The results of data analysis utilizing independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA showed a considerable distinction between the post-tests of the spaced and massed groups compared to the control group. The findings demonstrate that the spaced grouping, which followed the specific recommended steps in their community, outperformed the massed and control groups (p < .05). This has consequential implications for English instructors, learners, and curriculum developers.

Various teaching techniques and methods have been suggested to assist English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in improving their language skills. However, it is still important for instructors to consider alternative approaches that provide ample opportunities for language use. One such innovative approach is Flipped Classroom Instruction (FCI), which claims to result in more productive learning outcomes. The present quasi- experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of flipped classroom instruction on the speaking performance of Iranian EFL learners. The study involved 80 male and female students, aged between 16 and 23, who were divided into four groups (two control and two experimental groups) and were studying at a private language center. Regarding the study's treatment, the experimental groups were given the instructional materials in advance to study at their own pace and review as many times as needed, a method known as Flipped Instruction. In contrast, the control groups received traditional instruction, where the teacher covered the content in class and assigned activities for subsequent sessions. The result of the study indicated that flipped instruction had a statistically significant effect on improving students' speaking performance.

In the present study an attempt was made to focus on pragmatic instruction and feedback as a kind of discriminatory factor. To teach English compliment and compliment responses, this paper evaluated the relative effectiveness of input-based instruction involving 132 Iranian EFL learners at intermediate and advanced levels. The main purpose of the study was to investigate to what extent instruction affected learners’ knowledge and ability to use compliment strategies. Students were divided into three groups: explicit, implicit and control. They were taught common strategies regarding how to compliment and respond to it. Whereas the explicit groups received instruction by means of explicit feedback on the use of appropriate compliments, the implicit groups were provided with instruction plus implicit feedback. The results of the data analysis based on the pre-tests, post-tests and follow up tests including discourse-completion tasks and self-assessment tests indicated that although instruction had a positive effect on the development of students’ socio-pragmatic competence of both explicit and implicit groups, the explicit group did better. The study may have some implications for teaching compliment forms which have been forgotten somehow in EFL classrooms today.

This study investigates and compares the efficacy of differentiated instruction and traditional-based instruction on enhancing Iranian students’ reading comprehension.Eight elementary, intermediate, and advanced classrooms from 1 language institute were chosen, and based on their performance on the pretests were further divided into 4 control and 4 treatment groups. Flexible grouping, tiered instruction, and tiered assignment strategies were adopted to differentiate the content, process, and product in the treatment groups. Results of the final achievement tests revealed that implementing differentiated instruction was effective in fostering the participants’ reading comprehension in the elementary and intermediate classrooms, but no meaningful difference was found in the final performance of the advanced level classrooms.

In Iranian language learning contexts, writing in English is an important challenge for learners, since it is usually treated as a secondary skill and is led to the periphery of language classes, due to its time-consuming nature. Computer technology and namely the free online environments available in the World Wide Web (WWW) offer possibilities for moving beyond such confinements. Asynchronous discussion forums and web-based materials, for instance, can facilitate e-writing in addition to being motivational and engaging. Such environments can compensate for the time limitations which restrict language classes, and also offer equal learning opportunities to all learners, The present experimental research investigates how implementing technology i.e., web- based writing lessons can enhance the degree of coherence in participants' English essays. The data consists of the results of the pre- and post-treatment TOEFL-like writing exams, which were scored according to the degree of coherence they demonstrated. The participants included forty female Iranian students studying English as a foreign language in a private institute in Tehran. They were randomly divided into comparison and experimental groups. The experimental group used an educational website entitled "Writing Snapshot: Web-Based Writing Lessons for EFL Learners," specifically designed for this purpose; and their classes were held in the computer lab of the institute. The comparison group received a conventional book-based treatment. The results revealed that the essays of the participants in the experimental group working with web-based lessons demonstrated a statistically significantly higher frequency and diversity of indicators of coherence. It would seem, therefore, that introducing new technologies into language classes can open new horizons for EFL writing practice.

This study followed discussion-based techniques using mobile phone technologies in order to compare Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions with their practices in higher education. Applying Convergent Parallel Mixed-Method Design, 73 English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instructors, teaching technical English courses to Law students at Islamic Azad University (IAU), South Tehran, Qods and Eslamshahr branches, completed a questionnaire, assessing teachers’ perceptions versus practices on the use of mobile phone technologies in discussion-based classes. Through typical-case purposive sampling, out of 73 ESP instructors, eight instructors (four traditional and four communicative), extracted through the questionnaire, joined semi-structured interviews, and their classes were observed during the semester by two observers completing the observation scheme. Afterwards, applying the grounded-theory-instigated analytical framework of Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie (2003), the triangulated observation-interview data were thematically analyzed through open, axial, and selective codifications congruent with Mishra and Koehler’s (2008) TPACK model components, i.e., technology, pedagogy and content knowledge. The results demonstrated EFL teachers' interest in interactional mobile phone technologies and in the content constituent, i.e., the second component of the questionnaire as well as the third module of TRACK model. Additionally, the results signified EFL teachers’ use of comparative translation activities for the reading comprehension skills via collaborative/cooperative reading strategies. Finally, this research represents some pedagogical implications for administrative executives in the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology to revise Law students’ curriculum, and positively alters material providers’ and ESP instructors’ attitudes toward using mobile phone technologies in discussion-based classes.