Being an international language used in reliable scholarly reference books, English enjoys a unique status among the world languages. The present article is an attempt to study "ashura" in a number of English reference books. The study shows that ashura is looked at more from a Sunnite perspective introducing it as a day of "recommended fast" rather that a Shiite one. Only few of these sources have handled the matter from a Shiite point of view.

In this study, we attempt to investigate the representation of sexuality in the images of English language teaching books (Four Corners (2) – American English File (2) – Interchange (2)) based on visual - social semiotics according to Halliday’s Functional linguistics and clearly followed by Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006 (1996).Creating text, as an example image, is a discoursal and as a result a social action. This social action on textbooks which have been written for non-English language learners works at higher level. It works in intercultural level.As a result, there is always a constant problem: Is it possible that the central culture (English language society) creates discourse via the texts of the textbooks in which non-English speakers are considered strangers and they themselves are considered natural and familiar? This research via investigating images, texts, verbal titles and the margin of those images searches how English language teaching books portray English culture as evident, natural and inevitable and others as foreigners who only lose their alterity if they are attracted by this culture. The main goal of this research is to analyze English language teaching books and investigate their different discoursal, social and cultural outputs.Also this research tries to investigate the role of images in intercultural discoursal context. Cultural differences and their reflection in English language teaching textbooks with ideological outputs of images and modality in the images of textbooks are other marginal goals of this research.

Background and Objectives: The current research was carried out to examine the English language books of the first secondary school based on Fog's readability formula in the academic year 1402-1403. Methods: Quantitative content analysis was used for this purpose. The statistical population of this research was English language textbooks of the first secondary level, and the entire population was investigated. The research tool also includes the list of content analyses based on Fog's reading method, which was divided into three sections: the number of sentences, words, and polysyllabic words in each book. The unit of analysis was placed in texts, reading comprehension, and words. Findings: The findings showed that the degree of difficulty of the texts and understanding in the third grade is 4.89, 7.09 for the 8th grade, and 8.95 for the 9th grade, respectively, which indicates that the 7th-grade book has a lower level of difficulty than Desirable and the eighth and ninth grades have an ideal and moderate degree of difficulty for beginners. Also, the results show that the highest number of words is in the seventh grade, with 39.36%; the ninth grade, with 31.79%; and the eighth grade, with 28.85%. There is a percentage. Conclusion: One factor contributing to students' weakness and inability to read and understand texts at higher levels is the excessive simplicity of the materials in the first secondary school.

One of the most important elements in the preparation and compilation of educational books in general and English language teaching (ELT) textbooks in particular, is Visual element. In recent decades, various instructional theories and models have dealt with such elements in terms of type and role. Due to their importance, they are categorized into two main groups: (a) pictures (image, drawing, painting, animation), and (b) graphic organizers. In this paper, first they are presented through several perspectives. Then, considering the importance of English for specific purposes (ESP) textbooks published by SAMT in the academic community of Iran, through a descriptive and analytic approach, the authors tried to analyze this component quantitatively and qualitatively and in proportion to its role and function in three periods of ESP textbooks development. The results indicate that this component has been specially developed in the new generation of specialized books and has been largely overlooked in the second generation and especially in the first generation. In the third generation, we also see strong points and, of course, weaknesses in terms of the amount and type of visual elements, which are different based on various disciplines of textbooks. Therefore, while investigating and analyzing these cases, some suggestions have been made to strengthen this component.

English as an international language (EIL) is considered by applied linguists to be a new paradigm for research, practice and English language teaching (ELT). However, it appears that English language teachers have little voice in these discussions, and the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom has remained largely unaffected by EIL, hinging upon the native speaker (NS) ideal. This is hardly surprising as insufficient attention has been devoted to EIL pedagogy, and to helping teachers integrate theoretical understandings of EIL into their teaching. This paper aims to address this gap by examining EFL teachers’ (non-native speakers-NNS) perspectives on the implications of EIL for classroom practice. Through an analysis of data gathered from an online questionnaire and 10 semistructured interviews, this study examined the attitudes of 53 EFL teachers working in Croatian public schools towards: a) the EIL paradigm, b) NS/NNS models in ELT, and c) the implications of EIL for language teaching. The findings show that although the teachers are familiar with and open to the notion of EIL, when conceptualized as a paradigm for teaching, it becomes a rather elusive concept, and a second best NNS English. Overall, the teachers are largely unaware of the potential of EIL for ELT, and rely on the NS as the benchmark and authority. They maintain that the EIL theory-ELT practice link is complex and difficult to operationalise. It is argued that, if EIL is to become a new paradigm for teaching, greater collaboration is required between applied linguists and ELF teachers, and explicit guidelines are needed to help teachers integrate EIL into ELT.

The polite listener In England stares at the speaker attentively and blinks his eyes occasionally as a sign of interest. That eye-blink says nothing to Americans, who expect the listener to nod or to murmur something such as "mm - hmm”. And in some parts of  Far East, it is impolite to look at the other person at all during conversation.It is often argued that, in teaching foreign languages, culture and language are interwoven in a way that it is not possible to present language without its culture. However, until a new method of teaching language, called communicative approach, which is sociolinguistically oriented, had not come into existence, this belief was not used to be observed in textbooks and language classes. This method intends to create situations in the classroom in which foreign language can be used as naturally and authentically as the native speakers of target language use it for communicative purposes.The problem of teaching culture, nevertheless, does not end here. Nowadays, foreign languages are taught with different and varied objectives. Is it necessary for all foreign language learners to get familiar with the culture of foreign language they are supposed to learn? As Schumann (1984) claims, is it true that second language learning is impossible, unless one gives up his/her own native culture and adopts the culture of foreign language community? What are some relevant issues regarding teaching English in Iran? These are actually some basic questions raised in this article. Whereas definite answers are not necessarily provided in this paper, some areas of research related to culture, and teaching foreign language are put forward.

This paper aims at shedding light on the concept of postmodernism, and its implications in the TESOL. Postmodern philosophy as a prevalent concept and a hot buzzword in philosophy, science, and art is believed to have influenced the TESOL theoretically in some ways. The elements of postmodernism including: constructivism, subjectivism, relativism, localism, and pragmatism are found to have been applied in the TESOL to the concept of the demise of the methods, more focus on styles, strategies, and multiple intelligences, chaos/complexity theory and critical theories. But in practice, in developing countries the TESOL still lives in the modern era.