1 29 On the Impacts of Gender and Personality Types on Iranian EFL Teachers’ Teaching Efficacy and Teaching Activities Preferences Alibakhshi Goudarz b b Yasouj University 1 3 2011 14 1 1 22 Learning styles are assumed to be consistent with personality characteristics of individuals (Brown, 2003 Kolb, 1984). Teachers’ teaching efficacy (Bandura, 1997, 1977, 1995 Wheatley, 2001) has also been found to be important in educational reform. However, the impacts of gender and personality on language teachers' teaching efficacy and teaching activities preferences have not been adequately explored. This study was an attempt to investigate the impacts of personality and gender on Iranian English teachers' teaching activities preferences and their teaching efficacy. To accomplish this, 280 male and female English language teachers participated in the study. Myers -Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), teaching efficacy, and teaching activities preference questionnaires were used. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and Two ANOVA tests were used .The results of the study showed that ESTJ (extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging) and ISTJ (introverted, sensing, thinking, and judging) were predominant personality types among Iranian EFL teachers. Results also indicated that both male and female teachers with different personality types have the same sense of teaching efficacy. It was also revealed that gender and personality influence teachers' teaching activities preferences.
30 Critical Thinking and Emotional Intelligence: Investigating the Relationship among EFL Learners and the Contribution of Age and Gender Ghanizadeh Afsaneh c Moafian Fatemeh d c Islamic Azad University, Mashhad d Islamic Azad University, Mashhad 1 3 2011 14 1 23 48 The present article, first, examines the relationship between EFL university students' critical thinking (CT) and emotional intelligence (EI). Second, the roles of gender and age as moderating factors in the relationship between students' CT and EI are investigated. Third, the relationships between students' age and gender with their EI are studied. To attain the goals of the research, 86 EFL students completed the "Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal" (Form A) and the "Bar-On's EQ-i test". The findings of the study indicated that there was a significant relationship between EFL learners' CT and their EI. Among the components of EI, flexibility and social responsibility were found to have the highest correlations with CT and were also shown to be positive predictors of CT. The results also revealed that age and gender did not moderate the relationship between CT and EI. Furthermore, it was found that neither age nor gender played any significant roles in learners' level of EQ. 31 The Effectiveness of ZPD-Wise Explicit/Implicit Expert Peers and Co-Equals' Scaffolding in ILP Development Khatib Mohammad e Ahmadi Safa Mohammad f e Allameh Tabataba'i University f Allameh Tabataba'i University 1 3 2011 14 1 49 75 Socioculturally oriented developmental Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) studies have just recently drawn the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers' attention, and the role of concepts like peer scaffolding, and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in ILP development are among rich areas in need of attention. The present study investigates the significance of the effect of expert peers' ZPD-wise, co-equal peers' ZPD-insensitive and teacher fronted ZPD-insensitive scaffolding on EFL learners' pragmatic development. The number of students who participated in this study was 85 of which 27 were male and the rest were female. They were organized into three experimental and one control groups. The subjects in the experimental groups were given either explicit ZPD-wise or implicit ZPD- wise scaffolding by the expert peers, or ZPD-insensitive scaffolding by their co-equals, while the subjects of the control group received ZPD-insensitive teacher scaffolding. The study reveals that the expert peers' ZPD-wise explicit and implicit scaffolding are more effective than the other two intervention types for the ILP development, however, the co-equals' scaffolding proved to be the third effective procedure for the subjects' co-construction of ZPD and ILP development. An implication of the study is that different forms of peer scaffolding are relatively effective for the EFL learners' ILP development.   32 Qualitative Metaphor Analysis and Language Learning Opportunities Pishghadam Reza g Hosseini Fatemi Azar h Askarzadeh Torghabeh Rajabali i Navari Safoora j g Ferdowsi University h Ferdowsi University i Ferdowsi University j Ferdowsi University 1 3 2011 14 1 77 108 This study has as its main concern focusing on the assorted ways Iranian language learners view their language educational system and the impact of these views on their success in learning a foreign language.  For the qualitative aim of this study, metaphors being stated by the learners were collected by some unfinished sentences which learners were required to complete to demonstrate their beliefs about their teachers, the teaching process and how they view themselves as learners. Then, the analysis and categorization of these metaphors based on Martinez (2001) taxonomy of metaphors revealed the kinds of learning principles which seem to be more favourable to learners than others. Results of the analysis of the metaphors showed that the public school learners mostly attribute their level of failure in language learning to the ‘behaviouristic’ methods in their classes while the private school learners attribute their apparent success to the ‘cognitive’ style of learning. Finally, the results were discussed in the context of second language acquisition.  33 Teachability of Intercultural Sensitivity from the Perspective of Ethnocentrism vs. Ethnorelativism: An Iranian Experience Rahimi Ali k Soltani Ali l k University of Kashan l Zanjan Medical University 1 3 2011 14 1 109 134 This study investigated the probable relationship between Iranian EFL learners' language proficiency and intercultural sensitivity. It also looked into the feasibility of enhancing their intercultural sensitivity through actual classroom training. To this end, 36 male and female college seniors were randomly selected from two classes after being homogenized. The participants were required, initially, to complete an Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS).They, then, attended a half-a-semester-long intercultural sensitivity training course and completed the same scale once again at the end of the semester. The data obtained through pre-test and post-test were subjected to some statistical techniques such as the Wilcoxon Signed-rank test and the Chi-square test. The results of data analysis indicated that intercultural sensitivity training promoted Iranian EFL students’ intercultural sensitivity level significantly and that there exists a statistically significant relationship between students’ language proficiency and intercultural sensitivity. This study in turn confirms the possibility of teaching intercultural sensitivity and is hoped, if generalized nationwide, to enrich foreign language teaching. It can also encourage ELT practitioners to give due weight to intercultural competence as a crucial component of modern language education.   34 A New Approach to Communication Strategies: The Case of Iranian EFL Teachers Rahmani Doqaruni Vahid m Yaqubi Baqer n m Mazandaran University n University of Mazandaran 1 3 2011 14 1 135 158 This study focuses on the use of communication strategies in teacher talk. While previous studies have presented communication strategies largely from an outside researcher's perspective, the aim in this paper is to move the focus to that of classroom contexts, especially EFL teaching contexts. Furthermore, it is argued that communication strategies should also be studied in the situated talk of the classroom teacher, and not just second language learners. Showing some examples from our database, we underscore the crucial role these devices play in classroom interaction. The participants were five non-native Iranian teachers. The data consisted of a total of fifteen recordings, made up of three lessons for each teacher. The detailed examination of the database revealed that the teachers in the study made frequent use of different types of communication strategy in their talk with students and these strategies were potentially an important aspect of teacher talk. The most important implications of this finding are that, first, an extended concept of communication strategies that moves beyond learners to include teachers' communication strategies should be taken into account and, second, developing these strategies are necessary for effective L2 communicative language use.     35 EFL Teachers' Efficacy Beliefs: Impacts of Gender, Experience, and Educational Background Tajeddin Zia o Khodaverdi Neda p o Allameh Tabataba’i University p Allameh Tabataba’i University 1 3 2011 14 1 159 182 In recent years the notion of teachers' professional development has featured regularly in the field of second language teaching and received great attention as a result of concerns for teacher education, particularly factors affecting teacher's principled pragmatism in the postmethod era. One such factor functioning as the focus of this study is teacher efficacy. Using Dellinger, Bobbett, Olivier, and Ellett's (2008) Teachers’ Efficacy Beliefs System-Self Form (TEBS-Self) (consisting of the six sub-scales of communication/clarification, management/climate, accommodating individual differences, motivation of students, managing learning routines, and higher order thinking skills), this study investigated the relationship between EFL teachers' expectation of their efficacy and the three teacher variables of gender, years of experience in EFL teaching, and relatedness of their education to ELT. As many as 59 EFL teachers were administered the TEBS-Self. Results showed that the three selected teacher characteristics did not affect teachers' evaluation of their efficacy. The findings imply that teachers need reflective teaching practice to develop a good understanding of their efficacy.