Books by Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Cambridge University Press, 2021
John Benjamins TBLT Series
De Gruyter Mouton, 2017
Contributors (no particular order):
• María del Pilar García Mayo, Agurzane Azkarai and Ainara ... more Contributors (no particular order):
• María del Pilar García Mayo, Agurzane Azkarai and Ainara Imaz Agirre
• Peter Robinson
• Martin Bygate
• Hoa Nguyen and Diane Larsen-Freeman
• Claire Kramsch & Jean-Paul Narcy-Combs
• Andreas Muller-Hartman and Marita Schocker
• Jonathan Newton
• Edward Wen
• Martin East
• Laura Gurzynski-Weiss
• Remi A van Compernolle
• Lawrence Williams
• Caroline Payant
Papers by Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
This study investigated the differential effects of implicit and explicit instruction of refusal ... more This study investigated the differential effects of implicit and explicit instruction of refusal strategies in English and whether and how the impacts of instruction methods interact with learners’ working memory capacity (WMC). 78 learners of English were assigned to three groups (explicit, implicit, and control). Implicit instruction was operationalized through input enhancement and provision of recast. In the explicit instruction group, participants received description and exemplification of refusal strategies and were provided with explicit corrective feedback. Prior to the treatment, all participants took WMC test, Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and completed a pragmatics comprehension questionnaire (CQ). Results revealed that explicit instruction was more effective than implicit instruction for both production and comprehension of refusals and that both implicit and explicit groups maintained the improvement in the delayed post-test administered two months later. In addition, whilst WMC scores were positively and strongly correlated with gains in the immediate and delayed post-test for both DCT and CQ in the implicit group, no meaningful relationship was found for explicit and control groups. The unique feature of this research is demonstrating that explicit instruction of refusal strategies equalizes learning opportunities for all learners with differential levels of WMC.
This study examined how English language learners and teachers perceive and interpret task repeti... more This study examined how English language learners and teachers perceive and interpret task repetition (TR) and whether teachers’ and learners’ views about this pedagogic practice correspond to one another. In addition, the study explored learners’ cognitive and affective engagement with task repetition. We asked eight experienced language teachers to use a structured picture description task in their classes and then to repeat it with a one-week interval. Immediately after the second occasion of task performance, all eight language teachers and 21 language learners who had performed the task participated in semi-structured interviews. The results of thematic analysis revealed that although students’ and teachers’ views about TR were similar in many respects, there were important aspects where teachers’ and learners’ perceptions and interpretations differed widely. Also, we found evidence demonstrating that learners were cognitively and affectively engaged in TR.
CANADIAN MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW (UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS)
This study utilized quantitative analyses complemented by the retrospective data obtained through... more This study utilized quantitative analyses complemented by the retrospective data obtained through stimulated recall procedure to address three interrelated issues: (a) whether second language learners use online planning opportunity to carefully plan their speech in order to enhance the quality of the language they produce, (b) what kinds of self-repair behavior the pressured and careful online planning conditions are likely to induce speakers to make, and (c) the way careful online planning affects EFL learners oral L2 performance as measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Thirty intermediate EFL learners were asked to perform an oral narrative task under careful and pressured online planning conditions. Results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed that L2 learners use the planning time to monitor their speech for grammatical accuracy, to retrieve and monitor the appropriate lexical items, and to plan the message they were about to communicate, respectively. In addition, it was found that careful online planning condition induces learners to execute more error repairs and less appropriacy and different-information repairs compared to the pressured online planning condition. An analysis in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures testified to the positive effects of careful online planning on L2 oral performance.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Springer
This study explores the relationship between working memory capacity and self-repair behavior in ... more This study explores the relationship between working memory capacity and self-repair behavior in first (L1) and second language (L2) oral production. 40 Iranian intermediate EFL learners participated in this study. Their working memory capacity was measured via a version of listening span test. The participants performed two oral narrative tasks, one in their L2 (English) and one in their L1 (Farsi). Then, they were asked to listen to their own narrations and comment on the repairs they made in their speech. Self-repairs were analyzed and categorized taking into account the participants’ stimulated recall comments. Results of the analyses pointed to positive correlations between the participants’ working memory capacity and self-repairs in the L2 but not in the L1. Also, results revealed that whereas in the case of L1, the participants effectuated different-information and appropriacy repairs more than error-repairs, in the case of L2 more error-repairs were made.
The study reported in this article aimed to investigate the way working memory capacity (WMC) int... more The study reported in this article aimed to investigate the way working memory capacity (WMC) interacts with careful online planning—a task-based implementation variable—to affect second language (L2) speech production. This issue is important to teachers, because it delves into one of the possible task-based implementation variables and thus could assist them in making empirically informed decisions in the classroom. It also bears significance for second language acquisition (SLA) researchers, in that it could help them test claims regarding the nature of interlanguages as well as the validity of speech production models that are essential in discussing the role and psycholinguistic functioning of planning in L2 performance and L2 acquisition (Ellis, 2005, 2009).
The purpose of the study reported in this article was twofold: First, to see whether guided caref... more The purpose of the study reported in this article was twofold: First, to see whether guided careful online planning assists intermediate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in accurate oral production of English articles (an/a and the); and, second, to see whether guided careful online planning has any effects on global complexity and fluency of intermediate EFL learners’ oral language performance. Forty-five intermediate EFL learners were required to perform an oral narrative task under three planning conditions: guided careful online planning, unguided careful online planning, and pressured online planning (n = 15). Results pointed to the positive effects of guided careful online planning on the accurate production of English articles as well as the global complexity of language in learners’ speech. However, compared to pressured online planners, the global fluency of guided and unguided careful online planners was adversely affected.
This article reports on a study which was primarily aimed at investigating the effects of simulta... more This article reports on a study which was primarily aimed at investigating the effects of simultaneous use of careful online planning and task repetition on accuracy, complexity, and fluency in the oral production of EFL learners. The effects of four planning and task repetition conditions (i.e. careful online planning without task repetition, pressured online planning with task repetition, careful online planning with task repetition, and pressured online planning without task repetition) on learners’ accuracy, complexity, and fluency in producing English language were investigated. Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners (n=60) were randomly selected and assigned to the four task conditions. The results obtained from one-way ANOVAs revealed that the opportunity to engage simultaneously in careful online planning and task repetition enhances accuracy, complexity, and fluency significantly. The obtained results also have some implications for teachers and practitioners in EFL context.
Action research is geared to changes for the better and has the potential to assist teachers to e... more Action research is geared to changes for the better and has the potential to assist teachers to extend their teaching skills and develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their classroom and their learners. However, in the area of applied linguistics, the viability of action research has been seriously questioned. In this article, we argue that adopting a complexity‐theory perspective, which requires teachers to be dynamic and complex in their approach, helps in identifying action research as a suitable research tradition for investigating second‐language classrooms and in turn using it widely to invigorate the field of applied linguistics. Our argumentation is supported by the fundamental links between action research and complexity theory as an emerging paradigm in education. Although the case made in this article concerns second‐language classrooms, the conclusions reached may well apply to any classroom that shares some commonalities with second‐language classrooms.
To date, research results suggest that task repetition positively affects oral task performance. ... more To date, research results suggest that task repetition positively affects oral task performance. However, researchers have not yet shown the extension of the benefits of repeating the same task to performance of a new task. This article first provides an overview of the currently available research findings on task repetition and then presents the results of a six-month study which aimed to find out whether or not the effects of massed repetitions of the same task carry over to performance of a new task. Thirty intermediate EFL learners from two intact classes participated in this study. Participants in the experimental group were required to engage in a dialogic narrative task on Occasions 1 to 11 and then an interview task on Occasion 12, each occasion being two weeks apart. Participants in the control group, meanwhile, were only required to perform the oral narrative task at Time 1 and to engage in the interview task at Time 12. Results revealed that massed repetitions of the same task assisted subjects in the experimental group to outperform those in the control group in terms of complexity and fluency but not accuracy. In conclusion, it is claimed that the benefits of massed repetitions of the same task transfer to performance of a new task but not necessarily in all areas of performance.
This study investigates the combined effects of task-based careful online planning condition and ... more This study investigates the combined effects of task-based careful online planning condition and the storyline structure of a task on L2 oral performance (complexity, accuracy, and fluency). 60 intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 15). Participants were asked to perform two tasks with different degrees of storyline structure (structured and unstructured) under two different planning conditions (pressured online planning and careful online planning). Analysis of the narrations and the results of a series of one-way ANOVA revealed that the participants who performed the structured task under careful online planning condition produced reasonably more complex, accurate, and fluent language. However, those who performed the unstructured task under pressured online planning condition obtained the lowest scores in terms of all three areas of oral production. The findings add support to the view that selecting appropriate task-based implementation conditions and task design features could induce language learners to produce the kind of output which enjoys complexity, accuracy, and fluency at the same time.
A ‘task’ can be defined as a meaning-focused pedagogic activity in which learners need to rely on... more A ‘task’ can be defined as a meaning-focused pedagogic activity in which learners need to rely on their linguistic and non-linguistic resources in order to achieve a communicative outcome (Ellis 2009a). Since the early 1980s, the notion of task has been widely used in ELT circles, and previous Key Concept articles on task (Rubdy 1998) and task-based language teaching (Foster 1999) note that initial debates centred around: (a) providing a working definition for a task, (b) designing classificatory schemes for grading and sequencing tasks, and (c) examining the effects of different types of tasks on L2 development. In addition to these themes, researchers and practitioners have also been concerned with task design and implementation, implementation being considered in terms of pre- and post-task activities. One of the implementation variables that has attracted researchers’ interest is ‘task repetition’.
Applied Research in English (University of Isfahan), Feb 27, 2013
Microgenetic method is a specific method for studying change in abilities, knowledge, and underst... more Microgenetic method is a specific method for studying change in abilities, knowledge, and understanding during short time spans, through dense observations, and over a relatively long period of time. In this paper I will attempt to provide a brief overview of microgenetic method and will point out its potential advantages and disadvantages in the context of second language acquisition. To illustrate the utility of microgenetic method in SLA research, I will then discuss a SLA-related issue which could be addressed via this research method, namely the effects of written corrective feedback on L2 acquisition.
Several studies have examined the effects of task repetition and task recycling on L2 oral produc... more Several studies have examined the effects of task repetition and task recycling on L2 oral production. The net finding of these studies speaks to the effectiveness of this task-based implementation variable on L2 production (measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency). However, so far no published work has addressed whether/how such individual difference variables as working memory capacity (WMC) could interact with the effects of task repetition on L2 oral production. This article reports on a study which aimed to investigate the way working memory capacity regulates the effects of task repetition on L2 oral production. 42 intermediate EFL learners participated in this study. Participants were asked to take a modified version of TOEFL iBT in order to make sure that they are of the same level of proficiency. A listening span task was used to measure their working memory capacity. Participants performed an oral narrative task twice with a two-week interval and their L2 oral production was measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Results revealed that there is a relationship between WMC and the extent to which participants benefit from task repetition, such that in the second occasion of task performance, participants with greater WMC produced more fluent and accurate language.
Vague language (e.g. thing, somewhere) is one of the linguistic features which typically differen... more Vague language (e.g. thing, somewhere) is one of the linguistic features which typically differentiate the language use of a native or near-native speaker from that of a language learner since native speakers typically make abundant use of vague expressions. Thus far, however, there has been no published research on how features of pedagogic tasks might encourage L2 learners’ production of vague expressions. The present study sets out to examine whether and how task structure affects the number and type of vague expressions used by a group of higher-intermediate EFL learners. The participants were 50 Iranian EFL learners from six intact classes, all native speakers of Persian with limited opportunity to communicate with native speakers of English, and no experience in English-speaking countries. To elicit data, two picture description tasks were used. These picture-stories possessed the defining characteristics of structured and unstructured narrative tasks, respectively. Results revealed that (a) unstructured tasks were associated with the production of significantly more vague expressions; and (b) the most notable differences between performances on the two task types concerned ‘vague nouns’, ‘vague quantifiers’, ‘vague deintensifiers’ and ‘vague subjectivisers’. The results of the study have implications for both teachers and teacher educators in that they may help identify the kinds of tasks which induce language learners to use vague expressions more frequently.
Journal Editor by Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2016
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Books by Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
• María del Pilar García Mayo, Agurzane Azkarai and Ainara Imaz Agirre
• Peter Robinson
• Martin Bygate
• Hoa Nguyen and Diane Larsen-Freeman
• Claire Kramsch & Jean-Paul Narcy-Combs
• Andreas Muller-Hartman and Marita Schocker
• Jonathan Newton
• Edward Wen
• Martin East
• Laura Gurzynski-Weiss
• Remi A van Compernolle
• Lawrence Williams
• Caroline Payant
Papers by Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Journal Editor by Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
• María del Pilar García Mayo, Agurzane Azkarai and Ainara Imaz Agirre
• Peter Robinson
• Martin Bygate
• Hoa Nguyen and Diane Larsen-Freeman
• Claire Kramsch & Jean-Paul Narcy-Combs
• Andreas Muller-Hartman and Marita Schocker
• Jonathan Newton
• Edward Wen
• Martin East
• Laura Gurzynski-Weiss
• Remi A van Compernolle
• Lawrence Williams
• Caroline Payant