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Vocabulary learning has always been a great concern and has attracted the attention of many researchers. Among the vocabulary learning hypotheses, involvement load hypothesis and technique feature analysis have been proposed which attempt to bring some concepts like noticing, motivation, and generation into focus. In the current study, 90 high proficiency EFL students were assigned into three vocabulary tasks of sentence making, composition, and reading comprehension in order to examine the power of involvement load hypothesis and technique feature analysis frameworks in predicting vocabulary learning. It was unraveled that involvement load hypothesis cannot be a good predictor, and technique feature analysis was a good predictor in pretest to posttest score change and not in during-task activity. The implications of the results will be discussed in the light of preparing vocabulary tasks.

This study examined the effect of explicit and implicit instruction on second language learners' implicit knowledge of English past simple tense. Fifty-nine intermediate Persian learners of English took part in this study receiving either explicit or implicit instruction about the grammatical feature at classroom setting. Their ability to use the structure was measured at three times through a timed grammaticality judgment task and an elicited oral imitation task. Data was analyzed using ANOVA. Results showed explicit and implicit instruction promoted the use of the target structures in both timed grammaticality judgment task and elicited oral imitation task equally effectively. Findings of this study do not support superiority of explicit instruction over implicit instruction in promoting second language implicit knowledge.

One of the most problematic areas of learning English as a foreign or second language is learning phrasal verbs (PVs) in collocation with certain nouns. The present study was designed to test a procedure called the word fork technique to help intermediate EFL students to develop their collocative competence in using PVs. A group of 30 intermediate Iranian EFL students were randomly selected. They were given a pre -test and a post -test each in two phases. In order to check the efficacy of using the word fork technique in developing the participants' collocative competence in using PVs they were required to devote a time period of about 15 to 20 minutes of each class session practicing PVs, using the newly developed technique. This lasted for 20 session. Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that the new technique can efficiently help the target population to improve their collocative competence in using PVs in specific and their communicative ability in English in general.

Introduction: Iranian students of health need to bone up on their academic English to be able to read the English sources of health as a factor contributing to community health promotion. In the Iranian academia, students are placed in Basic and General English courses not on the basis of proficiency levels, but on the basis of their academic majors with the same protocol, teaching materials, and methodology used for these heterogeneous classrooms leading to failure and dissatisfaction in the use of academic English as a vehicle for increasing their knowledge of community health. This study investigated the effect of English proficiency homogenization on linguistic proficiency of Iranian students of health as a means of health enhancement via reading English sources. Materials & Methods: In this quasi-experimental study conducted in 2018, the Cambridge Placement Test was given to 71 students of three health majors at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences selected with convenient sampling method. The students were divided into three language ability groups using placement test percentiles and taught with two different protocols which were used till the midterm exam. The midterm exam was given and the data were collected and analyzed with SPSS20 using descriptive statistics, i.e., frequency, percentiles, mean, and standard deviation and also inferential statistics, i.e., one-way ANOVA, Levene statistic, Tukey HSD, and independent T-test. Results: A significant difference was found between the three groups on the placement test (p=0.015); there was no significant difference among the three different academic majors with regard to Criterion-referenced Test (CRT) scores (p=0.05); there was no significant difference among the three Norm-referenced Test (NRT) forms (Forms A, B, & C) (p=0.05); also, there was a significant difference among the two CRT forms (Forms A, B) (p=0.05). Regarding the placement test, the significance indices demonstrated a significant difference between group A, on the one hand, and groups B and C, on the other with no significant difference between groups B and C (p=0.05). The findings of the second part of the post hoc test showed a significant difference for the midterm exam between Group A, on the one hand, and Group B and Group C (p=0.05), on the other, with no significant difference between groups B and C (p=0.05), indicating the success of the present study. Conclusion: The students of health should be grouped in Basic English and EGP courses, not based on their academic majors, but based on their English proficiency levels for a successful English pedagogy leading to successful use of English texts of health as a means of promoting health community.