Abstract-This study investigated the effect of implementing flipped classrooms on Iranian junior high school students' reading comprehension. To this end, 50 Iranian pre-intermediate students were chosen and randomly assigned into two equal groups; one experimental group (flipped classroom) and one control group (traditional classroom). After that, both groups were pretested through a reading comprehension test. Then, the researchers put the respondents of the experimental group in a flipped classroom. The flipped classroom was equipped with Internet, computer and projector. The students were required to read each text before coming the class and discuss it with their classmates. On the other hand, the control group was taught in the traditional classroom. Before teaching each text, the researchers provided background knowledge for the control group and after teaching each text, the students were required to answer some questions related to the text. The whole treatment lasted 8 sessions of 50 minutes. In the last session, the post-test of reading comprehension was administered. The results of paired and independent samples t-tests indicated that there was a significant difference between the post-tests of the experimental and the control groups. The findings revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group (p < .05) on the post-test.

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Abstract-A multitude of factors are involved in learning a second language, among which knowing ample vocabulary plays a crucial role. Despite many efforts for vocabulary learning, one of the first problems of foreign language learners, especially Iranian EFL learners, is how to commit lots of foreign words to memory. The present study aimed to compare three vocabulary learning strategies (flashcard strategy, sentence writing method, and vocabulary notebook strategy) with the traditional way of vocabulary learning (repetition) among Iranian elementary EFL learners to find out which one was the most efficient approach to vocabulary learning and best increased long-term retention of meaning. To do this end, four groups (three experimental groups and one control group) were chosen to take part in the experiment. The groups were all homogenized in the wake of administering a vocabulary pretest, and then each of the experimental groups was exposed to its pertinent treatment. After the completion of the experiment, and in the light of a vocabulary posttest, the results showed that there existed differences among the four strategies in terms of vocabulary learning and retention. In terms of vocabulary learning, the difference among the four groups was significant, but the difference on posttest which examined the long-term retention of the new vocabularies was not statistically significant. The study revealed that flash card strategy was the best strategy for vocabulary learning process among elementary level learners.

This study was intended to investigate the relationship between working memory, anxiety and Iranian EFL learners' listening comprehension. For the purpose of this study, 60 Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners were selected among 80 students at a private language institute in Hamadan, Iran. They participated in a homogeneity test (Oxford Quick Placement Test) to determine their homogeneity level. At first, two working memory span tests was administered to participants. Moreover, foreign language listening anxiety questionnaire and listening comprehension tests were applied as another data gathering instruments. Pearson's Product moment correlation and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. It was revealed that there was a strong, negative relationship between FL listening comprehension and listening anxiety. The study showed that a large number of the students experience high level of anxiety. Consequently, they were poor in their listening comprehension test implementation. Also, regarding working memory, it was found that working memory is an efficient and paramount prophesier for EFL listening comprehension. Learners with larger working memory capacity more likely have better abilities in listening. In addition, this study provides some pedagogical implications on EFL teaching.

Upward migration of distal catheter of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt with coiling is very rare. Pseudocyst and galactorrhea are known breast-related complications. Here, we report a 13-year-old girl, known case of myelomeningocele and shunted hydrocephalus, who presented with right breast pseudocyst due to distal tube migration and coiling of the catheter. Plain radiography was not diagnostic because of severe levoscoliosis, but chest computed tomography scan was confirmatory of shunt coiling lateral to the breast. The possible mechanisms causing this uncommon complication are described.

The present study aimed at investigating the possible relationships among learner autonomy (LA), willingness to communicate (WTC), and communication strategy (CS) use, and examining the predictive power of WTC and LA in accounting for CS use. To do so, 102 available Iranian EFL learners were recruited, and three questionnaires were employed to tap into their LA, WTC, and CS use. Conducting Pearson correlation revealed that there was a weak, positive, yet statistically significant relationship between LA and CS use, and there was a moderate, positive, and statistically significant relationship between WTC and CS use. In addition, multiple regression analysis was conducted several times (eight times to examine the roles of LA and WTC in the eight components of CSs, and once to examine their roles in the prediction of CSs as a whole composite construct). The results of data analysis revealed that WTC was found, by and large, to be a better predictor of CSs than LA. More specifically, WTC could significantly predict these components of CSs: fluency-oriented strategies, negotiation for meaning while speaking, accuracy-oriented strategies, message reduction and alteration strategies, nonverbal strategies while speaking, and message abandonment strategies. LA, on the other hand, was a significant predictor of the social affective strategies component of CSs. The results of this study demonstrated the impact of LA and WTC on CSs, and thus call for due attention to the LA and WTC in L2 learning contexts.Contribution/ Originality: The paper's primary contribution is finding that WTC can better account for CS than LA, and that such of the components of CS as fluency-oriented strategies, negotiation for meaning while speaking, accuracy-oriented strategies, message reduction and alteration strategies, nonverbal strategies while speaking, and message abandonment strategies could be predicted by WTC. On the other hand, the only CS component which could be predicted by LA was social affective strategies. In a nutshell, the contribution of the present study lies in the fact that it investigated the roles of WTC and LA in the components of CSs.

The present study attempted to explore the effects of employing shadowing and tracking on Iranian EFL learners' speaking fluency. From among 112 intermediate Iranian EFL learners at Jahad Danesheshgahi Language Institute in Isfahan, Iran, 60 were selected in the wake of administering the Preliminary English Test and divided into four groups: shadowing group (SG), tracking group (TG), shadowing and tracking group (STG), and control group (CG). The data elicitation techniques employed as the pre-test and post-test were semi-structured interviews in which learners answered several questions. Fluency scores were derived out of the formula suggested by Yuan and Ellis (2003). One-way between-groups ANOVA and paired samples t test were used to make between-groups and within-group comparisons and to discern whether the participants in each group could gain an advantage from their specific methods of instruction. The analysis of the obtained data via SPSS indicated that (a) the successful performance of the participants in the experimental groups was shown to be attributable to using shadowing and tracking techniques as tools for improving oral fluency, and that (b) among these experimental groups, STG was shown to be significantly better than the SG, which in turn was significantly better than TG.