In today's interconnected multicultural world, citizens' differential levels of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) can play an important role in the amount of enthusiasm, time, and efforts they invest in second or foreign language (L2) communication and learning. ICC has recently found its way into L2 theory and research. This study attempted to first develop a measure of ICC and then explore the relationship between Iranian L2 learners' ICC and their L2 learning motivation, on the one hand, and between gender and the development of ICC, on the other. The participants were 180 B.A. English Literature/Translation and M.A. TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) students at several Iranian universities. A test battery including the final version of the ICC questionnaire and an L2-learning motivation questionnaire adapted from Gardner's attitude/motivation test battery was then administered to a random selection of 70 students (M = 30 and F = 40). The correlation results indicated that there was a strong, positive relationship between L2 learners' ICC and L2-learning motivation. Meanwhile, t-test results demonstrated that Iranian female and male L2 learners did not possess different levels of ICC. The finding related to the ICC and motivation association suggests that an account of ICC development be incorporated into L2 teachers' classroom agendas at different educational levels.

The Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) model provides a basis for integrating motivational dynamics and technological affordances into the design and implementation of instructions to maintain learner motivation and interest. Little attention has been paid to this potential in teaching the complex and often demotivating skill of second/foreign-language (L2) writing. This study examined synergistic effects of ARCS-flipped teaching on Iranian English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ expository-writing performance and motivation. Participants were 59 EFL learners in two intact classes who were assigned to two groups. In the experimental group, the ARCS model was integrated into the flipped writing course. Hybrid Edmodo plus face-to-face learning spaces were used to implement ARCS strategies alongside the instruction. In the control setting, the model was implemented in the face-to-face writing course. A data-triangulation approach, comprising writing tasks, the Course Interest Survey, and semi-structured interviews was adopted. ANCOVA results showed that the ARCS-flipped group outperformed the face-to-face group in their writing performance. Furthermore, the motivational-technological synergy led to more increased learner motivation. Learners’ retrospective perceptions revealed that the flipped features of flexibility, learner-centeredness, relaxed environment, interactivity seamlessness, and collaboration appealed to the learners’ varied time-space preferences, which, in turn, stimulated their motivation, learning engagement, and writing performance.

Recent second/foreign language (L2) research has witnessed the application of sociocultural tenets to L2 classrooms. This study aimed to probe whether Iranian L2 learners’ engagement in ZPD-activated collaborative dialogue, or ‘languaging’, mediates their learning process and, specifically, their appropriate use of metadiscourse to address content, organisation and audience issues in writing. English-as-a-foreign-language-writing classes at two universities were assigned to four different instructional conditions, namely, ZPD-activated collaborative, ZPD-free collaborative, fine-tuned L2-input provision and prevalent teacher-fronted approaches. The data comprised metadiscourse-oriented writing test scores, weekly writings and audio-recorded in-class collaborative dialogues of the ZPD groups. The results demonstrated the ZPD-activated collaborative writing approach significantly facilitated the learners’ appropriate use of metadiscourse. Complementary interpretative analysis of the ZPD participants’ metadiscourse-related episodes showed that the initially-other-regulated (undistributed) writing tasks became progressively reciprocal with less-skilled peers displaying microgenetic use of L2 metadiscourse resources and dynamically assuming more participatory roles in regulating the writing tasks. The findings suggest engagement in ZPD-activated ‘languaging’ is crucial to shaping opportunities for L2 learners’ microgenetic learning and to their longer term cognitive development. In sum, the application of sociocultural tenets and notions has shown to be highly fruitful in explaining the social genesis of L2 development as a higher order psychological functioning.

Given the significance of boredom and its detrimental effects on the English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ academic achievements, this study utilised an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design to initially explore the boredom factors in EFL classes among a sample of 139 university students and then develop and validate the Precursors of Students’ Boredom in EFL Classes (PSBEC) in the context of Iran. Confirmatory factor analysis, based on the data from 991 university students, resulted in the confirmation of eleven-factor model of the PSBEC scales introducing eleven factors as the main precursors: (a) teaching practices, (b) excessive class control, (c) inattentive behaviour, (d) overchallenge, (e) underchallenge, (f) intrinsic values, (g) extrinsic values, (h) negative affective factors, (i) boredom proneness, (j) classroom-related factors, and (k) curriculum design. Moreover, the PSBEC scales showed good convergent validity with the Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and the Perceived Teachers’ Enthusiasm (PTE) scales. The PSBEC scales also negatively correlated with students’ academic achievements except for boredom due to underchallenge, supporting the ecological validity. The findings help teachers assess the boredom-inducing factors in EFL classes and find ways to avoid boredom and its detrimental effects on their EFL students.