Papers by mojtaba khatami
This empirical study investigates the relationship between mindfulness and online engagement amon... more This empirical study investigates the relationship between mindfulness and online engagement among Bangladeshi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners during the Covid-19 pandemic. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative data from the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS) and the Online Student Engagement Scale (OSES) with qualitative data from open-ended responses. A total of 215 university students participated in the study, providing insights into their mindfulness levels and engagement in online learning. Quantitative analyses, including descriptive and regression analyses, revealed no significant correlation between mindfulness and online engagement. Reliability analysis indicated that while the OSES demonstrated acceptable internal consistency for this population, the LMS showed poor reliability across subscales, raising concerns about its validity for Bangladeshi EFL students. Qualitative data were analysed using descriptive phenomenology, which highlighted a shift in students' locus of control during online learning, often manifesting as feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Participants reported that mindfulness practices did not adequately mitigate pandemic-related stress or support their engagement. The findings suggest that mindfulness alone may not be effective in enhancing student engagement in online EFL contexts within non-Western settings. The study calls for policymakers to prioritise the development of resilient online learning infrastructures, improve internet accessibility, and incorporate culturally sensitive approaches to student well-being in digital education environments.
Exploring Bangladeshi EFL Learners’ Mindfulness and Engagement in Online Learning Context
The study investigates the relationship between Bangladeshi English as a Foreign Language(EFL) le... more The study investigates the relationship between Bangladeshi English as a Foreign Language(EFL) learners’ mindfulness and their engagement in online learning context due to Covid-19. Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS) and Online Student Engagement Scale (OSES) were employed to gather data from 215 male and female Bangladeshi university students on a voluntary basis. Descriptive and regression analyses revealed that there was no significant relationship between mindfulness and online student engagement. Thematic analysis of respondents’ interview data collected through open-ended questions revealed that more than 80% of Bangladeshi EFL students preferred in-person classes due to unreliable internet connection, stress, anxiety, and lack of interaction with teachers and peers. The study suggests that policy makers should prioritize promoting internet access and reliability to facilitate effective online classes, which could alleviate stress and anxiety among students and provide a platform ...
The Journal of AsiaTEFL, 2021
In recent years, amid a chaotic lifestyle, high workload and low salaries offered, people have pa... more In recent years, amid a chaotic lifestyle, high workload and low salaries offered, people have paid increasing attention to the phenomenon of burnout, particularly in human services professions. If people are over-exhausted and too committed to themselves, they may have burnout syndrome. According to Farber (1991), burnout is a work-related syndrome, and it occurs most often in those who work face to face with troubled and needy clients (students/customers). Burnout is a work-related condition that most commonly happens in people dealing with people, according to Farber (1991). Research shows that teaching is one of the top five most stressful careers in the world (Coombe, 2008). Survey data suggests that teaching is considered a 'high stress' profession, where approximately one-quarter of teachers view teaching as extremely stressful (Kyriacou, 2001). Teacher burnout is an issue that deserves attention as teachers must create a classroom atmosphere that fosters learning. Survey results show that education is viewed as a "high burden," where about a quarter of teachers consider teaching to be highly stressful (Kyriacou, 2001). Teacher burnout is a problem that deserves attention because teachers need to build an environment in the classroom that promotes learning. Burnout is described in Maslach's research as a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with other people in some capacity (Maslach et al., 2001). Burnout is characterized as a psychological syndrome of emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and decreased personal output among people who work in some capacity with others. Emotional exhaustion (EE) refers to feelings of being emotionally overextended and depleted of one's emotional resources. Depersonalization (DP) refers to a negative, callous, or excessively detached response to other people, who are usually the recipients of one's services or care (Maslach, 1993, pp. 20-21). Reduced personal accomplishment is described as "a person's negative self-evaluation concerning his or her job performance" (Schaufeli et al., 2017, p. 17). The social relationships with the people in professionals' care are the most apparent characteristic of occupations wherein burnout is an issue. A social psychological perspective that focuses on these relationships can be instrumental in acquiring a closer understanding of burnout. Burnout can be detrimental for both the teachers and the recipients of teaching, namely the learners. Burnout devastates the psychological, mental, and physical health of the suffering person (Neveu, 2007). Burnout may lead to negative attitudes associated with the person and thus causing withdrawal from the job, declining job fulfilment, leaving the
The Possible Relationship Between Mindfulness and Academic Achievement among Iranian EFL Learners
I. INTRODUCTIONIn recent limes, English has become the language of "globalization accepted a... more I. INTRODUCTIONIn recent limes, English has become the language of "globalization accepted as an international language for communication between people with different mother tongues over a wide area. Therefore, learning and teaching English have become so important in second and foreign contexts. Consequently, to develop the main goals of education, the students' learning and the quahty of teaching, efficient and effective methods and approaches to teaching English should be taken into consideration. Teachers, through managing students' behavior in the classroom and creating a positive learning environment, might be able to teach more efficiently and provide more help to learners with their academic achievement (Wentzel, 2002).Over the past 15 years interest has grown rapidly in the benefits of mindfulness practice. There is significant data showing that mindfulness increases health and well-being via reducing stress, anxiety, and depression; enhancing neuroendocrine and immune system function; improving adherence to medical treatments; lessening necessity for medication; changing perception of pain; increasing motivation to make lifestyle changes; and encouraging social connection and refined interpersonal relations (Ludwig & Kabat-Zinn2008).Research Questions & HypothesisIn order to meet the purpose of the study, the following research question was formulated: "Is there any significant relationship among mindfulness and academic achievement?" And based on the research question, the researchers have proposed the following null hypothesis: "There is no significant relationship among mindfulness and academic achievement."II. REVIEW LITERATUREA. MindfulnessEastern and western traditions are considered to provide a foundation for the definition of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a contemplative practice that traces its origins back to eastern Philosophy particularly Buddhism and the Noble Eightfold Path (Snelling, 1991; Kornfeld, 2009). The online Oxford English Dictionary defines mindfulness or being mindful as: "taking, heed; being conscious or aware". Mindfulness has been defined in various ways in the literature. Brown and Ryan (2003), for example, define it as receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experience. According to Bishop et al. (2004), mindfulness refers to both the self-regulation of attention to one's current experience and a particular orientation towards this experience, characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance. For Kabat-Zmn (2003), mindfulness involves intentionally paying sustained attention to one's ongoing sensory, cognitive, and emotional experience, without elaborating upon or judging any part of this experience. The concept of mindfulness has been developed and expounded primarily by the psychologist, Ellen Langer. Mindfulness is not an easy concept to define but it can be best understood as the process of drawing, novel distinctions. It does not matter whether what is noticed is important or trivial as long as it is new to the viewer. Actively drawing these distinctions keeps us situated in the present. It also makes us more aware of the context and perspective of our actions than if we rely upon distinctions and categories drawn in the past. Under this latter situation, rules and routines are more likely to govern our behavior, irrespective of the current circumstances, and this can be constructed as mindless behavior (Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000:1-2).B. Achievement from the Point of View of Construct RepresentationIn the Standards for test construction (APA, 1999), achievement is viewed basically as the competence a person has in an area of content. This competence is the result of many intellectual and nonintellectual variables. The scientific study of achievement encompasses data coming from experiments with word fists as well as data from the acquisition of complex domains, like computer programming, mathematics, or the way in which people solve physics problems. …
The current study aims at examining the effect of employing NetSupport School program as Local Ar... more The current study aims at examining the effect of employing NetSupport School program as Local Area Network software on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary retention and reading comprehension. So, sixty female learners as students of high school after a proficiency test were selected as the participants of this study, and were divided into two groups of experimental and control. The experimental group received the treatment which included the use of NetSupport School on a Local Area Network platform, over four-month-period. The control group was taught the same syllabus on the printed texts as placebo. The data analysis of the pre-test and the post-test demonstrated that the students' retention of words in experimental group was enhanced by LAN-based teaching of vocabularies, while it was not so in the control group. A t-test analysis was done as the means of statistical analysis. Moreover, the results of the reading test exhibited that LAN-based teaching of vocabu...
Environment and Social Psychology
The present study aimed to investigate the possible relationship between teachers’ creativity and... more The present study aimed to investigate the possible relationship between teachers’ creativity and students’ critical thinking among intermediate English as a foreign language learner in Iran. The study involved 100 university students majoring in English translation and teaching English as a foreign language and three of their teachers. The researchers recruited participants randomly and used two instruments, Honey’s critical thinking questionnaire, and Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to collect data. The findings revealed that there was a moderate positive correlation between teachers’ creativity and students’ critical thinking, indicating that teachers who are more creative tend to promote critical thinking skills in their students. The study has several pedagogical implications, including classroom instruction for enhancing critical thinking skills among students. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of promoting creativity among English language teachers to fa...
The present study aimed to investigate the possible relationship between teachers' creativity and... more The present study aimed to investigate the possible relationship between teachers' creativity and students' critical thinking among intermediate English as a foreign language learner in Iran. The study involved 100 university students majoring in English translation and teaching English as a foreign language and three of their teachers. The researchers recruited participants randomly and used two instruments, Honey's critical thinking questionnaire, and Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to collect data. The findings revealed that there was a moderate positive correlation between teachers' creativity and students' critical thinking, indicating that teachers who are more creative tend to promote critical thinking skills in their students. The study has several pedagogical implications, including classroom instruction for enhancing critical thinking skills among students. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of promoting creativity among English language teachers to facilitate critical thinking skills in their students. This can be done through teacher training programs that emphasize creativity and critical thinking. Additionally, the study suggests that creating a classroom environment that encourages creativity and critical thinking could lead to expected effective learning for students. In conclusion, this study adds to the existing literature on the relationship between creativity and critical thinking and provides insights for English language teaching in Iran.
Critical Thinking, Mindfulness and Academic achievement
This work examined the correlation among critical thinking, mindfulness and academic achievement ... more This work examined the correlation among critical thinking, mindfulness and academic achievement among intermediate Iranian (EFL) Learners. A34 multiple-choice item questionnaire on the basis of critical thinking, a 15- item Likert- scale questionnaire based on mindfulness and a31 multiple-choice reading comprehension test were employed in this study. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 220 participants from among 250 university students majoring in English translation and TEFL were selected through administering a standardized Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Having applied the proficiency test,first the California Critical Thinking Questionnaire was administered, then the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale questionnaire was administered and finally the reading comprehension test selected from Actual TOEFL Test (2004)was carried out among the participants. The results showed that there was no correlation between critical thinking and reading comprehension;neither was any correlatio...
The Journal of AsiaTEFL, 2018
Critical Thinking and A-CALL among Iranian EFL Learners. Int. J. Appl. Ling. Stud. 5(2): 22-25. www.ijals.science-line.com
This study examined the correlation between critical thinking and A-CALL among intermediate Irani... more This study examined the correlation between critical thinking and A-CALL among intermediate Iranian (EFL) Learners. A30 multiple-choice item questionnaire on the basis of critical thinking and 20item Likert-scale questionnaire based on A-CALL were employed in this study. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 220 participants from among 250 university students majoring in English translation and TEFL were selected through administering a standardized Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Having applied the proficiency test, first the Critical Thinking Questionnaire bye Honey (2000) was administered, then the ACALL scale questionnaire bye Jalali & Ardebili (2013) was carried out among the participants. The results showed that there was no correlation between critical thinking and A-CALL. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher made some recommendations for teaching, teacher training, materials development, and syllabus design.
This study examined the correlation between critical thinking and A-CALL among intermediate Irani... more This study examined the correlation between critical thinking and A-CALL among intermediate Iranian (EFL) Learners. A30 multiple-choice item questionnaire on the basis of critical thinking and 20-item Likert-scale questionnaire based on A-CALL were employed in this study. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 220 participants from among 250 university students majoring in English translation and TEFL were selected through administering a standardized Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Having applied the proficiency test, first the Critical Thinking Questionnaire bye Honey (2000) was administered, then the A-CALL scale questionnaire bye Jalali & Ardebili (2013) was carried out among the participants. The results showed that there was no correlation between critical thinking and A-CALL. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher made some recommendations for teaching, teacher training, materials development, and syllabus design.
Critical thinking & Intercultural Communication In Learning Environment
Nowadays intercultural communication or the willingness to consciously understand and use cultura... more Nowadays intercultural communication or the willingness to consciously understand and use cultural learning skills considered as an important and interesting topic in recent researches. In other words critical thinking or the ability to analyse is another significant and effective issue in learning/teaching processes. So this study investigates the relationship between these two significant issues on EFL learners in Iran. In fact the paper aims at determining if there is a correlation between them. The results declared that there is a positive linear correlation since the resulted correlation coefficient is 0.44 at p?0.05.
In recent years, amid a chaotic lifestyle, high workload and low salaries offered, people have pa... more In recent years, amid a chaotic lifestyle, high workload and low salaries offered, people have paid increasing attention to the phenomenon of burnout, particularly in human services professions. If people are over-exhausted and too committed to themselves, they may have burnout syndrome. According to Farber (1991), burnout is a work-related syndrome, and it occurs most often in those who work face to face with troubled and needy clients (students/customers). Burnout is a work-related condition that most commonly happens in people dealing with people, according to Farber (1991). Research shows that teaching is one of the top five most stressful careers in the world (Coombe, 2008). Survey data suggests that teaching is considered a 'high stress' profession, where approximately one-quarter of teachers view teaching as extremely stressful (Kyriacou, 2001). Teacher burnout is an issue that deserves attention as teachers must create a classroom atmosphere that fosters learning. Survey results show that education is viewed as a "high burden," where about a quarter of teachers consider teaching to be highly stressful (Kyriacou, 2001). Teacher burnout is a problem that deserves attention because teachers need to build an environment in the classroom that promotes learning. Burnout is described in Maslach's research as a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with other people in some capacity (Maslach et al., 2001). Burnout is characterized as a psychological syndrome of emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and decreased personal output among people who work in some capacity with others. Emotional exhaustion (EE) refers to feelings of being emotionally overextended and depleted of one's emotional resources. Depersonalization (DP) refers to a negative, callous, or excessively detached response to other people, who are usually the recipients of one's services or care (Maslach, 1993, pp. 20-21). Reduced personal accomplishment is described as "a person's negative self-evaluation concerning his or her job performance" (Schaufeli et al., 2017, p. 17). The social relationships with the people in professionals' care are the most apparent characteristic of occupations wherein burnout is an issue. A social psychological perspective that focuses on these relationships can be instrumental in acquiring a closer understanding of burnout. Burnout can be detrimental for both the teachers and the recipients of teaching, namely the learners. Burnout devastates the psychological, mental, and physical health of the suffering person (Neveu, 2007). Burnout may lead to negative attitudes associated with the person and thus causing withdrawal from the job, declining job fulfilment, leaving the
Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 2017
This study examined the correlation of attention, awareness and academic achievement among interm... more This study examined the correlation of attention, awareness and academic achievement among intermediate Iranian (EFL) Learners. A 15-item Likert scale questionnaire based on mindfulness and a 31 multiple-choice reading comprehension test were employed in this question study. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 220 subjects from among 250 university students majoring in English translation and TEFL were selected through administering a standardized Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Having applied the proficiency test, first the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale questionnaire was administered and then the reading comprehension test selected from Actual TOEFL Test (2004) was carried out among the participants. The results showed that a positive correlation between mindfulness and reading comprehension. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher made some recommendations for teaching, teacher training, materials development, and syllabus design.
Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 2017
This study examined the correlation between critical thinking, mindfulness and academic achieveme... more This study examined the correlation between critical thinking, mindfulness and academic achievement among intermediate Iranian (EFL) learners. A34 multiple-choice item questionnaire on the basis of critical thinking, a 15-item likert-scale questionnaire based on mindfulness and a 31 multiple-choice reading comprehension test were employed in this study. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 220 participants from among 250 university students majoring in English translation and TEFL were selected through administering a standardized oxford placement test (opt). Having applied the proficiency test, first the California critical thinking questionnaire was administered, then the mindfulness attention awareness scale questionnaire was administered and finally the reading comprehension test selected from actual toefl test (2004) was carried out among the participants. The results showed that there was no correlation between critical thinking and reading comprehension; neither was any correlation between mindfulness and critical thinking. The correlation between mindfulness and reading comprehension was positive. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher made some recommendations for teaching, teacher training, materials development, and syllabus design.
Nowadays intercultural communication or the willingness to consciously understand and use cultura... more Nowadays intercultural communication or the willingness to consciously understand and use cultural learning skills considered as an important and interesting topic in recent researches. In other words critical thinking or the ability to analyse is another significant and effective issue in learning/teaching processes. So this study investigates the relationship between these two significant issues on EFL learners in Iran. In fact the paper aims at determining if there is a correlation between them. The results declared that there is a positive linear correlation since the resulted correlation coefficient is 0.44 at p≤0.05.
The current study aims at examining the effect of employing NetSupport School program as Local Ar... more The current study aims at examining the effect of employing NetSupport School program as Local Area Network software on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary retention and reading comprehension. So, sixty female learners as students of high school after a proficiency test were selected as the participants of this study, and were divided into two groups of experimental and control. The experimental group received the treatment which included the use of NetSupport School on a Local Area Network platform, over four-month-period. The control group was taught the same syllabus on the printed texts as placebo. The data analysis of the pre-test and the post-test demonstrated that the students' retention of words in experimental group was enhanced by LAN-based teaching of vocabularies, while it was not so in the control group. A t-test analysis was done as the means of statistical analysis. Moreover, the results of the reading test exhibited that LAN-based teaching of vocabularies could change the passive vocabulary knowledge of the experimental group into an active one.
Thesis Chapters by mojtaba khatami
ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY EXAMINED THE CORRELATION BETWEEN CRITICAL THINKING, MINDFULNESS AND ACADEMIC ... more ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY EXAMINED THE CORRELATION BETWEEN CRITICAL THINKING, MINDFULNESS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG INTERMEDIATE IRANIAN (EFL) LEARNERS. A34 MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEM QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE BASIS OF CRITICAL THINKING, A 15- ITEM LIKERT- SCALE QUESTIONNAIRE BASED ON MINDFULNESS AND A 31 MULTIPLE-CHOICE READING COMPREHENSION TEST WERE EMPLOYED IN THIS STUDY. TO FULFILL THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY, 220 PARTICIPANTS FROM AMONG 250 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND TEFL WERE SELECTED THROUGH ADMINISTERING A STANDARDIZED OXFORD PLACEMENT TEST (OPT). HAVING APPLIED THE PROFICIENCY TEST, FIRST THE CALIFORNIA CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ADMINISTERED, THEN THE MINDFULNESS ATTENTION AWARENESS SCALE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ADMINISTERED AND FINALLY THE READING COMPREHENSION TEST SELECTED FROM ACTUAL TOEFL TEST (2004) WAS CARRIED OUT AMONG THE PARTICIPANTS. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THERE WAS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN CRITICAL THINKING AND READING COMPREHENSION; NEITHER WAS ANY CORRELATION BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND CRITICAL THINKING. THE CORRELATION BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND READING COMPREHENSION WAS POSITIVE. BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY, THE RESEARCHER MADE SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHING, TEACHER TRAINING, MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT, AND SYLLABUS DESIGN.
KEYWORDS: CRITICAL THINKING, MINDFULNESS, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, EFL LEARNERS
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Papers by mojtaba khatami
Thesis Chapters by mojtaba khatami
THIS STUDY EXAMINED THE CORRELATION BETWEEN CRITICAL THINKING, MINDFULNESS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG INTERMEDIATE IRANIAN (EFL) LEARNERS. A34 MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEM QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE BASIS OF CRITICAL THINKING, A 15- ITEM LIKERT- SCALE QUESTIONNAIRE BASED ON MINDFULNESS AND A 31 MULTIPLE-CHOICE READING COMPREHENSION TEST WERE EMPLOYED IN THIS STUDY. TO FULFILL THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY, 220 PARTICIPANTS FROM AMONG 250 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND TEFL WERE SELECTED THROUGH ADMINISTERING A STANDARDIZED OXFORD PLACEMENT TEST (OPT). HAVING APPLIED THE PROFICIENCY TEST, FIRST THE CALIFORNIA CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ADMINISTERED, THEN THE MINDFULNESS ATTENTION AWARENESS SCALE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ADMINISTERED AND FINALLY THE READING COMPREHENSION TEST SELECTED FROM ACTUAL TOEFL TEST (2004) WAS CARRIED OUT AMONG THE PARTICIPANTS. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THERE WAS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN CRITICAL THINKING AND READING COMPREHENSION; NEITHER WAS ANY CORRELATION BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND CRITICAL THINKING. THE CORRELATION BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND READING COMPREHENSION WAS POSITIVE. BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY, THE RESEARCHER MADE SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHING, TEACHER TRAINING, MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT, AND SYLLABUS DESIGN.
KEYWORDS: CRITICAL THINKING, MINDFULNESS, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, EFL LEARNERS