Ali Derakhshan is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the English Language and Literature Department, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran. He gained his MA in TEFL from the University of Tehran and his PhD in Applied Linguistics from Allameh Tabataba’i University. He was selected as a distinguished researcher by the Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran in 2021. He has been a member of the Iranian Elites Foundation since 2015. He has published in both accredited international journals (Review of Educational Research, Computers and Education, Language Teaching Research, System, Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, ELT Journal, Current Psychology, Asia Pacific Education Researcher, Educational Studies, Frontiers in Psychology, etc.) and various local journals. His research interests are positive psychology, teacher education, learner individual differences, and cross-cultural interpersonal factors in educational psychology, interlanguage pragmatics, and intercultural communication.