محمدحسن رزمی

Individual differences in personality traits can influence students' ability to learn a new language. Among the important personality traits, perfectionism has recently been the topic of investigation in second language acquisition research. Following this line of research, the current study aims at examining a path model linking dimensions of perfectionism to second language (L2) listening comprehension through mediating effects of subscales of self-efficacy along with the use of metacognitive listening strategy (MLS). A sample of 230 English as a foreign language (EFL) participants majoring in Translation studies and English Literature completed the perfectionism, general self-efficacy, and MLS questionnaires and took an IELTS listening comprehension test. The sample included 112 juniors (48.7 %), and 118 seniors (51.3 %) selected through convenience nonrandom sampling. Cluster analysis was used to identify three perfectionistic clusters: adaptive, maladaptive, and non-perfectionists. The results of a path analysis revealed that perfectionism and MLS use were the most significant variables in the proposed conceptual model. While correlational analyses in this study revealed significant relationships among self-efficacy components and listening comprehension, the overall total effects were not significant. Adaptive perfectionism significantly contributed to the MLS use and listening ability (LA). Perfectionism also contributed significantly to the effort and persistence self-efficacy components. In contrast, perfectionism did not significantly influence the initiative self-efficacy subscale. Implications of this study are discussed.

The present paper sought to investigate gender differences in the speech pauses made by Iranian bilingual (L1: Turkish and L2: Persian) learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). To this end, the pauses made by males and females were compared. Via an Oxford Placement test, a convenient sample of 40 bilingual advanced EFL male and female learners were selected from several English language institutes in Tehran, Iran. Three reading passages (English, Persian, and Turkish) were used to measure students’ fluency in terms of their speech pauses in the texts they read. As learners started to read the passages, their speeches were recorded. The collected data were analyzed by means of Praat Software. The data were analyzed in terms of the frequency and duration of the recorded pauses. The results indicated that that there were not any statistically significant differences between males and females regarding their pause frequency and duration across languages. Accordingly, the results represented more similarity than difference across the groups. The implications of the study results are discussed.

Since its inception in 1949, over 1,500 studies have investigated the validity of the GRE General Test to predict its performance criteria in higher education (Klieger, Bridgeman, Tannenbaum, & Cline, 2016). The present review paper sought to examine the predictive validity of the GRE General Test. Factors affecting the predictive validity (e.g., range restriction, compensatory selection, criterion unreliability, substantive and artifactual moderators, bias in testing, coaching effects, socioeconomic status (SES), gender, and a host of other intervening factors such as motivation, communication skills, etc.) have been discussed. A brief overview of GRE revised General Test format is also presented. After an account of the related review of the literature, a critical commentary on the predictive validity of the GRE General Test has been discussed with an emphasis on the role of criterion unreliability and SES factor effects. Keywords: Predictive validity, Graduate Record Examination (GRE), criterion unreliability, range restriction, compensatory selection