رضا غفارثمر

The significance of research article (RA) abstract as a key academic genre has recently motivated analysts to focus on this neglected area. Considering a summary function for abstracts, most genre researchers have adopted the conventionally proposed Introduction- Method- Results- Discussion (or Conclusion) (IMRD) model for analysis. However, the problems reported, especially for Results and Discussion sections, question the vitality of such accounts and prompt further scrutiny. Moreover, in spite of claims about disciplinary and cultural variations which can affect communication within and across discourse communities, sufficient contrastive studies which address the Iranian academics' need to communicate with and participate efficiently in the international discourse communities are scarce. Inspired by English for Specific/Academic Purposes tradition of genre analysis, this paper tries to fill these gaps presenting a comparative generic analysis of soft sciences abstracts to see what the characterizing features of the texts of Iranian scholars and their international peers are. The macro-structure, micro-structure, and some features of 100 experimental RA abstracts taken from a number of reputable Iranian (Persian) and international (English) journals were analyzed and explained drawing upon some existing rigorous models. The results revealed similarities in the presence of Introduction, Method, and concluding units, while there were also differences in the realization of units, Moves, and Steps. It is argued that the differences can point to the varying cultural norms and values of the two groups. Plus, considering the inadequacy of the four-way macro-model, an alternative three-way model was suggested, instead. Some implications of the study are discussed, too

A rich research base suggests that high-stakes tests reforms serve as vehicles for promoting quality of learning, standards of teaching, and credible forms of accountability. Iran’s last decade policies to reform its University Entrance Examinations (UEEs) heralded such a case. What sparked off this reform was the long-lasting pernicious impact of the UEEs on curriculum, instruction, learning, and on societal values and access to the upward social mobility. However, attempts to introduce intended changes are often not as effective as their planners hoped. A scrutiny of change ‘antecedent conditions’ as well as its initial ‘process of diffusion’ i.e., a ‘baseline study’ will ameliorate such a failure (Weir & Roberts, 1994, Fekete et al, 1999). Assessing the feasibility of the UEEs reform through such a ‘baseline study’ is a gap in Iran’s reform initiatives. As such, the authors applied Henrichsen’s (1989) Hybrid Diffusion Model (HDM), underscoring an awareness of and a need for evaluation of any changed program from a multiplex of factors, as its theoretical framework to critically evaluate the reformed program. The paper thus first presents the policy deliberations and steering National Documents that pushed through an assessment-led reform in Iran’s education. Then it sketches a detailed discussion of the contextual policies and practices of the long-lasting UEEs program, its alternative and associated stakes. While the results highlight key political dynamics which drove national policymaking, they are suggestive of the challenges, controversies, and risks that thwart the success rate of ideals intended by the underpinning policies.

511 commercial emails from four Asian countries, namely China, Pakistan, India, and Iran have been analyzed in a mixed-method design. The focus of the study is on the two features of politeness and intimacy. In the quantitative analysis, the model proposed by Brown & Levinson (1987) and that of Coulmas (2005) which have drawn upon the features of indirectness in requesting and the length of letters as the indicators of politeness are used. In the qualitative and descriptive analysis formality in salutation and opening clause as well as the use of abbreviated forms are taken into account. The result shows that Iranians use the most polite style in their business letters, while Chinese use the most intimate discourse. On the other hand, Indians use both the least polite and intimate style in their business letters. Pakistanis’ use of polite and intimate style is not as conspicuous as that of Iranians and Chinese respectively. The findings are hoped to help better inter-cultural understanding, especially with respect to written rhetorical characteristics.

این تحقیق به بررسی تأثیر فعالیت های تمرکزی(focused tasks) بر روی پیشرفت توانش کاربردی زبان آموزان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجه پرداخته است. بدین منظور، محققین تأثیر آگاهی انگیزی (Consciousness Raising) به عنوان یک فعالیت ورود محور واملاء-انشاء) Dictogloss که یک فعالیت مشارکتی تولیدی محسوب می گردد) را به عنوان یک فعالیت تولید محور مورد مقایسه قرار داده اند. در آغاز، 147 زبان آموز انگلیسی ایرانی با شرکت در مطالعه، محققین را در ساخت ابزار تحقیق یعنی پرسشنامه درک، تستهای تشخیص و تولید یاری نمودند. در همین راستا، 43 بومی آمریکایی انگلیسی زبان برای ساختن تست تشخیص و مواد آموزشی برای انجام تحقیق دعوت به همکاری شدند. برای انجام تحقیق، 60 زبان آموز انگلیسی فارسی زبان بر اساس نمراتشان درآزمون سطح آکسورد (2004) به دو گروه همگن تقسیم گردیدند. این گروهها به طور تصادفی در یکی از شرایط آموزشی آگاهی انگیزی به عنوان یک فعالیت ورود محور و املاء-انشاء به عنوان یک فعالیت تولید محور قرار گرفتند. این دو فعالیت برای ارائه آموزش به مدت هشت جلسه مورد استفاده قرار گرفتند. براساس نتایج پرسشنامه و تستها، تأثیر آموزش(از پیش آزمون تا پس آزمون اول) و زمان (از پس آزمون اول تا پس آزمون دوم) باعث تفاوت معناداری بین دو گروه نگردید. نتایج پرسشنامه و تستها نشانگر پیشرفت معنادار شرکت کنندگان در هر دو فعالیت در پس آزمون اول و دوم نسبت به پیش آزمون میباشد. شرکت کنندگان در هر دو فعالیت توانستند تأثیر مثبت آموزش را در پس آزمون دوم بر روی پرسشنامه درک و تست تولید حفظ نمایند. اما در مورد تست تشخیص، شرکت کنندگان در فعالیت تولید محور نتوانستند تأثیر مثبت آموزش را در پس آزمون دوم حفظ نمایند.

This paper is an attempt to shed light on the effects of modernization, urbanization, monolingual educational system, and mass media as well as the process of globalization on dialect leveling among Persian dialects. In so doing, the first part of the paper elaborates on the relationship between globalization and sociolinguistics, and on the concept of standardization. Also, it discusses some factors accelerating dialect leveling among Persian dialects. The second part of the paper presents some empirical evidence for the change, based on the data collected from 3 Persian dialects, namely: Birjandi, Neyshaboori, and Yazdi. Three spoken language sample corpora from two age cohort groups in each speech community were collected. Having transcribed the data, the researchers juxtaposed the phonological, morphological, and syntactic conventions of the two groups of each speech community for further in-depth analysis. Comparing the speech samples of the two age cohorts in each corpus revealed significant movements towards standard dialect. However, the quality and quantity of the observed movements did not appear to be the same across the dialects in question.

Section 115 of Iranian constitution reads: "The president should be among the political, religious 'rejal' …". The word 'rejal' taken from Arabic language means 'men'. Some Iranian politicians believe that the word has the same meaning in Persian, therefore, women cannot lead the country as presidents; while, others argue that 'rejal' can now refer to both sexes, therefore women can be elected as presidents. This, study tackles the issue from a sociolinguistic perspective. To do this, we need to find if the word 'rejal' is now a Persian word borrowed from Arabic, or, it is an Arabic word to which Persian speakers switch. About eleven hours of sociolinguistic interviews were conducted with 10 Persian speakers and all nouns (Arabic or Persian) were extracted from the data and later subjected to analyses to describe the linguistic behavior of each category in its own context. Then the behavior of nouns in each context is compared to that of the other contexts. Our findings show that Arabic origin nouns are found to be behaving like Persian nouns, they have, therefore, been borrowed into Persian and have Persian connotations and functions. Evidence is, therefore, presented to the 'Persianness' of 'rejal', shedding scientific light on a political problem.

The present study is an attempt to contribute to the L2 acquisition research through finding an appropriate answer to the question usually asked by both language teachers and learners, namely how to learn vocabulary and how to retain meanings in memory over time. We have chosen to discover the effects of two major types of productive exercises, writing and oral production exercises, on the remembrance of word meanings over time: 24 hours, one week, and one month after learning the vocabulary. For this purpose, two linguistically homogeneous L2 classes received ten sessions of treatment each: in one of these classes, 100 vocabulary items were practiced through controlled writing exercises and the other class practiced the same items through controlled oral exercises. The preliminary results indicate the positive influence of oral production exercises on meaning rememberance over time, i.e., after one month, while the two exercise types did not show any significant differences in their effects on in class vocabulary learning processes.