درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The present study explores the occupational prestige of the translation profession from both practicing and prospective translators’ viewpoints. The sample of the study included 142 translators and 115 prospective translators (translation students), who completed a survey on the occupational prestige of translation in Iran. The research incorporated two questionnaires as the instruments of the study. The first instrument was the general format of Dam and Zethsen’s (2008, 2011) Translators’ Assessment of the Occupational Prestige of Translation Checklist (henceforth TAOPT). For the second group, the questionnaire prepared by Ruokonen and Svahn (2022) was adapted and used. Based on the findings of the study, translation can be perceived as an art that draws on the knowledge, wisdom, and expertise of translators to provide the best translated target version of the materials. The results of the study disclose that while the participating prospective translators (translation students) perceived translation as a highly prestigious occupation, the majority of practicing translators displayed a more moderate perception of translation as a prestigious occupation. It was also found that participants considered translation’s occupational prestige to be strongly and consistently affected by various factors. It was concluded that translation as a profession requires evolutionary steps on the part of translators and related agencies and organizations in order to elevate the status of the field into a more prestigious and professional domain.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have emerged as transformative technologies in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education, offering immersive, adaptive environments that enhance learner engagement, retention, and motivation. This systematic review synthesized 48 peer-reviewed studies published between 2019 and 2024 to examine AR/VR applications, implementation strategies, challenges, and learning outcomes within EFL contexts. The researchers established inclusion criteria—English language studies published from 2019 onward in Scopus-indexed language teaching and learning journals, fully accessible online, and thematically aligned with research objectives—and applied exclusion criteria to studies that were non-English, dated before 2019, restricted in access, or published in low-impact or non-verified outlets. Data from the selected articles were imported into MAXQDA 24 for qualitative coding, yielding 64 open codes that were consolidated into 12 axial codes and further synthesized into six overarching themes: learner engagement, integration strategies, implementation practices, learner perceptions, adoption challenges, and language acquisition outcomes. Findings indicate AR/VR interventions significantly bolster engagement and linguistic competence when embedded within pedagogically sound frameworks, although technical constraints, cost considerations, and teacher readiness can hinder adoption. Educators should design scalable, user-friendly experiences and invest in targeted professional development to optimize outcomes. This review advances our understanding of AR/VR’s pedagogical potential in EFL settings by highlighting evidence-based practices and persistent challenges. It offers actionable recommendations for future research.

The study investigates the popularity, language use, and food menu naming of Thai cuisine on international social media by analyzing 210 Thai food dishes from Allrecipes, a leading cooking and recipe website. Data were categorized to identify popular dishes and the top six food groups were found: curry, Pad Thai, soup, sauce, rice, and noodles. Curry dishes, particularly green and red curry, are the most popular followed by Pad Thai and soups like Tom Kha Gai and Tom Yum. Thai food names are predominantly translated into English with additional descriptors. English transliterations are used for iconic and national dishes like Pad Thai and Tom Yum, reflecting a global preference for accessible names. A free program called HK Coder was employed to analyze the data, determine word frequency, and identify keywords. The linguistic analysis revealed frequent terms such as "Thai", "chicken", and "curry" highlighting the significance of national identity and key ingredients of Thai cuisine. Remarkably, a less traditional dish ‘Peanut Butter Noodles’ also received high ratings as a popular dish, indicating a blending of Thai flavors with Western preferences. The study provides insights into how Thai food is perceived and adapted internationally, contributing to the understanding of cross-cultural culinary exchanges.

Inclusion as an educational practice that has its roots in social justice promotes equal access to educational opportunities for all students irrespective of their special educational needs (SEN). The efficacy of such inclusive education largely depends on teachers, particularly their attitudes and skills for teaching students with SEN in mainstream classrooms. That being the case, teacher education programs play a crucial role in fostering these requisite skills and attitudes. This quantitative cross-sectional correlational study examines the attitudes, sentiments, and concerns of pre-service English language teachers regarding inclusive education. A total of 139 pre-service English teachers from five universities completed the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education–Revised Scale. Descriptive statistics and correlational analyses were used to analyze the data. The results indicated moderate attitudes towards inclusive education among the pre-service English language teachers. While their sentiments and concerns about inclusive education showed variations based on their prior coursework experience, their attitudes remained stable. Moreover, the attitudes and concerns of the participants did not reveal a significant correlation with their policy knowledge, but the sentiment scores showed statistically significant differences in the two groups. Finally, the amount of previous experience with SEN students did not significantly differ in terms of attitudes, sentiments, or concerns about inclusive education. The findings provide implications for foreign language teachers, teacher educators, and initial teacher education program developers.

This study examined the impact of AI-driven feedback on the writing complexity of Iranian intermediate EFL learners using a quasi-experimental design. Through convenience sampling, 100 participants (male and female, aged 18-25) from two language institutes in Tehran were divided into four groups: two experimental groups receiving direct and indirect feedback from AI ChatGPT, and two control groups receiving the same feedback types from their teacher. Participants completed a pre-test, ten writing tasks over 14 weeks, and a post-test. Results, analyzed via descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA, indicated notable improvements in writing complexity across all groups. The AI direct feedback group showed the highest improvement, with a mean difference of 5.24 (p < 0.05), followed by the teacher direct feedback group, which also demonstrated significant gains. The AI indirect feedback group exhibited moderate progress, while the teacher indirect feedback group showed the least improvement. Analysis of syntactic measures revealed that AI feedback, particularly direct feedback, effectively enhanced sentence structures and encouraged the use of more sophisticated vocabulary. These findings highlight AI-driven feedback’s potential to enhance EFL learners’ writing complexity, with direct feedback yielding the greatest benefits.

The emergence of technological advances dramatically changed the status of foreign language teaching forever, making computer-assisted language learning (CALL) into a key area in foreign language teaching and later a distinct academic discipline at higher education level. The present study describes the intended curriculum of a two-year post-graduate technology-enhanced language teaching program launched at Al-Zahra University, a women’s university in Tehran, Iran, as well as the national context within which the program was developed. It begins with a background on the significance of technology in education followed by a brief history of education in Iran. The main part of the paper describes the intended curriculum of the program from different perspectives including the aims and rationales, significance of the program, student profile (who takes it) and sources of the M.A. admission examination, abilities intended for graduates, courses of the program, syllabus and recommended readings, and assessment of the course outcomes. The paper finally concludes by discussing what is not included in the curriculum as well as the implications for teacher educators and suggestions for further research.

The control construction has attracted the attention of a considerable number of linguists since the early development of generative grammar. The present study examines the properties of PRO in Persian, adopting the syntactic approach developed in Kim’s (2003) theory of Merge Control within the minimalist framework. According to this theory, the control construction is fundamentally based on the theta-domain relation between PRO and its controller. The findings indicate that Kim’s theory of Merge Control addresses certain issues related to promise verbs, which challenge two key properties of PRO, namely, the locality and C-command conditions. Within this framework, there is no need to distinguish between obligatory and non-obligatory control; instead, the distinction should be made between complement and adjunct control clauses. Consequently, the violation of the proposed properties of PRO in Persian is resolved because the theory accounts for the objects of promise verbs in control constructions as adjuncts rather than complements. As a result, such objects are neither theta-marked by the promise verbs nor passivized, and they do not function as the controller of PRO.

The present study aimed to find the effect of artificial intelligence (AI)-mediated speaking assessment on speaking performance and willingness to communicate (WTC) of Iraqi EFL Learners. More specifically, the study sought to find whether AI-mediated speaking assessment enhance the speaking performance (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, and fluency) of Intermediate Iraqi EFL learners and whether AI-mediated speaking assessment enhanced their WTC in English. In so doing, 40 intermediate Iraqi EFL learners were randomly selected and assigned into experimental and control groups, each comprising 20 learners. The experimental group participants received ten 60-minute treatment sessions with ELSA Speech Analyzer, while the control group received no treatment. The speaking pre-test of both groups was run prior to the treatment, and all participants were post-tested at the end of the study. The Willingness to Communicate in a Foreign-Language Scale was also administered to groups prior to and after the treatment. A speaking assessment rubric, including vocabulary, grammar, intonation, pronunciation, and fluency, was used to assess the speaking performance of both groups. The findings demonstrated that AI-mediated speaking assessment enhanced the grammar, vocabulary, intonation, and fluency of the experimental group. However, the two groups did not differ in terms of pronunciation. Furthermore, this assessment tool enhanced the willingness to communicate with native speakers, the willingness to communicate with non-native speakers, and the willingness to communicate in the school context of this group. In general, the speaking assessment mediated by AI significantly enhanced the speaking performance and WTC of the learners. These findings might advance the current scholarly discourse on AI within the domains of language pedagogy and assessment.

A critical component of cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs) is a Q-matrix that stipulates associations between items of a test and their required attributes. The present study aims to develop and empirically validate a Q-matrix for the listening comprehension section of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). To this end, a listening comprehension test of the IELTS was administered to 820 Iranian test takers. According to theories, taxonomies, and models of second/foreign language (L2) listening comprehension, previous studies on the utility of CDMs to L2 listening comprehension, detailed content analysis of the test items, and consultation with several content experts, an initial Q-matrix was first developed. Through the technique suggested by de la Torre and Chiu (2016), along with checking heatmap plots and mesa plots using the GDINA package in R, the Q-matrix was then empirically validated. Generally, six attributes were extracted for the listening section, namely, (1) Linguistic knowledge (LKA), (2) understanding prosodic patterns (UPP), (3) ability to understand and make paraphrases (PAR), (4) ability to understand specific factual information such as names, numbers, and so forth (UFI), (5) ability to understand explicit information (UEI), and (6) ability to make inference (INF). Finally, the results of the fit of the GDINA model to the data, at both item and test levels, indicated the adequate model-data fit and the plausibility of the Q-matrix. The implications of the study were also discussed.

This research aims to develop a questionnaire that measures students’ attitudes toward collaborative course design and identifies any barriers that might hinder student participation in course design. The questionnaire was developed in four phases. First, an item pool was created based on experts’ opinions, relevant literature, and the researchers’ experience. Second, the items were classified into two main sections: “attitudes” and “barriers”, with the latter further divided into five subcategories (social and cultural, educational and institutional, individual, practical, and attitudinal). The content validity of the questionnaire was assessed, with all items and subcategories achieving CVR>0.59 and CVI>0.79, thus surpassing the minimum required threshold. Third, the questionnaire was piloted with 330 students. The construct validity of the Collaborative Course Design Questionnaire (CCDQ) was confirmed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as the extraction method, along with Varimax rotation, which identified six factors explaining 71.536% of the variance in the data. Finally, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated, yielding reliability indices ranging from 0.971 to 0.627, indicating internal consistency and reliability of the items within each construct. The findings suggest that the Collaborative Course Design Questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument suitable for use with senior high school students.