درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study aimed to overcome the researchers' extreme attention to essentially qualitative methods in research on language learners' imagined communities and move towards quantification in order to achieve a more tangible image of this construct. To do so, the present researchers followed three main phases. First, a hypothesized model of language learners' imagined communities with eight components was developed for the Iranian context based on the wide-ranging readings of the literature on imagined communities, consultations with experts and interviews with language learners. Second, a questionnaire was developed and validated based on the model to represent its components. Finally, the data collected through the questionnaire were fed into the model to see to what extent the model fit the data. The initial results showed poor values; however, the model was trimmed by removing one item from the questionnaire, and final statistical indices showed that the model was fit.

The current study was conducted to discover the impact of the positive assessment on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners speaking skill and their self-efficacy. To accomplish the research, 40 Iranian females (17 to 8 years old) were selected from Shokooh Andishe Language Institute in Mashhad. A KET test which administered to determine the participants’ level of proficiency. Then, they were divided into two groups, one control group and one experimental group (each included 20 participants). Two instruments, including KET speaking test and a self-efficacy questionnaire, were administrated to both groups as pretests. The experimental group received the treatment based on the principles of positive assessment i.e. using phrases such as very good, excellent, giving small gifts, using thrilling labels and so forth. At the end of the study, the same instruments (as post-tests) were conducted to collect the required data for the analysis. To measure the statistical differences between the means of two groups, some independent samples T-tests were calculated. The results of the analyses indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group both in the case of speaking skill and self-efficacy. The findings of this research might be useful for EFL teachers and EFL learners, also they can be helpful for training programmers, institutes, and course designers.

Although discrete research on pragmatic and grammatical awareness is well-visited in second language acquisition, the exploration and assessment of these two variables in tandem in standardized language proficiency tests has not garnered thick literature. On this ground, this study attempted to examine the correlation of both pragmatic and grammatical awareness with IELTS speaking Part 3. To this end, 120 homogenized Uzbek IELTS-taken applicants were asked to fill out pragmatic and grammatical awareness questionnaire adopted from Albertson (2011) followed by IELTS speaking Part 3 administration in order to obtain a correlation between pragmatic awareness and IELTS speaking Part 3 as well as grammatical awareness and IELTS speaking Part 3, respectively. The results of data analyses via running Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that both pragmatic awareness and grammatical awareness were significantly correlated with IELTS speaking Part 3. The findings imply that building on these two types of awareness would probably help learners increase their performance on IELTS speaking Part 3. Additionally, the students’ awareness-raising on pragmatic aspect of language in IELTS speaking Part 3 upon which interaction is based could probably convince the examiners on IELTS speaking venues that they are fully aware of pragmatic items and their conveyed message would not be misunderstood.

Translation studies essentially deals with a socio-communicatively driven and contextualized enterprise. Viewed hence, it seems that no discipline tends to provide the possibility of studying the interrelations between interlocutors to generate meaning within the interactive social context as precisely as sociolinguistics (Federici, 2018). A sociolinguistic approach to translation seems to be increasingly gaining ground, at the crossroads of Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) and sociology within the sociological turn (Wolf, 2010). Accordingly, the present study took a sociolinguistic approach to shed some light on The Great Gatsby (1925) and its Persian translation by Emami (2000). In so doing, an extended version of Hatim and Mason’s (1997) sociolinguistic model was employed to examine the texts in question. The source text (ST) and its target text (TT) version were investigated at both textual and extra-textual levels in light of the model’s respective sub-components. The results of this comparative study, analyzed individually for each register variable, revealed that the translator dealt rather superficially with both use-related categories of register variation like tenor and user-related aspects like idiolect. By contrast, the predominant features of literary expression were mostly retained in the translation.

Research evidence reported to date demonstrates the differential effects of manipulating second language (L2) task conditions on the resultant production as measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The present study was aimed at adding to the available body of findings by exploring the synergistic effects of two task condition variables, namely online planning and immediacy (± Here/Now) on L2 oral discourse. For this purpose, 60 Iranian intermediate learners of English as a foreign langue (EFL) were asked to perform the task of narrating a story based on a sequenced set of pictures under four conditions (i.e., Here/Now and pressed online planning, Here/Now and careful online planning, There/Then and pressed online planning, There/Then and careful online planning). The results of statistical analyses revealed that carefully planning speech while performing the task consistently assists complexity and accuracy, but negatively affects fluency of speech. Besides, it was observed that carrying out the same task using the past tense without contextual support (i.e., There/Then), if coupled with careful online planning, simultaneously enhances complexity and accuracy. Performing a task in Then/There also reduces fluency. Interestingly, it was also found out that the opportunity to carefully plan online while performing the task in There/Then exponentially increases complexity and accuracy with strong negative effects on fluency. Lastly, pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed regarding the contribution of task condition to directing learners’ attention and their L2 speech quality.

Metadiscourse is a set of linguistic ties used to communicate attitudes and denote the grammatical attributes of a text. The present study was conducted to inspect using hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in the well-known Persian and English psychology books. Based on the chosen corpora of the study, this inquiry purposed to realize what the general preferences are in the use of hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in Persian and English psychology books. The corpora of four psychology books, two by Persian- speaking psychologists and two by English-speaking psychologists, were chosen and analyzed based on Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse. The data obtained and collected from the chosen corpora were analyzed by Ant Conc 3. 5 . 7 and SPSS statistical software. By analyzing the corpora of the study quantitatively, it is resulted that Persian-speaking psychologists used more metadiscourse markers than that of English-speaking psychologists in their books. Secondly, it is detected that Persian-speaking psychologists used fewer hedging metadiscourse markers in their books than that of their English-speaking counterparts. Thirdly, it is found that Persian-speaking psychologists used more boostering metadiscourse markers in their books than that of their English-speaking counterparts. Next, it is realized that Persian-speaking psychologists used more singular first-person self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in their books; however, their English-speaking counterparts used more plural third-person self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in their books. In addition, textual analysis has shown the difference of Persian and English sub-corpora in using hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers.