درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This longitudinal study investigated the impact of different Frequency Patterns (FP) on the syntactic production of a six-year-old EFL learner in a home context. Target syntactic constructions were presented using games and plays and were traced for their occurrence patterns in input and output. Following each instruction period, the constructions were measured through immediate and delayed oral tests for their effects on the oral production. Instructional and measurement sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed into instruction and measurement corpora. Based on their occurrence rates in input and output, target constructions were categorized into High Input/High Output (HIHO), Low Input/Low Output (LILO), High Input/Low Output (HILO), and Low Input/High Output (LIHO) frequency patterns. Friedman procedure revealed significant differences among the learner’s production scores of the constructions with varying FPs. Wilcoxon signed-rank test located significant differences between the constructions with LILO and HIHO and those with HILO and HIHO frequency patterns. The study found that HIHO frequency pattern, in comparison, was the most efficient in developing productive acquisition of syntactic constructions by an EFL young learner. That is to say, instructor's input coupled with learner's output in the form of prompted, reformulated or spontaneous language, played a key part in heightening syntactic production of English as a foreign language. The findings can cast more light on the constantly debated issue of Teacher Talk Time (TTT) and Student Talk Time (STT) and it can be concluded that there should be a balance between TTT and STT so as to yield optimal L2 production gains.

Translation is almost always conducted within a certain socio-cultural framework with its particular ideology. In the present study, the application of various shift types in two legal translations was examined to show how socio-cultural and ideological inclinations of the translator affect adequacy and acceptability in translation. Two legal texts in English (the Geneva Interim Agreement and NPT) and their Persian translations released by IRI’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs formed the corpus of the study. The analysis of the translations indicated the lack of ideological and cultural shifts and the presence of structural and stylistic shifts. Legal texts are highly sensitive and need the utmost precision in their translation. These requirements could make ideological and cultural shifts out of the question in legal translation. The results, therefore, suggest that in legal translation training, attention should be devoted to structural and stylistic shifts.  As for the adequacy and acceptability, it was also observed that translated texts cannot be totally adequate or totally acceptable; the poles of adequacy and acceptability are on a continuum, and translators move between these two extremes.

Nowadays, English language plays an important role in the job of engineers and it is necessary to become familiar with engineers’ objectives, attitudes, and expectations in order to have an appropriate course design. The purpose of this study was to explore the needs analysis of English learning of engineers in Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO). This study aimed at investigating the required level of language skills in performing their jobs effectively, the employees’ attitude towards their English professional courses, their professional needs, their language skills and tasks, and the difficulties they face while studying a language. A questionnaire consisting of 25 items was distributed among the engineers working at ten sections of ESCO. In addition, interviews and observations were done in order to increase the reliability of the research. Time, financial resources, and worker expectations ask for more reliable methods to provide a better situation in the workplace. Based on the findings obtained from this study, it can be concluded that receptive skills were perceived as a bit more important than the productive skills to perform the job effectively and the revision of the current professional training programs seems to be necessary to offer appropriate ESP course curriculum.

The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) Approach claims that there are some universalities in all languages. Speech acts seem to be present in all languages, but considering this approach, research has not indicated whether request speech act differs from one language to another. Thus, this study intended to investigate whether request strategies are used differently in English and Persian romantic novels and whether Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach can be considered in English and Persian requests. To reach these objectives, the corpus consisting of two English and Persian romantic novels were used. It was analyzed using Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984)’s classification. Results indicated that mood derivable was the most frequent request strategy in both novels. Moreover, a statistically significant difference was not observed between request strategies in English and Persian romantic novels and thus the Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach can be considered in English and Persian requests. The conclusion drawn is that considering the applicability of this approach, both American and Iranian native speakers can presumably use imperative structures, with the politeness marker please or without it, as a request strategy, when the interlocutors are close friends or members of the same family.

This study intended to investigate the interplay of critical thinking explicit instruction, academic writing performance, critical thinking ability, and critical thinking dispositions of Iranian students. To this end, 140 students of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences (73 males and 67 females) were selected. They were divided into the experimental and control groups. Both groups received instruction in academic writing course for 15 weeks 3 hours per week. However, the experimental group received instruction integrated with critical thinking strategies. The students in both groups were administered pre- and post-instruction tests to examine the effectiveness of instruction. Three instruments were utilized in this study including, the researcher-developed essay test, Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test, and California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI). Descriptive statistics and independent-samples t-test were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and the control groups. The results also showed that some CCTDI subscales were not significantly different at the posttest such as, truth-seeking, cognitive maturity, and open- mindedness, whereas the mean posttest scores of other CCTDI subscales had significant difference such as, analyticity, CT inquisitiveness, CT self-confidence, and systematicity. The experimental group had a higher score in the academic writing test compared with the control group. Changes in students’ critical thinking ability, academic writing performance, and their critical thinking dispositions suggest that the CT techniques have been fruitful, and more efforts should be made to integrate the explicit instruction in critical thinking into academic courses.

The review of the literature indicates EFL teachers’ sense of efficacy has been influenced by cognitive and affective factors. Socio-economic factors may also influence EFL teachers’ sense of efficacy directly and their teaching effectiveness indirectly. One of the socioeconomic variables is the quality of work life (QWL). This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between EFL teachers’ quality of work life and their teaching efficacy.  Ninety High school English teachers from Sistan and Baluchestan were selected. The data of the study were collected through two adapted instruments and analyzed through Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis. The results of the study showed that Iranian EFL teachers perceived themselves as having a good level of teaching efficacy. The results also showed that there was a significant correlation between all dimensions of QWL and teachers’ teaching efficacy except for “adequate and fair compensation” is significant at a P value of 0.05, but only one dimension of QWL could predict teachers’ teaching efficacy. Therefore, it could be strongly argued that teachers’ QWL is not the only influential factor in teaching efficacy.