درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Although there is a large body of literature on the use of connectors by EFL learners in argumentative writing, African language learner groups are not represented and most studies have adopted a cross-sectional approach. This paper seeks to analyze how frequently connectors are used on the basis of pseudo-longitudinal data from first, second, and third-year undergraduate students from the Institute for Applied Pedagogy, University of Burundi. The study adopted the corpus linguistic and quantitative approaches. The data were collected through 2 writing assignments given to students in 2019. In total, 622 essays, amounting to 306,664-word tokens, were collected. Data preparation followed three steps, namely, typing the handwritten essays, preparing the TXT files, and metadata for the corpus. The latter was searched using AntConc tool, on the basis of a comprehensive list of 95 connectors, classified into 6 categories. The tool availed frequency information, that is, how often each connector occurs in the corpus. Percentages were computed using XLS facility and are presented in tables and graphs. Results indicate that 19 connectors were frequently used by learners, the most frequent ones being those which add information followed by those expressing a result relationship. However, connectors expressing transition and summation were found to be rarely used in the corpus. Another discovery is that learners in all three years of study seem to have the same preferences in terms of connectors. Furthermore, cases of misuse such as wrong combinations and incorrect spelling, semantic, stylistic and syntactic errors were observed at all levels. The findings of this study can be useful to learners, teachers, and material designers.

There is substantial debate over the mental representation of regular past tense forms in both first language (L1) and second language (L2) processing. Specifically, the controversy revolves around the nature of morphologically complex forms such as the past tense –ed in English and how morphological structures of such forms are represented in the mental lexicon. This study focuses on the results of a speeded acceptability judgment task testing English regular past tense forms of high- and low frequencies. In this task, participants judged the acceptability of sentences as quickly and accurately as possible. Thirty-two intermediate-to-advanced L1 Persian and L1 Arabic speakers (L2ers) and twenty-two Native speakers (NSs) of English made acceptability judgments for regular past tense forms of high- and low-frequency verbs in sentential contexts. Considering participants’ reaction times (RTs) and accuracy rates as the dependent variables, the main results are as follows. Despite NSs’ faster RTs and higher accuracy scores, both groups demonstrated the same pattern of accuracy rates and RTs. Specifically, for accuracy data, regular verbs yielded a reverse frequency effect or anti-frequency effect in both groups (i.e., lower accuracy rates for high- than low-frequency regular forms in NSs as well as L2ers). For RT data, while the NSs exhibited a marginally anti-frequency effect, the L2ers displayed a nonsignificant trend for the anti-frequency effect. These results support the dual-mechanism models suggesting that the mental mechanisms and representations of inflectional morphology are the same in NSs and intermediate-to-advanced L2ers.

The idea that individual characteristics impact the language learning process has led scholars to consider various aspects in relation to learners and their learning. The current study explored the associations among EFL learners’ language learning strategy use, instrumental motivation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, autonomy, and L2 achievement. To do this, 220 Iranian EFL learners (95 males and 125 females) took part in the study by filling out five questionnaires related to the abovementioned variables. The learners’ GPAs were also collected and adjusted and regarded as their L2 achievement. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to examine the causal relationships among the variables. The results showed that the use of language learning strategies, self-efficacy, and autonomy were significant positive predictors of L2 achievement. However, instrumental motivation and self-regulation did not predict L2 achievement. Furthermore, L2 achievement had the highest positive association with autonomy and the lowest positive association with self-regulation. The results are discussed in detail and the implications are presented.

Despite the voluminous body of research investigating linguistic, disciplinary, and cultural variations in citation practices in research articles, these practices have not been examined in light of the interplay between disciplinary conventions and research methodological underpinnings in the field of linguistics. Adopting a multi-faceted design, this study analyzed 180 research article introductions from two close-knit disciplines (Theoretical Linguistics and Applied Linguistics) to look into the contextualized citation functions and authorial evaluative stance toward citations. The corpus was purposively selected to sample three research methodologies. Comparisons were carried out at disciplinary, research methodological, and combinatory levels. The findings of the study show clear variations in the citation functions and evaluative stances taken toward citations. These variations are thought to be the result of the disciplinary conventions which authors must abide by as well as the paradigmatic underpinnings of the research methodologies which the articles are built upon, though the latter have greater impacts. As a partial contribution to the field of second language writing, a practical taxonomy is also proposed to account for the contextualized citation functions in the two disciplines. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications

It is argued that in our current digital era, MALL (mobile-assisted language learning) is an indispensable mode either for independent self-learning or for integrating with the school curriculum. The present study explores the possibility of using gamification as a home assignment in English as a foreign language course for students of non-English majors at a university in Vietnam. Data was collected and analyzed using 69 questionnaire responses and 41 essays written by students in a class of General English. The questionnaire and essay topic prompt required students to provide an evaluation of their personal experience learning English with Duolingo outside the classroom, as part of the compulsory home assignments during a 15-week semester. The questionnaire items were in Vietnamese and the essays were either in Vietnamese or English for students’ convenience. The results showed detailed benefits and problems of learning English with Duolingo as perceived by the students. The key benefits include the fact that Duolingo is a valuable resource: rich and free; the limitation is mainly learners’ lack of experience with the application. It is suggested that with teachers’ guidance, Duolingo could be used as an effective and motivating tool for independent learning.  

The current study aimed to evaluate the content of the English textbooks taught in Iranian senior high schools. To this purpose, the study relied upon a descriptive survey design. Through a stratified random sampling, a total of 12 senior high schools were selected from the high schools located in Isfahan. To select the teacher participants, a convenience sampling method was employed. Then, a structured questionnaire was administered to the selected teachers and students. The obtained data were statistically analyzed and item analysis revealed that the accessibility and affordability of the textbooks were the most-favored features. However, most of the students wondered whether the textbooks were equipped with supplementary (online and offline) materials. The post-hoc analysis results revealed the significant overall teacher-student disagreement towards the textbooks. Generally, the results showed that there is a need to adapt the teaching materials to the target situation of use. As a practical implication, the findings may urge the developers of the textbooks to launch a modification project in order to get more conscious in developing future textbooks. Moreover, the findings are of use for the teachers of the textbooks as well as the pedagogical policy makers. 

One of the main concerns in educational settings has been the degree of the learners’ involvement in learning and the extent to which they actively participate in classroom talks and interactions. The present study is an emic-based ethnographic study aimed at providing insights about patterns of talk and different degrees of interaction in EFL university classes with a specific focus on teacher’s role. To this end, three different classes were observed for twelve consecutive sessions. Students were both male and female senior EFL students at Najafabad Azad University. The age of the participants ranged between 22 and 28. These classes were taught by the same instructor so that the researcher was directly involved in observing participants’ interactions in the targeted classrooms and in the data collection procedures. The participants’ oral behavior was carefully observed and recorded. To guarantee higher validity, some participants were also interviewed. The results of data analysis revealed that male and female students showed different degrees of contribution to classroom interactions. However, the students’ degree of involvement in the classroom discussions were linked to the related schemata, type of activity, and learners’ interest in the conversation topic rather than interactants’ gender. In addition, most of the involvements were teacher-initiated and directed. Notably, the findings can be of considerable value to teachers’ professional development and can highlight the importance and the value of using specific strategies that can be introduced and employed by the teacher to increase the degree of the students’ involvement in classroom interactions as well as motivate them to take responsibility of their own learning.

A C-Test is a gap-filling test for measuring language competence in the first and second language. C-Tests are usually analyzed with polytomous Rasch models by considering each passage as a super-item or testlet. This strategy helps overcome the local dependence inherent in C-Test gaps. However, there is little research on the best polytomous Rasch model for C-Tests. In this study, the Rating Scale Model (RSM) and the Partial Credit Model (PCM) for analyzing C-Tests were compared. To this end, a C-Test composed of six passages with both RSM and PCM was analyzed. The models were compared in terms of overall fit, individual item fit, dimensionality, test targeting, and reliability. Findings showed that, although the PCM has a better overall fit compared to the RSM, both models produce similar test statistics. In light of the findings of the study, the choice of the best Rasch model for C-Tests will be discussed.

This research study was conducted to investigate the most representative characteristics of the habitus developed by academically successful Iranian English majors. Learning a second or foreign language, like many sociocultural practices, from a Bourdieusian perspective, is informed by the interrelation between habitus, field, and cultural capital (CC). Within an exploratory qualitative design, utilizing the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method of both semi-structured and unstructured one-on-one interviews, seven academically successful BA students majoring in English language studies were studied in an attempt to explore their CC and habitus. Each participant was interviewed in 3 separate sessions. The constructivist grounded theory method was adopted to analyze the collected data. Constructed on 75 initial codes, 22 focused codes, 10 categories, and 4 themes, two major themes were most relevantly indicative of theoretical associations with the research problem. The findings suggest that the habitus developed by the English majors in this study was representative of their accumulation of certain forms of CC. Their habitus seemed to have been developed under the influence of their interaction with the mediatory field of learning and majoring in a foreign language. In an exigency-driven social quest for certain forms of cultural capital, the participants’ habitus were majorly characterized and influenced by their strategic accumulation of institutional and social capital, their field-oriented social identities, and their strategic administration of CC in the field. The knowledge developed by the findings of this study can provide useful sociocultural insights into academic achievements of English language majors.