درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study applied multi-faceted Rasch measurement to investigate the halo effect in the performance-based assessment of writing across rubric criteria. Five raters who had received specialized training applied a four-criteria rating rubric to analytically rate writing scripts on two argumentative topics. Facets, a Rasch computer program, was utilized to pinpoint the halo effect by analyzing rater and rubric criteria interactions. After examining the appropriateness of the rubric in terms of functionality, the results showed that except for one rater, the raters did not exhibit any sign of the halo effect across rubric criteria. Generally, the severity hierarchies for raters and difficulty levels for rubric criteria suggested that raters’ training and their perceptions of the importance of criteria were associated with their manifestation of the halo effect. Pedagogically, through a detailed facet analysis of interactions between raters and rubric criteria, rater trainers may better realize how to design effective training programs to minimize raters’ variance including the halo effect and improve the overall objectivity of human rating.

This meta-analysis was conducted to synthesize the effect of 22 primary studies which have been conducted to test the effect of the integrated skills approach (ISA) on language skills and components. Three questions guide this analyses: What is the overall effect of ISA on language skills and sub-skills? To what extent moderator variables such as learners level of education and proficiency modify the effect of the ISA? What is the magnitude of publication bias in this analysis? The overall effect size was found to be 1.18, which represents a large effect size based on Cohen, Manion and Morrison’ (2007) scale. The results of moderator analysis revealed that the ISA has the largest effect for advanced learners and at a tertiary level of education. The symmetrical funnel plot together with fail-safe N test shows that publication bias does not have any significant effect on the effect size reported in this study. The findings of this meta-analysis have clear implications for practitioners, policymakers, and curriculum developers.

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.

This study applied a critical needs analysis approach to investigate investment (language learning commitment) needs and challenges of EFL upper secondary school learners from different socioeconomic backgrounds and school settings (privileged, middle-privileged, and less-privileged schools). To this end, Darvin and Norton`s (2015) model of investment was used as our analytic framework. The study took advantage of a mixed-methods approach. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire with 53 items and one open-ended question was administered to 759 learners from different school settings in Mashhad. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 24 learners for triangulation. The findings of the questionnaire and interviews revealed that speaking accurately, fluently, and professionally was the main priority for learners` investing in EFL learning. However, privileged, middle-privileged, and less-privileged upper secondary school learners perceived their needs differently regarding investment in English language learning. Although no statistically significant difference was observed between privileged, middle-privileged, and less-privileged school learners in terms of identity, they perceived their needs significantly different in terms of ideology and capital.The findings can bring high school learners` investment needs into focus and help the educational setting improve.

The contemporary era of learning-oriented assessment demands for teacher professional efforts to appropriately and accurately assess learners' attainment and use the assessment results for the enhancement of learning. In second/foreign language (L2) teaching discipline, this has recently brought language assessment literacy (LAL) to the forefront, with an increasing emphasis on teachers' professionalism of this concept. Given this, L2 teachers' mastery of practical and technical skills, as prescribed by the exiting LAL models, could not be entirely complete nor enhanced without their conceptions of assessment and beliefs system. To illuminate these dimensions, the present study aimed to develop and validate a LAL scale which could have relevance to L2 localized contexts. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses of data from a sample of L2 teachers (N=213) provided empirical evidence supporting the utility and validity of the scale. The paper concludes with the importance of teachers' conceptions of LAL and implications of the findings.

Cross-linguistic influence is a documented cause of errors committed by second language learners. Since Talmy (2000) proposed two categories to classify languages of the world regarding their preferred lexicalization patterns of a literal motion event, known as verb-framed and satellite-framed languages, the effect of typological properties of the first language on second language acquisition specifically in the domain of motion expressions has been subject to extensive scrutiny. The present research examines whether the typological properties of Persian (L1) and English (L2) affect adult second language acquisition, particularly in the spatial domain comparing controls (English and Persian native speakers). To this end, three groups (every 25 members) of participants were asked to watch 12 short animated cartoons representing voluntary motion carried out in vertical and trajectory directions. The participants’ descriptions were recorded and analyzed regarding information density, semantic focus, and semantic locus of utterances. The findings of the research revealed that in spite of different lexicalization patterns to encode manner in English and Persian, Persian learners of English across two levels of proficiency, do not face challenges to lexicalize motion components in English, but they produce utterances with low density which is the typical way of focusing on spatial components in their native language, suggesting that the challenge learners face encoding motion events was not a linguistic issue, but rather a cognitive one. Persian learners’ use of English motion expressions regarding information density was more aligned with that of English motion expressions as they advanced to a higher proficiency level.         

The significance of fairness in assessment is not a subject of doubt for educationalists even with fundamentally contrastive perspectives, but the study of methodological means for safeguarding this concept in educational classroom contexts has only received the scant attention of the researchers and educationalists. On this basis, this study intended to conceptualize foreign language (FL) classroom assessment fairness from EFL teachers' perspective. For this purpose and as a part of a larger enterprise, the researchers first strived for the creation and validation of a Classroom Assessment Fairness Scale (CAFS). This process was informed by the related literature and applied a critical incident technique. To verify the scale's validity and reliability, it was first expert viewed and modified accordingly; next pilot-tested on a group of 250 teachers, and finally, the amassed data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses and internal consistency measures. The validated scale was taken by 120 Iranian EFL teachers. Descriptive analyses indicated that the EFL teachers were familiar with fairness principles in classroom assessment practices. They were aware of the significance of the opportunity to learn, the opportunity to demonstrate learning, the no-harm principle, the constructive classroom environment, and transparency as the constructive elements of classroom assessment practices' fairness. However, the same familiarity and awareness were not guaranteed for the score pollution component. The results further demonstrated that the teachers' gender, educational degree, teaching experience, and teaching context led to statistically significant differences among EFL teachers' attitudes to classroom assessment fairness.

Volunteerism is widespread in the translation sector, but the practices associated with it and its ethical import have so far received very little critical attention. This article critiques one of the most high profile beneficiaries of volunteer translation, Translators without Borders, which presents itself as a charity but operates as a corporate concern, with a leadership composed primarily of major industry players. TWB adopts an asset-centred, platform-based, top-down model that offers massive scaling possibilities and reflects a corporate vision of the translation community. It provides a clear example of the wider shift from artisanal to industrial to platform economy as it plays out in the translation field. To demonstrate the potential for volunteer translation to be situated within a more solidary and equitable context and provide an example of one possible alternative to the platform-based paradigm, we discuss the practices of another humanitarian NGO, Solidarités International, which runs a paid internship programme and adopts a small-scale, peer-based, horizontal model with a strong focus on early-career translators. We ask who ultimately benefits from the exploitation of free labour and focus on identifying practices that enhance or jeopardize the professionalization and stature of the translators involved. We further discuss how the linguistic assets produced by volunteer translators can generate saleable intellectual property and how this can lead to conflicts of interest and support patterns of inequality in the wider social context.