درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Considering the challenges inherent in learning and teaching of summary writing in EFL/ ESL settings, it is crucial to look into various instructional techniques thoroughly. This study investigated the relative effectiveness of three summary writing techniques: Sequence map, answering question, and 3-2-1 technique. To this end, 60 language learners from an English language institute in Ahvaz participated in the study. Before implementing the instructional techniques, a pre-test was administered to gauge the participants' fundamental knowledge of L2 summary writing. Three experimental groups were instructed through the already-mentioned techniques for ten weeks while the control group was given no such treatment. Finally, a post-test was administered to ascertain the effectiveness of such techniques in improving EFL learners' summary writing. The TOEFL-iBT scoring rubric was adopted to score the summaries holistically.  Paired sample t-test and ANOVA were run to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the sequence map group outperformed the other three groups in terms of the written summaries. The study further implies that the employment of graphical or spatial representation of textual concepts reduces the complexity and ambiguity of the presented information.

The article deals with Belarusian and English deictic markers and their role in verbal communication of native speakers in line with the pragmatic approach to language as a theory of speech influence for achieving communicators’ goals. Being a universal lingua-pragmatic category, deixis not only forms the propositional frame of an utterance with the indication to the place, time and communicators, but also marks their goals in communication as a strategic process aimed at achieving participants’ aims (macro-intentions) through the strategies of confrontation, negative politeness, and cooperation. The strategy is implemented through one or a number of tactics, which possess a dynamic character and make the strategy flexible. Speech tactics are predetermined by local aims (micro-intentions), and represent one of the tasks carried out consistently within a certain strategic line.

This quantitative, qualitative study investigates the usage of mobile phone applications in teaching and learning processes. The study aims to identify the benefits, difficulties, and resolutions of using mobile phone applications. The study was conducted in the English Department at Hebron University at the second semester of the academic years 2015/2016. The study focuses on the Business English course. A questionnaire was used to show the general attitudes of the students towards the effects of using mobile phone applications in the classroom. Interviews were administered to reveal the general attitudes of the students and instructors towards the difficulties and the solutions. The results showed that most students responded positively to using mobile applications in teaching and learning processes. In addition, all students had smart phones, and they used varied brands applications in the learning process. Moreover, the results indicated that students understand and learn better through using the applications.

The present study investigated the effect of practicing domestic vs. foreign newspaper on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ reading comprehension ability. The main question this study tried to answer was whether or not practicing domestic vs. foreign newspaper has any effect on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ reading comprehension ability. To answer this question, 45 Iranian learners were selected via administering an OPT test with the criteria of at least 1 standard deviation below and above the mean of the Oral Proficiency Test (OPT). Reading section of Reading Practice Test was used as the OPT. It consists of 19 items. It takes approximately 25 minutes to complete the reading test. Learners were studying in three intermediate classes in Simin Institute of Ramsar, Iran. The participants were all female and ranged in age from 17 to 19. They were divided into three groups of 15 (N=15)ː two experimental groups and a control group. A pretest of reading comprehension was administered to the three groups. The first experimental group was treated by teaching reading comprehension plus domestic newspaper; the second experimental group was treated by teaching reading comprehension plus foreign newspaper and the control group was treated by a placebo. Finally; after 10 sessions, a posttest of reading comprehension was administered to three groups. One-Way ANOVA and Paired Sample were used to analyze the obtained data. The results of One-Way ANOVA and Paired Sample indicated that the participants’ practicing domestic vs. foreign newspaper had effect on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ reading comprehension ability.

Reviewing the literature indicated that no validated model was found that examine the extent to which teachers support their students emotionally in EFL classrooms. Therefore the present study elaborated on this issue through developing and validating a teacher emotional support scale in an Iranian English foreign language context. Main components of the scale have been specified based on Hamre and Pianta's (2007)theoretical framework. A large number of items were created primarily based on operational definitions of each component. After reviewing the items by a group of experts, the questionnaire was piloted and tested on a sample of 324 EFL teachers. Finally, the researchers evaluated the validity of the questionnaire through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.The results of the reliability of the questionnaire estimated through Cronbach’s alpha were 0.833. 17 items have been removed from analysis resulting in identifying 4 factors in exploratory factor analysis. The model was evaluated using AMOS 22 also indicated that the model was fit the data.the current study contributes to the field of English language education through designing and validating new instrument to assess teacher emotional support in EFL classrooms. Researchers and other practitioners who are involved in teaching English language can assess the extent to which teachers support students emotionally in similar pedagogical EFL context using this instrument. They also need to encourage teachers to improve their emotional skills by participating in teacher training courses.

For the first time, this study combined models and principles of authentic assessment from two parallel fields of applied linguistics as well as general education to investigate the authenticity of the TOEFL iBT speaking module. The study consisted of two major parts, namely task analysis and task survey. Utilizing Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) definition of authenticity, the task analysis examined the degree of the correspondence between the characteristics of the speaking module tasks in the TOEFL iBT test and those of target language use (TLU) tasks. In the task survey, a Likert Scale questionnaire of authenticity was developed by the researcher based on Herrington and Herrington’s (1998; 2006) four criteria of authentic assessment. The questionnaire was sent through email to 120 subjects who had already taken the test in order to elicit their attitudes towards the degree of the authenticity of the speaking section tasks. The results of the task analysis revealed a limited correspondence between the characteristics of the test tasks and those of the TLU tasks. However, the results of the task survey indicated that except for one factor (indicators), most of the test takers had a positive view toward the authenticity of the speaking module tasks in terms of the three other factors (context, student factor, task factor).

Translation seems a spoon feeding activity if it is taken mere transference of meaning from one language to another i.e. source language to target language. A good translation is usually considered, a translation in which merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another as to be distinctly apprehended by the native speaker of the country to which that language belongs as it is by those who speak the language of the original work. This vendetta leads to the presupposition that there may be other types of translations i.e. a bad translation, an average translation, or the best translation. There is another controversy of free (sense) and literal translation (sense & style). Sometimes it is taken as word for word translation and sometimes as sense for sense translation. But the problem arises when the cultural, poetical, linguistic, stylistic, and technological issues are involved in translation. To find out its inherent impossibility, the participants were given one quotation to translate it from Urdu to English. It is concluded that although the quotation which was given for translation was quite simple and did not have cultural and equivalence problems to a great degree, yet the varied responses with respect to structure, understanding, punctuation, and expression show that it was not an easy task

This study tried to compare the possible differences between female and male EFL students with respect to the use of lexical hedges in their academic spoken language. To fulfil this objective, 40 Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners majoring in TEFL were chosen from Islamic Azad University of Abadan, Iran. The selected participants were assigned into two equal groups namely male group (n=20) and female group (n=20). Then, five discussion sessions in a single gendered context were separately recorded for male and female participants. Frequency counts and chi-square were used to analyze the obtained data. By utilizing the framework of hedges, it is deduced that that there are differences among female and male respondents’ propensity in selecting word of lexical hedges. Female responders tend to utilize more lexical hedges than male responders. In such manner, most frequently lexical hedges of fillers such as; hmm, uhh, you know, yeah were used most frequently by female respondents in their utterances; while male respondents most repeatedly utilized lexical hedges of fillers like; I think, uhh, yeah in their utterances. Female respondents had broad range variegation in picking words of lexical hedges while male respondents were not sufficiently productive in selecting the words of lexical hedges. It was demonstrated by the number of lexical hedges applied in giving viewpoints in debate and discussion context.

Language learners have frequently been classified according to individual difference variables such as aptitude, personality, cognitive style, and motivation. However, a language teacher’s view seems to have been missing from such classifications. This exploratory research investigated whether and by which criteria Iranian EFL teachers classify their students. Based on preliminary interviews with 29 high-expertise Iranian EFL teachers, 21 criteria were identified and included in a questionnaire that was completed by 175 Iranian EFL teachers. The respondents almost unanimously agreed that they did classify their students according to their understanding of the character type, behavior patterns, and achievement patterns of their students. Then they rated the 21 criteria on a scale from 0 to 4 according to how important each classification criterion was for them. Factor analysis of questionnaire responses revealed six major classification criteria. Subsequently, in a case study, 26 EFL students in a typical Iranian high school class were asked to rate their classmates according to the six major criteria. Only five of the criteria were found to predict English achievement and Grade Point Average (GPA). A cluster analysis of the students’ peer ratings using the five criteria generated three clusters. An ANOVA revealed that the three clusters were accurately differentiated not only on the clustering criteria but also on the two non-clustering variables: EFL Achievement and GPA.

Despite its direct relevance to second/foreign language learning, quality of life has been a neglected area within Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. The present study sought to investigate the relationship between quality of life factors and speaking skill as one of the most challenging parts of L2 learning. To this end, an adapted version of life quality questionnaire originally devised by the World Health Organization (WHO) was administered to 100 female intermediate Iranian EFL learners. In addition, 30 of the participants were randomly selected to take part in follow-up semi-structured interviews which asked why the respondents felt the way they reported. The analysis of data obtained from questionnaire and interviews revealed that although all the four domains of life quality namely physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains had impact on the speaking ability of the participants, a number of facets in physical and psychological domains were more influential. Furthermore, the statistical Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between life quality factors dominating learner’s success in speaking tasks. The findings of this study have implications for teacher educators and educational decision makers in bringing about higher levels of speaking ability and Quality Of Life (QOL) among English language learners.