درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Communicative and natural processing of language in the world of translation is substantiated through simultaneous decoding and encoding of information in the source and target languages. The researchers analy zed pragmatic strategies and approaches undertaken by the Persian and Kurdish translators of the Quranic discourse marker thumma. The source text corpus was selected randomly and the target text parallel corpora were selected based on purposive sampling. Theoretical perspectives in pragmatics and translation were employed in the analysis of parallel corpora in this investigation. The results revealed that various types and combinations of the Kurdish and Persian temporal discourse markers were utilized by these translators. Moreover, other Kurdish and Persian elaborative, contrastive, and inferential discourse markers were also used in rendering the discourse marker thumma in the Quran. This dynamic approach to the construction of discourse was substantiated based on the realization of different conventions in the construction of discourse in different languages and cultures. This dynamic system in the construction of a proper discourse for the readers is verified based on the application of different theories in discourse analysis and pragmatics and the application of context and text-sensitive strategies in the process of translation. The characteristics, bases, and resources of these dynamic translation strategies are discussed based on pragmatic awareness rising in various aspects of translation education and some suggestions were offered in the application of the findings in syllabus design, translation evaluation, and rethinking of approaches in lexicography.  

Children need to start learning English from a very young age in this fast globalizing world. The knowledge of the English language can assist in providing several opportunities for them in the future. It is also essential to know how very young children acquire a foreign language and which content and activities should be selected for their age. This study aimed to observe and describe the procedure of the language development of very young children. Researchers employed a descriptive case study design to portray and assess foreign language learning of two three-year-old twins’ grammar acquisition, vocabulary gains, and fluency in the early years of life (3-4/5). Besides the methods firmly associated with qualitative study and case studies, there were four sources of data collection: observation, audio-video recordings, and diary records. The central unit of the twins’ language development analysis was their utterances. The findings supported using a naturalistic environment where very young children could be exposed to the English language informally in everyday contexts and activities. This research can share its findings with education communities and very young children’s teachers to promote a new professional development model for fostering language development in very young learners’ classrooms, assessments, and curricula.

The present study addressed the effects of cognitive styles on answer-switching practices across online and traditional tests. After completing Ehrman and Leaver’s (2003) cognitive style questionnaire, a sample of upper intermediate students took pen-paper and online versions (59 test-takers each) of an already validated teacher-developed test of English. The data from think-aloud and erasure analyses revealed significantly more frequent total and right-to-wrong changes in the traditional and online tests, respectively. Multiple regression values explained more than 50% of right/wrong-to-wrong, wrong-to-right, and overall answer-changing variance based on cognitive styles in the pen-paper exam. However, the regression results from online performance analyses could not prove the power of thinking styles in predicting answer-changing strategies. Fisher’s exact tests showed significantly different answer-changing strategies adopted by field-dependent, leveler, analog, concrete, and impulsive individuals in the traditional test but no significant differences between the behaviors of individuals with different cognitive styles in the online exam. Based on the present findings, online and pen-paper platforms may require different test-taking strategies. Language instructors and test developers can use these findings to align their instructional and assessment practices with various cognitive styles and testing environments.

The coronavirus pandemic affected education enormously, and despite numerous previous efforts to achieve digitalization, virtual teaching revealed deficiencies in both the EFL teachers’ digital competence and in the peripheral use of Information and communication technologies (ICTs). This study focused on a sample group to analyze the relationship between the implementation of this model and the pre-pandemic digital approach in order to identify deficiencies that need to be strengthened to achieve increasingly effective integration of blended learning. A questionnaire was used to collect data from participating teachers in the areas of school digital strategy, digital competence, and teaching practice in blended learning. The data were analyzed through structural equation models, verifying the relation between variables and also according to specific training on ICTs. An active but insufficient effort on the part of the participants’ schools to promote digitalization was revealed. The implementation of blended learning has been favored more by the responsiveness of participating EFL teachers than by the provision of specific training on the part of schools, which lacked common guidelines from the public administration. These EFL teachers can respond to changes, but the schools’ support is essential for the successful implementation of blended learning, updating the approach of the digital strategy adopted so far.

The newly demanded language learning methodologies can exhibit their maximum efficiency if they are monitored meticulously and regularly in their particular contexts of application. The prerequisite would be putting educational programs in the spotlight and identifying the decisive elements of each learning context. Accordingly, based on the solicited responses from 638 students, in this study, a scale was developed and validated to inquire into the participants’ perceptions about the extent to which classroom interaction, learner needs, learner autonomy, pedagogical scaffolding, and learner identity could regulate learning activities in Iranian academic contexts. Importing the survey results to AMOS 22, we tested and validated a hypothetical model of the addressed variables. The validated model supported the interwoven relationships of the study variables and the pivotal role of interaction in regulating, predicting, shaping, and explaining the behaviors of other variables. The results can raise awareness of the sociocultural manifestations of classroom interaction, learner needs, learner autonomy, pedagogical scaffolding, and learner identity in Iranian TEFL programs and encourage highly positive developments and generally accepted practices to improve the status quo. Decision-makers and stakeholders can also gain a detailed insight into how sociocultural variables interrelate and accordingly coordinate their social and educational policies and measures.

Testing organizations are faced with increasing demand to provide subscores in addition to the total test score. However, psychometricians argue that most subscores do not have added value to be worth reporting. To have added value, subscores need to meet a number of criteria: they should be reliable, distinctive, and distinct from each other and from the total score. In this study, the quality of subscores from two subscore augmentation models (Wainer and Yen) were compared in terms of distinctness and variability. The reliabilities of the Wainer-augmented subscores were also examined. The models were applied to a high-stakes English language proficiency test in Iran. The results of the study showed that Yen better satisfied subscore distinctness while Wainer best preserved variability and had high-reliability subscores. In other words, Yen-augmented subscores had lower correlations while Wainer-augmented subscores better discriminated examinees with different ability levels. Thus, none of the examined models of subscoring satisfied all criteria. The results of the study are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

The use of educational technology (Ed-Tech) and the Internet in acquiring foreign language skills has led to an increased interest in alternative teaching strategies such as flipped and blended learning. This study investigates the effects of flipped, blended, and traditional face-to-face teaching methods on the utilization of cohesive devices in paragraph writing among EFL learners. From a pool of 110 junior EFL students, 90 participants were selected. Afterwards, they were randomly divided into three groups: flipped, blended, or face-to-face. To evaluate their paragraph writing abilities, a pretest was conducted prior to the treatment. The first comparative group received instruction using the flipped teaching method, while the second group experienced a blended learning environment (combining face-to-face and online classes). The control group received traditional face-to-face instruction. Following the treatment sessions, all groups completed a posttest on paragraph writing. The findings indicated that both the flipped and blended groups demonstrated significantly better performance compared to the control group. These results provide valuable insights for EFL teachers, curriculum designers, and learners.