پژوهش های زبان شناسی: نظریه و کاربرد

In recent years, the enrollment of English as a foreign language (EFL) has increased significantly in higher education. The aim of this study is investigating the impact of a group learning program which is implemented as online on learning motivation of English among Iranian university students. Forty four undergraduate university students (25 males and 19 females) with the age range of 18 to 30 participated in this study. The Dornyei theoretical framework (2005; 2009) was used to measure the three aspects of motivation (ideal L2 self, ought-to L2self, and L2 learning experience). A pre- and posttest survey and a semi-instructured interview were used as the main instruments. For identifying the differences of the scores of three aspects of motivation, a paired sample T-test was used. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in L2 learning experience prior to and after the program administration and no significant difference were observed regarding the two other aspects. The findings also showed the most motivating feature was interesting learning recourses and tools and the most demotivating feature was technology barriers. Moreover, the findings of the interviews showed that most of the students had positive experience of this project. With the increasing role of English in Iran in all aspects of teaching and learning as an international language, it is crucial for teachers and program developers to care about the motivational drives of learners due to the positive feedback of some programs as the project under the study.

Much research has been done on semantics of the verbal element of complex predicates (CPr), usually referred to as light verb (LV). Most researchers have confined their studies to a few limited features of light verbs. After criticizing major views proposed by scholars on the semantics of light verbs, this article presents a hypothesis on the formation of complex predicates, arguing that all of which directly or indirectly have roots in incorporation process. This process starts with a complete sentence, incorporating two elements into it and ends in eliminating other elements. Formation of each complex predicate leads to the formation of the constructional schema X+LV0 which sanctions formation of new complex predicates with the same light verb and in the same semantic field. Accordingly, the meaning of light verb in direct incorporation case is the same meaning as its heavy verb, and in indirect incorporation case is dissolved in constructional meaning of the sanctioning schema. The meaning of light verb in each of these two cases could be different and each of them is taken or similar to one of its heavy meanings. There is a third case in which the light verb plays the role of verbalizing element and makes possible for a nonverbal predicate to inflect as a verb. Thus light verbs vary from having completely schematic and non-thematic meanings to their own primary heavy meanings.

Since the 1990s, an accumulated body of empirical studies have investigated the main and differential effects of various approaches to second language (L2) pragmatic instruction. To contribute to this line of research, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of deductive and inductive instruction on the development of the speech acts of requests by Iranian EFL learners. In so doing, 51 Iranian EFL English-major students were randomly assigned to either the deductive group (DG) group (n = 24) or the inductive group (IG) group (n = 27). (IG).  Both groups were provided with video clips of short conversations including the speech acts of request. The experimental treatment for the DG followed explicitness and deduction accompanied by a variety of drills, whereas the instruction for the IG involved input enhancement techniques. Both deductive and inductive methods of instruction adopted in the present study were operationalized according to the principles underlying the paradigms of Focus on Forms (FonFS) and Focus on Forms (FonF). Speech act development of the two groups was measured through a 10-item Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) at the pre-treatment and post-treatment phases of the study. The results obtained from administered WDCT revealed that both deductive and inductive instruction had a significant effect on the learners’ development of requests. Further analysis of the findings revealed that inductive instruction was more effective than deductive instruction. The findings offer theoretical and pedagogical implications.