سامان عبادی

Theoretically drawing on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind (SCT) and following a sequential exploratory mixed method design, this study probed into the impact of Group Dynamic Assessment (GDA) on the short and long-term Iranian high school students’ grammar ability. Also, a focus group interview was conducted to explore students’ attitudes toward concurrent GDA. This study used a convenient sample of 42 Iranian third-grade students in a private high school who prepared to participate in the Iranian University Entrance Exam (IUEE). The students of the two groups (i.e., GDA and Non-GDA) followed the same procedure (i.e., DIALANG test, pre-test, three conventional teaching sessions and one enrichment session, focus group interview (for GDA group), post-test and transcendence test). Quantitative findings using three independent sample t-tests and two repeated measure ANOVAs revealed that the GDA group significantly outperformed the non-GDA group regarding grammar ability and could apply them in more demanding circumstances. Besides, the thematic analysis of qualitative data showed that the concurrent GDA assisted students to improve their grammar ability. The study's findings highlight the importance of applying GDA as a mediational procedure that assists students in developing their grammar ability in L2 contexts. The findings of the study may assist L2 teachers to apply GDA procedure in their classrooms to save time for teaching and assessing grammatical structures.

Using Kane's interpretive argument model and Messick's validity argument approach, this study rigorously examined faculty and PhD candidate’s perspectives on PhD admission interviews in Iranian universities. We interviewed 10 professors and PhD interviewees which provided comprehensive insight into nuanced perspectives. We conducted rigorous content analysis to identify prevalent themes, forming a strong foundation for our analysis. This study emphasizes the vital requirement for standardized evaluation criteria, robust support systems, and an enhanced interview process to ensure fair and inclusive admission systems. Additionally, our development of guidelines based on Toulmin's reasoning model underscores the originality of our contribution and its potential to benefit stakeholders and the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (MSRT) in Iran. The findings highlighted the importance of standardized criteria, support, and a stronger interview process for fairness and inclusivity in selecting PhD candidates. Faculty stressed clear guidelines to remove subjectivity, while candidates voiced concerns about unclear expectations and proposed added support like mentoring and preparation programs. Based on Toulmin's reasoning model, the study crafted validity argument guidelines for this context. As a result, these proposed changes will impact stakeholders and the MSRT by enhancing the PhD candidate evaluation process and ensuring a fairness and inclusivity. This study provides valuable insights to improve PhD admission procedures at Iranian universities by integrating standardized criteria, enhancing support mechanisms, and fostering fairness in decision-making.

This mixed-method study endeavored to solicit the perspectives of Iranian collegiate students passing the obligatory course of medical English through Navid Learning Management System and its acceptance during COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing Technology Acceptance Model, this study also sought to examine the possible effect gender, academic degree, instructional mode, and e-learning duration in LMS may have on the participants' attitudes. An online survey was employed to gather data from 78 Iranian students. Semi-structured interviews with ten participants were conducted as well to shed more light on the quantitative data regarding main advantages and disadvantages of medical English learning through Navid. The data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics along with inductive thematic analysis, respectively. Findings revealed that Iranian collegiate medical students viewed Navid as a comprehensive e-learning platform to be favorable in terms of its system/service quality, student/educational service quality, and perceived satisfaction, but its perceived satisfaction was not aligned with their needs. Moreover, neither the individual variables, (viz., age and academic degree), nor the instructional variables (viz., instructional mode and e-learning duration) were predictors of the discrepancies among the participants in their perspectives and acceptance of Navid. Learning ubiquitously and lacking face-to-face communication were the main advantage and disadvantage of learning medical English through Navid, respectively. Results revealed that although under the Covid-19 pandemic the acceptance of Navid and students' satisfaction with its use might not be related to the individual and instructional variables in the medical English courses, it might not be the case in others.

This study explored the autonomy of advanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in reading comprehension through scaffolding and jigsaw in computer-assisted and conventional contexts. After being homogenized through the reading section of DIALANG proficiency test, a total of 80 female advanced EFL learners with the age range of 21 to 45 were selected as the participants of the study. They were randomly assigned to four groups: experimental group A (scaffolding in a conventional context), experimental group B (scaffolding in a computer-assisted context), experimental group C (jigsaw in a conventional context), and experimental group D (jigsaw in a computer-assisted context). Next, the autonomy in RC questionnaire, which was designed and piloted by Ebadi and Shirzad (in press), was administered as the pretest. Then, the learners in each group took part in three months (16 sessions) autonomy in reading comprehension training courses. After the treatment, the same autonomy in RC questionnaire was administered as the posttest. One-way ANCOVA was used to analyze the quantitative data. The results revealed that although both jigsaw and scaffolding approaches were successful in both conventional and computer assisted contexts from pre-test to post-test, the scaffolding method proved more effective. Moreover, both the scaffolding and jigsaw approaches were more effective in computer-assisted environment compared to conventional contexts, with the scaffolding CA approach outperforming the jigsaw CA technique. The findings’ implications for learners, teachers, and syllabus designers are discussed in both contexts.

This study aimed to investigate the application of Group Dynamic Assessment (GDA) to writing accuracy of EFL learners and explore whether secondary interactants could benefit from interactions between mediator and primary interactants. The idea of implementing DA (Dynamic Assessment) in dyads seems unworkable since teachers are required to teach the whole class (Guk & Kellog, 2007). Moreover, Lantolf and Poehner (2004) suggest a new approach to DA that is GDA, which involves applying DA with a large number of learners rather than individuals. Following a multiple case study design and interactionist DA, the development of ten students in a class of twenty five was tracked during the eight sessions of DA program. Data were collected though written artifacts, video-recording of interactions, interview, and observation. The results indicated that GDA was an effective way of helping learners overcome their linguistic problems and there were signs of microgenetic as well as macrogenetic development within the same DA session and across sessions. The present findings provide further insight into understanding how secondary interactants benefit from the interactions between mediator and primary interactants.

The current study, setting a two-fold goal, attempted to see whether the preemptive focus on form (FonF) under either planned or unplanned conditions could contribute to increasing lexical diversity in written narratives and, second, to find whether there was a trade-off between the lexical diversity and accuracy. To this end, 32 beginner learners were selected following a Quick Oxford Placement Test and assigned into two groups to receive preemptive FonF under no-planning and pre-task planning conditions. The analysis of the results through a set ofrepeated measure ANOVAs and independent-samples t-tests revealed that the first group with unplanned condition outperformed the one with pre-task planning in lexical diversity. The results also revealed the trade-off between the lexical diversity and accuracy. That is, both lexical diversity and accuracy were significantly taken care of under unplanned preemptive condition whereas pre-task planning hindered attendingto lexical diversity and, thus, both aspects simultaneously. It was concluded that providing learners with appropriate conditions through form-focused instruction can set the ground for activating their linguistic knowledge and letting them attend to different linguistic aspects during writing.

Genuine Criticism (GC) is an evaluative expression of annoyance with an attribute in the interlocutor, whose realization may threaten the positive image of both interlocutors. The current study investigates facework and politeness in performing GCsin different contexts and for interlocutors with low social distance and high status in terms of GC realization strategies and mitigation devices that the speakers employ to soften their criticisms. Data were collected from 70 situations from movies in which GCs arise between interactants. The interactants deal with topics that happen in their daily life. The data were transcribed, categorized and analyzed based on the adapted version of criticizing categorization developed by Nguyen (2005, 2013).The results indicate that interactants with low social distance between them and the speakers who possess higher status employ direct strategies more than indirect strategies when they carry out criticism. Besides, the speakers with higher social distance utilize direct criticizing strategies more often. With regard to mitigation strategies, both groups tend to mitigate their criticisms less often. Exploring the strategies that English NSs employ can help EFL material developers realize and depict a better picture of the strategies in learning materials so that potential learning problems are prevented.

The present study, following Vygotskyan Sociocultural theory in education, and inspired by Rogoff’s conceptualization (1995, 2003) of development, aimed at conceptual development of in-service EFL teachers. To this end, two Iranian EFL teachers with pseudonyms (Tara and Sara) were selected as participants of the study. The participating teachers were first taught the sociocultural concepts related to language, teaching, and learning taken from Johnson (2009) and Rogoff’s (2003) mediatory model of development in six workshops through dialogic mediation. The data for the study comprised two semi-structured interviews, and three video-recording of critical reflection of each teacher on their video-taped classroom behavior. The recordings and transcripts were analyzed using Hatch’s (2002) procedure for interpretive analysis. The results of the study showed that participating teachers, over a process of struggle with their past experiences, gradually replaced their old everyday concepts such as grammatical accuracy, correct samples, and teacher interruption with new scientific concepts such as grammatical apprenticeship, guided grammatical participation, and grammatical appropriation through assisted participation. The results of present study can be illuminating for teacher educators and teacher education programs which have aimed at changing the classroom practice of in-service teachers

مقاله حاضر به طور کلی به برررسی نحوه ابراز زبان شناختی اساتید و دانشجویان ایرانی مقاطع کارشناسی و کارشناسی ارشد رشته زبان انگلیسی و به طور اخص به نحوه ایجاد و تداوم جایگاه و قدرت اجتماعی دربین آنان باتوجه به عوامل اجتماعی و فرهنگی می پردازد. برای انجام این مطالعه 84 متن رایانامه که اساتید و دانشجویان در سال تحصیلی 92-93 تبادل کرده اند از طریق گرامر نقش گرایانه هلیدی و اجزای تحلیل انتقادی گفتمان مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفته است. نتایج نشان می دهد اگرچه دو گروه مذکور از رایانامه به طرق متفاوتی برای ایجاد و تداوم ارتباطات اجتماعی خود بهره می برند اما هر دو برای انتقال معانی مورد نظر خود عمدتا متکی به فرآیندهای مادی و ذهنی هستند. آنان همچنین گفتمان و اعمال از قبل تعریف شده توسط عوامل اجتماعی – فرهنگی و مذهبی که در کلاسهای سنتی به کار می برند را به محیط اینترنت نیز انتقال می دهند(برنستین, 1971) و از این طریق جایگاه و قدرت اجتماعی خود را شکل می دهند. یافته های این مقاله می تواند به روشن شدن نقش عوامل اجتماعی – فرهنگی و دیگر عوامل موثر در فرآیند ارتباط رایانه ای منجر شود. دیدگاه انتقادی این مطالعه میتواند تاثیر عمیقی بر روی دانشجویان و اساتید آنها در رابطه با تعامل در محیط اینترنت داشته باشد و به اساتید راههای مشخصی برای شناخت و ارزش نهادن به زبان استفاده شده توسط دانشجویان ارائه دهد.

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is theoretically framed within Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) and relies on reunification of assessment and instruction. This process-oriented study of reading comprehension aims at investigating the impacts of applying computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) which is an ongoing strand of DA on promoting at-risk advanced Iranian EFL students’ reading skills. The sample of this study comprised of 32 advanced BA students selected based on convenience sampling from Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) undergraduates from a university in Iran. In this study, the DIALANG software and the Computerized Dynamic Reading Test (CDRT) were utilized to identify the individuals’ proficiency level and to examine the effectiveness of the enrichment program (EP) in DA respectively. Upon completion of the CDRT, the learners were presented with two mediated and unmediated scores. The formula called Learning Potential Score (LPS) was also utilized in order to measure the students’ potential for learning. Analysis of the results showed that a pretest (unmediated) score was a sufficient indication neither for measuring individuals’ ability nor for preparing an effective lesson plan for them. The findings of this investigation may prove to be significantly useful for those who are concerned about individuals requiring a lot of attention, that is, at-risk or retarded learners within the realm of DA.

Theoretically framed within Vygotskyan sociocultural theory of mind (SCT), Dynamic assessment (DA) is a new approach to classroom assessment offering mediation to help learners perform beyond their level of independent functioning. As a web-based qualitative inquiry into the nature of mediation in DA and its impacts on the participants’ private speech patterns, this study explored the role of private speech as a social and psychological tool to mediate learners' thinking and performance in online DA. The subjects of the study were two Iranian university students along with two English native speakers orally narrating a series of picture stories and having weekly DA mediation with the researcher via Skype. In the present study, the students' private speech markers’ typology emerged out of thematic analysis of oral narratives transcribed before and after DA mediation and it was presented as a criterion to evaluate the learners' progression towards self-regulation. The frequency of occurrence of the learners’ private speech markers was reported and interpreted based on the emergent typology to evaluate the possible changes in their use as the result of DA mediation. Meanwhile, the differences between native speaker participants and the learners’ use of private speech markers in oral narratives were highlighted and discussed. The results of the study indicated that mediation was effective in reducing the number of private speech markers in the learners' narratives after mediation which reflects their progression towards self-regulation in online DA. The findings of the study highlight the importance of private speech as a mediating tool in DA which reflects learners’ struggle to take control of direction of learning and move beyond their current capabilities.

هدف این تحقیق بررسی آگاهی منظورشناختی-زبانی زبانآموزان در اثنای پردازش دادههای منظورشناختی ضمنی و نیز ارتباط این آگاهی با توانایی زبانی و انگیزه بود. بدین منظور ارتباط بین توجه به درخواست دوجملهای با سطح زبانی و انگیزه درونی و بیرونی سنجیده شد. آزمودنیهای این تحقیق شامل 121 زبان آموز سطح پیشرفته بودند که به پرسشنامه انگیزه و آزمون توانایی زبانی پاسخ دادند. در ابتدا بر اساس نتایج پرسشنامه، ساختار عاملی انگیزه مشخص شد. سپس از بین این افراد، 35 زبانآموز به طور تصادفی برای مرحله تجربی انتخاب شدند و درفعالیتی شرکت کردند که هدف آن توجه به ساختار درخواست بود. در پایان فعالیت، این زبانآموزان در پروتکل کلامی شرکت کردند تا میزان آگاهی آنان از ساختار مورد نظر سنجیده شود. نتایج نشان داد که زبانآموزان به ساختار درخواست به طور غیریکسان توجه کردند و اینکه این توجه با انگیزش آنها ارتباط معنیدار داشت نه با سطح زبانی. مع هذا ارتباط توجه با انگیزه بیرونی با یافتههای تاکاهاشی ( 2005 ) که مطالعه مشابهی انجام داده است مغایرت دارد. یافتههای این تحقیق دال بر آن است که زبانآموزان در محیطهای مختلف دارای تمایلات انگیزشی متفاوتی برای توجه به ویژگی های منظورشناختی داده ها هستند.