ناصر فلاح

We deal with a wide range of colors in our daily life. They are such ubiquitous phenomena that is hard and next to impossible to imagine even a single entity (be it an object, place, living creature, etc) devoid of them. They are like death and tax which nobody can dispense with. This omnipresence of colors around us has also made its way through abstract and less tangible entities via the interaction between culture and cognition. In an attempt to shed further light on the way that color meanings could be extended in different languages and cultures, the present study sought to investigate the semantic extension of Persian and English color terms based on cultural data. The findings revealed the existence of both language-idiosyncratic and general tendencies for both Persian and English languages with respect to semantic extension of color terms. It was also shown that Persian and English speakers mostly use the same mechanisms of metonymy, metaphor and sense of opposite relation based on cultural data and their experience of the physical world to develop more and more color meanings. Furthermore, the study suggested that the direction and development of the semantic domain of a color term mainly depends on its already developed semantic properties and is not accidental. Two other accidental points were also found in the study. First, the borrowing, acceptance and the usage of a color expression from another language might depend on the already developed semantic properties of the related color term in the recipient language. Second, it is possible to predict the direction and development of the new connotations and meanings of a color term in a specific language.

مطالعه حاضر به بررسی میزان تمایل به انگلیسی صحبت کردن و ارتباط آن با ویژگی های فردی و محیطی در بین ٣٧٢ زبان آموز ایرانی می پردازد. داده های لازم به وسیله ی پرسشنامه جمع آوری شد. از نرم افزار اس پی اس اس جهت اجرای آمار توصیفی و از نرم افزار آموس، با حداکثر میزان برآورد، جهت طراحی و تست مدل جدید روانشناسیِ آموزشِ زبان استفاده شد. نتایج معادلات ساختاری نشان داد که اعتماد به نفس، دیدگاه بین المللی و انگیزه پیش بینی کننده های معنادارِ تمایل به انگلیسی صحبت کردن هستند. نتایج همچنین نشان دادند که اضطراب از صحبت کردن، انگیزه و ویژگی شخصیتیِ موافق بودن و رفتار استاد می -تواند به صورت غیر مستقیم بر متغیر تمایل به انگلیسی صحبت کردن تاثیر بگذارد. رفتار استاد و شخصیت موافق به صورت معناداری هم دیدگاه بین المللی و هم اضطراب از صحبت کردن را در بین زبان آموزان پیش بینی می کند. نتایج بر اساس سیستم و بافت اجتماعی-آموزشی زبان انگلیسی در ایران مورد بحث قرار گرفت و مضامین تحقیق مشخص شد.

This study was set out to shed light on the efficacy of pushed output directed by scaffolding on 41 (24 female and 17 male) upper-intermediate EFL learners’ speaking fluency and accuracy. A public version of IELTS speaking test was held to measure learners’ entrance behavior. Then, they were randomly assigned into symmetrical, asymmetrical, and control group. The experimental and control groups covered 7 lessons of New Interchange 2 during 15 sessions, twice a week for about 45 minutes each session. Control group received placebo while symmetrical and asymmetrical groups worked on pushed output tasks. The data were audio recorded and transcribed for statistical analyses. The results indicated the efficacy of pushed output in boosting speaking. However, tests of between-subjects effects revealed that the mean score of the control group was not significantly different from that of experimental groups concerning speaking fluency. Furthermore, the results of Tukey's HSD post-hoc tests showed that asymmetrically pushed output activities were more effective in enhancing learners speaking accuracy. In sum, the results suggested that the implementation of pushed out put strategies in student centered contexts could be considered as an effective way in the development of learners’ oral output.  

Anxiety undoubtedly plays an influential role in the experience of foreign language learning. This affective factor has attracted lots of researchers and has been the subject pool of scholarly research worldwide. However, research on the effect of demographic variables on foreign language anxiety (FLA) and the effect of FLA on the learners’ intention to continue their English language education is still limited. Therefore, to bridge this gap, the present study intended to explore the role of gender and age in EFL learners’ FLA level. In addition, the potential effect of learners’ FLA in their decision whether to continue their English studies was tested. To this end, a sample of 295 university EFL learners completed FLA questionnaire and a demographic form. The findings showed that there was no significant correlation between the age of the learners and their FLA level. FLA differences with respect to gender did not reach the statistical significance either. However, it was found that FLA could significantly affect the learners’ willingness to continue their English language education. The findings were discussed and implications were made.