حکیمه ایوبیان

This study applied multi-faceted Rasch measurement to investigate the halo effect in the performance-based assessment of writing across rubric criteria. Five raters who had received specialized training applied a four-criteria rating rubric to analytically rate writing scripts on two argumentative topics. Facets, a Rasch computer program, was utilized to pinpoint the halo effect by analyzing rater and rubric criteria interactions. After examining the appropriateness of the rubric in terms of functionality, the results showed that except for one rater, the raters did not exhibit any sign of the halo effect across rubric criteria. Generally, the severity hierarchies for raters and difficulty levels for rubric criteria suggested that raters’ training and their perceptions of the importance of criteria were associated with their manifestation of the halo effect. Pedagogically, through a detailed facet analysis of interactions between raters and rubric criteria, rater trainers may better realize how to design effective training programs to minimize raters’ variance including the halo effect and improve the overall objectivity of human rating.

Teacher resilience, as a recent issue of concern, enables teachers to bounce back and thrive rather than just survived in the face of challenging circumstances. Although self-efficacy has been prompted to enhance resilience, there is little empirical research to investigate the relationship. To address this gap, the present study is an attempt to examine the connection between EFL teachers’ resilience and self-efficacy. In doing so, ninety-two EFL teachers completed Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) and resilience scale (RISC). The findings showed the positive impact of different dimensions of self-efficacy on resilience. The results of the correlational analysis indicated that all three self-efficacy subscales had a significant positive relationship with teachers’ resilience. The results of multiple regression also suggested that, save for classroom management, two other subscales of efficacy as efficacy for student engagement and efficacy for instructional strategies were the good predictors of teacher resilience. In line with these findings, some suggestions for further research are provided and pedagogical implications are proposed.

Code-switching is known to be a widespread phenomenon among bilinguals and in ESL/EFL teaching/learning process; it refers to any alternate use of two codes or languages within the same conversation or even the same utterance. The present study is an attempt to investigatethe functions, types and frequencies of code switching in students discourse in the context of ELT classrooms.The study also explores the relationship between the language proficiency level of the students and their use of code switching. To achieve this end, two groups of students (at two different levels of proficiency) from two classes of general English courses in an institutional program in Oil Ministry Center of Isfahan were selected as participants. All sessions of an entire semester were videotaped. A coding scheme was developed for classifying students’ instances of CS into relevant functions.The data were tabulated, and frequencies and percentages were conducted by SPSS program. The findings indicate that the majority of CS in the classroom is highly purposeful, and related to pedagogical goals. Also, the research found that pedagogical functions were more frequently fulfilled through CS compared to social functions. The findings of this research suggest that code switching is a necessary tool for teachers due to a number of pedagogical considerations in ET classrooms and can give teachers a clue to have a better understanding of student code switching in ELT classrooms and use CS in the direction of teaching and effective learning.