غلامرضا عباسیان

تحقیق حاضر به منظور بررسی تاثیر آموزش مستقیم بعضی از تکنیک های تحلیل گفتمان انتقادی بر خواندن و درک مطلب زبان آموزان ایرانی صورت گرفته است. در این راستا تلاش شده است تا هر گونه تغییر مثبت در توانایی زبان آموزان در درک معنای ضمنی متن خوانشی سنجیده شود. ضمنا، هرگونه تغییردرنقطه نظرات زبان آموزان در خصوص شیوه یادگیری زبان انگلیسی پس از آموزش مهارت خوانش انتقادی از طریق تکنیک های تحلیل گفتمان انتقادی نیز مورد بررسی قرار گرفته است. بدین منظور دو مقاله خبری از منابع آنلاین در نظر گرفته شد. جامعه آماری شامل 60 دانشجوی دوره کارشناسی رشته حقوق بودند که بطور تصادفی به دو گروه 30 نفره تقسیم شدند. از گروه آزمایشی خواسته شده بود درک خود را از هر متن در قالب یک مقاله بنویسند. آنها همچنین باید به پرسشنامه ای معطوف به بررسی تغییر نگرش یا انگیزه آنها نسبت به یادگیری زبان انگلیسی پاسخ می دادند. نتایج حاکی از آن بود که گروه آزمایشی پس از آموزش خواندن از طریق تکنیک های تحلیل گفتمان انتقادی بهتر از گروه کنترل شده عمل کردند. انگیزه آنها نیز نسبت به یادگیری زبان انگلیسی پس از آشنایی با حوزه تحلیل گفتمان انتقادی افزایش یافت.

This study، first، attempted to explore the conflict or tension between EFL teacher intuition or concepts and the conception with a composite view assembled from learner's accounts of the distinctive features of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)، and second to investigate the latter's ""hidden agenda"" (Nunan، 1998) of what ELT should be. On the other hand، role of educational context as an independent variable in determining such conflicting conceptions was also investigated. The study was carried out in the Iranian educational context conventionally categorized into three settings including; authoritarian، semi-democratic and democratic، given their varying existing educational policies and planning. Both the learner and teacher-participants (N=150، 45، respectively) answered three triangulating and already validated questionnaires (Brindly، 1984 and BALLI of Horwitz، 1987) attempting both the nature of language learning activities and their beliefs on CLT. Findings revealed that the learners hold variety of self-efficacy beliefs different from those of their teachers about learning language، many of which supported to be attributed to the educational context type and language planning and the pertinent administration policies. While both sides agreed in general on the virtues of CLT to language teaching، there were interesting differences in their perceptions mainly as to lesson purposes، classroom activities، and learning outcomes. The implications of the study would revolve around the (I) dependency of reflective teaching and learning on teacher's awareness of learner's needs، capabilities، potentials and preferences or in Richard's (1996) term of learner's"" maxims""، (II) necessity of teacher-learner cooperation in syllabus design، (III) significance of narrowing the gap between their maxims of instruction and learning، and (IV) awareness of the possible imposition of negative impacts like tension، anxiety and dissatisfaction on the learner's side resulting from any cognitive and intuitive mismatch on the teacher's side.

هدف ازاین پژوهش بررسی تاثیردرسکارهای تصمیمی وجورچین بر تقویت توانایی های شنیداری و گفتاری زبان اموزان ایرانی درسطح متوسط بود. بدین منظور از میان 75 زبان آموز دختر ایرانی 60 نفر به عنوان گروه همگون از نظر تئانایی زبانی بر اساس آزمون نلسون انتخاب شدند. جهت سنجش توانایی های شنیداری وگفتاری زبان اموزان قبل وبعد از اموزش ازبخش های شنیداری وگفتاری ازمون PET استفاده شد. به منظور بررسی نقش درسکارهای جورچین وتصمیم گیری برتوانایی های شنیداری وگفتاری، شرکت کنندگان به دوگروه ازمایشی A و B تقسیم شدند. گروه ازمایش A براساس درسکارتصمیم گیری وگروه ازمایش B براساس درس کارجورچین درمعرض اموزش مهارتهای شنیداری و گفتاری به مدت 12 جلسه 45 دقیقه ای قرارگرفتند. به منظور تجزیه و تحلیل اطلاعات، امارتوصیفی واستنباطی محاسبه شد. نتایج نشان داد زبان اموزانی که درس کار شنیداری وگفتاری جورچین را تجربه کرده بودند بهتر از انهایی که براساس درس کار تصمیم گیری اموزش دیده بودند عمل کردند. یافته های این پژوهش ضمن تایید نقش آموزش درسکتر محور، موید نقش متمایز نوع درسکار در تقویت مطلوب مهارت زبانی مورد نظر می باشد.

The present study investigated comparatively the impact of two types of input enhancement (i.e. textual vs. compound enhancement) on developing grammar ability in Iranian EFL setting. Sixty-five female secondary high school students were selected as a homogenous sample out of about a 100-member population based on Nelson language proficiency test. Then, their grammar ability was measured based on a researcher-made diagnostic test prior to the experiment. The sample was randomly divided into two equal groups; one group received text-enhancement-based instruction of grammar, while the other received compound-based enhancement. Finally, they received an achievement test of grammar as a posttest to measure their progress in light of two different types of input enhancement mechanisms. The pertinent statistical analyses of the results indicated that a) the effect of textual enhancement-based instruction of grammar is not significantly meaningful, while b) the compound enhancement-based instruction has significant effect on learning grammatical structures. Comparatively speaking, therefore, c) compound enhancement-based instruction of grammar is more significantly effective than that of textual in developing grammar ability. It can be safely concluded that grammar instruction and its resultant development are subject to intervention type, which, pedagogically, bears promising messages for both teachers and syllabus designers to incorporate parameters of input enhancement in both teaching and materials development, respectively.

Despite growing interest in the studies on Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), its operation in the forms of individualized and group-wide has been controversial. To cast some empirical light on the issue, this study was designed to quantitatively and comparatively study the applicability of the two scenarios of ZPD-based instructions to the writing complexity of Iranian EFL learners in terms of learners' types (low vs. high scorers). To this end, 118 EFL learners identified as homogeneous based on the TOEFL ITP test were randomly assigned into two equal experimental groups (individualized ZPD- and group-wide ZPD-based groups) which respectively received compatible instructions utilizing conference writing (as an individual scaffolding technique) and low- and high-structured writing templates (as a whole-class scaffolding technique). The treatments were allocated to the groups in a random manner within homogeneous blocks. Prior to and after the treatments, three tests (two writing tests and one ZPD test) were administered to measure both groups’ writing complexity and their ZPD levels. A ZPD test was also administered in the mid of treatments. The non-parametric analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that the individualized-ZPD-based instruction is constructive to the writing complexity of the low scorers, while the group-wide ZPD-based instruction shows not much constructive to the writing complexity of the high scorers. The findings pointed to the use of ZPD-based instructions in TEFL writing in meaningful contexts and thereby showing impacts made on the writing complexity of learners. The study, indeed, yields support to the feasibility of group-wide ZPD measurement along with an individualized ZPD approach.

Paradigm shift in language education has caused many countries including Iran to reshuffle their public EFL educational program. However, such a promising trend in Iran has entailed serious challenges, which necessitated this study aimed at collecting data from 70 teachers and 70 students to investigate the CLT challenges in terms of both teachers' pedagogical and assessment areas. A Partial Least Square Model (PLSM) addressed these two variables. The findings showed that the first three sub-traits of both CLT and testing knowledge have varying contributions to the main latent variables, respectively. Second, Friedman test indicated lack of compatibility between the respective dimensions as to the implementation of the program. Third, the post-hoc comparison tests revealed that teachers perceived CLT significantly lower than the three areas of CLT testing, knowledge of CLT tests and knowledge of developing CLT tests. Also, their knowledge of characteristics of CLT was significantly lower than their perceptions of CLT testing, and knowledge of CLT tests. However, their knowledge of the characteristics of CLT was not significantly different from that of developing CLT tests. Finally, their knowledge of techniques in CLT was significantly lower than their perceptions  of CLT testing, knowledge of CLT tests, and knowledge of developing CLT tests. In sum, the Iranian public EFL program still suffers from both implementation and assessment challenges necessitating remedial teacher education program.  

Uni-furcation of assessment and instruction has recently been realized in the form of purposeful assessment scenarios; Assessment x̄ Scenarios (analogous to Noam Chomsky's x̄ Theory!). x̄ here refers to any of the triple assessment scenarios including Assessment for Learning (AFL), Assessment as Learning (AAL), and Assessment of Learning (AOL), plus pairing each with another or integrating all three (i.e., Integrated Assessment Scenario). Comparative investigation of the effect of each scenario as to developing language skills particularly listening skill seems to be an intact area. In a bid to fill this gap, 100 conveniently sampled Iranian female EFL learners of 13-19 years old were randomly divided into three experimental and one control group. Prior to the treatment, their listening ability was measured through a pre-test. Then, each experimental group; AFL, AAL, and Integrated assessment, experienced the listening instruction based on the principles of each specific scenario, while the control group was treated based on AOL principles. Their listening ability was then measured in the light of an identical listening post-test to the pre-test. ANOVA, used to check the comparative performances of all groups, showed that AFL and AAL groups significantly outperformed over the AOL group, but the integrated assessment group significantly outperformed the other experimental groups. While the findings yield support to the bifurcation approach, they generate more prospective areas for further research.