درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Writing is one of the four skills of language learning, especially, one of the skills of practical communication in a communicative approach. The purpose of this research is to evaluate and analyze writing activities of the writing sections of secondary high school English textbooks, grades 10th, 11th and 12th, so-called vision 1, 2, 3. The theoretical framework of this research, a descriptive-analytical and qualitative method, was based on Kern's (2007) and Harmer’s (2004) model and continuum of writing activities. The writing activities of these vision books were divided into three major categories of controlled, guided and free writing and fifteen more sub-categories. The exercises and activities of the writing section of these six-volume English textbooks, so-called vision 1,2,3 were counted on and the average and percentage of each category were calculated based on Kern’s (2002) and Harmer’s (2004) model and continuum of writing. The findings of this research indicate that the categories of controlled writing and copying, the first item of Kern’s continuum, are the dominant writing tasks in these books. Activities concerning the guided, and especially the free writing activities in these books are rarely seen or they have not been much carefully regarded. In the communicative approach, regarding the goods and the existing requirements, the teaching of writing is generally concerned with free writing tasks. Therefore, to enhance and promote practical communication skills as an aim of a communicative approach, free writing skills are inevitable. The findings of this research point out that English teachers can reinforce and enhance their students’ practical communication abilities in their classes by using freestyle exercises and hence, cover the shortcomings of the books.

Previous research has shown the differential effects of task-related prompts on syntactic complexity, grammatical accuracy, and lexical diversity when L2 learners use writing prompts to produce a piece of writing. However, the extent to which the freedom in the selection of prompts affects these linguistic facets in L2 argumentative essays is still unknown. The present study, therefore, was designed to investigate differences between syntactic complexity, grammatical accuracy, and lexical diversity in argumentative essays. Seventy-one upper-intermediate male and female Iranian English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) learners from Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin and Safir Plus institute in Tehran participated in this study. Five-paragraph essays were used to collect data, and SPSS (version 25) was used to analyze the data. Results of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed statistically significant differences between syntactic complexity, grammatical accuracy, and lexical diversity. Results from post-hoc analyses revealed statistically significant differences between lexical diversity and grammatical accuracy as well as lexical diversity and syntactic complexity, but no statistically significant differences were found between grammatical accuracy and syntactic complexity in argumentative essays.

A narrative monologue skill is required in learning English. Delivering a monologue is a challenging skill for most of the EFL students since it is difficult for them to utilize their lexical and grammatical knowledge. This study investigates the effects of narrative sequential images on the Iranian intermediate EFL students’ monologue skill. To this end, the study was conducted in two intact classes (one as the experimental group and the other as the control group) of 32 students within 2 months in a high school in Isfahan. To select homogenous participants, Oxford Placement Test and Oral Proficiency Interview were administered. A monologue pre-test was used at the beginning of the study. And the specific treatment was administered to the experimental group. Then, a parallel post-test was conducted. Based on the results, there was a significant difference in the scores of the experimental group in all aspects of fluency, coherence, lexical resources, grammar and accuracy, and pronunciation in using narrative sequential images before and after treatment. In other words, experimental group performed better on the four subscales of monologue skill than did the control group. Results, also, suggested that teachers use sequential images as a part of their instruction to help students develop their monologue skill.

Ubiquitous learning can be described as a daily learning environment supported by mobile, computers, and wireless networks to provide learning anytime and anywhere. As the concept of Ubiquitous learning is little known in Iran, this study considers a sample of Iranian EFL learners to identify the effects of different aspects of Ubiquitous learning including omnipresence, context customization, interactivity, perceived self-efficacy, and m-learning motivation that influence L2 learner’s classroom achievement. The participants included 150 high school students in Shiraz. A questionnaire adapted from Jung (2014) was the main data collection instrument used in the present study. Moreover, classroom achievement scores of the students taken from their final exam results were also analyzed. Structural equation modeling results showed that among aspects of Ubiquitous learning, omnipresence, context customization, perceived self-efficacy, and m-learning motivation affected classroom achievement but interactivity did not influence classroom achievement. The results also revealed the positive effect of integration of technology on student learning. EFL learners with a clear understanding of innovation in education are better positioned to move their efficiency and effectiveness from the traditional English learning environment to one that fully integrates learning into learners’ daily routines. The study concludes that developments in technology need to be transmitted into the pedagogical areas and carefully considered in the forms of curriculum and contents for language teaching.

This study aimed to compare the effect of two types of assessment, i.e., self-assessment and peer assessment, on reflective and impulsive EFL learners’ speaking skill. To this end, a group of 51 (24 impulsive and 27 reflective) intermediate EFL learners were selected based on their performance on a PET (Preliminary English Test), and the Impulsiveness Sub-Scale of Eysenck’s Impulsivity Inventory. They were randomly divided into two experimental groups (i.e., self-assessment and peer assessment), each containing impulsive, and reflective learners. In the self-assessment group, the assessment was based on the Speaking Self-Assessment Sheet designed by Babaii, Taghaddomi and Pashmforoosh (2015). In the peer assessment group, the assessment was based on the Peer Assessment Rating Sheet by Yamashiro and Johnson (1997). At the end of the treatment, the participants received the speaking section of another PET as a posttest. The results of two-way ANOVA revealed that (a) the assessment type and cognitive type had no significant interaction, (b) self-assessment and peer assessment had the same effect on impulsive and reflective learners’ speaking skill, (c) irrespective of the assessment type, learners with different cognitive types performed differently, with the reflective learners outperforming their impulsive counterparts.

Despite the critical relationships among pragmatic action, context, and linguistic vs. non-linguistic resources for producing various adjacency pairs in foreign or second language (L2) exchanges, their interplay has not been adequately investigated. Therefore, the present study examined these relations in the production of request-refusal adjacency pairs. The needed data were collected from 108 upper-intermediate to advanced EFL learners. Three hundred conversations were audio-recorded from learners’ role-plays that involved making request-refusal adjacency pairs. MAXQDA software was used for data transcription, codification, and analysis. Data analysis revealed that request-refusal adjacency pairs were co-constructed in discursive contexts through multiple turns using both linguistic and nonlinguistic turn construction units (TCUs). Learners significantly used more linguistic rather than nonlinguistic TCUs and more sentential and clausal TCUs than phrasal and lexical TCUs. Moreover, the use of pauses and continuers was significantly more than laughter, facial expression, and body language. These findings have some pedagogical implications for teachers to raise learners’ awareness of context, action, and linguistic and nonlinguistic TCUs in the production of speech act adjacency pairs.