درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

In this article, the plural marker in the Mahshahri dialect is examined. Mahshahri is the native language of the people of Bandar-e Mahshahr. This dialect has close similarities with other Iranian language varieties spoken in southern Iran, particularly those of other southern cities of Khuzestan Province, and Iranian language varieties of Bushehr, Fars and Kohkiluye and Boyr-Ahmad provinces. From a methodological point of view, this research is descriptive and analytical. The research data were mainly obtained through a questionnaire and by examining the text of a twenty-minute continuous speech from the Mahshahri dialect. The investigations carried out in this article show that the plural marker of Mahshahri is /-æl/, which, based on the phonetic environment of the base to which it is added, can have other allomorphic manifestations as well. The conducted studies also indicate that there are variations in the use of the plural marker in the Mahshahri dialect. These variations, in many cases, align with the replacement of the marker with its standard Persian counterparts. Therefore, the variations that can be seen in the use of the plural marker of Mahshahri can be considered in line with other current changes that are underway in the direction of leveling the dialect with standard Persian in Iran. 

The combination of face-to-face and online teaching, also called Blended learning (BL) has practically become one of the prevalent models of teaching and learning all over the world. Particularly, it has been applied as a new trend of using technology to concurrently combine in-class and out-of-class learning to optimize the educational impacts on students. However, BL is still quite a new learning model and has not been applied widely in teaching English in Vietnam. The current study was conducted to explore students’ perceptions of BL, the difficulties students think they have, and the percentage of face-to-face and online learning they prefer when learning in the BL environment. Sixty civil engineering students participating in the survey filled out a questionnaire after the forms of BL and the Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle had been introduced to them. The findings indicated that more than half of the participants were stimulated by BL and willing to take on the challenges.  Nevertheless, some concerns about the lack of IT skills to fulfill the requirements of the BL course cannot be ignored.  

The current study set out to examine the effect of pair and group virtual interaction in online classrooms on the development of speaking abilities of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. This investigation was based on the quantitative data collected based on quasi-experimental design. In order to do so, 45 students were chosen based on their scores on the CEFR placement test. These students were then divided into two experimental groups, namely group work and pair work as well as a control group who worked individually. Students had to participate in the IELTS Speaking test twice as pre-test and post-test. The course was held on the Skype platform for five weeks. Each session consisted of 45 minutes of speaking practice using the Talk a Lot textbook and 20 minutes of discussion. In order to compare the means of three independent groups, Kruskal-Wallis Test was used to compare pre-test and post-test results. The Post hoc test was used for multiple comparisons and the mean differences of groups. The findings indicated that there is a significant difference between the experimental groups and the control group regarding the effect of group and pair work in online classrooms on the speaking ability of EFL learners. According to the study findings, students who participated in pair and group work training in online classrooms had greater speaking performance than those who only received individual learning.

Different linguistic constructions, including comparative, superlative, similative, and equative constructions, are employed to convey the concept of comparison. Equative and similative constructions exhibit the highest semantic and structural resemblance out of all the specified constructions. In such constructions, two entities -referred to as the comparee and the standard- are compared based on a specific characteristic or quality. In equative constructions the comparison is based on a gradable property, where one of the referents has the property to a higher degree, while similative constructions compare the similarity in manner. This study explored the equative constructions in the Laki language by primarily relying on classification put forth by Haspelmath (2017). The data for the present study consists of 123 equative sentences taken from spoken interviews with twelve individuals residing in Noorabad city. The findings indicate that speakers mainly use seven strategies to convey the concept of equality in Laki. Furthermore, the data show that in numerous equative constructions in Laki, there is a preference for omitting the standard marker while retaining the degree marker

While writing skill is extensively studied in EFL contexts, more in-depth research is needed to explore how technology can assist its pedagogy. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of using an automated writing evaluation on Iranian EFL learners’ essay writing. Learning how to reduce errors (in an EFL context) by being corrected at the moment and being exposed to different examples regarding that error in the learners’ new texts through automated writing evaluation (AWE) tends to be the significance of this study. To this end, 50 Iranian EFL learners who were studying at the University of Qom, were randomly chosen. The sample included 25 females and 25 males, whose ages ranged from 19 to 25. The participants were given a pre-test before using AWE software. They were given a topic to write about as a pre-test. After the treatment, an IELTS Task 2 was utilized as a posttest. The IELTS writing band descriptors were used to evaluate the writings. The ANCOVA results showed a remarkable improvement in the essay writing of the EFL learners using an AWE software (i.e., Grammarly). The analysis of interview data revealed that the learners were more enthusiastic about using the AWE feedback because they were corrected while they were writing their essays. Since AWE is discovered to be a helpful device to promote learners’ writing skills, students would also be inspired to become associated with such online learning environments and utilize them earnestly and productively. This research also discovered the learners who got feedback from the AWE device got more prosperous but they also started to ask their teacher to provide more feedback to have AWE feedback and traditional feedback combined. The findings have implications for language teachers, material developers, and curriculum designers.

personality is one of the essential factors to acquire a second language. The Socio-affective strategy helps learners to adjust emotions and motivations. This study investigated the impact of extroversion and introversion on the using socio-affective strategies. The participants of the study were 26 EFL Iranian students at university level at Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch. The students who were willing to participate were selected from BA/MA/PhD classes. This descriptive quantitative study used two questionnaires. First, the researcher administered the personality questionnaire developed by Cain (2011) to categorize students into two groups of introvert and extrovert. Next, the socio-affective questionnaire was answered by students. The results of the statistical analyses revealed that there is a significant difference between introverts and extroverts in using socio-affective strategies and the mean score of introverts is higher than extroverts. Also, the results of this study revealed that there is a significant difference between introverts and extroverts in using socio-affective strategy in writing skill. The finding of the study suggests implications regarding the use of socio-affective strategies in introverts and extroverts.