درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The present study assessed test-taking strategies awareness, test anxiety, and test performance relationships among Iranian ESP students. The sample was comprised of 60 students majoring in Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering who were enrolled in an ESP course. All participants completed the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) as a requirement for ensuring homogeneity regarding language ability. Participants also completed Barati's (2005) test-taking strategies questionnaire and a standard test anxiety scale, and test performance was assessed by ESP course examinations. Pearson correlation analysis produced three general findings: First, there was significant positive correlation between test-taking strategies awareness and test performance, such that students with higher strategy awareness had better test scores. Second, test anxiety was significantly and negatively correlated with test performance. Third, an inverse correlation existed between test-taking strategies awareness and test anxiety, suggesting that students employing more strategies experienced less anxiety. These findings highlight the interdependent functioning of strategy awareness and anxiety control in performance. The results suggest that ESP instruction needs to integrate training in the use of test-taking strategies and anxiety reduction in order to assist students most effectively. The study contributes to our understanding of factors influencing language test performance in ESP settings.

This study was intended to explore the Iranian EFL learners’ stance towards Technology-Enhanced Personalized Language Learning (TEPLL) and how it influences language development. Specifically, this study investigated the relationships among learners’ stances towards TEPLL, relating to effectiveness, integration into daily life, autonomy, engagement, and satisfaction, with L2 speaking and writing motivation. It also examined how learners’ stances to the instruction of TEPLL were related to their progress in developing productive skills both in speaking and writing. In addition, instructional facets promoting and inhibiting learners’ progress were highlighted. With 120 EFL Iranian learners from five language institutes in Isfahan, Iran, the present project assigned participants to experimental and control groups with 60 persons each, according to the proficiency levels: pre-intermediate, intermediate, and advanced. Data were collected via a Learning Experience Questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The experimental group received instruction in TEPLL through Speechling for speaking practice and through Moodle for writing practice. The results generally indicated a positive stance towards TEPLL; the learners reported high scores regarding perceived effectiveness, ease of integration, autonomy, engagement, and satisfaction. They also demonstrated more motivation concerning the development of L2 speaking and writing. On the other hand, it established the challenges of technical problems, inadequate content, and poor preparation. Interviews with students showed that TEPLL is an excellent tool for practicing speaking and pronunciation but also brought to the surface the demand for better audio-visual quality, more content volume, and individual support. The findings suggest that while potentially very effective in bettering the language learning of Iranian EFL learners, TEPLL has to be administered with caution, and its administration kept under constant review to reduce the potential challenges. Keywords: Self-determination Theory (SDT), Stance, Technology-Enhanced Personalized Language Learning (TEPLL)

The present study surveyed the potential role of podcasting and blogging in improving Iraqi intermediate EFL learners’ motivation. To this aim, 45 learners (in three intact classes) were selected from a language institute in Iraq through convenience sampling. The participants were then randomly assigned to one of the three groups (podcasting vlogging, and control). Successive to administering the motivation scale as pretest, the researchers initiated the intervention, which lasted for 14 sessions and seven weeks, with the classes being held twice a week. After holding the posttest, and at the culmination of quantitative phase of the study, 14 participants (seven students from each experimental group) were selected to take part in a semi-structured interview. They were asked to provide their opinions on how podcasting and vlogging can improve their motivation. The data collected for the quantitative phase were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and as regards the qualitative phase, thematic analysis was employed. The results demonstrated that both podcasting and vlogging groups exhibited higher degrees of motivation in comparison to the control group following the treatments. Moreover, the findings suggested that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups that engaged in podcasting and vlogging. The qualitative analysis indicated that the participants had positive attitudes about using podcasting and vlogging to improve their motivation. The findings are thought to have fruitful implications for teachers, learners and other educational stakeholders at the context of Iraqi institutes, particularly as regards the proper integration of technology into language learning process.

It is argued that in our current digital era, MALL (mobile-assisted language learning) is an indispensable mode either for independent self-learning or for integrating with the school curriculum. The present study explores the possibility of using gamification as a home assignment in English as a foreign language course for students of non-English majors at a university in Vietnam. Data was collected and analyzed using 69 questionnaire responses and 41 essays written by students in a class of General English. The questionnaire and essay topic prompt required students to provide an evaluation of their personal experience learning English with Duolingo outside the classroom, as part of the compulsory home assignments during a 15-week semester. The questionnaire items were in Vietnamese and the essays were either in Vietnamese or English for students’ convenience. The results showed detailed benefits and problems of learning English with Duolingo as perceived by the students. The key benefits include the fact that Duolingo is a valuable resource: rich and free; the limitation is mainly learners’ lack of experience with the application. It is suggested that with teachers’ guidance, Duolingo could be used as an effective and motivating tool for independent learning.  

Cet article présent, nous ne projetons en aucune façon d'établir ou de définir ce qu'est l'art, dont l'œuvre d'art en ontologie. Ce n'est pas notre préoccupation aujourd'hui, et non plus davantage de la plupart des artistes contemporains. À la recherche d'une ontologie bien particulière sur l’œuvre d’art contemporain, Roger Pouivet, le philosophe contemporain français, l'appelle « l'ontologie appliquée ». Il s’agit de considérer l'œuvre en tant que telle, sans se préoccuper des catégories fondamentales qui la possèdent. À ce stade, il paraît nécessaire de parler du changement de paradigme dans le champ d’arts plastiques, qui résulte de l'apparition des œuvres des textes écrits ou oraux.  En ce qui concerne le concept de « Zugganzes » de ’Heidegger, il faut bien comprendre, quoi qu'il en soit, le cumul des éléments nécessaires jusqu’à ce que l’établissement d’un système s’achève. Cela veut dire que pour un processus de créer une œuvre d'art contemporain il explique qu’à la fois chaque élément a son rôle clé, même indispensable, et une mission pour compléter le rôle des autres éléments. Au fur et à mesure de cet article, nous répondrons aux questions de recherche : 1) Comment peut-on mettre en avant un processus de détermination d'une œuvre d'art qui s'enrichit des textes écrits ou oraux, en époque contemporaine ? 2.) Pourquoi et pour quelle raison a-t-on choisi de mettre en lien les deux concepts de « Zugganzes » et de l'hypothèse de « l'ontologie appliquée » dans ce travail de recherche ? Cette recherche essaye de nous montrer que: les œuvres d'art contemporaines qui sont considérées comme des textes visuels enrichissent des textes écrits ou oraux. En effet, cet acte vise à attirer l'attention des spectateurs en tout temps et en tous lieux. À la fin, on comprendra qu’il est possible de créer visuellement des textes symboliques en pratiquant simultanément les textes écrits ou oraux comme des éléments visuels et en profitant de leurs contextes.   

Human beings employ different forms of linguistic politeness to ease communication and reduce the likelihood of conflict. With the rise of technology and social media platforms such as Email, Telegram, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, the concept of politeness has faced new challenges. The present study focused on Instagram comments and analyzed politeness strategies based on Leech’s grand strategy of politeness. The study examined a 20043-word corpus developed based on 696 posts across various topics on Instagram. The results revealed that Instagram users predominantly utilized negative politeness strategies (63.3%). Among the positive strategies, agreement constraints were the most frequently employed (32.7%), while tact constraint violations (32.1%) were the most common within negative strategies. The study utilized repeated measures of ANOVA and Tukey post hoc analysis via SPSS to examine differences among various constraints and their violations. Significant differences were found among most constraints, except for tact and modesty, generosity, and feeling reticence. In terms of constraint violations, no significant differences were observed between approbation and obligation of the speaker to others constraint violation, between agreement constraint violation and generosity constraint violation, between agreement and obligation of others to a speaker constraint violation, between agreement constraint violation and opinion reticence constraint violation, between sympathy and modesty constraint violation, between sympathy and feeling reticence constraint violation. The findings underscore the importance of analyzing language in specific media, providing insights into politeness and impoliteness in a specific medium. The results can enhance students' pragmatic skills and improve their online communication, prompting materials developers to consider such pragmatic dimensions.

This research is aimed to capture EFL teachers’ use of technology in Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) by focusing on the variety and intensity of tasks in teaching reading. Driven by the survey research, the data were collected from 71 teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesia and analyzed descriptively. The findings show that the EFL teachers perceived that the use of technology in TBLT in teaching reading is important and it can enhance students' language learning experiences. Technology offers engaging materials and activities that aid reading comprehension. Furthermore, EFL teachers' use of various tasks and resources may indicate a need for continuing professional development to improve digital literacy skills and pedagogical strategies of English teachers in EFL context. Although the findings of this survey give an insight into the data of English teachers’ use of technology in TBLT in terms of variety and intensity in teaching reading, this survey has its limitations with regard to the numbers of participants. This research highlights the dynamic relationship among technology, TBLT, and reading instruction in the EFL context, and suggests the need for continued research and exploration of best practices in this area. The current study succeeded in adding new empirical studies related to the variety and intensity in pre-reading, whilst-reading and post-reading activities of EFL teachers enacting teaching reading with the use of TBLT.

This study aimed to examine the cross-lingual recognition of French and English words and their pseudo-homophones to verify the presence of Grapheme-Phoneme Conversion (GPC) for the word recognition of foreign language learners. Considering the study's purposes, 100 Iranian advanced English and French learners were chosen and recruited for the study through the convenience sampling procedure. The participants' homogeneity and proficiency level were checked with the aid of an English proficiency test (McMillan Placement Test (MPT)) and a French proficiency test (Test d'Évaluation de Français (TEF)) before the examination phase. To investigate the participants' reaction times for recognizing the real words, illegal nonwords, and legal nonwords (pseudo-homophones), a computerized test was designed that sought the participants' judgments about the presented linguistic construct on the screen. The employed words were chosen according to their morphological complexity, frequency, and length from the learners' course books. Data analysis revealed that pseudo-homophones were more challenging for both English and French learners to recognize; this was shown by their higher reaction time needed for recognizing pseudo-homophones compared with the real words and the illegal nonwords. Although the occurrence of GPC for both groups was attested, it was significantly stronger for the French learners. These findings suggest that word recognition is inherently a phonological process (not an orthographic one) among foreign language learners. 

This study investigates the integration of post-humanist pedagogies in e-learning for English language teaching (ELT) through the perspectives of Indonesian doctoral students. Post-humanist principles, emphasizing interconnectedness and collaboration, are explored within digital language education contexts. Conducted at Universitas Negeri Malang, the study employed a sequential mixed-methods approach involving 28 participants. Data collection included closed-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, focusing on three key dimensions: relationality, agency and autonomy, and multiplicity and diversity. Findings underscored the preference for collaborative digital learning environments, highlighting peer interaction and the role of adaptive technology in fostering personalized instruction and learner autonomy. The participants also emphasized the importance of integrating sustainability-focused content in language courses to promote ecological awareness. This research advocates for the transformative potential of post-humanist pedagogies in enhancing inclusive, learner-centered language learning experiences that support linguistic diversity and intercultural understanding. Future studies should explore the scalability and socio-political implications of these pedagogical approaches across diverse educational settings to address broader societal challenges and promote equitable education practices.

The following paper was designed to focus on how learners’ process different communication inputs (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) and secondly, how gender differences play a significant role in this process. However, materials and instruction methods must also affect individual responses to given tasks. A study on these issues will necessitate the development of gender sensitive instructional materials with a special focus on improving individual comprehension strategies. First year graduate students with English as a compulsory subject of the two selected institutions were taken for our study. In this paper we have reported the differences between the male and female attitudes of the learners and their beliefs in acquiring LSRW skills for learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Survey questionnaires (through Google forms) and interview questions were designed. One sample T-test and paired sample test were taken whereas, interview question responses were analysed to validate the data. The findings revealed that average responses regarding the difficulty of listening skills are statistically significant and correlation between male students learning listening skills are better in the collaborative learning environment whereas the female students depict a positive and moderate correlation for the same. However, it is also found that there is no significant difference between the overall performance of female and male students and the implications have been discussed in the paper.

Speaking is a multifaceted skill that involves many different areas, such as discourse, grammar, and sociolinguistics. As a primary means of communication, speaking is essential in any instructional program for language learning. Besides, Photovoice is a participatory learning method that represents the viewpoints, issues, and experiences of individuals or communities through photography. Following a mixed-methods design, the present study tried to investigate employing Photovoice on Iranian intermediate language learners' skill in speaking English. It also looked at how the participants felt about using Photovoice to learn languages. Using a convenient sampling procedure, a total number of 60 participants were chosen. Once their homogeneity was confirmed based on the Preliminary English Test, they were randomly divided into two equal groups of thirty participants, one experimental group and one control group. While the control group received typical language teaching using conventional methods, the experimental group followed the PHOTO model, which emphasized participatory photography, as well as the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model for generating innovative solutions. Triangulation was also accomplished through conducting pre/post tests, a questionnaire, and an interview. Then, the data were summarized, and descriptive and inferential statistics such as one-way ANCOVA and paired samples t-tests were used. The results showed that Photovoice integrated with CPS was an effective method for enhancing students' speaking skill and emotional engagement in language learning. The findings can be helpful through new insights into language pedagogy, suggestions for researchers and language teachers in the study of speaking skill, and visual methods such as Photovoice.

This study evaluates the translation quality of two open letters by Iran’s Supreme Leader, addressed to Western youth, using House’s TQA model (2015). The research identifies both the strengths and limitations of the model in assessing texts of this nature. Through a detailed qualitative, comparative, and descriptive analysis, the study highlighted House’s model as a tool for analyzing field, tenor, and mode but also noted significant gaps, including the lack of differentiation between local and global cultural filters, the absence of non-dimensional mismatches, and the failure to provide practical solutions for identified issues. The findings suggested expanding House’s model to incorporate a broader classification of cultural filters and address non-dimensional mismatches. This study underscored the need to adapt quality assessment approaches to specific text types and linguistic functions. The insights offered not only contributed to theoretical advancements but also provided practical guidelines for improving translation quality assessment endeavors in any type of discourse.

The current paper intends to exploit the Many Facet Rasch Model to investigate and compare the impact of situations (items) and raters on test takers' performance on the Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) and Discourse Self-Assessment Tests (DSAT). In this study, the participants were 110 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan in Iran. The students were asked to complete the WDCT and rate themselves on that test. Four raters scored the WDCT tests. According to the FACETS results, there were significant differences in students' performance between the two methods. The stable fit statistics and differing levels of difficulty measures for each test method indicated that each test had a unique way of differentiating the test taker's pragmatic ability. Based on the results, both DSAT and WDCT are acceptable measures for pragmatic ability; however, there are some fitness problems in DSAT. This shows the unpredictable pattern of ratings in the DSAT. It is recommended to have rater training to obtain more accurate results from the DSAT. Finally, the implications were discussed.

This study strived to specify and particularize Iranian medical field specialists and EFL teachers’ predominant and overriding textual interventions, which fall within the ambit of convenience editing. To this end, we required 20 field specialists and 20 EFL instructors to edit the unedited versions of 80 published medical research articles in a way that rendered them apt for publication in quality medical journals. We categorized the obtained data of the edited articles using an editing strategy framework that distinguished four editing micro-strategies and five macro-strategies. The findings revealed that medical specialists and EFL teachers’ micro-editing strategies outnumbered their macro-editing ones. Furthermore, there were significant differences between the editing micro-strategy uses of the above-mentioned groups of the participants. The results highlighted the need for a synergic collaboration between the medical field specialists and the EFL teachers to ameliorate medical articles’ formal, stylistic, and genre-related features and to expedite their publication process.