درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The current study investigated the effect of collaborative prewriting activities on learners’ identity construction and L2 writing development. To this end, 43 sophomore upper-intermediate university students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at an Iranian university who had enrolled in a course called Advanced Writing were randomly divided into two experimental groups (groups A and B) and one control group (group C). While the students in group A were involved in group activities, the students in group B were engaged in pair activities. The students in control group (group C) worked individually. As a pre-test, a pen-and-paper writing task was given to all the students at the beginning of the semester. During the semester, all the participants were exposed to the same materials and were taught by the same teacher for one semester. The only difference was the type of activities in which the participants were engaged. At the end of one semester, a pen-and-paper writing task was given to all the three groups. The findings of the post-test revealed that all the students could significantly improve their writing skills. Nevertheless, the students in group B significantly outperformed their counterparts. Most importantly, the results of identity analysis showed that the students in group A used authorial plural pronouns along with adjectives more frequently. The findings of this study confirmed two issues: first, the significant efficacy of prewriting activities were confirmed at the end of the semester. Second, each type of prewriting activity could affect the learners’ identity construction

The systematic study of EAP teachers’ pedagogic content knowledge and their actual teaching practices in class is a fresh avenue in applied linguistics, especially in contexts like Iran, where, EAP courses are taught by two groups of teachers with different specializations; i.e., language teachers and content teachers. This study explored the similarities and differences between language teachers’ and content teachers’ PCK, and teaching practices, and students’ beliefs about their EAP teachers’ methodology at Medical Sciences Universities across Iran. In order to answer the research questions, a wide range of instruments including questionnaires, observations, semi-structured interviews, and field notes were utilized. Sources included language teachers, content teachers, students taught by language teachers, and students taught by content teachers. Representative samples of 318 EAP teachers and 1573 students participated in the study. The results indicated substantial inconsistencies across the two groups of teachers with respect to their PCK and teaching practices. The findings also showed that students favored language teachers’ methodologies and teaching practices. The findings promise implications for EAP instruction in Iran and highlight the pressing need for more systematic teacher training programs. 

Fossilization has become the focus of many L2 studies since its introduction in 1972 as many learners fail to achieve native-speaker competence. Researchers have tried to unravel the causes of fossilization, among which noticing has been claimed to be of great importance. This study aimed to explore the effect of noticing on fossilization. To achieve this aim, a mixed methods approach was utilized. Sixty advanced L1 Persian learners of English studying in Iran were chosen to perform two written and three spoken tasks twice. Qualitative data included the content analysis of the participants’ performance on the written and spoken tasks while the quantitative data included percentages of noticed errors and recurrent erroneous forms. The errors observed in both performances were counted and classified. Six main categories named Grammatical Errors, Lexical Errors, and Cohesive Errors were identified. The observed errors were further classified into 61 subcategories. When learners’ ability in noticing their errors was investigated, it was found that they could notice 37.4% of the 3,796 fossilized forms they had produced. Most of the errors observed were categorized in the category of grammatical errors. Noticing affected the number of errors produced. It can be concluded that becoming aware of ones fossilized forms, one will produce fewer fossilized forms. The results of the current study have implications for English language teachers and learners. By being informed of the errors learners make while learning a language and how their noticing affects fossilization, teachers can improve their teaching practice which in turn enhances learning.

بی شک کارآمد بودن آگاهی فرا زبانشناختی در بهبود کیفیت نگارش و دانش دستوری یادگیرندگانی که زبان انگلیسى را به عنوان زبان خارجی می آموزند از دیرباز حوزه جذابی در زبانشناسی کاربردی بوده است(براون، ٢٠٠١ ). از این رو، هدف اصلى مطالعه ى حاضر بررسى اثر تدریس بصورت تاکید بر صورت به طور برنامه ریزی شده و برنامه ریزى نشده بر توانایى دانش آموزان برای یادگیری دستور و کاربرد صحیح آن در نگارش است. به همین منظور سه کلاس فشرده در دانشگاه اصفهان ایران که دوره های دستور و نگارش برگزار می کند برای تدریس ساختار مورد نظر (یعنی کلمات پیوند دهنده) از طریق روش های متفاوت تدریس تاکید بر صورت انتخاب شدند. نمونه های انتخاب شده شامل دانشجویان سال دوم و (٣٠ نفر در هر گروه) در رده ى سنی ١٩ تا ٢٤ بودند که در دانشگاه اصفهان مترجمی انگلیسی مطالعه می کردند. نمونه ها به ترتیب آموزش با تاکید بر صورت بطور برنامه ریزی شده و برنامه ریزى نشده و تاکید صفر بر صورت دیدند. نتایج پس آزمون پارگراف نویسی و پس آزمون متعاقب آن که با تاخیر گرفته شد نشان داد که شرکت کنندگانی که در گروهی قرار داشتند که تدریس برنامه شده می دیدند عملکردشان بطور قابل ملاحظه ای بهتر از آن دسته ای بود که در به کارگیری کلمات پیوند دهنده در نوشتن پارگراف هایشان آموزش برنامه ریزی نشده و صفر دیده بودند.

This quasi-experimental study aimed to compare the effect of different modes and item types of multiple-choice (MC) test items on advanced EFL learners’ listening comprehension and perception. To this end, 80 advanced EFL learners, aging 18 to 30, were selected. The participants took a listening test including dialogue-completion and question and answer multiple-choice items presented in written and oral modes. In addition, the participants were given a questionnaire on their perceptions of the oral and written modes. The results of two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference between the participants’ scores in the oral and written modes. Moreover, they received similar scores on the two item types. However, in their questionnaire responses, most of the participants preferred the written mode to the oral mode. The results also imply that although presenting the multiple-choice test items in the oral mode may form a pure test of listening comprehension, there are acceptable reasons for presenting the multiple-choice listening items in the written mode.

The monopoly of Western ideologies, theories and methods through English language education as well as the marginalization of Islamic values in English language learning materials has caused heated debates and controversies among Muslim TEFL scholars. In a descriptive and interpretive analysis, this study attempts to bring light to some theoretical issues pertained to language education and Islamic education in a historical mode hoping to pave the way for further exploration of Islamic heritage in English language education theory and practice. The study also calls for designing English literacy programs in light of the Islamic education theories and methods, and urges Muslim TEFL scholars to restructure English language education in a way that meets the demands of an Islamic education. Thus, it first looks at the roots where Islamic education has guided many intellectual movements including language education. Secondly, it reviews the colonial era in which western education has created a gap between the glorious Islamic past and through its language superiority. Then, it explores the awakening movements that call for reunion and return to our ‘true selves’ in education, in general and in language education, in particular. It is hoped that the present work may pave the way for further exploration of Islamic heritage in English language education theory and practice.

This study intended to determine the way validity and reliability i.e., psychometric properties were reported in the Applied Linguistics research articles. The study also focused on the measurement methods applied to determine the validity and reliability of the scores derived from the tests and questionnaires in the empirical studies. The corpus of the study included 331 empirical studies derived from 733 research articles (RAs) published between 2005 and 2018 in three prominent Applied Linguistics journals – Applied Linguistics, Modern Language Journal, and TESOL Quarterly, The selected papers used test and/or questionnaire for data collection. Our analysis indicated that 77(20.98%) of the studies did not report validity and reliability measures, 82(22.35%) reported only reliability measures, 26(7.08%) reported only validity measures, and 182(49.59%) reported both the validity and reliability measures for the instruments. It was also found that content validity assessed through the pilot study had the highest frequency among validity evidences while internal consistency, mostly identified by Cronbach's alpha, was the most frequent reliability evidence.

Burgeoning research in applied linguistics has underscored the interplay among individual, cognitive, and social variables that can delineate the ultimate attainment in various areas including vocabulary learning and the need to explore how innovative conflation of these dimensions may promote learning outcomes. The present quasi-experimental study examined the impact of Thematic Vocabulary Instruction (TVI) with and without Multiple Intelligence-oriented tasks on advanced EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and scrutinized probable differences among individual learners with varying intellectual propensities. Thus, a stratified homogeneous sample of 80 advanced EFL learners was selected and randomly assigned to four groups; the first and the second experimental groups (EG1 and EG2) received TVI with tasks compatible and incompatible with their dominant intelligence, respectively. The third experimental group (EG3) received TVI focused on coursebook exercises and the control group (CG) received non-thematic instruction based on textbook exercises. A parallel vocabulary test was administered to measure the participants’ vocabulary learning. The research data were analyzed via the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests and revealed that the EG1 significantly outperformed the other groups and intrapersonally-intelligent learners significantly underperformed their peers in the EG1. The findings underscore the significance of taking individual differences into account and offer a number of pedagogical implications.