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Metadiscourse is a set of linguistic ties used to communicate attitudes and denote the grammatical attributes of a text. The present study was conducted to inspect using hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in the well-known Persian and English psychology books. Based on the chosen corpora of the study, this inquiry purposed to realize what the general preferences are in the use of hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in Persian and English psychology books. The corpora of four psychology books, two by Persian- speaking psychologists and two by English-speaking psychologists, were chosen and analyzed based on Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse. The data obtained and collected from the chosen corpora were analyzed by Ant Conc 3. 5 . 7 and SPSS statistical software. By analyzing the corpora of the study quantitatively, it is resulted that Persian-speaking psychologists used more metadiscourse markers than that of English-speaking psychologists in their books. Secondly, it is detected that Persian-speaking psychologists used fewer hedging metadiscourse markers in their books than that of their English-speaking counterparts. Thirdly, it is found that Persian-speaking psychologists used more boostering metadiscourse markers in their books than that of their English-speaking counterparts. Next, it is realized that Persian-speaking psychologists used more singular first-person self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in their books; however, their English-speaking counterparts used more plural third-person self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in their books. In addition, textual analysis has shown the difference of Persian and English sub-corpora in using hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers.

Educators often employ various training techniques to reduce raters’ subjectivity. Negotiation is a technique which can assist novice raters to co-construct a shared understanding of the writing assessment when rating collaboratively. There is little research, however, on rating behaviors of novice raters while employing negotiation techniques and the effect of negotiation on their understanding of writing and rubric features. This study uses a qualitative method to keep track of 11 novice raters’ scoring behaviors and examine their textual foci during three phases of scoring through an analytic rubric: pre-negotiation, negotiation, and post-negotiation. To ensure triangulation, multiple sources of data including raters’ verbal protocols of independent scoring during the initial and final phases, audio-recorded interactions in the negotiation phase, and semi-structured interviews were gathered and analyzed. Results indicated that in their initial independent rating, raters mostly scored based on their understanding of the writing skill and the writing features that were important to them, but negotiation sessions aided them to refine their judgments and attend to a wider array of textual features more consistently and in line with the rubric, thereby expanding their understanding of the rubric categories. Post-negotiation ratings were also more similar to negotiation than prenegotiation ratings, meaning that the raters attended to more features of the rubric for scoring. The findings may have implications for rater training. In the absence of expert raters to train novice raters, negotiation can be considered a useful technique to improve raters’ understanding of the rubric features.

This study compares three integrated tasks of the TOEFL iBT speaking subtest in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. To this end, a group of TOEFL iBT Iranian candidates took a simulated TOEFL iBT some days prior to their real exam. The collected oral responses were first transcribed and then quantified using software such as ‘Syllable Counter’ and ‘Coh-Metrix3’ for fluency and complexity, respectively. For accuracy, however, the responses were tallied manually. The results revealed the responses to the three speaking tasks were significantly different in terms of fluency. The difference in the accuracy index also turned significant, though the pairwise comparisons showed some inconsistencies. As for the selected complexity measures, lexical diversity, the mean number of modifiers per NP, and latent semantic analysis all showed significant differences between tasks 2 and 3 on the one hand and task 4 on the other. Left-embeddedness, however, revealed no significant difference among the three tasks. The results may support the influential role of prompting texts in such integrated speaking tasks

Following the recent developments in educational technology-integrated learning, interest in the true implementation of flipped and blended classrooms as innovative approaches has become increasingly popular among language education authorities. This research aimed at comparing flipped, blended, and traditional teaching (T-learning) contexts on Iranian EFL learners’ grammar learning. To this end, 60 intermediate EFL students out of 80, based on their performance in an Oxford Placement Test (OPT), were selected and divided into three groups, including two comparative and one control group, 20 in each. At the beginning of the study, the three groups participated in a pretest to assess their initial ability of grammar knowledge. To integrate technology into their instruction, both comparative groups received the same treatment and materials based on the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model. The blended comparative group received instruction in both on-line and T-learning contexts, while the flipped comparative group received instruction in an online context. The control group received instruction in a T-learning context. After the treatment sessions, they participated in a post-test. The findings showed that reading interesting English newspaper articles, both in the blended and flipped classrooms had a statistically significant effect on developing EFL learners' grammar knowledge. The findings of the study may be beneficial for EFL teachers and material developers to reconsider the role of educational technology (Ed Tech) tools to support classroom-based learning.

Consecutive interpreting (CI) requires a lot of parallel cognitive and affective processes, which are challenging for the interpreter who has to deal with them concurrently . This study focuses on the problems trainee interpreters encountered intheir CI sessions. An analysis of the strategies they used to weigh whether they have been successful in completing their task is also given. The sample of the study consists of 50 senior students of Translation enrolled in CI course (English-Arabic) in the Fall Semester 2018/2019 at the Translation Department at Yarmouk University, Jordan. The Source Text (ST), which was divided into one-minute period for each time, was given to students for interpretation and then the Target Text (TT) was recorded. Most of the challenges encountered by trainee-interpreters were linguistic problems, memory problems, note-taking and reproducing the ST into the TL. It is imperative therefore that interpreter training should be as effective as possible and interpreters shoulddevelop a series of skills and strategies such as chunking and joining, shadowing, anticipating, listening and recalling and paraphrasing that can be used to solve the problems encountered.

This study was an endeavor to develop a model of cultural identity among Iranian advanced EFL learners. To achieve this end, a multiphase design was implemented. Initially, it was attempted to investigate different factors of cultural identity to propose and validate a model. Thus, 20 EFL learners studying in Safir English language institute in Tehran were interviewed about their views of their cultural identity in the qualitative phase. After extracting four factors of cultural identity including: “religion, culture, nationality, and language”, a questionnaire was constructed which reflected these factors. Then, in the quantitative phase, the 30-item questionnaire went through an exploratory factor analysis for the sake of validity and after its validity and reliability were corroborated through a pilot study with 183 learners, it was distributed among 384 EFL learners. In addition, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was run through LISREL 8.8. to confirm that the final proposed model enjoyed validity for future research. To do so, a confirmatory factor analysis was run and the model of cultural identity was developed. Eventually, the possible relationship between 384 EFL learners’ cultural identity and their English language achievement scores was examined and the results of this phase indicated that there was a significant and positive relationship between learners’ cultural identity and their English language achievement scores. The findings of this study can enhance awareness among English teachers, materials developers, and syllabus designers to equip themselves with the updated techniques to handle the possible challenges that may occur in EFL learning contexts.

بیماری همه گیر COVID-19 همه دانشگاه ها را واداشت تا تمام برنامه های خود را بصورت آنلاین ارائه دهند. اما همه مدرسان برای چنین تحول ناگهانی ای آماده نبودند. آموزش آنلاین می تواند برای مربیان و موسسات بسیار چالش برانگیز باشد چراکه دارای ظرافت های مختلفی است که آن را از برنامه های حضوری کاملا متفاوت می سازد. با توجه به شرایط حاضر همه گیری، نیاز فوری به مطالعات در خصوص بررسی اثربخشی چنین برنامه هایی در مقایسه با دوره های مشابه حضوری به شدت حس میشود. در نتیجه ، مطالعه حاضر تلاشی بود برای مقایسه اثربخشی یک دوره EAP آنلاین با دوره مشابه حضوری از نظر سه مولفه لغات ، دستور زبان و درک مطلب. شصت و هشت دانش آموز در دو گروه آنلاین و حضوری با طرح پیش آزمون-پس آزمون در این مطالعه شرکت کردند. در حالی که در شروع مطالعه دو گروه تفاوت معناداری نداشتند ، نتایج آزمون SPANOVA تفاوت معناداری را در مورد مولفه دستور زبان و نه دو مولفه دیگر نشان داد. گروه حضوری از عملکرد بهتری در یادگیری دستور زبان برخوردار بود. مصاحبه های انجام شده نشان داد که فراگیران در کلاسهای آنلاین معمولاً تعامل کمی با معلمان و همکلاسی های خود دارند و معلمان نمی توانند در طول کلاس، فراگیران را درگیر و فعال نگه دارند. همه اینها نشان می دهد که یک برنامه آنلاین، ترجمه یک برنامه درسی حضوری به یک قالب آنلاین نیست و از پیچیدگی های بی شماری برخوردار است که باید مورد توجه همه دست اندرکاران قرار گیرد.