درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between Willingness to Communicate and EFL learners’ Communication Apprehension, Self-perceived Communicative Competence, Self-regulation, Need for Closure, Tolerance of Ambiguity as well as Aggression. The participants of this study were 300 (197 female and 103 male) Iranian EFL learners of English language institutes in Isfahan. To fulfill the purpose of the study, participants were asked to answer seven questionnaires on Willingness to Communicate (WTC), Communication Apprehension (CA), Self-perceived Communicative Competence (SPCC), Self-regulation (SR), Need for Closure (NFC), Tolerance of Ambiguity (TA) and Aggression (Agg). The results of Structural Equation Modeling confirmed previous studies on the relationship between EFL learners’ WTC and SPCC as well as CA asserting that WTC was positively correlated with SPCC and negatively with CA. It was also found that WTC positively correlated with TA. However, the findings revealed no relationship between WTC and SR, NFC and Agg. This study had implications for EFL learners and teachers regarding the factors influencing WTC in language classrooms.

La réalisation d’un mémoire est considérée comme la tâche finale des étudiants en master, à la fin de leur cursus afin de mériter un diplôme universitaire. Or, cette activité cause divers types de difficultés notamment aux étudiants allophones. Cette étude a pour but d’analyser les problèmes auxquels se trouvent confrontés les étudiants iraniens en master de didactique du FLE lors de la préparation et de la rédaction de cet écrit académique. Pour atteindre l’objectif assigné, 3 dispositifs de recueil de données ont été combinés : les commentaires de 4 professeurs sur 7 textes de mémoire, un entretien semi-directif effectué auprès de 12 étudiants et un questionnaire rempli par 33 étudiants. 3 dispositifs d’analyse de données ont alors été exploités : une grille d’évaluation basée sur les compétences nécessaires à la rédaction d’un mémoire, une grille d’analyse des entretiens ainsi que le logiciel SPSS. Les résultats de notre étude montrent que selon les étudiants, les problèmes engendrés lors de la préparation du mémoire sont significativement plus élevés par rapport à ceux causés lors de la rédaction du mémoire. Par ailleurs, les problèmes d’ordre linguistique pour rédiger un texte académique sont récurrents. A cette complication se greffent les difficultés d’ordre scientifique/méthodologique (pratiques de citations, choix et mise en place des méthodes de recherche ainsi que des dispositifs d’analyse des données). D’autre part, les obstacles sur le plan spatio-temporel peuvent être considérés comme un malaise auquel se heurtent les étudiants iraniens lors de la réalisation de l’étude de terrain. Le manque d’accès à des ressources diversifiées pour élaborer le cadre théorique ainsi que la non-maîtrise des logiciels de traitement de texte comptent également parmi les problèmes des étudiants.

Research evidence reported to date demonstrates the differential effects of manipulating second language (L2) task conditions on the resultant production as measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The present study was aimed at adding to the available body of findings by exploring the synergistic effects of two task condition variables, namely online planning and immediacy (± Here/Now) on L2 oral discourse. For this purpose, 60 Iranian intermediate learners of English as a foreign langue (EFL) were asked to perform the task of narrating a story based on a sequenced set of pictures under four conditions (i.e., Here/Now and pressed online planning, Here/Now and careful online planning, There/Then and pressed online planning, There/Then and careful online planning). The results of statistical analyses revealed that carefully planning speech while performing the task consistently assists complexity and accuracy, but negatively affects fluency of speech. Besides, it was observed that carrying out the same task using the past tense without contextual support (i.e., There/Then), if coupled with careful online planning, simultaneously enhances complexity and accuracy. Performing a task in Then/There also reduces fluency. Interestingly, it was also found out that the opportunity to carefully plan online while performing the task in There/Then exponentially increases complexity and accuracy with strong negative effects on fluency. Lastly, pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed regarding the contribution of task condition to directing learners’ attention and their L2 speech quality.

It is necessary to establish mutual relationships between suppliers and demanders to ensure the quality of services. As English is the language of international communications, and the linguistic competence can greatly help develop the tourism industry, this study aimed to analyze the effects of learning English listening, speaking, reading, and writing on tourism development in Iran through the mediating roles of effective communications and teaching in English. The study is applied regarding purpose, and descriptive-survey study of correlation type regarding method. The population consisted of the professors and students of tourism management of Iran's universities, tourism faculties of Tehran, Mashhad, Semnan, Ahvaz, Babolsar, Yazd, and Kerman, as well as the experts in the tourism industry of Iran and foreign tourists. Data collection was field and library method done by distributing a questionnaire online and in person to 351 participants to complete them. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling techniques were used to analyze the collected data. The research findings indicated that listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills have a significant effect on effective communication and education in English. On the other hand, effective communication and teaching in English affect tourism development. The results indicate the essential role of linguistic competence in developing the tourism industry. For better understanding, recognition and learning the international environment and the development of the tourism industry, Iran needs to deal with this challenge, learning English, maintain its competitiveness in the globalization stage.

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 aimed to overcome the researchers' extreme attention to essentially qualitative methods in research on language learners' imagined communities and move towards quantification in order to achieve a more tangible image of this construct. To do so, the present researchers followed three main phases. First, a hypothesized model of language learners' imagined communities with eight components was developed for the Iranian context based on the wide-ranging readings of the literature on imagined communities, consultations with experts and interviews with language learners. Second, a questionnaire was developed and validated based on the model to represent its components. Finally, the data collected through the questionnaire were fed into the model to see to what extent the model fit the data. The initial results showed poor values; however, the model was trimmed by removing one item from the questionnaire, and final statistical indices showed that the model was fit.

Language classrooms are occasionally anxiety-breeding situations. Foreign language classroom anxiety which negatively affects foreign language learning is typically associated with productive activities mainly speaking skill. To cope with the issue and overcome language learning difficulties, the present study was conducted to explore the impact of mobile-assisted language learning on enhancing EFL students’ oral proficiency and relieving their speaking anxiety. 60 sophomore female students whose ages ranged from 18 to 24 were selected from Zand University in Shiraz, Iran and randomly divided into two groups. Traditional instruction was adopted to teach both groups for two hours in a week for four months. Out of class, however, they did various speaking activities. The participants in the control group followed their course book speaking activities. But, the experimental group experienced mobile-assisted language learning to do their out-of-class speaking activities via a mobile application (Voice Thread). The Preliminary English Test and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale questionnaire were used to collect the required data. Paired samples t-test results indicated that Voice Thread experience significantly enhanced the participants’ oral proficiency and lowered their foreign language speaking anxiety.these findings provide experimental evidence that Voice Thread can be used as an educational tool to help EFL students to improve their oral proficiency and create their own individual less-threatening language learning environment.

This study investigated the comparative effect of collaborative strategic reading (CSR) and metacognitive reading strategy (MRS) on the reading comprehension of Iranian extrovert and introvert EFL learners. To achieve the purpose of this study, a sample IELTS was administered to 325 students studying at Marefat Language Academy in Tehran from whom 225 were selected based on their performance on that test. Next, the above students sat for Eysenck Personality Inventory questionnaire to determine their level of extroversion and introversion. As a result, a total of 150 learners (75 extroverts and 75 introverts) were selected as four experimental groups and two control groups. The four experimental groups, comprised of 1) 25 extroverts undergoing CSR, 2) 25 extroverts receiving MRS, 3) 25 introverts undergoing CSR, 4) 25 introverts undergoing MRS while the two control groups, with 25 extroverts and 25 introverts, the learners experienced the conventional procedure of teaching reading comprehension in the language school. Ancova and two-way Ancova were conducted which revealed introvert learners with MRS outperformed the extrovert with MRS, introvert and extrovert with CSR, and control groups, suggesting a decisive role for personality traits in reading comprehension classes with different reading strategies instruction.