درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The study of compliment speech act has been under investigation on many occasions in recent years. In this study, an attempt is made to explore appraisals performed by native English speakers and Iranian EFL learners to find out how these two groups diverge or converge from each other with regard to complimenting patterns and norms. The participants of the study were 60 advanced Iranian EFL learners who were speaking Persian as their first language and 60 native English speakers. Through a written Discourse Completion Task comprised of eight different scenarios, compliments were analyzed with regard to topics (performance, personality, possession, and skill), functions (explicit, implicit, and opt-out), gender differences and the common positive adjectives used by two groups of native and nonnative participants. The findings suggested that native English speakers praised individuals more implicitly in comparison with Iranian EFL learners and native speakers provided opt-outs more frequently than Iranian EFL learners did. The analysis of data by Chi-square showed that gender and macro functions are independent of each other among Iranian EFL learners’ compliments while for native speakers, gender played a significant role in the distribution of appraisals. Iranian EFL learners’ complimenting patterns converge more towards those of native English speakers. Moreover, both groups favored explicit compliments. However, Iranian EFL learners were more inclined to provide explicit compliments. It can be concluded that there were more similarities rather than differences between Iranian EFL learners and native English speakers regarding compliment speech act. The results of this study can benefit researchers, teachers, material developers, and EFL learners.

The pivotal role of listening comprehension in second/foreign language learning requires that researchers conduct studies which investigate factors that affect test takers’ performances. The present study was set out to examine whether item modality (i.e., written vs. oral items) affects listening comprehension test performance. In addition, it investigated whether allowing test takers to take notes while listening would also affect their performances. To this end, two different tests, each containing 20 multiple choice items, were administered to 66 (35 female and 31 male) upper-intermediate EFL learners. The first test was administered to look into the role of item modality, and the second test was employed to investigate the effect of note-taking. The application of independent samples t-tests to analyze the data revealed that that test takers performed better when the items were provided in written rather than oral form, and that test takers’ performances did not differ significantly when they were allowed to take notes. More detailed findings and implications are discussed in the paper.

Speaking is a significant skill that many foreign language learners are trying to master. In this study, the effectiveness of two different speaking activities, i.e. oral presentation vs. free discussion, was investigated from quantitative and qualitative points of view. To achieve this purpose, 44 intermediate learners from a language institute in Tehran participated in the study. Half of the participants experienced oral presentation while the other half (22 in two other classes) experienced free discussion for eight sessions. The two activities were exchanged between the two groups after the end of the quantitative phase of the study for eight more sessions. The results of an independent samples t-test performed on the scores ofthe speaking section of a sample Preliminary English Test (PET, 2012 ) after the first phase of the study (the first 8 sessions) indicated that the learners who experienced oral presentation significantly outperformed the learners who experienced free discussion though both activities proved to be significantly useful. Furthermore, the results of the interview with 10 participants from each activity through purposeful sampling, after the second phase of the study (the second 8 sessions) through thematic analysis indicated that both free discussion and oral presentation activities had some merits and demerits. Based on the results it can be advisable to include the two activities as complementary.

This study tested the impact of implicit and explicit knowledge of grammar on learners’ use of oral communication strategies (OCSs) and the interface of OCSs and oral fluency. The study was performed on 24 male and 36 female Iranian university students of English Translation studying at Payame Nour Universities of Lar, Khonj, and Evaz chosen based on availability and ease of access. The data were gathered using Timed Grammaticality Judgement Test (Dekeyser, 2000) as a measure of implicit knowledge of grammar, a structure section of TOEFL Paper-based Test (version 2004) as a measure of explicit knowledge of grammar, Oral Communication Strategies Inventory (Nakatani, 2006), and two oral production tasks for measuring learners' oral fluency. Analysis of the data using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Pearson’s Correlation showed that both implicit and explicit knowledge of grammar affect learners’ use of oral communication strategies; however, no relationship was found between overall use of OCSs and oral fluency which can be suggestive of greater or possibly overriding impacts of some other variables on oral fluency compared to OCSs. The findings of the study are supposed to provide guidelines for learners, teachers and syllabus designers concerning the use of OCSs, especially with regard to other variables considered in this study.

حوزه فناوری های رایانه ای، زبان ویژه خود را می سازد. امروزه این حوزه هم به شکل سیستمی غنی از واژگان تخصصی و هم به شکل اصطلاحات حرفه ای نمود پیدا کرده است. در این مقاله به تاریخچه استفاده از اصطلاح «زبان حرفه ای» (Сленг) که از دهه هشتاد سده بیستم در روسیه رواج گسترده ای یافته، پرداخته شده است. در حوزه رایانه، مجموعه اصطلاحات حرفه ای بخش چندلایه ای از واژگان را تشکیل می دهند که می توان آن ها را با استفاده از شیوه تعیین ساختار حوزه معنایی ارائه نمود. ۲۷۸ واحد واژگانی از اصطلاحات حرفه ای در حوزه رایانه که با روش نمونه برداری مستمر از فرهنگ لغت «اصطلاحات حرفه ای جوانان: فرهنگ تفسیری» ت. گ. نیکیتینا استخراج شده اند، در پنج گروه موضوعی توزیع شده اند: ۱- برنامه ها و عملکردها؛ ۲- سیستم ها، سمبل ها و نشانه ها؛ ۳- اعمال و فرمان ها؛ ۴- قطعات و تجهیزات؛ ۵- انسان. در مقاله با استفاده از داده های درصدی، حوزه معنایی واژگان رایانه ای را تعیین می نماییم. گروه چهارم که تجهیزات رایانه را توصیف می کند در جایگاه اول، و اعمال و فرمان ها (گروه سه) که بخش مهمی برای کاربران به شمار می آیند، در جایگاه دوم قرار می گیرند. گروه اول در جایگاه سوم قرار می گیرد و درصد قابل توجهی را به خود اختصاص می دهد؛ زیرا هدایت عمل را تشریح می کند. گروه دوم که سهمی حدود ۹ درصدی در حوزه معنایی واژگان رایانه ای دارد و بی شک از اجزای مهم سیستم مورد اشاره به شمار می آید، جایگاه چهارم را به خود اختصاص می دهد. در جایگاه آخر، گروه «انسان» که این سیستم را به کار می اندازد، قرار می گیرد. به این ترتیب، به کمک ساختار حوزه معنایی، ویژگی های خاص مجموعه واژگانی اصطلاحات حرفه ای حوزه رایانه تعیین می گردد.

در این مقاله به بررسی اثر «کلامی درباره هنگ ایگور» از دیدگاه کاربردشناختی خواهیم پرداخت. مبنای کار، ترجمه واژه به واژه لیخاچف از این اثر است. این اثر به عنوان گفتمان و در چهارچوب تئوری کنش گفتاری جان سیرل بررسی شده است و کنش های گفتاری به کاررفته در آن تفکیک شده اند. چنین رویکردی در تحلیل اثر، این امکان را فراهم می آورد تا بلوک های ارتباطی متن را تفکیک و مقاصد نویسنده را تعیین کنیم که چگونه از طریق تغییر استراتژی ارتباطی گفتار، سعی در تأثیرگذاری بر روی مخاطبان دارد. علاوه براین در مقاله حاضر اهداف منظوری گفتار سایر شخصیت های اثر تعیین شده و تحلیل آماری انواع کنش های گفتاری به کاررفته در آن ارائه می شود. نتایج این پژوهش می تواند برای ترجمه این اثر به زبان های دیگر و نیز برای اهداف آموزشی در کلاس های خارجی زبانان سودمند باشد.

Building on Robinson’s (2001, 2003) Cognition Hypothesis, Skehan’s (1998) Limited Attentional Capacity Model, and Kellog’s (1986) model of writing, this study examined the effect of task planning on the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of 60 Iranian EFL learners’ argumentative and narrative writings under different planning conditions. A quasi-experimental design with three levels of planning conditions (pre-task planning, within-task planning and no-planning) and different time constraints was used. Measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity were used to evaluate the quality of the participants’ written productions. The results of a series of one way Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVAs) indicated that increasing task complexity, through task planning conditions and also different tasks produced significant differences among the groups in fluency and accuracy; however, with regard to syntactic complexity, both tasks provided similar results among the groups. The findings add support to the view that selecting an appropriate task with appropriate task-based implementation conditions can induce language learners to increase, accuracy and fluency, but not syntactic complexity of their output. Pedagogical implications are discussed and suggestions for further studies are made.

مطالعات پیشین نشان می دهد که بازخورد اصلاحی در عملکرد زبان آموزان تأثیر مثبتی دارد. پژوهش شبه-آزمایشی حاضر بر آن است تاثیر بازخورد اصلاحی بر نوشتار خود باز خورد دهندگان و دریافت کنندگان بازخورد اصلاحی را بسنجد. برای نیل به این هدف، 45 زبان آموز در 3 کلاس نگارش بازخورد دهندگان، دریافت کنندگان بازخورد و گروه گواه گمارده شدند. گروه اول آزمایشی، بر کاربرد ناصحیح حروف تعریف a/an، the و همچنین زمان گذشته در نوشته های دریافت کنندگان، بازخورد اصلاحی دادند. گروه دوم، باز خوردها را مرور کردند و در نوشته های بعدی خود بکار گرفتند و گروه سوم هیچ بازخورد اصلاحی ندادند و دریافت نکردند. پس از 4 هفته، پس آزمون بلافصل و 2 هفته بعد از آن پس آزمون تاخیری اجرا گردید. تحلیل داده های حاصل از پس آزمون های بلافصل و تاخیری حاکی از آن بود که گروه باز خورد دهندگان عملکرد بهتری نسبت به گروه دریافت کنندگان بازخورد اصلاحی داشتند. همچنین نتایج نشان داد که عملکرد هر دو گروه آزمایشی در استفاده از ساختارهای مورد هدف به صورت معنی داری بهتر از گروه گواه بود

Stress is considered as an inseparable part of life. Although it is sometimes useful and positive, if there is overstress, there would be some disturbances created in human life as the negative aspect of stress. In this research the different dimensions of stress regarding family, environmental, and personal stress and their effects on the amount of learning English among students at Islamic Azad University, Ahar Branch have been investigated. The statistical population of the present research includes students majoring in different courses at Islamic Azad University, Ahar Branch who have selected to pass the courses entitled: ‘General English’ or ‘Prerequisite to General English’. In the present study we have used a random sampling method. To determine the participants of the study, a questionnaire was distributed among them. Then, based on Cochran's formula our sample was calculated. Results showed that all stress factors (personal, environmental, family) affected the performance of the students in English learning, and they should be regarded as important factors in devising new materials to be presented to General English classes.