درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

هدف از پژوهش حاضر، بررسی چگونگی بهره مندی زبانآموزان ایرانی با سطوح متفاوت هوش هیجانی از آموزش مهارتهای تفکر انتقادی و تاثیر این آموزش بر استفاده آنها از راهبردهای یادگیری مناسب زبان میباشد. یکی دیگر از اهداف این پژوهش، بررسی ارتباط میان تفکر انتقادی، راهبردهای یادگیری زبان، و هوش هیجانی زبانآموزان ایرانی است. جهت انجام این پژوهش، به 88 زبانآموز از آموزشگاههای خصوصی زبان انگلیسی واقع در شهر شیراز، چهار ابزار جهت جمع آوری دادهها داده شد. این ابزارها عبارت بودند از آزمون تعیین سطح آکسفورد، آزمون مهارتهای تفکر انتقادی کالیفرنیا، پرسشنامهی هوش هیجانی بار - آن، و پرسشنامهی راهبردهای یادگیری زبان. نتایج حاصل از تجزیه و تحلیل آماری نشان داد که تدریس مهارتهای تفکر انتقادی تاثیر معناداری بر استفاده از راهبردهای یادگیری زبان در زبانآموزان با هوش هیجانی متفاوت دارد. همچنین این پژوهش نشان داد که هیچ تفاوت معناداری در میزان استفاده زبان آموزان با سطوح هوش هیجانی بالا و پایین از راهبردهای یادگیری زبان وجود ندارد. بعلاوه، ارتباط مثبت و معناداری بین تفکر انتقادی و هوش هیجانی، و تفکر انتقادی و راهبردهای یادگیری زبان بدست آمد. نتایج حاصل از این پژوهش می تواند به درک هرچه بیشتر معلمان زبان انگلیسی نسبت به مهارت های فکری مورد نیاز جهت استفادهی موفق از راهبردهای یادگیری زبان در زمینههای یادگیری زبان خارجی کمک کند

هدف مطالعه ی حاضر افزایش آگاهی در زمینه ی ساختار تعامل در کلاسهای زبان بیگانه ی انگلیسی است. با استفاده از چارچوب متدولوژیکی گفتمانکاوی، تعاملات کلاسی پنجاه و دو معلم به مدت سه ساعت ضبط و جمع آوری گردید تا بافت های تعاملی بر اساس اهداف آموزشی در توالی نوبت ها شناسایی شوند. سپس با تلفیق روش گفتمان کاوی با روش های کمی، توزیع بافت های تعاملی و تاثیر عوامل محیطی، شامل توانش زبانی شاگردان و تربیت (آموزش) معلمین، مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. با تحلیل گفتمان کاوانه ی اطلاعات تحریری، چهار بافت تعاملی، شامل بافت هایی با محوریت ساختار، معنا، مهارت، و مدیریت، مورد شناسایی قرار گرفت. بررسی توزیع بافت ها نشان داد که بخش عمده ای از تعاملات کلاسی با محوریت ساختار و مهارت های زبانی شکل می گیرند. در حالی که بافت معنامحور کمترین سهم را در تعاملات کلاسی دارد. تحلیل واریانس چند متغیره یدوسویه نشان داد که توزیع تمامیبافت های شناسایی شده تحت تأثیر سطح توانش زبانی شاگردان می باشد. اما آموزش معلمین تنها بر توزیع بافت ها با محوریت ساختار و مدیریت مؤثرند. یافته های مطالعه ی حاضر توجه معلمین و مربیان تربیت معلم را به لزوم اصلاحات در وضعیت کنونی تعاملات کلاسی سوق می دهد.

Reading comprehension (RC) and critical thinking (CT) are the two basic cognitive skills that should be developed through involving language learners in a carefully planned instruction. Multiple intelligences (MI) instruction may assist learners in developing RC and CT in L2 education. This study probed the effect of MI-based reading instruction on the Iranian EFL learners’ RC and CT skills. In so doing, it compared the effectiveness of an MI-based reading instruction with a traditional one. To this end, 4 intact classes from several English language institutes, comprising 56 Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners, were selected and randomly assigned to MI-based (experimental) and traditional (control) groups. A multiple- choice RC test, a reading summary test, and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal test were used as the instrumentations to collect data on the participants’ RC and CT. Analysis of covariance revealed a significant effect for the MI-based reading instruction. Furthermore, the RC scores increased more significantly in the MI-based group in comparison to the traditional one. However, the CT scores did not significantly improve in both groups. There was also no statistically significant difference in the CT scores between the two groups after the treatments. Iranian EFL educators are, then, encouraged to develop MI-based lessons and activities for diverse students and take explicit instruction for the enhancement of CT skills in EFL reading courses

The present study was conducted to examine empirically and systematically the effect of explicit instruction of comprehension strategies on EFL learners’ reading anxiety and reading comprehension in Iranian high schools. To this end, two intact classes (65 students) participated in this study as members of control and experimental groups. The experimental group underwent 10 sessions of reading strategies training based on McNamara, Ozuro, Best, and O’Reilly's (2007) 4-pronged Comprehension Strategy Framework. Data were collected through the employment of Saito, Garza, and Horwitz's (1999) Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) and Preliminary English Test (PET) multiple-choice reading comprehension tests. All the students filled the FLRAS questionnaire and took the reading comprehension test two times, once as a pre-test one week before the beginning of instruction and the other as a post-test one week after the instructional treatment. After the post-test, a group of 7 students who received instruction participated in the focus group interview. T-tests were used to analyze the obtained statistical data. It was revealed that explicit reading strategy instruction was quite beneficial in improving EFL high school students' comprehension and reducing their anxiety level, while reading anxiety and reading comprehension were negatively correlated. The results of the interview with the focus group revealed the positive effect of strategy training on learners' reading comprehension and alleviating reading anxiety. This study rendered some educational implications for materials developers and instructors to invest on reading as a fundamental skill in education.

This study examined the effect of two types of feedback, post-text as a written feedback and recast as an oral one on written grammatical accuracy of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 45 intermediate students who were studying at Ideal Language Institute in Sari were selected based on their performance on the Nelson proficiency test, and then divided into three groups (two experimental and one control groups) randomly. As pretest, the participants were asked to write 150-200 words about the worst memory they had in their life. Then, they were exposed to 10 weeks of treatment. Each week, they received a topic to write. One of the experimental groups received post-text feedback and another one recast. Afterwards, the three groups sat for the posttest. The obtained results were compared using ANCOVA. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the post-test scores of the students in different groups. It was made clear that both treatments were effective on the reduction of students grammatical errors in writing, but post-text feedback was much more effective than recast.

This study was intended to compare collaborative and individual task planning effects on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance. Therefore, a group of 90 upper intermediate EFL learners were placed in three groups of Collaborative Task planning, Individual Task planning, and Control. In the experimental groups, participants were asked to do task planning collaboratively and individually. The first writing assignment was the pretest and the eighth one was the posttest. A rating scale which includes five equally weighted criteria for rating; namely, Organization, Content, Grammar, Mechanics, and Style as well as the Total score was used. After making sure about the inter-rater consistency, data were analyzed using one-way ANOVAs to examine the effects of task planning on EFL writing performance. Results indicated that task planning produced better writing performances in the experimental groups, when considering Total scores. Furthermore, the treatment was effective in Organization and Style. Nevertheless, it had no significant effects on Content, Grammar, and Mechanics. Results are in line with previous research on collaborative writing and task planning. However, the study was different because it made a distinction between collaborative and individual task planning. This study has practical implications for classroom practices and language teachers, and theoretical implications for a better understanding of sociocultural theories of second language learning.

Despite the general findings that address the positive contribution of teaching pragmatic features to interlanguage pragmatic development, the question as to the most effective method is far from being resolved. Moreover, the potential of literature as a means of introducing learners into the social practices and norms of the target culture, which underlie the pragmatic competence, has not been fully explored. This study, then, set out to investigate the possible contribution of plays, as a medium of instruction, to the pragmatic development through either explicit or implicit mode of instruction. To this end, 80 English-major university students were assigned to four experimental groups: two literary and two nonliterary groups. One of the literary groups (Implicit Play) received typographically enhanced plays containing the speech acts of apology, request, and refusal and the other (Explicit Play) received the same treatment in addition to the metapragmatic instruction on the acts. The medium of instruction for the nonliterary groups were dialogs containing the given functions; they were also given either enhanced input (Implicit Dialog) or input plus metapragmatic information (Explicit Dialog). Analyses of the four groups’ performance on a Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) before and after the treatment did not show any advantage for the literary medium, i.e., there was no significant difference between literary and nonliterary groups. It was rather the mode of instruction that mattered most, where explicit groups outperformed their implicit counterparts. These findings indicate that even though implicit teaching, that is, exposure to enhanced input followed by some awareness-raising tasks, is effective in pragmatic development, it cannot contribute so much to learning as can the explicit instruction