درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

زبان آموزان ایرانی اغلب به حضور خواننده در متن توجه نمی کنند، و این امر نمرات ضعیفی در نگارش آنان به دنبال دارد. مطالعه حاضر در یکی از دانشگاه های بزرگ ایران انجام شد تا به زبان آموزان آموزش دهد چگونه به حضور مخاطب در متن توجه نمایند. تعداد سی و پنج دانشجوی زبان انگلیسی به روش آموزش فرآیندی آموزش داده شدند و از آنان خواسته شد نامه ای به یک مقام عالیرتبه ی دولتی بنویسند. پس از دریافت نسخه اول نامه مذکور، ابعاد توجه به مخاطب به آنان آموزش داده شد تا بر همان اساس نسخه اولیه را از نظر سبک و ملاحظات مربوط به مخاطب اصلاح نموده و جهت نمره گذاری ارسال نمایند. سپس از آنان مصاحبه ای در خصوص نحوه توجه به مخاطب در نگارش، نحوه دخالت دادن مخاطب در متن، و استراتژی های به کاررفته در تکمیل متن نهایی گرفته و ضبط شد. متن نوار ضبط شده بر روی کاغذ پیاده شد و به صورت کیفی مورد ارزیابی قرار گرفت که از دل داده ها، دو درون مایه اصلی حاصل شد: ملاحظات زبانشناختی و ملاحظات غیر زبانشناختی. همچنین، شرکت کنندگان به طور ضمنی به سه مرحله از توجه به مخاطب اشاره نمودند: استراتژی های قبل، بعد و حین انجام تکلیف نگارشی. به طور خلاصه، آموزش زبان آموزان ایرانی به ارتقای استراتژی هایِ توجه به مخاطب در نگارش انجامید .

Derived from the emerging paradigm shift in English language teaching and assessment, there has been a renewal of interest in dynamic assessment (DA) to be used as an alternative to the traditional static testing in language classrooms. However, to date, DA practice has been mostly limited to clinical treatments of children with learning disabilities, and it has not been widely incorporated into the EFL contexts. In order to find out the reasons behind the slow trend of DA practice, this research adopted a framework, based on the post method pedagogical principles and recommendations, to delve into the prospect of methodological realization of DA approaches in Iranian EFL classrooms. To this end, two instruments, a questionnaire and an interview were developed to explore the practicality of DA through seeking 51 Iranian EFL teachers' perception of DA practice in their classrooms. The results indicated that most of the teachers were negative about the practice of DA in their classrooms and believed that a full-fledged implementation of DA in Iranian EFL classrooms is too demanding. The feasibility of DA in Iranian EFL classrooms, where teachers are deprived of DA training, guideline, and technological resources, is questioned seriously due to the factors such as time-constrained nature of DA procedures, large number of students in EFL classrooms, the common practice of static tests as the mainstream, and overreliance on the teachers' teaching and assessment abilities. The paper suggests the framework of inquiry in this study, which was derived from the post method pedagogy, to be utilized as a blueprint for a critical appraisal of any alternative method or theory which is introduced into ELT contexts.

This study investigated if different response formats (test methods) measure reading comprehension of expository text differently. The study was conducted with 48 semester 6 TESL students at a university in Selangor, Malaysia. These students received an expository passage having descriptive rhetorical structure followed by three response formats, namely, incomplete outline, graphic organizer, and summary writing. Results from Repeated Measures two-way ANOVA indicated that high-achievers outperformed intermediate- and low-achievers across the three response formats. Moreover, the three groups achieved higher scores on incomplete outline and summary writing, respectively. However, graphic organizer appeared as the most difficult task as the respondents achieved the lowest score in this task.

In this study, the researchers investigated a critical aspect of EFL/ESL writing pedagogy-the impact of teacher written commentary on student writer’s earlier drafts. Compositions of 80 Iranian undergraduate English majors were commented on using a trio of imperatives, statements, and questions on both content and form. Overall, the results indicated that the comments in the imperative form helped students improve their EFL/ESL writing ability more than the other two types. However, the difference between statements and questions was found not to be significant. The findings of this study, once again, emphasized the need for EFL/ESL writing instructors to communicate to learners with appropriate types of written comments. Moreover, employing imperative sentences can orient student writers towards a more accurate (i.e. form-focused) and appropriate (i.e. content-focused) composition writing.

Following previous studies reporting a beneficial effect for pre-task planning on learners' task performance, the present research takes into account the possible effects of directing learners' attention to meaning and form of language on their written production while they have one- and five-minute strategic planning time. The study randomly categorized 48 intermediate learners of English into six groups and asked them to undertake a narrative task under formfocused, meaningfocused, and unguided planning conditions each with one or five minutes of strategic planning time. Their performances were analyzed by a set of fluency and accuracy measures whose results were put into one-way ANOVA. As for the comparison under one-minute planning condition, formfocused planners outperformed the other two groups in both measures. Similar results were obtained under the five-minute planning condition. The results also showed that five-minute planning condition enhanced the learners' fluency of production more than their accuracy, unlike one-minute planning condition. It is proposed that the formfocused planning condition better promotes writing processes than meaningfocused and unguided planning conditions; besides, the longer the planning time is, the more fluency is fostered whereas the shorter the planning time is, the more accurate the learners' production would be.

The present study was an attempt, in the first place, to observe whether there was any significant relationship among teachers’ critical thinking, self-efficacy, and perception of effective teaching. Moreover, the researchers tried to examine which variable was a better predictor of perception of effective teaching. To this end, the measures of the critical thinking ability of 143 EFL teachers were obtained using Honey’s (2000) Critical Thinking Questionnaire(adopted from Naieni, 2005). Also, their sense of efficacy was estimated utilizing Tschannen-Moran and Hoy’s (2001) Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale. Moreover, their perception of effective teaching was determined employing Bell’s (2005) Effective Teaching Questionnaire. The results revealed a statistically significant relationship between both critical thinking and self efficacy of teachers and their perception of effective teaching. However, only two of the components of critical thinking, namely analysis and evaluation, were correlated with perception of effective teaching. Also, critical thinking components had a significant relationship with perception of effective teaching components. Additionally, it was found that there was a positive relationship between all components of self efficacy and perception of effective teaching and its components. Finally, the regression analysis showed that self efficacy was a better predictor of teachers’ perception of effective teaching in comparison with critical thinking though the margin of difference was not that large. This study has implications for the EFL teacher preparation and education programs.

This article presents the attitude of ESP learners towards the role of Self-Access Language Learning Centres in improving their reading comprehension. It provides an evaluation of the success of these contents as well as an interpretation of students’ understanding of the related concepts. Finally it identifies factors that enhance or hinder the successful implementation of Self-Access Language Learning. Both qualitative and quantitative instruments were used to elicit data that give insight into learners’ perceptions of the issues under review. Self-Access Language Learning was evaluated positively by the students, both as a means to improve specialised English and as a means to develop autonomy as well as autonomous learning skills. The study identified a number of factors that contributed to these perceptions. It also revealed that students’ understanding of independent learning is rather shallow. Finally a number of recommendations were made for a successful implementation of Self-Access Language Learning into a curriculum.