درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Media in general and news in particular constitute indispensable parts of modern life. TV news which contains visual elements in addition to the verbal aspects was used as the corpus of this study. In fact, this research culled out the ideologies of Iranian national television in presenting different issues. To be more precise, three internationally-significant pieces of news reports were chosen: one positive to “Us”, one hostile to “Others”, and one neutral. Then, these news reports were analyzed in detail and their lexical items, grammatical structures, and rhetorical figures were compared to find out about the differences. The results of the study showed that these three reports were presented to the audience via totally different strategies and ideologically-laden words were used to convey positive and negative meanings. In addition, the visual elements (angles, gaze, and distance) corroborated the findings of the verbal sections. The findings of this study show that lexical and grammatical choices are made purposefully in the media. So, it can be said that the results of this research contribute to the fields of linguistics, semiotics, and media.

The process of globalization entails the acquisition of a construct, cultural intelligence, with which EFL students can function appropriately in intercultural situations. This study was, first, intended to find the relationship between cultural intelligence and the use of expressions of gratitude by Iranian EFL learners. Second, it sought to determine whether there were any significant differences between low and high culturally intelligent EFL learners in the way they used expressions of gratitude in English. To this end, 118 intermediate learners were selected through convenient sampling, with their proficiency level being controlled. A discourse completion test (DCT) for the expressions of gratitude and a cultural intelligence scale were given to the participants of the study. Learners’ DCT responses were rated on a five-point Likert scale and then analyzed. Statistical tests including Pearson Correlation Coefficient and t-test were used to investigate the research questions. The results of the analysis revealed that there was not a significant relationship, either positive or negative, between cultural intelligence and use of expressions of gratitude. Furthermore, no difference was found between the two groups, high and low culturally intelligent, in the way they used English expressions of gratitude. These findings have implications for the instruction of pragmatic competence.

This paper aimed at probing the implementation of portfolio assessment in the writing classroom in an attempt to examine its effect(s) on EFL learners’ metadiscourse awareness. It addressed the following questions: Does portfolio assessment as a teaching technique have positive wash back effect on the participants’ achievement in their writing ability in an academic context? And to what extent do the students develop metadiscourse awareness in their writing by the treatment of portfolio assessment? The participants were the students of English literature enrolled for their composition course. After being homogenized for their proficiency level, they were randomly divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). As the treatment, portfolio assessment was employed as the teaching technique for the experimental group. Data was then subjected to different statistical procedures. The results of data analysis revealed that the participants in the EG outperformed those in the CG with regard to the achievement in their overall writing ability. Second, based on chi-square results, participants in the EG used metadiscourse markers more correctly and efficiently compared with those in the CG. The results of the present study may have some implications for teaching of writing to EFL learners.

A critical discourse analysis (CDA) of English language teaching (ELT) textbooks can provide a theoretical description of existing ideological effects in the texts and a means to link linguistic and social practices. This study, thus, seeks to evaluate Summit 2B (i.e., the advanced book of Top Notch series) with a focus on the representation of male and female social actors. In so doing, this study drew on van Leeuwen’s (1996) social actor framework and Halliday’s (2004) transitivity model. To achieve the purpose of this study, content analysis was first carried out in the corpora obtained from the aforementioned textbook to find out the frequency and proportion of various social actors. The results obtained from the tests of significance (i.e., chi-square tests) and the qualitative data analyses revealed that there were some significant differences between males and females concerning role allocation (i.e., activation, subjection, and beneficialization), substitution (personalization/impersonalizaton), and personal pronouns. Compared with females, males were represented as more active, energetic, independent, and assertive forces; males were represented more frequently and placed in high-status positions; they were also individualized more frequently. The results indicated that though females and males were almost equally informalized and indetermined, there was not much serious attempt to eliminate the gender bias in Summit, used as a substitute for other ELT textbooks used in private language institutes in Iran. The findings suggest that textbook writers and publishers should be more cautious about the gender discourse, along with other criteria making ELT textbooks work, because gender bias can affect language learners’ perception and preference for the choice of language in second or foreign (L2) communication.

در طی دوره­ی طولانی پیش از تاریخی که حدس می­زنیم، ادبیات هر ملتی به تدریج با اسطوره­ها، سنت­ها و آداب و رسوم گروه­های مختلف انسانی که در یک منطقه­ی جغرافیایی گرد آمده­اند شکل گرفته است. هنگامی که این قبایل که هریک اعتقادات مذهبی، آیین­ها و اسطوره­های خود را داشته­اند تحت لوای یک سیستم سیاسی مذهبی متحد شده­اند، میراث­های فرهنگی ­ شان اغلب در سیستم جدید به حیات خود ادامه داده است، بدین ترتیب با گذشت زمان، تاثیر متقابل هر یک از سیستم­ها گاهی منجر به سنتزهای ) الهی، عقیدتی، ادبی ( عالمانه و پیچیده­ای شده است . حماسه­ی گیل گمش یکی از کهن ترین آثار ادبی شناخته شده­ی جهان است که در منطقه­ی بین النهرین نوشته شده است . با وجود این، کادر جغرافیایی ماجراجویی ­ های گیلگمش و مناظر به تصویر کشیده­ی آن بیشتر سرزمین­های اطراف دریای خزر، رشته کوه البرز و کوه دماوند را متبادر می­کنند تا دشت بین النهرین را . این مقاله با بررسی بعضی از بن مایه ­ ها و تم­های گیلگمش و رمان ویس و رامین، سعی بر این دارد که کهن الگوی قهرمان بین النهرینی را در اسطوره ­ های ساکنین اولیه ­ ی فلات ایران پیدا کند . یعنی در باورها و اسطوره ­ های عیلامی­ها که بسیار پیش از مادها و پارس ها ساکن فلات بودند .

This study aimed to translate MIDAS questionnaire from English into Persian and determine its content validity and reliability. MIDAS was translated and validated on a sample (N = 110) of Iranian adult population. The participants were both male and female with the age range of 17-57. They were at different educational levels and from different ethnic groups in Iran. A translating team, consisting of five members, bilingual in English and Persian and familiar with multiple intelligences (MI) theory and practice, were involved in translating and determining content validity, which included the processes of forward translation, back-translation, review, final proof-reading, and testing. The statistical analyses of inter-scale correlation were performed using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. In an intra-class correlation, the Cronbach's alpha was high for all of the questions. Translation and content validity of MIDAS questionnaire was completed by a proper process leading to high reliability and validity. The results suggest that Persian MIDAS (P-MIDAS) could serve as a valid and reliable instrument for measuring Iranian adults MIs.

The original impetus for this cross-linguistic study came from a need to explore the effect of cultural factors and generic conventions on the use and distribution of metadiscourse within a single genre. To this end, the study as a contrastive rhetoric research, examined a corpus of 60 newspaper editorials (written in English and Persian) culled from 10 elite newspapers in America and Iran. Based on Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse, both interactive and interactional metadiscourse resources were analyzed. The results disclosed that genre conventions had a determining role in the writers’ choice of some metadiscourse resources that contributed to some similarities in the use and distribution of metadiscourse resources across English and Persian data. In addition, some differences were found between two sets of editorials which were attributed to cultural/linguistic backgrounds of both groups of editorialists. The interactional category and attitude markers proved to be the predominant metadiscourse category and subcategory in newspaper editorials genre. Overall, the findings suggested that metadiscourse has a decisive role in the construction of persuasion in newspaper editorials genre.

Controversy has not been yet resolved among researchers in second language research over the pedagogical efficacy of feedback in enhancing various features of learners’ writing skill. Research findings highlighting the significance of interactive tasks and learners’ engagement in improving the learning process stimulated the present study, the purpose of which was to explore the effect of task-supported interactive feedback on the accuracy, fluency, and organization of seventy two Iranian English major sophomores at Islamic Azad University-Mashhad Branch. It was hypothesized that engaging learners in both tasks and providing feedback would enhance their writing performance. The participants in three intact classes were randomly assigned to three groups: a control group, with no task (NTG), and two experimental groups: the task-supported group (TG), and the task-supported group with interactive feedback (TFG). Four one way analyses of variance tests were run on the research data indicated that the apparent gain in the task-supported interactive group over the other groups did not reach significance level. However, the TG group outperformed the control group in all three aspects of writing. The findings have pedagogical implications and can be interpreted in terms of socio-cultural characteristics of Iranian students.

روش Microgenetic یک روش خاص برای بررسی تغییر در توانایی ها، دانش، و درک از طریق مشاهدات متراکم و در یک دوره نسبتا طولانی است. در این مقاله تلاش خواهد شد مروری کوتاه درباره روش microgenetic ارائه شود. همچنین مزایا و معایب بالقوه آن در زمینه فراگیری زبان دوم برشمرده خواهند شد. به منظور نشان دادن سودمندی روش microgenetic در تحقیقات فراگیری زبان دوم، به یکی از حوزه های تحقیقاتی که می تواند از طریق این روش مورد بررسی قرار بگیرد اشاره می شود.