درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This paper reports the results of a study designed to investigate the interrelationship of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety (FLRA)، Reading Proficiency (RP) and Text Feature Awareness (TFA). The aim was to focus on how foreign language reading anxiety and text feature awareness are related and how، in turn، they affect students reading proficiency. That is، it south to determine how these three constructs correlate with each other. This study surveyed and analyzed 74 students from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman. The results indicated that there is no significant relationship between RP and RA، positive significant relationship between RP and TFA and negative significant relationship between TFA and RA. Also results revealed that there is no significant difference between foreign language reading anxiety، reading proficiency and text feature awareness scores of male and female students، as a result; there is no relationship between gender and these three constructs

Generally speaking، lexical items that enter our minds through reading a text commonly leave us with pictures، sounds، echoes، and feelings in the mind. While the ability to produce images in the mind in the process of reading appears to be vital for greater comprehension and recall of texts، research has indicated that many poor readers seemingly do not visualize as they read. On the contrary، those readers who do typically visualize achieve greater comprehension and recall (see Tomlinson، 1997). In this study، in line with Wittrock’s ‘generative learning theory’ (e.g.، 1992)، two fairly homogeneous groups of EFL undergraduates (N=50)، after taking a reading comprehension test to ensure that their reading comprehension differences are not significant، were randomly assigned to attend a short-story course in two different sections—one serving as the experimental and the other as the control group، both studying the same short stories، and both being taught by the researcher as their instructor of the course. The experimental group was instructed how to form pictures in the mind—i.e.، how to visualize—before reading، while reading، and after reading a short story، for example، by being requested to draw pictures of the characters، scenes، or settings in the story as they perceived them. The control group، however، did not receive any training with respect to imagery production and was not told to practice visualization before، while، or after reading the same texts as the experimental group did. The results of a reading comprehension test on the short stories that had been discussed in both indicated that the “visualizers” significantly outperformed the “non-visualizers”، i.e.، the control group، on both tests.

The present study was conducted to investigate whether there was a relationship between EFL learners’ use of language learning strategies and their self-perceived language proficiency at the two levels of intermediate and advanced. A total of 67 subjects (39 intermediate-level and 28 advanced) were selected to participate in this study based on their scores on a piloted language proficiency test. They were asked to respond to two questionnaires: one assessing their self-perceived language proficiency and the other the strategy inventory of language learning. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrated that there was a significant relationship between the two variables among advanced-level subjects while no such relationship existed among intermediates. Thence, as learners reach higher stages of language proficiency, they become more capable of assessing their language abilities and also use their learning strategies more often. Further analysis also revealed that subjects did not change their attitude in using strategies as they reached higher stages of proficiency except for memory and social strategies. Finally, the results showed that the most frequently used set of strategies among both intermediate and advanced learners were cognitive while the least were affective.

This paper aims at shedding light on the concept of postmodernism، and its implications in the TESOL. Postmodern philosophy as a prevalent concept and a hot buzzword in philosophy، science، and art is believed to have influenced the TESOL theoretically in some ways. The elements of postmodernism including: constructivism، subjectivism، relativism، localism، and pragmatism are found to have been applied in the TESOL to the concept of the demise of the methods، more focus on styles، strategies، and multiple intelligences، chaos/complexity theory and critical theories. But in practice، in developing countries the TESOL still lives in the modern era.