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Several languages displayed in Language Landscape (LL) in tourism cities are foremost to be explored since they can depict the battle and position of each language. As China has a tight cooperation with Indonesia and other countries, Mandarin has begun to be utilized in the public sphere, such as in the LL. Thus, this present study intends to analyze the use and position of Mandarin, the underlying reasons for using Mandarin, society’s perspective, and its implication. The qualitative method was applied in which all data were explained descriptively by engaging documentation and a questionnaire for data collection. The former was done through the 831 signs displayed in tourism cities in East Java (27 Mandarin LL involved). The latter was conducted through the 127 responses from various backgrounds: old and younger generations. The results indicate that (1) Mandarin LL with top-down signs get a higher percentage than bottom-up signs in which Mandarin is in the fourth position, (2) the utilization of Mandarin in LL is to reveal their identity of the LL owner, (3) it is not vital to display Mandarin in LL due to the lack knowledge of it. Even if societies have negative perceptions of Mandarin, they confess that Mandarin is extensively spread due to its fast growth in any sector. Consequently, this study is crucial to give a wake-up call to the government and speakers of indigenous languages that they should take essential action to preserve the position of local-ethnic languages in LL.

This study investigates the pragmastylistic features employed in English and Arabic religious texts, with a specific focus on the concept of rewarding. Drawing on Narmin Abbas Lutfi Baqqal's PhD dissertation, the research examines the pragmatic and stylistic characteristics of rewarding in Biblical and Prophetic Hadith texts. The study addresses two primary research questions: (1) What are the pragmastylistic features used in English and Arabic religious texts to convey rewarding? (2) Which pragmatic and stylistic features are more prevalent in these texts? By analyzing 20 Biblical verses and 20 Prophetic Hadiths, the paper identifies the linguistic and rhetorical devices used to express rewarding, highlighting both similarities and differences between the two languages. The findings reveal that both texts employ declarative and imperative speech acts, deixis, and figurative language, but with distinct stylistic preferences. This study contributes to the fields of pragmatics, stylistics, and religious discourse analysis, offering insights into how language shapes religious messages across different cultural and linguistic contexts.

Research on native vs. non-native formulaic language use in academic texts, despite its wealth in scope and frequency, lacks an inclusive conceptualization of a non-native language learning context. Impressed by such a flawed approach, the bulk (if not all) of studies in the field compared the use of different multi-word strings in the academic discourse of either foreign or second language learners with a native baseline. The current study sought to address the gap, focusing on the structural and functional use of lexical bundles in two culturally parallel corpora developed in two non-native learning context modes: English as a foreign (EFL) and second (ESL) language. To this end, research reports written by Iranian Applied Linguistics MA and Ph.D. learners studying in different universities in Iran and English-speaking provinces of Canada were compared by a structurally similar native corpus, running cross-tabulation, Chi-square, and residual analysis analyses. The results revealed a significant association between language learning context and lexical bundle use on a functional level. The contextual variations yielded significantly different patterns of use concerning several micro-functions underlying text-oriented and research-oriented functions. Compared to functional differences, the between-corpus structural differences were inconspicuous, specifically concerning micro-structures constituting noun, prepositional, and verb phrase-related bundles. The study embraced the notion that EFL writers need to have immense exposure and enhanced language input available in ESL and native learning contexts to foster a native-like formulaic language.  

The global outbreak of COVID-19 necessitated a swift transition from conventional face-to-face (F2F) teaching to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in educational institutions worldwide. This sudden shift posed significant challenges for both teachers and students, particularly those in low-resource rural schools. This study sought to probe into this experience in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction, focusing on the perspectives of teachers and students in rural high schools within Iran. The study participants were 13 female EFL teachers and 15 female EFL students teaching and studying in rural high schools in different cities in Iran. Employing a qualitative approach, data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, online observation, and one of the researcher’s reflective journals. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the data, identifying several categories encompassing the hurdles encountered by the participants and the achievements they attained. The identified categories pertaining to hurdles encompassed technological, financial, educational, personal, professional, and well-being problems. Similarly, the categories pertaining to achievements comprised technological, educational, and professional progress, as well as enhanced convenience. Exploring the dilemmas and aspirations expressed by these participants can inform and better equip the educational system of Iran to effectively respond to similar crises in the future. Furthermore, this study offers insights to education authorities, aiding in the resolution of barriers to distance online education and facilitating enhanced preparedness for potential future emergencies.

This study explores the impact of "EngVid" YouTube channel on improving Iranian EFL Learners' speaking abilities. The program employed in this study provided the learners with video clips for Improving their speaking skills. The participants were forty-eight advanced EFL learners studying English at a private institute in Esfahan. The participants were assigned to experimental and control groups. The YouTube channel "EngVid" is used in this project as a technological tool to enhance students' speaking abilities in the experimental group. The pair-work method was employed in the experimental class. On the other hand, the control group should present at the class and received help from the researcher through the conventional method. After six sessions, a post test was given to experimental and control groups. The application of an independent t-test and paired sample t-test indicated that the performance of the participants exposed to video clips from "EngVid" YouTube channel was significantly superior to that of the control group. The present study offers valuable insights for CALL material designers in selecting the optimal combination of video clips from platforms like YouTube to facilitate L2 speaking skills.

Translating taboo words is one of the challenging tasks that translators face during subtitling and dubbing movies. The translation of taboo words should be handled carefully since they may violate the norms of the target society. In this regard, the translators use different strategies to find an equivalent in the target language. This study tried to identify the strategies used by Iranian translators in dubbing and subtitling the F*k words as taboos in American English-drama crime television series based on Davoodi’s (2009) model. Thus, this was a corpus-based study that has a quantitative method with a descriptive comparative approach. The corpus of this study was limited to F*k words found in the TV series called Big Little Lies season one. This TV series was selected as the corpus of this research because this series movie was incredibly more suggestive and popular in recent decades and targeted a wide range of audiences and adults. Thus, 80 F*k words were identified for further analysis based on Sharifi and Darchinian's (2009) model. Descriptive statistics were used to determine frequencies and percentages of the applied strategies in the Persian subtitled and dubbed of the F*k words. The findings showed that Substitution, and Euphemism were the first and second used strategies by Iranian translators for dubbing and subtitling the F*k words, respectively. Additionally, the results of the Chi-square test revealed that there was not a significant difference between Iranian translators’ strategies for subtitling and dubbing F*k words. The results of the present study can be beneficial for Iranian subtitlers, dubbers, and translation students in the subtitling and dubbing of F*k words as taboos in crime drama movies from English into Persian.

The current quasi-experimental research aimed at exploring the influence of Lexically-Based Language Teaching (LBLT) on task response and coherence and cohesion aspects of the writing proficiency of Iranian university EFL learners. The research sample of the study included sixty male and female university students (N = 60) attending two university classes. They were selected by using a convenient sampling procedure and were assigned to experimental and control groups. To ascertain the groups' homogeneity at the beginning of the study, the researchers gave two groups the Key English Test (KET). Prior to starting treatment, two groups took the pretest writing task. While the participants comprising the experimental group were instructed consistent with the lexical approach's underlying practices and activities, those constituting the control group were instructed based on conventional techniques applied to present essay writing in universities. At the end of the experiment, the posttest writing, identical to the pretest, was given to both groups. To compare the two groups' mean scores with respect to coherence and cohesion and task response aspects of post-test writing, One-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and independent T-test were drawn upon. Version 20 th of the SPSS software was applied for this end. The attained results were indicative of a significantly positive influence of the lexically-based language teaching on both coherence and cohesion and task response aspects of writing proficiency. However, the attained improvement was greater in the task response aspect. The findings suggest some implications for English language teachers and university instructors.