درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

A long-standing concern reverberating over the minds of intercultural scholars is how best to incorporate intercultural issues in English language teaching, an issue on which there has been little research in EFL contexts. To fill this gap, this qualitative study examined the efficacy of interculturally-laden tasks in promoting Iranian learners’ intercultural competency in Anzali, Guilan province, Iran. Thus, a group of 22 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were recruited through convenience sampling from a pool of 44 according to their score on Oxford Quick Placement Test. All the participants were 12 females and 10 males aged 21-30. Then, they attended eighteen sessions of intercultural training using Mirrors and Windows: An intercultural communication textbook and completed seven intercultural tasks as a pretest and posttest. Data was collected through seven intercultural tasks and reflective worksheets. Drawing on the qualitative content analysis of intercultural tasks, the findings revealed that the tasks could help the participants increase their intercultural competence. Moreover, three themes were emerged from the analysis of the reflective worksheets as follow: (1) the participants’ evaluation of the ICC course and intercultural tasks, (2) perceptions regarding intercultural development and (3) language skills and anxiety. The implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

This study aims to investigate the effect of implementing self-reflection training on Iranian in-service EFL teachers’ beliefs and performance development. From all available participants teaching at the International College of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, 20 in-service EFL teachers were involved in this study. The teacher’s belief questionnaire, observation checklist, and Skype app were used as the instruments to collect data. Before the training phase, the pre-tests, i.e., observation checklist and teacher’s belief questionnaire, were used for all the participants. The researchers utilized Skype App to instruct the participants in an online setting. During the training phase, participants were exposed to self-reflection practice. The instruction was done in 16 sessions twice a week for two months. After the training phase, the post-tests were run, i.e., the observation checklist and teachers’ belief questionnaire. The data analysis revealed that implementing the principles of self-reflective instruction had a statistically significant effect on Iranian in-service EFL teachers’ beliefs about their teaching practice efficacy and teaching performance development. This study has some implications that may help language teacher educators, English instructors, EFL/ESL learners, students, language curriculum program policymakers, and educational syllabus designers.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in understanding how cognitive skills influence second language acquisition. Cognitive control, a set of mental processes that include attention, inhibition, and working memory, has been shown to play a significant role in language learning. This study examines the impact of cognitive control skills on language development among adult Iranian English learners, comparing it both in online and in person settings. Forty adult EFL learners were divided into two groups and underwent a 9-week instructional period, with cognitive control skills assessed using the Attention Network Task (ANT), working memory tasks, and a Raven’s IQ test. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, regression, and ANCOVA to determine relationships between variables. The results of the study revealed that while aspects of cognitive control like orienting and altering do not have a significant impact on language development, the more complex, controlling aspect exhibits a positive relationship (F=4.937, p=0.033). This relationship was contingent upon controlling for differences between post-examination and primary examination of ANT results, indicating that controlling attention is a stronger predictor of language outcomes. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that the mode of instruction—online or in-person—has no significant impact on this relationship (F=0.009, p=0.925), suggesting that cognitive control operates independently of teaching mode. The study’s findings suggest that educators and curriculum developers should emphasize activities targeting the controlling component of cognitive control in language learning, as this is linked to better language development. Additionally, since the mode of instruction does not significantly impact this relationship, effective language instruction can be delivered in both online and in-person settings, providing flexibility in course design.

In order to cater for the ever-increasing demand for learning English, private language institutes have mushroomed across Iran. These institutes adopt different policies such as designing their own Teacher Training Course (TTC), following the syllabus of Certificate for Teaching English to Adults (CELTA), or localizing it for the Iranian context to train competent English teachers. Surprisingly, there exists little research evaluating these TTC's or investigating if localizing CELTA is an effective strategy for the Iranian context. This study aimed to fill this gap by delineating the steps taken by a widely-known Iranian language institute in localizing CELTA for the Iranian context, and secondly to determine if the teachers were satisfied with this localized TTC. Data collected through the websites and interviews were subjected to conceptual content analysis; while the data mined through evaluation questionnaires were analysed through quantitative descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that the Iranianized TTC suffered from discrepancies such as unreliable selection of the participants, lack of opportunities for teaching practices, not observing experienced teachers' classes, and focusing on received rather than experiential knowledge. These findings are discussed, and a number of practical suggestions are offered to improve the Iranian TTC.

The current study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a process based reflective teacher training course that utilized situational role plays, video analysis, and scenario evidence as guided reflective and caring practices for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher candidates. To this end, 45 teacher candidates at a teacher education university in Iran participated in a semi-structured interview (pre-intervention and post-intervention interview) and created process-oriented narrative journals documenting their reflective and caring practices. The findings of the study indicated that all the three groups of participants (role play group, scenario-based evidence group, and video evidence group) benefitted from the course and demonstrated improvement in various ways. The emerged themes from each group (role play group: 23 categories, video group: 17 categories, and scenario-based evidence group: 16 categories) illustrated how these strategies supported teacher candidates in developing their caring and reflective practices.

The 5E Learning Cycle Model (Bybee, 1990) is an instructional design model which has roots in inquiry-based learning and constructivism and has received much support in non-EFL-related literature as a way to improve 21st-century skills, such as critical thinking and creativity, among students and to prepare them for an amazing occupational future. However, little work has been done on the model concerning English language students; hence, this study dealt with the effect of 5E-based online activities on English language students’ critical thinking and creativity. The study utilized a mixed method grounded theory method approach. A sample of 60 adult English language students studying in a pre-IELTS class at a private language academy took part in the study during a 12-session semester, in addition to an extra session at the beginning of the semester, in which they received instruction with regard to the platforms to be used, namely Easyclass and Nearpod. Student interviews and self-reflections, teacher interviews, self-reflections, and field notes were applied to extract qualitative data, and student self-assessment checklists were used to gain quantitative data. The analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data via an independent sample t-test, inductive thematic analysis, and grounded theory demonstrated that the employment of 5E-based online activities culminated in the improvement of EFL learners’ critical thinking and creativity. The findings have theoretical and practical implications not only for 21st-century language practitioners’ education and competencies but also for curriculum development.

L’étude de la réussite universitaire est un paradigme presque jeune dans le domaine de la recherche psychopédagogique du monde et les pays anglosaxons en sont les pionniers. En Iran, le concept de la réussite est traité depuis une quinzaine d’années. Pourtant, la plupart des recherches effectuées s’intéressent aux niveaux primaires et secondaires. Il nous semble primordial de faire avancer ces recherches au niveau universitaire parce que l’université est en particulier censée aujourd’hui être le passage principal à la professionnalisation et à la formation des futurs citoyens et cela est surtout le cas dans le domaine des langues étrangères. Dans cet article, nous nous attardons avant tout sur les définitions du concept de la réussite universitaire des étudiants en Iran. Plus précisément, nous cherchons à définir de très nombreuses différences contextuelles aux niveaux socioculturel, économique et universitaire entre ces pays et l’Iran. Ainsi, suivant une approche descriptive-analytique basée sur des ressources en bibliothèque, le présent travail est centré sur l’étude du concept de réussite universitaire d’un point de vue plutôt qualitative que quantitative. Nous pouvons ainsi aider à aborder le concept dans un paradigme autonome afin de favoriser des recherches psychopédagogiques plus systématiques et plus contextualisées dans le domaine du Fle en Iran dans des étapes suivantes (résultat de la recherche).

Au cours de l'histoire, notamment du XVIe jusqu’au XVIIIe siècle, lorsque le voyage des Européens, des prêtres aux écrivains et commerçants, vers la Perse, a connu une forte croissance, l’Arménie a trouvé également une place dans l’itinéraire de ces voyageurs . Toutefois, le nombre des Français passant par l’Arménie ne paraît point significatif par rapport au nombre total des voyageurs européens qui arrivaient en Iran. Cet article se propose d'examiner la place de l'Arménie, à cette période, dans le choix de l’itinéraire entre l'Iran et l'Europe par les voyageurs français, et de répondre à la question suivante : pourquoi les Français ont rarement choisi cette route pour rejoindre l'Iran ? Il semble que plusieurs facteurs fondamentaux aient joué un rôle dans ce domaine. Outre la situation géographique de l'Arménie, ainsi que le rôle de l’Empire Ottoman veillant à maintenir sa position de supériorité dans la région et de contrôler l'afflux de touristes vers la Perse, le rôle de l'Église arménienne paraît déterminant. L’Arménie souhaitait en effet rester à l'écart de la concurrence des voisins puissants de l'Iran, à savoir la Russie et l’Empire ottoman, et d'autre part, elle voyait les objectifs religieux des Européens en conflit avec les siens.

Pablo Neruda est l’un des plus grands poètes du vingtième siècle. Ce qui le distingue des autres, c’est la variété de sujets dans ses poésies et la langue simple et authentique qu’il y applique. Notre article a pour fin de faire une étude comparative des traductions française et persane de l’un de ses recueils, intitulé Cent Sonnets d'Amour selon les théories de Henri Meschonnic, linguiste, poète et théoricien français, notamment d’après son point de vue sur l’ajout et la suppression dans les traductions ; nous allons illustrer cette recherche par des exemples extraits des textes tendus en français et en persan. Cela dit, l’objectif de notre recherche est de trouver des réponses aux questions concernant la possibilité de rapprocher la forme et le fond de la traduction de ceux du texte original entre deux langues sœurs (l’espagnol et le français) et entre celles qui semblent lointaines (l’espagnol et le persan).