درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study aimed to investigate the washback effect of three alternative assessment procedures, namely oral-conferences, portfolios, and corpora-based feedback on the writing achievement and attitudes of Iranian EFL university learners. The participants taking part in the study were 156 native Iranian students in a mixed Reading-Writing course. Through the two three-month semesters, the learners were studied in terms of three experimental and one control groups. It should be mentioned that revision was a major component of the pedagogy and learners were asked to incorporate feedback into their revision processes. The findings revealed that the aforementioned assessment procedures led to a significantly better performance of the participants and created a considerable change in their attitudes.

The main objective of the present study was to investigate the differences between Iranian EFL monolinguals and bilinguals in terms of vocabulary language learning strategies. In fact, it was an attempt to investigate whether bilingual/ monolingual learners differ significantly in using vocabulary learning strategies. To this end, 70 EFL, 45 monolingual (Persian) and 25 bilingual (Arabic-Persian) pre-university students were selected to answer Schmitt’s Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire (VLSQ). The participants were homogeneous in terms of age, sex, nationality and level of instruction. Following the administration of a general English proficiency test and one VLSQ, interviews were conducted. Then, descriptive statistics and independent t-test were used to analyze the data. The findings obtained through comparison revealed significant dissimilarities between bilinguals and monolinguals’ usage of determination, memory, cognitive and metacognitive strategies. There was no significant variation, however, in their use of social strategies. Further, interviews exhibited some aspects that were not mentioned in the VLSQ.

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.

مطالعه حاضر به بررسی میزان تمایل به انگلیسی صحبت کردن و ارتباط آن با ویژگی های فردی و محیطی در بین ٣٧٢ زبان آموز ایرانی می پردازد. داده های لازم به وسیله ی پرسشنامه جمع آوری شد. از نرم افزار اس پی اس اس جهت اجرای آمار توصیفی و از نرم افزار آموس، با حداکثر میزان برآورد، جهت طراحی و تست مدل جدید روانشناسیِ آموزشِ زبان استفاده شد. نتایج معادلات ساختاری نشان داد که اعتماد به نفس، دیدگاه بین المللی و انگیزه پیش بینی کننده های معنادارِ تمایل به انگلیسی صحبت کردن هستند. نتایج همچنین نشان دادند که اضطراب از صحبت کردن، انگیزه و ویژگی شخصیتیِ موافق بودن و رفتار استاد می -تواند به صورت غیر مستقیم بر متغیر تمایل به انگلیسی صحبت کردن تاثیر بگذارد. رفتار استاد و شخصیت موافق به صورت معناداری هم دیدگاه بین المللی و هم اضطراب از صحبت کردن را در بین زبان آموزان پیش بینی می کند. نتایج بر اساس سیستم و بافت اجتماعی-آموزشی زبان انگلیسی در ایران مورد بحث قرار گرفت و مضامین تحقیق مشخص شد.

Dynamic assessment (DA) which is rooted in Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory involves the integration of instruction and assessment in a dialectical way to achieve two main purposes: enhancing learners' development and understanding about their learning potential. However, the feasibility and appropriateness of mediation are two main concerns of DA. The former is concerned with the application of DA for a large number of students, while the latter is concerned with providing test takers with appropriate hints. The purpose of the current study was three-fold: to examine the difference between dynamic and nondynamic tests, to understand about test takers' potential for learning, and to find out how mediation works for high and low ability students. To achieve these aims, computer software was developed. The software is capable of both providing the test takers with graduated hints for each item automatically, and adapting the overall difficulty level of the test to the test takers' proficiency level. To test the efficiency of the software in employing dynamic assessment, 83 Iranian university students participated in the study. The results of the study indicated that the computerized dynamic test made significant contribution both to enhancing students' grammar ability and to obtaining information about their potential for learning. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the use of dynamic assessment can simultaneously lead to the development of the test takers' ability and provide a more comprehensive picture of learning potential. Accordingly, teachers are recommended to use dynamic assessment to make more informed decisions about their students.