درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This paper seeks to probe cultural agendas pertaining to the images of celebrities in the widely-used English language textbooks. In fact, while visual analysis has solidified its position in ELT (e.g. Hurst, 2014; Mitsikopoulou, 2015; Romney, 2012; Taylor-Mendes, 2009) and caused the pendulum to swing away from the grammatical or textual content to the visual presentation (Giaschi, 2000), research into celebrities as the cultural representatives has been a barely touched issue. To address this gap, the researchers, drawing on Kachru’s (1985) orthodox model of the usage of English across the globe, examined the images of celebrities in four widely-used English language textbook series. In so doing, the terms depiction and mention (Toprak & Aksoyalp, 2014) were taken as a yardstick to pinpoint the type of intersection between the text and the image. Further, the images were thematically explored, which notably indicated the images relating to the field of media were the far most common theme in the English language textbooks. Lastly, it was revealed that whereas the images of the inner-circle outnumbered all, the images of the expanding circle surprisingly outnumbered those of the outer circle, an outcome which could point to linguistic schizophrenia (Kachru, 1992) as the main reason.

The studies conducted so far on the effectiveness of resolution methods including the discussion method in resolving discrepancies in rating have yielded mixed results. What is left unnoticed in the literature is the potential of discussion to be used as a training tool rather than a resolution method. The present study addresses this research gap by exploring the data coming from rating behaviors of 5 Iranian raters of English. Qualitative analysis of the data indicated that the discussion method can serve the function of training raters. It helped raters rate more easily, quickly and confidently. Furthermore, it helped them improve their understanding and application of the rating criteria and enabled them justify their scoring decisions. Many-faceted Rasch analysis also supported the beneficial effects of discussion in terms of improvement in raters’ severity, consistency in scoring, and the use of scale categories. The findings provide insight into the potential of discussion to be used as a training tool especially in EFL contexts in which lack of access to expert raters can be an obstacle to holding training programs. The author argues for future studies to focus on how discussion may function depending on the rating scale used.

The United States with its presidents stepping into power from either the Democratic or Republican parties influences global affairs in one way or another. These two main political parties have long been struggling for power and the significance of tapping into the ideological inclinations of the two parties underscores scholars’ accountability toward raising the critical language awareness of the public which could be an initial step toward a change for the better. The presidential inaugural speeches, due to their programmatic and strategic nature, are of significance to researchers. This study employed van Dijk’s (2006b) socio-cognitive framework where he defined two levels of analyses for a political discourse including the micro-level and macro-level text analyses. The former included 25 discursive devices such as polarization, generalization, hyperbole, etc. The latter drew on the dichotomy of ‘positive self-representation’ and ‘negative other-representation’. In the present study, the linguistic features in 16 inaugural speeches delivered by American Democratic and Republican presidents from 1961 to 2017 were examined at both levels. The overall data analysis revealed that Democrats employed ‘norm expression’ and ‘presupposition’ significantly more than Republicans, while Republicans made more use of ‘categorization’, ‘lexicalization’, and ‘populism’. The macro-level comparison of the two parties indicated that both Democrats and Republicans resorted to using ‘positive self-representation’ significantly more than ‘negative other-representation’ while the deployment of ‘negative other-representation’ by Republicans was significantly more than that by Democrats. The findings of this study have some implications for English for political purposes, political studies, as well as attempts in discourse studies.

At the age of globalization and the dominance of media, the audiovisual translation is no more considered as a marginal area and plays an important role in bringing cultures closer to each other. While taboo terms are an inseparable part of American movies, the movie maker companies have to reflect the authenticity of their language in audiovisual products in order to make them more tangible for their audiences. However, one of the biggest concerns of Iranian official audiovisual translators is cultural and ideological items such as taboo terms in audiovisual products. One of the aims of the present study was to investigate the strategies applied in the translation of taboo terms in two dubbed American movies by Iranian official audiovisual translators. The results indicated that most of the taboo terms have been altered or deleted ideologically during the process of translation due to the cultural differences between the source and the target culture. Finally, Iranian official audiovisual translators attempted to tone down the strong language, offensive expressions, vulgar descriptions, etc. in the process of dubbing and create an acceptable translation for their audiences.

Having witnessed the unprecedented prevalence of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, the present research was motivated to explore the challenges facing an EFL teacher throughout an online English course of intermediate level. To this aim, a process-tracing approach (Checkel, 2006) was employed to unravel the causal mechanisms involved in the beginning, middle, and end of the course. The results showed that deficient technological resources caused the greatest challenges throughout the course, especially in the initial and mid-sessions. Also, the two other causal categories, human and content resources, were at their peak at the beginning of the course and were no longer noticeable at the end of the course. The most troublesome challenges the teacher faced were platform limitations, internet connection, and human resources’ unpreparedness for online education. Furthermore, the teacher’s and most students’ technological knowledge, as well as their media literacy, increased by the end of the course, but some students’ rather slow adaptation to the sudden online environment challenged the teacher during the course. Finally, suggestions were made to prevent these challenges or handle them effectively upon occurrence, especially in developing countries, where the required infrastructure for online education is lacking, and the majority of teachers, students, and institutions might not be yet adequately prepared for the online mode of teaching and learning languages.

Of paramount importance in the study of cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA) is the absence of tests developed for small-scale diagnostic purposes. Currently, much of the research carried out has been mainly on large-scale tests, e.g., TOEFL, MELAB, IELTS, etc. Even so, formative language assessment with a focus on informing instruction and engaging in identification of student’s strengths and weaknesses to guide instruction has not been conducted in the Iranian English language learning context. In an attempt to respond to the call for developing diagnostic tests, this study explored developing a cognitive diagnostic reading comprehension test for CDA purposes. To achieve this, initially, a list of reading attributes was prepared based on the literature and then the attributes were used to construct 20 reading comprehension items. Then seven content raters were asked to identify the attributes of each item of the test. To obtain quantitative data for Q-matrix construction, the test battery was administered to 1986 students of a General English Language Course at the University of Tehran, Iran. In addition, 13 students were recruited to participate in think-aloud verbal protocols. On the basis of the overall agreement of the content raters’ judgements concerning the choices of attributes and results of think-aloud verbal protocol analysis, a Q-matrix that specified the relationships between test items and target attributes was developed. Finally, to examine the CDA of the test, the Fusion Model, a type of cognitive diagnostic model (CDM), was used for diagnosing the participants' strengths and weaknesses. Results suggest that nine major reading attributes are involved in these reading comprehension test items. The results obtained from such cognitive diagnostic analyses could be beneficial for both teachers and curriculum developers to prepare instructional materials that target specific weaknesses and inform them of the more problematic areas to focus on in class in order to plan for better instruction.

تاکید حال حاضر برمهارت های تفکر مرتبه بالاتر ، بسیاری از مدرسان زبان های خارجی را بر آن داشت که به بررسی تاثیر ترکیب روش های گوناگون تدریس و ارزیابی بر افزایش مهارت های تفکر بپردازند. در پاسخ به این نیاز رو به رشد برای مطالعه تاثیر راهبردهای مختلف تدریس بر مهارت های تفکر مرتبه بالاتر، پژوهش حاضر با هدف بررسی تاثیری که ادغام ارزیابی نمونه فعالیت ها، هوش چندگانه، و بازخورد از طریق گفتگو بر پیشرفت یادگیری مهارت ای تفکر مرتبه بالاتر می تواند داشته باشد انجام شد. برای این منظور، چهل زبان آموز سطح پیشرفته در دو کلاس به طور تصادفی به دو گروه کنترل و آزمایش تقسیم شدند که در گروه کنترل ، روش تدریس بر اساس بررسی مستمرنمونه فعالیت های نوشتاری و در گروه آزمایش بر اساس ادغام بازخورد از طریق گفتگو و بررسی مستمر فعالیت های نوشتاری مبتنی بر هوش چندگانه بود. نتایج این تحقیق نشان داد فراگیران در گروه آزمایش نسبت به گروه کنترل پیشرفت بیشتری در یادگیری مهارت های تفکر مرتبه بالاتر داشتند. این یافته ها لزوم درنظرگرفتن هوش غالب زبان آموزان را به عنوان یک معیار برای انتخاب فعالیت های کلاسی و ارائه بازخورد از طریق گفتگو برای ارتقای مهارت های تفکر مرتبه بالاتر مورد تاکید قرار می دهند.

Technology mediated learning brings together the users with shared interests. This method makes learners informally engaged in language learning. This study intended to investigate the effect of technology mediated instruction on cognitive scaffolding, academic performance and motivation. Employing a quasi-experimental research, 80 learners from two intact classes at Islamic Azad University, Osku Branch were selected as the experimental and control groups. Telegram as a tool was used in the experimental group, while the control group received traditional way of instruction. Critical ethnography approach was implemented to consider the amount of cognitive scaffolding. To measure the students’ motivational level in both groups, Course Interest Survey (CIS) was administered at the end of the semester. The total average score for each group was calculated. To compare students’ academic achievement, their average scores in the final academic test were considered. An Independent samples t-test in was used to compare the mean scores. The results indicated that technology mediated learning brought about cognitive scaffolding and the students in the experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of motivation and academic achievement. The results of the study suggest that to bring about academically successful students, practitioners should use technology mediated instruction.

بی شک کارآمد بودن آگاهی فرا زبانشناختی در بهبود کیفیت نگارش و دانش دستوری یادگیرندگانی که زبان انگلیسى را به عنوان زبان خارجی می آموزند از دیرباز حوزه جذابی در زبانشناسی کاربردی بوده است(براون، ٢٠٠١ ). از این رو، هدف اصلى مطالعه ى حاضر بررسى اثر تدریس بصورت تاکید بر صورت به طور برنامه ریزی شده و برنامه ریزى نشده بر توانایى دانش آموزان برای یادگیری دستور و کاربرد صحیح آن در نگارش است. به همین منظور سه کلاس فشرده در دانشگاه اصفهان ایران که دوره های دستور و نگارش برگزار می کند برای تدریس ساختار مورد نظر (یعنی کلمات پیوند دهنده) از طریق روش های متفاوت تدریس تاکید بر صورت انتخاب شدند. نمونه های انتخاب شده شامل دانشجویان سال دوم و (٣٠ نفر در هر گروه) در رده ى سنی ١٩ تا ٢٤ بودند که در دانشگاه اصفهان مترجمی انگلیسی مطالعه می کردند. نمونه ها به ترتیب آموزش با تاکید بر صورت بطور برنامه ریزی شده و برنامه ریزى نشده و تاکید صفر بر صورت دیدند. نتایج پس آزمون پارگراف نویسی و پس آزمون متعاقب آن که با تاخیر گرفته شد نشان داد که شرکت کنندگانی که در گروهی قرار داشتند که تدریس برنامه شده می دیدند عملکردشان بطور قابل ملاحظه ای بهتر از آن دسته ای بود که در به کارگیری کلمات پیوند دهنده در نوشتن پارگراف هایشان آموزش برنامه ریزی نشده و صفر دیده بودند.

Flipped learning is an instructional approach that underlines the efficient use of classroom time by shifting the conventional activities of learners and educators in and out of the class. In flipped learning, students' roles as passive listeners change to active participants in classroom activities. The present study was designed to build a model of flipped classroom instruction (FCI) for the general IELTS writing. Additionally, this research intended to examine if there is a meaningful difference between the students’ general IELTS writing scores in the flipped class and those in the conventional class. An FCI model was carefully developed based on the thematic analysis of the previous flipped classroom studies about writing. Then it was operationally explained for a general IELTS writing class. The participants of the study consisted of 100 male and female Iranian EFL learners. Fifty learners were randomly selected to experience FCI and the other fifty learners received conventional classroom instruction. The findings revealed that the learners in the flipped classes, on average, acquired higher scores than the learners in conventional classes.