درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The popularity of integrating technology in language instruction and its fundamental effect on the language learning dimensions has been widely acknowledged whereas learners’ motivation and attitude are expected to be improved in a web-based Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment. Therefore, this paper aimed to investigate the Iranian EFL learners’ motivation to learn English and attitude in a CALL environment. The participants of this study were 120 intermediate EFL learners from two private English language institutes in Isfahan, Iran. They were divided into two equal groups; one experimental group (EG) and one control group (CG). Then, a motivation questionnaire pretest was administered out to check the participants’ motivation at the beginning of the course. As the treatment, the EG learners were taught through CALL-based instruction and the CG learners were taught traditionally. After the treatment, a posttest of motivation and an attitude questionnaire were administered. The outcomes indicated that the CALL-based instruction promoted the participants’ motivation as checked by the Motivation Questionnaire. Moreover, as measured by a 20-item A-CALL attitude questionnaire, it was discovered that the learners in the EG had positive attitudes toward using CALL-based instruction. In light of the findings, a number of conclusions are obtained and several implications are put forward.

The current study sought to explore the impact of SFL-oriented register instruction on Iranian EFL learner’ writing performance with a central focus on their English proficiency level. As its secondary aim, the study delved deeply into the learners’ perception of the register-based instruction. To these ends, 50 intermediate and 50 advanced Iranian EFL learners were selected randomly and assigned to four groups: two experimental and two control groups. Employing an experimental pretest/posttest design, the learners of the two experimental groups received instruction on the three components of register; that is, field, tenor, and mode along with the implementation of a three-phase teaching/learning cycle, whereas the learners in the control groups were exposed to a conventional writing instruction. Quantitative analysis of the learners’ writing performance on the pre- and posttest measures revealed the contributory role of register instruction in improving Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance, regardless of their English proficiency level. Furthermore, having been surveyed through a researcher-made questionnaire, the advanced and intermediate learners expressed their positive attitude towards the instruction. The findings highlighted the necessity of superseding the traditional linguistic-based writing instruction by a contextual and situational teaching methodology similar to what has been implemented in the current study.

Motivation raising strategies are frequently used in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes; nevertheless, learners’ perceptions of such strategies used by language teachers have not sufficiently been explored. Also, there are not enough studies on differences and similarities between more and less proficient EFL learners regarding this issue. To scrutinize this topic, a groups of more (No=50) and less proficient EFL learners (No=50) participated in this study by completing to a validated, researcher-made questionnaire with a five-point Likert type format. Non-parametric Mann-Whiteny U test was run in the SPSS ver. 23 to check the differences between the two groups. The results of the study verified that, regardless of each individual scale in the utilized questionnaire, overall, the more proficient ones manifested significantly less perceptions on teachers’ motivation raising strategies based on the total estimated mean ranks compared with the less proficient learners.  However, within the surveyed scales, only in the classroom atmosphere scale, the results showed that the less proficient learners were more mindful of teacher strategies for motivation raising. The findings from this study have implications for motivation raising strategy instructions for a language classroom. 

Due to the scarcity of quantitative studies as to the impact of portfolio assessment on EFL students’ writing ability and the significant impact of the interaction between portfolio assessment and self-regulation strategy, the present study aimed to explore whether portfolio assessment has any significant effect on improving Bachelor of Arts (BA) English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ paragraph writing ability, and whether this effect differs within high/low self-regulated learners or not. To do so, 60 intermediate female students were chosen out of 145 learners through the administration of a standard version of Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The participants were randomly assigned into one control (30 participants) and one experimental group (30 participants). The experimental group was assigned into two groups of high and low self-regulated learners, (15 participants for each group), based on Magno’s (2009) Academic Self-regulated Learning Scale (A-SRL-S) questionnaire. Participants of the control group were taught and assessed based on traditional teaching and assessment, whereas those in the experimental group were taught and assessed via portfolio-based instruction and assessment techniques. The analysis of the results of the study revealed that portfolio assessment has a significant effect on improving writing ability (p=0.001). The results also showed that high self-regulated learners have taken more advantage of portfolio assessment than the low self-regulated ones (p = 0.000). The results obtained from the present study can have beneficial contributions to teaching, curriculum development, and testing.

این مقاله به بررسی استفاده از روش متن متقابل (تقابل با متن)، برای آموزش خلاصه نویسی و تفسیر به دانشجویان دکتری رشته های زبان می پردازد. در این پژوهش انواع واکنش های روانی خواننده (چه محتوایی و چه نسبیتی) به متن نوشتار، در شیوه کلی مکالمه محور تدریس زبان روسی به غیر روسی زبان ها بررسی می شود. در کنار ارزیابی ها و نظرات شخصی که ازجمله متداول ترین واکنش ها به شمار می روند، واکنش های دیگری نیز تحلیل می شوند؛ واکنش هایی نظیر استدلال، پاسخ آزاد، تعیین جهت سخن، تصدیق، پیچیده سازی، نتیجه گیری، تعمیم، تصویرسازی، ترجمه، بیان متن با جملات دیگر، تجسم، تثبیت، فرض، بینامتنیت، پیش بینی و جایگزین سازی معنا. گاهی اوقات ارزیابی و تفسیر پدیده ای که در نوشتار ارائه می شود، همانند واکنش های شخصی و روانی متنوع به آن، دشواری هایی را طی دوره آموزشی زبان روسی برای زبان آموزان خارجی ایجاد می کند. به همین دلیل، واکنش های گفته شده، به گفتار روزمره آن ها وارد می شود. مبنای این مسئله رشد به اصطلاح تفکر تداعی گرا (که به مفهوم توانایی برقراری ارتباط بین واقعیت های نزدیک و یا کاملاً دور از ذهن است) در دو بستر منطق و دستور است. در این مقاله نمونه ای از تمرینات معین که زبان آموز را به سوی این هدف رهنمون می سازند و همچنین موادی جهت ساخت متن متقابل به پیوست ارائه می شوند.

For many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, working contingently with language learners' problematic learner contributions in classroom interaction remains a challenge. Drawing on conversation analysis methodology and using sociocultural and situated learning theories, this longitudinal case study traces the progressional changes in one Iranian English language teacher's repairing practices (his orientation to repairable, repair completion type and trajectory) along with the changing impacts of different organizational patterns of repair and interactional awareness on learning opportunities. The data material consists of video recordings of EFL oral classroom interactions (11 lessons) and reflective conversations (seven sessions) between the researcher and the participant teacher at one private language institute in Iran over a period of six months, in two phases. Qualitative results from the first (descriptive) phase indicated that the teacher's provision of repair in meaning-oriented contexts was generally convergent while in form-oriented ones divergent. The qualitative changes revealed the teacher's increasing attention to lexical errors and use of self-repair types, particularly in form-oriented contexts and the teacher's progress in interactional awareness including identification of contexts and repair organization, use of metalanguage and critical self-evaluation This study makes a contribution to conversation analytic research and our understanding of English teacher professional development.

Based on the learning-centred approach to needs analysis, the current study aimed at investigating the academic target needs of undergraduate students of English Language and Literature in Iran as a non-native context nationwide by employing a triangulation of instrumentations namely, questionnaires, class observations, and semi structured interviews. To this end, 320 stakeholders from eight different Iranian state universities participated in the current study. The results of this study revealed a discrepancy between the target needs of the students and the actual EFL courses they undertake during their academic and pre-academic studies. During pre-academic studies, students are not adequately equipped with critical thinking abilities, study skills, and general English proficiency which are required by their prospective academic needs. Likewise, the prevalent lecture-based teaching methodologies as utilized by Iranian content specialists at the tertiary level, seemed to be ineffective in sufficiently equipping the students with sound literary knowledge as well as professional writing and reading skills. The findings may promise implications for establishing a consistent nationwide pedagogical framework for EFL instruction at the non-native academic and pre-academic levels by a synthesis of different communicative and learning-centered approaches to language teaching based on a systematic cooperation among different stakeholders.

The present study investigates the effect of e-mail on Iranian learners of English and focuses on teaching thewriting skillvia e-mail. More specifically, the study investigates (a) whether using e-mail has any statistically significant effect on improving high school students' writing skill, and (b) whether the proficiency level has any relation with students’ writing improvement through using e-mail.To this end, 150 high school Iranian students were selected randomly and divided into 3 proficiency levels, namely high, mid, and low, based on their performances on an Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The participants at every proficiency level were divided into 3 subgroups to receive 3 methods of instruction, namely traditional face-to-face, through using e-mail, and through both the traditional method and using e-mail. After 3 months of instruction, a posttest was administered and the results were submitted to ANOVA. The results obtained revealed that using e-mail had a statistically significant effect on improving students' writing skills. The Scheffe post hoc results showed that the group with the e-mail treatment performed almost the same as the other 2 groups at the high proficiency level; in other words, the group at the high level did not benefit much from using e-mail; however, thelow and intermediate proficiency level participants did benefit from it. The findings are finally discussed with regard to how email can be exploited as an educational aid by teachers and learners.

This study attempts to assess the potential use of AREL in English song activities as a learning method to improve the students’ ability in argumentation and English proficiency. AREL – stands for Assertion, Reason, Evidence, Link back has long been introduced as a basic structure for argument construction. Learning AREL has been a major challenge for the beginner debaters, not to mention their constraints in English proficiency. The data received in this study were analysed by means of frequency, percentage, and standard deviation. The students highly believed that the method used in this study was interesting ( =3.79 SD=0.860) and comfortable ( =3.86 SD=0.639), in which it indicates the enjoyable learning process and the absence of the students’ anxiety. Furthermore, this method was able to give a quick comprehension ( =4.00 SD=0.654) on AREL, where applying AREL in song analysis was easier for the students, thus allow the students to gradually step up onto the real argumentation. That could be observed by the average test score where students obtained higher score for analysing song with AREL ( =80) than for making real argumentation with AREL ( =70). However, in order to make this method effective, the students’ attendance was a mandatory. Though no test on English proficiency conducted, nevertheless most of the students agreed that this method helped them improving their English proficiency, which included vocabularies ( =4.64 SD=0.610) and figurative language ( =4.50 SD=0.500) competencies.

This paper attempts to investigate and compare the conceptual metaphors of FEAR in Persian and English. FEAR is one of the basic emotions, conceptualization of which shows both similarities and variations in different languages. Investigating features of conceptualization is an essential part of the semantics of emotions. The cross-linguistic analysis of the concept of FEAR is based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory put forward by Lakoff (1987) and the extensions of this theory provided by Kövecses (2002). We have attempted to compare and contrast FEAR metaphors and elaborate on some cultural and language-specific aspects in the two languages. We adopted a corpus-based method to gather the metaphorical expressions and then to extract the name of the mappings. We compared and contrasted these name of the mappings, and identified the commonalities and differences. Certain source domain concepts such as human, motion verbs, animals, and colors were explained in detail.