درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study investigated the validity of processability theory proposed by Pienemann (1998/2015) among Iranian EFL learners’ oral performance. The theory defines six procedural stages for learners in the process of second language acquisition. In order to conduct the study, 10 intermediate EFL learners were selected based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test. Then, they participated in five tasks; namely, interview, spot-the- difference task, picture description, picture identification and story-telling task. Their speech was recorded and then transcribed according to predetermined structures (i.e., interrogatives, word order, and negation) called target structures. The frequency of the occurrence of target structures was calculated based on the emergence criterion. The results showed that Iranian EFL learners produced language structures in the predicted procedural stages as proposed by processability theory. Thus, processability theory can be valid for Iranian EFL learners too.

In an attempt to profile the effect of two methods of teaching Second Language (L2) idioms, Etymological vs. Literal, a group of English Language learners (n= 14) were selected to participate in this study. It was a within-subjects study and the chosen idioms were taught in 6 sessions regarding the two methods to the same group (each method in three sessions). In the first three sessions, 30 idioms were taught literally. In the next three sessions, 30 other idioms were taught etymologically. Then, their post-tests were performed immediately after instruction. Finally, a delayed posttest was conducted after one-week interval to find out the amount of retention of idioms’ constituents. The results indicated no significant effect in the retention and later production of L2 idioms and their constituents in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Following either of these methods regarding time and goals of instruction can be considered as an implication of this study.

This study reports on the development and validation of a questionnaire for exploring the different types of EFL teachers’ possible selves. First, a theoretical framework behind possible selves theory and its types was cultivated through an extensive review of the related literature and content analysis of 24 transcribed semi-structured interviews with ELT experts. Second, the questionnaire was developed and validated through collecting three types of evidence: content, reliability and construct. Content validity was insured by submitting the questionnaire to expert judgment, and Cronbach’s alpha was checked to measure the internal consistency reliability of the scale and its subscales. Finally, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses as well as SEM were used to estimate the construct validity of the instrument administered to 380 EFL teachers. The results indicated that the questionnaire was both a valid and reliable measure of EFL teachers’ possible selves and the resultant model hypothesized based on the data collected from the questionnaire enjoyed acceptable fitness indices. The model of EFL teachers’ possible selves (L2 selves) consists of four types including ideal, ought-to, actual and feared selves. The paper is concluded by presenting the different senses of selves within each type which together constitute the whole model of L2 self-development and how the model can be used in future studies.

The present study aimed at exploring Iranian EFL teachers’ perception of professional development. To this end, 200 EFL teachers teaching at private language institutes in Iran were selected as the participants of the study. First, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 50 participants of the study based on which Professional Development Perception Questionnaire was developed and pilot-tested (i.e. subjected to exploratory factor analysis) with 82 similar EFL teachers. The questionnaire was then expert viewed and administered to all the 200 participants of the study and was subjected to another factor analysis to ensure its validity and reliability more comprehensively. The findings yielded a valid model or inventory for assessing EFL teachers’ perceptions of professional development.  The results also revealed that the participants perceived professional development enhanced their pedagogical knowledge, improved students’ learning outcomes, and helped them understand their own pedagogical weak points and strong points and those of their colleagues. Furthermore, the results of chi-square analyses indicated that high-experienced teachers had significantly more positive perceptions of professional development than their low-experienced counterparts. The results of the current study yielded a valid and reliable model for measuring English teachers’ perception of professional development which can be adopted safely by other similar studies. The findings might also contribute to policymakers and managers of language institutes to establish proper professional development activities for their teachers which might consequently lead to learners’ improvement in learning.

With the rapid expansion of deploying mobile instant messaging applications such as Telegram for the purpose of language learning, it is quite apparent that language research in this regard is lagging behind the trend. This study addressed the matter by exploring how language learners utilize a Telegram group for the purpose of language learning. In this regard, the activities of a Telegram language learning group with 74 active members was observed and recorded for a week. To capture the patterns of utilization of the group, a thematic analysis was conducted on the compiled corpus of approximately 45000 words gathered by recording the messages posted by the group’s members. The analysis indicated that the themes of utilization of the Telegram language learning group were discussing content-based topics, seeking and sharing resources, recommending conversation opportunities, sharing learning strategies, and giving corrective feedback on each other’s language.  The findings of this research illustrated the potential of mobile messaging applications for creating opportunities for self-initiated and collaborative language learning.

This contrastive study was conducted to contrastively analyze English and Farsi newspaper opinion columns in terms of the frequency of different types of stance markers.60 newspaper opinion columns (30 written in English and 30 written in Farsi) from 10 wide spread newspapers published in the United States and Iran in 2015 were analyzed. Hyland’s (2005) model of stance markers (hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mention) was used as the framework of analysis.The findings revealed that hedges and self-mentions used by English columnists were considerably more frequent than those employed by the Farsi columnists. In contrast, Farsi columnists used large number of boosters and attitude markers. Although, attitude markers were in the last position of sub-categories of stance markers in both corpora.Generally, it could be concluded that the similarities and differences among columnists could be related to the cultural and linguistic preferences of the writers in languages. This study could be beneficial for EFL students and teachers in understanding intercultural linguistic problems in language use, and could be used to lead to creative reading and writing in journalism and ESP courses.

Although L2 writing has attracted salient attention and monopolized many studies in EFL contexts, there is still no full image of its complicated nature.  Trying to play a supplementary role in achieving that image, this study aimed at finding whether Persian and English argumentative and descriptive academic writings were inter/intra-lingually associated and if genre played a role in provoking any differences in the means of total scores obtained from the essays. In so doing, 50 Iranian senior MA TEFL students at the intermediate level were asked to write down two argumentative and two descriptive essays in Persian and English. Each essay was assessed against IELTS task 2 writing band descriptors. Then, the data were analyzed through the Pearson product-moment correlation and paired-samples <em>t</em>-test. The results revealed there were significant positive correlations between the total scores obtained from Persian and English argumentative and descriptive essays. The findings supported the existence of a common underlying proficiency (Cummins, 1980), out of which L1 and L2 writing skills emerged. The results also illustrated there were significant differences between the means of some of the total scores. It was supposed these differences might be due to the possible genre-sensitive nature of common underlying proficiency.

Interlanguage pragmatics has attracted considerable attention in recent years. One strand of interlanguage pragmatics research includes studies comparing the effectiveness of implicit versus explicit teaching on the development of pragmatics. Many studies, although inconclusively, have shown the superior effect of explicit teaching of pragmatics, but few have focused on finding ways to improve the implicit teaching of pragmatics. The present study attempted to unfold the effect of collaborative dialogue on the quality of implicit teaching of request (head act and preparator). To this end, 28 participants (19 to 33 years old, intermediate) majoring in English (freshman and junior) were divided into two groups. The experimental group (n=14) had the opportunity to complete the tasks collaboratively and the control group (n=14) were not provided with any specific pragmatic instruction. The instructional procedure included four successive sessions of teaching request in situations where the sociological parameters were systematically varied. For the purpose of data collection, the classes were audio-recorded and a pretest-posttest design for discourse completion task (DCT) was adopted. For the purpose of data analysis, target request head acts and preparators were scored and also the audio recordings of classes were transcribed and the process of learning during treatment was checked in detail. The findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in producing target preparators and head acts. And evidence of noticing the pragmatic forms namely noticing unnoticed forms, noticing the gap, and negotiation of form was observed during the collaborative task. This study suggests that teachers may need to provide learners with the opportunities for collaborative tasks along with input enhancement tasks in order to improve the pragmatic knowledge of the learners.

The unprecedented growth of English and arrival of English as an International Language (EIL) has generated a new fledged argument about English language teachers’ role and status around the world. To date, much of the debate on the native/non-native distinction in EIL settings and factors contributing to sharpen distinctions has remained unsettled. This gap motivated this study on the English teachers’ grasp of their role and their stance in the EIL setting of Iran. For this purpose, this study adopted both quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore the nature of the English teachers’ attitudes through an EIL scale and teachers’ narrative accounts through Telegram groups. The three-level positioning analysis (Bamberg, 1997) of English teachers’ narrative accounts contradicted their perceptive evaluations of their status, as non-native English teachers. The results proved that, despite highlights of blurred distinctions, English teachers in Iran still believe that English belongs to the native speakers and position native speaker teachers as better models for pedagogical practices. The results have implications for teachers’ beliefs and the role of teacher education programs

Although Diagnostic Classification Models (DCMs) were introduced to education system decades ago, it seems that these models were not employed for the original aims upon which they had been designed. Using DCMs has been mostly common in analyzing large-scale non-diagnostic tests and these models have been rarely used in developing Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) from scratch. Despite the prevalence of retrofitting CDA studies, true applications of CDA are believed to be rare since, firstly, a coherent framework to conduct such studies had not been available and, secondly, researchers were not able to analyze various DCMs according to the same model fit indices and criteria. This paper presents a summary of different types of DCMs and reviews true and retrofitting CDA studies. Having examined the limitations of previous CDA studies, the present study argues for the implication and application of Ravand and Baghaei’s (2019) framework to conduct true CDA studies. This framework is of importance since not only does it fit into prominent frameworks in education assessment such as Cognitive Design System and Assessment Triangle, but also it can provide test-developers with practical steps in conducting valid cognitive diagnostic tests.