درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Teacher professional identity is widely acknowledged as a multi-dimensional dynamic evolving concept contributing to teachers’ self-perception about their professional roles. This qualitative study aimed to explore how different instructional settings of teaching English as a foreign language in Iran impacted on teachers’ professional identities in a comparative way. To this end, 25 English teachers from public schools and private institutes of Kerman were interviewed to collect data and to examine how teachers conceptualize themselves at schools and institutes. All 25 participants (13 school teachers and 12 institute teachers) had a BA degree in English. Data analysis revealed that teachers of public schools had comprehended, strong, and thick initial professional identity in comparison to those teaching in private institutes. However, such an ideal professional identity was more vulnerable to professional identity shock that resulted from the discrepancy between initial professional identity arisen from pre-service training programs and an emergent one derived from the identity-in-practice in class life. In terms of preparation to teach, the findings showed that the teachers of public schools had more extended viewpoints towards teaching and its significance. Moreover, they believed that their identity influenced the teaching profession while the institute teachers believed in teaching influence on their identity that provided evidence for the variable nature of teacher professional identity resulting from parallel interconnections of different macro and micro factors leading to its steady reinterpretation and reshaping. Keywords: dyna

Although Task-Based Instruction (TBI) has received large attention on the part of English practitioners throughout the world, it seems that there is yet a huge gap between the Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions and practices in implementing it in real classes. Hence, this study set out to unearth the possible sources of difficulties in using TBI in EFL classes. To meet the goals, a total of 120 male and female EFL teachers were selected through stratified random sampling from Iran language institute (ILI) branches in Tehran, Iran. After critically reviewing the literature and using a flow chart technique, a questionnaire including 20 items was developed, piloted, and distributed among the participants. Then, the collected data were analyzed through the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Results indicated that three main factors, namely lack of appropriate assessment methods , cultural difference , and efficacy of the method received the utmost significance from the EFL teachers’ perspectives that have led to not using TBI. In the end, the implications of the findings were discussed for different stakeholders.

Through the implementation of the multiple intelligences, teachers and practitioners will see an increase in their students’ performance and ability to learn languages. The application of multiple intelligences theory is suggested as a structured way to address and understand the holistic nature of learners’ diversity. It is a favorable tool for teachers to increase the attractiveness of language learning tasks and, therefore, create motivational conditions. Intelligence is not just a single construct which traditionally was assumed to be constant throughout a person’s life; individual’s profiles of intelligence differ in terms of encouragement, training, and circumstances to enquire materials eliciting particular intelligences. The present study was an attempt to investigate types of intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal) as predictors of self-efficacy (generalized self-efficacy, academic self- efficacy, and self-regulatory efficacy). The participants were 148 male and female Iranian B.A. students majoring in TEFL and Translation at the Islamic Azad University in Malayer. The instruments included a 100-item Michigan test, Gardner’s MI questionnaire, a 12-item general self-efficacy scale, an 8-item academic self-efficacy, and an 11-item self-efficacy for self-regulated learning. Data were analyzed through multiple regression analyses. Results indicated that musical and linguistic intelligences were predictors of general self-efficacy and spatial /visual intelligence made a significant contribution to predicting self-efficacy for self-regulated learning while academic self- efficacy could not be predicted by any of the intelligence types.

Writing effective and persuasive manuscripts for submission to the high-indexed Iranian and international English-medium journals for the purpose of publication deserves having to-the-point knowledge and proficiency, which the Non-Native English writers of the non-English speaking countries seem to be lacking. Therefore, researchers need to identify problems and challenges that the group of writers encounter in the field of English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP). Therefore, this study aims to identify the ERPP needs of the Physical Education Ph.D. students and writers. Hence, interviews were conducted with a group of Physical Education content experts and Ph.D. students to identify the writers’ problems and challenges. The interviews were tape recorded as the participants had already been informed of the recordings and research aim. The tape recordings were then transcribed and analyzed in the thematic analysis and the grounded theory methods. The data analysis came up with four major themes (gained in the selective coding stage), 20 sub-themes (gained in the axial coding stage) and 83 themes (gained in the initial/open coding stage). The four major themes were `problem with language,’ `problem with content,’ `problem with journals,’ and `the demotivating factors.’ The fourth major theme, i.e., `the demotivating factors’, consisted of the sub-heading the technological illiteracy problem, which should be regarded as the novelty feature of this paper. The research is useful for material designers and instructors of the English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) and others to offer tailor-made education to the tertiary level Physical Education students.

The purpose of the study reported in this article was to explore images and metaphors English learners have in mind for vocabulary learning. First, 350 learners in seven cities in Iran with considerable experience of English learning were asked to compare vocabulary learning to concrete objects and activities. Their 130 analogies were reviewed and analyzed multiple times to identify fitting labels and assign inclusive categories. The five most frequent themes which emerged from the analysis were FOOD & DRINK, COLLECTING, JOURNEY, PUZZLE/PROBLEM, and MUSIC. Based on a scrutiny of the metaphorical themes and the images which gave rise to them, some salient practical and theoretical points with implications for teaching language and vocabulary are tentatively discussed.

The focus of current research is the translation of psychology book titles. There are numerous studies in the field of titles translation, but they are restricted in Persian context. The aim of this study is thus to investigate the translation strategies used by Persian translators when transferring English psychology book titles into Persian. To achieve this objective, 245 titles of translated psychology books published from 2007 to 2013 in the field of personal success were first gathered from Isfahan Municipality Library, some local bookstores and online sources. Then, the types of original titles and their translations were examined based on Genette (1989) categorization. The findings thereof revealed that most of the titles had the form, title plus subtitle in both languages in terms of structure. The forms of the titles were also analyzed, and it was discovered that nominal titles were the most frequent ones in the source text and translators preferred not to change the original structure. Next, the corpus was analyzed based on Vinay and Darbelnet’ (1995) model and the findings showed that the modulation was the most frequently-used translation strategy. It was also revealed that the translators were inclined to change the semantics and point of view of the source language. The second most frequently-used strategy was literal translation, showing the popularity of direct translation strategies. Finally, the functions of titles were analyzed based on Nord’s (1995) model. Since functions are highly subjective and cannot be tabulated, they were discussed one by one in the discussion section of the study. The findings of this study can boost the theories of title translation and provide the functional issues of translation studies with new insights.

To better illuminate the link between scaffolding and visual aids, this quasi-experimental study attempted to scaffold an intact group of 14 intermediate-level Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners through providing graphs with the aim of enhancing their writing ability. Ensuring lack of familiarity with eight unknown words, they were scaffolded through visual images. The scaffolding process included three respective phases of contingency, fading, and transferring. As post-tests for checking the learners’ understanding of and opinion about the graph scaffolding process, a researcher-made questionnaire and a semi-structured interview followed the treatment phase. The results of the questionnaire showed that visual scaffolding aided the learners to better grasp the meaning of the target vocabularies and even some grammatical points in the materials. Moreover, the visual scaffolding helped them to produce the material in different modalities. The results also indicated all the three characteristics of scaffolding were met by the visual scaffolding. Finally, the interview results revealed the learners had favorable attitude toward visual scaffolding and considered the third phase of the scaffolding as the most challenging one. It can be concluded that the findings gave credence to the effectiveness of visual scaffolding in improving EFL students’ writing ability.

This review article examines the underpinning of the little-researched, influential elements that create linguistic injustice in the specific contexts of linguistic imperialism through standardization. To this end, with a review of critical views that includes argumentation and discussion of theoretical and empirical studies, we further aim to highlight linguistic injustice in writing for publishing. The domination of the English language as a lingua academia has not happened neutrally and can create unjust and unequal situations. In knowledge construction, the prosperity of researchers and academics is tied to international publication, and this action supports globalization, individualism, and standardization in favor of native English users. The domination of the English language in academic settings may be a hegemonic practice of native Anglophones to maintain power.  In this review, we underline the possibilities for privileged communities to pinpoint linguistic inequality and injustice.  The nature of academia should be liberal and liberating; however, in reality, academic settings are politically partisan and at the service of the powerful and wealthy. Still, there is slim hope that the system can change, and one of such profound changes may happen with equal access to resources and mentors for marginalized communities. In this case, the minorities’ voices may also be heard and respected globally.

Burundi is the sole country in East African Community (EAC) using mainly French as an official language and having a national language – Kirundi – which is shared by nearly all Burundians. Therefore, English language is taught as a subject on the curriculum. Although English language is even taught to science university students in Burundi, it seems that the attitudes these students have towards learning English are not known. Thus, the present study was intended to investigate the attitudes that University of Burundi pure sciences students hold towards learning English. In doing so, it also examined whether there is a statistically significant difference in these students’ attitudes in terms of gender and field of study. This study adopted a quantitative approach, hence a survey research design. The data were collected by means of a five-point Likert scale questionnaire raging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ that was administered to a total number of 65 students enrolled in the faculty of sciences. The questionnaire was based on the tripartite model of attitude and consisted of 40 items. The collected data were analysed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics that were computed using the statistical package SPSS 22. The findings revealed that the afore-mentioned students have overall positive attitudes towards learning English. An analysis of the results also indicated that there is no statistically significant difference in students’ attitudes both by gender and by field of study.

Uni-furcation of assessment and instruction has recently been realized in the form of purposeful assessment scenarios; Assessment x̄ Scenarios (analogous to Noam Chomsky's x̄ Theory!). x̄ here refers to any of the triple assessment scenarios including Assessment for Learning (AFL), Assessment as Learning (AAL), and Assessment of Learning (AOL), plus pairing each with another or integrating all three (i.e., Integrated Assessment Scenario). Comparative investigation of the effect of each scenario as to developing language skills particularly listening skill seems to be an intact area. In a bid to fill this gap, 100 conveniently sampled Iranian female EFL learners of 13-19 years old were randomly divided into three experimental and one control group. Prior to the treatment, their listening ability was measured through a pre-test. Then, each experimental group; AFL, AAL, and Integrated assessment, experienced the listening instruction based on the principles of each specific scenario, while the control group was treated based on AOL principles. Their listening ability was then measured in the light of an identical listening post-test to the pre-test. ANOVA, used to check the comparative performances of all groups, showed that AFL and AAL groups significantly outperformed over the AOL group, but the integrated assessment group significantly outperformed the other experimental groups. While the findings yield support to the bifurcation approach, they generate more prospective areas for further research.

From the dawn of the third millennium, the utilization of state-of-the-art technology for educational purposes, especially computers and the Internet, has become prevalent across the globe. In this regard, flipping EFL classes appears to be an effective approach to practicing second/foreign languages through computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in order to extend the class time to asynchronous activities outside the class, and make the students more autonomous and actively engaged in the painstaking process of language learning. However, this question merits consideration why many current CALL programs run and taught through flipped learning do not seem to take full advantage of collaborative learning and peer-assessment, specifically taking place in asynchronous channels of communication, namely threaded comment forms and discussion boards. The present study investigates the prospect of realizing social presence as a shared feeling of community among the learners by restructuring and optimizing the existing methods for flipping language classes. Employing a qualitative research based on grounded theory and data triangulation, the researchers recorded, transcribed and analyzed 41 semi-structured group and individual interviews with 44 participants attending an online IELTS preparation course on the first researcher’s website for over one year. Additionally, the same interview questions were posed in an open-ended questionnaire accessible to the participants from the website. The obtained results suggested that learner-centered flipped classes in which asynchronous student-driven content development and out-of-class peer-assessment through commenting and replying are adequately practiced can tremendously increase student interactivity, thereby fulfilling the sense of social presence.