درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

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.

Regarding the vital role of lexical competence as an important requisite for the attainment of full mastery of the four language skills, this study tried to investigate the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ contrastive lexical competence and their use of vocabulary learning strategies. To fulfil this objective, 60 Iranian upper-intermediate male and female language learners were selected based on the results of an Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). Afterwards, the researcher administered the Contrastive Lexical Competence Test (Ziafar, 2017). After carrying out the CLC test, the participants answered the Questionnaire of Vocabulary Learning Strategies. The questionnaire adapted from the taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) developed by Schmitt (1997). After analyzing the data, it was revealed that determination strategies were the most frequently-used strategies of the five vocabulary learning strategies, followed by cognitive strategies. Moreover, the result indicated that the relationship between CLC and vocabulary learning strategies was a strong positive one and this relationship was of statistical significance. The implications of this study can make teachers aware of the importance of choosing an appropriate strategy of vocabulary learning for language learners to pave the way of improving lexical knowledge for them.

To address the potential of the incorporating of output-based tasks, this quasi-experimental research compared the impact of two kinds of output tasks, namely dictogloss and editing text, on the development of grammatical knowledge of Iranian EFL learners. The study sample consisted 24 female learners studying at the high-school level in Iranshahr, Sistan and Balouchestan Province. They were divided into three groups, each containing 8 participants. The groups under the study were the control group, dictogloss group, and text editing group. The target structure was the passive voice. T-test and post hoc Tukey were utilized for the analysis of the data. The study results advocated the superiority of experimental groups over the control group. Moreover, it was shown that there are no statically significant differences between dictogloss and text editing groups in terms of grammatical development. It was concluded that output-based tasks in the form of dictogloss and editing tasks are beneficial in enhancing the grammatical knowledge of Iranian EFL learners regarding passive voice. 

Frequencies and discourse functions of grammatical subject types were investigated in a corpus of forty results and discussion sections selected from four disciplines (Applied Linguistics, Psychology, Chemistry, and Environmental Engineering). The results and discussion sections were selected from research articles that were published in 2008-2012 issues of prestigious high journals of the four disciplines. The results and discussion sections were analyzed for realizations and discourse functions of grammatical subject types adopting the taxonomy suggested by Ebrahimi (2014). The results suggested that the selections, frequencies and discourse functions of grammatical subject types were highly imposed by the macro functions of the results and discussion sections and the conventional rules of writing in the disciplines. One immediate implication for the outcome of this study is that writers and instructors need to keep in mind that they must be fully aware (and follow suit) of how the implementation of grammatical subjects are imposed and restricted by disciplinary conventions.

The purpose of the present study was first to offer a tentative solution to the problems observed in writing pedagogy in Iran by devising a more comprehensive approach to genre-based writing instruction. In the second phase, a quasi-experimental research design was adopted to determine how effective the model was in writing instruction, compared with the traditional, product-oriented approach, as well as Swales’ genre-based approach. The participants were selected randomly and then divided into three groups: A control group (CG) (N=8) that received product-oriented instruction, Swales’ model (SM) group (N=8), and the system-nested, genre-oriented, structurally mediated model (SGSM) group (N=7). The results obtained through One-way ANOVA revealed that the SM group outperformed the CG group on the posttest of writing. Moreover, the SGSM group outperformed the other two groups on the posttest of writing. The pedagogical and theoretical findings of the study were then discussed.

New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many researchers. This study aimed at investigating the role of Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes towards the value components of the Partnership Approach (PA) on motivating their active engagement in the learning process. A descriptive research method (survey study) was used, and 72 male and female Iranian EFL students whose ages ranged from 18 to 26 were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were asked to respond to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire addressing the objectives of the study, and then 30 of the participants were randomly interviewed to reveal the possible consonance with the questionnaire outcomes. The study was conducted at Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch. The findings indicated that although both male and female participants showed significantly positive attitudes towards the value components of the PA, except for the inclusivity value, female participants held significantly higher positive attitudes. The highest motivational value from both male and female participants’ point of view was for the challenge value component. However, reciprocity and inclusivity were the value components with the lowest motivational values from the male and female participants’ point of view, respectively. Focusing on the importance of the psychological factors in education, the findings of the study may encourage both education policy-makers and practitioners in the field to think more critically, and make more reasonable decisions for their policy and practice.

The most effective means of directing attention to an article in the academic community is to publish it in credential journals, however, writing in English can be challenging for novice writers especially non-native speakers (NNS) of English. Thus, despite the ample research in some fields, there is a great need for studies comparing the rhetorical features together with move structure of sections of Research Articles (RA) written by native scholars with non-native (NN) scholars’ RAs to provide NN writers with academic writing patterns beside procedures needed for publishing in the field of Business Management. To this end, Hyland’s (2000) five-move model was employed for identifying rhetorical moves along with a “bottom-up” approach for realizing linguistic signals in the Abstract, Introduction and Conclusion sections of thirty articles from international and national journals. The study revealed correspondence of most international articles to Hyland’s move model, a tendency for writing informative Abstracts was apparent with the presence of all the moves in Introduction and Conclusion sections. Analysis of linguistic aspects of articles illustrated a striking difference in the use of language features between native and NN scholars. The findings of this study have some implications for people involved in genre analysis as well as teaching academic writing and material design.

As a negative consequence of COVID 19, almost all students felt obliged to leave the universities and use electronic devices to learn. Some universities encouraged faculty members to use Electronic teaching as an alternative to traditional classrooms. Despite a large number of studies on different forms of electronic learning, the effectiveness of synchronous and asynchronous E-learning in teaching grammar to EFL learners has been neither investigated nor compared appropriately. Two intact  classes of undergraduate students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) from Farhangiyan university were selected. and each received the treatment through either synchronous or asynchronous E-learning activities. The same syllabus consisting of dependent Clauses, Appostive, infinitives, and gerunds were taught to the two groups. EFL learners’ knowledge of grammar was  measured by recognition and production tests.  The two groups’ scores were submitted to repeated measures ANOVA tests. The findings showed that both modes of E-learning greatly influenced the language learners’ knowledge of grammar as measured by recognition and production tests. Results also showed that the interaction between electronic modes and grammar recognition and production tests was statistically significant. Therefore, it could be concluded that E-learning learning is useful, synchronous learning is more effective for improving the language learners’ production, and asynchronous learning is effective for improving the skills and subskills which require reflection and comprehension.  

This paper focuses on the most prominent theta roles used in the Sindhi language. The study attempts to answer to the research question, ‘How are theta roles prominently used in the Sindhi language?’ The data come from the young native Sindhi speakers. Each verb phrase in the data is examined with the help of Carnie’s (2007) ‘Theta Roles and Thematic Relations’ in order to find the prominent theta roles in the Sindhi language. The study finds six prominent theta roles in Sindhi; namely, agent, theme, beneficiary, recipient, goal and locative. According to the findings of Rappaport Hovav (2007), the hierarchy of the theta roles in English is: Agent> Recipient>Experiencer/Goal>Instrument>Patient/Theme>Place; while, the hierarchy of the prominent theta roles in the Sindhi language is: agent>theme>beneficiary>recipient> locative>goal. This finding is not, however, definitive, i.e. broader studies are to be carried out to find the precise hierarchy of the theta roles in Sindhi.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of Systemic Theoretical Instruction (STI), grounded in Socio-cultural Theory and proposed by Gal’perin, on developing Iranian EFL learners’ knowledge of English tense-aspect system. To this end, two low-intermediate classes, including 24 and 21 language learners aged between 12-19, were taught the distinction between simple past and present perfect tense through STI and traditional method of grammar instruction. The learners sat for a pretest one week before the treatment and an immediate and delayed posttest, one and three weeks after the instruction, respectively. The tests included binary-choice and gap-filling items to evaluate the learners’ explicit knowledge of the target tense-aspect pairings and elicited imitation test items to check their implicit knowledge. The results obtained from a series of independent and paired-sample t-tests revealed a significant improvement for both groups in the immediate posttest both in terms of the entire test and its subcomponents suggesting that both types of instruction were effective in improving the learners’ implicit and explicit knowledge of the target forms in the short term. However, the significant outperformance of the STI group compared to the traditional group implied the superiority of this method. Moreover, the STI group generally outperformed the traditional group in the delayed posttest indicating the possibility of having a more lasting effect on developing learners’ knowledge when compared to the traditional method. These findings can have significant implications for teachers and materials developers in practicing the assumptions of more innovative approaches such as STI.

This research was conducted to measure Persian EFL students’s degree of willingness to write in English. To reach the goal, semi-structured interviews were conducted, deriving inspiration from earlier works of McCrosky and Baer (1985), MacIntyre, Dornyei, Clement, and Noels (1998), and Yashima (2002) on willingness to communicate. The participants of the study were 29 individuals comprising 23 university students from different majors and 6 writing experts with academic statuses varying from BA holders in TEFL to university professors in applied linguistics. They were interviewed in two separate layers via employing the Delphi technique. Content analysis was conducted on the interviews and the components were extracted; the WTW questionnaire was then designed and developed for the first time and was validated via conducting factor analysis and was then administered to 257 university and IELTS students. The final version of the questionnaire included 38 items after having been factor analyzed. The results indicated that there are four factors underlying the construct of willingness to write, which are interlinguaprofession, cognition, involvement, and technology. The findings of the study can bring considerable benefits to EFL students to recognize the influential factors on their degree of willingness to write (WTW) and try to boost the facilitating factors to become more autonomous learners. Academic EFL/ESL writing teachers can enhance their students’ writing ability via embarking upon new strategies through which they can make learners more willing to write by promoting learners’ involvement and engagement in writing, as one of the findings of this study.