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Many studies have advocated the importance of teaching critical thinking (CT) skills, and have also provided some suggestions for its effective pedagogy. However, there is a dearth of research examining the efficacy of such instruction. This quantitative(quasi-experimental) and qualitative study aimed to investigate the impact of explicit instruction of critical thinking (CT) on university students’ critical thinking skills measured through the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) used as both pre- and post-test. The participants comprised four groups of 15-16 students each. The groups received different CT treatments: Critical Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (group 1), 11 Questions (group 2), CL and CDA followed by Peer Evaluation (group 3), and a control group (group 4) that only read about CT without practicing it. After receiving instruction on CT, the three treatment groups (1-3) critically analyzed 33 texts over 11 sessions. The results of the study indicated that Group 3 (CT & CDA followed by PE) had the highest improvement in their WGCTA scores from pre-to post-test, followed by Groups 2 and 1, while the control group showed no significant gain. The findings imply that reflecting critically on language learning materials can reveal hidden cultural and ideological elements within the texts. This can significantly enhance learners' advanced thinking skills, as well as support them in resisting cultural imperialism.      

AbstractThe resilience of teachers has arisen as a crucial issue in developing exceptional teaching and learning experiences. It is imperative to foster resilience, which entails the capacity to endure and overcome obstacles and challenges encountered during the teaching process. Additionally, research has demonstrated that the self-efficacy of instructors is pivotal in this regard. To investigate these features, this research aimed to inspect the role of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) teachers' resilience and self-efficacy. To this end, a total of 60 IELTS teachers were chosen from Oxford Language Center, Tehran, Iran thanks to the convenient sampling and they completed a self-efficacy scale, and a resilience scale and were assigned to experimental and control groups that the former were trained through self-efficacy workshop training course in Oxford IELTS center in Tehran, Iran. The findings of this study through running an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) indicated a constructive effect of self-efficacy on IELTS teachers' resilience after the workshop training course (F (1,57) = 60.00, p = .000 < .01, partial eta squared = .513, representing a large effect size). Correspondingly, it was revealed through Pearson Product-Moment Correlation that there is a positive and significant correlation between IELTS teachers’ self-efficacy and resilience (r = .462, p = .01 < .05). This study helps IELTS teachers improve their resilience. In line with these findings, some implications were presented to language stakeholders to consider the role of teacher self-efficacy.

This article presents a study on the use of Korean slang, particularly secondary slang, in the popular Korean TV show Running Man. The researcher applied Chapman's (1988) theory to distinguish and categorize the types of Korean slang used in the show, limiting the types of slang to only secondary slang and particularly applying the category of loan words based on Choo and Kwak's (2008) model. Using the descriptive method, the researcher classified slang expressions used in two episodes of Running Man and found that 312 secondary slang expressions were elicited. The study suggests that Running Man is a window to visualize the Korean language and helps foreign audiences learn the slang easily and memorably while having fun. This information can be useful for researchers who are interested in studying the use of slang in different languages and contexts. The findings of the study are beneficial for students, instructors, and researchers who want to understand the characteristics of Korean slang expressions, particularly loan words from the English language into Korean. The study also highlights the importance of authentic language use in entertainment media for language learners.

Assessment of learners affects all processes of their learning. Generally, without assessment, it is very difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. Understanding their weak points and difficulties in their writing would help teachers and administrators focus more on these areas. Therefore, this content analysis study was an attempt to investigate the relative contribution of each writing component to the variation in the overall writing performance of TEFL undergraduate students to determine areas of strength and weakness in their writing. To this end, the writing samples of 73 students who were willing to participate in this study at different universities in Tabriz, Iran, were assessed through an Analytical Scoring Scale. These participants were divided into two groups: group 1, first-year and second-year students, and group 2, third-year and fourth-year students. The results of Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression analysis revealed that the greatest contributions to the variance of the total rating of TEFL undergraduate students' writings were related to the grammar and punctuation components in groups 1 and 2, while the least contributions were related to the content and spelling in group 1, and vocabulary and spelling in group 2. In addition, results indicated that the weaknesses and issues of participants in both groups of this research were mostly related to the grammatical structure and using punctuation marks in paragraphs. Moreover, the positive effects of the analytical scoring scale as well as the implications of the findings were discussed.

Engagement and interaction have recently been considered practical activities essentially in educational settings. Due to the importance of this notion, this research paper reviewed the qualitative study aimed to find out the evaluation of Iranian EFL students’ emotional attitudes and perceptions towards interactive tasks on self-monitoring, self-regulation, and willingness to communicate in learning. Accordingly, the study as personality assessment developed the semi-structured interviews with 40 students in an experimental group and 40 students in a control group to explore students’ motivational beliefs and their attitudes towards interactive tasks influencing their performance in learning and assisting them to communicate successfully. Based on the attitudinal analysis as the results of this study, using the Transcribed Interview Sample with coding (an extract) clearly identified that students with interactive tasks mainly outperformed those with regular instruction. Furthermore, the findings of the research indicated that students’ achievement was improved in terms of their motivation, autonomy, and empowerment as contributed to their learning. However, this study revealed that teachers could increase the academically collaborative talk as well as social-emotional behavior of students in their teaching and learning environments to share feeling safe, taking risks, and enjoy constructive effects.

This study aimed at evaluating PISA-like reading test developed by teachers participating in the teacher training for teaching PISA-like reading. To serve the purpose, an experimental test was administered to 107 students aged 15-16 using a set of text and questions constructed according to the criteria of PISA Reading test Level 1. Item analysis was performed following the sampling using Rasch Measurement, deemed essential for determining the ideal index of test items relative to students’ ability in making correct response. The component of the calculation comprises reliability, separation, dan standard error. The Rasch model was constructed manually using Microsoft Excel to obtain the result of the calculation, and a Wright Map was also made manually to illustrate the result of the calculation. The results of the item analysis indicated that the test and the items the teachers constructed have met good criteria. The results revealed an even distribution of test item difficulty at the targeted level. The samples’ ability to make correct answers, however, was decentralized towards the test items of moderate level of difficulty. Only a limited number of students have showed good ability in their response to test items of higher difficulty.

This paper aimsto reveal how the universals of translation (henceforth, UsT) can beregarded as a manner to examine the translator'sstyle in the TL. In doing so, this paper examines how Saleh Hosseini, as an Iranian literary translator,  made his style through the changes he completed at each micro-and macro-levels shift to result in his discursive presence and/or style in the novels he has translated into Persian. After having reviewed the main theories on shifts  including Nida, Catford, Leuven-Zwart, and Baker, this paper takes Baker’s definition of style as the translator’s ‘thumbprint’ as a way to approach the UsT in Hosseini’s Persian translations. Having occurred with the translated texts than with the original, the UsT are: ‘explicitation’, ‘normalization’, ‘levelling out’, and ‘simplification’ (Baker, 1996). Having selected 44 sentences from the three translated novels into Persian by Hosseini as a corpus, this paper indicates that the ratio of ‘normalization’ is much higher than the other three universals, meaning that Hosseini, through adhering to the norms of the Persian language, came to this universal as one of the signposts of his discursive presence, voice, and style in his translations.

Empirical studies examining the effects of language learning have largely focused on linguistic changes in learners. Regrettably, this has left the non-linguistic changes under-researched. To address this, the current study examined what self-identity changes Chinese university EFL learners experienced and how individual characteristics (i.e., gender, starting age of study, and university major) may have affected these changes. To do so, a self-identity change questionnaire was administered online to 416 Chinese university students using a convenience sampling strategy. Seven identity change variables were measured by the survey: changes in (1) positive self-confidence, (2) negative self-confidence, (3) productive identity change, (4) additive identity change, (5) zero change, (6) subtractive change, and (7) split change. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the items on the questionnaire measured their intended identity change variable. Descriptive statistics showed that participants experienced changes in self-confidence, additive identity, and productive identity, but did not experience subtractive or split change. The results also showed that the participants were unaware that they had experienced any changes. Multiple analysis of variance results showed that the individual characteristics contributed to some variation in the identity changes. The findings support theories suggesting that language learning contributes to non-linguistic changes within learners. متن کامل [PDF 731 kb] (101 دریافت) نوع مقاله: مقاله تحقیق | موضوع مقاله: زبان انگلیسی انتشار: 1400/9/10 ارسال نظر درباره این مقاله : نام کاربری یا پست الکترونیک شما: ارسال پیام به نویسنده مسئول بازنشر اطلاعات این مقاله تحت شرایط Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License قابل بازنشر است.

This article tries to delineate different aspects of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) in detail: MLE as a model of learning in psychology, MLE as a dynamic assessment methodology, and MLE as a basis for designing a course. This article tries to delineate different aspects of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) in detail: MLE as a model of learning in psychology, MLE as a dynamic assessment methodology, and MLE as a basis for designing a course. MLE, well-known as Feuerstein's theory, is presented as a model of learning in psychology for enhancing cognitive functioning and problem-solving skills in children with cognitive challenges. Some other studies and scholars such as Poehner (2008) consider MLE as a dynamic assessment methodology because in dynamic assessment, assistance emerges from the interaction between the mediator and the learner. The other studies look at MLE as a holistic and integrative approach which is able to prepare a course. Definition of MLE principles and a meticulous and elaborate analysis of the first five MLE principles in different studies, entitled as MLE Taxonomy, are presented in a table at the end of the article.