درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study explores how Lacanian psychoanalysis governs and understands the mother-child relationships in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1944/2014) and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010). In so doing, the primary purpose of this study has been to establish the links between the central characters' behaviors and the psychoanalytic concept of 'deferral of desire’.' The research proposes a novel aspect of 'psychoanalytic meaning' by basing it on the counter-intuitive process of evading the jouissance of actualizing and immersing oneself in one's object of desire. To support the proposition mentioned above, this study has explored the eventual fate of the children in Black Swan (Nina), and The Glass Menagerie (Tom and Laura), analyzing their respective experiences of (dis)satisfaction after their ultimate success or failure in their attempts to attain their objects of desire . This study has employed the Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts of the objet petit a and register theory to posit that satisfaction lies not in obtaining one’s object of desire, but in repeatedly failing to do so, due to the fact that possessing the object of desire shatters the lack which is the necessary condition of maintaining the desirability of the object of desire. The article concludes that while we are intuitively equipped to think of satisfaction as the effect of the realization of the object of one's desire, psychoanalytically speaking, satisfaction is found in precisely the opposite direction, that is, in a repeated failure to obtain the object of one's desire .

The integration of technology into education, especially in English Language Teaching (ELT), has transformed learning experiences, fostering increased engagement, motivation, and improved outcomes. Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has emerged as a promising tool within this paradigm, offering unique opportunities for language learners. This study examines the impact of MALL on the attitudes, cognitive load, and performance of Iranian EFL learners. The participants were divided into treatment and control groups, with the treatment group using the ELSA app for pronunciation improvement. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and pronunciation assessments. The findings revealed that learners had a positive attitude towards pronunciation learning via MALL, experienced a reduction in cognitive load, and demonstrated a negative correlation between cognitive load and pronunciation performance. The integration of technology into education, especially in English Language Teaching (ELT), has transformed learning experiences, fostering increased engagement, motivation, and improved outcomes. Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has emerged as a promising tool within this paradigm, offering unique opportunities for language learners. This study examines the impact of MALL on the attitudes, cognitive load, and performance of Iranian EFL learners. The participants were divided into treatment and control groups, with the treatment group using the ELSA app for pronunciation improvement. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and pronunciation assessments. The findings revealed that learners had a positive attitude towards pronunciation learning via MALL, experienced a reduction in cognitive load, and demonstrated a negative correlation between cognitive load and pronunciation performance.

Language system is best considered as a stage on which ideology is represented while translation as a channel of interlingual communication and a socially contextualized enterprise is exposed to different ideological considerations. This exposure seems unavoidable whether the translation serves as a purposeful mental enterprise or the final product of a systematic process beginning with a source text (ST) and ending with a target text (TT). Anyway, the translator’s linguistic options are affected by some ideological orientations, manifested in varying degrees. This study aims at identifying and illustrating the degree of ideological skewness of the Persian translation of The Catcher in the Rye through the proposed model, including some distinctive ideology-bound features. A two-level assessment procedure at intra-textual and extra-textual levels was applied to the texts to identify their ideological trends. The findings individually analyzed considering the analytic model suggested the applicability of the proposed model to uncover the ideological underpinnings at play in the texts, which involved a possibly considerable degree of ideological skewness. Regarding the multi-dimensional essence of translation as a product and process, this study set out to reflect a perhaps more dynamic perspective of the ideological matters, yet it needs to be refined through further research.

A critical characteristic of effective teachers is their ability to manage unforeseen and critical incidents (CIs) defined as disruptive events that undermine teachers’ resilience. While existing research has examined CIs across various educational contexts, their potential for the professional development (PD) of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers has remained under explored. This qualitative study sought to explore the types of CIs encountered by Iranian EAP teachers and to assess how reflection on such incidents contributes to their PD. Twelve EAP teachers participated in this study based on convenience sampling. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted individually at an English institute in Kerman, Iran, and the results went through inductive thematic analysis and inter-coder reliability which identified three primary themes of CIs: teacher-related, learner-related, and institution-related. Additionally, the findings indicated that reflection on CIs fostered EAP teachers’ cognitive, affective, and social dimensions of PD. The study implies the necessity of targeted PD initiatives through reflection on CIs in the context of Iran. While complete mitigation of CIs may seem unlikely, reflective practice can lead to positive outcomes for all parties including EAP teachers, students, and administrators.

In a multicultural and multilingual country like Iran, where minority languages have undergone a degree of assimilation into Persian, certain cultural aspects of these minority languages, such as the Kurdish calendar for Kurdish people, have been ignored. This descriptive study tends to revitalize the overlooked calendars of Central (Sorani) and Southern (Kalhori, Feyli, Laki) Kurdish dialects by investigating the conceptual metaphors utilized in these dialect-specific calendars. To do so, the calendars of these Kurdish dialects have been sourced from reliable references. Subsequently, the names of the Kurdish months are analyzed using Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) conceptual metaphor model. The findings reveal that these Kurdish calendars exhibit ontological, structural, and orientational metaphors that conceptualize abstract time as a concrete entity through "physical experiences," including rituals and road blockages; "natural events"; and "spatial orientation," represented by the vertical movement of Kurdish people and leaves as well as the horizontal displacement between the months.

In the postmodernism era, considering the new technological facilities, researchers are trying to improve the traditional learning process by presenting some new learning models. One of these models, called blended learning, tries to present special ways and solutions to blend synchronous and asynchronous learning. The flipped classroom, subcategorized in this model, reverses the traditional classroom formats. This study investigates the role of this model in EFL learners’ perceptions of class activities and their language achievement. In doing so, two classes in a high school, 10th grade, were selected as the participants. In the experimental group, the flipped learning approach was implemented through the creative software, developed by the researchers. The software was designed based on the book that students were supposed to study that semester. The software framework was Storyline which is a suitable software for creating interactive courses. Learners’ perceptions were also measured by using the translated version of the 'Students Perceptions of Classroom Activities' scale. The results revealed that the flipped learning approach could account for over 70 percent of Choice perception, about 50 percent for Challenge, and 10 percent for Joy perception. The results also demonstrated significant impact of flipped learning on language achievement. The results of this study would help instructors and practitioners to use technology in their teaching program and be optimistic about its amazing results in their learners’ outcomes.

L’accueil aux œuvres de Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) en Iran, date de 1956, presque un siècle après leur publication en France. En 1857, Charles Baudelaire publie son œuvre majeure, un recueil de poèmes intitulé Les Fleurs du Mal. La littérature française a exercé une grande influence sur la littérature persane. On pourrait dire que l’arrivée au pouvoir des différents rois et les conditions qui régnaient dans la société iranienne, ont probablement exercé une influence sur la façon dont ces poèmes ont été traduits. Cette approche tente d’être une analyse de l’accueil de l’Iran aux œuvres de Charles Baudelaire. Pour cela, dans la perspective de la théorie de la réception de Hans Robert Jauss, nous examinons les conditions « socio-culturelles » qui régissent la société et leur impact sur la traduction des poèmes de Charles Baudelaire en Iran, et cherchons à dégager les différents horizons d’attente des lecteurs iraniens avant et après la Révolution islamique. Cet article décrit l’œuvre de ce poète français en Iran, et la façon dont elle a été traduite, lue et commentée.

The ecological turn in translation studies subverts anthropocentric perspectives and redefines translation as a multispecies, semiotic process that transcends human language. Eco-translation, a central concept within this turn, extends the field of translation to include non-human actors and ecological networks, allowing for a more inclusive description of meaning-making. Yet this turn has also brought academics a sense of disorientation and solastalgia as scholars have to grapple with the tension between preserving traditional disciplinary boundaries and embracing the expansive horizons of transdisciplinary approaches. The current article traces the ecological turn using Doris Bachmann-Medick’s three-stage model of disciplinary turn: thematic expansion, metaphorical application, and methodological refinement. It maps the evolution of eco-translation from narrowly defined practices focused on ecological themes to a broader, inclusive framework that challenges the field’s traditional foundations. The article also examines the emotional and intellectual consequences of this turn, particularly the solastalgic experience of scholars experiencing the loss of familiar disciplinary contours while adapting to new paradigms.

Despite the fact that impoliteness has been the focus of much investigation in various contexts, including political and cultural, there remains a paucity of evidence on the manifestation of impoliteness in literary texts. Examining Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language (1988) and Ashes to Ashes (1996), this paper discloses the impact of (im)politeness on identity. It posits that because of a mismatch in power dynamics and impoliteness between communicators, identity and self-esteem are subject to threat. Harold Pinter’s plays manifest profound interconnection between (im)politeness and identity construction/destruction. Our analysis shows how, in plays under scrutiny, characters are in a constant verbal struggle for survival and dominance and how this conflict impacts on characters’ social identity. Adopting Bousfield and McIntyre (2018) alongside Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (2009)’s model, this paper elucidates how impoliteness operates within the political settings of the plays in which the oppressors’ aggressive language aims to delegitimize the social identity of the oppressed ones. Furthermore, we strive to indicate how the impolite language and social/individual identity are closely related which contributes to a deeper understanding of characterization in literary works.

This article undertakes an in-depth study of the role of the Affirmative Verum Focus (AVF) particle within elliptical constructions cross-linguistically, with a focus on Persian. We demonstrate how the AVF particle, spanning diverse linguistic frameworks, functions as a catalyst for licensing ellipsis and allows the resolution within elliptical constructions featuring its presence. We posit that the semantic representation of the AVF particle in the target sentence functions as a remnant and a parallel element to the negation marker in the source sentence. In turn, it operates in parallel with the semantic representation attributed to the negation marker in the source sentence. Functioning as a higher-order operator, the AVF particle interlaces the semantic representation of the source sentence with that of the target sentence. Finally, we will demonstrate how our analysis can extend to account for a comprehensive examination of ellipsis resolution across various forms of elliptical constructions, including sentential ellipsis.

Task-based instruction has gained significant attention in second language research, particularly in how task conditions impact learner performance. This study examined the differential effects of repetition and rehearsal, two distinct task-readiness conditions, on the immediate and delayed L2 performance of EFL learners with low Working Memory Capacity (WMC). A quasi-experimental design was employed to address the research questions. Four instruments were utilized: the Oxford Placement Test (OPT), a WMC test, a practice task, and a main task. Thirty-eight EFL learners were randomly allocated to two groups, each exposed to a distinct readiness condition—rehearsal or repetition. Participants were selected from an intermediate-level English course at a private language institute using convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to the two conditions. Both groups accomplished an oral task twice, with the rehearsal group being aware of the second performance in advance, while the repetition group had no such awareness. Task performances were evaluated based on Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency (CAF). The results indicated that although both conditions positively influenced task outcomes, only the rehearsal group showed statistically significant improvements across all CAF dimensions in both immediate and delayed performances. These results contribute to the growing body of research on individual differences in task-based learning by demonstrating that rehearsal is a more effective readiness strategy than repetition for EFL learners with low WMC. This finding can inform instructional design and classroom practice in contexts where cognitive load is a concern.

Research on stress-causing variables in the teaching profession often documents an interplay between teacher burnout and its correlates. This study brings forth concerns about the contribution of teacher/school climate, job satisfaction and self-efficacy as the hypothesized predictors of occupational burnout among EFL teachers. Using multiple regression analyses, a descriptive correlational model was examined against the survey data collected from a sample of 198 Iranian EFL teachers. The results showed significant inverse relations between dimensions of teacher/school climate and dimensions of burnout, showing teacher/school climate as a significant negative predictor of burnout (p <.05, R2=.20, β=-.447). The results also revealed the significant role of teacher satisfaction and teacher self-efficacy in predicting aspects of burnout (p <.05). The two variables were also found as mediator of the effect of teaching climate on dimensions of burnout, showing a perspective of interaction between contextual factors and individual resources. Given the effects of teacher/school contextual stressors and their direct or indirect influence on teachers’ vulnerability to burnout syndrome, the implications of the findings are discussed in view of teacher training and intervention programs.

Audiovisual translation has been the subject of substantial scholarly inquiry, with fansubbing being recognized as a unique mode within this field. Fansubbing involves translating and subtitling of foreign videos such as films into another language by fans, rather than by licensed translators. Performing a kind of play labor, fansubbers typically do not receive monetary remuneration for their efforts. Instead, they are motivated by their fandom’s satisfaction, gaining visibility and receiving likes. The concept of visibility has been subject to varying interpretations, with the first and most prominent example being Venuti's notions of visibility and invisibility. The advent of digital platforms provided translators with an opportunity to establish a digital presence and voice, which has opened up new avenues for enhancing the notion of translator's visibility. Adopting a quantitative strand of research, this study examines a corpus of 200 K-pop (Korean pop) music video subtitles translated by Iranian fansubbers, focusing on different aspects of translator's visibility across textual, paratextual, and extratextual domains. As per the study results, fansubbers exhibit a higher degree of visibility in the paratextual domain (47%), followed by the textual domain (26%) and the extratextual domain (17%). The most commonly employed strategy for enhancing visibility was mentioning social media ID before or after the subtitle content. Many other strategies were overlooked by fansubbers, either due to a lack of awareness or restrictions imposed by superiors. Different aspects of visibility identified in this study donate valuable insights for subtitlers seeking to enhance their visibility and engagement with respective communities.

Grounded in social learning theory, this study examined Iranian English language instructors’ and students’ perceptions of the contribution of Vadana-Mediated Learning Management Systems (VMLMS) as a remote education platform to online English language learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 54 university EFL instructors and 164 English language students were selected through convenience sampling from Islamic Azad Universities (IAU) in Gilan Province, Iran. To investigate their perceptions of VMLMS, one common questionnaire (for both instructors and students) and two separate questionnaires (one for instructors and one for students) were administered. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the common and instructor questionnaires. Descriptive analyses indicated that both groups held unfavorable perceptions of VMLMS. The results of the MANOVA revealed statistically significant differences between instructors’ and students’ perceptions of VMLMS. The analysis also showed that students agreed they did not receive sufficient support from either instructors or the system. These findings may have implications for universities and educational administrators seeking to facilitate the implementation of online instruction in the Iranian context.

The present study attempted to comparatively investigate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers’ beliefs about language learning and teaching and their distinctive characteristics. To this end, 150 EFL and ESP teachers, selected randomly from various universities in Iran, were asked to fill out two pilot-tested validated five-point Likert-scale questionnaires, one on beliefs (including 45 items) and the other on characteristics (comprising 16 items). To do multiple-level analysis and triangulate the data for validation purposes, 25 teachers, selected randomly from among the study participants, were also interviewed. The results of (Quantitative data analysis such as Independent Samples t-tests, Chi-Square and Pearson product-moment correlation analyses, as well as qualitative content analysis of interviews) found no significant mismatch between ESP teachers and EFL teachers’ beliefs overall; however, significant differences were found between characteristics of ESP teachers and EFL teachers overall as well as between the specific beliefs and also between specific characteristics of the two groups of the teachers. The results are discussed in detail in the paper, and the implications, which are significant for the field of language education and ESP, and the pertinent implications are presented.

Motivational goal orientations play a critical role in shaping learners’ engagement in the classroom. This study was to investigate how performance-avoid, performance-approach, mastery-avoid, and mastery-approach goals determine agentic and social engagement of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. For this purpose, 200 Iranian intermediate EFL learners of language institutes in Isfahan and Gachsaran, Iran, were selected by convenience sampling. The OQPT was administered to ensure the homogeneity of the participants. The data were collected by Goal Orientation Survey and Student Engagement Questionnaire, which were distributed online and analyzed using standard multiple regression. The findings demonstrated that the mastery approach and performance approach significantly determined agentic engagement, and the performance approach significantly determined social engagement. These findings provide valuable insights into the motivational dynamics within Iranian intermediate EFL classrooms. Educators can enhance student engagement by focusing on fostering mastery and performance goal orientations and creating a supportive learning environment, ultimately improving the language learning outcomes of Iranian intermediate EFL learners.

This research aimed to provide insights into L1 acquisition with respect to the formation of Wh-questions by a Persian and an English child. Similarities and differences concerning the variety of patterns produced (both adult-like and non-adult-like) and the frequency and emergence order of each pattern/ Wh-word were taken into consideration. For this purpose, data from an English and a Persian child were analyzed. Based on the findings, it is argued that the Persian grammar licenses a wider range of Wh-questions patterns. Besides, unlike the prevalent in-situ state of the Wh-structure in Persian, the present study indicated it to be mostly Wh-fronted in the data production of the child at the specified developmental stages. Moreover, the English child exhibited more instances of non-adult production which can be justified by the higher complexity of the structure in English, as it demands both dislocation of the Wh-word and inversion. Implications of the study are discussed.

The ongoing debate surrounding the effectiveness of instructional models, particularly within the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education, underscores the need for empirical investigation. This study sought to address this discourse by examining the differential impact of two pedagogical approaches on the production of idiomatic expressions. Employing a quasi-experimental design, the research compared the performance outcomes of two groups of learners, one exposed to deductive instruction and the other to inductive instruction. The participants engaged in a comprehensive exploration of 64 English idiomatic expressions over the course of the study. Data collection included a pre-test, eight immediate post-tests, a delayed post-test, and an open-ended questionnaire. The 20-session experiment, integrated seamlessly into the regular classroom instruction, involved the alternation of deductive and inductive approaches in teaching eight idiomatic expressions per session. Findings revealed significant improvements in both groups’ scores, yet a noteworthy distinction emerged in favor of the inductive instruction. This outcome implies that an inductive pedagogical approach may exert a significant influence on the production of idiomatic expressions among EFL learners. The study contributes insights into the ongoing pedagogical discourse and underscores the potential benefits of adopting inductive strategies in the teaching of idiomatic expressions.

Emotions are important in the educational processes, influencing teachers' interactions while trying to teach in real and online classes. Therefore, this study investigated the transitional emotions experienced by English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers as they shifted from real/in-person classroom settings to online teaching, using an emotional geography model. Moreover, we aimed to explore the emotion regulation strategies that they used during their transitioning. Following a descriptive narrative design, we probed the transitional emotions of 10 Iranian EFL teachers while transitioning from real to online classrooms. The findings of the thematic analysis showed five key themes. First, physical geography may enhance cognitive change, resulting in positive emotions. Second, issues with the internet negatively impact classroom quality, leading to negative emotions. Third, situational modifications may help teachers adapt and meet their instructional needs amidst online challenges. Fourth, attentional deployment may serve as a strategy for improving professional geography. Lastly, situation selection and response modulation may aid in the development of moral and socio-cultural geography. These themes illustrate the interconnection between emotion regulation strategies and geographical models of emotions, highlighting their importance in transitioning from real to online teaching. Therefore, we concluded that emotion regulation strategies were helpful in solving the challenges that EFL teachers faced concerning their transitional emotions.