درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

یکی از نظریه های موجود در باره ی چگونگی رشد توانش منظورشناختی زبان آموزان نظریه ی اجتماعی-فرهنگی ویگوتسکی است. مقاله حاضر با بررسی یکی از مفاهیم این نظریه یعنی ""حوزه رشد تقریبی"" برای رشد توانش منظورشناختی زبان آموزان پرداخته و به دو سوال پاسخ می دهد: اول اینکه آیا ارتباطی میان میزان کمک و حمایت ارائه شده به زبان آموز و سطح بسندگی زبانی او در یادگیری توانش منظورشناختی وجود دارد؟ دوم اینکه آیا ارتباطی میان ""حوزه رشد تقریبی"" فردی و ""حوزه رشد تقریبی"" گروهی وجود دارد؟ بدین منظور، بیست زبان آموز با دو سطح بسندگی زبانی انتخاب شده و به دو گروه تقسیم شدند. آموزش هر دو گروه بر اساس ""حوزه رشد تقریبی"" انجام شد. نتایج نشان داد که ارتباط معناداری میان سطح بسندگی زبانی و یادگیری توانش منظور شناختی وجود ندارد. از طرف دیگر، میان ""حوزه رشد تقریبی"" فردی و گروهی رابطه وجود دارد. این بدان معناست که دانش عمومی زبان تاثیر چندانی بر یادگیری توانش منظورشناختی ندارد. همچنین می توان گفت که کمک ارائه شده به زبان آموز کاملا فردگرایانه است و بر اساس ظرفیت و توان فرد زبان آموز معنا و مفهوم پیدا می کند.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate how voice is realized by Iranian EFL learners in persuasive English and Persian text types. This discourse-related notion is a required criterion for writing acceptable English. However, L2 learners from cultures other than English might face problems in realizing it, or even ignore it all through their writing. In this connection, the present study attempted to discover the possible relationship between the intensity of voice and the overall quality of text. Thus, thirty university students were selected as participants. They were asked to write in both English and Persian a persuasive text within the same subject matter. Then, their writings were rated in terms of intensity of voice and the overall quality based on Jacobs’ voice intensity scale and Jacobs’ overall quality scale (1981), respectively. The analysis of their productions indicated that there is a significant relationship between voice intensity and some of its features, and overall quality; while no relationship was found between English and Persian voice intensity. Therefore, voice deserves more attention on the part of writing instructor, as it could enrich the quality of L2 learners’ written productions with more sense of naturalness and smoothness. Moreover, material designers can incorporate English writing materials with various aspects of this critical notion, in addition to other language rhetoric, for learners at appropriate language proficiency level.

This study aimed at investigating the effects of grammatical error correction on EFL learners’ accuracy. Twenty-two male and female senior students were chosen randomly to respond to a questionnaire investigating their beliefs about immediate grammatical error correction.  Actually, the study was conducted in order to answer this question: what is the effect of grammatical error feedback on students’ accuracy? The obtained results related to the questionnaire revealed that immediate error correction had a positive effect and thus enhanced the learners’ accuracy.

این مطالعه موردی به بررسی این موضوع می پردازد که یک معلم تایوانی که در یک دوره ی کارشناسی ارشد آموزش زبان شرکت کرده است چگونه از زبانشناسی ساختارمند- نقش گرا و آموزش سبک محور در طراحی و آموزش زبان به فراگیران زبان انگلیسی در تایوان استفاده کرده است. با استفاده از روش مدت دار قوم شناسی، نتیجه این تحقیق نشان داد که برداشت و تصور این معلم از دستور زبان از دیدی سنتی، محدود به جمله و متمرکز بر ساختار به فهمی کاربردی تر از ارتباطات پیوسته مابین سبک و ویژگی های متن تغییر قابل توجهی کرد. این تغییر زمانی رخ داد که معلم توانست از زبانشناسی ساختارمند- نقش گرا برای فهم عملکرد زبان در ادبیات کودکان استفاده کند. با این وجود، میزان توانایی این معلم برای استفاده از زبانشناسی ساختارمند- نقش گرا و آموزش سبک محور در تمرینات کلاس تا حدی تحت تاثیر چارچوب برنامه ریزی شده ی اجباری تدریس و آزمون های رایج در مکانی بود که وی پس از بازگشت به تایوان در آن مشغول به کار شد. این تحقیق بیشتر در ایجاد فهمی جدید از دستور زبان در آموزش زبان انگلیسی و تربیت معلمان بهتر در آسیا کاربرد دارد.

Translating humorous expressions in novels, especially those containing culture-bound concepts, has always caused insurmountable hurdles for translators in delineating SL characters in TL contexts. In recognition of this, the current research aimed to first study the constraints of translating humor in Iran‘s War Literature, as a representative of highly-culture bound texts, and second to examine the extent that the strategies used by the translator in translating humors affected character delineation in their English translations. To this end, the humorous expressions in four novels on Iran‘s War Literature were identified and their constraints of their translations were categorized on the basis of Attardo‘s (2002) adaption of the General Theory of Verbal Humor for translation. As for the first research question, the findings indicated that Script Opposition can be the most problematic factor in translating humor. As for the second research question, it was revealed that the translator translated 91.17% of the humorous expressions literally, which can cause the characters sound strange and bizarre in the target language translations. It is argued that literalist translation can be used as a means of gathering information about the would-be colonized since it provides colonizers with accurate and reliable information, free from distorting names or any other cultural attributes.

Learner autonomy has been described as the ultimate objective in many language teaching programs since the third quarter of the twentieth century and educators have highlighted the significant role of promoting learner autonomy in the process of language learning and teaching. However, only limited number of studies has been awarded to what leaner autonomy mean to teachers. This study addressed the gap and investigated novice and experienced teachers’ beliefs regarding learner autonomy. Forty teachers participated in two groups who were grouped based on their teaching experiences as novice and experienced teachers. A questionnaire which was adapted from British Council was administered to elicit the teachers’ beliefs regarding learner autonomy. The independent samples t-test analysis of the data revealed a significant difference between novice and experienced teachers beliefs. The findings of the present study may have some implications for teachers in promoting learner autonomy in their classes, in general, and involving learners in the process of teaching and learning, in particular.

There is a growing interest among the higher education principals and policy makers to improve teacher evaluation methods and more important than that to use the evaluation data. A number of research studies implied the ineffective instruction of ESP courses in Iran (Atai, 2002; Eslami, 2005; Hayati, 2008; Ahmadi, 2008; Sherkatolabbasi & Mahdavi, 2012; Boniadi, Ghojazadeh & Rahmatvand, 2013). The basic objective of research in field of ESP/EGP instruction and evaluation is to facilitate informed decisions for the betterment of English classes. The literature suggested that most of the teachers and students were dissatisfied with the students’ progress in specific English courses. Data was collected from the teachers by various ways including observation checklist and feedback form. To carry out the study, 12 ESP and EGP teachers were observed using Marshall’s rubrics (2011) and observation logs’ analysis. Then, 18 teachers offered feedback on different aspects of their own courses. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively using ANOVA statistical measurement. The findings firstly indicate that EGP teachers were more standard teachers in comparison to ESP teachers. Secondly, the feedback forms show discrepancy between the views of EGP teachers and ESP teachers in some areas including the material effectiveness and students’ interest. To reach a standard point in EGP/ESP instruction, more evaluation is to be applied by the faculty members, university principals and the teachers themselves. Politically correct attitudes towards teachers should not lead to ineffective English courses. Some practical implications are suggested to upgrade the current practice in ESP classes

Among the linguistic resources for creating grammatical metaphor, nominalization rewords processes and properties metaphorically as nouns within the experiential metafunction of language. Following Halliday's (1998a) classification of grammatical metaphor, the current study investigated nominalization exploited in an English applied linguistics textbook and its corresponding Persian translation. Selection of these textbooks was motivated by consulting 10 ELT professors. Analysis started by identifying nominalization instances and recurrent patterns of nominalization in the books through adopting a mixed approach. The frequency of nominal expressions was counted, and eventually chi-square was run to find out the probable significance of nominalization use in English and Persian academic text samples. The quantitative differences in using nominalization turned out to be significant, and results revealed variations in the ranking patterns of nominalization in both texts. Qualities as entities tended to recur more in English than in Persian. However, the noun to noun modifier was frequently exploited in the Persian translation. The similarities in the employment of nominalization patterns might reflect the awareness of both the author and the translator of the role of metadiscourse markers in scientific texts. The main reason for the differences lies in the matter that knowledge is realized in different languages. The findings of this study have implications for textbook writers, English for Academic Purposes students, and translators.

This study tried to examine EFL translators’ uncertainty and uncertainty management strategies through employing think aloud procedures. The participants of this study were some MA andBA translators selected from several universities in Iran. To this aim, a proficiency test was firstly administered among the volunteers. Then, think aloud protocol and retrospective interview were used to collect data. Meanwhile, Angelone coding system was used to categorize the data. To identify the significance of differences, chi-square nonparametric test was utilized. The findings indicated that MA translators had greater tendency to show uncertainty at larger chunks of language such as collocation and sentence, while BA ones were more inclined to show uncertainty in textual level. At the same time, behavioral and locus options were compared and contrasted between MA andBA translators. It was also found out that look-up and rereading strategies were frequently used to manage uncertainty. The findings of this study can be helpful for translators to improve their translation ability by being more aware of what is happening inside their minds. Awareness of a stockpile of strategies helps them have fewer difficulties while translating a text.