درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

As a dominant genre of academic writing, research papers can be considered as the locus of reproduction concerning asymmetrical power relations and dominance. Through a purposive sampling consisting of the analysis and evaluation of an argument, the purpose of this study was to divulge the power and ideology latent in the discussion section of the research articles to raise second language learners’ awareness of the epistemological foundations and methodological goals and values of the ideologies behind the texts as social structures. By using a practical reasoning framework as an evaluative tool to analyze a text presented in the discussion part of arguments published in research articles, the analysis revealed that the scientific viewpoints exhibit themselves as the premises of these arguments. These world views maintain the dominance of the papers on global academic and social discourses. Understanding the ideological purpose of the article genre is crucial for promoting democratic and equitable education. This assertion highlights the importance of recognizing this function.

One of the effective ways to increase the learning opportunities in language classes is provide conditions in which learners can provide feedback on one another’s performance. The results of studies have also confirmed its beneficial effects and even its superior effects compared to teacher feedback. Despite its positive effects, the results of some studies reveal that teachers are hesitant or cautious in their use of peer correction. It is not clear, however, what factors and conditions negatively influence the teachers’ willingness to embrace its potentials in learning. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to investigate the teachers’ attitudes and beliefs in this regard as well as the factors they take into account in their decision to advocate activities that involve the use of peer feedback. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with 63 Iranian EFL teachers using questions developed based on the related literature. Content analysis of the interviews revealed five major themes including effectiveness of peer corrective feedback, concern about learners’ negative emotional response to PF, the role of learners’ age in being receptive to PF, the role of learners’ proficiency level in PF effectiveness, and teachers’ perception of their learners’ preferences for and attitude toward PF. Generally, the majority teachers seemed to be doubtful in their tendency to use peer correction primarily because they thought their learners are not receptive to peer comments on their linguistic performance. The results carry significant implications for language teachers and teacher education programs.

While the issue of intercultural competence has received considerable attention in second language learning and teaching over recent decades, the lack of a practical, valid, and dependable instrument to cross-culturally measure intercultural competence is strongly felt. For this reason, the current study aimed at developing and validating an inventory to examine EFL learners’ intercultural competence within the context of Iran. Following a qualitative-quantitative descriptive method research design, an instrument consisting of items adapted from intercultural competence-based survey instruments was generated. Accordingly, the study recruited 200 Iranian EFL learners to fill out the inventory. Furthermore, nine Iranian university professors in Applied Linguistics received an earlier draft of the Intercultural Competence Inventory (ICI) after it was prepared. The experts were requested to provide feedback on the developed Inventory’ content and face validity. After expert/content validation, the construct validity of the inventory was checked using R software running Mokken Scale Analysis. The analyses aimed to determine the structure of the inventory and verify the effectiveness of a five-point Likert response scale. The results concerning item attributes and the quality of the response scale provided confirmation of the scale's internal validity. Hopefully, the presence of this inventory in the Iranian context, characterized by strong internal consistency, internal validity, and construct validity, can contribute valuable insights to the study of intercultural competence among language learners.

This study is a longitudinal mixed method design investigating Iranian English learners' perception of native-speaker English teachers (NSETS) and non-native-speaker English teachers (NNSETS) in New Zealand and Iran within the conceptual framework of Kumaravadivelu (2003), Rudolf (2018), and Benson el al. (2013).  A semi-structured interview and a questionnaire (consisting of 21 Likert items and 3 open-ended questions) were used twice ten months apart in each context. An online narrative interview was employed in 2022 to supplement the data. Non-parametric data analyses were run on the Likert items. Several coding schemes were developed and a thematic analysis was employed. Findings revealed that NNSETS in New Zealand and NSETS in Iran were perceived by the learners as more effective in guiding their students toward developing a multilingual identity. This is interpreted as the "cross-actional influence of context in language learners' perception of teachers regarding L2 identity development in students" in this research. The findings also showed a shift in students' perception from NSETS to NNSETS in both contexts over time due to the better instructional strategies of NNSETS for teaching reading, listening, grammar, and their deeper understanding of the student's needs. This study informs language teachers, teacher educators, and education authorities on 1) the cross-actional influence of context on students' perception of teachers regarding L2 identity development as a normal procedure, 2) the pattern of a shift from NSETS to NNSETS due to the qualifications of NNSETS should be considered in teacher training programs to make the most proficient language teachers accordingly.

Communicative and natural processing of language in the world of translation is substantiated through simultaneous decoding and encoding of information in the source and target languages. The researchers analy zed pragmatic strategies and approaches undertaken by the Persian and Kurdish translators of the Quranic discourse marker thumma. The source text corpus was selected randomly and the target text parallel corpora were selected based on purposive sampling. Theoretical perspectives in pragmatics and translation were employed in the analysis of parallel corpora in this investigation. The results revealed that various types and combinations of the Kurdish and Persian temporal discourse markers were utilized by these translators. Moreover, other Kurdish and Persian elaborative, contrastive, and inferential discourse markers were also used in rendering the discourse marker thumma in the Quran. This dynamic approach to the construction of discourse was substantiated based on the realization of different conventions in the construction of discourse in different languages and cultures. This dynamic system in the construction of a proper discourse for the readers is verified based on the application of different theories in discourse analysis and pragmatics and the application of context and text-sensitive strategies in the process of translation. The characteristics, bases, and resources of these dynamic translation strategies are discussed based on pragmatic awareness rising in various aspects of translation education and some suggestions were offered in the application of the findings in syllabus design, translation evaluation, and rethinking of approaches in lexicography.  

This study investigates the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) of Iraqi English teachers in public and private high schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also examines the potential impact of gender and school type on participants’ TPACK perceptions. The results, derived from a TPACK survey (Baser et al., 2015), indicate significant differences between public and private school Iraqi English teachers in terms of overall TPACK scores and perceptions of individual TPACK constructs of technological knowledge, technological content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge. However, no significant differences were observed in the constructs of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. Additionally, the study found no significant disparities between male and female Iraqi EFL teachers in overall TPACK scores or perceptions of individual TPACK constructs. These findings offer insights into TPACK in Iraqi public and private high schools and shed light on how male and female Iraqi EFL teachers perceive their competencies when utilizing information and communication technology in English language instruction. Considering these findings, it is recommended to implement training and professional development programs to support teachers in effectively integrating technology into language education, especially within their classrooms.

EFL teachers’ conceptions of Alternative Assessment (AA) strategies in English language classrooms are of significance since they can affect the teachers’ overall performance in the classroom. This study aimed to explore Iranian EFL teachers’ conceptions of AA strategies. In so doing, a sequential mixed methods design was used. The participants of the study consisted of 30 (15 males and 15 females) Iranian EFL teachers with MA and Ph.D. degrees in English language teaching (ELT) who were selected through convenience sampling. To collect the required data, the Teachers’ Perceptions of Alternative Assessment Questionnaire (Elharrar) was used as an open-ended questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted through qualitative thematic analysis and presenting the extracted themes in frequency and percentage formats. It was found that most of the teachers perceived the positive influences of AA. Additionally, it was revealed that the teachers attached some advantages to AA that help them provide a more quality teaching environment. The findings of this study may render implications for EFL teachers, teacher trainers, and administrators.        

After nearly a decade since the recognition of the importance of theticals, traditionally referred to as parenthetical constructions (see Kaltenböck et al. 2011; Heine et al. 2013), there has been a flurry of research on these linguistic elements across various languages, including but not limited to Romance languages (Schneider, 2007), Chinese (Long et al., 2019), Persian (Kazemian & Amouzadeh, 2019), and Arabic (Haddad, 2020). However, it appears that theticals still remain relatively understudied and warrant more comprehensive and fresh examination. This lack of interest in studying theticals, particularly those inherent in interaction, has prompted Bernd Heine to undertake writing a new book, “The Grammar of Interactives”, dedicated to these items and analyzing them as a distinct level called interactive grammar (IG) which works alongside sentence grammar (SG) to facilitate successful communication. The book is structured in a cohesive and organized manner, consisting of an introduction, six main chapters, and a conclusion, totaling eight chapters in all. This structure properly presents the book's content by establishing the context and scope in the introduction, delving into the subject matter in the core chapters each exploring a specific theme related to the overall subject, and providing a sense of closure and reflection in the conclusion.