درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This article examines the impact of gender, age, and education on the attitudes of Kurdish speakers in Mahabad towards standard Persian and the Kurdish language. Since people’s emotions towards their own or others’ languages are related to their language attitudes, this important component plays a significant role in measuring success in language planning, learning speed, language selection and use, and predicting the extinction or sustainability of a language. The study’s statistical population consisted of 80 Kurdish-Persian bilinguals in Mahabad who were randomly selected. This study is situated within the theoretical framework of sociocognitive linguistics, and the research perspective was measured through an indirect method (matched-guise test). After distributing the questionnaire and conducting the matched-guise test, the collected data were analyzed. The results of the statistical analysis showed that the variables of gender, age, and education in Mahabad had no significant impact on the attitudes of bilingual Kurdish speakers towards standard Persian and the Kurdish language. The Kurdish speakers of Mahabad exhibited numerically positive attitude towards the standard Persian language compared to Kurdish language, but no significant difference in terms of any of the mentioned variables was observed between the two languages under study.

This article investigates the comitative constructions in Persian. These constructions consist of three members named accompanion, accompanee and accompanying setting. Previously, studies considered ‘bā’ (WITH) as a preposition in traditional grammar. All traditional grammarians introduced ‘bā’ as a preposition except those who pointed to ‘bā’ (WITH) in accompanying situations. One of the aims of the present research is to answer this question: Is ‘bā’(WITH)  a preposition in all sentences or  is it a conjunction or both? So, this study attempts to show its syntactic and functional features in Persian. Another goal is to compare coordinated and comitative constructions. The hypothesis is that ‘bā’(WITH) can be considered as a conjunctor and a preposition as well. Thus comitative constructions are divided into two groups: 1) symmetrical constructions in which [ with + DP2 ] is not an adjunct (an argument). The type of the verbs in this group are as follows: collectives, combining, relational predicates and similar comparison.  2) asymmetrical constructions in which [ with + DP2 ]  is an adjunct. The second type does not depend on the type of the verbs. It consists some members named non-collective verbs, instrumental, body organ, transportation. The instrumental type are of mediatory and facilitating. The findings of the present article can be used in the teaching of Persian grammar as well as syntactic analyses.  

Earlier research has shown that fair assessment plays a crucial role in the classroom and is closely associated with students' academic success. Besides, multiple studies have consistently indicated that the cognitive aspect of test anxiety significantly and meaningfully influences test performance, highlighting the connection between test anxiety and academic achievement. Therefore, this correlational study was done to investigate the relationship between Iranian EFL learners' perceptions of fairness in classroom assessment and their cognitive test anxiety. It followed a quantitative method and a total number of 201 learners, 88 males along with 113 females, participated in the present study voluntarily. A convenience and random-sampling method were applied, using fair assessment and cognitive test anxiety questionnaire. The results of the study, using Pearson-moment correlation and Regression analysis, revealed that there was no significant relationship between Iranian EFL learners' perceptions of fairness in classroom assessment and their cognitive test anxiety. It also indicated no significant difference between male and female learners' perceptions of fairness in classroom assessment and their cognitive test anxiety. The findings of the study can be implemented in educational systems by teachers, learners, programmers, and researchers. It can be considered as a guideline for teachers, especially EFL teachers in academic environments to find solutions for the problems and difficulties in the fairness of classroom assessment.

Structural equation modeling (SEM), as a flexible and versatile multivariate statistical technique, has been growingly used since its introduction in the 1970s. This article presents a methodological synthesis of the characteristics of the use of SEM in L2 research by examining the reporting practices in light of the current SEM literature to eventually provide some empirically grounded recommendations for future research. A total of 722 instances of SEM found in 145 empirical reports published in 16 leading L2 journals across two periods of 1981-2008 and 2009-2020 were systematically reviewed. Each study was coded for a wide range of analytic and reporting practices. The results indicate that despite the growing popularity of SEM in L2 research, there was a wide variation and inconsistency in its uses and reports within and across the two periods in regard to the underlying assumptions, variables and models, model specification and estimation, and fit statistics. Drawing on the current SEM literature, we will discuss the findings and research implications for future use and reporting of SEM in L2 research.

Measurement disturbances refer to any conditions that affect the measurement of some psychological latent variables, which result in an inaccurate interpretation of item or person estimates derived from a measurement model. Measurement disturbances are mainly attributed to the characteristics of the person, the properties of the items, and the interaction between the characteristics of the person and the features of the items. Although numerous researchers have detected measurement disturbances in different contexts, too little attention has been devoted to exploring measurement disturbances within the context of language testing and assessment, especially using graphical displays. This study aimed to show the utility of graphical displays, which surpass numeric values of infit and outfit statistics given by the Rasch model, to explore measurement disturbances in a listening comprehension test. Results of the study showed two types of outcomes for examining graphical displays and their corresponding numeric fit values: congruent and incongruent associations. It turned out that graphical displays can provide diagnostic information about the performance of test items which might not be captured through numeric values.

This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between test anxiety and writing performance among Iranian intermediate EFL students. To achieve this goal, 50 participants of EFL students (male and female) at Iran, Tehran, were selected on the basis of sampling convenience. The instruments used in this research consisted of the proficiency test and TAQ (Test Anxiety) questionnaire. After homogenizing the students via a proficiency test (Cambridge Placement Test, 2010), those students who were selected as upper-intermediate ones were allowed to take part in this research. Their age range was between 20 and 40. Having collected the results, the researchers recorded the scores in computer files for statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.00. In order to measure the relationship between the variables (test anxiety & written performance) Pearson Correlation tests were run. The results illustrated that there were significant relationships between writing performance and text anxiety and all its sub-scales of worry and emotionality. In addition, it was proved that there was not any significant difference between male and female in respect to writing performance. It must be reiterated that a Pearson Correlation test was also run to measure the Inter-Rater Reliability. The results of this study will provide insights to help EFL learners reduce their test anxiety and increase the level of their confidence.

Given the significant role of corrective feedback and individual differences in the process of foreign language acquisition, in the present study we set out to investigate the effect of direct and indirect corrective feedback on impulsive and reflective EFL learners’ writing accuracy. Sixty learners were selected and randomly assigned to three groups including two experimental groups and one control group. The first experimental group received indirect feedback, the second experimental group received direct feedback, and the control group received no feedback. The instrument employed in this study to determine the impulsivity or reflectivity of the participants was Barratt's impulsiveness scale. Writing accuracy was scored by the scale provided by Karim and Nassaji. The results revealed that both direct and indirect corrective feedbacks were effective in reducing the written errors of all the earners. Moreover, no significant difference was found between direct and indirect corrective feedbacks in terms of increasing writing accuracy. Although there was no significant difference between the impulsive and reflective learners’ performance, the mean scores showed that the latter seemed to benefit more from indirect type of the feedback while their counterparts showed better performance after receiving direct feedback. The findings have implications for EFL teachers and learners.

The forced transition to online instruction due to covid-19 pandemic brought about many changes and challenges. Therefore, evaluating these changes is of utmost importance. The study aimed to contribute to the existing literature by investigating the online adaptation of Iranian EFL high-school teachers. Purposive sampling was employed to approach the 20 teacher participants of the study. To this end, the researchers used semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative data concerning their perception towards of online instruction. The results of the study were promising. Although they reported many challenges and shortcomings, they believed those weaknesses motivated them to increase their digital literacy and integrate ICT into their approach. Moreover, teachers saw the pandemic as a forced opportunity and believed it was time to harness the power of ICT integration in post-pandemic education. Finally, all the study findings and possible implications are discussed, and suggestions are presented to prevent barriers to online instruction.