درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study aimed at investigating the effect of process-based and genre- based approaches to writing instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance across high and low creativity levels. The study followed a quasi-experimental design and it was conducted with a homogenous sample of 72 learners who were selected from an initial group of 90 participants from a private language institute in Urmia, Iran. Based on the results of an English proficiency test known as Oxford Placement Test and a test of creativity known as Abedi-Schumacher Creativity Test, the participants were assigned into four groups of 18. The treatment period lasted for 10 sessions including pretest and posttest sessions. The results of ANCOVA statistics showed that the type of instruction had statistically significant effect on the learners’ writing performance, with the higher performance of genre-based over the process-based writing instruction, while the level of creativity had no significant effect on the participants’ writing scores. Furthermore, a significant interaction was observed between instruction type and the learners’ creativity level. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for teachers, syllabus designers, and practitioners to use appropriate instructional methods in ELT with special attention on learners’ creativity levels.

There is a bulk of studies supporting the positive effect of strategy instruction on reading comprehension. This study examined the effect of two reading strategies (i.e., false correction and inference strategy) on English reading comprehension of Iranian paramedical students, using a pretest, posttest, control group design. It also surveyed their attitudes toward the effect and usefulness of these strategies. The participants were sixty paramedical students, selected through availability sampling from the Medical University of Kashan. They were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (CG). The first experimental group was instructed to use inference strategy (henceforth IS), whereas the second was instructed to use a strategy based on elaborative interrogation theory (i.e., false correction strategy, henceforth FCS). The experimental data were collected through a researcher-made pretest and posttest, and survey data through a researcher-made questionnaire. The results of statistical analyses indicated that IS group significantly outperformed FCS and CG on the posttest. The results of questionnaire data also showed that IS led to more positive attitudes. Moreover, IS was perceived as more useful in meeting participants’ academic needs. The findings of the study imply a needs-based approach to ESP pedagogy.

News headlines like other pieces of writings use rhetorical devices. They are regarded as the initial informative and persuasive part of news stories. The goal of the present study was to analyze COVID-19-related native and non-native news headlines chosen from two main online news websites in Iran and England in terms of number and degree of utilization of sub-types of rhetorical devices. To this end, the 6-week corpus including 489 headlines relevant to corona-virus news (282 headlines selected from the BBC and 207 from the Tehran Times) were analyzed. Shams (2013) and Picello (2018) taxonomies were used to analyze all news headlines. The findings showed that ten rhetorical devices were found in these headlines. Alliteration was used most frequently, following closely behind were metonymy, rhyme, rhetorical question, depersonalization, hyperbole, metaphor, pun, cliché, and euphemism. Both alliteration and metonymy were frequently used in the headlines of the news stories. However, just simile and allusion were found in the Tehran Times headlines, but not with high frequency. The findings can provide insights into the understanding of rhetoric-specific conventions in news headlines for ELT teachers and students. Also, English teachers can use news headlines as authentic teaching materials in their language classrooms.

The current study investigated the relationship between teachers’ creativity, motivation and job satisfaction. In so doing, the role of demographic factors, i.e. gender, teaching experience and teaching context was also taken into account. To conduct the study, a total of 103 EFL teachers at both institute and school contexts were selected. The teachers were recruited on a voluntary basis, and the sample included teachers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, coming from both genders and either of the teaching contexts. Three questionnaires (Teacher Creativity Questionnaire, Teacher Motivation Questionnaire, and Job Satisfaction Scale) were employed to gather the data, which were then analyzed through a number of analyses, including Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation, Multiple Regression Analysis, Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test. Findings revealed the existence of a significant correlation between teachers’ motivation and their job satisfaction. Furthermore, teachers’ motivation in comparison with their creativity had a greater predictive power with regard to job satisfaction. However, demographic factors did not have a significant role in job satisfaction. The findings can offer insightful implications for educational authorities, teachers, school leaderships and academicians to help promote job satisfaction in different instructional contexts.

The present study was aimed at exploring the use of pronominal reference for identity representation in terms of power and solidarity in English political discourse. The investigation was based on a corpus of four political interviews and debates amounting 26,500 words. The analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. In the qualitative analysis, a discourse-analytic approach was used to find out the pronouns, their references and their identity load, and in the quantitative analysis, the distribution of different representations of identity were calculated. A nonparametric test, that is, Chi-Square was run in SPSS as the statistical operation needed for the current study. The analysis showed that most of the personal pronouns represented identity in the form of solidarity. The results also showed that political figures use <em>I</em>-pronoun and its variants to represent their identity in terms of power. The representation of identity in terms of power was also found to be correlated with the use of certain terms such as <em>veto</em> and active voice constructions. Furthermore, the results showed that when making claims, instead of giving pronominal reference to self, political figures use first-person plurals. In order to show solidarity, the speakers may also make use of discoursal proximity. Considering the important role that discourses play in constructing reality, it is important for CDA researchers to reveal sources of power, inequality and prejudice in discourses and interpret their hidden meanings. Pronominal choice and academic voice as linguistic constructions that are ideologically loaded need to be brought into the spotlight.

This study is aimed at examining the role of gender, and years of teaching experience in Iranian EFL teachers’ awareness of the code of ethics in research. 272 Iranian EFL teachers were chosen based on convenience sampling and were assessed through the Iranian EFL teachers’ awareness of the code of ethics in research scale inventory. After gathering the questionnaires, data was analysed by SPSS. An independent-samples t-test was performed to examine whether the teachers' awareness of the code of ethics in research differs significantly between genders. In addition, Pearson correlation was performed to find the connection between years of teaching experience and the aforementioned factor. The findings showed substantial positive relationships between all five sub-constructs of the code of ethics and experience. Besides, the findings revealed that there were considerable differences in the degree of knowledge among EFL teachers of research codes of ethics and its sub-constructs between male and female teachers. The mean score of the female teachers in all sub-constructs was higher than the male teachers. This study may be the only piece of research that has investigated the EFL teachers’ knowledge regarding factors affecting their awareness of the code of ethics in research in Iran.

The current research examined the use of lexical bundles in the result sections of research papers by Iranian non-native writers in the field of applied linguistics. The WordSmith Software was applied to identify lexical bundles. In addition, the two analytical frameworks Biber et al. (2004) and Ruiying and Allison (2003) were used to categorize the bundles with regard to their structural features and their moves and steps. Moreover, with the aid of concordance, the identified clusters were analyzed and categorized according to their communicative functions. The results of the current research showed that Iranian writers relied heavily on the use of specific formulaic bundles to perform the communicative functions associated with the moves and steps. The findings also revealed that four moves out of six moves were mostly used by Iranian authors. Moreover, the researchers found that the extensive range of formulaic clusters used to demonstrate Move 2, Reporting results, the least bundles occurred in Move 4, Summarizing results, and also no clusters were used in Move 5, Evaluating the study along with Move 6, Deductions from the research by Iranian writers. The findings of this study boost the awareness of formulaic sequences usage for novice writers in particular discourse and communicative function.

The aim of this investigation has been to predict Viewing Comprehension through Aural and Picture Vocabulary Size among Iranian EFL Learners . To this end, 110 intermediate students were selected from two institutes of a city in Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. Pictorial vocabulary knowledge of learners was tested by Picture Vocabulary Size Test, Aural vocabulary knowledge was measured by Aural vocabulary size test and viewing comprehension was tested by a multiple-choice question test. All analyses were carried out using SPSS for Microsoft windows 22. Pearson product moment correlation analysis was run to analyze the relationship among viewing comprehension, picture vocabulary size and aural vocabulary . After the correlation analysis, we did step-wise multiple regression analysis to predict an outcome variable from two predictors . Interestingly, it was found that both picture and aural vocabulary size have a significant positive correlation with viewing comprehension. It was also proved that only aural vocabulary size can be considered as a significant predictor of EFL learners' viewing comprehension ability.

Considering the benefits of preparation for writing in the pre-writing phase, this study attempted to examine the effects of different pre-task strategic planning activities (i.e., pre-task form-focus planning, content-focus planning, and no planning) on writing accuracy and motivation. To achieve the objectives of this study, sixty intermediate EFL learners were selected from an English language institute. They were randomly assigned into three groups, each of which included twenty participants. In order to measure the effect of strategic planning types, they were given a pretest and posttest in the form of narrative writing test and also the writing motivation questionnaire. One of the experimental groups received language focus activities, and the other one received content focus activities while the control group received no planning. After the twelve week intervention, all the groups were post tested. Results of the study based on ANCOVA showed that the form focus pre-task planning was the most effective in terms of its impact on the writing accuracy. However, it was found that there was no significant difference in the writing motivation of EFL learners who received different pre-task strategic planning activities. EFL teachers, curriculum developers and syllabus designers, and EFL learners can use the findings of this study in order to produce more accurate writings.  

Co-teaching is a method that two teachers work together and deliver the instruction in the same classroom to a heterogeneous group of learners. This study was an attempt to find out the effect of one teach-one assist model of co-teaching on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, a quasi-experimental design with the pre-test, post-test, and control group was employed and 35 female students within the age range of 15-18 at the elementary level were selected as the participants of the study from Sanjesh-E-No institute in Tabriz, Iran.  They were randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups after taking Key English Test (KET). The experimental group received instruction through two teachers while the control group was taught by a single teacher. Both groups took part in the pre-test and post-test of reading comprehension. The results of an independent-samples t-test revealed that the experimental group had significantly better reading performance compared to the control group. The results of the study can be useful for teachers, students, and any ELT program.