درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The study of compliment speech act has been under investigation on many occasions in recent years. In this study, an attempt is made to explore appraisals performed by native English speakers and Iranian EFL learners to find out how these two groups diverge or converge from each other with regard to complimenting patterns and norms. The participants of the study were 60 advanced Iranian EFL learners who were speaking Persian as their first language and 60 native English speakers. Through a written Discourse Completion Task comprised of eight different scenarios, compliments were analyzed with regard to topics (performance, personality, possession, and skill), functions (explicit, implicit, and opt-out), gender differences and the common positive adjectives used by two groups of native and nonnative participants. The findings suggested that native English speakers praised individuals more implicitly in comparison with Iranian EFL learners and native speakers provided opt-outs more frequently than Iranian EFL learners did. The analysis of data by Chi-square showed that gender and macro functions are independent of each other among Iranian EFL learners’ compliments while for native speakers, gender played a significant role in the distribution of appraisals. Iranian EFL learners’ complimenting patterns converge more towards those of native English speakers. Moreover, both groups favored explicit compliments. However, Iranian EFL learners were more inclined to provide explicit compliments. It can be concluded that there were more similarities rather than differences between Iranian EFL learners and native English speakers regarding compliment speech act. The results of this study can benefit researchers, teachers, material developers, and EFL learners.

The present study is an attempt to find out whether there is a significant relationship between EFL teachers’ Big Five personality traits and their self-concept. In addition, ittried to examine if there is any significant relationship between teachers' teaching experienceand their self-concept. 112 EFL teachers participated in this study. They were asked to complete NEO Five Factor Inventory and Teacher Self-concept Evaluation Scale. Data were analyzed using Correlation, Multiple Regressions, and ANOVA. Results indicated thatself-concept was significantly correlated with four components of the Big-Five personality traits.It was positively related with ""Neuroticism"", ""Openness to experience"" and ""Conscientiousness"", but negatively related with ""Agreeableness"". It was also revealed that there was not any statistically significant difference among the three groups (low, mid, and high experience EFL teachers) with respect to their self-concept. The overall results of the study were discussed, and the implications for policy and practice were made.

تحقیق حاضر به بررسی فراوانی و ماهیت راهبردهای مورد استفاده زبان آموزان ایرانی طی خواندن متنهای تخصصی انگلیسی می پردازد. زبان آموزان معمولا تمام مطالب ارایه شده در متن را مطالعه مینمایند. بنابراین سعی کردیم بدانیم زبان آموزان از چه راهبرهایی برای درک بهتر متن بهره می برند. تعداد 45 دانشجوی کارشناسی رشته های متفاوت در دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد فلاورجان بصورت تصادفی برای این مطالعه انتخاب شدند. یک پرسشنامه 30 سوالی به افراد تحت مطالعه ارایه شد که شامل سه بخش می گردید، 13 سوال راهبرهای کلی، 8 سوال راهبردهای حل مساله و 9 سوال راهبردهای حمایتی را بررسی می نمودند. نتایج حاصل نشان داد که زبان آموزان به میزان 5/44 درصد از راهبرهای کلی ، 29 درصد از راهبردهای حل مساله و 5/26 درصد راهبردهای حمایتی هنگام خواندن متنهای تخصصی بهره بردند . یافته های مطالعه اخیرمی تواند به مدرسان در تقویت راهبردهای مورد استفاده زبان آموزان کمک کند. همچنین زبان آموزان را در به کار بردن راهبردها به شیوه ای درست و موثریاری می نماید

پرسشواره های اصلی زبان انگلیسی شامل عبارات متمم سازی هستند که در آنها کلمه پرسشی به جایگاه شاخص منتقل شده است. این اتفاق بدین دلیل می افتد که کلمات پرسشی زبان انگلیسی، که در اصل متمم فعل می باشند، آنقدر قوی هستند که به ابتدای جمله حرکت کنند و موجب وارونگی فعل کمکی شوند. فارسی زبانانی که انگلیسی را به عنوان زبان خارجی فرا می گیرند با یک دشواری ناشی از تفاوتی اساسی بین دو زبان مواجه می شوند که مربوط به فراگیری قاعده وارونگی فعل کمکی در پرسشهای استاندارد زبان انگلیسی است. پس از یادگیری قاعده مذکور، احتمال زیادی وجود دارد که فراگیران این قاعده را به شکل نابجایی به پرسشواره های غیرمستقیم یا درونه شدگی زبان انگلیسی تعمیم دهند. هدف از این پژوهش بررسی دانش فراگیران فارسی زبان درمورد پرسشواره های درونه شدگی زبان انگلیسی مخصوصا هنگام تولید شفاهی این پرسشواره ها است. بدین منظور 48 زبان آموز فارسی زبان در سطح دانشگاه به عنوان شرکت کننده انتخاب شدند. یک آزمون بیان شفاهی پرسشواره های درونه شدگی زبان انگلیسی، یک آزمون ترجمه، و یک آزمون قضاوت دستوری شامل پرسشواره های درونه شدگی به عنوان ابزارهای جمع آوری داده استفاده شدند. نتایج نشان داد که فراگیران سطح متوسط پایین در تولید و بیان صحیح پرسشواره های درونه شدگی مشکلاتی داشتند. به همین شکل دشواری هایی در آزمون قضاوت دستوری مشاهده شد. همچنین دشواری هایی برای فراگیران سطح متوسط و متوسط بالا هم مشاهده شد. نتیجه اصلی در آزمون بیان شفاهی به دست آمد، جایی که تفاوت معناداری بین فراگیران در سه گروه بسندگی زبانی در مورد تولید صحیح پرسشواره های درونه شدگی زبان انگلیسی مشاهده نشد. این یافته تایید می کند که کار بیشتری پیرامون تولید شفاهی زبان انگلیسی توسط فراگیران فارسی زبان با تاکید بر پرسشواره های درونه شدگی زبان انگلیسی مورد نیاز است.

This study was an attempt to explore the reading strategy use of Iranian M.A. students across three different fields of study. Eighty-two M.A. students of power engineering, physics, and communicationwere selected by a Nelson test and the reading comprehension section of a TOEFL. The reading comprehension section of the TOEFL served also as a specific task which helped participants report their strategy use. Both qualitative, think-aloud, and quantitative, SORS, procedures were used totap the participants’ use of reading strategies and to complement the findings. The results of these two procedures indicate that the use of overall, global, problem-solving, and support strategies by Iranian M.A. students was slightly different across different fields of study. Problem-solving and support strategies were the most and the least frequently used strategies, respectively. Moreover, reading strategy useof Iranian M.A. students,studying power engineering, physics, and communication was not related to their academic fields of study.

Systematic phonics instruction in first language education has recently received considerable research attention due to its critical role in facilitating phonological awareness and processing skills. However, little is known about the effects of systematic phonics instruction on foreign language reading and spelling in an EFL context. This study examined the effects of spelling-based phonics instruction on 9-12 year old Persian speaking learners’ reading and spelling English words. The participants were randomly assigned into two groups: a control group who received non-phonics instruction, and an experimental group who received spelling-based phonics instruction. CORE Phonics Survey (2003), a battery of diagnostic tests and tasks, was used to uncover the effects of phonics on oral reading and word spelling development of the learners. The results of independent-samples t-test revealed that after 10-weeks of instruction, the spelling-based phonics instruction had really significant effects on improving both young Iranian EFL learners’ oral reading and whole word spelling. In other words, the experimental group benefited from spelling-based phonics instruction compared to the group with non-phonics instruction.

This study compared the effects of two types of form-focused tasks on proceduralization and transfer of linguistics knowledge in case of English modals. All participants of the study attended pretests, posttests and delayed posttests. The procedural comprehension and production knowledge were measured through the groups’ performance on a timed dual task test that resembled the context of practice. The transfer of knowledge was measured by evaluating the performance of participants on a timed dual task test in a context dissimilar from or reverse to the practice context. Three intact classes of intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The output group (n= 27) received explicit grammar instruction and a combination of three output practice, while the input group (n=25) received explicit instruction and a combination of three input practice. Identical texts were exposed to the control group (n=25) through listening and reading tasks. The texts were followed by some questions irrelevant to English modals. On the procedural knowledge posttests, the experimental groups outperformed the control group. The participants were able to transfer the knowledge to dissimilar contexts. The results may help language teachers design more effective activities for the learners considering the institutional constraints

این پژوهش تاثیر تفاوت های فردی همچون مهارت زبانی، جنسیت و سن بر روی کاربردشناسی میان زبانی فراگیران(زبان آموزان) ایرانی زبان انگلیسی در گفتمان سازمانی مخصوصاً توانایی آنان در بازشناسی و ارزیابی اشکالات کاربردی و دستوری در وضعیت گفتاری «درخواست و عذرخواهی» را بررسی می کند. به این منظور، 187 دانشجوی EFL زبان انگلیسی در سه سطح دانشگاهی لیسانس، فوق لیسانس و دکتری در این پژوهش مشارکت کردند. گردآوری داده ها به صورت مقطعی برای تجزیه و تحلیل ارتباط بین متغیرها و گفتار که توسط زبان آموزان در سطوح مختلف مهارتی بازشناسی شده و مورد سنجش قرار گرفته اند، انجام شده است. سه روش تحلیل واریانس تفاوت های کمی را بین سه گروه براساس تفاوت های فردی نشان داد. علاوه براین، تحلیل عمیق آیتم های آزمون نشان داد که زبان آموزان در سه سطح مهارتی، اشکالات دستوری را به صورت جدی تر از اشکالات کاربردی تشخیص داده و ارزیابی کرده اند. نتایج، اطلاعات توسعه ای و کیفی در مورد ویژگی های شناختی و فردی را به تبع اطلاعات کاربردی آشکار کرد. یکی از الزامات قابل توجه آن است که در هر گونه توضیحی از توسعه توانش کاربردشناختی، تفاوت های فردی که بین مراحل شناخت و هدف همچون تولید، ایجاد شده باید مورد توجه قرار گیرد. علاوه براین، مهارت زبان شناختی نه تنها برای زبان آموزان ضرورت دارد، بلکه دستیابی به مهارت کاربردی نیز مهم است.

This study tested the impact of implicit and explicit knowledge of grammar on learners’ use of oral communication strategies (OCSs) and the interface of OCSs and oral fluency. The study was performed on 24 male and 36 female Iranian university students of English Translation studying at Payame Nour Universities of Lar, Khonj, and Evaz chosen based on availability and ease of access. The data were gathered using Timed Grammaticality Judgement Test (Dekeyser, 2000) as a measure of implicit knowledge of grammar, a structure section of TOEFL Paper-based Test (version 2004) as a measure of explicit knowledge of grammar, Oral Communication Strategies Inventory (Nakatani, 2006), and two oral production tasks for measuring learners' oral fluency. Analysis of the data using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Pearson’s Correlation showed that both implicit and explicit knowledge of grammar affect learners’ use of oral communication strategies; however, no relationship was found between overall use of OCSs and oral fluency which can be suggestive of greater or possibly overriding impacts of some other variables on oral fluency compared to OCSs. The findings of the study are supposed to provide guidelines for learners, teachers and syllabus designers concerning the use of OCSs, especially with regard to other variables considered in this study.

Building on Robinson’s (2001, 2003) Cognition Hypothesis, Skehan’s (1998) Limited Attentional Capacity Model, and Kellog’s (1986) model of writing, this study examined the effect of task planning on the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of 60 Iranian EFL learners’ argumentative and narrative writings under different planning conditions. A quasi-experimental design with three levels of planning conditions (pre-task planning, within-task planning and no-planning) and different time constraints was used. Measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity were used to evaluate the quality of the participants’ written productions. The results of a series of one way Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVAs) indicated that increasing task complexity, through task planning conditions and also different tasks produced significant differences among the groups in fluency and accuracy; however, with regard to syntactic complexity, both tasks provided similar results among the groups. The findings add support to the view that selecting an appropriate task with appropriate task-based implementation conditions can induce language learners to increase, accuracy and fluency, but not syntactic complexity of their output. Pedagogical implications are discussed and suggestions for further studies are made.

Code-switching is known to be a widespread phenomenon among bilinguals and in ESL/EFL teaching/learning process; it refers to any alternate use of two codes or languages within the same conversation or even the same utterance. The present study is an attempt to investigatethe functions, types and frequencies of code switching in students discourse in the context of ELT classrooms.The study also explores the relationship between the language proficiency level of the students and their use of code switching. To achieve this end, two groups of students (at two different levels of proficiency) from two classes of general English courses in an institutional program in Oil Ministry Center of Isfahan were selected as participants. All sessions of an entire semester were videotaped. A coding scheme was developed for classifying students’ instances of CS into relevant functions.The data were tabulated, and frequencies and percentages were conducted by SPSS program. The findings indicate that the majority of CS in the classroom is highly purposeful, and related to pedagogical goals. Also, the research found that pedagogical functions were more frequently fulfilled through CS compared to social functions. The findings of this research suggest that code switching is a necessary tool for teachers due to a number of pedagogical considerations in ET classrooms and can give teachers a clue to have a better understanding of student code switching in ELT classrooms and use CS in the direction of teaching and effective learning.