درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Given the fact that developing an intimate relationship between teacher and students creates a safe learning environment (Harran, 2006), and because teacher immediacy is proved to increase students’ motivation for learning (Velez & Cano, 2008), this study was an attempt to explore the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ perceived teacher immediacy and their willingness to communicate (WTC). To this end, first, a new WTC questionnaire, specific to EFL settings, was developed, piloted, factor analyzed, and then administered on 90 intermediate EFL learners. In the second phase, the participants were required to complete Gorham’s (1988) Verbal Immediacy Measure (VIM) and McCroskey et al.’s (1996) Revised Nonverbal Immediacy Measure (RNIM). The findings revealed that there are 7 factors underlying EFL learners’ WTC, one of which is teacher immediacy. Further analyses showed that there is a positive relationship between both verbal and nonverbal teacher immediacy behaviors and EFL learners’ WTC in EFL classes. It can be concluded that teacher immediacy is one of the constituents of EFL learners’ WTC and that their WTC is likely to increase when teachers demonstrate immediacy behaviors while teaching. The present study has implications for language practitioners as well as teacher trainers.

This study aimed to explore the relationships between foreign language learners’ self-identity changes, motivation types, and Foreign Language proficiency associated with learning English in private language schools in Iranian context. Based on a stratified sampling, 204 English as a foreign language learners from three language schools in Tehran were selected to participate in the study. The instruments were a 30-item Likert-scale questionnaire on motivation types in seven categories: intrinsic interest, immediate achievement, learning situation, going aboard, social responsibility, individual development, and information medium; a 24-item Likert-scale questionnaire on self-identity changes in six categories: self-confidence change, additive change, subtractive change, productive change, split change, and zero change. Results revealed that self-confidence change was the prominent change common among foreign language learners. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that motivation types and self-identity changes were related through three pairs of canonical variables: intrinsic orientations related with personal identity changes, instrumental orientations related with cultural changes, and instrumental orientations related learners’ self-confidence change. Theoretical and pedagogical implications for foreign language learning and teaching are also discussed.

Theoretically framed within Vygotskyan sociocultural theory of mind (SCT), Dynamic assessment (DA) is a new approach to classroom assessment offering mediation to help learners perform beyond their level of independent functioning. As a web-based qualitative inquiry into the nature of mediation in DA and its impacts on the participants’ private speech patterns, this study explored the role of private speech as a social and psychological tool to mediate learners' thinking and performance in online DA. The subjects of the study were two Iranian university students along with two English native speakers orally narrating a series of picture stories and having weekly DA mediation with the researcher via Skype. In the present study, the students' private speech markers’ typology emerged out of thematic analysis of oral narratives transcribed before and after DA mediation and it was presented as a criterion to evaluate the learners' progression towards self-regulation. The frequency of occurrence of the learners’ private speech markers was reported and interpreted based on the emergent typology to evaluate the possible changes in their use as the result of DA mediation. Meanwhile, the differences between native speaker participants and the learners’ use of private speech markers in oral narratives were highlighted and discussed. The results of the study indicated that mediation was effective in reducing the number of private speech markers in the learners' narratives after mediation which reflects their progression towards self-regulation in online DA. The findings of the study highlight the importance of private speech as a mediating tool in DA which reflects learners’ struggle to take control of direction of learning and move beyond their current capabilities.

The field of ELT is constantly witnessing the introduction of new instructional approaches: one such perhaps recent initiative is critical discourse analysis (CDA). Accordingly, the present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of CDA instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ descriptive and argumentative writing ability. To fulfill the aforementioned purpose, a sample TOEFL was primarily piloted among a group of 30 upper intermediate EFL learners by the researchers; with the acceptable reliability and item analysis indices achieved, then the researchers administered the test among another group of 90 upper intermediate learners. Ultimately, those 60 learners whose scores fell one standard deviation above and below the mean were chosen as the participants of the study and were randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group with 30 participants in each. Both of these groups underwent the same amount of teaching time during 20 sessions which included a treatment of CDA instruction based on Jank’s (2005) set of 14 features for the experimental group. A posttest was administered at the end of the instruction to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through a multivariate analysis of variance. The result (F = 14.41 and p = 0.000 < 0.05) led to the rejection of the two null hypotheses raised in this study, thereby demonstrating that the learners in the experimental group benefited significantly more than those in the control group in terms of improving their descriptive and argumentative writing ability. Hence, the major pedagogical implication of this study is that CDA instruction can be effectively used to assist EFL learners improve their argumentative and descriptive writing ability.

این پژوهش به بررسی تأثیر میزان انگیزه ی یادگیری زبان انگلیسی، میزان تماس با زبان انگلیسی و مدت اقامت برروی مهارتهایِ منظورشناسی دانشجویان کُره ای در مقاطع تحصیلات تکمیلی پرداخته است. در این مطالعه تلاش گردید تا سیر متمایز پیشرفت مهارتهایِ منظورشناسیِ 50 دانشجوی کُره ای تحصیلات تکمیلی در ارتباط با عوامل ذکرشده در نظر گرفته شود. داده های لازم، با استفاده از سه ابزار تحقیق، جمع آوری گردیدند: یک پرسشنامه ی کتبی بمنظور کسب اطلاعات زمینه ای، یک آزمون تکمیل گفتمان، و یک نیم آزمون رویکرد/انگیزش. همچنین، از آمار توصیفی و تفصیلی برای تحلیل مجموع داده ها استفاده گردید. نتایج پژوهش حاضر آشکار ساخت که: الف) ارتباط متوسط و مثبتی بین میزان انگیزش و دانش منظورشناسیِ فراگیران زبان انگلیسی بعنوان زبان دوم وجود دارد و ب) میزان تماس با زبان دوم (انگلیسی) و طول مدت اقامت تأثیری ضعیف و غیر معناداری برروی دانش منظورشناسیِ شرکت کنندگان این مطالعه داشته است.

توسعه توانشهای زیر مجموعه زبان دوم تحت تاثیر عوامل مختلفی چون عوامل شناختی، فردی، و اجتماعی است ( الیس، 1994) که در این میان طیف وسیعی از عوامل فردی در مطالعات آموزش زبان مورد تحقیق و بررسی قرار گرفته اند لیکن تاکنون در این مطالعات هوش هیجانی به عنوان یک عامل فردی مورد توجه جدی قرار نگرفته است (پیشقدم، 2009). از سوی دیگر برخی از کنشهای زبانی که از جمله عناصر اصلی توانش کاربردشناسی زبان بینابین به شمار می رود دارای ویژگی «تهدید وجهه» می باشد. این نکته تاثیر و یا ارتباط هوش هیجانی - که ارتباط مستقیم با توانایی و مهارت افراد در مدیریت و کنترل احساسات دارد – را با توانش کاربرد شناسی زبان بینابین بسیار محتمل می سازد. در مطالعه حاضر محقق به بررسی این ارتباط محتمل می پردازد و با این هدف پرسشنامه «بار-آن» به عنوان معیار هوش هیجانی ، آزمون تافل به عنوان معیار سطح مهارت و توانایی زبانی و دو آزمون کاربرد شناسی زبان بینابین بر روی 52 زبان آموز ایرانی اجرا شده است. نتایج حاصل از تجزیه و تحلیل داده ها نشانگرعدم وجود ارتباط موثر و معنا دار میان هوش هیجانی و توانش کاربرد شناسی و سطح مهارت زبانی زبان آموزان می باشد در حالی که میان توانش کاربرد شناسی زبان بینابین و سطح مهارت زبانی ارتباطی معنا دار و موثر وجود دارد. افزون بر این نتایج به دست آمده بیانگر آن است که هوش هیجانی نمی تواند به عنوان معیار مناسبی برای پیش بینی میزان توسعه توانش کاربردشناسی زبان بینابین و یا سطح مهارت زبانی مورد استفاده قرار گیرد و در نتیجه با استناد به نتایج تحقیق حاضر می توان گفت که در فرآیند یادگیری زبان دوم به طور عام و توسعه توانش کاربرد شناسی زبان بینابین به طور خاص نمی توان هوش هیجانی را به عنوان یک عامل فردی تاثیر گذار و مهم به شمار آورد.

این مقاله گزارش پژوهشی است درباره رابطه میان هوش هیجانی گروهی از فراگیرندگان زبان انگلیسی ایران و انسجام نوشته های آنها. در راستاس این پژوهش یک آزمون توانش زبانی که شامل 40 پرسش چهار گزینه ای مربط به دستور زبان، لغت و درک متون انگلیسی بود و از پایایی با کرونباخ آلفای 742. برخوردار بود به تعدادی از فراگیرندگان زبان انگلیسی داده شد تا آن هایی که توانایی تولید متون نوشتاری معنادار را داشتند مشخص شوند. پس از آن مقیاس هوش هیجانی شات (شامل 33 پرسش) به شرکت کنندگان در پژوهش داده شد و نیز از آن ها خواسته شد تا مقاله ای کوتاه در مورد موضوعی مشخص بنویسند. از 110 نفری که آزمون توانش زبانی، پرسشنامه هوش هیجانی و تکلیف مقاله نویسی را گرفتند، 79 نفر به هر سه پاسخ دادند. 45 نفر از 79 نفر توانستند به بیش از 23 پرسش از 40 پرسش آزمون توانایی زبانی پاسخ دهند و از این رو پاسخ های آن ها به پرسشنامه هوش هیجانی و نوشته های آنها مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. برای ارزیابی عینی نوشته ها، از مقیاس انسجام متن کل نگر بامبرگ (1984) استفاده شد که دارای 5 درجه، از کاملا منسجم (4 امتیاز) تا غیرقابل نمره دادن (صفر امتیاز)، است. برای مشخص کردن ارتباط میان انسجام نوشته ها و هوش هیجانی نویسندگان از آزمون اسپیرمن استفاده شد. اما برخلاف انتظار پژوهشگران، رابطه میان دو متغیر مورد بررسی قوی و معنادار نبود.

This article was written based on the key concept of polysystem theory which, in translating any literary text, emphasizes the transference of the social systems in which a text is embedded. As stated by Tynjanov (1978a), polysystem theory saw translated literature as a system operating in the larger social systems of the target text. Thus, the task of understanding as well as transferring such systems in their translations, which can certainly affect the readers’ adequate understanding of texts, is a challenging job for most of the literary translators. After identifying three main social systems in The Great Gatsby as the corpus which was ranked second in the lists of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century, the source and the target texts were studied attentively, to study the way the respective systems were translated by the Iranian literary translators. Therefore, the prominent element of Nord’s textual analysis (1991), macrostructure, was focused throughout data collection procedure. Then, it was demonstrated that especially through an appropriate transference of the major conflict between the two predominant classes in the novel, the translator has managed to suitably convey most of the text’s social systems in his translation. Finally, it could be deduced that most of the literary translators in Iran, somehow transferred the concerned systems into some significantly adequate equivalents in their works.

Academic writing ability is an important goal that learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) try to attain. While ESL students’ academic writings have been widely explored, owing to few studies investigating appraisal resources in EFL students’ argumentative writing, the gap still exists about EFL students’ academic writing. This study aimed to see how Kurdish-speaking learners of English employ appraisal resources in their writings. It further aimed to explore whether the appraisal framework can be utilized as an assessment scale for evaluating the students’ argumentative writing. To this end, the study investigated the argumentative essays written by 15 bilingual Kurdish-Iranian graduates of English within the framework of the appraisal theory. The instruments applied in this study consisted of a modified rating scale for assessing the essays in terms of the macrostructures exploited in them and the framework for the analysis of appraisal resources. Quantitative findings revealed high-graded essays employ more attitudinal items and fewer monoglossic resources than low-graded ones. Qualitatively, the high-graded essays articulated attitudinal values in nominal forms and sometimes in a backgrounded manner while these values were mostly presented by surge of feelings and in a foregrounded way in the low-graded essays. Regarding engagement, unlike the high-graded essays, the low-graded ones were poor in recognizing other voices and alternative positions. Inspired by the strength of the appraisal model evaluating writing, results suggest that high-graded essays are successful in positioning readers attitudinally and clarifying the ethical message to readers.

The present study was aimed at examining concerns about the social effects of EFL learning, a challenging area of research which has not been discussed sufficiently. It tried to investigate the relationship between EFL learning and national identity. In addition, attempt was made to find a relationship between language motivation types and national identity. Furthermore, the role of two demographic variables, gender and age was examined. To this end, a sample consisting of 350 undergraduates studying at Allameh Tabataba'i University in Tehran took part in the study. A questionnaire on national identity and another one on language motivation types followed by an interview were the instruments used. The questionnaires had already been developed. However, there were some major modifications for the former which consisted of 30 items measuring national identity for all participants. The latter contained 42 items measuring language motivation types for only EFL learners. The Regression analysis, independent samples t-tests and a one-way ANOVA were run. The results revealed that claims over the harmful social effects of EFL learning were not arguably significant and it was found that among the eight language motivation types, going abroad and social responsibility were correlated with national identity. Furthermore, gender and age indicated significant differences among the participants' tendencies. The findings indicated that the social concerns about EFL learning are too pessimistic. So, materials developers, syllabus designers and teachers might consider the potentiality of some social elementsand demographic variables for the development of EFL learning.