درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Although filling the gap in reading comprehension gained momentum with the rise of the top-down approach, Vygotsky’ concept of scaffolding and the dual code theory provided a strong support for the use of paratext to enhance comprehension. Scaffolding is dependent on other-regulation, one type of which is object-regulation. From this vantage-point, various types of paratext can function as sources of object-regulation to scaffold the interaction between the reader and the text. Hence, the purpose of this study was to explore the effect of three types of paratext (the picture, preface, and title) on the reading comprehension and recall of less proficient and more proficient EFL learners. The control groups in the two proficiency levels read a text with no paratext, whereas participants in the experimental groups read the same text accompanied by the three types of scaffolding paratext. Both groups were also given a recall test which required the recall of propositions from the original texts. The results showed the beneficial effect of paratext on reading comprehension among the more proficient experimental group. As to reading recall, neither less proficient nor more proficient group succeeded in manifesting better recall than the control groups. These findings have two implications. First, there is proficiency “short-circuit” for the scaffolding effect of paratext on reading comprehension. Second, short-circuit has a task-bound nature. As the results of this study show, the proficiency ceiling needed to move beyond the short-circuit effect of comprehension is different from that of recall because recall is a comparatively more demanding task.

هدف از این تحقیق یافتن راه کاری عملی برای ارتقای مهارت نوشتاری در میان دانش آموزان ایرانی به عنوان زبان آموز خارجی می باشد. سوال اصلی این است که آیا کاربردشناسی تفوقی بر روش های سنتی در ارتقای مهارت نوشتاری دارد یا خیر. برای این منظور چهل دانش آموز دبیرستانی بر اساس عملکرد شان در Preliminary English Test (2009) انتخاب شدند. علاوه بر این، ابزارهای زیر نیز در این پژوهش شبه تجربی به کار رفته است: Task, and Discourse Self-Assessment Task and Writing Discourse Completion, California Standard Test (2008) این روش خاص به مدت ده هفته بر گروه آزمایشی انجام گرفت در حالی که که گروه کنترل فقط از روش های سنتی بهره برد. نتایج نشان می دهد که ارتباط معناداری میان مهارت کاربردشناسی و ارتقای مهارت نوشتاری در میان زبان آموزان وجود دارد. روش paired h-test f برای تجزیه و تحلیل داده ها به کار رفته است. نتایج این تحقیق حاکی است که دبیران می توانند از کاربردشناسی در مهارت نوشتاری به شکل شایسته ای بهره ببرند و مهارت نوشتاری را از طریق آن ارتقا دهند. بدین ترتیب زبان آموزان می توانند به شکل درستی به برقراری ارتباط بپردازند.

در این تحقیق ابتدا حافظه ی کاری و مدل پیشنهادی آن توصیف می گردد. سپس طرزساخت یک تست حافظه ی کاری به همراه تشریح کامل آزمایش هایی که روی آن صورت گرفته ارائه می گردد. به طور دقیق تر، این تست شامل 64 جمله فارسی می باشد که با ویژگی های خاصی توسط یک کارشناس زبان فارسی تهیه و سپس بر روی سه دسته زبان آموزکه جمعا 74 نفر بودند امتحان شد و نواقص آن طی این سه مرحله بر طرف شد. این تست نهایتا در یک تحقیق بزرگ، جهت اندازه گیری ظرفیت حافظه ی 140 نفر زبان آموز به کار گرفته شد. نتایج تحلیل عناصر تست، پایایی 840 0/ و 7900/ را نشان داد. این بدان مفهوم است که تست ساخته شده قابل اعتماد بوده و می تواند در تحقیقات دیگر مورد استفاده قرار گیرد. همچنین محققان زبانهای دیگر می توانند از فرایند طی شده در این تحقیق جهت تهیه تست حافظه در زبان خود پیروی کنند.

This study scrutinized the relationship between utilizing language learning strategies, academic fields, and reading ability in reading comprehension test performance of Iranian postgraduate EAP students. The participants were 947 students, who answered a reading comprehension test and a learning strategy questionnaire successively in one session. The gathered data were subjected to a set of parametric statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, Tukey HSD and Duncan tests. The findings manifested significant differences among the participants in different fields in employing overall, direct, and indirect strategies. A statistically positive relationship was found between the participants’ reading ability and use of overall, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, and affective strategies. The findings reflected that the actual ability of language learners was significantly influenced by some nonlinguistic factors, and the observed scores did not represent their true ability. The findings can provide an empirical evidence for Bachman’s (1990) as well as Bachman and Palmer's (1996, 2010) conceptual frameworks of language use due to the impact of nonlinguistic factors on language ability of L2 learners in test-taking process. The findings can help language teachers improve instructional reading programs, decrease error of measurement, and narrow the gap between more successful and less successful learners in different fields of study.

This study aimed at providing learners with an opportunity not only to bring together their core and disciplinary knowledge to acquire major skills of learning English as a foreign language (EFL), and the intellectual challenge of these issues at the interface of media, language and religion, but also help the materials generators to produce suitable types of content to be delivered through the medium of mobile technology. Therefore, it sought to examine the new way of teaching EFL in the form of correspondence with respect to Iranian learners' native culture and language. For the purposes of this study, English was the target language for 680 Iranian students with pre-intermediate level of language proficiency whose native languages were Persian, Arabic, Georgian, and Turkish. This study took as its point of departure the existence of important differences between the two learning materials (off the shelf vs. Islamic culture) types; thus, applying the Qur'ānic criteria of intelligence, knowledge and virtue parallel with the digital representation of common textbook materials, materials delivery was adapted to the cellphone screen to be accessed by learners' in 18 virtual sessions. Learners took part in two summative and 18 formative components included in the assessment design of this study. Also, they all answered a questionnaire which yielded information concerning their attitude towards the target language, and learning through the wireless technology. Learners' short texting correspondence as well as their performance in battery and their answers to items of questionnaires formed the reference for analyzing the results. The gains from English Islamic materials were outweighed by the effects of obtaining materials which involved more categorized cases.

Veryfew attempts have been made in the past to develop instruments to measure pragmatic knowledge of second language (L2) learners. The absence of such instruments in the literature of English language teaching (ELT) underscores the need for the researchers to develop new tests that are specifically designed to assess this crucial but less explored aspect of language learners’ (LLs) knowledge. In line with this objective, the present study was conducted to develop and validate four tests of pragmatic knowledge that measured LLs’ knowledge of speech acts. The following steps were taken in this study to develop the written discourse completion tests (WDCTs) and the multiple-choice discourse completion tests (MCDCTs) that respectively measured the test takers’ ability to produce and comprehend request speech act. During the “prototype step” the researchers identified the content and the number of items for each designated test battery. At the “test construction step” the sociolinguistic variables of power (P), social distance (D), and absolute rank of imposition (R) were inserted into the content of the test items. Finally, at the “validation step” the reliability of the tests was examined. The finding of the study showed that the constructed test batteries were sufficiently reliable and valid for measuring pragmatic knowledge of L2 learners.