درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Over the last few years, the realm of foreign language learning has witnessed an abundance of research concerning the effectiveness of corrective feedback on the acquisition of grammatical features, with the study of other target language subsystems, such as pronunciation, being few and far between. In order to bridge this gap, the present study intended to investigate and compare the immediate and delayed effect of explicit (overt) and implicit (covert) corrective feedback (CF) on treating segmental word-level pronunciation errors committed by adult EFL learners of an institute in Tabriz named ALC. To this end, through a quasi-experimental study and random sampling, three groups were formed, an explicit, an implicit and a control group, each consisting of 20 low proficient EFL learners. Besides, considering the levels that learners were assigned to, based on the institute’s criteria, a Preliminary English Test (PET) was administered in order to determine the proficiency level of learners. Having administered the pretest before treatment, to measure the longer-term effect of explicit vs. implicit CF on segmental word-level pronunciation errors, the study included delayed posttests in addition to immediate posttests all of which included reading passages containing 40 problematic words. The collected data were analyzed by ANCOVA and the obtained findings revealed that both explicit and implicit corrective feedback are effective in reducing pronunciation errors showing significant differences between experimental and control groups. Additionally, the outcomes showed that immediate implicit and immediate explicit corrective feedback have similar effects on reduction of pronunciation errors. The same result comes up regarding the delayed effect of explicit feedback in comparison with delayed effect of implicit feedback. However, the delayed effect of explicit and implicit CF lowered comparing to their immediate effect due to time effect. Pedagogically, this study could enhance teachers’ effort, knowledge, and beliefs in teaching pronunciation and providing corrective feedback to pronunciation errors.   Keywords:corrective feedback; explicit CF; implicit CF; segmental word-level pronunciation errors   طی چند سال اخیر، در حوزه ی آموزش زبان انگلیسی شاهد تحقیقات کثیری در زمینه ی ﺗﺄثیر بازخورد اصلاحی بر یادگیری ساختار های دستور زبان انگلیسی بوده ایم.  با این وجود، در رابطه با ﺗﺄثیر آن در یادگیری تلفظ صحیح زبان انگلیسی تحقیقات بسیار اندکی انجام شده است. به منظور پر کردن این ﺧﻸ، مطالعه ی حاضر سعی داشته به بررسی و مقایسه ی ﺗﺄثیرات آنی و مدت دار بازخورد اصلاحی صریح و ضمنی در بهبود خطاهای تلفظی واحد های زنجیری در کلمات انگلیسی بپردازد.بدین منظور، طی یک تحقیق نیمه تجربی، شرکت کنندگان که از زبان آموزان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی انتخاب شده بودند به سه گروه صریح، ضمنی و کنترل تقسیم شدند. هر کدام از این گروه ها شامل 20 زبان آموز سطح پایین بوده که تواناییشان در تلفظ لغات مورد نظر از طریق پیش آزمون، پس آزمون فوری و پس آزمون تاخیری اندازه گیری شد.اطلاعات به دست آمده از طریق آزمون تحلیل کوواریانس ANCOVA تحلیل و بررسی شد. تفاوت معنادار بین گروههای آزمایشی و کنترل در یافته های به دست آمده نشان می دهد که هر دو بازخورد صریح و ضمنی تاثیر بسزایی در کاهش خطاهای تلفظی زبان آموزان در پس آزمون فوری داشته است. همچنین تاثیر مشابهی در پس آزمون تاخیری دو گروه صریح و ضمنی مشاهده شد. با این وجود، مقایسه ی بین پس آزمون های فوری و تاخیری نشان داد که تاثیر بازخورد در هر دو گروه آزمایشی با گذشت زمان کاهش یافته است. کلیدواژه ها: بازخورد اصلاحی، بازخورد اصلاحی صریح، بازخورد اصلاحی ضمنی، خطاهای تلفظ زنجیره ای

The importance of demotivation in language learning has been overshadowed in the commonplace research on language learning motivation and even in mainstream psychology (Dörnyei, 2005). The purpose behind conducting this study was to investigate the relationship between students’ demotives for studying in general and English language in particular. Besides, the importance of educational context was investigated through explaining the changes in students’ responses based on the type of university and gender. In Iran, university education is highly important for youngsters and the type of university with their various contexts is determining for their future. There are popular state universities among which one technical university as well as its satellite campus were selected. Besides, a distance-education and a unisexual university were represented in the present sample, overall comprising 194 bachelor students of different majors. Consequently, the factors considered as demotives are ranked, elaborated on and analyzed in order to shed light on the educational context-specific demotives and the pros and cons of current practices of EFL instruction in the universities.

To direct m-game to be a possible didactic option for Iranian TVT (Technical Vocational Training) trainees, in this study m-game-mediated (Mobile Game-Mediated) materials delivery was incorporated into the conventional teaching method in the blended ESP reading skill platform. So, 52 male trainees fromTechnical and Vocational College of Isfahan were selected by convenience sampling. Afterwards, 48 trainees were defined as homogeneous using Englishtag Test to learn ESP in 16 triads under two different blended learning scenarios in 18 sessions in the academic year 2014-2015. While the first group of the trainees practiced in the blended learning situation with ready-made displaying device and materials, the second-group trainees practiced the same content through the medium of their own self-made PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and materials; in this way, their learning performance assessed continuously in and outside the classroom. To employ tree-prong approach, interest survey and focus-group interview were embraced, as well. Overall, descriptive and inferential analyses of the collected data disclosed that trainees who were involved in the process of materials development were more excited and learned more than their counterparts who practiced via prefabricated devices and materials. Consequently, self-made (vs. prefabricated) m-game-mediated blended platform was found to be more liable to teaching and learning ESP reading skill.

Test method facet is one of the factors which can have an influence on the test takers’ performance. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of two different response types, multiple-choice cloze and multiple-choice test, on the pre-intermediate and intermediate test takers’ reading comprehension performance. To this end, 40 pre-intermediate and intermediate learners participated in the study. To counterbalance the practice effect, the participants of the study at both pre-intermediate and intermediate levels were randomly assigned into two groups. For each level, there were two types of tests and two test administrations. Within each level, the two groups took these two tests in a different order. For all participants of the study there were two scores based on multiple- choice cloze and multiple-choice tests. Two Paired sample t tests were separately run to compare the pre-intermediate and intermediate test takers’ performance on multiple-choice cloze and multiple-choice tests. Two independent samples t tests were run to compare the pre-intermediate and intermediate test takers on these two tests. There was no significant difference between the pre-intermediate test takers’ performance on these two types of tests. There was a significant difference between intermediate test takers’ performance on the tests. There was no significant difference between the pre-intermediate and intermediate test takers’ performance on the multiple-choice cloze tests. The intermediate test takers outperformed the pre-intermediate test takers only on the multiple-choice tests. Based on these results it can be concluded that test methods can have an influence on the test takers’ performance, especially at higher proficiency levels and learners may need to have reached a certain level of proficiency to be able to understand the text.

Although decades of research have well elaborated on teacher professional development, we still do not have a thorough picture about what teacher professional development could entail and what components it consists of. The present study aims to develop and validate a teacher professional development scale in an Iranian English foreign language context. An initial tentative model with 130 items was piloted and tested through exploratory and confirmatory data analyses on a sample of 400 EFL teachers. This level resulted in the removal of 28 items in our sample loaded, resulting in a final 102 teacher professional development inventory. The developed inventory measures the extent to which EFL teachers are professionally developed and makes teachers aware of multiple characteristics of professionally developed teachers. These competencies are essential components of teacher professional development, enabling the teachers to utilize them in everyday teaching and learning practices in the classroom settings which, as a result, leads to student achievement. As teachers fulfill important professional roles, they need valid instruments to assess their day-to-day functioning in the class. With the instrument developed and validated in the current research, we, in fact, allow language teachers to assess their extent of professional development in different pedagogical contexts.

The current study aimed at investigating the academic learning needs of Iranian undergraduate students of English Language and Literature from the perspective of 320 stakeholders including undergraduate students (n=252), graduates (n=51), English literature instructors (n=7), and language instructors (n=10). To this aim, atriangulation of the most important data collection instruments of needs analysis (i.e., questionnaires, class observations, and semistructured interviews) was adopted for data collection at eight different Iranian state universities. The results of data analysis revealed that the above-mentioned students are not adequately equipped with learning and communication strategies during their academic and preacademic studies. The results of the current study may promise implications for the provision of some extracurricular EFL courses at the tertiary and senior high school levels in order to enhance students’ sociocultural and strategic competence based on the shared decision-making process among different stakeholders in the course design community

Reading comprehension (RC) and critical thinking (CT) are the two basic cognitive skills that should be developed through involving language learners in a carefully planned instruction. Multiple intelligences (MI) instruction may assist learners in developing RC and CT in L2 education. This study probed the effect of MI-based reading instruction on the Iranian EFL learners’ RC and CT skills. In so doing, it compared the effectiveness of an MI-based reading instruction with a traditional one. To this end, 4 intact classes from several English language institutes, comprising 56 Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners, were selected and randomly assigned to MI-based (experimental) and traditional (control) groups. A multiple- choice RC test, a reading summary test, and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal test were used as the instrumentations to collect data on the participants’ RC and CT. Analysis of covariance revealed a significant effect for the MI-based reading instruction. Furthermore, the RC scores increased more significantly in the MI-based group in comparison to the traditional one. However, the CT scores did not significantly improve in both groups. There was also no statistically significant difference in the CT scores between the two groups after the treatments. Iranian EFL educators are, then, encouraged to develop MI-based lessons and activities for diverse students and take explicit instruction for the enhancement of CT skills in EFL reading courses

Dynamic assessment (DA) which is rooted in Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory involves the integration of instruction and assessment in a dialectical way to achieve two main purposes: enhancing learners' development and understanding about their learning potential. However, the feasibility and appropriateness of mediation are two main concerns of DA. The former is concerned with the application of DA for a large number of students, while the latter is concerned with providing test takers with appropriate hints. The purpose of the current study was three-fold: to examine the difference between dynamic and nondynamic tests, to understand about test takers' potential for learning, and to find out how mediation works for high and low ability students. To achieve these aims, computer software was developed. The software is capable of both providing the test takers with graduated hints for each item automatically, and adapting the overall difficulty level of the test to the test takers' proficiency level. To test the efficiency of the software in employing dynamic assessment, 83 Iranian university students participated in the study. The results of the study indicated that the computerized dynamic test made significant contribution both to enhancing students' grammar ability and to obtaining information about their potential for learning. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the use of dynamic assessment can simultaneously lead to the development of the test takers' ability and provide a more comprehensive picture of learning potential. Accordingly, teachers are recommended to use dynamic assessment to make more informed decisions about their students.

To investigate the effects of etymological elaboration, contextual pragmatic clues, and lexical knowledge on L2 idioms comprehension and production, 60 male intermediate level EFL students in three groups were selected. Each group was randomly assigned to one treatment condition. Group one participants were presented with the etymological explanation of idioms. In group two, the same idioms were presented in short, familiar contexts, and in the third group, the participants focused on the exact meaning of the constituent parts of each idiom. At the end of the experimental period, comprehension and production posttests of idioms were administered. Two one–way ANOVA procedures were used to analyze data. Results showed that the participants of the etymological elaboration group performed significantly better than the participants of the lexical knowledge group on idiom production. The differences between the means in all other comparisons were not statistically significant. These findings may have implications for teachers, learners, and syllabus designers.