درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Recent research has indicated that the adoption of CLT in an EFL contexts will create certain challenges. Using Engeström’s (1999) human activity system model, the present study investigated the implementation of CLT-based curriculum which was initiated in 2013 in Iranian public schools. Four groups of participants including 23 language teachers, 17 teacher directors, 23 students, and 20 parents took part in the study. Semi-structured interviews, observation of participating teachers’ classes, and analysis of relevant documents were used as data collection tools. Grounded theory analysis of the data revealed three main categories explaining the difficulty of CLT implementation in an EFL context like Iran. From an activity theory perspective, these categories indicated that the four layers of contradictions emerged in Iranian English Education as the activity system. The results suggest that not only language teachers as the subjects of the current activity system, but also other components of the activity system, and even other activity systems like teachers’ colleges and in-service programs need to work in tandem in order to overcome the challenges of implementation.

A pivotal issue in research on writing concerns whether the knowledge of how genres are constructed and learned in one discipline/genre can be transferred to other contexts, genres, and disciplines. Yet, studies conducted so far have not presented a unified and complete view of how various writing instructional techniques can result in transferability. This study examined the effect of structuring and problematizing scaffolding mechanisms and the mediating effect of learners’ proficiency level on a cohort of Iranian English learners’ ability to transfer the acquired genre-based knowledge to a new discourse mode. Four groups of thirty pre-intermediate learners chosen from eight intact classes and four groups of advanced learners selected from eight intact classes participated in this study. The performance of the participants in structuring scaffolds, problematizing scaffolds, and combined structuring and problematizing scaffolds conditions were compared to that of the control groups. The results of a two-way ANCOVA revealed that scaffolding mechanisms could significantly result in genre-transferability. The results also suggested that scaffolding mechanisms brought about the best results when offered simultaneously. Besides, the result yielded no significantly moderating effect for learners’ proficiency level. Implications for classrooms are discussed.

هدف از این پژوهش، بررسی نگرش زبان آموزان جوان ایرانی در دو گروه سنی هشت و یازده ساله، نسبت به زبان و فرهنگ انگلیسی و همچنین، هویت ملی خود زبان آموز است. این نگرش یک بار در آغازِ پژوهش و بار دیگر در پایانِ آن بررسی شد که به مدت یک سال به طول انجامید. هدف نگارندگان در این مطالعه، بررسی این فرضیه بود که آیا سنِ آغاز یادگیری زبان انگلیسی می تواند نقش مؤثری در شکل گیری دیدگاه های زبان آموز نسبت به عوامل یادشده و یا تغییرِ آن ها داشته باشد؟ برای سنجش دیدگاه زبان آموزان مجموعه آزمون های انگیزه و نگرش که در سال 1972 م، به دستِ گاردنر و لمبرت طراحی شد، پس از تحلیل عاملی و استفاده در آزمون پایلت با اعمال تغییراتی به کاررفت. دیگر ابزار به کاررفته در این پژوهش، مصاحبه براساس چارچوب پیشنهادی میخائلوویچ دیگونوویچ (1993) بود. نتایج این بررسی نشان داد که نگرش زبان آموزان هشت ساله در پایانِ پژوهش، تفاوتی با آغاز آن ندارد؛ حال آنکه زبان آموزان یازده ساله نگرشی متفاوت نسبت به فرهنگ انگلیسی و هویت ملی خود در انتهای پژوهش در قیاس با آغازِ آن از خود نشان دادند.

جابجایی گروه اسمی به اصطلاح «سنگین» هنگامی اتفاق می افتد که افراد ترجیح می دهند تا گروه اسمی مفعولی مستقیم را که طویل یا سنگین باشد در جایگاه انتهایی شبه جمله در درون جمله قرار دهند تا اینکه آن را در جایگاه پسا فعلی قرار دهند. در این مطالعه دو آزمایش مورد استفاده قرار گرفت که نتایج به دست آمده حاکی از آن بود که وجود گروه اسمی طویل موجب تغییر در ترتیب گذاری سازه ها (گروه اسمی و گروه حرف اضافه) در جمله توسط فراگیران پیشرفته ایرانی زبان انگلیسی می شود. در آزمایش اول، با افزایش طول گروه اسمی مفعولی با اضافه کردن اطلاعات به آن ترجیح شرکت کنندگان بر آن بود تا بیشتر جملاتی با ساختاری که در آن ترتیب عادی سازه ها تغییر کرده است بسازند و کمتر جملات را با ساختار عادی زبان انگلیسی شکل دهند. نتایج آزمون قضاوت دستوری که در آزمایش دوم مورد استفاده قرار گرفت نشان داد که شرکت کنندگان جملاتی را که دارای ساختار متغیر هستند بیشتر از لحاظ دستوری درست فرض کرده اند تا اینکه آنها را نادرست فرض کنند. یافته های موجود این نظر را تایید می کند که فراگیران پیشرفته زبان انگلیسی همانند افرادی که انگلیسی برای آنها زبان مادری محسوب می شود تمایل دارند هنگامی که طول گروه اسمی مفعولی افزایش می یابد جملات را با ساختار متغیر شکل دهند. از نتایج به دست آمده از این مطالعه می توان در تهیه مطالب برای زبان آموزان در سطوح مختلف استفاده کرد. همچنین، مدرسین زبان می توانند از نتایج حاصل در تطبیق دادن نحوه ی تدریس این ساختار با سطح زبان آموزان با در نظر گرفتن احتمال وجود مشکل در پردازش این ساختار استفاده کنند.

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is reaching an up most position in the pedagogical field of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL). The present study was carried out to study the effect of using phonetic websites on Iranian EFL students’ pronunciation and knowledge of phonemic symbols. Participants of the study included 30 EFL female pre-intermediate students studying in Kish Language School in Tonekabon. A pretest and posttest of phonemic symbols and pronunciation was given before and after the treatment to both experimental and control groups. The results of statistical analysis revealed that the learners’ pronunciation developed better when they took part in web-based training course. On the other hand, the experimental group did not outperform the control group regarding the knowledge of phonemic symbols. This thesis concludes with some implications for teaching and directions for further research.

This study drew upon Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006, [1996]) visual grammar and Van Leeuwen’s (2008) social semiotic model to interrogate ways through which social actors of different races are visually and textually represented in four award-winning English-learning software packages.  The analysis was based on narrative actional/reactional processes at the ideational level; mood, perspective, social distance, and modality at the interpersonal level; and salience, framing, and vector at the compositional level. The findings revealed that although contemporary multimodal texts have tried to be unbiased and neutral in the verbal mode, there are still traces of discrimination, bias, and stereotyping in the visual mode. The results of this research can be of potential help and use for researchers, pedagogues, material developers, software designers,  teachers , and students to become visually literate and get aware of the hidden messages that can be communicated by images in textbooks and multimedia.

The present study was designed to initially test a model of the role of a set of cognitive (namely, aptitude and working memory) and motivational (namely, language learning goals, self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulation strategy use) individual differences variables in writing performance of a group of Iranian undergraduate EFL learners and, subsequently, to identify the possible differences in the writing quality and composing behavior of learners with different individual characteristics. A convenient sample of 125 BA level students of English Language Teaching and Literature from three state universities in Iran took part in the study. As for the data collection procedure, these participants, in various time intervals, wrote an argumentative essay, responded to the composing process scale, completed the aptitude and working memory measures and filled in the questionnaires exploring their motivational propensities, self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulatory strategy use in writing. The collected data were analyzed by using Path Analysis and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Due to some problems like small sample size and idiosyncratic nature of the data, the model did not give satisfactory fit indexes. However, it was found that cognitive variables were more strongly correlated with the writing competence of the learners than the motivational ones. More specifically, the construct of foreign language aptitude had the highest potential to account for the writing competence of the learners and the learners having different levels of this construct were different from each other in terms of writing quality and composing processes employed while writing.

This study aims at investigating the effect of dynamic assessment (DA) on L2 writing achievement if applied via blogging as a Web 2.0 tool, as well as examining which pattern of interaction is more conducive to learning in such an environment. The results of the study indicate that using weblogs to provide mediation contributes to the enhancement of the overall writing performance, vocabulary and syntactic complexity, and quantity of overall information presented in a single paragraph. That is to say, DA procedures are applicable via Web 2.0 tools and are advantageous to L2 learners’ writing suggesting that L2 practitioners and instructors should actively consider the integration of Web 2.0 technology into L2 education system using DA. Moreover, the collaborative pattern of interaction as compared to expert/novice, dominant/passive, and dominant/dominant patterns is found to be more conducive to fostering writing achievement in the asynchronous computer-mediated communication environment.

Performance assessment is exceedingly considered a key concept in teacher education programs worldwide. Accordingly, in Iran, a national assessment system was proposed by Farhangian University to assess the professional competencies of its ELT graduates. The concerns regarding the validity and authenticity of traditional measures of teachers' competencies have motivated us to devise a localized performance assessment scheme. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a performance assessment scheme to be used as a benchmark for assessing the professional competencies of ELT graduates of this university. To this end, three assessment tasks and rating scales were developed, piloted, and administered. Next, Haertel's participatory approach was employed to set passing standards for the assessment tasks as well as the whole assessment scheme. Analysis of the data revealed inter-rater and intra-rater reliability coefficients of 0.85 and 0.89. The validity of the assessment scheme was also confirmed by experts' judgments made, to a large extent, on the correspondence between the target domain and test domain skills. Based on the results, the proposed assessment scheme is rendered more efficient and reliable in comparison to traditional tests with regard to the following dimensions: a) higher degrees of reliability and validity of the assessment scheme aimed at the improvement of licensure and program development; b) stronger evidence for inter-/intra- rater reliability and consistency of scoring; and c) an optimized and systematic procedure for setting passing standards based on the consensus of experts' judgments. It is believed that further development of the proposed assessment scheme unlocks its potential to be used as a large-scale teacher assessment model for Farhangian University.

This study aims at empirically measuring a universal criterion for materials evaluation, i.e., learning opportunities, in a locally- and a globally-designed materials. Adopting the conceptual framework of sociocultural theory and its conceptualization of learning as participation (Donato, 2000), the researchers utilized the methodological power of conversation analysis to examine how opportunities for learner participation and, by extension, learning are created whilst the materials are being used. Thirty teachers’ naturally-occurring classroom interactions, evolving from the two types of materials, was videotaped and transcribed line-by-line to identify the interactional contexts in which learner participation opportunities are embedded. Four interactional contexts affording different levels of learner interactional space were prompted by both types of materials. Examining the distribution of contexts revealed that management-oriented and form-oriented contexts were sustained significantly longer in classes with the locally-designed material. The globally-designed material, however, tended to unfold significantly longer skill-oriented and meaning-oriented contexts suggesting higher levels of built-in learner participation potential. The findings of this study raise materials developers’ awareness, especially in periphery communities, about how materials can either marginalize or empower learners in classroom interaction.

Drawing on Robinson’s cognition hypothesis, the study attempted to examine how task conditions influence EFL learners’ oral performance and whether learners’ individual differences in terms of tolerance of ambiguity and self-efficacy mediate the effects of such conditions. To this end, 62 Iranian intermediate EFL learners from private language institutes in Tehran performed four dyadic decision-making tasks manipulated along task conditions of information distribution and goal orientation. Their performance was measured through complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) indices. Their tolerance of ambiguity and self-efficacy were assessed using separate questionnaires. The results indicated that information distribution and goal orientation could significantly impact the participants’ performance on the tasks. As to the CAF indices, it seemed that Skehan’s (2016) trade-off hypothesis was a better fit than Robinson’s (2015) cognition hypothesis since trade-offs were found between complexity and accuracy/fluency. The results of the correlations revealed that there were a number of significant positive relationships between tolerance of ambiguity and the CAF indices on the one hand and self-efficacy and the CAF indices on the other. While the former relationships did not confirm the specific prediction of the cognition hypothesis, the latter relationships did. Overall, the findings contribute to Robinson’s hypothesis concerned with the effects of task conditions on oral performance and the mediating role of individual differences, and have implications for task sequencing and task-based teaching.

با الهام از یافته های مربوط به نقش عبارت ها در رشد زبانی٬ پژوهش حاضر تأثیر آموزش مقابله ای بازترکیب عبارت ها بر فراگیری ساختارهای دستوری منطبق با مراحل دستوری (نحوی) نظریة پردازش پذیری را مورد بررسی قرار داد. به تعبیر دقیق تر، هدف این پژوهش بررسی پیش بینی فرضیة تعلیم پذیری بود مبنی بر اینکه آموزش فقط زمانی مؤثر است که به یک مرحله بالاتر از سطح دانش فعلی زبان آموزان مربوط شود. برای این منظور، سه گروه از فراگیران زبان انگلیسی از بین گروه بزرگ تری از زبان آموزان انتخاب شدند. به یک گروه آموزش مقابله ای در رابطه با مفهوم و ساختار عبارت های زبان فارسی و انگلیسی داده شد، در حالی که گروه دوم همین آموزش را فقط به زبان انگلیسی دریافت کرد و گروه سوم به عنوان گروه مقایسه در نظر گرفته شد. نتایج این پژوهش نشان داد که آموزش مخصوصاً از نوع مقابله ای آن به طور معنی داری به فراگیری مراحل دستور زبان ارائه شده در نظریة پردازش پذیری در تولید شفاهی و نوشتاری کمک کرد و پیش بینی فرضیة تعلیم پذیری را نقض نمود. تفسیر نظری نتایج در قسمت بحث و بررسی پایانی ارائه می شود.

اگر چه پژوهش در حوزه ی واژه واره ها (لویز، 1997؛ تاگوچی، 2008) امکان پذیر بودن آموزش مبتنی بر توالی های فرمولی واژگان (یا توالی های واژه ای فرمول واره) را قبلا تایید کرده است، با این وجود، بررسی روند یا چارچوب هایی که از طریق آن این رویکرد عملی شود، و نیز حوزه هایی از زبان دوم یا زبان خارجی که این نوع آموزش کاربرد موثرتری دارد، نیازمند پژوهش بیشتری است. این مطالعه ی با روش پیش آزمون-پس آزمون- مقایسه ای گروه بر آن بود تا ابتدا تاثیر دو نوع آموزش فشرده و گسترده ی واژه واره-محور را بر توسعه ی عملکرد گفتاری داوطلبان آزمون آیلتس بررسی کند، و دوم، این مطالعه بر آن بود تا بررسی کند که آیا نوع آزمون گفتاری آیلتس (تک گویی و گفت وگو) تاثیر معناداری بر تعداد توالی های فرمولی واژگان (یا توالی های واژه ای فرمول واره) مورد استفاده ی سخنوران دارد. در این راستا، سه کلاس آیلتس در یک مرکز زبان در ایران متشکل از40 داوطلب آزمون به صورت تصادفی به یک گروه شاهد و دو گروه آزمایش تخصیص یافتند. گروه ها به یک اندازه آموزش دریافت کردند، هرچند به شیوه ی متفاوت، دو گروه آزمایش دو نوع آموزش فشرده و گسترده ی توالی های فرمولی واژگان (یا تکه های تحلیل نشده) و گروه شاهد آموزش غیر واژه واره-محور دریافت کردند. نتایج نشان داد که هر دو گروه آزمایش به صورت معنادار از گروه شاهد بهتر عمل کردند، که بر مؤثربودن هر دو نوع آموزش فشرده و گسترده ی واژه واره-محور در ارتقای توانش گفتاری زبان آموزان اشاره دارد. همچنین مشخص شد که آزمون های نوع گفت وگو نسبت به تک گویی منجر به استفاده ی بیشتری از توالی های فرمولی شد.