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Over the past twenty-five years, researchers have expressed considerable interest in titles of academic publications. Unfortunately, conference paper titles (CPTs) have only recently begun to receive attention. The aim of this study, therefore, is to investigate the text length, syntactic structure, and lexicon of CPTs in Applied Linguistics. A data set of 698 titles was selected from the 2008 International Conference on Applied Linguistics held in Germany. The results from the analysis indicated that, first; the average text length of CPTs in Applied Linguistics is 10.4 words. Second, CPTs tended to be nominal, consistent with the finding in several titleology studies. Last, the lexical items of CPTs comprised a rich array of four main categories of lexicon (domain-specific words, research-related words, verbal expressions, and country/local references). These findings have implications for the scholarship on CPTs, academic writing pedagogy, and future research on academic titles.

Cognates are the words celebrating their similarities from phonetic, orthographic, and semantic points of view across two or more languages. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of cognate-based instruction strategy on vocabulary learning among Iranian EFL learners. To achieve the goal of the study, 80 EFL learners (15-27 years old) took part in the study; all of them were learning English at language institutes of Lorestan and Isfahan provinces in Iran. Half of the participants who were native speakers of Laki language were assigned to experimental group and the remaining 40 who were from Isfahan and not familiar with Laki language were assigned to control group. Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered to make sure that the participants were homogeneous. The participants in both groups were taught target words (42 English-Laki cognate words), by the researcher, during six sessions. A pretest was administered for both groups before the treatment and a posttest was managed after the treatment for both groups. Three weeks after the treatment, a delayed posttest was administered for experimental group, only. One sample t test for pre and posttest, and paired sample t test for delayed posttest were run. Findings of the study showed that participants in the experimental group outperformed the participants in the control group, resulting in null hypothesis rejection. In addition, the results indicated similar performance of experimental group in both posttest and delayed posttest, confirming that new cognate words were not forgotten over a period of time.

Muslims believe that the The Holy Quran is the message of God Almighty which has been transmitted to His messenger, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), through revelation in the Arabic language. This Holy book has been translated into many languages, including English. Although the content of the The Holy Quran has been translated into the English language, few studies have been conducted to explore the beneficial effects of The Holy Quran verses on learning English. This study investigated whether using the The Holy Quran’s verses to teach English grammar improves the grammar learning and enhances motivation of high school EFL learners. To this end, 40 homogeneous participants were selected from a high school and then were assigned into two different groups (experimental vs. control). All the learners in the two groups took a grammar pretest, as well as a motivation questionnaire. The experimental group learners were exposed to Quranic verses in their English classes, while the control group learners attended their regular language classes. Finally, the participants took a grammar posttest as well as a motivation and an attitude questionnaire. The results of the one-way ANCOVA showed that the performance of the participants in the experimental group outweighed that of the control group. The statistical analysis of the attitude questionnaire showed that positive attitudes were formed in the students towards this technique of teaching grammar via The Holy Quran verses in English.

AbstractThe interference of the native language in acquiring a foreign language is unavoidable. In an attempt to explore the phenomenon why this occurs, the study was conducted in English as a foreign language writing. The study also investigated how the native language interference occurred in the writing process. In fact, this qualitative study explored the reasons and the process of native language interference in writing performances of EFL learners. The data were collected from Thai undergraduate students through semi-structured interviews. Results obtained from the analysis of this study suggested that the reasons of native language interference in EFL writing were found in three main themes: learning strategies of language learners, inadequate knowledge of the target language, and attitude towards English. Furthermore, the interference of the native language appeared in the initial stage and repeatedly occurred throughout the entire writing process. Finally, the suggestions related to the teachers’ awareness of the problematic area, the use of English as the classroom language, and the use of monolingual dictionary are offered to the EFL writing instructors in order to help their EFL students to minimize the errors caused by the native language interference.

In a previous article, Stakeholder Theory and the Logic of Value Concepts: Challenges for Contemporary International Law, published in International Studies Journal (ISJ) in2011, the authors outlined the general premises for stakeholder theory applications and international human rights law. However, the challenges that pertain to economic/social rights were not addressed in detail. In this article, therefore, the authors provide a comparative analysis of narrow (or classical) versus broad (or modern)stakeholder theory with a specific view to determining the status of basic economic/social rights in the context of international human rights law. Narrow stakeholder theory is illustrated by Milton Friedman’s framework, whereas the main ideasand thoughts that define the broad alternative are derived from the work of R. Edward Freeman. While the authors primarily endeavor to outlinethe single most crucial premises and implications of application, they are also hoping to inspire discussion about future developments, especially since it could be argued that the stakeholder theory that has the best fit with United Nations norms and strategies may be conducive to a business as usual conclusion.

The current situation in the Middle Eastern states thatare dealing with reconciliation and transition process is not going well. The research of the author for about four years in Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia is full of first-hand information and knowledge gained through direct interviews with national figures who are with or against revolutionaries. Combining original experience through interviews with richinput of literature gained by secondary research has turned thisbook into an invaluable source to study and delve into the incomplete Arab uprisings and the reason behind them. Hence, this kind of comparative analysis gives a decent and invaluable literature to those scholars who incline to study the transitional process in the Middle East following the fact that it is based on the field study and includes first-hand experience along with face to face interviews. In other words, such an analysis could be meritorious for decision makers of any states and actors involved in transitional process to learn from the points made about these three Arab states.

This paper explores the impact of crude oil futures prices on risk premium volatilities in the NYMEX futures market. For this purpose, the ARCH and GARCH methods are used to model risk premium volatilities and explore how crude oil futures prices influence the risk premium volatilities in futures contract with a maturity of one-month, two-month and three-month over 1990-2014. In addition, it examines the impact of various maturities for futures contracts. The results indicate positive and statistically significant relationship between risk premium volatility and crude oil futures prices, and this relationship varies across the maturity length with change in maturity length. The longer the futures maturities, the higher the impact of futures crude oil prices on risk premium volatility is anticipated.

Recent theories of firm dynamics emphasize on the role of financial variables as determinants of firm growth. Most of the technical literature shows that there is a positive relationship between financial leverage and firm growth. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether such relationship exists among oil and gas companies within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Data were collected from the selected members of the OPEC. The collected data was then analyzed using the Arellano and Bond (1991) GMM method and Sargan test. The results showed a significant and positive relationship between financial leverage and firm growth which is in line with the technical literature. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by examining a specific and important sector within several different countries. It shows the current theory is not affected by industry or country.

In this research we try to investigate impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation on the effectiveness of financial processes in PETROPARS Ltd as a case study in petroleum industry. In this regard, three indicators of Ahituv and Neumann model containing time, content, and format have been utilized to compare traditional systems used in PETROPARS Ltd before implementation of ERP/SAP system. For this purpose, four hypothesis related to financial processes were developed and data collected from 101 employees related to financial processes in PETROPARS Ltd. There were 10 research questions related to the three indicators of Ahituv and Neumann model. Research findings show that ERP/SAP implementation has a positive and significant impact on financial processes effectiveness compared to the traditional systems previously used (before ERP/SAP system) in PETROPARS Ltd. This research contributes to the body of knowledge for investigation and documentation of actual results of ERP implementation in the petroleum industry of Iran. A phenomenon that has not been previously touched.

The present study aimed to capture and represent the mediator-learner’s interaction in the development of listening proficiency and statistically compare this interaction between high and low proficient English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Thirty EFL learners participated in Oxford Quick Placemat Test (OQPT) and the Interactions/Mosaic Listening Placement (IMLP) Test to select those whose proficiency levels and listening skills were based on the placement guide of the tests, at upper-intermediate and advanced levels. Out of 30 learners, 12 learners (upper-intermediate level=6, advanced level=6) volunteered to participate in individualized tutoring sessions. The study adopted an interactionist Dynamic Assessment (DA) approach and implemented a qualitative research methodology to reveal the frequency and quality, the two criteria to interpret the learners’ developments and Zone of Actual/Potential Development (ZAD/ZPD) functioning, of mediator-learner’s interaction. The amount and quality of moves made by learners to complete the task were reported in quantitative data. Statistical analyses were run to examine whether the ability level may affect the responsiveness of learners to mediation. Findings of the study revealed that 17 reciprocity moves were identified that promoted the development of listening abilities of upper-intermediate and advanced level learners. It is also revealed that the upper-intermediate learners showed more responses as compared to the advanced learners.