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This paper examines Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot by the five semiotic codes of the French literary critic Roland Barthes introduced in his renowned work S/Z, to show that the novel is a ‘writerly’ rather than a ‘readerly’ text. The paper defines what Barthes means by the text of the writerly and then attempts to see if the selected novel yields to this sort of interpretation. Since the novel has been categorized as both modernist and postmodernist by prominent literary critics, it can be a proper case to be examined as a writerly text. The paper shows that the codes of semantic, symbolic and cultural which produce the writerly text are at work in this novel whereas the codes of the hermeneutic and proairetic which are concerned with the conventional realist novels are marginalized or even absent. The article examines the writerly text makers of the author role, the theme of biography, the notion of literary criticism and the narration of the novel, referring to the codes creating the writerly text. The paper finally concludes that the semiotic sophistication and innovations in the narrative act of the novel stem from the categories discussed in the essay, ending in the construction of a highly sophisticated writerly text.

This article sketches the application of Wendy B. Faris’s primary features of narrative techniques in magical realist fiction in the selected novels The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (1990) by the British novelist Louis de Bernières and I Stared at the Night of the City (2008) by Kurdish novelist Bakhtiyar Ali, while keeping an eye on Chanady’s and Hegerfeldt’s perspectives where relevant. The focus is on the authors' use of Faris's features; namely the phenomenal world, unsettling doubts, merging-realms, irreducible elements and disruptions of time, space and identity, to depict their war-torn communities. These novelists have manipulated these characteristics from their diverse viewpoints. Despite their different cultural backgrounds and intellectual perspectives, both novelists attempt to convey a sense of reality by exploring the enigmatic nature of human behaviour and psychology, politics, and life in general. In this study, the researchers aim to elucidate the significance of these features in the selected novels to demonstrate the dilemma of war-stricken communities. Essentially, the researchers seek to unravel how these literary elements help in representing the complex and multifaceted nature of societies grappling with the impacts of conflict. The authors' manipulation of Faris's features becomes a lens through which they examine and articulate the intricate realities of war-stricken communities in their respective works.

Drawing upon the notion of ‘paratextual agency’ (Paloposki, “Limits of Freedom” 191), the current study investigated the agency of the Iranian fansubbers. To do so, a corpus of 20 Persian fansubs of Hollywood movies released during the last decade was selected randomly. The study was carried out in two steps. Firstly, translators’ notes were categorized based on their content, frequency, and percentage of each category. Secondly, these notes were analyzed to scrutinize the agency of the Iranian fansubbers. The findings of the study reveal that notes added on the part of the Iranian fansubbers can be categorized into narrative-related notes, locations, famous figures, organizations, medical information, allusions, and transliteration. The study illustrates that by providing such notes to the audience, Iranian fansubbers move beyond the conventional role of subtitler and a mere linguistic conveyor of the movies and take the responsibility of teachers, researchers, cultural representatives, and intermediary agents. The study concludes that fansubbing in Iran is concerned with elucidating culture-bound items of the movies to make them more understandable for the audience. The conclusions of this study can open up prospective avenues for the sociologically-oriented approaches to audiovisual translation, with an eye on the agency and status of fansubbers

In the twenty-first century, film adaptation studies shifted to the reworking of the literary text within the new sociopolitical situation of the time. Such literary theories as cultural materialism can explicate the film adaptation. Here, Daneliya’s Hopelessly Lost (1973) is investigated focusing on the political orientations of the Soviet-American Cold War. Hence, through cultural materialism a window is opened unto the past literary text of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to be read within the political presence of the Cold War. Per se, Sinfield’s practice of reading known as a ‘theater of war’ is applied to show the cracks and the faultlines that the director has used to depict his narrative of the Cold War. Therefore, it is demonstrated that Hopelessly Lost (1973) is a film adaptation that has focused on those parts of the novel that contain the dark images of the United States and attempts to develop the types of mutations that are in line with this orientation. Altogether the narrative of the film adaptation promulgates a grim reality that implicates the inevitable downfall of the United States amidst the political alignment of the Cold War through the character of Uncle Sam.

This study sought to identify the challenges and needs of TOEFL iBT candidates in achieving C1 level scores in the speaking and writing sections of the exam. To this end, the researcher employed a mixed-method approach to collect data from a population of 46 students, both male and female, between the ages of 22 to 30. The participants were enrolled in two TOEFL preparation classes at Universidad Nacional de Educación. The data were collected through a survey, class observations, and TOEFL speaking and writing mock tests, and were subsequently analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings indicated that the participants encountered challenges in discussing unfamiliar topics fluently, struggled with producing language at the C1 level while employing a variety of grammar and vocabulary, and demonstrated reduced accuracy due to influences from their first language (L1). To address these challenges, it is recommended to offer a bridging course prior to exam preparation courses wherein the primary focus is devoted to enhancing candidates’ accuracy and communicative competence in discussing unfamiliar topics through corrective feedback. The findings of this study could offer valuable insights to TOEFL iBT test preparation instructors, enabling them to better understand the challenges students face and plan strategies to address these challenges effectively within preparation courses.

Teacher assessment identity (TAI) is an integral element of quality assessment practice and professionalism, which has been widely overlooked in teacher education research. To bridge this gap, the present study explored the dynamism of TAI through an explicit training course. To do so, 22 novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers completed a questionnaire on TAI before and after the course. Then both novice and experienced teachers attended a 16-hour treatment in which various assessment dimensions were taught. The participants also completed tasks reflecting TAI components. Moreover, five novice and five experienced EFL teachers were interviewed. The results of the independent samples t-test indicated that novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers did not significantly differ regarding their assessment identity before and after the treatment despite improvements in their mean scores. However, the results of paired samples t-test revealed that the formal intervention has developed the TAI of both novice and experienced groups. This was substantiated by qualitative findings which demonstrated that, owing to the training, novice teachers manifested TAI in 16 domains while experienced teachers showed their identity as assessors in five domains. The study offers promising implications for EFL teachers and trainers, who can realize the dynamism of TAI and its core dimensions in light of instruction.

As a formative assessment procedure, self-assessment aims to converge learners’ and teachers’ views in assessment. Hence, reducing the perceptual mismatches between the learners’ and the teachers’ assessment would positively affect the learning process. For this aim, the present study investigated to what extent the learners’ assessment of their writing before and after being provided with a list of rating criteria, agrees that of their teachers. Therefore, a body of 6 EFL writing teachers and 27 EFL learners participated in this study. The learners were asked to rate their writing before and after being provided with rating criteria developed by the researchers. The teachers also rated the students’ writings following the same criteria. The obtained results showed a significant difference between the students' scores on the first and second assessment occasions. The teachers’ and the students’ assessment on the second time also were found to significantly correlate. Moreover, the analysis of the students’ comments showed that while they rated their writing on some limited aspects of writing in the first rating occasion, they assessed their essays using more components in the second assessment phase. Overall, the findings revealed that providing the learners with rating criteria would not only reduce the perceptual mistaches between the students’ and the teachers’ assessment but through involving the students’ voices in their assessment would promote democratic classroom assessment. Pedagogical implications of the study are discussed.

Objective: Recent literature emphasizing the importance of income distribution for pollution. The GINI index is the most common indicator for measuring income inequality in previous studies. The new literature has focused on relative redistribution, which is quantified by the GINI coefficientis defined as the difference between the GINI based on market income and GINI based on disposable income. Thus, this study relies on the redistributive effect of taxes and transfers and its impact on carbon dioxide emissions.Methods: The study is conducted using aggregated data from oil-exporting countries including Canada, the United States, the UK, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, and China between 2010 and 2020 by using a simultaneous equations system consisting of two equations so that economic growth and pollution emission are as endogenous variables. Elative redistribution, good governance, oil income, trade openness, and CO2 emission are the exogenous variables. Results: Based on model estimates, income inequality, good governance, and oil income have a positive and significant impact on economic growth over the years studied, while inequalities in human development and population growth rates have a negative impact. Economic growth and trade openness also have a negative and significant impact on the spread of pollutionConclusion: Taxes and transfer payments, as redistribution tools can stimulate economic growth. Relative redistribution as a more equitable way can lead to increased economic growth and economic growth reduces carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, providing an appropriate standard of income inequality can help to better understand and formulate effective policies for income equality.

Objective: The stock market and the foreign exchange rate market have been sensitive segments of the financial market. These two markets are rapidly affected by fluctuations and business cycles in the economy and quickly reflect the economic change. At the same time, turmoil in one or both markets raises concerns among market policymakers. We also address the question of whether the national currency can be strengthened through the stock market.Methods: This study examines the stock market price on the value of the national currency of Iran using stock-oriented models and the Markov switching method in the period 1995 to 2021. In this study, the non-linear Markov switching method was used to estimate the model, and the LR- test method was used to check the linearity or non-linearity of the models. Akaike's test has also been used to determine the number of Markov switching regimes.Results: The research results show that for every one percent increase in stock prices, the exchange rate has decreased by 0.21 percent. Therefore, the results indicate the approval of stock-oriented models in the Iranian economy. In other words, the capital market is one of the determinants of the exchange rate.Conclusions: According to this model, lower stock prices reduce the wealth of domestic investors, which leads to lower demand for money with lower interest rates. Lower interest rates cause capital outflows to overseas markets, assuming other conditions remain stable, causing the domestic currency to depreciate and the exchange rate to rise.

Objective Using a quantitative approach and a systematic methodology, advanced structural equation modelling techniques were applied to test the research hypotheses. In a possible sample of 98 experts and activists of entrepreneurship in Sistan and Baluchistan province, the observations were collected using a standard 32-items tool based on Likert scale. After screening the raw data, covariance-based confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the validity, reliability and fittingness of the research model, and the hypotheses were tested in the form of a structural model. The results of convergent and divergent validity tests showed that the two indicators of the research model has validity. Also, the reliability tests indicated the generalizability of the research results at 85%. Also, all the research hypotheses were confirmed.Objective Using a quantitative approach and a systematic methodology, advanced structural equation modelling techniques were applied to test the research hypotheses. In a possible sample of 98 experts and activists of entrepreneurship in Sistan and Baluchistan province, the observations were collected using a standard 32-items tool based on Likert scale.