درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Language classrooms are occasionally anxiety-breeding situations. Foreign language classroom anxiety which negatively affects foreign language learning is typically associated with productive activities mainly speaking skill. To cope with the issue and overcome language learning difficulties, the present study was conducted to explore the impact of mobile-assisted language learning on enhancing EFL students’ oral proficiency and relieving their speaking anxiety. 60 sophomore female students whose ages ranged from 18 to 24 were selected from Zand University in Shiraz, Iran and randomly divided into two groups. Traditional instruction was adopted to teach both groups for two hours in a week for four months. Out of class, however, they did various speaking activities. The participants in the control group followed their course book speaking activities. But, the experimental group experienced mobile-assisted language learning to do their out-of-class speaking activities via a mobile application (Voice Thread). The Preliminary English Test and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale questionnaire were used to collect the required data. Paired samples t-test results indicated that Voice Thread experience significantly enhanced the participants’ oral proficiency and lowered their foreign language speaking anxiety.these findings provide experimental evidence that Voice Thread can be used as an educational tool to help EFL students to improve their oral proficiency and create their own individual less-threatening language learning environment.

As the title of the article suggests, “The Burqa Ban”: Legal Precursors for Denmark, American Experiences and Experiments, and Philosophical and Critical Examinations, the authors embark on a factually investigative as well as a reflective response. More precisely, they use The 2018 Danish “Burqa Ban”: Joining a European Trend and Sending a National Message (published as a concurrent but separate article in this issue of <span>International Studies Journal</span>) as a platform for further analysis and discussion of different perspectives. These include case-law at the international level while focusing attention on recent rulings and judicial reasoning by the ECtHR and the ECJ; critical thought-experiments in religion, morality, human rights, and the democratic public space; a contextualized account of burqa-wearing interventions by federal and state governments and, moreover, various courts in the United States; and philosophical commentary and, in some instances, criticism of the Danish and/or European (French, etc.) approach. The different contributions have different aims. The section on case-law at the international level reports on those central judgments that, in effect, helped to pave the path for the Kingdom of Denmark’s burqa ban. Concerning the concurring judges at the ECtHR, the opinions served to uphold a preexisting ban and to grant a <span>wide margin of appreciation to the national authorities, thereby limiting the Court’s own review. </span> <span>As regards</span><span>to the ECJ, the legality of company rules that contain a policy of neutrality for the workplace was examined, with a similar outcome. The authors who discuss </span>religion, morality, human rights and the democratic public space are endeavoring to, respectively, appeal to ethics as a testing stone for law and to both challenge and address several forms of “expressivist worry” in connection with face veils. In doing so, the authors ask a number of thought-provoking questions that hopefully will inspire public policymakers to careful analysis. While the section that is devoted to American perspectives highlights a comprehensive survey of political and legal responses to, in particular, full-face veils like the burqa</em>, the relevant author also incorporates public perceptions and, in the course of examining these, draws a parallel to “the fate” of the hoodie. The constitutionality of burqa</em>-wearing in America, so it also appears, is partially an open question, but differentiating between religious, political, or personal reasons is a de jure</em> premise. Given that the Danish legislators who drafted law L 219 to ban burqa</em>-wearing in public places rely on a reference to political Islam, they relegate religious and personal reasons to the private domain, thereby also adopting secularism as a premise. This is explored in the last author response of the article, more precisely, in an account of the underlying materialism that, in turn, is applied to Muslim women. If policymakers and legislators engaged in Thinking Things Through exercises, they could, as a minimum, avoid law-making strategies that are not in the spirit of the theory they themselves invoke, albeit tacitly. While the aim of, as it were, arresting culturally self-contradicting legislators is unique for the section in question, all the authors who contribute to the joint research project have one end-goal in common, namely to inform about important perspectives while at the same time</em> opening up for parameters for (more) fruitful, constructive and (if need be) critical debate in the future. With this in mind, four recommendations are presented by the research director for the project. Legally, politically, socially and culturally, conflict-resolution should not translate the relationship between rulers and the ruled into a separation ideology, an instance of controllers versus</em> the controlled. All things being equal, that is the objective limit for a democratic society.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to design a psychological capital curriculum consist of optimism for Iranian higher education. Methodology: The research methodology was qualitative content analysis of deductive category system. The research domain consisted of all sources, articles, and printed and digital books related to psychological capital and a targeted sampling method was used. Data analysis was conducted through subject coding. The findings were derived from 50 conceptual codes that were categorized into 16 components and main categories of optimism. To validate the model of psychological capital curriculum, 10 experts from the field of curriculum and educational psychology contributed using Lawshe coefficient, with components below 62%, three components were deleted. Finding: the results showed that the identified targets for optimism included four components of reality, self-regulating growth, responsibility, and bravery. The obtained content showed that components of planning, self-excitation education, communication approach, positive thinking, and relationship between the current status and the past one need to be considered in optimistic curriculum. The results also identify education and two components for teaching methods of optimism: interpretative pattern and individual teaching pattern. For evaluation, three components of evaluating the interpretation and explanation, assessing the change in behavior, and an assessment of the correct and unfair practices of social communication were identified. Discussion: The present study, as a model for designing a curriculum for psychological capital based on optimism for Iranian scholars and planners of higher education, allows understanding and applying the elements of the curriculum to develop psychological capital in students.

The significance of fairness in assessment is not a subject of doubt for educationalists even with fundamentally contrastive perspectives, but the study of methodological means for safeguarding this concept in educational classroom contexts has only received the scant attention of the researchers and educationalists. On this basis, this study intended to conceptualize foreign language (FL) classroom assessment fairness from EFL teachers' perspective. For this purpose and as a part of a larger enterprise, the researchers first strived for the creation and validation of a Classroom Assessment Fairness Scale (CAFS). This process was informed by the related literature and applied a critical incident technique. To verify the scale's validity and reliability, it was first expert viewed and modified accordingly; next pilot-tested on a group of 250 teachers, and finally, the amassed data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses and internal consistency measures. The validated scale was taken by 120 Iranian EFL teachers. Descriptive analyses indicated that the EFL teachers were familiar with fairness principles in classroom assessment practices. They were aware of the significance of the opportunity to learn, the opportunity to demonstrate learning, the no-harm principle, the constructive classroom environment, and transparency as the constructive elements of classroom assessment practices' fairness. However, the same familiarity and awareness were not guaranteed for the score pollution component. The results further demonstrated that the teachers' gender, educational degree, teaching experience, and teaching context led to statistically significant differences among EFL teachers' attitudes to classroom assessment fairness.