درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Elymais had existed as a semi-autonomous and sometimes autonomous satrap, coinciding with Seleucids and the Parthians in the southwest and west Iran. This government played an active presence in political and economic domains of the region from the mid-second century BC to the advent of the Sasanian Empire. This paper tries to study the historical coins of Elymaean using archaeometry. The method is a valuable criterion for the recognition of size and weight of those coins. Elemental studies of coins give us valuable information in connection with particle size used, combinations percentage of the coins, and applied metallurgy in their manufacturing. In other words, the study provides groundwork for understanding the economic and political structures as well as commercial communications of the society. The difference in the quantity of element may provide information about the mining of these metals. As such bronze and silver coins belonging to the Elymaean have been studied using PIXE technique to know about the concentration of elements, the number of mines as well as mints through the elemental analysis and the definition of the chemical composition of metals. To achieve the mentioned goals, we analyzed 35 coins involving three periods of Elymaean (from 85 BC to 224 AD). The results showed that the percentage of elements in coins such as silver and copper in the three periods were different but have had more purity in the first period. Furthermore, the analyzed coins are minted at six places and raw materials were brought from three different mines. Lastly, the statistical analysis is performed with SPSS software.

Discourse Markers (DMs) are pragmatic ties representing the relationship between different concepts in a discourse. As Fraser (2009) puts it, these lexical expressions are free morphemes that signal a special message about or in addition to the basic message. Given the importance of DMs in the written discourse of English as foreign language (EFL) learners, this study investigated the effectiveness of two methods of interaction in improving Iranian EFL learners’ use of discourse markers (DMs) in writing compositions. The data were drawn from comparing the compositions of two virtual groups of EFL learners who were exposed to two types of online interactions within which different flipped instructional activities were assigned. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results showed that the learners who engaged in online discussions used higher numbers of DM in terms of both type and token. The results also showed an increase in the length of compositions in the case of those groups who embarked on online interactions and discussions of flipped content. The findings suggest that once supported by the provision of flipped content, online interactions help create authentic opportunities for learner-centered discussions, which lead to an increased authenticity level of the EFL learners’ language production. The findings might also underscore the significance of flipped content and online interactions in developing other aspects of EFL learners’ pragmatic competence.

With the improvement of technologies in language learning and teaching, new models and approaches are being proposed to enhance the students’ performance. One of the practical models is Flipped Classroom (FC), which has been attracted by many teachers and researchers, especially in the K-12 education system. This study explored the effect of the online FC approach on the improvement of EFL learners' performance in high schools in Iran with a quasi-experimental design. To run the experimental study, through convenience sampling forty-three high school students were divided into an experimental group and a control group and to evaluate the efficacy of the online FC approach. The comparison of the results of experimental and control groups’ pre-test and post-test scores by an independent samples t-test revealed that incorporating the online FC approach into EFL educational context remarkably improves the EFL students' learning performance. It is significantly applicable for learning a language, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic which majority of the classes have been running online. Additionally, to manage online FC more efficiently, some suggestions are provided for teachers.