درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Admittedly, as opposed to simple writing treatments, massed or spaced instructions, more or less, seem to add variety and attractiveness to writing accomplishment. The current attempt concerned the efficacy of putting in service the two above-mentioned distribution instructions on EFL learners' writing performance. To conclude, 40 upper-intermediate learners (19 to 23 years) of both gender enjoyed 8 sessions in an institute in Ilam, Iran. They were randomly divided into two groups of massed and spaced each group consisting of 20. Instruments utilized were a Quick Oxford Placement Test, a writing pre-test, and a writing post-test. One group was disciplined paragraph writing with massed and spaced instruction with accuracy, complexity and fluency in focus. The researchers taught each session in an intensive 60 minutes' session to massed groups, whereas the similar session was taught to the spaced groups in three 20-minute short sessions at irregular time intervals. Subjects were retested after 8 weeks. Lastly, a posttest of writing was carried out for all groups. The results of the paired samples t-test and One-way ANCOVA denoted that the spaced distribution group significantly outperformed the massed distribution group on the posttest in their final post-test.

This study was explored to seek the effect of mobile-mediated dynamic assessment on Iranian EFL learners' writing skill. The participants were 60 EFL learners from one English language institute in Shiraz, Iran, learning English at the intermediate level. Their age ranged from 15 to 30. The participants were randomly assigned to three equal groups (i.e., one control group and two experimental groups). The instruments and materials used in this study were oxford quick placement test (OQPT), the DIALANG writing test, WhatsApp, Google Docs, and the interview. To measure the participants’ general English proficiency level before the experiment, the participants took the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The quantitative data were analyzed using using Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests of normal, descriptive statistics, paired-sampled T-tests, ANOVA, and Tukey post hoc tests. For the qualitative data analysis, the answers to the interview questions were coded and analyzed using a typology of mediation. The ANOVA test showed that there were significant differences among the groups which implies that mobile-based dynamic assessment can enhance the writing proficiency among the language learners. In other words, both T and V groups in intermediate level had a significant progress in their writing proficiency. In light of the qualitative data, nearly all of the participants supported DA due to its advantageous benefits. They felt that this approach saved them time and increased their confidence and enthusiasm for writing, which is a challenging ability.

The aim of this research paper is to study the notion of power and other related concepts devised by Foucault in the novel of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Foucault's theory of power suggests that power is omnipresent, that is, power can be found in all social interactions. In fact, that power is interwoven in all social relations. Moreover, a discourse is made by the government in which identity of characters does not remain fixed and autonomous; truth, as a metaphysical concept, which is supposed to exist as a definite reality becomes a mere game by power relations. The most important aspect that can be seen in this novel is the role of discourse and power in society. Since the novel is set in Jazz age and it coincides with rise of new ideology called American dream, it could be concluded that the characters are influenced by the discourse in which they are living. In fact, the ideology of American dream controls their lifestyle – particularly, the main character – Jay – who has changed himself from a proletarian into a member of bourgeoisie society. Therefore, the identity of the characters is not a fixed concept since how they have gone through process of changing influenced by power relationship which can be seen within them. Moreover, the concept of truth is distorted and unstable in this novel.

This study aims to investigate the long-term effects of the use of inductive and deductive teaching methodologies on the acquisition of English passive voice. To find answers to the questions, we prepared two teaching programs based on inductive and deductive approaches. Sixty-five pre-university students from were assigned as participants. These students were divided into two groups named as inductive and deductive. Both groups took two pre-tests. The first pre-test was administered in order to find out the homogeneity of both groups in terms of English proficiency level and the second pre-test was administered to find out how much background English passive voice knowledge they possessed. One of the groups was taught inductively and the other one was taught deductively. Three treatment sessions were conducted to present English passive voice. The study included three delayed post-tests which were administered four weeks, eight weeks and 12 weeks after treatment sessions. The analyses of the tests were conducted using descriptive statistics, independent samples test, and repeated-measures ANOVA. The analyses of the data revealed that both methodologies had significant effect on learning English passive voice. The inductively taught learners performed better in a short range of time. However, participants of the deductive group gained higher scores in a long range of time. Since the aim of the research was to investigate the long-term effects of the aforementioned methodologies, it was concluded that although inductive approach is efficient in the beginning, the deductive approach proves to be more efficient in the course of time.