درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study examined the possible relationship between Iranian female intermediate EFL learners' personality traits and their vocabulary learning strategies. The participants in this study were 90 female intermediate English language learners. To make sure of their homogeneity, all the participants sat for the Oxford Solution Placement Test. Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Eysenck Personality questionnaires were also administered to the participants. Subsequently, the data were subjected to statistical analyses. The results showed that there was not any statistically significant relationship between Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ personality type and their use of vocabulary learning strategy. However, it appeared that introverts tended to have higher use of memory, cognitive, and metacognitive strategies, while extroverts achieved higher mean scores on determination and social strategies. Furthermore, according to the findings of phi and crammers’ v, the highest degree of relationship was reported for the correlation between social strategy and personality types. In contrast, the lowest amount of correlation was found between metacognitive strategy and personality types.

The present study aimed to compare the effects of physical, cognitive and combined rehabilitation on improving working memory and cognitive flexibility of the elderly living in the nursing home. This quasi-experimental study was carried out with a pretest-posttest design in four groups with the control group. The statistical population consisted of all elderly residents of a nursing home in Tehran. 48 people were selected randomly and divided into four groups (three experimental groups and one control group). For the experimental groups, intervention programs, including physical, cognitive, and combined rehabilitation, were conducted in three sessions of one hour each week for two months. The data were collected using a working memory capacity scale and a cognitive flexibility inventory (CFI). Data was analyzed using a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and Bonferroni post hoc test using SPSS software version 22. The results showed that all three types of rehabilitation programs have a significant effect on improving the working memory and cognitive flexibility of the elderly (P <0.001). Also, the mean of the groups in the pre-test and post-test stages showed that among the three programs, the combined rehabilitation program had more efficacy in improving the working memory and cognitive flexibility of the elderly and there was no difference between the two types of physical and cognitive rehabilitation programs (P> 0.001) According to the findings, combined rehabilitation programs can be effective in improving the working memory and cognitive flexibility due to the focus on both physical and cognitive aspects.

Particle phrases are defined as prefabricated “chunks” stored and retrieved as a whole from memory at the time of use, rather than being subject to generation or analysis by the language grammar. This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of teaching particle-bound phrases on spoken accuracy of Iranian EEL learners. Having been homogenized, a sample of 51 Iranian EFL learners at a university in Karaj, Iran was assigned to three groups: two experimental and one control. Before the treatment, a pre-test of video-based narrative retelling was administered. The Experimental Group 1 (EG1) was presented with the target particle phrases and came up with drawings of their concepts. In Experimental Group 2 (EG2), the same procedure happened except for the hands-on drawing task. The Control Group (CG) was presented with the same particle phrases every session along with their L1 (Farsi) meanings. The results showed that EG2 (M = 5.16) significantly outperformed CG (M = 3.81) on the immediate posttest (Mean Difference = 1.34, p = .000). It was also found that EG1 (M = 4.82) significantly outperformed CG (M = 3.81) on the immediate posttest (Mean Difference = 1.01, p = .000). Plus, there was not any significant difference between EG1 (M = 5.16) and EG2’S (M = 4.82) means on the immediate posttest (Mean Difference = .334, p = .146). Regarding delayed post-test, it was shown that there was no significant difference between EG1 and EG2 on delayed posttest, but both groups outperformed CG in that regard.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of informal English language teaching in childhood on English knowledge and attitude towards the English language in adulthood. The research design was of a causal-comparative nature. The statistical population included all the first-year undergraduate students of Islamic Azad Universities who had been studying humanities in the academic year of 2015-2016. A sample size of 200 students was selected by multistage cluster sampling method. The research tools were English knowledge test and attitude questionnaire which were developed by the researcher.  Statistical analyses using MANOVA was implemented. Findings revealed that the informal English language teaching in childhood, as compared to its absence, leads to more English knowledge and improves attitude towards the English language in adulthood. Based on the obtained results, it is recommended that English language learning should not only start at an earlier age but it should also and be taught informally.

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of yoga training with emotion regulation training on students' working memory and cognitive flexibility. The research methodology was quasi-experimental designed as pretest and posttest with control and follow-up groups. Entire second-grade female high schoolers in the 2nd District of Tehran, during 2018-19 academic year, constituted study’s statistical population, of whom 54 students were chosen using cluster random sampling method, and randomly assigned into three groups. The pretest of N-back and Denis and Wenderval’s cognitive flexibility (2010) was administered for all three groups; and then the experimental groups received yoga training and emotion regulation intervention and finally posttest was implemented followed by 4-week follow-up test. Data analysis used by analysis of variance with repeated measurements exhibited that, both trainings significantly resulted in an increase in components of Different recognition and recognition time of working memory and cognitive flexibility (p≤/001). Yoga training had more effect on the component of different recognition and psychological flexibility than on emotional regulation training (p≤/001), while the impact of both two interventions had not a significant difference on the component of recognition time.