فنون ادبی

Positive psychology constitutes an approach to the study of human behavior that examines the extent to which individuals’ affective factors are likely to ameliorate their life conditions and their performance in diverse academic and occupational settings. The present study strived to determine the degree to which university learners’ psychological well-being, as their main positive psychology factor, was influenced by their grit, emotion regulation, and academic engagement. To this end, the researchers used convenience sampling to select 221 English Language and Literature learners and 178 Persian Language and Literature learners from among the learners of a university in Tabriz (Iran) as the participants. Second, they administered the English and Persian versions of the psychological well-being scale, grit scale, emotion regulation scale, and academic engagement scale of the study to the learners of English and Persian respectively. Finally, the researchers utilized SPSS 25 and Amos 24 to analyze the obtained data. Based on the results, while English learners’ grit, emotion, regulation, and academic engagement significantly predicted their psychological well-being, Persian learners’ grit, and academic engagement constituted significant predictors of their psychological well-being in their academic setting. Moreover, English learners’ psychological well-being was significantly higher than that of Persian learners. The results may have certain implications for professor educators, syllabus designers, and professors in the context of Iran.

Recent research has highlighted the fact that explicit focus on language forms including explicit grammar instruction is likely to direct learners’ attention to pertinent grammatical structures and can result in their grammar structure noticing and acquisition. This study examined contextualized the explicit grammar teaching method in school. In this research 160 learners and eight teachers took part. The study was carried out in two different contexts (online and in-person). There were four experimental groups (n=80), and four control groups (n=80). The contextualized explicit grammar teaching method was employed as the treatment for the experimental groups. Contextualized grammar practices were provided using different images, videos, and copies. Explicit grammar exercises were also available at the conclusion of every instructional session. The control groups did not receive the treatment but received implicit grammar instruction instead. A quasi-experimental and a qualitative method were employed. A pre-test, three post-tests, and an unstructured interview were conducted. The data analysis was carried out using SPSS 24 software. The increased performance of the experimental groups on the post-test revealed the effectiveness of the treatment. The unstructured interview uncovered the observed differences between the teachers in teaching contextualized explicit grammar in online versus in-person classes. It was argued that the improvement in learners’ grammar learning in the experimental groups stemmed from the utility of explicit contextualized grammar instruction for empowering them to notice the functions of the examined structures and to relate them to their background knowledge.  The findings of this study can aid teachers in choosing a suitable instructional approach that can assist learners’ accuracy in writing.

In works revolving around the life of Alexander, the characterization of Alexander is marked by exaggerations and contradictions, as if we are faced with two distinct Alexanders; a wise, just, and prophet-like figure, and a detested, tyrannical oppressor. Conducted by the library method, the present study investigates the description and qualitative content analysis of famous Persian Alexander Epic (Iskandarnāme). While briefly introducing existing Alexander Epics, the study explores the characterization of Alexander besides comparing various texts of the same genre. The analysis reveals that in most of these works, Alexander assumes a mythical, legendary, and sacred persona. In some works, such as Nizami’s Iskandarnāme, Alexander is identified with Dhu al-Qarnayn, while in the mystical works of Jami and Amir Khosrow, he takes on an orphic character. In some works, like Darab Nameh, references to Alexander’s weaknesses are more or less hinted at. Nevertheless, overall, he is depicted as a just and wise monarch, and in some instances, a prophetic figure. Regarding Alexander’s ethnicity, there is no consensus in these works. Among these, two narratives are more noteworthy: some, like Nizami, consider him of Iranian descent, while others view him as from the lineage of the Greek hero Philip. 

Persian lexicography in Anatolia or Asia Minor is a part of prominent linguistic activities that began in the sixth and seventh lunar centuries. According to historical documents, during the Ottoman period, the Persian language was profoundly noticed by Turkish people. It was considered one of the three languages (alsane-ye salase) ​​of the world of science (Turkish-Persian-Arabic) in that territory. The evidence of this claim is the large number of literary and educational works written in Persian in that territory. Among these works, dictionaries form a large group of works aimed at teaching the Persian language. Therefore, studying these dictionaries can help linguists find out language learning facts and know the status of the Persian language among the people of this land. In this article, the dictionaries containing the Persian words, either as the source or as the target language were looked for and reviewed. Most of the approximately 150 dictionaries gathered were in the form of manuscripts kept in Turkish and Iranian libraries. Out of this number, about 89% of the works were original contexts, and the rest were documents of previous studies. The results of this research have been presented statistically both in terms of the content regarding the language, form (prose or verse), purpose, and the subject and historical development. According to the findings, most dictionaries belong to the period of pre-Tanzimat, and the number of prose Persian-Turkish dictionaries was the maximum compared to other forms of dictionaries. Also, the maximum number of verse-formed dictionaries, mostly known as Tuhfe, was written during this period.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) is one of the great philosophers in the world. He is a pessimistic philosopher who has his own special view toward life and the pleasures and pains of life. He is known as the philosopher of pessimism, as he articulated a worldview that challenges the value of existence. On the other hand, in the mystical and intellectual world of Islam, Mawlana Jalal al-Din, known as Rumi, (604-672 AH) stands. Unlike Schopenhauer, he is a ‘happy’ (optimistic) mystic. The importance of "blissfulness" and the ways to achieve it in life made us examine this issue comparatively in the thoughts of Rumi and Schopenhauer. With this aim, library resources were studied and necessary data were collected. The research method was descriptive-analytical. The results of the study showed that, unlike Schopenhauer, Rumi is a religious person and believes in God. This issue has created a significant difference in their definition of blissfulness and their hypotheses about the ways to achieve a blissful life. However, issues such as "who we are", "what we have", and "what we show" which Schopenhauer stated have an effect on the creation of happiness, and are similar to parts of Molavi's ideas. The interesting part is that, according to these two thinkers, the mental treatment of human beings with phenomena has an effect on feeling satisfied with life. ‘Who we are’ is a rich source of happiness. Rumi's and Schopenhauer's recommendations are still applicable to humans today since we are trapped in the machine and industrial world and are struggling with great sorrows.

Sperber, trained in the Durkheimian sociological tradition, has pursued his intellectual project inspired by Lévi-Strauss’s structural anthropology. However, he has not confined his studies to Durkheim’s semiological and Lévi-Strauss’s linguistic views. Instead, he has provided innovative explanations of how symbolic systems and symbolic propositions function. Sperber initially extracted principles from logical positivism to demonstrate how semantic and encyclopedic knowledge shape our understanding of propositions. Nevertheless, he discovered that symbolic propositions do not adhere to these principles. Their verifiability hinges on a distinction between the objective and mythological levels, allowing the primitive mind to simultaneously experience reality and myth without conflating them. This study aims to trace the sources of Sperber’s intellectual trajectory and analyze his arguments. It reveals that symbolic propositions cannot be defined as merely mental but not rational, as proposed by Frazer or Lévy-Bruhl. Sperber’s theory posits that symbolism is an autonomous field of cognition, independent of any semiological framework, and is more credible than the dominant theories of his time. Ultimately, the author contends that Sperber’s propositions, despite his claims, lack the universality required to explain the mechanism of symbolic propositions. This is because implicit knowledge, along with the specific experiences of individuals or societies, plays a unique role in understanding symbolic propositions.

Epics recount the first human experiences and knowledge in a narrative often in a symbolic way. Therefore, they are especially important from different literary, mythology, and anthropology aspects. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is the most important Iranian epic, and Niebelungenlied (Song of Nibelungen) is the best epic of the Germans. Shahnameh belongs to New Persian and Niebelungenlied dates back to the Middle German eras. It seems that among the famous epics of the world, these two epics are less compared with each other. Great epic works, due to their origin in various natural, geographical, historical, and cultural contexts, have their own unique narration and special characteristics, along with significant commonalities. This research first narrates a brief summary of the story of both works, although in the case of Shahnameh, due to its huge volume, it is limited to a brief outline. Then, it compares common motifs and themes, and then discusses topics and stories with closer and more similarities, which is caused by similarities in the structure of their narrations. The thematic classification of the most important topics in this research includes the amazing characteristics of the hero, heroic tests, climatic (geographical) setting of the story, hero and anti-hero, dream and dream interpretation, treasure hunting, invulnerability, battle with the dragon, the trinity of power in three lands, the tragic disclosure of secrets, death of a hero, vengeful woman, and the marriage of the hero in a foreign land.