مطالب

Consequential validity, a component of construct validity as a unified concept introduced by Messick(1989), deals with the impacts of tests on teaching, learning, individual test takers, teachers, society, and educational system within a country. Although the impacts of language tests on teaching and learning have been somehow studied, the consequences of ESP tests on individual test takers and teachers have not been given appropriate attention. The present study aimed at exploring the possible consequences of ESP tests, as parts of master and doctoral entrance examinations to post graduate universities in Iran, on the stake holders and society. In doing so, a qualitative research method was applied. The participants were 31 master and doctoral students, and 5 ESP instructors. The data were analyzed in terms of the content. Four main themes with a variety of sub-themes emerged from the content analysis. The results indicated that ESP tests have negative psychological (anxiety, stress, disappointment, self-confidence, teaching efficacy, disappointment), social (deprivation from education, ethical issues, acceptance of nonqualified candidates), financial, and family consequences on the learners and teachers. The society is also influenced as the result of ESP tests scores.

This study investigated the effects of different learning levels, including Remember an Instance (RI), Remember a Generality (RG), and Use a Generality (UG) in multiple-choice and essay tests on immediate and delayed retention. Three-hundred pre-intermediate students participated in the study. Reading passages with multiple-choice and essay questions in different levels of learning were given to the participants to investigate the effects on both immediate and delayed retention. The findings revealed that to evaluate immediate retention, multiple-choice questions at remember levels are effective, but for enhancing delayed retention, essay questions, especially at UG level, are more effective. The results of the study suggest that tests can be used as aids to retention beyond their primary evaluation function.

This paper explores male and female students' and teachers' perceptions of the role of grammar instruction and corrective feedback. A questionnaire, administered to 60 male and female intermediate EFL students (30 males and 30 females) and 40 teachers (20 males and 20 females), elicited student and teacher perceptions concerning the role of explicit grammar instruction and corrective feedback in learning English as a foreign language. Data comparisons revealed high agreement between students as a group and teachers as a group across genders on the majority of questions. A number of discrepancies were evident between students and teachers’ beliefs within each gender. There were also some comparisons of sample groups based on gender differences which examined the effect of formal grammar instruction in foreign language teaching. Although the differences between students' and teachers’ belief system can be a threat to learning, it is essential to mention that teachers’ consideration of students’ perceptions of those factors will improve the process of new language learning, and an effort to consider the potential mismatch between students’ beliefs and teachers’ instructions will enhance learning.

Morphological Awareness (henceforth: MA), defined as the ability to understand the morphemic structure of the words, has been reported to affect various aspects of second language performance including reading comprehension ability, spelling performance, etc. Yet, the concept has been far less treated with reference to l2 listening transcription. Thus, against this background, this study aims to investigate the link between MA and listening transcription ability of Iranian pre-university students. To this aim, 40 pre-university students participated in the study, and were assigned to two control and experimental groups. Both groups were first given three short listening passages to transcribe as the pre-tests. The results of the independent-samples t-test revealed no significant difference between the two groups. The experimental group, then, received five one-hour sessions briefing them on the morphological realization of English words. The two groups were then given three short listening passages to transcribe as their post-tests. The results of the independent-samples t-tests attested to the significant difference between the two groups, thus, supporting the relationship between MA and listening transcription ability. The study concludes with some suggestions as to the incorporation of MA into L2 learning programs.