مطالب

In today’s world of education, a successful teacher can be assumed to be the one who benefits from Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), which demands consideration of teachers’ beliefs about tasks. The present paper takes into account developing a questionnaire regarding teachers’ beliefs about tasks. To this end, 300 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers from Mazandaran province participated in the study. The raw items for the questionnaire were collected by randomly interviewing 15 participant teachers and the related literature on teacher cognition research on TBLT. Then the items were factor-analyzed to develop the final version of the Teachers’ Beliefs on Task Questionnaire (TBTQ). Employing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) resulted in a six-factor structure including TBLT and teacher education, TBLT and the learners’ expectations, TBLT and challenges with Present-Practice-Produce (PPP) approach, TBLT and teachers' time limitations, TBLT and teachers’ characteristics, and the feasibility of TBLT resources. Findings revealed that although TBLT has been considered as an innovative approach due to its inspiration from Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), teachers’ attitudes towards TBLT implementation appear to have been taken for granted according to the components emerged from the factor analysis. It is suggested that TBTQ can be used in both foreign and second language contexts in order to identify different categories that can shape teachers’ beliefs about tasks and provide further pedagogical insights into designing and implementing tasks more effectively

Despite the fact that interpreting has long existed in history and predates translation, the interpreter training as an autonomous discipline is non-existent at the graduate level in Iran. The paramount focus of this study was to probe into the status quo of interpreting courses in the Iranian academia and subsequently delve into the possible expediencies to establishing such a discipline in the higher education. To this end, 15 professional interpreters (9 from Iran and 6 from other countries), 10 interpreter trainers (4 from Iran and 6 from other countries) and 118 English Translation Studies students (32 M.A. and 86 B.A.) who were selected through convenience sampling participated in this study. The students filled out a 20-item researchers-designed Likert-scale interpreting status quo questionnaire and the interpreter trainers and interpreters were invited for a formal semi-structured interview. Findings, analyzed quantitatively by SPSS software version 28 and qualitatively by inductive codification process, revealed the existing situation of the interpreting courses in the Iranian academia in terms of needs analysis, objectives and syllabus, methodology, materials as well as course contents and ensured the significance of establishing interpreter training as an independent discipline in the higher education among all stakeholders, i.e. interpreters, interpreter trainers (teachers) and interpreter trainees (students) for a number of expediencies including non-existence of this discipline in Iran, the need for academization, its multidisciplinary nature, dearth of specialization, addressing stakeholders and researchability, generating pertinent activities, glocal reputation, and employability.

INTRODUCTION: Environmental hazards caused by climate change and urban life prevailing practices have had a much greater impact in recent years than in the past. Aquatic ecosystems are not immune to such threats and their consequences, such as droughts and the emergence of interconnected crises. Since crisis studies are interdisciplinary, the organizational capacity of decision-making entities in urban areas plays a vital role in controlling these complex environmental changes. Therefore, this study aims to investigate organizational resilience as a guiding perspective in the crisis management process emphasizing organizational learning from crisis experience. The objective is to assess the organizational resilience capacity of public and official organizations in Isfahan, Iran, regarding the risks of the drought crisis. METHODS: This study proposes applying the Delphi method, the Bulls-eye method, and Gray relational analysis based on previous theoretical studies. The analysis begins by entering the initial weight of the Delphi method into the algorithm of this integrated method of weighing the values of uncertain indicators, followed by Gray relational analysis to describe the classification of official and public organizations in Isfahan, Iran. The statistical population consists of experts and professionals active in crisis management in the municipalities of Isfahan. The data of the Gray relational analysis decision matrix were obtained from a valid and structured questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha=0.79) administered to a sample of 70 individuals with the Delphi method examining the quality of decisions by municipal experts from the 15 districts of Isfahan, who were purposefully selected for sampling. The municipalities were prioritized based on relative organizational resilience capacity. FINDINGS: The three indicators of investment, specification of roles, and organizational stability showed the highest weight, while the indicators of learning from previous crisis experiences, reconstruction planning, emergency services, and risk insurance coverage had in order the lowest weights. Organizational resilience of studied districts can be defined in three levels: 1) municipalities of districts 6, 5, 8, and 12 had the highest capacity; districts 2, 11, 9, 14, 15, and 4 showed weaknesses in their organizational indicators; and 3) districts 1, 3, 7, 10, and 13 were intermediate between the previous two levels. CONCLUSION: Considering that a larger number of areas in Isfahan showed low levels of organizational resilience, the status of organizational resilience in public and formal organizations in Isfahan does not report favorable conditions among the research indicators. Therefore, more attention is required to improve the aforementioned organizational indicators to achieve organizational learning from crisis conditions. Awareness of the level of organizational resilience helps to promote organizational learning, improves the crisis management process, and helps planners and managers to perform better in critical situations