مطالب

This study sets out to explore English as foreign language (EFL) and Iranian teachers' attitudes ‎towards the implementation of MALL instruction. For that matter, a mixed-methods design, ‎including questionnaires, structured interviews and observation were employed. A total of 87 ‎EFL teachers participated in the questionnaire, which was the quantitative phase of the study. ‎In addition, 10 EFL teachers were interviewed and their classes were observed for the ‎qualitative phase of the study. The participant EFL teachers have been teaching at a number of ‎universities and language-teaching institutions in Mazandaran. One-sample t-test was used to ‎analyze the questionnaire data and the results suggested that the Iranian EFL teachers adopted ‎moderately positive attitudes towards the implementation of MALL instruction, but the ‎observation data indicated that most teachers preferred traditional ways of teaching English in ‎the EFL context. At the same time, the interview data revealed that the implementation of ‎MALL instruction in Iran is challenging due to a number of perceived barriers and obstacles. ‎The most considerable perceived challenges to the implementation of MALL instruction ‎comprise lack of online facilities and resources, lack of interaction in online instruction, and ‎teachers’ limited knowledge of online instruction. The findings provide crucial insights into ‎teachers’ attitudes towards integrating MALL into their EFL classroom instruction in Iran. ‎

This article is an attempt to study subject formation in relation to gender in Margaret Atwood's (1939- ) Surfacing (1979) and Bodily Harm (1983) within the frame of the uncanny. The issue of gender has been discussed in Atwood's novels from different perspectives but this article claims that what have been rarely discussed in Atwood's novels are the unrepresentable realities in relation to gender which can be foregrounded by dislodging the uncanny. The uncanny which was once a rather minor issue in Freudian oeuvre has been reconsidered in the contemporary era by prominent thinkers, such as Jean-François Lyotard and Julia Kristeva whose ideas are used in elaborating the unrepresentability of gender in this article. The idea of the female sublime is the most significant issue in the context of the uncanny in this article which challenges any representational system of gender formation and problematizes our preconceived hence familiar perceptions of gender formation and reevaluates them in an unfamiliar, dynamic and unrepresentable space.

Literature review shows that there has been a plethora of studies on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' motivation for teaching and the role which they play in motivating learners. However, it seems that types of motivational strategies employed by EFL teachers to motivate EFL learners in language institutes in Iran have not been sufficiently studied. In so doing, a qualitative research method was used and 25 EFL teachers who were selected through purposive sampling were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Results showed that EFL teachers use six macro strategies: L2 related values, teaching behaviors/teaching styles, appreciating learners' effort, prompting learner autonomy, Classroom atmosphere, and increasing learners' confidence. Each macro-strategy consists of several micro-strategies. Totally, 36 micro-strategies are used by EFL teachers to motivate EFL learners. It can be concluded that besides establishing and creating appropriate learning conditions, EFL teachers use both instrumental and integrative motivations to motivate EFL learners.

With the shift of research attention from human malfunctioning to human optimal functioning in the workplace, job engagement which is regarded the opposite of job burnout has attracted researchers’ attention in organizational psychology. This exploratory study aimed to investigate the predictive role of emotional intelligence (EI) as a personal resource in determining levels of job engagement among Iranian English language teachers within job demands-resources model (JD-R). To this end, 442 English language teachers who were teaching in both public and private contexts were selected through non-probability convenience sampling and were surveyed regarding their demographic information, the perception of their levels of job engagement and emotional intelligence through a demographic questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), and emotional intelligence scale. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that after controlling for the effect of demographic variables, there were significant positive predicting relationships between two emotional intelligence subscales of management of own emotions (MOE) and management of others’ emotions (MTE) and job engagement components of vigor, dedication, and absorption. The results imply that training teachers to improve their emotional intelligence can be a strategy to boost their job engagement.

Stability and instability of family, as the most important and fundamental social organ, has significant effect on the destiny of a society. The increasing rate of divorce, including legal or emotional ones, is a major social dilemma where the role of family cannot be ignored in fixing it. This is a problem that can be solved by altering the approach of lawmakers i.e. an approach based on 'Consolidation Principle' leads to the stability of family. In other words, this as a general legal principle has been in line with the Sharia law. Based on this principle, whatever causes the family stability is accepted and is in accordance with the religious decree and whatever leads to instability and shakiness of the family foundation is hateful and unaccepted. The consolidation principle is based on rationality, expediency, notoriety and necessity. Similarly, this principle, in clerical way from accessories to totalities, is based on the holy Qur’an and Islamic Traditions.

The empowerment of Zoroastrian Magi as a social class was intertwined with the emperors’ power to the extent that the political power of Magi can be regarded as a discontinued historical process with ups and downs. This paper attempts to reassess an apparent contrast between historical narratives and archeological findings (e.g. rock reliefs) concerning the political empowerment of Zoroastrian Magi in the beginning of Sassanid Empire until the reign of Narseh. According to the historical narratives, the Sassanid founding fathers, Ardashir and his Successor Shapur I, emphasized ecumenism (i.e. the possession of political sovereignty and religious power by emperor.) However, according to the rock reliefs of the 3rd century, shortly after Shapur I, with the rise of Bahram I, a structural split occurred between the emperor’s power as the sovereign and the power of Magi. Bahram I’s reign is the first historical period in which Zoroastrian Magi, represented as a social class, obtained a political superiority. Roughly speaking, in this epoch which spanned for almost two decades (the reign of Bahram I, Bahram II, and Bahram III,) one institutionalized reading of Zoroastrianism developed by an elite Magi, i.e. “Kartir”, became dominant over others and turned steadily into the Imperial religion. The above contrast can be formulated, as follows: given the fact that an ecumenical power is the ultimate form of sovereignty in a monarch system, why and how a Kartir could gain authoritatively a significant share of power? Through adopting an historical approach, the authors pursue the roots of answer in three related political phenomena: First, the quarrel between Bahram I and Narseh; second, the trial and the execution of Mani the prophet; and third, the institutionalization of Zoroastrianism as the Imperial religion.