مطالب

This study aimed to shed light on young Iranian EFL students’ oral proficiency improvement through explicit instruction of formulaic sequences (FSs). This pretest-posttest quasi experimental study was conducted in a bilingual school in Shahrekord, Iran. Accordingly, based on ACTFL OPI test, two groups of low intermediate students with age range of 11 to 12 were chosen to be assigned as control and experimental groups. The control group with 20 participants continued its regular instruction focusing on analytic grammar rules and discrete vocabulary, while the experimental group with 40 participants received explicit FSs-based instruction through readings, by adopting a teaching procedure inspired by Lewis’ prescribed strategies for lexicon instruction. After 24 sessions of instruction, the participants were interviewed again, and their oral performance was recorded and transcribed to be scored by two experienced judges. Subsequently, ANOVA results revealed the significant oral proficiency improvement of experimental group in comparison to the control group, pointing to the effectiveness of FSs instruction.

This study is accomplished in order to find out whether the following piece of verse can be considered as the sign of Mahdaviyyat in Hafiz ’s worldview: ‘Before the cavalry of his fancy, the black and the white of my eye, I sent; in the hope that the imperial horse rider might come back.’ (Hafiz Diwan ed. Ghani & Ghazvini 235/2. ) The authors hypothesize that Hafiz has reflected a prospective climate in the aforementioned ghazal (lyric) and taking his life and other allusions in his Diwan into consideration, it could at least be said that there are views which can be counted as to be in accordance with Mahdaviyyat philosophy. It also shows that Hafiz had been acquainted with Morabete (stationing), which is an old Islamic tradition being stressed by Holy Prophet and Shia Imams. Using descriptive-analytic approach, this study is about to analyze this tradition from the point of view of Quran and Islamic narrations. The findings of this study can play a basic role in true analysis of this ghazal , tracing Hafiz’s belief in Mahdaviyyat vision, and in the definition of Morabete (stationing).

In the past four decades, new approaches and methodologies have been developed to solve unstructured and messy problems with various stakeholders. Among these methods, soft system methodologies, cognitive mapping, and strategic choice approach are specifically worthy to be heeded. The methods mentioned above, which have a precise structure and clear framework, are often categorized as soft operations research or problem structuring methods. Today, there is ample literature on soft research and it is taught in many operations research/management science courses of reputable universities. Methods of research on soft OR are rooted in soft system thinking and belong to the interpretative/learning paradigm. Nonetheless, assigning a clear and precise boundary between hard and soft OR techniques is not easily feasible, for most of these techniques– based on their application in different situations – can be classified as both hard and soft. The aim of this research is to investigate the origins and current position of soft methodology of operations research and probe into its theoretical basis. A comparison between the trend of OR in the US and UK clearly demonstrates the differences in soft and hard approaches. Generally, it can be concluded that soft and hard approaches of OR are complementary: soft methods are exploited in forming the structure (configuration) of a problem and hard methods are utilized in solving it. .

This paper investigates the key factors affecting the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to deve­­loping countries during the period (1995-2010) with emphasis on the financial development. Financial development, as an important factor in FDI absorption and a prerequisite for utilizing the benefits of FDI, not only increases the FDI inflow in developing countries, but also improve the absorption capacity and ability of these countries to utilize the benefits of FDI. Since the financial system consists of several components and provides a variety of services, various indicators, which represent the development of different aspects and components of financial system, have been applied in order to assess the impact of financial development on the FDI. Results indicate that development of various components of financial system (stock market and banking sector) as well as different aspects of financial development (size and activity level of financial system) all have positive and significant impact on the FDI inflow in developing countries during the studied period.

Legal translation is a special type of Language for Special Purposes (LSP) translation involving cross-linguistic communication in the legal context and it tends to involve more cultural specific components. Since the main functions of legal language are normative and performative, it is important to make sure what the actual purpose of the translation of a legal text is. On the other hand, legal translators are expected to produce not parallel texts but texts that are equal in legal effect. So, they must be able to understand not only the legal concepts and the legal effects they are supposed to have, but also how to achieve those legal effects in the target language, especially when it is based on a different legal system. The vast differences in Persian and English legal systems and legal cultures, and consequently the associated incongruity of terminology, highlight the many challenges in legal translation. This paper aims at presenting a strategy through which we can convey the legal culture of SL (Persian) to TL (English) and while creating similar legal effect in TL, improve the quality of legal translation, relying on the two notions inspired by Venuti (1998), i.e. domestication and foreignization. In this regard we analyzed legal translation of 20 Persian to English Divorce Decrees within the domain of Private law, the study of which has been seldom attempted despite the customary presence of these instruments in the legal routine. As a result of this analysis we can conclude that legal texts in different legal systems are translatable and a similar legal effect can be created in TL provided that the legal genre of the source text is preserved and also functional and conceptual equivalences are employed through foreignization and domestication.