مطالب

In this article I review principles and practical aspects of language assessment in foreign language (FL) learning, more specifically with a focus on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and other contexts in which computers are used as a means for distance learning and for language assessment (Computer-Aided Assessment - CAA). Assessment constitutes an essential dimension of learning experiences and it is an aspect of most formal processes of language teaching and learning. Language assessment may involve language testing, as well as other procedures and instruments such as observations, performance tasks, portfolios and self-evaluation, and by combining information from various sources of assessment one is able to obtain more valid and reliable results. I draw on the literature on CALL and on language assessment, and on data collected within the scope of the Teletandem Brazil Project: foreign languages for all (henceforth TBP), to support my position on principles that may or may not characterize language assessment in the context of teletandem interactions. CAA is defined as any type of activity in which computers are used to support a process of assessment apart from and beyond their simple function to store and transmit information. CAA helps faster assessment, increases the quality and quantity of information detected and maximizes the provision of feedback about language assessment processes. In the TBP project, undergraduate students from a Brazilian university interacted with students from universities abroad, by means of computer programmes for synchronous communication, microphones and webcams. Besides the claims about CALL from the literature, I make reference to teletandem interactions in both EFL and Portuguese as a foreign language, considering occasions in which teletandem agents evaluate each other linguistic performances. I also analyse a questionnaire for evaluation in teletandem, which does not focus on language assessment but rather on the experience of interacting in the teletandem context and on the tools used for communication. No clear distinctions were found to exist between CAA and more traditional procedures for language assessment. Principles for CAA seem to combine traditional bases for language assessment and testing with a number of pedagogical principles that underpin distance learning. Nevertheless, CALL and CAA can contribute in various aspects of language education, especially when large numbers of learners are involved in teaching and learning processes. However, these principles do not characterize a new paradigm in language assessment, since the linguistic criteria on which teletandem agents base their evaluation are very similar to criteria that underpin language assessment and testing by means of paper-and-pencil tests, for example. I conclude the article indicating the need for further investigation and the establishment of principles for language assessment in electronic contexts.

This paper presents the results of a virtual ethnographic study developed in an online classroom in a public university in Brazil. The online activities aimed to help 70 students to develop English oral skills in a 60-hourcoursetaught along 15 weeks using the Moodle Language Management System (LMS). After the initial weeks, and some dropouts, there were 59 participants in this study. The course was planned and managed by the authors of this article and some modifications were made along the experience in face of unexpected changes in the learning environment. Having as theoretical support complexity, connectivism, and learning ecology, we assessed digital tools for oral communication and verified that they had a positive impact on language learningand increased learners’ opportunities for language practice. The tools not only contributed to the development of the students’ oral skills but also decreased their anxiety when speaking English

Objective: The use of cohesive devices makes discourse comprehend. However, in the discourse of senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT) participants, the lack of the use of cohesive devices hinders effective communication. The present study aims to investigate cohesion in the discourse of SDAT participants. Understanding how these people manage their interactions may lead to suitable approaches for them. Method: The methodology of this quantitative research was ex post facto type. The present study has been performed in one of the nursing home in Kermanshah in 2019. And also, the statistic population of this study included 20 participants (10 SDAT participants and 10 normal elderly participants (NE)) who were matched based on age (63-75 years old), gender, illiteracy, and Kurdish language (Kalhori dialect) speaker. To determine the severity of dementia, the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) was performed. Then, the collected interviews were transcribed and coded. The data were analyzed based on Halliday and Hasan's theory (1976) and independent t-test was used to obtain the statistic results. Results: The findings indicate significant differences between groups using grammatical cohesive devices, such as reference (p=0.006), conjunction (p=0.004), ellipsis (p=0.007), and substitution (p=0.426) and lexical cohesive devices such as the same word (p=0.006), synonym (p=0.012), superordinate (p=0.001), general word (p=0.002), and collocation (p=0.387). Conclusion: The results show that grammatical and lexical cohesive devices are used less in the discourse of SDAT Kurdish speakers. However, in the discourse of both SDAT and NE groups, grammatical cohesive devices have more frequency than lexical cohesive devices.

Background and Purpose: Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders, the contracting of which causes numerous physical, psychological and social consequences. However, there are a number of defense mechanisms humans possess, which are responsible for protecting an individual against the stress, anxieties and pressures of everyday life. Accordingly, the present study was undertaken with the aim of comparatively investigating the defense mechanisms in a group of woman with temporal lobe epilepsy against a non-clinical group of females. Materials & Methods: The research design of the present study was based on a causal-comparative case study. The statistical population of the study consisted of all epileptic women and their normal counterparts who had referred to Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran during the first half of 2019. The sample population included 40 female patients already diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy by neurologists through electro-encephalography who were randomly selected and compared to their 40 normal counterparts. The two studied groups were similar in terms of age, education and marital status. Research data were gathered using the Andrews Defense Mechanism Questionnaire (DSQ40) and analyzed by the SPSS24 software program employing multivariate statistical analysis of variance. Results: There was a significant difference (p <0.05) between the defense mechanism used in epileptic women and that of healthy women. Conclusion: It can be concluded that women with epilepsy have different defense mechanisms and are more likely to use immature mechanisms and neurotic defense mechanisms (only in terms of False Altruism ) when compared to normal women

In the Qur'anic view, the main mission of the prophets and their heavenly books is preaching. If the Qur'an, in some cases, deals with any subject, it has only a preaching approach. If we look at the Qur'an as a book of preaching, we sometimes come across verses that seem untrue: such as the imprisonment of a people called Gog and Magog behind a dam until the Day of Judgment or the dropping of meteors to drive demons out of the sky. Allameh Tabatabai considers these two as untrue and considers the relevant verses as permissible. However, all the commentators of the Qur'an, in the last fourteen hundred years, have all considered these verses to be true, and it is a difficult claim to claim that they misunderstood the Qur'an. The competitive theory, which is discussed in this article, is that those are myths, and in preaching, there is nothing wrong with using the myths of the audience as a tool. This theory, while leaving the verses of the Qur'an on their apparent meaning that all commentators have understood over fourteen centuries, also proves the legitimacy of the Qur'an.

Due to its role in the identification of inefficient branches and deciding the consistency of their activities, evaluating the performance of a bank's branches is one of the most important decisions in the field of development and regulation of branch network. In this paper, the satisfactory functions based on game theory strategies have been utilized in order to evaluate the individual and within-group performance of the bank's branches. The proposed approach is based on a cooperative game theory, and the number of players is equal to the number of units which must be evaluated. The satisficing equilibrium set includes the options which are qualified as “good enough” or the efficient units which are both individually and within-group efficient. By applying our analytical method to the bank Mellat case study, we have presented solutions to improve the efficiency of inefficient branches and the branches which are only individually or within-group efficient using sensitivity analysis techniques. Lastly, if efficiency improvement is not possible, we have suggested omitting the branch.