مطالب

Considering special geographical location of Dargaz Plain in Razavi Khorasan province, identifying the cultural evolution there during the Parthian period can answer many questions about this relatively unknown historical era of Iran. Besides, it can help us better understand the origin of the Parthian culture in Northeast Iran. This research was carried out in the form of a reconsideration project during the field studies of Dargaz Plain. In this regard, Dargaz Plain was surveyed during one season, and as a result, 84 sites belonging to the Parthian period were identified. The main purpose of the research was to study the distribution patterns of Parthian settlements and their spatial relations with each other based on environmental variables. The most important environmental indicators in explaining the settlement patterns were analyzed via attributes such as altitude, water resources, slope, communication routes, vegetation, and land use, as well as the characteristics of the sites, including size and chronology using the geographic information system (GIS) and the cluster analysis method. The results indicate that during the Parthian period, the area witnessed an increasing growth in the nomadic population compared to permanent settlements, and in general three settlement patterns were identified: small and large villages, an urban center, and nomadic and seasonal settlements.

Introduction: Academic faculty members need to emphasize ethical principles in order to improve higher education, with the understanding of this importance, the current research was conducted with the aim of designing the ethical model of academic faculty members in Iran's higher education. Material & Methods: This research is a type of qualitative study that uses foundational data theory. The participants, including experts and faculty members of the country's public universities, who were responsible for the promotion of academic members, were selected as key informants through a targeted sampling method of 45 people. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The reliability and validity of the data were obtained from the two methods of reviewing the participants and recoding by experts. Data were analyzed by open, central and selective coding. Results: The results showed that the moral model of faculty members in Iran's higher education is explained in 10 main categories and 27 subcategories. Major and core categories in the form of 6 dimensions of causal conditions including (individual factors, organizational factors), core (cultural-educational, educational ethics, research ethics, scientific-executive), background conditions (higher education policies, moral activism), intervening conditions (environmental factors), strategies (micro level - university, macro level - higher education) and consequences (individual and organizational) were elevated to a higher abstract level and finally the research paradigm model was presented. Conclusion: The regulations for the promotion of academic staff members in Iran require a detailed revision of the content with an ethical and qualitative approach in order to make the indicators of the promotion regulations efficient and effective.

Introduction: Administrative corruption is a global problem and the biggest obstacle to reform in any country and the biggest obstacle to progress. Corruption is the violation of existing laws to secure personal interests and profits, and it is often referred to as a severe organizational disease. This research seeks to identify the moral and cultural rules and norms underlying administrative corruption in Iran based on the theory of modern institutionalism. Material and Methods: This research is of qualitative type and in terms of method, "qualitative content analysis" and data collection method is also based on "review of documents". The research community included cases related to administrative corruption in the courts of Tehran province, which were investigated and resulted in conviction. Among them, 19 cases were randomly selected. Data were analyzed by coding method. Results: The findings of the research showed the impact of 19 open codes, which the researcher classified into 4 core code categories, and the conceptual model of the research was formed. Conclusion: The results of this research show that "individualistic and materialistic institutional environment", "corrupting institutional environment", "legitimization" and "institutionalized organizational corruption" are considered as factors and institutional norms underlying administrative corruption in Iran. To deal with and prevent administrative corruption in society, organizations should be institutionalized based on moral values and administrative health beliefs.

Assessing learners’ writing is one of the primary responsibilities of English language teachers. Nevertheless, research on teachers’ writing assessment literacy (WAL) is scarce. To this end, this study a) explored Iraqi Kurdish EFL teachers’ writing assessment knowledge, beliefs, and practices and b) examined assessment strategies they employ to assess learners’ writing ability and the feedback they provide on learners’ writing performance. Data were collected from language teachers in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (N=80), who taught at universities, institutes, and schools, utilizing a modified version of the WAL questionnaire consisting of five sections, including teachers’ demographic information, assessment strategies, knowledge of WAL, beliefs about WAL, and practices concerning WAL. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a group of volunteer teachers (N=10). The findings highlighted teachers’ insufficient knowledge of writing assessments. A significant mismatch was found between teachers’ stated beliefs and their practices in the use of formative and summative assessment. The teachers had positive beliefs toward formative assessment; however, they preferred using summative assessment. The qualitative findings further pointed to a significant knowledge gap among teachers regarding specific terminologies, such as formative and summative assessment, as well as scoring rubrics. Finally, the results indicated that teachers used various feedback types to improve learners’ writing skills. The findings emphasize the need to improve teachers’ writing assessment literacy in order to bridge the gap between teachers’ beliefs and their practices of writing assessment.  

In tandem with communicative approaches to language teaching, there is a growing understanding in SLA that assessment needs to be integrated into language learning. This contention has led to the development of the Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) approach for assessing language skills and aspects in language classrooms. To our knowledge, interventionist studies to improve EFL teachers' LOA-based assessment practices are in their infancy. The present study examined Iranian EFL teachers' perspectives on LOA in language teaching. To this end, the researchers selected 44 EFL teachers in four language institutes in Urmia (Iran) and provided them with tailor-made LOA-based training in 12 sessions for one month. The teachers were informed that LOA procedures are to be adopted and used in their classes. During the following semester, the researchers observed the participants' classes periodically and provided them with comments on their LOA procedures. Following the course, interviews were held with the participants to probe into their perspectives on LOA. Drawing upon thematic analysis, the researchers analyzed the recordings to develop a model for the participants' perspectives on LOA procedures. Development of teacher noticing skills in LOA procedure, its beneficial impact on language learning vis-à-vis traditional testing procedures, implementation challenges, widespread use at all proficiency levels, and the need to develop user-friendly LOA-compatible software and applications constituted the major themes based on the interview data. The findings demonstrate that the participants harbored favorable views on LOA and regarded it to be more efficacious than traditional testing procedures.