Hossein Dehganzadeh; Hojjat Dehganzadeh
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate and synthesize the trends and key findings of the studies related to gamification as a new method in the field of learning a Foreign language (LFL) over the past 11 years. Databases including Web of Science, ERIC, and Scopus were searched for this purpose, ...
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The purpose of this study is to investigate and synthesize the trends and key findings of the studies related to gamification as a new method in the field of learning a Foreign language (LFL) over the past 11 years. Databases including Web of Science, ERIC, and Scopus were searched for this purpose, analyzing a total of 28 articles. The research methodology of this study was a systematic review. A content analysis method was used for analyzing the selected articles. Our findings found that after 2015, the use of gamification in LFL became popular among researchers, and the number of field studies increased rapidly over the past two years (2017–2018). Additionally, quantitative methods were found to be the most frequently used research methods regarding gamification in LFL studies. In the analyzed studies, vocabulary and grammar abilities were the most commonly investigated basic language skills. In addition, English language, Duolingo, high school, and feedback were the most commonly investigated Foreign language, gamified platform, education level, and gamification element for learning a new language in the reviewed articles. More analysis disclosed challenges, as well as advantages associated with using gamification in LFL. Furthermore, in studies examined concerning the effectiveness of using gamification in LFL, the results mainly pointed to the benefits of gamification based learning. The systematic review also provides valuable recommendations for future researches and practitioners.
Zhaleh Beheshti; Daryush Nejadansari; Hossein Barati
Abstract
The aim of this study was fourfold: (1) to investigate the effect of literature-based activities on the accuracy of Iranian Engineering students’ writing (2) to examine the effect of literature-based activities on the accuracy of their WhatsApp assisted writing (3) to determine whether their emotional ...
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The aim of this study was fourfold: (1) to investigate the effect of literature-based activities on the accuracy of Iranian Engineering students’ writing (2) to examine the effect of literature-based activities on the accuracy of their WhatsApp assisted writing (3) to determine whether their emotional intelligence (EI) increases through literature-based activities in a WhatsApp assisted setting and (4) to survey the effect of literature-based activities and the produced emotional intelligence on the complexity and lexical diversity of students’ WhatsApp assisted writing. In phase I, as students went through literature-based activities, no significant differences of accuracy were found; despite the fact that the mean difference and standard deviation scores were indicative of effective treatment, literature-based activities. In phase II, the results obtained from the analytic procedures of literature-based activities on the accuracy of students’ WhatsApp assisted writing showed that the experimental group showed higher accuracy of writing. In phase III, the result of emotional intelligence improvement was more remarkable in the WhatsApp assisted writing. Additionally, the WhatsApp assisted written productions were significantly more diverse in using lexis, t-units and clauses but not other parameters of complexity. The results have some implications for teachers and researchers in the ESP setting.
Vahid Reza Mirzaeian
Volume 4, Issue 9 , December 2012, , Pages 63-99
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to report on an attempt to design and implement an intelligent system capable of generating the correct part of speech for a given sentence while the sentence is totally new to the system and not stored in any database available to the system. It follows the same steps a normal ...
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The aim of this paper is to report on an attempt to design and implement an intelligent system capable of generating the correct part of speech for a given sentence while the sentence is totally new to the system and not stored in any database available to the system. It follows the same steps a normal individual does to provide the correct parts of speech using a natural language processor. It uses both morphological and syntactic analysis of the input to arrive at correct part of speech. It, then, checks to see if the correct part of speech is provided. If not, it displays the correct part of speech with a short note referring to the specific rule responsible for the selection of correct part of speech. This tool can be used to help learners master English parts of speech system
Esmaeel Ali Salimi; mitra farsi
Volume 10, Issue 22 , December 2018, , Pages 49-62
Abstract
The current study aimed at examining the relationship between English language teachers’ assessment literacy and their teaching experience. In other words, it intended to inspect the relationship between native and non-native English language teachers’ assessment literacy and their teaching ...
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The current study aimed at examining the relationship between English language teachers’ assessment literacy and their teaching experience. In other words, it intended to inspect the relationship between native and non-native English language teachers’ assessment literacy and their teaching experience. To achieve such goals, 100 native and non-native English teachers from ESL and EFL contexts were picked out on the basis of a combination of availability sampling and snowball sampling procedures. They were asked to take part in the study by filling out Classroom Assessment Literacy Inventory developed by Cynthia Campbell and Craig Mertler (2004). The results revealed that there was a positive relationship between native English language teachers’ perspectives regarding assessment literacy and their experience. Besides, 32 percent of shared variances between native teachers’ perspectives regarding assessment literacy and their experiences. However, there was not any significant relationship between non-native English language teachers’ perspectives regarding assessment literacy and their experience.Keywords: Assessment Literacy, Native Teachers, Non- Native Teachers, Teaching Experience
Esmat Babaii; Mahmood Reza Atai; Abbas Parsazadeh
Volume 11, Issue 24 , December 2019, , Pages 55-78
Abstract
This paper seeks to probe cultural agendas pertaining to the images of celebrities in the widely-used English language textbooks. In fact, while visual analysis has solidified its position in ELT (e.g. Hurst, 2014; Mitsikopoulou, 2015; Romney, 2012; Taylor-Mendes, 2009) and caused the pendulum to swing ...
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This paper seeks to probe cultural agendas pertaining to the images of celebrities in the widely-used English language textbooks. In fact, while visual analysis has solidified its position in ELT (e.g. Hurst, 2014; Mitsikopoulou, 2015; Romney, 2012; Taylor-Mendes, 2009) and caused the pendulum to swing away from the grammatical or textual content to the visual presentation (Giaschi, 2000), research into celebrities as the cultural representatives has been a barely touched issue. To address this gap, the researchers, drawing on Kachru’s (1985) orthodox model of the usage of English across the globe, examined the images of celebrities in four widely-used English language textbook series. In so doing, the terms depiction and mention (Toprak & Aksoyalp, 2014) were taken as a yardstick to pinpoint the type of intersection between the text and the image. Further, the images were thematically explored, which notably indicated the images relating to the field of media were the far most common theme in the English language textbooks. Lastly, it was revealed that whereas the images of the inner-circle outnumbered all, the images of the expanding circle surprisingly outnumbered those of the outer circle, an outcome which could point to linguistic schizophrenia (Kachru, 1992) as the main reason.
Mohammad Hadi Mahmoodi; Maliheh DehghanNezhad
Volume 7, Issue 16 , December 2015, , Pages 55-84
Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate how EFL learners with distinct levels of emotional intelligence might benefit from Critical Thinking-based instruction and use different language learning strategies. A further concern of this study was to investigate the relationship among critical thinking, ...
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The present study was conducted to investigate how EFL learners with distinct levels of emotional intelligence might benefit from Critical Thinking-based instruction and use different language learning strategies. A further concern of this study was to investigate the relationship among critical thinking, language learning strategy, and emotional intelligence of EFL learners. To this end, 88 EFL learners studying at private English language institutes in Shiraz were administered 4 sets of instruments:Oxford Placement Test, California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), Bar-On Emotional Quotient inventory (EQ-i), and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). The results of the statistical analysis revealed that teaching CT skills had a significant effect on the LLS use of EFL learners across different EQ levels; however, no significant difference was found between LLS scores of students with high and low EQ levels. Moreover, a significant positive relationship was found between critical thinking and emotional intelligence, and overall language learning strategy and critical thinking.
rajab esfandiari
Volume 11, Issue 23 , June 2019, , Pages 57-93
Abstract
PhD thesis introductions help student writers to discuss the significance of their study and establish how their study relates to and draws on previous research. The present study used a genre-based approach to examine one subsection in introductions of applied linguistics PhD theses. To that end, Iranian ...
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PhD thesis introductions help student writers to discuss the significance of their study and establish how their study relates to and draws on previous research. The present study used a genre-based approach to examine one subsection in introductions of applied linguistics PhD theses. To that end, Iranian PhD thesis introductions were textually analysed. A researcher-made questionnaire, grounded on the responses from a semi-structured interview, was administered to Iranian applied linguists and PhD students to seek their opinions regarding how the subsection should be written. Frequency counts and statistical tests were used to analyse the data using SPSS (version 22). Results of genre analysis showed varying lengths, non-alphabetic ordering of the terms, and frequent uses of indirect quotations to organise the subsection. Results of textual analysis also revealed significant overlap between the terms in introductions and keywords in abstracts. The terms primarily derived from research questions. Results of questionnaire response analyses showed no statistically significant differences between the attitudes of applied linguists and PhD students. Implications of the study for PhD introduction thesis writing are discussed.
Parviz Birjandy; Sarvenaz Khatib
Volume 10, Issue 21 , June 2018, , Pages 59-82
Abstract
The present Study aimed to examine the efficacy of using literary texts in promoting intercultural communication competence, and intercultural awareness and understanding within language teaching contexts. The participants were 50 Iranian undergraduate students of English Literature, 20 male and 30 female, ...
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The present Study aimed to examine the efficacy of using literary texts in promoting intercultural communication competence, and intercultural awareness and understanding within language teaching contexts. The participants were 50 Iranian undergraduate students of English Literature, 20 male and 30 female, with their ages ranging from 19 to 24 engaged in reading and discussing literary texts with an emphasis on their social and cultural themes and contents. 9 English and 2 Persian short stories were the main material implemented, and these were supplemented by 6 American and 2 Iranian movies with their screenplays adopted from literary works. The themes attended to included racial discrimination, social class, gender roles, and ethnic minorities. Based on Byram’s (1997) proposed model of Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC), five factors of the students’ ICC development, Savoir Comprendre, Savoire Etre, Savoire S’engager, Savoirs and Savoire Apprendre/Faire, were observed throughout a 14-session course. A Content analysis of students’ writing assignments and an examination of how fruitful they found the tasks and materials in enhancing their cultural understanding demonstrated a noticeable involvement of all the studied ICC factors in reading, discussing and contemplating on the literary texts and their cultural content.
Saeed Khazaie; Gholam Reza Zarei; Ali Reza Jalilifar
Volume 5, Issue 12 , December 2013, , Pages 63-92
Abstract
This study aimed at providing learners with an opportunity not only to bring together their core and disciplinary knowledge to acquire major skills of learning English as a foreign language (EFL), and the intellectual challenge of these issues at the interface of media, language and religion, but also ...
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This study aimed at providing learners with an opportunity not only to bring together their core and disciplinary knowledge to acquire major skills of learning English as a foreign language (EFL), and the intellectual challenge of these issues at the interface of media, language and religion, but also help the materials generators to produce suitable types of content to be delivered through the medium of mobile technology. Therefore, it sought to examine the new way of teaching EFL in the form of correspondence with respect to Iranian learners' native culture and language. For the purposes of this study, English was the target language for 680 Iranian students with pre-intermediate level of language proficiency whose native languages were Persian, Arabic, Georgian, and Turkish. This study took as its point of departure the existence of important differences between the two learning materials (off the shelf vs. Islamic culture) types; thus, applying the Qur'ānic criteria of intelligence, knowledge and virtue parallel with the digital representation of common textbook materials, materials delivery was adapted to the cellphone screen to be accessed by learners' in 18 virtual sessions. Learners took part in two summative and 18 formative components included in the assessment design of this study. Also, they all answered a questionnaire which yielded information concerning their attitude towards the target language, and learning through the wireless technology. Learners' short texting correspondence as well as their performance in battery and their answers to items of questionnaires formed the reference for analyzing the results. The gains from English Islamic materials were outweighed by the effects of obtaining materials which involved more categorized cases.
Mahdi Dahmardeh
Volume 3, Issue 7 , December 2011, , Pages 67-87
Abstract
The present article arises from a three-year cross sectional investigation into English Language Teaching (ELT) in secondary schools in Iran and the role of Communicative Pedagogy within this. The study has examined the extent of communicative pedagogy within the Iranian national ELT curriculum, the ...
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The present article arises from a three-year cross sectional investigation into English Language Teaching (ELT) in secondary schools in Iran and the role of Communicative Pedagogy within this. The study has examined the extent of communicative pedagogy within the Iranian national ELT curriculum, the ELT programme and to some extent the English language coursebooks used in secondary schools. What is going to be done therefore is looking at one aspect of the study which is the role of authenticity in the above mentioned system.
In order to investigate the situation, varieties of research instruments were applied in order to collect valid and reliable data. These instruments were mainly composed of a review of literature, a desk based analysis of the curriculum, administering questionnaires as well as conducting interview sessions. The questionnaires were mainly distributed among English language teachers and the interviews were conducted with some authors of the curriculum, textbooks and English language teachers in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
It will be explained while the issue of authenticity has been addressed and considered within the newly designed national curriculum in Iran, this issue appears to play no role in either the textbooks or the English language teaching programme.
Ali Akbar Jabbari; Leila Arghavan
Volume 2, Issue 217 , October 2010, , Pages 69-109
Abstract
This study accounts for the acquisition of the consonant clusters of English syllable structures both in onset and coda positions by Persian EFL learners. Persian syllable structure is "CV(CC)", composed of one consonant at the initial position and two optional consonants at the final position; whereas ...
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This study accounts for the acquisition of the consonant clusters of English syllable structures both in onset and coda positions by Persian EFL learners. Persian syllable structure is "CV(CC)", composed of one consonant at the initial position and two optional consonants at the final position; whereas English syllable structure is "(CCC)V(CCCC)". Therefore, Persian EFL learners need to resolve the conflict between what they know (L1), and what they are learning (L2). Optimality theory (Prince and Smolensky, 1993) claims that the knowledge of language consists of the universal set of structural descriptions and a language-particular ranking of constraints. It provides an explicit account for not only why learners have difficulty with specific EFL structures but also how they resolve it. 40 participants of two levels of English proficiency participated in this study. The data were collected via two tasks. The first task was a sound comprehension test and the second was a production test. The analyzed data revealed that all the learners had difficulties in performing initial consonant clusters in English; however, the lower level learners significantly had more deficiencies. It is worth mentioning that those coda clusters composed of more than two consonants are more difficult than those composed of only two consonants. This study also revealed that epenthesis was more frequent in onset positions while deletion and substitution were more frequent in coda positions. Based on the findings of the study, English instructors and material developers can estimate the degree of difficulty of consonant clusters and provide the needed time and material for teaching them.
Farahman farrokhi
Volume 3, Issue 8 , December 2011, , Pages 71-90
Abstract
Individual differences have always been a key element in the success and failure of learners in language classrooms. Learners come to EFL classes with various learning styles and teachers utilize different methodologies targeting different needs of the learners which may have important effects on the ...
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Individual differences have always been a key element in the success and failure of learners in language classrooms. Learners come to EFL classes with various learning styles and teachers utilize different methodologies targeting different needs of the learners which may have important effects on the quality of the learning environment. In this study a comparison is made between learning styles and teaching methodologies to figure out whether there is any consistency between the two. The participants in this survey study are 108 EFL learners and 108 teachers from private institutes. The instruments for gathering data are two questionnaires, one for learning style (Honey & Mumford, 2006) and the other for teaching style (Grasha, 1996). The results of this study revealed that not only there is little consistency between learning styles and teaching methodologies but also there is not a suitable way of measuring learning proficiency in language classes. In many EFL classes, there is little chance for feedback and a traditional paper-pencil evaluation is still on the stage in some classes. The paper ends with addressing the relevant pedagogical implications.
Reza Khany; Khalil Tazik
Volume 2, Issue 222 , December 2010, , Pages 71-95
Abstract
Communicative moves and lexical cohesion patterns (LCPs), as mounting evidence shows, are two important indicators in writing and publishing the RAs. However, the interaction between these two crucial elements and the contribution of this interaction to the failure or success of the RAs have not been ...
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Communicative moves and lexical cohesion patterns (LCPs), as mounting evidence shows, are two important indicators in writing and publishing the RAs. However, the interaction between these two crucial elements and the contribution of this interaction to the failure or success of the RAs have not been given due attention to date. Having this in mind and based on a sound theoretical framework, attempt was made to find the possible interaction between the generic moves and LCPs centralized within such moves. To this end, Swales' (1990) and Kanoksilapatham (2007) move analytical models and Hoey's (1991) LCPs model were drawn upon in the analysis of 40 local RAs written by Iranian writers and 40 RAs written in international journals across sub-disciplines of Applied Linguistics. Results of the move analysis showed no significant differences regarding the obligatory moves of Introduction section across the two corpora; however, significant differences in Discussion section were revealed. Findings of the interaction between moves and LCPs indicated that there are significant differences between local and international RAs in the use of M1 of Introduction as well as M2 and M4 of Discussion sections and the way LCPs are manipulated within these moves. As long as the interaction of these two linguistic and rhetorical features were concerned, at least four possibilities were observed across local and international journals which are thought to determine, among other factors, where these academic genres might be different; similar moves, similar LCPs; different moves, different LCPs; similar moves, different LCPs; and different moves, similar LCPs.
MohammadHadi Mahmoudi; Taj Bİbi Talang
Volume 5, Issue 11 , November 2013, , Pages 73-106
Abstract
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Vocabulary is an important component in all four skills of language. Issue of vocabulary retention has great importance to EFL teachers in instructional contexts because they always observe students forget the words which are taught to them after a short period of time. The current study investigates whether the use of an interactive web-based tool referred to as ‘Wordsift’ can result in a significant improvement in long-term vocabulary retention of EFL students. 60 participants were selected to take part in the study.The participants’ age ranged from 17 to 24. They were taught 100 words in six contextualized texts. The main experiment consisted of twelve sessions, which were followed by an additional meeting designed to check the treatment effect on the long-term vocabulary retention. The results of T-test and ANOVA analyses indicated that word cloud (Wordsift) does have positive significant effect on EFL learners’ long-term vocabulary retention.
Shirin Sadaghian; Susan Marandi
Volume 8, Issue 17 , July 2016, , Pages 75-92
Abstract
Fostering autonomous learning has become one of the key concerns of course designers and curriculum planners in the last 20 years which has been validated on both ideological and psychological grounds. However, estimating learners’ readiness to accept autonomous education is an important step prior ...
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Fostering autonomous learning has become one of the key concerns of course designers and curriculum planners in the last 20 years which has been validated on both ideological and psychological grounds. However, estimating learners’ readiness to accept autonomous education is an important step prior to moving toward autonomous education. Thus, the current research investigated the patterns of autonomous behavior among Iranian EFL learners before the implementation of principles of autonomous education in language classroom. Students' responses to autonomy questionnaire went through a factor analysis process which revealed the existence of three factors underlying participants' autonomous learning behaviors. The paper discusses each factor in turn and concludes by reiterating the importance of implementing the underlying factors in designing courses that aim at fostering learner autonomy.
Hadi Farjami; Mohammad Amirian
Volume 4, Issue 10 , March 2013, , Pages 77-103
Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the perceived social self-efficacy of the students of English and their foreign language classroom anxiety. The required data were gathered through the application of the original versions of two standard questionnaires: Smith and ...
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The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the perceived social self-efficacy of the students of English and their foreign language classroom anxiety. The required data were gathered through the application of the original versions of two standard questionnaires: Smith and Betz’s (2000) 25-item Scale of Perceived Social Self-Efficacy (SPSSE) and Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s (1986) 33-item Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). A total of 151 participants (including 127 students of English Language and Literature in B.A. level and 24 students of Teaching English as a Foreign Language at M.A. level) took part in the study. Correlational analysis was employed to determine the relationship between perceived social self-efficacy and foreign language classroom anxiety. Pearson Product-Moment correlation analysis results (r = -.164, p < .05) showed that the participants’ perceived social self-efficacy had a reverse relationship with their foreign language classroom anxiety. Further calculations were done for the type and rate of the influence of demographic variables (namely age, gender, academic seniority, and educational level) on students’ PSSE and FLCA. According to the One-Way ANOVA results, no meaningful relationship was observed between age, gender, academic seniority, and educational level of the participants, and their perceived social self-efficacy or foreign language classroom anxiety. Based on the findings of this study, the rate of perceived social self-efficacy (i.e. trust in self in social situations) seems to play a key role in the intensity of foreign language learners’ anxiety and a vital parameter in their full-functioning and efficient learning.
Mohammad reza Hashemi; Ebrahim Khodadadi; Elham Yazdanmehr
Volume 1, Issue 212 , December 2008, , Pages 77-106
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to analyze EFL writing tasks in the most popular ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) exam preparation courses in Iran: IELTS, TOEFL, FCE and CAE. Having collected the criteria of writing task appropriateness in light of the process-oriented approach to writing ...
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The purpose of this research was to analyze EFL writing tasks in the most popular ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) exam preparation courses in Iran: IELTS, TOEFL, FCE and CAE. Having collected the criteria of writing task appropriateness in light of the process-oriented approach to writing instruction, 114 learner participants were asked to rate EFL writing tasks based on a checklist previously gathered and validated. An observation process was conducted of the task performance followed by an interview with teachers about the nature of these courses and learners’ motivation. According to the learners’ primary needs and goals, the four types of courses were initially divided into two groups: Group-1 (IELTS/TOEFL) and Group-2 (FCE/CAE). The independent-sample t-test was employed to compare the mean scores of ratings for all items of the checklist once between IELTS and TOEFL courses in Group 1 and once between FCE and CAE in Group 2. Significant differences were obtained especially related to the quality of writing procedures .
Ali Derakhshan; Zohreh R. Eslami; Azizeh Chalak
Abstract
Compliments (Cs) and compliment responses have been a prevailing topic of study in pragmatics due to their pivotal role in effective intercultural and transcultural interactions. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of research on compliments in the Persian language conducted over almost about ...
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Compliments (Cs) and compliment responses have been a prevailing topic of study in pragmatics due to their pivotal role in effective intercultural and transcultural interactions. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of research on compliments in the Persian language conducted over almost about the past four decades. It summarizes key findings of compliments in the Persian language used by Iranian speakers of Persian, discusses the significance of these findings, and speculates the future directions of research on complimenting studies on Persian language. An extensive bibliographical search on studies on this particular area yielded a database of nine studies on Persian Cs for this systematic review. After a brief exploration of the background of compliment studies done by prominent scholars in other languages, we provide a working definition of compliments. We then examine studies to date of complimenting behavior in Persian, highlighting similarities and differences, and any emerging trends. We provide a synthesis of the research conducted in this area, the theoretical frameworks, and the methodologies used in different studies, including data collection and data analysis. Based on the review of previous studies, we speculate on some possible directions for future research in this area.
Masood Esteki; Mansoor Tavakoli; Mohammad Amiryousefi
Abstract
This study sought to investigate the effects of Explicit Instruction in combination with Input Enhancement (EI+IE), Input Flood (IF), and Gap-fill (GF) tasks on receptive and productive knowledge of English formulaic sequences (FS) by Iranian intermediate EFL learners. Assigned to ...
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This study sought to investigate the effects of Explicit Instruction in combination with Input Enhancement (EI+IE), Input Flood (IF), and Gap-fill (GF) tasks on receptive and productive knowledge of English formulaic sequences (FS) by Iranian intermediate EFL learners. Assigned to three experimental groups, the 110 participants took the receptive and productive knowledge pretests, posttests, and delayed posttests. Findings of within-group (repeated-measures ANOVAs) and between-group (ANCOVAs) tests showed that while IF could not promote learners' performance, both the EI+IE and the GF could improve learners’ receptive and productive knowledge of target FSs from pretests to posttests and retained the effects until the delayed posttests. Additionally, both EI+IE and GF groups significantly outperformed the IF group at the immediate posttests. That is, the results from EI+IE did not differ significantly from those of GF. Plausible accounts for the obtained results are provided and the implications are discussed.
Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo; Saeed Mehrpur; Behnaz Darban
Volume 4, Issue 9 , December 2012, , Pages 101-127
Abstract
The objective of the present study was to identify and examine the influence of instructional tools, namely, games, songs and stories on young Iranian EFL learners’ achievement utilizing a quantitative design. To conduct the study 65 Iranian EFL learners, divided into an ...
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The objective of the present study was to identify and examine the influence of instructional tools, namely, games, songs and stories on young Iranian EFL learners’ achievement utilizing a quantitative design. To conduct the study 65 Iranian EFL learners, divided into an experimental group and a control group, learning English at Navid English Institute, Shiraz, Iran, participated in the study. The data were collected through two instruments: a pre/post- achievement test, and audio-recorded interviews, both designed by the researchers. The data obtained from the administration of the test and the interviews were analyzed using independent samples t-tests and paired samples t-tests and the findings were compared to describe the influence of employing instructional games, songs and stories on participants’ achievement. Findings drawn from the analysis of data revealed that the implementation of pedagogical tools used in the study can significantly affect the learners’ language achievement, realized through their listening, speaking, and writing ability and their vocabulary and grammar.
Hooshang Khoshsima; Amrollah Talati-Baghsiahi; Esmail Zare-Behtash; Mehdi Safaie-Qalati
Volume 10, Issue 22 , December 2018, , Pages 63-86
Abstract
Novice academic writers, particularly Iranian graduate students (IGSs), upon entering an academic community, are hypothesized to face probable difficulties in practicing rhetorical expectations set by the experienced (EXP) members, hence, not being able to write in a way acceptable to these professionals. ...
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Novice academic writers, particularly Iranian graduate students (IGSs), upon entering an academic community, are hypothesized to face probable difficulties in practicing rhetorical expectations set by the experienced (EXP) members, hence, not being able to write in a way acceptable to these professionals. To explore the probable rhetorical distance between them, this study investigated the employment of interactional metadiscourse markers (IMMs) in the writings of IGSs (MA and Ph.D.) and EXP figures in Applied Linguistics. 120 recent research articles (RAs) served as the corpus of the study. Drawing on Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse, all occurrences of the five types of IMMs were functionally identified, and compared. To detect any possible significant differences between the corpora, Chi-square tests were run. The results indicated that the IGSs used far less IMMs than the EXP ones in their RAs. However, the general pattern of their metadiscourse use was similar to the EXP writers’. It can be concluded that although the IGSs are relatively aware of general rhetorical framework of the genre based on IMMs, they seem to be far away from the rhetorical standards set by the established members of the discipline. Finally, the possible justifications and implications of the study were presented.
Sasan Baleghizadeh; Samaneh Shafeie
Volume 11, Issue 24 , December 2019, , Pages 79-114
Abstract
Formulaic sequences (FSs) are among the most commonly discussed and well-documented effective factors in oral fluency both in L1 and L2. The present study aims to investigate the effect of teaching a set of 140 FSs on Iranian EFL learners' oral fluency. The relationship between the use of FSs and different ...
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Formulaic sequences (FSs) are among the most commonly discussed and well-documented effective factors in oral fluency both in L1 and L2. The present study aims to investigate the effect of teaching a set of 140 FSs on Iranian EFL learners' oral fluency. The relationship between the use of FSs and different measures of oral fluency is also studied empirically. Forty-eight intermediate EFL learners took part in the study. The participants were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group. One of the experimental groups was taught the FSs with spaced retrievals. The other experimental group was also taught the FSs but with non-spaced retrievals. The control group was taught no FSs. The posttest was conducted one week after the treatment. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and other statistical procedures were used for analyzing the data. The results indicated that spaced productive retrieval of the FSs after their explicit and holistic teaching, helped the learners to have longer mean length of runs. The present findings have important implications for solving students' problems in speaking the second language. Therefore, the significance of spaced retrieval of FSs in language teaching and learning should not be neglected.
Raziye Fatemi; Sue-san Ghahremani Ghajar; Shahla Bakhtiari
Volume 10, Issue 21 , June 2018, , Pages 83-104
Abstract
The monopoly of Western ideologies, theories and methods through English language education as well as the marginalization of Islamic values in English language learning materials has caused heated debates and controversies among Muslim TEFL scholars. In a descriptive and interpretive analysis, this ...
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The monopoly of Western ideologies, theories and methods through English language education as well as the marginalization of Islamic values in English language learning materials has caused heated debates and controversies among Muslim TEFL scholars. In a descriptive and interpretive analysis, this study attempts to bring light to some theoretical issues pertained to language education and Islamic education in a historical mode hoping to pave the way for further exploration of Islamic heritage in English language education theory and practice. The study also calls for designing English literacy programs in light of the Islamic education theories and methods, and urges Muslim TEFL scholars to restructure English language education in a way that meets the demands of an Islamic education. Thus, it first looks at the roots where Islamic education has guided many intellectual movements including language education. Secondly, it reviews the colonial era in which western education has created a gap between the glorious Islamic past and through its language superiority. Then, it explores the awakening movements that call for reunion and return to our ‘true selves’ in education, in general and in language education, in particular. It is hoped that the present work may pave the way for further exploration of Islamic heritage in English language education theory and practice.
Ahmad Pariafsai; Mohammad Ghazanfari; Omid Akbari; Tahereh Hosseini Borabadi
Volume 7, Issue 16 , December 2015, , Pages 85-111
Abstract
Many researchers have investigated different aspects of learning styles. Nevertheless, few studies have considered interactions between the notions of learning styles and “good language learners’” achievement. The present study aimed at exploring dominant learning style preferences ...
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Many researchers have investigated different aspects of learning styles. Nevertheless, few studies have considered interactions between the notions of learning styles and “good language learners’” achievement. The present study aimed at exploring dominant learning style preferences by senior high-school students and comparing their preferences with those by “good language learners”. To this goal, the Index of Learning Style (ILS) was administered. A sample consisting of 1307 senior high-school Iranian students (711 males and 596 females was randomly picked up from among a population of 3310 students, who could potentially participate in the study. In terms of the participants’ achievement scores, 343 top students were arbitrarily categorized as “good language learners” and the remaining 964 as “the average language learners”. The results of the (ILS) showed that most of the participants preferred ‘reflective’, ‘sensing’, ‘visual’, and ‘sequential’ learning styles. A two-way ANOVA test revealed that the difference between the participants’ mean scores was due to both their genders and Visual/Verbal and Sequential/Global preferences. Findings about the relationship between learning styles and the participants’ achievement scores indicated that except for the ‘understanding’ dimension, there was no significant relationship between the other three dimensions and the participants’ achievement scores. Moreover, the Chi-square statistic indicated a significant difference between the learning style preferences by senior high-school “good language learners” and those preferred by the average ones.
Jhaleh Hassaskhah
Volume 3, Issue 7 , December 2011, , Pages 89-113
Abstract
Earlier self efficacy studies have been blamed for their methodological weakness and their mere reliance on self-report, survey, and correlational techniques for data collection. The purpose of this study; therefore, was to assess the impact of Feuerstein’s theory of mediation on EFL teachers’ ...
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Earlier self efficacy studies have been blamed for their methodological weakness and their mere reliance on self-report, survey, and correlational techniques for data collection. The purpose of this study; therefore, was to assess the impact of Feuerstein’s theory of mediation on EFL teachers’ sense of efficacy through direct observation rather than self reports and to use experimental techniques to measure changes in the three key components in teachers’ self efficacy -- efficacy in student engagement, efficacy in instructional practices, and efficacy in classroom management-- in 16beginning teachers participating in their in- service teacher development program. Intervention strategies-- modeling, rehearsal, and videotape analysis-- were implemented over a span of 15 two hour sessions. Progress was also monitored by students’ engagement in a real teaching performance followed by their self/ peer evaluation. Results of this study indicated that the participants made significant gain scores for all three components.
