English language teaching
Golnar Mazdayasna; Farangis Shahidzade; Ali Mohammad Fazilatfar
Abstract
Despite some investigations highlighting the role of English literary texts in learner identity construction, few studies have explored how integrating translated short stories from learners’ native culture impacts L2 learners’ identity reconstruction in EFL contexts. This study addresses ...
Read More
Despite some investigations highlighting the role of English literary texts in learner identity construction, few studies have explored how integrating translated short stories from learners’ native culture impacts L2 learners’ identity reconstruction in EFL contexts. This study addresses how learning English through Persian short stories translated into English can affect reader identity reconstruction of Iranian undergraduate students of English. The researchers selected three translated stories of loyalty, justice, and love themes. After collecting the data through five WhatsApp semi-structured interviews and five open-ended questionnaires, the researchers applied qualitative content analysis to the data related to readers’ self-descriptions of the initial L2 learning experiences, the story-based instructional stage, and their aspirations. The findings revealed significant alterations in the emotional and attitudinal states of the learners throughout the stages. Despite prioritizing different cultural and linguistic resources, the three participants highlighted the contribution of resources in language learning in the story-based stage and in their aspirations. All participants focused on the scaffolding role of their native language and culture in enhancing classroom interactions. The results would enlighten materials developers to integrate translated literary texts from Persian literature into language teaching programs.
English language learning
Golnar Mazdayasna; Mohammad Hossein Ghane
Abstract
This study was conducted to explore the effects of genre-based writing instruction on thesis proposal writing self-efficacy and writing quality. Twenty-two graduate students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language participated in the study. Drawing on Bandura's (2006) guidelines, we developed ...
Read More
This study was conducted to explore the effects of genre-based writing instruction on thesis proposal writing self-efficacy and writing quality. Twenty-two graduate students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language participated in the study. Drawing on Bandura's (2006) guidelines, we developed a proposal writing self-efficacy questionnaire, which students completed at the beginning of the semester and the end of one semester. They wrote a preliminary proposal at the beginning of the semester, that is, before being exposed to a genre-based approach. For one semester the students’ awareness was raised concerning the generic structures of the sections included in the thesis proposal and relevant lexico-grammatical features were highlighted. Students initially showed strong writing self-efficacy, which significantly increased at the end of the semester. They also showed remarkably significant improvement in their proposal writing skills. Students’ pre-instruction skills perception was higher than their proposal quality, which may be attributed to their lack of knowledge of academic writing conventions. However, after receiving genre-based instruction, their proposal quality surpassed their level of self-efficacy. The results of this study are discussed, and implications of the study are provided.
English language learning
Ali Hashemi; Fatemeh Mahdavirad; Golnar Mazdayasna
Abstract
Writing a book review is an instance of evaluative academic writing where thewriter is involved in an interaction with the author and the reader, evaluates theviewpoints stated in the book and voices his own position and stance in a dialoguewith the reader. Working within the framework of Martin and ...
Read More
Writing a book review is an instance of evaluative academic writing where thewriter is involved in an interaction with the author and the reader, evaluates theviewpoints stated in the book and voices his own position and stance in a dialoguewith the reader. Working within the framework of Martin and White’s (2005)Appraisal Theory as an effective tool for studying the essential resources employedin this interaction and evaluation, the present study examined 60 book reviewsfrom the Humanities academic journals written by native male and female writers,and tried to investigate the type and frequency of the three Appraisal categories(Attitude, Engagement, Graduation). The findings indicate that both writer groupsmade extensive use of these resources in their writings. However, the male bookreview writers exceeded the female writers in all the three categories. In addition,the Attitude resources were used the most and The Engagement resources werethe least employed resources. The implications of the study for teaching writingskills and developing materials and tasks for writing courses at academic levels arementioned in detail
