English language teaching
Mohammad Akbar Raeisi; Mansoor Ganji; Ali Beikian; Nahid Yarahmadzehi
Abstract
Limiting the scope of Maritime English (ME) courses to nautical subject matters, due to the conventional views who define ME as the global language used at sea, may not be based on a real needs analysis of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses in ports and maritime related organizations. Utilizing ...
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Limiting the scope of Maritime English (ME) courses to nautical subject matters, due to the conventional views who define ME as the global language used at sea, may not be based on a real needs analysis of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses in ports and maritime related organizations. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to challenge this traditional perception through conducting an ESP needs analysis in Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) of Iran. All the 17 departments’ managers and/or their delegates were interviewed, then a researcher-made questionnaire which was developed according to the interviews was distributed among the experts (70 respondents). The deductive content analysis was used for analyzing the qualitative part, and the quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. It was revealed that the overall needs of PMO in terms of ESP does not concord with conventional nautical-based Maritime English courses, and it in fact encompasses a much wider variety of content areas such as “port economic, marketing and investment, legal, tariffs, agreements and contracts, education, research, strategic port administration, logistics” etc.
Mansoor Ganji; Sakineh Jafari; Majid Asgari
Abstract
This study investigated the effect of transcribing group-discussion tasks on the development of university students' autonomy and oral proficiency. A quasi-experimental research design was followed to compare the performances of four groups: two experimental groups and two control groups (each group ...
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This study investigated the effect of transcribing group-discussion tasks on the development of university students' autonomy and oral proficiency. A quasi-experimental research design was followed to compare the performances of four groups: two experimental groups and two control groups (each group divided into low and high proficiency students). The study lasted for 12 weeks, and the teacher assigned a classroom oral discussion task in each session. The students were divided into discussion groups of three or four students, with low and high proficiency learners in different groups. The participants had to record their group discussion tasks. Control groups’ students had to submit their recorded conversations to their instructor, but they did not do any post-task activity. However, the experimental groups’ students had to transcribe their recorded speaking tasks, to find their own and their peers' grammatical mistakes, and to correct them. Finally, while working in groups, students discussed the texts and reformulated their mistakes. Employing ANCOVA to analyze the results, researchers found that experimental groups significantly outperformed the students of the control groups on post-tests of oral proficiency and learner autonomy. Thus, transcription followed by reflection on inaccurate production contributed to the superior performance of participants in the experimental groups.
