Mojtaba Gheitasi; Mohammad Aliakbari; nourodin Yousofi
Abstract
This study evaluated the cultural content of Vision textbook series that are currently in use in Iranian public secondary school system. The aim was to find the most frequent cultural references as well as the most-frequently-represented cultural senses. For this purpose, frequency counts were used to ...
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This study evaluated the cultural content of Vision textbook series that are currently in use in Iranian public secondary school system. The aim was to find the most frequent cultural references as well as the most-frequently-represented cultural senses. For this purpose, frequency counts were used to collect the data and the culture categorization framework (Adaskou et. al., 1990) and cultural reference framework (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999), modified by Tajeddin and Teimournezhad (2014), were used to analyze the data. Results of the frequency counts indicated that the Vision ELT textbooks contained the most cultural content associated with Persian as the source culture. Similarly, the focus was primarily on the esthetic sense of culture, followed respectively by semantic, sociological and sociolinguistic (pragmatic) senses. The study ends up with implications for EFL stake-holders in Iranian context as well as the ELT enterprise in general.
Elham Yazdanmehr; Ramin Akbari; Gholamreza Kiany
Abstract
In an attempt to shed light on how expert teachers of English language are distinguished from non-experts, the present research explored how pedagogical content knowledge, as a characteristic of experts relates to four other dimensions of expertise in ELT. These include teacher’s experience, cognitive ...
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In an attempt to shed light on how expert teachers of English language are distinguished from non-experts, the present research explored how pedagogical content knowledge, as a characteristic of experts relates to four other dimensions of expertise in ELT. These include teacher’s experience, cognitive skills, professional development and learner-centered teaching. To this aim, a questionnaire was developed based on the related literature, comprising 109 items, 41 of which enquired about pedagogical content knowledge and the rest about the other dimensions of expertise in ELT. The reliability and validity of the test were confirmed. The SEM analysis results showed that pedagogical content knowledge was positively and significantly correlated with teacher’s experience, cognitive skills and learner-centered teaching. It also showed to have a statistically significant causal relationship with professional development. The findings proved the significance of pedagogical content knowledge as a prominent feature of expertise in ELT, which requires attention to teacher’s lesson planning, class management, problem solving, learning assessment/feedback and task design in teacher education programs or teacher evaluation program especially for the sake of teacher professional development.
Mostafa Morady Moghaddam; Farhad Moezzipour
Volume 9, Issue 20 , November 2017, , Pages 187-221
Abstract
In this study, we attempt to bring to light various organisational and implementational clashes relevant to the conceptualisation of language policies at national level, and the planning of local practices with regard to degree programmes, language journals and conferences in Iranian higher education. ...
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In this study, we attempt to bring to light various organisational and implementational clashes relevant to the conceptualisation of language policies at national level, and the planning of local practices with regard to degree programmes, language journals and conferences in Iranian higher education. We also prove that in its current status, the ELT syllabus in Iran, both at national and local levels, is a mixture of English Language Teaching, Linguistics, and Applied Linguistics (a hotchpotch), which suffers from ‘regulatory barriers’. The paper asks for an in-depth language policy and planning (LPP) that would clarify the blurred boundaries between ELT, Applied Linguistics, and Linguistics in Iranian higher education. This paper recommends that there should be a change regarding language-in-education policy and planning in Iran; a change that would be able to address both theoretical and applied language problems at national and local levels. The attempt should begin with organising a clear and comprehensive language planning with regard to language programmes. This would mean carefully determining the scope and boundaries of the fields as ELT, Applied Linguistics, and Linguistics in the higher educational context. The subsequent challenge is to fix the problematic implementation of language programmes at the local level, considering language journals, conferences, and syllabuses. The findings presented in this work are useful for language policymakers to regulate language-in-education policy and planning in Iran.
Elham Yazdanmehr; Ramin Akbari
Volume 7, Issue 15 , May 2015, , Pages 157-180
Abstract
The present paper seeks to investigate the cognitive abilities of expert EFL teachers. To this aim, the existing literature was examined and ten cognitive themes were derived which were further investigated through interviews conducted with ten academics, teacher trainers and exemplary teachers of the ...
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The present paper seeks to investigate the cognitive abilities of expert EFL teachers. To this aim, the existing literature was examined and ten cognitive themes were derived which were further investigated through interviews conducted with ten academics, teacher trainers and exemplary teachers of the field in the Iranian context. The ten extracted themes were attested by interviewees’ comments. They include: fast pattern recognition, selective attention, holistic perception, superior memory, fast information encoding, anticipation power, perception of teacher’s role, awareness of situation-specific class events, and awareness of their knowledge, linking prior and new knowledge. These themes are further explained and discussed along with extracts of the actual interviews. It is recurrently reminded that these cognitive issues are just one aspect of teaching expertise in ELT and the whole idea is part of a model of expertise being constructed which consists of 8 factors only one of which is teacher cognition.
