Parviz Ajideh; Leila Mahmoudi
Volume 9, Issue 20 , November 2017, , Pages 25-48
Abstract
Examining the effectof high-stakes tests on learners’ perceptions has been one of the strands of washback-related research.The present study purported to investigate the washback effect of the English section of theIranian National University Entrance Exam (henceforth INUEE) on the pre-university ...
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Examining the effectof high-stakes tests on learners’ perceptions has been one of the strands of washback-related research.The present study purported to investigate the washback effect of the English section of theIranian National University Entrance Exam (henceforth INUEE) on the pre-university students’ perceptions about the high-stakes test. The participants of the study were 218 female students at two pre-university schools in the city of Ahwaz, Iran. The data were collected through a validated questionnaire. Responses and reactions to the questions were found to be mixed: a sizeable segment of the students were positive about the INUEE, considering it a valid evaluator of academic knowledge and viewing the test as a factorwhich at least 'forced' them to study English.However, those with negative perceptions criticized the test for mainly being an evaluator of rote-memorization ability (rather than academic knowledge) and a major source of anxiety, and its multiple-choice testing format,etc.The findings could be of pedagogic help and significance to policy makers, language testing scholars and teachers.
Saman Ebadi; Shokoofeh - Vakili Latif
Volume 7, Issue 16 , December 2015, , Pages 15-36
Abstract
This paper investigated the ways Iranian B.A and M.A students of English language and their professors represent themselves linguistically in their e-mails in general, and the ways they construct and negotiate power with regard to social and cultural norms in particular. It examined 84 e-mail messages ...
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This paper investigated the ways Iranian B.A and M.A students of English language and their professors represent themselves linguistically in their e-mails in general, and the ways they construct and negotiate power with regard to social and cultural norms in particular. It examined 84 e-mail messages students and professors exchanged in 2012-2013 academic year through Halliday`s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and components of critical discourse analysis (CDA). Both parties actively used e-mails to create and maintain interpersonal relationship with each other in different ways. They mainly relied on material and mental processes to convey their meanings and thoughts and felt free in the selection and manipulation of thematic elements in their writings. With regard to the construction and negotiation of power it was also revealed that both parties reconstructed and recontextualized (Bernstein, 1971) discourses and practices of the traditional classrooms prescribed by their social, cultural, and religious norms in internet context. The findings of this study will shed light on the contributions of power relations, social and cultural norms as well as other related factors in the process of communication between professors and students. Such critical functional approach has a powerful impact on students and instructors in their professional learning contexts and offers instructors in internet contexts explicit ways of recognizing and valuing differences in the language students use to respond in those contexts.
