Ramin Akbari; Elham Yazdanmehr
Volume 3, Issue 8 , December 2011, Pages 29-51
Abstract
The critical role and effect of teacher assessment in ELT has been ratified by researchers among whom are Darling-Hammond (2000); Knox (2002); Bailey (2006); Davison & Cummins (2007); and Blum (2009).Taking this issue into account, this exploratory study seeks to investigate the underlying criteria ...
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The critical role and effect of teacher assessment in ELT has been ratified by researchers among whom are Darling-Hammond (2000); Knox (2002); Bailey (2006); Davison & Cummins (2007); and Blum (2009).Taking this issue into account, this exploratory study seeks to investigate the underlying criteria of both recruiting and assessing in-service EFL teachers in private language institutes of Iran. To this aim, five of the most well-known and expanded language institutes in this country were selected. Their procedures for employing teacher applicants and later on assessing their in-service performance have been obtained, analyzed and discussed in this study. Interviews with the supervisors along with analysis of application forms, observation sheets and other relevant documents illuminated the procedures and criteria of teacher entry and assessment in the target setting. Findings are presented more in depth in the Results and discussion section.
Nader Assadi Aidinlou
Volume 3, Issue 8 , December 2011, Pages 53-70
Abstract
The writing skill is often perceived as the most difficult language skill since it requires a higher level of productive language control than other skills (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000). The present study introduced a discourse-based framework for the teaching of writing on the basis Systemic Functional ...
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The writing skill is often perceived as the most difficult language skill since it requires a higher level of productive language control than other skills (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000). The present study introduced a discourse-based framework for the teaching of writing on the basis Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). To this end, 60 students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) were selected from among three different universities and assigned to experimental and control groups. All subjects were pre-tested for homogeneity, and then the experimental group was treated with SFL-oriented discourse knowledge for ten sessions with the non-treated group just receiving the traditional method of teaching writing. Following the treatment, a post-test was administered to the groups the results of which showed that there was a significant difference at p < .05 in the performance of the two groups on writing. It was concluded that the discourse-based teaching had a great effect on the writing of the Iranian TEFL majors.
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.
Ali Jahangard; Ahmad Moinzadeh; Akbar Karimi
Volume 3, Issue 8 , December 2011, Pages 91-113
Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the effect of grammar and vocabulary pre-teaching, as two types of pre-reading activities, on the Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension from a schema–theoretic perspective. The sample consisted of 90 female students studying at pre-university centers ...
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This study was designed to investigate the effect of grammar and vocabulary pre-teaching, as two types of pre-reading activities, on the Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension from a schema–theoretic perspective. The sample consisted of 90 female students studying at pre-university centers of Isfahan. The subjects were randomly divided into three equal-in-number groups. They participated in a test of overall language proficiency, and the results indicated that they were linguistically homogeneous. Then, the three groups were exposed to different treatments. Group A received grammar pre-teaching, whereas group B received vocabulary pre-teaching. The subject in group C (the control group), however, received no pre-teaching. The subjects in each one of the experimental groups took reading comprehension posttests. The results showed no significant difference among the three groups though the vocabulary group performed slightly better than the other two groups, and the performance of the grammar group was seemingly worse than the control group. The findings of the study are discussed in detail with reference to the schema-theoretic view of reading
Abbas Moradan; Seyyed Nasibeh Hedayati
Volume 3, Issue 8 , December 2011, Pages 115-141
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of portfolios and conferencing techniques on Iranian EFL learners' writing skill. The experiment involved Iranian intermediate students that were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. The participants of the first ...
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The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of portfolios and conferencing techniques on Iranian EFL learners' writing skill. The experiment involved Iranian intermediate students that were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. The participants of the first experimental group were asked to provide portfolios of their 4 paragraphs during the course and after each paragraph they were supposed to assess themselves and answer a self-assessment checklist (they were supposed to write four paragraphs during the course). The participants in the second experimental group were asked to take part in four whole class and two individual conferences after writing each paragraph. The participants of control group based on the traditional approach just received their scoured writings without any oral and written feedback by the teacher. The result of the study showed that there was significant difference between performance of the two experimental groups and that of the control group on the post test. No significant difference was found between the performance of the two experimental groups after implementing portfolios and conferencing techniques
