Mohammad Reza Anani Sarab; Yahya Gordani
Volume 6, Issue 14 , December 2014, Pages 1-18
Abstract
The present study investigated the use of L2 private speech by English foreign language (EFL) learners in regulating their mental activities. Thirty intermediate adult EFL learners took a test of solving challenging English riddles while their voices were being recorded. Following, instances of the produced ...
Read More
The present study investigated the use of L2 private speech by English foreign language (EFL) learners in regulating their mental activities. Thirty intermediate adult EFL learners took a test of solving challenging English riddles while their voices were being recorded. Following, instances of the produced private speech were analyzed in terms of form, content, and function. Numerous instances of reading aloud and repetition as well as self explanations and reviewing show how important they are in cognitive regulation of EFL learners. In addition, the results indicate the beneficial functions of private speech such as planning, managing the thought, self-orientation, motivating, and controlling anxiety among many others. The paper emphasizes the training of private speech and calls for patience in the face of silent periods produced by language learners.
Ali Akbar Ansarin; Mahsa Mohammadpour Yaghiny
Volume 6, Issue 14 , December 2014, Pages 19-36
Abstract
Investigating transfer of one’s pragmatic knowledge of first language to his second or foreign language, has been one of the areas of interest for researchers. However, there are contradictory results even within the scarce studies which have addressed transferability. This study was an attempt ...
Read More
Investigating transfer of one’s pragmatic knowledge of first language to his second or foreign language, has been one of the areas of interest for researchers. However, there are contradictory results even within the scarce studies which have addressed transferability. This study was an attempt to investigate perceived pragmatic transferability of L1 refusal strategies by Persian EFL learners. Specifically, the effect of degree of imposition of the context and eliciting act type on transferability rate was investigated. To this end, a DCT was developed with the help of 60 (male & female) Persian EFL learners. This DCT was then administered to 74 Persian EFL learners as the main participants of the study. The results showed the existence of the interactional effect of both degree of imposition and type of eliciting act on the learners’ transferability rate. This suggests that learners’ perception of the differences in conditions under which they refuse has an effect on their choices of the pragmatic aspects to be transferred to English.
Nasrin Shams; azizollah Dabaghi
Volume 6, Issue 14 , December 2014, Pages 37-56
Abstract
This study explores the effect of online annotations via Interactive White Boards (IWBs) on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this aim, 60 students from a language institute were selected as homogeneous based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test (2014).Then, they were randomly ...
Read More
This study explores the effect of online annotations via Interactive White Boards (IWBs) on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this aim, 60 students from a language institute were selected as homogeneous based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test (2014).Then, they were randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups of 20, and subsequently exposed to the research treatment after taking a pre-test of reading comprehension. The experimental groups received the L2 texts on IWB screen for comprehension and, at the same time, received the online annotations (auditory, pictorial, and video) attached to the target words. During the session of instruction, the participants read the texts through IWB for comprehension while consulting the annotations attached to the target words. Then, they were tested on their reading comprehension through an immediate post-test in order to measure the effect of instruction on reading comprehension immediately. The results of one-way ANOVA analysis of the data indicated that pictorial annotation group comprehended the L2 texts significantly better than the auditory annotation group. The results also revealed that video annotation group significantly outperformed the other two groups in L2 reading comprehension, confirming the Dual-coding Theory (Paivio, 1971, 1990). The findings of this study may have important implications for foreign language syllabus designers and instructors as well.
Rozana Shamsabadi; Saeed Ketabi
Volume 6, Issue 14 , December 2014, Pages 57-74
Abstract
The development of materials for language teaching has been retraced from different perspectives. For example, some have identified influences of a social view on designing course books and compiling materials for language classes. The purpose of this article is to focus on the specific case of ELT material, ...
Read More
The development of materials for language teaching has been retraced from different perspectives. For example, some have identified influences of a social view on designing course books and compiling materials for language classes. The purpose of this article is to focus on the specific case of ELT material, its design and priorities in the context of Iran. This article also offers a detailed analysis of the contemporary condition of Iranian context and the consequences of materials colonization in English language teaching courses.In addressing the question of “How McDonaldization is attributed to language teaching”, it is attempted to broaden the understanding of the condition of English teaching classrooms in different private language institutes and universities of Iran and show how the framework of standardization of materials is regarded as the main concern of the present educators of Iran’s context of English language teaching. Finally, the idea that uniformity of materials is an integral part of our classes is presented. Reviewing some scholars’ ideas about standardization of materials in our EFL context, the way teachers are pictured with their roles as experimenters rather than the mere designers of the detailed instructions is also highlighted. Meanwhile, increasing the amount and quality of teacher development programs and not disregarding the role of teachers would be practically useful recommendations for those involved in the process of EFL teaching in Iran.
Elaheh Sotoudehnama; Fattaneh Maleki Jebelli
Volume 6, Issue 14 , December 2014, Pages 75-96
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to activate the passive lexical knowledge through noticing and to investigate the effect of sentence writing as the post task of noticing activity on strengthening the effect of noticing. Forty-two Iranian female adult upper-intermediate English students of a state university ...
Read More
The purpose of the study was to activate the passive lexical knowledge through noticing and to investigate the effect of sentence writing as the post task of noticing activity on strengthening the effect of noticing. Forty-two Iranian female adult upper-intermediate English students of a state university in 2 homogenous groups participated in noticing the lexical items whose production were not as easy as their comprehension through highlighting them in a reading passage. Then, the participants were involved in a four-week process of massed/distributed sentence writing; every week the participants of one group wrote one sentencewith one of the 16 noticed wordseach day during 4 consequent days, and the other group experienced this process once a week in which they wrote 4 sentences with the 4 noticed words without time interval. As the results indicated, presenting the post task was significantly effective in promoting the productive lexical knowledge of both groups. The interaction between the time factor and the methods of learning was significant. Also, the distributed group outperformed the massed group, but not significantly.
Mohammad Ali Torabi
Volume 6, Issue 14 , December 2014, Pages 97-110
Abstract
From applied linguistic point of view, the fundamental question facing the language teachers, methodologists and course designers is which procedure is more effective in FL/SL : learning to use or using to learn? Definitely, in order to be a competent language user, knowledge of language system is necessary, ...
Read More
From applied linguistic point of view, the fundamental question facing the language teachers, methodologists and course designers is which procedure is more effective in FL/SL : learning to use or using to learn? Definitely, in order to be a competent language user, knowledge of language system is necessary, but it is not sufficient to be a successful language user. That is why there was a gradual shift of attention from the teacher and method towards the language learner. Thus, there were changes in the conceptualizations of language competence and the mechanisms and strategies involved in the process of language learning. In this paper, the nature and specifications of language learning strategies, i.e., cognitive, metacognitive, linguistic and sociolinguistic strategies have been discussed; and the crucial role of metacognitive strategies has been emphasized in strategy-based instruction.
