علیرضا راستی

Cognate objects are verbal nouns that are morphologically related to their preceding verb by being derived from it. For all their widespread use in Arabic, such constructions are almost non-existent in Persian, and their use in the language is considered a deviation from the normal syntax of Persian. Given this, translating them into a language with no exact equivalents is likely to pose challenges for translators. This language-related problem has been probed in this investigation through a descriptive-analytical research methodology. To see how translators of the Quran set about rendering them into Persian and what compensational syntactic devices they might resort to, a content analytic approach was applied to an aggregate of 53 instances of Cognate Object Constructions (COCs) with their translations by five Persian translators of the holy book freely available on the website ParsQuran . It was found that the translators had mostly resorted to the deletion procedure rather than literal rendition, probably to help render them more naturally in the target language. The deleted cases of COC had been supplemented by a range of minor procedures, including transposition through using prepositional phrases and adverbs, the use of metaphors, amplification via absolute adverbs/adjectives and synonymy, and explicitation.

By the end of the 2020s, a change involving the substitution of the Communicative Approach to English teaching for the Structural one has been fully operative in the Iranian secondary education system. This study set out to explore the views of Iranian teachers vis-a-vis the changes introduced into the education policy of the nation since teachers as end-point policy workers play a pivotal role in the ultimate success or failure of any curricular activity. Using data from semi-structured interviews and follow-up procedures, the investigation sought to delve into how eighteen EFL teachers at the upper secondary education level made sense of changes effected at the intersection of policy and practice. Common patterns and themes were identified and presented at the level of data analysis. Despite embracing the changes, the results showed that the teachers sensed that they had been left to their own devices in translating policy into practice and that the proposed reforms were not all-inclusive in the sense that significant stakeholders including parents, school counselors, and educational leaders had been left out. They were further keenly aware of a number of obstacles in the way of policy enactment and found especially the prevalence of a regime of cramming for tests leading to the dominance of a negative teach-to-the-test culture, limited support available and infrastructural challenges, as well as resistance to change among structurally-minded practitioners as highly detrimental to implementation of change. Implications for policy, practice, and research are finally given.

This investigation set out to look into the issue of teachers’ exercise of agency in the Iranian EFL context. More specifically, as part of a larger study, it reports on the ways two Iranian Ministry of Education teachers make sense of and operate in the country’s educational setting under the demands of a centralist system of education. Priestley, Biesta, & Robinson’s (2013) framework of teacher agency formed the conceptual backbone of the present study as well as guiding the data collection/analysis of the study. Qualitative data, from semi-structured interviews as well as follow-up data collection procedures, were gleaned from the participants over the course of an academic year and were subjected to analytical interpretation in the light of the said framework. The researchers came up with findings which, in the main, gave more weight to the well-roundedness of Priestly, Biesta, & Robinson’s model of teacher agency. The results also pointed to the highly situated nature of teacher responsiveness and action, thereby undermining the still prevalent views of the essentialist and idealized character of (teacher) agency. The results of the study are liable to be of use, among others, to case-based teacher education programs.