الهه ستوده نما

Intercultural communication takes place when individuals influenced by different cultural communities negotiate shared meanings in interaction. As every country has its own cultural value system; consequently, nonverbal communication is different from country to country. Therefore, having knowledge about the similarities and differences of nonverbal communication in different cultures increases the possibility of being understood and reduces the risk of being misunderstood and misinterpreted by people from different cultural backgrounds. The current paper aims to investigate and compare the interpretations of nonverbal messages between the findings of Pease and Pease (2004), two prominent figures in the field of nonverbal communication in Western societies and the Iranian students of English and non-English major as an example of an Eastern society. In this study, 32 body gestures were selected from among 170 pictures used by Pease and Pease (2004) and the Iranian students’ interpretations of those body gestures were investigated. The results showed that the interpretations were significantly different across Western and Iranian students; however, there was no significant difference between English and non-English major students’ interpretations.

هدف تحقیق پیش رو، یافتن تأثیر احتمالی عنوان جانبدارانه بر سطح نگارش زبان­آموزان درونگرا و برونگرای ایرانی زبان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی در سطوح مبتدی/پیشرفته نگارش است. یکصد نفر از میان 150 زبان­آموز بر اساس نوع شخصیت (درونگرا/برونگرا) و سطح نگارش(مبتدی/پیشرفته) در قالب چهار گروه در این تحقیق شرکت داشتند که از آن­ها خواسته شد درباره سه موضوع (غیر جانبدارانه، جانبدارانه به سمت درونگرایی و جانبدارانه به سمت برونگرایی) مقاله بنویسند و همچنین به سوالات پرسشنامه ی شخصیتی آیزنک- ویژهبزرگسال (آیزنک و آیزنک، 1975) پاسخ دهند. مقالات آن­ها توسط دو نفر و بر اساس معیار نمره­دهی بایلی و براون (1984) تصحیح گردید. داده­های گردآمده با استفاده از واریانس دو طرفه مورد تحلیل قرار گرفتند. نتایج حاکی از وجود تفاوت معنادار، با الگوهای متنوع، میان عملکرد گروه­های شرکت­کننده بود که غیر از یک مورد، موید توانایی برتر افراد درونگرا در موضوعات غیرجانبدارانه، جانبدارانه به سمت درونگرایی و جانبدارانه به سمت برونگرایی بود.

Many textbooks include semantically related words and sometimes teachers add synonyms, antonyms, etc. to the words in order to present new vocabulary items without questioning the possible effects. This study sought to investigate the effect of teaching vocabulary through synonym, semantically unrelated, and hyponym sets based on Higa’s (1963) proposed continuum. A total of 120 Iranian intermediate EFL adults were selected and classified into two high and low language proficient learners based on their PET (2003) scores. They learned the vocabulary items based on the three above-mentioned methods. Learners’ vocabulary achievement was measured using Paribakht and Wesche’s (1993) Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) in order to assess both the quantitative (number of learnt vocabulary [NLV]) and the qualitative knowledge of vocabulary (depth of learnt vocabulary [DLV]) by administering the same test twice with a two-week interval for obtaining ST and LT results. To address research questions, two independent two-way ANOVAs and two mixed design two-way ANOVAs were conducted. The results revealed that the learners from synonym sets group gained better ST vocabulary achievement quantitatively and language proficiency level proved not to play any significant role in the learners’ vocabulary accomplishment based on belonging to any given group. It was also revealed that quantitatively hyponym, semantically unrelated, and synonym set groups were respectively the most effective methods of clustering that lead to less forgetting in LT which supports Higa’s proposition.

The purpose of this study was to see the role of English language proficiency level and sex on Iranian students’ beliefs about language learning. This study also investigated the usefulness of the BALLI questionnaire (Horwits, 1988), which checks learners’ beliefs, for the context of Iranian English language learners through conducting an interview. A total of 171 Iranian learners from safir institute took a TOEFL test (2003) and filled out BALLI questionnaire. Based on their TOEFL scores, they were divided into two levels of high and low language proficiency and each group was divided into two groups of males and females. Thirty-two participants including all groups were randomly selected for the interview. The results of the data analysis indicated that there was a significant difference in the learners’ beliefs about language learning at different language proficiency levels, but there was no significant difference in this regard between males and females. Also, the study did not prove any interaction between the two factors of sex and language proficiency level. The difference in the results of the interview and the questionnaire in three questions reveal that the questionnaire, though useful, is better to be used along with other measuring instruments.