درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The focus of this paper is to determine the extent to which changes in the ideological frameworks took place after 2003 when the removal of Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist dictatorship set up a democratic system for Iraq. Using the frameworks of Critical Discourse Analysis, more specifically Fairclough's three-dimensional model and van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach, this study conducts a critical investigation into the reframing of national identity, ideological structures, and religious themes in presidential discourse. This article provides an overview of the major ways in which the Iraqi presidents have used language in an attempt to redefine national unity, balance references to Islam, and build legitimacy in light of continuing political transitions. The most important findings provide substantial shifts away from the authoritarian themes and toward inclusiveness, with each administration changing its speech to adjust to the increasingly complex sociopolitical situation. The purpose of this analysis is to identify the role that discourse plays for state-building as a process and to develop a model of political communication after a conflict. The most important findings provide substantial shifts away from the authoritarian themes and toward inclusiveness, with each administration changing its speech to adjust to the increasingly complex sociopolitical situation. The purpose of this analysis is to identify the role that discourse plays for state-building as a process and to develop a model of political communication after a conflict.

This study investigates the effect of strategy training on EFL learners’ attitudes regarding the concept and applicability of critical thinking in an educational context. To achieve this goal,80 EFL learners were selected using convenience sampling and homogenized based on the Oxford Placement Test.They completed a questionnaire adapted from Stupple et al.(2017) to assess their attitudes toward critical thinking,which served as the pre-test. Subsequently,the participants were divided into experimental and control groups.The experimental group underwent strategy training over10 sessions,during which various strategies were explained, and participants practiced using them to solve problems and exchange feedback.Additionally,they discussed the applicability and challenges associated with critical thinking in an educational context.The control group received mainstream instruction.After the treatment,both groups completed the same critical thinking questionnaire as the posttest.Furthermore,qualitative interviews were conducted with participants from the experimental group to gain an in-depth understanding. The data analysis revealed significant changes in the attitudes of the experimental group.Overall,this study follows a quasi-experimental explanatory sequential mixed-method design “In nature,the data analysis showed that,in general,the attitudes of the experimental group had changed significantly in the post-test compared to the control group.However,there was no significant difference in the attitude of the experimental and control groups regarding the applicability of strategy training for improving critical thinking and their ability to deploy critical thinking effectively.The results of the interviews and the comment section showed that teachers’ theoretical knowledge and willingness,EFL learners’ preparedness, and educational factors play important roles in the successful implementation of strategy training for developing critical thinking among EFL learners.”

This study aims to investigate the role of first language literacy and reading habits in L2 development. the researcher invited a group of 97 pre-intermediate and intermediate learners from various schools to participate in this study. They were asked to take part in two L1 tests (L1 reading comprehension and L1 spelling) as well as an L2 achievement test. Correlation was used to find the possible relation between L1 literacy and L2 development and in order to find out which of the two subcomponents of L1 literacy can better predict L2 development, regression was used. The findings show that there is a meaningful relationship between L1 literacy and L2 development. Both reading comprehension and spelling knowledge of L1 can lead to L2 development; the statistics revealed that both can preferably lead to L2 development and L2 literacy. But in this study, reading comprehension has the strongest impact on L2 development.

This study investigates the impact of computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) on grammar learning among Iranian EFL learners, focusing on the moderating role of working memory (WM). A nonrandomized pretest-posttest control group design was employed, with 60 male learners aged 17 to 18 divided into experimental and control groups. The participants were assessed using the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) to determine language proficiency and a researcher-made test to measure knowledge of past perfect tense. The intervention involved C-DA sessions conducted via the Google Meet platform for the experimental group, while the control group received traditional teacher-fronted lessons. Results from independent-sample t-tests and one-way between-groups ANOVAs revealed a significant improvement in grammar learning among the experimental group compared to the control group. However, no discernable difference was found in the performance of high and low WM learners in response to C-DA. These findings highlight C-DA's potential as a practical instructional approach for grammar learning in EFL contexts. They underscore the need for further research to explore its utility across different learner profiles.

The present study investigated the effect of dialogue localization as a classroom activity on intermediate EFL learners’ classroom conversation. To achieve this, 60 intermediate language learners were selected as convenient sample. The participants’ proficiency levels were determined through the administration of the OPT test. The OPT test utilized in this study comprises a total of 30 questions, distributed evenly across three categories: listening, vocabulary, and grammar, with 10 questions allocated to each category. The proficiency level of the students was determined based on their scores, with a range of 0-10 indicating a pre-intermediate level, 10-20 indicating an intermediate level, and 20-30 indicating an advanced level. Then, they were divided into experimental and control groups. According to Farhady, Jafarpur, and Birjandi (1994), a pre-test of speaking consisting of 7 questions was administered to both groups, and the participants were required to respond orally. The scoring system used for evaluating the participants’ speaking skills was based on the guidelines outlined in the book "Testing Language Skills from Theory to Practice." The experimental group was then taught localized conversation while the control group was taught non-localized conversation. After ten sessions of the treatments, a post-test of speaking was administered in which the participants in both groups were involved in the same activity as the pretest. The data were analyzed through calculating independent sample t-test. The results indicated that the means of the two groups were significantly different, i.e., the experimental group outperformed the control group in the speaking achievement. This means that localization in dialogue has the potential to enhance students’ speaking abilities during classroom conversations.

Textbook evaluation is of paramount importance in ensuring that textbooks are of high quality and aligned with educational goals. This study evaluated two common English language textbooks in Iran (i.e., American English File [private schools] and Vision series [state schools]) based on the brainling (brain+ language) model, heeding EFL learners’ cognition, senses, emotions, and culture. To this end, a brainling-based scale was validated based on “cogling”, “emoling”, “sensoling”, and “cultuling” components of the brainling model and distributed among Iranian teachers (N=218) and EFL learners (N=236). It was found that there were significant differences in the brainling components present in English textbooks used in state and private schools. Moreover, the independent samples t-tests revealed that there were significant differences in mean scores for brainling components between the two types of textbooks for students. However, it is worth noting that such differences were not observed among teachers’ ratings of these components.  The results could assist content developers in incorporating brainling as a worthwhile scale for evaluating English language textbooks.

The study investigated (a) pre-service teachers' strategy use in managing online classes of young learners in terms of six categories of time, interaction, assessment, behavior, instruction, and content; (b) the extent to which their practice matched their beliefs; and (c) their strengths and weaknesses in online classroom management. To collect the required data, the teaching practices of 26 pre-service teachers (f = 19, m = 7) who were MA students of TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) were observed and then rated according to 40 strategies defined in a rating scale. The student teachers were also asked to rate their own online teaching, and then their scores were compared with those of the observers. They also answered three interview questions on their strategy use, strengths, and weaknesses in managing their class in the Adobe Connect. The results of this mixed methods research revealed that student teachers used time management strategies more than the other strategies in their practice and that the majority of whom overrated their strategy use. The results also indicated that their strengths in using the components of classroom management could be hierarchically ranked as time, interaction, content, instruction, behavior, and assessment. With regard to their weaknesses, assessment was found as the weakest component. This study can help teacher educators to offer pre-service teachers an appropriate instruction on their challenges of managing online classes of young learners.

A sustained, school-based approach that offers in-service EFL teachers opportunities for collaboration in creating an environment that promotes their capacity-building and instructional growth is necessary for their professional growth. This study aimed to contribute to the growing body of research on the effect of distributed leadership in teacher professional learning. Specifically, this study scrutinized the connection between distributed leadership and professional learning of teachers, focusing on the mediating role of teacher agency. A cross-sectional survey design was applied, collecting data from 458 teachers in Iran. Teacher Professional Learning Scale, Teacher Agency Scale, and Distributed Leadership Scale were completed by them. Structural equation modelling was run to analyze the relationship between variables. The findings revealed a minimal direct relationship between distributed leadership and the professional learning of teachers, with teacher agency acting as a major mediating factor. These results contribute to existing research by suggesting that distributed leadership may not have a substantial direct effect on teacher learning, but rather indirectly improves teacher agency.

This study investigated the effectiveness of two different scopes of corrective feedback on enhancing the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of L2 written productions among 150 intermediate EFL learners participating in intact online courses. The corrective feedback scope includes highly focused and comprehensive feedback delivered via digital platforms in synchronous and asynchronous formats. Participants were divided into five groups: synchronous highly focused feedback, synchronous comprehensive feedback, asynchronous highly focused feedback, asynchronous comprehensive feedback, and a control group receiving corrective feedback via traditional methods, characterized by the indiscriminate identification and marking of all errors. Results across the feedback groups regarding their impact on complexity, accuracy, and fluency in EFL learners' written productions indicated a significant effect on accuracy, while complexity and fluency showed no significant differences based on feedback scope and delivery modality. The results of this study have several important implications for educators, material developers, and policymakers in the field of language education. For teachers, adopting synchronous feedback strategies could significantly enhance the accuracy and complexity of students' written work.

The use of smartphones in higher education has significantly impacted the global education landscape, particularly in Bangladeshi tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Despite their importance in improving students' communicative competence, listening skills are often overlooked in these classrooms due to limited access to listening equipment. This study, at the very outset, seeks to address their challenges while developing listening. Furthermore, it focused on identifying the perception of the learners and teachers towards the appropriate and effective use of smartphones to minimize their listening difficulties. This research design followed the sequential explanatory mixed-method approach to align the objectives. Convenience sampling was employed to select 11 participants for the qualitative component, ranging from lecturers to associate professors, as well as 159 students from 25 universities across Bangladesh for the quantitative component. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview were used to collect data. The study utilized SPSS 25.0 to analyze quantitative data presenting mean, median, mode, and standard deviation for the descriptive study, and a deductive thematic analysis technique was employed for qualitative data. The results showed that learners believe smartphones effectively help them overcome challenges like context sensitivity, pronunciation, missed or misperceived words, natural speech rate adaptation, accent comprehension, and vocabulary deficits. This study also finds that using smartphones to improve students' listening abilities in tertiary EFL classes is highly doable. This study also recommends that EFL teachers and administrative authorities work together in order to successfully integrate cell phones in an EFL classroom.

The field of language assessment, commemorating its 40th anniversary since the launch of language testing, has evolved significantly over the years. This study aimed to investigate the key findings and insights from exploring the role of construct validity in shaping the design of English Language Assessment (ELA) tasks. Additionally, it delved into the challenges encountered in construct validity research studies and the strategies suggested by experts to enhance it. The research team utilized a mixed-method research design for the current study. A total sample size of 37 participants was deployed. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize survey responses using quantitative analysis software (e.g., SPSS). Qualitative data was coded and organized using qualitative analysis software (e.g., NVIVO). Based on the research findings, experts in the current study have proposed strategies, and recommendations for enhancing construct validity. These strategies encompassed the incorporation of contextual factors into assessment design, the promotion of continuous validation research, the diversification of task types, and the active involvement of test-takers in the assessment development process. The findings of this study may render implications for EFL teachers, teacher trainers, and assessment administrators.

The present study investigates the emotional experiences of ten English as a foreign language (EFL) female students during an English vocabulary-building course, through the lens of Barrett’s Theory of Constructed Emotion (TCE). The data were collected using a background questionnaire, reflection paragraphs, and semi-structured interviews and were analyzed primarily by applying thematic analysis methods. The TCE was used to explain the wide range of emotions experienced and the reasons for fluctuations within a single EFL vocabulary course. The results revealed a diverse spectrum of emotions, including enjoyment, confidence, pride, anxiety, boredom, embarrassment, and blame, underscoring the TCE's premise that emotions are intricately constructed and influenced by personal learning experiences, the appraisal of learning events, contextual factors, and social interactions. Moreover, the study found that emotions are not only influenced by the situational context but also shape the situational context in turn. Thus, the findings highlighted the open and interactive nature of the systems students use to construct their emotions. Importantly, the study uncovered the strategies students employ to manage their emotions, highlighting the active role students play in shaping their emotional experiences. The findings provide valuable insights for EFL teachers, suggesting the need for a supportive and empathetic teaching environment that acknowledges the emotional dimensions of EFL vocabulary learning. By understanding and addressing these emotional aspects, teachers can better assist learners in managing their emotions, thereby optimizing vocabulary acquisition and enhancing overall learning outcomes.