درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Following Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss-Weltz’s (1990) classification, this study examines the relationship between power and gender of the addressees and the type and number of refusal strategies employed by Sarawani Baloch male university students (SBMUS). Fifty SBMUS studying in Azad University of Sarawan were randomly chosen as the participants of the study. Data collection was accomplished through applying a revised version of DCT (Discourse Completion Test). The data collected were then coded and analyzed according to Beebe et al.'s (ibid.) taxonomy, and Chi-square and Correlation test results. The results show that refusal strategies extracted, are, for the most part, similar to those given in Beebe et al.’s work, which, in turn, confirms the universality of applying refusal strategies. However, SBMUS also employ some new strategies not predicted in the given scheme, suggesting the effect of their religion and culture. Research findings also denote the ineffectiveness of power and gender of the addressees on the type of refusal strategies employed by SBMUS. Moreover, results indicate that although power of the addressees affects number of refusal strategies used by the participants, their gender does not affect this variable. “Excuse, reason, explanation” dealing with all the addressees, the combination of 3 refusal strategies in reply to those in higher social power, and the combination of 2 strategies in response to those with equal and lower power are the most frequent refusal strategies regarding the type and number of refusal strategies.

The field of ELT is constantly witnessing the introduction of new instructional approaches: one such perhaps recent initiative is critical discourse analysis (CDA). Accordingly, the present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of CDA instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ descriptive and argumentative writing ability. To fulfill the aforementioned purpose, a sample TOEFL was primarily piloted among a group of 30 upper intermediate EFL learners by the researchers; with the acceptable reliability and item analysis indices achieved, then the researchers administered the test among another group of 90 upper intermediate learners. Ultimately, those 60 learners whose scores fell one standard deviation above and below the mean were chosen as the participants of the study and were randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group with 30 participants in each. Both of these groups underwent the same amount of teaching time during 20 sessions which included a treatment of CDA instruction based on Jank’s (2005) set of 14 features for the experimental group. A posttest was administered at the end of the instruction to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through a multivariate analysis of variance. The result (F = 14.41 and p = 0.000 < 0.05) led to the rejection of the two null hypotheses raised in this study, thereby demonstrating that the learners in the experimental group benefited significantly more than those in the control group in terms of improving their descriptive and argumentative writing ability. Hence, the major pedagogical implication of this study is that CDA instruction can be effectively used to assist EFL learners improve their argumentative and descriptive writing ability.

این تحقیق به بررسی تاثیر پیچیدگی زبان و اندازه گروه بر ساخت دانش در دو بحث آن لاین می پردازد. ساخت دانش از طریق مدل تجزیه ارتباطات Gunawardena و دیگران (۱۹۹۷) سنجیده شد. پیچیدگی زبان از طریق تقسیم تعداد کلمات خاص بر کل کلمات به دست آمده و به تغییر لغوی اشاره دارد. نتیجه این تحقیق نشان می دهد که ساخت دانش و اندازه گروه به طور چشمگیر و البته به شکلی منفی با هم مرتبط اند که بیان کننده این موضوع است که هر چه اندازه ی گروه کوچک تر باشد میزان ساخت دانش بالاتر می رود. نتایج همچنین نشان می دهد که ساخت دانش و پیچدیگی زبان به طور چشمگیر و مثبتی با هم مرتبط اند که مشخص کننده این موضوع است که هرچه تغیرات لغوی بالا تر باشد ساخت دانش نیز بالاتر می رود. به علاوه، این تحقیق ثابت کرد که پیچیدگی زبان بیانگر ساخت دانش در بحث های آن لاین است. کارهای متفاوتی می تواند صورت بگیرد تا پیچیدگی زبان در بحث های آن لاین افزایش یابد برای مثال: دادن تکلیف های خواندنی و نوشتنی به شرکت کنندگان. اندازه ی گروه ها نیز باید محدود شده تا از خستگی و کم کاری دانش آموزان در بحث های آن لاین جلوگیری شود.

This paper reports on the findings of a study designed to investigate the cultural and social complexities governing the compliment responses among the Persian native speakers. 200 Persian respondents took a 24-item Discourse Completion Task (DCT) while 15 native field workers were also set responsible for collecting the examples of complimenting exchanges they either observed or participated in. The results suggested a significant effect for the treated intervening social variables of age, gender, educational background, social distance, and relative power as well as compliment topics in determining the type of compliment response. The responses were further suggestive of the contextual effects of the three systems of hierarchical, solidarity and deferential as well as a newly coined system as kinship system.