درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

نیمه دوم قرن بیستم را می توان عصر فردسازی نامید که در آن تفاوتها و ارزشهای شخصی شناخته شده و مورد احترام قرار می گیرند. هوش یکی از جنبه های مختلف تفاوت های شخصی است که آموزش و یادگیری زبان را تحت تاثیر قرار می دهد. بنابراین هدف از تحقیق حاضر بررسی ارتباط بین هوش چندگانه و توانائی خواندن و درک مطلب زبان آموزان ایرانی زبان انگلیسی می باشد. برای نیل به این هدف، 117 نفر دانشجوی سال آخر زبان انگلیسی به طور تصادفی انتخاب گردید. پس از توزیع دو نوع ابزار تحقیق (پرسشنامه میداس و بخش خواندن و درک مطلب تافل)، داده ها جمع آوری شده و تحلیل آماری انجام پذیرفت. نتایج نشان داد که تمامی انواع هوش چندگانه زبانآموزان ارتباط معنی داری با نمرات خواندن و درک مطلب داشته و هوش شفاهی-زبان شناختی معنی دارترین پیشگوئی کننده خواندن و درک مطلب زبان آموزان است؛ در حالی که هوشهای بصری-فضائی و میان فردی به ترتیب دومین و سومین پیشگوئی کننده هستند. علاوه بر این هوشهای درون فردی و حرکتی پیشگوئی کننده خواندن و درک مطلب زبان آموزان نمی باشند.

Lexical inferencing is one of the most important strategies in vocabulary learning and it plays an important role in dealing with unknown words in a text. In this regard, the aim of this study was to determine the lexical inferencing strategies used by Iranian EFL learners when they encounter unknown words at both text and sentence levels. To this end, forty lower intermediate students were divided into two groups. For the first group, a text with 10 underlined words was given and for the second group, the same underlined words were given in separate sentences. The students were supposed to read the text and the sentences and to guess the meaning of the underlined words. Then some lexical inferencing strategies were given to them to determine which strategies they used in guessing the meaning of unknown words. The results showed that they used different strategies like using local context and word association in lexical inferencing and also they were more successful at the text level than the sentence one. The results also indicated that they were strategic learners using their own strategies including translation and cultural background knowledge to guess the meaning of the unknown words.

Professional development and professional identity of English language teachers have usually been explored separately in the research agenda. However, there might be a nexus of relationships between professional identity and professional development in the context of English language teaching. This study, therefore, explored how professional identity might contribute to professional development of English language teachers. To this end, 60 English language teachers from inner, 60 from outer, and 60 from expanding circle of language use were sampled to fill in a questionnaire which was constructed and validated by the researchers. The study concluded that language teachers’ professional development could be theorized on a development of past-present-aspirational identity. It was also found that language teachers’ professional identity could be improved through development of interpersonal relations, system of knowledge and belief, and intrapersonal identity that would be considered as sub-identities of English language teachers’ professional identity.

The present study adopted a mixed-methods research design and explored the role of a set of cognitive (i.e., aptitude and working memory) and motivational (i.e., self-regulatory capacity and self-efficacy beliefs) individual difference variables in the writing quality and composing behavior of 78 Iranian undergraduate EFL learners. The necessary data were collected through a series of instruments and both quantitative (e.g., multiple regression and t-tests) and qualitative (e.g., narrative construction and qualitative comparative analysis) techniques were used to analyze the data. The results of these analyses indicated that the construct of foreign language aptitude had the highest level of correlation and contributory potential to account for the writing competence of the learners. The composing process of learners with different individual characteristics was also compared and it was found that learners with high self-regulation capacity orchestrated and managed their composing behavior in more effective ways compared to their less self-regulated counterparts. Moreover, the narratives and qualitative comparative analysis provided some insights about how various individual characteristics might affect the composing behavior of the individual learners. Finally, it was suggested that consideration of individual differences in writing can reveal more subtle information about the causes of strengths and weaknesses of different learners and may enable the teachers to design and implement more effective instructions targeting their learners’ individual needs

روند معمول در آموزش و ارزشیابی زبان دوم براین است که میزان توانایی خواندن فراگیران را بر اساس نمره ی کل فراگیران زبان روی آزمون خواندن تعیین میکنند. بدین صورت که آیتم ها موجود در آزمونهای خواندن از نمرات یکسان برخوردار بوده و سوالات بارم بندی متفاوت ندارند. این روند براساس این پیش فرض هست که ماهیت سوالات خواندن تک بعدی وبازنمایی پذیراست و ماهیت تراکمی دارد به نحوی که بر اساس نمره ی کل دانشجو میتوان متوجه شد که چه سوالاتی را پاسخ داده است. اما تحقیقات بسیار کمی این نظریه را از طریق روشهای تحلیل آماری روانسنجی مورد آزمایش قرار داده اند درحالیکه همواره این نظریه مورد بحث و انتقاد بوده است. در این تحقیق آزمون آیلتس ماژول C با 503 دانشجوی ایرانی برگزار شد که از نظر توانایی خواندن متفاوت بودند. دو مدل روانسنجی قطعی و احتمالی تک بعدی برای بررسی کردن خاصیت ماهیت تراکمی سوالات خواندن و درک مطلب آیلتس بکار رفت . نتایج نشان میدهد که داده ها در این تحقیق از نظر مدل جبری مقیاس گاتمن، خاصیت بازنمایی پذیر و یا ماهیت تراکمی ندارند در حالیکه از نظر مدل احتمالی راش داده ها تک بعدی به نظر میرسند. اما نکته ی مورد توجه این است که نتیجه ی Person Map نشان میدهد کهنظم و ترتیب قرار گرفتن آیتمها مطابق با انچه تیوری خواندن ادعا میکند و آنچه که به طور معمول بر اساس پیش فرض ماهیت تراکمی مقیاس گاتمن در نمره دهی اجرا میشود نیست بنابراین این پیش فرض با توجه به نتایج Person Map تایید نمیشود.

Iran's National curriculum standards represent the guiding blueprints which provide direction for instruction and assessment nationwide. Iran's official university curriculum standards were designed by Iran's Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technologyto provide a frame of reference and guidance for the instructional materials used and decisions made by university instructors. Using a widely accepted measure of describing cognitive processes, that is,Bloom's revised taxonomy of educational objectives, thispaper aims at comparatively investigatingIran's B.A. official curriculum standards of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and ET (English translation). Thestandardspertaining to TEFL and ET fieldswerecontent analyzed in terms of Bloom's revised taxonomyby using a detailed checklist developedbased on the respective classification of cognitive objectives.The findings showed slight differences between both fields in terms of critical thinking skills and that lower-order cognitive skills were more prevalent than higher-order ones. Furthermore, the English translation standards pertained to critical cognitive skills in general and evaluation and creation in particular to a larger extent. Results of this study have implications for policy makers, curriculum designers, materials developers and instructors involved in language education.

Self-regulation of learning has been extensively investigated in second language (L2) learning. Many studies have focused on the strategies that language learners employ to regulate their own learning processes. However, motivational self-regulation is considerably less explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between motivational self-regulatory strategies (MSRSs) and academic achievement. A motivational self-regulation questionnaire was administered to 64 male and female adult Iranian EFL learners to measure their choice of various strategies. The quantitative data was analyzed by applying correlational and multivariate analyses. The results demonstrated that there was a strong relationship between motivational self-regulatory strategy use and academic achievement. However, no difference was found between male and female learners in their use of the strategies. Further examination revealed that higher-achieving students differed from lower-achieving participants in their preference for strategies. The article concludes that while all learners use extrinsic rewards to self-regulate their motivation, more successful learners tend to manipulate learning tasks to make the tasks intrinsically interesting and pleasant. Also, more successful learners set both long-term and short-term goals to motivate themselves. The results underscore the importance of students’ personal interests, needs and goals, and suggest that teachers foster learners’ command of the strategies through instruction and cooperative activities.

To direct m-game to be a possible didactic option for Iranian TVT (Technical Vocational Training) trainees, in this study m-game-mediated (Mobile Game-Mediated) materials delivery was incorporated into the conventional teaching method in the blended ESP reading skill platform. So, 52 male trainees fromTechnical and Vocational College of Isfahan were selected by convenience sampling. Afterwards, 48 trainees were defined as homogeneous using Englishtag Test to learn ESP in 16 triads under two different blended learning scenarios in 18 sessions in the academic year 2014-2015. While the first group of the trainees practiced in the blended learning situation with ready-made displaying device and materials, the second-group trainees practiced the same content through the medium of their own self-made PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and materials; in this way, their learning performance assessed continuously in and outside the classroom. To employ tree-prong approach, interest survey and focus-group interview were embraced, as well. Overall, descriptive and inferential analyses of the collected data disclosed that trainees who were involved in the process of materials development were more excited and learned more than their counterparts who practiced via prefabricated devices and materials. Consequently, self-made (vs. prefabricated) m-game-mediated blended platform was found to be more liable to teaching and learning ESP reading skill.