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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.

فرهنگ جنبه ای جدانشدنی از حیات هر جامعه و هر تمدن انسانی است و حین ترجمه یک اثر، تنها نمی توان از زبان مبدأ به زبان مقصد رسید بلکه گذر از فرهنگ مبدأ به فرهنگ مقصد نیز الزامی است. مشکل نمایاندن فرهنگ مبدأ هنگامی جد ی تر می شود که دو فرهنگ مبدأ و مقصد با هم متفاوتند یا حتی در تقابل با یکدیگر قرار دارند. بنابراین عملی که در یک فرهنگ کاملاً پذیرفته شده است در فرهنگ دیگر تابو (جزء امور نهی شده) محسوب می شود. با انتخاب دوبلاژ به عنوان یکی ازگونه های ترجمه ی سمعی بصری، قصد داریم تا راهبردهای اتخاذ شده در ترجمه ی مراجع فرهنگی در فیلم ژرمینال را که ساخته ی کلود بری در سال 1993 است، با توجه به نقش سفارش دهنده ی ترجمه و مخاطب اثر بررسی کنیم. شیوه هایی چون ""معادل گزینی"" ""اقتباس"" ""تعمیم"" و حتی ""وامگیری"" در ترجمه مولفه های فرهنگی در این فیلم به کار رفته اند.

Incidental vocabulary learning is often seen as superior to direct instruction on many occasions. Meanwhile, upon the emergence of the World Wide Web, second language (SL) learners have been introduced to 'podcasts' (recorded audio and video online broadcasts) which could be authentic sources of vocabulary learning. The relatively recent phenomenon of video podcast (vodcast) might be considered as a reliable complementary source of input to the written text or the audio track which are predominantly used to represent the platforms of SL instruction. To examine this assertion, three groups of Iranian EFL learners (n=63) were independently exposed to different modes of input (the reading text, audio track, and vodcast) during a series of classroom sessions under highly controlled circumstances. Immediate and delayed passive recall tests of vocabulary were administered to investigate their incidental gains. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that both dependent variables (immediate and delayed recall) were significantly affected by the input modes. The post-hoc tests indicated no significant difference between the written and the audio groups while the vodcast group significantly outperformed the other two. The rich contextual clues made available by this audiovisual source seem to account for its superiority

Given the fact that developing an intimate relationship between teacher and students creates a safe learning environment (Harran, 2006), and because teacher immediacy is proved to increase students’ motivation for learning (Velez & Cano, 2008), this study was an attempt to explore the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ perceived teacher immediacy and their willingness to communicate (WTC). To this end, first, a new WTC questionnaire, specific to EFL settings, was developed, piloted, factor analyzed, and then administered on 90 intermediate EFL learners. In the second phase, the participants were required to complete Gorham’s (1988) Verbal Immediacy Measure (VIM) and McCroskey et al.’s (1996) Revised Nonverbal Immediacy Measure (RNIM). The findings revealed that there are 7 factors underlying EFL learners’ WTC, one of which is teacher immediacy. Further analyses showed that there is a positive relationship between both verbal and nonverbal teacher immediacy behaviors and EFL learners’ WTC in EFL classes. It can be concluded that teacher immediacy is one of the constituents of EFL learners’ WTC and that their WTC is likely to increase when teachers demonstrate immediacy behaviors while teaching. The present study has implications for language practitioners as well as teacher trainers.

این مقاله گزارش پژوهشی است درباره رابطه میان هوش هیجانی گروهی از فراگیرندگان زبان انگلیسی ایران و انسجام نوشته های آنها. در راستاس این پژوهش یک آزمون توانش زبانی که شامل 40 پرسش چهار گزینه ای مربط به دستور زبان، لغت و درک متون انگلیسی بود و از پایایی با کرونباخ آلفای 742. برخوردار بود به تعدادی از فراگیرندگان زبان انگلیسی داده شد تا آن هایی که توانایی تولید متون نوشتاری معنادار را داشتند مشخص شوند. پس از آن مقیاس هوش هیجانی شات (شامل 33 پرسش) به شرکت کنندگان در پژوهش داده شد و نیز از آن ها خواسته شد تا مقاله ای کوتاه در مورد موضوعی مشخص بنویسند. از 110 نفری که آزمون توانش زبانی، پرسشنامه هوش هیجانی و تکلیف مقاله نویسی را گرفتند، 79 نفر به هر سه پاسخ دادند. 45 نفر از 79 نفر توانستند به بیش از 23 پرسش از 40 پرسش آزمون توانایی زبانی پاسخ دهند و از این رو پاسخ های آن ها به پرسشنامه هوش هیجانی و نوشته های آنها مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. برای ارزیابی عینی نوشته ها، از مقیاس انسجام متن کل نگر بامبرگ (1984) استفاده شد که دارای 5 درجه، از کاملا منسجم (4 امتیاز) تا غیرقابل نمره دادن (صفر امتیاز)، است. برای مشخص کردن ارتباط میان انسجام نوشته ها و هوش هیجانی نویسندگان از آزمون اسپیرمن استفاده شد. اما برخلاف انتظار پژوهشگران، رابطه میان دو متغیر مورد بررسی قوی و معنادار نبود.

Academic writing ability is an important goal that learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) try to attain. While ESL students’ academic writings have been widely explored, owing to few studies investigating appraisal resources in EFL students’ argumentative writing, the gap still exists about EFL students’ academic writing. This study aimed to see how Kurdish-speaking learners of English employ appraisal resources in their writings. It further aimed to explore whether the appraisal framework can be utilized as an assessment scale for evaluating the students’ argumentative writing. To this end, the study investigated the argumentative essays written by 15 bilingual Kurdish-Iranian graduates of English within the framework of the appraisal theory. The instruments applied in this study consisted of a modified rating scale for assessing the essays in terms of the macrostructures exploited in them and the framework for the analysis of appraisal resources. Quantitative findings revealed high-graded essays employ more attitudinal items and fewer monoglossic resources than low-graded ones. Qualitatively, the high-graded essays articulated attitudinal values in nominal forms and sometimes in a backgrounded manner while these values were mostly presented by surge of feelings and in a foregrounded way in the low-graded essays. Regarding engagement, unlike the high-graded essays, the low-graded ones were poor in recognizing other voices and alternative positions. Inspired by the strength of the appraisal model evaluating writing, results suggest that high-graded essays are successful in positioning readers attitudinally and clarifying the ethical message to readers.

طراحی تکالیف با سطح پیچیدگی شناختی معقول همیشه ازدیدگاه برنامه ریزان درسی, معلمان , و محققین حائز اهمیت بوده است چرا که تغییر تکالیف (از لحاظ پیچیدگی) می تواند منجر به نتایج متفاوتی در زمینه تولیدات شفاهی گردد. این تحقیق تلاشی در جهت بررسی تاثیر تغییر درتکالیف بر اساس 3 مورد (نیاز به برهان, تعداد عناصر, و موقعیت ""اینجا و اکنون"" در مقابل"" آنجا و سپس"" ) از مدل resource-directing , مطرح شده توسط رابینسون, بر روی نقل داستان از روی تصایر است. این تحقیق شامل 30 زبان آموز ایرانی در رنج سنی 20 تا 34 سال بود. همه این افراد موظف به انجام هردو مدل تکلیف (پیچیده و ساده) برای نقل داستان از روی تصایر بودند. داده های صوتی ضبط و سپس تست پارامتریک MANOVA برروی آن انجام گردید. نتایج نشان داد که افزایش پیچیدگی شناختی در تکالیف منجر به افزایش صحت و پیچیدگی زبانی گردید. یافته های این تحقیق می تواند بینش عمیقی برای تدوین کنندگان مطالب درسی در خصوص تدارک تکالیف و زبان آموزان در راستای سنجش پیشرفت فراهم آورد.

تحقیقات اخیر در زمینه منظور شناسی بین زبانی به این نتیجه رسیده اند که بعضی از جنبه های منظور شناسی زبان را می توان در محیط های کلاسی آموزش داد. اما اینکه چه روشهایی و چه مفاد آموزشی بهترین تاثیر را دارند قابل بحث است. بنابراین، هدف از تحقیق حاضر بررسی تاثیر مطالب خودآگاهی بخش برگرفته از ویدئو بر درک کنش های گفتاری عذرخواهی، درخواست و امتناع می باشد. بدین منظور، 78 فارسی زبان سطح متوسط به بالا بطور تصادفی در چهار گروه (فرا منظور شناسی، جستجوی ساختار، ایفای نقش، و کنترل) قرار گرفتند. به این چهار گروه 45 برش ویدیو که از فیلم های Flash forward, Stargate TV series & Annie Hall, در 9 جلسه 60 دقیقه ای هفته ای دو بار تدریس شد. نتایج آزمون چند گزینه ای تکمیل کلام نشان داد که تمامی این سه روش آموزش موثر بوده اند و تست Tukey (HSD) نشان داد که عملکرد گروه فرا منظور شناختی از گروههای دیگر بهتر بوده است. یافته ها حاکی از ان است که مدرسین و تالیف کنندگان کتاب های آموزشی می توانند از ویدیوهای آموزشی برای آگاهی بخشی مفاهیم منظورشناسی در کلاس درس استفاده کنند.

Language and culture are now deemed to be co-constitutive; hence English language teaching (ELT) textbooks should incorporate cultural aspects and promote intercultural competence. However, careful decisions should be made as regards to the cultural content of materials and the ways in which culture is represented. This study was an attempt to deconstruct the patterns of cultural representation and intercultural interactions in Interchange textbooks, an ELT textbook series taught to English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Iran. Using content analysis of texts and images and with the focus on nationality, gender and race, it examined how different cultures were reflected in Interchange 1, Interchange 2, Interchange 3, and whether cultural bias or inequality was present. The quantitative and qualitative data analysis revealed that the white male group was dominant in all three textbooks. And, to use Kachru’s (1985) terms, inner, outer and expanding circle nationalities were represented in the textbooks, with the expanding circle constituting the major nationality, but American culture of inner circle was predominant. Additionally, the interactions were mainly limited to superficial aspects of the target culture although these textbooks sought to show various intercultural interactions. Dominance of male and white characters and the US culture indicated inequality in race and gender, and the superficial treatment of culture in the textbooks. Less attention to the hybrid culture and deeper level of intercultural aspects, i.e. critical reflections, in the textbooks suggests that the materials be supplemented by EFL teachers’ constructive discussion of the cultures that interact.

Critical pedagogy (CP), as a poststructuralist educational movement, challenges the asymmetrical, power-over nature of classroom discourse and seeks to accommodate multivocality in the classroom and in the society. This study probed the discourse architecture of EFL classrooms in Iran. Specifically, it aimed to explore to what extent Iranian EFL classrooms have stepped away from the teacher-dominant initiation-response-follow-up (IRF) discourse structure and welcomed CP-oriented dialogism and multivocality. To this end, a number of EFL classrooms in Isfahan and Shahrekord (Iran) were observed, and the running classroom discourse was audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. The results showed that discourse-construction opportunities were distributed unevenly in favor of teachers regarded as the sole authority in the classroom. Student-regulated symmetrical talks were seldom evidenced in the classrooms. The findings further demonstrated that the power-over IRF discourse architecture, despite its communicative inadequacies, still seems to be dominant in EFL classrooms in Iran. Finally, it is suggested that L2 practitioners should move towards transforming the status quo, include more elements of CP into L2 classrooms, and invest in dialogism and multivocality as essential mechanisms to de-silence the students.

The present study was aimed at examining concerns about the social effects of EFL learning, a challenging area of research which has not been discussed sufficiently. It tried to investigate the relationship between EFL learning and national identity. In addition, attempt was made to find a relationship between language motivation types and national identity. Furthermore, the role of two demographic variables, gender and age was examined. To this end, a sample consisting of 350 undergraduates studying at Allameh Tabataba'i University in Tehran took part in the study. A questionnaire on national identity and another one on language motivation types followed by an interview were the instruments used. The questionnaires had already been developed. However, there were some major modifications for the former which consisted of 30 items measuring national identity for all participants. The latter contained 42 items measuring language motivation types for only EFL learners. The Regression analysis, independent samples t-tests and a one-way ANOVA were run. The results revealed that claims over the harmful social effects of EFL learning were not arguably significant and it was found that among the eight language motivation types, going abroad and social responsibility were correlated with national identity. Furthermore, gender and age indicated significant differences among the participants' tendencies. The findings indicated that the social concerns about EFL learning are too pessimistic. So, materials developers, syllabus designers and teachers might consider the potentiality of some social elementsand demographic variables for the development of EFL learning.