درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Despite their widespread popularity and rapid growth, the Internet-mediated English educational materials for learners of English as a foreign/second language (FL/SL) have rarely been analyzed in terms of their potential hidden curriculum. Accordingly, the present study aims to address this need through conducting a CDA investigation into some lessons which are randomly selected from an English educational website called “Englishcentral.” Adapting, expanding, and adopting some elements of Van Leeuwen’s (2008) Social Actor Network, the researchers attempt to describe and explain the representation of “Iran” in Englishcentral. Investigating and thematizing the research data revealed that the keyword “Iran” was used in this website to refer to three groups of social actors, namely the Iranian government and officials, Iranian people, and Iranian people and/or government/officials. The way these social actors are associated and dissociated, activated and passivated, personalized and impersonalized creates remarkable findings which give support to the presence of particular hidden agenda in this program. In all, the results of this study reveal that the Iranian social actors are portrayed unfavorably in Englishcentral, which is an alleged English educational program.

این تحقیق به بررسی تأثیر فعالیت های تمرکزی(focused tasks) بر روی پیشرفت توانش کاربردی زبان آموزان انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجه پرداخته است. بدین منظور، محققین تأثیر آگاهی انگیزی (Consciousness Raising) به عنوان یک فعالیت ورود محور واملاء-انشاء) Dictogloss که یک فعالیت مشارکتی تولیدی محسوب می گردد) را به عنوان یک فعالیت تولید محور مورد مقایسه قرار داده اند. در آغاز، 147 زبان آموز انگلیسی ایرانی با شرکت در مطالعه، محققین را در ساخت ابزار تحقیق یعنی پرسشنامه درک، تستهای تشخیص و تولید یاری نمودند. در همین راستا، 43 بومی آمریکایی انگلیسی زبان برای ساختن تست تشخیص و مواد آموزشی برای انجام تحقیق دعوت به همکاری شدند. برای انجام تحقیق، 60 زبان آموز انگلیسی فارسی زبان بر اساس نمراتشان درآزمون سطح آکسورد (2004) به دو گروه همگن تقسیم گردیدند. این گروهها به طور تصادفی در یکی از شرایط آموزشی آگاهی انگیزی به عنوان یک فعالیت ورود محور و املاء-انشاء به عنوان یک فعالیت تولید محور قرار گرفتند. این دو فعالیت برای ارائه آموزش به مدت هشت جلسه مورد استفاده قرار گرفتند. براساس نتایج پرسشنامه و تستها، تأثیر آموزش(از پیش آزمون تا پس آزمون اول) و زمان (از پس آزمون اول تا پس آزمون دوم) باعث تفاوت معناداری بین دو گروه نگردید. نتایج پرسشنامه و تستها نشانگر پیشرفت معنادار شرکت کنندگان در هر دو فعالیت در پس آزمون اول و دوم نسبت به پیش آزمون میباشد. شرکت کنندگان در هر دو فعالیت توانستند تأثیر مثبت آموزش را در پس آزمون دوم بر روی پرسشنامه درک و تست تولید حفظ نمایند. اما در مورد تست تشخیص، شرکت کنندگان در فعالیت تولید محور نتوانستند تأثیر مثبت آموزش را در پس آزمون دوم حفظ نمایند.

Abstract: This study explores emotive language in lyrical nature writing from the perspective of ecolinguistics in four nature textbooks. In fact, embodied mind style is explored by considering emotive language as a linguistic phenomenon that can inject into the readers' minds the sensorial, emotional, and psychological experiences of the lyricist. The interrogation of emotive language is based on Attitude subsystem of Appraisal Analysis, which consists of Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation (Martin & White, 2005). The analyses of the linguistic portrayal of Affect -based on the modified Affect system sub-categories, including Un/Happiness, Dis/Satisfaction, In/Security, Dis/Inclination, and Surprise -revealed the prevalence of Insecurity in the textbooks by contemporary nature writers and Happiness in the textbooks by their predecessors. Moreover, the Judgement and Appreciation analyses suggest that moral sentiment and aesthetic emotion are indispensable parts of lyrical nature writing that can awaken humility and sympathy in the minds and hearts of the readers.

Most of the studies on the key word method of second/foreign language vocabulary learning have been based on the evidence from laboratory experiments and have primarily involved the use of English key words to learn the vocabularies of other languages. Furthermore, comparatively quite limited number of such studies is done in authentic classroom contexts. The present study inquired into the effect of using mnemonic key word method of vocabulary instruction on the learning and retention of vocabulary over long term in a normal EFL classroom context.Fifty5th grade primary school students were selected and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received vocabulary instruction using mnemonic key word method and the control group received classic memorization based instruction of the same vocabulary items. The two groups took three posttests a day, two weeks, and a month after the last treatment session. A MANOVA analysis was run on the data and the results indicated that subjects in the key word group outperformed the memorization group at a significant level in both their learning and retention of the newly learnt vocabularies. The results of the study underscore the efficacy of the establishment of mental links and images for the vocabulary learning and retention of novice and beginning level EFL learners. It further implies that mnemonic devices like key word method should be given prompt attention by both EFL material developers and practitioners as a potentially effective strategy for vocabulary teaching, learning and long term retention at the early stages of second or foreign language development.