درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Drawing on Robinson’s cognition hypothesis, the study attempted to examine how task conditions influence EFL learners’ oral performance and whether learners’ individual differences in terms of tolerance of ambiguity and self-efficacy mediate the effects of such conditions. To this end, 62 Iranian intermediate EFL learners from private language institutes in Tehran performed four dyadic decision-making tasks manipulated along task conditions of information distribution and goal orientation. Their performance was measured through complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) indices. Their tolerance of ambiguity and self-efficacy were assessed using separate questionnaires. The results indicated that information distribution and goal orientation could significantly impact the participants’ performance on the tasks. As to the CAF indices, it seemed that Skehan’s (2016) trade-off hypothesis was a better fit than Robinson’s (2015) cognition hypothesis since trade-offs were found between complexity and accuracy/fluency. The results of the correlations revealed that there were a number of significant positive relationships between tolerance of ambiguity and the CAF indices on the one hand and self-efficacy and the CAF indices on the other. While the former relationships did not confirm the specific prediction of the cognition hypothesis, the latter relationships did. Overall, the findings contribute to Robinson’s hypothesis concerned with the effects of task conditions on oral performance and the mediating role of individual differences, and have implications for task sequencing and task-based teaching.

This study aims at empirically measuring a universal criterion for materials evaluation, i.e., learning opportunities, in a locally- and a globally-designed materials. Adopting the conceptual framework of sociocultural theory and its conceptualization of learning as participation (Donato, 2000), the researchers utilized the methodological power of conversation analysis to examine how opportunities for learner participation and, by extension, learning are created whilst the materials are being used. Thirty teachers’ naturally-occurring classroom interactions, evolving from the two types of materials, was videotaped and transcribed line-by-line to identify the interactional contexts in which learner participation opportunities are embedded. Four interactional contexts affording different levels of learner interactional space were prompted by both types of materials. Examining the distribution of contexts revealed that management-oriented and form-oriented contexts were sustained significantly longer in classes with the locally-designed material. The globally-designed material, however, tended to unfold significantly longer skill-oriented and meaning-oriented contexts suggesting higher levels of built-in learner participation potential. The findings of this study raise materials developers’ awareness, especially in periphery communities, about how materials can either marginalize or empower learners in classroom interaction.

هدف از تحقیق حاضر بررسی روایی، اعتبار پیش بینی کننده و جانبداری نسبت به یک سبک شخصیتی و یک جنسیت خاص در روش ارزشگذاری مبتنی بر اطمینان بود. در این روش ارزشگذاری، بر اساس رتبه ای که آزمون دهنده به میزان اطمینان خود به درستی پاسخش می دهد، نمره ای مثبت یا منفی به او داده می شود. شرکت کنندگان در این تحقیق، که 49 دانشجوی رشته زبان انگلیسی در کلاس های دستور زبان انگلیسی بودند، هشت آزمون چهار گزینه ای را در طول یک نیمسال تحصیلی دریافت کردند. این آزمون ها هم به روش مبتنی بر اطمینان و هم به روش عادی ارزشگذاری شدند و روایی این دو مجموعه از نمرات با هم مقایسه شد. همبستگی هر یک از مجموعه نمرات با نمرات پایان نیمسال محاسبه شد. جانبداری نسبت به جنسیت و جانبداری نسبت به عزت نفس در مورد هشت آزمون مذکور نیز محاسبه شد. نتایج نشان داد که روایی دو مجموعه نمره