درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study employs a mixed-method approach to investigate Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers' perspectives on the effectiveness of the current educational program. The participant cohort comprises 40 teachers, ensuring gender parity and a diverse range of educational backgrounds, with 37% holding bachelor's degrees and 63% holding master's degrees. The research reveals that creating a supportive learning environment and tailoring interactions to meet the diverse needs of students is crucial for effective teaching. The findings emphasize the importance of promoting cooperation, critical thinking, and social skills through various pedagogical strategies. These include group work, active participation, and providing constructive feedback, as well as offering targeted academic support. The study highlights that integrating qualitative and quantitative data provides a comprehensive understanding of teaching practices and student progress. This approach allows for a detailed analysis of how different strategies impact learning outcomes. The research underscores the necessity of continuous assessment to monitor student progress and identify areas for improvement. This ongoing evaluation is essential for adapting teaching methods and enhancing the overall effectiveness of English language instruction. By combining different methodological perspectives, the study aims to offer valuable insights into optimizing instructional strategies in Iranian high schools. Ultimately, this study seeks to advance the field of mixed-method research in EFL education, contributing to the improvement of student learning outcomes. By addressing both theoretical and practical aspects of teaching, the research provides a framework for enhancing educational practices and supporting more effective language instruction.

Pragmatic competence, a fundamental component of language ability, involves understanding a speaker’s intended meaning through various communicative functions. Among these functions, speech acts such as refusals and complaints play a crucial role in everyday interactions, allowing interlocutors to convey information and perform social actions. This study examines the production of refusal and complaint speech acts by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, addressing a gap in previous research that has often overlooked the potential influence of learners’ language proficiency, social status, gender, and mother tongue. Through purposive sampling, 120 participants were selected to respond to 10 role-play scenarios designed to elicit refusals and complaints. The data were analyzed qualitatively to identify patterns in speech act production. The findings reveal that most participants favored indirect strategies when expressing refusals and complaints. Moreover, the study found no significant effects of language proficiency, sociocultural background, mother tongue, or gender on how EFL learners produce these speech acts. These results contribute to a better understanding of pragmatic competence in EFL contexts and suggest that these sociolinguistic factors may have less impact on refusal and complaint strategies than previously assumed.

Despite the substantial significance of communicative goals in EFL, pragmatic aspects of instruction that are geared towards the learners’ appropriacy still remain less than adequately addressed. Such a niche offers potentials for and stimulates a proliferating body of research. This study aims at examining the effectiveness of explicit vs. implicit pragmatic instruction regarding language performance as output. For the purpose of the study, 120 (60 male and 60 female) EFL learners took part in this project. Error Recognition Tests (ERTs), Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs), role-play, and writing assessments were used for gauging pragmatic output. Two separate 3×2 mixed between-within-subjects factorial ANOVAs were conducted to examine the effects of instruction type, proficiency level, and time (treatment) on pragmatic acquisition. Findings significantly support (a) the overall benefit of pragmatic instruction, (b) the effect of both implicit and explicit instructions with explicit type being more highly influential, (c) the effect of proficiency, and (d) the interaction effect of proficiency and pragmatic instruction on pragmatic language L2 use. Findings bear implications for enriching teaching and learning contexts, deepening theoretical concerns, improving pedagogical practice, and implementing communicative syllabus design. Keywords:

Space and Identity in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian: A Deleuze and Guattarian Reading Abstract This study explores the intricate relationship between space and identity in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, utilizing the geocritical concepts of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. By examining his novel, the study investigates how the interaction of smooth and striated spaces shapes and reshapes characters' identities. Through the lens of Deleuze and Guattari, the research highlights the fluidity and dynamism of spaces, focusing on the continuous interplay without rigid distinctions between space and place. As the integration of Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of the war machine, nomad, and rhizome is essential to understanding the influence of space on characters' identity, this study begins with examining these key concepts. The rhizome concept parallels the non-linear, interconnected narrative structures in McCarthy's work in which the nomadic existence of characters underscores their search for meaning and survival in a world of constant flux. Through detailed analysis, this study aims to uncover the ways in which McCarthy's characters grapple with their identities amidst perpetual change, offering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between space and identity in contemporary literature. Keywords: Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, Deleuze and Guattari's Geocriticism, Space, Identity

This study aimed to examine the relationship between social cognition and loneliness in gifted underachievers, with a specific focus on the mediating role of rejection sensitivity. A descriptive correlational design was employed with a sample of 399 gifted underachieving adolescents from Argentina, selected according to Morgan and Krejcie's (1970) sample size table. Standardized tools were used to assess social cognition, rejection sensitivity, and loneliness. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS-27 and AMOS-21. Pearson correlation was used to evaluate bivariate relationships between variables, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to test the proposed mediational model. Fit indices, including χ², RMSEA, GFI, CFI, and TLI, were reported to evaluate model adequacy. Results indicated that social cognition was significantly and negatively correlated with both rejection sensitivity (r = –.43, p < .01) and loneliness (r = –.39, p < .01). Rejection sensitivity showed a significant positive correlation with loneliness (r = .58, p < .01). SEM analysis confirmed the mediating role of rejection sensitivity in the relationship between social cognition and loneliness. The indirect path from social cognition to loneliness via rejection sensitivity was significant (β = –.28, p < .001), and the total effect of social cognition on loneliness was substantial (β = –.49, p < .001). Model fit indices indicated a good fit (χ²/df = 2.22, CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.054). These findings suggest that deficits in social cognition contribute to heightened feelings of loneliness in gifted underachievers, primarily through increased sensitivity to perceived rejection. Interventions aimed at reducing rejection sensitivity may mitigate the impact of social cognitive difficulties on emotional well-being in this vulnerable group.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of academic maladjustment on academic procrastination with the mediating role of academic self-handicapping of students of Islamic Azad University of Khash. A descriptive research method of correlation type (structural equation model) was carried out. The statistical population of the study was all students of Islamic Azad University of Khash through simple random sampling method. To collect data, the questionnaires of academic self-handicapping by Jones and Rodlet (1982), academic maladjustment by Hamili, Ahmadi, Mousavi and Ghafourian (2015), and academic procrastination by Solomon and Rothblom (1984) were used. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed. The reliability of the questionnaires was estimated based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient as 0.91, 0.97 and 0.89, respectively. The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed at two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics including Pearson's correlation coefficient test and structural equation model through SPSS23 and LISREL8.8 software. The findings showed that academic maladjustment has a positive and significant effect on students' academic procrastination, both directly and indirectly through the mediation of academic self-disempowerment. To reduce academic procrastination, it is necessary to plan on factors that strengthen academic adjustment and academic self-disempowerment of students.

Tasks are as useful devices for identifying learners’ needs and thus for designing specific purpose courses. Hence, the present study aimed at examining the viable effects of three varieties of task manipulation, i.e., oral reproduction, role-play, and group discussion, on the accuracy and fluency components of Iranian EFL learners’ oral speech. For the sake of homogeneity of the participants, 60 L1 Persian EFL students were selected through Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and divided into three 20-participant comparison groups: Oral Reproduction Group (ORG), Role-play Group (RPG), and Group Discussion Group (GDG). Each of the three comparison groups was treated just through a single task. ORG, RPG, and GDG were treated by oral reproduction, role-play, and group discussion tasks, respectively. The participants were pretested and posttested by the speaking part of Preliminary English Test (PET). The three groups were exposed to ten sessions of treatment, each of which lasted one hour and thirty minutes. The results of the study, obtained through ANOVA and Post Hoc analyses, revealed that the three types of task manipulation had significant influence on the fluency and accuracy of the participants’ speech. It was also revealed that GDG, treated through group discussion type of task manipulation, outperformed the other groups in terms of accuracy and fluency achievement. Tasks are hence recommended to be used in EFL teaching and testing contexts in that they are assumed to be effective tools to enhance the accuracy and fluency of English learners’ oral speech.

Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) systems are used to evaluate measurable characteristics of written texts, thereby creating a scoring model based on a compilation of essays. While considerable research has focused on the feedback provided by AWE systems, there is a conspicuous absence of studies examining these tools specifically in the Iranian context. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate the consistency of scores obtained from automated systems and human raters. Furthermore, it sought to explore the perceptions of EFL learners regarding the application of AWE in their writing practices. To facilitate this investigation, 30 male and female IELTS students participated, each writing two essays: one selected from topics provided by the AWE system and the other derived from Cambridge Official IELTS past papers. The essays were assessed by both My Access and three human raters. For the topics designated for the AWE system, a significant and robust positive correlation was identified between the ratings assigned by human raters and the machine. A similar significant and strong positive correlation was also found for the second essay, which did not utilize pre-defined topics. The results of two linear regression analyses demonstrated that the scores produced by the machine could significantly predict human scores for both pre-defined and non-pre-defined topics. Additionally, the findings indicated that My Access Home Edition is perceived to significantly enhance students' accuracy and autonomy, although it does not contribute to improved interaction. This study presents important implications for writing instructors and the field of second language education.

Online learning is one of the educational channels that learners and educational centers have recently turned to. However, there are still concerns about its effectiveness. The aim of the study was to explain learners' perspectives on the effectiveness of online learning. The present study was a qualitative study using content analysis method that was conducted in 1402. The participants were 38 female (n=22) and male (n=16) language learners from Tehran Language School who had experience in online learning and were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected and analyzed through interviews. The overall analysis of the interviews indicates that 63% of learners (n=24) rated the method as weak, 20% (n=8) rated the method as average, and 17% (n=6) rated the method as good. 29 percent (n=11) believed that the method was effective in improving their knowledge, and 23 percent (n=9) considered the method effective in improving speaking skills. 15 percent (n=6) are willing to participate in online learning again and 83 percent (n=31) believed that the most important problem of online learning is the lack of necessary infrastructure and 83.6 percent (n=32) of the participants believe that the best learning method to improve English language skills is face-to-face learning. The findings indicate that online learning is not a suitable method for improving English language knowledge and skills compared to face-to-face education and if it is necessary to learn English online, it is necessary to provide infrastructure.