FOREIGN LANGUAGE RESEARCH JOURNAL (PAZHUHESH-E ZABANHA-YE KHAREJI)
Year:2017 | Volume:7 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:12

The purpose of this research was to find different patterns of word-formation meaning of German nouns ending in -(er)ei. These patterns, despite being not very productive at the present time, are of great importance for understanding the meanings of words in a diverse range of derived words. The data and initial research findings of this study were in line with German references on the issue. Secondary findings constitute the results of the present research. Choosing any of the varieties of -ei and- erei depends on the last phoneme of the verbal or nominal stem. Nouns ending in the suffix -(er)ei benefit from different patterns of word- formation meaning, for instance, action nouns, consequence nouns, locative nouns and collective nouns. Each case may contain one or more patterns of the word-formation meaning. In addition to the original meaning, action nouns may also be used for a pejorative connotation.

The present study was an attempt to investigate the significance of environmental changes in the development of writing in EFL context, and compared the impacts of collaboration, asynchronous computer mediation (ACM), and individual learning on the writing fluency of EFL learners. To this end, four intact writing classes were designated as Collaborative Face-to-Face, Asynchronous Computer Mediation, Individual Face-to-Face, and Control groups. The three experimental groups received scaffolding instructions on narrative essays. The three mentioned groups went through pair work (CFFG), asynchronous work through a researcher-designed website (ACMG), and individual work in a conventional classroom setting (IFFG). The results showed that CFFG improved in terms of fluency and positive impact of collaborative approach over the ACMG and IFFG. The findings emphasized the benefits of pair work and showed that learners working in pairs were more fluent in their writing.

This study aimed to examine the effect of running a teacher education program informed by meaning-oriented-context (MOC) sustainability framework on the mean lengths of time on such a context in EFL classes. To this aim, 30 teachers and 300 learners were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. Upon making sure of no significant initial difference in the mean lengths of time on MOCs between the two groups, the teachers in the experimental group received treatment whereas the teachers in the control group received no treatment. Then, each of the teachers in both groups was assigned a specific unit from a textbook to teach over three sessions. Afterwards, the mean lengths of time on MOCs were measured in minutes and compared between the two groups using an independent-samples t-test. Analyses of the data showed a significant effect for MOC sustainability framework in the sense that there was a significant difference in the mean lengths of time on the context between the experimental and control groups after the intervention.

Learners of English as a foreign language (EFL learners) are the products of some degree of identity conflict experienced while learning a language. Learning English means crossing the boundaries of one's home culture into a foreign culture- a challenging cross- cultural experience influencing one’s home culture attachment (Pishghadam & Ordoubady, 2011). To this end, 80 EFL learners at University of Zanjan participated in this project. They were asked to fill in the Home Culture Attachment Scale (HCAS) (Pishghadam, 2012). Also, Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS) (Schutte et. Al, 1998) was used to assess the participants’ emotional intelligence. Results indicated a statically positive correlation between EI and deculturation. Due to the importance of English language learning in Iran and its impact on identity change, investigating the influence of cultural contact on learners in the process of language learning can shed light on the Iranian context of English language learning.

Considering the vital role of images in conveying the meaning and maintaining them in an individual’s visual memory, the present study evaluated the images of high school English language textbooks (Prospect 1, 2, and 3) from an ontogenetic perspective. Using the Kress and van Leeuwen's (2006) social semiotic framework, this study investigated the changes in developmental process of the representational mode of images, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings revealed that there didn’t exist any specific pattern in the use of images which could be based on the selected semiotic framework in this study. The analysis of three aspects of representational mode, including process, participants, and setting showed that changes from narrative to conceptual processes, from specific to generic, from cartoon to photograph participants, and from local to non-local settings did not exist in these three textbooks. All in all, this study would help EFL practitioners and textbook developers to increase their awareness regarding the role of images in the EFL students’ learning process.

Recent studies on assessment of Iranian learners’ motives has addressed the two following issues; first, whether learners 'motives of learning German language play a role on choosing an institute. Second, the type of outcomes that the learners' motives and their purpose of learning German language make probable for an educational procedure. To this end, a study using a Likert- scale questionnaire was conducted with a sample of 150 Iranian German language learners in two groups, one studying in an Iranian institute and the other in one run by German people in Iran. Early findings showed a difference in learning motives and the reason behind the institute choice between the two groups. Therefore, the role of 'difference in motives' in choosing a location for learning was confirmed. It was also shown that the textbooks of German language compiled in Germany are suitable for those learners who are planning to migrate to this country, and that content localization and adjustment seems necessary.

This study investigated the relationships among perfectionism, writing anxiety and writing achievement among Iranian EFL learners. To this end, a sample of 402 second year undergraduate students of English filled out the perfectionism and writing anxiety questionnaires. Students’ writing achievement was also obtained through their final writing scores at the end of the semester. In the first stage of data analysis, the results of descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression indicated that from among the three types of perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism is the best predictor of writing anxiety. Writing anxiety, self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism were found to be significant predictors of writing achievement respectively. In the second stage of data analysis, a hypothetical model of the relationship between the variables was proposed based on the findings of the first phase. The results of path analysis revealed that despite the existence of a significant relationship between each pair of variables, the proposed model did not enjoy sufficiently high goodness of fit as a whole. Implications of the findings for teaching second language writing and EFL teacher education are discussed.

The plethora of research thus far conducted on writing proficiency reveals the fact that in the construction of written discourse, writers do not attain a desirable level of well-written composition from its inception. They, nonetheless, undergo different recursive processes through the composition. From among different composing processes such as drafting and rereading, editing and revision have gained considerable importance due to the impact that they have on the final draft. It is for the same reason that some scholars assign editors to revise the final draft of their scientific papers. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the processes of editing and revision involved in writing four academic text genres so as to determine the extent to which language learners are familiar with thorough reviewing. To this end, the researchers proposed three research questions and employed think-aloud protocol through which the participants needed to verbalize all their thought processes while performing the composition tasks. The collected data, then, went through content analysis based on a three- step procedure proposed in the grounded theory. The results offered four main processes of planning, formulating, evaluating, and reformulating. The editing and revision processes were then subdivided into different sub- processes of insertion, deletion, substitution, transposition, rephrasing and correction. The research highlighted the significance of editing and revision processes in teaching academic writing as its main pedagogical implication. Also, exploiting the findings of this study for teaching productive skills in classrooms would make learners more active rather than passive.

Teachers’ assessment literacy plays a crucial role in the assessment quality and student achievement. To shed more light on this issue, this mixed- methods study intended to measure and describe the assessment literacy level of 80 randomly selected Iranian EFL and field specialist ESP university teachers who sat for an assessment literacy questionnaire and 10 of them for a semi-structured interview.Analyses of the data showed that: first, members of neither group possessed an acceptable level of assessment literacy; and second, there were significant differences among them on the nine sub-scales of assessment literacy. Though the EFL university teachers showed higher assessment literacy level than the field specialist ESP counterparts, both groups suffered significant deficiencies which not only indicate weaknesses in EFL teacher education programs in terms of language testing and assessment but also are persuasive enough to render specific assessment education for each group involved in foreign language teaching programs necessary.

The present study, as an initial attempt, examined the relationship between translation students’ cognition and their translation ability from English into Persian language. Initially, attempts were made to find out the most salient commonalities emerging from the interviews with the experts and University instructors regarding translation students’ cognition. The construct validity of the factor structure of the questionnaire was determined through EFA, including two phases of a pilot study. Using Structural Equation Modeling, the validity of the measurement models was also examined through goodness-of-fit indices. The validated questionnaire, Translation Students’ Cognition (TSC), included four underlying constructs. Then, the relationship between students’ scores on TSC and translation ability was examined, and the results revealed a large, positive correlation between learners' cognition and their ability in translation (r=–.65, n=42, p<.05). An implication of the study is for translation learners to focus on those aspects of their mental life that motivate or re-motivate them to involve themselves in translation.

In this study, the effect of dialogue journal writing (DJW), as an influential narrative-type activity was surveyed on the EFL academic achievements of sixty- seven Iranian university students (male and female) with a low Emotional Intelligence (EI) index. To this aim, Five EI scales including 'Problem solving' (PS), 'Emotional self-awareness' (ESA), 'Interpersonal relations' (IR), 'Assertiveness' (AS) and 'Reality Testing' (RT) were considered. The results for linear regression analyses indicated that among the five EI scales, problem solving (PS) index, though significantly predicting success in final language tests, could predict success among the target population to a lesser degree (0.04<0.05). These findings can have some pedagogical implications concerning the utilization of reflective tools concerning the psychological characteristics of the learners for whom such reflective tools are suggested to be applied in EFL settings. This was aligned with communicative skills that target students with low EI in this research were concerned with.

The present study investigated the influence of self-monitoring strategy of copy- cover- compare and immediate self- correction techniques on Iranian EFL learners’ spelling ability. Following a quasi- experimental design, 94 ninth grade female students were selected from three intact classes (two experimental groups and one control group). To ensure the homogeneity, Nelson English language test was administered at elementary level. A teacher- made piloted dictation test was applied as a pre-test and immediate/ delayed post- tests. After teaching thirty five target words from ninth grade textbook in eight sessions, an immediate post-test was applied. In order to check any durable effect, the delayed post- test was administered with a 25day interval. The results of one- way ANCOVA revealed that the participants of CCC group outperformed the other participants in both immediate and delayed post-tests and this technique impacted the retention of words. The results of this study recommend teachers to use this technique in their classrooms to make more dynamic learning and teaching process to improve students’ spelling.