FOREIGN LANGUAGE RESEARCH JOURNAL (PAZHUHESH-E ZABANHA-YE KHAREJI)
Year:2019 | Volume:8 | Issue:2 |Papers Count:14

Learners vary in understanding, organizing, and retaining information or experience, which is called preferred learning style. Reid’ s (1984) Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire was administered to 235 Iranian EFL learners to determine their styles and the role of some variables in their preference. Kinesthetic, auditory, visual, and tactile learning styles came out as major categories while individual and group learning styles appeared as minor types. Furthermore, females preferred auditory learning more than males did. Also, age appears to make a significant difference in preference of tactile learning style. However, graduate students differed significantly in tactile and visual learning styles from undergraduate students, possibly due to the low number of graduate participants. Yet, participants differed across disciplines of English literature, translation, and TEFL in only tactile learning style. Post-hoc comparisons indicated higher preference of tactile style for TEFL students. Other investigated variables showed no significant difference. Thus, Iranian language teachers should be considerate and provide various teaching methods and materials selectively to respond to the diverse learning styles of the learners in light of age, gender, and discipline.

A great amount of the verses in the Holy Quran deal with communicative correspondences, and are therefore good cases to be analyzed in terms of dramatic discourse. This article aimed to study the different types of dialogue in general, and then dialogue as an important mode of discourse. Then, on the basis of the current theories in discourse analysis, it considered the story of the presence of angles in Abraham's house, which takes place according to the verses 69-73, Hud Surah, 51-58, Hijr Surah, 31-32, Ankabut Surah, and 24-34, Zariyat Surah. The present study investigated the turns of the dialogues and their dramatic potentials in the progress of the story. In conclusion, the interactions available in this story and similar ones may be set well within the framework of dialogue analysis, and this approach can pave the way for better dramatic adaptations of the Holy Quran.

Research into translation has recently focused on incorporating findings from other disciplines into the field of translation studies. The present study, as an initial attempt in the context of Iran, set out to compare the effectiveness of form-focused instruction with translation, form-focused instruction without translation, and meaning-focused instruction on vocabulary retention and active recall. In so doing, a total of 79 male Iranian high school students from Quchan participated in this study. For the purpose of this study, they were divided into three educational classes where each received a different treatment in accordance with the experimental conditions. The results of the study showed that the students in the form-focused instruction with translation performed significantly better than the other students both on avocabulary retention test, and on an active recall translation test. The findings of the study are discussed in light of attention theory and involvement load hypothesis. Pedagogical implications are also explained.

Interaction is fundamental not only in human’ s language learning process but also in his social life. Due to the significance of L2 interactions which are socially oriented, the current study attempted to investigate the effect of interaction-focused pedagogy based on conversation analysis on interactional competence of Iranian EFL learners. 124 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were placed in treatment and control groups based on their TOEFL iBT scores. The selected dialogues of the book ‘ Beyond Talk’ were taught to the treatment group according to the principles of conversation analysis using the pedagogy wheel by Filipi and Barraja-Rohan (2015) while the control group was only taught their main materials. Their interactional competence was assessed by Wang’ s (2015) rating scale via pretest and posttest. After running MANCOVA, the results revealed the outperformance of the treatment group. Therefore, it is suggested that interaction-focused pedagogy can provide opportunities for co-construction of meaning in conversation and meaningful interaction. This interaction can lead to enhanced awareness in speaking and authenticity in conversation.

When learning a foreign language, the learner will always deal with different challenges and it is very difficult for them to make significant progress without being directly assisted by experts of that language. Therefore, this study tried to introduce the concept of “ text corpora” and the ways they can be used in teaching a specific language to help learner overcome such challenges. “ Text corpus” refers to a set of digitalized oral and written texts that helps and assists linguistic researchers in their research. This work did not intend to discuss the changes and developments of language; rather, it intended to demonstrate that learners can employ and utilize text corpora to overcome many of the challenges of learning a new language even in the absence of the experts of the language. In order to do so, the process through which a text corpus is developed is discussed and how to search within it using Corpus Query Language (CQL) are presented.

Iran Language Institute (ILI), as the largest, non-mainstream foreign language institution in Iran and the Middle East, has been running ESP programs for more than two years. Meanwhile, the literature on curriculum evaluation and renewal indicates that the success of a given curriculum depends largely on the extent to which all stakeholders develop and share similar understanding of different aspects of that curriculum. Accordingly, the present study, which was a part of a larger study, aimed to shed light on the ILI ESP stakeholders' perceptions as to the educational content of the programs. In so doing, a semi-structured qualitative interview and a questionnaire were employed to probe the stakeholders' perceptions regarding the educational content. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were employed to analyze the data. The results indicated that there were different, and at times contradictory, perceptions with regard to the educational content. The findings of this study might be considered a starting point for the ILI ESP curriculum renewal.

The world today cannot be imagined without extensive intercultural communication, and having the necessary competence for communication between different cultures plays an indispensable role in the success or failure of such interactions. A communication, in case of failure, would lead to pessimism and misjudgment amongst members of different cultures. Present-day scholars have reiterated the importance of teaching intercultural competence in foreign language teaching classes as the main factor in transferring such skills. A number of Iranian researchers have also highlighted the significance of teaching the intercultural competence to the students of German Language. Adopting a critical approach, this article sought to examine the theories of intercultural communication in order to shed light on the issue and to introduce a relevant educational plan based on those theories. It intended to present a practical strategy in order to design a new course for German Language Department at Tehran University to make a contribution to the field.

The present study aimed to identify ESP needs of the carpet students in Tabriz Islamic Arts University. The participants of the study included two subject specific teachers, four graduates and fourty-seven students of the Faculty of Carpet of the university. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. The results of the research showed that English is perceived to be important in the education and future career of students, and students need to improve their speaking skills in order to communicate with the global carpet markets as well as specialists in the field. While all the four skills of English were important in their academic achievement, reading and speaking were introduced as the most important skills and the two skills of speaking and writing were considered as the weakest skills. Most of the students believed that the hours and number of units assigned to this subject were not sufficient. The results of this research can contribute to the preparation of ESP course content of this group of students.

The present study investigated DIF in the reading comprehension items of the university entrance examination for the applicants into the English programs at Iranian universities. A diagnostic classification DCM-based method of DIF detection was used. A comparison was also made between the DCM-based method and the traditional Mantel-Hanzel method in which the matching variable was total score. To this end, item responses of 10000 test takers who took the test in 2014 were analyzed using the CDM and difR packages in R. based on the DCM approach, one item and based on the Mantel-Hanzel approach two items were flagged for moderate DIF. As to the construct validity of the test under study, it can be concluded that the results are generalizable across gender. A methodological implication of the present study can be that when the matching variable in DIF detection methods is total score, more items are likely to be flagged for DIF, as compared with when the attribute profiles of the test takers are used as the matching variable.

This article studied conspiracy of the processes of feature changing, epenthesis and deletion for satisfying sonority sequence principle in Azerbaijani Turkish language by applying optimality theory. Conspiracy which is introduced by Kisseberth (1970) means that sometimes in a language or some languages, a certain structure is allowed or not allowed in output and that language tries to reach or avoid it in the output. To reach this goal, different processes like feature changing, epenthesis and deletion are applied. Although these processes cause different changes, they follow the same structural goal. In other words these processes conspire together to reach the same goal. This work first introduces conspiracy in this language and then explains that rewrite rules do not have any means to show the unity of operation of these processes. Finally, this study also aimed to show that in Azerbaijani Turkish language, in coda, the processes of feature changing, epenthesis and deletion conspire to satisfy the sonority sequence principle.

This study aimed to develop a self-regulatory listening strategies questionnaire (SRLSQ) in order to measure the degree of EFL listeners’ self-regulation listening strategies. To this end, 94 items were initially designed based on Pintrich’ s (2004) model of self-regulation. Then, this instrument was piloted on 30 Iranian EFL learners, showing acceptable internal consistency reliability. Afterward, the questionnaire was administered to 200 Iranian EFL learners. After the questionnaires were returned, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in order to determine the underlying structure of this multi-dimensional instrument. Based on the EFA results, the selfregulatory listening strategies questionnaire was found to be composed of one factor with four underlying subcomponents, as represented by Pintrich’ s model. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the questionnaire data best fitted the hypothetical model of this questionnaire since five goodness-of-fit indexes were all above the recommended values. Finally, theoretical and practical issues concerning self-regulation in EFL listening research are briefly discussed, and implications are offered.

The present research sought to examine “ learning motivation” for German language outside university. For the purpose of this study, a sample group 370 learners from among students of DSIT language Institute in Tehran were selected. The components of L2 Motivational Self System theory were considered the factors affecting motivation. In addition, these factors often have a meaningful correlation with “ instrumental motivation” including “ education and employment in Germany” . The study of motivation variables in the sample group in terms of possible selves and its comparison with the results of other research conducted in the area of English language learning showed that motivation for learning German language outside university and school has a meaningful correlation with L2 Ideal Self, L2 Ought-to Self as well as L2 Learning Experience. The results of this survey can support the Foreign Language Policy in both formal and informal language learning settings providing motivational aspects of learning of German in Iran.

In recent years, assessment literacy has been increasingly considered a proper focus for teachers’ professional development programs. As assessment literacy can develop the understanding of the significant role of assessment in classroom setting for both teachers and students, teachers’ assessment literacy is required to employ ongoing and meaningful assessment. This is not only beneficial for teachers and students but also for all educational authorities. Accordingly, this study sought to investigate teachers’ assessment literacy in the classroom setting. For this purpose, 200 university instructors participated in the present study completing a developed questionnaire. The data were analyzed through parametric statistical analysis. The findings of this study signify that teachers’ assessment literacy development needs to be a precise component of teacher education programs. Additionally, practical professional development can help teachers to enhance the quality of their assessment which is expected to show the growth in students learning achievement. Therefore, assessment literacy must be an essential content area for any present and future development attempts for both teachers and administrators.

This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on academic achievement motivation and academic self-efficacy in Arabic language curriculum. This study was a semiexperimental one with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population of this research was selected from high school female students of Sabzevar in the academic year 2015-2016. 50 students (25 for experimental group and 25 for control group) were selected by the multi-stage cluster method. The experimental group received ICT intervention during 2 months and the control group trained using a traditional teaching method. The data were collected using a standard questionnaire of Herman’ s academic achievement motivation and Jinks and Morgan academic self-efficacy. The collected data were analyzed using covariance analysis. The results showed that ICT had a significant effect on the academic achievement motivation and academic self-efficacy of high school female students. According to the results using ICT in Arabic language training could be used as an effective intervention to promote motivation and academic self-efficacy of students.