FOREIGN LANGUAGE RESEARCH JOURNAL (PAZHUHESH-E ZABANHA-YE KHAREJI)
Year:2018 | Volume:8 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:14

The purpose of this research is to find different patterns of word-formation meaning of German nouns ending in – e. These patterns are of great importance in understanding the meanings of derived words. This suffix has its origin in the old German suffix – ī and is very productive at the present time. Data and initial research findings of the currently paper are adapted from the field of word-formation of German references. Secondary findings are the results of my research achievements. Also, the suffix-e is distributed in the context of verbal, adjectival, nominal and adverbial categories. In regard to the word-formation meaning, the derivatives of the suffix-e are most productive used: Nouns ending in the suffix – e benefit from different patterns of word-formation meaning, eight strategies of the transposition and consist of action noun, consequence noun, locative noun, instrumental noun, agent noun, qualitative noun, conversion noun and person noun. It may contain one or more secondary functions.

This data-driven study aimed at developing a theory on the influential factors making students enroll in MSRT test preparation courses. To meet this purpose, grounded theory was used. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 9 students (6 females, 3 males) who were selected through purposive, theoretical and snowball sampling. Data collection and analysis continued until the theoretical saturation was reached. The coding schemes of grounded theory including open, axial and selective coding yielded a set of categories and subcategories upon which a theoretical model was developed. In this model, "The influential factors making students enroll in MSRT test preparation courses "was found as the core category pulling other categories (i. e., causal conditions, action/interaction category, context-intervening conditions, intermediate category, and outcome category) together as a unified whole. Finally, based on the learner's attitudes and the obtained in-depth interview results, some implications and data-driven suggestions for further research were presented.

This two-phase exploratory mixed methods study aimed at first developing a questionnaire, and then investigating the relation between writing ability and writing strategy use. To this end, think-aloud protocol was used to elicit the themes from five high achievers MA TEFL students’ writing strategies. Then, the developed 52-item questionnaire was administered to a sample of 100 Iranian EFL learners to pilot its validity. Next, having gained confidence in its reliability (α =0. 85) and construct validity, the questionnaire was distributed among a sample of 60 MA students from the same target population, both male and female, ranging in age from 25 to 30 years old. The results suggested a positive correlation between students' scores in their advanced writing course and their strategies used (r = 0. 49). The results revealed that students with a better understanding of metacognitive strategies could obtain better results. Thus, the findings account for the fact that being a cognitive process itself, writing skill can be boosted provided that the strategies of the same nature are reinforced and practiced.

The present study was applied on third language acquisition of noun modifiers in Arabic in order to check the role of transfer in the previously acquired Persian (L1) and English (L2). Thirty two participants in English intermediate proficiency level as second language of native Persian (L1) speakers were selected. Two tasks including Grammaticality Judgment test and Translation test were administered to elicit the participants' knowledge in syntactic position and the agreement of noun modifiers in Arabic. Having analyzed the data, the researchers found out that the participants transferred the noun modifiers more significantly from English as a second language than L1 Persian or a combination of both L1 Persian and L2 English into Arabic as a third language. The results of the present study show which background languages play a major role in third language acquisition.

Research on the scope and spread of Persian words in other languages is known as a significant issue in the field of etymological studies. The findings of such studies have led to publishing various papers and dictionaries nationally or internationally. In this case, for some reasons the English language has attracted much attention. Among the works which has studied the Persian loanwords in English, Mirfazaelian (2005) work entitled "The Dictionary of Persian Words in English" is the one which has been critically reviewed and criticized in this paper. In short, the deficiencies of this work have been descriptively and analytically studied in six categories. The findings show that the introduction of non-Persian words as Persian ones, the introduction of wrong examples, the presentation of incorrect equivalents and false meanings, the presentation of wrong transfer from Persian to English and so on are the main shortcomings seen in this etymological dictionary.

One of the social groups who are reluctant to disclose their secrets of conversations with others are prisoners, whose unwillingness leads to the production of a type of prison language. The Researchers have collected new terms used by prisoners for various purposes and they have studied them in terms of phonemic representation. The research is fieldwork and data is gathered in way of having direct contact with participants. The data of the research were based on conversations of 50 male members of the group who have been in prison for more than 10 years in prison in Tehran province. Finally, a total of around 600 words and special terms of the prison were collected. After analyzing the data, the researchers concluded that the environment and conditions affecting the prisoners influence on prisoners' speeches. Phonological changes occur in their speeches. The word making processes are: coinage, repetition, shortening, acronym, curtailing, compounding and borrowing. Among the phonological processes the most frequent one is related to coinage.

Different factors can play a role in the validity of a test which can pose threats. Ary, Sorensen, and Walker (2014) refer to these factors as construct irrelevant ones. Computer as an outstanding technological feature has changed our daily life. Computer in the educational contexts has affected the way we learn. Every new innovation has its specifications and problems. Computer like other innovations has aspects that should be investigated. In some cases, computer can distort the tests results and be a source of threat for test validity (construct irrelevant variance). Besides computer familiarity, other demographical factors such as gender, age, mother tongue and filed of study can be the sources of construct irrelevant variance. Therefore, the researchers chose to analyze the role of these phenomenon in the assessing procedure. Gender, age, mother tongue, and field of study were those variables that in this survey the researchers wanted to probe their probable relationship with the participants’ TOEFL IBT results. In order to do this, one hundred participants were assigned to two groups-the humanities and engineering-and they answered computer familiarity and attitude toward computer questionnaires and a computer based TOEFL IBT® . At the first step, the level of computer familiarity was investigated and the next stage was related to probing attitude of the participants toward computer and effect of three specified variables (age, gender, and mother tongue) on the test results. Results did not indicate meaningful relation between these variables and test scores. By referring to these results it can be claimed that computers as well as other demographic variables will not have any adverse effect on the test results of TOEFL iBT scores.

Materials preparation is an important stage in EAP curriculum. Therefore, there is a pressing need to explore EAP teachers’ materials preparation abilities, especially in Iran, where EAP courses are taught by two groups of teachers; that is, language teachers and content teachers. Therefore, this nationwide study explored the similarities and differences between the cognitions and practices of the two groups of EAP teachers concerning their materials preparation abilities, at medical sciences universities across Iran. Instruments included questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, observations and field notes. A representative sample of 128 language teachers and 190 content teachers from all medical sciences universities participated in the study. The results of the questionnaire indicated that there were no differences between language teachers and content teachers; however, the interviews and the observations revealed substantial differences between the two groups. The findings present some implications for the EAP community and a need to renew the current materials.

Dynamic assessment (DA) having root in Vygotsky’ s sociocultural theory of mind has been investigated by many researchers. However, DA of pragmatics has not been much researched. Considering the important role of pragmatic competence in promoting learners’ communicative competence, the current study examined the effectiveness of dynamic assessment, cake model, on the development of learners’ pragmatic competence. To conduct the research a number of 46 MSc students of engineering, studying at the University of Tehran, were assessed dynamically. The assessment provided three scores: actual score, mediated score, and learning potential score (LPS). In order to analyze the data, paired sample t-test and univariate analysis of variance were run. The results showed that DA had a positive effect on learners’ knowledge of the speech acts of apology and request. The results also showed that there was no interaction between learners’ scores and their proficiency levels. The findings of the research can be used in teaching, assessing and learning the speech acts of apology and request.

In Iran, aviation English is taught either by English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers who are field specialists in the field of aviation or teachers whose major is Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). For the first time in Iran, the present research investigated the cognitions and attitudes of the two groups of teachers on teaching aviation English. Eight teachers were surveyed using semistructured interview and questionnaire. The results revealed substantial inconsistencies between field specialists and TEFL instructors' attitudes. Field specialist teachers believed that aviation English should be taught practically with a focus on technical content, teacher-center education, and teacher-directed feedback. On the other hand, their TEFL counterparts contended that in such courses, the focus should mostly be on teaching methodology, participatory teaching, and peer feedback. The findings can be illuminating in better understanding of the status quo of aviation English programs in Iran and making more informed policy decisions on selecting the most qualified agents for teaching aviation courses in English for Specific Purposes.

In favor of Vygotsky`s Socio-cultural theory and dynamic assessment (DA) investigations, the study sought to introduce a novel method to evaluate English-Persian translation proficiency level of translation trainees. Namely, the students` level of independent translation competence and their potentiality for learning were regarded as two factors contributing in the students` classification. Developing a computer-based translation placement test, and using interventionist approach of DA, the translation students participated in this study were categorized into three different levels, moving through two phases. Furthermore, considering the students` proficiency in every translation sub-competence defined in the test, students were narrowly reclassified. The results revealed the newly-made instrument is a valid and reliable scale for evaluating translation trainees` actual as well as potential development. The analysis of the pilot test clearly demonstrated that besides assessing the students` current translation abilities, evaluating their learning potential has a profound impact on providing more thorough classification. The information yielded can be particularly beneficial in the translation students` future instructional planning.

This study aimed to investigate whether creativity and instrumental/ integrative motivation can predict EFL students' language accuracy and fluency in speaking task. 80 participants were chosen for the research; they were studying English as a foreign language in intermediate level at language institutes. Their mother tongue was Persian. First, they were asked to complete Abedi's sixty-item questionnaire. Then they were given a speaking (shipwreck) task and their performance was recorded so as to be evaluated in both accuracy and fluency by two examiners later. Finally, they answered the Gardner’ s attitude/Motivation test battery (AMTB). The results obtained from the goodness of fit test showed that creativity and instrumental motivation can predict the accuracy of speaking. The significance of effect coefficients showed that creativity and instrumental motivation can predict the fluency of speaking. Furthermore, creativity and integrative motivation can predict the fluency of speaking. But creativity and integrative motivation can not predict the accuracy. The result of this research suggested some recommendations on educational methods and mentioned points for future researches.

This study aimed at investigating the comparative effect of storytelling and text reconstruction comprehension of Idiomatic expressions. To this end, 90 Iranian intermediate participants were selected on the basis of their scores on Oxford Placement Test and were assigned into three experimental groups of text reconstruction, storytelling and control groups. The most frequency search idiomatic expression on electronic search engines were selected to be included in the teaching lesson plans. Pretest/posttest design was used to collect data on participants' comprehension of idiomatic expressions. The results of one way ANOVA and post hoc comparisons indicated that there is a significant difference in the performance of all experimental groups from pretest to posttests confirming the outperformance of both experimental groups in comparison with text control group. Results also indicated that storytelling group outperformed the text reconstruction group. The implications and suggestions for further study were discussed in the light of limitations of the study.

Throughout the past decade, evaluating teachers’ success has become a crucial issue due to the increased motivation on teacher accountability. In view of that, the purpose of the present study is to determine the significance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs and EFL teachers’ success in the Iranian institutional context based on students’ perspectives. For this purpose, a CPD model was suggested and verified using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), in order to examine CPD factors contributing to EFL(English as a Foreign Language) teachers’ success. A total number of 316 English-major institutional teachers in Iran completed the CPD questionnaire. Besides, about 30 percent of their students, 828 students, are asked to fill in teachers’ success questionnaire, which intended to check students’ opinions on how successful they measured their teachers in teaching. The proposed PLS-SEM model effectively fitted the data using SmartPLS statistical software. Results specified that practice of CPD strategies had a strong direct predicting power on EFL teachers’ success. The results, specifically, highlight the importance of not only CPD strategies concerning “ updating” activities and “ reflecting” ones, but also high loadings of other strategies such as those relating to “ decision making” and “ collaborating” .