JOURNAL OF PERSIAN LANGUAGE TEACHING TO NON-PERSIAN SPEAKERS
Year:2018 | Volume:7 | Issue:Sup 1 (15)|Papers Count:7

In recent years, there has been increased enrollment of foreign students at the universities of the country. Researchers and instructors of Persian language teaching centers in the universities are seeking to integrate Farsi language acquisition and content learning to arrive at an effective instructional approach which would facilitate the acquisition of Persian as a second language and the learning of content in subject areas such as humanities, social sciences, engineering, and medicine. Diverse and important cognitive influences of this instructional approach in relation to language acquisition and content learning processes have not been explored in our country. In this approach, language is used for learning as well as communication, and it is the content which determines language learning targets. In a typical lesson based on this approach, the following components are integrated:-content: improvement of knowledge, skills, and comprehension of the specific elements of a given curriculum-communication: using language to learn and learning to use language-cognition: the development of thinking skills which relate concept formation (abstract) to comprehension and language-culture: exposure to alternative perspectives and common understanding which would deepen awareness of self and others. It seems that cognitive processes which are implied in the acquisition of content-specific information could affect the use of Persian as a second language in instructional activities. However, the theoretical frameworks of this approach to teaching Persian language which seeks to integrate content and language learning have not been put to test in language classes. For the past fifty years, language and content have been addressed separately in Persian language teaching centers. Thus, there is little knowledge about the interplay of these elements of content based language learning. Therefore, it is recommended that fundamental research be conducted on the methods of implementation of this approach and the framework of the lessons in the Persian language teaching centers. As such, this journal welcomes manuscripts which report such studies.

The present research aimed at the construction and validation of a reading test based on cognitive diagnostic assessment model (CDM). In order to construct the test, the most important reading attributes were identified by classifying the attributes relevant to reading in national and international research and documents. Subsequently, the test was designed by considering the viewpoints of experts in the field of Persian language and literature and primary school teachers. After pilot and preliminary analysis and eliminating inappropriate items, the final test was designed with 27 items, which measured four attributes of comprehension of explicit information in the text, inference, integration and interpretation, and vocabulary. In this research, the construction stages of the test were elaborated. Using a cluster sampling method, the test was performed on a sample consisting of 816 sixth grade students in Qom. The statistical analyses were carried out via additive CDM. The relative and absolute indices of fitness indicated that the model is sufficiently fit. Moreover, use of classification consistency and accuracy indices indicated that the test is capable of classifying students with proper consistency and accuracy. The research results illustrated that this test can identify students’ reading attributes using cogniti e diagnostic assessment model.

The goal of this study was to compare language development in dyslexic and normal children. This study was descriptive and employed causal-comparative ex post facto design. Participants were 60 first to third grade elementary students: 30 with developmental dyslexia and 30 normal students. These students were selected by availability sampling and by using Wechsler Intelligence Scale for ChildrenRevised (WISC-R) and Reading and Dyslexia (NAMA). At the end, the development of spoken language was measured via Test of Language Development (TOLD-P: 3). In order to analyze data, Mann-Whitney Test and Kruskal Wallis Test were used. Findings obtained from this research showed that there was a significant difference between mean of scores of dyslexic and normal children in linguistic areas which included: semantic or lexical areas (picture vocabulary, relational vocabulary, and oral vocabulary) and syntactic areas (grammatical comprehension, sentence imitation, and grammatical completion). That is, the mean of scores of normal children was higher than dyslexic group. Therefore, according to obtained findings from this survey, it can be concluded that dyslexic children compared to normal subjects had weaker linguistic abilities in semantics, syntax, and spoken language. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between mean of scores of dyslexic and normal children in Spoken language areas in grades 1-3 and third graders had better language performance compared to first and second graders in both groups. Therefore, it is suggested that along with other therapeutic interventions, teaching of linguistic areas be included in the treatment program for children with dyslexia.

This research was written with the aim of presenting a theoretical model of entrepreneurship-oriented curriculum for Farsi courses at elementary school. The importance of Farsi language as the messenger of glory and the greatness of Iranian culture and the preservation of national identity and unity should not be overlooked. The Persian textbook, as the main source of reading and developing comprehension skills, plays various roles and activities in the realization of students’ life goals and skills Elementar education has an important role in preparing students for an elevated life and in developing and strengthening entrepreneurial attitudes in primary school students. This research was an applied research which adopted review and analysis method. In this paper, the review of studies on entrepreneurship, curriculum design (in particular the curriculum of the Farsi language) and various theories of experts in this field led to the creation of a theoretical perspective on Farsi curriculum which drew on components of entrepreneurship. This article presents this model to curriculum designers and educational authorities. The proposed model was presented to 49 curriculum design experts and entrepreneurs of Yazd province in order to assess the appropriateness of the proposed model. In this regard, a questionnaire containing 75 items was developed and presented to the group. The average of responses showed that according to the experts, the suggested model is very suitable in terms of the knowledge, attitude and entrepreneurial skills components.

In the present study, contents of Persian textbooks of junior high school (seventh, eighth and ninth grades) were examined regarding the use of lexical coherence tools within the framework of Halliday and Hasan's Functional linguistics theory (1976). The research was conducted in a content analysis method and was descriptive. From each of the three books, three chapters were randomly selected. All lexical coherence tools were identified and tallied in the textbooks. The percentage of occurrence of each instrument was also obtained. The results showed that in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grade Persian books 158, 125, and 120 lexical coherence tools were used, respectively. In the seventh grade book, collocations and opposites were the most and the least commonly used instruments, respectively. In the eighth grade book, collocation and synonymy were the most and the least used instruments, respectively. In the ninth grade books, hyponymy and collocation were the most and the least used instruments, respectively. For more accurate statistical analysis, Chi-square test was used to explore the distribution of lexical coherence tools in each of the books. Based on the results obtained at the level of p <0. 05, there was a significant difference between the distribution of lexical coherence instruments in each of the books.

The aim of this research was to determine the relationship between orthography of Persian textbooks and primar school students’ read-aloud skill. The study population consisted of the 1st to 3rd grade primary school students in Tehran in 2015-20 6 academic ear n this research, four schools (two girls’ schools and two bo s’ schools) were randoml selected from district nine n each school, a readaloud test was held in the first, second and third grades. Overall, in the four schools, 12 classes participated in the study and the sample amounted to 399 students. The research tool was the standard read-aloud test of Koromi Nouri (2009). When testing, the tester gave the reading text to the participants, measured the time with a stopwatch and registered the number of read-aloud errors. The error type was identified according to the diagnostic test of Shirazi et al. (2005). The data analysis showed that in Naskh and Tahriri orthographies, there was a difference between read-aloud scores of the primar school students Students’ performed better in Naskh orthograph The results showed that students’ readaloud skill in Naskh orthography was stable from first to third grades. Thus, Naskh is the unmarked orthography and is appropriate for teaching. In addition, the comparison of the results showed that read-aloud speed and accuracy was always better in Naskh orthography. Therefore, it was concluded that Naskh orthography is the most appropriate orthography for reading in the first to third grade primary school books.

Writing skill refers to communication through a system of written signs. One of the major issues in language teaching relates to exploring the differences in the development of this skill. The present study aimed to examine the development of writing skill in terms of pause and syntax patterns. To collect the required data, 30 high school students were randomly selected (15 females and 15 males). The students were asked to write a paragraph about cheating on exams and the ways to prevent it. To prevent interference and distortion of the results, the participants were homogenized in terms of age, gender, number of group members, level of familiarity with computers and word processing software, and also grade point averages. Then, they were randomly assigned to three groups based on age. The results indicated that 13 to 18-year-old Persian speakers were different with regards to the duration of writing, number of words used in writing, the duration of pauses, pause patterns, syntactic location of pause occurrence, and text editing while writing a text. With increasing age, these differences became more prominent.