Research Article
Parviz Ajhideh; Solmaz Saeeidi Manesh
Abstract
This study investigates whether the practice of answer changing on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) is beneficial for Iranian students’ overall test performance in EFL context. Several studies have shown that answer changing in multiple choice examinations is generally beneficial for improving ...
Read More
This study investigates whether the practice of answer changing on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) is beneficial for Iranian students’ overall test performance in EFL context. Several studies have shown that answer changing in multiple choice examinations is generally beneficial for improving scores. On the other hand, some studies have indicated that answer changing in multiple choice examinations results in an increased number of wrong answers rather than improved scores. In this study, two types of listening and reading comprehension multiple-choice tests were used in two different proficiency levels. The test was administered to 269 EFL students, both males and females, in Kish Language Institution, Tabriz branch. Results show that in both proficiency levels among males and females, answer-changing leads to increased number of wrong answers. Findings suggest that we should encourage students not to change their initial answers unless they have scrutinized their initial answers precisely and there are more plausible alternatives. The findings were compatible with the traditional perception ‘go with your first response’.
Morteza Amirsheibani
Abstract
Since Swales’ (1981, 1990) CARS model work on the move structure of research articles, studies on genre analysis have been carried out amongst which works on different parts of research articles in various disciplines has gained a considerable literature. This study aims to investigate the rhetorical ...
Read More
Since Swales’ (1981, 1990) CARS model work on the move structure of research articles, studies on genre analysis have been carried out amongst which works on different parts of research articles in various disciplines has gained a considerable literature. This study aims to investigate the rhetorical structure of the Introduction sections of articles in two fields of English Language Teaching (ELT) and Nursing, based on two corpora. Each corpus contains 25 research articles related specifically to the field under study. This study initially identified the structural organization of the Introduction sections of the articles. The results of this analysis revealed that both corpora contained the moves proposed in CARS model and almost no significant differences were observed in the move structures of articles in the afore-mentioned fields. Therefore, there is a considerable tendency for both ELT and Nursing to use CARS model. The findings from the analysis could provide linguistic researchers in Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) with a holistic and unitary methodology as an authentic model of language in use through enriching their understandings and knowledge about the true nature and organization of different disciplines.
Seyedeh Elham Elhambakhsh; Forugh Amirjalili; Elham Kashefi
Abstract
As covert socio-cultural relations have significant effects on language, these norms are reflected in linguistic and generic structure of public death notices as a distinctive genre. This study intended to identify the different genres of death notices (e.g. memorial advertisements, obituaries, funeral ...
Read More
As covert socio-cultural relations have significant effects on language, these norms are reflected in linguistic and generic structure of public death notices as a distinctive genre. This study intended to identify the different genres of death notices (e.g. memorial advertisements, obituaries, funeral announcements/posters, memorial cards, etc.) and to conduct a comparative genre analysis of memorial cards (MCs) in English and funeral/memorial announcements (FMAs) in Persian using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The data included 22 English MCs and 40 Persian FMAs (average 80 words). The results of bottom-up analyses of different moves and steps in the 2 genres in focus revealed that, there were more similarities between English MCs and Persian FMAs than differences. Both languages introduced the deceased person, included literary or religious texts, signatures, names of the clergyman invited and included the date, time, and address of the memorial ceremony in their MCs and FMAs. While English MCs included the dates of birth and death of the deceased person and a word of acknowledgement, the Persian FMAs distinguished different types of ceremonies and named and invited the relatives, friends, or acquaintances. The results can benefit L2 writers to master the predominant structural patterns and the reflected cultural differences.
Fatemeh Mahdavirad; Mohammad Ghane
Abstract
Employing the appraisal framework in discovering the way ideology is crystalized through discourse, the present study attempts to investigate how journalistic ideologies and political positions are manifested through attitudinal terms. Referring to White’s (2012) distinction of attitude types, ...
Read More
Employing the appraisal framework in discovering the way ideology is crystalized through discourse, the present study attempts to investigate how journalistic ideologies and political positions are manifested through attitudinal terms. Referring to White’s (2012) distinction of attitude types, inscribed vs. invoked, based on Martin and White’s (2005) appraisal theory, journalistic ideology together with the positivity and negativity they offer with regard to the Iranian nuclear issue was investigated. The study also refers to the selection and omission of certain aspects in this regard by the media. The study reveals an ideological bias towards portraying a negative presentation of Iranian nuclear policy in the western media. Iranian journalists, however, tend to highlight the positive dimension of the Iranian nuclear program.
Shabnam Kurosh Khanshan; Mohammad Hossein Yousefi
Abstract
Teacher self-efficacy has been identified as an important characteristic of teachers that can positively influence both teacher and student outcomes. The relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their linguistic proficiency, however, is yet to be investigated. The present study was an attempt ...
Read More
Teacher self-efficacy has been identified as an important characteristic of teachers that can positively influence both teacher and student outcomes. The relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their linguistic proficiency, however, is yet to be investigated. The present study was an attempt to examine the rather under-researched issue of teachers’ level of linguistic competence in their efficacy perceptions. For this purpose, 50 teachers from different universities in Iran with varying demographic characteristics took part in the study. Respondents were asked to provide answers to the Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES) and the perceived linguistic proficiency self-rating. The results of statistical analysis using Spearman correlation and Regression analysis demonstrated a significant relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their level of proficiency. The results of regression, too, confirmed the predictability of the level of the proficiency of the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers in their classroom practices. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research and implications are provided for future investigations.
Moussa Pourya Asl
Abstract
Current feminisms have emphasized the systematic nature of women’s oppression. Feminist scholars like Luce Irigaray insist that woman’s difference and otherness is a matter of male-dominated institutional definition: because the woman is theoretically subordinated to the concept of masculinity, ...
Read More
Current feminisms have emphasized the systematic nature of women’s oppression. Feminist scholars like Luce Irigaray insist that woman’s difference and otherness is a matter of male-dominated institutional definition: because the woman is theoretically subordinated to the concept of masculinity, she is seen and objectified by the man as his opposite, described as an absence, a lack, and, most notoriously, the other. The metaphor of vision, or the panoptic gaze, is thus faulted with a construction of “sexist norms”, and with the institutional definitions of gender and sexual difference. This paper examines the contention in the key theoretical writings of men—Freud, Lacan, and Sartre—who are engaged with the notion of femininity. Their conceptualizations on the notions of scopophilia, exhibitionism, and narcissism are specifically examined to explore the way the dichotomy of a male subject and a female object is formulated and perpetuated through heterocenteric assumptions about the gaze. It is concluded that within the masculine framework of Western metaphysics, a woman’s entry into a presiding scopic economy contributes to her ineluctable limitation to passivity and her socio-sexual victimization. In this regard, the panoptic gaze is endowed with a constitutive influence upon the subjectivity of the individuals—appropriating the woman into a definable being.
Zahra Talebi; Nader Asadi; Hanieh Davatgari
Abstract
The main purpose of the present quasi-experimental study was twofold; its first purpose was to investigate the effects of using of two approaches namely; genre and process on EFL learners’ accuracy, fluency, and complexity in written task production. Secondly, it attempted to investigate the effects ...
Read More
The main purpose of the present quasi-experimental study was twofold; its first purpose was to investigate the effects of using of two approaches namely; genre and process on EFL learners’ accuracy, fluency, and complexity in written task production. Secondly, it attempted to investigate the effects of mentioned approaches on EFL learners’ attitude toward writing skill. to this end, 60 learners of English at intermediate level were selected randomly as the participants of the study and assigned into three groups of product, process, and genre groups. a written task was employed to collect data from the participants. the collected written data was quantified in terms of accuracy, fluency, and complexity measures. The results of the study based on one-way ANOVA revealed that there were significant differences on EFL learners’ writing performance. The current study might carry some pedagogical implications for EFL learners’ writing skill, learner attitude toward writing, teacher education and task designers.
