Research Paper
Akram Faravani; Mahmood Reza Atai
Abstract
The current emphasis on higher order thinking skills (HOTS) has inspired many EFL educators to explore the impact of merging different pedagogical teaching and assessment strategies on the enhancement of thinking skills. Responding to such a growing need to investigate the effect of diverse teaching ...
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The current emphasis on higher order thinking skills (HOTS) has inspired many EFL educators to explore the impact of merging different pedagogical teaching and assessment strategies on the enhancement of thinking skills. Responding to such a growing need to investigate the effect of diverse teaching strategies on HOTS, the present study aimed to explore the impact of the integration of portfolio assessment (PA), multiple intelligences (MI), and dialogic feedback (DF) on development of HOTS. Forty participants in two intact advanced classes were randomly assigned to control and treatment groups, receiving writing-based portfolio assessment (WBPA) and MI-oriented portfolio assessment with dialogic feedback (MIWBPADF), respectively. In the experimental group, the participants’ MI was initially measured and the data were used as a basis for grouping learners with the same dominant intelligence type in the same group.The participants in the MI-oriented portfolio assessment with dialogic feedback group received activities compatible with their dominant intelligence. The results of MANOVA revealed that the experimental group outperformed the other group with regard to their higher order thinking skills. The findings underscore the necessity of taking learners’ intelligences as a criterion for task selection and delivering feedback dialogically as instructional techniques for the enhancement of HOTS. This study has implications for teaching higher order thinking in EFL contexts.
Research Paper
Zainab Abolfazli Khonbi; Javad Gholami
Abstract
Nowadays, in line with trends in language teaching that follow the use of student-centered teaching/testing activities, there is growing consensus that students differ in their multiple intelligences. Furthermore, self-efficacy is one of the determining factors of success for people almost in any context. ...
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Nowadays, in line with trends in language teaching that follow the use of student-centered teaching/testing activities, there is growing consensus that students differ in their multiple intelligences. Furthermore, self-efficacy is one of the determining factors of success for people almost in any context. Assuming that the multiple intelligences profiles in tandem with self-efficacy of teachers may jointly work in shaping the efficiency and effectiveness of their teaching careers, this study investigated the relationship between Iranian EFL student-teachers’ multiple intelligences and their self-efficacy. Thirty five male and female EFL student-teachers from private language schools in Urmia completed Multiple Intelligences (McKenzie 1999) and the Teachers’ Senses of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001) questionnaires. A positive large correlation was found between total multiple intelligence and total self-efficacy of the student-teachers. The amount of R square in regression analysis indicated that teachers’ self-efficacy is accounted for by their multiple intelligences, and intrapersonal intelligence played a pivotal role in predicting self-efficacy of these teachers. The most frequently used and favored abilities were found to be intrapersonal and existential intelligences. Concerning self-efficacy sub-scales, teachers most reported to be self-efficacious in instructional strategies and student engagement. This study suggests that language teachers can benefit from multiple intelligences training programs and can apply the principles in their own classes in order to enhance the quality of the materials they deliver.
Research Paper
Fahime Saboori; Reza Pishghadam; Azar Hosseini Fatemi; Behzad Ghonsooley
Abstract
Iranian identity cannot be conceived of as a uniform monolithic concept. But, thanks to certain upheavals in the history of the country, it has turned into the triple concept of national/Islamic/modern. Hofstede’s (2001) cultural framework represents a well-validated operationalization of culture ...
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Iranian identity cannot be conceived of as a uniform monolithic concept. But, thanks to certain upheavals in the history of the country, it has turned into the triple concept of national/Islamic/modern. Hofstede’s (2001) cultural framework represents a well-validated operationalization of culture based on six cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, short-term/long-term orientation, and indulgence/restraint) and this study explores the association between these dimensions and the three components of Iranian identity. To this end, the Cultural Dimensions Scale (CDS) along with the Cultural Attachment Scale (CAS) were administered to a sample of Iranian university students. Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis were employed for data analysis. The results revealed a significant relationship between cultural dimensions and the identity components. It was also found that indulgence is the sole predictor of National Identity, whereas Religious Identity has four predictors, namely, power distance, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and short-term orientation. And, Western Identity is predicted by power distance and individualism. Finally, the results were discussed and implications for soothing Iranian identity crisis through cultural interventions were provided.
Research Paper
Goudarz Alibakhshi
Abstract
Learner autonomy (LA) has always been a controversial issue among applied linguists. Several studies have been carried out to investigate the teachers' and learners' perceptions of learner autonomy as well as the feasibility of learner autonomy. Despite the importance of learner autonomy and the existence ...
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Learner autonomy (LA) has always been a controversial issue among applied linguists. Several studies have been carried out to investigate the teachers' and learners' perceptions of learner autonomy as well as the feasibility of learner autonomy. Despite the importance of learner autonomy and the existence of several related studies, the challenges in promoting LA in Iranian institutes to the researcher’s best of knowledge have not been explored appropriately, yet. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the challenges in promoting learner autonomy from Iranian EFL teachers' perspectives. To do so, a qualitative research design was used. In doing so, 23 Iranian EFL teachers employed as full time teachers in different universities in Tehran, Iran were selected through purposive sampling. The data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed through content analysis following Randor model. Based on the content analysis of the interviews, three different themes were extracted. The firs most frequent observed theme, institution related challenges, consisted of prescribed objectives, materials, and assessment methods. The second theme, learner related challenges, consisted of seven sub-themes. However, the third extracted theme was teacher related challenges which consisted of four sub-themes. The findings can be used by teacher trainers, teachers, as well as EFL learners. It can be concluded that EFL teachers should receive training in learner autonomy through both pre-service and in-service training courses
Research Paper
Ashraf Haji Maibodi; Ali Mohammad Fazilatfar
Abstract
This study investigated the impact of individual differences like language proficiency, gender and age on the Iranian EFL learners interlanguage pragmatics in institutional discourse especially, their capacity to recognize and to rate pragmatic and grammatical infelicities in speech act situations of ...
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This study investigated the impact of individual differences like language proficiency, gender and age on the Iranian EFL learners interlanguage pragmatics in institutional discourse especially, their capacity to recognize and to rate pragmatic and grammatical infelicities in speech act situations of request and apology. To this end, one hundred and eighty-seven EFL university students at three academic levels—undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD—participated in the study. Cross-sectional data collection was undertaken to analyze the relationship between the variables and the speech acts recognized and rated by learners at different proficiency levels. A three way between subject analyses (ANOVA) showed quantitative differences among the three groups according to individual differences. Further, in-depth analyses of test items indicated that EFL learners’ at the three proficiency levels identified and rated grammatical errors as more serious than pragmatic errors. Results revealed qualitative, developmental information about the cognitive and individual traits followed in pragmatic awareness. One significant implication is that any account of the development of ILP should take into consideration the individual differences that will intervene between the stages of noticing and target like production. Moreover, being linguistically competent is not only essential for the EFL learner but acquiring pragmatic competence is also important.
Research Paper
Ali Akbar Jabbari; Ali Akbar Ariamanesh
Abstract
English main-clause wh-questions form complementiser phrases with wh-words preposed to spec-C position. This is because English wh-words, as verb-complements originally, are strong enough to trigger wh-movement and auxiliary inversion. Persian EFL learners encounter an over-differentiation problem regarding ...
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English main-clause wh-questions form complementiser phrases with wh-words preposed to spec-C position. This is because English wh-words, as verb-complements originally, are strong enough to trigger wh-movement and auxiliary inversion. Persian EFL learners encounter an over-differentiation problem regarding the acquisition of auxiliary inversion rule in English standard questions. Once they have acquired the rule, the learners are very likely to overgeneralize it to English indirect or embedded questions. The present study aimed to discover Persian EFL learners' knowledge of wh-embedded clauses, specifically, when producing them orally. To this end, 48 Persian EFL learners at tertiary level took part as participants. An oral reproduction test of English wh-embedded clauses, a translation task, and a grammaticality judgment test containing wh-embedded clauses were used as instruments to collect data. The results revealed that the lower intermediate learners had problems in producing and reproducing correct wh-embedded clauses. Similarly, some problems were detected in the grammaticality judgment test. Difficulties were also observed with the intermediate and upper-intermediate learners. The major finding was obtained in the oral reproduction test where there was no significant difference among three proficiency groups of learners regarding the correct use of English wh-embedded clauses. The recent finding confirms the need for more work on Persian EFL learners' oral language production with an emphasis on wh-embedded clauses.