Journal of Applied Linguistics and Applied Literature: Dynamics and Advances
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2014

Since ‘the development of whole person’ was brought to the focus of attention by humanist psychologists as a central concern in educational theory, affective variables have been assumed to have a significant share in the learning process that goes on in a pedagogical setting. Meanwhile, the process of second language development, because of the very nature of language as a vehicle for communication, is immensely influenced by socio-affective variables. In an instructional setting, on the other hand, emotional factors are clearly manifested in what goes on between the teacher and learners. As a result, the way the affective dimension of teacher-learner interactions is handled can predict, to a large extent, the effectiveness of interactional activities in second language classes. In this paper, having reviewed the learner-teacher relationship in methodologies that were particularly based on humanistic language teaching, I will argue, following Kumaravadivelu’s post-method pedagogy, that humanistic handling of the instructional situation by the teacher, beyond any methodological considerations, pledges a more positive atmosphere and better chances of language acquisition as a consequence. A set of guidelines are proposed to ascertain a humanistic relationship between teacher and learners in a language class.

Teacher autonomy is viewed very differently: one teacher may view autonomy as a means to gain substantial freedom from interference or supervision; another may view it as the freedom to develop collegial relationships and accomplish tasks that extend beyond the classroom; and even some others may perceive it as a means for principals to avoid their duties (Frase and Sorenson, 1992). Although the concept was viewed as a unitary one in the past, it is recently decomposed into six distinct subcomponents: autonomy over curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, professional development, student discipline, and classroom environment (LaCoe, 2008). These six subcomponents of teacher autonomy provide a solid framework to understand the complex nature of teacher autonomy in the study. However, the study aimed at examining Iranian (N=71) and Turkish (N=48) high school EFL teachers’ opinions about teacher autonomy in curriculum development. The results revealed that there were slight differences between Iranian and Turkish teachers’ autonomy perceptions. They also indicated there were significant differences among teachers in considering their gender, age and academic level, while no significant relationship was found for their marital status.

Inspired by Fairclough's suggestion of the idea of commodification in higher education, particularly in terms of "the marketization of the discursive practices of universities" (1993, p. 143), the author of the present paper proposes a theoretical basis within which the constitutive functioning of academic discourse in the mentioned process can be understood. In this attempt, Althusser's chain of interpellation is proposed as a rigorous conceptual framework to demonstrate the interdependence of the different components of academic life. As the major contribution of the present argument, the adapted schema demonstrates a dynamic relationship among university as an institution, academic communicative events, academic practice, academic discourse and the identities of the participants of academic context. The paper is concluded with some implications of the argument for EAP research and pedagogy.

This paper presents the findings of a study on Iranian English language teachers’ understanding of Task-based language teaching (TBLT) principles and perceived challenges of TBLT implementation in Iran. The data obtained from 100 respondents on a 39-item survey instrument and four essay questions analyzed through frequency statistics revealed that nearly 70 percent of teachers are cognizant of TBLT related principles. The study showed that in comparison with institutional and learner factors, teacher-related factors including teacher proficiency, experience, training, ability/skill, satisfaction and fidelity to tradition, inadequate income, and assumed roles were top challenges in the implementation of TBLT. This finding is a further confirmation of the extraordinary role put down to teacher variables by Deng and Carless((2009), Jeon and Hahn ( 2006) Chang and Goswami (2011), Li (1998) and Richard (2011). The study also found that factors like teachers’ being aware of TBLT advantages, their willingness to do TBLT, compatibility of their understanding with TBLT, their ability to change student attitudes towards TBLT, their access to authenticity, and student motivation can be viewed as assets in TBLT implementation. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.

The present study attempted the relative effect of explicit teaching of textual metadiscourse markers on ESAP reading comprehension performance of Iranian university students through an awareness raising experiment. A sixty-item multiple choice ESAP reading comprehension test of accounting was developed and validated to act as the pre-test and post-test. The test included items for assessing specific comprehension of students in their specialist subject. The test was administered to 80 undergraduate intermediate and upper-intermediate students randomly assigned to experimental and control groups as the pre-test. After the treatment was over, the English for Specific Academic Purposes test was again given to the same students as the post-test. The results of the two-way ANOVA indicated that the experimental group benefited from the explicit teaching of textual metadiscourse markers and the treatment had a facilitative effect on ESAP reading comprehension of students. Moreover, the results of the two-way ANOVA showed that the proficiency level had an effect on ESAP reading comprehension of the students, that is upper-intermediate level students in the experimental group benefited more from the explicit teaching of textual metadiscourse markers. The overall results of the study provide empirical support for the facilitative effect of explicit teaching of textual metadiscourse markers on ESAP reading comprehension of students.

The power of media lies in its persuasive function, which gives media a potential to maneuver on the mind of audience (van Dijk 1996). This potential is realized via different linguistic resources, one important group of which is metadiscoursal resources. The major aim of this study was to explore how and in what distribution these resources are employed by writers with different cultural backgrounds to fulfill persuasive objectives in the genre of newspaper editorials. Based on Hyland’s (2005) interpersonal taxonomy, a total of eighty newspaper editorials from four elite newspapers (two Iranian and two American) were analyzed and compared. The results revealed some differences between the two groups of editors (Iranian group and American group) in terms of the number of metadiscoursal elements used in their editorials. For instance, the native speaker group proved to be more confident in using interactional and interpersonal metadiscourse markers more frequently than the non-native group, which can be attributed to genre and language ownership on the part of the native speaker group. It can also be related to the contrast often made between writer-responsibility vs. reader- responsibility cultures (Hinds 1987). On the whole, cultural upbringing, genre and language ownership, as well as different rhetorical considerations may play key roles in the type and frequency of metadiscoursal elements used in public domain discourses.

The present study was an attempt, in the first place, to find out whether there is any relationship between Iranian EFL learner's multiple intelligences and their language proficiency. The second objective was to explore whether one of intelligences or combination of intelligences are predictors of language proficiency. To this end, 228 subjects of this study were chosen from among 280 English learners at Tehran Language Institutes based on their age and language proficiency level. The participants made up two groups of males and two groups of females, 10-14 and 20-24 age groups. In previous studies (e. g., Razmjoo, 2008; Hajhashemi, 2012) only one questionnaire was used to determine the MI of all subjects; however, in this study, specific questionnaires were administered for each age group. The researchers utilized three instruments: MIDAS-Kids, MIDAS-Adults, and Key English Test (KET). Since the subjects were at the elementary level of language proficiency, the researchers translated MIDAS (adults and kids versions) into Persian so that they could be more comprehensible. The next step was the administration of KET, version 2003. It was administered to 30 elementary students in the pilot study phase. After modification, it was administered again, and the reliability coefficient of it showed an acceptable reliability index. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between multiple intelligences and language proficiency of Iranian EFL learners. Also, intrapersonal intelligence appeared as the predictor of total KET. Moreover, spatial and linguistic intelligences had significant relationships with language skills.