Journal of Applied Linguistics and Applied Literature: Dynamics and Advances
Volume:2 Issue: 2, Summer - Autumn 2014

The present study aimed to examine any possible relevance of perfectionism as a personal trait variable, in moderating the effectiveness of meta-cognitive instruction on bottom-up and top-down sub-processes of listening comprehension with a sample of EFL learners in Iranian context. To this end, 94 female EFL learners were selected from among 136 EFL learners at Andisheh Language Institute in Malayer, Iran based on the results of a homogenizing test (PET). The selected participants in 4 intact classes were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. Learners’ perfectionist tendency was measured by Ahvaz Perfectionism Scale and all participants were labeled as perfectionist or non-perfectionist by considering the median score as the cut-point. Two sessions of treatment were dedicated to explicit instruction of 5 metacognitive strategies for the experimental group, which was spared for the participants in the control group who received regular listening practice based on comprehension checking. Two sets of listening comprehension questions measuring top-down and bottom-up sub-processes adopted from TOEFL archives were administered as the post-test. The results indicated that both bottom-up and top-down listening comprehension were fostered by metacognitive instruction. Perfectionists and non-perfectionist EFL learners did not differ with regard to the effect of metacognitive instruction on their top-down listening comprehension though a significant moderating effect was observed for the bottom-up listening comprehension. The patterns of interaction between perfectionism and the two sub-processes of listening leave us in a better position to understand L2 listening process.

As a part of pragmatics of language, Metadiscourse (MD) has been widely recognized as playing a pivotal role in the expression and comprehension of messages in academic writing. In view of its significance in effective communication, there have been a lot of attempts to categorize different MD devices within manageable models alongside some descriptive works to demonstrate the use of MD devices on the basis of these models. However, despite all the centrality accorded to MD markers in academic writing, few ESP practitioners have tried to explore the use of these devices by non-native speakers (NNS) who are known to be producing dry, incoherent and sometimes confusing papers - the very shortcomings which might easily be managed by judicious use of MD elements. With the absence of systematic works on the use of MD markers by NNS, there is a paucity of information on their use of MD devices in their productions. This is what the present paper seeks to uncover. Drawing on the Hyland and Tse’s (2004) “Interactive and Interactional” model of MD, and their description of the use of MD devices in research articles produced by native speakers (NS) in Hyland (1998), it was set out to document the frequency of MD markers in papers produced by NNS of English and contrast it with that observed in Hyland (1998). For this purpose, 20 RAs written by NNS which had been accepted for publication in the Tabriz Journal of Dentistry were selected after extensive stylistic and linguistic editing, and were compared against Hyland (1998) with respect to the frequency of particular MD elements. The results showed huge discrepancy in the use of all MD devices in general, and some in particular. The findings can provide useful insights in materials development for academic writing classes where learners could receive explicit instructions on the use of MD elements which have been found to be used least frequently.

This study aimed at discussing and representing discourse analysis of classroom talk in two contexts. It is significant, since it considers different genres of talk, cultural and social identities, social relations, different ideologies and many other aspects in this analysis. It attempts to analyze the dominant classroom patterns in two contexts. Two cases of study were analyzed in this study: a rural setting which includes 28 participants, and an urban setting including 32 participants. Using Schiffrin’s model of study with different principles – speech act theory, Interactional sociolinguistics, pragmatics, ethnography of communication, conversation analysis, and variation analysis – we tried to interpret and analyze different forms and functions of utterances, different social orders, ideas, thought processes and social identities of participants in each context. Frank talks, simple constructions of utterances, simple action clauses and their referents are common in rural setting, while intertextuality, literal phrases, similes and metaphors, ellipses and complicated action clauses and their referents are popular in urban settings. The findings of this paper direct us toward a complete needs analysis and designing new courses in two contexts. These indicate that there are many differences among two groups.

Writing academic texts by novice researchers requires a framework and support by learning how to cite the works of others. However, compared to the studies on other academic writings, studying citations by considering certainty markers has received little attention. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the shifts of certainty markers (hedges and boosters) in pre- and post-citation pieces of arguments in Applied Linguistic Textbooks. To this end, representative samples of about 50 Applied Linguistic Textbooks in 18 different topic areas were selected randomly from among 100 Textbooks and were analyzed on the basis of Hyland’s (2005) model. The researchers studied both direct/indirect and integral/non-integral citations and examined their pre- and post-citation parts in order to identify shifts of certainty that occurs in pre- and post-citation arguments. The analysis of the citations resulted in identification of nine different patterns. The study concludes with some implications for post-graduate students, novice researchers, academic writers and readers to equip themselves with discoursal properties required for writing academic textbooks.

Writing academic texts by novice researchers requires a framework and support by learning how to cite the works of others. However, compared to the studies on other academic writings, studying citations by considering certainty markers has received little attention. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the shifts of certainty markers (hedges and boosters) in pre- and post-citation pieces of arguments in Applied Linguistic Textbooks. To this end, representative samples of about 50 Applied Linguistic Textbooks in 18 different topic areas were selected randomly from among 100 Textbooks and were analyzed on the basis of Hyland’s (2005) model. The researchers studied both direct/indirect and integral/non-integral citations and examined their pre- and post-citation parts in order to identify shifts of certainty that occurs in pre- and post-citation arguments. The analysis of the citations resulted in identification of nine different patterns. The study concludes with some implications for post-graduate students, novice researchers, academic writers and readers to equip themselves with discoursal properties required for writing academic textbooks.

Although sometimes considered to act only as a means of recognizing debts, acknowledgments give the opportunity for writers to display a self-conscious and reflective representation of self. Following this assumption and to reveal some of the ways this is achieved, a corpus of 80 textbook acknowledgments in the field of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics were analyzed in order to show what “self” does in an other-oriented academic sub-genre. The findings of the study revealed that acknowledgments is composed of a sequence of moves, through which the writer must mainly and primarily acknowledge the others who have a share in the process of the development of an academic enterprise. However, within this manifest presence of others, the readers also find implicit and explicit traces of self which carry the writers’ desires for promotion. This study clearly indicates that self-promotion is an inherent and integral quality of all academic discourses and even an “other” oriented academic genre can be seen to carry a self-promotional flavour.

This study investigates English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ needs and desires with regard to the in-service training courses (ITCs) programs in Marand, East Azerbaijan province, Iran. 21 EFL teachers at both junior (N=10) and senior high schools (N=11) participated in this study. The data concerning the participants’ mentioned needs and desires were gathered by means of a structured interview. The data on ITCs programs, i.e. methodology/pedagogical skills, language improvement, and linguistics, were collected through the ITCs programs list which has been archived in the Office of Human Resources in Marand’s Department of Education from March 20, 2000 to March 20, 2015. The results of the study indicated that methodology/ pedagogical skills were the most required component for participants, with the other two components, i.e. language improvement and linguistics, lying respectively in the second and third ranks. In terms of the participants’ desire as to the ITCs programs, language improvement was found to be their most desired component, with the other two components, i.e. methodology and linguistics, being respectively the second and third favourites of the participants. Checking the ITCs programs against the participants’ needs and desires revealed that the ITCs programs offered to them were somewhat in parallel with their needs, but not with their desires.