فصلنامه مطالعات زبان و ترجمه
سال چهل و پنجم شماره 4 (زمستان 1391)

A large number of research on the effects of strategy-based instruction (SBI) in teaching English as a foreign or second language has been conducted so far. However, the findings regarding the context of English language in such studies, second or foreign, have not been synthesized so far. Therefore, this study aims to meta-analyze the effects of SBI experimental studies conducted in the field of learning and teaching English to clarify the aroused controversial issues regarding the context of the English Language. A comprehensive search was conducted to collect the population of experimental SBI studies. Effect sizes were calculated for 26 primary studies, contributing a total of 84 unique samples. The findings indicate that the overall summary effects of studies with English a foreign language were larger than those with English as a second language under both the fixed effect and random effects model. The article concludes with a discussion of theoretical, practical, and methodological implications.

Being aware of the positive effect of teaching vocabulary to enrich lexical knowledge, the present study aims at investigating the impact of explicit teaching (and its two modes: verbal and visual) and task-based instruction on the vocabulary achievement of Iranian EFL learners. On the basis of Cambridge Placement Test, the participants of the study were randomly selected from among 94 intermediate EFL learners, from which 75 were randomly assigned into three verbal, visual and tasked-based groups. All groups were required to use the same textbook and ancillary materials. The groups were taught a set of vocabulary selected from Harrington Elster’s Verbal Advantage (2000) employing verbal techniques of synonymy and exemplification to the verbal group; visual aids of pictures, flashcards, and PowerPoint presentation to the visual group; and some teacher-made tasks to the task-based group. A post-test was administered at the end of the course to measure the difference between the achievements of the three groups with respect to the type of vocabulary teaching techniques employed for each group. Results of One-way ANOVA and Scheffe test revealed effective superiority of task group performance over the other groups and visual group over verbal group. It might be concluded that to enhance EFL learners’ lexical knowledge, task-based instruction is more effective than visual or verbal explicit instruction. The findings of this study may have significant implications for curriculum designers and EFL teachers.

In the era of globalization and cyber-communication, culture has gained more momentum and each country’s development hinges on a rich and healthy culture. That is why, given the inseparable relationship between culture and language, in this study I intend to introduce “cultuling” as a dynamic tool in sociolinguistic studies. Cultuling refers to the structures and phrases in a language, which portrays a group of people’s culture. To pinpoint these cultulings, the researcher is required to analyze the language closely. In this study, I have provided some examples of cultulings such as, marginalizing individuality, highlighting power/respect, avoiding responsibility, being indirect, enhancing EQ, and highlighting the family role. In the end, some recommendations were provided to employ these cultulings to change cultures.

Why some learners do show ‘willing to communicate’ in English, concurrently others do not, has been an incentive investigation in L2 education. Willingness to communicate (WTC) as an initiation to communicate while given a choice has recently played a crucial role in second language learning. It was hypothesized that WTC would be associated with language learning orientations. This study explored WTC and language learning orientations among 60 learners attending English courses in Iran. Utilizing a WTC questionnaire adopted from MacIntyre et al., the researchers measured WTC both inside and outside the L2 classroom in each of four skill areas: speaking, writing, reading, and listening comprehension. The results showed significant correlations between WTC inside and outside the L2 classroom. Therefore, it may be indicted that Iranian EFL learners tend to use their English both inside and outside the L2 classroom; they learn English for real-life situations. Moreover, the findings indicated significant correlations between WTC and LLOs. As a result, it can be claimed that the ultimate goal of Iranian EFL learners is practical use of English. This study may give EFL educators the insight of the importance of motivational orientations that provoke EFL learners to learn English appropriately in order to communicate in authentic situations.

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is built upon the progress in the Vygotsky's (1978) Zone of Proximal Development and is a framework for the integration of instruction and assessment as a unitary activity and serves first to identify the abilities of the learners and second, actively support the progress of such abilities (Poehner, 2008). Considering the adhered importance of DA and in an effort to investigate the efficacy of this newly introduced assessment mode, this study delves into the results of a number of empirical studies of DA that are recently carried out in the field of EFL/ESL. The results of this secondary analysis revealed that the application of DA in the second or foreign language learning contexts enables the teachers and even the learners to efficiently identify the origins of the learner's educational problems and provide them with the appropriate feedback or solutions. The provision of solution is the main distinctive feature of DA as the static modes of assessment even if are able to identify the origins of the learners educational problems, are not oriented towards the immediate provision of appropriate remedies for the problems. Furthermore, DA is a better means to distinguish the learners from each other based on their knowledge or communicative competence and to predict their future performances.

The major aim of this study was to examine the effect of teaching critical thinking skills on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension across different EQ levels. To this end, 104 students were selected. Then the participants were randomly divided into two groups. In the next step, Bar-On Emotional Intelligences test was administered to measure the participants EQ level and based on their scores on this test, the subjects of each group were divided into two subgroups. During 14 sessions, critical thinking skills were taught to the students of the experimental group along with their ordinary English courses. Finally, another version of the reading comprehension test was given to the participants to test the effect of the treatment. The obtained data were analyzed using t-test and one-way ANOVA. The results revealed that teaching critical thinking skills had a significant positive effect on reading comprehension of the students. The second purpose of the study was to find out if there was any relationship between the learners’ EQ and their reading comprehension. The results revealed no meaningful relationship between EQ and reading comprehension. The final purpose of the study investigated that if the subjects’ EQ level had any significant effect on using critical thinking skills in the class or not. The results showed that students with higher EQ levels could benefit from critical thinking skills in their reading comprehension more effectively than the lower EQ group.