Research in English Language Pedagogy
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Summer-Autumn 2015

English for academic purposes (EAP) is a significant part of the curriculum in Iranian universities. However, it seems that EAP programs have been developed without a systematic needs analysis. The purpose of this study was assessing the present and target situation needs of two groups of undergraduates of computer science. A total of 320 students and 44 instructors participated in this triangulated quantitative-qualitative survey. Data was collected through self-assessment, needs-analysis questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that there is a noticeable gap between current EAP courses and both the present and target situation needs of learners which is partly due to the low general English proficiency (GEP) of the students. Moreover, there were discrepancies between the two groups of undergraduates and their instructors regarding perceived needs. The findings provided implications for revising the current EAP curriculum for computer science students.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of economic status and level of education on the choice of address terms by Iranian couples in Shahrekord, Iran. To this end, 50 couples were selected, based on their educational and economic statuses, and were studied in terms of their choice of address terms. A discourse completion task was used as the data elicitation technique and Chi-square was conducted to analyze the data. The results of this study unveiled the patterns of realizations of terms of address among the couples in different situations. It was found that level of education (though not economic status) was an important factor in the choice of address terms among couples. Unsurprisingly, the more educated the participants, the more formal address terms they used. Indeed, level of education brought about significant differences among the low, mid, and high level of education couples in the address termed they chose to use. It was also divulged that there was no significant difference in using terms of address for couples with low and high economic status.

This paper represents an attempt to explore Mikhail Bakhtin's ideas in the process of interpretation of some selected Farsi poems by a few contemporary Iranian poets. In so doing, the paper first seeks to cast a rapid glance at Bakhtin's era, which shaped his literary philosophical views then it continues with a brief discussion of some of the characteristic features of his ideology, namely intertextuality, heteroglossia, dualism, and carnivalesque. While dealing with the pragmatic meaning of the poems, the theme of centripetal and the centrifugal forces of language was addressed in a bid to illustrate the fact how the poet by deviating from the conventional codes of language system, i.e. by estrangement, manages to convey his intentional meaning that would have otherwise ceased to fascinate the reader. Finally, the decontextualized rationality in order to highlight the significant role of voice in sociocultural approach, the legacy of Vygotsky, to the genesis of mind, which goes a long way in the interpretive process of poetry were discussed.

The role of L1 in second/foreign language learning has been the subject of much debate and controversy. This article reports on a piece of research carried out in a junior high school in Isfahan, Iran. This study was conducted to examine the effect of using translation from L1 to L2 on the improvement of EFL learner's language accuracy. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 62 students in grade three of junior high school were chosen by means of administering an experimental made pre-test. The participants were divided into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group received grammar exercises in translating some phrases and sentences from Persian into English related to the intended grammatical structures during the study period while the control group just did their textbook exercises. At the end, a post-test was given to the students and the mean scores of the two groups were identified. T-test revealed that the treatment had a considerable effect on student's language accuracy.

This paper summarizes the educational implications of current research on cognitive neuroscience for foreign-language learning to provide an overview of myths and realities in this appealing area of research. Although the potential benefits of neuroscientific research into language acquisition are great, there are a number of popular myths that none of which are supported by scientific evidence. In this paper, three prominent examples of these myths are introduced and discussed how they are based on misinterpretation and misapplication from neuroscience research. The first pervasive example of such misconception is the prevalent belief of being the certain critical periods for learning a second language. It implies that the opportunity to acquire foreign languages is lost forever by missing these biological windows. In fact, however, extensive research shows that there are sensitive periods, but not critical periods, during which an individual can acquire certain aspects of language with greater ease than at other times. Another example of myths is a false conclusion implies that exposing children to a foreign language too early interrupts knowledge of their first language. The reality is that learning a second language not only improves language abilities in the first language, but also positively affects reading abilities and general literacy in school. Like the other myths, there is also a popular conception about ability to learn second language during sleep. It is demonstrated that previously acquired memories are consolidated and new association are learned during sleep, but learning a foreign language requires conscious effort and available data do not support this hypothesis that second language acquire during sleep. The main conclusion arising from this argument is that, while our understanding of the neural bases of language learning is continually evolving, our interpretation of the implications of these findings for foreign language teaching and learning should also continually evolve.

News has played a vital role in peoples’ and governments’ decision making. As such, the source and reliability of the news are of equal or even more significance than the news itself and that makes reporting the news a challenging and critical profession. Accordingly, investigating how news is reported is essential and further it would be illuminating to see how different news reporting organizations and cultures report their news for their readers. This study compared the Persian and English news to explore the similarities and differences between two languages. Utilizing Schematic Structure of Editorials (Based on van Dijk, 1992, 1995) to analyze the data, the researcher found significant similarities and differences between Persian and English in terms of genre of news.

The present study intended to look into and compare the possible effects of Competitive Team-Based Learning (CTBL) with Learning Together (LT) or Cooperative Group-Based Learning (CGBL) – the most popular method of Cooperative Learning (CL) -- on oral performance of Iranian EFL intermediate students. After administering the oral interview, this researcher selected a group of 40 almost homogeneous Iranian intermediate students and randomly assigned them to control and experimental groups – 20 per group. Based on their scores, the experimental class were divided into 5 almost heterogeneous teams - four members each. But in the control group, the participants were allowed to shape their own favourable groups. For six weeks (18 sessions of 90 minutes each), both the groups received the same course materials, instructor, curriculum, out of-class and in-class assignments, schedule of instruction and equivalent methods of evaluation, but the experimental group experienced language learning via CTBL rather than via the CGBL as their counterparts in the control group. At the end of the course again the oral interview was administered to both the groups. Then the obtained scores on pre-test and post-test were analyzed through different statistical procedures. The results of the study rejected the null hypothesis and provided evidence supporting the hypothesis that CTBL can have a more significant effect on improving the oral performance of Iranian intermediate students. This researcher will discuss the probable causes for the results of the study, and will shed light on the pedagogical implications. She will also suggest recommendations for further research.

This study aims at uncovering the effect(s) of genre-based instruction (GBI) on listening proficiency among Iranian EFL learners. Moreover, it seeks to explore the relationship between effectiveness of GBI and listening proficiency. For this purpose, 68 EFL learners in two different groups at Zabol University were selected. Group A included 30 participants (12 males and 18 females), and Group B consisted of 36 participants (16 males, and 22 females). Group A was divided into treatment and control groups and underwent two listening proficiency tests for pre and posttest. Results of independent t-test indicated that treatment group outperformed the control group as the result of GBI (Sig =.001, t=3.740). Based on the proficiency test, Group B was also divided into proficient and less-proficient groups each one underwent two listening tests for pre and posttest. Results of independent t-test and paired t-test revealed both groups differed significantly as the result of GBI (Sig.= .00, correlation= .949, and .945 for proficient and less-proficient groups respectively) indicating that listening proficiency is not a significant factor in effectiveness of GBI.