فهرست مطالب مریم دانای طوس

Neurolinguistics is an interdisciplinary field that explores the relationship between language and various aspects of cognitive function. It investigates the inner workings of the mind within the framework of linguistics (Ahlsen, 2006). A recurring question in this field is whether an individual's linguistic and pragmatic abilities can independently enhance or hinder communication for those with neurological disorders. Some individuals with aphasia can compensate for their linguistic deficits by relying on their pragmatic skills. However, it has been observed that individuals with dementia, due to impaired pragmatic abilities, struggle to maintain their communication skills (Ulatowska & Chapman, 1995). Despite numerous studies, the exact nature of the pragmatic breakdown in dementia remains poorly understood and is a subject of ongoing debate (Garcia & Joanette, 1994).Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. According to the International Classification of Diseases, Alzheimer's is characterized as a gradual decline in memory and cognitive function that impairs daily activities (Kilmova et al., 2015). This disease affects various aspects of cognitive function, including memory, reasoning, thinking, language, and judgment, gradually causing linguistic and cognitive problems by shrinking the cerebral cortex (Milton, 2008). Linguistic deficits are often among the first cognitive signs of Alzheimer's disease. These deficits manifest as difficulties in understanding word meanings, finding appropriate words, naming objects, and comprehending words due to a decline in the social aspects of language. Consequently, individuals with Alzheimer's may struggle in social communication, speaking excessively, loudly, repeating themselves, or losing track of the conversation's topic.Assessing and identifying the language problems of individuals with Alzheimer's requires a comprehensive understanding of how the disease impacts language and the patients' cognitive perceptions. Recognizing the language abilities and disabilities of Alzheimer's patients at different stages of the disease can inform the provision of rehabilitation services for this segment of society. This research seeks to provide scientific insights into the linguistic performance of Persian-speaking Alzheimer's patients. The study aims to compare the discourse of Persian-speaking normal individuals and patients with Alzheimer's (at early and middle stages of the disease) at both linguistic and pragmatic levels. The study aims to address the following questions:Is there a significant difference in the discourse of Persian-speaking normal individuals and patients with Alzheimer's (at the early and middle stages of the disease) at linguistic levels?Is there a significant difference in the discourse of Persian-speaking normal individuals and patients with Alzheimer's (at the early and middle stages of the disease) at pragmatic levels?

Reading is an important language skill, as most learning occurs through it. To improve reading, the type and level of text difficulty should be in accordance with the mental ability of students. Therefore, determining the level of text difficulty (so-called readability) have been considered by researchers for a long time. One of the indicators of readability is related to text’s local cohesion. The present study aimed at investigating the significance of frequency of different types of indicators of local cohesion in Persian textbooks at different levels of its representation (surface, text-base and situation model) at primary school (6th grade), secondary school first cycle (9th grade) and second cycle (12th grade) based on Kintsch’s construction-integration model (1988-1998). It was a mixed-methods study. At the qualitative section of study, different types of local cohesion’s indicators of these textbooks were determined. Then, at the quantitative section of the study, the significance of their frequency was calculated by Chi-square. The results indicated a significant difference among the frequency of different types of such indicators in the Persian textbooks at all 3 levels of school education. As the text of books became longer from 6th grade to 9th and 12th grades, all indicators increased, however, such increase was not regular. Apparently, the educational approach of these textbooks is a skill-based one, meaning that they emphasize on education and strengthening the language skills (including reading), however, considering the results of the present study, perhaps it could be said that they have not been considered in practice, especially when developing the Persian textbooks.

Negation is represented in all natural languages (Miestamo, 2017). In Gilaki, this phenomenon is not dealt with thoroughly. The present study attempts to provide a comprehensive description of negation in Gilaki (Lahijani variety) according to the questionnaire proposed by Miestamo (2016). For this purpose, the negation strategies used in clausal and non-clausal negation have been described. Additionally, negative structures and paradigms have been examined regarding symmetry. The data has been gathered from the everyday language spoken by the native speakers in the city of Lahijan. Negation strategies used in standard negation differ from those of other clauses in many languages, whereas it is not the case in Lahijani. The findings suggest that negation can be expressed symmetrically or asymmetrically in constructions containing different types of verbs (simple, prefixal, and compound) with respect to tense and mood. Moreover, there are some cases that the only distinction between the positive construction and its negative correspondence is not merely due to the addition of the negative element but other changes would occur, such as the replacement of the negative marker with another morpheme or some phonological changes, resulting in structural asymmetry. In non-clausal negation, negative reply, negative indefinites, and negative derivation are explored.

The ultimate goal of language processing while reading is the comprehension of written text, which requires the simultaneous interaction of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Inference-making is a cognitive strategy that could be defined as using two or more parts of the text information to enable comprehension of implicit information in the text. The cognitive strategies are operational plans used to process the text through words' recognition, combining propositions to obtain the semantic structure of the text, and finally drawing a situation model of the affairs as presented in the text (Kintsch & Van Dijk, 1978). Inference-making is one of the cognitive strategies of reading comprehension, which could be defined as the ability to use two or more parts of the text information to get its implicates (Silagi, et.al. 2015, p. 8). An inference could be either simple like recognizing the reference of a pronoun, or so complex. In fact, it could be said that during the reading comprehension, the reader turns the sentences with a hidden and seemingly incoherent meaning into a coherent one using various inferences. Inference making is one of the main topics in psycholinguistic studies. From this perspective, it is a cognitive strategy through which the reader goes through the text to extract its implied meaning based on two sources of information, i.e., "the propositional content of the text" (the information explicitly stated) and the "prior knowledge." Most of the information extracted from the text is not directly comprehensible through reading but is possible through inference making and text comprehension at high levels. Therefore, inference making helps to create a coherent representation of text by creating a conceptual relation between its different parts (Chikalanga, 1992, p. 699). Considering the above explanations, it could be said that the cognitive strategies enable the reader to activate his/her prior knowledge based on the text and to create a mental representation that facilitates reading comprehension. This mental representation should be enriched enough to provide a deeper understanding of the apparent meaning of the text. Such enrichment could be done through strategies, such as inference making as well as using the text structure' knowledge. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in the use of inference-making strategy (coherent and elaborative) in reading comprehension among the MA students with weak and strong reading comprehension abilities. Accordingly, in this research work, there was one main hypothesis and two sub-hypotheses.

The study was a quasi-experimental type. The independent variables of this study were the participants' level of reading comprehension (with both weak and strong levels) and the type of inference (with two levels of coherent and elaborative). The dependent variable was their score in the inference-making test.The research sample consisted of 100 MA Persian speaking students of the University of Guilan; they were selected by convenience sampling method. First, the researcher-made placement test was conducted to divide the participants into two groups with weak and strong reading comprehension. The test's validity and reliability have been confirmed in the previous study (Ghavami et al., 2020). In the next step, the researcher-made inference-making test was distributed among them. This test consists of 4 texts and 16 questions. Each text has 4 questions, two of which are related to coherence inference-making and two are related to elaborative one. Then, five experts checked the content validity of the test. Its test's reliability was computed using Cronbach’s alpha. The alpha coefficient of the test was 0.72, showing that the test has rather good reliability. Finally, data were analyzed using MANOVA and independent samples t-test.

The results showed a significant difference between MA students with weak and strong reading comprehension according to inference-making strategy, as the strong students use more inference-making strategies. More detailed analysis showed a significant difference between the graduate students with weak and strong reading comprehension regarding the coherent inference making and the elaborative one.

The significant difference between the students with strong and weak reading comprehension (in terms of using the inference making strategy) and outperformance of the strong group compared to the weak group were consistent with the findings of Cain et al. (2001) and Silagi et al., (2015). The findings of this study, theoretically, as one of the first works in using inference making strategy in reading comprehension among literate Persian-speaking adults, could somehow fill in the informational gap in the related literature in Iran. From the educational point of view, the results of this research could provide valuable information on Persian Graduate students' different inference-making strategies for those involved in higher education and planning, including instructors, educational psychologists, and curriculum developing experts.

Language vitality is a concept that indicates to how extent a language is used as a communication instrument in different social situations. The highest point of the vitality of a language is when the language is applied in full-scale both at home and outside in the society for all purposes while the lowest point is when no one applies the language for no purpose, that is to say the language is extinct. Nowadays, threats to languages are a global crisis, since the number of children who learn their native languages is remarkably decreasing. Mazandarani is not also excluded from this threat. The aim of this study is to apply UNESCO framework that is a result of a collaboration of an expert group of scholars on endangered languages, to assess the vitality of Mazandarani in urban areas. Analyzing the data resulted from questionnaires, official and library sources and field study indicated that Mazandarani receives the point 2.74, a situation a bit worse than what is defined as “definitely endangered” in UNESCO framework for assessing the vitality and endangerment of languages. Discussion on research variables, gender, education, and age, specified that comparing to women, men totally both have a better and more positive attitude toward Mazandarani language and use it more. As education level rises, the use of Mazandarani decreases and the attitude of speaker society toward this language becomes more negative and pessimistic as well.

The book on Language Curriculum Design elaborates the process of curriculum design and provides opportunities for practicing and applying them. The book, which was written by Paul Nation and John Macalister (2010), was translated into Persian by Mirdehghān, Majidi,  Hajibāgheri and Farahi, and it was published in 2016. In this paper, the Persian version of the book was reviewed and criticized, and its strengths and weaknesses (formal and content shortcomings) were mentioned. Findings showed this book has some positive points, such as introducing the concept of curriculum and the process of designing second/foreign language curriculum in Iranian general linguistic society. However, neglecting some of the principles of writing and editing, not paying attention to some grammatical points, using some incorrect equivalents for some technical terms, and being inconsistent in using the equivalents for some terms are among the negative points which could somewhat prevent the readers of the book from getting the essence of some parts of the book that much. However, due to the fact that the curriculum and, in particular, the foreign/second language curriculum has been somehow neglected among Iranian general linguists, so the translation of this book in Persian has been necessary to fill this gap; hence, the effort of its translators is valuable and needs to be appreciated.

Reading comprehension is the process of reader’s interaction with a written language and making meaning from the text. Studies show that there is a great difference between skilled and poor readers in terms of using the fundamental strategies of reading comprehension, i.e., cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Due to the lack of appropriate tool for measuring adults’ reading comprehension level in Iran and the lack of appropriate criteria for selecting the texts for such a tool, the aim of this study was to make a placement tool for evaluating adult Persian speakers’ reading comprehension level. It was amixed methods study and the aim was to answer three main questions about finding a text selection criterion for reading comprehension tests, using the selected criteria for making reading comprehension placement test and studying the validity and reliability of the devised test. Findings showed that text selection criteria should be fitted with patterns of international tests and the linguistic principles of text. The content validity of the text was approved by experts, after implementing their comments on the texts and questions. To ensure the test reliability and to do item analysis, the test was distributed among a sample of 60 MA students of University of Guilan at two stages. The reliability of the test was computed and Cronbach’s alpha were 0.84 and 0.82 respectively, showing the appropriate reliability of the tool. After normalization, this tool can be used to evaluate adult reading comprehension and in educational planning, it can be used for selecting the educational content.
Reading comprehension is the process of reader’s interaction with a written language and drawing meaning from the text. Generally, reading comprehension is a complex and multidimensional process which is done through two core processes. The first is decoding the symbols and recognizing the words, and the second is integrating the meaning of words in the context of the text (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; in: Atkinson, 2014). Learning reading comprehension is a long-term process; so it is at the end of the learning process that the adult reader can easily read different texts and draw the meaning from them. Studies show that there is a great difference between skilled and poor readers in terms of using the fundamental strategies of reading comprehension, i.e., cognitive and metacognitive strategies (Cain, Oakhill & Bryant, 2000). Weakness in the prerequisites of reading comprehension and failure in selecting the appropriate comprehension strategies are some of the important problems of students at different educational levels when reading different types of texts. Some international studies have been done on the reading comprehension such as PIRLS[1] and PISA[2] tests. During the recent years, the number of such studies has increased in Iran. Perhaps it could be due to the Iranian students’ low performance in the PIRLS test at different time intervals which shows their weakness in reading comprehension. Despite such weak results in international tests, and doing some related research in Iran, still there is no appropriate tool for determining the reading comprehension of Iranian people, especially adults. Living in the modern society needs learning and reading various texts. Despite the importance of this issue and the quantitative progress in the number of graduate students, there is no specific criterion to determine the educated adults’ level of reading comprehension. The development of higher education is a great scientific evolution that despite its positive effects has some shortcomings as well. One of the most important shortcomings is the lack of an appropriate placement tool for evaluating students’ reading comprehension in order to prepare suitable educational material. The aim of this study was to develop a placement tool for evaluating adult Persian speakers’ reading comprehension. The study followed three main objectives, i.e. finding text selection criteria and the related questions for reading comprehension tests, using the selected criteria for developing reading comprehension placement test and finally determining the validity and reliability of the designed test.
Questions: There were three main questions in this study: 1. What are the text and question selection criteria for developing a reading comprehension placement test? 2. Which reading comprehension placement test could be designed for adults, implementing the above-mentioned criteria? 3. Does the designed test have validity and reliability?
It was amixed methods study.The qualitative part included finding the text and question selection criteria for developing the adult Persian speakers’ reading comprehension placement test and the steps of its development. Also, the quantitative part of the study included the pilot study of the mentioned test to determine its validity and reliability. The content validity of the test was checked by 5 experts. To examine its reliability, the test was distributed among two groups of MA students of the University of Guilan, who were selected using convenience sampling method (each group 30 students) with two months interval and the level of reliability was computed using Cronbach’s alpha. Along with calculation of the reliability of the test, the test items were analyzed in terms of item facility, item discrimination, and the distractors’ distribution.
To select the texts, a combination ofcriteria introduced by the International Institute for the study of Reading Literacy for PIRLS test and Educational Testing Service (ETS) has been used. It was tried to match the selected texts in accordance with patterns of international tests and linguistic characteristics of the texts. These criteria included lexical and grammatical cohesion and also coherence of the texts. Taking into account all of the strategies underlying reading comprehension (i.e., inference-making, comprehension monitoring, text structure, etc.) the test questions were designed at 6 levels. These levels were selected based on the integration of Day and Park (2005) model and the design of TOFEL tests for reading comprehension placement tests. The content validity of the test was approved by 5 linguists, English language teaching, and Persian language teaching experts, after implementing their comments on the texts and questions. To ensure the test reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used. First, the test was distributed among a sample of 30 MA students of University of Guilan and the level of Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82. Also, different levels of item analysis were conducted, including item facility, item discrimination, and the distractors’ distribution. To make sure of the reliability of the test, after revising the items, and with two months interval, the test was distributed among a new sample of 30 MA students of the University of Guilan. Again, the reliability of the test was computed and Cronbach’s alpha was 0.84, showing the appropriate reliability of the tool.
This test could be used to assess adult Persian speakers’ level of reading comprehension and also its results could be used to select appropriate educational material. In the next step of this research, this tool should be distributed among a larger sample to determine its construct validity and also to compute its norms so that its results could be cited with more confidence.


[1] The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study


[2] The Program for International Student Assessment

Visual word recognition is one of the most important sub-skills of reading that people learn it during the elementary school years. However, reading comprehension which constitutes the basis of learning all academic and non-academic subjects, and the ultimate goal of reading, gradually could be mastered during the next years along with increase in their knowledge and experience. Linguistics and Reading, written by Shimā Nabifar is a book through which the author has tried to clarify this skill along with its sub-skills. In this paper, this book has been criticized and some of its strengths and weaknesses have been mentioned. Based on the findings of this study, this book has some positive points such as dealing with the reading skill, its sub-skills and cognitive pre-requisites with a focus on linguistics. However, not paying enough attention to some of the principles of writing and editing, the author's misunderstanding of some of the terms, and carelessness in using some technical terms are among the negative points which could prevent the readers of the book to get the essence of the material and to benefit of it, that much.

This mixed-methods research studies the relationship between reading working memory and reading comprehension among high school students from a psycho-linguistic view. The research population included all 11th grade female students of high schools in Rasht in 1397-98. The research sample consisted of 120 female students who took part at the pilot and final study and they were selected through convenience sampling method. The research tools were the researcher-made reading comprehension test and the nativised version of Daneman & Carpenter’s working memory (taken from Ghavāmi, 1397). After final distribution of the researcher-made reading comprehension test and the nativised version of Daneman & Carpenter’s working memory test among the participants, data were analyzed, using the Pearson correlation and Regression. The results showed there is a significant positive relationship between the reading comprehension test scores and those of storage component of working memory (r  =0/59) and reading working memory (r  =0/67), while there was no relationship between the reading comprehension test scores and the scores of processing component of working memory (r= 0/17). Following Swanson and Berniger (1995), the significant positive relationship between reading comprehension scores and those of storage component of working memory could be justified, saying that, the people’s performance on reading comprehension and verbal working memory is directed by a system with a general capacity. Accordingly, working memory could affect reading comprehension, since it provides a measure for the capacity of storage in different verbal tasks. Considering the role of reading comprehension in understanding instructional materials, and having in mind the relationship between reading comprehension and working memory, it could be said that the performance on reading comprehension could be improved through strengthening working memory. The implications of the findings would be discussed.

Despite the importance of phonological awareness in learning reading in the early stages of literacy, studies have shown that some students after the end of elementary education, and even some literate adults have poor phonological skills, that affects their reading. This study was a mixed methods one. The aim was to compare the adolescents' performance in syllabic, intra-syllabic and phonemic sub-tests and their relationship with reading comprehension. The qualitative part includes the review of theories and literature about phonological awareness and its relationship with reading comprehension, design of phonological awareness and reading comprehension tests, and examining their content validity. The quantitative part includes the implementation of the researcher-made tests on a sample of 30 students and calculating the reliability of tests (phonological awareness test (0.76) and reading comprehension test (0.80)). Then, the tests were distributed among a sample of 50 students from the 10th grade students of Lahijan. The results were analyzed using non-parametric Friedman and Wilcoxon tests and Spearman correlation test. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the performance of students at different levels of phonological awareness, as the best performance is related to the syllabic and the weakest is related to the intra-syllabic level. The results of Spearman correlation test showed that there is a high correlation between phonological awareness and reading comprehension (0.77). The results of this study can help educational programmers to design appropriate content to enhance the phonological awareness skills of students after elementary education.  

This article analyzed the woman´s place in Turkish proverbs by using Fairclough´s critical discourse analysis model. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate woman´s representation in Turkish proverbs. 166 proverbs were gathered through purposeful sampling from two books: Sorudlir (1393) and Ostevar (1392). Findings showed that the number of positive and negative representation of woman was almost equal and in most cases woman´s representation was neutral. There was not any discrimination or gender inequality in these proverbs. Power was divided not only between male and female but also among women according to their roles in the family.