فهرست مطالب dr. farahman farrokhi

This study investigated the effects of three vocabulary development strategies of keyword method, thematic clustering and developing morphological awareness on the Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary repertoire. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, sixty high-intermediate to advanced Iranian EFL learners were randomly assigned to three experimental groups and partook six online sessions of vocabulary instruction during a week. Using a pre-test and three post-tests, the vocabulary repertoire of the subjects was measured. The pre-test was administered a week before the commencement of the treatment sessions; the first post-test was administered immediately after each treatment; the second post-test was held 24 hours after each treatment and the third post-test was held one week after the end of the treatment sessions. Paribakht and Wesche (1993) model of measuring vocabulary enhancement was used to quantify the vocabulary repertoire of the subjects. Split-plot ANOVA test revealed that the subjects in the keyword group outperformed the subjects in the other two groups in all the three post-tests. Moreover, it was revealed that the thematic clustering group outperformed the developing morphological awareness group. The findings of this research may have pedagogical implications for English teachers, learners and material developers.

Fundamental changes and novel ideas have been brought into the field of English Language Teaching through introduction of postmethod and critical pedagogy. Postmethod as an alternative to methods aimed at fulfilling its triple principles of particularity, practicality, and possibility. The well-known sub-branch of postmethod, critical pedagogy, aimed at empowerment of instructors and learners, and establishment of social justice through education. Unlike theoretical aspects of these movements, practical dimensions have not received due attention, especially in eastern contexts. This qualitative investigation sought the extent EFL instructors practically adhere to the principles of these inherently western concepts in Iran, as a sample of eastern context with its own social, cultural, and academic norms. Qualitative data collection techniques were used to obtain data from the intended instructors. Qualitative data analysis laid bare the findings that postmethod and critical pedagogy are practically adopted, to a great extent, by the Iranian EFL instructors, and the pertinent principles are being put into practice enthusiastically. Powerful communication with western communities blurring cultural boundaries was deemed to be the chief reason of such strong adoption. Ironically enough, it was revealed that in general, the Iranian EFL instructors’ theoretical knowledge suffered greatly concerning postmethod and critical pedagogy. In other words, although haziness of cultural boundaries has made the room for smoothened practical realization of these trends, due attention should be paid to development of theoretical knowledge in these regards in Iranian EFL teacher training courses so as to take the utmost advantages from postmethod and critical pedagogy.

Given that students’ personality traits can have a powerful role in language learning, this study sought to investigate how well L2 leaners’ communication apprehension and request speech act can be predicted through the components of the Big Five Personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness). The study also examined which of these traits could be the best predictor of L2 learners’ communication apprehension (CA) and request speech act. One hundred and seventy-nine Iranian EFL learners at three universities in Shiraz, Iran were recruited. To single out the participants for the study, Oxford Placement Test was employed. To identify the learners’ personality traits, gauge their pragmatic competence of request speech act, and measure their communication apprehension, The Big-Five Inventory, Discourse Completion Task, and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) were applied, respectively. Standard multiple regression was used and the results showed that the Big Five personality can predict L2 learners’ communication apprehension and request speech act ability. Moreover, the results evidenced that extraversion and neuroticism largely contributed to L2 learners’ request speech act ability and CA, respectively. The findings offer implications for EFL teachers in helping their students increase their speech act productions and managing their communication apprehension based on their personality traits.

Developing, exploring and standardizing digital game based learning for EFL and English for Specific Purposes (ESP), requires a thorough understanding of learning context, gaming elements, ludical manners, as well as features of virtual reality in a real-life and career like setting. Unlike some traditional scientific approaches that focuses only on individual systems separately as a dipped in fashion approach, digital game requires a platform for understanding game genres, games’ use and various kind of games in order to define game design characteristics, theories of learning in digital era and to expand the characteristics and patterns of CALL application combined with linguametric perspective for digital games. It is a means and umbrella term for combined framework for multidimetional advancements, research and practices from major areas of inquiry, namely applied linguistics, psychometrics, and edumetrics of inter, supra disciplinary perspectives and emotional intelligence which gives importance to this discussion and a need to implement, develop, blend and use positive features of various digital game types in a user friendly and massively online course platform worldwide.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of flashcard and wordlist strategies with regard to concrete vs. abstract words on vocabulary development of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. The current study had a quasi-experimental design and consisted of two experimental groups and one control group. Ninety Iranian intermediate university students participated in this study. The participants were determined on the basis of Quick Placement Test (QPT). Eighty vocabulary items were selected from the wordlists presented on Paul Nation’s website for the treatment, and they were applied via two different strategies (flashcard/wordlist), and two different kinds of words (concrete/abstract). A pretest, an immediate test and a posttest were administered. To analyze the results, the SPSS software was employed. The experimental groups using flashcards and wordlists were found to outperform the control group. However, no statistically difference was observed between flashcard vs. wordlist strategies. Also, the findings showed that students will probably remember the concrete words for a longer period of time in comparison to abstract words. These findings will probably give insights into language pedagogy by encouraging English teachers to choose the teaching materials which can facilitate the process of teaching and learning.

The present study investigated formal versus informal implementation of pedagogical digital games to improve phrasal verb knowledge. One hundred and one intermediate students took part in this mixed-method, quasi-experimental research. The sample was divided into two treatment groups. ANCOVA was used for quantitative data analysis. Qualitative data analysis was based on students’ questionnaire data. The results revealed that digital game play for 6 weeks within formal classroom setting outperformed informal learning where students had to apply their extended degree of autonomous play and the relevant skills. The mean score difference is 3.45. The majority of students from formal and informal groups prefer formal context of learning. Interaction with peers is more productive between peers, higher levels of satisfaction when they encountered difficulties and significantly constructive in the formal context. Moreover, contrary to previous findings, no significant difference was found between Post Literal and Post Figurative mean scores. Thus both literal and figurative phrasal verb categories improve evenly in a digital game play context and it fosters the interpretation of the previously difficult to comprehend figurative verbs in traditional learning context and mean score for play was considerably higher in formal group and performed better compared to the informal game group.

Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis and Skehan’s Limited Attentional Capacity Model provide the major impetus for this study. The present article reports the findings of a between-subject factorial experimental research study which explored 1) the effects of increased cognitive task complexity, manipulated through the intentional reasoning demands and number of elements on the lexical and syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of EFL writers’ productions; and 2) the joint effects of cognitive task complexity factor and learners’ language learning aptitude (Low vs. High) on the written output. Firstly, we gave Carroll and Sapon’s Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) to 226 participants and then did a random stratification of the low- and high- aptitude learners into three groups. The participants received letter writing tasks with different cognitive complexity levels (low, medium, and high). The findings indicated that increasing cognitive task complexity resulted in significantly higher lexical and syntactic complexity and lower fluency, whereas no significant effect was found on writing accuracy. Moreover, the statistical results revealed no significant interaction effect between task complexity factors and learners’ language aptitude. With regard to the first objective of the study, the findings supported the predictions of Cognition Hypothesis while it is not the case in relation to the second objective of the study.

One of the possible negative consequences of the corrective feedback (CF), as a way of focus on form, can be a trade-off between the learners' spoken complexity and accuracy, due to their attentional limitations. Consequently, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of the different CF types on Iranian EFL learners' spoken complexity and accuracy and the trade-off between them. To this end, four preintermediate intact classes were randomly selected as the delayed explicit metalinguistic CF, intensive recast, extensive recast, and control groups. All groups' participants participated in spoken reproduction tasks for six sessions and their errors were treated differently. Then, the data were transcribed, coded for the complexity and accuracy, and statistically analyzed. The results indicated that different CF types had insignificant effects on the complexity of the spoken production. However, the delayed explicit metalinguistic CF group significantly increased the spoken specific accuracy. Considering the trade-off between the spoken complexity and accuracy, it was revealed that the correlations between them was statistically insignificant and different CF conditions had no significant effect on it. These findings suggest that CF, of the delayed explicit metalinguistic type, can be an effective way for the development of the spoken specific accuracy of the Iranian EFL learners. In addition, its development has no negative effects on their spoken complexity

The purpose of the current study was to explore the effects of different corrective feedback (CF) conditions on Iranian EFL learners’ spoken general accuracy and breakdown fluency and their relationships. Consequently, four pre-intermediate intact classes were randomly selected as the control, delayed explicit metalinguistic CF, extensive recast, and intensive recast groups; these groups participated in spoken reproduction tasks for six sessions and their errors were treated differently. Then, the data was transcribed, coded for accuracy and fluency, and analyzed. The results indicated that the different CF conditions had insignificant effects on the number of error free Analysis of Speech (AS)-units, as an index of the spoken general accuracy. Considering the fluency, although different CF conditions had insignificant effects on the number of pauses the participants produced, it had a significant effect on the whole number of pauses; there was a significant correlation between participants' pauses and the whole number of pauses, with a medium effect size. The correlations between the general accuracy and breakdown fluency of all groups were negative and insignificant. In addition, different CF conditions had insignificant effects on the relationship between the accuracy and fluency. These findings suggest that there is no trade-off between spoken general accuracy and breakdown fluency. In addition, different CF conditions have insignificant effects on the EFL learners' spoken general accuracy, breakdown fluency, and their relationships.

Explicit teaching of generic conventions of a text genre, usually extracted from native-speaker (NS) manuscripts, has long been emphasized in the teaching of Academic Writing inEnglish for Specific Purposes (henceforthESP) classes, both in theory and practice. While consciousness-raising about rhetorical structure can be instrumental to non-native speakers(NNS), it has to be admitted that most works done in the field of ESP have tended to focus almost exclusively on native-speaker (NS) productions, giving scant attention to non-native speaker (NNS) manuscripts. That is, having outlined established norms for good writing on the basis of NS productions, few have been inclined to provide a descriptive account of NNS attempts at trying to produce a research article (RA) in English. That is what we have tried to do in the present research.
We randomly selected 20 RAs in dentistry and used two well-established models for results and discussion sections to try to describe the move structure of these articles and show the points of divergence from the established norms.
The results pointed to significant divergences that could seriously compromise the quality of an RA.
It is believed that the insights gained on the deviations in NNS manuscripts could prove very useful in designing syllabi for ESP classes.

This study aimed at examining the main and interaction effects of increased intentional reasoning demands, planning time, and also language learning aptitude on syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency (CALF) of 226 EFL learners’ performance on letter writing tasks. The participants were first randomly assigned to three experimental groups to be given a task with differing degrees of reasoning demand (low, medium, and high) to each group. Then, within each reasoning group, we reassigned an equal number of high- and low- aptitude learners to Planning and No-planning groups by random stratified sampling. The results revealed that (a) increasing task complexity with regard to the amount of intentional reasoning demands resulted in greater lexical and syntactic complexity and less fluency while no significant effect was observed on accuracy; (b) increasing task complexity through planning time led to significantly lower syntactic complexity and fluency; (c) reasoning demands and planning time had a significant interaction effect on accuracy; and (d) the interaction effect of language aptitude was significant with neither planning nor reasoning factor, but a three-way interaction effect was found on accuracy. The findings are discussed in relation to cognitive task complexity (CTC) models which were the main impetus for this study.

Explicit teaching of generic conventions of a text genre, usually extracted from native-speaker (NS) manuscripts, has long been emphasized in the teaching of Academic Writing inEnglish for Specific Purposes (henceforthESP) classes, both in theory and practice. While consciousness-raising about rhetorical structure can be instrumental to non-native speakers(NNS), it has to be admitted that most works done in the field of ESP have tended to focus almost exclusively on native-speaker (NS) productions, giving scant attention to non-native speaker (NNS) manuscripts. That is, having outlined established norms for good writing on the basis of NS productions, few have been inclined to provide a descriptive account of NNS attempts at trying to produce a research article (RA) in English. That is what we have tried to do in the present research.
We randomly selected 20 RAs in dentistry and used two well-established models for results and discussion sections to try to describe the move structure of these articles and show the points of divergence from the established norms.
The results pointed to significant divergences that could seriously compromise the quality of an RA.
It is believed that the insights gained on the deviations in NNS manuscripts could prove very useful in designing syllabi for ESP classes.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of graphic organizer strategy on improving Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. Fifty students participated in this study which lasted for one academic semester. The students were divided into two groups: one experimental group in which students were taught new vocabulary items through graphic organizers in form of clusters and pictures, and one control group whose students were taught the same items through traditional instruction. At the beginning of the program, the researchers conducted Cambridge Mover Tests in order to assure the homogeneity of the students’ proficiency level. A pretest was subsequently administered on learners’ vocabulary knowledge. Then the intervention commenced. At the end of the sessions, one posttest was conducted for measuring effectiveness of the treatment. Then the researchers analyzed the gathered data. Because there were two groups in this study, the researcher used t-test for analysis, paired t-test for comparing the results within groups, and independent t-test for comparing the results between groups. The results showed that graphic organizers were indeed conducive to L2 vocabulary learning by the learners.

There have been many theories and paradigms trying to provide answers to the challenge of the best method. After the rise of many colorful language teaching methods، in postmethod era، it was postulated that there is no magic formula to teach a foreign language but that a localized methodology based on learners and teachers’ experience will have suitable results. In this article، after investigating teachers’ pedagogical knowledge according to Gatbonton model (1999)، we have studied the pathology of teaching methodology based on the teachers’ viewpoints. To figure out teachers’ pedagogical knowledge، the present researchers observed thirty five EFL teachers. After the pathology of teaching، teachers reportedthat to assess the quality of effective teaching، such criteria as learner management، teaching quality، educational output، expertise، personality and educational policies should be taken into consideration. The observation of EFL classes revealed that there are some differences in novice and experienced teachers’ pedagogical knowledge.

This study examines development of social competence, and behavior problems in kindergarten children during a specific period of childhood. A sample of 499 kindergarten children (244 girls and 255 boys) with the age range of 2 years up to 5 years and 6 months was selected using the random stratified sampling method. To collect data, California Preschool Social Competence Scale and Social Skills Rating System were completed by kindergarten teachers. The trend analysis shows that both the linear and quadratic trends for verbal facility were statistically significant. Similarly, both the linear and cubic trends were significant for considerateness, and the linear trend tendency was significant for subscales of extraversion, response to unfamiliar and task orientation. Pearson's correlation coefficient yielded a low-to-moderate and negative correlation patterns between social component and problem behaviors. The study findings indicate a significant linear trend between the progression in social competence and increasing age, consequently leading to a decrease in social problems for children whose age was from 2 years up to 5 years and 6 months.

The present study aimed at validating the structure of Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ). Five hundred and eleven undergraduate students took part in this research; from these participants, 63 males and 200 females took part in the first study, and 63 males and 185 females completed the survey for the second study.The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated strong support for the three-factor structure, consisting of lack of information about the self, inconsistent information, lack of information and lack of readiness factors. A confirmatory factor analysis was run with the second sample using structural equation modeling. As expected, the three-factor solution provided a better fit to the data than the alternative models. CDDQ was recommended to be used for college students in this study due to the fact that this instrument measures all three aspects of the model. Future research is needed to learn whether this model would fit other different samples.

Ôbjective: Âpproximately 66-80%of graduate students experience statistics anxiety and some researchers propose that many students identify statistics courses as the most anxiety-inducing courses in their academic curriculums. Âs such, it is likely that statistics anxiety is, in part, responsible for many students delaying enrollment in these courses for as long as possible. This paper proposes a canonical model by treating academic procrastination (ÂP), learning strategies (LS) as predictor variables and statistics anxiety (SÂ) as explained variables. Â questionnaire survey was used for data collection and 246-college female student participated in this study. To examine the mutually independent relations between procrastination, learning strategies and statistics anxiety variables, a canonical correlation analysis was computed. Findings show that two canonical functions were statistically significant. The set of variables (metacognitive self-regulation, source management, preparing homework, preparing for test and preparing term papers) helped predict changes of statistics anxiety with respect to fearful behavior, Âttitude towards math and class, Performance, but not Ânxiety.Çonclusion: These findings could be used in educational and psychological interventions in the context of statistics anxiety reduction.

Individual differences have always been a key element in the success and failure of learners in language classrooms. Learners come to EFL classes with various learning styles and teachers utilize different methodologies targeting different needs of the learners which may have important effects on the quality of the learning environment. In this study a comparison is made between learning styles and teaching methodologies to figure out whether there is any consistency between the two. The participants in this survey study are 108 EFL learners and 108 teachers from private institutes. The instruments for gathering data are two questionnaires, one for learning style (Honey & Mumford, 2006) and the other for teaching style (Grasha, 1996). The results of this study revealed that not only there is little consistency between learning styles and teaching methodologies but also there is not a suitable way of measuring learning proficiency in language classes. In many EFL classes, there is little chance for feedback and a traditional paper-pencil evaluation is still on the stage in some classes. The paper ends with addressing the relevant pedagogical implications.

The aim of this study is to explore the confirmatory factor analysis results of the Persian adaptation of Statistics Anxiety Measure (SAM), proposed by Earp. The validity and reliability assessments of the scale were performed on 298 college students chosen randomly from Tabriz University in Iran. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out to determine the factor structures of the Persian adaptation of SAM. As expected, the second order model provided a better fit to the data than the three alternative models. Hence, SAM provides an equally valid measure for use among college students. The study both expands and adds support to the existing body of math anxiety literature.

The aim of this study is to explore the confirmatory factor analysis results of the Persian adaptation of Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS), proposed by Hopko, Mahadevan, Bare & Hunt. The validity and reliability assessments of the scale were performed on 298 college students chosen randomly from Tabriz University in Iran. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out to determine the factor structures of the Persian version of AMAS. As expected, the two-factor solution provided a better fit to the data than a single factor. Moreover, multi-group analyses showed that this two-factor structure was invariant across sex. Hence, AMAS provides an equally valid measure for use among college students. Brief AMAS demonstrates adequate reliability and validity. The AMAS scores can be used to compare symptoms of math anxiety between male and female students. The study both expands and adds support to the existing body of math anxiety literature.

Language teachers usually face issues regarding the most effectivemethods of teaching. Teaching language to nonnative speakers ofEnglish involves certain problems and challenges at all levels ofinstruction. Due to the unsatisfactory results of focus on forms andfocus on meaning instructions and their inevitable inadequacies, focuson form instruction along with its multiple techniques are regarded asa better candidate for classroom instruction. Focus on form instructiondoes not only pay attention to the importance of the communicativelanguage teaching, but it also maintains the value of occasional andovert study of L2 grammatical forms. It is considered a morepromising pedagogical choice than focus on forms and focus onmeaning because of its communicatively need-oriented attention toform and its saliency in the language acquisition process. Focus onform may be essential to push learners beyond communicativelyeffective language toward target-like second language ability. It mayalso be part of a more efficient language learning experience in that itcan speed up natural acquisition processes.

The expression of doubt and certainty is crucial in academic writing where the authors have to distinguish opinion from fact and evaluate their assertions in acceptable and persuasive ways. Hedges and boosters are two strategies used for this purpose. Despite their importance in academic writing, we know little about how they are used in different disciplines and genres and how foreign language writers present assertions in their writing. This study explores the use of hedges and boosters in the research articles of two disciplines of Electrical Engineering and Applied Linguistics. It further examines the use of hedges and boosters by native and non-native writers of English in these research articles. Based on a corpus of twenty research articles, the overall rhetorical and categorical distribution of hedges and boosters were calculated across four rhetorical sections (Abstract, Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion) of the research articles. The analysis shows that the overall distribution of hedges and boosters in Applied Linguistics articles is higher than Electrical Engineering articles. Moreover, there are significant differences between native and non-native writers in the use of hedges and boosters. These findings may have some implications for the teaching of academic writing especially to EFL learners.