پژوهش نامه انتقادی متون و برنامه های علوم انسانی
پیاپی 41 (مهر و آبان 1395)

This Research is an attempt to introduce and reviewprimary education of Japanese language textbook “Minna no Nihongo” that was republished after almost１5 years in ２０１２ by 3A corporation with some changes in content and revision of previous edition. At the present time, foreign language version of this work is prepared in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese languages and is used very widely in universities and language education centers around the world included department of Japanese language and literature in university of Tehran. As a matter of fact, characteristics such as drawing up by group work, revision of previous edition and drawing up of various supplementary books for coveringfour skills of language are main factors that this work is one of the essential textbook in the world. However, there is still some weak points for this work. The present article attempts to examine the characteristics, strong points and weak point of the work.

Four major criteria for evaluating a textbook include evaluation of achievements with regard to the theoretical principles in the field in question, comparison with related books, assessment in the context of the system that is intended to use the book, as well as assessment against the author's implicit or explicit presuppositions. With a view to the above criteria, this paper seeks to review Hassan Hashemi-MinabadsAmoozesh-e Tarjomeh [Learning Translation] (1394). In the first section, the theoretical foundations of developing translation textbooks are discussed. Section two briefly deals with the issue of translation textbooks in Iran. Within this context, Hashemi-Minabad's book is reviewed in the next section. As discussed in the conclusion, the major advantage of the book is that it is based on the author's experience of teaching translation in an academic context. Moreover, the formal features of the book seem to have been prepared with great care and precision. Also the translation materials are presented in a logical easy-to-difficult order. The major drawback, however, is lack of a solid translation-theoretical basis so that the learner is not given the opportunity to infer a set of systematic principles for themselves. In conclusion, the book does not meet the requirements of an academic textbook and should be rather used as a complementary material which is rich in practical examples.

This is a review article of the book “Sociolinguistics (Language Planning of Persian and Linguistic Attitudes)’’ by Negar Davari Ardakani, with the cooperation of Azardokht Jalilian. To do this, form and content of the book is reviewed critically. In those parts of the book which contain results of the fieldworks of the main writer of the book, there seems to be important and useful points and findings for language planning of Persian. Regarding the form, some of important shortcomings of the book are lack of attention to the conventions of orthography and punctuation of Persian and ignoring rules of giving reference to the resources. Regarding the content, lack of attention to the cohesion and coherence of whatever is discussed in the book can be easily understood. In addition, there are several cases of repetitions of the same materials in different parts of the book. Also, some parts of the texts being like a translated text, questionable equivalents selected for some of the non- Persian terms and words, and in some cases, unacceptable quantity of the materials quoted from other writers are among the other shortcomings of the book.

One of the major sources of psychology in the field of teaching English as foreign language in Iranian universities is a book named The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition written by Zoltan Dornyei. The book was first published in 2005 and was later revised in 2015 and published by Routledge. This study thus aims to analyze this book critically due to the importance of psychological issues in teaching English as foreign language. The findings suggested that although Dornyei established a coherent framework for his book, he ignored the socio-cultural effects of society on learners’ psychological aspects. Additionally, they were some concepts, including emotional intelligence, which were left untouched in his book. Finally, the philosophical aspects of concepts being discussed within the book were not addressed or even challenged. Generally speaking, the books limited itself to western studies ignored, the social and cultural elements, and avoided challenging the concepts which can limit readers’ understanding.

The present article attempts to introduce and review Modern Persian-Japanese and Japanese-Persian Bilingual Dictionary by Tsuneo Kuroyanagi, and to evaluate it according to modern lexicographical criteria. This dictionary is a compact version of author’s previous bilingual dictionaries, and is widely used among students, researchers and translators in both Iran and Japan in the absence of any notable alternative. As the author states in the preface, the learners of Persian language in Japan are supposed to be the main users of this dictionary. Consequently the book is designed to meet the needs of this particular group, and its users in Iran face some difficulties when referring to it. However, in the introduction of Japanese-Persian part, the author expresses his expectation that his book will also be used by Japanese learners in Iran. In this review paper, we will mainly concentrate on the needs of Iranian students of Japanese language, and evaluate both form and content of this dictionary from their point of view.

Making a systematic inquiry and applying appropriate methods and approaches to investigating a phenomenon are among the main academic concerns. Within translation studies, endeavors have been made to illustrate different aspects of related methodology. In this regard, Research Methodologies in Translation Studies aims to cover a wide range of interdisciplinary methodologies and contribute to the cross-fertilization of diverse research practices that inform translation studies. In this book, Saldanha and OBrien emphasize the priority of understanding epistemology and ontology of research to engaging in any research. They explain the main elements and principles of a systematic research and try to deal with the main issues of research in descriptive translation studies such as product, process, participants and context. This paper aims to critically discuss the content and structure of the book. The paper begins with a brief review of the chapters at the first step and then continues by reasoning and exemplifying the potential strengths and weaknesses. Considering the aims of authors and the strengths and weaknesses, the paper discusses its appropriateness for using it as a textbook at MA and PhD levels in Iranian universities, as it has been used for the purpose immediately after publishing.

Media linguistics and studying linguistic elements of news has been in the center of attention for both (applied) linguists and media experts for some decades. This research trend has evolved and flourished considerably after the emergence of (Critical) Discourse Analysis approach. In Iran also, the study of media linguistics and analyzing news discourse, mainly within CDA framework has been a prevalent trend. In this article, “the Linguistics of Newswriting” (2013) by Daniel Perrin is critically reviewed. The main premise of the book is that to analyze a media product, chiefly a news text, analyst need to holistically scrutinize the process of news production and not to limit himself to pinpoint the final product. To do so, analyst need to enter in to the heart of the newsrooms and observe the process up the shoulders of the journalists. This ethnographic approach to media study, previously launched by Cotter (2010) seems to be totally new for Iranian researchers and consequently, introducing this seminal work can pave the way for fruitful applied researches in future.

Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis by Paul Baker is published by Continuum, in 2006 and consists of 207 pages. The book focuses on two main subjects, and creating a connection between them: discourse analysis and corpus linguistics. Discourse analysis which is an interdisciplinary field by nature, has recently been the focus of many linguistic researches and studies, especially the ones that are related to sociolinguistics. A corpus is a collection of written or spoken texts that can be used as data in linguistic descriptions and analyses. Analyzing a linguistic corpus which is usually done by computers, can be very comprehensive and can cover lots of textual facts. The main objective of this book is to show that it is possible to combine a proper analysis of linguistic elements with a socio-critical interpretation of these features. Some of the strong points of the book are as follows: comprehensive account of methodological aspects, using real examples, displaying the procedures using figures and diagrams, and explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the suggested methods. Baker introduces different and various data analysis methods, which can be used in corpus-based discourse analysis. In this article, Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis by Paul Baker is reviewed, and its strong and weak points are discussed.

This paper aims at depicting the importance of research on core vocabulary and reviewing critically “Farsi Core Vocabulary of Iranian Children” and “Identifying Farsi Core Vocabulary: a National Project” through psychological, linguistic, methodological and educational viewpoint. At first, the importance of core vocabulary and the history of developing the book are mentioned. Then, the description and analysis follows. The chapters are reviewed very briefly. Then, the methodology used for estimating the core vocabulary (the subtests administered in the main project) and the the philosophy of their classification are analysed in details.

In this study we have a look on Ghalat Nanevisim[1]; written by Abolhasan Najafi. By reviewing the previous critics it is recognized that most of the critics and looks is based on two contradictory thought movement; first a linguistic glance which shows language as a live and dynamic system and denies the prescriptivism; second glance by emphasizing the literal and social applications of language, and according to cultural backgrounds accepts only those changes which are in the framework of grammatical rules and language background. By reviewing the book disregarding previous critics, after so many prints, again we can see some problems which are unsolved. Some of them are typographical problems, the phonetic transcription method of inventories, system of referencing, inventories containing same rules and etc. throughout the book. Some others are related to those special inventories which are presented in alphabetical order. After all of these critics and its problems, again it's an applied book which set to so many problems in modern Persian. And it can prevent the arrival of some unnecessary loan words and grammatical structures of foreign languages

Talisman is a constant motif of global culture, recognized by symbols like ring, bracelet, necklace or things like these, which contain incantations, prays or symbols. The subject of talisman also covers a part of literature, and writers and poets throughout the world, including the Russians, have used it in their works. Aleksandr Kuprin, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov and Anna Akhmatova, who have been in contact with eastern religions and cultures in some ways, brought talisman in their works with some eastern characteristics and relations with eastern cultures. In this study, after a short introduction about the root of the word “talisman”, and referring to the works of some Russian writers and poets with the subject of talisman, we take a look at three works of Alexander Pushkin: “In the Hidden Cave, on the Day of Following and Persecution”, “Be my Protector, my Talisman” and “The Talisman”, in which the poet has referred to this subject. In each of these poems, talisman has an extraordinary power. In Pushkin’s works containing talisman motif, there is no item like ring, bracelet or necklace, and the theme of his poems is derived from eastern religions and cultures, and given his life conditions and while Tsar government were constantly threatening him, it s

This paper aimes to discuss the background, purpose and methodology of The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture by American anthropologist Ruth Benedict. It was written at the invitation of the U.S. Office of War Information, in order to understand and predict the behavior of the Japanese in World War II by reference to a series of contradictions in traditional culture. The book was influential in shaping American ideas about Japanese culture during the occupation of Japan, and popularized the distinction between guilt cultures and shame cultures.
Benedict's book was based on her research carried out in war time Washington, and this naturally limited the research methodology and techniques in several ways. The most noticeable limitation will be found in the selection of samples for the interview purpose. The majority of the sample is made up of Japanese who had been in the United States for many years, and obviously they cannot be fully representative of Japanese society. The written materials and movie films used for analysis of Japanese culture are also inadequate for the purpose of studying contemporary Japan. Also many readers think that this book is not creditable because Ruth Benedict had not lived in Japan.
However this book holds key to understand motivation and reason in why Japanese do and say things that would be hard to understand by Occidental standard.