Journal of Language and Translation
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Summer 2016

Critical thinking is considered important in the field of education due to its possible effects on language learning. Therefore, the reasons behind the success and failure of language learners have provoked researchers to examine different aspects of the language learning process. Moreover, improving learners’ critical thinking ability in the course of learning will enable students to rely on their own decisions and thoughts regarding the strategies and techniques that they would want to employ in learning the language. This paper reports the findings from a mixed-method study of 75 postgraduate students’ critical thinking ability and vocabulary learning strategy use, as well as comparing the critical thinking score of proficient and less proficient students. Data were collected using Schmitt’s vocabulary learning strategies question- naire, California critical thinking skills test and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed a statisti- cally significant relationship between learners’ critical thinking ability and vocabulary learning strategies.

This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument to evaluate English language teachers’ lesson plan- ning self-concept. To this end, 30 English teachers were asked to prepare a sample lesson plan and 15 of them were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. A tentative questionnaire including six fac- tors namely: classroom management, lesson planning conformity, planning efficacy, variety and adaptation, goal setting, and metacognitive knowledge, was then designed. The designed instrument was piloted to 300 English language teachers and validated using exploratory factor analysis. The findings of the study sug- gested a model questionnaire (30 items), including five factors (goal setting and metacognitive knowledge as one factor), for the evaluation of English language teachers’ lesson planning self-concept.

In assessing foreign language writing, holistic and analytic scoring can be used to measure a variety of discourse and linguistic features. This study aimed to investigate the possible significant effect of analyt- ic and holistic assessments on improving writing skill among Iranian EFL learners. For this purpose, two groups of intermediate EFL learners, after being homogenized, were divided into two experimental groups. In treatment phase, groups A’s compositions were scored holistically while group B’s composi- tions were scored analytically using Paulus’s scoring rubric as the benchmark. The result of Paired t-tests revealed that both scoring methods caused statistically significant differences between pre- and post-test in both groups. However, the result of the independent samples t-test in post-test between the two exper- imental groups showed that whether the writings of both groups were scored analytically or holistically, the group, which received analytic scoring during the treatment outperformed the group, which received holistic scoring. This study could have pedagogical implications in that it could encourage writing teach- ers to take the findings into account to improve the quality of writing as the Cinderella skill in a foreign language instruction and avoid sweeping the writing assignments under the practicality carpet.

This study investigated how English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners with different learning styles (Field dependent and field independent) boost up their reading comprehension abilities as they develop their metacognitive skills. To conduct this research, 60 participants were randomly invited to sit PET (Preliminary English Test) to ensure homogeneity of the participants in terms of language proficiency level. A Group Embedded Figure Test (GEFT) was then administered to distinguish field dependent and field independent learners. Two groups of 30 students were made; field dependent and field independent groups. Prior to any instruction on metacognitive strategy, groups of students attended a reading test as a pretest. Students were then received instruction with the focus on metacognitive strategies including inferring meaning through word analysis, using background knowledge, guessing the later topic, center- ing learning, arranging and planning leaning and elaborating as a treatment. After the instruction was completed the students were given a posttest in relation to the reading skills. The within and between group analysis of data gathered from this quasi experimental research using a series of t-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated that field dependent learners outperformed field independent learners in reading comprehension after the treatment. The finding suggested a need for principled decisions and planning on metacognitive strategy training in language teaching and materials development.

This study investigated criteria and themes required for constructing an objective and communicative psycho-motor mechanism scale based on the theory of translation proposed by PACTE. Qualitative para- digm was employed in relation to the translation tasks and the number of participants (no.11). Feedback through semi-structured interview was obtained to find the descriptors in designing the psycho-motor mechanism scale. Two independent raters, familiar with analyzing qualitative data, evaluated the transla- tion works and responses to the interviews. The results of the study could contribute to the field of trans- lation studies. The findings showed that more objective criteria in relation to anchored theories of transla- tion quality assessment were required in the field.

This study investigated the impact of sequencing tasks from simple to complex along reasoning demands on the fluency of writing task performance among EFl learners. The participants of the study were 90 inter- mediate EFL learners from three classes at Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Qods Branch in Iran. They were distributed in three groups: Experimental A, Experimental B, and a Control group. The students in all groups were invited to participate in a writing pre-test. Next, the treatment sessions including 8 sessions of task performance began, during which the first experimental group received a series of picture description tasks in a randomized order of cognitive complexity. The second experimental group received the same tasks, but ordered from simple to complex based on their required reasoning demands. The control group, however, did not receive any picture description tasks; rather this group received some typical writing activ- ities. The post- test was then administered to all participants. The results of the data analysis, through Analy- sis of Variances (ANOVA) using the SPSS software, demonstrated no significant impact for sequencing tasks from simple to complex on fluency in writing task performance.

Maslach and Jackson first introduced the concept of ‘burnout’- a state of physical and emotional exhaus- tion emerging from work conditions- in 1980. The importance of investigations of burn out lies in the fact that it is directly related to the quality of teaching. There are three basic criteria set to predict, evaluate, and prevent burnout: depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and personal accomplishments. Teachers in Iran are not an exception to developing burnout, and neither are Iranian EFL teachers. To investigate the current situation of teacher burnout in general and the three criteria set by Maslach and Jackson among Iranian EFL teachers, the researchers selected 40 junior high school, 40 senior high school, 40 university, and 40 private English institute EFL teachers, and sought their burnout levels via Maslach Burnout Inventory. The statistical analysis of the data revealed the existence of significant dif- ferences among the burnout levels of these four groups of EFL teachers. Junior high school teachers re- ported the highest degree of reduced personal accomplishment whereas the highest levels of depersonali- zation, emotional exhaustion, and total burnout were reported by senior high school teachers. University teachers reported the smallest degree of burn out.