پژوهش نامه ی آموزش زبان فارسی به غیر فارسی زبانان
پیاپی 19 (بهار و تابستان 1399)

This research aims at investigating the pronunciation of Persian dorsal stops in the the production of Chinese and Arabic learners of Persian. Dorsal stops are different in Persain from both Chinese and Arabic. Persian dorsal stops are pronounced as either palatal or velar depending on the front/backness of the following vowel, while dorsal stops in Chinese and Arabic are always produced as velar irrespective of the place of articulation of the following vowel. Givn this phonological difference between the Persian and the Chinese and Arabic sound systems, we asked to what extent the acoustic phonetic characteristics of Persian dorsal stops in the the production of Chinese and Arabic learners of Persian agree with those of native Persian speakers. A courpus was designed to test the research hypothesis. Three sets of spekers, namely native Persian spekers, Chinese learners of Persian and Arabic learners of Persian participated in the experiment. Data analysis included spectral examination at stop release as well as regression locus equation computed from messurement of F2 at vowel onset and the steady state of the vowel. Results suggested that while Persain speakers’ productions of dorsal stops fall within two different phonetic categories, namely palatal and velar, depending on the following vowel; Chinese and Arabic learners of Persian realize Persian dorsal stops as only velar irrespective of the vowel context. The findings are discussed with respect to the theory of Speech Learning Model (SLM), and suggestions are made as how the research findings may be applied in teaching Persian as a second language.

Language assessment is an essential part of each Language teaching syllabus.The effectiveness of language educational systems highly depends on the validity of language assessment methods. This research tries to study the construct validity of the writing scoring rubric in the Ferdowsi University’s Persian Proficiency test. For this purpose the results from one of the official tests performed in the Ferdowsi international center for teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers was analyzed with Rasch and factor analysis models. The results showed that the three constructs which are topic development, quality of Language and organization, all have high factor loads. While organization has the highest loads with 0.98 this amount for the two other constructs are 0.97. In order to score each construct, the writing rubric in this test has a six grades’ scale. The Rasch models showed that all raters used this scale in an appropriate way because the order of the thresholds are well organized and match with order of the scores. Also the Write map indicates that this scale can differentiate well elementary, intermediate and advanced examinees and the grades cover all students with different levels of abilities. The rater reliability for this test is 0.98 which is highly acceptable.

Non-Persian language textbooks, as well as other educational content, are no exception. Obviously, if the teaching resources of Farsi are more comprehensive and accurate and understandable to learners and create less of a challenge, they will be a good tool for teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers effectively. The variety and quality of books available for teaching English and many other scientific languages, has made it easier for teachers to teach their respective languages and it has also facilitated learning for learners. The books available for teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers unlike other languages, is limited to a number of special books and relevant training centers and teachers are very limited in the choice of teaching options. Therefore, enriching resources as much as possible, can be an effective and useful step in education.The data obtained from five-volume series of the Amoozesh e Novin e Zaban e Farsi Textbook shows that, we have the highest level of maxims observance -three maxims of quality, relation and manner- at the elementary level. The result shows the strength of the elementary level because this level is for beginner learners who have little or no knowledge of Persian pragmatics and if observance of cooperative principles at this level is low, language learners will have trouble and there will be no proper training.

There is no language in the world that has borrowed from other languages. Loan word is a sign of dynamic of a language. Arabic vocabulary has been entered the Persian . the present study has investigated the impact of Arabic evolved vocabulary on understanding native Arabic learning Persian . the statistical sample of the present study has consisted of 80 native Arabic learning Persian of imam Khomeini international university , Persian language learning center in the academic year 2018-2019. 40 of these learners were at elementary level and the other 40 were at advanced level. 47 words were given to both groups and the chi-square test was used to compare the number of errors in each of the 47 words in the two groups . the results of studies of this category of evolved vocabulary show that Arabic vocabulary entered the Persian vocabulary has had a negative impact on language learning because the errors rate of the Persian learner in elementary level was 49% and in advanced level 34% . this demonstrates the fact that the semantic evolution of Arabic vocabulary is one of the most important sources of errors in understanding native Arabic learning Persian and using the original meaning of the word without understanding its semantic evolution is one of the most effective causes of error.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting students' writing skills from the perspective of teachers of Second Grade Primary schools. Writing is an activity that, despite its communicative nature, it is done privately.

The research method was descriptive-survey. The statistical population of this study included 850 teachers in districts 1 and 2 of Arak city. The sampling system was based on Available Sampling method and the sample size was 265 based on Morgan method. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire including 67 items. Validity was assessed by face validity and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha for psychological factors (0.87); for linguistic factors (0.91), for environmental factors (0.88) and for personal factors (0.91). One-sample t-test was used for data analysis.

The results showed that from the teachers' point of view, the mean of psychological factors (t = 25.34, p <0.01), linguistic factors (t = 32.92, p <0.01), environmental factors (t = 21.94 , p

According to the findings of this research, the factors mentioned in the study can be used to improve students' writing skills in the elementary educational system.

Illustrating for language teaching books is a subcategory of informative illustration. In this research, we reviewed the illustrations of two Farsi language teaching books: the second edition of Let’s Learn Persian 1 and Mina 1. Meanwhile, to evaluate the learning value of an illustration using the proposed model of Clark and Lyons (2011), we randomly selected %25 of pedagogical contents of each book and evaluated communication, psychological and other functions which affect the pedagogical objectives. In Mina, the “representative” and in Let’s Learn Persian the “context representative” are the most frequent functions of communication. Illustrations of both books have numerous failings, including poor representation of lesson goals, unrelated details, ambiguity in the image, poor representation of the content, small images and lack of clarity, some of which cause cognitive overload and basically distort the psychological functions of images. In general, however, the illustrator of Let’s Learn Persian has been more successful; here some creative methods have been used to better represent the content: using the same characters, using two-color and colorful illustrations in one frame to distinguish the main goal from the marginal objectives of the lesson and to distinguish reality from imagination, using ambiguous images to personalize and so on. In this book white spaces, page layout, and the frequency and size of images and content are tailored to the level of the learner, while in Mina the pages are full of multiple images and content, which causes cognitive overload for the learner. Extended Abstract: Illustrating for language teaching books is a subcategory of nonfiction illustration. In general, nonfiction illustration is divided into three groups: narrative, informative and naturalistic. Illustrating for language teaching books is considered as info nonfiction illustrating. Illustrating for these books does not have a long history and majority of the books written to date either have no images or almost have unsuited images. For some reason, even the books published in recent decade mostly have used images rather than digital or hand drawings. In this research, we reviewed the illustrations of two Farsi language teaching books: the second edition of Let’s Learn Persian 1 (Zolfaghari et al., 2017) and Mina 1 (Sahraei et al., 2017a). These books are for adult learners, written for the introductory level, and cover four skills; therefore, their content is similar. Clark and Lyons (2011) believe the learning value of a graphic depends on three factors: (1) features of graphics, (2) goal of instruction, and (3) learner differences. Features of graphic have three components: (1) surface features, (2) communication functions, and (3) psychological functions. Clark and Lyons (2011) categorize graphic in terms of communication functions into decorative, representative, mnemonic, organizational, relational, transformational, and interpretive. The psychological functions of graphic are: support attention, activate or build prior knowledge, minimize cognitive load, build mental model, support transfer of learning, and support motivation. In this study, to evaluate the learning value of a graphic using the proposed model of Clark and Lyons (2011), we randomly selected %25 of pedagogical contents of each book and evaluated communication, psychological and other functions which affect the pedagogical objectives. In Mina the “representative” function is the most frequent one and we found no evidence for organizational and representative functions. In Let’s Learn Persian the “text representative” is the most frequent function of communication, and organizational, relational, transformational and interpretive roles had no examples. These findings reveal that in the elementary language learning books, the “representative” or “text representative” are the major functions of communication. In Mina, the pedagogical content contains 35 illustrations and practices incorporate 19 illustrations, some of which are used in both lessons and practices. However, in Let’s Learn Persian the illustrations are equally distributed in lessons and practices: 19 in former and 20 in latter. This reveals that in Let’s Learn Persian the use of graphic in lessons and practices is identical, but in Mina using illustrations in lessons is twice as in practices. Illustrations of Mina have many flaws, including poor presentation of lesson goals, unrelated details, ambiguity in the image, poor representation of the content, small images, lack of clarity, inappropriate perspective, inadequate cultural valuation and negative psychological load. These features prevent the graphics to deliver their psychological functions, including minimizing cognitive load and support attention. For example, the pointless graphic details about unrelated concepts will distort learners’ mind from the main lesson objectives for a while. However, in Let’s Learn Persian the domain and frequency of these problems are limited. Here the technique of using the same characters has been used. For example, the same characters in an image do various activities. This method helps the readers to recognize the characters once and in later instances she just notices the differences; however, in Mina rarely the same characters have been used. In fact, to appreciate the context differences, it is suggested that one character be put in different situations so as to prevent the mixing of the content objective with the character. Using two color and colorful illustrations in one frame to distinguish the main goal from the marginal objectives of the lesson is another technique used in Let’s Learn Persian. This technique is also used to distinguish reality from imagination; i.e. the character is colorful, but her imaginations are two-colored and placed in a cloud. For personalization, the illustrator shrewdly has used ambiguous image: whenever it is supposed that the learner put herself in a situation, its related graphic is ambiguous. Another technique used in Let’s Learn Persian is combining surrounding and colorful designs, and also combining black and white illustrations with colorful ones. However, the illustrations of this book are not flawless either, and poor representation of the content, inappropriate framing, lack of clarity, unrelatd to the lesson goals and graphics ambiguity are some of its shortcomings which generally causes cognitive overload for the learner.

Understanding of meaning not only requires the analysis of language in text, but also other semiotic resources, such as images. This study attempts to employ a multimodal analysis of educational books to ascertain the extent to which visual and verbal components create meaning. The theoretical basis of this study was social semiotic theory by Kress and Van Leuween which investigate images and their related texts in 3 metafunctions including representational, interactional and compositional. This study investigates central concerns of the use of text and visuals within the Language learning textbooks taught at University by SaffarMoghaddam. To do this, the Language learning textbooks were evaluated and analyzed. The results of the research findings indicate that narrative images were very low frequency but the conceptual type was very high frequency and did not depict actions and events. In the sense of interpersonal meaning, most of the participants had more imagery and less interaction among the participants. At the contextual level, most participants were presented with long-shut images. Due to the color of all images, the image was of a natural kind and of a high degree of realism. The illustrations in this book aim to present and understand the dominant patterns of Iranian national religious culture to its non-Persian speaking audience. Therefore, it can be concluded that these images reflect a fairly realistic picture of Persian-speaking life. The results of this study can help to increase the knowledge and awareness of textbook authors in using images in the learning process of learners. Extended Abstract: In most educational systems, textbooks are the most common tool in educating learners. The majority of textbooks add visual images with the aim of helping students have a thorough understanding of topics and contents of lessons. These visual images such as pictures, photos and paints, etc. are adopted to transmit the information of different matters. Multimodality is one of characteristics embedded in these discourses. In language teaching, the teacher also needs to use visual aids. Visual aids motivate learners, make them interested in learning, and make learning easier. Persian language textbooks for non-Persian speakers are very versatile today. Nowadays researches show that using visual (also images) and written texts together help learners more. But how are images of such books represented? There is a wide range of approaches to this matter among the existing studies on textbooks. These books have both verbal and visual layers. The understanding of meaning not only requires the analysis of language in text, but also the study of other semiotic resources, such as images, gestures or sounds. This study was an attempt to employ a multimodal analysis of educational books to ascertain the extent to which visual and verbal components create meaning. The theoretical basis of this study was social semiotic theory proposed by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996/2006)) and Halliday’s (1976/2004) systemic functional theory which investigate images and their related texts in three meta-functions including representational, interactional (interpersonal), and compositional. The present study investigates the central concerns of the use of text and visuals within the Language learning textbooks taught at University which have been prescribed by Ahmad Saffar Moghaddam. To do this, the Language learning textbooks were evaluated and analyzed. The main objective is to “identify the visual strategies used by writers and illustrators, to convey a representation of reality, to create interaction with readers and to form coherent wholes of communication. The results of the research findings indicate that in the analysis of the three representational, interactive and textual meta-functions of the investigated images, narrative images have very low frequency but the conceptual type has very high frequency and does not depict actions and events. In the sense of interpersonal meaning, most of the participants have more imagery and less interaction among the participants. At the contextual level, most participants are presented with long-shut images, and their location in the image indicates a participant's prominence. Due to the color of all images, the image is of a natural kind and of a high degree of realism. The illustrations in this book aim to present and understand the dominant patterns of Iranian national religious culture to its non-Persian speaking audience. Images often depict non-Iranian students and are gender-represented equally. Out of a total of 64 analyzed images, about 8 images are the main subject of the human, 8 images are the main subject of those objects (Iranian miniature calligraphy and painting) and other images (about 48 images) are dedicated to historical and religious sites, but no images are related to the subject. Animals have not paid. One of the important and valuable points in representing these images is the strong presence of students in the images. In all of these images, male and female students and professors are interacting with each other. Another important point in the representation of these images is the emphasis and use of religious and national tools, signs, and symbols. The use of images of the shrine of Imam Reza, Hazrat Abdolazim and Imamzadeh Saleh and the mosques of GoharShad and Sheikh Lotfollah are considered as symbols of the religion of Islam. The depiction of Persepolis, the tomb of Ferdowsi, Sa´di, Attar, Khayyam, Ibn Sina and Ferdowsi are all symbols of the national history. The simultaneous emphasis and use of these national and religious symbols together induces and strengthens the national-religious sense in the audience. In introducing the cities of Iran, the squares, the bazaar and the University of Tehran are depicted. Therefore, it can be concluded that these images reflect a fairly realistic picture of Persian-speaking life. The results of this study and the other studies (like this) can help to increase the knowledge and awareness of textbook authors in using images in the learning process of learners. The study is intended to serve as a framework for assisting authors, teachers and other professionals involved in writing and teaching textbooks that are “appropriate for students specially students of Persian language”. Findings of the study pedagogically call for using appropriate pictures of real people and real environment which provide sufficient input for language learners.

The so called “foreign accent” is one manifestation of phonological transfer. The current study aimed to study: first, “if a part of Chinese PFL learners’ foreign accent is caused by errors in pronouncing Persian vowels”, and second “if Chinese PFL learners transfer the acoustic features of the vowels in their mother tongue to their Persian speech”. Through a process of convenience sampling, 42 Persian and Mandarin Chinese native speakers were included in the present study. F1 and F2 of The Persian vowels, the Mandarin vowels, and the Persian vowels produced by the native Mandarin PFL speakers were extracted and compared. Data analysis showed that, firstly, F2 of the vowel /e/ in the Persian speech of the native Mandarin speakers is meaningfully more fronted than it is in Persian. Hence, this error in vowel pronunciation might be a cause of the apparent foreign accent in the Persian speech of native Mandarin PFL speakers. Secondly, a comparison of Persian and Mandarin Chinese vocalic spaces showed that in the same position where the Persian /e/ is located, Mandarin Chinese has four similar front vowels (1 phoneme and 3 allophones); it seems as if the Chinese PFL learners exceedingly front the Persian vowel /e/ to contrast it with these similar vowels in their mother tongue. These findings corroborate the “modified transfer hypothesis” since the source of error in this particular case is not direct phonological transfer but the mother tongue seems to indirectly affect the pronunciation of the foreign language. 

The so called “foreign accent” is one manifestation of phonological transfer. The problems investigated in the present study are: first, “if a part of Chinese Persian as a Foreign Language (PFL) learners’ foreign accent is caused by errors in pronouncing Persian vowels”, and second “if Chinese PFL learners transfer the acoustic features of the vowels in their mother tongue to their Persian speech”. Theoretical Framework: Knight(2013, p. 16) classifies the status of the speech sounds of a foreign language compared with the corresponding speech sounds in the mother tongue in the three classes of “new” (as completely different), “identical” (as completely the same), and “similar” (as similar sound with slight acoustic differences). The identical speech sounds in the foreign language are mastered with ease by being put in the same class as the phonemes in the mother tongue. The pronunciation of the new speech sounds improve as new phoneme categories are made in mind of the second language (L2) learners through sufficient practice (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2014, p. 432). Among these three classes, the similar speech sounds are the most difficult to master nativelikely by the L2 learners and the slight acoustic differences they have might be taken as a major source of foreign accent in the target language (Best & Strange, 1992, p. 105).

Through a process of convenience sampling, 42 Persian and Mandarin Chinese native speakers (11 female and 13 male native Persian speakers, and 8 female and 10 male native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners) were included in the present study. F1 and F2 of The Persian vowels, the Mandarin vowels, and the Persian vowels produced by the native Mandarin PFL speakers were extracted in a laboratory situation and the data was statistically compared. For calculating the mean F1 and F2, all the 24 native Persian speakers and 18 native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners were included; in the second phase 8 native Persian speakers and 2 native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners were randomly left out to conduct the statistical analyses (independent samples t-test for normally distributed data and Mann–Whitney for abnormally distributed data) on quantitatively similar data samples from both genders.

in accord with what Knight(2013, p. 16) claims about the so called “identical” speech sound, among the 5 articulatory similar vowels in Persian and Mandarin Chinese, 4 of them turned to be acoustically “identical” without causing any meaningful pronunciation errors. Only the F2 of the Persian vowel /e/ was observed to be meaningfully different from the corresponding vowel in Mandarin Chinese. However, in contrast with the findings of Best & Strange (1992, p.105), the native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners did not put this “similar” speech sound in a corresponding category of a similar vowel from their mother tongue; instead of transferring the acoustic features of a similar vowel in their mother tongue to the pronunciation of the Persian /e/, the data revealed that the Mandarin Chinese PFL learners treated the Persian /e/ as a “new” speech sound and pronounce it differently from all the similar corresponding vowels in their mother tongue. The vowel /e/ in the Persian speech of the Mandarin Chinese PFL learners, however, was also different from the native Persian /e/; a pronunciation error which might serve as a source of their foreign Persian accent. A comparison of the vocalic spaces of Persian and Mandarin Chinese shows that in the area where the Persian /e/ is expected to be located, Mandarin Chinese already has 4 closely similar front vowels (phonemes /e/, /y/, and /i/ and the allophone [E]). It seems as if the Mandarin Chinese PFL learners recognize that the Persian /e/ is fronter than the three /e/-like vowels (namely /e/, /y/, and [E]) and lower than the similar vowel /i/ in their mother tongue. However, it seems that in order to both compensate for this difference in frontness and make the new vowel also different from the corresponding similar vowels in their mother tongue, they exaggerate in the frontness of their Persian /e/ and that could be the reason behind this pronunciation error causing their foreign Persian accent.

the findings of the current study show that the error in pronouncing the Persian /e/ in the speech of Mandarin Chinese PFL learners cannot be taken as a manifestation of direct negative language transfer; this is in contrast with the suggestions of the strong version of language transfer in general and Chen & Wang (2011), Wang & Heuven (2006), and Knight (2013) in particular. The Mandarin Chinese PFL learners have not activated the Persian /e/ as a part of the so called innate linguistic competence, but in their Persian speech, they pronounce an /e/ which is different from both native Persian and Mandarin Chinese corresponding vowels; then, these findings do not also confirm the weak version of language transfer. However, the results of the present study seem to corroborate the modified version of the language transfer, since the observed error in the pronunciation of /e/ in the Persian speech of these PFL learners could be taken as a kind of indirect negative interference of the similar linguistic patterns of the mother tongue in L2.

The use of literature in language teaching is an approach that is no longer in doubt today. Literary texts with their many linguistic and cultural capabilities provide appropriate tools and content for language learners and teachers. In addition, by presenting the authentic text, they expose the language learners to indirect contact with the culture of the second language community and increase their interest and motivation to learn (Khaleghizadeh, 2019). In Persian, many texts can be found that have these linguistic and cultural capabilities and can provide a rich content for learners, including Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. No none can doubt the influence of Shahnameh, more than any other text, on the language, history, and culture of Iran. That is because, as it is well known, Ferdowsi’s work is vital in the flourishing of Persian in the post-Islamic era of Iran. The presence made the founding martial of Persian, which was rather strong and ready for the best use in 4th century AH, well fortified in Shahnameh. Therefore, all eloquent speaker after Ferdowsi used the material and made their works on the basis on Ferdowsi’s tryouts (Yahaghi, 2015). The words and terms selection and organization pof Shahnameh have made some believe that the feature is the main reason for the protection of Persian. Researches working on Persian language believe that the most fundamental function of Shahnameh in Iranian culture is its influence on Persian. The influence is so huge that it wouldn’t be exaggeration if we say Shahnemeh was the reason for the protection and proliferation of Persian (Kazazi, 2008). The vast and deep influence of Shahnameh on other books which makes it a “hypo text” and as Namar Motlagh (2008) calls it a “legend text”, needs to be examined in terms of its language, literariness, content and thoughtfulness. For example, the skillful word usage and word formation of the work have made some believe that the features are the main reason that Persian was saved. So, the influence of Shahnameh in saving and prevalence of Persian makes us think that the valuable and rich work can be used in teaching Persian. Some studies conducted on the use of literary capacities in teaching Persian, approved the function of literature in culture transferring of language. Some others focused on the influence of literature in improving language competence and skills. An under-researched topic in this regard on which the study focuses, is the function of literary language in teaching Persian. Since Shahnameh is known to be a literary rather than a teaching text, and one of the main elements of literary language is music (Shafiei Kadkani, 2016), and also since Ferdowsi has paid special and purposeful attention in his work to using elements of music in speech, the study pays close attention to the function of the musical elements of Shahnameh in teaching Persian. Without any doubt using musical elements is not limited to poetry, but they are used in prose too. Ibn Sina (1954) discusses the metre of speech in Shafa and believes that if speech have metre and Saj’ (a sort of figure of speech) will be more memorable. It is because “the enjoy of using words based on an order and meter makes mind save the attention and makes the perception easier, and as a result, it decreases the attempt needed for the retaining and memorizing a set of words to understand their relations and meaning” (Khanlari, 1958, p. 5). Regarding the abovementioned the following question will be answered: What effects do have the musical elements of Shahnameh on learning vocabulary and comprehension of Persian learners? Considering the repeating meter, the epic genre, and stylistic features of the period when Shahnameh was written, that is, simple language in terms of literacy and vocabulary, it seems there is not a specific feature in Shahnameh different from other poems of the period, Daghighi’s poems for example. The hypothesis of the research was that using literary language of Shahnameh not only do not help non-Persian language learners in learning vocabulary and comprehension but because of its literary features (including music) impedes learning. To do this, using Shafiei Kadkani’s definition of music of poem, musical elements of poetry were randomly extracted from 500 verses of 5 books of Shahnameh. The reliability of the data was approved by SPSS software. Then some parts of Shahnameh were selected and rephrased into prose for two groups of 15 adult language learners of different countries at intermediate level. The experimental group were taught using the rephrased and original texts, emphasizing musical elements and the control group were taught only rephrased text. Results of data analysis shows that the intervention has a significant effect on the development of the learning of experimental group. That is, using original literary texts, with an emphasis on the musical elements, improves vocabulary learning and comprehension of language learners.

Cultural intelligence is a special form of intelligence that emphasizes a persons’ ability to understand, reason and function effectively in the culturally diverse situations. At the most general level, cultural intelligence is defined as the ability to adapt to new cultural contexts (Earley, 2002; Earley & Ang, 2003). Due to the expansion of Persian language and growing number of foreign students interested in learning it, Persian language teachers to non-Persian speakers need to develope cultural capabilities and competencies measured by cultural intelligence to create calm and peaceful atmosphere for language learners from different cultures in the same class. In this regard, cultural intelligence helps Persian language teachers to be sensitive across the cultures and communicate with learners of various cultures in the multicultural educational environments appropriately and therefore teach more effectively. According to Earley and Ang (2003) cultural intelligence consists of four components: metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral component. The metacognitive aspect of cultural intelligence reflects mental processes that individuals use to acquire and understand cultural knowledge .The cognitive aspect of cultural intelligence reflects knowledge of the norms, practices and conventions in different cultures acquired from education and personal experience. The motivational aspect of cultural intelligence reflects the capability to direct attention and energy toward learning about and functioning in situations characterised by cultural differences. The behavioural aspect of cultural intelligence reflects the capability to exhibit appropriate verbal and nonverbal actions when interacting with people from different cultures. The instrumentation for measuring cultural intelligence and its components is the questionnaire of 20 items designed by Ang et al. (2007). Although some studies have been conducted in the field of cultural intelligence of non-Persian language learners, few addressed the Persian language teachers’ cultural intelligence. The guiding study was that of Petrović (2011) in Serbia which determined the cultural intelligence level of 107 elementary school teachers in 4 cities of Serbia and examined 8 predicting variables to recognize the most effective ones as the predictors of cultural intelligence. The study confirmed the high level of teachers’cultural intelligence. The most and the least important variables were enjoyment of intercultural communicationsand the importance of knowing other cultures respectively. Then, the present research was aimed to measure cultural intelligence of Persian language teachers to non-Persian speakers and investigate its predicting variables. 30 Persian language teachers from Ferdowsi University Persian language teaching center in Mashhad, by teaching background span from one to over ten years, were asked to answer two questionnaires translated into Persian and modified based on the present teaching context. The first one was adapted from Ang et al. (2007) cultural intelligence questionnaire including 20 items designed on a five Likert scales from completely disagree to completely agree and measured four cultural intelligence components: metacognitive (items 1-4), cognitive (items 5-10), motivational (items 11-15) and behavioral component (items 16-20). Teachers were exposed to Petrović (2011) predicting variables questionnaire of 3 Likert scales, from low to high, too. Predicting variables questionnaire contains 8 predicting variables as follows: contact with the people from other cultures, communication in foreign language, reading of foreign literature, watching TV travel shows, importance of knowing other cultures, considering multicultural composition of the class as challenge, openness for intercultural learning and enjoyment of intercultural communications. For analyzing the data, SPSS provided both inferential statistics (Pearson correlation Test and Multivariable Regression) and descriptive statistics on components of cultural intelligence and its predicting variables for Persian language teachers to non-Persian speakers. The results demonstrated that the mean scores underpinning teachers’ cultural intelligence components were above 3. The highest and the lowest score were reported for the motivational component (M=4.31) and the cognitive component (M=3.67) respectively. Pearson correlation Test results indicated that the relationship between cultural intelligence components and the predicting variables was statistically significant. The effect of these variables on the cultural intelligence was studied by conducting multivariable Regression. As a result, the most important variable was openness for intercultural learning. Other variables such as importance of knowing other cultures, contact with people of other cultures and communication in foreign language were in the next ranks respectively. However, reading foreign literature has obtained the least importance. The results of data collected in this study suggested Persian languag teachers’ high level of the cultural intelligence. The two variables including contact with people of other cultures and openness for intercultural learningwere placed among the important variables, as the same reported by Petrović (2011), while no evidence of conformity was found for the most important variable for predicting cultural intelligence in the present study, that is, openness for intercultural learning, The latter point may allude to the fact that Persian language teachers are aware that in addition to sufficient knowledge about language skills, cultural capabilities especially more cultural familiarity with various cultures are required to teach effectively, deal with the learners of different cultures and answer their needs and questions appropriately. To conclude, it is necessary to draw the teachers’ attention to improve their teaching pedagogy and cultural capabilities. This can be accomplished if teachers are encouraged to intercultural learning and using multicultural classes as their learning resources in teacher training courses (TTC) targeted at teaching Persian language to non-Persian speakers.

Language textbooks play a constructive role in generating special insights and attitudes in language learners, which leads them to goals beyond learning a language. In the discourse of these books, which is accompanied by texts and conversations, there are various elements that appear in the social, cultural and political contexts. This research tries to study the Persian language teaching books from the perspective of postcolonial discourse analysis by reading the introductions, texts and conversations. Since postcolonial discourse is language-based, it provides the basis for truth to be formed. Western colonialism, which for centuries has been an integral part of the West and world history, with its various figures and behavior has a dominant intellectual basis and a powerful discourse for “self” that not only motivates colonial action but also it adds to its stability and scope. This way of expressing Western hegemonic thought must be identified in order to introduce the domination of the West over the East and its consequences, and to reject the justification of this idea. On the other hand, it makes it possible for Eastern nations to find wise and mature behavior in protecting their rights in the world. This research answers these questions:1. Is there any evidence for postcolonial discourse regarding the Iran and Persian-speaking community in Persian language teaching textbooks for English speakers?2. How is the representation of “self” and “other”, which is the implementation of colonial hegemony, in Persian language teaching textbooks for English speakers?3. Have Western colonial policies changed over time in Persian language teaching textbooks for English speakers?

Theoretical framework of research:

The theoretical framework of the present research is based on the theory of postcolonial discourse. Emphasizing the consequences of colonialism, this theory analyzes colonial discourse and has two approaches: The first approach studies the speech and writing patterns produced by Western authors about the East. This research also relies on this approach in reading Persian language teaching textbooks for English speakers. The second approach also studies the speech and writing patterns of subalterns and the discourse patterns of third world authors. In accordance with the first approach, this discourse refers to a set of propositions that on the basis of which the colonized is known and formed as the "other." The colonialist also represents "self" by proposing power, knowledge and enduring values ​​as the dominant group. The confrontations between East and West, which are examined in Persian language teaching textbooks for English speakers, include the purpose of writing a textbook, denying “other” and proving “self”, the mission of civilizing, meaning reproduction, justifying historical practice, inherent moral weakness of Eastern man, scientific superiority of the West, anti-Islamism, and Western political intervention.

The research method in this study is descriptive-analytical. In this study, to find evidence of the postcolonial discourse of "self" and "other", twenty-four English textbooks for Persian language teaching, published in London and some American cities between 1800 and 2015, were examined. Among these, seven books are from 1800 to 1900, eight books are from 1900 to 2000 and nine books are from 2000 to 2015. With a critical look, everywhere in the books that the authors described cultural, moral, political and religious characteristics of Persian-speakers in the form of "other", according to the postcolonial criteria of Edward Saeed, those cases were selected as case study and were included in the collection of discourse components of this research.

From 1800 to 1899, the purpose of the books was teaching Persian to the English members of the East India Company with the aim of domination and then establishment of relations with the Iranian rulers to obtain economic and trade advantages. The superiority of the Englishmen over jobs and titles is obvious. Showing the confusion and backwardness of Persian speakers in meaning reproduction for power justification is very obvious and somewhat offensive. Emphasis has been placed on the disease and the lack of amenities. The inherent nature of moral weaknesses in Persian-speakers is expressed and is even accompanied by insulting Persian-speakers. Native Persian teachers are not accepted and should be tolerated. Happiness has not been shown to Islam, but there is no political intervention.From 1900 to 2000, the purpose of books was generally language learning, and there was only one book dedicated to teaching Persian to the U.S. army. Denial of “other” is formed by stating the need for change in Iran and emphasizing the merits of Western men and role of them in the civilizing and development of Iran. The issue of British oil extraction by Britain has been viewed as a good and civilizing work. Disease and pollution is an important theme of the meaning reproduction, and special attention has been paid to justifying the historical practice of the West expressing the history of Iran-Britain relations. The expression of the inherent denial of Iranians fades and is no longer so offensive. The expression of social problems gives way to the expression of individual problems. There are still references to the scientific superiority of the West, and anti-Islamism is taking on a new form, especially at the end of this century. There is low political intervention in this century.From 2000 to 2015, more emphasis is placed on Iran as an underdeveloped third world country. Immigration to the West is welcome, and the texts criticize Iranian pollution, poor medical facilities and traditionalism. Driving in Iran is a social weakness and what is most evident is political intervention that addresses issues such as sanctions, nuclear weapons, lack of freedom and politicization of the country. Among these twenty-four books, nine books have Iranian authors, seven of them have been published after the year 2000. They had a more political view of Iran than English authors and their views were not far from the postcolonial discourse. A careful understanding of the colonial appearance in Orientalist writings, even simple language learning books, can help the subaltern to understand their true place in the world and to strive for reaching it.

The present study aimed to design and develop a multimedia to instruct the alphabetic signs to first-grade elementary students talking Turkish. The research method was qualitative (multi-method) using an exploratory-developmental approach. The population includes all students (girls and boys) 6 to 7 years old from the first-grade elementary students in Hamedan and the participants were 12 students from Yekaleh village of Qahavand Shera region, selected with purposeful sampling method and categorized based on available criteria. Also, the educational multimedia specialists were selected with the same mechanism. The case study was done by strategies such as interviews, observations, and document-mining (reports about multimedia implementing in the field). The 4 -step method (description, analysis, inference, and explanation) was used to analyze the data. Findings include 3 main components (graphic-audio elements, multimedia teaching method and finally summarizing the learning) and there were 7 sub-components and 22 design strategies. Also, the instructional design process based on the design and development model of Ivers & Barron: decision-making (planning and setting goals, determining the skills of the advance, organizing, managing brainstorming and research activities), designing (content design, designing flowchart, page layout, storyboard, and developmental measurements), development(managing media production, facilitating multimedia activities and developmental assessment) and evaluating (measuring learners, validation and correcting). The results of the findings demonstrated the acceleration and facilitation of learning alphabetical signs.