Journal of English Language Research
Volume:2 Issue: 2, Nov 2021

The present research aims at determining whether using video-treated pre-task and post-task instructions affect immediate vocabulary recall directly. To this purpose, one hundred and twelve Iranian EFL learners were selected through the convenience sampling method. Based on the OPT scale, ninety of the participants were chosen and put into three groups of pre-task, post-task, and control. After piloting seventy-seven multiple-choice vocabulary questions, the researcher used a fifty-item multiple-choice as the pre-test and a five-item multiple-choice as the post-test. The treatment took ten sessions. Repeated Measure ANOVA, t-Test procedure, and ANCOVA procedure were run to analyze the data. The result showed that there was an important difference between the performances of the groups regarding their immediate vocabulary recall in the post-test. The learners recalled the vocabularies better in the pre-task and post-task groups compared to the control group. Also, the post-task group outdid the pre- task group. Therefore, video-treated post-task instruction improves learners' immediate vocabulary recall significantly.

Since hiring qualified teachers for intercultural classes seems to be a delicate and important task, the researchers of this study find it of utmost value to discover any important connection between the personality traits of teachers and their intercultural intelligence. To this aim, the Big Five Personality Traits questionnaire, which is used widely throughout the world to discover individuals’ personalities and differences, and the Intercultural Intelligence questionnaire (Caputo et al. 2019) to measure teachers’ ability to identify intercultural variations and styles of negotiation, were administered to 203 Iranian EFL teachers who taught English in various language institutes and Universities in Iran. To find the interrelationship among the Personality Traits and Intercultural Intelligence, a model was suggested and verified by means of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of the study showed that among five personality traits, four sub-constructs (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness) are positive significant predictors of Intercultural intelligence; however, Neuroticism is not a significant predictor of overall Intercultural intelligence. This study could provide teachers and educational policymakers with some implications, such as being conscious about teachers’ different personality traits while they are planning for hiring teachers.

Individual differences like gender, learning styles, and intelligence can influence the rate of learning and the mastery levels achieved in learning a foreign language. The present correlational study pursued the double purpose of examining any possible gender variation in Iranian EFL learners’ dominant intelligences and their learning styles, and to discover any significant relationship between their dominant intelligences and learning styles across gender. To this purpose, eighty undergraduate EFL students majoring English at Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, participated in the study. The research data were obtained through Armstrong’s (1993) MI Inventory for Adults and Barsch’s (1991) Learning Style Inventory, and were analyzed employing descriptive statistics and Spearman Rank-Order Correlation (Rho). The results indicated that while both genders preferred visual learning style, they differed in their dominant intellectual propensities. Additionally, significant positive relationships were found between male and females’ preferred learning style and their dominant intelligence. These findings could benefit both policy-makers in designing materials more relevant to the preferences and capabilities of Iranian EFL learners and the teachers in choosing and conducting classroom activities which tap learners’ dominant styles and intelligences.

The purpose of the present study was to identify the top 3- to 6-word lexical bundles most frequently used in a corpus of Technology, Entertainment, and Design Conference (TED) talks and to discuss how they behave structurally and functionally. To this end, a selected corpus of TED talks was analyzed via Anthony’s AntConc, Version 3.5.7. After setting frequency threshold, 874 lexical bundles were identified in a 6,151,569 million-word corpus of TED video transcription, with a lot of, thank you very much, I’m going to show you and at the end of the day as the most occurring lexical bundles in 3-to 6-word bundles, respectively. Next, the identified lexical bundles were analyzed structurally based on their grammatical forms and then functionally based on their contextual meanings. Structural analysis revealed that TED lecturers used noun phrases and prepositional phrases more than other structures in their speeches; functional analysis showed that lecturers tend to use stance expressions and discourse organizers bundles more than other functions. The findings of the study focus on the importance of lexical bundles to language learners, language teachers, and materials developers.

The aim of this research was to conduct a need analysis in order to analyze the Iranian university students’ ESP needs. Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch Law students’ ESP needs as a case study. The participants of the study were three groups of law students: 10 Bachelor of Art, 10 Master of Art, and 10 Ph.D. students. Data were collected by using a questionnaire (See Appendix) which was supplied to decide if these participants were really willing to have ESP programs and to be taught in English or Persian language. As a matter of fact, the attention was focused on the importance and effective use of learning strategies which are related to four language skills- listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Actually, this study looked into English Language needs of law students.

The primary goal of the current study was to approach the translation of literary features, including metaphors and similes in the Persian translations of ‘The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran from the Skopos theory lens. To do so, contrastive content analysis of both SL and TL versions of the Book in terms of the target features and Reiss and Vermeer’s model of Skopos theory of rules of skopos, coherence, and fidelity were followed. Data tabulation and analysis were followed by frequency analysis. The results revealed that in the Persian translation of similes and metaphors, Elahi Ghomsheie has followed both Skopos and coherent rules more than Daryabandari has; however, in terms of fidelity, Drayabandari takes priority over Elahi Ghomsheie, which ultimately proves that Elahi Ghomsheie is a more successful translator than Daryabandari in this very matter. The findings indicate that the target reader and core message is of significance in the translations process, and translation strategy selection is a function of both genre type and translator’s professionalism and background expertise.

This essay examines the intersection of motherhood and race in Brit Bennett’s The Mothers (2016). We discuss three types of motherhood, namely, bloodmothers, othermothers, and community mothers, in the novel. Accordingly, it can be argued that the bloodmothers in The Mothers are Elise Turner, Nadia Turner, Aubrey Evans, her mother, and Latrice Sheppard. Monique and Latrice are the othermothers, and the community's othermothers are the church mothers and Latrice Sheppard. Despite changes, raced motherhood remains a site of conflict and oppression in the twenty-first century. Theoretically, the experience of the mother as it is represented in Bennett’s novel problematizes the conventional view of raced motherhood.

The present article analyzes the impressionistic narrative strategies in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to decode Charles Marlow’s imperial discourse. In the light of Jesse Matz’s and John G. Peters’ approaches towards literary impressionism and with special attention to Marlow’s narrative, the researcher examines a set of passages to situate the novella further within the discussions concerning its subverting and / or hailing the imperial discourse. In spite of the existence of a number of critical debates related to Conrad’s reinforcing or undermining the imperial attitudes, his use of literary impressionism as a politically-oriented narrative strategy is a notion that has not been adequately discussed. For many critics, Heart of Darkness vacillates between Conrad’s perpetuation and questioning of imperialist views. The present study joins in this discussion through examination of the use of narrative strategies of literary impressionism in the novella to decode Marlow’s imperial discourse. In fact, the study probes to find out to what extent the obscurity hidden in Marlow’s narrative acts to cover up the visibility of his imperial discourse and attempts to make a shift in the studies of Conrad’s literary impressionism from mere pictorial perspectives to broader political overtones of this field.

This study investigated the features that characterize Iranian EFL high school teachers’ classroom discourse behaviors and what could be revealed about these teachers’ behaviors when analyzed through systemic functional linguistics (SFL). To this end, 10 Iranian EFL high school teachers (5 males, 5 females, mean age 30) were audio- recorded. The study results showed some behavioral patterns in the classroom discourse behaviors of the study participants, the most important of which were the use of the Grammar-Translation Method (translation) and several audiolingual techniques such as drill practices. Concerning SFL, thematizing based on whatever came at the beginning of English sentences and the use of so for thematizing, using it as a conjunction, concluding, and drawing and redirecting students’ attention were familiar. The results suggest several behavioral patterns common among Iranian EFL high school teachers. The implications of the study focus on the importance of knowing these behavioral patterns for teachers themselves and teacher trainers and policymakers.