نشریه پژوهش های زبان شناسی: نظریه و کاربرد
سال سوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 5، بهار 1403)

The present study examines the types of themes and their distribution, as well as the types of grammatical cohesion elements in the story “the Account Discrepancy” written by Jalal Al-Ahmad, within the framework of the textual metafunction of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar theory. Since in this theory, the clause is the main unit of meaning study, all the clauses of the story were examined and the types of themes and grammatical cohesion devices in them were identified and classified. The results of the study show that the frequency of using simple and complex themes in the corpus under study is almost equal, which indicates the author's skill in using a variety of simple and complex themes. The examination of 1127 simple and complex clauses in the research corpus shows that, in general, the divisions in Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar regarding the themes are applicable to Persian and narrative texts. The study of grammatical cohesion in the story shows that 81% of the anaphoric references are personal pronouns and 19% are impersonal pronouns. Also, 52% of the anaphoric references of personal pronouns are bound pronouns and 29% are free pronouns. More than half of the deletions are subject deletions due to the sign of the identifier. According to the statistics of the present study, the elliptical subject theme is the most frequent theme in statement clauses, which is quite consistent with the pro-dropping nature of the Persian language.

Startups are institutions create services to resolve the needs of society. Startups are trans-temporal and trans-spatial platforms that have fluidity and move within transfer discourse platforms. The introduction of these technologies into the flow of people's lives leads to changes in the lifestyle of people in the society. Produced lifestyles are tied to linguistic structures and supported through sociolinguistic structures. The main problem of this research is to see what effect and relationship the discourse systems of startups have on the lifestyle within social relations. With focusing on the semio-semantics approach and the qualitative analysis method which examines the way and conditions of using and organizing signs in shaping lifestyles in social life processes. Also, using, we try to show that the technological achievements of the modern world have led to a change in the consumption pattern. The results indicate that the discourse systems of startups in recent years have been able to create a social atmosphere where actors, with trust, participation and mutual relations, create a new lifestyle.

The present study aims to investigate the environmental discourse of Iran's newspaper regarding the topic of Micro-dust. The research data consists of materials published in the first half of 2022 concerning the Micro-dust crisis in the mentioned newspaper. The research methodology is descriptive-analytical, and the data are analyzed within the framework of Laclau and Mouffe's (1985) critical discourse analysis approach. The findings of the study reveal that the "foreign origin of Micro-dust" is the nodal point in this discourse, playing a fundamental and pivotal role in the articulation of the discourse. In addition to this central signifier, other key signifiers include "cooperation with neighboring countries" and "international collaborations," "lack of domestic and intra-national solutions," "strengthening the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," "weakening the role of the environmental organization," and "non-cooperation of neighboring countries," all of which are dependent on the central signifier. The empty signifiers in this discourse are "practical solutions" and "environmental justice" for which specific referents cannot be identified. The signifier "physical and mental health of the people" is a floating signifier that the discourse has attempted to employ in relation to Micro-dust for its own benefit. Furthermore, this discourse presents neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey and Syria as “Otherness” portraying them as the source of the Micro-dust crisis.

Investigating fake news has a long history, almost as old as the history of media. This issue has recently returned to the attention of researchers. Since the raw material of all types of news is linguistic content, the characteristics of fake news from the linguistic point of view have recently been the focus of linguists. In this research, which is descriptive-analytical in terms of methodology and library-type in terms of data collection, based on the framework proposed by Grieve and Woodfield (2023), we investigate the linguistic features of fake news, in a corpus of 100 advertising text messages. Data have been selected from the Persian language pages of Telegram and Instagram social messengers in the fall and winter of 1402. The purpose of this research is to investigate the linguistic components of fake news in social messengers. The analyzed corpus includes messages that are specifically classified as cases of disinformation against misinformation. The 7330- word corpus of this research, includes messages that are apparently intended to inform and advertise, but actually to deceive the audience on popular social media pages and channels. The results showed that these types of messages are instances of low-density messages in terms of information density, but high-conviction texts in terms of conviction. The findings of this research can lead to the deepening of linguists' insight into the linguistic mechanisms of fake news (especially misinformation) and ultimately lead to an increase in the awareness of the audience of such media and messengers.

Dynamic assessment, rooted in the concept of Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978), is an approach to mingle simultaneously teaching and assessment so as to improve the student learning in a supportive context. The available literature reveals that the effects of dynamic assessment on the development of students’ first language writing ability are under-researched. Therefore, the current study which is a quasi-experimental design (pre-test, intervention, post-test, delayed post-test) aimed at exploring the impact of online dynamic assessment on the development of elementary fourth-grade students’ writing ability. The participants included two intact fourth-grade classes which randomly selected at an elementary state school in Korram Abad City and randomly assigned as experimental and control groups. The collected data were analyzed using one-way ANCOVA. Results revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups on the immediate and delayed post-tests. In addition, the findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the delayed post-test. Finally, in light of the theoretical foundations of Sociocultural theory, the results are discussed and a range of pedagogical implications are suggested.

In the dynamic landscape of English Language Teaching (ELT), the widespread reliance on commercially-produced textbooks has spurred a critical examination of their relevance to the diverse needs and interests of learners in global contexts. Typically originating from English-speaking countries, these textbooks predominantly feature neutral and non-controversial topics such as food, shopping, ceremonies, and travel, which may not align with the varied experiences of learners. This article, through a descriptive analytical approach, contends that the malleability of English language textbooks provides an opportunity for the application of Critical Pedagogy (CP) which can turn the classroom into a place where learners stop thinking about such topics. In such a situation, by integrating ‘Environmental Education’ (EE) - as a transformative process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment - it is believed that learners can develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills along with enhancing language proficiency. Showing the possibility of implementing the proposed framework, a sample lesson about ‘water crisis’ is provided and elaborated on. To highlight the broader educational backdrop, it is argued that this shift not only broadens the limited scope of language learning but also, by establishing clear personal relevance for learners in both their present and future lives, it can foster a critical and creative environment within English language teaching programs, contributing to the development of sustainable futures for the learners.