نشریه زبان و ادب فارسی
پیاپی 222 (پاییز و زمستان 1389)

This study investigates the relationship between extraversion/introversionpersonality dimension and the use of strategic competence (SC) in oralreferential communication by Iranian EFL learners. Referentialcommunication refers to a kind of guided communication in which thereferents (or topics) are given to the speakers to convey their meanings to thelisteners. 50 sophomore English students of Arak University (in Iran) wereselected from among 70 ones to participate in this study. Using the Persianrestandardized version of the adult EPQ (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire,1975) the subjects were divided into two groups of extravert and introvert.The homogeneity of the participants was determined by the Michigan test(1982) at the upper-intermediate level of proficiency. Each individual in thegroups was given communicative tasks to communicate orally with a partnerwhile his/her performance was tape-recorded and transcribed for lateranalyses. Then, the oral performance of the extravert group was comparedwith that of the introvert group in using compensatory strategies (CSs) interms of type and frequency as identified by a taxonomy. The results revealedthat, as far as total performance is concerned, extravert participants usedinteractional strategies and a sub-type of linguistic strategies i.e.transliteration significantly more than introvert ones whereas introvertparticipants used conceptual strategies significantly more than extravertones. Thus, it can be concluded that the personality trait ofextraversion/introversion is associated with L2 learners’ preference in using,at least, some types of CSs in oral referential communication. The findingscan have some pedagogical significance.

Language teachers usually face issues regarding the most effectivemethods of teaching. Teaching language to nonnative speakers ofEnglish involves certain problems and challenges at all levels ofinstruction. Due to the unsatisfactory results of focus on forms andfocus on meaning instructions and their inevitable inadequacies, focuson form instruction along with its multiple techniques are regarded asa better candidate for classroom instruction. Focus on form instructiondoes not only pay attention to the importance of the communicativelanguage teaching, but it also maintains the value of occasional andovert study of L2 grammatical forms. It is considered a morepromising pedagogical choice than focus on forms and focus onmeaning because of its communicatively need-oriented attention toform and its saliency in the language acquisition process. Focus onform may be essential to push learners beyond communicativelyeffective language toward target-like second language ability. It mayalso be part of a more efficient language learning experience in that itcan speed up natural acquisition processes.

Foreign Language Education Policy (FLEP) needs to beunderstood as part of broader educational policies and as situatedwithin overarching social macro plans. In this paper, based on aconception of policy as distinct from goals and objectives, and with aview of the relevant literature, we will present some theoreticalguidelines of setting and/or evaluating foreign language educationpolicies in the context of broader social and educational policies.Considering theses guidelines a point of departure, several nationalplan-based documents and in some cases non-finalized documents thatreflect some aspects of language education policies of Iran wereexamined to find the directions and orientations of these plans and the(in)consistencies among them: The 20-year National Vision; TheComprehensive Science Roadmap; The National Curriculum; Policiesof the 5th 5-year Development Plan; The National Document ofEducation; Philosophy of Education in the Islamic Republic of Iran;Fundamental Principles in Islamic Education; and Roadmap of theOfficial and General Educational System. Referring to the strengthsalong with some shortcomings and inconsistencies among thesedocuments as well as the statues of English in the so called globalvillage, we call for a separate unitary FLEP document for Iran andpresent the requirements and procedure for its actualization.

Communicative moves and lexical cohesion patterns (LCPs), as mountingevidence shows, are two important indicators in writing and publishing theRAs. However, the interaction between these two crucial elements and thecontribution of this interaction to the failure or success of the RAs have notbeen given due attention to date. Having this in mind and based on a soundtheoretical framework, attempt was made to find the possible interactionbetween the generic moves and LCPs centralized within such moves. To thisend, Swale's (1990) and Kanoksilapatham (2007) move analytical models andHoey's (1991) LCPs model were drawn upon in the analysis of 40 local RAswritten by Iranian writers and 40 RAs written in international journals acrosssub-disciplines of Applied Linguistics. Results of the move analysis showedno significant differences regarding the obligatory moves of Introductionsection across the two corpora; however, significant differences in Discussionsection were revealed. Findings of the interaction between moves and LCPsindicated that there are significant differences between local and internationalRAs in the use of M1 of Introduction as well as M2 and M4 of Discussionsections and the way LCPs are manipulated within these moves. As long asthe interaction of these two linguistic and rhetorical features were concerned,at least four possibilities were observed across local and internationaljournals which are thought to determine, among other factors, where theseacademic genres might be different; similar moves, similar LCPs; differentmoves, different LCPs; similar moves, different LCPs; and different moves, similar LCPs.

The current study is an attempt to investigate the particular role learnersvocabulary knowledge plays in their reading comprehension performance. Itintends to determine whether breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge arerelated to EFL learner's reading comprehension, and to investigate which oneof these variables, that is, depth or breadth of vocabulary knowledge, makes amore important contribution to L2 reading comprehension. It also attempts toinvestigate whether there is a relationship between these two vocabularyknowledge dimensions, that is, depth and breadth. Finally, the study tries tofind out whether gender has any effect on learner's reading comprehensionand vocabulary knowledge. The participants of the study were sixty (30 maleand 30 female) EFL learners who were chosen from among five languageteaching institutes in Shiraz based on available sampling. To collect therelevant data, two tests measuring breadth and depth of vocabularyknowledge were administered to all participants. They also received a readingcomprehension test in which they were asked to read the passages and answersome multiple choice questions. The results obtained from the analysis of thedata indicated that while both depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledgeplay an important role in EFL learner's reading comprehension performance,depth of vocabulary knowledge makes a more important contribution. Theresults further revealed that depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge arepositively correlated, that is, those learners who had large vocabulary sizehad a deeper knowledge of the words, too. It was also found that gender hadno significant impact on learner's reading comprehension performance andvocabulary knowledge.

University of Tehran administers a test known as The University ofTehran English Proficiency Test (the UTEPT) to PhD candidates on ayearly basis. By definition, the test can be considered a high-stakesone. The validity of high stakes tests needs to be known (Roever,2001). As Mesick (1988) maintains, if the validity of high stakes testsare not known, it might have some undesirable consequences for thesociety at large. To investigate the construct validity of the test, factoranalysis was employed (Farahdy, 1983). The factor analysis of choicewas exploratory factor analysis with varimx rotation strategy. In thereading section, the factor analysis produced eleven factors.Furthermore, the use of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) wascomplemented with Principal Axis Factoring (PAF). Overfactoringwas an issue. This overfactoring can be attributed to theheterogeneous nature of items; different paradigms from which itemswere taken: iBT TOEFL, ILTES, and FCE.

This study investigated the effect of oral dialogue journals oncommunicative competence of Iranian EFL learners. Participants ofthis study were 80 students of two Payam-e-Noor Universities whowere proved to be homogenous in the communicative competencebased on TSE (Test of Spoken English) interview. The participants ofone of these universities were considered as the experimental group.The experimental group practiced oral dialogue journals in addition toparticipating in Oral Reproduction of Stories 2 class. The comparisongroup just participated in Oral Reproduction of Stories 2 class. Bothclasses were conducted by the same teacher. At the end of thetreatment two groups were interviewed based on TSE once more. Theresults revealed that the experimental group outperformed thecomparison group significantly. Moreover it was revealed that thistechnique (oral dialogue journal) was significantly more beneficial forthe low proficient speakers of English than the high ones thoughuseful for the high ones, too.