فهرست مطالب

Teaching English Language
Volume:5 Issue: 16, Autumn and Winter 2011

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1391/10/11
  • تعداد عناوین: 7
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  • Javad Gholami*, Morteza Bassirian Page 1
    Preemptive focus on form (FonF) is perhaps the most under-researched area in the field of incidental focus on form. However, between the two subsets of preemptive focus on form, teacher-initiated preemptive FonF seems to be the least favored one. To put this stance into a test, 18 sessions of an intermediate EFL class were observed, audio-recorded and analyzed for the instances of learner- and teacher-initiated focus on form episodes (FFEs), as well as the rate of uptake moves following them. To triangulate the observational data on uptake, an elicitation instrument, namely, a think-aloud incidental focus on form sheet was also devised to collect on-the-spot, written instances of learner and teacher generated FFES. The quantitative results derived both from the audio-data and the sheets demonstrated that teacher-initiated FFEs strongly came first regarding their frequency and the rate of follow-up uptake moves. An in-depth qualitative analysis of the uptake sheets also revealed that after certain teacher-initiated FFEs, some learners produced multiple uptake moves, while after some others no one or just a single learner produced uptake. The findings from uptake sheets indicate that specific teacher-initiated FFEs are highly effective in tapping the linguistic holes of all or majority of EFL learners in a given class. Based on the quantitative and qualitative results, the researchers call for a reconsideration of the role and effectiveness of teacher-generated attention to form as an important component of communicative classes.
    Keywords: incidental focus on form, preemptive, teacher, initiated, uptake
  • Reza Ghafar Samar, Gholam Reza Kiany, Ramin Akbari, Hadi Azimi* Page 31
    Teacher identity has recently been under extensive investigations to understand its impacts on and relationships with classroom variables. Considering the effect identity has on individuals, an immediate relationship is that between teacher identity and an index of an effective teaching, i.e. teacher efficacy. The present study tries to understand the possibility of a direct relationship between the two concepts. 37 English teachers were given an efficacy scale to gauge and rank their efficacy indices. The top 5 participants in teacher efficacy list were then regularly observed during an academic semester and interviewed to study their institutional identity. Meanwhile, similar procedure was conducted for 5 teachers with the least teacher efficacy scores, too. Detailed qualitative analysis of interview transcriptions and observation notes revealed the two groups were distinct regarding their institutional identity. In other words, it was shown that institutional identity and teacher efficacy were positively associated with each other.
    Keywords: English teachers, high school teachers, institutional identity, teacher efficacy
  • Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz, Seyyed Hooshmand Mirzaei Jegarlooei* Page 61
    This study aims at investigating the threshold hypothesis in relation to the transfer of reading attitude from L1 to L2 among Iranian EFL learners with reference to gender and language proficiency. To this end, 150 EFL students (74 males and 76 females) who had received formal instruction in English for two to four years with the mean age of 19 participated in the study. They took part in the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency and completed two five-point Likert scale questionnaires: (a) L1 reading attitude questionnaire, as well as its translated version, and (b) L2 reading attitude questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Independent T-Test, Multiple Regression Analyses, and Two-Way ANOVA. The results showed that reading attitudes do transfer from L1 to L2; however, the student's L1 and L2 reading attitudes were different. The study also showed that higher L2 proficiency and gender are not statistically significant to play a role in the transfer of reading attitude from L1 to L2. Moreover, the findings indicate that the notion of Linguistic Threshold does not affect the transfer of reading attitude from L1 to L2 with reference to gender. The results are interpreted to have implications for syllabus designers and EFL practitioners.
    Keywords: transfer of reading attitude, linguistic threshold hypothesis, gender, language proficiency
  • Parviz Maftoon, Hatav Mardani Babamiri* Page 97
    The purpose of the present study is to investigate the impact of building formal schemata on the improvement of Iranian EFL learner's writing performance. In so doing, the researchers selected two groups of upper-intermediate students at Islamic Azad University, Roodehen Branch, from two intact classes. One class served as the control class and one as the experimental class. In order to assess their general language proficiency, and also to ensure their homogeneity, Nelson English Language Test (Flower and Cow, 1976) was administered. Furthermore, at the beginning of the treatment, the participants of both groups were asked to write an essay as the writing pretest. Then, the experimental group received the treatment which was training on rhetorical organization to build formal schemata. However, the control group received the conventional instruction of the course. After 14 sessions of treatment, both groups were asked to write an essay as the writing posttest. Two raters rated the papers of the groups, using Hyland's (2003) rating scale. After estimating the interrater reliability of the scores, an independent t-test was used to compare the mean scores of the experimental and control groups. The results clearly indicated that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the groups on the posttest of writing (t= 4.46, df= 45, p< 0.05). In other words, the experimental group (M= 13.86) outperformed the control group (M = 9.80) on the posttest of writing. Therefore, it can be concluded that the treatment offered by the researchers, that is, building formal schemata, had a statistically significant effect on the improvement of the writing performance of the experimental group.
    Keywords: writing achievement, schema theory, formal schemata, content schemata
  • Esmat Babaii, Mahmood Reza Atai, Seyyed Mohammad Reza Hashemi* Page 125
    Over the past decade, mixed methods research has gained particular attention in social and behavioral research as a considerable number of studies investigated theoretical and methodological aspects of conducting mixed methods research. In applied linguistics, however, mixed methods research is a new approach and little research exists on theoretical and methodological issues related to mixed-method designs. The present study has explored the research designs in which qualitative and quantitative components were combined in the field of applied linguistics. A qualitative analysis of 205 research articles published in seven peer reviewed applied linguistics journals over a period of 14 years revealed that two major categories of mixed-method designs were used in the studies (i.e., sequential and concurrent). Also, subcategories similar to those used in social research emerged in a good number of studies (i.e., triangulation, embedded designs, exploratory designs, explanatory designs). However, the findings further indicated that applied linguistics researchers did not draw on the previously known designs from social research and adopted a pragmatic approach to integrating qualitative and quantitative strands. The findings of this study may help us develop an enhanced understanding of how mixing can be systematically utilized in applied linguistics research.
    Keywords: mixed methods research, mixed, method designs, qualitative, quantitative, applied linguistics
  • Masood Khalili Sabet, Amir Mahdavi, Masoomeh Tajvidi* Page 159
    The present study investigates whether the type of feedback (direct or indirect) given to 41 intermediate EFL learners on six types of errors (verb tense, noun ending, word choice, sentence structure, article and preposition) results in improved accuracy both in the short and long terms. To this purpose, English students in a writing class at the University of Guilan divided randomly into direct, indirect and control groups were presented with the same topics to write about. The errors on pretest, posttest 1 and posttest 2 in each group were detected and the means of errors were investigated by ANOVA analysis. At last, the study found a significant effect for the indirect feedback on accuracy improvement in the use of the verb tense, noun endings, sentence structure and articles in both short and long term periods, but no significant effect for the preposition in the long term and word choice in either time periods. Although the direct feedback significantly affected the accuracy level for the use of noun endings, prepositions, articles and sentence structure in the short term, it did not demonstrate any statistical significance in the long term. Moreover, no effect on verb errors and wrong words were found in either time periods. Finally, the indirect group outperformed the direct one on accuracy improvement for the total number of errors. The study also considered the use of avoidance strategy due to the provided corrective feedback and found that, in spite of the probability of the tendency towards using it, providing corrective feedback is still necessary in improving L2 writing accuracy.
    Keywords: student writing, corrective feedback, linguistic error, accuracy improvement, avoidance strategy
  • Moslem Zolfagharkhani* Page 187
    This paper aims at evaluating Joseph Conrad’s Under Western Eyes vis-vis female characters and their actions. The novel is a site where one finds the company of powerful women involving in social and political activities. Under Western Eyes reveals female homosocial relationship while emphasizing women’s dominant control over men along with their social involvements. Furthermore, women’s roles are more pervasive and stronger than those of Joseph Conrad’s earlier novels. Conrad employs a different and non-patriarchal culture in Under Western Eyes in which income, wealth, and power are distributed equally between men and women. Hence, the novel shows that the This paper aims at evaluating Joseph Conrad’s Under Western Eyes vis-vis female characters and their actions. The novel is a site where one finds the company of powerful women involving in social and political activities. Under Western Eyes reveals female homosocial relationship while emphasizing women’s dominant control over men along with their social involvements. Furthermore, women’s roles are more pervasive and stronger than those of Joseph Conrad’s earlier novels. Conrad employs a different and non-patriarchal culture in Under Western Eyes in which income, wealth, and power are distributed equally between men and women. Hence, the novel shows that the muted group or women are able to break the boundaries of male group insofar as they participate in social ceremonies and /or political rituals. Incidentally, the novel introduces a new subject both in Conrad’s literary career and his era when many of his literary contemporaries insisted on a male-dominated society in their writings.
    Keywords: Joseph Conrad, gender, cultural studies, Homosociality, Under Western Eyes