فصلنامه مطالعات زبان و ترجمه
سال چهل و پنجم شماره 2 (تابستان 1391)

Translation historiography is a research area that has attracted the attention of translation scholars in recent years. As a significant research area of translation historiography, exploring the national history of translation criticism can contribute to the delineation of how translation theory and practice correlate in a specific culture. Moreover, it can show the extent of development of translation practice in the given culture. Although translation criticism has always played a central role in Persian, it has been under-researched independently. The present study was set out to explore the lexicological criteria dealt with in the history of translation criticism in Iran. The results of the study indicated that many concepts dealt with in the lexicological analyses of translations have been employed by Iranian critics in their translation criticisms.

Although greater emphasis is nowadays put on the learner as the crux of the learning and assessment processes, high-stakes tests and test-based inferences are still widely practiced for gate-keeping purposes or as levers to improve education across the globe, especially in centralized educational systems. This paper reports on a study which probed the impacts of the high-stakes university-entrance testing practice in Iran on L2 teaching-learning processes and on student's learning power. The participants were 32 EFL teachers and a random sample of 70 high school students in Tehran. Data triangulation method was used to collect the data. Specifically, the instruments included two (teaching-learning) style questionnaires and one impact questionnaire along with semi-structured interviews. The results evidenced a detrimental teaching-learning style conflict in the L2 classroom. Whereas students generally preferred to learn English through interactive, collaborative, and project-based activities using audio-visual materials, their teachers prioritized solo pedagogical activities, emphasized individual studying of textbooks, and made no use of audio-visual aids. Further evidence indicated that the national high-stakes test negatively impacts every aspect of the teaching-learning process, especially the style mismatch in the L2 classroom, and diminishes student's learnacy for effective lifelong learning. The findings resonate with the learning-oriented approach in the field of educational assessment known as 'assessment for learning' (rather than of learning) which seeks to promote student's learning power besides assessment.

Because of the importance of reporting and exchanging scientific findings among researchers and scholars from different countries and language backgrounds, the academic register in general, and research articles in particular, have gained a special status among ESP specialists. Various aspects of this prominent register have been the subject of numerous studies in the field. In the same line, the present study seeks to investigate the frequency, structure, and function of prefabricated patterns in the form of lexical bundles in the methodology sub-section of applied linguistics research articles. The study involved the compilation of two parallel corpora: A corpus of methodology sections by Iranian authors, and another corpus of similar texts by international writers of applied linguistics. In addition to presenting a profile of how prefabricated linguistic patterns are employed by Iranian writers in this section of their articles, the study draws meaningful comparisons between the two corpora, highlighting the similarities and differences between the two groups of writers. The findings of this study can be useful for syllabus designers and language instructors who wish to improve the overall quality of academic writing instruction.

As a natural phenomenon, difference manifests itself in all aspects of human’s life. Individual differences are essential issues to be considered in individuals’ education. In recent years, education has gone under a fundamental revolution, and the emphasis has been placed upon individuals’ talents/interests. This study examined how L2 learners’ individual differences (i.e., emotional intelligence and gender) may creep into their metaphorical competence. It investigated the following issues among 126 upper-intermediate L2 learners (i.e., 51 males and 75 females). First, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was performed to explore the (probable) relationship between the participants’ metaphorical competence and their emotional intelligence. Second, standard multiple regression analysis was run to make out the best predictors of the participants’ metaphorical competence level. The results confirmed that, first, there was a medium positive correlation between the participants’ metaphorical competence and their emotional intelligence. Second, the participants’ emotional intelligence and gender were the two predictors of their metaphorical competence level, but emotional intelligence was a stronger predictor than gender. The findings suggest some implications for L2 pedagogy. L2 learners’ individual differences (i.e., emotional intelligence and gender) require proper methods be considered so as to develop their metaphorical competence; these methods should not be extrapolated from the whole L2 learners to other L2 learners with different characteristics, though.

Given the main axioms of applied ELT and education for life theories, this study was conducted to investigate language learner's perceptions of the effect of language syllabuses on developing their emotional and social competencies. Submission of a 44-item scale to a number of students and running regression and ANOVA analyses indicated that they considered them as ineffective for their EI abilities. From among the seven competencies, however, optimism and stress management were perceived as significantly more prospective to get enhanced throughout the current syllabuses. The study concludes with a body of implications for language education practitioners as well as for future research.

Teachers’ knowing is the personal participation of the knower in all acts of understanding. Knowing is different from knowledge: The former being a process of inquiry specific instances of applying oneself to solving problems, while the latter constitutes the stable outcomes of inquiry (Kumaravadivelu, 2012). Heeding this distinction, scholars contend that teachers’ knowing leaves undeniable traces in the transformations they are supposed to bring about and teachers’ knowing should thus be integrated within their optimal transformations (Borg, 2012), an element that is surprisingly under-researched. This dearth of investigation into teachers’ ideas is the lacuna this study is addressing. To that end, 77 EFL teachers from West Azarbaijan and 65 from Shiraz were selected through purposive stratified sampling. Having interviewed 12 teachers randomly selected from among those who were readily available, and having reviewed the related literature, the researchers went about writing up a questionnaire with acceptable reliability index (0.78). All the participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire, which taps into the four aspect of learner autonomy proposed by Oxford (2003): Psychological, social, political, and technical. Cronbach’s Alfa indicted that most teachers view autonomy as psychological. Moreover teachers felt learner autonomy implementation to be more desirable than feasible of learner autonomy. The results are as well as their tangible implications for the Iranian (teacher) educational system are discussed.