Linguistics, SLA and Lexicon as the Unit of Language

Each one of the major linguistic schools takes a different compartment of language as the main building block which shapes the totality of a language. The claim is that most of the linguistic theories have ceded to the prominence of lexicon as one major component of language. Through introducing the concept of lexical features, into the Minimalist Program, Chomsky has acknowledged the fact that lexicon features determine a word’s meaning, its morphological shape and its syntactical behavior in syntax. Constructions are based on particular lexical items which have been acknowledged as crucial in SLA although with different labels such as holophrases, prefabricated patterns, formulaic speech, formulae, sequences in SLA, chunks, and formulaic expressions or utterances. By adopting a lexical approach in studying language and language teaching and learning, the need for a new teaching methodology has always been felt, a demand which has never been satisfied

Compensatory Strategies and Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Speaking Fluency: Focusing on Self-Repetition and Comprehension Check Strategies

This study aimed to seek the effects of self-repetition and comprehension check strategies on Iranian EFL learners' speaking fluency. To this end, the researcher gave the OQPT to 140 Iranian students to determine their level of English proficiency. The researcher selected 90 intermediate students and divided them non-randomly into two experimental groups; Self-Repetition group (n=30) and Comprehension Check group (n=30). Then, both groups were pretested. After that, the researcher put the participants of both groups in two Compensatory Strategies. Each experimental classroom was taught through a specific compensatory strategy. On the other hand, the control group received traditional activities in learning speaking fluency. This procedure continued till the last session. At the end of the study, a posttest was conducted. The results of one-way ANOVA revealed that both experimental groups had better performance on their post-test compared to their pre-test. The results showed that there was not a significant difference between the performances of the experimental groups on the post-test

The Effect of Using Authentic Texts on Iranian EFL Learners' Incidental Vocabulary Learning: The Case of English Newspaper

This study intended to investigate the effect of using authentic texts on Iranian EFL learners' incidental vocabulary learning. To this end, a population of 52 Iranian female EFL learners aged 15 to 17 was selected. They were two intact classes; experimental group (25 students) and control group (27 students). Both groups received a pretest at the first session. Regarding the treatment, the authentic reading texts selected from World News for students of English, Level1 was taught to the experimental group while the texts selected from book 1 was taught to the control group. After a month post-test were run among all of the participants in both control and experimental groups to find out the possible effects of the treatment on the participants' vocabulary improvement. The analysis of data paired samples t-test and independent samples t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the post-tests of experimental and control groups. The experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test

The Impact of Code-switching on Vocabulary Learning among Iranian Upperintermediate EFL Learners

This study aimed to investigate the impact of code switching on Iranian upperintermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning. To this end, 64 participants out of 90 male students were selected and randomly divided into two equal experimental groups- experimental and control groups. Then, the groups were pretested by a vocabulary pre-test. Then after, the participants of experimental group received the treatment, i.e., using code switching. After the treatment ended, both groups took the post-test of vocabulary. The results of paired and independent samples t-tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the performance of the experimental and the control group on the post-test

Linguistics, SLA and Lexicon as the Unit of Language

Each one of the major linguistic schools takes a different compartment of language as the main building block which shapes the totality of a language. The claim is that most of the linguistic theories have ceded to the prominence of lexicon as one major component of language. Through introducing the concept of lexical features, into the Minimalist Program, Chomsky has acknowledged the fact that lexicon features determine a word’s meaning, its morphological shape and its syntactical behavior in syntax. Constructions are based on particular lexical items which have been acknowledged as crucial in SLA although with different labels such as holophrases, prefabricated patterns, formulaic speech, formulae, sequences in SLA, chunks, and formulaic expressions or utterances. By adopting a lexical approach in studying language and language teaching and learning, the need for a new teaching methodology has always been felt, a demand which has never been satisfied

The Effect of Using Authentic Texts on Iranian EFL Learners' Incidental Vocabulary Learning: The Case of English Newspaper

This study intended to investigate the effect of using authentic texts on Iranian EFL learners' incidental vocabulary learning. To this end, a population of 52 Iranian female EFL learners aged 15 to 17 was selected. They were two intact classes; experimental group (25 students) and control group (27 students). Both groups received a pretest at the first session. Regarding the treatment, the authentic reading texts selected from World News for students of English, Level1 was taught to the experimental group while the texts selected from book 1 was taught to the control group. After a month post-test were run among all of the participants in both control and experimental groups to find out the possible effects of the treatment on the participants' vocabulary improvement. The analysis of data paired samples t-test and independent samples t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the post-tests of experimental and control groups. The experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test

The Impact of Code-switching on Vocabulary Learning among Iranian Upperintermediate EFL Learners

This study aimed to investigate the impact of code switching on Iranian upperintermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning. To this end, 64 participants out of 90 male students were selected and randomly divided into two equal experimental groups- experimental and control groups. Then, the groups were pretested by a vocabulary pre-test. Then after, the participants of experimental group received the treatment, i.e., using code switching. After the treatment ended, both groups took the post-test of vocabulary. The results of paired and independent samples t-tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the performance of the experimental and the control group on the post-test

Texts with Various Levels of Hardness, Reading Comprehension and Reading Motivation: I+1 Versus I-1

Considering the vital role of comprehensible input, this study attempted to compare the effects of input with various difficulty levels on Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension and reading motivation. To fulfil this objective, 54 Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners were selected from two intact classes (n = 27 each). The selected participants were randomly assigned to two equal groups, namely “i+1” (n=27) and “i-1” group (n=27). Then, the groups were pretested by a researcher-made reading comprehension test. After carrying out the pre-test, the treatment (i.e., extensive reading at different levels of difficulty) was practiced on the both groups. The participants in “i+1” group received reading passages beyond the current level, on the other hand, the “i-1” group received those reading passages which were below their current level. After the instruction ended, a modified version of pre-test was conducted as posttest to determine the impacts of the treatment on the students' reading comprehension. The obtained results indicated that there was a significant difference between the post-tests of “i+1” and “i-1” groups. The findings showed that the “i+1” group significantly outperformed the “i-1” group (p < .05) on the post-test. Moreover, the findings indicated that “i+1” group's motivation increased after the treatment. The implications of the study suggest that interactive type of input is beneficial to develop students' language skills. Keywords: Comprehensible Input; Extensive reading; Foreign language reading motivation; Input; Reading comprehension; Text difficulty leve

The comparative effect of group dynamic assessment (GDA) and computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) on Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners’ speaking complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF)

This study attempted to check the impact of two dynamic assessment (DA) models on speaking CAF. DA, as opposed to static assessment, is conceived as an interactive approach to assessment that integrates teaching and testing into a unified instructional engagement. To achieve the goals of this research, a convenience sample of 90 upper-intermediate male EFL learners that were randomly assigned into GDA, a C-DA, and a non-DA control group participated in the study. Before carrying out the treatment, a speaking pretest was administered to all three groups and their CAF scores were collected. Following that, the treatment using the aforementioned DA and non-DA conventional models was completed in 16 sessions. To check the impact of the treatment, a speaking post-test was given to the groups at the end of the study. Data analysis using ANOVA showed that C-DA and G-DA could significantly increase speaking CAF than the conventional non-DA instruction with C-DA being significantly better than G-DA. The results of this research propose that implementing DA, especially C-DA by the teachers, can enhance the speaking CAF of the L2 learners