El efecto de la instrucción explícita de la estrategia metacognitiva en la comprensión lectora y las creencias de autoeficacia: el caso de estudiantes iraníes EFL

This article reports on an empirical study that investigated the influence of explicit metacognitive strategy instruction on reading comprehension and self-efficacy in English as a foreign language (EFL) among university students in Iran. A randomized pretest posttest control group design was employed. The quantitative data were collected by the Survey of Reading Strategies, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and a reading comprehension test. The results of ANCOVA revealed that students in the experimental group showed greater achievement both in reading comprehension and self-efficacy than students in the control group.Este artículo trata de un estudio empírico en el que se investigó la influencia de la instrucción explícita de la estrategia metacognitiva en la comprensión lectora y la autoeficacia del inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL) entre los estudiantes universitarios en Irán. Se empleó un diseño de grupo de pre-test y posttest con controles aleatorios. Los datos cuantitativos fueron recogidos en el estudio de estrategias de lectura, motivando estrategias de aprendizaje en un cuestionario y una prueba de comprensión de lectura. Los resultados del ANCOVA revelaron que los estudiantes del grupo experimental mostraban mayores logros tanto en comprensión lectora y en autoeficacia que los estudiantes del grupo control

The Evaluation of Iranian High School English Textbook from the Prospective of Teachers

ABSTRAC

English through Embarking upon Literature in EFL Classes

Many teachers have not eagerly agreed that literature can be an effective part of foreign language programs because of the lack of empirical research that can prove the necessity of literature in language classes. This study attempted to discover whether literature can be a pedagogically powerful tool for increasing Iranian undergraduates' foreign language ability. Sixty three students were randomly selected and served as the EG and the CG and performed on a TOEFL serving as the pre-test. The t-test formula revealed the two groups were not statistically different. The EG analyzed some poems and short stories during the course. The participants were all post-tested on another TOEFL, which revealed the EG came to differ from CG; results showed the study of literature is a study of language in use. Therefore, it can be hopefully envisaged as a means of improving EFL ability. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n2p5

Análisis Comparativo - Basado en Corpus, de Colocaciones Léxicas usadas en textos de inglés como Lengua Extranjera

As collocations play an important role in second language learning, especially at intermediate-advanced levels, the present study not only seeks to examine distribution of Lexical collocations in three selected series of general English textbooks, Interchange Third Edition by (Jack C. Richards and Jonathan Hull, 2005), American Headway by (Liz and John Soars, 2003), American File by (Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham Koeing, 2008),through analyzing, face to face and telephone conversation scripts collected from intermediate and upper-intermediate level books of the aforementioned series, but also employs Open American National Corpus (OANC) available online and AntConc 3.2.1concordancer program to compare Lexical collocations from textbook to their real use by native-speakers. The findings of present research suggested that especial attention has been paid to specific types of lexical collocations noun + verb and adjective + noun while the frequency of collocations in series could not be affective on learners collocations learning and on the other hand comparing textbooks collocations to reference corpus (OANC) showed choice of collocations in these series did not have big refers to real use of language by native speakers.Considerando que las colocaciones juegan un papel importante en el aprendizaje de un segundo idioma, especialmente en los niveles intermedio - avanzado, el presente estudio no sólo tiene por objeto examinar la distribución de las colocaciones léxicas en tres series seleccionadas de libros de texto de inglés general, Interchange Third Edition escrito por Jack C. Richards and Jonathan Hull, (2005), American Headway por Liz and John Soars, (2003), American File por Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham Koeing (2008) por medio del análisis de guiones de conversación cara a cara y por vía telefónica, recogidas de libros de nivel intermedio y superior-intermedio de las serie mencionadas, sino también emplea Open American National Corpus (OANC) disponible en linea y AntConc 3.2.1 el cual es un programa de concordancias para comparar colocaciones léxicas encontradas en los textos con su uso real por hablantes nativos. Los resultados del presente estudio sugieren que se le ha prestado una atención especial a los tipos específicos de colocaciones léxicas nombre+verbo y adejetivo+ nombre mientras que la frecuencia de colocaciones en serie puede no afectar el proceso de aprendizaje de colocaciones; por otro lado la comparación de colocaciones existentes en textos con referencia al corpus (OANC) mostró que la selección de colocaciones en estas series no era un referente significativo al uso real del idioma por hablantes nativos

Acquisition of Adjective Placement by L3 Learners of English: Evidence for the L2 Status Factor

This study attempts to tease apart the effect of first (L1) and second (L2) language knowledge on the acquisition of syntactic properties of L3 English in order to test current generative theories in the field of third language acquisition (L3A). The property under investigation is adjective placement. Participants are L1 Azeri / L2 Persian, and L1 Persian learners of English as a third and second language respectively. To fulfill so, 180 bilingual and monolingual university students from Arak and Miyandoab took a general English proficiency test, a background questionnaire, and a syntactic structure test. The L3 proficiency was also considered. The data, then, were analyzed through utilization of descriptive statistics and two-way ANOVA. In relation to the hypotheses, results indicated L2 status as the determining factor in the acquisition of English adjective properties by Azeri-Persian bilinguals. Proficiency level in the L3 also proved to have a significant role. The implications of the study can be utilized in developing an educational and linguistic methodology for bilingual learners of English as an L3 in Iran

Exploring Expansion and Reduction Strategies in Two English Translations of Masnavi

The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of the use of two semantic adjustment strategies; namely, expansion and reduction, in the two English translations of book one of Masnavi. For this purpose, 300 lines of Masnavi by Rumi (2014) along its two corresponding English translations by Nicholson (2004) and Whinfield (2001) were critically analyzed based on Nida and Taber's (2003) theoretical framework. Based on the outcomes of the present study, both translators applied the expansion strategy more than the reduction because poems in Masnavi were so condensed and the writer of Masnavi applied classic words which were not understandable to the target language readers. Therefore, both translators used expansion strategy to explicate what was implied in the source text and to make a natural and a comprehensible translation to the target text readers.Keywords: Semantic Adjustment Strategies, Expansion, Reduction, Masnav

The effect of explicit metacognitive strategy instruction on reading comprehension and self-efficacy beliefs: the case of Iranian University EFL students

This article reports on an empirical study that investigated the influence of explicit metacognitive strategy instruction on reading comprehension and self-efficacy in English as a foreign language (EFL) among university students in Iran. A randomized pretest posttest control group design was employed. The quantitative data were collected by the Survey of Reading Strategies, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and a reading comprehension test. The results of ANCOVA revealed that students in the experimental group showed greater achievement both in reading comprehension and self-efficacy than students in the control group.Este artículo trata de un estudio empírico en el que se investigó la influencia de la instrucción explícita de la estrategia metacognitiva en la comprensión lectora y la autoeficacia del inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL) entre los estudiantes universitarios en Irán. Se empleó un diseño de grupo de pre-test y posttest con controles aleatorios. Los datos cuantitativos fueron recogidos en el estudio de estrategias de lectura, motivando estrategias de aprendizaje en un cuestionario y una prueba de comprensión de lectura. Los resultados del ANCOVA revelaron que los estudiantes del grupo experimental mostraban mayores logros tanto en comprensión lectora y en autoeficacia que los estudiantes del grupo control

New Perspective in PROSPECT: An Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses of Iranian Second Year Junior High School English Textbooks

Textbook design and evaluation has recently turned into a very important area in English Language Teaching. This paper evaluates the English textbooks taught in Iranian Junior high schools: Right Path to English which was the medium of instruction until 2013 and the recently designed textbook-Prospect- which replaced it. For this purpose, Tucker’s (1975) textbook evaluation model was employed to conduct the research. The advantages and shortcomings of the textbooks are discussed in detail with reference to three major criteria extracted from this model. The results indicate that even though Prospect does not cover up some of the inadequacies and deficiencies of RPE, the development of a textbook based on Communicative Language Teaching syllabus is, to a great extent, a step forward towards constructing an up-to-date series for teaching English in Iranian schools. Results of this study have implications both for teaching and materials development

Análisis Comparativo- Basado en Corpus, de Colocaciones Léxicas usadas en textos de inglés como Lengua Extranjera

As collocations play an important role in second language learning, especially at intermediate-advanced levels, the present study not only seeks to examine distribution of Lexical collocations in three selected series of general English textbooks, Interchange Third Edition by (Jack C. Richards and Jonathan Hull, 2005), American Headway by (Liz and John Soars, 2003), American File by (Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham Koeing, 2008),through analyzing, face to face and telephone conversation scripts collected from intermediate and upper-intermediate level books of the aforementioned series, but also employs Open American National Corpus (OANC) available online and AntConc 3.2.1concordancer program to compare Lexical collocations from textbook to their real use by native-speakers. The findings of present research suggested that especial attention has been paid to specific types of lexical collocations noun + verb and adjective + noun while the frequency of collocations in series could not be affective on learners collocations learning and on the other hand comparing textbooks collocations to reference corpus (OANC) showed choice of collocations in these series did not have big refers to real use of language by native speakers.Considerando que las colocaciones juegan un papel importante en el aprendizaje de un segundo idioma, especialmente en los niveles intermedio-avanzado, el presente estudio no sólo tiene por objeto examinar la distribución de las colocaciones léxicas en tres series seleccionadas de libros de texto de inglés general, Interchange Third Edition escrito por Jack C. Richards and Jonathan Hull, (2005), American Headway por Liz and John Soars, (2003), American File por Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham Koeing (2008) por medio del análisis de guiones de conversación cara a cara y por vía telefónica, recogidas de libros de nivel intermedio y superior-intermedio de las serie mencionadas, sino también emplea Open American National Corpus (OANC) disponible en linea y AntConc 3.2.1 el cual es un programa de concordancias para comparar colocaciones léxicas encontradas en los textos con su uso real por hablantes nativos. Los resultados del presente estudio sugieren que se le ha prestado una atención especial a los tipos específicos de colocaciones léxicas nombre+verbo y adejetivo+ nombre mientras que la frecuencia de colocaciones en serie puede no afectar el proceso de aprendizaje de colocaciones; por otro lado la comparación de colocaciones existentes en textos con referencia al corpus (OANC) mostró que la selección de colocaciones en estas series no era un referente significativo al uso real del idioma por hablantes nativos

Exploring Expansion and Reduction Strategies in Two English Translations of Masnavi

The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of the use of two semantic adjustment strategies; namely, expansion and reduction, in the two English translations of book one of Masnavi. For this purpose, 300 lines of Masnavi by Rumi (2014) along its two corresponding English translations by Nicholson (2004) and Whinfield (2001) were critically analyzed based on Nida and Taber's (2003) theoretical framework. Based on the outcomes of the present study, both translators applied the expansion strategy more than the reduction because poems in Masnavi were so condensed and the writer of Masnavi applied classic words which were not understandable to the target language readers. Therefore, both translators used expansion strategy to explicate what was implied in the source text and to make a natural and a comprehensible translation to the target text readers.Keywords: Semantic Adjustment Strategies, Expansion, Reduction, Masnav