A Comparative Analysis of IELTS and TOEFL in an Iranian Context: A Case Study of Washback of Standard Tests

Having desired results represents a type of success on what the teachers and the learners have been working on. In order to obtain the correlation of the standard tests of IELTS and TOEFL 120 applicants have been selected. They were grouped under IELTS study phase and non-IELTS study group and also TOEFL study group and non-TOEFL study group. The applicants were at C1, C2, and B2 level of CEFR in the first group and Advanced and intermediate high of ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. The applicants received treatment and took six tests along with a pretest and a post test. Therefore, there were four groups in the study as receiving the treatment and the placebo thereof.  Besides, the applicants were interviewed in order to get their ideas and personal attitudes to the success or failure of standard exams. In order to do so a questionnaire was developed and its reliability and validity was gauged. The results of the testing procedure represents more plausible scores on IELTS test results. This could be attributed to the recent trend among Iranian graduate and post graduate learners to IELTS exam. The results of the total study reveals the idea of teaching to the test and studying for the test which verifies the washback of the tests and reflects washback on teaching and learning

Qualitative Investigation of the Effect of Explicit Genre Instruction on EFL Learners’ Written Research Article

Since previous research studies revealed that novice writers still have difficulty constructing well-structured research articles (RA), genre instruction has recently focused on making rhetorical choices explicit, and this explicit focus on generic features, in turn, provided tools for the detailed analysis of academic genres of RAs. In line with recent research studies, the present study endeavored to explore the effect of explicit genre instruction on the generic features used by participants in RAs. To this end, out of 24 graduate students, who voluntarily attended a 20-session academic writing course, 17 were selected. After predominantly qualitative analysis of their written RAs, the findings revealed that explicit instruction made them aware of, and sensitive to, the rhetorical features in RAs, that they adopted these rhetorical features in their RAs, and that irrespective of a large number of similarities in their performance there were some differences with regard to their field, topic, and target journal as well as their language knowledge and experience in writing RAs. Not only would the findings of this research be beneficial for curriculum developers, teachers, and learners, but they also can lead researchers to new venues in order to delve deep into the effects of explicit genre instruction. Keywords: explicit genre instruction, EFL learners, research articles, ESP, academic writing, rhetorical moves and step

The Effects of Computer Assisted Mediating Prompts on EFL Learners' Writing Ability

This study aims to examine the EFL learners' perception and process of writing development through using a digital storytelling tool, called Storyjumper. To do so, 15 intermediate-level students were participants of the study. The participants’ writing development was frequently assessed through a series of repeated writing tests before and after the treatment during one term of study, and the significance of change was examined by Repeated measure ANOVA (rANOVA). The researcher also used paired sample t-test to compare mean difference between two sets of observations. In addition, to gain an in-depth picture of fluctuations of the process of writing development, learners' views were obtained through both semi-structured interviews and self-reported reflective journals which were also recorded and analyzed. The qualitative independent variable (stories produced via Storyjumper) was the within-subjects factor, and the dependent quantitative variable on which each participant was measured (repeated writing tests) was the between-subjects factor. The findings of both quantitative and qualitative data analyses show that there was a significant difference between EFL learners' writing development before and after receiving the treatment. Moreover, majority of the learners admitted that their experiences in using Storyjumper were positive. As a result, this study is contributory in its own rights as it underscores the significance of digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool for the EFL learners' writing enhancement

Strategies Used in Rendering Humor in Translations of “A Man Called Ove" by Fredrick Backman

In the current study, two translations by Farnaz Taimorzuv (2017) and Hossein Tehrani (2016) of the book “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrick Backman, which is abundant in humor, were selected. The transition of humor from the source language to the target language was investigated by the syntactic strategy of Chesterman (2016). During the analysis of humor, the humorous excerpts were identified. Afterwards, the transference of humorous effects was investigated in both Persian translations. The results showed that, in translation of humor at the linguistic level, the translators have not been fully successful. Neither have they effectively rendered malapropism.  Finally, in translation of repetition and parallelism, Taimorzuv applies some strategies to transfer the humoristic effect to the target text, whereas Tehrani seems to have ignored the aesthetic values of the source text. Keywords: Satire, humour, translation strategy, comparative study DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/72-04 Publication date:October 31st 202

Iranian Female Tour Guides’ Perceptions of Working in the Tourism Industry

It is expected that tourism industry is one of the fields that can boost female employment and therefore, can help redress the balance and empower women in Iran. Equal opportunities in employment assist them for empowerment. Being a tour guide is one of these opportunities, although most jobs are created elsewhere, e.g. hotels and restaurants. But for this thesis, tour guides are important from two aspects: first, it is a challenging condition that you find out what you are capable of and second; it is not an extension of traditional domestic roles, and it is a new role for women in a male-dominated job market.This study aims to investigate how female tour guides perceive their roles in the tourism industry and the elements of these perceptions among their family, colleagues, and tourists who could serve empowering or disempowering.

The acquisition of verb complement clauses by Persian learners of English

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN037523 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Comparison of Enterocystoplasty and Ureterocystoplasty before Kidney Transplantation

Background: Augmentation cystoplasty before or after renal transplantation is an option for patients with end-stage renal disease who are candidates for renal transplantation and have low capacity and poorly compliant bladders.Objective: To compare two surgical methods of bladder augmentation—enterocystoplasty (EC) and ureterocystoplasty(UC)—before kidney transplantation, and their outcome with that in kidney recipients who had normal bladder function.Methods: During a 20-year period (1988–2008), 1406 renal transplantation were performed in our center by our team. In 16 patients having a mean age of 18.8 years, EC (group A) and in 8 with mean age of 11.5 years, UC (group B) were performed before renal transplantation. These two groups were compared with a control group of 30 recipients with normal bladder (group C) with mean age of 15.6 years, for kidney function, graft and patient survival, and the frequency of urinary tract infection (UTI).Results: There was normal graft function in 11 of group A, 7 of group B, and 24 of group C patients, during a mean follow-up of 73.1 months. The mean±SD serum creatinine in follow-up was 1.72±0.31, 1.37±0.13 and 1.33±0.59 mg/dL in groups A, B and C, respectively. No statistically significant differences were observedamong the 3 studied groups in terms of 1-, 5- and 10-year graft and patient survivals. Number of episodes of febrile UTI requiring hospitalization was 23, 6 and 2 in groups A, B and C, respectively. UTI and urosepsis were significantly more frequent in group A than groups B (p=0.025) and C (p=0.001); no significant difference was observed in the frequency between groups B and C (p=0.310).Conclusion: Both EC and UC are equally recommended before renal transplantation for reconstruction of the lower urinary tract; use of each method should be individualized depending on specific conditions of recipient