The greatness of Nahj Al-Balagha and the words of Imam Ali from the perspective of modern christian figures

After the words of the Holy Quran and Prophet Muhammad's tradition, the words of Imam Ali have in their own right bestowed upon mankind the finest and the most valuable social, political, and religious wisdom. Ever since a millennium when Sharif ar-Razi compiled Nahj al-Balagha using his unique and meticulous selection of Imam Ali's speeches, letters, aphorisms, this invaluable book has deeply influenced many figures and luminaries among both Shia and Sunni Muslims and non-Muslims, all of whom have embraced and appraised it. In this article, the researchers look into the remarks of twenty one non-Muslim figures on the worth and merits of Nahj al-Balagha. Most of these Christian figures are contemporary Arab poets and thinkers: such individuals as Khalil Farahat, Rocks Bin Zayed Al Uzaizi, Joseph Hashim, and Nasri Salhab to name just a few; however, some orientalists and western thinkers are worth mentioning such as Nursisian and Henry Corbin

A psychological reading of J. D. Salinger’s "For Esme with Love and Squalor"

The 20th century has witnessed a plethora of war stories, but among them Salinger's "For Esme with Love and Squalor", a minor masterpiece as Paul Alexander calls it, stands out. It also falls among those typical Salingerian child-adult relationships that highlight the non-phony members of society with many things in common distinguishing them from the other so-called normal members of the society. In the current study, characters are studied from a psychological point of view and classified into two major groups by the researchers. The first group and the main focus of the study is the minority of society and the second group relates to the majority or commonality. The minority group includes Salinger's heroes and protagonists who are later known as psychoneurotic. This first group feels affinity to the children who are far away from the hostility and harshness of adults' world as, to Salinger, the concept of innocence means being away from the false standards and hypocrisy of the majority of the insensitive society. The researchers try to distinguish between these two groups from different psychological and psychoanalytic aspects. Despite the contrast between these two groups, there are some similarities in their sexual conceptions and psychological adjustment that clarify similarities in traits and responses in the form of adopting different mechanisms to adjust and remove tensions and alleviate anxiety employing the mechanisms Freud calls palliative remedies

The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and the Choice of Reading Strategies of Iranian EFL Learners

The major aim of this study was to determine the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ emotional intelligence and their choice of reading strategies. To this end, a total of 126 participants were chosen from female intermediate and advanced EFL learners of Kish Language Institute in Mashhad and MA students at Hakim Sabzevari University majoring in TEFL in Sabzevar, Iran. A series of instruments were used to obtain the related data including the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP, 1979), Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Bar-On EQ-i, 1997) and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL, 1990). Both structured reading strategy and EI interviews were conducted to gain more insights on learners’ use of strategies, reading habits, and their emotional capabilities. It was found that there was a positive significant correlation between total EI and the frequency of strategies used by Iranian EFL learners. Total EI also correlated significantly with the English language proficiency of learners. Subsequent data analysis via regression revealed that total EI is the significant predictor of metacognitive and affective strategies. The results of the interviews were also used to support and complement the results obtained through the quantitative instruments. Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Iranian EFL learners, Reading strategie

Robert Browning: a dramatic monologue Marvel

One of the most effective literary devices within different didactic and aesthetic forms is the dramatic monologue. The dramatic monologue distinguishes the speaker's character from that of the poet’s. The double meaning that lies at the heart of the dramatic monologue, conveys the speaker's version or variety of meaning and intentions. The Dramatic monologue has been practiced for a very long time, but it was Robert browning who invested it with a deeper level of meaning giving it frequency in an attempt to support preexisting aesthetic values in favor of a poem that valued form over content. Although such a dialogue is called dramatic, it is not a theatrical device, proper. The speaker of the poem delivers such comments on the slice of life at disposal that would leave us with a deep emotional experience. By listening to the words pouring out of the speaker’s mind, the reader/listener obtains a psychoanalytic view of the speaker. The current article aims to study Robert browning, the prominent Victorian poet, by putting on the pedestal his essential role in investing the dramatic monologue in English literature with an essential poetic significance and role by reviewing a number of his major poems

Teachers’ Assessment Literacy and Its Correlation with IELTS Students’ Achievement in Writing Skill

The role of teachers in their students’ success is an undeniable factor which has already been dealt with in diverse literature. The challenge is their knowledge pertaining to the scale of their prevailing awareness related to one of the leading issues in the testing domain that is assessment literacy. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of teachers’ assessment - literacy effectiveness in IELTS writing practice, Task 2, by administrating an in-service training course for a group of teachers instructing IELTS candidates and measuring the effect of their literacy on the writing skill developments of their students. The result shows that those teachers who received the literacy of the IELTS writing assessment procedure have earned consciousness of the genre principles and are more successful in their profession as they are capable of producing more literate learners, who achieve higher scores than their fellow candidates. The findings of the present paper reveals that assessment literates tend to communicate their knowledge through a more effective approach to their students than their colleagues, emphasizing the fact that teachers who try to secure their profession in an optimal manner should equip themselves with the needs of the assessment. Assessment literacy, then, acts as a dual instrument both for the well-being of the teachers in the first step and for the objectively literate students meeting their test demands in the second step

The Effect of Transcribing on Elementary Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

This study is motivated by the gap existing between theory and practice in teaching listening. Most of the techniques used to teach listening put more emphasis on top-down processing while listeners’ problems are more of perceptive ones (bottom-up). In order to address the pervasive decoding problem in listening, this study suggests using transcribing exercise as an input enhancement device and investigates its effect on beginning learners’ listening ability. To this end, 31 learners participated in the study. The control group did not have any transcribing practice while the experimental group received transcribing exercise. In the data analysis step, an independent samples t test was employed to compare the two groups. The results show that transcribing has a significant positive effect on beginning learners’ listening comprehension. The findings of the study as well as advantages of transcribing exercise are discussed. Implications of the study and scope for future research are also addressed.</p

A Comparative Study of Water Semiology in Sohrab Sepehri’s and Gibran Kahlil Gibran’s Works

All over the world, among various cultures, water has always been a major concept and given a lot of attention. Many nations in different ways have delivered it in different symbolic forms. The implications given to water are based on cultural and national tendencies. Being highly important, water and its semiology has beckoned prominent poets and authors’ attention and because of its great function it has been utilized in conveying those poets’ intentions thereby enriching their works. In the current study, we look into the importance of water and its symbolic representation in Sohrab Sepehri’s and Gibran Kahlil Gibran’s works. The results show that Sohrab has used the symbolic aspects of water more than Gibran has. Sohrab’s symbolism is rooted in Persian-Islamic mythology, both national and religious, thus mainly oriental in origin. On the other hand, Gibran has been influenced by the western and universal symbols of water

A Comparative Study of Anti-Colonialism in Ma‘ruf al-Rusafi’s and Farokhi Yazdi’s Poetry

Colonialism is one of the phenomena that have had a harsh impact on the east. Due to the cruel treatment of the colonized by the colonizers, many classes of the people within the oppressed nations have risen against the oppressors. Among the Arab and Persian freedom fighters, one can refer to the remarkable struggle of such poets as al-Rusafi and Farokhi Yazdi, respectively. These two poets have entered this battlefield with their pens and poems, and have opened a new chapter in the book of struggle against colonialism. The present article attempts to study and highlight the nature of this poetic struggle by comparing the poems of Ma‘ruf al-Rusafi and Farokhi Yazdi. Colonizers resort to any accessible tool to incite discord among people, make false promises, stage deceitful agreements, suppress public education and awareness, attempt to obliterate the indigenous identity and national pride and history of the colonized nations, establish dummy parliaments, appoint puppet politicians as members of the parliament and as ministers, and all these devious measures and acts aim at establishing the colonizers’ position in their colonies. Al-Rusafi and Farokhi Yazdi defied and condemned these colonial tools and measures and fought the colonizers each in their own distinctive manners. Thumbing their books of poetry, one can catalogue their fight against colonialism as warning the people and inciting them to resist the colonizers by condemning and exposing the useless and imposed colonial agreements; by reminding the people of their glorious national history; by condemning the dummy parliaments and the puppet members and ministers; by calling the people to unity and admonishing them against public discord; by condemning the alien colonizers and exposing their deception.