The Effect of Short Message Service (SMS) on Iranian EFL Learners' Attitude toward Learning English

Abstract In order to investigate the effect of SMS on participants' attitude toward learning English, A group of 75 students were selected from 90 students who were studying different engineering fields at Arak University of Technology. But 38 students took part in the whole study. Data analysis using paired T-test showed the positive effect of SMS on participants' attitude toward learning English. Also, the relationship between gender and participants' attitude toward learning English by using SMS was investigated. Data analysis using ANOVA repeated measure revealed no relationship between gender and participants' attitude toward learning English by using SMS

The effect of glossing conventions on L2 vocabulary recognition and production

Abstract To investigate the effects of different glossing conventions on vocabulary recognition and recall, 158 participants were given a pre-test to make sure that they did not have any prior knowledge of the target words. Reading passages with four different glossing conventions (interlinear, marginal, pre-text, and post-text) were given to eight groups. Four groups received interlingual glosses and four groups were given intralingual glosses. Receptive and productive post-tests were administered to measure vocabulary recognition and recall. The collected data were analyzed using two one-way ANOVA procedures. The results showed that there were no significant differences among the effects of different types of intralingual glosses on vocabulary recognition and recall. As to the affect of the interlingual glosses on vocabulary recognition, the posttext group performed significantly worse than both the pretext and the marginal groups. Moreover, the interlinear gloss was shown to be more effective than the post-text gloss in vocabulary recall

An Investigation into the Impact of Traditional vs. Blended Teaching on EFL Learners' Vocabulary Acquisition: M-learning in Focus

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Acoustic Analysis of advanced and intermediate Persian EFL Learners' Pronunciation of English Vowels

Abstract This paper reports the results of an experimental study on non-native production of English vowels. Two groups of Persian EFL learners varying in language proficiency were tested on their ability to produce the nine plain vowels of American English. Vowel production accuracy was assessed by means of acoustic measurements. Ladefoged and Maddison's (1996) F1× × × ×F2 measurements for American English vowel space were used as reference values to be compared with the measurements obtained from the production of Persian EFL learners. The acoustic measurements revealed that learners were not able to control acoustic parameters of vowel quality, even for the more similar vowels in the two languages, in a native-like manner due to interference from their native vowel system. Spectral accuracy measures also did not progress toward more native-like values in the productions of the more proficient learners. Interestingly, the positions achieved for the more dissimilar vowels were neither close to their closest L1 counterparts nor close to their native categories. Interpreting this latter result within the Perceptual Assimilation Model proposed by Best (1994), it could be stated that learners established new phonetic categories for the vowel contrasts that were not used in their native phonological system

The Effect of Peer and Teacher Scaffolding on the Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners in Asymmetrical and Symmetrical Groups

Abstract In the present study, attempt has been made to examine the effectiveness of peer and teacher scaffolding in reading comprehension of intermediate EFL students in symmetrical and asymmetrical groups. To do so, sixty intermediate students were purposively selected out of 150 intermediate students in the Hamadan Islamic Azad University and the Kish Language Institute in Hamadan. They were divided into three groups, two experimental groups receiving respectively peer and teacher scaffolding, and just peer scaffolding, and one control group. After a two-month treatment, running ANCOVA, the researchers found a significant difference between asymmetrical subgroups and symmetrical subgroups in reading comprehension development. Besides, significant development in the reading comprehension of EFL students in experimental group 1 receiving peer and teacher scaffolding was observed by performing correlated t-test. The results of the study showed that teacher scaffolding being accompanied by peer scaffolding, rather than just having peer scaffolding, can have positive effects on the reading comprehension of EFL learners

The Disourse of War in the Middle East: Analysis of Syria's Civil Crises in English Editorials Published in Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia

Abstract This paper examines the relationships between language and ideology and how ideology is constructed and presented via different language choices in English editorials published in different socio-cultural contexts. Van Dijk's (2000a) ideological square in terms of representation of the self and other was applied to the editorials. Through a comparative analysis of Iranian, Turkish and Saudi Arabian newspaper editorials with different ideologies, the study attempts to reveal how these ideologies are represented differently in the texts regarding civil crisis in Syria in 2012. It aims to show how writers, by using various strategies such as evil doing, humanitarianism, cause of crisis, and history as lesson manipulate the realizations of agency and power in the representation of action to produce particular meanings which are not always explicit for all readers. Data gathered for the analysis were 45 editorials from three newspapers of Tehran Times, Today Zaman, and Arab News during the first half of the year 2012 (15 from each). Careful selection of 6 editorials for qualitative analysis indicates that the three newspapers focus on different aspects of reality and, by using various language strategies, influence readers' understanding of the events

Collaborative L2 Interactivity in Diverse ZPD-Based Proximal Contexts and Interactional Competence Development

Abstract Central to Vygotsky-inspired sociocultural theory (SCT) is the notion of zone of proximal development (ZPD) seen by several SLA researchers as a very useful framework within which L2 teaching and learning can take place. Van Lier (2004) argues that the ZPD could be activated in diverse proximal contexts (PCs) and is not limited to the expert-novice scenario. This study probed whether Iranian EFL learners' collaborative task performance within different ZPD-based PCs results in their development of interactional competence (IC). Young's (2011) IC model was used for constructing and developing an IC test (ICT) which was used at the pre-test and post-test times. Three intact EFL listening-speaking classes at a university at southwest of Iran were randomly assigned to the expertnovice, equal peers, and control (non-ZPD) conditions. The coconstructed interactions of the groups in (a)symmetrical ZPDbased conditions were audio-recorded and further analyzed for traces of participants' L2 IC development. A triangulation (quantitative and micro-genetic) approach was adopted analyzing the data. The results showed that whereas both the ZPD groups (equal-peers and expert-novice) outperformed the non-ZPD group on the IC posttests, no statistically significant difference was found between participants' IC development in symmetrical and asymmetrical ZPD-based PCs. Further, the micro-genetic analysis of the ZPD groups' interactions demonstrated how participation and activity in different PC

4 Samavarchi-_rezaee

Abstract To be able to reach the level of ultimate attainment in an L2, learners need to acquire not only the grammar of the L2 but also the language processing mechanisms involved in the comprehension of sentences in real time. Contrary to its importance, very little is known yet about online L2 processing. This study examines whether advanced Iranian learners of English reactivate dislocated indirect objects at gap positions in accordance to the "trace reactivation hypothesis" (TRH) and also whether their individual working memory capacities play any role in antecedent priming in such processing. To this end, 44 participants were randomly selected for the study after being given the Oxford Placement Test. The participants were then given the reading-span test to check their working memory (WM) and were divided into 2 groups (low and high-span groups). A cross-modal priming task was conducted using the software package E-Prime Professional to record their reaction times (RTs). The data were analyzed quantitatively and the results of 3 paired samples t-tests showed that the learners differed from native speakers as they did not reactivate the antecedents at the gap position, indicating that foreign language learners resort to shallow parsing during L2 comprehension. Furthermore, a mixed ANOVA showed that the participants' performance was not influenced by their individual working memory differences unlike high-span native speakers

An Analysis of English and Persian Academic Written Discourses in Human Sciences: An Evolutionary Account The Journal of Teaching Language Skills (JTLS) 88

Abstract The present paper focused on the sociocultural explanations of rhetorical differences between English and Persian and was based on the contrastive genre analysis of Applied Linguistics research article abstracts in these two languages. The evolutionary nature of research article abstracts was also investigated from 1985 to 2005, in three stages, with a time interval of 10 years. Seventy eight research article abstracts were analyzed, forty two of which were taken from two English journals and the rest from two Persian journals. The levels of generic structure contrasted included rhetorical moves, linguistic structure, and formal and textual layout. The rhetorical moves were investigated using move analysis with reference to Swales CARS (Create A Research Space) model and/ or IMRC (Introduction, Method, Results, Conclusion) Model. For investigating the linguistic features, the aspects of Tense and the use of I/We pronoun were taken into consideration and finally, with regard to the textual and formal layout, the relative length of the steps was probed. The results indicated differences between English and Persian research article abstracts, especially with regard to their evolution