The Investigation of Compliment Response Patterns across Gender and Age among Advanced EFL Learners

Compliment responses (CRs) as manifestations of social-cultural standards and politeness varieties of a certain speech community are prevalent types of speech acts which are vulnerable to be misunderstood and therefore cause communication breakdown. Having this in mind, the recent study aimed at investigating compliment response strategies of Iranian advanced EFL learners across gender and age. The data were collected through application of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT), borrowed from Chen and Yang (2010), with four situational settings (appearance, clothing, ability, and possession) to 50 male and 50 female advanced EFL learners of an English institute in Iran. Based on qualitative data analysis, no difference was shown between the CR strategies employed by male and female participants in terms of frequency. Likewise, it was revealed that the frequency of CR strategies used by teenage and adult groups was very close. However, scrutinizing the emerging themes, besides similarities between the given groups, some subtle differences in the terminology of the employed strategies were detected

On the Differential Effects of Individual and Collaborative Written Corrective Feedback on the Accuracy of Iranian Female EFL Learners’ Writing

This paper aimed at examining the differential effects of individual and collaborative written corrective feedbacks on EFL learners’ writing accuracy. To this end, 60 female English language learners were selected from among 80 students of intermediate EFL learners in private language institute in Urmia (West Azerbayjan, IRI). The participants were randomly divided into two groups namely, ‘individual feedback group’ and ‘collaborative feedback group’. Two different correction procedures were provided for both groups. For the first group, the assignment papers of the participants was gathered by the instructor in order to be provided with explicit written corrective feedback for their writings in terms of grammar and mechanics, while for the second group, six participants wrote on a topic and each composition was corrected by four EFL learners. Finally, a post-test on writing was conducted for both groups, and a t-test analysis was used to compare the mean scores of both groups. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant difference between the individual and collaborative corrective feedback groups in terms of their writing accuracy

On the Correlation between Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence and Learners’ Motivation: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

The aim of the current study was to investigate the possible correlation between teachers’ emotional intelligence and EFL learners’ motivation. To conduct the research, a sample of 240 EFL learners and 26 EFL teachers was selected. The instruments utilized in the current scrutiny were Bar-On's (1997) Emotional Intelligence Inventory and Gardner's (1985) Attitude Motivation Test Battery. The analysis of data was carried out through running correlation, multiple regressions and t-test analyses. Based on the gained upshots, the teachers' emotional intelligence was found to significantly correlate with EFL learners’ motivation in the study sample. Proficiency level was also reported to play a considerable part vis-à-vis the relationship between the teachers' emotional intelligence and learners' motivation. Moreover, the five sub-scales of Bar-On's emotional intelligence inventory came to have a significant correlation with learners’ motivation. Finally, a significant amount of correlation held between the twelve sub-scales of motivation and teachers’ emotional intelligence. Keywords: emotional intelligence, Iranian EFL teachers/learners, motivatio

The Effect of Student Team-Achievement Division (STAD) on Language Achievement of Iranian EFL Students across Gender

The present investigation is a quasi-experimental research which has used the two group pre-test post-test design. A total of 80 female and male (48 females and 32 males) EFL students at the intermediate level of English proficiency studying in Jahad Daneshgahi Language Institute in Urmia, Iran, were chosen and assigned to two groups based on the placement test results. The sample was divided into two groups of experimental group (n=40) and control group (n=40). The results of the study showed that there was a statistical significant difference at the level of 0.05 between the means of the performance of the experimental and control groups on the achievement test for the benefit of the experimental group. Hence, STAD can effectively be implemented to improve the learners’ language proficiency. The results indicated that there were no gender differences in students’ language achievement after their being taught through STAD. Hence, ultimate result of the study indicated that STAD (Student Team Achievement Division) was more effective instructional paradigm for English as compared to the traditional method of teaching. Due to its provision for higher learning engagement, it proved to be an active learning strategy

The Effect of Student Team-Achievement Division (STAD) on Language Achievement of Iranian EFL Students across Gender

The present investigation is a quasi-experimental research which has used the two group pre-test post-test design. A total of 80 female and male (48 females and 32 males) EFL students at the intermediate level of English proficiency studying in Jahad Daneshgahi Language Institute in Urmia, Iran, were chosen and assigned to two groups based on the placement test results. The sample was divided into two groups of experimental group (n=40) and control group (n=40). The results of the study showed that there was a statistical significant difference at the level of 0.05 between the means of the performance of the experimental and control groups on the achievement test for the benefit of the experimental group. Hence, STAD can effectively be implemented to improve the learners’ language proficiency. The results indicated that there were no gender differences in students’ language achievement after their being taught through STAD. Hence, ultimate result of the study indicated that STAD (Student Team Achievement Division) was more effective instructional paradigm for English as compared to the traditional method of teaching. Due to its provision for higher learning engagement, it proved to be an active learning strategy

The Role of Schema or Background Knowledge ActivationandGraphic Organizer on Increasing Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

The purpose of current study is to use graphic organizers and schema or background activation knowledge to determine its effectiveness on increasing Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. For doing this study, 63 female students learning English at intermediate level in Ganje Daneshpazhohan English institutes in Tehran, Iran, were randomly selected and were divided into three groups including graphic organizer, schema, and control group. First, all three groups were given a reading comprehension pretest. Then, the graphic organizer group were taught reading through the use of graphic organizer tasks while those in schema group were taught how to activate their background knowledge before reading. Regarding the control group, there was no treatment. Finally. the posttest took place in the following class meeting after the training. The results indicated that using graphic organizer and background knowledge activation strategy could play a significant role in developing the level of reading comprehension among Iranian EFL learners. Finally, graphic organizer was recognized to a more useful method for learning enhancing reading comprehension among Iranian EFL learners. Therefore, the interactive reading processing approach based on schema theory and graphic organizer seems to have better effects in English reading comprehension

The Role of Schema or Background Knowledge ActivationandGraphic Organizer on Increasing Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

The purpose of current study is to use graphic organizers and schema or background activation knowledge to determine its effectiveness on increasing Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. For doing this study, 63 female students learning English at intermediate level in Ganje Daneshpazhohan English institutes in Tehran, Iran, were randomly selected and were divided into three groups including graphic organizer, schema, and control group. First, all three groups were given a reading comprehension pretest. Then, the graphic organizer group were taught reading through the use of graphic organizer tasks while those in schema group were taught how to activate their background knowledge before reading. Regarding the control group, there was no treatment. Finally. the posttest took place in the following class meeting after the training. The results indicated that using graphic organizer and background knowledge activation strategy could play a significant role in developing the level of reading comprehension among Iranian EFL learners. Finally, graphic organizer was recognized to a more useful method for learning enhancing reading comprehension among Iranian EFL learners. Therefore, the interactive reading processing approach based on schema theory and graphic organizer seems to have better effects in English reading comprehension

The Role of Schema or Background Knowledge ActivationandGraphic Organizer on Increasing Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

The purpose of current study is to use graphic organizers and schema or background activation knowledge to determine its effectiveness on increasing Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. For doing this study, 63 female students learning English at intermediate level in Ganje Daneshpazhohan English institutes in Tehran, Iran, were randomly selected and were divided into three groups including graphic organizer, schema, and control group. First, all three groups were given a reading comprehension pretest. Then, the graphic organizer group were taught reading through the use of graphic organizer tasks while those in schema group were taught how to activate their background knowledge before reading. Regarding the control group, there was no treatment. Finally. the posttest took place in the following class meeting after the training. The results indicated that using graphic organizer and background knowledge activation strategy could play a significant role in developing the level of reading comprehension among Iranian EFL learners. Finally, graphic organizer was recognized to a more useful method for learning enhancing reading comprehension among Iranian EFL learners. Therefore, the interactive reading processing approach based on schema theory and graphic organizer seems to have better effects in English reading comprehension

The rhetorical properties of the schematic structures of newspaper editorials: A comparative study of English and Persian editorials

Drawing on the theory of inter-cultural rhetoric analysis and considering the important role of newspaper editorials in shaping public opinions, this article examines the schematic structures of Persian and English newspaper editorials of criticism. The aim of this comparative study was to explore the discourse conventions employed in the editorials of The New York Times and Tehran Times. While revealing some interesting genre-specific features of schematic structures of the editorials in the two newspapers, the results of the study also indicated that cultural constraints did not substantially affect the schematic structures of the editorials. However, they had implications for realization of certain rhetorical structures in the editorials