Tracking Interpersonality in Research Article Abstract: A Diachronic Study of Dynamic Nature of Genre

This study reports on interpersonality in a diachronic-contrastive investigation in Research Article (RA) abstracts. The study analyzed a corpus of 180 RA abstracts from two journalsof Psychological Bulletin and Personality and Individual Differences over the last three decades. This paper uses Hylands (2005b) Stance Model of Interaction and Hyland Tses (2005) Classification of Sentences Containing Evaluative that in order to explore interpersonality. The results of this study revealed that authors of these journals adopted different stance and positioning over time in their writing. In addition, the findings of this paper did not corroborate previous research findings that RA abstracts exhibit high number of boosters. In relation to writing pedagogy, the results of this study can help the scholars to frame their papers in order to publish them in English-medium journals

The Effect of Task Type on Autonomous EFL Learners’ Interactive Negotiations in a Text-based Synchronous Computer-mediated Context

The importance of communicative ability in second language classroom context has increased the interest in interaction among foreign language learners. The quality of negotiations is influenced by so many factors that should be investigated in order to facilitate the process of second language acquisition. This study seeks to investigate the effect of task type on autonomous EFL learners’ interactive negotiation in synchronous computer-mediated communication context. Total number of 60 pre- intermediate EFL learners were chosen from Iran Language Institute of Birjand based on their performance on the language learning autonomy questionnaire designed by Zhang and Li (2004). They participated in three types of tasks, including Decision making, Jigsaw, and Opinion gap tasks via Telegram Desktop. The chat history of EFL learners was analyzed in terms of the model of interaction proposed by Tsui (1994). Three main moves of Initiating, Responding, and Follow-up were included in her taxonomy of interaction analysis. The results suggested that the learners tried to utilize different frequencies of appropriate moves to achieve the goals of the specific task. Practically, this study presented a revised model that can be used as a frame work for designing suitable task types in the process of computer-mediated communication

A syntactic and semantic study of the tense and aspect system of modern Persian

A survey of previous shcolarship has shown that there is no satisfactory description of the tense and aspect system of Modern Persian. This dissertation is the first attempt to study the syntax and semantics of Modem Persian verb forms in the light of recent discussions of tense and aspect. This study falls into six chapters. Chapter 0 reviews the literature on the tense and aspect system of Modern Persian and shows that the former treatments of Modern Persian tense-aspect forms are inaccurate and incomprehensive. They are inaccurate in that the characterizations presented therein for some of the Persian verb forms are wrong, and are incomprehensive in that they do not investigate the semantics of all of the Persian verb forms. Chapter 1 is the study of the syntax of Persian verb forms, with special reference to verb formation. Chapter 2 discusses the theoretical assumptions and the methodology. Chapter 3 is an attempt to establish the meanings of the morphological markers of tense, i. e. the past tense marker /-D/ and the non-past tense marker /-0/, and to investigate the temporal values of Modern Persian verb forms. This chapter defines the meaning of the past tense marker /D/ as indicating that there is a time point subsequent to the time of the situation referred to which is the deictic centre of the context of the communication, and that of the non-past tense marker /0/ as the absence of any time point subsequent to the time of the situation. The chapter also establishes that Modern Persian verb forms grammaticalize the semantic notions of anteriority, simultaneity and posteriority. The other major outcomes are as follows: the major tense split in Modern Persian as in many other languages is between the past and the non-past. The Modern Persian perfect forms are tense rather than aspectual categories. Chapter 4 attempts to assign a single invariant meaning to each of the Modern Persian aspect markers (i. e. mi-, 0-, and be- ), and to investigate their interactions with other categories associated with the verb, i. e. with the categories of tense and Aktionsart. This chapter establishes that Modem Persian has three aspects: the perfective, the imperfective, and the progressive, and that the perfective markers O and be- present the situation referred to as a single unanalysable whole, the imperfective marker mi- presents the situation referred to as continuous at a given time point, and finally the progressive auxiliary dash. t. oen 'have' presents the situation as in progress at a given time point. The chapter also illustrates that the imperfective and the progressive verb forms simply express the situation referred to as continuous and as in progress at a given time point, and as such are non-committal to the completion vs. the incompletion of the situation in question. Finally, chapter 5 summarizes the results of the research and presents some notes with regard to the opportunities for further research

The Role of Self-Regulated Learning Capacities in Iranian EFL Undergraduates’ Argumentative Writing Task Performance

The current study was an attempt to explore the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ self-regulatory capacities and their argumentative writing task performance in order to analyze measures of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). To this end, 44 Iranian EFL undergraduates majoring in English literature at the University of Tehran were recruited based on convenience sampling to participate in this study. Employing a correlational design, the participants were required to perform an argumentative writing task and complete the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire designed by Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie (1991). Pearson product moment correlation indicated a significant relationship between self-regulated learning and writing task performance in relation to CAF measures. In addition, the results of multiple regression showed that resource management strategies and value component predicted 56.9% of grammatical accuracy of writing task. It was also shown that resource management strategies, value, and expectancy components predicted 56.5% of lexical complexity of writing task. Lastly, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, expectancy, and value components predicted 55.2% of the fluency of writing task. The findings of this study informs EFL writing pedagogy and English language teachers and syllabus designers  with regard to the benefits of applying self-regulatory strategies in teaching and assessing writing

A Study of Students’ and Teachers’ Preferences and Attitudes towards Correction of Classroom Written Errors in Iranian EFL Context

Written error correction may be the most widely used method for responding to student writing. Although there are various studies investigating error correction, there are little researches considering teachers’ and students’ preferences towards written error correction. The present study investigates students’ and teachers’ preferences and attitudes towards correction of classroom written errors in Iranian EFL context by using questionnaire. In this study, 80 students and 12 teachers were asked to answer the questionnaire. Then data were collected and analyzed by descriptive method. The findings from teachers and students show positive attitudes towards written error correction. Although the results of this study demonstrate teachers and students have some common preferences related to written error correction, there are some important discrepancies. For example; students prefer all error be corrected, but teachers prefer selecting some. However, students prefer teachers’ correction rather than peer or self-correction. This study considers a number of difficulties regarding students and teachers in written error correction processes with some suggestions. This study shows many teachers might believe written error correction takes a lot of time and effort to give comments. This study indicates many students does not have any problems in rewriting their paper after getting feedback. It might be one main positive point to improve their writing and it might give them self-confidence.