This study aimed to investigate the effect of dynamic assessment of writing on rule internalizati... more This study aimed to investigate the effect of dynamic assessment of writing on rule internalization that was achieved by means of four types of implicit and explicit feedback. Feedback was provided to participants' written problems concerning different types of relative clauses. The participants of the study (N=32) were male university undergraduate students. To operationalize the feedback, a unique scoring scheme was developed on the basis of five stages of zone of proximal development. The analysis of the data showed that the learners had different zones of proximal development regarding noticing and developing ten forms of relative clauses and performed much better on grammar posttest than pretest exams. The results also showed a hierarchy of internalizing the relative clauses in which 'relative clause for people', 'relative clause for objects' and 'relative clause with whose' were hierarchically internalized respectively. Finally, it could be claimed that this study was a creativity with regard to the developed scoring scheme of dynamic assessment of writing and the unique instructor's mediation in terms of different kinds of implicit/explicit hints.
The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, it aimed at examining the impact of expository tex... more The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, it aimed at examining the impact of expository text topics on the listening comprehension of L2 learners; second, it aimed to investigate the impact of macro, micro, and macro-micro discourse markers on the listening comprehension of expository texts by L2 learners. The participants (N =105) were male and female adult L2 learners at upper-intermediate level selected from a number of English language institutes in Iran. The materials consisted of three expository texts and three versions (i.e., micro, macro, and macro-micro) for each text, which were developed by the researchers based on Chaudron and Richard’s (1986) model of discourse markers. A listening proficiency test and three sets of listening comprehension tests were the instruments of this study. The analysis of the data revealed that there was no significant difference in the participants’ performance on the three expository texts. The results also showed that macromicro versions received the highest mean, while macro versions received the lowest mean. The findings of this study suggested that the combination versions of micro and macro discourse markers contributed more to the comprehension of L2 listeners than only micro and macro versions did.
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) concerns with examining ideology, identity, power and inequalit... more Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) concerns with examining ideology, identity, power and inequality in social contexts. It also claims to explore how discourse affects the construction of “social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge and belief” (Fairclough, 1993, p.134). Distance education is considered as a “new, global technology-based education to facilitate easy, immediate learning and interaction for communicators, teachers and students in education programs” (İșman et al. 2009, p. 1). This paper aimed to investigate how the use of CDA as a research tool can be employed to examine politeness in three virtual classes of general English language courses in the Iran University of Science and Technology. The theoretical framework of this study consists of the elements of power, identity, and ideology proposed by Fairclough (1992, 1993, and 1995) and Fowler (1996) as the major concepts of CDA, the Politeness model (Brown and Levinson, 1987), Politeness Principles (Leech, 1983) and Cooperative Principle (Grice, 1975). The analysis of the data revealed that (1) Politeness allows the speaking subject to perform his/her identity through interactional talk in virtual environment and it can be a very effective way of ‘doing power’ less explicitly, especially in unequal encounters. It helps superiors maintain the position of power and helps subordinates license challenges to the power structures. Politeness can also be used to achieve the speaker’s instrumental goal and when face is at risk, participants adopt politeness strategies to handle and possibly minimize face threats. (2) Approbation and Tact maxims are the most common maxims among teachers and Modesty and Agreement maxims are the most common ones among students. Teachers in some cases violated Grice’s Quantity and Relevant maxims while the student tried to observe them. (3) In the virtual environment with an unequal status, teachers sometimes ignore their students’ questions and do not refer to the contents of their messages and further, students make use of conspicuous capitalization, emoticons and repetitious punctuations in order to express their messages politely.
The purposes of this study were (a) to compare BA and MA students of Translation in terms of thei... more The purposes of this study were (a) to compare BA and MA students of Translation in terms of their abilities in IT skills, (b) to compare them in terms of their learning of IT related competences in the translator training programs, and (c) to compare their viewpoints about the importance of IT skills in their professional activities. The participants of this research were Iranian male and female students of Translation Studies at the BA and MA levels (BA=110, MA=100) at the Alborz University and the Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch. The instrument of this research was a questionnaire on IT skills developed by Mikhailov (2015). The results revealed that BA students reported to be more competent at using Internet, Word processing and Computer maintenance, while MA students were found to be more familiar with the Internet, Formatting and publishing, Word processing, Presentation software, and Computer maintenance, respectively. Both BA and MA translators reported that they were not taught to work with IT tools such as Markup languages,
This study aims to highlight the key roles played by metacognitive strategies training in the dev... more This study aims to highlight the key roles played by metacognitive strategies training in the development of listening comprehension skill and self-regulation strategies of EFL learners. The participants of this study (N = 60) were female Iranian students assigned to two groups of experimental and control in Kish English Language Institute. Learners in the experimental group received 6-week instruction on the listening metacognitive strategies, while those in the control group received no strategy instruction. Four instruments were used in this study: a pretest of listening comprehension, Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), Academic Self-Regulated Learning Scale (A-SRL-S), and a posttest on listening comprehension. The analysis of the data revealed that metacognitive listening strategies training improved the listening performance of the learners in the experimental group compared to those in the control group. It also showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the use of problem-solving, planning-evaluation, mental translation, and personal knowledge strategies. The results also showed that learning metacognitive strategies helped language learners to regulate their use of self-evaluation, organizing, goal-setting, seeking assistance, environmental structuring, and responsibility strategies. Additionally, regression analyses demonstrated that self-regulation strategies accounted for 37% of variance in the EFL learners' listening comprehension, while metacognitive listening strategies accounted for 6 % of the variance. The findings of this study suggested that (a) listening metacognitive strategies training can have benefits on listening skill development, increase use of self-regulatory and metacognitive strategies, (b) learners who used more metacognitive strategies revealed a high level of self-regulation strategies use. Introduction Listening, as Rost (2001) and Vandergrift (2007) state, is an important language skill to develop in terms of second language acquisition. Rost argues that " a key difference between more successful and less successful acquirers relates in large part to their ability to use listening as a means of acquisition " (p. 94). Listeners can use a variety of mental processes to give meaning to the information they listen to. These mental processes that listeners use to understand spoken English can be broadly described as listening comprehension strategies. As indicated by Cohen (2000), many researchers in the field of second and foreign language listening agree on the idea that listeners often do not effectively handle listening tasks utilizing these strategies. There seems to be a common feeling among EFL listening researchers that listening should be
Although Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has become popular by discourse analysis researchers, ... more Although Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has become popular by discourse analysis researchers, it is rather rarely used by English language virtual instructors. The aim of the present paper is to explore some aspects of CDA suggested by [1, 2, 3] in the Iranian virtual learning environment. In order to carry out the study, we have observed three virtual English classes at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) to investigate how a number of indicators of Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework are manifested in terms of aspects of CDA in community of virtual instructors and students. Some of the results of the study indicated that: (1) students do not have power and freedom to choose what and when to study their materials and instructors who have the power in the class plan how virtual interactions should take place and how management and direction of such interactions should be carried out to ensure learning outcomes. They do not give any role of choosing the content, the pace and sequencing of learning material to their students and their classes are totally teacher-centered. (2) Affective aspects are considered important since they help to compensate for body language, facial expressions, and vocal intonations in text-based discussions, but the instructors who are in power do not make great use of conspicuous capitalization for emphasis, emoticons and repetitious punctuations in order to express their emotions. (3) Instructors, who consider themselves in the position of better information, when deciding on the sources of virtual classes, do not inject knowledge from diverse textbooks, articles and/or internet-based materials in each semester, they teach predetermined and old materials which are mostly based on Grammar Translation Method.
Dynamic assessment is a procedure in which development is simultaneously assessed and improved wi... more Dynamic assessment is a procedure in which development is simultaneously assessed and improved with regard to the individual’s or group’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD; Lantolf & Poehner, 2004). This study aimed to follow dynamic assessment and investigate the impact of three types of implicit and explicit feedback on the essay writing of English language learners. The participants of the study (N D 32) were male students at the Bachelor of Science level at Sharif University of Technology and Amirkabir University of Technology. The analysis of the data showed that the learners had different ZPDs regarding noticing and developing writing skills and strategies and performed much better on writing in posttest than pretest. Findings of this study suggested that (a) dynamic assessment of writing had a positive effect on improving internalization of writing content and organization skills and strategies of L2 learners, (b) the internalization of skills and strategies appeared hierarchically, and (c) teachers’ mediation in the form of explicit feedback was the most effective hint within the dynamic assessment procedures.
This study aimed to investigate (a) EFL learners' beliefs about writing autonomy and their autono... more This study aimed to investigate (a) EFL learners' beliefs about writing autonomy and their autonomous writing practices and (b) the contribution of writing autonomy to writing performance in terms of level specific tasks. The participants of this study were 138 Iranian students at BA and MA levels in Alborz Institute of Higher Education. Three writing tasks at B1, B2, and C1 levels as well as the adapted version of the autonomy questionnaire developed by Chan, Spratt, and Humphreys (2002) were administered in this research. The results showed that the majority of both BA and MA students were found to be at B1 level, and only 17.3% of MA students were placed at C1 level. In addition, both BA and MA students held themselves more responsible for 'Making sure they make progress during writing lessons'. Concerning writing abilities, BA students reported to be more capable of 'Choosing writing objectives in writing class', while MA students were more able to 'Identify their weaknesses in English writing' and to 'Decide how long to spend on each activity'. Considering writing activities, in both BA and MA students' responses, 'Listening and taking notes about what they have been taught', was the most frequent activity, whereas 'Writing an informal review for a website' and 'Writing a personal blog' were the least frequent activities. The results of ordinal regression analysis also revealed that only writing activities and group (BA and MA) were related to the rated performance.
This study aimed to investigate the existence of cognitive presence as one of the elements of the... more This study aimed to investigate the existence of cognitive presence as one of the elements of the Community of Inquiry framework in virtual centers for undergraduate students of science and technology. To achieve the purpose of this study, first a questionnaire was uniquely developed on the basis of the suggestions made in the literature reviewing the indicators of cognitive element. The questionnaire was then administered to undergraduate students (N = 107) who were studying a technical or a technological course in the Iran University of Science and Technology and Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology. Analysis of the questionnaire data showed that (a) the Exploration and Resolution categories appeared more frequently than others in the virtual centers of this study and (b) the indicators of Divergence, Information Exchange, and Applying New Ideas were hierarchically frequent. In order to promote and sustain cognitive presence, this study recommends that virtual language educators incorporate the indicators of cognitive presence into the online learning environment. Résumé Cette étude visait à examiner l'existence de la présence cognitive comme l'un des éléments du cadre de référence sur le Community of Inquiry (CoI) dans les centres virtuels pour des étudiants de premier cycle en sciences et technologie. Tout d'abord, pour atteindre l'objectif de cette étude, un questionnaire a été particulièrement bien développé sur la base des propositions faites dans la littérature en examinant les indicateurs d'élément cognitif. Ensuite, le questionnaire a été administré aux étudiants de premier cycle (N = 107) qui étudiaient un cours technique ou technologique à l'Iran University of Science and Technology et à Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology. L'analyse des données du questionnaire a montré que (a) considérant les catégories, l'Exploration et la Résolution sont apparues plus fréquemment que d'autres dans les centres virtuels de cette étude, et (b) les indicateurs de Divergence, d'Échange d'informations et d'Application de nouvelles idées ont été fréquentes hiérarchiquement. Afin de promouvoir et soutenir la présence cognitive, cette étude encourage les éducateurs en langage virtuel d'intégrer les indicateurs de la présence cognitive dans l'environnement d'apprentissage en ligne.
The objectives of this study were (a) to examine the writing performance of L2 learners on the le... more The objectives of this study were (a) to examine the writing performance of L2 learners on the level-specific tasks based on Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and (b) to study the likely difference between students' self-assessed level of writing and those reported by raters. The study was conducted with 138 Iranian students at BA and MA levels in Alborz Institute of Higher Education. The participants' majors were Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), English Literature, and Translation Studies. DIALANG writing self-assessment grid, CEFR writing self-assessment grid, and three writing tasks at B1 (i.e., intermediate), B2 (i.e., upper intermediate), and C1 (i.e., advanced) levels were administered. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were run to determine each student's writing level based on their performance on the writing tasks and the self-assessment grids. The results showed that (a) no one in the BA group was placed at the C1 level, and only 17.3% of MA students could reach this level; (b) students of both groups rated their writing ability higher on the CEFR grid, whereas they rated themselves lower on the DIALANG grid; and (c) the learners' self-assessment did not correspond closely with their performance on the writing tasks, and only one-third of them were accurate in assessing their writing ability. Writing teachers are suggested to implement self-assessment and introduce CEFR and DIALANG statements as part of the language instruction and to train students to conduct self-assessment based on the can do statements.
This study aimed to investigate the extent to which teaching presence, one of the elements of the... more This study aimed to investigate the extent to which teaching presence, one of the elements of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, exists in two virtual language teaching centers of Iran. The participants of the study consisted of 107 students attending college virtually at Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) level. A questionnaire was developed by the researchers on the basis of the indicators of teaching element of the CoI framework. The analysis of the questionnaire data showed that (a) considering the categories of teaching presence, the Facilitating discourse category appeared more frequently than others in virtual centers of this study, and (b) the indicators of Acknowledging contribution, Time parameter, Sharing personal meaning, and Encouraging and reinforcing contribution were hierarchically frequent.
This study aimed to investigate virtual English language instructors' perspectives regarding Comm... more This study aimed to investigate virtual English language instructors' perspectives regarding Community of Inquiry Model (CoI). The population of the study consisted of 7 online experienced TEFL instructors at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). They were asked to provide the answers of an interview based on 38 open-ended questions. The results of the study indicated that Cognitive presence was the least common presence in virtual learning environment. Regarding Social presence, only few indicators of this presence (Utilizing medium, Identifying areas of agreement and disagreement, Setting climate for learning, and Encouraging and acknowledging student contribution) were available to virtual students. Considering Social presence, slightly less Affective and Group Cohesion presence was found in Instructors' comments and only two indicators of Open Communication category (Complimenting and Quoting messages) were frequent and applicable to virtual learning environment.
Diagnosing L2 learners' language skills based on the use of a web-based assessment tool called DI... more Diagnosing L2 learners' language skills based on the use of a web-based assessment tool called DIALANG. Abstract This study was conducted with 68 Iranian students studying at the Alborz Institute of Higher Education. The participants' majors were Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL; n = 23), English Language Literature (ELL; n = 22), and English Language Translation (ELT; n= 23). DIALANG self-assessment scales, consisting of 107 statements with Yes/No responses, were used in this study. DIALANG is an online assessment system used for language learners who want to obtain diagnostic information about their language proficiency (Council of Europe, 2001). Results indicated that ELL students had the highest overall ranking, whereas TEFL students received the lowest overall ranking for listening skills. ELL students had the highest reading skill scores while ELT students demonstrated the lowest scores. ELL students ranked highest in writing ability whereas TEFL students rated lowest in writing skill. Kruskal-Wallis analysis revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in listening and reading skills across the three majors. One-way between-groups ANOVA did demonstrate a statistically significant difference in the writing self-assessment statements for the three groups. Implications and directions for future research with DIALANG are provided based on results from the study. Résumé Cette étude a été menée avec 68 étudiants iraniens qui étudient au Alborz Institute of Higher Education. Les matières principales des participants ont été l'enseignement de l'anglais comme langue étrangère (TEFL; n = 23), la littérature d'expression anglaise (ELL; n = 22), et la traduction de la langue anglaise (ELT; n = 23). Les échelles d'auto-évaluation DIALANG, composées de 107 énoncés avec réponses oui/non, ont été utilisées dans cette étude. DIALANG est un système d'évaluation en ligne utilisé pour les apprenants qui veulent obtenir des informations diagnostiques de leur maîtrise de la langue (Conseil de l'Europe, 2001). Les résultats ont indiqué que les étudiants ELL avaient le rang global le plus élevé tandis que les étudiants TEFL ont reçu le plus bas classement général pour la capacité d'écoute. Les étudiants ELL avaient les scores les plus élevés des compétences en lecture tandis que les étudiants ELT ont démontré les scores les plus faibles. Les étudiants ELL ont obtenu le classement le plus élevé dans l'aptitude à écrire, tandis que les étudiants TEFL ont obtenu les notes les plus basses dans l'aptitude à écrire. L'analyse de Kruskal-Wallis a révélé qu'il n'y avait pas de différence statistiquement significative dans la capacité d'écoute et les compétences en lecture dans les trois matières principales. L'analyse simple de la variance entre les groupes ANOVA a démontré une différence statistiquement significative dans les énoncés d'auto-évaluation de l'écriture pour les trois groupes. Les répercussions et les orientations pour la recherche future avec DIALANG sont fournies en fonction des résultats de l'étude.
This study aimed to investigate the effect of dynamic assessment of writing on rule internalizati... more This study aimed to investigate the effect of dynamic assessment of writing on rule internalization that was achieved by means of four types of implicit and explicit feedback. Feedback was provided to participants' written problems concerning different types of relative clauses. The participants of the study (N=32) were male university undergraduate students. To operationalize the feedback, a unique scoring scheme was developed on the basis of five stages of zone of proximal development. The analysis of the data showed that the learners had different zones of proximal development regarding noticing and developing ten forms of relative clauses and performed much better on grammar posttest than pretest exams. The results also showed a hierarchy of internalizing the relative clauses in which 'relative clause for people', 'relative clause for objects' and 'relative clause with whose' were hierarchically internalized respectively. Finally, it could be claimed that this study was a creativity with regard to the developed scoring scheme of dynamic assessment of writing and the unique instructor's mediation in terms of different kinds of implicit/explicit hints.
The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, it aimed at examining the impact of expository tex... more The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, it aimed at examining the impact of expository text topics on the listening comprehension of L2 learners; second, it aimed to investigate the impact of macro, micro, and macro-micro discourse markers on the listening comprehension of expository texts by L2 learners. The participants (N =105) were male and female adult L2 learners at upper-intermediate level selected from a number of English language institutes in Iran. The materials consisted of three expository texts and three versions (i.e., micro, macro, and macro-micro) for each text, which were developed by the researchers based on Chaudron and Richard’s (1986) model of discourse markers. A listening proficiency test and three sets of listening comprehension tests were the instruments of this study. The analysis of the data revealed that there was no significant difference in the participants’ performance on the three expository texts. The results also showed that macromicro versions received the highest mean, while macro versions received the lowest mean. The findings of this study suggested that the combination versions of micro and macro discourse markers contributed more to the comprehension of L2 listeners than only micro and macro versions did.
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) concerns with examining ideology, identity, power and inequalit... more Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) concerns with examining ideology, identity, power and inequality in social contexts. It also claims to explore how discourse affects the construction of “social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge and belief” (Fairclough, 1993, p.134). Distance education is considered as a “new, global technology-based education to facilitate easy, immediate learning and interaction for communicators, teachers and students in education programs” (İșman et al. 2009, p. 1). This paper aimed to investigate how the use of CDA as a research tool can be employed to examine politeness in three virtual classes of general English language courses in the Iran University of Science and Technology. The theoretical framework of this study consists of the elements of power, identity, and ideology proposed by Fairclough (1992, 1993, and 1995) and Fowler (1996) as the major concepts of CDA, the Politeness model (Brown and Levinson, 1987), Politeness Principles (Leech, 1983) and Cooperative Principle (Grice, 1975). The analysis of the data revealed that (1) Politeness allows the speaking subject to perform his/her identity through interactional talk in virtual environment and it can be a very effective way of ‘doing power’ less explicitly, especially in unequal encounters. It helps superiors maintain the position of power and helps subordinates license challenges to the power structures. Politeness can also be used to achieve the speaker’s instrumental goal and when face is at risk, participants adopt politeness strategies to handle and possibly minimize face threats. (2) Approbation and Tact maxims are the most common maxims among teachers and Modesty and Agreement maxims are the most common ones among students. Teachers in some cases violated Grice’s Quantity and Relevant maxims while the student tried to observe them. (3) In the virtual environment with an unequal status, teachers sometimes ignore their students’ questions and do not refer to the contents of their messages and further, students make use of conspicuous capitalization, emoticons and repetitious punctuations in order to express their messages politely.
The purposes of this study were (a) to compare BA and MA students of Translation in terms of thei... more The purposes of this study were (a) to compare BA and MA students of Translation in terms of their abilities in IT skills, (b) to compare them in terms of their learning of IT related competences in the translator training programs, and (c) to compare their viewpoints about the importance of IT skills in their professional activities. The participants of this research were Iranian male and female students of Translation Studies at the BA and MA levels (BA=110, MA=100) at the Alborz University and the Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch. The instrument of this research was a questionnaire on IT skills developed by Mikhailov (2015). The results revealed that BA students reported to be more competent at using Internet, Word processing and Computer maintenance, while MA students were found to be more familiar with the Internet, Formatting and publishing, Word processing, Presentation software, and Computer maintenance, respectively. Both BA and MA translators reported that they were not taught to work with IT tools such as Markup languages,
This study aims to highlight the key roles played by metacognitive strategies training in the dev... more This study aims to highlight the key roles played by metacognitive strategies training in the development of listening comprehension skill and self-regulation strategies of EFL learners. The participants of this study (N = 60) were female Iranian students assigned to two groups of experimental and control in Kish English Language Institute. Learners in the experimental group received 6-week instruction on the listening metacognitive strategies, while those in the control group received no strategy instruction. Four instruments were used in this study: a pretest of listening comprehension, Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), Academic Self-Regulated Learning Scale (A-SRL-S), and a posttest on listening comprehension. The analysis of the data revealed that metacognitive listening strategies training improved the listening performance of the learners in the experimental group compared to those in the control group. It also showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the use of problem-solving, planning-evaluation, mental translation, and personal knowledge strategies. The results also showed that learning metacognitive strategies helped language learners to regulate their use of self-evaluation, organizing, goal-setting, seeking assistance, environmental structuring, and responsibility strategies. Additionally, regression analyses demonstrated that self-regulation strategies accounted for 37% of variance in the EFL learners' listening comprehension, while metacognitive listening strategies accounted for 6 % of the variance. The findings of this study suggested that (a) listening metacognitive strategies training can have benefits on listening skill development, increase use of self-regulatory and metacognitive strategies, (b) learners who used more metacognitive strategies revealed a high level of self-regulation strategies use. Introduction Listening, as Rost (2001) and Vandergrift (2007) state, is an important language skill to develop in terms of second language acquisition. Rost argues that " a key difference between more successful and less successful acquirers relates in large part to their ability to use listening as a means of acquisition " (p. 94). Listeners can use a variety of mental processes to give meaning to the information they listen to. These mental processes that listeners use to understand spoken English can be broadly described as listening comprehension strategies. As indicated by Cohen (2000), many researchers in the field of second and foreign language listening agree on the idea that listeners often do not effectively handle listening tasks utilizing these strategies. There seems to be a common feeling among EFL listening researchers that listening should be
Although Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has become popular by discourse analysis researchers, ... more Although Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has become popular by discourse analysis researchers, it is rather rarely used by English language virtual instructors. The aim of the present paper is to explore some aspects of CDA suggested by [1, 2, 3] in the Iranian virtual learning environment. In order to carry out the study, we have observed three virtual English classes at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) to investigate how a number of indicators of Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework are manifested in terms of aspects of CDA in community of virtual instructors and students. Some of the results of the study indicated that: (1) students do not have power and freedom to choose what and when to study their materials and instructors who have the power in the class plan how virtual interactions should take place and how management and direction of such interactions should be carried out to ensure learning outcomes. They do not give any role of choosing the content, the pace and sequencing of learning material to their students and their classes are totally teacher-centered. (2) Affective aspects are considered important since they help to compensate for body language, facial expressions, and vocal intonations in text-based discussions, but the instructors who are in power do not make great use of conspicuous capitalization for emphasis, emoticons and repetitious punctuations in order to express their emotions. (3) Instructors, who consider themselves in the position of better information, when deciding on the sources of virtual classes, do not inject knowledge from diverse textbooks, articles and/or internet-based materials in each semester, they teach predetermined and old materials which are mostly based on Grammar Translation Method.
Dynamic assessment is a procedure in which development is simultaneously assessed and improved wi... more Dynamic assessment is a procedure in which development is simultaneously assessed and improved with regard to the individual’s or group’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD; Lantolf & Poehner, 2004). This study aimed to follow dynamic assessment and investigate the impact of three types of implicit and explicit feedback on the essay writing of English language learners. The participants of the study (N D 32) were male students at the Bachelor of Science level at Sharif University of Technology and Amirkabir University of Technology. The analysis of the data showed that the learners had different ZPDs regarding noticing and developing writing skills and strategies and performed much better on writing in posttest than pretest. Findings of this study suggested that (a) dynamic assessment of writing had a positive effect on improving internalization of writing content and organization skills and strategies of L2 learners, (b) the internalization of skills and strategies appeared hierarchically, and (c) teachers’ mediation in the form of explicit feedback was the most effective hint within the dynamic assessment procedures.
This study aimed to investigate (a) EFL learners' beliefs about writing autonomy and their autono... more This study aimed to investigate (a) EFL learners' beliefs about writing autonomy and their autonomous writing practices and (b) the contribution of writing autonomy to writing performance in terms of level specific tasks. The participants of this study were 138 Iranian students at BA and MA levels in Alborz Institute of Higher Education. Three writing tasks at B1, B2, and C1 levels as well as the adapted version of the autonomy questionnaire developed by Chan, Spratt, and Humphreys (2002) were administered in this research. The results showed that the majority of both BA and MA students were found to be at B1 level, and only 17.3% of MA students were placed at C1 level. In addition, both BA and MA students held themselves more responsible for 'Making sure they make progress during writing lessons'. Concerning writing abilities, BA students reported to be more capable of 'Choosing writing objectives in writing class', while MA students were more able to 'Identify their weaknesses in English writing' and to 'Decide how long to spend on each activity'. Considering writing activities, in both BA and MA students' responses, 'Listening and taking notes about what they have been taught', was the most frequent activity, whereas 'Writing an informal review for a website' and 'Writing a personal blog' were the least frequent activities. The results of ordinal regression analysis also revealed that only writing activities and group (BA and MA) were related to the rated performance.
This study aimed to investigate the existence of cognitive presence as one of the elements of the... more This study aimed to investigate the existence of cognitive presence as one of the elements of the Community of Inquiry framework in virtual centers for undergraduate students of science and technology. To achieve the purpose of this study, first a questionnaire was uniquely developed on the basis of the suggestions made in the literature reviewing the indicators of cognitive element. The questionnaire was then administered to undergraduate students (N = 107) who were studying a technical or a technological course in the Iran University of Science and Technology and Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology. Analysis of the questionnaire data showed that (a) the Exploration and Resolution categories appeared more frequently than others in the virtual centers of this study and (b) the indicators of Divergence, Information Exchange, and Applying New Ideas were hierarchically frequent. In order to promote and sustain cognitive presence, this study recommends that virtual language educators incorporate the indicators of cognitive presence into the online learning environment. Résumé Cette étude visait à examiner l'existence de la présence cognitive comme l'un des éléments du cadre de référence sur le Community of Inquiry (CoI) dans les centres virtuels pour des étudiants de premier cycle en sciences et technologie. Tout d'abord, pour atteindre l'objectif de cette étude, un questionnaire a été particulièrement bien développé sur la base des propositions faites dans la littérature en examinant les indicateurs d'élément cognitif. Ensuite, le questionnaire a été administré aux étudiants de premier cycle (N = 107) qui étudiaient un cours technique ou technologique à l'Iran University of Science and Technology et à Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology. L'analyse des données du questionnaire a montré que (a) considérant les catégories, l'Exploration et la Résolution sont apparues plus fréquemment que d'autres dans les centres virtuels de cette étude, et (b) les indicateurs de Divergence, d'Échange d'informations et d'Application de nouvelles idées ont été fréquentes hiérarchiquement. Afin de promouvoir et soutenir la présence cognitive, cette étude encourage les éducateurs en langage virtuel d'intégrer les indicateurs de la présence cognitive dans l'environnement d'apprentissage en ligne.
The objectives of this study were (a) to examine the writing performance of L2 learners on the le... more The objectives of this study were (a) to examine the writing performance of L2 learners on the level-specific tasks based on Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and (b) to study the likely difference between students' self-assessed level of writing and those reported by raters. The study was conducted with 138 Iranian students at BA and MA levels in Alborz Institute of Higher Education. The participants' majors were Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), English Literature, and Translation Studies. DIALANG writing self-assessment grid, CEFR writing self-assessment grid, and three writing tasks at B1 (i.e., intermediate), B2 (i.e., upper intermediate), and C1 (i.e., advanced) levels were administered. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were run to determine each student's writing level based on their performance on the writing tasks and the self-assessment grids. The results showed that (a) no one in the BA group was placed at the C1 level, and only 17.3% of MA students could reach this level; (b) students of both groups rated their writing ability higher on the CEFR grid, whereas they rated themselves lower on the DIALANG grid; and (c) the learners' self-assessment did not correspond closely with their performance on the writing tasks, and only one-third of them were accurate in assessing their writing ability. Writing teachers are suggested to implement self-assessment and introduce CEFR and DIALANG statements as part of the language instruction and to train students to conduct self-assessment based on the can do statements.
This study aimed to investigate the extent to which teaching presence, one of the elements of the... more This study aimed to investigate the extent to which teaching presence, one of the elements of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, exists in two virtual language teaching centers of Iran. The participants of the study consisted of 107 students attending college virtually at Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) level. A questionnaire was developed by the researchers on the basis of the indicators of teaching element of the CoI framework. The analysis of the questionnaire data showed that (a) considering the categories of teaching presence, the Facilitating discourse category appeared more frequently than others in virtual centers of this study, and (b) the indicators of Acknowledging contribution, Time parameter, Sharing personal meaning, and Encouraging and reinforcing contribution were hierarchically frequent.
This study aimed to investigate virtual English language instructors' perspectives regarding Comm... more This study aimed to investigate virtual English language instructors' perspectives regarding Community of Inquiry Model (CoI). The population of the study consisted of 7 online experienced TEFL instructors at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). They were asked to provide the answers of an interview based on 38 open-ended questions. The results of the study indicated that Cognitive presence was the least common presence in virtual learning environment. Regarding Social presence, only few indicators of this presence (Utilizing medium, Identifying areas of agreement and disagreement, Setting climate for learning, and Encouraging and acknowledging student contribution) were available to virtual students. Considering Social presence, slightly less Affective and Group Cohesion presence was found in Instructors' comments and only two indicators of Open Communication category (Complimenting and Quoting messages) were frequent and applicable to virtual learning environment.
Diagnosing L2 learners' language skills based on the use of a web-based assessment tool called DI... more Diagnosing L2 learners' language skills based on the use of a web-based assessment tool called DIALANG. Abstract This study was conducted with 68 Iranian students studying at the Alborz Institute of Higher Education. The participants' majors were Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL; n = 23), English Language Literature (ELL; n = 22), and English Language Translation (ELT; n= 23). DIALANG self-assessment scales, consisting of 107 statements with Yes/No responses, were used in this study. DIALANG is an online assessment system used for language learners who want to obtain diagnostic information about their language proficiency (Council of Europe, 2001). Results indicated that ELL students had the highest overall ranking, whereas TEFL students received the lowest overall ranking for listening skills. ELL students had the highest reading skill scores while ELT students demonstrated the lowest scores. ELL students ranked highest in writing ability whereas TEFL students rated lowest in writing skill. Kruskal-Wallis analysis revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in listening and reading skills across the three majors. One-way between-groups ANOVA did demonstrate a statistically significant difference in the writing self-assessment statements for the three groups. Implications and directions for future research with DIALANG are provided based on results from the study. Résumé Cette étude a été menée avec 68 étudiants iraniens qui étudient au Alborz Institute of Higher Education. Les matières principales des participants ont été l'enseignement de l'anglais comme langue étrangère (TEFL; n = 23), la littérature d'expression anglaise (ELL; n = 22), et la traduction de la langue anglaise (ELT; n = 23). Les échelles d'auto-évaluation DIALANG, composées de 107 énoncés avec réponses oui/non, ont été utilisées dans cette étude. DIALANG est un système d'évaluation en ligne utilisé pour les apprenants qui veulent obtenir des informations diagnostiques de leur maîtrise de la langue (Conseil de l'Europe, 2001). Les résultats ont indiqué que les étudiants ELL avaient le rang global le plus élevé tandis que les étudiants TEFL ont reçu le plus bas classement général pour la capacité d'écoute. Les étudiants ELL avaient les scores les plus élevés des compétences en lecture tandis que les étudiants ELT ont démontré les scores les plus faibles. Les étudiants ELL ont obtenu le classement le plus élevé dans l'aptitude à écrire, tandis que les étudiants TEFL ont obtenu les notes les plus basses dans l'aptitude à écrire. L'analyse de Kruskal-Wallis a révélé qu'il n'y avait pas de différence statistiquement significative dans la capacité d'écoute et les compétences en lecture dans les trois matières principales. L'analyse simple de la variance entre les groupes ANOVA a démontré une différence statistiquement significative dans les énoncés d'auto-évaluation de l'écriture pour les trois groupes. Les répercussions et les orientations pour la recherche future avec DIALANG sont fournies en fonction des résultats de l'étude.
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Papers by Mahboubeh Taghizade
The analysis of the data revealed that (1) Politeness allows the speaking subject to perform his/her identity through interactional talk in virtual environment and it can be a very effective way of ‘doing power’ less explicitly, especially in unequal encounters. It helps superiors maintain the position of power and helps subordinates license challenges to the power structures. Politeness can also be used to achieve the speaker’s instrumental goal and when face is at risk, participants adopt politeness strategies to handle and possibly minimize face threats. (2) Approbation and Tact maxims are the most common maxims among teachers and Modesty and Agreement maxims are the most common ones among students. Teachers in some cases violated Grice’s Quantity and Relevant maxims while the student tried to observe them. (3) In the virtual environment with an unequal status, teachers sometimes ignore their students’ questions and do not refer to the contents of their messages and further, students make use of conspicuous capitalization, emoticons and repetitious punctuations in order to express their messages politely.
2004). This study aimed to follow dynamic assessment and investigate the impact of three types of implicit and explicit feedback on the essay writing of English language learners. The participants of the study (N D 32) were male students at the Bachelor of Science level at Sharif University of Technology and Amirkabir University of Technology. The analysis of the data showed that the learners had different ZPDs regarding noticing and developing writing skills and strategies and performed much better on writing in posttest than pretest. Findings of this study suggested that
(a) dynamic assessment of writing had a positive effect on improving internalization of writing content and organization skills and strategies of L2 learners, (b) the internalization of skills and strategies appeared hierarchically, and (c) teachers’ mediation in the form of explicit feedback was the most effective hint within the dynamic assessment procedures.
The analysis of the data revealed that (1) Politeness allows the speaking subject to perform his/her identity through interactional talk in virtual environment and it can be a very effective way of ‘doing power’ less explicitly, especially in unequal encounters. It helps superiors maintain the position of power and helps subordinates license challenges to the power structures. Politeness can also be used to achieve the speaker’s instrumental goal and when face is at risk, participants adopt politeness strategies to handle and possibly minimize face threats. (2) Approbation and Tact maxims are the most common maxims among teachers and Modesty and Agreement maxims are the most common ones among students. Teachers in some cases violated Grice’s Quantity and Relevant maxims while the student tried to observe them. (3) In the virtual environment with an unequal status, teachers sometimes ignore their students’ questions and do not refer to the contents of their messages and further, students make use of conspicuous capitalization, emoticons and repetitious punctuations in order to express their messages politely.
2004). This study aimed to follow dynamic assessment and investigate the impact of three types of implicit and explicit feedback on the essay writing of English language learners. The participants of the study (N D 32) were male students at the Bachelor of Science level at Sharif University of Technology and Amirkabir University of Technology. The analysis of the data showed that the learners had different ZPDs regarding noticing and developing writing skills and strategies and performed much better on writing in posttest than pretest. Findings of this study suggested that
(a) dynamic assessment of writing had a positive effect on improving internalization of writing content and organization skills and strategies of L2 learners, (b) the internalization of skills and strategies appeared hierarchically, and (c) teachers’ mediation in the form of explicit feedback was the most effective hint within the dynamic assessment procedures.