Lexical inferencing is one of cognitive processing mechanism which plays a pivotal role in second... more Lexical inferencing is one of cognitive processing mechanism which plays a pivotal role in second language reading. The present study sought to investigate the impact of topic familiarity and passage sight vocabulary on lexical inferencing and recall of Iranian EFL students. For this purpose, by administrating a Quick Oxford Proficiency Test (QOPT), a sample of 60 students with an age range of 23 to 30 were randomly selected from the population of sophomore students studying English. The test results were used to categorize the students into intermediate and advanced groups, 30 each. Several instruments were utilized to operationalize the variables in the study. First, a cloze procedure consisting of two passages with familiar topics and two with unfamiliar topics was given to measure the participants' lexical inferencing ability. Then, a passage sight vocabulary test was applied to assess students' overall knowledge of words employed in the targeted passages. Finally, after a period of two weeks, a lexical recall test was administered to examine the learners' retention of lexical items which they had already seen in the four cloze passages. The results obtained via relevant statistical techniques revealed that topic familiarity and passage sight vocabulary had a direct bearing on EFL learners' lexical inferencing ability and recall.
The present study aimed at exploring the interplay between EFL students' risk-taking propensity l... more The present study aimed at exploring the interplay between EFL students' risk-taking propensity level and their gender differences to discover how it impacts the quality of their performances on multiple-choice tests. To this end, a sample of 120 male and female students were randomly selected from an initial population of 250 senior EFL students studying translation at Islamic Azad University of Isfahan (Khorasgan). All targeted participants were homogeneous in that they had all passed the same requirements and credit units. Based on the responses provided by the targeted sample to a modified version of Skaar's [21] Adolescent Exploratory and Risk Behavior Rating Scale (AERRS), they were divided into two groups with different risk-taking propensity levels; i.e., strong and weak. After a period of two weeks, a TOFEL paper-based test (PBT) was administered to the respondents. The results revealed that the number of items on multiple-choice test unanswered by the females was higher than those by the males. Interestingly, the findings may have important implications for teachers and test developers concerning test-takers gender differences and their willingness to guess.
Lexical inferencing is one of cognitive processing mechanism which plays a pivotal role in second... more Lexical inferencing is one of cognitive processing mechanism which plays a pivotal role in second language reading. The present study sought to investigate the impact of topic familiarity and passage sight vocabulary on lexical inferencing and recall of Iranian EFL students. For this purpose, by administrating a Quick Oxford Proficiency Test (QOPT), a sample of 60 students with an age range of 23 to 30 were randomly selected from the population of sophomore students studying English. The test results were used to categorize the students into intermediate and advanced groups, 30 each. Several instruments were utilized to operationalize the variables in the study. First, a cloze procedure consisting of two passages with familiar topics and two with unfamiliar topics was given to measure the participants' lexical inferencing ability. Then, a passage sight vocabulary test was applied to assess students' overall knowledge of words employed in the targeted passages. Finally, after a period of two weeks, a lexical recall test was administered to examine the learners' retention of lexical items which they had already seen in the four cloze passages. The results obtained via relevant statistical techniques revealed that topic familiarity and passage sight vocabulary had a direct bearing on EFL learners' lexical inferencing ability and recall.
The present study aimed at exploring the interplay between EFL students' risk-taking propensity l... more The present study aimed at exploring the interplay between EFL students' risk-taking propensity level and their gender differences to discover how it impacts the quality of their performances on multiple-choice tests. To this end, a sample of 120 male and female students were randomly selected from an initial population of 250 senior EFL students studying translation at Islamic Azad University of Isfahan (Khorasgan). All targeted participants were homogeneous in that they had all passed the same requirements and credit units. Based on the responses provided by the targeted sample to a modified version of Skaar's [21] Adolescent Exploratory and Risk Behavior Rating Scale (AERRS), they were divided into two groups with different risk-taking propensity levels; i.e., strong and weak. After a period of two weeks, a TOFEL paper-based test (PBT) was administered to the respondents. The results revealed that the number of items on multiple-choice test unanswered by the females was higher than those by the males. Interestingly, the findings may have important implications for teachers and test developers concerning test-takers gender differences and their willingness to guess.
Uploads
Papers by Ali Bahadoran-Baghbaderani