International Journal of Society, Culture, & Language, 2024
This study explores the cultural orientations of Iranian foreign language learners using a descri... more This study explores the cultural orientations of Iranian foreign language learners using a descriptive survey design. The Home Cultural Attachment (HCA) Questionnaire was used for data collection. The HCA Questionnaire underwent a rigorous validation process involving expert review, a pilot study, and factor analysis to ensure its validity. The questionnaire was administered to 270 senior undergraduate students from various language programmes at state universities in Tehran. The questionnaire captured participants' cultural attachments across various dimensions (religious, Western, Iranian, cultural, and artistic). The findings revealed while there was a general openness to foreign languages and cultures, the respondents also expressed conservative views in certain areas. While there is a strong consensus that learning foreign languages is valuable, there are also some conservative views about the role of foreign languages and cultures in Iranian society. The implications of the findings suggest the need for language programmes to integrate comprehensive cultural education, promote cultural sensitivity, and encourage exposure to various cultures.
One of the concerns in language testing is measuring the extent to which the same constructs occu... more One of the concerns in language testing is measuring the extent to which the same constructs occur over certain time, across different groups of test takers in an EFL situation. The present study aims to analyse written performance of a number of English language learners over a year in a thick description to provide in-depth empirical data focusing on performance of test takers in terms of CAF. Previously, the majority of language learners' written performance was evaluated based on some scales without taking into account the qualitative performance from the SLA perspective. Therefore, the present study tries to bridge the gap between testing and SLA. As far as the first research question, which is the relative contributions of each of the features, complexity, accuracy and fluency is concerned, the researchers found a noticeable negative correlation between the complexity, accuracy and fluency of learner performance. Concerning the development of participants in writing skill ...
Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 2012
The present article arises from a three-year cross sectional investigation into English Language ... more The present article arises from a three-year cross sectional investigation into English Language Teaching (ELT) in secondary schools in Iran and the role of Communicative Pedagogy within this. The study has examined the extent of communicative pedagogy within the Iranian national ELT curriculum, the ELT programme and to some extent the English language coursebooks used in secondary schools. What is going to be done therefore is looking at one aspect of the study which is the role of authenticity in the above mentioned system. In order to investigate the situation, varieties of research instruments were applied in order to collect valid and reliable data. These instruments were mainly composed of a review of literature, a desk based analysis of the curriculum, administering questionnaires as well as conducting interview sessions. The questionnaires were mainly distributed among English language teachers and the interviews were conducted with some authors of the curriculum, textbooks ...
English language teaching materials (textbooks) play an important role in many language classroom... more English language teaching materials (textbooks) play an important role in many language classrooms, but recently there have been a lot of debates within the English language teaching profession based on the actual role that materials play in teaching English as a foreign lan-guage. Arguments have encompassed both the potential and the limitations of materials used for 'guiding ' students through the learning processes and curriculum as well as the needs and preferences of teachers who are using the textbooks that are available. Other issues that have arisen in recent years include textbook design and practicality, methodological validity, the role of textbooks in innovation, the authenticity of materials in terms of their representation of language, communicative textbooks, and balance in presenting the language skills as well as cultural components. The purpose of this article is to report the findings of a study carried out in 2006 into how Iranian textbooks could be mad...
PurposeThe aim of this article was to understand about cultural representation in these courseboo... more PurposeThe aim of this article was to understand about cultural representation in these coursebooks and if it is reflected the status of English as a lingua franca.Design/methodology/approachThis article is a report on a case study in the form of content analysis of different categories of culture represented in English language coursebooks used in schools of Iran. In order to do so, references to source, target, international and universal cultures were classified into four aspects: perspectives, products, practices and persons.FindingsGenerally, the findings suggested that despite the high frequency of cultural elements, the representation favoured the source culture, while the target, international and universal cultures were heavily under-represented.Research limitations/implicationsApart from the valuable contributions of the study, the implications of the study are that despite the high frequency of cultural elements, the representation favoured the source culture, while the t...
The representation of gender in foreign language teaching has attracted the attention of many sch... more The representation of gender in foreign language teaching has attracted the attention of many scholars and has been investigated in different parts of the world. Due to its potential for deep impact on pupils, it is a matter of great concern. Discrimination against a gender group in coursebooks can lead to harmful impacts on pupils' development as well as on their future academic and career (Lee, 2018). The lack of representation of females in language coursebooks may seriously harm their ability to understand the target language as well as its culture (Rifkin, 1998).
... world beyond Iran. The children of Iran are not learning as much as they could be ... Besides... more ... world beyond Iran. The children of Iran are not learning as much as they could be ... Besides, Iranian people are not allowed to watch or have access to satellite TV since the policy makers as well as clergymen in Iran consider their programmes inappropriate and against morality. ...
ABSTRACT The current study seeks to provide some insights into three unresolved issues concerning... more ABSTRACT The current study seeks to provide some insights into three unresolved issues concerning culture from an applied linguistic lens. The first issue attempts to come to grips with what culture is or might be. The second one tries to uncover its role in language. The third one aims to present an applicable representation of culture in course books. Meanwhile, as an instance for the third question, Top Notch Language Series (Saslow and Ascher, 2005) undergoes a scrutiny in regard to culture. More specifically, culture seems to be protean and relational, making sense when it stands in front of its counterpart(s). Further, for the above protean-like and versatile characteristic, instead of saying what culture is, one might logically prefer to say what culture should be. As the study unfolds, culture's relation to language seems to be more of the inextricability, speaking of language without its culture is like thinking of a body without its soul. Finally, it is suggested that the term ‘EFL’, English as a Foreign Language, is rather bulky and heterogeneous in nature, and is of low efficacy. To enhance its efficacy, one should break it into pieces, for example the English for the Middle East and the English for the Far East.
International Journal of Society, Culture, & Language, 2024
This study explores the cultural orientations of Iranian foreign language learners using a descri... more This study explores the cultural orientations of Iranian foreign language learners using a descriptive survey design. The Home Cultural Attachment (HCA) Questionnaire was used for data collection. The HCA Questionnaire underwent a rigorous validation process involving expert review, a pilot study, and factor analysis to ensure its validity. The questionnaire was administered to 270 senior undergraduate students from various language programmes at state universities in Tehran. The questionnaire captured participants' cultural attachments across various dimensions (religious, Western, Iranian, cultural, and artistic). The findings revealed while there was a general openness to foreign languages and cultures, the respondents also expressed conservative views in certain areas. While there is a strong consensus that learning foreign languages is valuable, there are also some conservative views about the role of foreign languages and cultures in Iranian society. The implications of the findings suggest the need for language programmes to integrate comprehensive cultural education, promote cultural sensitivity, and encourage exposure to various cultures.
One of the concerns in language testing is measuring the extent to which the same constructs occu... more One of the concerns in language testing is measuring the extent to which the same constructs occur over certain time, across different groups of test takers in an EFL situation. The present study aims to analyse written performance of a number of English language learners over a year in a thick description to provide in-depth empirical data focusing on performance of test takers in terms of CAF. Previously, the majority of language learners' written performance was evaluated based on some scales without taking into account the qualitative performance from the SLA perspective. Therefore, the present study tries to bridge the gap between testing and SLA. As far as the first research question, which is the relative contributions of each of the features, complexity, accuracy and fluency is concerned, the researchers found a noticeable negative correlation between the complexity, accuracy and fluency of learner performance. Concerning the development of participants in writing skill ...
Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 2012
The present article arises from a three-year cross sectional investigation into English Language ... more The present article arises from a three-year cross sectional investigation into English Language Teaching (ELT) in secondary schools in Iran and the role of Communicative Pedagogy within this. The study has examined the extent of communicative pedagogy within the Iranian national ELT curriculum, the ELT programme and to some extent the English language coursebooks used in secondary schools. What is going to be done therefore is looking at one aspect of the study which is the role of authenticity in the above mentioned system. In order to investigate the situation, varieties of research instruments were applied in order to collect valid and reliable data. These instruments were mainly composed of a review of literature, a desk based analysis of the curriculum, administering questionnaires as well as conducting interview sessions. The questionnaires were mainly distributed among English language teachers and the interviews were conducted with some authors of the curriculum, textbooks ...
English language teaching materials (textbooks) play an important role in many language classroom... more English language teaching materials (textbooks) play an important role in many language classrooms, but recently there have been a lot of debates within the English language teaching profession based on the actual role that materials play in teaching English as a foreign lan-guage. Arguments have encompassed both the potential and the limitations of materials used for 'guiding ' students through the learning processes and curriculum as well as the needs and preferences of teachers who are using the textbooks that are available. Other issues that have arisen in recent years include textbook design and practicality, methodological validity, the role of textbooks in innovation, the authenticity of materials in terms of their representation of language, communicative textbooks, and balance in presenting the language skills as well as cultural components. The purpose of this article is to report the findings of a study carried out in 2006 into how Iranian textbooks could be mad...
PurposeThe aim of this article was to understand about cultural representation in these courseboo... more PurposeThe aim of this article was to understand about cultural representation in these coursebooks and if it is reflected the status of English as a lingua franca.Design/methodology/approachThis article is a report on a case study in the form of content analysis of different categories of culture represented in English language coursebooks used in schools of Iran. In order to do so, references to source, target, international and universal cultures were classified into four aspects: perspectives, products, practices and persons.FindingsGenerally, the findings suggested that despite the high frequency of cultural elements, the representation favoured the source culture, while the target, international and universal cultures were heavily under-represented.Research limitations/implicationsApart from the valuable contributions of the study, the implications of the study are that despite the high frequency of cultural elements, the representation favoured the source culture, while the t...
The representation of gender in foreign language teaching has attracted the attention of many sch... more The representation of gender in foreign language teaching has attracted the attention of many scholars and has been investigated in different parts of the world. Due to its potential for deep impact on pupils, it is a matter of great concern. Discrimination against a gender group in coursebooks can lead to harmful impacts on pupils' development as well as on their future academic and career (Lee, 2018). The lack of representation of females in language coursebooks may seriously harm their ability to understand the target language as well as its culture (Rifkin, 1998).
... world beyond Iran. The children of Iran are not learning as much as they could be ... Besides... more ... world beyond Iran. The children of Iran are not learning as much as they could be ... Besides, Iranian people are not allowed to watch or have access to satellite TV since the policy makers as well as clergymen in Iran consider their programmes inappropriate and against morality. ...
ABSTRACT The current study seeks to provide some insights into three unresolved issues concerning... more ABSTRACT The current study seeks to provide some insights into three unresolved issues concerning culture from an applied linguistic lens. The first issue attempts to come to grips with what culture is or might be. The second one tries to uncover its role in language. The third one aims to present an applicable representation of culture in course books. Meanwhile, as an instance for the third question, Top Notch Language Series (Saslow and Ascher, 2005) undergoes a scrutiny in regard to culture. More specifically, culture seems to be protean and relational, making sense when it stands in front of its counterpart(s). Further, for the above protean-like and versatile characteristic, instead of saying what culture is, one might logically prefer to say what culture should be. As the study unfolds, culture's relation to language seems to be more of the inextricability, speaking of language without its culture is like thinking of a body without its soul. Finally, it is suggested that the term ‘EFL’, English as a Foreign Language, is rather bulky and heterogeneous in nature, and is of low efficacy. To enhance its efficacy, one should break it into pieces, for example the English for the Middle East and the English for the Far East.
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Papers by Mahdi Dahmardeh