Publication Date: 2009
Language Sciences (03880001)31(6)pp. 853-873
The present paper sets out to focus on an aspect of the modal system of Persian which, despite its crucial role in interactive discourse, has not received the treatment it deserves. More precisely, the paper seeks to investigate how the simple past is deployed to express subjective epistemic and deontic modality within a future-oriented framework. This apparent clash between tense and time can be explained in terms of a set of recognition criteria: tense-distinction, interrogation, conditionality and modal harmony. The clash is also explicable pragmatically in that it is heavily context-dependent. In both cases, the underlying assumption is that the modality under consideration is invariably construed as indicating certainty, disbelief, challenge, nonchalance or obligation with respect to a particular state of affairs. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2008
Journal of Language and Politics (15692159)7(1)pp. 53-70
This paper aims to investigate the language used by newspapers in post-revolutionary Iran. More precisely, the paper sets out to analyze how such a language is deployed to represent relevant hegemonic ideologies. The approach adopted for this purpose draws inspiration mainly from critical linguistics, where it is hypothesized that, as far as the pertinent metadiscourse goes, media genres serve to activate and perpetuate social power relations. In keeping with this theoretical stance, the paper argues that socially constructed texts can be said to perform two complementary functions; on the one hand, they shed light on the realities experienced in social life; on the other, they reveal such aspects of those realities as are constructed through the use of language. It is thus in this context that the media language used in the post-revolutionary Iran lends itself to analytical investigation, where the available data reveal the co-existence of three competing discourse processes of 'Islamization', 'Iranian Nationalism' and 'Western liberalism', relating to the third stage development of post-revolutionary Iran. © John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Publication Date: 2012
Language Testing in Asia (22290443)2(1)
The current study aims at investigating the impact of Audio/Voice conferencing, as a new approach to teaching speaking, on the speaking performance and/or speaking band score of IELTS candidates. Experimental group subjects participated in an audio conferencing class while those of the control group enjoyed attending in a traditional IELTS speaking class. At the end of the study, all subjects participated in an IELTS Examination held on November 2011 in Tehran, Iran. To compare the group means for the study, an independent t-test analysis was employed. The difference between experimental and control group was considered to be statistically significant (P < 0.01). That is the candidates in experimental group have outperformed the ones in control group in IELTS speaking scores. © 2012, Language Testing in Asia.
Publication Date: 2011
Asian Social Science (19112025)7(10)pp. 128-140
In the scope of Literary Translation, the present article focuses on the benefits of translation which is technically referred to as translation gain. Defined as "translator's technique used to compensate for translation loss" (Note 1), translation gain has scarcely been a subject of heated debates among the authorities in the field of Literary Translation. The data for the present study was collected from the Armenian translation of 5 short stories written by a famous Armenian-American writer W. Saroyan (1908-1981). One of the main objectives of the study is that it covers translations into a language of limited diffusion-Armenian. The results of the study will come to show that in the course of recreating the original, the translator may add values to it either because s/he grasped the author's thought rather better or by taking advantage of the target language's neater and/or richer linguistic resources.
Publication Date: 2008
Journal of Applied Sciences (18125654)8(1)pp. 1-13
The study investigated the effects of correction of learners' grammatical. errors on acquisition. Specifically, it compared the effects of manner of correction (explicit versus implicit correction). It also investigated the relative effects of explicit and implicit correction of morphological versus syntactic features and correction of developmental early versus developmental late features. Data were collected from 56 intermediate level Iranian students of English Each participant was required to read and then retell a written text in their own words during an oral interview. During or following the interview the researcher corrected the participants on their grammatical errors implicitly (using recasts) or explicitly. Individualised tests focusing on the corrected errors were constructed and administered. Statistical analyses were conducted on the scores the participants received on their individualised tests. Results showed that the participants who received explicit correction gained significantly higher scores than those who received implicit correction. Analyses of the interactions between independent variables showed that explicit correction was more effective for the acquisition of developmental early features and implicit correction was more effective for the acquisition of developmental late features. © 2008 Asian Network for Scientific Information.
Publication Date: 2023
Language Teaching Research (1362-1688)27(3)pp. 575-592
This study examined the effect of feedback, feed up (comments on goals and students’ success in achieving goals) and feed forward (comments on the next step in learning during the semester) on writing motivation, writing self-efficacy, and writing anxiety. Two hundred and ten female intermediate language learners (agemean = 17.2) were assigned to seven experimental conditions: feedback, feed up, feed forward, feedback + feed up, feedback + feed forward, feed up + feed forward, and feedback + feed up + feed forward (n = 30 for each group). Based on group assignment, the participants received feedback, feed up, and feed forward for 12 sessions and took writing motivation, writing self-efficacy, and writing anxiety scales as pretest and posttest. The results of MANOVA and paired samples t-test comparisons indicated that groups that received feedback significantly improved in terms of self-efficacy. In addition, groups who received feed up and feed forward significantly improved in terms of writing motivation. The results also showed that the combination of feedback, feed up and feed forward could decrease learners’ writing anxiety. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that teachers present feed up and feed forward along with feedback to improve non-linguistic aspects of L2 writing among their students. © The Author(s) 2020.
Publication Date: 2023
Contributions to International Relations (27315061)pp. 81-88
This chapter elaborates on the links between the blockade of Qatar and its relationship with Qatari nationals’ psychological well-being and their sense of national identity. To this end, the chapter reviews the research on various psychological and attitudinal effects of the blockade on Qatari people. Moreover, it presents the research on how the development of a sense of national identity influenced Qataris’ well-being during the blockade. Finally, the chapter presents the results of research on the use of social media before and after the blockade and how social media were used to show national identity and support for the government after the blockade. © 2023, The Author(s).
Publication Date: 2019
Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching (17501237)13(3)pp. 267-276
This article reports on a study which employed a flipped classroom strategy to increase the amount of peer dialogue among a group of Iranian EFL learners. The flipped strategy used in this study required the students to study some online materials provided for students via a social network called Telegram. Before attending the class, the participants watched videos related to the topic of each lesson, studied online texts that included the bolded vocabulary, and listened to audio clips related to the focus of every session’s discussion. The analysis of audio-recordings of peer collaborative talk indicated that the flipped strategy, as compared to the traditional teaching, significantly increased collaborative peer dialogue among the learners. Finally, implications of the study for language teachers and researchers interested in this area of inquiry are discussed. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Publication Date: 2018
Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching (17501237)12(3)pp. 247-259
This sequential explanatory mixed methods study aimed at investigating the effect of explicit and implicit corrective feedback on Iranian English language learners' (EFL) L2 willingness to communicate (WTC) in English. Explicit and implicit corrective feedback were given to groups of low-intermediate Iranian EFL learners to see their effectiveness in facilitating L2 WTC. The findings of quantitative analysis were sequenced by follow-up qualitative data to explain the obtained results. The results of quantitative data analysis indicated that implicit corrective feedback did not influence L2 WTC, whereas explicit corrective feedback increased it. The analysis of qualitative data showed that explicit corrective feedback enhanced language learners’ L2 WTC by promoting their L2 self-confidence. The implications of the study for language teachers and L2 WTC researchers are discussed. © 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Publication Date: 2024
Research in Contemporary World Literature/ Pazhuhesh-e Zabanha-ye Khareji (25887092)29(2)pp. 673-688
Afghan women have experienced varying circumstances throughout different periods, and during the two eras of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, their activities and presence in society have been severely repressed. Deprivation of education, work, and social participation, confinement at home, forced marriages, violence for non-compliance, and other issues are among the challenges faced by Afghan women. For this reason, writers and women’s rights advocates, through novels and articles, depict Afghanistan’s patriarchal society and defend the women of this land by narrating real stories. Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American author, attempts to represent the plight of these women and the patriarchal atmosphere in Afghanistan in his famous novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Deborah Rodriguez, an American hairdresser, in her book The Kabul Beauty School, recounts her memories of staying in Afghanistan and portrays the role of women in this land along with their suffering and struggles through the lens of literature. In this context, the role of place and space in shaping these two literary works, with the aid of geographic criticism, is highly significant. This research aims to examine the representation of "self" and "other" in these two works and their manifestations within the space of Afghanistan. It also seeks to explore the impact of post-colonial studies on analyzing the perspectives of migrants versus local viewpoints. Additionally, the study investigates the transition from depicting real space to imagined space regarding Afghan women in the mind of the Western migrant and its influence on the reader. 4o. © The Author(s).
Publication Date: 2025
ANQ - Quarterly Journal of Short Articles Notes and Reviews (0895769X)38(2)pp. 242-247
Publication Date: 2020
Research in African Literatures (15272044)51(4)pp. 190-210
Using Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), we examine J. M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986) to explain how the conceptual metaphor “ARGUMENT IS WAR” is central to the novel’s thematics and to the fictional “staging” of debates concerning authorial emplotment through the workings of the “social mind”-here the prospective readership. We focus on the inter-character discourse staged during the civilized confrontation between Susan Barton (the character attempting to be an author) and Daniel Foe (the author) in an attempt to have their intended stories told. Thus the socially aware minds of both parties involved greatly contribute to the formation of the well-known plot of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719). As a result of this argumentative path (ARGUMENT IS WAR), Susan and her framing narrative lose ground to the impositions by Foe and the exigencies of the social mind. A reading of the novel in terms of social mind with a focus on CMT reveals the cognitive complexity of the functioning of the social mind as a controlling medium in Foe. © 2020, Indiana University. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2016
Asian Social Science (discontinued) (19112025)12(9)pp. 99-106
Paul Virilio is the theorist of speed or “dromology”. In his terminology acceleration is relevant to time and space. Virtualization is also another seminal concept in his theory which is of course essentially related to his conception of time-space. In this essay, we argue that human perception as pertaining to speed-space and light-space as well as the different versions of reality arising out of different ways of body positioning is one of the major themes of Ian McEwan’s Atonement (2001). In McEwan’s novel both architecture and art mislead Briony. Paradoxically, however, Briony also attempts to overcome her trauma through the art of writing in which several versions of reality emerge out of shattered images of the past. The novel foregrounds issues of art, perception, time-space, speed and their interrelations and as such a Virilian reading would be most relevant. © 2016, Asian Social Science. All Right Received.
Publication Date: 2016
Papers on Language and Literature (00311294)52(3)pp. 230-254
Publication Date: 2013
3l: Language, Linguistics, Literature (01285157)19(3)pp. 35-46
In Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw deals with the social function of language (linguistic competence) as one of the markers of social status and as a source of social power. Pygmalion's plot revolves around the linguistic idea of the critical period hypothesis. The linguist in the play bets that the phonetician cannot change the flower girl into a lady by teaching her a genteel language. The phonetician intends to flaunt his power and skill in fashioning a new 'self' for the florist girl through linguistic retraining, even though her 'critical period' is over. Though this acculturation leads to a crisis of personality for the girl, Shaw's play goes against the hypothesis of 'critical period' by showing the possibility of the language retraining of a grown-up girl. Drawing on the theories of Roland Barthes, this article examines the relation between education and the issues of social mobility and cultural codes in the class-conscious society of Pygmalion. Pygmalion could be read as indicating that culture does not come by nature and it is made of codes, which can be taught and learned. Shaw suggests that it is possible to educate lower class people in upper class cultural codes. Moreover, he demonstrates that culture is time-bound and the boundaries between lower and upper class cultural codes were fading at the time so that it was difficult to distinguish a real upper class agent from a fake one.
Publication Date: 2011
Theory and Practice in Language Studies (20530692)1(12)pp. 1861-1864
Translating for children requires special considerations particularly in terms of style. This study addresses use of idioms as a stylistic device and the way they are translated in a children's fiction. Choosing Hooshang Moradi-Kermani's Khomre and its English translation by Teimoor Ruhi, the following research questions were formulated: 1. What procedures are used to translate idioms in children's literature? 2. What is the most frequent procedure used in translating idioms in Khomre as a children's book? 3. What is the translator's preferred strategy in translating Khomre as a piece of children's literature? In order to answer the first and second questions and find out the procedures opted for in translating children's literature, Baker's (1992) proposed procedures were taken as the framework of the study. And to answer the third question venuti's (2004) model of domestication and foreignization strategies was adopted as the framework. To collect and analyze the data, first, the Persian idioms occurring in the book Khomreh as a piece of children's literature and their English translations given by Teimoor Ruhi were identified and paired. Next, the procedures used by the translator were identified and their frequency and percentage were calculated, the results were presented in a table and a chart for subsequent analysis and discussion. Then the general translation strategy related to each example and procedure was identified. The analysis revealed that in the English rendering all the procedures proposed by Baker (1992) as well as a combination of some of the procedures were used. The most frequent procedure was paraphrasing and the general translation strategy applied was that of domestication. © 2011 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland.
Publication Date: 2020
Critique - Studies in Contemporary Fiction (00111619)61(5)pp. 518-533
Associated with feelings of woe and wonder in the face of something that is too complex to comprehend, the sublime is still a highly relevant concept in contemporary fiction. Philip K. Dick’s speculative novels are filled with high-tech entities and futuristic worlds, as manifestations of posthumanist discourses, that instill a sense of bewilderment in the readers. Dick’s “fictional” domains and characters progressively challenge our very definition of humanity and reality providing us with an updated transformed version of the sublime we will refer to as the posthuman sublime. The novels are saturated with baffling worlds within worlds that are home to beings who can no longer be easily categorized as either human or non-human. Dickian posthuman entities, then, are located not so much in a borderless dimension but on the very borders themselves. An encounter with such indeterminacies that defy human understanding leads to an overwhelming feeling of awe, wonder, and even parodic confusion, characteristic of the kind of sublime we find in Dick’s world. This article attempts to explore the modality of the posthuman sublime in one of Dick’s well-known, yet under-researched, novels Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said in the light of theories of the sublime and posthumanism. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Publication Date: 2024
Teaching English Language (2538547X)18(2)pp. 157-183
Community of Inquiry is a term that identifies the elements that are essential for the delivery of effective instruction (i.e., teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence). While it has been the subject of many studies in face-to-face settings, less attention has been accorded to it in online classes. This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between Iraqi English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' community of inquiry and their attention to and engagement in online classes. To this end, 311 undergraduate students were selected from Basrah province in southern Iraq. The Google Form link for the community of inquiry scale as well as the online student engagement scale and sustained attention scale were shared among the participants via telegram and WhatsApp groups. The results of the Pearson correlation revealed that there was a significant relationship among the variables. A linear multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the best predictor of the components of the community of inquiry for students' online engagement in and their attention to online classes. The results showed that social presence contributed more to the changes in learners' engagement in and attention to online classes. The findings of the study can encourage Iraqi EFL teachers to focus on specific aspects of community of inquiry to promote students' engagement and attendance in online classes. © 2024 – Published by Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran.
Publication Date: 2024
Kervan (1825263X)28(1)pp. 203-220
The present study aimed at identifying strategies used by the English translators in rendering the allusive references of The Holy Qur’an, specifying their distribution, and revealing whether the general inclination of the translators was towards domesticating or foreignizing strategies. To this end, Leppihalme’s (1997) taxonomy, as the only model exclusively dealing with allusive references in literary texts, was selected as the model of the study. The data were extracted from 28 English translations of The Holy Qur’an. The paper exclusively concentrated on the temporospatial allusive references. Leppihalme’s model included the strategies of retention (with or without informative notes), replacement of the source-language name by another name (from either the source-or the target-language), and omission of the name. The findings revealed that all these three strategies were adopted by all translators. The strategy of replacement had the highest frequency (77.10%) while the strategy of omission was adopted only in rendering 1.00% percent of the names. Retention (by 21.90%) was found to be the second most frequent strategy adopted by English translators of Qur’anic allusive names. Additionally, it was found that 77.9% of the strategies inclined towards domestication, while only 22.10% showed tendency towards foreignization strategies. © 2024, Universita degli Studi di Torino, Facolta di Lingue e Letterature Straniere. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2022
International Multilingual Research Journal (19313160)16(1)pp. 1-26
Framed within the perspective of Vygotskyan sociocultural theory and models of third language learning, this study examined the impact of differing linguistic backgrounds and learning experience on the nature of dyadic interaction during task completion in the divide between true L2 and L3 learners. It was conducted in an EFL classroom with eight leaners of English as first and eight learners of English as second foreign language after French. Their measured English proficiency corresponded to A2 level. They were presented with two similar grammar-based tasks on sessions 11 and 12 with different pairing configurations and an isomorphic version of both tasks on session 13 to be completed individually. Data from pair talks and individual performances were analyzed in three stages to: a) find the major factors distinguishing the quality of interactions, b) compare the quality of L2ers and L3ers’ interactions when they were matched or mixed, and c) examine the learning benefits of the interactions across L2ers and L3ers in terms of transferring knowledge from interactions to their subsequent individual productions. The findings indicated a role for linguistic background in mediating the nature of pair interactions and shaping dyadic relationships by impacting L2ers and L3ers’ perception of each other’s proficiency. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Publication Date: 2019
Second Language Learning and Teaching (21937656)pp. 19-32
Willingness to Communicate (WTC) is one of the highly studied ID variables in language learning and teaching in the past three decades. In this chapter, the origin of WTC is discussed and its introduction to L2 research literature is briefly reviewed. Moreover, empirical studies conducted over the globe are summarized. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.
Publication Date: 2014
Theory and Practice in Language Studies (20530692)4(2)pp. 435-440
Formative assessment was first used by Scriven (1967), but studies focused on formative assessment in ESL and EFL classes started in 2000. Formative assessment is integrated in learning and teaching, so a great part of classroom assessment is formative. However, classroom assessment has been not defined clearly, as most of the texts about this type of assessment define it in terms of its formative or summative potentials (Fulcher & Davidson, 2007). This study is an attempt to define different types of assessment, compare formative and classroom assessment, and also identifies the areas which need more attention by researchers. © 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland.
Publication Date: 2013
Theory and Practice in Language Studies (20530692)3(5)pp. 797-804
One of the most challenging parts of learning a foreign/second language is vocabulary, and perhaps the most difficult part of the vocabulary for EFL learners is learning both literal and figurative meanings of idioms. This study was an attempt to find out how EFL learners make a mental image of English idioms as compared with native English speakers. For this purpose two hypotheses were formulated as: 1) prior knowledge of an idiomatic phrase figurative meaning does not influence the mental image of native (American) and non-native (Iranian) English speakers based on phrase's literal meaning, and 2) nonliteral interpretation of figurative phrases does not help native (American) and non-native (Iranian) English speakers conceptualize the literal meanings of idiomatic expressions.After the data analysis the following results were obtained: 1) prior knowledge of an idiomatic phrase figurative meaning can influence the mental image of native English speakers and native Persian speakers based on phrase's literal meaning, and 2) nonliteral interpretation of figurative phrases is not effective in terms of conceptualizing the literal meaning of idiomatic phrases neither for Persian speakers nor for English speakers. The results of this study can be beneficial for L2 teachers and students as well as for material developers. © 2011 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland.
Publication Date: 2012
Theory and Practice in Language Studies (20530692)2(5)pp. 938-944
The present study was an attempted to investigate the effect of explicit instruction of meta-cognitive learning strategies on promoting intermediate language learners' writing skill. To achieve this purpose, an Oxford Placement test (Allen, 2004) was administered to language learners in English language institution and ultimately 24 intermediate language learners were selected and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. Both groups worked on the same writing tasks and activities. The subjects in the experimental group were also instructed in the use of meta-cognitive language learning strategies following O'Malley (1985) while the subjects in the control group received some placebo treatment for a whole term. The results of the posttest showed that explicit instruction of meta-cognitive learning strategies for intermediate language learners proved effective. One reason may be that language learners at the intermediate level draw on these strategies in a conscious fashion and they need to develop a conscious awareness of the meta-cognitive learning strategies. © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland.
Publication Date: 2016
Social Sciences (discontinued) (18185800)11(6)pp. 903-905
Present era is the era of media diplomacy. These days collective medias play an important role in international relations and are known as a mirror which reflect countries through showing communities' culture and national identity and prepare the causes of foreign governments policy stability. Therefore, it is possible to consider group medias as efficient tools in order to realize the goals of foreign policy and reaching the national advantages of government which is the most important tool of cultural diplomacy. The main goal of this essay is to determine the important role and considerable effect of collective medias in progressing cultural diplomatic goals of France which was the first Western country that is committed to cultural diplomacy. Since French were the second European nation who accepted the democracy, at the beginning of the third millennium, media is still the fourth column of democracy for France which itself is the cradle of freedom of expression. © Medwell Journals, 2016.
