ESP and EAP
Shiva Kaivanpanah; Mohammad Zarrin
Abstract
The present study employed the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) model of program evaluation to assess the effectiveness of Bank Melli Iran (BMI) English for banking purposes (EBP) programs and identify the pedagogical challenges associated with these courses in terms of goals, current status, ...
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The present study employed the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) model of program evaluation to assess the effectiveness of Bank Melli Iran (BMI) English for banking purposes (EBP) programs and identify the pedagogical challenges associated with these courses in terms of goals, current status, teaching methods, and training materials. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaire surveys, involving 244 BMI bank employees working in foreign exchange (FX) branches and international departments. The data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Employees’ language learning and communicative needs were assessed by identifying their workplace routine tasks performed in English, qualitatively, and measuring the frequency and priority of identified tasks, quantitatively. The strengths and weaknesses of the courses as well as the main barriers to meeting the assessed needs were identified through interviews and questionnaire surveys. Tasks which should be performed in English, by BMI employees, in the workplace, were identified and classified into major groups and their frequency was measured. The participants’ feedback on the priority of language skills in the workplace and barriers to the implementation of the courses indicated that BMI EBP courses should be redesigned to incorporate appropriate pedagogical principles of English for specific purposes (ESP), ensuring alignment with employees’ specific needs. The findings of this study can be utilized by Iranian banks to evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of their EBP programs.
Shiva Kaivanpanah; Seyed Mohammad Alavi; Sara Rafsanjani Nejad
Abstract
The idea of encouraging awareness in classrooms is not new, but research into awareness is beginning to encourage those involved in language teaching to think more systematically about how language presentation facilitate language awareness. Awareness can be promoted through focus on form activities ...
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The idea of encouraging awareness in classrooms is not new, but research into awareness is beginning to encourage those involved in language teaching to think more systematically about how language presentation facilitate language awareness. Awareness can be promoted through focus on form activities as it triggers important cognitive processes in L2 acquisition. The effectiveness of various input- and output-based focus on form instructions on the acquisition of different grammatical structures and the role of awareness in each type is a matter for debate. The present study qualitatively investigated the effects of Processing instruction, Textual enhancement, and Text editing on L2 learners’ cognitive processes and the relationship between the learners’ level of awareness and their abilities to interpret English inversion structures. To do this, learners’ think-aloud verbalizations during instruction were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Criteria to decide which level of awareness they would fall into were slightly adapted from Leow, Hsieh, and Moreno (2008) to fit with the type of tasks employed in the study. Pretest-posttests design was also employed to measure learners’ interpretive abilities. The findings indicated that each instructional technique promoted different levels of awareness and depth of processing. The findings also provided explanations for the non-significant differences in performances between the Processing instruction and Text editing groups on an immediate posttest and outperformance of the Processing instruction group on a delayed posttest. Given the benefits that Processing instruction and Text editing brought about in the present study, both might be incorporated into a curriculum and serve as complementary tools for language teachers.
Shiva Kaivanpanah; Abbas Ali Rezaee; Morteza Neamatollahi
Volume 4, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 107-89
Abstract
Different from one-way provision of knowledge in transmission-based approaches, recent approaches to teacher education consider learning as a consequence of teachers’ active engagement in social practices. Prior studies have provided important insights into how sociocultural theory (SCT) works ...
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Different from one-way provision of knowledge in transmission-based approaches, recent approaches to teacher education consider learning as a consequence of teachers’ active engagement in social practices. Prior studies have provided important insights into how sociocultural theory (SCT) works in L2 teacher education. However, issues remain about the content and effectiveness of teacher education programs informed by the tenets of SCT on novice teachers’ learning. Addressing this gap, the present study set out to investigate the microgentic development of four novice EFL teachers during dialogic mediations with a teacher educator in some one-to-one development sessions based on samples of their actual teaching practices. Mediations were dialogic, graduated, and tailored to the needs of the teachers (i.e., from implicit to explicit) within each individual’s zone of proximal teacher development (ZPTD). A total of four hours of video-recorded teacher-teacher educator post-observation talk was analyzed. Results proposed a highly dialogic interaction with an approximately equal participatory role. Findings demonstrated that novice teachers’ agency and externalization of their thoughts in a supportive and interactive environment can result in their development. Finally, teacher educators were asked to include strategic mediation in teacher education programs and provide teachers with graduated assistance within their ZPTD.
Shiva Kaivanpanah; Majid Nemati; Asadollah Sharifi
Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2014, , Pages 19-35
