Mobina Rahnama; Alireza Ahmadi; Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo; Omid Mazandarani
Abstract
The debate continues on what features of oral performance are influenced by oral feedback. The present study tries to provide an answer to this question in an EFL context. To this end the effect of six different modes of oral feedback on the features of oral complexity and accuracy was investigated using ...
Read More
The debate continues on what features of oral performance are influenced by oral feedback. The present study tries to provide an answer to this question in an EFL context. To this end the effect of six different modes of oral feedback on the features of oral complexity and accuracy was investigated using data from 66 Iranian EFL learners who were selected conveniently from the Iran Language Institute. The participants were divided into experimental and control groups at two different levels of elementary and pre-intermediate. The experimental groups were presented with six different types of oral feedback modes (recasts, clarification requests, metalinguistic, praising, elicitation, and repetition) and at the end of the research they were tested by an in-class oral test to measure their complexity and accuracy (CA). To compare the participants’ oral features, a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and a Mann-Whitney U Test were run. The results indicated that complexity and accuracy significantly improved among the groups, moreover; there were significant differences in the post-tests between both elementary and pre-intermediate levels regarding CA. The results further indicated that Iranian learners of English would have fewer errors and would be more accurate when receiving oral feedback modes. The study highlights the complex relationship that exists between features of oral performance. The findings of the present study can have theoretical and practical implications for syllabus designers, teacher trainers, and testing researchers.
Khatereh Zohrabi; Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo; Alireza Ahmadi
Abstract
Background: In the so-called global village, individuals should learn to adapt themselves to cultural and social changes. One manifestation of the changes in societies is the emergence of pluralistic/multicultural societies which necessitates using intercultural/pluralistic education elements in education ...
Read More
Background: In the so-called global village, individuals should learn to adapt themselves to cultural and social changes. One manifestation of the changes in societies is the emergence of pluralistic/multicultural societies which necessitates using intercultural/pluralistic education elements in education systems. Purpose: This study aimed at developing and validating a Pluralistic Curriculum (PC) model for English language teaching (ELT) in Iranian high schools. Method: To this aim, a concurrent design (qualitative + quantitative) within a mixed methods approach was used. Participants of the study were 30 Iranian (17 male and 13 female) curriculum experts from Iranian Curriculum Studies Association (ICSA) who were selected through snowball sampling. Results: Results of data analysis revealed the following components for PC: pluralistic education, pluralistic evaluation, racial and ethnic equality, social class equality, linguistic diversity and equality, gender equality, cultural diversity and tolerance of difference. Results of data analysis also showed that the proposed model consists of four elements namely, content, teaching/learning Strategies/methods, evaluation and goal. Moreover, it was found that the proposed PC model is valid from the viewpoint of the curriculum experts. Conclusions/implications: This promising finding implies that the proposed model can be implemented by ELT practitioners in the Iranian high schools. Furthermore, it can be used as a valid scale to see whether educational curriculums most particularly EFL/ESL curriculums at different levels (primary, junior high school, high school, and tertiary education) are developed in line with pluralistic curriculum or not.
Alireza Ahmadi; Seyyed Abbas Mousavi
Volume 4, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 31-1
Abstract
Testing has been so intrinsically bound to today’s modern life whose foregone consequences are often taken for granted and is accepted widely as unavoidable side effects or sometimes even desired effects of an inevitable social event. The aim of this study is to investigate the aspects of the impact ...
Read More
Testing has been so intrinsically bound to today’s modern life whose foregone consequences are often taken for granted and is accepted widely as unavoidable side effects or sometimes even desired effects of an inevitable social event. The aim of this study is to investigate the aspects of the impact of Iranian B.A. University Entrance Exam on the lifeworld of the students who are about to take it. To this end, the analysis was conducted using Habermas’s Social Theory. There were 349 fourth-grade students participating in the study from four different provinces including Zanjan, Alborz, Mazandaran and Shiraz. The data was gathered using a researcher-made questionnaire and a semi-structured interview with 10 students as well as classroom observation in two subsequent years qualitative and quantitative analyses of data revealed that the exam is regarded as an inevitable social practice by the participants whose life world is exploited and manipulated by the exam as a part of the system. The pressure for result-based accountability placed upon the test takers, on the other hand, leads to creation of some specific norms, provides system control tools, enhances instrumental rationality and establishes the social order of its own. The implications for language testing and teaching are discussed.
