Research Paper
Samira kazempourian; Abbas Ali Rezaee
Abstract
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is one of the considerable programs in the world of English language teaching and research since it pertains to specific needs of various specialties. Meanwhile, university students’ ability to communicate effectively through English language can greatly affect ...
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English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is one of the considerable programs in the world of English language teaching and research since it pertains to specific needs of various specialties. Meanwhile, university students’ ability to communicate effectively through English language can greatly affect their career development in the target situation, namely in their future workplace. Moreover, ESP instructors play a conspicuous role in flourishing students’ English achievements, as they need to be equipped with the knowledge and awareness of their students’ English needs not only in the academic setting but also in the workplace environment. Thus, this study intended to investigate workplace English needs of Electrical Engineering (EE) students from ESP instructors’ point of view, together with the English requirements of EE employers in different Electrical companies in Iran. In doing so, data were elicited from 97 EE students, 39 EE employers from 15 well-reputed Electrical companies, and 15 ESP instructors. The results of t-test between instructors and employers indicated that ESP instructors were not fully aware of EE students’ future workplace needs. Therefore, having the rudimentary knowledge of the technical content in English on the part of ESP instructors can raise their awareness toward EE workplace needs Moreover, the findings of interview revealed that EE employers required their prospective workforce to be more proficient in speaking skills and to be more skilled in technical translation. The findings provide implications for ESP instructors and curriculum developers in order to be more aware of English needs of EE workforce.
Research Paper
Rasoul Mohammad Hosseinpur; Maryam Sarbandi Farahani
Abstract
Human beings are defined as an embodiment of social and cultural understanding which can develop by engaging in various social contexts. Cultural intelligence and cultural identity are thus accounted noteworthy in learning particular aspects of language which are culture-specific. The present study intended ...
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Human beings are defined as an embodiment of social and cultural understanding which can develop by engaging in various social contexts. Cultural intelligence and cultural identity are thus accounted noteworthy in learning particular aspects of language which are culture-specific. The present study intended to investigate the interaction effect of cultural intelligence and cultural identity on Iranian EFL learners’ use of politeness strategies. To this end, the participants were divided into two groups of high and low cultural intelligence and cultural identity. Moreover, regardless of their membership in the two groups, the participants were included in the assessment of the relationship between cultural intelligence and politeness strategies. Fifty two intermediate language learners whose proficiency level was determined through Oxford Quick Proficiency Test were required to fill out the questionnaires of Cultural Intelligence, L1 Cultural identity and Discourse Completion Tasks. Two-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the research questions. The results of the two-way ANOVA proved no interaction effect of cultural intelligence and cultural identity levels on the use of politeness strategies. Moreover, the analysis of the relationship between the four factors of cultural intelligence and the use of politeness strategies yielded no significant relationship. The findings can inform of imminent obliterating L1 cultural identity among EFL learners. Broaching the subjects such as globalization, cultural homogeneity and English linguicism, the study calls for the need for further inquiries to revise already established findings such as the role of home culture, L1 and attitudes towards target culture in EFL domain.
Research Paper
Vahid Shahidipour; Mohammad Hassan Tahririan
Abstract
EAP textbooks have been one of the most important materials commonly used in any EAP program and attracted many researchers' attention due to their crucial contributions to foreign/second language acquisition. Despite the plethora of research on EAP textbooks, especially EAP textbooks published by SAMT, ...
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EAP textbooks have been one of the most important materials commonly used in any EAP program and attracted many researchers' attention due to their crucial contributions to foreign/second language acquisition. Despite the plethora of research on EAP textbooks, especially EAP textbooks published by SAMT, the Organization for Researching and Composing University Textbooks in the Humanities, there seems to be a paucity of research on newly developed SAMT EAP textbooks. At the same time, although EAP textbooks are based on criteria to meet particular students’ needs in specific disciplines, there have been only a few evaluative studies on EAP textbooks taking students’ and teachers’ viewpoints into account. Therefore, the present study attempted to evaluate a newly developed SAMT EAP textbook for the students of Medicine, as a sample from SAMT publications, from the students' and teachers' perspectives. The study used a questionnaire and the results revealed that students and teachers were satisfied with the theoretical considerations, the organizational features and practical considerations, the vocabulary, and the grammatical structure of the current textbook. However, the students were not satisfied with the content and the language skills and the teachers were not satisfied with the content of the textbook. In addition, no significant difference between the students' and teachers' viewpoints with regard to the necessity condition of EAP textbooks was found. But, their responses to the questions related to the present condition of the current textbook were significantly different. Such findings can have some implications for EAP teachers, material developers, and textbook designers.
Research Paper
Mohammad Nabi Karimi; Reza Naghdivand
Abstract
Working memory capacity, especially as it relates to L1 vs. L2, has been found to play a significant role in language comprehension and processing. Majority of the related studies have, however, been focused around reading comprehension, either in L1 or L2 contexts. The present study is a further attempt ...
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Working memory capacity, especially as it relates to L1 vs. L2, has been found to play a significant role in language comprehension and processing. Majority of the related studies have, however, been focused around reading comprehension, either in L1 or L2 contexts. The present study is a further attempt to investigate the role of working memory capacity in language comprehension/processing but in the context of L2 listening. To this end, a sample of 220 foreign language learners (both males and females) were recruited. To collect the required data, a series of measures including a language proficiency test, two auditory working memory capacity tasks (English & Persian) and two listening comprehension passages were administered to the participants. The results showed a significant relationship between Persian and English auditory memories for storage dimension but not for the processing component. Additionally, the findings showed that L2 auditory memory is more highly correlated with L2 listening comprehension compared with L1 auditory memory. A further finding of the study was that literal vs. inferential types of listening comprehension engage different types of working memory processes.
Momene Ghadiri; Mansoor Tavakoli
Abstract
Explicit teaching may provide great opportunities for critical thinking to flourish. This paper examines the degree to which the need for developing such a critical view of language learning among English as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers is rigorously felt and is taken into consideration. ...
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Explicit teaching may provide great opportunities for critical thinking to flourish. This paper examines the degree to which the need for developing such a critical view of language learning among English as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers is rigorously felt and is taken into consideration. To this end, a researcher-made inventory, namely Criticality-oriented English Teaching Perceptions Inventory (CEPTI), was distributed among 150 EFL teachers. The results of the questionnaire and follow-up face-to-face interviews indicated that teachers were still not ready for a change towards explicit teaching of criticality-oriented skills inside the English language classes. Subsequent to assessing teachers’ perceptions, Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, Form A (WGCTA-FA) was given to a total number of 100 EFL learners. Findings revealed that learners did not score high on the WGCTA. The pedagogical implications of the study are discussed.
Farzaneh Dehghan; Seyed Ayatoallah Razmjo
Abstract
A challenge for many postgraduate students is to move from the state of novice observers to those of professional contributors of a particular discourse community. They need to develop certain skills, practices, and competences, the demonstration of which is mostly through writing, called disciplinary ...
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A challenge for many postgraduate students is to move from the state of novice observers to those of professional contributors of a particular discourse community. They need to develop certain skills, practices, and competences, the demonstration of which is mostly through writing, called disciplinary writing expertise (DWE). DWE can be examined from two aspects of nature and development. This study aims at proposing a model of disciplinary writing expertise including both the competencies of DWE and factors developing these components. In-depth interviews with 28 postgraduate students of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) were collected and research papers written by these students were used to collect data. Based on substantive considerations and the results of the content analysis, five subcomponents of DWE were identified including strategic, genre, rhetorical, subject matter and discourse community knowledge components. Meanwhile, writing strategies and goal orientations were identified as two important factors influencing the development of disciplinary writing proficiency in a foreign language context. Two questionnaires were made and piloted to endorse these two factors among 538 postgraduate TEFL students. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we proposed a model to show the relationship among these two factors and the components of DWE. The results showed that those who followed mastery goals used all types of writing strategies to develop different subcomponents of DWE. On the other hand, those who followed context and career-directed goals used strategies to develop rhetorical knowledge mostly.
Ali Roohani; Raheleh Sabzeali,; Azizullah Mirzaei
Abstract
Research has showed a positive relationship between metacognitive knowledge and success in reading comprehension. Thus, it is important to be aware of metacognitive strategy use in reading comprehension. This study was intended to explore metacognitive strategies in reading academic texts among more ...
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Research has showed a positive relationship between metacognitive knowledge and success in reading comprehension. Thus, it is important to be aware of metacognitive strategy use in reading comprehension. This study was intended to explore metacognitive strategies in reading academic texts among more and less proficient English university student readers. To this end, 75 English as a foreign language (EFL) students (including 45 more proficient and 30 less proficient students), who were selected nonrandomly from two universities, participated in this mixed-methods study. To collect data, the Survey of Reading Strategies and the Test of English as Foreign Language were administered to them. Also, to elicit how they utilize the metacognitive strategies, five more proficient and five less proficient EFL readers were asked to undertake think-aloud tasks. Results of quantitative (t-tests) and qualitative data analysis showed that there were significant differences between the metacognitive strategies used by more and less proficient readers. More proficient readers reported using the strategies at a high frequency level overall, but less proficient readers reported using them at a moderate frequency level. More proficient readers preferred to use problem-solving strategies followed by global strategies, whereas less proficient ones preferred to use problem solving strategies followed by support strategies. In addition, the results of think-aloud indicated that the more and less proficient readers’ methods of employing metacognitive strategies differed, to some extent, from each other in quality of use. The findings provide implications for low proficiency EFL readers who intend to improve their reading comprehension and learning autonomy.
