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Showing 8 results for Gender
Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz, Soroor Ashtarian,
Volume 11, Issue 1 (3-2008)
Abstract
The present study investigated the relationship between the reading comprehension of three types of text and the gender of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, several reading passages with the same length and readability were selected based on which a reading comprehension test was constructed on three different text types namely essay, history, and short story. After determining the validity and reliability of the reading comprehension test, it was administered to 62 male and female students who were at the same level of language proficiency based on their scores on the TOEFL Test. A one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data, the results of which indicated that male and female EFL learners differ in their reading comprehension ability with females being better comprehenders of English passages. The results of a two-way ANOVA also showed that both males and females are better at comprehending essays followed by history and short story, i.e. different types of text are understood differently regardless of the gender of the subjects. The findings are interpreted to have direct implications for EFL teachers and instructors as well as syllabus designers and test developers.
Mahmood Reza Atai, Maryam Nasseri,
Volume 13, Issue 2 (9-2010)
Abstract
Informal fallacies of argumentation as pitfalls of reasoning appear frequently in students' written texts, specially EFL / ESL Learners' argumentative essay writings. The present study examines whether gender could be considered as a determining factor influencing Iranian advanced EFL learners' argumentative writings with regard to informal fallacies of argumentation. The corpus comprised of argumentative essays written by 120 Iranian male and female English language learners. The participants’ age and discipline were also included as independent variables. Nine major categories of informal fallacies were examined in learners’ texts and the observed frequencies were analyzed using MANOVA. The results of the Multivariate Tests for all independent variables and /or their interactions indicated no significant differences for the overall informal fallacies. However, three separate instances of differences were observed. Finally, the findings of the present are discussed in relation to the previous literature and some implications of the study are suggested.
Mohammad Rahimi, Ehya Amal Saleh, Sanaz Deghat,
Volume 13, Issue 2 (9-2010)
Abstract
Critical discourse analysis (CDA) provides an analytical and political approach to language in context and it concerns with manifestations of ideology and power/dominance relations in society, manifestations of social asymmetry via discourse, racism, sexism and in general segregation and discrimination (Wodak and Meyer, 2001). The present study, applying some of the most agreed upon guidelines of critical discourse analysis, aimed at analyzing the discursive structures of the 2008 presidential campaign speeches of democratic candidates--Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama--to see if they carry and enforce certain ideologies. The methodology used in this study was generally based upon Hodge and Kress’s (1996) framework and the texts were compared and contrasted to find the traces of gender and/or race of the candidates. From among a hundred tapescripts, fifty were randomly selected. The results of the study showed the discoursal features used in the speeches made by the two candidates were significantly influenced by their race and gender.
Goudarz Alibakhshi,
Volume 14, Issue 1 (3-2011)
Abstract
Learning styles are assumed to be consistent with personality characteristics of individuals (Brown, 2003 Kolb, 1984). Teachers’ teaching efficacy (Bandura, 1997, 1977, 1995 Wheatley, 2001) has also been found to be important in educational reform. However, the impacts of gender and personality on language teachers' teaching efficacy and teaching activities preferences have not been adequately explored. This study was an attempt to investigate the impacts of personality and gender on Iranian English teachers' teaching activities preferences and their teaching efficacy. To accomplish this, 280 male and female English language teachers participated in the study. Myers -Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), teaching efficacy, and teaching activities preference questionnaires were used. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and Two ANOVA tests were used .The results of the study showed that ESTJ (extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging) and ISTJ (introverted, sensing, thinking, and judging) were predominant personality types among Iranian EFL teachers. Results also indicated that both male and female teachers with different personality types have the same sense of teaching efficacy. It was also revealed that gender and personality influence teachers' teaching activities preferences.
Afsaneh Ghanizadeh, Fatemeh Moafian,
Volume 14, Issue 1 (3-2011)
Abstract
The present article, first, examines the relationship between EFL university students' critical thinking (CT) and emotional intelligence (EI). Second, the roles of gender and age as moderating factors in the relationship between students' CT and EI are investigated. Third, the relationships between students' age and gender with their EI are studied. To attain the goals of the research, 86 EFL students completed the "Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal" (Form A) and the "Bar-On's EQ-i test". The findings of the study indicated that there was a significant relationship between EFL learners' CT and their EI. Among the components of EI, flexibility and social responsibility were found to have the highest correlations with CT and were also shown to be positive predictors of CT. The results also revealed that age and gender did not moderate the relationship between CT and EI. Furthermore, it was found that neither age nor gender played any significant roles in learners' level of EQ.
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Volume 17, Issue 1 (4-2014)
Abstract
Due to the potent role of critical thinking in learners’ academic success and its connection with factors conducive to learning such as argumentation ability, the present study seeks to primarily probe the correlation between Iranian EFL learners’ critical thinking ability and their argumentative writing achievement, and investigate the predictability of the students’ argumentative writing achievement based on their scores on critical thinking scale. Furthermore, the effect of gender on Iranian EFL learners’ argumentative writing achievement was investigated. In so doing, 'Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal' (2002) as well as an argumentative writing assignment was employed, and the participants of the study included 178 EFL learners in three universities in Mashhad, Iran. Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to analyze the data. The results substantiated the positive correlation between critical thinking ability and argumentative writing revealing that these two variables significantly and positively related to each other among the predictors (subscales of the critical thinking) of argumentative writing, inference, assumptions, arguments were the stronger predictors. Finally, gender was not found to significantly affect Iranian EFL learners’ argumentative writing achievement. The conclusions and implications of this study are pointed out with reference to foreign language teaching context.
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Volume 18, Issue 2 (9-2015)
Abstract
Gender representation has long been studied in both verbal and visual modes of ELT textbooks. However, regarding the visual mode, research has mainly focused on superficial analyses of how often each gender appears in different roles rather than on how the two genders are represented. The tools proposed in Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) social semiotics framework, however, permit deep analysis of images taking into consideration how pictorial elements are shown both alone and in relation to other pictorial elements, on the one hand, and the viewers on the other. Following the above-mentioned framework, the present study applied the three dimensions of representational, compositional and interactive meaning presented to 16 photographs randomly selected from the Interchange (Third Edition) series (Richards, 2005) to explore gender portrayals and disclose ideologies in the visual mode of the series. Qualitative data analysis showed some ideologies and stereotypical portrayals, each of which appeared either in one or a few photographs. Taken together, the findings indicated gender bias in favor of men in the series.
Fatemeh Hemmati, Farnaz Farrokh Allaiee,
Volume 20, Issue 2 (9-2017)
Abstract
| This study aimed to compare the underlying measures of male and female high- school students’ social capital in terms of regional variations and gender and investigate the relationship between those measures and the students' foreign language (FL) achievement. To this end, a number of 904 third-grader high school students (278 male and 626 female) from two educational districts (privileged district (PD) and less-privileged district (LD)) participated in the study. They filled out the Student Social Capital Questionnaire and took an English language achievement test. The results showed that the students in the PD outperformed their counterparts in the LD. Furthermore, group statistics and t-test results suggested variations among the groups of students in terms of such factors as mothers’ involvement, institutional trust, intergenerational closure, and parents’ educational aspiration. Pearson product-moment correlation indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between male and female students' participation in social networks and religious activities on the one hand, and their foreign language achievement on the other hand. However, there was a significant positive correlation between intergenerational closure and parents’ educational aspiration and female students' English scores on the S-test. The findings have implications for families and school members to provide students with hopeful and positive aspirations and intimate family environments and learning environments, which can enhance their FL achievement. |
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