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Showing 17 results for Strategies
Ali Arabmofrad, Hamideh Marefat,
Volume 11, Issue 1 (3-2008)
Abstract
The present study seeks to find the way Persian native speakers resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities in sentences containing a complex NP of the type NP of NP followed by a relative clause (RC). Previous off-line studies have found a preference for high attachment in the present study, an on-line technique was used to help identify the nature of this process. Persian speakers were presented with sentences that were semantically consistent with either high or low attachment resolution. Results of the analysis of reaction times from 32 participants by the use of RSVP technique revealed that high attachment is the strategy used by Persian native speakers for this type of ambiguity. The results are in harmony with the previous findings in the literature showing a high attachment preference by Persian native speakers. However, the findings are inconsistent with constrained based-models and suggest that native speaker use purely structure-based parsing strategies.
Moussa Ahmadian, Hamid Reza Yadegari,
Volume 12, Issue 1 (3-2009)
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between extraversion/introversion personality dimension and the use of strategic competence (SC) in written referential communication by Iranian EFL learners. Referential communication refers to a kind of guided communication in which the referents (or topics) are given to the subjects (here, writers) to convey their meanings to the interactants (here, readers). 50 sophomore English students ofArakUniversitywere selected from among 70 ones to participate in this study. Using the Persian restandardized version of the adult EPQ (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, 1975) the subjects were divided into two groups of extravert and introvert. The homogeneity of the participants was determined by theMichigantest (1997) at the upper-intermediate level of proficiency. Each individual in the groups was given the communicative tasks to communicate in writing with a partner. Then, the performance of the extravert group was analyzed and compared with that of the introvert group in using compensatory strategies (CSs) in terms of type and frequency as identified by a taxonomy. The results revealed that, as far as total performance is concerned, introvert participants used conceptual strategies more than the extravert ones, while extravert participants used a sub-type of interactional strategies i.e. confirmation strategies, and the two sub-types of linguistic strategies i.e. synonymy and transliteration strategies, more than introvert ones. Thus, it can be concluded that personality trait of extraversion/ introversion is associated with L2 learners’ preference in using, at least, some types of CSs in written referential communication. The theoretical and pedagogical significance of the findings will be discussed.
Mohammad Reza Anani Sarab, Mahsa Seif Reihani,
Volume 13, Issue 2 (9-2010)
Abstract
The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between test takers’ cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and their second language reading test performance. The researchers employed the following instruments in order to get introspective and retrospective data from the participants: 1) a multiple-choice test on two reading passages, 2) a checklist of specific strategies for immediate introspective use after each item, 3) a questionnaire on more general strategies for retrospective use at the end of the test. The results showed that test-takers used both contributory and non-contributory strategies to get at the correct answer. The test-takers’ pattern of strategy use revealed a tendency towards the more frequent use of ‘returning to the passage’ as a contributory strategy and ‘guessing’ as a non-contributory strategy. The results also showed that the contributory and non-contributory strategies functioned differently when their use was compared across easy and difficult test passages.
Vahid Rahmani Doqaruni, Baqer Yaqubi,
Volume 14, Issue 1 (3-2011)
Abstract
This study focuses on the use of communication strategies in teacher talk. While previous studies have presented communication strategies largely from an outside researcher's perspective, the aim in this paper is to move the focus to that of classroom contexts, especially EFL teaching contexts. Furthermore, it is argued that communication strategies should also be studied in the situated talk of the classroom teacher, and not just second language learners. Showing some examples from our database, we underscore the crucial role these devices play in classroom interaction. The participants were five non-native Iranian teachers. The data consisted of a total of fifteen recordings, made up of three lessons for each teacher. The detailed examination of the database revealed that the teachers in the study made frequent use of different types of communication strategy in their talk with students and these strategies were potentially an important aspect of teacher talk. The most important implications of this finding are that, first, an extended concept of communication strategies that moves beyond learners to include teachers' communication strategies should be taken into account and, second, developing these strategies are necessary for effective L2 communicative language use.
Mohammad Khatib, Mahmood Safari,
Volume 15, Issue 2 (9-2012)
Abstract
Most of the studies in Interlanguage Pragmatics have focused on the performance and acquisition of speech acts by nonnative speakers, considering politeness only as a subsidiary issue. The present study pertains to linguistic politeness and attempts to investigate the effects of different teaching methods on the acquisition of English politeness strategies (PSs). Eight groups of freshman and junior English majors were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (enhanced input, explicit teaching, and role play) and one control group (mere exposure). The participants took a TOEFL test, a pretest, and finally a posttest after a seven-week treatment of a list of PSs. The results indicated that instruction has a significant positive influence on the acquisition of PSs and explicit teaching is significantly the most effective method. Role play and input enhancement were the second and third most effective. Moreover, it was shown that although the level of language proficiency significantly influenced the knowledge of PSs (the ability to recognize appropriate PSs for each social context), it did not affect the acquisition of PSs. The findings imply that the instruction of PSs can be started at intermediate level and explicit teaching alongside role play activities will greatly benefit language learners.
Yasuo Nakatani, Mohammad Makki, Joff Bradley,
Volume 15, Issue 2 (9-2012)
Abstract
Narjes Ghafournia, ,
Volume 16, Issue 2 (9-2013)
Abstract
This study scrutinized the relationship between utilizing language learning strategies, academic fields, and reading ability in reading comprehension test performance of Iranian postgraduate EAP students. The participants were 947 students, who answered a reading comprehension test and a learning strategy questionnaire successively in one session. The gathered data were subjected to a set of parametric statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, Tukey HSD and Duncan tests. The findings manifested significant differences among the participants in different fields in employing overall, direct, and indirect strategies. A statistically positive relationship was found between the participants’ reading ability and use of overall, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, and affective strategies. The findings reflected that the actual ability of language learners was significantly influenced by some nonlinguistic factors, and the observed scores did not represent their true ability. The findings can provide an empirical evidence for Bachman’s (1990) as well as Bachman and Palmer's (1996, 2010) conceptual frameworks of language use due to the impact of nonlinguistic factors on language ability of L2 learners in test-taking process. The findings can help language teachers improve instructional reading programs, decrease error of measurement, and narrow the gap between more successful and less successful learners in different fields of study.
, , ,
Volume 19, Issue 1 (4-2016)
Abstract
This research intends to explore the efficacious English teachers’ goals and strategies to effectively manage their own as well as their students’ emotions. The data of the study included interviews with 22 English teachers and 92 diary journals kept by 12 teachers who were among the top 20% of ELTEI (ELT teacher efficacy instrument) scorers and identified as efficacious English teachers. The results indicated that teachers’ goals for regulating their positive emotions included maintaining authority in relation to students, presenting unbiased teacher character, and enhancing teaching effectiveness. For regulating negative emotions, the goals included maintaining the teacher and students’ mental health, promoting teacher-student relationships, and reinforcing the image of teachers as moral guides. Teachers also used a variety of antecedent-focused and response-focused strategies hierarchically for effective emotion management including situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. The findings were discussed with reference to the role of culture in emotion regulation and effectiveness of different sub-strategies. The results may promise some implications for teacher education programs and teacher educators about the inclusion of professional development opportunities for EFL teachers in terms of effective emotion management
Manoochehr Jafarigohar, Mahboubeh Mortazavi,
Volume 21, Issue 1 (4-2018)
Abstract
| This study investigated the quality of metacognition at its inter-individual level, i.e., socially-shared metacognition, across two collaborative writing tasks of different difficulty levels among a cohort of Iranian EFL learners. Moreover, it examined the correlation between the individual and the social modes of metacognition in writing. The analysis of think-aloud protocols of a number of pre-intermediate and advanced EFL learners revealed instances of episodes in which peers used metacognitive activities at pair level. Besides, comparing think-aloud protocols of tasks indicated more frequent and longer use of socially-shared metacognitive episodes in more difficult writing tasks. The study also found high correlation between the social mode of metacognition in L2 writing and learners’ individual metacognition. The pedagogical implications include the provision of learning opportunities in which learners are challenged to exploit metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring, and self-evaluating. |
Neda Yadafarin, Hadi Farjami,
Volume 22, Issue 1 (3-2019)
Abstract
| Procrastination pervades the long and taxing process of foreign language learning and working against it is crucial. This study attempted to elicit and investigate the strategies and solutions from English teachers and learners which can help in dealing with procrastination over weekly assignments, term projects, and preparing for exams. To achieve this aim, suggestions were sought from 46 English teachers who had at least three years of teaching experience. Out of a total of 384 suggestions, higher-frequency ones were listed and solutions and strategies in related literature were sifted through to draw up a 21-item Likert-type questionnaire, which sought the reaction of English learners to the teacher-suggested strategies. A revised version was distributed among 97 English learners comprising 65 females and 32 males, whose ages ranged from 17 to 29 years. The English language teachers believed that to help students abandon their procrastination, they should encourage them with extra points for duly completed assignments, check the progress of projects, and give quizzes and exams during the term atop of other strategies. The most frequently endorsed strategies by the English learners included: adjusting the quantity of assignments to learner’s ability, selecting attractive and diverse assignments, teacher’s proper guidance and providing sample projects to reduce anxiety; and identifying the most important topics and disregarding unnecessary contents. |
Mozhgan Younesi , Hossein Talebzadeh,
Volume 25, Issue 1 (3-2022)
Abstract
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Many studies on L1 and/or L2 pragmatic competence are constrained by universalist orientations towards sociopragmatics and overlook the idiosyncratic cultural scripts and schemas of underexplored languages and cultures. Particularly neglected is the complicating role of Iranian cultural schema of a (dis-)belief in the evil eye with regards to the speech act of complimenting (and responding to it); actually, the schema is hypothesized (Talebzadeh & Rajabi, in preparation; Younesi & Talebzadeh, 202) to pose intricate interactional challenges for both parties due to the possible interpretations of and (non-)verbal responses to compliments (as predominantly Face-Saving Acts versus potentially Face-Threatening Acts). Moreover, still unknown is the way these could confound EFL learners’ cross-cultural communications. To address these gaps, we present the second phase of a more comprehensive study of compliment response (CR) behaviors of Iranian respondents while checking the adequacy of our proposed model (inspired by Herber’s taxonomy). To qualitatively and quantitatively examine the CRs of fifteen proficient Iranian female learners of English, we initially collected the data using two sets of Discourse Completion Tasks (DCT) (in Persian and English) consisting of a variety of situations and variables (e.g., social distance and compliment topics). Then, follow-up semi-structured interviews were conducted to tap into the participants’ (non-)beliefs in the evil eye and its presupposed effects on their compliment exchanges. The findings underscore the adequacy of our modified model and the particularities of Iranian cultural schemas. Specifically, being a widespread belief, evil-eye is shown to play a pivotal role in formulating the responses to compliments through the selective application of CR types such as Cheshm-Zadan and Taarof in reaction to the compliments given (particularly those on family members or beloved ones) across both languages. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings with reference to the relevant literature and implications for intercultural communication, language education, and sociopragmatic research and practice.
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Forough Rekabizadeh , Mavadat Saidi,
Volume 26, Issue 1 (3-2023)
Abstract
The study aimed to examine the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between coping strategies and language learning anxiety using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A total of 783 language learners participated in this research and completed Coping with Language Anxiety Scale, Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, and Self-Efficacy Belief Scale. The data were analyzed using SEM to test the hypothesized mediation model. Results indicated that coping strategies were negatively associated with language learning anxiety. Furthermore, self-efficacy beliefs partially mediated the relationship between coping strategies and language learning anxiety. Specifically, higher levels of self-efficacy were found to enhance the negative effect of coping strategies on language learning anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of promoting coping strategies and self-efficacy in language learning contexts to reduce anxiety. The implication of these findings for language learners, educators, and researchers are discussed, along with suggestions for future research in this area.
Pegah Pegah, Mohsen Hanif,
Volume 26, Issue 1 (3-2023)
Abstract
Manipulation, one of the pivotal concepts in critical discourse analysis (CDA), is mainly considered a top-down strategy implemented by superior people on the inferior ones, who are passive recipients of power, to further their goals and benefits. However, the present paper highlights manipulative strategies exercised by a less powerful individual on the more powerful one who rather than being a passive victim, resists being manipulated by having gained counter-information to counterbalance the manipulator’s arguments. In the present paper, a critical discourse analytic approach is adopted to trace the power struggle in interpersonal relationships, taking advantage of a textual-contextual analysis to lay bare how power relations are detectable in discourse and what strategies are employed to exert or neutralize power. The selected excerpt examines the exchange between an irresponsible tour guide who is concerned with his job security and a dissatisfied tourist who threatens to disclose his incompetency as a tour-guide. To accomplish this end, several manipulative strategies are identified in the chosen excerpt, drawing on Teun A. Van Dijk, Eddo Rigotti, De Saussure & Schulz and Sandrine Sorlin’s proposed strategies.
Ms. Faezeh Moteshaker, Dr. Hossein Bahri,
Volume 27, Issue 2 (9-2024)
Abstract
This study investigates syntactic and thematic strategies by a translation model based on artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, in English to Persian literary translation. Mona Baker's (2011) theory of linear dislocation aims to assess whether and to what extent four major strategies (voice change, verb change, nominalization, and extraposition) occur in AI-generated text. The data set includes Thomas Hardy's short story Absent Mindedness in a Parish Choir and its full Persian translation produced by ChatGPT. A qualitative comparative method was adopted, in which Baker's scheme was taken as the starting point for text analysis. Forty four segments were identified and examined, each demonstrating the use of at least one of the mentioned strategies. The findings show that ChatGPT makes considerable use of all four strategies implicitly: verb change (31.82%), voice change (27.27%), nominalization (22.73%), and extraposition (18.18%). These results preserved thematic structure and communicative coherence in most cases. The study identifies ChatGPT's capacity to respond to functional translation in literary translation with idiomatic, rhythmic, and rhetorical fidelity. It suggests Baker's strategies are still relevant not only for human translators but also as a valuable instrument for evaluating and post-editing AI translations, especially literature. This study investigates syntactic and thematic strategies by a translation model based on artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, in English to Persian literary translation. Mona Baker's (2011) theory of linear dislocation aims to assess whether and to what extent four major strategies (voice change, verb change, nominalization, and extraposition) occur in AI-generated text. The data set includes Thomas Hardy's short story Absent Mindedness in a Parish Choir and its full Persian translation produced by ChatGPT. A qualitative comparative method was adopted, in which Baker's scheme was taken as the starting point for text analysis. Forty four segments were identified and examined, each demonstrating the use of at least one of the mentioned strategies. The findings show that ChatGPT makes considerable use of all four strategies implicitly: verb change (31.82%), voice change (27.27%), nominalization (22.73%), and extraposition (18.18%). These results preserved thematic structure and communicative coherence in most cases. The study identifies ChatGPT's capacity to respond to functional translation in literary translation with idiomatic, rhythmic, and rhetorical fidelity. It suggests Baker's strategies are still relevant not only for human translators but also as a valuable instrument for evaluating and post-editing AI translations, especially literature.
Mr Parviz Ahmadi,
Volume 27, Issue 2 (9-2024)
Abstract
The rapid transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to examine preservice teachers’ readiness and experiences with digital instruction. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of 15 undergraduate EFL preservice teachers and a focus group of 5 teacher educators at a public university in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, Iran. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key patterns in technological competence, pedagogical integration, student engagement, and professional support. Findings revealed that participants’ engagement with online platforms was largely driven by necessity, with initial struggles in technical operation and lesson adaptation gradually giving way to growing confidence and autonomy. Despite developing practical skills, many preservice teachers encountered challenges in designing interactive lessons, maintaining student motivation, and addressing infrastructural limitations. Teacher educators emphasized the importance of mentorship, reflective practice, and structured guidance in building pedagogical readiness. The study also highlighted a gap in context-specific preparation in Iran, particularly regarding institutional support and tailored professional development for digital teaching. Implications suggest that teacher education programs should integrate experiential training, ongoing mentorship, and context-sensitive strategies to bridge the gap between technical competence and effective online pedagogy. This research contributes to understanding the factors influencing preservice teachers’ preparedness for online language instruction and provides practical recommendations for enhancing teacher education in digitally mediated environments.
Mozhgan Mostafavi, Prof Moussa Ahmadian,
Volume 27, Issue 2 (9-2024)
Abstract
With the tremendous breakthrough in technology and its pivotal role, some EFL teachers are inclined toward applying technology in their classrooms. Given this, the present research aimed to discover the relationship between the use of Anki by language learners and the improvement of their vocabulary learning. Another focus of the study is to explore what self-regulated learning strategies are applied by English language learners to enhance their vocabulary learning through using Anki. To find whether they enable learners to improve their language learning or not. To do so, a survey was conducted among 60 young Iranian students aged from 16 to 20, forming two homogeneous groups from Jahesh Institute of Mohajeran, Arak. The instructor selected 120 target words from two intermediate-level coursebooks for the experimental group to practice using Anki, alongside instruction on self-regulation strategies. The control group continued with regular classes. Both groups took a pre-test and a post-test, while the experimental group also completed an MSLQ questionnaire after the program. Following 14 treatment sessions, the participants' scores were compared. Quantitative analysis revealed that the Anki users showed significant improvement in vocabulary retention compared to the control group, demonstrating the app's effectiveness. The second finding demonstrated the type of self-regulated learning strategies employed by the learners to improve their vocabulary learning. In conclusion, using Anki can effectively enhance EFL learners’ vocabulary acquisition. This finding suggests that TEFL teachers should integrate technology-assisted learning tools like Anki into their instruction while also guiding students in self-regulation strategies to foster greater autonomy. Combining self-regulated learning techniques with mobile-based learning technologies offers significant potential for improving EFL students’ vocabulary retention and overall language development, ultimately leading to more successful learning outcomes.
Dr. Elahe Sadeghi-Barzani, Mrs. Atefe Nikfakhr,
Volume 28, Issue 2 (9-2025)
Abstract
Abstract: In the globalized world today, translation plays an important role to make people of all around the world closer together by introducing each other’s cultures. However, translation is impossible in some cases or it is, sometimes, a severely challenging task for translator, due to the existence of cultural items or conceptualizations. This study determined and rated the translation strategies applied in the translation of a sample of culture specific items (CSIs) in the English translation of the novel “Missing Soluch” by Dowlatabadi. To do so, 46 culture-specific items were selected from this novel, based on purposive sampling and text analysis of the field of Cultural Linguistics. Then, the applied strategies for translating these items were determined and classified through utilizing the Newmark’s (1988) translation classification. Results revealed that the most frequent translation strategies were “functional equivalence”, “literal translation” and “descriptive equivalence. However, the most successful strategy was applying “functional equivalence” which leads to more loyalty of target text to the source text and preserving the source text impression on the target audience.
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