Shiraz University Press
Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
2981-1546
33
2
2014
07
01
The effects of Concept Mapping Strategy and Aural Vs. Written Prompts on Writing Test Performance Under Different Planning Conditions
55
80
EN
Najmeh
Farshi
Isfahan University
najmeh.farshi@gmail.com
Mansoor
Tavakoli
Isfahan University
mr.tavakoli14@gmail.com
10.22099/jtls.2014.2045
This study examined the effects of aural and written prompts under two planning conditions (i.e. pre-task planning and no planning) on complexity, accuracy, and fluency of test takers' writing production. Forty learners in an English institute, who had already been classified as intermediate according to the Oxford Placement Test, were assigned to two planning conditions (i.e. no planning and pre-task planning). Then the planning groups were further divided into another two groups: with aural prompt and with written prompt. Also, concept mapping strategy was applied during pre-task planning time by the test takers. The results obtained from t-test and two-way ANOVA revealed that the candidates who had received the written prompt utilized their planning time better and produced more fluent written texts than those who received the aural prompt. Furthermore, neither concept mapping strategy with aural prompt nor concept mapping strategy with written prompt led to more complex or more accurate writings. Finally, the interaction of no planning condition and written prompt had a significant effect on complexity in comparison with the pre-task planning condition with written prompt. Also, written prompt under no planning condition had a significant effect on complexity in comparison with the same planning condition with aural prompt. <br />It was concluded that the planned conditions, concept mapping strategy and the received prompts had little effect on the test takers' writing performance.
accuracy,complexity,concept mapping,fluency,prompt
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2045.html
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2045_57c2092317a36d5ace87b9d071fa029e.pdf
Shiraz University Press
Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
2981-1546
33
2
2014
07
01
The Impact of Metalinguistic English Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Inferencing on EFL Learners’ Lexical Knowledge Considering the Cross-Linguistic Issue of L1 Lexicalization
27
53
EN
nassim
Golaghaei
Department of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran
nassimgolaghaei72@yahoo.com
Mortaza
Yamini
Zand Institue of Higher Education, Shiraz, Iran
mortazayamini@yahoo.com
10.22099/jtls.2014.2403
The present study endeavors to unravel the enigma of the psycholinguistic mechanisms underpinning bilingual mental lexicon by analyzing the issue of L1 lexicalization as a construct epitomizing an overarching framework. It involves 78 juniors at the Islamic Azad University, Roudehen Branch. The study inspects the impact of the interventionist/noninterventionist treatments on both sets of lexicalized and nonlexicalized items pedagogically. It further tries to bring the bilingual mental lexicon under scrutiny by investigating the cross-linguistic issue of L1 lexicalization psycholinguistically. The results, obtained through the independent t-test, indicate a significant difference between the two groups dealing with both sets of items. The paired t-test shows that the learners had a greater degree of familiarity with lexicalized items at pretesting, and they were more successful in learning lexicalized items at posttesting. However, no significant difference was found in gain scores in the two groups. The descriptive analyses indicate that the number of lexicalized words produced productively was approximately two times as many as the number of nonlexicalized items at the same level in the interventionist group. Moreover, the number of nonlexicalized items learned partially was much greater in comparison with their lexicalized counterparts. The results have implications for EFL methodologists and theoreticians.
metalinguistic awareness,inferencing,lexical quality hypothesis,hybrid entry stage,mental lexicon
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2403.html
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2403_b9f91ccf720caa7337efa59a49c9607d.pdf
Shiraz University Press
Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
2981-1546
33
2
2014
07
01
A Pragmatic Study of Requestive Speech Act by Iranian EFL Learners and Canadian Native Speakers in Hotels
1
25
EN
Mahmood
Hashemian
0000-0003-3631-8662
Shahrekord University
m72h@hotmail.com
10.22099/jtls.2014.2043
This study was an attempt to shed light on the use of requestive speech act by Iranian nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English and Canadian native speakers (NSs) of English to find out the (possible) similarities and/or differences between the request realizations, and to investigate the influence of the situational variables of power, distance, context familiarity, and L1’s (possible) influence. Participants were 4 different groups: Canadian NSs of English, Persian NNSs, Iranian hotel staff, and Iranian English learners. Data were obtained by a discourse completion test (DCT) including 12 situations and was translated into Persian to elicit the data from the Persian NNSs. Then, data were analyzed and codified based on the cross-cultural speech act realization pattern (CCSARP; Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984). Findings indicated that the Persian culture is more direct and positive-politeness oriented, whereas the Canadian culture tends to be indirect and negative-politeness oriented. The Iranians revealed more variations in their request performance and were more sensitive to power differences. The Canadians were fixed and used conventionally indirect strategies in most situations.
Request,speech acts,cross-cultural speech act realization pattern (CCSARP)
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2043.html
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2043_95d3f5b5ede781b8c8fe8888bb0b71c1.pdf
Shiraz University Press
Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
2981-1546
33
2
2014
07
01
The Relationship between English and Persian Phonological Awareness, Rapid Autamatized Naming and Students’ Reading Achievement in Partial Immersion and Non-Immersion Programs
27
53
EN
Ali
Kazemi
Yasouj University
akazemi@yu.ac.ir
10.22099/jtls.2014.2044
The cognitive predictors (i.e.,Phonological Awareness, and Rapid Automatized Naming) underlying reading achievement have not been researched in Iranian partial English immersion and non-immersion programs. The present study sought to investigate the relationship between English and Persian Phonological Awareness (PA), Rapid Autamatized Naming (RAN) and reading achievementof Iranian students in partial immersion and non-immersion programs. To this end, one hundred forty five students from three different grade levels in a partial English immersion program and 95 students from three different grade levels in a non-immersion program were chosen. Six different English and Persian tests were utilized (namely, the Cambridge English for Young Learners (YLE) test for Reading,the Persian reading achievement test, the English and Persian Phonological AwarenessSound Detection tests, and the English and Persian Rapid Automatized Naming Tests). Given the design of the study, a number of statistical tests were run. The main findingswere as follows: learners’ reading achievement could significantly be predicted through both English and Persian PA and RAN.Furthermore, learning English in a partial English immersion system improves learners’ reading achievement and cognitive predictors compared with non-immersion program. The findings suggest that by teaching learners PA and RAN skills, their reading achievement improves in both English and Persian.
Key Words: Non- Immersion,Partial Immersion,phonological awareness,Rapid Autamatized Naming,Reading Achievement
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2044.html
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2044_847746f6ca92c38921101c4462b15163.pdf
Shiraz University Press
Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
2981-1546
33
2
2014
07
01
Cognitive Task Complexity and Iranian EFL Learners’ Written Linguistic Performance across Writing Proficiency Levels
107
128
EN
Elaheh
Sotoudehnama
Alzahra University
esotoude@alzahra.ac.ir
Mahsa
Farahanynia
Alzahra University
m.farahanynia85@gmail.com
10.22099/jtls.2014.2333
Recently tasks, as the basic units of syllabi, and the cognitive complexity, as the criterion for sequencing them, have caught many second language researchers’ attention. This study sought to explore the effect of utilizing the cognitively simple and complex tasks on high- and low-proficient EFL Iranian writers’ linguistic performance, i.e., fluency, accuracy, lexical complexity, and structural complexity. At first, based on their scores on the writing test of TOFEL (2003), participants were assigned to high- and low-proficient writers. Participants in both groups first accomplished the simple task which was the narration of a story based on a set of pictures. One week later, they were asked to perform the complex task which was writing about a topic requiring reasons. Then the written productions were encoded on the measures of fluency, accuracy, lexical complexity, and structural complexity. Four two-way mixed-design ANOVAs were conducted. The results revealed that the learners significantly generated less accurate, more structurally complex, and more fluent language in the complex task. No significant effect was found for the lexical complexity measure. The high-proficient group performed significantly better in the four measures. The interaction between task complexity and writing proficiency did not yield any significant results. On the whole, based on the findings, the ‘limited attentional model’ was shown to be more accurate in comparison with ‘cognition hypothesis’ and the ‘threshold level hypothesis’ was not confirmed.
Cognitive task complexity,accuracy,complexity,fluency,Writing proficiency level
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2333.html
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2333_0998780b7ef18233405bbbf2f75af656.pdf
Shiraz University Press
Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
2981-1546
33
2
2014
07
01
The Effect of Variations in Integrated Writing Tasks and Proficiency Level on Features of Written Discourse Generated by Iranian EFL Learners
129
159
EN
Hassan
Soleimani
0000-0002-1461-1406
Payame Noor University
arshia.soleimani@gmail.com
Maryam
Mahdavipour
Payame Noor University
maryam.mahdavipur.2009@gmail.com
10.22099/jtls.2014.2060
In recent years, a number of large-scale writing assessments (e.g., TOEFL iBT) have employed integrated writing tests to measure test takers’ academic writing ability. Using a quantitative method, the current study examined how written textual features and use of source material(s) varied across two types of text-based integrated writing tasks (i.e., listening-to-write vs. reading-to-write) and two levels of language proficiency (i.e., high vs. low). Sixty Iranian English major students were selected through purposive sampling and divided into low and high proficiency groups based on an IELTS practice test. Then, they were required to write on a listening-to-write and a reading-to-write task. Results of two-way and one-way ANOVAs revealed that firstly, variations in integrated writing tasks together with level of proficiency had a significant effect on all the generated discourse features, secondly, the two types of integrated tasks produced features that shared to a large extent, and thirdly, some features could distinguish a certain level of proficiency. In addition, the results indicated that plagiarism is higher in response to the reading-to-write task than the listening-to-write task especially among the low proficiency writers. Implications of the study are presented.
academic writing,integrated writing tasks,writing assessment,reading-to-write,listening-to-write
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2060.html
https://tesl.shirazu.ac.ir/article_2060_4e16cb8bd5ac48d21d17b8dee2f1d751.pdf