Gerannaz Zamani

Bio: Gerannaz Zamani is an academic researcher from Razi University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Persian & Foreign language. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 7 publications receiving 39 citations.

Predatory publishing as a case of symbolic violence: A critical English for academic purposes approach

Abstract: A rising number of university faculty and students in Iran are falling prey to predatory publishers, that is, publishing academic low-quality and unethical research papers. There are increa...

'HOTS' in Iran's Official Textbooks: Implications for Material Design and Student Learning

Abstract: Higher-order thinking skills or ‘HOTS’ for short are essential outcome criteria of higher education in any discipline. It is thinking that is characterized in terms of ‘analysis’, ‘evaluation’ and ‘creation’ levels of Anderson and Krathwohl's taxonomy. This paper attempts to evaluate higher order thinking skills represented in Iran's Organization for Researching and Composing University Textbooks in the Humanities (known as SAMT) official English textbooks of TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) using Anderson and Krathwohl's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Three University English textbooks pertaining to the specialized courses; that is, Methodology, Language testing, and Linguistics were included in the analysis. To codify the cognitive processes involved in these materials, a coding scheme was developed by the researchers based on Anderson and Krathwohl's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. The exercises and activities of the textbooks were codified and the frequencies and percentages of occurrence of different thinking processes were calculated. The most important finding emerging from this study is that in all the textbooks lower-order thinking skills were more frequently targeted and represented than higher-order ones. Moreover, the difference between the language testing, methodology and linguistics textbooks in terms of the degrees of the engagement of higher-order thinking was notable, as in the language testing textbook, from among these three, attention has been paid most to critical thinking. Results of this study have implications both for specialized language materials development and evaluation.

Move Analysis of the Conclusion Sections of Research Papers in Persian and English.

Abstract: The structure of the conclusion sections in Research Papers (RPs) is of significance in academic writing. The conclusion section in spite of providing an outline of the article, states other essential components, such as recommendations, implications and statements of possible lines of future research. This paper analyses the conclusion parts of Persian and English Research papers published in international journals. To meet this end 20 RPs were selected from two fields including Civil Engineering and Applied Linguistics. The Conclusion sections of the papers were examined for their moves based on Yang and Allison’s (2003) model of moves. The frequency analysis of the moves showed slight differences among the moves employed and with regards to the Chi-Square tests, no significant differences were observed between the Conclusion sections of Applied Linguistics and Civil Engineering RPs regarding the moves employed as well as between Persian and English RPs. The study yields a richer understanding of the conclusion structure of research articles and offers ESP/EFL instructors and researchers, insights which can be used in the instruction of the conventions or expectations of academic writing. Novice writers and non-native students can benefit from it, mainly because it helps them eliminate their writing dilemmas and assists them to take part in international discourse communities.

Exploring Arguments Presented in Predatory Journals Using Toulmin's Model of Argumentation.

Abstract: In the academic community, predatory publishers are exploiting academic integrity and the open access publishing model. Academicians receive numerous spam e-mail messages inviting article submissions each day which deceive authors by promising fast review and publication. The content of these emails present arguments in a way to appear as legitimate and valid to grab the attention of authors. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to advance insights into the arguments deployed by fake journals in their attempt to convey specific indexicalities of identity and truthfulness. As a result of thematic analysis of 50 email messages from such journals, this research drew on two main themes-explicit and implicit arguments and their most frequent subcategories which were formal lexicon/grammar and fast peer- reviewed process. These arguments were, further, mapped on to Toulmin’s Model of Argumentation to find out more about the strength of the information used to support their claim. Utilizing Toulmin’s model, the findings highlighted the fact that there were instances of discursive deviations or “hidden rebuttals” that revealed the predatory journals’ ingenuity.

Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic Writing

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Teaching Thinking Skills.

Abstract: Reasoning; *Cognitive Development; *Cognitive Processes; *Critical Thinking; Elementary Education; Heuristics; Instructional Innovation; *Learning Strategies; *Logical Thinking; Mathematics Instruction; Writing Instruction Mid Continent Regional Educational Laboratory CO

Critical Pedagogies And Language Learning

Abstract: CRITICAL PEDAGOGIES AND LANGUAGE LEARNING. Bonny Norton and Kelleen Toohey (Eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. xiii + 362. $77.00 cloth, $28.00 paper. Language is not simply communication; rather, it is a practice that constructs the ways language learners understand themselves and their social surroundings. This collection assembles the work of 22 scholars interested in critical perspectives on language education in different sites of practice. They investigate how social relationships and issues of power are centrally important in developing critical language education pedagogies.

Virtual and Face-To-Face Academic Conferences: Comparison and Potentials

Abstract: Academic conferences have always been privileged spaces and moments for the dissemination of new scientific knowledge, as well as for social interaction and for the establishment and development of social networks among scientists. However, the virtual dimension of conferences, in which individuals are not physically present in the same place, begins to emerge as an increasingly used possibility, which implies a different framing of these scientific events. This paper seeks to comparatively analyse several models of academic conferences, putting forth their advantages, limitations and potentials. Furthermore, it also seeks to reasonably envision the importance and challenges to be faced in the near future. The analysis allows concluding that virtual conferences tend to take on an increasingly central role in this type of scientific dissemination, but without totally relegating the conference mode with face-to-face interaction. Moreover, there may be conferences that emerge as a hybrid between these two types of conferences, in an attempt to provide their main benefits to the various participants. However, the insufficient literature on this topic calls for the need to develop and deepen studies in this area that allow understanding this academic and social, but also economic phenomenon, in its broader implications.