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Showing papers in "Theory and Practice in Language Studies in 2012"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article introduced conditions and criteria which enable researchers to account for these drawbacks and at the same time make validity claims, and the contribution of this method to the current procedures of sampling arises from its factual accuracy which is supposed to enhance the validity of findings obtained from studies employing nonprobability sampling procedures.
Abstract: Convenience sampling is one of the most commonly used sampling procedures in second language acquisition studies, but this non-random sampling procedure suffers from a lot of problems including the inability of controlling for initial differences between experimental and control groups. The present study tries to introduce conditions and criteria which enable researchers to account for these drawbacks and at the same time make validity claims. Individual scores and group statistics are compared with regard to a group of essential factors known to be important for the purpose of the study. The overall value calculated for essential factors is then used to make judgments about the groups’ comparability. The contribution of this method to the current procedures of sampling arises from its factual accuracy which is supposed to enhance the validity of findings obtained from studies employing non-probability sampling procedures.

230 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of teacher self-efficacy on student's motivation and achievement was investigated, and the results revealed that teacher selfefficacy has a positive influence on the students' motivation.
Abstract: The study of self-efficacy and its impact on human performance has intrigued a lot of scholars during the last two decades (e.g. Clayson, D. & Sheffet, M. 2006; Nauta, M. 2001; Muijs R Bandura, 1997; Podell & Soodak, 1993). The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of teacher self-efficacy (TSE) on the students’ motivation and achievement. To this end, eighty senior high school teachers in four different cities in Iran, and one hundred and fifty senior high school students, based on their teachers’ level of self-efficacy, have been selected randomly. For data collection, two instruments were employed: Teacher Self-Efficacy and Students’ Motivation questionnaires. Data were analyzed through Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and ANOVA. The results of the study revealed that teacher self-efficacy has a positive influence on the students’ motivation and achievement. The results of the study and their pedagogical implications are discussed, and recommendations for further research are provided.

213 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The aim of the present paper is to familiarize the readers with the most frequently used readability formulas as well as the pros and cons views toward the use of such formulas.
Abstract: In TEFL, it is often stated that communication presupposes comprehension. The main purpose of readability studies is thus to measure the comprehensibility of a piece of writing. In this regard, different readability measures were initially devised to help educators select passages suitable for both children and adults. However, readability formulas can certainly be extremely helpful in the realm of EFL reading. They were originally designed to assess the suitability of books for students at particular grade levels or ages. Nevertheless, they can be used as basic tools in determining certain crucial EFL text-characteristics instrumental in the skill of reading and its related issues. The aim of the present paper is to familiarize the readers with the most frequently used readability formulas as well as the pros and cons views toward the use of such formulas. Of course, this part mostly illustrates studies done on readability formulas with the results obtained. The main objective of this part is to help readers to become familiar with the background of the formulas, the theory on which they stand, what they are good for and what they are not with regard to a number of studies cited in this section.

130 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examines in detail the three most influential error theories: Contrastive analysis, Error analysis and Interlanguage theory.
Abstract: Error Analysis is one of the major topics in the field of second language acquisition research. Errors are an integral part of language learning. The learner of English as a second language is unaware of the existence of the particular system or rule in English language. The learner’s errors have long been interested for second and foreign language researchers. The basic task of error analysis is to describe how learning occurs by examining the learner’s output and this includes his/her correct and incorrect utterances. There are two major approaches to the study of learner’s errors, namely contrastive analysis and error analysis. Error analysis cannot be studied properly without touching upon the notion of contrastive analysis. Contrastive analysis and error analysis have been commonly recognized as branches of Applied Linguistic Science. This paper examines in detail the three most influential error theories: Contrastive analysis, Error analysis and Interlanguage theory. Corder (1978) maintains that interlanguage can be seen as a restructuring or a recreating continuum and, therefore; evaluates their role in second language acquisition.

97 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the correlation between general self-confidence and academic achievement in the oral presentation course and found that those who scored high in GSCQ also had high scores in oral achievement test.
Abstract: The study was particularly aimed at investigating the correlation between general self-confidence and academic achievement in the oral presentation course. Participants were 53 undergraduate female English majors, from Taibah University. Data was collected through a General Self-Confidence Questionnaire (GSCQ) and final evaluation grades in the Oral Presentation course. SPSS was used for analyzing data. The results revealed a positive, significant correlation between general self-confidence and academic achievement. Those who scored high in GSCQ also had high scores in the oral achievement test. Language instructors were recommended to enhance building up their students’ self-confidence in order to develop their oral performance achievement.

96 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present paper mostly illustrates fundamental background studies done in the field of Error Analysis that helps EFL teachers and educators to become familiar with the most frequent errors committed by EFL learners leading them to make more objective decisions about how to go about adopting appropriate teaching strategies to help EFL students learn better.
Abstract: Many scholars in the field of EA have stressed the significance of second language learners' errors. Corder (1967), for instance, in his influential article, remarks that "they are significant in three different ways. First, to the teacher, in that they show how far towards the goal the learner has progressed. Second, they provide to the researcher evidence of how a language is acquired, what strategies the learner is employing in his learning of a language. Thirdly, they are indisputable to the learner himself because we can regard the making of errors as a device the learner uses in order to learn" (p. 161). The present paper mostly illustrates fundamental background studies done in the field of Error Analysis. There is the hope that the paper helps EFL teachers and educators to become familiar with the most frequent errors committed by EFL learners leading them to make more objective decisions about how to go about adopting appropriate teaching strategies to help EFL students learn better.

74 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship of listening comprehension with other language skills and found that listening comprehension is the primary channel of learning a language and the secondary skill, speaking, proceeds listening cognitively.
Abstract: Listening comprehension is the primary channel of learning a language. Yet of the four dominant macro-skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), it is often difficult and inaccessible for second and foreign language learners due to its implicit process. The secondary skill, speaking, proceeds listening cognitively. Aural/oral skills precede the graphic skills, such as reading and writing, as they form the circle of language learning process. However, despite the significant relationship with other language skills, listening comprehension is treated lightly in the applied linguistics research. Half of our daily conversation and three quarters of classroom interaction are virtually devoted to listening comprehension. To examine the relationship of listening skill with other language skills, the outcome of 1800 Iranian participants undertaking International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in Tehran indicates the close correlation between listening comprehension and the overall language proficiency.

71 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of teachers' beliefs in the language teaching-learning process is analyzed, and three essential teacher beliefs about learners, learning, and teachers themselves are discussed.
Abstract: Teachers’ beliefs are important for understanding and improving educational process. They closely guide language teachers to adopt their teaching strategies for coping with their daily language teaching challenges, influence their general well-being, and in turn, shape language learners’ learning environment, their motivation and their language achievement and ability. This essay studies some previous researches on teachers’ beliefs, and analyzes the role of three teachers’ beliefs in the language teaching-learning process. The first part clarifies the concept of teachers’ beliefs, the second part illustrates three essential teachers’ beliefs about learners, learning and teachers themselves, and their role in the language teaching-learning process, the third part is the conclusion, which is consistent with the concept of teachers’ beliefs.

67 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined the key terms, explained the models of reading process, reviewed reading process and reading strategies, discuss cognitive and metacognitive strategies and reading comprehension, elaborate reciprocal teaching and its theoretical framework.
Abstract: Whenever teachers are faced with the problem of students who do not have adequate comprehension skills, they need to be able to train those students to use metacognitive strategies; otherwise, these students will continue to read texts emphasizing only words and not meaning. One set of metacognitive strategies are the reciprocal teaching strategies used to improve students’ reading comprehension. Reciprocal teaching involves four main metacognitive reading strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. The aims of this paper are to define the key terms, explain the models of reading process, review reading process and reading strategies, discuss cognitive and metacognitive strategies and reading comprehension, elaborate reciprocal teaching and its theoretical framework, mention the related research on reciprocal teaching, and state relationship between reciprocal teaching and reading comprehension. The findings indicated that reciprocal teaching had a significantly positive effect on the English reading comprehension and usage of the four main metacognitive reading strategies of EFL students.

67 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Sapir-Whorf's Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis provokes intellectual discussion about the strong impact language has on our perception of the world around us as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Sapir-Whorf's Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis provokes intellectual discussion about the strong impact language has on our perception of the world around us. This paper intends to enliven the still open questions raised by this hypothesis. This is done by considering some of Sapir’s, Whorf’s, and other scholar’s works.

54 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between the students' anxiety in essay writing and their writing performance in EFL context and found that the students felt less nervous in writing when the teacher assured them that their papers will not be scored in contrast to the time when their papers were to be scored by the teacher.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the students’ anxiety in essay writing and their writing performance in EFL context. The subjects were chosen from among 75 Iranian EFL students who took part in TOFEL proficiency test. 27 students majoring in English have been selected. They studied either English translation or English literature. The instruments to collect data were: a) Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) (Cheng, 2004) b) Open - ended questionnaire and c) Writing performance tests. The results suggested that the students felt less nervous in writing when the teacher assured them that their papers will not be scored in contrast to the time when their papers were to be scored by the teacher. In addition, the correlation between final writing test and anxiety were significantly high. The participants’ responses to the open-ended questionnaire revealed that during their first stage of writing experience (when the teacher assured them that their papers will not be scored), the students had less physiological and psychological changes than their final test. The results suggested that by taking advantage of the facilitative aspect of anxiety, the students’ writing performance will be improved. The study has some pedagogical implications that will be discussed in this paper.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate how teachers perceive the use of computer technology resources in English Language Teaching and find that simply introducing technology resources does not guarantee teachers' use of these in practice.
Abstract: Computers have become commonplace in our personal as well as our professional lives. Computers have made many of our everyday tasks easier and faster and made our society more productive. A very important set of variables such as the classroom teacher and the teacher’s attitudes towards the effective uses of computers in the classroom have been overlooked in EFL classrooms. This study investigates how teachers perceive the use of computer technology resources in English Language Teaching. The first aim of the study is to define the teachers’ attitudes. The second aim is to discuss the aspects of attitude. The third aim is to explain teachers’ attitudes and computer technology training. The fourth aim is to elaborate teachers’ attitudes and computer technology integration. The fifth aim is to define teachers’ attitudes and computer experience. The sixth aim is to discuss teachers’ attitudes and computer anxiety and interest. The last aim is to review teachers’ attitudes and computer literacy. The review of the related literature shows that simply introducing computer technology resources does not guarantee teachers’ use of these in practice. Knowledge of EFL teachers’ attitudes about teaching, learning, and computers, affords them the opportunity to design and implement EFL instruction.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper used typographic emoticons as linguistic units and observed their structures and uses in sentences, and found that emoticons are not only paraverbal devices, but also structural markers, and play a significant role in the formation of the sentence.
Abstract: With the flourishing of information technology in the last 50 years, electronic communication has become a significant part of our daily lives. As electronic language is written text, it is divorced from gestures, facial expressions, and prosodic features such as intonation, rhythm, and volume. That is why emoticons have entered cyberspace; they infuse electronic communication with an emotional, human touch. This paper deals with typographic emoticons as linguistic units, and observes their structures and uses in sentences. The research corpus covers 258 French text messages collected with anonym questionnaire around the years 2008 - 2009. After a graphic analysis of typographic emoticons, we define ―emoticon structure‖ as ―a pictogram-like unit formed with alphagrams and topograms of distinctive significative function, and visually conditioned to the referent‖. Morphological analysis has shown that, in emoticon structure, graphemes of entirely different significances and functions become morpheme-like units, which, like word morphemes, can be derivational, inflectional, or abbreviated, but never unbound. Relying on a corpus, we isolated the two main uses of the emoticon: non-verbal and verbal. The former is the more frequent use, so it is considered in more detail in this paper. Analysis has shown that emoticons are not only paraverbal devices, but also structural markers, and they play a significant role in the formation of the sentence.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the cultural elements in four English language textbooks: Interchange, Headway, Top Notch, On Your Mark currently used in Iran in order to determine the most prominent cultural dimension portrayed.
Abstract: Materials development and evaluation is a relatively young phenomenon in the field of language teaching. In the practical sense, it includes the production, evaluation and adaptation of materials. Undoubtedly, culture is much more valuable than teaching and practicing the literary masterpiece. The need to integrate culture into teaching the second language particularly teaching English in a foreign context is not a new debate and has long been highlighted in countless studies. Societal values, attitudes and cultural elements are integrated with the communicative approach to enhance the effectiveness of L2 acquisition. Conversely, textbooks are an integral part of language learning in the classrooms. Yet, it seems to be common practice that foreign language textbooks and classrooms frequently overlook the conclusions drawn in such studies and neglect the essential information about the target language culture that would help students reach a cultural understanding to accompany their linguistic knowledge. Hence, it is the intent of this paper to examine the cultural elements in four English language textbooks: Interchange, Headway, Top Notch, On Your Mark currently used in Iran in order to determine the most prominent cultural dimension portrayed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article gave the definition of anxiety and its classification and then states the sources of foreign language anxiety, which shows Chinese students are bothered by reading anxiety coming from their lack of background knowledge and psychological factors such as anxiety, fear, bad reading habit and low interest in foreign language, etc.
Abstract: This paper firstly gives the definition of anxiety and its classification and then states the sources of foreign language anxiety. Research has made on the correlation between foreign language anxiety and reading anxiety, which shows Chinese students are bothered by reading anxiety coming from their lack of background knowledge and psychological factors such as anxiety, fear, bad reading habit and low interest in foreign language, etc. According to the above discussion, the paper gives the four strategies to help the students overcome reading anxiety, promoting students reading efficiency and we English teacher also can get teaching implication on this issue.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors put forth some basic concepts of Skopos theory, introduced some basic rules of it, and concluded the merits and limitations of skopos theories in translation study, among which, Skopo theory is a new branch and can explain and instruct many translation activities.
Abstract: There are many theories of translation study, among which, Skopos theory is a new branch and can explain and instruct many translation activities. This paper puts forth some basic concepts of Skopos theory, introduces some basic rules of it, and concludes the merits and limitations of Skopos theory.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between learners' listening strategy use, cognitive, metacognitive, social/affective, while they listen to the texts and some of their individual differences.
Abstract: This study tries to investigate the relationship between learners’ listening strategy use, cognitive, metacognitive, social/affective, while they listen to the texts and some of their individual differences. In order to study this relationship, 40 Iranian university EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students were surveyed with four structured questionnaires and an ILTES listening test. The questionnaires were Listening strategy use (Vandergrift, 1997), learning style (Soloman and Felder, 2001), motivation (adapted from Laine, 1988), and the Revised NEO- FFI. In order to comprehend whether there is a relationship between variables, and to see which group of individual differences use which listening strategy more, statistical analysis of Multiple Regression analysis, Chi Square test, one way ANOVA, at the p< 0.05 level, were used. The results suggested that there was a significant relationship between the level of motivation and the listening strategies. After motivation, learning style, also, had some effect on the listening strategies use. The other variables had no significant effect on the use of the three listening comprehension strategies. In addition it should be mentioned that social/ affective strategy was omitted in the analysis because the mean of this strategy use was so low. It means that no individual groups used this kind of listening strategy. Finally, the aim of this article was to clarify on little-investigated area, namely, listening comprehension strategies and some individual differences, and the findings discussed in the area of English language teaching.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined the predictive relationships of student dispositions and their abilities to think, and opened a refreshed horizon in teaching students to develop their ability of critical thinking, and found that to motivate students' disposition, it is indispensable for the teacher to scaffold them to think critically.
Abstract: Many authorities in higher education did not enthusiastically embrace the idea that college students should receive explicit instruction in how to think. Note that the academic community was opposed to good thinking, but many educators believed that it was a misguided effort. For example, Glaser (1984) cited abundant evidence of Critical Thinking failures in support of his argument that thinking skills are context-bound and do not transfer across academic domains. Glaser and other sceptics were partly correct. Better thinking is not a necessary outcome of traditional, discipline-based instruction. But, increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity make Critical Thinking as necessary as sunrise. This study attempted (1) to examine the predictive relationships of student dispositions and their abilities to think; and (2) to open a refreshed horizon in teaching students to develop their ability of Critical Thinking. Furthermore, the authors believed that to motivate students’ disposition, it is indispensable for the teacher to scaffold them to think critically.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors made a survey on advanced English majors and found that the most important factors in SLA and English teaching are emotion, feeling, mood, manner, attitude and so on.
Abstract: Affective factors are the most important factors in SLA and English teaching. These factors include emotion, feeling, mood, manner, attitude and so on. All these factors, especially, motivation, self-confidence and anxiety, decide the input and output of the second language. Under the guidance of the Affective Filter Hypothesis proposed by Krashen, the present paper makes a survey on advanced English majors. By collecting and analyzing research data, some useful results and implications have been found and can be used in future teaching. The affective factors will surely help the teachers to improve their teaching quality and students to cultivate an all-round development.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a speech act analysis of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's Victory and Inaugural speeches was conducted to determine the global pattern of pragmatic moves of the selected political speeches.
Abstract: The study was conducted to identify the speech acts features of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Victory and Inaugural Speeches. Hence, the study focused on the pragmatic functions of locution, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts of the speeches. This was done with a view to determine the global pattern of pragmatic moves of the selected political speeches. The data were drawn from the Victory speech and Inaugural Speech and analyzed following the Speech Act theory of Austin (1962) and Searle (1969). The tabular presentations of the analysis were drawn showing the relative frequencies of the speech acts and percentages. Twenty (20) sentences were obtained from the speeches, from which forty(40) speech acts (direct and indirect illocutionary acts) were obtained. The findings showed that the Overall Relative Frequency Percentages (ORFPs) for the selected speeches of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were: assertive-60%, directive-35%, expressive-15%, verdictive-40%, commisive-30%, and declarative-20%. These ORFPs results showed that Umaru Musa Yar’Adua relied more on sentences that performed assertive acts than other speech acts. He used the sentences that were vindictive and directive to assert his authority and exercise his power as the President. Sentences that were expressive had the least ORFP; hence, it was observed that the President exploited less of sentences which were meant for indicating the sincerity of his intentions. The Speech Act analysis of the political discourses of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua provided the understanding that political leaders in Nigeria perform various acts through their speeches. These speech acts assist in the understanding and interpretation of the messages in their speeches.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The findings suggest that the students code switched due to the lack of vocabulary knowledge and being in an informal environment that required the respondents to use language for different purposes; thus CS was used for checking understanding, asking for clarification and socializing.
Abstract: Code Switching (CS) is shifting from one language to another in a conversation. It is a normal every day practice among people in the world for various reasons and usually an unconscious activity. This language switching might not be the whole sentence, but also can occur in brief phrases or words. Therefore, in this study, using CS as a medium of instruction was focused on. Meanwhile, the students’ attitude towards CS, the positive impacts of CS on understanding the target language and the negative impacts of CS on students’ learning ability were investigated. The data for this study were collected from 4 participants through audio recordings of a classroom observation and students’ reflective journals. The findings suggest that the students code switched due to the lack of vocabulary knowledge and being in an informal environment that required the respondents to use language for different purposes; thus CS was used for checking understanding, asking for clarification and socializing. On the contrary, the teacher code switched because of clarification and translation into L1 whenever needed. On the other hand, reflective journals revealed using CS augments understanding of target language and they showed that students had positive views towards the application of CS.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of task-based writing on EFL learners' writing performance and creativity, and found that learners benefited significantly from taskbased writing in terms of both their writing and creativity.
Abstract: This study investigated the impact of task-based writing on EFL learners’ writing performance and creativity. For this purpose, 56 female intermediate Iranian EFL learners were chosen from a total number of 89 through their performance on a sample piloted PET. Based on the result, the students were randomly assigned to one control and one experimental group with 28 participants in each. Prior to the treatment, students took part in a writing test (part of PET) and the Abedi-Schumacher Creativity Test (ACT) as pretests. Both groups underwent the same amount of teaching and the same writing topics during 18 sessions of treatment. The only difference was that the experimental group was engaged in doing task-based writing activities while the control group was not asked to do any kind of tasks. At the end of the treatment, a writing test (another PET) and the ACT were administered to both groups. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrated that learners benefited significantly from task-based writing in terms of both their writing and creativity.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate learning motivation at University for Natural Resources and Environment to find out whether motivation has any impact on students' English learning in order that English teaching together with learning at the school can improve.
Abstract: Motivation plays a very important role in enhancing the students’ English learning performance. Therefore, the research aim is to investigate learning motivation at University for Natural Resources and Environment to find out whether motivation has any impact on students’ English learning in order that English teaching together with learning at the school can improve. 290 students and seven English teachers were invited to take part in the questionnaire survey. The findings demonstrated that students have positive towards English learning and motivational activities. They were both extrinsically and intrinsically motivated in the English subject. However, they had many difficulties in succeeding in the English subject and their English learning was influenced by various elements, among which two main factors influencing their English learning most were their personal ways of studying and the heavy learning curriculum with difficult textbooks. Teachers’ attitudes as well as their perceptions toward learning motivation are positive since they all find the necessity of motivation in improving students’ English performance.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between EFL teachers' locus of control and self-regulation and the moderating role of self-efficacy and found that about 48% of the variation in teacher selfregulation can be explained by taking their internal LOC into account.
Abstract: The present study investigated the relationship between EFL teachers' locus of control and self-regulation and the moderating role of self-efficacy. To empirically investigate the theorized relationship between self-regulation and locus of control, 63 English teachers were selected according to a convenience sampling from different language institutes in Mashhad. The participants were asked to complete the' Teacher Self-Regulation Scale' as well as the 'Teacher Locus of Control Scale'. The data supported the theoretical expectation of a linkage between self-regulation and locus of control. The results indicated a significant relationship between teachers' self-regulation and internal locus of control. It was found that about 48% of the variation in teacher self-regulation can be explained by taking their internal LOC into account. Subsequent data analyses indicated that among the components of self-regulation, 'mastery goal orientation', and 'intrinsic interest' have the highest correlations with teacher locus of control. The findings also illustrated that teacher self-efficacy had no significant impact on the relationship between self-regulation and locus of control. This suggests that regardless of the teacher self-efficacy level, a teacher self-regulation is related to his/her internal locus of control. The results derived from the present study should encourage teacher educators to take advantage of this relationship by providing EFL teachers with programs and experiences for developing effective paths for enhancing teacher self-regulatory skills as well as their internal tendencies and perceptions.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Aydin et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the causes of anxiety of students through the various types of anxiety that the students encounter in relation to learning English in a foreign land, and determined the relationship between the two.
Abstract: Anxiety, as an important affective variable, has been found to be a significant factor adversely affecting language learning (Aydin 2008). Many studies have explored sources and causes of anxiety among learners (Young, 1991; Tanveer, 2007; Aydin 2008; Williams& Andrade, 2008). However, to date little, if any, studies have examined levels and sources of anxiety and its relationship with fear of negative evaluation. To this end, the present study has been conducted in Iranian context. Data were gathered through administering two scales. Foreign language anxiety classroom scale (FLACS) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) scale were administered to a sample of 61 EFL learners. To analyze data, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, i.e. independent sample t-test, were run. Descriptive analysis indicated that participants suffer from language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. The result of independent sample t-test showed there was no significant difference between males and females in the levels of anxiety. The computation of means and standard deviations of statements in questionnaires revealed that the prime sources of language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation are fear of failing class and fear of leaving unfavorable impression on others, respectively. Furthermore, Pearson correlation analysis indicated there is a significant correlation between foreign language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. The present study will examine the causes of anxiety of students through the various types of anxiety that the students encounter in relation to learning English in a foreign land. Specifically, the research will look into foreign language classroom anxiety and fear of negative evaluation, as well as to determine the relationship between the two.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper investigated both Chinese and American refusal speech act from the perspectives of cross-cultural communication using a modified version of the discourse completion test (DCT) developed by Beebe et al. (1990).
Abstract: This study investigated both Chinese and American refusal speech act from the perspectives of cross-cultural communication using a modified version of the discourse completion test (DCT) developed by Beebe et al. (1990). 60 US college students and teachers and 60 Chinese college students and teachers are interviewed. The findings indicate that there are more similarities than differences among the Chinese and Americans in making refusals. Both groups preferred to use indirect refusal strategies rather than direct ones and preferred the strategies of reason, statement of alternative and regret. However, the American groups utilized a greater proportion of direct strategies than did the Chinese subjects on average. The differences can be attributed to cultural differences between Chinese and American Culture.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The findings might make a significant contribution to the preparation of corpus of preposition errors in Iranian EFL learners discourse and thus inform Iranian ELT practitioners and teachers of the cross-linguistic areas of difficulties concerning the acquisition of second language prepositions.
Abstract: The present paper is a contrastive study which attempts to investigate the errors made by Iranian EFL learners due to the cross-linguistic influence between their L1/SL and L2/TL language (i.e. Persian & English respectively). To meet the goals of the study, an error analysis was conducted to examine the status of different types of errors of prepositions made due to the transitional constraints between Persian and English languages. To this end, a translation task was developed by the present researcher. The translation task aimed at identifying the interlingual preposition errors caused by the process of transfer between the target language (English) and the source language (Persian). The translation task was then given to 53 adult EFL learners at intermediate level to translate the sentences from Persian into English during the allotted time. After collecting and analyzing the data, the corollaries of the study indicated that the Iranian EFL learners under investigation were faced with the errors related to the wrong and redundant use of prepositions more frequently as compared with the errors related to the omission of prepositions in L2 while translating from Persian into English. The findings might make a significant contribution to the preparation of corpus of preposition errors in Iranian EFL learners discourse and thus inform Iranian ELT practitioners and teachers of the cross-linguistic areas of difficulties concerning the acquisition of second language prepositions.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the effect of using picture, Persian translation equivalent (L1), and English definition (L2) on the learning of 20 decomposable and nondecomposable idioms by 68 Iranian TEFL undergraduates.
Abstract: The present study investigated the effect of using picture, Persian translation equivalent (L1), and English definition (L2) on the learning of 20 decomposable and nondecomposable idioms by 68 Iranian TEFL undergraduates. The focus was on learning both meaning as well as form of the idioms. The idioms were given to the participants to translate into Persian three weeks before the experiment to ensure the participants’ unfamiliarity of the idioms. The idioms that were known even by one student were crossed out. Each group of the participants received the instruction in 3 sessions (about 7 idioms each session), and reviewed them in the fourth. The participants received 2 recognition tests (one on form and the other on meaning of the L2 idioms) in the form of multiple-choice in the fifth session, and the same recognition as well as 2 production tests in the form of fill-in-the-blanks 3 weeks later (first on form and then on meaning). The delayed posttests were given in 2 consecutive sessions: first, the production and then the recognition. The findings showed that the picture group outperformed the other groups in all situations. However, a significant outperformance of L1 group over L2 group was observed for decomposable idioms in the first posttest regarding form. The results suggest the pedagogical value of pictures for the teaching of meaning and form of decomposable idioms

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article investigated the sources of foreign language anxiety experienced by non-native pre-service ESL teachers (NNPSET) in licensure program and found that four major factors were found which affected NNPSETs language anxiety on the classroom situation.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the sources of foreign language anxiety experienced by non-native pre-service ESL teachers (NNPSET) in licensure program. 52 pre-service ESL teachers enrolled in a public university in Seoul, South Korea, participated in this study during their teaching practicum as part of requirement to pursue ESL licensure. 52 participants completed a 24-item modified survey based on Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) in order to figure out 1) which language anxiety factors would be the most influential among NNPSETs in their English practicum, and 2) which language anxiety factors strongly affect NNPSETs when they conduct micro-teaching sessions. The Principal Component and principal axis factoring tools were used to analyze the data of the survey. The results indicate that 4 major factors were found which affected NNPSETs language anxiety on the classroom situation. The most influential factor of all was clustered with Factor 1 – ‘Language anxiety on using English in the class’. And the other three factors were identified as ‘Language anxiety based on self-confidence’, ‘Language anxiety about class preparation’, and ‘Language anxiety overcome with efforts’.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate and identify some existing obstacles in the process of translating inter-lingual idiomatic pairs, and then suggest some weighty theoretical strategies to overcome such difficulties.
Abstract: This research tries to investigate and identify firstly some existing obstacles in the process of translating inter-lingual idiomatic pairs, and then to suggest some weighty theoretical strategies to overcome such difficulties. Following Mona Baker's (1992) classification of difficulties and strategies and the related sub-categories mentioned, the present study makes an effort to analyze such classifications and practically apply them largely for some English and the equivalent Turkish (Azeri) as well as Persian pairs. Findings show that there are a number of factors which should be considered in order to translate idiomatic expressions correctly. The most important of such factors include socio-linguistic elements, cultural aspects, linguistic and stylistic considerations as well as some specific meta-lingual factors.