Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

ISSN: 2251 - 6204

www.mjltm.com
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Editor – in – Chief
Hamed Ghaemi, Assistant Professor in TEFL, Islamic Azad University (IAU)

Editorial Board:
1. Abednia Arman, PhD in TEFL, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran
2. Afraz Shahram, PhD in TEFL, Islamic Azad University, Qeshm Branch, Iran
3. Amiri Mehrdad, PhD in TEFL, Islamic Azad University, Science and research
Branch, Iran
4. Azizi Masoud, PhD in Applied Linguistics, University of Tehran, Iran
5. Basiroo Reza, PhD in TEFL, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr Branch, Iran
6. Dlayedwa Ntombizodwa, Lecturer, University of the Western Cape, South
Africa
7. Doro Katalin, PhD in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language
Teacher Education and Applied Linguistics, University of Szeged, Hungary
8. Dutta Hemanga, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, The English and Foreign
Languages University (EFLU), India
9. Elahi Shirvan Majid, PhD in TEFL, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
10. Fernández Miguel, PhD, Chicago State University, USA
11. Ghaemi Hamide, PhD in Speech and Language Pathology, Mashhad
University of Medical Sciences, Iran
12. Ghafournia Narjes, PhD in TEFL, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur
Branch, Iran
13. Grim Frédérique M. A., Associate Professor of French, Colorado State
University, USA
14. Izadi Dariush, PhD in Applied Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney,
Australia
15. Kargozari Hamid Reza, PhD in TEFL, Payame Noor University of Tehran,
Iran
16. Kaviani Amir, Assistant Professor at Zayed University, UAE
17. Kirkpatrick Robert, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Shinawatra
International University, Thailand
18. Mehrani Mehdi, PhD in TEFL, University of Neyshabur, Neyshabur, Iran
19. Morady Moghaddam Mostafa, PhD in TEFL, University of Tabriz, Iran
20. Mouton Nelda, PhD in Education Management, North-West University
(NWU), South Africa

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21. Najafi Sarem Saeid, PhD Candidate in TEFL, Islamic Azad University, Science
and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran
22. Naicker Suren, Department of Linguistics and Translation, University of
South Africa
23. Ndhlovu Finex, PhD, Linguistics Programme, University of New England,
Australia
24. Raddaoui Ali Hechemi, PhD, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics,
University of Wyoming in Laramie, USA
25. Rezaei Saeed, PhD in TEFL, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
26. Rolstad Kellie, PhD, Associate Professor of Education, University of
Maryland, USA
27. Roohbakhshfar Hamid, PhD in TESOL, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur
Branch, Iran
28. Sanatifar Mohammad Saleh, PhD in Translation Studies, Tabaran Institute of
Higher Education, Mashhad, Iran.
29. Shafiee Sajad, Department of English, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Shahrekord, Iran
30. Stobart Simon, PhD, Dean of Computing, Teesside University, UK
31. Suszczynska Malgorzata, Senior Assistant Professor, University of Szeged,
Hungary
32. Tabeifard Sayed Javad, PhD in ELT, University of Tehran, Kish International
Campus, Iran
33. Weir George R. S., PhD in Philosophy of Psychology, University of
Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
34. Zabihi Reza, PhD in TEFL, University of Neyshabur, Neyshabur, Iran
35. Zegarac Vladimir, PhD, University of Bedfordshire, UK

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Abstracting/Indexing

Index Copernicus 2011

Linguistics Abstract

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EBSCO Publication

Lulu Publication

Directory of Open Access Journals

ProQuest

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Modern Language Association

Cabell's Directories

COPE

Directory of Research Journal Indexing (DRJI)

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Indian Citation Index

International Society of Universal Research in Sciences

J-Gate

Ulrich's

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE EFFECT OF ETYMOLOGY INSTRUCTION ON IDIOMATIC CAPABILITY OF IRANIAN
INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS
Sorour Parvin Nejad

USING EXPLICIT FLUENCY TRAINING TO IMPROVE THE READING COMPREHENSION OF

SECOND GRADE CHINESE IMMIGRANT STUDENTS
Kai Yung (Brian) Tam
Mary Anne Heng

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING, GENDER, AND

THE USE OF LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS
Halimeh Ahmadi
Pegah Abdollahzadeh
Ali Taghinezhad
Alireza Mohammad Beigi

CREATIVE WRITING: COMPOSING AND ENJOYING HAIKU IN THE EFL CLASSROOMS

Farzaneh Aladini
Marjan Heydarpour

THE EFFECT OF ORAL AND WRITTEN INSTRUCTION ON DEVELOPING EFL LEARNERS'

STRESS RECOGNITION AT THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Emad Arvand
Bahman Gorjian

AN EXPLORATION OF TASKS, MATERIALS, TECHNIQUES, FACTORS, PRINCIPLES AND

OTHER CLASSROOM VARIABLES RELATED TO L2 LEARNING MOTIVATION AND THE
LEARNING OUTCOME
Davood Asadinik
Esmaeil Jadidi

TRANSLATION OF PROLOGUE OF SAADI’S BOSTAN AND ITS ANALYSIS ACCORDING TO

CATFORD’S THEORY OF TRANSLATION SHIFT
Yahya Barkhordar

THE IMPACT OF EFL TEACHERS’ EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON THEIR TEACHING

PREFERENCES
Mohammad Hadi Eal

PERSIAN WH-QUESTIONS: A CASE OF GENDER AND CONTEXT

Elahe Ghasemi Javan
Laya Heidari Darani

IMPACTS OF INPUT ENHANCEMENT ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION IMPROVEMENT

OF IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE FEMALE EFL LEARNERS
Omid Tabatabaei
Afsaneh Khashavi

THE EFFECT OF OPEN CONCEPT SORT STRATEGY ON PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS'

VOCABULARY RECALL AND RETENTION
Razi Mayah
Bahman Gorjian

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THE EFFECT OF PRONUNCIATION-FOCUSED LANGUAGE TEACHING ON LISTENING

SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Seyedeh Fatemeh Mousavi
Seyed Reza Basiroo
Akbar Molaee

THE EFFECT OF CODE SWITCHING ON THE ACQUISITION OF OBJECT RELATIVE

CLAUSES BY IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS
Mitra Khalilzad
Nesa Nabifar

THE ROLE OF PODCAST RECONSTRUCTION IN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS' ORAL

PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF GENDER
Batoul Nasiri
Bahman Gorjian

IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS’ ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS AND THE USEFUL

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACH THEM
Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani

THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL GAMES ON IRANIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS'

VOCABULARY RETENTION
Marjan Latifie Keraroudi
Hamed Babaie
Majid Pourmohammadi

THE IMPACT OF EXTENSIVE VERSUS INTENSIVE READING ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE

EFL LEARNERS’ KNOWLEDGE OF SEMANTIC PROSODY
Niloofar Mohammadzadeh
Majid Pourmohammadi
Hamed Babaie

ON THE IMPACT OF ONE-WAY VS. TWO-WAY TASKS ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL

LEARNERS’ COLLOCATION COMPETENCE
Pouyan Pourramzan
Akhtar Zohouri Vaghei
Davood Taghipour Bazargani

THE IMPACT OF FIRST LANGUAGE POLYSEMOUS WORDS ON THE PRODUCTION OF

SECOND LANGUAGE LEXICAL ITEMS
Omid Tabatabaei
Mahmoud Mehrabi
Nafise Radi

The Scope of Discourse Analysis and Language Teaching (A review)

Payman Rajabi
Abbas Bayat
Ahmad Reza Jamshidipour
Masoud Hashemi

THE EFFECT OF TEACHER’S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ON TEACHING PHONETICS

Behnaz Rastegar
Parya Isazadeh
Neda Rostami

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTIVATION AND SELF-EFFICACY OF IRANIAN HIGH

SCHOOL LEARNERS AND THEIR VOCABULARY SIZE
Nicki Sadat Razavi
Seyed Mohammad Reza Amirian

ACCEPTABILITY AND ADEQUACY IN TRANSLATION OF JOHN STEINBECK’S NOVEL BY

PARVIZ DARYOUSH
Reza Fatemi

THE EFFECT OF PROMPT CARDS ON VOCABULARY LEARNING: COMPREHENSION AND

PRODUCTION
Zahra Rezaee Galedari
Seyed Reza Basiroo

TEXTUALITY ORIENTED OR GRAMMATICALITY

Farid Ghaemi
Forouzan Rezaei Tajani

THE IMPACT OF USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS ON LEARNING THE ORGANIZATION OF

WRITING SKILL AMONG IRANIAN PRE-INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS
Maryam Rezaie
Bahman Gorjian

ORIGINALITY AND PLAGIARISM IN SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION AND ACADEMIC

WRITING
Hossein Saadabadi M.
Arshad Abdul Samad

THE EFFECT OF RECAST VS. SELF_CORRECTION ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF WRITING

ABILITIES OF IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOL EFL STUDENTS
Parastoo Saadat
Masoumeh Arjmandi
Marjan Heydarpour

SENTENCE-INITIAL CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBIALS IN ACADEMIC ARTICLES WRITTEN BY

NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND IRANIAN EFL WRITERS
Amir Sabzevari
Hamidreza Haghverdi
Reza Biria

THE MEDIATION OF MOBILE APPLICATION IN BOOSTING THE VOCABULARY

LEARNING OF UPPER-INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS: ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES
Fazlolah Samimi
Saeideh Mahmoodi Moemen Abadi

THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHING EXPLICIT READING STRATEGIES ON IRANIAN EFL

LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY
Fateme Saneie Kashanifar

THE EFFECT OF DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNER’S

NARRATIVE PERFORMANCE
Shahabaddin Behtari
Malahat Shabani Minaabad
Mehdi Adli Hamzekhanlou

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LEXICAL INFERENCING STRATEGIES OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

OF PROFICIENCY WHILE READING
Zahra Rouholamin
Sajad Shafiee

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SIMPLE TEXT TRANSLATION BASED ON TARGET

LANGUAGE EMPHASIS VS. SOURCE LANGUAGE EMPHASIS METHODS AMONG
IRANIAN BA TRANSLATION TRAINEES
Mohammad-Ali Shahed Sadeq (corresponding author)
Majid Pourmohammadi
Mohsen Khleseh Dehghan

THE EFFECT OF INDIVIDUALIZATION VERSUS COLLABORATION ON THE ACCURCY OF

WRITTEN GRAMMAR
Narminolsadat Shahgoli
Farahman Farrokhi

INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF CONSTRUCT IRRELEVANT FACTORS ON

DEPENDABILITY OF WDCT AND ODCT PRAGMATIC TESTS
Reza Shahi

IN SEARCH FOR A SUPPLEMENTARY PATH TO ENHANCE L2 VOCABULARY RECALL AND

ACQUISITION
Nima Shakouri
Parviz Maftoon

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN CONSONANTS IN ENGLISH AND PERSIAN

Bibi Zohreh Shojaee

THE EFFECT OF USING SHORT STORIES AND SONGS ON THE SECOND LANGUAGE
ACHIEVEMENT OF IRANIAN YOUNG LEARNERS
Mehrdad Amiri
Fatemeh Sobouti

THE IMPACT OF SIMPLIFIED VS ORIGINAL TEXT PRACTICE ON IRANIAN PRE-

INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY
Sophia Razmjou Soufiani
Majid Pourmohammadi
Hamed Babaie

INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF GENDER ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

ANXIETY OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS
Ali Taghinezhad
Pegah Abdollahzadeh
Mehdi Dastpak
Zohreh Rezaei

THE SUPERIORITY OF LINGUISTIC, PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR SOCIAL FRAMEWORKS IN

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Hamideh Taheri
Firooz Sadighi

EXPLORING PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS’ LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT LITERACY

Raveewan Viengsang

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THE IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED EFFECTS OF AUTHORITATIVE VS. FACILITATIVE

INTERVENTIONS ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS' LEVEL OF ANXIETY
Mohammad Ali Yaghchi
Nasser Ghafoori
Nesa Nabifar

VARIABLES AFFECTING L2 VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND RETENTION; CALL FOR A

HOLISTIC VIEW OF L2 VOCABULARY LEARNING
Mohammad Hossein Yousefi
Reza Biria

ON THE EFFECTS OF TEACHERS' EMPLOYMENT OF CODE SWITCHING ON IRANIAN EFL

LEARNERS' VOCABULARY RETENTION AND MOTIVATION
Fariba Zanjani
Zargham Ghapanchi
Hamed Ghaemi

THE IMPACT OF ANTICIPATION GUIDES AS PRE-READING ACTIVITIES ON IRANIAN

INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY
Seyyedeh Mansoureh Zib Sayyadan
Majid Pourmohammadi
Ghasem Aghajanzadeh Kiasi

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON INTONATIONAL ELEMENTS AND COMMISSIVE

ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE INTERFACE WITH RESPECT TO CONTEXTUAL ASPECTS AND
CULTURAL BACKGROUND
Elkhas Veysi
Farangis Abbaszadeh

INVESTIGATION OF GOOGLE TRANSLATE TRANSLATION BASED ON LEXICO-

GRAMMAR-ERROR MODEL OF HAR INSPIRED FROM SFG CONCERNING VERBAL
PROCESS
Aghagolzadeh Ferdows
Kambuziya Aliyeh
Golfam Arsalan
Rahmani Zeinolabedin

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF TWO LANGUAGES WITH THE SAME NAME IN TWO

DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: AINU LANGUAGE IN CHINA AND AINU
LANGUAGE IN JAPAN
Samaneh Satari
THE IMPACT OF TASK COMPLEXITY ALONG SINGLE TASK DIMENSION ON EFL
IRANIAN LEARNERS' WRITTEN PRODUCTION:
STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY
Esmaeil Shajeri
Siros Izadpanah
THE STUDY OF INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH (FONF OR FONFS) IN FACILITATING
INCIDENTAL ACQUISITION OF PLURAL S AND COPULA BE
Hossein Arabgary
Siros Izadpanh

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THE EFFECT OF ETYMOLOGY INSTRUCTION ON

IDIOMATIC CAPABILITY OF IRANIAN
INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS

Sorour Parvin Nejad

Department of Management and Humanities,
Islamic Azad University of Tonekabon, Tonekabon, Iran

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY ENDEAVORS TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT OF ETYMOLOGICAL
TREATMENTS ON LEARNING IDIOMS AMONG ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS. FORTY
INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS AT ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY IN TONEKABON WERE
SELECTED FROM AMONG A TOTAL NUMBER OF 64 LEARNERS BASED ON THEIR
PERFORMANCES ON THE NELSON PROFICIENCY TEST TO FULFILL THE PURPOSE OF THE
STUDY. THE STUDENTS WERE THEN ASSIGNED INTO AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND A
CONTROL GROUP. INITIALLY, A PRE-TEST OF IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS INCLUDING 36
IDIOMATIC ITEMS WAS ADMINISTERED TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN ALL GROUPS. DURING
THE INSTRUCTIONAL PERIOD, THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS TAUGHT A GROUP OF
ABNORMALLY DECOMPOSABLE IDIOMS THROUGH DIFFERENT TREATMENTS
ELABORATION. AT THE END OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL PERIOD, THE PARTICIPANTS IN ALL
GROUPS WERE GIVEN A POSTTEST WHICH WAS THE SAME AS THE PRETEST. THE DESIGN
OF THIS STUDY IS QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL. THE FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY HAVE
IMPLICATIONS FOR EFL TEACHERS, STUDENTS, AND MATERIALS DEVELOPERS.

KEYWORDS: ETYMOLOGICAL TREATMENTS, ETYMOLOGICAL ELABORATION, IDIOMATIC

EXPRESSION

Introduction
Failing to remember previously studied idioms serves as one of the most commonly reported
difficulties in idiom learning. This article makes an attempt to resolve this complex matter through a
practical lesson, which is based on the etymology of the word hermetic. This sample lesson is
examined both theoretically and practically through teaching it in an advanced class and gathering
the students‟ opinions about it, using a short questionnaire. These opinions show a positive attitude
toward the lesson on the part of the students. The importance of idiom learning can be perceived by
looking at the body of research done in this regard (e.g. Singleton, 2008), the type of teaching
techniques and materials developed (e.g. Gairns & Redman, 1998), and also the number of word lists
offered for different purposes (e.g., West, 1953; Nation, 1990; Laufer, 1992; or Cobb, 2002).

Research Questions
In order to investigate the effects of the etymology approach for vocabulary learning, the following
research question was generated:
Q1. Does etymology instruction have any significant effect on idiom learning of university EFL
students?

Materials and Methods

Participants
The population of the present study included 40 male EFL students at intermediate level of language
proficiency who were selected out of 64 learners from Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon branch.
After conducting the proficiency test, the participants whose scores were one standard deviation
above and below the mean were selected. Due to the existing limitations, no randomization was used
in selecting the participants.

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Instruments
The following instruments were employed in the present study: a) a standard proficiency test (Nelson
Proficiency Test), b) a researcher-made pre/posttest of idioms, and c) some idiomatic pictorial clues.
Nelson Proficiency Test
The first instrument used in this study was an English general language proficiency test adopted from
a Nelson Proficiency Test to measure general language proficiency level of the participants and to
ensure that they all belonged to the same population. Originally, the test comprised four sections
including speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Each of the writing and reading sections had
three parts (sign interpretation, two reading texts, and a vocabulary cloze for the reading part; and
paraphrasing, letter writing, and story writing for the writing part). The reliability estimate of the test
(r=0.78), calculated through Kuder-Richardson formula (KR-21), indicated that the test had a
relatively high reliability index and showed that there was an acceptable internal consistency among
the items of the test.

Pre/Posttest of Idioms
The pretest consisted of 35 items assessing knowledge of idioms at the level of comprehension. The
students were free to elaborate on the meaning of idioms in Persian or in English. A pilot study was
done on 14 students and the reliability analysis of the test was confirmed through test-retest method
as .76. The same test was administered to the participants at the time of post testing.

Data Collection and Procedure

In order to ensure the homogeneity of the participants and determine the participants’ language
proficiency, the researcher administered the Nelson Proficiency Test to 64 students. Forty students
were selected as intermediate level learners. Intact group method was used in selecting the
participants. In other words, the students were non-randomly selected and then randomly assigned
to a control group and an experimental group. Initially, the researcher provided the participants with
some introductory information about the objectives of the course, the importance of learning idioms,
the difficulties of learning and memorizing idioms through verbal definitions, and finally different
methods of treating idioms along with the other tools. The participants were administered a
proficiency test before being exposed to the treatments. A pretest including the target idiomatic
expressions was administered to the target population to assess the students’ degree of familiarity
with the target items in the second instructional session. The participants in the experimental group
followed a procedure different from the one pursued in the first group. They were provided with
some handouts including the etymology of the idioms. In the thirteenth session, the participants in
the three groups had to review the idioms they had learned during the instructional period. Finally, a
posttest was administered to the participants in the ultimate session to assess the students’ degree of
achievement.

Results & Findings

Results of Pretest
The major question addressed in this study was whether the use of etymology strategy would
improve Iranian EFL learners’ idiom learning at the upper-intermediate level of language proficiency.
Before the implementation of treatment (i.e., etymology instruction), the researcher administered a
researcher-made idiom pretest to experimental and control groups in order to compare the two
groups’ means obtained from the pretest. To capture the initial differences between the two groups’
means on pretest, a t-test was applied. The results appear in Tables 1 and 2. Based on Table 1, the
means of experimental group and control group are 39.06, 37.23, respectively. Based on Table 2, the
results obtained from t-test revealed that the two groups did not differ significantly in their
performance on the pre-test at .05 level of significance. The degree of structural significance .050 is
more than α=.05. So there is no significant difference between experimental and control groups from
their overall performance point of view.

Table1. Descriptive Statistics for Pretest Results on Vocabulary Test for Both Groups
Group Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Experimental 39.06 30 4.107 .878
Control 37.23 30 3.971 .798

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Table2. Independent Sample T-Test

Pretest Mean Std. Std. Error Confidence interval T df sig(2-tailed)
Difference Deviation Mean of difference
Lower Upper
Exp and 2.13 7.541 1.163 -.12 4.27 1.43 27 0.050*
Control

Results of Posttest for Both Groups

In order to see whether the treatment given to the experimental group had caused any significant
change in this group and to see if the participants in this group had performed significantly different
on the posttest, another independent t-test was run. The results obtained from this statistical test are
presented in Table 3 below. The independent sample t-test demonstrated in Table 4 indicated that the
mean difference between the experimental and control groups’ scores measured at the time of
posttest was significant. There is, in fact, a mean difference of 4.43 points between the means of the
two groups. As Table 4 shows, the level of significant .026 is greater than the probability value, P-
value = 0.026> α =.05. This indicates that the experimental group outperformed the control group. In
other words, it reveals that the treatment given had affected the experimental group.

Table3. Descriptive Statistics for Post-test

Group Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Experimental 42.93 30 5.247 .860
Control 37.70 30 5.630 1.021

Table4. Independent Sample T-Test

Pretest Mean Std. Std. Error Confidence interval T df sig(2-tailed)
Difference Deviation Mean of difference
Lower Upper
Exp and 4.43 7.709 1.407 .25 7.11 2.187 27 0.026*
Control

Discussion
Idiomaticity has recently attracted considerable attention in linguistics, psycholinguistics and
psychology (Cacciari & Tabbosi, 1993). In other words, languages contain many formulaic phrases
and expressions that every speaker must learn. According to Bobrow & Bell (1973) and Boers et al.
(2004), languages contain many phrases and expressions that every speaker should learn. Because
language production concentrates on an ability to string multi-word expressions, people don`t seem
proficient speakers of the foreign language until they master many idioms that are used in every day
discourse. The results of the study suggest that reference to the idiom origin in the presentation stage
can facilitate the acquisition of both idiom meaning and their linguistic form. Etymological
background is likely to have promoted the creation of mental images for the target expressions that
were stored alongside their verbal forms, facilitating their retention and recall. However, it is
important to remember that the mnemonic effect of etymological input varied depending on the
nature of the task (receptive vs. productive knowledge) and the stage of the experiment (immediate
vs. delayed post-test). The data from this study indicate that students in experimental group
significantly outperformed the students in control group in idiom learning through the etymology
method. The results obtained via this experiment can be a source of motivation for both teachers and
learners to take advantage of etymological awareness to deal with this aspect of language. These
results reveal that figurative aspect of many idioms is not arbitrary; rather, there is an origin or story
behind many of them, and reviving such stories can be a crucial factor in learning idiom. There is a
correlation between this study and findings.

Conclusion
When undergraduates embark on the study of a particular discipline in second language acquisition,
they must absorb a core English idioms specific to an academic discipline. For this, it is imperative
that they become literate in the jargon, the technical terms, and specialized idioms of the field. They

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must absorb a core English idiom specific to an academic discipline. Each day that students progress
in a target discipline, they are encountering this core idiom which conveys the intellectual flow of
discipline.

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USING EXPLICIT FLUENCY TRAINING TO IMPROVE THE

READING COMPREHENSION OF SECOND GRADE CHINESE
IMMIGRANT STUDENTS

Kai Yung (Brian) Tam

Xiamen University of Technology, China
Ralph Gardner, III
The Ohio State University, U.S.A.

Mary Anne Heng

National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Christopher D. Yawn
The City College of The City University of New York, U.S.A.

Preparation of this manuscript was fully supported by the Center for Minority Research in Special
Education (COMRISE), Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, USA.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kai Yung (Brian) Tam via his e-mail at
kybtam@xmut.edu.cn or to Ralph Gardner, III at gardner.4@osu.edu.

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY EVALUATED THE EFFECTS OF EXPLICIT FLUENCY TRAINING ON THE READING
COMPREHENSION OF FOUR 2ND GRADE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (ELLS). THE
STUDY CONSISTED OF TWO EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS: GROUP INSTRUCTION (GI) AND
GROUP INSTRUCTION WITH FLUENCY READING TRIALS (GI&FRT). GI CONSISTED OF
SMALL GROUP READING INSTRUCTION INVOLVING VOCABULARY DISCUSSIONS, ROUND
ROBIN READING, SILENT READING, AND ORAL READING. THE SAME PROCEDURES WERE
USED DURING THE GI&FRT, EXCEPT THAT INSTEAD OF BEING ASKED TO READ THE
PASSAGE THREE TIMES SILENTLY PRIOR TO READING ORALLY, STUDENTS WERE ASKED TO
READ THE PASSAGE ALOUD THREE TIMES AS QUICKLY AND ACCURATELY AS THEY
COULD PRIOR TO THE ORAL READING ASSESSMENT. THE RESULTS SHOWED A STEADY
INCREASE IN ORAL READING FLUENCY UNDER BOTH EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS.
HOWEVER, THERE WAS AN INCREASE IN COMPREHENSION DURING EXPLICIT FLUENCY
TRAINING (GI&FRT) CONDITIONS ACROSS ALL FOUR STUDENTS.

The Center for Immigration Studies (Center) in Washington DC reported that more than three
million new legal and illegal immigrants in the United States in 2014 and 2015, a 39 percent increase
over the previous two years. The number of legal and illegal residing in the US is higher than during
the 2007 economic recession and may match levels in 2000 and 2001 (Camarota, 2016). The Center also
found that, in 2016, the total immigration population in the US is estimated at approximately 43
million. Recently, there has been a surge of immigrants, both legal and illegal, from the regions of
Latin American countries other than Mexico, South Asia (e.g., India and Pakistan), and East Asia (e.g.,
China and Vietnam) (Camarota, 2016).
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent data, of 291.5 million people aged 5 and
over in 2011, 60.6 million people (21 percent of US population) spoke a language other than English at
home (Ryan, 2013). The number of children enrolling in American schools who take English as a
second language is rapidly growing (Cartledge, Gardner, & Ford, 2008; Conger, Schwartz, & Stiefel,
2003; National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). In fact, the percentage of public school students
in the US who were English language learners (ELLs) was higher in the 2013-14 school year, an
estimated 4.5 million students, than in 2003-04, an estimated 4.2 million. ELLs represented

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approximately 9.3 percent of the national public school population in 2013-14 (National Center for
Education Statistics, 2016). ELLs are students who come from homes where a language other than
English is spoken, and who score below a state-designated proficiency level on a test of English
language skills (New York City Department of Education, 2015).
In 2013-14, 139,843 students were designated as ELLs in New York City (NYC) schools,
making up about 14.3 percent of the city’s public school student population (New York City
Department of Education, 2015). Approximately 49 percent of all ELLs are foreign born, or have
parents who are foreign born. In 2013-14, 43.3 percent (or 423,189 students) of all New York City
Department of Education students reported speaking a language other than English at home (New
York City Department of Education). Nationally, Spanish is the home language for the majority of
ELLs (Gollnick & Chinn, 2013), followed by Chinese (Ryan, 2013). In NYC schools, 14.2 percent (22,
170 students) of ELLs speak Chinese in their homes.
Chinese ELLs have not always received the same level of focus from educators and researchers as
ELLs of other minority groups (Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 2008). This could
be attributed to the widespread stereotype of academic success among Asian and Asian-American
students that may engender less concern for the special needs of struggling learners from Asian
families (Doan, 2006; Lee, 2009; Tam, 2002). Moreover, there has been a distinct dearth of educational
programs and services designed specifically for this group of students (Ramanathan, 2006; Yau &
Jimenez, 2003).

English Language Instruction

The increasing number of immigrant children has generated interest among educators, and has led to
a growing body of research on how students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds
acquire English in schools (Institute of Education Science, 2007, 2014; Gersten & Baker, 2000). The fact
remains that ELLs comprise one of the largest groups of students who have difficulty developing
English literacy, in general, and vocabulary and comprehension, in particular (August, Carlos,
Dressler, & Snow, 2005; Denton, Anthony, Parker, & Hasbrouck, 2004; McMaster, Kung, Han, & Cao,
2008).
The purpose of English language instruction is to promote the rapid acquisition of English language
skills for students who enter school with limited English (Connell & Resnick, 2004). The two basic
programs for promoting English language instruction for ELLs are bilingual education and English as
a Second Language (ESL) program (Gollnick & Chinn, 2013). Bilingual education programs accept
and include native language instruction in the educational process. English as a Second Language
(ESL) programs only utilize English for instruction (Gollnick & Chinn, 2013). The dominant English
acquisition program in the U.S. has been ESL (Gollnick & Chinn, 2013; Pang, 1995).
Reading Instruction
An important initial step in becoming literate in English is the ability to read accurately with
understanding. While there is a growing body of literature focused on the instructional language for
ELLs, there is less known about the instructional components most critical to the development of
reading skills for these students (Mathes, Pollard-Durodola, Cardenas-Hagan, Linan-Thompson, &
Vaughn, 2007).
If immigrant students are to experience success in American schools, educators must develop
effective reading strategies for these students. English reading proficiency is the single most
important skill required for success in American schools. The National Reading Panel (NRP)’s
extensive review of reading research (2000) identified phonemic awareness, phonological awareness,
fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension as essential components for developmental reading
programs. Additionally, the NRP identified key directions for further research to examine the
relationship between guided oral reading instruction and the development of fluency. In particular,
the NRP identified a need for research into specific components of instructional practice (e.g., oral
reading, guidance, repetition) most responsible for improved fluency. The panel noted a pressing
need for rigorous experimental research on the impact of specific elements of instructional programs
on different student populations (NRP). Reading “fluency” consists of speed, accuracy and prosody
(Bursuck & Damar, 2015; Chard, Vaughn, & Tyler, 2002). Fluency is a critical but often overlooked
component of reading programs (Kame’enui & Simmons, 2001). The U.S. National Research Council’s
Committee for the Prevention of Reading Failure noted that:

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. . . because the ability to obtain meaning from print depends so strongly on the development of word
recognition accuracy and reading fluency, both the latter should be regularly assessed in the
classroom, permitting timely and effective instructional response when difficulty or delay is apparent.
(Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998, p. 7)
Fluency
While there is some debate as to the nature of the relationship between fluency and comprehension,
research generally indicates that an increase in one leads to an increase in the other (Stevens, Walker,
& Vaugh, 2016). Many struggling readers have not developed automaticity or fluency in reading
(Bursuck & Damer, 2015). LeBarge and Samuels’ automaticity theory generated interest among
researchers about the influence of reading fluency on overall reading achievement (Fuchs, Fuchs,
Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001). The theory of automaticity suggests that slow reading consumes working
memory and prevents the individual from actively thinking about the text meaning while reading
(Chard et al., 2002; LeBarge & Samuels, 1974).
Kuhn and Stahl (2003) reviewed the literature on fluency and reading, they found that teachers
should engage in fluency training more frequently because it improves both reading accuracy and
comprehension. Fluency serves as a connector between decoding and comprehension that allows
students to increase their overall reading achievement (Carnine, Silbert, Kame’enui, & Tarver, 2009).
Researchers have found oral reading fluency to be a strong indicator of reading competence
(Kame’enui & Simmons, 2001). Good, Simmons, and Kame’enui (2001) found fluency-based
indicators to be effective predictors of reading success for elementary school students.
Breznitz (1987) conducted four experiments on first grade students in both Israel and the
United States to determine the effects of accelerated reading rates on students’ ability to decode
mistakes and to comprehend altered and unaltered test passages. In a fast-paced condition in all four
experiments, students were required to maintain their own maximal oral reading rates. When
presented with texts at students’ maximal reading rates, students made fewer oral reading errors and
attained higher reading comprehension scores compared to text presented at slower rates. In these
experiments, poor readers, in particular, showed improvements when they experienced reading
conditions that required and encouraged them to read faster.
Repeated reading is one strategy that has demonstrated effectiveness in improving students’ oral
reading fluency and comprehension (Chard et al., 2002; Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2010; Therrien & Kubina,
2006). Therrien, Gormley, and Kubina (2006) recommended combining fluency training and question
asking in order to boost students’ overall reading achievement.
Using a multiple baseline across subjects experimental design, Tam, Heward and Heng (2006)
examined the effects of an intervention program consisting of vocabulary instruction, error correction,
and fluency building on the oral reading rates and reading comprehension of five ELLs who were
struggling readers. There were two intervention conditions in which ELLs received vocabulary
instruction, error correction and fluency training. During the first fluency training condition, each
student was asked to read a new passage as quickly and accurately as possible for three consecutive
trials in each experimental session. In the second fluency training condition, the same passage was
used across sessions until individual students reached a predetermined number of words read
correctly per minute (repeated readings). All the students improved their oral reading rates and
reading comprehension during the two intervention conditions, as compared with their performance
in the baseline phase. All students performed at their highest level of reading accuracy rate and
comprehension during the second fluency training condition (repeated reading). Repeated readings
helped four of five students reach the predetermined fluency criterion of 100 correct words per
minute. There was also improved reading comprehension during the fluency training condition on
comprehension of untaught reading passages.
The purpose of this study was to continue to investigate the effects of fluency training on
improving the reading comprehension and oral reading rate of immigrant children, specifically
Chinese second graders in a public school bilingual class.
The three research questions were:
1. What effect will Group instruction and Group instruction with fluency training
have on the reading comprehension of immigrant Chinese students?
2. What effect will Group instruction and Group instruction with fluency training
have on the reading comprehension of novel reading passages?

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3. What effect will Group instruction and Group instruction with fluency training
have on the oral reading fluency of immigrant Chinese students?

Method
Setting and Participants
This research project was conducted in a public primary school in a major metropolitan area in the
U.S, in an area known as Chinatown. The school has a diverse student population, comprised
predominantly of Chinese students with smaller numbers of African-American, Hispanic and
Caucasian students. The particular school was chosen because of its sizable population of new
immigrant students, many of these students were struggling to learn English as a second language.
One month before the start of the research project, the teacher-researcher (who is fluent in both
English and Chinese) began daily visits to the school for the purpose of developing relationships with
the students in the classroom. The class was a bilingual class comprising 23 first and second graders.
The teacher-researcher took responsibility for the daily reading instruction for the second graders
while the classroom teacher taught the first graders.
Four immigrant Chinese students in the bilingual class were identified for the project. The four
participants had strong mathematics skills but they were struggling to learn English language skills.
Instructional sessions with the four 2nd graders were held in a quiet area near the students’ home
room. The four participants were identified for the study because: (a) each participant was formally
identified by the local educational agency as an ELL, (b) the principal and teacher recommended each
participant for additional reading instruction, and (c) parental consent was obtained for the student.
At the time of the study, all the participants in the project were new immigrants who had lived in the
U.S. for a period ranging from one year to two-and-a-half years. An initial reading assessment was
completed for each participant using the Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Basic Skills (Brigance, 1983).
All four participants attained lower first grade level in the word recognition, oral reading and reading
comprehension subtests (see Table 1).
Alice. Alice was a 7-year-old girl who was born in Mainland China. Her first language was
Fukinese/Chinese. Alice had one older brother and one older sister. She lived with her parents in
Chinatown. Alice attended an after-school program for children who lacked academic supervision at
home.
Dexin. An 8-year-old boy born in Mainland China and the only child in the family, Dexin’s
native language was Fukinese/Chinese. He lived in Chinatown with his grandparents. Dexin’s
parents worked in a Chinese restaurant in another state, and were only able to spend time with him
during his summer holidays and during the Chinese New Year holidays. Dexin attended an after-
school program for children who lacked academic supervision at home.
Rui. Rui was an 8-year-old boy who was born in Mainland China. His first language was
Fukinese/Chinese. Rui had no sibling and his biological father stayed in China. He lived with his
mother and stepfather in Chinatown. Rui attended an after-school program for children who lacked
academic supervision because his mother worked long hours every day.
Wing. Wing was an 8-year-old girl who was born in Hong Kong. Her first language was
Cantonese/Chinese. She had no sibling and her parents were divorced. Wing’s mother went back to
Hong Kong and she stayed with her father in Chinatown. As with the other three children, Wing
attended an after-school program for children who lacked academic supervision at home.
Dependent Variables
The number of correct and incorrect responses to comprehension questions from passages
read during reading group was the primary dependent variable. The number of correct and incorrect
words participants read per minute, as well as responses to comprehension questions from novel
reading passages were also analyzed.
Comprehension. Reading comprehension was defined as the child’s ability to respond correctly to
comprehension questions about the selected reading stories. Comprehension was measured as the
number of correct answers to literal and inferential comprehension questions drawn from the reading
passage used in the study. Pupils were given five seconds to answer orally each comprehension
question. For each passage, six comprehension questions were developed, comprising two inferential
(e.g., what does this story teach us? What is the main idea of this story? If you were the character,
what would you do to help Tabby?) and four literal comprehension questions (e.g., What type of
plane does Mr. Putter like most? What did John’s mother do after she was told about John’s

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trouble?). There was only one correct answer to each literal comprehension question, and although a
little more thought was needed before responding to inferential comprehension questions, similar
responses to those on a prepared answer key were accepted.
Novel passages. Reading comprehension was also measured on novel or untrained passages. Novel
passages were written text that had not been used during instruction and were not available to a
participant prior to the time the participant was asked to read the text silently and respond to
comprehension questions. The same data collection procedures used for the trained passages was
used for the novel passages.
Oral reading fluency. Oral reading fluency was defined as the number of words read correctly in one
minute. Words read correctly per minute were defined as the number of words a participant
pronounced correctly that corresponded to the words in the printed passage, during the 1-minute
timing. Five types of oral reading errors were recorded: omissions, substitutions, repetitions,
insertions and reversals. The participant would sit at the table with the first author (i.e., teacher-
researcher). Both the teacher-researcher and the student would have a copy of the reading in front of
them. The teacher-researcher would start the tape-recorder. When the participant began reading the
first word, the teacher-researcher would start the timer. The teacher-researcher would mark each
reading error. When the timer sounded after 1 min., the teacher-researcher would put a vertical line
after the last word read by the participant. The teacher-researcher then counted all of the unmarked
words from the beginning of the story to the vertical line as the correct words read.
Research Design
A multiple baseline across subjects research design was used to analyze the effects of
intervention on the dependent variables (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). The multiple baseline is
an effective design for evaluating the effects of intervention on target behaviors in which the
withdrawal of the effective intervention is not required to demonstrate experimental control (Cooper
et al., 2007).

Procedures
Initial Reading Assessment. At the start of the study, a reading assessment for each participant using
the Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Basic Skills (1983) was conducted. The teacher-researcher shared
the assessment data with the classroom teacher. The teacher-researcher and classroom teacher then
determined the reading materials to be used in the study. Reading passages selected from commercial
reading materials (e.g., Reading for Understanding by Taught Fair, Inc.) were used for the project.
The beginning level second grade reading materials were selected for all participants based on the
assessment data. The passages contained 90 – 110 words. All passages were typed, double-spaced in
16-point Times New Roman font on 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper. Accompanying pictures or titles of
reading passages (if any) were deleted so that students had to obtain answers to the comprehension
questions from the text itself (Vargas, 1984).
Baseline-Group Instruction (GI). In order to examine the effects of fluency trials on learner oral reading
rate and reading comprehension, the teacher-researcher used GI as the baseline condition in which
the learner did not receive any fluency training. GI comprised two segments: (a) group instruction,
and (b) individual practice. During GI, participants were instructed to read an instructional passage
silently twice and underline words they could not pronounce and/or define. Each participant raised
his or her hand when he or she had finished reading the passage. The teacher-researcher then read the
passage to the participants and required them to follow along by pointing to each word as the
teacher-researcher read. The teacher-researcher would periodically look-up when he was reading the
passage and praise children for following along with their fingers or redirect them to point to each
word if they were not doing so. The teacher-researcher instructed and modeled oral reading skills:
reading with expression and reading at an appropriate rate, pronouncing word endings, and pausing
at periods and commas. After hearing the passage read, participants were asked to define the words
they underlined. Participants were also encouraged to define words by using context clues. The
teacher-researcher verified the accuracy of participants’ definitions, praising participants for correct
definitions as well as crediting effort even when definitions were inaccurate. Incorrect responses were
immediately corrected with the teacher-researcher supplying the correct definition. The teacher-
researcher then read the passage a second time followed by a review of the vocabulary words.
Participants were asked about words they did not know or could not pronounce. If participants still
could not define a word, the teacher-researcher would again define the word. Round-robin reading

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then followed. The participants were randomly called on to read to increase their focus during
instruction (Bursuck & Damer, 2015). The entire passage was read using this method. The same
round-robin reading procedure was conducted again, but the second time, participants were asked to
read multiple sentences (i.e., 2 to 3 sentences). Participants were given the opportunity to raise
questions, if any, about the passage.
Following the round robin reading during GI, individualized practice was conducted for each
participant. Each participant read a passage silently three times, after which the participant were
given another opportunity to raise questions about the passage. The teacher-researcher audio-taped
each participant reading the passage orally.
During individual instruction, the teacher-researcher called a particular participant over to a
designated individual-instruction table. For each session, the order in which different participants
were called upon for individual instruction varied. The remaining participants were assigned
independent seatwork at a separate group table in an unrelated subject (i.e., math). At the group
table, participants put on headsets and listened to soft background instrumental music while they
worked on their assignments. The music decreased the possibility that they could overhear their
classmate’s oral reading and responses to comprehension questions. A behavioral management plan
for the participants at the group table was also implemented. Each participant received stickers when
he or she completed an independent assignment and behaved appropriately while the teacher-
researcher was working with another participant.
At the individual instruction table, the teacher-researcher turned on the tape recorder and this
signaled the beginning of the session as the teacher-researcher gave the participant an instructional
passage to read. The participant was praised for his or her efforts during individual instruction (i.e.,
oral reading and comprehension questions), after which the participant returned to work on
independent seatwork assignments at the group table. Another participant was called upon for
individual instruction and the process continued until all four participants completed individual
instruction.
Intervention-Group Instruction and Fluency Reading Trials (GI&FRT). In the Group Instruction
and Fluency Reading Trials condition, explicit fluency reading was introduced as part of the reading
program. During GI&FRT, the same procedures used in GI condition were implemented. As part of
the individualized instruction, each participant was asked to read aloud an instructional passage
three times. Before each reading, the participant was told to read as quickly and accurately as
possible, and to omit words he/she did not know. Before the second reading, the participant was
informed of the speed of the first reading and encouraged to improve on the number of words read
correctly. The third reading proceeded in the same fashion, with the participant being encouraged to
improve on the speed of the second reading. The audio-taping of each participant’s oral reading
occurred following these three readings.
Generality Probes. Generality probes were administered throughout the study to examine
whether transfer of training occurred. A new untaught passage at each participant’s instructional
reading level was used for each probe. The purpose of the probes was to find out if improvement in
reading comprehension would transfer to novel reading passages. Participants did not have to read
the passage aloud during the probes. They were given five minutes to read a passage, after which
they were asked six questions on the passage. Each participant’s response to each comprehension
question was recorded.
Monitoring Intervention Procedures to Enhance Believability of the Data
Each participant's oral reading and responses to comprehension questions were audio-taped to
provide a permanent product for recording reading rate as well as to obtain interobserver agreement
(IOA) data. After each reading session, the tape was replayed and all words incorrectly read were
marked. The number of correct and incorrect words read, the total amount of time each participant
engaged in reading the passage, as well as correct responses to comprehension questions were noted.
Interobserver Agreement on Dependent Variables
A random sample comprising 20% of all reading sessions was selected. A word-by-word and answer-
by-answer comparison was made. The homeroom teacher served as the second observer in the
computation of the IOA. Mean IOA for words read correctly per minute for all four participants was
95.8% (with a range from 90.4% to 98.7%). The mean agreement for correct answers to comprehension
questions was 100% for all four participants for all observed sessions.
Procedural Reliability

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The homeroom teacher who served as the independent observer completed a procedural
checklist which contains the specific sequence of instruction and feedback statements for 20% of each
experimental condition. A step-by-step score was calculated based on the observations for the
required elements of each session. Procedural reliability was 100% for all sessions observed during
GI, GI&FRT and generality probes.

Results
Tables 2 and 3 summarize the mean number and range of words read correctly per minute, as well as
the correct responses to comprehension questions by each ELL participant across the two
experimental conditions.
Reading Comprehension
There was an improvement in reading comprehension once GI&FRT condition was implemented
across all four participants. All participants showed an increase in comprehension scores on GI&FRT
as compared to baseline condition of GI only (see Figure 1 and Table 2). Alice, Dexin, Wing and Rui
registered an increase in the mean number of correct responses to comprehension questions, with
increases of 1.7, 1.7, 1.4, and 1.6 more correct responses, respectively. On average, participants
registered an increase of 1.6 more correct responses. For generality probes on novel, untaught
passages, Alice, Xin, Chun and Riu registered increases of 0.5, 0.7, 0.3, and 0.1 more correct responses,
respectively. The average increase across participants was 0.4 more correct responses (see Table 3).

Oral Reading Rate

A functional relationship between reading fluency training and oral rate was not found, although all
the participants did experience increased reading fluency. There was a steady increase in reading
fluency across both experimental conditions for all 4 participants. Figure 2 presents the steady
increase in the oral reading rate of one of the ELL participants, Dexin.
As compared to GI, GI&RFT led to an increase in the mean number of correct words read per minute
for all four participants, with increases of 27.6, 38.2, 36.7, and 37.4 words for Alice, Dexin, Wing and
Rui, respectively. The average gain across participants is 35 more correct words read per minute (see
Table 3).

Discussion
This study analyzed the effects of fluency reading trials paired with group instruction on the
comprehension and oral reading rate of elementary ELLs. Specifically, this study involved four 2nd
grade Chinese immigrant students who were reading below grade level. This is an ethnic population
often overlooked in research studies of academic difficulties. It is well-documented, however, that
when children have reading deficits in elementary school, they will continue to experience reading
difficulties throughout their schooling unless teachers provide direct and systematic instruction to
develop the needed reading skills (Bursuck & Damer, 2015; Vaughn et al., 2000)
While there was steady improvement in reading comprehension for all for participants during Group
Instruction (GI) the introduction of explicit reading fluency trials prompted an immediate increase in
the ability of the participants to respond to comprehension questions. This is consistent with other
researchers’ findings about the relationship between fluency and comprehension (Breznitz, 1987;
Stephens et al., 2016; Vaugh et al., 2000). Figure 1 shows in the GI condition that each participant was
making gradual process in his or her ability to respond to comprehension questions. However, with
the implementation of fluency trials, there was an immediate sequential improvement in text
comprehension across the four participants. The data shows a correlation between the
implementation of the fluency trials and improved correct responding to comprehension questions.
The data indicates that the GI condition only was effective in providing a gradual improvement in
text comprehension, possibly due to the direct instruction of vocabulary. Fluency trials, however,
accelerated the students’ abilities to respond to accurately to comprehension questions. Interestingly,
the questions that were most frequently missed during the GI condition were inferential questions.
Intuitively, it seems that inferential questions would require more thinking time. In other words,
increasing the oral reading speed would seem to decrease the amount of time participants would
have to think about inferences in the passages. However, the increased oral speed seemed to promote
a better understanding of the text, including inferences. This study did not analyze why this
phenomenon might have occurred, but this study seems to provide further validation for LeBarge

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and Samuels (1974) theory of automaticity. Hence, as oral reading accuracy becomes more automatic,
the individual is able to focus more on other reading tasks, such as understanding the text.
Additionally, this study lends some empirical support to the effectiveness of vocabulary instruction,
round-robin reading, and fluency reading trials for teaching ELLs, and contributes to the limited
work in this area (Foorman, Goldenberg, Carlson, Saunders, & Pollard-Durodola, 2004; Gersten &
Baker, 2000; Mathes et al., 2007; Nixon, McCardle, & Leos, 2007). The study also adds to the small
body of experimental studies that show ELLs benefit from direct, structured and systematic
instruction (e.g., Rousseau & Tam, 1991; Rousseau, Tam, & Ramnarain, 1993; Tam et al.,, 2006).
When participants were encouraged to read faster during the GI and GI&FRT conditions, participants
did so without decreases in accuracy. Participants were able to read over 100 correct words per
minute in most sessions during the GI&FRT conditions. The fact is that there was a steady increase in
reading fluency across all four participants across both experimental conditions. The increase was
steady and consistent, seemingly unaffected by introduction of the fluency trials during the multiple
baseline experimental design.
Markell and Deno (1977) stated that oral reading performance is a reliable indicator of reading
comprehension and that “only when the oral reading scores increase by a substantial amount—
perhaps 15 to 20 words read correctly—can improvement be confidently predicted” (p. 249). The
reading scores of all participants in this study increased to more than 20 words read correctly after
they began to receive group instruction. Moreover, as one study pointed out, prompting participants
to read faster than their normal pace increases their comprehension, whereas a slower than normal
pace decreases comprehension (Breznitz, 1987). Poor readers, in particular, improved their reading
accuracy and comprehension significantly when they were in fast-paced reading. The results of this
study show that fluency training improved comprehension scores.
Transfer of Learning
Although all participants increased their oral reading rate and number of correct responses to
comprehension questions on taught passages, there were only modest gains in comprehension on
untaught passages. Participants registered notably fewer correct responses to comprehension
questions in the generality probes on untaught passages as compared to scores on taught passages,
and showed greater difficulty on inferential (as compared to literal) comprehension questions. This
suggests that ELLs might need to be purposefully instructed to promote reading generality. This
points to the need for teachers to use proven generality strategies to promote students’ ability to
better comprehend novel readings.
Classroom Implications
This study’s results show that teachers can improve ELLs’ ability to comprehend text through explicit
and systematic instruction that includes vocabulary instruction and high levels of active student
responding. The results further demonstrate that the use of fluency trials in effective reading
instruction can rapidly boost students’ comprehension skills. Fluency trials are relatively easy for
teachers to implement and are also easily implemented by student peers.
Fluency trials can be developed using the materials that already exist in the classroom and require a
minimal amount of time during the school day. This low investment strategy, however, seems to
provide a great benefit to students, including ELLs. Fluency training may have its greatest benefit for
those students experiencing reading difficulties or at risk for reading problems. Therefore, making it
an effective supplement to the regular school reading instruction

Limitations
Although the present reading program helped all the participants improve their reading fluency and
reading comprehension on taught passages, the external validity of this study is limited since the
number of participants is small and all of the participants are Chinese immigrants.
This study does not show a functional relationship between oral reading rate and fluency trials.
Instead, there is a steady improvement of oral reading rate across the experimental conditions.
Possibly different results would have been obtained on reading rates if criterion for oral reading rates
were included in the study.
There is a possible ceiling effect for comprehension questions as only six questions per passage were
used in this study. It is not known if the participants would have been able to demonstrate even more
progress with an increased number of comprehension questions.

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Lack of pre-post reading assessments in a limitation that prevents the possible demonstration of
student improvement on standardized achievement test. Future research should include a
comparison of reading achievement before and after intervention.
Summary
The present study showed that a reading program comprising group instruction and fluency reading
trials led to increases in the oral reading rate and reading comprehension scores of four ELL students.
Similar to the reading activities developed by Tam et al (2006) for ELLs, all participants in this study
were offered opportunities to participate in meaningful literacy activities such as adequate feedback
and practice, and opportunities to read and to experience success (Yoon, 2007). The study has
contributed to the limited body of research on teaching ELL students, and has made
recommendations for the use of explicit fluency training to improve reading comprehension for a
small, relatively marginalized group of struggling readers.

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Table 1
Demographic school-related data for student participants.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________

Student Gender Age Ethnicity Native Entered School Grade

WR1 OR1 RC1 Language
in US (no. of yrs.)
(Dialect)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________

Alice F 7 Chinese Chinese 2 years & 5 months 2nd 1st 1st

1st
American (Fukinese)

Dexin M 8 Chinese Chinese 2 years 2nd 1st 1st

1st
American (Fukinese)

Wing F 8 Chinese Chinese 1 year 2nd 1st 1st

1st American (Cantonese)

Rui M 8 Chinese Chinese 1 year 2nd 1st 1st

1st American (Fukinese)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
1 = Brigance Inventory of Basic Skills administered prior to study; WR = word recognition; OR = oral
reading; RC = reading comprehension.

Table 2
Mean number of comprehension questions answered correctly by each ELL student in each experimental
condition
________________________________________________________________________
Student Group Instruction Group Instruction &
Fluency Reading Trials
________________________________________________________________________
Alice 3.7 5.4

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

(0.8)a (1.3)
Dexin 3.9 5.6
(1.6) (2.3)
Wing 4.4 5.8
(2.3) (2.6)
Rui 4.3 5.9
(3.0) (3.1)
________________________________________________________________________
Group Mean 4.1 5.7
(1.9) (2.3)
________________________________________________________________________
Note:
a = Generality Probes

Table 3
The mean number and range of words read correctly per minute in each experimental condition by each ELL
students
________________________________________________________________________
Student Group Instruction Group Instruction &
Fluency Reading Trials
________________________________________________________________________

Alice 72.8a 100.4

(46-88)b (87-113)
Dexin 71.5 109.7
(45-89) (91-123)
Wing 82 118.7
(58-96) (98-132)
Rui 84.1 121.5
(61-96) (98-133)
________________________________________________________________________
Group Mean 77.6 112.6
________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
a = The mean number of words read correctly per minute.
b = The range.

Figure 1. Number of correct answers to comprehension questions by four second-grade English

language learners per experimental session.

Group Instruction &

Group Instruction Fluency Reading Trials

----

-------

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)
Number of Correct Answers to Comprehension Questions

Generality Probes
3

Alice

0
1 7 13 19 25 31 37 43 49 55 61 67 73 79

Generality Probes
3

1
Dexin

Generality Probes
3

1
Dexin

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)
6

Generality Probes
3

1
Dexin

Consecutive Sessions

Figure 2. Number of correct words read correctly per minute by Dexin.

Group Instruction Group Instruction &

140
Fluency Reading Trials
Number of Words Read Correctly Per Minute

130
120
110
100
90
Absence
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10 Dexin
0
1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 61 66 71 76 81
Consecutive Sessions

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BELIEFS ABOUT

LANGUAGE LEARNING, GENDER, AND THE USE OF
LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES OF IRANIAN
EFL LEARNERS

Halimeh Ahmadi
Department General of Fars Province Education, Fars, Iran

Pegah Abdollahzadeh
Department of Foreign Languages, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran

Ali Taghinezhad*
Department of English Language, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
*Corresponding author email: taghinezhad1@gmail.com

Alireza Mohammad Beigi

Teacher at Noavaran non-profit Institute & Department General of Fars Province Education, Fars,
Iran

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY AIMED AT INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BELIEFS ABOUT
LANGUAGE LEARNING, GENDER, AND THE USE OF LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES.
TO THIS END, TWO QUESTIONNAIRES WERE ADMINISTERED TO STUDENTS. THE
QUESTIONNAIRES WERE STRATEGY INVENTORY FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING AND BELIEFS
ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING INVENTORY. IN TOTAL, 305 STUDENTS OF JAHROM,
KAZERUN, AND SHIRAZ UNIVERSITIES PARTICIPATED IN THIS STUDY, 74 MALE STUDENTS
AND 231 FEMALE STUDENTS RANGING FROM 18 TO 30 YEARS OF AGE. THE DATA WERE
ANALYZED USING STATISTICAL PACKAGE FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (SPSS) VERSION 19.
THE RESULTS SHOWED NO STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LANGUAGE LEARNING BELIEFS AND THE USE OF LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES. THE
RESULTS ALSO SHOWED THAT THERE WAS NO STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES WITH REGARD TO THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING
STRATEGIES, BUT THERE WAS A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
MALES AND FEMALES IN TERMS OF THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING BELIEFS. THE
IMPLICATIONS ARE DISCUSSED AT THE END OF THE STUDY.

KEYWORDS: LANGUAGE LEARNING BELIEFS, GENDER, LANGUAGE LEARNING ANXIETY

1. Introduction
Language learning beliefs are defined by Victori and Lockhart (1995) as general assumptions which
students have about themselves as language learners, about the nature of language learning, and
about factors which affect language learning and teaching. These beliefs are shaped either through
personal experience or influenced by other people (Wenden, 1991).
Recently, researchers who study learner beliefs have found that affect plays a significant role in
language learning. Beliefs are defined as "psychologically held understandings, premises, or
propositions about the world that are felt to be true’ (Richardson, 1996, p. 103) and act as strong filters
of reality (Arnold, 1999). Research suggests that the belief systems, social cognitions and meta-

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cognitions of individuals have influence on their intellectual performance, which includes learning of
foreign languages (Schoenfeld, 1983). Learners’ beliefs can affect their experiences and their actions
(Horwitz, 1987) and it has been shown that learners’ self-beliefs are a leading factor of their learning
behavior (Bandura, 1986; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990). Learners who have high self-efficacy will exert
more effort at a learning task and even when they fail in learning, they will try harder.
Since beliefs about language learning have influence on learning a foreign language, researchers have
recently focused their attention on the factors that affect beliefs such as individual learner differences
and contextual diversity (Bernat & Lloyd, 2007). Learner beliefs are closely related to factors such as
self-concept and self-efficacy, personality traits, and other individual differences (Bernat, 2006;
Langston & Sykes, 1997; Siebert, 2003). Some studies have investigated the relationship between
learners’ beliefs about language learning and factors such as strategy use (Yang, 1999); anxiety (Kunt,
1998; Tsai, 2004), and gender (Bacon & Finnemann, 1992; Siebert, 2003).

1.1. Self-efficacy and beliefs about English learning

Self-efficacy which is an important concept in psychology has been discussed in many studies. Self-
efficacy is considered as an individual’s belief about the possibility of doing well in a specified field of
interest (Uebuchi, 1995). Mori (2003) found that students who have high self-efficacy use more
cognitive strategies in learning English. Studies suggest that self-efficacy might have influence on
the use of learning strategies. Moreover, some researchers believe that self-efficacy has the interaction
effect on students (e.g., Pintrich, 2002). Self-efficacy is closely related to students’ academic
achievement (Huang & Chang, 1998; Pajares, Miller, & Johnson, 1999, Pajares & Valiante, 1997).
Bandura (1977) states that individuals who have a high degree of self-efficacy will set challenging
goals and try hard in order to achieve those goals. According to self-efficacy theory, the amount of
endeavor an individual makes in a particular field is determined by their perceived self-efficacy and
the degree that the individual tries to overcome the obstacles (Bandura, 1977). Bandura (1986)
maintains that learners do the tasks they think are able to do well and avoid doing tasks which they
believe they do not have the ability to do properly.
To sum up, studies on self-efficacy clarify second language motivation research further through
establishing a connection between students’ learning behaviors, their efforts and their perseverance to
accomplish language learning tasks.
1.2. Second Language Learning Strategies
Oxford (1990, p. 8) defined language learning strategies as “… specific actions, behaviors, steps or
techniques that students use to improve their progress in developing L2 skills. These strategies can
facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval or use of the new language”. Several classifications
have been made with regard to language learning strategies. The most comprehensive one belongs to
Oxford (1990) who developed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL).
Oxford (1990) classified strategies as direct and indirect, which are also divided into subcategories
including memory strategies, cognitive strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, compensation strategies,
social strategies and affective strategies. Direct strategies encompass “strategies that directly involve
the target language” meaning that they “require mental processing of the language” (Oxford,
1990, p. 37); whereas the indirect strategies “provide indirect support for language learning through
focusing, planning, evaluating, seeking opportunities, controlling anxiety, increasing cooperation and
empathy and other means” (Oxford, 1990, p. 151). Oxford’s classification is used in this study because
it is systematic and comprehensive. However, many more strategies may be identified in the future
which might be more complete than those of Oxford’s.
1.3 Gender and second language learning strategies
Learning strategies have been studied from different angles. Several variables such as gender, age,
motivation, maturity level, cognitive learning style, etc. affect the use of second language learning
strategies. Cohen and Dörnyei (2002) believe that the most important individual differences among
learners are related to age and gender.
1.4. Gender and second language learning beliefs
In the past two decades, Horwitz’s (1897) Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) has
been widely used to examine the relationships between beliefs and proficiency, the effect of culture
on beliefs, and the dimensions which underlie language learning beliefs. The present study intends to
investigate the influence of gender differences on beliefs of students learning English as a foreign
language. Although the influence of gender has been investigated by several researchers with regard

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to foreign language learning anxiety, motivation, strategies, and foreign language learning, few
studies have been conducted on the influence of gender on language learning beliefs (e.g. Bernat &
Lloyd, 2007; Mesri, 2012; Sotoudehnama & Heidari, 2011).

2. Literature Review
2.1 Language Learning Beliefs
Beliefs about language learning refer to preconceived notions or ideas about the issues which are
related to second or foreign language learning (Horwitz, 1987). Not many studies have been done on
language learners’ beliefs (LLB); therefore, LLB conceptual framework is mostly based upon notions
taken from social psychology and includes the definitions of beliefs, types of beliefs, the difference
between attitudes and beliefs, and belief formation (Zhong, 2012). Some studies were done on learner
beliefs in SLA in the 1980s by Horwitz (1985, 1987, 1988). She developed four versions of Beliefs about
Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) and she had a profound influence on the studies done in the
field of language learning beliefs. The first version of the BALLI developed in 1985 had 27 Likert-scale
items and was used to investigate teachers’ beliefs in foreign language aptitude, language learning
strategies, and the nature of language learning.
In 1987, she designed the ESL/EFL version of the BALLI in order to measure students’ beliefs about
the nature of language and the process of language learning (Horwitz, 1987). There are 34 Likert-type
items which are related to the nature of language learning, language learning difficulty, foreign
language aptitude, motivation, and learning and communication strategies.
The third version of BALLI was developed in 1988 by Horwitz to assess the beliefs of American
students who were learning foreign languages. And finally, the recent version was the BALLI ESL
version used in ESL settings. In this study, the 1987 version of BALLI has been used to assess learners’
beliefs about foreign language learning. Nikitina and Furuoka (2006) re-examined the BALLI and
showed that it is an appropriate tool for assessing beliefs about language learning in different
contexts.
Some studies have been done using the BALLI. For instance, Siebert (2003) studied the relationship
between students’ beliefs, their origin/ethnicity, and gender. The results showed that all students had
similar beliefs about foreign language aptitude and the importance of vocabulary learning. In that
study, there was a significant difference between males and females. Male students believed that their
ability was high and they were more positive about the length of time they spent in learning English
than female ones.
In another study, Diab (2006) investigated the relationship between gender and language learning
beliefs. The result of the study showed that female students had stronger motivation and confidence
to learn French than their male counterparts.
Another study was done by Horwitz (1988) in which 241 foreign language learners at the University
of Texas participated. Horwitz compared three language learning groups including Spanish, French,
and German. The study showed that there was similarity of beliefs among the different target
language groups although it did not reveal any statistically significant differences in beliefs.
However, some small differences were seen in beliefs among the groups. For example, 96 % of
Spanish students believed that some languages are easier than others, whereas 86% of French and
88% of German students had such a belief. But as Horwitz explained, these small differences were
probably due to error of measurement, nature of the target language, differences in populations, or
instructional content of classes.
Bernat and Lloyd (2007) explored the effect of gender on EFL learners’ beliefs about language
learning and found that overall males and females had similar beliefs about language learning with
only one item being statistically significant and another one being marginally significant. In another
study, Tercanlioglu (2005) investigated the language learning beliefs of a group of pre-service EFL
teachers with regard to gender and found no significant difference between males and females.
In Iran, Sotoudehnama and Heidari (2011) investigated the role of English language proficiency level
and sex on Iranian students’ beliefs about language learning and found no significant difference
between males and females with regard to their language learning beliefs. In another study, Mesri
(2012b) explored the effect of gender on Iranian university learners’ beliefs about language learning
and found no significant gender effect on Iranian university EFL learners’ beliefs about language
learning.
2.2 Language learning beliefs and the use of language learning strategies

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Language learning strategies (LLS) are considered as a very powerful learning tool (O’Malley,
Chamot, Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, & Russo, 1985). Rubin (1975) and Stern (1975) emphasized the
importance of strategies which are utilized by learners in the process of language learning rather than
the methods of teaching that the teachers use. Research indicates that learners’ beliefs about language
learning have influence on their choice of strategies (Abraham & Vann, 1987; Horwitz, 1987, 1988;
Wenden, 1987). However, in spite of growing interest regarding language learning strategies, it is still
too difficult to provide a clear definition of language learning strategies (Ellis, 1994; O’Malley et al.,
1985; Stern, 1975; Tarone, 1980). Different researchers have provided different definitions for learning
strategies. For instance, Rubin (1975) defined learning strategies as the techniques that learners use to
acquire knowledge. She (1981) introduced two types of learning strategies: direct and indirect. Direct
strategies into six groups: monitoring, deductive reasoning, memorization, clarification/verification,
guessing/inductive inference, and practice. She classified indirect learning strategies into two groups:
production tricks and creating opportunities for practice (Rubin, 1981). Rubin (1975) believed that
communication strategies are subcategories of learning strategies.
However, Brown (1989) saw these two concepts as two separate manifestations of language learning
behavior. He drew a distinction between communication strategies and learning strategies (Brown,
1980) claiming that learning is the input modality whereas communication is the output modality.
Brown (1980) claimed that even though learners use the same fundamental strategies to communicate
in a language, there are some communication strategies like topic avoidance and message
abandonment which do not lead to learning. On the other hand, Ellis (1986) claimed that even
successful use of communication strategies might hinder language learning because compensating for
the lack of linguistic knowledge may hamper learning.
Oxford (1990) defined language learning strategies as special actions used by learners in order to
make learning more enjoyable, faster, easier, more effective, more self-directed and more transferable
to other situations. A major interest in studies about language learning strategy has been
investigating the relationship between beliefs about language learning and language learning strategy
use. Some studies were conducted to discuss this issue. For instance, Wenden (1987), Yang (1992,
1999), and Brown (1996) claim that beliefs about language learning can be among the strong factors
which influence language learning strategy use. In Wenden’s study, a close relationship was found
between LLS and learners’ perceptions about language learning beliefs (Wenden, 1987). The results
indicated that students who value language usage used the language mostly in natural settings and
tried to use the language and practice it whenever they had the chance to do so. On the other hand,
students who value learning the language were more likely to focus on taking courses to learn
grammar and vocabulary. Another significant finding of the study was that there was a close
connection between communication strategy and beliefs about using the language and also there was
a strong relationship between cognitive strategies and beliefs about using the language.
In another study, Yang (1992, 1999) examined the relationship between learners’ beliefs about
language learning and the use of strategy by Taiwanese university EFL students. In her study,
Horwitz’s (1987) BALLI and Oxford’s (1990) SILL and self-developed open-ended questions were
used to get more in-depth data from her participants. Five hundred and five students took part in her
study. The findings indicated that self-efficacy beliefs were correlated to their use of various
strategies. Students with high self-efficacy were more likely to use more strategies than those with
lower self-efficacy. Also, the students who had high self-efficacy practiced English outside classroom
and exposed themselves to English than those who had low self-efficacy. Yang (1992, 1999) claimed
that there was a close relationship between learners’ beliefs and strategy use. She stated that
“appropriate strategy use will lead to an enhanced self-perception of language proficiency and, in
turn, increases motivation” (Yang, 1999. p. 531).
Park (1995) conducted a study examining the relationship between Korean students’ beliefs and their
choice of language learning strategies. Three hundred and thirty two university students were asked
to fill out the BALLI and SILL. The Korean students had four groups of beliefs: motivational beliefs
and beliefs about formal English, beliefs about learning spoken English, self-efficacy and beliefs about
social interaction, and beliefs about foreign language aptitude. The results of the study showed that
students used more meta-cognitive and memory strategies than communication-affective strategies.
Also, the students had a desire to have English-speaking friends to learn English. Park’s study also
showed that the relationship between learners’ beliefs and their strategy use was dependent upon the
specific types of beliefs strategies.

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Kim (2001) carried out a study on 60 Korean university students to investigate the relationship
between their language learning beliefs and the use of learning strategies. He used the BALLI and the
SILL and concluded that there was a strong relationship between students’ language learning beliefs
and their use of learning strategies. Also, Penhani (2006) conducted a study on 280 male university
students in Iran and found that learners’ total belief score had a significant influence on cognitive,
metacognitive and social strategies.
In another study by Sioson (2011) in which the relationship between learners' beliefs and their
strategy use was examined in the Philippines, using the BALLI and the SILL, the researcher found out
that language learning strategies in general had a negative correlation with language learning beliefs.
Also, Abedini, Rahimi, and Zare-ee (2011) examined the relationship between strategy use and
language learning beliefs of 203 Iranian undergraduate learners of English using two questionnaires
(BALLI and SILL). The results indicated that learners who had more positive beliefs used learning
strategies more than other students in learning.
2.3 Language Learning Strategies
Language learning strategies (LLSs) have been defined as the steps or operations which are used by a
learner to facilitate acquisition, storage, retrieval, or the use of information (O’Malley, Chamot,
Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, & Russo, 1985). LLSs have the potential to be a powerful learning
instrument which can lead to the betterment of proficiency and self-confidence (Oxford, 1990).
Although several scholars have been working on language learning strategies, it is not easy to define
and classify them clearly. Scholars are not unanimous regarding the meaning of learning strategies.
Griffiths (2004) (1981) identified two types of learning strategies: those contributing directly to
learning, and those contributing indirectly to learning. She divided direct strategies into six types:
memorization, monitoring, deductive reasoning, guessing/inductive inferencing, practice,
clarification/verification, and the indirect strategies into two types: production tricks, creating
opportunities for practice. Oxford (1990) expanded that definition and classified learning strategies
into six groups: cognitive strategies which are related to the way students think about their learning,
metacognitive strategies which are related to how students monitor their learning, compensation
strategies which enable students to compensate for their inadequate knowledge, affective strategies
which are concerned with students’ feelings, memory strategies which are related to the way students
remember language, and social strategies which are concerned with students’ learning through
interaction with others. Oxford’s classification is almost the most widely accepted classification.
However, it is still impossible to consider it as the most complete classification (Dörnyei,2005).
Further explanations will be provided on Oxford’s classification later.
2.3.1 Factors determining the choice of strategies
Some of the factors which affect individuals’ choice of strategies are personality traits, task
requirements, awareness, age, state of learning, teacher expectations, motivation level, gender,
purpose for language learning, nationality, general cognitive style, etc. (Oxford, 1990). Some of them
are elaborated below.
The level of awareness can influence the choice of strategies in that learners who are aware of their
own learning process make use of strategies more efficiently (Oxford, 1990). Task requirements can
determine the choice of strategies as well. When students practice a grammar rule, they use different
strategies. Also, teacher expectation can vastly influence the choice of strategies. For instance, when
teacher focuses on grammar rules, students develop the learning strategies which involve reasoning
and analysis rather than communication strategies and vice versa. Another significant factor is age.
Depending on age, individuals utilize different strategies. The cognitive level of students plays a
significant role in the choice of strategies as it is interrelated with social experiences and biological
development (Oxford, 1990). Some research studies are provided below regarding the factors
influencing the choice of strategies.
2.4 Gender differences regarding the use of learning strategies
Several studies have indicated that gender has a major influence on the use of strategies. Women tend
to use learning strategies more often than men (Dreyer & Oxford, 1996; Lee & Oh, 2001). Results of
the research carried out by Oxford and Nyikos (1989) show that gender has a significant impact on
the frequency of strategy use. This study showed that women more frequently used memory,
cognitive and social strategies. They examined the use of learning strategies on a sample of 1200 adult
French, Spanish, Italian and German language students and showed that gender played a major role
in the choice of strategies. The results of this study indicated that women tended to use all types of

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

strategies more frequently than men, which is in line with the results of previous studies on the role
of gender in learning foreign languages.
These findings also corresponded to the research carried out by Ehrman and Oxford (1989) on 78
adult learners, including students and professors at the faculties of philological studies. The
languages covered by the study included Turkish, Indonesian, Hungarian, Italian, and Arabic. In line
with the previous studies, gender differences in terms of the choice of strategies were revealed. It was
found that female learners used general learning strategies more often than males, and also females
used authentic strategies, self-direction strategies, and strategies of getting and communicating
meaning, more frequently than males.
The research carried out by Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1990) revealed that females use
metacognitive strategies as planning and monitoring strategies. With regard to gender differences in
the use of learning strategies, some studies suggest that the relationship between the use of strategy
and gender seems to be vague (Dadour & Robbins, 1996).
Kaylani (1996) discovered that males are different from females in terms of their use of language
learning strategies. She found that female learners use cognitive, memory, affective, and
compensation strategies more frequently than male learners.
In another study by Dongyue (2004) on the relationship between language proficiency, strategy use,
and gender, it was found that there were statistically significant gender differences with regard to
memory, affective and overall strategy use in favor of female learners. The findings indicated that
females are better at managing and controlling their emotions than their male counterparts. The
researcher also mentions the fact that some other variables such as cultural background, ethnic
background, and language learning environment might influence the difference in the frequency of
the use of strategies between male and female learners.
In the Iranian context, Zeynali (2012) explored the effect of gender on EFL learners’ learning strategies
and found significant differences between men and women regarding their use of learning strategies.
She also found important differences between males and females in the use of social / affective
strategies with females using them more often. In another study, Salahshour, Sharifi and Salahshour
(2013) explored the relationship between choice of learning strategies and frequency of their use and
learners’ gender and level of proficiency in English and found that females used learning strategies
more frequently than males.
However, some studies (e.g. Chang, 1990; Chou, 2002) found no significant differences between males
and females regarding their use of language learning strategies.

3. Method
3.1 Participants
In order to collect the required data, three Iranian universities were selected using cluster sampling.
The universities included Shiraz, Jahrom, and Salman Farsi Universities in Shiraz, Jahrom and
Kazerun, respectively. The participants were female and male students of English language. In total,
305 students participated in this study, 74 male students and 231 female students ranging from 18 to
30 years of age. All of them were native speakers of Persian studying English as a foreign language at
university.
3.2 Instruments
Two questionnaires were used in this study namely, Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory
(BALLI) and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). The items were scored on a 5-point
Likert scale from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5). Each questionnaire will be discussed
below.
3.2.1 Strategy Inventory for Language Learning
The second instrument used in this study was the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL)
developed by Oxford (1990). There are two versions of SILL first of which is used for learners whose
native language is English consisting of eighty items. The second version of SILL is used for learners
whose first language is not English comprising fifty items. The second version was used in this study.
According to Oxford and Burry-Stock (1995) this questionnaire is a very reliable instrument. They
reported a reliability of .86 with 156 students. The content validity of the SILL was found to be very
high as calculated by them. The English version of this instrument was used in this study.
The SILL is comprised of six subcategories and each part of it shows one of the six categories of
Language Learning Strategies (LLSs). The categories include compensation strategies, memory

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

strategies, social strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, affective strategies, and cognitive strategies The
students were required to respond to the items on a 5-point Likert scale from ‘Never or almost never
true of me’ (1) to ‘Always or almost always true of me’ (5). Tahmasebi (1999) calculated the
Cronbach’s alpha reliability of this questionnaire to be 0.91. The reliability coefficient of the SILL in
this study was .954.
3.2.2 Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI)
The third instrument used in this study was Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI)
developed by Horwitz (1987). This inventory assessed students’ beliefs about language learning in
five areas: (1) learning and communication strategies, (2) foreign language aptitude, (3) the nature of
language learning, (4) the difficulty of language learning, and (5) motivation. It consisted of 34 items
on a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Abedini, Rahimi, & Zare-
ee, (2011) reported the Cronbach’s alpha reliability of this questionnaire as 0.68. In this study, the
reliability coefficient was calculated to be .763.
3.3 Data Collection and Analysis Procedures
First, the students were informed about the objectives of the study. Then, they were given the
instructions regarding how to answer the items of the questionnaires. They were asked to answer
open-ended questions such as gender and academic level as well. They were also assured about the
confidentiality of the information that they were supposed to provide.
Having received the questionnaires from the students, the researcher scored, and entered the data
into a spread sheet in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. Then, descriptive
statistics were computed and reported. The data underwent some descriptive statistics such as
frequencies, mean, and standard deviation together with correlational analyses. Then, further
inferential analyses were performed to find answers to the research questions.
To investigate the relationship between language learning strategies and language learning beliefs,
Pearson Product-Moment correlation was run.
In order to examine the differences between male and female Iranian EFL learners with regard to
their language learning strategies and language learning beliefs, independent- samples t-tests were
used.

4. Results
4.1 The relationship between language learning beliefs and the use of language learning strategies
According to Table 1, there was no statistically significant relationship between students’ beliefs
about language learning and their use of language learning strategies.

Table 1. Results of Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient for BALLI, and SILL
Language Language
Learning Learning
Belief Strategies
Pearson Correlation 1 .025
Language Learning
Sig. (2-tailed) .667
Belief
N 305 305
Pearson Correlation .025 1
Language Learning
Sig. (2-tailed) .667
Strategies
N 305 305

Table 2. Independent-Samples t-test for BALLI, and SILL

Levene's t-test for Equality of Means
Test for
Equality
of
Variances
F Sig. T Df Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence
tailed) Difference Difference Interval of the
Difference

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Lower Upper

Equal
variances .170 .680 2.326 302 .021 .10176 .04374 .01568 .18784
Language assumed
Learning
Equal
Belief
variances
2.376 127.932 .019 .10176 .04283 .01702 .18650
not
assumed
Equal
-
variances 1.314 .253 -.224 302 .823 -.01914 .08528 .14867
.18695
Language assumed
Learning
Equal
Strategies
variances -
-.216 115.993 .830 -.01914 .08873 .15659
not .19488
assumed

4.2 Gender differences with regard to the learning strategies

According to Table 2, there was no statistically significant difference between females (M = 3.1813, SD
= .62557) and males [M = 3.1622, SD = .67577, t (302) = -0.224] in terms of their learning behaviors.
This finding is in stark contrast to that of Dongyue (2004), Kaylani (1996), Oxford and Nyikos (1989),
Salahshour et. al (2013) Zeynali (2012). However, it is in line with the finding of Chang (1990) and
Chou (2002) who found no significant difference between males and females in terms of their
language learning strategies.
4.3 Gender differences with regard to language learning beliefs
As shown in Table 4.2 there was a statistically significant difference between females (M = 2.3239, SD
= .33047) and males [M = 2.4257, SD = .31716, t (302) = 2.326, Sig (2-tailed) = 0.021] regarding their
language learning beliefs. This finding is in line with that of Diab (2006). However, it is not in line
with the findings of Bernat and Lloyd (2007), Mesri (2012b), Sotoudehnama and Heidari (2011), and
Tercanlioglu (2005).

5. Conclusion
Thus far, an overall picture of the study has been presented. Now, it is time to recapitulate briefly on
the research questions and the findings derived from the data. With regard to the relationship
between language learning beliefs and the use of language learning strategies, no statistically
significant relationship was found.
The next finding of the study was concerned with the role of gender with regard to the use of
language learning strategies. The result showed that there was no statistically significant difference
between males and females with regard to their use of language learning strategies. Concerning
gender differences with regard to language learning beliefs, the result of the study showed that there
was a statistically significant difference between males and females. Several factors such as events,
episodes, and personal experiences might affect students’ beliefs about language learning. For
instance, due to having more opportunities to practice using English, students studying at private
language institutes might possess some skills, abilities, and beliefs that university students might
lack.

6. Implications
7. Findings of this study can be beneficial for teachers and learners as well as educational
psychologists. The findings of this study can prove helpful for teachers to pay more attention to
the affective factors of learners. These findings can also help instructors to predict their learners’
anxiety, beliefs, and behaviors. Teachers can adjust their teaching plans according to their
students’ characteristics to facilitate their learning.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

8. Limitations and suggestions for further research

There were some limitations to this study. Inferences drawn from the results of this study cannot be
generalized to other contexts because of cultural differences. Another limitation was that the sample
was not evenly distributed since there were 74 males and 231 females and this could affect the results
of the study. Therefore, generalizing the findings of this study to other contexts and situations should
be exercised with caution. Since this study was a quantitative one and just made use of
questionnaires, more longitudinal and qualitative studies with in-depth interviews are needed to
understand individual differences in greater detail.

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Appendices
Appendix I: Strategy Inventory for Language Learning

1. Never or almost never true of me

2. Usually not true of me
3. Somewhat true of me
4. Usually true of me
5. Always or almost always true of me
1 2 3 4 5
I think of relationships between what I already
1
know and new things I learn in English.
I use new English words in a sentence so that I can
2
remember them.
I connect the sound of a new English word and
3 an image or picture of the word to help me
remember the word.
I remember a new English word by making a
4 mental picture of a situation in which the word
might be used.
5 I use rhymes to remember new English words.
I use flashcards to remember new English
6
words.
7 I physically act out new English words.
8 I review English lessons often.
I remember new English words or phrases by
9 remembering their location on the page, on the
board, or on a street sign.
10 I say or write new English words several times.
11 I try to talk like native English speakers.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

12 I practice the sounds of English.

I use the English words I know in different
13
ways.
14 I start conversations in English.
I watch English language TV shows spoken in
15
English or go to movies spoken in English.
16 I read for pleasure in English.
I write notes, messages, letters, or reports in
17
English
I first read over an English passage quickly
18
then go back and read carefully.
I look for words in my own language that are
19
similar to new words in English.
20 I try to find patterns in English.
I find the meaning of an English word by
21
dividing it into parts that I understand.
22 I try not to translate word for word.
I make summaries of information that I hear or read
23
in English.
24 To understand unfamiliar English words, I make
guesses.
When I can't think of a word during a conversation
25
in English, I use gestures.
I make up new words if I do not know the right
26
ones in English.

Appendix II: Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory

SA A NI D SD
It is easier for children than adults to learn a
1
foreign language.
2 Some people have a special ability for learning
foreign languages.
3 People from my country are good at learning
foreign languages.
It is easier for someone who
4 already speaks a foreign language to learn
another one.
People who are good at math or
5 science are not good at learning foreign
languages.
I have a special ability for learning foreign
6
languages.
7 Women are better than men at learning
languages.
People who speak more than one language are
8
very intelligent.
9 Everyone can learn to speak a foreign
10 Some
language.languages are easier than others.
English language is a very difficult
11
Language
If someone spends 1 hour a day learning a
12 language, it would take them to speak the
language
very
It is well in less
easier than a year.
to speak than to understand a
13
foreign
language.
It is easier to read and write English than to
14
speak and understand it.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

It is necessary to learn about English

15
speaking cultures to speak English.
. It is best to learn English in an English
16
speaking
country.
The most important part of learning a foreign
17
language is learning new words.
The most important part of learning a foreign
18
language is learning grammar.
Learning a foreign language is different from
19
learning other academic subjects.
The most important part of learning English is
20
learning how to translate from my own
It is important to speak English with an
language.
21
excellent pronunciation.
You shouldn’t say anything in English until
22 you
can say it correctly.
I enjoy practicing English with the native
23
English
speakers that I meet.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

CREATIVE WRITING: COMPOSING AND ENJOYING

HAIKU IN THE EFL CLASSROOMS

*Farzaneh Aladini and Marjan Heydarpour

Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran
*Author for Correspondence: aladini@iaurasht.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THE PRIMARILY GOAL OF THIS PAPER IS TO THROW LIGHT ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF
ENGLISH HAIKU COMPOSITION TO ACADEMIC LITERACY DEVELOPMENT IN AN IRANIAN
EFL CONTEXT. THIS PAPER EXPLORES IN WHAT WAYS COMPOSING HAIKU CAN
CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS' WRITING SKILLS FROM BOTH
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL STANDPOINTS. IT SEEMS THAT VERY FEW STUDIES HAVE
INVESTIGATED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATIVE WRITING AND ACADEMIC
WRITING. EVEN IF SOME FEATURES OF CREATIVE WRITING CAN CONTRIBUTE TO
ACADEMIC WRITING, IT IS WORTH INDEED TO ENCOURAGE CREATIVE WRITING IN
COLLEGE COMPOSITION CLASSROOMS. THE THEORISTS AND RESEARCHERS WHO
SUPPORT THE TEACHING OF CREATIVE WRITING IN LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS BELIEVE
THAT STUDENTS WHO START TO WRITE CREATIVELY LEARN HOW TO EXPRESS
THEMSELVES IN THEIR OWN WRITING. THE APPLICATION OF LITERARY LEARNING IN EFL
CLASSROOM HAS NEVER BEEN SO POPULAR AS IT IS IN L1. IN AN EFL CLASSROOM
READING AND COMPOSING POETRY SEEMS TO BE A TIME-CONSUMING ACTIVITY.
HOWEVER THIS ARTICLE THROWS LIGHT ON USING HAIKU AS A TEACHING STRATEGY
THAT CAN INCREASE STUDENTS VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND IMPROVE THEIR
CREATIVE WRITING SKILLS. IT ALSO PROVIDES A STEP-BY-STEP PROCEDURE FOR WRITING
HAIKU.

KEY WORDS: COMPOSING HAIKU, IMPROVING CREATIVE WRITING SKILL, EFL

CLASSROOMS

1. Introduction
Many college freshmen who study English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Iran have little idea how to
use the English they learned in middle school and high school. They have learned basic English
grammar rules and improved their reading skills, enlarged their vocabulary in preparation for
university entrance examinations, but the focus on error reduction and memorization of forms cannot
help them when they have to use English in real-life situations. Iranian EFL students, in general, have
difficulty in expressing themselves particularly in written forms. This is partly due to the fact that a
grammar-centered curriculum in middle school and high school provides very little opportunity to
write papers in English. They are not capable of expressing their inner thoughts, feelings and
emotions. They have not taught how to describe the feelings that boil inside of them. In order to
develop students' written communication skills, however, it is crucial for EFL teachers to seek for
effective strategies and methods to encourage students how to discover and verbalize their inner
thoughts in the EFL writing classroom. Many language scholars and researchers believe that reading
and composing literature and poetry helps English learners develop their reading, writing, speaking
and listening skills. Lazar (1993) summarizes the benefits of using literature in the language
classroom in the following manner:
 it is very motivating
 it is authentic material
 it has general educational value
 it is found in many syllabuses

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 it helps students to understand another culture

 it is a stimulus for language acquisition
 it develops students’ interpretative abilities
 students enjoy it and it is fun
 it is highly valued and has a high status
 it expands students’ language awareness
 it encourages students to talk about their opinions and feeling (p.19)

Povey (1972) in summarizing the aims of using literature in language classes, argues that "literature
will increase all language skills because literature will extend linguistic knowledge by giving
evidence of extensive and subtle vocabulary usage, and complex and exact syntax" (p.187). Many
language researchers have also claimed that poetry can increase student motivation. A remarkable
number of EFL teachers do have faith in poetry as a motivator. Little, Devitt, and Singleton (as cited
in Peacock, 1997) believe that poetry is more "interesting" and "stimulating" than exercises found in
course books and supplementary materials because poetry "bring learners closer to the target
language culture, making learning more enjoyable and therefore move motivating" (p. 144). Aladini,
et al. (2015), in using poetry with Iranian students, found that they "were all very motivated and
enthusiastic to improve their English, and participated in the class activities and discussions eagerly.
Indeed, poetry helped students to develop their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills." In
spite of all these advantages, however, English poetry is often excluded from an EFL/ESL curriculum.
Often language instructors consider poetry as one of the most sophisticated literary genres and hence
too challenging and difficult for EFL/ESL learners. Several views have been expressed about the
reason why poetry is seen distant to EFL and ESL contexts. Linguists such as Topping (1968) argues
that "literature should be excluded from the ESL curriculum because of its structural complexity, lack
of conformity to standard grammatical rules and remote cultural perspectives" (p.95). Cook (1986)
makes a similar point when he claims that the study of English literature "has little relevance to the
learners’ aim of understanding and producing more functional forms of the language" (p.150). The
solution suggested by some experts in this field is to select materials that are suited to maturity level
of the language learners. As Lazar (1993) points out: "A poem may elicit a powerful emotional
response from students. If the materials are carefully chosen, students will feel that what they do in
the classroom is relevant and meaningful to their own lives" (p.18). One simple literary form that is
free from any complex or compound figures is haiku. The main purpose of this paper is to illustrate
how the practice of composing English haiku helps Iranian EFL college students to develop their
academic writing skills. Unfortunately very little research on the use of Haiku in EFL/ESL writing
classrooms has been conducted.

2. Haiku and Creative Writing in EFL Contexts

It seems that very few studies have investigated the relationship between creative writing and
academic writing. Even if some features of creative writing can contribute to academic writing, it is
worth indeed to encourage creative writing in college composition classrooms. The theorists and
researchers who support the teaching of creative writing in language classrooms believe that students
who start to write creatively learn how to express themselves in their own writing. A series of creative
writing practices puts students at the center of writing and helps them to express themselves in their
writing process. In other words, a principal purpose of creative writing is to empower students and
make them feel confident enough to regard themselves as writers (May, 2007). The number of
teachers, language researchers, and scholars who advocate the use of poetry in creative writing has
been increasing. Bizzaro (2009) emphasizes the use of poetry as a creative genre in a composition
classroom:
We must develop methods that enable us to find out from an array of sources, including 'professional
writers’ stories, anecdotes, aphorisms, and other forms of self-report'—and we must include poems
here—whatever we can about writers and writing and to use what we find in those sources to help
our students become better writers. (p. 269)

Young (1982) is another researcher who in his theory focuses on the poetic function of language. He
argues that poetic writing is a place for "play, imaginative thinking, developing personal knowledge"

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(p. 84). Young's finding which particularly refers to "the relatively high inverse correlation between
students who did well on the poems and those who did well on essay exams" (p. 91) provides the
justification for using poems in writing courses. A poetry-across-the-curriculum project at Clemson
University (Connor-Greene et al., as cited in Iida, 2011) illustrates a new approach to using poetry
writing in academic disciplines. The application of poetry was as "a means of emphasizing creativity,
new perspectives, and a wider range of ways for students to engage with course materials" (Connor-
Greene et al., 2006, p. 5) in a various disciplines. The project revealed that the practice of writing
poems allowed students to develop their critical thinking skills which consisted of their reflections of
academic knowledge or theory in a course. Students did not have to write great poems nor were they
expected to be successful poets in each course. There are other scholars who also describe poetry
writing as a tool for learning, as a creative writing to express the writer’s inner thoughts and emotions
in a brief but meaningful way. Hanauer (2004) defines poetry writing as producing "a literary text that
presents the experiences, thoughts and feelings of the writer through a self-referential use of language
that creates for the reader and writer a new understanding of the experience, thought or feeling
expressed in the text"( p. 10). Iida (2011) in his dissertation explores the interaction between
composing haiku and L2 academic literacy development. Participants were 20 college freshmen at a
Japanese private university. Data were collected from multiple sources: pre- and post-essays, the
books of haiku, weekly journals, self-reflections, and face-to-face interviews. His study demonstrated
that, for the participants, haiku composition had positive effects on the development of the language
learners' academic literacy skills. For instance, from grammatical aspects, "statistical data illustrated
an increase in the use of verbs, passive forms, perfect forms, impersonal pronouns, and transition
words and a decrease in the use of negations in the post-test" (Iida, 2011, pp. 179-180).
Lee (2011) summarizes the advantages of using haiku in second and foreign language classrooms in
the following ways:

 Learners can explore their language through trying to express their thoughts and feelings
within the constraints of a simple literary form; through doing this, they will discover whether
their linguistic knowledge is sufficient to express their thoughts and feelings or not.

 Through the experimental process of trying to stretch their language boundaries, learners can
consolidate and develop their language.

 Since poetry depends on the appropriateness of the words and phrases chosen, learners have
to be attentive to, and consciously reflect on, the form of the language itself.

 A further advantage is that the language the learners have produced in their haiku will be
easily remembered, and this will help with the acquisition process.

 Language learners can easily remember their haiku, and no doubt this will help with the
language acquisition process.

3. A Brief History of Haiku

Haiku originated in Japan about six to seven hundred years ago. It was originally called haikai
appeared in the sixteenth century and thus is one of the world's oldest surviving poetic forms
(Henderson, 1958). It was popularized by a famous poet, Matsuo Basho in the seventeenth century.
However, the English-speaking world did not learn of its existence until after 1868 when Japan
opened its shores to the West and envoys from England started to translate this type of Japanese
genre (Giroux, 1974). According to Higginson (1985), the approach for composing haiku, at that time,
was restricted to a simple observation and description of natural phenomena. In the late nineteenth
century, haiku was established by Shiki Masaoka for the purpose of highlighting the significance of
individual creativity as a modern art. The modern haiku is not restricted to a simple observation of
natural phenomena, but rather it is integrated to the writer’s personal feeling or thought. In short,
haiku is "writers’ voices reflecting cultural contexts" (Iida, 2011, p. 28).

4. Definition of Haiku

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We all have special moments in our lives, times that are meaningful and important to us. Naturally
we try to immortalize those precious moments, we capture them, in a photograph, a video, or simply
an unforgettable memory, so that we could recall them, and often share what made those moments
special. Haiku does the same thing; it captures a unique and deep moment and immortalizes it. Just
as we capture a special moment in our lives, haiku captures a moment in time, creating and sharing
the joy, the wonder, the profound emotional experience that exists within that moment. Haiku is a
three line poem with seventeen syllables in which the first line contains five syllables, the second line
seven syllables and the third line has five syllables. A haiku is usually written in present tense, with a
pause at the end of the first or second line, and usually doesn't rhyme. Haiku also includes kigo,
which refers to seasonal references. Kigo is a word or phrase which can be associated with a particular
season. For instance, "cherry blossom", "plum" and "skylark" represent spring and "hot sun",
"sunflower" and "cicada" are used as a seasonal reference for summer. Furthermore, haiku has a kireji
which literarily means cutting words. This function divides haiku into two parts with an imaginative
distance between the two sections: a scene and a message, but both sections remain, to some degree,
independent of each other. Using these strategies can allow readers to have their own interpretations.
Since haiku is a means for expressing the writer’s voice, there never exists the notion of right or
wrong in haiku (Iida, 2011).

5. Examples of Haiku
Basho (1644 – 1694) is perhaps the most famous of all the Haiku poets. His haiku is notable for its
simple and natural style. The most famous haiku is about the old pond, of which there are many
different translations. A traditional Japanese haiku is a 3-line poem with 17 syllables, written in a 5-7-
5 syllable count, however since Japanese is a character-based language, when it is translated into
English which is a letter-based language the syllable count evaporates, take for instance Matsuo
Basho's well-known haiku:
An old pond!
A frog jumps in ---- (kireji)
the sound of water
The temple bell stops.
But the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers
Butterfly -
Wings curve into
White poppy
The first snow
the leaves of the daffodil
bending together
Buson (1716-1783) was not only a great poet, but also a painter. The rich, eloquent language and
impressive visual imagery of Buson's poetry prove that his haiku was closely influenced by his
experience as a painter.
On the great temple bell
stopped from flight and sleeping
the small butterfly
Clinging to the bell
he dozes so peacefully
this new butterfly
Before the white chrysanthemum
the scissors hesitate
a moment
A flash of lightening!
The sound of drops
Falling among the bamboos
Kobayashi Issa (1762-1826) is the third of the four haiku masters. He wrote many haiku about smaller
creatures like grasshoppers, sparrows and cicadas.

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Young sparrows get out of the way!

get out of the way!
A great horse is coming by!
Don't get alarmed
you corner spiders
I won't touch your webs
Come with me,
let's play together, swallow
without a mother

6. The Practice of Haiku Writing in EFL Classrooms

In order to practice haiku writing effectively in EFL language classrooms, a specific plan is necessary.
This lesson plan is written and reviewed by scholars using current research and the best instructional
practices.

6.1 The First Stage: Reading and Discussing Haiku

At the beginning of the class, it is helpful to read a few haikus. Before providing a formal definition of
what haiku is, the instructor should give students opportunities to experience reading haiku and feel
the syllables coming alive with the whole of their being. Giving examples of haiku poems written by
famous poets is an excellent way to become familiar with this form of poetry. They illustrate what a
haiku poem looks like and a little about their history can be helpful too. As it was mentioned in the
previous section the three masters of haiku from the 17 th and 18th century were Basho, Buson and Issa.
Their works are still the model of haiku writing today.
The next step is for the students to make their own interpretations. The instructor encourages them by
asking the following questions:
• What is the theme?
• What is the context?
• What is happening in the poem?
• What does the writer want to tell you in the haiku?
• What is your impression from this haiku? (Iida, 2010, p. 32)
At first students responds individually, then they form small groups to share and discuss their
comments and interpretations. Remember that there is no right or wrong way of responding to a
haiku. There are no correct or incorrect comments. The instructor is to welcome any possible
interpretation made by students. The aim of this step is to review the nature of haiku and digest the
basic features of this type of Japanese poem. It can help the students when they start writing haiku in
English.

6.2 The Second Stage: Guidelines for Writing Haiku

The aim of this stage is to help the learners to gain a better understanding of the nature of Haiku. The
instructor reads aloud the poems. The poems should be read slowly. Then the instructor asks the
following questions about the haiku:
• How many syllables are used in each line?
• What is the seasonal reference?
• Where do you see a cutting word in this haiku? (Iida, 2010, p. 31)
The instructor allows a few minutes for each student to think about these questions and then
discusses them in class. The learners are asked what common features the poems have. The
instructor’s role in this activity is to lead the discussion and help learners understand the special
guidelines that dictate the form of haiku. The common characteristics will be written on the board as
the students mention them. Finally the instructor completes the list so there will be a comprehensive
list of the features of haiku for later use.
 Traditional Japanese haiku had a total of seventeen syllables divided into three lines.
 It can be written in the traditional pattern of 5-7-5 syllables but they do not have to be.
 It contains sensory images and seasonal references (kigo).
 It avoids figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification …)
 It avoids complicated language or high sounding words.
 It does not have to rhyme.

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 It pictures simple ordinary subject matters in everyday language.

 It contains two juxtaposed ideas (two seemingly unrelated things). This juxtaposition arouses
powerful responses in the readers.
 A haiku has usually one strong break in meaning (a division in thought between the earlier
and later parts of the poem. It may come at the end of the first or second line. In Japanese it is
called Kireji (cutting word). In English this division may be indicated by dash, colon, semi-
colon or ellipsis.

6.3 The Third Stage: Brainstorm for Ideas

Now it is time to offer our students a chance to start writing haiku. The instructor is to help the
learners to collect material for their poems. It can be done in the classroom. Beautiful landscapes
drawings and pictures of natural scenes can stimulate creativity. When students form mental pictures
with their mental eyes, when they are still in the right mood, encourage them to record their inner
thoughts and feelings in their haikus.
Some instructors suggest taking students outdoors or even to art exhibitions. You should find a place
that can spark students' imaginations and inspire them to write poetry. Ask the students what they
saw, heard or felt at that particular inspiring moment. They can start by making a list of seasonal
images, and emotional responses. This list can be very helpful when they start writing their haikus.
Iida (2010) believes that it works if the instructor asks them to spend 10 to 20 minutes there to answer
the following questions:
• What do you see and hear?
• What do you smell and taste?
• What do you feel?
This activity allows students to situate themselves to a specific time and collect as many impressions
as possible by answering the above questions.

6.4 The Fourth Stage: Start Writing Haiku

The aim of this stage is to help students understand how to write haiku in English. Now it is time to
use their collected impressions to write haiku. However, in spite of reading and reviewing the nature
of haiku in the previous stages, our language learners may still feel confused when they are asked to
start writing their first haiku. Therefore the instructor is to guide the students' thought process by
asking specific questions. For instance, first of all, students may be asked to consider the main idea
that they intend to convey to the readers of their poems. Now students can write three lines. In order
to adjust to the traditional structure of haiku, the instructor should help students by encouraging
them to search among synonyms, and rewrite the poem that fit into the 5-7-5 syllable pattern.

6.5 The Fifth Stage: Small Group Reading Activity

Having students work in small groups to improve writing skills is just smart. When all the students
have written their haiku, they can share their works with other learners in small groups. While
reading their haiku aloud to each other, students can recognize whether the flow of the language in
their haiku is natural or it is necessary to bring some changes. Kramsch suggests that each student
who is in the listening role can write down something "he or she particularly liked about the poem" or
suggest the points "he or she would have said differently" (p. 171). Feedback from friends can be very
helpful. The students can exchange their haiku and try to formulate themes for those poems. If the
interpretation of the readers matches with the main idea that the writer has tried to convey, the haiku
can be assumed to be written appropriately. If in vain the readers attempt to guess what was on the
writer's mind, he or she needs to revise the work. This activity can incorporate several language skills
simultaneously such as reading, writing, listening and speaking. Thus, "if the student author’s friends
cannot understand his or her haiku, he or she should explain its meaning in the target language, a
process which will enhance the learners’ communicative competence" (Lee, 2011).

7. Examples of Haiku Composed by EFL Students

Lee (2011) used haiku written by poets such as Basho Matsuo, Eric W. Amann, Jack Cain, Sydell
Rosenberg, and Cor van den Heuvel as models. The participants were first-year students of the
University of Tokyo. The following haiku poems were composed by those students.

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the silent wind . . .

birds are flying in the sky.
the sea in the morning.

lively voices
hope and a little apprehension:
the eve of a school festival

learning philosophy . . .
looks like space
broad and unseen place

After raining
there is a spider web
shining with drop of rain

one rainy day

I feel only wet air
in my warm room

a summer day
a ball flying over
in the blue sky.

A cold autumnal wind blowing

along the row of trees
I am alone . . .

At the top of a mountain

rocks covered with orange snow
as the sun rises.

a child in the snow

how did he get here?
one silent night

White breath
appears and disappears
on a winter’s night

Victoria Harbor
Shining light standing behind the sea
in front of him and me

8. Conclusion
This article aims to throw light on using haiku as a teaching strategy that can increase students'
motivation and improve their proficiency in English language. Researchers (Apol, 2002; Cheney, 2002;
Higginson, 1985; Iida, 2010, 2012; Lee, 2011; Reichhold, 2002) have proved that composing haiku can help
language learners to improve their English. Creating haiku helps EFL students learn to write fluently and
acquire vocabulary because this highly structured form requires close attention to the choice of the
appropriate words to convey specific feelings (Iida, 2010). Indeed, writing haiku acts as good stimuli to
bring out creativity and originality. Students can use their own past experiences, memory and
imagination to write their poems. Our experiences as teachers in EFL classrooms have supported these
theories. Haiku brings up powerful emotional responses to the classroom. Language learners gain
pleasure from reading, discussing, and even composing haiku. Students' haikus are personal and unique
because they could relate their own real lives to the poems. Language learners can easily remember the

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haiku, because they spring from their deepest part of their own souls. No doubt writing haiku will speed
up the language acquisition process. Of course we are not recommending the exclusive use of haiku in the
language curriculum; however, it can play a valuable role in a balanced EFL programme which has been
specially designed to incorporate several language skills simultaneously such as reading, writing, listening
and speaking.

REFERENCES
Apol, L. (2002). “What do we do if we don’t do haiku?” Seven suggestions for writers and teachers.
English Journal, 91(3), 89–97.
Bizzaro, P. A. (2009). Writers wanted: A consideration of Wendy Bishop. College English, 71, 256-270.
Cheney, M. A. (2002). Expanding vision: Teaching haiku. English Journal, 91(3), 79–83.
Cook, G. (1986). Texts, extracts, and stylistics texture. In C. J. Brumfit & R. A. Carter (Eds.), Literature
and language teaching (pp. 150-166). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Giroux, J. (1974). The haiku form. Rutland, Vermont, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
Hanauer, D. I. (2004). Poetry and the meaning of life. Toronto: Pippin Press.
Henderson, H.G. (1958). An introduction to haiku: An anthology of poems and poets from Basho to Shiki.
New York, NY: Doubleday.
Higginson, W. J. (Ed.). (1985). The haiku handbook: How to write, share, and teach haiku. Tokyo: Kodansha
International.
Iida, A. (2010). Developing voice by composing haiku: A social-expressivist approach for teaching
haiku writing in EFL contexts. English Teaching Forum, 48(1), 28-34.
Iida, A. (2011). Revisiting haiku: The contribution of composing haiku to L2 academic literacy development.
PhD dissertation, Department of English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Iida, A. (2012). Writing haiku in a second language: Perceptions, attitude, and emotions of second
language learners. Sino-US English Teaching , 9 (9), 1472-1485.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lazar, G. (1993). Literature and language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Maley, A.
and Duff, A. (1989). The inward ear: Poetry in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Lee, B. Y. (2011). The practice of haiku writing in second language classrooms. Komaba Journal of
English Education. 2, 23-44.
May, S. (2007). Doing creative writing. New York: Routledge
Povey, J. (1979). The teaching of literature in advanced ESL classes. In M. Celce-Murcia and L.
McIntosh (Eds.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language, (pp. 162-186). Rowley, MA: Newbury
House.
Reichhold, J. (2002). Writing and enjoying haiku: A hands-on guide. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
Tomlinson B. (1986). “Using poetry with mixed ability language classes”. ELT Journal. 40(1), 33-41.
Topping, D.N. (1968). Linguistics or literature: An approach to language. TESOL Quarterly 2(2), 95-
100.
Young, A. (1982). Considering values: The poetic function of language. In T. Fulwiler, & A. Young
(Eds.), Language connection: Writing and reading across the curriculum (pp. 77-97). Urbana, IL: NCTE.

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THE EFFECT OF ORAL AND WRITTEN INSTRUCTION

ON DEVELOPING EFL LEARNERS' STRESS
RECOGNITION AT THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Emad Arvand1, *Bahman Gorjian2

1Department of ELT, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
2Associate Professor, Department of ELT, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

*Corresponding author (bahgorji@yahoo.com)

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATED THE EFFECTS OF ORAL AND WRITTEN INSTRUCTION
ON DEVELOPING ENGLISH AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS’
STRESS RECOGNITION. TO ACHIEVE THIS PURPOSE, A LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TEST WAS
ADMINISTERED TO ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY LANGUAGE LEARNERS MAJORING IN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AT AZAD UNIVERSITY OF ABADAN, IRAN. AMONG
THEM, SIXTY LANGUAGE LEARNERS WERE NON-RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO TWO
EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS OF ORAL AND WRITTEN CLASSES THROUGH CONVENIENCE
SAMPLING METHOD. EACH GROUP HELD WITH THIRTY PARTICIPANTS. THEN THEY TOOK
A PRE-TEST ON WORD STRESS RECOGNITION. THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE ORAL GROUP
WERE INSTRUCTED WITH THE USE OF ORAL LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES IN LEARNING WORD
STRESS PATTERNS WHEREAS THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE WRITTEN GROUP RECEIVED
RULES OF WORD STRESS THROUGH WRITTEN INSTRUCTION FOR A WHOLE ACADEMIC
FALL SEMESTER, 2015. FINALLY, THE PARTICIPANTS TOOK A POST-TEST ON WORD STRESS
RECOGNITION. CONSEQUENTLY, THE PERFORMANCE OF ORAL GROUP SHOWED BETTER
RESULTS THAN THE WRITTEN GROUP. STATISTICAL ANALYSES WERE CONDUCTED
THROUGH INDEPENDENT SAMPLES AND PAIRED SAMPLES T-TEST. PAIRED SAMPLES T-
TEST SHOWED THAT INSTRUCTION OF ORAL GROUP FOR INTERMEDIATE LANGUAGE
LEARNERS WAS EFFECTIVE COMPARED TO THE WRITTEN GROUP (P<.05). INDEPENDENT
SAMPLES T-TEST ANALYSES EXHIBITED THAT THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN ORAL GROUP AND WRITTEN GROUP (P<.05). THE FINDINGS SHOWED THAT EFL
INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS OF ORAL GROUP GAINED BETTER RESULTS THAN THE
WRITTEN GROUP. THE STUDY SUGGESTS THAT ORAL INSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES FOR
TEACHING WORD STRESS RECOGNITION SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT AT
INTERMEDIATE LEVELS TO ENHANCE THE LEARNERS’ RECOGNITION OF WORD STRESS.

KEY WORDS: ORAL AND WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS, INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS, WORD

STRESS RECOGNITION

1.Introduction
Stress recognition plays a considerable role in expressing the meaning of words and language
perceptions. Misplacement of primary stress in words may lead to misunderstanding and having
another meaning (e.g., /ˈdezəret/ and /dezəˈret/). When the speakers talk to listeners in real life, the
pronunciation is the first thing noticed by the addressee. If the pronunciation is weak, the meaning
may be misunderstood the communicators (Bian, 2013). Stress recognition may be one of the main
causes of weak misconception among EFL learners since they may not pay attention to the exact place
of word stress (Mart, 2012). The most problematic area of pronunciation maybe word stress
recognition. Therefore, it seems necessary to help learners and teachers with the use of proper
instruction in developing stress recognition of vocabularies.
According to Kawai and Hirose (2000), speech recognition technology is used to measure the
durations of each phone and shows the learners how native speakers understand the learners’

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utterances. Lambacher (2001) argued that there are variety of activities and resources to develop
pronunciation including 1) education (both formal and informal); 2) self-studying; 3) membership in
professional organizations; 4) attending and presenting at conferences; 5) reflection upon educational
issues; and 6) familiarity with computer assisted instruction and the Internet programs. Jenkins (2002)
examined pronunciation syllabus for English as an international language among non-native
speakers. In the study, three sets of data drawn from non-native speakers’ interaction were provided
in order to exemplify the phonological intelligibility in English as an international language. Finally,
he argued that it is important to develop learners’ accommodation skills as an integral part of
teaching pronunciation for English as an international language. Therefore, it is better to promote
both regional appropriateness and intelligibility among English as international language
interlocutors.
Many researches (e.g., Roach, 2009) have been conducted on the perception of stress, and it is
clear that many different sound characteristics are important in making a syllabus recognizably
stressed. From his perceptual standpoint, all stressed syllables have one peculiarity in common, and
that is called prominence; stressed syllables are recognized as stressed because they are more
prominent that unstressed syllables. Roach maintained that loudness is a component of prominence.
In a sequence of identical syllabus (e.g. ba:ba:ba:ba), if one syllable is articulated louder than the
others, it will be heard as stressed. Prominence is produced by four main factors: (i) length (ii) pitch
(iii) loudness and (iv) Experimental studies (e.g., Roach, 2009) have shown that these four factors are
not equally important, the strongest effect is produced by pitch and length but loudness and quality
have much less effect. As Roach identified, there are two levels of stress: tonic strong (or primary) and
non-tonic strong (or secondary). The third level which could be called unstressed, regarded as being
the absence of any recognizable amount of prominence. According to Roach (2009), the following
information is required to decide on stress placement: (i) whether the word is morphologically simple
or complex as a result of containing one or more affixes. (ii) The grammatical category the word
belongs to (noun, verb, adjective, etc). (iii) The number of syllables in the word, and (iv) The
phonological structure of those syllables. He also stated some rules for placement of stress as follows:
in Two-Syllable words, if the second syllable of the verb consists of a long vowel or diphthong, or if it
ends with more than one consonant, the second syllable is stressed. (E.g. “allot” /ə'lät/). If the final
syllable contains a short vowel and one (or no) final consonant, the first syllable is stressed. (e.g.,
“enter” /'entə/). A final syllable is also undressed if it contains əʊ (e.g. “follow” /'fɑləʊ/).
Nouns have a different rule. If the second syllable contains a short vowel, the stress will usually
come on the first syllable. (e.g., “money” /'mʌnɪ/). In the Three-Syllable words, if the last syllable
contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, that syllable will be undressed,
and stress will be placed on the penultimate syllable. (e.g., “encounter” /ɪn'kaʊntə/). If the final
syllable consists of a long vowel or diphthong, or ends with more than one consonant, that final
syllable will be stressed (e.g., “entertain” /entə'teɪn/). Nouns have a different rule: if the final syllable
contains a short vowel or əʊ, it is unstressed; if the syllable preceding the final syllable consists of a
long vowel or diphthong, or it ends with more than one consonant, the middle syllable will be
stressed (e.g., “mimosa” /mɪ'məʊzə/). If the final syllable consists of a short vowel and the middle
syllable contains a short vowel and ends with one consonant, the first syllable is stressed but both
final and middle syllables are unstressed. Such as “quantity” /'kwɑntətɪ/. As cited in Bian (2013),
over the last thirty years little attention has been given to second language stress. Word stress plays
an important role in intelligibility and comprehensibility which poses problems for EFL learners. He
suggested that the transfer of mother tongue sound systems is one of the major reasons for foreign
language pronunciation errors. He examined the differences between Chinese and English stress. The
study investigated the reasons of pronunciation difficulties in English stress among Chinese EFL
learners, and finally implications for English pronunciation teaching are drawn.
Domahs, Genc, Knaus, Wiese and Kabak (2013) investigated the way the predictability of prosodic
patterns in a particular language affect the processing of word stress by native speakers of that
language. The results showed the relationships between two phonological processing routines in
Turkish speakers. Furthermore, the variability of stress patterns did not affect prosodic processing in
general but leaded to differential effects in stress perception (Kim, 2006). Ducate and Lomicka (2009)
studied the role of using podcasts to improve pronunciation in second language learning and how
students' viewpoint changed toward pronunciation over the semester. In which 22 intermediate
students in French and German courses made five scripted pronunciation recordings during the

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semester. After the pronunciation recordings, students produced three informal podcasts and
completed a pre and post-survey based on Elliott's (1995) Pronunciation Attitude Inventory to
evaluate their attitude regarding pronunciation. The findings revealed that students' pronunciation
did not improve in regard to comprehensibility, perhaps because the 16-weeks treatment was too
short to make significant improvement and there was no in-class pronunciation practice.
Park (2009) investigated the ways of teaching English pronunciation in Korean secondary schools
and identifies the instructors’ problems in teaching English pronunciation. The results showed that
the Korean teachers did not have confidence in their own pronunciation and the major problems in
teaching pronunciation included the lack of students’ interest, lack of time, teaching methods and
materials. He suggested that teacher training program needs to be improved to build confidence and
promote their proficiency among the Korean teachers of English.
Zhang (2009) studied the role of input, interaction and output in the development of oral fluency
and face to face interviews. The findings indicated that non-native oral fluency could be obtained
through efficient and effective input, interaction and output in EFL, on the other hand lacking
effective input and output also have too much influence to language forms and written texts. Tanner
and Landon (2009) studied the effects of computer-assisted pronunciation on English as Second
Language (ESL) learners’ use of stress, intonation and overall comprehensibility. The results showed
that the treatment had a significant effect on learners’ perception of word stress and controlled
production of stress, even with limited time for practicing Cued Pronunciation in a self-directed
environment.
Ellis and Shintani (2010) investigated incidental acquisition by comparing the relative effects of
two types of instruction: (1) comprehension-based instruction (CBI) and (2) production-based
instruction (PBI) on young Japanese learners’ incidental acquisition of English plural –s. The results
showed that both the CBI and PBI groups performed much better than the control group on the
comprehension and production tests. González (2010) made a comprehensive and critical summary of
the cognitive linguistics (CL) on phrasal verbs with particular attention to its connection with
approaches in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), and the concept of motivation, which has proven
to be useful in teaching. The results revealed that (1) both Germanic and Non-Germanic S-language
learners use a greater number of phrasal verbs than verbs. He suggested that 'the thinking for
speaking hypothesis' maybe extended to the acquisition of phrasal verbs by second language learners.
Keuleers, Diependaele and Brysbaert (2010) compared English lexicon project (ELP) and French
lexicon project (FLP) among 39 participants to examine what extent in Dutch psycholinguistics can be
replicated in virtual experiments. The findings revealed that when good non-words are used, practice
effects are minimal in lexical decision experiments and do not invalidate the behavioral data. Nassaji
and Tian (2010) compared the efficiency of two types of output tasks (reconstruction editing tasks and
cloze tasks) for learning English phrasal verbs. The study was conducted in two intact low-
intermediate adult ESL classrooms. The effectiveness of the tasks was determined by how
successfully learners completed the tasks before and after the treatment. The results showed that
completing the tasks collaboratively and in pairs led to a better accuracy of task completion than
completing them individually.
Yasuda (2010) examined whether enhancing awareness of conceptual metaphors of particles
facilitates acquisition of phrasal verbs by Japanese EFL students. The students in the control group
learned a set of phrasal verbs via traditional instruction, and those in the experimental group received
the same input through a cognitive linguistic approach. The students in both groups were asked to fill
in the missing adverbial particles of the phrasal verbs. Results showed the students’ better
performance than those in the control group. It was implying that when the target idioms were not
stored in learners' mental lexicon, learners who were aware of conceptual metaphors could rely on
metaphorical thought to produce a suitable adverbial particle. This highlighted that EFL learners
need to be taught about the notion of conceptual metaphors explicitly before they can actively
comprehend and produce appropriate phrasal verbs.
Shing and Yin (2014) indicated that films just give minor impact on the students’ pronunciation.
However, it is a good source to help students to improve their mastery of intonation, stress and
pauses. Cho, Yu, Chun, Seo and Han (2014) investigated the effects of selective word stress, time
alteration and varying sentence lengths on the speech perception of older listeners. Seventeen people
with normal hearing were tested for seven conditions of different time-altered sentences, two
conditions of selective word stress (i.e., stressed and unstressed), and three different lengths of

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sentences (i.e., short, medium, and long) at the most adequate level for individuals in quiet
circumstances. The findings showed that a combination of time compression and selective word
stress is more effective for understanding speech in listeners than using the time-expanded condition.
Romanelli and Menegotto (2015) made research on the perception of Spanish vowels /a, e, o/ and the
perception of final and penultimate stress of words by beginner American English learners of
Spanish. He concluded that perception of vowel is not a problem for English speakers who learn
Spanish while the perception of stress is the problematic area.
This study focused on the area of word stress recognition through oral and written instructions.
Since EFL learners need to recognize the appropriate stress in order to have an accurate
pronunciation, the findings of this study could provide further empirical evidence to strengthen the
pedagogical use of oral and written instructions in developing EFL learners’ word stress recognition.
Therefore, the results of this study may help EFL learners select proper activities to enhance learning
word stress, and English language instructors who wish to teach word stress effectively as well as the
curriculum developers who design a related syllabus concerning the EFL learners’ word stress
recognition. The main research questions in this study are as follows:
RQ1: Does oral instruction develop EFL learners’ stress recognition at the intermediate level?
RQ2: Does written instruction develop EFL learners’ stress recognition at the intermediate level?
RQ3. Is there a significant difference between oral and written instruction in developing EFL learners’
stress recognition?

3. Methodology
3.1 Participants
To select the homogeneous participants, the researcher administered the Oxford Quick Placement
Test (OQPT) to 120 students majoring in English at Islamic Azad University of Abadan, Iran. The
researcher selected 60 students out of 120 students based on their performance on the OQPT test. The
students whose scores were between 30 and 39 as intermediate level were selected as the participants
of the study. The selected participants were with the age ranging from 20 to 26 years old. Then they
were non-randomly divided into two experimental groups through convenience sampling method,
each included 30 participants.

3.2. Instrumentation
Initially, the participants of this study took the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) for the sake of
having homogeneous participants. This test consisted of sixty multiple-choice items. Since the test is a
standardized test, the reliability of the test has been reported by the test designers. The second
instrument was the pre-test which included 10 reading passages along with 50 multi-syllable words
that were selected from the textbook “Select Readings: Intermediate” (Lee & Gundersen, 2011). The
reliability of pre-test was met through KR-21 method as (r = .711) based on a pilot test. It was taught
as the participants’ textbook. The last instrument was the post-test which included a list of 50 multi-
syllable words to determine the effectiveness of the treatment after the course. Its reliability was
calculated through KR-21 method as (r = .769) based on a pilot test.

3.3. Materials
The textbook “Select Readings: Intermediate” written by (Lee & Gundersen, 2011) contains 14 units
and every unit includes one reading passage. Totally, ten passages were adopted from the textbook
which were taught in ten sessions.

3.4. Procedure
To accomplish the purpose of the study, the following procedures were carried out. This study was
carried out for 10 sessions. Before instruction, first of all, to select homogeneous participants, the
researcher administered Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) to 120 students majoring in English at
Islamic Azad University of Abadan. The learner who met the band scores between 30 and 39 as the
intermediate level were determined as the participants and non-randomly divided into two
experimental groups including the oral and written groups. Each included 30 participants. The
amount of time, which was allocated to the treatment for every experimental group, was 45 minutes
in each session. A pre-test which included 10 reading passages and 50 words was selected from the
text book “Select Readings: Intermediate” written by (Lee & Gundersen, 2011). The pre-test was given

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to the participants to determine the primary stress on the words. Treatment was conducted based on
Richards and Renandya (2002) who worked on written and oral instructions in teaching
pronunciation. The treatment on the both groups was conducted in oral and written teaching
procedures.
In written group, the teacher taught the learners how to pronounce the words correctly through
teaching word stress rules and writing some examples on the board with determining the place of
stress on each word. The words were extracted from the book “Select Readings: Intermediate” written
by (Lee & Gundersen, 2011) based on the learners’ difficulties on the problematic areas including
vowels, diphthongs, and triphthongs. Then the participants were asked to read the passage and put
the primary stress on each word. The participants were asked to read the passage before placing the
primary stress to let them be familiar with the part of speech within the text.
The oral group dealt with ten reading passages adopted from the same book regarding the
learners’ exercises. The participants were asked to listen to the compact disk (CD) of the textbook
passages. Then the participants repeated sentence by sentence after that. This helped the learners to
be familiar with different part of speech and pronunciation of the words in the passages with
recognizing the stress of the words. This activity also involved them in practicing the correct
pronunciation of words.
At last, after the treatment, the post-test similarly to the pre-test involved 10 reading passages from
the same textbook and 50 multi-syllable words were extracted from those passages. The participants
took the post-test through placing the primary stress of the words in the multiple-choice stress
recognition. Finally, the obtained results were compared with each other to find out the effects of the
treatment in both groups.
3.5 Data Analysis
The scores of the two experimental groups processed through the application of the statistical
software SPSS 17. In order to determine the effect of each group on the stress recognition of words,
the data collected through pre-test and post-test. Descriptive statistics including means, standard
deviations and variances of the scores calculated. The data analyzed by Paired and Independent
Samples t-test to find out the difference between and within the groups. The Paired Samples t-test
was run so as to find out whether the differences between each groups’ pre-tests and post-tests are
statistically significant and the Independent Samples t-tests was calculated to compare the difference
between the two groups’ pre and post-tests.
4. Results
This section deals with the results obtained throughout the research and analytically scrutinizes the
groups' performance in the study. To answer the research questions, the descriptive statistics of the
pre and post-tests are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics

N Min. Max. Mean Std. Deviation
Experimental Written-Pre-test 30 2.00 49.00 24.5667 12.66187
Experimental Written-Post-test 30 1.00 50.00 26.9000 14.19410
Experimental Oral-Pre-test 30 3.00 48.00 25.8667 13.20327
Experimental Oral-Post-test 30 4.00 50.00 36.2667 15.35541
Valid N (listwise) 30
Table 1 shows the students participated in each group. The results showed that the mean of the
experimental written pre-test was 24.5667 and the experimental written post-test was 26.9000. The
mean of the experimental oral pre-test was 25.8667 and the experimental oral post-test was 36.2667.
To compare oral and written groups’ pre-test, data are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics (Pre-test)

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Experimental Written-Pre-test 30 24.5667 12.66187 2.31173
Experimental Oral-Pre-test 30 25.8667 13.20327 2.41058

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Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of the pre-test. In order to understand the effect of the pre-
test on each group, descriptive statistical analysis including mean, standard deviation and standard
error of mean. Although the means in the pre-tests were close, Independent Samples t-test shows the
difference between the two groups statistically in Table 3.

Table 3.Independent Samples t-test (Pre-test)

Levene's Test t-test for Equality of Means

for Equality
of Variances

95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference

F Sig. t df Sig. Mean Std. Lower Upper

(2- Differe Error
taile nce Differe
d) nce

Equal variances .097 .756 -.389 58 .699 1.300 3.339 7.985 5.385
assumed

Equal variances -.389 57.8 .699 1.300 3.339 7.985 5.385

not assumed
Table 3 shows the observed t (.389) is less than the critical t (2.000) with df =58; therefore, the
difference between the groups is not significant at (p<0.05). According to the critical t (2.000) with (df
=58), the observed t among two pairs of the participants was less than the critical t. Therefore, Table 3
showed that there were no significant differences between the two pre-test groups among
participants (p<0.05).
Table 4. Descriptive Statistics (post-test)

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Experimental Written-Post-test 30 25.8667 13.20327 2.41058

Experimental Oral-Post-test 30 36.2667 15.35541 2.80350

Table 4 shows that the mean in the Experimental Written post-test was 25.8667 and the mean in
the experimental oral post-test was 36.2667. The mean in the two groups are different. However, there
is a need to calculate the means through Independent Samples t-test to arrive at the significant level.
The results are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Independent Samples t-test (post-test)

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Levene's Test t-test for Equality of Means

for Equality of
Variances

95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
F Sig. t df Sig. Mean Std. Error Lower Upper
(2- Differe Difference
taile nce
d)

Equal 2.041 .158 2.813 58 .007 10.40 3.6 17.80 2.99

variances
assumed
Equal 2.813 56.7 .007 10.40 3.69 17.80 2.99
variances not
assumed

Table 5 shows that the observed t (2.813) is greater than the critical t (2.000) with df = 58.
Therefore, there is a significant difference among the participants of the two experimental groups
(p<0.05). Table 4.6 shows the differences between the pre and post-tests of each group.

Table 6.Descriptive Statistics (Experimental Written vs. Experimental Oral)

Mean N Std. Std. Error Mean

Deviation

Pair 1 Experimental Written Pre-test 24.566 30 12.66187 2.31173

Experimental Written Post-test 26.900 30 14.19410 2.59148

Pair 2 Experimental Oral Pre-test 25.866 30 13.20327 2.41058

Experimental Oral Post-test 36.266 30 15.35541 2.80350

Table 6 shows the descriptive statistics on the two tests of pre and post-tests in both groups. The
results showed that there was a difference between pre-test and post-test of the first pair but there
was much more difference could be seen in the pre and post-test of the second pair. However, there is
need to calculate the significant difference of the pairs through Paired Samples t-test in Table 7.

Table 7. Paired Samples t-test (Experimental Written vs. Experimental Oral)

Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-

tailed)
95%
Confidence
Interval of
the
Difference

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Mean Std. Std. Low Upp

Devi Error er er
ation Mea
n

Pair 1 Experimental Written 2.33 9.13 1.66 5.74 1.07 1.399 29 .172
Pre-Post-test
Pair 2 Experimental Oral Pre- 10.40 19.5 3.57 17.7 3.09 2.910 29 .00
Post-test

Table 7 shows the differences between the pre-test and post-test of the two groups. Results show
that the observed t (1.399) is less than the critical t (2.000) with df=29, the difference between the
experimental written pre and post-tests is not significant at (p<0.05). Moreover, since the observed t
(2.910) is greater than the critical t (2.000) with df=29, the difference between the oral group's pre and
post-tests is significant at (p<0.05). Therefore, the results showed a significant development in the
performance of the participants in the second pair.

5. Discussion
The results of the present study concerned with the research questions will be discussed as follows:
Research Question One: Does oral instruction develop EFL learners’ stress recognition at the
intermediate level?
The present study showed that in comparison to the performance of participants in experimental
written group, the performance of participants in experimental oral group was different. This
difference was much significant compared to that of experimental written group (p<.05). The mean of
experimental oral group’s scores in pre-test was less than their scores in the post-test. This result
indicated a significant difference in the oral group rather than the written group. The participants in
the oral group dealt with ten reading passages derived from the same book in terms of learners’
difficulties. The participants were asked to listen to the text which played through CD. Moreover, the
participants repeated sentence by sentence after that. It is helpful to the learners to be familiar with
different part of speech and pronunciation of the words in the passage with its impact in recognizing
the word stress and also involve them in conversation and correct pronunciation of words. The
performance of oral group showed better results than that of the written group because of the input
they were exposed to. The results are in line with Krashen (1982) who assumed that second language
learning takes place simply by means of comprehensible input that language learners are exposed to.
The difference of scores obtained from both groups showed that oral group has been more successful
in learning stress recognition. The reason for the better performance of the oral group might be due to
the fact that, activities e.g. stress correction which were employed by the learners may help them
monitor their own pronunciation based on word stress.
The findings of this study are supported by Thiessen and Saffran (2007) who exposed English-
learning infants to a list of words which got stress on the second syllable and discover if infants can
find a relation between stress and syllable boundaries. A brief exposure allowed infants to
subsequently segment iambic words correctly. The results suggested that infants are sensitive to the
distribution of stress across word position and altering this distribution affects their segmentation
strategies.
Yoshikawa and Leung (2014) supported the findings of this study. They conducted oral reading
tasks to investigate Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) read words aloud with
different lexical stress agreed with the result of this study. The findings showed that intermediate EFL
learners can identify and manipulate second language prosodic information, even though their first
language does not possess the property.
Research Question Two: Does written instruction develop EFL learners’ stress recognition at the
intermediate level?
The performance of written group was not significant comparing with the oral group. This can be
due to the use of other activities which were employed by them while trying to learn pronunciation.

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In doing so, the participants in the written group were just trying to focus on learning phonetics and
word stress rules. In written group, the teacher taught the learners how to pronounce the words
correctly through teaching word stress rules and writing some examples on the board with
determining the place of stress on each word. One reason of their weakness may be due to this type of
instruction comparing to the oral group since it was neglecting the significance of natural approach as
supported by Krashen (1982). The natural approach claims that language learning is a reproduction of
the way humans naturally acquire the language pronunciation.
The findings of the study are compatible with the results of Yoshikawa and Leung (2014) who
conducted oral reading tasks among the Japanese EFL learners. The results in which showed that
intermediate EFL learners can recognize and manipulate second language prosodic information. The
result of this study is compatible with the result of Bassetti and Atkinson (2015) who investigated
various orthographic effects on the pronunciation of English words among native users of the Italian
phonologically writing system. Results also indicated that orthographic forms affect pronunciation of
known words among experienced instructed learners, albeit less than repeating words rather than
reading-aloud tasks.
Research Question Three: Is there a significant difference between oral and written instruction in
developing EFL learners’ stress recognition?
According to the results obtained from this study, the most effective group between the two
groups were the oral group who outperformed the other group in achieving the mean of 36.2667 in
word stress recognition post-test. The reason might be due to the fact that participants of this group
paid more attention to inputs and oral activities than the written group. Experimental oral group
showed better results rather than the experimental written group on recognizing the word stress in
the passages. However, this does not mean that the role of other activities in developing word stress
recognition among participants could be ignored. Generally, the results showed that the scores
obtained from the oral group in the performance of recognizing word stress are quite different in
comparison with written group.
Results of this study are supported by Saito (2015) who conducted a study the aim of which was to
evaluate the effects of second language (L2) as length of residence (LOR) on late Japanese learners of
English in Canada. Data aggregated from 65 participants in three groups of learners (long-LOR, mid
and short) and two baseline groups of native English and native Japanese speakers, with 13
participants in each group. Teaching word stress through oral instruction may help the learners to
monitor their own pronunciation and aural skills through phonological knowledge and help them to
develop their fluency, made meaningful context, and develop stress recognition of the word in the
context. The finding of this study is in the line with the results of Cho et al., (2014) who investigated
the effects of selective word stress (i.e., unstressed and stressed), time alteration, , and lengths of
sentences (i.e., short, medium, and long) on the speech perception of older listeners. The findings
emphasized the significance of combination of selective word stress and time is more effective for
understanding speech in older listeners than using the time-expanded condition.

6. Conclusion
This study began with the assumption that oral and written instructions could enhance the
intermediate language learners' word stress recognition ability. The instruction lasted for a whole
academic semester. During this time, the teacher (researcher) employed the aforementioned
instructions and taught the participants in the experimental groups how to recognize primary word
stress. The participants in the written group focused on learning phonetics and word stress rules
during the instruction while the participants in the oral group concentrated on listening to the given
passage which played through CD.
After the post-test, the results indicated that the oral instruction of word stress affected the
intermediate language learners. That is, the word stress recognition ability of the experimental oral
group who had made use of oral activities surpassed that of the written group. The result of the study
proved that length of instruction was generally improved comprehensibility through its connection
with varied prosody, optimal speech rate, adequate and proper lexico-grammar usage. These findings
suggest that learners continue to improve in their L2 oral proficiency over an extensive period of L2.
The findings of this study reveal the fact that this study can be effective if EFL teachers help students
to develop their word stress recognition, the use of self-correction like self-monitoring and affective
activities could be helpful. The learners may improve their pronunciation and word stress

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recognition. However, the role of other activities such as repetition, role play, conversation drills and
communicative activities in developing word stress should not be ignored.

6.1. Implications of the Study

The implications the present study may bring out for material designers, language teachers, and
language learners. Language studies in the domain of language learning activities, especially word
stress recognition activities in developing learning pronunciation are well advised to take the
implications presented in this study into thoughtful considerations. Material designers are well
counseled to design their learning pronunciation activities in such a way that necessitates the
employment of word stress recognition activities at intermediate levels. Moreover, they must bear in
mind that word stress recognition activities should be presented in a right time and at suitable levels
that conforms to the reader's actual potential in cognition, in order for them to learn pronunciation
and word stress recognition better.
Material designers are advised to acquaint intermediate language learners with the advantages of
word stress recognition activities, not necessarily incorporating these activities into language
textbooks so that language learners with intermediate language ability may draw upon them. Many
language teachers in EFL contexts treat the word stress skills in a traditional way. They are
considerably remiss in teaching this skill, overlooking the insight that they can give language learners
by learning word stress activities in general and particular. It is the responsibility of methodologists
and applied linguists to help them fathom out the value of learning word stress activities based on
instruction.
The application of word stress recognition activities such as listening to stress cues for
pronunciation skill result in successful learning among intermediate learners. Language learners who
are successful in their pronunciation skill might draw on these activities more frequently than do
those who are poor in their pronunciation skill.
This study attempted to find out the effects of oral and written instruction on intermediate EFL
learners’ word stress recognition and did not take the other instructions or factors into consideration.
Thus, the sample size is limited in population to 60 students, so more research is needed in similar
situations with larger population to support the findings and to find more about the role of
instructions on word stress recognition. In addition, only ten sessions were run to see the effects of
each instruction. Moreover, this study was done for two types of instructions as written and oral
instructions and it should be investigated with other instruction types and activities.

6.2. Suggestions for Further Studies

The following are some suggestions and insights regarding word stress recognition activities and
learning pronunciation for further studies. Researchers are highly counseled to consider them before
carrying out any study. Psychological, biological, pedagogical, and geographical factors play
important roles in word stress language learning activities and learning pronunciation. This study did
not take them into consideration. Since learning a second/foreign language could be much influenced
by these factors, researchers are recommended to give heed to them. The present study has been
carried out at the intermediate level. Succeeding studies had better evaluate the effect of instruction of
pronunciation activities on enhancing the word stress recognition at the beginning and advanced
levels. Since this study was conducted on general students majoring in English at Islamic Azad
University of Abadan, Iran, some investigations could be launched to consider the role of instruction
of pronunciation activities on promoting the word stress recognition skill at secondary education in
EFL contexts. Further studies may be needed to engage the language testing and language
methodologies as the other pedagogical factors in the instruction and use of pronunciation instruction
activities and their influence on the promotion of word stress recognition.

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learning. Canadian Center of Science and Education, 6(11), 199-211.

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Cho, S., Yu, J., Chun, H., Seo, H., & Han, W. (2014). Speech perception in older listeners with
normal hearing: Conditions of time alteration, selective word stress, and length of sentences. Journal of
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AN EXPLORATION OF TASKS, MATERIALS,

TECHNIQUES, FACTORS, PRINCIPLES AND OTHER
CLASSROOM VARIABLES RELATED TO L2
LEARNING MOTIVATION AND THE LEARNING
OUTCOME

Davood Asadinik
M.A in TEFL, Department of foreign languages, Marvdasht Islamic Azad University
Davood_asadinik@yahoo.com

Esmaeil Jadidi
PHD in TEFL, Department of foreign languages, Marvdasht Islamic Azad University

Abstract
THE EXIGENCY OF THE EFFECTIVE L2 LEARNING AND TEACHING, ESPECIALLY EFFECTIVE
ENGLISH LEARNING AND TEACHING HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE L2
LEARNING MOTIVATION.
MOTIVATION IS AN UMBRELLA TERM FOR ALL THE CONDITIONS WHICH DETERMINE ANY
HUMAN ACTIVITY. SO, WHEN ONE IS MOTIVATED, HE/ SHE DOES SOMETHING WITH A
CERTAIN GOAL AND PUTS A LOT OF EFFORT INTO IT. MOREOVER, THIS EFFORT IS
ASSOCIATED WITH A DESIRE AND WILLINGNESS TO REACH THE GOAL AND ALSO WITH A
POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ACTIVITY THE INDIVIDUAL INTENDS TO DO. IN TERMS
OF L2 LEARNING AND TEACHING, THE EXISTENCE OF MOTIVATION ACTIVATES
STUDENTS’ DESIRE, WILLINGNESS AND EAGERNESS TO BE ACTIVE AND CREATIVE IN THE
PROCESS OF LEARNING, PROMOTES THEIR WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICAATE(WTC),
ENHANCES THEIR POTENTIAL IN LEARNING ENGLISH AND DISCOVERING NOVEL
MATERIALS, HELPS THEM TO TAKE CHARGE OF THEIR OWN LEARNING PROCESS, SETTING
OBJECTIVES AND MONITORING THEIR LEARNING OUTCOMES. THE CONCEPT OF ENGLISH
LEARNING MOTIVATION IS MORE IN LINE WITH THE EFL CONTEXTS RATHER THAN ESL
CONTEXTS. THUS, IN THIS STUDY, I MAKE AN EFFORT TO PROVIDE THE TEACHERS TO
CREATE THE SENSE OF MOTIVATION INSIDE THE LEARNERS AND MOSTLY THE STUDENTS
WITH A REMARKABLE AND VALUABLE ACCOUNT OF TENETS OF MOTIVATION IN THE
PROCESS OF LEARNING AND TEACHING TO CORPORATE THEM BETTER PAY ATTENTION
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE L2 LEARNING AND TEACHING, MANAGE AND GO THROUGH
THIS PROCESS EFFECTIVELY. ALSO, I TRY TO INTRODUCE THE TYPES OF MOTIVATION AS
WELL AS THE THEORIES RELATED TO IT AND POINT OUT THE WAYS OF CREATING,
PROMOTING, PROMPTING THAT INSIDE THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.

KEY WORDS: MOTIVATION, TYPES OF MOTIVATION, SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY

Introduction
It is a widely accepted tenet that “motivation” is the basic ingredient of self-directed behavior and
achievement. Similarly, most foreign language teachers and second language acquisition researchers
would unreservedly agree that motivation is an essential element of successful language learning. The
relationship between motivational levels and improved language proficiency has been thoroughly
documented in a large number of research publications [Ushioda, “Motivation,” Learner (2006);
Gardner, “Motivation,” Social (2001); Dornyei, Teaching; Dornyei and Schmidt (2001)] for almost forty
years since Gardner and Lambert’s pioneering work addressing learner attitudes, or Rubin’s seminal
study investigating the learning techniques deployed by the so-called “good language learner”.

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Hence, motivation, a much-used and all-embracing term, has long been a buzzword in foreign
language teaching and second language acquisition and learning research contexts, but what exactly
does it consist of and is it similar in all types of learning contexts? How much can teachers really
influence it? More importantly, how can we help to sustain it? What is its relationship with learner
autonomy? (I have answered this question in my thesis project; the effects of L2 learning motivation
on learners’ autonomy).
Recently, in our educational system we have been investigating ways to enhance our learners’
intrinsic motivation for language learning, and hopefully help to improve their language proficiency
at the same time, rather than just watch them aiming to pass their final examination with a minimal
degree of effort in order to further their academic career. It appears that many of them are, in fact,
unprepared for the independent learning opportunities that embarking on a university degree offers,
so a parallel concern is the gradual fostering of greater learner autonomy and meta-cognitive
awareness as a means to motivate them further. As corroborated in a recent qualitative study which
found learner independence to be the change most frequently reported by beginning university
students “The transition from school to university brings with it a change of circumstances, demands
and experiences which is likely to change the motivational profile of the student” (Bavendiek, 2004).
This change in learning context requires adaptation on cognitive, meta-cognitive and social/affective
levels as the move towards greater autonomy is not achieved magically without guidance or support.
The ability to generate “internally” driven, or intrinsic, motivation for learning, rather than
approaching learning tasks in response to “external” rewards such as passing grades or greater
employment opportunities (motivation types which we are going to discuss about in further parts), is
essential for developing greater learner autonomy (Dornyei, Motivational, 2001). Ushioda
[“Socializing,” “Motivation,” “Language” (2006)] has also more recently highlighted the interactions
between motivation and autonomy theory, practice and research traditions based on her previous
1996 publication linking the two, claiming that motivation needs to come from within and be self-
determined as well as internally regulated for effective and autonomous language learning to take
place.
My project, I mean the longitudinal action research project reported here is an attempt to explore and
identify motivational types and levels. Our principal and ultimate objective is to reach a more precise
understanding of what motivation involves for our own tertiary level learners.
Motivation has been the subject of research of many theoreticians, teachers and psychologists.
Through their work, the concept of motivation could be easily defined. For example, Dornye claims
that students who really want to learn the English language can cope with its studying without
difficulties despite not having a special talent or an aptitude in foreign language acquisition. (2001).
So, up to now we found out that one of the significant aspects of human behavior is called motivation
which has been studied enormously and it is called a dynamic process because we are trying
extremely hard to perform a particular action. In other word motivation orientation is concerned with
the underlying attitudes and goals which give rise to the action. It has been used also over
approximately three decades by several researchers for instance, Reeve (2002), Vallerand, Pelletier
and Koestner (2008), Ratelle, Guay, Vallerand, Larose and Senecal (2007), to investigate different
aspects of motivation process such as health, education, physical activity etc. According to Vallerand
et al. (2008), different studies in numerous areas indicated that, for investigating human function,
motivation and development, self determination theory (we are going to discuss about in further
parts) can be extended successfully. Types of motivation, based on the self-determination theory gives
rise to an action which is varied because of different goals, and the main differences are among
intrinsic and extrinsic form of motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Deci And Ryan (1985) stated that
having an inherent tendency that are used for developing personal factors, overcoming all challenges
which exist in life, also for combining all gained experiences in their idea, are the basic opinion of self-
determination theory. Ryan and Deci (2000a; 2000b) postulated that the theory which investigates
motivation in three forms of intrinsic form of motivation, extrinsic form of motivation and
Amotivation (we are going to discuss about in further parts), is proposing that social factors which
are used to improve psychological needs, are influencing different types of motivation.

The main Role of Motivation in Foreign Language Learning

As we have emphasized the significance of the motivation, If you were asked which factors influence
the learning process, you would probably put motivation on the top of your list. Undoubtedly, one of

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the most important aims of psychology and pedagogy has been the explanation of human behavior in
particular situations. Why do people behave the way they behave? Nakonecny explains that this
“why” includes two basic aspects. The first one is related to the manner of human behavior, i.e.; why
does an individual behave friendly in a particular situation? The other one is related to the aim of this
behavior, i.e.; what is the reason? (1996). But let us get back to root and the basic concept of
motivation and look at this more specifically. The term is derived from a Latin word “movare” which
means “to move”. Homola says that motivation is a general term for all the conditions which
determine any human activity. (1969). So when we say that the individual is motivated, we point to
the fact that he/ she does something with a certain goal and puts a lot of effort into it. Moreover, this
effort is associated with a desire and willingness to reach the goal and also with a positive attitude
towards the activity the individual intends to do. Gardner, a specialist in the psychology of foreign
language learning, creates a broader perspective with regard to motivation. He claims that motivation
includes four elements – goal, willing behavior, desire to reach the goal and positive approach
towards the activity. (1985).
In the description of foreign language learning, Dunkel (1948) outlines a similar division of
motivation aspects as well as a description of the relationship between the goal of learning a foreign
language and the behavior in the process of reaching this goal. He pointed out the differences
between the types of motivation and the intensity of motivation. He also specifies that the type of
motivation is directly bonded to the goal and that the intensity is related to the degree of effort which
the individual puts into achieving this goal. In connection to the topic, the type of motivation answers
the question why the individual studies a foreign language? The observation is that there are many
reasons for learning the English language, e.g.:

‐ To be able to communicate with the members of the target community.

‐ To be able to apply for certain jobs.
‐ To broaden one’s knowledge.
‐ To make one’s parents happy.
‐ To follow the needs of society.

Gardner claims that if we want to describe the motivation to learn the English language, it is
necessary to know the specific reasons that are connected to learning goals. If we ask a student “Why
do you study the English language?” and the answer was “Because I have to”, it would be considered
the reason why the student is in the classroom, however it would not be considered as any kind of
motivation for learning the English language. (1985). On the contrary, this would indicate the lack of
motivation to learn English. If we want to specify the goals in learning, we need to relate them
directly to learning the English language.
On closer examination of the relevant literature, in other word and saying in a different manner, it
becomes clear that motivation is, in effect, a highly complex concept which regularly features in
discussions of effective language learning or teaching as much recent research has testified (Dornyei
and Ushioda; Ushioda, “Motivation”; Gardner, “Motivation”; Dornyei, Psychology, Teaching; Huitt),
and which can also be viewed from a variety of perspectives. The term motivation may even seem, at
times, to have lost its full power simply by merit of overuse in a variety of everyday contexts such as
work, education or sport. However, despite its apparent familiarity, defining it accurately has proved
to be extremely tricky since we can find a plethora of competing definitions and theories in
contemporary motivational psychology, and, in the words of Dornyei, motivation “[...] is one of the
most elusive concepts in the whole domain of the human sciences”. Yet, although it appears difficult
to reach a working definition of motivation, seminal examples include that proposed by Gardner,
promoting the stimulation of “[...] effort, plus desire to achieve the goal of learning, plus favorable
attitudes towards learning the language” (Social, 2001), echoed more than ten years later by Ellis, who
suggested that motivation corresponds to “The effort learners put into learning an L2 as a result of
their desire or need to learn it [...] motivation involves the attitudes and affective states that influence
the degree of effort that learners make to learn an L2”. Common elements which recur when
reviewing definitions of motivation include the “desire” to achieve something and the “effort”
required to do that, as well as “affective” factors as also featured in Williams and Burden’s view, who
see motivation as “[...] a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, which leads to a conscious decision
to act, and which gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort in order to

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attain a previously set goal (or goals)”. As Dornyei later concludes in more general terms, motivation
is responsible for “why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how
long they are willing to sustain the activity” (Motivational ,2001).
A general consensus seems to be that motivation is an unobservable, internal state or condition (a
need, desire or want) that serves to activate or energize goal-oriented behavior and give it direction,
and which is therefore difficult to identify accurately or indeed measure. We can conclude that some
of the factors involved in language learning motivation are “cognitive” (interest, curiosity or
engagement), some are “affective” (confidence or lack of anxiety), and others are “behavioral”
(persistence, attention, or interaction). However, motivation can also be viewed as a dynamic concept
which is open to pedagogical intervention [Dornyei, Psychology; Dornyei and Otto (2001) ] and which
may be affected or influenced by a wide range of variables such as social context, teaching practice or
strategy repertoire depending on the learning context or the demands of the task at hand. Currently,
research interest has also begun to focus more on the role of learners, rather than teachers, as agents
who regulate and shape their own motivation (Ushioda, “Motivation” , 2006).

Types of motivation
With reference to motivational types, language learning motivation was originally viewed in terms of
two primary orientations, “instrumental” and “integrative” [Gardner and Lambert (2004)].
Instrumental motivation refers to that which is aroused by external learner goals or pragmatic,
functional motives such as passing exams, financial rewards or furthering a career. In many
educational contexts, this type of motivation often appears to be the major driving force behind
language learning. In contrast, integrative motivation corresponds to the desire to identify with the
culture of speakers of the target language, with learners showing interest in and a positive disposition
towards the people and culture of the target language group. However, it is true to say that many
foreign language learners’ general reasons for learning may not be crucial in determining or shaping
their motivation; for example, maybe they do not hold distinct attitudes towards the target language
group. Yet they may find learning tasks intrinsically motivating and may feel personally involved or
interested, so the maintenance of curiosity and motivation might be the cause of learning, but may
also result from it. Alternatively, a language learner might have strong integrative motivation but
may derive little pleasure from the learning process (Schmidt and Savage qtd. Ushioda, “Motivation”,
2006).
With more recent cognitive theories of motivation, the integrative/instrumental dichotomy has been
gradually replaced by “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” motivational types (Ushioda, “Motivation”, 2006).
Intrinsic motivation refers to that motivation which comes from within and is generated by the
learner, meaning that the learner’s reasons for learning might correspond to enjoyment, interest,
challenge, or skill development. Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, links learning to external goals such
as gaining a qualification. As Ushioda points out, there has been “a tendency to conflate the
intrinsic/extrinsic motivation with the integrative/instrumental motivation to some extent since
intrinsic motivation, like integrative motivation, is founded in deep-rooted personal interests and
positive attitudes and feelings” (“Motivation”, 2006). Gardner’s instrumental and integrative
motivation types might also constitute forms of extrinsic motivation as they both define reasons for
learning a language as a means to an end. Gardner has also made a recent distinction between
“language learning motivation” and “classroom learning motivation,” which could reflect the
intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy (“Motivation”. 2004). Language learning motivation refers to the
motivation to learn (and acquire) a second language, and is a “[...] a general characteristic of the
individual that applies to any opportunity to learn the language. It is relatively stable [...] but it is
amenable to change under certain conditions” Gardner, (“Motivation”, 2006). Classroom learning
motivation corresponds to the motivation in the classroom situation, and “the focus is on the
individual’s perception of the task at hand, and is largely state oriented” (Gardner, “Motivation”,
2004). It can be influenced by a variety of factors (teacher, class atmosphere, course content, materials
and facilities, personal characteristics) as well as the general language learning motivation already
described.
Distinguishing between different types of motivation may not be so useful, as Gardner points out
(“Motivation”, 2004); since more is needed to achieve language learning success, and it seems that it is
the intensity of motivation, in all its cognitive, affective and behavioral components that is the crucial
factor. Extrinsic motivation may promote language acquisition on a short-term basis, and is often

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classroom-bound, activity-based and proficiency-linked, but a more intrinsic type of motivation, with
the learner experiencing genuine interest in communicating in the target language and a favorable
attitude towards the target culture, seems to bring about greater language learning success. We
should thus focus on the need to not only “identify” or “generate” but also help learners to “sustain”
their motivation beyond that experienced in the short-term classroom context, which might be more
extrinsically or instrumentally oriented in nature, and help it become more internally generated. This
is what we wished to address in the study reported here exploring the role of language learner
strategies and the development of learner autonomy as essential ingredients of language learning
motivation, especially since classroom-based research addressing motivational processes are still
somewhat scarce as opposed to the growing body of more theoretical studies (Ushioda, “Motivation”,
2006).

Amotivation
Amotivation refers to the lack of motivation. According to Ratelle et al. (2007), there is no connection
between performance and consequence for people who are Amotivated.

Cognitive Motivation in Language Learning

In a cognitive approach to motivation, processes play a central role, mediating and shaping
involvement in learning (see Dörnyei and Ottó, 1998; Ushioda, 1996a; Williams and Burden, 1997).
Dörnyei (2001) argues that “a major challenge for motivational theories is to portray motivational
processes as they happen in time” (p. 82). In addition to the shift of attention to the cognition and
processes of motivation in L2 learning, the recent revival of interest in Vygotsky’s conception of 1)
motivation and autonomy as a socially constructed process (see Ushioda, 2003, 2006a, 2006b) and 2)
the process of internalization to make individuals become self-regulated as a result of social
interaction with more competent others (Vygotsky, 1978) has attracted L2 scholars to explore the link
between L2 motivation and autonomous language learning.
Since the 1990s, some influential theories of motivation in the general education literature have been
used to explain L2 motivation in relation to autonomy. Among those motivational formulations, Deci
and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory has been one of the most widely-adopted approaches to
account for motivational autonomy. Dickinson (1995) demonstrates the possibility of reinterpreting
Gardner’s distinction between integrative and instrumental motivation in language learning in terms
of a more general distinction of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Self-Determination Theory
According to Deci and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory, there are two types of motivation,
namely intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Figure 1 shows that intrinsic orientation,
extrinsic orientation and Amotivation lie on a continuum from self-determined to non-determined.
An individual with a high level of self-determination is likely to demonstrate autonomy in his or her
learning and lead to higher achievement.

Figure 1 – Orientation Subtypes along the Self-determination continuum (Adapted From Deci & Ryan
2000, P.72)

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Conceptualization of Self-Determination
Despite the fact that less self-determined motivation is less likely to help individuals develop
autonomous learning behaviors, Noels et al. (2000) note that extrinsic motivation “does not imply a
lack of self-determination in the behavior performed … different types of extrinsic motivation (EM)
can be classified along a continuum according to the extent to which they are internalized into the self
concept” (p. 61). Nunan (1997) points out that “autonomy is not an all-or-nothing concept, that there
are degrees of autonomy” (p. 192). Deci and Ryan (1985) argue that self-determination “is integral to
intrinsically motivated behavior and is also in evidence in some extrinsically motivated behaviors” (p.
38). They conceive of self-determination not only as a capacity, but also a need which embodies “a
basic, innate propensity to be self-determining that leads organisms to engage in interesting
behaviors, which typically has the benefit of developing competencies, and of working toward a
flexible accommodation with the social environment” (p. 38). As a result of such tendency toward
adequate accommodation in the service of one’s self-determination, the choices made by an
individual “are based on an awareness of [his]…organismic needs and a flexible interpretation of
external events” (p. 38). Individuals can choose to exert control over their own environment or his
outcomes, and according to Deci and Ryan (1985), giving up control willingly is also a form of self-
determined behavior. In other words, extrinsically-motivated behaviors could be considered to be
self-determined if the individual has made an informed choice of being other-regulated instead of
self-regulated. In fact, there are a number of studies which attempt to link intrinsic motivation and
autonomous forms of extrinsic motivation to positive academic performance2 (e.g., Grolnick, Ryan, &
Deci, 1991; Pintrich, & De Groot, 1990).
No activity in reality, especially in the L2 learning context, would guarantee to induce intrinsically-
motivated behaviors for all individuals. Deci, Vallerand et al. (1991) assume that “people are
motivated to internalize the regulation of uninteresting behaviors that are valuable for effective
functioning” (p. 338) if; 1) they identify with the personal utility of the activity; 2) they are offered
choices about the activity in an autonomy supportive environment; and 3) their sentiment and views
are respected and acknowledged by significant others. Internalization is the central concept of self-
determination and it is “a proactive process through which people transform regulation by external
contingencies into regulation by internal processes (Schafer 1968, cited in Deci, Vallerand et al, 1991).
Internalization of a personally-valued behavior as a result of increased perceived competence,
relatedness with significant others and autonomy would give rise to willingness to perform the
activity although the activity may remain uninteresting. Competence, relatedness and autonomy are
the three basic psychological needs inherent in human beings. Deci, Vallerand et al. (1991)
conceptualize competence to be the understanding of “how to attain various external and internal
outcomes and being efficacious in performing the requisite action” (p. 327); relatedness to be the
development of “secure and satisfying connections with others in one’s social milieu”; and autonomy
to be the state of “being self-initiating and self-regulatory of one’s own actions”.
According to self-determination theory, autonomy-supportive social and interpersonal contexts are
essential for fulfilling the three psychological needs and, in turn, facilitate intrinsic motivation and
self-determination. Controlling contextual events such as promised rewards and threatened
punishment are found to have the tendency of fostering an external perceived locus of causality,
compromising intrinsic motivation for interesting tasks and hampering the internalization of
regulations for uninteresting tasks (Deci, Vallerand et al, 1991; Deci et al., 1994). On the contrary,
where choices are offered about what tasks to engage in and the amount of time spent on the task,
learners of all ages would become more self-regulated and more able to internalize the regulation
(Deci et al., 1994; Swann & Pitman, 1977; Zuckerman, Porac, Lahin, Smith, & Deci, 1978).
Acknowledging learners’ negative feelings about the task or the way in which they are requested to
complete the task is found to reinforce learners’ self-determination (Koestner, Ryan, Bernieri, & Holt,
1984). Similarly, learners’ self-determined regulation differs depending on the interpersonal style a
person, especially the teacher in the language classroom, employs in administering events and
presenting feedback. Deci et al. (1994) observed that non controlling styles of presenting feedback to
learners promotes the internalization of regulation and subsequent autonomous self-regulation. In
addition, classrooms with autonomy-supportive teachers are shown to have positive effects on
learners’ intrinsic motivation, perceived competence and self-esteem (Ryan & Grolnick, 1986).

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Learner Beliefs
In Deci and Ryan’s (1985) theory of self-determination, the intrapersonal aspect of motivation has
been accounted for in terms of the internalization of regulation. To a large extent, internalization of
regulations could only be made possible when the orientations are compatible with the individuals’
value and belief system. Learners’ subjective value system is “a more or less organized collection of
internalized perceptions, beliefs and feelings related to one’s position in the social world, developed
during the past as a reaction to past experiences” (Benson, 2001) and it determines the internal
regulation of learners’ approaches to learning and motivation to complete language learning tasks.
Developing learners’ positive language-related values and attitudes is, therefore, conceived of as
having the most far-reaching consequences in motivating learners to become more self-regulated.
Among the beliefs that learners hold which have a direct impact on their motivation, self-efficacy
refers to beliefs about their possession of the capability to accomplish a task. Learners’ self-efficacy
has been shown to be positively correlated with the tendency of engaging in more self-regulatory
activities and demonstrating greater intrinsic interest in their studies (Miller, Behrens, Greene, &
Newman, 1993; Schunk , 1984). Ushioda (1996) argues that differing beliefs are also likely to affect and
shape motivation, and the ways in which learners perceive the experiences of learning itself is a
crucial motivational dimension. She proposes the notion of motivational thinking which encompasses
learners’ beliefs about their past learning experiences; motivational and learning goals; intrinsic value
of learning in relation to skill development, competence and personal satisfaction; self-concept;
learning process; and their relationships with significant others. This new dimension has an
implication for the development of learner autonomy. According to Ushioda (1996), it is the learner’s
own thinking which motivates intrinsic, self-regulatory learning behaviors. It is, therefore, crucial to
help learners shape positive motivational thinking which would facilitate the development of more
self-regulatory language learning behaviors.
There are three major sources of motivation; here, we try to analyze and discuss about these three
major sources found in different researches that influence and are related to the learners’ level of
motivation. These sources are extracted from the students’ comments and written evaluations,
findings of other related researches which are mentioned in the references. the learners should be
aware of the importance of the desires for stimulation, accomplishment and knowledge in fostering
motivation and autonomy.

Desire for Stimulation

Two themes were categorized under intrinsic motivation which concerned learners’ desire for
stimulation: interest and fun in English.
A considerable number of learners expressed that the way in which they sustained their motivation
for learning was to work on language learning tasks or activities that they were interested in. the
pleasurable feelings associated with performing tasks that the learners found interesting was one of
the major sources of motivation for them to carry on with their learning plan. An example of
comments of this kind is:

I like watching movies during my learning hours because it is relaxing and this is something that I
enjoy doing. It is this sense of enjoyment that keeps me going Grammar is a compulsory goal
that I don’t particularly like. Every time when I do grammar exercises for learning, I can’t help
falling asleep because I feel so bored.

The choice that those learners made was based solely on their interest in particular types of activities.
They were interested in the activity itself and the pleasurable sensations it could bring, but not
English language learning. With the given flexibility and choice in learning, some learners tended to
work on learning activities which were perceived to be more interesting and entertaining. Watching
movies was one of the most popular learning activities expressed in the different questionnaires. In
the written evaluations, a few learners mentioned that being able to appreciate the fun of learning
English was a key source of motivation for learning, but the number of learners who perceived
English learning to be fun was small.

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Desire for Accomplishment

At the initial stage of learning, the learners identified their own weaknesses by taking diagnostic tests
and conducting needs analyses for themselves. The purpose of goal-setting was to give learners a
clearer idea of what to do, how to do it and when it should be done. With the concrete goals, the
learners reported increased motivation in attaining those goals. The learners’ self-reported desires for
goal attainment was represented by three themes in the written evaluations: determination in improving
weaknesses, accomplishing goals, and clearly-defined goals.
Learners’ desire for accomplishment can be illustrated by an interesting comment made by a learner
regarding task completion in learning. As she/he explained,

I feel guilty if I can’t complete the tasks as planned for that week. Once I’ve finished my activities
as planned, I feel good about myself. I remember in the middle of the semester, I was two weeks
behind my schedule because I had to prepare for my mid-term exams. By the time when I tried to
pick it up again, I was so reluctant to do so. I felt so bad about myself at that time.

This example shows that the learner’s sense of guilt did not come from an external contingency, but a
self-regulated mechanism.
Learners’ personal satisfaction is closely-related to learners’ desire for accomplishing goals. A
small number of learners commented that the sense of success or achievement was a major source of
motivation for them to carry on with their learning work. Being able to complete the planned learning
tasks and attain the learning goals would give the learners a sense of success. The low frequency of
occurrence of comments in this theme indicates a lack of personal satisfaction for most learners or
even a sense of failure when engaging in learning.

Desire for Knowledge

Data from the written evaluation indicates that another source of motivation for some learners was
their desire for knowledge. There were instances of comments made by the learners regarding their
pursuit of 1) knowledge about Western cultures, and 2) knowledge which was presented solely in
English. It was evident that the learners’ desire for knowledge was exclusive of the knowledge about
the English language.
Being stimulated by the pleasurable feelings derived from the discovery of new knowledge in
English, those learners would be more motivated to sharpen their English skills in order to explore
the subject matter further. This was a practical reason for learning English for most of the learners
who had a strong desire for knowledge presented mostly in English.
Several learners showed a strong aspiration to a better understanding of Western cultures, especially
those of the English-speaking countries. The pleasurable sensations that the learners had experienced
when talking to native-speakers of English to learn more about the cultural practices in their home
countries reinforced their determination to hold regular conversations with other native-English
speakers during their learning hours. They made comments like:

I like talking to English speakers to find out what’s going on in their countries. Last week, I
chatted with a French guy in my dorm about the Presidential Election in France and he told me
which candidate he had voted for and stuff like that. The conversation was interesting and I will
certainly talk more in the future with other foreigners.

The lack of correspondence between the findings about intrinsic motivation from the questionnaire
and those from the written evaluations indicates that there is potential for learners to develop
intrinsic motivation.

Conclusion
This study has provided a clearer picture of the factors that enhance the second language learning
motivation.
As we noticed, the concept of L2 learning motivation plays an essential role in the process of effective
L2 learning and teaching, especially effective English learning and teaching.
In addition to importance of the concept of L2 learning motivation to students, its significance to the
teachers is undeniable too. In that, highly motivated teachers do their best in the process of teaching

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and transferring the materials. They have more innovation and creativity in their classrooms.
Motivated teachers make the materials plausible and digestible for students. Besides, they trigger and
create the motivation inside the students and classroom and motivate them to keep their sense of L2
learning motivation even outside the classroom, in the sense that, eager and motivated teachers try to
create an atmosphere with a high sense of willingness and motivation for learning.
We pointed out the Role of Motivation in Foreign Language Learning. Gardner, a specialist in the
psychology of foreign language learning, creates a broader perspective with regard to motivation. He
claims that motivation includes four elements – goal, willing behavior, desire to reach the goal and
positive approach towards the activity. (1985).
In the description of foreign language learning, Dunkel (1948) proposes a division of motivation
aspects, also a description of the relationship between the goal of learning a foreign language and the
behavior in the process of reaching this goal. He pointed out the differences between the types of
motivation and the intensity of motivation. He also specifies that the type of motivation is directly
bonded to the goal and that the intensity is related to the degree of effort which the individual puts
into achieving this goal. So, as we mentioned, we found out the role of motivation and reached to the
answer of the question why the individual studies a foreign language?
Concerning motivational types, as stated, language learning motivation was originally viewed in
terms of two primary orientations, “instrumental” and “integrative” [Gardner and Lambert (2004)].
Instrumental motivation refers to that which is aroused by external learner goals or pragmatic,
functional motives such as passing exams, financial rewards or furthering a career. In many
educational contexts, this type of motivation often appears to be the major driving force behind
language learning. In contrast, integrative motivation corresponds to the desire to identify with the
culture of speakers of the target language, with learners showing interest in and a positive disposition
towards the people and culture of the target language group.
With more recent cognitive theories of motivation, the integrative/instrumental dichotomy has been
gradually replaced by “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” motivational types (Ushioda, “Motivation”, 2006).
Intrinsic motivation refers to that motivation which comes from within and is generated by the
learner, meaning that the learner’s reasons for learning might correspond to enjoyment, interest,
challenge, or skill development. Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, links learning to external goals such
as gaining a qualification.
Knowing the types of L2 learning motivation helps both the students and teachers to accelerate that
inside the classroom and also inside themselves and act properly in the process of L2 learning.
Amotivation refers to the lack of motivation. According to Ratelle et al. (2007), there is no connection
between performance and consequence for people who are Amotivated.
I also discussed about Cognitive Motivation in Language Learning. I continued the discussion of
Cognitive Motivation in Language Learning with two sub categories: Self-Determination Theory and
learners’ beliefs.
In L2 learning motivation in relation to autonomy, Deci and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory
has been one of the most widely-adopted approaches to account for motivational autonomy.
According to Deci and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory, there are two types of motivation,
namely intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Figure 1 showed that intrinsic orientation,
extrinsic orientation and Amotivation lie on a continuum from self-determined to non-determined.
An individual with a high level of self-determination is likely to demonstrate autonomy in his or her
learning and lead to higher achievement.
In terms of Learners’ beliefs, In Deci and Ryan’s (1985) theory of self-determination, the intrapersonal
aspect of motivation has been accounted for in terms of the internalization of regulation. To a large
extent, internalization of regulations could only be made possible when the orientations are
compatible with the individuals’ value and belief system. Learners’ subjective value system is “a
more or less organized collection of internalized perceptions, beliefs and feelings related to one’s
position in the social world, developed during the past as a reaction to past experiences” (Benson,
2001) and it determines the internal regulation of learners’ approaches to learning and motivation to
complete language learning tasks.
In the aggregate and at the end we focused on sources of motivation, such as: desire for Stimulation,
desire for Accomplishment, desire for Knowledge. The learners should be aware of the importance of
these sources of motivation in order to prompt the desire and willingness inside the learners and
teachers in the process of L2 learning and teaching.

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TRANSLATION OF PROLOGUE OF SAADI’S BOSTAN

AND ITS ANALYSIS ACCORDING TO CATFORD’S
THEORY OF TRANSLATION SHIFT

Yahya Barkhordar
MA in Translation Studies
Imam Reza International University
Syabr2006@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
IN THIS PAPER, CATFORD’S THEORY OF TRANSLATION SHIFT HAS BEEN UTILIZED IN
ORDER TO EXAMINE THE INTRODUCTORY SECTION OF ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS
WORKS IN THE IRANIAN LITERATURE (BOSTAN), BY ONE OF THE MOST WELL-KNOWN
IRANIAN POETS (SAADI SHIRAZI), TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY DR. BEHROUZ
HOMAYOUN FAR. A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF BOTH SAADI AND CATFORD WERE GIVEN TO
MAKE THE READER FAMILIAR WITH THEM, AND SUBSEQUENTLY, CATFORD’S THEORY OF
TRANSLATION SHIFT WAS EXPLAINED IN DETAILS. THE PROLOGUE OF SAADI’S BOSTAN
AND ITS TRANSLATION WERE THEN ANALYZED ACCORDING TO THE THEORY AND ITS
BASIC CONCEPTS AND CATEGORIZATIONS. FINALLY, CONCLUDING POINTS WERE MADE
BASED ON THE ANALYSIS CARRIED OUT. IN ORDER TO STUDY THE POEM AND ITS
TRANSLATION, THE READER CAN REFER TO THE APPENDICES IN THE LAST PART OF THE
ESSAY. REGARDING CATFORD’S TYPOLOGY AND THE SELECTED TEXTS, THERE EXISTED NO
CASE OF LEVEL-SHIFT IN THE TT. AMONG DIFFERENT TYPES OF CATEGORY SHIFTS,
VARIOUS INSTANCES OF ALL OF THEM COULD BE FOUND IN THE TEXT, EXCEPT CLASS-
SHIFT FOR WHICH THE NUMBER OF INSTANCES IN THE TT WAS VERY LITTLE. REGARDING
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FORMAL CORRESPONDENT AND TEXTUAL EQUIVALENCE, IT
SHOULD BE SAID THAT THE SELECTED TRANSLATION IS TEXTUAL EQUIVALENCE AND
NOT FORMAL CORRESPONDENT.

KEY WORDS: TRANSLATION SHIFT, PROLOGUE, POETRY, MEANING

1. Introduction
Throughout history, various forms of translations have played a crucial role in inter human
communication, not least in providing access to important texts for scholarship and religious
purposes. However the study of translation as an academic subject has only begun in the past fifty
years. In the English-speaking world, this discipline is generally known as ‘translation studies’,
thanks to the Dutch-based US scholar James S. Holmes. The term translation itself has several
meanings: it may refer to the general subject field, the product or the process. The process of
translation between two different written languages involves the translator changing an original
written text (ST) in the original verbal language (SL) into a written text (TT) in a different verbal
language (TL) (Munday, 2001).
Translation studies is an academic interdiscipline associated with the systematic study of the theory,
description and application of translation. As an interdiscipline, translation studies borrows much
from several fields of study which support translation. They include comparative literature, computer
science, history, linguistics, philology, philosophy, semiotics, and terminology. In English, writers
occasionally use the word translatology to refer to translation studies. (retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_studies)
Holmes has suggested a variety of areas in which translation studies can be used. These areas include
‘translator training, teaching methods, testing techniques, curriculum design, translation aids,
translation policy, and translation criticism’. Translation criticism in a general sense means criticizing

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a translated text, based on either lexical, structural or cultural dimensions of the receptor language, or
based on its comparison with the source text. Such a field can become more academic by using the
theories suggested by translation scholars. This involves looking at a translated text and its original
from the viewpoint of a translation scholar and his or her concepts and definitions. Williams and
Chesterman (2002) called such a practice (translation quality assessment) and divided it into three
basic types: source-oriented; target-language oriented; and assessment of translation effects on clients,
teachers, critics and readers.
1.1 .Statement of the Problem
John Catford suggested two main types of shifts occurring in the process of translation: 1-level shift
and 2-category shift. The second type was further subcategorized into four other alternative
subgroups including (structure shift, class shift, unit-rank shift, and intra-system shift). In order to
gain a deep understanding of these shifts, Catford first introduced two other concepts: ‘formal
correspondence’ and ‘textual equivalence’ which will be explained in details. Translation shift, its
categorizations, and analysis of Bostan’s prologue based on them are the main problems discussed in
this paper.
1.2. Significance of the Study
First it should be said that reading this paper makes readers familiar with one of the most well-
known verse and prose writers in the history of Iranian literature. Saadi (1184-1293) is among the
most prominent poets of 12th century. His two breath-taking books, Bostan and Gulistan, are known
by everybody familiar with Iranian poetry. Another outstanding figure whom this essay will
introduce to the reader is the linguist and phonetician John Catford. By reading the following pages,
readers get familiar with his life and his works and also with his theory of ‘translation shift’.
As it has already been mentioned, this paper is going to investigate in what way and to what extent
translation shifts suggested by Catford have occurred in the selected translation of the introductory
section of Bostan. It should be kept in mind that study of these pages can also contribute to translators
who are going to translate rest of Saadi’s Bostan or any other poetic work. Looking at the shifts which
occur during the process of translation and knowing how and where to utilize such changes in order
to translate in a better way can help translators find more appropriate equivalences and produce
more accurate and natural translations.

1.3. Research Purposes

Any investigation must have one or several purposes. An investigation without any purpose would
have no value and such an investigation means waste of time, energy and financial resources. In this
study, the researcher follows two main purposes:
He first attempts to get familiar with the poet and the scholar selected for his study. Their lifestyles,
works, ideas, ways of thinking, and the subjects favored by them and selected by the investigator are
among the major points that it is the researcher’s purpose to get familiar with. Secondly, he’s going to
learn whether the changes suggested by the scholar do occur during the process of translating
selected material and if yes, to what extent.

1.4. Research Questions

1. Should we consider the selected translation of Bostan’s prologue as ‘formal correspondent’ or
‘textual equivalence’?
2. Which of Catford’s translation shifts occur more than other ones in the selected translation of
Bostan’s prologue?
3. Is there any of Catford’s translation shifts which has not occurred in the selected translation?
1. 5.Research Hypotheses
1.Since the selected translation of Bostan’s prologue, unlike its original, cannot be considered as a
poem in the economy of TL, we cannot regard it as a formal correspondent. On the other hand, it is a
textual equivalence, because only in comparison with its original, we can consider it as a translation.
2.Among the translation shifts suggested by John Catford, ‘structural-shift’, ‘rank-shift’, and ‘intra-
system-shift’ occur more than the other categories in these lines.
3.’Level-shift’ is the only one among Catford’s suggested shifts which does not take place in the
selected translation.

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1.6. Research Limitations

At the first, it should be mentioned that lack of space and time does not allow the investigator to
examine whole the text belonging to Bostan’s translation according to all the theories and concepts
mentioned by Catford in his book. Writing essay requires a certain amount of words and pages, and
writing beyond that may lead to the exhaustion of reader and decrease of essay’s value. Hence, the
researcher has to restrict the scope of his investigation.
On the other hand, translation of poetry involves many other factors which are not mentioned in
Catford's theory. Rhythm and rhyme, figures of speech, structure of poems in Persian and English
and their differences, and many other factors are among such neglected by Catford’s theory.
2. Review of Related Literature
The research carried out in this paper makes connections between the work written by Saadi and the
theories suggested by John Catford. As an introduction to the theories selected, a brief biographies of
both Saadi and John Catford are given. These information were retrieved from
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadi_Shirazi), (http://www.artarena.force9.co.uk/saadi.htm), and
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Catford).

2.1. Saadi
Saadi Shirazi was one of the major Persian poets of the medial period. He is not only known in
Persian-speaking countries, but has also been quoted in western sources. He is recognized for the
quality of his writings and for the depth of his social and moral thoughts. Saadi is widely recognized
as one of the most prominent and greatest poets of the classical literary tradition.
Saadi’s lifetime falls in a period of major political and social change in Iran and the whole of the
Middle East (the decline of the Abbasid Empire with the invasion and subsequent wanton destruction
by the Mongols). As a result of this, little is known about his life apart from what he wrote in his so-
called “autobiographical works”. One of his best autobiographical stories, in the Golestan, states the
story of his release from slavery: ‘He was imprisoned by the Crusaders and forced to dig trenches in
Tripoli until a Muslim merchant bought and freed him; but then his previous form of slavery was
replaced by another, since he had to marry his benefactor’s daughter.’
What is known for sure is that he was born in Shiraz in the late 12 th century AD (this is even
questioned by some scholars who believe he was born in 1210) which began as a student of the Koran,
which he later exchanged for Sufism. During his life, he travelled widely and returned to his native
town sometime around 1256. In 1257 he dedicated his Bostan to Abu Bakr b. Sa’d (ruled Shiraz
between 1226-60), and in the following year he completed the Golestan. Copies of both works were
often penned by the masters of calligraphy and occasionally decorated by miniatures of great beauty.
Saadi is said to have died in 1290 and his shrine is in Shiraz. He remains the master of love poetry and
one of the greatest poets produced by Persia.

2.1.1. Biography
A native of Shiraz, his father died when he was an infant. Saadi spent his youth in poverty and
hardship, and left Shiraz at a young age for Baghdad to pursue a better education. The unsettled
circumstances following the Mongol invasion of Khwarezm and Iran led him to wander for 30 years
abroad through Anatolia (He visited the Port of Adana, and near Konya he met proud Ghazi
landlords), Syria (he mentions the famine in Damascus), Egypt (of its music and Bazaars, its clerics
and elite class), and Iraq (the port of Basra and the Tigris river).
Saadi traveled through war wrecked areas from 1271 to 1294. Due to Mongol invasions he lived in
desolate regions and met caravans fearing for their lives on once lively silk trade routes. Saadi lived in
isolated refugee camps where he met bandits, Imams, men who formerly owned great wealth or
commanded armies, intellectuals, and ordinary people. While Mongol and European sources such as
Marco Polo gravitated to the potentates and courtly life of Ilkhanate rule, Saadi mingled with the
survivers of the war-torn region.
Saadi was also among individuals who witnessed first-hand accounts of Baghdad’s destruction by
Mongol Ilkhanate invaders during the year 1258. He was captured by Crusaders at Acre where he
spent seven years as a slave digging trenches outside its fortress. He was later released after the
Mamluks paid ransom for Muslims being held in Crusader dungeons.
When he reappeared in his native Shiraz, he was an elderly man. Saadi was not only welcomed to the
city but was respected highly by the ruler and enumerated among the greats of the province. In

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response, he took his nom de plume from the name of the local prince, Sa’d ibn Zangi. Some of
Saadi’s most famous panegyrics were composed as a gesture of gratitude in praise of ruling house
and placed at the beginning of his Bustan. The remainder of Saadi’s life sounds to have been spent in
Shiraz.
2.1.2. The Journey of Saadi Shirazi
As a consequence of the Mongol Empire invasion of the Muslim World, especially Khwarazm and
Persia/Iran, Saadi and many other Muslims were displaced by the ensuing conflict. thus Saadi began
a 30 year journey. He first took refuge at Damascus and witnessed the famine in one of the most
efficient cities of the world. Following the frightful Sack of Baghdad in 1258 by Hulegu and the
Ilkhanate Horde, Saadi visited Jerusalem and then set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.
Saadi then visited Mamluk Egypt of Sultan Baibars. He mentioned the Qadis, Muftis of Al-Azhar, the
grand Bazaar, music and art. Further Saadi traveled to Turkey. He mentioned the port city of Adana
and the wealthy Ghazi landowners in Anatolia.
Saadi finally returned to Persia where he met his childhood companions in Isfahan and other cities.
At Khorasan he befriended a Turkic Emir named Tughral. Saadi joined him and his men on their
journey to Sindh where he met Pir Puttur, a follower of the Persian Sufi grand master Shaikh Usman
Marvandvi (1117-1274). He then traveled across the Indus River and when they reached the Thar
Desert, Tughral hired Hindu Sentinels. Tughral later entered service of the wealthy Delhi Sultanate
and Saadi was invited to Delhi and later visited the Vizier of Gujarat.

2.1.3. His Works

Saadi’s best known works are Bostan (The Orchard) completed in 1257 and Gulistan (The Rose
Garden) in 1258. Bostan is entirely in verse (epic metre) and consists of stories illustrating the
standard virtues recommended to Muslims (justice, liberality, modesty, contentment) as well as of
reflections on the behavior of dervishes and their ecstatic practices. Gulistan is mainly in prose and
contains stories and personal anecdotes. The text is interspersed with a variety of short poems,
containing aphorisms, advice, and humorous reflections. Saadi demonstrated a profound awareness
of the absurdity of human existence.
Saadi is also remembered as a panegyrist and lyricist, the author of a number of odes portraying
human experience and also of particular odes such as the lament on the fall of Baghdad after the
Mongol invasion in 1258. His lyrics are found in Ghazaliyat (Lyrics) and his odes in Qasa’id (Odes).
He is also known for a number of works written in Arabic.

2.2. John Catford

John “Ian” Catford (26 March 1917-6 October 2009) was a Scottish linguist and phonetician of
worldwide renown. John Cunnison Catford (called “Ian” by his students), was born in Edinburgh,
Scotland. After secondary and university studies, he studied phonetics. He taught English abroad (in
Greece, Palestine and Egypt), including during World War II.
He met his wife, Lotte, while he was living in Jerusalem. Lotte was from Vienna and spoke German.
However, she had moved to Palestine and while she was young, she learned further languages such
as Hebrew, English and Arabic. This was one source of Catford’s knowledge about languages and
their phonetics.
Catford founded the School of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, as well as another
department in the same university that undertook the mapping of different English dialects
throughout Scotland. His expertise, including formal phonetics, the aerodynamic and physiological
production of speech, phonetic peculiarities in speech, and an astounding ability to reproduce words
and even speeches, backwards, led him to be invited to the University of Michigan. There, he headed
the English Language Institute and the Laboratory of Communicative Sciences. He taught most of the
linguistic subjects in the same university.
Catford retired in 1985, but didn’t become inactive. On the contrary, he was invited to some of the
most prestigious universities around the globe, including those in Istanbul, Jerusalem and California.
He published several articles, participated in many conferences and continued to lecture and give
presentations, especially at the University of Michigan. Many of his original works are kept there. He
advised many university students who intended to follow a career in Linguistics. He died, of old age,
in October 2009 in Shoreline, Washington, USA.

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2.3. Concepts and Theories

“Translation may be defined as follows: the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by
equivalent material in another material (TL)” (Catford, 1965, p.20). The small linguistic changes that
take place between ST and TT are known as translation shifts. John Catford was the first scholar to
use the term ‘translation shift’ in his book (A Linguistic Theory of Translation: 1965) (Hatim &
Munday, 2004). He followed the Firthian and Hallidayan linguistic model, which analyzed language
as communication, operating functionally in context and on a range of different levels (e.g.
phonology, graphology, grammar, lexis) and ranks (sentence, clause, group, word, morpheme, etc)
(Munday, 2001).
As far as translation is concerned, Catford made a significant distinction between ‘formal
correspondence’ and ‘textual equivalence’, which was later developed by Koller. A formal
correspondent is any TL category (unit, class, element of structure, etc.) which can be said to occupy,
as nearly as possible, the same place in the economy of the TL as the given SL category occupies in the
SL. A textual equivalent is any TL text or portion of text, observed on a particular occasion to be the
equivalent of a given SL text or portion of text. Textual equivalence is therefore tied to a particular ST-
TT pair, while formal equivalence is a more general system-based concept between a pair of
languages. When the two concepts diverge, a translation shift occurs. In Catford’s words, translation
shifts are ‘departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from the SL to the TL’
(Munday, 2001). Catford considered two kinds of shift: (1) shift of level and (2) shift of category.

2.3.1. Level Shift

By a shift of level Catford meant that an SL item at one linguistic level has a TL translation equivalent
at a different level. It has already been pointed out that translation between the levels of phonology
and graphology or between either of these levels and the levels of grammar and lexis is impossible.
Translation between these levels is absolutely ruled out by Catford’s theory, which posits relationship
to the same substance as the necessary condition of translation equivalence. We are left, then, with
shifts from grammar to lexis and vice versa as the only possible level shifts in translation; and such
shifts are, of course, quite common (Venuti, 2000).
Examples of level shifts are sometimes found in the translation of the verbal aspects of Russian and
English. They both have an aspectual opposition of very roughly the same type seen most clearly in
the past or preterite tense: the opposition between Russian imperfective and perfective (e.g. pisal and
napisal), and between English simple and continuous (wrote and was writing). There is, however, a
significant difference between the two aspect systems, namely that the polarity of marking is not the
same. In Russian, the (contextually) marked term in the system is the perfective. This obviously refers
to the uniqueness or completion of the event. The imperfective is unmarked, ‘in other words it is
relatively neutral in these respects (the event may or may not actually be unique or completed, etc.,
but at any rate the imperfective is indifferent to these features’ does not explicitly refer to this
‘perfectiveness’) (Catford, 1965).
In English, the (contextually and morphologically) marked term is the continuous. This clearly refers
to the development and progress of the event. The simple form is neutral in this respect (the event
may or may not actually be in progress, but the simple form does not explicitly refer to this aspect of
the event). The result of this difference between Russian and English is that Russian imperfective (e.g.
pisal) is translatable with almost equal frequency by English simple (wrote) or continuous (was
writing). But the marked terms (napisal=was writing) are mutually untranslatable (Catford, 1965).

2.3.2. Category Shift

Catford referred to unbounded and rank-bounded translation: the first being approximately normal
or free translation which SL-TL equivalences are set up at whatever rank is appropriate. There is
sentence-sentence equivalence, but in the course of a text, equivalences may shift up and down the
rank-scale, often being established at ranks lower than the sentence. Catford used the term rank-
bound translation only to refer to those special cases where equivalence is deliberately limited to
ranks below the sentence, thus leading to bad translation, i.e. translation in which the TL text is either
not a normal TL form at all, or is not relatable to the same situational substance as the SL text (Venuti,
2000).
In normal and unbounded translation, then, translation equivalences may occur between sentences,
clauses, groups, words and (though rarely) morphemes. Not infrequently, however, one cannot set up

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simple equal-rank equivalence between SL and TL texts. An SL group may have a TL clause as its
translation equivalent, and so forth (Venuti, 2000).
Changes of rank (unit-shifts) are by no means the only changes of category type which take place in
translation. There are also changes of structure, changes of class, changes of term in systems, and so
on. Some of them (particularly structure-changes) are even more frequent than rank-changes. It is
changes of these types which are known as category-shifts (Venuti, 2000).

2.3.2.1. Structure Shift

Structure-shifts were considered by Catford to be the most common form of shift and to involve
mostly a shift in grammatical structure. For instance, the subject pronoun + verb + direct object
structures of I like jazz and j’aime le jazz in English and French are translated by an indirect object
pronoun + verb + subject noun structure in Spanish (me gusta el jazz) and in Italian (mi piace il jazz)
(Munday, 2001). In translation between English and French, as another example, there is often a shift
from MH (modifier + head) to (M)HQ, ((modifier +) head + qualifier), e.g. A white house (MH) = Une
maison blanche (MHQ,) (Catford, 1965).

2.3.2.2. Class Shift

Following Halliday, Catford defined a class as ‘that grouping of members of a given unit which is
defined by operation in the structure of the unit next above’. Class-shift, then, takes place when the
translation equivalent of an SL item is a member of a different class from the original item (Venuti,
2000). The example given by Catford is the English a medical student and the French un etudiant en
medicine, where the English pre-modifying adjective medical is translated by the adverbial qualifying
phrase en medicine (Munday, 2001).

2.3.2.3. Unit Shift

By unit-shift Catford meant changes of rank that is, departures from formal correspondence in which
the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the SL is a unit at a different rank in the TL. A more
appropriate title might be rank-shift, but since this has been assigned a different and technical
meaning within Halliday’s theory of grammar, it cannot be used here (Venuti, 2000). The word ‘rank’
here refers to the hierarchical linguistic units of sentence, clause, group, word and morpheme
(Munday, 2001).

2.3.2.4. Intra-system Shift

In listing types of translation shift, such as given above, one might expect (system-shift) to occur
along with the names of other types of shift affecting the other fundamental categories of grammar.
There is a good reason for not naming one of our types of shift (system-shift), since this only could
mean a departure from formal correspondence in which (a term operating in) one system in the SL
has as its translation equivalent (a term operating in) a different (non-corresponding) system in the
TL. Clearly, however, such shifts from one system to another are always entailed by unit-shift or
class-shift. Catford used the title intra-system shift for those cases where the shift occurs internally,
within a system; that is, for those cases where SL and TL possess systems which approximately
correspond formally regarding their constitution, but when translation involves selection of a non-
corresponding term in the TL system (Venuti, 2000).
Examples given between French and English are number and article systems, where, although similar
systems operate in the two languages, they do not always correspond. So advice (singular) in English
becomes des conseils (plural) in French, and the French definite article la in ‘II a la jambe cassee’
corresponds to the English indefinite article a in ‘He has a broken leg’ (Munday, 2001).

3. Methodology
In this paper the researcher has attempted to investigate the selected translation of Bostan’s prologue
based on the theory of translation shift suggested by John Catford. This process is carried out in three
subsequent steps. The first step involves to introduce Saadi, Catford and his theory, respectively. The
second step includes to put the original text and its translation besides each others and compare them
according to Catford’s theory. Finally the points discovered in the previous step are examined to
reach to acceptable and reasonable conclusions.

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4. Analysis
Poetic texts provide interesting material for translation research, especially if time is restricted, since
the texts concerned can be quite short. In this case the major topics include:
The aim of the translation – a prose version or a poem?
The translation of metre, cadence, rhythm, rhyme
The translator’s profile – can only poets translate poetry?
How do translators translate poetry? (Williams & Chesterman, 2002)
In order to analyze the selected stanzas and their translation, it should be kept in mind that this
analysis is based only on Catford’s theory of ‘translation shift’ and not any other translation theory.
Thus, only Catford’s theory and his suggested concepts (formal correspondence, textual equivalence,
level shift, category shift and its subdivisions) are used here for such a purpose. To make the analysis
and its understanding easier, the Persian stanzas and their corresponding translations are written
with a number beside each one.
In the first line, (‫ )خداوند جان آفرین‬is a noun phrase, but its translation is (who created and sustains the
world) which is a verb clause. This is an instance of ‘unit-shift’. In the second line, the original and its
translation have respectively used a negative and positive verb to indicate a negative action. This one
is an example of ‘intra-system shift’, since both languages have corresponding systems of negative
tense, but English can use a positive verb in a sentence containing (no + noun) structure, while in
Persian language, only the verb is made negative to express a negative action. In the third line, ( ‫درگاه‬
‫ )او‬which is a possessive structure is rendered by (before him), a structure made of (preposition +
pronoun), indicating a ‘structural shift’. Another ‘structural shift’ takes place in the forth line where in
both parts of the original verse, the two objects (‫ )گردن کشان‬and (‫ )عذرآوران‬precede the two adverbs (‫)بفور‬
and (‫)بجور‬, while, in the translated text, first the adverb (in haste) appears before the object (the
disobedient), while, in the rest of it, this is vice versa (‘the penitent’ precedes ‘with violence’). Reading
the fifth line, we can see that there’s an ‘intra-system shift’ here, since in English it is essential to use a
plural noun with a number more than one, while such a concordance is grammatically incorrect
according to Persian grammar. Thus, translating (‫ )دو کونش‬with such a noun phrase as (the two worlds)
shows ‘intra-system’ which takes place in the translation of this line.
In the TT of the sixth line of the original poem, the word (sin) has been used as a verb for (‫)عصیان‬
which is a noun (class-shift). In the seventh line of TT, it can be seen that (both friend and foe) was
used, while in the original these two terms are used vice versa, meaning that (‫ )دشمن‬as the equivalence
of (foe) precedes (‫)دوست‬, showing another instance of ‘structural-shift’. Such a kind of shift is also seen
in the translation of the eighth line of the original poem, where (Peerless He is) comes before (His
kingdom is eternal) while this is not the case in the ST.
In the ST, the last word of 12th line bears ‘class-shift’, because (‫ )مجیب‬which is a noun has been
translated by (accepteth) which is a verb. It should also be mentioned that (‫ )فروماندگان‬and (‫)تضرع کنان‬
which are two plural nouns were translated using two verb clauses (them that are downcast) and
(them that lament). This is a ‘rank-shift’ taking place in the translation. There exists a ‘structural-shift’
in the translation of 14th line of the original poem, where the poet means that God has created earth
upon water, however this was mentioned in the TT vice versa.
In the last two stanzas of the original poem and their corresponding translations, instances of
‘structural-shift’ can be found. In the first one, the sequence of the two subjects (‘the bird of thought’
and ‘the hand of understanding’) and their corresponding verbs (‘soar’ and ‘reach’) are changed,
compared with the original. Furthermore, the sequence of object (road of purity) and its verb (walk)
in the last stanza are changed in comparison with the ST.
Meanwhile, it should not be forgotten that there are differences between use of articles and
coordination of numbers with their nouns in English and Persian, leading to numerous cases of ‘intra-
system shifts’. Regarding definite and indefinite articles, English language uses (the) for proper
nouns, while in Persian language, there’s no separate word to signal use of a proper noun. This is
obvious in such parts of the selected stanzas as (who turns the face from the door of his face), (the two
worlds), (behind the veil), and their corresponding TTs. On the other hand, English nouns should be
plural with numbers more than one but such a rule does not exist in Persian structure. Consequently,
translating article systems and nouns following a number greater than one from Persian to English
and vice versa would lead to ‘intra-system-shift’.
Reviewing Catford’s concepts of (formal correspondence) and (textual equivalence) and their
definitions, the researcher concludes that the selected translation of Bostan’s prologue is not a formal

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correspondent as a whole. The reason is that the source text is a poem and its value in the economy of
Persian language is a poetic value. However, a native English-speaking person reading the TT
considers it a prose and never accepts it as a poetic work in his or her language. The researcher then
concludes that it is a textual equivalence because, despite some deficiencies and errors in the TT
compared with the ST, only in such a particular occasion as putting the two texts beside each other, it
can be a textual equivalence of the ST.

5. Conclusion
Regarding the theory of translation shift as suggested by John Catford and analyzing the selected
texts, the researcher believes that structure-shift, rank-shift, and intra-system-shift are among the
most typical shifts occurring in the selected texts. Intra-system-shift mostly takes place in the
translation of article systems and such structures as (number + noun) between English and Persian.
The changes categorized as ‘class-shift’ has rarely taken place in the translated text and there existed
no instance of level-shift. The investigator also concludes that going from English to Persian and vice
versa involves a large extent of various types of shifts. This might be due to the large amount of
lexical and structural differences between these two languages.
Another conclusion made by the researcher is that the selected translation of Bostan’s prologue
cannot be considered as a formal correspondent because it is a prose work in the economy of TL,
while its ST is a poetic one. On the other hand, looking at Catford’s definitions, the researcher
concludes that these two texts are textual equivalences, since they are equivalences only in such
circumstances as being compared with each other.

REFERENCES
Catford, J.C. (1965). A linguistic theory of translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hatim, B. & Munday, J. (2004). Translation: an advanced resource book. London and New York:
Routledge
Munday, J. (2001). Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications. Routledge.
Sa'di, M. (1257). Bustan. Retrieved April11, 2016, from http://www.enel.ucalgary.ca/far@acm.org
Venuti, L. (2000). The translation studies reader. New York and London: University Press of America
Williams, J. & Chesterman, A. (2002). The map: a beginner’s guide to doing research translation studies: St.
Jerome publishing Manchester, UK & Northampton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Catford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadi_Shirazi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_studies
http://www.artarena.force9.co.uk/saadi.htm

Appendices
The appendix section of this essay consists of two parts:
In appendix.A the original poem is given and in appendix.B the selected translation is rendered. It
should be noted that each line of TT belonging to one of the original stanzas is given with a number
beside it.

Appendix.A
‫سرآغاز‬
‫به نام خداوند جان آفرین حکیم سخن در زبان آفرین‬
‫عزیزی که هرکز درش سر بتافت به هر در که شد هیچ عزت نیافت‬
‫سر پادشاهان گردن فراز به درگاه او بر زمین نیاز‬
‫نه گردن کشان را بگیرد بفور نه عذرآوران را براند بجور‬
‫دو کونش یکی قطره در بحر علم گنه بیند و پرده پوشد بحلم‬
‫ولیکن خداوند باال و پست به عصیان درزرق بر کس نبست‬
‫ سفره عام اوست بر این خان یغما چه دشمن چه دوست‬،‫ادیم زمین‬
‫مر او را رسد کبریا و منی که ملکش قدیم است و ذاتش غنی‬
‫یکی را به سر برنهد تاج بخت یکی را به خاک اندر آرد ز تخت‬
‫گلستان کند آتشی بر خلیل گروهی بر آتش برد ز آب نیل‬
‫پس پرده بیند عملهای بد همو پرده پوشد به آالی خود‬
‫فروماندگان را به رحمت قریب تضرع کنان را به دعوت مجیب‬
‫ لطفش خبیر‬،‫ علمش بصیر بر اسرار ناگفته‬،‫بر احوال نابوده‬

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‫ز مشرق به مغرب مه و آفتاب روان کرد و گسترد گیتی بر آب‬

‫نهد لعل و فیروزه در صلب سنگ گل لعل در شاخ پیروزه رنگ‬
‫بشر ماورای جاللش نیافت بصر منتهای جمالش نیافت‬
‫نه بر اوج ذاتش پرد مرغ وهم نه در ذیل وصفش رسد دست فهم‬
‫محال است سعدی که راه صفا توان رفت جز بر پی مصطفی‬

Appendix.B
PROLOGUE
1-In the name of Him Who created and sustains the world, the Sage Who endowed tongue with
speech.
2-He attains no honor who turns the face from the door of His mercy.
3-The kings of the earth prostate themselves before Him in supplication.
4-He seizes not in haste the disobedient, nor drives away the penitent with violence.
5-The two worlds are as a drop of water in the ocean of His knowledge.
6-He withholds not His bounty though His servants sin; 7-upon the surface of the earth has He
spread a feast, in which both friend and foe may share.
8-Peerless He is, and His kingdom is eternal. 9-Upon the head of one He placeth a crown another he
hurleth from the throne to the ground.
10-The fire of His friend He turneth into a flower garden; through the waters of the Nile He sendeth
His foes to perdition.
11-Behind the veil He seeth all, and concealeth our faults with His own goodness.
12-He is near to them that are downcast, and accepteth the prayers of them that lament.
13-He knoweth of the things that exist not, of secrets that are untold.
14-He causeth the moon and the sun to revolve, and spreadeth water upon the earth.
15-In the heart of a stone hath He placed a jewel; from nothing hath He created all that is.
16-Who can reveal the secret of His qualities; what eye can see the limits of His beauty?
17-The bird of thought cannot soar to the height of His presence, nor the hand of understanding reach
to the skirt of His praise.
18-Think not, O Saadi, that one can walk in the road of purity except in the footsteps of Mohammed.

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THE IMPACT OF EFL TEACHERS’ EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE ON THEIR TEACHING PREFERENCES

Mohammad Hadi Eal M.A,

University of Applied Science Technology, Shiraz
Email: hadi.eal@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ CHOICE OF TEACHING TECHNIQUES AND ACTIVITIES CAN PLAY
A PIVOTAL ROLE IN LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING
SUCCESS. THE FIELD, HOWEVER, SUFFERS FROM DEARTH OF RESEARCH ON THE FACTORS
THAT POTENTIALLY INFLUENCE TEACHERS’ TEACHING STYLE. THIS STUDY IS THEREFORE
INTENDED TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON
EFLTEACHERS’ TEACHING STYLE.IN SO DOING, TWO QUESTIONNAIRES WERE
ADMINISTERED TO 53 MALE AND FEMALE TEACHERS WORKING IN PRIVATE LANGUAGE
INSTITUTES. THE RESULTS WHICH ARE OBTAINED THROUGH PEARSON CORRELATION
COEFFICIENT CONFIRMED THAT THERE IS NO A SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
IRANIAN EFL TEACHERS’ EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND THEIR THEIR TEACHING
STYLE.

KEY WORDS: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE – TEACHING STYLE- EF

Preliminaries
Generally, emotions play a significant role in individual's lives because they are feelings which
enliven life, allowing us to experience the joys and grief of our lives (Aghayar & Sharifi, 2008).
Human beings has two minds, a thinking mind and a feeling one .These two minds, put together,
form an individual's mental life. When the emotions are aroused, the balance between these two
minds is disturbed, causing the Emotional Intelligence (mind) to overcome the thinking mind.
Therefore, the focus has shifted towards the role of Emotional Intelligence in everyday life (Extremera
& Fernandez, 2005).
From the resource based view, firm competencies entail not only knowledge, skills, beliefs, and
routines, but also emotions. The term emotion demonstrates both expressive communications and to
inner states related to feelings, as love, hate, courage, fear, joy, sadness, pleasure and disgust.
Emotions are also considered as signs of intelligence, as well as an ability to grasp and reason
correctly with concepts or as personal intelligence because of one's access to one's own feeling life.
Accordingly there is a common tendency to combine emotion with intelligence (Cekmecelioglu et al.,
2012).
Many theorists have tried to explain the concept of emotional intelligence. Goleman, Boyatzis and
Mckee (2006) hold that the employees of organizations, in their attempt to raise productiveness and
performance, should have, in addition to technical and professional abilities, other characteristics
which put together, are called emotional intelligence, since it is these features that prompt an
individual, when faced with other individuals and other situations to be conscious, serene, respectful,
considerate, supportive, attentive, responsive, elucidatory and receptive. He is believed that in order
to overcome the incoming challenges, one should enhance the components of Emotional Intelligence
including self awareness, self management, social awareness and relation control.
Academic articles exploring the concept of Emotional Intelligence began to appear in the early
1990s. Little was known about the concept in the general public or academia until it was popularized
in 1995 by Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more the IQ. The book
captured the attention of the general public, media, and researchers by claiming that Emotional
Intelligence can be “as powerful, and at times more powerful, than IQ” in predicting how successful
one is in life (Goleman, 1995).

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Emotional Intelligence is basically identified as the ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion
to facilitate. Mayer and Salvoey (1995) defined Emotional Intelligence as ' the ability to perceive
emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to
promote personal growth'. At a theoretical level EI reflects the extent to which a person attends to,
processes, and acts upon information of an emotional nature intrapersonally and inter-personally
(Kafetsios, Zampetakis, 2008).
Mayer and Salovey (1990) defined Emotional Intelligence as “the ability to monitor one’s own and
others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s
thinking and actions”. Goleman defines Emotional Intelligence as abilities “which include self-
control, zeal and persistence, and the ability to motivate oneself” (1995).
Teacher’s teaching style
According to Biggs (2001) Fan and Ye (2007), the term Teaching Styles was introduced around the
1970s when the role of styles in teaching and learning were increasingly drawing the attention of
educators due to their significance in influencing the quality of teaching and learning process.
Teaching Style is a very influential factor in students’ learning experiences (Knowles, 1980), and is a
critical component in determining the extent of students’ learning because teachers provide the “vital
human connection between the content and the environment and the learners” (Heimlich &Norland,
1994, p. 109) and because it stems from 8 Teachers’ Teaching Styles, Sense of Efficacy and
Reflectivity… an educational philosophy that lends direction and purpose to a teacher’s teaching
(Galbraith, 1999). This claim about the effectiveness of Teaching Style is supported by a
comprehensive body of research, especially in mainstream education, which links it also to student
achievement outcomes. The existence of this rich body of research about Teaching Style is based on
the premise that teachers do not all teach alike and that classroom Teaching Styles are not all equally
effective (Baily, 1984).
In what follows,the instruments used in the presentthesis (, e.g. Intellectual Excitement (IE) –
Interpersonal Rapport (IR)) and the justification for their application will be explained briefly. The
instrument is a rigorously developed and frequently referenced two-dimensional model for
characterizing the range of Teaching Styles of different teachers (Larson, 2007).This instrument was
developed by Lowman (1995) through an ethnographic analysis of over five hundred nominations for
teaching awards. The model is presented as a two-dimensional matrix which is used to provide a
global perspective on teaching that is framed within the concepts of Intellectual Excitement (IE) and
Interpersonal Rapport (IR). Intellectual Excitement focuses on the content to be learned – the clarity of
what is being presented and how it is being presented. Interpersonal Rapport focuses on the learner –
classroom psychology and awareness of the interpersonal phenomena. The measure consists of 22
items, eleven of which measure teacher’s intellectual excitement and the remaining items measure
teacher’s interpersonal rapport. The instrument employs a 5-point Likert format ranging from 1 =
never to 5 = always; teachers will be placed on the various points of the two continua of Intellectual
Excitement and Interpersonal Rapport based on their scores in each of the dimensions.
The reason why this measure is used in the present thesis is that the scores obtained from this
instrument can be easily converted into interval data, thus giving a numerical value for each of the
components of intellectual excitement and interpersonal rapport, and in this way lending itself easily
to regression analysis. Also, the present measure is reported to be a rigorous, valid, reliable and
frequently-referenced measure of Teaching Style (Larson, 2007; Razak, 2007, cited in Akbari, Kiany,
ImaniNaeeni&KarimiAllvar, 2008).
Research Question
Does Iranian EFL teachers’ emotional intelligence significantly affect their teaching style?

Methodology
Participants
The researcher intended to seek the cooperation of teachers working in English language institutes
located in Shiraz. To do so, 52 male and female teachers were conveniently sampled to fill out the
questionnaires. The participants were all within the 23-42 age group and they were either B.A. or
M.A. holders in one of the following majors: TEFL, English Literature or Linguistics. Further, their
teaching experience ranged between 5 to 8 years.

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Instruments
Lowman’s two-dimensional teaching style scale
Being a dependable measure developed by Lowman (1995), this scale was used to assess teachers’
teaching style by investigating their perceptions and preferences with respect to concepts of
Intellectual Excitement (IE) and Interpersonal Rapport (IR). The instrument had been scored based on
a 5-point Likert scale beginning with 1 representing that 0% to 10% of the time the item applied to the
respondents and ending with 5 showing that 95% to 100% of the time the item was true about them. It
included 22 items eleven of which measured teachers’ IE and the rest measured teachers’ IR.

Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire

For measuring the participants’ EQ, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Short Form
(TEIQue-SF) test was used. This is a 30-item questionnaire designed to measure global trait Emotional
Intelligence (trait EI). It is based on the long form of the TEIQue designed and validated by Petrides &
Furnham (2003). Items were responded to on a 5-point Likert scale. The TEIQue has been constructed
with the aim of providing comprehensive coverage of the trait EI domain.

Data Collection and Data Analysis Procedures

The participants were requested to answer the two questionnaires simultaneously in 30 minutes. Both
person to person and group administration were utilized to collect the required data.Cronbach alpha
and Pearson correlation coefficient were employed to decide on the internal consistency and
significance of the relationship between the variables of the study respectively.

Results
Reliability estimates
Cranach’s Alpha was utilized to estimate the reliability of the two scales. Table 1 clearly show that all
the Cronbach values are above 0.6 (note that a reliability score of 0.6 or above is considered
acceptable). This entails that the questionnaires drawn on in this study were all reliable and
accordingly suitable to be used as instruments in this study.

Table 1. Reliability estimates

Cronbach’s No. of
instruments No of Items
Alpha Participants

Emotional intelligence 0.731 30 53

Teaching Style 0.834 22 53

Intellectual Excitement 0.727 11 53

Interpersonal Rapport 0.831 11 53

Table 2 reveals the results of correlation statistical procedure which was run to analyze the
relationship between teachers’ EQ and their teaching style. According to this table, there is not a
significant relationship between teachers’ EQ and their teaching style (sig 2-tailed=0.59). As shown in
figure 1, no statistically significant correlation is seen in the scatter plot.

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Table 2. Correlation between total EQ and total teaching style

TOTAL EQ score

TOTAL Pearson Correlation 1 .221

EQ
Sig. (2-tailed) .594
N 53 53
score Pearson Correlation .221 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .594

N 53 53

Figure 1. Scatter plot

Tables 3 and 4 show the results of Pearson correlation between emotional intelligence and the two
subscales of teaching style.

Table 3. Correlation between Teachers’ emotional intelligence and Intellectual Excitement

Pearson
Sig. (2-tailed) N
Variables Correlation

emotional intelligence and

0.244 0.396 53
Intellectual Excitement

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Table 4. Correlation between Teachers’ emotional intelligence and interpersonal rapport

Pearson
Sig. (2-tailed) N
Variables Correlation

emotional intelligence and

0.108 0.621 53
interpersonal rapport

As it is evident from the findings neither intellectual excitement nor interpersonal rapport has
significant relationships with teachers’ emotional intelligence.

Conclusion
The results of the correlation statistical procedure are presented in table 2 as a way to analyze the
relationship between teachers’ Emotional Intelligence and their teaching style. These results reveal
that there is no significant relationship between the variables of the study. This finding keeps the
controversy over the impact of genetic factors such as emotional intelligence on teachers’ choices of
techniques and procedures in the class. One explanation for this finding could be the limited sample
used in this study to collect data. Another explanation could be the way Emotional Intelligence is
being investigated by the researchers. This gives an insight for further research projects and research
designs. The final verdict, however, is that teachers’ teaching style is more affected by environmental
factors rather than their personal predispositions.

REFERENCES
Aghayar, S., & Sharifi, D. P. (2008). Organizational emotional intelligence. Tehran: Sepahan Publications.
Baily, G. (1984).An Evaluator’s guide to diagnosing and analyzing teaching style. NASSP Bulletin,
68(469), 19-25.
Chesterman, A., & Wagner, E. (2002). Can Theory Help Translators? A Dialogue between the Ivory Tower
and the Wordface. Manchester, UK and Northampton, MA.
Extremera, N., and Fernandez-Berrocal, P. (2005). Perceived emotional intelligence and life
satisfaction: Predictive and incremental validity using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. Personality and
Individual Differences, 39: 937–48.
Fan, W., & Ye, S. (2007). Teaching styles among shanghai teachers in primary and secondary
schools. Educ. Psychol., 27, 255-272.
Galbraith, M.W. (1999). Philosophy and the instructional process. Adult Learning, 11(2), 11-13.
Goleman D., Boyatzis R., and McKee A. (2002). The emotional reality of teams.journal of
organizational excellence, vol. 21, issue 2, pp 55-65.
Heimlich, J. E., &Norland, E. (1994).Developing teaching style in adult education. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Kafetsios, K., & Zampetakis, L.A. (2008). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction: Testing the
mediatory role of positive and negative affective at work. Personality Individual Differences, 44(3), 712-
722.
Larson, D. (2007). Self-Awareness about Teaching Style: Development of a Tool. Proceedings of
the 2007 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Annual Conference.
Salovey, P. & Mayer, J. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and personality. 9, 185-211.

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PERSIAN WH-QUESTIONS: A CASE OF GENDER AND

CONTEXT

Elahe Ghasemi Javan

Dr. Laya Heidari Darani1
Department of Foreign Languages, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
University Boulevard, Arghavanieh, Jey Street, Isfahan 8155139998, Iran
Email: Elahe.ghasemi@khuisf.ac.ir
Department of English, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
University Boulevard, Basij Boulevard, Falavarjan, Isfahan 8451731167, Iran
Email: heidari@iaufala.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY AIMED AT INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF GENDER AND CONTEXT ON
PERSIAN WH-QUESTIONS.IT EXPLORED WHETHER FORMAL AND INFORMAL CONTEXTS
HAD AN EFFECT ON THE PRODUCTION OF WH-QUESTIONS AMONG PERSIAN NATIVE
SPEAKERS. FURTHERMORE, IT PROBED THE DIFFERENCES AMONG MALE-MALE, MALE-
FEMALE, AND FEMALE-FEMALE GROUPS IN THE PRODUCTION OF WH-QUESTION
VARIANTS. TO THIS END, 30 PERSIAN NATIVE SPEAKERS WHOSE AGE RANGED FROM 18TO
35 FORMED THE SAMPLE POPULATION OF THE CURRENT PROJECT. THE DESIGN OF THE
STUDY WAS QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL IN WHICH RANDOM SAMPLING PROCEDURE WAS
USED AND THE AGE OF THE PARTICIPANTS WAS CONTROLLED. THE PARTICIPANTS WERE
SELECTED RANDOMLY AND THEY WERE BRIEDED ON THE EXPERIMENT. THEN, THE DATA
COLLECTION TOOLS INCLUDING THE EDINBURGH MAP TASK AND BACKGROUND
INFORMATION QUESTIONNAIRE WERE PRESENTED TO THE PARTICIPANTS. THEY DID THE
MAP TASK ASKING AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS. THEN, THE OBTAINED DATA WERE
ANALYZED THROUGH CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS. THE MAIN CONCLUSION OF THIS STUDY
WAS THAT GENDER AND CONTEXT DID NOT HAVE EFFECTS ON PERSIAN WH-QUESTION
VARIANTS. FURTHERMORE, THE MALE-MALE GROUP OF PARTICIPANTS' PRODUCTION OF
WH-QUESTIONS DIFFERED FROM FEMALE-FEMALE AND FEMALE-MALE GROUPS.

KEYWORDS: PERSIAN WH-QUESTIONS, GENDER, FORMAL CONTEXT, INFORMAL CONTEXT

Introduction
People from different geographical places speak differently; and even within the same small
community, people might speak differently according to their age, gender, ethnicity and social or
educational background, cultural or socio-economic background and even geographical location.
Thus, there exists a broad range of factors leading to variation in language. Labov (1972), for instance,
specifically pointed out that variables such as the listener, the context, and the objectives of the
communication can be considered as the reasons for variation. Among these factors, gender and
context can be of the most widely used social demographic categories.
Two important early studies focusing on situated language are Malinowski's (1923) discussion of the
'context of situation' and Firth's (1935) elaboration of that concept. Early in the century, Boas
established the value of collecting and analyzing natural texts, and that became accepted practice for
linguists such as Sapir, Kroeber, and Bloomfield. Predating the early studies of social dialect variation
in the mid-1960s, researchers such as Ferguson, Gumperz, Halliday, and Hymes examined linguistic

1
Corresponding author

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variation across social situations and communicative uses, as well as across speaker groups.
Considering the studies carried out on the effect of gender and context on different aspects of
language, this study aimed at exploring the effect of these two variables on Persian wh- questions.

Review of the Literature

Persian Wh-question Variants
Persian exhibits a large number of word order variants, both in declaratives and in interrogatives.
This is demonstrated with a set of wh-questions (Adli, 2010). Sentences (1) and (2) show two forms
with the temporal wh-adjunct at preverbal (though non-initial) position. Their difference lies in the
linear order of direct object and wh-adjunct. (3) shows another possibility of ‘rearrangement’: The wh-
adjunct is still preverbal (and follows the object as in (1), but the subject stands in postverbal position.
Also, wh-object NPs can occur in non-initial, preverbal position, as shown in the examples (1) and (5).
OM represents an object marker modifying the whole phrase rather than the head noun, which has
been analyzed by Ghomeshi (1997) as a phrasal affix (this notion goes back to Nevis’ (1985) analysis of
Finnish particle clitics).
(1) Sârâ ketâb-eʃ-o key xaride? [S O Adjwh V]
Sara book -her -OM when bought
‘When did Sara buy her book?’
(2) Sârâ key ketâb-eʃ-o xaride? [S Adjwh O V]
Sara when book -her -OM bought
(3) Ketâb-eʃ-o key xaride sârâ? [O Adjwh V S]
book -her -OM when bought Sara
(4) Bâbak ki-ro emrooz zade? [S Owh Adj V]
Babak who -OM today hit
(5) Bâbak emrooz ki-ro zade? [S Adj Owh V]
Babak today who -OM hit
Who has Babak hit today?
The following examples show that the wh-element can occur in initial position. (6) is an example with
a wh-adjunct, (7) a variant of it with postverbal subject, and (8) an example with a wh-NP.
(6) Key Sârâ ketâb-eʃ-o xaride? [Adjwh S O V]
when Sara book -her -OM bought
(7) Key ketâb-eʃ-o xaride sârâ? [Adjwh O V S]
when book -her -OM bought Sara
(8) Ki-ro bâbak emrooz zade? [Owh S Adj V]
who -OM Babak today hit
However, it is unacceptable to place the wh-element into postverbal position.
(9) *Sârâ ketâb-eʃ-o xaride key? [S O V Adjwh]
Sara book -her -OM bought when
(10) *xaride key ketâb-eʃ-o sârâ? [V Adjwh O S]
bought when book -her -OM Sara
(11) *Bâbak emrooz zade ki-ro? [S Adj V Owh]
Babak today hit who -OM
Persian is a wh-in-situ language; that is, wh-expressions do not get preposed, but rather occur in their
base position (Karimi 1989; Lazard 1992; Raghibdoost 1994; Bateni 1995; Mahootian and Gebhardt,
1997; Youhanaee 1997). However, Adli (2010) remarks that Persian allows both
wh-ex-situ and wh-in-situ word order variants. In wh-fronted questions in Persian (WH-
word+Subject+Verb, (WHSV)), the structure begins with the wh-word and is followed by the subject
and then the verb, as in (12-15) (the following classification is based on Heidari Darani, 2009).
(12) Persian Wh-fronted (WHSV)
Wh-word + Subject + Verb
Koja to kar mikoni?
(Where you DUR.work.PRS.2sg?)
(Where do you work?)
(13) Persian Wh-fronted (WHV)
Wh-word + Verb
Koja kar mikoni?

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(Where DUR.work.PRS.2sg?)
(Where do you work?)
(14) Persian Wh-fronted (WHVS)
Wh-word + Verb + Subject
Koja kar mikoni to?
(Where DUR.work.PRS.2sg you?)
(Where do you work?)
(15) Persian Wh-fronted (WH)
Wh-word
Koja?
(Where?)
In-situ wh-questions in Persian (Subject+WH-word+V, (SWHV)) have the subject followed by the wh-
element in pre-verbal position and the verb, as shown in (16-18). Examples 17 and 18 which are post-
verbal wh-questions are assumed to be ungrammatical (Adli, 2010).
However, this study attempts to show whether Persian native speakers make use of such wh-
questions in their natural speech, too.
(16) a. Persian Wh-in-situ (SWHV) (Standard)
Subject + Wh-word + Verb
To koja kar mikoni?
(You where DUR.work.PRS.2sg?)
(Where do you work?)
(17) Persian Wh-in-situ (VWH)
Verb + Wh-word
Kar mikoni koja?
(DUR.work.PRS.2sg where?)
(Where do you work?)
(18) Persian Wh-in-situ (VWHS)
Verb + Wh-word + Subject
Kar mikoni koja to?
(DUR.Work.PRS.2sg where you?)
(Where do you work?)

Language in Relation to Gender and Context

The issue "language and gender" refers to the relationship between language and our ideas about
men and women. One topic that has come to the fore in sociolinguistics in recent years is the
connection, if any, between the structure, vocabularies, and ways of using particular languages and
the social roles of the man and women who speak these languages (Wardhaugh, 1986). According to
Milroy et al. (1994), gender differences need not map directly onto the physiological sex differences,
but in practice our social lives are organized around the physiological dichotomy to such an extent
that a cultural connection has been forged between sex and virtually every other aspect of human
experience (Bem 1993). Within this perspective, Labov (1990) found that the clearest and most
consistent results of more than 30 years of sociolinguistic research in the speech community concern
the linguistic differentiation of women and men.
Trudgill (1974) asserted that it is known from linguistic research that in many societies the speech of
men and women differs. In some cases the differences are quite small and are not generally noticed:
they are probably taken for granted in some way as different gestures or facial expressions. Question
use is another linguistic device which has been stereotypically associated with the conversational
style of women. Lakoff 1975, among the first to claim that women used more questions than men,
declared that women use tag questions as a hedging device, and that women have a greater tendency
to use rising intonation on declaratives, thereby turning their statements into questions. Lakoff's
claims, which were not based on empirical data, inspired a significant amount of research that
produced conflicting conclusions about tag and other question usage (Dubois & Crouch, 1975;
Brouwer et al. 1979; O'Barr & Bowman, 1980; Holmes 1984; Preisler 1986; Cameron and Coates, 1989;
Coates 1989). In other important research that subsequently formed the basis for widely accepted

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beliefs about women's question-asking behavior, Fishman (1978, 1980) found that, in naturally
occurring conversations between three heterosexual couples, women asked many more questions
than men. The differential use of questions by women and men has continued to be a much discussed
topic, fueled most recently by Tannen's (1990) assertions about women and men's different
communicative styles, where question-asking is seen as part of women's cooperative speaking style
and as a device for sharing the floor.
Fasold (1990: 92), for example, refers to the fact that women tend to use a higher proportion of the
standard variants than men in the same social class as “the socio-linguistic gender pattern,” and
Chambers (1995) as “a sociolinguistic verity.” Fasold (1990) suggests that women use a higher
proportion of standard variants than men because this allows them to sound less local and to have a
voice, therefore, with which to protest against the traditional norms that place them in an inferior
social position to men.
Eckert and McConnell-Ginet's (1992) paper has been extremely influential in language and gender
research. They argue for a more dynamic view of gender. Instead of seeing gender as something static
that speakers “have”, that can be analyzed either in isolation from other aspects of social identity, or
in interaction with them, it is something that we “do” or “perform” in a complex array of social
practices. The concept of ‘standard’ forms is defined as those used with the greatest frequency by the
highest social class in the hierarchy and used more frequently by all speakers in their more formal
speech styles. These ‘standard’ forms are taken as synonymous with the overtly prestigious forms of
the speech community: since all members of the speech community are assumed to share a common
set of norms and values, they are also assumed to agree on the social evaluation of the standard, or
prestige, variants (Cheshire, 2000).
Labov (1972) specifically pointed out that variables such as the listener, the context, and the objectives
of the communication can be considered as the reasons for variation. It is usual for researchers to see
one of the variants as “standard” or overtly prestigious, usually on the grounds that this variant is
used with an increased frequency in more formal speech styles. In a study (Heidari Darani and
Heidari Darani, 2013), it is hypothesized that formality of the context is an influential factor to create a
difference in the speakers' linguistic behavior. Gender differences usually lead to differences in
linguistic performance. For example, women turn out to use prestigious forms more often than men
in their linguistic performance; accordingly, it seems that women are more likely to comply with
standard forms whether or not they consider the socio-pragmatic factors. Talks made by pairs of
Iranian male and female speakers whose speech were totally formal were examined from an
acoustical point of view by measuring the fundamental frequency of the speakers’ speech. Men
showed to have higher pitch when their talk occurred in a cross-sex situation, compared with the
situations where they talked with other men. This reveals that men and women do not react
linguistically similarly in the same situations; and thus, they endeavor to insist on linguistic
differences resulted from gender differences. It has been shown that both male and female speakers
talk differently when they are in a cross-sex talk from when they talk to people from their own sex.
According to Tagliamnte (2006), languages vary and their variation depends on situational
context. Persian, like any other language, has different varieties of wh- and yes/no questions. Several
Persian linguists have suggested different variations of such questions (Mahootian and Gebhardt,
1997; Adli, 2010, Heidari Darani and Afghari, 2012, and Heidari Darani, 2009) and concerning context
classified questions into standard and non-standard variants based on the availability of the Q
particle in yes/no questions and the location of the wh-word in wh-questions. In this study, the
classifications proposed by Heidari Darani (2009) and Heidari Darani and Afghari (2012) were
followed.

Methodology
Participants
The participants of the study were 30 male and female Persian native speakers who were born, raised
and were still residing in Isfahan, Iran. Hence, they are assumed to be all originally Persian native
speakers. They were adult speakers aged between twenty-five and thirty-five who were selected for
the purpose of this research study. These participants were selected randomly and they all belonged
to middle-class families based on the information they provided on their background questionnaire
which sought information about their profession as well as their parents’ profession. They needed to
be Persian native speakers and thus not familiar with English as a foreign language. They were asked

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about the amount of English knowledge they had and all claimed to be beginners in English. The
participants were necessarily paired for the task, and since the pairing was under the researchers'
control, familiarity between the participants could be varied systematically by asking them to attend
with a friend. Each pair of familiar participants was tested in coordination with another pair who was
unknown to either member of the pair. Each participant took part in four conversations, twice as
Instruction Giver and twice as Instruction Follower, once in each case with a familiar partner, and
once with an unfamiliar partner. As Instruction Giver, they gave directions on the same map, but
when following, they used different maps each time. All participants gave instructions to a familiar
partner first, then to an unfamiliar partner. The option of placing a small barrier between the
participants to prevent them from seeing each other's faces allowed us to control the availability of
the visual channel for communication

Instruments
In this project, the data elicitation instruments utilized were the Edinburgh Map Task (EMT) and a
background information questionnaire.

Edinburgh Map Task (EMT)

Edinburgh Map Task (EMT) which was used in this study was the modified version of the EMT
compiled by Human Communication Research Center (HCRC 2010). The HCRC Map Task Corpus
was produced in response to one of the core problems of work on natural language: much of the
knowledge of language is based on scripted materials, despite most language use taking the form of
unscripted dialogue with specific communicative goals. The two speakers sit opposite one another
and each has a map which the other cannot see as there is a barrier placed between them. One
speaker—designated the Instruction Giver—has a route marked on his map; the other speaker—the
Instruction Follower—has no route. The speakers are told that their goal is to reproduce the
Instruction Giver's route by asking questions on the Instruction Follower’s map. The maps are not
identical and the speakers are told this explicitly at the beginning of their performance.
The starting and finishing points were not marked on the Instruction Follower’ map, while they
were marked on the Instruction Giver's map. This task led to natural data collection and the questions
and answers produced by the participants represented a natural interaction similar to those in real-
life situations.

Background Information Questionnaire

The questionnaires were presented to the participants and they were asked to fill them out.
Indeed, they were asked to provide the researchers with information such as age, gender, field of
study, region of origin in Esfahan, their profession, and parents’ profession. In order to control the
significance of the social factors and their probable influence on the question variants produced by
the participants, such a background questionnaire was administered. The background questionnaires
were validated by the experts. The social factors under investigation in this study were gender and
context while the rest including their age and social class were controlled.

Procedures
The participants were paired considering the contexts under question in this study; that is formal and
informal. Concerning gender, they were organized in male-male, male-female, and female-female
categories, as well. They were briefed on what the maps would entail and what the Instruction Giver
and Follower would do from the start. The Instruction Followers were asked to find the starting
point, look for the directions, and eventually reach the destination by inquiring information from the
Instruction Giver. The frequency and percentage of Persian wh- question variants produced by the
participants were tabulated and Chi-square analyses were run on the data to reveal the significant
effect of gender and context on the production of such variants.
Results
After dyadic conversations were recorded, they were transcribed and Persian wh- variants were
calculated. As frequency of the variants was considered, the data obtained was subject to Chi-square
statistical test so as to determine the statistical significance of the probable differences in the data. In
addition to the Chi-square analysis, the descriptive statistics and frequency and percentage of the wh-
variants in terms of gender are shown in Tables 1-3 and Figures 1 and 2.

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Table 1
Descriptive statistics of Persian wh-question variants by gender

Valid 345
Number of wh-
question variants
Missing 0

Mean 1.24

Std. Deviation .473

Variance .224

Table 2
Frequency and percentage of Persian wh-question variants by gender

Question Frequency Total Total

Variant Percentage Frequency
Male-Male Female-Male Female-Female
WhV 32 112 125 78.0 269

SWhV 6 37 26 20.0 69
WH 2 0 5 2.0 7
Total 40 149 156 100.0 345

Among the Persian wh-question variants, the most common one was found to be WHV (32 for male-
male, 112 for female-male, and 125 for female-female). The second variant rated as the most frequent
among the available variants was the SWHV variant which is the
so-called Persian standard wh-question variant. For all three groups the WHV and SWHV variants,
respectively, were the most frequent ones, and the female-female frequency of WHV production was
higher than the others but the female-male frequency of SWHV production was higher than the
others. The third-ranked variant was the WH one. Here, the female-female frequency of use of this
variant was higher.
To illustrate the differences between male and female Persian native speakers in the production of
Persian wh-question variants, the related bar chart was drawn. Figure 1 displays the male- male,
female-female, and female-male scenarios in terms of wh-question variants.

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Figure 1 Persian wh-questions and three gender scenarios

To indicate the difference in the production of Persian wh-question variants produced by native
speakers of the language Chi-square analysis was run on the data. Table 3 shows the results.

Table 3
Chi-square related to Persian wh-question variants by gender

Value Df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-
9.198a 4 .056
Square
Likelihood Ratio
11.526 4 .021

Linear-by-Linear
.103 1 .748
Association
N of Valid Cases
345

a. 3 cells (33.3%) have expected count less than 5. The

minimum expected count is .81.

Chi-square analysis was run to probe the effect of gender on the construction of Persian wh-question
variants. Actually, according to Pearson Chi-Square P value of .056 for a 95% confidence level, gender
did not affect Persian wh-question variants. To illustrate the results of the Chi-square analysis run on
the Persian wh-question variants data, the related bar chart was drawn. Figure 2 presents the three
frequent wh-question variants in terms of gender.

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Figure 2 Persian wh-question variants and gender

To probe the effect of context on the construction of Persian wh-question variants produced by
Persian native speakers, Chi-square analysis was run on the respective data. Descriptive statistics and
frequency and percentage of the wh-question variants are displayed besides the Chi-square analysis
in Tables 4-6 as well as Figure 3.

Table 4
Descriptive statistics of Persian wh-question variants by context
Valid 345
Number of wh-
question variants
Missing 0

Mean 1.59
Std. Deviation .492
Variance .242

Table 5
Frequency and percentage of Persian wh- question variants by context
Frequency Total Total
Question Variant Percentage
Formal Informal Frequency
WhV 117 152 78.0 269

SWhV 21 48 20.0 69
WH 3 4 2.0 7
Total 141 204 100.0 345
As far as frequency was concerned, the WHV in informal context showed the highest frequency,
respectively, for male-male, female-female, and female-male. And the WH was the lowest. The
second graded variant was the SWHV in informal context (152 for informal and 117 for formal).

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Table 6
Chi-square related to Persian wh-question variants by context

Value Df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 3.887a 2 .143
Likelihood Ratio 3.994 2 .136
Linear-by-Linear Association 2.566 1 .109
N of Valid Cases 345
a. 2 cells (33.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.86.
The formal and informal contexts were subjected to the Chi-square analysis to probe the effect of
context on the construction of Persian wh- question variants. These two contexts proved not to be
significantly different. According to this P value=.143, it showed that formal and informal contexts
have no effect on making wh- questions among Persian native speakers.
To illustrate the results of the Chi-square analysis run on the Persian wh-question variants data the
related bar chart was drawn. Figure 3 presents the three frequent wh-question variants in terms of
context.

Figure 3 Persian wh-question variants and context

Discussion and Conclusion

According to Tagliamnte (2006), languages vary and their variation depends on situational context.
Persian, like any other language, has different varieties of wh- questions. Several Persian linguists
have suggested different variations of such questions (Mahootian and Gebhardt, 1997; Adli, 2010;
Heidari Darani and Afghari, 2012; and Heidari Darani, 2009) and classified questions into standard
and non-standard variants based on the location of the wh-word in wh-questions. Considering the
wh-question variants, eight wh-question variants were recognized based on the classifications
followed in this study, but only three wh-question variants were observed in the current data. The
wh- question variants produced were WHV, SWHV, and WH. Among the wh-question variants, the
most frequent and the least frequent ones were WHV and WH, respectively.
Given the effect of gender on the production of Persian wh- variants, the results indicated that gender
did not significantly affect wh-questions; however, male-male production of wh-question variants
differed from female-female and female-male scenarios. The frequency of wh- questions produced by
male-male group of participants confirmed the Least Effort Principle (LEP) discovered by the French

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philosopher Guillaume Ferrero (1894) and studied by Zipf (1949), Poole (1985), and Mann (1987). Zipf
theorized that the distribution of word use was due to tendency to communicate efficiently with least
effort; while Poole and Mann studied this principle in information seeking context. In this study in
which the context was information seeking, men showed more tendencies towards this principle.
They used the least effort to attain their goal. Hence, it can be stated that the Least Effort Principle is
gender-oriented.
The production of wh-question variants confirmed the perspective towards gender, which was
followed by Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (1992) and Cheshire (2000) (to name a few), maintaining
that when the doers of a practice have the same purpose and do it under the same context, they are
recognized as one group whether they are male or female and they are not different even in their
language. Discussing the use of standard and non-standard variants, it was shown that the female-
female and female-male groups of participants used the standard wh-question variants more often
than the male-male group. Thus, female speakers preferred to produce standard wh-question
variants. This finding is in line with the results of previous studies conducted by several scholars such
as Labov (1990), Fasold (1990), Chambers (1995) and Trudgill (1974). They claimed that men use a
higher frequency of nonstandard forms than women and as standard forms are assumed to be more
prestigious, women favor the incoming prestige forms more than men.
Concerning the effect of context on the construction of Persian wh- question variants, the results
showed that context did not affect wh-questions, either. It was assumed that in the informal context
where the participants of a pair did not know each other, standard variants were produced, yet it did
not occur. Given the wh-question variants, it seems that context was ignored during producing such
variants. Probably, the purpose of the study which was information seeking through asking questions
was paid more attention rather than the context of the study.
Given context and standard and non-standard variants, the results demonstrated that the frequency
of all three wh-question variants including both standard and non-standard variants were higher in
informal context. Based on the results, it is concluded that, contrary to the previous studies, context
does not have a crystal-clear effect on question variants in Persian. The participants were probably
noticing the purpose so much so that they did not pay attention to their partner and thus the degree
of formality or informality of the context.

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IMPACTS OF INPUT ENHANCEMENT ON LISTENING

COMPREHENSION IMPROVEMENT OF IRANIAN
INTERMEDIATE FEMALE EFL LEARNERS

Omid Tabatabaei
Department of English, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran
Tabatabaeiomid@yahoo.com

Afsaneh Khashavi
Department of English, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran
Afsanehkhashavi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY AIMED AT INVESTIGATING WHETHER INPUT ENHANCEMENT (IE) THROUGH
REPETITION AND SLOWING DOWN THE RATE OF SPEECH HAD ANY IMPACT ON THE
LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITY OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS. HAVING BEEN
HOMOGENIZED VIA THE QUICK PLACEMENT TEST, 90 STUDENTS AT INTERMEDIATE
LEVEL PARTICIPATED IN THIS STUDY. THEY WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED INTO THREE
GROUPS OF 30 STUDENTS, TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS AND ONE CONTROL GROUP. ALL
THE THREE GROUPS SAT FOR A PRETEST OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITY. THE
PURPOSE OF THIS TEST WAS TO DETERMINE THE LEARNERS' INITIAL LEVEL OF LISTENING
ABILITY. AFTERWARDS, ONE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS RECEIVED TREATMENT
BASED ON IE THROUGH REPETITION AND THE OTHER ONE RECEIVED TREATMENT BASED
ON IE THROUGH SLOWING DOWN THE RATE OF SPEECH FOR 10 SESSIONS. HOWEVER, THE
CONTROL GROUP RECEIVED NO IE AND RECEIVED THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF TEACHING
LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITY. FINALLY, AT THE END OF THE COURSE, THE
POSTTEST WAS ADMINISTERED TO THREE GROUPS TO DETERMINE EACH GROUP’S
IMPROVEMENT IN DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS. THE RESULTS OF ANOVA
REVEALED THAT NOT ONLY DID THE STUDENTS IN EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS
OUTPERFORM THOSE IN CONTROL GROUP, THE STUDENTS WHO WERE TAUGHT USING IE
THROUGH REPETITION PERFORMED BETTER THAN THOSE WHO WERE TAUGHT USING IE
THROUGH SLOWING DOWN THE RATE OF SPEECH.

KEY WORDS: INPUT ENHANCEMENT, LISTENING COMPREHENSION, INPUT, FOCUS-ON-

FORM (FONF).

1. Introduction
Comprehending a language has been recognized as a creative, complex and active skill which
involves many processes forming the main subject for classroom and psychological studies (Taylor,
1981). Rivers (1978) maintains that the major difficulty of travelers to foreign countries is making
themselves understood rather than understanding others. To communicate with native speakers,
students must understand the gist of what native speakers are saying. As a result, listening plays a
crucial role for both language learning and communication in real language situations.
Because listening skill used to be considered a passive skill, it has been neglected in the
process of foreign language learning. This negligence may have originated from the belief that
exposing the students to the spoken language is enough for improving listening comprehension.
Listening is an essential part of the communication process. Students spend the majority of their time
listening and much of what they know is acquired though listening (Seely, 1995). Listening is more

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than hearing. It involves the use of language and thought, when students' language abilities develop,
their ability in effective listening will develop as well.
Developing effective listening abilities can be achieved when it is meaningfully integrated
with speaking, writing, reading and listening experiences. Exposure to speaking is important for the
students who need to hear the language spoken in meaningful contexts in order to acquire it. The
receptive (listening) language abilities precede the expressive (speaking) language abilities, so
students need to spend a great deal of time listening before they develop their speaking abilities (Van-
Duzer, 1997).
According to Flowerdew (2005), all language teaching approaches except for grammar-
translation incorporate a listening component. For example total physical response is a language
teaching method in which listening is the main component and without it, learning would not take
place. Listening skill is one of the most important skills because the main factor to acquire a language
is to receive language input. When enough comprehension input is available for students, acquisition
takes place. Listening is very important in language classroom because it provides input for learners.
Therefore, listening is vital not only as a receptive skill but also as a factor for enhancing proficiency
in speaking (Flowerdew, 2005).
Attention and awareness in second language acquisition (SLA) play crucial roles in language
learning. Over the past years many studies have emerged which emphasized the role of attention and
awareness in SLA contexts (Schmidt, 1990, 1995). Based on these studies, learners' attention is very
important. This kind of Focus-on-Form (FonF) instruction which increases awareness has been known
as input (salience) enhancement (Sharwood Smith, 1991, 1993). It is assumed to be the root of
language learning (Chaudron, 1985; Faerch & Kasper, 1986; Gass & Madden, 1985; Krashen, 1981,
1982; Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991; Van Patten, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996). Input enhancement involves
the manipulation of input salience, with an attempt to direct learners’ attention to a specific linguistic
form in the input (Sharwood Smith, 1991, 1993). Salience refers to the ease with which learners can
perceive given input. From a cognitive perspective, attention to input leads to language
internalization (Hulstijin, 1989; Long, 1990; Schmidt, 1990, 1993, 1994a, 1994b, 1995; Sharwood Smith,
1981; Tomlin & Villa, 1994; Van Patten, 1990, 1994). Sharwood defined 'input enhancement' as a way
of attracting learners' attention to formal aspects of information by manipulation of different parts.
Manipulation may take different forms such as slowing down the rate of speech in listening or
making it visually salient using some techniques as bolding, underlining, color coding, etc. in reading.
The most obvious way to influence subconscious processing is by making target forms in input salient
(Sharwood, 1991, 1993).
Input enhancement plays an important role in language learning and in relation to its
importance, Sharwood Smith (1993, p.181) writes: Whether the enhancement is subtle or very explicit,
the learner's brain must still register it. What we know of learners includes the fact they are good at
ignoring what appears to the outside observer to be very obvious … this is why we need to do a great
deal of research on the matter to see what works best.
Input enhancement can be effective in two ways: by drawing learners' attention to certain
properties of L2 and by helping them 'unlearn' their incorrect analyses of L2 (White, Spade,
Lightbown, & Rantal, 1991). It is very reasonable for teachers to use input enhancement because
according to what was mentioned about IE, it can be very helpful in learners' achievement and
performance.
A listening support is repetition of input which is usually used by language teachers in EFL contexts.
Repetition has the potentiality to increase processing time which enhances the clarity between
syntactic forms (Chang & Read, 2006). Provided with this type of support, L2 learners might benefit
from listening to the input more than twice; furthermore, repeating input is likely to allow L2 learners
to check their comprehension.
Sharwood Smith coined the term to cover methods language teachers use to make details of a
second language clear for students (Sharwood 1991, 1993). Input is the "potentially processible
language data which are made available, by chance or by design, to the language learner" (Sharwood
smith, 1993, p.167). It is very important in second language acquisition because learners use it "in
order to construct a mental representation of the grammar that they are acquiring"(Van Patten, 1996,
p.13).
According to Sharwood, there are both positive and negative input enhancements. Positive input
enhancement makes appropriate forms in input more salient. For example, if the learner could not

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have the right perception of the grammar than is evidenced by the input, then positive evidence
would change that grammar and bring it in line with the native-speaker grammar (Sharwood Smith
1991). On the other hand, negative input enhancement makes incorrect forms in input salient which
will violate the target norms (Sharwood Smith, 1993).
This method uses some techniques and strategies such as color coding, boldfacing, using
error flags, stress intonation, gesture as well as pointing out and explaining a construction using
metalinguistic terminology (Sharwood Smith 1991, 1993). These techniques may be used in different
ways such as: 1) Avoiding vowel reduction typical of rapid or casual speech 2) Slowing down the
rate of speech 3) Using exaggerated stress and intonation 4) Extensive repetition of words and
phrases 5) Less pre-verbal and more post-verbal modifications 6) Use of gestures, text enhancement
such as boldface7) Underlining and other attention-catching textural techniques such as boldface,
uppercase letters, colour-coding, etc.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Comprehensible Input
Input refers to language that learners are exposed to. That portion of input that can be
understood by a learner is 'comprehensible input'. Comprehensible input contains linguistic items
and structures that are a little higher than learner's present level of linguistic competence. Based on
Krashen's model (1985), comprehensible input is necessary for acquisition to take place. However,
many have disagreed with Krashen's claim that comprehensible input is necessarily a causative factor
in L2 acquisition (Gass, 1988; Ellis, 1990a, 1991). These criticisms can be removed if the hypothesis is
changed in the following way: comprehensible input can facilitate acquisition, but (1) it is not a
necessary condition of acquisition, and (2) it does not guarantee that acquisition will take place.
2.2. Processed Input
Processed input is similar to Gass and Selinker's (1994) "comprehended input".
"Comprehended input" is learner-controlled; it means, it is the learner who is (or who is not) doing
the work to understand the input. 'Processed input' differs from 'comprehended input' in that both
internal factors as well as the help of external factors are important in processed input. In other
words, not only learner's role in processing and understanding the input is important but also
external factors, which help the learner process and understand the input are important too. At least
three factors could influence the learner initiative; attention, affect, and prior knowledge. By
'attention' learners notice that part of language input they need to learn. The learner may notice what
Gass and Selinker call the mismatch between what is being learned and what has already been
acquired. The learner's prior knowledge helps process and understand the input if it is within their
accessibility. The third factor or 'affect' (social distance, motivation, and attitude) does help as well. A
high motivation and a strong desire for learning help process and understand the input (Gardner,
1979, 1980; Schumann; 1978a, 1978b).
2.2.1. Input Processing Instruction
External factors such as input processing instruction and input enhancement contribute to
helping the learner process and understand the input. Van Patten and Cadierno (1993) view input
processing as involving form-meaning connections when input is changing to intake. In other words,
input processing involves "those strategies and mechanisms that promote form-meaning connections
during comprehension". They used processing instruction in foreign language teaching and reported
their findings. They examined the possible effects of two different types of instruction on the
developing knowledge system of the L2 learner: instruction as the manipulation of output, and
instruction as structured or focused input processing, the former characterizing the traditional explicit
instruction in which learner output is manipulated, as shown by figure 1, the latter looking at form-
meaning connections to discuss the processes that are involved in the conversion of input to intake as
shown by figure 2.

Figure 1: input intake developing system output

Focused practice

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Figure 2: input intake developing system output

Processing mechanisms

The results showed that subjects who experienced processing instruction made significant
achievement in both comprehension and production and those who experienced traditional
instruction made significant achievement in only production (Cadierno, 1995). Van Patten and
Cadierno's paper is important in that it shows that processing instruction helps L2 learners with their
comprehension and production.
2.3. Input Enhancement
2.3.1. What Is Input Enhancement?
Input enhancement also can facilitate processing input. White et al. (1991) suggest that input
enhancement can help L2 acquisition in two ways. First, by drawing the learner's attention explicitly
to formal properties of the L2, form-focused instruction provides a more noticeable kind of positive
evidence, which may help to make the learner aware of aspects of L2 which would otherwise pass
unnoticed; and secondly, input enhancement may be used to help learners 'unlearn' incorrect analyses
of the L2 by using negative evidence. This can be crucial in L2 acquisition if learners make incorrect
generalization that cannot be proved on the basis of positive input alone. Another important way of
employing input enhancement is to make those features of the target language which have been
noticed but not comprehended, noticeable to the L2 learners. For example; enhancement of 'only' i.e.,
drawing learners' attention to the position of 'only' can help them understand the semantic
differences of the following sentences (Quirk et. al, 1985).
(1) John could only see his wife from the doorway (but he could not talk to her, for example)
(2) John could see his wife only from the doorway (but he could not see his brother, for
example).
(3) John could see his wife from the doorway only (but he could not see her from further inside
the room, for example).
Besides, it appears that external factors also contribute to the learner's level of comprehension
ranging from semantic to syntactic analysis. For instance, instruction on wide or narrow scope of
quantifier can help the learner understand two different readings of simple sentences like "Everyone
like someone" (May, 1985).
Ellis (1993, 1994, 1995) divided input enhancement into three main components;
interpretation, integration and production. The first part is basically grammar comprehension of the
new target form(s), ''noticing'' and cognitive comparing between the learners' use of those forms and
the correct use of the forms. The integration is achieved when the completion of these three phases
are integrated into the implicit system. The last one which is production refers to the automatic use of
the new target forms.
Lee and Benati (2007) divided the research on input enhancement into two main components.
The first one is manipulating the input that the language learners are presented with using one of the
input enhancement techniques. The second component is manipulating how learners interact with the
input they are presented with.
To summarize, currently there is considerable interest in the input. The research is beginning
to show that only exposing to the L2 input is not enough. Learners need L2 data that are suited for
their level of development. There is somewhat less agreement about precisely what makes an optimal
input (Ellis, 1986). There are some doubts, such as: Is it, as teachers think, an input selected and
graded according to formal and logical criteria, or is it, as Krashen (1981) argues, simply a matter of
'comprehensible input', providing learners with language that they can understand?
2.3.2. The Importance of Input Enhancement
Ellis (1993, 1995) believed that input enhancement is very effective in language teaching
process. Many studies have shown the effectiveness of the role of salient input (enhanced input) in
directing the learners' attention to second/foreign language forms. Lee and Benati (2007) claimed that
a review of the literature concluded that input enhancement is useful for language development.
However, if language learners are not able to notice the input, that input cannot become intake. Wong

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(2003) makes a distinction between focus on form and input enhancement. The former requires that
learning occur incidentally in a communicative setting while the later could be proactive or reactive
and does not require a communicative interaction.
Sharwood Smith (1991) claims that the most obvious way to try to affect subconscious
processing beneficially is by making relevant target forms in the input salient. He states that making
the input salient (input enhancement) has a highly positive effect on the rate ate and accuracy of L2
acquisition. The noticeability is not changing the subconscious processes directly, but it is expansion
or restriction of the information on which the processes may operate. On the importance of input
enhancement Sharwood Smith (1994, p.181) writes the following lines:
"Whether the enhancement is subtle or very explicit, the learner's brain must still register it. What we
know of learners includes the fact that they are very good at ignoring what appears to the outside
observer to be very obvious…. This is why we need to do a great deal of research on the matter to see
what works best."
White et al. (1991) have placed emphasis on the importance of input enhancement. They have
suggested that input enhancement can help L2 acquisition in two ways: by drawing learners'
attention to certain properties of L2, and by helping them to 'forget deliberately their incorrect
analyses of L2. Thus, input enhancement affect learners' knowledge and performance in the second
language, and it seems reasonable to expect language teachers and syllabus designers to make use of
input enhancement.
Radwan (2005) investigated the effects of input enhancement, rule provision, awareness of
English dative alteration in forty two lower intermediate participants. The participants were pretested
to figure out their initial knowledge of the target structure, and one day later given a short story to
read which contained a high number of datives. There were some comprehension question follow up.
The next day students were given a narration task which involved describing a set of pictures.
Participants were asked to think aloud while completing the task in order to for the researcher to
gauge their awareness. The treatments were followed by a posttest (one day later) and a delayed
posttest (one month later). A control group only completed the test, but did not receive any
treatments. Radwan found a significant advantage for the rule-group over the other groups on
acquisition, while failed to make significant progress. This advantage was maintained on the delayed
posttest. He also concluded that participants showing a great degree of awareness during the
narration task did better than on the tests.
Williams (1999) carried out a study to compare the effect of input enhancement and explicit
grammar instruction on the acquisition of participial adjectives and present passive. The results
revealed that input enhancement may be effective for teaching complex structures like of the relative
clauses. The researcher concluded that this visual input used alone is not enough to cause grammar
learning for a complex structure like relative clauses.
In another study Shinichi Izumi (2002) has investigated the effects of typographic feature as
visual input enhancement. The researcher wanted to figure out whether this feature promotes
noticing and learning of the relative clause. The study revealed that this visual input used alone is not
enough to cause grammar learning especially for a complex structure like relative clauses.
Likewise, Dasse (2004) investigated the effect of different types of focus-on-form (FonF)
instruction in L2 French acquisition. Three groups of learners were exposed to a FonF instruction to
acquire the auxiliaries' etre and avoir in the passé compose, using consciousness raising tasks. The
results revealed that the different types of instructional treatments led to the differences in language
learning and that raising learners' meta-linguistic awareness of specific L2 forms facilitated
acquisition to a certain extent. Dasse argues with Batstone by stating that researchers cannot
generalize the finding because more FonF studies are needed.
Another recent study is being carried out by Reinders (2009). Using stimulated recall and
think aloud protocols in both naturalistic classroom interaction and in experimental setting. The
researcher aimed at identifying the reason of noticing different learning conditions and the extent of
conscious knowledge. The author exposed the students to morphological and syntactical structures,
as well as enhanced and non-enhanced input consciously available to them that knowledge is,
exposing students to morphological and syntactical structures, as well as enhanced and non-
enhanced input. The result of the study is not yet available since the proposal has been presented to
the Foundation to Science Technology Research to be carried out soon.

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Park and Han (2008) suggested some factors that can increase salience. These factors are
comprehension failure, the learner's current interlanguage knowledge, and the learner's bias for
meaning over form, learner's difference and the learner's first language.
3. Research Question
1. Does input enhancement (repetition & slowing down the rate of speech) have any significant
impact on the improvement of Iranian intermediate female EFL learners' listening comprehension
ability?
2. Which type of input enhancement (repetition vs. slowing down the rate of speech) would have a
more significant impact on EFL learners' progress in listening comprehension?
4. Method
4.1. Participants
Three groups of 90 intermediate L2 learners in one of the institutes in Najafabad participated
in this study. The participants were all female aged between 15 and 32. 45 participants were students
at universities, mostly Azad, Payam-e-Noor Najafabad branch and Isfahan University. They were
studying different majors such as translation, computers, management, etc. 38 participants were high
school students studying mathematics, sciences, arts, computers and accounting. 7 participants were
employees who needed English for their job. All participants were given a placement test before the
treatment.
The participants were from different cultural, social and economic backgrounds living in
Najafabad and the suburbs. Among the 90 available intermediate students, 60 were chosen randomly
as experimental groups and 30 were regarded as a control group. In one of the experimental groups
which was chosen randomly, one technique of input enhancement was applied in listening
comprehension and in the other group, the other technique was applied. The participants in control
group did not receive any input enhancement instructions and listening was taught traditionally.
4.2. Instrument and materials
4.2.1. Placement Test
A placement test was given to the participants in order to select the homogeneous ones. The
Quick Placement Test (QPT) was chosen because it has both validity and reliability. The test consists
of two parts including 60 items. After administering the test, the obtained results were analyzed
based on the QPT associated rating levels charts and those who received 30 to 40 in this test were
considered as intermediate learners.
4.2.2. Pretest
A test of 30 multiple choice items designed by the researcher based on the book ''Tactics for
Listening, Intermediate Level'' was administered to the participants in three classes. The listening part
consists of 6 conversations each followed by 5 questions. The students had 30 minutes to complete
this activity. To make the pre-test reliable and valid, a different group of 10 students at this level were
chosen for piloting, and then the reliability was determined using KR-21 formula and the result
turned out to be 0.86. The main goal of pretest was to determine the participants' initial level of
listening ability.
4.2.3. Posttest
The students were not told that they would have another test after a few sessions. So they
were given a posttest which its items were actually the same as pretest but in different order to
prevent test practice effect after IE instruction finished. 10 sessions of instruction were held between
pretest and posttest. The main goal of the posttest was to determine the extent to which the
participants improved through different techniques of input enhancement.
4.2.4. Computer
A computer in each class was used to play the software including the listening tracks which
students were supposed to listen to. The program for playing the listening sections, MP3 Audio
Editor Software which has powerful professional audio editing feature, made it possible for the
teacher to pause or slow down the rate of speech whenever possible. By applying this software, any
part of the aural file can be repeated or played in a lower rate.
4.2.5. DVDs and CDs
The textbook ‘Tactics for Listening’ has both DVD and CD software to make it possible for all
of students to practice. During the classroom practices, the DVD containing all units of the book was
used.
4.2.6. The Textbook

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For the purpose of our study ''Tactics for Listening, Expanding'' was chosen and distributed
among the students. Expanding Tactics for Listening is the third level of the Tactics for Listening
series. It is intended for intermediate students who have studied English previously but need further
practice in understanding everyday conversational language. In the Expanding Tactics for Listening
student book, students practice listening for a variety of purposes and hear examples of different
types of spoken English including casual conversations, instructions, directions, requests,
descriptions, apologies, and suggestions. Essential listening skills are practiced throughout the text.
These skills include listening for key words, details, and gist; listening and making inferences;
listening for attitudes; listening to questions and responding; and recognizing and identifying
information.
There are 24 units, each unit has five sections. The first section, Getting Ready, introduces the topic of
the unit and presents key vocabulary for the unit listening tasks. The next three sections, Listening 1,
Listening 2, and Listening 3 are linked to conversations or monologues on the audio program. The
Listening sections provide task-based, graded listening practice. The final section, Conversation Corner,
allows students to move from receptive to productive use of language through structured
Pronunciation, Dictation, and Conversation practice. Each unit features a topic that relates to everyday
life such as friendship, making plans, or phone messages. The topics have been chosen for their
frequency in conversation and their frequency in conversation and their interest to learners. A wide
variety of stimulating and useful activities is included to give students graded practice in listening.
There was also an activity book along to help them practice more.
4.3. Procedure
After being ensured of the students homogeneity using a placement test, three groups of
participants who were at intermediate level, participated in this study. One group was considered as
control group and two others were regarded as experimental groups. It must be noted that
categorizing the participants in control and experimental groups was done randomly. After the
pretest was given to all three groups, an instructional program of 10 sessions in which listening
comprehension was taught using input enhancement techniques started in experimental groups. In
one of the experimental groups listening comprehension was taught using input enhancement
through repetition (first experimental group) and in another one listening comprehension was taught
using input enhancement through slowing down the rate of speech (second experimental group). In
the first experimental group, students listened to a piece of listening with repetition of input by MP3
Audio Editor Software. After listening they were asked to answer the follow up questions. In the
second experimental group, listening comprehension was taught using another technique of input
enhancement, slowing down the rate of speech. Teacher used MP3 Audio Editor Software to decrease
the rate of speech in listening and students listened to a slowed version. After listening, they
answered the follow up questions. In the third group which was considered as a control group,
listening comprehension was taught traditionally, without any techniques as the students were
exposed to listening and were asked to answer the questions individually. After 10 sessions of input
enhancement program in experimental groups, a posttest was run for all three groups. Students'
scores in pretest and posttest in three classes were collected, tabulated and compared using the one-
way ANOVA.
4.4. Data Analysis
The aim of the present study was to understand whether `two types of input enhancement
(i.e. repetition and slowing down the rate of speech) had a significant impact on the improvement of
Iranian intermediate female EFL learners’ listening comprehension ability? Since the listening
comprehension scores obtained from three groups (EG1, EG2, and CG) had to be compared, a one-
way between-groups ANOVA was conducted to compare the pretest scores of the three groups and
make sure of their homogeneity at the outset of the study. The same statistical test (i.e. one-way
between-groups ANOVA), followed by a post hoc Scheffe test, was once again employed to compare
(a) the two experimental groups with the control group and thus figure out the possible effectiveness
of input enhancement, and (b) the two experimental groups to find out which type of input
enhancement was more effective.
5. Results
5.1. Results of the Placement Test
Based on the Quick placement test results, the homogeneity of the 90 selected learners was
assured. To ascertain the homogeneity of the learners in experimental and control groups, a one-way

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ANOVA was run to compare their placement scores. Table 1. shows the descriptive statistics for this
comparison.

Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics for the Placement Scores of the EG1, EG2, and CG Learners

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum

EG1 30 83.24 13.21 56.00 91.00

EG2 30 86.09 15.85 63.00 102.00
CG 30 85.61 14.77 69.00 96.00

Mean, standard deviation, and other descriptive statistics of the three groups are shown in
Table 1. The groups were not significantly different on the Quick Placement Test, as shown by the
results of one-way between-groups ANOVA table below.
Table 2.

Results of One-Way ANOVA for Comparing EG1, EG2, and CG Placement Test Scores

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 65.51 2 7.42 4.11 .09
Within Groups 214.29 87 2.58
Total 279.80 89

As it was mentioned, the three groups were at almost similar levels of proficiency and the
differences among them were not statistically significant because the p value in Table 2. was shown to
be larger than the alpha level of significance (.09 > .05).
5.2. Results of the Pretest
Before the experiment began, the researcher had to make sure the learners in the three groups
were not unequal concerning the variable under investigation (i.e. listening comprehension). The
results of the comparison of the three groups on the pretest are displayed in Tables 3. and 4.
Table 3.
Descriptive Statistics Results Comparing EG1, EG2, and CG Mean Scores on the Pretest
95% Confidence Interval
for Mean
Std. Std. Upper
N Mean Deviation Error Lower Bound Bound Minimum Maximum
EG1 30 5.41 1.19 .21 4.96 5.86 3.00 8.00
EG2 30 6.20 1.56 .28 5.61 6.78 4.00 9.00
CG 30 6.21 1.43 .26 5.68 6.75 3.00 9.00
Total 90 5.94 1.44 .15 5.64 6.24 3.00 9.00

The mean scores of the EG1 (M = 5.41), EG2 (M = 6.20), and CG (M = 6.21) were different
from one another on the pretest. To figure out whether the differences among these mean scores were
significant or not, one needs to check the p value under the Sig. column in the ANOVA table below.
Table 4.

Results of One-Way ANOVA for Comparing EG1, EG2, and CG Mean Scores on the Pretest

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 12.53 2 6.26 3.16 .06

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Within Groups 172.18 87 1.97

Total 184.72 89

As is displayed in Table 4., there was not a statistically significant difference in the pretest
scores for EG1 (M = 5.41, SD = 1.19), EG2 (M = 6.20, SD = 1.56), and CG (M = 6.21, SD = 1.43) because
the p value under the Sig. column was greater than the specified level of significance (i.e. .06 > .05),
indicating that the three groups did not significantly differ prior to the commencement of the
experiment. This made the three groups comparable. This result is also evident in the bar chart below.

7
6.2 6.21
6 5.41

0
EG1 EG2 CG

Figure 1: The mean scores of EG1, EG2, and CG on the pretest

This bar chart elucidates the fact that the differences among the three groups on the pretest were not
statistically significant.
5.3. Results of the Posttest
The results obtained upon the administration of the posttest are presented in this section. Table 5.
shows the descriptive statistics for the comparison of the three groups on the posttest.
Table 5.
Descriptive Statistics Results Comparing EG1, EG2, and CG Mean Scores on the Posttest
95% Confidence Interval
for Mean
Std. Std. Upper
N Mean Deviation Error Lower Bound Bound Minimum Maximum
EG1 30 16.95 .76 .13 16.68 17.25 16.00 19.00
EG2 30 15.78 1.34 .24 15.27 16.28 14.00 19.00
CG 30 11.75 2.15 .39 10.94 12.55 5.00 15.00
Total 90 14.83 2.70 .28 14.26 15.40 5.00 19.00
Based on Table 5, the mean scores of the EG1 (M = 16.95), EG2 (M = 15.78), and CG (M =
11.75) were different from each other. To find out whether the differences among these mean scores
were of statistical significance or not, one should look down the Sig. column Table 6. below.
Table 6.
Results of One-Way ANOVA for Comparing EG1, EG2, and CG Mean Scores on the Posttest

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 448.81 2 224.40 95.38 .000
Within Groups 204.68 87 2.35
Total 653.50 89
As could be seen in Table 6, there was a statistically significant difference in posttest scores
for EG1 (M = 16.96, SD = .76), EG2 (M = 15.78, SD = 1.34), and CG (M = 11.75, SD = 2.15) since the p
value under the Sig. column was less than the specified level of significance (i.e. .000 < .05). To find

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out where exactly the differences among the three groups lay, the Scheffe post hoc test was
conducted.
Table 7.
Results of the Scheffe Post Hoc Test for Comparing EG1, EG2, and CG Mean Scores on the Posttest
Groups Mean Difference Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
EG1 EG2 1.18* .39 .014 .19 2.16
CG 5.21* .39 .000 4.23 6.20

EG2 EG1 -1.18* .39 .014 -2.16 -.19

CG 4.03* .39 .000 3.04 5.01

CG EG1 -5.21* .39 .000 -6.20 -4.23

EG2 -4.03* .39 .000 -5.01 -3.04
It could be seen that the difference between EG1 (M = 16.96) and EG2 (M = 15.78) was
statistically significant and the EG1 learners could outperform the EG2 learners on the posttest. This is
so because the relevant p value in front of EG1-EG2 was less than the alpha level (i.e. .014 < .05). In
addition, the difference between EG1 learners and CG learners (M = 11.75) was statistically
significant. Likewise, the difference between EG2 learners and the learners of the control group
reached statistical significance. To sum up, the two experimental groups outperformed the control
group significantly, and between these two experimental groups, EG1 learners obtained significantly
higher results. The obtained results of this part are also shown in the bar chart below.

20
16.95
15.78
15
11.75
10

0
EG1 EG2 CG

Figure 2: The mean scores of EG1, EG2, and CG on the posttest

From the results obtained in the Scheffe post hoc test, as illustrated in Figure 2, it could be
concluded that (a) both EG1 and EG2 outperformed their counterparts in the control group, and that
(b) EG1 learners scored significantly higher than EG2 learners on the posttest. The answers to the two
research questions of the study thus are reiterated below.
Research Question One: Does input enhancement (repetition & slowing down the rate of
speech) have any significant impact on the improvement of Iranian intermediate female EFL learners’
listening comprehension ability? Answer: learners in the two experimental groups showed signs of
improvement as they significantly outscored their counterparts in the control group.
Research Question Two: Which type of input enhancement (repetition vs. slowing down the
rate of speech) would have a more significant impact on EFL learners’ progress in listening
comprehension? Answer: EG1 could get significantly higher scores than EG2 learners. Thus, input
enhancement with repetition was shown to be more conducive to Iranian EFL learners’ listening
comprehension than input enhancement with slowing down the rate of speech.
6. Discussion
An attempt has been made in this study to test the following hypotheses:

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H01. Input enhancement instruction through repetition and slowing down the rate of speech does not have any
significant impact on EFL learners` progress in listening comprehension.
H02. There is no significant difference between the two input enhancement techniques of repetition and slowing
down the rate of speech, in terms of their impact on students` progress in listening comprehension.
6.1. Addressing Research Hypothesis One
To test this research hypothesis, the performance of the first experimental group on the
posttest was compared with that of the control group, and the same was done for the second
experimental group. Doing so, use was made of one-way between-groups ANOVA and the Scheffe
post hoc test. The analysis of the results indicated that both experimental groups outperformed the
control group meaning that instructing EFL learners through enhancing the input did lead to better
improvement of the participants’ listening comprehension ability. Therefore, the first null hypothesis
can safely be rejected pointing to the effectiveness of the mentioned input enhancement techniques.
The two experimental groups outperformed the control group in this study. The logic behind
such finding might be related to the fact that the manipulated sections of the audio material drew the
participants’ attention more and raised their consciousness towards those sections. As highlighted in
Baddleley’s model of working memory (Carrol, 2008), one receives a great deal of information during
the course of comprehension, however, merely some selected parts catch the attention and the rest is
usually ignored. Thus, it could be concluded that the highlighted components in the input attracted
the attention of the participants more, leading to better improvement of listening ability.
Schmidt in his noticing hypothesis (1990) argued that not all the input that the learner
receives will convert to intake. It means not all the input which the learner encounters is ‘put in’. In
Schmidt’s words language input becomes intake based on noticing. He states: intake is that part of the
input which the learner notices. Later in another study Schmidt stated “what must be attended to and
noticed is not just the input in a global sense but whatever features of the input are relevant for the
target system” (Schmidt, 1993, p. 209). So, he believed to learn some aspects of input, before anything
the learner must notice those aspects. Schmidt also tried to define consciousness and he came up with
three stages of consciousness: Perception, Noticing and Understanding. His final hypothesis was
based on the second level of noticing.
The conclusion which might be drawn from the above discussion could be that input
enhancement can be effective in two ways: by drawing learners' attention to certain properties of L2
and by helping them 'unlearn' their incorrect analyses of L2 (White, Spade, Lightbown, & Rantal,
1991).
Theoretically speaking, different SLA researchers confirmed the positive role of input
enhancement in language learning, for instance, Ellis (1993, 1995) believed that input enhancement is
very effective in language teaching process. Many studies have shown the effectiveness of the role of
salient input (enhanced input) in directing the learners' attention to second/foreign language forms.
Lee and Benati (2007) claimed that input enhancement is useful for language development. However,
if language learners are not able to notice the input, that input cannot become intake. Wong (2003)
makes a distinction between focus on form and input enhancement. The former requires that learning
occurs incidentally in a communicative setting while the latter could be proactive or reactive and does
not require a communicative interaction.
The findings of the study are in line with the results of the research reported by Radwan
(2005). He investigated the effects of input enhancement, rule provision, awareness of English dative
alteration in forty two lower intermediate participants. The participants were pretested to figure out
their initial knowledge of the target structure, and one day later given a short story to read which
contained a high number of datives. There were some comprehension question follow ups. The next
day students were given a narration task which involved describing a set of pictures. Participants
were asked to think aloud while completing the task in order to for the researcher to gauge their
awareness. The treatments were followed by a posttest (one day later) and a delayed posttest (one
month later). A control group only completed the test, but did not receive any treatments. Radwan
found a significant advantage for the rule-group over the other groups on acquisition, while failed to
make significant progress. This advantage was maintained on the delayed posttest. He also concluded
that participants showing a great degree of awareness during the narration task did better on the
tests.

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Reinders and Cho (2010) worked on the effectiveness of input enhancement on listening
ability of L2 learners by using mobile phones. They found out that using input enhancement can be
effective on improving listening ability of L2 learners.
The findings of this study are also in agreement with the results of the study reported by
Dam Jensen and Vinther (2003). This study reported on two experiments on input enhancement used
to support learners’ selection of focus of attention in second language listening material. Eighty-four
upper intermediate learners of Spanish took part. The input consisted of video recordings of quasi-
spontaneous dialogues between native speakers, in tests and treatment. Exact repetition and speech
rate reduction were examined for their effect on comprehension, acquisition of decoding strategies,
and linguistic features. Each of three groups listened to each utterance of the dialogue three times, in
different speed combinations: fast-slow-fast, fast-slow-slow, fast-fast-fast, respectively. A fourth
group served as a baseline and received no treatment. Comparisons of pretest and posttest scores
showed significant effects for all three parameters. No difference with regard to effect could be
established between treatment conditions.
The majority of previous studies focused on improving grammatical competence of L2
learners through input enhancement with which the findings of this study are in line. For instance,
Seyedtajaddini (2014) investigated the use of aural input enhancement in grammar learning among
Iranian EFL learners. The participants in this study were 30, aged 16 to 23, who were selected from
the intermediate and advanced EFL learners at Goldis institute in Salmas, Iran. There were two
groups of participants in the study, low and high proficiency levels. The participants were exposed to
a listening material which contained aural input enhancement listening material. According to the
results of the study there was a significant difference between the performances of two groups
depending on the use of aural input enhancement that the highly proficient learners had a better
performance than the low proficient ones pointing to the merits of applying input enhancement.
The findings of the study are also in line with a number of other studies’ findings such as
Williams (1999), Shinichi Izumi (2002), Dasse (2004), Reinders (2000), and Pak and Han (2008). All of
them have confirmed the effectiveness of input enhancement techniques.
5.2. Addressing Research Hypothesis Two
To test this hypothesis, the results of the ANOVA and Schefe post hoc test were taken into
consideration comparing the three groups (2 experimental and one control) together. The findings
revealed that EG1 could get significantly higher scores than EG2 learners. Thus, input enhancement
with repetition was shown to be more conducive to Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension
than input enhancement with slowing down the rate of speech.
The reason of this finding could be attributed to the fact that through repetition the
processing time which enhances the clarity between syntactic forms is significantly increased (Chang
& Read, 2006). Provided with this type of support, L2 learners might benefit from listening to the
input more than twice; furthermore, repeating input is likely to allow L2 learners to check their
comprehension.
Chaudron (1983) claims that repetition is more effective than other kinds of listening support,
due to the simplicity of repetition with least redundancy, in which a listener easily integrates the new
information into the memory structure by linking it to the antecedent found in the previous piece of
information. He notes that what is syntactically simple for one level of L2 learners might not be so for
another.
The results of many studies conducted so far seeking the effect of repetition of input on
listening comprehension (Cervantes & Gainer, 1992; Chang & Read, 2006; Chaudron, 1983) lend
support to its effectiveness. Buck (2001) argued that repeated input can be used by test designers
based on the nature of listening test. The repetition of input might decrease the anxiety of L2 learners
and reduce the affective barrier during performing of listening tasks. It also would probably prepare
learners for dealing with the comprehension questions, and the questions in turn are likely to make
the audio text more comprehensible (Chang & Read, 2006). Approaching listening tasks this way
might result in lowering the cognitive load imposed on L2 learners.
7. Conclusion
The study was in fact an attempt to shed light on the point whether enhancing input has any
significant impact on listening comprehension improvement of Iranian EFL learners. As it was
illuminated in the preceding section of the study, the participants in experimental groups receiving
repetition and slowing down the rate of speech significantly outperformed those in control group. In

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addition, repetition was found to be a more effective technique than the slowing down the rate of
speech as illustrated in the discussion section of the study.
Therefore, the results of this study lend support to the theories advocating the positive role of
enhancing input in language acquisition. L2 acquisition is evidenced as an enhancing attention in the
opinions that draws subjects’ ideas to the formal specialties of L2 input and emphasizes that it is
advantageous, and in some cases vital for optimal L2 development (Schmit, 1993). Furthermore,
learners are capable to receive linguistic forms with no instructional mediation; so typically do not
reach to top levels of linguistic competence from whole meaning-centered instruction. According to
Sharwood Smith (1991), the learners' attention should be attracted by making the input prominent
through utilizing varied aspects of it.
Accordingly, employing input takes the form of audio input enhancement, in which the
target forms become visually obvious. The belief about input enhancement is that, by making various
aspects of input more remarkable for the learners and they will be more likely to notice target
features, which eventuate in more intakes, the subset of the input data that becomes present for
further language processing. Sharwood Smith (1991) asserts that the most apparent way to try to
impact intuitive processing beneficially is by making related target aspects in the input striking.
Besides, He discussed that making the input salient (input enhancement) has a significantly positive
effect on the rate and accuracy of L2 acquisition. The current study hopefully makes a small but
significant contribution to contextualizing aural input enhancement research.

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THE EFFECT OF OPEN CONCEPT SORT STRATEGY

ON PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS' VOCABULARY
RECALL AND RETENTION

Razi Mayah1, *Bahman Gorjian2

1Department of ELT, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
2Associate Professor, Department of ELT, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

*Corresponding author (bahgorji@yahoo.com)

ABSTRACT
THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF OPEN CONCEPT SORT
STRATEGY ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS’ VOCABULARY RECALL AND RETENTION. TO
PERFORM THIS STUDY, 90 PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL PARTICIPANTS STUDYING IN
NATIONAL IRANIAN DRILLING COMPANY (NIDC) LANGUAGE TRAINING CENTRE IN
AHVAZ WERE SELECTED BASED ON CONVENIENCE SAMPLING METHOD. THEY TOOK
PART IN A PLACEMENT (PROFICIENCY) TEST AND 60 OF THEM WERE ASSIGNED INTO TWO
HOMOGENEOUS GROUPS. THEN, BOTH GROUPS WERE GIVEN A PRE-TEST BEFORE
TREATMENT TO DETERMINE HOW WELL THE PARTICIPANTS KNOW THE CONTENTS.
DURING AN ELEVEN-SESSION COURSE, BOTH GROUPS COVERED EIGHT PASSAGES
SELECTED BY THE RESEARCHER. THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP UNDER TREATMENT
RECEIVED OPEN CONCEPT SORT STRATEGY INSTRUCTION WHILE THE CONTROL GROUP
RECEIVED TRADITIONAL VOCABULARY INSTRUCTIONS. AFTER EACH SESSION,
PARTICIPANTS HAD TO SIT FOR AN IMMEDIATE POST-TEST FOR THE SHORT-TERM EFFECT,
RECALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS. FINALLY, AT THE END OF THE COURSE AND AFTER AN
INTERVAL OF THREE WEEKS, THE PARTICIPANTS SAT FOR THEIR DELAYED POST-TEST AS
AN INDICATOR OF THE LONG-TERM EFFECT, RETENTION OF THE INSTRUCTIONS. PAIRED
SAMPLES T-TEST WAS USED TO COMPARE THE MEANS OF THE PRE-TEST AND THE
DELAYED POST-TEST IN BOTH GROUPS. THE FINDINGS REVEALED THAT THE
VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE OF BOTH GROUPS IMPROVED. MOREOVER, INDEPENDENT
SAMPLES T-TEST SHOWED THAT THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
TWO GROUPS CONCERNING VOCABULARY RECALL AND RETENTION. ANOTHER PAIRED
SAMPLES T-TEST ALSO REVEALED THAT THE INTERVAL BETWEEN IMMEDIATE AND
DELAYED POST-TESTS , ALSO, DECREASES THE VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT
SIGNIFICANTLY IN BOTH GROUPS AND IT AFFECTS THE CONTROL GROUP MORE THAN
THE EXPERIENCED ONE .

KEY WORDS: OPEN CONCEPT SORT STRATEGY, VOCABULARY LEARNING, RECALL,

RETENTION

1. Introduction
Vocabulary can be the essential part of any language which is an important element of receptive and
productive skills. Thus there is a need to have adequate vocabulary knowledge for interacting in a
foreign language learning program. Therefore, Iranian learners may encounter problems in using the
four language skills. McCarthy (1990) claims that without words, learning L2 cannot be mastered
since the learners need to express theire needs and communicate to achieve those needs. In this case,
communication in L2 just cannot occur in any interactive manner.
In fact, many researchers as Hulstijn (1997) believe that vocabulary learning is a vital part of the
learners’ lives. Gorjian, Moosavinia and Rovies (2011) note that vocabulary can affect the learners’
thoughts, beliefs and aims. In many EFL classes in Iran, many teachers have given time to teach
vocabulary; however, the results have been disappointing (Rezapour, 2011). Akbari (2008) suggested

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that in Iran the method most frequently used in English classes is to consult a bilingual dictionary or
the teacher for the meaning of unfamiliar words. Too much dictionary work makes learners bored
and reluctant to learn vocabulary and this may affect their comprehension. Moreover, EFL learners
often complain about forgetting words quickly and ask about efficient ways for improving long-term
retention of words. Therefore, it seems necessary for teachers to make use of some rather innovative
strategies for teaching vocabulary. One of the strategies that can be very effective in improving the
knowledge of vocabulary and seems to be neglected in the case of Iranian EFL learners is open
concept sort (Baleghizadeh & Ashoori, 2010)
There is an urgent need to study this aspect in order to see if vocabulary recall and retention will
be influenced by the use of open concept sort strategy in Iranian EFL pre-intermediate learners. In
order to learn and memorize vocabulary in L2 learning, learners may design some strategies.
Researchers conducted studies on good learners and found the most successful learners are those
who actively choose the most appropriate strategy from a range of available options and decide how
to pursue the strategy and when to switch to another strategy (Gu & Johnson, 1996). Since a good
knowledge of vocabulary plays a great role on the learners’ reading comprehension, more attention is
needed to be paid to have creative methods in teaching vocabulary in language classes. This study
would guide Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners who are trying to develop their vocabulary
knowledge in general and the use of open concept sort strategy in vocabulary recall and retention in
particular. Therefore, it would prove the pedagogical value of using open concept sort strategy and
lead English teachers to help and guide their students in the choice of the appropriate strategy to
improve vocabulary recall and retention (Brown & Perry, 2011).

2. Literature Review
The elaboration of a word is rather difficult and there are several different views concerning what a
word really is. Indeed, without vocabulary there is no tool for verbal communication and everybody
realizes it. However, people may see vocabulary differently from the words and hence defining the
words could make its problems. Singleton (1999), states that even though the word is the vital part of
a language, the individual cannot find a simple definition of the word. This may make several
scholars work on finding a clear definition for describing a word. Singleton clarifies his view by
continuing that what is meant by the term words will depend on the level of abstraction at which a
speaker or a writer is operating, the linguistic levels being discussed and even the semantic content of
the situation. From an orthographic point of view, word is any sequence of letters bounded together
as seen in written language (Carter, 1998). However, Singleton (1999) criticizes this view since it only
applies to languages that operate with writing systems similar to Roman or Cyrillic alphabet. For
example, Chinese and Japanese have a different writing system and thus, the definition of a word
cannot be ʺa sequence of letters bounded on either side by a blank spaceʺ (Singleton, 1999, p. 12).
Singleton (1999) argues that phonetic characterizations of the word cannot stand out as distinct units
in ordinary flow of speech. However, in phonological terms the characterization is easier since, for
example, in certain languages, such as English, vocabularies usually have only one stressed syllable.
However, there are also two types of stress, primary stress and secondary stress (Roach, 2000).
In short, there are different perspectives on how to define the words and it is not possible to make
an accurate description of the words. Carter (1998) mentions that everyone knows the meaning of the
word as a meaningful unit of a language which is in use on its own. This view is adopted in the
present study and the different approaches are not discussed in more detail.

2.1. Word Learning through Sorting

Knowing students’ developmental spelling stage can help teachers know what to teach and when
(Zimmerman, 1997).
Bear and Templeton (1998) state that word sorts allow students to compare and contrast words.
Students begin to think about patterns they see and hear in words they are studying. These patterns
can then be applied to reading and spelling of unknown words. Invernizzi, Abouzeid and Bloodgood
(1997) showed that word study is an effective component of integrated reading and language arts
programs. It involves students grouping words into categories of similarity and difference. Word
study teachers prepare developmentally appropriate lists of words for students to read and
manipulate in an instructional practice known as “sorting” (Bear, Templeton & Johnston, 2008). These
sorts are purposely created to highlight contrasts of sound, pattern, and/or meaning and are based on

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the orthographic features emphasized in a given stage of development. Invernizzi, Abouzeid,

Bloodgood (1997) state, “Students categorize words according to spelling, meaning, and use patterns
in order to better understand how spelling represents a word’s meaning and grammatical function”
(p. 185).

2.2. What is Concept Sort?

At its simplest, concept sorting involves the elements being written on small squares of paper or
cards, which are sorted so that those which are most clearly related are placed closest to one another.
When lines are drawn to emphasize relationships and descriptions added to indicate their nature, this
makes a 'concept map'. More complex procedures for concept sorting range from using special boards
to which cards can be pinned ('storyboarding') to attaching magnetic hexagons to whiteboards and to
computer programs, such as SemNet™ and HyperMap (2012).
Open sorts, on the other hand, prompt divergent and inductive reasoning (Thornbury, 2011). No
category or criterion for grouping is known in advance of sorting. Students must search for meaning
and discover relationships among technical terms without the benefit of any structure. The concept of
open and closed sorts is manifested in the following examples:

The teacher, who utilizes concept sort strategy in teaching vocabulary to his students, may
present his students with the following pre-selected words about computer:
-Mouse
-Surf the net
-Keyboard
-Word
-Photo Shop
-Make new folder
-Window
-Speakers
-Drag & paste
If the teacher provides the students with some categories such as the ones listed below and asks
them to sort the above-mentioned words under these categories, surely he is using closed sort in his
classroom.
Computer Software
Computer Hardware
Activities you do with computer.

If the teacher asks the students to sort them in a way that is meaningful to them, indeed he is
making use of open sort in his classroom. Consider the following:
Imagine the following words on index cards: bear, horse, calf, goose, gorilla, bull, lion, camel, hippo.
The teacher will ask the students to categorize and then sort the words in each category. Some might
categorize: zoo animals and farm animals. Some might identify initial consonants; b, c, g, h, and l.
Some might use word length; four, five, and six letters. Some might use syllables; one, two and three.
All the students will try to arrange the words into groups find similarities and differences, identify
patterns of meaning, sounds, or spellings. Obviously the teacher here is using open concept sort
strategy to teach vocabularies to his/her students.

Researchers of previous studies presented some clear views of learning strategies and the
features that involve them, such as allowing learners to be more self-directed, explaining the role of
teachers and so on. It also could be concluded that concepts such as taxonomies, vocabulary retention,
word sorting, incidental and intentional vocabulary learning could really affect vocabulary recall and
retention in L2 learning (Marashi & Azarmi, 2012). However, the literature review of this study shows
that there are a few studies which had dealt with the effect of open concept sort techniques on
vocabulary recall and retention in Iran. The research questions deal with are as follows:
RQ1: Does open concept sort strategy improve pre-intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary recall?
RQ2: Does open concept sort strategy improve pre-intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary retention?
RQ3: Does interval between immediate and delayed post-tests affect the EFL learners’ vocabulary
achievements?

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3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
In this study, there were 90 females and males who studied English as a foreign language in National
Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) Language Training Centre in Ahvaz. They were all NIDC’s
employees who studied English as part of their in-service training program. Non-random sampling
method was used for the selection of these participants. They took part in a proficiency test called
TOEFL Vocabulary Test, (Farhady & Moradian, 2011) which was used as a placement test and sixty
students whose scores were one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected as the
participants of the study. They were randomly divided into two groups, experimental and control.
Each group included thirty participants. Open Concept Sort group (20 males and 10 females) received
open concept sort vocabulary learning strategy while the traditional group (22 males and 8 females)
received the placeboes. The participants were within the age range of 28 to 55.

3.3 Instrumentation
The following instruments were employed in the present study:
1. Proficiency test (homogeneity test): TOEFL Vocabulary Test, (Farhady & Moradian, 2011) was
used to determine the homogeneity of participants in terms of language proficiency level and divide
the sample population into two groups. This test featured 40 multiple-choice items covering only
vocabulary items. The allotted time was 40 minutes. To estimate the reliability of the test, the Kuder-
Richardson formula (KR-21) was used and the value of 0.95 was obtained to indicate that the test was
satisfactorily reliable.
2. Pre-test: The pre-test was designed based on the classroom materials before the treatment to
understand learners’ knowledge. There are 50multiple-choice vocabulary items which should be
answered in 50 minutes. The reliability of the test was calculated through KR-21 formula as 0.79.
3. Immediate post-test: The immediate post-test assessed the effect of open concept sort on recall.
Thus after each session of instruction, the students had done the sorting in the experimental group
(No sorting activity was done in the control group). Then they covered the passage given to them to
be read there was a 5 minutes rest and right after that there was a ten-multiple-choice question quiz
asking the meaning of the new vocabularies learnt in that session. The reliability of immediate
posttest was 0.81.
4. Delayed post-test: Three weeks later after the immediate post-test. The only difference of the
delayed post- test to the pre-test was that the form of the items which were changed to avoid learners’
reminding. The reliability value of the test was calculated through KR-21 formula as 0.91.

3. 4. Materials
The material used in this study, reading passages, were the same for the two groups and had been
selected from the following sources:
1. New Interchange 2: Pre-Intermediate (Richards, 2013): It includes 16 units. This book is used as a
text book at level 9, level 10, level 11 & 12. There is a reading passage in each unit. Only two passages
were chosen from this book.
2. Select Readings, Pre-Intermediate level (Lee & Gundersen, 2011): In this book high-interest,
authentic reading passages serve as springboards for reading skills development, vocabulary
building, and thought providing discussion and writing. Only one of the reading passages was
selected from this book.

3.5. Procedure
To start and achieve the purpose of the study, first 90 male and female EFL learners were selected
from Ahvaz NIDC Language Centre. Then, a TOEFL Vocabulary Test, (Farhady & Moradian, 2001)
was administered to the participants asses their homogeneity and to select the research sample. The
groups include 60 learners selected randomly, experimental and control groups. They have classes for
two and a half hours, twice a week.
The second session, the participants took the pre-test on vocabulary items. In each session, the
time was allotted to vocabulary teaching and the rest to teaching the reading book. Therefore, the
whole research took place in a natural language school classroom circumstance. Every session, they
read the words in open concept sort activities and then read them in the texts.

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The entire classes took place in 10 sessions. Five reading texts were selected and the vocabularies
were extracted from the texts were covered. During the sessions of instruction, the extracted words
and their related passages were worked on in 60 minutes. The experimental group received open
concept sort strategy instruction and the control group received synonyms and definitions or Farsi
translation. Thus, the sessions included: (1) In the first session, open concept sort strategy was
introduced and explained to language learners. (2) Before reading the text, the teacher gave the
students new words extracted from the reading textbook. The categories of vocabularies were given
in the list of the target words. (3) The students were collected in groups of two or three learners and
they were guided to sort the words or concepts under opened sort on a specific topic. (4) The students
were given the reading passage to read from which the new words had been extracted. (5) Then they
were given a quiz asking the meaning of the new words learned in each session. Then, in the end,
three weeks after the end of the course, in session ten, the delayed post-test was given to both groups
to evaluate the retention of words in a longer period and to see the real effect of the treatment.

3.6. Data Analysis

To achieve the goal, whether open concept sort has any effect on vocabulary learning, the collected
data were analyzed using different statistical procedures. Descriptive statistics such as mean and
standard deviations were estimated to describe and summarize the data. An Independent Sample t-
test was used to assess the learners' performance on learning vocabulary items and to find out
whether the difference among the mean scores for the two groups, experimental and control group, in
the homogeneity test, pre-test, immediate quizzes and delayed post-test, was significant. The Paired
Samples t-test was used to compare the means of two variables, that is, the compared the mean of test
scores before and after the experiment to see if the vocabulary teaching course improved the learners’
scores on the delayed post- test.

4. Results
Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the data. In doing so, first the data
collected from the two groups in the pre-test were analyzed. Then the data gathered after the
treatment was analyzed to find out if open concept sort strategy had any impact on the participants'
vocabulary recall and retention. It should be noted that the data were analyzed through SPSS, version
17. The results are shown in the following parts of the study.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics (Experimental vs. Control Groups, Pre-test)

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Control 30 15.3333 6.69191 1.22177
Experimental 30 12.9333 6.52282 1.19090
Total 60

Table 1 shows that the mean is 15.3333 and the standard deviation is 6.69191 for the control group.
In the case of experimental group, the mean and standard deviation are 12.9333 and 6.52282
respectively. As it is noticed, the means and standard deviations of the two groups are approximately
similar on the pre-test. The data were put into Independent Samples t-test analysis to show any
possible difference between the experimental and control groups on the pre-test. Table 2 shows the
results.

Table 2. Independent Samples t-Test (Experimental vs. Control Groups, Pre-test)

Levene's Test for t-test for Equality of Means

Equality of
Variances
95% Confidence
Interval of the

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Difference

F Sig. t df Sig. Mea Std. Lower Upper

(2- n Error
taile Diffe Diffe
d) rence rence
Equal variances .062 .804 1.407 58 .165 2.40 1.70
-1.01 5.81
assumed
Equal variances 1.407 57.9 .165 2.40 1.70 -1.01 5.81
not assumed
Table 2 shows the result of the Independent Samples t-test for the pre-test of the two groups.
Since the observed t(1.407) is less than the critical t (2.00) with df=58, the difference between the
groups is not significant (p<0.05). It can be inferred that both the experimental and the control group
performed significantly similar on the pre-test, that is, the participants' knowledge concerning the
vocabulary level before treatment was considerably equal.

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics (Experimental vs. Control Groups, Immediate Post-test)

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Control 30 34.0417 8.90808 1.62638
Experimental 30 41.2083 8.15055 1.48808
Total 60

Table 3 shows that the mean is 34.04 and the standard deviation is 8.90. The mean and standard
deviation of the experimental group are 41.20 and 8.15 respectively. As it is noticed, the mean and
standard deviation of the two groups are not similar on the immediate post-test. However, to arrive
at the significant difference between the two groups, Independent Samples t-test was run. The results
are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Independent Samples t-Test (Experimental vs. Control Groups, Immediate post-test)

Levene's t-test for Equality of Means

Test for
Equality of
Variances
95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
F Sig. t df Sig. Mean Std. Error Lower Upper
(2- Difference Difference
tailed)
Equal variances .067 .797 - 58 .002 -7.16 2.20 -11.57 -2.75
assumed 3.251
Equal variances - 57.54 .002 -7.16 2.20 -11.58 -2.75
not assumed 3.251

Table 4 shows the result of the Independent Samples t-test of the immediate post-test for the two
groups. As it can be observed t(3.251) is greater than the critical t (2.000) with df=58. Thus, the

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difference between the groups is significant (p<0.05) , so it can be inferred that two groups are not
similar on the immediate post-test .

The data were obtained from the performance of the students on the delayed post-test and they
were analyzed descriptively in terms of the mean and standard deviation of the two groups in the
delayed post-test which are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Descriptive Statistics (Experimental vs. Control Groups, Delayed Post-test)

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Control 30 24.9000 9.40781 1.71762
Experimental 30 30.6417 11.17372 2.04003
Total 60

Table 5 shows that in the control group the mean is 24.90 and the standard deviation is 9.40. The
mean and standard deviation of experimental group are 30.64 and 11.17 respectively. The difference
could be analyzed through Independent Samples t-test as presented in Table 6.

Table 6. Independent Samples t-Test (Experimental vs. Control Groups, Delayed post-test)
Levene's t-test for Equality of Means
Test for
Equality of
Variances
95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
F Sig. t df Sig. Mean Std. Error Lower Upper
(2- Difference Difference
tailed)
Equal variances 1.023 .316 -2.153 58 .035 -5.74 2.66 -11.07 -.403
assumed
Equal variances -2.153 56.3 .036 -5.74 2.66 -11.08 -.400
not assumed

Table 6 shows the result of Independent Sample t-test of the delayed post-test for the two groups.
Since the observed t(5.508) is greater than the critical t (2.00) with df=58, the difference between the
groups is significant (p<0.05). To reveal significance difference between the control and experimental
groups in Immediate and delayed post-tests, Paired Samples t-test has been used. The Paired Samples
t-test was used to compare the means of two the variables. Thus, the means of the both tests
concerned with teaching course were compared. Results showed that the participants' scores on the
delayed post-test were declined. The results are presented in Table 7.

Table 7. Descriptive Statistics (Experimental vs. Control Groups , Immediate and Delayed Post-test)
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Pair 1 Control-immediate 34.04 30 8.90808 1.62638

Control-Delayed 24.90 30 9.40781 1.71762

Pair 2 Experimental-immediate 41.20 30 8.15055 1.48808

Experimental-Delayed 30.64 30 11.17372 2.04003

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Table 7 shows the means and standard deviations for both experimental and control groups
concerning immediate and delayed post-test. As it is seen the means of the delayed post-test are
lower than the mean of the immediate post-test in both groups.
To accept or reject the third null hypothesis, that is, interval between immediate and delayed
post-test does not affect the learners’ vocabulary achievement, the data obtained from the
performance of the students on the post-tests of both groups were collected and analyzed. The results
are presented in Table 8.

Table 8. Paired Samples t-Test (Experimental vs. Control Groups , Immediate and Delayed Post-test)
Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-
95% Confidence tailed)
Interval of the
Difference
Mean Std. Std. Lower Upper
Deviation Error
Mean
Pair 1 Control- 9.14 9.09 1.65 5.74 12.53 5.508 29 .000
immediate
Control-Delayed
Pair 2 Experimental- 10.5 8.33 1.52 7.45 13.67 6.942 29 .000
immediate
Experimental-
Delayed

Table 8 indicates that the observed t (5.508) is greater than the critical t (2.04) with df=29, thus the
difference between the groups is significant in pair1.Since the observed t (6.942) is greater than the
critical t (2.04) with df=29, the difference between the groups is significant in pair 2, so the third null
hypothesis is rejected. Moreover, the interval affected the control group more than the experimental
one; however, both groups showed the significant difference in gaining the vocabulary scores. The
experimental group's scores declined less than the control group in the delayed post-test.

5. Discussion
The first research question asks whether open concept sort strategy improves pre-intermediate EFL
learners’ vocabulary recall. One of the main aims of this study was to find out the effectiveness of
open concept sort strategy on the EFL learners’ vocabulary recall. To answer this research question,
the results obtained from the immediate post-test of the experimental and the control groups were
compared. Results showed that the means and standard deviations of the experimental group and
control group were not similar on the immediate post-tests to assess the effect of open concept sort
strategy on vocabulary recall. In other words, the performance of the participants in both the
experimental (open concept sort) and the control groups were different. Moreover, the results of the
Independent Samples t-test showed that statistically there was a little difference between the
experimental and the control groups in terms of vocabulary recall on the pre-test. Findings showed
the result of the Independent Samples t-test of the immediate post-test for the two groups. As it can
be observed, the difference between the groups' immediate post-test is significant (p<0.05) , so it can
be inferred that the two groups were not similar on the immediate post-test , that is, based on these
findings enough support was provided for rejecting the first null hypothesis. Results indicated that
applying of the open concept sort strategy did affect the pre-intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary
recall in the experimental group. Thus it can be inferred that both the experimental and the control
groups performed differently on the immediate post-tests.
The second research question was concerned with if open concept sort strategy improves pre-
intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary retention. As it can be seen, in the control group the mean is
less than the experimental group respectively , so it can be said that both the experimental and the
control groups performed differently on the delayed post-test. Thus, there was a significant difference
between the experimental and control groups in terms of vocabulary retention. These findings also

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gave the researcher enough support to reject the second null hypothesis that indicated that applying
open concept sort strategy does not affect the pre-intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary retention.
Meanwhile, the results showed that the delay affected the control group to forget their vocabulary
knowledge more than the experienced one.
To answer the third research question, the data obtained from the performance of the students on
the immediate and delayed post-tests of both groups were collected, analyzed and compared. Results
indicate that the difference between the groups was significant between the immediate and delayed
post-tests in both groups. In other words, both groups' means were lower in delayed post-tests than
in the immediate post-tests significantly. However, the decline in the delayed post-test was severe in
the control group. In other words, the mentioned statistics are enough to reject the third hypothesis,
that is, interval between immediate and delayed post-tests affects the EFL learners’ vocabulary
learning. This agrees with Laufer and Kavloski (2010) who showed that the interval between the
immediate and delayed post-tests may result in forgetting and thus decreases the vocabulary
achievement.

6. Conclusion
This study tried to investigate the effectiveness of open concept sort strategy on Iranian pre-
intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary recall and retention. As it said earlier, vocabulary learning is
crucial to second language acquisition. The findings of this study concerning the use of open concept
sort strategy in learning vocabulary showed a positive effect on vocabulary recall and retention
(Schmitt, 2011). The results of the study indicated the superiority of open concept sort strategy over
traditional ways including definition and explanation techniques in terms of improving Iranian EFL
learners’ vocabulary recall and retention. The findings of the study also revealed that the interval
between the immediate and the delayed post-test affects the EFL learners’ vocabulary achievement
mainly in immediate post-test rather than the delayed post-test. This interval my affect the loss of
learning vocabulary since it revealed that this interval could have less affect in case of applying open
concept sort strategy. However, it needs further research to study the length of interval and the loss of
vocabulary achievement (Maleki, 2010).
Concerning the efficiency of open concept sort strategy in improving Iranian EFL learners,
vocabulary recall and retention, it is also found that this strategy was considered effective among the
participants in the study. It should be stated as an innovative strategy. Thus, learners need to build a
vocabulary background concerning open concept sort strategies in teaching vocabulary before the
main course of instructions (Lauritzen, 2010).
It could be concluded that, the findings of present study revealed that applying open concept sort
strategy improves Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary recall and retention and the
interval between the immediate and delayed post-tests decreases the EFL learner’s vocabulary
achievement.

6.1. Implications of the Study for Language Learners and Teachers

According to the findings of this study, it is suggested that EFL learners need to take more
responsibility for their learning, rely less on teachers, and adopt cooperative learning .The ultimate
goal of language teaching is learners’ autonomy (Hiebert & Kamil, 2005). If learners are solely and
completely dependent on their teachers, as soon as they are left by themselves, they easily quit
learning. Learners’ autonomy implies that in the absence of language teachers and classes, language
learners continue their learning. Teachers are considerably remiss in teaching this paramount
component of language, overlooking the insight that they can give language learners by using
language learning strategies in general and cognitive strategies in particular. Moreover, as teachers,
they should endeavor to abandon taking the full responsibility of teaching and engage the learners in
the process of learning and bring up independent and autonomous language learners. Students
should be familiarized with innovative vocabulary teaching strategies such as the one explored in this
study, that is, open concept sort strategy by their own teachers. However, before teaching students
how to use strategies effectively, teachers should be trained in strategy instruction and assessment.

6.2. Suggestions for Further Research

Indeed, during the course of this study, there are some questions have been risen. The researcher
hopes that this study was able enough to answer some of these questions and the rest will be pursued

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and investigated by further studies. It is strongly suggested that a research with the same
characteristics of this study to be conducted in some language schools an attempt to find the obtained
results. Similar studies can be done on other proficiency levels, namely intermediate, upper-
intermediate and advanced. Future studies can include open or closed concept sort strategy
compared to other innovative teaching strategies such as semantic mapping and key word method.
A future study is essential in which the immediate and delayed post-tests are conducted at different
time intervals to show the effectiveness of open concept sort strategy in shorter and longer periods.
Variables other than the ones used in this study can help the investigation of the same issue. For
instance, the same experiment with male or female learners within the same age rage is necessary to
confirm the result of this study.

REFERENCES
Akbari, O. (2008). Teaching vocabulary items through contextualization to elementary Iranian EFL
students. The Asian EFL Journal, 10 (3), 53-77.
Baleghizadeh, S., & Ashoori, A. (2010). The Effect of Keyword and Word List Methods on
Immediate Vocabulary Retention of EFL Learners. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 30, (2), 251-261.
Bear, D.R., & Templeton, S. (1998). Explorations in developmental spelling: Foundations for learning
and teaching phonics, spelling, and vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 52 (3), 222-242.
Bear, D.R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words their way: Spelling, phonics and
vocabulary (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Brown, T., & Perry, F. (2011). A comparison of three learning strategies for ESL vocabulary
acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 25(4), 655-670.
Carter, R. (1998). Vocabulary: Applied Linguistics Perspective. London: Routledge.
Farhady, H., & Moradian, M. (2001). Vocabulary and tests for TOEFL. Tehran: Rahnema publications.
Gorjian, B., Moosavinia, S. R., Rovies, E. S. (2011). Using hypermedia annotation to teach vocabulary
on the web. ALT Journal 19 (1), 61-67.
Gu. Y., & Johnson, K.R. (1996). Vocabulary learning strategies and language learning outcomes.
Language Learning 46(4), 643-679.
Hiebert, El. H., & Kamil, M. M. (2005). Teaching and learning vocabulary. Perspectives and Persistent
issues in Hiebert and Kamil (Eds.), Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: Bringing Research into
Practice, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlmbaum Associates , Inc.
Hulstijn, J. H. (1997). Mnemonic methods in foreign language vocabulary learning: Theoretical
considerations and pedagogical implications. In J. Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language
vocabulary acquisition (pp.203-224). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Invernizzi, M. A., Abouzeid, M. P., & Bloodgood, J. W. (1997). Spelling, grammar, and meaning in the
language arts classroom. Language Arts, Language Arts, 74 (3), 185-192.
Laufer, B. & Kavloski. (2010). Why are some words more difficult than others? International Review of
Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), 28(4), 293-307.
Lauritzen, C. (2010). Word sorting: why and how? Paper presented in International West Regional
Conference.1-17. www.eou.edu/ed/files/2012/07/LauritzenIRA2010.doc
Lee, L., & Gundersen, E.(2011). Select Reading. Intermediate level.Young Women Changing the World
(pp.13-14).
Maleki, Sh. (2010). A comparative study on the effect of teaching key word method vs. semantic
mapping on Iranian ESP students’ vocabulary recall. Unpublished MA thesis. Islamic Azad
University. Science and Research Branch.
Marashi, H., & Azarmi, A. (2012). The comparative effect of presenting words in semantically related
and unrelated sets in intentional and incidental learning contexts on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary
learning. Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research, 1 (2), 71–89.
McCarthy, C.(1990). Strategies in second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Rezapour, E. (2011). The effect of podcasts and moodle as web-based language learning (WBLL)
approaches on pre-intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary development. Unpublished MA thesis.
Islamic Azad University. Science and Research Branch.
Roach, P. (2000). English phonetics and phonology. A practical course. Third Edition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Schmitt, N. (2011). Vocabulary learning strategies. In R. Carter & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary and
language teaching (pp. 198–218). New York: Longman.

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Singleton, D. (1999). Exploring the second language mental lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Thornbury,R.A. (2011) . Second language vocabulary learning: state of using words in vocabulary
recall. System, 22(2), 231-243.
Zimmerman, C. B. (1997). Historical trends in second language vocabulary instruction. In J. Coady &
T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for pedagogy (pp. 5-19). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

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THE EFFECT OF PRONUNCIATION-FOCUSED

LANGUAGE TEACHING ON LISTENING SKILL
DEVELOPMENT

Seyedeh Fatemeh Mousavi (Corresponding Author)

Department of Foreign Languages, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran
Fatemeh2013mousavi@gmail.com

Seyed Reza Basiroo

Department of Foreign Languages, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran

Akbar Molaee
Allameh Taba Tabaei Bushehr, Teacher Education University, Bushehr, Iran

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY IS AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
PRONUNCIATION-FOCUSED LANGUAGE LEARNING AND LISTENING SKILL
DEVELOPMENT OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS. THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY WERE
SIXTY INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS STUDYING IN A LANGUAGE INSTITUTE AT BORAZJAN,
SW OF IRAN. THE PARTICIPANTS WERE SELECTED THROUGH OXFORD PLACEMENT TEST
AND DIVIDED INTO TWO CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS. A LISTENING AND
PRONUNCIATION PRE-TEST WAS ADMINISTERED TO BOTH GROUPS TO MEASURE THEIR
LEVEL OF PRONUNCIATION AND LISTENING COMPREHENSION. THEN, THE MAIN
RESEARCHER HELD A PRONUNCIATION CLASS FOR ONE GROUP (EXPERIMENTAL GROUP)
FIVE SESSIONS, BASED ON THE COURSEBOOK “A PRACTICAL COURSE OF ENGLISH
PRONUNCIATION”. AT THE LAST SESSION, A PRONUNCIATION AND LISTENING
COMPREHENSION POST-TEST SIMILAR TO PRE-TEST WAS ADMINISTERED TO BOTH
GROUPS TO DETERMINE THEIR ACHIEVEMENT IN PRONUNCIATION AND LISTENING
COMPREHENSION. THE SCORES OBTAINED FROM THE PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST OF
LISTENING COMPREHENSION AND PRONUNCIATION OF BOTH GROUPS, WERE ANALYZED
THROUGH THE STATISTICAL PACKAGE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES (SPSS). THE STATISTICAL
RESULTS OBTAINED BASED ON PEARSON CORRELATION FORMULA AND T-TEST SHOWED
THAT ALTHOUGH EXPERIMENTAL GROUP PERFORMED SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN
ITSELF IN THE PRE-TEST, THERE WAS NOT ANY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
PERFORMANCE OF THE CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUP IN THIS STUDY.
THEREFORE, ACCORDING TO THIS RESEARCH, IT CAN BE CLAIMED THAT THERE IS NO
SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNERS' PRONUNCIATION INSTRUCTION AND
THEIR MASTERY IN LISTENING COMPREHENSION.

INDEX TERMS—PRONUNCIATION LEARNING, LISTENING SKILL DEVELOPMENT, EFL,

LANGUAGE LEARNING

Introduction
Listening as a chief constituent plays an important role in language learning and teaching. “Listening
is the most common communicative activity in daily life: we can expect to listen twice as much as we
speak, four times more than we read, and five times more than we write [1]. In spite of its importance
as the most common communicative activity in daily life, it has generally been neglected as a skill in
the field of English language teaching (ELT).
In terms of second language acquisition (SLA), listening development plays a crucial role; for
example, when learners try to comprehend second language speakers (L2) or a variety of L2
multimedia like DVDs and the Internet. Learning to listen involves enhancing comprehension

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abilities in understanding the language process. On the other hand, listening to learn, which involves
creating new meaning and form linking and repetition of them, contributes to the learners’ readiness
for paying more attention to the syntax and lexis of the language through listening. It seems
significant that teachers, in order to enhance language acquisition, take development of listening into
consideration as an important approach.
One of the most important parts of second language acquisition is learning the pronunciation. It
might be difficult to pronounce a foreign language like a native speaker but not impossible. At any
rate, the better the pronunciation, the better will be the addressees’ comprehension and mutual
communication.

1. Statement of the problem

Over the last two decades, listening has been a neglected skill in the field of English language
teaching (ELT). In many L2 teachers' opinion, the ability of learners to speak, read or write in a second
language was enough for the learners to learn the target language – regardless of the true importance
that listening has as a source of oral input from which L2 learners can acquire the second language.
Moreover, combining a variety of language skills is another subject which deserves debating in the
English language teaching to reinforce learning[2]. On the other hand, the reverse connection, which
is the relationship between pronunciation level and listening comprehension, has been an area of
interest to very few researchers [3]. Thus, there remains a need to explore the effects of face-to-face
English pronunciation training on the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners.

2. Significance of the study

Based on the emerging consensus over the integration of skills among scholars, the need to
investigate the possible effects of teaching pronunciation on listening comprehension naturally arises.
The results of this study may shed light on the extant debate over how to develop listening
comprehension of Iranian EFL learners by the help of pronunciation. On the other hand, it basically
requires to be checked whether pronunciation training, when applied as part of regular teaching in
classrooms, can enhance listening skills.

A. Research Questions
The present research addressed the following questions:
Does pronunciation training improve EFL learners' listening comprehension?
Is there any relationship between pronunciation and listening comprehension?

B. Hypotheses
H01: Pronunciation training does not improve EFL learners' listening comprehension.
H02: There is no relationship between pronunciation and listening comprehension.

C. The Importance of Listening

As the current literature suggests, "listening is growing in importance more and more and calling for
more attention" (e.g., Cheung, 2010; Field, 2008; Renandya & Farrell, 2010, as cited in SevilAk, 2012,
p.14). Owing to its significance, listening has been the concern of many researchers, as reflected in
various book chapters or articles. For example, Hedge (2000) argues that listening plays an important
role in everyday life and states that when a person is engaged in communication[7], 9 percent is
devoted to writing, 16 percent to reading, 30 percent to speaking, and 45 percent to listening – which
illustrates the significant place of listening in everyday communication.
In a study by Graham (2006), the findings indicate that the learners perceive listening as one of the
skills that they are least successful at[6]. The participants believe that their failure stems from the
problems of perception mostly, especially about speed of delivery of texts.

D. How to Develop Listening?

Various researchers have studied the ways to develop listening comprehension (e.g., Berne, 2004;
Hayati&Mohmedi, 2009; Hinkel, 2006; Jia& Fu, 2011; Vandergrift, 2007). According to Nunan and
Miller (1995), it is important to develop cognitive strategies (i.e., listening for main idea, listening for
details, etc.) as well as integrating listening with other skill areas like speaking, vocabulary and

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pronunciation. They also suggested that, listening to authentic materials and using technology would
help develop listening skills.
According to Morley (1987), because of the discontent with the principles and practices of
pronunciation teaching, many programs started to exclude teaching pronunciation [8]. In 1980s, with
communicative approach, there was a clear trend in teaching foreign language, and this trend moved
toward teaching pronunciation again (Celce-Murcia, 1996). Since then, pronunciation has been
included in language teaching. The perspective of language teaching aspires to communication; and
this aim welcomes pronunciation in the teaching process with a goal of intelligible pronunciation and
communication.

E. Developing Listening by Teaching Pronunciation

Morley (1991) emphasizes that listening tasks based on speech-pronunciation would foster
comprehension of listening by developing learners' discrimination skills. Nunan and Miller (1995)
also believe that listening can be developed by pronunciation: In their book, showing new ways of
teaching listening, they suggest several pronunciation activities in order to improve listening skills
[9].
Investigating the effect of lexical stress on the intelligibility and the listener, Field (2005) concluded
that stress plays an important role in the comprehension of the utterance [5]. Norris’ 1995 study
checked the efficiency of teaching reduced forms in the learners’ developing listening comprehension
skills and found that the teaching of reduced forms made a difference in the pre- and post-test results
of his students. In addition, Brown and Hilferty (1986) trained their students in reduced forms and
found that their students developed their listening comprehension at the end of the four-week
teaching of reduced forms.

F. Participants
For the purpose of the research, sixty intermediate students studying in a language institute at
Borazjan, SW of Iran, were selected randomly from among the intermediate learners of that institute.
To ensure homogeneity of the learners, an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered prior to
the study and the participants were homogenized based on their scores. The students were assigned
to two groups, experimental and control. The result of the OPT test indicated no significant difference
between the two groups prior to the study.

3. Procedure
Before the start of the instructional phase of the study (training), a pre-test was applied to all students
and the treatment started the week after. The aim of constructing the pronunciation and listening pre-
test was measuring the level of pronunciation and listening knowledge of the learners.
Listening test included 30 multiple-choice items, for the completion of which 30 minutes was
allocated. A part of IELTS recorded listening was played for all sixty learners and they were asked to
answer the questions based on the listening.
The pronunciation level of the learners was checked based on a computer-assisted pronunciation
training system called MySpeech. The interface of the MySpeech system is web-based and it enables
users to practice pronunciation by listening to the speech spoken by native speakers and tuning their
speech production to correct any mispronunciations detected by the system. The MySpeech system
uses an automatic speech recognition method (ASR) for detecting pronunciation errors.
The treatment lasted for two weeks. The main researcher completely worked on the phonetics and
correct pronunciation of the words based on the coursebook “A Practical course of English
Pronunciation”. After the two-week treatment, the post-test, which was similar to the pre-test both in
content and in form, was administered to all students.

4. Data Analysis
Afterwards, since listening comprehension and pronunciation pre-test and post-test were
administered to measure the participants’ initial and final levels of listening comprehension and
pronunciation knowledge, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilized to quantitatively
describe and explore the probable effect of pronunciation training on developing listening skill.
In order to answer the first research question, an independent-samples t-test was run at the beginning
of the study in order to find out if the two groups differed significantly with respect to their listening

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performance. As the results below show, there was not any significant difference between the two
groups at the beginning of the study.

TABLE I
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS IN PRE-TEST
Group Statistics
Std.
Protrain N Mean Std. Error Mean
Deviation
with
pronunciation 30 23.83 2.276 .415
training
prelistwoGs
no
pronunciation 30 24.50 2.113 .386
training

As table 1 shows, P-value is above the .05; accordingly, there was no significant difference between
the two groups (i.e. control vs. experimental) at the beginning of the study.

TABLE II
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS IN POST-TEST
Group Statistics
Std.
Std.
Protrain N Mean Error
Deviation
Mean
with
pronunciation 30 24.37 2.157 .394
training
poslistwoGs
no
pronunciation 30 24.47 2.161 .395
training

Table 2 presents the results for the first null hypothesis. It can be concluded that there is not any
significant difference between the mean of the experimental and control groups in the post-test; thus,
improving pronunciation did not affect EFL learners' listening comprehension.

As the above table shows, there was no significant difference between the performances of the two
groups at the end of the study. P-value: 0.85, which was greater than the 0.05.

TABLE III
INDEPENDENT SAMPLES T-TEST RESULTS
Independent Samples Test
Levene's
Test for
t-test for Equality of Means
Equality of
Variances
95%
Confidence
Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error
F Sig. t df Interval of the
tailed) Difference Difference
Difference
Lower Upper
Equal
-
poslistwoGs variances .005 .942 58 .858 -.100 .558 -1.216 1.016
.179
assumed

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Equal
variances -
58.000 .858 -.100 .558 -1.216 1.016
not .179
assumed

TABLE IV
PAIRED SAMPLES T TEST OF CONTROL GROUP
Paired Samples Test
Paired Differences
95%
Confidence Sig.
Std.
Std. Interval of t df (2-
Mean Error
Deviation the tailed)
Mean
Difference
Lower Upper
Pair Precont-
.033 .615 .112 -.196 .263 .297 29 .769
1 Postcont

P-value is greater than 0.05 (i.e. .76). In other words, there was no significant difference in the
performance of the control group at the beginning and end of the study with regard to their listening
performance.

TABLE V
PAIRED SAMPLES STATISTICS OF EXPERIMENTAL GROUP
Paired Samples Statistics
Std. Std. Error
Mean N
Deviation Mean
Pair Preexp 23.83 30 2.276 .415
1 Postexp 24.37 30 2.157 .394

This table demonstrates that the experimental group performed significantly better than itself in the
pre-test condition. As a matter of fact, experimental group was exposed to treatment (five sessions of
ninety minutes pronunciation instruction) by the researcher.

TABLE VI
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS (MEAN & SD) FOR PRONUNCIATION AND LISTENING SCORES FOR
ALL PARTICIPANTS
Descriptive Statistics
Std.
Mean N
Deviation
Listening 24.17 2.203 60
Pronunciatio
15.75 1.174 60
n

TABLE VII
CORRELATION BETWEEN PRONUNCIATION AND LISTENING SCORES FOR ALL
PARTICIPANTS
Correlations
Listening Pronunciation
istening Pearson Correlation 1 .030

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Sig. (2-tailed) .823

N 60 60
Pearson Correlation .030 1
Pronunciation Sig. (2-tailed) .823
N 60 60

According to tables 6 and 7, results of Pearson Correlation showed that there was NOT a significant
difference between the listening and pronunciation scores of a group of 60 learners prior to the study.
So, it can be concluded that there is not any statistically significant relationship between
pronunciation training and listening skill development.
A comparison of the control and experimental groups in the pronunciation and listening post-test
through the independent samples t-test showed that there was no significant difference between the
performances of the two groups at the end of the study as the significance level (0.85) is greater than
the p-value. (significance level 0.85 > 0.05 p-value).
In fact, the participants receiving treatment were not more successful in pronunciation and listening
comprehension than those who did not receive treatment. Therefore, the performance of learners of
the two groups was the same (see Table 3). (The mean score of the experimental group in post-test is
24.37 and the control group is 24.47). It can also be concluded that the pronunciation instruction
cannot help learners to improve their listening comprehension. In other words, in this study,
improving pronunciation did not affect EFL learners' listening comprehension. So, the first null
hypothesis was retained.
A further comparison of the control and experimental groups in the pronunciation and listening pre-
test through the independent samples t-test also demonstrates that the significance level (0.24) is
greater than the p-value (0.24 > 0.05); therefore, there is no difference between the two groups before
and after the treatment.
The significance level in the pronunciation and listening post-test of the two groups through the
independent samples t-test is 0.85 which is greater than the 0.05 (p-value). Therefore, the mean score
of the participants who received pronunciation instruction is the same as those who did not receive
pronunciation instruction. In other words, no difference can be seen between the performances of the
two groups at the end of the study. So, the second null hypothesis, too, is retained.

5. Conclusion
The findings of this study showed that pronunciation instruction had no impact on Iranian EFL
learners' listening comprehension. Therefore, according to this research, it can be claimed that
pronunciation development is not correlated with listening comprehension development. The results
implied that pronunciation training could not influence improvement in listening skill.
This pedagogical study concerned the design, implementation and evaluation of a pronunciation
testing and listening comprehension project carried out in a language institute in Borazjan, SW of
Iran. Emerging from the information obtained, some pedagogical assumptions can be made. The first
attempt of the present study was to help understand the complex processes underlying listening
comprehension. Second, the convergence of pronunciation teaching with some affective and
environmental factors, listening materials, should be given high priority if L2 learners are meant to
improve their pronunciation and overcome the most recurrent difficulties they repeatedly encounter
in comprehending oral discourse.
Thirdly, based on the information emerging from this small project, it appears that pronunciation has
no relationship with listening skill development, although it can be claimed that pronunciation
training has at least a partial effect on the learners’ development of listening skill.

6. Future research directions

More research in this area should be done with larger populations and in other contexts to be able to
corroborate these findings. With the heightened interest in pronunciation now evident among
pedagogical professionals, applied linguists need to undertake programmatic research that will
extend knowledge of pronunciation learning.

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Future research needs to address not only how to integrate pronunciation effectively in EFL classes,
but also how to incorporate the activities that specifically target the development of fluent, intelligible
pronunciation.
Moreover, a five-session treatment is not enough for a language skill to develop. Therefore, for future
research studies, the period can be extended and the training can be applied for a longer period.
In addition, the present study was conducted with only intermediate level participants, for further
studies a wider scope of samples can be employed and different proficiency levels might be
examined. Similarly, the sample size can also be expanded: There were 60 participants in the present
study; in order to reach more generalizable findings, a larger sample size can be assigned.

REFERENCES
Abdollapour, Z. (2014). Listening Skill Development through Integrating Subtitles with Schemata
activation. International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World, 1-7.
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. White
Plains, NY: Longman.
Cekic, A. (2007). The Effects of Computer Assisted Pronunciation Teaching on the Listening
Comprehension of Intermediate Learners. Unpublished Master's Thesis, Selcuk University, Konya.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996).Teaching Pronunciation: A reference for
teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge: New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Field, J. (2005). Intelligibility and the listener: The role of lexical stress. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 399-
423.
Graham, S. (2006). Listening comprehension: The learners' perspective. System 34, 165-182.
Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Morley, J. (Ed.). (1987). Current Perspectives on Pronunciation; Practices anchored in theory.
Washington, D.C.: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Nunan, D. & Miller, L. (Eds.). (1995). New Ways in Teaching Listening. Virginia: Teachers of English
to Speakers of Other Languages.
Sevil, A. (2012). Pronunciation Awareness Training as an Aid to Developing EFL Learners’ Listening
Comprehension Skills. Ankara: Bilkent University.

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THE EFFECT OF CODE SWITCHING ON THE

ACQUISITION OF OBJECT RELATIVE CLAUSES BY
IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

1Mitra Khalilzad & 2 Dr. Nesa Nabifar1

1 Department of English, College of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
2Department of English,, College of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
nesanabifar13@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY ATTEMPTED TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT OF TEACHER’S CODE-SWITCHING
ON THE ACQUISITION OF A PROBLEMATIC GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE, NAMELY, OBJECT
RELATIVE CLAUSES, BY INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS. MOREOVER, A SECONDARY
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE EFL LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES AND
OPINIONS REGARDING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHER’S CODE-SWITCHING IN THEIR
LEARNING OF A SPECIFIC ASPECT OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, OBJECT RELATIVE CLAUSES. TO
MEET THIS END, 54 EFL LEARNERS FROM THE JAMEALANGSUAGE INSTITUTE IN TABRIZ
WERE SELECTED AND TOOK PART IN GRAMMAR AND ATTITUDES PRE-TESTS AND
UNDERWENT THE NECESSARY INSTRUCTIONS. WHEREAS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP,
EXPLICIT GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION WAS USED ALONG WITH THE TEACHER’S CODE-
SWITCHING, IN THE CONTROL GROUP, EXPLICIT GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION WAS GIVEN
ONLY IN ENGLISH WHICH WAS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION.FINALLY QUESTIONNAIRE
AND POST-TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED. TWO ANCOVAS WERE RUN ON THE COLLECTED
DATA NOT ONLY TO COMPARE THE PERFORMANCE OF BOTH EXPERIMENTAL AND
CONTROL GROUPS AFTER THE TREATMENT PERIOD, BUT ALSO TO SHOW WHETHER POST-
TEST DIFFERENCES WERE DUE TO THE EFFECT OF TREATMENT – CODE-SWITCHING – OR
THEIR DIFFERENCES IN PRE-TESTS. THE RESULTS OF THE ANCOVAS REVEALED THAT
TEACHER’S CODE-SWITCHING WAS POSITIVELY EFFECTIVE BOTH ON LEARNING
PROBLEMATIC GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE (I.E., OBJECT RELATIVE CLAUSES) AND
LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD THE TEACHER’S CODE-SWITCHING. THE RESULTS OF THE
PRESENT STUDY COULD HELP LANGUAGE TEACHERS, TEACHER TRAINERS, AND POLICY
MAKERS TO PROVIDE A BETTER CONTEXT FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
IMPROVING DIFFERENT LANGUAGE SKILLS.

KEY WORDS: CODE-SWITCHING, GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE, OBJECT RELATIVE

CLAUSES

1.Introduction
Code-switching, the interchanging use of two distinctive languages, is placed in the field of
bilingualism and is viewed as a shared characteristic of those who speak two or more languages.
Code-switching is often studied from two different viewpoints: linguistic and social, and it is
therefore defined variously. Investigating the issue of code-switching in bilingual and social settings,
many scholars put their concentration mostly on its types and its functions (e.g., Gumperz, 1982;
Poplack, 1980). Their researches set a good background for later scholars in other contexts, especially
education (e.g., Canagarajah, 1995; Macaro, 2001). In the classroom context, this issue has made more
and more educational researchers interested in their exploration into the various kinds of code-
switching, its function, its impact on the speakers who utilize it, and the reasons for code-switching.
Code-switching happens prevalently in language classrooms across the world where teachers are

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teaching a foreign language (FL) or a second language (SL). The Iranian FL teaching context is no
exception.
In the Iranian EFL teaching setting, code-switching, the alternation between learners’ first language,
in other words, Farsi and learners’ target language (i.e., English), is a common factor in schools,
universities, and language institutes. It is obvious that code-switching is utilized by teachers of
English while speaking with other teachers of English and, especially, in their classroom instruction.
It is clear from the researcher’s own experience and observation of other EFL teachers’ teaching
practice that Iranian EFL teachers often code-switch. In other words, they use both Farsi and English,
in different stages in their EFL classroom. Nevertheless, little information is known about the
phenomenon in the Iranian EFL teaching context. Thus, a clear understanding of how code-switching
happens, when it takes place, and for what reasons it happens For this reasons, the researchers hop to
find out the effect of code switching on the acquisition of object relative clauses which helps writers, ,
students ,teachers professors use and understand language more effectively.

There have been several studies of code-switching practices conducted by teachers in classroom
instruction across the world, especially in Asian teaching and learning context, where English is
mainly instructed as a foreign language. Those studies are usually performed by using survey
questionnaires (e.g., Lee, 2010), classroom observations and/or interviews (e.g., Greggio& Gil, 2007).
In Iran, there have been studies related to EFL educational issues, for example, issues related to
teacher development (Eftekhari, 2001), and understanding of the communicative approach to
language teaching (Moradkhani, 2012). Nevertheless, up to now, there are some studies in the Iranian
educational context have investigated the issue of teachers’ code-switching practice in their English
classroom teaching, even though this practice commonly takes place. One study (Farjami and
DavatgariAsl, 2013) explored teachers’ beliefs and performances to the degree that it provided
general information about teachers’ use of their first language (i.e., Farsi) in their English classrooms
by interviewing a confined number of teachers.
On the other hand, grammar instruction has been one of the most controversial aspects of L2
acquisition. Whether EFL teachers’ code-switching can facilitate the complicated process of grammar
learning for EFL learners and whether EFL learners’ attitude and opinions towards teachers’ code-
switching in grammar instruction are positive or negative are examined in this study.

1.2 Research Questions and Hypotheses

In line with the above-mentioned purpose of the study, the researchers attempted to answer the
following research questions which were motivated by the research gap on the effectiveness of code-
switching on grammar instruction.
1. Does teacher’s code-switching have a significant impact on the acquisition of object
relative clauses by intermediate EFL learners?
2. Does teacher’s code-switching have a significant impact on the attitudes of intermediate
EFL learners toward teacher’s code-switching?
The following null and alternative hypotheses were derived from the research questions which are
empirically analyzed and tested later in the study:
1. Teacher’s code-switching has no significant impact on the acquisition of object relative
clauses by intermediate EFL learners.
2. Teacher’s code-switching has no significant impact on the attitudes of intermediate EFL
learners toward teacher’s code-switching.
2.Review of Related Literature
Code-switching is deemed to be a widespread phenomenon in foreign language contexts and
bilingual communities. In simple terms, code-switching is regarded as language alteration. Gumperz
(1982, p. 59) defined code-switching as the “juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of
passages of speech belonging to two grammatical systems or subsystems”.
According to Heller (1988),code-switching is when a person mixes two languages in a single sentence
or a conversation. Valdes-Fallis claims that people can mix words, phrases and clauses. When one
person switches between two languages, the person is bilingual. According to Baker (2006), a
bilingual person can use two different languages, but one of these is often the dominant one. She
suggests that some bilinguals are active in both languages whereas other bilinguals are passive, and
their skills in one or both languages are less developed.Baker (2006) also suggests that there are many

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dimensions of bilingualism. One of the dimensions is called Elective bilingualism, which means that a
person can choose to learn a new language, such as Swedish students learning English in the
classroom. The type of conversation that we call code-switching today was previously known as a
bilingual’s way to choose when s/he wanted to use a certain language. S/he could use one language
on a certain occasion and another language on another occasion.
Crystal (1987) suggests that code or language switching occurs when an individual who is bilingual
alternates between two languages during his/her speech with another bilingual person. A person
who is bilingual may be said to be one who is able to communicate, to varying extents, in a second
language. This includes those who make irregular use of a second language, are able to use a second
language but have not for some time (dormant bilingualism) or those who have considerable skill in a
second language (Crystal, 1987). This type of alteration, or code switching, between languages occurs
commonly amongst bilinguals and may take a number of different forms, including alteration of
sentences, phrases from both languages succeeding each other and switching in a long narrative.
A number of researchers (Lai, 1996; Cole, 1998) have argued that code switching can be a useful tool
in assisting English language teaching and learning process. Others like Skiba (1997) see an
opportunity for language development because code switching allows the effective transfer of
information from the senders to the receivers. Tien and Liu (2006) contended that low proficiency
students considered code-switching in their EFL classes as helpful towards gaining better
comprehension especially when providing equivalent comprehension as well as giving classroom
procedures.
Ellis (1994), Cook (2001), Richards & Rodgers (2001) and Widdowson (2003) who have been
researching second language teaching and learning claim that, although exposure to the target
language can ensure success, the exposure may not work in every classroom. It has been argued that
English Only classroom would only lead to frustration since the input is incomprehensible to the
learners.
Braga (2002), conducted a study on humor in a beginner EFL classroom. In the study he indicated that
participants’ use of code-switching was used as a strategy which signals humorous situations through
correcting activities. Rolin-Ianziti and Brownlie (2002) conducted a study on 5 French classes and 4
teachers. They adapted quantity and qualitative analyses, and came to the conclusion that code-
switching included three functions:
1) Transition
2) Meta-linguistic uses
3) Communicative uses
Storch and Wiggleworth (2003) conducted a study to examine the use of L1 in writing assignments
and problem-solving among adult L2 language learners. Furthermore, the results identifies the
following uses of mother tongue in the classroom: classroom management, language analysis and
presenting rules that govern grammar, giving instructions or prompts, explaining errors, and
checking comprehension.
listening activities, while speaking causes to facilitate the linguistic development of learners.
Lin (2013) suggested that both teachers and students code-switched to a larger extent in informal
situations whereas the target language dominated in formal ones. Later studies show that code-
switching is used to create close relationships between students and their teachers (Lin 2013; Jingxia
2010) and that students find classroom interaction more natural and easy when code-switching is
allowed (Cook 2001, p. 413). This comfortable atmosphere that code-switching can contribute to is
important in the teacher-student relationship since it gives them an opportunity to communicate in a
more informal way where the risk of misunderstandings due to L2 shortcomings can be avoided
(Simon 2001). In formal situations code-switching can be used to make the teaching more effective.
When a teacher explains what is said in the curriculum or another academic text it can be useful to
translate or explain some concepts further in the students’ L1 (Lin, 2013, p. 202; Jingxia 2010, p. 21).
Code switching also leads to more efficient teaching for the simple reason that the students
understand faster and more thoroughly.
A number of studies of CS in L2 classrooms have been undertaken which have generally identified
the pedagogical functions of classroom talk and which broadly belong to a form–function or
discourse analysis (DA) tradition. Ferguson (2003, p. 39) provides an overview of some recent,
significant studies of classroom CS using the following three categories:
1) CS for curriculum access (e.g. to help pupils understand the subject matter of their lessons).

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Those studies (Lin, 1996; Martin, 1999) which examine the bilingual negotiation of the meaning of
classroom texts belong to this category. The common point these studies illustrate is “the significant
role of CS in providing access to English medium text and in scaffolding knowledge construction for
pupils with limited English language resources” (Ferguson, 2003). As an example, Martin (1999)
analyses an extract from a grade 4 geography class in Brunei in an English-medium school which
illustrates how the teacher switches from English to Malay in order to “encourage and elicit pupil
participation”, “clarify the meaning of certain sections of text” – a process that Martin (1999, p. 53)
refers to as “unpacking the meaning” – and “demarcate reading the text from commentary on it”.
2) CS for classroom management discourse (e.g. to motivate, discipline and praise pupils and to signal a
change of footing). The studies which fall into this category (e.g. Canagarajah 1999; Lin 1996)
specifically analyze CS which “often contextualize a shift of frame (Goffman, 1974) away from lesson
content and towards some ‘off-lesson’ concern – to discipline a pupil, to attend to latecomers, to gain
and focus pupils’ attention” (Ferguson 2003). CS may also, as Ferguson states, “demarcate talk about
the lesson content from what we may refer to as the management of pupil learning; that is,
negotiating task instructions, inviting pupil contributions, disciplining pupils, specifying a particular
addressee, and so on”. Under the same heading of classroom management, Ferguson (2003)
highlights “the use of CS as an “attention-focusing device” (Merritt, 1999); that is, the code contrast
functions to redirect pupils’ attention – very often at the opening of a new topic”.
3) CS for interpersonal relations (e.g. to humanise the affective climate of the classroom and to negotiate
different identities).
The studies that concentrate on this function of CS (Adendorff, 1993; Merritt, 1999) investigated the
social and affective classroom environment where teachers and learners negotiate relationships and
identities. Ferguson (2003, p. 43) clarifies this function as follows:
In many classrooms, English indexes a more distanced, formal teacher– pupil relationship and the
local language . . . a closer, warmer more personal one. To build rapport with individual pupils,
create greater personal warmth and encourage greater pupil involvement, the teacher may, therefore,
when the occasion is suitable, switch to the local language.
.
Within the debate about allowing the use of the L1 in FL classrooms, Liebscher and Dailey-Ocain
(2005) analyzed code-switching patterns between English and German as constitutive of bilingual
language practice. They focused on student patterns of code-switching in one content-based German
language classroom, in which applied linguistics is the subject matter of the course. Following the
interactional model of code-switching suggested by Auer (1998), Liebscher and Dailey-Ocain (2005)
showed that while some of these learners’ code-switches are participant related, they also use code-
switching in discourse-related functions previously identified only in teacher talk and in non-
institutional conversation among bilinguals. They found that participant-related uses largely address
the roles of students and teacher in the classroom and the teaching context, whereas discourse-related
uses clearly resemble bilingual practices outside the classroom environment.
.Method

.1Participants
In total 54 participants at intermediate proficiency level were selected out of 82 students after taking
the reading and writing sections of a Preliminary English Test (PET).
(see Appendix A). The criterion for selection of the participants was obtaining a score within the
range of one standard deviation below and above the mean. They were all EFL learners at Jamea
Language Institute in Tabriz. All the participants were at the intermediate level.
There were two independent groups and the number of participants in each group was the same (i.e.,
there were 27 participants in each group). All the participants had Iranian nationality and were
considered to be typical learners of English as a foreign language. The ages of the participants ranged
from 14 to 23 and their average age was measured to be 18. Since the study was conducted at Jamea
Language Institute, in Tabriz, there were only female participants within the two selected intact
groups of the study. The proficiency level of the learners was specified at the outset of the study. All
the participants were at the intermediate level and those who were beyond or below the intermediate
level were excluded from the study. In other words, the outliers whose proficiency levels were
markedly higher or lower than the whole group were eliminated from the study.

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2.3 Instruments
Different kinds of materials and instruments were used in this study. Indeed, the materials used in
the study can be categorized as follows:
 Testing materials
o PET as a proficiency test
o Pre-test and post-test
 Teaching materials:
o Explicit grammar instruction (+code-switching)
o Explicit grammar instruction (- code-switching)
 Questionnaire:
o An 18-item questionnaire used for surveying EFL learners’
2.3.1 Proficiency test
Owing to some executive problems, it was impossible to use the complete version of PET. Hence, it
was modified to include the following sections:
The reading and writing parts of a Preliminary English Test (PET) was used in the present study to
check the proficiency of the participants and to homogenize the participants within the intact groups.
The participants were given one and a half hour to complete both reading and writing parts. The
objective of this test was to make sure that the groups are homogeneous and thus comparable
2.3.2 Teaching Materials
The teaching material included in the study was related to teaching a problematic grammar structure,
namely object relative clauses. The examples of this structure were drawn from different grammar
books based on the experience of the researchers and other teachers who themselves taught
grammars, reaserchers decided about the type of grammar points and reasearcher taught them in
both groups. The teaching material included explicit grammar instruction.
Not unlike the selection of the sample participants, the choice of the linguistic target for the study was
based on a meticulous procedure. Inasmuch as the first research question of the study was concerned
with the effectiveness of instruction on acquiring a problematic structure of English language, it was
essential for the researcher to select a complex structure as the target of the instructions. The target
structure in the present study was object relative clauses. The researcher did not select the target
structure subjectively. The selection of the target structure as mentioned previously was based on
consulting of researchers with other teachers and professors .
2.3.3 Pre-test and Post-test
Based on the design of the study, a pre-test (see Appendix B)and a post-test (see Appendix C)were
included in the study. The tests were esigned to evaluate the participants’ knowledge of the selected
target structure of the study both before and after the treatments. In other words, the pre-test was
intended to check the awareness of students of f the target structure at the outset of the study and the
post-test was designed to examine the achievement of the participants at the end of the study in the
two groups. A test with 30 items was designed by the researchers based on the materials to be taught
in the class. All the items included in the test were multipl:hoice format. The reliability of the test
scores was calculated by Kudar-Richardson 21 formula. KR-21 reliability index for the test scores was
0.79. Since the correlation coefficient (r)is more than standard level ( the standard level is 0.7 )pretest
and post test have acceptable reliability.

2.3.4 The Questionnaire

As mentioned at first, a secondary purpose of the study was to survey the sample EFL learners’
attitudes and opinions toward teacher’s code-switching while teaching problematic grammar
structures. Hence, the best instrument required for surveying participants’ attitudes and opinions was
a questionnaire. An 18-item questionnaire(see Appendix D) was designed by the researchers in Farsi
(the official language in the context of the study). The justification for designing the questionnaire in
Farsi was that it was easier for the participants to understand and answer the items in Farsi than in
English . The questionnaire was developed by the researchers themselves and its content validity
validated by three experienced teachers of English in different language institutes in Tabriz that is,
they checked the questions clarity and suitability . Cronbach’s alpha was used as the reliability
coefficient to check the degree of reliability of the items which returned an internal consistency index

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of 0.82, Since the correlation coefficient (r)is more than standard level ( the standard level is 0.7 )
questions have acceptable reliability.
3.4 Procedure
The present study was conducted at Jamea Language Institute in Tabriz. It was considered to be both
a quasi-experimental study and a survey study on the efficacy of code-switching in teaching grammar
to intermediate EFL learners.
The study was carried out based on a predetermined sequence and procedure. At the outset of the
study, the researcher introduced the purpose of the study to the participants and asked them to
cooperate with her. The students who did not have the motivation to cooperate and participate in the
project were eliminated from the study. Then, the researcher gave the reading and writing parts of a
PET to the participants to homogenize them. The proficiency test papers were scored and according
to the test results, the participants’ were labeled intermediate learners of EFL. Those participants who
were too weak or too strong (outliers) (i.e., those students whose scores were not between one
standard deviation below and above the mean) were eliminated from the study. The test of
homogeneity was given during the first session of the study. There were two intact classes to which
the homogeneity test was given. The selected participants were randomly assigned into two groups of
control and experimental.
In the next session, the researchers gave the pre-test to both groups. The pre-test papers were scored
so that they can later be compared with that of the post-test.
Having given the pre-test, the researcher gave the respective treatments within each independent
group as it was mentioned above. The treatment period lasted for 10 sessions and each session was
lasted for one hour and 15 minutes. Two sessions per week was held during which a different type of
teaching treatment was given to each independent group with regard to teacher’s code-switching:
 Explicit teaching of object relative clauses with teacher’s code-switching
 Explicit teaching of object relative clauses without teacher’s code-switching
The feature distinguishing the teaching treatments given to the two groups was related to code-
switching. In the experimental group, explicit grammar instruction was used along with the teacher’s
code-switching. It means that when the teacher felt that a participant or a group of them encountered
a problem in understanding the material under the study, switched to Farsi in order to make the issue
clearer for the participants. However, in the control group, explicit grammar instruction was given
only in English which was the medium of instruction.
The third phase of the study was conducted after giving the treatment. In other words, the session
following the last treatment session, the post-test was given to both the experimental and control
groups. It included the same multiple-choice questions on the target structure which were given in
the pre-test. The results of the post-test were intended to be compared with those of the pre-test to
find whether the students have improved their knowledge of the selected grammatical structure
(object relative clause). Then, the questionnaire measuring participants’ attitudes and opinions
toward teacher’s code-switching was distributed for the experimental group ..
3.5 Design of the Study
The present study was deemed to be a quasi-experimental study into the efficacy of code-switching
on enhancing the acquisition of a problematic grammatical structure by EFL learners. Also, this study
surveyed and examined EFL learners’ attitudes and preferences on teachers’ code-switching inthe
experimentalclassroom teaching. Therefore, the following independent and dependent variables were
examined in the present study:
 Independent variable:
o Code-switching used as a technique in grammar instruction;
 Dependent variable:
o The acquisition of object relative clauses as a problematic grammar structure;
o The attitudes of the learners toward the code-switching of the teacher.
4. Data Analysis and Results
3.3 Data Analysis
As stated above, the main concern of the present study was to investigate the effect of switching the
code from L2 (English) to Farsi on learners’ acquisition of a complex syntactic structure of English,
namely object relative clauses as well as their attitudes toward the teachers’ code-switching.
Therefore, an ANCOVA was employed to analyze the elicited data so that a reasonable answer could

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be given to the posed research questions. This part provides the results of the related analyses and
discusses their interpretations.
Results
4..1The Results of the English Language Proficiency Test
As it was stated above, the reading and writing sections of a Preliminary English Test (PET) was used
to homogenize the participants of the study. To select the participants, all initial 82 students took part
in PET, and students whose scores were between one standard deviation below and above the mean
were selected. Table 4.1 shows the descriptive statistics of the participants’ PET scores.
Table4.1Descriptive Statistics of the Participants’ Preliminary English Test Scores
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
PET 82 25 60 44.71 9.467
Valid N (listwise) 82

As table 4.1hows, overall mean and standard deviation of the initial participants’ PET scores were
44.71 and 9.467, respectively. Therefore, from among 82 students, 54 students whose scores Were
between 36 and 54 were chosen as the participants of this study.
4.2Descriptive Statistics for the Control Group
Table 4.2reflects the descriptive statistics for the participants’ object relative clause (ORC) test in the
control group.
Table4.2The Results of the Participants’ Pre-Test and Post-Test Scores in the Group without Code-
switching
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
ORC Pre-Test in Control Group 27 9 30 17.15 6.131
ORC Post-Test in Control Group 27 10 30 21.30 6.132

As it is evident in Table 4.2, the participants’ ORC pre-test mean score in control group was 17.15 with
the standard deviation of 6.131, and their ORC post-test mean score group was 21.30 with the
standard deviation of 6.132.
4.3Descriptive Statistics for the Experimental Group
Table 4.3Presents the descriptive statistics for the participants’ ORC test and attitudes toward code-
switching scores in the experimental group.
Table4.3The Results of the Participants’ Pre-Test and Post-Test Scores in the Group with Code-
switching
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
ORC Pre-Test in Experimental Group 27 7 30 17.41 7.132
ORC Post-Test in Experimental Group 27 15 30 23.81 4.820
Attitude Post-Test in Experimental
27 75 90 83.15 4.936
Group

As Table4.3 indicates, it has been found that participants’ mean score in ORC pre-test in the
experimental group was 17.41 with the standard deviation of 7.132, and their mean score in ORC
post-test was 23.81 with the standard deviation of 4.820. In the attitude questionnaire, themean score
was 83.15 with the standard deviation of 4.936.
4.4The Results Regarding the First Research Hypothesis
The first research hypothesis of the study aimed to investigate the effect of teacher’s code-switching
on the acquisition of a problematic grammatical structure of object relative clauses by intermediate
EFL learners.
In order to make sure about the normal distribution of the scores in both of the control and
experimental groups, the researcher ran a One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test on four sets of
scores. Table4.4 presents the results of this test.
Table4.4 Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Normality Check of ORC Pre-test and Post-test Scores in
Control and Experimental Groups

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ORC Pre- ORC Pre- ORC Post- ORC Post-

Test in CG Test in EG Test in CG Test in EG
N 27 27 27 27
Normal Parametersa,,b Mean 17.15 17.41 21.30 23.81
Std. Deviation 6.131 7.132 6.132 4.820
Most Extreme Differences Absolute .130 .109 .115 .118
Positive .130 .109 .102 .100
Negative -.092 -.082 -.115 -.118
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z .675 .567 .597 .614
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .753 .904 .869 .845
a. Test distribution is Normal.
b. Calculated from data.

As it is indicated in Table4.4, P-value for each set of scores is higher than 0.05; therefore, all sets of
scores have normal distributions, and the parametric test of ANCOVA can be used.
In order to investigate the first research hypothesis and eliminate the effect of pre-test on interpreting
the participants’ performance on the post-test, the researcher ran an analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA) in the SPSS software version 17.
One of the assumptions of the ANCOVA is the equality of the variances between groups. The equality
of the variances between two groups was checked by Levene’s test. Table4.5 shows the results of
Levene’s test of equality of error variances.
Table4.5Levene’s Test of Equality of Error Variances in ORC Tests
F df1 df2 Sig.
7.657 1 52 .098
Tests the null hypothesis that the error
variance of the dependent variable is equal
across groups.
a. Design: Intercept + ORC Pre-Test + Groups

From the above table it is clear that the underlying assumption of homogeneity of variance for the
one-way ANCOVA has been met – as evidenced by F(1, 52) = 7.657, p = 0.098. That is, p (0.098) > 0.05.
As the relationship between the dependent variable (i.e., ORC post-test) and the covariate (i.e., ORC
pre-test) should be similar for two groups, the homogeneity of regression lines was checked at the
first stage the results of which are presented in Table 3.6.
Table4.6.Homogeneity of Regression for ORC Post-test in Two Groups
Dependent Variable: ORC Post-Test
Type III Sum of
Source Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Corrected Model 1550.887a 3 516.962 221.974 .000
Intercept 493.599 1 493.599 211.942 .000
Groups 90.808 1 90.808 38.991 .000
ORC Pre-Test 1463.651 1 1463.651 628.464 .000
Groups * ORC Pre-Test 48.911 1 48.911 21.002 .322
Error 116.447 50 2.329
Total 29140.000 54
Corrected Total 1667.333 53
a. R Squared = .930 (Adjusted R Squared = .926)

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As it is shown in Table 4.6, the P-value is equal to 0.322 which is higher than 0.05, so the interaction
between the independent variable – teacher’s code-switching with two levels of switching and not
switching – and covariate (i.e., ORC pre-test) is not significant, and the assumption of the
homogeneity of regression is accepted. Therefore, the ANCOVA could be performed.
With regard to the first null hypothesis of the study, that is, teacher’s code-switching has no significant
impact on the acquisition of a problematic grammatical structure (object relative clauses) by intermediate EFL
learners, an ANCOVA was conducted. The results of this analysis are shown in Table4.7.
Table4.7.Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) for ORC Scores
Dependent Variable: ORC Post-Test
Type III Sum of Partial Eta
Source Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Squared
Corrected Model 1501.975a 2 750.988 231.621 .000 .901
Intercept 545.764 1 545.764 168.325 .000 .767
ORC Pre-Test 1416.346 1 1416.346 436.832 .000 .895
Groups 72.325 1 72.325 22.307 .000 .304
Error 165.358 51 3.242
Total 29140.000 54
Corrected Total 1667.333 53
a. R Squared = .901 (Adjusted R Squared = .897)

As it is shown in Table4.7, the first line highlighted indicates that participants’ ORC pre-test is
significantly and positively related to the ORC post-test (P< 0.05) with the magnitude of 0.895. The
next line is the indicator of the main effect of the teacher’s code-switching on the dependent variable –
ORC post-test. After adjusting for pre-test scores, there was a significant effect of the group, F(1,51)=
22.307, p < 0.05, partial η² = 0.304. As P-value is less than 0.05, the difference between two groups is
significant, and the positive effect of teacher’s code switching on the acquisition of a problematic
grammatical structure (object relative clauses) by participants is confirmed. Therefore, the first null
hypothesis was rejected.
4.5The Results Regarding the Second Research Hypothesis
The aim of the second hypothesis of the study was exploring the impact of teacher’s code-switching
on the attitudes of intermediate EFL learners toward teacher’s code-switching.
As Concerning the second null hypothesis of the study, that is, teacher’s code-switching has no significant
impact on the attitudes of intermediate EFL learners toward teacher’s code-switching,One sample Test was
run. The results of this analysis are presented in Table4.8

Table4.8 On Sample Test

One-Sample Test
Test Value = 3
95% Confidence Interval of the
Mean
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference
Difference
Lower Upper
attitude 5.539 21 .000 .41515 .2593 .5710

Table (4.9) Descriptive Statistics Analysis of Questionnaire

N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
attitude 27 3.4152 .35152 .07495

The table4.8Testifies to the statistical significance of the treatment effect on the group attitude 95%
confidence, t= 5.53; df =21. However, in analyzing the questionnaire, having examined the t value and
significance, one should look at the mean. If it is less than or equal to 3, the null hypothesis cannot be
rejected, implying that a given treatment was not effective.If it is greater than 3, the null hypothesis is
rejected. As Table 4.9shows, the mean is greater than 3.4, allowing the researcher to reject the second
null hypothesis.

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5.Discussion
The purpose of this study was to find out whether switching the code from L2 to L1 has any
significant effect on learners’ acquisition of a complex syntactic structure of English, namely object
relative clauses as well as their attitudes toward the teachers’ code-switching. The findings of the
study indicated that teacher’s code-switching was effective both on learning object relative clauses by
the participants and making their attitudes more positive toward the teacher’s code-switching.
The findings justify the role of code-switching in increasing learners’ psychological state in their
English classes. It may be due to the anxiety-free atmosphere in the classroom which inspires them to
take part more actively in the classroom activities. Thus, it can be concluded that learning success
requires successful provision of comprehensible input to make certain that learners understand the
intended content, including new concepts, skills and vocabulary and grammar which, as a result,
would lead the students to successful accomplishment of the language tasks (Chi, 2000; Schweers,
1999; Tang, 2002).
In short, teachers’ code-switching is influential in providing a psychologically encouraging learning
environment for the learners (Lai, 1996), providing a strong base to learners’ affective gratification.
Exposure to code-switching gives learners the opportunity to get a head start towards effective and
prosperous learning and to gradually become users of the target language (Chi, 2000; Cole, 1998;
Schweers, 1999).
In summary, the participants’ success in the experimental group reflects their ability to use object
relative clauses effectively as a result of understanding of input generated by the teacher. An English
classroom without code-switching, thus, cannot always ensure comprehensible input. Therefore,
code-switching by the teacher should be taken into account as a form of teaching strategy (Cook,
2001; Sert, 2005; Skiba, 1997).
The findings of the present study were consistent with the results of Makulloluwa (2013) who
revealed that the majority of the students demonstrated a favorable disposition towards the use of L1
since they believed it facilitates language acquisition by making the input more comprehensible and
also by lowering the affective filter. The results were also in line with Johansson’s (2013) findings. She
indicated that in grammar instruction classes a majority of the students preferred a combination of
English and Swedish.

6.Conclusion
Teachers’ code-switching in the language classroom is a usual practice in most language teaching
contexts world-wide as can be observed in different studies (e.g., Canagarajah, 1995; Eftekhari, 2001;
Macaro, 2014; Merritt, Cleghorn, Abagi, &Bunyi, 1992; Raschka, Sercombe, & Huang, 2009; Then &
Ting, 2011). This practice is mostly common when the teacher is competent in learners’ first language
or has a common first language with the learners. Previous research has indicated that teachers’ code-
switching takes place in different forms, from adding a single word of a language into an utterance in
another language to alternately repeating utterances in various languages. In studies of classroom
context, code-switching was seen in almost all classroom situations, for instance, managing the
classroom, checking understanding, providing explanation, and socializing with students. It has
several functions, both instructional and social, and is driven by different factors such as classroom
requirements, learners’ language ability, and learners’ motivation (Eftekhari, 2001; Then & Ting, 2011;
McLellan, 2009). Nevertheless, over-translation of instruction into Farsi should not be encouraged
except for some cases, e.g. stressing instruction or explaining complicated concepts, or rules or
information. The reason is that teachers’ repetition through translation may lead to learners’ strict
reliance on their teachers’ use of Farsi, and this does not aid to expose learners to as much English as
possible. Learners are not likely to feel that they are in an English classroom environment if there is
always translation into Farsi. Furthermore, teachers’ over-translation into Farsi may result in learner
boredom, and demonization of them to learn English. Therefore, English-only use can be encouraged
for teachers when they deal with classroom routines. This is since the teachers’ instructions on
classroom routines are used customarily and repeatedly by the teachers and are thus very familiar to
learners.

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THE ROLE OF PODCAST RECONSTRUCTION IN

INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS' ORAL
PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF GENDER

Batoul Nasiri1, *Bahman Gorjian2

1Department of English, Abadeh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadeh, Iran
2Associate Professor, Department of ELT, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

*Corresponding author (bahgorji@yahoo.com)

ABSTRACT
THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO EXPLORE THE ROLE OF PODCAST SOFTWARE IN
DEVELOPING EFL LEARNER'S ORAL PERFORMANCE AMONG MALE AND FEMALE
LEARNERS AT THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL. THE RESEARCH SAMPLE INCLUDED 86 MALE
AND FEMALE LEARNERS MAJORING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) IN
ABADAN UNIVERSITY. THEN THEY WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO EQUAL GROUPS OF MALE
AND FEMALE AND EACH GROUP INCLUDED 43 PARTICIPANTS. BOTH GROUPS
RECEIVED PODCAST RECONSTRUCTION AND AFTER LISTENING TO THE AUTHENTIC
PODCASTS, THEY RETELL AND REPORT THE PODCAST MATERIALS IN TWO TO THREE
MINUTES. DURING 12 SESSIONS OF TREATMENT, THE PASSAGES WERE TAUGHT
THROUGH LISTENING TO THE PODCASTS AND WORKING ON THE CONTENTS OF EACH
PODCAST. THE PODCASTS WERE TAUGHT TO CLARIFY THE MAIN IDEA AND THE
CONTENT IN TERMS OF SYNONYMS, DEFINITIONS, AND EVEN TRANSLATION. AFTER THE
TREATMENT SESSIONS, THE PARTICIPANTS TOOK THE POST-TEST OF THE SPEAKING
WHICH WAS AT THE SAME LEVEL OF THE PORE-TEST. DATA WERE ANALYZED
THROUGH INDEPENDENT AND PAIRED SAMPLES T-TEST AND THE FINDINGS
SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GROUPS. THE MALE GROUP
OUTPERFORMED THE FEMALES IN THE POST-TEST; HOWEVER, THE DIFFERENCE COULD
NOT REJECT THE NULL HYPOTHESIS. PAIRED SAMPLES T-TEST SHOWED THAT THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PRE AND POST-TEST AMONG THE MALES WAS
SIGNIFICANT BUT AMONG THE FEMALES IT DID NOT REACH THE SIGNIFICANT LEVEL.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY FOR TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION SUGGEST
THAT USING PODCASTS COULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE ON THE MALES RATHER THAN THE
FEMALES IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL AT THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL.

KEY WORDS: PODCAST, SPEAKING SKILL, GENDER, EFL LEARNERS

1. Introduction
Using podcasts in teaching speaking skills could be a branch of CALL approach which is used as a
method in language teaching and learning. Thus computer is used as an aid to presentation,
reinforcement, and assessment of materials to be learned, consists a substantial interactive elements
(Graham, 1997, 2012). Levy (1997) also argued that CALL’s definition is the research for and study of
application of the computer in language teaching and learning. Podcast programs could download
and use them through computer for language learning and teaching as offline program.
CALL as a Web-based language learning tool has played the role of supplementary resources for
teaching English as a second language (ESL) in using the Web site in teaching English to a group of
students in an ESL context. Three types of WBLL activities are pre-created Web activities for
grammar, vocabulary, reading and listening, task-based Web activities that require students to use
the Web to produce certain outcomes, and teacher-made Web activities which these WBLL sessions

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are provided by Web site for ESL teachers. Online podcast programs are kind of these web activities.
This study was downloaded the selected contents of podcasts since there was not Internet facilities at
the university or it was very slow.
The growth of technology and increase of significant of English learning in business, science and
media has made learners learn English through CALL, Moodle, and the Internet. The life of people,
nowadays, is affected by their powerful personal computers and net connection (Mishan, 2005).
According to Gulek and Demirtas (2005), they prefer to rely on writing e-mails, chatting on yahoo,
sending online cards, reading online news, at all using computers and the Internet for their
connections. According to the Office of Information Technology of the University of Minnesota in the
United States (2006), these days, there is a shift from e-learning to mobile learning and there is a
tendency towards the use of podcasting as a time-shifting technology. Podcasting refers to the
distribution of audio/video files in digital format. These resources can be manually downloaded from
the Internet or distributed automatically to subscribers. These files can be accessed directly from the
desktop or transferred to a portable media device such as an MP3 player to be listened to ‘on the go
(Son, 2008).

1.1. Oral Performance

Oral performance in both native and second or foreign language learning involves acquiring
proficiency. Essberger (2000) proposes that speaking is not occurring without opportunity of talk with
the interlocutors the same as other skills, and then teachers should prepare an area for learners to
speak. Brown and Yule (1983) argue that, "In the production of speech, […] each speaker needs to
speak. He needs to speak individually and he needs someone to listen to his speaking and to respond
to him" (p. 25).
Hymes’ (1972) theory of communication competence is evidence of the relationship between
speaking and listening comprehension. While as communicative competence stresses on grammatical
competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, rules for both cohesion and
coherence, and strategies competence. Canale and Swain (1980) separate grammatical from
sociolinguistic competence which includes sociocultural rules and discourse rules. Furthermore, they
distinguished discourse competence (i.e., coherence and cohesion) from sociolinguistic competence
(Bachman, 1995). Learning to speak like the other skills needs more practice and has its own
cognitive and metacognitive activities which involves discussion, speeches, role plays, conversations,
audiotaped oral dialogue journals and other accuracy- based activities such as retelling and
reconstruction (Celce-Murcia, 2001). The present study stressed on significance of improving abilities
of speaking by listening to the podcasts and reconstruction activity.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

Iranian EFL learners face difficulties in listening comprehension and oral performance (Dolati &
Seliman, 2011). In language classroom, reading and writing skills are given the prime focus where
speaking skill is practiced very little but listening skill is neglected to some extent. In classroom,
teachers talk time (TTT) is much higher than students talk time (STT) and classroom is conducted by
student's mother tongue (L1). Therefore, students speaking skill is not given prime focus. This
limitation creates a lot of problems for their future education. The teachers could help learners by
giving them opportunity to be in this kind of position. The podcast programs are online learning
programs which are so realistic. They could be down loaded and used offline in the areas in which
the Internet is absent or slow. The EFL learners would be placed on real native situations by listening
to these podcasts. The purpose of the present study is based on improving listening comprehension
and oral performance through reconstructing of podcast programs. The main questions to be
investigated in this study are:
RQ1. Does podcast reconstruction affect Iranian intermediate male learners’ oral performance?
RQ2. Does podcast reconstruction affect Iranian intermediate female learners’ oral performance?
RQ3. Does podcast reconstruction make any difference in developing Iranian intermediate male and
female learners’ oral performance?
2. Review of Literature
Harmer (2001) believes that for speaking fluently, interlocutors should correctly pronounce
phonemics, use appropriate stress and intonation in the different range of genre and situations, range
of conversational and conversational repair strategies. According to Fang (2008), listening and

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speaking are complementary. Listening comprehension is prior to production in speaking a language.

In everyday life, listening is the most frequently used language while Morley (1991) argued, we listen
twice as much as we speak, four times as much as we read, and five times as much as we write.
According to Richards (2006), a learner can control relatively narrow range of vocabulary at his or her
own utterance during expression of an idea in speaking, but when listening to the response he or she
no longer deals with the choice of vocabulary.
Podcast programs are online learning English programs with realistic dialogues and lectures that
would be placed learners on real situation. Constantine (2007) believes that for finding new materials
in teaching listening, podcasts are so advantage instead of repetition and bad habits of listening
materials repeatedly. Podcasts provide new voices and relevant contents. She argued that a teacher
must also be committed to teaching good listening techniques such as listening for details. At the end
of the day students must be able to do something with what they have heard. As students respond
positively to listening tasks, they will be motivated to learn more. The goal of every teacher should be
to help students gain confidence in hearing and understanding what is spoken in their new language.
According to Nunan (2003), speaking is challenge and inherence of skills in foreign language
learning. Hedge (1993) argued that the fluency has two meaning "The ability to link units of speech
together with facility and without strain or inappropriate slowness or undue hesitation….and
...natural language use" (p. 275). Gilbert (1995) believes that accomplished of listening
comprehension depends on correct pronunciation. The hearer is important if he/she could not hear
well and understand easily will lost conversation with target speaker. Then, listening content is so
important in all aspects of language learning, especially speaking skill. Cameron (2001) argues,
"Speaking is the active use of language to express meanings so that other people can make sense of
them" (p. 40).
Salkhord, Gorjian and Pazhakh (2012) investigated the effects of digital stories on reading
comprehension through Internet- based instruction for Iranian EFL young learners. Placement test
based on the course book "Family and Friends 3" as a proficiency exam was given to 90 students of
Pooyandegan institute in Abadan, whose score were one standard deviation above and one standard
deviation below the mean were chosen as the participants of the study. After reliability coefficient
(KR-21) which was (0.76), 60 participants, 14 boys and 48 girls, mean age = 12.7 years, were divided
randomly into three groups conventional, paper-based, and internet-based instruction to be taught
reading through digital stories. The other students with the same background took pilot- test of
synchronous CALL version of the digital stories for investigating investigate the suitability of the
level of the stories and to examine how much time it would take the participants to complete the task.
Its reliability was 0.75. The next test was given to participants before the instructions period was
consisted of 10 digital stories for estimate reading comprehension skills. The reliability of this pre-test
was 0.78. Finally, an immediate post-test was given to participants of three groups to determine the
effects of treatment period and the result of the two other instructions that contained 10 digital
stories. The reliability coefficients of this test calculated through KR-21 formula was 0.77. Two weeks
later after period of treatment and immediate post- test, delayed post- test was given for testing the
effect of three different instructions in a longer period to see the real effect of the treatment. Its
reliability coefficient was 0.75. Results showed that digital stories through Internet-based instruction
improve reading comprehension.

3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
The present research was constructed at Islamic Azad University of Abadan. The population of the
study included 120 second year learners who were second year students majoring in Teaching EFL. 86
who passed the intermediate level of speaking test developed by The Cambridge English Unlimited
Placement Test (Oral Test, 2010) were participated in the experiment. They scored one standard
deviation above and below the mean were selected as the participants of the study. Then they were
divided into two equal groups of male and female and each group included 43 participants.

3.2. Instrumentation
In the present study, five tools were utilized to estimate participants’ speaking proficiency.
1. Pre-test: The pre-test of speaking was developed by The Cambridge English Unlimited Placement
Test (Oral Test, 2010). There test included several questions and the participants answered the

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

questions. The participants' voice was recorded for two or three minutes for the ease of scoring. This
test was a face to face interview. Two raters scored the interviews and the total mark was 20 in the
pre-test. The reliability coefficient of the test in this research was calculated by Pearson Correlation
formula as (r=.874).
2. Post-test: The Cambridge English Unlimited Placement Test (Oral Test, 2010) was given to students
to estimate their level of speaking proficiency after the treatment sessions. The oral test included
several questions and answers based on the intermediate level of the test. Two raters scored the
interviews in the post-test. The reliability coefficient of the post- test was calculated by Pearson
Correlation formula as (r=.702).
3. The Check list was used to score the participants’ oral proficiency developed by Hughes (2003) for
rating performance of the participants both pre- and post- tests. This checklist comprises six items of
fluency and accuracy. The fluency consists of three items to estimate participants’ ability of coherence,
communication and speed and each of them includes 5 sub-items (15 items), whiles accuracy includes
three items to rate participants’ ability of vocabulary, structure and pronunciation again each of them
includes 5 sub- items (15 items), at all 30 items utilized for estimating fluency and accuracy in details.
Fluency items include:
Coherence which is the relationships which link the meanings of utterances in a discourse or of the
sentences in a text, the quality of being meaningful, and the logical relationships of parts making up
the whole. Communication which is the estimating the activity of conveying information among
exchanging ideas, feelings, intentions, attitudes, expectations, perceptions or commands, as by
speech, gestures, writings, behavior and possibly by other means such as electromagnetic, chemical or
physical phenomena. Communication is the negotiation and the meaningful exchange of information
between two interlocutors, or more.
Speed which estimates the speed of used words and number of words during talking. Native
speakers can speak fluently without paying any attention to proficient. Native-level fluency is
estimated to be between 20.000 - 40.000 words, but basic conversational fluency might only require as
little as 3.000 words. According to Hughes (2002), how much interlocutor hesitates, spend time to find
appropriate words during speech. Accuracy items include:
Structure which deals with the variety of grammatical structure and estimate errors in speech.
Pronunciation which deals with estimate the way a language or a word is spoken, or the way in
which someone utters a word. Correct pronunciation refers to special dialect, cultural exposure of
their childhood; utters of Pitch, intonation, stress of word and sentence or sentences with cooperation
of native pronounce. According to Hughes (2003), pronunciation refers to speak with few phonemic,
traces and really intelligible by the people who talk the foreign language.

3.3. Materials
The main materials were worked on the reconstruction podcasts. The technology revolution among
CALL, Moodle and Web- based give positive facilities to teachers and learners for learning and
teaching EFL /ESL, in these days. Podcasts are new technology for broadcasting audio programs on
the Internet (Selingo, 2006). Podcasting was originally for conveying information and entertainment.
But soon educators saw that it has the huge potential for teaching and learning (Adams, 2006;
Warlick, 2005). Many writers believe that podcasting can offer language education, especially
developing learners’ listening and speaking skills (Pun, 2006; Stanley, 2006). The podcast were found
on the Internets from the websites such as http://www.podcastalley.com/, http://epnweb.org/,
http://recapltd.uk/podcasting/ and http://zappenglish.com,
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/, etc (Man- Man, 2006).
The materials of the study were downloaded from podcasts’ online programs,
www.podcastsinenglish.com, to be used offline. Therefore, podcasts were utilized as offline for
instructing materials in the class. 12 contents of podcasts were downloaded from this site and were
copied on CDs according non-randomly at the intermediate level. On the other hand, the topics for
example "Job and Work", "Social values", etc.

3.4. Procedure
The whole research project took place in 12 sessions. First session of the present study started with
The Cambridge English Unlimited Placement Test (Oral Test, 2010) which was given to 120 male and
female students of Islamic Azad University of Abadan. 86 students who passed the scores one

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

standard deviation below and above the mean were selected as research participants. Then, The
Cambridge English Unlimited Placement Test (Oral Test, 2010) was used to interview students for
estimating their level of speaking proficiency at the beginning of the treatment. The participants were
at the same level of speaking proficiency and homogenous and then were divided into two groups
through non-random convenience sampling method. 43 participants were in the male group and 43
ones were in the female group. The aim of this oral (interview) test was to discover the scores of the
speaking proficiency of the participants at the beginning of the treatment. The voice of the
participants was recorded to be scored by two raters. Then the inter-rater reliability of the pre-test
was estimated.
During the treatment, the participants of both classes were requested to listen to offline selected
podcast and to reconstruct what they were hearing one by one, they talk about the contents of the
podcasts and discuss the related issues. Both group listened to the topics of podcast and reconstructed
the content. In this way, the instructor was asking some questions from students and let participants
become familiar with the content before listening to it. The instructor asked them to listen twice to
each podcast. After listening, participants reconstructed or retold what he or she was hearing about 2
or 3minutes and the other participants were listened or participated in the retelling activities.
Selected podcast programs were downloaded from www.podcastsinenglish.com website which they
were corresponded to appropriate participants’ level for the experimental group. These podcasts
were taught and added to routine conventional course, 60 minutes during 12 sessions of instruction.
These podcast programs included 18 podcasts containing so interesting subjects. The podcasts were
taught in the class with reconstruction strategy of listening and then speaking procedures. Podcasts
are programs that could be daily listened to with different realistic topics. The learners were
requested to listen to these podcasts everywhere and try to retell or reconstruct what they were
hearing alone and made efforts to record their reconstruction by themselves. Through these podcasts,
learners explicitly learn culture, intonation, pitch, stress, and other functions of target language. Then
learners unconsciously use all of them in their speech (Stanely, 2006).
Finally, a post-test was given to both groups. It included two- or three- minutes’ interview on The
Cambridge English Unlimited Placement Test (Oral Test, 2010) like the pre-test. It estimated speaking
fluency and accuracy of the participants answers to the questions. Data were recorded and scored by
two raters. The inter-rater reliability showed that the scoring consistency. Then the scores were
analyzed through SPSS version 17. The descriptive and inferential statistics such as Paired and
Independent Samples t-test were done to find any differences between the males and females groups.

3. 5. Data Analysis
The collected data on both oral pre- and post- tests were calculated through Pearson Correlation
analysis for measuring the inter-rater reliability of scoring. The scores of the pre- and post- tests were
also calculated through the Paired and Independent Samples t- test to analyze the data. The results
showed the differences between the groups and indicated the effect of the podcast reconstruction on
EFL students’ proficiency, fluency and accuracy of their speech.

4. Results

The goal of this study was the investigation of the role podcasts in podcast developing the
intermediate learners' speaking accuracy and fluency. After the analysis of pre-test scores, the results
are shown in Table 1.

Table 1.Descriptive Statistics (pre-test, Males vs. Females)

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Males 43 11.5581 5.30634 .80921

Females 43 12.5349 4.92491 .75104
Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the participants’ performance in the pre-test. The mean
score of the male group is 11.5581 and the mean score of the female group is 12.5349. In order to see if
there is any significant difference between the two groups in the pre-test and whether they have been

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homogeneous before the treatment or not, an Independent Samples t-test was administered. Table 2
shows the results.
Table 2. Independent Samples t-test (Pre-test)

t-test for Equality of Means

95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t df Sig. Mean Std. Error Lower Upper
(2- Difference Difference
tailed)
Equal variances assumed - 84 .379 -.976 1.10 -3.17 1.21
.885

Equal variances not assumed - 83.5 .379 -.976 1.103 -3.17 1.21
.885

Table 2 shows the observed t (.885) is less than the critical t (2.06) with df=1.99. Thus, the difference
between the groups is not significant. Thus, the two groups are homogeneous (p<.05).
Table 3. Descriptive Statistics (post-test, Males vs. Females)
Groups Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
N Mean
Males 43 16.0930 5.91130 .90147
Females 43 13.1395 4.66793 .71185

Table 3 indicates the descriptive statistics of the participants’ speaking performance in the post-
test. The mean score of the males group is 16.0930 and the mean score of the female group is 13.1395.
To find out if there is any significant difference between the two groups in the post-test, an
Independent Samples t-test was administered. Table 4 shows the results.
t-test for Equality of Means

95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t df Sig. Mean Std. Error Lower Upper
(2- Difference Difference
tailed)
Equal variances 2.571 84 .012 2.95 1.14 .66 5.23
assumed

Equal variances not 2.571 79.7 .012 2.95 1.14 .66 5.23
assumed
Table 4 shows the observed t (2.571) is greater than the critical t (1.99) with df=84. It means that the
difference between the two groups is significant (p<.05). Paired Samples t-test was calculated to
measure the difference between the pre and post-test of each group. Results are presented in Table 5.

Mean N Std. Std. Error Mean

Deviation

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Table 5. Descriptive Statistics (Pre vs. post-tests)

 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Pair 1 Pre-test Males 11.5581 43 5.30634 .80921

Post-test Males 16.0930 43 5.91130 .90147
Pair 2 Pre-test Females 12.5349 43 4.92491 .75104
Post-test Females 13.1395 43 4.66793 .71185

Table 5 shows the descriptive statistics of pre and post-tests on for each group. According to this
table, the mean score of the male group in the post-test is 16.0930 while this amount for the pre-test of
the same group is 11.5581. This table also shows that the mean score of the female group in the post-
test is 13.1395whereas this amount for the pre-test of the same group is 12.5349. In order to discover if
there are any significant differences between the pre and post-tests of each group, a Paired Samples t-
test was administered. Table 6 indicates the results.

Table 6. Paired Samples t-Test (Pre vs. post-tests)

Paired Differences t df Sig.
(2-
95% Confidence
tailed)
Interval of the
Difference
Mean Std. Std. Lower Upper
Deviation Error
Mean
Pair 1 Pre-test Male – - 7.31 1.115 -6.785 -2.284 -4.066 42 .000
Post-test Male 4.53
Pair 2 Pre-test female – -.604 5.93 .905 -2.431 1.222 -.668 42 .508
Post-test Female

Table 6 indicates that the observed t (4.066) is greater than the critical t (2.02) with df=42, the
difference between the groups is significant in pair 1. Since the observed t (.668) is less than the critical
t (2.02) with df=42, the difference between the groups is not significant in pair 2.

5. Discussion
The results will be discussed in this section are involved in the following research questions.
RQ1. Does podcast reconstruction affect Iranian intermediate male learners’ oral performance?
As it was mentioned before, according to data analysis, the experimental group who worked on
the podcast reconstruction instruction has outperformed the control group. It affected both males and
females in the post-test; however, the males outperformed the females and got higher scores which
made the means of their speaking post-test significant. in the experimental group rather than the
control one. The females also progressed in the speaking post-test but the results of Independent and
Paired Samples t-test showed no significance in comparing their pre and post-tests.
The ability of accuracy and fluency were reinforced in the males' post-test. This indicates that they
were able to use the podcasts more easily than the females. The subjects and topics used in the
treatment sessions were about family, entertainment, movies, jobs, and people daily conversations
which are general and popular among young learners. Therefore, both groups were familiar with
these issues. However, the males could construct theses podcasts more effectively than the females.
The other reason may be due to the lack of motivation among the females in using the variety of
subjects and issues which are popular in the modern countries. These interests could be the varieties
of entertainments an out of school activities which are mainly for males than females in our country.
This fact may affect the males' thoughts and makes the familiar with foreign culture and society to
have a better future. These abilities may not be seen among females to some extent. Thus it may affect
males 'reconstructing of the podcasts at the intermediate level in speaking post-test. This matched
with Gorjian's (2008) idea who argued that the other skills like reading and writing improved through
online chatting and the use of computer soft wares among males rather than females. The other
comment that is evidence of this study belongs to Son’s (2008) comment in which argued that for
developing vocabulary, reading and listening comprehension, podcasts are more effective than
Moodle system. In sum, the statistical analysis showed that the males could gain higher scores in the

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speaking post-test of the podcast reconstruction after the treatment sessions and outperformed the
other group. Therefore, the first research null hypothesis was rejected at (p< 0.05).
RQ2. Does podcast reconstruction affect Iranian intermediate female learners’ oral performance?
Based on the results of the speaking post-test among females, the Independent Samples t-test
showed there was a significant difference between the post-tests of males and females regarding the
reconstruction podcasts. The paired Samples t-test showed the same case since the pre and posttest of
the females showed no significant difference; however, they received 12 session s of treatment.
Although the female got better scores in the post-test but it is not so high to reject the second null
hypothesis. In other words, the second null hypothesis was confirmed at (p<0.05). Thus the female
group showed that the application the podcast reconstruction could not helped them much since
what they were hearing might be of less help in approving their speaking proficiency. By comparing
the both pre and post-test scores of female group instructions, it can be inferred that the difference
may be due to the enormous listening relevant and authentic podcasts and reconstruction. The
subjects of the podcasts were authentic but they may be due to the females' interests. If we provided
the females with their own topics of interests, the results might be changed. Although both groups
enjoyed having the same podcast reconstruction, the females might have some specific interests
which were ignored by the researchers in the present study.
The instruction of podcast reconstruction affected more positive improvement on fluency and
accuracy of the females on the post-test since they tried to get better marks but the difference was not
so big to reject the null hypothesis at (p<0.05). This agrees with Perrotta and Atkinson (2016) who
argued that listening on these podcasts improve confident and fluency of learners and if participants
work forward on this way they past faster their level than ever thought in which prove direct
evidence of improving fluency in speaking. By compering female speaking post-tests with the pre-
test, the results revealed that their pre-test scores were higher than the post-test ones. It also showed
that the background knowledge of female groups may reinforce more by the podcast reconstruction.
The lower scores of the female group may be due to the teacher-centeredness of the instruction or low
motivation of participants that may make the students bored.
RQ3. Does podcast reconstruction make any difference in developing Iranian intermediate male
and female learners’ oral performance?
The reasons behind this result could be discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the podcast
reconstruction in developing learners’ speaking proficiency. The results also are supported by
Mohammad (2010) who believed that Internet- based English instruction has positive effect on the
teaching grammar. This also agrees with Hall, Wicaksono, Liu, Qian and Xiaoqing's (2013) study
which provides direct evidence of this study that prior knowledge can significantly improve students’
activation strategies, therefore, clarifies and expends prior knowledge may be important. They added
by effectively selecting and implementing instructional strategies to build and active background
knowledge, teachers can better support all students on their way toward learning speaking and
succeeding throughout the curriculum.
Males and females use different strategies during listening to the podcasts and then speaking
reconstruction. Lack of time for working on the podcasts exercises among females should not be
ignored due to the above mentioned reason. This could affect the improvement of speaking accuracy
and fluency in this study. This agree with Nunan (2001) who proposed that for helping speaking,
enormous listening helps speakers to improve their performance as a speaker and being hearer in
initial helps the learner recognize and understand the difficulties existing in the task. Participants
with their own background knowledge of grammatical competence, more authentic and relevant
podcast and pleasure in which resulting from reconstruct what they were hearing may make them to
produce and process language. The results of the post-test showed that the podcast reconstruction
may have positive effect on the speaking. The present study is compatible with the study conducted
by Barth (1990) who found that interactive multimedia computer lessons resulted in an 80 percent
retention rate. The results of the present study are matched with Rezapour, Gorjian and Pazhakh’s
(2012) findings that podcasts have positive effect on improvement English language skills.
The findings of the present study are in line with Tom and Katie (2013) who found the positive
effect of podcasts on speaking fluently and confident learners. This is supported by Zamari, Adnan,
Idris and Yusof (2011) who proved the evidence of improvement learning materials through using
online language. Braun (2007) also supported these results that authentic and relevant podcasts have
a positive effect on librarian speaking skill and their motivation. Rini (2012) also believed that

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

unconscious listening improves speaking skills of learners. Therefore, based on the results of
descriptive statistics and the answer to the above research question, the third null hypothesis was
rejected. Thus, there was significant evidence that the podcast reconstruction affect pre-intermediate
EFL learners’ speaking fluency and accuracy.

6. Conclusion
The present study began with the assumption that applying the podcast reconstruction could enhance
the intermediate EFL learners’ speaking proficiency. The male and the female groups were taught
through the same materials, time and procedures. The participants of both received reconstruction of
offline podcasts. The instructor explored to see if the application of enormous listening of offline
podcasts and reconstruction what they were hearing have any effect on the Iranian intermediate EFL
learners’ speaking proficiency and to investigate the effect of them, separately, on the ability of
participants' speaking sill at the end of the treatment sessions.
Having administered the pre-, post- tests and analyzing the data through specific statistical
analysis of descriptive statistics, Independent Samples t- test and Paired Samples t-Test, the results
indicated that the instruction of using the reconstruction podcasts did positive effect on the both
groups of males and females; however, the males could meet the significant level of difference and
females could not reach the significant difference between their pre and post-tests. Based on the
present study results, the following conclusions may be made for both male and female students at
the intermediate level:
1. Web-based language learning generally and the reconstruction podcasts particularly may
influence EFL learners' speaking proficiency.
2. Involvement in language materials through a synchronous approach is an influential factor for
EFL learners.
3. Podcasts reconstructing instruction do have more significant impact on the learners’ speaking
proficiency (both fluency and accuracy) than conventional instruction.
4. Listening out of the classroom or at class can improve prior knowledge of paralinguistic elements
(implicitly master on stress, rhythm and intonation patterns).
5. Task- based language teaching can affect listening comprehension and speaking proficiency but
its effect is less than the reconstruction podcasts instructions.

Many language teachers in EFL contexts treat the speaking process in a conventional way of
memorizing, role-play and giving the definition of new vocabulary, ignoring the product and process
of speaking proficiency among males and females (Rezapour, Gorjian & Pazhakh, 2012). In language
classrooms, it is suggested that language teachers also familiarize their language learners with
privileges of using the podcast instruction to improve their listening comprehension skills and
speaking proficiency (both accurately and fluently). Language teachers can motivate the students to
use asynchronous or synchronous way of speaking by enormous listening to and reconstruct what
they were hearing.
Researchers are highly counseled to consider them before carrying out any research. The future
researchers may focus on the sociolinguistic and/or psycholinguistic issues of using podcast
reconstruction in Iranian EFL classrooms. The other language skills including listening, reading and
writing could be studied in future. The size, level of proficiency, age and the gender of the
participants could be changed for better and more reliable results. There are different websites
containing effective podcast resources. Regarding learners’ proficiency, other websites can be used
instead of the " www.podcastsinenglish.com " website used in this study.

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IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS’ ENGLISH

PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS AND THE USEFUL
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACH THEM

Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani

Department of English Language Translation, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran
abbas.pourhossein@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
INTELLIGIBLE ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION IS AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF
COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE, BUT MANY IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS HAVE FAILED TO
LEARN THIS SKILL APPROPRIATELY. IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS HAVE SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN
PRONOUNCING ENGLISH WORDS. IN THIS STUDY, THE RESEARCHER EXAMINED IRANIAN
EFL LEARNERS’ PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS AT THE ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY OF
LAHIJAN, IRAN. IN THIS PAPER, PROBLEMS IN TWO PRINCIPAL AREAS (VOWELS AND
CONSONANTS) OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION AMONG IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS WERE
IDENTIFIED AND SOME USEFUL SUGGESTIONS TO TEACH THEM GIVEN.

KEYWORDS: PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS, VOWELS, CONSONANTS, SUGGESTIONS

1. Introduction
English is the most important language throughout the world and the means of teaching and
communication in significant fields like technology, research, trade, and medicine. As a result,
individuals and groups try to learn English for various reasons and objectives. Due to easy access to
journey, globalization of business and industry and the wish for non-native speakers to communicate
with native speakers of English, English learners should pay attention to their ability to communicate
in the second or foreign language (Butler-Pascoe & Wiburg, 2003).
The phonology of a target language involves the theory and knowledge about how the sound
system of the target language works. Due to the fact that sounds have a significant role in
communication, EFL teachers should devote much of their time to teaching pronunciation in their
classes (Gordani & Khajavi, 2012). Pronunciation is an important part of learning oral skills in a
second/foreign language and the amount of time and effort devoted to it depends on the teachers
(Hismanoglu & Hismanoglu, 2010; Gordani & Khajavi, 2012). Teachers should know the sound
system of the language that their learners speak so that they can predict difficulties and understand
the sources of their errors (Celce-Murcia, 1991; Gordani & Khajavi, 2012).
Fraser (2000a as cited in Hashemian & Heidari Soureshjani, 2012) stated that a lot of EFL learners
have serious problems with English pronunciation after years of learn¬ing English language.
According to Hinofotis and Baily (1981 as cited in Hashemian & Heidari Soureshjani, 2012),
pronunciation severely impairs the communication process in EFL/ESL learners not vocabulary or
grammar. According to Fraser (2006 as cited in Pourasghar & Abdolmanafi-Rokni, 2015),
pronunciation is of vital importance to the foreign language learning because it increases
understandability.
Pronunciation is very important because it is part of successful communication process and plays
a significant role in language learning. Morley (1991) stated that understandable pronunciation is one
of the fundamental purposes of pronunciation instruction not perfect pronunciation. It is a necessary
part of communicative competence. Perfect pronunciation should not be the basic goal for language
learners. Realistic goals that are acceptable, effective, and appropriate for communication should be
adopted for learners.

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According to Faizul (2012), pronunciation is closely related to communication. When we

communicate with other people particularly to native speakers, we should not only have good
grammar and vocabulary knowledge but also acceptable pronunciation in order to be understood by
native speakers. If we do not speak clearly, other people will not understand us and this may stop
communication. Learners should be able to understand pronunciation when people speak with
different accents in real situations.
According to Rajadurai (2001), the primary purpose of including listening and speaking skills in
any course is to teach English pronunciation as an important oral communication part for learners
because it is not reasonable to take away pronunciation from communication. Because of the
significance of meaningful communication and understandable pronunciation, it is illogical to teach
pronunciation in just pronunciation classes or in listening/speaking classes in some specific
programs.
According to Vafaei (2013), Iranian EFL teachers do not pay enough attention to the pronunciation
of words by their learners because they do not know how to pronounce the words appropriately.
Behzadi and Fahimniya (2014) said that pronunciation is the most neglected part of English teaching
in Iran. For this reason, other skills such as grammar and vocabulary are much better understood by
most Iranian EFL teachers than pronunciation. Feedback obtained from this
study would help Iranian EFL learners to understand the reasons of their pronunciation problems
and solve them. The aim of the paper is to discuss the Iranian EFL learners’ pronunciation problems
in the fields of vowels and consonants and offer some effective solutions to overcome them.

2. Review of Literature
Iranian EFL learners have certain problems in all aspects of English language like reading, writing,
pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Generally, teachers emphasize reading, writing, grammar,
and vocabulary in their classrooms but they do not pay attention to English pronunciation. Therefore,
their learners face a lot of pronunciation problems which create serious barriers in the process of
communication. According to Gordani and Khajavi (2012), a lot of studies contrasted English with
other languages and some differences have been found between English and those languages in terms
of phonological differences.
Yarmohammadi, (1969 as cited in Gordani & Khajavi, 2012) examined consonantal differences
between English and Persian to forecast the pronunciation errors perpetrated by Persian speakers and
to classify those errors based on their kinds. Persian learners' pronunciation errors were classified into
four groups called phonemic errors, phonetic errors, allophonic errors, and distributional errors. The
researcher stated that pronunciation errors can be either allophonic or phonological. Phonological
errors are those in which the misspelled words are not like the target words because the whole words,
consonants, vowels, syllables, prefixes, suffixes were not heard, were misheard, were added, or
reversed with another (Aljarf, 2008; Gordani & Khajavi, 2012). When the listener understands the
word 'pit' as 'bit', the error is phonological; when the speaker pronounces the word "fool" with the
clear /l/ instead of the dark, he can perceive the word correctly and the error would be allophonic.
A study was done about the phonological features of Farsi speakers of English when they
communicated with L1 Australian English speakers. Some results were obtained based on this study.
First, the Farsi sound system does not have phonemes and consonant clusters and this in turn created
problems for the Farsi speakers of English. Second, phonemes in the Farsi sound system caused
problems for the comprehensibility of Farsi speakers of English. Third, the phonological features of
Farsi speakers of English interfered with their understandability when they interacted with L1
Australian English speakers (Hall, 2007; Gordani & Khajavi, 2012).
According to Boran (2005), pronunciation problems stop communication and teachers should
seriously pay attention to this skill. When teachers teach vocabulary, they should spend enough time
to teach the correct pronunciations of the words they are going to teach so that their learners
individually improve their English pronunciation. Moreover, Pourhosein and Ahmadi (2011)
investigated the factors that impact the learning of English pronunciation. They emphasised that
learners should be encouraged to conceptualize the pronunciation; that is, the learning of isolated
words may not lead to communication. Instead, teachers should teach the elements of sounds in order
to help their learners comprehend the essential aspects of the sound system of English language. In
doing so, they can raise their awareness of the production of English sounds.

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Some researchers carried out a study called the phonology of phonotactics. In this study, it was
indicated that learners have problems in pronouncing English initial consonant clusters that have
three members and final consonant clusters that involve three and four members. Some results in the
pronunciation of these clusters were obtained, namely reduction, substitution, and deletion (Al-
Shuaibi, 2009; Ahmad & Nazim, 2014). The problems of Arab students of English were examined by
and four major areas of problems were obtained. First, Arab learners confused certain pairs of
consonant sounds. Second, they added a short vowel to break down the long consonant clusters.
Third, some diphthongs are replaced by other sounds owing to L1 interference. Finally, Arab learners
confuse the differences between some pairs of vowels (Kharma & Hajjaj, 1989; Ahmad & Nazim,
2014).

2.1. Statement of the Problem

This study was done to examine the Iranian EFL learners’ English pronunciation problems in two
principal areas of English pronunciation called vowels and consonants at the university level.
Through the help of data collected from the Iranian EFL learners, the researcher will provide some
suggestions which may decrease future problems concerning the pronunciation of English vowel and
consonant sounds.

2.2. Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study were:
1. To investigate the Iranian EFL learners’ pronunciation problems in English vowels.
2. To examine the pronunciation problems of the Iranian EFL learners in English consonants.

3. Methodology
3.1. Population
One hundred Iranian EFL learners at the Islamic Azad University of Lahijan were selected for the
purpose of this study.

3.2. Sample
Convenience sampling was used as the sample of this study. Creswell (2003) said that in this
sampling, participants voluntarily participate in a study. The participants and the objectives of this
study were regarded important factors in identifying sampling for this study. The researcher chose
100 learners of the English Translation Department at the Islamic Azad University of Lahijan based on
the following criteria: 1) EFL learners’ willingness to participate in the study; (2) being interested in
English pronunciation; (3) familiarity with English pronunciation problems specifically vowel and
consonant sounds.

3.3. Research Instrument

The researcher conducted a survey of 100 Iranian EFL students majoring in English Translation
Department at the Lahijan University, Iran. A questionnaire consisted of 10 statements was developed
with the help of language and research experts. The survey put emphasis on two subjects: (1) vowel
sounds, (2) consonant sounds. The researcher asked students to choose the best answers.

3.4. Data Collection

Data collection procedure for this study was a questionnaire about Iranian EFL learners’
pronunciation problems in two principal areas called vowels and consonants. Ten questions were
designed for this purpose. The researcher administered the questionnaire. The items of questionnaires
were distributed to the Iranian EFL learners of English at English Translation Department at the
Islamic Azad University of Lahijan, Iran. The time of answering questionnaire was about 15 minutes.
Then the researcher gathered the data for the purpose of analysis.

3.5. Data Analysis

The collected data was arranged and tabulated. They were analyzed through the use of statistical
procedures such as mean and percentages. Suggestions were given based on the findings of this study
for improving the Iranian EFL learners’ English pronunciation and specifically their English vowels
and sounds. Conclusions were drawn according to the purposes of this study.

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4. Findings and Analysis

Table 4.1 indicates the Iranian EFL learners’ answers to a questionnaire pertinent to their
pronunciation problems in vowel and consonant sounds. The questionnaire had 10 items and the
Iranian EFL learners answered all of them. Items were measured on a five-point Likert-type scale
ranging from Strongly Disagree (1), Disagree (2), Neutral (3), Agree (4), and Strongly Agree (5).

Table 4.1: Iranian EFL learners’ pronunciation problems in vowel and consonant sounds at the
university level
Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Neutral (N), Disagree (D), Strongly Disagree (SD)
1. I sometimes mispronounce /i:/ and /I/ in the words such as “sheep”-“ship”-“leave”-“live.”
SA (40%) A (30%) N (5%) D (15%) SD (10%)
2. I am not able to pronounce /u:/ and /U/ correctly in the words like “sure”-“foolish”-“put”-“blue.”
SA (25%) A (45%) N (0%) D (18%) SD (12%)
3. I cannot easily distinguish /ɔ:/ and /ɒ/ correctly in the words such as “saw”-“off”-“fought”-
“cough.”
SA (35%) A (42%) N (0%) D (17%) SD (6%)
4. I sometimes add /e/ before the words that are started with “sk”- “sm” - “st” and “sp” like
“students”-“spell”-“sky.”
SA (44%) A (28%) N (0%) D (20%) SD (8%)
5. If the second letter of the cluster is either /l/ or /r/ and the cluster is followed by a high vowel,
then I sometimes add a vowel before the two mentioned letters such as “freezer”- “clean”- “drink.”
SA (17%) A (38%) N (0%) D (10%) SD (35%)
6. I usually add /e/ before /l/ and/r/ if the cluster is followed by a low vowel like “flower”- “traffic”-
“flask.”
SA (15%) A (36%) N (2%) D (29%) SD (8%)
7. I pronounce /s/ instead of /θ / in words such as “think”-“ thick”- “thought”-“thing.”
SA (25%) A (33%) N (7%) D (20%) SD (15%)
8. I pronounce /z/ instead of /ð/ in words like “then”- “thou”- “thus”- though.”
SA (27%) A (29%) N (9%) D (19%) SD (16%)
9. I pronounce[ʒ] instead of [∫] in words such as “pressure”- “mission”- “pension”- “mansion.”
SA (47%) A (31%) N (0%) D (8%) SD (14%)
10. I pronounce[∫] instead of [ʒ] in words such as “pleasure”- “treasure”-“measure”- “occasion.”
SA (26%) A (30%) N (5%) D (16%) SD (23%)

Table 4.1 indicates that 40% learners are “strongly agree,” 30 % are “agree,” 5% neutral, 15% are
“disagree,” and 10 % are “strongly disagree” to the statement that “I sometimes mispronounce /i:/
and /I/ in the words such as “sheep”-“ship”- “leave”-“live.” According to the findings obtained from
the above table, many Iranian EFL learners strongly agreed that they couldn’t correctly pronounce
/i:/ and /I/ in the mentioned words. This indicates that these two sounds created some problems for
Iranian learners; therefore, teachers should help them correctly pronounce these sounds while
learners are talking to their friends or teachers.
According to the findings, 25% learners are “strongly agree,” 45% are “agree,” 18% are “disagree”
and 12% are “strongly disagree” to the statement that “I am not able to pronounce /u:/ and /U/
correctly in the words like “sure” - “foolish” - “put” - “blue.” As it can be seen, a large number of
learners agreed that they were not able to appropriately pronounce /u:/ and /U/ sounds and this is
the task of teachers to familiarize their learners to the correct production of these two sounds and ask
them to repeat the mentioned sounds a lot.
As the table 4.1 shows, 35% learners are “strongly agree,” 42% are “agree,” 17% are “disagree”
and 6% are “strongly disagree” to the statement “I cannot easily distinguish /ɔ:/ and /ɒ/ correctly in
the words such as “saw” - “off” - “fought” - “cough.” Based on the obtained findings, the majority of
learners couldn’t distinguish /ɔ:/ and /ɒ/ appropriately and teachers as the facilitator of EFL
learners’ pronunciation should motivate their learners to improve the production of the above sounds
through practice and repetition.
Based on the findings of the above table, 44% learners are “strongly agree,” 28% teachers are
“agree,” 20% learners are “disagree,” 8% learners are “strongly disagree” to the statement that “I

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sometimes add /e/ before the words that are started with “sk”- “sm” - “st” and “sp” like “students” -
“spell” - “sky.” A lot of learners said that they added /e/ before the words that began with sk- sm- st
and sp. This indicates the lack of familiarity of learners with the correct production of the above
combinations. This problem can be tackled by the teachers who have sufficient knowledge in the true
pronunciation of the mentioned sounds.
As table 4.1 indicates, 17% learners are “strongly agree,” 38% are “agree,” 10% learners are
“disagree” and 35% learners are “strongly disagree” to the statement that “If the second letter of the
cluster is either /l/ or /r/ and the cluster is followed by a high vowel, then I sometimes add a vowel
before the two mentioned letters such as “freezer”- “clean”- “drink.” The majority of learners stated
that they added a vowel before /l/ or /r/ in the above words. When teachers know how to correctly
pronounce the words that have the mentioned letters this will automatically help learners imitate
their teachers in producing them and this in turn also persuades learners to be more motivated to
improve their pronunciation.
According to table 4.1, 25% learners are “strongly disagree,” 33% teachers are “agree,” 7% learners
are “neutral,” 20% learners are “disagree”, and 15% learners are “strongly disagree” to the statement
that “I pronounce /s/ instead of /θ / in words such as “think”-“ thick”- “thought”- “thing.” /θ / is
actually one of the most difficult sounds of English and many learners used to pronounce /s/ instead
of /θ / in the above words. This is the responsibility of teachers to first pronounce it appropriately to
their learners and then ask them to repeat it numerously because this will create a good habit in
learners when they talk to their friends or teachers.
Based on the table 4.1, 27% learners are “strongly agree,” 29% learners are “agree,” 9% learners are
“neutral,” 19% learners are “disagree” and 16% learners are “strongly disagree” to the statement that
“I pronounce /z/ instead of /ð/ in words like “then”- “thou”- “thus”- “though.” The other
problematic sound for learners is /ð/ because a lot of learners used to pronounce it /z/. Teachers can
guide their learners to use different kinds of tools for overcoming this problem such as listening to TV
programs or computer software.
Table 4.1 shows that 47% learners are “strongly agree,” 31% teachers are “agree,” 8% learners are
“disagree” and 14% learners are “strongly disagree” to the statement that “I pronounce[ʒ] instead of
[∫] in words such as “pressure”- “mission”- “pension”- “mansion.” According to the findings, a large
number of learners pronounced [ʒ] instead of [∫] in some words. Due to the similarity of the
pronunciation of these two sounds, learners were not able to differentiate these two sounds from each
other. Teachers can write a series of words on the board in two columns. One column is about [ʒ] and
the other column is about [∫]. Teachers can pronounce them and then ask their learners to repeat them
a lot. This can somehow help EFL learners overcome parts of their problems in producing this sound.

5. Discussion
Many Iranian EFL learners (70%) stated that they mispronounced /i:/ and /I/ sounds in the words
such as “sheep”-“ship” - “leave” - “live.” It was difficult for them to distinguish these sounds
correctly. /i:/ as in ‘heed’ is a long vowel sound and learners need to spread their lips tightly to make
the sound. But /I/ as in ‘hid’ is a short vowel sound and learners’ lips are more relaxed and less
tightly spread (Hung, 2000). Underlying the letter(s) in words, writing the phonetic feature of these
letters, listening too much to native speakers’ voices, and then repeating them a lot can overcome this
problem.
A lot of Iranian EFL learners (70%) said that they were not able to pronounce /u:/ and /U/
correctly in the words like “sure” - “foolish” - “put” - “blue.” Iranian EFL learners had difficulty in
the correct production of /u:/ and /U/ sounds. /u:/ as in ‘hoot’ is a long vowel sound and learners
need to push the back of their tongue close to the back of their mouth. But /U/ as in ‘hood’ is a short
vowel sound. Learners’ tongue doesn’t need to be so high up at the back of their mouth and they
don’t need to round their lips (Hung, 2000). One of the good ways of overcoming this problem is to
write the phonetic features of these sounds and then practice and repeat them a lot.
The majority of Iranian EFL learners (77%) said that they could not easily distinguish /ɔ:/ and /ɒ/
in the words such as “saw” - “off” - “fought” - “cough.” Sounds like /ɔ:/ and /ɒ/ were difficult for
Iranian EFL learners to correctly pronounce them. /ɔ:/ as in ‘caught’ is a long vowel and learners
need to lower their jaw very slightly and round their lips. Learners’ tongue should be pulled back.
But /ɒ/ as in ‘cot’ is a short vowel sound. Learners need to lower their jaw more and keep their lips
more open and less round. Learners’ tongue should be pulled back and lowered (Hung, 2000). Iranian

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EFL learners can solve this problem by grouping these two vowel sounds in two columns and then
writing and repeating the phonemic symbol of the sounds in each group.
Most of Iranian EFL learners (72%) said that sometimes added /e/ before the words that are
started with “sk”- “sm” - “st” and “sp” like “students” - “spell” - “sky.” Iranian EFL learners (55%)
also said that they added a vowel before the words such as “freezer”- “clean”- “drink.” Furthermore,
they (51%) mentioned that they usually added /e/ before the words like “flower”- “traffic”- “flask.”
/ə/ is the most common sound in English and is found in every English sentence. /ə/ is a weak
neutral vowel made with a relaxed jaw, lips, and tongue. Possible spellings are - a, e, i, o, and u.
Iranian EFL learners often say the vowel that they see on the written page. This does not work in
English pronunciation (Hung, 2000). According to Keshavarz (2001 as cited in Fatemi, & Sobhani, &
Abolhassani, 2012), Iranian EFL learners faced problems in the pronunciation of initial consonant
clusters since there are not initial consonant clusters in Persian language. They added a vowel before
the cluster in order to easily pronounce it. They can eliminate this problem through finding words
that have this sound and transcribing them and repeating them for numerous times.
Fifty-eight percent of Iranian EFL learners stated that they pronounced /s/ instead of /θ/ in the
words such as “think” -“thick” - “thought” - “thing.” Iranian EFL learners have serious problems in
pronouncing /θ/ sound. Sometimes they pronounce it as “s.” /θ/ as in thin is voiceless. Instead of
pronouncing think, thick, thought, thing, path, fourth, mouth they used to pronounce sink, sick,
sought, sing, pass, force, and mouse. The best solution to overcome this problem is to listen to native
speakers’ voices and repeat and imitate them.
Fifty-six percent of Iranian EFL learners stated that they pronounced /z/ instead of /ð/ in words
like “then”- “thou”- “thus”- though.” Sometimes Iranian EFL learners pronounced /ð/ as /z/. /ð/ as
in ‘those’ is voiced. Otherwise, it is like /T/. Instead of pronouncing then, thou, thus, though, there
they used to pronounce zen, zough, zoss, zough, and zere. Too much listening to the voices of native
speakers can help Iranian EFL learners to overcome this problem and create good habits of
pronouncing these words in themselves.
The majority of Iranian EFL learners (78%) said that they pronounced [ʒ] instead of [∫] in words
such as “pressure”- “mission”- “pension”- “mansion.” [∫] was a problematic sound for Iranian EFL
learners. They exactly didn’t know where to pronounce it as [∫]. Therefore, it is necessary for Iranian
EFL learners to pay particular attention to the following rules in order to overcome the possible
problems they may have in pronouncing this sound. [∫] is often spelt sh in words like shoot, shore,
cushion, fashion, rush, wash. It can also be spelt s (e.g. surely, surety, sugar, sugary) or ss (e.g.
pressure, mission) or ci (ancient, delicious, specious, spacious), sci (conscious) ce (ocean), si (pension,
mansion, tension), ti (tuition, retribution, retention, intention). It is a variant of [sj] in words like issue,
tissue. In words of French origin the sound is spelt ch: champagne, charade, chargé, moustache,
attaché.
[ʒ] was also a problematic sound for Iranian EFL learners. They had serious problems with this
sound. They didn’t know which letters should be pronounced [∫]. So Iranian EFL learners should be
aware of English rules to overcome the problems they may have in producing this sound. It is never
distributed in initial position, but it can occur in medial (pleasure, treasure, measure) or final position
(garage, prestige). It can be spelt either s when followed by u (visual, usury, visualize) or i (decision,
occasion, revision, division), or z if followed by u (seizure) or ge (massage, espionage).
Fifty-six percent of Iranian EFL learners stated that they pronounced [∫] instead of [ʒ] in words
such as “pleasure”- “treasure”- “measure”- “occasion.” [tʃ] was a problematic sound for Iranian EFL
learners. They exactly didn’t know where to pronounce it as [∫]. Therefore, it is necessary for them to
pay particular attention to the following rules in order to solve their problems in the pronunciation of
this sound. We should make a difference between the affricate proper (pitch [pıtʃ]) and the sequence
of the plosive and the fricative [t] + [ʃ] (courtship [kɔ:tʃıp]), right shoe [raıtʃu:]). The phoneme is
indicated by ch: (chart, chimichurri, rich) or tch (kitchen, bitch) or by t followed by u (creature,
culture) when the plosive is palatalized.
In words like habitual, sanctuary the pronunciation with an affricate is a variant of [tj].
Exceptionally, we can have ce or cz as graphic representations of the sound in cello or Czech. [dʒ]
created problems for Iranian EFL learners. They didn’t know which letters should be pronounced as
[dʒ]. Iranian EFL learners should be aware of English rules so that they can solve their problems in
pronouncing this sound. It can be expressed by j in either initial or medial position in words like
January, justification, rejection, rejoin, by ge in all basic positions: germinate, agenda, sage, by gi in

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initial and medial position: ginger, giant, rigidly, rigidity; and gy in initial position: gymnast, gyps. In
certain words it can be spelt d followed by u: gradual, individual, procedure/al. In all of these cases,
du is pronounced [dj].

6. Suggestions
Based on the findings of this study, the following points are suggested in learning English
pronunciation:
1. EFL learners should be provided with materials that increase their motivation in learning
pronunciation. This can be supported by Fraser (2000), indicating that High quality, effective
materials, and particularly computer-based materials are very important for ESL/EFL learners’
pronunciation because they can use these materials and facilities in classes where the teachers need
them for better instruction.
2. EFL teachers should create an interesting and attractive environment for their learners in their
pronunciation classroom. This is in line with the study of Silveira (2002), showing that a motivating
environment in the pronunciation classroom is very important for learners to improve their English
pronunciation. This is also supported by Pronunciation Power software. It teaches learners how to
speak understandable English in an interactive environment that allows them to proceed on their
own pace, practice listening and speaking as they desire, record and playback their own voice, and
have fun with interactive games while learning (Pronunciation Power, 2000). According to the
previous research, participants’ attitudes towards pronunciation software were very positive because
this software provided an enjoyable environment for improving pronunciation. It was very easy to
use and also provided up-to-date information about pronunciation (Bott, 2005). Furthermore, Lord
(2008) indicated that participants who used podcasting software improved their pronunciation
learning.
3. EFL teachers should provide opportunities for their learners to listen to native speakers and
compare their own pronunciation with that of native speakers (Fraser, 2000; Gooniband Shooshtari,
Mehrabi, & Mousavinia, 2013).
4. EFL teachers should increase their learners’ awareness of English vowels and consonants. This
sentence is supported by Gooniband Shooshtari, Mehrabi, and Mousavinia (2013), stating that
teachers should assist their learners by raising their awareness of elements like sounds, syllables,
stress, and intonation. The reason is that once the learners realize the functions of these elements, they
will be able to make their basic awareness.
5. EFL teachers should encourage their learners to practice and repeat individual sounds and
words a lot (Gooniband Shooshtari, Mehrabi, & Mousavinia, 2013).
6. EFL teachers should use computer technologies in their pronunciation classes to help learners
improve their pronunciation by exposing them to authentic materials. This is in accordance with the
use of computer technologies such as Pronunciation Power software. One of the good means of
improving and solving English pronunciation learning is to use Pronunciation Power software. This
software has been designed to help learners to identify key elements of their speech and then improve
their pronunciation by practicing the important patterns of sound and speech (Pronunciation Power,
2000).
7. A listening model or some electronic devices like a tape-recorder or CD should be provided by
teachers to their learners and ask them to repeat whatever they hear in the target language. This is a
good technique to improve English pronunciation. This has been supported by Elkhair Muhammad
Idriss Hassan (2014), emphasizing that if learners want to correct and develop the pronunciation
errors, they should frequently listen to English sounds and words through audio aids such as
cassettes and CDs because these are the useful means of improving English pronunciation.

7. Conclusion
In this paper, the researcher identified basic problems with English pronunciation among Iranian EFL
learners and presented some useful suggestions in two major areas: vowels and consonants.
According to this study, some English vowel and consonant sounds were difficult to pronounce for
Iranian EFL learners. The data showed that Iranian EFL learners do not pay enough attention to the
repetition and practice of English sounds in their classes. The present study contributes to the
identification of particular areas of difficulty which stop communication by mispronouncing the
individual sounds. It is necessary for EFL teachers to be aware of the problem areas of their learners

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which can help them plan suitable materials in the field of English pronunciation. The researcher
stated that if Iranian EFL learners want to use English in any formal setting, they should speak it with
intelligible pronunciation. Good speaking style is helpful in communication in many respects. To
improve English pronunciation, continuous production and recognition practice is absolutely
necessary. This practice will be more effective when supported by fundamental knowledge of English
phonetics. It is not easy for Iranian EFL learners to stop previous L1 habits but this can be possible
through the cooperation of EFL teachers and learners to each other.

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THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL GAMES ON IRANIAN

PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' VOCABULARY
RETENTION

Marjan Latifie Keraroudi

MA in TEFL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Rasht, Iran
marjanlk1412@gmail.com

Hamed Babaie
Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Rasht, Iran
babaie@iaurasht.ac.ir

Majid Pourmohammadi
Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Rasht, Iran
pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir
Corresponding Author’s Email:
pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY COMPARED THE EFFECTS OF DIGITAL GAMES WITH THOSE OF TEACHER-
FRONTED INSTRUCTION ON THE RETENTION OF L2 VOCABULARY AMONG PRIMARY
SCHOOL STUDENTS. TO THIS END, 90 MALE PARTICIPANTS RANGING FROM 12 TO 13 YEARS
OLD STUDYING AT PISHGAMAN PRIMARY SCHOOL IN RASHT, IRAN WERE RANDOMLY
SELECTED FROM A POPULATION OF 120 STUDENTS. THEY WERE THEN RANDOMLY
ASSIGNED TO PILOT, EXPERIMENTAL, AND CONTROL GROUPS. EACH GROUP CONSISTED
OF 30 PARTICIPANTS. NEXT, A TEST OF L2 VOCABULARY CONSISTING OF 100 ITEMS WAS
ADMINISTERED TO THE PILOT GROUP TO BE STANDARDIZED. AFTERWARDS, A COPY OF
THE STANDARDIZED TEST OF L2 VOCABULARY NOW CONTAINING 75 ITEMS WAS
ADMINISTERED TO THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS
TO EVALUATE THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE TARGET VOCABULARY ITEMS. AFTERWARDS,
THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP RECEIVED TREATMENT ON THE TARGET VOCABULARY ITEMS
THROUGH DIGITAL GAMES, WHILE THE CONTROL GROUP RECEIVED TREATMENT ON THE
SAME ITEMS THROUGH TEACHER-FRONTED INSTRUCTION. THE RESULTS REVEALED THAT
THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP OUTPERFORMED THE CONTROL GROUP. THE IMPLICATION
WAS THAT DIGITAL GAMES CAN PROMISINGLY IMPROVE THE PARTICIPANTS’
VOCABULARY RETENTION.

KEY WORDS: CALL, VOCABULARY, RETENTION, DIGITAL GAME BASED INSTRUCTION

1. Introduction
Donmus (2010) believed that "The value of educational games has been increasing in language
education, since they help to make language education entertaining" (p. 1497). Educational games are
activities that provide students with the opportunity to reinforce the previous knowledge. Games are
used to help students to learn how they can use auditory and visual memory together as well as to
develop their problem-solving skill by using their desire and enthusiasm to play. Furthermore,
matching the items in some digital games can ensure the students' retention of L2 vocabulary. In

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recent years, we can see the effective role of digital games and Internet and technology on people's
lives and learning. Nowadays, the use of digital media has changed people's lives and also the way
they think and study. Students have also access to a variety of digital electronic devices at home and
school. Students spend most of their time in playing with computer games. Students in America
watch television and use Internet and play video games every day (Prensky, 2001).

Certainly, vocabulary knowledge functions a basic and vital role in process of learning a language
(Pour-Mohammadi & Abidin, 2011a). Learning vocabulary through games has garnered a lot of
attention. The learners who learned with the use of games, gain positive attitudes and can be more
motivated while learning"(Al Neyadi, 2007). Games improve students’ communicative skills and they
have a chance to use the target language (Sorayaie-Azar, 2012). Vocabulary games bring real world
context into the classroom, and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way.
The role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied (Derakhshan & Khatir, 2015).

A problem that can be stated in the area of language learning in a traditional way is that the data
taught by a certain teacher in the classroom is not perpetual in learners' memory. In other words, the
contacts that have been exposed to learners directly will be easily forgotten after a while (Roohi,
2009). Besides, according to Juul (2003), a game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and
quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort
in order to influence the outcome; the player feels attached to the outcome, and the consequences of
the activity are optional and negotiable. Ang and Zaphiris (2008) maintain that the game definition
contains six parameters:

1. Rules: games are rule-based;

2. Outcome: games have variable, quantifiable outcomes;
3. Value: that the different potential outcomes of the game are assigned different values, some being
positive, some being negative;
4. Effort: that the player invests effort in order to influence the outcome;
5. Player’s attachment: that the players are attached to the outcomes of the game in the sense that a
player will be the winner and happy if a positive outcome happens, and loser and unhappy if a
negative outcome happens; and
6. Negotiable consequences: the same game can be played with or without real-life consequences.

Educational games are software that helps students to learn the lesson subjects and to develop their
problem solving skills by using their desire and enthusiasm to play (Donmus, 2010). Some digital
games can be useful in language classes. The uses of Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) and
multimedia in education have significantly changed children’s learning and cognitive process.

Several studies have found that computer use enhances children’s fine motor skills, alphabet
recognition, concept learning, numerical recognition, counting skills and pre-mathematical
knowledge, cognitive development, and self-esteem or self-concept (Agudo, 2007). Moreover, Alemi
(2010) investigated the role of using word games in expanding the learner’s vocabulary. The results
showed that using digital games in schools motivate learners to learn English vocabulary and help
vocabulary retention. They also help meaningful learning and cause creativity and it is funny for
learners. Learners will enjoy learning with playing digital games.

2. Literature Review
Researchers believe that all fields of study such as philosophy, psychology, history, and education
define game in different ways, but all have an idea that there is a relationship between games and
cognitive development (Mongillo, 2006). Besides, vocabulary learning is a factor which contributes to
learners’ developing a second or foreign language, and, in this regard, vocabulary knowledge can be
viewed as an essential and accurate factor that directly impacts on their language success and
progress (Pour-Mohammadi & Abidin, 2011b). Game-use instruction in L2 learners' vocabulary
learning makes a potential and powerful learning environment according to the attributes identified
by Smeets (2005). Furthermore, as the concept of audience is extremely important when making
games, peer collaboration is a necessary component. The purpose of making a game is to create an

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artefact which somebody else will enjoy, and so inviting others to play the games a natural part of the
process (Howells & Robertson, 2008). Irgin and Turgut (2009), in their study concerning learning
English via computer games, found that video games are effective toward learning sub-skills,
especially vocabulary and pronunciation. Furthermore, as Girgin (2011) and Kabilan (2010) state, the
results with regard to the use of games as a technique for language learning are mostly positive.

The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) centers on the idea that learners attempt to
build meaningful connections between words and pictures and that they learn more deeply than they
could have with words or pictures alone (Mayer, 2003). According to Mayer (2003), CTML is based on
three assumptions: the dual-channel assumption, the limited capacity assumption, and the active
processing assumption.

Researchers have suggested that the affordances of some types of digital games, especially Massively
Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), may be particularly beneficial for L2 learning
(e.g., Kuppens, 2010). There is also recent research providing at least partial empirical evidence for
such a claim, in particular when time spent playing MMORPGS is compared with time spent playing
single-player games (Sundqvist, 2013). Also as regards the specifics of gaming L2 learning, game-
based research has revealed significant gender-related differences that merit more attention from
CALL researchers. For instance, boys tend to play more frequently and for longer stretches of time
than girls do, and boys and girls tend to have different game preferences (Lucas & Sherry, 2004).

Within the framework of Dual Coding Theory, Shen (2010) compared two methods: verbal encoding
and verbal encoding plus imagery encoding. Analysis of the results revealed that, compared with the
verbal encoding method, the verbal plus imagery encoding method does not demonstrate a greater
effect in retention of the sound, shape, and meaning of concrete words, but statistically significant
differences are present in retention of the shape and meaning of abstract words. Her findings hence
support dual coding theory and confirm the importance of visual learning in Chinese vocabulary
acquisition. In another study, Hummel (2010) explored whether translation activities can impede or
help short-term vocabulary retention. Although significant effect of translation on short-term
vocabulary retention for the three conditions was found, a more important advantage was obtained
regarding the “rote-copying condition” than the two translation conditions. However, with the tools
of technology finding their way to language classrooms, it is now possible to exploit the potential of
multimedia glossing that allows for greater comparability of different gloss types (Babaie & Razmjoo,
2015).

3. Method
3.1. Participants
The participants were 120 male students who had enrolled at level six in Pishgaman Primary School
in Rasht, Iran. At first, to ensure their homogeneity, a sample of Oxford Solution Test (OST) was
administered. A total of 101 learners were identified as qualified candidates based on the scores they
obtained on the proficiency test. The criterion score was 44 and the learners were selected with the
help of a digital randomizer called random selection by supercool random number generator for the
study. These 90 participants were all at pre-intermediate level of language proficiency and were
divided into three equal groups of pilot, experimental and control by means of supercool random
number generator. Their age range was from 12 to 13 and all were non-native speakers of English.
Gender was not considered as a variable to be controlled in this study.

3.2. Materials
Materials used under the present study consisted of high-frequency L2 vocabulary items presented to
the participants through a software package developed by Cambridge ESOL. The materials were
graded for elementary and pre-intermediate-level EFL students. Instruments of this study consisted
of OST, pretest multiple-choice test of L2 vocabulary.

3.3. Procedures
The game in experimental group was from "Cambridge University Press". The pedagogical domain in
the game consisted of eight different parts with 60 different subjects and they were so interesting for

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primary school students with the age of 12-13. Thirty homogenous learners in pilot group were asked
to choose unknown vocabularies from a list of 100 words presented to them before the start of the
treatment in order to ensure that the participants in the experimental group were not familiar with
the target vocabularies. Based on their responses, the number of vocabulary items in the initial draft
of the test was reduced to 75 items. The participants in the pilot group were the least familiar with
these vocabulary items.

Then the experimental group received eight sessions treatment in which the participants were taught
15 vocabulary items with digital games unlike the control group who received normal teaching of
vocabulary with some pictures and cards. The learners received given training to help them fully
understand the definitions of words by utilizing pictures and cards which would show the meanings.
Moreover, their teacher asked them to look at the pictures and make some sentences and use them in
conversations.

4. Results
As Table 1 below indicates, the sig. value for the Levene’s test and t-test exceeded 5% level of
significance and the confidence intervals contained zero; therefore, the assumption of the
homogeneity of variances was justified.

Table 1. Results of the Independent-Samples T-test Reported for the Pretest Statistics
Levene's t-test for Equality of Means
Test for
Equality
of
Variances
F Sig. t df Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence
tailed) Difference Difference Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Equal .179 .674 .399 58 .691 .2666 .66753 -1.069 1.6028
variances
assumed
Equal .399 57.80 .691 .2666 .66753 -1.069 1.6029
variances
pretest

not
assumed

However, as Table 2 displays, the sig. value for both Levene and t-test was smaller than the preset
alpha level; thus, the groups belonged to different populations.

Table 2. Results of the Independent-Samples T-test Reported for the Posttest Statistics
Levene's t-test for Equality of Means
Test for
Equality of
Variances
F Sig. t df. Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence
tailed) Difference Difference Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Equal 2.234 .140 14.8 58 .000 6.166 .4144 5.337 6.995
variances
Posttest

assumed

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Equal 14.8 52.25 .000 6.166 .4144 5.335 6.997

variances
not
assumed

Also, Table 3 presents the results for the paired-samples t-test for two sets of the learners’ scores in
the control group across the pre- and posttests.

Table 3. Paired-Samples Results for the Control Group

Paired Differences
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Lower Upper t df. sig. (2-tailed)
Con-Post 34.93 3.09 .56514 33.77 36.08 61.8 29 .000
Con-Pre

Finally, as Table 4 indicates, the sig value reported for the paired-samples t-test was smaller than .05
alpha value; this means that the participants’ performance level shows great improvement over the
course of the study.

Table 4. Paired-Samples Results for the Experimental Group

Paired Differences
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Mean Std. Deviation Std.Error Mean Lower Upper t df. sig.(2-tailed)
Exp-Post 40.8 2.67 .48915 39.83 41.83 83.5 29 .000
Exp-Pre

5. Discussions
In this study, some points were found on using multimedia learning. In this way learners also use
their hands for using computers' keyword and games. Hence, one additional part to multimedia
cognitive theory of multimedia learning can be considered. According to the cognitive theory of
multimedia learning and Paivio's Dual Coding Theory and DGBL, the integration of three theories
can contribute the availability of information in multiple modalities both learning and retaining the
L2 vocabulary items.

Dual-coding theory, a theory of cognition, was first advanced by Paivio (1986). The theory postulates
that both visual and verbal information are processed differently and along distinct channels with the
human mind creating separate representations for information processed in each channel. Both visual
and verbal codes for representing information are used to organize incoming information into
knowledge that can be acted upon, stored, and retrieved for subsequent use.

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MULTIMEDIA SENSORY LONG-TERM

RESENTATION MEMORY WORKING MEMORY MEMORY

Figure 1. The Linkage Between CTML, DCT and DGBL

Mayer (2005) states that sensory memory has a visual sensory memory that briefly holds pictures and
printed text as visual images; and auditory memory that briefly holds spoken words and sounds as
auditory images.

MULTIMEDIA SENSORY LONG-TERM

RESENTATION MEMORY WORKING MEMORY MEMORY

Words Ears Sounds Auditory

Memory
Prior
Knowledg
Pictures Eyes Images Visual e
Memory

Figure 2. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

6. Conclusion
The findings of this study revealed that vocabulary learning using the digital games is significantly
effective for better vocabulary retention and choosing the correct vocabularies in the posttest. The
findings also indicated that the trained learners in the experimental group could understand and
remember the vocabularies in the posttest better than those in the control group. This means that
using digital games as an enjoyable way is an effective way for improving the vocabulary retention,
making the vocabulary learning enjoyable and exciting for students and thus motivating them to
learn better. Therefore, the null hypothesis which was proposed at the beginning of the study was
rejected.

It should be mentioned that utilizing technological ways is so good for educational system and it may
depend on amount of time needed for it in each session and also how many items can be used as a
teacher for teaching new vocabularies in one session, how many sessions is enough. How repetition
after, before or within using the game can be used to be interesting not confusing. How the games
more interesting and exciting to students can be introduced. How suitable games or programs for
men and women, for fathers and mothers can be used, too; it should be interesting for each person in
each age. Maybe men are interested in politics or they can choose the topics that are related to their
job. Maybe the time between sessions is so long, so it cannot be so effective. Students will miss their

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motivation in this way, because these external factors are so important. Factors such as time and
suitable topics affect treatment very much. If suitable game or technological programs are used for
each level or age, the results change best and can be positive based on this and other research.

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THE IMPACT OF EXTENSIVE VERSUS INTENSIVE

READING ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL
LEARNERS’ KNOWLEDGE OF SEMANTIC PROSODY

Niloofar Mohammadzadeh
MA in TEFL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Rasht, Iran
niloofar58m@gmail.com

Majid Pourmohammadi
Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Rasht, Iran
pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir

Hamed Babaie
Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Rasht, Iran
babaie@iaurasht.ac.ir

Corresponding Author’s Email:

pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY SOUGHT TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF EXTENSIVE VERSUS
INTENSIVE READING ON KNOWLEDGE OF SEMANTIC PROSODY OF IRANIAN
INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS. FORTY ONE STUDENTS WERE SELECTED VIA
ADMINISTERING AN OXFORD QUICK PLACEMENT TEST AND WERE THEN DIVIDED INTO
TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS OF 21 AND 20. A PRETEST OF SEMANTIC PROSODY OF
VOCABULARY WAS ADMINISTERED TO BOTH GROUPS. NEXT, THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL
GROUP WAS TAUGHT SEMANTIC PROSODY THROUGH INTENSIVE READING AND THE
SECOND ONE WAS TAUGHT THROUGH EXTENSIVE READING. A POSTTEST OF
VOCABULARY BASED ON SEMANTIC PROSODY WAS THEN ADMINISTERED TO BOTH
GROUPS. THE GATHERED DATA WERE ANALYZED VIA CALCULATING AN INDEPENDENT
SAMPLES T-TEST. THE RESULTS ILLUSTRATED THAT THE IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS IN
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP PROVIDED WITH EXTENSIVE READING RECEIVED HIGHER SCORES
IN POSTTEST.

KEY WORDS: SEMANTIC PROSODY, READING COMPREHENSION, EXTENSIVE READING,

INTENSIVE READING

1. Introduction
It is commonly believed that reading comprehension is the essential way of learning new information
in teaching English as a second or Foreign Language and it is the most significant skill required for
the students’ success (Pour-Mohammadi & Abidin, 2011a; Pour-Mohammadi & Abidin, 2011b).
Moreover, one significant part of improving reading comprehension is teaching vocabulary. As a
result of the growing interest in vocabulary teaching by researchers, various techniques and strategies
have been suggested for learning and teaching the forms of target language. Researchers started
testing and evaluating these techniques in order to reach the best result in the process of language

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learning and as a result of that a growing body of literature now addresses lexical acquisition. As
Csomay and Petrovic (2012, p. 305) put it, “Vocabulary is an essential element of every second/
foreign language teaching and learning program.”

Vocabulary teaching and learning has significant effect on communication and acquisition (Richards
& Renandya, 2002). One area of word knowledge that has been shown to be especially problematic
for learners is the use of appropriate collocation. Without explicit instruction of collocation, learners
must rely on evidence that input alone is not sufficient for the acquisition of collocation knowledge,
as learners’ difficulties in this area have been well-documented over the past 20 years (Nesselhauf,
2005). For this reason, choosing inappropriate words due to lack of knowledge of evaluative meaning
(i.e. semantic prosody) is very common among EFL learners of English (Xiao & McEnery, 2006).

In addition, L2 learners’ relying on just dictionaries and thesauri makes a number of semantic errors
as they provide denotative meanings of lexical items and do not present the subtle implications
embedded in contexts (Lee & Liu, 2009).

According to Bednarek (2008, p. 132), SP "refers to POS/NEG [positive/negative] connotation as well

as more complex attitudinal connotations, affecting both single words and larger units of meaning
such as phrases". It is also defined as "word forms which have a tendency to be (or in some cases
which are always) followed by words with certain connotations, basically positive or negative"
(Zethsen, 2006, p. 132). In short, it is a kind of (positive, negative, or neutral) connotative meaning
which a word takes due to its consistent collocations.

Whilst CAUSE and BRING about have a very similar denotative meaning, their collocational
behaviors and semantic prosodies differ markedly. In contrast to the strongly negative prosody of
CAUSE, the objects of BRING about more frequently refer to desirable, or at least non-negative,
situations.

In addition to CAUSE and BRING about, there are a number of phrasal verbs that share similar
meanings but vary in semantic prosodies. They include e.g., RESULT in/from, LEAD to, AROUSE
and GIVE rise to RESULT in and RESULT from are quite similar in affective meanings irrespective of
some differences in frequency (the former is significantly more frequent than the latter) and syntax
(event A results in event B whereas event B results from event A).

Concerning the acquisition of word meaning more generally, Evans (2009) proposed that word
meanings, influenced by situated usage-events, are dependent on the utterance context in which they
are embedded. So acquiring the semantic knowledge of a word is neither a one-to-one form-meaning
mapping process, nor a once-and-for-all learning event, even if some meaning can be temporarily
extracted from a single exposure to a word (Horst & Samuelson, 2008). Instead, learners need to learn
meaning of a word from varied instances of its use. Crucial to the meaning of a word is its semantic
prosody which plays a leading role in the integration of a lexical item with its context.

2. Literature Review
Reading as a basic and complementary skill in language teaching and learning is remarkable in
keeping one abreast of new findings and increasing one’s academic and professional position. The
word “reading” of course has a number of common interpretations by language teachers. It may
mean both “reading aloud” which involves understanding the printed words first and then the
production of the right noises and also “silent reading” which is done for comprehension (Hayati &
Pour-Mohammadi, 2005). Similarly, different types of reading such as intensive reading, extensive
reading, skimming and scanning have been suggested by some researchers (e.g., Hedge, 2008).

Related to this subject, semantic prosody, also called semantic harmony (Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk,
1996), is a relatively new concept in linguistic field. There are different definitions of semantic
prosody by various researchers; semantic prosody is “a certain aura of meaning connected with
individual lexical items which spreads over the senses of their neighbors by creating specific semantic
expectation” (Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, 1996, p. 153). In other words, “It describes the consistent

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aura of meaning that is created through the general tendencies of the set of collocates associated with
the central node word" (Louw & Chateau, 2010, p. 755). All semantic prosody definitions have more
or less the same base in different scopes and as Fan (2010) states all these definitions reflect “the close
relationship between the semantic prosody of a form and its collocates” (p. 53).

According to Partington (2004), there are two forms of evaluated meaning; one form of evaluative
meaning is connotative meaning which is obvious and in-built, for example, items such as extensive
and flappy have negative connotative meaning which are clear to language users. Another form of
evaluated meaning is semantic prosody which is spread over a unit of language and goes well
beyond the single word and is much less evident to language users. He adds that “This knowledge is
not necessarily either conscious or explicitly recollectable, but remains part of our communicative
competence” (p. 32). In the same way, Xiao and McEnery (2006) argue that “It would appear, from the
literature published on semantic prosody, that it is at least as inaccessible to a speaker’s conscious
introspection as collocation is (p. 106). They also argue that “Connotation can be collocational or
noncollocational whereas semantic prosody can only be collocational” (p. 107).

Answering the questions of if the favorable or unfavorable semantic prosody is not part of in-built
aspect of items, ‘inherent meaning’, how do language users apply them in the appropriate
environment, Partington (2004) argues that such awareness is in the mind of language users and
“language users have a set of mental rules derived from the priming process, alongside or integrated
with the mental lexicon, of how items should collocate” (p. 132). He also argues that prosodies are
different from other types of meaning in that this kind of meaning is usually produced and perceived
unconsciously on the part of senders and receivers. In his view, a semantic prosody is not accessible
to an individual’s introspection and is not recorded in dictionaries and only alphabetically listing of
numerous examples are able to reveal it. Based on the aforementioned understanding of the concept,
two conducted empirical studies in the field have been reviewed below.

Partington (2004) examined the two related concepts of semantic prosody and semantic preference. In
this study, he showed that not only HAPPEN and SET have unfavorable prosodies, but that the
majority of words belonging to the HAPPEN semantic group (SET IN, HAPPEN, OCCUR, TAKE
PLACE, COME ABOUT) have a bad prosody. He related this to the fact that humans have a greater
tendency or need to talk to each other about bad things. However, he showed that there are different
degrees of bad prosody among the items in the group

To asses English learners’ knowledge of semantic prosody, Ahmadian, Yazdani and Darabi (2011)
chose 60 Iranian Persian-speaking English learners to take a 70-item test of semantic prosody. The
items were based on those cases of semantic prosody whose condition (positive or negative) had been
already determined by other researchers. Although their corpus-driven test of semantic prosody was
of the modest reliability and validity, their data analysis showed that learners’ knowledge of semantic
prosody can be appropriately measured by the corpus-driven test of semantic prosody. They also
showed that the overall performance of the learners on the semantic prosody test was weak and the
level of language proficiency did not have any possible effect on semantic prosody.

3. Method
This study used a mixed method; i.e., a quantitative method in addition to participants’ reflection
(qualitative method) to understand the potential of semantic prosody learning through extensive
versus intensive reading (IR) methods on the improvement of learners’ performance in choosing
appropriate vocabulary in an EFL context. In the quantitative stage, data were collected from 41 EFL
learners, in two classes of 20 and 21 learners studying at Pardis English Language Institute in Talesh,
Iran. They were tested twice on vocabulary test based on semantic prosody, once at the beginning of
the study and then six weeks after the study.

Afterwards, in the qualitative stage, all participants were interviewed briefly and individually. In
brief, semi-structured interviews, specific questions and their sequence were determined in advance.
Participants were allowed to speak in either English or Persian in order to allow them to express their
ideas more clearly.

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3.1. Research question

This study intended to answer the following question:
Does extensive versus intensive reading have any statistically significant effect on Iranian
intermediate EFL learners’ knowledge of semantic prosody?

3.2. Participants
Forty one learners participated in this study. They were studying English at Pardis English Language
Institution in Talesh, Iran, and were native speakers of Persian. They were divided into two classes of
20 and 21 learners. After administering Oxford Quick Placement Test (QPT) to homogenize the
participants as intermediate learners, one of these two classes was selected as the first experimental
group and another as the second one.

3.3. Instrument
First, QPT was the first material used to put participants into homogeneous groups at intermediate
level. After that, the pretest including 30 multiple-choice vocabulary items (based on semantic
prosody) was administered. In order to make sure, graded readers were chosen from publishers such
as Oxford University Press, and Pearson Longman, with a range of basic vocabulary from 200-1000
words. About seven graded readers were provided for the participants in both groups. They were
taught extensively and intensively in the first and second experimental groups. During 12 treatment
sessions, extensive and intensive groups received texts to study in the class. Moreover, a pretest and a
posttest were applied before and after the treatment in this study. Each of them contained 30 items
with three options to measure the participants’ respective knowledge of vocabulary test based on
semantic prosody. The posttest was conducted after the last treatment session.

3.4. Pilot study

A pilot study was carried out for 6 weeks (one institute semester) in an attempt to determine the
amount of time needed to learn how to discover semantic prosody of words through intensive
method, and to identify any probable problem with the research design. To check the validity of the
test, it was sent to five university lecturers, to select the missing words. The results showed that the
agreement between the five judges was high (about 85%), which was indicative of acceptable estimate
of test validity. The human judges were allowed to choose more than one correct answer when they
were convinced that more than one near-synonym fitted well in the context.

To calculate the reliability, Cronbach alpha was calculated. The reliability of 30 items of the
vocabulary test was approximated through a pilot study on 15 EFL learners. The reliability estimate
for vocabulary choice appropriateness test (based on semantic prosody) was .86, which means the test
was reliable.

4. Results
In order to measure the participants’ knowledge of vocabulary, a test of vocabulary was used for both
experimental groups. Two tests were administered to the participants: a pretest and a posttest. For
two reasons, the pretest was used in the study. Firstly, a t-test was run on pretest scores of the two
groups to make sure the groups were homogeneous regarding vocabulary knowledge at the
beginning of the study. Secondly, it was reflected that the difference between the two experimental
groups was as a result of the treatment which was used in the study.

To select homogenous participants as the target population sample regarding their general language
proficiency, QPT was administered to 60 EFL students. The participants answered three sections
including the structure, vocabulary and reading comprehension sections of the test with a maximum
possible score of 60 points. Table 1 indicates the statistics for QPT.

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Table 1. Statistics for QPT

QPT Descriptive Statistics
QPT scores
N Valid 60
Missing 0
Mean 37.8500
Std. Error of Mean .73157
Median 36.0000
Mode 36.00a
SD 7.97448
Variance 63.592
Skewness -.449
Std. Error of Skewness .269
Kurtosis -.058
Std. Error of Kurtosis .532
Range 38.00
Minimum 31.00
Maximum 58.00
Sum 2956.00
a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown

Accordingly, Tables 2 and 3 indicate descriptive statistics for groups on pretests and posttest
respectively.

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Groups on Pretests

Groups N Mean SD

Extensive 21 12.57 3.05

Intensive 20 12.20 2.68

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for Groups on Posttest

Groups N Mean SD

Extensive 21 20.95 3.70

Intensive 20 13.90 4.38

As Tables 4 and 5 show, to determine whether there was a difference between the two experimental
groups, independent samples t-tests were run on the pretest and posttest scores of the two groups.

Table 4. Independent Samples T-Test on Pretests

Levene's Test for t-test for Equality of Means
Equality of Variances

F Sig. T df Sig.2tailed
Equal variances .905 .347 .412 39 .682
assumed
Equal variances .414 38.757 .681
not assumed

Table 5. Independent Samples T-Test on Posttests

Levene's Test for t-test for Equality of Means
Equality of Variances

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F Sig. T df Sig.2tailed
Equal variances 26.118 .763 5.572 39 .000
assumed
Equal variances 5.548 37.246 .000
not assumed

The Levene's test assumes the equality of the variances. This is a test that determines if the two
variables have about the same or different amounts of variability between scores. Accordingly, the
significance level came to .763 which is larger than the .05 value. The t-test section of the table shows
that the significance level equaled .000. This means that there is a statistically significant relation
between the two conditions. This rejects the assumption of effect of extensive versus intensive reading
having no effect on groups’ semantic prosody on the test. That is to say the extensive reading (ER)
had an impact on the semantic prosody ability of female learners.

Table 6. Paired Samples Test for the Intensive Group

N Correlation Sig.
Pair 1 Pre.int & Post.int 20 .220 .352
Table 6 summarizes the inferential analysis of the data before and after vocabulary instruction for the
first experimental group who received IR instruction. It presents the results for the paired samples t-
test for two sets of the learners’ scores in the intensive group in both pre- and posttests. The sig. value
is bigger than .05 which means the difference is not significant.

Table 7. Paired Samples T-Test for the Extensive Group

N Correlation Sig.
Pair 1 Pre.ext. & Post.ext. 21 .526 .014

Table 7 summarizes the inferential analysis of the data on both pretest and posttest for the second
experimental group of the study who received ER instruction. It indicates that unlike the intensive
group, significance level of the extensive group in both pre- and posttest is significant. That is to say,
the extensive group performed better than the intensive group.

With regards to the qualitative findings, as mentioned before, the learners in both groups were
interviewed briefly. This section reports on first experimental group’s responses to questions focused
on their strategies in learning the differences among near-synonyms, as well as on second
experimental group’s experience in ER and reading concordances.

The basic question that was asked from first experimental group was “How did you learn the
differences among English near-synonyms?” Using dictionaries was claimed by all participants in this
group. However, those who had better performance on the test said that they had used English-
English dictionaries. In contrast, those who had poorer performance said that they had used English-
Persian dictionaries. In addition, the key question that was asked from them was “How did you feel
about experiencing ER method?” The major findings from the interviews with participants of this
group are follows:

1. Almost all participants felt that ER could help in improving their English ability.
2. Generally, they found it more interesting; however, a few students found it difficult.
3. Their attitudes toward ER were more positive than negative.
4. They tended to work in pairs or groups.
5. They did feel that ER method would make them more autonomous and creative.

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Accordingly, the following are the major findings from the interviews with participants in the second
experimental group (IR):

1. Almost all of them claimed that they used dictionaries as their tools for learning the difference
among near-synonyms.
2. Those who had better function in vocabulary test based on semantic prosody claimed using
English-English dictionary definitions.
3. Participants with low test scores claimed using English-Persian dictionaries or their intuitions (in
order to find the difference among English near-synonyms through Persian equivalents).

5. Discussion
It is generally believed that inappropriate lexical use can lead to miscommunication and unfavorable
social consequences. Therefore, misuse of lexical items, particularly among near-synonyms, calls for
more attention and treatment in L2 lexical learning. It was observed by scientists (e.g., Xiao & Mc
Enery, 2006; Zhang, 2009) that choosing inappropriate words can be a result of lack of knowledge of
semantic prosody and this problem is very common among EFL learners of English. On the other
hand, teachers usually teach vocabulary by giving synonyms which sometimes misses some
important information about words and learners can be led to use words inappropriately. Therefore,
knowledge about the differences among near-synonyms is necessary to convey slight differences of
meaning and to avoid undesirable implications (Inkpen & Hirst, 2002).

There is much evidence to support the necessity of EFL learners’ being aware of semantic prosody of
lexical items in order to equip themselves in vocabulary learning. The findings of the present study
are compatible with the findings of some studies such as Xiao and McEnery (2006), Fan (2010),
Ahmadian, et al. (2011), and Siepmann (2005). As mentioned earlier, semantic prosody has
considerable benefits for EFL learners. Such awareness, according to Zhang (2009), can help language
learners understand how to use lexical items appropriately. Semantic prosody can help students
understand how to use lexical items. He also recommended the teaching of near-synonyms, and the
teaching and learning of vocabulary instruction and dictionary compilation. He has further argued
for a different teaching focus than the traditional vocabulary teaching methods in English language
schools.

ER and IR both have played important roles in helping learners gain fluency, first in the critical area
of vocabulary and word recognition, then in developing better reading comprehension skills. Also
regarding ER, an impressive body of evidence has appeared supporting ER as a means of improving
not only students’ reading level but also their general language proficiency and its sub skills like
vocabulary. There are various studies emphasizing the fact that ER leads to language proficiency in
general, and vocabulary development in particular. Some researchers such as Nassaji (2003), Gu
(2003), and Horst (2005) found the effect of this approach on vocabulary development. Also regarding
ER, an impressive body of evidence has appeared supporting ER as a means of improving not only
students’ reading level but also their general language proficiency and its sub skills like vocabulary.

6. Conclusion and Implications

The findings of this study suggest that it is possible to learn semantic prosody of vocabulary.
Consequently, it is possible to learn prosodic behavior of vocabulary unconsciously. Besides, it has
been shown that near-synonyms have different prosodic behaviors and this suggests that teachers
should be cautious in introducing new English vocabulary by giving their synonyms. Furthermore,
interviews with participants in the first experimental group revealed that those who used Persian
equivalents to get the differences among near-synonyms of verbs had lower scores. This suggests that
in classes with the same background language teachers should be cautious about using the EFL
learners’ background language in order to introduce vocabulary. At last, as nowadays it is common to
evaluate vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners by asking for its synonyms, test designers are
suggested to use words with the same semantic prosody to avoid negative backwash effect of the test.

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REFERENCES
Ahmadian, M., Yazdani, H. & Darabi, A. (2011). Assessing English learner’s knowledge of semantic
prosody through a corpus-driven design of semantic prosody test. English Language Teaching, 4(4),
288-298. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v4n4p288
Bednarek, M. (2008). Semantic preference and semantic prosody re-examined. Corpus Linguistics and
Linguistic Theory, 4(2), 113-139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/CLLT.2008.006
Csomay, E. & Petrovic, M. (2012). Yes, your honor! A corpus-based study of technical vocabulary in
discipline-related movies and TV shows. System, 40(2), 305-315. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2012.05.004
Evans, V. (2009). How words mean: Lexical concepts, cognitive models and meaning Construction. New
York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from
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Fan, P. (2010). Lexical acquisition viewed from a contrastive analysis of collocational behavior of near-
synonyms. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 52-64.
Gu, P. Y. (2003). Fine brush and freehand: The vocabulary-learning art of two successful Chinese EFL
learners. TESOL Quarterly, 37(1), 73-104. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3588466
Hayati, A. M. & Pour-Mohammadi, M. (2005). A comparative study of using bilingual and
monolingual dictionaries in reading comprehension of intermediate EFL students. The Reading Matrix,
5(2), 61-66.
Hedge, T. (2008). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Horst, M. (2005). Learning L2 vocabulary through extensive reading: A measurement study. The
Canadian Modern Language Review, 61, 355-382. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.61.3.355
Inkpen, D. Z. & Hirst, G. (2002). Acquiring collocations for lexical choice between near-Synonyms.
Proceedings of the Workshop on Unsupervised Lexical Acquisition, 40th Annual Meeting of the Association for
Computational Linguistics (ACL 2002), Philadelphia, 67-76.
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Lee, H. C., & Liu, J. (2009). Effects of collocation information on learning lexical Semantics for near-
synonym distinction. Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processing, 14(2), 205-220.
Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (1996). Cross-linguistic and language specific aspects of semantic
prosody. Language Sciences, 18(2), 153-178. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0388-
0001(96)00013-7
Louw, B. & Chateau, C. (2010). Semantic prosody for the 21st century: Are prosodies Smoothed in
academic contexts? A contextual prosodic theoretical perspective. Proceedings of 10th International
Conference on Statistical Analysis of Corpus Study, 755-764.
Nassaji, H. (2003). L2 vocabulary learning from context: Strategies, knowledge sources, and their
relationship with success in L2 lexical inferencing. TESOL Quarterly, 37(4), 645-670. Retrieved from
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Nesselhauf, N. (2005). Collocations in a learner corpus. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Retrieved from
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Partington, A. (2004). Utterly content in each other's company: Semantic prosody and semantic
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Pour-Mohammadi, M., & Abidin, M. J. Z. (2011b). Attitudes towards teaching and learning test-taking
strategies for reading comprehension tests: The case of Iranian EFL undergraduates. Journal of Studies
in Education, 1(1), 1-12. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/jse.v1i1.1028
Richards, J. C. & Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667190
Siepmann, D. (2005). Discourse markers across languages: A contrastive study of. Second-level discourse
markers in native and non-native text with implications for general and pedagogic lexicography. London:
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Xiao, R., & McEnery, T. (2006). Collocation, semantic prosody and near-synonym: A cross-language
perspective. Applied Linguistics, 27, 103-129. Retrieved from Retrieved from
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Zethsen, K. K. (2006). Semantic prosody: Creating awareness about a versatile tool. Tidsskrift for
Sprogforskning, 4(2), 275-294.
Zhang, W. (2009). Semantic prosody and ESL/EFL vocabulary pedagogy. TESL Canada Journal, 26 (2),
1-12. Retrived from http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html

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ON THE IMPACT OF ONE-WAY VS. TWO-WAY TASKS

ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS’
COLLOCATION COMPETENCE

1Pouyan
Pourramzan
Persp_pourramzan@live.com

2Akhtar Zohouri Vaghei

akhtar.zohouri@yahoo.com

3
Davood Taghipour Bazargani
bazargani74@yahoo.com
1 Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran
2 & 3 Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran

 Corresponding author
E-mail: Bazargani74@ yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY ATTEMPTED TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF ONE-WAY VERSUS TWO-WAY
TASKS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLLOCATION COMPETENCE AMONG IRANIAN
INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS. TO THIS END, 60 STUDENTS OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION
STUDYING AT ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY, RASHT BRANCH, PARTICIPATED IN THIS
STUDY. PET WAS USED TO HOMOGENIZE THEM. PARTICIPANTS WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO
GROUPS: EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL. THEY SAT FOR A PRETEST AND AFTER A 10-
SESSION PERIOD OF TREATMENT AND PLACEBO FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL
GROUPS RESPECTIVELY, THEY SAT FOR A POSTTEST. THE RESULTS OF PAIRED AND
INDEPENDENT SAMPLES T-TESTS REVEALED THE FACT THAT TWO-WAY TASK GROUP
OUTPERFORMED THE ONE-WAY TASK GROUP. THE FINDINGS ALSO SHOWED THAT BOTH
GROUPS PROGRESSED FROM PRETEST TO POSTTEST. BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF THIS
STUDY, TWO-WAY TASKS ARE MORE BENEFICIAL TO TEACHING COLLOCATIONS TO
IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS THAN ONE-WAY TASKS.

KEY WORDS: TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING, TWO-WAY TASK, ONE-WAY TASK,

COLLOCATION COMPETENCE

1. Introduction
There has currently been a high emphasis on the practice of Communicative Approach in language
teaching. This English teaching approach highlights the importance of Learner – Centered classrooms
where teachers’ talking time is minimized and students’ talking time is increased to the utmost
(Richards & Renandya, 2002, p.49). Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT), as a sub-branch of
Communicative approach in language teaching, has also taken the attention of a lot of scholars in
recent years. This approach bases itself on the implementation of a great variety of tasks and
procedures to produce effective results in L2 acquisition (Ellis, 2003; Richards, 2001). Task-based
Language Teaching (TBLT) refers to “an approach/method based on the use of tasks as the core unit
of planning and instruction in language teaching, as a logical development of Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT)” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.223). In current pedagogical discussions,
the task-based approach has achieved something of the status of a new orthodoxy; teachers in a
wide range of settings are being told how they should teach. Furthermore, most newly published

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textbooks and papers are being recognized as emphasizing task-based instruction (Ellis, 2003;
Richards & Rodgers, 2001). Clearly, whatever a task-based approach means, it is a good thing
(Littlewood, 2004). The effect of TBLT on the development of different skills and components of
language has been studied by many researchers (e.g. Bygate, Skehan & Swain, 2001; Ellis, 2003;
Johnson, 2003; Leaver & Willis, 2005; Long, 2015; Nunan, 2004; Shehada, 2005; Shintani, 2014; Van den
Branden, 2006). However, no research project has directly investigated the impact of TBLT on EFL
learners’ collocation competence yet. To this end, the present study is aimed to compare the effect of
two well-known types of task i.e. one-way and two-way (Ellis, 2003; Long, 2015) on Iranian
intermediate EFL learners’ collocation competence.

2. Review of the Literature

2.1. Task-Based Language Teaching
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) was developed as an alternative to traditional methods of
language teaching. TBLT aims to develop learners’ communicative competence by engaging them in
meaning-focused communication through the performance of tasks. However, TBLT is not just
concerned with developing “fluency in the communicative process”; it aims to develop learners’
linguistic competence and their interactional competence (Ellis, 2014, p.135). TBLT has received
increasing support from a number of SLA researchers. A number of books – Candlin and Murphy
(1987), Crookes and Gass (1993), Skehan (1998, 2011), Ellis (2003), Mayo (2007), Eckerth and Siekmann
(2008) and Samuda and Bygate (2008) – have expounded the theoretical and research basis for TBLT.
It has also received strong support from teacher educators such as Prabhu (1987), Estaire and Zanon
(1994), Willis (1996) and Nunan (1989, 2004).According to Willis (2007, p.2) “task-based language
teaching (TBLT) helps language learners make real efforts to communicate as best as they can in the
foreign language which they are learning”.

2.1.1. One-way task

In one-way tasks the information is held by a single person and there is no chance for negotiation of
meaning or interaction between students. In these tasks, the burden of completing the task
successfully is placed on the participant who holds the information. Long (2015, p.241) defines this
type of task as “task, such as opinion-gap tasks, where information exchange is optional, as when
learners express their views on an issue, a task where one party holds all the information needed for
task completion (e.g., has & describe a picture that a classmate, who does not have it, must draw or
identify)”.

2.1.2. Two-way task

Two-way tasks are the activity of the communicative approach. Also known as an “information gap”
activity, it pushes learners to communicate with each other in order to retrieve information to
complete a task. In two-way tasks all the participants are obligated to participate in order to complete
the task. According to Long (2015),
Two-way tasks (sometimes also referred to as “reciprocal,” or “jigsaw,” tasks) i.e., those like “spot-
the-difference” and map-route tasks, where (a) each participant holds unique information (b) that
must be exchanged for the task to be completed successfully, have been shown to be superior to one-
way tasks in the amount of negotiation for meaning they engender. (p. 242)

2.2. Collocation
Collocation was first introduced by Firth (1957) to define a combination of words associated with each
other, for example to take a photo. The term ‘collocation’ has its origin in the Latin verb ‘collocare’
which means ‘to set in order/to arrange’ (Martyńska, 2004).Collocation is the way in which words are
used together regularly. Collocation refers to the restrictions on how words can be used together, for
example which prepositions are used with particular verbs, or which verbs and nouns are used
together (Richard & Schmidt, 2002).
Lewis (2000) elaborates a collocation as a subgroup of multi-word items, consisting of individual
words which co-occur on a regular basis. Woolard (2000) also gives further depth to the above-
mentioned definitions by stating that collocations are “co-occurrence of words which are
statistically much more likely to appear together than random chance suggests” (p.29). Nation
(2001) uses the term collocation to define the words that co-occur for two reasons: because they are

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commonly used together by language users, (e.g., take a shower), or because the meaning of the
groups is not obvious from the meaning of the parts like “how do you do?”

3. Purpose of the Study

Collocations are often paid little attention to in comparison with other items in teaching English.
Therefore, even though learners at intermediate or advanced levels of language proficiency know
many vocabulary items and grammatical rules, they make longer sentences to make their intentions
understandable, and their sentences may not make sense or do not sound natural in English. An
important problem which Persian learners of English face in learning collocations is their lack of
awareness of significance of collocations. Methods and strategies used for the instruction of
collocations are sometimes inappropriate as well. Most of the traditional approaches have ignored
the importance of fixed expressions, lexical collocations and bundles which are important for
foreign language learners and they have put the emphasis on the meaning of the separate words.
Most of the traditional approaches have advocated Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) model of
vocabulary instruction in classroom settings. They do not provide learners with tasks that enhance
their capability in applying such elements and their mastery for real communicative situations. In
other words, many teachers tend to show lists of words that they have chosen for learners,
which are likely to appear in examinations, and encourage learners to memorize them. Based on
these grounds, applying task-based approach may help learners to improve their collocation
knowledge.
This study aimed to shed light on these controversial issues. More specifically, the purpose of this
study was to compare the effects of two types of tasks (i.e. two-way vs. one-way) on collocation
learning of Iranian Intermediate EFL learners. In so doing, the following research question was
formulated:
RQ1: Do two-way tasks lead to a more efficient learning of collocations than one-way tasks among
Iranian intermediate EFL learners?
In order to answer the research question, the following null hypothesis was formulated:
Ho1: Two-way tasks do not lead to a more efficient learning of collocations than one-way tasks among
Iranian intermediate EFL learners.

4. Method
4.1. The Design of the Study
The participants of this study were selected non-randomly, so the present study followed a quasi-
experimental design. The participants of the experimental group received a 10-session treatment in
which they worked with two-way tasks, while those of the control group encountered one-way tasks
in the same period of time. To compare their collocation competence, the participants of both groups
sat for a pretest and posttest before and after treatment, respectively. The schematic representation of
the design is as follows.
Post-T
Pre-T

Tr.
EG EG
10 Sessions
CG CG
Pl.

Figure 3.0. Procedure of the study

4.2. Participants
For this study, the participants were 60 male and female students majoring in English Translation at
Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch. Their range of age was between 21 and 29. They were selected
among 86 students passing their ‘Reading 3’ course in two intact classes. One intact class was

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randomly chosen as the experimental group, and the other one as control group. To keep the
homogeneity of the participants, a PET was administered. Among those participants who passed the
exam the ones who obtained the score one SD above and below the mean were selected for the study.

4.3. Instruments
4.3.1. PET
The English language proficiency test used in the study for homogenizing the subjects was a sample
of the Preliminary English Test (PET) adopted from "Objective PET" by Louise Hashemi and Barbara
Thomas (2010), Cambridge University Press. It tests four skills of reading, writing, listening and
speaking.

4.3.2. Pretest
The purpose of this test administered before the treatment was to find the possible initial differences
between the collocation competence of the experimental and control groups. It included 20
collocations and required the participants to either give an L1 equivalent or an L2 definition for the
target collocations. The procedures to pilot and choose these 20 target collocations are described
below.

4.3.3. Target Collocations

A total of 20 target collocations were selected according to the following criteria: First, 30
students who were representative of the sample selected for this study, were asked to choose
unknown collocations from a list of 50 collocations selected from the intermediate level of the book
entitled ‘English Collocations in Use’ (O’Dell &McCarthy, 2005). Based on their responses, the
following 20 target collocations (table 4.1) that were unfamiliar to all students were selected for the
study.
Table 4.1.
The List of 20 Target Collocations Used in the Study

Swallow your pride Square meal

Droopy moustache Pay a compliment
Sharp difference Pay tribute
Considerable amount Hard frost
Bitterly disappointed Budget accommodation
Breathtaking scenery Secluded beach
Substantiate a claim Tranquil countryside
Brisk business Volume of traffic
Absolutely impossible Bumper-to-bumper traffic
A permanent job Shanty town

4.3.4. Posttest
This test which was administered after the treatment sessions was equal in all respects to pretest
except for the arrangement of the target collocations. This rearrangement was done to control for the
probable testing effect. The participants were again required to provide the English equivalents or the
Persian translations of these collocations in writing.

4.4. Data Collection Procedures and Data Analysis

This study was conducted in September 2014. Two intact classes including 42 and 44 students at
Islamic Azad University, Rasht branch, were randomly selected as the experimental and control
groups. To make sure of their homogeneity, all the participants, majoring in English translation and
passing their ‘Reading 3’ course, sat for a PET. Among those participants who passed the exam the
ones who obtained the score one SD above and below the mean were selected for the study.
Therefore, 60 participants (30 in each intact class) remained and the scores of other students were
excluded from the data analysis in the remaining phases of this study (i.e. pretest and posttest). A
pretest piloted before with a reliability index of 0.75was then administered. This test required the
participants to either give an L1 equivalent or an L2 definition for the 20 target collocations piloted

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and selected before. An independent-samples t-test was run to find any possible initial differences
between the performance of participants in the experimental and control groups in the pretest. After
making sure of the homogeneity of the groups with respect to their collocation competence, the
experimental group received a 10-session treatment through which the participants in this group
encountered and performed two-way tasks. Meanwhile, the participants in control group
encountered and performed one-way tasks. At the end of these 10 sessions, a post-test was
administered which was equal in all respects to pretest except for the arrangement of the target
collocations. This rearrangement was done to control for the probable testing effect. The participants
were again required to provide the English equivalents or the Persian translations of these
collocations in writing. Another independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the means of
the experimental group and control group in the posttest with the alpha level set at 0.5. To compare
the means of these two groups from pretest to posttest, two paired-samples t-tests were run too.

5. Results
This study aimed to investigate the possible effects of two types of tasks namely one-way and two-
way on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ collocation competence. In so doing, a pretest-treatment-
posttest design was followed. The participants of both groups (i.e. experimental & control) sat for a
teacher-made collocation pretest first. The results of the pretest, then, were put into SPSS. The
descriptive statistics of this test are presented in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1.
Descriptive statistics for groups on the pre-test
Groups N Mean Std. Deviation

Two-way tasks 30 6.0333 6.0333

One-way tasks 30 6.0000 6.0000

To determine whether there was any statistically significant difference between the scores of the two
groups in pretest, an independent samples t-test was run. The results are presented in table 5.2.

Table 5.2.
Independent samples T-Test on pre-test
t-test for Equality of MeansLevene's T

t df Sig. 2tailed Sig.

Equal variances assumed .150 58 .881
Equal variances not assumed .150 57.215 .881 .769

The obtained Sig. value (p= .881), which is above our cut-off of 0.05, indicted that the two groups did
not perform differently in the pretest. Then, the participants (following a 10-session period of
intervention and non-intervention) sat for a posttest too. The results of the posttest were put into SPSS
too. The descriptive statistics of this test are presented in Table 5.3.

Table 5.3.
Descriptive statistics for groups on the post-test
Groups N Mean Std. Deviation

Two-way tasks 30 16.53 4.67

One-way tasks 30 14.60 3.04

To determine whether there was any statistically significant difference between the scores of the two
groups in posttest, another independent-samples T-test was run. The results are presented in table
5.4.

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Table 5.4.
Independent samples T-Test on post-test

t-test for Equality of MeansLevene’s T

t df Sig. 2tailed Sig.

Equal variances assumed 6.984 58 .000
Equal variances not assumed 6.984 53.328 .000 .011

As it can be seen, this time our Sig. value is less than .05 (p= .000) indicating a statistically significant
difference between the mean scores of the groups in the posttest.
To compare the mean scores of participants in the experimental and control groups from pretest to
posttest, two paired-samples t-tests were run. The results of these tests are presented in the following
tables.
Table 5.5.
Paired sample result for the experimental group of the study
N Sig.
Pair 1 PreEX&PosEX 30 .000

Table 5.5 presents the results for the paired-samples t-test for two sets of the learners’ scores in the
experimental group in both pretest and posttest. The Sig. value is smaller than 0.05 which means that
there is a statistically significant difference between the scores of participants in the experimental
group from pretest to posttest.

Table 5.6.
Paired sample result for the control group of the study
N Sig.
Pair 1 PreCON&PosCON 30 .000

Table 5.6 presents the results for the paired-samples t-test for two sets of the learners’ scores in the
control group in both pretest and posttest. The Sig. value is again smaller than 0.05 which means that
there is a statistically significant difference between the scores of participants in the control group
from pretest to posttest too.
As it was mentioned earlier, a hypothesis about the effect of two-way tasks and one-way tasks on
Iranian EFL students’ collocation competence was proposed. The participants of both groups (i.e.
experimental and control) sat for a pretest and a posttest. Based on the obtained results, the null
hypothesis of this study (i.e. two-way tasks do not lead to a more efficient collocation learning than
one-way tasks among Iranian EFL learners) was rejected.

6. Discussion
This study sought to compare the impact of two types of tasks (i.e. one-way and two-way) on EFL
learners’ collocation competence. To this end, two intact classes were randomly chosen as
experimental and control groups. All the participants sat for a pretest. The purpose of this test was to
find out any possible initial differences between the groups with respect to their knowledge of
collocations. The Sig. value obtained from the independent-samples t-test run on the scores of
participants in pretest indicated no statistically significant difference between the groups. Then a 10-
session treatment and placebo were conducted for the experimental and control groups respectively.
Afterwards, another independent-samples t-test was run on the scores of participants in the posttest.
The results (p= .00) indicated a statistically significant difference between the performance of the two
groups in posttest. This led to the rejection of the null hypothesis of this study. Based on these
findings, two-way tasks are more beneficial in teaching and learning collocations than one-way tasks.

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The results of this study shed light on applicability of two-way activities in teaching collocations. The
outperformance of the experimental group in this study is possibly due to the priority of two-way
tasks in creating engagement and interaction among learners. By using interactional and
communicative tasks such as “jigsaw puzzle, cue-card activity, memorizing cards, jumbled
sentences”, and…etc., which create interaction and cooperation among learners, learning and
teaching different skills and components of language (e.g. collocations) can be facilitated. Task-based
language teaching (especially two-way tasks) proved to be more fruitful than the conventional
instruction.
In recent years, remarkable efforts have been made to investigate the effects of task-based language
teaching on different aspects of language. Blake (2000) claim that two-way tasks such as jigsaw tasks
due to their convergent nature would elicit more negotiation of meaning than other task types. “In a
small-scale classroom study (Newton, 2013), two-way tasks were found better than opinion-gap tasks
for learning new vocabulary items” (cited in Long, 2015, p.242). Some studies (e.g. Iwashita, 2001;
Shehadeh, 2001), however, indicated that one-way tasks allow more modification of output than two-
way tasks (Long, 2015, p.242). Jauregi (1990, reported in Ondarra, 1997) found that a one-way task
(describe-and-draw) produced more negotiation work than a two-way task (talking about future
plan). This finding enjoys opposite results in comparison with the current study.

7. Conclusion
Collocation is an important component of language for second and foreign language learners;
however, due to the great number of them and the lack of a systematic rule to learn them, it is
extremely problematic to learn. This study attempted to find the effect of two types of tasks namely
two-way and one-way (conventional) on Iranian EFL learners’ collocation competence. Based on the
findings of this study, incorporating tasks and task-based activities in EFL classrooms enhance
acquisition of collocations and task-based teaching is a suitable and effective alternative for
traditional methods of teaching collocations. Moreover, two-way tasks are more beneficial to teaching
collocations to Iranian intermediate EFL learners than one-way tasks.

8. Suggestions for Further Research

In sum, only two-way and one-way tasks and their effects on collocational competence of Iranian
intermediate EFL learners were investigated. Maybe for future research it is beneficial to study and
review the effect of two-way tasks on teaching and learning four main language skills i.e. listening,
writing, speaking, reading as well as the components of language such as grammar, and
pronunciation. Investigating the possible effects of these types of tasks on learners belonging to other
age groups and with other proficiency levels (i.e. elementary or advanced) can also fill some research
gaps in this field. The effect of two-way tasks on Iranian EFL learners’ translation ability is another
avenue of research with probable fruitful results and findings.

REFERENCES
Blake, R. (2000). Computer mediated communication: A window on L2 Spanish
interlanguage. Language Learning & Technology, 4(1), 120–136.
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2014). Exploring language pedagogy through second language acquisition research.
Routledge.
Hashemi, L., & Thomas, B. (2010). Objective PET, second edition. Cambridge University press.
Iwashita, N. (2001). The effect of learner proficiency on international moves and modified output in
nonnative-nonnative interaction in Japanese as a foreign language. System 29 (2), 267-287.
Lewis, M. (Ed.), (2000). Teaching collocation: Further development in the lexical approach. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Littlewood, W. (2004). The task-based approach: some questions and suggestions. English Language
Teaching Journal, 58(4), 319–326.
Long, M. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Newton, J. (2013). Incidental vocabulary learning in classroom communication tasks Language
Teaching Research 17 (2), 164-187.

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Ondarra, K. (1997). Collaborative Negotiation of Meaning. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Richards, J. C. & Rodgers. T.S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge
University Press.
Richards J. C, & Renandya W. A. (2002). Methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (3th
ed.). London: Longman (Pearson Education).
Shehadeh, A. (2001). Self- and other-initiated modified output during task-based interaction. TESOL
Quarterly35 (3), pp. 433-457.
Willis, D. & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Woolard, G. (2000). Collocation encourages learners’ independence. In M. Lewis (Ed.), Teaching
collocation: Further development in the lexical approach (pp. 28-46). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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THE IMPACT OF FIRST LANGUAGE POLYSEMOUS

WORDS ON THE PRODUCTION OF SECOND
LANGUAGE LEXICAL ITEMS

Omid Tabatabaei
Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran
Emai address: tabatabaeiomid@yahoo.com
Address: Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran

Mahmoud Mehrabi
Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran
Email address: mehrabi_ma2006@yahoo.com
Address: Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran

Nafise Radi
Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran
Email address: nafise.radi@gmail.com
Address: Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran

ABSTRACT
POLYSEMY IS ONE OF THE MOST PROBLEMATIC AREAS AND ONE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT SKILLS TO BE LEARNT IN THE PROCESS OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING.
THIS STUDY ATTEMPTS TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT OF FIRST LANGUAGE POLYSEMOUS
WORDS ON THE PRODUCTION OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEXICAL ITEMS. TO DO SO, 60 OUT
OF A PILE OF 97 MALE EFL LEARNERS WERE SELECTED BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THEIR
QUICK PLACEMENT TEST, AND THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO ELEMENTARY AND
INTERMEDIATE GROUP. TWO GROUPS OF POLYSEMOUS WORDS, 20 VERBS AND 20 NOUNS,
WERE CHOSEN FROM HAIM AND MOIN PERSIAN DICTIONARIES, AND THEY WERE TAUGHT
TO THE STUDENTS IN FOUR SESSIONS, 30 MINUTES OF EACH TWO-HOUR IN EACH SESSION,
FIVE VERBS AND FIVE NOUNS. ONE WEEK AFTER THE LAST SESSION, THE LEARNERS WERE
TESTED WITH THE POSTTEST IN WHICH THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO COMPLETE EACH
STATEMENT WITH THE ENGLISH WORD WHICH THEY CONSIDERED SUITABLE FOR THE
GIVEN FARSI WORD. THE RESULTS OF THE TWO TESTS WERE ANALYSED THROUGH A
PAIRED-SAMPLE T-TEST AND TWO INDEPENDENT-SAMPLE T-TESTS. THE ANALYSES
SHOWED THAT ALL OF THE PARTICIPANTS ANSWERED QUESTIONS RELATED TO NOUNS
BETTER THAN THE QUESTIONS RELATED TO VERBS; MOREOVER, THE INTERMEDIATE
GROUP OUTPERFORMED THE ELEMENTARY GROUP IN PRODUCING BOTH L2 POLYSEMOUS
NOUNS AND VERBS. THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS,
RESEARCHERS, AND MATERIAL DEVELOPERS.

KEY WORD: LEXICAL ITEM, POLYSEMY, SEMANTIC PRODUCTION, ELEMENTARY

LEARNERS, INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS

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Introduction
Polysemy is a noticeable ambiguous lexical element in the studies of linguistics. During even a short
process of reading lots of polysemous words may be encountered. As noted by Guttler and William
(2008), during a day a big part of our mental lexicon activities are devoted to process different aspects
of polysemous words.
According to Kang (1995) with regard to mental lexicon, it is not enough to have the vocabulary
knowledge for a language learner but besides this person should be aware of the applications of
different senses of polysemous words of that language, since polysemy words can be a source of
ambiguity in the process of L2 learning. According to Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and
Applied Linguistics (2002), a word, phrase, or sentence, which has more than one meaning is said to be
ambiguous. Traditionally, two kinds of lexical ambiguity are considered: polysemy and homonymy.
While polysemy is the ambiguity between various senses of a lexeme, which are in some way related
to each other, homonymy is the ambiguity between completely unconnected or diachronically
separate meanings (Rumshisky, 2009).
With attention to the role and value of polysemous words, it is claimed that the ambiguity is
considered as a challenging and thought-provoking element in language and therefore it plays a very
noticeable role in language interpretation (Langaker, 1988). As Williams (1992) mentioned, the vital
role of polysemous words can be inferred from their availability in everyday language. Polysemy
becomes more important when two languages are involved because in some cases it has been
observed that one word in a language is monosemous while that word has two or more equivalences
in the other language (Klepousniotou, 2007).
In spite of the importance of polysemy in language use and interpretation, very little attention has
been paid to their pedagogical practices and their presentation in teaching materials and this fact
becomes more prominent when it comes to the interpretation of L1 polysemous words (Hino &
Lupker, 2006). In almost all available studies so far, none of the studies has aimed systematically to
investigate the effect of the co-activation of L1 polysemous words on L2. Therefore, it seems that it is
of crucial importance to investigate such issue in L2 learning literature, an issue which is the focus of
the present study.

1. Review of Literature
In the studies in the field of L2, a lot of researches on ambiguous words belong to homonymy not
polysemy (e.g., Bierwische & Schreuder, 1992; Brown, 2006; Rodd, 2002). It is also noteworthy that
most of the studies which are devoted to polysemy are about L2 polysemy and its effect on L1
polysemy and therefore some researchers have decided to discover about L1 polysemy and its effect
on L2 polysemy.
Among these researchers we can point to Kroll and Stewart (1994) who mention that in the process of
the effect of L1 polysemy on L2 two very important aspects should be concentrated: the first one is
lexical-level translation connection which refers to the direct relationship between a word in L2 and its
translation in L1 through a link in the lexical-level. The second aspect mentioned by these researchers
is co-activation of L1 polysemous senses which implies that different senses of an L1 polysemous word
activate each other at the same time.
So far, a variety of models has been introduced to explain about L2 polysemy acquisition and its
effect on L2 word recognition. One of the most recent models is the underlying meaning model
presented by Nation (2001). This model, which is a technique to introduce new and different senses of
L2 polysemous words and describes a pedagogical procedure for L2 polysemy, claims that different
senses of an L2 polysemous word should be presented and taught in a context by asking about or
providing L2 learners with all of the common properties in all senses.
Another perspective of the processing of L2 polysemous words is represented by Read (2005). In his
consideration, Read investigated vocabulary knowledge not only from the aspect of quantity (or
breath) but also quality (or depth). By quantity of vocabulary knowledge he concentrates on the
number of known words, and by the word quality he concentrates on vocabulary knowledge
including collocations and polysemous senses, and he thinks that L2 learners should improve their
vocabulary knowledge both qualitatively and quantitatively. In line with this opinion he conducted a
test which was based on the test conducted by Dolch and Heeds (1987) on various vocabulary sets. In
his study L2 polysemous words were followed by three different definitions of the senses of that
polysemous word and a distracting definition and the participants were asked to select the

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appropriate meaning for that polysemous word which was represented in a paragraph. Finally he
found that L2 learners in his study who took this test could reflect their vocabulary knowledge,
especially their knowledge of ambiguous words, much better than those who took the test including
four vocabulary items with no definition of polysemous senses.
The other model is worth mentioning here is Meara’s (1997) model known as polysemy network
connection. He describes mental lexicon as a network and concludes that learning a word activates a
connection between the new word and the already existing words, and therefore according to this
view the more the connections, the more the known words. Via this model, when a polysemous word
is provided one sense which is the known word, will be linked to other senses. This property is one of
the advantages of this model because based on this property learners are not forced to learn all
meanings of an L2 polysemous word at once, but L2 teachers can teach one sense and then connect it
to the other sense later on.

2. Research Questions
With regard to the phenomenon of lexicalization pattern and polysemy as its major issue, the
following questions are posed to be investigated in this study:
1. Does the type of L1 polysemous words (i.e., nouns vs. verbs) influence the production of L2
words?
2. Do high-proficient L2 learners perform the same as the low-proficient L2 learners in terms of
producing L2 polysemous nouns?
3. Do high-proficient learners perform the same as the low-proficient L2 learners in terms of
producing L2 polysemous verbs?
4. Research Hypotheses
Accordingly, the following null hypotheses are formulated:
1. The type of L1 polysemous words (i.e., nouns vs. verbs) does not influence the production of
L2 words.
2. High-proficient L2 learners are not different from low-proficient L2 learners in terms of
producing L2 polysemous nouns.
3. High-proficient L2 learners are not different from low-proficient L2 learners in terms of
producing L2 polysemous verbs.

5. Methodology
5.1. Participants
The Participants in this study were 60 EFL learners who were selected non-randomly by
administering the Quick Placement Test (Oxford University Press and University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate). According to the test level chart, 30 students who scored between 28 and 36
were put in intermediate group, and 30 learners who scored between 18 and 27 were assigned to
elementary group. All the participants were male students whose first language was Farsi. Their age
range was between 17 and 23 with a mean of 18.6. The participants in intermediate group have been
studying English at language institutes for over a ear, and the participants in elementary group have
been studying English in the same institute for about a year.
5.2. Instruments
The materials for this study comprised three sets, the QPT, 20 polysemous nouns and 20 polysemous
verbs, and the posttest.
5.2.1. The QPT
In order to control for the proficiency factor, there was a need to homogenize the participants
according to their level of L2 proficiency. To do so, the Quick Placement Test (QPT) was used to select
the intermediate group. The test consists of 60 questions. There were five questions related to their
knowledge of different signs and notices used to indicate particular meanings, five cloze passages (25
questions), 20 multiple-choice questions which assessed the participants’ knowledge of grammar, 10
multiple-choice questions related to the knowledge of vocabulary.
5.2.2. The Polysemous Words
By using Haim and Moin Persian Dictionaries, 80 words, 40 verbs and 40 nouns, which could have
different meanings in English, were chosen. Then they were given to three MA students of English
translation to write their English equivalents. After checking the experts’ responses, 20 polysemous
verbs and 20 polysemous nouns were selected as the main words to be dealt with.

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5.2.3. The Posttest

The researchers prepared a 30-item test which contained the 20 polysemous verbs and 20 polysemous
nouns. For each item of the test, the participants were supposed to choose between the two different
meanings of the Persian word which was given in the parentheses.
By administering this test to the main participants, it was given to two university professors to give
their opinion about the test. Then using their comments, the researchers revised the test and pilot-
tested it against 10 intermediate students for checking the plausibility and reliability of the test. The
results of the pilot study showed that the test was plausible, and its reliability turned out to be .872 by
using the Cronbach’s Alfa formula.
5.3. Procedure
In order to select the required number of participants, the researchers referred to one of English
Language teaching institutes in Esfahan, Iran, and using QPT tested 97 EFL learners, 48 of whom,
according to the institute manager, were at intermediate level, and the other 49 learners were
elementary learners. Then, according to the test results, he chose 30 intermediate learners and 30
elementary learners.
In the next stage, by using Haim and Moin Dictionaries, 40 verbs and 40 nouns, which could have
different meanings in English, were chosen. Then they were given to three MA students of translation
to write their English equivalents. After checking the experts’ responses, 20 polysemous verbs and 20
polysemous nouns were selected as the main words to be dealt with.
The next step was to prepare the appropriate statements for the posttest. After deciding on the
statements, the researchers consulted with two experts, and the statements were revised according to
their comments. Moreover, in order to make sure that the statements were suitable for the intended
population and also to decide on the timing for the test, 10 intermediate students from the same
institute were asked to complete the sentences.
Having finished with the preliminary procedure for preparing the required instruments and choosing
the main participants of the study, the researchers started teaching the polysemous words to the
students. The teaching was done in four sessions, 30 minutes of each two-hour class. It should be
mentioned that in each session, five verbs and five nouns were taught. One week after the last
session, the learners were supposed to complete each statement with the English word which they
thought was a suitable equivalent for the given Farsi word.
6. Results
The result section consists of three subsections, one being devoted to one of the hypotheses.
6.1. Investigating the First Null Hypothesis
In ordrer to find out whether or not the participants performed differently with regard to two types of
polysemous words, after carrying out the experiment, the groups were given a test on the taught
words to check for the possible differences. Table 1 indicates the descriptive statistics for the posttest.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for Hpotheseis One

Mean N SD SEM
Nouns 8.60 60 2.842 .367
Verbs 6.70 60 1.942 .251
Table 1 confirms that there is a difference between the two sets of words (i.e., nouns and verbs), but
they do not tell whether this difference is significant or not. In order to find this out, a paired-sample
t-test was employed. Table 2 presents the results of this t-test.
Table 2. The Results of the Paired-sample t-test for Hypothesis One
T Df Sig. Mean Difference
10.711 59 .000 1.90
Since the figures in Table 2 reveal that the amount of t-observed (t(59) = 10.711) is high enough to be
statistically significant (p = .000), and since the amount of t-observed is positive, it can be concluded
that the participants answered questions related to nouns better than the questions about verbs.
Therefore, the first null hypothesis can safely be rejected. In other words, the type of polysemy does
not affect the EFL learners in producing the L2 words.

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6.2. Investigating the Second Null Hypothesis

By proposing the second null hypothesis, the researchers tried to understand if participants with
different proficiency levels performed differently although they all went through the same procedure
for learning the polysemous nouns. For this purpose, the results of the test of the two groups on
nouns were compared. Table 3 depicts the descriptive statistics for this comparison.
Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for Hypothesis Two
Groups N Mean SD SEM
Intermediate 30 11.03 1.497 .273
Elementary 30 6.17 1.392 .254
According to Table 3, the means of the two groups are different, and it affirms that the two groups of
participants performed differently. However, it does not show whether or not this difference is
statistically significant. To answer this question, an independent-sample t-test was run. Table 4
indicates the results of this t-test.
Table 4. The Results of the Independent-sample t-test for Hypothesis Two
T Df Sig. Mean Difference
13.042 58 .000 4.87
By checking the table for the independent-sample t-test, that is, Table 4, it can be seen that the amount
of t-observed (13.042) is meaningful at the significance level of p = .000. In other words, since the
amount of t-observed is positive, it can be concluded that the intermediate group outperformed the
elementary group. As a result, the second hypothesis is rejected, and it can be claimed that EFL
learners with different proficiency levels perform differently on the test of polysemous nouns.
6.3. Investigating the Third Hypothesis
For testing the third hypothesis, the same procedure was followed as that for the second hypothesis
except for the type of word; that is, for hypothesis two the polysemous nouns were taken into
account, but for hypothesis three the focus was on the polysemous verbs. For this purpose, the result
of the test of the two groups on verbs were compared. Table 5 reports the descriptive statistics for this
comparison.
Table 5. Descriptive Statistics for Hypothesis Three
Groups N Mean SD SEM
Intermediate 30 8.30 1.264 .231
Elementary 30 5.10 .885 .162
As it can clearly be seen in Table 5, the two means are not the same which denotes that the
performances of the participants in the two proficiency groups are not similar. Since the above table
does not provide enough information to decide if this difference is statistically significant or not,
another independent-sample t-test was needed to find it out. Table 6 indicates the results of this t-test.

Table 6. The Results of the Independent-sample t-test for Hypothesis Three

T Df Sig. Mean Difference
11.363 58 .000 3.20
Investigating the data in the table for the independent-sample t-test reveals that, that amount of t-
observed (11.363) is significant at the probability level of p = .000. In other words, since the amount of
t-observed is positive, it can be concluded that, once again, the intermediate group showed a better
performance than the elementary group. As a result, the third null hypothesis, like the other two
hypotheses, can safely be rejected, and it can be claimed that EFL learners with different proficiency
levels perform differently on the test of polysemy verbs although they are taught with the same
procedure.

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7. Discussion
The findings of this study showed that L1 polysemous words (i.e., nouns vs. verbs) affect the
production of L2 words in that the participants answered questions related to nouns better than the
questions about verbs. As far as the researchers considered, no exact research was found about the
priority of nouns or verbs in polysemy production but in a study by Elston-Guttler and Williams
(2007) almost similar result was drawn. They investigated the influence of first language (L1)
lexicalization patterns on the processing of second language (L2) words in sentential contexts by
advanced German learners of English. The focus was on cases where a polysemous word in the L1
was realized by independent words in the L2. The results showed that for nouns, access to L1
concepts was likely to be involved in the interference effects, either via a lexical-level translation
connection or directly from L2 words, but in the case of verbs, both the natives and non-native
learners showed highly significant interference in the highly related verbs conditions.
The second result showed that the intermediate group outperformed the elementary group in terms
of producing L2 polysemous nouns. Zuo (2011) in a study attempted to explore factors affecting
polysemous characterization. These factors were the level of learner language proficiency, different
parts of speech polysemy, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and polysemy generation mechanisms,
including metaphor and metonymy. Objects of this article were the first grade and third grade
students of English majors. The experiment consisted of two test tools. The first one was British
turned Han practice which aimed to explore the representation or independent polysemy
characterization tended to the core meaning of a word, and the other one was meaning associated
strength test which was designed to explore the impact of different factors on the meanings on their
strength of the association. The experimental results showed that: 1) low level language learners
tended core senses characterization and the strength of their association between the various
meanings were stronger. 2) Meaning characterization of high level language learners tended to
separate, and the strength of association between the nouns were weak, and 3) noun polysemy
characterization was significantly different.
The last result showed that the intermediate group outperformed the elementary group although they
were taught with the same procedures in terms of producing L2 polysemous verbs. The purpose of a
study by Makni (2013) was to compare the pedagogic efficiency of two methods for teaching
polysemous vocabulary- the image-schema-based vocabulary instruction method (ISBM) and the
translation-based vocabulary instruction method (TBM). Additionally, this study aimed to evaluate the
way in which three learner characteristics involving language proficiency contributed to individual
differences in acquiring polysemous words. Finally the results showed that the higher the language
proficiency of the learners was, the better they would be at understanding and retaining polysemous
words. Verbs appear to be especially problematic for L2 learners. In another study with congruent
result with our study, Kallkvist (1997, cited in Gutller & Williams, 2008) found that verbs were more
likely than nouns to be used incorrectly by advanced Swedish learners in written compositions and in
retellings of stories.
As far as the researchers have concerned, there were no studies about the effect of L1 polysemous
words (i.e., nouns vs. verbs) on the production of L2 words and whether this L2 word production is
different between high and low proficient L2 learners. Our research showed that the participants
answered questions related to nouns better than the questions about verbs and it was also proven that
high proficient learners outperformed low proficient learners in terms of producing L2 polysemous
nouns and verbs. Therefore, it seems that we cannot ignore the effect of L1 on second language
learning. Our study, like lots of other studies, has proven that L1 affects L2 learning, and more
proficient learners act better in second language production.
8. Conclusion
This research program investigated the effect of L1 polysemous words on the production of L2 words.
Two types of polysemous words- nouns and verbs- along with proficiency level were explored by
two high and low proficient experimental groups. The results gave us a clear understanding of the
problems of L2 learners in terms of the production of L2 words. The result of our study is consistent
with results of some other studies which have concluded that nouns and verbs in English differ in
many ways. Our study has shown that polysemous nouns are not only easier to be acquired but also
to be produced. Our results bear out some of the previous findings for polysemous English words; L2
polysemous nouns were produced easier than verbs and high proficient learners outperformed low
proficient learners. The effect of L1 on L2 learning has been proven in lots of different studies about

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aspects of L2 and even different aspects of polysemy, but as far as the researchers studied, there has
been no study to investigate the effect of L1 polysemous words on the production of L2 words and
whether this production is related to the proficiency level of learners or not. Thus, the results of the
present study have enriched the previous literature, and it shows that L1 is effective on the
production of L2 polysemous words and more proficient learners act better in the process of
production.

REFERENSES
Bierwisch, M., & Schreuder, R. (1992). From concepts to lexical items. Journal of Cognition, 42, 23-60.
Brown, C. H. (2006). Polysemy, overt marking, and function words. Language and Science Journal, 7,
283-332.
Dolch, E. W. (Ed.). (1987). Dolch sight words (23rd ed.). Washington: Word Press.
Hino, Y., & Lupker, S. J. (2006). Ambiguity and relatedness effects in semantic tasks: Are they due to
semantic coding? Journal of Memory and Language, 55, 247-273.
Kang, J. Y. (2005). Written narrarives as an index of L2 competence in Korean EFL. Journal of Second
Language Writing, 14, 259-279.
Klepousniotou, E. (2007). The processing of lexical ambiguity: homonymy and polysemy in mental
lexicon. Journal of Brain and Language, 81, 205-223.
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category inference in translation and picture meaning: Evidence for
asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory & Language, 33,
149-174.
Langaker, R. W. (1991). Foundation of cognitive grammar. Journal of Cognitive Linguistics, 20, 291-325.
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. 3rd ed. (2002). UK: Pearson
Education Limited.
Meara, P. (1997). Toward a new approach to modeling vocabulary acquisition. In Schmitt, N. &
McCarthy, M. (Eds.), vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 109-121). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Journal of Semantic, 12, 62-79.
Rodd, H. (2004). Modeling the effects of semantic ambiguity in word recognition. Journal of Memory
and Language, 7, 89-104.
Rumshisky, A. A. (2009). Verbal polysemy resolution through contextualized clustering of arguments. Ph.D.
dissertation, Retrieved from ProQuest (UMI No: 3339382).
Williams, J. N. (1992). Masked priming and meaning retrieval: Limitations on the scope of semantic
priming from masked words. Journal of Semantics, 5, 67-81.

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THE SCOPE OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AND

LANGUAGE TEACHING (A REVIEW)

Payman Rajabi , Department of ELT , Malayer Branch , Islamic Azad University , Malayer
paymanrajabi2002@yahoo.com

Abbas Bayat, Department of ELT , Malayer Branch , Islamic Azad University , Malayer
abbasbayat305@yahoo.com

Ahmad Reza Jamshidipour, PhD Candidate in TESL , Department of ELT , Malayer Branch , Islamic
Azad University , Malayer
a.r.jamshidi2@gmail.com

2Masoud Hashemi, PhD Candidate in TESL , Department of ELT , Malayer Branch , Islamic Azad
University , Malayer
mhashemi@tuyiau.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
A DESIRABLE AND ANTICIPATED EFFECT OF THE STUDY OF DISCOURSE IS ALSO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPEN AND TOLERANT MIND WHICH WILL EVENTUALLY LEAD TO
A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE DIFFERENT AND VARIED MANIFESTATIONS OF
LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION IN HUMAN SOCIETY (LAURA ALBA-JUEZ ,
2009) . WITH THE EMERGENCE OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS, MORE AND MORE LINGUISTS
AND PEDAGOGISTS BEGIN TO APPLY THE RESEARCH FINDINGS AND RESULTS IN THIS
FIELD TO LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AS THE
SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE USE IN CONTEXT MAINLY INVOLVES LOOKING AT
BOTH LANGUAGE FORM AND LANGUAGE FUNCTION AND INCLUDES THE STUDY OF
BOTH SPOKEN INTERACTION AND WRITTEN TEXTS. IT TRIES TO IDENTIFY LINGUISTIC
FEATURES THAT CHARACTERIZE DIFFERENT GENRES AS WELL AS SOCIAL AND
CULTURAL FACTORS THAT AID IN OUR INTERPRETATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF
DIFFERENT TEXTS AND TYPES OF TALK. A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF WRITTEN TEXTS
MIGHT INCLUDE A STUDY OF TOPIC DEVELOPMENT AND COHESION ACROSS THE
SENTENCES, WHILE AN ANALYSIS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE MIGHT FOCUS ON THESE
ASPECTS PLUS TURN-TAKING PRACTICES, OPENING AND CLOSING SEQUENCES OF SOCIAL
ENCOUNTERS, OR NARRATIVE STRUCTURE. THE STUDY OF DISCOURSE HAS DEVELOPED
IN A VARIETY OF DISCIPLINES-SOCIOLINGUISTICS, ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, AND
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. THUS DISCOURSE ANALYSIS TAKES DIFFERENT THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVES AND ANALYTIC APPROACHES: SPEECH ACT THEORY, INTERACTIONAL
SOCIOLINGUISTICS, AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION, PRAGMATICS,
CONVERSATION ANALYSIS, AND VARIATION ANALYSIS (SCHIFFRIN, 1994). ALTHOUGH
EACH APPROACH EMPHASIZES DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE USE, THEY ALL VIEW
LANGUAGE AS SOCIAL INTERACTION. THE MAIN GOAL BEHIND THE PRESENT PAPER IS
TO PROVIDE THE READER WITH THE BASIC SCOPE AND THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES OF
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS. THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE PAPER COULD NOT ONLY BE OF USE
FOR LINGUISTS , ITS FINDINGS AND APPLICATIONS CAN BE USED AND APPLIED BY
PRACTITIONERS AND SCHOLARS FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS OF STUDY , SUCH AS
SOCIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, MEDICAL SCIENCE, COMPUTER SCIENCE, AND SO ON. THE
WRITER WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT THIS PAPER DOES NOT CLAIM ORIGINALITY IN
ITS CONTENT, IN THE SENSE THAT NO NEW THEORY OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IS

2
Department of ELT , Tuyserkan Branch , Islamic Azad University , Tuyserkan , Iran

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PRESENTED OR OUTLINED. THE MAIN AIM HAS BEEN TO PRESENT A STATE-OF -THE-ART
DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE ALREADY EXISTING APPROACHES TO THE DISCIPLINE, AS
WELL AS ITS MAIN ISSUES OR CONCERNS. HOWEVER, THE ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS AND
APPROACHES ALONG WITH THE PEDAGOGICAL ORIENTATIONS TIRES TO CONTRIBUTE TO
THE STUDY OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN GENERAL.

KEYWORDS: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS, LANGUAGE TEACHER

Introduction
The origin of discourse analysis
The history and origin of Discourse analysis actually goes back to different disciplines in the 1960s
and early 1970s, including linguistics semiotics, psychology, anthropology and sociology.
The publication of “Discourse analysis “(Harris 1952) by Zellig Harris showed his eagerness for
the distribution of linguistic elements-in extended texts, and the links between the text and its social
situation . With the emergence of semiotics and the French structuralist approach to the study of
narrative in 1960s, Dell Hymes provided a sociological perspective with the study of speech in its
social setting (e.g. Hymes 1964). Austin (1962), Searle (1969) and Grice (1975) were also influential in
the study of language as social action, reflected in speech-act theory and the formulation of
conversational maxims, alongside the emergence of pragmatics as the study of meaning in context
(Levinson 1983; Leech 1983).

After the Chomskyan Generative linguistics, other schools of thoughts emerged in different parts of
the world that supported opposing ideas to those of Chomsky’s. They strongly believed that a good
linguistic description should go beyond the sentence level, and the idea that there are certain
meanings and aspects of language that cannot be understood if its study is limited to the syntactic
analysis of sentences. Therefore, in the twentieth century, the following new disciplines emerged
within the field of Linguistics:
 Functionalism (functional grammars)
 Cognitive Linguistics


 Linguistics


When dealing with DA, then, researchers automatically may also engage themselves in Functional
Grammar, Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics or Cognitivism, because all these fields are interrelated and
have common tenets. As an important element of DA is coherence concerns the idea that texts are
organized at more global descriptive levels than that of the sentence. With the emergence of the
cognitive theories, the notion of strategic understanding was also developed, which tried to account
for what the users of a language really do when they understand a given text. Van Dijk also showed
how several other new concepts were introduced in TL studies, such as socio-cultural knowledge and
mental models (Johnson-Laird, 1983), as well as all the ideas and concepts coming from the field of
Pragmatics. In his particular case, he took interest in the study of power and ideology, which places
him within the DA stream-of-thought known as Critical Discourse Analysis. Therefore , the current
goal behind DA is to describe language in the context of human interaction and this interaction often
involves other media and semiotic systems besides language such as : gesture, dance, song,
photography or clothing, and it is also the discourse analyst’s job to explain the connection between
these systems and language. So within the field of discourse not only the “purely” linguistic content ,
but also sign language, dramatization, or the so-called ‘bodily hexis’ is included(Bordieu, 1990). It can
thus be concluded that discourse is multi-modal because it uses more than one semiotic system and
performs several functions at the same time.

The ambiguity of the terms: Discourse Analysis and Text Linguistics

To define and describe the scope of study of discourse analysis and text linguistics and to establish
the differences between them both is not an easy task.. Both terms text and discourse have been used
in a variety of ways by different scholars and researchers: there is numerous theoretical approaches to

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both text analysis and discourse analysis proposed by different research traditions, but all of them
share similar principles. Some scholars have limited the term text to written language and discourse
to spoken language. However, according to (Laura Alba-Juez , 2009) in modern linguistics the concept
of text is introduced since it includes all types of utterance such as whatever which is appeared in a
magazine article, a television talk show, a dialogue and so on. To Stef Slembrouck (DA web page),
discourse analysis does not presuppose a bias towards the study of either spoken or written language.
In fact, the monolithic character of the categories of speech and writing has been widely challenged,
especially as the gaze of analysts' turns to multi-media texts and practices on the Internet. According
to Crystal (1997) Text Linguistics is “the formal account of the linguistic principles governing the
structure of texts”. However, De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) define text as a communicative
event that must satisfy the following seven criteria:
1) Cohesion, which has to do with the relationship between text and syntax. Phenomena such as
conjunction, ellipsis, anaphora, cataphora or recurrence are basic for cohesion.
2) Coherence, which has to do with the meaning of the text. Here we may refer to elements of
knowledge or to cognitive structures that do not have a linguistic realization but are implied by the
language used, and thus influence the reception of the message by the interlocutor.
3) Intentionality, which relates to the attitude and purpose of the speaker or writer.
4) Acceptability, which concerns the preparation of the hearer or reader to assess the relevance or
usefulness of a given text.
5) Informativity, which refers to the quantity and quality of new or expected information.
6) Situationality, which points to the fact that the situation in which the text is produced plays a
crucial role in the production and reception of the message.
7) Intertextuality, which refers to two main facts: a) a text is always related to some preceding or
simultaneous discourse; b) texts are always linked and grouped in particular text varieties or genres
(e.g.: narrative, argumentative, descriptive, etc.) by formal criteria.
Schiffrin believed that discourse analysis involves the study of both text and context. One might
conclude that text linguistics only studies the text, while discourse analysis is more complete because
it studies both text and context. However, there are definitions of text (like de Beaugrande’s) that are
very broad and include both elements, and that is why it would be very risky to talk about clear cut
differences between the two disciplines. De Beaugrande’s (2002) definition of Text Linguistics as “the
study of real language in use” does not differ from many of the definitions of Discourse Analysis
presented by Schiffrin within its functional approach, some of which are the following:
The study of discourse is the study of any aspect of language use (Fasold,1990: 65).The analysis of
discourse is, necessarily, the analysis of language in use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the
description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes or functions which these forms are
designed to serve in human affairs (Brown & Yule, 1983: 1).According to (Candlin, 1997: ix)
discourse… refers to language in use, as a process which is socially situated.
However, the terms Text Linguistics (TL) and Discourse Analysis (DA) are sometimes used
interchangeably to mean the same. However, it seems that TL enjoys a more formal and experimental
approach, while DA will mostly favor a functional approach. According to Schiffrin DA is an
umbrella term which covers TL studies as well. To Slembrouck term discourse analysis is ambiguous
so he provides a broad definition as follows:
DA refers mainly to the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected speech or written
discourse. Roughly speaking, it refers to attempts to study the organization of language above the
sentence or above the clause, and therefore to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational
exchanges or written texts. It follows that discourse analysis is also concerned with language use in
social contexts, and in particular with interaction or dialogue between speakers. (2005:1)
To Stubbs, M. (1983) discourse analysis is very ambiguous. To him, DA refers mainly to the linguistic
analysis of naturally occurring connected speech or written discourse. Roughly speaking, it refers to
attempts to study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause, and therefore
to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written texts. It follows that
discourse analysis is also concerned with language use in social contexts, and in particular with
interaction or dialogue between speakers.

The multidisciplinary nature of discourse analysis

Van Dijk truly maintains that Discourse Analysis is multidisciplinary by saying:

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…discourse analysis for me is essentially multidisciplinary, and involves linguistics, poetics,

semiotics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, and communication research. What I find
crucial though is that precisely because of its multi-faceted nature, this multidisciplinary research
should be integrated. We should devise theories that are complex and account both for the textual,
the cognitive, the social, the political and the historical dimension of discourse. (2002: 10) . As
according to Brown and Yule (1983) Discourse analysis tries to explain how humans use language to
communicate and, in particular, how addressers construct linguistic messages for addressees and
how addressees work on linguistic messages in order to interpret them.
Thus, when analyzing discourse, researchers are not only concerned with “purely” linguistic facts;
they pay equal or more attention to language use in relation to social, political and cultural aspects.
For this reason, discourse is not only within the interests of linguists; it is a field that is also studied by
communication scientists, literary critics, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, social
psychologists, political scientists, and many others. Barbara Johnstone puts it as follows:
DA is used by scholars with a variety of academic and non-academic affiliations, coming from a
variety of disciplines, to answer a variety of questions. (2002: xi) .

DA has close interrelationship with other scientific approaches such as Sociolinguistics: Social
interaction in conversation; social context transcribed spoken data. Psycholinguistics: Issues related to
language comprehension short constructed texts (textoids) or sequences of written sentences.
Philosophical linguistics: Semantic roles of sentences; relation sentences and the world, truth-values
constructed sentences. Computational linguistics: Models of discourse processing, Short constructed
texts Critical Discourse Analysis: The use of discourse analysis techniques to reveal ideological bias,
hidden power relations, sexism, racism, etc. in discourse.

The overlap between DA and Pragmatics

Pragmatics refers to all aspects of linguistics which don’t fit inside semantics, syntax or phonology .It
is more about the relationship between language and its users and mainly deals with such topics as
speech-acts, and what people can infer from language but is not said (implicature, pre-suppositions,
indirect speech acts).In fact , pragmatics is concerned with choices in individual utterance, not
patterns of choices throughout a discourse .In other words Pragmatics [is] a general cognitive, social,
and cultural perspective on linguistic phenomena in relation to their usage in forms of behaviour.”
(Verschueren, 1999: 7)

It is clear that discourse analysis has objectives that overlap to those of pragmatics. This is because
discourse is none other than a sequence of sentences in operation -in other words utterances. But
while discourse analysts explain the interpretation of the elements in question without going outside
language, pragmatics resorts to other ambits of human activity (beliefs, feelings, knowledge,
intentions… (Margarida Bassols Puig).

Approaches to the study of language according to discourse analysis

The approaches used to deal with DA can be divide into two types : Internal approach and external
approach .Internal approach: looks for internal rules that native speakers use to generate
grammatically correct sentences while external approach asks how we use language to communicate .

What is discourse analysis for?

Discourse analysts in general try to investigate the use of language in context, thus they are interested
in what speakers/writers do, and not so much in the formal relationships among sentences or
propositions. Since discourse analysis as a social dimension, it is a method for studying how language
“gets recruited ‘on site’ to enact specific social activities and social identities” (Gee 1999: 1). The study
of DA may help to explore matters such as:
 -taking in telephone conversations

 t interviews




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
 The discourse of politicians
 ourse

women



 te people (or any race) in the written media (magazines,
newspapers, etc.)

 The use of irony or metaphor for certain communicative aims

 -mail messages


about, or among each other


DA may help those researchers studying the language in use such as:
1. Linguists who try to find out how language works, to improve our understanding of an important
kind of human activity.
2. Educators who want to find out how good texts work, so that we can focus on teaching our
students these writing/speaking strategies.
3. Critical analysts who seek to discover meanings in the text which are not obvious on the surface
(e.g., analyzing a politician’s speech to see their preconceptions).

Discourse analysis for language teaching

Since language learners face the monumental task of acquiring not only new vocabulary, syntactic
patterns, and phonology, but also discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, strategic
competence, and interactional competence. They need opportunities to investigate the systematicity
of language at all linguistic levels, especially at the highest level (Riggenbach, 1999; Young and He,
1998). Without knowledge of and experience with the discourse and sociocultural patterns of the
target language, second language learners are likely to rely on the strategies and expectations
acquired as part of their first language development, which may be inappropriate for the second
language setting and may lead to communication difficulties and misunderstandings.
For language learners
One problem for second language learners is limited experience with a variety of interactive practices
in the target language. Therefore, one of the goals of second language teaching is to expose learners to
different discourse patterns in different texts and interactions. One way that teachers can include the
study of discourse in the second language classroom is to allow the students themselves to study
language, that is, to make them discourse analysts (see Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000; McCarthy &
Carter, 1994; Riggenbach, 1999). By exploring natural language use in authentic environments,
learners gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the discourse patterns associated with a
given genre or speech event as well as the sociolinguistic factors that contribute to linguistic variation
across settings and contexts. For example, students can study speech acts in a service encounter, turn-
taking patterns in a conversation between friends, opening and closings of answering machine
messages, or other aspects of speech events. Riggenbach (1999) suggests a wide variety of activities
that can easily be adapted to suit a range of second language learning contexts.

For language teachers

Nowadays the time of teaching language in isolation without its use is over. For an effective language
teacher, the context plays a major role in teaching the new language in real life situations .In this way,
language learners would be able to comprehend and use the language effectively and recognize the
function of the utterances they may hear or see in their future linguistics material. With the

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emergence of popular idea of functionalism in the study of language, the study of how language as it
is used, and to find out what the specific purposes that language serves for us, and how the members
of a language community achieve and react to these purposes through speaking, reading, writing and
listening is a must both for language teachers and the language learners as well. For this reason,
Simpson says: "It is clear that the use of language ... is part of a communication channel that includes
non-linguistic behavior.

To this end, language teachers changed their attitudes towards teaching language as communication
after 1970s. Many studies in Discourse Analysis (text, context, authentic texts, conversation analysis,
function) and pragmatics (speech acts, psychopragmatics, sociopragmatics, pragmalinguistics) led to
the emergence of such a change. It is out of question that language learners should consider form
along with function to accomplish accuracy and fluency in the target language. As Widdowson
mentions : "Knowing a language does not mean to understand, speak, read and write sentences, it
means to know how sentences are used to communicate effect." Since the purpose is to accept
language a tool for communication, the students have to be trained accordingly.

Conclusion
The study of the scope of discourse analysis has developed into a variety of disciplines-
sociolinguistics, anthropology, sociology, and social psychology. In fact, discourse analysis takes
different theoretical perspectives and analytic approaches: speech act theory, interactional
sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, pragmatics, conversation analysis, and variation
analysis (Schiffrin, 1994). Although each approach emphasizes different aspects of language use, they
all view language as social interaction.
Discourse analysts are mainly eager to study the actual patterns of use in naturally occurring texts.
These natural texts, once transcribed and annotated, are known as the corpus, which constitutes the
basis for analysis. Thus, discourse analysts necessarily take a corpus-based approach to their research.
DA explores the language of face-to-face conversations, telephone conversations, e-mail messages,
etc., and they may study power relations, the structure of turn-taking, politeness strategies, the
linguistic manifestation of racism or sexism, and many, many other aspects of language in use. The
sky is the limit!

REFERENCES
Antaki, C. (1994) Explaining and Arguing: the social organization of accounts, London, Sage.
Barker, C. and Galasinski, D. (2001) Cultural Studies and Discourse Analysis: A dialogue on language
and identity, London, Sage.
Billig, M. (1996) Arguing and Thinking: a rhetorical approach to social psychology, Second edition,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Burman, E. and Parker, I. (1993) Discourse Analytic Research: Repertoires and readings of texts in
action, London, Routledge.
Gee, J. P. (1999) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: theory and method, London, Routledge.
Gill, R. (1996) ‘Discourse analysis: practical implementation’, in Richardson, J. (ed) A Handbook of
Qualitative Methods for Social Psychologists and other Social Scientists, Leicester, British
Psychological Society.
Jorgenson, M. W. and Phillips, L. J. (forthcoming 2002) Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method,
Thousand Oaks, Sage.
Lee, A. and Poynton, C. (eds) Culture and Text: Discourse and methodology in social research and
cultural studies, St Leonards NSW Australia
Potter, J. and Wetherell, M. (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology, London, Sage.
Potter, J. (1996) ‘Discourse analysis and constructionist approaches: theoretical background’ in
Richardson, J. (ed) A Handbook of Qualitative Methods for Social Psychologists and other Social
Scientists, Leicester, British Psychological Society.
van Dijk, T. A. (ed) (1985) Handbook of Discourse Analysis, 4 volumes, London, Academic Press.
van Dijk, T. A. (ed) (1997) Discourse Analysis as Social Interaction, London, Sage.
Tonkiss, F. (1998) ‘Analysing discourse’, in C. Seale (ed) Researching Society and Culture, London,
Sage.
Wetherell, M., Taylor, S., and Yates, S. (eds) (2001) Discourse Theory as Practice, London, Sage.

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Wetherell, M., Taylor, S., and Yates, S. (eds) (2001) Discourse as Data, London, Sage.
Wilkinson, S. and Kitzinger, C. (eds) (1995) Feminism and Discourse, London, Sage.

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THE EFFECT OF TEACHER’S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

ON TEACHING PHONETICS

Behnaz Rastegar
Tehran Payame Noor University
Tehran, Iran
Rastegar.beh@gmail.com

Parya Isazadeh
Tabriz Payame Noor University
Tabriz, Iran
p.eisazadeh@gmail.com

Neda Rostami
Tabriz Payame Noor University
Tabriz, Iran
Elt_rostami@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO REVEAL THE POSSIBLE EFFECT OF EFL TEACHERS’
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ON S’ UNDERSTANDING OF TRUE PRONUNCIATION PATTERNS. THE
STUDY TRIED TO SHED LIGHT ON DIFFERENT FACTORS AFFECTING THE AMOUNT OF
PHONETIC INPUT RECEIVED BY EFL LEARNERS REGARDING GENDER AND PROFICIENCY
LEVEL. THE FOCUS OF THE STUDY WAS ON PRONUNCIATION OF THE CONSONANT ‘TH’
BOTH VOICED AND VOICELESS, DIPHTHONGS; AND OTHER VOWEL AND CONSONANT
PRONUNCIATIONS THROUGH PRESENCE AND ABSENCE OF TEACHERS’ FACIAL
EXPRESSION IN ENGLISH CLASSES. IN THE FIRST STAGE OF THE STUDY A GROUP OF 92 EFL
LEARNERS WERE GIVEN THE OPT TEST (OXFORD PLACEMENT TEST) TO BE HOMOGENIZED
BASED ON THEIR PROFICIENCY LEVEL; NAMELY, ELEMENTARY, INTERMEDIATE. LATER
ON, THE EFL LEARNERS WERE INTERVIEWED BY THE RESEARCHER TO GET A SCORE FOR
THEIR PRONUNCIATION ACCURACY AS THE PRETEST. THE MEAN SCORE AND STANDARD
DEVIATION OF THE TEST WERE GAUGED FOR BOTH LEVEL PARTICIPANTS GROUPS TO BE
COMPARED WITH THE RESULTS GAINED FROM THE POSTTEST. THE RESULTS GAINED
PROVED THAT EFL LEARNERS IN THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL BENEFITED FROM TEACHERS’
FACIAL EXPRESSION MORE THAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS.

KEY WORDS: PHONETICS, NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION, FACIAL EXPRESSION,

LANGUAGE TEACHING.

1. INTRODUCTION
All language teachers have for sure asked EFL learners to pay attention to their non-verbal
communicative signals in the classroom. It indicates the importance of non-verbal messages in
decoding linguistic messages. A well-known research by Mehrabian (1971) resulted in an often
quoted formula:
Total liking = 7% Verbal liking + 38% Vocal liking + 55% Facial liking
As the formula suggests facial liking which refers to the facial expression of the speaker plays an
important role in understanding the messages. Other effective factors include gestures, intonation
and voice quality. Facial expression which is the main variable in the present study is important in

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true interpretation of the messages received from the speaker and also plays a significant role in the
learning environment.
Brown (2007) states that teachers and EFL learners use nonverbal features differently. Good
teachers use nonverbal features a lot when teaching. In contrast, many learners have been found to
use little or no nonverbal features in class, even those learners who seem to use nonverbal features
expressively when speaking in their native language.
The present study aims at finding possible relationships between facial expressions of the
teacher while teaching and EFL learners’ accuracy in pronunciation. It tries to discover other possibly
influential factors such as gender and proficiency level as potential moderator variables.
This study is an investigation in the realm of language teaching – phonetics in particular. The
researcher attempts to gauge the effect of facial expression, as a crucial factor can affect EFL learners’
intake while learning phonetics. This can be dependent on EFL learners’ gender and the level in
which they study as other variables in this study. Estimating the importance of facial expression in
teaching phonetics can help teachers and curriculum designers take benefit in creating novel teaching
techniques. It can also be a source for further studies on other different aspects of non-verbal
communication and from different perspectives.
1.1 Research Question and Hypothesis
Based on the aforementioned literature, three research questions are made:
1. Does teachers’ facial expression have any effect on pronunciation accuracy of elementary
EFL learners?
2. Does teachers’ facial expression have any effect on pronunciation accuracy of intermediate
EFL learners?

2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Non-verbal language is a great tool for communication. Its importance is to the extent that
researchers studying infant communication (e.g., Aviezer, 1986) and deaf impaired take crucial
advantages of this sort of communication. Burgoon, Buller, and Woodall (1987) believe that 65% of
communication in any social context happens via non-verbal communication.
Brown (2004) believes teachers of phonetics, pronunciation and language can exploit nonverbal
features, especially gestures, but also facial expressions as a resource. The research is based on this
belief and is trying to reveal how important facial expression is as a universal non-verbal language.
In the educational atmosphere non-verbal language plays an important role. Allen (1999) in
her book “Functions of Nonverbal Communication in Teaching and Learning A Foreign Language”
asserts that “non-verbal language is used to both encode and decode linguistic massages. She further
explains that non-verbals contribute to the comprehension of messages in three ways: 1) heightening
attention, 2) providing additional context, and 3) facilitating recall.
Gilbert (1978) in her paper “Non-verbal tools for teaching pronunciation” asserts that a mouth-
model can be a solution to EFL learners’ pronunciation difficulties. She further explains that she had
prepared a mouth model in her classes to help her teach phonetics. This simply shows the importance
of EFL learners gazing at the teacher in comprehension of phonetics.
Ekman and Friesen (1969) and McNeill (1992) classified non-verbal factors as deictic , counting, beats,
iconic, affect displays, metaphoric, emblems, regulators and adaptors. Later on, Adam Brown (2004)
took advantages of the aforementioned categorization and claimed that Nonverbal language can help
EFL learners in different aspects of pronunciation. He, then, claimed that this can be helpful in
teaching rhythm, tonic syllables, tones, word-stress and vowel- length.
Apart from non-verbal communication and facial expressions, teaching pronunciation has always
been a great concern for language teachers. Many studies so far have focused on how pronunciation
is taught in different classes and the problems both teachers and EFL learners usually face in the class.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
Participants for this study were chosen from among 92 English learners in Azad Language institute in
Tabriz. After conducting the OPT to assure the homogeneity of the learners in three proficiency
levels, 60 learners took part in the study as participants as elementary learners (n=30) and
intermediate participants (N=30). The participants at each level formed a control group (N=15) and an
experimental group (n=15).
3.2 Materials

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Materials used in this study include first the OPT ( Oxford Placement Test) and an oral interview
with the EFL learners consisting of a few general English questions which was scored by the teacher
to categorize EFL learners in appropriate proficiency levels based on their pronunciation accuracy.
The interview questions are available in appendix A of this study. A word list appropriate for each
proficiency level was given to each EFL learner before the instruction. Each EFL learner got an
accuracy score on his/her pronunciation. The words were randomly chosen from English Vocabulary
in use for elementary, intermediate and advanced levels accordingly.
3.3 Procedures
Having selected the participants, 2 with square-shaped tables were used in the study;
allowing half of EFL learners to face the teacher while the teacher taught phonetics and the rest to
only hear the teacher with having no sight of the teacher. After a period of 1 week ,10 educational
hours, the EFL learners were interviewed for the second time to see if teacher’s facial expression while
teaching the pronunciation patterns had an effect on EFL learners pronunciation learning. They were
interviewed and their scores were compared to the previous scores gained in the first interview. The
data coding was conducted by two English language teachers with 7 years of experience and with
master’s degrees in TEFL. The inter-rater reliability reached above 0.89%.
4. RESULTS
Research Question 1
Q1: Does teachers’ facial expression have any effect on pronunciation accuracy of elementary EFL
learners?
An independent t-test was run to compare the experimental groups (Considered as one group) and
control groups’ mean score prior to the main study. Based on the results displayed in Table 1, it can
be claimed that the experimental group (M = 25.617, SD = 2.81) had a slightly higher mean than the
control group (M = 25.608, SD = 2.75).
Table 1
Descriptive Statistics
Group Statistics
VAR00002 N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error
Mean
General 1.00 15 25.6170 2.81729 .41094
2.00 15 25.6087 2.75910 .57531

The results of the independent t-test (t (68) = 0-12, p = .991, r = .712 representing a weak effect size)
(Table 7) indicate that the difference between the mean scores of the control group and experimental
group is not meaningful.

Table 2.
Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Std. 95% Confidence
Error Interval of the
Difference Difference
Difference Lower Upper
General Equal variances assumed
.036 .850 .012 68 .991 .00833 .71216 -1.41276
1.42941
Equal variances not assumed
.012 44.621 .991 .00833 .70701 -1.41599
1.43264

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It should be noted that the assumption of homogeneity of variances was met (Levene’s F = 0.36, p =
.850). That is why the first row of Table 2, i.e., “Equal variances assumed” was reported.
An independent t-test was run to compare the elementary experimental group’s and elementary
control group’s mean score on the posttest. Based on the results displayed in Table 3, it can be
claimed that the experimental group (M = 29.68, SD = 2.71) had a higher mean than the control group
(M = 27, SD = 2.67).
Table 3
Descriptive Statistics

Group Statistics
VAR00003 N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error
Mean
general_posttest 1.00 15 29.6809 2.71955 .39669
2.00 15 27.0000 2.67989 .55880

The results of the independent t-test (t (68) = 3-89, p = .00, r = .688 representing a large effect size)
(Table 4) indicate that the difference between the mean scores of the control group and experimental
group is meaningful. Thus, the first null hypothesis was rejected.

Table 4
Independent Samples Test

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test
for Equality
of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t Df Sig. Mean Std. 95% Confidence
Error Interval of the
(2- Difference
tailed) Difference
Difference . Lower Upper
Posttest Equal variances
assumed .041 .841 3.892 68 .000 2.68085 68879 1.30638
4.05532
Equal variances
not assumed 3.912 44.37 .000 2.68085 .68528 1.30008
4.06162

It should be noted that the assumption of homogeneity of variances was met (Levene’s F = 0.41, p =
.841). That is why the first row of Table 4, i.e., “Equal variances assumed” was reported.

Research question 2
Q2: Does teachers’ facial expression have any effect on pronunciation accuracy of intermediate EFL
learners?
In order to probe the answer to research Question 2, independent samples t-test was run to make sure
the difference between the control group intermediate participants and experimental group
intermediate participants on the pretest is not meaningful. As can be seen in Table 5, the control
group (M=25.91, SD= 2.84) had a slightly higher mean than the experimental intermediate group
(M=25.62, SD= 2.93).

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Table 5
Descriptive Statistics

VAR00004 N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error

Mean
Male_female_pretest control 15 25.9167 2.84248 .58022
experi 15 25.6250 2.93128 .59834

The results of the independent t-test (t (46) = .350, p = .728, r = .833 representing a weak effect size)
(Table 6) indicate that the difference between the mean scores of the control group and experimental
group is not meaningful.

Table 6
Independent Samples Test
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Tes
t for Equality
of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df Sig. Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence
(2-tailed) DifferenceInterval of the
Difference Difference
Lower Upper
Male_female_pretest Equa
l variances
assumed
.207 .651 .350 46 .728 .2916 .8334 -1.38602 1.96935
Equal
variances
not assumed
.350 45.957 .728 .2916 .8334 -1.38606 1.96940

It should be noted that the assumption of homogeneity of variances was met

(Levene’s F = 0.207, p = .651). That is why the first row of Table 6, i.e., “Equal variances
assumed” was reported.
Next, an independent samples t-test was run to see if the intermediate control group and intermediate
Experimental group mean score was different on the posttest.
As can be seen in Table 7 The female group’s mean score (M= 29.87, SD= 2.786) is
slightly higher than the male group (M=29.75, SD= 2.952).

Table 12
Descriptive Statistics

Group Statistics
VAR00005 N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error
Mean
male_female_posttest 1.00 15 29.8750 2.78681 .56886
2.00 15 29.7500 2.95252 .60268

An independent samples t-test was run to find out if the difference between the female group’s
and male group’s is significant. As displayed in Table 8. (t(46)=.151, p=881, r= .828) indicating that
there is a weak effect size and that the difference between the groups is not meaningful. Thus, the
second null hypothesis was supported.

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Table 13
Independent Samples Test

Levene's Tes
t for Equality
of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df Sig.(2-tailed) Mean Std.95% Confidence
Error Interval of the
Difference Difference
Difference Lower Upper
male_female_posttest Equa
l variances
assumed .164 .688 .151 46 .881 .12500 .8287 -1.5431
1.79318
Equa
l variances
not assumed .151 45.847 .881 .12500 .82875 -1.5433
1.79333

It should be mentioned that the assumption of homogeneity of variance was met (Leven’s F= .164,
P=.688).
3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In sum, the results of the present study showed the significant role that teacher’s facial expression
plays in teaching phonetics to EFL learners in the elementary levels of learning English. The findings
of this study are in line with the findings of Mehrabian (1971) stating that facial expressions play a
significant role in our communications as elementary EFL learners pronunciation was considerably
affect by lack of teacher’s facial expression. As a result they may not be able to interact with other
English speakers effectively.
The findings of the study are also congruent with the findings of Brown (2007). He believes that facial
expressions are used as a tool to better communicate with the language learners. The findings of this
study also proved that not having access to the teacher’s facial expression can affect the quality of
input received by the EFL learners. However, this was not the case with intermediate EFL leaners.
This may be due to the fact that intermediate learners were familiar with the pronunciation patterns.
That is why not having access to the teacher’s facila expressions did not affect their pronunciation
significantly.

REFERENCES
Aviezer, Ora,( 1986). Non-verbal communication between four months old infants and their mothers.
In Burgoon, Judee K., David B. Buller, and W. Gill Woodall. Nonverbal Communication: The
Unspoken Dialogue. New York: Harper and Row.
Brown, A. (2007). The use of nonverbal features in teaching phonetics.Proceedings of the Phonetics
Teaching & Learning.
Ekman, P. & Friesen, W. V. (1969) The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories,
origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica, 1, 49- 98.
Gilbert, J. B. (1978) Gadgets: Non-verbal tools for teaching pronunciation. CATESOL
Occasional papers, 4, 68-78. Also in A. Brown (Ed.) (1991) Teaching English
pronunciation: A book of readings (pp. 308-322). London: Routledge.
McNeill, D. (1992) Hand and mind: What the hands reveal about thought. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Mehrabian, A. (1971) Silent messages, Wadsworth, CA: Belmont.
Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001) Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd
edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTIVATION AND

SELF-EFFICACY OF IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOL
LEARNERS AND THEIR VOCABULARY SIZE

Nicki Sadat Razavi*

Department of English, Neyshabur branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur , Iran.
ezz1363@gmail.com

Seyed Mohammad Reza Amirian

Hakim Sabzevari University

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY SEEKS TO ADDRESS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MOTIVATION
AND SELF-EFFICACY OF IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND THEIR VOCABULARY
SIZE. TO THIS AIM, THE RESEARCHER MADE USE OF THREE MAIN INSTRUMENTS:A
MOTIVATIONAL TEST, A SELF-EFFICACY QUESTIONNAIRE AND A BILINGUAL
VOCABULARY SIZE TEST. THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE PRESENT STUDY INCLUDED 176
STUDENTS IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS LOCATED IN SABZEVAR. THE STUDENTS WERE
FEMALE AND AGED 14-18. THE MOTHER TONGUE OF ALL OF THE STUDENTS WAS
PERSIAN. THESE PARTICIPANTS WERE SELECTED RANDOMLY AND WERE ASKED TO FILL
OUT THE QUESTIONNAIRES. THE RESEARCHER WAS PRESENT AT THE SITE FOR GIVING
INSTRUCTIONS. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS WAS USED TO ANALYZE THE DATA THAT
WERE COLLECTED THROUGH QUESTIONNAIRES. THE STATISTICAL TEST FOR FIRST AND
SECOND QUESTIONNAIRE IS PEARSON CORRELATION AND THUS MULTIPLE REGRESSIONS
HAS BEEN USED FOR VOCABULARY SIZE TEST. THE OBTAINED RESULTS REVEALED A
SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIABLES MEASURED BY THESE INSTRUMENTS.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTIVATION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE OF
STUDENTS WAS POSITIVE AND SIGNIFICANT. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-
EFFICACY AND VOCABULARY SIZE WAS SIGNIFICANT TOO. THE RESULTS OF THE
MULTIPLE REGRESSION INDICATED THAT MOTIVATION IS A BETTER PREDICTOR OF
VOCABULARY SIZE THAN SELF-EFFICACY. IN ADDITION, THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
INDICATED THE IMPORTANCE OF NURTURING LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND ITS
RELATIONSHIP WITH SUCCESSFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCES AND ACHIEVEMENT.

KEY WORDS: MOTIVATION; SELF EFFICACY; VOCABULARY SIZE

1 . INTRODUCTION
It is a common belief that people with high levels of self-efficacy perform tasks better than those
with lower levels of self-efficacy. Graham (2011) asserted that self-efficacy as individuals’ beliefs in
their ability has a strong influence on levels of persistence and the choices individuals make.
Regarding the importance of self-efficacy, Bandura (1984) considered self-efficacy to have a major role
in language learning by fostering or impeding learners’ progress.
As Barry (2007) said motivation has long been a major problem for most teachers of English as a
Second Language (ESL) or as a foreign language. Motivation in the ESL/EFL classroom is easily one
of the most important factors but unfortunately most of our students have low motivation to learn
English. In addition to was stated most of them have a vague sense that whether "English will be
useful for my future" or not. Therefore, the teachers need to understand the role and importance of
motivation in any learning process.
Vocabulary knowledge is vital when applying a foreign language that is,anybody is not capable
to communicate without words .Thus, this knowledge has a critical role in academic development of

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students . Carter and Mccarthy (1988)pointed out that learning vocabulary is closely related to
teacher’s and student’s perceptions of the difficulties of words,therefore ,teachers should be taken
into account also in vocabulary learning,motivation,and self –efficacy of students.
Since students’ motivation is essential for engaging them in vocabulary instruction, it is
necessary to pay attention to the factors affecting students`behaviors and emotion in vocabulary
learning. Sokmen (1997) reported that the central role of vocabulary in second language learning
during the 21 century. This can be a good reason for teachers to help students learn and use new
words.
With regard to what the present body of research states about the importance of motivation and
self-efficacy in learning process they should be emphasized by the practitioners (Yilmaz, 2010).
Previously, self-efficay was considered as unidimentioanl concept attributing to the students
performance while it has been investigated that there is a close positive correlation between self-efficy
and students motivation (Yilmaz, 2010). Therefore to achive the greatest gain in this area, and based
on the importance of vocabulary, in the present study we examine the relationship between self-
efficay, motivation and vocabulary knowledge.
The result of this study can be an assistant to those teachers who intend to have more effective
language classes and students will be expected to use vocabulary in productive skills. It is hoped that
the present study can offer a helpful perspective and opens a new window in high school instruction
and serves as a means for the teachers to develop their teaching methods in regard to vocabulary
learning.
This study attempts to answer the following questions:
1-Is there any relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ motivation and vocabulary size?
2-Is there any relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ self-efficacy and vocabulary size?
3-Does motivation predict vocabulary size of learners better than self-efficacy?

Review of Literature

2.1 What Is Motivation

According to Dornyei (2001), motivation has three components that are purpose, keeping on, and the
initiation of learning effort and it interprets why individuals choose a certain activity, how long
people continue that activity, and how they try to achieve their goals. Motivation is typically defined
as the forces that account for the arousal , selection, direction, and continuation of behavior. Based on
socio-psychological model by Gardner and Lambert (1974) motivation for learning a language is the
desire to control the language through effort ,want, affect or attitude.
Based on Sadeghi (2013) there are various kinds of motivation namely: instrumental and integrative
motivation. Instrumental motivation refers to learning a language for specific goals such as traveling,
getting a job, passing a test, and integrative motivation refers to learning a language for the purpose
of communicating with the target language community.

2.2 What is Self-efficacy?

According to Surman and Schumacker (2012)"self-efficacy is defined as a belief in one’s ability to
perform an action, where self-esteem is an evaluative judgment and self-concept is an overall regard
Self-efficacy affects one’s behaviors and the environments with which one interacts, and is influenced
by one’s actions and conditions in the environment"(p. 90)
High self-efficacy helps enhancing human accomplishment in different ways. Students with high
self-efficacy exert more effort when approaching challenges and consider challenges as goals to be
mastered rather than threats to be avoided. Students with high self-efficacy experience less negative
emotions during a task (Bandura, 1997).

2.3 What Is Vocabulary size?

A vocabulary size means both a list of words and the range of words known by a person. A person’s
vocabulary develops with age and learning (Wollacott, 2015).
Vocabulary is commonly defined as "all the words known and used by a particular person "
(Barnhart, 1974, p. 3). In learning a language, vocabulary knowledge is important because people
cannot communicate without words and learning strategies can help students learn vocabulary of a

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language. Marttinen (2008) stated that vocabulary is important to realize a language; the meaning of a
word is depended to its linguistic and semantic content situations.

2.4 Previous Studies

The concept of self-efficacy could be elaborated from different aspects and in a study Heidari et al.
(2012) investigated about the relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Self-efficacy beliefs and the
methods of vocabulary learning. Participants of study were 50 students (male and female) from
University of Sistan & Baluchestan. The authors of study asserted that students’ self-efficacy impacts
on students’ performance in language components such as vocabulary learning. The purpose of study
was to determine level of self-efficacy attitudes of Iranian EFL students and their use of vocabulary
learning strategies. For data collection authors had used self-efficacy beliefs questionnaire and
vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire. The finding of study indicated that students with high
level of self-efficacy can learn language components better and learners’ self-efficacy impact on their
learning experiences and improvement successfully.
Huang and Ma (2007) investigated about the relationships of learning strategy instruction, autonomy,
and motivation in L2 vocabulary learning. Participants of study were forty-four volunteer ESL
students of the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa (UHM) from East-Asian countries. The main goal of
this study was to explore whether learning strategy teaching can enhance autonomy and motivation
in L2 vocabulary learning and there is relationship between learning strategy, motivation, and
autonomy in L2 vocabulary learning. Authors asserted that learning vocabulary and knowledge of it
is important in learning a language. For data collection authors used a questionnaire to determine
learners’ attitudes of autonomy and motivation. This questionnaire divided into four parts. Section
one was related to the motivation, sections two and three were related to autonomy and section four
was related to learning strategies. The findings of study indicate that “the learners were highly
motivated regarding L2 vocabulary learning” (p.13). Results for learners’ autonomy in learning
vocabulary indicated that learners had responsibility and autonomy in vocabulary learning. Findings
of study indicated that motivation and autonomy “positively correlated with learners’ self-assessed
ability on L2 vocabulary learning strategies” (p.17).
Sadeghi (2013) studied about the impact of motivation on intermediate Iranian EFL learners'
vocabulary learning. Participants of study were 120 Iranian junior students of English language
majors (male and female) at Islamic Azad University of Tonekabon, Mazandaran. Participants’ age
were was between 18 and 25. For data collection, author used Oxford Placement Test, Touchstone
vocabulary knowledge test, and Hermans’ (1970) questionnaire of measure of achievement
motivation. Findings of study indicated that there were significant differences between learners with
high motivation and learners with low motivation, students with high motivation performed in their
vocabulary learning and their vocabulary knowledge.
DeWitz and Walsh (2002) investigated about the relationship between self-efficacy and and
college student satisfaction. Participants of study were 312 undergraduate students of a large
Midwestern University. For data collection researchers used College Student Satisfaction
Questionnaire, Form D (CSSQ). The CSSQ consist of five parts: 1. Compensation, 2. Social Life, 3.
Working Conditions, 4. Recognition, and 5. Quality of Education. Findings of study indicated that
there is no significant differences between five satisfaction subscales and all three measures of self-
efficacy were significantly associated with college satisfaction.
Thanh and Huan (2012) studied about the influence of task-based language learning on
students' motivation in vocabulary learning in Vietnam. Participants of study were Seventy-six
freshmen (48 female, 28 male) from Vinh Long Community College in Vietnam. For data collection
researchers used questionnaires, tests, and interviews. The questionnaires were related to the
participants’ motivation in vocabulary acquisition, the tests were used as a pre-test and post-test to
determine students vocabulary ability and to measure their vocabulary knowledge. According to
researchers cited of Richards and Renandya (2002) “vocabulary is viewed as a major part of language
proficiency as it allows learners to use four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing”
(p.106). The findings of study show that the respondents were motivated to acquire vocabulary and
their vocabulary improvement improved after the experiment.
Li (2010), investigated about vocabulary learning beliefs and strategies of English learners in
China. Participants of study were 102 sophomores in a vocational college in Sichuan province of
China and 22 of them interviewed for study. For data collection the researcher used a vocabulary size

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test, a general English proficiency test system, a questionnaire survey on vocabulary learning beliefs
(VLB) and strategies and (VLS), and interviews with students and their English teachers. The findings
of study indicated that motivational beliefs in vocabulary learning are important. Self-efficacy in
vocabulary learning beliefs had a significant correlation with vocabulary proficiency and VLB did not
indicate significant correlation with general English proficiency but vocabulary learning strategies
indicate a significant correlation with vocabulary proficiency and general English proficiency.
As stated above there is a positive relationship between motivation and self-efficacy and self-
regulated learning but there has been little studies about the effect of motivation and self-efficacy on
vocabulary size. Thus this study holds to explore the effect of motivation and self-efficacy on the
vocabulary size of the learners. This area remains untouched since the past up to now and it has the
capability of providing quality and successes to English classrooms.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Participants
The respondents who participated in the present study included 176 students in public high schools
located in Sabzevar. The students were female and aged 14-18. The mother tongue of all of the
students was Persian.These participants were selected randomly. All of the them answered the
questionnaires.The researcher was present at the site for giving instructions.
It should be mentioned that over 200 students participated in the study,but due to some problems
such as the existence of some anonymous questionnaire responses and impossibility of matching the
responses with the participants’corresponding vocabulary size scores, the researcher could only use
the responses of 176 students and included them in the final data analysis.

3.2 Research Design

Correlational design was used to describe the relationship between independent variables including:
motivation, self-efficacy and dependent variable which is vocabulary size of students. For this
purpose, the quantitative data collection tools, were employed. In this study three questionnaires
were used. First questionnaire was a Motivational test, second questionnaire was a Self-efficacy
measurement, and the last one was a Vocabulary Size Test. 3.3 Instrumentation
To answer the research questions guiding the study three types of questionnaires were used. Two
types of questionnaires evaluated personal characteristic of learners that is related to motivation and
self –efficacy of the students and another questionnaire was a vocabulary size test that estimated
learners 'vocabulary domain in English. According to Iran-moshaver institute, achievement
motivation test was designed by Hermans in 1970. The reliability of the motivational questionnaire
was calculated through Cronbach's alpha in 1970 by Hermans and was 84%. The self-efficacy beliefs
questionnaire which was the Persian Adaptation of the General Self-efficacy Scale constructed by
Nezami, Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1996). This questionnaire consists of 10 likert-scale items. The
students were asked to read each statement and decide if they: (1) strongly disagree (2) moderately
disagree (3) moderately agree (4) strongly agree.The last one that is The Vocabulary Size Test was
designed to measure both first language and second language learners’ written receptive vocabulary
size in English. This test include 140 multiple-choice items, with 10 items from each 1000 word family
level. A learner’s total score needs to be multiplied by 100 to get their total receptive vocabulary size.
This vocabulary size test is designed by Nation and Beglar ( 2007).The questionnaires and vocabulary
size test were administered in May 2015.

3.4Data Collection and Data Analysis Procedures

This study is about the relationship between motivation,self-efficacy and vocabulary size.The data
obtained through three separate questionnaires namely achievement motivation test, self-efficacy
beliefs questionnaire, and vocabulary size test . Self-efficacy beliefs questionnaire includes 10 items,
achievement motivation test includes 29 items, and the last one that is vocabulary size test consists of
140 items for assessment of students’ vocabulary repertoire. Participants of the study were selected
randomly and every student in this study has received all of the three questionnaires. The
distribution of questionnaires among students was conducted in three sequential days.The findings
of the test is used to evaluate the students' vocabulary in English language.The study has three
variables consisted of dependant and independant variables. Dependant variable is vocabulary size
and independant variables are motivation and self-efficacy. Quantitative analysis were used to

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analyze the data that were collected through the questionnaires. In this study, percentage, mean, and
correlation were used to analyze quantitative data in order to obtain descriptive statistics. The
statistical test for first and second questionnaire was Pearson correlation and thus multiple regression
has been used for third questionnaire. The coefficient of linear correlation which indicates the
reinforcement of a relationship between two variables was calculated by Pearson formula.

4.RESULT
The main goal of this study was to explore the relationship between motivation, self-efficacy, and
vocabulary size of high school learners and also to investigate which one has more strong relation
with vocabulary size: motivation or self-efficacy.
4.1 Results of Motivation and Vocabulary Size
The first question of this research sought to investigate if there was any meaningful relationship
between Iranian EFL learners’ motivation and vocabulary size? In order to answer to this question
,the pearson correlation procedure was used. The results are summarized in the following tables.
Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics for Motivation and Vocabulary Size
Mean Std. Deviation N

Vocab Size 4308.97 1277.275 176

Motivation 65.94 16.030 176

As it was indicated in Table 1 vocabulary size (Mean=4308.97, SD=1277.275) and motivation

(Mean=65.94, SD=16.030) were the major variable of the present study.
Table 1 represents the descriptive statistics including the mean and standard deviation. As it is
obvious from the table, the mean obtained from the participants` attitudes about motivation, implies
that the participants are more or less consistent with each other regarding their attitudes towards the
questionnaire items. Moreover, the mean obtained for the scores of the participants in the vocabulary
size test also shows that the scores were almost the same.
Table 2.
Correlation between Motivation and Vocabulary Size
Vocab Size Motivation
Pearson Correlation 1 .827**
Vocab Size Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 176 176
Pearson Correlation .827** 1
Motivation Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 176 176
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 2 indicates the correlation between vocabulary size test and motivation by Pearson
correlation coefficient. According to Pearson correlation coefficient, motivation and vocabulary size
have a significant relationship in level of 0.01 and also the following graph shows strength of this
relationship.

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Figure 1: Correlation between motivation and vocabulary size

This graph shows R2 =0.68. It means 68 percent of development of students` vocabulary size
depends on their motivation. So, based on findings of this study number 1 null hypothesis is rejected.
This hypothesis claimed that there is no relationship between motivation of EFL learners and their
vocabulary size while this research found that there is a significant relationship between motivation
and vocabulary size.

4.2 Results of self-efficacy and vocabulary size

The second question of this research was about the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ self-
efficacy and vocabulary size?
Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics including the mean and standard deviation for vocabulary
size test and self-efficacy. As it is obvious from the table, the mean obtained from the participants`
attitudes about the self-efficacy, implies that the participants are more or less consistent with each
other according to their opinions towards the questionnaire items. Moreover, the mean obtained for
the scores of the participants in the vocabulary size test also shows that the scores were almost the
same.
Table 3.
Descriptive Statistics for Self-efficacy and Vocabulary Size

Mean Std. Deviation N

Vocab Size 4308.97 1277.275 176
Self-Efficacy 33.07 4.859 176

Table4 indicates the correlation between vocabulary size test and self-efficacy by Pearson correlation
coefficient.
Table 4.
Correlation between Self-efficacy and Vocabulary Size
Vocab Size Self-Efficacy

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Pearson Correlation 1 .806**

Vocab Size Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 176 176
Pearson Correlation .806** 1
Self-Efficacy Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 176 176
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Self-efficacy was found to be significantly and positively correlated with vocabulary size. This
reveals that learners with a higher level of self-efficacy tend to have higher vocabulary knowledge.
Table 4 indicates the correlation between vocabulary size test and self-efficacy by Pearson correlation
coefficient . Based on Pearson correlation coefficient self-efficacy and vocabulary size have a
meaningful relationship at .01 level of significance.

Figure2: Correlation between self-efficacy and vocabulary size

Based on the students’ scores of the vocabulary size test and self-efficacy, one can conclude that
there is a significant relationship between students' self-efficacy and vocabulary knowledge. So, based
on findings of this study the second null hypothesis is rejected. This hypothesis claimed that there is
no relationship between self-efficacy of EFL learners and their vocabulary size while this research
found that there is a significant relationship between self-efficacy and vocabulary size.
4.3 Results of comparison between Motivation and Self-efficacy

The third question of this research was about whether motivation can predict vocabulary size of
learners better than self-efficacy.
In order to answer the third question multiple regressions is used.

Table 5.
Descriptive Statistics for variables
Mean Std. Deviation N
Vocab Size 4308.97 1277.275 176
Motivation 65.94 16.030 176

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Self-Efficacy 33.07 4.859 176

Table 5 shows the descriptive statistics including the mean and standard deviation for
vocabulary size test (Mean=4308.97, SD=1277.275), self-efficacy (Mean=33.07, SD=4.859), and
motivation (Mean=65.94, SD=16.030) .

Table 6.
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 195476354.332 2 97738177.166 187.824 .000b
. Residual 90023981.463 173 520369.835
Total 285500335.795 175
a. Dependent Variable: Vocab Size
b. Predictors: (Constant), Self-Efficacy, Motivation

In the following table there is a β (beta) coefficient for every variable. The bigger variable in
the statistic level is more significant and its role is more important. In this research, motivation
has bigger β (Beta) coefficient, β= .873 and it has significant statistic and the role of motivation
is more important than self-efficacy.

Table 7.
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Standardized T Sig. Correlations
Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta Zero-order Partial Part
(Constant) 129.425 740.892 .175 .862
1 Motivation 69.587 15.741 .873 4.421 .000 .827 .319 .189
Self-Efficacy -12.361 51.926 -.047 -.238 .812 .806 -.018 -.010
a. Dependent Variable: Vocab Size

In this study the Beta coefficient of motivation is equal .873 (β= .873) and the Beta coefficient of self-
efficacy is equal -.47 (β=-.47) regarding to this result motivation is a better predictor of self-efficacy
because Beta coefficient of motivation is bigger than self-efficacy.

It is shown that motivation is a better predictor of vocabulary size of EFL learners than self –
efficacy. Based on findings of this study the third null hypothesis is rejected. This hypothesis claimed
that motivation is not a better predictor of vocabulary size than self-efficacy while this research found
that motivation can predict students' vocabulary size better than self-efficacy. So motivation can
predict vocabulary size better than self-efficacy and the role of motivation is more than self-efficacy
therefore if students have more motivation for vocabulary learning, they can learn better and can
develop their vocabulary knowledge.

4.4 DISCUSSTION
In this part, the data analysis results are interpreted and discussed in relation to the research
questions. The findings of the study are weighed against previous results and researchers' attitudes.
When looking at the results of the research question 1 (Is there any relationship between Iranian
EFL learners’ motivation and vocabulary size?), the results of the study revealed a significant and
positive relationship between motivation and vocabulary size. In sharp contrast to this result there are
some researchers who have reported a very weak relationship between the motivation and
vocabulary knowledge. For example, according to the Heidari Soureshjani and Naseri's study (2011),
correlation between motivation and vocabulary knowledge indicated that there is a weak relationship
among the variables of the study. It also clarified that the variables of the study (motivations and the

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vocabulary scores) are significantly different. In another example that was reported by Mohammadi
and Bagheri (2011), there was no significant and meaningful relationship between motivation and
vocabulary size.
Although, these results are in conflict with findings of the present study , there are many studies
which are consistent with the results of this study. For example, according to the Rostampour and
Niroomand's study (2013), there is a high and significant relationship between motivation and
vocabulary size. Also, based on Fernandez Fontecha and Gallego's study (2012), there is a significant
positive relationship between the level of motivation and the three receptive vocabulary tests.
Therefore, if motivation has a positive relationship with vocabulary size of students, it is better that
teachers consider students' motivation in language learning especially in vocabulary learning since
teachers can create a necessity for their learners to use the words and grammar suitably as
instruments required for the correct understanding and communication of messages. So, if students
have a high motivation in their language learning such as vocabulary learning, they can improve their
language knowledge.
When looking at the results of the second research question is there any relationship between
Iranian EFL learners’ self-efficacy and vocabulary size? It is concluded that there is a significant and
positive relationship between self-efficacy and vocabulary size. In sharp contrast to this result there
are some researchers who have reported a very weak relationship between the self-efficacy and
vocabulary knowledge such as Amirian, Mallahi and Zaghi's study (2015), the researchers in this
study reported that there is no significant relationship between the self-regulation and vocabulary
size. These researchers asserted that "based on the learners’ own perception, their self-regulation
capacity may not be a determining factor in acquiring vocabulary"(p.36).
In another study by Zarei and Hatami (2012), about the relationship between self-regulated
components, vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, the researchers found that there is no
significant relationship between self-efficacy and vocabulary. The researchers asserted that "if there is
a positive relationship between self-regulated learning strategies and language proficiency, the self-
regulated learning strategies ought to have a direct relationship with reading comprehension and
vocabulary knowledge"(p.1942). According to Zarei and Hatami (2012), "one of the possible reasons
for such differences may be partially attributable to the cultural differences leading to different
abilities of the participants. In such contexts, students prefer to be quiet than lose their face. The
Iranian context, by culture and attitude, falls into the same category" (p.1942).
Although these studies are in conflict with the finding of the present study , there are some studies
that support the findings of this study. For example, Heidari, Izadi and Ahmadian (2012) found a
significantly positive relationship between self-efficacy and vocabulary learning strategies. The
researchers asserted that the participants of the study had a high ability in their vocabulary learning
strategies but according to Heidari et al.,) 2012) "most of students’ difficulties are due to students’
self-beliefs" (p.177). Also, these researchers reported that students with high self-efficacy use
vocabulary strategies "more than the ones with low self-efficacy" and students with low ability have
"low motivation participation, performance and achievement" (p.177).
In a study of Mizumoto about self-efficacy in vocabulary learning, the researcher concluded that
through enhancing self-regulated learning approach, students and teachers can enhance self-efficacy
which contributes to the improvement of vocabulary knowledge. Haji Hassan Hamedani (2013)
investigated about the relationship between self-efficacy, self-regulation and vocabulary acquisition
on male and female learners. In this study the researcher found that there is a relationship between
self-efficacy and self-regulation in vocabulary acquisition. Haji Hassan Hamedani (2013) asserted that
efficacious students can control environmental and emotional changes in vocabulary acquisition and
despite proved relation between self-efficacy and self-regulation in vocabulary acquisition, there is no
difference regarding learners’ gender.
Finally, based on the result of the third research question, i.e. “does motivation predict vocabulary
size of learners better than self-efficacy?” showed that motivation is a better predictor of the students'
vocabulary size than self-efficacy.
Based on inferential statistic of Beta coefficient of motivation and self-efficacy, it is concluded that
the bigger Beta coefficient of each variable means that the variable is significant in statistic level and
therefore, it is a better predictor. In this study the Beta coefficient of motivation equals .873 (β= .873)
and the Beta coefficient of self-efficacy equals -.47 (β=-.47). According to this result motivation is a
better predictor of self-efficacy

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The results of this study are consistent with Onoda's study (2013). The study sought to investigate
the relationship between self-efficacy, self-regulated strategy and second language vocabulary skills.
The result of the study indicated that "self-efficacy significantly predicted self-regulation strategy use,
which in turn predicted L2 vocabulary skills. However, the path from self-efficacy to L2 vocabulary
skills was not significant" (p.120). The researcher asserted that although, self-efficacy cannot predict
second language skills directly but it can influence second language vocabulary skills by the
mediation of self-regulation strategy use indirectly.
The following recommendations can be expressed on the basis of the findings and conclusions.
The results indicated that there is a meaningful relationship between motivation, self-efficacy and
vocabulary size therefore syllabus designers and materials developers should pay more attention to
the ways of teaching vocabulary in the textbooks. Teachers should try to enhance students'
motivation and explain the importance and benefits of vocabulary learning to the students until they
are motivated to learn language words since having rich vocabulary knowledge is very important in
learning of various language skills such as reading, speaking and writing.
Based on the findings of study, it is recommended that English language teachers pay enough
attention to the students' motivation. In fact, if teachers provide learners with the appropriate support
and knowledge of their learning, they can take more responsibility towards their own learning and
finally, this factor causes to increase motivation in students.
Finally, because vocabulary knowledge is related to successful performance and strong motivation
on other language skills, more emphasis is to be placed upon vocabulary learning in foreign or second
language classrooms.
In future research, it would be interesting to examine the relationship between motivation, self-
efficacy and writing or how much motivation and self-efficacy can be effective in learning writing
because motivation is an important and major factor in learning everything. Also, it would be
interesting to examine the relationship between motivation, self-efficacy and other language skills
such as reading and speaking especially vocabulary knowledge plays an important and casual role in
reading comprehension and it isa prerequisite factor in comprehension and learning language skills.
In the end, it should be admitted that the present study, like any other ones, suffer from a set of
limitations. Although the number of participants seems to be appropriate, one main problem with
them is that they all were high school language learners therefore making the findings of the study
less generalizable. Moreover, in order to reach more reliable findings, other studies can be conducted
in other foreign and second language contexts.

5. CONCLUSION
The present study attempted to primarily investigate the relationship between motivations, self-
efficacy and vocabulary size of students. The results of data analysis indicated a positive and
significant relationship between variables. The relationship between motivation and vocabulary
knowledge of students was positive and significant also, the relationship between self-efficacy and
vocabulary size was significant. It means that self-efficacy and motivation can influence vocabulary
size. However, motivation had a better predicting power compared to self-efficacy; it means that
motivation has a more powerful connection with the students' vocabulary than self-efficacy. In
addition, the findings of study indicated that students who felt a need for learning vocabulary had a
high motivation for vocabulary learning.
Motivation can influence students' learning, students may have different motivations for their
learning in different cultural contexts. If students have a high motivation, they learn more effectively
and therefore they are efficacious students but students with low motivation maybe have more
difficulty in their learning. Also, the role of teachers is very important in enhancing students'
motivation. Teachers must try to develop the power of motivation in their students because as was
stated the role of motivation is very important in learning language skills such as vocabulary size.

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ACCEPTABILITY AND ADEQUACY IN

TRANSLATION OF JOHN STEINBECK’S NOVEL BY
PARVIZ DARYOUSH

Reza Fatemi
Rfh2free@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY EXAMINES A NOVEL WRITTEN BY JOHN STEINBECK AND CORRESPONDINGLY
ITS TRANSLATION INTO PERSIAN BY PARVIZ DARYOUSH (1961). GIDEON TOURY’S
ACCEPTABILITY, ADEQUACY AND CULTURAL NORMS (1995) HAVE BEEN APPLIED IN THIS
STUDY. THE RESEARCHER GATHERED SOME INFORMATION ABOUT TOURY AND HIS
THEORY OF “CULTURAL NORMS”, AND ALSO THE TWO TYPES OF TRANSLATION, NAMELY
“ADEQUATE” AND “ACCEPTABLE” DEFINED BY THE SAME SCHOLAR. THE TRANSLATED
TEXT WAS ANALYZED AGAINST THE ORIGINAL WORK TO DETERMINE IF IT IS SOURCE-
ORIENTED (ADEQUATE) OR RECEPTOR-ORIENTED (ACCEPTABLE). THE IMPACT OF THE
IDEOLOGY OF THE TRANSLATOR ON ADEQUACY AND ACCEPTABILITY IN TRANSLATION
HAS ALSO BEEN CONSIDERED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE IN THE STUDY. THE
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY REVEALED THAT DARYOUSH’S TRANSLATION WAS ADEQUATE.

KEY TERMS: TRANSLATION, ACCEPTABLE TRANSLATION, ADEQUATE TRANSLATION,

NORM

1. Introduction
Munday (2001, p. 5) maintains that “Throughout history of man, written and spoken translations
have played a crucial role in interhuman communication, not least in providing access to important
text for scholarship and religious purposes.” Translating a text maybe a rather ambiguous process
that involves processing unknown linguistic and cultural input, which might eventually causes
uncertainty and/or confusion on the part of students and translators. As translators we are faced with
an unfamiliar culture which requires that its message maybe conveyed. The culture expresses its
idiosyncrasies in a way that is ‘culturally-bound’: cultural words, proverbs and of course idiomatic
expressions, whose origin and use are intrinsically and uniquely bound to the culture concerned
(Karamanian, 2001, p. 48).
Over the last two decades, translation studies have received a number of pristine perspectives and in
this way have been influenced by the discipline of cultural studies. Translation scholars in England
and America such as Bassnett, Lefevere, David L1oyd, and Maria Tymoczko distanced themselves
from Even-Zohars’s polysestem model. They were on this belief that Zohar’s model was too
formalistic and restrictive. By adopting more of cultural studies, they concentrated both on
institutions of prestige and power within any given culture and patterns in literary translation. Most
of translation theorists consider translation as a form of “political” intervention not a neutral activity.
“How to deal with features like dialect and heteroglossia, literary allusions, culturally specific items
such as food or architecture, or further-reaching differences in the assumed contextual knowledge
that surrounds the text and gives it meaning” are indeed complex technical issues raised in cultural
translation (Sturge, 2009, p. 67). Culture is interconnected to language. It determines the way that
people behave or speak. Wardhaugh claims that “the structure of a given language determines the
way in which the speakers of that language view the world” (1986, p. 212).
Larson declares that "different cultures have different focuses. Some societies are more technical and
others less technical." This difference is reflected in the amount of vocabulary which is available to
talk about a particular topic (1984, p. 95).

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Nord uses the term 'cultureme' to refer to the culture specific items. He defines cultureme as "a
cultural phenomenon that is present in culture X but not present (in the same way) in culture Y"
(1997, p. 34). Baker refers to the cultural words and concedes that the SL words may express a concept
which is totally unknown in the target culture. She points out that the concept in question may be
"abstract or concrete, it may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or even a type of food." Baker
then, calls such concepts 'culture-specific items' (1992, p. 21).
According to Gideon Toury, translations are not isolated utterances and a translator does not operate
in a vacuum, but is rather “playing a social role”, “fulfilling a function allotted by a community”,
which means that translation as cultural activity is governed by certain constraints, or norms (1995, p.
53). When analyzing translations for the purpose of uncovering the underlying norms in the tradition
of Descriptive Translation Studies (Toury 1995), it is beneficial to study certain features that can be
seen as symptomatic of these norms.
In the mid-20th century, there has been increasing interest in the question of translators’ attitudes to
cultural hegemonies when cultural features and values expressed in a Source Text (ST)are different
from the translator’s, and target reader’s. But in this regard, there is a question remains to be
answered, which is how to translate these cultural factors. Since culture plays an important role in
translation, much consideration should be taken to handle the process of translational cultural norms.

1.1. Statement of the Problem

According to Toury’s work, there are specific norms which govern the translator and his
performance. These norms are either source-oriented or receptor-oriented. Toury considers a
translation to be either source-oriented “adequate” or receptor-oriented “acceptable.” The main
problem examined in this research is whether the translation of John Steinbeck’s novel by Parviz
Daryoush is adequate or acceptable.

1.2. Research Significance

This study is one of the rare researches which have been conducted on the cross-cultural overlap and
gaps in English and Persian influencing translation in the literary work. It can help translators,
interpreters, translation students,….know more about the acceptability and adequacy of translation.
This is also a topic which is excessively worthy of research and investigation. Concerning
acceptability and adequacy as somehow problematic cases affecting various aspects of translation
including: quality, assessment, translators’ views, translation policy and…. should be more discussed
and investigated. Moreover, this research tries to enlarge the horizon for English Department
students who wish for more understanding of the area. It is expected that this study offers some
effective aids to the translators when doing the translation of cultural norms and assist them to
overcome the misunderstandings and barriers during the cross-cultural communication.

1.3. Research Questions

1. Considering acceptability and adequacy in translation, to what extent is the translation of “Of mice
and men” compatible with Gideon Toury’s model?
2. What strategies have been employed by the translator in rendering the samples from English into
Persian in the novel “Of Mice and Men”?
3. What effects do the translated cultural norms have on the meaning of the novel?

1.4.Research Limitations
In the wide and expanding world of translation studies, there exists a large number of names, each
with numerous theories and concepts. Roman Jakobson, Eugene Nida, Catford, Venuti, John Dryden,
and many other names are only some of the scholars working in the field of translation studies. It is
possible to analyze the selected translation on the basis of theories belonging to each of these figures.
However, spatial and temporal limitations do not allow the researcher to apply more than one theory.
One book may be translated into one language by different translators, and indeed, it is possible for
one source text to have a number of target texts. This can be true for the selected novel. However,
once again, spatial and temporal restriction does not allow the researcher to investigate all
translations of the novel.
A translator might be affected by numerous factors and phenomena and they can influence on the
quality of his or her work. Such factors as age, sex, social class, educational background, economical

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status, etc., all may be influential in translator’s performance. Investigation of all these factors and
phenomena is beyond the scope of this study. Because of the factors mentioned above, this study has
failed to address all linguistic aspects and mention all translational ways. Thus, some of the
conclusions drawn from the findings may be rather subjective and the issues mentioned are still
somewhat general.

2. Literature Review
2.1.Translation and Translation Studies
Generally, translation is a process of rendering meaning, ideas, or messages of a text from one
language to other language (Nugroho, 2013, p. 1). Some considerations are involved in this process
which mainly attributed to quality of translation (Larson, 1984), these are as follows:
accuracy: representing the meaning of the source text as faithfully as possible;
naturalness: using the receptor language in ways appropriate to the text being translated; and,
clearness: expressing the meaning in an understandable way to the intended audience ( p. 54).
According to Catford (1965, p. 20), “Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language
(SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)”, and Nida (1969, p. 12) states that
translation consists of reproducing in the receptor language the natural equivalent of the source
language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style.
The definition of translation is not only limited to Catford’s and Nida’s view points. A number of
scholars in translation have stated different definitions for translation. Shuttleworth and Cowie (1997)
define translation as:
An incredibly broad notion which can be understood in many different ways. For example, one may
talk of translation as a process or a product, and identify each sub-type as literary translation,
technical translation, subtitling and machine translation; moreover, while more typically it just refers
to the transfer of written texts, the term sometimes also include interpreting. (p. 181)
Translation studies, on the other hand, is a newly-established discipline which involves a large
number of names of figures and scholars suggesting a variety of theories and concepts in this area.
These figures have suggested numerous dichotomies for the process and different types of
translations including Julian House’s ‘overt’ and ‘covert’ translation (1971), Peter Newmark’s
‘semantic’ and ‘communicative’ translation (1988), Roman Jakobson’s ‘interlingual’, ‘intralingual’ and
‘intersemiotic’ translation (1959), Eugene Nida’s ‘formal’ and ‘dynamic’ equivalence (1964), and other
distinctions. Such an (overabundance of terminology), as suggested by Munday (2001), might lead to
the confusion of students studying in this field. However, it provides a good opportunity for
researchers and students to select anyone of the scholars in this area and his or her concepts and
theories, based on their interest and topic of study.
While Munday, (2001. p. 5) points out the crucial role of written and spoken translations in inter
human communication and providing access to important texts for scholarship and religious
purposes, he asserts that studying translation as an academic subject has only begun in the past fifty
years which is now generally known as ‘translation studies’ thanks to Holmes. According to Baker
(1998):
Translation studies is now understood to refer to the academic discipline concerned with the study of
translation at large, including literary and non-literary translation, various forms of oral interpreting,
as well as dubbing and subtitling. The terms 'translation' and 'translators' are used in this generic
sense throughout this entry. 'Translation studies' is also understood to cover the whole spectrum of
research and pedagogical activities, from developing theoretical frameworks to conducting individual
case studies to engaging in practical matters such as training translators and developing criteria for
translation assessment. (p. 227)

2.2. Culture
The way "culture" is defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary is different from descriptions of the
"Arts" to plant and bacteria cultivation and includes a wide range of intermediary aspects.
Technically, regarding language and translation, Newmark defines culture as "the way of life and its
manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of
expression" (Newmark, 1988, p. 94), so asserting that each language group has its own culturally
specific features. Also, he obviously mentions that he does "not regard language as a component or
feature of culture" (Newmark, 1988, p. 95) and opposes to the view taken by Vermeer who states that

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"language is part of a culture" (1988, p .222). Newmark believes that Vermeer's viewpoint would
imply the impossibility to translate whereas for the latter, translating the source language (SL) into a
suitable form of TL is part of the translator's role in transcultural communication.
Translation is process of connection between two cultures. It could be said that without translation
exchange of material or non-material factors of two cultures are impossible, because according to Ivir
(1987) there is an inseparable relation between culture and language and entrance of a cultural factor
from one culture to another is through language. Based on this idea, translation means translation of
cultures not languages.
Hongwei (1999) believes in language as a portrait of culture. He says that "language mirrors other
parts of culture, supports them, spreads them and helps to develop others" (p.121). This special
feature of language distinguishes it from all other facets of culture and makes it crucially important
for the transfer of culture. It is no exaggeration to say that, as Hongwei believes too, "language is the
life-blood of culture and that culture is the track along which language forms and develops" (p. 121).
The formation and development of all aspects of a culture are closely related to one another, and
language is no exception. A careful study of the meanings of words and how these changes
demonstrate how material culture, institutional culture and mental culture influence the formation
and development of language (Hongwei, 1999, p. 123).

2.3. Ideology
The term ideology‘ has been always accompanied by its political connotation as it is evident in its
dictionary definition as a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic
or political theory and policy‘ (The New Oxford Dictionary of English). The ideology of translation
could be traced in both process and product of translation which are, however, closely
interdependent. The ideology of a translation, according to Tymoczko (2003), will be a combination of
the content of the source text and the various speech acts represented in the source text relevant to the
source context, layered together with the representation of the content, its relevance to the receptor
audience, and the various speech acts of the translation itself addressing the target context, as well as
resonance and discrepancies between these two ‗utterances‘. However, she further explains that ‗the
ideology of translation resides not simply in the text translated, but in the voicing and stance of the
translator, and in its relevance to the receiving audience‘(pp. 182–83). Schäffner (2003) explains:
Ideological aspect can […] be determined within a text itself, both at the lexical level (reflected, for
example, in the deliberate choice or avoidance of a particular word […]) and the grammatical level
(for example, use of passive structures to avoid an expression of agency). Ideological aspects can be
more or less obvious in texts, depending on the topic of a text, its genre and communicative purposes
(p. 23).
Most translation projects are initiated by an actor of the domestic culture such as state ideology,
cultural climate, the expectations of the target audience, economic and social reasons, etc., and foreign
texts are selected not by the translators themselves but by this actor, who manipulates the whole
process. The very function of translation thus becomes the rewriting of the foreign text into the
domestic culture, in compliance with the domestic cultural norms and resources that make up the
overall system of the society. Lawrence Venuti argues that in instances where translations are
governed by the state or a similar institution, the identity-forming process initiated by a translated
text has the potential to affect social mores by providing a sense of what is true, good, and possible.
Translations may create a corpus with the ideological qualification to assume a role of performing a
function in an institution (Venuti, 1998, p. 67).

2.4. Norms
The term “norm” may refer both to a regularity in behavior and to the mechanism which accounts for
this regularity. The mechanism has a socially regulatory function and comprises a psychological as
well as a social dimension. It mediates between the individual and the collective, between the
individual’s intentions, choices, and expectations, and collectively held beliefs, values, and
preferences. Norms bear on the interaction between people, more especially on the degree of
coordination required for the continued, more or less harmonious coexistence with others in a group.
Norms contribute to the stability of interpersonal relations by reducing uncertainty about how others
will act.

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By generalizing from past experience and allowing projections concerning similar types of situation in
the future, norms help to make behavior more predictable. Translation in a social environment
involves transactions between several parties who have an interest in these transactions taking place.
The translator, as one of the decision making parties in the transaction, is an agent whose actions are
neither wholly free nor predetermined, especially as the entire process is played out in the context of
existing social structures. The more the parties can coordinate their actions, the greater the likelihood
that they will consider their interaction successful. To appreciate the role of norms and conventions in
solving interpersonal coordination problems, we may start from the definition of convention
provided by the American philosopher David Lewis (1969).
Lewis describes conventions as regularities in behavior which emerge as contingent solutions to
recurrent problems of interpersonal coordination. The solutions are contingent in that they are neither
necessary nor impossible: they could have been different. If they prove effective, these solutions
become the preferred course of action for individuals in a given type of situation. Conventions grow
from precedent into social habit. They do not have to be explicitly agreed, but they presuppose a
degree of common knowledge and acceptance. They imply reciprocal expectations and the
expectation of expectations: the expectation of others that, in a given situation, I will adopt a certain
course of action, and my expectation that others expect me to adopt that course of action.
Conventions are not norms, although the distinction is not always made and conventions are
sometimes regarded as implicit norms or “quasi-norms” (Lewis, 1969, p. 97; Hjort, 1990, p. 43). They
can, however, become norms by falling victim to their own success. If a convention has served its
purpose sufficiently well for long enough, the mutually shared expectation about what course of
action to adopt in certain types of situation may grow beyond a mere preference and acquire a
binding character. At that point the modality of the expectation changes from cognitive to normative
(Galtung, 1959).
Like conventions, norms derive their legitimacy from shared knowledge and mutual expectations; on
the individual level, they are largely internalized. Unlike conventions, norms have a directive
character: They tell individuals not just how others expect them to behave but how others prefer them
to behave. Norms imply that there is a course of action which is more or less strongly preferred
because it is accepted as proper or correct or appropriate.

2.5. Toury
The idea of translation being a norm-governed activity was first explored at length by Gideon Toury
in his innovative book In Search of a Theory of Translation in 1980. Toury (1995, p. 55) defines norms
as: “the translation of general values or ideas shared by a community – as to what is right or wrong,
adequate or inadequate – into performance instructions appropriate for and applicable to particular
situations”. Toury further refined and updated the model in Descriptive Translation Studies and
Beyond published in 1995.
Norms have played a significant role in descriptive translation studies, as (Toury, 1995, p. 61) “it is
norms that determine the (type and extent of) equivalence manifested by actual translations”. Equivalence is
the name given to the relationship, of whatever type and extent, between a translation and its
original, and the existence of such a relationship is axiomatic in the theory. According to Toury,
translations are not isolated utterances and a translator does not operate in a vacuum, but is rather
“playing a social role”, “fulfilling a function allotted by a community”, which means that translation
as cultural activity is governed by certain constraints, or norms (1995, p. 53).
According to Toury, norms occupy the middle-ground in a scale of sociocultural constraints ranging,
in terms of their force, from more or less absolute rules to mere idiosyncracies (1995, p. 54). The
borderline between these constraints is by no means absolute, quite the reverse. They can gain or lose
their validity across time along with "changes of status within a society" (1995, p. 54). Norms could be
described as the society's way of regulating behaviour by saying what is accepted or tolerated, on the
one hand, and what is disapproved of or outright forbidden, on the other (1995, p. 55). Learning this
code of conduct is part of an individual's socialisation process (1995, P. 55).
The community within which a translator operates sets certain expectations on the translator for
his/her product to be acceptable as a translation within that community. Norms can be considered as
general values that are shared by a community and have been converted into instructions governing
and evaluating the acceptability of behaviour – for example the activity of translating – applicable to

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particular situations (Toury, 1995, p. 55). Deviations from agreed norms can result in ‘sanctions' or
penalties or, in rare cases, positive changes to existing systems (Toury, 1995, p. 64).
These norms are sociocultural constraints specific to culture, society and time. Toury sees various
kinds of norms operating at various stages of the translation process. These norms are as follows:
initial, preliminary and operational. Basically Initial norm is the question of a translator deciding to
conform to the norms of the source text and, by implication, of the source culture, or to those of the
target culture. The two poles between which a translator then operates are, therefore, the translation's
adequacy, or "adherence to source norms" (Toury, 1995, p .56), and its acceptability, or adherence to
target norms. In practice, the choices made by a translator involve some sort of compromise or
negotiation between the two extremes. Preliminary Norm is the choice of text-types or individual
texts to be translated (Toury, 1995, pp. 56-59). Operational Norms, those norms governing the way
"translations come into being", involving both source and target norms, though to a varying degree
(Toury 1995, p .60). In Toury’s general classification of norms, Initial norm is situated in the
preliminary norms group (1995, p .61).
When discussing norms, Toury mentions two of their qualities that bear on every practicing translator
as well as anyone wishing to study them methodically: the socio-cultural specificity of norms and
their instability (1995, p. 62). As regards their specificity, norms do not necessarily apply across
cultures nor even across the various sub-cultures of a society, whereas their fundamental instability
means that they also change across time. Such changes may be prompted by translators themselves,
translation criticism, translation ideology, and translation schools (1995, p. 62).
There are two different sources for studying translational norms: textual sources, i.e. actual
translations showing the effects of norms, and extratextual sources, i.e. normative and critical
formulations and comments from those involved, though they can sometimes be biased (1995, p. 65).
By studying these sources a scholar could find out whether particular norms are, in terms of their
force, basic or rule-like norms, secondary norms or tendencies, or tolerated behaviour (1995, p. 67).
The concept of norms has become of core importance within Translation Studies, particularly in DTS.
Toury’s attempt to be objective, descriptive and precise when analysing them has encouraged a new
approach towards translation practice, tackling features which had been overlooked until then, such
as the very existence of norms operating in the production of translated texts. Undoubtedly, his
position towards translational behaviour has proved to have invaluable resonance on translation
critics in the last decade. In fact, being acquainted with the current norms in a given literary system
seems now to be a crucial initial step when taking into consideration the translation practices within a
given culture.

3. Data Collection
There were lots of novels available but not all of them were appropriate to be selected as the data
collection source for this study, because some of them were not written originally in English and they
were translations from other languages. Therefore, the novel “Of mice and men” by John Steinbeck, the
Nobel prize-winning American author, was selected because it has been written originally in English.
Another reason and the most important one for this selection was that the novel is stuffed with
different taboos, cultural norms, and also included many instances of acceptability and adequacy
which were needed for data collection process. This study analyzes the translation of a literary book
according to Toury’s model to find omissions, distortions, alterations, euphemism, etc by the Iranian
translator.
Parviz Daryoush was born in Mashad in 1922. He got his diploma in Tehran. Then he went to the
United States to continue his studies. He studied English literature, psychology and Philosophy there.
After a while, he quitted his studies and returned to Tehran in 1949. He was employed in the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Custom Office as a translator. From then on, he began his literary work as a
writer and translator. He wrote and translated numerous books. One of his famous translations is ‘Of
Mice and Men’ in 1961. Daryoush’s translation is matchless and fraught with cultural norms which
make it appropriate for this study.

3.1.Source Text
1. “ . . . . If you . . . . guys would want a hand to work for nothing—just his keep, why I’d come
an’lend a hand. I ain’t so crippled I can’t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.” (p. 38)

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2. “Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I seen em
poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be.” (p. 16)
3. “Well, we ain’t got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God
a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble e. No mess at
all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get
whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cat house all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any
place, and order any damn thing I could think of. An’ I could do all that every damn month. Get a
gallon of whisky, or set in a pool room and play cards or shoot pool.” (p. 6)
4. George looked carefully at the solitaire hand. He put an ace up on his scoring rack and piled a two,
three and four of diamonds on it. (p. 27)
5. “I never seen a guy really do it,” he said. “I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land, but
ever’ time a whore house or a blackjack game took what it takes.” (p. 37)
6. She regarded them amusedly. “Funny thing,” she said. “If I catch anyone man, and he’s alone, I get
along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but
mad.” (p. 38)
7. George said, “I’ll work my month an’ I’ll take my fifty bucks an’ I’ll stay all night in some lousy cat
house. Or I’ll set in some poolroom till ever’ body goes home. An’ then I’ll come back an’ work another
month an’ I’ll have fifty bucks more.” (p. 47)
8. “He gonna leave you, ya crazy bastard. He gonna leave ya all alone. He gonna leave ya, crazy
bastard.” (p. 92)
9. George looked up. “If that crazy bastard’s foolin’ around too much, jus’ kick him out, Slim.” (p. 24)
10. “Poor bastard,” He said softly. (p. 48)
11. “An’ when the enda the month come—”
“An’ when the end of the month came I could take my fifty bucks an’ go to a . . . . cat house—” (p. 52)
12. “Jus’ the usual thing. We go in to old Susy’s place. Hell of a nice place. Old Susy’s a laugh—
always crackin’ jokes. Like she says when we come up on the front porch las’ Sat’day night. Susy
opens the door and then she yells over her shoulder, ‘Get yor coats on, girls, here comes the sheriff.’
She never talks dirty, neither. Got five girls there.” (p. 26)
13. “Two an’ a half. You can get a shot for two bits. Susy got nice chairs to set in, too. If a guy don’t
want a flop, why he can just set in the chairs and have a couple or three shots and pass the time of day
and Susy don’t give a damn. Sheain’t rushin’guys through and kickin’ ‘em out if they don’t want a
flop.” (p. 26)
14. “Well, you look her over, mister. You see if she ain’t a tart.” (p. 14)
15. George sighed. “You give me a good whore house every time,” he said. “A guy can go in an’ get
drunk and get ever’ thing outa his system all at once, an’ no messes. And he knows how much it’s
gonna set him back. These here jail baits is just set on the trigger of the hoosegow.” (p. 28)
16. George let himself be helped to his feet. “Yeah, a drink.” Slim said, “You hadda, George. I swear
you hadda. Come on with me.” (p. 53)
17. Candy went on, “Either you guys got a slug of whisky? I gotta gut ache.” (p. 21)
18. “Yeah?” said Crooks. “An’ where’s George now? In town in a whorehouse. That’s where your
money’s goin’” (p. 37)
19. “You God damn tramp”, he said viciously. “You done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad. Ever’
body knowed you’d mess things up. You wasn’t no good. You ain’t no good now, you lousy tart.” (p.
47)
20. “Tend rabbits,” it said scornfully. “You crazy bastard. You ain’t fit to lick the boots of no rabbit.
You’d forget ‘em and let ‘em go hungry. That’s what you’d do. An’ then what would George think?”
(p. 50)

3.2. Target Text

1 ‫ اونقد ها هم چالق نیس سم‬.‫ منم باهاتون میام‬،‫ خب‬،‫ همین بخور و نمیر شو بدین‬،‫ یکی رو بخواین که مجانی واسه تون کارکنه‬....‫" اگه شماها‬.
".‫( که اگه بخوام نتونم مث یه ننه سگ دیگه کار کنم‬p. 132)
2 ‫ من از این‬.‫ به من چه که اون چی می گه و چی کار می کنه‬.‫ نیگاه به این ماده سگ نکن‬.‫ گوش کن می بینی چی می گم‬،‫"حرومزاده بیشعور‬.
".‫ تو ولش کن‬.‫ اما همچنین دامی تا حاال ندیده بودم‬.‫( مارا بازم دیده ام‬p. 58)
3 ‫ میتونسم برم یه کار پیدا کنم‬،‫ راحت و آسوده زندگی می کردم‬،‫ به خدا که اگه تنها بودم‬.‫ هرچی که نداریم تو اونو می خوای‬:‫"و با خشم گفت‬.
.‫ پولمو می گرفتم می رفتم شهر هر چه می خواسم می خریدم‬،‫ وقتی هم آخر ماه می رسید‬.‫ هیچ زحمتی نداشتم‬.‫ گرفتاریم نداشته باشم‬،‫مشغول شم‬

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‫می تونسم تموم شب و تو جنده خونه بخوابم‪ .‬هر جا می خواسم چیز میخوردم‪ ،‬مهمونخونه بود‪ ،‬جای دیگه بود‪ .‬هر چه می خواسم دستور می‬
‫)‪ (p. 23‬دادم‪ .‬این کارو هرماه می تونسم بکنم‪ .‬اگه دلم می خواس یک مشک شراب می خریدم‪ ،‬یا می رفتم قمارخونه بازی می کردم‪".‬‬
‫)‪(p. 98‬ژرژ با دقت به ب ازی خود مشغول بود یک تک خال را به کنار نهاد و بعد دو لو و سه لو و چهار لوی پیک را روی آن گذارد‪. 4 .‬‬
‫"من هیچ که رو ندیده م این کارو کرده باشه‪ .‬خیلیا رو دیدم که دلشون واسه یک تیکه زمین لک زده بود اما هر دفعه یه جنده یا یه قمار هر ‪.5‬‬
‫)‪ (p. 132‬چی داشتن ازشون گرفتن‪".‬‬
‫‪".‬از سر تفنن ایشان را می نگریست‪" .‬چه خوبه اگه یه مردو گیرم بیارم که تنها باشه‪ ،‬باهش خوش می گذرونم اما همین که دو تا شدن دیگه ‪6‬‬
‫)‪ (p. 133‬حرف نمی زنن‪ .‬کثافتشون بگیرن‪".‬‬
‫‪ .‬ژرژ گفت‪ " :‬من این یه ماهو کار می کنم پنجاه دالرمو می گیرم و اونوقت هر شب می رم جنده خونه‪ .‬یا میرم تو یه مهمون خونه ان قد می ‪7‬‬
‫)‪ (p. 163‬شینم تا همه برن خونه هاشون‪ .‬اونوخ بازم میام یه ماه کار می کنم و باز پنجاه دالرمو می گیرم‪".‬‬
‫)‪". (p. 175-176‬اون می خواد تو حرومزاده کله خرو ول کنه‪ .‬می خواد ترو تک و تنها بذاره‪ .‬می خواد تو حرومزاده کله خرو ول کنه‪8".‬‬
‫)‪ . (p. 90‬ژرژ باال نگریست‪" .‬اگه اون حرومزاده کله خر زیادی سر به سرشون می ذاره‪ ،‬اردنگش بزن بیرونش کن‪9".‬‬
‫)‪ . (p. 169‬به نرمی گفت‪" :‬حرومزاده بدبخت‪10".‬‬
‫)‪ " . (Daryoush, p. 178‬وقتی آخر ماه می رسید‪ ،‬من پنجاه دالرمو می گرفتم می رفتم جنده خونه‪11 ".‬‬
‫‪" .‬همون کار همیشگی‪ .‬ما میریم تو خونه سوزی پیره‪ .‬جای خوبیه‪ .‬سوزی پیرزن بگو بخندیه و همه ش شوخی می کنه‪ .‬مثل اوندفعه که شب ‪12‬‬
‫یه شنبه رفتیم اونجا‪ .‬سوزی پیر درو وا کرد‪ ،‬انوقت‪ .‬از باالی شونه ش داد زد‪ ،‬دخترا لباستنو تنتون کنین‪ ،‬کدخدا آمده‪ .‬حرفای بد هیچوخ نمی‬
‫)‪(p. 91‬زنه پنجتا خانم اونجا داره"‪.‬‬
‫‪ " .‬دو دالر ونصفی‪ .‬با یک تیر دو نشون میتونی بزنی‪ .‬سوزی صندلیای راحتی هم داره‪ .‬خوب اگه یکی خانوم نخواد‪ ،‬می تونه راحت بنشینه ‪13‬‬
‫رو صندلی واسه خودش یه چیزی بخوره‪ ،‬سوزیم روزشو بگذرونه‪ ،‬سوزیم پدرشو نمی سوزونه‪ .‬اگه کسی خانوم نخواد‪ .‬سوزی اردنگی نمی‬
‫)‪ (p. 91‬زنه بیرونش کنه‪".‬‬
‫)‪ " . (p. 52‬خب‪ ،‬آقا خوب نگاش کن‪ .‬ببین جنده نیس‪14".‬‬
‫‪ .‬ژرژ آهی کشید و گفت‪ " :‬یه جنده خونه به هزار تا اینجورش می ارزه‪ .‬آدم می ره توش مست می کنه‪ ،‬کارشو تموم می کنه‪ ،‬هیچ سر و ‪15‬‬
‫‪(p.‬صداییم نداره‪ .‬اینو هم میدونه که چقدر خرج داره اما اینجور دخترها هزار فند و ملعنت دارن مثل تله ای که از همه طرفش می کشه‪".‬‬
‫)‪131‬‬
‫‪ .‬ژرژ کمک اسلیم را برای برخاستن پذیرفت‪ " .‬آره‪ ،‬یه گیالس می زنیم‪16".‬‬
‫)‪(p. 184‬اسلیم گفت‪ " :‬ژرژ‪ ،‬تو باس حتما بخوری‪ .‬حتما باس بخوری بیا بریم‪" ...‬‬
‫)‪(p. 77‬کاندی ادامه داد‪ " ،‬هیچکدام از شماها یه جیکه ویسکی ندارین؟ من شکمم درد میکنه‪17. ".‬‬
‫)‪ .(p. 131‬کروکس گفت‪" :‬راسی؟ پس ژرژ حاال کجاس؟ رفته شهر تو جنده خونه‪ .‬پولتون اینجوری خرج می شه‪18 ".‬‬
‫‪ " .‬لگوری مرده شور برده‪ .‬تو این کارو کردی‪ .‬نکردی؟ خیال می کنم خوشحالم باشی‪ .‬همه می دونسن که تو گرفتاری درست می کنی‪ .‬تو ‪19‬‬
‫)‪(p. 164‬هیچ خوب نبودی‪ .‬حاالشم خوب نیسی‪ ،‬جنده گندیده‪".‬‬
‫‪ .‬با صدای لنی به شماتت گفت‪ " ،‬خرگوش داشته باشی؟ تو حرومزاده تنبل؟ تو قابل این که پای یه خرگوش را هم بلیسی نیستی تو اونا رو ‪20‬‬
‫)‪(p. 174‬فراموش می کنی تا از گشنگی بمیرن‪ .‬کار تو اینه‪ .‬اونوقت ژرژ چی خیال می کنه؟"‬

‫‪4. Data Analysis‬‬

‫‪In the first example, Daryoush translated as the original text. His translation is adequate or source text‬‬
‫‪oriented. Daryoush is faithful to the author and transfer the message as the source text writer‬‬
‫‪intended. He keeps the cultural norms of the source text in the translation. In the second example,‬‬
‫‪"in the first sentence. In example 3,‬حرومزاده بیشعور" ‪Daryoush translated as the source text. He used‬‬
‫‪”. He has used‬قمارخونه“ ‪” and‬یه مشک شراب“ ‪Daryoush translated ‘a gallon of whisky’ and ‘pool room’ as‬‬
‫‪foreignization strategy to keep the cultural norms of the source text in translation; he is faithful to the‬‬
‫‪original text. His translation is full of lexical items which are inappropriate to Islamic culture.‬‬
‫‪As seen in the forth example, Daryoush translates the sentences word for word to be faithful to the‬‬
‫‪original text; that is, his translation is adequate. He conveys the message as intended by the author.‬‬
‫‪Daryoush translates “whore house”, in example 5, directly which is another example of adequate‬‬
‫‪translation. His translation shows cultural norms of the source text. In example 6, Daryoush tries to‬‬
‫‪convey the exact message of the source text and does not add or delete the words. He observes the‬‬
‫‪norms of the source text. According to Toury’s dichotomy, this is an example of adequate translation.‬‬
‫‪Daryoush’s translation of example 7 is equal to the idea conveyed in the original text. So it can be said‬‬
‫" همه" ‪that the translation is adequate. On the other hand, he translated ‘ever’ body’ literally as‬‬
‫‪according to the source text. In example 8, the translator translates exactly based on the author’s‬‬
‫‪wording. In this way, he follows the adequacy in translation. In example 9, Daryoush translates‬‬
‫‪literally based on source text and also considers the norms of source language. The translator, in the‬‬
‫‪tenth example, is faithful to the original text and his translation is adequate; that is, he kept the‬‬
‫‪cultural norms of the source text.‬‬
‫‪Considering example 11, the translator’s intervention is not seen in his rendering. He translates the‬‬
‫‪text without any deletion. His translation is based on source language norms and according to‬‬
‫‪Toury’s dichotomy of ‘Acceptability’ and ‘Adequacy’; he follows the adequacy of translation. The‬‬

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

translation of example 12 is adequate. The message in his translation is not differed from the source
text. He uses appropriate equivalence for each sentence in the source text and also he is source text
oriented. Compared with the source text (example 13), Daryoush’s translation can be considered as
the original one and follows the thoughts of the writer without any distortion. We can say that the
author-centered approach is closely linked to the concept of adequacy. The translation conveys the
information/expression contained in the original text.
Regarding example 14, Daryoush translates as the source text linguistics and norms. The translator
again follows the adequacy in translation. His translation of example 15 is according to the source text
norms and is a case of adequate translation. He translates the text (example 16) without any distortion
as the original one. His translation is source text oriented, so it is an adequate translation.
Checking example 17, Daryoush translates word for word. He also uses the foreignization strategy
and uses “whisky” in his translation. The translator moves toward source text norms but the whole
meaning is conveyed without any deletion or omission. So, his translation is adequate. The translator
translates example 18 word for word and pays no heed to Islamic ideology in his translation. He
maintains the cultural norms of the source language in the translation and follows the adequacy in
translation. Concerning example 19, Daryoush is faithful to the author and his translation is source
text oriented, thus his translation can be considered as adequate. Daryoush translated the phrase ’You
crazy bastard’ in the last example according to the source text and the message is conveyed directly.
There is no omission or an equivalent. This kind of strategy which has been used by the translator is
towards the source language norms. Daryoush translation is considered as an adequate one and the
degree of his translation is over 95%.

5. Conclusion
The study demonstrated that to what extent Toury’s dichotomy of “acceptability” and “adequacy”
was seen in the Persian translation of the novel. Considering cultural norms and their effects on
individuals’ beliefs, thoughts, way of living, many translators take up a fortified position in
transferring these norms based on those accepted in their communities and some are faithful to the
original text and try to maintain the source language norms in translation; that is, they are not
sensitive to their own cultural norms. So, the aim of the analysis rooted in the ideology of translators.
Translation of ‘Of Mice and Men’ by Daryoush in 1961 was completely different. He was faithful to the
source text. He translated all the inappropriate words and did not consider the target’s culture.
Daryoush did not distort the meaning of words and also did not omit or add words in the target text.
He transferred lexical items from English into Persian without intervention. Thus, the translation of
Daryoush is considered as an adequate one and its degree of adequacy could be 95%.
Daryoush also had the same ideology except in few cases that some words were changed. It is right to
say his ideology was not wholly Islamic. He transferred all vulgar expressions from the source text to
the target text except in a few cases. He did not avoid or delete obscene words which are
inappropriate for Iranian culture in his translation. Therefore, his translation after the Islamic
revolution of Iran did not differ much from before the revolution. Compared with the norms of the
target language, the source language norms were much more important for him.
Daryoush did not distort the lexical items of the source text in the translation. There were no cases of
rewording in his translation. He did not use euphemism to avoid the lexical items which had negative
values. On the other hand, Daryoush transferred the whole offensive words from the source text into
the target text. He did not add the words with religious connotations to the target text.
Daryoush, on the other hand, had least changes in his translation. He is source text oriented and his
translation is considered adequate. Also, his translation after the Islamic revolution of Iran did not
differ much from before that. The translator was not influenced by Islamic and Iranian culture.

REFERENCES
.‫ انتشارات امیر کبیر‬:‫ تهران‬.)1340( )‫ مترجم‬،‫ داریوش‬.‫ (پ‬.‫) موش ها وآدمها‬1937( .‫ ج‬،‫اشتاین بک‬
.‫ انتشارات امیر کبیر‬:‫ تهران‬.)1362( )‫ مترجم‬،‫ داریوش‬.‫ (پ‬.‫) موش ها وآدمها‬1937( .‫ ج‬،‫اشتاین بک‬
.‫ انتشارات اساطیر‬:‫ تهران‬.)1368( )‫ مترجم‬،‫ داریوش‬.‫ ( پ‬.‫) موش ها وآدمها‬1937( .‫ ج‬،‫اشتاین بک‬
Baker, M. (1992). In other words: A coursebook on translation. London and New York:
Baker, M. (1998). The Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies. London: Routledge
Catford, J. C. (1965/2000). A linguistic theory of translation. London: Oxford University
Press.

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Hjort, A. M. (1990). Translation and the consequences of scepticism. In S. Bassnett & A.

Hongwei, C. (1999). Cultural difference and translation. Translations' Journal, 44, 121-132.
Karamanian, A. (2001). Translation and Culture. Retrieved May 28, 2013, from
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/index.php?option=com_contend&id=2144&lang=en&layout=edit
&view=article
Larson, M. L. (1984) Meaning-based translation: A guide to cross-language equivalence.
Munday, J. (2001). Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications. London: Rutledge
Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Singapore: Prentice Hall International.
Nida, E, A. and Taber, R. Ch. (1969). The theory and practice of translating. Leiden: E.J Brill.
Nord, C. (1997). Translating as a purposeful activity: Functionalist approaches explained.
Nugroho, A. (2013). Meaning and translation. Reterived May 12, 2014: from
https://www.academia.edu/3727334/meaning_and_translation
Schäffner, Ch. (2010). ‘Norms of translation.’ In Y. Gambier & Luc van Dorslaer (Ed.),
Handbook of Translation Studies (pp. 58-69). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.
Shuttleworth, M. & Cowie, M. (1997). Dictionary of translation studies, Manchester: St.
Jerome.encyclopedia of translation studies (pp. 67-70). New York: Routledge.
Steinbeck, J. (1937). Of Mice and Men. Retrieved Apr 13, 2014 from
http://staff.oswego.orgo.org/ephaneuf/web/ENG-9R/Steinbeck,%20John%20-
20%Of%20%Mice%20and%Men.pdf
Sturge, K. (2009). Cultural Translation. In M. Baker & G. Saldanha (Eds.), Routledge
Toury, G. (1980). In search of a theory of translation. Tel Aviv, Israel: Porter Institute.
Toury, G. (1995) Descriptive translation studies and beyond, Amsterdam and Philadelphia:
Tymoczko, M. (2003). Ideology and the position of the translator: In what Sense is a translator
in between‘? In M. Calzada-Pérez (Ed.) Apropos of ideology (pp. 181-202). Manchester: St. Jerome.
Venuti, L. (1998). The scandals of translation. London and New York: Routledge.
Wardhaugh, R. (1986). An introduction to sociolinguistics. London: Basil Backwell.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

THE EFFECT OF PROMPT CARDS ON VOCABULARY

LEARNING: COMPREHENSION AND PRODUCTION

Zahra Rezaee Galedari

Department of social science, Bushehr branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran
Zrezaee69@yahoo.com

Seyed Reza Basiroo

Department of social science, Bushehr branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran
Basiroo@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED THE EFFECT OF PROMPT CARDS ON COMPREHENSION AND
PRODUCTION OF VOCABULARY OF PRESCHOOLERS. THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS STUDY
WERE 60 PRESCHOOLERS 4 TO 7 YEARS OLD, RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM BEGINNER
ENGLISH LEARNERS IN A LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN BORAZJAN, SW OF IRAN. IN THE
COURSE OF 12 SESSIONS OF TEACHING PROMPT CARDS, THE MAIN RESEARCHER TESTED
THE LEARNERS EVERY THREE WEEKS AND GAVE THEM THE FINAL TEST IN THE FOURTH
WEEK. THE CONTROL GROUP LEARNERS WERE TAUGHT VOCABULARY THROUGH
ORDINARY PICTURES. THIS STUDY WAS DONE THROUGH TRUE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP,
PRETEST POSTTEST CONTROL GROUP. THE PRETEST WAS GIVEN TO ENSURE THE
LEARNERS DID NOT HAVE BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE WORDS WHICH WERE
ABOUT TO BE TAUGHT DURING THE COURSE. IN THIS STUDY, LEARNERS WERE TESTED
THROUGH WORD LEARNING SCORE (WLS) AND AN OVERALL TEST IN WHICH PICTURES
WERE USED FOR CHECKING THEIR COMPREHENSION AND PRODUCTION. THE COLLECTED
DATA WERE ANALYZED BY IMPLEMENTING THE INDEPENDENT SAMPLES T-TEST AND
MAN-WHITNEY TEST TO COMPARE THE TEST RESULTS OF BOTH GROUPS. THE POSTTEST
AND DELAYED POSTTEST OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP INDICATED THAT PROMPT
CARDS HAD POSITIVE EFFECT ON LEARNERS’ PROFICIENCY. MOREOVER, AS THE
ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS SHOWED, THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
PERFORMANCE OF BOTH GROUPS IN COMPREHENSION AND PRODUCTION.

KEYWORDS: VOCABULARY, PRESCHOOLERS, COMPREHENSION, PRODUCTION, PROMPT

CARDS, PICTURES

1.Introduction
Working with EFL preschoolers, the researchers found that some of those learners had problem in
comprehension and production of vocabulary. Having detected such problems, the researchers was
encouraged to investigate in instructional strategies for preschoolers. The essence of instruction to
foreign preschoolers is vocabulary; consequently, most of the instructional strategies are in the field of
vocabulary.
This research assumes EFL preschoolers as SLCN children (i.e. children with Speech and Language
Communicative Needs) and uses a model of vocabulary teaching for Iranian EFL preschoolers which
was used for the preschoolers who were native-speakers of English. Investigation of instructional
strategies shows a significant difference between teaching English vocabulary to preschoolers as a
foreign language and as a native language. The main instructional strategies used in Iranian English
institutes (EFL environment) are using ordinary pictures and repetition.
1.1. Statement of the problem
This study attempted to facilitate comprehension and production by teaching English vocabulary to
EFL children of four to seven years old. Generally, most of the teachers use ordinary pictures and

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

repetition to teach vocabulary to EFL preschoolers in Iranian English institutes. Most of the learners
have problem in comprehension and production. Nowadays, instructors, teachers, language
therapists invent some vocabulary strategies to help the learners to teach vocabulary.
The necessity for new method encourages English therapists, when working on children with speech
language and communication needs, to provide a model to help them to learn vocabulary before they
start reading and writing.
1.2. Significance of the study
According to Blachowicz & Fisher (2010) you must use different strategies to teach vocabulary.
Owing to that one of the therapists, St. John (2012) used different strategies together for teaching
vocabulary. He (2012) introduces Pre-Teaching Vocabulary, which is designed for native learners
with learning difficulties. His model invented to cope with the problems that native learners with
language difficulty face when they enter the schools.
One of the activities in this model is prompt cards, for children and young use. This technique
attempts to help preschoolers in learning vocabulary. This activity tries to teach vocabulary through
symbols, pictures and coding questions about different aspect of a word.
1.3. Research questions
The following research questions were addressed in this study:
1. Is there any significant difference between teaching vocabulary through prompt
cards and through ordinary pictures in enhancing the EFL preschoolers’
comprehension?
2. Is there any significant difference between teaching vocabulary through prompt
cards and ordinary pictures in enhancing the EFL preschoolers’ production?
2.literature review
This part investigates the conducted studies and developed theories, aimed at finding out what have
been done concerning the process of vocabulary teaching and learning in preschoolers and
determines the importance of those theories and studies in creating the prompt cards. So, this section
is divided into three parts: vocabulary development for native learners, vocabulary development for
native disabled learners and vocabulary development for foreign learners.
2.1. Vocabulary development for native learners:
In this section, subjects as psychological and pronunciational learning process in vocabulary learning
is examined. Piaget believes in vocabulary development through actions in the environment, but
Vygosky believes in vocabulary through the assistance of other people. Both of them believe in
mentalist, also exposure to the environment (Cameron, 2001). “Bruner believes in gradual cognitive
development and mediation of language between environmental stimuli and the individual
response” (McLeod, 2008, p. 1). So, we can mix behaviorism and mentalism for vocabulary learning.
The prompt cards use both theories, by using WH-questions for mentalism and critical thinking and
repetition of the process of vocabulary learning through three steps for behaviorism.
The instructional strategies for phonological and phonemic awareness are same. These strategies
includes isolated sound recognition, word/syllable/phoneme counting, sound synthesis, sound to
word matching, identification of sound position, sound segmentation, letter-sound association
(Edelen-Smith,1997,pp,103-111) and multi-sensory mapping, picture card snap, sound sort, treasure
chest (Antonacci & O'Callaghan, 2012, pp. 1-25). There is a chart developed by Sander, in 1972, which
shows the phonemes produced in each age group. Some of questions which are used in the prompt
cards are about beginning sounds and clap the syllables relating to the pronunciation which can help
learners in learning speaking vocabulary.

2.2. Vocabulary development for native disabled learners:

2.2.1 Critical thinking:
Critical thinking comprises a number of different skills that help us learn to make judgment.
According to Beyer (1995) critical thinking means making clear reasoned judgments. Critical thinking
is about how to think, not what to think. He also asserts that “the purpose of critical thinking is to
ascertain the degree to which some phenomenon meets some criterion.” (Beyer, 1995, p. 8)
Questioning is the most important part of critical thinking. “Because asking questions that have one
right answer encourages children to respond creatively without being afraid of giving the wrong
answer.” (Scholastic, ND)
2.2.2. Using prompts

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

“Prompts are the actions taken to directly assist students with the completion of tasks. Prompting is
stimulus to direct their attention to critical thinking to be creative. Prompting are extra cues. They use
to help learners to be independent in learning.” (lasater,2008,p,64-66) We can use both prompting and
cueing for completion of what we want to teach, not just tasks, but also for vocabulary.
2.3. Vocabulary development for foreign learners:
A question will be drawn is that is there a critical age for vocabulary? No, there is no critical age for
vocabulary. Singleton (1995) believes that there is no critical age for first and second language in
vocabulary learning. It is because of brain maturation does not affect the vocabulary development. In
second and foreign language, both younger and adult can learn language before and after the age of
puberty. Prompt cards assume that learning vocabulary in younger is better than older, although this
can also be used for older, the researches show that having a high performance in vocabulary causes
better performance in reading and writing, so it is better to learn vocabulary before entering the
school.
3.Methodology
The purpose of this study was to seek ways of improving comprehension and production of
vocabulary in EFL preschoolers, with an emphasis on the role of prompt cards. This part investigates
research methodology based on the aims of the study.
3.1.Design and variables:
In the present study, initially, a vocabulary test was given to ensure the preschoolers had not learned,
in their previous exposure to English, the words they were supposed to learn during the treatment.
This was followed by four weeks of vocabulary instruction sessions, using ordinary pictures for the
control group of learners and prompt cards for the experimental group. In conclusion, this is an
experimental study. The variables in this study are prompt cards as the independent variable,
learners’ scores in vocabulary comprehension and production as dependent variable. The group
receiving prompt cards as treatment was considered as the experimental group; with the other group
for which ordinary pictures were used as the control group.
3.2. Participants:
This study was conducted on 60 randomly-chosen students of an English language institute in
Borazjan, SW of Iran. They were in the beginning level, ranging from 4 to 7 years old. All of them
studied the same book “Pockets series” for their English learning. The participants were divided into
two groups: experimental (4 classes) and control (4 classes). EGs (experimental group) received the
treatment in the form of prompt cards (PTV) and the other received no treatment (through ordinary
pictures, only). The experiment was carried out during 12sessions of one hour, three days per week,
lasting for one month.
3.3. Materials:
The materials required in this study included different pictures of the same topic, like picture
dictionary, websites and books that had pictures about the same topics, symbols that were available
in PTV booklet and if needed using symwriter software online, tunes of nursery rhymes (also
available in PTV booklet) and silent music of nursery rhymes, word learning score and word
knowledge record keeping sheets available in PTV booklet.
3.4. Instruments:
The instruments required in this study are tests. in the present study, tests with high level of
explicitness are used, in which predetermined test items were given to the participants. We should
consider that all of the tests were administered orally, because all of the participants were illiterate.
3.4.1. test1(to ensure the learners do not already know the words that will be presented to them):
In the first session of each lesson, according to Beck and McKeown (2002) for word selection, a test
was given to learners to make sure that they do not have any background knowledge about the
words that were to be taught in that particular session.

3.4.2. Tests 2 and 3(The achievement and delayed achievement tests):

A word learning score checklist was provided to check the proficiency level of the entire participants
in experimental group. This checklist consisted of name it, give it a meaning, clap syllables, beginning
sound, and indicate word length, function + action, category, location, make a link, and synonym. In
the present study, the achievement tests were given to learners of experimental group on a weekly
basis, i.e. three times in a month. Moreover, a delayed achievement test was given after four weeks.
3.4.3.An overall achievement test for experimental and control groups:

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The overall test consisted of two parts: comprehension and production. Each one covered ten words.
The set of the words in these two parts overlapped, but were not necessarily the same. To test the
learners on those sets of vocabulary, the main researcher used pictures that differed from those used
during teaching process – to eliminate the probability of the learners’ having memorized the pictures.
In comprehension section, the approach used in British Picture Vocabulary Scale Test ( Dunn et al,
1997) was used with some modifications: In the original method, teacher says a word and the learner
responds by selecting a picture from four options that best illustrates the word’s meaning; in this
research, ten pictures were shown to the learners, asking them to pick up the picture which the
teacher named.
In production section, Expressive One Word Picture (Brownell, 2000) was used, which assesses the
verbal expression by asking them to name objects, actions and concepts. So, a picture was shown to
the learners, asking them to name it. This pair of tests revealed how many words out of ten were
comprehended and produced, respectively, by the learners in prompt cards and ordinary pictures.

4.Results
In what follows, the test results are tabulated and analyzed:
4.1. Word Learning Score (WLS)
This section covers Word Learning Score test, which was used to check the progress in the
experimental group. Also an overall test of comprehension and production of vocabulary for both
experimental and control group is analyzed.
In Table 4.1, the frequency of scores in WLS test is shown. This test consisted of three achievement
tests and three delayed achievement tests.
Delayed- Delayed- Delayed-
posttest1 posttest1 posttest2 posttest2 posttest3 posttest3
N Valid 30 30 30 30 30 30
Missing 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 40.0667 55.7333 24.4667 33.8667 15.6000 23.6667
Median 39.0000 57.0000 24.0000 34.0000 15.0000 24.0000
Mode 38.00 58.00 24.00 34.00 11.00a 23.00a
Minimum 35.00 34.00 18.00 31.00 10.00 18.00
Maximum 51.00 63.00 30.00 37.00 27.00 27.00
Sum 1202.00 1672.00 734.00 1016.00 468.00 710.00
a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown
The table above (4.1) indicates that each section of test covered the same number of participants, i.e.
30. The achievement test 1 indicates an overall test, for both comprehension and production. The sum
of the scores for achievement test 1 is 1202.00 and for delayed achievement test is 1672.00. The
minimum and maximum scores are 35 and 51 for posttest and 34 and 63 for delayed achievement test.
The achievement test 2 indicates production of vocabulary. The sum of the scores in this test for
achievement test 2 is 734 and for delayed posttest is 1016. The minimum and maximum scores are 18
and 30 for achievement test 2, and 31 and 37 for delayed achievement test 2, respectively. The
achievement test 3 indicates comprehension of vocabulary. The sum of the scores is 468 for
achievement test 3and 710 for delayed achievement test3. The minimum and maximum of scores are
10 and 27 for achievement test 3 and 18 to 27 for delayed achievement test. As it can be seen, the
scores in comprehension test are the lowest. The delayed achievement test 2 has the maximum score,
which are 37. The maximum of scores in comprehension test in both achievement test and delayed
achievement test are the same. (The details of scores in these tests are presented in List of tables No.1
to 6.)
4.2. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test
If a researcher intends to investigate existence of significant difference between two samples tested in
a community, independent samples t-test or Mann-Whitney test is used, depending on the fact
whether the distribution is parametric (normal) or non-parametric(abnormal), respectively.
Kolmogorov-Smirnov testis used for checking normality of samples distribution:
Table 4.2. Results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

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One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

Comp Prod
N 60 60
Normal Parametersa,b Mean 4.3333 4.8667
Std. Deviation 1.14487 1.38352
Most Extreme Differences Absolute .236 .168
Positive .178 .168
Negative -.236 -.160
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z 1.832 1.300
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .002 .068
a. Test distribution is Normal.
b. Calculated from data.

In this test, the null hypothesis indicated that the observations follow a normal distribution and the
alternative hypothesis indicated abnormal observations. For the word production, because the
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) in this table was greater than the 0.05, the null hypothesis was retained. On the
other hand, for the word comprehension, since the Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) was0.002, the null
hypothesis was rejected. Therefore, it was concluded that comprehension of words follows abnormal
distribution. Therefore, an independent t-test (parametric) was used for the production of words and
Mann-Whitney test for comprehension of words.
H0: There is no significant difference between prompt card and ordinary pictures in production of
words.
Here are the characteristics for both groups for production of words:

Table4.3. Descriptive Statistics for Word Production

group N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Prod 1 30 6.0000 .78784 .14384

2 30 3.7333 .78492 .14331

As it can be seen, the mean in prompt cards is higher than in ordinary pictures.
4.3.T-test
In this test, the null hypothesis showed no difference and H1 represents the difference between the
two groups for the production of words. The following table displays the result of independent
samples t-test, for the production of words between groups using prompt cards and using ordinary
pictures:

Table4.4.Levene’sTest Results for word production t-test

of Variances
for Equality
Levene's Test

T-test for Equality of Means

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tailed)
Sig.(2-

Difference
Mean

Difference
Std. Error
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
F Sig. t df Lower Upper
Equal variances .437 .511 11.164 58 .000 2.26667 .20304 1.86023 2.67310
assumed

Equal variances 11.164 57.999 .000 2.26667 .20304 1.86023 2.67310

not assumed

As shown in the table above, the calculated significance level is less than 0.05. Therefore, from the
results of independent t-test, significant difference can be concluded between production of words of
the two methods: i.e. prompt cards and ordinary pictures. Levine also tests the significance level
greater than 0.05, which indicates the equality of standard deviation of the two groups. On the other
hand, there have been the result of that test was carried out at 95% of validity and critical values are
+1.96 and -1.96; if the value of t obtained between these two numbers the null hypothesis is accepted
and otherwise H1 is confirmed. Since the t value (11.164) is more than this amount, the researchers’
hypothesis (H1), that shows a significant difference between the two groups in terms of words, is
confirmed. The mean group using prompt cards (6) compared with groups of ordinary pictures
(3.733) is much higher. So, using the prompt cards in comparison to the using ordinary pictures in
production of words has a high significant difference.
H0: there is no significant difference between prompt cards and ordinary pictures in comprehension
of words.
Here are the characteristics of two groups of comprehension:
Table4.5. Mean ranks for comprehension in prompt cards and ordinary pictures

group2 N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks

1 30 43.43 1303.00

2 30 17.57 527.00

Total 60

As it can be seen, the mean rank in prompt cards is much higher than ordinary pictures.
4.6. Mann-Whitney test:
In this test, the null hypothesis showed no difference; hence, H1 represents the difference between the
two groups for comprehension of words. The following table is the result of Mann-Whitney test, for
the comprehension of words between groups using prompt cards and using ordinary pictures is
displayed below:

Table4.6. Results of Mann-Whitney test for comprehension

Test Statisticsa
Comp
Mann-Whitney U 62.000
Wilcoxon W 527.000
Z -5.990
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .000
a. Grouping Variable: group2

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As shown in the table above, since the significance level is less than0.05, from the results of Mann-
Whitney test, it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the two groups of
using prompt cards and ordinary pictures in comprehension of words. Moreover, the mean of group
of using prompt cards (6) is much higher when compared with the group of using ordinary pictures
(3.733). Therefore, the use of prompt cards compared to the use of ordinary pictures in the
comprehension of words is more efficient.

5. Discussion
In this section, the researchers set forth interpretations and opinions, explains the similar researches,
and makes suggestions for further studies.
5.1. Results of similar studies:
One of the studies done in Iran which is close to the present study is the use of graphic organizers for
vocabulary teaching. The research was done by Shoari and Farokhi (2014) on the university students
learning vocabulary through graphic organizers in form of clusters and pictures. While those learners
were asked to draw the picture of new words in the same topic; in the present research, prompt cards
were used to teach the new words relating to the same topic (since graphic organizers are in written
form, they were not workable for preschoolers). The mentioned study shows that graphic organizer is
effective in vocabulary learning than traditional instruction. In similar, the present study shows that
using prompt cards for vocabulary learning is more effective than traditional instruction.
Another similar study was Mansourzadeh (2014) in which the teaching vocabulary through pictures
and audio-visual aids were compared. Mansourzadeh (2014) showed that learners outperformed
learning vocabulary in using picture than in visual aids method – a result that was contrary to the
present study which shows that the still pictures are not enough for vocabulary learning.
Finally, a research by Tavakoli and Gerami (2013) showed that keyword method is more effective
than pictorial method in vocabulary learning for elementary students. Similarly, the present study
showed that keyword method worked as the cues for understanding and remembering words, but
these cues were derived from the first language.

5.2.Limitation of the study and suggestions for further studies:

One of the problems in this study was low exposure of preschoolers to English, which required more
time in order to obtain better results and learn more vocabulary. Although the highest score was only
63 out of 100, those learners with prompt pictures performed better in comprehension and
production, when compared with those who used ordinary pictures.
The following are suggested for further studies:
The present study did not take into account learning vocabulary in higher quantity, more than 10
words. To that end, the experiment must be done in longer time spans, for example one year with
higher quantity of vocabulary to increase the probability of high performance in vocabulary learning.
To check the effect of prompt cards in greater scopes and with different levels of proficiency,
considering these characteristics is necessary. This study considered putting each of the words in one
simple sentence. To have a better effect on comprehension in different contexts, and using them in
their particular contexts, using through different sentences must be tried. This study considered
vocabulary in speaking and neglected other types of vocabulary in reading and writing. In order to
reach this aim, the effect of prompt cards on reading and writing should be considered.

REFERENCES
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Beyer, B. K. (1995).Critical thinking. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Blachowicz, C., & Fisher, P. (2010).Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms (4th ed.). Columbus, OH:
Prentice Hall.
Brownell,R. (2000). Expressive and Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary tests. EOWPVT and
ROWPVT. Kent: The Psychological Corporation.
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dunn,L.,Dunn,L, Whetton,C,Burley,J.(1997) British Picture Vocabulary Scale:second edition-BPVS.
Berks:NFER-Nelson.

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Edelen-Smith, P. J. (November, 1997). How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for
Collaborative Classrooms. Intervention in School and Clinic, Volume 33, Number 2, pp. 103-111.
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Lasater, M (2008) RTI and Paraeducator’s Role: Effective Teaming. US: Publisher’s Cataloging-In
Publication.
Mansourzadeh, N. (2014) A Comparative Study of Teaching Vocabulary through Pictures and Audio
Visual Aids to Young Iranian EFL Learners. Journal of Elementary Education, 24(1):47-59.
McLeod,S.A.(2008) Bruner. Retrieved from:
www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html
Mckeown, M. G., & Beck,I.L.(2004) Direct And Rich Vocabulary Instruction.In Vocabulary Instruction,
Edited by J. F. Baumann and E. J. Kame’enui, 13-27.New York: Guilford Press.
Sander, E. K. (1972). When are speech sounds learned? Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 37(1),
55–63.
Scholastic (n,d) Think about It : Critical Thinking. Retrieved from:
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/thinking-skills-learning-styles/think-about-
it-critical-thinking
Shoari,E,Farokh, F.(2014)The Effects of Graphic Organizer Strategy on Improving Iranian EFL
Learner’s Vocabulary Learning. Iranian Journal of Research in English Language Teaching, 2(1):71-82.
Singleton,D. (1995). Introduction:A Critical Look at the Critical Period Hypothesis in second Language
Acquisition Research. In Singleton, D. And Lengyel, Z.(Eds). The Age factor in Second Language
Acquisition. (Pp. 1-29).
St.John, P (2013, June).Pre-Teaching Vocabulary. Hello Listen Take Part. RetrievedFrom:
Www.Widgit.Com/Resourses/Literacy-Language/Vocabulary/PreteachingVocabulary/Index.
Tavakoli,M,Gerami,E. (2013) The Effect of Key Word Method on EFL Learner’s Vocabulary Learning
and Retention. Porta Linguarum, 19:299-316.

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TEXTUALITY ORIENTED OR GRAMMATICALITY

ORIENTED FOCUS ON FORM TASKS?

Farid Ghaemi
English Department,Islamic Azad University-Karaj Branch, Iran
E-mail address: ghaemi@kiau.ac.ir

Forouzan Rezaei Tajani

English Department, Islamic Azad University-Lahijan Branch, Iran
Corresponding author: Tel: +9809128121947
E-mail address: rezai@liau.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
BASED ON SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY OF LANGUAGE AND LEARNING, A NEW,
TEXTUALITY-ORIENTED FOCUS ON FORM APPROACH TO TASK-BASED LANGUAGE
TEACHING IN CONTRAST TO THE DOMINANT GRAMMATICALITY-ORIENTED FOCUS ON
FORM APPROACH HAS BEEN PROPOSED AND ITS EFFECT ON TWO GROUPS OF IRANIAN
EFL LEARNERS’ GENERAL ENGLISH READING ABILITY AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL HAS
BEEN MEASURED. OVERALL 62 FEMALE NURSING MAJOR STUDENTS, WITH AN AVERAGE
OF 21 YEARS OLD, PARTICIPATED IN THIS STUDY. GROUP A CONSISTED OF 33, AND GROUP
B, 29 STUDENTS. AFTER GIVING A PRE-TEST, A PERIOD OF THREE MONTHS OF
INSTRUCTION (3 HOURS EACH WEEK) FOLLOWED. THE STUDENTS IN GROUP A TOOK A
TEXTUALITY-ORIENTED FONF INSTRUCTION AND THE STUDENTS IN GROUP B TOOK A
GRAMMATICALITY-ORIENTED FONF INSTRUCTION. AT THE END OF INSTRUCTION THE
SAME IELTS MODEL TEST (READING SECTION OF A GENERAL MODULE), WHICH WAS
GIVEN AS PRE TEST WAS REPEATED. AN INDEPENDENT SAMPLE T-TEST WAS CONDUCTED
TO DETERMINE THE STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE
TWO GROUPS. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE TEXTUALITY FONF APPROACH TO
TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING CAN HAVE A PROFOUND EFFECT ON IRANIAN EFL
LEARNERS’ GENERAL READING ABILITY AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL AS MEASURED BY
IELTS MODEL TEST. THE PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATION WAS DISCUSSED.

KEY WORDS: TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION, FOCUS-ON-FORM, TEXTUALITY,

GRAMMATICALITY

1. Introduction
As an offshoot of communicative language teaching, task based language teaching was
developed in reaction to the traditional dominant approach in language teaching and syllabus design
which mainly emphasized a discrete approach in presenting the skills and components of language
for instruction. Unlike the traditional grammar translation and audio-lingual approaches which were
essentially a linguistic approach focusing on translation and surface representation of language in
teaching, task-based language teaching and all other similar meaning-focused approaches following
communicative language teaching principles, had the common goal of presenting meaningful
language in the process of instruction. Tasks were defined as “activities which required learners to
use language with emphasis on meaning to attain an objective”(Bygate, Skehan and Swain, 2001, cited
in Skehan, 2003, p.3). Tasks were considered meaning-based activity units which had the major aim of
engaging students in achieving certain real-world or pedagogical outcome. It was different from all
sorts of traditional exercises which treated aspects of language as separate and devoid of any context

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or meaning. Overall the essential idea in this strong version of CLT approach was that students will
learn a foreign language naturally as their first language when their attention is focused on meaning.
It was believed that language can develop by itself when their attention is focused on something else
(for example the content). In fact this was also the idea underlying a content- based approach to
teaching, emphasizing teaching a language through using the foreign language as a medium of
presenting the content. Another similar meaning-based approach, Krashen and Terrel’s Natural
Approach also emphasized the importance of “comprehensible input’ allowing the learner’s
competence to be developing by itself without any explicit instruction.
In general, in the literature of language teaching, CLT with its different varieties of meaning-
based approaches to language teaching were in fact revolutionary in liberating us from the
traditional, structural and habit-formation approaches to teaching where meaning and contextual
factors had no place in language instruction.

2. Review of literature
Due to some problems with a purely meaning-based instruction (the strong version of TBLT
included among them), scholars in the field of SLA later came to a consensus that a weak version of
TBLT, namely, “focus on form” (FonF), may prove to be much more helpful. Among the problems
cited for a purely meaning-based approach to instruction are:

 Students do not gain high levels of language proficiency; i.e. studies have shown that the
rate of acquisition would be higher if formal language instruction were used.
 Fossilization will occur when incorrect form of language of students are not corrected
 It ignores the role of negative evidence in 2nd language learning.
These problems led the SLA researchers to search for terms to cover this neglected aspect of
meaning-based approaches to teaching, namely the forms or the language aspect. The terminologies
used in recent SLA researches and literature of language teaching will be a proof to the above claim;
terms such as: “Consciousness-Raising” (Ellis, 2003), “Input Enhancement” (Sharwood Smith, 1993 in
Ellis, 2003), and “Focus on Form” (Long, 1991; Fotos and Nassaji, 2007).
As a result, SLA researchers and practitioners in the field of language teaching all seem to agree on
the idea of tasks as not only essentially a meaning-based activity, but also having a form-focused
component, emphasizing on the linguistic aspect of the task. Terms such as “ Interaction”, “Output”,
“Negative Evidence”, “Attention”, “ Consciousness- Raising” and “ Focus on Form” ( Long,
1996;Swain, 1985& 1995; Schmidt, 1990, 1994, 2001; and Carrol, 2001) all believe in some degree of
attention to grammar and accuracy while, of course emphasizing the primacy of communication,
focus on meaning and appropriacy.

What is meant by FonF component of course is not the traditional focus on formS This, of course,
reminds us of the traditional tripartite phase of teaching, a ppp (presentation, practice, and
production) or a product-oriented approach. FonF, as was originally defined by Long (1996), is any
activity in which students could implicitly or incidentally attend to the form of language as opposed
to its meaning. A distinction is usually made between this “incidental” or “ implicit” attention to form
where there is no pre-plan on the side of the teacher to bring to consciousness a specific linguistic
form and “ explicit” presentation of forms where there is always a planned decision made by the
teacher to do so. Of course some scholars like Ellis (2004) use form-focused instruction including both
types of activities (explicit and implicit). Long’s original definition of FonF was also later redefined by
Long and Robinson (cited in MinseuYu, 2013) to include not merely as something occurring
incidentally but also “any proactive attempt to teach certain linguistic forms communicatively”.
Williams and Evans (1998, cited in Baleghizadeh, 2010) also emphasized on the proactive presentation
of FonF activities.
Needless to say that quite a lot of recent studies in ELT have focused on task-based activities which
included a form-focused component, quite rightly emphasizing not merely the communicative aspect,
but also grammaticality aspect of tasks in TBI.

However, in none of these studies the concept of FonF goes beyond the traditional
conceptualization of knowledge as transferring surface grammatical knowledge of rules from the
teacher to the learner. Actually, after all those improvements made following the introduction of

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communicative language teaching approach under the names of “learning-centered”, “ teaching how
to learn”, “ no/less teacher role”, and so on, we now came to an understanding that knowledge is
“procedural” and “ constructed” and not learned. All the recent studies on tasks claiming to focus on
forms have been considering the traditional notion of form (like tense, number, gender, person, etc.)
ignoring the fact that these discrete linguistic aspect of language by themselves do not carry any
value. Rather, they take their value in relation to other contextual and co-textual factors.

Following a Vygotskyan and socio-cultural approach to language teaching and learning which
underscores the importance of conceptualizing language learning as a developmental process
mediated by semiotic resources ( included among them “text” or printed material), we opt for a
definition of text ( any text, written or spoken) as a “mediator” ( Widdowson, 1884) between the
receiver and the producer. To comprehend a text, the receiver using his background knowledge and
the integrity which he/she receives by the textuality of a text and his own specific goal or motivation
can arrive at an interpretation. This interpretation may or may not be the same as what was originally
intended by the speaker/writer. In the same way to be involved in a specific task necessitates a
“receiver”, a “producer” and a “mediator” (which may or may not be the language). And because of
these other internal factors involved, the tasks cannot be generalized and the same task may result in
different outcomes in different situations depending on the participants and their goals. So as also
stated by Lantolf ( 2000), tasks are not externally defined on the basis of task procedures but
internally defined on the basis of participant goals, desires, and motivations. Within this perspective,
any “FonF” task should be redefined by referring to the textuality on the basis of which a text is
constructed, i.e. the way linguistic and non-linguistic elements hang together at the textual level
manifesting a discourse process. This connectedness or organization is discoursally motivated. The
text as a mediator, rather than presenting the producer ( writer or speaker) meaning in its ready-made
shape to the receiver offers a set of indices to set the comprehension process in motion, through which
the receiver may be able to negotiate a message by engaging her/his world or schematic knowledge(
Lotfipour Saedi, 2009)

The aim of this experimental research is to study the effect of two approaches to task-based
language teaching in reading comprehension on the general English Reading of students as assessed
by standard reading comprehension tasks (IELTS model test). These two approaches are: (1)
Grammaticality oriented FonF approach to teaching reading comprehension which is the dominant
approach now in use and (2) Textuality oriented FonF approach employed by the author. Of course
the principles and procedures of such an approach have already been defined in a textbook called
“Towards the Textuality of a text” by Lotfipour Saedi ( 2006). The author explains based on his own
long term experience in EFL teaching he believes in the experiential validity of the approach.
However, as yet no experimental study has taken place to prove its validity.
Before describing the procedures and design of the research, several points need to be made
clear. First, the textuality oriented FonF tasks are rather strategies to provide support and
“scaffolding” (using Vygotsky’s term) for further negotiation of meaning. They are not
communicative activities in the real sense of the term. As a result, the tasks/strategies aim at gradual
liberation of the students from being dependent on teacher or grammar book to deal with any type of
unseen texts. They are in a sense “self-regulating”. In this approach the core or the central point to get
or deliver a message is “ the process” expressed in traditional grammar as “verb”, i.e. the main verbs
across the sentences ( or t-units) of a text. A sentence defined as a stretch of words beginning with a
capital letter and ending in a full stop is a psycho-socio-linguistically important package (Lotfipour-
Saedi, 2006) in the hierarchical organization of a text. It is a psycho-socio-linguistically important
package because (1) it can take care of limitations in human short-term memory and (2) it reveals the
options/choices available at each rank (word, phrase, clause, or other levels) to the discourse
producer. The “process” or the “verb” of a main clause is the major element in receiving or delivering
a message. “Processes” (a Hallidayan notion in Functional Grammar) or “verbs” determine the
number of “participants” or “arguments”. It is from this lexical rank (process), which the perception
of textuality starts. The faster a reader is able to isolate the “satellite elements” (the main verbs) from
their intervening defining words, the faster he will be able to manage the text. Thus, one of the
effective strategies to help a reader to perceive the textuality of a text is to raise their consciousness

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about the defining (modifying and qualifying) elements in noun groups and their variations (short-
forms).

The second point which needs to be made clear is that in this study, as was mentioned before, we
are focusing on comprehension and specifically written comprehension tasks or strategies.

The third point is that the program has been especially used for Iranian EFL learners at
university level. In other words, it was used for those first year university students who have already
obtained quite a lot of English knowledge before attending university, and even after passing general
English and ESP courses still are not competent enough in processing English materials in their major
field of study and so are getting disappointed as a result of their poor competencies. As teachers who
had long term experience in teaching EFL courses, the observation in our classes support the fact that
the major problem of non-English major students in understanding English texts is related to not
having a correct and through understanding of the way different parts of a sentence are related to
each other and to the central and dominant idea in the text through different sorts of textualization
devices such as:

a) The thematic agency of the t-unit; i.e. the structural component which occurs at the initial
position and forms the theme of the unit as opposed to its rheme. Halliday, 1994)
b) Cohesive agencies in the text which include references, Ellipses, substitutions, lexical
collocations, lexical reiterations, and conjunctions ( Halliday and Hassan,1976)
c) Macro-structures: paragraph and section arrangements, and paragraph topics.
d) Generic conventions
e) Inter-textual materials ,i.e. references to other texts(quotations), tables, diagrams, pictures, etc.
which contribute to the message by directing the ‘ pulses” ( see lotfipour-Saedi, 2009)

So apart from the propositional elements and their verbs in a text, which act like “impulse-
generators” ( Lotfipour-Saedi,2009), there are the above-mentioned textually-mediated indices in any
text (apart from the reader-mediated ones) which provide “direction” and “orientation” to the
discursive pulsation of the t-units. And these form the “supportive synapses” in a text. ( see Lotfipour
Saedi,2006)

In line with the above argument, we propose that what our students need to know in order to
process the information in their general English courses should be presented in the form of a “
textuality oriented focus on form” in order to raise their consciousness with regard to the above-
mentioned factors. The focus, thus, should shift from the discrete linguistic elements ( like tenses,
prepositions, relative clauses, passives and so on) to the major underlying discoursal function for
which these elements are used in a text and the way these textuality oriented indices can liberate
students to use a range of language structures to achieve task-outcomes. The forms of language used
in a task obviously cannot be specified in advance. They are unpredictable and it is the underlying
motivation of the learners/users of language along with the other contextual and co-textual factors
involved which can help the learners to construct a meaning “in” interaction. Teachers should not
expect all students to achieve the same goal predicted for a task; they can just provide the necessary
support to direct them toward understanding others (written or spoken) or expressing themselves.
And this can only be provided if we present FonF tasks which while supporting them how to
construct a meaning on the basis of the options available in the system of language( in the form of
mediators ) can at the same time gradually liberate them from this dependence on teacher’s help,
paving the way toward their independence.

However, as was stated above as yet no experimental study has been conducted to measure the effect
of this type of textuality oriented “focus on form” instruction on the degree of students’ learning. This
research aims at investigating this effect on intermediate level students Reading comprehension
ability of Iranian EFL learners. Reading comprehension is defined as an interactive process in which
the reader constructs a meaning according to his own prior knowledge of the world and all the co-
textual and contextual factors (including the writer or discourse producer) set in the text as indices to
process the information contained. It is the most important skill for non-English major students. In

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fact this is the skill they most need to prepare themselves for reading more technical materials related
to their specific majors. A quick survey of university students’ problems in dealing with reading
English texts in Iran reveal the fact that not only the textbooks but also the procedures employed by
university teachers in teaching this skill suffer major weaknesses. Both the methodology used and the
textbooks designed for these students follow a traditional view of language as structure and teaching
as translation and memorizing grammatical rules. Based on the above argument, our research
question will be as follows:
Does the Textuality oriented FonF group perform better than Grammaticality oriented FonF group in
Reading comprehension tasks?
Based on the theoretical discussion presented above and our observation and long term experience in
teaching EFL through this approach the hypothesis is: FonF strategies/tasks will have profound
positive effect on Reading comprehension of EFL learners.

3. Material and Method

3.1 Participants
Two groups of Nursing major students, Group A consisting of 33 and Group B consisting of 31
students were selected for this study. The decision for the division of the students in those groups had
already been made by the education office. So there was no manipulation in selection of subjects in
general, but a simple random sampling technique was used to select the groups as experimental or
non-experimental. Both groups consisted of female students with an average age of 21, taking a
general English course in their major and studying at Azad university of Lahijan, Iran. The criteria for
selecting Nursing as against other majors were (1) the homogeneity of the groups (all females); and
(2) the availability; i.e. enough number of students.

3.2 Material and Procedure

Before the start of the program, both groups were pretested on an IELTS model test to check their
initial ability level. Test papers of Students with extreme scores were excluded from final analysis (3
students). So from a total number of 35 and 32 students in the two groups , after excluding the
extreme scores, Group A consisted of 33, and Group B consisted of 31 students. Both classes were
held on the afternoon of the same day. The same teacher taught both classes. The students in class B
were taught using a grammaticality oriented FonF approach for their general reading course and
students in class A were taught using a textuality oriented FonF approaches. The textbook used was
“English for the students of medicine” prepared by specific governmental organization and delegated
by ministry of science, and technology in Iran. Overall seven chapters were covered. There were two
drop-outs in class A (making a total of 29 students); but no drop-outs in class B (33 students). After
three months of instruction (three hours session each week, the same IELTS test used as pre-test was
given as post-test. During the instruction it was made sure that none of the students in the two
groups had received any extra- curricular instruction.

3.3 Instructional Sequence

On the basis of the model proposed by Willis(1996) , who believes that tasks consists of three phases;
namely, pre-task, task cycle and language focus ( consisting of analysis and practice) ,our
instructional sequence in class B ( Grammaticality oriented FonF) was as follows:
1) Pre-reading tasks or “warm-up” consisted of strategies to activate students’ prior
knowledge of the topic, to prepare the mind to interact with new information contained
in the text (i.e. what Nunan, 2005 has referred to as schema building). These strategies
included:
 Brainstorming
 Noticing glossaries
 Reading the first paragraph and the last paragraphs of the chapter
2) During reading tasks consisted of strategies used to help students to interact with the
text and to monitor (keep track of) comprehension. These strategies included:
 Finding the main idea of the paragraphs
 Writing Margin notes
 Recording observations about a text that might help in interpreting a text
 Planning for reporting to the class

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 Reporting their understanding or interpretation briefly to the whole class

3) Language focus: consisted of two phases: analysis and practice.
According to Willis (1996 ), “analysis” means consciousness-raising or language awareness activities
that focus explicitly on language form and use. These strategies varied depending on the major
grammatical points considered for each chapter of the book. Examples include:
 Find all phrases referring to place
 Find five phrases referring to time
 Find words ending in “ed”
 Find clauses beginning with “who”
 Find all passive verbs
 Find words or phrases related to the title of the text
 And other sentence-based strategies
The other component of language focus phase is “practice” which provide confidence and a
sense of security for the students. Examples include:
 Choral repetition of the clauses or phrases identified
 Having the students change all passive verbs to active and making necessary adjustments
 Sentence completion ( set by one team for another)
 Comprehension check: this included answering to end of chapter questions or questions
posed by the teacher
 Sentence completion exercises in each chapter of the book
In contrast, the instructional sequence in class A followed as:
1) Pre-reading tasks which consisted of exactly the same procedure as class A
2) Reading tasks which consisted of consciousness-raising tasks including Macro and Micro
tasks. Each session began with macro strategies and moved toward micro strategies
a) Macro strategies:
 Identifying the genre of a text (e.g. electronic message, business letter, drug brochure,
medical report, ...)
 Identifying discoursal moves (e.g. first, secondly, anyway, …)
 Identifying discourse markers (e.g. yet, however, and still, eventually, …)
 Working on cohesive ties (references, substitution and ellipsis). For example Identifying the
references for pronouns
 Locating the topic of the paragraphs
b) Micro strategies
 Identifying the “process” elements or the main verbs of some t-units, especially complex
sentences)
 Identifying the “verb frames” 3 of selected sentences
 Identifying the “participants” for each process type
 Underlying the modifiers
 Identifying the qualifiers
 Specifying the adverbials
 Identifying single-word and multi-word connectors
 Identifying verb-groups or different types of “verbal modulators”4
 Identifying different types of conjunctions (e.g. condition, reason, time, exemplification,
paraphrasing, … )
 Identifying collocation
 Identifying the function of some phrases as determined by the teacher
3) Comprehension check

1. Every sentence consists of a verb and 1-3 satellite elements or arguments. Verb frame refers to this verb
and verb-satellite complex. In contrast to traditional Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary which specifies 40
patterns, in the framework proposed here there are only 6 verb frames (for further information see Lotfipour
Saedi,2006)
2. Verbal modulators represent the writer’s or speaker’s attitudes and viewpoints towards the topic. Examples are
modals, passivization, fronting, first verb in double verbs, and many others ( see Lotfipour Saedi, 2006 for further
information)

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 Discussing the main ideas of the paragraphs

 Discussing the purpose for which the text was written
 Discussing the audience for which the text was written
 Students reflection on the text and giving their attitudes or feelings about the text
 answering end of chapter questions or questions posed by the teacher and sometimes other
students
As we progressed through the course, students in group B ( FonF group) felt less need in micro
strategies; the class instead focused more on the macro strategies.

3.4 Test Administration

To test the effect of two approaches on students General Reading Comprehension, an IELTS model
test (General Module) was used. It included 26 items (actually sections 2 and 3, questions 15-40 from
Cambridge IELTS 4, 2005), consisting of 20 closed and 6 completion type tests. (A copy of the test is
provided in Appendix A). The post tests in both classes were administered in one of students’ class
sessions on the same day. The time allocated for answering the test was 45 minutes. Each correct
answer was given 1 point. Wrong and non-response items were not given any points. In scoring
open-ended items, “exact word method” was used
4. Results
An independent sample-t-test was conducted to compare the effect of type of instruction ( Textuality
oriented FonF vs. Grammaticality oriented FonF tasks) on students’ general English reading ability.
At the beginning of the program, as the result of pretest in the two groups in table 1 reveals, the
average performance of the students were similar. The differences between the groups were not
statistically significant.

Table 1 Group Statistics: Result of pretests in Text-oriented vs. Gram-oriented FonF groups
Type of Std. Std. Error
Instruction N Mean Deviation Mean
IELTS General TextFonF 33 9.9697 1.92816 .33565
English Reading GramFonF
31 9.2903 2.06871 .37155
Scores

At the end of the program, as can be seen in table 2 below, there was a significant difference in scores
for Textuality oriented FonF (M=14.90, SD=2.02) and Grammaticality oriented FonF, M=10.48, SD=
1.84; t (60) = 8.96, p<0.01(1-tailed). The magnitude of the difference in the means (mean
difference=4.42, 95% CI: (3.43 - 5.41) was large (eta squared 0.57).
As a result, the findings support the hypothesis that Textuality oriented FonF group perform better
than Grammaticality oriented FonF group in general English reading skill.

Table 2: Results of performance of Text.oriented vs. Gram.Oriented FonF after instruction

Std. Std. Error

Type of Instruction N Mean Deviation Mean
IELTS General FonF Instruction
33 14.9091 2.02119 .35184
English Reading

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Score Grammaticality
Oriented FonF 29 10.4828 1.84431 .34248
Instruction

5. Discussion
In the light of new approaches developed in the field of language teaching and learning, especially
socio-cultural theory of language, an irreversible fact now is that the job of language teacher is not
teaching, but planning for the learner to learn. This planning can be done through the tasks the
language teaching programs design, through which the learner “acquires” a language. What the
statistical findings in this study support is the fact that the type of instruction, i.e. whether to focus on
textuality oriented strategies and to plan for students’ learning or Grammaticality oriented ones, i.e.
to teach directly what the students may not actually need to know, can have a profound effect on EFL
students general English reading abilities as measured by IELTS model test. However, before arriving
at a safe conclusion regarding the positive influence of Textuality oriented FonF strategies on EFL
students’ general English reading ability, several factors need to be given a careful consideration.
First, the difference in the performance of the students in the two groups might also indicate the
degree to which “tests” as a measurement device and “tasks” as instructional activities meet the
“naturalness” criteria. So one might argue that at least to some degree the better performance of our
experimental group is because of this similarity between the “tasks” and “tests” which of course aim
at one thing: “true communicative aspect of reading skill”. Had the students been measured through
a traditional type test, the non-experimental group might have performed much better than what is
reported in this study. So the effect of the test cannot be ignored.
Another factor which is in fact a limitation of our study is the sampling procedure. As was also
indicated in the introduction section, the study was conducted on just one non-English major group
of students, nursing students, studying at one of the universities in Iran. Besides the group were pre
selected by the registration office. The researcher only used a simple random sampling technique in
allocating the groups to experimental (text.FonF) and non-experimental (gram.FonF) group. Another
limitation in the study was lack of a control group. It would have been much more logical if we could
include a control group receiving none of those two types of instruction. Accordingly, any
generalization beyond the specific context in which the study was conducted should be done very
cautiously.

However, this study on the effect of type of instruction on EFL learners’ general English reading
ability at least in the context in which it was carried out indicates the fact that both the EFL
“textbooks” and “methodology of teaching languages” at university level need major modifications.
As the result of tables 1 and 2 in the results section reveal there is no major improvements in general
English reading abilities of students in grammaticality oriented group after 36 hours of instruction.
The pedagogical implications for textbook writers and EFL teachers is to strive for a major change
which could compensate for the inefficiencies in the ability level of students in at least one major
language skill (Reading Skill) at university level.
6. Conclusion
This study on the effect of type of instruction on EFL learners’ general English reading ability at least
in the context in which it was carried out indicates the fact that both the EFL “textbooks” and
“methodology of teaching languages” at university level need major modifications. As the result of
tables 1 and 2 in section 3 above reveal there is no major improvements in general English reading
abilities of students in grammaticality oriented group after 36 hours of instruction. The pedagogical

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

implications for textbook writers and EFL teachers is to strive for a major change which could
compensate for the inefficiencies in the ability level of students in at least one major language skill
(Reading Skill) at university level.

REFERENCES
Baleghizadeh, S.(2010).Focus on form in an EFL communicative classroom, Novitary Royal, Research on
Youth and Language, 4(1), pp. 119-128
Carrol, S.(2000). Input and evidence:The new material of second language acquisition, Amsterdam:
John Benjamins
Ellis., R.(2000).Task-based research and language pedagogy, Language Teaching Research, 4( 3),pp. 193-
220
Ellis, R., Basturkmen, H., and Loewen, S.(2002). Doing focus on form, System, 30, pp. 49-432
Ellis, R. (2003). Task based Language learning and teaching, Oxford
Halliday, M.A.K.(1985) An introduction to functional grammar, Edward Arnold
Halliday, M.A.K., and Hassan, R.(1992). Cohesion in English, Longman
Lantolf, P.J.(2000). Socio cultural theory and second language learning, Oxford
Long., M.(1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology.In K.De Bot, R.,
Ginsbert&C. Kramsch(Eds.), Foreing Language Research in Cross-cultural Perspective: John
Benjamins,pp.39-52
Lotfipour- Saedi, K. (2006). Towards the textuality of a text, Forouzesh
Lotfipour-Saedi, K.(2009). The textuality of a text or grammaticality of a sentence: Text-tackling strategies for
enhancing reading pedagogy, Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10, 2
Minseo,Y.(2013). Teaching grammar using focus on form approach in communicative language
teaching for Korean middle school students, A master’s paper
Nahavandi, N., and Mukundan, J.(2012). Task-based language teaching from teachers’ perspective,
International Journal of Applied Linguistics &English Literature, 1(6), pp. 115-121
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching, Cambridge University Press
Ollerhead, S., and Oosthuizen. (2005). Meaning-focused L2 instruction: Implications for writing
Educational Materials for South African learners of English, Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, Vol.36,
pp. 59-84
Rahimpour, M., Maghsoudpour, M. (2011).Teacher students’ Interactions in Task-based vs. form-
focused instruction, World Journal of Education, 1(1), pp. 171-178
Richards, J.C., and Rodgers, T.S. (2003). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge
University Press
Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning, in Applied Linguistics, 11,
pp.129-158
Skehan, P.(2003) Task-based instruction, Language Teaching, Vol. 36, pp. 1-14
Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning, in Cook,C.,Seidhofer,B.
(Eds.) Principle and practice In applied linguistics: Studies in honor of H.G. Widdowson, Oxford
University Press, pp. 124-144
Willis, D., and Willis, J.(2011).Doing Task-based Teaching, Oxford
Willis, J.(1996).A Framework for Task-based Learning, Longman

Appendix A

Read the passage below and answer the questions which follow

Courses Available at North Coast College Campuses

Agriculture
Specialist agriculture centers of the North Coast College offer courses ranging from agricultural skills
to beef production, horse studies and rural management. The Wollongbar Campus is renowned for its
tropical Fruit Growing program and has introduced modules on macadamias, bushfoods and coffee
production. Taree offers the Veterinary Assistant program and has introduced “Agristudy”, which
enables students to learn flexibly and by correspondence, using a mixture of student learning guides,
telephone tutorials, information sessions and workshops, Mullumbimby has the popular Rural

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Business Management program, which can also be studied by correspondence. Grafton, meanwhile,
offers traineeships in agriculture including Beef and Dairy.
Health programs
The continued promotion of healthier living within the community has seen an increase in fitness
awareness and a need for trained staff in the Fitness and Sport industries. Fitness instruction courses
are offered at Tweed Heads and teach students how to put together and lead a safe fitness program.
Lismore offers the Aged Support program and Port Macquaire offers the Early Childhood Nursing
program. These courses give you the theoretical skills, knowledge and practical experience needed to
work in a variety of residential and community-based health care institutions. For students interested
in working in the Remedial Health Care industry, Kingscliff is a specialist centre for the Natural
Therapy Diploma and has a health clinic on campus.
Environmental studies
The environmental Studies courses offered by the North Coast College have been developed to help
students increase their awareness and understanding of environmental issues and to enable them to
determine their environmental impact. The environmental practice course, which includes Coastal
Management, is offered through Ballina campus.
For people in working to restore degraded natural forests, the North Coast College offers the Forest
Regeneration course at Casino. This course can provide a pathway for students into the Natural
Resource Management Diploma at university. Marine Industry Management programs are offered at
Coffs Harbour.
Questions 1-7
Look at the following list of campuses ( 1-7) and the fields of study below. Match each campus with
the field of study available there. Write the correct letter A-k in the spaces provided.
1. Wollongbar ……………………..
2. Crafton …………………………..
3. Tweed Heads ………………….
4. Lismore ………………………….
5. Port Macquarie ………………………
6. Ballina ………………………..
7. Coffs Harbour ………………………….

Fields of Study

A. Forest restoration
B. Banana cultivation
C. horse breeding
D. Infant illness
E. Elderly care
F. Fish farming
G. Herbal therapy
H. Cattle farming
I. Beach protection
J. Animal health
K. Recreation programs

Read the passage below and answer questions 8-13

Information on Photocopying
Information services provide a Prepaid Services Card system for student and staff use of photocopies
and associated equipment in the Library, and use of laser printers in B Block. The same system has
recently been installed in the Student Representative Council (SRC) for use with photocopiers there.
The system uses a plastic card similar to a keycard. Each card, called a “prepaid Services”, has a
unique, six-digit account number that accesses the system. Initially, students and other users will
have to purchase a Prepaid Services Card from a teller machine located in the Library or B Block

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Computer Labs. The Prepaid Services Card costs $2.00. it is important that you keep a record of your
card’ account number and sign your name or write your student ID number on the card.
Uses prepay for Library, Computer Lab or SRC services by adding value to their prepaid Services
Card. There are no refunds, so only add value for the amount of prepaid services you intend to use.
The maximum amount of prepaid services or value that can be added to card is $50.00.
Two note and coin teller machines have been installed, one in the photocopy room on Level 2 of the
Library and the other in the B block Computer Lab. These teller machines accept any denomination of
coins or notes up to $50.00. The SRC has a smaller, coin only, teller machine.
When a new card is purchased, the Library and B Block Computer Labs teller machines automatically
issue a receipt to the use. However, when adding credit to your existing card the printing of receipts
is optional.
For added security, a card user may choose to allocate a PIN or personal Identification Number to
their Prepaid Services Card. The PIN must then be entered each time the card is used.

Questions 8-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
In the spaces provided on your answer sheet write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN IF THEE IS NO INFORMATION ON THIS

8. Prepaid Services Card are in use in three locations………………………….

9. You can only buy a Prepaid Services Card at the Library………………………
10. The smallest amount that can be added to the Prepaid Services Card at the Library teller
machine is $5…………………………
11. The Prepaid Services Card can be used to pay library fines………………………
12. Notes and coins can be used in all teller machines…………………………..
13. AOIN is allocated when you purchase your Prepaid Services Card. ……………………….

Questions 14-20
The following passage has seven sections. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings
below.
List of Headings
i. Be behavior is a mystery
ii. Communicating direction when outside a hive
iii. How bees carry food on their bodies
iv. Von Frisch discovers that bees communicate
v. How bees communicate direction when inside a hive
vi. The special position of bee language
vii. Expressing distance by means of dance
viii. The purpose of the two simple dances
ix. The discovery that bees have a special scent
x. Von Frisch discovers three types of dance

Write the correct number i-x in the spaces provided on your answer sheet
14. Section A
15. Section B
16. Section C
17. Section D
18. Section E
19. Section F
20. Section G

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Understanding Bee Behavior

A
A bee’s brain is the size of a grass seed, yet this tiny brain are encoded some of the most complex and
amazing behavioral patterns witnessed outside humankind. For bees are arguably the only animals
apart from humans which have their own language. Earlier the century Karl von Frisch, a professor of
Zoology at Munich University, spent decades of the “purest joy of discovery” unraveling the
mysteries of bee behavior. For his astonishing achievements he was awarded the Nobel Prize and it is
from his work that most of today’s knowledge of what bees say to each other derives.
B
It started simply enough. Von Frisch knew from experiments by an earlier researcher that if he put
out a bowl of sweet sugar syrup, bees might at first take some time to find it but, once they had done
so, within the hour, hundreds of other bees would be eagerly taking the syrup. Von Frisch realized
that, in some way, messages were being passed on back at the hive 5, messages which said, ‘out there,
at this spot, you’re going to find food.
C
But how was it happening? To watch the bees, Von Frisch constructed a glass-sided hive. He found
that, once the scout bees arrived back at the hive, they would perform one of three dance types. In the
first type, a returning scout scampered in circles, alternating to right and left, stopping occasionally to
regurgitate food samples to the excited bees chasing after her. In the second dance, clearly an
extended version of this round dance, she performed a sickle—shaped figure-of-eight pattern instead.
In the third distinctly different dance, she started by running a short distance in a straight line,
waggling her body from side to side, and returning in a semi-circle to the starting point before
repeating the process. She also stopped from time to time to give little bits of food to begging bees.
Soon the others would excitedly leave the hive in search of food. Minutes later, many of them marked
by Von Frisch, could be seen eating at the bowls of sugar syrup.
D
Experimenting further, Von Frisch unraveled the mystery of the first two related types, the round and
the sickle dances. These dances, he concluded, told the bees simply that, within quite short distances
of the hive there was a food source worth chasing. The longer and more excitedly the scout danced,
the richer the promise of the food source. The scent she carried in her samples and on her body was a
message to the other bees that this particular food was the one they were looking for. The others
would the troop out of the hive and fly in spiraling circles ‘sniffing’ in the wind for the promised
food.
F
At first, Von Frisch thought the bees were responding only to the scent of the food. But what did the
third dance mean? And if bees were responding only to the scent, how could they also ‘sniff down’
food hundreds of meters away from the hive, food which was sometimes downwind? On a hunch, he
started gradually moving the feeding dish further and further away and noticed as he did so, that the
dances of the returning scout bees also started changing. If he placed the feeding dish over nine
meters away, the second type of dance, the sickle version, came into play. But once he moved it past
36 meters, the scouts would then start dancing the third, quite different, waggle dance.
The measurement of the actual distance too, he concluded was precise. For example, a feeding dish
300 meters away was indicated by 15 complete runs through the pattern in 30 seconds. When the dish
was moved to 60 meters away, the number dropped to 11.
F
Von Frisch noted something further. When the scout bees came home to tell their sisters about the
food source, sometimes they would dance outside on the horizontal entrance platform of the hive,
and sometimes on the vertical wall inside. And depending on where they danced, the straight portion
of the waggle dance would point in different directions. The outside dance was fairly easy to decode:
the straight portion of the dance pointed directly to the food source, so the bees would merely have to
decode the distance message and fly off in that direction to find their food.
G

5
Hive – a ‘house’ for bees; the place where they build a nest and live

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But by studying the dance on the inner wall of the hive, Von Frisch discovered a remarkable method
which the dancer used to tell her sisters the direction of the food in relation to the sun. When inside
the hive, the dancer cannot use the sun, so she uses gravity instead. The direction of the sun is
represented by the top of the hive wall. If she runs straight up, this means that the feeding place is in
the same direction as the sun. However, if, for example, the feeding place is 40 degrees to the left of
the sun, then the dancer would run 40 degrees to the left of the vertical line. This was to be the forest
of Von Frisch’s remarkable discoveries. Soon he would also discover a number of other remarkable
facts about how bees communicate and, in doing so, revolutionize the study of animal behavior
generally.

Questions 21-23
The writer mentions THREE kinds of bee dance identified by Von Frisch.
List the name the writer gives to each dance.
Use ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Write your answers in the spaces provided on your answer sheet.
21. …………………………….
22. …………………………….
23. …………………………….

Questions 24-26
Look at the passage about bee behavior on the previous pages.
Complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Write your answers in the spaces provided on your answer sheet.
24. Von Frisch discovered the difference between dance types by changing the position of
………………………………………………
25. The dance outside the hive points in the direction of ……………………………………
26. The angle of the dance from the vertical shows the angle of the food from
………………………………….

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THE IMPACT OF USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS ON

LEARNING THE ORGANIZATION OF WRITING SKILL
AMONG IRANIAN PRE-INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS

Maryam Rezaie1, *Bahman Gorjian2

1Department of ELT, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
2Associate Professor, Department of ELT, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

*Corresponding author (bahgorji@yahoo.com)

ABSRTRACT
THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS ON
PRE-INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS' WRITING ABILITY OF COMPARE/CONTRAST AND
CAUSE/EFFECT ESSAYS. THIS STUDY AIMED TO DETERMINE WHETHER STUDENTS
WHO WERE TAUGHT THROUGH GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS WOULD PERFORM BETTER
ON THE WRITING OF CAUSE/EFFECT AND COMPARE/CONTRAST ESSAYS
COMPARED TO THOSE WHO WERE INVOLVED IN CONVENTIONAL METHOD OF
TEACHING WRITING. THIS STUDY EXPLORED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN USING
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS AND THE CONVENTIONAL METHOD IN DEVELOPING EFL
LEARNERS' WRITING ABILITY. TWO EFL CLASSES WERE NON-RANDOMLY (I.E.,
CONVENIENT) SELECTED AT ABADAN AZAD UNIVERSITY AND AFTER TAKING
PART IN HOMOGENEITY TEST, THE STUDENTS AT PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS. DATA
WERE COLLECTED THROUGH THE ADMINISTRATION OF A PRE-TEST AND POST-
TEST OF WRITING COMPARE/CONTRAST AND CAUSE/EFFECT ESSAYS. THE
RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS OF THE TESTS WERE CALCULATED THROUGH KR-21
FORMULA. THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP INSTRUCTED THROUGH GRAPHIC
ORGANIZERS WHILE THE CONTROL GROUP RECEIVED CONVENTIONAL METHOD
OF WRITING. THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS INCLUDED PAIRED AND INDEPENDENT
SAMPLE T-TESTS. RESULTS REVEALED THAT COMPARED TO PRE-TEST, BOTH
GROUPS PERFORMED BETTER IN COMPARE/CONTRAST POST-TEST AND GRAPHIC
ORGANIZER GROUP SIGNIFICANTLY OUTPERFORMED THE CONTROL GROUP. THE
IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY COULD BE USED IN WRITING
COMPARE/CONTRAST ESSAYS TO FAMILIAR THE LEARNERS WITH GRAPHIC
ORGANIZERS.

KEY WORDS: GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS, WRITING SKILL, COMPARE/CONTRAST,

CAUSE/EFFECT, ESSAYS

1. Introduction
Writing is a tool for language learning because in writing the learners have enough opportunity to
carefully examine and re-examine the ideas and language prior to its presentation to audience
(Raimes, 2002). He also added what is more important in an EFL writing courses is language learning.
Therefore, instead of focus attention to the forms of particular written discourse, students require
topics about which to generate ideas, find forms to represent the ideas in a new language. According
to Bell and Burnaby (cited in Nunan, 1989), what makes writing an extremely complex cognitive
activity is the writer' necessity to demonstrate simultaneous mastery over different variables at the
sentence and beyond the sentence level. In writing, students struggle with what to put down next and

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how to put it down and try to find a new way of expressing ideas. A close relationship between
writing and thinking makes writing a valuable part of any language course (Nunan, 1991).
The ability to write effectively is becoming increasingly important in our global Community. It is
regarded as important skill for educational, business and personal reason. Expertise in writing is an
indication that student mastered the cognitive skills required for university (Cushing-Weigle, 2002).
Early literature focused on retrospective interviews and think aloud protocols (e.g. Flower & Hayes,
1981) proposed a model of writing to discover mental activity and decision making processes of the
writer when writing. Base on the model, writing process include task environment, knowledge of
topic, knowledge of audience, stored writing plans and cognitive processes including planning,
translating and revising. Base on the model, writing is a nonlinear process which requires instruction
rather than models of particular rhetorical forms. That is, during writing process, the writer does not
move from one stage to another in a linear way, but he continuously move over stages.
Rao (2007) attributed students' difficulty in writing process to their suspect in the effectiveness
of cognitive and linguistic strategy required for language learning and their difficulty in idea
generation. Raimes (2002) stated L2 writing is difficult because all the stages of writing from
generating and organizing ideas to representing the ideas in to written text require cognitive efforts of
learners which is more difficult for less proficient learners. When learners complain about their
difficulty in writing English, their problem exist not only in finding accurate words or structure but
also how to find and express their ideas in new language. Students' difficulty exists not only in
writing but also in communicating ideas in new language (Raimes, 1983). It also suggested students
are not equipped with appropriate strategies to overcome difficulties that present in content
generation, crating and organizing structure for composition, formulation of goals at higher level
plans, quick and efficient execution of mechanical aspect of writing and revising text and
reformulating goals (Reid & Lienemann, 2006).
Writing in L1 is difficult because of its cognitively demanded nature. This difficulty is even worse
for EFL learners who have to do it in a new language. Understanding a text depend on an individuals'
awareness of particular text structure and his/her ability to recognize those lexical clues that reflect
organizational patterns in the text and exist beyond the sentence level such as cause-effect,
comparison-contrast, and problem-solution (Grabe, 2009).It is suggested awareness of organizational
patterns of a text plays a vital role in understanding and writing a text. For example, in writing a
story, one should represent and analyze the story based on narrative schema. Therefore writers can
produce a coherent text. In Hammann and Steven (2003) study, compare- contrast patterns
considered difficult because such patterns require simultaneous awareness of both content and
organization. Students could subdivide content after being aware of organizational patterns of
particular genre.
Studies (e.g, Jiang & Grabe, 2007) also confirmed that explicit teaching of top-level organization
of text through using the adjunct tools that representing the structures, facilitate EFL learners'
understanding of text and help students remember supporting details of a text as well as major topics
and subtopics. The purpose of the present study is whether drawing students' attention on top-level
structures and organizational patterns of particular text structure through prompts of graphic
organizers help develop students' writing ability in EFL context. Among known expository text types,
two types were chosen for the purpose of this study, compare/contrast, cause /effect. Because
according to Englert and Stewart (1988), for the most part students do not use the structure of these
expository text and have little experience with these structures, but are expected to provide textual
information that require their familiarity with these types of organizations. Also specific types of text
structures vary in their importance to students and that the '' facilitative effects for different text
structures cannot be assumed for different tasks, presentation mode or response mode'' (p. 144) more
studies is required to help develop students' writing quality.
Producing coherent and organized essays entails applying various factors in writing process.
Graphic organizers can be one of the most crucial elements of essay writing. Graphic organizers are
used to understand relationships between complex ideas to facilitate retention and recall (Fountas &
Pinnell, 2001). They are considered as communication tools that represent the organization and
structure of information and concepts and connections between concepts in a spatial format which
result in less demand of cognitive effort on the part of learner. That is, it provides the spatial clues
that remove the necessity of semantic processing of information for learners to understand the
information. Compare to common ways of representing information in text and outlines, the spatial

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structure of graphic organizer are better representation to connect disjointed information which
makes understanding easier (Kiewara, 2012).
The organizers help individuals determine the missing data or ambiguous relations in their
strategic thinking. The organizers are considered as schematic tools consisted of both verbal
information and visual images. The existence of lines, arrows and spatial arrangement is a major
feature that distinguishes graphic organizers from simple outlines. Also, the structural pattern of
graphic organizers reflect the inter-relations between main ideas and sub-ideas lead to a coherent and
complete depiction of verbal information (Jiang & Grabe, 2007). According to the study of Jiang and
Grabe, the overall understanding of materials became possible through the organizers that acted as a
prompt and scaffold for students' thought process rather than linear representation of words. They
are sometimes referred to as knowledge maps, concept maps, story maps, cognitive organizer, and
advance organizers. Whatever named, they are considered as visual representation of the complex
thinking process of concrete to abstract thought.
The EFL learners do not know how to provide division among parts even in simple essay.
Insufficiency of writing strategies knowledge intensifies the writers’ difficulties to organize a well-
formed essay. Graphic organizers as the probable solutions may be decrease the problematic issues of
writing. This study will try to investigate if teaching writing through graphic organizers is an
effective factor on developing writing ability of these groups of learners. Considering the inefficiency
of pre-intermediate EFL learners' knowledge and experience in writing skill, this research aims to
investigate whether using different strategies such as graphic organizers develop students writing
ability or not. This research may be significant because through this research the possible effects of
graphic organizers on writing ability of the Iranian EFL students will be investigated and determined
and the research can compare what extent applying different graphic organizers such as compare-
contrast and cause- effect strategies can be effective to lead the language learners to write an
organized essay.
In order to consider the objectives of the present study, the following research questions were
postulated:
RQ1: Do graphic organizers affect learning essay writing among Iranian pre-intermediate English as
Foreign Language (EFL) learners in writing cause and effect essays?
RQ2: Do graphic organizers affect essay writing among Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners in
writing comparing and contrasting essays?

2. Background
In spite of the importance of writing, teaching EFL writing for teachers is difficult. One reason is that
writing is time-consuming and difficult to teach. The other reason is that many ESL teachers may not
feel qualified to teach writing because they have not received enough specific training in the teaching
of writing (Shin, 2003). As Advance organizers has been used in written prose form, and high level of
vocabulary and knowledge, early literature (e.g., Earle, 1969) criticized it, using what was named as
structured overview in an outline format. Others (e.g., Robinson, 1998) stated advance organizers bring
students in difficulty that lacks the ability to make inferences from even short paragraph. They stated
structured overview because of its spatial format and hierarchical representation of information is an
alternative to advance organizer. Herber and Sanders (cited in Robinson, 1998) defined structure
overview as ''diagram representation of the basis vocabulary of a unit so as to show relation among
the concepts represented by those words'' (p. 89). The structure overview provides the key words of
to be learned new material in hierarchical format. When these structures adapted to be used before,
during and after material presentation, they changed to graphic organizer which was good
representation of key parts of material and their relations. The organizer through labeled links
provides an understanding of discourse structures of a text that is not revealed by words alone
(Merkley & Jefferies, 2000). The organizers are used in any instructional position with the purpose of
enhancing comprehension and learning.
To introduce graphic organizers, providing a background is required. Two types of knowledge is
identified in psycholinguistics; declarative and procedural knowledge. Declarative knowledge
represents awareness of objects, events or ideas which is regarded as schemas. Procedural knowledge;
on the other hand, describes how learners use their declarative knowledge. It entails the interrelating
of schemas in to patterns (Jonassen, Beissner & Yacci, 1993). Structural knowledge is an intermediate
type of knowledge that mediates the transition of declarative in to procedural knowledge and

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facilitates the application of procedural knowledge (Diekhoff, 1983). Structural knowledge is

knowledge of relationships between concepts in a content area which is essential for comprehension
and problem solving lead to learning. There exist different learning strategies to assist learners
acquire structural knowledge. One way is through graphic techniques which are ''spatial
representation of structural knowledge in content area''. The graphic techniques including networks,
pattern notes, semantic maps and graphic organizers which are differ in appearance, types of
relationships, and the use and types of labels used to name concept relationships (Beissner, Jonassen
& Grabowski, 1993, p. 5).
2.1. Types of Graphic Organizers
After a meta-analysis investigation, Jiang and Grabe (2007) claimed that those graphic organizers
that just provide a general frame for listing of information and represent a hierarchical relationships
of main ideas and key information of a text without paying attention to specific discourse structures
are less effective and the literature considering the effect of such organizers are inconclusive in
developing comprehension than the organizers that reflect the discourse structure of text and provide
a visual organization of information in a text. Because such organizers represent the top-level
structure of a text, therefore the literature confirmed its effect on comprehension. According to Jiang
and Grabe (2007), Different types of graphic organizers exist, each one is used to represent the
structural organization of particular text structure and represent different types of thinking. They also
differ in terms of the amount of details they represent. The form of graphic organizers effects on
students' writing performance (Delrose, 2011). That is, students should be comfortable with the form
of graphic organizers, if not instead of focus attention on higher order thinking, students focus on the
form of the organizers. According to Strangeman, Hall and Meyer (2003, p. 1), the organizers including:
Descriptive or Thematic map which is used for mapping generic information; specifically used for
mapping hierarchical relations. When the organizer represents hierarchical information, and the
teacher purpose is to focus students' attention to superordinate and subordinate elements in text,
Network Tree is used. When the information related to main idea is not represented in a hierarchical
way, Spider map is used. Problem and solution map, Problem- Solution outline, and Sequential Episodic Map
are used to help students identify information that organized in cause and effect relations. Compare
and contrast map or Compare- Contrast Matrix is used to help students compare and Fishbone Map is
used to represent cause-effect relationship
Kiewara (2012) defines four types of graphic organizers were identified that differed in
organization and relationship including: Hierarchy graphic organizer which contains top to bottom
organization, and Hierarchical relationships (superordinate- subordinate relations). Sequence graphic
organizer which contains left- to- right organization, and sequential relationship (stages of
development). Matrix graphic organizer includes columns, rows organization and comparative
relationship. Illustration graphic organizer includes locations of parts organization and positional
relationships.
2. 2. Rationale for Graphic Organizers Use
In educational setting, students have problems in understanding the content and materials with
in textbooks. This difficulty is related to either a student or a text structure. Student's inability in
comprehension may be due to inability to draw inferences from set of sentences or lack of adequate
background knowledge which prevent him from more attempt. Difficulty with in the text is related to
poor organization or structure. One approach to overcome poor text structure is the use of adjunct
aids represented the most important information with in a text. There are different types of these aids
among which is graphic organizers that represent a hierarchical organization of important concepts
spatially (Robinson, 1998).
A great deal of literature (e. g. Ausubel, 1960, 1963, 1968; Hall & Strangeman, 2002) supports the
use of graphic organizer as effective tool for learning. However, to be effective tools of instruction,
graphic organizers must be used coherently, consistently, and creatively. When graphic organizers
used consistently, it means that students become so familiar with the layout of the organizer that
remove the necessity of processing format, therefore it is more likely that students internalize, or
generalize the skills associated with given graphic organizers which help increase in organizational
skills and content retention. These are regarded effective tools when makes relationship coherent.
That is; when ideas or concepts are clearly labeled to prevent misunderstanding resulted from poorly
constructed graphic organizers. The clear labels and visual displays reduce the cognitive load. The
organizers can be implemented creatively in cooperative groups when each person responsible for

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creating information for one aspect of the graphic organizer. Creativity refer to the way the organizers
used by teacher (Baxendell, 2003).

3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
In the present study, the sample was 60 students (male and female) in Abadan Azad University.
Non- random sampling (convenient) method was used for the selection of these participants. Oxford
Quick Placement Test (QPT 2001) was used to homogenize the participants regarding their English
proficiency. The test results were analyzed by the researcher via SPSS software and its reliability was
0.90. Oxford Quick Placement Test (2001) consisted of two parts: Part one (1-40) deals with simple
grammar and vocabulary items. Part two (41-60) was concerned with a bit more difficult multiple
choice items and cloze test. The students’ scores were ranked from high to low and homogenizing the
participants were selected based on the QPT (2001). Then 40 students whose scores were included in
pre-intermediate level were selected as homogeneous sample to conduct the study. They were
divided in two groups, one experimental and one control group. Each group included 20 participants.
All the participants were studying English and had passed two English writing courses consisting of
sentence patterns and paragraph developments. The experimental group received graphic organizer
strategy as writing instruction while the control group received traditional method of instruction. The
participants ranged 18 to 22.
.
3.2. Instrumentation
In order to accomplish the objective of the present study, the following instruments were used:
Homogeneity Test: Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) (2001) was used to determine the
homogeneity of the participants and assign them in two groups. The test consisted of 60 multiple-
choice items. The allotted time for the test was 60 Minutes.
Pre-test: in order to determine the participants' initial writing ability, before receiving any
instruction on graphic organizer strategy, a pre-test was administered. The test for both experimental
and control groups consisted of two essays for each participant, each one comprising 150 words
length, with compare and contrast, cause and effect topics. The assigned time for the test was forty
minutes. The teacher proposed six topics (three topics for Cause & Effect, three topics for Compare &
Contrast) to both groups, and asked each subject choose two topics (one topic for writing Cause &
Effect essay and one topic for writing Compare & Contrast essay). Inter- rater reliability was used to
meet the reliability of scoring. The pre-test reliability was calculated through Pearson correlation as
(r= 0. 611).
Post-test: following the treatment sessions, after six weeks instruction sessions on graphic
organizers for experimental group, the researcher assigned a post-test. All characteristics of the post-
test in terms of topic and time were the same as those of the pre-test. The same topics with different
forms were given in the post-test for the experimental and control groups. Both the pre-test and post-
test were performed under the supervision of the instructor. Inter-rater reliability of the post-test
scoring was estimated through Pearson correlation analysis as (r=0. 701). Finally, the Jacobs et al.
(1981, as cited in Weigle, 2002) checklist was used to score the essays.
3.3. Materials
One material used in this study consisted of handouts. The handout including the definition of
graphic organizer, benefits of graphic organizers and forms of different types of graphic organizers
distributed among participants. The other material was the topics (Cause & Effects, Compare &
Contrast).The researcher chose topics from Get Writing Paragraph & Essay (Connelly, 2012) and
proposed to both groups and asked students choose among the proposed topics and write their
essays during instruction sessions.
3.4 Procedure
To accomplish the purpose of the study, first 60 male and female learners from two intact classes
(convenient sampling) was selected from Abadan Azad University. Then, the homogeneity test
(OQPT, 2001) was administered to the all participants under the study to determine their
homogeneity and to divide the sample in to two groups. 40 participants at pre-intermediate level
were chosen to participate in one experimental and one control group equally. Each group included
20 participants. They met for half an hour session once a week .

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During the second session, before the participants in the experimental group receive any
instruction on graphic organizers, all the students in the two groups were asked to write two essays
about given topics (one about Compare & Contrast, one about Cause & Effect topic). The allotted time
for writing one paragraph essay on each topic was twenty minutes. That is, the allotted time for
writing two essays simultaneously for each participant was forty minutes. Then, the papers of the
participants in both groups were collected.
The strategy instruction sessions started one session after the students participated in the
pretest. The instruction sessions lasted over six weeks. The participants in the experimental group
received the instructions for graphic organizer strategy. The strategy instruction was taught to the
experimental group following (Danoff, Harris & Graham, 1993) stages of instructional model:
1. Describing the strategy: As an introduction to the first lesson, students were told that they were
going to learn about the strategy of graphic organizers. It was defined that graphic organizers or
graphically representing information are displays in a visual or graphic forms that uses lines, arrows
and spatial arrangement which reflect the organizational structure and the inter-relations between
ideas of a text. It was also mentioned that the organizers have different names referred to as
knowledge maps, concept maps, cognitive organizers, advance organizers, and come in many
different forms, each one is suitable for organizing a particular type of information. A handout
includes the different types of organizers distributed among participants.
2. Discussion of the goals and purpose: the teacher discussed the students about the importance and
benefits of using the organizers in writing. The Students were asked two questions: (1) how do you
think the strategy might help you write? And (2) how could the strategies help you write?
During the second session of instruction, students were taught different types of graphic organizers
for comparing and contrasting that asks the writer to compare two different topics by finding what
they have in common and what differences they possess. One type of compare and contrast organizer
(Comparative & Contrastive Map) based on Strangeman, Hall and Meyer (2003) modeled by the
teacher. Different compare/ contrast topics chosen from Get writing Paragraph & Essays (Connelly,
2012) proposed to students and they choose one for class activity. Once Participants agreed on one
topic, it was considered as ''topic'' of the Compare/Contrast organizer. Comparative and contrastive
concepts were written on the organizer. The researcher asked students to produce their ideas about
how two concepts are similar and how they are different. Ideas related to similar features were
written on similarity parts, ideas related to different features were written on the contrast parts. After
the completion of the organizer with ideas, the researcher modeled how he would write the
information and ideas from the organizer in the written paragraph. Then the researcher reviewed the
information in the organizer. Also, with the help of students, the concluding sentence was produced.
When writing, the researcher verbalized to model to transfer ideas from the Comparative and
Contrastive Map in to written form of one paragraph essay.
During the third session of instruction, students were provided with Cause/ Effect organizer
(Fishbone Map) and its different parts were introduced to participants. Different cause and effect
topics chosen from Get writing paragraph & Essays (Connelly, 2012) Proposed to the students, and they
choose one for class activity. The selected topic considered as '' topic'' of the Fishbone diagram. Then,
the subtopic of the topic were generated and included in the organizer. After the completion of the
Fishbone diagram, students instructed how to produce Cause/ Effect paragraph from sub-ideas in to
the written paragraph. The teacher modeled how he would write cause/effect written paragraph
from the ideas in the Fishbone diagram.
4. Memorization of the organizers: the teacher provided opportunity to students to practice using the
organizers until they can use it automatically.
5. Guided practice and Feedback: over subsequent stages, students provided with the opportunity to
use the organizers and fill in their own organizer. The researcher provided feedback on the students'
provided organizers. The researcher also asked the students to practice transferring ideas from the
organizer in to the written paragraph.
The first two sessions were devoted to instructing the use of the two graphic organizers for
writing one paragraph essays. During the four subsequent sessions, students practiced the use of the
organizers to write to acquire mastery over the organizers. All the instruction sessions done by the
teacher who had experience of teaching writing for several years. The same teacher taught the
participants in the control group using the same hours of instruction and topics but without using
any instruction on graphic organizer strategy for the control group. That is, in control group,

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participants only instructed how to produce topic sentence of essay and how they can support this
topic sentence through supporting sentences. One session after instructional sessions on graphic
organizer instruction, both experimental and control groups took the post-test.
3.5. Data Analysis
The inter-rater reliability in the pre-test and post-test was calculated through Pearson correlation
analysis. To measure the students' essay writing ability in the pre-test and post-test, the essays scored
based on Jacob et al's (as cited in Weigle, 2002) checklist in which five aspects of content (6 points),
language use (5 points), organization (4 points), vocabulary (4 points) and mechanics (1 points)
considered. The score of each participant on each essay calculated out of 20. This score was the
average of scores provided by the two teachers. Then, a Pearson Product Moment Correlation
analysis is run between the two sets of scores and their average is considered as the score for each
essay in both the pre and post-tests. Independent Paired- samples t-test is used as a statistical method
to depict any difference between the groups.
4. Results
Descriptive statistics was calculated on the role of using graphic organizer strategies on writing skill,
the results are presented in Table 1.
Table 1 shows the means of the experimental and control groups in pre-test. As it appears, the
mean of experimental group is 11.5 and the mean of control group is 10.45 for Cause and Effect essay.
The mean of experimental group is 10.8 and the mean of control group is 9.7 for Compare and
Contrast essay which show no much difference between groups in both Compare and Contrast,
Cause and Effect essays. In order to find out whether the difference among the performances of two
groups in pre-test was statistically significant, Independent Samples t -test was performed between
both groups. The results presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Independent Samples t-Test (Pre-tests)

Levene's t-test for Equality of Means

Test for
Equality
of
Variances
95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Groups F Sig. t df Sig. Mean Std. Error Lowe Uppe
(2- Differenc Differenc r r
tailed e e
)
Experimenta Equal .06 .80 .64 38 .52 1.050 1.622 -2.233 4.333
l vs. Control variance 2 5 7
(Pre-test) s
Cause & assumed
Effect Equal .64 37. .52 1.050 1.622 -2.233 4.333
variance 7 9
s not
assumed
Experimenta Equal .09 .76 .86 38 .39 1.150 1.336 -1.555 3.855
l vs. Control variance 2 3 0
(Pre-test) s
Compare & assumed
Contrast Equal .86 37. .39 1.150 1.338 -1.556 3.856
variance 0 7
s not
assumed

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Table 2 Shows the observed t (.646) is less than the critical t (2.021) with df =38, therefore the
difference between the experimental and control groups' Cause and Effect Essays in pre-test is not
significant at (p<0.05). The second t-test shows that the observed t (.860) is less than the critical t
(2.021) with df =38, therefore the difference between the experimental and control groups' pre-test of
Compare and Contrast Essays is also not significant at (p<0.05). This shows that the groups were
homogenous before the treatment. In order to analyze the post-test, the researcher presented
descriptive statistics in Table 3.

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics (Post-tests)

Groups N Mean Std. Std. Error Mean
Deviatio
n
Experimental (Post-test) Cause & Effect 20 13.85 7.292 1.630
Control (Post-test) Cause & Effect 20 12.95 7.472 1.670
Experimental (Post-test) Compare & Contrast 20 15.75 4.744 1.060
Control (Post-test) Compare & Contrast 20 12.550 4.82837 1.07966

Table 3 shows that the mean of experimental and control groups' post-test of Cause and Effect
Essays is 13.8 and 12.9 respectively. The Table also shows the mean of both groups' post-tests of
Compare and Contrast Essays shows that the mean of experimental group (M=15.7) is higher than the
mean of control group which is 12.5. As the data analysis in this Table indicates both experimental
and control groups performed better in post-tests and the experimental group outperformed the
control group; but the superiority of experimental over control group is more significant in Compare
and Contrast post-test. In order to find out if the difference among performances of two groups in
post-test was statistically significant, Independent Samples t-test was applied. The results are
presented in Table 4.
Table 4. Independent Samples t- Test (Post-tests)

Levene's Test t-test for Equality of Means

for Equality of
Variances
95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Post-tests F Sig. t df Sig. Mea Std. Low Upper
Experimental vs. (2- n Error er
Control taile Diffe Diffe
d) rence rence
Cause & Equal .027 .870 .385 38 .702 .900 2.33 -3.82 5.62
Effect variances
assumed
Compare Equal .145 .706 2.114 38 .041 3.20 1.51 .13 6.26
& variances
Contrast assumed

Table 4 shows the observed t (.385) is less than the critical t (2.021) with df =38, therefore the
difference between the experimental and control groups' post-tests of Cause and Effect Essays is not
significant at (p<0.05). The second t-test shows that the observed t (2.114) is greater than the critical t
(2.021) with df =38, the difference between the experimental and control groups' post-tests of
Compare and Contrast Essays is significant at (p<0.05). Table 5 shows the performance of each group
from pre-test to post-test.

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Table 5. Descriptive Statistics (Pre-tests vs. Post-tests of Experimental groups)

Mean N Std. Std. Error Mean
Deviati
on
Pair 1 Experimental (Pre-test) Cause & Effect 11.50 20 5.11 1.14
Experimental (Post-test) Cause & Effect 13.85 20 7.29 1.63
Pair 2 Experimental (Pre-test) Compare & 10.85 20 4.38 .97
Contrast
Experimental (Post-test) Compare & 15.75 20 4.74 1.06
Contrast

Table 5 indicated, Pair 1 shows the difference between means of pre-post-tests of experimental
group for Cause and Effect essays which is equal (2.3). Pair 2 shows the difference between means of
pre-post-tests of this group for Compare and Contrast essays which is (4.9). According to Table, Pair 1
is lower than Pair 2. In order to identify whether such differences from pre-test to post-test is
statistically significant, the Paired Samples t-test was applied and the results of t-tests are presented in
Table 6.

Table 6. Paired Samples t-Test(Pre-tests vs. Post-tests of Experimental groups)

Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-

95% tailed)
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Groups Mean Std. Std. Lower Uppe
Devi Error r
ation Mea
n
Pair 1 Experimental (Pre vs. -2.35 8.70 1.94 -6.42 1.72 -1.207 19 .242
post-test) Cause &
Effect
Pair 2 Experimental (Pre vs. -4.90 6.51 1.45 -7.94 -1.85 -3.365 19 .003
Post-test) Compare &
Contrast

Table 6 indicates the statistical analysis of Paired Samples t-test of experimental group for both
Cause and Effect essays and Compare and Contrast essays. According to Pair 1, since the observed t
(1.207) is less than the critical t (2.093) with df =19, the difference between the experimental groups'
pre and post-tests of Cause and Effect Essays is not significant at (p<0.05). The second-Paired t- test
shows that the observed t (3.396) is greater than the critical t (2.021) with df =19, the difference
between the experimental pre and post-tests of Compare and Contrast Essays is significant at
(p<0.05). The table shows the experimental group significantly outperformed in writing compare-
contrast post-test. Table 7 shows the performance of control group from pre-test to post-test.

Table 7. Descriptive Statistics (Pre-tests vs. Post-tests of Control groups)

Groups Mean N Std. Std. Error Mean
Deviation
Pair 1 Control (Pre-test) Cause & Effect 10.45 20 5.140 1.150
Control (Post-test) Cause & Effect 12.95 20 7.472 1.670
Pair 2 Control (Pre-test) Compare & Contrast 9.70 20 4.066 .909

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Control (Post-test) Compare & Contrast 12.55 20 4.828 1.079

Table 7 shows that Pair 1 shows the difference between means of pre-post-tests of Control group
for Cause and Effect essays which was 2.5. Pair 2 shows the difference between means of pre-post-
tests of this group for Compare and Contrast essays which was equal 2.8. It shows that Pair2 is a little
more than Pair1 for control group in favor of Compare and Contrast essay.

Table 8. Paired Samples t-Test(Pre-tests vs. Post-tests of Control groups)

Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-

tailed)
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Mean Std. Std. Lower Upper
Deviation Error
Mean
Pair 1 Control (Pre vs. -2.50 8.67 1.94 -6.56 1.56 -1.288 19 .213
Post-test) Cause &
Effect
Pair 2 Control (Pre vs. -2.85 5.41 1.21 -5.38 -.317 -2.355 19 .029
Post-test) Compare
& Contrast

Table 8 shows the observed t (1.288) is less than the critical t (2.093) with df =19, therefore the
difference between the control groups' pre and post-tests of Cause and Effect essays is not significant
at (p<0.05). The Second-Paired t- test shows that the observed t (2.355) is greater than the critical t
(2.093) with df =19, the difference between the control groups' pre and post-tests of Compare and
Contrast essays is significant at (p<0.05). According to Tables, the differences between Pairs for
Experimental group are higher than the differences between pairs for Control group in favor of
Compare and Contrast essays. It shows that both groups performed significantly better in Compare
and Contrast post-test and the experimental group outperformed the control group.

5. Discussion
The results of the students' performance on the pre and post-tests of both compare/contrast and
cause/effect essays answered the two research questions as follows:
Question One: Do graphic organizers affect learning essay writing among Iranian pre-intermediate
English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in writing cause and effect essay.
The results of pre-test and post-test of both the experimental and control groups for both the
graphic organizer and traditional method of teaching writing were computed and compared with
each other to see the effects of the graphic organizer treatment (Fishbone Map) on cause and effect
type of essay writing. The results of paired sample t-test did not showed statistically significant
difference in the performance of both experimental and control groups from pre-test to post-test in
writing cause and effect essays. The results of independent post-test showed that students'
performance in the experimental group did not changed on the post-test essay writing in comparison
to those instructed with traditional method of essay writing. That is, using the strategy of cause/effect
did not demonstrate any significant difference in cause/effect essay writing and even the application
of the organizer (Fishbone Map) did not provide any significant difference in the performance of the
experimental group.
There exist several probable reasons for such results. First, writing is a cognitively complex
process especially for less proficient EFL writers who have to focus on both the organization and
linguistic factors simultaneously. Writing a cause and effect essay is a difficult task for students
because the process of writing cause and effect require well-developed critical thinking skills and
ability to analyze things in details. The results of the present study agree with Weis (2011) who noted

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that students' higher order thinking skills represent in their ability to analyze, synthesis and evaluate.
In spite of the literature in support of graphic organizers in developing higher order thinking skills
and organizing structures. It seems that the organizer in the present study (Fishbone Map) did not
provide such results. Secondly, it is probable that students' performance in writing a cause and effect
essay have a cultural reason. That is, students think more about the effects of a phenomenon as it is
significant rather than thinking about the causes of what occurred. It seems that such viewpoints can
effect on students' writing performance. The results of this study are against the results acquired by
Lee (2007). In his study the organizers with perceptual properties such as tree diagram, fishbone and
matrix because of their ability in categorizing of ideas in to main ideas and sub-ideas reduces the
cognitive effort on the part of writers. Therefore, results in better performance of writer compare to
organizers without such properties such as spider map and Venn diagram.
Question Two: Do graphic organizers affect learning essay writing among Iranian pre-intermediate
English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in writing compare and contrast essay.
The quantitative results of compare and contrast essay writing provided new perspectives toward
the use of graphic organizers on writing this type of essay. The results of paired t-test showed that
compare to pre-test both groups statistically outperformed in compare and contrast post-test. The
results of the independent post-test of both the experimental and control groups for both the graphic
organizer and traditional method of teaching writing were computed and compared with each other
to see the effects of the graphic organizer treatment on this type of essay writing. The results showed
statistically significant difference in the post-test between both groups in favor of experimental group.
The results of the present study is supported by the study conducted by Weis (2011) who
investigated the effects of specific type of graphic organizers which was called thinking map on
students' higher-order thinking skills and problem solving. In his study, students' thinking ability
increased and it was demonstrated in their writing ability to compare and contrast essay. That is,
instead of lists or class discussions, the maps helped students to organize their comparisons and
showed the relationships between ideas. The maps are visual organizational tools that help students
to use higher-order thinking skills. Results of the present study showed that the EFL students should
be comfortable with the form of graphic organizer to help them develop their higher order thinking
skills, rather than involve in creating the physical map. It seems that students were more comfortable
with the form of comparative and contrastive Map rather than Fishbone Map. The results of the study
are also supported by the study of Hammann and Steven (2003). In their study, explicit instruction on
students' awareness of text structures resulted in students' ability to subdivide the content with
organizational patterns of compare and contrast essay. Therefore, students outperformed in their
compare/contrast essay writing. The results of pre-test indicated that both groups without receiving
any instruction had the potential knowledge to use the two graphic organizers. The results of the
post-test indicated the effects of compare/contrast instruction were significantly more than cause and
effect instruction because the control group partially showed such superiority and the experimental
group instructed with the compare-contrast Matrix completely showed such superiority.

6. Conclusion
The present study revealed the effectiveness of graphic organizers in developing students' writing
ability. Considering the use of graphic organizers, a number of implications for writing instruction
and development of material are presented. Based on the results of the present study, using graphic
organizers can significantly improve students' writing ability if teachers pay considerable attentions
to some factors. First, the teacher should select the type of graphic organizer accordance with the
organizational patterns of expository text (compare/contrast, cause/effect) which is intended for
teaching. The other factor is that because of the existence of different types of graphic organizers for
each type of text, the type should be selected with caution in the matter of principles of consistency,
creativity and coherency. Also, intervention of the graphic organizer should follow particular
instructional stages and principles. If such principles observed, the graphic organizer provide
significant results. If not, one reason for students' underperformance can be assigned to limitation of
design of the study.
In the present study, the teacher actively involved in the instructional stages of graphic organizers
to help students' generation of ideas and transferring the ideas into the written texts. Such techniques
actively work with compare/contrast Matrix, resulted in enhancing students' higher order thinking
skills, and students could organize their thoughts. As transferring the ideas from the organizer in to

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written essay require that students evaluate the relationships between the ideas and grammatical
structures to represent them in a coherent manner, it is also regarded as assessment tool.

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ORIGINALITY AND PLAGIARISM IN SCIENTIFIC

DOCUMENTATION AND ACADEMIC WRITING

Hossein Saadabadi M.
Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
saadabadimh@gmail.com

Arshad Abdul Samad

Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
arshad.samad@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
SOURCE CITATION IS A NECESSARY SKILL IN SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION AND
ACADEMIC WRITING, AND GUARANTEES THE ORIGINALITY OF THE COMPOSITION.
INAPPROPRIATE CITATION BEHAVIORS CAN LEAD READERS TO FEEL THAT THE WORK
INVOLVES PLAGIARISM, AND CONSEQUENTLY, BRING THE WORK INTO DISREPUTE. THIS
RESEARCH IS AN INTERVIEW-BASED INVESTIGATION OF HOW IRANIAN GRADUATE
STUDENTS OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CITE THE SOURCES THEY USE WHILE WRITING
IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE, AND HOW THEY VIEW ACADEMIC WRITING AND
PLAGIARISM. TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS, THIS STUDY EMPLOYED QUALITATIVE
PROCEDURES TO ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: 1) HOW DO STUDENTS VIEW
WRITING FROM OTHER SOURCES, AND 2) HOW DO STUDENTS VIEW TEXTUAL BORROWING
AND PLAGIARISM? THIS RESEARCH AIMED TO SHOW HOW IRANIAN GRADUATE
STUDENTS WITH A BLEND OF CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE EAST AND ACADEMIC
HERITAGE OF THE WEST FORM AND TREAT WRITING FROM SOURCES, TEXTUAL
BORROWING, AND PLAGIARISM. THE PARTICIPANTS OF THIS STUDY WERE EIGHT
IRANIAN GRADUATE STUDENTS OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING A UNIVERSITY IN
MALAYSIA. THE STUDY SHOWED THAT THE PARTICIPANTS HAD NO IDEA OF WHAT
WRITING FROM SOURCES IS AND FOR THEM IT WAS EQUAL TO COPYING SOME
MATERIALS AND PASTING THEM INTO THEIR OWN WORK. THEY DID NOT EVEN
DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SUMMARY AND PARAPHRASE.
REGARDING PLAGIARISM, THIS STUDY SHOWED THREE GROUPS OF STUDENTS: THOSE
WHO HAD NO IDEA OF PLAGIARISM, THOSE WHO HAD A WRONG VIEW OF PLAGIARISM,
AND THOSE WITH A FAVORABLE VIEW THAT WAS APPROVED, BUT WAS DIFFERENT
FROM WESTERN NOTION OF PLAGIARISM.

1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Plagiarism is a contextually contingent concept. Different academic cultures around the world,
especially as different as that of Asian countries in the east and that of Europe and North America in
the west, show different attitude and understanding of writing from others’ sources. It also differs
from discipline to discipline (Bloch, 2012; Hyland, 1999). Plagiarism covers a range of inferences from
western rules of ownership and authorship to memory work and textual borrowing in the academia
of the east (Chandrasoma, Thompson, & Pennycook, 2004). In an attempt to deal with some
complexities of the concepts of text, ownership, and plagiarism, Pennycook (1996, p. 201) argues that
“the way ownership and creativity are understood within European and U.S. contexts needs to be
seen as a very particular cultural and historical development”. He reviews the history of authorship
and challenges of this notion in the west from Plato to the present era to ask how we consider the
notion of textual borrowing or plagiarism when ‘meanings are in a sense in circulation”, and “when

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language is constantly cycled and recycled” (Pennycook, 1996, p. 211). In other words, while
academics in the east, especially in China, borrow texts to construct personal academic identity
(Abasi, Akbari, & Graves, 2006) through relying heavily on memory work and textual borrowing
(Bloch, 2012; Chandrasoma et al., 2004), or copying, memorization and reproduction (Howard, 1995),
western academia emphasize rules of ownership and authorship (Chandrasoma et al., 2004), and
encourage using multiple sources of information (Lillis & Turner, 2001) in academic writing.

1.2. Review of Literature

A phenomenon like plagiarism has so far been studied and interpreted through the eyes of lecturers,
supervisors and other education officials to introduce students as “key offenders” of originality in
expression (Li, 2013 b; Zafarghandi, Khoshroo, & Barkat, 2012), regardless of students’ attitude
towards textual borrowing. This top to bottom method of treating plagiarism has neither been
enough nor effective so far due to the contingent nature of plagiarism. The results of these studies
have just been many regulations and laws of deterrence and punishment with no impact on the issue.
This paper is an attempt to discover the patterns of the academic writing culture among Iranian ESL
graduate students of science and engineering in Malaysia.
A survey of students’ comments and a review of the literature related to plagiarism show that
the root of most textual borrowing in thesis writing among ESL students is to improve the writing
quality (Howard, 1992; Leary, 2010). These students borrow from other resources to facilitate the
writing process or improve their writing skill as well as the quality of their product, but through this
practice, a disapproving image of the author as plagiarizer is conveyed. This condition, which can be
true for experienced ESL writers in the field, is a result of ambiguity in definitions of plagiarism and
originality. Despite years of debate about plagiarism and fair use, there is still no clear-cut definition
for the concept (Maurer, Kappe, & Zaka, 2006; Sharkey, 1992), and this has resulted in a plurality in
understanding and using the rules.
The borderline between plagiarism and originality is yet murkier in other disciplines like science and
engineering. ESL researchers in these fields find the real value of a contribution in the product
developed through the research, and seek originality in the reported science rather than language
used to report it (Maurer et al., 2006; Yilmaz, 2007). They also think that in science and medicine the
writer “might insert phrases and even sentences from a previously published article simply because
he or she is disinclined to sacrifice quality and accuracy for want of linguistic Expertise” (Vessal &
Habibzadeh, 2007, p. 641).
As Flowerdew and Li (2007) report, ESL students copy useful expressions and passages from the
sources they read, and paste them into their draft in order to make up for their shortcomings in
fluency in English, especially in academic writing. Students, however, do not agree with this claim,
and say that “We can obtain a feel for ‘scientific English’ through literature reading in the research-
preparation stage, to fulfill a transition from ‘not familiar’ to ‘a bit familiar” (p. 451). What Flowerdew
and Li (2007) suggest is based on extensive interviews with doctoral students in science disciplines,
and analyzing their writings. These researchers wanted to find out how these students have used the
literature in their writings. They asked the students to comment on the similarities between their own
text and the source text they had written from, and explain how much of copying they thought as
acceptable. This research showed that students of science make a distinction between work/content
and language/form. This suggests that “the primary concern of the scientific community in
evaluating an article is the ‘originality’ of its ‘science’, rather than its language”, that cases of
plagiarism “involved the stealing of other’s ‘work’ (science)” (p. 461), and that borrowing texts which
contain only background information does not affect the originality of the work. This study went on
with interviewing a number of professors of science at the same university, and investigating their
beliefs regarding textual borrowing and plagiarism (Li, 2013 a). This study suggests that science
professors have a mitigating attitude towards textual borrowing in experimental descriptions. One
professor interviewed in this study (P8) believed that:
when it’s something everyone can say, I think it cannot be called plagiarism… and there is no need to
add references to such a sentence, even if it’s more or less copied from somewhere” (p. 575). Another
professor (P14) also claimed that:
A student may be carrying on my previous work, some of his text in the methods section is copied
from my previous paper, I think this doesn’t matter too much, because within one group, something
they do is the same, and the corresponding part of the writing should be the same (p. 575).

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Li (2013 a), though, considers the scenario described by P18 controversial, and claims that on the
extent to which the work has borrowed from others’. However, other scientists have an opposite view
to such a “laisse-faire approach” to textual borrowing. (Li, 2013 b) translates a quotation from a
Chinese scientist’s blog:
If you cannot work out a new narration when writing a paper, your paper is perhaps limited in its
academic value and contribution. A paper of real innovation is necessarily a result of someone’s
word-for-word contemplation (p. 7).
Regarding this quotation, however, Li (2013 b) does not explain how the writer accounts for the cases
of teamwork where the researcher and the person who writes the report or the paper are two
different persons, or cases where the name of the supervisor is included in the report or the paper as
the author while he has had no role in writing, and consequently no relationship with the language.
She does not, also, explain how the writer accounts for the limitations of language use in a
disciplinary discourse.

In other words, as (Deckert, 1993; Pecorari, 2010; Rinnert & Kobayashi, 2005; Shi, 2006) conclude, for
ESL writers, whether novice or experienced, textual borrowing is a technique to improve failure to
write well rather than refusal to engage legitimately in the writing process at all.
What remains unanswered in the debate, due to a lack of empirical research, was how Iranian
scholars and students, with a blend of cultural heritage of the east and academic heritage of the west
form and treat the concepts of textual borrowing, plagiarism and writing from sources. This paper,
therefore, intends to investigate this issue.

1.3. Objectives of the Study

This study is based on the premise that plagiarism among ESL graduate students who study
at English medium universities abroad is not intentional, to obtain illegal benefit or to cheat their
supervisors; rather, plagiarism has its roots in students’ cultural and educational background. In fact,
Iranian graduate students follow the western model of academic writing while writing in their first
language (Jalilifar, 2012); however, since Iranian academic system follows a text based teaching
approach in which the assessment is mostly based on exams rather than on project papers, these
students do not gain experience in writing academic texts (Zafarghandi et al., 2012). Therefore, the
problem is unintentional plagiarism resulting from lack of experience and knowledge of conventions
of academic writing (Zafarghandi et al., 2012) rather than “cheating in order to respond to their
desires for success, winning, and feeling good about themselves” as Zafarghandi et al. (2012) strongly
claim.
This study investigates, through multiple discussions, how ESL graduate students understand
academic plagiarism policy, as well as how they write from other sources, and how they cite the
sources that they use. To achieve these goals, a qualitative research methodology is used to address
the following questions:
1. How do students conceptualize writing from other sources?
2. How do students conceptualize textual borrowing and plagiarism?

3. Methodology
3.1.Population and Sampling
The sample for this research was purposefully selected from among Iranian graduate students of
sciences and engineering at a Malaysian university. These students had received no training in
writing for academic purposes in general and specifically in ESL academic writing before they enter
graduate programs. Influenced by their past learning environments, these students identify what is
considered in Malaysia as plagiarism, a positive technique that helps them improve many writing
problems. One very common example of this claim among students is what Pecorari (2002),
following (Howard, 1995) labels patchwriting. That is to say, this group has either a mistaken or a
different perception of plagiarism.
Since the target population was not centrally located, the network or chain sampling method (Ary,
Jacobs, & Sorensen, 2010) was employed and eight students accepted to participate in the study. The
students who were all first-year graduate students included five female students (here after called P1,
P2, P3, P4 and P5) and three male student (here after called P6, P7, and P8). The first language (L1) of
all participants was Persian and they had received no training in their L1 or L2 writing for academic

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purposes. From among the participants, P1, P5, and P6 were studying Computer Science, P2 and P3
were studying Civil engineering, and P4 and P7 were studying Food Science, and P8 was student of
Information Technology (IT).
An invitation email was sent to the first student (P1) with whom the researcher was acquainted at the
library, and seemed to meet the requirements of the study. The email contained information about
the researcher (personal and contact), and a brief description of the project. The recipient of the email
was then asked to reply the email either to accept or reject the invitation. She was asked also to leave
her contact information for required communications. When she accepted to take part in the study,
she received another email containing a number of questions related to interview topic and an
appointment was made via phone call. The second participant (P2)) was introduced by (P1), and
through the same process, she was invited to an interview. Other participants joined the study also
through the same process.
Regarding the participants L2 proficiency, all participants had valid IELTS reports. With the band
score above six in the academic module designed for candidates who want to study at undergraduate
or postgraduate level. According to IELTS band score scales, the participants of this study were
competent users in academic English. The participants’ training in academic writing was limited to
their IELTS preparation program. They had received no other training in academic writing, nor did
they have any experience in writing research papers.

3.2. Data Collection Procedure

The data required for this study were collected through in-depth interviews. Questions required for
interviews were adopted from previous qualitative studies in the field (Dong, 1996; Shi, 2010, 2012),
and adapted for the present research context through informal discussions with students in and
around the campus. Through these discussions, nine questions were prepared which formed the
building blocks of the interview although the interview covered a wider scope. Questions were as
follows:
1. Do you normally use others' works in writing your thesis?
2. What is your idea about borrowing from others' works?
3. What do you normally borrow?
4. What is plagiarism?
5. How can you avoid plagiarism?
6. What are the principles of borrowing from others' sources?
7. Why should we include citations?
8. Describe in detail the process you use to write an academic text.
9. If you need to borrow language from other sources to express your own idea, would you cite
what you have borrowed?
Each participant was interviewed twice and each interview session lasted 60 minutes. All interviews
were recorded and transcribed to ensure accuracy, and the themes were generated and categorized.

4. Results and Discussion

4.1. Conceptualizing Writing from Sources
All participants strongly believed that using others’ works is inevitable in academic writing because if
we want to contribute to the existing knowledge, we should have enough information regarding
where we are in the field now to be able to help improving it. P1, one of the participants who were
studying Computer Science, believed that borrowing is inevitable in research as long as the aim of
research is expanding human knowledge based on previous works. She also thought that writing
from others’ works means borrowing what we lack in terms of language, idea and content from those
sources. Here are the ideas shared by some of the participants:
P1: “since I am new in my field and also in research, mostly I borrow ideas in order to generate my
own but for representing the ideas because they are not stuck to my mind yet I am forced to borrow
the writer's language as well, but when something is my own idea and consequently completely
comprehensive for me I will find a way to represent it but in order to use a better or more academic
language I may borrow other's language as well.”
P3: “In my opinion, the more reading and borrowing others work, the more successful writing, so no
problem. I normally borrow from books which are more sufficient to subject.”

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P4: “In my point of view I think borrowing from others works is not fault albeit it needs some
changes. I normally borrow some sentences that related to my work and collect them.”
P7: “if I am not mistaken, of borrowing you meaning using others results and achievements, even if I
wanna use them , I ask permission or if it is not necessary for permission, I just cite them in my thesis
or proposal.”
In all these quotations, what is clear is that except for Sina who believed that he should cite what he
borrows from other sources, other participants did not refer to this important point. These
participants showed that they had no idea of what writing from sources is and for them it was equal
to copying some materials and pasting them into their own work. They did not even distinguish
between summarizing and paraphrasing.

4.2. Conceptualizing Textual Borrowing and Plagiarism

The second question in this paper aimed to find out Iranian graduate students’ perceptions of textual
borrowing and plagiarism. The interesting point about plagiarism was that two of the participants
had no idea of plagiarism at all. One participant related it to copy right matters (P1); the other made
it equal to borrowing from others’ works (P3). Other participants however, were to some extent
familiar with the topic. P7 for instance said: “plagiarism is using the others definition or result in way
that shows that they belong to us”. P5, the other participant, however, seemed different. She said:
“I think plagiarism is copy or mimic some sentences without any changes and I know if my
dissertation has more than 30% match with other article it is plagiarism.”
P4 was, in a sense, an outlier in the sample because her husband was a professional journal editor,
and she was familiar with the type of work her husband did. However, even P4 showed that she was
not that familiar with plagiarism when she was asked about how to avoid plagiarism. She answered:
“As I said before I try to modify the word and paraphrase them to avoid plagiarism.”
She claims paraphrase as a way to avoid plagiarism while it is a source of plagiarism itself. Other
participants were also in the same boat. P3 thought the same as P4 and said that we can avoid
plagiarism “by converting our sources word and mix it with our words”. Still she does not show any
tendency to cite what she “converted” and used from other sources. In this case, P1 had no idea and
said that because she had no idea of what plagiarism is, she could not talk about how she could avoid
it. Generally, these participants thought that providing a reference list at the end of the work is
sufficient for acknowledging the works used and avoiding plagiarism. P7, however, was a different
case. He said:
“I use reference management software, and whenever I need to use other's work I exactly mention
the reference which I am using for, I highly recommend using reference manager's application”.
It is noteworthy about P7 that he studied Computer Science and he was familiar with software for
reference management. This was a very important priority of P7 over other participants. With such a
view of source using, source citing, and plagiarism, the participants considered writing from sources
necessary for writing their thesis proposals although they had no idea of the related principles.
Although P1 and P4 explicitly stated that they had no idea of the principles of writing from sources,
P4 explained:
“because in my field of study especially in material and method I should utilize exact amount of
some chemical substance, in this situation I must to refer without changing, although in other cases I
attempt to alter word and paraphrase of some sentences.” … but “I do not have any information
about this issue.”
and P3 who thought that she had to use other sources explained the principles as the following:
“Sources help us to wide our knowledge about special topic and let us to know others opinion and
also previous research.”
There is no need to explain that what P3 said was quite out of topic. P7 also believed that he would
use others' works in writing his thesis proposal because:
P7: “using previous experimental, methodologies and their result which they have achieved;
meanwhile, other's works demonstrate that what have been done up to now. Hence, I can find the
gaps and solve the problems still exists.”
In this case, P7 was again an outlier who showed that he had some idea of the principles:
“sometimes we need to write exactly as they wrote, or some time we can paraphrase and reform the
sentences, by the way it requires citing them.”

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5. Conclusion and Implications

This interview based study revealed different weaknesses in the participants’ academic skills. The
most important of these weaknesses was lack of knowledge in writing from sources as lack of or
weakness in this knowledge paves the ground for threatening the integrity and originality of the
whole work.
All participants believed that referring to other sources for every detail disturbs the reading and
comprehension process, and turns away the writer’s focus from the subject. They believe that only
introducing the sources used in the study in a reference list is sufficient to both acknowledge the
authors and provide the learners with a list of related resources for further reading; therefore, the
participants thought that any resource that could help the readers should be cited in the reference list
although not used in the study.
These findings, although need further investigation and support, should ring the bell for Malaysian
academia. As there are many Iranian students in Malaysian universities, to ensure the quality,
courses should be planned to teach Iranian students and improve their academic skills before they are
involved in doing their academic research. This research, also, emphasizes the need to make a change
in researchers’ attitude towards textual borrowing and plagiarism among ESL students. They need to
shift their focus from form and process to rhetoric and culture, and hence, consider the issue as
unintentional threat to originality rather than as deliberate act of plagiarism.

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THE EFFECT OF RECAST VS. SELF_CORRECTION

ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF WRITING ABILITIES
OF IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOL EFL STUDENTS

Parastoo Saadat (Corresponding author),

Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University Rasht Branch, Guilan, Iran
Parastoosaadat5@gmail.com

Masoumeh Arjmandi
Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Guilan, Iran
arjmandi.m.f.@gmail. Com

Marjan Heydarpour
Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Guilan, Iran
mheydarpour@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY AIMS TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF RECAST VS. SELF-
CORRECTION ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF WRITING ABILITIES OF IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOL
EFL STUDENTS. THE MAIN QUESTION THAT THE RESEARCH TRIED TO ANSWER WAS
WHETHER RECAST (IMPLICIT FEEDBACK) VS. SELF- CORRECTION OF STUDENTS’
LANGUAGE ERRORS HAS ANY INFLUENCE ON STUDENTS’ WRITING ERRORS. TO THIS END,
THREE INTACT CLASSES AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL INCLUDING 60 STUDENTS AT A PUBLIC
HIGH SCHOOL IN LASHTENESH PARTICIPATED IN THIS STUDY. BEING HOMOGENIZED BY
OXFORD QUICK PLACEMENT TEST (QPT), 45 STUDENTS WERE SELECTED, AND THEY WERE
RANDOMLY DIVIDED INTO TWO EXPERIMENTAL AND ONE CONTROL GROUPS. AFTER
THAT A PRE-TEST OF WRITING WAS ADMINISTERED TO THREE GROUPS. AFTERWARDS,
THE PARTICIPANTS IN TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS RECEIVED A 10- SESSION
TREATMENT WHILE THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONTROL GROUP RECEIVED A 10- SESSION
PLACEBO. AT THE END OF THESE 10 SESSIONS, A POST-TEST OF WRITING WAS
ADMINISTERED. THE DATA WERE ANALYZED USING SPSS SOFTWARE, AND AN ONE-WAY
ANOVA WAS CONDUCTED TO COMPARE THE MEANS OF TWO EXPERIMENTAL AND ONE
CONTROL GROUPS IN THE POST-TEST WITH THE ALPHA LEVEL SET AT .05. IT SHOULD BE
MENTIONED THAT THE SCORES OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE PRE-TEST PHASE WERE
CONSIDERED AS A VARIATION IN THIS STUDY. BASED ON THE RESULT OF THE ANOVA,
THE NULL HYPOTHESIS OF THIS STUDY WAS REJECTED. THE RESULT INDICATED THAT
IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS RECEIVED HIGH
SCORES IN WRITING TEST AFTER BEING TREATED WITH 10 SESSIONS OF TREATMENT. IT
ALSO SHOWED THAT ALTHOUGH BOTH CORRECTIVE FEEDBACKS, I.E. RECAST AND SELF-
CORRECTION ARE EFFECTIVE TO HELP THE STUDENTS OVERCOME THEIR LANGUAGE
PROBLEMATIC AREA AND DECREASE THEIR ERRORS, RECAST PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT
ROLE TO ASSIST STUDENTS IN ORDER TO FACILITATE EFL LEARNING AND ENHANCE
THEIR WRITING ABILITY .

KEY TERM: FEEDBACK, RECAST, SELF-CORRECTION , WRITING, REFORMULATION

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1. Introduction
Literature indicates that providing feedback to students’ writings has always been a controversial and
even inconclusive issue. The term corrective feedback refers to any feedback provided to learner,
from any source that contains evidence of learner’ s error of language form. It may be spoken or
written, implicit or explicit. Ferris (2002) sees error correction as an important factor for improving
learners’ writing ability. Some other studies (Cohen, 1987; Ferris & Robert, 2001) also highlight the
importance of accuracy and hence error correction in students’ writings and the students’ willingness
to receive feedback on their errors.
Obviously, writing to communicate can be possible just when students have sufficient control of the
writing system and grammar to make themselves understood. Students should learn to communicate
in writing and focus on linguistic accuracy at the same time. Therefore, grammatical correctness is an
inseparable and necessary component of writing to communicate, especially in educational context
(Chastain, 1988).
In spite of the importance of writing skills, some language teachers neglect it in their teaching
process. Unfortunately, in public schools of Iran, English teachers pay a little attention to writing
skills. There is no opportunity for students to write composition, essay or even summary about their
lessons. Most of the time the students use a lot of incorrect structures in their written or spoken
language that are very important and essential. Therefore, they are unable to convey their intended
meanings and real messages in their written productions and most of them have insufficient ability in
writing English texts. The majority of students are willing to have the suitable ability to use the
learned materials to communicate a messag that a native speaker can understand. So, they are willing
to perceive recast as a feedback on the form of their writings.
Since writing is one of the productive skills, it can act as one of the most fundamental abilities for
learners in order to internalize their knowledge of linguistic components. And due to lack of a clear
strategy for teachers dealing with students' writing errors, it will be useful to focus on them through
recast (implicit feedback).
According to Lyster and Ranata (1997), recast involves the teacher’s implicit supplying of a correct
reformulation of a student’s ill-formed utterance. In other words, it paraphrases a learner’s incorrect
utterances and replaces one or more incorrect components with a correct form while maintaining the
meaning. It is an implicit corrective feedback .Krashen and Selinger (1975) observed that discrete
point presentation and feedback on error are two characteristics common to all L2 teaching methods.
Long and Robinson (1998) stated that one of the effective way that provides learners with information
about how their current interlanguage differs from the target is recast. Recasts are corrective
strategies that teachers use to deal with errors of language learners and to reformulate all or part of
their erroneous utterances without changing its central meaning ( Inagaki, Long & Ortega, 1998).
The present study will carry important implication of recast vs. self- correction in EFL classrooms
with pedagogical advice in order to maximize Iranian teachers' attention towards implicit provision
of learners' error correction on writing as well as tackling their writing problem. Likewise, The
current study will contribute to show how English language instructors use correction feedback in
students’ writing English texts to enhance their students’ writing ability and competency. It will be
worthwhile for EFL learners, EFL teachers and curriculum developers, course book designers/writers
and language institutes. This study tries to investigate whether Iranian high school students can
overcome their writing linguistic errors such as lexico-semantic and morpho-syntactic errors by using
corrective feedback such as recast vs. self-correction and develop their writing abilities efficiently.
Among the whole studies in support of the facilitative role of correction, recast has proved the most
frequent types of error correction in classroom. Another way of correction is self-correction. Self-
correction is an indirect feedback where the teacher provides students with the choices so that they
themselves discern the correct form. (Bitchener, Cameron, & Young 2005). According to Lyster
(1998), self-correction or “ self-repair “, in either form of self or peer, happens when the teacher makes
the erroneous point salient through repetition (in speaking), underlining the erroneous sentence (in
writing ) or writing both the correct and erroneous form on the board so that students can choose
from.
According to Lyster and Ranata (1997); Mackay (2006), elicitation is an explicit correction where the
teacher provides the students with the wrong form, along with the correct form, sometimes, two
forms of correct and the original sentence are provided, and students should find the correct form.
According to Han (2002), Self-correction and recast are different from each other in terms of the type

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of evidence each provides student with. Error correction can provide the learners with both negative
and positive evidence; positive evidence is usually referred to the natural input the learners are
exposed to; negative evidence is usually referred to as correction and reactive instruction, whereas
positive evidence entails both natural and reactive instructional setting. With whatever role they
might play either as positive or negative evidence or either as an explicit focus on form or implicit
focus on form, error corrections vary in their degree of effectiveness.
The main focus of this study is on the learners’ linguistic errors, which are subject to regular
treatment by means of focusing on recasting vs. self-correcting and whether such treatment can lead
to improve literacy during a period of time. While there was a dearth of research on the effectiveness
of error correction in general and recast in particular on the Iranian intermediate students’ writing
abilities, the present study has been made an endeavor to fill the gap between literature and practice
in educational system by providing more insight into the effect of recast versus self-correction on
Iranian high school students writing performance. To fulfill the aims of this study the following
question was proposed:
Q: Does recast (implicit feedback) vs. self-correction of student’s language errors have any statistically
significant effect on Iranian high school students ’writing errors?

2. Literature Review
Corrective feedback in SLA for years has been one of the most confusing problems both for students
and teachers due to opposite attitude to error correction. The ideas stay divided into two main flows:
against correction (Krashen, 1982; Truscott, 1996) vs. towards considerable appropriate correction
(Bitchener & Knoch, 2008; Chandler, 2003; Sheen, 2007).Within the second group the research on
various types of feedback is increasing to discover what considerable appropriate corrections in fact
are.
There are three explanations regarding the beneficial role that recast plays in SLA. Each is drived
from a major theoretical framework in SLA. The first and the most often cited explanations of benefit
of recast are based on what is called the “noticing hypothesis”. As Schmidt’s (1990) “noticing
hypothesis” states, in order to learn anything that is new, noticing is fundamental. According to this
hypothesis, language learners need first to be aware of the new linguistic features in the input in
order to be able to acquire them (Schmidt, 1990, cited in Lightbown, Nicholas, & Spada, 2001).
The second theoretical framework is concerned with Universal Grammar Model of language
acquisition . In this model Schwartz (1993, cited in Lightbown, Nicholas, & Spada, 2001) indicates
that the effectiveness of the recast does not due to its role as ‘negative evidence’. (i.e., information
about what is not acceptable in the target language) instead it simply provides ‘positive evidence’
(i.e., examples of acceptable target language sentences).
The third theoretical framework stems from Sociocultural Theory of Mind (SCT) developed by
Vygotsky (1988). According to his theory, learners’ engagement in independent problem-solving
revealed those functions that had already been internalized but nothing about their abilities.
Individuals’ abilities can only be revealed when various forms of support are offered.Vygotskys’
theory emphasizes the importance of communication with others as a major factor in the child’s
language development which stimulate the development of thought. Vygotsky’s theory is based on
ZPD model, Zone of Proximal Development which presents in the interactions of children with their
adults.
Vygotsky (1988) argued that language learning should be supported because learner’s language
developments occur through interaction with others and participants in activities. He believed that
there is a difference between what a learner can do alone and what he/she can do in collaboration
with more experienced or knowledgeable peer or teacher. He/She helps the learners or students in
selecting, changing, interpreting through mediations (scaffolding). Scaffolding is a teaching -learning
strategy where teacher and learner engage it in a collaborative problem-solving activity, (i.e., teacher’s
supporting way, error correction and guidance).
Recast as a corrective feedback is based on interaction between teacher and students in the
educational settings or classroom,the teacher as a monitor and facilitator attempts to prompt learners’
language performance, and focuses on learners’ future development through recast as a scaffolding
tool on the students’ erroneous writing or speaking skills. Hence, teacher and learners engage in a
collaborating problem-solving activity in which teacher support learners’ language performance
through mediation (scaffolding), and consequently recast may play the role of mediation. In this case

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the process of learning will be dynamic or ongoing. Recast tries to explore learning obstacles and
design interventions to overcome them and end in promoting learners development through
appropriate forms of mediation. The purpose of recast is to eliminate the erroneous sentences from
the students’ future writing; therefore, it can act based on ZPD model and Socicultural Theory of
Vygotsky (1988).

3. Method
To do the research, one dependent variable and one independent variable with two levels were
selected.The current research employed convenience sampling in three intact classes. Convenience
sampling is a non-probability sampling technique that simply uses conveniently available subjects
(Dornyei,2007). However the participants were randomly divided into three groups including
experimental group A, experimental group B, and control group C to receive three different
treatments.
The present study was implemented on the basis of quasi- experimental design. The design allowed
them to seek Iranian high school students’ writing ability, and to investigate the effectiveness of
recast vs. self-correction on their writing ability. There is a pre-test in this design, which is
administered to the subjects before the treatment. There are three groups, two groups receive two
different treatments, and the third one receive placebo. At the end of the treatments, a post-test is
given to realize whether the treatments were efficient or not. So, the participants of the three groups
participated in a pre-test and post-test before and after treatment respectively.

3.1. Participants
The initial participants of the current research were from three intact classes at a public high school
in Iran. These three classes were consisted of 60 female students ranging 17-18 years old. They had
various degrees of exposure to language instructions. They were customarily placed in grade three.
They were all native speakers of Persian and their major was natural science.
The participants had experienced an Oxford Quick Placement Test (version 1) for the purpose of
homogenizing and making sure that the study enjoys homogeneous participants with respect to their
English language proficiency to be able to take part in writing class. The participants took four parts
that included items related to structure, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing with a
maximum possible score of (70) points
Of the whole participants, 15 were excluded due to their inadequate English proficiency for the
purpose of the study. Being homogenized by QPT, 45 participants whose score fell within the range
of 31+ in grammar and vocabulary, 8+ in reading section, and 8+ in writing section were selected as
the main sample that randomly divided into three groups, one control group to receive placebo and
two experimental groups to receive two different treatments. Each group comprising of 15 female
participants, and hence fulfilling the objects of balanced design in current research.
The experimental group A included 15 participants received a 10-session self-correction as the
correction strategy in the way that the teacher provided the correct form for erroneous sentence of
students production, and the students needed to decide which sentence was grammatically correct.
The experimental group B included 15 participants received recast with single move reformulation.
Correction of either types of self-correction or recast can vary in term of different constituents or”
moves” it takes. Control group C included 15 participants received placebo, i.e. the erroneous
sentences of the participants of control group C just were underlined without any feedback.

3.2. Materials
To answer the research question of the current study, the following materials were used:

3.2.1. Instructional materials

The materials of this study for the training program of recast and self-correction consisted of three
phases: a) writing summary b) retelling story c) answering questions. Each session was held for 45
minutes once a week, and teaching program was taught by the same teacher during three months.
After summarizing each lesson of the text book, the participants’ writings were collected and
corrected by the teacher and were returned to them. Whenever the participants of groups A and B
produced grammatically incorrect sentence, feedback was provided on the spot (in one group in the

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form of recast, in another group in form of self-correction). The erroneous sentences of the
participants of control group C just were underlined without any feedback.
Besides summarizing each lesson and retelling the short story, some participants were called to
answer the questions relating to their textbook in class. The members of group (A) were provided
with self-correction, feedback following the occurrence of the erroneous statements. The self-
correction feedback was vocalic or verbal; the teacher repeated the students’ erroneous sentences,
along with the correct form, and the students were asked to choose the correct form. The members of
group (B) were provided with recast in the form of feedback on participants’ erroneous sentences.
Recast was written. The members of group (C) did not receive any feedback. Instructional
instruments were based on lesson plans corresponded to the students’ course book materials and
utilized during treatment period between pre-test and post-test.

3.2.2. Testing materials

An QPT was used for the purpose of homogenizing the proficiency level of the learners. Since the
aim of the current study was to investigate the statistically significant effect of two types of feedback,
recast vs. self-correction on improving the high school EFL students’ writing ability in term of using
Lexico-semantic and morpho-syntactic errors, students’ writing samples about the course book‘s
topics were utilized as instruments to measure the writing abilities of three groups of students for
both pre-test and post-test. The first writing sample was considered as pre-test at the first session
before treatment, the last writing sample was considered as the post-test and was done in the last
session after treatment.

3.3. Procedures for Data Collection and Analysis

Three intact classes included 45 students out of 60 at a public high school which were taught by the
same teacher as researcher, were selected as participants for the purpose of this quasi-experimental
study through Oxford Quick Placement Test ( based on SD above and below the mean). These three
classes met once a week, each session 45 minutes of language instruction. Then, they were randomly
divided into three groups: experiment group A (self-correction), experiment group B (recast) and
control group C (15 students in each group) and the scores of other students were excluded from
analysis in the remaining phases of this study (i.e. pre-test and post-test). The experimental group A
and B received treatment programs but the control group received no treatment or placebo in an
equal period of time. All students of three groups participated in pre-test and post-test.
A pre-test including paragraph writing, was then administered at the first session to examine the
participants’ global writing abilities. Then, two experimental groups received a 10- session treatment
through the training program of two kinds of corrective feedback, i.e. recast and self-correction, while
the third group received placebo. At the end of 10 treatment sessions, a post-test of writing was
administered. Then the pre-test and post-test analyses were compared with each other. The purpose
was to examine the degree which these participants could benefit from recast vs. self-correction
strategy, the extent to which these strategies had recovered linguistic errors observed in the first
writings as well as the degree of improvement in participants’ writing ability.
After collecting the data, the researcher investigated the hypothesis in order to answer the research
question. The data available for the analysis consisted of writing scores (pre-test and post-test). After
investigating and scoring the tests, the results were statistically analyzed to provide answers for the
research question. One-Way ANOVA was used to analyze the data of the study.

4.Result
To carry out the statistical analyses, the results attained from the tests were summarized, and the
procedures of descriptive statistics (comprising means and standard deviations) followed by
inferential statistics namely One-Way ANOVA and paired samples T-test were run. Prior to running
the main statistical analyses, normality that was the main assumption of parametric tests which was
established for all of the distributions through running Leven test, error bars, and mean plots.
To show that the subjects were nearly at similar level in terms of their writing ability at the beginning
of the study, a pre-test was directed to the three groups. For examining the uniformity of variance
assumption for the pre-test, One-Way ANOVA was run to the results of the pre-test. Before
accomplishing the analysis, the main supposition of One-Way ANOVA namely, normality of the
distributions was examined through running Leven statistics (See Table 1.).

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Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of experimental and control groups for pre-test scores
Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Variance
Exp. A 15 16.06 2.15 4.62
Exp. B 15 16.13 2.58 6.65
Con. 15 14.60 2.69 7.23
Total 45 15.60 2.62 6.86

Table 2.
Descriptive analysis of one way ANOVA for pre-test scores
One way ANOVA results
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Groups N df. SED F sig.(two-tailed) Lower Upper

Exp. A & Exp. B 45 42 0.391 1.688 0.197 14.81 16.38

& Con.

As it is demonstrated in the above table, the values of standard deviation and standard error statistics
supported that variation in pre-test performance for the three groups was somehow small and
identical (see Table 2.). The results of the pre-test showed that the Mean of the control group (Mcontrol
group = 14.60), Mean of the experimental group A(M experimental group (A) =16.06), and Mean of the
experimental group (B) (M experimental group (B) =16.13), did not differ statistically. In other words, the mean
difference was not statistically significant for the pre-test scores of writing before initiating the
specific treatments for the experimental groups. Table 4.3 displays the results of One-Way ANOVA
for the pre-test scores of writing. Results of One-Way ANOVA indicated that there was no statistically
significant difference in learners’ writing ability on the pre-test scores across the groups (F2, 42=1.688,
p writing test (.197) ≥ .05).
The significance value of the F test in the ANOVA table was higher than alpha (.05) for the pre-test
scores of writing. As a result, the non-significant F test revealed that the population means on test of
writing were similar at the beginning of the study. It implies that the average assessment scores of
writing ability were equal across the three groups at the beginning of the study.
The statistic of ANOVA was run to the results of the post-test of writing. The descriptive statistics for
the posttest data is presented in the following table:

Table 3.
Descriptive statistics of experimental and control groups for post-test scores
Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Variance
Exp. A 15 17.13 2.03 4.12
Exp. B 15 18.53 1.30 1.69
Con. 15 14.86 2.35 5.52
Total 45 16.84 2.43 5.90

The results of the descriptive statistics for the post-test showed that the Mean of the control group
(Mcontrol group = 14.86), Mean of the experimental group A(Mexperimental group (A) =17.13), and Mean of the
experimental group (B) (M experimental group (B) =18.53), differed significantly. The significance value of
the F test in the ANOVA table was less than (.05).

Table 4.
Analysis of one way ANOVA for post-test scores
One way ANOVA results
95% Confidence

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Interval of the
Difference
Groups N df. SED F sig.(two-tailed) Lower Upper
Exp. A & Exp. B 45 42 0.39 13.549 .000 16.11 17.57
& Con.

Thus, the hypothesis that average assessment scores of the writing ability (post-test) were equal
across the three groups was rejected (F = 13.549, Sig. = .000≤.05).The following figure illustrates mean
plot for the results of the posttest of writing.

Figure 1. The three groups' performances on test of writing (Post-Test)

In order to investigate the extent of the students’ progression within groups, three Paired Samples T-
Tests were also run, which showed the subjects’ progress in pre-test and post-test (See Tables 5.).

Table 5.
Statistics for the pre and post-test scores of writing ability
Paired Samples Statistics
Groups Mean N Std. Std. Error
Deviation Mean
Control group Pair 1 Pretest scores 14.6000 15 2.69391 .69556
Posttest scores 14.8667 15 2.35635 .60841
Experimental group (A) Pair 1 Pretest scores 16.0667 15 2.15362 .55606
Self- Correction Posttest scores 17.1333 15 2.03072 .52433
Experimental group (B) Pair 1 Pretest scores 16.1333 15 2.85023 .73593
Recast Posttest scores 18.5333 15 1.30201 .33618

As it was shown in Table 5., the mean scores of the control group improved from (14.60) in pre- test to
(14.86) in post-test. With respect to the performance of the participants in the experimental group (A),
the mean score increased from (16.06) in pre- test to (17.13) in post-test, and finally, the mean of the
experimental group (B) group improved from (16.13) in pre- test to (18.53) in post- test. To provide
answer for the research question, One-Way ANOVA procedure produced a one-way analysis of

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variance for the quantitative dependent variable namely post-test of writing by the single
independent variable (types of corrective feedback). Analysis of variance was used to test the
hypothesis that the means of the three groups were equal on post-test of writing. The analysis of
variance is sensitive to divergence from normality. Therefore, the uniformity of the variances for the
three groups was evaluated for the results of the posttest, too. The assumption was that each group
was an independent random sample from a normal population.

5. General Discussion
The L1 studies are generally restricted, however to morphological features, and there is little
conscious about which qualities benefit from corrective feedback (Farrar, 1992; Bonamo, Morgan, &
Travis, 1995). In L2 research, a wider range of linguistic features have been studied, with some
researchers seeking for differences in interlocutors, a leaning towards use different kinds of feedback
following phonological, lexical, and morpho-syntactic errors (Chaudron, 1977; Havranek, 1999;
Lyster, 1998; Mackey, 2000).
For sure, a classroom without any error correction is far from reality; all teachers attempt to facilitate
their students’ learning future development. When there is less chance for exposure to positive
evidence, especially in foreign language setting, utilizing various methods of error correction is the
best way to stop fossilization. As Guenette (2007) describes this is a “ decisive factor in the attainment
of language fluency and accuracy” (p. 41) Truscott (1998) describes that “ studies that look at the
actual speech/ writing of learners who have undergone correction have consistently failed to find any
benefits” (p. 123). Contrary to Truscott’s (1998) opinion, corrective feedback in the form of recast
assists to develop accuracy. This study attempted to investigate the influence of recast vs. self-
correction on the high school students’ writing ability. The obtained result indicated improvement in
accuracy of participants in recast group which contradicts Truscott claim about harmful or even
useless influence of corrective feedback..
There is some discussion in the corrective feedback literature that students may respond differently to
corrective feedback depending on whether the teacher provides it or not. That is, some of L2 learners
may perceive corrective feedback from their teachers more efficient because they are near-native
speakers of the target language and thus possess more knowledge about the L2 (Morris, 2002).

5.1. Pedagogical Implications of the Study.

Being aware of errors committed by EFL learners, is necessary for both teachers and learners.
Making learners conscious of their problematic areas can encourage them to focus on these errors and
promote their writing (Tahririan, 1986). Besides, teachers require to be aware of the most problematic
areas in order to provide the learners with efficient assistance to facilitate learning. Being aware of
current theoretical and practical problems related to error correction can be useful for language
teachers and language educational system.
The result of this study can also be fruitful for language teacher training courses. Language teacher
trainers should be aware of current theories and knowledge about language teaching in order not to
direct their trainees to outdated teaching techniques in their foreign language teaching. The result of
this research and the assistance of correction feedback can make aware language teacher trainers
about the effectiveness of such corrective feedback types.
Additionally, using recast and self-corrective as two kinds of corrective feedback help syllabus
designers and material developers prepare systematic syllabuses and provide remedial materials for
learners. Researchers can apply the result and finding of this research in other fields of language
studies.

5.2. Limitations and Delimitations of the Study

The present study suffered from a number of limitation which will pose inevitable restrictions as
follow: first, since this research was limited to the information from only a small group of 45
participants, its findings can not be generalized to larger population. Second, because of the result of
this study was limited to the errors existing in participants’ writing papers, it is doubtful whether the
collected writing papers can be accepted as the real output of the learners. That is because they had to
limit their writings to the specific topic, so their writings may not show their exact ability in language
written production.Third, this research was limited to the students’ writing ability, it can be
investigated on oral or spoken ability.

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5.3. Suggestions for Further Research

The participants of this study were merely females 17 to 18 years old. A similar research can be
replicated regarding mixed genders and age distribution. The participants of the present study were
at intermediate level. A similar research can be carried on other levels such as elementary, pre-
intermediate or advanced levels. The participants of this research were high school EFL students.
Other research can be conducted on English language learners in an institute or at university levels in
different courses .
Additionally, this study concentrated on students’ written texts based on their course book material.
Other investigation may focus on more natural mode of writing, as writing letters or e-mails, or
writing in forums because they are more natural. In other hand, this research was bounded to small
group of a public high school students. Therefore, in order to control the internal validity of the
research, repetition of the same study include more participants with different proficiency level is
suggested.

5.4. Conclusion
Regarding the effectiveness of both different kinds of corrective feedback self-correction and recast on
Iranian high school students’ writing ability, the result of data analysis revealed that using recast in
this study improved the participants’ performance on writing test better than self-correction,
supporting the finding discussed earlier in the general discussion section of this chapter. That is,
recast is more beneficial than self-correction to enhance the learners’ awareness and attention on their
erroneous productive skills.
In addition to, the finding of this research revealed that although both of corrective feedback i.e.
recast and self-correction are effective to help the students overcome their language problematic areas
and decrease their writing errors, recast plays more important part to assist students in order to
facilitate EFL learning, reduce their writing linguistic errors such as lexico-semantic and morpho-
syntactic errors, and enhance their writing ability and competency. Because of the teacher’s role as a
facilitator and monitor of language development, the majority of students are willing to receive
recast, i.e., teacher’s correction on their erroneous performance (i.e., writing and spoking) to move
towards writing fluency and accuracy and increase their linguistic knowledge.

REFERENCES
Bitchener, J., Cameron, D., & Young, S. (2005). The effect of different types of corrective feedback on
ESL student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14, 191- 205.
Bitchener, J., & Knoch, U. (2008). The value of written corrective feedback for migrant and
international students. Language Teaching Research, 12(3), 409-431.
Bonamo, K. M., Morgan,J. L., & Travis, L. L. (1995). Negative evidence on negative evidence.
Developmental Psychology, 31, 180-197.
Chandler, J. (2000, March). The efficiency of error correction for improvement in the accuracy of L2 student
writing. Paper presented at the AAAL conference, Vancouver, BC.
Chandler, j. (2003). The efficiency of various kinds of error feedback for improvement in the accuracy
and fluency of L2 students writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 267-296.
Chastain, K. (1988). Developing second language skills : Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Orlando, Florida:
Harcourt Brace. Jovanovich, Inc.
Chaudron, C. (1977). A descriptive model of discourse in the corrective treatment of learners’ errors.
Language Learning, 27, 29-46.
Cohen, A. (1987). Student Processing of Feedback on their Composition. In: A.L. Weden, & J. Rubin
(Eds.), Learner Strategies in Language Learning (pp. 57-69). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentic-Hall.
Dornyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Farrar, M. J. (1992). Negative evidence and grammatical morpheme acquisition. Developmental
Psychology, 28, 90-98.
Ferris, D. R. (2002). Treat ment of Error in Second Language Student Writing. Michigan: University of
Michigan Press.
Ferris, D. (2004). The “grammar correction” debate in L2 writing: where are we, and where do we go
from here? (and what do we do in the meantime…?). Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(1), 49-62.
Guenette, D. (2007). Is feedback pedagogyically correct? Research design issues of feedback on
writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16, 40-53.

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Han, Zh. H. (2002). Rethinking the role of corrective feedback in communicative language teaching.
RELC Journal, 33, 1-34.
Havranek, G. (1999). The effectiveness of corrective feedback: Preliminary results of an empirical
study. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangere, 2, 189-206.
Inagaki, S., Long, M., & Ortega, L. (1998). The role of implicit negative feedback in SLA: Models and
recasts in Japanese and Spanish. The Modern Language Journal, 82, 357-371.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language learning and acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon
Press.
Krashen, S. D., & Selinger, H. W. (1975). The essential contributions of formal instruction in adult
second language learning. TESOL Quarterly, 9, 173-183.
Lightbown, P.M., Nicholas, H., & Spada, N. (2001). Recasts as feedback to language learners.
Language Learning, 51, 719-758.
Long, M., & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: Theory, research and practice. In C. Doughty & J.
Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 15-41). Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Lyster, R. (1998a). Recasts, repetition, and ambiguity in L2 classroom discourse. Studies in Second
Language Acquisition, 20, 51-81.
Lyster, R. (1998b). Negotiation of form, recasts, and explicit correction in relation to error types and
learner repair in immersion classrooms. Language Learning, 48, 183-218.
Lyster, R., & Ranta, L. (1997). Corrective feedback and learner uptake: Negotiation of form in
communicative classrooms. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19 (2), 37-66.
Mackey, A. (2006). Feedback, noticing and instructed second language learning. Applied Linguistics,
27(3), 405-430.
Morris, F. A. (2002). Negotiation moves and recasts in relation to error types and learner repair in the
foreign language classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 35, 395-404.
Schmidt, R., ( 1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied linguistics, 11,
129-158.
Sheen, Y., (2007). The effect of focused written corrective feedback and language aptitude on ESL
learners acquisition of articles. TESOL Quqrterly, 41, 255-283.
Truscott, J. (1998). Noticing in Second Language Acquisition: A critical review. Second Language
Research, 14(2), 103-135.
Truscott, J, (1996). The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes. Language Learning, 46(2),
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Vygotsky, L. S. (1988). Mind in society: The development of higher psychology Process. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.

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SENTENCE-INITIAL CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBIALS IN

ACADEMIC ARTICLES WRITTEN BY NATIVE
ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND IRANIAN EFL WRITERS

Amir Sabzevari (amir.sabzevari@yahoo.com)

Department of English,Khorasgan (Isfahan) branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Hamidreza Haghverdi (hhaghverdi@gmail.com)

Department of English,Khorasgan (Isfahan) branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Reza Biria (r_biria@yahoo.com)

Department of English,Khorasgan (Isfahan) branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY SOUGHT TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBIALS
(CAS) IN SENTENCE-INITIAL POSITION OF RESEARCH ARTICLES WRITTEN BY IRANIAN
ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) WRITERS AND ENGLISH NATIVE SPEAKERS.
TWO CORPORA WERE COMPILED FOR THE SAKE OF DATA ELICITATION AND ANALYSIS.
THE CORPORA CONSISTED OF 30 RESEARCH ARTICLES WRITTEN BY EFL LEARNERS IN THE
FIELD OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND 30 RESEARCH ARTICLES BY NATIVE WRITERS. THE
TWO BODIES OF DATA WERE ANALYSED BOTH QUANTITATIVELY AND QUALITATIVELY.
THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT BOTH GROUPS HAD SIMILAR TENDENCY TO USE A SET OF
CAS. THE WORD-LEVEL ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT THE EFL WRITERS USED MORE CAS
THAN THE NATIVE GROUP. HOWEVER, THE SENTENCE-LEVEL ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT
THE NATIVE SPEAKERS USED MORE CAS THAN THE EFL GROUP. THE QUALITATIVE
ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE EFL GROUP SHOWED STYLISTIC DIFFICULTIES WITH SOME
OF THE CAS SUCH AS BESIDES AND THEREFORE.THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY MAY HAVE
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR SECOND LANGUAGE WRITING
INSTRUCTORS AND LEARNERS. THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY MAY HAVE SOME IMPACT
ON ACADEMIC ENGLISH INSTRUCTION AND MAY ALSO ASSISST EFL LEARNERS AND
WRITERS TO EMPLOY CAS CORRECTLY IN ACADEMIC WRITING. THE PAPER ENDS WITH
SOME SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO HELP STUDENT WRITERS ON THE PROPER USE OF CAS IN
SENTENCE-INITIAL POSITION.

KEY WORDS: CONJUCTIVE ADVERBIALS, ACADEMIC WRITING, CORPUS-BASED STUDY

1. INTRODUCTION
This study is based on an analysis of sentence-initial conjunctive adverbials in the writing of Iranian
researcher writers and native speaker researchers. This is a corpus-based investigation which offers
qualitative and quantitative insights into the use of CAs in published articles in the field of applied
linguistics. The objective is to probe into the use of CAs by the Iranian researchers in order to see how
they stack up against their native writers to illustrate some possibleinappropriate, overuse or
underuse of these constituents by both groups.

1.1 Definition Of Adverbials

Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad and Finegan (1999, p. 762) define adverbials as clause elements with
three functions: first, “to add circumstantial information about the proposition in the clause”, second,
“to express speaker/writer stance towards the clause” and third, “to link the clause (or some part of

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it) to some other unit of discourse” so he classifies them into three classes: circumstance adverbials,
stance adverbials and linking adverbials.
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) define adverbials as “lexical expressions that may add little
or no propositional content by themselves but they serve to specify the relationship among sentences
in in oral and written discourse, thereby leading the reader to the feeling that the sentences hang
together or make sense. These logical connectors, if placed appropriately, function as signposts,
guiding the reader through the discourse. According to Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999),
cohesive devices are categorized into three types: (1) coordinating conjunctions (i.e., and, or, but, yet),
(2) adverbial sub-coordinators (e.g., because, even though, since), and CAs (e.g., moreover, thus,
however, similarly). This paper is an attempt to tap into the third type of logical connectors-
conjunctive adverbials.
The CAs chosen for analysis in this study are based on Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman’s version of
Halliday and Hassan’s classification which divides conjunctions into four types: additive,
adversative, causal and temporal.
1. Additive
Emphatic: in addition, moreover, further, furthermore, besides, also, in fact, additionally, at the same
time
Appositional: that is, that is to say, in other words, for instance, for example
Comparative: likewise, similarly
1. Adversative: however, nevetheless, nonetheless, despite this, in contrast
Contrastive: conversely, on the other hand, at the same time, meanwhile, otherwise
Correction: instead, rather, at least
Dismissal: in any case, in any event, anyhow, at any rate
2. Causal: therefore, consequently, for that rason, thus, hence, thereby, accordingly, in
consequence
3. Temporal: then, in turn, next, first, second, third, fourth, first of all, firstly, last, finally, later,
initially
Summarizing: in short, in summary, in brief, in sum, in conclusion, to sum up, to conclude, overall, all
in all, to conclude

1.2 CORPUS-BASED STUDIES ON CAs

Crismore (1980) conducted an experiment on the use CAs. He tried to investigate students’ mastery of
meaning and use in reading and composing of five formal CAs in English (moreover, accordingly,
hence, even so, and still) across school level and class type, and intended to find out whether there are
differences in using CAs between remedial readers and nonremedial and between secondary
students, technical college students and regular collage students. The subjects of the study were 100
students from remedial and non-remedial reading and composition class selected from a rural high
school, a vocational technical college and a university, all located in the mid-west. The material in this
study was five inter-sentential connectors have been given to students to provide a synonym for each
connector and to generate a compound sentence using the connector appropriately between two main
clauses in the compound sentences to link the ideas. The results indicated that the proportion of
synonym and sentence errors according to connector type and student class level was not significant
However, the proportion of total errors made by all class levels and the proportion of (un)attempted
items by connector type and class level were significant. The order of difficulty of the five connector
types – from the least to most difficult – was 1) still and hence, 2) even so, 3) accordingly and
moreover (Crismore, 1980). Accordingly , he came to this conclusion that “although the development
of trend was indicated for acquiring control, the students, in general, had not mastered the connectors
needed for literacy by the time they were in college” (Crismore, 1980, p. 1).
Milton and Tsang (1993) compared Hong Kong student’s use of logical connectors in a 4-million-word
learner corpus with that of the Brown and LOB Corpora. They identified an overuse pattern of an
entire range of logical connectors in students’ writing samples; the top ten overused connectors were
lastly, besides, moreover, secondly, firstly, consequently, furthermore, regarding, therefore and
namely (1993). In addition to this quantification, a qualitative analysis of two specific connectors,
moreover and therefore, suggested that students had two kinds of difficulty regarding the use of
connectors-redundant use and misuse. In order to correct what they called the “discourse-marker
overkill” phenomenon, the researchers contended that teachers of writing need to work on raising

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learners’ sensitivity of the use connectors in compositions. More specifically, students need to learn
that these connectors should not merely play an ornamental role in their writing; instead, when
selecting which connectors should be used, students need to go through a careful thought process to
ensure the logic of the arguments is enhanced, not hampered, by the use of these linking devices.
In another study, Granger and Tyson (1996) studied connector usage by comparing the 89918-word
French sub-corpus of the ICLE with a comparable 77723-word native corpus called the Louvain
Corpus of Native Essay Writing (LOCNESS). The author’s hypothesis was that the French learners
overuse connectors in their essays. The quantitative analysis did not support the initial hypothesis, as
the total number of connectors per 100000 words was 1085 for the learner corpus and 1178 for the
native one. However, a more detailed qualitative investigation portrayed a rather different picture.
Based on such analysis, Granger and Tsang were able to identify the connectors which were
underused by the French learners, e.g. however, therefore, and thus. At the same time, some
connectors were overused by the learners, e.g. moreover, for instance, and on the contrary. As for
misuse, the researchers stated that learners are often insensitive to the “stylistic restrictions” of certain
connectors. It is suggested that more emphasis should be put on matters of style in writing classes.
Bolton, Nelson, and Hung (2002) believed that the identification of connectors should not be regarded
as uncontroversial and given and that a more realistic list of connectors would improve the accuracy
of the analysis. The second methodological issue, raised by Bolton, Nelson, and Hung, is the
calculation of ratio of frequency. Accordingly, most of the previous corpus-based connector studies
adopted a word –based calculation. For example, Milton and Tsang (1993) calculated the ratio of
occurrence by dividing the total number of words in a pool of data with the number of identified
connectors. Another widely-used word-based calculation method is that of presenting the ratio of
frequency in terms of the number of connectors per 10,000 or 100,000 words; this method was
employed in Granger and Tyson (1996) and Altenberg and Tapper (1998). Bolton, Nelson, and Hung,
(2002) criticized these word-based methods as "fundamentally flawed" (p.172) because connectors
function as cohesive ties at the sentential level and beyond. Therefore, they suggested that sentence,
not word, should be the basic unit for analysis.

2. Reaserch Question?
This study addressed the following research question:
To what extent do Iranian EFL researcher writers differ from native English researcher writers in their
use of sentence-initial conjunctive adverbials?
3. Methodology
3.1 The Current Study
This study is an attempt to investigate the use of CAs in research articles written by native English
speakers and Iranian researcher writers in the field of applied linguistics. To this end, a corpus of
research papers written by these two groups was established. The corpus consists of articles written
in applied linguistics journals by native English speakers and Iranian researchers. It was
hypothesized that Iranian writers overuse CAs in initial sentence positions. Since how a writer begins
a sentence has much to do with information organization and presentation, sentence-initial position
carries particular importance in writing. Marked word order in sentence-initial position appears more
in writing than in spoken discourse (Yang, 1989). In spoken language, phonology often serves as a
means to indicate emphasis and focus. Written texts lack this prosodic aspect of language and are,
therefore, confined to morphological, lexical, and syntactic devices to attain effective information
organization. Sentence-initial adverbials (e.g., circumstance adverbials, logical connectors, stance
adverbials) are some of the syntactic features that writers use in creating meaningful organization of
information (e.g.,Celce-Muricia& Larsen-Freeman, 1999; Jacobs; kolln,1990).
3.2 The Corpus
The research sample that is used in this study comprises research articles (30 written by NRs of
English and 30 written by Iranian researchers as NNRs of English) published in prestigious
international journals in the field of applied linguistics.The total word count for the learner corpus is
53,946 and 71179 for the native corpus. As far as sentence count is concerned it is 3125 and 3973 for
the learner and native group respectively.
3.3 Data Analysis And Procedure
The researcher intends to determine sentence length and complexity on the one and sentence-initial
use of CAs by both groups of researchers. There will be quantitative analysis of these constituents in

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order to determine their frequencies in both corpus and a qualitative analysis to delve deep into the
reasons for possible discrepancies in the use of CAs in the two corpuses. Since this study is concerned
with sentence-initial CAs, sentence-medial and sentence-final constituents were not considered here.
All the CAs used in all the articles were calculated. All the tables, figures, charts, footnotes, references
and appendices were excluded in word and sentence counts. As a result, the total word count
performed by Microsoft word office for the non-native corpus was about 53,946 and 71,179 for the
native corpus. With regard to sentence count, it is about 3125 and 3973 respectively. The frequency of
occurrence and percentage of CAs were presented. The percentage of each conjunctive adverbial in
native and non- native articles was computed through the total number of CAs in the whole corpus.

4. Results And Discussion

All in all 539 and 787 conjunctive adverbials were identified in the Iranian and native English
researcher writers respectively. The percentage of each type of CA which were identified in the
corpora are shown in table 1.
Table 1. Percentage use of CAs by category
CAs Learner Corpus Native Corpus
Temporal 19.3% 11.5 %

Causal 23.3% 17.4 %

Adversative 22.6% 34.8 %

Additive 36.8% 33.3 %

As it is clear from table 1, the Iranian researcher writers used additive CAs (36.8%) more than their
native researcher writers (33.3%). On the other hand, native researcher writers used adversative CAs
(34.8%) most frequently than the Iranian writers (22.6%).
Table 2 shows the top most used CAs in the two corpora with their raw frequencies and their
frequencies per sentence.A total of ten CAs most frequently used in both corpora are depicted in table
2.
Table 2. The top ten most frequently used CAs
Learner Corpus Native Corpus
Rank CA F.P.S R.F. Rank CA F.P.S R.F.
1 However 22.7 (71) 1 however 40.7 (162)
2 therefore 25.2 (79) 2 for instance/ 17.8 (71)
example
3 for instance/ 15.0 (47) 3 thus 16.6 (66)
example
4 In 16.96 (53) 4 therefore 11.8 (47)
conclusion
5 moreover 7.3 (23) 5 In other words 12.8 (51)
6 Besides 8.3 (26) 6 furthermore 10.5 (42)
7 further 6.7 (21) 7 then 9.8 (39)
8 First 9.2 (29) 8 In addition 6.7 (27)
9 thus 7.6 (24) 9 As a result 7.8 (31)
10 additionally 6.4 (20) 10 conversely 5.0 (20)
(393) (556)
FPS= Frequency per 1000 sentences
RF= Raw frequency

The adversative CA however is the most frequently used CA in the two corpora. The native writers
are more prominent in their use of however where it occurs 40.7 times per 1000 sentences. The
ranking for the top five frequently used CAs from both groups was quite similar. This is specially
noticeable in the native corpus where however occurs 40.7 times per 1000 sentences.

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In order to test if EFL learners overuse conjunctive adverbs, the overall frequency of CAs at word
level and sentence level were calculated in terms of 10000 words and 1000 sentences. Teble 3 and 4
show the result of word level and sentence level analysis of CAs.
Table 3. Overall word level frequency of CAs
Learner Corpus Native Corpus

Corpus size words 53,946 71,179

Number of CAs 539 787
CAs/10,000 words 71 65

Table 4. Overall sentence level frequency of CAs

Learner Corpus Native Corpus

Corpus size sentences 3,125 3973

Number of CAs 539 787
CAs/10,000 words 159 183

Results from table 3 reveals that learners use more CAs than native speaker writers do at word level
(71 vs. 65). Conversely, results from table 4 shows that the native group use more CAs than the native
group at sentence level (159 vs. 183).
The results from the analysis revealed that different approaches to calculate CAs produce variable
outcomes. Word based analysis supports the overuse of CAs by Iranian EFL learners while sentence
based analysis does not follow this trend. This could be attributable to the fact that learners wrote
shorter sentences than professional group. Therefore, they had to use less CAs and less coordination
and subordination. One CA which requires attention in our results is the additive CA besides which is
present in the learner’s data but not in the native corpus. This is in line with the findings of Chen
(2006) and Li (2014). These researchers found that in their corpus none of the control group writers
used the CA besides whereas the learners overused this CA. Milton and Tsang (1992) also found that
besides is used excessively by university students in their study. Field and Yip (1992) hold that besides
is an informal connector which is used more often in speech. Therefore, in written form, it should be
avoided. The use of besides gives an unintended colloquial tone to the academic paper.Shen and Chen
(2005) found that advanced Taiwanese EFL learners used besides in their writing which adds a
colloquial tone to the academic genre. Field and Yip (1992) also found that besides is sometimes
misused to weld together points which do not fit together coherently, which is another reason to
avoid using besides in formal writing. The results of the current study point to the fact that Iranian
EFL learners are not aware that the use of besides in academic genre is not register-appropriate.
Another problem pin pointed in the current study is the use of therefore, which according to Celce-
Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) is a frequently misused connector in the writing of EFL/ESL
students. It is the second CA favored by Iranian writers at 25.2 CA per 1000 words. Some students in
this corpus do not use therefore properly and use it to signal causal relationships where no logical link
exists. Crews (1990) research on Hong Kong students revealed that the writers seem to be trying to
impose surface logicality on a piece of writing where no deep logicality exists. Garton (1996)
mentioned that when second language learners attempt to employ CAs to draw conclusions, they
tend to over-generalize and overuse the cause-effect relationship inappropriately in situations where
there may be no logical conclusion being drawn at all.

5. Conclusion And Implications

In this study, the student writers tended to overuse logical connectors at word level. In addition, a
few problem areas were identified based on qualitative analysis of the data in the student corpus. One
problem area relates to the use of besides; as this connector is used mainly in spoken language, its use
in written academic genre should be warned against. Second language writing instructors need to
engage in awareness-raising activities on register-sensitivity and differences in the use of some of the
connectors. In EFL academic writing classes teachers need to bring to their students’ attention how
inappropriate use of sentence-initial conjunctive adverbials could affect their academic essays in a
negative way. It is important for the teachers to bring to light those delicate nuances of connotations

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and use that could lead to a better grasp of how these elements are used in sentence-initial position.
To this end, teachers are advised to encourage the use of dictionaries in language classes.
Another problem is the use of connectors to connect a series of sentences together without
establishing any logicality. As Crew holds, this overuse clutters up the text unnecessarily, and causes
the thread of the argument to zigzag about, as each connective points it in a different direction. As a
matter of fact EFL students need more instruction and training on the use of connectors. One area
which could help students to write more appropriately is the use of corpora in language teaching
contexts. Teachers may employ such corpora and concordancing tools in order to clarify how to use
such sentence connectors.
This study is limited by the size of the two corpora. Although it is not clear how big of a corpus is
large enough for such comparisons, future researchers may aim at collecting as many writing samples
as possible for their analysis. Future researchers are advised to make use of bigger corpora in their
studies in order to shed a wider light on the use pattern of connectors. Maybe bigger corpus sizes
would yield different results. Also, future researchers are recommended to search for possible L1
transfer causes. Some of these use patterns could be traced back to the learners and writers L1
background. Another consideration is the definition of “overuse, underuse, and misuse”. While this
paper follows the previous literature by comparing frequency figures to determine the overall pattern
of CAs usage, it does not define precisely what is meant by these terms. How should these terms be
defined is a problem worthy of more future investigations.

REFRENCES
Altenberg, B., & Tapper, M. (1998). The use of adverbial connectors in advanced Swedish learners'
written English. In S. Granger (Ed.), Learner English on
computer (pp. 80-93). Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., &Finegan, E. (Eds.) (1999). Longman grammar of
spoken and written English. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Limited.
Bolton, K., Nelson, G., & Hung, J. (2002). A corpus-based study of connectors in student writing:
Research from the International Corpus in Hong Kong (ICE-HK). International Journal ofCorpus
Linguistics, 7(2), 165-182.
Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999).The grammar book: An
ESL/EFL teacher's course. United States: Heinle&Heinle Publishers.
Chen, C. W. (2006). The use of conjunctive adverbials in the academic papers of advanced Taiwanese
EFL learners. International Journal of CorpusLinguistics, 11(1), 113-130.
Crewe, W. J. (1990). The illogic of logical connectives.ELT Journal, 44(4), 316-325.
Crismore, A. (1980). Student use of selected formal logical connectors across school level and class
type. Retrieved from Http://www. Eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED203306
Field, Y. & Yip, L. (1992). A Comparison of Internal Conjunctive Cohesion in the English Essay
Writing of Cantonese Speakers and Native Speakers of English.RELC journal, 23 (1), 15-28.
Granger, S., & Tyson, S. (1996).Connector usage in the English essay writing of native and non-native
EFL speakers of English.World Englishes, 15(1), 17-27.
Jacobs, R. A. (1995). English syntax: A grammar for English language professionals. Oxford, England:
Oxford University press.
Kolln, M. (1990). Rhetorical grammar. Needham Height, MA: Ally & Bacon.
Li, T. C. (2014). A study of conjunctive adverbials in academic journal articles.Journal of science and
technology, humanity and siciology. Vol. 23, No 2, pp. 145-161.
Milton, J., & Tsang, E. S. C. (1993). A corpus-based study of logical connectors in EFL students'
writing: Directions for future research. In R. Pemberton & E. S. C. Tsang (Eds.),
Lexis in studies (pp. 215-246). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Shen, T. C., (2004). Advanced EFL Learners’ Use of Conjunctive Adverbials in Academic Writing,
Master’s thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan.
Yang, M. W. (1989).Marked word order in clause-initial position.Unpublished manuscript, University
of California, Los Angeles.

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THE EFFECT OF SHADOW-READING ON RECALL OF

LEXICAL ITEMS

Elahe Sadeghi
Sheikhbahaee University, Isfahan, Iran
elahesadeghi20@yahoo.com

Akbar Afghari
Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran
afghary@yahoo.com

Gholam-Reza Zarei
Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
grzarei@cc.iut.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
SWAIN'S OUTPUT THEORY HAS BEEN UNDER CLOSE SCRUTINY TO SEE IF IT CAN BE
IMPLEMENTED TO FIND BETTER WAYS OF HELPING EFL LEARNERS LEARN AND WRITE
BETTER. ALTHOUGH OUTPUT THEORY COMES TO BE EFFECTIVE, IT COULD NOT CAPTURE
ALL THE FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING LIKE CULTURAL AND SOCIAL INTERACTIONS.
THE CURRENT STUDY AIMED TO IMPLEMENT SHADOW-READING AS A MEANS OF
INTERNALIZATION OF MEANING WITHIN VYGOTSKYAN SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY. TO
THIS END, 52 EFL LEARNERS FROM ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITIES, ISFAHAN AND
FALAVARJAN BRANCHES TOOK PART IN THE STUDY. THEY WERE CATEGORIZED INTO
TWO GROUPS OF EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL. A STANDARD ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PROFICIENCY TEST WAS ADMINISTERED TO THE LEARNERS. THEN, IN 10 SESSIONS,
LEARNERS WERE PROVIDED WITH SHADOW READING STRATEGY IN WHICH THEY WERE
TO REPEAT, REPRODUCE AND WRITE WHATEVER THEY COULD REMEMBER FROM THE
ORIGINAL TEXT. THE RESULTS OF ONE-WAY MANCOVA REVEALED THAT THE
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP COULD OUTPERFORM THE CONTROL GROUP IN TERMS OF THE
WORDS AND PROPOSITIONS PRODUCED PER MINUTE. THE RESULTS LENT SUPPORT TO
THE IDEA THAT AN INTERACTIVE AND COOPERATIVE ENVIRONMENT COMING OUT OF
SHADOWING COULD FACILITATE LEARNING. THE RESULTS CAN BE IMPLEMENTED BY
TEACHERS AND CURRICULUM DESIGNERS.

KEY WORDS: OUTPUT THEORY, SHADOW-READING, VYGOTSKYAN SOCIOCULTURAL

THEORY

1. Introduction

We learn language by producing it and this is a standing based on Swain's output theory.
Considering Swain's output theory, many researchers have focused on the role that production can
play in second/foreign language acquisition (e.g. Adams, 2003; Izumi, 2002; Hanaoka & Izumi, 2012;
Storch, 2008). Furthermore, in many studies, scholars tried to find appropriate ways with which
learners could take control over their own learning. However, many of the studies remain ineffective
as teachers encounter wide range of learners around the world with their own unique social,
psychological and cultural characteristics. This enforces teachers to find new ways of teaching and
elaborate more on the mechanism of learning. For instance, Thwaites (2014) conducted a research and
based on the results achieved, he proposed an iterative approach to promote learners' learning. He

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asserts that many techniques might fall under the umbrella of "learning to write", a strategy firstly
used by Manchon (2011) in which writing is considered to be playing a major role in language
learning in general. Thwaites (2014) however asserts that "learning to write" is just the point of
departure. He maintains that learning just starts when learners finish their writing tasks and try to
compare their own writing with the original text. According to Thwaites (2014, p. 143), model texts
(which are used when learners are provided with jigsaw tasks or some information from a story, and
they are required to write a story and at last they compare their own writing with that original text or
the reformulated text by an expert) and reformulations set in motion a process of analysis and
reflection upon language. Thwaites makes use of "affordance" adopted from ecological approach to
learning to refer to the process of analysis and reflection upon language, helping learners to deepen
their awareness of the state of their L2 productive capacity. According to Thwaites, "affordance"
offers new and unique possibilities for growth and development (2014, p. 134).
Considering Thwaites's view towards using process oriented writing to promote language learning,
there seems to be some deficiencies at work. While Thwaites's (2014) concluding point in his approach
towards leaning enhancement, is the matter of ecological affordances, he ignores the environmental
factors which affect leaning including peers, experts and language classroom. One of these critical
elements is the peer with his/her help in the tough process of learning becomes facilitated. Peers and
experts can provide aid to learners' achievement as soil and light provide necessary conditions for the
plant to grow. However, the mechanism through which this cooperation among learners can be
actualized is an open area to research.
Due to paucity of empirical evidence in this regard, the current study examined the effect of shadow-
reading strategy within the frame of Vygotskyan sociocultural theory. Vygotskyan approach to
learning states that any knowledge and capacity in regulated activity appear always at first social
level and only later it can be understood as psychological and intrapersonal level. According to
Ortega (2009, p. 217):
Socioculturalism goes beyond social constructivism by positing that reality is not only a matter of
interpretive construction but that is also radically collective and social, appropriated and transformed
through relational knowledge. In other words, the individual mind finds the source of learning in
social communities, learning is available in historical and social processes and emerges among agents
in a given context. Only processes, events and activities are real, whereas structures and patterns are
epiphenomenal to those processes. Thus reality is always processual and social and emerges anew
each time and again out of specific interactions with the world, the word and others, always in
situated contexts.
Shadow-reading is a classroom activity in which learners assist each other in reading an L2 text
through interactive reading, repeating and summarizing (Guerrero & Commander, 2013). According
to Murphey (2001, p. 4), repetition is the heart of shadow-reading which promotes "language learning
and goes beyond the mere echoing of input material. Murphey believes that shadowing is a step
between being other-regulated and self-regulated, at first it seems that we are under the control of
others' language (other-regulated), but as we repeat their speech, we repeat their language and
become able to control our output, as we fail to repeat accurately, we exert some control over the
speaker.
Murphey (2001) mentions that conducting shadow reading studies helps better understanding of four
areas of: task interpretation, promoting negotiation, psycholinguistic processing, and Vygotskyan
socio-cultural theory. Regarding the fourth line of research, Murphey (1999) states that shadowing is
not only a superficial imitation, but also it can have deep-level impact on motivation and identity,
leading to the enriching of Output hypothesis as pointed out by Swain (1995). It seems that Vygotskyan
Sociocultural theory came out as a complement to Swains' output theory. Then, shadow reading can
be studied as a means of promoting production. As Murphey (2001, p. 20) contends, shadowing is
related to Vygotskyan sociocultural theory in several ways:
1. the social, interactive nature of language acquisition and concept formation;
2. the idea of regulation or control as the learner passes from other- to self-regulation;
3. the zone of proximal development and scaffolding; and
4. private speech.
As stated above, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of shadow-reading on recall of
lexical items. To this end, the following research question was developed:

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1) Does shadow-reading as a means of internalization of meaning affect the recall of lexical items
among Iranian EFL learners?
2) Does shadow-reading as a means of internalization of meaning affect the recall of propositions
among Iranian EFL learners?

Moreover, based on the above stated research questions, two null hypotheses have been formulated:
1) Shadowing has no effect on the words produced by Iranian EFL learners.
2) Shadowing has no effect on the propositions produced by Iranian EFL learners.

2. Literature review
In this part, firstly, you will read about Output theory proposed by Swain and its view towards
learning. Then, shadow-reading will be introduced and discussed within Vygotskyan Sociocultural
theory. Ultimately, this literature review deals with the main concern of writing classes, i.e. fluency
in writing.

2. 1. Output Hypothesis
Output hypothesis, initially proposed by Swain (1998), asserts that for language learning to take
place, output is a necessary condition. However, discussion over the role of output in learning has
been controversial since enough experimental evidences are not at hand. Shehadeh, (2002) claims that
there is not enough evidence in the output experiments while Izumi (2002), Adams (2003) and
Hanaoka and Izumi (2012) provide evidence for the role that methods extracted from the output
hypothesis plays in long term language acquisition. According to Thwaites, (2014), "Noticing
measures" are those techniques used by researchers to monitor the effects of output-hypothesis-
technique including note-taking and stimulated recall on learning. Thwaites maintains that output
hypothesis role in language acquisition is self-evident. Swain (1998) summarises the three ways
through which output hypothesis can influence language development:
1) Forming and testing hypotheses: producing output can help learners to try out theories about
language and weigh them against evidence from the resulting feedback, such as whether or not they
have been understood;
2) Meta-talk: Storch (2008, p. 68) claims that through output, learners can create new knowledge by
communicating directly about their theories and beliefs regarding the language they are learning.
They ‘use language to reflect on language use’ and their learning is consolidated as a result; and
3) Noticing: the production of output somehow primes learners to notice features of language
(Thwaites, 2014, p. 136).
Schmidt and Frota (1986) present two ways in which noticing can take effect:
1) Noticing ‘holes’ in the learners’ own output: in other words, the learner spontaneously finds out that
s/he cannot express an idea, regardless of any feedback s/he might receive. This occurs when
learners, in the act of producing an L2 utterance, notice that they do not know a particular L2 form;
and
2) Noticing gaps between the learners’ own production and that of an expert during situations in
which a comparison is possible.
Output theoretically can promote learners' noticing in both senses. According to Thwaites (2014, p.
136) output plays two important roles: learners’ awareness towards the limitations of their own
productive capacity deepens and learners’ sensitivity to the way others choose to express an idea will
increase, so that they are primed to notice features of the input that follows. The main point in this
regard is lack of empirical studies to support output effect, although it seems logical (Swain & Lapkin
1995, Hanaoka 2007, and Hanaoka & Izumi).
A study by Swain and Lapkin (1998) lends support to the idea that if learners are asked to recall and
write what they have worked on; their progress in output will be significant. However, Adams (2003)
discusses a problem with this experiment: it is not possible to clearly specify that learners'
outperformance is the result of their attempts to make an output or the task repetition. Another
criticism suggested by Hanaoka (2007) and Hanaoka and Izumi (2012) was whether learning acquired
through this technique could be maintained over longer periods of time. According to Thwaites (2014,
138), Hanaoka and Izumi applied some changes to their future studies in this way:
Firstly, learners were asked to individually write a text using picture prompts (in this case, a ‘before
and after’ picture story), rather than deriving content from a jigsaw task. Secondly, instead of using

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stimulated recall to measure noticing, they were told to make notes on any problems that occurred to
them as they were writing, such as uncertainty over a grammatical form or not knowing a particular
word. Finally, some of the learners used pre-written model texts in place of reformulations during the
comparison stage. These changes are important because they add to the stock of empirically tested
techniques that teachers can draw on.
The results of Hanaoka and Izumi's study show that even after a two-month period, some learning
can persist. They also claim that this task has targeted two types of problems: overt and covert:
An overt problem is one which the learner has attempted to solve, overtly attempting a solution in
their text. For example, they use an item of vocabulary despite uncertainty over its usage. This means
that a ‘reformulator’ could be expected to discover the problem and offer solutions. A ‘covert’
problem, in contrast, occurs when a learner decides to avoid expressing an idea because they are not
sure how to put it across in the target language (Thwaites, 2014, 138).
These results further have some practical and semi-theoretical implications:
1) It provides a task sequence for learning
2) Task sequence might include a set of sequenced activities—task repetition, comparison activities,
strategizing attention to form in output and subsequent input, and the use of stimulated recall
activities.
3) Long term learning is supported using this task.
4) This activity has helped learners in two ways: they can recognize the holes in their own production;
they also become able to find the gaps between their own production and an expert's.
5) The results of Hanaoka and Izumi's and Thwaites's studies also support the existence of overt and
covert problems and helps teachers to provide appropriate feedback to learners.
6) Learners could benefit from receiving feedback on their writing from their teachers
The model provided above has got some special traits, according to Hanaoka and Izumi (): it is cost
effective in that it is not time and energy consuming, therefore, it can be used in many classes; it is
also workable for learners with different levels of proficiency as they are to work individually (but
this technique cannot be conducted in large classrooms). This task also exerts limits or constraints on
learners so that they can restate the story they have just read and it does not require them to tell a
story from their own memory. Thwaites (2014, p.140) maintains that
Generally, model texts may work well with groups who tend to avoid complex ideas or complain that
they do not know what to write. On the other hand, learners who seem more inclined to try to express
themselves without worrying too much about the mistakes they make might benefit more from
reformulations.
From the above discussion, Thwaites (2014) concludes that for a writing task to be successful the
following steps should be taken: 1) a pre-task phase like a jigsaw task or a whole-class discussion to
make homogeneity among learners, 2) an output phase in which learners try to produce a piece of
writing, 3) a comparison phase in which they compare their own writing with that of teachers or the
model text, and 4) a repetition phase in which learners try to rewrite their texts without having the
original in hand.
Shadowing and Sociocultural theory
From the output theory perspective, repetition phase can be exploited as a means of promoting
writing ability among students, but the effect of social interactions and cooperative learning was not
considered in conducting output-theory-based studies. Taking this gap into consideration, this study
has focused on the effect of shadow reading on the recall of lexical items. Since shadowing is defined
within the realm of cooperative learning and with support and assistance of a partner, we will take a
look at it from the sociocultural theory window.

2. 2. Shadow-reading
Shadow-reading is a new instructional strategy in the field of second language acquisition. It is
defined as the willingness to repeat silently or aloud what interlocutors or speakers themselves say.
According to Murphey (2001, p. 4), repetition is the heart of shadow-reading which promotes
"language learning and goes beyond the mere echoing of input material". In this view, shadow-
reading is an interactive and meaningful type of imitation. When viewed from the perspective of
sociocultural theory, it seems that imitation goes hand in hand with developing language learning. As
Vygotsky asserts ‘In the child’s development… imitation and instruction play a major role’
(Vygotsky, 1986, p. 188). SCT conceives of imitation as transformative activity involving a learner’s

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intelligent, intentional, and creative reproduction of someone else’s mental operations (Vygotsky,
1986, 1998). As Murphey states (2001, p. 4):
In Vygotskyan theory, imitation constitutes the chief mechanism of internalization and a major
component of developmental activity in the Zone of Proximal Development (hereafter ZPD). It is
through interaction with an expert that the learner is capable of reproducing the expert’s action by
utilizing those functions that are in the process of maturing. Ultimately, imitation in joint activity with
others is the basis for independent creative performance. Through imitative behavior, a learner not
only appropriates model affordances but also transforms them and extends them to new contexts.
Vygotsky (1998) considers this transformative capacity for imitation which characterizes the ZPD as
the ‘zone of intellectual imitation’ (p. 202), a zone which is not limitless but is bound by the learner’s
actual developmental level at any point in time: ‘A person can imitate only that which is within her
developmental level’ (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 88).
ZPD is defined as ‘the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by
independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem
solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with peers’ (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). Murphey (2001)
relates the ZPD to shadowing in this way: "In conversational shadowing, the NS has a heightened
awareness of the NNS’s level because of more ample feedback and can potentially fine-tune the input
while at the same time stretch the learner’s limits." (p. 21). Murphey opens another episode on the
way teaching shadowing could enhance and generate private speech. He claims that while some
researchers including Lantolf assume that private speech in a foreign language has to spring forth
naturally, "the exercise of silent and out loud shadowing might ‘push’ this internal private speech to
realization much more quickly and nudge this foreign language internal dialogue into existence." (p.
22).
The last chain of Vygotskyan sociocultural theory according to Murphey is Bakhtin’s idea of
ventriloquation. Murphey maintains that:
Bakhtin proposed that in speaking we are assuming the voices of others, what he called
ventriloquation. When many of these voices are combined with one’s own creative way of using them
he referred to it as heteroglossia. The shadowing of a speaker’s speech would appear to be close-
ventriloquation. To do it, one has to pay attention and reconstruct at least the audio input. Through
progressive stages, personal meaning would be added to this reconstruction in many contexts and the
items more fully appropriated. Then attention could pass to other, more novel items in the auditory
environment in a process of selective shadowing. (p. 22).
He (ibid) continues:
When one shadows, one is identifying sounds and meaning. Through actually producing these
sounds, one is also identifying with them and making them one’s own. So while on the one hand we
are assuming the voices of others, we are also adding to our own identities and identifying with the use
of these new ways of communicating. Just listening can leave us relatively uninvolved with what we
hear. Repeating what we hear brings it within us more deeply and reconstructing it in our own voice
involves a deeper level of processing in the act of appropriation.
As stated by Murphey (2001, p. 21), as one shadows, one is modelling the language from another
mind and trying to make sense out of it. When this shadowing is done out loud, the processing of the
mind of the shadower is shown and the speaker can realize what is needed to help out the model-
making and make adjustments that lead to more ‘sense’ making. Murphey (2001) believes that
shadowing is a step between being other-regulated and self-regulated, at first it seems that we are
under the control of others' language (other-regulated), but as we repeat their speech, we repeat their
language and become able to control out output, as we fail to repeat accurately, we exert some control
over the speaker.
Lantolf and Thorne (2006) claim that Vygotsky's concept of imitation is harmonious with the notion
of persistent imitation proposed by Baldwin (1906, p. 126). For Baldwin, there exist two types of
imitation: simple and persistent imitation. Simple imitation is an involuntary, sensori-motor reaction
resulting in a more or less close copy of the original and not involving further attempts to
approximate the model, and on the other hand persistent imitation entails a circular process of
imitative attempts where each copy, immediately present in the environment or available from
memory (mental copy), serves as model or stimulus for successive imitative reactions. In persistent
imitation, the child tries ‘by repetition, to improve his imitations. As Murphey (2001) states:

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Persistent imitation reflects intentional, goal-directed cognitive activity and consists of repeated
attempts to reproduce the model, each time in an effort to improve the reproduction on the basis of an
image of the original model and the imitator’s previous attempts. Persistent imitation is thus cyclical,
deliberate, and potentially transformative (p. 4).
From sociocultural perspective, imitation is not equal to mindless copying and repetition, instead
imitation involves understanding the goal (end, purpose, or result) of the activity and recognizing the
means to attain this goal, these two aspects are absent in mimicry (Murphey, 2001, p. 5). In this
regard, Tomasello (1999) believes that another person’s action is ‘imitated’, rather than mimicked,
when there is understanding of the intention or goal of the other and it is clear what the means is to
obtain that goal. Then, imitation has the possibility of being transformed and used in new situations.
Lantolf and Thorne (2006) point out that imitation can occur as immediate and rote repetition of a
model or it can take place in deferred and expanded format (p. 170). Based on these conceptions,
imitation can cover a broad range from a close copy of the original to a creative, transformative and
transcendent means of production.
Tomasello (2002) maintains that in child language acquisition, linguistic imitation does not simply
consist of ‘repeating or mimicking the surface form of adult utterances. Rather, it is the attempt by
children to reproduce the language adults produce and for the same communicative function’ (p.
179). Linguistic imitation is constrained by two important principles: entrenchment and pre-emption
(Tomasello, 2003). Entrenchment is achieved by constant exposure to linguistic models and successful
use, using entrenchment learners become habituated to produce language only in ways that are
similar to those produced by experts around them. In pre-emption, learners are motivated to
understand why speakers use language in certain ways and not others, thus this avoids future
(unacceptable, unconventional) overgeneralizations. Some researchers including Centeno-Cortés
(2003), Lantolf (2003), Lantolf and Centeno-Cortés (2007), Lantolf and Yáñez (2003), Lantolf and
Thorne (2006), and McCafferty (2008) have investigated the role of imitation in L2 learning from
Vygotskyan sociocultural perspective. Sasaki and Takeuchi (2010) also find the imitation as a useful
strategy to retain new words. Haught and McCafferty (2008) further have found that the second
language learners are able to imitate and internalize not only verbal aspects of the drama leader’s
interpretation of the script – such as prosody, intonation, or particular lexical items – but also non-
verbal features as well, such as gestures, proxemics, and gaze.
Moreover, Macqueen (2009) reports that imitation helps promote native-like lexogrammatical
patterns. He investigated the process of imitation that takes place in the development of native-like
such as collocations and colligations, in the written production of advanced EFL students. On the
basis of Baldwin's, Vygotsky's and Arbib' theories of imitation, Macqueen (ibid) concluded that the
process of learning L2 patterns is one of ‘adaptive imitation’, involving perception, deconstruction,
experimentation, adaptation, and transformation (p. 235).
According to Leontiev (2003), in general terms, the text is considered understood if one can explain
the idea of the text using his/her own words, i.e. using a paraphrase, a translation from one language
to another, and a semantic compression of the essential content of the original text (e.g. summary,
key-words, etc.). Appel and Lantolf's (1994) gained results support Vygotsky's idea on the importance
of inner speech in the reading process and Leontiev's idea on paraphrasing in the comprehension
process. Using Vygotskyan framework, Appel and Lantolf (1994) investigated the effects of
verbalization on text comprehension. The learners were required to complete L1 and L2 text recall
tasks to mediate understanding of written texts through speaking. As they encountered problems
comprehending the text, they relied on private speech to help them make sense of the text. As Appel
and Lantolf assert (1994, p. 438) "in the face of difficult tasks (cognitive, social, or emotional), adults
have continuous access to ontogenetically prior knowing strategies [i.e., private speech, which
originates in the egocentric speech of childhood] that allow them to maintain and regain control of
their mental activity". They also point out that "engaging in the verbal reconstruction of a silently read
discourse provides readers with the opportunity to remember and organize the text and thereby
enhance their comprehension" (p. 449). Based on the results of their study, they conclude that at the
presence or absence of others in the context, all of the activities that the participants have done are
social (being it an inner speech or a communicative one). Leontiev (2003) introduced the new notion
of "the image of the text's content." He maintains that this is a dynamic understanding which is variable
from one person to another and is not the final result of text comprehension but rather it represents
the content component of text comprehension process. Leontiev (2003) believes that text

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comprehension is a complex activity that includes perception. For him, perception of the text implies
the same characteristics as perception of any other object. As reading a text, Leontiev (ibid) adds, we
operate with what goes beyond the text, i.e. with the ever-changing real world which exists outside
and comprises diverse events, situations, ideas, feelings, intentions, human values, etc. All the outside
events and the world affect this perception. Bakhtin's (1986) definition of comprehension, "the correct
reflection of reflection" is achieved when "the reader reaches the reflected object" (p. 484).

2. 3. Fluency in Writing
Fluency in writing has been a desire for many learners and has been sought for many years. It is
obvious that fluency in writing differs from fluency in speaking, because fluency in speaking is easily
noticed through the gaps, hesitations and disfluencies in their production while when written
production is submitted, no one can understand how fluent the writer was. According to Waes and
Leijten (2015), many L2 users become frustrated while speaking, although they may enjoy high levels
of proficiency. This problem is also analysed by scholars like Berninger, Cartwright, Yates, Swanson
and Abbott, (1994); McCutchen, Covill, Hoyne, and Mildes, (1994); Segalowitz, (2010). Kormos (2006,
p. 163) presents a summary of the most frequently used measures of fluency in oral studies and ends
up with ten measures, which can be classified as follows: (a) Pauses (e.g., total pause time, silent and
filled pauses per minute, length of pauses), (b) Disfluencies (i.e., breakdown of fluency, indicated by
e.g., repetitions, repairs), (c) Rate (e.g., speech and articulation rate; length of runs), and (d) Pace and
Stress (e.g., number and proportion of stress words). MacArthur, Graham, and Fitzgerald (2008)
further clearly state that fluent writing properties are identified by short pausing times, few revisions
and a high production rate. Kellogg (2004) further asserts that initial planning leads to a decrease of
cognitive effort in the transcription phase, positively influencing fluency. Kellogg (2004) introduces
two measures to determine production rate: 1) Fluency I: the mean number of words in the
transcription phase (i.e., total time on task minus initial planning time) and 2) Fluency II: the gross
time allotted to task. According to Waes and Leijten (2015, p. 81),
In general, the Fluency II-approach has resulted in more comprehensible and interpretable results,
with ‘number of word per minutes’ being the most well-known measure of writing fluency
nowadays… Not only the number of words per minute in the final text is an interesting measure of
fluency, but also the number of words produced per minute (including revised words and characters).
The former is a product-based measure, whereas the latter takes the process of writing into account,
including revisions.
Many researchers (e.g. Leijten, De Maeyer, & Van Waes, 2011; VanWaes & Leijten, 2011; Van Waes,
Leijten, Wengelin, & Lindgren, 2012; Wengelin, 2006) have pointed out that inter and intrapersonal
variation might come to help us define a more appropriate measure for fluency. Waes and Leijten
(2015) propose a multidimensional fluency approach with four components: 1) production, 2) process
variance, 3) revision, and 4) pausing behavior.
In sum, the current study aimed to address writing fluency from a different point of view, using
shadowing as a means of internalization of meaning within sociocultural theory, and see how this
strategy could affect recall of lexical items and writing fluency, while learners had the opportunity to
interact with their counterparts.

3. Methodology
3. 1. Participants
Participants of this study were 52 junior EFL learners from Islamic Azad University of Khorasgan and
Falavarjan, Isfahan, Iran who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. They had
not received any professional writing instruction before applying shadow reading strategy. Their age
range was between 19 and 26 and all were born, raised, and were residing in Iran. They were all born
to Persian parents. They were majoring in English as foreign language. Regarding their social class,
the information gained from learners' background questionnaire showed that all of them belonged to
middle-class families and some of them held non-professional part-time jobs. The information was
gathered using a demographic questionnaire which took them about 20 minutes to fill out.

3. 2. Instruments
In the very beginning session, an Oxford Placement Test (2004) was conducted as a means of
proficiency measurement. Then, the learners took a memory retention test.

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Ten reading passages with roughly 120 to 130 words were also selected for applying the shadow
reading in ten sessions. The texts were designed in two paragraphs so that the reader and shadower
could practice on approximately the same number of words.
After applying the shadow reading in ten sessions, the 'number of words per minute’ which is the
most well-known measure of writing fluency nowadays (Waes & Leijten, 2015, p. 81) was used to
calculate the number of words produced by the learners.

3. 3. Procedures
This study was run in the second semester of 2014 academic year in Islamic Azad University of
Khorasgan and Falavarjan branches. First of all, a memory retention test was given to 65 EFL learners,
in which they had to listen to sentences read by the instructor and then write what they remembered
from the sentences. The outliers with extraordinary ability to recall the items were excluded from the
data set. Then, 52 EFL junior students age-ranged from 19 to 26 were assigned to two groups of
experimental and control. The experimental group received shadowing strategy in a writing course,
while the control group class was run in traditional way. In the first session of the semester, an OPT
test of proficiency was conducted to both groups to assure that all the participants were at similar
level of proficiency. This test took about an hour.
From the second session on, shadow reading strategy was adopted as a reading comprehension
strategy and the learners were taught how it worked, i.e. they had to find a partner for themselves as
one took the role of reader, the other got the shadower's role and they practiced it to learn how to
read and shadow. The instructor firstly read the text and emphasized the unknown words
pronunciation and definition. As the text was introduced, the learners began their tasks. Firstly, the
learners were paired up on their own interest without any enforcement from the instructor. In each
session, a passage including 120 to 130 words were distributed and the readers were required to read
the passage word by word and the shadower was required to repeat what s/he heard three times (out
loud, low voice repetition, and silent (subvocally). Then, in the second phase of the study, the reader
read the text sentence by sentence and the shadower just told what s/he remembered from the
sentence without looking at the text. In the third run of the study, the reader read the whole
paragraph and the shadower tried to remember what s/he had heard without looking at the text.
After this phase of the study, the learners were required to write down what they could remember
from the text. They were required to summarise what they understood from the text. Then, their role
was switched and the reader then became a shadower for the second paragraph. This process went on
for 10 sessions. In the last session of the semester, the learners' written texts were analysed using
'words per minute' and 'propositions per minute'. Then the produced words and propositions
produced in a minute from the first and last sessions were calculated for each learner, they were
compared using MANCOVA analysis test. Preliminary assumptions including the issues of unequal
sample sizes, normality and homogeneity of variances were examined and the results showed no
violations of assumptions.

4. Results
Table 1. tabulates the descriptive data for words and propositions per minute for the experimental
and control group. As this table shows, in both the word and proposition counting, the experimental
group (M= 14.8 words, and 8.69 propositions) has outperformed the control group, which clearly
indicates the potent effect of shadowing on the learners' production.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics
group2 exp. group1 control Mean Std. Deviation N
1 9.27 2.442 26
word per minute immediate
2 14.81 3.731 26
last session
Total 12.04 4.191 52
1 4.88 1.366 26
proposition per minute
2 8.69 2.396 26
immediate last session
Total 6.79 2.725 52

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As tabulated in table 2, Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variances shows no significant difference
between two groups of the experimental and the control group before exploiting shadowing.

Table 2, Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variancesa

F df1 df2 Sig.
word per minute immediate last
2.280 1 50 .112
session
proposition per minute immediate
1.087 1 50 .120
last session
Tests the null hypothesis that the error variance of the dependent variable is equal across groups.
a. Design: Intercept + OPT + WPMIM1 + PPMIM1 + group

According to Table 3, a one-way MANCOVA revealed a significant multivariate main effect for
shadow reading [Wilks’ Lambda=.50, F (2, 46) = 22.28, p value =.000, and multivariate partial eta
squared (ɳ2) =.44.57]. Multivariate Tests for two groups clearly state that OPT had not any effect to
mediate the role of shadowing in the written production of EFL learners. However, Wilks’ Lambda
has got the value of .50 with a probability value of .000 (which means p<.01). Therefore, the null
hypothesis indicating that there is no difference between the two groups after applying shadowing is
rejected and there is a statistically significant effect for shadow reading. This suggests that there was a
change in the recalling scores of word counting and proposition number after applying the shadow
reading.

Table 3. Multivariate Tests

Hypothesis Error Partial Eta Noncent. Observed
Effect Value F df df Sig. Squared Parameter Powerc
Intercept Pillai's Trace .122 3.187b 2.000 46.000 .051 .122 6.374 .582
Wilks'
.878 3.187b 2.000 46.000 .051 .122 6.374 .582
Lambda
Hotelling's
.139 3.187b 2.000 46.000 .051 .122 6.374 .582
Trace
Roy's Largest
.139 3.187b 2.000 46.000 .051 .122 6.374 .582
Root
OPT Pillai's Trace .027 .644b 2.000 46.000 .530 .027 1.289 .151
Wilks'
.973 .644b 2.000 46.000 .530 .027 1.289 .151
Lambda
Hotelling's
.028 .644b 2.000 46.000 .530 .027 1.289 .151
Trace
Roy's Largest
.028 .644b 2.000 46.000 .530 .027 1.289 .151
Root
WPMIM1Pillai's Trace .055 1.336b 2.000 46.000 .273 .055 2.672 .274
Wilks'
.945 1.336b 2.000 46.000 .273 .055 2.672 .274
Lambda
Hotelling's
.058 1.336b 2.000 46.000 .273 .055 2.672 .274
Trace
Roy's Largest
.058 1.336b 2.000 46.000 .273 .055 2.672 .274
Root
PPMIM1 Pillai's Trace .011 .261b 2.000 46.000 .771 .011 .522 .089
Wilks'
.989 .261b 2.000 46.000 .771 .011 .522 .089
Lambda
Hotelling's
.011 .261b 2.000 46.000 .771 .011 .522 .089
Trace
Roy's Largest
.011 .261b 2.000 46.000 .771 .011 .522 .089
Root

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

group Pillai's Trace .492 22.287b 2.000 46.000 .000 .492 44.574 1.000
Wilks'
.508 22.287b 2.000 46.000 .000 .492 44.574 1.000
Lambda
Hotelling's
.969 22.287b 2.000 46.000 .000 .492 44.574 1.000
Trace
Roy's Largest
.969 22.287b 2.000 46.000 .000 .492 44.574 1.000
Root
a. Design: Intercept + OPT + WPMIM1 + PPMIM1 + group
b. Exact statistic
c. Computed using alpha = .05

Table 4. tabulates Tests of Between-Subjects Effects. The results show significant difference between
two sets of scores coming out of the effect of shadowing on word and proposition counting with
probability value (.000) less than .05. Thus, first and second hypotheses, stating that there is no
statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of both words counting and
proposition number were rejected.

Table 4. Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Type III Partial
Dependent Sum of Mean Eta Noncent. Observed
Source Variable Squares Df Square F Sig. Squared Parameter Powerc
Corrected word per
Model minute
503.173a 4 125.793 15.054 .000 .562 60.214 1.000
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
199.420b 4 49.855 13.072 .000 .527 52.288 1.000
immediate last
session
Intercept word per
minute
54.360 1 54.360 6.505 .014 .122 6.505 .705
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
11.436 1 11.436 2.999 .090 .060 2.999 .396
immediate last
session
OPT word per
minute
5.823 1 5.823 .697 .408 .015 .697 .129
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
.003 1 .003 .001 .979 .000 .001 .050
immediate last
session
WPMIM1 word per
minute
12.616 1 12.616 1.510 .225 .031 1.510 .226
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
.023 1 .023 .006 .939 .000 .006 .051
immediate last
session

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PPMIM1 word per

minute
.024 1 .024 .003 .958 .000 .003 .050
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
1.177 1 1.177 .309 .581 .007 .309 .085
immediate last
session
Group word per
minute
319.963 1 319.963 38.290 .000 .449 38.290 1.000
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
149.669 1 149.669 39.243 .000 .455 39.243 1.000
immediate last
session
Error word per
minute
392.750 47 8.356
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
179.253 47 3.814
immediate last
session
Total word per
minute
8432.000 52
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
2775.000 52
immediate last
session
Corrected word per
Total minute
895.923 51
immediate last
session
proposition per
minute
378.673 51
immediate last
session
a. R Squared = .562 (Adjusted R Squared = .524)
b. R Squared = .527 (Adjusted R Squared = .486)
c. Computed using alpha = .05

4. Discussion and Conclusion

As stated before, Vygotskyan Sociocultural theory could be considered as a complement to Swains'
(1995) Output Theory. An empirical study was just needed to lend support to this claim, and the
findings of this study shows that output can be strengthened and promoted by potent and effective
means of shadowing on the basis of sociocultural theory. As Murphey (2001, p. 20) contends,
shadowing is related to Vygotskyan sociocultural theory in several ways:
1. the social, interactive nature of language acquisition and concept formation;
2. the idea of regulation or control as the learner passes from other- to self-regulation;
3. the zone of proximal development and scaffolding; and
4. private speech.

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This study; however, could add one more feature to the above-mentioned issues that shadowing is
related to sociocultural theory. Shadowing came to improve leaners' written production rate. This can
be attributed to the fact that shadowing could mediate the relationship between one's ZPD and the
social-material environment. This shows that our mental activities are under the direct effect of our
interactions with environment. This paves the way for the teachers, learners and also curriculum
designers to have a more fruitful class in writing. The shadow reading strategy can be implemented
as a part of the curriculum, if we are seeking for a significant advancement in our learners' writing
ability.
Unlike models proposed within output theory (e.g. Hanaoka & Izumi), shadowing is not cost
effective because it takes much energy and time, but regarding its deep effects on learners'
performance and the production rate, it can be considered as a main means of promoting writing and
learning. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate that using shadowing helps the learners in
that many learners have not any idea about what to write and this is the main problem that learners
are struggled with. To put it in Thwaites's words, shadowing helps learners to express themselves
without worrying too much about their mistakes and about what to say. This strategy significantly
reduces learners' fear and anxiety while interacting (as they read and repeat the text) and
simultaneously it mitigates their anxiety while writing because they experience no fear of the possible
mistakes, since they have done something orally in the presence of some peers and now it is simpler
to transcribe their thoughts on a piece of paper. To put in Murphey's (2001, p. 4) words, shadowing
can help learners improve the reproduction on the basis of an image of the original model and the
imitator's previous attempts.
Shadowing can also provide teachers with a highly practical and sequenced lesson plan, with its
unique and interesting sections. In these sections, learners do not feel fatigued, because this type of
"writing to learn" is not a merely writing practice; before writing, they experience an exciting reading
text in three phases (out loud, low voice and silent reading). This makes a link between their current
state of knowledge with that potential status (ZPD) and as the results show that these interactions
(between peers, learners and instructor, and current level of knowledge and the potential) lead to
more written production, less anxiety and a better performance supporting Vygotskyan sociocultural
theory's role in learning .
The results of this study not only support Thwaites's findings in that ecological factors promote
learning, but also prove that interactionally, cooperatively and communicatively educational
environment will help learners to learn better, to write better and to recall better in terms of the
requirements of English structures. This also lends support to Vygotskyan approach to learning.
As was seen, the results of this study indicate that shadow-reading can work as a helpful means of
facilitating the relationship between the ZPD and written production, which results in better
production. It seems that shadowing can be of much interest to learners, since it makes an interactive,
cooperative and pleasing environment which mitigates the arduous and sometimes burdensome
conditions of writing classes. Then, it seems that it is the time to implement the shadow-reading as a
new and effective strategy in the foreign language classes to promote learners' achievement in terms
of production.

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THE MEDIATION OF MOBILE APPLICATION IN

BOOSTING THE VOCABULARY LEARNING OF
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS:
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Fazlolah Samimi
Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Bandarabbas Branch,
Bandarabbas, Iran
Fazl.samimi67@gmail.com

Saeideh Mahmoodi Moemen Abadi

Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Bandarabbas Branch,
Bandarabbas, Iran
mahmoodi.s2012@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
IN THE MODERN WORLD, MOBILE PHONES AS NEW INFORMATION SOURCES AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAVE PROVIDED UNIQUE WAYS TO HELP LEARNERS
IN THE PROCESS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING. GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY,
THIS STUDY THUS INVESTIGATED THE EFFECT OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS ON EFL
LEARNERS’ VOCABULARY LEARNING. ALSO, THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
MOBILE APPLICATIONS FOR VOCABULARY LEARNING WERE INQUIRED ABOUT. TO THIS
END, ONE HUNDRED UPPER-INTERMEDIATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN
THIS STUDY. ADMINISTERING A PRETEST, THE NEXT PHASE WHICH WAS MOBILE
APPLICATION EXPERIMENT STARTED. DURING THE EXPERIMENT WHICH LASTED FOR
FOUR WEEKS, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WERE EXPECTED TO USE
504 VOCABULARY ITEMS SOFTWARE INSTALLED ON THEIR MOBILE PHONES TO DO ALL
VOCABULARY LEARNING ACTIVITIES. MEANWHILE, THE CONTROL GROUP WORKED
WITH THE 504 VOCABULARY BOOK, PRINTED-VERSION. AT THE END OF THE EXPERIMENT,
THEY WERE GIVEN A VOCABULARY TEST TO SEE WHETHER MOBILE APPLICATION
BOOSTED THE VOCABULARY LEARNING OF UPPER-INTERMEDIATE UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS. FOLLOWING THE POSTTEST, 15 STUDENTS WERE INTERVIEWED TO EXPRESS
THEIR VIEWS REGARDING MERITS AND DEMERITS OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS THEN, THEIR
PRE- TEST AND POST- TEST SCORES WERE COMPARED USING AN INDEPENDENT T-TEST.
RESULTS OF T-TESTS RUN REVEALED THAT THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP STUDENTS
SIGNIFICANTLY OUTPERFORMED THE CONTROL GROUP IN TERMS OF VOCABULARY
LEARNING. ALSO, PARTICIPANTS EXPRESSED THAT EFFICIENCY, PORTABILITY AND
CONVENIENCE ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND , ON THE OTHER HAND, SMALL SCREEN
SIZE, LIMITED BATTERY LIFE AND LIMITED MEMORY SIZE ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF
MOBILE APPLICATIONS. THE FINDING OF THE STUDY UNDERSCORED THE VITAL ROLE OF
MOBILE PHONES IN VOCABULARY LEARNING. ALSO, THIS STUDY HAS SOME
IMPLICATIONS FOR SYLLABUS DESIGNERS, LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND EFL STUDENTS TO
GET HELP FROM TECHNOLOGY IN VOCABULARY LEARNING.

KEY WORDS: MOBILE APPLICATION, VOCABULARY LEARNING

Introduction

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Vocabulary learning is a basic component of foreign language acquisition. According to Wilkins 1972
“without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing at all can be conveyed” (p
, 111). Learning new vocabulary as the building block of language is considered to be a fundamental
part of foreign language learning (Knight, 1997). However, the best means of achieving good
vocabulary is still unclear, partly because it depends on a wide variety of factors. An abundance of
evidence from some researchers suggested that one of the technologies that can be used to help
learners in learning a foreign language is mobile phone. This technology has brought a new type of
language learning called Mobile Assisted Language Learning. (Thrnton & Houser, 2005; Chinnery,
2006). According to the Kukulska- Hulme and Shield (2013), MALL can be defined as “the use of
technologies such as mobile phones, MP3/MP4 players, PDAs and palmtop computers for language
learning” (p.3). MALL is the use of mobile technology to teaching and learning that stresses learner-
centered classroom and learner autonomy. Mobile phones are dominant in students’ lives and can
provide ways for students to learn English at any time and any place. It extends teaching and learning
outside of the walls of the classroom. Many features of mobile phones, which have been mainly used
in language learning, include Short Message Service (SMS), recording voice services, email services
and java dictionaries. However, some applications and their role in language learning have been
neglected. One application is 504 Software. Vocabulary learning is crucially important for foreign
language learners’ fluent communicative ability (Oxford, 1990). Therefore, enlarging English
vocabulary is of great significance in English learning . EFL learners in Iran face the challenge of
lacking exposure to English vocabulary since for the majority of them; the English class is the only
time to use English. Because of the inadequate class time, students do not have the opportunity to
speak and use all of the words in English classes (Motallebzadeh & Ganji, 2011). In such conditions,
there are some problems for language teachers and learners. Teachers usually face the difficulty of
teaching a large number of vocabulary items in the limited time of classroom hours. Here, there
seems an urgent need to find an effective self-study approach for students to enlarge their vocabulary
size outside classroom hours. (Alemi & Lari, 2013). Teachers should make them responsible for their
own learning outside the classroom. Furthermore, some Iranian students are bored to learn
vocabulary items through papers, books, and dictionaries. One of the ways that can help teachers and
learners in teaching and learning of a large number of vocabulary items is using different
technologies available to students. (Alemi & Lari, 2013).
With the inevitable integration of mobile technology into our lives and to justify learners’ needs in
learning English vocabulary items, it seems that mobile applications play an important role (Grace,
1998). Mobile learning is an effective method; it can overcome restrictions of time and space, enabling
learners to learn vocabulary at any time and any place. Besides, mobile applications offer a wide
range of learning tools such as downloading educational audio/video files into their mobile devices
and helping language learners to manage their spare time more efficiently. This is why the use of
mobile applications might increase the Iranian students’ motivation and facilitate their success in
vocabulary learning. Therefore, this study, aims to implement a complementary learning aid to solve
the learners’ vocabulary learning problems. In spite of the fact that the use of mobile applications has
been on the rise during the last few years, it seems to the researchers’ best knowledge that very
limited research has been undertaken so far to evaluate the effect of mobile applications on
vocabulary learning. Few studies investigated “ students’ personal use of mobile applications for
learning and learning benefits”(Steel, 2012, p, 1). Moreover, there might be a serious lack of research
on the issue of mobile applications in the Iranian language teaching and learning context
(Dashtestani, 2013). In an attempt to fill the niche that currently exist in the literature, the researchers
aimed to examine the effect of mobile applications on the vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL
Learners. As a result, the researcher tried to show some ways of implementing and integrating mobile
phones into the language classroom. Thus the present study sought to investigate the following
research questions:
1. Are there any statically significant discrepancies between exposure to Mobile application
vocabulary learning and traditional vocabulary learning?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of vocabulary learning via mobile applications?
Literature review
Mobile learning can be defined as the acquisition of any knowledge and skill through using mobile
device, anywhere and anytime (Geddes, 2004). A mobile device is “any device that is small,
autonomous and unobtrusive enough to accompany us in every moment”. (Trifanova & Ronchetti,

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2003, p.3).As Cook (2010) noted focus of mobility on learning is on the use of mobile devices for
learning outside the classroom. Among all modern communication devices, mobile phones have
gained more attention due to their ubiquity and their applications in education (Miangah & Nezarat,
2010).In the study conducted in Iran, Tayebinik (2012) investigated mobile learning to support
teaching English, has highlighted the application of a variety of mobile devices in the field of TESL.
She noted that mobile devices have become a part of our life. Related literature has determined the
adoption of this technology by language teachers. The portability and high access of mobile devices
have made it very prevalent in educational field.Studies on using mobile phones in education
revealed that students consider mobile phones as useful learning devices and using such devices can
enhance students’ personal interest. In addition, they help students learn school subjects better.

Researchers have studied several aspects of mobile learning. Some studies, (Kukulska-Hulme &
Shield, 2008; Wixom & Todd, 2005), as cited in Pollara and Kee Broussard (2011) have focused on
defining mobile learning while others have focused on the outcome of using these mobile devices for
language learning (reviewed by Pollara & Kee Broussard, 2011). Mobile phones are effective devices
for language learning, (e.g. Rosell &Aguilar, 2007; FallahKhair, 2012; Pemberton & Griffiths, 2007),
have positive effect on the development of language skills (e.g., Chen & Chung, 2011) and enhance
learners’ language learning attitudes and motivation (e.g., Hang & Lin, 2012). Mobile technologies
provide EFL learners with additional exposure to target content anytime, anywhere. Mobile devices
have numerous advantages for vocabulary learning. Recently, a few studies have investigated the
pedagogical use of mobile phones for vocabulary learning. The projects (Thornton & Houser, 2005;
Ghorbandordinejad et al.Baleghizadeh and Oladrostam 2010; Lu, 2008; Zhang et al.,2011) integrating
text message and vocabulary learning were generally well received. Students learn more effectively
when exposed to spaced-repetition of vocabulary than massed repetition.
There are numerous
aspects of mobile phones, which have been studied in vocabulary learning. These aspects can be
classified into: PDAs, SMS, Mobile Dictionaries and Email.
In a study, Lu (2008) investigated the usefulness of SMS on thirteen high school students vocabulary
retention. In the first week of a two-week experiment, one group received 14 target words via SMS
and the other group received the same words on paper. In the second week the two groups changed
their media that is mobile group became paper group and the paper group became mobile group. At
the end of each week, an immediate posttest, and three weeks later a delayed posttest was conducted.
In the same line, Başoglu & Akdemir (2010) conducted a comparative study of vocabulary learning
with mobile phones and with paper flashcards. The experimental group used the vocabulary program
on the phones to study the target words while the control group worked on the same words on paper
flashcards during the same time span. Their findings indicated that “vocabulary learning programs
on mobile phones improved students’ acquisition of English vocabulary more than traditional
vocabulary learning tool, flash cards” (p. 6).In a study conducted in Iran, Alemi and Lari (2012)
explored the difference between long term and short-term retention of words learnt via SMS. In
addition, it assessed difference between the short and long term retention of vocabularies learnt via
SMS and those learnt by using dictionary. In their study before the start of the experiment and in
order to assess participants, vocabulary knowledge, they were administered a vocabulary test. During
the experiment, which lasted for 16 weeks (a complete semester), the participants in the experimental
group received 320 vocabularies from the headwords of academic word list (Coxhead, 2000), their
definitions (both Persian and English) as well as example sentences on a regular basis two times a
week via SMS. The participants of the control group were provided with the same academic
vocabulary and were asked to learn them with dictionary. The class assessment for both groups was
based on the words of the Academic Word List. Finally, the findings showed that the participants
mean scores were higher in posttest compared to pretest. The result of t-test shows that the SMS had a
significant effect on their vocabulary learning. In order to assess the effect of SMS on participants’
vocabulary retention, the experimental group had higher mean scores in delayed posttest compared
to posttest, so the experimental group performed significantly better in the delayed posttest than the
posttest. In the other study conducted in Iran, Amirian and Zare (2013) investigated the effect of Java
mobile dictionaries on EFL students’ vocabulary learning. To this end, the researchers divided forty
intermediate Iranian EFL learners into experimental and control group. Both groups, initially, took
the pretest designed based on the vocabulary in the course book, Touchstone 3. While the
experimental group received three java mobile dictionaries and installed them on their mobile
phones, the control group attended conventional classes without any additional tool. Experimental

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group took the advantage of their mobile dictionaries throughout the course looking up the meaning
of unknown words. After the treatment both groups firstly filled out questionnaire, which would
elicit the learners’ attitude toward java mobile dictionaries. Then, they took the posttest. Findings
showed that the experimental group students significantly outperformed their control group in EFL
vocabulary learning. Moreover, participants demonstrate positive attitudes toward MALL that more
technology- based tasks and activities will definitely contribute to Better vocabulary learning. In the
same line Rahimi and Miri (2014) investigated the impact of Mobile Dictionary use on Language
learning. Thirty-four lower-intermediate language learners participated in a pretest-posttest quasi-
experimental study. During the treatment, the experimental group used a dictionary installed on their
mobile phones to do all their activities. Meanwhile, the control group worked with the printed
version of the same dictionary. A teacher-made achievement test was used as the pre- and post-test.
The result showed that, while controlling for the level language ability, the experimental group
outperformed the control group in the post-test.
As the literature clearly depicted, although many studies related to mobile phones use in Language
learning were carried out, there are still steps to take probing areas which have not received as much
attention as they observe. One of such areas is the mobile Applications in language learning. In this
respect, the current study was designed to determine the effectiveness of mobile applications in
vocabulary learning.

Method
Participants
An original population of 140 EFL students from Payam-noor University in Sirjan, were selected
based on an availability sampling procedure to participate in this study. A TOEFL test was
administered to homogenize the students. Having administered a homogeneity test, the researcher
could finally select one hundred students for the purpose of this study. The participants were
assigned to two experimental (25 male and 25 female) and control groups (25 male and 25 female)
based on their choice to work with mobile phones. The sample was comprised of fifty female and fifty
male students, identical in number. The participants in this research, with an age range of 19 to 22,
were in the upper-intermediate level, based on their performance on the placement test. The only
difference between the groups was the provision of mobile application to the experimental group.

Instruments
To fulfill the purposes of the current study, the following instruments were applied:
Placement test: a TOEFL test consisting of 75 questions was administered to screen the students and
homogenize them based on their level of proficiency before experiment was launched. The allocated
time for answering the test was 75 minutes. After administering the TOEFL test, those students who
scores fell one standard deviation below and above the mean were chosen as the valid sample of this
study and were voluntarily assigned to the experimental and control groups.
Pre-test and Post-test:In order to assess the participants’ level of achievement throughout the
research, a vocabulary test was developed by the researcher. The participants took the test before and
after the treatment as the pretest and posttest. The researcher randomly selected 8 units of 504 Book
for this study. The words (N=96) were extracted from 8 units from the 504 absolutely essential words.
These words were delivered to the participants of the two groups for learning through different kinds
of media, by the book and 504 Software. Both groups were pre-tested on their vocabulary knowledge
prior to the study and after finishing the treatment were post-tested to see the effect of mobile
applications on their vocabulary learning. Due to the long interval between the pre-test and post-test,
the same test was used as the post-test at the end of treatment but in order to minimize the effect of
memorization, the order of the items were changed for the posttest. The best time to the participants
based on the pilot test was determined to be twenty minutes. Before any instruction, 30 vocabulary
items were administered to 15 students for the purposes of the pilot study. Based on the performance
of the participants, the item analysis was performed and 10 items were omitted. The internal
consistency of the test was calculated using Cronbach’s Alpha 0/85 after item analysis. The item
facility and item discrimination indexes were 0.48 and 0.52 respectively, which are acceptable values.
To determine the validity of the test, the researcher asked 3 experts to pass their comments on the
content of the test. Therefore, some items were deleted and some items were revised. The pilot test
with twenty items was administered to one hundred students as pre-test and post-test.

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504 Software and 504 Book: The 504 Software is a mobile application, which can be installed in
diverse mobile phones. The distinguished feature of the 504 is that it is not only an application but
also has some aids for vocabulary memorization. The 504 Software provides the text and the
meanings of the words to assist word memorization. The screen was divided into three main sections.
When a word is displayed on the screen, the learner can read the word by his/her self from phonetic
symbols or can click the button on the right top of the screen to listen to the pronunciation of the
word. In the second section, Persian explanation is given to help learners understand the word. In the
third section, three sentences is given to provide a context that the word can be used. The
experimental group used the 504 Software, mobile version for four weeks. The control group used the
504 Book.
Interview: In order to gather data about the advantages and disadvantages of mobile application for
vocabulary learning, fifteen interviews were conducted with purposively selected participants from
the experimental group and they were recorded using the digital voice recorder. The interview was
designed to answer to the second research question. The interviews were conducted with the students
individually and face to face. Each interview lasted between fifteen to twenty minutes. Each interview
was recorded and transcribed. Three university professors validated the content of the interview
questions. All participants gave their verbal consent to the recording of their interviews. The
participants’ names are not real; the researcher used pseudo-names for the participants.

Procedure
In order to accomplish its goals, this study used two groups each consisting of fifty participants.
Before the application, participants met with the researcher. They were given a brief introduction to
the program, its objectives, and its methods. The researcher explained the instruction of the program
to participants, how to move from one section to another and how to use 504 Software in their smart
phones. All these procedures were also conducted in the control group with the only absence of
mobile application outside and inside the classroom. Before the start of the experiment and in order to
assess participant’s vocabulary knowledge, they were administered a pretest and then, the next stage
of the study started. During the experiment which lasted for four weeks, the participants in the
experimental group were expected to use 504 Software installed on their mobile phone to do all
vocabulary learning activities. Meanwhile, the control group worked with the 504 Book and they
were expected to use the traditional vocabulary learning techniques. Moreover, the researcher made
sure that the control group participants did not have access to this application on their smart phones
during the treatment phase. At the end of treatment post-test was given to both groups to see the
effects of mobile application on their vocabulary learning.
After the quantitative part of the study, qualitative data were collected using semi- structured
interview questions. The interview took place in the Payam-Noor University, Sirjan, Iran. The
interview lasted between fifteen to twenty minutes and all interview were audio –taped and then
transcribed. It was semi-structured with the following open-ended questions:
1. What are the advantages of use of mobile applications for vocabulary learning?
2. What are disadvantages of use of mobile applications for vocabulary learning?

Results
The first research question of this study inquired into the effect of mobile application on the
vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL university students. An Independent-sample Test was carried out
to answer this research question. Before discussing the results of this analysis, the descriptive
statistics of participants’ vocabulary scores in the two target and control groups in both pre-test and
post-test were computed and set forth in Table 1. The table indicates that the mean and standard
deviation of the two target (M = 7.54, SD = 3.54) and control (M = 7.36, SD = 3.86) groups are not far
from each other in pre-test of vocabulary. But the results revealed that the students in the target
group (M = 14.84, SD = 3.19) outscored their counterparts in the control group (M = 13.02, SD = 3.06)
in the post-test of vocabulary.

Table 1
Descriptive Statistics of Two Group's Scores on the Pre-test and Post-test of Vocabulary

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Source Group N Mean Std. Deviation

Target 50 7.54 3.54

Pre-test
Control 50 7.36 3.86
Target 50 14.84 3.19
Post-test
Control 50 13.02 3.06

The results of Independent sample Test to compare to compare two target and control groups’
vocabulary scores on pre-test of vocabulary are represented in Table 1. According to the table, the
hypothesis of equal of variances was met because the Sig., .62 in Levene's Test was greater than .05.

Table 2
Independent Samples Test to Compare Two Groups’ Scores on the Pre-test of Vocabulary
Levene's Test for Variances T-test for Means
F Sig. T df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Diff.
Equal variance
.237 .627 .242 98 .809 .180
assumed
Independent Samples Test results as appeared in Table 2 showed that there was no statistically
significant difference in mean scores between the two groups in the pre-test of vocabulary, t (98) = .24,
p = .80, p > .05, in which the t-observed, .24 was less than the t critical, 2.00, and the p value, .80 was
more than the selected significant level for this study, .05; consequently we could conclude that the
two groups were homogeneous considering vocabulary knowledge before experiencing any
treatment.
Additionally, the researcher performed another analysis of Independent Samples Test to compare
two groups’ vocabulary scores in the post-test of vocabulary, and the related results are laid out in
Table 2. The table shows that the Sig., .64 in Levene's Test was larger than .05 and therefore the
assumption of equal of variances was met.

Table 3
Independent Samples Test to Compare Two Groups’ Scores on the Post-test of Vocabulary
Levene's Test for Variances T-test for Means

F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Diff.

Equal variance
.219 .641 2.911 98 .004 1.820
assumed

Table 3 manifests that Independent Samples Test detected a statistically significant difference in
vocabulary scores between the two target and control groups, (t (58) = 2.91, p = .004, p < .05, in which
the t value, 2.91 exceeded the t critical, 2.00, and the p value, 004 was lower than the selected
significant level for this study, .05; as a result, the second null hypothesis as “Mobile application does
not affect the vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL university students” was rejected. So it can be
claimed that application of mobile influences the vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL university
students. In fact the two groups scored significantly different on the final test of vocabulary.
Data from the interview: The data was gathered from fifteen participants then reported and
interpreted in the following way:
What are the advantages of mobile applications for vocabulary learning?
The results of interview showed that the majority of participants believed that learning vocabulary
through mobile applications is convenient and efficient. It encourages them to make full use of
fragmented time. Also, they can learn vocabulary at anytime and anywhere. Participants appreciated
the convenience of using mobile applications to meet their personal vocabulary learning needs that
suited their life styles. Mobile devices allow students to gather access and process information outside
and inside the classroom. Here are some examples of what they said:

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Sara
Learning vocabulary with a mobile phone allows me to take advantage of fragmented time because I bring my
mobile phone almost everywhere and at any time.”

Marjan
Sometimes, when travelling in the bus or subway, I can read the vocabulary in my phone and to remember
them. In a word, it can help me to make use of leisure time to learn vocabulary.”

Reza
“As I carry my phone all the time, increasing chances are there for me to learn vocabularies at my convenience.”

The results also showed that some of interviewees thought that portability is another advantage
of mobile applications for vocabulary learning. They referred to the fact that mobile phones are light
and small and they require little space to be kept and easy to be carried that increased their access to
the applications. It appeared that the finding indicated that participants found mobile apps easy to
use and accessible anywhere and anytime. Negar, Mehdi and Ashkan for examples said portability:

Negar
“Mobile phones are small and can be carried very easily just unlike heavy books and dictionaries. So, I can
benefits from this advantage of mobile phones to vocabulary learning.”

Mehdi
“I think being portable is a valuable feature of mobile phones because they can be easily carried wherever we
go”.

Ashkan
“I think it is a good idea to enlarge my vocabulary. I don’t need to take the heavy vocabulary books. Using
mobile apps I can review vocabularies everywhere and every timeˮ.
In addition, the results showed that the majority of the participants believed that the possibility of
connectivity to the Internet is one of affordance of the use of mobile phones. In fact the Internet can
facilitate the process of language learning. The use of Internet will improve interaction,
communication and problem solving. They can easily download vocabulary learning apps and install
them in their mobile phones. Here are some examples from interviewees:
Zahra
“In my opinion, one of the benefits of the use of mobile phones for vocabulary learning is that students have
opportunity to connect to the Internet in the classroom and outside the classroom. This helps the students to be
more autonomousˮ

Mahbobe
“When EFL learners use mobile phones for vocabulary learning, they have access to thousands of online EFL
resources and this Internet is facilitative and very useful for learners’ learning.”

What are the disadvantages of mobile applications for vocabulary learning?

The findings showed that the majority of the participants believed that physical aspects of mobile
phones may prevent an optimal learning experience and there are some limitations. These limitations
include: small screen size, limited battery life and limited memory size. For instance:

Somaie
“I think screen size of device is a big disadvantage. The amount of information that can be displayed on the
screen at one time is quite small.”

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Danial
“Mobile devices have limited storage capabilities so, if you have large or many files on your device, it may not be
able to store everything

Ariana
The battery life for some mobile devices is little. When the battery runs out, you must plug it into charger and it
is no longer movable

Discussion
The present study was an attempt to examine the effect of mobile applications in assisting EFL
students’ vocabulary learning in contrast to using books. The results of the study indicated that EFL
learners who used the mobile application on their mobile phones for vocabulary learning improved
their vocabulary ability more than those who used the 504 Book. The findings of this study are
supported by findings in the literature (Thrnton & Houser,2005; Baleghizade &
Oladrostami;2010;Zhang et al,2011;Zare and Amirian,2013) reporting that the use of mobile phones’
features has had a positive effect on students’ language learning.
Regarding to the first research question, the results showed that students of experimental group
outperformed the control group in terms of vocabulary acquisition and there was a difference
between the two groups. It appeared that this maybe due to the students’ easy access to the mobile
devices which results in their repeated exposure to and frequent practice of the vocabulary. The
findings are supported by the study conducted by Zare and Amirian (2013) which revealed that the
experimental group students significantly outperformed their control group counterparts in EFL
vocabulary learning. Also, the results also echoed the results of the study conducted by Rahimi and
Miri (2014) who showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the post-test.
Regarding to the second research question, the findings revealed that learning vocabulary through
mobile applications is convenient and efficient. Also, they can be easily accessed everywhere and
anytime. It appeared that due to the convenience facilitated by the portability and accessibility of the
mobile phones, students use them as an English Vocabulary learning device in their leisure time.
Therefore, the results are in line with the points suggested in the literature by Klopfer et al (2002) like
portability, accessibility and ubiquity. The findings are supported by the study conducted by Steel
(2012) which showed that Students appreciated the flexibility and convenience of using their apps to
meet their personal learning needs at times and in places that suited their lifestyles. It provides
insights into student perspectives on the benefits of using mobile apps for foreign language learning.
Conclusion
This paper was generally an attempt to assess the effectiveness of using mobile phones for promoting
students’ vocabulary learning. It can be concluded that using mobile applications has affected the
students’ performance in experimental group. Therefore, the method used in this study can be more
effective in English vocabulary learning. As the findings of this study demonstrated, mobile
applications could be an effective pedagogical tool for self -learning English vocabulary. Thus, these
results highlight the importance of MALL and its features as an attractive path through which success
of learning process can be enhanced. Besides, in this study students have shown their desire to use
mobile applications for language learning due to convenience facilitated by the portability and
accessibility of the mobile phones.
Also, according to the interview, all participants expressed that they liked the experiences of using
their own mobile phones to learn vocabulary and enjoyed very much the convenience and flexibility
that mobile phones bring to them for vocabulary building. This study has some implications for
syllabus designers to incorporate Technology and mobile-based learning into the pedagogical
language courses. The findings can be useful for language teachers, administrators and language
institutes. It informs them in making decision about a readily available tool to help improving
students’ vocabulary knowledge. Teachers can change their methods and move toward learner-
oriented methods. Students also have more opportunity to improve their vocabulary rather than only
using mobile devices for everyday life. Also, English vocabulary programs executing on mobile
phones can be employed as an extra-curricular activity for students especially outside the classroom
since they are available all the time. Finally, the researcher hoped that mobile learning is not only
limited to students but benefits all people who would like to carry out language learning in the

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future. It is recommended that further studies should investigate the effects of mobile applications on
vocabulary learning. Although this study confirmed the effectiveness of mobile applications on
vocabulary learning, it did not investigate if learners can use the acquired vocabulary items in
extended discourse and daily conversations; more studies is needed to examine whether learning
words via mobile applications can help learners to employ words in their daily conversations. Also
based on the fact that a small sample of students was successful using the mobile applications for
vocabulary learning, the researcher suggests that further investigations on other classes at other levels
and other language skills and aspects be conducted to make findings more applicable and
generalizable.

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THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHING EXPLICIT READING

STRATEGIES ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS’ READING
COMPREHENSION ABILITY

Fateme Saneie Kashanifar

Department of English Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Fatemesaneie@ut.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY AIMED AT INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF TEACHING EXPLICIT READING
STRATEGIES ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY. TO THIS
END, 80 STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY. FORTY STUDENTS WERE PUT IN THE
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND FORTY STUDENTS WERE IN THE CONTROL GROUP. IN ORDER
TO COLLECT THE DATA, THE RESEARCHER UTILIZED A TEST AND A QUESTIONNAIRE.
STUDENTS WERE REQUIRED TO FILL IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE BEFORE ADMINISTERING
THE PRE-TEST IN ORDER TO CHECK THEIR READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY. HAVING
RECEIVED THE EXPLICIT READING STRATEGIES INSTRUCTION, THE STUDENTS IN THE
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WERE ASKED TO FILL IN THE POST QUESTIONNAIRE. HOWEVER,
BOTH GROUPS WERE GIVEN POST-TEST TO COMPARE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
TWO GROUPS. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT STUDENTS WHO RECEIVED EXPLICIT
READING STRATEGIES INSTRUCTION OUTPERFORMED THEIR COUNTERPARTS WHO DID
NOT RECEIVE SUCH INSTRUCTION. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY WILL BE DISCUSSED
AT THE END OF THIS STUDY.

KEYWORDS: EXPLICIT READING STRATEGIES, READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY,

STRATEGY INSTRUCTION

Introduction
There is a common belief among teachers that suitable strategy use has a good influence on students
when they are taught to apply effective strategies. Janzen (1996) maintains that strategy instruction is
useful in reading contexts because students develop knowledge about the reading process. According
to Oxford (1990), learners’ strategies allow learners to take responsibility for their own language
learning. These learning strategies help them to solve learning problems, and as therefore students
might become autonomous language learners. Reading exists as a complex cognitive activity which is
essential for adequate functioning and for obtaining information in the society Alfassi (2004). To enter
any literate society, students must know how to learn from reading in order to succeed (Ko, 2002).
Investigation of reading strategies in foreign language acquisition have further identified the reading
strategy use by effective and poor readers Chamot (2005). For instance, effective EFL readers know
how to use a variety of appropriate strategies to achieve their learning goals; while less effective
readers do not choose the appropriate strategies to enhance the reading comprehension ability in
English. Brown (1984) suggest that strategic reading helps students, especially low-achieving learners,
avoid comprehension failure and enhance their retention of the text.
Reading consists of two related processes: word recognition, comprehension and fluency. Word
recognition refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s spoken
language. Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text.
Fluency is the ability to orally and silently read text smoothly and with appropriate phrasing and
intonation. Therefore Reading is the most important skill which learners in the high school are
expected to develop. Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical
knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them understand a written text. In the

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reading process, readers use reading strategies, linguistic knowledge along with their background
knowledge about the text’s topic and structure to achieve their purpose for reading Peregoy and
Boyle, (2001). This is because almost all examination students’ knowledge and abilities are based on
their reading and comprehending ability of English language. Learning English is compulsory in
Ethiopian secondary and tertiary education where the language is medium of instruction at high
schools, colleges and universities across the country. English is a means to enhance one`s educational
development, to facilitate communication and to further enrich cognitive abilities of students in other
academic subjects as well (Tefera, 2012).
Reading comprehension is an interactive activity between students and contexts; in the period of this
interaction between students and contexts, students utilize different experiences and knowledge
which involve language skills, cognitive information and world knowledge. Recent research on
the reading strategies used by readers indicated that most of the comprehension activities of efficient
readers take place at the meta-cognitive level (Hudson,
2007). Meta-cognition refers to one’s ability to understand, control, and manipulate the
cognitive process to maximize learning.

Statement of the problem

As most EFL teachers indicated, Iranian students who enter educational settings have serious
problem of reading comprehension. Most of them even failed to comprehend a single paragraph. A
few students have problems of reading or pronouncing words and sentences in a paragraph. Parents
frequently complain about their children reading comprehension particularly educated parents.
Teachers have not conducted any research on any skill in this school despite of all these problems.
Learners struggle with comprehension possess inefficient strategies and use them inflexibly. They are
usually unaware of what good readers do and when to apply a small repertoire of comprehension
strategies. Providing students with clear instruction in comprehension strategies can be an
effective way to help them overcome difficulties in understanding the texts. The more
understandable the comprehension strategy instruction, the higher the learner will make significant
gains in reading comprehension. As the result of this the researcher has tried to fill the gap. Therefore,
this study attempts to answer the following question:
What is the influence of explicit reading strategies instruction of Iranian EFL learners’ reading
comprehension ability?

Review of literature
Reading Strategies
Reading strategies may be defined as an action or serious of actions employed in order to construct
meaning (Garner, 1987). Learning to be strategic reader can promote reading comprehension and
failure to be strategic in reading may result from either developmental inability or poor reading (Paris
et al., 1983). Learning reading comprehension strategies help students in becoming independent,
confident learners. As a result of this, students become more motivated as they begin to understand
the relationship between their use of strategies and success in learning reading comprehension
(Cohen, 1998). Foreign language learners should be encouraged to learn and use a broader range of
language learning strategies that can be tapped throughout the learning process. This approach is
based on the belief that learning will be facilitated by making students become aware of the range of
strategies from which they can choose in the context of language teaching and learning (Cohen, 1998).
Knowledge of different strategies is very important. These strategies widen the understanding level
of the learners. Learners should get enough explanation and practice on different types of strategies.
There are different types of strategies that students should know which are suggested by different
scholars but all of them have similarity. However for this study (Johnson, 2008) reading strategies and
activities in order to understand expository text have been selected because it shows clear definition
of each strategy and its practice.
A study was done by Taghinezhad, Tabaeifard, and Bazyar (2015) which investigated the impact of
teaching listening comprehension strategies on the improvement of listening comprehension ability
of Iranian EFL learners and found that teaching listening comprehension strategies can play a major
role in the improvement of listening comprehension ability. Also, Taghinezhad, Dehbozorgi and
Esmaili (2015) conducted a study investigating the influence of teaching meta-cognitive reading
strategies on the reading self-efficacy beliefs of Iranian EFL learners. The study showed that those

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who received instruction using meta-cognitive reading strategies had higher self-efficacy beliefs
comparing with those who did not receive such instruction. However, there was no statistically
significant difference between males and females regarding their self-efficacy beliefs.

The importance of reading strategies

A lot of researchers have paid attention to reading comprehension and explicit reading strategy
instruction due to the importance of the issue. Learning is a very demanding process. Concerning
language learning, the matter becomes much more complicated. It does not only involve learning the
structures, vocabulary items, some idiomatic expressions and cultural aspects of the language but it
also involves being proficient in the skills needed to understand and communicate in the target
language effectively. There are many skills required in a language but the main ones are listening,
reading, writing, and speaking. The first two are the receptive skills while the latter two are the
productive ones. Without the full mastery of the receptive skills, it is difficult to achieve mastery in
productive ones. Reading is one of the receptive skills which is of great importance in language
teaching and learning (Khalaji, 2012).
Reading in a second language is a dynamic and interactive processes in which learners make use of
background knowledge, text schema, lexical and grammatical awareness, L1- related knowledge, and
real world knowledge, as well as their personal purposes and goals, to arrive at an understanding of
written material. At the same time readers‟ teachers‟ views of the nature of reading are seen to be
shaped by their own social, cultural, and personal histories. Reading is one of the most important
skills which a person has to deal with throughout his life time. It needs a lot of practice and
experience to understand a passage and the information conveyed in it. The matter becomes more
complicated when the text appears in a foreign language in which the reader is not proficient
enough... As Wallace (1992) said “There are two things which we all know about language: first that
we use it for a purpose; second that it only makes sense in context that is as part of a larger text or in a
situation”. It is not always easy to understand a passage carefully without using certain strategies.
Strategies are defined as “specific methods of approaching a problem or task, modes of operation for
achieving a particular end, planned designs for controlling and manipulating certain information”
by Brown (1994). Researchers found that readers need to utilize a wide range of strategies while
reading a text and especially in reading comprehension, because in reading comprehension process
readers should utilize several of conscious and unconscious strategies to solve their problem in order
to construct meaning from written message/messages. As it can be understood from the definition,
strategies are not easy to explore and use especially in a foreign language. This is where the language
teacher comes onto the stage. The duty of a teacher is then to guide and teach learners how to be
effective readers in a foreign language.

Types of Reading Strategies

Cognitive reading strategies are cognitive activities or process that the reader executes in his attempt
to construct the meaning out of a text. These include both the bottom up processing, when the teacher
focuses on sampling and predicting, testing the prediction, getting the gist, making inference, etc.
using available resources to guess or complete the missing information( Oxford, 1990).

Meta-cognitive strategies refer to over viewing and talking with already known material, paying
attention, finding out about language learning, organizing, setting goals and objectives,
identifying the purpose of a language task planning for a language task, seeking practice
opportunities, self-monitoring, and self-evaluating (Oxford. 1990).

Prediction

The basis of comprehension is prediction, the prior elimination of unlikely alternatives.

Predictions are questions that we ask, and comprehension is receiving relevant answers to those
questions. If we cannot predict, we are confused. If our predictions fail, we are surprised. And if we
have no interest or uncertainty as a basis for prediction, we are bored (Smith, 2004). Predicting is
fundamental to comprehension. Good readers anticipate meaning. They do this by predicting what
they think is going to happen in the selection and by revising their prediction as they read.

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Imagery
Like all comprehension strategies, imaging requires readers to use prior knowledge and to predict. In
this case, the prior knowledge the reader uses is experience with words and descriptive language.
Readers use what that descriptive language makes them think to create an image. That is, they predict
what image the author intends to convey. Because descriptive language appears with more frequency
in narrative than in expository text, imagery tends to be taught in conjunction with stories rather than
with textbooks or other informational texts (Scholastic, 1987)

Monitoring and Questioning

Monitoring is a process of talking to oneself about whether the meaning being encountered is the
meaning anticipated—that is, whether the original prediction is coming true. Monitoring and
questioning are virtually the same, because questioning is also a process of talking to oneself about
whether the meaning makes sense. That is, the reader is constantly asking. Students must keep the
original prediction in mind. They should keep asking whether that prediction continues to make
sense in light of new information in the text. They should use new information in the text and prior
knowledge about that information to make new predictions (Duffy, 2009)

Inferring
As Duffy (2009) states inferring is the ability to “read between the lines” or to get the meaning an
author implies but does not state directly .All comprehension strategies involve inferring in the sense
that comprehension requires readers to note text clues, to access prior knowledge associated with
those clues, and then, on the basis of that background knowledge, predict (or infer) what the meaning
is. So, in this sense, inferring is something a reader does as part of all comprehension strategies. Big
understandings you might need to explain when teaching inferring: What we mean when we say
meaning is “implied” or is “between the lines. “Those authors compose text based on their experience
background and we construct meanings based on what the authors` words make us think about (i.e.,
our experience background). That authors often leave information unstated or implied expecting
readers to infer it. Comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning, which means we
must infer. Inferring is virtually the same process as prediction. Students must stop when the text
stops making sense. First identify what is blocking the meaning. Then think about what strategy they
know that could be used to fix the problem. After they apply the strategy, test to see if the problem is
fixed.

Summarizing

Summarizing is the creation of a brief retelling of a text. While it may include the main idea or
theme, the focus is on describing in brief form the text’s major points. How will you
know you need to teach summarization?

The situation: When you ask students to “tell you about” a story or a piece of expository text, they
recite virtually everything that happened or report unimportant information and omit important
information. The data you collect, ask students to provide a brief summary of a common fairy tale or
a movie that they saw. If they cannot be brief, or cannot identify the important information, they may
profit from an explanation of how to summarize.

Drawing Conclusion

Drawing conclusions, like predicting and inferring requires readers to be proactive in looking for
clues in the text, thinking about what those clues trigger in prior knowledge, and making a prediction
about what the author wants us to conclude on the basis of what makes sense in terms of past
experience. Big understandings you might need to explain when teaching drawing conclusions:
Those authors often want readers to draw conclusions, even though they may not say so explicitly or
do not specify exactly what conclusion should be drawn but readers must be assertive creators of
meaning. Drawing a conclusion is a prediction about what the author wants the reader to conclude
like main idea and other comprehension strategies, the reader must pretend to be the author and, on
that basis, think what conclusion the author might draw (Duffy, 2009) similarly only a little difference

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Duke and Pearson (2002) have divided reading comprehension strategies in to five. Prediction
Prediction entails activities that come with different labels, such as activating prior knowledge,
previewing and over viewing all these variants have in common is encouraging students to use their
existing knowledge to facilitate their understanding of new ideas encountered in text.

Think-aloud

Think aloud involves making one`s thoughts audible and usually public saying what you are
thinking while you are performing a task of reading.

Text structure

Students use the structure of the texts, both narrative and expository to organize their understanding
and recall of important ideas.

Summarization

Teaching students to summarize what they read is another way to improve their overall
comprehension of text.

Questioning

No comprehension activity has more pervasive tradition than asking students questions and their
reading, whether this occurs before, during or after the reading.

Approach to Reading Strategies

In recent years, one of the earliest considerations was a new approach to reading. In this approach,
two different processes were introduced to language teaching and learning. These were namely
bottom-up and top-down processing Brown (2001).

Bottom-up Processing

In bottom-up processing, according to Brown(2001), readers must first recognize letters, morphemes,
syllables, words, phrases, grammatical cues, discourse marker .Nuttal(1996) states that a teacher
in this process can move from grammar points and vocabulary to direct the learners to focus on the
message. The whole reading process is based on the words and learners construct meaning from
context by recognizing each word. Individual words are emphasized in isolation and rapid word
understanding is important in the bottom-up. The readers who utilize this process quickly become
skilled readers. However, there is one disadvantage of bottom-up processing. Language learners are
sometimes too much interested in individual words or phrases that they forget about the overall
meaning of the text. Therefore, this process that decodes word-by-word is slow and takes a lot of
time and effort in reading comprehension because short-term memory is overloaded, and readers
forget easily what they have read when reading comes to an end.

Top-down Processing

In top-down processing, learners draw on their intelligence and experience to understand a text.
According to Brown (2001), readers come to the reading process with some knowledge of the world
around them in their mind and they use this knowledge to make sense of a text for example, the
students’ prior information and expectations help them to construct meaning from a reading text.
According to Nuttall (1996), top-down processing is useful to get the overall meaning of a text. In
language classes, students are required to have general predictions about the text and then seek for
the writer’s message. Therefore, a teacher can give some ideas to form generalizations about the topic
to process the information as an initiator. Then the students are required to process information in the
text.

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In the past, lots of reading specialists defended bottom-up processing as being the best way to teach
reading. However, more recent research has shown that a reading lesson should make use of both
bottom-up and top-down processing, called as “interactive reading”. Since both of the processes are
equally important in reading, a combination of them would be the best solution. In both modes of
processing, students will need different strategies to improve their reading skills.
The application of such reading strategies results in improved memory and comprehension of text for
students. Hence, language educators insist on teaching students to use explicit reading
comprehension strategies in a self-regulated fashion with extensive teacher explanation and modeling
of strategies, followed by teacher-scaffold use of the strategies.

Explicit Instruction of Comprehension Strategies

Explicit reading strategy instruction which is given by teacher enhances students` conditional
knowledge and procedural knowledge. Comprehension strategies which characterize direct
explanation, teacher modeling and guided practice of reading strategies show positive improvement
in conceptual understanding and reading achievement (Roehler & Duffy, 1984). Explicit reading
Strategy instruction is very decisive to raise understanding level of the learners. Recent research in the
area of reading comprehension has focused on reading related strategies and strategy instruction
studies. For the most part, such studies have found that explicit reading strategy instruction leads to
improved reading performance (Signal, 2001).According to Duffy (2009), explicit reading strategy
instruction should be given by the teacher based on the following procedure.

Introducing the Lesson

Students learn best when they have enough information about what they are going to accomplish. For
example, we are going to use clues from the title to make prediction about what is going to happen in
the story. For each prediction, you will be able to tell me how you used the title as a clue to come up
with the topic, and to base your prediction on what your experience has taught you about it.

Modeling the Thinking

When we model, we provide a verbal statement of how to do a skill or strategy. We talk about the
thinking we do in as clear and explicit a way as possible. Consequently, modeling is often described
as “think-aloud” or as” mental modeling.” We talk out aloud about what we do the invisible
thinking involved so our students can use our model as a strategy point for developing their
own way of doing it.

Scaffolding Assistance

Scaffolding is a process of helping students move from modeling of thinking to them doing the skill
or strategy. They can use our model as a strategy point for developing their own way of doing it
independently. Scaffolds are temporary supports. The idea of scaffold assistance is to provide initial
support and then to gradually reduce the support as the student gains confidence in responding.
We give students opportunities to try out what we modeled, with lots of help from us at first and then
gradually with less and less help.

Application in Reading

Application is an integral part of explanation because we cannot say an explanation has been
successful until we see students transfer it to real reading. Application is the ultimate reason for
providing an explanation. Learning skills and strategies without having a use for them makes no
sense.

Reading is one of the receptive skills which are of great importance in language teaching and
learning. To get an expertise in this skill the readers need to utilize a wide range of strategies while

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reading a text and especially in reading comprehension where a lot of cognitive and meta-cognitive
strategies are needed to comprehend the meaning. These strategies are not easy to explore or acquire.
It needs a lot of practice and above all the strategy instruction in reading comprehension.

Method

Research Design
This study is experimental research by using quantitative data approach. As Janzen (2003) says
experimental research shows the effectiveness of teaching certain reading comprehension strategies to
different groups. As a result of this, the researcher used experimental research design to find out the
effectiveness of strategy instruction. Experimental research uses quantitative data. Gunderson (2000),
describes quantitative research is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are
analyzed using mathematically based methods. As a result of this, the data which were collected from
the questionnaire and tests were numerical data and these data analyzed and tabulated for clear
explanation.

Population and Sampling

The participants of the study were 80 high school students in Shiraz. They were between 15 to 18
years of age. From these two sections the researcher chose randomly 40 from each school in order to
conduct experimental research by using simple random activity. That means from natural science 40
students were part of experimental group and from social science students 40 students were part of
control group students. Selection of control group and experimental group was a simple random
activity because the participants had similar level of language proficiency because their pre test scores
were close to the mean. This random method gives chance in order to find different types of students
who have different habit of reading ability. In these two different sections the teacher who was
assigned was the researcher. As a result of this, the researcher got clear information about each group.
The simple random sampling technique was employed because it helps the researcher to include
different types of learners from each group in order to obtain valid and the reliable data.

Data collection Instruments

In this study, the researcher used questionnaire, pre-test and post-test. These were the only
instruments that the researcher used throughout the study. In addition to this, to observe the
significant difference of control group and experimental group the researcher used t-test.

Questionnaire
This data gathering tool is important since it helps the researcher to gather data from different types
of learners. The researcher gathered students` reading experience from experimental group and
control group. The researcher prepared pre and post questionnaire. The questionnaire was close
ended questionnaire by using five point Likert scales. The questionnaire was administered before
the study and after the study

Pre questionnaire
For both sections, section “A” the experimental group that means the natural science students and
section” B” the control group that means the social students had questionnaires before the
experimental group took explicit strategy instruction of reading comprehension. This helped the
researcher to find out their real problem of reading comprehension of students` performance.

Post questionnaire
The aim of this questionnaire is to find out how much explicit strategy instruction reading help the
experimental group students to comprehend passages. To identify the explicit reading strategy
instruction which was given by the teacher was effective or not, the post questionnaire was
administered.

Test

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Test is an instrument that is used to measure the performance of the learners in teaching reading
activities. In reading comprehension it plays a great role in measuring the learners’ understanding.
Pretest and Posttest was administered to both groups to get the relevant data.

Pre-test

Pre-test for both groups was given in order to find out the reading strategies that they use. These pre-
test questions held 10 objective questions that test predicting, skimming, scanning, inferring, and
summarizing then their result was registered. The reading comprehension questions were extracted
from students’ text book. It was given by printing on a piece of paper for each student. The test
focused on the cognitive strategies. The test made them employ different strategies.

Post-test

Post-test was given to both groups and it was evaluated after recording their result. This test showed
clear result of explicit strategy instruction. The post-test was prepared in accordance with the pre-test.
The post-test questions were also 10 similar to the pre-test and the type of the questions were
objective questions that tested students` cognitive reading strategies. The questions were prepared
considering the explicit strategy instruction session.

Data Collection Procedure

The researcher used questionnaire and tests to gather data from the control group and the
experimental group. The first instrument was a questionnaire based on Likert scale. There were 15 pre
and post closed questionnaire that helped to identify the students’ reading strategies. The second
instrument was test. In order to find out students’ reading comprehension ability, two reading
comprehension texts were extracted from their textbook. Based on these reading comprehension texts
they were tested. Ten questions were for pretest and again after the strategy instruction they took
another ten questions based on reading comprehension text of their own textbook. The data were
gathered one by one from each instrument. In addition to this, for experimental group, six reading
passages were presented to widen their understanding of different strategies by using explicit
strategy instruction within six weeks. However, the control group learned the same passage by the
same teacher without having explicit strategy instruction for six weeks. The reading comprehension
pre-test was administered to the target group. Then, the researcher collected the scores and kept them
for analysis. Following the pre-test, explicit reading strategy was conducted to the learners in the
experimental group right after the learners questionnaire was filled and completed and after six
weeks post-test was given and the scores were recorded for further comparison with the pre-test. The
pre questionnaire and the post questionnaire which were presented to them to identify their reading
habit since the questionnaires were the same. They indicated their previous reading strategies and
their reading strategies after intervention.

Data Analysis Procedure

Data analysis is not a simple description of the collected data but a process by which the researcher
can bring interpretation to the data in relation to the projected study (Cohen and Morrison, 2000).This
procedure includes organizing the data, identifying emerging themes, categorizing the patterns and
testing hypotheses against the data. The data which were collected through questionnaire and pre
and post tests are quantitative data .These data were Analyzed on the other hand the data
obtained quantitatively transcribed, tabulated, categorized and summarized together to reach
conclusion. The data collected from these two sources which means from questionnaire and test were
analyzed. The data related to the students reading habit before pre-test and after post-test were
analyzed and compared. Similarly, the pre-test and the post-test scores were recorded,
analyzed, tabulated and compared using T-test.

RESU LTS AND DISCUSSION

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Data Analysis

Students` Pre Test and Post Test Result by using T-test

Following the questionnaire, the pretest was given for both EG and CG students. The test consisted
of equal number of items following the same question format for both of them. Moreover, the mark
load was equal: 10%. Students were grouped in two sections. The first 40 of the students were in
Experimental Group (EG) and in the second group 40 of them were in the Control Group (CG). The
test was given to EG and CG students after the pre questionnaire without having any intervention
both of them. The score kept and calculated as shown below here. The pretest questions were asked
based on the reading passage from students’ textbook. The questions were also taken from this text.
However, additional questions that could make students use reading strategies had been included.
Their results were indicators of the weakness of the students. According to the pretest result, both
groups of students exposed their weakness in different reading strategies. They were ignorant of
different types of reading strategies. These questions indicated similar things but the right problem of
their reading strategies problem can be revealed clearly during post-test after the intervention. The
following tables show the results.

Table 1. Paired-sample statistics

Paired- sample statistics Mean Number Std. deviation Std. error mean
Pair 1 pre-experimental group 3.87 80 1.46932 .33985
Pair 1 post-experimental group 6.96 80 1.46932 .33985
Pair 2 pre-control group 3.79 80 1.39425 .31759
Pair 2 post-control group 3.93 80 1.34267 .31132

Table 2. Paired-sample Correlation

Paired-sample correlation Number Correlation Significant
Pair 1 pre-experimental and post- 80 .895 .000
experimental group
Pair 2 pre-control group and post- 80 .891 .000
control group

Table 3. Paired-samples t-test

Paired- Mean Std. Std. 95% of 95% of T Df. Sig (2-
samples t-test deviation error confidence confidence tailed)
mean of the diff. of the diff.
Lower Higher
Pair pre- -4.00 .52432 .14532 -3.67431 -2.64321 -30.389 79 .000
experimental
post-
experimental
Pair pre- -2.00 .51213 .10000 -32401 .13421 -1.000 79 .478
control post-
control

According to the above paired students` t-Test results, the result from the reading test revealed again
their weakness in reading comprehension. During pretest the mean and the median are not wide.
This implies that almost the distribution of the test score is around the same area. The standard
deviation of the score also indicates that the deviation of the students score from the mean. As it has
been calculated here above by using t-Test, the experimental group and the control group posttest
students’ score indicates that the difference of students’ score result when it is compared with the
previous score result, there is wide difference. For instance, the result of the mean score of the pretest
of the EG was 3.87 whereas the CG mean was 3.79, the difference was very little, that was 0.08 but the
posttest mean of the experimental group when it is compared with the posttest control group the

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difference is too wide that is 3.03. This clearly indicates that the improvement of experimental group
students. It can be concluded that the mean improvement is the result of six weeks ERSI. The other
evidence is their test score. During pretest, the difference between experimental group and control
group was only 2 but after the explicit strategy instruction their difference became too wide, that
is 60 mark differences. The deviation of the experimental group score from the mean is 1.62 and 1.47
respectively during pretest and posttest whereas the control group students score deviation from the
mean was 1.62 and 1.54 respectively. This is also another indication of the experimental group
improvement because standard deviation is an implication on how much the values of a certain data
set differ from the mean on average in a normal distribution. In general, the impact of explicit
strategy instruction has brought meaningful change.

Summary Concerning Explicit Reading Strategy

Explicit reading strategy has brought meaningful change on students reading comprehension.
Learners who read with reading strategies and without reading strategies are not the same. Learners
who struggle with comprehension possess inefficient strategies and use them inflexibly. They are
usually unaware of what good readers do and need to be shown how and when to apply a small
repertoire of comprehension strategies. Providing students with explicit instruction in comprehension
strategies can be an effective way to help them overcome difficulties in understanding texts (Graham
& Bellert, 2004). The more explicit the comprehension strategy and self-regulatory instruction, the
higher the likelihood that the leaner will make significant gains in comprehension (Manset-
Williamson & Nelson, 2005). As learners become more competent and confident of their
comprehension, the less support they require from the teacher (Duke and Pearson, 2002). In general
explicit reading strategies made them read with confidence after they took the intervention when it
was compared their awareness that they had earlier before the intervention.

Conclusion

The experimental group and the control group were exposed for reading passages which were
extracted from students’ text book by the researcher for six weeks. The text book that they learned
was the same. It was grade 11 English Text Book. The only difference was the method of teaching.
The experimental group students were taken the lesson by using explicit reading strategy instruction
but the control group students were taken the lesson by using the usual lecture method teaching.
After six weeks, both of them took the post test. After the test experimental group post questionnaire
was administered. The pre and post questionnaire responds were organized, tabulated and changed
to percent in order to compare the two groups. The pre and the post test scores were kept and
analyzed by using T-test. This helped the researcher to find out the difference between the two
groups. Based on this process, the following major findings were found.
The pre questionnaire and the post questionnaire and the tests were the means in order to identify the
reading strategies of the students. The research revealed that students who took the ERI started to use
in a good way after the intervention whereas the other students who did not participate in the
intervention did not show much change concerning using reading strategies.

strategies. As it was explained the analysis part, most students had difficulty of reading
comprehension before the reading strategy instruction. They were very weak in reading skills. They
did not use to pay attention for different reading strategies. However, after the intervention most
students started to use reading strategies in order to comprehend because of this it is possible to say
reading strategies affected the reading strategies that were used by students.

score of the experimental group students and the score of control group students were similar.
However, after the intervention, the score of experimental group students showed great
improvement. The control group students did not show much change. As a result of this, it is possible
to say the reading strategy instruction affected the score of reading comprehension of the students.
Based on the above research findings, the following conclusions were made.
It is possible to conclude that explicit reading strategies have great impact for understanding
any text.

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It can be concluded that most students have reading comprehension problem due to poor reading
strategies. To escape from this poor reading experience, students should be exposed to different
reading strategies. These strategies make them understand very difficult information very easily.
They show them how to tackle the reading comprehension problem. These reading strategies would
be clear if learners learned by using explicit reading instruction. The ERSI can make students to
master the technique of reading strategies very easily. As a result of this, students can comprehend
reading passages very easily.
It is also possible to conclude that the reading strategy instruction can change the students score since
most students had shown satisfactory result after they took explicit reading instruction. The reading
strategies are weapons that learners should arm for the sake of reading comprehension. If there is
comprehension, there will be good result because for good score only comprehension is needed
According to the analysis of the questionnaire and the test score result, the reading strategies
instruction improve students’ reading proficiency because students read by paying attention different
context clues in order to understand the clear information of the text. As a result of this it can be
concluded that the reading strategy instruction can improve students’ reading proficiency. In general,
explicit reading strategy instruction can improve students’ score, reading proficiency and improves
their comprehension greatly.

REFERENCES
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Chamot, A. (2005). Language learning strategy instruction: Current issues and research. Annual
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Cohen, A.D. (1998). Strategies in learning and using a second language. Harlow, Essex: Long man
Cohen, L., Maninon. L., & Morrison K. (2000). Research methods in education (5th Edition). London:
Routledge Falmer.
Duffy, G. (2009). Explaining reading: A resource for teaching concepts, skills, and strategies. New
York: Guilford press.
Duke, N.K, & Pearson, P.D. (2002). From what research he is to say about Reading instruction. Third
Edition: International Reading Association
Garner, R. (1987). Metacognition and reading comprehension. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing
Corporation
Hudson, T. (2007). Teaching second language reading. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Janzen, J. (2003). Developing strategic readers in elementary school. Reading psychology. 24(1).
Johnson, P.A. (2008). Teaching reading and writing: A Guide book for tutoring and remediating
students. New York: A division of Rowman & Littlefield
Khalaji, H.R. (2012). The impact of reading strategy training on the reading comprehension of Iranian
EFL learners. Finland: Academy publisher. Journal of language teaching and research, 3(1)
Ko, M. (2002). A study on teachers’ perception of strategy instruction and students motivation to
read. Journal of National Huawei Institute of Technology, 5.
Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. Boston, MA:
Heinle and Heinle.
Paris, S.G., Lipson, M.Y., & Wixson, K.K. (1983). Becoming strategic reader. Contemporary educational
psychology
Peregoy, S, F, & Boyle, O.F. (2001). Reading, writing, & learning ESL. New York: Longman. Pressel, M.
(2002). Metacognition and self-regulated comprehension. In A.E.Farstrup & S.Samuels (Eds.). What
research has to say about reading instruction?
Roeholer, L.R, & Duffy, G.G. (1984). Direct explanation of comprehension process. In G.G. Duffy, L.R.
Roehle &J.
Taghinezhad, A.; Tabaeifard, J. & Bazyar, Z. (2015). Investigating the impact of teaching
listening comprehension strategies on the improvement of listening

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comprehension ability of Iranian EFL learners. International Journal of English

Language, Literature, and Translation Studies, 2(3), 397-403.
Taghinezhad, A.; Dehbozorgi, R.; Esmaili, N. (2015). The influence of teaching
metacognitive reading strategies on the reading self-efficacy beliefs of Iranian EFL
learners: An experimental study. Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 4
(5), 728-734.
Wallace, C. (1992). Reading. Oxford, O.U.P.

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THE EFFECT OF DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT ON

IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNER’S
NARRATIVE PERFORMANCE

1Shahabaddin Behtari

Department of English Language Teaching, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Ardabil, Iran

*2MalahatShabani Minaabad (Ph.D),

Department of Linguistics and English Language Teaching, Payame Noor Universtiy, PO BOX 19395-
3697 Tehran, IRAN.
E.mail: shabani110@yahoo.com

3MehdiAdli Hamzekhanlou
Department of English language Teaching, College of Teaching language, Ahar Science and research
Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran

ABSTRACT
DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT AS AN ASSESSMENT METHOD INTEGRATES INSTRUCTION AND
ASSESSMENT AND EMBEDS INTERVENTION WITHIN THE ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE. IT'S
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK IS BASED ON VYGOTSKY' NOTION OF ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMENT (ZPD) AND FEUERSTEIN'S CONCEPT OF MEDIATED LEARNING EXPERIENCE
(MLE). THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DYNAMIC
ASSESSMENT (DA) ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS WITH AN INTERMEDIATED LEVEL OF
PROFICIENCY. IN THIS STUDY THE RESEARCHER INVESTIGATED THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN NARRATIVES BEFORE AND AFTER A DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE
CALLED A TEST_TEACH-RETEST METHOD. TO FULFILL THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY TWO
CLASSES COMPRISING THIRTY IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS WERE SELECTED. IN THE FIRST
CLASS (EXPERIMENTAL GROUP) DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT WAS USED AND IN THE SECOND
CLASS (CONTROL GROUP) STATIC ASSESSMENT WAS APPLIED. IN TESTING PHASE A
WORDLESS PICTURE SEQUENCE TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN ORDER TO DEVELOP A STORY
RELATED TO PICTURES. AFTER THE PARTICIPANTS’ FIRST NARRATION THE TEACHING
PHASE TOOK PLACE FOR EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WHICH LASTED SEVEN SESSIONS. IN THE
FINAL STAGE BY USING THE SAME WORDLESS PICTURE SEQUENCES ALL PARTICIPANTS
TOLD THE SECOND NARRATIVES. THE FINDINGS REVEALED THAT PARTICIPANTS IN THE
DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT GROUP PRODUCED HIGHER NARRATIVE SCORES COMPARED TO
THE SCORES OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE STATIC ASSESSMENT GROUP.

KEY WORDS: DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT; EFL LEARNERS; STATIC ASSESSMENT; NARRATIVE

PERFORMANCE

1. INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, assessment is defined as a ‘means fo controllong the context in which language
performane takes place’ (Bachman 1990). Cohen (1980) offers three purposes of assessment:
administrative, instructional, and research-driven. Within the administrative realm, assessment may
serve to place students in appropriate class levels, provide an exemption for completing a certain or
hasten a promotion. An assessment that has an instructional purpose is one that shows evidence of

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student progress and gives feedback to the test-taker. In a classroom in which the tacher implements
DA, instruction and assessment occur simultaneously.
Based on the sociocultural Theory (SCT) of mind originated from the Russian psychologist
LevVgotsky’s ideas, DA researchers claim that dialectical interration of instruction and assesssment
into a dynamic activity will bring successful education. This requires sensitivity to the learners’ Zon
of Proximal development (ZPD) during the assessment proceduress which is achieved through the
mediators’ intervention in terms of providing hints, prompts, and feedbacks. While the results of
traditional non-dynamic assessment (NDA) can only show the already existent abilities of the
student, the analysis of ZPD makes it possible to evaluate the ability of the students to learn from the
interaction with a teacher or a more capable peer and predict their possible future developments.

2. DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

Dynamic assessment (DA) as a concept originates from Vygotsky (1978) and Feuerstein (1979). In
Vygotsky’s model of cognitive development, children’s learning takes place in the zone of proximal
development (ZPD) during social interaction. The ZPD is based on the premise that a child’s
unassisted performance during a task can be enhanced when guided assistance is given by an adult.
Feuerstein’s theory of mediate learning experience (MLE) consists of a formal educational process
where an adult tries to enhance the child’s performance. According to Feuerstein, the mediated
interactions promoted a higher mental functioning in a child.
The goal of DA is to modify learners’ performance level in order to enable the mediators not only to
understand individual learners’ current level of abilities but to predict their unassisted potential
future abilities based on their present performance. In dynamic assessment, examiners become an
active part of the assessment. Examiners observe interpret observations in order to change and reveal
learning. This approach focuses on the learning process. During mediated learning, examiners focus
on how children solve problems and how they learn. Observations reveal information about
children’s learning strategies and the amount of effort required for learning new skills.
DA can be better understood when contrasted with static assessment (SA). The sharp difference
between DA and SA is that DA focuses on the learning process, whereas SA focuses on the results of
learning. In SA, which is usually done for summative purposes, any kind of interaction or assisstance
during the assessment is considered unacceptable. In fact, interaction and assistance of any kind
could be seen as being unfair or even cheating. In particular, changes in the learners’ performance
during the assessment process are considered threats to the reliability of test scores. However, DA
adopts a different stance and maintains that important information about a learner’s ability can only
be obtained by offering assisstance during the assessment.

2.1 CLINICALLY-ORIENTED VERSUS RESEARCH-ORIENTED DA

The broad practice of DA has evolved and diverged into two separate strands of study:
Clinically-oriented DA and research-oriented DA. Clinically-oriented DA began as an educational
treatment or intervention. Its most common operationalization is Feuerstein’s Learning Potential
Assessment Device (LPAD). The LPAD is a nonstandardized method of assessing and teaching
cognitive deficiencies in children with learning problems. Treatment duration could last years (Rand,
Tannenbaum, &Feuerstein, 1979). Research-oriented DA, in contrast, originated as an instrumental
tool. It is generally a standardized administration of an assessment in which the examiner seeks to
guide the student through the learning process during one teaching session. The time needed for a
student to reach mastery, or the necessary level of instructional explicitness, serves as an index of
student potential (Lidz & Elliott. 2000).

2.2 VYGOTSKY’ FORMULATION OF THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

Vygotsky (1978) (as cited in Tzuriel 2000) proposed that in order to understand the cognitive
development of an individual, one should understand his/her social, cultural, and historical
background. The origins of higher mental functions of the child drive from social interactions with
more experienced members who guide the child toward higher levels of mastery. According to him,
learners’ performance level is twofold: their actual developmental level (ADL) and their potential
level of development or, in Vygotsky’ words the “zone of present development” and the “zone of
proximal development” (ZPD), respectively. The former pertains to learners’ existing ability to
display a performance level without external assistance; the latter connotes the extent to which

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learners can move away from this existing performance level towards the one developed under
guidance and assistance.
Vygotsky (1978) (as cited in Tzuriel 2000) defines the ZPD as “the distances between the actual
developmental level as determined by independent problem solving the level of potential
development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with
more capable peers” (P. 86). According to this definition, the person providing guidance (the
mediator) must be aware of a learner’s actual developmental level. Vygotsky defines the “actual
developmental level” as problem solving completed without assistance, or “the level of development
of a child’s mental functions that has been established as a result of certain already completed
developmental cycles” (P.85). Learning, or the ability to perform under another’s guidance, creates
the ZPD. According to Vygotsky if a child has difficulty performing a given task or grasping a
concept, he or she should not be left alone until she develops on her own a readiness to learn; on the
contrary, he or she should receive focused intervention designed to bring about development.

2.3 THE TEST-TEACH-RETEST METHOD

The DA method, test-teach-retest, is inspired by both Vygotsky’s and Feuerstein’s theories. In the test
phase, a child creates a narrative from one wordless picture sequence with no assistance from the
examiner. This builds the baseline score of the child. The examiner then introduces a teaching phase
or mediated learning experience. In this phase, the child participates in supported mediation session
focused on narrative elements. Following mediation, the examiner retest the examinee to measure the
amount of learning that has occurred. If the student shows high scores at posttest, the lower initial
performance score is likely a result of bias due to cultural or prior experiential differences or a lack of
interest or attention in the task. However, if the student shows low scores at pretest and a small
amount of learning progress on post-testing, this suggested that the student is likely to have language
learning problems (Poehner 2005). It can also be due to the fact that the child has general learning
problems or perhaps attention deficit problems.

3. PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTION OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of DA on Iranian EFL learners’ oral narrative
performance. The research question of the study is as follows:
To what extent dynamic assessment is effective on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ oral narrative
performance?
This study might encourage English teachers to think about trying this particular assessment
technique in their classrooms. It could help them decide on the suitable strategies to use for particular
lessons. The result can help teachers detect their students’ strength and weakness by using this from
of assessment. As a result, they guide their students to overcome their weaknesses in producing oral
narratives.

4. METHODOLOGY

4.1 PARTICIPANTS
To accomplish the task, 30 students participated in this study. All of them were male Iranian EFL
(English as a Foreign Language) learners in Guyesh institute in Germi. Their age varied from 15 to 17
with the mean of 16.

4.1.1 SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS

Prior to the main phase of the study, a TOEFL test was administered by the institute. After selecting
participants with scores one standard deviation above and below the mean they were randomly
divided into homogeneous classes. One class was determined as the control group (CG) and the other
one was regarded as experimental group (EG).

4.2 INSTRUMENT
A wordless picture sequence was used to elicit the narrative samples. It consisted of eight laminated
pictures. Students looked at the pictures in the story, and then were instructed to tell a story to go
along with the pictures. The students looked at the first picture and narrated the events in the first
picture. When the children finished telling the events in the first picture, they went to the second

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picture and told the events related to it. When the children stopped telling the events in the second
picture, they went to the third picture. The same procedure was then carried out for the test of
pictures.
A microphone also was used to record the data. Participants’ narratives on pretest and posttest were
recorded by using this microphone. The researcher analyzed the data by listening to the records.

4.3 SCORING METHOD

In order to asses participant’ pretest and posttest narrative, the NSS was used. The NSS is scored
using a zero to five point scale. Five points were given for proficient use, 3 points for emerging or
inconsistent use and 1 point for immature or minimal use. Scores of 2 and 4 are used for intermediate
performance. A score of zero (0) was given for poor performance and for a variety of child errors
including telling the wrong story, conversing with the examiner, not completing the task, abandoned
utterances, unintelligibility, and when target components of the NSS were imitated. The scores for ach
characteristic can be considered individually or combined into a total composite score (highest
possible score being 35).

4.5 DESCRIPTION OF NSS CHARACTERISTICS

The NSS is divided into seven sections that assess seven different aspects of narrative performance.
The Detailed description of the scheme is provided below:
1. Introduction: Scores are determined by the presence, absence, and qualitative depiction of
character and setting components.
2. Character Development: Scores are based on the acknowledgement of characters and their
significance throughout the story.
3. Mental States: Narratives are evaluated based on the vocabulary used to convey character
emotions and thought processes. The frequency as well as diversity of mental state words are
considered. For example, if a story provides frequent opportunities to verbalize anger themes
and a child marks each of these with “mad,” he/she will not receive as high of a score as a
child who explains one opportunity using “mad,” another using “angry,” another using
“upset,” and so on. Mental state words can be either adjectives (e.g. sad, happy, and scared)
or active cognitive-state (e.g. believe, know, and remember).
4. Referencing: Score are given according to the consistent and accurate use of antecedents and
clarifiers throughout the story. Student’s use of correct pronouns and proper names should
be considered in this score.
5. Conflict/Resolution: Score are based on the presence/absence of conflicts and resolutions
required to express the story as well as show thoroughly each is described.
6. Cohesion: The sequencing of, details given to, and transitions between each event are
examined.
7. Conclusion: Scores are based on the conclusion of the final event as well as the wrap-up of the
entire story. (Heilmann, Miller, & Nockrets 2010, p. 7)

4.6 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

The test measure (NSS) utilized in the study has been previously used by Heilmann, Miller and
Nockerts (2010) to assess narratives and were found to be valid measures of expressive language
abilities. They stated that NSS is the most sensitive scheme to measuring narrative performance. As a
routine, inter-rater reliability was calculated for 20% of testing forms from the large study. Six
participants were randomly selected; in total 12 narratives were reanalyzed. The other researcher
(principal of the institute) scored the tests independently. Then the reliability between the two
scorings was calculated. The results indicated high inter-rater reliability (.89). Differences in results
between the researcher conducting the study and the second rater were resolved through discussion,
and a consensus was reached.

4.7 DATA ANALYSIS

This study had a pretest-posttest design. In order to analyze the data from oral narratives, descriptive
statistics of the tests were calculated to arrive at the means and standard deviation of the pretest and
posttest scores. Furthermore, a t-test was used to measure the significance of the difference in the
means of two groups.

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4.8 PROCEDURES
4.8.1 WARMING UP THE PARTICIPANTS
The researcher felt that the participants needed more time to get comfortable in the situation and
decided to conduct a warm up phase by asking them some questions in general.
These questions included asking questions about the participants themselves, their parents, their jobs,
etc. The researcher also showed a picture of their town. This picture made it more natural to ask
warm up questions. Telling the participants that the researcher has also learnt English at school made
the situation warmer. The length of the warm up phase was also adapted to each participant during
the study. If the participant was talkative the researcher started the assessment earlier, but if the
participant answered the questions with short answers or not at all, the researcher spoke more about
the picture and the participant was more at ease with talking to the researcher.

4.8.2 NON-DYNAMIC PRETEST

One week before the DA program began; students were given a non-dynamic pretest to determine
their ability to form a narrative. The purpose of the non-dynamic pretest was to reveal the
independent performance of the students, or their Actual Development Level (ADL). In this phase the
researcher put pictures in front of the student and said: “Now I want you tell the story. Look at the
pictures and try to tell the best story you can”. The same procedure was then carried out for the rest
of the students. During this assessment, the teacher did not provide any assistance to the students and
students were not allowed to consult classmates.
After taking pre-test, a t-test was used. The normality of the distribution of scores, as a prerequisite of
running a t-test, was calculated using Kolmogrow-Smirnow statistic. The results of the initial t-test
showed no significant difference between the scores of groups on pretest. Table 1 presents the
descriptive statistics for the students’ scores on pretest.

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics for Pretest

Group Number Mean Standard Deviation

EG 15 20.93 1.093

CG 15 21.07 1.163

The following test of normality (Table2) gives the result of the Kolomogrow-Smirnov statistic for
pretest. This assesses the normality of the distribution of scores. The Sig. values for experimental and
control groups are .081 and .153 respectively, which indicate the normality of distribution for both
groups (Sig. values of more than .05).

Table 2 Kolomogrow-Smirnov Test of Normality for Pretest

Group Statistic Df Sig.

EG .208 15 .081

CG .190 15 .153

Since the distributions of scores for both groups were normal it was started to use parametric test (t-
test) to seek the existence and non-existence of initial difference between the two groups.

Table 3 Independent Samples T-test for Students’ Scores on Pretest

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Level’s test for equality of variances T-test for equality of means

F Sig. Sig. (2-tailed) Mean differences Std. Error Difference

.278 .602 .742 .133 .402

The table 3 presented above shows that the difference between the mean scores of two groups is very
small (.133).

4.8.3 TEACHING PHASE

The dynamic Assessment (DA) in this study took place during the teaching phase immediately after
the first narrative task. In dynamic assessment phase, the mediator provided individualized
mediation and assistance, including prompts, hints, suggestions, explanation, etc. in an appropriate
and meaningful manner, where necessary. The mediator paid attention to the problematic areas from
pretest phase and additional problems that the learner revealed through interactions in this phase.
Through DA, the mediator tried to help the learner optimally with the help of mediation. The
mediation prompts used are provided in Table 4 below:

Table 4 Mediation Prompts Provided by the Researcher

Level of Explicitness Mediation Movement

Prompt 1 Pause with skeptical look

Prompt 2 Repetition of entire phrase by teacher

Prompt 3 Repetition of specific site of error

Prompt 4 Forced choice option

Prompt 5 Correct response

During the sessions in which mediation was provided the following additional directions were
also given:
The mediator interrupted at various points to ask questions, offer suggestions, and provide help
when necessary; sometimes he interrupted to provide a correction, to question something that was
said, or to make general comments.
These interruptions were done in Persian or Azeri Turkish in order to avoid any possible
misunderstandings. In addition interruption, the mediator also encouraged students to ask him for
help if they need it; they could do that in Persian, English or Azeri Turkish.
When a student used incorrect forms in narrating the story, the researcher provided a series of
graduated prompts, arranged from implicit to explicit, to help the student reformulate the form
correctly. Some students were able to correct the form after pausing and giving the student time to
think, others required more explicit prompt in which a forced choice was given. A brief description of
three phases in DA is presented below in Table 5:

Table 5 An Overview of DA Phases

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Assessment Task Description Material Mediation Offered

Pretest phase Construction of a A wordless picture None

Past-tense, sequence
Narrative in English,
Recounting events
from the wordless
picture sequence

Teaching phase Construction of a A wordless picture Flexible interaction

past-tense, sequence with assessor: hints,
narrative in English, promos, suggestions,
Recounting events explanations as needed
from the wordless
picture sequence

Posttest Phase Construction of a A wordless picture None

past-tense, sequence
narrative in English,
Recounting events
from the wordless
picture sequence

4.8.4 POSTTEST
In the posttest phase the participant again produced a narrative by using the same wordless picture
sequences. We followed the same procedure for analyzing and describing the posttest story that was
used for the pretest. In order to capture students’ independent progress, mediation was not provided
during the assessment. The posttest was scored using the same rubric as was used to score the pretest.
The purpose of the non-dynamic posttest was to observe how much the learner has developed over
the seven sessions.
The following test of normality (Table 6) gives the results of the Kolomogorow-Sminrov statistic for
posttest. This assesses the normality of the distribution of scores. The Sig. values for experimental and
control groups are .377 and .276 respectively. A non-significant result (Sig. values of more than .05)
indicated normality. Since the distributions of scores for both groups on posttest were also normal it
used a parametric test (t-test) to seek the existence and non-existence of difference between the two
groups.

Table 6 Kolomogorow-Sminrov Test of Normality for Posttest

Group Statistic Df Sig.

EG .206 15 .377

CG .214 15 .276

Table 7 presents the descriptive statistics for the students’ scores on posttest

Table 7 Descriptive Statistics for Posttest

Group Number Mean Standard Deviation

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EG 15 25.33 1.234

CG 15 20.87 1.125

The difference between the performances of the two groups has been calculated through applying a t-
test that was presented below (Table 8).
The man of experimental group (25.33) was more than the mean of control group (20.78). So null_
hypothesis of this study which claimed that dynamic assessment has no effect on Iranian intermediate
EFL learners’ narrative performance was rejected.

Table 8 Independent Samples T-test for Students’ Scores on Posttest

Levene’s test for equality of variances t-test for equlity of means
F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference

Equal variances .108 .744 10.356 28 .000 4.467

Assumed

Equal variances 10.356 27.764 .000 4.467

not Assumed

5. DISCUSSION
The findings of our study are in line with those of Pohner (2005). Pohner conducted and empirical DA
study of oral communication among advanced learners of L2 French to investigate the effectiveness
of the application of DA procedure to L2 learning. He demonstrated that DA is an effective means of
understanding learner’s abilities and helping them to overcome linguistic problems.
Our findings are also in line with those of Ajideh and Nurdad (2012). Ajideh and Nurdad designed a
study to investigate the difference between applying dynamic and non-dynamic assessment of EFL
reading comprehension ability and examining its immediate and delayed effects. The results of the
study revealed significant difference between dynamic and non-dynamic assessment with a
statistically significant increase in the reading comprehension scores of the group being assessed
dynamically. Similarly, Kozulin and Garb (2004) indicated that dynamic assessment is effective in
both improving students’ reading ability and understanding about their language learning potential.
Participants in an informal talk with the researcher indicated that face-to-face interaction with the
mediator made learning process more enjoyable and comfortable. They also mentioned that they felt
less anxious in dynamic assessment sessions in comparison to previously conducted classes. Most of
them indicated that their attitudes toward assessment change completely. They told that their
perceptions of their class, teacher and curriculum changed during these sessions. The new attitude
provided them a strong motivation to produce second language. They claimed that they are learning
for themselves so there is no need to compare them with others and dynamic assessment sessions
provided them this situation-appropriately.
By providing the participants with the opportunity to take part in mediation sessions, they were able
to participate more, ask questions that feared asking in front of the class, and hypothesize about
different questions. Providing comprehensible input during these sessions the participants were
likely to exhibit change in their performances.
In contrast to static assessment in which all of the students take part in the same test with the same
difficulty level, in dynamic assessment the teacher acts according to each student’s ZPD and trainings
are based on this ZPD, so very student has the opportunity to develop through these sessions.

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6. CONCLUSION
To show any significance change, the performances of both groups on posttest were compared
applying t-test. T-test revealed that there is a significant difference in the performances of the subjects
in experimental group. So the null hypothesis of this study which claimed that dynamic assessment
has no effect on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ narrative performance was rejected.

REFERENCES
Ajideh, P. & Nourdad, N. (2012). The immediate and delayed effect of dynamic assessment on EFL
reading ability. Journal of English Language Teaching, 5(12), 141-151
Backman, L.F. (1990). Fundamental consideration in language testing. Oxford: Oxford university
press.
Cohen, A. D. (1980). Testing language ability in the classroom. Mass: New burry House. pp. 65, 91.
Feuerstein, R. (1979) The Dynamic Assessment of Retarded Performers: The Learning Propensity Assessment
Device--Theory, Instruments and Techniques: Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
Feuerstein, R., Y. Rand, and J.E Rynders. (1988). Don’t accept me as I am: Helping retarded performers
excel. New York: Plenum.
Heilmann, J., Miller, J., Nockerts, A., & Dunaway, C. (2010). Properties of the narrative scoring
scheme using narrative retells in young school-age children. American Journal of Speech-Language
Pathology, 19, 154-166
Kozulin, A. & Garb, E. (2004). Dynamic assessment of literacy: English as a third Language. European
Journal of Psychology of Education, 19.1, 65-77.
Lidz, C.S. & Elliott, J.G. (Eds.). (2000). Dynamic assessment: Prevailing models and applications.
Amsterdam: JAI/Elsevier Science.
Pallant, J. (2007). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows.
Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Poehner, M. E. (2005). Dynamic assessment of advanced L2 learners of French (Doctoral dissertation).
Pennsylvania State University.
Rand, Y., Tannenbaum, A.J., & Feuertein, R. (1979). Effects of instrumental enrichment on the
psychoeducational development of low-functioning adolescents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71,
751-763.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Tzuriel, D. (2000). Dynamic assessment of young children: educational and intervention perspectives.
Educational Psychology Review, 12 .4, 385-420.

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LEXICAL INFERENCING STRATEGIES OF IRANIAN

EFL LEARNERS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF
PROFICIENCY WHILE READING

Zahra Rouholamin
Department of English, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
Email: rouholaminzahra@gmail.com

Sajad Shafiee*
Department of English, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
Email: s.shafiee@iaushk.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED THE LEXICAL INFERENCING MADE BY IRANIAN EFL
STUDENTS AT IAU, ISFAHAN (KHORASGAN) BRANCH WHEN THEY ENCOUNTERED
UNFAMILIAR WORDS IN ENGLISH TEXTS. THE RESEARCHERS EXAMINED THE EFFECT OF
LEARNERS’ LEVEL OF READING COMPETENCE ON THEIR LEXICAL INFERENCING WITH
RESPECT TO THE KNOWLEDGE SOURCES AND TYPES OF CONTEXTUAL CUES THEY USED IN
THE PROCESS, THEIR RATE OF SUCCESS IN INFERRING THE CORRECT MEANING OF THE
TARGET WORDS, AND THEIR RATE OF VOCABULARY LEARNING AND RETENTION OF
PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN WORDS. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF A READING
COMPREHENSION PROFICIENCY TEST (TOFEL TEST), 20 STUDENTS, 10 FROM EACH OF TWO
DISTINCT LEVELS OF READING ABILITY (I.E., INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED) WERE
SELECTED FOR THE STUDY. TWO PRETESTS WERE USED: NATION'S (1990) VOCABULARY
LEVEL TEST TO ASSESS THE STUDENTS' SIZE OF VOCABULARY, AND VOCABULARY
KNOWLEDGE SCALE (VKS) (PARIBAHT & WESCHE; 1993, 1997; WESCHE &PARIBAKHT, 1996),
TO MEASURE THEIR LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE TARGET WORDS. THINK-ALOUD
PROCEDURES WERE USED DURING THE INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW SESSIONS. AT THE END
OF INTERVIEWS, RETROSPECTIVE MEASURES WERE USED TO ASK THE PARTICIPANTS
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES. TWO WEEKS AFTER THE INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW SESSIONS, A
POSTTEST (VKS) WAS ADMINISTERED TO ASSESS LEARNERS' RATE OF RETENTION OF THE
PREVIOUSLY UNFAMILIAR TARGET WORDS. RESULTS REVEALED THAT PROFICIENCY
GROUPS USED SIMILAR TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE SOURCES AND CONTEXTUAL CUES WHEN
INFERENCING, BUT IN DIFFERENT PROPORTIONS. SENTENCE LEVEL MEANING AND
DISCOURSE LEVEL MEANING WERE THE MOST FREQUENTLY USED STRATEGY TYPES BY
BOTH GROUPS.

KEY WORDS: LEXICAL INFERENCING, VOCABULARY ACQUISITION, READING

COMPREHENSION, READING PROFICIENCY

1. Introduction
It is words that contain the basic component as well as the essence of any language. Recently the role
of the lexicon in language learning and communication has come to be widely understood by foreign
language teachers and researchers since vocabulary is central to the developmental of language and
literacy (Jorddan, 2011). Traditionally, language has been determined as lexical grammar. Nowadays,
researchers begin to pay more attention to vocabulary. Consequently, in the field of English language
learning, without the good mastery of vocabulary, other skills, such as listening, reading, and writing
will turn out to be castle in the air.

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Reading comprehension is considered as both a process and a product of communication with a

writer. A reader needs a variety of highly flexible processes called comprehension strategies in order
to achieve successful reading comprehension. Reading English as a second/foreign language
(ESL/EFL) is very important for the academic success of university students. In an EFL context, most
of the time, students’ need to read English texts is more significant than the opportunity to listen
and/or speak the language. Therefore, written language in such contexts contains a major source of
potential input for second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. However, learners always have
problems with unknown words while they read, and poor knowledge of vocabulary constitutes a
major barrier in their reading comprehension. The mastery of vocabulary facilitates comprehension in
reading as one of primary factor (Al-jabri, 2005).
Research (Harley & Hart, 2000; Paribakht, 2004; Qian, 2004) indicates that readers use a variety of
strategies when they encounter new words in foreign text. These strategies include ignoring unknown
words, consulting a dictionary for the meanings of these words, writing them down for further
consultation with a teacher, or attempting to infer their meaning from context (Harley & Hart, 2000).
Some studies (e.g. Laufer, 1997 cited in Nassaji, 2003; Paribakht, 2004; Qian, 2004) have shown that the
most commonly used strategy among them is to infer the meaning of unknown words in order to
compensate for the lack of comprehension.
Lexical inferencing is defined by Oxford (1990, p.47) as "using a variety of linguistic and
nonlinguistic clues to guess the meanings of all words when the learner does not know them".
Inferencing includes more in-depth processing and mental effort than, for example, memorizing.
The present study was designed to find out what strategies Iranian EFL learners used to
comprehend unknown words in the foreign text and to explore the lexical inferencing behavior of
Iranian EFL learners of English as foreign language in terms of the intent, the clue use, the procedure,
the processing type, the adaptability, and the success of lexical inferencing as well as the subsequent
lexical knowledge acquisition.

2. Literature Review
In the process of language learning, vocabulary plays an important role. McCarthy (2001) states that
vocabulary constitutes the largest part of the meaning of the languages, and that vocabulary also
becomes the problems for most language learners. Thus, vocabulary learning is at the center of
learning a second or foreign language. It is necessary to take up the issue of what it means to know a
word for any discussion on vocabulary acquisition. There is an agreement among researchers that
knowing a word includes more than just being able to remember its meaning or the ability to provide
an equivalent in L2.
Gass (1999) states a definition of the word; she contends that there are two aspects to defining the
word. On the one hand, "acquisition is viewed as an end" (p. 327); therefore, it seems something has
been acquired. On the other hand, “acquisition can be viewed as a process beginning with input and
culminating with integration of new linguistic information into an existing linguistic system, then
being the manifestation of newly integrated or acquired knowledge”. According to the Gass’
viewpoint, “acquisition” can be an end (i.e. something has been learned) or a process (i.e. something
is being learned). The next point of view corresponds to the opinion of Schmitt (2000). Schmitt claims
that “vocabulary acquisition is incremental in nature” (p. 117). This means knowing a word involves
a process of learning and “a number of component types of word knowledge” (p. 5).
Lexical inferencing, according to a more correct definition by Haastrup (1991), "involves making
informed guesses as to the meaning of a word in light of all available linguistic cues in combination
with the learner's general knowledge of the world, her awareness of the co-text and her relevant
linguistic knowledge" ( p. 40). While practicing lexical inferencing, learners should not only pay more
attention to the worlds in context, but also improve their reading ability. Because this kind of
vocabulary learning is incidental, through large amounts amount of reading, learners can accumulate
a lot of vocabulary.
In recent years, researchers have paid a great deal of attention to vocabulary learning and have in
particular focused on lexical inferencing processes of L2 readers. Hence, the research questions raised
in the present study are written below.
1. What kind of knowledge sources and context clues do Iranian EFL learners access to guess the
meaning of unfamiliar words?

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2. What is the role of learners' reading proficiency level in their lexical inferencing in terms of their
knowledge sources and context clues they use in the process?
3. What is the role of learners' reading proficiency level in their lexical inferencing in terms of their
rate of success in inferring the correct meaning of unfamiliar words?
4. What is the role of learners' reading proficiency level in their lexical inferencing in terms of their
rate of learning and retention of previously unknown words?
3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
This study was conducted at IAU, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran. The study required
that 50 M.A. students take part in a sample TOFEL test. All the 50 students volunteered to participate
in the study and take the test. Ten advanced and 10 intermediate students were randomly selected to
take part in the study.

3.2. Materials and Instruments

In order to conduct the present study, the following instruments were used for the selection of the
participants and for data collection. The primary instrument was the TOFEL reading test. The reading
test of the TOFEL was used for assessment of the participants' reading proficiency level. The next one
was Vocabulary Knowledge Test which includes: Vocabulary Level Test (Nation, 1990), and
Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS). The Vocabulary Level Test is widely used in academic and other
settings by L2 researchers as a measure of English vocabulary size (e.g. Laufer, 1992, 1996; Yu, 1996).
In order to obtain demographic and background information about the participants, a questionnaire
in English was prepared by the researcher. The questions helped the researcher gain information
about the participants. Different types of texts from various sources were examined in order to select
a suitable text on a topic of general interest to this population. The reading text had to be interesting
and appealing, authentic, non-technical, culturally and politically suitable, and with appropriate level
of difficulty and length. To ensure the suitability of the selected text, it was piloted tested again with
ten volunteer students (from a population similar to that of chosen sample). These students were also
asked to read the text and circle any unfamiliar words. The circled words this time provided the basis
for the selection of the target words that were used in the text.

3.3. Procedures
Procedures used to collect data, following the selection of participants, included pretesting, training
sessions, and individual research sessions. Data was collected over a 6-week period. The participants
knew in advance that they would be required to give at least 6 hours of their time in order to
complete all the research sessions. Twenty days before the individual interviews, the 50 volunteers
willing to participate in the study took the reading proficiency test (TOFEL test). Based on the result
of the test, 10 students each from two distinct levels of reading ability (advanced and intermediate)
were randomly chosen for the study. The think-aloud training session took place in a classroom just
after the pretest, and a week before the individual research interviews. In the training session,
following Ericsson and Simon (1984, 1993), the researcher demonstrated how to "think aloud," using
several pictures. During the individual research sessions (think-aloud and retrospective sessions), the
lexical inferencing task, which comprised 26 target words in an English text was presented as a
problem-solving task to the participants. Immediately after the practice session, each participant was
first given the target text and was asked to read it for general comprehension. The participant was
also asked to verbalize what she or he was doing and thinking while carrying out the inferencing
task. The researcher tried not to interfere with the participants' reading and inferencing process, but
promoted them to think aloud whenever there was a long pause by saying. Immediately after
completing the inferencing task, participants were asked to retrospect on how they had found the text
in terms of difficulty and interest, and how they had dealt with the unknown words. At the end of
each interview, each participant was given the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS), in order to
measure gains in the knowledge of the target words. The last research session took place 2 weeks
after the individual research interview. At this time the VKS was administered for the third time to
assess the learner's rate of retention of the target words.

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4. Results
4.1. Result of the TOFEL
The TOEFL was administered to help the researcher determine the level of proficiency of the
participants in the study. The test contained 20 questions, and those who obtained 15 or above were
labeled advanced, while those who got a score between 9 and 14 were considered to be intermediate.
Table 1. shows the descriptive statistics of the participants in these two proficiency levels on the
TOEFL.
Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics for the TOEFL Scores of the Intermediate and Advanced Learner

Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum

Intermediate 10 12.41 1.18 9.00 14.00

Advanced 10 16.39 1.37 15.00 19.00

Mean, standard deviation, and other descriptive statistics of the two proficiency groups are shown in
Table 1. Once the proficiency level of the participants was determined, they were asked to proceed
with the research steps, go through the treatment, and subsequently take the reading and vocabulary
tests the results of which made the following analyses possible.
4.2. Results for the First Research Question
The first research question of the current study was formulated to investigate what kind of
knowledge sources and contextual clues the learners accessed to guess the meanings of unfamiliar
words. To find an answer to this question, the only concern was to identify the knowledge sources
and contextual cues used in lexical inferencing regardless of whether participants succeeded or not in
providing the appropriate meanings. The qualitative analyses of the data revealed that participants
used a variety of knowledge sources and contextual cues in word inferencing and exploited several
other knowledge sources, such as their native language and their background knowledge.
The taxonomy is illustrated by a description of each category accompanied by representative
examples. In some of the examples, multiple knowledge sources were used by the participants.
Participants made use of morphology, or their knowledge of word derivations (stems, prefixes, and
suffixes).
Example 1:
P: {Toxic spills, desertification, roads, land mines} . . . . desertification becoming like a desert . .
. . desertification . . . . becoming a desert . . . .
I: How did you know?
P: The beginning . . . . (desert) the first part, desert is (environmental disaster) it's got to be it.
The participants often made use of cues beyond the target word. This included two main
categories: sentence level and discourse level cues. Examples of sentence level meaning, when
participants used the general meaning of the sentence containing the target word in inferencing,
follow:
Example 2:
P: {Caribbean islands devastated by} . . . . it may means like destroyed or something like
that.
I: How did you know?
P: (just from the meaning, the whole meaning of the sentence) . . . . they tell you how people (flee
from their country) then he tells you how people (flee from their country) then he tells you (by
volcanic eruptions so it has to be . . . .)
The participants made use of relationships and meanings beyond sentence level, which were
identified as discourse level meaning or formal schemata. Discourse level meaning is the general
understanding of several related sentences, a paragraph or the text as a whole.
Example 3:

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P: I want to see the meaning of the whole paragraph, here (hysterical media) does not give
the meaning like . . . . surly (media) here has another meaning.
Participants sometimes made use of their general knowledge of the world, the topic of the
text and their field of study in lexical inferencing.
Example 4:
P: the word flee, devastated, and volcanic ... (people of . . . . I didn’t know where the
Montserrat . . . . so that doesn’t help me but) . . . . {to flee the Caribbean island} . . . .
I: What do you think it means?
P: To leave or . . . .
I: How did you get to the meaning?
Results indicate that both proficiency groups used the same types of knowledge sources and
contextual cues in lexical inferencing. These sources illustrate the participants' own linguistic and
non-linguistic knowledge sources (e.g., background knowledge) interacting with the cues from the
target words and the surrounding text.
4.3. Result for the Second Research Question
The second research question of the current study was formulated to investigate what the role of
learners' reading proficiency level was in their lexical inferencing in terms of their knowledge sources
and context clues they use in the process. To find an answer to this research question, chi-square test
was conducted. Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of the different types of knowledge sources
and context clues used by both intermediate and advanced groups, and Table 3 presents the results of
the chi-square for this analysis:

Table 2.
Frequencies of Different Types of Knowledge Sources and Context Clues Used by Intermediate and Advanced
Learners
Knowledge Sources and Context Clues
Background Inferencing Dictionary Ignoring Context Total
Knowledge the Word Clues
Proficiency Intermediate 41 19 76 26 38 200
Level Advanced 63 31 29 44 71 238
Total 104 50 105 70 109 438

The frequencies of different types of knowledge sources and context clues used by intermediate and
advanced learners are displayed in Table 2 above. As it is clear, for all different types of knowledge
sources and context clues (except for dictionary use), the frequencies of for advance learners exceeded
the frequencies for intermediate learners. Whether the difference between the frequencies of
knowledge sources and contextual clues used by advanced learners or intermediate learners was
statistically significant or not had to be determined by the results of the chi-square test:
Table 3.
Chi-Square Results for Comparing Intermediate and Advanced Learners with Regard to Different Types of
Knowledge Sources and Context Clues
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)
Pearson Chi-Square 40.19 4 .000
Likelihood Ratio 40.93 4 .000
Linear-by-Linear Association .66 1 .41
N of Valid Cases 438

The p value under the Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) column in front of Pearson Chi-square was less than the
specified level of significance (i.e. .000 < .05), indicating that the difference between intermediate and
advanced learners in terms of using different types of knowledge sources and contextual clues was
statistically significant. To be more precise, the only items that make a difference between these two
groups is using dictionary. As you see in Figure1, the intermediate group checked dictionary more
than advanced one. Figure 4.1 graphically shows the results obtained for this research question.

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80 76
71
70 63
60
50 44
41
38
40
31 29
30 26
19
20
10
0
Background Inferencing Dictionary Ignoring the Context
Knowledge Word

Intermediate Advanced

Figure 1.: Knowledge Sources and Context Clues Used by Intermediate and Advanced Learners
4.4. Results for the Third Research Question
The third research question of the current study was formulated to investigate what the role of
learners' reading proficiency level was in their lexical inferencing in terms of their rate of success in
inferring the correct meaning of unfamiliar words. To come up with an answer to this research
question, a reading test containing unfamiliar words, which was commensurate with the level of
intermediate learners, was given to the intermediate learners. A similar test, though with a level
which suited advanced learners, was administered to advanced learners. This way, the researcher
could understand how successfully the learners in the two proficiency groups could infer the
meanings of unknown words. An independent-samples t test was conducted to compare the scores of
intermediate and advanced learners on their relevant reading test. Table 4 depicts the results of
descriptive statistics obtained for this purpose.
Table 4.
Descriptive Statistics for Comparing the Scores of Intermediate and Advanced Learners
Std.
Groups N Mean Std. Error Mean
Deviation
Reading Test Intermediate 10 14.90 1.19 .37
Advanced 10 16.80 1.68 .53

Such descriptive statistics as mean and standard deviation are shown for both groups in Table 4. The
mean score of the intermediate learners (M = 14.90) was less than the mean score of the advanced
learners (M = 16.80). The value of p under the Sig. (2-tailed) column in Table 5 determines whether
this difference between the two mean scores was statistically significant or not.

Table 5
Results of the Independent-Samples t Test for Comparing the Scores of Intermediate and Advanced Learners
Levene’s Test
for Equality of T-test for Equality of Means
Variances
95%
Confidence
Sig. Mean
Std. Error Interval of the
F. Sig. t df (2- Differenc
Difference Difference
tailed) e
Uppe
Lower
r
Equal
Readin 2.90
Variance .85 .36 18 .039 1.90 - .65 -3.27 -.52
g -
s

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Assume
d
Equal
Variance
-
s not 16.23 .010 -1.90 .65 -3.28 -.51
2.90
Assume
d

According to Table 5., there was a statistically significant difference in reading scores for intermediate
(M =16.80, SD =1.68) and advanced learners (M = 1.80, SD=1.68), t (18) = -2.90, p = .009 (two-tailed).
This is so because the p value is less than the specified level of significance (i.e. .05). If the p value
were greater than the alpha level (that is, the level of significance), the conclusion would be that the
two groups were not significantly different in terms of their reading scores. The results of the reading
comprehension are also graphically shown in Figure 2.

16.8

17
16.5
16
14.9
15.5
15
14.5
14
13.5
Intermediate Advanced

Figure 2: The Mean Reading Scores of Intermediate and Advanced Learners

As it could be seen in Figure 2, the difference between the reading scores of the intermediate and
advanced learners was substantial. It could thus be understood that learner's level of proficiency in
reading effects on the rate of success in inferring the correct meaning of unfamiliar words.
4.5. Results for the Fourth Research Question
The fourth research question of the current study was formulated to investigate what the role of
learners' reading proficiency level was in their lexical inferencing in terms of their rate of learning and
retention of previously unknown words? To come up with an answer to this research question, a
vocabulary test (VKS) containing the words to be taught during the course was given to the
intermediate learners as the pretest. The same test, used as the posttest, was administered to the
learners after the completion of the treatment. Finally, this test was used as a delayed posttest after an
interval of two weeks. This way, the researcher could understand how successfully the intermediate
learners could learn retain the meanings of those words. The same procedure was carried out for
advanced learners, the only difference being that the test used for them suited their level of
proficiency. To find an answer to this research question, the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest
scores of the participants in the intermediate group were compared via one-way repeated measures
ANOVA, and then the same statistical procedure was used for the learners in the advanced group.
Table 6. presents the descriptive statistics for the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest of the
intermediate learners.
Table 6. Descriptive Statistics Results Comparing Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest Scores of the
Intermediate Learners
Mean Std. Deviation N
Pretest .70 1.03 20
Posttest 16.75 5.01 20
Delayed Posttest 14.20 6.04 20

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Comparing the intermediate learners’ mean scores of the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest, it
could be seen that the posttest mean score exceeded both the pretest and the delayed posttest mean
scores. More precisely, the intermediate learners managed to achieve a mean score of 16.75 on the
posttest, while their pretest mean score was .70. In addition, their delayed posttest mean score was
14.20. The significance or insignificance of these differences between the pretest, posttest, and delayed
posttest scores of the intermediate learners could be determined in the one-way repeated measures
ANOVA table below (Table 7).
Table 7. One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA Results Comparing Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest
Scores of the Intermediate Learners
Hypothesis Partial Eta
Value F df Error df Sig. Squared
Pillai's Trace .95 180.96 2.00 18.00 .000 .95
Wilks' Lambda .04 180.96 2.00 18.00 .000 .95
Hotelling's Trace 20.10 180.96 2.00 18.00 .000 .95
Roy's Largest Root 20.10 180.96 2.00 18.00 .000 .95

The Sig. value in front of Wilks’ Lambda (which is the most widely reported index) in the ANOVA
table represented a p value lower than the significance level (.000 < .05), indicating that there was a
statistically significant difference between the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest scores of the
intermediate group. However, the exact location of the difference had to be determined in the Tukey
post-hoc table (Table 8.).

Table 4.8. Results of the Tukey Post Hoc Test for Comparing Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest Scores of
the EG Learners
Mean Std. 95% Confidence Interval
Difference Error Sig. for Difference
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
Pretest Posttest -16.05* 1.04 .000 -18.78 -13.31
Delayed Posttest -13.50* 1.28 .000 -16.86 -10.13
Posttest Pretest 16.05* 1.04 .000 13.31 18.78
Delayed Posttest 2.55* .45 .000 1.35 3.74
Delayed Posttest Pretest 13.50* 1.28 .000 10.13 16.86
Posttest -2.55* .45 .000 -3.74 -1.35
Pair-wise comparisons of pretest-posttest, pretest-delayed posttest, and posttest-delayed posttest are
presented in Table 4.8. It could be noticed that the difference between pretest (M = .70) and posttest
(M = 16.75) mean scores of the intermediate learners reached statistical significance since the
corresponding Sig. value appeared to be lower than the significance level (i.e. .000 < .05). The same
was true for the difference between pretest and delayed posttest scores, and for the difference
between posttest and delayed posttest scores. This is also graphically shown in the bar chart below.

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16.75

18 14.2
16
14
12
10
8
6
4 0.7
2
0
Pretest Posttest Delayed Posttest

Figure 3: The Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest Mean Scores of Intermediate Learners
It is well beyond doubt that the intermediate learners had better performances on their posttest and
delayed posttest, compared to their pretest performance, and that their posttest mean score surpassed
their delayed posttest mean score.
Here are the results for advanced learners: Like what was the case with intermediate learners, the
pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest scores of the participants in the advanced group were
compared by means of one-way repeated measures ANOVA. Table 9. presents the descriptive
statistics for the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest of the advanced learners.
Table 9. Descriptive Statistics Results Comparing Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest Scores of the
Advanced Learners
Std.
Mean Deviation N
Pretest .15 .36 20
Posttest 23.40 4.21 20
Delayed Posttest 21.60 6.34 20

According to Table 9, the pretest (M = .15), posttest (M = 23.40), and delayed posttest (M = 21.60)
mean scores were different from one another. Whether the differences among these three mean scores
were of statistical significance or not should be determined in the one-way repeated measures
ANOVA table (Table 10.).
Table 10. One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA Results Comparing Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest
Scores of the Advanced Learners
Hypothesis Partial Eta
Value F df Error df Sig. Squared
Pillai's Trace .99 1021.42 2.00 18.00 .000 .99
Wilks' Lambda .009 1021.42 2.00 18.00 .000 .99
Hotelling's Trace 113.49 1021.42 2.00 18.00 .000 .99
Roy's Largest Root 113.49 1021.42 2.00 18.00 .000 .99

The Sig. value in front of Wilks’ Lambda in Table 10. showed a p value lower than the
significance level (.000 < .05), indicating that there was a statistically significant difference between
the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest scores of the advanced learners. Tukey post-hoc table was
used in order to find the exact location of the differences.

Table 11. Results of the Tukey Post Hoc Test for Comparing Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest Scores of
the EPG Learners
Mean Std. 95% Confidence Interval
Difference Error Sig. for Difference

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Lower Upper
Bound Bound
Pretest Posttest -23.25* .92 .000 -25.68 -20.81
Delayed Posttest -21.45* 1.40 .000 -25.12 -17.77
Posttest Pretest 23.25* .92 .000 20.81 25.68
Delayed Posttest 1.80* .54 .011 .38 3.22
Delayed Posttest Pretest 21.45* 1.40 .000 17.77 25.12
Posttest -1.80* .54 .011 -3.22 -.38

As could be seen in Table 11, the difference between pretest (M = .15) and posttest (M = 23.40) mean
scores of the advanced learners was statistically significant due to the fact that the relevant Sig. value
was smaller than the significance level (i.e. .000 < .05). Similarly, there was a significant difference
between the mean score of posttest (M = 23.40) and delayed posttest (M = 21.60), and so was the
difference between pretest and delayed posttest mean scores. Figure 4. graphically shows the results
obtained in this part.

21.6
23.4

25

20

15
Delayed Posttest
10
0.15 Posttest
5
Pretest
0
1

Figure 4: The Pretest, Posttest, and Delayed Posttest Mean Scores of Advanced Learners
It is as clear as the day that the advanced learners’ performance on the posttest was far superior to
their performance on the pretest, and also better than their performance on the delayed posttest.
To summarize, the same knowledge sources and contextual cues (with the exception of using
dictionary) were used by both intermediate and the advanced groups in L2 lexical inferencing. There
was no significant difference between two groups in terms of success of inferencing. However, the
intermediate group had a significantly higher level of failure in providing appropriate word
meanings.

5. Discussion
As mentioned before, the present study aimed to explore the lexical inferencing processes of Iranian
university students when they encountered unknown words while reading English texts.
As the results of the study revealed, the participants did not depend only on their knowledge of the
target language, but also exploited several other knowledge sources, such as their background
knowledge, when inferring the meanings of unknown words while reading English. The findings also
indicated that all participants used different kinds of knowledge sources and contextual cues when
inferencing.
Sentence level meaning and discourse level meaning were used significantly more often than all the
other knowledge sources by all participants irrespective of their reading proficiency level. Also,
sentence level meaning was used significantly more often than discourse level meaning by all
participants indicating that their main approach was to use local cues. At the discourse level, the
participants used formal schemata. This is probably due to the formal, structural type of teaching they
received in the L2 in secondary school. The classification of knowledge sources and contextual cues

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used in lexical inferencing in the present study are more similar to Paribakht and Wesche's (1999)
study and more specifically, in terms of the two main sources: linguistic sources (intralingual and
interlingual) and extra linguistic sources (learner's world knowledge).
Another main goal of this study was to examine the effect of the participants' reading proficiency
level on their lexical inferencing in terms of the knowledge sources and contextual clues they used in
the process. The findings indicated that although both intermediate and advanced proficiency groups
made use of wide range of the same knowledge sources and contextual clues when inferring the
meanings of unknown target words, they used them in different proportions. Furthermore, both
groups in the present study used linguistic sources more often than non-linguistic sources.
Another results of this study revealed that although the intermediate group inferred more target
words than the advanced group, there were no significant differences between the two groups in
terms of the frequency of their complete or partial success in lexical inferencing. That is, the
differences between the two groups in their level of reading proficiency did not appear to
significantly affect their level of success in inferring the correct meanings of the target words. In
summary, although there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of success
of inferencing, the intermediate group failed more significantly than the advanced group probably
because these participants had not reached the same level of reading proficiency as the advanced
ones, and had more limited vocabulary knowledge.
For either group alone, the posttest gains did not reach statistical significance. However, there was
some evidence of learning and retention over time for the combined sample. These results, indicating
minimal word learning and retention, are not surprising. Research shows that even if learners
successfully infer the meaning of an unknown word in a reading text, the word may not necessarily
be acquired. Research has also shown that intermediate as well as advanced L2 readers "pick up only
if a new, hitherto unfamiliar words by just reading for recreational, educational or professional
purposes" (Hulstijn et al., 1996, p. 328).
Therefore, the fact that there was some level of learning of previously unknown words may indicate
that the inferencing task brought at least some target words to the participants' attention and,
therefore, made them salient. The fact that the participants found the reading text very interesting and
appealing might have helped them learn some of the words. For example, when asked whether the
text was interesting in the retrospective interview, an intermediate student said: "Yes, it's great that
people are paying attention to this problem".

5. Conclusion
The result of the study shed some light on the complex process of L2 inferencing and the factors that
may affect its outcomes in terms of learners' success in guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words, as
well as the rate of learning and retention of these words. The results also help to better understand
some of the learners' problems in the process and possible impact on their L2 reading comprehension
and L2 vocabulary acquisition. In addition, the taxonomy of the knowledge sources used in lexical
inferencing that was developed from this study may be of interest to researchers investigating
different L2 learners' lexical inferencing processes in this area.

REFERENCES
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Fraser, C. (1991). Word comprehension and word learning in second language reading: An
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Gass, S. (1999). Incidental vocabulary learning: Discussion. SSLA, 21, 319-333.
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second language vocabulary acquisition: a rationale for pedagogy (pp. 174-200). Cambridge:
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Paribakht, S. & Wesche, M. (1999). "Incidental" vocabulary acquisition through reading: An
introspective study. In M. Wesche & Paribakht (Eds.), Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Special
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Wesche, M. & Paribakht, S. (1999). Introduction. In M. Wesche & S. Paribakht (Eds.), Studies in Second
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Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics: Oxford introductions to language study. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SIMPLE TEXT

TRANSLATION BASED ON TARGET LANGUAGE
EMPHASIS VS. SOURCE LANGUAGE EMPHASIS
METHODS AMONG IRANIAN BA TRANSLATION
TRAINEES

Mohammad-Ali Shahed Sadeq (corresponding author)

Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities, Rasht Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
arsham.deylam@gmail.com

Dr. Majid Pourmohammadi

Assistant Professor in TESOL, Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities,
Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir

Dr. Mohsen Khleseh Dehghan

Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities,
Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
Mkhdehghan@iaurasht.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY SEEKS TO INVESTIGATE A COMPARISON BETWEEN TARGET-BASED
LANGUAGE (TBL) VS. SOURCE-BASED LANGUAGE (SBL) EMPHASIS METHODS OF
TRANSLATION AMONG IRANIAN BA TRANSLATION TRAINEES. IT IS VIEWED THAT SBL
REFERS TO SEMANTIC AND TBL REFERS TO COMMUNICATIVE METHODS OF
TRANSLATION. IN ORDER TO FIND AN ANSWER FOR THE QUESTION OF THIS RESEARCH, 45
TRANSLATION STUDENTS OUT OF 60 AT RASHT ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY WERE
SELECTED VIA ADMINISTERING OXFORD QUICK PLACEMENT TEST. THEN THEY WERE
DIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS OF 15 AND WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TWO
EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS A, B AND ONE CONTROL GROUP C. AFTER PRETESTING OF
TRANSLATION WHICH WAS ADMINISTERED TO THREE GROUPS, THE EXPERIMENTAL
GROUP A RECEIVED SBL METHODS AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUP B RECEIVED TBL METHOD
OF TRANSLATION FOR EIGHT SESSIONS (ONCE A WEEK, 45 MINUTES) BY A TRANSLATION
INSTRUCTOR OF RASHT ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY WHILE THERE WAS NO TREATMENT
FOR THE CONTROL GROUP. AFTER TREATMENT PERIOD, THERE WAS POSTTEST OF
TRANSLATION; IT WAS ADMINISTERED TO ALL GROUPS. TWO SETS OF DATA OBTAINED
FROM THE PRETEST AND THE POSTTEST SCORES WERE ANALYZED (USING SPSS
SOFTWARE) THROUGH CALCULATING DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, A PAIRED SAMPLES T-
TEST AND ONE-WAY ANOVA. THE RESULTS REVEALED THAT THE IRANIAN TRANSLATION
STUDENTS IN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP B WHO RECEIVED TBL METHOD OF TRANSLATION
ATTAINED THE HIGHEST SCORES IN TRANSLATION TEST (POSTTEST). IT CAN BE

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CONCLUDED THAT THERE IS A STATISTICALLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SBL AND TBL

METHODS OF TRANSLATION IN THE ROUTE OF RENDERING A ST INTO TT.

KEY WORDS: TBL, SBL, INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE, TARGET CULTURE

1. Introduction
Nida and Taber (1969) explained the process of translating as, translating consists of reproducing
in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms
of meaning and secondly in terms of style. Translation, involving the transposition of thoughts
expressed in one language by one social group into the appropriate expression of another group,
entails a process of cultural de-coding, re-coding and en-coding. As cultures are increasingly brought
into greater contact with one another, it is the cultural aspect of the text that should be taken into
account. “Translation involves the rendering of a source language (SL) text into the target language
(TL) so as to ensure that (1) the surface meaning of the two will be approximately similar and (2) the
structure of the SL will be preserved as closely as possible, but not so closely that the TL structure will
be seriously distorted” (McGuire, 1980, p. 2).
The current study analyzes the comparison between simple text translating based on target
language emphasis vs. source language emphasis methods among Iranian BA translation trainees.
There is a distinction between source language and target language; in the first step, a brief
comparison between them is made. In translation, the source language is the language being
translated from; it is the antonym of the target language, which is the language being translated to.
Part of the difficulty in translation arises due to the lexical gap between the source language and the
target language. The necessity of translation arises from that gap, especially between two languages
belonging to different language families. In most professional settings, the source language is also the
translator's second language. The process typically begins with a full and in-depth analysis of the
original text in the source language, ensuring full comprehension and understanding before the
actual act of translating is approached (Hatim & Munday, 2005).While, the target language is the
language being translated to; it is the antonym of the source language, which is the language being
translated from. In most professional settings, the target language is also the translator's first
language. Translation for specific or professional topic areas often require a working knowledge of
those terminologies in the target language as well. For example, the translation of a legal text requires
not only fluency in the target language but also a familiarity with the terminology specific to the legal
field in the target language. While the form and style of the source language often cannot be
reproduced in the target language, the meaning and content can. Linguist Roman Jakobson went as
far as to claim that all cognitive experience can be classified and expressed in any living language
(FéRailleur-Dumoulin, 2009).
In translation, most often, it was seen that the translated text carries either more or less
information than the original text. As a result, Iranian translation students may face some problems to
reach the real meaning. There are some particular problems in their translation processes: problems of
ambiguity, problems that originate from structural and lexical differences between two languages and
multiword units like idioms and collocations. Actually, such phenomena are due to over-translation
and under-translation which consist of reproducing in TL the non-equivalence of SL message, in
terms of meaning or style. One of the most significant current comparative study is to explore the best
method of translation work for teaching Iranian BA translation students (i.e., target-based language
emphasis or source-based language emphasis). Nowadays, in a world characterized by global
communication, translation plays a key role in exchanging information between languages. To move
along the natural and professional continuum of conveying the meaning from one particular
language into another, a translator needs to learn some skills, strategies and methods as well as a
perfect knowledge of both the source and the target languages. Another significant point of this study
involves the perception and application of translation based on similarities and differences even big
or subtle between two languages as a delicate art. It appreciates faithfulness nature of source text to
target text like a painting which renders the realistic nature of a highland or mountainside skillfully.
Moreover, considering the emphasis and importance placed on English translation ability, the
researcher of the present study felt the urge and need to investigate two basic methods of translation
training, namely, TBL and SBL to promote the translating skill of Iranian BA translation students, and
find an answer for the following question: Is there any statistically significant difference between

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target-based language emphasis and source-based language emphasis methods in teaching simple
text translation among BA translation trainees?

2. Literature Review
According to Newmark (1988), the first traces of translation dates back from 3000 BC, the
Egyptian Old Kingdom, in the area of First Cataract, Elephantine, where inscriptions in two
languages have been found. It became a significant factor in the West in 300 BC. Luther’s Bible
translation in 1522 laid the foundations of modern German and King James’s Bible (1611) had a
seminal influence on English language and literature. Significant periods of translation preceded
Shakespeare and his contemporaries, French classicism and the Romantic Movements. Newmark
(1981) divided translation into two types: semantic and communicative as two methods of translation.
According to him, word-for-word, literal, faithful and semantic translations are SBL translation, while
communicative, idiomatic, free translation and adaptation are target-based language translation.
Semantic and communicative translation fulfill the two main aims of translation, which are first,
accuracy, and second, economy. A semantic translation is more likely to be economical than a
communicative translation, unless, for the latter, the text is poorly written. In general, a semantic
translation is written the author’s linguistic level, a communicative at the readership’s level. Semantic
translation is used for “expressive” texts, communicative for “informative and vocative” texts.
The field of translation has advanced along with scientific lines, particularly with the work of
Nida (1914-2011) using linguistics as a point of departure. Dooley (2005) investigated the SL vs. TL
discourse features in translating the word of God. According to him, in doing a translation it seems
reasonable to assume, at least as a default position, that target-language discourse features should be
favored. After all, discourse features are a matter of linguistic form and it is not primarily form that is
to be transferred, but meaning. However, in the aforementioned early work on discourse in relation
to Bible translation, it appears that there was a tacit possibility for using source-language features on
a certain hierarchical level of discourse organization (Dooley, 2005). In addition, Miaomiao (2014)
studied on the semantic and communication translation of magical things in Harry Potter. He believes
that Semantic translation (SBL) aims at replicating the original texts’ forms within the target language,
reproducing the original context, and retaining the characters of the SL culture in the translation. In
contrast, communicative translation (TBL) centers on the specific language and culture and focuses on
the TL readers. The translation under this method is clear, smooth and concise. According to
Miaomiao, although semantic translation has some differences from the traditional “word-for-word
translation”—the former takes the context into account while the latter does not— they are almost the
same, both loyal to the original text and culture. In this respect, he continued that Semantic
translation from the pronunciation level refers to abiding by the pronunciation rules and adopts the
way of transliteration in the translation process. This kind of translation method is often used in the
translation of names and proper nouns. In the magical world of Harry Potter, there are numerous
things that do not exist in the reality.
According to Jakobson (1959), translation is not only between two languages but also between
two versions or dialects of the same language which he considers “intralingual translation”. He
proposes three categories:
• Intralingual translation or rewording: an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other signs in the
same language.
• Interlingual translation or translation proper: an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other
language.
• Intersemiotic translation or transmutation: an interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of
nonverbal sign systems.
Having established these three types, of which interlingual translation properly describes the
process of transfer from SL to TL. Jakobson went on immediately to point to the central problem in all
types: that while messages may serve as adequate interpretations of code units or messages, there is
ordinarily no full equivalence through translation. Even apparent synonymy does not yield
equivalence, and Jakobson (1959) showed how intralingual translation often has to resort to a
combination of code units in order to fully interpret the meaning of a single unit.

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2.1. Translation competence

A consensus on the definition of written translation competence has not been achieved yet.
Different authors actually identified translation competence differently; Transfer competence (Nord,
1991), translational competence (Chesterman, 2003). According to Neubert (1991), translation requires
a set of complex skills and knowledge about translation (Neubert, 2000) and translation competence
includes some specific skills such as language competence, text competence, the subject area
knowledge, culture competence and transfer competence. Transfer competence plays an active role in
rendering the texts produced in the source language into the target language, and also covers
translation methods and techniques necessary for handling of the translation task quickly and
efficiently (Wilss, 1984). Therefore, without transfer competence, translators fail to perform the
rendering of the source text into the target language. It can be included that three main skills
translators should actually have; namely receptive competence, productive competence and meta-
translational competence. “Due to the highly complex nature of translation, translation is not an
activity based on the mere language acquisition. On the contrary, it requires different sub-
competences” (Kelly, 2005, p. 28).

2.2. Target-Based Language (TBL) Method of Translation

Newmark (1988) suggested different methods of translation. According to him, Target-Based
Language (TBL) method of translation refers to “communicative” translation which includes
idiomatic, free and adaptation ways of translation. Communicative translation attempts to render the
exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily
acceptable and comprehensible to the readership.
Idiomatic translation: idiomatic translation reproduces the "message" of the original but tends to
distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in the
original.
Free translation: free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without
the form of the original. Usually it is a paraphrase much longer than the original, a so-called
"intralingual translation", often prolix and pretentious, and not translation at all.
Adaptation: this is the "freest" form of translation. It is used mainly for plays (comedies) and
poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture converted to the TL culture
and the text rewritten. The deplorable practice of having a play or poem literally translated and then
rewritten by an established dramatist or poet has produced many poor adaptations, but other
adaptations have "rescued" period plays.
Catford believed that free translation is interchangeable with the SL text in a situation. The
following example shows a TBL method of translation which is a lexical adaptation to TL idiomatic
aspect (Catford, 1965, p. 25):
SL Text It is raining cats and dogs.
TL Text .‫باران شالقی می بارد‬

2.3. Source-Based Language (SBL) Method of Translation

According to Newmark (1995), SBL method of translation refers to semantic translation which
includes word-for-word, literal, faithful way of translation. He believes that semantic translation
differs from "faithful translation" only in as far as it must take more account of the aesthetic value
(that is, the beautiful and natural sound) of the SL text, compromising on "meaning" where
appropriate so that no assonance, world-play or repetition jars in the finished version. Further, it may
translate less important cultural words by culturally neutral third or functional terms but not by
cultural equivalents and it may make other small concessions to the readership. The distinction
between "faithful" and "semantic" translation is that the first is uncompromising and dogmatic, while
the second is more flexible, admits the creative exception to 100% fidelity and allows for the
translator's intuitive empathy with the original.
Word-for-word translation: this is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TL
immediately below the SL words. The SL word-order is preserved and the words translated singly by
their most common meanings, out of context. Cultural words are translated literally. The main use of
word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechanics of the source language or to construe
a difficult text as a pre-translation process.

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Literal translation: the SL grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TL equivalents
but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context. As a pre-translation process, this
indicates the problems to be solved.
Faithful translation: a faithful translation attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of
the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures. It "transfers" cultural words and
preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical "abnormality" (deviation from SL norms) in the
translation. It attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and the text-realization of the SL
writer.
The following example shows a SBL method of translation which is a word-for-word translation
(Catford, 1965, p. 25):
SL Text It is raining cats and dogs.
TL Text .‫باران گربه و سگ می بارد‬

It is also worth mentioning that Toury (2005) sees different kinds of norms operating at different
stages of the translation process. The basic initial norm refers to a general choice made by translators.
Thus, translators can subject themselves to the norms realized in the SL or to the norms of the target
culture or language. If it is towards the SL, then the TL will be adequate; if the target culture norms
prevail, then the TL will be acceptable. The poles of adequacy and acceptability are on a continuum
since no translation is ever totally adequate or totally acceptable. Shifts-obligatory and non-obligatory
are inevitable, norm-governed and "a true universal of translation. The norms described by Toury are:
● Operational norms describe the presentation and linguistic matter of the TL.
● Matricial norms relate to the completeness of the TL. This phenomenon includes omission or
relocation of passages, textual, segmentation, and the addition of passages or footnotes.
● Textual-Iinguistic norms govern the selection of TL linguistic material: lexical items, phrases and
stylistic features.

3. Method
Pretest, treatment, posttest design based on quasi-experimental design was employed to test SBL
and TBL methods of translation of Iranian BA students’ translation abilities. The type of research is
applied research, which tries to improve a product or a process-testing theoretical concept in actual
problem situations. It attempts to develop generalizations about teaching-learning process,
instructional materials, the behavior of students and ways to modify it, and so on.

3.1. Participants
Participants of this study were consisted of 60 female and male students ranging 19-32 years old.
They were all native speakers of Persian and their major was English translation. It should be
mentioned that the research was done with the help of an instructor at the university. The
participants had experienced QPT (version 1) to make sure that the study enjoys homogeneous
participants with respect to their English language proficiency to be able to take part in translating
classes. The participants took four parts that included items related to structure, vocabulary, reading
comprehension, and writing with a maximum possible score of 70 points. Of the whole participants,
15 were excluded due to their inadequate English proficiency for the purpose of the study. Being
homogenized by QPT, 45 participants were selected as the main sample that were then randomly
divided into three groups, one control group to receive placebo and two experimental groups to
receive two different treatments. Each group comprising of 15 participants (control group = 3 males
and 12 females, experimental group A = 4 males and 11 females and experimental B = 2 males and 13
females) totally 45 participants.
Group (A) included 15 participants received an 8-session of treatment schedules on SBL method
of translation as the word-for-word, faithful and literal strategies. In this way, the instructor provided
them correct forms of semantic method of translation which focuses on the SL form for students’
production (translating ST into TT), and the students needed to decided which sentence was correct
based on that method. Group (B) included 15 participants received an 8-session of training programs
on TBL method of translation as idiomatic, free and adaptation strategies in which the instructor
provided them correct forms of communicative method of translation which emphasizes the meaning
in TL for students’ translated ST into TT. Training programs for both experimental groups involved 8
sessions once a week for 45 minutes. Group (C) included 15 participants received placebo or no

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treatment of emphasizing any specific method of translation, and also, the control group followed the
same schedule as the experimental groups (A and B), receiving the same amount of training over the
8-week (8 sessions, once a week 45 minutes) period with the researcher.

3.2. Materials
The materials used for conducting the research were instructional and testing materials. In the
instructional materials, the instructor made an attempt to make the students familiarize with the
concept of SBL as semantic method of translation and TBL as communicative method of translation
by applying explicit instruction, which was unknown to almost every student in the classroom and
then attracted with a lot of interests. The instructor explained how word-for-word or sense-for-sense
method of translation was used as SBL and TBL in different texts, specifically in translating English
text into Persian linguistically and culturally. At this stage, the nature of main area was revealed and
the students' attention was oriented to the goal of the study and the point that the major emphasis
during the research was using SBL and TBL methods of translation of ST into TT for organization of
their knowledge of linguistic and communicative systems of two languages as one of the assessment
criteria in scoring the participants’ translating tasks.
In the testing material, three independent tests were administered. The first one was “QPT” for
determining the participants' English proficiency level. The second one was “Pretesting”, in this
section a piece of text was given to the three groups to assess the translation ability of them before the
treatment program. Students were supposed to translate the given source text (English) into target
text (Persian) within 45 minutes. The participants were asked to use SBL (word-for-word) or TBL
(sense-for-sense) in translating so researcher was able to measure students’ accuracy based on these
features of translating strategies. For this step, two raters rated the papers. To make sure of the
consistency of the scores, inter-rater reliability was calculated. The score of each participant then was
the average of the scores given by the two raters. The third one was “Posttesting”, it was
administered at the end of the eighth week of the treatment program. The participants were again
required to translate a paragraph with just one method of translation (SBL or TBL) within 45 minutes.
Those papers were collected and rated by the same raters of the pretest phase. Inter-rater reliability
was calculated again, and the average of the scores given by the two raters was considered as the final
score of each participant.

3.3. Procedures for Data Collection and Data Analysis

The present study was conducted based on quasi- experimental design which consisted of three
steps for collecting data: pretest, treatment and posttest. Participants of this study were selected from
three intact classes included 45 out of 60 translation students in second semester at Rasht, Islamic
Azad University at 2015-2016 academic year. They were taught by the same instructor and met once a
week, each session 45 minutes of translation instruction. Between pretest and posttest, the control
group received no formal translation training emphasizing SBL or TBL, but two experimental groups
(A and B) received an 8-session treatment schedule through the training program of two kinds of SBL
and TBL methods of translation. In addition, the materials were based on students’ curriculum course
book and the treatment was covered through different classroom activities such as translating poems,
short stories, an Ayeh from Persian Qur’an, and so on. The participants’ translated texts were
corrected based on emphasizing on SBL in the group A class or TBL in the group B class by their
instructor in the way that each student read her/his translation of ST. While, the erroneous translated
sentence of group C just were underlined without any emphasizing to SBL or TBL methods of
translation. After collecting the data through the pretest and the posttest, the researcher investigated
the hypothesis in order to answer the research question. The data available for the analysis consisted
of translating scores (the pretest and the posttest). The results obtained of two sets of data were
statistically analyzed through descriptive statistics (comprising means, standard deviations and
variances) followed by inferential statistics, namely, one-way ANOVA and a paired samples t-test.

4. Results
The results are presented in two parts: The first part deals with pretest (pre-training), and the
second part presents posttest (post-training) which were concluded short texts to translate (from the
given source text (English) into target text (Persian). As it was shown in Tables 1 and 2, it was
revealed non-significant differences between the results obtained from three group scores in pretest

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before translation training program. The subjects were nearly at similar level in terms of their English
translating ability.

Table 1:
Descriptive statistics of the experimental and control groups for the pretest scores
Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Variance
Exp. A 15 16.06 2.15 4.62
Exp. B 15 16.13 2.58 6.65
Con. 15 14.60 2.69 7.23
Total 45 15.60 2.62 6.86

Table 2:
Descriptive analysis of one-way ANOVA for the pretest scores
One-way ANOVA results
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Groups N df. SED F sig.(two-tailed) Lower Upper
Exp. A & Exp. B 45 42 0.39 1.688 1.97 14.81 16.38
& Con.

The results of the pretest showed that the mean of the control group (M control group = 14.60), mean of
the experimental group A (M experimental group (A) = 16.06), and mean of the experimental group (B) (M
experimental group (B) = 16.13), did not differ statistically. In other words, the mean difference was not
statistically significant for the pretest scores of translating before initiating the specific treatments for
the experimental groups. Table 4.5 displays the results of one-way ANOVA for the pretest scores of
translating. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in students’
translating ability on the pretest scores across the groups (F = 1.688 with df = 42, p translating test .197 ≥
.05). The significance value of the F test in the ANOVA table was higher than alpha (α = .05) for the
pretest scores of translating. As a result, the non-significant F test revealed that the population means
on test of translating were similar at the beginning of the study. It implies that the average
assessment scores of translating ability were equal across the three groups at the beginning of the
study.
While the results of posttest after training program (Tables 3 and 4) indicated a significant
variation between experimental and control groups. In general, a comparison between the results
obtained from both tests at the beginning and end of the study revealed expressive differences.

Table 3:
Descriptive statistics of experimental and control groups for the posttest scores
Groups N Mean Std. Deviation Variance
Exp. A 15 17.13 2.03 4.12
Exp. B 15 18.53 1.30 1.69
Con. 15 14.86 2.35 5.52
Total 45 16.84 2.43 5.90

The results of the descriptive statistics for the posttest showed that the mean of the control group (M
control group = 14.86), mean of the experimental group A (M experimental group (A) = 17.13), and mean of the
experimental group (B) (M experimental group (B) =18.53), differed significantly. The significance value of
the F test in the ANOVA table was less than α = .05.

Table 4:
Descriptive analysis of one-way ANOVA for the posttest scores
One-way ANOVA results
95% Confidence
Interval of the

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Difference
Groups N df. SED F sig.(two-tailed) Lower Upper
Exp. A & Exp. B 45 42 0.39 13.549 .000 16.11 17.57
& Con.

Thus, the hypothesis that average assessment scores of the translating ability (posttest) were equal
across the three groups was rejected (F = 13.549, Sig. = .000 ≤ .05). Figure 1 illustrates mean plots for
the results of the posttest of the students’ translating.

Means of the posttest scores

20.00

19.00
18.53
18.00

17.00 17.13

16.00

15.00 14.86

14.00
Control group Experimental group (A) Experimental group (B)
SBL TBL

Groups

Figure 1: Mean plots for the results of the posttest of translating test

The findings of F statistics verified that there was statistically significant differences among the three
groups' mean scores, and means plots showed the location of these differences. The participants of the
experimental group B who worked on TBL method of translation outperformed their counterparts
namely the control group (C) and the experimental group (A) who worked on SBL method of
translation. After confirming that the three groups differed in some way, the detailed structure of the
differences was scrutinized through doing multiple comparisons.
In order to investigate the extent of the students’ progression within groups, three paired samples t-
tests were also run, which showed the subjects’ progress in the pretest and the posttest (see Tables 5).

Table 5
Paired samples statistics for the pretest and the posttest scores of three groups
Paired Samples Statistics
Groups Mean N Std. Std. Error
Deviation Mean
Control group Pair 1 Pretest scores 14.6000 15 2.69391 .69556
Posttest scores 14.8667 15 2.35635 .60841
Experimental group (A) Pair 1 Pretest scores 16.0667 15 2.15362 .55606
SBL Posttest scores 17.1333 15 2.03072 .52433
Experimental group (B) Pair 1 Pretest scores 16.1333 15 2.85023 .73593
TBL Posttest scores 18.5333 15 1.30201 .33618

As it was shown in Table 5, the mean scores of the control group improved from (14.60) in the pretest
to (14.86) in the posttest. With respect to the performance of the participants in the experimental
group (A), the mean score increased from (16.06) in the pretest to (17.13) in the posttest, and finally,

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the mean of the experimental group (B) group improved from (16.13) in the pretest to (18.53) in the
posttest.

5. Discussion
It is necessary to understand the concept of translation as mentioned by many translation
theorists to obtain an overall picture of the translation process. Bassnett (1990) stated that translation
is closely related to the reading process. Hatim and Mason (1990) suggested that translation is a
process involving the negotiation of meaning between producers and receivers of the text. Picken
(1993) defined that general translation is a method of transferring oral and written messages from
writing to speech or from one language to another. Nida (1974) cited by Jiraphatralikhit , Klinpoon,
and Kaewjan (2005), believed that translating consists of reproducing in the receptor language the
closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in
terms of style. Catford (1965, as cited in Jiraphatralikhit et al., 2005) viewed translation as the
replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by the equivalent text material in another
language (TL). Besides, one of the most prominent definitions of translation was stated by Newmark
(1988, p. 5) who defined translation as “rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the
way that the author intended the text”. This definition stresses on rendering meaning of the source
language text into the target language text as what is intended by the author. Hatim and Munday
(2004, p. 6) defined translation as “the process of transferring a written text from SL to TL”. In this
definition they do not explicitly express that the object being transferred is meaning or message. This
study found that they emphasize on translation as a linguistic and sociolinguistic process but they do
not hint to the psychological process of translation in the route of rendering ST into TT via mental and
cognitive process.
Correspondingly, Nida and Taber (1969, p. 12) stated that “translating consists in reproducing in
the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message”. This definition
is more comprehensive than the previous ones. Nida and Taber explicitly stated that translation is
closely related to the problems of languages, meaning, and equivalence. Machali (2001) and Baker
(1992) underlined the term meaning equivalence because it is the meaning which is transferred in the
target language. In this case, translators are faced with text as unit of meaning in the form of sets of
words or sentences. This study explored that translation involves reading the source text,
understanding and analyzing and then reformulating it in the target language for a specific target
audience. It has a significant mental component. That is to say, it involves mental activities,
contrastive analysis, applied linguistic analysis, discourse, cultural and intercultural analysis between
ST and TT. Figure 2 indicates the process of rendering SL text into TL text:

Source Language (SL) Target Language (TL)

Source Text Target Text

Analysis Areas Reformulating

Cognitive processing

Figure 2: The process of rendering SL to TL

In closing, a plausible method of teaching translation would be a balanced-based of SL and TL

method of translation which considers and maintains the bidirectional language frameworks and
constraints of two languages from analysis areas (linguistic, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and
cultural) to reformulating a ST into TT in the process of translation. The central core of balanced-
based of SL and TL method of translation is an emphasis either form or meaning.
The major goal of conducting this research is providing a link between theory and practice to
adapt an appropriate and practical approach to translation training at the BA translation students,
and to find plausible ways for solving or minimizing their translation difficulties. The perspective of
the present investigation takes beyond the focus of the SBL and TBL methods of translation. This
study attempts to highlight the Iranian instructors' role in "scaffolding" for manageable translation

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methods of students’ learning opportunities to BA students by providing more explicit support and
translation inputs in their initial English translation learning through various strategies, activities and
practices in order that Iranian students to become more able and independent in their translating
ability.
Incorporating SBL and TBL should be designed in translation course-books based on certain
producing tasks to engage translation students' productive ability towards a successful translation.
These phenomena can help translation trainees become active and productive students with a high
conceptual and habitual language learning which reinforces and fosters their creativity and self-
awareness as well as enhances their sense of retention, understanding, problem-solving ability and
their classroom performances. Hence, it will be very useful to add this knowledge as an English
translation skill in Iranian BA translation students' course-books.

6. Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of SBL and TBL methods of translation in the
improvement of Iranian BA translation students' translating ability. It is proposed that the students'
translation of ST into TT would greatly influence early on their linguistic, sociolinguistic and
cultural/intercultural knowledge as well as other skills. Lack of this knowledge in Iranian English
translation curriculum design of material developing has made a lot of difficulties for BA translation
students. SL and TL awareness as a translating skill serves not only to semantic and communicative
aspects but also to the students’ language production (translating, speaking and writing) toward
fostering their English fluency and accuracy. Training SBL and TBL methods of translation proved to
be effective in making students' progress in translating abilities in terms of content, organization,
conception and comprehension of translating a text from one language to another. In addition, as
frequently emphasized by different translation scholars, the issue of translation and its complex
relationship with language in terms of SBL and TBL items are among the most problematic issues that
a translator or interpreter may face. Accordingly, the issue will be also important to those people who
are going to teach and/or evaluate how to translate different texts or pieces of speech from one
language into another.
Consequently, within SBL and TBL translation the work to be done is also clearly obvious. There
is a need for a comprehensive study of SBL and TBL methods of translation with a view to
establishing a theory, and there is a need for much more serious attention to be given to the specific
problems of SBL and TBL translation. Applying SBL and TBL methods of translation is neither the
only way nor the best way to improve students’ translating ability. There are many methodological
issues which need to be explored in order to enhance students’ translating ability. However, one of
important considerations in minimizing or overcoming Iranian translation students’ translating
difficulties is to help them master cognitively and productively on the SBL and TBL aspects of
rendering ST into TT.

REFERENCES
Baker, M. (1992). In other words: Coursebook on translation. London: Routledge.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203327579
Bassnett, S. (1990). Translating for the theatre: Textual complexities. Essays in Poetics, 15(1), 71-84.
Catford, J. (1965). A linguistic theory of translation: An essay in applied linguistics. London: Oxford
University Press.
Chesterman, A. (2003). Memes of translation: The spread of ideas in translation theory. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
Dooley, R. (2005). Source-language versus target-language discourse features in training the word of
God. Journal of Translation, 1(2), 1-18.
FeRailleur-Dumoulin, C. (2009). A career in language translation: Insightful information to guide you in
your professional translator. Bloomingtoon: AurthouHouse.
Hatim, B., & Mason, I. (1990) Discourse and the translator. London: Longman.
Hatim, B., & Munday, J. (2004). Translation: An advanced source book. London: Routledge.
Hatim, B., & Munday, J. (2005). Translation: An advanced source book. London: Routledge.
Jiraphatralikhit, J., Klinpoon, S., & Kaewjan, S. (2005). An analysis of strategies in translation of the
movie subtitle: Behind the painting. Research Gate, 1, 54-71. Retrieved from
http://aut.researchgateway.ac.nz./handle/10292/870.html

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Jakobson, R. (1959). Translation, a traditional craft. Copenhagen: Nordisk Forlag.

Kelly, D. (2005). A handbook for translator trainers: A guide to reflective practice (p. 28). Manchester,
UK: St. Jerome.
Machali, R. (2001). Redefining textual equivalence in translation with special reference to Indonesian-English.
Jakarta: The Translation Center.
Miaomiao, W. (2014). A study on semantic and communicative translation of magical things in Harry
Potter. Studies in Literature and Language, 8(2), 26-36.
McGuire, B. (1980). Translation Studies. Methuen London and New York.
Munday, J. (2001). Introducing translation studies: Theories and application. New York: Routledge.
Neubert, A. (1991). Translation as Text (ed.). Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press.
Neubert, A. (2000). Text and Translation. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopadie
Newmark, P. (1981). Approaches to translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Hamel Hempstead: Prentice Hall.
Newmark, P. (1995). Paragraphs on translation. Clevdon / Philadelphila / Adelaide: Multilingual
Matters Ltd.
Nida, E., & Taber, C. (1969). The theory and practice of translation. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Picken, C. (1993). Translation: The Vital Link (ed.). London: Institute of Translation and Interpreting.
Pym, A. (2013). Translation technology and translation theory: Dialogue with Anthony Pym on
localization. Chinese Translators Journal, (4), 61-64.
Toury, G. (2005). Descriptive translation studies and beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Schaffner, C. (2000). Translation and norms. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Wilss, W. (1984). Translation theory and its implementation. Tubingen: Narr.

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THE EFFECT OF INDIVIDUALIZATION VERSUS

COLLABORATION ON THE ACCURCY OF WRITTEN
GRAMMAR

Narminolsadat Shahgoli
narmin11908@yahoo.com
English Language Department, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

Farahman Farrokhi (Ph.D.)

ffarokhi20@yahoo.co.uk
English Language Department, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY AIMED AT INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF COLLABORATION ON
THE IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS' WRITING ACCURACY. SIXTY IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS IN AN
EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUP PARTICIPATED IN THIS STUDY. THE
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP COMPLETED THE WRITING TASKS COLLABORATIVELY WHILE THE
CONTROL GROUP PERFORMED THE SAME TASK INDIVIDUALLY. BOTH GROUPS
PARTICIPATED IN SIX COMPOSITION WRITING SESSIONS. THE PARTICIPANTS WROTE ON
THE SAME TOPICS AND GENRES. REGARDING THE ACCURACY OF INDIVIDUALLY
PRODUCED AND COLLABORATIVELY PRODUCED COMPOSITIONS IN TERMS OF VERB
TENSE, WORD ORDER AND SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT, THE RESEARCHER FOUND
CONTRADICTORY RESULTS. REGARDING THE SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT, IN BOTH
COLLABORATIVE AND INDIVIDUAL COMPOSITIONS, THE FREQUENCY OF THIS TYPE OF
ERROR WAS ROUGHLY THE SAME. WORD ORDER ERRORS IN COLLABORATIVE
COMPOSITIONS WERE HIGHER THAN IN INDIVIDUAL COMPOSITIONS. MEANWHILE,
TAKING THE VERB TENSE INTO ACCOUNT, THE COLLABORATIVELY PRODUCED
COMPOSITIONS WERE MORE ACCURATE THAN THOSE INDIVIDUALLY PRODUCED
COMPOSITIONS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT INDIVIDUALLY WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS HAD
MORE ERRORS THAN COLLABORATIVELY PRODUCED ESSAYS, SUGGESTING THAT
INDIVIDUAL WRITING WAS LESS ACCURATE. WRITING TEACHERS CAN PROVIDE
OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO INTERACT AND WORK COLLABORATIVELY IN SMALL
GROUPS. IN THIS WAY, STUDENTS CAN BECOME MORE AUTONOMOUS LANGUAGE
LEARNERS AS THEY CAN EXCHANGE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND STRATEGIES.

KEYWORDS: COLLABORATIVE WRITING, INDIVIDUAL WRITING, ACCURACY,

COOPERATIVE LEARNING, WRITING PERFORMANCE

1. Introduction
Over the last decade, research on writing has received a lot of ink in the review of the literature and it
has been regarded as one of the most important communicative skills in English language teaching
(e.g., Hayes & Flower, 1986; Sharples, Goodlet, & Pymberton, 1989). The ability to write effectively
and fluently in English is becoming increasingly important in today’s modern world, since
communication through language has become more and more essential.
In fact, writing is mostly a hard-laden task and skill for both native and non-native speakers, Iranian
EFL learners being no exception. Over time, the interest in a more communicative approach to
language teaching has resulted in the growth of pair work in second language contexts (Hawkey,

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2004). This provides language learners with opportunities to interact in collaborative situations, in
which two or more learners do activities together. For a situation to be collaborative, the pairs should
be more or less at the same level.
According to Roschelle and Teasley (1995), collaboration is a coordinated, synchronous activity that
results from a continued endeavor attempt to build and maintain a shared conception of a problem. It
has been said that students can learn best in a more learner-centered, collaborative learning context
compared with individualistic and competitive learning settings (Johnson & Johnson, 1994).
Collaborative writing is an iterative and social process that involves a group focused on a common
objective that negotiates, coordinates, and communicates during the creation of a common document
(Lowry et al., 2004) through mutual interactions, shared expertise and joint decision-making
throughout the whole process (Yong, 2006). Collaborative writing is underpinned by Vygotsky’s
sociocultural theory, where social interaction is an integral component of learning. An aspect of this
theory relevant to collaborative writing is the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
where group members use mediational means collaboratively to create, obtain, and communicate
meaning (Moll, 1989). Scaffolding is a construct related to ZPD and the Vygotskian premise of
learning as a socially constructed process.
Studies conducted on the effects of collaborative writing on overall writing performance found
improvements in students’ writing. Students’ writings were found to be more grammatically accurate
(Storch, 1999; Storch, 2005; Wigglesworth & Storch, 2009), more linguistically complex (Storch, 2005),
and had better content, organization and vocabulary (Shehadeh, 2012). In general, the students had
positive perceptions of collaborative writing. Positive responses included pooling of resources and
opportunities to compare ideas (Storch, 2005), perceived academic and social benefits (Brown, 2007),
and a sense of accomplishment from editing each other’s work (Chao & Lo, 2011).
The basic assumption behind the research was hence to find out the effect of collaboration on the
writing orthography and accuracy of tense use. This has been previously done by Wigglesworth and
Storch (2009) on EFL advanced-level learners but the writers focused on collaboration in an
assessment context. As a result, the present study aimed to investigate whether collaboration between
members of a pair helps them to write more accurate texts through interacting, giving and receiving
feedback from each other. Similarly, the current study also tried to examine the influence of
collaboration and pair working for duration of five sessions to compare the degree of improvement in
the writing orthography of text written individually or in pairs.
1.2. Collaborative Writing
Collaborative writing is gaining prominence because it provides an alternative to the individualistic
and competitive atmosphere of learning to a more cooperative method of learning to write (Bosley,
1993; Dale, 1997). Collaboration helps students to value peers’ contribution to the group instead of
focusing on individual achievement. Students also get to know one another and learn from group
members in a natural way and in a safe social environment.
Collaborative writing is therefore different from other forms of group work in the writing class in that
it encompasses every group member’s effort and participation at every stage of the writing process,
from planning through composing to revision. It is the sharing of responsibility over the production
of a single piece of work through the pooling of resources, negotiation, and decision making. In short,
what makes collaborative writing different from other group work is its inclusion of the entire writing
process and its social contexts among peers who share in the production of a single document.
1.3. Collaborative Writing Process
While research continues to focus on individual writing processes, students involved in collaborative
writing projects have been found to use processes similar to those used by students when writing
individually. According to Southavilay, Yacef and Calvo (2010), the collaborative writing process
begins with adding text and editing text to develop a document.
Writing activities include brainstorming ideas, creating an outline, and developing a draft before
moving on to revising or editing the document. In collaborative writing, learners must also develop
content as well as edit other student’s content. The process of editing other students’ content can
involve both constructive and unconstructive behaviors (West, 2009). Constructive behaviors improve
the composition and contribute to group collaboration; unconstructive edits are counterproductive
and may lead to a breakdown in group collaboration.
1.4. Individual Writing Processes

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In the 1970s, writing research focused primarily on evaluating the learner’s final written product. As
the complexity of good writing was recognized, the focus shifted to concerns about the writing
process and how a well written piece of writing evolved. The “process movement” was based on
“cognitively oriented research” which focused on the “interconnections among thinking, learning and
writing” (Hayes & Flower, 1986, p. 1106). Hayes and Flower (1986) argued that instructors should
understand “the cognitive processes associated with the three processes of writing: planning,
sentence generation and revision” (Hayes & Flower, 1986, p. 1106). These three writing processes
have in fact been shown to improve students’ writing.
Planning: during the planning process, students develop ideas and organize a writing plan. Goals are
set, content is generated, and text is organized based on those goals. While early research emphasized
the importance of planning for producing quality writing projects, more recent research (e.g., Hayes
& Nash, 1996) concluded that time spent on planning is not as important as time spent on the task of
writing.
Sentence generation: during the sentence generation process, writers begin to produce formal sentences
to form a draft. At the same time, sentences are structured as part of an outline. During this process,
writers may think aloud and structure sentences in sequences such as “The best thing about it is –
what?” (Hayes & Flower, 1986, p. 1109). According to Kaufer, Hayes and Flower (1986), both experts
and average writers create sentences in the same manner.
Revision: Fitzgerald (1987) defined revision as, “making changes at any point in the writing process”
(p. 484). Prior to making changes, students identify discrepancies and make decisions as to what
needs to be changed in the document (Fitzgerald, ibid, p. 484). Making these types of decisions often
involves cognitive operations used in problem solving and, as a result, research has focused on
identifying reasons for breakdowns in the problem solving process. For example, a breakdown can
occur when a writer has not clearly established content goals and is unable to decide how to revise
the document (Fitzgerald, ibid, p. 489).
2. Review of the Related Literature
Despite claims about the potential of collaborative writing (Dale, 1997), there is a relatively small
amount of published research on this topic. Recent research that has been carried out to investigate
collaborative groups of EFL learners has examined patterns of interactions (DiNitto, 2000; Sim, 1998;
Storch, 2001, 2002, 2004; Swain and Lapkin, 1998, 2002), cognitive conflict and disagreement (Tocalli-
Beller, 2003), idea development (Yong, 1998), development of ZPD (Nyikos and Hashimoto, 1997;
Ohta, 1995, 2001), roles of repetition (DiCamilla and Anton, 1997; Tocalli-Beller, 2003), functions of L1
(Anton and DiCamilla, 1998; Brooks and Donato, 1994; Brooks et al., 1997; Le and McDonald, 2004;
Platt and Brooks, 2002), and grammatical concerns (Storch, 1998, 1999).
A common feature shared by most of the studies that are reviewed in this paper is the sociocultural
perspectives which provide the theoretical framework. Proponents of collaborative writing identify
social interaction as a key element in collaboration. As it is mentioned, according to this view,
learners internalize their learning through dialogic interactions with others. Merrill Swain (2006)
terms the dialogic interaction among peers as “collaborative dialogue”.
In collaborative dialogue, learners learn to work collectively to solve linguistic problems or co-
construct language or knowledge about language. Swain refers to it as a problem-solving and
knowledge-building dialogue. Studies conducted on the effects of collaborative writing on overall
writing performance found improvements in students’ writing. Students’ writings were found to be
more grammatically accurate (Storch, 1999; Storch, 2005; Wigglesworth & Storch, 2009), more
linguistically complex (Storch, 2005), and had better content, organization and vocabulary (Shehadeh,
2012).
2.1. Collaborative writing in Iranian EFL Context
Regarding Iranian EFL context, there have been some studies on different aspects of collaborative
writing among Iranian EFL learners. For example, Sahragard and Mallahi (2014) attempted to explore
the preferred language learning styles of a group of Iranian EFL learners and differences in the styles
of collaborative group with individual group. The results of analysis revealed that most of the
learners in the collaborative group had a communicative learning style preference and the more
proficient writers favored this type of learning as well. As for the comparison between the students'
writing self-assessment and the assessment done by the researchers, the results indicated that the
more proficient writers underestimated their writing ability whereas the majority of the less proficient
ones overestimated different aspects of their writing ability.

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Another study by Arabloo (2015) was conducted to investigate the comparative effects of individually
created and collaboratively created Concept Maps on EFL learners’ essay writing. The results
indicated that individually created concept maps proved to be more effective than collaboratively
created concept maps on intermediate EFL learners’ essay writing. In another study by Biriya and
Jafari (2013) the impact of practicing in pairs on the writing fluency of Iranian EFL learners was
investigated. The findings revealed that practicing in pairs did improve the overall quality of the
learners' writing productions even though the fluency of written texts did not change significantly.
Jalilifar’s (2010) investigation in which two techniques of Cooperative Learning including Student
Team Achievement Divisions and Group Investigation were used, examined students’ reading
comprehension achievement of English as a Foreign Language. The researcher found that Student
Team Achievement Divisions technique is more effective in improving EFL reading comprehension
achievement in spite of the fact that both techniques could not improve reading comprehension
significantly.
Javadi Rahavard (2010) explored the relationship between cooperative learning strategies and
reading comprehension. Cooperative learning methods have been a major part of learning
methodologist debates. He studied the cooperative learning effect in EFL classes of Iranian learners
quantitatively in an English institute at Bandar-Abbas. The Correlation coefficient formula using SPSS
software, graphs and diagrams showed that cooperative learning strategies groups achieved
significantly better results compare to their counterparts in reading comprehension test.
Finally, Dabaghmanesh and Soori (2014) investigated the effect of cooperative learning versus
traditional method on English Proficiency of undergraduate students with different majors. The
results of their study indicated no significant difference between cooperative learning and teacher
fronted instructional method in language learning in General English course. Moreover the outcomes
of the study also showed insignificancy of different majors through implementing cooperative
language learning.
As far as the review of literature on collaborative writing in Iran is concerned, only a few studies
have recently been conducted on collaborative writing , even though there have been studies
concerning the comparison of collaboratively produced compositions with individually produced
compositions in terms of accuracy of tense use and orthographies of writing. The current research
will, therefore, focus on comparing the collaboratively produced compositions versus individually
produced compositions in terms of accuracy of tense use.
2.2. Statement of the Problem and Purpose of the Study
As pointed out by Messer (1997), composition writing is a skill which is difficult to teach, learn and
evaluate. Some of the factors affecting successful writing performance, in particular, in composition
writing include English proficiency, content schemata, affect, formal schemata, cognitive skills, and
meta-cognitive skills (Kirkland & Saunders, 1991). In light of the difficulties in the learning and
teaching of composition writing in EFL classrooms, it is thus important to examine approaches to
teaching and learning the skill. Collaborative writing, which has been found to have encouraging
effects on students’ EFL writing (Storch, 2005; Watanabe & Swain, 2007; Wigglesworth & Storch, 2009;
Shehadeh, 2012), may possibly be a viable approach in the teaching of writing skills. However, to
date, few studies have been conducted on using collaborative writing in composition writing,
specifically in the context of the Iranian EFL classroom. The purpose of this study was therefore to
establish whether collaborative composition writing is helpful for Iranian EFL learners in terms of
correct tense use and orthographies of writing.
2.3. Significance of the Study
Although the role of writing in language learning, if not more, is not less than the role of the other
three language skills, it has long been ignored. Compared with the other three language skills, writing
seems to be too difficult and time-consuming to teach, so little attention has been given to teach and
practice writing in the class (Zeng, 2005). Students need enough knowledge to create and generate
ideas in order to write a composition. In Iranian educational system even private language institutes,
students receive little practice in writing in English. Due to students’ limited proficiency, time
limitation, and poor motivation, writing still remains a big hurdle. Considering learners are always
hesitant to make grammatical mistakes, Al-Jarf (2007) found that peer support and feedback could
help the learners to reduce such stress and improve their language knowledge as well.
It is commonly assumed that collaborative learning is beneficial for students. There is a great deal of
research evidence to support this assumption in different parts of the world (Flowerdew, 1998;

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Roskams, 1999; Lan, Sung, & Chang, 2006; Chen & Hird, 2006; Bejarano, 1987). However, little
research has been carried out in Iran. This research gains significance in that it investigated the extent
to which collaborative learning in the Iranian EFL (English as a foreign language) setting had an
influence on the accuracy of university students majoring in English.

2.4. Research Question and Hypothesis

This study therefore aimed at answering the following research question and hypothesis:
1) Is there any significant difference between individual and collaborative writing in terms of
accuracy of tense use (present, past and future tenses)?
1) There is not any significant difference between individual and collaborative writing in terms of
accuracy of tense use (present, past and future tenses)?

3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
The participants of this study included 60 male homogenous Iranian EFL learners with the age range
of 18 to 25 in an English institute in Tabriz. For the purpose of the research, the participants were
divided into either experimental group or control group. Twenty pairs of learners (40 of the learners
who were selected into the pairs) completed the collaborative writing tasks. Another group of 20
participants wrote the same tasks individually. The participants knew each other. Given the
researcher’s previous observations that some students may be reluctant to write in pairs and reported
survey findings (e.g., Hyde, 1993), the participants in both groups were given the choice of working
in pairs or individually. They themselves chose their groups. For the purpose of homogeneity of the
participants, they were based on their score in the New Inside Out placement test which tests
structures, vocabulary and reading. For the purpose of this study, we selected those learners whose
scores were 30-39 being considered to have an intermediate proficiency level. This study was
conducted in an institutional context. Each group was instructed by the same EFL teacher. In one
group, learners wrote individually and in the other group they wrote collaboratively. Totally, 20
learners worked individually and 40 learners in pairs.
3.2. Instruments
3.2.1. New Inside Out Test Placement Test
For the purpose of homogeneity of the participants, they were based on their scores in the New Inside
Out placement test including structure, vocabulary and reading sections with 60 multiple-choice
items. Each of these items is worth one point. The time for completing this test was 36 minutes. The
New Inside Out placement tests have been designed to be used for placing students into groups
corresponding to the six levels of proficiency. That is, the test divides the learners into six proficiency
levels of beginners, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced
based on the learners' scores. For the purpose of this study, we selected those learners whose scores
were 30 to 39 which were regarded as intermediate level.

3.2.3. Categories of collaborative writing

Onrubia and Engle (2009, p.10) proposed five main strategies for collaborative elaboration of written
products:
“Parallel construction—‘cut and paste’. Each group member contributes with a different part of the
completed task and the final document is constructed through a juxtaposing of these different parts
without the contribution of other co-authors. "Divide and conquer"
Parallel construction—‘puzzle’. Each group member contributes with an initial document with the
entirely or partially completed task, and the final document is constructed through the juxtaposing of
small extracted parts of the initial contributions of other coauthors.
Sequential summative construction. One group member presents a document that constitutes an
initial, partial or complete, proposal for the task resolution, and the rest of the participants
successively add their contributions to this initial document, without modifying what has been
previously written, hence, systematically accepting what is added by other co-authors.
Sequential integrating construction. One group member presents a document that constitutes an
initial, partial or complete task proposal, and the other group members successively contribute to this
initial document, proposing justified modifications or discussing whether they agree with what has
been previously written or not.

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Integrating construction. The writing of the document is based on synchronic discussion through the
chat, with repeated revisions, where all group members react to the comments, the changes and the
additions made by other participants.
In addition, Lowry et al. (2004, p. 14) states that there are five collaborative writing strategies
including:
“Single-author writing occurs when one team member writes as a representative for the entire team.
Single-author writing usually occurs when the writing task is simple.
Sequential single writing. In sequential single-author writing, one group member writes at a time.
Each group member is assigned a portion of the document, writes his or her portion and then passes
the document onto the next group member.
Parallel writing is the type of collaborative writing that occurs when a group divides the assignment
or document into separate parts and all members work on their assigned part at the same time. There
are two types of parallel writing: horizontal division parallel writing occurs when group members divide
the task into sections, each member being responsible for the development of his or her assigned
section; stratified division parallel writing occurs when group members divide responsibility of the
creation of the product by assigning different members different roles. Some examples of roles that a
member could be assigned are: author, editor, facilitator, or team leader.
Reactive writing occurs when team members collaborate synchronously to develop their product.
Team members react to and adjust each other's contributions as they are made.
Mixed mode. This term describes a form of writing that mixes two or more of the collaborative
writing strategies described above”.
In our study, we used reactive writing mode in which both members of the groups collaborate
synchronously to develop their compositions, but for peer collaboration to have a positive effect on
either writing or learning outcomes, a few conditions should be met. One of the crucial factors
determining the effectiveness of peer collaboration is participation of all members of the groups.

3.3. Procedures
The students were grouped in to two matching participants with similar English proficiency level
based on the placement test. The researcher taught three verb tenses (i.e., simple past tense, simple
present tense, and simple future tense) and orthographies of writing (capitalization and
punctuations).The classes met for one and half hour twice a week for one month. For both the
collaborative and individual group, the first three sessions were devoted to teaching punctuation
rules(end-mark rules, comma rules, apostrophe rules and question marks ), capitalization rules,
subject verb agreement, and word order rules and in the second three sessions past, present and
future tenses were taught. Totally, the researcher taught three verb tenses and mechanics of writing in
six sessions. In both groups, in the second three sessions after teaching a particular verb tense, the
participants were given a composition topic. In these three sessions, they were asked to write a 100-
word composition on the assigned topic in which the use of verb tenses such as past, present future
tense was obligatory. They were also asked to pay attention to spelling, punctuation and
capitalization rules in their compositions. During six sessions of teaching, practicing and testing a
particular verb tense and orthographies of writing a total of 120 compositions (60 individually
produced and 60 collaboratively produced) were collected. All the compositions were analyzed in
terms of accuracy of tense use. Examples of the assigned topics included “how did you spend your
Nourooz holidays, how did you spend last summer, what are you planning to do in the next ten
years, or what are your days like nowadays. There was a time limit for writing; 30 minutes in each
session were spent on teaching each verb tense and orthographies of writing, 30 minutes for
practicing the taught verb tenses and orthographies of writing, and 30 minutes for writing, reviewing
and revising the compositions. The students were asked to write a 100-word composition within the
limited time. In addition, they were allowed to use dictionaries if necessary.
3.4. Measurement
The compositions written by the students were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative measures.
These measures included measures of accuracy of verb tense and orthography. Wolfe-Quintero et al
(1998) have suggested the best and valid measures of fluency and accuracy which were the basis of
analysis in more than a hundred measures used in second or foreign language research studies.
According to them, the best measures of accuracy included mean length of clause (words per clause:
W/C), and words per error-free clauses (W/EFC). They have stated that these measures as the most

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reliable and valid measures since these measures are consistently linear and significantly related to
program, school, or holistic rating levels. In this study, in order to measure for accuracy, the
compositions had to be analyzed for clauses, distinguishing between independent and dependent
clauses. An independent clause is one which can be used on its own (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992); a
dependent clause must be used with another clause in order to form a grammatical sentence in
English.
There is some disagreement among researchers as to how to code for clauses, particularly dependent
clauses. In this study, following Foster et al. (2000), a dependent clause was one which contained a
finite or a nonfinite verb and at least one additional clause element of the following: subject, object,
complement or adverbial. Based on the guidelines for clauses, word counts, and error classifications
adopted from Polio (1997), errors in this study included errors in word order, verb tense and subject–
verb agreement. In order to measure and compare accuracy, the students’ compositions were
analyzed for errors, clauses, and error-free clauses. In order to check for inter-rater reliability in
scoring, and following the advice of Polio (1997), guidelines were formulated stating clearly what
constitutes a clause, and an error. After scoring the participants’ compositions, they were given to a
colleague to score the composition, to identify errors and clauses based on Polio’s (1997) guideline.
For clause identification inter-rater reliability was 95%, inter-rater reliability for error counts was
about (75%).
A total of 120 compositions―60 collaborative compositions and 60 individual compositions―were
collected and used to compare collaboratively and individually produced writing. In order to
measure and compare accuracy, the compositions were analyzed for errors, clauses and error-free
clauses. The total number of words in each composition was the same, about 100 to 110 words.
To evaluate accuracy, two measures were used: the percentages of incorrect verb tenses in each
composition produced collaboratively and individually, and the proportion of error-free clauses of all
clauses (EFC/C). Both proportions were expressed as percentages (Wigglesworth & Storch, 2009).
Errors in this study included errors in word order verb tense and subject-verb agreement.

4. Results
4.1. Measuring Accuracy in Writing
Accuracy: For the purpose of this study, two general measures of accuracy were used: the percentages
of incorrect verb tenses in each composition produced collaboratively and individually, and the
proportion of error-free clauses of all clauses (EFC/C). Errors in this study included errors in word
order verb tense and subject/verb agreement. To make sure of the reliability of scoring, all the
compositions were scored by another rater. Pearson correlation coefficient was found to be 0.86
(r=0.86).Therefore, the scoring of compositions was adequately reliable.
4.1. Comparison of Accuracy in Individual and Collaborative Writing
As seen in table 1, accuracy measures were used in this study. According to Wolfe-Quintero et al.
(1998), writing accuracy was measured and compared using both frequency measurements and ratio
measurements. Clause-based measures such as W/C and EFC/C, were used for this study because
clause-unit based measures have been determined to be the best measures of second language
development in writing (Larsen-Freeman, 2006; Wolfe-Quintero et al. 1998) and also because a variety
of measures have been based on clause-unit (Gaies, 1980; Hunt, 1965; Larsen-Freeman, 1983). In
addition to the ratio measurements, frequency measures were also used because all of the
compositions were written under the same time limit (i.e., 30 minutes).

Table 4.1: Measures of Fluency and Accuracy in Individual and Collaborative Writing
Frequency Measures
Fluency Total Number of Words, Sentences and Clauses
Accuracy Percent of Errors and Error-Free clauses (EFC)
In order to measure and compare accuracy, the students’ compositions were scrutinized for errors,
clauses and error-free clauses. The total number of sentences and the total number of words were
calculated with MS WORD statistics. Both error free clauses and clauses were identified by the
researcher based on Polio’s (1997) study. Clauses were marked by the researcher and were compared
for inter-rater reliability measured by Holsti’s (1969) coefficient of reliability, and the results indicated
that there was 89% agreement for clauses.

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Table 4.2: Descriptive Statistics for Individual and Collaborative Writing

Groups Total No. of Words Total No. of Sentences
Collaborative Writing 4300 460
Mean 208 20.2
S.D 6.97 2.523
V. 48.58 6.35
Individual Writing 4100 428
Mean 207 20.05
S.D 5.75 2.05
V 33.06 4.20
Table 2 provides a summary of the average results of comparing the number of words and sentences
produced by individual and collaborative groups. Collaborative writing produced a higher number
of words and sentences than individual writing. However, these differences are not significantly
enough. The number of words for the individual groups and for collaborative groups is 4100, and
4300, respectively. The number of sentences for individual groups and for collaborative groups is 428,
and 460, respectively.

Table 4.3: The Number of Clauses and Words per Clauses in Collaborative Writing
Groups No. of clauses Words per clauses
Collaborative Writing
N 530 600
Mean 8.83 10
S.D 4.15 8

Table 4.4: The Number of Clauses and Words per Clauses in Individual Writing
Groups No. of clauses Words per clauses
Collaborative Writing
N 512 540
Mean 8.53 9
S.D 3.78 7

Table 4.5: Comparison of Clauses and Words per Clauses in Collaborative and individual Writing
Groups No. of clauses Word per clauses

Individual Writing (N=60)

Mean 8.53 9
S.D 3.78 7

Collaborative Writing (N=60)

Mean 8.83 10

S.D 4.15 8

As the table 4.5 illustrates, the average number of words per clause for the collaborative groups and
that of individual groups were 10 and 9, respectively. Moreover, the number of clauses of
collaborative writing and that of individual writing were 530, and 512, respectively. It can be realized
that the participants in collaborative groups outperformed the individual group in terms of the total
number of clauses as well as in terms of word per clauses.

Table 4.6: Comparison of Accuracy in Individual and Collaborative Writing

Groups No. of Errors Error-Free Clauses

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Individual Writing (N=60)

Total 175 45
Mean 9.65 2.5

S.D 3.05 0.89

Collaborative Writing (N=60)
Total 144 62

Mean 7.5 4.5

S.D 2.45 1.85

Table 4.6 provides a summary of the results comparing the accuracy of the collaboratively and
individually written compositions. Individual written compositions (average 9.65 errors per
compositions) had more errors compared to collaboratively written compositions (average 7.5 errors
per compositions), suggesting that collaborative compositions were more accurate. This result may be
due to the fact that participants in collaborative groups could think of more accurate words and
sentences through negotiating and helping each other. On the other hand, collaboratively written
compositions (average 4.5 error-free clauses) had more error-free clauses than individually produced
compositions (average 2.5 error-free clauses), suggesting that collaborative compositions were more
accurate. The average number of errors for collaborative and individual groups was 7.5, and 9.65,
respectively. Individually written compositions had more errors, but less error-free clauses; the
difference was also slightly significant, t = 2.37, P value = 0.029. The result is significant at p < 0.05.
The detailed analysis of errors revealed 175 cases of errors for individually produced compositions
and 144 cases of errors for collaboratively produced compositions. Out of three types of errors, subject
verb agreements with 50 for individual group and 39 errors for collaborative group accounted for the
most error. However, as far as the percentages of errors to the total number of errors produced in
each particular category was concerned, for both types of compositions the major error categories
were as follows: (1) Future tense (2) past tense (3) present tense (4) word order and (5) subject/verb
agreement The figures expressed in terms of percentages in Table 4.7 indicate the proportion of errors
to the total number of errors in the relevant category.

Table 4.7 Comparison of Errors Produced in Collaborative and Individual Writing

Groups Individual Collaborative
Frequency Errors% Frequency Errors%
Verb Present 30 18. % 25 17%
Tense Past 33 19% 25 17%
Future 42 24.5% 33 23%
Subject verb Agreement 50 28.07% 39 28%
Word order 20 10.56% 21 14%
Total 175 100% 144 100%
F = Frequency of per category
Several interesting aspects emerged when comparing individually and collaboratively produced
compositions in terms of errors. With regard to subject/verb agreement, both in collaboratively and
individually produced compositions, the frequency of this type of error was nearly the same (both
about 28%). Another interesting finding was related to word order error. Frequency and percentage
of this type of error in collaboratively produced compositions were higher than those of individually
produced compositions. However, regarding the verb tense errors, the collaboratively produced
compositions were more accurate than those individually produced compositions.

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Percentages of Errors in Collaborative and Individual Compositins

28% 28%
25%
23%

18% 19%
17% 17%
14%
11.00%

sub.v. agreement word order present tense past tense future tense

collaborative individual

Figure 4.1: Comparison of Percentages of Errors in Collaboratively and Individually Written

Compositions
The above bar graph shows the percentage of each category of errors produced in collaboratively and
individually written compositions. As seen from the graph, the frequency of subject/verb agreement
errors was nearly the same (both about 28%), but Frequency and percentage of word order error in
collaboratively produced compositions were higher than those of individually produced
compositions, and the percentages of the verb tense errors in all three tenses were less in
collaboratively produced compositions than percentages in individually produced compositions.

5. Discussion
The present study has been greatly influenced by the key notions of Vygotsky’s theory of learning,
particularly the idea that learning originates in social interactions. The Vygotskian approaches to
learning are socially oriented and emphasize the significance of language and social interaction in
children‘s intellectual development (Wells, 2009). The center of this enterprise is Vygotsky’s (1978)
argument that social interaction constitutes the learning process; first socially (inter-mental), and then
individually (intra-mental). Wells (2009) further advocated the significance of collaboration in social
interaction, stating that “all human psychological processes develop out of collaborative social forms
of interaction, using cultural tools, most importantly language, to transform the world rather than
passively to adapt to it” (p. 237).
The present study, accordingly, sought to investigate whether there is any significant difference
between individual and collaborative writing in terms of accuracy of tense use (i.e., Present, past, and
future tenses). For this purpose, 60 individually produced compositions and 60 collaboratively
produced compositions were compared in terms of accuracy. With regard to the accuracy of
subject/verb agreement, both in collaboratively and individually produced compositions, the
frequency of this type of error was nearly the same, and regarding word order error, frequency and
percentage of this type of error in collaboratively produced compositions were higher than those of
individually produced compositions. However, the collaboratively produced compositions were
more accurate than those individually produced compositions in terms of the verb tense errors.
In addition, the participants seemed to write longer compositions when they worked collaboratively
because they could think of more and stronger words and sentences through negotiating with their
each other. Interestingly, however, this results that collaboratively written compositions were more
fluent contrasts with Storch’s (1999, 2005) study that reported collaboratively produced texts were
shorter. This difference may be due to the different type of writing task used; while writing
composition task was used in Storch’s (1999, 2005) studies, writing a composition was used in this
study. The participants may have tried to write longer texts when they produce a composition
compared to the writing commentary task.
It is worth mentioning that the result of our study is in line with the results of previous studies
(Kowal & Swain, 1994; Glennding & Howard, 2001; Storch, 1999, 2005). Individually written
compositions had more errors than collaboratively produced essays, suggesting that individual

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writing was less accurate. In addition, collaboratively written compositions also had more error-free
clauses than individually written compositions, suggesting that collaborative writing was more
accurate. However, these frequency measures are likely to increase as the total number of words or
the total number of error-free clauses is increased, as noted by Wolfe-Quintero et al. (1998).
To summarize, individually written compositions had more errors than collaboratively produced
essays, suggesting that individual writing was less accurate. In addition, collaboratively written
compositions also had more error-free clauses than individually written compositions, suggesting
that collaborative writing was more accurate.
5.1. Testing the Hypothesis
The study was expected to support the previous studies and suggest that collaborative writing is
more accurate than individual writing. To test the null hypothesis that there was not any significant
difference between individual and collaborative writing in terms of accuracy of tense use, we
compared the individually produced and collaboratively produced compositions in terms of three
types of errors: verb tense errors, word order errors and subject/verb agreement errors. With regard
to subject/verb agreement, both in collaboratively and individually produced compositions, the
frequency was roughly the same (both about 28%), but comparing word order errors we found out
that frequency and percentage of this type of error in collaboratively produced compositions were
higher than those of individually produced compositions(14% to 11%). However, regarding the verb
tense errors, the collaboratively produced compositions were more accurate than those individually
produced compositions (18%, 19%, 24% in individual writing to 17%, 17%, 23% collaborative writing),
and the first null hypothesis was rejected.
5.2. Pedagogical Implications
Research and empirical studies on collaborative writing have generally been very supportive of its
use in the EFL classroom. As was the case with this study, a vast number of past studies examining
students’ perceptions of collaborative writing had similarly positive responses. The findings of the
many studies suggest varied advantages of collaborative writing, be it in terms of communicative
skill, language proficiency, construction of knowledge, or assessment of written work. Although
collaborative writing may not be likely to yield immediate results and transform learners into great
writers, the benefits and advantages of this approach to general learning have been shown in
numerous past studies. In view of the lack of interest and ability in the writing skill of the majority of
Iranian students today, a more interactive pedagogy utilizing the collaborative approach is a viable
alternative to the traditional method of teaching composition writing.
The present findings have confirmed the view that students have the ability to teach and learn from
others during collaborative writing. Thus, writing teachers can provide opportunities for students to
interact and work collaboratively in small groups. In this way, students can become more
autonomous language learners as they exchange knowledge, skills, and strategies. More capable
students can guide and help the weaker ones. Collaboration encourages students to develop their
independence and responsibility to construct knowledge on their own.
Another important classroom implication is the need to prepare students carefully for collaboration.
The purpose of collaboration needs to be explained clearly to students. Teachers cannot assume that
students will share the same attitudes, goals, and motivation when they are assigned to work in
groups. Hence, before collaboration, the teacher can ask students to discuss the benefits of group
work, attitudes and behaviors that are conducive to language learning. Students should also be
informed that different people have different beliefs and this can determine what happens during the
collaboration.
Teachers can demonstrate effective planning and composing techniques with a student or a colleague
and be explicit about what works for successful collaboration. Role-playing the collaboration process
and modeling conflict resolution in class provides students with a model to follow. It also gives
students an idea of what to expect during the process of collaboration. It is vital to emphasize that
group members should be regarded as resources rather than competitors. Pooling of resources can
promote deeper analysis and synthesis of ideas and viewpoints. Teachers can create an atmosphere of
interdependence among the collaborators by encouraging them to support one another
spontaneously with their diverse strengths and abilities. Students can also acquire important group
skills such as tolerance, cooperation, and flexibility when they learn to work as a team.
5.3. Suggestions for Further Research

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A number of important issues raised by the findings need to be explored and understood more fully.
First of all, in the light of significant findings about the benefits of collaborative writing in developing
students’ knowledge construction, more empirical studies could compare the effects of collaborative
writing. Future researchers could extend the study by investigating the redrafting process to ascertain
the extent and the kinds of revision that the collaborators will make, based on peer response
comments and teacher’s comments. In addition, future study can investigate how students write
subsequent compositions alone after the collaborative experience. Such a study could provide
valuable insights into the transfer of effects from collaboration to individual writing and to what
extent the zone of proximal development has been important.

6. Conclusion
Research and empirical studies on collaborative writing have generally been very supportive of its
use in the EFL classroom. As this study revealed, and some previous studies showed collaborative
writing can have similarly positive benefits. Some benefits of collaborative writing can be
communicative skill, language proficiency, construction of knowledge, or assessment of written work.
However, not much Iranian-based research has been conducted to investigate the effects of
collaborative writing on students’ writing performance. To date, studies on collaborative writing in
composition writing are scarce. This study investigated the effects of collaborative composition
writing on the correctness of tense use. Understanding the collaborative effects’ on students writing
enables teachers to tailor writing activities according to students’ needs and to prepare students well
before initiating any collaborative activities. In present day classroom, educational needs and
approaches are changing and educators need to explore various approaches, methods and pedagogies
to address these changing needs in their teaching and learning. Implementing a collaborative
environment in the writing classroom (as opposed to mere group work) is not without its challenges.
Factors such as class size, time constraints, and teachers’ ability to facilitate and guide students in the
process of collaborative composition writing are some of the concerns that would need to be
addressed. In spite of the fact that there is a lack of interest and ability in the Iranian EFL learner’s
writing skill, a collaborative approach is a practical alternative to the traditional method of teaching
composition writing.

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INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF CONSTRUCT

IRRELEVANT FACTORS ON DEPENDABILITY OF
WDCT AND ODCT PRAGMATIC TESTS

Reza Shahi*
MA graduated student
Dept. of English Language & Literature, Vali Asr University, Rafsanjan, Iran.
* Corresponding Author’s Email: Reza.shahi411@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY EXPLOITED GENERALIZABILITY THEORY TO INVESTIGATE AND COMPARE
THE IMPACT OF TEST TAKERS, ITEMS, RATERS, AND RATING TRAIT ON THE
DEPENDABILITY OF THE SCORES FROM WRITTEN DISCOURSE COMPLETION TEST (WDCT)
AND ORAL DISCOURSE COMPLETION TEST (ODCT) PRAGMATIC TESTS. TO THIS END,
THREE RESEARCH QUESTIONS WERE POSED; 1) WHAT ARE THE RELATIVE ESTIMATED
VARIANCE COMPONENTS FOR TEST TAKERS, RATERS, ITEM, RATING TRAIT, AND THEIR
INTERACTIONS IN WDCT, ODCT, PRAGMATICS TESTS? 2) TO WHAT DEGREE ARE WDCT
AND ODCT RELIABLE? 3) TO WHAT DEGREE DO TEST METHOD CONTRIBUTE ERROR
VARIANCE? TO INVESTIGATE THE ISSUES, 55 STUDENTS MAJORING ENGLISH LITERATURE
AND TRANSLATING, WERE SELECTED CONVENIENTLY AMONG ALL ENGLISH STUDENTS
OF VALI-E-ASR UNIVERSITY. BOTH WDCT AND ODCT ADMINISTERED TO ALL TEST TAKERS.
FOUR RATERS WERE INVITED TO SCORE TEST TAKERS PERFORMANCE IN BOTH TESTS. THE
RESULT SHOWED THE DEPENDABILITY OF BOTH TESTS WERE SAME. HOWEVER, THE
RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE FACETS WERE NOT STABLE ACROSS TWO TEST
METHODS. FINDING OF THIS STUDY SUGGESTED, USING TWO TYPES OF MEASUREMENT
DEVICE CAN INCREASE THE RELIABILITY OF OUR MEASUREMENT.

KEY WORDS: GENERALIZABILITY THEORY, PRAGMATICS, ODCT , WDCT

Introduction
Pragmatics is defined as ‘the study of people’s comprehension and production of linguistic action in
context’(Kasper & Blum-Kulka, 1993: 3). Conceptually speaking ,pragmatics is related to language
users, "the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction
and the effects their use of language has on other participants in the act of communication" (Crystal,
1985: 240). Indeed, pragmatics enable us to relate the utterances to their meaning and interprets
intended meaning in interaction between people. In the other word ‘Pragmatic knowledge enables us
to create or interpret discourse by relating utterances or sentences and texts to their meaning, to the
intentions of language users, and to relevant characteristics of the language use setting’ (Bachman &
Palmer, 1996: 69).
By expending communicative competence framework, interlanguage pragmatic competence become
one of the integral part of the developed model by Bachman ( 1990). In his model, language
competence consisted of pragmatics and organizational competence. In addition, he divided the
pragmatic competence in two categories: illocutionary competence and sociolinguistic competence.
According to Yamashita (2008), the components under pragmatic competence in Bachman’s model
(1990) guided the theoretical direction for the assessment of pragmatics.
Considering language testing in general, "the primary purpose of a language test is to provide a
measure that we can interpret as an indicator of an individual’s language ability" (Bachman & Palmer,
1996: 23). This is also true for testing learners’ pragmatic ability. In order to assess the pragmatic
knowledge some studies tried to develop and validate pragmatic tests (e.g. Garcia, 2004; Grobowsky,

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2008, Hudson et al., 1992, 1995; Liu, 2006; Roever, 2005; Yamashita, 1996) .However, language testing
is always under influence of some irrelevant factors that are not interested to be measured .
According to Eckes(2009) some factors have immediate impact on the given score to test takers. These
factors, which also compromise the factors that intended to be measured such as test takers language
proficiency, can be called proximal factors. Eckes(2009) Listed other proximal factors which only may
has contribution on error measurement. These factors included: raters effect, the difficulty of the test
that was administered to test takers, and variability in scoring criteria. Eckes(2009) also listed some
factors that he called them distel factors. Distel factors are the factors that indirectly effect the rating.
these factors include: features of test takes such as gender, personality , first language, goals and
belief ;features of raters such as number of forging languages spoken, professional background and
educational career; features of situation such as technical and physical environment.
By Hudson et al. (1992; 1995) developing test battery for measuring interlanguage pragmatics, new
field of language testing came to the center of interests of researchers. Complicated nature of
pragmatic testing and different variables that may have an impact on performance on tests, made
traditional analysis which only measures one variable in one time unhelpful in measuring multi
variables which may have significant contribution on measurement error. Therefore, innovative
statistical such as generalizability theory which can examine different factors simultaneously was
introduced to estimate the precision of measures and investigate the different factors effect on
pragmatic test as other parts of language assessment .

Generalizability theory
Generalizability theory (G theory) is an innovative extension of Classical Test Theory (CTT) which
provides an effective tool for estimating reliability by providing opportunity to investigate the
multiple source of variance that may have great impact on test takers score. The contribution of the
generalizability theory is that the impact of multiple factors on test reliability can be examined
simultaneously (Cardinet,Johnson, & Pini, 2010). Based on Brennan (2001)" Generalizability theory
liberalizes classical theory by employing ANOVA methods that allow an investigator to untangle
multiple sources of error that contribute to the undifferentiated E in classical theory.’’(p.3) .These
enable us "to tailor a measurement in such a way as to maximize its reliability under cost and time
constraints" ( Cardinet,Johnson, & Pini, 2010 , p.6 )
G-theory considers the performance of any test taker as a sample from among an infinitely large
number of observations that could have been made under similar conditions (Bolus, Hinofotis, &
Bailey, 1982). Then, the aim of applying Generalizability theory is generalizing from sample to
universe of interest.
G theory was introduced to language testing by Bolus et al. (1982). Afterwards researchers used G-
theory in different parts of language testing (e.g., Molloy and Shimura (2005), Brown (2005b),
Schooner (2005), Kozaki (2004), Lee (2006) Yamanaka (2005), Solano-Flores and Li (2006), Lee (2006),
and Zhang (2006) Yoshida (2004, 2006). By increasing interest in testing pragmatics G-theory also
were used in some studies during the recent years in this filed.

Statement of problem
Pragmatics assessment, like other field of language testing can be effected by some construct
irrelevant factors. Although, some studies by application of innovative statistics such as G-theory
examined the impact of effective factor on test takers performance (e.g. Brown, 2008; Brown and Ahn,
2010), they are few. Moreover, none of the studies has yet investigated construct irrelevant factors by
applying G-theory in Iranian EFL context.

Literature review
The first effort to test pragmatic knowledge dates back to 1992 when Hudson et al tried to examine
pragmatic competence by six type of tests: written discourse completion tasks (WDCT), multiple-
choice discourse completion tasks (MDCT), oral discourse completion tasks (ODCT), self-assessments,
role-play discourse tasks and role-play, and self-assessments. Rover (2006) described this methods as
following:
 oral DCTs, where test takers spoke their utterance into a microphone;
 traditional written DCTs, where they wrote ‘what they would say’;

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 multiple choice DCTs, where they marked the appropriate utterance for a given situation among three
response options;
 role plays, where they produced a request, apology, and refusal in the same interaction with a role play
conductor; and
 Self-assessments where they evaluated their own performance on the DCTs and the role plays.
Hudson et al(1992), only found MDCT problematic in Japanese ESL context. In an attempt to extend
the devised tests by Hudson et al(1992), to Japanese as second language JSL context translated the
situations to Japanese and then tried to adopt this situations to the Japanese EFL context. Other
studies tried to found the reliability of devised tests. Some studies found DCT test reliable in different
contexts (e.g. Bachman & Palmer,1982;Lui,2004; yamashita,1997) .However , some studies found DCT
tests unreliable in different contexts.(e.g . Enochs and youshitake-Strain ,1992 ; and Brown ,2001).
Some years later, Lui (2004) developed and validated three types of test to measure Chinese EFL
interlanguage pragmatics. The tests were in three formats including WDCT, MDCT and self-
assessment. Finding showed all three tests were reliable.
After understanding the complicate nature of pragmatic testing which include four variables and
failure of CTT to measure some variables at same time ,G-theory and other innovative statistical
analysis were applied to pragmatics assessment filed to investigate the different factors impact
on developed testes. G-THEORY because of the nature that they have are useful statistics to
measure the impact of different factors on learners performance on testes . However, applying G-
theory to investigate the impact of construct irrelevant factors in pragmatic area are few. Brown
(2008) in his study investigated the impact different variables on L2 pragmatist's tests dependability.
They found items, raters had significant contribution on test takers performance.

Methodology
Participant:
The study was conducted with 55 students studying at Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan(VRU). The
participants were composed of 40 female and 15 male English students. Their age rang were between
17 – 24 years. They were selected conveniently from English translating and English literature
students who studied at least 2 semesters at VRU. Moreover four raters were invited to score the test
takers. All of them had at least six years language teaching experience.

Materials
Two types of measurement were used in this study: WDCT and ODCT. Each test consisted of 10
apology situations which have been devised by Lui (2006). Moreover, the rating scale that was
deviced by Hudson et al (1995), were utilized to score the WDCT and ODCT tests. The scoring
included five scales, each item rated on a five-point scale, with scoring range from 1 to 5 .
Procedure
First, the Subjects were asked to do WDCT in 30 minutes. Then, two weeks later, the test takers
separately were invited for ODCT administration. The DCT situations were read to the participants,
and the participants were asked to respond orally to the situations. The performance of test takers in
this test was audio recorded. Finally, the transcriptions of the audio file handed over to the raters.

Data analysis
In order to answer to research questions and compare two methods and examine the elements
differences within each facet for both tests, EDUG software was launched three times. First analysis
was conducted to the examine the impact of the mentioned factors on the dependability of WDCT ,
the second one was done to investigate the same factors in ODCT and finely, the third analysis was
conducted to investigate how combinations of two test type may affect the dependably of
measurement .

Result
Estimated variance components
First, two separated generalizability studies are conducted to estimate the relative contributions of
persons, raters, items and traits to ODCT and WDCT scores. The design of two study are same. In
both analysis persons are the object of study and raters, items and traits are the facets of study. In this

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study, only trait facet is fixed facet. The other facets are random. The results of these generalizability
studies for two method separately are summarized in table 1.

Table 1: Estimated variance components

Source ODCT WDCT

SS VC % SS VC %
P 1281.96683 0.13593 12.7 1402.01863 0.14880 15.2
R 86.03894 0.01286 1.2 74.02344 0.01085 1.1
I 789.66635 0.10253 9.6 772.98329 0.09987 10.2
T 554.77740 0.06179 5.8 353.64651 0.05229 4.0
PR 246.38606 0.03176 3.0 246.50781 0.03432 3.5
PI 971.95865 0.11110 10.4 1060.28546 0.12947 13.2
PT 744.29760 0.09555 8.9 684.98474 0.08420 8.6
RI 17.70385 0.00152 0.1 19.57873 0.00234 0.2
RT 4.79856 0.00020 0.0 6.56839 0.00026 0.0
IT 259.52308 0.04134 3.9 149.85950 0.02110 2.2
PRI 468.12115 0.08499 8.0 328.32752 0.05961 6.1
PRT 200.97644 0.02272 2.1 220.82536 0.03284 3.4
PIT 1123.15192 0.15124 14.2 1074.94675 0.15699 16.0
RIT 33.14135 0.00382 0.4 43.25733 0.00733 0.7
PRIT 870.33365 0.21068 19.7 630.66142 0.15267 15.6
total 7652.84183 100 7068.47488 100
Coef_G RE 0.87 0.87
Coef_G AB 0.80 0.81
AbsoluteE V 0.03468 0.03578
Relative E V 0.02117 0.02302
Absolute SE: 0.18623 0.18914
Relative SE: 0.14552 0.15171

Estimated component variance for each facets and interactions is presented in VC column which is
namely mixed estimated in EDUG output. And also, each facet and interactions contribution
percentage are presented in % column . By examining main facets : person (P),raters(R) items (I) and
traits (T) , we can see raters contribution is small for both method (1.1 and 1.2 respectively for
WDCT and ODCT) ;items contribution is relatively high in both method. Items contribute 9.6% and
10.2% for ODCT and WDCT. And also traits contribute 5.8% and 4% for ODCT and WDCT.
Examining the interaction of the facets, the interaction of person, rater, item and trait is the most
significant variance component in ODCT. However, the interaction of person, item and trait is the
most significant one in WDCT. Moreover, the variance component related to the persons are different
in both method. The percentage of variances component of persons are 12.7 and 15.2 respectively for
ODCT and WDCT. On the other hand, rater and trait interaction has less variance component among
all of the facets. It is preferable that person's contribution percentage be the highest percentage.
However in this study it is not the case especially because of the items contribution.
Although G theory stresses the importance of variance components and measurement error, it
provides a generalizability coefficient that is analogous to the reliability coefficient in classical test
theory(Richard and Noreen M. Webb, Richard J. Shavelson and Edward H. Haertel, 2006 . 16p.) .
EDUG also provides two set of coefficients, relative and absolute G coefficients respectively for
Norm reference and Criterion reference tests. Here, the test s aim are to detect the test takers
relative position among all test takers. Therefore, the relative G coefficient is of interest here, because
it shows how much the relative standing of the individuals are generalizable (karami .2010).
The relative G coefficient is obtained by dividing estimated variance component for persons to the
total variance. Therefore the test dependability is dependent on the variance that persons as a

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differentiated facet contribute to the total variance. If persons variance is high, the test reliability
will be high . Following Cardinet, , Johnson, & Pini,. (2010), estimated G confections values that are
equal or higher than .8 are acceptable. Here absolute and relative G coefficients are above than .80.

Single combined study by adding method facets

The final G study is conducted by adding test method as a separate facet. Here again person is the
differentiate facet which help to the universe variance and test method ,raters, items and treats are
the facets that contribute on the variance. In this design, items are nested in test method. Each
method has 10 separated item. Test method and trait are fixed facet that we are not in interest of
generalizing their contribution.
The ANOVA results are given in Table 2. As table manifests, the greatest contribution to the total
score variance, at just over 16%, comes from all of the facets presented in table by PRIT:M. The next
highest contribution comes from person's interaction with items within method and trait denoted in
table by PIT: M. By examining the main facets, items has the greatest contribution, and test
method(M) has small contribution.

Table 2: mixed design component

Source SS VC %
P 1930.67037 0.10682 9.5
R 166.51460 0.01284 1.1
M 48.35391 -0.00305 0.0
I:M 1598.79147 0.10369 9.3
T 907.82903 0.05197 4.6
PR 268.92602 0.01832 1.6
PM 727.10547 0.06716 6.0
PI:M 2027.11478 0.11976 10.7
PT 1093.56160 0.07754 6.9
RM 0.27181 -0.00089 0.0
RI:M 34.32536 0.00165 0.1
RT 7.76352 0.00026 0.0
MT 15.67278 -0.00065 0.0
IT:M 417.15805 0.03197 2.9
PRM 243.95631 0.03256 2.9
PRI:M 804.44339 0.07302 6.5
PRT 147.50835 0.00690 0.6
PMT 359.50535 0.02743 2.4
PIT:M 2220.21070 0.15569 13.9
RMT 4.18900 -0.00083 0.0
RIT:M 73.41166 0.00519 0.5
PRMT 288.99537 0.04462 4.0
PRIT:M 1515.44459 0.18342 16.4
Total 14901.72350 100%

Single G-study
Following single G-study (table 3), the facet that helps to the variance of the universe is listed
in first column and its contribution to the true variance is listed in second column . the other
components without paying attention to their help to the true or error variance were listed in
third column. Component relative and actual contribution to the relative error variance are listed in
fourth and fifth column. And finally the components contribution to the absolute error variance were
listed in two last columns. In these columns, the interactions of a differentiation facet with a fixed
instrumentation facet are put aside: they appear between parentheses and do not contribute to either
error variance (Swiss Society for Research in Education Working Group,2006 .54)

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The interaction of person and item within method, denoted in table by PI:M has the greatest
contribution to the relative error by having more than 52 percent of total contribution. Other
great contribution on the relative error is done by the interaction of person and rater . The other
high contribution is related to the PRI:M which is 8percent.

Table 3: G-study

Source
Absolute Relative Source Differ-
% of
error % error of entiation
absolut variance
variance relative variance variance variance
e
..... ..... 0.10682 P
16.1 0.00321 ..... R .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... M .....
26.1 0.00518 ..... I:M .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... T .....
23.0 0.00458 39.9 0.00458 PR .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PM .....
30.1 0.00599 52.2 0.00599 PI:M .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PT .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... RM .....
0.1 0.00002 ..... RI:M .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... RT .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... MT .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... IT:M .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PRM .....
4.6 0.00091 8.0 0.00091 PRI:M .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PRT .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PMT .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PIT:M .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... RMT .....
0.0 (0.00000) ..... RIT:M .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PRMT .....
0.0 (0.00000) 0.0 (0.00000) PRIT:M .....
Sum of
100% 0.01990 100% 0.01148 0.10682
variances
Standard
Absolute SE: 0.14105 Relative SE: 0.10715 0.32683
deviation
0.90 Coef_G relative
0.84 Coef_G absolute

The greatest contribution of the components to absolute error variance is pertaining to the interaction
of the person and item which has the 26 percent contribution. The next component which has great
contribution relatively are : I:M, R and PRI:M which their contribution value are respectively
23%,26% and4.6 %. Considering the coefficient of the studies, the obtained G coefficients , both
relative and absolute are high .
Discussion
Discussion over first research question:
What are the relative estimated variance components for examinees, raters, item functions, item
types, item characteristics, and their interactions in WDCT, ODCT, pragmatics tests?

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As table 1 showed , items contribution is the highest among the main facets which is 9.5% and
10 % respectively for WDCT and ODCT. Trait is the second main facet that has high contribution
on total score variance , its contribution is 5.4 and 4 respectively for WDCT and ODCT. Comparing
to trait and items, raters contribution is small. Raters contribute only 1.2 and 1.1 respectively in ODCT
and WDCT. He found significant contribution of mentioned factors to error variance. However, in his
study the highest contribution was related to the person facet.
Discussion over second research question:
To what degree are WDCT and ODCT reliable?
Both tests are dependable in this study. The reliability finding is in line with some studies that found
DCT tests reliable in different context (e.g. Brown, 1992; yamashita,1997;Lui,2004; Bachman &
Palmer,1982). However, the finding is not consistent with some studies that found different types of
DCT tests unreliable(e.g . Enochs and youshitake-Strain ,1992 ; and Brown ,2001) . In this study, the
dependability of ODCT and WDCT somehow are same. This part of this study is in line with Brown
and Anh (2010) who found both test reliable in same way.
Discussion over third research question:
To what degree do test method contribute error variance?
Although the contribution of the test method on error variance is very small, but it's interaction with
other facets make great contribution on error variance. Moreover the contribution of all facets in
different test method are different from each other. By using tow test type, we can see that the
reliability of testing is increased. This finding is in line with Brown and Ahn(2010) . They found test
method do not have significant contribution to the error variance.

Conclusion
This study investigated the impact of rater, rating trait, items on test takers performance on WDCT
and ODCT pragmatic tests. Two tests were administered to 55 test takers and scored by four raters.
The results of generalizability studies indicated that WDCT and ODCT enjoy an acceptable reliability
level. Both relative and absolute G coefficients for Both tests were above 0.8. Although the
contribution of different facets ware not stable across two tests, tests reliability were somehow same.
Moreover, The G coefficient of mixed study, was highest among three studies. This shows using two
test types simultaneously in measuring pragmatic increases the reliability of our measurement. Thus,
this study suggests to teachers and researchers to use more than one test type to measure learners'
pragmatic knowledge.

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Brown, J. D., & Ahn, R. C. (2011). Variables that affect the dependability of L2 pragmatics tests. Journal
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Cardinet, J., Johnson, S., & Pini, G. (2010). Applying generalizability theory using EduG. New York,NY:
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Enochs, K., & Yoshitake-Strain, S. (1996). Evaluating six measures of EFL learners’ pragmatic
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Kozaki, Y. (2004). Using GENOVA and FACETS to set multiple standards on
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1632). Tokyo: JALT Pan SIG Committee. On WWW at
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Switzerland: IRDP.
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Yamashita, S.O., 1996a. Comparing six cross-cultural pragmatics measures. Unpublished doctoral
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Yamashita, S. O. (1997). Self-Assessment and Role Play Methods of Measuring Cross-Cultural
Pragmatics. Pragmatics and Language Learning, 8, 129-162.
Yamashita, S. A. Y. O. K. O. (2008). Investigating interlanguage pragmatic ability: What are we
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Yoshida, H. (2004) An analytic instrument for assessing EFL pronunciation.
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Yoshida, H. (2006) Using generalizability theory to evaluate reliability of a
performance-based pronunciation measurement. Unpublished manuscript,
Osaka Jogakuin College.
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351369.

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IN SEARCH FOR A SUPPLEMENTARY PATH TO

ENHANCE L2 VOCABULARY RECALL AND
ACQUISITION

Nima Shakouri & Parviz Maftoon*

Department of English Language, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran,
Iran
*Corresponding author: Parviz Maftoon

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATED THE IMPACT OF THREE VOCABULARY LEARNING
STRATEGIES (I.E., USING KEYWORDS, GUESSING THROUGH CONTEXT, AND GIVING
SYNONYMS) ON THE RECALL AND ACQUISITION OF L2 VOCABULARY. THE PARTICIPANTS
OF THE STUDY WERE 45 MALE AND FEMALE INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS FROM A
POPULAR LANGUAGE CENTER LOCATED IN BANDAR-E ANZALI, IRAN. IN ORDER TO GET
SURE THAT THE PARTICIPANTS WERE HOMOGENEOUS, THE BABEL TEST WAS USED.
BESIDES, IN ORDER TO ASCERTAIN THAT THE PARTICIPANTS DID NOT HAVE ANY
PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF THE TARGET WORDS, THE PARTICIPANTS WERE REQUESTED
TO TAKE A PRETEST. THEY ARE ASKED TO WRITE DOWN THE PERSIAN EQUIVALENTS OF A
LIST OF 150 WORDS, SELECTED FROM THE 3000-WORD LEVEL OF VOCABULARY LEVEL TEST
DEVISED BY NATION (1990). SUBSEQUENTLY, THE WORDS WHICH STUDENTS WERE
FAMILIAR WERE EXCLUDED. FINALLY, 96 VOCABULARY ITEMS WERE INCLUDED IN THE
PRESENT STUDY. HAVING CLASSIFIED THE HOMOGENEOUS PARTICIPANTS INTO THREE
GROUPS OF 15 LEARNERS, THE RESEARCHERS DIVIDED THE SELECTED WORDS INTO
GROUPS OF EIGHT. THE TREATMENT LASTED 3 MONTHS: 12 SESSIONS, TWO SESSIONS PER
WEEK, EACH OF WHICH TOOK 20 MINUTES. THE SUBJECTS IN THE FIRST GROUP WERE
TRAINED TO LEARN THE WORDS BY GIVING SYNONYMS; THE SUBJECTS IN THE SECOND
GROUP WERE TRAINED TO GUESS THE MEANING OF NEW LEXICAL ITEMS FROM THE
CONTEXT, AND THE THIRD GROUP TRAINED USED THE KEY WORD METHODS TO LEARN
THE VOCABULARY ITEMS. LATER ON, TWO TYPES OF POST-TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED: (1)
IMMEDIATE VOCABULARY RECALL POST-TEST AND (3) DELAYED VOCABULARY
ACQUISITION POST-TEST. EACH TEST INCLUDED 25 ITEMS, EXCEPT THE DELAYED
ACQUISITION TEST THAT INCLUDED 50 ITEMS, BOTH RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE. IN
FACT, THE PARTICIPANTS' RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE WAS TESTED
THROUGH 25 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS AND THEIR PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH 25 FILL-IN-THE BLANK ITEMS. HAVING GATHERED THE
REQUIRED DATA, THE RESEARCHERS RAN ONE-WAY ANOVA IN ORDER TO INVESTIGATE
THE IMPACT OF THE VERY STRATEGIES ON THE RECALL AND ACQUISITION OF LEXICAL
ITEMS. THE RESULTS INDICATED A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE AMONG THE THREE
GROUPS.

KEY WORDS: ACQUISITION, CONTEXT, KEYWORD, MNEMONIC, RECALL, VOCABULARY

1. INTRODUCTION
Educators have long recognized the importance of vocabulary acquisition in L2. Laufer (1997) puts
forth that no text comprehension is possible, either in one's native or in a foreign language, without
understanding the text's vocabulary. "Perhaps the greatest tools we can give students for succeeding,
not only in their education but more generally in life, is a large, rich vocabulary and the skills for
using those words" (Pikulski & Templeton, 2004, p. 1). Indeed, vocabulary learning is regarded as the
heart of any language learning (Laufer, 1997). Dewey (1910) states that vocabulary is critically
important because a word is an instrument for thinking about the meaning it expresses. Regarding

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the importance of vocabulary, Aitchison (1989) also contends that words are tools of thought, and one
will often find that s/he is thinking inappropriately because he is using the wrong tool.
However, recent research shows that vocabulary instruction might be problematic (Bintz, 2011) since
many teachers are not “confident about the best practice in vocabulary instruction and at times do not
know where to begin to form an instructional emphasis on word learning” (Berne & Blachowicz,
2008, p. 315). More importantly, lack of needed vocabulary has become the most important cause of
pupils' inability to express what they mean in communicative activities. Thus, poor vocabulary has
become one of the learners' sources of complaint in second language acquisition.
Undeniably, one of the basic issues that Iranian EFL learners face is how they can learn lexical items
efficiently. Regardless of the vocabulary importance, little emphasis has been placed on vocabulary
teaching. Nonetheless, studies in vocabulary learning are considered as a "promising area of inquiry"
(Ellis, 1990, p. 214), and there is a consensus among scholars that "lexical competence is at the heart of
communicative competence" (Tavakoli & Gerami, 2013, p. 300). Henceforth, the current work is
aiming at giving learners and teachers some insights into finding a supplementary method to enhance
learners' recall and acquisition of L2 vocabulary.

2. REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

Although vocabulary teaching was ignored to a great extent in the past, there is now a widespread
agreement that L2 learners need to increase the range of vocabulary substantially (Shakouri &
Mehrgan, 2012). Since the range of vocabulary has a tremendous effect on the production and
comprehension of vocabulary, Gass (1999) claims "learning a second language means learning its
vocabulary" (p. 325). Nevertheless, students usually experience considerable difficulty with the
acquisition of L2 vocabulary. Thereupon, it is necessary for teachers to explore effective ways that
contribute to learners' effective vocabulary acquisition.
It is evident that teaching vocabulary should not only consist of teaching specific words but also aim
at equipping learners with strategies necessary to expand their vocabulary knowledge (Hulstijn, 1993)
because one of the biggest problems with L2 vocabulary acquisition is that what is learned today is
often forgotten quickly. The primary reason for forgetting is that vocabulary acquisition is
challenging (Lessard-Clouston, 2013) because lexical items, as to Ur (2012, cited in Lessard-Clouston,
2013) are considered as an open system constantly being added to.
In this regard, to tackle the problem of word studying, numerous learning strategies are suggested.
In a study conducted by Nemati (2009), she found out that giving synonyms and mini-contexts exert
positive effects on the long-term and short-term retention of vocabulary acquisition. However,
although giving synonyms is respected as a popular strategy in teaching vocabulary, it results in a
shallow level of word knowledge; moreover, only giving synonyms does not increase comprehension
of the text containing the instructed words (Amirian & Momeni, 2012).
Incompatible with a definition-based learning in vocabulary teaching, scholars argue for the
perspective that "words do not exist as isolated items in a language" (Yu-Ling, 2005, p. 11). Put
differently, as to Yu-Ling, "words are interwoven in a complex system in which knowledge of various
levels of a lexical item is required in order to achieve adequate understanding in listening or reading
or produce ideas successfully in speaking and writing" (p. 11).
Henceforth, over the last two decades, several scholars (Laufer, 1997; Schmitt, 2000) have suggested a
variety of vocabulary acquisition strategies in order to improve learners' vocabulary knowledge.
Laufer (1997) proposes a guessing strategy based on clues extracted from context. Accordingly, Yu-
Ling (2005) puts forth that guessing from context is held to be the most useful one. Meanwhile,
Sariçoban and Balaman (2008) assert that context has a significant effect on the long-term retention of
the words for a long time. Bowen and Marks (1994), in the same line, contend that there are two
important reasons for presenting vocabulary in context. First of all, the context can present an
association for the learners conducive to triggering the recall of vocabulary items. Secondly,
contextualizing vocabulary presents learners with a means of physical storing of the vocabulary items
under a topic category. Indeed, when a word is taught, it is necessary to show how the word is used
in context. In other words, when students are asked to check the meaning of the word in a dictionary,
they might pick up the incorrect definition, while when they are requested to see how the word is
used in context, they can connect to the appropriate meaning (Graves, 2006). In fact, seeing a lexical
item in context produces robust vocabulary acquisition.

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Mnemonic techniques have also been supported by several scholars (e.g., Atkinson & Raugh, 1975).
Keyword method, as a mnemonic technique for foreign language vocabulary study, was earlier
introduced by Atkinson (1975). In keyword method, sounds and images are combined so that learners
can more easily remember what they hear or read in the new language (Thompson, 1987). As put by
Sariçoban and Balaman (2008), in the given method, there are two steps to follow: (a) identifying a
familiar word in one’s own language that sounds like the new word and (b) generating a visual image
of the new word and the familiar one interacting the same way. Put differently, the keyword method
has two important features: it should be familiar to the students, and it should be selected according
to its acoustic resemblance to the target word (Avila & Sadoski, 1996). Gaul (2004) refers to the same
method as a paired-associated strategy that entails the use of an acoustically similar word and the
creation of a visual image. In effect, keyword method is a facilitating way to link the form of the new
word to its meaning (Nation, 2001) and enhance retrievability of the word taught (Snowman,
McCown, & Biehler, 2012).
One recommended procedure for teaching the keyword method to students is using the steps of
recoding, relating, and retrieving (Mastropieri, 1988). Recoding involves selecting that part of the
target word that looks like or sounds like a word that students are familiar with. For example, for the
word apex, a student might select the word ape. Then, the students relate the recoded word to its
target definition using imagery. For example, the word apex denotes a very high point. The student
relates the word ape to a very high point, reminding himself of King Kong on the Empire State
Building. Finally, students are requested to recall or retrieve the meaning of the word. In sum, when
students see the word, the first step is to think of the keyword (e.g., ape). Next, an image related to
that word is pictured (e.g., the ape at a high place). Finally, the image must be linked to the definition
(Wyra, Lawson, & Hungi, 2007).
In the long run, although keyword method appears to be highly effective, it also has some limitations.
In practice, providing an association between the key word and the target word is highly time-
consuming. Moreover, although abstractness is also supposed to be a limitation to keyword method,
scholars (e.g., Higbee, 2001 ) hold that by substituting concrete vocabulary for an abstract, one can
help solve the problem. However, it is undeniable that forming an image for an abstract word
demands a great deal of time (Clark & Paivio, 1987, cited in Al-Zahrani, 2011).
Purpose and Research Questions
Concerning what has been brought in the literature, the present research is an attempt to search for a
supplementary path to enhance L2 vocabulary recall and acquisition. Henceforth, the following
research questions were raised:
1. Is there any significant difference in the effects of using synonym, context, and
keyword method on Iranian EFL learners' vocabulary recall?
2. Is there any significant difference in the effects of using synonym, context, and
keyword method on Iranian EFL learners' vocabulary acquisition?
Based on the abovementioned research questions, two hypotheses were raised:
1. There is no significant difference in the effects of using synonym, context, and keyword
method on Iranian EFL learners' vocabulary recall.
2. There is no significant difference in the effects of using synonym, context, and keyword
method on Iranian EFL learners' vocabulary acquisition.

3. METHOD
3.1. Participants
Participants included three groups of 15 learners studying at the intermediate level of a popular
language center located in the north of Iran, Bandar-e Anzali. To make sure that the selected groups
were homogenized in terms of their language proficiency level, BABEL English Language Placement
Test was used. The participants' age ranged from 16 to 29, from both genders.
3.2. Instrumentation and Materials
In the following research, the present study made use of the following instruments and materials:
3.2.1. BABEL test
To make sure that the participants were homogeneous, the researchers made use of BABEL test. The
rationale behind using such a test was to curtail the effect of subject selection on the outcome of the
study.
3.2.2. Pre-test of target words

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To ascertain that the target words were unfamiliar to the students, a vocabulary test was used prior to
the experiment. The test battery was composed of 150 items; each item was provided with a blank
and the students were asked to write the meaning of the words in L2. The words were chosen from
the 3000-word level of Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) by Nation (1990). According to Nation, the 3000 word
levels contain the high-frequency words that all learners need to know in order to function effectively
in English. To make sure that the selected words were the most frequent, Cobuild Advanced
Dictionary (2015) was also used. Based on Cobulid Advanced Learner's English Dictionary, less
frequent words were also discarded; moreover, those words which the students were familiar with
are also excluded. Finally, 96 items were included in the present study. To suit the purpose of the
study, the words had to meet two criteria: first, they had to be appropriate for the students’ level, and
second, words that had a phonological similarity with an L1 (here Persian) were preferred. Finally, 54
words were discarded out of 150.
3.2.3. Immediate vocabulary recall post-test
To measure the participants' short-term memory recall, the researchers designed one achievement test
of L2 vocabulary recall, based on Nation's (1990) 3000-word level of Vocabulary Level Test. The test
consists of two halves of 15 items. In the first half, the participants were required to choose the correct
letter for each meaning and write the letter of that word next to its meaning. In the second half, the
learners were requested to choose the right letter for each definition and write the letter of that word
next to its definition. To determine the reliability of the very test, the Cronbach's alpha formula was
used and an acceptable reliability of 0.81 was reported.

3.2.4. Delayed vocabulary acquisition post-test

To measure the participants' vocabulary acquisition, two months after the treatment, a list of 50
vocabulary items were given to the students. The items were made up of both receptive and
productive items. The participants' receptive vocabulary knowledge was tested through 25 multiple-
choice test and their productive vocabulary knowledge through 25 fill-in-the blank items. The
reliability of the test was reported using Cronbach's alpha as 0.79.
To insure the content validity of the tests, two scholars examined the tests meticulously and made
some modifications. Moreover, to guarantee the reliability of tests, the teacher-made tests were
piloted with some students similar to the participants of the target group in terms of English
background. Having calculated the item difficulty, item facility, and item distribution, ineffective and
malfunctioning items were either removed or modified.
Having divided the homogeneous participants into three groups of 15, the researchers classified the
selected words (i.e., 96 items) into groups of eight. The rationale for exposing students to 8 words
each session lies in Finocchiaro and Bonomo's (1973) claim that students should not be exposed to
more than 8 words each session because they are not capable of managing them. The treatment lasted
3 months: 12 sessions, two sessions per week, each of which took 20 minutes.
4. RESULTS
4.1. Testing the First Null Hypothesis
There is no significant difference in the effects of using synonym, context, and keyword method on Iranian EFL
learners' vocabulary recall.
The first research question sought to investigate which vocabulary learning strategy is conducive to
the learners' vocabulary recall. To this end, an ANOVA procedure was used. Descriptive statistics for
the ANOVA on L2 vocabulary recall are presented in Table 4.1.
Table 4.1
Descriptive Statistics for the Immediate Vocabulary Recall Post-test

Descriptive Statistics
Vocabulary Recall
N Mean Std. Std. 95% Confidence Min Maxi
Deviatio Error Interval for Mean
n Lower Upper
Bound Bound
Keyword 15 23.6667 .89974 .23231 23.1684 24.1649 22.00 25.00
Synonym 15 14.2000 1.20712 .31168 13.5315 14.8685 13.00 17.00
Context 15 20.2667 2.21897 .57293 19.0378 21.4955 16.00 24.00

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Total 45 19.3778 4.23883 .63189 18.1043 20.6513 13.00 25.00

Based on the results in Table 4.1, the group instructed through the keyword method has the highest
mean, followed closely by the group instructed through context. The group instructed through giving
synonyms has the lowest mean which is noticeably lower than that of the other groups.
Table 4.2 shows the output of the ANOVA analysis. One-way ANOVA was conducted to assess if
there is a significant difference between the means of the three groups after instruction, and which of
the three groups performed better regarding their vocabulary recall level.
Table 4.2
One-way ANOVA for Immediate Recall Post-test
Sum of df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares
Between 689.911 2 344.956 143.922 .000
G
Within G 100.667 42 2.397
Total 790.578 44
As Table 4.2 show, the p-value is 0.00, which is smaller than 0.05 level of significance (.000<0.05).
Since the observed F(143.9) is higher than critical F(3.21), therefore, the difference between the three
groups was significant. So, the first null hypothesis, stating there is no significant difference between
using synonym, context, and keyword method in developing EFL learners' vocabulary recall, was
rejected.
To locate the differences, Scheffe post-hoc comparisons on the significant differences were conducted,
results of which appear in Table 4.3.

Table 4.3
Multiple Comparisons for Delayed Vocabulary Acquisition Post-test
(I) Group (J) Group Mean Std. Sig. 95% Confidence
Differen Error Interval
ce (I-J)
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
Keyword Synonym 9.46667* .56531 .000 8.0321 10.9013
Context 3.40000* .56531 .000 1.9654 4.8346
Synonym keyword -9.46667* .56531 .000 -10.9013 -8.0321
context -6.06667* .56531 .000 -7.5013 -4.6321
Context keyword -3.40000* .56531 .000 -4.8346 -1.9654
synonym 6.06667* .56531 .000 4.6321 7.5013

*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.

The multiple comparisons of the results show that there is a significant difference (sig=0.00) between
the three groups.

4.2. Testing the Second Null Hypothesis

There is no significant difference in the effects of using synonym, context, and keyword method on Iranian EFL
learners' vocabulary acquisition.
The second research question investigated which vocabulary learning strategy is conducive to the
learners' vocabulary acquisition. Thereupon, an ANOVA procedure was used. Descriptive statistics
for the ANOVA on L2 vocabulary acquisition are presented in Table 4.4.

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Table 4.4
Descriptive Statistics for the Delayed Vocabulary Acquisition Post-test
N Mean Std. Std. 95% Min Maxi
Deviati Error Confidence
on Interval for
Mean
Lower Uppe
Bound r
Boun
d
Keywor 15 44.000 3.29502 .8507 42.1753 45.82 39.00 49.00
d 0 7 4
Synony 15 29.266 2.93906 .7588 27.6391 30.89 23.00 33.00
m 7 6 4
Context 15 39.333 2.79455 .7215 37.7858 40.88 34.00 45.00
3 5 0
Total 45 37.533 6.88080 1.025 35.4661 39.60 23.00 49.00
3 7 0

Based on the results in Table 4.4, the mean scores show that the group instructed through the
keyword method did much better than the other two on the delayed vocabulary acquisition post-test.
In addition, the second experimental group exposed to context in learning vocabulary performed
better on the same post-test than the group which learn the words through using synonyms.
Table 4.5 reports the results of the ANOVA analysis in order to investigate if there is a significant
difference between the means of the three groups after instruction, and which of the three groups
performed better regarding their vocabulary acquisition level.

Table 4.5
One-way ANOVA for Delayed Vocabulary Acquisition Post-test
Sum of Squares Df Mean F Sig.
Square
Between 1700.933 2 850.467 93.442 .000
Gs
Within Gs 382.267 42 9.102
Total 2083.200 44
As Table 5 illustrates, there is a significant difference among the three groups regarding the
vocabulary scores at the end of the instruction period. As is clearly depicted in Table 4.5, since
Observed F (2, 42) is greater than the Critical F (3.21), therefore the difference between the groups was
significant. So, the second null hypothesis, stating there is no significant difference in the effects of
using synonym, context, and keyword method on developing EFL learners' vocabulary acquisition,
was also rejected.
To locate the differences, Scheffe post-hoc comparisons on the significant differences were conducted,
results of which appear in Table 4.6.

Table 4.6
Multiple Comparisons for Delayed Vocabulary Acquisition Post-test
(I) Group (J) Group Mean Std. Sig. 95% Confidence
Difference Error Interval

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(I-J)
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
Keyword Synonym 14.73333* 1.10161 .000 11.9378 17.528
Context 4.66667* 1.10161 .001 1.8711 7.4622
Synonym Keyword -14.73333* 1.10161 .000 -17.5289 -
11.937
Context -10.06667* 1.10161 .000 -12.8622 -7.271
Context Keyword -4.66667* 1.10161 .001 -7.4622 -1.871
Synonym 10.06667* 1.10161 .000 7.2711 12.862
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.
As Table 4.6 demonstrates, the differences among the three groups are statistically significant.

5. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

In order to measure whether students have acquired the words taught or not, the present study
inspired by the work of Gu (2003) makes a distinction between two dimensions of knowing a word:
knowledge dimension and skill dimension. The knowledge dimension refers to the learner's ability to
recall the form and meaning of the word, whereas the skill dimension is related to the learner's ability
to use the word in context. Similarly, Oxford and Scarcella (1994) maintain that the knowledge of L2
vocabulary is not limited to its recall and recognition, but to judicious use of the words in appropriate
context with the aim of meaningful negotiation.
The first research question of this study was whether there is any significant difference between
presenting synonyms, guessing through context, and using keyword method in developing EFL
learners' L2 vocabulary recall. The results of the present study indicated there was a significant
difference among the three vocabulary acquisition strategies on the Iranian intermediate EFL
vocabulary recall. The findings of the present research are at variance with Richards (1976) who
claims keyword method is not conducive to the production of words. Nevertheless, the current work,
in contrast, suggested that students trained through the keyword technique recalled more in
comparison with the words taught in context or through giving synonyms.
Compatible with Ashouri and Yazdani Moghadam (2015), the current paper shows that the
instructions of mnemonics to Iranian EFL learners will boost their vocabulary knowledge. In the same
line, Baleghizadeh and Ashoori (2010) concluded that the keyword method performed better on recall
compared to the word list method.
The delayed vocabulary acquisition test was the second post-test that was used two months after the
instruction in order to investigate whether the three methods of vocabulary instruction have any
impact on Iranian EFL vocabulary acquisition. Results of one-way ANOVA indicated that there was a
statistically significant difference between the three groups. Thereupon, the second null hypothesis,
claiming that there is no significant difference between presenting synonyms, guessing through
context, and using keyword method in developing EFL learners' L2 vocabulary acquisition, was also
rejected.
The findings of this study are also consistent with Nation (2001). Nation maintains that keyword
method has positive effects on both immediate retention and long-term retention (one week to ten
years), whereas several studies indicate that keyword method does not have any influential effect on
vocabulary acquisition. Carney and Levin's (2000) study on the keywords also indicates that the long-
term effects of the keyword method are not as strong as the immediate effects. Accordingly, Takac
(2008) contends that the keyword method is not conducive to long-term retention. As to Richards
(1976), the production of a word in a natural context is not achieved through the keyword method.
Besides, in a study on memory vocabulary learning strategies and long-term retention, Nemati (2009)
came to hold that presenting synonyms and using the word in short contexts have positive effects on
the long-term and short-term retention of vocabulary acquisition.
Incorporating the keyword method into the students’ regular language learning schedule is highly
recommended. This, however, does not mean that all foreign language vocabulary items should be
learned using the keyword procedure because it is difficult to apply this method to all lexical items,
particularly abstract words. In such cases, the students are suggested other strategies, including

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guessing through context and presenting synonyms. However, although the long-term effects of the
keyword method are not as strong as the immediate effects (Carney & Levin, 2000), "mnemonic
devices are tricks for committing words to memory" (Nunan, 1991, p. 135). Similarly, mnemonic
techniques are supposed to function as facilitation of learning process. Nonetheless, mnemonic
techniques are not respected as a substitution for other techniques because it is very time-consuming.
In other words, it is worth combining them with other techniques to fulfill immediate and long-term
aids. As Hulstijn (1997) states, the retention of words learned incidentally from context is greater than
that in which inferential clues such as multiple-choice synonyms are provided. In sum, the general
recommendation is that teachers should take advantage of a variety of strategies while teaching
vocabulary to their students.

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Hulstijn, J. H. (1997). Mnemonic methods in foreign language vocabulary learning. Theoretical

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Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shakouri, N., & Mehrgan, K. (2012). The impact of using flash cards on promoting university
students' knowledge of vocabulary. Advances in English Linguistics, 1(2), 47-55.
Snowman, J., McCown, R., & Biehler, R. (2012). Psychology applied to teaching. Belmont: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning.
Takac, V. P. (2008). Vocabulary learning strategies and foreign language acquisition. Multilingual Matters.
Tavakoli, M., & Gerami, E. (2013). The effect of keyword and pictorial methods on EFL learners'
vocabulary learning and retention. Porta Linguarum, 19, 299-316.
Thompson, I. (1987). Memory in language learning. In A. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner strategies
in language learning (pp.15-30). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Yu-Ling, L. (2005). Teaching vocabulary learning strategies awareness, beliefs, and practices. A survey of
Taiwanese EFL senior high school teachers (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Essex, England.
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bidirectional retrieval training and of ability to image on foreign language vocabulary recall.
Learning and Instruction, 17, 360-371.

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN

CONSONANTS IN ENGLISH AND PERSIAN
FROM POINT OF VIEW MANNER AND PLACE OF
ARTICULATION

Bibi Zohreh Shojaee

Department of English, Neyshabur branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur , Iran.

shojaee2226360@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
THIS PAPER COMPARES THE CONSONANTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE WITH THE
CONSONANTS OF PERSIAN LANGUAGE. CONSONANT SOUNDS HAVE THREE BASIC
FEATURES IN THEIR ARTICULATION: PLACE OF ARTICULATION, MANNER OF
ARTICULATION, AND VOICING. CONSONANTS PRODUCE SOUNDS THAT ARE MORE
CONSISTENT AND EASIER TO IDENTIFY THAN VOWELS. CONSONANTS ARE SPEECH
SOUND THAT ARE PRODUCED BY PARTIALLY OR COMPLETELY BLOCKING THE PASSAGE
OF AIR THROUGH MOUTH. VOWELS ARE SPEECH SOUNDS THAT ARE PRODUCED BY
RELEASING AIR THROUGH MOUTH WITHOUT CLOSING ANY PARTS OF MOUTH OR
THROAT.
: THE GOALS OF PAPER ARE

1. ANALYSIS AND SCRUTINY HISTORY OF PHONETICS.

2. EXPLANATION AND STUDYING THE ORGANS OF SPEECH, ALSO THE MECHANISM OF

ARTICULATION.

3. A COMPARISON BETWEEN CONSONANTS IN ENGLISH AND PERSIAN.

KEY WORDS: PHONETICS, CONSONANTS, PLACE OF ARTICULATION, MANNER OF

ARTICULATION, VOWEL.

Introduction
What is phonetics? When you hear this word, what do you think about it? Phonetics has different
aspects, and one of them is articulation of sounds .Each sound produced in different and various
manners and places. Before, explaining about manner and place of articulation, we discuss about
phonetics and a brief history of phonetics, and also an explanation about speech organs .Language
was described as an inner body of knowledge about meaning, syntax, and pronunciation. of course,
something as abstract as a body of knowledge is useless for the communication of meaning without
some way of changing this abstract information in to a concrete form of expression.
For all human languages, sound is the concrete means of expression. More than 2000 of the world's
languages have no writing system, but all have a sound system.(Falk, Julia S,1978,p.77) . Human
beings, as well as other animals, are equipped with certain physical properties that make possible the
activities of breathing, sucking, biting, and swelling. Originally the same parts of the anatomy that
take part in these functions also serve as a sound- producing mechanism, called the vocal fold.
Although the physical properties of the human mouth, nasal passage, throat, and lungs are basically
similar to those of certain animals, such as the ape, only human beings utter sound in the consistent
and systematic manner characteristics of language. Why this is so is not fully understood at the

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present time, but the unique role of sound in the behavior of all normal human beings is undoubtedly
due to special characteristics of the man nervous system, including the brain. All sounds, whether
musical notes, animal noises, or man speech, are patterns or waves of energy that move through air.
(Falk, Julias, 1978, p.79).
Linguistic is one of the empirical sciences, because language is understandable through
senses.How to hear Speech, how to see the gestures and activities of the organs of speech directly or
indirectly, how to understand the concepts and meanings of speech, and how to see and read the line
of language. Among different fields of linguistic, phonetics is important because, it describes and
studies phones of language. "The sound structure of a language is phonology of that language, and
the physical manifestation of the actual sounds is the phonetics of that language". (Mccully, 2009,
p.9).Phonology is the branch of linguistics which studies the use of sound in human language.
Phonetics is the study of the physical nature of speech sounds and speech production. (Rubba,
2011).The relationship between phonetics and phonology is a complex one, but we might initially
approach phonology as narrowed down phonetics.( McMahon,April,2007,p.3).
Phonetics is divided in to three basic branches:

1. Articulatory phonetics:
Sounds may also be studied in terms of their origin, that is, how they are produced. When the
means of production is the human vocal apparatus, the study is called articulatory phonetics.

2. Acoustic phonetics:
The field of study devoted to the investigation of sound waves is known as acoustic phonetics.
Since both acoustic and articulatory investigation deal directly with physical phenomena-sound
waves in the former case, the human vocal tract in the latter-they may be grouped together under the
general term physical phonetics. Human beings are capable of producing an infinite variety of
sounds, but no language makes systematic use of this variety. In fact study of many of languages of
the world has indicated that language users, in their dual role of speaker and listener, pay no
attention to many of the properties of sounds that can be described in physical phonetics. Certain
properties of sounds are important for language and others are not. For example, a child and an adult
could both pronounce the English word fire. The actual sounds each produces would be quite
different in concrete, physical terms; for example, the pitch or tone of the child's sound would be
higher than that produced by the adult, or the child might speak more loudly. Yet to a listener, these
very real differences would be irrelevant; the listener would probably not even notice them. In spite
substantial physical differences, the listener would identify the produced by each speaker as the
same.(falk,1978,p.800).

3. Auditory phonetics
The study of the reception and perception of speech sounds by the listener. Phonetics has
obtained of Greek word ήνωφ means sound. The history of phonetics is divided to four eras: The first
era is ancient period. The second era is between the years of 1770-1920.The third era, since 1920 until
1950, and the fourth era, since 1950 until now. In the ancient era, attention about phonetics turned to
Indian linguistic, 150-800 before Christ. they explored the articulatory mechanism ,worked on glottis
mechanism, and understood the concepts of assimilation.(Martin,James H,2007).Panini,400 years
before Christ, had studied in his grammar about the rules of articulation and description of sound
.The Indian researchers were master in speech mechanism, including organs of speech and
articulatory processes. European science could not arrive to Indian phonetics until 19th century.
Greeks had only elementary learning about phonetics for example they recognized consonants from
vowels, or stops from continuous.(Martin, James H,2007).The element of sounds is divided to three
branches by aphlaton:1.Tones:vowels.2.sounds:closed consonants.3.Middles:[l-m-n-r-s-d-z-k-p-
s].Since 1770 until 1920,is invented elementary tools about sound, such as the machine produced
vowels in (1723-1795).Another invention was a speaker machine. This machine produced laconic
sentences and words. (The same).laryngoscope was invented in 1829,the first observations of the
vocal cords were made in 1852,gramophone was invented in 1877,International Phonetic Association
(IPA) was founded in 1886 in the late 19th century.
The international system of phonetics was for oral languages and for pedagogical purposes. IPA
describe sounds from all languages. The system allows linguistics to explain the pronunciation of any

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language with one writing system. International Phonetic Association had formulated six principles
for the development of the alphabet in 1888.These principles were: Each sign should have its own
distinctive sound.The same sign should be used for the same sound across all languages. As many
ordinary Roman letters should be used as possible, and the usage of new letters should be minimal.
International usage should decide the sound of each sign. The look of the new letters should suggest
the sound that they represent.
This paper compares the consonants of English language with the consonants of Persian
language. Consonant sounds have three basic features in their articulation: place of articulation,
manner of articulation, and voicing. Consonants produce sounds that are more consistent and easier
to identify than vowels. Consonants are speech sound that are produced by partially or completely
blocking the passage of air through mouth. Vowels are speech sounds that are produced by releasing
air through mouth without closing any parts of mouth or throat.
There is a research question for this paper, what is the differences and similarities between
consonants in Persian and consonants in English?

Literature Review
Hall (2007), investigated about phonological features of Persian speakers of English interfere with
their intelligibility when they communicate with first language Australian English speakers.
Participants of study were 4 female Persian speakers of English and 6 Australian English speakers,
one female and five males. Results of study indicate that Persian speakers of English, have difficulties
in pronunciation that have an effect on their intelligibility when they interact with L1 English
speakers. According to Lado (1957, p.2), "The student who comes in contact with a foreign language
will find some features of it quite easy and others extremely difficult. Those elements that are similar
to his native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult".
According to Windfuhr(as cited in Hall, 2007,p.6), Persian is a syllable-timed language and English is
a stress-timed language. Persian syllables always take one of these patterns (i.e., CV, CVC, or CVCC)
which identifies that Farsi syllables cannot be initiated with vowels, even words that start with a
vowel include the glottal stop. The sound system of Persian is based on Arabic.
According to Windfuhr (1979, as cited in Hall, 2007, p.12),"English is characterized as a stressed-timed
language. In stress-timed languages, the amount of time it takes to say a sentence depends on the
number of syllables that receive stress". The alphabet of sound system of English is based on Latin
which contains twenty six letters.
Alimorad (2014), studied about Contrastive Phonological analysis of English and Persian of an
Iranian EFL learner. Participants of study was an intermediate–level Persian learner of English.
Spontaneous and elicited procedures were used for data collection procedures. Results of study
revealed that the learner had difficulties in some areas of English phonology.

Methodology
Contrastive Analysis is concerned with the comparison and contrast of two languages; hence, it
conveys insights to the differences and the similarities of languages being compared. The aim of this
paper is to compare consonants in Persian and English from manner and place of articulation so, this
study only compare these consonants and speak about organs of speech.
The organs of speech is speaking the default modality for language in all cultures .Our first
resource is to encode our thoughts in sound – a method which depends on sophisticated capacities for
controlling the lips, tongue and other components of the vocal folds. The organs of speech, everyone
agrees, evolved in the first instance not for speech but for more basic bodily functions such as feeding
and breathing.(wikipedia.org).So function speech organs for articulation of phones is a second
function not first. The organs of speech including: nasal cavity, lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate,
velum(soft palate),uvula, tip of tongue, front of tongue, back of tongue, oral cavity,pharynx,
epiglottis, larynx, vocal cords, trachea, esophagus. Most of speech organs are in the chest ,throat, and
head.

Tongue

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The word 'language' derives from the Latin lingua, 'tongue'. Phoneticians agree that the
tongue is the most important speech articulator, followed by the lips. A natural language can be
viewed as a particular way of using the tongue to utter thought. The human tongue has an unusual
shape. In most mammals, it's a long, flat structure contained largely within the mouth. It is attached at
the rear to the hyoid bone, situated below oral level in the pharynx. In humans, the tongue has an
almost circular sagittal (midline) contour, much of it lying vertically down an extended pharynx,
where it is attached to a hyoid bone in a lowered position. Partly as a result of this, the horizontal
(inside-the-mouth) and vertical (down-the-throat) tubes forming the supra laryngeal vocal tract (SVT)
are almost equal in length whereas in other species, the vertical section is shorter). As we move our
jaws up and down, the tongue can vary the cross-sectional area of each tube independently by about
10:1, altering formant frequencies accordingly.(wikipedia.org) . Tip of tongue settles back of lower
teeth. It comes between the upper and lower teeth as in/θ/ think. Front of tongue settles under hard
palate, between tips of tongue a middle of tongue and it touches the palate, when produce the sound
/y/.Back of tongue settles under soft palate. It touches the back part of palate, when produce the
sound /k,g./

Lips and Teeth

In humans, the lips are important for the production of stops and fricatives, in addition to
vowels. They are most important speech organs and with their muscle construction are able to move
in all directions. Teeth are divided two section, upper teeth and lower teeth. Upper teeth are fixed and
lower teeth are movable, because of moving lower jaw. The lower teeth with the upper teeth can
make a point of articulation for sound, called interdental such as/θ/,/ð/.when the tip of tongue
comes between the two sets of teeth.

Palate
The palate is pulled from back of upper teeth till uvula and it consists of three parts. Hard
palate, it touched the front of the tongue to produce sound that is called, palatals such as /y/ in yes.it
is bony and without movement. Soft palate or velum, it touched the back of the tongue to produce
sound that is called velars such as /k,g/.it is fleshy and movable. velum movement towards up is
caused to close airstream through nasal cavity, but when it comes down, the nasal cavity, mouth, and
throat are related to each other. Uvula, it is soft and fleshy at the end of soft palate.
Some organs are breath-stream such as trachea, larynx, pharynx, mouth, and nose. The
trachea is joined to throat and it is an air passage between the lungs and the larynx.it is also called
windpipe. The thickness of windpipe is about 2 centimeter and the long of trachea is about 11
centimeter .The larynx settles at the top end of the trachea, consists of four parts such as, the base,
Adam's apple, vocal cords, the glottis.it is also called voice box.

Vocal cords

They are inside of thyroid and on the cricoid, at the time of breathing, the vocal cords part
with each other and the air passage is open completely and when the vocal cords stick with each
other, the air passage is closed. The men's cords are longer and thicker than the women's cords .The
responsibility of vocal cords is for voice and voicelessness of speech sound. If the vocal cords vibrate,
the sound is voice, and if the vocal cords do not vibrate, the sound is voiceless. Pharynx, it is a cavity
between larynx and the mouth.it is divided in to three sections: 1.throat, 2.pharynx, and 3.Upper
pharynx .
Nasal cavities are on the upper throat. The nasal cavities in front is related to nostrils and in
back to pharynx. if the passage of air is blocked in mouth, while vocal cords vibrated, the air passes
through nasal cavities this mechanism is called nasal like /m/,/n/ in Persian and /m/,/n/,/ŋ/ in
English .Mechanism of articulation the language phones are physical waves with various
characteristics. These waves are produced with passing airstream in the speech organs. Different
mechanism are used to produce airstream in speech passage .The speech parameters are divided to
three parts. Pulmonic airstream, Glottalic airstream, and Velaric airstream.
Pulmonic mechanism

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In most languages speech sounds are produced through passing airstream out of the lungs.
There are two airstream in pulmonic mechanism. The egressive airstream and ingressive airstream
.Pulmonic aggressive airstream are used by the most languages. Some languages use non-pulmonic
sounds. These include: Ejectives like [p],[t],[k],and Clicks.
Glottalic mechanism

There are two glottalic airstream; glottalic egressive airstream and ingressive airstream
coming up the pharynx and existing the air of lungs, create glottalic egressive mechanism. Coming
down of the pharynx and entering the air to lungs create glottalic ingressive mechanism. The glottalic
egressive mechanism is ejective and the glottalic ingressive mechanism is impulsive. The impulsive
mechanism are used in some languages such as American red skins languages, some of the
Ghaphghazian languages, and some of the Africans languages.
Velaric mechanism

There are two velaric mechanism, the velaric egressive airstream, and velaric ingressive
airstream. Going back of the velar and coming in the air to the mouth is called velaric ingressive
airstream, and pushing forward the velar and coming out the air of the mouth is called velaric
egressive airstream. Velaric egressive airstream is not used for sound articulation, but this mechanism
is used in many languages such as African Bushman Languages, Zulu, and Hottentot. Velaric
ingressive airstream is used for sound articulation the sounds that are produced by velaric ingressive
airstream is called click. The sounds like [noch-noch] in Persian and [tut-tut or tsk-tsk] in English are
click.

Place and Manner of Articulation

The phones of English are divided two basic types: consonants, vowels phones (phonetic
segments or Speech sounds): Speech sounds depending on whether they are vowels or consonants,
are characterized different dimension of articulation.
] [ ,/ /=phonology/phonetics symbols
} {=phonics symbols
< > = English spelling letters
Consonants: are produced with narrowing in the vocal tract .Vowels: they are sounds that produced
relatively open vocal tract. They involve vibration of the vocal folds, hence they are voiced (by
definition).

In English there are 25 consonants including:

/l/,/r/,/j/,/w/,/h/,/ʍ//p/,/b/,/f/,/v/,/θ/,/ð/,/t/,/d/,/s/,/z/,/ʧ/,/ʤ/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/k/,/g/,/m/
,/n/,/ŋ./
The phones of Persian are devided two basic types:
The first group are sounds that settle at the first, middle, and end of the word, these sounds
are called consonants. The second group do not settle at the first of the words these sounds are called
vowels. Vowels are only at the middle and at the end of the words.
In persian there are 23 consonants and 8 vowels. Consonants including:
/.y/,/ʧ/,/ʤ/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/j/./b/,/p/,/t/,/d/,/s/,/z/,/k/,/g/,/q/,/r/,/x/,/v/,/f/,/h/,/m/,/n/,/l./
Consonant sounds have three basic features in their articulation: voice, place of articulation,and
manner of articulation.

Voice
Put your thumb and index (or second) finger lightly on either side of your Adam’s apple
utter a continuous ‘zzzz’ sound You should feel a vibration, a buzz ,inside the Adam’s apple. If this
vibration isn’t immediately tangible, now try producing a continuous ‘ssss’ sound, and then switch
from ‘ssss’ to zzzz’, then back from ‘zzzz’ to ‘ssss’ again. You should feel vibration under your
fingers when you articulate the continuous ‘zzzz’, but not when you produce ‘ssss’.Now try the same
exercise again, but this time switch from a continuous ‘ffff’to ‘vvvv’, and then from ‘vvvv’ to ‘ffff’.
You should once more feel vibration under your fingers as you utter ‘vvvv’, but not when you

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articulate ‘ffff’.What you’ve just done is identify, and gain empirical evidence for, a feature of
articulation that linguists call voicing".(McCully,CHris,2009,p.35).
There are these features in Persian language too and there is no need to explain it again for
Persian. The voiceless sounds are called tense (Fortis) and the voice sound are called lax
(lenis).Therefore voicing refers to the buzzing that we feel under our fingers.IT is a vibration of the
vocal cords
Pairs of consonants in English
Voiceless:/s/,/f/,/θ/,/ʧ/,/ʃ/,/p/,/t/,/k/./ʍ/,/h/
Voice:/z/,/v/,/ð/,/ʤ/, /ʒ/ ,/b/,/d/,/g/,/n/,/m/,/ŋ/,/l/ ,/r/,/j/,/w./

Pairs of consonants in Persian

Voiceless:/p/,/t/,/k/,/ʧ/,/s/,/ʃ/,/f/,/x/,/h,/?/,/
Voice:/b/,/d/,/g/,/q/,/z/,/ʤ/,/v/,/ʒ/,/r/,/m/,/n/,/l/,/y./

Manner and place of articulation:

Manner of articulation refers, how to produced phones, and the degree of stricture Consonants
are recognized by their manner of articulation, including: stops, fricative, affricates, nasals, and
approximants.Place of articulation refers to the location of the narrowest part of the vocal tract in
producing a sound. Where the sounds are produced.

Stop consonants

Stop sounds also called plosive sounds, which are produced by blocking the air in the mouth
and then suddenly this air released, or by closing the lips. For this reason, phonemes such as:
/ p/,/b/,/t/,/d/,/k/,/g/,in English and Persian, and /q/,/?/ In Persian are classified as plosive or
stops.
/ p/ is produced, when vocal cords are apart ,therefore this sound is voiceless.
/b/ is produced ,when vocal folds are closed or near together ,therefore this sound is voice.
/p/and /b/ are produced by close of the two lips and suddenly release the air, therefore they are
bilabial. Consonant /p/ is aspirated in both English l and Persian language./p/ in Persian like [por],
[separ] and /p/ in English like [pin], [nip], [pea].

Place of articulation

The lips can be parted, or closed together. if they are closed, the airstream is block into the oral
cavity from the lungs, and if the lips are parted, we have explosive release of air. Therefore /p/and
/b /are produced by close of the two lips and suddenly release the air, so they are bilabial.
So consonant /p/ in English and Persian is egressive, voiceless, plosive, and bilabial .
Consonant /b/ in English and Persian is egressive, voice, plosive, and bilabial.

Consonants /t,d/

Stoppage settled in the tip of the tongue and upper teeth. The tip of the tongue is pressed onto
the bony structure behind the upper teeth and, therefore, the passage of the air is blocked and at the
time of opening stoppage, the air suddenly released.

Place of articulation

On the upper part of the oral cavity, immediately behind your upper teeth, you’ll find a small ,
bony ridge. This important place of articulation is known as the alveolar ridge. If you think about the
utterance of /t/ and /d/, you’ll understand that the airstream is modified once again by stoppage:
the apex of tongue lies on the alveolar ridge, and the sides of the tongue are sealed against the top
teeth. Therefore, the stoppage may be modified if the apex of tongue is momentarily retracted from
the alveolar ridge. The result is a rapid, explosive release of air. And therefore, /t/ and /d/ may
confidently be classified as alveolar plosives. (McCully, 2009, p.42).

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So the phonetic description of /t/ in English: aspirated, egressive, voiceless, plosive, and alveolar.
Phonetic description of /t/ in Persian: aspirated, egressive, voiceless plosive, dental.
/t/ in English like:[teacher],[test]./t/ in Persian like:[tut],[parastu].
The phonetic features of /d/ in English: egressive, voice, plosive, alveolar.
The phonetic features of /d/ in Persian: egressive, voice, plosive, dental.
/d/ in English like:[desk],[duck]./d/ in Persian like:[bandar], [moddat].
An important destinctive between /t/ and /d/ is aspiration./t/ is aspirated but /d/ not. The same
principal is observed for the pair of consonants /k/ and /g./

Place of articulation

/k/and /g/ are palatal. Palatals are produced by the front of the tongue, which raise towards
the hard palate. (April McMahon, 2002, p.32).The place of articulaion for /k/ and /g/ is velum or soft
palate.

/k,g/:The stoppage is on the center of soft palate, then back of the tongue moved up and pressed to
center of velums. The blades of the back of tongue, is connected to the molar teeth.At the time of
breaking stoppage, pressed air is released suddenly, and then result is an explosive release of air.
The phonetic description of /k/ in English and
Persian: egressive, voiceless, aspirated, plosive, and velar.

/k/ in English as:[king],[kind]./k/ in Persian as:[kar],[kudak].

The phonetic description of /g/ in English and Persian: egressive, voice, aspirated, plosive, and velar.
/g/ in English as:[go],[god]./g/ in Persian as:[sigar],[garm].
Consonants /q/ and /?/are also plosive in Persian and these sounds there are not in English
.Persian has two phones more than English in stop or plosive consonants.

Therefore, in English there is 6 phones that are plosive, and in Persian 8 phones, which are plosive.
Manner and place of articulation for /q/ and /?/
The /q/ sound: this sound is produced at the end of the back of tongue and at the end of
velum.The last part of back of the tongue that is faced with uvula, raise and stick to the end of the
velum. The passage of air is blocked, when the back of tongue comes down, pressed air release
suddenly. forexample. [noqte ‫[نقطه‬,
/?/Sound, is produced by vocal cords and pharynx.e.g.[sa?i.‫[ساعي‬
The phonetic characteristic of /q/:egressive, voice, plosive, uvula.
The phonetic characteristic of /?/:egressive, voiceless, plosive, glottal.

Manner of articulation of fricative consonants:

Fricative sounds are produced with friction in the glottis or in the oral cavity, they belong to a
class of sounds, are called fricative .Fricative phones in English, including:
/f/,/v/,/θ/,/ð/,/s/,/z/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/h/,/ʍ./
Fricative sounds in Persian ,including:/s/,/z/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/f/,/v/,/x/,/h/.
In English there is 10 fricative sounds, and in Persian there is 8 fricatives. In English there is not
a sound like /x/, and in Persian there is not sounds like /θ/, /ð./
Place of articulation for /s/, /z/
Alveolar sounds are produced by the tip or blade of the tongue moving up towards the alveolar
ridge ,the bony protrusion you can feel if you curl your tongue back just behind your top front
teeth.(McMahon,April,2002,p.32).
The phonetic explanation of /s/:egressive, voiceless, fricative ,alveolar.
The phonetic explanation of /z/:egressive, voice, fricative, alveolar.

Place of articulation for /ʃ/, /ʒ/

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These sounds are made by tongue and palate. the tip of tongue or blade of tongue move up
behind alveolar ridge and touch the hard palate, and then move back, and impact to the soft palate.
There is a little distance between upper and lower teeth .Friction is produced by passing air from this
space.

The phonetic description of /ʃ/:egressive. Voiceless, fricative, palato-alveolar.

The phonetic description of /ʒ/:egressive. Voice, fricative, palato-alveolar.
The phonetic description of /ʃ/ in English: egressive. Voiceless, fricative, palatal.
The phonetic description of /ʒ/ in English: egressive. Voice, fricative, palatal.
There is only one different between them, that is,/ʃ/ in English is palatal but in Persian is palato-
alvealar, and also for /ʒ ./

Place of articulation for /f/,/v/

Behind the lips there are teeth./f/ and /v/ are produced by interaction of lower lip and upeer
teeth.They are labio-dental. Vocal cords are apart in producing /f/, so this sound is voiceless, and
/v/is voice, because of, vibration in vocal cords.
Phonetic analysis of /f/:egressive, voiceless, fricative, labio-dental./f/ in English like:[foot],[food]./f/
in Persian like:[sarf],[fut].
Phonetic analysis of /v/:egressive, voice, fricative, labio-dental./v/ in English like:[vital],[verb]./v/
in Persian like:[vazn],[hava].They are same in Persian and English /θ/ and /ð/,they are in English
language. They are produced through tongue and teeth. The tip of tongue impact with upper front
teeth. For example /θ/ in [thin],/ð/ in [they.]
Phonetic interpretation of /θ/:egressive, voiceless, fricative, dental.
Phonetic interpretation of /ð/:egressive ,voice ,fricative ,dental.
/x/,is in Presian. It is produced by end of back of the tongue and last part of soft palate. Vocal cords
are apart in producing /x/, so this sound is voiceless,e.g.[saxt.‫ [سخت‬.
Phonetic description of /x/:egressive, voiceless, fricative, uvula.
/h/,in English and Persian, is produced by vocal cords and it is glottal.
Phonetic feature of /h/:egressive, voiceless, fricative, glottal.
Phonetic feature of /ʍ/ in English: fricative, voiceless, labio-velar.
Manner and place of articulation of affricates consonants:

Affricates are really combined a plosive and a fricative .The air is blocked, and then released
through a narrow way like a fricative. English has two affricates, the initial sounds in cheap and
jeep/ʧ/ and /ʤ/, and Persian has two affricates too. /ʧ/ and /ʤ/, like English, the initial sounds in
chera and jurab. These are usually classified as palato-alveolar. Affricates are made in a position half
way between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate.

Phonetic specification of /ʧ/:egressive, voiceless, plosive-fricative, palato-alvealar.

Phonetic specification of /ʤ/:egressive, voice, plosive-fricative, palato-alvealar .
Manner and place of articulation of nasal consonants

When a nasal sound is produced, the air is released through the nose .There are three nasals
in English: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, and two nasal in Persian:/m/,/n/./m/ is bilabial, /n/ is alveolar in
English and Persian, and /ŋ/is velar in English.
Phonetic features of /m/: egressive, voice, nasal, bilabial.
Phonetic features of /n/: egressive, voice, nasal, alvealar.
Phonetic features of /ŋ/: egressive, voice, nasal, velar.
Manner and place of approximants consonants
Sounds like /r/,/l/,/j/,/w/,are classified as approximants in English./r/ red,/l/ let,/j/ yes,
and /w /wet .All these approximants are voiced. In Persian /r/, /l/,/y/,are different. There are
different kinds of /r /in English .In north of England is uvular ,in Scots English the sound is an
alveolar trill, in Indian English the sound is tap, and in Northern British English the sound is post-
alveolar. It is produced by tongue. The tongue is raised, and tip of tongue is held behind of the
alveolar ridge. In Persian, /r/ is produced by tip of tongue and top gum, so tip of tongue is impacted

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with alveolar ridge, but this contact is very soft. In Persian, the sound /r/ is trill or roll, like [ruz]. In
English ,the sound /l/ is produced by the sides of the tongue ,that are sealed against the upper teeth,
so there is not lateral air, therefore /l/ is classified as lateral alveolar like [lip].In Persian, the sound
/l/ is produced by tip of tongue and top gum. The sides of tongue is contacted with incisors like
[lab].In English ,the sound /j/ is produced by the body of tongue and hardpalate.in this case ,the
body of tongue is raised ,and approaches the hard palate ,and there is no contact or friction like [yes].
In Persian, the sound /y/ is produced by the tongue and palate. There is no friction like [guya].In
English, the sound /w/ is produced by the body and back of tongue toward velum, and the lip is
rounded like [wet].

Phonetic features of /r/, in English: egressive, voice, approximant, post-alveolar.

Phonetic descriptions of /r/, in Persian: egressive, voice, trill, alveolar.
Phonetic analysis of /l/, in English: egressive, voice, lateral approximant, alveolar.
Phonetic explanations of /l/, in Persian: egressive, voice, lateral, alveolar.
Phonetic interpretations of /j/, in English: egressive, voice, approximant, palatal.
Phonetic features of /j/, in Persian: egressive, voice, glide, palatal.
Phonetic specifications of /w/, in English: egressive, voice, approximant, labio-velar.

Results
In this section is illustrated the phonetics properties of consonants in table. The classification of
Persian consonants according to place of articulation (horizontal column) and manner of articulation
(vertical column) is given in Table 1.

Table 1:Persian Consonants in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), 1999, p. 124

The Persian vowels are given in Table 2.

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Table 2: (Persian Vowels), International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), 1999, p. 124

The classification of English consonants according to place of articulation (horizontal column) and
manner of articulation (vertical column) is given in Table 3 below:

Table 3: (English Consonants), International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), 1999, p. 41

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Table 4: (English Vowels), International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), 1999, p. 42

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Table 5: Consonant phonemes: an inventory and diagnostic in English

Table 6: Consonant phonemes: an inventory and diagnostic in Persian

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Discussion and Conclusion

The aim of this paper is a comparison between the consonants in English language, and
consonants in Persian, and similarities and differences between them from point of view manner and
place of articulation. Similarities between consonants in Persian and English are more than the
differences. These both language are alike, but not completely. Because some consonants there are not
in Persian like/ ŋ/, /ʍ/, /ð/, /θ/, and some in English like /?/,/q/,/X/.Although, English and
Persian have some similarities in place and manner of articulation but the system of pronunciation in
both languages are different of each other, for example, in intonation, stress, and so on. According to
Alimorad (2014), "pronunciation is the most difficult aspect of an L2 to learn English and Persian
phonological systems differ in their range of sounds as well as in their stress and intonation patterns.
Therefore, Persian speakers have great difficulty in perceiving and articulating the full range of
English vowels and diphthongs". Also, according to Hall (2007,p.i)," Many students who are learning
English within Iran, as well as Farsi speakers of English abroad, have difficulties in pronunciation
that have an effect on their intelligibility when they interact with L1 English speakers". There for, the
similarities between consonants in Persian and English is not caused correct pronunciation of words
in English. All consonants are egressive, and the shape of lips impact onto the production of sounds
like [warm] the lips are rounded.Also, this paper explained about organs of speech that are important
in the sound mechanism, because without knowing speech organs, we cannot understand about
manner and place of articulation of consonants. Also, phonetics is divided three basic parts,
1.Articulatory phonetics.2.Acoustic phonetics 3.Auditory phonetics. Researchers can compare
consonants and vowels in various shapes .

REFERENCES
Alimorad, Z.(2014). Contrastive Phonological Analysis of English and Persian: A Case Study
of an Iranian EFL Learner. Humanising language Teaching.16(3).
Dicanio,Chritian T.Introduction to Phonetics: Place and Manner of Articulation,
http://linguistic.berkely.edu/‫آ‬dicanio
Falk, Julia S. (1978).Linguistics and Language. Newyork: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Haghshenas, Ali Mohammad. (1356).Ava Shenasi(phonetics).Tehran: Agah.
Hall, M.(2007). Phonological characteristics of Farsi speakers of English and L1 Australian
English Speakers' Perceptions of proficiency. Astralia: Curtin University of
Technology.
Hudson,Grover.(2000).Essential Introductory Linguistic. Oxford: Blackwell.
International Phonetic Alphabet: Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A
guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. (1999). Cambridge, U.K. &
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics Across Cultures: Applied Linguistics for Language Teachers. Ann
Arbour: University of Michigan Press.
McCully, Chris. (2009).The Sound Structure of English. Newyork: Cambridge University Press.
Mcmahon, April.(2002).An Introduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
Oveisi, Siroos. Ava Shenasi-Zaban-Farsi,http://adabiat-golestan.blogfa.com/post-13.aspx.
Samareh,Yadollah.(1378).Ava Shenasi-Zaban-Farsi: Avaha va Saxte Avaee
Heja.Tehran: Markaze Nashre Daneshgahi.
Wikipedia.Origin of speech,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_speech.

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THE EFFECT OF USING SHORT STORIES AND

SONGS ON THE SECOND LANGUAGE
ACHIEVEMENT OF IRANIAN YOUNG LEARNERS

1 Mehrdad Amiri*, 2 Fatemeh Sobouti

1PhD in TEFL, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IRAN,
2 M.A in TEFL, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Tehran North Branch, Tehran, IRAN
1 m.amiri@srbiau.ac.ir (*Corresponding Author), 2 f.sobouti@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY WAS AN ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF USING SHORT
STORIES AND SONGS ON THE SECOND LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT OF IRANIAN YOUNG
LEARNERS. TO DO SO, SIXTY IRANIAN YOUNG LEARNERS WHO WERE STUDYING IN THE
KINDERGARTENS AND PRESCHOOL CENTERS WITH THE AGE RANGE OF 5 TO 7 WERE
SELECTED AS THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY AND WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO
EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS. THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS EXPOSED TO A
LOT OF ACTIVITIES ENRICHED WITH SHORT STORIES AND SONGS, WHILE THE CONTROL
GROUP WAS ENGAGED IN THE ORDINARY PROGRAM OF THE CLASSROOM. AFTER 24
SESSIONS OF TREATMENT, THE POSTTEST OF YLE WAS ADMINISTERED. THE OUTCOME OF
THE POSTTEST DATA ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE PARTICIPANTS RECEIVING THE
TREATMENT SIGNIFICANTLY OUTPERFORMED THE CONTROL GROUP ON THE TOTAL
ACHIEVEMENT TEST. SECONDLY THE DATA ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT THAT THERE
WERE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS’ MEANS ON THE
COMPONENTS OF SPEAKING TEST IN THE TWO GROUPS. THEREFORE, IT WAS CONCLUDED
THAT IN ALL FOUR SUB-SKILLS OF SPEAKING TEST, NAMELY, PRONUNCIATION, FLUENCY,
GRAMMAR, AND VOCABULARY, AND THE TOTAL TEST OF SPEAKING, THE LEARNERS OF
THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP OUTPERFORMED THE ONES IN THE CONTROL GROUP.
ALTHOUGH THE BENEFITS OF EMPLOYING SONGS, MUSIC, AND STORIES HAVE VASTLY
BEEN CONFIRMED IN THE ELT RESEARCH, THE PRESENT STUDY EMPHASIZES THE
IMPORTANCE OF EXPOSING EFL YOUNG LEARNERS TO SUCH ACTIVITIES AND SHOWS
THAT THE COMPONENTS OF SPEAKING ALSO WILL BE AFFECTED IN THE PROCESS OF
THEIR DEVELOPMENT BY THE PRESENTATION OF SONGS AND STORIES TO THE LEARNERS.

KEYWORDS: YOUNG LEARNERS, SECOND LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT, SHORT STORIES,

SONGS

1.1 Introduction

Teaching of English to young learners requires special training, something which has never been part
of the curriculum of elementary school teacher education program in our country (Iran). In some
famous universities of the world TEYL is a specialist field within the area of TESOL and the
MA TEYL courses designed for training teachers for the same purpose are concerned with the special
language and learning needs of young learners (Mart, 2012).
There is an extensive empirical literature on the differences between child and adult language
learners. Ludke (2010) pointed to some of these points that can be summarized in five areas: (1)
attention span, (2) concreteness, (3) playfulness, (4) phonic acuity, and (5) affective points. Teaching a
Foreign Language (FL) to young learners at early age is different from teaching adults; it is definitely
not easier. It is rather more challenging and interesting. The Critical Period Hypothesis suggests that
early exposure to the target language is more effective than later stages at adulthood (Cameron, 2001).

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Žigárdyová (2006), as well, commented that the earlier learners are introduced to a FL, the better they
learn it. The present study is an attempt to investigate the effect of using short stories and songs on
the second language achievement of Iranian young learners

1.2 Literature Review

Teaching of English to young learners requires special training, something which has never been part
of the curriculum of elementary school teacher education program in our country (Iran). In some
famous universities of the world TEYL is a specialist field within the area of TESOL and the
MA TEYL courses designed for training teachers for the same purpose are concerned with the special
language and learning needs of young learners (Mart, 2012).
Mart (2012) noted that teaching a FL to young learners involves stimulating their early interest
towards the language and developing their awareness of rich language uses. Cameron (2001, p. 1)
differentiates young learners from adults in the following terms:

1. Children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners;

2. they also lose interest more quickly and are less able to keep themselves motivated on tasks
they find difficult;
3. they do not have the same access as older learners to meta-language that teachers can use to
explain about grammar or discourse; and
4. they seem less embarrassed than adults at talking in a new language.

Among the various types of genres, stories are the most widely used in educational settings (Wajnryb,
2003). Since their early childhood, children have opportunities to listen to various types of stories
(Loukia, 2006). Songs can also be used for a number of purposes in the young learners’ English
classrooms and there are many reasons why songs can be considered a valuable pedagogical tool.
Songs can help young learners improve their listening skills and pronunciation; therefore, they
potentially help learners to improve their speaking skills (Murphey, 1992). Songs can also be useful
tools in the learning of vocabulary, sentence structures, and sentence patterns, not to mention their
reflectivity of mother tongue culture (Murphey, 1992). Perhaps the greatest benefit to using songs in
the classroom is that they can be fun.

Le Roux (2002) also supported the theory that ESL students can relax and feel good about themselves
while singing because that is a form of an expression that they are familiar with. It can also appeal to
students who already have negative attitude towards learning a new language or the traditional
methods that are commonly used.
Moreover, teaching English as a foreign language to young learners varies in many ways from
teaching adults. One of the major differences lies in course design and the kind of tasks and activities
covered in the books (Yousofi & Yousefvand, 2012). More varieties of activities are needed to be used
in the classroom in order to teach young learners and make the lesson an attractive process as well as
making learning effective by making use of various intelligences and engaging different competences
in the process of learning (Rahimy & Asaei, 2012).

Considering the unofficial voluntary-based introduction of Teaching English to Young Learners

(TEYL) in the Iranian context and its presence in the kindergartens and elementary schools, the
Iranian ELT and SLA researchers have focused on various aspects of this initiative: Abadi and
Marzban (2012) focused on teachers’ beliefs and teaching English writing to children and adolescent
learners in Iran. Nazeryan, Jahandar, and Khodabandehlou (2013) studied the effectiveness of
dramatization in teaching English to kids while Rahimy and Asaei (2012) discussed audio texts and
English speaking ability of young learners. Yousofi and Yousefvand (2012) concentrated on the role of
arts in teaching English to young learners. Meanwhile to the knowledge of the of present researcher,
accounts of studying the effect of songs and short stories on the second language development of
young learners has not been properly documented in the literature.

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Therefore, as Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) in the Iranian context is almost a new
project, it suffers a lot of problems. Though TEYL in Iran was originally targeted towards the
development of the ability to understand simple oral and written language, the efforts seem to have
encountered various obstacles. In specific, we can point to two big concerns, i.e., instructional
materials and teachers of English.

Research in this area is also poor and specific techniques of teaching English to kids require specially
designed studies. Second language development of young learners in the Iranian kindergartens and
primary schools could be energized through using various techniques, methods and materials such as
songs and short stories. Concerning instructional techniques, there has been little professional
attempt yet to conduct research on these techniques. Therefore, designing a study to meet the needs
of young learners is of paramount importance. The present study was an attempt in this direction to
provide empirical evidence for the effectiveness of the above-mentioned materials and the techniques
of teaching them to young learners. Considering the problems stated above the following research
questions were formulated:

RQ1: Does using short stories and songs significantly affect the second language achievement of
Iranian young learners?
RQ2: Does using short stories and songs significantly affect the second language oral achievement
(components of speaking) of Iranian young learners?

1.3 Method
Design
The present study adopted a quasi-experimental design in which the effect of using short stories and
songs as the independent variable on second language achievement of Iranian young learners as the
dependent variable was researched. Also the components of speaking such as pronunciation,
vocabulary, grammar, and fluency were considered as dependent variables. The control variables of
the study were the participants’ gender and age.

Subjects
The participants of the study were sixty Iranian young learners; the students studying in the
kindergartens and preschool centers who were between 5 to 7 years of age. These learners were
selected from among the young learners of conversation classes in Salam and Roshd preschool centers
where the researcher’s friends taught. The participants were at the early stages of second (foreign)
language development and their English background knowledge was almost the same.
The participants, who were both girls and boys, were randomly divided into two different groups
shaping the control and experimental groups of the study and then the treatment was initiated for
one semester (about 8 weeks, three 90-minute sessions per week).

Instruments
In order to carry out this study only one instrument was used. This instrument was a standard YLE
test (2007) which was used as the posttest and was conducted at the end of the treatment phase. To
score the learners’ speaking performance in the two experimental and control groups, the researcher
used the YLE speaking scale developed and presented by University of Cambridge ESOL
examinations released in 2013. The scoring was done by two raters (the researcher, herself and one of
her colleagues who was a TEFL M.A. holder with almost ten years of experience in teaching and
testing kids) scored. The agreement between the raters was estimated and it turned out to be .78.
The fact is that the students’ speaking performance on the (Young Learners English) YLE test were
also rated by the two raters (researcher herself and her colleague). A Pearson correlation was run to
probe the inter-rater reliability and the results (Pearson R = .78, P = .000 < .05) indicated significant
agreement between the two raters. Table 1 shows the inter-rater reliability of the speaking test.

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Table 1
Inter-Rater Reliability of the YLE Speaking Test

Speaking R 1

Pearson Correlation .785**

Speaking R 2 Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 60
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Procedure
The learners in both experimental and control groups received the same materials and time of
teaching. Each session of the classroom was the same except that the students in the experimental
group were exposed to songs and short stories for 20 minutes every session of the classroom (see
appendix III for samples of songs and short stories used in the classroom instructions).
The experimental group received various short stories which were consistent with the subjects of
each lesson taught based on the course book. The experimental group went through the activities and
songs as follows: (a) the teacher provided the learners with instructions related to each short story or
song in Persian; (b) the learners were informed of the way(s) they were going to be involved in the
story or repeating the songs; (c) the learners were trained how to take turn, correct each other, and
continue retelling the stories and songs; (d) the learners were trained to encourage cooperation
among themselves and enjoy learning as they were developing their knowledge and speaking ability
in the classroom. The songs and stories presented were thematically related to the course book topics
selected and taught each session and were in line with the units of their lessons from the book. (e)
The learners’ participation in the classroom activities were taken into consideration and the teacher
presented each learner with the feedback required via employing recast, correction, restatement, and
the like to emphasize learner’s miss-production. The learners in the experimental group were trained
to listen to the recorded stories and songs when they were at home; they were encouraged to listen to
the recorded material of the class and their own voices and pay attention to the teacher’s comments
concerning each person’s mis-productions as well. The teacher provided them with new comments, in
turn. It was assumed that this would gradually help them to improve their abilities in the foreign
language development while having fun.

The control group, on the other hand, was engaged in the ordinary program of the classroom. The
concepts were both implicitly and explicitly taught throughout the course book and explicit grammar
experiences were also touched upon in the lessons presented. Both the control and experimental
groups listened to the conversations, worked with dialogues, covered the short texts given in the
book, discussed the new points in the class, took part in the Question and Answer activities,
individual and group writing development, and developed conversations based on the new topics
given in each section of the course book. Students in both groups worked on grammar exercises in
their course book as well. The instructional hours consisted of 24 sessions spread out over eight
weeks. Each class session was 90 minutes held three times a week. It is worth mentioning that the
participants in both groups were taught by the same instructor.

1.4 Results

Data Analysis
After the 24 sessions of treatment via employing short stories and songs were over, the posttest of
YLE was administered. The results of the posttest in the form of scores (the average of the two score
given by the two raters) for the speaking section were analyzed and compared through SPSS version
21. An independent t-test was run to compare the mean scores of the experimental and control
groups on the YLE posttest to probe the effect of the treatment on the second language achievement
of the learners. This test was used to probe the effect of teaching English through short stories and
songs on the general second language achievement of the learners. A MANOVA was run to compare

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the two groups’ means on the four components of speaking, i.e. pronunciation, fluency, grammar and
vocabulary in order to probe the effect of the treatment and intervention on the speaking achievement
of the YLE learners and the components of speaking. The inter-rater reliability of the speaking section
of the test was computed by Pearson correlation. Reliability of the YLE posttest was computed using
K-R21 method. Construct validity of the test used in the study was also computed by running a factor
analysis which was run through the Varimax rotation in order to probe the underlying constructs of
the components of the achievement test.

Testing the Normality Assumption

This study has gathered the data based on the YLE test including three sections of listening
comprehension, writing and reading comprehension, and specking part. The last part itself includes
the subcomponents of speaking such as pronunciation fluency grammar and vocabulary.
The research questions posed in this study were analyzed through the independent t-test and
multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) both of which have a common assumption, i.e. normality of the
data. That is why the assumptions of normality and homogeneity of variances were checked.
As displayed in Table 2 the ratios of skewness and kurtosis are within the ranges of +/- 1.96, hence
the normality of the present data is approved. It means that the data enjoyed normality and the
analyses of the results could be fairly conducted. The specific assumptions related to independent t-
teat and MANOVA will be reported within the main discussion.

Table 2
Testing Normality Assumption
N Skewness Kurtosis
Group Statistic Statistic Std. Error Ratio Statistic Std. Error Ratio
LC 30 -.254 .427 -0.59 -.741 .833 -0.89
WRRC 30 .512 .427 1.20 -.836 .833 -1.00
Pronunciation 30 -.065 .427 -0.15 -1.355 .833 -1.63
Fluency 30 -.218 .427 -0.51 -.476 .833 -0.57
Experimental
Grammar 30 -.329 .427 -0.77 -.461 .833 -0.55
Vocab 30 -.455 .427 -1.07 -.123 .833 -0.15
SP 30 -.515 .427 -1.21 .091 .833 0.11
Total 30 -.210 .427 -0.49 -.351 .833 -0.42
LC 30 -.076 .427 -0.18 -.828 .833 -0.99
WRRC 30 -.657 .427 -1.54 .010 .833 0.01
Pronunciation 30 .247 .427 0.58 -1.141 .833 -1.37
Fluency 30 -.232 .427 -0.54 -.862 .833 -1.03
Control
grammar 30 -.334 .427 -0.78 -.187 .833 -0.22
Vocab 30 -.139 .427 -0.33 -.933 .833 -1.12
SP 30 .112 .427 0.26 -1.043 .833 -1.25
Total 30 .144 .427 0.34 -.886 .833 -1.06

Research Question One

The first research question of the study aimed at investigating whether using short stories and
songs significantly affect the second language achievement of Iranian young learners. An
independent t-test was run to compare the experimental and control groups’ means on the total
achievement test in order to probe the major research question posed in this study. The results
displayed in Table 3 show that the experimental group (M = 39.13, SD = 5.13) had a higher
achievement than the control group (M = 30.64, SD = 5.93).

Table 3
Descriptive Statistics; Total Achievement Test by Groups

Group N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

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Experimental 30 39.13 5.130 .937

Achievement
Control 30 30.64 5.933 1.083

The results of the independent t-test (t (58) = 5.92, p = .000, r = .61, representing a large effect size)
(Table 4) show that there is a significant difference between the two groups’ means on the total
achievement. Thus, the first, null-hypothesis as “using short stories and songs does not significantly
affect the second language achievement of Iranian young learners” was rejected. In fact, the
experimental group, after receiving short stories and songs significantly outperformed the control
group on the total achievement test.

Table 4
Independent Samples Test, Total Achievement Test by Groups
Levene's Test
for Equalityt-test for Equality of Means
of Variances
95% Confidence
Sig. (2-Mean Std. ErrorInterval of the
F Sig. T Df
tailed) Difference Difference Difference
Lower Upper
Equal variances
1.186 .281 5.929 58 .000 8.489 1.432 5.623 11.355
assumed
Equal variances
5.929 56.815 .000 8.489 1.432 5.621 11.356
not assumed

It should be noted that the assumption of homogeneity of variances was met (Levene’s F = 1.18, p =
.281).

Research Question Two

The second research question of the study aimed at investigating whether using short stories and
songs significantly affected the second language oral achievement (components of speaking) of
Iranian young learners.
A MANOVA was run to compare the two groups’ means on the four components of speaking, i.e.
pronunciation, fluency, grammar and vocabulary in order to probe the second research question and
its four parts embedded. Before discussing the main results, it should be mentioned that the
assumptions of homogeneity of variances and homogeneity of covariance matrices were met. As
displayed in Table 5 the probabilities associated with the Levene’s tests were all higher than .05,
hence homogeneity of variances assumption.

Table 5
Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variances

F df1 df2 Sig.

Pronunciation .030 1 58 .864
Fluency 1.067 1 58 .306
Grammar .822 1 58 .368
Vocabulary .195 1 58 .660

The assumption of homogeneity of covariance matrices was also met (Box’s M = 21.30, p > .001).

Table 6

Box's M 21.301
F 1.971

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df1 10
df2 16082.869
Sig. .032
Box's Test of Equality of Covariance Matrices

Note. Box’s M should be tested at an alpha level of .001

The results of MANOVA (F (4, 55) = 10.63, p = .000, partial η 2 = .43, representing a large effect size)
(Table 7) indicated that there were significant differences between the two groups’ means on the
components of speaking test. Thus the second null-hypothesis is rejected. It means that the learners in
the experimental group outperformed the learners of the control group and could achieve higher
command in the second language speaking ability following the treatment. Table 7, below represents
the multivariate tests of speaking assessment by groups.

Table 7
Multivariate Tests; Speaking Test by Groups
Partial Eta
Value F Hypothesis df Error df Sig.
Effect Squared
Pillai's Trace .984 866.393 4 55 .000 .984
Wilks' Lambda .016 866.393 4 55 .000 .984
Intercept
Hotelling's Trace 63.010 866.393 4 55 .000 .984
Roy's Largest Root 63.010 866.393 4 55 .000 .984
Pillai's Trace .436 10.631 4 55 .000 .436
Wilks' Lambda .564 10.631 4 55 .000 .436
Group
Hotelling's Trace .773 10.631 4 55 .000 .436
Roy's Largest Root .773 10.631 4 55 .000 .436

Based on the results displayed in Table 8 and Table 9 it can be concluded that; A: The experimental
group (M = 37.70) significantly outperformed (1, 58 = 30.04, p = .000, partial η 2 = .341 representing a
large effect size) (Table 8) the control group (M = 24.03) on the pronunciation test.
Table 8
Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Type III Sum of Mean Partial Eta

df F Sig.
Source Dependent Variable Squares Square Squared
Pronunciation 2801.667 1 2801.667 30.040 .000 .341
Fluency 1771.267 1 1771.267 25.062 .000 .302
Group
Grammar 608.017 1 608.017 21.079 .000 .267
Vocabulary 336.067 1 336.067 5.177 .027 .082
Pronunciation 5409.267 58 93.263
Fluency 4099.133 58 70.675
Error
Grammar 1672.967 58 28.844
Vocabulary 3764.867 58 64.911
Pronunciation 65376.00 60
Fluency 73608.00 60
Total
Grammar 98201.00 60
Vocabulary 102678.00 60

B: The experimental group (M = 39.03) significantly outperformed (1, 58 = 25.06, p = .000, partial η 2 =
.30 representing a large effect size) (Table 8) the control group (M = 28.16) on the fluency test.

Table 9
Descriptive Statistics; Components of Speaking by Groups
Dependent Variable Group Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval

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Lower Bound Upper Bound

Experimental 37.700 1.763 34.171 41.229
Pronunciation
Control 24.033 1.763 20.504 27.563
Experimental 39.033 1.535 35.961 42.106
Fluency
Control 28.167 1.535 25.094 31.239
Experimental 43.167 .981 41.204 45.129
Grammar
Control 36.800 .981 34.837 38.763
Experimental 42.900 1.471 39.956 45.844
Vocabulary
Control 38.167 1.471 35.222 41.111

C: The experimental group (M = 43.016) significantly outperformed (1, 58 = 21.07, p = .000, partial η 2 =
.26 representing a large effect size) (Table 8) the control group (M = 36.80) on the grammar test.
D: The experimental group (M = 42.90) significantly outperformed (1, 58 = 5.17, p = .027, partial η 2 =
.082 representing a moderate effect size) (Table 8) the control group (M = 38.16) on the vocabulary
test. Although the results should be interpreted cautiously due to the moderate effect size value of
.082.

KR-21 Reliability
The K-R21 reliability index for the YLE in total and posttest of speaking were .86 and .82. Table 10
below represents the KR-21 reliability.

Table 10
K-R21 Reliability Index
N of Items Mean SD K-R21
YLE 60 34.36 5.53 .82
16 11.95 1.26 .86
Speaking

Inter-Rater Reliability
The results of Pearson correlations (Table 11) indicated that there were significant agreements
between the raters who rated the subjects’ performance on pronunciation (r (58) = .89, p = .000,
representing a large effect size), fluency (r (58) = .84, p = .000, representing a large effect size),
grammar (r (58) = .83, p = .000, representing a large effect size) and vocabulary pronunciation (r (58) =
.87, p = .000, representing a large effect size).

Table 11
Pearson Correlations; Inter-Rater Reliability Indices
PRR2 FLR2 GRR2 VOCR2
Pearson Correlation .892**
PRR1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 60
Pearson Correlation .848**
FLR1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 60
Pearson Correlation .837**
GRR1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 60
Pearson Correlation .878**
VOCR1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 60
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Construct Validity

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A factor analysis was run through the varimax rotation in order to probe the underlying constructs of
the components of the achievement test. The SPSS extracted one factor which accounted for 68.65
percent of the total variance (see Table 12, below).

Table 12
Total Variance Explained
Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings
Component Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative %
1 4.806 68.659 68.659 4.806 68.659 68.659
2 .941 13.447 82.106
3 .547 7.818 89.924
4 .355 5.066 94.990
5 .286 4.082 99.072
6 .065 .928 100.000
7 .000 .000 100.000

Since all components of the achievement test loaded on a single factor, it can be claimed that they
all measured the same underlying construct, i.e. achievement in English.

Table 13
Component Matrix
Component
1
SP .988
LC .950
fluency .886
pron .875
Vocab .702
grammar .688
WRRC .639

1.5 Discussion

Findings of the present study revealed that the experimental group, after receiving short stories and
songs as the intervention, significantly outperformed the control group on the total achievement test.
Secondly the data analyses revealed that that there were significant differences between the two
groups’ means on the components of speaking test in the two groups. It means that in all four sub-
skills and the total test of speaking, namely, pronunciation, fluency, grammar, and vocabulary, the
learners of the experimental group outperformed the ones in the control group. Both of these
findings show the positive effective of the treatment, that is offering short stories and songs to the
young language learners.
Both of these findings are in line with those of the previous research in this area. Within the
theoretical features and the criteria Smallwood (1988, p. 66) recommended for the selection of
children’s literature for language learners one can see ''age-appropriate theme; simple language;
limited use of metaphor and unfamiliar experiences; use of rhyme; unambiguous plot; realistic but
simple dialogue; potential for reading aloud; brevity; and good illustrations''. All these feature were
embedded in the songs and stories the students received in the present study. Brown (2004) claims
that appropriate songs and stories give students exposure to new, illustrated vocabulary in context,
provide repetition of key words and phrases that students can master and learn to manipulate, and
provide a sense of accomplishment. Ratnasari’s (2007) study which focused on the effect of songs to
improve students’ achievement in pronouncing English words revealed that music had a great effect
on Indonesian students’ pronunciation.
Chang (2007) argued that songs and stories developed for children can increase their second language
achievement in case the concept of ‘simple language’ is taken into consideration. Moreover, Tavil and
Soylemez’s (2008) study on the effect of short stories on the learners’ participation in the classroom

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discussions revealed that stories were helpful since they gave the chance of participation to the
students.
In line with the previous studies, Razmjoo et al. (2012) found that story telling is a powerful
instructional tool as it makes students familiar with the target culture. This is significant as
individuals must relate and communicate with each other within cultural contexts.
Abadi and Marzban’s (2012) findings also revealed that stories provide a network of associations
which allow children to connect their personal experiences to the outside-world. The same thing was
found in the present study as the learners of the experimental group could present a better
performance while talking about different issues following the treatment. Moradi and Shahrokhi
(2014) tried to find out whether children learning English by music can improve their ability in
segmental and suprasegmental pronunciation or not. The results of comparing the pretest and the
posttest showed that music had a better effect on pronunciation and intonation and stress pattern
recognition; that is, the students in the experimental group had a better performance in these areas
than the control group. Therefore, it was concluded that using music could push students to learn
suprasegmentals better.
The present findings support the findings of the previous research concerning the effect of being
exposed to songs and achieving better pronunciation. Fischler (2009) found that teaching stress
patterns to English language learners through rap music was highly successful. Gonzàlez (2010) also
reported that teaching English through stories is a meaningful and fun way for children to learn the
language.
Theoretical support for the present findings could be found in the literature: Guilloteaux and Dörnyei
(2008) discussed that motivating language learners through songs and music has fruitful and positive
effects on the emergence of motivational strategies for young learners of English. Further support in
this regard can be found in Dornyei and Clement’s (2001) discussion of ‘motivation and second
language acquisition’ where they consider songs and short stories as prime motivational tools
energizing the learning of different target languages. Also, Dornyei and Csizer (1998), in their
empirical study over factors motivating language learners, concluded that songs facilitated second
language achievement.

Theoretical and Practical Implications of the Study

The present study demonstrated that employing short stories and songs can influence the Iranian
young learners’ EFL achievement. EFL learners need to know lexical items, idiomatic expressions,
phrasal verbs, grammatical points, preferences, dictions, and the like for a native like performance.
Therefore, according to the results of the present study, some implications for teaching and learning
of English as a foreign language through employing short stories and songs can be suggested:
The positive impact of using short stories and songs in the ESL/EFL classrooms paves the way for
providing an atmosphere in which learners can improve their second language skills eagerly in a less
stressful and friendly situation (Loukia, 2006). Employing user-friendly tasks aiming at facilitating the
participation of learners in classroom discussions have also yielded positive effects (Mart, 2012). The
motivation developed in the classroom and among the students through music, songs, and short
stories can create an encouraging situation and atmosphere where the young learners can feel in ease
to learn (Rukanuddin, 2014).
English songs and short stories accompanied with CDs and DVDs, could be employed by second
language teachers to make the learners more interested in what is going on in the classroom. The
assumption is that songs and short stories can facilitate learning (Gaskari & Azari, 2013), and learners
can enjoy a cooperative mode in the language classroom and can pay attention to their peer’s
development (Slavin, 2000). This way cooperation and collaboration will be energized and
competition will be minimized. Through taking part in the classroom discussions supported by songs
and more specifically, short stories, the learners practice language and some social and cultural
features (Yousofi & Yousefvand, 2012).
English teachers and learners could employ short stories and songs in their classes to facilitate
learning. This way the classroom interactions could be enriched and would help subsequent L2
development of the learners. Khoshsima and Bajool (2015) assert that short stories and songs can be
introduced to the EFL classroom through task-based approach in an attempt to enhance EFL students’
speaking fluency.

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Materials developers in the ELT domain can also employ the findings of the present study and those
of the similar ones to present tasks in which learners’ awareness toward learning is enhanced. Such
tasks may help the learners move towards cooperative learning, peer and self-evaluation, cognitive
learning, cultural literacy, and meaningful learning.

To sum up, a replication of the present study is needed to investigate the effects of employing songs
and short stories on the development of speaking achievement, pronunciation development,
grammatical refinement, and fluency of young language learners of English in the Iranian context. If
the results of this study are supported by further research, then it can safely be argued that songs and
short stories are of great use and importance to the achievement process of English by the Iranian EFL
learners.
The main aim of the present thesis was to use songs, music, and short stories in the EFL classroom in
order to enhance learners’ achievement. The researcher hopes that the results of the present study
could shed more light on this area, and teachers would hopefully take what has been presented here
and apply it to their own situations in order to improve their students’ SL speaking in the target
language they are developing.

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THE IMPACT OF SIMPLIFIED VS ORIGINAL TEXT

PRACTICE ON IRANIAN PRE-INTERMEDIATE EFL
LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY

Sophia Razmjou Soufiani

MA in TEFL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Rasht, Iran
sophiarazmjou62@gmail.com

Majid Pourmohammadi
Assistant Professor in TESOL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht
Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir

Hamed Babaie
Assistant Professor in TEFL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
babaie@iaurasht.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY INTENDED TO COMPARE THE EFFECTS OF USING SIMPLIFIED VERSUS
ORIGINAL READING PASSAGES ON IRANIAN PRE-INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS’
READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY. TO THIS END, A TOTAL OF 60 FEMALE IRANIAN EFL
LEARNERS WHOSE AGE RANGED FROM 18 TO 25 YEARS OLD WERE SELECTED THROUGH
CONVENIENCE SAMPLING. AFTERWARDS, THE PARTICIPANTS WERE RANDOMLY DIVIDED
INTO TWO GROUPS, GROUP 1: EXPERIMENTAL GROUP (SIMPLIFIED TEXT) AND GROUP 2:
CONTROL GROUP (ORIGINAL TEXT). AS DATA ANALYSIS INDICATED, THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN GROUP 1 AND GROUP 2 ON THE POSTTEST WAS MEANINGFUL (T = -3.79, DF = 48,
P = .000, P < 0.05). IN FACT, EMPLOYING SIMPLIFIED TEXT HAD SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON
THE PARTICIPANTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY. THE MAIN PEDAGOGICAL
IMPLICATION OF THIS STUDY IS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS TO INTRODUCE SIMPLIFIED
ACTIVITIES WHICH CAN HAVE POSITIVE EFFECTS ON THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNERS’
READING ABILITY AS WELL AS MOTIVATION.

KEY WORDS: READING COMPREHENSION, TEXT, ORIGINAL TEXT, SIMPLIFIED TEXT

1. Introduction
Reading as an active receptive language skill is one of the most complicated cognitive activities (Pour-
Mohammadi & Abidin, 2011a). Our understanding of the processes and factors involved in text
comprehension is quite impressive, but it also is fragmented, with a proliferation of mini-theories for
specific components that in reality are intertwined and interact with one another. Reading
comprehension is made of many different skills. These skills are created and developed by using a
variety of reading strategies to encourage students to interact with text in meaningful ways. Common
core requires a wider population of students to read more nonfiction than ever before; content area

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classrooms are a great place to develop this new practice. Fortunately, many traditional reading
comprehension strategies work well in content area classrooms.

There is a growing consensus among several current researches that reading comprehension is one of
the most important skills for educational and professional success. According to Brantmeier (2002),
Hadley (2001), Saricoban, (2002), and Singhal, (2001), it has become the main focus of attention by
both research and practical application since in the last two decades. Noor (2006, p. 66) points out,
“Without doubt, in any academic or higher learning context, reading is perceived as the most
prominent academic skill for university students.”

Reading comprehension can be defined as the ability to understand information in a text and
interpret it appropriately. Grabe and Stoller (2002) describe reading comprehension according to a set
of necessary processes. The last but not the least significant process is that of reading comprehension
as a linguistic process. According to Carrell and Eisterhold (1983, p. 554), “EFL/ESL reading theory
has been influenced during the past decades by Goodman who views reading as a “guessing game”
in which the reader reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer.”
Grabe (1991) explains that in Godman’s perception reading is viewed as an active process of
comprehending in which students need to be taught strategies to read more efficiently (e.g., guess
from context, define expectations, make inferences about the text, skim ahead to fill in the context,
etc.). In Goodman’s view, reading is an activity involving constant guesses that are later rejected or
confirmed. This means that one does not read all the sentences in the same way, but one relies on a
number of words –or ‘cues’– to get an idea of what kind of sentence (e.g., an explanation) is likely to
follow. The current research investigated the effectiveness of simplified vs. original texts practice on
Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability. In brief, it tried to answer the
following question:

 Do simplified texts vs. original ones have any statistically significant effect on Iranian pre-
intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension ability?

2. Literature Review
Reading has been clarified in different ways by different researchers. Alyousef (2006) believes that
reading can be seen as an interactive process between a reader and a text which leads to automaticity
or (reading fluency). In this process, as Pour-Mohammadi and Abidin (2011b) declared, readers
dynamically interact with the text as they try to elicit the meaning and while they apply different
types of knowledge: linguistic or systemic knowledge (through bottom-up processing) as well as
schematic knowledge (through top-down processing).

Reading strategies reveal how readers come up with a task, what textual cues they attend to, how
they make sense of what they read, and what they do when they do not find out. Reading strategies
range from simple fix-up strategies such as simply rereading difficult segments and guessing the
meaning of an unknown word from context, to more comprehensive strategies such as summarizing
and relating what is being read to the reader's background knowledge. By and large, researchers
maintain that strategy use is different in more and less skilful readers, in that they use the strategies in
different ways (Carrell, 1989). As a matter, reading comprehension strategies separate the passive,
unskilled reader from the active reader. Proficient readers don not just read but they interact with the
text.

Recently, research has concentrated not only on examining the effects of teaching approaches in the
classroom, but also on how to engage learners in reading a large quantity of texts. In middle and high
schools and specially universities, an important number of students struggle with the complex
academic and literacy tasks they face in their classes. In a way, Alliance for Excellent Education,
nearly 8 million students in grades 4-12 read well below grade level (Heller & Greenleaf, 2007). Of
those struggling secondary readers, almost 70% struggle with reading comprehension (Biancarosa &
Snow, 2006).

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The academic importance of reading comprehension cannot be figured out, and this point leads
researchers to state that, the most significant thing about reading is comprehension (Gambrell, Block,
& Pressley, 2002). It is so clear that reading comprehension instruction is highly beneficial for pupils
of all levels. When teachers explain and model a single comprehension strategy or multiple strategies,
as well as provide guided and independent practice with feedback until students begin to utilize the
strategy independently, there are levels of middle and high school students to enhance (Biancarosa &
Snow, 2006; Schorzman & Cheek, 2004)

Although it is generally clear that reading plays an important role in a language, reading
comprehension remains a young field that merits greater research attention. In addition, knowledge
about reading comprehension regarding learning strategies has been devoted to those involving in
listening, writing and speaking. The main reasons for reading challenges are: ineffective reading
instruction, auditory perception difficulties, visual perception hardships, language processing
difficulties. For many students reading is a difficult process. For these struggling readers, reading
does not come naturally. Pupils have not been capable of decoding words, read fluently and identify
basic sight words. Much of the reading which we do occurs near our hands. Former research has
revealed that spatial processing is enhanced near the hands, potentially benefiting the couple of
processes involved in reading; however, it is unknown whether semantic processing is affected near
the hands (Wu, 2009).

3. Method
3.1. Participants
For the present study a total of 60 female Iranian EFL learners whose age ranged from 18 to 25 years
old were selected through convenience sampling. According to Oxford Quick Placement Test (QPT),
the students whose scores fell within the range of pre-intermediate level of proficiency were selected
as the participants of the study. These EFL learners were studying English at pre-intermediate level in
Beinol-melal Language Institute, Bandar Anzali, Iran. They were randomly divided into two groups;
Group 1: experimental group (simplified text), and Group 2: control group (original text).

3.2. Procedure
To homogenize the participants of the present study, QPT was administered. Taking the results of
QPT into account, 60 participants were selected as pre-intermediate level, according to QPT scale.
After homogenizing the participants, the pretest was administered. Next, the participants were
divided into two groups as control and experimental.

In the first session, reading comprehension test was conducted as pretest to both groups. Aftewards,
the participants were informed about the aim of the study. Then, the treatment began. In
experimental group, the teacher gave a reading passage every session to the participants. They read
the text and answered comprehension questions. Then the teacher explained vocabulary and
grammatical points to them. In control group, the teacher followed the same procedure. The only
difference between the treatments of the two groups was in the selection of the text. In the control
group, original texts were given to the participants whereas in the experimental group, simplified
texts were given to the participants. In the last session, reading comprehension as posttest was given
to the participants. Having collected data, data analysis was conducted through running an
independent samples t-test on the posttest scores.

4. Results
To answer the research question, two independent samples t-tests were run, one for pretest scores
and another for posttest scores. The result of independent t-test has been presented in Table 1.

Table 1. The independent samples t-test for group 1 and group 2 in the pretest
95% Confidence Interval
Mean Std. Error of the Difference
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper

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95% Confidence Interval

Mean Std. Error of the Difference
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper

.116 48 .908 .20 1.72 -3.29 3.66

As illustrated in Table 1, the difference between group 1 and group 2 in the pretest is not meaningful
(t = .116, df = 48, p = .908, p > .05). Therefore, it can be concluded that there was no meaningful
difference between group 1 and group 2 students in pretest. In fact, the researcher can say that the
two groups of students were in the same level of reading comprehension ability before inclusion of
simplified text in teaching reading. The result of the second independent samples t-test is presented
in Table 2.

Table 2. The independent samples t-test for group 1 and group 2 in the posttest
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error Difference
t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
-3.794 48 .000 -5.48 1.44 -8.384 -2.57

As illustrated in Table 2, the difference between group 1 and group 2 in the posttest is meaningful (t =
-3.79, df = 48, p = .000, p < .05). Thus, it can be concluded that there was a meaningful difference
between the first and the second groups in the posttest. In fact, employing simplified text had
significant effect on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability.

5. Discussion
This study sought to see effectiveness of simplified vs. original texts practice on Iranian pre-
intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability. As the data analysis indicates, the
difference between the two groups in the posttest is meaningful (t = -3.79, df = 48, p = .000, p < 0.05).
Consequently, there is a meaningful difference between the two groups in the posttest. In fact, the
employment of simplified text had statistically significant effect on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL
learners’ reading comprehension ability.

The findings of this study are not completely in line with those of Branden (2000), and Baleghizadeh
and Borz (2007), however. They found just a selective beneficial effect for input simplification on
reading comprehension. Branden (2000) observed that linguistic elaboration worked more effectively
for the high proficient students than for the low-proficient students. Baleghizadeh and Borz (2007),
however, found that the low-proficiency students benefited from linguistic modifications, but the
more proficient students did not. In fact, the results of this study suggest that for reading purposes
the use of authentic unmodified texts can be more beneficial than the use of simplified text provided
that the former is accompanied with meaning negotiation through collaborative reading.

6. Conclusion
By the emergence of new academic fields, reading skill has gained an important position among other
language skills and elements. The reason of this point is laid in the nature of academic studies which
are reported in written form. Therefore, reading comprehension skills play a crucial role in students’
comprehension and learning. This study indicated that simplified text does statistically significantly
affect Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension ability. Furthermore, the
findings show that involving learners in reading-for-pleasure activities can enhance their motivation,
too.

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REFERENCES
Alyousef, H. S. (2006). Teaching reading comprehension to ESL/EFL learners. Journal of Language and
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Baleghizadeh, S., & Borz, A. D. (2007). The impact of two types of input modification on EFL reading
comprehension: Linguistic versus interactional. 71-94.
Biancarosa, G., & Snow, C. (2006). Reading next – a vision for action and research in middle and high school
literacy: A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Branden, K. (2000). Does negotiation of meaning promote reading comprehension? A study of
multilingual primary school classes. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(3), 426-443.
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Brantmeier, C. (2002). Second language reading strategy research at the secondary and university
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Carrell, P. L. (1989). Metacognitive awareness and second language reading. TESOL Quarterly, 73,121-
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Carrell, P. L., & Eisterhold, J. C. (1983). Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly,
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Gambrell, L., Block, C. C., & Pressley, M. (2002). Improving comprehension instruction. Newark, DE:
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Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 25(3),
375-406. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3586977
Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2002). Teaching and researching reading. Harlow, England: Pearson
Education.
Hadley, A. O. (2001). Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Heller, R., & Greenleaf, C. (2007). Literacy instruction in the content areas: Getting to the core of
middle and high school improvement. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Noor, N. M. (2006). Reading academic text: Awareness and experiences among university ESL
learners. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 6(2), 65-78.
Pour-Mohammadi, M., & Abidin, M. J. Z. (2011a). Test-taking strategies, schema theory and reading
comprehension test performance. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(18), 237-243.
Pour-Mohammadi, M., & Abidin, M. J. Z. (2011b). Attitudes towards teaching and learning test-taking
strategies for reading comprehension tests: The case of Iranian EFL undergraduates. Journal of Studies
in Education, 1(1), 1-12. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/jse.v1i1.1028
Saricoban, A. (2002). Reading strategies of successful readers through the three phase approach. The
Reading Matrix, 2(3), 1-13.
Schorzman, E. M., & Cheek, E. H. (2004). Structured strategy instruction: Investigating an intervention
for improving sixth-graders’ reading comprehension. Reading Psychology, 25, 37-60.
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Singhal, M. (2001). Reading proficiency, reading strategies, metacognitive awareness and L2 readers.
The Reading Matrix, 1, 1-9.
Wu, J. (2009). The relationship among the multisensory approach, personal factors, and second
language learning outcomes at IELE of Assumption University of Thailand. Scholar, 1(1).

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INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF GENDER ON

FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING ANXIETY OF
IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

Ali Taghinezhad
Department of English Language, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
(Corresponding author email: taghinezhad1@gmail.com)

Pegah Abdollahzadeh
Department of English Language, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran

Mehdi Dastpak
Department of English Language, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran

Zohreh Rezaei
Department General of Fars Province Education, Fars, Iran

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY AIMED AT INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF GENDER ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING ANXIETY. TO THIS END, A QUESTIONNAIRE NAMED FOREIGN LANGUAGE
CLASSROOM ANXIETY SCALE WAS ADMINISTERED TO STUDENTS. IN TOTAL, 305
STUDENTS OF JAHROM, KAZERUN, AND SHIRAZ UNIVERSITIES PARTICIPATED IN THIS
STUDY, 74 MALE STUDENTS AND 231 FEMALE STUDENTS RANGING FROM 18 TO 30 YEARS
OF AGE. THE DATA WERE ANALYZED USING STATISTICAL PACKAGE FOR THE SOCIAL
SCIENCES (SPSS) VERSION 19. STANDARD MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS WAS
CONDUCTED TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER STUDENTS' GENDER CAN PREDICT THEIR
FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING ANXIETY. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THERE WAS NO
STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES REGARDING
FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING ANXIETY. THEREFORE, GENDER COULD NOT PREDICT
FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING ANXIETY. THE IMPLICATIONS ARE DISCUSSED AT THE
END OF THE STUDY.

KEYWORDS: GENDER, FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY, ANXIETY SCALE

1. Introduction
Since foreign language learning is a stressful activity (Hewitt & Stefenson, 2011), many researchers
have investigated the role of anxiety in learning a foreign language (e.g., Phillips, 1992). Foreign
language anxiety has been defined as negative emotional reaction that is caused when using or
learning a foreign or a second language (MacIntyre, 1999). Several studies have been carried out on
language anxiety. Although few of them have revealed that there is a positive relationship between
language anxiety and language achievement (e.g., Liu, 2006; Oxford, 1999), most of them have shown
that language anxiety and language achievement are negatively related (e.g. Horwitz, 2001,
MacIntyre, 1999, MacIntyre, Noels, Clement, 1997). Put it another way, learners who are more
proficient in a foreign language, experience less anxiety in learning it in comparison with other
learners who are not that proficient. Foreign language learning anxiety is a great barrier to foreign
language achievement (Young, 1991), so the low achievement of learners can be attributed to negative
effects of anxiety (Horwitz, 2000, 2001; MacIntyre, 1999, 2002; Tóth, 2007).
1.1 The role of gender

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Gender has been considered as a significant factor in SLA. There are some discrepancies between men
and women with regard to second language learning which cannot be fully erased through education.
According to gender theory proposed by Baumeister and Sommer (1997), gender stereotypes are the
expectations which are shared culturally for gender appropriate behaviors. Individuals learn the
appropriate behaviors from the culture and the family they grow up with. Therefore, non-physical
gender differences are the result of socialization (Eagly, 1987). Also, males and females differ
biologically with regard to their learning style and cognitive ability. These differences result from
their differences in their brain and their higher-order cortical functions (Keefe, 1982). In terms of
lateralization, there are differences between males and females, with males having more left-
hemisphere dominance than females (Banich, 1997). Research studies have shown that gender
differences affect students’ academic interest, needs, and achievements (Halpern, 1986).
Anxiety, as an important affective factor, influences second language learning particularly speaking
skill. Males and females have different levels of anxiety and it might delay the development of their
speaking ability. Therefore, learners have to make use of some learning strategies to overcome this
problem. Oxford (1990) maintains that learning strategies are the specific actions which are taken by
the learners to make learning easier, faster, more effective, more enjoyable, and more transferable to
new situations (p. 8). Language teachers try to find the main sources of students’ language learning
anxiety in order that they organize their class in a way which minimizes their students’ anxiety.
Gender is one of the factors that affect the anxiety in second language learning particularly second
language speaking skill.
1.2 Causes of foreign language anxiety
Although all aspects of using and learning a foreign language can cause anxiety, listening and
speaking are regularly cited as the most anxiety provoking of foreign language activities (MacIntyre
and Gardner, 1994; Horwitz, Horwitz & Hope, 1986).
The causes of foreign language anxiety have been broadly separated into three main components:
communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Communication
apprehension is the anxiety experienced when speaking to or listening to other individuals. Test-
anxiety is a form of performance anxiety associated with the fear of doing badly, or indeed failing
altogether. Fear of negative evaluation is the anxiety associated with the learner's perception of how
other onlookers (instructors, classmates or others) may negatively view their language ability.
Sparks and Ganschow (1991) asked a question which drew attention to the fact that anxiety could
either be a cause of poor language learning or a result of poor language learning. If a student is
unable to study as required before writing a language examination, the student could experience test
anxiety. In this context anxiety could be viewed as a result. In contrast, anxiety becomes a cause of
poor language learning when due to anxiety that student is unable to adequately learn the target
language. There can be various physical causes of anxiety (such as hormone levels) but the
underlying causes of excessive anxiety whilst learning are fear and a lack of confidence. Lack of
confidence itself can come from various causes. One reason can be the teaching approach used.
1.3 Effects of foreign language anxiety
The effects of foreign language anxiety are particularly evident in the foreign language classroom,
and anxiety is a strong indicator of academic performance. Anxiety is found to have a detrimental
effect on students' confidence, self-esteem and level of participation (MacIntyre & Garnder, 1994).
Anxious learners suffer from mental blocks during spontaneous speaking activities, lack confidence,
are less able to self-edit and identify language errors, and are more likely to employ avoidance
strategies such as skipping class (Gregerson, 2003). Anxious students also forget previously learned
material, volunteer answers less frequently and tend to be more passive in classroom activities than
their less anxious counterparts (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986). The effects of foreign language
anxiety also extend outside the second language classroom. A high level of foreign language anxiety
may also correspond with communication apprehension, causing individuals to be quieter and less
willing to communicate (Liu & Jackson, 2008). People who exhibit this kind of communication
reticence can also sometimes be perceived as less trustworthy, less competent, less socially and
physically attractive, tenser, less composed and less dominant than their less reticent counterparts.
This study attempts to answer the following question:
Can foreign language learning anxiety be predicted by students’ gender?

2. Literature Review

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Over the past decades, several researchers have investigated the relationship between language
learning anxiety and beliefs about language learning (e.g. Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986; Lan, 2010;
Wang, 2005; Young, 1991). Studies have shown that most language learners experience anxiety in the
process of language learning (e.g. Andrade & William, 2009; Marwan, 2007). Having realized the
existence of foreign language anxiety in the process of language learning, researchers have
endeavored to decrease its harmful effects. For instance, Young (1991) suggested that learners’ beliefs
about language learning can contribute to foreign language learning anxiety.
In another study, Wang (2005) found that students who had a higher aptitude in language learning
tended to have a lower level of language learning anxiety. Also, Lan (2010) in her study found that
there was a significant negative correlation between language learning beliefs and foreign language
learning anxiety.
In the Iranian context, Toghraee and Shahrokhi (2014) conducted a similar study and found a positive
and statistically significant correlation between Iranian university students’ beliefs about language
learning and their level of language learning anxiety.
2.1 Anxiety in Second Language Acquisition
In second language research, anxiety is considered as an affective variable (Dörnyei, 2005; Horwitz et
al, 1986). Anxiety is composed of some parts which have different features (Dörnyei, 2005).
According to Dörnyei (2005), there are different categorizations for anxiety. Two of the most popular
classifications of anxiety are debilitating-facilitating (Scovel, 1978) and state-trait (Speilberger, 1983)
views of anxiety. In the former dichotomy, the facilitating or beneficial anxiety does not hinder
performance but it can facilitate it whereas debilitating anxiety can deter performance when an
individual is under excessive worry. In the latter classification, trait anxiety is rather stable with the
passage of time, whereas state anxiety is a transitory and changing feeling (Dörnyei, 2005).
Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) identified three types of foreign language anxiety: test anxiety,
communication apprehension, and fear of negative evaluation. In order to measure foreign language
classroom anxiety, they developed a 33-item questionnaire. Several studies have been done on
language anxiety most of which have shown a negative relationship between language learning
anxiety and language achievement (e.g., Horwitz, 2001; MacIntyre, 1999;; MacIntyre, Noels, Clement,
1997) and only a few of them have shown that language achievement is positively related to language
learning anxiety (e.g., Liu, 2006a; Oxford, 1999). Put it another way, the more proficient the learners,
the less anxious they become.
According to Dornyei (2005), trait anxiety is related to an individual’s anxiety in different situations.
He maintains that this is because of the disposition of the individual. MacIntyre (1999) believes that
situation-specific anxiety is similar to trait anxiety for both of them refer to the possibility of being
anxious in a specific situation. For example, language learners might have situation-specific anxiety
when a teacher calls them to speak English in the classroom. Another kind of anxiety is state anxiety
which is the emotional reaction to the present situation and is considered as a moment-to-moment
experience (MacIntyre, 1999; Dornyei, 2005). MacIntyre (1999) differentiates situation-specific anxiety
and trait anxiety from state anxiety. Situation-specific anxiety and trait anxiety refer to the possibility
of getting anxious in a specific situation, while state anxiety refers to the way an individual
experiences anxiety. MacIntryre (1999) suggests that state anxiety has impacts on cognition, emotions,
and behavior. An example for state anxiety can be a person who tries to abandon a situation and the
bodily effects including a rapid heartbeat and a seating palm. This might result when making a
speech in front of a large number of people. Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) maintained that
language anxiety is an identifiable variable in foreign language learning. Krashen (1988) discussed the
influence of affective filter in second language acquisition with regard to input. He suggested that
when the affective filter is high, an individual is less likely to process the input. The affective filter
involves emotional reactions like language anxiety.
Many studies have been done investigating the relationship between anxiety and language learning
indicating that anxiety can have an adverse effect on the performance of those who speak English as a
foreign language (e.g., Chen & Lee, 2011, Stroud & Wee, 2006). Some studies related to the scope of
the present study are reported here. In a study by Liu (2006b), it was revealed that students who had
advanced English language proficiency had less anxiety. In a recent study, Chakrabarti and Sengupta
(2012) studied the language learning anxiety of Indian students. They found that the students’ test
anxiety was high among other components of anxiety.

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Rezazadeh and Tavakoli (2009) conducted a study in Iran investigating the relationship among
academic achievement, gender, years of study, and levels of test anxiety. One hundred and ten
Iranian EFL students participated in that study. The findings showed that the female students had a
higher level of anxiety. And there was no relationship between years of study and test anxiety. In
another study by Sadighi, Sahragard and Jafari (2009) on eighty Iranian EFL learners, it was found
that there was no statistically significant relationship between years of study and the level of anxiety.
In a recent study by Mesri (2012a), it was shown that there was a statistically significant relationship
between gender and Foreign Language Class Anxiety (FLCA). According to these studies, language
learning anxiety of EFL learners was on a high range. However, since the number of participants in
the Iranian context is low (n=52), more research on this issue should be done.
2.2 Gender and Second Language Acquisition
Gender has been considered as a significant factor in SLA. Males and females are biologically
different in terms of their mental abilities and their learning styles. These differences arise from the
development of brain and also from higher order cortical functions (Keefe, 1982). Regarding
lateralization, males are more left brain dominant than females (Banich, 1997). Research shows that
gender differences affect students’ needs, academic interests, and achievements. SLA theorists believe
that females have superiority in their L2 process (Ehrlich, 2001).
As Jiménéz-Catalán (2000) states, individual differences such as learning style, age, motivation,
aptitude, learning style and motivation are well discussed in many SLA research studies. However,
little attention has been paid to gender in the field of second language learning and teaching (Catalan,
2003; Nyikos, 2008; Sunderland, 1994). In addition, as Ehrlich (1997) and Sunderland (2000) mention
in their studies, in research studies on gender and SLA, the role of gender is discussed in an
oversimplified manner.
2.3 Studies on Gender in Second Language Acquisition
Ellis (2008) in his scholarly work The Study of Second Language Acquisition has allocated just a few
pages on gender and second language acquisition. First, he explained the distinction between gender
and sex. Then, he mentioned some studies conducted on this issue. Two of the studies belong to
Burstall (1975) and Boyle (1987) showing that female students outperform their male counterparts in
the examinations applied. However, Ellis does not reach any conclusive results regarding these
findings. He maintains that such generalizations may be misleading as Boyle’s study showed that
male students had a higher achievement in listening tests and the findings of Bacon and Finnemann
(1992) indicated that there was no significant difference between females and males. Ellis discusses
learning strategies and attitudes towards learning which are directly related to gender. Regarding the
attitude, he refers to some studies which are related to motivational orientations. For instance,
Ludwig (1983) found that male students were more instrumentally motivated than females, and
based on a study done by Gardner and Lambert (1983), female students of French were more
motivated than males. According to Ellis (2008), there was no unanimity in research studies regarding
gender differences in SLA in terms of attitudes, achievement, and strategy use at that time. Therefore,
he concludes that sex interacts with other variables in determining second language proficiency. So, it
is not always the case that female students perform better than males.
In another study, Coates (1986) showed that girls acquire language better than boys. However, Xin
(2008) maintained that several factors influence the acquisition of a language among which she lists
the personality of the learners from which motivation is derived. She mentions that the role of gender
in language acquisition has been played down by researchers. Therefore, it is too difficult to perceive
the distinctions between men and women in learning a foreign language. Findings of the study
showed that girls tend to learn English better than boys. The girls gave some explanations for their
tendency to learn English. They said that they learn English to acquire knowledge, improve their
communicative ability, and to improve their social status. On the other hand, just a small number of
boys acknowledged that English is important for them. The analysis revealed that girls are more
motivated than boys in learning English as a foreign language.
2.4 Gender and Language Learning Anxiety
Some studies have been done regarding the relationship between gender and language learning
anxiety. Chang (1997) concluded that females had higher level of anxiety than males. In another
study, Ezzi (2012) investigated the relationship between FL anxiety and gender among male and
female students with regard to their educational level, age and residence and found that females had
a higher level of anxiety than males.

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In the Iranian context, Rezazadeh and Tavakoli (2009) investigated the relationship between gender
and language learning anxiety and found that females have a higher level of test anxiety in
comparison with their male counterparts. In another study in Iran, Mesri (2012a) arrived at the same
conclusion. However, Fariadian, Azizifar and Gowhary (2014) investigated the role of gender in
speaking anxiety of EFL Iranian learners and found that boys showed higher levels of language
learning anxiety in comparison with female students.
In another study, Aida (1994) found no statistically significant relationship between language
learning anxiety and gender. Tahernezhad et al. (2014) investigated the degree of anxiety among
Iranian intermediate EFL learners and its relation to their motivation and reached the same result.
3. Method
3.1 Participants
In order to collect the required data, three Iranian universities were selected using cluster sampling.
The universities included Shiraz, Jahrom, and Salman Farsi Universities in Shiraz, Jahrom and
Kazerun, respectively. The participants were female and male students of English language. In total,
305 students participated in this study, 74 male students and 231 female students ranging from 18 to
30 years of age. All of them were native speakers of Persian studying English as a foreign language at
university.
3.2 Instruments
A questionnaire was used in this study namely, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)
The items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5). This
questionnaire was designed by Horwitz et al. (1986) consisting of 33 items on a 5-point Likert scale
ranging from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5). It aimed at examining students’ anxiety
pertaining to foreign language learning in classroom contexts. One of the reasons for using this scale
was that it has been one of the most comprehensive and valid instruments for measuring students’
anxiety in classroom contexts. Another reason was that it showed favorable reliability coefficients
with the samples of population to which it had been administered (Horwitz, 1991). Nowadays, it is a
frequently used scale which is often shortened or adapted in studies which are concerned with similar
purposes. This scale is a self-report measure which assesses the level of anxiety, as indicated by social
comparisons and negative performance expectancies, psycho-physiological symptoms and avoidance
behaviors.
Nakayama (2007) reported the Cronbach’s alpha of this questionnaire as follows: Future Use Anxiety
(a= .929) and In Class Anxiety (a= .770). The reliability coefficient of the FLCAS in this study was .918.
3.3 Data Collection and Analysis Procedure
First, the students were informed about the objectives of the study. Then, they were given the
instructions regarding how to answer the items of the questionnaire. They were asked to answer
open-ended questions such as gender and academic level as well. They were also assured about the
confidentiality of the information that they were supposed to provide.
Having received the questionnaire from the students, the researchers scored, and entered the data
into a spread sheet in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. Then, descriptive
statistics were computed and reported. The data underwent some descriptive statistics such as
frequencies, mean, and standard deviation together with correlational analyses. Then, further
inferential analyses were performed to find answers to the research question.
4. Results
Standard multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate whether students' gender can
predict their foreign language learning anxiety. The results are presented in Table 4.9. As observed in
the table, only 0.1 % of variance is explained by the model (R2 = .001). Hence, gender does not predict
language learning anxiety because no statistically significant relationship was found between gender
and language learning anxiety (B = -.033, t = -.583, Sig = .560). This finding is in contrast to that of
Öztürk and Gürbüz (2012) who found that female students had a higher level of anxiety than their
male counterparts while speaking English in the class. However, it is in line with the finding of
Nahavandi and Mukundan (2013) who investigated the effect of gender on Iranian EFL learners’
anxiety and found that gender did not affect learners’ anxiety significantly.
Table 1. Model Summary for Standard Multiple Regression
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate

1 .033a .001 -.002 .47589

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a. Predictors: (Constant), Gender

Table 2. ANOVAa Results for Standard Multiple Regression

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression .077 1 .077 .340 .560b
1 Residual 68.620 303 .226
Total 68.697 304
a. Dependent Variable: Language Learning Anxiety
b. Predictors: (Constant), Gender

Table 4.11 Coefficientsa for Standard Multiple Regression

Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized t Sig.
Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 2.987 .114 26.252 .000
1
Gender -.037 .063 -.033 -.583 .560
a. Dependent Variable: Language Learning Anxiety

5. Conclusion
Thus far, an overall picture of the study has been presented. Now, it is time to recapitulate briefly on
the research questions and the findings derived from the data. Regarding gender difference in terms
of language learning anxiety, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference
between males and females with respect to their language learning anxiety. Although this finding is
contrast to the findings of previous studies (e.g. Chang, 1997; Felson & Trudeau, 1991) who found that
females had higher levels of language learning anxiety than their male counterparts, it is in line with
that of Aida (1994) and Tahernezhad (2014). Examining these conflicting studies shows that some
other intervening variables may account for such inconsistency. For example, in different studies, in
addition to gender variable which is the major focus of studies, there are some discrepancies in the
type of language the students are acquiring; moreover, the participants come from different cultures.
9. Implications
Findings of this study can be beneficial for teachers and learners as well as educational psychologists.
The findings of this study can prove helpful for teachers to pay more attention to the affective factors
of learners. These findings can also help instructors to predict their learners’ anxiety, beliefs, and
behaviors. Teachers can adjust their teaching plans according to their students’ characteristics to
facilitate their learning.
10. Limitations and suggestions for further research
There were some limitations to this study. Inferences drawn from the results of this study cannot be
generalized to other contexts because of cultural differences. Another limitation was that the sample
was not evenly distributed since there were 74 males and 231 females and this could affect the results
of the study. Therefore, generalizing the findings of this study to other contexts and situations should
be exercised with caution. Since this study was a quantitative one and just made use of
questionnaires, more longitudinal and qualitative studies with in-depth interviews are needed to
understand individual differences in greater detail.

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Appendix
Appendix I: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
SA A NI D SD
1 I never feel quite sure of myself when I am
speaking in my foreign language class.
2 I don’t worry about making mistakes in
language class.
3 I tremble when I know that I’m going to be
called on in language class.
4 It frightens me when I don’t understand
what the teacher is saying in the foreign
language.
5 It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more
foreign language classes.

6 During language class, I find myself

thinking about things that have nothing to
do with the course.
7 I keep thinking that other students are better
at languages than I am.
8 I am usually at ease during tests in my
language class.
9 I start to panic when I have to speak without
preparation in language class.
10 I worry about the consequences of failing
my foreign language class.
11 I don’t understand why some people get so
upset over foreign language classes.
12 In language class, I can get so nervous when
I forget things I know.
13 It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in
my language class.
14 I would not be nervous speaking in the
foreign language with native speakers.
15 I get upset when I don’t understand what
the
16 teacher
Even if Iisam
correcting.
well prepared for language
class, I feel anxious about it.
17 I often feel like not going to my language
class.
18 I feel confident when I speak in foreign
language class.
19 I am afraid that my language teacher is
ready to correct every mistake I make.
20 I can feel my heart pounding when I’m
going to be called on in language class.
21 The more I study for a language test, the
more confused I get.
22 I don’t feel pressure to prepare very well for
language class.

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THE SUPERIORITY OF LINGUISTIC,

PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR SOCIAL FRAMEWORKS IN
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Hamideh Taheri
Ph.D. Candidate
Islamic Azad University, Boushehr Branch, Boushehr, Iran.
Taherih86@yahoo.com

Firooz Sadighi
Ph.D. Professor
Department of Foreign Languages, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran.
firoozsadighi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
BESIDES THEIR MOTHER TONGUE, A VAST NUMBER OF PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE WORLD
POSSESS A GOOD COMMAND OF ANOTHER LANGUAGE. THEY ALL REACH FULL MASTERY
OF THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE, BUT THE LEVEL OF THEIR SECOND LANGUAGE MASTERY
VARIES DEPENDING UPON THE SORT OF REQUIREMENT, THE ENVIRONMENT, THE
AFFECTIVE FACTORS, ETC. THESE VARIANT CONDITIONS MAKE IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO
ACHIEVE NATIVE-LIKE COMPETENCE. THE PRESENT STUDY, THUS, INTENDED TO
IDENTIFY THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS INVOLVED IN SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION (SLA) FROM LINGUISTIC, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES.
ACCORDING TO SAVILLE-TROIKE (2006), ALTHOUGH THESE APPROACHES HAVE
DIFFERENT FOCAL POINTS OF EMPHASIS AND PRIORITY, THEY ALL ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE
AN ADEQUATE RESPONSE TO THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS RELATED TO WHAT THE L2
LEARNER KNOWS, HOW THE LEARNER ACQUIRES THIS KNOWLEDGE, AND WHY SOME
LEARNERS ARE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS. THE STUDY ALSO AIMED AT
INVESTIGATING THE PRIORITY OR PREDOMINANCE OF ONE OF THE THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORKS OVER THE OTHERS; IN OTHER WORDS, IT ENDEAVORED TO FIND OUT IF
SOME FRAMEWORKS COULD BE REGARDED AS MORE PRIVILEGED AND ADVANTAGEOUS
THAN THE OTHERS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING. THE STUDY
CONCLUDED THAT NO APPROACH CAN BE CONSIDERED AS SUPERIOR TO THE OTHER
AND THAT ALL ARE EQUALLY SIGNIFICANT AND ESSENTIAL IN SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION.

KEY WORDS: SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, SLA, LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE,

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

Introduction
Arising from a variety of individual and contextual factors, SLA is regarded as a complicated
phenomenon. Contrary to popular belief, it is different from FLA. The reason behind this variation
can be attributed to the fact that second language learners have less cognitive ability than first
language learners. The other reason is that SLA is influenced by the knowledge they have already
possessed of their first language. Many other factors associated with affective factors, linguistic
factors, and social settings can also change the way second language is acquired. According to Saville-
Troike (2006), SLA can be regarded as a as a field of study that mainly originates from disciplines

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such as linguistics and psychology and subdisciplines, namely applied linguistics, psycholinguistics,
sociolinguistics, and social psychology.
Although attention to second language acquisition arose hundreds of years ago (McCarthy, 2001),
1960s was the first time researchers started to organize their hypotheses and patterns with regard to
the main issues in the area of second language acquisition. These issues are associated with following
questions:
(1) What exactly does the L2 learner know?
(2) How does the learner acquire this knowledge?
(3) Why are some learners more successful than others?
As the above questions indicate, various methods utilized in the SLA research can be classified
fundamentally on the basis of three perspectives, namely linguistic (Q1), psychological (Q2), and
social (Q3). In spite of the fact that these frameworks are vastly interconnected, every one of them is
by itself as pervasive as a whole chapter of a book.
Owing to the significance of linguistic, psychological, and social factors in the acquisition of
second language, the present study seeks to introduce and describe these factors as the main ones
affecting SLA. The focal points of each factor as well as the frameworks associated with them are
presented in this study as described by Saville-Troike (2006). The extent to which the above
mentioned perspectives contribute to the successful learning of the second language is also under
scrutiny in this study; that is to say, the study aims at investigating whether different approaches
enjoy similar efficacy and contribution in acquiring the second language or they are of considerable
differences in efficacy and one is considered to be more efficient than the other in ASL.

Review of Literature
As SLA is a complex and multidimentional phenomenon, various factors are involved in L2
learners' achievement. Psychologically speaking, the best predictors for success in SLA according to
Aptarashvili and Tsereteli (2013) are:
- General interest in the foreign languages
- parents’ involvement in learning process
- instrumental motivation
- self-confidence in the process of language acquisition
Lightbown (2013) and Macaro (2010) classified the factors that account for the variation in speed
and easiness of second language acquisition into internal and external factors as follows:
Internal: Age, personality, motivation(intrinsic), experiences, cognition, and native language
External: curriculum, instruction, culture and status, motivation (extrinsic), Access to native speakers
The social variables that have received the most attention in SLA study according to Ellis (1994)
are found out to be: 1) age, 2)sex, 3)social class , and 4) ethnic identity. These factors affect second
language learners' attitudes and lead to different levels of second language proficiency.
Saville-Troike (2006), on the other hand, has identified SLA from linguistic, psychological, and
social perspectives with their relevant foci. She has also presented a number of frameworks for each
focal point. The classifications and subclassifications of the perspectives along with their related
descriptions are presented as follows:
1.Linguistic perspective

From linguistic point of view, according to Saville-Troike (2006), second language learning has
been of two sorts of focal points since 1960: The internal focus, which mainly depends upon Chomsky
and his supporters' work, is aimed at the intrinsic and fundamental data speakers have about
language, namely linguistic competence. It doesn't account for the outside structure under the focus
of primary structuralism. The external data, on the other hand, has given priority to making use of the
language involving a variety of roles which can be delineated in various levels of language expansion.
Internal focus
The three frameworks proposed by Chomsky (1957,1965) that exerted considerable influence on
the linguistic theory are listed as follows:
a) Transformational-Generative Grammar
b) Principles and Parameters Model
c) Minimalist Program

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The emergence of the first framework thoroughly altered linguistic theory and intensely
influenced the way researchers investigate both first and second languages. Chomsky disapproves of
the behaviorist theory concerning language learning for its incapability to account for the linguistic
creativity of the language acquirers. While referring to the “logical problem of language acquisition”,
Chomsky insisted on the inevitability of accepting the fact that children are naturally granted an
inborn ability. Chomsky's linguistic idea about second language acquisition remained the most
dominant one up to the present time.
In order to account for more abstract aspects of general principles and restrictions constituting
the Universal Grammar, Chomsky revised his previous model and developed the second framework,
namely "the Principles and Parameters Model" shared by all human languages.
Functional category development is touched upon in Chomsky's third model; that is, The
Minimalist Program. This framework gives more priority to how feature specification is acquired
which is regarded as a part of lexical knowledge.

External focus
The most remarkable linguistic frameworks which externally focus on the acquisition of second
languages are classified with regard to Functional approach originated in the early twentieth century.
Functionalism emerged in the Prague School of Eastern Europe for the first time. The frameworks
with external focus are dissimilar to the frameworks proposed by Chomsky regarding two aspects: a)
focusing on the message expressed via speech, and b) regarding language mainly as a means of
exchanging information. Some of these frameworks pay more attention to the similarities and
dissimilarities of the human languages and correlate them to succession and comparative hardness
of language learning; some, on the other hands, consider language learning as a means of relating
linguistic functions and forms based upon speech requirements; and some others account for the
process whereby learners organize their data while producing the second language as well as the way
this leads to language acquisition. Functional approaches have been predominantly applied in SLA
research throughout Europe and then extensively pursued in other parts of the world.
2. Psychological perspective
According to Saville-Troike (2006) the psychological aspect of SLA research contains three foci:
languages and the brain, learning processes, and learner differences.
a) Languages and the brain
Since the nineteenth century, the position and delineation of language in the brain attracted the
attention of biologists and psychologists. The developing discipline of Neurolinguistics had a great
impact on cognitive aspect of SLA in 1960 with the onset systematic and well-organized research.
As Lenneberg (1967) puts it, children go through a critical period in their language learning which
is grounded in neurology. Many of the SLA studies which are age-dependent are largely based on
this framework. The development of investigative processes related to brain operation on
multilingual patients in addition to the evolution of up-to-date imaging technologies have lead to the
expansion of information in this domain.
b)Learning processes
Processes of language learning can be investigated in terms of information processing, b)
processability, and c) connectionism.
In 1960s, computer-based Information Processing (IP) constituted in cognitive psychology has
extensively affected language learning processes. On the basis of this model, SLA processes can be
described by accepting two facts: a) second language learning is an extremely intricate phenomenon,
and b) second language learning is not basically dissimilar to other excessively complicated abilities.
It is supposed that language learning can result from mere processing, so SLA approaches based
upon IP can be notably creative regarding the way language acquirers obtain information about
second language and the way events are arranged and sequenced in language learning processes.
The second cognitive framework named processability is a more newly formed lexical aspect of
language that expands IP notions of language learning and makes use of them while teaching second
languages.
The other cognitive framework, connectionism, emerged in the 1980s and became progressively
important and powerful. Based on this framework, language learning takes place as a consequence of
growing stimulus-response relationship and it has nothing to do with "inborn capacity" or "principles
and parameters" model. As input recurrence is regarded as an important element of language

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learning according to this framework, it can be utilized as a hypothetical origin for language teaching
study.
c) Learner differences
Differences between second language learners can be inspected in order to find out the reason
why learners vary in learning achievement; that is, some are better learners than others. Their success
is supposed to originate from humanistic psychology that has greatly affected second language
education as well as SLA study since the 1970s (Williams and Burden, 1997). This framework takes
learners' sensational attitudes such as apprehension and incitement into account. Physical variations
regarding age and sex are also given special consideration; in addition, how second language learners
deal with the data they are exposed to is the other factor that is aimed at within this framework.
3. Social perspective
A number of frameworks classified by Saville-Troike within a social perspective can also be
regarded as linguistic, owing to the fact that they are associated with language structure and function.
A number of other frameworks can be employed in order to investigate language processing or
affective factors, so they can also be classified as cognitive. With regard to the significance of social
factors in second language acquisition, they are restated in this section.
SLA study is concerned with two foci from social perspective: microsocial and macrosocial
a)Microsocial focus
With regard to second language learning, microsocial focus is associated with instantaneous
social conditions of explanation, creation, and interaction. The first two frameworks with microsocial
focus; that is, Variation Theory and Accommodation Theory relate to investigation of systematic
variations in learners' input that are based on the circumstances in which language is used; in
addition, they place emphasis on why SLA objectives are dissimilar even inside groups that are
apparently learning one language. Sociocultural Theory proposed by Vygotsky (1962, 1978) which is
considered as the third framework of microsocial focus, regards interchange of ideas or as he puts it
"interaction" as the basic origin of language learning.

Macrosocial focus
With regard to second language acquisition, macrosocial focus is concerned with wider
environmental conditions such as cultural, educational, and political contexts. One of the three
frameworks with macrosocial focus is the Ethnography of communication. It spreads out the concept
of SLA materials beyond linguistic and cultural situations and embraces social and cultural
information considered necessary for the purpose of employing the language properly. Within this
framework second language learners are regarded as members of groups or societies with
sociopolitical and linguistic restrictions. The next two frameworks, namely Acculturation Theory and
Social Psychology, provide more widespread perception regarding the way personality, position, and
moral standards relate to the SLA consequences.
Conclusion
SLA is categorized by Saville-Troike (2006) from linguistic, psychological, and social perspectives
as an attempt to provide an appropriate response to the what, how, and why questions. In spite of the
widespread interrelations that exist among them, each perspective is classified based on their focal
points to which a number of frameworks are attributed. With respect to the interdisciplinary and
multidisciplinary perspectives of SLA, Saville-Troike concludes his survey by stating that it is
important to bear in mind that none of the above-mentioned perspectives or frameworks can be
regarded as the ultimate response. It is also important to note that no one perspective can be
considered as more advantageous than the other; in other words, in order to have a better perception
of SLA, all three perspectives, namely linguistic, psychological, and social along with their relevant
frameworks are required in SLA with no considerable variation among them.
It is crystal clear that as each discipline makes use of different frameworks for analyzing data in
SLA, it obtains different results in this respect. Saville-Troike compares this phenomenon to the story
of three blind men who were asked to describe an elephant. All the descriptions were right, but none
was adequate enough to provide a precise picture of the whole animal. Likewise, the three
perspectives, namely linguistic, psychological, and social, cannot separately account for the perfect
comprehension of SLA study and must be integrated in order to provide a complete description of the
multifaceted phenomenon of second language learning. Thus, regarding the multidisciplinary and
multidimentional aspect of SLA, all the conditions in which learners acquire their second language

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must be taken into account in SLA research in the same way; that is, the three different perspectives
are of the same importance with no priority given to one over the other. It is the integration of the
factors rather than their separation that results in successful second language learning and teaching.
Implications for second language learning and teaching
In order to gain second language knowledge, something more than learnable and teachable
materials are required. SLA, in other words, can be achieved through purposeful and conscious
attempt which is greatly under the influence of certain factors whether social or individual. Although
the majority of these factors cannot be brought under control, identifying and realizing them can be of
great assistance in effectively developing second language. The following guidelines are presented by
Saville-Troike based on SLA findings which are important to be taken into consideration by L2
teachers and learners:
1. Pay attention to the purpose of L2 learners for learning another language.
2. Determine the learning and teaching preferences that suit those purposes.
3. Assign the exercises while taking the linguistic, psychological, and social aspects into
account.

4. Consider the strong and the weak points of the learners and the learning situations and
employ them in teaching as well as learning processes.

5. Be careful when taking part in any educational program with confined or opinionated
view. No method can be regarded as the most successful in L2 learning and teaching.

6. Consider SLA accomplishment as a developing process. Be uncomplaining. Language

acquisition is time-consuming.

REFERENCES
Aptarashvili, I., & Tsereteli, M. (2013). Psychological factors of second language acquisition
on case of ethnic minorities of Georgia. Problems of Psychology in the 21st Century , 5,
6-11. Retrieved from http://journals.indexcopernicus.com/abstracted.php?level=5&icid=1043906
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. The Hague: Mouton.
Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.
Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lenneberg, E. (1967).Biological foundations of language. New York: Wiley and Sons.
Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2013). How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Macaro, E. (2010). Continuum companion to second language acquisition. London:
Continuum.
McCarthy, M. (2001). Issues in applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1962).Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological
processes.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Williams, M. & Burden, R. L. (1997).Psychology for language teachers: a Social constructivist approach.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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EXPLORING PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS’

LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT LITERACY

Raveewan Viengsang*
English as an International Language Program, Chulalongkorn University

Address:
9/29 Techawanit Road,
Bangsue District
Bangkok, 10800, THAILAND
Tel: (+66) 85 167 7988
E-mail: raveewanv@hotmail.com
Fax: (+662) 218 4658

ABSTRACT
THERE IS A PREVALENT MISCONCEPTION AMONG LANGUAGE TEACHERS THAT THE
ABILITY TO TEACH READILY COMES WITH THE ABILITY TO APPROPRIATELY AND
EFFECTIVELY ASSESS LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ PERFORMANCE AND PROFICIENCY IN THE
TARGET LANGUAGE (SCARINO, 2013). IN FACT, TEACHERS’ ASSESSMENT LITERACY HAS A
GREAT IMPACT ON VALID AND RELIABLE ASSESSMENT OF CLASSROOM LEARNING
OUTCOMES. WITH TEACHERS’ LIMITED EXPERTISE AND A WIDE THEORY-PRACTICE GAP
(LAM, 2014), THE INTERPRETATION OF TEST RESULTS AND THEIR USAGE MIGHT NOT BE
APPROPRIATE AND MAY FAIL TO REFLECT LEARNERS’ ACTUAL LEARNING OUTCOMES.
THIS STUDY ATTEMPTED TO ALLEVIATE THE DEARTH OF RESEARCH INTO THIS ANOMALY
BY EXPLORING THE ASSESSMENT LITERACY OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS DOING THEIR
PRACTICUM AT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BANGKOK, THAILAND.
AN ASSESSMENT LITERACY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE AND A SEMI-STRUCTURED
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL WERE USED TO ELICIT DATA ON THE PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’
UNDERSTANDING OF ASSESSMENT LITERACY, THEIR PREVIOUS ASSESSMENT TRAINING,
THEIR CURRENT ASSESSMENT PRACTICES AND PROBLEMS, AND THEIR NEEDS FOR
FURTHER TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE. IN THIS PAPER, SHORTCOMINGS IN THE
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT LITERACY OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS ARE REPORTED AND
SUGGESTIONS ON HOW THIS MAY BE ADDRESSED THROUGH REMEDIAL ACTION BY
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS TO ENSURE THE EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF
NEWLY GRADUATED LANGUAGE TEACHERS AS LANGUAGE ASSESSORS ARE PROVIDED.

KEYWORDS: PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHER, LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT LITERACY

1. Introduction
In the past, there was the disregard of language assessment in relation to language learning and
teaching. These two concepts were considered separately, and the main focus was primarily on
pedagogy. Lately, the concept of language assessment literacy was brought up by Stiggins in 2008
and since then teachers’ awareness of the significance of assessment has been raised. Stiggins points
out that the major problem that schools are facing is that language teachers do not have opportunities
to develop their assessment knowledge in order to apply it in their classrooms. Recently, according to
Stoynoff (2012), the recognition of the role of language assessment literacy of English teachers has
become more significant as it has been more widely understood that it may affect “individuals,
teaching and learning, and society” (p. 527). In fact, teachers’ assessment literacy has a great impact
on valid and reliable assessment of classroom learning outcomes. With teachers’ limited expertise and

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a wide theory-practice gap (Lam, 2014), the interpretation of test results and their usage might not be
appropriate and may fail to reflect learners’ actual learning outcomes.
Scarino’s (2013) study has shed light on teachers’ belief that the ability to teach is related to the ability
to assess language learners’ performance and proficiency in the target language. As a matter of fact,
regardless of their teaching experience, Bachman (2013) emphasizes that teachers can still be
inexperienced and require some training, although there are a lot of assessment and language tests
resources available for them.
With regard to language assessment situations in Thailand, there are few studies focusing on
assessment literacy of both pre- and in-service English language teachers. Since the reformed English
language curriculum in 2008 emphasizes the significance of English as a language for communication,
English is taught as a compulsory subject for students in all levels. Regarding the reform, the
purposes of language learning has been shifted from memorization and grammar translation
(Prapphal, 2008) to communicative purposes (Office of the Basic Education Commission, 2008).
However, due to the higher stakes of university admission examination which maintains the use of a
multiple-choice test, assessment in the language classroom has been overlooked by teachers who are
directly forced by many stakeholders such as school administrators, parents, and students to teach
solely for test preparation (Prapphal, 2008).
Similar to Bachman’s (2013) statement, Prapphal (2008) agrees that teachers who lack knowledge
about language testing, assessment, and evaluation are a challenge for language testing reform in
language classrooms. Thus, the next-generation English teachers should be equipped with the ability
to maximize the utilization of assessments, both formative and summative. Pre-service English
teachers were the main interest in the present study because pre-service teachers are becoming the
next-generation teachers who need to possess assessment literacy in order to function effectively as
language instructors and assessors.
Therefore, the purposes of the study were to explore pre-service English language teachers’ belief and
practices about language assessment literacy and to analyze training needs on language assessment
literacy of these pre-service English teachers.

2. Literature Review
Language assessment literacy (LAL) has been mentioned in several studies such as those undertaken
by Davies (2008), Jeong (2013), Malone (2013), Newfields (2006), and Stiggins (2008), in which two key
questions are discussed: What is the definition of LAL? and To which level the stakeholders should
know about LAL?
In the field of language testing, the teaching profession requires the conjugation of skills and
knowledge, as well as principle (Davies, 2008). Taylor (2009) elaborates the LAL issues, contending
that teachers should understand the principles of assessment, be able to apply theory into practice,
choose and evaluate assessment appropriately, make use of data collected from the assessment,
interpret test results accurately, and integrate assessment in to their pedagogical process effectively.
Pill and Harding (2013) define LAL as “a repertoire of competences that enable an individual to
understand, evaluate, and in some cases, create language tests and analyze test data” (p. 2). Thus,
LAL should cover language assessment knowledge to a certain degree in order to equip language
teachers with these necessary skills, knowledge, and principle.
Newfields (2006) categorizes assessment knowledge into four main parts which are terminology,
procedures, test interpretation, and assessment ethics. On the other hand, Jeong (2013) classifies
assessment literacy into six topic areas: test specifications, test theory, basic statistics, classroom
assessment, rubric development, and test accommodation. Though topics concerning LAL are
identified, the degree of need-to-know knowledge has yet to be determined for each stakeholder.
Because there is no way to claim that every stakeholder should acquire the same degree of assessment
knowledge, Newfields (2006) views assessment knowledge in different “three contrasting views: the
perspectives of professional test developers, high school foreign language instructors, and incoming
university undergraduates” (p. 50). Moreover, he identifies the degree of assessment literacy teachers
need to possess which varies according to their necessity. Supporting Newfield’s belief, Malone (2013)
has discussed the different perspectives between language test developers and language instructors.
Even though they agree that definitions of testing and testing concepts are major themes, the former
seems to focus on “appropriate test use” (p. 342), whereas the latter seems to focus more on “ease of
use with regard to presentation and delivery, as well as clarity of definitions” (p. 342). Recently,

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Jeong’s (2013) study also presents the differences of assessment literacy definitions between language
testers and non-language testers on assessment-course design. According to him, different
professionals have different views of assessment. For language testers, theories and definitions are
major concerns; however, for non-language testers, practical approaches and classroom-based
approaches seem to receive more attention.
More precisely, Taylor (2013) has divided LAL into eight categories and specified degrees of LAL for
each stakeholder as shown in Figure 1. For classroom teachers, language pedagogy seems to receive
the most importance; meanwhile, knowledge of theory, principle and concepts, and scores and
decision making seem to receive the least.

Figure 1. Differential AL/ALA profiles for four constituencies (Taylor, 2013)

(a) Profile for test writers
(b) Profile for classroom teachers
(c) Profile for university administrators
(d) Profile for professional language testers

In this study, several conceptual frameworks (Bachman & Palmer, 2004; Brown, 2004; Coombe,
Davidson, O’Sullivan, & Stoynoff, 2014; Green, 2014; Jeong, 2013; Plakans & Gebril, 2015; Stoynoff &
Chapelle, 2005) have been analyzed in order to identify LAL content necessary for classroom teachers.
Seeing that several studies have mentioned insufficient support (Lam, 2014) and misconception on
LAL for teachers (Pill & Harding, 2013), this study aimed to explore belief and practice of pre-service
teachers, identify how support plays a significant role in LAL understanding and development in
classroom practice, and also identify what assessment knowledge teachers need to be equipped with.
3. Methodology
Participants
The population of this study included pre-service English teachers who were doing their practicum
(teaching the English language) in secondary education levels in both public and private schools in
Bangkok, Thailand, so their actual teaching experience in school was not longer than a year.
Generally, they taught at least three classrooms with 45-50 students per class. During their practicum,
the pre-service teachers were primarily responsible for lesson planning, teaching, developing English
tests for the courses, and giving grades. As they were studying at the Faculty of Education, all

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teachers had taken some courses concerning educational assessment and evaluation, English
language teaching and evaluation, and English language assessment and evaluation.
The sample, recruited by means of purposive sampling, consisted of 46 pre-service English teachers
with 16 males and 30 females. The participants for the interview (N = 5) were selected through
convenience sampling as this was deemed most feasible for these teachers who had a lot of
responsibilities at their practicum schools and were required to participate in a weekly educational
seminar for practicum teachers at the university sharing their problems at schools.
Instruments
The questionnaire was composed of four parts. Part one elicited data of the participants with focus on
the English courses, levels of students they were responsible for, and assessment courses they had
previously taken. Using a five-point Likert scale, the second part focused on language assessment
literacy and the participants’ practices in five areas: Testing Principle, Test Choice, Test Usefulness
(eight subtopics), Assessment Approach, and Grading. The third part aimed to identify previously
training topics and training needs about LAL in six areas: Content and Concept of LAL, Classroom-
focus in LAL, Assessment Approach, Purpose of Testing, Designing the Test, and Grading. The fourth
part highlighted supports received and needed supports for professional development, as well as the
overall level of assessment literacy. The questionnaire was validated to ensure content validity and
language appropriateness by experts in the field of language teaching and language assessment (See
Appendix A.)
Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain more in-depth information. The guiding
questions intended to probe more details on test purposes, test development, testing language skills
and sub-skills, and needed supports. The interview protocol was examined and revised in accordance
with comments and suggestions of experts in the field of language teaching and language assessment
(See Appendix B.)
Data Collection and Analysis
Participants were asked to complete the questionnaire after their seminar. After finishing the
questionnaire, the interviews were audio-recorded with the informed consent from the volunteered
participants. The recordings were transcribed and sent back to the interviewees for verification, using
the member check technique (Creswell, 2012) to ensure accuracy of data.
Data collected from the questionnaire were computed using descriptive statistics of means,
percentage, and standard deviation. The interpretation of mean scores were as follows:
4.51-5.00 Strongly knowledgeable
3.51-4.50 Knowledgeable
2.51-3.50 Neutral
1.51-2.50 Unknowledgeable
1.00-1.50 Strongly unknowledgeable
On the other hand, data collected from the interviews were coded and analyzed by means of content
analysis.

4. Results and Discussion

Belief and Practices of Pre-service English Teachers’ LAL
The finding revealed that pre-service English teachers had overall acquired LAL at satisfactory levels.
They had gained enough knowledge about language assessment to use it in their practicum. Still, they
could not apply and utilize principles and theories in practicum schools due to a number of
restrictions.

Table 1. Self-rating Levels of LAL

N Mode Median Mean Score S.D.
Self-rating Level 46 5 6.00 6.04 1.192

The results from the questionnaire showed that pre-service teachers had understanding of general
concepts of language assessment. As shown in Figure 2, the component with the highest average score
was test choice, followed by grading, assessment approach, test usefulness, and test principle
respectively.

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Beliefs and Practices of pre-service English

Teachers' LAL
5

4.12
4 3.82 3.88
3.75
Scale

3.37

2
Test Test Choice Test Assessment Grading
Principle Usefulness Approach
Figure 2. Beliefs and Practices of Pre-service English Teachers’ Language Assessment Literacy

The results from the interview showed pre-service teachers had misunderstanding on the concept of
validity and validation process, reliability, and especially test principle, as can be seen in the
following statements:
“I don’t think that I have the ability to design the test, so I look at a standardized sample such as the TOEFL. I
then simplify it to suit my students.”
“I think sometimes test cannot assess students’ knowledge.”
“Tests are always in the forms of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-gap, or short-answer tests.”
“I believe in my test, but I consult the previous versions of tests as well.”

Test Choice
According to the findings, most pre-service teachers considered the congruence course objective(s)
and purpose(s) of the test when choosing tests. Also, they realized several types of assessment and
their authenticity of test types and test tasks; however, they seemed to be obstructed by other factors.
For example, one of the interviewees pointed out that “students’ language proficiency is not good enough
to do such authentic tasks or any alternative assessments.” Thus, they had to continue using traditional
assessment test types such as multiple-choice, cloze and fill-in-the-gap tests. It could be explained that
the teachers may have misconception that alternative assessment could be applied for learners only
with high proficiency levels. Similar to Leung (2013), it can be assumed that the way teachers teach
and test are influenced by the way they believe in language teaching and testing and their students.
Instead of being encouraged to use assessment in classrooms, the participants had to adhere to their
practicum schools’ requirements. One interviewee explained that she was not able to try a new test
format because “the school policy indicates that all teachers have to do this [multiple-choice] test.” However,
other assessment approaches had been stated occasionally like “role play” and “pronunciation”.
Interestingly, one interviewee discussed her situation that “It does not matter for me if they can write or
read. If they can talk, they can understand what they are talking about, then they can use English, so they can
use that language in their real life.” Being influenced by her belief, she usually assesses listening and
speaking skills through conversation task she mentioned during the interview. Apparently, these pre-
service teachers showed little triumph applying other types of the test in the classroom. This is an
important finding because, in relation to the explanation of Plakans and Gebril (2015), formative
assessment such as conversation test task and role play and summative assessment such as midterm
and final examinations should be aligned in language classrooms.
Grading
The average score on grading (3.88) showed the participants’ understanding of principles of grading.
They had the abilities to use rubric scoring for performance-based tests, use statistics, calculate points,
and assign grades to students. As mentioned above, these pre-service teachers were responsible for
calculating scores and giving grades to their students, and grading appeared to be less problematic to
them. Such a finding was interesting because, according to Brown (2004), for in experienced teachers,

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grading could be major problems as the principles of grading play an important role in the
educational system.
Assessment Approach
The participants recognized several approaches on assessing receptive skills (reading and listening),
productive skills (speaking and writing), and microlinguistic skills (grammar and vocabulary).
However, when asked which skills they frequently assessed, they indicated that microlinguistic skills
including grammar and vocabulary were most often assessed. They explained “I teach fundamental
English, so mainly it deals with grammar, some speech acts, and some functions that are prescribed in the
syllabus.” In contrast to their responsibility for teaching fundamental English courses which
emphasize the use of four skills of English, these pre-service teachers had not been much exposed to
other approaches on assessing receptive and productive skills. As pointed out by Brown (2004), there
is no such tests that could be claimed to assess only microlinguistic skills, so speaking, listening,
reading, or writing skill is always involved within the test. Therefore, these pre-service teachers
should be trained to be able to integrate more than one skill into a test.
Test Usefulness
The findings revealed that pre-service teachers who were the study participants had understanding of
test usefulness at a satisfactory level. There are two main concepts which play significant roles on the
quality of a test: validity and reliability (Brindley, 2003; Farhady, 2012). The participants showed a
high level of recognition on the importance of relevance between course objectives and test contents.
To be more precise, validity concerns not only the congruence between course objectives and test
content, but the appropriateness of the approaches used in the test (Brindley, 2003; Brown, 2004).
However, these participants seemed to have misunderstanding of test validity and test validation
process. These pre-service teachers believed that if they checked the test content with the textbook, it
meant that the test was valid, as one of them described:
“Actually, the book itself holds the content I would like to test, so I use it as a criteria on my test.”
Furthermore, when asked about test quality, participants seemed to believe that by writing a test in
the same way the tests had previously been written, it meant the test was valid:
“I look for the previous tests and then I kind of make a test that has the same purpose as the previous one.”
“I believe in my test, but I also consult the old version of tests. I try not to make it so different from the old
version.”
When these pre-service teachers were required to design test, it was acceptable that they referred to
the format of previous tests because they needed something to rely on such as test contents, test types
and skills to be assessed. Undoubtedly, test specification should be offered to these pre-service
teachers to give then guideline in decision-making about the test. According to Brown (2004), test
specifications for classroom should provide at least three main topics: test outline, test skills, and test
items or test tasks. Minimally, these teachers should be advised by their teacher mentors or
supervisors on how to design a test.
Moreover, some teachers simply adapted their test item from standardized tests with the belief that it
could be as good as the original:
“I don’t think that I have the ability to design the test, so I look at a standardized sample such as the TOEFL. I
then simplify it to suit my students.”
These pre-service teachers stated their inexperience in designing the test, so they would find safer
ways they could depend on. Although they trusted standardized tests such as the TOEFL, they
should be aware that such tests were not designed for classroom-based assessment, but for large-scale
assessment and were considered high-stake tests, which means their adaptation may not be suitable
for their purposes after all. Once again, test specification should be provided as a guideline for these
pre-service teachers designing the test.
Even though the participants understood that their test should be designed based on the objectives of
the course, the validation process has not been mentioned elsewhere during the interview. These pre-
service teachers may ask for their classmates who were required to design the test, consult teacher
mentors at their practicum schools, or contact their professors at the Faculty. In fact, they should learn
how to collect evidences to prove that their test is valid and suitable for their students and their
purposes.
One of the most important concepts of test usefulness is reliability. Although the results from the
questionnaire showed that the participants understood the principle of reliability, it was not
mentioned in the interview. Thus, it could be interpreted that these pre-service teachers might have

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not had experience examining the reliability of their own test. Reliability is defined as the consistent
results of the test considering “fluctuations in the student, in scoring, and in test administration, and
in the test itself” (Brown, 2004, p. 21). Green (2014) also mentioned that test will be reliable if its test
results are consistent every time the test was used. Therefore, evidence of reliability should be
collected in order to ensure the confidence of these pre-service teachers when using the tests.
Overall, pre-service teachers seemed to lack awareness of validity and reliability of the test, so they
could not conduct the validation process on both concepts which are important for confirmation of
test quality. Instead of conducting the whole validation process, Brown (2004) suggests that if
teachers can argue that test content is relevant to course objectives, validity of the test has been
observed. As mentioned in Green (2014), due to the lack of resources and time constraint, teacher-
made assessments may lead to the misinterpretations of test results.
Test Principle
The results showed that test principle received the lowest mean score (3.37), meaning that pre-service
teachers’ knowledge of this topic was not satisfactory. However, pre-service teachers seemed to
realize the importance of testing as a part of teaching and did not concern only students’ achievement
scores, but the learning process as well. Interestingly, these pre-service teachers used assessment
mainly for achievement purposes. When asked about the main purpose of their assessment, their
responses were as follows:
“I test what I teach.”
“It is to test what they know at that point, how well that they learn in class”
One interviewee suggested he used pre-test to diagnose his students.
“I think I know my student from a test, like some background knowledge and their weaknesses.”
These pre-service teachers seemed to mainly find out whether their students understood what they
had learned in classrooms well enough to pass the course or not. Although there are several testing
purposes: achievement, diagnostic, placement, and proficiency (Brown, 2004), it is believed that
achievement tests are most frequently used by classroom teachers (Plakans & Gebril, 2015). Thus,
these teachers could be encouraged to use assessment for other purposes such as to identify strengths
and weaknesses of their students prior to preparing teaching methodology (diagnostic) and to
identify students’ levels of proficiency (placement), so that they would be better able to help their
students master the target language.
Training Received and Training Needs of Pre-service English Teachers
The results from the questionnaire, as shown in Figure 3, pointed out that pre-service teachers had
received some trainings on LAL. The levels of training received were varied. Designing the Test
received the lowest mean score (1.99), while Content and Concept of Assessment received the highest
mean score (2.16). Even though the average scores of training needs did not greatly vary, remarkably,
they were higher than average scores of training received.
Similarly, the results from the interviews revealed that the participants felf they needed to be trained
because they were not confident enough when designing tests for their students.

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Received Training and Training Needs of Pre-service English

Teachers
3

2.33 2.26 2.29 2.3 2.3 2.27

2.16
Scale

2.02 2.01 2.03 1.99 1.94

2

Received Training Training Needs

Figure 3. Received Training and Training Needs of Pre-service English Teachers

One of the areas that the participants seemed to require further training was designing the test, as one
participant explained that she did not understand the main goal of using assessments in the
classroom and, as well as how to apply these concepts into their classrooms.
“I think I need [support] because sometimes I do not know how to use the right assessment for the right
activities.”
Another participant explained that “I don’t think that I have a good ability to design the test…”
The responses above revealed the reason why pre-service teachers could not apply assessment into
their classroom. Pre-service teachers seemed to possess uncertainty about which assessments were
appropriate. While the others felt afraid to design the test on their own. Similar findings have been
reported by Lam (2014) in Hong Kong that there were some theory-practice gaps among per-service
teachers. Once again, if these teachers lack know-how of test application, as mentioned in Green
(2014), their assessment might not be able to reflect actual performance of students and the
interpretation of test results may be misleading or inaccurate as it was inappropriately designed. It is
suggested that these topics, together with their practices, should be emphasized in the assessment
and evaluation courses. Pre-service teachers should have opportunities to experience the process of
designing the test and implementation of using alternative assessment in language classrooms before
doing the practicum.
Pre-service teachers had tried to find other resources in order to solve their problems at hand. As
shown in Table 2, the percentage of support needed, in consistent with support received, had shed
light on the support needed from several resources such as the Faculty and practicum schools.

Table 2. Support Received and Need of Pre-service English Teachers

Support Received (%) Support Needed (%)
Faculty 41.35 46.15
Practicum schools 20.20 42.31
Expert/Trainer 0.00 7.69
yourself 15.38 0.00
other – book 8.65 0.00
other – google/Internet 14.42 0.00
Ministry of Education 0.00 3.85

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Total 100.00 100.00

The interviews also confirmed the insufficient supports, as can be seen in the following excerpts:
“I think maybe teacher in school can help me.”
“I think the school should support me the most.”
“If there are some persons who can give some support, it would be immediate support.”
Moreover, pre-service teachers tended to compensate for their lack of training needed by learning
from other resources such as:
“read some books”
“look for standardized tests from ETS or the TOEFL, IELTS, or CU-TEP from CULI, TU-GET from
Thammasart University.”
“look at the former test”

Clearly, these pre-service teachers needed to get more support from the Faculty and practicum
schools. Otherwise, they would have to seek for self-support such as surfing the Internet, reading
relevant books, and looking at the former tests and standardized tests. As a matter of fact, they
needed more useful and helpful resources which they could depend on and easily access if they were
required to design or choose appropriate tests, or were to solve problems concerning the use of
language assessment. Such finding yielded support to what Lam’s (2014) and Vogt and Tsagari’s
(2014) found out about insufficient support. In addition to self-support, it could be possible that these
pre-service teachers may find useful resources online, but without sufficient guidance, the resources
they chose may cause misunderstanding or misconception instead of assisting them with test
development.

5. IMPLICATION OF THE FINDINGS

The results suggested that even though pre-service teachers had undergone training that enabled
them to acquire some language assessment knowledge, they seemed not to be able to apply it in their
classroom. There were still some misconceptions on test choices, assessment approaches, test
usefulness, and test principles that affected their actual practices of language assessment in the
classroom. Moreover, a number of pre-service teachers faced some restrictions that prevented them
from translating their knowledge into actual practice during their practicum. Firstly, pre-service
teachers were required to choose the test formats according to the school policy which limited their
choice to traditional test types such as multiple-choice tests. Secondly, they had misunderstanding
that skills could be assessed separately and they tended to focus mainly on grammar and vocabulary.
Thirdly, even though they acknowledged that validity and reliability were important to ensure
accuracy of test results, they still had misconceptions about how to achieve validity and reliability
when designing the tests. Lastly, pre-service teachers seemed to mainly employ assessment for
achievement purposes. Based on such findings, it could be concluded that pre-service teachers need
to be equipped with more language assessment literacy. The findings helped identify the scope of
assessment knowledge that should be provided to these pre-service teachers in order to equip them
with a necessary tool to function effectively as language assessors. Corresponding to the study of Lam
(2014), there is a gap between theory and practice of pre-service teachers that should be seriously
filled out. This can be done by conducting pre-practicum workshops for them. The most immediately
needed training topics are test design and test usefulness because pre-service teachers will have to be
assigned to write the midterm and final examinations at schools as part of their practicum. Moreover,
as it was found that pre-service teachers mostly used only traditional assessment, pre-practicum
training should include the topic of classroom-based assessment to make these pre-service teachers
learn about alternative assessments that are also useful tools to assess students’ learning process.
Curriculum designers and course developers should put more emphases on the preparation of pre-
service teachers and increase practical activities in the training in order to provide more experience to
these teachers. Taylor (2013) has suggested that teachers should be able to practically use assessment
in their classroom, thus their choices should not be limited only to traditional forms of assessments
which may not be sufficient to accurately and comprehensively assess the learners’ language learning
development and achievement.
It was also found in the presents study that pre-service teachers still needed more support from
stakeholders, especially the Faculty of Education and practicum schools. To help them solve problems

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of lack of sufficient resources and information, knowledge should be disseminated including test
design, test usefulness (e.g. validity, reliability, and validation process), assessment of various
language skills, basic principles of test writing, and classroom-based assessment and its application in
the forms of workshops, a written manual, and online resources. The Faculty should invest in
developing a practical guideline on language assessment for pre-service teachers so that they could
use it as a manual during their practicum to help them solve immediate problems by themselves
without having to seek consultation from their supervisors all the time. As Lam (2014) and Pill and
Harding (2013) have suggested, resources on LAL should be made more easily accessible for
classroom teachers. Considering that these pre-service teachers have to spend most of their time at
their practicum schools, support should be made readily available even when they are far away from
their advisors and supervisors at the Faculty.

6. LIMITATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES

Certain limitations of the present study are acknowledged. Firstly, the sample size of the study was
small as the number of pre-service teachers majoring in English language was limited. Also, due to
busy schedules of these pre-service teachers, only a few of them were conveniently selected for the
interviews. To shed more light on LAL of pre-service teachers, further studies should be conducted
with a larger sample size at different stages of the practicum. In addition, to gain further in-depth
information to more clearly understand actual LAL of pre-service teachers, longitudinal studies with
prolonged engagement and observation should be carried out.
Further studies should also be undertaken to examine pre-service English teachers’ language
assessment literacy in terms of test design, test usefulness, classroom-based assessment, and test
principles. This is because in-depth information on teachers’ assessment literacy will help raise
awareness of the importance of language assessment not only at a curriculum level but also at a
policy level.

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THE IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED EFFECTS OF

AUTHORITATIVE VS. FACILITATIVE
INTERVENTIONS ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS'
LEVEL OF ANXIETY

Mohammad Ali Yaghchi1( PHD Candidate )

Department of English, Tabriz branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
( moham_yagh@yahoo.co.in)

Nasser Ghafoori ( Assistant Professor)

Department of English, Tabriz branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
( ghafoori@iaut.ac.ir)

Nesa Nabifar ( Assisstant Professor)

Department of English, Tabriz branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
( nesanabifar13@gmail.com )

ABSTRACT
THE PRESENT STUDY SOUGHT TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYING THE
INTERVENTION PROVISION FRAMEWORK PUT FORWARD BY JOHN HERON, ENTITLED SIX-
CATEGORY INTERVENTION ANALYSIS, ON EFL LEARNERS' LEVEL OF ANXIETY. THIS
MODEL OF INTERVENTION PROVISION, HAVING ITS GENESIS IN CLINICAL SUPERVISION,
CAN REGULATE THE VERBAL BEHAVIOR AND ACTUAL SENTENCES USED BY TEACHERS TO
INTERVENE IN LANGUAGE LEARNING CONTEXTS. THE PRELIMINARY ENGLISH TEST (PET)
AS AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TEST WAS ADMINISTERED TO 60
PARTICIPANTS. BASED ON THE RESULTS OBTAINED, 36 PARTICIPANTS WERE SELECTED
AND DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS OF 18 CATEGORIZED AS AUTHORITATIVE
INTERVENTION GROUP IN WHICH THE TEACHER SUGGESTED WHAT HAD TO BE DONE,
PROVIDED INFORMATION, OR CONFRONTED THE LEARNERS. THE SECOND GROUP WAS
FACILITATIVE INTERVENTION, IN WHICH THE TEACHER DREW OUT IDEAS, SOLUTIONS,
OR SELF-CONFIDENCE. PARTICIPANTS IN BOTH GROUPS COMPLETED THE FOREIGN
LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ANXIETY SCALE FLCAS DEVELOPED BY HORWITZ, HORWITZ,
AND COPE, 1986) BEFORE AND AFTER THE TREATMENT, AS WELL AS IN THE FOLLOW-UP
PERIOD. THE FINDINGS INDICATED THAT THE APPLICATION OF SIX-CATEGORY
INTERVENTION ANALYSIS BROUGHT ABOUT SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN LEVEL OF
ANXIETY AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF LEARNING IN THE FACILITATIVE GROUP. THIS
RESEARCH COULD HAVE SOME IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN
THE REALM OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING.

KEYWORDS: AUTHORITATIVE INTERVENTION, EFL LEARNERS, FACILITATIVE

INTERVENTION, LEVEL OF ANXIETY

Introduction
Anxiety has been considered as one of the most important affective factors that influence second
language learning (Na, 2007). Language anxiety, a type of anxiety specifically associated with
learning the second language (L2), can arise from many kinds of sources (Skehan, 1989).Researchers
in the field of foreign language teaching and learning have long strived to figure out the reasons for

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the great complexity faced by a wide range of students when learning a foreign language whereas
others find it less difficult (Ganschow, Sparks, Anderson, Javorshy, Skinner & Jon, 1994). Students
who experience difficulty with foreign language learning are often described as underachievers, or
lacking in motivation (Chen & Chang, 2004; Tercanlioglu, 2004; Li & Pan, 2009), or as having
language learning disabilities (Grigorenko, 2002; Reed & Stansfield, 2004). Other affective variables
such as attitude, motivation, anxiety and beliefs about foreign language learning have also been
regarded as factors that might influence foreign language learning. Of these affective factors, anxiety
has been given much attention.
In educational arenas, anxiety is usually categorized as being trait or state. Trait anxiety is a
rather stable personality trait. A person who is trait anxious is likely to feel anxious in a variety
of situations (Birjandi & Tabatabian, 2012). State anxiety, on the other hand, is a temporary
condition experienced at a particular moment. A third type of anxiety is situation specific anxiety.
This is indicative of a trait that recurs in specific situations (Spielberger, Anton, & Bedell, 1976,
as cited in Birjandi & Tabatabai’an, 2012)
Conceptualizations and definitions of foreign language anxiety have reached several milestones as
researchers try to understand its essence and nature (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991a; MacIntyre, 1999;
Tran, 2012). However, the influential work of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope have provided the most
commonly accepted definition of foreign language anxiety. They conceptualize foreign language
anxiety as a unique type of anxiety specific to foreign language learning, defining it as ‘a distinct
complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning
process’ (Horwitz,et al p. 128).
Research into the distinctive nature of foreign language anxiety has found evidence for its
debilitating effects on foreign language learning. Cognitively speaking, anxious students were
reported to have difficulty processing meaningful input, and to be less responsive to language output
(Krashen, 1981, 1982, 1985). Anxiety has also been demonstrated to have adverse influences, both
pervasive and subtle, on the three stages of cognitive processing: input, processing and output
(MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991b, 1994a, 1994b; Bailey, Onwuegbuzie, & Daley, 2000). With regard to
achievement and performance, research has shown that both general FLA and anxieties about specific
skills e.g., listening, reading, speaking and writing, have negative effects on student achievement and
performance. Significant negative correlations have been reported between general foreign language
anxiety and course grades (Aida, 1994;Elkhafaifi, 2005; Yan & Horwitz, 2008), between foreign
language listening anxiety and listening course grades (Elkhafaifi, 2005; Bekleyen, 2009), between
foreign language speaking anxiety and oral scores (Sellers, 2000), and between foreign language
writing anxiety and writing achievement (Chen & Lin, 2009). For instance, more anxious students in
reading tend to recall less passage content, and experience more off-task, interfering thoughts than
their less anxious counterparts (Sellers, 2000), while high anxiety students in speaking produce longer
texts and smaller amounts of continuous speech, have longer mid-clause pauses, make fewer
repetitions, and make more false starts (Djigunovic, 2006). These results indicate that FLA does have
negative effects on foreign language learning performance and achievement.
However, how anxiety affects foreign language performance and achievement is only one issue to
consider when discussing anxiety and language learning, and ‘perhaps not even the most important’
(Horwitz, 2001, p. 122). According to Elaine Horwitz, one of the chief researchers in the arena of
foreign language anxiety, greater significance needs to be attached to understanding the frustration
and discomfort that a wide range of students seem to be suffering when learning a foreign language.
This view is supported by other researchers who consider students’ psychological experience of
foreign language learning to be more important than language proficiency levels (Spieldmann &
Radnofsky, 2001). In reality, the consequences of foreign language anxiety may expand beyond the
classroom to the level that those who follow the study of a foreign language until graduation may
actually never use the language again as a result of high levels of foreign language anxiety (Dewaele,
2007). If this is the case, it is ‘not only sad for the individuals but also it is a loss for the whole school
system that has invested money, time and energy in the teaching of a FL that will ultimately not be
used’ (Dewaele & Thirtle, 2009, p. 638).
The manner in which language teachers provide feedback for their students or intervene in their
learning process is very likely to influence the variable aspects and momentary decisions made by
language learners whether to participate or not in the pathway of the communication. These
momentary influences appear to have a greater impact than the general influences on the

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communication behavior of language learners. To this end, Heron’s (1976 & 2001) six- category
intervention model can be used to influence the momentary aspects of language learners, and affect
on the level of their situation specific anxiety. Through its main two categories of authoritative and
facilitative interventions, Heron presents a framework for establishing the most appropriate types of
interventions between a practitioner and clients, teacher and students in our case.
Anxiety is one of the powerful factors that affect effective language learning and L2
communication. Anxiety means the feeling of concern in using the target language in any contexts. It
is a feeling of tension and nervousness related with the situation of learning a language. Anxious
speakers tend to be unwilling to interact with others or avoid communicating if possible. Anxiety and
fear are directly related to communication apprehension preventing the speakers from participating
in oral communication (Burgoon,1976). MacIntyre (2007) points out that language anxiety and
motivation are vital factors in willingness to communicate in L2. WTC is an act of willing to engage in
a conversation that shows self-confidence and communicative competence. In consequence, WTC
consistently connects positively with perceived communicative competence and negatively with
language anxiety. In this regard, communication apprehension can raise language learners’ anxiety
when facing with real communication events (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1986). Burgoon (1976)
clarifies that “reticence goes beyond fear of public speaking situations” which explains the
apprehension about various interpersonal communication situations (pp. 61-62). McCroskey (1984)
defines communication apprehension as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with
either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons” (p. 13). According to
MacIntyre (1995), language anxiety mainly comes from social and communicative aspects of language
learning. That is why it is seen as one of social anxieties. Social anxiety is defined as a result of
“feelings of tension and discomfort” or “a tendency to withdraw in the presence of others” and any
situation related to a second language in which individuals can become anxious in communication
(MacIntyre, 1995, p. 91). Whitmore (1987) explains that anxiety includes the feelings of apprehension,
uneasiness, and fear. The emergent of anxiety in a social situation can affect cognitive and
behavioural effects and the reaction of individuals to their anxiety is to avoid the situation involving
L2 speaking. MacIntyre (1995) also mentions that language anxiety emanates from the social and
communicative aspects of language learning. Therefore, it can be seen as a form of social anxiety.
Hence, people who have high levels of fear or anxiety when it comes to communication tend to avoid
having a communication (Daly & McCroskey, 1984). MacIntyre & Gardner (1991a) comment that
language anxiety negatively affects listening comprehension. They also speculate that “language
anxiety can have a pervasive impact at all stages of language learning and production” (p. 296). For
example, considering speakers’ nervousness, they are very concerned not only with their
pronunciation but also with their listening comprehension. Thus, communicative comprehension also
plays an important role in their WTC and their L2 performance can be limited. For example, learners
may have anxiety problems when speaking in the target language. The negative effect is, as
anticipated, that the anxiety affects the quality of L2 communication. That is why after studying
English as L2 for many years, some people avoid using their L2 or only use L2 if there is no other
choice. Some feels anxious when producing L2 speech. The anxiety can, therefore, be an obstacle for
language learners to succeed in language learning as it hinders cognitive process ability (MacIntyre,
1995). Another issue that can affect anxiety is how simple a given task is. The function of task
difficulty can encourage individuals to increase their efforts on task performance and reduce their
anxiety, or it can provoke anxiety if the task is somewhat difficult
(MacIntyre, 1995). However, anxiety can also lead to better performance if L2 speakers put more
effort into the quality of performance (MacIntyre, 1995). Gardner (2001b) also mentions that in
addition to motivation, language anxiety and self-confidence with the language are also very
influential. At present, attitudes, motivation and anxiety are seen as influential variables and,
therefore, these variables have gained much attention. In Simic & Tanaka’s article (2008), both
language anxiety and perceived competence influenced WTC. They reveal that anxiety reduces WTC
while perceived competence enhances WTC. Inevitably, most language teachers and instructors agree
that many students in Iran face problems in communicating in English as it is not their native
language. Even at the university level, students feel apprehensive and are unwilling to communicate
when they are asked to speak English in the classroom, let alone in public.
Intervention

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Intervention is “an identifiable piece of verbal and/or non-verbal behavior that is a part of the
practitioner’s service to the client” (Heron, 2001, p. 3). Despite the significance of non-verbal aspects
of intervention, Heron (1976) notes by intervention he mainly refers to practitioner’s verbal behavior.
SCIA is proposed as a conceptual framework to understand interpersonal relationships and to
analyse interactions between a client and a helper.
Six-Category Intervention Analysis (SCIA) has been put forward by Heron (1976). This conceptual
framework, being originally based on counseling and clinical supervision studies, has been employed
to educate and train professionals in health-related arenas. Recently, however, it has been used in
various fields including management, medical education and counselling to promote interpersonal
skills. (Chambers & Long, 1995; Cutcliffe & Epling, 1997; Fowler, 1996;). Intervention in its both direct
and indirect forms constitutes a major portion of the process of education. In language learning and
teaching arenas, intervention has been attended to mostly in its former form. Indirect intervention,
however, has not been considered in detail and with the necessary heed it deserves. The present
study discusses intervention from Heron’s (1976) point of view and tries to elaborate on its two major
categories, and their respective six types. Whereas there exist a number of intervention models (Sloan
& Watson, 2002), SCIA has been frequently used in fields that need to promote interpersonal skills
(Ashmore, 1999; Chambers & Long 1995; Cutcliffe & Epling, 1997; Fowler, 1996; Sloan & Watson,
2001). For practitioners, it can be used to improve the effectiveness of their communication skills in
mentoring relationships. The two main categories of SCIA include authoritative and facilitative
interventions which are briefly introduced here.
1. Authoritative Interventions
In this category, the practitioner suggests what should be done, provides information, or confronts
the other person. This category includes three types: 1) Prescriptive: “…seeks to direct the behavior of
the patient/colleague, client” (Heron, 2001, p. 5). For example, I would like you to discuss this issue with
your classmates. In this intervention, the teacher or practitioner directly advises, proposes,
recommends, or suggests to the client what to do due to a gap in their knowledge or skill when they
are badly needed (Maggioli, 2012), 2) Informative: “…seeks to impart knowledge, information and
meaning to the other person” (Heron, 2001, p. 5). For example, “It would be useful for you to know
that….” Maggioli (2012, p. 112) notes that “these interventions present relevant information, provide
personal interpretations, feedback or self-disclosure with the aim of helping the aspiring teacher cope
with a specific situation, and 3) Confronting: “…to raise the awareness of the
patient/colleague/person about some limiting attitude or behavior of which he/she is relatively
unaware” (Heron, 2001, p. 5). For example, I notice this is the third time we have talked about this—and
you have still not been able to act—I wonder what is going on. These are employed in cases where the
clients “need to be pushed to reassess their actions, beliefs or attitudes because they are acting against
the benefits of themselves, or the learners, and they are unable to see it” (Maggioli, 2012, p. 112).
2. Facilitative Interventions
In these, the mediator or the helper draws out ideas, solutions, self-confidence, and so on, from the
other person, helping him or her to reach his or her own solutions or decisions (Heron, 2001). They
include: 1) Cathartic: “… to enable the other person to discharge and express .painful emotion,
usually grief, anger or fear”. For example, I notice that whenever you speak about your research, you
look rather anxious, why don’t you tell us your problem? 2) Catalytic: “…to elicit self-discovery, self-
directed learning, and problem solving”. For example, “What would you do in this situation?” 3)
Supportive: “…to affirm the worth and value of the other person, their qualities, attitudes and
actions”. For example, “It sounds like you handled that in a very mature and confident way, well
done!” (Heron, 2001, p. 6).
Regarding intervention efficiency, Heron (2001) suggests that a valid intervention is “one that is
appropriate to the client’s current state and stage of development, and to the developing practitioner-
client interaction” (Heron, 2001, p. 10). Heron further continues that …to say that it is appropriate, is
to say that: (a) it is in the right category; (b) it is the right sort of intervention
within that category; (c) its content and use of language is fitting; it is delivered in the right manner;
and (e) it is delivered with good timing.
The current study
Given the intervention model presented by Heron has played a major role in establishing fruitful
relationship and successful provision of help from instructors and making students involve in
communicative activities, there is a gap in the literature on the application of Heron’s six -category

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intervention model in language teaching arena and between teachers and students. To this end, the
following research questions were posed;
1. Are there any statistically significant differences in Iranian EFL learners receiving authoritative and
facilitative interventions in terms of level of anxiety in the short run?
2. Are there any statistically significant differences in Iranian EFL learners receiving authoritative
and facilitative interventions in terms of level of anxiety in the long run?
To answer the above mentioned research question, two hypotheses were formulated as follows:
Hypothesis one: There is no significant difference between immediate posttest mean of learners' level
of anxiety for the authoritative intervention group and facilitative intervention group.
Hypothesis two: There is no significant difference between delayed posttest mean of learners' level of
anxiety for the authoritative intervention group and facilitative intervention group.

Method
Participants
The participants of this study were selected from a sample of 60 male and female EFL learners aged
20 to 45 at Farhangian University. After they took the PET at the beginning of the study, those
participants whose scores were within one standard deviation below and above the mean were
selected as a homogenous sample for further data collection. The selected participants were randomly
divided into two groups, categorized as authoritative intervention group and facilitative intervention
group.
Instrumentation
The researcher utilized the Preliminary English Test (PET) to assess the language proficiency level of
60 sophomores at Farhangian University. It is a Cambridge ESOL exam for the intermediate level
learners. The test consists of four sections. Section one is composed of 35 reading test items. Section
two is made up of 5 writing test items. Section three includes 25 listening test items, and section four
is a speaking test during which a picture is given to each participant and he or she is required to
reflect and explain about it.
The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) developed by Horwitz et al was also
used to assess the language learners’ anxiety level before and after the treatment as well as in the
follow-up period. The questionnaire includes 33 items which are scored based on a Likert scale, from
strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). This questionnaire was also piloted prior to the treatment.
It should be noted that the questionnaire was piloted before the experiment and its reliability was
0.908 .

Procedure
The PET was administered to 60 participants. Based on the results of the test, those participants who
scored within one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected as a homogeneous
sample, and then divided into two groups, each consisting of 18 learners. Prior to the treatment, the
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale was administered to measure the participants' level of
anxiety. The results were later compared and contrasted with the results and possible changes from
the application of Heron’s authoritative and facilitative interventions on level of learner's anxiety.
The application of the intervention, based on Heron’s six-category model, comprised the most
important stage of this research, i.e. the treatment. According to Heron’s (2001) model, there were two
main categories of intervention including authoritative and facilitative types. The authoritative
domain would include 3 main sub-categories including prescriptive, informative and confronting
interventions. The other major category, facilitative interventions, included cathartic, catalytic, and
supportive intervention types. While many examples of each of these two main categories and their
subsequent six categories could be mentioned, Heron (2001) notes that “….there is not just one way of
stating an intervention: it can have many verbal forms.” (p.4). He intended not to confuse an
intervention with a verbal formula or a particular set of words. The reason was that an intervention
was a person to person intention that could have many variations of verbal form, and the right
variation depends on who those persons were and what was going on between them. However, some
examples of different types of verbal interventions are as follows:
Authoritative:
Prescriptive:
I suppose we (you) need to make more sentences with this structure to completely master it.

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I want you to review this part one more time

You must follow the grammar in the book
Don’t you think we need to work on this for one more session?
Informative:
‘Which’ is not used to refer to humans. ‘Who’ is the right choice.
I think you should have used simple present tense for talking about plane schedules.
It is best to use simple present tense when we are talking about train, plane, or subway schedules.
When you have a prior decision, use I am going to ……
Confronting:
Did you notice you talked about this matter three times?
How many times have I told you not to forget the 3rd person ‘s’ ?!
Pay attention! One more mistake in using the tenses and you will lose 2 points!
This is ridiculous! I have talked about this structure 4 times!
Facilitative:
Cathartic:
You don't look Ok today. What is the problem?
Would you like to share your problem with us?
Don’t worry. Many other learners have this problem. This is quite normal.
Your lecture seems very nice, so why are you so anxious?
Catalytic:
What would you do to solve the problem?
Tell me about the last time you had to work with a classmate whom you found particularly difficult.
How did you deal with him?
My friend David has some problems with….. How would you act if you were him?
Let’s see how you try to solve this problem.
Supportive:
Well done! I am really proud of you.
It sounds like you handled that in a mature and confident way.
I have noticed you are making good progress. Good job!
Wow! That was a perfect sentence. Thanks!
Having had a brief look at some sample sentences used in each type of interventions, I need to
mention that the treatment took 8 sessions in each class. Since the experiment was intended to be
conducted on speaking skill, the feedback delivery was primarily focused on the Heron’s
interventions. The feedbacks were provided during speaking practices or lectures. Teaching the
course book, The American File Two, was done based on the standards of the course while feedback
was delivered based on Heron’s (2001) intervention analysis.

Design
This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest – treatment – posttest – delayed posttest design
with an authoritative and facilitative intervention groups.

Results
This section puts forward the statistical analyses of the data along with the discussions to the findings
of the study based on the research questions mentioned in part one.
PET General Language Proficiency Test
To ensure the homogeneity of participants in terms of general language proficiency, the researcher
gave PET (Preliminary English test ) to 60 subjects. Table 1 displays the results of descriptive statistics
for the PET exam scores.
Table 1
Descriptive Statistics; PET General Language Proficiency Test
N Mean Std. Deviation Variance
PET 60 59.27 14.376 206.673
KR-21 .89
As Table 1 shows those participants who scored within one SD above and below the mean were
selected as a homogeneous sample, and then divided into two groups.
Results of the Pre-test Anxiety Level Scores

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To ensure the homogeneity of the participants in terms of anxiety level between the authoritative and
facilitative groups before the treatment instruction, the researcher gave the anxiety questionnaire as a
pretest to 36 participants. Table 2 displays the results of descriptive statistics for pre-test scores.
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics of the Participants’ Pretest Anxiety Scores
Groups N Mean Std. Deviation
Immediate post anxiety Authoritative group 18 98.83 17.54
Facilitative group 18 91.89 15.05
As indicated in Table 2, the mean score of the authoritative group was 98.83 with the standard
deviation of 17.54, but the mean score of the facilitative group was 91.89 with the standard deviation
of 15.05. Moreover, it was necessary to check whether the participants’ pretest anxiety scores had
normality distribution or not, the researcher used One-sample kolmogorove-smirnov test. Table 3
shows the results of this test.
Table 3
One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test for the Participants’ Pretest Anxiety Scores

Pre anxiety
N 36
Normal Parametersa,b Mean 94.64
Std. Deviation 15.05
Most Extreme Differences Absolute .080
Positive .080
Negative -.080
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z .483
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .974

As the results taken from Table 3 showed, the p-value of .974, higher than alpha level .05
revealed that the participants’ pretest anxiety scores had normality distribution. After the normality
distribution assumption was met, the Independent samples t-test was used to check whether there
was a significant difference in the participants’ pretest anxiety scores between the authoritative and
facilitative groups or not. The results of the independent samples t-test are shown in Table 4.

Table 4
Independent Samples T-test for the Participants’ Pretest Anxiety Scores
Levene's
Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2-Mean Std. ErrorDifference
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
Immediate Equal .132 .719 1.275 34 .211 6.94 5.45 -4.13 18.01
post anxiety variances
assumed

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Independent Samples T-test for the Participants’ Pretest Anxiety Scores

Levene's
Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2-Mean Std. ErrorDifference
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
Immediate Equal .132 .719 1.275 34 .211 6.94 5.45 -4.13 18.01
post anxiety variances
assumed

Equal 1.275 33.536 .211 6.94 5.45 -4.14 18.02

variances
not
assumed

The findings achieved from Table 4 showed that the p-value in Levene’s test for equality of
variances, .719 was higher than .05. It means that the difference between the variances was non-
significant and the statistics in the first row should be read. Since t(34)= 1.275, p= .211>.05, it was
revealed that there was not a significant difference in the participants’ pretest scores between the
authoritative and facilitative groups. In other words, the participants had the same anxiety level
before the treatment .
Results of the First Null Hypothesis
The first null hypothesis in the study stated that there was no significant difference between
immediate posttest of learners' level of anxiety for the authoritative intervention group and
facilitative intervention group.
After the treatment, the researcher distributed the anxiety questionnaire among 36 participants
as the posttest once more to see whether there was a significant difference between the participants’
immediate post-test of anxiety scores for the authoritative and facilitative groups or not. For this
purpose, the researcher computed the descriptive statistics of the immediate post-test scores. Table 5
displays the results of descriptive statistics for the immediate post-test scores.

Table 5
Descriptive Statistics of the Participants’ Immediate Post-test Anxiety Scores
Groups of students N Mean Std. Deviation
Immediate post anxiety Authoritative group 18 98.83 17.54
Facilitative group 18 87.17 14.75
A glance at Table 5 shows that the mean score and standard deviation of the participants’
immediate post-test scores in the authoritative group were 98.83 and 17.54, whereas the mean score
and standard deviation of the participants’ immediate post-test scores in the facilitative group were
87.17 and 14.75. In other words, it was revealed that the participants in the authoritative group were
more anxious than the participants in the facilitative group.
Before embarking on the Independent samples t-test, it is not without worth to see whether the
participants’ immediate post-test anxiety score had normality distribution or not. The results of this
test are indicated in Table 6.
Table 6
One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test for the Participants’ Immediate Post-test Anxiety Scores

Immediate post anxiety

N 36

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Normal Parametersa,b Mean 93.00

Std. Deviation 17.03
Most Extreme Differences Absolute .074
Positive .070
Negative -.074
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z .446
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .989
a. Test distribution is Normal.
b. Calculated from data.

It is clear from Table 6 that the p-value of .989, higher than .05 revealed that the participants’
immediate post-test anxiety scores had normality distribution. After the normality distribution
assumption was met, Independent samples t-test was applied to see whether there was a significant
difference between the participants’ immediate post-test scores in the authoritative and facilitative
groups or not. The results are demonstrated in Table 7.

Table 7
Independent Samples T-test for the Participants’ Immediate Post-test Anxiety Scores

Levene's Test for

Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2-Mean Std. ErrorDifference
F Sig. T df tailed) DifferenceDifferenceLower Upper
Immediate Equal .132 .718 2.160 34 .038 11.67 5.40 .69 22.64
post anxiety variances
assumed
Equal 2.160 33.027.038 11.67 5.40 .68 22.65
variances not
assumed
With regard to the results of Table 7, the p-value in Levene’s test for equality of variances
yielded p-value of .718. It means that the equal variances were assumed and the results of the first
row should be read. Since t (34)= 2.160, p= .038<.05, it was revealed that there was a significant
difference between the participants’ immediate post-test anxiety scores in the authoritative and
facilitative groups. Therefore, the first null hypothesis was rejected. The answer to the first research
question was affirmative.

Results of the Second Null Hypothesis

The second null hypothesis proposed that there was no significant difference between delayed
posttest of learners' level of anxiety for the authoritative intervention group and facilitative
intervention group.
After one month interval of the immediate post-test, the researcher again distributed the anxiety
questionnaire among 36 participants to see whether the participants’ scores have changed or not. The
researcher computed the descriptive statistics. Table 8 signifies the results of the descriptive statistics.
Table 8
Descriptive Statistics of the Participants’ Delayed Post-test Anxiety Scores

Groups of students N Mean Std. Deviation

Delayed post anxiety Authoritative group 18 98.17 18.11
Facilitative group 18 86.39 11.84

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As is illustrated in Table 8, the mean score of the participants’ delayed post-test scores in the
authoritative group was 98.17 with the standard deviation of 18.11, while the mean score of the
participants in the facilitative group was 86.39 with the standard deviation of 11.84. It was revealed
that the participants in the authoritative group were more anxious than the facilitative group in the
delayed post-test, too. On the other hand, in order to examine the significance of the difference
between the two mean scores, we had to run an Independent samples t-test. But before embarking on
the independent samples t-test, it was necessary to check the normality of the scores distribution.
Table 9 shows the results of this analysis.
Table 9
One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov-Test for the Participants’ Delayed Post-test Anxiety Scores

Delayed post anxiety

N 36
Normal Parametersa,b Mean 92.28
Std. Deviation 16.22
Most Extreme Differences Absolute .086
Positive .052
Negative -.086
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z .514
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .955
a. Test distribution is Normal.
b. Calculated from data.

Table 9 shows that the p-value of .955, higher than alpha level .05 revealed that the participants’
delayed post-test anxiety scores had normality distribution. After the normality assumption was
satisfied, Independent samples t-test was employed to see whether there was a significant difference
between the participants’ delayed post-test anxiety scores or not. The results of this test are indicated
in Table 10.
Table 10
Independent Samples T-test for the Participants’ Delayed Post-test Anxiety Scores

Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2-Mean Std. ErrorDifference
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
Delayed Equal 1.319 .259 2.310 34 .027 11.78 5.10 1.42 22.14
post variances
anxiety assumed

Equal 2.310 29.289 .028 11.78 5.10 1.35 22.20

variances not
assumed

Based on the results taken from Table 10, the p-value in Levene’s test for equal variances was .259.
It means that the difference between the variances was statistically non- significant and the results of

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the first row should be read. As t(34)= 2.310, p= .027, was higher than the alpha level, it was revealed
that the difference between the participants’ delayed post-test scores in the two groups was
statistically significant and the second null hypothesis was rejected. In other words, the answer to the
second research question was affirmative.

Discussion and Conclusion

The present study aimed at exploring the effect of authoritative and facilitative interventions
on Iranian EFL learners’ level of anxiety in the short and long runs. The findings indicated that the
application of Six-Category Intervention Analysis resulted in significant decrease in the facilitative
group's level of anxiety which led this group to be more anxious than the authoritative intervention
group. This implies that the learners' level of anxiety is due to the kind of intervention employed by
the teachers in the classroom. The findings of this research can be in line with those of the study
conducted by Young's (1990) . His research with language learners suggested that teachers who used
humor and created a friendly, supportive, and relaxed classroom atmosphere that encouraged risk-
taking were most helpful in alleviating foreign language anxiety and facilitating learning.
The results of this study can be discussed in the light of sociocultural theory. Ellis (1999) notes that
within sociocultural approach towards second language acquisition ,“interaction is the actual site of
learning” (p. 21). The role of environment has been frequently highlighted in the Second Language
Acquisition theories as Chaos Complexity theory (Larsen- Freeman, 1997; Larsen-Freeman &
Cameron, 2008), Dynamic system (de Bot, Lowie, & Verspoor, 2005), and Dynamic assessment
(Vygotsky, 1986). In addition, meticulous catering for the nature and quality of the intervention and
interaction in the classroom, i.e., the actual words and the classroom language which teachers decide
to employ while managing such interactions, can be facilitated through conscious and proper use of
six category Intervention Analysis (SCIA) model.
Provision of a learning atmosphere conducive to learning is a great step; language teachers can
take steps to aid language learners to overcome the affective obstacles in the learning process. To
achieve this end, it is recommended that teachers attempt to raise their awareness of various indirect
interventions while communicating with language learners. In addition, gearing these valid
interventions to the learners’ individual differences can help teachers achieve long-term success in
their profession.
Pedagogical Implication
The results of the current study might be beneficial for practicing teachers, ELT researchers,
teacher trainers, and teacher developers. The familiarity gained in this preferred manner or through
the desired type of intervention can be one of the important contributions of this research. In addition,
appropriate recognition of the restraining factors which impede the learners’ attempts to
communicate would be of great assistance to the language learners and teacher trainers inclined to
successfully tackle those problems.
In developing effective mentoring relationships, it is usual for teachers to rely more on facilitative
interventions rather than on authoritative ones – to enable the mentee to develop their own solutions
and autonomy. Considering WTC as a dynamic system, language teachers and teacher trainers can
earn a proper recognition of momentary influences and changes which occur within an individual. In
addition, familiarity with learners' preferences of the type of intervention they would like to receive
could help recognize Iranian learners’ attitudes towards a proper intervention, hence, decrease their
level of anxiety and enhance their communication competence and language learning.
It can be concluded that, both teachers’ behavior and their selected intervention could have a
remarkable impact on the learners’ self-reported willingness to communicate in English in their EFL
classrooms. Moreover, teachers can decrease their learners' level of anxiety and facilitate their
learning by adopting a supportive manner and also through being genuinely interested in their
learners and their learning processes.
A number of limitations can be considered for this study. First, the number of the participants
could have been larger. However, the researchers had to limit themselves to this number due to
practical restrictions and the lengthy process of training. A second limitation of the present study
concerns the level of the participants. This study included merely Intermediate students. Other level
students were not incorporated into the study

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VARIABLES AFFECTING L2 VOCABULARY

ACQUISITION AND RETENTION; CALL FOR A
HOLISTIC VIEW OF L2 VOCABULARY LEARNING

Mohammad Hossein Yousefi , Reza Biria

Department of English, Khorasgan (Isfahan) branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
E-mail: mhh.yousefi@gmail.com , r_biria@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
A NUMBER OF VARIABLES AND FACTORS HAVE BEEN FOUND THAT INFLUENCE L2
VOCABULARY LEARNING. YET, THE LITERATURE REMAINS TO BE INCLUSIVE. EACH
THEORY OR HYPOTHESIS CLAIMS THAT IT CAN PROVIDE L2 LEARNERS WITH DUE
INSIGHTS TO OVERCOME THE TASK OF LEARNING SO MANY L2 VOCABULARY ITEMS. IN
THIS REVIEW PAPER, WE TOUCHED ON THE MAIN LIENS OF INQUIRY WITH RESPECT TO
THE L2 LEXICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PROFICIENCY ALONG WITH THE TENETS AND
UNDERLYING THEORIES OF THESE VARIABLES. AFTERWARDS, MENTION WAS MADE OF
THE EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON THE ISSUES INVOLVED IN L2 VOCABULARY LEARNING.
FINALLY, WE DISCUSS THE DEFICIENCIES OF THE RESEARCH INTEREST IN THE FIELD AND
PROPOSE CONDUCTING A NUMBER OF META-ANALYSES TO RESOLVE THE CONFLICTING
ISSUES AND DETERMINE NEW LINES OF INQUIRY FOR L2 RESEARCHERS.

KEY WORDS: L2 VOCABULARY; VOCABULARY ACQUISITION; LEXICAL PROFICIENCY;

META-ANALYSIS

Introduction
Vocabulary is a necessary component of learners’ development (David, 2008, Ko, 2012). It is central
to reading ability, writing ability and listening ability. Clearly, word knowledge is equally crucial in
all aspects of language learning (Kim, 2011; Read, 2000). In the past decade or so, there has been a
burgeoning interest in the nature of vocabulary knowledge and its acquisition (Hamada & Koda,
2008; Kim, 2011; Min, 2008). Because word knowledge is the by-product of certain psycholinguistic
processes involving recognition, production, and memory of linguistic information, there is a serious
need for a pedagogically effective model showing how this knowledge is best acquired, retained,
and accessed (Hamada & Koda, 2008). Second-language learners often see L2 vocabulary learning as
the greatest source of problems (David, 2008). Moreover, lexical errors are judged by native speakers
to be more serious and to impede comprehension more than grammatical errors (Schmitt, 2000).
Although a great number of factors contributing to the acquisition of L2 words have been
investigated by SLA researchers and scholars; the overall picture is too blurred and fuzzy to achieve a
comprehensive and clear view of the whole picture underlying the nature of L2 vocabulary
acquisition and mechanisms governing it. With this in mind, in what follows, the literature on a
number of the factors and variables affecting L2 vocabulary acquisition will be illustrated in details in
order to portray how the multiplicity of the factors would prevent us from observing the realities
related to L2 lexical acquisition.

Review of the Literature

Incidental Vs. intentional Vocabulary Acquisition
Nagi and his colleagues evolved a theory which was widely quoted in L1 and L2 acquisition.
According to this theory incidental vocabulary learning is a gradual process in which gains are made
in small increments with repeated encounters needed to gain full knowledge of a word (Nagy et al.
1985; Nagy et al. 1987). A number of studies have been conducted on the issue of on incidental word

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learning from listening (Barcroft and Sommers, 2005; Mason & Krashen, 2004; Vidal, 2003). The
questions of how new L2 words are learned incidentally and what factors affect this learning are key
in building our understanding of L2 lexical development from reading (Elgort & warren, 2014).
In intentional learning, on the other hand, learners try to commit new information to memory by
using strategies, such as mnemonic devices (Paradis, 1994). In other words, intentional learning is a
learning vocabulary out of context by using, for instance, word lists or word cards. A number of
researchers (e.g. Ellis, 2008; Laufer, 2005) argued that naturalistic usage-based learning is insufficient
to acquire L2 vocabulary and needs to be supplemented by deliberate form-focused learning
(Hulstijn, 2003; Nation, 2007). Deliberate learning (DL) provides an efficient and convenient way of
memorizing vocabulary. Learning from word lists and flashcards can be done outside of the language
classroom and target vocabulary can be personalized to the needs and learning goals of individual
learners (Elgort, 2010). Deliberate vocabulary learning is the attempt to intentionally commit new
words to memory (Hulstijn, 2003). Furthermore, retention rates under intentional learning are on
average, much higher than under incidental conditions (Hulstijn, 2003). The findings of Elgort (2010)
provided evidence that deliberate learning triggered the acquisition of representational and
functional aspects of vocabulary knowledge. The benefits of vocabulary-list learning are to gain not
only receptive vocabulary knowledge, but also productive vocabulary knowledge as well as to
increase learners’ breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge (Yamamoto ,2013). The explicit
teaching of contextualized lexical word items has been claimed to be superior to word learning that
occurs as a by-product of second language (L2) use during listening or reading (Barcroft, 2009; Sonbul
and Schmitt, 2010). It is also asserted that classroom time is typically far too restricted to provide
sufficient opportunities for intentional word learning (Hunt & Beglar, 2005; Schmitt, 2008).
Lexical Inferencing
Research indicates that lexical inferencing, or guessing the meaning of an unfamiliar word, is the
main strategy learners use in initial comprehension of unfamiliar words while reading (Paribakht,
2005; Paribakht &Wesche, 1999). Factors affecting the type and success of students' inferencing of
unfamiliar words in reading comprehension tasks have been worthwhile line of inquiry in the
literature on second language vocabulary acquisition (Nassaji, 2004; Paribakht, 2005).
Over the past decades, researchers have spent considerable amount of time theorizing and
exploring what successful language learners do and what strategies they employ in the process of
acquiring a second language (Hu & Nassaji, 2014). Recently, there has been an increased research
interest in the infenceing strategies of L2 learners and factors affecting the use and success of them
(Hu & Nassaji, 2012 ; Nassaji, 2003, 2004; Nassaji & Hu, 2012; Paribakht & Wesche, 1999; Wesche &
paribakht, 2010). Research also indicated that lexical inferencing was widely used by L2 learners
when dealing with unknown words in their reading (Paribakht & Wesche, 1999; Parry, 1993). Lexical
inferencing has also been found to be closely associated with incidental vocabulary learning (Nagi,
1997).
In contrast, a number of researchers (e.g., Coady, 1993; Stein, 1993) claim that inferring word
meaning from context is often an unreliable method of vocabulary learning. For instance, Ko (2012)
argues that due to their lack of vocabulary knowledge or proficiency level, L2 learners cannot make
intelligent guesses. In the same manner, Nagy (1997) believes that learners must know the majority of
the vocabulary in any text to be able to guess the meanings of unknown words successfully. As stated
by Ko (2012), guessing unknown words would be more problematic in the case of L2 beginners
whose overall L2 knowledge is limited.
Research (Nassaji, 2004; Wesche & Paribakht, 2010) has also found that learners’ knowledge of
effective strategy use is a determining factor for learners’ vocabulary learning success. To sum up,
Nassaji and Hu (2012) concluded that task-induced involvement had significant effects on the use of
lexical inferencing strategies and word retention.
Involvement Load Hypothesis
Another line of inquiry regarding L2 vocabulary acquisition that has attracted much research
interest is the notion of Involvement Load Hypothesis (Laufer &Hulstijin, 2001).Having acknowledged
the significance of the notions of depth of processing (Craik& Lockhart, 1972) and elaboration (Craik
&Tulving, 1975), Laufer and Hulstignin (2001) formulated Involvement Load Hypothesis. Actually,
the development of the construct of “involvement load” was an attempt to operationalize the two
general cognitive notions, i.e., depth of processing and elaboration. By depth of processing, Craik and
Lockhart (1972) argue that the chance of a piece of new information being stored into long-term

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memory is not determined by the duration of the time it is held in short-term memory, but rather, by
the shallowness or depth with which it is processed initially. Put it another way, the information that
is processed at a deeper level has the higher chance of retention compared with the information that
goes through a shallower processing. For example, processing the meaning of an unfamiliar word
happens at a deep level, whereas processing the phonological form of a lexical item takes places at a
shallow level. According to the hypothesis, a greater depth implies a greater degree of semantic or
cognitive analysis of the new word (Kim, 2011). Notwithstanding, criticisms levelled at Craik and
Lockhart's notion due to the difficulty of operationalizing different levels of processing (Baddely,
1987; Craik &Tulving, 1975). Along the same line, Criak and Tulwing (1975) contented that what is
essential to retention of lexical items is not simply the presence or absence of semantic encoding but
also the richness with which the material is encoded (i. e. elaboration of encoding ) . Additionally,
Hulstijin and Laufer (2001) contended that the concepts of deep processing or elaboration are hard to
formalize and operationalize.
There have been a number of studies that empirically investigated the predictions of the
involvement load hypothesis (Keating, 2008; Kim, 2008, 2011; Nassaji & Hu, 2012). The findings of
(Nassaji & Hu, 2012) gave countenance to the predictions of involvement load hypothesis of Hulstijn and
Laufer (2001). Finally, Nassaji and Hu (2012) concluded that the high involvement load text led to
significantly higher rates of retention of word meanings that were inferred correctly. Additionally,
Nassaji and Hu (2012) suggested that there may be many factors influencing an apparent involvement
load, including the types of linguistic and contextual clues in the text, participants' learning strategies,
their background knowledge as well as their language proficiency. They further suggest the future
research should investigate the effects of the mediating factors and their relationship with retention of
vocabulary. More recently, the results of Huang's meta-analysis (2010) supported the involvement
load hypothesis that language learners who perform a task with a higher extent of involvement load
gain more L2 vocabulary.
Learning L2 Words from Reading and Context
There has been a plethora of research studies on the issue of how to acquire L2 lexical items from
reading and context ( Laufer, 1997; Paribakht and Wesche ,1997 Qian, , 1999 ; Zahar, et al, 2001). It
has been shown that reading is a powerful source of vocabulary acquisition for second and foreign
English language learners .Research also indicates that vocabulary knowledge contributes
significantly to learners’ reading comprehension (Hu & Nassaji, 2014). Moreover, several research
findings (Hulstijn, 1992; Nagy, 1997; Zahar et al., 2001) supported the idea that language learners
acquire second language vocabulary from reading.
For example, studies investigating the role of vocabulary knowledge in reading have found that while
measures of size of vocabulary knowledge are strongly related to the reader’s understanding of texts
(Laufer, 1997; Qian, 1999), measures examining aspects of depth of vocabulary knowledge make a
stronger contribution to reading performance than those that simply measure a single definition of a
word (Nassaji, 2004). The literature also suggests that when vocabulary items are read in context,
features common to the words and their surrounding linguistic context are accessed in memory
(Corrigan, 2007).
Bolger & Zapata (2011) point out that the ample body of research in the area of L2 vocabulary and
context and the latter’s key role in L2 pedagogy, particularly in the currently popular communicative
approach, reflect the importance that the fields of L2 acquisition and pedagogy bestow upon context.
The questions of how new L2 words are learned incidentally and what factors affect this learning are
key in building our understanding of L2 lexical development from reading (Elgort & warren, 2014).
In the same way, Laufer (1997), Paribakht and Wesche (1999), and Frantzen )2003( have found
that difficult and/or ambiguous contexts can hinder students ability to accurately guess and recall
word meanings; that is, in order for con-text to facilitate learning, it has to be transparent enough to
provide students with a clear semantic environment and cues for them to accurately infer and learn
the meaning of the word.
Other studies have shown that context can also promote vocabulary learning when accompanied
by other techniques such as L1 sentence translations (Grace, 1998; Prince, 1996), a multiple-choice
procedure (Hulstjin, 1992). Notwithstanding, other researchers (e.g., Huckin & Bloch, 1993; Kelly,
1990; Parry, 1993) have found negative effects in the use of context for L2 vocabulary learning and
they have questioned its value as a pedagogical tool. To conclude, as it was mentioned by Bolger and
Zapata, (2011), studies on the role of context have yielded mixed results.

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Repeated Exposure to L2 vocabulary Items

It is generally accepted that the degree of word knowledge is related to the number of word
occurrences (Brown, et at, 2008; Warning & Takaki, 2003; Zahar et al., 2001). Research on incidental
second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition through reading has claimed that repeated encounters
with unfamiliar words and the relative elaboration of processing these words facilitate word learning
(Eckerth & Tavakoli, 2012). Research has also shown that theme-related texts, which allow for
repetition of unknown vocabulary in varied contexts, provide favorable conditions for teaching
(Nation, 2001).
Studies on word exposure frequency during extensive reading (e.g. Horst et al., 1998 Zahar et al.,
2001), taken together, provide considerable evidence for the positive effects of word repetition on
incidental word learning. For example, Eckerth and Tavakoli (2012) suggested that processing words
again after reading (input–output cycles) is superior to reading-only tasks. There is some research (
Laufer & Roitblat-Rozovski 2011; Webb, 2005) that shows fewer exposures are necessary when words
appear in demanding word-focused activities (Cited in Laufer, 2011).
Similarly, Eckerth and Tavakoli (2012) showed that receptive and productive word knowledge
gains can take place incidentally through reading, and that incidental word learning and retention
can be contingent upon both word exposure frequency, and elaboration of word processing. In an
experimental study, Rott (1999) examined how two, four, and six encounters affected incidental gains
in knowledge of meaning. Two vocabulary tests (recognition and production) were employed, in this
study, to measure different levels of word learning. Her results showed that two encounters with
unknown words produced significant gains, and that six encounters produced significantly greater
gains than two or four encounters.
Heidari and Tavakoli (2012) suggested that in order to develop a full knowledge of vocabulary,
generally speaking more than 7– even 10 – appear to be required. They believe that this can be
achieved both through narrow reading (mainly focusing on a single topic) or extensive reading (using
a variety of appropriate texts). Most vocabulary learning requires repeated exposures to the item
(Elley, 1989; Rott, 1999). Research findings have also shown that a single exposure can provide L1
school children with substantial information about a new word (Nagy, Anderson, & Herman, 1987),
provided that it is not a conceptually difficult term. Rott (1999) found a positive effect for frequency
of exposure during L2 incidental reading and partly attributed the students’ gains. In the same
manner, Laufer and Rozovoski-Roitblat (2011) studied how long-term retention of target words was
affected by task type, number of word occurrences in the teaching materials and the combination of
the two factors. In this study, the participants exposed to 60 target words. Two unannounced tests,
passive recall and passive recognition, were conducted. The results showed that Task type effect was
superior to the effect of word occurrence in recall only. In a recent study, Eckerth and Tavakoli (2012)
investigated the differential effects of the ‘word exposure frequency’ and ‘elaboration of word
processing’ on the initial word learning and subsequent word retention of advanced learners of L2
English. The Results showed equal effects for both variables on initial word learning, subsequent
word retention was more contingent on elaborate processing of form–meaning relationships than on
word frequency.
Glossing
Gloss in L2 reading refers to providing a short definition or explanation of important words in a text
(Bowles, 2004; Nation, 2001). Traditionally, a ‘gloss’ refers to short definitions or explanations of the
meanings of words at the bottom or sides of a text in order to support learners’ reading
comprehension (Pak, 1986; Lomicka, 1998).
Glossing has been argued to help vocabulary learning and assist reading comprehension (Ko, 2012).
A number of studies have provided evidence that glosses are effective in helping learners learn new
lexical items in a second language (Bowles, 2004; Cheng & Good, 2009). For example, the results of
(Ko, 2012) indicated that glossing had a positive effect on L2 vocabulary learning. Additionally,
Zhang (2007) showed that in terms of vocabulary gains, the provision of marginal glosses was the
more beneficial than the availability of dictionary and non-dictionary use. The results of (Ko, 2012)
also demonstrated that there would be a significant difference between gloss and no-gloss groups
with respect to gaining word meaning.
Different advantages have been put forward for the using of glossing in L2 vocabulary learning.
For example, Nation (2001) enumerated four advantages for glassing: First, learners can read difficult
texts without simplification or adaptation. Second, providing accurate meanings prevents learners

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from guessing incorrectly, which should facilitate vocabulary learning and comprehension. Third,
glossing does not seriously interrupt the reading process and it is less time-consuming than
dictionary use. Fourth, learners may focus on glossed words, which may encourage learning. In the
same vein, Ko (2012) advocates the use of glossing where he points out that by providing additional
information such as definitions or synonyms, glossing helps students cope with insufficient
contextual cues in learning new words while reading. Moreover, Ko (2012) believes that glossing is
one type of input modification.
Researchers (Hulstijn, 1992; Hulstijn et al., 1996; Watanabe, 1997) have also found that glosses
facilitate second-language learners' vocabulary growth. Research has further indicated that language
learners with access to marginal vocabulary glosses demonstrate greater vocabulary growth than
those without glosses (Hulstijn, 1992; Hulstijn, et al., 1996; Watanabe ,1997). According to Nation
(2001), textual glosses help language learners consolidate knowledge of unknown words. Hulstijn
(1992) proposed the use of multiple-choice glosses, which combine the advantages of inference with
single glosses because they reduce the challenges imposed by insufficient context and the possibility
of inaccurate inferences.
More recently, Yousefi & Biria (2015) investigated the efficacy of two types of glossing; marginal
glosses vs. endnotes. The study highlighted the beneficial effects for endnote glossing in both
immediate and delayed posttest. Yousefi & Biria (2015) argued that students in endnote group
outperformed those in marginal gloss group (both in immediate and delayed posttest) highlight the
fact that participants in endnote group involved in a wide range of mental tasks, e.g, making
inferences, selective attention, establishing links between the meanings of the target words in the text
and examples provided at the end of the reading comprehension task.

The Most Effective Variables?

We touched upon the variables and factors that have been investigated widely in the literature on L2
vocabulary acquisition. The literature is evolving but inconclusive. One way to gain a holistic picture
of the phenomenon under study and find definite answers to the conflicting findings is to conduct
meta-analysis.
Ellis (2010) posits that Meta-analysis, literally the statistical analysis of statistical analyses,
describes a set of procedures for systematically reviewing the research examining a particular effect,
and combining the results of independent studies to estimate the size of the effect in the population.
Recently, meta-analysis has been described more broadly as a research synthesis method with the aim
of estimating an average association across studies and to explore the degree and sources of
heterogeneity (Sutton & Higgs, 2008).
As stated by Ellis (2010), meta-analysis completely ignores the conclusions made by others
researchers and looks instead at the effects that have been observed. The aim is to combine these
independent observations into an average effect size and draw an overall conclusion regarding the
direction and magnitude of real-world effects.
In advocacy of conducting meta-analyses, Bangert-Drowns (1986, p. 398) stated: Meta-analysis is
not a fad. It is rooted in the fundamental values of the scientific enterprise replicability, quantification,
causal and correlational analysis. Valuable information is needlessly scattered in individual studies.
The ability of social scientists to deliver generalizable answers to basic questions of policy is too
serious a concern to allow us to treat research integration lightly. The potential benefits of meta-
analysis method seem enormous.

Conclusion
L2 learners encounter a demanding task of acquiring so many vocabularies essential for a
successful communication and reasonable comprehension, both in spoken and written modes of
language. Considering the research findings so far, the best method or approach was not without
contention. Each theory and hypothesis, focusing only on one dimension or a specific factor, was not
able to shed illuminating light on the issue. Given the fact that lexicon plays vital role in the ultimate
acquisition of a second language, the issue deserves much more research attention than before.
The variables and factors that have been investigated widely in the literature on L2 vocabulary
acquisition has been touched on. The literature is evolving but inconclusive. Answers to the
fundamental questions on L2 vocabulary learning, psychological mechanisms underlying it and the
most cost-effective techniques of L2 vocabulary teaching continue to elude the profession. We

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proposed that more meta-analyses should be conducted with respect to the L2 vocabulary learning.
Such meta-analyses can provide both SLA researchers and language teachers with the most effective
techniques of L2 vocabulary teaching and determiner new lines of inquiry into the nature of L2
vocabulary learning and teaching. As Hamada and Koda (2008) stated; there is a serious need for a
pedagogically effective model showing how l2 vocabulary knowledge is best acquired, retained, and
accessed .such model, we believe that, can provide language teachers and syllabus designers with the
most effective techniques of L2 vocabulary teaching .

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ON THE EFFECTS OF TEACHERS' EMPLOYMENT OF

CODE SWITCHING ON IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS'
VOCABULARY RETENTION AND MOTIVATION

Fariba Zanjani*6
Tabaran Institute of Higher Education, Mashhad, Iran
faribazanjani92@gmail.com

Zargham Ghapanchi
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
z.ghapanchi@gmail.com

Hamed Ghaemi
Department of English, Neyshabur Branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur, Iran
hamedghaemi@ymail.com

ABSTRACT
THE MAIN AIM OF THIS STUDY IS TO PROVIDE A SOCIOLINGUISTICS INVESTIGATION OF
CODE SWITCHING BEHAVIOR IN ENGLISH /PERSIAN CLASSROOMS IN MASHHAD. THERE
ARE MYRIAD FUNCTIONS FOR CODE SWITCHING ON DOMAIN OF NEW VOCABULARY
RETENTION AND STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION. THIS STUDY IS CONDUCTED WITH THE POOL
OF 50 FEMALE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. DATA FROM MOTIVATION SCALE
DIVIDE TO INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC SECTIONS. THE ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS REVEALS
THAT THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION GROUPS REGARDING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CODE SWITCHING
ON STUDENTS' EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION. ADDITIONALLY, INDEPENDENT T-TEST RESULTS
REVEAL THAT THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT FOR THE ACCEPTANCE RATES BY
THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE DELAYED VOCABULARY TEST IN POST INSTRUCTION. THE
RESULTS SUGGESTED THAT STUDENTS AT THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP COULD KEEP THE
MEANING OF NEW VOCABULARY FOR A LONG TIME IN THEIR MIND COMPARED TO
STUDENTS AT THE CONTROL GROUP. THEREFORE, APPLICATION OF THE DIGLOT WEAVES
TEACHING CAUSES THE REINFORCEMENT OF THE SUBJECTS` VOCABULARY RETENTION.

KEY WORDS: CODE SWITCHING, VOCABULARY RETENTION, INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC

MOTIVATION

1. Introduction
English is known as a common language among foreign language speakers, and the educators
attempt to improve learners` knowledge in this issue. To achieve this purpose, the scholars attempt
to explore appropriate methods in which students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities
can be improved. Beheydt, (1987) believed that vocabulary learning plays a vital role in using a
language, but the importance of learning vocabulary was disregarded for a long time. Investigators
consider learning vocabulary as an important aspect of language learning among students.
Therefore, during the last decades, the vocabulary has moved from the environs into a focal situation.
Educators like (Low, & Lu, 2006) attempt to improve learners' vocabulary knowledge considering
different ways in the language learning process. Low and Lu (2006) substitute a word in another

6 *corresponding author

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language and suggest that there is no direct translation of words between two languages and using
code switching also causes easing tension and injecting humor into conversations. Therefore, it helps
students to improve their learning as cited in (Alenezi, 2010). According to Nemati and Maleki (2013)
the appropriateness technique in code switching is the diglot weave which is believed to assist
language teachers in teaching target language vocabulary in EFL classes. They stated that, Diglot
weave involves utilize of an L2 word in an L1 utterance; this exclusive technique calmly weaves the
new language into the student’s language. Mehrabi, (2011) investigates the effect of code switching
techniques in improving learners` comprehension, motivation, and considers diglot weave as one of
the effective techniques in improving their learning and the result shows that applying this technique
improves learners `comprehension and increases their confidence and motivation. Based on these
investigations, there are many teachers who insist on using a foreign language in any occasion
without paying attention to the learner’s level and the subject and that is one of the problematic issues
today (Baker, 2006; Alenezai, 2010). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to discover the effect of
using techniques of code switching to enhance the learners’ ability in learning and keeping the
meaning of new words in the classroom for a long time. Also, the effect of teaching new words
through diglot weave technique on learners` motivation is examined and to achieve this purpose a
Gardner’s motivation questionnaire is used.

1.1. Research Questions

To address the objectives of the study, the following research questions are considered:

Q1: To what extent employing code switching have any significant effect on Iranian EFL learners’
vocabulary retention?
Q2: To what extent employing code switching have any significant effect on Iranian EFL learners’
motivation?

2. Review of the Literature:

Myers- Scotton, (1993) defined code switching as the use of two or more languages in the same
conversation, commonly within the same conversational turn, or even within the same sentence of
that turn as cited in (Omondi, 2012). Employing code switching in the multi lingual classroom as a
teaching and learning strategy has been subjected to only limited attention. There are some reasons
for limitation in use of code switching in different contexts, as (Aguirre, 1988) who declares that the
study of code-switching as a classroom teaching and learning strategy has been plagued with
problems from the perceptual complication of code-switching. According to Gross (2006), code-
switching is a compound, skilled linguistic strategy used by bilingual speakers to transmit
important social meanings beyond the referential content of an utterance; In other words, code
switching is a result of language adaptation in different situations. When you switch codes in fact,
you integrate two languages in your utterance that go beyond lexical borrowing, and speakers at the
same context, attempt to alternate between two languages (as cited in Farahlexis, 2009).
According to Begum and Haque (2013), when you change language intentionally because of specific
purposes, that means you code-switch. Whenever, you insert a piece of word other than that of your
language and you don’t have any specific purpose it means you code-mix. Researchers consider
many investigations to clarify the importance of code switching as Kim and Rezaeian(2009)who
assume that code switching refers to use of two or more languages within the same sentence (intra
sensational) or across sentence boundaries (inter sensational).
There is an example of different code switching in this section (Farsi –English).
It’s a big mistake keaz Vancouver adam move-kon-e.
‘It’s a big mistake to move from Vancouver.’

2.1. Vocabulary Retention

Vocabulary knowledge is essential for having good reading comprehension and it shows the readers`
ability to comprehend the text. Students who have enough vocabulary knowledge can grasp the
meaning of new ideas and concepts more rapidly than the students with limited vocabularies.
Retention of a word refers to retrieval of a lexical entrance from the lexicon, including stored
information about a word’s form and its meaning (Vafaei, 2013). There are many techniques and
strategies to reinforce the meaning of new words in learners` mind, and integration of any of these

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

strategies with other techniques are investigated through making learners more familiar with these
strategies.

Mehrabi (2008) maintained that using the diglot weave techniques to introduce L2 vocabulary could
be an effective technique which could aid vocabulary learning (as cited in Vosoughi, 2012). The usage
of vocabulary retention techniques among Thai students was examined by Jenpattarakul (2012). He
compared the usage of vocabulary retention techniques between achievers and underachievers. The
result of the study would help the teachers to improve the process and material for teaching and
learning vocabulary retention techniques and raise awareness of vocabulary retention techniques
among the learners in order to enhance the students’ lexical ability which could lead to improve the
learner's reading comprehension importance of Motivation in Learning Language.

2.2. Importance of Motivation in Learning Language

The concept of intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation is defined by Bernard (2010) who considered intrinsic
motivation, based on autonomy and competence, as a situation in which material is engaged for its
inherent interest and satisfaction. An example for this type of motivation would be a person who
enjoys learning a language because new concepts are mastered or because of the inborn interest and
happiness associated with learning the language. Extrinsically motivated activities, on the other side,
are engaged in order to perform some aims that are separated from the activity itself. For example, a
person who wishes to learn a language believe it will make travel easier and more enjoyable (Bernard,
2010).

Bernard (2010) declares that motivation and attitudes have direct relationship with each other and
learner’s positive attitudes towards native language speakers could improve her/his motivation. As
clarified by Gardner (2001), integrative motivation is one of two major factors that influence overall
motivation. This type of motivation refers to learning a foreign language in order to become adjacent
to the L2 community. An integrative orientation is most closely correlated with intrinsic motivation
(Noels, Clément & Pelletier, 2001).
In different studies done by many researchers, the impacts of code switching were reviewed from
different aspects. But, the effects of code switching techniques as diglot weave on EFL learners`
vocabulary retention and their attitudes towards code switching were not surveyed. Therefore, the
aim of the study is to investigate the effect of employing code switching techniques on participants`
vocabulary retention, motivation and attitudes.

3. Methodology
The current study is principally designed to observe how employing code switching techniques as
diglot weave have affected on learners` motivation. Also, the teacher employs diglot weave technique
through teaching new vocabulary into experimental and control groups which shows students`
success to keep the meaning of new words in their minds. The researcher compares the sample of two
groups from week 1 to week 5. Data are collected and the results are obtained based on the
observation and comparison of learners` vocabulary retention after two weeks interval.
3.1. Participants
The learners who were the focus in the survey were all 8th grade female Iranian students in two
groups at a public school in Mashhad, Iran. They were randomly assigned into two experimental and
control groups, with 25 students in each, from 13 to 15 years of age.
3.2. Instrumentation
Cambridge Key English Test (KET): Cambridge ESOL exams like KET was designed around four
essential qualities: validity, reliability, impact and practicality. This instrument was used as a reliable
and valid test for the selection of 50 participants out of 90 learners. The KR-21 reliability of the test
was found 0.78. In order to test the participants' performance in language proficiency, the vocabulary
test (KET) that included 30 vocabulary items was administered as homogenizing test among
participants. The test was developed in a multiple-choice format and consists of 30 items and the time
allocated for the test was 30 minutes and one mark for each correct answer was considered.
Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB): The Persian version of Gardner’s AMTS was
used; in this survey a modifying questionnaire that included 25 items of intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation sections was utilized by (Dordi-nezhad, 2015). Regarding, the results Dordi-nezhad (2015)

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

declared that this scale had appropriate validity and reliability. The survey adapted from the AMTB
was structured with several statements on a five-point Liket scale. The questionnaire included four
sections as attitudes towards English language, (10 items), classroom anxiety (5 items), intrinsic
motivation (12 items), and extrinsic motivation (13 items).
Researcher – Made Vocabulary Test: The participants took a 40-item vocabulary test. The items of
the vocabulary test were taken from the book which students studied during the term. To achieve the
validity and reliability of the test, it was piloted by a group of 20 participants. The reliability of the
test was of 0.75, it was obtained through KR20. Also, two experts evaluated the test content and
face validity.

3.3. Procedure
The process of data collection was conducted at a public school in Mashhad. The KET as a
homogenizing test was administered among 90 participants and50 out of 90 students. Participants
who achieved a particular score on the test were randomly assigned to experimental and control
groups. The Motivation Test Battery (MTB) was administered to the students in control and
experimental groups and their scores at pre and post-instruction sessions were recorded. The teacher-
made test was administrated as a pre- test to make sure that the participants were unfamiliar with
words. The study lasted for 15 sessions in 5 weeks and the time allocated for each session was 90
minutes. The teacher asked the students of the control group to read new words and repeat them
loudly and make some sentences with new words in the group and they didn`t receive any treatment.
In contrast, in experimental group diglot weave as a new technique of code switching in teaching new
vocabulary was used and weaves new target words gradually into the 1st language to assist the
learner to make sense of the word. Then more L1 words were replaced with target words. At the end
of the semester, the test was administrated for two times as immediate-posttest and a delayed –
posttest with 2 weeks interval after the immediate -posttest to find out to what extent the participants
were succeeded to keep the meaning of the target words in their minds.

4. Results and Discussions

To assure the appropriateness of the test, its reliability and validity as explained below was evaluated.
Researcher -made test totally includes 40 items that are designed based on the students` book
(Prospect 2). The reliability of the test is obtained through KR20 formula and the result shows a score
0.750 that revealing a high reliability of the test. Descriptive statistics are calculated for the scales and
sub-scales of the study that are shown in table 1.

Table 1
Descriptive Statistics of Motivation and Vocabulary at Experimental & Control groups
Group N Mean Minimum Maximum
experimental 25 16.6800 9.00 29.00
Pretest voc
control 25 16.2800 7.00 34.00
experimental 25 25.9200 13.00 34.00
Posttest voc
control 25 23.7600 11.00 35.00
experimental 25 25.2000 13.00 34.00
Delayed test voc
control 25 20.1600 11.00 35.00

Table 2
Independent Samples Test- Post Intrinsic Motivation
Levene's Test for Equality
t-test for Equality of Means
of Variances
F Sig. t df Sig.
Equal variances assumed .001 .973 .194 48 .847

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Table 2
Independent Samples Test- Post Intrinsic Motivation
Levene's Test for Equality
t-test for Equality of Means
of Variances
F Sig. t df Sig.
Equal variances assumed .001 .973 .194 48 .847
Equal variances not
.194 47.99 .847
assumed

Findings Related to Motivation Test: Post intrinsic motivation between two groups as experimental
and control groups is examined. The p value is greater than 0.05, the first line of the table 2 shows that
there is no significant difference in scores for experimental groups (M =45.50, SD= 6.59) and the
control group (M=45.20, SD=6.53; t (48) = .194, p = .847, two tailed).

Table 3.
Independent Samples Test- Post Extrinsic Motivation

Levene's Test for Equality

t-test for Equality of Means
of Variances
F Sig. t df Sig.
Equal variances assumed .001 .980 4.34 48 .000
Equal variances not
4.34 46.96 .000
assumed
The analysis of the data in this part shows that the significance of the Levene`s test with p = .980 and
to interpret results the first line of the table 3. is used and it explores that there is a significant
difference in scores for experimental groups (M= 62.76, SD=7.65) and control group with (M= 54.00,
SD=6.57; t (48) = 4.34, p = .000, two tailed).

Table 4
Test of Homogeneity of Variances
Levene Statistic df1 df2 Sig.
3.127 5 144 .080
Finding Related to Vocabulary Test: Descriptive statistic results at the control group at pretest time
and delayed test time has been (M=16.28, SD=7.82; M=20.16, SD=5.08) and it shows participants`
scores in experimental group between the same tests as pretest and delayed test with (M=16.68,
SD=5.66; M=25.16, SD =5.04) has more improvement in process of learning rather control group. It
declares our treatment among participants of experimental group has significant effect on their
learning and retention the meaning of new words.
Table 4 examined the homogeneity of variances and the Levene’s test check the assumption of the
variances of the six groups. The results shows that he Levene’s test is not significant; F (5, 144) = 3.127,
p = .080 – at the .05 alpha level for our subjects. Thus, the assumption of homogeneity of variance is
met for this sample.

To determine whether there are any significant differences between the means of two or more
independent Analysis of Variance is used. The sig. value is .000 and that is less than .05 and it shows
there is a statistically significant difference between our six conditions and there is a statistically
significant difference between groups as determined by one-way ANOVA F (5, 144) = 10.717, p =
.000.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Between Six Groups of Vocabulary Test

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Between Groups 1750.593 5 350.119 10.717 .000

Within Groups 4704.240 144 32.668
Total
6454.833 149

4.1. Discussion

Quantitative data is gathered through a motivation questionnaire and vocabulary learning tasks.
Based on the results, it can be deducted that using diglot weave as a technique to introduce L2 words
can be an effective and facilitative way to improve vocabulary learning process. While many
researchers as Thomas (2001) believe that much of EFL vocabulary is acquired incidentally when
reading for gist and learning in this way is undesirable. After the analysis of the results, there is no
significant difference between our two groups (experimental and control) at pre-test and immediate-
test. But the result at third stage (delayed-test) reveals different consequences. The delayed-test is
performed with two weeks interval after the immediate-test. The mean score of the delayed-test at
experimental group is M = 25.20 and the mean at control group is M = 20.16. And the difference
between the delayed-tests of the groups is significant at p= .001.
Also, the students` extrinsic motivation mean at the pre-instruction session is 47.60 and their
motivation increases to 54.00 at the post-instruction session. The results declare that employing new
techniques has statistically significant effects on participants` extrinsic motivation at experimental
group with p = .000. In contrast, in control group, there is no statistically significant difference in
participants` intrinsic and extrinsic motivation during the term. According to Deci and Ryan (2000),
extrinsic motivation refers to the situation when somebody asks you to do something. Therefore it can
be concluded that increase the extrinsic motivation in the process of teaching relevant to the
application of new techniques.

5. Conclusion
The fundamental findings of the research were summarized, and followed by a consideration of its
contributions to methodology, and research, as well as pedagogical implications for EFL students and
teachers. The importance of the current study was on investigating the effect of code switching on
Iranian junior high school students` vocabulary retention.
The following conclusions are drawn:
Participants at experimental group benefited from employing code switching in the classroom on
their vocabulary retention. The new words are taught to the experimental group using the diglot-
weave technique, while the same words are taught to the ones in the control group. Students at both
groups have the same achievements at immediate test, but the students at experimental group have
significant changes in their scores at delayed test.
The impact of the treatments on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is considered, and the results show
that the treatment in experimental group has significant effect on students` extrinsic motivation, but
there isn`t significant difference on participants’ intrinsic motivation in control and experimental
groups. Findings of the research reveal using diglot weave technique provides improvements in the
process of learning vocabulary. And it can be more effective to improve participant’s extrinsic
motivation towards learning English as a foreign language.
5.1. Suggestions for Further Research: the purpose of the current study is to investigate the effect of
code switching on learners vocabulary retention and their motivation. The effect of students` attitudes
on code switching is ignored, it is recommended to add this variable for further analysis. Increasing
the number of participants will broaden replication of the study to include and expanded view of
teaching and learning process. The current study is restricted to females' participants and didn’t
provide insight into males` participants. Comparing the results from both genders may provide
additional insight into vocabulary retention process and their motivation.

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‫‪Appendix A‬‬
‫پرسشنامه انگیزش‬
‫در این پرسشنامه ‪ 25‬جمله نوشته شده است ‪ .‬شما هر جمله را به دقت بخوانید و اگر در مورد شما صادق است در ستون "کامال موافق"‬
‫‪"،‬موافق"‪"،‬بیطرف"‪،‬مخالف"و"کامال مخالف"ضربدر بزنید ‪ .‬به خاطر داشته باشید که باید عقاید واقعی خودتان را ذکر کنید و هیچ سوالی را‬
‫بدون جواب نگذارید‪.‬‬

‫کامال‬ ‫مخالف‬ ‫بیطرف‬ ‫موافق‬

‫کامال موافق‬
‫مخالف‬
‫به من اجازه می دهد با مردم دیگری که انگلیسی صحبت می کنند‬
‫راحت تر باشم‪.‬‬
‫به من اجازه می دهد که افراد متفاوتی را مالقات کرده و با انها گفتگو‬
‫کنم‪.‬‬
‫مرا قادر می سازد که از هنر و ادبیات انگلیسی درک وفهم بیشتری‬
‫داشته باشم‪.‬‬

‫قادر خواهم بود در فعالیتهای گروههای فرهنگی خارجی آزادانه تر‬

‫شرکت کنم‪.‬‬
‫مرا قادرمی سازد موسیقی پاپ انگلیسی را بهتر درک کنم‪.‬‬
‫هر چه بیشترانگلیسی زبانهای بومی را بیشتر بشناسم‪ ،‬آنها را بیشتر‬
‫دوست خواهم داشت‪.‬‬
‫فراگیری زبان انگلیسی برای من اهمیت خواهد داشت‪.‬‬
‫می توانم با دوستان و آشنایان خارجی خود ارتباط داشته باشم‪.‬‬
‫دوست دارم در مورد افرادی که زبان مادری انها انگلیسی است‬
‫بیشتر بدانم‪.‬‬
‫انگلیسی ها مهربان و دوست داشتنی هستند‪.‬‬
‫آمریکایی ها مهربان و شاد هستند‪.‬‬
‫من به انگلیسی برای رسیدن به اهداف شغلی اینده ام نیاز دارم‪.‬‬
‫مرا فردی آگاه تر می سازد‪.‬‬
‫روزی برای پیدا کردن شغل خوب مورد نیاز می شود‪.‬‬
‫اگر انگلیسی بلد باشم دیگران به من احترام بیشتری خواهند گذاشت‪.‬‬
‫قادر خواهم بود اطالعات و مطالب انگلیسی را در ابنترنت جستجو‬
‫کنم‪.‬‬
‫من در مورد مسائل روز دنیا آگاه تر و خواهم شد‪.‬‬
‫به من احساس موفقیت می دهد‪.‬‬
‫یاد گیری زبان معموال مرا شاد می کند‪.‬‬
‫یک فرد تحصیل کرده باید بتواند به انگلیسی صحبت کند‪.‬‬
‫میتوانم فیلم ها‪،‬ویدئوها وبرنامه های رادیو و تلویزیون به زبان‬
‫انگلیسی را بفهمم‪.‬‬
‫می توانم کتابهای انگلیسی را بخوانم‪.‬‬
‫مرا قادر می سازد تا مردم کشورهای مختلف را بشناسم‪.‬‬
‫بدون آن در هیچ زمینه ای موفق نخواهم شد‪.‬‬

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

THE IMPACT OF ANTICIPATION GUIDES AS PRE-

READING ACTIVITIES ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE
EFL LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION
ABILITY

Seyyedeh Mansoureh Zib Sayyadan

MA in TEFL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Rasht, Iran
mensi.sayyadan@gmail.com

Majid Pourmohammadi
Assistant Professor in TESOL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht
Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir

Ghasem Aghajanzadeh Kiasi

Assistant Professor in TEFL, Department of English Language, College of Humanities, Rasht Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
aghajanzadeh@iaurasht.ac.ir

Corresponding Author’s Email:

pourmohammad@iaurasht.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED THE EFFECTS OF ANTICIPATION GUIDES ON IRANIAN
INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY. FIRST,
INTERCHANGE OBJECTIVE PLACEMENT TEST WAS ADMINISTERED TO HOMOGENIZE THE
PARTICIPANTS WHEREBY 60 PARTICIPANTS WERE SELECTED. THEY WERE THEN DIVIDED
INTO TWO GROUPS OF EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL. IN THE FIRST SESSION AFTER
SAMPLING, A PRETEST CONSISTING OF A READING COMPREHENSION TEST WAS
CONDUCTED. AFTERWARDS, THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP RECEIVED ITS OWN
TREATMENT. NEXT, A READING COMPREHENSION TEST WAS CONDUCTED TO BOTH
GROUPS AS THE POSTTEST. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE MEAN DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE GROUPS (MD = 4.75) WAS SIGNIFICANT AT P < .05 WHICH MEANS A BETTER
PERFORMANCE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP ON THE POSTTEST. THIS COULD IMPLY
THAT INVOLVING LEARNERS IN ANTICIPATION GUIDES ACTIVITIES CAN HAVE
STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON THEIR READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY.

KEY WORDS: ANTICIPATION GUIDE, PRE-READING ACTIVITY, READING COMPREHENSION

ABILITY

1. Introduction
Most researchers believe that reading is the base of all skills and supplies students with knowledge to
comprehend the written text. Also, language learners face a lot of problems in learning reading
comprehension. Anderson (2003) believes that reading is a fluent process of readers combining
information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning.

Moreover, viewing reading as an interactive process, Widdowson (1979) points out that reading is not
a reaction to the text, but an interaction between the writer and the reader facilitated by the text.

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Readers’ prior knowledge (or schemata) has an essential influence on comprehending the text.
Millrood (2001) defines reading in another way. He believes “reading is a visual and cognitive process
to extract meaning from writing by understanding the written text processing information and
relating it to existing experience” (p. 117).

Reading as the most important academic language skill has a significant role in learning process
because students’ success in learning other subjects is very much determined by the high degree of
mastering reading (Pour-Mohammadi & Abidin, 2011a). Reading encourages students in finding the
main ideas and supporting details, factual information, and meaning of the words. Therefore, reading
requires more serious attention because there are many components which could not be separated
when we learn reading. Students must have reading skills if they want to get more knowledge from
text or others. Therefore, teachers should try their best to make reading an interesting, enjoyable,
meaningful and challenging activity.

In this regard, many reading techniques and strategies have been used in teaching English in the
classroom. The results show that some techniques are successful with some students but some are
not. Pre-reading activities both prepare native speakers for the concepts that follow and make the
reading task easier through connecting the new concept more meaningfully to prior knowledge. They
also make reading a more enjoyable task (Hansen, 1981). They are thus intended to activate
appropriate knowledge structures or provide the knowledge the readers lack.

As Bell and Lee (2005) believe, learners can increase their prior knowledge and make interaction with
the text to be read by using anticipation guides. This strategy helps instructors to assess learners’
previous knowledge. Also, if learners need more prior knowledge, their instructor can demonstrate
this before reading. Therefore, anticipation guide could stimulate learners’ interest to know more
about the subject matter. In this regard, the present study intends to investigate the following
question:

 Do anticipation guides as pre-reading activity have any statistically significant effect on

Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability?

2. Literature Review
According to Carroll (2008), Bartlett, a British psychologist, was the first person who introduced
schema.
Schemata (singular: schema) refer to packets of information stored in memory showing general
knowledge regarding objects, events, actions, and situations (Pour-Mohammadi, Abidin, 2011b).
Remembering is not a rote or reproductive process, but it is a process in which we retain the gist of an
event and then reconstruct the details from this overall impression.

Numerous factors have been identified in language teaching process among which language skills,
especially reading comprehension, gained a prominent position. The recently increased interest in
SLA has led to an increasing demand for both technical reading courses as well as high-quality
second language learning materials (Pressley, 2002). In line with this mindset, Tierney (2005) believes
that the main aim of second language learners is to gain a comprehension of both the world and
themselves, enabling them to reflect on and react to what they read.

Landry (2002) explains the particular role of the concept of schema to help teachers better understand
the process of reading by L2 learners. He distinguishes between a strong and a weak view of
schemata. Besides, he maintains the strong view of schemata sees them as something influencing the
reader’s opinion even before a text is read, and the weak view of schemata would be organized
background knowledge on a topic leading to predictions of discourse. He also believes that schema
interference causes a reader to ignore or miss textual signals. Carrol (2008) further justifies the role of
schema on reading comprehension. In his opinion, a schema is a structure in semantic memory that
specifies the general or expected arrangement of a body of information.

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3. Method
3.1. Participants
For the present study a total of 60 female Iranian EFL learners whose age ranged from 12 to 16 years
old were selected through convenience sampling. According to Interchange Objective Placement Test
(IOPT), those whose scores fell within the range of intermediate level of proficiency were selected as
the participants of the study. They were studying English at Kish English Language Institute in
Bandar Anzali, Iran. They were all Persian native speakers. They were divided into two groups of
experimental and control.

3.2. Materials
Interactions Reading by Kirnn and Hartmann (2002) which is a five-level, four-skill comprehensive
ESL/EFL series designed to prepare students for academic content was employed in this study. The
themes are integrated across proficiency levels and the levels are articulated across skill strands. The
series combine communicative activities with skill-building exercises to boost students' academic
reading.

3.2.1. Reading comprehension test as pretest and posttest

Two reading comprehension tests were administered as pretest and posttest in order to test the
participants’ reading comprehension ability.

3.2.2. IOPT
To ensure that all the participants are at the same level of proficiency, IOPT was administrated. This
test consisted of 3 multiple-choice question sections including the listening section (20 questions), the
reading section (20 questions) and the language use section (30 questions). All of the items were in the
form of multiple-choice items.

3.3. Procedure for data collection and analysis

In the first step, IOPT was administered to homogenize the participants. Then, 60 language learners
were selected as the participants of the study. They were then divided into two groups as
experimental and control. Then a pretest including a reading comprehension test consisting of 30
questions was administered. After that the treatment began. In experimental group, the teacher
focused on anticipation guide. It is operationally defined as a strategy to teach reading for junior high
school that is used before reading to activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a
new topic. Before reading, students listened to or read several statements by teacher about key
concepts presented in the text; they were often structured as a series of statements with which the
students could choose to agree or disagree. In control group, the teacher focused on routine
procedure of Reading Interaction. At the end of the treatment, a reading comprehension test was
conducted as posttest. After data collection procedure, the collected data were analyzed through
running one way ANCOVA.

4. Results
4.1. Descriptive analysis of the data
The descriptive statistics of the participants’ pretest and posttest scores in both the experimental and
the control groups are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for the participants’ in pretest and posttest scores in the groups
Group Pretest Posttest Pre.Exp Pre.Cont Post.Exp Post.Cont

N Valid 60 60 60 30 30 30 30
Missing 0 0 0 30 30 30 30
Mean 1.5000 20.4800 20.6400 21.5200 17.2400 24.0400 19.4400
Std. Deviation .50508 7.97506 8.68205 7.76810 8.20102 7.52485 8.55512
Skewness .000 .192 .076 -.005 .423 -.315 .677

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Std. Error of Skewness .337 .337 .337 .464 .464 .464 .464
Kurtosis -2.085 -.675 -.764 -.610 -.429 -.327 .163
Std. Error of Kurtosis .662 .662 .662 .902 .902 .902 .902
Minimum 1.00 7.00 6.00 7.00 7.00 8.00 6.00
Maximum 2.00 37.00 39.00 37.00 37.00 38.00 39.00

4.2. Homogeneity of error variances

To check the homogeneity of variances, Levene’s statistic was used. Leven’s statistic tests the
assumption that the error variance of the dependent variable is equal across groups. As Table 2
indicates, the results of Levene’s test were not significant for the posttest [F(1.48) = .345, P = .645, p >
.05]. Based on these results, it can be concluded that there were not any statistically significant
difference between the variances of the two groups.

Table 2. Homogeneity of error variances

F df1 df2 Sig.

.345 1 48 .559

Moreover, in order to investigate the research hypothesis, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was
run. Tables 3 and 4 reveal the results.
Table 3. Descriptive statistics
Group Mean Std. Deviation N

EXP 24.0400 7.52485 25

CONT 17.2400 8.55512 25
Total 20.6400 8.68205 50

Table 4. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)

Type III Sum Partial Eta
Source of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Squared

Corrected Model 3526.362a 2 1763.181 495.755 .000 .955

Intercept 1.892 1 1.892 .532 .469 .011
Pretest 2948.362 1 2948.362 828.994 .000 .946
Group 278.200 1 278.200 78.222 .000 .625
Error 167.158 47 3.557
Total 24994.000 50
Corrected Total 3693.520 49
a. R Squared = .955 (Adjusted R Squared = .953)

4.3. Results of hypothesis testing

As it is indicated in Table 3, the row for the pretest shows that the pretest was significantly related to
the posttest (p < 0.05) with the magnitude of .946. The row for groups is the indicator of the main
effect of the treatment on the dependent variable. After adjusting for pretest scores, there was a
significant effect of the group [F (1.47) = 78.22, p < .05, partial η² = .625]. As p value obtained was less
than .05, it could be said that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores
of the groups on the posttest after removing the possible effect of their entry knowledge as tested
through the pretest.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Although the F-value of 78.22 indicates statistically significant differences between the mean scores of
the groups on the posttest, pairwise comparisons have been made to decide about the direction of this
difference as summarized in Table 5.

Table 5. Pairwise comparisons

95% Confidence Interval for
Difference
(I) (J) Mean Lower Upper
Group Group Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. Bound Bound

EXP CONT 4.759* .538 .000 3.677 5.842

CONT EXP -4.759* .538 .000 -5.842 -3.677
Based on estimated marginal means
*The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.

As the data in Table 5 reflect, the mean difference between the groups (MD = 4.75) was significant at p
< .05, which indicates a better performance of the experimental group on the posttest. This could
imply that involving learners in anticipation guides activities can have positive effects on their
reading comprehension skills.

5. Discussion
As the collected data indicate, the mean difference between the groups (MD = 4.75) was significant
which means a better performance of the experimental group on the posttest. This implies that
anticipation guides activities can have positive effects on learners’ reading comprehension skills. In
the present study, anticipation guides activities were constructed based on the background
knowledge (or schemata) of English language learners. Scholars in SLA domain consent that
sufficient or suitable background knowledge is an essential element in reading comprehension. The
study also found that through employing anticipation guide before starting to read first, students can
activate their prior knowledge. Next, the students can promote their interest in text processing during
reading. Then, anticipation guide can increase students’ participation in post reading stage.
Introducing a chapter via applying anticipation guide in this way enables learners concentrate on
topics mainly.

The results of study conducted by Wahyuni (2010) showed that the students could do the posttest
better than pretest. It meant teaching reading by using anticipation guide technique is effective to
improve students’ skill on reading. These results is in line with the findings of this study in which
participants showed improvement in their reading comprehension ability after employing
anticipation guides strategies in the class. In addition, as it happened in the present study, employing
anticipation guides makes students more active in class participation; therefore, it can be claimed that
pre-reading activities have positive influence on reading comprehension. This is in line with Yusuf
(2011), Alemi and Ebadi (2010), Thongyon and Chiramanee (2011) that concentrated on pre-reading
strategies.

6. Conclusion
This study dealt with the efficacy of anticipation guides on Iranian EFL learners’ reading
comprehension ability. As the results showed, anticipation guides had a very effective impact on the
participants’ reading comprehension ability. The findings also confirmed the key role of background
knowledge in language teaching, specifically reading comprehension ability. The lowest position
between groups of the study was for the control group. This indicates that students are not so
optimistic about the traditional way of teaching reading comprehension in the classroom, and they
would have better improvement in cooperative atmosphere of the classroom.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

REFERENCES
Alemi, M., & Ebadi, S. (2010). The effects of pre-reading activities on ESP reading comprehension.
Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(5), 569-577. http://dx.doi.org/10.4304/jltr.1.5.569-577
Anderson, N. J. (2003). Teaching reading. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Practical English language teaching (pp. 67-
86). New York: McGraw Hill Publishers.
Bell, L., Lee, C. (2005).using reading in content area strategies to improve students understanding in
family and consumer sciences. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, 23(2), 35-45.
Carroll, A. B. (2008). A history of corporate social responsibility: Concepts and practices. The Oxford
Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, 19-46.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199211593.003.0002
Hansen, J. (1981). An inferential comprehension strategy for use with primary garden children. The
Reading Teacher, 34, 665-669.
Kirn, E., & Hartmann, P. (2002). Interactions 2: Reading. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Landry, K. L. (2002). Schemata in second language reading. The Reading Matrix, 2(3), 1-12.
Millrood, R., (2001). Modular course in ELT methodology. Moscow: Drofa.
Pour-Mohammadi, M., & Abidin, M. J. Z. (2011a). Test-taking strategies, schema theory and reading
comprehension test performance. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(18), 237-243.
Pour-Mohammadi, M., & Abidin, M. J. Z. (2011b). Attitudes towards teaching and learning test-taking
strategies for reading comprehension tests: The case of Iranian EFL undergraduates. Journal of Studies
in Education, 1(1), 1-12. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/jse.v1i1.1028
Pressley, M. (2002). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching (2nd ed). New York:
Guilford Press.
Tierney, J. E. (2005). Reading strategies and practices (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Thongyon, N., & Chiramance, T. (2011). The effects of pre-reading activities on reading
comprehension ability. The 3rd International Conference of Humanities and Social Science.
Wahyuni, S. (2010). The effectiveness of STAD (student teams-achievement division) in improving students’
writing ability at STAIN Kediri. Kediri: State Islamic College of Kediri (STAIN Kediri).
Widdowson, H. G. (1979). Explorations in applied linguistics. England, Oxford University Press.
Yusuf, H. (2011). The effect of pre-reading activities on students’ performance in reading
comprehension in senior secondary schools. International Research Journal, 2(9), 1451-1455.

Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016 Page 478

 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON INTONATIONAL

ELEMENTS AND COMMISSIVE ILLOCUTIONARY
FORCE INTERFACE WITH RESPECT TO CONTEXTUAL
ASPECTS AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND

1Elkhas Veysi,
1Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, Payame Noor University, Iran

elkhas@yahoo.com

Farangis Abbaszadeh2 *Corresponding Author

2Ph.D Candidate of Linguistics, English Language Department,

Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

farangisabbaszadeh@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
THIS PAPER AIMS TO EXPLORE ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES, DURATION AND PITCH
AMPLITUDE OF COMMISIVE ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE SPEECH SAMPLES ASSOCIATED WITH
SPEECH ACTS AGAINST NEUTRALITY THIS RESEARCH ALSO AIMS TO EXPLORE HOW SUCH
ACOUSTIC FEATURES IN SPEECH ARE USED BY IRANIAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN TERMS OF THEIR REALIZATION OF LLOCUTIONARY FORCES.
SUCH A STUDY CONSIDERED IN THE CONTEXT OF SPOKEN COMMUNICATION INVOLVES
ARTICULATION AS WELL AS PERCEPTION. SEARLE’S VIEW (1975) ON DIRECTION OF FIT
AND PIERREHUMBERT’S PHONOLOGICAL APPROACH (1980) WERE USED. TO COLLECT
COMMISSIVE ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE MESSAGES FOR THE QUESTIONNAIRES, 100 MOVIES
BASED ON NATURALLY OCCURRING DATA WERE CAREFULLY OBSERVED AND
ANALYZED. A GROUP OF 40 STUDENTS FROM AHVAZ PAYAME NOOR UNIVERSITY WERE
INVOLVED IN THE PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTION OF THE MESSAGES OF THE
QUESTIONNAIRES. TO ANALYZE THE DATA, A CHISQUARE TEST WAS USED. THE
RECORDED SPEECH SAMPLES WERE COMPARED THROUGH THE TRACKS OF THE PRAAT
PROGRAM SOFTWARE. OUR ANALYSIS INDICATED THAT THE STRICT ACOUSTIC
CORRELATION EXISTS BETWEEN COMMISSIVE ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE AND NEUTRALITY
AS A REFERENCE.

KEYWORDS: COMMISSIVE ILLOCUTIONARY ACT, COMMUNICATIVE PROSODIC SIGNALS,

PITCH MOVEMENT CONSTRAINT-BASED CULTURES, INTERACTIONAL INFORMATION
EXCHANGE
1. Introduction

In recent years, areas such as pragmatics, intonation and non-verbal communication have not caught
a strong attention in second Language (L2) learning. Hurly(1992,p.259) argues the importance of
teaching these areas to L2 learners:”Learning skills in these areas[pragmatics, intonation and non-

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

verbal communication] could enable L2 learners to communicate more effectively without having
inappropriate gestures or conversational strategies. Communication is not merely an exchange of
words. Linguistic elements, paralinguistic elements and non-verbal communication elements such as,
co-speech gestures and non-speech sounds are part of the communication and all convey meaning
(Lyons, 1995,p.97).Thus, It is essential for L2 learners to perceive and recognize intonational and
pragmatic differences. Goodwin (1996)also believes that in L2 learning, pronunciation learning
involves learning how to articulate sound segments, and also learning how to understand the
situational relationship between sound and meaning.

Balanced focus on meaning and prosodic features through planned tasks in L2 instructions can
deepen students’ awareness of such forms and make them understand the relationship between
meanings, forms, and functions in a highly context- sensitive situation (Fraser & Perth, 1999; Murphy,
2003, Muranoi, 2007). Therefore, it is necessary to study not only the linguistic element of the
conversation, but also to determine the context of the utterances.L2 learners should be able to
perceive and recognize acoustic and pragmatic differences. The use of planned instructional activities
increase the perceptual salience of commonly ignored L2 input or output features, and promotes their
noticing the gaps within their own L2 knowledge.

Acoustic parameters of speech and prosodic cues such as variation in pitch, intensity, speech rate,
duration of vowel and rhythm may be manipulated -exaggerated, diminished, sped up and slow
down- to convey illocutionary force and pragmatic attitudes. As Laver (1995) said: prosodic features
are available to speaker and listener in order to encode and decode the speech. Prosodic cues can also
provide paralinguistic information such as the speaker’s view, and attitude toward the dialogue
partner and the situation. Indeed, all the information contained in speech contributes to the
interpretation of the message.

In this paper prosodic variation conveying the commissive illocutionary force and attitude in
samples of real speech will be explored. Commonly analyzed acoustic parameters for such a
description of emotion in speech have been pitch range and duration in each prosodic contour. In this
study detailed acoustic information on illocutionary force expressed in speech by 40 speakers (20
males and 20 females) gained. Acoustic estimations are used in order to investigate the realization of
illocutionary forces by Iranian learners of English.
In this research, we supplement the production aspect with the perception aspect, it is due to the fact
that the complementarity of the production and the perception processes is the basis of the spoken
communication process and firmly establishes the communicative importance of the parameters
being studied.

2. Literature review

2.1 Theoretical Background

Searle (1975b) classified illocutionary acts based on a number of essentially pragmatic parameters. He
maintains that the expressed psychological state of speech acts, the beliefs or other mental states that
a speaker necessarily expressed by performing an act of that type. According to Searle, a language is
performing speech acts such as making statements, giving commands, asking questions or making
promises. He maintains that the expressed psychological state of speech acts, the beliefs or other
mental states that a speaker necessarily expressed by performing an act of that type. His approach
holds that SAs are only explained by special conventions that are neither semantic not pragmatic. In
his opinion, a statement has a "word- to- world" fit because it constitutes an attempt by the speaker to
make his words match the world in a certain sense. In contrast, a promise has a "world- to- word" fit
because it constitutes an undertake on the part of the speaker to make the world match his words.
Searle provides a classification of speech acts whose sub-classifications can be furthered on:
1. Commissives are speech acts that committing in varying degrees- the speaker to some future
course of action: promising, pledging, vowing, swearing, threating, and refusing.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

2. Declaratives are speech acts that themselves bring about a state of a affairs by phrasing the
utterance thus changing the external reality: marrying, naming, blessing, arresting, appointing,and
firing.
3. Directives are speech acts whose intention is to get the addressee to carry out some actions:
commanding, insisting, daring, requesting, asking, challenging, warning, and advising.
4. Expressive are speech acts that indicate the speaker’s psychological state or mental attitude toward
a state of affairs: thanking, greeting, apologizing, congratulating, welcoming,and deploring.
5. Representatives are speech acts that represent some state of affairs in varying degrees of truth with
respect to the proposition: stating, believing, concluding, denying, reporting, describing, and
introducing.
Pierrehumbert (1980) initiates an Auto segmental- Metrical theory which views intonation
contour as a string of high or low tones in the form of pitch accents and edge tones and associate with
points in the segmental string, and transitions between these points are phonologically irrelevant. A
starred pitch accent can be preceded by leading tone or followed by a trailing tone. He distinguished
between different types of tonal targets. We have seen various examples of dynamic accents, which
are the head elements of intonational phrases. In addition, Pierrehumbert proposed to use H and L
boundary tones at the beginning and end of major phrases, as well as a H or L phrase accent at the end
of each intermediate phrase. He declared that pitch accents associated with strong syllable of an
utterance consist of one high or low tone and marked with (*) as monotonal.
In the following section we refer to some related research conducted in our field of study.

2.2 Experimental Background

Research on teaching intonation has shown the importance of intonation awareness for both teachers
and students. Taylor stated: The importance of intonation cannot be overemphasized.…while
[teachers] can easily recognize the difficulties faced by non-native speakers as far as grammar and the
pronunciation of sounds are concerned, and thus make allowances for the errors made, they are
unable to do this for intonation (1993, p. 1).
Several studies have examined pronunciation change and possible intonation transfer over time.
One study by Derwing et al. (2006) examined development of accent, meaning target-like
pronunciation, and pragmatics-prosody interface. The participants were 20 Mandarin and 20 Slavic
adult learners of English. L2 speech samples were assessed at the beginning of the study, two months
later, and then ten months later. While they found only a small improvement in accent for both
groups, the Slavic speakers made significant improvement in fluency and the Mandarin group stayed
the same. Although the Slavic speakers had been judged to be less fluent at the outset, they did not
surpass the Mandarin speakers in fluency. The fluency of both groups was rated the same at the end
of the ten months. The difference in levels of improvement in fluency may be accounted for by the
fact that the Slavic speakers reported to have more interaction with native speakers. This study
showed that there was only a small improvement in pronunciation over ten months. This shows the
possibility that those focusing on learning the language may not be as focused on improving
pronunciation or more specifically intonation. This may cause them to retain their L1 intonation or
not acquire target intonation. Even the group that improved in fluency did not make a big
improvement in their pronunciation. Although this was a longitudinal study monitoring the
development of pronunciation, it did not touch on L1 intonation influence.
Ching (1982) discusses the rising pitch boundary in a southern American region in Memphis. He
found it heavily used among both men and women. Ching’s findings point not so much to social
status as to politeness as the motivation behind this intonation. The rising boundary was used to add
a deferent nondefensive, and even apologic face to an utterance whose propositional content might
otherwise offend or contradict someone. By presenting hard facts with a rising intonation, the
speaker could politely offer the recipient an opportunity to disagree.
Brown et al.(1980) studied 'systems', which include formation structure (speaker assigning
contrastively new given status to lexical items), topic structure (speaker relates to an already
established topic or beginning a new topic), affective meaning or attitude (speaker increases
involvement raised by a shift-up in key), interactional structure (speaker A using a high pitch in
asking a question, speaker B also rising a high pitch) and speech function or illocutionary force

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(speaker making a question as conductive by choosing a low terminal or as non- conductive by

choosing a not- low terminal.
According to Wennerstrom (1994) there are four major categories of intonation meaning; one is
the pitch accent, indicating which items in the information structure of the discourse are newly
introduced in the context of interaction. A second category of interaction is the pitch boundary at the
end of the intonation phrase, which indicates the interdependency among utterances. A third type of
meaning is conveyed via the choice of pitch ranges displaying a speaker attitude or reaction toward
the prior utterance. Finally, the pitch ranges associated with organizational units, indicating how the
new units are to be topically integrated with the previous ones.
Ladd et al. (1985) conducted different experiments on the relationship between prosodic cues
and emotional states. The result they obtained was that “voice quality” is primary means by which
speakers project their identity, and their social characteristics (personality, occupation , education ,
and regional origin).They also came to the conclusion that the prosodic cues: FO range , voice quality
and type of pitch contour function independently of each other in conveying pragmatic functions and
attitudes in speech .
Wang and his colleague (2003) investigated discourse intonation of Chinese speakers of English
to identify their intonation problems by examining areas of informal conversation, dialogues and
reading aloud. The analysis was based on auditory recording, appeared in the form of written
transcriptions. The findings indicated that problems exist in choosing pitch range contours in relation
with the information structure.
Laver (1995) emphasized that the prosodic function of conveying the expression of emotion
seems to involve both a linguistic and a paralinguistic component , and that it is frequently
considered a paralinguistic function , despite the doubts expressed on the subject ,he said that the
choice of contour would be more related to the type of sentence , while the pitch level and excursion
size of the pitch movements would be more related to the speaker’s emotional state.The result
confirmed that utterances produced while conveying different emotions could vary considerably
with regards to the prosodic features . The relative height of the pitch accent, and the extend of the
final lowering measurements of relative duration of accented and unaccented speech segments were
made in order to gain some insights into the internal temporal structure of emotional utterances.
Grab, Kochanski, and Coleman (2002) conducted a study on "Quantitative Modeling of
Intonation Variation" found that both dialect and utterance type can affect the shape of FO but not
the intonation patterns. They also realized that the differences in FO between questions and
statements were made throughout the utterance, in the shape of the contour and in the register.
Traditional accounts of English intonation describe questions as having final rise in FO and
statements as having a final fall. This account is valid in some dialects, but not in all. They found in
all dialects, average FO was the lowest in statements, higher in wh- and yes/ no questions. In all
dialects, FO sloped downwards in declaratives. Declarative questions were modeled as level or
overall rising. In wh- and yes/ no questions the slope did not contribute to the distinction between
questions and statements. This observation has been made for a number of other languages and it
may be evidence of an intonation universal.
Abdolhasanizadeh et al. (2013) investigated phonetic realization of focus in declarative and
interrogative sentences in Persian. Twelve native speakers of Persian recorded short declarativesand
interrogatives including clitic group and phonological word in neutral and focal conditions. The
findings indicated that small acoustic differences existed in duration, intensity, and spectral
information between initial and final accented target words in different conditions, by the side of
substantial differences in FO. Socio- cultural familiarity of EFL learners with the English expressions
and intonation patterns is so essential to provide them with grammatical structures, and
communicative strategies to convey intended meanings through different intonation devices in
various situations. L2 learners lack pragmatic knowledge and knowledge of prosodic features of the
target language. Since language functions are culturally bound, speakers should be aware of the
target language norms and conventions in order not to be considered rude in their social interactions
with a native speaker
Alinezhad and Vaysi (2007) conducted an experimental research seeking various degrees of
correspondence between prosodic cues (duration, intensity, and pitch level) and paralinguistic
information in some samples of speech in Persian. Their analysis demonstrated a significant
correlation between prosodic features and paralinguistic information in Persian.

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3. Purpose of the Study

The primary purpose of the present study aims at investigating the commissive illocutionary force
and pitch range patterns interface in real samples of speech among English and Persian speakers .It
also aims to explore the intonation variations which convey attitudinal states. This is done to find out
similarities and differences between English and Persian speech act realization patterns with different
intonation contours. In the light of the points made above, the following research questions are
raised:

RQ1: Are there any significant differences between commissive illocutionary force sub- titles in
English and Persian utterances?
RQ2: To what extent Iranian learners of English deviate from direct to indirect strategies while
employing commissive illocutionary force sub- categories?
4. Methodology
4.1Participants
The participants in this experiment were 40 students majoring in translation at Payame Noor
university in Ahvaz (20 males, 20 females) took part in the study to answer the questionnaires based
on their own knowledge on illocutionary force messages. The twenty native English speakers staying
in Torronto in Canada (8 male, 12 female) were asked to produce some English commissive IFs. They
ranged in age from 18 to 40, with an average of 21 years. Twenty Iranian participants, most of whom
were university students had previously visited English-speaking countries. Prior to the experiment,
an edited version of the Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT) listening section (Harris and
Palmer 1986) was administered to the participants in order to distinguish high and low proficiency
groups. Table 1 shows the scores of this test.

Table 1: JEFLLs’ Score of CELT Listening Section

Sample Average Median Mode SD Variance Min Max

JEFLL’s 96 17.12 15.50 23 6.o7 36.79 6 28

overall

H-JEFLLs 17 25.12 25.00 24 1.17 1.36 24 2

L-JEFLLs 18 8.78 8.00 10 1.22 1.42 7 10

Setting the average score as pivotal point, participants who scored more than the average plus one
Standard Deviation (SD) are included in high-proficiency group (H-JEFLLs) and those who scored
less than the average minus one SD are included in the low-proficiency group (L-JEFLLs).

4.2 Procedure
In this study the methodological processes consist of three phases: 1. Perception and evaluation
of commissive speech act by the subjects 2. Speech production 3. Acoustic analysis of the presented
sampled after the production and perception steps. The major source for this research project came
from dialogues in daily conversations. Ten dialogues were presented to the participants. Each
dialogue had explanation on the context and the intention of speaker Band participants were directed
to read aloud the line as if they were speaker B. Participants were asked to respond to speaker A’s
line, which was played from an MD player. All the speech recorded on the MD was converted into,
and saved as, wave file. Then PRAAT as a speech analysis software was used to analyze the samples
to find out the correspondence between the pitch ranges and the commissive illocutionary force

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against neutrality as a reference. To identify the illocutionary force, questionnaires including all
information required and related to respective forces were used. Then the sample group of the whole
population were asked to choose and tick the commissive speech acts in different sub- sections
(farewell, surprise, greeting, apology, thanking, congratulation) and then identify the related context
(meeting, birthday, driving test, visiting in the street, , receiving presents, saying goodbye, surprise)
after listening to MD player in English and Persian. Such utterances were designed to investigate
whether the learners create the same or different interpretations in different ages.

4.3 Speech Samples Analysis

The recorded speech samples were analyzed through PRAAT program software. Applying this
software, acoustic keys were specified for each illocutionary force. After the representation of
spectrograph and information existing in each, figures obtained from measurements of each
parameter were statistically analyzed and discussed based on the purpose of the study. In the
following part we will put forward Pierrhumbert’s theoretical scheme used. To analyze the
commissive speech samples of English and Persian.

Commissive Illocutionary Force Set

Figure 1.The intonation contour of the sentence ''I have a meeting.''

Pitch
Accent H*+L
Word meeting
Duration 0.68
Pitch Mean 175.81
Pitch Min 73.57
Pitch Max 237.83

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Figure 2.The intonation contour of the sentence''Jælæse daræm.''

Pitch
Accent H*+L
Word Jælæse
Duration 0.49
Pitch Mean 185.55
Pitch Min 163.72
Pitch Max 232.55

The spectrogram (1) shows that the sentence begins with a low pitch on the subject and then it rises
on the first syllable of the word "meeting" followed by a valley to make a bitonal event(H*+L).
In the Persian utterance as represented in the figure (2), the first syllable of the word "jælæse" has a
high pitch followed a fall to shape a bitonal pitch accent (H*+L) then the pitch falls gradually.
In both languages it is the noun which carries the bitonal pitch accent (H*+L) not the verb to make a
refusing act.

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Figure 3.The pitch range pattern of the utterance ''I wanna buy a new car this year.’’

Pitch
Accent H* L H
Word wanna buy car
Duration 0.29 0.26 0.39
Pitch Mean 252.22 179.93 209.72
Pitch Min 218.05 168.82 187.12
Pitch Max 270.35 231.13 247.72

Figure 4.The pitch range pattern of the utterance''Emsal mixam ye ma∫ine jædid bexæræm.'’
Pitch
Accent L+H* L* H
Word mixam ma∫ine Jædid
Duration 0.52 0.51 0.38
Pitch Mean 227.38 215.48 229.53
Pitch Min 183.72 190.14 214.95
Pitch Max 269.01 234.35 259.66
The figure (3) represents that the pitch of the utterance on the first verb (wanna)(H*) is a monotonal
event which realized as a high peak. Then the pitch shifts to a low pitch on the second verb (buy) and
the adjective (new) of the sentence until the noun of the sentence "car" which has a high accent lower
than the peak.
We have a low pitch in the Persian equivalent. The figure (4) shows that the pitch on the first word is
a bitonal event realized as a high peak on the accented syllable "mixam", starting from a lower paint
in the pitch range (L+H*).The word "ma∫ine" with low accented syllable which followed by the high
accented adjective "jædid"(H).Then gradual fall is observed.
In both languages, the first verb carries the peak of the utterance. In English it is monotonal, but in
Persian it is bitonal (L+H*). In English the adjective before noun followed by a noun is not accented
but in Persian it is the adjective which carries high accent to show a future commitment or decision.

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Figure5.The intonation contour of the utterance ''The man swore to tell the truth.''

Pitch
Accent L* H H*
Word man swore truth
Duration 0.22 0.56 0.59
Pitch Mean 198.94 207.86 218.06
Pitch Min 188.79 141.94 273.88
Pitch Max 225.01 180.76 282.38

Figure 6.The intonation contour of the utterance ''Un mærd qæsæm xord ke
hæqiqæt ro

bege.'’

Pitch
Accent L* H H*+L

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Word mærd qæsæm hæqiqæt

Duration 0.23 0.50 0.59
Pitch Mean 213.22 217.50 217.06
Pitch Min 200.24 187.18 176.42
Pitch Max 240.75 260.49 269.60

In the English utterance (5) we observe that the sentence has a low pitch accent word "man" as the old
information of the utterance. Then we have a rise in pitch on the verb "swore" (H). We see a fall on
the infinitive until the last word "truth" as the peak of the sentence.
The spectrograph (6) shows that we have a (L*) pitch on the word "mærd" as the carrier of the given
information. Then the pitch rises on the word "qæsæm" (H) followed by falling pitch range (H*+L).
In both languages the verb has a rising pitch range. In both cultures the word "truth" (hæqiæt) is the
peak of the utterance. In English it is monotonal (H*), whereas in Persian it has a bitonal event
(H*+L).

4.4 Statistical Analysis

To explore differences between English and Persian real samples of speech in commissive
speech act, the collected data were analyzed through descriptive and referential statistics to study the
degree of correlation between the pitch range and the emotions in both languages. The data related to
statistical analysis of the present study presented below:

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Commissive SA in the Persian Version of the MCQ

MCQ Version Number Mean SD

Persian 40 6.60 1.27

According to table 1, the mean and the standard deviation were calculated: 6.60 and 1.27.

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of Commissive SA in the English Version of the MCQ

MCQ Version Number Mean SD

Persian 40 4.97 1.12

In table 2, the mean and standard deviation were reported: 4.97 and 1.12. To compare the means of
the performance of the subjects on the two versions, the paired-sample t-test was employed.

Table 3: The Results of Paired-Sample T-Test

T-Test Variable MCQ Mean SD t-Value df Sig
Version Difference

Paired- Commissive English 1.62 1.83 5.60 39 0.001

Sample SA
Persian

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As seen in Table3, the results of the paired-sample t-test shows that there is a significant
difference between the mean of the performance of the participants in the two versions at p≤0.001
and the observed tvalue is 5.60. Therefore, it can be concluded that the performance of the subjects on
the Persian version of the MCQ was significantly better.

Table 4: The Results of Chi-Square Test for Commissive SA in the Persian Version of the
MCQ.
Test t-Value df Sig

Chi-Square 24.75 6 0.001

Critical Value: 12.59 (p< 0.05)

As observed in Table4, the obtained results indicated that there is a significant difference
between the direct and indirect strategies of English and Persian commissive SAs. So the guessing
factor cannot be considered. The observed value (24.75) was higher than the critical value
(12.59).Therefore, the second hypothesis relating to a significant difference between the direct and
indirect strategies of the both languages at p≤0.001 was verified.
Table 5: The Results of Chi-Square Test for Commissive SA in the English Version of the MCQ
Test t-Value df Sig

Chi-Square 9.52 4 0.05

Critical Value: 9.49 ( p<0.05)

Table 5 represents the statistics which shows a significant difference between the responses of
the learners on the two-option MCQ in the English version. It seems that the learners did not
recognize the commissive SA well. Therefore, the second hypothesis at p≤0.05 was supported, since
the observed tvalue (9.52) was higher than the critical value (9.49).

5. Discussion
This study set out to investigate the correlation between pitch range patterns and commissive
illocutionary force in English and Persian real samples of speech. As mentioned in previous sections,
the participants’ speech data was compared with the intonation models.Considering the favorite
research questions, the overall results are presented and discussed in this section.
Regarding the first research question, the results revealed that there are significant differences
between commissive illocutionary force sub- titles in English and Persian utterances, that is to say,
the given illocutionary force correlates with special pitch range in determined context. This can be
attributed to the negative impact of their L1 linguistic and sociocultural innated rules on the
production of illocutionary force in English. The results are in favor of Derwing’s (2006) study. The
study supports the claim that shift in pitch ranges significantly correlates with different speech acts.
The second research question concerned the extent that Iranian learners of English deviate from
direct to indirect strategies while employing commissive illocutionary force sub- categories. The
results also indicate that the intonation patterns of the two languages are different since their tonic
structures are not similar. The most noticeable tendency is for EFLs to use a falling tone, and this may
be due to not realizing commissive IF messages through intonation. The findings of this research
confirm the obtained results by Ladd et al. (1985) who found that “voice quality” is primary means
by which speakers project their identity, and their social characteristics. They also concluded that the
prosodic cues: FO range , voice quality and type of pitch contour function independently of each
other in conveying pragmatic functions and attitudes in speech .
However, there are two possibilities for their performance. One is that EFLs shift prominence and
pitch accents. The other possibility is that they could not distinguish the functions of intonation and

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had tendency towards sing the simplest falling tone, whereas in the English version they did not rely
entirely on falling tone, but also used complex tones such as fall-rise and rise-fall.

6. Conclusion
The present study confirms the effectiveness of interface between shift in pitch ranges and speech
acts.
The findings, however, should be interpreted with caution because factors other than the ones
investigated could have contributed to the outcomes. The logical conclusion that follows from the
findings is that syllabus designers and material developers have to take these findings into account
during the preparation of foreign language materials to the learners of both English and Persian
languages. There are specific rules for altering the prominence values in intonational phrases with
varying number of pitch accents. These will be implemented in the prosody module. The results of
the study have confirmed the influence of contour type and pitch range on speech acts such as
commissive illocutionary force.
Several factors need to be considered including the specific acoustic cues to make a phonemic
segments in L1 and L2 , the age of the speaker, the amount of exposure to the L2, the quality of the L2
input, and the extent of usage of both the L1 and the L2. We have to take into account that context is
provided verbally relates to background knowledge of the interlocutors possess already, gestural
channel in face-to- face communication to interpret the utterances appropriately.

6.1 Implications of the Study

This will provide learners with specific feedback to help them perceive the meaningful intonational
contrasts between L1 and L2 to be improved in their speech production and increases learners’
perceptual abilities through a variety of actual speech sounds that exist within a language. In order
for the EFL learners to achieve the best results, it is essential for them to be familiarized with the
strategies and linguistic knowledge of their own first language to be succeeded in learning a
foreign/second language. The study suggests that in a speech community, language and
culture are closely tied to each other and improving communicative competence requires familiarity
with the TL cultural norms and values. The necessary condition for pragmatic learning is conscious
attention to the pragmatic knowledge to be acquired for explaining situations on which students can
enhance linguistic and cultural appropriateness of commissive speech act. In order for the students to
achieve the best results, it is essential for them to be familiarized with the strategies and linguistic
knowledge of their own L1 to compare and contrast them with L2.
Teachers have the responsibility of providing the students with the necessary tools to make the
appropriate paralinguistic and socio-pragmatic decisions in the target language by providing them
with the values and perceptions of the target society. They need to make students fully aware of the
specific commissive speech act set through employing effective and efficient techniques and
strategies and familiarizing them with the intonation patterns of target language.

Focusing on learner-centered activities like role play and real discussion in natural occurring
conversations can develop the students’ target language efficiently. Authentic texts for analysis can
be taken from tapes or transcripts of real conversations from movie clips to make EFL learners aware
of native speakers’ usage of the variety of expressions to realize a directive function.

6.4 Suggestion for Further Studies

This study suggests that it is not enough to build learners’ linguistic competence and it might be
necessary to develop their socio-cultural competence, in order to increase their interpretation of the
interaction and rules of directness and indirectness within the target language.

6.3 Limitations of the study

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There are a number of limitations to the study: first, due to relatively small number of EFL learners,
the findings of this study cannot be generated to all Iranian EFL learners. Second, this research only
employed one instrument for data collection. It is recommended that in order to get more authentic
data and to increase the reliability of the finding, further studies with a large population and more
instruments should be utilized.

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INVESTIGATION OF GOOGLE TRANSLATE

TRANSLATION BASED ON LEXICO-GRAMMAR-
ERROR MODEL OF HAR INSPIRED FROM SFG
CONCERNING VERBAL PROCESS

Aghagolzadeh Ferdows
Associate professor, Linguistics Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.
Ferdowsg@yahoo.com

Kambuziya Aliyeh
Associate professor, Linguistics Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.
Akord@modares.ac.ir

Golfam Arsalan
Associate professor, Linguistics Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.
Golfam@modares.ac.ir

Rahmani Zeinolabedin
PhD candidate, candidate, Linguistics Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.
Z.rahmani@modares.ac.ir
Corresponding Author: Ferdows Aghagolzadeh

ABSTRACT
DUE TO THE FACT THAT WWW.TRANSLATE.GOOGLE.COM IS AN ACTIVE TRANSLATION
SITE, AND THERE MAY BE PROBABLE ERRORS IN THE TARGET TEXT, AND DUE TO THE
LACK OF AN APPROPRIATE FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING THE PROCESS OF PERSIAN INTO
ENGLISH TEXTS, IT SEEMS HALLIDAY'S SYSTEMATIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR (SFG)
PROVIDES A SUITABLE FRAMEWORK TO ASSESS AND PREDICT KINDS OF ERRORS TO BE
EDITED. BECAUSE THE TWO LANGUAGES HAVE DIFFERENT CONSTITUENCY ORDERS AND
MORPHOLOGICAL TYPOLOGY, SIGNIFICANT LEXICO-GEAMMAR ERRORS CAN BE
EXPECTED; OUT OF 350 CLAUSES REGARDING PHD THESIS WHICH WERE TRANSLATED BY
GOOGLE TRANSLATE, 26 BELONGED TO THE VERBAL PROCESS OF THE EXPERIENTIAL
METAFUNCTIONS OUT OF WHICH 16 CLAUSES BELONGED TO TRANSITIVE (9 UNMARKED
AND 7 MARKED) AND 10 TO INTRANSITIVE PERSIAN CLAUSES; HERE 3 UNMARKED
TRANSITIVE PERSIAN CLAUSES (SOV), 3 MARKED TRANSITIVE PERSIAN CLAUSES (SVO),
ONE PRO-DROP-MARKED TRANSITIVE PERSIAN CLAUSE (SOV), AND 4 INTRANSITIVE
PERSIAN CLAUSES HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE STUDIED AND EDITED. THESE CLAUSES
WERE CLASSIFIED AND EDITED IN CONSTITUTION CLASSIFICATION AND EDITION BOX,
THEN THEIR ERRORS WERE EVALUATED BY HAR TRANSLATION EVALUATION BOX
DESIGNED BY THE AUTHORS IN WHICH ALL THE TERMS WERE DERIVED FROM SFG.
GOOGLE TRANSLATE HAD FEWER AND LIGHTER ERRORS WHEN IT TRANSLATED PERSIAN
MARKED TRANSITIVE CLAUSES OF VERBAL PROCESS WITH THE CONSTITUENCY ORDER OF
SVO, THE SAME AS ENGLISH UNMARKED CONSTITUENCY ORDER SVO, AS WELL AS WHEN
IT TRANSLATED INTRANSITIVE PERSIAN CLAUSES OF VERBAL PROCESS OV, THE SAME AS

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ENGLISH INTRANSITIVE CLAUSE CONSTITUENCY ORDER OF OV; BUT IT HAD MORE AND
HEAVIER ERRORS WHEN IT TRANSLATED PERSIAN UNMARKED TRANSITIVE CLAUSES
WITH THE CONSTITUENCY ORDER OF SOV, OPPOSITE TO ENGLISH SVO.

KEY WORD: HAR TRANSLATION EVALUATION BOX, VERBAL PROCESS, PARTICIPANTS,

TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM.

Introduction and Review of Literature

Due to lack of an appropriate framework for assessing the process of Persian into English
translation, it seems Halliday's systematic functional grammar provides a suitable framework to
assess developments occurring in the process of translation of Google Translate. Hence, in this article,
through the same perspective, we want to evaluate the translation quality of Google translate for
transitive and intransitive verbal clauses based on HAR7 translation evaluation model derived from
SFG by the authors.
Traditionally, in translation studies, the focus has been mainly on experiential meaning,
while the textual meaning has been neglected . However, an increasing number of studies in
this field are still found in the literature, which has infused new thoughts to the translation
studies of textual choices. With the help of SFG, we see translation as centrally involving the
recreation of meaning through choices made by the translator in the interpretation of the
source text and through choices in the generation of the translated text, translation involves
recreating ideational meanings of the logical kind, ideational meanings of the experiential
kind, interpersonal meanings and textual meanings” (House, 1997).
SFG proves itself useful to the theory and practice of translation and this is why we want to
explore the theoretical problems of translation through a systemic functional perspective and to
adopt SFG as an instrument of text analysis and of the production of a new text in the target
language text. The most evident problems that come up when translating may seem to be a matter of
words and expressions, but grammar also plays a large and important role. However, SFG prefers to
talk in terms of lexico-grammar including both grammar and lexis (Halliday 1978: 39). With
reference to its important role in translation, Taylor also believes that functional grammar should be
a part of the education of a translator, because in combination with lexicon, it carries out
specific Functions and realizes specific types of meaning (Taylor 1993: 88).
As Taylor says, units of meanings are universal, whereas lexico-grammatical structures are various;
they can be transferred from one language into another through functional chunks. Through an
analysis of grammatical realization, a translator can identify different kinds of meanings. In order to
understand the meaning of a text and turn it in another language, a translator needs to divide the text
up into translatable units. If he employs SFG, he will be able to divide the flow of discourse into
lexico-grammatical units and hence into meaningful chunks or constituents (Taylor 1990). He can
start for example with breaking down the English clause into processes, participants, and
circumstances, which are the concrete expression of certain ideational meanings.
Accordingly, text is a meaningful unit, and in order to be guided towards meanings, we should
start from the bottom, meaning from the analysis of the lexico-grammatical realizations; the role of
translator is to take a look at possible translations of source language texts from a micro to a macro
level. As Taylor observes, the translator’s problems can be said to start with the word and finish with
the text (Taylor 1990: 71).
Regarding the unit of translation, Newmark indicated sentence as the best unit of translation in
the 1980s. In the 1990s, while Bassnett argued that the text should be the unit of translation, especially
when dealing with literary prose texts (1991: 118), Snell-Hornby went even further, contending
that the notion of culture was to be taken as the unit of translation (Hatim & Munday 2004: 24); In
an SFG perspective, we basically adopt the clause as a unit of translation. Halliday regards it as
a sensible unit to deal with, because it is at clause level that language represents events and is
perhaps the most fundamental category in the whole of linguistics (1994: 67). He with
Matthiessen, assert that the clause is the primary channel of grammatical energy (Halliday &
Matthiessen, 2004: 31).

1. HAR is an abbreviation for Halliday, Aghagolzadeh and Rahmani; the authors made use of Halliday's SFG and designed a model by
which every translated clause with every process can be evaluated regarding the probable lexico grammar error.

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1. Defining Research Problem

Quality in translation is certainly one of the most debated subjects. The strong interest it continues
to generate among different groups, from researchers and translation organizations to practitioners
and translation teachers, has made it a field of inquiry on its own, called translation quality
assessment (TQA). Since WWW.Translate.Google.Com is an active translation site, and there are
probable errors in it while turning one language into another, and there is no appropriate framework
for assessing the process of translation, it seems the theory of SFG can help us to find a solution to this
problem.
2. Methodology and Theoretical Concepts

The research, which is derived from a PhD thesis, plans to investigate and edit grammatical and
semantic errors of Persian into English text translated by Google Translate based on SFG by
constituent classification and edition box, and translation evaluation model of HAR designed by authors. To
reach the result, this research makes use of descriptive and exploratory method, meaning uses the
translation evaluation model of HAR inspired from Halliday's SFG to codify and weight the errors.
Considering Halliday's Transitivity System, morphology typology and constituency orders, At first clauses
are categorized in regard with applying verbal process out of other five processes of material, mental
and relational, existential, and behavioral processes, and then their errors are measured by HAR model
to determine kinds and rates of errors applied in the verbal processes of English and Persian clauses.
In this study, out of 500 Persian clauses which were taken from different abstracts of human
sciences and were given to Google translate to be translated, 26 clauses belonged to verbal process
from which 3 unmarked transitive with the constituency order of SOV, 3 marked transitive (SVO), one
pro-drop-marked transitive Persian clause (SOV), 4 intransitive Persian clauses of verbal process (OV)
have been chosen randomly to be studied.
According to Halliday, three main functions of language that language construes are called
semantic metafunctions such as ideational, interpersonal and textual. Ideational meanings (clause as
representation) are the result of language being used to represent experience, Interpersonal
meanings (clause as exchange) are used for human interaction, and textual meanings (clause as
message) are for the need of a text to be coherent and cohesive. It is our firm conviction that a
translator must attempt to translate all three different kinds of meanings, because, as Steiner and
Yallop assert, "texts are configurations of multidimensional meanings, rather than containers of
content" (Steiner & Yallop 2001: 3).
In each metafunctions, an analysis of a clause gives a different kind of structure composed from a
different set of elements. In the ideational metafunctions, a clause is analyzed into Process, Participants
and Circumstances, with different participant types and for different process types. In the textual
metafunctions, a clause is analyzed into Theme and Rheme and in the interpersonal metafunctions, a
clause is analyzed into Mood and Residue. "In order to identify these different strands of
metafunctions, we need to work with lexico-grammar; in an SFG perspective, lexico-grammar is
selected according to the purposes of a text which is serving; thus it is a matter of the choices
that a speaker makes from within the total meaning potential of the language, meaning its systems.
By systems and systemic, we mean syntagmatic ordering in language corresponding to the paradigmatic
ordering" (Halliday 1978: 40-41).
Each process is associated with a specific set of participant roles, representing different
phenomena in the semantic system of the clauses. A semantic process represented by a clause consists
of three components: the process itself, typically expressed by a verbal group, the participants in the
process, typically realized by nominal groups, and the circumstances associated with the process,
normally expressed by adverbial and prepositional groups. The circumstantial elements provide extra
information on the how, when, where and why of the process, and they can often be deleted.
Circumstances can appear not only in material processes, but also in all other process types (Eggins,
1994, p.237).
Regarding the types of process, material and mental processes are the primary ones. The material
processes describe events and actions happening in the world while the mental processes reflect our
inner workings of the minds. There is a distinction between what is going on outside in the reality

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

and what is going on inside in our mental worlds of reflection. The relational processes are concerned
with classifying and identifying things and beings. They show how one fragment of experience is
related to another. They are divided further into the sub-branches of attributive and identifying
processes. Material, mental and relational processes constitute the majority of clauses. The three other
process types belong to the intermediate subsidiary types. The behavioural processes cross the
borderline between material and mental processes. They manifest the acting out of the inner
consciousness or physiological reactions. The verbal processes lie between mental and relational
processes. They refer to the processes of saying. Finally, the existential processes fall between
relational and material processes. They are concerned with existence, the phenomena recognized to
be, or to exist (Halliday, 1994, pp.106-107; Caffarel, Martin & Matthiessen, 2004, p.170).
Regarding transitive and intransitive clauses, it is noteworthy that there is a distinction between
processes involving only one participant and those involving two or even three. Processes containing
only one participant are called intransitive or middle clauses, while those having two or more
participants are called transitive or effective clauses. (Eggins, 1994, pp.230-231). In other words, in a
middle clause, the doing is limited to the actor, whereas in an effective clause, the doing is directed at
the goal which undergoes the process (Halliday, 1994, p.110).
3. Data analysis

Persian Transitive clauses of verbal processes can be in the forms of either SOV (unmarked) or
SVO (marked) which both are translated in accordance to one of these following English patterns of
verbal processes considering the location of circumstantial adjuncts:

1) A: NC (Sayer) + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target) + Circumstantial Adjunct

or

B: NC (Sayer) + Circumstantial Adjunct + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target)

2) Circumstantial Adjunct + NC (Sayer) + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target)

3.1 Persian Transitive Clauses of Verbal Process

3.1.1 Persian Unmarked Transitive Clauses
First, 3 Persian unmarked transitive clauses (SOV constituency order) of verbal process are studied
and edited considering their constituency order, morphological typology and transitivity system of
experiential and textual metafunctions.

Table 1. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian unmarked transitive

clauses of verbal process (SOV)
NC (Sayer) Circumstantial VC ( verbal NC
Adjunct Process) (Target)

‫استادان پس از مسائل حرفهايو رفاهي خود به مسئله‬ SLT

.‫بهبود وضعيت گزينش دانشجو اشاره كردهاند‬
‫استادان‬ ‫پس از مسائل حرفه ای‬ ‫اشاره کرده اند‬ ‫به مسئله بهبود‬ SLT Constituent
‫و رفاهی خود‬ ‫وضعیت گزینش‬ Analysis and editing
‫دانشجو‬
After his professional and welfare issues have pointed to the TLT
improvement of student selection. (Google.Translate)

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)

4 8
3 9
Professors after their have pointed to the Editing TLT
professional and improveme

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welfare issues nt of
student
selection
In table one, the Persian clause consists of one verbal process of "‫"اشاره کرده اند‬, with two participants
and one circumstantial adjunct; this Persian clause is an unmarked clause based on the word
constituency order of SOV, meaning the two participants of sayer and target have preceded their
verbal process in Persian. Google translate translated Persian unmarked transitive clause of verbal
process with constituency order of SOV into English. English unmarked transitive clause of verbal
process follows the constituency order of SVO, hence, in English, in contrast to Persian, one
participant called sayer precede its verbal process and the other participant called target follows its
verbal process; accordingly, in TLT done by Google translate, we see the participant of sayer
"professors" has been deleted and this is why the error code of 8 was assigned to this clause, meaning
the omission of a constituent, and also there is a grammatical error in the circumstantial adjunct
because Google translate used "his" instead of "their".
Totally, we can say the Google translate put all constituents such as the circumstantial adjunct and
the participant of target in their right places except the participant of sayer which was deleted.

Table 2. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian unmarked transitive

clauses of verbal process (SOV)
NC (Sayer) Circumstantial VC ( verbal NC (Target)
Adjunct Process)
‫اين مقاله از منظر روانشناسی به بررسی اين موضوع می‬ SLT
. ‫پردازد‬
‫این مقاله‬ ‫از منظر روانشناسی‬ ‫می پردازد‬ ‫به این موضوع‬ SLT Constituent
Analysis and
editing
This article examines this issue from the perspective of psychology. TLT
(Google.Translate)

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)

0 12

No lexico-grammar error Editing TLT

considering textual
and experiential
metafunctions

In table 2, the Persian clause consists of one verbal process of "‫"می پردازد‬, with two participants of
"‫( "این مقاله‬the participant of sayer), and "‫( "به این موضوع‬the participant of target), and one circumstantial
adjunct; this Persian clause is an unmarked clause based on the word constituency order of SOV,
meaning the two participants of sayer and target have preceded their verbal process in Persian. The
participant of target in Persian "‫"به این موضوع‬, without considering its verbal process and by itself is a
prepositional phrase, but by considering its role with its verbal process, we see it is a noun clause and
a target participant for the process of "‫"می پردازد‬.
Google translate translated this clause into TLT with no lexico-grammar error, meaning it
successfully turned Persian unmarked transitive verbal clause with the constituency order of SOV
into English unmarked transitive verbal clause with the constituency order of SVO. (Error code of 12)

Table 3. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian unmarked transitive

clauses of verbal process (SOV)
NC (Sayer) VC ( verbal NC (Target) Circumstantial
Process) Adjunct

‫اين تحقيق به بررسي عوامل انگيزش موثر و پيشرفت تحصيلي‬ SLT

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

‫دانشجويان موفق دانشگاه در راستاي اتخاذ تصميماتي‬

.‫جهتافزايش موفقيت تحصيلي و ساير دانشجويان ميپردازد‬
‫این تحقیق‬ ‫می پردازد‬ ‫به عوامل‬ ‫در راستاي‬ SLT Constituent
‫انگيزش موثر و‬ ‫اتخاذ‬ Analysis and editing
‫پيشرفت تحصيلي‬ ‫تصميماتي‬
‫دانشجويان‬ ‫جهتافزايش‬
‫موفقيت تحصيلي موفق دانشگاه‬
‫اين دانشجويان‬
This study examines the factors affecting motivation and academic TLT
achievement of students in line with the successful adoption of measures (Google.Translate)
to increase the academic achievement of the students concerned.

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)
8 3

This study examines the factors in line with the Editing TLT
affecting adoption of considering textual
motivation and measures to and experiential
academic increase the metafunctions
achievement of academic
university achievement of
successful the students
students

In table 3, the Persian unmarked transitive clause consists of the verbal process of "‫" می پردازد‬, with
two participants of sayer and target and one circumstantial process; this unmarked transitive clause
has the constituency order of SOV in which both participants of sayer and target have preceded their
Persian verbal process. This Persian unmarked transitive clause (SOV) must be translated into (SVO)
by Google translate in which the participant of sayer must precede its process and the participant of
target must follow it.
Google translate has put the participants of sayer "this study" and target "the factors" in
appropriate locations before and after their verbal process of "examines" respectively, but regarding
the complement of the participant of target, we see some parts of its constituents have been
substituted with those of the circumstantial adjunct, for example the constituent of "successful"
belonged to the complement of the participant of target which by Google translate it was wrongly
placed inside the constituent of circumstantial adjunct (Error code of 3).

4.1.2 Persian Marked Transitive Clauses (SVO)

Here, 3 Persian marked transitive clauses with the constituency order of SVO are studied and edited
considering their constituency order, morphological typology and transitivity system of experiential
and textual metafunctions. When Persian transitive clause of verbal process gets marked, its
constituency order will be the same as English, meaning both languages will follow the order of SVO;
hence, in the following we want to investigate if this change in Persian with the marked order of SVO,
the same as English and compared to its unmarked order of SOV has any effect in the translation of
Persian into English by Google translate.
Persian transitive clauses of verbal processes in any order of either SOV (unmarked) or SVO must
be translated in accordance to one of these following English orders of verbal processes considering
the location of circumstantial adjuncts:

1) A: NC (Sayer) + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target) + Circumstantial Adjunct

or

B: NC (Sayer) + Circumstantial Adjunct + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target)

2) Circumstantial Adjunct + NC (Sayer) + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target)

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Table 4. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian marked transitive

clauses of verbal process (SVO)
NC (Sayer) Circumstantial VC ( verbal NC (Target)
Adjunct Process)

‫تجربيات موفق مؤسسات کوچک و متوسط در کشورهاي در حال‬ SLT

... ‫توسعه و توسعه يافته نشان مي دهد که‬
‫تجربیات موفق‬ ‫در کشورهای در حال‬ ‫نشان می دهد‬ ... ‫که‬ SLT Constituent Analysis
‫موسسات‬ ‫توسعه و توسعه یافته‬ and editing
‫کوچک و‬
‫متوسط‬
The successful experiences of small and medium enterprises in TLT
developed and developing countries show that ... (Google.Translate)

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of constituent

error(s)

0 12

No lexico-grammar error Editing TLT considering

textual and experiential
metafunctions

In table 4, the Persian transitive clause is marked with the constituency order of SVO, the same as
English constituency order SVO; While in Persian unmarked transitive clauses (SOV) as shown in
table one to three, both the participants of sayer and target preceded their process, here in marked
transitive clause (SVO), we see that one participant (sayer) has preceded its process and the other one
(target) has followed its process which has become similar to English SVO.
By Google translate, the Persian marked transitive clause with the constituency order of SVO has
been turned into English unmarked transitive clause with the same constituency order with no lexico-
grammar error. (Error code of 12).
1. Constituency Order of Persian Transitive Marked Clause (SVO)

‫ مشارک هدف‬+ ‫ فرایند بیانی گذرا‬+ ‫مشارک گوینده‬ ←

Target verbal Process Sayer

2. Constituency Order of English Transitive Unmarked Clause (SVO)

TLT Pattern: NC (Sayer) + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target)

Table 5. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian marked transitive

clauses of verbal process (SVO)
NC (Sayer) Circumstantial VC ( verbal NC (Target)
Adjunct Process)

‫نتايج حاصل از يافته هاي تحقيق در بين سازمانها به‬ SLT

... ‫عنوان يک عامل مزيت رقابتي نشان داد که‬
‫نتایج حاصل‬ ‫از یافته های تحقیق در‬ ‫نشان داد‬ ... ‫که‬ SLT Constituent
‫بین سازمانها به عنوان‬ Analysis and
‫یک عامل مزیت رقابتی‬ editing
The results from this study showed that among organizations as a TLT
competitive advantage that … (Google.Translate)

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‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)

8 3

The results from this study showed that … Editing TLT

among considering textual
organizations as a and experiential
competitive metafunctions
advantage

In table 5, the Persian clause is transitive and marked, so its constituency order is SVO into which
the participant of sayer precedes its process and the participant of target follows it like in English
transitive verbal clause SVO.
Google translate has placed the participant of sayer "the results" and the participant of target "that
…" in their right places, but substituted some constituents of circumstantial adjunct from the left part
of English process to its right, making the error code of 3. Totally we can say Google translate
correctly placed the two participants, one on the left and another on the right side of their process
based on the English order of SVO and error was not due to the places of verbal process and its two
participants, but due to the circumstantial adjuncts which changing its place changed the meaning of
the clause.

Table 6. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian marked transitive

clauses of verbal process (SVO)
NC (Sayer) VC ( verbal NC (Target) Circumstantial
Process) Adjunct

...‫اين پژوهش به اين سوال پاسخ می دهد که‬ SLT

‫این پژوهش‬ ‫پاسخ می دهد‬ ... ‫به این سوال که‬ - SLT Constituent
Analysis and
editing
The study answers the question that ... TLT
(Google.Translate)
‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of
constituent error(s)

0 12

No lexico-grammar error Editing TLT

considering textual
and experiential
metafunctions

In table 6, The Persian transitive clause is marked with the constituency order of SVO, this order
means one participant in Persian marked transitive clause precedes its process and the other follows
it. In this clause, the participant of sayer "‫"این پژوهش‬, and the participant of "... ‫ "که‬have respectively
preceded and followed their verbal process of "‫ ;"پاسخ می دهد‬in English also the same order should be
followed for the participants of sayer and target in relation to their verbal process as in below:

TLT Pattern: NC (Sayer) + VC (Verbal Process) + NC (Target)

Google translate not only has found appropriate equivalences for the participants of the Persian
clause and its process, but also followed the appropriate constituency order of SVO, the same as
Persian marked Transitive clause SVO with no lexico-grammar error (error code of 12).

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4.1.3 Persian Pro-drop-Marked Transitive Clauses

Persian contrary to English is a pro-drop language and hence, its subject can be deleted. In table 8
in below, a Persian pro-drop transitive clause was given to Google translate, because the subject (the
participant of sayer) was not in the SLT, Google translate couldn’t recognize it and left it (error code
of 8); it also didn’t regard the order of the participant of target with its verbal process of "deals with"
(error code of 2), in other words, Google translate wrongly followed the constituency order of:

… the participant of target + verbal process …

instead of:

… Verbal Process + the participant of target + …

Table 7. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian Pro-drop-marked

transitive clauses of verbal process (SVO)
NC (Sayer) VC ( verbal NC (Target) Circumstantial
Process) Adjunct

‫به ارائه پيشنهادات و نتيجهگيري از موضوعات ارائه شده‬ SLT ‫بند‬

.‫ميپردازد‬
7
‫به پيشنهادات‬ SLT Constituent
)‫آن (این مقاله‬ ‫می پردازد‬ ‫و نتيجهگيري‬ - Analysis and
‫از موضوعات‬ editing
‫ارائه شده‬
To provide suggestions and conclusion of deals with the issues raised. TLT
(Google.Translat
e)
‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of
constituent
error(s)
8 2
4 8
(It) this article deals with some - Editing TLT
suggestions and considering
conclusion of the textual and
presented issues experiential
metafunctions

4.2 Persian Intransitive Clauses of Verbal Process

While in both marked S +V +O and unmarked S +O +V Persian transitive clauses of verbal

process, there are at least two participants of sayer and target in which the participant of sayer
precedes its process in both orders, the participant of target may precede or follow the process
depending on unmarked and marked transitive clauses respectively, but in Persian intransitive clause
of verbal process, there is only one participant called target which precedes its process and the other
participant called sayer if existing will be in the form of a circumstantial adjunct.

To translate the Persian intransitive clause of verbal process into English by considering the
constituency order, textual such as the location of circumstantial adjunct and experimental
metafunctions, one of the following constituency orders must be followed:

1A. NC (Target) + VC (Verbal Process) + Circumstantial Adjunct

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or

1B. NC (Target) + Circumstantial Adjunct + VC ( verbal Process)

2. Circumstantial Adjunct +NC (Target) + VC ( verbal Process)

Table 8. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian intransitive clauses of

verbal process (OV)
NG (Target) VC ( verbal Circumstantial
Process) Adjunct

.‫روشهای مختلفی به منظور محاسبه اين شاخص ارائه شده است‬ SLT
‫روشهای مختلفی‬ ‫ارائه شده است‬ ‫به منظور‬ SLT Constituent
‫محاسبه این شاخص‬ Analysis and editing
Various methods have been proposed in order to calculate the index. TLT
(Google.Translate)

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)
0 12
No lexico-grammar error Editing TLT
considering textual and
experiential
metafunctions

In table 7, the Persian clause is intransitive with the verbal process of "‫"ارائه شده است‬, this Persian
intransitive clause has one participant on its right side. This participant which is target precede its
process not only in Persian transitive (S+O+V), but also in Persian intransitive (O+V) clauses which
are unmarked. In English transitive clauses, the participant of target follows its process, and in
intransitive ones, it precedes the process; hence, in both English and Persian intransitive clauses, the
participant of target precedes its process based on the constituency order of OV.

The Persian clause consists of a participant (sayer), a circumstantial adjunct and a process;
considering the constituency order of OV for both English and Persian intransitive clauses, and
textual metafunctions such as the location of circumstantial adjunct in SLT, Google translated turned
Persian clause to English clause with no lexico grammar error based on the order of NC (Target) + VC
(Verbal Process) + Circumstantial Adjunct. (Error code of 12)

Table 9. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian intransitive clauses of

verbal process (OV)
NG (Target) Circumstantial Adjunct VC ( -
verbal
Process)
‫راهبردها و برنامههايي جهت توسعه صنعت توريسم با توجه به‬ SLT
‫ اجتماعي‬،‫ساختار منطقه به عنوان عاملي براي توسعه اقتصادي‬
.‫و فرهنگي ارائه شده اند‬
‫راهبردها و‬ ‫جهت توسعه صنعت توريسم با‬ ‫ارائه‬ SLT Constituent
‫برنامههايي‬ ‫شده اند توجه به ساختار منطقه به‬ - Analysis and
‫عنوان عاملي براي توسعه‬ editing
‫ اجتماعي و فرهنگي‬،‫اقتصادي‬
Strategies and plans for tourism development with regard to the region as a TLT
factor for economic, social and cultural offered (Google.Translate)

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)

4 8
6 5
Some strategies for tourism development with were Editing TLT
and plans regard to the region structure as a offered considering textual
factor for economic, social and and experiential
cultural development metafunctions

In table 8, the Persian clause is intransitive with the constituency order of OV; considering the
textual and experiential metafunctions, this Persian clause must be translated into English
constituency order of OV according to one of the following orders:

A. NC (Target) + VC (Verbal Process) + Circumstantial Adjunct

or

B. NC (Target) + Circumstantial Adjunct + VC (Verbal Process)

Google translate followed the above pattern (part B) appropriately, and placed all constituents of
target, circumstantial adjunct and the process in their right places, but there are some errors with the
codes of 8 and 5 relating to omission of some parts of a constituent and grammatical error of process
respectively. The error code of 8 is due to the omission of some part of the circumstantial adjunct of ‫"با‬
"‫توجه به ساختار منطقه‬, and some part of the noun group of "‫"توسعه فرهنگی‬, which by Google translate, was
translated as "with regard to the region" instead of "with regard to the region structure", and as "cultural"
instead of "cultural development". Meanwhile, the error code of 5 is due to grammatical error of the
process which by Google translate was translated as "offered" instead of "were offered".

Table 10. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian intransitive clauses of
verbal process (OV)
NG (Target) Circumstantial Adjunct VC ( verbal
Process)
‫ارزشيابي و بازنگري اين برنامه ها و تشخيص نقاط قوت و ضعف‬ SLT
.‫آنها مورد تاكيد قرار گرفته است‬
‫ارزشيابي و‬ ‫مورد تاكيد اين برنامه ها و تشخيص‬ SLT Constituent
‫بازنگري‬ ‫قرار گرفته نقاط قوت و ضعف آنها‬ Analysis and
‫است‬ editing
Evaluation and review of these programs and identify strengths and TLT
weaknesses are emphasized. (Google.Translate)

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)

3 9

Evaluation and of these programs and are Editing TLT

review identification emphasized considering textual
of their strengths and weaknesses and experiential
metafunctions

In table 9, the Persian intransitive clause with the constituency order of OV has one participant of
target which preceded its process, such an intransitive Persian clause must be translated into English
somehow that the participant in English also precedes its process.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Google translate put all constituents of the participant of target, circumstantial adjunct and process in
their appropriate locations, such as putting the participant of target before its process, but there has
been a grammatical error relating to the circumstantial adjunct. Regarding to some part of the
circumstantial adjunct, Google translate used "identify strength" instead of using "identification of
their strength". (Error code of 9).

Table 11. Constituency investigation and lexico-grammar edition of Persian intransitive clauses of
verbal process (OV)
Circumstantial NG (Target) VC ( verbal
Adjunct Process) -
.‫در ارتباط با موضوع پنج فرضيه ارائه شدهاست‬ SLT
‫در ارتباط با موضوع‬ ‫پنج فرضیه‬ ‫ارائه شده است‬ - SLT Constituent
Analysis and
editing
In relation to the subject five hypotheses presented. TLT
(Google.Translate)

‫وزن خطا‬ ‫کد خطا‬ Description of

constituent error(s)

6 5
In relation to the five hypotheses were presented - Editing TLT
subject considering textual
and experiential
metafunctions

In table ten, the Persian clause is intransitive consisting of a circumstantial adjunct, the participant
of target and process respectively; the circumstantial adjunct in this clause unlike other intransitive
clauses studied in table seven to nine is the first constituent of the clause, and has preceded the
participant of target. This Persian intransitive clause is marked because of the location of the
circumstantial adjunct as the first constituent of the clause. While for the clauses from table seven to
nine, regarding the location of Persian circumstantial adjunct, one of the two following English
patterns was used for their translation:

A. NC (Target) + VC (Verbal Process) + Circumstantial Adjunct

or

B. NC (Target) + Circumstantial Adjunct + VC (Verbal Process)

For the clause in table ten, the constituency order of Circumstantial Adjunct +NC (Target) + VC
(Verbal Process) is followed not to disregard the textual metafunctions.

Google translate not only regarded the textual metafunctions and placed the equivalence of
Persian circumstantial adjunct as the first constituent of the clause, but also it placed the participant of
target before it process and in its right place; the assigned error doesn’t refer to the constituency
order, textual and experimental metafunctions but to the grammatical error of the process because
Google translate used "presented" instead of "were presented".

4. Conclusion

Three unmarked transitive Persian clauses (SOV), 3 marked transitive Persian clauses (SVO), one pro-
drop-marked transitive Persian clause (SOV), and 4 intransitive Persian clauses were studied to figure
out what kind of errors they have when translated by Google translate. These clauses were first

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

classified and edited in constitution classification and edition box, then their probable errors were
evaluated by HAR translation evaluation box.
Google translate had fewer and lighter errors when it translated Persian marked transitive clauses
of verbal process with the constituency order of SVO which is the same as English unmarked
constituency order SVO, out of three marked transitive Persian clauses of verbal process which were
translated by Google translate, two of them had no lexico-grammar error (error code of 12), and one
had error code of 3 regarding joining the heads of process and/or participants with inappropriate
dependents.
When it also translated intransitive Persian clauses of verbal process OV which is the same as
English intransitive clause constituency order of OV, it had fewer and lighter errors, out of 4
intransitive Persian clauses given to Google, one clause had no lexico grammar error, the second
clause had the error codes of 8 and 5 related to omission of constituent in TLT, and grammatical error
of the verbal process respectively, in the third and 4 th clause the error codes of 9 and 5 were assigned
which respectively were due to grammatical error in participant and in verbal process.
But it had more and heavier errors when it translated Persian unmarked transitive clauses with the
constituency order of SOV, opposite to English SVO; out of three translated clauses, one had no
lexico-grammar error and the other two had the error codes of 8, 9 and 3. Pro-drop marked transitive
clauses which are used with the constituency order of OV, contrary to English SVO, also had heavy
error of 2 along with error code of 8.
Totally, when the constituency order and morphological typology of SLT and TLT are
considerably different, there will be heavier errors done by Google translate, and as far as the
constituency order of one of them gets the same as the other one due to getting marked or
intransitivity, there will be lighter errors based on the introduced translation evaluation box.

REFERENCES
Bell R.T. (1991). Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice, London/New York, Longman.
Caffarel, A., Martin, J. R., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2004). Language typology: A
functional perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Catford, J. C. (1965). A linguistic theory of translation. London: Oxford University Presss.
Ckersley, Helen (2002). Systems for Evaluating Translation Quality.In Multilingual
ComputingandTechnology, (3).
Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to systemic functional linguistics. London: Pinter.
Hale, Ken. (1983). Warlpiri and the Grammar of Non-Configurational Languages. Natural Language
and Linguistic Theory.
Halliday, M.A.K (1978). Language as Social Semiotic: the Social Interpretation of Language and
Meaning. London: Arnold.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1992). Language Theory and Translation Practice, Rivista internazionale di
tecnica della traduzione.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar, 2 nd Edition. London: Arnold.
Halliday M.A.K. (2001). Towards a theory of good translation, in Exploring Translation and
Multilingual Text Production: Beyond Content. Ed. by E. Steiner & C. Yallop, Berlin/New York,
Mouton de Gruyter.
Halliday, M.A.K. & C. Matthiessen (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar, 3 rd Edition.
London: Arnold.
Hatim, B. & J. Munday (2004) Translation: An Advanced Resource Book, London/New York:
Routledge.

House, J. (1997) Translation Quality Assessment: A Model Revisited, Tübingen: GunterNarr.

House, J. (2001). How do we know when a translation is good?, in Steiner, E. & C. Yallop (eds)
(2001).
House, J. (2001). Translation Quality Assessment: Linguistic. Description versus Social Evaluation. In
Meta, 46 (2).
Kim M. (2007) “Using Systemic Functional text analysis for translator education: An illustration with
a focus on textual meaning”, The Interpreter and Translator Trainer.

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

Martin, J. R., Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., & Painter, C. (2010). Deploying functional grammar.
Beijing: Commercial Press.
Newmark, P. (1980). Approaches to translation. Oxford and New York: Prentice Hall.

Steiner, E. & C. Yallop (eds) (2001) Exploring Translation and Multilingual Text Production:
Beyond Content, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Taylor C. (1990) Aspects of Language and Translation: Contrastive Approaches for Italian/English
Translators, Udine, Campanotto Editore.
Taylor, C. (1993). Systemic Linguistics and Translation, in Gibson, T. & C. Stainton (eds.)
Occasional Papers in Systemic Linguistics, 7. Nottingham: University of Nottingham, p 87-103.
Taylor, C. & A. Baldry (2001), “Computer assisted text analysis and translation: a functional
approach in the analysis and translation of advertising texts”, in Steiner, E. & C. Yallop (eds)
(2001), 277-305.

Appendixes
Box one: translation evaluation model of HAR designed by the authors.
Error code Error description Error weight
1 Misinterpretation of SLT 8

2 No consideration of the orders of VC and its 8

participants
3 Heads of VC and/or participants with 8
inappropriate dependents
4 No consideration of Halliday's textual metafunction 7
OR circumstantial adjuncts constituency orders
5 Grammatical error of VC process in TLT 6

6 Errors due to morphological typology 5

7 Translation intrusive, retain SLT 5

8 Omission of SLT from TLT 4

9 Local errors of participants 3

10 Inappropriate technical vocabulary 2

11 miscellaneous 2

12 No error 0

Box Two: Constitution Classification and Edition Box

There + to existent Circumstantial
be process Adjunct8
SLT9 ‫بند‬
SLT Constituent Analysis
and editing10

8
According to textual metafunctions of Halliday's systematic functional grammar, circumstantial adjuncts may be placed as a first
constituent before existential process and existent as bellow:
→ Circumstantial adjunct + there + be (existential process) + existent

9
Source Language Text is placed here.
10
The source language text, if needed, is edited and divided into chunks or constituents

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

TLT11
(Google.Translate)

Error Weight Error Code Description of constituent

error(s)12

Editing TLT considering

textual and experiential
metafunctions13

11
Target Language Text is placed here.
12
The probable errors in TLT done by Google translate are evaluated by the translation evaluation model of HAR to codify and weight the
errors.
13
In this part, TLT is edited by human translator considering the textual and experiential metafunctions.

Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016 Page 507

 ‫)‪Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM‬‬

‫‪Special Article in Persian‬‬

‫‪CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF TWO LANGUAGES‬‬

‫‪WITH THE SAME NAME IN TWO DIFFERENT‬‬
‫‪GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: AINU LANGUAGE IN‬‬
‫‪CHINA AND AINU LANGUAGE IN JAPAN‬‬

‫‪Samaneh Satari‬‬
‫‪M.A. in Ancient Iranian Languages and Culture‬‬
‫‪Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran‬‬
‫‪Email: samaneh.satari1@gmail.com‬‬

‫بررسی مقابله ای دو زبان هم نام در دو منطقه ی جغرافیایی مختلف‪ :‬زبان آینوی چین و‬
‫زبان آینوی ژاپن‬
‫چکیده‬
‫نام «آینو» از دو منطقه ی جغرافیایی مختلف‪ ،‬صورت گرفته است‪ .‬یکی‬ ‫در این تحقیق مطالعهای برای بررسی مقابلهای دو زبان متفاوت اما هم ِ‬
‫از این زبانها در منطقهی سینکیانگ چین و دیگری در جزایر هوکایدو و ساخالین در منطقهای در نزدیکی ژاپن و روسیه تکلم می شود‪ .‬با‬
‫وجود عدم ارتباط این دو زبان با یکدیگر‪ ،‬تشابه اسمی موجود‪ ،‬موجب به وجود آمدن برخی سوء تفاهمها در مورد ریشه و خاستگاه آنها شده‬
‫است؛ تا جایی که برخی به اشتباه تصور می کنند که این دو زبان متفاوت در واقع یک زبان هستند و حتی این زبان فرضی را از خانوادهی‬
‫زبانهای ایرانی در نظر گرفتهاند‪ .‬در این تحقیق با مطالعهی پیشینهی تاریخی و نژادی این دو قوم‪ ،‬بررسی مقابلهای برخی واژگان‪ ،‬مقایسهی‬
‫سیستم شمارش و نظام نوشتاری و نیز موقعیت جغرافیایی آنها‪ ،‬تالش شده است تا برخی سوء تفاهمهای پیش آمده برطرف گردد‪ .‬بر اساس‬
‫نتایج به دست آمده میتوان ادعا کرد که زبان آینوی چین که در ایالت سینکیانگ تکلم میشود‪ ،‬همان زبان اویغوری‪ ،‬از شاخهی زبانهای‬
‫اورال–آلتایی است که واژههای بسیاری از زبانهای ایرانی و بهویژه زبان فارسی به آن راه یافته است؛ اما بر خالف ادعای برخی‬
‫صاحبنظران‪ ،‬نمیتوان به طور حتم ادعا کرد که این زبان‪ ،‬زبانی ایرانی است؛ و نیز نتیجه گرفت که زبان آینوی ژاپن‪ ،‬هیچگونه ارتباطی با‬
‫زبانهای ژاپنی و ایرانی ندارد‪ .‬به دلیل مسائل فرهنگی و سیاسی‪ ،‬هماکنون زبان آینوی چین شدیدا ً در معرض خطر نابودی و انقراض قرار‬
‫دارد‪ ،‬اما زبان آینوی ژاپن از موقعیت فرهنگی و اجتماعی نسبتا ً مناسبی برخوردار است‪.‬‬
‫کلمات کلیدی‪ :‬زبان آینو‪ ،‬زبان فارسی‪ ،‬زبان اویغوری‪ ،‬زبان ژاپنی‬

‫‪ -1‬مقدمه‬
‫در دنیا زبانهایی وجود دارد که اطالعات کمی دربارهی آنها در دست است‪ .‬برخی از این زبانها به دلیل نداشتن نظام نوشتاری و اقلیت‬
‫گویشوران در یک منطقه ی جغرافیایی خاص در معرض خطر انقراض هستند‪ .‬زبان آینو در جزایر هوکایدو و ساخالین ژاپن از جملهی این‬
‫زبان هاست‪ .‬تعداد بسیار کمی گویشور به زبان آینو وجود دارد‪ .‬زبان دیگری به همین نام در ایالت سینکیانگ چین وجود دارد‪ .‬شباهت نام این‬
‫دو زبان و این مسأله که کدام یک از آنها زبانی ایرانیست‪ ،‬موجب ایجاد سوء تفاهمها و درگیریهای فرهنگی بسیاری بهویژه در فضای‬
‫مجازی شده است‪ .‬بسیاری این دو زبان را یک زبان فرض کردهاند و بههمین دلیل تناقضهای بسیاری در مطالعات و اطالعات مربوط به این‬
‫دو زبان وجود دارد‪ .‬زبان آینو در جزایرهوکایدو و ساخالین در ارتباط با زبان ژاپنی هستند‪ .‬در واقع ارتباط زبانی بین این دو زبان وجود‬
‫ندارد‪ ،‬تنها به دلیل نزدیکی جغرافیایی و تاریخی‪ ،‬زبان آینو همواره در کنار زبان ژاپنی میآید‪ .‬زبان آینوی چین هم ارتباط نزدیکی با زبانهای‬
‫اویغوری (از شاخهی زبانهای اورال‪-‬آلتایی) و فارسی دارد‪.‬‬
‫سایت تابناک مطلبی از حمید شفیعزاده منتشر کرده است که ادعا میکند گروهی ایرانی تبار در چین و ژاپن مورد تبعیض نژادی دولت ژاپن‬
‫هستند و درخواست شده است که ایرانیان این قوم را حمایت و کمک کنند )‪ .(http://www.tabnak.ir : 1391‬بهنام جاهدزاده در‬
‫وبسایت مرکز مطالعات ژاپن از نشر اطالعات ضد و نقیض دربارهی اقوام ایرانی در ژاپن سخن میگوید و چنین شایعات غیرعلمی و اثبات‬
‫نشدهای را رد میکند) ‪ .( http://japanstudies.ir : 1391‬ویکیپدیا در مدخل آینو به معرفی زبان آینو پرداخته و یادآوری کرده است که‬
‫«با زبان آینو (ژاپن) اشتباه نشود» و سپس ذکر میکند که گروهی ایرانی در زمان ساسانیان به چین و ژاپن مهاجرت کردهاند و خود را عبدال‬
‫می نامند و سپس در مدخل آینوی ژاپن میگوید که این زبان در روسیه و ژاپن تکلم می شده است‬
‫)‪.(www.wikipedia.com : 1392‬‬
‫در این مقاله سعی بر آن است تا ضمن معرفی مختصری از زبانهای ژاپنی و اویغوری به توصیف دو زبان آینوی ژاپن و چین بپردازیم و‬
‫چگونگی ارتباط این زبانها را با هم بررسی کنیم‪.‬‬

‫‪-2‬پیشینه تحقیق‬
‫‪ -1-2‬آینوی ژاپن‬

‫‪Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016‬‬ ‫‪Page 508‬‬

 ‫)‪Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM‬‬

‫در سال ‪ 1990‬ماسایوشی شیباتانی‪ 14‬کتابی به نام «زبان های ژاپن» منتشر کرد و در آن به مقایسهی مفصلی از دو زبان ژاپنی و آینو‬
‫پرداخت‪ .‬در سال ‪ ،2001‬برت ل‪ .‬واکر ‪ 15‬به شرح نسبتا ً مفصلی از فرهنگ و تاریخ آینوی ژاپن پرداخت و روابط سیاسی و فرهنگی آینو با‬
‫روسیه و ژاپن را به تفصیل شرح داد‪ .‬دایرةالمعارف جامع زبانهای دنیا با نظارت کیت براون‪ )2009( 16‬و همکاری بسیاری از زبان شناسان‬
‫از سراسر دنیا بسیاری از زبانهای دنیا از جمله آینوی ژاپن را معرفی کرده اما اشارهای به آینوی چین نشده است‪.‬‬

‫‪ -2-2‬آینوی چین‬
‫نخستین بار در دهههای ‪ 1970‬و ‪ 1980‬بود که توجه زبانشناسان به زبان آینوی چین جلب شد‪ .‬محققانی چون هاکسیم‪ 17‬و ژائو‪, 1982( 18‬‬
‫‪ ، )1981‬الدستاتر‪ 19‬و تیته‪ )1994( 20‬و ووروم‪ )1997( 21‬تحقیقات بسیاری دربارهی این زبان انجام دادند (رابیتز‪ .)383 :2012 ، 22‬در‬
‫اطلس زبانهای اقیانوسیه‪ ،‬آسیا و آمریکا‪ ،‬بخشی به زبان آینوی چین اختصاص داده شده است که درآن می و‪ .‬لی اسمیت‪ 23‬به شرح نسبتا جامعی‬
‫از این زبان پرداخته است‪.‬‬

‫‪ -3-2‬اویغوری‬
‫مطالعات بسیاری بر روی خانوادهی زبان ترکی انجام شده است‪ .‬جانسون‪ )2001( 24‬تمامی شاخههای زبان ترکی را بررسی کرده است و به‬
‫شرح زبان آینوی چین ‪-‬که در ارتباط با زبان ترکی اویغوری است‪ -‬نیز پرداخته است‪ .‬همچنین جواد هیئت به طور جامع تاریخ و ریشهی‬
‫زبانهای ترکی را در کتاب «سیری در تاریخ زبان و لهجه های ترکی» شرح میدهد (هیئت‪.)1380 :‬‬
‫به طور کلی مطالعات علمی و موثقی در ایران بر روی دو زبان آینوی ژاپن و چین صورت نگرفته و تنها در سایت های فرهنگی آنالین‬
‫اشاراتی به این زبانها شده است که اکثر این اطالعات و مطالب متناقض و غیر قابل استناد هستند‪.‬‬

‫‪ -3‬بحث و تحلیل‬
‫‪ -1-3‬زبان اویغوری‬
‫زبان ترکی از لحاظ نسبی و تباری جزء زبانهای اورال‪-‬آلتایی‪ 25‬یا به بیان صحیحتر از گروه زبانهای آلتایی است‪ .‬زبان اویغوری که یکی از‬
‫شاخههای زبانهای ترکی است‪ ،‬در غرب چین در ایالت خودمختار سینکیانگ زبان ساکنان بومی این منطقه است‪ .‬نظام نوشتاری این زبان‬
‫همان نظام نوشتاری عربی است اما برخی نویسهها کمی متفاوت است و ‪ 35‬درصد لغات و کلمات آن از زبان فارسی به عاریت گرفته شده‬
‫است که اغلب به همان معنای فارسی خود و در برخی از کلمات در معنایی غیر از معنی اصلی به کار برده میشود‪ .‬درحالی که نظام نوشتاری‬
‫تمام شاخه های زبان ترکی در سراسر جهان تغییر کرده است‪ ،‬زبان اویغوری تنها زبان ترکی در جهان امروز است که نظام نوشتاری عربی‬
‫خود را حفظ کرده است (سابقی‪.)81 :1384 ،‬‬
‫ساکنان بومی پیش از ورود مغولها‪ ،‬قبایلی نظیر سکاها‪ ،‬تخاریها و سغدها بودهاند که به زبان فارسی سخن میگفتند و در این منطقه زندگی‬
‫میکردند‪ ،‬آنها از نظر زبان و فرهنگ به فارسها خیلی نزدیک بودند و با افسانههای قدیم فارسی آشنایی زیادی داشتند (سلیمان‪.)45 :1382 ،‬‬
‫در قرن ‪ 9‬هجری قمری (‪ 840‬میالدی) به علت بروز قحطی و خشکسالی و بحران اجتماعی در فالت مغولستان‪ ،‬تعداد زیادی از مغولها از‬
‫محل سکونت خود مهاجرت کردند و به سرزمین سینکیانگ وارد شدند و از اختالط مهاجران و سایر اقوام ترک با ساکنان بومی‪ ،‬نژاد جدیدی‬
‫به وجود آمد که بعدها به «اویغور» معروف شدند (سابقی‪ .)82 :1384 ،‬براساس اظهارات آقای دکتر ضمیر سعدهللا‪ ،‬محقق آکادمی علوم‬
‫اجتماعی سینکیانگ‪ ،‬هنوز هم در منطقهای بین یارکند و ختن گروهی از بازماندگان اقوام ایرانی سکونت دارند که از نظر فرهنگ و گویش‬
‫زبانی بسیار به اقوام قدیمی شرق ایران شباهت دارند (سابقی‪.)82 :1384 ،‬‬

‫‪ -2-3‬آینوی چین‬
‫در امتداد جاده ابریشم از کاشغر تا ختن‪ ،‬در منطقه خود مختار سینگکیانگ‪ 26‬چین‪ ،‬گروه کوچکی زندگی میکنند که خود را آینو مینامند (لی‬
‫اسمیت‪ .)851 :1996 ،‬آینوها رسما ً تحت ملیت اویغور هستند‪ ،‬اما خود این مردم ادعا میکنند که بازماندگان ایرانیان باستان هستند‪ .‬در حدود‬
‫قرن ‪ ،17-16‬هنگامی که فعالیتهای جاده ابریشم کمتر شده بود‪ ،‬تعدادی از تاجران پارسی در جاده ابریشم‪ ،‬در مناطقی که امروزه آینوها‬

‫‪14‬‬
‫‪Masayoshi Shibatani‬‬
‫‪15‬‬
‫‪Brett L.Walker‬‬
‫‪16‬‬
‫‪Keith Brown‬‬
‫‪17‬‬
‫‪Haxim‬‬
‫‪18‬‬
‫‪Zhao‬‬
‫‪19‬‬
‫‪Ladstatter‬‬
‫‪20‬‬
‫‪Tietze‬‬
‫‪21‬‬
‫‪Wurum‬‬
‫‪22‬‬
‫‪Robbeets‬‬
‫‪23‬‬
‫‪Mei W.Lee-Smith‬‬
‫‪24‬‬
‫‪Johnson‬‬
‫‪25‬‬
‫زبانهای اورال‪-‬آلتایی به مجموعهی زبانهایی گفته میشود که مردمان متکلم به آنها از منطقه ی بین کوههای اورال و آلتایی‬
‫(در شمال ترکستان) برخاسته و هر گروه در زمانهای مختلف به نقاط مختلف مهاجرت کردهاند‪ .‬این گروه زبانها شامل‬
‫زبانهای فنالند‪ ،‬مجارستان(اورالیک) و زبانهای ترکی‪ ،‬مغول‪ ،‬منچو و توفقوز (زبان های آلتایی) است (هیئت‪.)18 :1365 ،‬‬
‫‪26‬‬
‫‪Xinjiang‬‬

‫‪Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016‬‬ ‫‪Page 509‬‬

 ‫)‪Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM‬‬

‫زندگی می کنند‪ ،‬ساکن شدند‪ .‬بر اثر توقف تجارت در جاده ابریشم‪ ،‬این ایرانیان در آن منطقه ماندند و با اویغورها ازدواج کردند و از حاصل‬
‫امتزاج این دو‪ ،‬قوم آینو (عبدال‪ )27‬پدید آمد(لی اسمیت‪.)851 :1996 ،‬‬
‫بیشتر واژه های زبان آینو ریشه فارسی دارند‪ ،‬در حالی که از لحاظ مورفولوژی و نحو اویغوری هستند (مائوریس ‪ .)159 :2004 ،‬برخی‬
‫‪28‬‬

‫محققان بر آنند که این زبان ترکیبی از دو زبان فارسی و اویغوری است اما روشن است که این زبان همان زبان اویغوری است با واژههایی از‬
‫ریشه غیرترکی (جانسون‪ .) 22 :2001 ،‬در تحقیقی که توسط دو زبان شناس چینی به نام های ژائو و هاکسیم انجام شد‪ ،‬آنها ‪ 4200‬واژهی‬
‫پرکاربرد را انتخاب و بررسی کردند و به اشتراکات بسیاری میان آینو و اویغوری پی بردند‪ .‬طی یک بازبینی دقیق تر‪ ،‬مشخص شد که بیشتر‬
‫این واژههای مشترک از ریشه فارسی یا عربی بودند‪ .‬از آنجا که زبان اویغوری شمار بسیاری وام واژهی فارسی و عربی دارد‪ ،‬نشان میدهد‬
‫که تأثیر فارسی‪-‬عربی در آینو بسیار چشمگیر است (لی اسمیت‪ .)852 :1996 ،‬نظریهی دیگر حاکی از این است که اگر آینوها را مهاجران‬
‫ایرانی بدانیم که مدتها پیش به آن منطقه مهاجرت کردهاند‪ ،‬میتوان گفت زبان آنها فارسی است که تحت تأثیر بسیار شدید زبان اویغوری قرار‬
‫گرفته است‪ .‬تا جایی که تنها شاهد ایرانی بودن این زبان واژههای فارسی در این زبان است (رابیتز‪. )386 :2012 ،‬‬

‫‪ -1-2-3‬اعداد در زبان آینوی چین‬

‫از آنجا که اعدا د زبان آینو به عنوان شاهدی بر ارتباط این زبان با زبان فارسی به کار میرود‪ ،‬در این قسمت اعداد و نظام شمارش تا حد امکان‬
‫در این زبان و نیز در زبان آینوی ژاپن بررسی میشود‪ .‬سیستم اعداد در زبان آینو نمونه ای از ترکیب زبان فارسی با اویغوری است‪ .‬اعداد‬
‫اصلی فارسی هستند‪ ،‬در حالی که اعداد ترتیبی تشکیل شدهاند از واژهی فارسی با پسوندهای اویغوری (لی اسمیت‪.)852 :1996 ،‬‬

‫آینو*‬ ‫فارسی‬
‫‪jɛk‬‬ ‫‪jek‬‬
‫‪du‬‬ ‫‪do‬‬
‫‪si‬‬ ‫‪se‬‬
‫‪tʃar‬‬ ‫‪tʃahɑ:r‬‬
‫‪pɛndƷ‬‬ ‫‪pandƷ‬‬
‫‪ʃɛʃ‬‬ ‫‪ʃ eʃ‬‬
‫‪hɛp‬‬ ‫‪haft‬‬
‫‪hɛʃ‬‬ ‫‪haʃt‬‬
‫‪noh‬‬ ‫‪noh‬‬
‫‪dɛh‬‬ ‫‪dah‬‬

‫* اطلس زبان های ارتباط بینافرهنگی در آقیانوس آرام‪ ،‬آسیا‬

‫و آمریکا‪ .29‬زبان آینو‪ .‬لی اسمیت‪ :‬صص‪.853-4 .‬‬

‫فارسی‬ ‫آینو *‬
‫‪tʃahɑ:rom‬‬ ‫‪tʃarum‬‬ ‫‪40‬‬
‫‪pandƷom‬‬ ‫‪pɛndƷum‬‬ ‫‪50‬‬
‫‪ʃeʃom‬‬ ‫‪ʃɛʃum‬‬ ‫‪60‬‬
‫‪haftom‬‬ ‫‪hɛptum‬‬ ‫‪70‬‬
‫‪haʃtom‬‬ ‫‪haʃtum‬‬ ‫‪80‬‬
‫‪nohom‬‬ ‫‪nohum‬‬ ‫‪90‬‬
‫اعداد ترتیبی فارسی در زبان آینوی چین از چهارم تا نهم تحت یک تغییر معنایی قرار گرفتهاند و مانند اعداد اصلی از‪ 40‬تا ‪ 90‬ظاهر میشوند‪.‬‬

‫* اطلس زبان های ارتباط بینافرهنگی در اقیانوس آرام‪ ،‬آسیا و آمریکا‪ .‬زبان آینو‪ .‬لی اسمیت‪ :‬صص‪853-4 .‬‬

‫‪27‬‬
‫"می نامند؛ اصطالحی که شدیدا مورد نفرت آینوهاست‪ .‬این گونه گفته شده است مردمان غیر آینوی مناطق اطراف‪ ،‬این مردم را "عبدل‬
‫که عبدل ها از نظر ظاهری بیشتر شبیه ترک ها بودند‪ ،‬اما به زبانی خاص بر پایه ی فارسی صحبت می کردند‪ .‬آن ها موقعیت اجتماعی‬
‫بسیار پایینی داشتند و مورد نفرت ترک های محلی و بومی بودند و از طرف آن ها طرد شده بودند (رابیتز‪ . )382 :2012 ،‬پیش از این‬
‫‪F.Grenard‬برخی از آنان دستفروشی یا گدایی می کردند‪ ،‬اما امروزه بسیاری از آنان کشاورزی می کنند (جانسون‪. )22 :2001 ،‬‬
‫معتقد است که عبدل ها در حقیقت بازماندگان مهاجران شیعه هستند که بعدها توسط فاتحان سنی سرکوب شدند و به پایین ترین )‪(1898‬‬
‫درجه اجتماعی تنزل یافتند‪ .‬او معتقد است که عبدل ها تالش کردند تا به عنوان سنی پذیرفته شوند اما همچنان وفاداری خود را به شیعه‬
‫نشان می دادند‪ .‬آن ها به طور پنهان آداب و رسوم مراسم مذهبی شیعی و احترام و اعتقاد به امامان به عنوان بازماندگان علی(ع) را حفظ‬
‫کرده بودند ‪ .‬بزرگترین اقدام مخفیانه آن ها برگزاری مراسم عزاداری حسین(ع) بوده است (لی اسمیت‪.)851 :1996 ،‬‬
‫‪28‬‬
‫‪Maurais‬‬
‫‪29‬‬
‫‪Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia and the‬‬
‫‪Americas‬‬

‫‪Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016‬‬ ‫‪Page 510‬‬

 ‫)‪Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM‬‬

‫** همان‬

‫اعداد ترتیبی آینو شامل اعداد اصلی فارسی با پسوند های اویغوری )‪ (-indƷi / -ndƷi‬میشود‪.‬‬
‫آینو**‬ ‫اویغوری*‬ ‫فارسی‬
‫‪jɛkindƷi‬‬ ‫‪birintʃi‬‬ ‫‪Jekom‬‬
‫‪durundƷi‬‬ ‫‪ikkintʃi‬‬ ‫‪dovom‬‬
‫‪sirindƷi‬‬ ‫‪ytʃintʃi‬‬ ‫‪sevom‬‬
‫‪tʃarindƷi‬‬ ‫‪bɛʃintʃi‬‬ ‫‪tʃahɑ:rom‬‬
‫‪pɛndƷindƷi‬‬ ‫‪altintʃi‬‬ ‫‪pandƷom‬‬
‫‪ʃɛʃindƷi‬‬ ‫‪jɛttintʃi‬‬ ‫‪ʃeʃom‬‬
‫‪hɛpindƷi‬‬ ‫‪sɛkkizintʃi‬‬ ‫‪haftom‬‬
‫‪hɛʃindƷi‬‬ ‫‪toqquzintʃi‬‬ ‫‪haʃtom‬‬
‫‪norindƷi‬‬ ‫‪onintʃi‬‬ ‫‪nohom‬‬
‫‪dɛhindƷi‬‬ ‫‪jigirmintʃi‬‬ ‫‪dahom‬‬
‫‪bistindƷi‬‬ ‫‪ottuzintʃi‬‬ ‫‪bistom‬‬
‫‪sehindƷi‬‬ ‫_____‬ ‫‪Sijom‬‬

‫‪ -2-2-3‬خط آینوی چین‬

‫بر اساس سایت رسمی زبانها و خطهای دنیا )‪ (omniglot: 2013‬زبان آینوی چین به خط مأخوذ از عربی نوشته میشود‪ .‬چند نویسه برای‬
‫نشان دادن واجگونهها و واکههای زبان آینو آورده شده است‪.‬‬

‫‪.‬‬
‫‪ -4-3‬زبان ژاپنی‬
‫ژاپنی زبان رسمی کشور ژاپن است که در کشورهای دیگری مانند تایوان‪ ،‬ایاالت متحده و برزیل نیز به آن تکلم می شود‪ .‬ژاپنی یکی از‬
‫زبانهای اصلی دنیاست که از نظر تعداد گویشور با حدود ‪ 130‬میلیون نفر مقام نهم را در میان زبانهای جهان داراست (بنتلی‪.)2 :2010 ، 30‬‬
‫از جنبه های زبانی و فرهنگی‪ ،‬ژاپن یکی از کشورهای متوازن تر نسبت به کشورهای دیگر است که تحت سلطه ی یک زبان ملی است‪ .‬اگر‬
‫چه گویشهای منطقه ای از نظر تلفظ به صورت قابل توجهی متفاوتند و ممکن است حتی فاقد قابلیت فهم متقابل باشند (‪،1387: 69‬کمری) ‪.‬‬
‫(کمری‪.)69 :1387 ،‬‬
‫منشأ زبان ژاپنی از جمله بحث برانگیزترین پرسشهای تاریخ زبان است‪ .‬از طرفی‪ ،‬دستور ژاپنی شبیه به زبانهای آلتایی مانند مغولی و‬
‫ممنچو است و از طرف دیگر در استفاده از پیشوندها و سیستم صوتی با همخوانهای محدود و ترجیح هجاهای باز‪ ،‬ژاپنی شبیه به زبانهای‬
‫استرانیزین است که تصور میشود منشأ آنها ناحیهی تایوان باشد‪ .‬کلمات مشخصی نیز ارتباط با استرانیزین را تأیید میکنند (همان‪.)61 :‬‬

‫‪ -5-3‬آینوی ژاپن‬

‫‪30‬‬
‫‪Bentley‬‬

‫‪Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016‬‬ ‫‪Page 511‬‬

 ‫)‪Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM‬‬

‫آینو زبانی تقریبا مرده است که قبل از این در شمالی ترین جزیره ی ژاپنی یعنی هوکایدو و شبه جزیره ی ساخالین روسیه ‪ ،‬یعنی در جایی که‬
‫احتماال معدودی گویشور باقی مانده باشند‪ ،‬تکلم می شده است (کمری‪ .)69 :1387 ،‬جمعیت فعلی آینو که بیشتر در هوکایدو متمرکز است‪،‬‬
‫حدود ‪ 24000‬نفر تخمین زده شده است اما به دلیل مهاجرت میان آینوها و ژاپنی ها گفته می شود که آینوهای اصیل تنها حدود یک درصد ا ز‬
‫این رقم را تشکیل می دهند (شیباتانی‪ .)15 :1990 ،‬نژاد آینو با نژاد ژاپنی متفاوت است‪ .‬ژاپنی ها به نژاد مغولی تعلق دارند و در طی سال ها‬
‫آینو و ژاپنی چنان با هم آمیخته شده اند که تنها تعداد کمی آینو می توانند ادعا کنند نژاد آینوی خالص دارند‬
‫(رفسینگ‪.)51 :1986 ،‬‬
‫دلیل مقایسه ی همیشگی آینو با ژاپنی این است که بیشتر کسانی که در باره ی آینو تحقیق می کنند زبان مادریشان ژاپنی است یا برای ارتباط با‬
‫گویندگان ژاپنی به آن سخن می گویند (رفسینگ‪ . ) 49 :1986 ،‬خاستگاه این زبان همواره پرسشی بی پاسخ بوده است‪ .‬برخی زبان شناسان‬
‫احتمال می دهند این زبان یکی از زبان های دوردست آلتایی باشد که حدود ‪ 10000‬سال پیش از ژاپنی و کره ای جدا شده باشد (‪68‬‬
‫‪،1387:‬کمری) ‪ .‬در هر حال این نظریه که زبان آینوی ژاپن زبانی مستقل‪ 31‬و ایزوله است مورد توافق بسیاری از صاحب نظران است‪.‬‬
‫گروهی از زبان شناسان معتقدند که آینو متعلق به خانواده های زبانی اورال‪-‬آلتایی‪ 32‬و هندواروپایی‪ 33‬یا همخانواده زبانهای منفردی مانند‬
‫اسکیمو‪ 34‬می باشد‪ .‬فرضیه ی ارتباط آینو با ژاپنی هم توسط بسیاری از پژوهشگران مطرح شده است‪ ،‬اما جز شباهت هایی به سبب واژه های‬
‫قرضی و ویژگی های گونه شناسی و نشانه شناسی که در ترتیب اجزای جمله )‪ ( S.O.V‬وجود دارد‪ ،‬شواهد موثق دیگری برای ارتباط بین‬
‫این زبان ها یافته نشده است (شیباتانی‪ ) 15-6 :1990 ،‬و به نظر می رسد تفاوت آینو با ژاپنی و کره ای بیشتر از تفاوت ژاپنی و کره ای با‬
‫یکدیگر باشد (کمری‪. )61 :1387 ،‬‬
‫خانواده ی زبانی کوچک دیگری به نام "آسیایی کهن" نیز وجود دارد که چندان اصطالح دقیقی نیست و برای نامیدن تعدادی زبان در سیبری‬
‫شمالی و شرقی به کار رفته است‪ .‬برخی صاحب نظران آینو را که در ژاپن تکلم می شود در آن می گنجانند (کنت‪ .)36 :1376 ،‬این فرضیه‬
‫در حد گمان است و در هر حال به نظر می رسد که آینو هیچ گونه نسبتی با دیگر زبان های جهان ندارد و هم اکنون در آستانه ی انقراض است‬
‫(‪:380‬همان) ‪.‬‬
‫آینو ادبیات شفاهی بسیار غنی دارد‪ .‬عالوه بر انواع گوناگون آوازها‪ ،‬مثال آوازهای عاشقانه یا آواز قایق رانی‪ ،‬ادبیات آینو شامل شعر و نثر هم‬
‫می شود‪ .‬قالب های شعری به طور کلی در آینو "یوکر"‪ 35‬نامیده می شود که اشعار حماسی مربوط به خدایان یا عشق و جنگ قهرمانان می‬
‫شود‪ .‬زبان یوکر به روشنی با زبان گفتار متفاوت است و زبانی محافظه کارتر است که گوناگونی های لهجه ای کمتری نسبت به زبان محاوره‬
‫دارد‪ .‬این دو زبان هم در نحو و هم در واژگان ‪ ،‬تفاوت هایی از خود بروز می دهند‪ ،‬هر چند هم پوشانی های بسیاری دارند (شباتانی‪:1990 ،‬‬
‫‪.)15‬‬

‫‪ -1-6‬عدد در آینوی ژاپن‬

‫در زبان آینوی ژاپن اعداد ‪ 1‬تا ‪ 9‬به این ترتیب است ‪:‬‬

‫آینو**‬ ‫ژاپنی*‬
‫‪Shine‬‬ ‫‪ichi‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬
‫‪tu‬‬ ‫‪ni‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬
‫‪re‬‬ ‫‪san‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬
‫‪ine‬‬ ‫‪shi‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬
‫‪ashikne‬‬ ‫‪go‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬
‫‪iwan‬‬ ‫‪roku‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬
‫‪arawan‬‬ ‫‪shichi‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬
‫‪tupesan‬‬ ‫‪hachi‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬
‫‪shinepesan‬‬ ‫‪ku‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬

‫* دیکشنری ژاپنی‪ -‬انگلیسی‪ .36‬صص‪2417 ،2135 ،1893 ،1847 ،1436 ،1378 ،757 ،630 .‬‬
‫** دیکشنری انگلیسی‪ -‬آینو‪ . 37‬بخش دوم‪ .‬ص ‪10‬‬

‫‪31‬‬
‫منظور از اصطالح زبان های مستقل این است که این زبان ها به هیچ خانواده ی زبانی خاص تعلق ندارند و فاقد پیوند با هر زبان دیگری می‬
‫باشند‪ .‬در طبقه بندی کتاب زبان های جهان ‪ ،‬آمده است که هفت زبان مستقل وجود دارد که به دو دسته ی مهین و کهین تقسیم می شوند ‪ .‬زبان های‬
‫مهین عبارتند از ژاپنی‪ ،‬کره ای ‪ ،‬ویتنامی و زبان های کهین عبارتند از باسکی در شمال شرقی اسپانیا و جنوب غربی فرانسه ‪ ،‬بوروشاسکی در‬
‫شمال غربی کشمیر و آینو در هوکایدوی ژاپن‪ .‬تا کنون کوشش هایی به منظور برقراری ارتباط این زبان ها با هر زبان دیگری صورت گرفته اما‬
‫هنوز به جایی نرسیده است (کنت‪.)42 :1376 ،‬‬
‫‪32‬‬
‫‪Ural-Altaic‬‬
‫‪33‬‬
‫‪Indo-European‬‬
‫‪34‬‬
‫‪Eskimo‬‬
‫‪35‬‬
‫‪Yukar‬‬
‫‪36‬‬
‫‪Japanese- Aynu dictionary‬‬

‫‪Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016‬‬ ‫‪Page 512‬‬

 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

. ‫ به معنی «به اضافهی» ساخته میشود‬ikasma ‫ با استفاده از عبارت‬10 ‫ به‬9 ‫ تا‬1 ‫ با اضافه کردن اعداد‬19 ‫ تا‬11 ‫اعداد‬

** ‫آینو‬ * ‫ژاپنی‬
sine iksama wan juu ichi 11
tu iksama wan juu ni 12
re iksama wan juu san 13
ine iksama wan juu shi 14
asikne iksama wan juu go 15
iwan iksama wan juu roku 16
arwan iksama wan juu shichi 17
tupesan iksama wan juu hachi 18
sinepeson iksama wan juu ku 19
hot(ne) ni juu 20

38
2005 .‫ موقعیت ها و کاربرد های اساسی‬.‫* فهرست واژه های ژاپنی‬
112 :1986 ،‫** رفسینگ‬

: )113 :1986 ،‫( ساخته می شوند (رفسینگ‬honte) 20 ‫ به عدد‬9 ‫ تا‬1 ‫ با اضافه کردن اعداد‬29 ‫ تا‬20 ‫اعداد بین‬

* ‫آینو‬ ‫ژاپنی‬
sine ikasma hotne ni juu ichi 21
tu ikasma hotne ni juu ni 22
re ikasma hotne ni juu san 23
ine ikasma hotne ni juu shi 24
asikne ikasma hotne ni juu go 25
iwan ikasma hotne ni juu roku 26
arwan ikasma hotne ni juu shichi 27
tupesan ikasma hotne ni juu hachi 28
sinepeson ikasma hotne ni juu ku 29

10.‫ ص‬.‫ بخش دوم‬.‫ آینو‬-‫* دیکشنری انگلیسی‬

: ‫ نیز به این ترتیب است‬100 ‫ تا‬30 ‫اعداد‬

**‫آینو‬ * ‫ژاپنی‬
wan e tu hotne san juu 30
tu hotne yuon juu 40
wan e re hotne go juu 50
re hotne roku joo 60
wan e ine hotne nana juu 70
ine hotne hachi juu 80
wan e asikne hotne kyuu juu 90
asikne hotne hya ku 100

2005 .‫ موقعیت ها و کاربرد های اساسی‬.‫* فهرست واژه های ژاپنی‬

112 :1986 ،‫** رفسینگ‬

37
English – Aynu dictionary. part II .
38
Japanese Vocabulary. Essential Functions and Situations, 2005

Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016 Page 513

 ‫)‪Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM‬‬

‫‪ -2-6‬خط آینوی ژاپن‬

‫زبان آینو با خطی نوشته میشود که گونهای تغییر یافته از خط ژاپنی کاتاکانا‪ 39‬میباشد‪ .‬گاهی نیز از حروف التین برای نگارش استفاده‬
‫میشود‪ .‬این خط شامل حروف آغازین و پایانی است )‪. (omniglot‬‬

‫‪ -7‬جدول واژگان‬

‫فارسی‬ ‫اویغوری****‬ ‫آینوی چین***‬ ‫ژاپنی**‬ ‫آینوی ژاپن*‬

‫‪pedar‬‬ ‫‪Ata‬‬ ‫‪padɛr‬‬ ‫‪1chichi‬‬ ‫‪Aca‬‬

‫‪mɑ:dar‬‬ ‫‪Apa‬‬ ‫‪madɛr‬‬ ‫‪2haha‬‬ ‫‪Hapo‬‬

‫‪xɑ:har‬‬ ‫‪hɛmʃirɛ‬‬ ‫‪hɛmʃirɛ‬‬ ‫‪3ane/imooto‬‬ ‫‪Menoko‬‬

‫‪barɑ:dar‬‬ ‫‪baradɛr‬‬ ‫‪buradɛr‬‬ ‫‪4ani/ otooto‬‬ ‫‪Okkayo‬‬

‫‪doxtar‬‬ ‫‪qiz‬‬ ‫‪tuxtɛr‬‬ ‫‪5musume‬‬ ‫‪Menoko‬‬

‫‪zan‬‬ ‫‪ajal‬‬ ‫‪zɛn‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪Menoko‬‬

‫‪batʃe‬‬ ‫‪bala‬‬ ‫‪batʃtʃɛ‬‬ ‫‪7kodomo‬‬ ‫‪po/ ekachi‬‬

‫‪kas‬‬ ‫‪kiʃi‬‬ ‫‪kɛs‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪Aynu‬‬

‫‪xor‬‬ ‫‪jɛ‬‬ ‫‪xor11‬‬ ‫‪11‬‬ ‫)‪e (e‬‬

‫‪ku:h‬‬ ‫‪taʁ‬‬ ‫‪kox12‬‬ ‫‪12‬‬ ‫‪Atuy‬‬

‫‪darjɑ:‬‬ ‫‪dɛrja‬‬ ‫‪dɛrja13‬‬ ‫‪13‬‬ ‫)‪at(u‬‬

‫‪rismɑ:n‬‬ ‫‪aʁamtʃa‬‬ ‫‪rismal14‬‬ ‫‪14‬‬ ‫‪At‬‬

‫‪39‬‬
‫کانا الفبای هجایی است که از کانجی (خط اندیشهنگار یا نشانه های نگارشی چینیان) گرفته شده و دو گونه است‪ :‬هیراگانا و کاتاکانا‪ .‬هر‬
‫کدام از این دو خط ‪ 46‬حرف دارند‪ .‬کاتاکانا شکل دیگری از کاناست که با گرفتن بخشی از نشانههای نگارشی چینی و ساده یا کوتاه کردن‬
‫آنها درست شده است‪ .‬متنهای ساده مثل کتابهای کودکان به هیراگانا نوشته میشود‪ ،‬اما کاتاکانا برای نوشتن واژهها و نامهای بیگانه یا‬
‫هنگامی که بخواهند بر کلمهای تأکید کنند به کار میرود (رجبزاده‪.)34 :1381 ،‬‬

‫‪Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016‬‬ ‫‪Page 514‬‬

 ‫)‪Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM‬‬

‫‪kɑ:rd‬‬ ‫‪pitʃaq‬‬ ‫‪kard15‬‬ ‫‪15‬‬ ‫‪Pake‬‬

‫‪sar‬‬ ‫‪baʃ‬‬ ‫‪sɛr16‬‬ ‫‪16atama‬‬ ‫‪Sapa‬‬

‫‪ɑ:jene‬‬ ‫‪ɛjnɛk‬‬ ‫‪ɛjnɛk19‬‬ ‫‪19‬‬ ‫‪Apa‬‬

‫‪darwɑ:ze‬‬ ‫‪dɛrwaza‬‬ ‫‪dɛrwɛn20‬‬ ‫‪20‬‬ ‫‪Ramram‬‬

‫* دیکشنری آنالین انگلیسی‪ -‬آینو‪ -‬انگلیسی‪Glosbe.com ،‬‬

‫** فهرست واژه های ژاپنی‪ .‬موقعیت ها و کاربرد های اساسی‪2005 .‬‬
‫*** اطلس زبان های ارتباط بینافرهنگی در اقیانوس آرام‪ ،‬آسیا و آمریکا‪ .‬زبان آینو‪ .‬لی اسمیت‪853-4 :‬‬
‫**** همان‬

‫‪ -8‬نتیجه‬
‫با توجه به ویژگیهای زبانی ‪،‬آینوی چین و ژاپن هیچ خویشاوندی با یکدیگر ندارند‪ .‬زبان آینوی چین همان زبان اویغوری است که واژههای‬
‫بسیاری از زبانهای ایرانی بهویژه فارسی در آن راه یافته است و آینوی ژاپن زبانیست کامالً متفاوت –حتی از زبان ژاپنی‪ -‬و خود زبانی‬
‫مستقل و منفرد به شمار میآید‪.‬‬
‫اعداد زبان آینوی چین مانند اعداد در زبان فارسی است و هیچگونه شباهتی با اعداد آینوی ژاپن ندارد‪ .‬خط این دو زبان نیز کامالً متفاوت‬
‫هستند؛ خط آینوی ژاپن از خط ژاپنی گرفته شده است و خط آینوی چین مأخوذ از خط عربی است‪ .‬بررسی و مقایسهی واژههای این زبانها نیز‬
‫ارتباط این دو زبان را رد میکند‪.‬‬
‫با توجه به این نکات و در نظر گرفتن مسائل تاریخی میتوان گفت قوم آینو در ژاپن هیچ ارتباطی با آینوی چین ندارد و تنها شباهت نام موجب‬
‫شده است برخی این دو را یکی بدانند و افزون بر آن به دلیل ارتباط اقوام آینوی چین با ایرانیان‪ ،‬اقوام آینوی ژاپنی نیز قومی ایرانی تصور شود‬
‫‪.‬‬

‫‪ -9‬منابع‬
‫‪ -‬رجبزاده‪،‬هاشم‪« .1381 .‬وامواژهها در زبان ژاپنی»‪ .‬دانشگاه مطالعات خارجی اوساکا‪ ،‬ژاپن‪ .‬نامهی فرهنگستان‪.‬سال پنجم‪.‬شماره ‪ .3‬پیاپی‬
‫‪.19‬‬
‫‪ -‬سابقی‪ ،‬محمد‪« . 1384 .‬جایگاه تاریخی زبان و ادبیات فارسی در منطقه سین کیانگ چین»‪ .‬ادبیات و زبان ها‪-‬نامه پارسی‪ .‬شماره ‪.38‬‬
‫صفحه ‪.81-82‬‬
‫‪ -‬سلیمان‪ ،‬اسد‪« .1382 .‬مروری بر چگونگی مبادالت ادبی بین ادبیات فارسی و اویغوری»‪ .‬سخن عشق‪ .‬شماره ‪ .18‬صفحه ‪.44-47‬‬
‫‪ -‬کاتسز‪ ،‬کنت (‪ . ) 1376‬زبان های جهان‪ .‬هیرمندی‪،‬راضیه‪ .‬مرکز نشر دانشگاهی تهران‪.‬چاپ اول‪.‬تهران‬
‫‪ -‬کمری‪ ،‬برنارد و استفن متیوس و ماریا پولینسکی (‪ .) 1387‬اطلس زبان ها‪ .‬ترجمه ارسالن گلفام و اکبر حسابی‪ .‬تهران‪ :‬دانشگاه تهران‪.‬‬
‫‪ -‬هیئت‪ ،‬جواد‪ .1365 .‬سیری درتاریخ ولهجه های ترکی‪ .‬نشر پیکان‪ .‬چاپ سوم‪ .‬تهران‪.‬‬

‫‪Batchelor, R.J. (1903). "an Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary". Tokyo.‬‬

‫‪Bentley,N. (2010). "Language Group Specific Report: Japanese". Rhode Island College.‬‬
‫‪Brown,K. &Sarah Oglivie.(2009)."Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World" .1 st ed.University‬‬
‫‪of Oxford, Cambridge.‬‬
‫‪Göksel.A & Celia Kerslake.(1998). " Studies on Turkish and Turkic Languages: Proceedings of the‬‬
‫‪Ninth International Conference on Turkish Linguistics". Lincoln college, Oxford.‬‬
‫‪Loy, Z. (1996). "Japanese Language Insights=Naruhodo nihongo". Soroban Pty Ltd , Australia.‬‬
‫‪Moseley, Ch. (2007). "Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages". London, Routledge.‬‬
‫‪Refsing, K.(1986). " the Ainu Language, the Morphology and Syntax of the Shizunai‬‬
‫‪Dialect".AARHUS University press.‬‬
‫‪Robbeets.M & Lars Johnson.(2012). "Copies versus Cognates in Bound Morphology".University‬‬
‫‪Mainz,Leiden:Brill.‬‬
‫‪Shibatani, Masayoshi. (1990). the Languages of Japan. Cambridge Languages Surveys. Kobe‬‬
‫‪University. 1st published Cambridge University Press.‬‬
‫‪Uo,S. (2005). Japanese Vocabulary, Essential Functions and Situations. BarCharts, Inc.®.‬‬
‫‪Walker, B.L. (2001). "the Conquest of Ainu Lands, ecology and Culture in Japanese expansion, 1590-‬‬
‫‪1800". University of California Press‬‬
‫‪Wuru, A.Stephen. (1996). "Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia and‬‬
‫‪Americas". International Council of Philosophy and Hu.‬‬

‫‪Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016‬‬ ‫‪Page 515‬‬

 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

‫منابع اینترنتی‬
http://japanstudies.ir.‫ مرکز مطالعات ژاپن‬.)1393 ‫ فروردین‬20(.»‫ «زبان و اغراض گویندگان‬.‫ بهنام‬،‫جاهد‬
www.tabnak.ir .)1391 ‫ تیر‬18( .»‫«اقوام ایرانی آینو درژاپن‬.‫ حمید‬،‫شفیع زاده‬
www.omniglot.com . the Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages. "Omniglot".
www.Glosbe.com . English-Ainu-English Online Dictionary.

Vol. 6, Issue 5, August 2016 Page 516

 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

THE IMPACT OF TASK COMPLEXITY ALONG

SINGLE TASK DIMENSION ON EFL IRANIAN
LEARNERS' WRITTEN PRODUCTION:
STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY

Esmaeil Shajeri, * Siros Izadpanah

Esmaeil Shajeri, M.A., Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Zanjan, Iran
esmaeilshajeri@yahoo.com
Siros Izadpanh, Ph.D., Department of English Language Teaching, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Zanjan, Iran, sirosizadpanh@iauz.ac.ir
*Corresponding author (cyrosizadpanah@yahoo.com)

ABSTRACT
IN RECENT YEARS THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASING INTEREST IN TASK COMPLEXITY ALONG
SINGLE TASK DIMENSION ON EFL IRANIAN LEARNERS' WRITTEN PRODUCTION, NAMELY
STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY. GIVEN THE LACK OF RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF TASK-
COMPLEXITY ON WRITTEN PRODUCTIONS, THIS STUDY INTENDS TO EXAMINE THE EFFECTS
OF MANIPULATING TASK COMPLEXITY ALONG RESOURCES- DIRECTING FACTORS ON L2
LEARNERS' STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY. TO THIS END, BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE
WRITING TEST OF TOFEL (2004), 48 LEARNERS WERE SELECTED AND ASSIGNED TO TWO
GROUPS, SIMPLE TASK GROUP (STG, N = 24) AND COMPLEX TASK GROUP (CTG, N=24)
RANDOMLY, IN 2015. THE INTER-RATER RELIABILITY WAS CHECKED VIA CRONBACH’S
ALPHA, AND A RELATIVELY HIGH RELIABILITY WAS ACHIEVED (Α=.89).THE NULL
HYPOTHESIS WAS NULLIFIED SINCE THE RESULTS INDICATED POSITIVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT
OF +/-SINGLE DIMENSION ON STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY. THE RESULTS HAVE INDICATED
THAT THE PARTICIPANTS SIGNIFICANTLY GENERATED MORE NUMBER OF WORDS IN THE
COMPLEX TASK. THE RESULTS HAVE ALSO SHOWED THAT THE PARTICIPANTS
SIGNIFICANTLY PRODUCED A GREATER NUMBER OF CLAUSES IN T-UNITS WHILE
PERFORMING THE COMPLEX TASK. THEREFORE, -SINGLE TASK HAD AN OBVIOUS IMPACT ON
THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY. FURTHERMORE, THE OUTCOMES
CONVEY CRITICAL AND LIGHTING UP PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR, LANGUAGE
TEACHERS, SYLLABUS AND TASK DESIGNERS, SLA RESEARCHERS, AND LANGUAGE TESTERS.
KEY WORDS: SYNTACTICAL COMPLEXITY: +/- SINGLE TASK DIMENSION; TASK COMPLEXITY

1. Introduction
Over the past decades, there was a growing interest in the role of tasks in second language learning and
teaching. Structural/syntactic complexity is defined as the ability of the learners to generate more structurally
complex language which is “at the upper limits of… [one’s] interlanguage” (Ortega, 1999, p. 130). Researchers
tend to identify the variables of the tasks that are important when designing tasks. Robinson (2001a, 2001b,
2003, 2005, 2007a, 2007b) identifies various elements of task complexity which he argues to be the sole basis in
sequencing decisions in task-based syllabus design. Recently, the effect of task characteristics on learners’
language production and development is hotly debated. Out of these controversies over the sequence and
assessment of tasks (Robinson, 2005; Skehan, 1998), a new area of research (i.e., information processing
research) has been arisen, which generally focuses on the role of attention (Skehan, 1996) and the central
executive processing (Carroll, 2008) in learning and deals with the manipulation of various features of the tasks
and the investigation of its effect on linguistic performance, especially different aspects of production. However,
the findings of these studies have not been conclusive; they suggest that more complex tasks positively impact
linguistic performance in general, yet more specific findings related to both accuracy and syntactic complexity
only partially supported the cognition hypothesis (e.g., promoting either complexity or accuracy). In Iran, there
is not enough opportunity to be exposed to the English language due to the fact that English is not used outside
the classroom; therefore, it is up to teacher, syllabus designers, and materials developers to provide tasks with

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different conditions and characteristics to fill this gap. However, this purpose required a lot of research. This
study might be a good contribution to them in this regard.
The significance of this study is that task conditions and features exert an influence on directing
attention towards the formulation processes. This demonstrates the significance of investigating task conditions
and their impact on attention while L2 writing being accomplished. Nonetheless, some task conditions, due to
various unknown reasons, have not received the attention they deserved, and one of them is + single task from
Robinson’s (2005) framework. The main strong claim of this approach is that it can activate the cognitive and
acquisitional processes while learners are busy performing tasks and accomplishing their goals (Skehan, 2003).
Recently, the effect of task characteristics on learners’ language production and development is hotly debated
(Bygate, 1999; Ellis, 2003; Robinson, 2003, 2005; Schmidt, 2001; Skehan & Foster, 2001; Tavakoli & Skehan,
2008). Another motivation for conducting this study is theoretically-based. Therefore, the purpose of this paper
was to review the recent research into the task complexity on Iranian EFL learners’ L2 structural/syntactic
complexity.
2. Review of literature
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on task-based language teaching.
Various studies have been conducted to examine the different dimensions and their effect on the actual
performance of L2 learners (such as Iwashita, Elder, & McNamara, 2001; Masrom, Daud, & Alwi, 2015;
Ortega, 1999; Rahimpour, 2007; RimaniNikou, & Eskandarsefat, 2012; Skehan & Foster, 1997; Wigglesworth,
1997; Yuan & Ellis, 2003; Van Waes, & Leijten, 2015). Even some of these studies have been designed to zero
in on the synergistic effects of some dimensions together (such as Farahani & Meraji, 2011; Izadpanah &
Shajeri, 2014, 2016; Kuiken & Vedder, 2008; Sotoudehnama & Farahanynia, 2014). Tasks are nowadays “the
potential building blocks of second language instruction” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p. 223), and knowing
their exact nature is of paramount importance. Various definitions have been proposed by different experts (such
as Bachman & Palmer, 1996; Breen, 1989; Bygate, 1999; Bygate, Skehan, & Swain, 2001; Crookes, 1986;
Izadpanah & Shajeri, 2016; Lee, 2000; Long, 1985; Nunan, 1989; Richards, Platt, & Weber, 1985; Skehan,
1996, 1998; Swales, 1990.
Investigating the impact of planning time (a resource-directing dimension), Ellis (1987) focused on three
forms of past tense, the regular past, the irregular past, and the copula. He observed that the less the planning
time, the less accurately these forms were utilized. He declares that the irregular forms are retrieved from the
exemplar-based system (item-system) while the regular ones tap into the rule-based system. By limiting the
planning time, the accurate retrieval of irregular forms is sustained since they are treated as a whole and do not
require any additional time for construction.
Robinson (1995b) designed a study to investigate the role of manipulating task complexity along +/-
Here-and-Now aspects on the L2 oral narrative performance of learners. The participants of his study generated
more accurate, more lexically complex, and less fluent language in the most complex task. However, the role of
task complexity on structural complexity turned out to be insignificant. These results are in consonant with what
Berwick (1993) reported in his study. He observed that ‘experiential tasks’ (i.e., Here-and-Now, context
embedded) primed the participants to utilize more anaphora and less complex language in comparison with
‘expository tasks’ (i.e., There-and-Then, context reduced).
In their study, Robinson, Ting and Urwin (1996) focused on the effect of no planning time vs. 3-minute
planning time on two modes of narrative discourse, namely oral and written ones. No significant difference was
found for the written discourse between the two planning conditions. However, in spoken narrative discourse,
the fluency of the learners’ production was enhanced in the planning condition in comparison with the
unplanned condition. No significant effect was found for accuracy (measured by the accurate use of verb
morphology, of tense markers, and of measure words).
In her study, Mehnert (1998) designed four groups: 1) no planning time, 2) one minute planning, 3) five
minute planning, and 4) ten minute planning. She reported that the participants in the last group generated more
fluent, more accurate, and more lexically complex language. However, the results indicated no significant effect
for structural complexity.
Investigating the role of +here-and-now, Skehan and Foster (1999, pp. 104-105) designed four
conditions: 1) watch and tell simultaneously, 2) storyline given, then watch and tell simultaneously, 3) watch

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first, then watch and tell simultaneously and 4) watch first, then tell. They found out that “tasks containing
clearer inherent sequential structure” (Skehan & Foster, 1999, p. 112) would draw the learners’ attention
towards the fluency and task completion as well as the accuracy of their production.
Investigating “different sources of planning (teacher-led, solitary, and group-based) as well as different
foci for planning (toward language or toward content)” (p. 215), Foster and Skehan (1999) formed six groups: 1)
teacher-led and focus on language, 2) group-based and focus on language, 3) teacher-led and focus on content,
4) group-based and focus on language, 5) solitary 6) control group. The results of their study revealed that group
two and group t significantly generated greater accuracy; however, there was no significant difference between
different focuses (language or content). The solitary group produced the most fluent and complex language.
Focusing on testing situations, Iwashita, et al. (2001) explored the effect of planning time and +/- here-
and-now dimensions. There were 193 pre-university students who were asked to talk about a set of pictures with
or without seeing the pictures at the time of narrating. Rasch methods were used for data analysis. The results
indicated no significant increase or decrease in learners’ fluency and complexity from the simpler tasks to the
complex ones. However, the accuracy of their performance significantly enhanced. They argue that maybe the
inconsistency of findings in SLA research is due to “the differences in testing and pedagogic contexts [which]
are so great as to alter the cognitive focus of the tasks” (Iwashita, et al., 2001, p. 429).
Inspecting the role of planning (pre-task and on-line planning) on L2 oral performance, Yuan and Ellis
(2003) formed three groups: 1) group with no pre-task planning time, 2) group with 10 minutes planning time,
and 3) group with no pre-task planning time but ‘on-line’ planning time. The on-line planning time group
generated greater structural complexity and more error-free clauses. Structural complexity and lexical
complexity of the group with pre-task planning augmented. No significant effect was found for accuracy
measures. It seemed that the available time before the task directed the participants’ attention towards the
fluency and meaning conveyance, while the time available during the task provided opportunities for them to
call their attention towards accuracy and monitoring their output.
Investigating the impact of the planning time on the learners’ writing, Ellis and Yuan (2004, p. 59)
used three task conditions: “[1] pretask planning, [2] unpressured on-line planning, and [3] no planning)”. Forty
two Chinese learners were participated in this study. Participants in the pre-task planning generated the most
fluent language. Participants in the pre-task planning and unpressured on-line planning produced greater
structural complexity. Following Kellog’s (1996, as cited in Ellis & Yuan, 2004) writing model, Ellis and Yuan
(2004) made an attempt to explain the results based on the three stages of writing: 1) formulating, 2) executing,
and 3) monitoring. They came to the conclusion that when more time was available before the task, most
probably the leaners focused on the formulation process while unpressured on-line planning assisted them to
focus more on the monitoring process. Since in the group with no planning, the participants had to devote their
limited attentional capacity to all three processes simultaneously in the allocated time, they could not yield any
improvement in the three measures, meaning that they generated less accurate, less complex, and less fluent
language.
In his study, Kawauchi (2005) asked the learners of three different proficiency levels (advanced, high,
and low group) perform the main task (oral narrations) without any planning opportunity; after that, they were
asked to do three pre-tasks (composing a draft, rehearsing, and reading an L2 model) and were given 10 minutes
as pre-task planning time. Afterwards, they redo the main task. The advanced proficient learners did not
significantly gain more on the measures of structural complexity, accuracy, and fluency under the planning
condition while under the strategic planning condition (pre-task planning), the high proficient learners’ fluency
enhanced.
Focusing on testing situations, Tavakoli and Skehan (2005) designed a study in which four degrees of
the task structure was utilized. Two planning conditions were used: no planning and 5 minute planning. Two
proficiency levels were investigated: elementary and intermediate levels. The participants in the planning group
yielded more fluent, more accurate, and more complex language. The performance on the participants in the
intermediate groups was more complex and more error-free. Based on the findings, the effect of the planning
time was significant for fluency.
Rouhi and Marefat (2006) conducted a study to investigate the role of planning dimension on thirty
seven EFL Iranian learners’ written and oral performance. They devised three tasks: 1) no planning time and
oral production, 2) planning time and oral production, and 3) on-line planning and written production. It was

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found that in comparison with group1, the fluency and accuracy of group 2 and 3 significantly improved.
However, no group gained more on the measures of complexity measures. They also declared that both planning
time and modality exerted significant effect on fluency and accuracy but not on complexity.
Inspecting the role of manipulating task complexity along +/-Here-and-Now dimensions, Ishikawa
(2007) argues that in There-and-Then condition, the role of short term memory is of paramount importance
since the story plot must be sustained in it for future retrieval. This would increase the cognitive load which
primes learners for deeper semantic processing, which gives rise to greater lexical and syntactic complexity. In
his experimental study, Ishikawa observed significantly less accuracy, less structural complexity, and less
lexical variety in the Here-and-Now dimension, while in the There-and-Then condition, the learners produced
less words (less fluency), which is in consonant with Robinson’s (2005) cognition hypothesis.
Gilabert (2007) explored the effect of +/- planning time and +/- Here-and-Now dimensions on oral
narratives via using four strips. Based on the findings, In terms of +/- Here-and-Now dimensions, higher
accuracy, less lexical complexity, less fluency was observed for - Here-and-Now dimensions. Planning
opportunity was found to improve the fluency, lexical complexity, and accuracy of the production. However, no
significant effect was reported for the measures of structural complexity.
Rahimpour (2007) conducted a study to inspect the impact of Here-and-Now and There-and-Then
tasks on oral production. Twenty Iranian learners of English were served as the participants of the study. The
results revealed that in the complex task (There-and-Then dimension), the participants generated greater
accuracy, less fluency, and less complexity. Rahimpour (2007), like Robinson’s (2001b, 2005) arguments,
attributed greater accuracy and complexity to greater pragmatic demands of more complex task.
Kuiken and Vedder (2008) designed a study to explore the role of task complexity and proficiency
levels. Ninety one Italian students (from first, second, and third year of university) and seventy six French
students (first and second year of university) was adopted as the participants of the study. The simple and
complex tasks were performed by the participants twice during the year. In terms of accuracy measures, Italian
and French learners gained more on the measures of accuracy in the more complex task; nevertheless, no
significant effect was found for structural complexity and lexical complexity. The interaction between task
complexity and proficiency levels turned out to be insignificant in all measures.
Delving into impact of immediacy (+/- Here-and-Now dimension) and pre-task planning time,
Farahani and Meraji (2011) devised four conditions: 1) Here-and-Now with no pre-planning time, 2) Here-and-
Now with 14 minutes as pre-planning time, 3) There-and-Then with no pre-planning time, 4) There-and-Then
with 14 minutes as pre-planning time. One hundred and twenty Iranian learners were served as the participant of
this study. Their written performance was coded based on the measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity.
The results indicate that the groups with planning time increased their grammatical accuracy and generated more
structurally complex language. In +/-Here-and-Now groups, no significant effect of accuracy and structural
complexity was found. The manipulation of both dimensions (planning and immediacy) led to no significant
difference in the lexical complexity of their written performance, but brought about greater fluency.
In their study, Salimi, Dadaspour, and Asadollahfam (2011) focused on the resource-directing factors
on 29 learners’ written performance in terms of accuracy, fluency, and complexity. Accuracy was quantified by
the number of error-free T-units per T-units, fluency by number of words per T-units, and complexity by a
measure of S-nodes per T-units. The results indicated that the accuracy of the participants’ performance was not
significantly changed from the simple to the complex tasks. Manipulating task complexity had a significant
positive effect on the fluency and the complexity of their production. Their findings were in consistent with
Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2005, 2007b).
RimaniNikou and Eskandarsefat (2012) designed their study to delve into the effect of both task
complexity and task type. They utilized two types of tasks: decision-making and information-gap. Sixty EFL
Iranian learners were asked to accomplish simple decision making and information gap tasks and complex
decision making and information gap tasks with the interval of two weeks. They reported significant effects of
task complexity just on accuracy and fluency but not on syntactic complexity. Regarding information-gap tasks,
the learners significantly produced more free-error clauses and greater number of words. The results also
indicated that just fluency significantly differs in the two task types.
Abdollahzadeh and Fard Kashani (2012) investigated the role of +/- here-and-now dimension on the
written narrative performance with different language proficiency levels. They found that both manipulating

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task complexity and considering proficiency levels had significant positive effect on the accuracy and
complexity of the participants’ production, meaning that the complex task triggered high-proficient learners to
generate significantly more complex and accurate language. No significant effect was found for fluency.
Sotoudehnama and Farahanynia (2014) explored the role of cognitive task complexity across writing
proficiency levels. Based on the scores of the writing test of TOFEL (2004), the participants were divided into
two groups: high- proficient and low-proficient writers. They declared that language proficiency levels may be
different from writing proficiency levels (Cooper, 1984), and since in their study, they focused on the written
performance of the participants, they chose to focus on writing proficiency levels. Two groups performed the
simple task (i.e., narrating a set of pictures) and the complex task (i.e., writing about an argumentative topic)
with the interval of one week. Their written performance was coded based on the measures of accuracy, fluency,
and complexity taken from Larsen-freeman (2006). Four two-way mixed-design ANOVAs were run. The results
indicated that the complex task primed learner to produce less error free clauses, more structurally complex
language, and more number of words. No significant interaction between task complexity and writing
proficiency was found. They claimed that Skehan’s predictions turned out to be more accurate in the Iranian
context.
As mentioned earlier, Within the framework of task-based language learning, the role of task complexity in L2
learners' performance has attracted studies in the realm of SLA research (Abdullazadeh & Fard Kashani, 2011;
Gilabert 2005; Robinson 2001b;Yuan & Ellis 2003); In contrast to the other dimensions of task complexity such
as ±planning time (Crookes, 1989; Skehan & Foster, 2001; Ellis 2005) and ±prior knowledge (G. Brown,
1995; Barry & Lazarte, 1998; Urwin , 1999) , few studies have investigated the effects of manipulating ±single
task.
Whereas the effect of task complexity on oral language production has caught many researchers’
attention in the past twenty years, there is considerably less research on how different complexity levels of task
influence written output of FL learners. As is clear, some of the elements in Robinson’s (2005, 2007)
framework have been investigated to a great extent, such as +/- planning dimension (e.g., Ellis &
Yuan, 2004; Foster & Skehan, 1996, 1999;n Mehnert, 1998; Skehan & Foster,
1997Wigglesworth, 2001; Yuan & Ellis, 2003) and +/-Here-and-Now dimension (Berwick,
1993; Ishikawa, 2007; Masrom, Daud, & Alwi, 2015; Mehrinejad, and Aliasin, 2015;
Rahimpour, 2007; Skehan & Foster, 1999) or even their synergistic effect (Farahani & Meraji,
2011; Iwashita, Elder, & McNamara 2001). However, one of the dimensions under the resource-
depleting feature, namely +/-single task (i.e., the number of tasks that have to be performed
simultaneously), has been somehow unnoticed. An elaboration on the design and method of
the study is presented below.
3. Method
3.1. Design of the Study
In the current study, a pretest (Writing Proficiency section of TOEFL) was used and the
participants were randomly assigned to two groups; however, since there was no control group,
this study had an experimental comparison group design (a between-subject design). The main
independent variable was task complexity with two levels (simple task vs. complex task), and the
dependent variable was dimension of language production, namely, structural complexity.
3.2. Participants
Initially, the homogeneity of the participants’ writing proficiency was checked. To this end, the
writing section of the TOEFL (2004) was administered to the Iranian EFL learners (N=72) as a pre-writing test.
Their written performance was rated based on Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth, Hartfeil, and Hughey’s (1981)
scoring profile , which consists of five sub-parts, i.e., content, vocabulary, language, organization, and
mechanics (cited in Weigle, 2002) by two skillful teachers. Based on the results, those participants whose
scores were between one SD above and below the mean (i.e., between 66.15 and 75.71) (n=48) were deemed to
be roughly at the same level of writing proficiency and took part in this study as the main participants.
The participants of this study were Iranian EFL learners studying at Ayandegra Institute, in Zanjan,
2015. They were both males and females, aged from 16 to 25. The participants were chosen from the learners
who had been placed at the upper-intermediate level based on the institute’s placement test. While the data were
being gathered, they studied Summit 1A book and attended their English classes three times a week.

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Seventy two Iranian learners took Writing Proficiency section of TOFEL (Educational Teaching
Service, 2004). The scores of 48 students were located within one standard deviation below and above the mean
(+/-1 SD), and consequently, were considered to be roughly at the same writing proficiency level and
participated in this study. These selected participants were assigned to two groups, namely, simple task group
(STG) (n=24) and complex task group (CTG) (n=24).
3.3. Instruments
Three instruments were used in this study. The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL,
EST, 2004), as a renowned standardized language proficiency test, was the first instrument utilized at the
beginning of the study to check the homogeneity of the participants’ writing proficiency level. However, just the
writing section was used, since in this study the researcher’s focus was on the writing ability of the students. As
Cooper (1984) argued, if the purpose is to explore the learners’ writing abilities, it is required to focus on this
skill exclusively, and general proficiency tests are not good indicators of this skill since they are more concerned
with recognition and comprehension than production and generation, and comprehension process can be partly
detached from the underlying syntactic system and from production (Skehan, 1998, p. 15).
In this pretest, the participants were asked to write about the following topic in 35 minutes.
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Use reasons and examples to support
your opinion.
“Universities should give the same amount of money to their students’ sports activities as they
give to their university libraries”
The next instrument was a narrative task-- an eight-frame picture (Appendix A) taken from Yule
(1997). It was used in both the simple and complex narrative tasks but in different manners. Narrating stories are
tasks “supported by visual material, but which require some degree of organization of material to tell a story
effectively” (Skehan & Foster, 1999, p. 98). The task used in this study was a one-way task with no interaction
among the participants (Ellis, 2003), and consisted of “a clear time line, a script, a story with a conventional
beginning, middle, and end” (Tavakoli & Skehan, 2005, p. 246).
The learners were asked to narrate the picture using at least 150 words. The picture set was available
for them at the time of performing the task, hence, both tasks used in the present study were deemed as
contextual embedded (Cummins, 1983, cited in Ellis, 2003, p. 92) and immediate (Skehan, 1998), Here-and-
Now orientation (Robinson, 2005).
The story was as follows: a woman goes to a supermarket. In the supermarket, she runs into her friend
who was shopping with her little son. She starts talking with her. They get so engrossed in talking that they
overlook the child. The child is very naughty. He stretches out his hand, takes a bottle, and puts it in the other
woman's bag. Two women say good-bye and separate.
The scoring profile (Appendix A) devised by Jacobset al., (1981, cited in Weigle, 2002). It was used
to score the participants’ written output in the pretest. This scoring profile lays emphasis on “the distinguishing
characteristic of communicative language use – interaction between the language user, the context, and the
discourse” (Bachman, 1990, p.302). It is comprised of five components including content, vocabulary, language,
organization, and mechanics. According to the profile, the score ranges from 34 to 100.
3.4. Procedure
At first, they were randomly assigned to two groups: simple-task Group (STG) (n=24) and complex-
task Group (CTG) (n=24). The participants in the STG were given the whole picture (Appendix A). The frames
of this picture had been arranged in the correct sequence before its administration to the participants of this
group (+ single task). The participants in the CTG were given all the frames of the picture; however, the frames
were not arranged in their correct order; therefore, these participants were first asked to order the frames in the
right sequence, and then to start writing about it (- single task= double task).
The participants in both groups were asked to write a story of at least 150 words based on the picture.
In both groups, the participants could see the pictures while writing about it (+ Here-and-Now dimension). The
picture was administered by their normal teacher, and he or she did not give any special guidance with respect to
formal features, organizational points, or the content.
4. Results
Our research question was concerned to the impact of manipulating task complexity on the structural
complexity of the EFL learners’ written production. This dependent variable was gauged by “average number of

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clause per t-unit” (Larsen-Freeman, 2006, p. 597). Figure 1 and Figure 2 demonstrate the histograms and box
plots of the data obtained in the STG and CTG in terms of structural complexity.

(A) (B)

Figure 1. Histograms of the participants’ production in the simple task (A) and the complex task (B) in
terms of structural complexity.

(A) (B)

Figure 2. Box plots of the participants’ production in the simple task (A) and the complex task (B) in
terms of structural complexity. Visually, Figure 1 and Figure 2 demonstrate the normality of the data.

Table 1
Results of one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests and Shapiro-Wilk test for the data obtained for structural
complexity.

Table 1

One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests and Shapiro-Wilk tests of the Participants’ Performance on Structural
Complexity

Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

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Statistic N Sig. Statistic N Sig.

SC.STG .109 24 .200 .964 24 .527

SC.CTG .109 24 .172 .882 24 .089

As seen in Table 1, statistically speaking, the data was normally distributed since all the levels of
significance were more than.05.
Table 2 reported the descriptive statistics participants’ performance in terms of structural complexity.
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics of Participants’ Performance in Terms of Structural Complexity

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Variance

SC.STG 24 1.38 2.06 1.6872 .19077 .036

SC.CTG 24 1.76 4.33 2.7924 .86896 .755

Valid N (listwise) 24

As seen in Table 2, the mean and standard deviation of the data obtained from the simple task group
were 1.68 and .190 respectively. The mean and standard deviation of the data obtained from the complex task
group were 2.79 and .868 respectively. In order to see whether this difference was statistically significant or not,
one independent samples t-test independent was run. The results are reported in Table 3.

Table 3

The Independent Samples T-Test for Task Complexity along Structural Complexity
Levene's t-test for Equality of Means
Test for
Equality of
Variances

F Sig t df Sig. Mean Std. 95%

. (2- Differen Error Confidence
tailed ce Differen Interval of the
) ce Difference
Lowe Uppe
r r
S Equal 29.6 .00 - 46 .000 -1.10522 .18160 -1.47 -.739
C variances 40 6.0
assumed
Equal - 25. .000 -1.10522 .18160 -1.47 -.731
variances 6.0 2
not
assumed

Table 3 indicates that the variance of the groups is equal; therefore, the second line must be reported,
i.e., t (25.2) = -6.0, p < 0.05. Since the level of significance is less than .05, it can be stated that the difference
between the means of the STG and CTG in terms of structural complexity was statistically significant. Hence,
based on the results, our null hypothesis was nullified.
5. Discussion

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The main objective of this study was to examine the impact of task complexity in terms of
single/dual task on syntactic complexity. It was measured by “average number of clauses per t-unit”
(Larsen-Freeman, 2006, p. 597). The results indicated that the participants significantly produced a greater
number of clauses in t-units while performing the complex task. Therefore, -single task had an obvious impact
on the enhancement of the structural complexity. One possible explanation for this finding is the greater
processing load imposed by the complex task on the learners who were struggling to find out the relation among
the frames of the picture. According to Ishikawa (2007), “greater memory demands….accompanies the use of
embedded and subordinating means” (Ishikawa, 2007, p. 148), and “manipulating task complexity may have
motivated a shift from a less to a more advanced mode of planning, where complex representations were
formed” (Ishikawa, 2007, p. 149 ).
The results of some studies were in consistent with the findings of the present study, such as
Abdollahzadeh and Fard Kashani (2012), Berwick (1993), Gilabert (2007), Ishikawa (2007), Robinson (1995b),
Rouhi and Marefat (2006), Sotoudehnama and Farahanynia (2014), and Salimi, et al. (2011). Almost all of
these studies undertaken on the here-and-now dimension and ascribed the greater syntactic complexity to the
greater memory demands of the complex task which propelled the learners to think more deeply about the
picture set and to generate larger units of information so as to mitigate the processes of encoding, storing, and
retrieving the information from memory.
The findings of this study are also in line with (Hosseini & Rahimpour, 2010) who found that task
complexity doesn't have any significant effect on the accuracy of written narratives of L2 learners. The findings
also are in line with the results of the studies done by Mehrang (2009), Skehan & Foster (1999), Robinson
(2007). The findings of the study are in line with the prediction of Cognition
Hypothesis proposed by Robinson (2005, 2007). This high rate of fluency in the written production can be
attributed to the fact that increasing cognitive demand of pedagogic task has an important influence on learning.
This cognitive demand imposes extra burden of information processing, memory capacity, and attentional
resources on learners' mental capacity which pushes the L2 learners to go beyond their current level of language
proficiency and stretch their interlanguage system (Rahimpour, 1999).

The findings of this aspect of our study is in line with the predictions of Cognition Hypothesis which states
that increasing the cognitive load of a task along resource-directing line will lead to more syntactic production
of language. This high rate of structural complexity could be attributed to (Givon, 1989; Robinson, 2007; Salimi
& Yusefi, 2009).The fact that increasing task complexity will stretch interlanguage system enabling learners to
use syntactic mode of language which is characterized by greater use of morphology, greater syntactic
subordination,
and high noun to verb ratio (lexical complexity).

The findings of the study is in line with Ellis & Barkhuizen (2005) in that tasks with more cognitive
demands push L2 learners to perform tasks in certain ways, prioritizing one or another aspect of language. Thus,
complex tasks push learners to prioritize complexity over fluency. Tavakoli & Foster (2008) also argue that the
more demanding a task in terms of its content, the more complex the language a learner will attempt performing
a task. The explanation for the enhanced complexity may lie in the fact that complex tasks impose extra burden
of information processing to the learners' mental capacities.
Some studies focusing on the planning dimension demonstrated the opposite results; in other words, the
learners performed better in the complex task regarding syntactic complexity. Some of them are), Ellis and
Yuan (2004), Farahani and Meraji (2011), Foster and Skehan (1996), Kawauchi (2005), Rahimpour (2007),
Tavakoli and Skehan (2005), Skehan and Foster (1997), Rahimpour (2007).
However, the results of this study ran against the findings of researchers like (Hosseini, 2009; Ishikawa, 2006)
who found no significant difference between task complexity and L2 learners' written performance. They argue
that the results support Skehan & Fosters' (2001, p: 193) preposition that "prioritization or predisposition (or
both) seem to orient performance toward one (or two) of the three areas of accuracy, fluency, and complexity".
Regarding grammatical accuracy, findings have widely diverged in task-based research owing to different measures of
grammatical accuracy. The results of this study showed that task complexity did lead to the production of texts which differ
from each other from grammatical accuracy perspective. It was likely that, when working on the least complex task (with the
more writing assistance), learners were able to put together their memory and cognition resources and paid their full
attention to the form of their productions which, on the whole, led to more accurate language. The results of measuring the
grammatical accuracy (via the ratio of error-free T-units to total T-units (EFT/T) and the ratio of error-free clauses to total
clauses (EFC/C)) are supportive results to both Robinson‟s Cognition Hypothesis (2005) and Skehan and Foster‟s (2001)

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Limited Attentional Capacity Model. They believe that increasing cognitive task complexity (along with the resource-

Discussing the reason why pre-task planning led to the production of more complex language, Ellis and
Yuan (2004) claimed that pre-task planning diminished the pressure on working memory via providing more
time for conceptualization. In fact, based on Levelt’s (1989) Speech Production Model, the participants
“prioritized conceptualization over formulation and articulation” (Yuan & Ellis, 2003, p.20) in the pre-planning
time. Therefore, during the task, this reduced load resulted in the greater activation of the rule-based system,
which led to the generation of more complex language. Ortega (2005) also contended that the use of more types
of strategies during the planning time could be the reason why the structural complexity, i.e., the use of
embeddings and subordinations, of their output augmented. Farahani and Meraji (2011) also came to the same
conclusion.
To recap, our null hypothesis concerned structural complexity and task complexity. This null hypothesis
was disconfirmed due to the fact that there was a main effect for the impact of +/-single dimension on this
variable, and the manipulation of the double task brought about the enhancement in the structural complexity.
6. Conclusion
This study attempted to investigate the effects of cognitive task complexity, grammatical accuracy, and syntactic
complexity in EFL learners‟ argumentative writing. Having identified a gap in task-based research in written discourse, this
study attempted to bridge this gap by investigating the effect of cognitive task complexity on learners‟ writing performance.
The results of the measures of syntactic complexity provided supportive evidence (although partially) for both Robinson‟s
and Skehan and Foster‟s models. In the same vein, the results of grammatical accuracy measures contributed supportive
evidence to both above-mentioned models. The present study has a number of theoretical and pedagogical implications for
SLA researchers, teachers, syllabus and task designers, and language testing specialists. The first and the most important is
that the nature of the different processes and specially information process (involved during completing task) can be clearly
established in SLA settings. A valid and crucial criterion for designing, selecting, grading, and sequencing pedagogical tasks
is in forefront of teachers‟ and task designers‟ attention. Therefore, the findings of this study can be regarded as practical
basis for above-mentioned purposes. Moreover, the findings of the current study suggested that focusing on cognitive
capabilities of the learners as well as the cognitive load of the structure of the task is of more importance in language
teaching and learning than in any other settings. In spite of some useful findings which can be considered as explicit basis
for writing assessment, some limitations need to be acknowledged.
Our findings showed that the provision of task complexity along +/-single task dimension significantly
affected Iranian EFL learners’ written performance qualitatively and quantitatively. The following conclusions
can be drawn from the present study: Regarding the quantitative aspect, this dimension led to greater fluency
gains, and in terms of qualitative aspects, syntactic complexity increased due to the manipulation of task
complexity. However, the measure of accuracy decreased through the use of a more complex task. The major
findings of the present study are that the difference between the means of the STG and CTG in terms of
structural complexity was statistically significant. Hence, based on the results, our null hypothesis was nullified.
Concerning pedagogical implications, the findings of this study can shed light on the selection and
gradation of the tasks in TBLT syllabi. It shows via the manipulation of different degrees of the task complexity,
the teachers can selectively direct learners’ attention towards the production dimension in which the learners
have problems.
Although many task-based studies have been undertaken so far, there are still numerous baffling
challenges waiting to be solved via future research. Regarding task complexity, a longitudinal research can be
conducted in order to explore the ability of the learners in transferring their enhanced ability due to the task
manipulation to other contexts and tasks. In order to gain rich description, post-task interviews, questionnaires,
retrospective and introspective measures can also be utilized. Future research can evolve around other types of
tasks being manipulated along different task features. Even individual differences regarding the learners’
learning style, learning strategies can also be taken into account in future research.
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Appendices
Appendix A
Prompt for the simple writing task, taken from Yule (1997)
Begin the story like this: Today, a woman goes to the supermarket…

Appendix B
Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth, Hartfeil, and Hughey’s (1981) scoring profile

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THE STUDY OF INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH (FONF

OR FONFS) IN FACILITATING INCIDENTAL
ACQUISITION OF PLURAL S AND COPULA BE

Hossein Arabgary, Department of English Language Teaching, Zanjan branch, Islamic Azad
University, Zanjan, Iran .e-mail: arabgari40@gmail.com
Siros Izadpanh (corresponding author), assistant professor, department of English Language
Teaching, Zanjan branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran. E-mail:
cyrosizadpanah@yahoo.com

Abstract
The current study was designed to examine the effectiveness of focus on form (fonf) and focus on
forms (fonfs) teaching contexts on incidental grammar acquisition of two target structures,
namely plural-s and copula-be. Incidental grammar acquisition refers to identification of a
grammatical feature which is not taught directly. The study designed to teach some new words.
The two target structures were not taught explicitly, but the lessons provided opportunities for
acquiring them during the classroom interactions. Forty-five beginner iranian students were non-
randomly divided into three groups of fifteen, namely, fonf, fonfs and control group. They
received eight repeated lessons during six weeks. Three tests (multiple listening test for receptive
knowledge of plural-s, wug test for productive knowledge of plural-s and tell and do test for
productive knowledge of copula-be) were used to measure the acquisitions of target features in
terms of the differences in interactions that take place in the two instructional approaches and
consequently opportunities for noticing of target structures. The study used a quasi-experimental
through pre-tests, immediate post-tests and delayed post-tests. Then the statistical analysis was
run through one-way repeated measures anovas. The results revealed that the learners in fonf
group demonstrated the acquisition of plural-s but not of copula be. This was because fonf
instruction made the plural-s salient whereas this did not occur in the case of copula-be. Neither
of the target structures were acquired by fonfs and control groups. Overall, it is concluded that
providing a functional need to process a grammatical feature is required for incidental grammar
acquisition to occur.

Key words: incidental acquisition; focus on form; focus on forms; teaching grammar, Iranian EFL
learners

Introduction
This study aimed at investigating the incidental grammar acquisition in two different instructional
contexts, namely focus on form (FonF) by employing comprehension-based instruction and focus
on forms (FonFs) by employing production-based instruction. The study focused on beginner
Iranian students with no prior instruction of English. It tried to reveal whether leaners can learn a
grammatical structure which is not taught directly and if so, what interactional processes are
more facilitative in incidental acquisition of these features.
The current study chose plural s morpheme and copula be as the target structures. The reason for
choosing the plural s was that the researcher as an experienced teacher was aware that beginner
learners had problems in distinguishing singular from plural form and copula be was selected
because it was frequent in input but the students paid little attention to it.

Incidental acquisition

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Incidental acquisition is a challenging concept in second language acquisition. Hulstjin (2003) defines
it as the learning of a second language (L2) without intention. So what separates incidental from
intentional learning is the lack of any intention to learn not the lack of awareness. As Schmidt
argues noticing, that is, conscious attention to linguistic form is a crucial factor in incidental
acquisition. Therefore incidental acquisition can be distinguished from implicit learning which
includes the lack of awareness.
Incidental acquisition is significant in either theoretical or pedagogical level. In the theoretical level, it
is important as in many learning contexts learners develop their grammatical competence mainly
through incidental acquisition. It is assumed that learning takes place while learners are exposed
to comprehensible input and as a result have opportunities to produce the language during
communication. This kind of learning does not require the learners to make a conscious effort to
acquire a particular grammatical feature. According to Nick Ellis (2002) the frequency of exposure
to grammatical structures in the input is one of the key determinants of acquisition.
Incidental acquisition is also important in pedagogical level as there are restrictions on a learner’s
capacity to learn the grammar of a language intentionally and therefore restrictions on the extent
to which grammatical competence can be explicitly taught. Krashen (1982) points out that that
even the best students will only be able to learn a small part of a grammar as a language and
therefore they must rely mostly on incidental acquisition.
Incidental grammar acquisition can be explored in two main ways. One is to afford a focused task (R.
Ellis, 2002) that involves learners in meaning-focused tasks and then evaluates whether they have
learned the particular grammatical structure targeted by the task. In this way the learners are not
required to involve in intentional learning, rather they participate in communicative tasks that
afford opportunities for incidental acquisition. The other way is to provide instruction planned to
teach certain grammatical or lexical items and then to investigate whether they have learned
other items which took place in the input but was not the main focus of the instruction. The
present study compared the incidental acquisition that happened in these two contexts.
In present study, incidental acquisition is operationalized as the leaning that rises while the learners
were incidentally exposed to two target grammatical structures, namely plural s an copula be
which were not directly taught. In FonF lesson, learners completed some focused tasks that were
planned to teach some new words and on the other hand, expose them to the target features
while in the FonFs lesson, the words were explicitly taught and also exposed the learners to the
target structures incidentally. The current study aimed to determine whether differences in the
types of the interactions that took place in these two kinds of lessons resulted in differences in the
incidental acquisition of the two features.

Incidental acquisition in focus on form and focus on forms lesson

The current study examined incidental acquisition in instruction engaging FonF and FonFs
instructional contexts. Long (1991) and Long & Crooks (1992) define FonF as a type of instruction
in which the main focus is on meaning rather than form. It involves an infrequent shift of
learners’ attention from meaning to form, while the overriding focus remains on meaning. This
shift occurs when both learners and teachers attempt to solve either comprehension or production
problem in the communication.
FonF can be planned or unplanned ((R. Ellis, Basturkmen, & Loewen, 2002). Unplanned FonF occurs
while the learners’ attention is occasionally directed onto specific grammatical structure while
they are implementing unfocused tasks. On the other hand, in planned FonF the focus on
particular linguistic structure is predetermined and a focused task is planned to afford a context
for its use. In this kind of FonF attention to the selected linguistic feature is intensive. Either
planned or unplanned FonF aim at incidental acquisition.
FonFs constitutes a traditional approach to language teaching in which according Long (1991, 1996)
language is broken down into discrete elements which are then taught item by item in a linear,
additive fashion. In this kind of instruction the main focus is directed on linguistic form but this
does not mean that meaning necessarily is not excluded. In the FonF lesson grammatical
development is of intentional and learners consciously improve their grammatical competence.
However, FonFs can also provide opportunities for incidental acquisition by exposing the
learners to input containing the target structures. The current study tried to compare incidental
grammar acquisition in two different teaching contexts in which some new vocabulary items

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were designed to be taught. The FonF lesson was of planned, that is was planned to teach some
preselected set of words which were embedded in meaning-focused tasks that is, they were not
taught directly. On the other hand, the FonFs lesson taught the same set of words explicitly by
employing present-practice-product methodology. Either FonF or FonFs lessons provided
opportunities for comprehending or producing plural-s and copula be. But no attempt was made
both types of instructions in order to teach the two target structures explicitly.

Interactionist theories like Gass, 1997 & Long, 1981 argue that L2 acquisition happens through
interaction while the learners’ primary attention is directed at message content but also declare
that attention to form is required. Long (1996) claims that this happens while learners notice the
positive evidence afforded in the input and also the gap between input and their own
interlanguage. Swain (1995) claims that acquisition can occur as the learners try to produce the
target language and also they notice a gap in their linguistic knowledge. So either Long or Swain
emphasize the role of ‘noticing’ in incidental learning.
A few studies have examined the incidental acquisition of one feature in instruction that has been
planned to teach some other language feature. Slimani (1989) examined FonFs. She used self-
report in order to examine uptake by adult beginner learners of English in the language
classroom. After receiving a 2-hour teacher –fronted form-oriented lesson that is, by introducing
the target features followed by practice exercises, the learners filled in an Uptake Recall Chart in
which they stated the ‘completely new’ language items that they have learned during the
instruction. She informed that 11% of the language features that the learners claimed that they
have learned in the classroom were not the topic of the instruction. The study concluded that
incidental acquisition of features not directly taught can occur.
Loewen, Erlam, and Ellis (2009) also examined incidental acquisition in FonF lesson. The main focus
of the instruction was the use of indefinite article but the instruction also provided intensive
exposure to third person s. An elicited oral imitation test and an untimed grammaticality
judgment test were employed in order to measure acquisition. The results indicated no
considerable improvement of the learners’ knowledge of third person s. they claimed that the
learners were unable to dual-task that is, to attend to both features at the same time.
Recently, Shintani & Ellis (2010) examined the incidental acquisition of plural s in FonF and FonFs
lessons. The lessons were planned to teach 24 new words to language learners aged 6 to 8. The
FonF lesson used lesson and do tasks and FonFs lesson employed present-practice-product
methodology. In order to avoid bias, acquisition was measured by both receptive and productive
tests. The results reveal that both groups improved in the receptive test, but only in the
production test. They concluded that FonF lesson provided opportunities for learners to negotiate
meaning and this enabled them to accomplish a form-function mapping for plural s. This did not
occur in FonFs lesson.
More recently, Shintani (2014) investigated two grammatical features, namely plural s morpheme and
copula be in FonF and FonFs lessons. The two target features were not directly taught, but
opportunities for learning them happened in the classroom interactions. Thirty complete beginner
Japanese learners received nine repeated lessons during five weeks. The study investigated the
learners’ acquisition of the two features measured by tests and sought descriptions for the results
in terms of the differences in interactions that took place in the two lessons and, in particular,
opportunities for noticing the structures in the interactions. The results revealed that the learners
in the FonF lesson showed acquisition of plural s but not copula be. Neither plural s nor copula be
was acquired by the learners in FonFs lesson. The analysis of the classroom interactions indicated
that there was a functional need to attend to plural s only in the FonF lesson.
To summarize, these studies reveal that incidental grammar acquisition can occur either in in the
FonF lesson ( Shintani & Ellis 2010, Shintani 2014) and in the FonFs lesson (Slimani 1989) and in
some cases it did not happen in the FonFs lesson ( Loewen et al 2009) or occurs less effectively
than in fonF lesson ( Shintani & Ellis, Shintani 2014). One probable factor that establishes whether
incidental acquisition occurs is the functional value of the grammatical structure. Plural s is
semantically meaning bearing. (Shintani & Ellis, Shintani 2014). Third person s is redundant in
meaning. Incidental acquisition is possibly to take place while the grammatical feature conveys
functional value and requires learners to make a form-meaning connection. The two target
grammatical structures examined in present study differed in terms of whether they were

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semantically meaning bearing or redundant. So the study aimed at indicating whether incidental
acquisition was affected by the nature of the grammatical structure.
To the best of our knowledge very few studies have investigated the incidental grammar acquisition
in both FonF and FonFs contexts by Iranian beginner learners, so this study was motivated
because incidental acquisition is significant in both theoretical and pedagogical level and also
Iranian beginner learners are not very satisfied with explicit grammar teaching and they usually
have problem with it.

Methodology
Design
The study employed a quasi-experimental design, namely two experimental and a control group by
using a pre-test, immediate posttest and a delayed posttest. This study compared the
effectiveness of in incidental grammar acquisition through FonF and FonFs teaching approaches

Participants
45 Iranian male beginner EFL learners aged 8 to 12 were randomly selected and then divided into
three groups of 15. The instructional process took place in a private institute (Behgooyan
institute) in Miyaneh. The instruction constitute 6 lessons which lasted 8 weeks. The learners met
60 minute instruction per week.

Target features
The current study aimed to investigate the incidental acquisition of two grammatical structures, i.e.,
plural-s morpheme and copula be. The main reason for choosing plural-s was that the researcher
as an experienced teacher was aware that his students have serious problems in distinguishing
singular nouns from plural ones. The second grammatical chosen item was copula be. The
motivation for selecting this grammatical element was that this feature was very frequent in
classroom interactions and in teacher’s utterances but students did not pay much attention to this
feature and had difficulty in using it properly.

Treatment materials and procedures

Thirty vocabularies (twenty four in single form and six in plural form) were selected to be taught
during the instruction. They were divided into three groups, that is, ten items labeling fruits and
vegetables, eten for animals and ten for home appliances. In FonF lesson all the vocabularies were
introduced in every session, but in FonFs lesson, four words were taught to the learners per
session.

Treatment Materials and Procedures for the FonF Group: the lessons contained three listen and so
tasks that required the learners to listen to their teacher’s command and doing those tasks. The
main reason for selecting these kinds of tasks was that learners were beginner learners and this
was the only way to provide them FonF instruction. In order to achieve the task outcomes the
learners were given thirty flash cards. The learners were required to listen to their teacher’s
command in order to complete the tasks. Each task had a different goal. The objective of each task
was explained in both English and Persian to the learners (E.g. the task one required the learners
to collect as many as possible cards for zoo and supermarket). So they had to listen to the
teacher’s instruction to a complete a task (e.g. take the ostriches to the zoo).
Treatment Materials and Procedures for the FonFs Group: as the nature of this approach requires
the goal of the activities explicitly were explained to the learners, that is, leaning some new
vocabularies. Every lesson was consist of five activities. The first one required the learners to
repeat the vocabularies after the teacher. The second and third activities involved them to say
both chorally and individually the words shown on the flashcards. The fourth and fifth activities
were game-like. For example, activity five required the learners to produce the items. Six set of
cards (60 flash cards) were put face down on the table. The students asked to turn over one of the
cards one by one and then all the students repeated the word shown on the card. If a student
turned over a card that matched one of the cards already face up, he could keep the pair of cards.
If they were unable to name the item, or gave wrong answer, the teacher helped him by affording

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recast. When all of the cards had been turned over, the number of pairs chosen by each student
was counted.

3.8 Instructional materials for the control group: the lessons for control group consisted of practicing
some English songs which contained some verb phrases such as get up, go to bed, wash your
hands, get dressed, do your homework, eat breakfast, go to school, go home and so on and
involving in Total Physical Responses and also tracing and copying English alphabets on their
notebooks. The teacher did his best to avoid using any target grammatical with the control group
directly but they were exposed to target features in the teacher’s utterances and songs .(See
appendix F)
Test Materials: Two tested were used in order to measure the learners’ acquisition of plural
morpheme-s. A multiple comprehension listening test assessed the receptive knowledge, and the
wug test measured the productive knowledge of the learners. A tell and do task was used to
calculate the productive knowledge of copula be. As it was impossible to evaluate comprehension
of this structure there was not any receptive test for copula-be. (The full explanations of the three
tests are reported in Appendix A.)

Data Analysis
The procedure of conversation analysis (CA) was employed in order to investigate the interactions
that took place in two kinds of instructional materials. CA is an effective instrument to investigate
interaction (Mori, 2004; Markee, 2005) CA was utilized to distinguish the differences in the turn-
taking and opportunities for incidental acquisition that may happen in two kinds of instructions.
The eight lessons for both experimental groups were audio-recorded and then transcribed. This
was used in order to identify the individual participant utterances and nonverbal answers. The
target structures made by the teacher and learners were counted. The turn-taking processes in
both lessons were analyzed for occasions when chances for acquisition took place in the learner
uptake. Uptake occurred in two ways: (1) learners’ correction of their incorrect utterance by
receiving corrective feedback and (2) learners displaying that they have successfully comprehend
the input after they had at first failed to acquire it. In both cases, uptake could be self-initiated
(i.e., through self-correction or by asking questions) or other-initiated (i.e., by receiving corrective
feedback).

Test scores for both plural tests (i.e., the comprehension listening test and the wug test) were
separated into ‘old items’ (four items) and ‘new items’ (six items) in order to discriminate
between item learning (i.e., participants remembering the items they had been exposed to) and
system learning (i.e., internalization of a ‘rule’ that could be successfully directed new exemplars
of the target structure; see Robinson 2005). In the case of production of copula be and also
subject-verb agreement, separate scores were calculated. The test scores were analyzed by using
SPSS version 19.
Findings
The acquisition of two target structures were investigated by analyzing either the learners’ ability to
comprehend the target features, namely receptive knowledge and their ability to use them, that is
productive knowledge in both classroom communication and tests.

4.2.3.1 Use of the two target grammatical structures during the classroom interactions: learners in
FonF lessons indicated the receptive knowledge of plural s morpheme, this was because the
students were required to choose the correct singular or plural flash card in order to achieve the
task outcome. They developed their ability to identify this structures as the lessons were repeated.
Expert 4 obviously reveals that how one of the students recognized the plural form. When Vahid (line
4) selected the incorrect card, Hassan challenged him by saying that there were three of them (line
5). Then he tried to attract his attention to /s/ segment as the indicator of plural morpheme,
which revealed that Hassan has identified the plural morpheme. However, expert 4 revealed that
Hassan has improved his receptive knowledge of plural morpheme but not productive
knowledge of it as he did not produce the plural noun in the extract or any other time.

EXCERPT 4 (FonF Lesson 3)

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1. T: okay the next one. Please take the soaps. Please take the soaps to the supermarket.
2. Ali: ‫=( چند تا ؟ چند تا ؟‬how many? How many?)
3. T: listen listen (.) please take the soaps.
4. Vahid: ( ( hold the card with one soap on it) ) ‫ =(یکیه‬its one)
5. Hassan: ( ( talk to Vahid) ) ‫ =(سه تاست‬its three)
6. Vahid: ‫ =(یکیه‬it’s one)
7. Hassan:/s/ ‫ =(س‬it’s /s/)
8. Vahid: ( ( changes his card to the card with three soaps) )

As discussed above, the learners in FonF group did not show any sign of receptive knowledge of
copula be, this happened because were simply able to comprehend the teacher’s command by just
analyzing the content words. As table 2 indicates, the learners in FonF instruction created plural
morpheme 13 times and in the term of copula be just once. The plural form was mostly produced
in repetition of the teacher’s commands by the learners. (e.g. ‘take the camels to the zoo’,
students: camels).there were two exceptions. According to expert 5, Behnam produced the plural
form “peacocks” (peacock…s) to demand more explanation on the part of the teacher. It seems
that Behnam was aware of the plural morpheme because he elongated it.

EXCERPT 5 (FonF Lesson 6)

1. T: okay the next person. Please take the crocodiles to the zoo. Crocodiles. Peacocks.
2. Hamid: one? Two?
3. Hassan: red?
4. T: no no.
5. Behnam: crocodile::: z?
6. T: yes that’s right. Peacocks to the zoo.

As expert 6 displays the other circumstance was while Vahid uttered the plural form in order to
request clarification.

EXCERPT 6 (FonF Lesson 8)

1. T: please take the ostriches to the zoo.

2. Hamid: brown?
3. Vahid: ostriches, two?
4. T: yes

As the above-mentioned examples (FonF lessons) indicate although the situations when students
uttered plural morpheme were very limited, some learners showed the productive ability during
the instructions, indicating that the incidental acquisition had occurred. However the was no sign
of productive ability in the case of copula be structure.
On the other hand, in the FonFs lessons as the instructions were planned in a way that they involved
the learners just to produce the words shown by the flash cards, there was no evidence of
learners’ demonstration of receptive knowledge of plural morpheme. As table 2 reveals the FonFs
group produced plural morpheme 32 times and copula be 9 times (4 for is and 5 for are).The
plural s morpheme production by the FonFs group happened only in the mechanical repetition of
the teacher’s commands, as a result they were unable in producing the plural morpheme as they
asked to name the plural objects. (e.g.: what are they?). The production of copula be by the
participants occurred just in mechanical repetition of the teacher’s questions. Therefore, there was
no evidence of incidental acquisition of both grammatical structures by the FonFs learners.

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4.2.4 The two posttests results. The descriptive statistics of the three groups of comparative tests that
is, comprehension test, wug and tell and do tests are displayed in appendix D. in the case of the
comprehension test for both old and new items there were no considerable differences between
the two experimental and control group in the pretest. However, FonF group increased its scores
across the both posttests, while the FonFs and control group stayed at virtually the same level for
both the ‘old’ and ‘new’ items. As the medium to large effect size reveals that different
instructional materials had very different effects on their learners in the case of receptive
knowledge of plural morpheme. Because the FonFs and control group scored zero across the
repeated tests for both wug and tell-and-do task so no statistical comparisons were attempted.
The test results revealed that FonF instruction outperformed over FonFs and control group in the
case of plural s morpheme and just for receptive knowledge.
The number the students who acquired the target grammatical structures, namely plural s morpheme
and copula be in the three tests (i.e. the achieved the 80% criteria) are shown in table 4. It should
be mentioned that none of the learners in the pretest in the case of comprehension test indicated
the ‘acquired’ level and also neither of them demonstrated the acquisition in productive
knowledge.

Table 3
Number of students who acquired two grammatical structures in three tests

FonF (n=15) FonFs (n=15) control G (n=15)

Tests feature Posttest 1 posttest 2 posttest 1 posttest 2 posttest 1 posttest 2

Comprehension test plural –s old items 10 11 3 4 1 1

New items 10 11 0 0 0 0
Wug test plural –s old items 2 0 0 0 0 0
New items 2 0 0 0 0 0
Tell-and-do task copula be production 1 1 0 0 0 0
Agreement 0 0 0 0 0 0

In comprehension test there was a significant difference among the three groups. In the FonF lesson
both in old and new items, 10 learners in posttest one and 11 of them in posttest two indicated the
‘acquiring’ level, that is most of them had acquired plural s morpheme as a rule in receptive
knowledge phase. But in FonFs lessons just 3 students in posttest 1 and 4 students in posttest 2
showed the acquisition of plural morpheme and also in control group 1 student in posttest 1 and
1 student in posttest 2 revealed the signs of acquisition in receptive knowledge. The students in
FonFs lesson did not acquire plural morpheme as a rule because they were unable to pluralize
new items. The number of acquired learners in FonF lesson in both posttest 1 and posttest 2 were
more than both FonFs and control group, with a greater effect size (see appendix D). The
comparison of the three groups revealed that the FonF group outperformed FonFs and control
group in receptive knowledge of plural morpheme.
In the wug tests all the groups scored zero and also there was no significant difference among them in
both posttests. However two learners indicated the productive knowledge of plural morpheme in
FonF lesson. One of them got 100% in the case of old items and 75% for new items and the other
student got 100% for both old and new items. As two learners in FonF lesson were able to
produce the target items it can be suggested that full incidental acquisition had taken place in the
case of these two learners.
He uttered the contracted form of copula be in both singular and plural items. However, he did not
acquire subject-verb agreement for copula be structure. To summarize there were no significant
differences in the posttests among the three groups.

Results
Test results revealed that first, incidental acquisition did took place only in the FonF lesson. This was
due to the nature of FonF lesson that created the need for the learners to distinguish the plural
and singular forms and, consequently, opportunities were provided to establish the form–

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meaning connection for plural -s. that is why the learners’ in FonF demonstrated the acquisition
of this feature. This did not happen in the term of FonFs lesson. The acquisition of copula-be did
not happen either in FonF or FonFs lessons. This may have been because the copula-be was
semantically redundant. Second, most of the learners in FonF lesson improved only receptive
knowledge plural morpheme.
The results of the current research question revealed that in order to incidental grammar acquisition
happen, providing a functional need to process a grammatical feature seems necessary, at least in
the case of complete beginner learners. It appears that, in the FonF lesson, the nature of the tasks
required the learners to distinguish plural noun from singular in order to achieve the task
outcomes. A significant finding of this study is that it is viable to design and implement highly
motivating input-based tasks (FonF) for young beginner learners in an EFL context and that these
are more effective than FonFs materials for teaching both vocabulary and grammar.

5.4 Conclusion
The purpose of the current study was to examine incidental grammar acquisition of two target
grammatical features by Iranian beginner EFL learners in two different instructional context,
namely FonF and FonFs. The findings of this study suggests that providing a functional need to
process a grammatical feature is required for incidental grammar acquisition to occur, specifically
when there is limited amount of exposure and the learners are complete beginner ones. The most
obvious findings to emerge from this study was that incidental acquisition did happen, but only
in the FonF group, and the acquisition was only marked in the comprehension test. This can be
justified by three proposed factors: the first factor is related to the intrinsic difficulty of the target
features, that is plural-s is semantically salient whereas copula be is redundant. The second factor
is the kind of instruction- the FonF lessons created the need for the learners to distinguish the
plural from singular forms and consequently had opportunities to create form-meaning
connection for plural-s. This did not take place in the FonFs group as neither the teacher nor the
students focused on the accurate production of this feature and this is because only the FonF
group indicated any acquisition of this feature. Nevertheless most of the learners in the FonF only
improved the receptive knowledge of plural-s. Repair and uptake showed learners’ involvement
in learning the language that they were exposed to in the two teaching contexts. As the
investigation of the classroom interactions revealed, repairs that happened in FonFs group were
almost completely medium-oriented whereas those in FonF group repair managed to be message-
oriented, that is the ‘trouble’ to be repaired in FonFs mostly focused on the accurate production of
the target words while ‘trouble’ was caused by the comprehension that the tasks created. The
third factor is related to the extent to which the two types of instructions made the target
structure salient. Due to the nature of the instruction, plural form was more salient in the FonF in
contrast with FonFs lesson.
To summarize, the results of the this research revealed that in order to incidental grammar acquisition
happen, providing a functional need to process the grammatical structures seems necessary at
least in the case of complete beginner learners.
The researcher employed input-based tasks in order to conduct this study because they are the
suitable ones in the case of young beginner learners and at the same time they afford
opportunities for beginner learners to encounter communicative interactions. They also create a
context where learners can manage turn-taking process and enable them to self-initiate and self-
repair by the help of his classmates and the teacher. That is why the learners were successful in
receptive knowledge as input-based tasks were employed in order to teach them. On the other
hand, in order to incidental acquisition to occur, the lesson should be designed in a way that
attract the learners’ attention to grammatical forms by making them salient, that is, motive the
learners to process the form in order to accomplish a communicative consequence. In the case of
incidental acquisition it seems that it is more likely to happen through FonaF lesson rather than
FonFs.

5.5. Implications
The findings of the current study may have implications for students, material developers and
educators. Currently communicative language teaching approaches like TBLT have become
popular all over the world because the learners desire to be communicatively competent in

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English. During the implementing of this project the researcher realized how the learners’
attitude change from considering English as an object to be learned to viewing it as a tool for
purposeful communication, and how this created a context in which English could be acquired
naturally. It was obvious that learners were completely satisfied with FonF lesson. So the
researcher thinks that implementing FonF instruction would be beneficial for the students
especially for beginner learners.
English text books changed after 27 years. The new published text books are designed based on the
communicative language teaching approaches, so the result of the present study can be useful for
material developers in that it demonstrated that the learners in communicative (FonF) lesson
outperformed over other ones.
The researcher also became aware of the importance of his role as a teacher. He did not consider
himself as the only source of knowledge, instead he saw himself as a co-communicator to his
students who can support them in order to achieve the task outcomes. The researcher confesses
that implementing FonF lesson needs much more energy and enthusiasm on the part of the
teacher. On the other hand, using tasks with beginner learners requires additional skills on the
part of the teacher and they should be familiar with the various strategies of implementing TBLT.
Unfortunately, some teachers feel that teaching communicative English is out of their domain and
beyond their ability and it seems that they are not sufficiently mastered the task-based strategies.
To sum up, the researcher hopes this study can motivate the teachers to change their attitudes
toward communicative language teaching approaches, since they seem to be more effective in
helping the students in order to be communicatively competent.
It is hoped that the finding of the current study will be beneficial for both EFL teachers and learners in
the providing them with a higher awareness of the role of task based language teaching (TBLT) in
general and incidental grammar acquisition in particular in their classes.

5.6 Suggestions for future research

The present study raised a number of issues for future studied associated with incidental acquisition.
First, it would be desirable to examine the effects of FonF (TBLT) and FonFs (PPP) over a longer
period of time and also embedded within authentic instructional setting. Second, more researches
considering other grammatical features is needed to examine how the intrinsic difficulty of these
features impacts incidental learning. Finally, the intervening influence of individual differences
such as aptitude and working memory.
The current study only investigated young beginner learners. Thus, it is also possible for studies to be
conducted with older or proficient learners who cognitively mature and might be better equipped
to benefit from FonFs.
Here some more important question arises: how teachers and learners view FonF? What difficulties
do teachers experience during implementing FonF? To what extent are the learners able to
ordinate to regarding language as a tool for communicating rather than as an object for study? Do
teachers and learners recognize the importance of incidental acquisition? Thus, there is a need for
studies that explore teachers’ and students’ viewpoints and attitudes to FonF and how these
influence on what happens in the classroom and what is learned.

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Appendices
Appendix A: Test materials
Comprehension test .This was a multiple-choice test. The students were given a test sheet consisting
of ten pairs of pictures. Each set had two pictures (one representing the item in singular form and
one in plural form). The participants listened to an audio-recorded word and then indicated
which picture corresponded to the word they had heard. They had five seconds to respond to
each item. Ten words were tested in both their singular and plural forms (i.e., there were ten
questions in total). Four of them had appeared in both singular and plural form in the treatment
(i.e., “old items”) while six had appeared only in the singular form (i.e., “new items”). The test

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was administered to the participants in their groups. Care was taken to ensure the participants
could not see the other students’ test papers during the test.
Wug Test. This was adapted from Berko’s (1958) test for young L1 learners. The test consisted of ten
items. There were five items testing words that had been introduced in the treatment and five
testing nonsense words (i.e., ten questions in total). The test was administered to participants
individually by the researcher. The researcher first provided the singular form orally while
pointing to a picture (e.g., “This is a wug”), and then pointed to the picture depicting two objects
while saying “There are two of them. There are two ____” in order to elicit a plural noun. The
questions were provided in English and Persian. Ample time was given for the participants to
answer.
Tell-and-Do task. This was a one-way information-gap task performed by the researcher working
individually with each participant. Two different sheets for the participants and the researcher
were prepared. The participants’ sheet had ten pictures in various colors (five representing
singular items and five plural items). The researcher’s sheet had the same ten pictures as the
participant sheet but they were not in color. The researcher explained in Persian that the
participants needed to tell the researcher how to color the researcher’s pictures. The learners were
given flash cards representing all the objects and colors needed to complete the test. They were
allowed to ask the L2 words for the objects and colors at any time during the task. The task was
piloted with five slightly older learners with three to four years of experience in learning English
to establish that it successfully elicited the target items. Participants were awarded one point if
they attempted to use copula be irrespective of subject-verb agreement. They were awarded two
points if they used the copula with subject-verb agreement.

Appendix B
Individual Scores for the Comprehension Test, the Wug Test, and the Tell-and-Do Task
Comprehension test Wug test Tell-and-Do task
Pre-test post-test1 post-test2 pre-test post-test1 post-test2 pre-test post-test1 post-
test2
Old Ne Old Ne Old Ne Old Ne Old Ne Old Ne Ag Pr Ag Pr Ag pr
FonF 2 2 4 5 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 2 3 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 2 3 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 1 3 4 5 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 1 2 3 6 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 2 2 4 4 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 1 4 4 6 4 6 0 0 2 7 2 7 0 0 9 5 9 5
FonF 1 1 4 5 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 1 3 4 5 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 2 1 3 4 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 1 3 4 5 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 2 2 2 5 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 2 4 4 4 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 2 3 4 6 3 6 0 0 2 4 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonF 1 2 4 5 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 1 3 4 5 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 2 2 2 4 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 2 4 3 6 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 1 3 2 3 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 1 4 2 4 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 2 3 3 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 2 4 4 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 1 2 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 3 0 2 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 2 2 1 3 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 2 2 2 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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FonFs 0 4 4 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 0 4 1 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 0 3 2 4 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FonFs 0 4 1 5 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 1 3 0 3 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 2 4 1 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 2 3 2 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 0 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 1 3 2 3 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 0 1 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 2 2 1 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 0 1 1 2 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 2 3 3 4 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 1 2 4 3 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 0 1 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 1 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 1 5 2 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 3 2 2 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Con-G 1 1 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

NOTE: Prd. = Production scores, Agr. = Subject-verb agreement scores.

Appendix C: Transcription Conventions (adapted from Markee, 2008)

Name: pseudonym of an identified participant
T: the teacher talking
Ss: several or all students talking simultaneously
[] overlapped talk
(0.0) length of silence
(.) micro-pause
? rising intonation
! strong emphasis, with falling intonation
. a period indicates falling (final) intonation
, a comma indicates low-rising intonation suggesting continuation
:: noticeably lengthened sound
Underlined marked stress
CAPS loud volume
(( words )) comments by the transcriber
/ / phonetic transcription
(= words) English translation of the Persian word

Appendix D

Pretest

pretest ANOVA
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 5.511 2 2.756 1.587 .217
Within Groups 72.933 42 1.737
Total 78.444 44
A one-way ANOVA revealed that there was no statistically significant differences among three
groups on pretest, F(2, 42) = 1.58, P = .21 (with an alpha level of .05).

Immediate posttest
immediate ANOVA

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Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 120.044 2 60.022 18.321 .000
Within Groups 137.600 42 3.276
Total 257.644 44
A one-way ANOVA revealed that there was statistically significant differences among three groups
on immediate posttest, F(2, 42) = 18.32, P < .001 (with an alpha level of .05).

Delayed posttest
delayed ANOVA
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 72.933 2 36.467 11.077 .000
Within Groups 138.267 42 3.292
Total 211.200 44
A one-way ANOVA revealed that there was statistically significant differences among three groups
on delayed posttest, F(2, 42) = 11.07, P < .001 (with an alpha level of .05)

Descriptive Statistics for the Comprehension Test, Wug Test, and Tell-and-Do Task
Group Pre-test Post-test 1 Post-test 2
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Comprehension Test (Plural –s)
Old items FonF 35.57 14.30 84.55 26.76 90.00 22.76
FonFs 34.67 29.58 42.33 16.59 40.00 24.62
Control group 32.00 23.39 35.00 22.52 28.32 22.16
New items FonF 51.22 15.27 75.44 24.38 79.95 18.05
FonFs 47.89 21.33 52.20 18.66 51.11 27.78
Control group 42.89 22.12 47.11 14.66 44.45 13.34
Wug test (Plural –s)
Old items FonF 0.00 0.00 13.23 35.14 13.31 34.17
FonFs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Control group 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
New items FonF 0.00 0.00 12.40 33.07 11.56 29.13
FonFs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Control group 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Tell-and-Do task (Copula be)
Production FonF 0.00 0.00 1.00 3.75 1.00 3.75
FonFs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Control group 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
S-V Agreement FonF 0.00 0.00 0.32 1.27 0.33 1.27
FonFs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Control group 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Results of comparative test (Mann–Whitney U) for the comprehension test

Test Old/new Comparative results Values
Pre-test Old items FonF = FonFs = control group U=111.000, p=.97, r=.00
New items FonF = FonFs = control group U=104.500, p=.75, r=.09
Post-test 1 Old items FonF>FonFs & control group U=23.000, p=.00, r=.67
New items FonF>FonFs & control group U=45500, p=.01, r=.40
Post-test 2 Old items FonF>FonFs & control group U=16.500, p=.00, r=.72
New items FonF>FonFs & control group U=42.000, p=.00, r=.51
FonF = FonFs = control group: There was no significant difference between FonF and FonFs
FonF>FonFs & control group: the FonF group outperformed the FonFs and control group

Chi-square tests results

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Comparisons Results Values

Frequency of the target features plural –s FonF χ2 =23.800, df=1, p<.01, w=.10
>FonFs&Con-
G
copula be FonF χ2=63.022, df=1, p<.01, w=.15
>FonFs&Con-
G
Number of “acquired” students in post-test 1 FonF >FonFs χ2 =15.415, df=1, p<.01, w=.74
the Comprehension Test &Con-G
post-test 2 FonF χ2 =21.927, df=1, p<.01, w=.85
>FonFs&Con-
G
Number of “acquired” students in post-test 1 FonF χ2 =2.132, df=1, p>.01, w=.26
the Wug test =FonFs=Con-
G
post-test 2 FonF= χ2 =2.132, df=1, p>.01, w=.25
FonFs=Con-G
Number of “acquired” students in post-test 1 FonF χ2 =2.132, df=1, p>.01, w=.26
the Tell-and Do task =FonFs=Con-
G
post-test 2 FonF = χ2 =2.132, df=1, p>.01, w=.26
FonFs=Con-G

Appendix E
Sample plural-s comprehension test
1

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10

Appendix F

camel, ostrich, crocodile, monkey , seal, giraffe., bear, peacock, pan, ladle, spoon, fork, glass, plate,
soap, toothbrush, banana, pepper, eggplant, radish, lettuce, pear, zucchini, peach (+ crocodiles,
soaps, toothbrushes, ostriches, pears, bananas)
Appendix G
Control group songs
Mulberry Bush

Here we go 'round the Mulberry bush,

The Mulberry bush, the Mulberry bush.
Here we go 'round the Mulberry bush,
So early in the morning.
This is the way we wash the clothes,
Wash the clothes, wash the clothes.
This is the way we wash the clothes
So early in the morning.
This is the way we iron the clothes,
Iron the clothes, iron the clothes.
This is the way we iron the clothes
So early in the morning.
This is the way we scrub the floor,
Scrub the floor, scrub the floor.
This is the way we scrub the floor
So early in the morning.
This is the way we sweep the house,
Sweep the house, sweep the house.
This is the way we sweep the house
So early in the morning.
Here we go round the Mulberry bush, the Mulberry bush
the mulberry bush, here we go round the mulberry bush
early in the morning
This is the way you wash your face, wash your face, wash your face
this is the way you wash your face, every Monday morning
wash, wash, wash your face (repeat)
This is the way you brush your teeh, brush your teeth, brush your teeth
this is the way you brush your teeth, every Tuesday morning
brush, brush, brush your teeth (repeat)
This is the way you comb your hair, comb your hair, comb your hair
This is the way you comb your hair, every Wednesday morning
comb, comb, comb your hair (repeat)
This is the way you take a bath, take a bath, take a bath
this is the way you take a bath every Thursday morning
take, take, take a bath (repeat)

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This is the way you go to school, go to school, go to school

this is the way you go to school, every Friday morning
go, go, go to school (repeat)
This is the way you read a book, read a book, read a book
This is the way you read a book, every Saturday morning
read, read, read a book (repeat)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
****
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
****
Then the traveler in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
****
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
****
As you’re bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveler in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN
London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down
London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady.
How shall we build it up again, up again, up again?
How shall we build it up again, my fair lady?
Build it up with silver and gold
Silver and gold will be stolen away
Build it up with wood and clay
Wood and clay will wash away
Build it up with iron and steel
Iron and steel will bend and bow
Build it up with stone so strong
Stone will last for ages long.

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THE INFLUENCE OF WEBLOG ON IRANIAN

INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS’ ATTITUDE
TOWARDS WRITING

Mohammad Reza. Aria, Department of English Language Teaching, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Zanjan, Iran.E-mail: aria4english@yahoo.com

Siros Izadpanah(Corresponding author), Assistant Professor ,Department of English Language

Teaching, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran. E-mail: cyrosizadpanah@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
NEW MODELS OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CREATED GOOD PEDAGOGICAL
MODELS AND LEARNING FIELD. ON THE OTHER HAND, PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS
FACT THAT WRITING IS A SOCIAL PROCESS ACCENTUATES THE IMPORTANCE OF WEBLOG
WRITING. IN THIS STUDY A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN WAS APPLIED TO
ELICIT DATA FROM 48 IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS RANGING FROM AGE OF 16
TO 18 AND EXTRACTED FROM 60 EFL LEARNERS. LEARNERS TOOK PART IN A GEPT
(GENERAL ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST) TO BE SURE ABOUT THEIR HOMOGENEITY IN
TERM OF ENGLISH PROFICIENCY. IT WAS A STANDARD PROFICIENCY TEST THAT WAS
ADAPTED AND VALIDATED TO MY CONTEXT WITH TEST-RETEST. THE LEARNERS WITH
SCORE IN BEYOND +/-1SD GEPT (12 LEARNERS) WERE EXCLUDED. ITS INTERNAL
RELIABILITY, AND CRONBACH’S ALPHA WAS 0.90 INDICATING THAT ALL ITEMS WERE
RELIABLE. THEN, TO AVOID BIAS THEY WERE RANDOMLY PAIRED TO CONTROL GROUP
AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUP. THE DATA WAS COLLECTED THROUGH GEPT AND A FIVE-
SCALE LIKERT QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSE AS PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST AFTER
TREATMENT. THE COLLECTED DATA WAS ANALYZED BY USING DEDUCTIVE METHODS
LIKE USING T-TEST ON SPSS 18 TO FIND OUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE RESEARCH
ASSUMPTIONS. IT WAS REVEALED THAT WEBLOG HAD POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON THE
LEARNERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARD WRITING. MEANWHILE, ACCORDING TO STATISTICS,
CONFIDENCE INTERVAL OF THE DIFFERENCE IN ALL TESTS OF THE STUDY WAS 95% AND P
VALUE WAS LESS THAN 0.05 INDICATING THE FACT THAT THE RESULT WAS DUE TO
CONSIDERED VARIABLES, AND NOT DUE TO OTHER VARIABLES. THE FINDING OF THE
STUDY DRAWS TEACHERS’, COURSE DESIGNERS’, AND STOCK-HOLDERS’ ATTENTION TO
THIS FACT THAT THEY SHOULD INTEGRATE COMPUTER AND ITS TECHNOLOGY INTO EFL
EDUCATION.

KEYWORDS: ATTITUDE; LEARNING; WEBLOG; WRITING

Introduction
A weblog (or blog) is a web-based space for writing where all the writing and editing of
information is managed through a web browser and is immediately and publicly available in the
Internet (Zhang, 2009).Recent developments in the field of technology have led to a rehabilitated
interest in using it in language learning and teaching. According to Badrinathan (2013); Noytim
(2010); Williams, & Jacobs (2004) blogs expand the opportunities for student interaction and the
horizons of learning space” exponentially, provide writers with a far greater audience both within
and outside of the classroom. Yih and Nah (2009) cited writing is important for education of EFL

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learners for some reasons. Firstly, writing well is a necessary skill for academic achievement.
Secondly, writing can be an effective tool for the development of language proficiency itself. Thirdly,
writing across the curriculum can be valuable for mastering diverse subject matter, as written
expressions allow learners to raise their awareness of knowledge gaps, abstract problem-specific
knowledge into schemas that can be applied to other relevant cases, and elaborate mental
representations of knowledge that can be more easily retrieved, while simultaneously allowing
teachers to better understand the students’ state of knowledge and thinking process and thus adjust
necessary instructions.
Recent developments in technology have heightened the need for using weblog in the field of
learning and teaching because teachers can open a new way for their students to communicate with
other students through creating a blog. Moreover, teaching and learning through weblog is a great
way to communicate with parents and keep them involved in what is going on in the classroom with
their children even if they cannot physically be there. In addition, it enhances learning via visual
learning.
A lot of researchers have confirmed the importance of CALL (Computer Assisted Language
Learning) and weblog. Weblogs is new and fast form of communication and publishing in the
Internet; blog-based learning is a vital part of learning improves traditional teacher – led education
potentially (Kim, Turner, Rimal. & Morrison, 2006). As Shahamat and Riazi, (2009) mention blogs
allow learners to improve personal content by cooperating and sharing their knowledge with other
learners in online community. The other advantage of weblog that outweighs other types of social
media is allowing viewpoints on the same subjects to be posted and link to other blogs (Yu, &
Watkins, 2011). Meanwhile, it shows potential effect on teacher’s instructions, and improves
student’s self-reflection and self-evaluation of their learning (Kazai, Yusof & Clarke, 2016). The
significant literature on the role of technology-based instructions in learning and teaching reveals the
key importance of these technologies in education particularly language learning.
In spite of many researches done in this case, far too little attention has been paid to the role of
weblog in enhancing of EFL learners’ attitude towards writing. Since most of them have concentrated
on CALL in EFL teaching and learning. Some of them have focused only on relationship of computer
and learning skills; how weblog has changed the learners’ performances. Moreover, the problem with
those of which have focused on attitude toward technology-based learning in English classroom, is
that they have not paid enough attention to the effect of weblog on EFL learners’ attitude toward
writing in Iran. Additionally, since technology and its sub-sections in Iran, EFL classes haven’t been
progressed a lot. Besides, our findings may pave the way for teachers and educational stock-holders
to integrate computer and its technologies into EFL teaching and learning. The study may also
improve teaching methods of English writing.
The purpose of study
This study aims at determining the effectiveness of using weblog in learning English language
writing compared with the traditional method. With the help of computer and weblog, language
learning environments can be more cheerful, motivating for learners to learn writing.
Literature review
Today, it is undeniable that the revolution of technology in the recent years has modified the way
in which pedagogical resources and information are distributed in different institutional levels and
fields. So focusing on technology and its usage in instructional and academic curricula has been one
of debatable issues. This study aimed to investigate the Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ attitudes
toward using CALL in the form of weblog in their writing process. These concepts build a foundation
of knowledge regarding weblog and its impact on the learning community in EFL classroom. As an
important part of research, technology integration requires investigations and explorations in EFL
field on the use of CALL and weblog in language classrooms.
Writing
A large number of researchers have emphasized the importance of writing. For example, Yih
and Nah (2009) mentioned that writing is important for education of FL learners for some reasons.
Firstly, writing well is a necessary skill for academic achievement. Secondly, writing can be an
effective tool for the development of language proficiency itself. Thirdly, writing across the
curriculum can be valuable for mastering diverse subject matter as written expression allows learners
to raise their awareness of knowledge gaps, abstract problem-specific knowledge into schemas that

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can be applied to other relevant cases, and elaborate mental representations of knowledge that can be
more easily retrieved.
Defining a Weblog
According to the Oxford dictionary, “A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style
and displayed in a reverse chronological order.” A typical blog combines text, images, and links to
other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. A weblog is a web-based space for
writing where all the writing and editing of information is managed through a web browser and is
immediately and publicly available in the Internet (Zhang, 2009). Similarly, Godwin-Jones, (2011)
stated that weblog commonly known as a blog is a contraction of two words: web and log. It is a great
way to communicate with parents and keep them involved in learning and teaching, even if they
cannot physically be there.
Weblogs and Writing Instruction in ELT
Computers have been used in writing classrooms for a long time. Originally the use of computers
in the teaching of writing has been restricted to word processing. It is easy for teachers to make
corrections and for students to make revisions. Later, some editing programs provided additional
functions such as spelling checkers, and readability scores that helped students with textual errors.
However, the use of computers in composition teaching has grown dramatically as new software
programs and teacher-designed computer exercises are created. Gorbis and Hallgren (1999)
confirmed that ''historically, technology of visualization plays an important role in many fields and
makes atmosphere of learning enjoyable.” Blogs are user-friendly websites which are easy to maintain
and frequently updated by their owners. The rise in popularity of technology has resulted in new
words being added to the English language, such as: blog, blogging, bloggers, and blogosphere
(Embrey, (2002); Izadpanah, & Alavi, (2016). Blog also enables individuals to express their thoughts at
their own pace and in their own space so that, in contrast to traditional classroom settings, learners
who use blogs do not have to compete with their classmates for the instructor’s attention (Burke, &
Grosvenor, 2015). To illustrate more, Pinkman (2005) wrote that blogging becomes communicative
and interactive when participants assume multiple roles in the writing process, as writers who write
and post, as readers/reviewers who respond to other writers’ posts, and as writer-readers who,
returning to their own posts, react to criticism of their own posts.
Attitude
Attitude is one of challenging concepts which different researches have provided different
definitions. For example, Ostrom (1969); Izadpanah, & Asadi, (2015) stated attitude is a reaction or
respond to an object or a set of objects. Krashen (1981) defined L2 attitude as learners’ tendency
toward the culture and speakers of the target language. Marzban (2011) referred to affective states
and attitudes as "emotion," "feelings," "attitude," "anxiety," "belief," and "motivation.” He added
"attitudes" are "psychological states acquired over a period of time as a result of our experiences;
these attitudes influence us to act in certain ways”. Levine and Donitsa-Schmidt (1998) cited attitude
is value, belief, evaluation, acquired motivation. Warschauer, & Meskill, (2000) stated that attitude is
second language students’ negative or positive feeling about learning of second language which is
inter-related with motivation. In other words, students’ motivation mainly depends on their attitudes.
Vandewaetere and Desmet (2009) stated that cognitive component is beliefs or ideas about related the
objects or situations to the attitude. It was defined as what individuals accept or reject in various
situations.
Attitude toward Language Learning
Many factors are important learning of language. Among them, positive attitude is more
enhancing and facilitating (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993; Izadpanah, & Alavi, (2016); Krashen, 1981;
Vandewaetere & Desmet, 2009). Students who have negative attitude toward second language
acquisition will learn less input and have high affective filter where as those possessing positive
attitude toward second language acquisition will acquire more input, and also have lower affective
variable( Levine and Donitsa-Schmidt ,1998).
Previous studies on the effect of CALL especially weblog on learners’ attitude and motivation
In a recent study by Ebrahimi, Eskandari and Rahimi (2013), the influence of adopting
technology-enhanced language learning framework was found on students’ leaning. The participants
of this study were selected through accidental sampling. They were 34 Iranian between 17 and 21
years (F=14 and M=20) upper-intermediate EFL students in a communication class in Parto English
Institute, Arsanjan, Iran. The study was carried out through a quasi-experimental (Non-equivalent

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Comparison) with pretest and posttest in control and experimental groups by means of Cambridge
ESOL Preliminary Test (PET), a proficiency test, a five-scale Likert questionnaire. The data collected
was analyzed by means of ANCOVA on SPSS 18.They found that a technology-enhanced language
learning environment proved to be more effective, learner-centered , and improved students’
autonomy .
Jalali and Dousti (2014) conducted an experimental study to investigate the impact of attitudes
of three different young EFL students toward CALL. The participants were divided into two control
and experimental groups. The control group was taught traditionally, and the experimental group
was taught through computers for 15 minutes. Then students answered A-call questionnaire. Results
revealed that participants generally showed positive attitude toward use of computers.
Kalanzadeh, Soleimani and Bakhtiarvand (2014) investigated the influence of technology on 60
Iranians EFL students’ motivation in university classrooms through questionnaire. In order to gather
the required data for this study a group of 60 English students majoring in English translation were
selected at random. They were studying English at Payam-e-Noor university of Andimeshk, Iran. The
age range, sex, and background knowledge of English of the students were not controlled in this
study. This empirical study was based on a questionnaire composed of 15 questions about motivation
and technology use in EFL classrooms and developed by Bull, Bull, &Kajder (2003). The questionnaire
was distributed among the subjects and then an item analysis was done. Then the data were entered
into SPSS and chi-square statistical analysis was used. It was found that there was positive correlation
between students’ attitude, language learning and technology use in the English classes.
Dashtestani (2014) explored the Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions on use of online instruction
by conducting a mixed-method study questionnaire and semi-structured interview on 242 EFL
teachers filling in questionnaire phase of the study. In addition, 46 EFL teachers were interviewed.
Results from the study revealed that participants support rather positive attitudes toward use of
online instruction. In addition, it was found that there are some barriers to implementation of online
instruction in Iranian EFL classrooms like lack of online facilities and resources, lack of interaction in
online instruction, cultural resistances to online instruction and teachers’ limited knowledge of online
instruction.
Also in a recent study Rahimi and Askari (2014) studied the effectiveness of using ICT like
internet, email, blogs and PowerPoint in developing students’ self-regulation. The study used a
pretest–posttest. To this end, 60 Iranian female English students in the age range of 16–21 were
randomly selected the participants, were divided into two experimental and control groups.
Shana and Abulibdehb (2015) investigated the EFL students’ attitudes toward use of computers in
a private university on their language learning process. In this respect, 192 undergraduate students
filled in a questionnaire to see impact of some factors like gender, experience of using computers, and
perceived abilities in using programs on attitudes of students. Findings of the study verified the key
role of the computer in learning process of students. Although effect of gender was not found to be
significant on students’ attitude, skill in using program had positive effect on students’ attitude.
Öz, Demirezen and Pourfeiz (2015) investigated the relationship between computer literacy,
attitudes towards foreign language learning and computer-assisted language learning among 123
English university students with two different questionnaires, Attitudes towards Foreign Language
Learning (A-FLL) Scale and the Attitudes towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning (A-CALL)
scale. The present study was conducted in an EFL teacher education program at a major state
university in Turkey. A total of 134 EFL learners ranged in age from 19 to 22 (male: N = 34 and
female: N = 100) enrolled in the program voluntarily participated in the study and gave consent for
data collection. Result of the study showed that the students who had high positive attitudes toward
FLL, had high positive attitudes toward CALL. In addition, it was revealed that there was a positive
correlation between gender and computer literacy.
A study conducted on 351 university female students in Japan by Burke and Grosvenor (2015),
to investigate their reaction to iPads and EBooks explored that students showed positive reactions to
both iPods and eBooks. The survey showed that students’ reactions to iPads and EBooks are quite
positive but that there are some discrepancies between different groups of students in the use of
iPads.All participants were 351 students out of the 450. Not all surveys were complete. Many of the
questions on the survey asked students to report on a 5-point Likert Scale, with 1 indicating low and 5
indicating high. Finally, there was a section in which students could give their opinions about the
iPad. The result showed that there was a positive correlation between students’ attitudes and iPad.

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In another study, Sardegna, & Dugartsyrenova, (2014) tried to investigate factors affecting
CALL in Chinese senior high schools by asking 340 English teachers to fill in a questionnaire and
taking part in semi-structured oral interview. A questionnaire was administered to 340 English
teachers and a semi-structured oral interview was conducted as a follow-up. The result showed
teachers support using computer and its technologies in teaching and learning English.
Shams and Ketabi (2015) investigated attitudes of Iranian teachers on using Interactive White
Boards(IWB) in EFL classrooms with a questionnaire including 22 questions distributed among 174
EFL teachers who used IWBs in their teaching and learning process. Questionnaires items were based
on four main themes including: instructional effects, motivational effects, usability, and frequency.
Generally, it was proved that teachers had positive attitude toward IWB use and they confirmed that
IWB is a powerful motivating tool in teaching process.
Regarding with all of the researches done in this field, fewer researchers have investigated the
influence of weblog on attitudes of learners in learning to write and its implication inIran. Thus, the
researcher thought itwas more important to study influence of weblog on writing of learners in our
country. Consequently, since technology and its sub-sections in Iran EFL classes haven’t been
progressed a lot, it was important to investigate students’ attitudes toward using of weblog to teach
and learn writing. Besides, our findings may pave the way for teachers and educational stock-holders
to integrate computer and its technologies into EFL teaching and learning.
Method
Design of Study
In this study, the researcher used quasi –experimental method to investigate the impact of
weblog and learners' attitude change in the EFL writing classroom.
Participants and Setting
This study investigated the influence of the simultaneous use of weblog on learners' attitudes to
write and writing performance. This study was done in Jahade Daneshghahi Language Institute of
Miyaneh. The important reason for choosing Jahad Daneshghahi Language Institute for the study was
that it is an authoritative and official state institute under supervision of Tabriz University to teach
English Skills. The participants were at the same intermediate level of English. In this study a quasi-
experimental research design was applied to elicit data from 48 Iranian intermediate EFL learners
ranging from age of 16 to 18 and extracted from 60 EFL learners selected out of 70 learners according
to Cochran Formula. The participants ought to be at the same intermediate English level. For this
reason, initially, students took part in a GEPT (General English Proficiency Test) to be sure about their
homogeneity in term of English proficiency. This was a standard proficiency test that was adapted
and validated to the context and its reliability was tested with Test-Re-test Reliability through pilot
test. The students with score beyond +1/-1standard deviation (12students) were excluded. Then, they
were randomly assigned and paired to control and experimental groups to avoid bias. Control group
was taught through conventional way of writing in the class on odd days in Jahade Daneshghahi and
experimental group was received treatment through weblog with the same instructor, giving them
instructions how to use their weblogs in computer site of Jahade Daneshghahi on even days for 20
sessions during three weeks.
Data Collection Tools (Instrument)
The data was collected through a five-scale Lickert questionnaire response as pre-test,
intervention (treatment), and post-test.
Pretest
The pre-test was used in this study was a questionnaire. It was a five-scale Lickert
questionnaire response extracted from Dr. Yuh-show Cheng’s questionnaire (Professor of Department
of English in National Taiwan Normal University) commissioned and published by
Taiwan's Education in 2002 with her permission and authorization and was measuring the students’
attitude before treatment. Meanwhile it was translated by some English experts to avoid any
misunderstanding by learners.
The questionnaire was validated according to our context. To this end, questionnaire including
30 questions was given to ten experts to determine which ones are essentials and its content validity
was estimated by Lawsh CVR (Content Validity Ratio) for each item. Ten questions were excluded.
After that that twenty questions were distributed among 20 learners to estimate its internal
reliability, and Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.90 indicating that all items were reliable; no items out of 20
questions were excluded.

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Post-test
After treatment learners’ learning attitude toward writing were evaluated based on the results
of the same test that was five-scale Lickert questionnaire response validated to the context to measure
the learners’ attitude toward writing after treatment.
Piloting GEPT Questions
The test to be sure about homogeneity of learners in this study was a GEPT (General English
Proficiency Test) which was a standardized test was commissioned by Taiwan's Ministry of
Education in 1999 included listening, speaking, reading and writing tests should measure the
students writing performance. Section two was devoted to reading and writing which had
30questions being presented in six parts; however, it had to be noted that its reading section was
scored objectively and its writing was scored by two raters to prevent raters’ bias. The researcher
shortened and validated the section two which was 30 questions to20 questions including reading
and writing questions, and to check the reliability of the test after adaption, first 10 learners who were
similar to the target group took the test for the first time and after 15 days again they were given the
same test. The correlation of two tests was 0.74 that showed the validated test was reliable enough to
be used in our study according to the context. (Table 3.1)

Table 3. 1 Correlations of Test and Retest 0f GEPT

VAR00001 VAR00002
VAR00001 Pearson 1 .745*
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .013
N 10 10
VAR00002 Pearson .745* 1
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .013
N 10 10
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Piloting the Questionnaire

Another pilot study was conducted on English learners who had not participated in the
research, but were similar to the population of the present study. It was hoped that carrying out the
pilot study would mean that the succeeding sample might be less affected by any other possible
variables, and would help the researcher to develop a reliable assessment instrument, formulating
survey items to measure participants' attitudes toward EFL writing through weblog. The items that
were used in the pilot version of the instrument firstly was given to ten English experts in Jahad
Daneshghahi of Miyaneh to determine which ones are essentials and its content validity was
estimated by Lawsh CVR (Content Validity Ratio) for each item. Ten questions were excluded.
According to Lawsh Formula  CVR = (Ne – N÷2)
N÷2
Every item in CVR must not be lower than 0.42 unless it is known not to be valid.
Table 3.2 Content Validity Ratio of Validated Questionnaire According to Lawsh Formula
Questions Numbers of 10 Experts who CVR Valid
thought the item was Essential
1 8 0.6 Valid
2 3 -0.4 Invalid
3 10 1 Valid
4 9 0.8 Valid
5 8 0.6 Valid
6 8 0.6 Valid
7 8 0.6 Valid

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8 2 -0.6 Invalid
9 7 0.4 Invalid
10 9 0.8 Valid
11 10 1 Valid
12 8 0.6 Valid
13 7 0.4 Invalid
14 9 0.8 Valid
15 6 0.2 Invalid
16 9 0.8 Valid
17 4 -0.2 Invalid
18 9 0.8 Valid
19 8 0.6 Valid
20 4 -0.2 Invalid
21 8 0.6 Valid
22 8 0.6 Valid
23 3 -0.4 Invalid
24 9 0.8 Valid
25 2 -0.6 Invalid
26 9 0.8 Valid
27 7 0.4 Invalid
28 10 1 Valid
29 9 0.8 Valid
30 8 0.6 Valid

After that in order to provide an appropriate form of survey instrument for group administration
within a short period of time, all items in the pilot questionnaire were translated into Persian. This
translated version of the questionnaire was revised based upon the feedback provided by three
university professors. They were then dist
ributed to a sample of 10 students to estimate its internal

reliability, and Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.90 indicating that all items were reliable; no items out of
20 questions were excluded.
Table 3.3Reliability of Validated Questionnaire
Case Processing Summary

N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excluded 0 .0
a

Total 20 100.0
a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Table 3.4Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized
Cronbach's Alpha Items N of Items
.909 .916 20

Table 3.5 Item Statistics

Std.
Mean Deviation N
Q1 2.30 .657 20

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Q2 1.85 .587 20
Q3 2.50 .607 20
Q4 2.50 .607 20
Q5 2.45 .686 20
Q6 2.45 .605 20
Q7 2.65 .745 20
Q8 2.45 .605 20
Q9 2.45 .605 20
Q10 2.65 .745 20
Q11 2.55 .605 20
Q12 2.70 .733 20
Q13 2.50 .607 20
Q14 2.60 .681 20
Q15 2.70 .923 20
Q16 2.60 .821 20
Q17 2.45 .605 20
Q18 2.45 .686 20
Q19 2.75 .786 20
Q20 2.05 .686 20

Data Collection Procedure

Administration of the Questionnaire as a Test to Determine the Learners’ Attitude towards
Writing
Information was collected by means of five-scale Lickert questionnaire response. It was a
validated CALLAI (Computer Assisted Language Learning Attitude Instrument) questionnaire by
Cheng (2012).The items of the questionnaire included affective, behavioral, and language skills
factors. It was reduced to 2o items and validated for Persian language contexts like Iran by ten
English experts and its internal reliability was estimated by pilot test and Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.90
indicating that all items were reliable; no items out of 20 questions were excluded. First section of the
questionnaire was related to background information of students such as age, gender, grade,
accessibility to computer, and their English language level. Second section of the questionnaire was
composed of 20 items relating to affective, behavioral, and language skills components. It was
distributed among control and experimental groups as pre-test and post-test.
Treatment
The treatment of the research included teaching of writing to experimental group learners
through weblog in computer site of Jahade Daneshghahi of Miyaneh by an instructor on even days. It
took 20 an hour sessions three times a week, practicing writing with them practically, negotiating,
and evaluating their writing through weblog. In a way that firstly, the learners were instructed how
to create weblog in computer site of Jahad Daneshghahi for two sessions and after that the instructor
taught them to write composition with “ Developing Composition Skills “ book by Mary K. Ruetten
.They were instructed to write paragraph and after that composition included more than one
paragraph ,different kinds of paragraph ( introduction , body , conclusion ) , different kinds of writing
( descriptive , explanatory ,and so on) , and punctuation marks. Meanwhile, after having completed
their writings, they send and share them with their peers in weblog” classcentral.vcp.ir”. Learners
were then instructed to read two to three of their classmates’ writings in the blog and comment on
them. It is better to remind that they should register first of all in weblog and after that they could

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upload their own writings or comment on others’ writings. But control group learners were
instructed writing in conventional way in class three times a week on odd days.
Results
The question that the study addressed to answer, was, “What is the influence of Weblog on the
attitude of Iranian intermediate EFL learners towards EFL writing? “
The results shown in Table 4.1 and 4.2 support and confirm the hypothesis.
H1: There is statistically significant difference in learners’ attitude towards writing between EFL
intermediate Iranian learners who use weblog in writing and the ones who don’t. (H 1: (H1: µd ≠0)
H0: There is no statistically significant difference in learners’ attitude towards writing between
EFL intermediate Iranian learners who use weblog in writing and the ones who don’t. (H0: µd =0)
It was important to be sure if test distribution of pre-test and post-test is normal or not. So the
researcher used Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test .To this end, indicating that test distribution was normal.
Therefore, the researcher used Paired T-Test to analyze the data. (Table 4.1)

Table 4.10 One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

Attitude
Pretest Posttest
N 48 48
Normal Parameters a ,b Mean 65.90 64.96
Std. Deviation 3.720 4.242
Most Extreme Absolute .199 .168
Differences Positive .199 .168
Negative -.093 -.139
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z 1.381 1.166
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .044 .132
Test distribution is Normal.

To this end, the researcher compared the mean of learners’ scores of experimental group in
answering of questionnaire (73.88) with the mean of learners’ scores of control group (56.04).
Difference between the means of two groups was (17.83). It was revealed that there was significant
difference between means of learners’ scores of two groups in post-test indicating this fact that
weblog can change learners’ attitude positively. Because the statistics showed meaningful difference
between attitude of learners who use weblog in their writing and the ones who write in conventional
way. (t= 12.922, df= 23, P< 0.0005, 2-tailed)(See Table 4.11 and Table 4.12)

Table4.11: Paired Samples Descriptive Statistics

Std. Std. Error
Mean N Deviation Mean
Pair Control 56.0417 24 3.38127 .69020
1 Group
Experiment 73.88 24 6.081 1.241
al Group

Table 4.12: Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences
95% Confidence
Interval of the Sig.
Std. Std. Error Difference (2-
Mean Deviation Mean Lower Upper t Df tailed)

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Table4.11: Paired Samples Descriptive Statistics

Std. Std. Error
Mean N Deviation Mean
Pair Control 56.0417 24 3.38127 .69020
1 Group
Pair 1 Control - - 6.76093 1.38007 - - - 23 .000
Experimental 17.83333 20.68822 14.97844 12.922

To have a strong leg to confirm hypothesis 3 , the researcher compared the difference between
the mean of learners’ scores of experimental group in answering questionnaire in pre-test (55.96)
with their score mean in post-test (73.88 ) .There was significant difference between two means of the
same group (-17.917) . It was revealed that weblog can impact learners’ attitude positively. (t=12.955,
df= 23, P<0.00025, 1-tailed) (See Table 4.13 & 4.14)
H3: Weblog can influence learners’ attitudes for learning positively. (H1: µd >0)
H0: Weblog cannot influence learners’ attitudes for learning positively. (H0: µd ≤ 0)

Table4.13: Paired Samples Descriptive Statistics

Std. Std. Error
Mean N Deviation Mean
Pair Pre_test 55.96 24 3.381 .690
1 Post_tes 73.88 24 6.081 1.241
t

Table4.14: Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Std. Std. Error Lowe Sig. (2-
Mean Deviation Mean r Upper t df tailed)
Pair 1 Pre_test - 6.775 1.383 - -15.056 - 23 .000
- Post_test 17.917 20.778 12.955

The researcher explored significant variations in students' attitude before and after the course
(paired t-test for each group). The weblog intervention did change learners' attitudes with regard to
the factors of enjoyment, productivity and participation in weblog situation. At the same time, the
group of learners who hadn’t received any treatments also hadn’t significant change in their attitude
level towards writing. The researcher attempted to find out whether those dependent variables of
attitude performance in the experimental group had achieved a higher level of change in comparison
with the control group. The result shows that the weblog intervention had a greater impact on
learners' attitudes towards writing. In other words, learners in the experimental group were more
likely to enjoy writing in English and showed an increased possibility of using English to express
their thoughts and ideas more frequently. The learners in the experimental group were more likely to
appreciate their own writing and more willing to participate in the process of revision and self-
correction rather than simply reacting to the designated revision tasks.(Table 4.4– 4.5 )
Bearing in mind the above findings, it should be noted that different technological experiences
such as weblog and online writing represent a form of social learning activity and social interaction.
These technological experiences can play a role as a facilitator when learners are engaged in the
context of cooperative learning. Based on the quantitative findings, learners who experienced the

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

weblog writing had a more positive attitude toward the weblog activities and practicing. The
researcher found that after twenty sessions of the EFL writing course with the weblog intervention,
learners who often used weblog reflected a stronger attitude towards their writing compared with
those who never or sometimes used weblog to write in English. This means learners who use weblog
frequently are more likely to welcome suggestions and to invite readers or to have their writing
proofread by others. Weblog also provides learners a platform to make comments on others’ writing
activities. Therefore, it is possible to assume that email activity helps the learners to adapt themselves
in some writing tasks, particularly when they are asked to proofread and make suggestions on other's
writing. The wealth of data provided by the quantitative analysis also demonstrates the fact that
learners in the experimental group were more likely to enjoy writing in English and considered the
possibility of using English to express their thoughts and ideas more enthusiastically.

Discussion
The discussion of the research findings in relation to the research question can be summarized
as follows.To answer the question, “What is the influence of weblog on attitude of Iranian
intermediate EFL learners toward EFL writing? “
After being sure about normality of data distribution with Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test and
comparing the mean of learners’ scores of experimental group in answering of questionnaire with the
mean of learners’ scores of control group, the researcher explored that there was significant difference
between means of learners’ scores of two groups in post-test indicating this fact that weblog can
change learners’ attitude positively. Additionally, the researcher compared the mean of learners’
scores of experimental group in answering questionnaire in pre-test with their score mean in post-test
.There was significant difference between two means of the same group. Therefore, there is
statistically significant difference in learners’ attitude toward writing between EFL intermediate
Iranian learners who use weblog in writing and the ones who do not and weblog can influence
learners’ attitudes for learning positively.

The researcher explored significant variations in students' attitude before and after the course
(paired t-test for each group). The weblog intervention did change students' attitudes with regard to
the factors of enjoyment, productivity and participation in weblog situation. At the same time, the
group of students who hadn’t received any treatments also hadn’t significant change in their attitude
level towards writing. The researcher attempted to find out whether those dependent variables of
attitude performance in the experimental group had achieved a higher level of change in comparison
with the control group. The result shows that the weblog intervention had a greater impact on
students' attitudes towards writing. In other words, students in the experimental group were more
likely to enjoy writing in English and showed an increased possibility of using English to express
their thoughts and ideas more frequently. The students in the experimental group were more likely to
appreciate their own writing and more willing to participate in the process of revision and self-
correction rather than simply reacting to the designated revision tasks.
It should be noted that different technology-based educations such as weblog and online
information exchange represent a form of social learning activity and social interaction. These
technological experiences can play a role as a facilitator when learners are engaged in the context of
cooperative learning. Based on the quantitative findings, learners who wrote through weblog had a
more positive attitude toward the weblog activities and practicing. The researcher found that after
twenty sessions of the EFL writing course with the weblog intervention, learners who often used
weblog reflected a stronger attitude towards their writing compared with those who did not use
weblog to write in English. This means students who use weblog frequently were more motivated
and eager to write and to have their writing proofread by others. As we know, weblog is manifested
as a kind of powerful tool to cooperate in writing. In other words, weblog provides learners a
platform to make comments on each other’s writings. Therefore, it is possible to assume that weblog
activities help the learners to write according to their own needs. The wealth of data provided by the
quantitative analysis also demonstrated the fact that students in the experimental group were more
likely to enjoy writing in English and considered the possibility of using English to express their
thoughts and ideas more enthusiastically. A lot of previous studies conducted in this case, confirm
the study and this study is in line with many previous studies. For example:

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In a study by Clément, Dörnyei and Noels (1994) to show importance of attitude, motivation,
and anxiety in learning English of 301 grade 11 students explored that socio-cultural, instrumental,
and media-use reasons had the most significant effect on students. In this study weblog did increased
the learners’ motivation to write and learn English.

In a study, Kamhi‐stein (2000) revealed that the Web-based communication promoted

collaboration and interaction that were driven by the needs and interests of the students and
according to the current study; web-based writing improved the learners’ cooperation with
eachothers.
Mergendoller, Maxwell and Bellisimo (2000) explored the possible effects of computer-
mediated collaboration in the improvement of language skills and found that the students hold
positive attitudes to collaborate computer in the teaching and learning context. In this study, the
learners were very eager to write and evaluate their writings when they write through weblog.
Ushida (2005) showed that among different materials and methodologies in language teaching,
attitude of students toward CALL is considered a major factor influencing its influential
implementation and this study explored the positive effect of weblog on students’ inclination towards
using weblog in writing.
In another study, Shin and Son (2007) examined Korean secondary school EFL teachers’
perceptions and perspectives on the use of the internet for teaching purposes and suggested that there
are three key factors affecting the use of the internet in the classroom: teachers’ personal interest in
internet use; teachers’ abilities to integrate internet resources into classroom activities; and computer
facilities and technological support in schools. The current study is in line in the third case with this
study and both confirm that computer – based teaching and learning can influence the learners’
viewpoints on language learning.
Che, Li and Liu (2010) investigated attitude of 140 college students of non-English major
toward integration of information and communication technologies into English learning and
revealed that female students had more positive attitude toward ICT than male students. But in this
study the researcher ignored the gender factor in studying of effect of weblog on the learners’ attitude
towards writing.
Rahimi (2011) studied Iranian high-school students’ attitudes towards learning English in
CALL environment and revealed that students hold positive attitude toward using of CALL after
experiment and this is in line with the current study.
In another experimental study, Tilfarlioglu (2011) investigated students’ attitude toward use of
technologies videos, sharing writings, joining groups, creating groups, joining groups to learn
English, playing games, on learning English. The finding revealed that students hold positive attitude
toward technologies. In the study, the learners enjoyed a lot when they wrote through weblog.
Regarding teachers’ attitude toward technology in EFL classroom, Arani, (2005) conducted an
experiment on 82 EFL teachers in using of interactive whiteboards (IWBS) in different EFL institutes
in Turkey. The result showed teachers’ positive attitude toward IWB use in the process of English
teaching. The finding of the current study showed learners’ tendency towards technology use in their
writings.
In addition to aforementioned studies, Bijeikienė ,Rašinskienė and Zutkienė (2011) conducted a
qualitative study on 24 English teachers taking the role of the respondents to explore their attitudes
toward blended learning and ICT implementation in general English classes at the CFL. Teachers
revealed moderately positive attitude toward ICT application through multimedia language
laboratories. In this study the learners showed positive attitude toward writing through weblog.
Mokhtari (2013) investigated the Iranian EFL students’ attitude toward using of computer-
assisted language learning and concluded that students hold positive attitude toward implementation
of computer technology in their courses like this study.
Rahimi & Katal (2012) examined influence of CALL in different levels of education on attitude
of 50 Iranian female junior high school students, and found the higher education level creates the
higher positive students’ attitude towards CALL, but this study ignored the influence of educational
level on the learners’ attitude. In general, the learners showed positive attitude towards weblog
writing.
In another study by Talebinezhad and Abarghoui (2013) Iranian high school students’ general
attitude toward using CALL for receptive skills (listening, reading) was studied and it was found that

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when they used CALL in their learning, they could understand content better and this study showed
positive effect of weblog on the learners’ attitude towards writing.
In other study conducted by Handal, Mac Nish and Petocz (2013) on 186 female university
students in Australian, it was revealed that university students were more inclined and active to use
mobile in learning. In this study students were more enthusiastic to use weblog in their writings.
Aydin (2013) investigated Turkish EFL teachers’ knowledge of software and their reasons for
personally using computer, including the attitudes and viewpoints of self-confidence among teachers
in integrating computers and the school climate. The results indicated that Turkish EFL teachers even
with little computer and software knowledge have positive perceptions of computer integration and
attitudes toward computer use and in this study learners showed positive attitude towards computer
and weblog.
Jalali and Dousti (2014) conducted an experimental study to investigate the impact of CALL on
attitudes of three different young EFL students and revealed that participants generally showed
positive attitude toward use of computers; in the current study the learners were more inclined to use
weblog in their writings.
Kalanzadeh, Soleimani and Bakhtiarvand (2014) investigated the influence of technology on 60
Iranians EFL students’ motivation and found that there was positive correlation between students’
attitude, language learning and technology use in the English classes like this study.
Tri and Nguyen (2014) investigated use of ICT (information and communication technologies)
on 149 EFL university students in English learning programs and explored that most of students
maintain positive perceptions of ICT use to study English. The study showed that the learners
enjoyed a lot when they wrote through weblog.
Also in a recent study Rahimi and Askari (2014) studied the effectiveness of using ICT
(Information Communication Technology) like internet, email, blogs and PowerPoint in developing
students’ self-regulation and explored that using soft - wares had a great effect on students’ self-
regulation. Again the factor related to self-regulation revealed that the learners could regulate their
writing and revise them when they used weblog in their writings.
Shana and Abulibdehb (2015) investigated the EFL students’ attitudes toward use of computers
and verified the key role of the computer in learning process of students. In the study the researcher
investigated the EFL learners’ attitude towards weblog as sub-section technology of computer.
Öz , Demirezen and Pourfeiz (2015) investigated the relationship between computer literacy,
attitudes towards foreign language learning and computer-assisted language teaching among 123
English university students and explored that the students who had high positive attitudes toward
FLL, had high positive attitudes toward CALL and this study showed high correlation between EFL
learning specially writing and computer-based learning like weblog.
Shams and Ketabi (2015) investigated attitudes of Iranian teachers on using IWBs in EFL
classrooms and proved that teachers had positive attitude towards IWB use and they confirmed that
IWB is a powerful motivating tool in teaching process. Unfortunately, the researcher in the study
couldn’t consider teacher as dependent variables, but technology – based teaching and learning had
positive effect on the learners’ attitude towards writing.
A study conducted on 351 university female students in Japan by Burke and Grosvenor (2015)
to investigate their reaction to IPods and EBooks explored that students showed positive reactions to
both iPods and eBooks and there was a positive correlation between students’ attitudes and iPad. In
this study there was positive correlation between the learners’ attitude towards writing and weblog.
The researcher had some limitations in conducting the study that lack of equipment like
computers, laptops, and other things in educational settings was the most important one. Therefore,
the researcher had some problems in getting permission of Jahade Daneshghahi officials to use their
computer site. Additionally, a large number of teachers could not use technological equipment like
computer or projector. The researcher again had only some choices that were familiar with weblog
environment. Lastly, some learners thought that learning to write through weblog is informal and too
flexible that distracts them from doing their writings. Therefore, it was a hard for the researcher to
encourage learners to participate in the writing course.
Nowadays, One of the most important challenges is educating EFL learners who are able to catch
up with the progressing technology especially CALL. The increasing progress of computer especially
weblog environment necessitates evolving educational system to train autonomous and motivated
learners who study all the time. This needs a kind of education that makes learners and students

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 Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM)

interested in learning. Meanwhile according to psychologists, the educational environment should be

adjusted to learners’ needs. In addition, it should enhance critical thinking; in other words, it must
educate learners who are able to revise their own learning processes. Moreover, it can help learners
learn without being limited in time and space; A learner can study and learn disregarding distance
and without being present in class. This motivates learners to explore and learn better. Moreover, it
should train flexible learners’ adapting themselves with learning environment and educational
curriculums. Potentials of weblog can provide all mentioned cases. Importantly, it is a verbal and
visual tool that causes learners to learn what they see especially in writing that is necessary language
proficiency for academic achievement, but difficult burden for learners. In addition, it creates some
new ways of teaching and learning at schools and language institutes .It can change the learners’ and
teachers’ outlook and viewpoints on computer – mediated education and weblog .That leads to real
and effective learning and academic success as an important summit in our context. Therefore,
investigating the influence of weblog on attitude of EFL learners’ towards writing is one of crucial
studies to conduct that can facilitate the way for learners to learn better , teachers to teach effectively ,
and educational stock-holders to integrate computer in general , and weblog in particular in their
educational system and policies.
Conclusion
The paper has given an account of and the reason for influence of weblog on EFL learners’ attitude
and writing performance. The main conclusion to be drawn from this study was that according to
statistics, weblog activities have positive effect on EFL learners.
First major finding of the study was the positive effect of weblog on EFL leaners’ writing
performance that most of the previous studies confirm it and the second major finding was this fact
that there isa strong correlation between weblog intervention and EFL learners’ attitude toward
writing that again many previous studies support this finding of the study. In spite of the fact that
this study could investigate the influence of weblog on EFL learners’ writing performance and their
attitude toward writing simultaneously , that most of the previous studies disregarded, there were
some other variables like gender, age, cultural, personal, social factors which the researcher couldn’t
focus on. Therefore, Future investigations need to be done in Iran to establish whether there is any
correlation between weblog and mentioned factors.

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