Minoo Alemi | Allameh Tabataba'i University (original) (raw)
Conference Presentations by Minoo Alemi
Papers by Minoo Alemi
Russian Journal of Linguistics
The use of computer-mediated communication including emails has become pervasive in academic cont... more The use of computer-mediated communication including emails has become pervasive in academic contexts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. What seems to be significant but simply overlooked by students is meeting politeness netiquettes while sending emails. To this end, the current study investigated the extent to which non-native English speaking university students adjust the level of politeness in their response emails written in English to that of the emails received from an American professor. To collect data, four versions of an academic email message with different levels of politeness were prepared in advance. The emails either included or excluded verbal and structural politeness markers and asked for the participants’ demographic information and their reason for participation in the study. Then, 73 university students enrolled in a general English course were selected and divided randomly into four groups each of which received one version of the email message from the pr...
Journal of Language and Education
The present study examined the manifestations of Iranian male and female EFL teachers’ use of hum... more The present study examined the manifestations of Iranian male and female EFL teachers’ use of humor in the classroom environment. To this end, a qualitative study with 30 participants was implemented in two English language institutes in Iran. Equally, 15 male and female EFL teachers were selected by convenience sampling and their classes were audio-recorded and later transcribed for the examination of the types of humor they used and their frequency. Wanzer, Frymier, Wojtaszcyk, and Smith’s (2006) method of humor analysis and categorization of appropriateness was exploited for the analysis of the types of humor collected from the participants of the study. The results suggested that the use of humor by male teachers was more frequent than that of female teachers. It was revealed that 57% of the humor production was by male EFL teachers and 43% was produced by female EFL teachers. The results revealed that the most frequent humor type in male teachers’ classrooms was “funny comments...
Textbook evaluation, with the aim of assisting the choice of the most suitable book for a specifi... more Textbook evaluation, with the aim of assisting the choice of the most suitable book for a specific context, has become a needed practice in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). During recent years, with the rapid spread of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and its concern for tasks and activities that enhance learners’ interaction, more researchers have become interested in exploring the different task types in textbooks in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). The present study sought to evaluate the two most popular global business English textbook series (English Business Result and Market Leader) that are taught in Iranian institutes, in terms of their task types according to Nunan’s (1999) classification of tasks. The results revealed that linguistic tasks and creative tasks were respectively the most and the least common task types presented in these textbooks. The results also indicated a significant difference among the frequency of task types in the...
It is generally observed that the textbooks employed in the classroom play a crucial role in the ... more It is generally observed that the textbooks employed in the classroom play a crucial role in the process of teaching and learning. In the EFL context in Iran, where Iranian EFL learners rarely have access to native speakers, the teacher mediates between the learner and the text. Accordingly, a textbook plays more important roles in this context and textbook evaluation is critical. Nowadays, under the influence of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), most global materials try to involve learners in the process of learning by introducing several types of tasks and activities whose aim is to promote learners' interaction. However, most teachers and instructors are using the global materials without being aware of the task types used in them and whether these task types really involve learners in the communication process or not. The purposes of this study was to evaluate and compare the two most popular global course books (Top Notch and Interchange) which are taught in Iranian E...
Coxhead's (2000) AcademicWord List (AWL), consists of 570 word 'families', each inclu... more Coxhead's (2000) AcademicWord List (AWL), consists of 570 word 'families', each including a headword (stem noun or verb forms) and other family members. This paper highlights the pedagogical value of the AWL, specifically applied in setting vocabulary goals for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Specific Purposes (ESP). What led the researchers to conduct this study was an aim to profile the presence of the AWL items in local (General English for Science and Engineering Students, 2010) and global (Active 4, 2008) EAP textbooks taught in Iran. The textbook corpus of these two books was analyzed using the concordance program which is a vocabulary analysis program. The chi-square value of 200.42 (P = .000 < .05) made it clear that a significant difference exists between the two books. The local textbook has used more words (Residual = 493.9) while the global book covered less AWL (Residual = -493.9). Our next purpose was to consider an aspect of this work...
Investigating stakeholders’ perception about course success has been signified as a useful method... more Investigating stakeholders’ perception about course success has been signified as a useful method for program evaluation. This study focused on evaluating English for Specific Purposes (ESP) programs in engineering departments at Iranian state universities through examining the view of stakeholders. Engineering students (N=100) and ESP practitioners (N=8) participated in interviews and non-participant observations were carried out to achieve a better insight into the actual learning and teaching contexts. Responses showed that some obstacles such as 1) low GE proficiency of students and heterogeneous classes, 2) limited time, 3) ministry decision for making the course elective, 4) students’ low motivation, 5) teachers’ low motivation, 6) inappropriate materials and teaching methods hindered course usefulness and effectiveness from the perspective of the participants. The findings urged the importance of comprehensive needs analysis to resolve the controversies among stakeholders abo...
This case study investigates the effects of Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL) on English vo... more This case study investigates the effects of Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL) on English vocabulary learning and retention of Iranian children with high-functioning autism. Two groups of three male students (6-10 years old) with high-functioning autism participated in the current study. The humanoid robot NAO was used as a teacher assistant to teach English to the RALL group. Both RALL and non-RALL programs consisted of 12 sessions held within a 2-month period. Using a pre-test, mid-test, immediate post-test, delayed post-test design, this study measured the learning gains of the participants. The RALL group outperformed the non-RALL group in the designed tests which showed the effectiveness of RALL. This was further supported by comparing and contrasting the RALL and non-RALL groups’ parents’ feedbacks as well as the results obtained from the qualitative analysis of the video records. The findings of this study could be a starting point for a new line of research in second/fo...
Acquiring proficiency in academic genres is a key factor in research community. Among various gen... more Acquiring proficiency in academic genres is a key factor in research community. Among various genres in academic discourse communities, spoken genre, especially Conference Presentations (CPs), play a crucial role in research communities, though investigation on this important genre is in its infancy or is relatively under-researched. Therefore, the present study aims to shed light on the importance of two most frequently used structures in CPs, passive voice, and pseudo-cleft. To this end, 600 minutes of Iranian international CPs were recorded and then transcribed. The rate of employment of the structures, and the effect of gender and university degree of presenters were estimated. The results of the chi square analysis of the data suggested that although rate of use of passive voice was higher than pseudo-cleft, the differences between males and females, and graduates and postgraduates were minor and hence gender and university degree did not significantly influence the rate of use...
It is mostly observed that textbooks are a key component in most language programs especially in ... more It is mostly observed that textbooks are a key component in most language programs especially in the process of teaching and learning a second/foreign language. As a result, a number of studies have been carried out to evaluate English language teaching (ELT) materials. Trying to contribute to this growing body of literature, the present study was conducted to evaluate the eight most popular global textbooks which are taught in Iranian ELT institutes in terms of their task types according to Nunan’s (1999) classification of the tasks. To this end, all the tasks of each textbook were categorized in their major and minor associated groups. The results revealed that linguistic tasks were the most frequent type of tasks in almost all of the textbooks. Moreover, there was a significant difference among the frequency of task types in these course books. Finally Total English, English Result and Interchange proved to be the most balanced textbooks respectively in comparison to others with ...
International Journal of Systems Applications, Engineering & Development, 2021
Since its invention, robots have been developed for various purposes and needs, quite similar to ... more Since its invention, robots have been developed for various purposes and needs, quite similar to personal computers in their early days. However, with the advancement of technology, it is anticipated that in near future one of the cutting-edge technologies to be used in “language teaching and learning” is robotics. Humanoid and/or animal shaped robots will soon gain more attention as a fancy tool for 1st and 2nd language teaching in mid-schools/high schools around the globe. At CEDRA, we are currently exploring the design and application of educational service robots to initiate and pioneer Robotics Assisted Language Learning (RALL) in Iranian schools. With the proliferation of computers and mobile devices, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) have been in the limelight for 2nd language instructional theories for about a decade or more. However, utilizing robots to support language teaching and learning can certainly enhance today&#...
The present study aimed at investigating the perceptions of EFL teachers about students’ misbehav... more The present study aimed at investigating the perceptions of EFL teachers about students’ misbehavior in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom contexts. Moreover, the study sought to probe what strategies EFL and ESL teachers use to deal with students’ misbehavior. Participants included 10 teachers in EFL classes in Iran and 12 teachers in ESL classes in the Philippines. Qualitative data were collected through conducting interviews with the invited teachers and observing their classrooms for four sessions. Data were analyzed using the grounded theory (GT) method. The initial analysis of the data revealed that English language teachers in this study did not perceive misbehavior differently from the existing definitions in the literature. To them, misbehavior in all language classes could be defined as an unusual and unexpected behavior that would lead to disorder in the process of teaching and learning. The Filipino and Iranian teachers a...
The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 2018
Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 2019
The present case study investigated the probable effect of applying a humanoid robot as a teacher... more The present case study investigated the probable effect of applying a humanoid robot as a teacher-assistant for learning and retention of English vocabulary among 10 Iranian foreign language learners with intellectual disabilities, more specifically Down syndrome. This method is a new trend in using technology to teach classes called Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL). To this end, participants were divided into 2 groups of five, one with the help of the robot (RALL) and one without (non-RALL). Both groups received the same lessons to learn 40 English vocabulary in 8 sessions. To measure the results, three English tests were run at different times during the teaching sessions (a pre-test, post-test, and a delayed post-test). The independent sample t-test on gain scores from pre-test to post-test revealed that there was a significant difference between the gains of the RALL group (M = 12.40) and the non-RALL group (M = 8.40), which indicates that RALL instruction had a large eff...
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2017
ABSTRACT Despite the global spread of English, it seems that voices from nonnative English teache... more ABSTRACT Despite the global spread of English, it seems that voices from nonnative English teachers concerning English as an international language (EIL) are under-represented. To address the issue, this study sought to investigate the nonnative teachers’ perceptions of idealized native-speaker linguistic and pragmatic norms in the EIL context. Participants included 125 nonnative English-speaking teachers from the Persian context, falling within the expanding circle. Questionnaires and interviews were used to explore the teachers’ perceptions of native-speaker norms. Findings showed that the nonnative teachers gave preference to native-speaker linguistic norms despite the emerging nonnative EIL norms. Although most of the teachers accepted the existence of a number of accents in English, they preferred the standard American or British accent for language education. As to EIL pragmatic norms, the teachers argued that some degree of flexibility is acceptable with regard to the use of L1 pragmatic norms in the EIL context. The EFL teachers in the present study maintained that the transfer of L1 pragmatic norms to the nativized English makes English a legitimate and culturally appropriate variety in communication between nonnative speakers. The findings contribute to the reappraisal of ELT practices and the premises underpinning teaching EIL.
Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2011
This study is an attempt to investigate the role of incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisi... more This study is an attempt to investigate the role of incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition in addition to the influence of language learning strategy: namely, the use of vocabulary strategy by Iranian EFL learners in learning new vocabularies. Accordingly, this study is two-faceted. First, Part A examines the difference between different modes of presentation, incidental and intentional learning of new vocabularies (i.e., incidental, etymology-based intentional, and meaning-based intentional), and acquisition of new vocabularies. Part B investigates the impact of the use of language learning strategies-in this case vocabulary and reading strategy use using The Language Strategy Use Inventory-on the learning of new vocabularies. Part A, studying the influence of incidental as opposed to intentional presentation and acquisition of vocabularies, involved 30 students (i.e., 26 males and 4 females). Part B of the study, investigating the role of vocabulary learning strategy use, involved 59 students (i.e., 49 males and 10 females). The results of Part A shown by t-test indicate that, as far as performance of the students on a test of vocabulary acquisition is concerned, there is no significant difference between the two modes-incidental and intentional learning. However, for the same part, linear regression proved that among the vocabularies presented through different modes of presentation, it is vocabularies learned through meaning-based intentional mode that is the most predictive of the performance of the students on a test of vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, as for part B, the study found that there is a positive, but weak, correlation between the students' vocabulary strategy usemeasured by students filling out a self-report questionnaire entitled The Language Strategy Use Inventory developed by Cohen, A, Oxford, L. R, and Chi. J.-and their learning of new vocabularies. Finally, the findings of part B of the study indicate that, as the degree to which the students' use of vocabulary strategy use increases, so does their use of reading strategy use.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2012
The present work aimed to investigate the frequency of occurrences and proportions of speech acts... more The present work aimed to investigate the frequency of occurrences and proportions of speech acts of complaints and compliments in the four volumes of the course book English Result (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate, and Upper-intermediate), by Mark Hancock and Annie McDonald (2009), published by Oxford University Press. Investigation of the two speech act strategies was based on complaints strategies (Olshtain and Weinbach, 1987) and compliment strategies (Wolfson and Manes, 1981). It was found that the books were rich in terms of the number of the two speech acts, but in presenting them, there were one or two dominant strategies in both cases. Chi-square analysis demonstrated that there was a significant difference in the proportion of complaint and compliment strategies through the four course books. In general, the books were reported to provide learners with adequate amount of complaints and compliments, but with low variations in strategy types, which may result in learners not having sufficient conceptual and practical knowledge of speech acts to use them appropriately in different contexts. Based on the findings of this study, it seems necessary to incorporate more authentic and helpful instruction of speech acts along with the course books, to improve the learners' performance in real life communication.
International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 2012
English Language Teaching, 2012
The present paper is an attempt to evaluate Pacesetter Series (Strange and Hall, 2005), an EFL co... more The present paper is an attempt to evaluate Pacesetter Series (Strange and Hall, 2005), an EFL course book series, in four levels of starter, elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate, being currently instructed at several language institutes in Iran. The purpose of this study is to determine the appropriateness of the series in Iranian EFL contexts. Litz (2000) questionnaire was exploited to examine the series thoroughly in all essential aspects. Sixty four EFL teachers rated the series. The results of descriptive statistics indicated that there is an overall consensus among the teachers that Pacesetter rightly addresses the needs of the learners in a communicative curriculum. However, two salient points are still worth further addressing. The first issue is that the series does not sufficiently underscore the speaking skill. The other concern involves the incorporation of European culture in every skill and skill-related activities as it may cause frustration and bafflement on the part of Iranian adolescent foreign language learners since they are unfamiliar with certain aspects of the target language culture. One way to remedy the two aforementioned issues is that the teachers using this series can think of other substitute exercises to solve the problem.
Russian Journal of Linguistics
The use of computer-mediated communication including emails has become pervasive in academic cont... more The use of computer-mediated communication including emails has become pervasive in academic contexts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. What seems to be significant but simply overlooked by students is meeting politeness netiquettes while sending emails. To this end, the current study investigated the extent to which non-native English speaking university students adjust the level of politeness in their response emails written in English to that of the emails received from an American professor. To collect data, four versions of an academic email message with different levels of politeness were prepared in advance. The emails either included or excluded verbal and structural politeness markers and asked for the participants’ demographic information and their reason for participation in the study. Then, 73 university students enrolled in a general English course were selected and divided randomly into four groups each of which received one version of the email message from the pr...
Journal of Language and Education
The present study examined the manifestations of Iranian male and female EFL teachers’ use of hum... more The present study examined the manifestations of Iranian male and female EFL teachers’ use of humor in the classroom environment. To this end, a qualitative study with 30 participants was implemented in two English language institutes in Iran. Equally, 15 male and female EFL teachers were selected by convenience sampling and their classes were audio-recorded and later transcribed for the examination of the types of humor they used and their frequency. Wanzer, Frymier, Wojtaszcyk, and Smith’s (2006) method of humor analysis and categorization of appropriateness was exploited for the analysis of the types of humor collected from the participants of the study. The results suggested that the use of humor by male teachers was more frequent than that of female teachers. It was revealed that 57% of the humor production was by male EFL teachers and 43% was produced by female EFL teachers. The results revealed that the most frequent humor type in male teachers’ classrooms was “funny comments...
Textbook evaluation, with the aim of assisting the choice of the most suitable book for a specifi... more Textbook evaluation, with the aim of assisting the choice of the most suitable book for a specific context, has become a needed practice in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). During recent years, with the rapid spread of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and its concern for tasks and activities that enhance learners’ interaction, more researchers have become interested in exploring the different task types in textbooks in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). The present study sought to evaluate the two most popular global business English textbook series (English Business Result and Market Leader) that are taught in Iranian institutes, in terms of their task types according to Nunan’s (1999) classification of tasks. The results revealed that linguistic tasks and creative tasks were respectively the most and the least common task types presented in these textbooks. The results also indicated a significant difference among the frequency of task types in the...
It is generally observed that the textbooks employed in the classroom play a crucial role in the ... more It is generally observed that the textbooks employed in the classroom play a crucial role in the process of teaching and learning. In the EFL context in Iran, where Iranian EFL learners rarely have access to native speakers, the teacher mediates between the learner and the text. Accordingly, a textbook plays more important roles in this context and textbook evaluation is critical. Nowadays, under the influence of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), most global materials try to involve learners in the process of learning by introducing several types of tasks and activities whose aim is to promote learners' interaction. However, most teachers and instructors are using the global materials without being aware of the task types used in them and whether these task types really involve learners in the communication process or not. The purposes of this study was to evaluate and compare the two most popular global course books (Top Notch and Interchange) which are taught in Iranian E...
Coxhead's (2000) AcademicWord List (AWL), consists of 570 word 'families', each inclu... more Coxhead's (2000) AcademicWord List (AWL), consists of 570 word 'families', each including a headword (stem noun or verb forms) and other family members. This paper highlights the pedagogical value of the AWL, specifically applied in setting vocabulary goals for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Specific Purposes (ESP). What led the researchers to conduct this study was an aim to profile the presence of the AWL items in local (General English for Science and Engineering Students, 2010) and global (Active 4, 2008) EAP textbooks taught in Iran. The textbook corpus of these two books was analyzed using the concordance program which is a vocabulary analysis program. The chi-square value of 200.42 (P = .000 < .05) made it clear that a significant difference exists between the two books. The local textbook has used more words (Residual = 493.9) while the global book covered less AWL (Residual = -493.9). Our next purpose was to consider an aspect of this work...
Investigating stakeholders’ perception about course success has been signified as a useful method... more Investigating stakeholders’ perception about course success has been signified as a useful method for program evaluation. This study focused on evaluating English for Specific Purposes (ESP) programs in engineering departments at Iranian state universities through examining the view of stakeholders. Engineering students (N=100) and ESP practitioners (N=8) participated in interviews and non-participant observations were carried out to achieve a better insight into the actual learning and teaching contexts. Responses showed that some obstacles such as 1) low GE proficiency of students and heterogeneous classes, 2) limited time, 3) ministry decision for making the course elective, 4) students’ low motivation, 5) teachers’ low motivation, 6) inappropriate materials and teaching methods hindered course usefulness and effectiveness from the perspective of the participants. The findings urged the importance of comprehensive needs analysis to resolve the controversies among stakeholders abo...
This case study investigates the effects of Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL) on English vo... more This case study investigates the effects of Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL) on English vocabulary learning and retention of Iranian children with high-functioning autism. Two groups of three male students (6-10 years old) with high-functioning autism participated in the current study. The humanoid robot NAO was used as a teacher assistant to teach English to the RALL group. Both RALL and non-RALL programs consisted of 12 sessions held within a 2-month period. Using a pre-test, mid-test, immediate post-test, delayed post-test design, this study measured the learning gains of the participants. The RALL group outperformed the non-RALL group in the designed tests which showed the effectiveness of RALL. This was further supported by comparing and contrasting the RALL and non-RALL groups’ parents’ feedbacks as well as the results obtained from the qualitative analysis of the video records. The findings of this study could be a starting point for a new line of research in second/fo...
Acquiring proficiency in academic genres is a key factor in research community. Among various gen... more Acquiring proficiency in academic genres is a key factor in research community. Among various genres in academic discourse communities, spoken genre, especially Conference Presentations (CPs), play a crucial role in research communities, though investigation on this important genre is in its infancy or is relatively under-researched. Therefore, the present study aims to shed light on the importance of two most frequently used structures in CPs, passive voice, and pseudo-cleft. To this end, 600 minutes of Iranian international CPs were recorded and then transcribed. The rate of employment of the structures, and the effect of gender and university degree of presenters were estimated. The results of the chi square analysis of the data suggested that although rate of use of passive voice was higher than pseudo-cleft, the differences between males and females, and graduates and postgraduates were minor and hence gender and university degree did not significantly influence the rate of use...
It is mostly observed that textbooks are a key component in most language programs especially in ... more It is mostly observed that textbooks are a key component in most language programs especially in the process of teaching and learning a second/foreign language. As a result, a number of studies have been carried out to evaluate English language teaching (ELT) materials. Trying to contribute to this growing body of literature, the present study was conducted to evaluate the eight most popular global textbooks which are taught in Iranian ELT institutes in terms of their task types according to Nunan’s (1999) classification of the tasks. To this end, all the tasks of each textbook were categorized in their major and minor associated groups. The results revealed that linguistic tasks were the most frequent type of tasks in almost all of the textbooks. Moreover, there was a significant difference among the frequency of task types in these course books. Finally Total English, English Result and Interchange proved to be the most balanced textbooks respectively in comparison to others with ...
International Journal of Systems Applications, Engineering & Development, 2021
Since its invention, robots have been developed for various purposes and needs, quite similar to ... more Since its invention, robots have been developed for various purposes and needs, quite similar to personal computers in their early days. However, with the advancement of technology, it is anticipated that in near future one of the cutting-edge technologies to be used in “language teaching and learning” is robotics. Humanoid and/or animal shaped robots will soon gain more attention as a fancy tool for 1st and 2nd language teaching in mid-schools/high schools around the globe. At CEDRA, we are currently exploring the design and application of educational service robots to initiate and pioneer Robotics Assisted Language Learning (RALL) in Iranian schools. With the proliferation of computers and mobile devices, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) have been in the limelight for 2nd language instructional theories for about a decade or more. However, utilizing robots to support language teaching and learning can certainly enhance today&#...
The present study aimed at investigating the perceptions of EFL teachers about students’ misbehav... more The present study aimed at investigating the perceptions of EFL teachers about students’ misbehavior in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom contexts. Moreover, the study sought to probe what strategies EFL and ESL teachers use to deal with students’ misbehavior. Participants included 10 teachers in EFL classes in Iran and 12 teachers in ESL classes in the Philippines. Qualitative data were collected through conducting interviews with the invited teachers and observing their classrooms for four sessions. Data were analyzed using the grounded theory (GT) method. The initial analysis of the data revealed that English language teachers in this study did not perceive misbehavior differently from the existing definitions in the literature. To them, misbehavior in all language classes could be defined as an unusual and unexpected behavior that would lead to disorder in the process of teaching and learning. The Filipino and Iranian teachers a...
The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 2018
Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 2019
The present case study investigated the probable effect of applying a humanoid robot as a teacher... more The present case study investigated the probable effect of applying a humanoid robot as a teacher-assistant for learning and retention of English vocabulary among 10 Iranian foreign language learners with intellectual disabilities, more specifically Down syndrome. This method is a new trend in using technology to teach classes called Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL). To this end, participants were divided into 2 groups of five, one with the help of the robot (RALL) and one without (non-RALL). Both groups received the same lessons to learn 40 English vocabulary in 8 sessions. To measure the results, three English tests were run at different times during the teaching sessions (a pre-test, post-test, and a delayed post-test). The independent sample t-test on gain scores from pre-test to post-test revealed that there was a significant difference between the gains of the RALL group (M = 12.40) and the non-RALL group (M = 8.40), which indicates that RALL instruction had a large eff...
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2017
ABSTRACT Despite the global spread of English, it seems that voices from nonnative English teache... more ABSTRACT Despite the global spread of English, it seems that voices from nonnative English teachers concerning English as an international language (EIL) are under-represented. To address the issue, this study sought to investigate the nonnative teachers’ perceptions of idealized native-speaker linguistic and pragmatic norms in the EIL context. Participants included 125 nonnative English-speaking teachers from the Persian context, falling within the expanding circle. Questionnaires and interviews were used to explore the teachers’ perceptions of native-speaker norms. Findings showed that the nonnative teachers gave preference to native-speaker linguistic norms despite the emerging nonnative EIL norms. Although most of the teachers accepted the existence of a number of accents in English, they preferred the standard American or British accent for language education. As to EIL pragmatic norms, the teachers argued that some degree of flexibility is acceptable with regard to the use of L1 pragmatic norms in the EIL context. The EFL teachers in the present study maintained that the transfer of L1 pragmatic norms to the nativized English makes English a legitimate and culturally appropriate variety in communication between nonnative speakers. The findings contribute to the reappraisal of ELT practices and the premises underpinning teaching EIL.
Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2011
This study is an attempt to investigate the role of incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisi... more This study is an attempt to investigate the role of incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition in addition to the influence of language learning strategy: namely, the use of vocabulary strategy by Iranian EFL learners in learning new vocabularies. Accordingly, this study is two-faceted. First, Part A examines the difference between different modes of presentation, incidental and intentional learning of new vocabularies (i.e., incidental, etymology-based intentional, and meaning-based intentional), and acquisition of new vocabularies. Part B investigates the impact of the use of language learning strategies-in this case vocabulary and reading strategy use using The Language Strategy Use Inventory-on the learning of new vocabularies. Part A, studying the influence of incidental as opposed to intentional presentation and acquisition of vocabularies, involved 30 students (i.e., 26 males and 4 females). Part B of the study, investigating the role of vocabulary learning strategy use, involved 59 students (i.e., 49 males and 10 females). The results of Part A shown by t-test indicate that, as far as performance of the students on a test of vocabulary acquisition is concerned, there is no significant difference between the two modes-incidental and intentional learning. However, for the same part, linear regression proved that among the vocabularies presented through different modes of presentation, it is vocabularies learned through meaning-based intentional mode that is the most predictive of the performance of the students on a test of vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, as for part B, the study found that there is a positive, but weak, correlation between the students' vocabulary strategy usemeasured by students filling out a self-report questionnaire entitled The Language Strategy Use Inventory developed by Cohen, A, Oxford, L. R, and Chi. J.-and their learning of new vocabularies. Finally, the findings of part B of the study indicate that, as the degree to which the students' use of vocabulary strategy use increases, so does their use of reading strategy use.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2012
The present work aimed to investigate the frequency of occurrences and proportions of speech acts... more The present work aimed to investigate the frequency of occurrences and proportions of speech acts of complaints and compliments in the four volumes of the course book English Result (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate, and Upper-intermediate), by Mark Hancock and Annie McDonald (2009), published by Oxford University Press. Investigation of the two speech act strategies was based on complaints strategies (Olshtain and Weinbach, 1987) and compliment strategies (Wolfson and Manes, 1981). It was found that the books were rich in terms of the number of the two speech acts, but in presenting them, there were one or two dominant strategies in both cases. Chi-square analysis demonstrated that there was a significant difference in the proportion of complaint and compliment strategies through the four course books. In general, the books were reported to provide learners with adequate amount of complaints and compliments, but with low variations in strategy types, which may result in learners not having sufficient conceptual and practical knowledge of speech acts to use them appropriately in different contexts. Based on the findings of this study, it seems necessary to incorporate more authentic and helpful instruction of speech acts along with the course books, to improve the learners' performance in real life communication.
International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 2012
English Language Teaching, 2012
The present paper is an attempt to evaluate Pacesetter Series (Strange and Hall, 2005), an EFL co... more The present paper is an attempt to evaluate Pacesetter Series (Strange and Hall, 2005), an EFL course book series, in four levels of starter, elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate, being currently instructed at several language institutes in Iran. The purpose of this study is to determine the appropriateness of the series in Iranian EFL contexts. Litz (2000) questionnaire was exploited to examine the series thoroughly in all essential aspects. Sixty four EFL teachers rated the series. The results of descriptive statistics indicated that there is an overall consensus among the teachers that Pacesetter rightly addresses the needs of the learners in a communicative curriculum. However, two salient points are still worth further addressing. The first issue is that the series does not sufficiently underscore the speaking skill. The other concern involves the incorporation of European culture in every skill and skill-related activities as it may cause frustration and bafflement on the part of Iranian adolescent foreign language learners since they are unfamiliar with certain aspects of the target language culture. One way to remedy the two aforementioned issues is that the teachers using this series can think of other substitute exercises to solve the problem.
Russian Journal of Linguistics
Among the various speech acts, an under-investigated one is condolence speech act. The present st... more Among the various speech acts, an under-investigated one is condolence speech act. The present study sought to investigate the verbal strategies of expressing condolence used by (1) Iranian native speakers of Persian, (2) Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, and (3) American native speakers of English. Accordingly, a total of 200, 42, and 50 responses were collected respectively from the informants who responded to an obituary post followed by a picture consisting of a situation related to the news of a celebritys death on Instagram (In the case of Iranians: Morteza Pashaii , a famous singer in the case of Americans: B. B. King , an American singer-songwriter). After creating a pool of responses to the death announcements and through careful content analysis, the utterances by native Persian speakers, EFL learners, and native English speakers were coded into seven, nine, and seven categories, with expression of affection ( n = 109, 46.38%), wishes for the deceased (...