Dr. Azizollah Dabaghi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dr. Azizollah Dabaghi

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Nov 1, 2012

Learning a foreign language takes place step by step, during which mistakes are to be expected in... more Learning a foreign language takes place step by step, during which mistakes are to be expected in all stages of learning. EFL learners are usually afraid of making mistakes which prevents them from being receptive and responsive. Overcoming fear of mistakes depends on the way mistakes are rectified. It is believed that autonomy and learner-centeredness suggest that in some settings learner's self-correction of mistakes might be more beneficial for language learning than teacher's correction. This assumption has been the subject of debates for some time. Some researchers believe that correction whether that of teacher's or on behalf of learners is effective in showing them how their current interlanguage differs from the target (Long &Robinson, 1998). Others suggest that correcting the students whether directly or through recasts are ambiguous and may be perceived by the learner as confirmation of meaning rather than feedback on form (Lyster, 1998a). This study is intended to investigate the effects of correction on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' writing composition in Payam Noor University. For this purpose, 90 English majoring students, studying at Isfahan Payam Noor University were invited to participate at the experiment. They all received a sample of TOFEL test and a total number of 60 participants whose scores were within the range of one standard deviation below and above the mean were divided into two equal groups; experimental and control. The experimental group went through some correction during the experiment while the control group remained intact and the ordinary processes of teaching went on. Each group received twelve sessions of two hour classes every week on advanced writing course in which some activities of Modern English (II) were selected. Then after the treatment both groups received an immediate test as post-test and the experimental group took the second post-test as the delayed recall test with the same design as the pre-test. In order to see whether there is a significant difference between the participants' attitudes toward correction before and after the treatment, an attitude questionnaire was administered to the experimental group and the subjects were asked to fill it. The result indicates that there is a significant difference between the groups and the participants in experimental group outperformed those in the control group.

Sendebar, Oct 27, 2020

The present study examined the association between working memory (WM) and note quantity and thei... more The present study examined the association between working memory (WM) and note quantity and their relationship with consecutive interpreting (CI) performance in order to evaluate their predictive efficiency for aptitude tests in CI. To follow the objectives of the study, two WM tests and one CI task were administered to 30 MA translation students. The results indicated a positive and significant relationship between one of the WM measures (Reading Span) and note quantity. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between both measures of WM and CI performance, and also between note quantity and CI performance. Furthermore, the results of the regression analysis indicated that both measures of WM were predictors of CI performance while the variable 'note quantity' failed to be a predictor. Based on the results, it was further proved that WM is an efficient component in aptitude tests whereas note quantity did not completely comply with the criteria and was rejected as a reliable criterion and could not be included as a subcomponent in the aptitude tests.

Studii si Cercetari Filologice: Seria Limbi Straine Aplicate, 2012

This study is designed to investigate any possible differences in students ’ learning of grammar ... more This study is designed to investigate any possible differences in students ’ learning of grammar by two teaching methods of discrete-point and integrative teaching on one hand and the relationship between learning styles of field dependence/independence and these methods on the other hand. After administering a proficiency test, 25 students with the mean score and one standard deviation below and above the mean were selected to take part in the GEFT (Group embedded figures test) to be identified based on their degree of field dependence & independence. Then, two groups each containing10 participants with both learning styles (each class contained 5 FD and 5 FI) took part in the experiment. The first group was taught some selected grammatical points with the discrete-point method and the second group with the integrative method. After the treatment, the participants ’ grammar knowledge was assessed by a grammar test containing 50 items and analyzed for the possible effect of the styl...

The present study is an attempt to investigate the use of vague expressions by intermediate EFL l... more The present study is an attempt to investigate the use of vague expressions by intermediate EFL learners. More specifically, the current study focuses on the structures and functions of one of the most common categories of vague language, i.e. general extenders. The data include a 22-hour corpus of English-as-a-foreign-language conversations. A comparison is also made between this corpus and a 20-hour corpus of Persian conversations. The analyses show that the first language influences not only the structure but also the position of EFL general extenders. Additionally, the present study shows that some of the functions fulfilled by Persian general extenders can be transferred to EFL discourse. The current study can be interpreted as evidence suggesting that there is a complex intertwining between universal and language-specific features at least when one compares general extenders across languages.

Abstract—Undoubtedly passing the world of translation opens new windows toward getting familiar w... more Abstract—Undoubtedly passing the world of translation opens new windows toward getting familiar with literature, language and culture of those who think, behave and look at the world in a similar and/or different manners. Although going through many linguistic features seems much less problematic, catching what is going to be transferred through non-linguistic ones is the most problematic to deal with. Among those non-linguistic features, including figurative devices, proverbs are going to be examined in this paper. First some definitions are represented, then proverbs ' characteristics and classifications are given and at the end we examine strategies suggested for translation of proverbs by different theorists. Examples of English and Persian proverbs are presented and compared in order to clarify language differences and/or similarities and translating strategies. Index Terms—proverb, translation strategies, culture

Iranian Journal of Research in English Language Teaching, 2015

Nonverbal communication (NVC) plays a highly important role in different aspects of human life. R... more Nonverbal communication (NVC) plays a highly important role in different aspects of human life. Regarding teachers, however, it is more important, and they should be very cautious about what type of NVC they use and how they perform it in their teaching process. While practical tangible teaching techniques driven from nonverbal behaviors can help English language teachers incorporate this essential element into their classrooms, little attention has been given to this area. This article tries to shed light on the often neglected, unexplored area of research concerning nonverbal communication. It begins by mentioning the indispensable role of NVC in the communicative process and then explaining different forms and functions of these NVBs, attempt has been made to incorporate those NVCs into language classes and give some practical techniques to be considered in the classrooms, in order for the learners to be as Pennycook (1985) puts it "not only bilingual but also bi- kinesics&q...

Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 2016

The present study aimed to examine and compare the impact of teaching economic terms through etym... more The present study aimed to examine and compare the impact of teaching economic terms through etymological elaboration with three more conventional methods of vocabulary instruction in ESP courses in Iran, that is, teaching through contextual definitions, L1 translation, and implicit instruction on the learners' general comprehension of economic texts and their understanding of author's opinion. As for general comprehension, the performance of students on the reading comprehension test was not affected by vocabulary instruction method in the four groups. In other words, it seemed that there was no causal relationship between the vocabulary instruction method and general reading comprehension. Regarding author's opinion, the results showed a superiority of etymological elaboration over contextual definition, translation, and implicit instruction.

Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 2015

"Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.&qu... more "Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed."David Wilkins (1972, p.111)1. Introduction1.1. The importance of vocabularySecond language vocabulary teaching and learning can be considered as a crucial component of language acquisition. In the past, these significant building blocks of every language had been neglected considerably, but during the past decades, vocabulary teaching obtained much of its importance and became the focus of attention of many researchers and teachers (Decaricco, 2001; Laufer, 1986; Nation, 1990; Read, 2000; Schmitt, 2000; Singleton, 2000).According to Stahl and Nagy (2006), our vocabulary knowledge involves all the words we know and use in listening and speaking as well as reading and writing. On the importance of the role of vocabulary in real life, Stahl (1999) noted that our vocabulary knowledge affects how we comprehend texts; how we define ourselves for others and how we define the way we see the world. Second language learners are typically aware of the notability of vocabulary knowledge; hence they know that limitations in their vocabulary knowledge can significantly affect their communication skills in view of the fact that vocabulary items encompass the rudimentary information they wish to comprehend and express (Nation, 2001). Furthermore, research investigated on English language learners demonstrated that our knowledge of vocabulary prophesies academic accomplishments (Snow & Kim, 2007). We may now come to the conclusion that what the goal of vocabulary instruction is. Nagy and Herman (1987) noted that the aim of vocabulary teaching is to help students learn the meanings of a lot of words in such a way that they can communicate effectually.The question that may come into mind at this point is that, what learning or knowing a word means. Is it just knowing the meaning of a word? Or are there other factors other than this one that comprise knowing a word?2. What does it mean to know a word?"A word is more than its meaning" (Cook, 2001, p.61). We may know the meanings of many words but still be unable to produce messages that look quite right. For instance, we may use a word which has a negative connotation in a situation which needs words with a positive connotation (Zimmerman, 2014). This indicates that there are other things we should know about a word to consider it a known or acquired word. Researchers (Nation, 2001; Read, 2000; Schmitt, 2008) note that learners must know a large number of vocabulary items; but more importantly, they have to acquire a great amount of knowledge about each word so that they can communicate well with them. We usually consider a word learned if the spoken/ written form and its meaning are learned (Schmitt, 2008). Schmitt (2008, p.333) contends that -while it is true that the form -meaning link is the first and most essential lexical aspect which must be acquired, and may be adequate to allow recognition, a learner needs to know much more about lexical items, particularly if they are to be used productively."Nation (1990, p 31) suggests that word knowledge includes the mastery of other factors as the following:Meanings: we should know what a word means and if there are multiple meanings for a single word. We should also know whether or not there are connotations for a particular word.Written form: knowing a word also involves knowing how it is spelled.Spoken form: pronunciation of a word is also of high importance. Without knowing the correct pronunciation of a word, we may be unable to use it in our speech.Grammatical behavior: we should know the patterns in which a specific word occurs. Having knowledge about the grammatical category of a word and also possible and impossible structures is necessary in acquiring a word.Collocations: we should know what words go with a specific word, and if there are certain words we must or mustn't use with this word. …

Despite the saliency of raising critical thinking not only in ELT but also in other aspects of li... more Despite the saliency of raising critical thinking not only in ELT but also in other aspects of life, there is still lack of studies in this regard that need to be filled. Previous studies dealt with Faiclough’s model not that of van Dijk, and besides, they weren’t concerned about CDA effects on different proficiency levels. The present study, however, examined the impact of critical discourse analysis (CDA) on EFL undergraduates’ critical thinking (CT) ability across different proficiency levels. To this end, 96 EFL undergraduates in three different proficiency levels of high, mid and low participated in this study to all of whom the “Watson and Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal” (WGCTA) was administered. They received treatment of van Dijk’s model practice over a period of an hour a week and for four weeks, once the model proved to be appropriate through expert judge. The results indicated that CDA has a positive inﬂuence on learners’ CT. Besides, the scores for the high group wer...

Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two strategies of explicit teaching of... more The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two strategies of explicit teaching of economic terms on learners' vocabulary learning and retention. In the first explicit strategy, known as 'etymological elaboration', the focus was on presenting conceptual metaphors through 'identify-the-source' tasks, that is, providing the learners with the source domains underlying the metaphors, i.e., the literal meaning of the concepts. In the second explicit method, using 'identify-the-meaning' tasks, the metaphors were instructed by means of the context-based definitions. To be sure if there is any effect for the explicit teaching of metaphors or not, a third group was selected to function as the control group. In this group, the economic texts were taught in the traditional way, that is, by translating the texts into the learners' first language, i.e., Persian. The participants were three intact groups of university students majoring in Economics a...

Mediterranean journal of social sciences, 2012

This paper aims to compare the structure of telephone conversation opening in Iran between males ... more This paper aims to compare the structure of telephone conversation opening in Iran between males and females withparticular attention to the “how are you” sequence. Natural data are 30 recorded telephone conversations by both males and females indifferent age groups. The data are transcribed for analysis to see how these two groups perform their telephone conversation openings.Due to the differences in their nature, there seems some considerable differences will be observed between the males and the femalesnot only in the “how are you” section but also in the selection of words.

Sendebar, 2020

El presente estudio examina la asociación entre la memoria de trabajo (MT) y la cantidad de notas... more El presente estudio examina la asociación entre la memoria de trabajo (MT) y la cantidad de notas y su relación con el rendimiento de la interpretación consecutiva (IC) para evaluar su eficiencia predictiva para las pruebas de aptitud en IC. Para seguir los objetivos del estudio, se administraron dos tareas de WM y una tarea de CI a 30 estudiantes de traducción de máster. Los resultados indicaron una relación positiva y significativa entre una de las medidas de WM (rango de lectura) y la cantidad de notas. Además, hubo una relación significativa entre ambas medidas de rendimiento de WM y CI, y también entre la cantidad de medidas y el rendimiento de CI. Además, los resultados del análisis de regresión indicaron que ambas medidas de WM eran predictores del desempeño de IC, mientras que la variable “cantidad de medida”; no era un predictor. Con base en los resultados, se demuestra además que WM es un componente eficiente en las pruebas de aptitud, mientras que la cantidad de medidas n...

3L The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 2019

This is a report on a qualitative research in relation to the development of translation competen... more This is a report on a qualitative research in relation to the development of translation competence (TC) in academia. The study aimed to map out the cognitive processes involved in problem-solving and provide a picture of the development of strategic TC and translation-notion in translation learners. A group of 20 Iranian students volunteered to take part in a think-aloud study. The participants were divided into four groups of G1 (pretranslational), G3 (early translational), G5 and G7 (translational), based on the number of semesters of language and translation training they had received. The ecological validity was established by availing the participants of any sources of documentation they preferred to use. The verbalisations of the participants were recorded and then transcribed into think-aloud protocols (TAPs). The analysis of TAPs revealed that students activated various configurations of decision-making processes and resourcing methods, and exhibit different conceptions of the notion-of-translation at different stages of TC development. The study also showed that the portrait of TC development featured strong reliance on automatised cognitive processes at pre-translational stage and increased evaluative processes, coupled with higher chances of success, at translational stage. The findings proved that the development of TC did not follow an incremental trajectory. They further indicated that the translation programmes as offered in universities tend to boost evaluative reflections on and conscious awareness of the translation process at the cost of decreasing the unconscious automatised processes. This suggests that from a process-oriented perspective, translation programmes do not seem to prepare the learners for translation-market requirements.

Research in Language, 2018

The issue of terminographic gaps in specialized discourses has always concerned the researchers a... more The issue of terminographic gaps in specialized discourses has always concerned the researchers and readers alike. However, due to the interlingual nature of such a technical issue, the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between translation and terminography seems to be in prospect. For such a reciprocation scheme to come into practical effect, the present study has aimed to conduct a translational-terminographic concerto by putting a specialized English text to the test of Persian translation. This has been done to answer the question if a translator is required to provide for any terminological gap once all attempts at finding the corresponding terminological items have failed. In this pursuit, certain workable criteria for terminographic proposition via translation have been discussed. As such, the practical phase of this study concerns itself with addressing the issue of Persian terminological gaps in a language-related metadiscoursal field and consequently detecting the p...

ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2019

The current study investigated the differential effect of two types of oral feedback – graduated ... more The current study investigated the differential effect of two types of oral feedback – graduated oral corrective feedback (GOCF) in accordance with sociocultural theory (SCT) and supplemented direct oral corrective feedback (SDOCF) in accordance with cognitive-interactionist theory (CIT) – on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ written errors. The study used a pretest-treatment-immediate posttest-delayed posttest design with three groups. Two types of tests were employed to measure the learners’ explicit and implicit knowledge of English articles. The results of the repeated measures mixed-design ANOVAs and post-hoc analyses demonstrated that while both types of feedback significantly improved both types of knowledge in the immediate posttest, a clear advantage was found for the GOCF in the long term. The findings indicate that oral feedback, especially the GOCF within SCT, could be an effective means of addressing learners’ written errors and improving their implicit knowledge.

Porta Linguarum, 2012

The present study explored the effects of task complexity on the occurrence of language-related e... more The present study explored the effects of task complexity on the occurrence of language-related episodes during learner-learner interaction of 40 EFL students. Task complexity was manipulated using two factors: (1) reasoning demands; and (2) number of elements. Participants performed four tasks of two types (picture narration and picture difference). The study bore mixed results; while in some versions of the tasks, complexity and the occurrence of LREs positively correlated, this pattern did not hold true for all the tasks and proficiency levels. Moreover, the observed increase was mostly in the number of lexical LREs than that of grammatical ones.

Belt Brazilian English Language Teaching Journal, Dec 4, 2012

The present research sets at investigating the importance of nonverbal communication (NVC) in L2 ... more The present research sets at investigating the importance of nonverbal communication (NVC) in L2 teaching and learning. More specifically, it studies the effect of teaching gestures that can be perceived and do not come directly from physical language. Communication is a means of sharing ideas, feelings, and attitudes. It is separated into two parts; verbal and nonverbal. Verbal communication uses language, while nonverbal communication is behaviors that can be perceived indirectly from physical language. The participants of the study included 60 Iranian young learners of English selected from among a population of 100 EFL young learners at a private language institute. The participants were divided into two experimental and control groups based on random sampling. Both groups were instructed 15 lexical items. Experimental group was taught using NVC such as gesture and some pertinent pictures whereas control group was instructed using verbal communication (VC) and some relevant pictures for six sessions during a month. Then the participants in both groups were tested orally to check their amount of progress. The data were fed into the computer and were analyzed by SPSS using t-test. The results show significant differences between experimental and control groups displaying that experimental group outperformed control group. Also, a questionnaire was distributed among the participants based on Likert scale. The achieved data were analyzed by SPSS and the mean score showed high positive attitudes towards NVC in L2 teaching and learning.

World Journal on Educational Technology, Oct 8, 2014

800x600 The study of skill acquisition is of great importance in cognitive psychology. One aspect... more 800x600 The study of skill acquisition is of great importance in cognitive psychology. One aspect of skill acquisition research is whether practice in SLA is skill-specific or not. To date, research done has not led to either unanimous rejection or acceptance of the theory. This article is an attempt to examine this question in an EFL context where L2 learners have limited or no access to target language data outside the classroom. More specifically, it tries to see whether listening and speaking in an EFL context necessitate their own specific practice or not. Based on a post-test only design, 16 male, beginner Iranian EFL learners received input-based instruction for three months. When the instruction was over, both listening and speaking performances of the subjects were assessed. The result showed that the subjects had significantly improved their listening ability while their speaking ability had little or no improvement, indicating that different language skills in EFL contexts need specific practice. The findings not only confirm the skill-specificity of language practice, but also rejects VanPatten’s seminal claim that comprehension practice is enough to bring about development, not only in comprehension but also in production. Keywords: input-based instruction, listening skills, speaking skill, skill-specificity of language practice Normal 0 21 false false false TR X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2015

This descriptive study attempts to see to what extent interpreter training courses offered in bac... more This descriptive study attempts to see to what extent interpreter training courses offered in bachelor's degree of English translation in Iranian universities are able to prepare students by teaching them the necessary skills of interpreting. Semi-structured interviews with experts and review of literature were used to find the skills required in interpreter training. A researcher made questionnaire, containing 69 items with a four point Likert scale was made to find out how much the students felt they had learned each necessary skill during their courses. A total of 103 students from six different universities completed the questionnaire. SPSS 17 was used to the analysis the data. The data gathered revealed that 67% of the students received a mean score of less than half the highest possible score. There was a significant difference between the six universities (P<0.001). The results of this study can be used by curriculum planners in the reformation and improvement of interpreter training courses.