sousan sattar - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by sousan sattar
The Journal of Language, Discourse & Society, 2023
Motivated by the Speech Act theory, gender-specific use of language, and cross-cultural communica... more Motivated by the Speech Act theory, gender-specific use of language, and cross-cultural
communication, this study intended to address quantitatively how cultural differences and gender
patterns affect the way Persian and English native-speaking spouses apologize and utilize
apology strategies in their conversational routines. To triangulate data, both a questionnaire
(Chopman, 2012) and a focus-group semi-structured open-ended interview were used to collect
data on sixty participants’ linguistic behavior and their apology exchange. The Chi-square results
for inter-cultural/gender comparisons indicated a higher rate of apologies among the English
spouses and a variety in the rate and kind of apology strategies use. However, intra-cultural ones
demonstrated twice more apology use by Persian females than males and no significant
difference between the English spouses. The findings may have great appeal for both EFL
learners and teachers to attend more to the nature of the apology speech act and its exchange
among various groups and in different cultures and provide Persian EFL learners with
information that may help them improve their pragmatic competence in English. The study also
contributes to the pragmatics teaching curriculum and EFL research.
New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many res... more New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many researchers. This study aimed at investigating the role of Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes towards the value components of the Partnership Approach (PA) on motivating their active engagement in the learning process. A descriptive research method (survey study) was used, and 72 male and female Iranian EFL students whose ages ranged from 18 to 26 were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were asked to respond to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire addressing the objectives of the study, and then 30 of the participants were randomly interviewed to reveal the possible consonance with the questionnaire outcomes. The study was conducted at Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch. The findings indicated that although both male and female participants showed significantly positive attitudes towards the value components of the PA, except for the inclusivity value, female p...
Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at a... more Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at any level of language knowledge to learn successfully seems to be an asset. In this study, the role of employing Partnership Approach (PA) to teach speaking to undergraduate EFL students through Streaming/Homogeneous-Grouping of the learners in Mixed-Ability classrooms was examined. A quasi-experimental research method was employed and 72 Iranian male and female undergraduate students majoring in TEFL whose ages ranged from 19-24 participated in the study. The study comprised three experimental and three control groups in high, low, and mixed language-ability levels based on the results of an Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) so that there were 12 students in each group. The findings indicated that among the streamed experimental groups, low-ability students did not significantly develop their speaking ability. On the contrary, low-ability students benefited from the mixed-ability teachi...
This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students’ and teachers’ attitude ... more This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students’ and teachers’ attitude towards Partnership Approach as a new way of engaging learners in the learning process. A descriptive, ethnographic research method, using a questionnaire along with focus group semi-structured interview, was employed. Seventy-two undergraduate EFL learners and 40 EFL teachers with more than ten years of experience in teaching English were included in the study. They were males and females of different ages. They responded to two different attitude questionnaires. Some of the participants were randomly interviewed to shed light on the accuracy of the information collected. The results indicated that both students and teachers had a significantly positive attitude towards the Partnership Approach. The EFL teachers appeared to hold a more positive attitude and were inclined to support the students’ engagement and the implementation of the Partnership Approach, believing that partnership incr...
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 2016
One of the main concerns in educational settings has been the degree of the learners’ involvement... more One of the main concerns in educational settings has been the degree of the learners’ involvement in learning and the extent to which they actively participate in classroom talks and interactions. The present study is an emic-based ethnographic study aimed at providing insights about patterns of talk and different degrees of interaction in EFL university classes with a specific focus on teacher’s role. To this end, three different classes were observed for twelve consecutive sessions. Students were both male and female senior EFL students at Najafabad Azad University. The age of the participants ranged between 22 and 28. These classes were taught by the same instructor so that the researcher was directly involved in observing participants’ interactions in the targeted classrooms and in the data collection procedures. The participants’ oral behavior was carefully observed and recorded. To guarantee higher validity, some participants were also interviewed. The results of data analysis...
Technological advances have greatly affected teaching and learning at different levels and conseq... more Technological advances have greatly affected teaching and learning at different levels and consequently CALL is a research area that has received great interest recently. The present study aims at providing an overview of the role of e-mail activities in EFL writing classes. An assumption that is sometimes made by composition instructors is that the incorporation of e-mail writing exercises in curricula will necessarily have beneficial effects on students' academic composition abilities. However, if e-mail creates features of both written and spoken language, it is questionable that the e-mail writing will necessarily improve their academic writing abilities. In order to address this question, this study investigates whether student-produced writing in email and traditional pen-and-paper mood is similar or different with respect to factors like the length of text produced in each medium, and the type of structures used. Forty students majoring in English as foreign language in a...
Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2018
Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at a... more Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at any level of language knowledge to learn successfully seems to be an asset. In this study, the role of employing Partnership Approach (PA) to teach speaking to undergraduate EFL students through Streaming/Homogeneous-Grouping of the learners in Mixed-Ability classrooms was examined. A quasi-experimental research method was employed and 72 Iranian male and female undergraduate students majoring in TEFL whose ages ranged from 19-24 participated in the study. The study comprised three experimental and three control groups in high, low, and mixed language-ability levels based on the results of an Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) so that there were 12 students in each group. The findings indicated that among the streamed experimental groups, low-ability students did not significantly develop their speaking ability. On the contrary, low-ability students benefited from the mixed-ability teaching more than the other students both in the control and the experimental groups. Mixed-ability and high-ability students in the experimental group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the control group. Low-ability students in the control group outperformed their counterparts in the experimental group. This study has the potential to develop new insights and ideas which can be adapted by both EFL teachers and students in different educational settings. The processes and outcomes of the study can be adapted for use in other disciplines to examine the effect of ability grouping and partnership on the individuals' overall success.
Applied Research on English Language, 2020
New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many res... more New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many researchers. This study aimed at investigating the role of Iranian EFL learners" attitudes towards the value components of the Partnership Approach (PA) on motivating their active engagement in the learning process. A descriptive research method (survey study) was used, and 72 male and female Iranian EFL students whose ages ranged from 18 to 26 were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were asked to respond to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire addressing the objectives of the study, and then 30 of the participants were randomly interviewed to reveal the possible consonance with the questionnaire outcomes. The study was conducted at Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch. The findings indicated that although both male and female participants showed significantly positive attitudes towards the value components of the PA, except for the inclusivity value, female participants held significantly higher positive attitudes. The highest motivational value from both male and female participants" point of view was for the challenge value component. However, reciprocity and inclusivity were the value components with the lowest motivational values from the male and female participants" point of view, respectively. Focusing on the importance of the psychological factors in education, the findings of the study may encourage both education policy-makers and practitioners in the field to think more critically, and make more reasonable decisions for their policy and practice.
Journal of Studies in Learning and Teaching English, 2018
This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude ... more This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude towards Partnership Approach as a new way of engaging learners in the learning process. A descriptive, ethnographic research method, using a questionnaire along with focus group semi-structured interview, was employed. Seventy-two undergraduate EFL learners and 40 EFL teachers with more than ten years of experience in teaching English were included in the study. They were males and females of different ages. They responded to two different attitude questionnaires. Some of the participants were randomly interviewed to shed light on the accuracy of the information collected. The
Journal of Studies in Learning and Teaching English, 2018
This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude ... more This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude towards Partnership Approach as a new way of engaging learners in the learning process. A descriptive, ethnographic research method, using a questionnaire along with focus group semi-structured interview, was employed. Seventy-two undergraduate EFL learners and 40 EFL teachers with more than ten years of experience in teaching English were included in the study. They were males and females of different ages. They responded to two different attitude questionnaires. Some of the participants were randomly interviewed to shed light on the accuracy of the information collected. The
The Journal of Language, Discourse & Society, 2023
Motivated by the Speech Act theory, gender-specific use of language, and cross-cultural communica... more Motivated by the Speech Act theory, gender-specific use of language, and cross-cultural
communication, this study intended to address quantitatively how cultural differences and gender
patterns affect the way Persian and English native-speaking spouses apologize and utilize
apology strategies in their conversational routines. To triangulate data, both a questionnaire
(Chopman, 2012) and a focus-group semi-structured open-ended interview were used to collect
data on sixty participants’ linguistic behavior and their apology exchange. The Chi-square results
for inter-cultural/gender comparisons indicated a higher rate of apologies among the English
spouses and a variety in the rate and kind of apology strategies use. However, intra-cultural ones
demonstrated twice more apology use by Persian females than males and no significant
difference between the English spouses. The findings may have great appeal for both EFL
learners and teachers to attend more to the nature of the apology speech act and its exchange
among various groups and in different cultures and provide Persian EFL learners with
information that may help them improve their pragmatic competence in English. The study also
contributes to the pragmatics teaching curriculum and EFL research.
New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many res... more New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many researchers. This study aimed at investigating the role of Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes towards the value components of the Partnership Approach (PA) on motivating their active engagement in the learning process. A descriptive research method (survey study) was used, and 72 male and female Iranian EFL students whose ages ranged from 18 to 26 were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were asked to respond to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire addressing the objectives of the study, and then 30 of the participants were randomly interviewed to reveal the possible consonance with the questionnaire outcomes. The study was conducted at Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch. The findings indicated that although both male and female participants showed significantly positive attitudes towards the value components of the PA, except for the inclusivity value, female p...
Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at a... more Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at any level of language knowledge to learn successfully seems to be an asset. In this study, the role of employing Partnership Approach (PA) to teach speaking to undergraduate EFL students through Streaming/Homogeneous-Grouping of the learners in Mixed-Ability classrooms was examined. A quasi-experimental research method was employed and 72 Iranian male and female undergraduate students majoring in TEFL whose ages ranged from 19-24 participated in the study. The study comprised three experimental and three control groups in high, low, and mixed language-ability levels based on the results of an Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) so that there were 12 students in each group. The findings indicated that among the streamed experimental groups, low-ability students did not significantly develop their speaking ability. On the contrary, low-ability students benefited from the mixed-ability teachi...
This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students’ and teachers’ attitude ... more This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students’ and teachers’ attitude towards Partnership Approach as a new way of engaging learners in the learning process. A descriptive, ethnographic research method, using a questionnaire along with focus group semi-structured interview, was employed. Seventy-two undergraduate EFL learners and 40 EFL teachers with more than ten years of experience in teaching English were included in the study. They were males and females of different ages. They responded to two different attitude questionnaires. Some of the participants were randomly interviewed to shed light on the accuracy of the information collected. The results indicated that both students and teachers had a significantly positive attitude towards the Partnership Approach. The EFL teachers appeared to hold a more positive attitude and were inclined to support the students’ engagement and the implementation of the Partnership Approach, believing that partnership incr...
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 2016
One of the main concerns in educational settings has been the degree of the learners’ involvement... more One of the main concerns in educational settings has been the degree of the learners’ involvement in learning and the extent to which they actively participate in classroom talks and interactions. The present study is an emic-based ethnographic study aimed at providing insights about patterns of talk and different degrees of interaction in EFL university classes with a specific focus on teacher’s role. To this end, three different classes were observed for twelve consecutive sessions. Students were both male and female senior EFL students at Najafabad Azad University. The age of the participants ranged between 22 and 28. These classes were taught by the same instructor so that the researcher was directly involved in observing participants’ interactions in the targeted classrooms and in the data collection procedures. The participants’ oral behavior was carefully observed and recorded. To guarantee higher validity, some participants were also interviewed. The results of data analysis...
Technological advances have greatly affected teaching and learning at different levels and conseq... more Technological advances have greatly affected teaching and learning at different levels and consequently CALL is a research area that has received great interest recently. The present study aims at providing an overview of the role of e-mail activities in EFL writing classes. An assumption that is sometimes made by composition instructors is that the incorporation of e-mail writing exercises in curricula will necessarily have beneficial effects on students' academic composition abilities. However, if e-mail creates features of both written and spoken language, it is questionable that the e-mail writing will necessarily improve their academic writing abilities. In order to address this question, this study investigates whether student-produced writing in email and traditional pen-and-paper mood is similar or different with respect to factors like the length of text produced in each medium, and the type of structures used. Forty students majoring in English as foreign language in a...
Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2018
Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at a... more Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at any level of language knowledge to learn successfully seems to be an asset. In this study, the role of employing Partnership Approach (PA) to teach speaking to undergraduate EFL students through Streaming/Homogeneous-Grouping of the learners in Mixed-Ability classrooms was examined. A quasi-experimental research method was employed and 72 Iranian male and female undergraduate students majoring in TEFL whose ages ranged from 19-24 participated in the study. The study comprised three experimental and three control groups in high, low, and mixed language-ability levels based on the results of an Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) so that there were 12 students in each group. The findings indicated that among the streamed experimental groups, low-ability students did not significantly develop their speaking ability. On the contrary, low-ability students benefited from the mixed-ability teaching more than the other students both in the control and the experimental groups. Mixed-ability and high-ability students in the experimental group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the control group. Low-ability students in the control group outperformed their counterparts in the experimental group. This study has the potential to develop new insights and ideas which can be adapted by both EFL teachers and students in different educational settings. The processes and outcomes of the study can be adapted for use in other disciplines to examine the effect of ability grouping and partnership on the individuals' overall success.
Applied Research on English Language, 2020
New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many res... more New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many researchers. This study aimed at investigating the role of Iranian EFL learners" attitudes towards the value components of the Partnership Approach (PA) on motivating their active engagement in the learning process. A descriptive research method (survey study) was used, and 72 male and female Iranian EFL students whose ages ranged from 18 to 26 were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were asked to respond to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire addressing the objectives of the study, and then 30 of the participants were randomly interviewed to reveal the possible consonance with the questionnaire outcomes. The study was conducted at Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch. The findings indicated that although both male and female participants showed significantly positive attitudes towards the value components of the PA, except for the inclusivity value, female participants held significantly higher positive attitudes. The highest motivational value from both male and female participants" point of view was for the challenge value component. However, reciprocity and inclusivity were the value components with the lowest motivational values from the male and female participants" point of view, respectively. Focusing on the importance of the psychological factors in education, the findings of the study may encourage both education policy-makers and practitioners in the field to think more critically, and make more reasonable decisions for their policy and practice.
Journal of Studies in Learning and Teaching English, 2018
This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude ... more This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude towards Partnership Approach as a new way of engaging learners in the learning process. A descriptive, ethnographic research method, using a questionnaire along with focus group semi-structured interview, was employed. Seventy-two undergraduate EFL learners and 40 EFL teachers with more than ten years of experience in teaching English were included in the study. They were males and females of different ages. They responded to two different attitude questionnaires. Some of the participants were randomly interviewed to shed light on the accuracy of the information collected. The
Journal of Studies in Learning and Teaching English, 2018
This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude ... more This study aimed at investigating the Iranian undergraduate EFL students' and teachers' attitude towards Partnership Approach as a new way of engaging learners in the learning process. A descriptive, ethnographic research method, using a questionnaire along with focus group semi-structured interview, was employed. Seventy-two undergraduate EFL learners and 40 EFL teachers with more than ten years of experience in teaching English were included in the study. They were males and females of different ages. They responded to two different attitude questionnaires. Some of the participants were randomly interviewed to shed light on the accuracy of the information collected. The