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Papers by Rouhollah Askari Bigdeli
Teacher self-disclosure (TSD) as a communication behavior can influence students' learning by inc... more Teacher self-disclosure (TSD) as a communication behavior can influence students' learning by increasing their engagement and class participation as well as helping them establish effective interpersonal relationships. Owning to its context-sensitive and culture-dependent nature, however, TSD topics, purposes, and considerations may vary cross-culturally. This study was an attempt to explore Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions of appropriateness of TSD as well as to investigate whether there was a significant difference between male and female teachers' perceptions of appropriateness of TSD. To this end, the Appropriateness of Teacher Self-Disclosure Scale was distributed among 68 Iranian EFL teachers (34 females and 34 males) from six language institutes. The results of the study indicated the extent to which the Iranian EFL teachers perceived TSD topics, purposes, and considerations to be appropriate or inappropriate. Furthermore, the study found convergence and divergence between male and female teachers' perceptions in terms of the topics used in TSD, the purposes TSD serves in classroom, and considerations the teachers take into account when practicing TSD. The results of the study suggest that Iranian EFL teachers can practice TSD as a pedagogical tool to enhance learning although they should be wary of its consequences in some aspects as TSD is contingent upon context and culture.
For the vast majority of the Iranian M.A. students of TEFL, thesis writing is the first individu... more For the vast majority of the Iranian M.A. students of TEFL, thesis writing is the first individual engagement with research. Despite having some pedagogical merits, such an academic activity generally poses some intellectual and affective challenges to such students. During thesis completion, if students are not effectively scaffolded by supervisors and not supported by universities, they are likely to encounter serious problems that might result in their disengagement, frustration, and withdrawal from doing their theses themselves. This study was an attempt to explore the factors that dissuaded some Iranian M.A. students of TEFL from carrying out their theses themselves. In effect, the study aimed to shed light on the reasons why some Iranian M.A. students of TEFL go to other agents to do their theses in exchange for money. Adopting a purposive sampling procedure, we found 13 M.A. graduates who did not do their theses themselves, but they paid some agents to do so in their stead. Semistructured interviews were used to gather the data. Findings revealed 3 dominant themes including supervisor-related, supervisee-related, and higher education-related factors responsible for the issue under investigation.
Keywords
Thesis Supervision; Supervisors; Supervisees; TEFL
This study sought to elucidate the challenges of critical literacy practice in the Iranian contex... more This study sought to elucidate the challenges of critical literacy practice in the Iranian context. The objectives were twofold: (a) to find out which challenges teachers and students face in the practice of critical literacy and (b) to explore the state of critical literacy in language education. To this end, a sample of 12 English teachers and 120 students majoring in TEFL took part in the study. Data collection procedure was based on students’ reflective notes, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. The analysis of the interviews revealed that factors including a) lack of the teachers’ familiarity with the concept and tenets of critical literacy, b) students’ poor English proficiency, c) lack of attention to critical literacy in curriculum and d) political issues were the major challenges. Classroom observations and students’ reflective notes showed that teachers did not encourage students to become involved in ideologies imbedded in the texts.
Teachers' active positioning in social space and their role identity are likely to be affected by... more Teachers' active positioning in social space and their role identity are likely to be affected by workplace policies that impact their working conditions. By the same token, the teachers' congruence or incongruence with the institutions' policies can have an impact on their work-related identities. This qualitative study sets itself the objective of exploring the role identities of EFL teachers in language institutes. To this end, 36 experienced language teachers from six language institutes in Yasouj, Iran, took part in the study. The data were gathered through semi-structured individual interviews with the participants. Among the total of 9 role identities, the frequency count of the occurrences of roles demonstrated that the most recurring teacher role identity reported by teachers was teacher as "vendor" who is in charge of "selling" a particular teaching methodology. Further, the least recurring teacher role identity was teacher as "collaborator" indicating that teachers were reluctant to share with other teachers.
Resilience as a psychological emotional mechanism is employed by the individuals when they are in... more Resilience as a psychological emotional mechanism is employed by the individuals when they are in stressful irritating situations to be able to resume their previous productive mental activities. It is a vital coping activity when students go through upsetting events, psychological breakdowns, academic failures, suffocating educational atmospheres, and undemocratic teaching techniques. The essential elements of such a construct can be diverse based upon a whole prism of cultural specificities. The crux of the matter is that resilience is immensely influenced by social parameters and significant others who are in interaction with the students. The objective of this study is to investigate the predictive relationship between perceived social support (social support of family, significant others, and friends) and resilience in English language learners. To this end, 200 EFL learners studying at university level participated in the study. The data were gathered through two questionnaires and multiple regression analysis was run as a statistical procedure to analyze the data. The results of the study indicated that social support of family, significant others, and friends significantly predicted resilience. The implications of this study pointed to the importance of significant others, and social support from teachers, family and friends in providing EFL learners with effective copying skills manifested as resilience in confrontation with unwelcoming stressful tasks and challenges in the process of language learning.
Foreign or second language learning is primarily an emotionally driven task. However, little atte... more Foreign or second language learning is primarily an emotionally driven task. However, little attention has been given to the contribution of positive emotions to language learning, and researchers have largely focused on negative emotions, especially language anxiety, with the aim of probing their detrimental effects on the language learning process. This paper aimed to address the contribution of the "Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotions" within the realm of language teaching and learning. In light of the theory, it was argued that the experience of positive emotions can expand the array of thoughts and actions that spring to mind, with the result of higher levels of students' engagement; that positive emotions can undo lingering negative emotions, helping the students counteract or regulate their negative emotions; that experience of positive emotions can fuel psychological resilience, facilitating the students' recovery from stressful situations; that positive emotions have the capacity to initiate upward spirals toward greater well-being in the future by widening the students' scopes of attention and cognition. In contrast, negative emotions reinforce the opposite tendency, restricting the amount of potential language input and accordingly narrowing the students' capacity for learning. In general, therefore, it was concluded that language teachers should go beyond a focus on the reduction of negative emotions towards a focus on the enhancement of positive emotions.
This study used a pretest-posttest control group design to find out if application of ICTs includ... more This study used a pretest-posttest control group design to find out if application of ICTs including internet, e-mail, blogs, Skype, and PowerPoint could develop Iranian English students' self-regulated learning. To this end, sixty (N=60) English students within the experimental and control groups took part in the study. While internet, e-mail, blogs, Skype, and PowerPoint were used as the main medium of instruction in the experimental group, in the control group the paper-based traditional method was used. A survey adapted from Lai and Gu (2011) was used to gather the data. The results of the study indicated a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in regard with their selfregulated learning. That is to say, the experimental group taught through ICT tools acquired higher levels of self-regulation as compared with the control group instructed through the traditional teaching method.
Task-based Teaching in Translation: Departure from Equivalence-based Approach Reza Rezvani ... more Task-based Teaching in Translation: Departure from
Equivalence-based Approach
Reza Rezvani
Yasouj University, Iran
rezvanireza@gmail.com
Rouhollah Askari Bigdeli
Yasouj University, Iran
raskari90@gmail.com
Abstract
The perpetuation of traditional equivalence-based approaches to teach translation can be still much felt today. Responding to this formidable problem, translation teaching has fairly recently taken the welcome step of utilizing more recent methodologies from the neighboring subfields of Applied Linguistics. This study aimed to investigate whether the integration of task-based teaching with translation teaching may contribute to translation task motivation and quality. To this end, the differential impact of two translation tasks, say, the principled and the traditional tasks on translation quality and task motivation of ninety Iranian undergraduate students was investigated. The results of the study revealed that the subjects achieved significantly higher translation quality and task motivation in the principled task (p < .05) than those in the traditional task. The study suggests that task-based teaching might be an appropriate methodology for teaching translation in that it can maintain students’ task motivation and promote their translation quality.
Keywords. Translation teaching, Equivalence-based approach, Task-based teaching, Translation quality, Task motivation
Conference Presentations by Rouhollah Askari Bigdeli
Initially, motivation has been thought and researched as a stable trait where each student carrie... more Initially, motivation has been thought and researched as a stable trait where each student carries with them a certain level of motivation to different learning environments. However, recently a more situation-specific and dynamic approach to motivation, i.e. task motivation, receives considerable attention from researchers and educators. In the light of these considerations, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between trait motivation and task motivation in two translation tasks with the same contents but different instructions. To this end, ninety (n=90) undergraduate students majoring in English literature performed the translation tasks. Further, two questionnaires were administered to the participants to gauge their trait motivation and task motivation. A correlational statistical measurement was conducted between the participants' trait motivation and task motivation. The result indicated that there was no statistically significant correlation between the participants' trait motivation and task motivation in both translation tasks. The findings can be taken into consideration on the part of teachers in developing and presenting translation tasks, in the sense that they should not assume that the motivation of task participants is solely related to their trait motivation.
Teacher self-disclosure (TSD) as a communication behavior can influence students' learning by inc... more Teacher self-disclosure (TSD) as a communication behavior can influence students' learning by increasing their engagement and class participation as well as helping them establish effective interpersonal relationships. Owning to its context-sensitive and culture-dependent nature, however, TSD topics, purposes, and considerations may vary cross-culturally. This study was an attempt to explore Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions of appropriateness of TSD as well as to investigate whether there was a significant difference between male and female teachers' perceptions of appropriateness of TSD. To this end, the Appropriateness of Teacher Self-Disclosure Scale was distributed among 68 Iranian EFL teachers (34 females and 34 males) from six language institutes. The results of the study indicated the extent to which the Iranian EFL teachers perceived TSD topics, purposes, and considerations to be appropriate or inappropriate. Furthermore, the study found convergence and divergence between male and female teachers' perceptions in terms of the topics used in TSD, the purposes TSD serves in classroom, and considerations the teachers take into account when practicing TSD. The results of the study suggest that Iranian EFL teachers can practice TSD as a pedagogical tool to enhance learning although they should be wary of its consequences in some aspects as TSD is contingent upon context and culture.
For the vast majority of the Iranian M.A. students of TEFL, thesis writing is the first individu... more For the vast majority of the Iranian M.A. students of TEFL, thesis writing is the first individual engagement with research. Despite having some pedagogical merits, such an academic activity generally poses some intellectual and affective challenges to such students. During thesis completion, if students are not effectively scaffolded by supervisors and not supported by universities, they are likely to encounter serious problems that might result in their disengagement, frustration, and withdrawal from doing their theses themselves. This study was an attempt to explore the factors that dissuaded some Iranian M.A. students of TEFL from carrying out their theses themselves. In effect, the study aimed to shed light on the reasons why some Iranian M.A. students of TEFL go to other agents to do their theses in exchange for money. Adopting a purposive sampling procedure, we found 13 M.A. graduates who did not do their theses themselves, but they paid some agents to do so in their stead. Semistructured interviews were used to gather the data. Findings revealed 3 dominant themes including supervisor-related, supervisee-related, and higher education-related factors responsible for the issue under investigation.
Keywords
Thesis Supervision; Supervisors; Supervisees; TEFL
This study sought to elucidate the challenges of critical literacy practice in the Iranian contex... more This study sought to elucidate the challenges of critical literacy practice in the Iranian context. The objectives were twofold: (a) to find out which challenges teachers and students face in the practice of critical literacy and (b) to explore the state of critical literacy in language education. To this end, a sample of 12 English teachers and 120 students majoring in TEFL took part in the study. Data collection procedure was based on students’ reflective notes, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. The analysis of the interviews revealed that factors including a) lack of the teachers’ familiarity with the concept and tenets of critical literacy, b) students’ poor English proficiency, c) lack of attention to critical literacy in curriculum and d) political issues were the major challenges. Classroom observations and students’ reflective notes showed that teachers did not encourage students to become involved in ideologies imbedded in the texts.
Teachers' active positioning in social space and their role identity are likely to be affected by... more Teachers' active positioning in social space and their role identity are likely to be affected by workplace policies that impact their working conditions. By the same token, the teachers' congruence or incongruence with the institutions' policies can have an impact on their work-related identities. This qualitative study sets itself the objective of exploring the role identities of EFL teachers in language institutes. To this end, 36 experienced language teachers from six language institutes in Yasouj, Iran, took part in the study. The data were gathered through semi-structured individual interviews with the participants. Among the total of 9 role identities, the frequency count of the occurrences of roles demonstrated that the most recurring teacher role identity reported by teachers was teacher as "vendor" who is in charge of "selling" a particular teaching methodology. Further, the least recurring teacher role identity was teacher as "collaborator" indicating that teachers were reluctant to share with other teachers.
Resilience as a psychological emotional mechanism is employed by the individuals when they are in... more Resilience as a psychological emotional mechanism is employed by the individuals when they are in stressful irritating situations to be able to resume their previous productive mental activities. It is a vital coping activity when students go through upsetting events, psychological breakdowns, academic failures, suffocating educational atmospheres, and undemocratic teaching techniques. The essential elements of such a construct can be diverse based upon a whole prism of cultural specificities. The crux of the matter is that resilience is immensely influenced by social parameters and significant others who are in interaction with the students. The objective of this study is to investigate the predictive relationship between perceived social support (social support of family, significant others, and friends) and resilience in English language learners. To this end, 200 EFL learners studying at university level participated in the study. The data were gathered through two questionnaires and multiple regression analysis was run as a statistical procedure to analyze the data. The results of the study indicated that social support of family, significant others, and friends significantly predicted resilience. The implications of this study pointed to the importance of significant others, and social support from teachers, family and friends in providing EFL learners with effective copying skills manifested as resilience in confrontation with unwelcoming stressful tasks and challenges in the process of language learning.
Foreign or second language learning is primarily an emotionally driven task. However, little atte... more Foreign or second language learning is primarily an emotionally driven task. However, little attention has been given to the contribution of positive emotions to language learning, and researchers have largely focused on negative emotions, especially language anxiety, with the aim of probing their detrimental effects on the language learning process. This paper aimed to address the contribution of the "Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotions" within the realm of language teaching and learning. In light of the theory, it was argued that the experience of positive emotions can expand the array of thoughts and actions that spring to mind, with the result of higher levels of students' engagement; that positive emotions can undo lingering negative emotions, helping the students counteract or regulate their negative emotions; that experience of positive emotions can fuel psychological resilience, facilitating the students' recovery from stressful situations; that positive emotions have the capacity to initiate upward spirals toward greater well-being in the future by widening the students' scopes of attention and cognition. In contrast, negative emotions reinforce the opposite tendency, restricting the amount of potential language input and accordingly narrowing the students' capacity for learning. In general, therefore, it was concluded that language teachers should go beyond a focus on the reduction of negative emotions towards a focus on the enhancement of positive emotions.
This study used a pretest-posttest control group design to find out if application of ICTs includ... more This study used a pretest-posttest control group design to find out if application of ICTs including internet, e-mail, blogs, Skype, and PowerPoint could develop Iranian English students' self-regulated learning. To this end, sixty (N=60) English students within the experimental and control groups took part in the study. While internet, e-mail, blogs, Skype, and PowerPoint were used as the main medium of instruction in the experimental group, in the control group the paper-based traditional method was used. A survey adapted from Lai and Gu (2011) was used to gather the data. The results of the study indicated a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in regard with their selfregulated learning. That is to say, the experimental group taught through ICT tools acquired higher levels of self-regulation as compared with the control group instructed through the traditional teaching method.
Task-based Teaching in Translation: Departure from Equivalence-based Approach Reza Rezvani ... more Task-based Teaching in Translation: Departure from
Equivalence-based Approach
Reza Rezvani
Yasouj University, Iran
rezvanireza@gmail.com
Rouhollah Askari Bigdeli
Yasouj University, Iran
raskari90@gmail.com
Abstract
The perpetuation of traditional equivalence-based approaches to teach translation can be still much felt today. Responding to this formidable problem, translation teaching has fairly recently taken the welcome step of utilizing more recent methodologies from the neighboring subfields of Applied Linguistics. This study aimed to investigate whether the integration of task-based teaching with translation teaching may contribute to translation task motivation and quality. To this end, the differential impact of two translation tasks, say, the principled and the traditional tasks on translation quality and task motivation of ninety Iranian undergraduate students was investigated. The results of the study revealed that the subjects achieved significantly higher translation quality and task motivation in the principled task (p < .05) than those in the traditional task. The study suggests that task-based teaching might be an appropriate methodology for teaching translation in that it can maintain students’ task motivation and promote their translation quality.
Keywords. Translation teaching, Equivalence-based approach, Task-based teaching, Translation quality, Task motivation
Initially, motivation has been thought and researched as a stable trait where each student carrie... more Initially, motivation has been thought and researched as a stable trait where each student carries with them a certain level of motivation to different learning environments. However, recently a more situation-specific and dynamic approach to motivation, i.e. task motivation, receives considerable attention from researchers and educators. In the light of these considerations, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between trait motivation and task motivation in two translation tasks with the same contents but different instructions. To this end, ninety (n=90) undergraduate students majoring in English literature performed the translation tasks. Further, two questionnaires were administered to the participants to gauge their trait motivation and task motivation. A correlational statistical measurement was conducted between the participants' trait motivation and task motivation. The result indicated that there was no statistically significant correlation between the participants' trait motivation and task motivation in both translation tasks. The findings can be taken into consideration on the part of teachers in developing and presenting translation tasks, in the sense that they should not assume that the motivation of task participants is solely related to their trait motivation.
the first national conference on issues in English literature and language teaching: New trends and criticisms, May 2, 2012
Consistent with the frustrating proliferation of theoretical treatments, for the most part unhelp... more Consistent with the frustrating proliferation of theoretical treatments, for the most part unhelpful dichotomous and polytomous categorizations, in Translation Studies, translation teaching complacently continued with the prevailing and powerful "read and translate" directive . Translation teaching at Iranian universities is no exception to this lingering trend. This is partly due to the lack of principled approach and guidelines allowing for reflective translation practice. Responding to this formidable problem, this paper constitutes an attempt to provide a linkage between the promising task-based teaching and translation task drawing on the wealth of studies and recourses from the neighboring field of language teaching and learning. Principled guidelines are, as such, put forward taking into account both translation process and product. Resting on tasks as the vehicle of teaching/learning engagement, the guidelines concern pre-task, main task, and post-task together with the procedures involved in each stage. This paper will carry significant implications to higher education translation pedagogy.
