Mohammad Reza Anani Sarab | Shahid Beheshti University (original) (raw)

Papers by Mohammad Reza Anani Sarab

Cogent Education, Jun 14, 2015

Investigations into the use of private speech by adult English foreign language (EFL) learners in... more Investigations into the use of private speech by adult English foreign language (EFL) learners in regulating their mental activities have been an interesting area of research with a sociocultural framework. Following this line of research, 30 advanced adult EFL learners were selected via the administration of Oxford quick placement test and took a test of solving challenging English riddles while their voices were being recorded. Later, instances of the produced private speech were analyzed in terms of form, content, and function. It was demonstrated that private speech with its different forms, contents, and functions plays a very crucial role in cognitive regulation of EFL learners which has important implications for the context of language learning classrooms. In addition, participants seemed to produce qualitatively different kinds of L2 private speech, which brought us to the conclusion that it would be necessary to consider quality and not just quantity in studying psycholinguistic concepts, such as cognitive regulation and private speech.

The journal of Asia TEFL, Dec 31, 2022

The global spread of English and its role as a lingua franca has created a great demand for learn... more The global spread of English and its role as a lingua franca has created a great demand for learning English worldwide. Up to the present time, this demand has been mostly met by major international publishers of English-speaking countries such as the United States and Britain. However, the promotion of Anglo-American cultural content and ideology through international coursebooks has long been criticized in the EFL settings in which they are used. The current study investigated the cultural appropriacy of these coursebooks for the Iranian context. The main instruments were four researcher-made questionnaires. The questionnaires were first piloted and then administered among 197 teachers and 186 students who were selected based on availability and willingness to cooperate. Next, a one-sample t-test was run on the data and the results showed that the coursebooks spread the hegemony of English. Also, it was found that the coursebooks promote a concept of gender equality which is in co...

... meaning, they obtain comprehensible input and feedback and generate comprehensible output, al... more ... meaning, they obtain comprehensible input and feedback and generate comprehensible output, all of ... stand of many SLA theories from Corder's (1967) claims to Krashen's Input Hypothesis (1981 ... language teachers to accord paired or group reading a more expanded role in the ...

Nigerian Medical Journal, 2014

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a li... more Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a lifestyle-related disease. This disease is transmitted through unprotected sex, contaminated needles, infected blood transfusion and from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery. Prevention of infection with HIV, mainly through safe sex and needle exchange programmes is a solution to prevent the spread of the disease. Knowledge about HIV state helps to prevent and subsequently reduce the harm to the later generation. The purpose of this study was to assess the willingness rate of couples referred to the family regulation premarital counselling centre for performing HIV test before marriage in Yazd. Patients and Methods: In this descriptive study, a simple random sampling was done among people referred to Akbari clinic. The couples were 1000 men and 1000 women referred to the premarital counselling centre for premarital HIV testing in Yazd in the year 2012. They were in situations of pregnancy, delivery or nursing and milking. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software and chi-square statistical test. Results: There was a significant statistical difference between the age groups about willingness for HIV testing before marriage (P < 0.001) and also positive comments about HIV testing in asymptomatic individuals (P < 0.001). This study also proved a significant statistical difference between the two gender groups about willingness to marry after HIV positive test of their wives. Conclusion: The willingness rate of couples to undergo HIV testing before marriage was significant. Therefore, HIV testing before marriage as a routine test was suggested.

Contrastive Pragmatics

Pragmatic competence consists of both pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic components. The choice ... more Pragmatic competence consists of both pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic components. The choice of pragmalinguistic strategies aligned with sociopragmatic norms may vary based on situational, cultural, and individual variables. The relationship between these important aspects of second language pragmatic competence, however, is underdeveloped in the literature. To fill this gap, the present paper is aimed at investigating the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic variations of the Iranian EFL learners from different proficiency levels. A written discourse completion task (WDCT) was adopted for collecting data. Data were analyzed using the coding categories for apologies developed in the previous benchmark studies. The findings of the study provided evidence showing both sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic development across the levels of language proficiency. The findings can be used for the development of pragmatics-focused materials in L2 and pragmatics instruction.

English Teaching & Learning

Journal of Education for Teaching

Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 2014

The present study investigated the use of L2 private speech by English foreign language (EFL) lea... more The present study investigated the use of L2 private speech by English foreign language (EFL) learners in regulating their mental activities. Thirty intermediate adult EFL learners took a test of solving challenging English riddles while their voices were being recorded. Following, instances of the produced private speech were analyzed in terms of form, content, and function. Numerous instances of reading aloud and repetition as well as self explanations and reviewing show how important they are in cognitive regulation of EFL learners. In addition, the results indicate the beneficial functions of private speech such as planning, managing the thought, self-orientation, motivating, and controlling anxiety among many others. The paper emphasizes the training of private speech and calls for patience in the face of silent periods produced by language learners.

Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 2016

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is advocated by many applied linguists as a common vehicle ... more Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is advocated by many applied linguists as a common vehicle to curriculum innovation in many ELT contexts. It represents a change of focus in language teaching from linguistic structures to learners' need for developing communication skills. In recent years, the Iranian Ministry of Education has introduced the development of a new English curriculum for secondary schools with the aim of establishing the use of communicative activities in language classes. The present study was an attempt to investigate Iranian teachers' perception of CLT principles and practices through a survey of 75 secondary school teachers in the context of the newly introduced English language curriculum developed based on CLT principles. Based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative data using a semi-structured questionnaire supplemented with interviews with a smaller group of teachers, the results of the survey revealed that a change in classroom arrangeme...

The present study investigated the characteristics of the new ELT program in Iran from the perspe... more The present study investigated the characteristics of the new ELT program in Iran from the perspective of its most direct implementers both qualitatively and quantitatively. To this end, 19 teachers implementing the new program were interviewed to describe the newly introduced change through their perception of its attributes such as its complexity, explicitness and practicality. After conducting content analysis on the transcribed interviews, the emerged themes were used to survey 255 lower and higher secondary teachers by means of a 5-point Likert-type questionnaire across the nation. The results show that, although the program implementers felt more satisfied with the new program due to the perceived advantages of the change over the previous one , the lack of crucial factors such as giving due attention to the oral skills, adjustability of the change to the needs of a wide range of users, training teachers to improve their skills in making use of methods and techniques compatibl...

In recent years, language learning research has been paying more attention to the factors that ma... more In recent years, language learning research has been paying more attention to the factors that may affect the choice by language learners of language learning strategies in general and writing strategies in particular to enhance their own learning. Given the socio-cognitive nature of the act of writing, as Roca de Larios et al. (2002) note, both writer-internal and -external factors have been reported to influence the deployment of writing strategies. Personality type, as one of the influential internal factors among others, is the focus of the present study, which intended to investigate English language learners’ writing strategies with reference to their personality types at different universities in Iran. To this end, a writing strategy questionnaire was employed to tap into the memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, social, and affective strategies of 210 participants. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire was u...

Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 2016

Reflective teaching, which has gained the status of an integral element of teacher pedagogy, is s... more Reflective teaching, which has gained the status of an integral element of teacher pedagogy, is still an elusive concept, probably because it is merely attainable when teachers are provided with opportunities for building professional knowledge and for showing reflective teaching practices. The present study aimed at examining the English language teachers’ perception of their level of reflection and the way their perceptions were realized in practice. Adopting a multi-method design, the study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, data were elicited form 60 EFL teachers using a questionnaire (Akbari, Behzadpoor & Dadvand, 2010). In the second phase, six teachers were randomly selected from among the surveyed teachers and their teaching practices were observed. The record of the observations was, then, analyzed using the seating chart technique to find patterns in the observed teachers’ questioning practice as a sign of their degree of reflectivity. The results revealed a...

在過去十年中，語言的語用面向已引起相關領域研究者之廣泛關注。研究所產生已逐漸轉移至探究最合宜的教學法和作法，以提高語言學習者對語用特性的掌握。本研究探討以英語為外語之伊朗學習者經過連續性教學法之... more 在過去十年中，語言的語用面向已引起相關領域研究者之廣泛關注。研究所產生已逐漸轉移至探究最合宜的教學法和作法，以提高語言學習者對語用特性的掌握。本研究探討以英語為外語之伊朗學習者經過連續性教學法之訓練後，針對道歉此項言語行為上在理解及表達兩方面之語用發展。評量工具以書寫及選擇題之篇章測驗，分別探測學習者言語行為之表達與理解程度。統計結果顯示，進行連續性教學法前，兩組表現相當。然而，後測發現兩組於理解及表達上有顯著差異。整體而言，本研究結果證實連續性教學之必要性，及其對波斯的英語學習者在語用發展的正面影響。

Language Assessment Quarterly, 2019

ABSTRACT With the advancement of Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) and the pertinent statisti... more ABSTRACT With the advancement of Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) and the pertinent statistical models, different domains of large-scale testing and assessment have been examined for the sake of reporting more diagnostic information. Applying the generalized deterministic input, noisy, “and” gate (G-DINA) model, the current study analyzed a high-stakes L2 reading comprehension test as an integral section of the PhD degree’s entrance exam in Iran. It aimed at examining the reading comprehension attributes underlying this high stakes test in an attempt to check the capability of CDA models, (in this case G-DINA), in providing diagnostic information for test developers and users. The items’ response data were analyzed in R, “GDINA” package, version 1.4.2. With data collected from multiple sources including the current literature on the sub-skills of reading comprehension, test specifications, test-takers’ think-aloud verbal protocols, and expert panel’s judgments, an initial Q-matrix, including five sub-skills, was developed and then validated. Data analysis, using the validated version of Q-matrix, showed the sub-skill (attribute) prevalence and its difficulty. Code-related sub-skills were the easiest and the most prevalent ones and the connecting/synthesizing sub-skills were the most difficult and the least prevalent ones for the test-takers. Skill mastery profile results verified the relationship among the sub-skills of reading skill and also the prominence of some of these sub-skills over others.