@article { author = {Mirhassani, Seyyed Akbar and Fatahipour, Majid}, title = {Improving Productive Vocabulary Knowledge Through Writing}, journal = {Teaching English Language}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, pages = {1-22}, year = {2008}, publisher = {Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)}, issn = {2538-5488}, eissn = {2538-547X}, doi = {10.22132/tel.2008.128579}, abstract = {   To improve and activate the vocabulary of EFL learners, an alternative to common advice in trying to use them in speech can be invited. Mclaughlin, B. et al. (2000) previously argued for the role of reading comprehension in improving the vocabulary knowledge of nonnative speakers. The same can be shown through writing. As two quite different methodologies in writing pedagogy are process and product writing, it is interesting to find which holds more promise for the vocabulary improvement. Product writing pedagogy encompasses accuracy-based and error-corrective tradition and students acting one-off (Gabrielatos, 2004), while process writing enacts students learning how to write by writing involving brainstorming and production of multiple drafts based on teacher’s feedback (Paribakht, 2003). For the purpose of this study, sixty four from a hundred interested students at the intermediate level of English proficiency, set by a TOEFL score, pursued and consummated the weekly classes of writing instruction. A class is selected to be instructed in process writing by the flip of a coin and the other taught product writing then. After a semester period of teaching process and product writing to respective homogeneous groups and applying a pretest-posttest design, the researchers used a T-test to compare mean difference of group scores from pretest and posttest which is a productive vocabulary test. The results of study demonstrate that process group improved their vocabulary significantly better over product group. Controlling that all subjects be of the same age range, language proficiency level and of both sexes in balanced divisions, while every other factor is held constant to make a fair estimate of the role of writing method on vocabulary.}, keywords = {productive vocabulary knowledge,process writing,product writing,t-test}, title_fa = {دانش واژگان}, abstract_fa = {دانش واژگان}, keywords_fa = {دانش واژگان}, url = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128579.html}, eprint = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128579_129c58439c52f4371fc1f94d6c992615.pdf} } @article { author = {Sahragard, Rahman and Rahimian, Jalal and Rahmani Anaraki, Reza}, title = {The effects of changing the deletion direction and deletion ratio on the validity and reliability of the C-test}, journal = {Teaching English Language}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, pages = {23-52}, year = {2008}, publisher = {Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)}, issn = {2538-5488}, eissn = {2538-547X}, doi = {10.22132/tel.2008.128580}, abstract = { This study looks at the effects of changing the deletion direction and ratio on the validity and reliability of the C-test. For this purpose, a cluster sampling procedure was used to select 324 English students with different levels of proficiency. The subjects were then randomly assigned to three experimental groups. Each group took a TOEFL test and a C-test version. The three C-test versions were all based on the same texts. Immediately after completing the C-test, subjects received a ten-item questionnaire about issues such as face validity, suitability, and possible functions of the C-test. The findings indicated that changing the deletion ratio from 2 to 3 can result in an easier C-test with a higher discrimination power and a better criterion-related validity. On the other hand, changing the deletion direction (from right to left) can result in a more difficult C-test with a lower discrimination power and a worse concurrent validity –a C-test which might be a completely different test that measures a different construct. However, the changes to the deletion technique probably do not result in any changes to the reliability.}, keywords = {C-test,deletion direction,deletion ratio,Validity,Reliability}, title_fa = {اثر}, abstract_fa = {اثر}, keywords_fa = {آزمون سی}, url = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128580.html}, eprint = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128580_355360f11ac6e20eb32cc6a2d676cf68.pdf} } @article { author = {Aghagolzadeh, Ferdows and Khosronejad, Abdollah}, title = {Gender on the Scope of Written Text; in Persian and English Short Stories}, journal = {Teaching English Language}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, pages = {53-92}, year = {2008}, publisher = {Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)}, issn = {2538-5488}, eissn = {2538-547X}, doi = {10.22132/tel.2008.128581}, abstract = {   This article is a field study that tries to verify the effect of gender on the scope of Persian and English written texts. Variables such as color terms, swearing, hedges, intensifiers, tag questions, adjectives of approximation and adjectives are considered for analysis in the study of selected literary texts in the corpus. The findings of this study show that in terms of color terms, both English and Persian female story writers use more color terms in their stories. Male writers are generally supposed to use more swearing in their stories. In terms of the use of hedging devices in the stories, it is shown that hedging expressions are found more frequently in female authored texts. The study of intensifiers (up graders, boosters) in Persian and English stories shows that, the use of intensifiers is more common within women’s writing style. In spite of the very infrequent use of tags in the stories, male authored texts provide more examples of tag questions. Challenging tags are more frequent in men's writing; female writers on the other hand prefer the use of epistemic tags. Frequency of the use of adjectives of approximation is not a good criterion to differentiate female authored texts from male authored ones in Persian corpus. On the other hand the use of this linguistic feature in English corpus demonstrates that female authored texts use these adjectives more frequently. The study of the use of adjectives in English and Persian corpus shows that female writers use adjectives more frequently in their writing.}, keywords = {Sociolinguistics Hedge,Euphemism Tag Question,Stylistics Intensifier,Female Sentence}, title_fa = {جنسیت در حوزه نوشتار}, abstract_fa = {جنسیت در حوزه نوشتار}, keywords_fa = {جنسیت در حوزه نوشتار}, url = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128581.html}, eprint = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128581_9e0b5975c21302430d43d1a8f7fa98f5.pdf} } @article { author = {Rezaee, Abbas Ali and Salehi, Mohammad}, title = {The Construct Validity of a Language Proficiency Test: a Multitrait Multimethod Approach}, journal = {Teaching English Language}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, pages = {93-110}, year = {2009}, publisher = {Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)}, issn = {2538-5488}, eissn = {2538-547X}, doi = {10.22132/tel.2009.128679}, abstract = { The present study intends to investigate the construct validity of a test which is used for admission purposes. It was conducted with 3,398 participants. These testees took an English language proficiency test as a partial requirement for entering a PhD program in different fields of education at the University of Tehran. This test has three sections consisting of grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension. To determine the construct validity of the test, the design of multitrait- multimethod (MTMM) was investigated. According to Cronbach and Meehl (1959), in this design and approach to validation more than one trait and more than one method should be used. In the present study, the two traits used were grammar and vocabulary. The two methods employed were multiple choice and contextualization. The results revealed that the test possessed both convergent and discriminant validities. In other words, the same traits tested through different methods had more correlation than different traits tested through the same methods. To collect more evidence for the validity of the test and determine the effect of the methods used, the researchers also conducted two monotrait multimethod analyses: one was grammar being tested through more than one method and the other was vocabulary being tested in more than one way. The effects of methods were also determined.}, keywords = {Construct validity,multitrait-multi-method,convergent validation,discriminant validation,language proficiency test}, title_fa = {روایی سازه}, abstract_fa = {روایی سازه}, keywords_fa = {روایی سازه}, url = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128679.html}, eprint = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128679_a80599ce633630e5a5d46e692e753c02.pdf} } @article { author = {Jalilifar, Alireza and Amin, F.}, title = {Classroom Vocabulary Learning: Investigating the Role of Task Types on Iranian High Schools Learners of English as a Foreign Language}, journal = {Teaching English Language}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, pages = {111-141}, year = {2009}, publisher = {Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)}, issn = {2538-5488}, eissn = {2538-547X}, doi = {10.22132/tel.2009.128680}, abstract = {The present study investigated the efficacy of task types on the vocabulary learning of Iranian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) whose opportunities for communication outside classroom context are limited. Moreover, the effectiveness of using Task-based Instruction (TBI) was investigated in this study. Data were collected from three classes of lower-intermediate high school students who were selected on the basis of availability and were taught for eight weeks. Each class was taught through one of three different task types: information-gap, opinion-gap, and reasoning-gap. The results of an achievement vocabulary test administered to the students of the three groups at the end of the instruction and a qualitative think-aloud report protocol analysis showed that the reasoning group outperformed the other two groups. Implications of the study are proposed for teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Iran.}, keywords = {Task-Based Instruction,Information-gap tasks,Reasoning-gap tasks,Opinion-gap tasks}, title_fa = {کلاس آموزش واژگان}, abstract_fa = {کلاس آموزش واژگان}, keywords_fa = {آموزش واژگان}, url = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128680.html}, eprint = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128680_439ae4b377363f644557281e1086f1b2.pdf} } @article { author = {Ghorbandordinejad, Farhad}, title = {The Taxonomy of Reading Tasks for the Treatment of Strategies to Tackle Texts through Cohesive Devices}, journal = {Teaching English Language}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, pages = {143-164}, year = {2009}, publisher = {Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)}, issn = {2538-5488}, eissn = {2538-547X}, doi = {10.22132/tel.2009.128681}, abstract = {   Though there is no doubt about the importance of the role of students’ control over the use of linguistic devices that contribute to textual cohesion in their reading and their ability to understand and interpret texts, there are very few reading tasks based on cohesive devices in the reading comprehension course books. This paper presents a study of the classification of the different reading comprehension tasks for the treatment of strategies to tackle texts through cohesive devices to be used in the ELT classes. The theoretical background of the suggested task taxonomy has the following assumptions: 1. a text is organized of relevant sequences of sentences/utterances. 2. Text processing requires considering a text as a process rather than a product. 3. Halliday and Hassan’s taxonomy of cohesion (1976) is considered valid and reliable. 4. Appropriate reading activities increase the discourse awareness on the part of the students. These tasks are divided into two general categories: 1. Micro-information Reading Tasks and 2. Macro-information Reading Tasks. The first category can be answered by understanding only specific parts of the text; in these tasks bottom-up processing is very important. Questions related to the second category can be answered by reading the entire text and integrate information found in different parts of the message. In these tasks, the importance of top-down processing becomes evident. The tasks of the first category include: Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis, Conjunction, Lexical Cohesion (Reiteration: Repetition Nets, Finding and Classifying Synonyms, Antonyms, Super-ordinates and Hyponyms), Collocation, Exploring Cohesion, Cohesive Chains, Spatial Chains, Word Relation, Text Symbols and Abbreviations, Sentence Value. The tasks of the second category include: Analyze, Inferring, Prediction, Paragraph Formation, Interpretation, and Topic Finding. The paper offers 18 sample exercises to illustrate the way the strategies can be applied to the ELT classes.}, keywords = {cohesion,cohesive devices,Coherence,Taxonomy,reading comprehension tasks}, title_fa = {رده بندی تمرین‌های خوانداری}, abstract_fa = {رده بندی تمرین‌های خوانداری}, keywords_fa = {رده بندی}, url = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128681.html}, eprint = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128681_396c18ad0758e26bd9e19e2434467871.pdf} } @article { author = {Hessami, Hoda}, title = {The Association of Characters and Windows of Focalization in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf}, journal = {Teaching English Language}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, pages = {165-183}, year = {2009}, publisher = {Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)}, issn = {2538-5488}, eissn = {2538-547X}, doi = {10.22132/tel.2009.128682}, abstract = {Focalization is a narratological element, the angle, from which the events of story are oriented. Manfred Jahn has innovated the term “focalization windows”, defined as imaginary windows opened from the consciousness of the characters and the narrator of a story. Besides, thanks to “variable focalization”, in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf the windows constantly switch from one character to the other. One can call up different groups of markers, which indicate the switchings of these windows; nonetheless, the thematic focus of this article is to debate how psychological and social association of characters function in the shifts of focalization windows in the light of Jahn’s approach.}, keywords = {Windows of Focalization,Shift,Mrs. Dalloway}, title_fa = {ارتباط بین شخصیت‌ها}, abstract_fa = {ارتباط بین شخصیت‌ها}, keywords_fa = {تمرکز بر کانون}, url = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128682.html}, eprint = {http://www.teljournal.org/article_128682_188c1609b629b43286baaa358fa85f92.pdf} }