English Language

This study investigated the effects of candidates' gender and familiarity with the interviewers on their language variation in oral interviews. For this variationist investigation, 60 university students comprising both males and females were randomly assigned to groups of familiar and unfamiliar with the interviewers. Then, they were interviewed using IELTS interview framework with some modifications .Three linguistic variants, i.e. "to be" contractions, /th/ pronunciations and the use of "he and she" interchangeably were extracted from the data and transcribed for the analysis. Then, they were analyzed using descriptive procedures through tests of frequencies in SPSS software. The results indicated that acquaintanceship with the interviewer might affect speech study of the subjects, the subjects with the unfamiliar interviewer trying to be more formal than the subject with the familiar interviewer .The findings also revealed that candidates' gender affected their use of the speech variants .In fact, the speech styles of males and females were significantly different with the females being more sensitive and conservative with their language behavior in the presence of an unfamiliar interviewer. We can claim that language variation among the candidates is affected by social factors like the sex of interviewees and their familiarity with the interviewers in L2 settings.

Saman Ebadi, assistant professor of applied linguistics at RaziUniversity, Kermanshah, Iran. His areas of interest are sociocultural theory, dynamic assessment, CALL, SCMC, language acquisition, and syllabus design. He has published and presented papers in international conferences and journals.

Wilde's complete adherence to aestheticism led him to write beautifully but maybe without any stress on the significance of morality. His only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray reveals his philosophy of aestheticism in both art and life. The standpoint of 'beauty' dominates the novel in a way that almost all of its possible themes are shadowed or directed through the strict filter of aestheticism. However, it seems that this is only a half-truth, as moral and social issues are also revealed with a fastidious precision. Dorian Gray is constantly troubled by the ghosts of conscience, aging, and alienation, and these ordeals force him into the dark dungeon of paranoia. Hence, the common knowledge concerning Wilde's art is a matter of debate, and this scrutiny essays to lay stress on the assumption that this novel is not solely an aesthetic work but a combination of aestheticism and realism. To accomplish this, the present study aims to delve into the inordinate fear and vulnerability of Dorian Gray's character, which is dominantly ruled by the fading beauty of his soul. The paper will put the novel under the scrutiny of the psychological trauma of narcissism to conclude how social alienation brings about Dorian Gray's mental breakdown.

O’Neill’s fascination with the morbid lacerations of life somehow finds voice in almost all his plays. This could certainly be traced to his discomposed life of dolefulness which decidedly is the mainspring of his great competence in representing the trials and tribulations of men from new directions. His early play, The Straw (1919), despite its dramatic and intellectual appeal, unfortunately, has not been subject of much study by scholars. In this play, the amalgamation of the heroine Eileen with the insecure patterns of life and her appalling quarantine force her into the slough of despond with which she has to fight with all available resources. O’Neill’s remarkable power of character drawing takes us into Eileen's world of anguish so that the voiceless cry may find room for expression in a mechanized age. Expressionism is verily traceable in the play but not in the conventional sense. Consequently, this study is expected to delve into the disoriented personality of Eileen, whose isolation stymies a gratifying communication with the world around her, from expressionist bedrock in order to bring to surface the long lost hope of the disconsolate individual. In addition, the paper will also essay to lay stress on the concept of revival from an expressionist perspective through which man can attain placidity and order in a mind-blowing disorderly world.

This study represents a web-based qualitative inquiry in the synchronous computer mediated communication (SCMC) via Web
2.0. It explores L2 learners' socio-cognitive development through dynamic assessment (DA), which follows Vygotsky’s
preference for cooperative dialogue in the zone of proximal development. Microgenesis as a general analytical framework is used
to investigate the changes in learners' progression from other to self-regulation. The results of the study indicate that we can gain
better insights into the participants' level of regulation and their potential for future socio-cognitive development in SCMC based
DA in Web 2.0.

This study explored EFL learners’ pragmalinguistic awareness in processing implicit
pragmatic input and the extent to which their awareness of the target features was related
to motivation and proficiency. It was carried out in an EFL context to explore the roles of
these two variables, particularly intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, in noticing bi-clausal
request forms in implicit pragmatic input. The participants in this research were 121
advanced EFL learners from a language center, participating as members of intact
classes. All participants took a proficiency test and completed a motivation questionnaire
in order to explore the factorial structure of motivation. Then, out of them, 35 learners
were randomly selected to form the treatment group. They then took part in a noticingthe-
gap activity as a treatment task. The degree of learners' awareness of the target
pragmalingustic features was assessed through a respective awareness questionnaire
administrated immediately after the treatment. However, the current study shows that
EFL students are rather extrinsically motivated and instrumentally oriented to notice pragmalinguistic features, which is incompatible with what Takahashi reported on
students’ intrinsic orientation to notice pragmaliguistics in the Japanese EFL
context. This suggests that learners in different contexts have different motivational
dispositions to pragmalinguistic awareness.

Situated within the educational approach to assessment, Dynamic Assessment (DA) conceives of
instruction and assessment as two aspects of a single phenomenon. Through instructional
intervention during the assessment process, instruction and assessment are fused into a unity.
This intervention is employed to reveal the current functioning of the learner system and, in the
meantime, shed light on the learner’s potential for future development. This study argues that
potential for development may be conceptualized as learning potential or cognitive modifiability.
Learning potential relates to acquisition-related abilities and refers to the efficiency with which
learners acquire knowledge, strategies, and skills during DA sessions. Cognitive modifiability, by
contrast, involves thinking-related abilities and denotes the independent selection, integration
and application of acquired knowledge, strategies, and skills to the solution of problems that are
removed from acquisition tasks in terms of complexity, modality and operations. Earlier DA
studies have mainly focused on the revelation of learning potential in terms of efficiency with
which learners respond to mediation and have failed to pay due attention to the cognitive
modifiability goal which relates to the independent transfer of acquired knowledge to new
contexts of use. In this paper, we argue that exploring cognitive modifiability through
transfer/transcendence tasks provides a firm evidential basis for our claims about future
independent performance and thus alleviates concerns about the generalizability of current
performance to future functioning.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has been used as a gateway
for university entrance for international students before they are admitted to a university
course. If such tests are not valid, this could have a serious impact on students’
performance at the university. This paper aims to build an interpretive argument for the IELTS
academic reading module based on Kane’s framework. Kane identified five major inferences
constituting his interpretive argument which comprises Observation, Generalization,
Explanation, Extrapolation and Utilization to lay out a network of assumptions and inferences
from observed performances to the decisions based on the scores. Five assumptions have been
presented by the researchers based on the framework to examine the interpretive arguments of
the module based on current research. The findings suggest that construct underrepresentation
was observed and few items required higher levels of cognitive processing and the focus was
mainly on basic comprehension of specific information. Furthermore, in terms of resemblance of
the test items to real academic context, studies revealed that the passages were different in terms
of critical engagement with material, the degree of reading on the part of students, interpretive
tasks, engagement in debate and dialogue, their relation to other academic activities and genre
reading. Inconsistencies were also observed in terms of the extrapolation inference. The findings
of this study may have implications for test designers involved in writing university entrance
tests, as well as on the teaching and testing of reading. It provides tests developer with some
useful information that can help revise high-stakes tests such as IELTS that are being used to
implement a policy such as a main gate-keeper of university admittance, or promoting
achievement in particular content areas.

Theoretically framed within Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind (SCT),
dynamic assessment (DA) is a new approach to classroom assessment offering
mediation in the form of leading questions and prompts to help learners perform
beyond their level of independent functioning. This study investigated the role of
learners' L1 as a primary symbolic tool mediating L2 processing and development
in online DA mediation from a sociocultural perspective.The typology of L1 use
emerged out of thematic analysis as the general framework for data analysisin
mediation between the mediator and two university studentsin the collaborative
Web-based DA. The results of the study highlighted the importance of L1 as a
social and psychological mediating tool used by the learners and the mediator to
bring about L2 cognitive development.

Test anxiety having both facilitative and debilitative effects is a factor that might undermine
students’ test results. This article aimed at investigating the relationship between Iranian upperintermediate
English as a foreign language (EFL) learners test anxiety level and their
performance in writing test of TOEFL. The participants of this study were 40 female Iranian EFL
learners with the age range of 21-35 learning English at Safir English academy (private institute)
in Hamadan, Iran. For data collection, the writing section of TOEFL (2010), along with a
questionnaire by Sarason, I.G. (1980) on test Anxiety Scale (TAS) and Second Language Writing
Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) (Cheng, 2004), were administered to obtain the data. Findings of the
study indicated that, there is a negative relationship between Iranian upper-intermediate EFL
learners test anxiety level and their performance in writing test of TOEFL. The results also
highlighted the fact that foreign and second language teachers should be cautious of the dangers
of test anxiety and try to make the atmosphere of class and exam sessions as stress-free as
possible in order to improve student’s performances in different language skills, including
writing.

اين پژوهش بمنظور ارزيابي همترازي محتواي كتابهاي تخصصي انگليسي سمت (سازمان
مطالعه و تدوين كتابهاي علوم انساني دانشگاهها)، آزمونهاي سراسري كارشناسي ارشد و اهداف
آموزشي رشته آموزش زبان انگليسي بر اساس اهداف شناختي اندرسون وكراتول انجام شد. از آن
جا كه اين پژوهش از نوع تركيبي است، لذا از روشهاي كمي (تحليل محتوا) و كيفي (تحليلي)
استفاده شده است. جهت پاسخگويي به پرسشهاي پژوهش، آزمونهاي تخصصي آموزش زبان
1385 مورد تحليل قرار گرفتند. همچنين، كتابهاي - انگليسي كارشناسي ارشد سالهاي 1390
تخصصي آموزش زبان انگليسي سازمان سمت و سرفصلهاي كارشناسي مربوط به دروس تخصصي
رشته آموزش زبان انگليسي از لحاظ محتوايي با استفاده ازچك ليستي كه به وسيله پژوهشگران
اين پژوهش بر اساس اهداف شناختي اندرسون و كراتول تهيه شده است، مورد تجزيه و تحليل
قرار گرفتند. از شاخص همترازي پورتر به عنوان روش تحليلي داده ها براي تعيين ميزان هم ترازي
83 درصد كل اهداف را / استفاده شد. نتايج بدست آمده از اين پژوهش نشان داد، نزديك به 5
سطوح پاييني طبقهبندي اهداف آموزشي اندرسون و كراتول (بهياد آوردن، فهميدن، به كار بستن)
16 درصد، اهداف سطوح بالايي (تحليلكردن، ارزشيابي كردن، / را تشكيل ميدهد و تنها 3
آفريدن) را به خود اختصاص داده است. همچنين نتايج ناشي از تخمين ميزان همترازي اهداف
آموزشي، آزمونها و كتابها نشان داد كه اين سه اجزا از همترازي قابل قبولي برخوردار نيستند و
در بين اجزا آزمونها و اهداف آموزشي از همترازي بيشتري نسبت به ديگر اجزا برخوردار هستند.

Tests that require intellectual work and critical thinking increase students' achievement as well as motivation. The University Entrance Exams (UEEs) in Iran which are multiple-choice high-stakes tests and are primarily designed to screen the candidates for postgraduate studies are no exception. This paper aims at comparatively investigating Iran's MA (Master's of Art) UEEs of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and English translation through the use of Anderson and Krathwohl's (2001) taxonomy of the cognitive domain. With this aim, the (2007-2011) TEFL and English translation UEE test items of the technical knowledge sections were content analyzed in terms of the taxonomy of educational objectives using a detailed checklist developed based on the respective classification of cognitive objectives. The findings showed slight differences between TEFL and English translation UEEs in terms of critical thinking skills. The English translation test items pertained to critical cognitive skills in general and evaluation in particular to a larger extent. On the whole, the degree of critical thinking skills in the TEFL and English translation UEEs were not so desirable and the majority of the test items revealed lower-order thinking skills. Therefore, it is necessary to both reconsider teaching process and to promote critical thinking skills in constructing test items.

In this review, we elaborated on the main issues in the literature related to language attrition in general and second language attrition in particular. This review includes two parts. The first section outlines the general hypotheses concerning the nature of second language attrition and then reviews generally agreed-upon findings regarding the linguistic and sociolinguistic effects of second language attrition. In the course of the review we compared the findings with a subject named Gerannaz who had experienced attrition some years ago and was able return to its initial state to some extent through prolonged practice.  Many of the research findings were supported, however variations were perceived.

Higher-order thinking skills or ‘HOTS’ for short are essential outcome criteria of higher education in any discipline. It is thinking that is characterized in terms of ‘analysis’, ‘evaluation’ and ‘creation’ levels of Anderson and Krathwohl's taxonomy. This paper attempts to evaluate higher order thinking skills represented in Iran's Organization for Researching and Composing University Textbooks in the Humanities (known as SAMT) official English textbooks of TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) using Anderson and Krathwohl's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Three University English textbooks pertaining to the specialized courses; that is, Methodology, Language testing, and Linguistics were included in the analysis. To codify the cognitive processes involved in these materials, a coding scheme was developed by the researchers based on Anderson and Krathwohl's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. The exercises and activities of the textbooks were codified and the frequencies and percentages of occurrence of different thinking processes were calculated. The most important finding emerging from this study is that in all the textbooks lower-order thinking skills were more frequently targeted and represented than higher-order ones. Moreover, the difference between the language testing, methodology and linguistics textbooks in terms of the degrees of the engagement of higher-order thinking was notable, as in the language testing textbook, from among these three, attention has been paid most to critical thinking. Results of this study have implications both for specialized language materials development and evaluation.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has been used as a gateway for university entrance for international students before they are admitted to a university
course. If such tests are not valid, this could have a serious impact on students’ performance at the university. This paper aims to build an interpretive argument for the IELTS
academic reading module based on Kane’s framework. Kane identified five major inferences constituting his interpretive argument which comprises Observation, Generalization,
Explanation, Extrapolation and Utilization to lay out a network of assumptions and inferences from observed performances to the decisions based on the scores. Five assumptions have been
presented by the researchers based on the framework to examine the interpretive arguments of the module based on current research. The findings suggest that construct underrepresentation was observed and few items required higher levels of cognitive processing and the focus was
mainly on basic comprehension of specific information. Furthermore, in terms of resemblance of the test items to real academic context, studies revealed that the passages were different in terms of critical engagement with material, the degree of reading on the part of students, interpretive
tasks, engagement in debate and dialogue, their relation to other academic activities and genre reading. Inconsistencies were also observed in terms of the extrapolation inference. The findings of this study may have implications for test designers involved in writing university entrance tests, as well as on the teaching and testing of reading. It provides tests developer with some useful information that can help revise high-stakes tests such as IELTS that are being used to
implement a policy such as a main gate-keeper of university admittance, or promoting achievement in particular content areas.

Drawing on the thought of Foucault, this article argues that the anarchistic protagonists of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (1882) and John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1956) are engaged in a hegemonic battle which puts their identities at stake and ultimately exiles them to isolation. It points out that the very success of both in renouncing authority’s sovereignty is what actually hastens their failure in the end. The identification of this failure with panopticism, which for Foucault characterizes the modern economy of power, is the primary concern of this article. It is argued that through the subtle process of normalizing subjects the panopticon establishes a disciplinary society where citizens are stripped of their subjective voices. The central characters of both plays are thus easily exposed to panoptic surveillance when they decide to take on the strategies of power. Further, using Foucault’s concept of exclusion, the article proceeds to illustrate how in filtering out these delinquent individuals the hands of power urge them to refine their ways and how, upon failure, they exert the policy of exclusion.

Derived from Vygotsky's works, dynamic assessment (DA) enables learners to move beyond their current level of functioning through offering needs-sensitized mediation. This study aimed at exploring the learners' development in novel and increasingly more challenging situations called transcendence (TR) in an L2 context focusing on reading comprehension through computerized dynamic assessment (CDA). An overall number of 32 BA TEFL advanced students were selected from among undergraduates of a university in Iran to participate in this study. To fulfil the purpose of the study, the researchers developed Computerized Dynamic Reading Assessment to examine Transcendence (CDRAT) software which included reading comprehension CDA tests. To monitor the maintenance of learning in different time intervals, two software programs named CDRAT1 and CDRAT2 were utilized in specific time intervals after the posttest. The results indicated that not only did increased task complexity not lead to regression of students' development, but also it had an effect on enhancing their development. Thus, transcendence had an effect on the generalizability of the contentions to a great extent. In conclusion, it was disclosed that there is no endpoint to progress and merely gaining a low or high score should not be interpreted as the inability of a special learner to surpass. This would more reinforce the need for applying TR in other future DA studies.