Journal of Language Horizons
Volume:7 Issue: 2, Summer 2023

Considering the importance of the textbooks within the field of ELT, EFL textbooks should be subjected to for their suitability. Therefore, this article compared three dimensions of meaning (i.e., contents, subject positions, and social relations) in the conversations of the three volumes of the Vision textbook series developed by Iranian educational system. To this end, the theory and procedures of critical discourse analysis, as expounded by Fairclough (1989), were applied to the corpus of the study. The analysis into the dimension of contents revealed that the focus of material developers was more on the topics of everyday and school issues. The analysis into subject positions demonstrated that the material developers had focused more on the student character, with a tinge of gender inequality. The analysis into social relations disclosed their focus on the family and school life relationships for older students, tending to depict male supremacy. Besides, it was revealed that the ideology of Iran centrism had been underscored in the three textbooks thereby focusing on the issue of localization. Finally, two semi-structured interviews were conducted with two material developers of Vision series, which corroborated the CDA results. The findings of this study may have implications for language teachers and material developers.

This article focuses on the notion of bio-surveillance in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss (2006) from the perspectives of Ajana and Foucault. It tries to discuss why postcolonial journeying, despite its reputation for upsetting the old colonial paradigms of cultural demarcations, has ended up in the invisible biocitizenship of diasporic figures. To this end, the article elaborates on the biometric measures, ranging from the classic model of Anthropometry to the most advanced biometric technologies, and their deployment at the service of securitization in the center of empire. It is argued that these measures, by keeping the colonial paradigm of otherization intact, have divided society into friends / enemies and, later, reduced the latter into the bare life of invisible biocitizenship. Hence, it can be remarked that postcolonial journeying, despite its apparent dissolution of meta-narratives of identity or cultural geography, underpins the ‘us-versus-them’ binary and proves immobilizing. This means that the open-gate policy cannot wipe out the racist blemish from the West’s reputation since the racism which roots in bodily features (including skin) conducts identity, citizenship, and immigration policies. Hence, racial minorities are always the other, even though their bodies are subject to change.

The role of teacher feedback as a contributor to effective instruction has long been established. However, the types of feedback frequently exploited during English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction and the efficiency of teacher feedback types, addressed in this study, warranted thorough investigation. Moreover,  the recasts noticed by learners and the gaps they conveyed were scrutinized to investigate the correspondence between recast types and their interpretation with an eye to learner English proficiency level. To this end, a recast-sensitive teacher’s oral recasts, in four intact communicative English classes, were investigated. To capture the recast episodes,  six class sessions were video-recorded, and follow-up stimulated recall interviews on the teachers’ and students’ thoughts and perceptions of each recast were audio-taped. Then the teacher and 31 learners, who had received recasts, were interviewed. The analysis of the coded qualitative data was guided by Nabei and Swain’s (2002) classification of recast types. It revealed that the most frequent recast types were simple, vocabulary-focused, incorporated declarative, direct, and corrective with or without the intention to communicate which also corresponded with the learners’ noticing of the recast. Moreover, chi-square tests indicated that only the linguistic targets were significantly related to learners’ accurate interpretation while the inaccurate learner interpretations were predominantly meaning-focused. The analysis also indicated a positive correspondence between the learners’ English proficiency level and their accurate interpretation of the recasts perceived. The findings have implications for teachers as the results can sensitize them to recast multi-dimensional treatment and their efficient manipulation.

This study was conducted to systematically review the English Language Teaching (ELT) curriculum and policy studies. A systematic literature review was utilized to describe the features, trends, and patterns of ELT curriculum and policy studies through the Preferred Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Seventy-three empirical articles published between 2010 and 2020 were analyzed based on geographical region, research methodology, participants, and research focus. Results revealed that most of the reviewed studies (58.90%, n=43) were conducted between 2016 and 2020, whereas about 41.1 % (n=30) of the reviewed studies were carried out between 2010 and 2015. Moreover, about 68.49% of the reviewed studies employed a qualitative research design, followed by a mixed-method (about 24.65%), whereas only about 6.86% used a quantitative research methodology. Results showed that most of the studies targeted ELT policy and curriculum in Asia (54.79%), followed by Europe (20.55%), America (13.70%), and Africa (6.84 %). Furthermore, 4.10 % of the studies examined ELT curriculum and policy globally. Thirty-four ELT policy and curriculum studies focused on teachers, three articles focused on learners, and only two papers targeted other participants. Findings showed that it would be difficult to discern a strong pattern in the ELT curriculum and policy studies since they targeted various issues. The majority of the reports were small-scale qualitative studies conducted in Asian countries; therefore, to address the issue of generalizability in ELT, more extensive quantitative studies in different geographical areas are needed.

The present study aimed at exploring if the vocabulary recall of the advanced EFL learners could be enhanced by MI-oriented Thematic Vocabulary Instruction (TVI). To scrutinize the probable impact of the treatment on various intelligence groups, we selected a purposive homogeneous sample of 80 out of 118 advanced level learners and assigned them to four groups. The first experimental group (EG1) underwent TVI along with matching MI-based tasks, the second experimental group (EG2) received TVI with non-matching MI-oriented tasks, the third experimental group (EG3) had TVI but just did the coursebook exercises and the control group (CG) received conventional non-thematic instruction with coursebook exercises. 60 advanced words were taught for 10 sessions. The vocabulary recall test was administered with a three-week interval after the end of the treatment, requiring the participants to use the words in five paragraphs based on the given topic and the frequency counts showed the number of the new words. The results from ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests revealed that the EG1 members who had undergone TVI with MI-oriented tasks significantly outperformed their peers. Specifically, verbally intelligent learners had the highest and the intra-personally dominant ones had the lowest significant performances. The findings accentuate the significance of taking individual differences into account and offer a number of pedagogical implications for the teachers and administrative authorities.

 Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (2004) is a potent discursive site whose interpretive and critical valences have been salvaged through various adaptations of this play. Through the utilization of critical insights of critics, such as Jacques Lacan (1977), Elaine Showalter (1985), and commentators like David Leverenz (2004), Bridget Gellert Lyons (1977), and Philip Armstrong (1996), the study identifies Ophelia’s schizophrenic characterization, her reminiscences of the past, and her representation through the play’s iconographic values as the negotiable features for taping into Ophelia’s multi-layered characterization. The study chooses Laurence Olivier’s adaptation (1948) as the more theatrical rendition of the play next to two more modernized and experimental adaptations done by Michael Almereyda (2000) and Kenneth Branagh (1996) to discuss its identification of these discursively potent features in Ophelia’s adapted renditions. While utilizing its main critical insights, the study would also use the interpretive readings of commentators, such as Amanda Rooks (2014), Jessica Maerz (2011) and Gulsen Teker (2006) on the cinematic and literary significance of each of the selected adaptations in the continuum of the adaptations done on Hamlet. In the study, it would be argued that although none of the adaptations could deny the patriarchal dominance over Ophelia, the more experimental ones by Branagh and especially Almereyda do manage to tap into the ambivalent points of resistance which Ophelia’s characterization could create against this dominance. These ambivalent points expose the incomplete nature of strategies which are adopted by the patriarchy in containing and othering figures such as Ophelia.

This article examines the intersection of gender and disability in The Glass Menagerie, a 1944 play by the acclaimed American dramatist Tennessee Williams, and the 2010 Iranian film adaptation Here Without Me, scripted and directed by Bahram Tavakoli. Disability studies refer to a relatively new discipline which seeks to investigate the variegated continuum of embodiment through cultural discourses that challenge the medical and scientific perceptions of disability. In the adapted film, compulsory able-bodiedness, the belief that perfect healthy bodies are the norm, while freakish, different, and disabled ones are deviations from the said norm, is seen on the screen countless times, a view established by the dominant culture of normalcy. As a site of intercultural transposition, the film re-contextualizes the intersection of gender and disability in contemporary Iran and hence throws some of the tacit assumptions regarding embodied experience into relief. Both the play and the film implicate fantasy as an implicit critique of normalcy.