Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Spring 2012

This paper reports the findings of a study designed to investigate English e-requests of Iranian EFL postgraduate students (i.e., nonnative speakers of English) made to their professors during their education at Islamic Azad University, Najaf Abad Branch, Isfahan, Iran, to find out types of politeness features employed in the students’ e-mails and the extent to which these features might influence the degree of politeness of the students’ e-mails to the faculty. To that end, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to investigate 60 English e-mails composed by the participants. The findings revealed that the Iranian students’ English e-mails were not overly adorned with politeness features. The results also indicated that such direct and unmodified e-mails failed to create e-polite messages to the faculty and, therefore, were capable of causing pragmatic failure.

L2 learners’ multiple intelligences (MI) profile plays a central role in their performance on different aspects of language learning, one of which is the use of language learning strategies (LLSs). Gaining insights into the relationship between MI and LLSs makes L2 teachers better understand their learners’ strengths and weaknesses in the use of such strategies and lets them guide the learners better in this regard. This study was an attempt to explore the (possible) relationship between Iranian L2 learners’ MI profile and their use of LLSs. The participants were 30 female learners, aged 13-25, studying in a language institute in Iran. To measure their MI scores, McKenzie’s MI Inventory (1999) was used, and their learning strategy use was examined through the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). To find the (possible) relationship between the participants’ overall MI scores and their use of strategies as well as the (possible) relation between individual intelligences and strategy use, Pearson product-moment correlation was conducted. The results revealed a strong positive relation between the participants’ MI scores and their use of LLSs. Also, strong positive correlations were found between verbal intelligence and memory and cognitive learning strategies, intrapersonal intelligence and memory learning strategies, and visual intelligence and cognitive learning strategies. The findings have implications for L2 pedagogy. Identifying L2 learners’ dominant intelligences and, accordingly, their strengths and weaknesses in using LLSs as well as raising their awareness, L2 teachers can increase L2 learners’ strengths and minimize their weaknesses in using LLSs and improve the efficacy of teaching and learning LLSs.

With regard to the relationship between the use of modality and readability levels of texts, 2 opposing views have been raised. The first view endorses direct positive relationship between modality and readability in the sense that the use of modality increases textual understandability. The second view is that the use of modality leads to an increase in the number of words, resulting in readability reduction of the texts. Hence, the present study tries to first compare argumentative, expository, and narrative text types in terms of the use of modalities; then, it explores the possible interplay between metadiscourse use and readability indices of the texts. To this end, 33 representative texts from different discourse modes were analyzed in terms of the degrees of idea density and the frequencies of metadiscourse signals. The results of Spearman rank correlation coefficients did not show any statistically significant go-togetherness between metadiscourse use and readability. Moreover, the focused text types were not significantly different in terms of the use of metadiscourse modalities, except for shift topic and hedging markers. Targeting intelligibility indices and stylistic devices as dimensions of textual quality, the present study offers implications for writing research and materials design purposes.

Critical pedagogy (CP) empowers L2 learners to have a voice in the classroom and in the society. This study was an attempt to investigate whether the current classroom discourse in Iran can endow the L2 learners with a critical awareness to actively transform their learning processes and creatively engage in collaborative dialogues to construct new knowledge. To this end, the discourse contents of 10 L2 classrooms in Shahrekord, Iran, were randomly observed, recorded, and examined to explore whether the turn-taking architecture was designed in a dialogical way to empower the L2 learners with critical awareness to transform their roles of passive learners into critical thinkers and coparticipants. Chi-squares were, then, run on the transcribed and coded data related to the occurrence and distribution of the initiation, elicitation, and follow-up moves, and a complementary interpretive approach was adopted to the analysis of classroom interactional episodes. The results indicated that the teachers were the initiators of most exchanges in the classrooms, and their initiations were mostly in the form of display (i.e., product) questions. The teachers predetermined the contents of the L2 learners’ turns, leaving no space for the L2 learners to have their own voices. Therefore, the L2 learners’ roles were restricted to giving preselected, short answers. The teachers did not use their follow-up moves to encourage critical talk, dialogue, or collaboration among the L2 learners in class. It is finally argued that a critical, transformative approach to L2 pedagogy and classroom discourse de-silences the L2 learners and empowers them to constantly reflect upon their knowledge-construction and learning experiences.

Despite a spate of interest in the study of the Introductions of scholarly articles, the focal genre of knowledge construction, research is yet to reach conclusive answers on the nature of this genre. Thus, the present study analyzed research article Introductions, aiming to explore how the process of knowledge construction is achieved by Iranian and international writers of English research articles. The research investigated the ways by which Iranian writers apply evaluative stance as they construct an argument for their own research. To this end, the researchers, initially, analyzed 80 research article Introductions to find the instances of explicit Attitude and then to spot the Graduation resources that grade explicit Attitude. The results conspicuously revealed that the international writers, compared to the Iranian writers, tended to apply a greater proportion of explicit Attitude and Graduation resources. Lack of variety to grade explicit Attitude in the process of constructing an argument within the Introduction section of the Iranian English articles might indicate that, at least, some of these articles did not completely conform to the conventions of discourse community.

The present study aimed to identify strategies used to realize the speech act of offer in Persian. To do so, 195 male and female native Persian speakers were selected from diverse age ranges, educational backgrounds, and social classes, and were assigned a 36-item Discourse Completion Task (DCT) to elicit the speech act of offer. Thirty field workers also recorded naturally occurring interactions containing the speech act of offer. The responses were coded using 12 categories to determine the strategies used. Factors of age, gender, offer type, social distance, and relative power did not prove to be significantly effective in the choice of the offer strategies. It could be concluded that Persian speakers tend to be more indirect and Locution Derivable, Query Preparatory, and Hedged Imperative are favorite strategies among them

Nader and Simin—A Separation is the first Iranian movie which won many international awards as well as admiration from critics and the public. Many reviews by critics, however, have revolved around problems in spousal relationships of couples in different social classes of Iran. Through highlighting the self-evident dismantling elements and unreliable readings in the acting, directing, and even the scenario of Nader and Simin—A Separation, this article argues that besides the couples’ disagreement, the central concern of the story is the multi-interpretations of dialogues by the characters throughout the story. These multi-interpretations have their roots in the reversal of social codes which itself can be the result of the transition of a traditional Iranian society to a modern one. Applying a deconstructive approach for the analysis of Nader and Simin—A Separation is not an imposed critical practice; indeed, it is suggested by the movie itself, owing to the presence of a host of binary oppositions, misspoken, and slipperiness of meaning. By drawing on these elements, various components of the movie are examined through a deconstructive approach including the title, class privileges, audience response, suspending techniques, and unreliable language to reveal the disguised values in a transitory period.