فهرست مطالب بهزاد قنسولی

The current study explored the attitudes of Iranian Ph.D. candidates of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and their instructors taking and teaching a course on Research Methodology (i.e., Quantitative, Qualitative, and MMR) towards various research approaches. In addition, the researchers intended to explore which research approach (qualitative, quantitative, or MMR) the participants preferred for conducting their dissertations. To this end, 14 Ph.D. candidates of TEFL and ten faculty members from different universities across the country were selected based on convenience and purposive sampling. They sat a semi-structured interview designed by the researchers. The results of Strauss and Corbin's (1996) grounded theory approach to qualitative content analysis, which comprises three levels of coding (i.e., open coding, axial coding, and selective coding), indicated that both groups of participants had positive attitudes towards MMR. The findings also revealed that the participants preferred MMR (mixed-methods research) and qualitative approaches over quantitative research for dissertations. Moreover, the participants noted that depending on the purpose of the study and the nature of the issue being investigated, qualitative research and MMR could be as effective as, if not more effective than, quantitative research. The findings also revealed that MMR was the most preferred research approach for both groups of participants. The findings might be useful for novice foreign language researchers, in general, and EFL researchers in particular, in that they need to take an independent course in the Ph.D. program to deal with and master MMR effectively.

Some minor changes in the process of translation can lead to large deviations, especially in religious texts. Therefore, the present paper tries to address this issue through a descriptive and comparative study of translations of the Qur’an into English (Shakir and Arbery) and Persian (Elahi Ghomshei and Ansarian). To this end, van Leuven-Zwart’s descriptive and comparative model was used, which is in accordance with the descriptive translation studies paradigm. According to van Leuven-Zwart, integral translation is a type of translation, where the translator is not allowed to add or delete anything beyond the sentence level. Two forms of shifts can happen: at the micro level (clauses and phrases) and at the macro level (characterization and point of view). Presenting a rather complicated model, she attempts to reveal how the micro level can lead to the macro level. Findings show that the two Persian translations are more integral than the two English versions. This is perhaps because Iranian translators have more competency over the Qur’an or religious concepts in Persian and Arabic are quite similar; therefore, the strategy of borrowing can be used for many Qur’anic terms.

Error analysis is considered as an invaluable pedagogical tool in teaching English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL). Despite abundant research, there are still lacunae in studies investigating the written grammatical errors among monolingual and bilingual male and female Persian and Turkmen EFL learners. To fill the gap, 158 Persian and Turkmen EFL learners from Golestan Province wrote two descriptive scripts that were examined for their most recurrent written grammatical errors. The errors were then analyzed and compared based on the framework of the study. Statistical analyses indicated significant relationships between Persian and Turkmens’ written grammatical errors and their gender. The frequency of monolingual Persians’ errors was significantly lower than that of bilingual Turkmens. These findings might interest EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and materials developers. Moreover, they could be a prerequisite to corrective feedback research while opening doors to further pertinent studies.

The current study purports to carry out a systematic review of 279 articles published during the last ten-year period in the ESP Journal. It intends to (1) investigate how genre theory is viewed and used, (2) examine the most frequently used research methods, and (3) explore the general trends in the findings based on a bibliometric analysis of reliability coefficients. To this end, all the articles were initially codified based on the genres they established, type of reliability they reported, namely internal consistency (RA), interrater reliability (RB), and intra-rater reliability (RC), and the methods implemented, including Qualitative (MA), Quantitative (MB), and Mixed-Methods (MC). The findings obtained using SPSS software indicated that among the skills and subskills, writing received the highest attention (60.2%), and among various disciplines, business had the highest frequency (13.6%). Besides, Corpus Analysis was used by most of the researchers (43.4%). Furthermore, only 86 articles (30.8%) reported the reliability coefficients, and interrater reliability had the highest, and intra-rater reliability had the lowest frequencies. Among the three methods of research, Mixed Methods had the maximum frequency (52%) and Quantitative Methods had the lowest (11.5%). Besides, 36.6% of the articles used the Qualitative Method for their studies.

The phenomenon of language attrition has been identified as an important obstacle that runs counter to the process of language learning. This paper investigates whether foreign language attrition affects the levels of accuracy, fluency and complexity in speaking skills of Iranian EFL learners. In doing so, 37 English language learners within an age range of 18 to 35 were selected from intermediate and advanced levels of oral proficiency based on convenience sampling. To assess the speaking ability of the participants, an IELTS speaking mock test was administered with various topics at four different stages of the study over a period of nine months—at the beginning of the loss of contact with the language, three months, six months and nine months after the loss of contact with the language learning experience. In order to answer the research questions, a repeated-measures ANOVA was used. The first research question was concerned with the impact of attrition on the complexity level of Iranian EFL learners’ speaking skills across the four stages. The results indicated that attrition significantly affected complexity. As for accuracy, significant and meaningful differences were found across the four stages. Similarly, regarding fluency that relates to the third research question, the results suggested a significant impact of attrition on this aspect of speaking. Moreover, the results of the effect size demonstrated that attrition had the highest impact on fluency and the lowest on accuracy.

Study of Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages (TPSOL) textbooks can reveal the relationship between some learning problems of Persian learners and the curriculum. The content of the questions and the exercises of these books are of a particular importance because of the function they have in achieving the goals. In the present study, two teaching series, "Let's learn Farsi" and "Modern teaching of Persian" have been analyzed based on Bloom's Revised Taxonomy (BRT). After extracting the questions and the exercises in the textbooks and codifying the verbs, frequency and percentage of the six levels of Bloom's cognitive domains were calculated using the NXₓ 100/S and then they were diagramed. In this formula, "NX" is the number of the exercises, "100" is the total percentage, and "S" is the total number of exercises. Then the distribution of the questions in these cognitive levels and their conformity with the related levels in the books (elementary, intermediate and advanced) were studied. The results showed that in "Modern Teaching of Persian" the distribution of the questions from elementary to advanced levels has a compatibility with Bloom's cognitive levels. However, in some volumes a revision is a need. In volume 1 and 2 of "Let's learn Persian" a logical and acceptable approach conformable to learning goals was observed. But in volume 3, in many cases, the hierarchy of cognitive domains was not in line with learner's need. At the end some recommendation for editing the textbooks were provided.

In line with new findings in the interdisciplinary fields of philosophy and psychology of emotions and cognition, the use of emotional scales in assessing readers’ reactions to the texts containing moral dilemmas has attracted the attention of researchers. Likewise, this study, using the Delphi technique and the opinions of experts tried to predict the emotional-cognitive reactions of two groups of deontic and consequentialist readers to the texts containing moral dilemmas. For this purpose, a mixed-methods research was chosen and a three-phase Delphi technique was used for collecting the data, i.e., experts’ opinions. The expert group consisted of nine university English teachers and psychologists fluent in English. First, the experts were provided with six strategic questions to be able to comment. After coding and converting the qualitative data into quantitative data and preparing a concept map, first, the percentage of the pairwise agreement between the raters was calculated, and then, the formulas of Krippendorff’s alpha and Fleiss Kappa were used to determine the reliability of the 72 pairs of decisions. Accordingly, the acceptable values ​​of 0.76, 0.72, and 0.71 were obtained for the mentioned formulas. Based on the results of the two stages of the Delphi technique, a 9-point Likert scale questionnaire was developed and re-assessed by the experts. After rating the questionnaire items by the experts, the intra-class correlation coefficient with the two-way random effect model was used. A significant value of 0.872 was obtained from this calculation, which confirmed the congruence of experts’ opinions about the probable behaviors of the two groups of readers in reaction to the texts containing ethical dilemmas. This should be noted that the collection of experts’ opinions and the evaluation of the reliability of the opinions, in three consecutive rounds, took about four months.

The purpose of this study is to validate and validate the level determination test of Persian to non-Persian language training center of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The method of the present study is descriptive-analytical and the current statistical population is 51 Persian students of that center in 1998. To achieve the research goal and determine the reliability of the test, Cronbach's alpha was used, which is considered a result of 0.802 for this test and indicates the internal stability of the test. To obtain the validity of the test, item analysis including the degree of diagnosis and the degree of difficulty is used. Also, in a written interview, the opinions and answers of teachers and Persian students at the test level, test difficulty and adequacy of test time are examined. The content validity of the test has been evaluated by the professors of the center as "good". The knowledge of the result can be considered to some extent influenced by the duration of learning Persian language of some of them, the interruption between training courses and the shortening of the time to answer the test.

As a novel concept in teacher psychology, language teacher immunity is a strong indicator of how teachers thrive or survive in the face of adversity. Research on language teacher immunity is still in its nascent stage, and the present qualitative study tries to fill the gap in the existing literature. This study aimed to investigate the possible sources of immunity among Iranian EFL teachers, the impact immunity may have on teachers’ classroom practices, and intervention strategies EFL teachers suggested to influence the development of immunity. Based on interviews with 13 seasoned high school EFL teachers, we found that four main stressors, namely, personal-level, school-level, organization-based, and sociocultural stressors, were the sources of maladaptive immunity development. The only cause for the development of positive immunity in EFL teachers was altruistic motivation. It was further found that those EFL teachers with positive immunity kept functioning effectively in their classrooms, whereas teachers with maladaptive immunity set into a state of indifference towards their students and complacency without exercising agency. These teachers had surrendered in the face of a multitude of adversities they faced during their professional life. The findings also indicated that in order to influence the development of immunity formation process to gear it towards an adaptive one, teachers’ economic situation should be improved by increasing their salaries, praising and appreciating their efforts, organizing practical in-service teacher training courses, and supporting them at schools by principals and other educational authorities.

There is no doubt that listening ability is very important in an academic environment. This ability is needed in most of students’ daily activities. That is why assessing listening constitutes a major part of Language proficiency tests such as Ferdowsi University. This exam is held in Iran and Iraq to assess language knowledge of non-Persian speaker who want to enter Iranian Universities. In this research we analyzed the listening part of this exam with Rasch model. The result show that the reliability is 0.66 which is low for a high stake test. Also the wright map indicated the exam items are mostly appropriate for elementary or intermediate students. As most of test items’ type of match are locating and cycling, it is suggested to include more integrative and generative items which can make the test more difficult. Generally speaking the exam mostly assess the ability to detect key vocabulary and understanding details while understanding communicative function of utterances, making inferences about relationship among ideas, integrating information from listening and reading texts are abilities that can improve test difficulty.

Much uncertainty still exists about the possible role of myriads external and internal mediating variables such as language backgrounds and ethnicities in the process of corrective feedback (CF). To address the issue, 79 monolingual Persians and 79 bilingual Turkmens aged between 13 and 18 from two language institutes in Golestan Province, Iran participated in the study comprising three experimental and a control group each. Pretests revealed the learners’ grammatical errors based on which the experimental groups were provided with different strategies of metalinguistic CF, namely mid-focused oral metalinguistic CF (OMCF), written metalinguistic CF (WMCF), and oral/written metalinguistic CF (OWMCF) on their five most recurrent grammatical errors while the control groups received none. Following significant Kruskal-Wallis test results, the Conover’s pairwise comparison test was employed to exhibit differences among CF strategies. In monolingual Persians and bilingual Turkmens, all the experimental groups significantly outperformed the control groups. Mid-focused OMCF and OWMCF had significant effects on the reduction of Persians’ errors, but for Turkmens, all the CF strategies exerted a significant reduction of errors. The effectiveness rank of the CF strategies investigated through Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) selected OMCF as the best strategy for monolingual Persians while for bilingual Turkmens, WMCF ranked first. This ranking was highly stable for 10000 iterations changing the weights up to 50%. The outcomes of the research might be of help to EFL learners, EFL teachers of bilingual learners, syllabus designers, and materials developers, while opening doors to further pertinent studies.

Understanding the impact of various factors on language testing is important. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how they affect test scores in order to design and standardize language tests (Bachman, 1990). Based on the same logic and considering the need of fair reviewing for any tests claimed by ETS (2010), it is essential to identify, reduce and eliminate factors unrelated to the structure that hinder the optimal performance of test takers (Messick, 1989). According to Vinson (2014), words themselves are a powerful tool for expressing emotions. Does a factor such as vocabularies in a text stimulate emotional reactions? When we read a text, we use our knowledge to understand its vocabularies, but in addition, by reading the vocabularies, emotion may be stimulated, which are deliberately not examined during the test. This research is intended to investigate if the vocabularies of TOEFL passages are likely to stimulate emotion as the construct-irrelevant factor which could affect the accuracy and legitimacy of the TOEFL test. Also, our hypothesis is that the amount of emotion evoked in the words of TOEFL texts is different from each other, and other factors intervene in this category. By using the initial pilot sampling and with the help of PASS Software to determine the size of the final sample, 393 people were randomly selected by Random Number Generator Software. In addition, according to the method of detecting emotions by forming an emotional dictionry proposed by Turney (2002), the present study labled parts of speech of each word and then the words were grouped together as meaningful expressions into a five-page list of phrases like a dictionary. Through this method, the present study could determine the intensity and valenance of the selected particpants’ emotions in relation to the phrases selected from TOEFL iBT reading passages. Also, it was significant to measure if emotional intelligence could be influential on the evoked emotions of the words and phrases; thus, Emotional Intelligence Questionare of Schutte (1998) was selected. The research procedure was that the selected participants read three TOEFL passages without answering their reading questions; instead, they did Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and self-reported their emotions through the five-page list of words and phrases. The results of this study confirmed the validity of the research hypotheses, in the sense that not only the words and phrases of the three TOEFL passages in this research caused emotions but also the three passages were different in terms of emotion, and it can be argued that this can be a construct-irrelevant factor when reading and comprehending TOEFL passages. The results of this study can increase the awareness of TOEFL test designers. In other words, TOEFL test designers must consider the effect of emotional elements in language assessment because these elements may disrupt the mental order of test takers and can affect their performances. This study casts doubt on the validity and reliability of the TOEFL as a standard test. ETS (2010) is interested in a fair review of tests to identify and reduce factors unrelated to the structure so it is useful considering the emotional interactions in the process of assessing the validity and reliability of any tests.

The aim of this paper was to investigate the role of two cognitive factors, namely, personality traits and narrative writing intelligence (NWI) in L2 writing. The total of 416 English learners participated in this study in two different phases. For the purpose of this study, a narrative writing intelligence scale (NWIS) was designed and used to score the writings of the first group of participants which included 200 Iranian learners of English in an EFL institute. The first writing task, which was a film recounting, contributed to designing this scale. Randall’s (1999) definition of narrative intelligence was the guideline to design the primary draft of NWIS. All 200 written film recounting were scored by this scale. The scores were transferred to SPSS 18.0. and Exploratory Factor Analysis was run. NWIS’ construct validity and reliability were confirmed. Moreover, the underlying dimensions causing correlation among the observed variables were reduced in three factors which account for 57.47% of the variance of the scale. The factors were named as Unity of the plot, Identification (of characters, objects, and ideas), and Voice and Rhetoric. The second group, who were female university students of EFL, were given two tasks, namely, writing a memory and filling Big-Five Personality test. Their writings were evaluated twice; once by employing the NWIS and once by a tailor-made writing scoring guide taken from Weigle’s (2002) guideline. Transferring all scores to Amos. 20, a SEM model was proposed by the researchers. The result shows the proposed model has good fit indices.

Language assessment is an essential part of each Language teaching syllabus.The effectiveness of language educational systems highly depends on the validity of language assessment methods. This research tries to study the construct validity of the writing scoring rubric in the Ferdowsi University’s Persian Proficiency test. For this purpose the results from one of the official tests performed in the Ferdowsi international center for teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers was analyzed with Rasch and factor analysis models. The results showed that the three constructs which are topic development, quality of Language and organization, all have high factor loads. While organization has the highest loads with 0.98 this amount for the two other constructs are 0.97. In order to score each construct, the writing rubric in this test has a six grades’ scale. The Rasch models showed that all raters used this scale in an appropriate way because the order of the thresholds are well organized and match with order of the scores. Also the Write map indicates that this scale can differentiate well elementary, intermediate and advanced examinees and the grades cover all students with different levels of abilities. The rater reliability for this test is 0.98 which is highly acceptable.

Teachers perform a substantial role in students’ learning (Tikly& Barret, 2013). Their relationship with students coupled with the range of emotional factors at play in their behavior can stimulate the development of students’ affective learning (Woolfolk Hoy & Weinstein, 2006). Their status as a prominent figure in the classroom lowers once the students perceive a sense of injustice. Hence, it is well worth looking at instances of injustice in teachers’ behaviors toward students. Regarding the leading role of fairness in teachers’ behaviors toward students and the effect of their fair treatment on students’ learning, the present study aims to qualitatively scrutinize TPP, a unique example of unfairness in educational contexts (Babad, 2009), in the context of higher education in Iran.
To this end, thirty graduate and undergraduate students of both genders were interviewed. They were all majoring in English Translation, English Literature, and English Language Teachingat different universities and institutes of higher education in Mashhad, Tehran, Shiraz, and Ahvaz (e.g., Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Tarbiat Modares, Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, Alzahra, Shiraz, Shahid Chamran, Imam Reza, and Tabarn Universities). They answered five questions which were related to their feelings about a pet and an instructor who has a pet, the characteristics of a pet, the terms they use to call a pet, and the reasons for which a teacher-pet relationship ends. Then, the collected data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
The results showed that the students had negative feelings towards the instructor and his/her pet, and their negative feelings triggered negative and hostile reactions against the instructor and his/her pet. It was also revealed that they tended to use offensive terms to call pets. Moreover, they mostly described pets negatively, and most of them believed that pets are incompetent students who become pets to compensate for their insufficient knowledge of the field of study. The participants also asserted that the teacher-pet relationship can be broken off if both the instructor and his/her pet cannot take advantage of each other. Finally, the reasons underlying the findings were discussed.

The present study used qualitative-comparative analysis to examine objectives, content, courses, and structure of the current master's curriculum of Translation Studies in Iran with eight leading Asian universities. In this study, the curriculum of the master in Translation Studies was analyzed through five criteria: 1.the title of master's degree, 2.the number of units and course length, 3. the course structure: compulsory and optional courses, 4. the curriculum objectives, and 5. the course content. The results of this study showed that, a. The objectives of the master's curriculum are not clearly stated; b. There is not enough coordination between the curriculum objectives and courses; c. little attention is paid to offering courses that are consistent with the objective of professional translator training; d. There are shortcomings in the provision of courses which aimed to train researchers to do research within the domain of translation studies; e. There is no course relevant to the objective of training the translator trainer; and f.More attention is paid to presenting theoretical courses in translation studies.

The major aim of this study was to construct a Narrative Writing Intelligence Scale (NWIS). To this end, the scale was designed by picking up the narrative intelligence factors proposed by Randall (1999). The designed NWIS, composed of 13 items, was used to score 200 pieces of writing of FCE students. These students were asked to watch a short animation and narrate it in written form, while they were not allowed to consult their teachers, classmates, or any English resources for vocabulary or grammar. They were not allowed to take any notes while the movie was being played either, since the power of memory and the range of vocabulary and grammar are constituents of narrative intelligence. Then, the writings were scored by the newly-developed 5-point Likert type scale. The scores were transferred to SPSS 18 and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was employed to determine the underlying factors in the designed scale. At the end, three items were removed and the final scale came out to be a 10-item scale. The results revealed that the scale can be explained by a 3-factor solution with a good level of reliability. The three-factor model accounted for 57.47% of the variance and the factors were named as Unity of the plot, Identification (of characters, objects and ideas), and Voice and Rhetoric. The variables which comprise the three factors, based on Randall (1999)’s definition are related to emplotment, characterization, narration, Genre-ation, and thematization.

This study aimed to explore the relationship between language acquisition and grade four senior high school (G4SHS) students’ achievement in English as a foreign language (EFL). To this end the 41-item English Language Acquisition Scale (ELAS) designed by Khodadady and Younesi (2017) was administered to 518 G4SHS students. Also to find the probable relationship between ELAS, its latent variables and participant achievement in EFL classes in EFL classes 126 participants were randomly selected out of population to answer schema-based cloze multiple choice items test ( S- test) designed by Khodadady and Ghergloo ( 2013). To know which of the G4SHS students who took the ELAS took the S-Test as well the researcher was matched the codes of the ELAS S-test and ELTAS carefully. The results showed that the ELAS consists of five factors, i.e., Qualified, grammatization, Humanistic, Engagement and Orientation. Also the ELAS and its underlying factors show significant relationships with English achievement scores. The results of the study are discussed .

People are not born with reading ability and it is a new phenomenon in human history. You can still find some people who cannot read. But these days weakness in reading ability can cause serious problems for us. Also Reading ability and academic life are indispensable and many of the students activities are interweaved with reading. Books, essays, instructions, research reports are just a few examples of the activities in academic environment which need reading ability.Because of the importance of reading ability most of Persian proficiency tests include a reading section. Ferdowsi University’s Persian proficiency test which is designed to test the language proficiency of non-Persian students, include reading assessment. This test is official test of Ferdowsi University and it is held twice a year in Iran and some cities of Iraq. In this research we try to study the reading part of this test. We actually try to answer two questions:
1- What is the reliability of the reading section of this test?
2- What is the relation between test items and test takers abilities?
At the end we try to give some recommendation to improve this test’s reliability. We will do this by trying to define the reading skill’s construct and we also use language task framework which is a powerful tool to study reading activities in academic environment.

Review of Literature

The history of testing can be divided into three periods: the pre-academic period, the psychometric period; the structuralism and the psychology-sociology of language (Sposlky, 1977, cited in Davis, 2008). The first period goes back to more than two thousand years ago, when the empires used the test to select new members. The second period is related to the time when psychometrists devised new statistical tools for measuring test reliability which coincided with the constructivist flow in linguistics and led to the development of a discrete point measurement approach. However, in the late twentieth century, we see another approach, called integrated measurement, which emphasized language assessment in context, and, unlike the structuralists, did not consider language division into smaller and discrete points as efficient methods of testing.In the second half of the twentieth century, with the development of scientific tools, companies emerged that produced mass-scale testing, thereby transforming testing into an industry (Spolsky, 2008). One of these companies is ETS. In 1964, on the basis of a discrete point assessment approach, the company designed the first proficiency test and little by little made changes to its test structure. However, in a project called TOEFL 2000, ETS decided to make major changes to this proficiency test. Reading Skills Assessment was also a part of the TOEFL 2000 project, which resulted in Assessing Second Language Academic Reading from a Communicative Perspective: Relevance for TOEFL 2000 (Hudson, 1996) and the Reading Skills Framework (Enright et al., 2000).Attempts have been made in Farsi to design a sufficiency test (Mousavi, 1999; Ghonsooli, 2010; Mamghmani, 2010; Jalili, 2011; Golpour, 2015). These studies devote part of their test to reading skills. Although what distinguishes the present study from all the research done is the precise definition of reading skill constructs, providing a model for measuring this skill, as well as a task-based view of the test design.

First in order to understand what reading ability is we tried to define its constructs. Based on the latest model we found that reading consists of lower level processes and higher level processes. Lower level processes include word recognition, syntax parsing and meaning proposition encoding which are mainly automatic. On the other hand, the higher level processes consist of text model, situational model and executive control mechanism. In order to understand a text, the reader use higher level processes and lower level processes interchangeably.Also a framework was introduced to analyze the language tasks in an academic environment. This framework helps us to understand and simulate language tasks. It has three different parts called situation, text content and test features. This framework is designed based on communicative perspectives in language learning and assessment. The situation explains the context of the task in which it is performed. Its participents, purpose, content, setting and register. The text content include grammatical, functional and discourse features of the text and test features section describes the factors such as type of questions, type of response and scoring procedures.The data in this research was gathered by a test which was held in Ferdowsi International center for teaching Persian to nonnative speakers. This test was performed to see to what extent test takers, have the ability to cope with academic activities. The cut score for this test is 60 out of 100. The test has five section including reading, listening, writing, speaking and structures.90 test takers took part in the test. 33 of them were female and 57 were male. Most of the participants were Iraqi (63) and the rest of them were from Indonesia, Lebanon, Syria, Australia, South Korea, Pakistan, and Yemen. 38 of the examinees were studying in different field of engineering, 17 of them were studying humanities, 13 sciences and 7 of them were students of medical sciences. The field of studying for the rest of the examinees was not known.The Persian proficiency test was held in Mordad 25th, 1996 at 8 o’clock and it took about 3 and half an hour. As the reading section was the second part of the test it started at half past eight. This part of the test took 60 minutes and the students answered 25 questions. Students were in 10 different rooms and there were 9 students in each class.After the test was performed the papers were marked the data was ready for Rasch analysis. The step was done with the help of WINSTEPS software.

The analysis showed that all the questions except item number 21 has appropriate infit and outfit amount. It shows that the test is unidimensional and it is possible to be analyzed by Rasch model. The outfit for item number 21 is 1.53 which is more than the standard amount. This question is multiple choice and it is also so simple. It seems that the item is ambiguous. The results also showed that the test reliability is 76%. We know that reading test reliability should be more than 90%. So the test needs to improve its reliability.Also the Write map showed that the test need some more difficult items because for the 14 top students in the exam there are only two items. And also there are just 4 items appropriate for the 36 top students of the test. The exam cannot differentiate between intermediate and advanced students.

The results showed that the test reliability is not high so the test designers should improve their reliability for example by adding more question and items. On the other hand the item- examinee map showed that the test assess elementary or advanced students reading ability it means that this test is not appropriate to assess advanced student’s reading skill.The test includes three texts and 25 items. Compared to TOEFL exam which has about 40 items, the test needs more questions. In order to improve its reliability, more items can be added to the test. But considering type of information requested the test covers different levels. Which is a good aspect of this test. Also each text has about 500 words which is somehow appropriate for assessing academic reading skill.The results showed that the test is easy. The reason for this is the matching type of the questions. For fourteen questions of the test the students should locate and cycle the answers. We know that usually these type of questions are not so difficult. So in order to improve the test difficulty other matching types such as integrative and productive questions should be added.From the reading purpose perspective, the test questions mainly follow two purposes, reading to find information and reading for general information. The test needs items with other types of purposes such as reading to learn and reading to integrate information.

This study investigated the relationship between the Iranian EFL learners’ performance in the reading subsection of TOEFL and their awareness of metacognitive reading strategies and test-taking strategies. Sixty-two students majoring in teaching English and English literature were randomly selected from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Hakim Sabzevari University, and Imam Reza International University. To collect data, the following instruments were employed: Nelson English proficiency test (form 300D), the reading subsection of a TOEFL form 0401, the metacognitive awareness of reading strategy inventory (MARSI), and a test-taking strategy questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and independent sample t test utilizing SPSS (version 19). The results showed a negative correlation between test-taking strategies and the students’ scores in the reading subsection of TOEFL (r = -0.13), and a low correlation between MARSI and the reading subsection of TOEFL (r = 0.17). However, the correlation between Nelson proficiency test and the students’ scores in the reading subsection of TOEFL was significant (r = 0.74, p < 0.001). Moreover, the results showed that in test-taking strategies questionnaire, the students employed Reasoning subskill, Strategies for Vocabulary subskill, Guessing subskill, and Personal Knowledge and Experience subskill in order. Also, the results revealed that from the MARSI subskills, the students had used Problem-solving strategies first, and secondly, Global and Support strategies. The role of test-taking strategies is somewhat downgraded indicating that most of its subskills should not be emphasized. Conversely, awareness of metacognitive reading strategies should be considered in teaching. The suggestions and implications are discussed.

In favor of Vygotsky`s Socio-cultural theory and dynamic assessment (DA) investigations, the study sought to introduce a novel method to evaluate English-Persian translation proficiency level of translation trainees. Namely, the students` level of independent translation competence and their potentiality for learning were regarded as two factors contributing in the students` classification. Developing a computer-based translation placement test, and using interventionist approach of DA, the translation students participated in this study were categorized into three different levels, moving through two phases. Furthermore, considering the students` proficiency in every translation sub-competence defined in the test, students were narrowly reclassified. The results revealed the newly-made instrument is a valid and reliable scale for ýevaluating translation trainees` actual as well as potential development. The analysis of the pilot test clearly demonstrated that besides assessing the students` current translation abilities, evaluating their learning potential has a profound impact on providing more thorough classification. The information yielded can be particularly beneficial in the translation students` future instructional planning.

Drawing upon appraisal-theoretical framework (Frenzel, 2014), this study aimed at examining the antecedents of pleasant and unpleasant emotions experienced by English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Iran. Results of semi-structured interviews with eleven EFL teachers teaching in private language institutes showed that positive interaction with students, motivated students, and student's progress were the most frequently mentioned antecedents of enjoyment. For pride, positive feedback from students and student's progress were identified as the key antecedents. For anxiety and shame, inability to answer students’ questions was the key antecedent, while shame was additionally triggered by responsibility for student failure, and anxiety was additionally triggered by class observation by supervisors, and lack of preparation. For anger, disciplinary issues, lack of student commitment to tasks and homework, and having to explain a topic to students several times when they do not understand were identified as the key antecedents. Demotivated and uncollaborative students were identified as antecedents of boredom. In the end, the findings were discussed and pedagogical and research implications were suggested.

The purpose of the present study is to develop bilingual story books for improving 8 to 14-year-old students’ emotional literacy, because most of the available materials and books in ELT markets are based on methods and approaches which is rooted in linguistics, psychology or other social schools. However, few of them have considered the aspects of emotion in biliteracy. To do so, it was developed some bilingual story books with the activities which are based on Bowkett and Percival (2010) model of emotional intelligence and Bruner (1969) intellectual development. Then, these story books were taught to a group of 30 students between 8 to 14. In addition, the classroom observation was gathered and also after teaching the story books, an unstructured interview was conducted regarding the students’ opinions about the story book. The results indicated that the developed story books are valid enough to improve 8 to 14-year-old students’ emotional literacy.

In recent years, research on emotions has attracted the attention of many researchers (Butz, Stupnisky, & Pekrun, 2015; Frenzel, 2014). Teachers’ emotions can be as important as students’ emotions. Although many studies have focused on investigating emotions among students, very few studies have examined emotions among teachers (Chang, 2009; Frenzel, 2014). Moreover, the studies which have examined emotions among teachers have mostly examined them in general education, and very few studies have been conducted on English language teachers’ emotions. To have a better understanding of learning and teaching English, it is necessary to get more familiar with teachers’ emotions. Teaching consists of different positive and negative emotions (Hargreaves, 1998). However, six discrete emotions are considered as the most salient ones (Frenzel, 2014). These emotions include enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, boredom, and shame. Although previous research has developed a scale for assessing emotions, this scale is limited only to enjoyment, anxiety, and anger, while other emotions among teachers have not been examined.
Teaching is full of emotions and these emotions play a vital role in teachers’ professional career (Hargreaves, 1998). Motivation, cognition, and emotions are considered to be three main components of the mind (Sutton & Wheatley, 2003). Teachers experience both positive and negative emotions. The importance of teachers’ emotions lies in the fact that they are related to other individual difference constructs which are related to both teachers and students.. For example, previous research has shown that negative emotions are directly related to teachers’ burnout, while positive emotions can hinder burnout (Chang, 2009, 2013). Among both positive and negative emotions, enjoyment is the most dominant emotion that teachers experience (Frenzel, 2014). Among negative emotions, anger is the main emotion experienced by teachers (Frenzel, 2014). The main reason for teachers’ anger has been reported to be students’ disruptive behavior (Chang, 2009). The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a scale for assessing English language teachers’ emotions. This scale included items from previous studies as well as new items developed by the researchers. A total number of 326 teachers who were teaching English in language institues took part in this study. Among the participants, there were 227 female and 95 male teachers. Five participants did not write their gender. Teachers’ age ranged between 20 and 40 with a mean of 27.88. Moreover, teachers had between 1 and 21 years of teaching experience. In order to assess emotions, the newly developed qustionnaire was sent for the teachers online. The questionnaire assessed six emotions of enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, boredom, and shame. Each subscale included four items measured on a six-point Likert scale rangigng from strongly disagree to strongly agree. In order to analyze the data, exploratory factor analysis was run by SPSS. To check the unidimensionality of the scale, Rasch analysis was run by Winsteps. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis was run by Mplus. In order to check the unidimensionality of the scale, Rasch analysis was conducted. MNSQ statistics confirmed the unidimensionality of the scale. Following this, exploratory factor analysis was run. Before that, KMO and Bartlett test of sphricity were investigated in order to be sure that the data were ready for factor analysis. Upon confirming the factorability of the scale, exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis and varimax rotation was run. The results showed a six-factor solution and items loading on each factor. Three items did not load on any factor due to very low factor loadings and therefore were removed for further analyses. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted and goodness-of-fit indices were all within the acceptable range. In addition to validity, reliability of the subscales was also investigated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from .64 to .88 which confirmed the reliability of the subscales. This study was conducted to develop and validate a scale for measuring English language teachers’ emotions in the Iranian context. Results of Rasch analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the scale. This questionnaire can be used by researchers for future research. Supervisors in English language institutes can also benefit from this scale. For example, using this questionnaire, supervisors can become aware of their teachers’ emotions and provide more support for the teachers accordingly. Like all studies, this research had some limitations. While we tried to develop a scale for the most important emotions, there are still other emotions which were not included in the present scale. Therefore, future research is needed to develop scales for other emotions. Moreover, validity and reliability of this research are limited to the present study and further research is needed to confirm the validity and reliability of this research in other contexts.

Vygotsky's writings on Sociocultural Theory (SCT) of mind, his concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and its related metaphor, scaffolding, serve as the theoretical basis for the study of peer collaboration. This paper aimed at examining the effects of peer-scaffolding on EFL writing ability and finding out how revising techniques are constructed and expanded when two learners are working in their ZPDs. Two intermediate EFL university students (a "reader" and a "writer") collaboratively revised a cause and effect composition written by one of them. A microgenetic approach was applied for analyzing the interactions. Results showed that even though the role of the reader was more significant as mediator at first, both reader and writer actively took part in revising the text with assistance transferring mutually between them at the end of the session. Results also indicated that peer scaffolding could be reciprocal rather than unidirectional. As a concluding remark, it was noted that teachers can enhance the quality of collaborative writing processes by helping students to work together and take into account joint efforts in the writing tasks. Learners can also take more participation, learn evaluative feedback strategies, and benefit from their co-mediators.