سعیده زارع

In-Service Training is a way of upgrading teachers’ skills and knowledge for improving teaching and learning which may lead to a better job performance. In order to reach this, affective participation of teachers is needed. The current qualitative study was conducted with a grounded theory approach on 28 teachers of the primary schools of Tehran city through targeted sampling and data saturation. The data collection method was carried out through a semi-structured interview and was analyzed using Strauss and Corbin (2008) method. Findings in the contextual conditions include: in-service course subject, in-service teacher, teachers’ need to in-service education, teachers’ economic situation, teachers’ social status, bonus, delivery mode, time and teachers' family Status. The strategies used by teachers who participated in this research were: Reaction to the legal requirement, motivational factors, self-regulation and results were teachers’ change of view, effectiveness of in-service training and self-esteem.

This research validates the model of cultural security in sustainable knowledge-based development. The research method is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection method and mixed (quantitative-qualitative) in terms of the type of data. The statistical population in the qualitative section (interview section) comprised 15 experts and specialists familiar with cultural and scientific issues in the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, who were selected by purposive sampling. The statistical population in the quantitative part included 551 experts and managers of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in 2019-20, from among whom, some 226 persons were selected by stratified random sampling. Both library research and field observation methods were employed for data collection. In the field observation method, in order to collect the qualitative part, interviews were conducted with a number of mangers enaged in cultural affairs, and in the quantitative part, the data was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. The reliability of this questionnaire was estimated based on 0.86 Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis was used in relation to the validity of the obtained indices and also a questionnaire was designed to assess the validity of the model, which measured the dimensions of the final model using a single sample t-test. The results showed that the model was valid and the model of cultural security in the knowledge-based sustainable development gained the required validity with cultural, economic, social, environmental, political as well as national and religious factors.

In-Service Training is a way of upgrading teachers’ skills and knowledge for improving teaching and learning which may lead to a better job performance. In order to reach this, affective participation of teachers is needed. The purpose of this research is to design a model of affective domain that affects participation of teachers in in-service training in Tehran. The research method used in this study was exploratory mixed. The qualitative section was based on the grounded theory method on 28 teachers of the primary schools in Tehran through targeted sampling and data saturation. The data collection method was carried out through a semi- structured interview and was analyzed using Strauss and Corbin (2008) method that includes 3 sections of contextual conditions, strategies, and results. The statistical population of the study consisted of all teachers of primary schools in Tehran. The quantitative section used clustered sampling that comprised of 384 teachers. A Researcher-made questionnaire with 73 questions was designed and validated through factor analysis. Model validation was obtained through contingency factor analysis and the Internal reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach’s Alpha (0.84). The results show teachers’ economic situation, teachers’ social status and delivery mode, in contextual conditions, motivational factors, teachers’ experience, in strategies, and teachers’ change of view, effectiveness of in-service training in results. They all had the highest factor load.

The so called “foreign accent” is one manifestation of phonological transfer. The current study aimed to study: first, “if a part of Chinese PFL learners’ foreign accent is caused by errors in pronouncing Persian vowels”, and second “if Chinese PFL learners transfer the acoustic features of the vowels in their mother tongue to their Persian speech”. Through a process of convenience sampling, 42 Persian and Mandarin Chinese native speakers were included in the present study. F1 and F2 of The Persian vowels, the Mandarin vowels, and the Persian vowels produced by the native Mandarin PFL speakers were extracted and compared. Data analysis showed that, firstly, F2 of the vowel /e/ in the Persian speech of the native Mandarin speakers is meaningfully more fronted than it is in Persian. Hence, this error in vowel pronunciation might be a cause of the apparent foreign accent in the Persian speech of native Mandarin PFL speakers. Secondly, a comparison of Persian and Mandarin Chinese vocalic spaces showed that in the same position where the Persian /e/ is located, Mandarin Chinese has four similar front vowels (1 phoneme and 3 allophones); it seems as if the Chinese PFL learners exceedingly front the Persian vowel /e/ to contrast it with these similar vowels in their mother tongue. These findings corroborate the “modified transfer hypothesis” since the source of error in this particular case is not direct phonological transfer but the mother tongue seems to indirectly affect the pronunciation of the foreign language. 

The so called “foreign accent” is one manifestation of phonological transfer. The problems investigated in the present study are: first, “if a part of Chinese Persian as a Foreign Language (PFL) learners’ foreign accent is caused by errors in pronouncing Persian vowels”, and second “if Chinese PFL learners transfer the acoustic features of the vowels in their mother tongue to their Persian speech”. Theoretical Framework: Knight(2013, p. 16) classifies the status of the speech sounds of a foreign language compared with the corresponding speech sounds in the mother tongue in the three classes of “new” (as completely different), “identical” (as completely the same), and “similar” (as similar sound with slight acoustic differences). The identical speech sounds in the foreign language are mastered with ease by being put in the same class as the phonemes in the mother tongue. The pronunciation of the new speech sounds improve as new phoneme categories are made in mind of the second language (L2) learners through sufficient practice (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2014, p. 432). Among these three classes, the similar speech sounds are the most difficult to master nativelikely by the L2 learners and the slight acoustic differences they have might be taken as a major source of foreign accent in the target language (Best & Strange, 1992, p. 105).

Through a process of convenience sampling, 42 Persian and Mandarin Chinese native speakers (11 female and 13 male native Persian speakers, and 8 female and 10 male native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners) were included in the present study. F1 and F2 of The Persian vowels, the Mandarin vowels, and the Persian vowels produced by the native Mandarin PFL speakers were extracted in a laboratory situation and the data was statistically compared. For calculating the mean F1 and F2, all the 24 native Persian speakers and 18 native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners were included; in the second phase 8 native Persian speakers and 2 native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners were randomly left out to conduct the statistical analyses (independent samples t-test for normally distributed data and Mann–Whitney for abnormally distributed data) on quantitatively similar data samples from both genders.

in accord with what Knight(2013, p. 16) claims about the so called “identical” speech sound, among the 5 articulatory similar vowels in Persian and Mandarin Chinese, 4 of them turned to be acoustically “identical” without causing any meaningful pronunciation errors. Only the F2 of the Persian vowel /e/ was observed to be meaningfully different from the corresponding vowel in Mandarin Chinese. However, in contrast with the findings of Best & Strange (1992, p.105), the native Mandarin Chinese PFL learners did not put this “similar” speech sound in a corresponding category of a similar vowel from their mother tongue; instead of transferring the acoustic features of a similar vowel in their mother tongue to the pronunciation of the Persian /e/, the data revealed that the Mandarin Chinese PFL learners treated the Persian /e/ as a “new” speech sound and pronounce it differently from all the similar corresponding vowels in their mother tongue. The vowel /e/ in the Persian speech of the Mandarin Chinese PFL learners, however, was also different from the native Persian /e/; a pronunciation error which might serve as a source of their foreign Persian accent. A comparison of the vocalic spaces of Persian and Mandarin Chinese shows that in the area where the Persian /e/ is expected to be located, Mandarin Chinese already has 4 closely similar front vowels (phonemes /e/, /y/, and /i/ and the allophone [E]). It seems as if the Mandarin Chinese PFL learners recognize that the Persian /e/ is fronter than the three /e/-like vowels (namely /e/, /y/, and [E]) and lower than the similar vowel /i/ in their mother tongue. However, it seems that in order to both compensate for this difference in frontness and make the new vowel also different from the corresponding similar vowels in their mother tongue, they exaggerate in the frontness of their Persian /e/ and that could be the reason behind this pronunciation error causing their foreign Persian accent.

the findings of the current study show that the error in pronouncing the Persian /e/ in the speech of Mandarin Chinese PFL learners cannot be taken as a manifestation of direct negative language transfer; this is in contrast with the suggestions of the strong version of language transfer in general and Chen & Wang (2011), Wang & Heuven (2006), and Knight (2013) in particular. The Mandarin Chinese PFL learners have not activated the Persian /e/ as a part of the so called innate linguistic competence, but in their Persian speech, they pronounce an /e/ which is different from both native Persian and Mandarin Chinese corresponding vowels; then, these findings do not also confirm the weak version of language transfer. However, the results of the present study seem to corroborate the modified version of the language transfer, since the observed error in the pronunciation of /e/ in the Persian speech of these PFL learners could be taken as a kind of indirect negative interference of the similar linguistic patterns of the mother tongue in L2.

Abstract: The sixth grade in elementary school has been established as a result of changing processes in the structure of educational system. The success failure, change and development in curriculum are affected by a variety of factors including teachers as one of the major factors. Therefore, the present study seeks to investigate the experience of sixth grade teachers in the first year of implementation. This study was conducted within a qualitative framework through phenomenology. The data was collected through semi organized interviews with 11 teachers. The sampling was purposeful and continued till saturation of data. In order to validate the findings and confirm the accuracy of the data, further reviews were performed and the data were compared. The data obtained were analyzed through the method suggested by Smith. Four main issue resulted include: 1. the teacher's theoretical and practical knowledge; 2. the teacher's concern; 3. the weakness of plan; 4. the attractiveness of changing in the new curriculum. The findings of this study indicated teacher's tendency for getting involved in the process of curriculum development and they pointed to the conflicts between the goals and methods provided by the program and those of teachers. They showed concerns about lack of time for the teaching the content and lack of consistency between student's previous and new experiences due to the absence of coherence. Inadequate training, accumulated content, imbalance between time and goals, quality and quantity of the resources, inadequate training equipments were some of the obstacles to implementing this program according to the teachers. In spite of these problems, the teachers believed that the changes in method and subjects have provided for students.

Planning for Isargaran children's educational progress in universities is such of Holy Islamic Republic of Iran's long-term goals, up with train commitment & specialist persons, taken a high step in achieving the lofty goals of Islamic Revolution.Educational progress, means steps taken to increase student learning, particularly by teacher's guidance and counseling.. In this way, determine the role of advisor masters in shahed & Isargar students's educational progress of shahid sadoughi university of medical science is the main objective of this research. This historical cohort study was done on one hundred- five (63 girls & 42 boys) shahed & Isargar students (2002 onward). Passing at least three semesters of before or after running of tutor plan in Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences was the only inclusion criterion in the study. Research instrument was a pre-tested questionnaire by which demographic and educational data were collected. Descriptive statistics was used for analysis and interpretation of data. In general, an increase of 0.73 was observed in the mean difference before & after the plan. This was statistically significant (P<.05). Mean difference seen between girls & boys was not statistically significant. Also mean difference between native & non native students was not significant. However, the mean difference before & after the plan along the strata of sex, residence and field of study was statistically significant. The results of this study showed that tutor plan in the university was successful and there was no difference was there between boys & girls.

Morning report has been the basis of educational programs for internal residents over years. It consists of various groups including instructors, trainers, and students with varying educational objectives. Yet, there is no uniform pattern for this purpose. So, the present study was conducted to evaluate the quality of morning report at Yazd Shahid Sadoughi Teaching Hospital. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out on a total of 117 subjects (37 males, and 80 females) including 39 assistant students, 39 attending students, and 39 trainees in the Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics Wards. A questionnaire including 29 items was given to the students to survey the quality of morning report in different wards. The related data were collected and analyzed using Chi-square. Each questionnaire was scored on the basis of a predetermined criterion measure. The data were classified into "excellent" and "moderate" groups. No statistically significant difference was found between questionnaire score and sex (P-value = 0.05); yet, there was a statistically significant difference between questionnaire scores relating to the three said wards (P-value = 0.019). The obstetrics ward (48%) was at the excellent level. 22.2% of the students presented their morning reports including a follow-up. 55.6% of the students presented their reports at the assistant level. 66.7% of the students presented their report in the form of question-and-answer, while 33.3% of them presented it as a speech. Further, 66.3% of the students maintained that the morning report has had an effective impact on the management of the patients. Based on the findings, it is advisable to provide evidence as films, papers, books, etc. to promote the quality of morning report.