منیره شهباز

The present study investigated repair fluency, one of the three main aspects of fluency in Skehan’s model (2003; 2009), across different proficiency levels using the giver test-taker data in a speaking test. There are three main aspects of fluency in the model: Speed fluency, breakdown fluency, and repair fluency. To date, there is no research aiming to measure the speech fluency of foreign Persian test takers. Therefore, this study sought to achieve an appropriate rating scale for speech fluency. The study, in particular, has examined some parts of the repair fluency construct in the mentioned model, specifically repetition and false starts, and attempted to determine the extent to which repetitions and false starts varied across different Persian proficiency levels of foreign Persian test-takers. This study transcribed, rated, and labeled repetitions and false starts of 23 foreign Persian language learners taking a speaking test. The spoken data were classified into four proficiency levels according to the Persian Teaching Standard Reference (PTSR), namely pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced. The duration of recordings was 44 minutes in total (11 minutes for each level). The results were analyzed, using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and revealed that false starts and repetitions did not make a distinction across Persian proficiency levels. The findings imply that raters and rating scale designers do not need to consider repetitions and false starts for identifying or describing different Persian proficiency levels.

Language learners are often expected to achieve an acceptable level in grammar, which is considered as the basis for all human languages. Teaching grammar was the main component of language teaching methods in the past. Even the communicative approach, the most widely-accepted teaching approach today, did not ignore teaching grammar. Although teaching grammar was viewed as unimportant and laid aside for a short period of time, researchers and authors later realized that without teaching grammar, language learning would be of poor quality; as a result, they referred back to teaching grammar. All these point to the fact that mastery over grammar could help the learners in better comprehending and producing language. The present study is an attempt to present a framework on the basis of Keck and Kim (2014) for evaluating Persian grammar teaching textbooks. The name “Kem” is coined in the present study and is composed of 28 likert-scale questions. The “Kem” framework is made up of two main parts: explanations and activities.

The Processability Theory (Pienemann, 1998) is a theory that explains the way in which language is produced by the learner. It has extensions one of which is the Topic Hypothesis. The hypothesis predicts the manner and procedure of topicalization in different stages of language learning and posits three stages for it. According to the Topic Hypothesis, the learner does not differentiate between the grammatical function TOPIC and SUBJECT. At a later stage, adjuncts appear in sentence-initial position. Finally, the TOPIC function is assigned to a non-subject core argument. The aim of this study is to direct attentions to how significant it is to be conscious of the relatively free word order in Persian sentences. The problem of the study is to survey topicalization in different levels of Persian learning according to the Topic Hypothesis. To this end, 48 audio-files obtained from the online administration of the speaking placement test of two Persian Language and Literature Refresher Courses were first put into different levels. Then, 482 sentences involving subject and complete argument structure were extracted for analysis. Analyzing the final data indicated that the Topic Hypothesis was not fully supported against the development pattern of L2 Persian topicalization.

Language textbooks are conventionally expected to develop the four language macro-skills, including listening, reading, writing and speaking in language learners. However, mastering the reading skill is of particular importance, since it enhances the comprehension of specialized texts in students. The objective of this research is to investigate the scientific aspect of Persian textbooks in teaching the reading skill. In this research at first, the significant studies and findings in the area of reading are reviewed. Afterwards, Neil Anderson's ACTIVE model, as one of the most systematic models introduced to this area, is entirely described. Following this, some selected sources of teaching Persian are analyzed based on this model. It is concluded from this analysis that these sources have hardly addressed the current findings in the area of language teaching, especially the Anderson's ACTIVE model. The cultivation of vocabulary, the principle common within all traditional methods of language instruction, is remarkably implemented throughout these books. Among other components of Anderson's ACTIVE model, the principle of verification of strategies has been considered more. The teach-for-comprehension component has been rarely applied too. Despite its tremendous significance, the activation of prior knowledge principle is disregarded in almost all books. Furthermore, the principles called increase reading rate and progress evaluation are neglected all through these sources.