hassan bashirnezhad

The purpose of this study is to identify the components of teacher competency in the professional competency test to provide a suitable model. The research method is a mixed one (quantitative and qualitative) and the statistical population in the qualitative section includes professors, education specialists and in the quantitative section includes 350 faculty members, teaching staff and 23345 male and female student-teachers in 6 centers of Mazandaran Farhangian University. In the qualitative section, snowball sampling was used, based on which 12 experts in this field were selected as interviewees. In the quantitative section, using the relative class sampling plan and Krejcie-Morgan table, 144 professors and 330 student-teachers were selected as samples. Research tools include semi-structured interviews and a researcher-made questionnaire with 6 main components. There were 20 items whose content validity was confirmed by long-term engagement, questioning and searching from colleagues, and review by informed individuals. According to the obtained results, 6 components of educational strategies, scientific abilities, technology-based skills, personal characteristics, classroom management and executive responsibilities were recognized as components of teacher competency in the professional competency test and the status of these components from the perspective of professors and student-teachers ranked from 1st to 6th, respectively.

The present study examines the lexical and syntactic development of dissimilar Persian-speaking twins named Behzad and Behnam over a period of ten months (from the beginning of 21 months to the beginning of 31 months). This study seeks to find out what differences and similarities there are in the syntactic and lexical development of these twins, despite the fact that the two children grow up in the same language environment. The data of this study were collected through rapid observation and recording of data in a notebook, audio and video recording using a video camera and audio recorder, as well as the diary of the mother of the twins in which children's language products were recorded. The investigation of the collected data and their comparative analysis each month shows a significant difference between the lexical and syntactic development of the twins. Although in the early months of the study, Behzad had a much higher language ability compared to his twin brother, Behnam, from the fourth month of the study, a significant increase in Behnam's lexical and syntactic growth rate was observed. Considering that the language development environment of these two children, both in the family and in the kindergarten, has often been the same, the existence of differences in the lexical and syntactic developmental stages of these two children can be attributed to the difference in innate and inherited linguistic talent of these two children. Dizygotic twins do not have exactly the same chromosomal structure. The results of this study show creative mental activities in two children, which is evidenced by the existence of numerous cases of over-extension and overgeneralization.

This survey attempts to demonstrate how the perception-sense process has been formed in the narration- process of One Thousand and One Nights via the study from Action Pattern and Semantic Square to Tension Square to find out how the function of story-into-story narrative structure in One Thousand and One Nights has passed from the Semantic Square and penetrated into the Tension Process, transformed the discursive condition, led to produce the fluid meanings and ultimately made up the tension of the Extensity and Intensity. In One Thousand And One Nights, everything has commenced from a deficiency. Emotional crisis that made Shahriyar as a vindictive actor, appeared due to the external oppression; but the narration process has begun by the presence of Sharzad as an intelligent narrator. Narration has displayed its function as elimination of deficiency via the presence of the narrator along with Shahriyar . The continual presence of narrator with her purposeful discourse has been suspending the abnormal condition, and the narration- process has led to semantic transcendence and created tension between the main actors. Disjunction from the revenge object and conjunction to the valuable object that have reprodued the relationship between Shariyar and his existence, clarifies a new movement and at last causes the transformation and reproduction of signs. Shahrzad has transformed the abnormal psychic condition of Shahriyar by means of the narrative language and ultimately, the injection of energy into the discursive space caused to change the stable and contracted situation into the redemptive situation .

The present study examines the verbal communication strategies used by sellers in interacting with customers in Sari. According to Lakoff (1975), these strategies are divided into items such as persuasive, respectful, assertive, affirmative, intensifiers, and so on. The data of this study were collected by recording the voices of sellers and customers in the market and stores of Sari and after transcription, the application of each strategy was calculated and analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of data analysis showed that sellers in interaction with customers mainly use verbal supportive strategies such as persuasive expressions, respectful expressions and intensifiers. Considering the gender variable, it was found that among female sellers, persuasive, respectful and affirmative expressions have the highest usage. Among male salespeople, persuasive expressions, hedges, and intensifiers are the most commonly used strategies. It was also found that there was no significant difference between male and female sellers in using supportive verbal strategies, but in the case of aggressive verbal strategies, male sellers used more aggressive verbal strategies than female sellers.

The syntactic marker "ra" in Persian and some Iranian languages was discussed in various sources from different viewpoints. Some linguists have studied the historical development of this marker from ancient Persian to the present day. Mazandarani is an Iranian varnacular which has retained many lexical and syntactic features of medieval and even ancient Iranian languages. In this article, the syntactic behavior of “ra” as a function marker of noun has been investigated and then, various functions of “ra” in contemporary Mazandarani have been compared with its historical development in Persian. Research data have been extracted from some old and new written sources of Mazandarani as well as through the field method from some Mazandarani native speakers or the author's linguistic knowledge as a native speaker of that area. A survey on data from Mazandarani dialect, shows that today, “ra” is used as a direct object marker, indirect object marker, and dative marker in this language. Syntactic behavior of "ra" in Mazandarani, as an Iranian language, confirms the existing theory about the historical development of "ra" in Persian. However, in many cases today, in Mazanderani, (ĵā-) and its various forms have been replaced for “ra” as indirect object marker and “ra” is less frequently used as dative marker. So it can be predicted that in recent future, “ra” will be stabilized as direct object marker.

The modern semio-semantic approach has gone beyond structuralism and entered the realm of narrative discourse, creating the conditions for the production and acquisition of meaning in discourse. This paper, examines the process of narrating in One Thousand and One Nights from a semio-semantic perspective by analyzing the movement from the narrative structure to the narrative discourse systems using the Greimas model. The purpose of the study is to discover how embedded narrative structures leak into the discursive structures of the story, and the tense (sensory-perceptual) space created by the narrative process controls and recreates the process of meaning production. Analysis of the narrative process in this work shows that narratives are never formed without the formation of a discourse system. On the other hand, the resistance of the narrator, Shahrzad, changes the emotional crisis and the lack of meaning in Shahriyar during the narration of several narratives to change the meaning of the presence of change. Using the tools of narrative language, he changes Shahriyar’s socially deplorable situation and mental state, and finally Shahrzad’s energy injection and practice in the discourse space has caused unfavorable stabilized conditions to become liberating conditions, and Shahriyar is confronted with a new meaning of life in the world. These changes are the result of his Dasein mutations after hearing the story. Shahriyar, in order to be himself and to fill his emotional vacuum, by being in the path of narration, takes away his previous Dasein and enters a new Dasein. In order to reach a new Dasein, he must first discard his faulty and critical previous Dasein in order to enter a new and improved Dasein. This is what puts him in front of another meaning of life and existence. The changes resulting from the Daseini mutation in existential discourse system are sometimes so profound that it is difficult to see a trace of the past. Perhaps it can be admitted about Shahriyar that he was accompanied by a great Daseini leap and the resulting changes were so profound that they were also observed by the people of that land.

Communication strategies are the strategies people use to communicate more effectively and efficiently. In this study, we have examined the communication strategies used in Iranian television interviews between a TV announcer as the host of a program and an expert as the guest on the program. Guests and hosts were selected from both sex groups to determine the effect of gender on the use of these strategies. A total of six strategies (three aggressive strategies and three supportive strategies) were considered and 26 television interviews from Iranian television networks were recorded and transcribed. Then the extent of usage of these strategies were examined and analyzed. The findings showed that guest women used more hedges, back channels, intensifiers and delays than guest men. Host men used more intensifiers and silences than host women. Also, guest women used more hedges and intensifiers than host men. Guest men used the silence strategy more often than host women. Considering these findings, it can be argued that there is a significant difference between communication strategies used by men and women, but gender is not the only determining variable and the position of individuals has played a role in the use of communication strategies .

Abstract
      Language is the most important communication means among people but some people are not able to benefit from this bounty due to some kind of language disorders. Language disorder is a term which refers to any sort of inadequacy in speech production or comprehension. Mentally disable people usually suffer from language disorders and one mentally feeble group with this problem is the children and adolescents who are suffering from Dawn Syndrome. This study compares the speaking ability of educated and non-educated children and teens with Dawn Syndrome in Babol. The present research is a semi-experimental correlational study which employed field method for data collection and for this purpose, the published Linguistics Tests (by Nilipour, 1372) was used which contained illustration cards and questionnaires. The researchers investigated the syntactic structures of the speech produced by these two groups in order to find out whether education can be effective in the production of grammatical sentences or not. In this research, the sample included two selected groups of male teens and children; the first group contained the students of the exceptional schools and medicinal centers in Babol and the second group were isolated from the society without having any education and training courses. The results of this research indicated that the trained / educated teens and children with Down syndrome have been more successful in generating correct Syntactic Structures, in comparison with their coequal who were not educated / trained.

Communication in different verbal and nonverbal modes forms the core of our life. In the communication process, humans use a set of communication strategies based on their position and skills that depend on a variety of factors, such as the social status, age, level of education, and the type of culture of people. Among these specific linguistic strategies, one can mention the choice of pronouns, subject changes, hedges (such as perhaps), short questions, interruption, silences, and late responses. Some of these specific communication strategies are likely to be used by in the interaction between the teacher and the student at university. This research seeks to find out what kinds of verbal strategies in the university environment are commonly used by professors and what types of verbal strategies are used by students in the university environment and whether gender is involved in the implementation of these strategies. Lakoff (1975), in a general division, divided the verbal strategies into two groups of supportive strategies and aggressive strategies. Honorific terms that include polite phrases, sentences and words such as "Lady", "Sir.", "gentleman" "Please," and so on, are supportive strategies. Hedges such as "I think", "I believe", "maybe", "I guess", and so on which indicate the uncertainty and doubt of the speaker are another kind of supportive strategy. Also, some short / tag questions like "Do not you?", "it's true?" which indicate that the respondent is relatively uncertain about the subject and requires confirmation by others, is in some way an indication of respect and support in verbal communication. Acknowledgments, such as "yes", "ok", "well," and so on, whose use reflects the interest and willingness of the audience to continue the discussion, is another group of supporting phrases in the discourse. In contrast, aggressive strategies are strategies such as speech interruption, delay in response, or overlap in speech through which the speaker has sought to stabilize their domination. Silence is also one of the things individuals may use in a conversation, and when one uses silence in interaction with others, it can be considered as an aggressive strategy. The research community is composed of all instructors and students working at the Islamic Azad University of Ayatollah Amoli in Amol. In this research, a mixed method is used and the required data are obtained by two methods of questioning and recording the voice of instructors and students when interacting with one another. These data were collected over a period of approximately six months. A questionnaire consisting of a ten Likert scale questions on the verbal strategies was distributed among 50 male and female instructors and 50 male and female students at different faculties of Islamic Azad University, Ayatollah Amoli Branch. Also, forty communication situations have been recorded in the hallways, corridors, and classrooms of the university. By transcribing and categorizing the conversations recorded in these forty conversation situations, the communication strategies used by individuals were identified and analyzed.

The findings of the research showed that professors mainly use aggressive strategies. On the other hand, there are differences in the kind of aggressive strategies male and female professors use. While male instructors use interruptions in speech more than their female colleagues, female instructors have outstripped male teachers in using the verbal strategy of pause or silence. Generally, there is no significant difference in the use of verbal strategies among male and female teachers. This means that both male and female teachers are the same in terms of the use of verbal strategies, despite a negligible statistical difference. In other words, in this case, the factor of social power and social status has overturned the factor of gender. Students mainly show their respect and support by using supportive strategies such as hedges that are symptomatic of doubt and short/tag questions, among which hedges that indicate doubt are found among female students more than male ones. This research suggests that there is a significant difference between male and female students in terms of verbal strategies. That is, gender plays a decisive role in the use of verbal strategies among male and female students, while the same gender factor in the application of communication strategies by university professors is not very determinative.


The results of this study confirm the research achievements of Mohammadi Asl (2010) that claims in formal and in managerial positions, the linguistic authority is not much influenced by the gender factor, and the feminine language is as dominant as the masculine language. Also, the results of this study are consistent with the findings of Deborah Tannen (1984). According to Tannen's theory, language differences between men and women are not due to an imbalance in power, but because of different criteria that exist in the given verbal interactions, and each gender has its weaknesses and powers. However, the results obtained in this study are not consistent with the Lakoff’s theory. According to Lakoff (1973), women use linguistically specific features that indicate their disability against men. It seems that acceptance of this theory depends on considerations of many factors, and without considering other influential variables such as education, social status, occupation, and specialization of individuals; one cannot arrive at generalizations about the relation between language and gender.

Statement of the problem: Social, economic, political, and cultural changes in recent years, along with the development of technology and communication have made the native speakers of some languages or dialects to learn standard language which is generally considered to be formal and more prestigious; this trend, which is the case for Iranian local languages and dialects, can weaken the status and threaten the survival of such languages and dialects. Mazandarani, a vernacular in the north of Iran, has long been the mother tongue of inhabitants and dominant language in Mazandaran Province. Nowadays, its usage has declined in various contexts and its acquisition as a mother tongue has decreased among younger generations. This study tries to gather information about the social status of Mazandarani and its usage, along with Farsi, in different contexts in Mazandaran; other factors influencing the usage of Mazandarani or Farsi in different contexts are also studied including speaker's attitudes toward Mazandarani as well as social factors.
Theoretical framework, questions and hypotheses: The present study has adopted the domain analysis method introduced by Fishman (1966) in which the language usage is measured in terms of setting, subject and interlocutors. In this study, language use in 6 domains – family, school, office, street, religion, art & hobbies- is investigated. The main questions raised are: 1- In which domain does Mazandarani have the most usage? 2- Do the majority of subjects acquire Mazandarani as their first language in family domain? 3- Do the majority of young people acquire Mazandarani as their first language in family domain? 4- Is there any correspondence between the age of parents and encouraging their children to acquire Mazandarani? 5- Can the age of subjects be an effective factor in acquiring or using Mazandarani? 6- Is there any correspondence between the sex of subjects and using Mazandarani in different domains? 7- Is there any correspondence between urbanization and using Mazandarani in different domains? 8- Does the usage of Mazandarani vary in different cities of Mazandaran? 9- What kind of attitudes do the subjects have toward Mazandarani? 10- In general, does the evidence imply a case of language shift or maintenance? The following hypotheses are formulated: 1- The usage of Mazandarani in family domain is more than that of other domains. 2- Most people acquire Mazandarani as their first language. 3- The minority of young people acquire Mazandarani as their first language. 4- There is a direct correspondence between the age of parents and encouraging the children to acquire Mazandarani. 5- The usage and acquisition of Mazandarani in older generation is more than that of younger one. 6- The usage of Mazandarani by women is less than that of men in various domains. 7- The usage of Mazandarani by urban people is less than that of rural people in various domains. 8- The cities studied in this research have similar conditions in terms of using and acquiring Mazandarani. 9- Most subjects dont have positive attitudes toward Mazandarani. 10. In general, the evidence implies a case of gradual shift of Mazandarani to Farsi.
Research method, statistical society, gathering and analyzing data: This research is a field study that describes and analyzes the data gathered through questionnaire, interview, and observation. The questionnaire includes 36 closed questions which investigate the usage of Farsi and Mazandarani in different domains; it also investigates the attitudes of speakers toward these two languages. 1200 subjects were randomly selected from urban and rural regions of 5 cities – Amol, Behshahr, Ramsar, Sari, and Noor – in Mazandaran Province. The subjects were equally divided into three age groups – 14-18, 30-40 and over 50 years old – they were also divided according to their sex. The researcher also observed 240 cases of communication context in Amol. The data are classified in tables and diagrams; it`s described and analyzed through k square as well.
The findings of research: The analysis of data shows that the most usage of Mazandarani belongs to family domain and the increase of the formality of context leads to decrease in usage of Mazandarani. Mazandarani acquisition varies according to the type of family and its members. In general, 60 percent have acquired Mazandarani as their first language, but in younger age group (14-18 years old), just 25 percent have acquired Mazandarani as their first language. The kind of language people apply for communicating with other family members depends on their age. For instance, 48 percent of young group use Mazandarani for talking to their grandparents. In contrast, 38 percent of this group speaks with their parents in Mazandarani. In communicating with their younger brothers or sisters, only 24.75 percent of them use Mazandarani.
As the formal educational language at school is Farsi, it`s obligatory to speak in Farsi at school. 97 percent of students have claimed that they speak in Farsi with their teachers in classrooms and 97.5 percent of them use Farsi in speaking to the headmasters at schools. 81.25 percent of students apply Farsi in communicating with one another in classroom.
The streets and marketplaces form another domain which is wider than other domains and include various participants. The kind of language used in this domain is highly influenced by the situation, social status, age and sex of the interlocutors. Farsi is mostly used in formal situation, in the case that one of the interlocutors is of higher class or he/ she is a young or unknown person. For example, 29.49 percent of interviewees speak with their neighbors in Farsi, while 72.58 percent of them use Farsi in conversing with a young stranger.
The office domain is a formal domain and this formality necessitates the higher usage of Farsi. 63.91 percent of customers use Farsi in talking to clerks at their offices. Facing a doctor at his/her office, or a receptionist, 77.58 and 73.74 percent of them use Farsi, respectively.
Domains like religion and art are defined on the basis of subjects rather than situation or participants. The investigation of language use in artistic and aesthetic affairs such as, poetry, fiction, theater, movie, and music shows the general dominance of Farsi, but in some cases like poetry and music, the majority prefers Mazandarani to Farsi. In general, 52.41 percent of people prefer Farsi for radio and TV programs. As for religion, approximately half of the subjects use Farsi to worship and pray.
The information gathered through observation in Amol, to a large extent confirms the data gathered via questionnaires and interviews. As an example, the questionnaire data demonstrate that 56.25 percent of students use Farsi in conversation with one another at school and the observation shows that 51.66 percent of them use Farsi in this context.
Age, sex, education, and urbanization are influential in language use in different domains. Young people more than older ones, women more than men, urban people more than rural ones and educated people more than illiterate people use Farsi in different contexts.
On the whole, the findings of the research indicate the gradual loss of Mazandarani in the region. The argumentations that support such a claim are as follows: 1- The youngster's tendency to acquire and use Farsi implies the reduction of native speakers of Mazandarani in the future.
2- The girl's tendency to acquire and use Farsi means the increase of Farsi acquisition by next generation, because these girls as future mothers have a crucial role in transferring language to the next generation.
3- The tendency of educated and urban group to acquire and use Farsi indicates the increase of Farsi-speaking population in the future, since both literacy and urbanization are spreading.
4- Employing Farsi as the language of instruction and the only medium of communication in educational domain could lead to the creation of negative attitudes toward Mazandarani.
5- Mazandarani is not mostly used in religious affairs, whereas religion is one of the last domains for an eroding language.
6- Lack of positive attitude, interests and devotion to Mazandarani signifies the lack of collective determination to maintain this language.