جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « توانش تعاملی » در نشریات گروه « ادبیات و زبان ها »

Assessment of interactional competence (IC) as a multi-componential construct poses several challenges for both teachers and administrators. Having a diagnostic assessment perspective through stakeholders’ involvement, this mixed methods study attempts to provide information about students’ strengths and weaknesses in IC. The paper first explored the distinctive effects of diagnostic self- and peer-assessments on the development of Iranian EFL learners’ IC; it then examined the accuracy of the learners’ diagnostic assessment of IC in paired speaking tests. The learners’ perception toward the application of diagnostic assessment was also investigated qualitatively. To this end, 60 students majoring in English translation at Islamic Azad University participated in this study. Taking the instructor’s ratings as the criterion, over the course of 12 weeks, the accuracy of the learners’ diagnostic self- and peer- assessments was investigated. Data analysis, using T-test and MANOVA, confirmed that while the two groups of diagnostic self- and peer- assessments had considerable improvement in IC, there was not any significant difference between the two groups’ gain. In addition, no statistically significant difference was found between the accuracy of diagnostic self-, peer – assessment and those of instructor- assessment throughout the course. Furthermore, the results showed that the participants held favorable perception toward the application of diagnostic assessment.

Even though interactional competence (IC) has been in the center of attention recently, its constructs/sub-components and influencing factors still require a profound scrutiny. The features associated with IC have indeed been probed in various realms of language learning and teaching. However, the effect of language learners’ gender on their perception of IC remains to be addressed. To bridge this gap, the present research, as one of the stages of development and verification of the Learners’ Interactional Competence Questionnaire (LICQ) investigated how gender may affect IC and its sub-constructs as perceived by males and females. A total number of 407 male and female intermediate-level Iranian EFL learners, selected through convenience sampling from several language institutes, participated in the study and responded to LICQ. Subsequently, a two-group Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to measure the potential effects of students’ gender on perceived interactional competence, including conversational management, speech acts, register, nonverbal semiotics, and requests and complaints. The results showed that gender did have a small significant effect on learners’ perceived interactional competence as a whole; while scrutinizing sub-components, it was also revealed that this effect is not visible in conversational management. The study findings provide learners with a self-assessment scale to identify their present state of IC perception. Besides, language teachers could consider the different perceptions of male and female learners of IC as an influential aspect of IC realization and development in the language classroom setting.

The use of paired speaking tasks for the assessment of interactional competence has recently attracted the attention of many scholars in language learning research. The present study aimed at investigating whether task type has any effect on promoting language learners’ interactional competence measured by means of multi-factor qualitative coding of paired speaking tasks. The performances of 92 dyads of conveniently-selected intermediate Iranian EFL learners on four paired speaking tasks were assessed using a rubric developed based on recent models for the scoring of interactional competence. To reveal the factors contributing to interactional competence, confirmatory factor analysis was run rendering the four-factor rubric developed in the present study as a valid measure of interactional competence through paired speaking tasks. In addition, to check the effect of different task types on interactional competence, the researchers calculated ANOVA estimates. Mean difference statistics computed indicated that some significant effect with large effect size existed for task type. Post-hoc comparisons carried out made it clear that from among the four tasks (i.e., Spot-the-difference, Story-completion, Decision-making, and Free-discussion) only the Story-completion task was the source of variability in the scores of interactional competence. The findings are of significance in that they point to the centrality of task type in assessing speaking through paired tasks. The study has certain theoretical and practical implications for foreign language teaching/testing researchers and practitioners.

Developing rating scales for assessing interactional performance is demanding since it is a relatively complicated procedure. The present study investigated the psychometric characteristics of the CAP rating scale (Wang, 2015) for assessing interactional competence at micro-level. To this end, 160 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were selected based on their performance on TOEFL iBT test from a language institute in Tabriz. Four interaction tasks were used to elicit students’ performance on interactional competence using the CAP rating scale. Five raters were recruited in the study to assign score to each individual’s performance. The participants were pretested and post-tested at the beginning and the end of the term through the same scale. The Pearson correlations were computed in order to estimate the test-retest reliability indices of the scale. In addition, five separate exploratory factor analysis (EFA) through the varimax rotation method were conducted in order to investigate the underlying constructs of the communication functions individually and as a total. The results revealed that the CAP rating scale enjoys a reasonable reliability indices and the four functions i.e. building argument, developing discussion, offering support, and shaping connection can be appropriate predictors of interactional competence. Some pedagogical and assessment implications are presented as well.

Central to Vygotsky-inspired sociocultural theory (SCT) is the notion of ZPD seen by SLA researchers as a useful framework within which L2 teaching and learning can take place. Van Lier (2004) argues that the ZPD could be activated in diverse proximal contexts (PCs) and is not limited to the expert-novice scenario.. This study probed whether Iranian EFL learners'' collaborative task performance within different ZPD-based PCs results in their development of interactional competence (IC). Young''s (2011) IC model was used for developing an IC test (ICT) employed at the pretest and posttest times. Three intact EFL listening-speaking classes at a university at southwest of Iran were randomly assigned to the expert-novice، equal-peers، and control (non-ZPD) conditions. The co-constructed interactions of the groups in (a) symmetrical ZPD-based conditions were audio-recorded for further analysis of participants'' L2 IC development. A triangulation (quantitative and microgenetic) data-analysis approach was adopted. The results showed that whereas both ZPD groups (equal-peers and expert-novice) outperformed the non-ZPD group on IC posttests، no statistically significant difference was found between participants'' IC development in symmetrical and asymmetrical PCs. Further، microgenetic analysis of the ZPD groups'' interactions demonstrated how participation and activity in different PCs can effectively trigger awareness of mechanisms and norms of L2 spoken interaction and، in turn، result in IC development. The findings point to the applicability of diverse ZPD-adjusted PCs، composed of equal or unequal participants، in EFL classrooms and also the efficacy of ZPD-based interactive scenarios for students'' development of L2 IC.