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

Textbook content evaluation based on a checklist is a widely common method for evaluating the textbooks, which plays an effective role on preserving the quality of them. In this study, an validated checklist is applied for evaluating and comparing of “Amouzesh-e-novin-e zaban-e-Farsi” series (ANZF) and “Amouzesh-e-Farsi-be-Farsi” series (AFBF) textbooks using a combination method (the checklist and a semi-structured interview to instructors). This validated checklist includes 4 main categories of ‘physical features’, ‘design and layout’; ‘skills and sub-skills’; ‘subject and content’, and ‘practical consideration’. The results showed although these textbooks are evaluated as ‘good’ and ‘very good’ in their physical features, design and layout, according to the instructors’ viewpoints, the researchers evaluated them as partly-good for some shortages like lack of workbooks and teacher’s books. In skills and sub-skills, both series have fundamental problems; and to sum up, the ANZF series seem to be partly-weak and AFBF series seem to be highly-weak, that is confirmed by statistic results, too. In the category of ‘subject and content’, the ANZF series is evaluated as partly-good, and the AFBF series is evaluated as weak, that conform to the statistic results, again. In ‘practical considerations’, as the results show the ANZF is evaluated as partly-good, and the AFBF; despite the statistic results that show them as ‘partly-good’, is evaluated as partly-weak.

Textbooks are the basis of school education and the main sources of information for teachers and students. Many researchers emphasize on the fact that textbooks have a lot of problems and shortcomings in terms of social, cultural, educational and linguistic aspects. Grammar teaching is one of the most important issues in language instruction. Thus the purpose of this research is to evaluate and analyze the grammatical content of Iranian junior high school English textbooks in the framework of Keck and Kim (2014) Pedagogical Grammar.Study Questions:1. To what extent do these textbooks comply with the principles of pedagogical grammar?2. According to the principles of pedagogical grammar, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the textbooks?Literature Review: Theoretical framework of this research is Keck and Kim (2014) Pedagogical Grammar. According to them the most important principles of pedagogical grammar are as follows:1. Learners' attentional resources are limited, thus stimulating their attention to the maximum, leads to better learning of language and consequently grammar.2. Paying attention to the relation between form, meaning and use is a necessity of pedagogical grammar.3. The preparation of the content of pedagogical grammar should be based on the linguistic corpora of the target language.4. In compiling the content of pedagogical grammar, the instruction of both grammar and lexical items must be considered.5. To consider the processing and learning abilities of the learners is important.6. Grammar instruction must be done both explicitly and implicitly.7. The use of different types of corrective feedback is very effective in grammar teaching.8. Intensive and extensive instruction of grammatical structures is helpful in language learning.9. The role and importance of language learners in learning grammar by other language learners is significant.10. The content of pedagogical grammar should be designed based on meaningful communication exercises and tasks. After extracting and introducing the principles of pedagogical grammar, a checklist based on them was designed which measures the compliance of the grammatical content of the books with the mentioned approach.. After the checklist items were developed, 15 experts in the field of English language teaching and linguistics were asked to express their views on the checklist and its items in detail and determine the content validity ratio and content validity index of the items, based on the Likert scale. In total, the necessity and relevance of 42 out of 50 initially designed items were confirmed. The score that these books have obtained out of 210 total score is 135, which is approximately 64% of the total score. Therefore, the compliance of the books with the principles of pedagogical grammar is above average. A qualitative analysis also revealed that in compiling the books, observing the principles of• implicit and explicit grammar teaching,• attention to lexis-grammar interface,• intensive and extensive instruction of grammatical structures,• form, meaning and use relation,• attention to learning and processing abilities of learners,• the use of various tools to draw the learner's attention to grammatical structures,are its strengths ando non-compliance with the communicative language teaching principles,o scanty and inappropriate input,o lack of attention to the linguistic corpora of the target language and unrealistic input,o inattention to the important of corrective feedback,o insufficient attention to the significance of learners in learning the grammatical points by their classmates ando insufficient attention to the importance of morphologyare the weaknesses of these books.

In addition to suffisticated instructional instruments and resources, the advent of networks such as the internet has caused a revolution in instructional methods and has made it possible to deliver virtual instruction to a wider range of learners across the globe. Based on principles of web-based learning, the present study aimed to explore vitrual instruction of Persian to non-Persian learners through two websites: the Persian Language And Literature Promotion Council (inside Iran) and Virtual Persian (outside Iran). The strengths and weaknesses of these two websites were examined with the aid of a checklist. The ten criteria of the checklist included transparency of the icons, lesson management and feedback mechanism, accessibility, applicability and synchrony, assessment strategies, consolidation of content in memory, lesson plan and the structure of lesson content and display, interaction and cooperation, appearance, and cultural apprpriateness. For each website, ten participants who were familiar with virtual learning were asked to explore the website’s instructional contents and affordances and answer the 36 questions of the checklist. Based on the answers, in the conclusion section strenghths and weaknesses of the websites are discussed and some suggestions are offered for the improvement of virtual instruction of Persian language.