Language proficiency tests have become common instruments to judge people based on their performa... more Language proficiency tests have become common instruments to judge people based on their performance. Thus, the scores on language proficiency tests, such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), play a crucial role in the test-takers’ lives. Because of increasing demands on the part of students to get a good score on these tests, test preparatory courses have emerged. These preparatory courses, characteristically short and limited in terms of time, equip IELTS candidates with the skills required for passing the test, called test-taking strategies. The present study explored the effect of strategy teaching- namely wash-back effect on reading section of academic IELTS on intermediate learners in Iran. Besides, learners’ attitude toward the strategy teaching was investigated as well. According to the descriptive statistics and t-test results, those learners who received strategy teaching outperformed those who had ...
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
In recent decades, vocabulary as a top priority in second language learning and a most challengin... more In recent decades, vocabulary as a top priority in second language learning and a most challenging concern of EFL and ESL learners persuade most researchers to specific consulting on learning strategies. In this vein, sophisticated problems of most EFL learners in vocabulary learning rooted in lack of immediate exposure has posed crucial sources of investigations. For this aim, this quasi-experimental research attempted to introduce and examine the concept-mapping strategy on vocabulary learning of Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. To determine the effectiveness of this strategy, 40 participants who enrolled in Language center of Maritime University in Iran were participated in the study and randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental. After checking their homogeneity they were divided into two groups of experimental and control and a vocabulary pretest was administered before their treatment. At the end of treatment, the same vocabulary was run as post-test. I...
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
This study investigated the effects of concept mapping strategy on Iranian EFL learners’ attitude... more This study investigated the effects of concept mapping strategy on Iranian EFL learners’ attitude in vocabulary learning. In addition, along with various debates related to gender-based differences on learners' performance in language learning, the current study attempted to explore and compare the effectiveness of concept mapping strategy on vocabulary learning outcomes of male and female learners. For these aims, 40 male and female Iranian EFL learners from different majors of Chabahar Maritime University were participated in the study and randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental. Although the test of proficiency was conducted to the learners, before the treatment the researcher preferred to check learner's homogeneity by Nelson English Language Proficiency Test. Then, the students in the experimental group were taught through concept mapping instruction. After the treatment, attitude questionnaires were administered to the experimental group. In additi...
The main concern of this study was communication strategies (CSs) which are used to compensate fo... more The main concern of this study was communication strategies (CSs) which are used to compensate for communication breakdown. The goals of this study were to examine whether proficiency level of Iranian students had any relationship with their choice of CSs. This research was descriptive in nature. The participants were 15 pre-intermediate and 14 intermediate EFL learners between 16 to 21years old in a Language School in Shahrekord, Iran. 48 sessions was recorded and eight sessions of each level were randomly selected, transcribed and then coded. The coding categories included 22 types of CSs based on integrated model of taxonomies presented by Dornyei and Scott (1997),Tarone’s (1980), Faerch and Kasper’s (1983) taxonomies. In order to examine the relationship between learner’s proficiency level and the choice of CSs, a chi-square test was conducted. The significance level of .297 (p > 0.05) indicated that there was no significant relationship between the use of CSs and the profici...
This study examined the impact of Clear Pronunciation 2 software on teaching English suprasegment... more This study examined the impact of Clear Pronunciation 2 software on teaching English suprasegmental features, focusing on stress, rhythm and intonation. In particular, the software covers five topics in relation to suprasegmental features including consonant cluster, word stress, connected speech, sentence stress and intonation. Seven Iranian EFL learners participated in this study. The study lasted for six weeks and both the teacher and the software were involved in teaching suprasegmental features. To measure the learners’ pronunciation and their degree of progress for both pre-test and post-test, the software itself was used. The software has the ability to generate report and score on learners’ performance at the end of any activity. So, the analysis of learners’ performance was based on the software reports on their performance. The results of the study showed that the learners had a significant level of progress in all aspects of suprasegmental features. They learned suprasegm...
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2018
Due to the significant role of idioms in second language learning and the difficulties EFL learne... more Due to the significant role of idioms in second language learning and the difficulties EFL learners experience in learning them, finding ways to improve the learning process of idioms is of high importance. The present study investigated the effect of audio-visual vs. written contexts on idiom learning of Iranian Intermediate EFL learners. It was also an attempt to identify which context would lead to the language learners’ enhanced idiom comprehension. Particularly, the study explored the effect of audio-visual context on learners’ idiom learning, the effect of written-context on learners’ idiom learning, and finally the difference between idiom improvements of learners who were exposed to audio-visual compared to their counterparts in the written group. The participants were English language learners (L2) at Language Academy in Isfahan, Iran. They were all female, Persian native speakers. Their age range was between 19 and 26. Initially, a total of 80 EFL students were selected to...
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2018
Online learning is an educational instruction that is delivered via technology and internet to th... more Online learning is an educational instruction that is delivered via technology and internet to the students. Online courses can be delivered through different learning platforms. This study intends to investigate the benefits and drawbacks of the online instruction with the use of Telegram, a mobile application which is widely utilized by Iranians. The study aims to investigate the new insights into online language courses through modern technology. To this end, a channel was created on Telegram with 280 members as learners and 15 members as tutors. The tutors, being the subjects of this study, were invited to have collaboration in a group on Telegram for online teaching/tutoring. A descriptive qualitative method was used for data collection. An interview was conducted with the tutors about their perspectives toward the online tutoring course.
This study investigated the effect of role-playing tasks on the speaking ability of Iranian prein... more This study investigated the effect of role-playing tasks on the speaking ability of Iranian preintermediate ESP learners. To this aim, the researchers examined the students’ speaking ability in two groups: the experimental group and the control group. Twenty four male and female ESP learners at preintermediate level were selected after taking a pre-test. Then, they were randomly assigned into two groups. In the experimental group, role-playing tasks were used for teaching conversation, but the control group was exposed to the conventional method of teaching speaking. After 18 sessions of treatment, a post-test was conducted in order to measure the students’ speaking ability. Regarding the data analysis, two independent and paired sample t-tests were used to analyze the data, collected using three testing instruments: Longman Placement Test (2004); the semi-structured interviews; and SPSS software version 20. Based on the inferential statistics, the participants in the experimental g...
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
The present research aims at measuring the effects of using bilingual and monolingual dictionarie... more The present research aims at measuring the effects of using bilingual and monolingual dictionaries as well as pictures regarding the retention and recalling new vocabulary items. To this end, eighty intermediate Iranian students studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) were selected as the participants of the study. To determine the homogeneity of the participants Preliminary Placement Tests (PET) was administered and sixty students were selected and divided into three groups each using a different kind of the above-mentioned techniques. For that purpose, the students were given 14 passages of intermediate select-readings book in 14 sessions. Each group was supposed to read the passage and look up the meaning of the underlined words through using one technique.The results indicate that the group that used pictures had a better performance on recalling and retaining the underlined words. The research concluded that using pictures as a tool for learning vocabulary items plays a mo...
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2016
This study investigated Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning within the paradig... more This study investigated Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning within the paradigm of Task Based Language Teaching through instructing jigsaw and information-gap tasks. To this end, 60 intermediate EFL learners were selected. They were all female and their age range was between 16-17 years old. Then the experimental groups in which one group with the use of jigsaw and one with information-gap received task based instruction for one session each week for five weeks, while the control group experienced the same amount of instruction as ordinary classes. At the end of the study, all subjects were assigned a 50-item multiple choice vocabulary test. A one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that TBI had a significant effect (p=.000< .05) on promoting vocabulary knowledge of Iranian intermediate EFL learners; there existed a significant difference between the experimental groups' performances in the assigned tests, as well. The main pedagogical implication of this study is for teachers in that by involving learners in task completion and enjoying the process, learners can improve their vocabulary knowledge and accordingly their language proficiency.
With the development of educational technology, the concept of technology-enhanced multimedia ins... more With the development of educational technology, the concept of technology-enhanced multimedia instructions is using widely in the educational settings. Technology can be employed in teaching different skills such as listening, reading, speaking and writing. Among these skills, reading comprehension is the skill in which EFL learners have some problems to master. Regarding this issue, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of video materials on improving reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. A Longman Placement Test was administered to 30 EFL learners to ensure that learners are at the same level of proficiency. The students were chosen from the state high schools in Chabahar. The participants were regarded as intermediate learners and were divided into two groups (one experimental group and one control group). Then, a pre-test of reading comprehension was administered to assess the participants’ reading comprehension. The participants of experimen...
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 2016
The present study represents the efforts to determine whether exposing the language learners to a... more The present study represents the efforts to determine whether exposing the language learners to an intralingually subtitled film can improve their listening comprehension or not. In order to find that out, an experiment in which two groups of five intermediate level students studying in Chabahar maritime university were exposed to a series of videos was designed. One group watched the videos with English subtitle and the other group without any subtitles. After using independent T-test the p value (p=.000 <.05) shows that the ESG outperformed the WSG.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2015
The main purpose of the present quasi-experimental study is to investigate the effect of storytel... more The main purpose of the present quasi-experimental study is to investigate the effect of storytelling technique on writing ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 40 female intermediate EFL learners with the age range of 14-16 attending Chabahar Maritime University High School were initially selected. The homogeneity of their proficiency level was established via the administration of a TOEFL (the Paper-Based Test) proficiency test. Then they were randomly divided into two control and experimental groups. A speaking test was administered to female subjects of both groups at the beginning of the study. The experimental group used storytelling technique two times a week while the control group was not trained on this technique. At the end of the study, a speaking test was administered to all subjects for examining their ability in speaking skill. Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were performed for data analysis. The results showed that storytelling technique had a significant effect on improving the speaking ability of intermediate EFL learners.
International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2016
Dynamic assessment is an approach based on sociocultural theory of mind aimed to combine instruct... more Dynamic assessment is an approach based on sociocultural theory of mind aimed to combine instruction and assessment in which learners' development is simultaneously assessed and improved with regard to their Zone of Proximal Development. This study aimed to integrate principles of dynamic assessment in providing feedback with process-genre approach to teach explanation genre writing. The participants of the study (N=10) were male and female students majoring English translation for BA degree at Chabahar Maritime University. The results of independent samples t-test showed that the learners who were exposed to interactionist approach of DA, performed better than the control group in posttest. Findings of the study suggested that providing feedback through negotiation let students understand their problem and remove them better.
International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2016
This study investigated the effectiveness of Concept Mapping used as a learning strategy to impro... more This study investigated the effectiveness of Concept Mapping used as a learning strategy to improve the spontaneous speaking of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, forty EFL learners were selected based on their performance on a standardized proficiency test and randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups. The speaking pretest and posttest were scored according to the IELTS Speaking Band checklist. Throughout a twenty two session treatment, the participants in the experimental group used concept mapping strategy, but those in the control group did not practice this strategy and worked on other common activities instead. Finally, a speaking posttest was taken to test the performance of the two groups. Both pretest and posttest were administered by three examiners. Calculating the inter-rater reliability of the examiners showed that there is a significant correlation between raters' scores on pretest and posttest of both groups. At last, the results of independent-sample t-test showed significantly greater gains of the experimental group than the control group. Therefore, results showed that concept mapping had statistically significant effect on spontaneous speaking of intermediate EFL learners.
International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2015
Vocabulary learning has always been a major concern for second language learners. Particularly fo... more Vocabulary learning has always been a major concern for second language learners. Particularly for those who are just beginning to learn English. Usually a long list of vocabulary items is given to learners and they have to memorize all of them. The present study using a quasi-experimental design aimed to determine whether teaching vocabulary through instructional games can affect the vocabulary enhancement of students. The participants were 40 pre-intermediate EFL students who were equally divided into two groups. To this end, the two groups of students were assigned as control and experimental groups. The control group was exposed to textbook teaching and the experimental group was exposed to instructional games. After analyzing the obtained data, no significant differences were found between the two groups on posttest, as both programs made progress in the subjects. However, after two weeks, a delayed post-test was conducted to see the retention of learners' knowledge of vocabulary. In the end, although both groups had changed positively, a significant change was seen in the retention of learners' knowledge of vocabulary in the experimental group.
Abstract Cooperative learning (CL) refers to small groups of learners working together as a team ... more Abstract Cooperative learning (CL) refers to small groups of learners working together as a team to solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal. It refers to a method of teaching in which students are organized in groups of 2 to 6 in that they can work together to obtain a common goal. To test the effectiveness of the method, using Jigsaw technique, a study was conducted to find out how it can improve reading comprehension ability of first year students of Chabahar Maritime University (CMU). Administering a Nelson English Language Proficiency test (NELPT), two homogenous groups of students were selected. Selecting a quasi-experimental design, two groups of 30 students based on the result of the NELPT were assigned as Experimental and Control groups. After that, as a pretest, a Michigan reading comprehension test was administered to ensure students’ reading comprehension ability prior to the study. The first group received instruction using Jigsaw technique and the ...
Abstract To date, many researchers have attempted to offer an optimal listening instruction for F... more Abstract To date, many researchers have attempted to offer an optimal listening instruction for FL learners in different language learning contexts. Despite this interest, the characteristics of the listening comprehension problems experienced by FL listeners are not well understood. The problem appears to be thornier when it comes to teaching listening skills to beginner-level learners who are more likely to become disheartened by inappropriate listening practice. This paper was thus undertaken to investigate the frequency of listening comprehension problems that beginner-level FL listeners encounter in the early stages of language learning. Administrating the listening module of an IELTS test to establish the baseline listening ability, 48 nautical students with limited level of listening ability were selected. In order to determine the frequency of FL listeners’ comprehension problems, all the subjects were asked to listen to a simple conversation, and write a summary of it in th...
ABSTRACT English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become one of the predominant approaches to lang... more ABSTRACT English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become one of the predominant approaches to language teaching in tertiary education, as it is directed towards the specific needs of the particular specialty students. The study concerns about the role of needs analysis and materials evaluation in designing ESP courses meeting the needs of students in tertiary education. The purpose of this study was to find out whether ESP courses in Iran had been developed according to the principles of ESP course design.Participants of the study were selected from Chabahar Maritime University in Iran, consisting of two groups of senior students majoring at management and fisheries as well as a group of lectures teaching ESP courses. In this study three instruments were used. First, a needs analysis questionnaire administered to students to find out their needs, lack and wants. The second tool to get data was a curriculum design analysis questionnaire, administered to lecturers to find out the eleme...
A growing body of research indicates learning differences between the genders that affect the way... more A growing body of research indicates learning differences between the genders that affect the way males and females think, communicate, and behave (Chastain, 1988). These differences illustrate themselves at school, at hom e, at work, and importantly in groups of learning. Accordingly, this study was conducted to investigate the gender differences in using Jigsaw technique II and to find out how it can improve reading comprehension ability of intermediate-level students. Administering an English language proficiency test, two homogenous groups of students were selected. The participants of the study were a sample of 60 female and male students undertaking a course in general English at Chabahar Maritime University, Iran. The two groups were assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received instruction using Jigsaw technique II; however, the control group was taught using the traditional teacher-fronted method. Finally, the collected data were process ed st...
Language proficiency tests have become common instruments to judge people based on their performa... more Language proficiency tests have become common instruments to judge people based on their performance. Thus, the scores on language proficiency tests, such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), play a crucial role in the test-takers’ lives. Because of increasing demands on the part of students to get a good score on these tests, test preparatory courses have emerged. These preparatory courses, characteristically short and limited in terms of time, equip IELTS candidates with the skills required for passing the test, called test-taking strategies. The present study explored the effect of strategy teaching- namely wash-back effect on reading section of academic IELTS on intermediate learners in Iran. Besides, learners’ attitude toward the strategy teaching was investigated as well. According to the descriptive statistics and t-test results, those learners who received strategy teaching outperformed those who had ...
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
In recent decades, vocabulary as a top priority in second language learning and a most challengin... more In recent decades, vocabulary as a top priority in second language learning and a most challenging concern of EFL and ESL learners persuade most researchers to specific consulting on learning strategies. In this vein, sophisticated problems of most EFL learners in vocabulary learning rooted in lack of immediate exposure has posed crucial sources of investigations. For this aim, this quasi-experimental research attempted to introduce and examine the concept-mapping strategy on vocabulary learning of Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. To determine the effectiveness of this strategy, 40 participants who enrolled in Language center of Maritime University in Iran were participated in the study and randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental. After checking their homogeneity they were divided into two groups of experimental and control and a vocabulary pretest was administered before their treatment. At the end of treatment, the same vocabulary was run as post-test. I...
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
This study investigated the effects of concept mapping strategy on Iranian EFL learners’ attitude... more This study investigated the effects of concept mapping strategy on Iranian EFL learners’ attitude in vocabulary learning. In addition, along with various debates related to gender-based differences on learners' performance in language learning, the current study attempted to explore and compare the effectiveness of concept mapping strategy on vocabulary learning outcomes of male and female learners. For these aims, 40 male and female Iranian EFL learners from different majors of Chabahar Maritime University were participated in the study and randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental. Although the test of proficiency was conducted to the learners, before the treatment the researcher preferred to check learner's homogeneity by Nelson English Language Proficiency Test. Then, the students in the experimental group were taught through concept mapping instruction. After the treatment, attitude questionnaires were administered to the experimental group. In additi...
The main concern of this study was communication strategies (CSs) which are used to compensate fo... more The main concern of this study was communication strategies (CSs) which are used to compensate for communication breakdown. The goals of this study were to examine whether proficiency level of Iranian students had any relationship with their choice of CSs. This research was descriptive in nature. The participants were 15 pre-intermediate and 14 intermediate EFL learners between 16 to 21years old in a Language School in Shahrekord, Iran. 48 sessions was recorded and eight sessions of each level were randomly selected, transcribed and then coded. The coding categories included 22 types of CSs based on integrated model of taxonomies presented by Dornyei and Scott (1997),Tarone’s (1980), Faerch and Kasper’s (1983) taxonomies. In order to examine the relationship between learner’s proficiency level and the choice of CSs, a chi-square test was conducted. The significance level of .297 (p > 0.05) indicated that there was no significant relationship between the use of CSs and the profici...
This study examined the impact of Clear Pronunciation 2 software on teaching English suprasegment... more This study examined the impact of Clear Pronunciation 2 software on teaching English suprasegmental features, focusing on stress, rhythm and intonation. In particular, the software covers five topics in relation to suprasegmental features including consonant cluster, word stress, connected speech, sentence stress and intonation. Seven Iranian EFL learners participated in this study. The study lasted for six weeks and both the teacher and the software were involved in teaching suprasegmental features. To measure the learners’ pronunciation and their degree of progress for both pre-test and post-test, the software itself was used. The software has the ability to generate report and score on learners’ performance at the end of any activity. So, the analysis of learners’ performance was based on the software reports on their performance. The results of the study showed that the learners had a significant level of progress in all aspects of suprasegmental features. They learned suprasegm...
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2018
Due to the significant role of idioms in second language learning and the difficulties EFL learne... more Due to the significant role of idioms in second language learning and the difficulties EFL learners experience in learning them, finding ways to improve the learning process of idioms is of high importance. The present study investigated the effect of audio-visual vs. written contexts on idiom learning of Iranian Intermediate EFL learners. It was also an attempt to identify which context would lead to the language learners’ enhanced idiom comprehension. Particularly, the study explored the effect of audio-visual context on learners’ idiom learning, the effect of written-context on learners’ idiom learning, and finally the difference between idiom improvements of learners who were exposed to audio-visual compared to their counterparts in the written group. The participants were English language learners (L2) at Language Academy in Isfahan, Iran. They were all female, Persian native speakers. Their age range was between 19 and 26. Initially, a total of 80 EFL students were selected to...
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2018
Online learning is an educational instruction that is delivered via technology and internet to th... more Online learning is an educational instruction that is delivered via technology and internet to the students. Online courses can be delivered through different learning platforms. This study intends to investigate the benefits and drawbacks of the online instruction with the use of Telegram, a mobile application which is widely utilized by Iranians. The study aims to investigate the new insights into online language courses through modern technology. To this end, a channel was created on Telegram with 280 members as learners and 15 members as tutors. The tutors, being the subjects of this study, were invited to have collaboration in a group on Telegram for online teaching/tutoring. A descriptive qualitative method was used for data collection. An interview was conducted with the tutors about their perspectives toward the online tutoring course.
This study investigated the effect of role-playing tasks on the speaking ability of Iranian prein... more This study investigated the effect of role-playing tasks on the speaking ability of Iranian preintermediate ESP learners. To this aim, the researchers examined the students’ speaking ability in two groups: the experimental group and the control group. Twenty four male and female ESP learners at preintermediate level were selected after taking a pre-test. Then, they were randomly assigned into two groups. In the experimental group, role-playing tasks were used for teaching conversation, but the control group was exposed to the conventional method of teaching speaking. After 18 sessions of treatment, a post-test was conducted in order to measure the students’ speaking ability. Regarding the data analysis, two independent and paired sample t-tests were used to analyze the data, collected using three testing instruments: Longman Placement Test (2004); the semi-structured interviews; and SPSS software version 20. Based on the inferential statistics, the participants in the experimental g...
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
The present research aims at measuring the effects of using bilingual and monolingual dictionarie... more The present research aims at measuring the effects of using bilingual and monolingual dictionaries as well as pictures regarding the retention and recalling new vocabulary items. To this end, eighty intermediate Iranian students studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) were selected as the participants of the study. To determine the homogeneity of the participants Preliminary Placement Tests (PET) was administered and sixty students were selected and divided into three groups each using a different kind of the above-mentioned techniques. For that purpose, the students were given 14 passages of intermediate select-readings book in 14 sessions. Each group was supposed to read the passage and look up the meaning of the underlined words through using one technique.The results indicate that the group that used pictures had a better performance on recalling and retaining the underlined words. The research concluded that using pictures as a tool for learning vocabulary items plays a mo...
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2016
This study investigated Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning within the paradig... more This study investigated Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning within the paradigm of Task Based Language Teaching through instructing jigsaw and information-gap tasks. To this end, 60 intermediate EFL learners were selected. They were all female and their age range was between 16-17 years old. Then the experimental groups in which one group with the use of jigsaw and one with information-gap received task based instruction for one session each week for five weeks, while the control group experienced the same amount of instruction as ordinary classes. At the end of the study, all subjects were assigned a 50-item multiple choice vocabulary test. A one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that TBI had a significant effect (p=.000< .05) on promoting vocabulary knowledge of Iranian intermediate EFL learners; there existed a significant difference between the experimental groups' performances in the assigned tests, as well. The main pedagogical implication of this study is for teachers in that by involving learners in task completion and enjoying the process, learners can improve their vocabulary knowledge and accordingly their language proficiency.
With the development of educational technology, the concept of technology-enhanced multimedia ins... more With the development of educational technology, the concept of technology-enhanced multimedia instructions is using widely in the educational settings. Technology can be employed in teaching different skills such as listening, reading, speaking and writing. Among these skills, reading comprehension is the skill in which EFL learners have some problems to master. Regarding this issue, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of video materials on improving reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. A Longman Placement Test was administered to 30 EFL learners to ensure that learners are at the same level of proficiency. The students were chosen from the state high schools in Chabahar. The participants were regarded as intermediate learners and were divided into two groups (one experimental group and one control group). Then, a pre-test of reading comprehension was administered to assess the participants’ reading comprehension. The participants of experimen...
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 2016
The present study represents the efforts to determine whether exposing the language learners to a... more The present study represents the efforts to determine whether exposing the language learners to an intralingually subtitled film can improve their listening comprehension or not. In order to find that out, an experiment in which two groups of five intermediate level students studying in Chabahar maritime university were exposed to a series of videos was designed. One group watched the videos with English subtitle and the other group without any subtitles. After using independent T-test the p value (p=.000 <.05) shows that the ESG outperformed the WSG.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2015
The main purpose of the present quasi-experimental study is to investigate the effect of storytel... more The main purpose of the present quasi-experimental study is to investigate the effect of storytelling technique on writing ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 40 female intermediate EFL learners with the age range of 14-16 attending Chabahar Maritime University High School were initially selected. The homogeneity of their proficiency level was established via the administration of a TOEFL (the Paper-Based Test) proficiency test. Then they were randomly divided into two control and experimental groups. A speaking test was administered to female subjects of both groups at the beginning of the study. The experimental group used storytelling technique two times a week while the control group was not trained on this technique. At the end of the study, a speaking test was administered to all subjects for examining their ability in speaking skill. Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were performed for data analysis. The results showed that storytelling technique had a significant effect on improving the speaking ability of intermediate EFL learners.
International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2016
Dynamic assessment is an approach based on sociocultural theory of mind aimed to combine instruct... more Dynamic assessment is an approach based on sociocultural theory of mind aimed to combine instruction and assessment in which learners' development is simultaneously assessed and improved with regard to their Zone of Proximal Development. This study aimed to integrate principles of dynamic assessment in providing feedback with process-genre approach to teach explanation genre writing. The participants of the study (N=10) were male and female students majoring English translation for BA degree at Chabahar Maritime University. The results of independent samples t-test showed that the learners who were exposed to interactionist approach of DA, performed better than the control group in posttest. Findings of the study suggested that providing feedback through negotiation let students understand their problem and remove them better.
International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2016
This study investigated the effectiveness of Concept Mapping used as a learning strategy to impro... more This study investigated the effectiveness of Concept Mapping used as a learning strategy to improve the spontaneous speaking of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, forty EFL learners were selected based on their performance on a standardized proficiency test and randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups. The speaking pretest and posttest were scored according to the IELTS Speaking Band checklist. Throughout a twenty two session treatment, the participants in the experimental group used concept mapping strategy, but those in the control group did not practice this strategy and worked on other common activities instead. Finally, a speaking posttest was taken to test the performance of the two groups. Both pretest and posttest were administered by three examiners. Calculating the inter-rater reliability of the examiners showed that there is a significant correlation between raters' scores on pretest and posttest of both groups. At last, the results of independent-sample t-test showed significantly greater gains of the experimental group than the control group. Therefore, results showed that concept mapping had statistically significant effect on spontaneous speaking of intermediate EFL learners.
International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2015
Vocabulary learning has always been a major concern for second language learners. Particularly fo... more Vocabulary learning has always been a major concern for second language learners. Particularly for those who are just beginning to learn English. Usually a long list of vocabulary items is given to learners and they have to memorize all of them. The present study using a quasi-experimental design aimed to determine whether teaching vocabulary through instructional games can affect the vocabulary enhancement of students. The participants were 40 pre-intermediate EFL students who were equally divided into two groups. To this end, the two groups of students were assigned as control and experimental groups. The control group was exposed to textbook teaching and the experimental group was exposed to instructional games. After analyzing the obtained data, no significant differences were found between the two groups on posttest, as both programs made progress in the subjects. However, after two weeks, a delayed post-test was conducted to see the retention of learners' knowledge of vocabulary. In the end, although both groups had changed positively, a significant change was seen in the retention of learners' knowledge of vocabulary in the experimental group.
Abstract Cooperative learning (CL) refers to small groups of learners working together as a team ... more Abstract Cooperative learning (CL) refers to small groups of learners working together as a team to solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal. It refers to a method of teaching in which students are organized in groups of 2 to 6 in that they can work together to obtain a common goal. To test the effectiveness of the method, using Jigsaw technique, a study was conducted to find out how it can improve reading comprehension ability of first year students of Chabahar Maritime University (CMU). Administering a Nelson English Language Proficiency test (NELPT), two homogenous groups of students were selected. Selecting a quasi-experimental design, two groups of 30 students based on the result of the NELPT were assigned as Experimental and Control groups. After that, as a pretest, a Michigan reading comprehension test was administered to ensure students’ reading comprehension ability prior to the study. The first group received instruction using Jigsaw technique and the ...
Abstract To date, many researchers have attempted to offer an optimal listening instruction for F... more Abstract To date, many researchers have attempted to offer an optimal listening instruction for FL learners in different language learning contexts. Despite this interest, the characteristics of the listening comprehension problems experienced by FL listeners are not well understood. The problem appears to be thornier when it comes to teaching listening skills to beginner-level learners who are more likely to become disheartened by inappropriate listening practice. This paper was thus undertaken to investigate the frequency of listening comprehension problems that beginner-level FL listeners encounter in the early stages of language learning. Administrating the listening module of an IELTS test to establish the baseline listening ability, 48 nautical students with limited level of listening ability were selected. In order to determine the frequency of FL listeners’ comprehension problems, all the subjects were asked to listen to a simple conversation, and write a summary of it in th...
ABSTRACT English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become one of the predominant approaches to lang... more ABSTRACT English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become one of the predominant approaches to language teaching in tertiary education, as it is directed towards the specific needs of the particular specialty students. The study concerns about the role of needs analysis and materials evaluation in designing ESP courses meeting the needs of students in tertiary education. The purpose of this study was to find out whether ESP courses in Iran had been developed according to the principles of ESP course design.Participants of the study were selected from Chabahar Maritime University in Iran, consisting of two groups of senior students majoring at management and fisheries as well as a group of lectures teaching ESP courses. In this study three instruments were used. First, a needs analysis questionnaire administered to students to find out their needs, lack and wants. The second tool to get data was a curriculum design analysis questionnaire, administered to lecturers to find out the eleme...
A growing body of research indicates learning differences between the genders that affect the way... more A growing body of research indicates learning differences between the genders that affect the way males and females think, communicate, and behave (Chastain, 1988). These differences illustrate themselves at school, at hom e, at work, and importantly in groups of learning. Accordingly, this study was conducted to investigate the gender differences in using Jigsaw technique II and to find out how it can improve reading comprehension ability of intermediate-level students. Administering an English language proficiency test, two homogenous groups of students were selected. The participants of the study were a sample of 60 female and male students undertaking a course in general English at Chabahar Maritime University, Iran. The two groups were assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received instruction using Jigsaw technique II; however, the control group was taught using the traditional teacher-fronted method. Finally, the collected data were process ed st...
Uploads
Papers by Amin Saed