In this research, children's early understanding of the functions of print and parents' mediation, talk about the purpose of writing, and their elaborative reminiscing talk was investigated in Persian preschoolers. The study was a mixed-method type of research. Preschool children (seventeen girls and thirteen boys) and their mothers participated in the study. In order to obtain data, they were involved in a task game (a grocery-list task) obtained from the experts and they discussed a past event together. Analyses of the obtained data revealed that children with better notating skills had parents who provided more assistance when notating and used more elaborative talk, but did not talk more about the purpose of writing. The results suggested that in pre-school years, what parents did and said may play a role in children's symbolic, numeracy, and literacy development, although it did not relate to children's mastery of the conventions of print. Finding this continuity is important because it helps researchers revise and bridge theories about parenting and children's early literacy and numeracy and symbolic development. Keywords: early literacy, prescholers, notating skillsHow to cite this paper: Dabiri, A. (2018

This research compared the effects of two types of instruction: Processing Instruction (PI) and Meaning-based Output Instruction (MOI) on the interpretation and production of English passive structures.  Ninety EFL intermediate tertiary level female students (PI group= 30, MOI group= 30 and control group = 30) participated in this study. The instruments were a proficiency test, a test to assess English passive structures and two instructional materials (PI and MOI). The data were analyzed by running one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mixed between-within ANOVA. The study indicated the effectiveness of PI and MOI on English passive structures. PI had considerable enhancement on interpretation tasks all the time. It supported the use of PI rather than the use of traditional instructions in which mechanical components were emphasized. Also, the PI and MOI had long term effects on the interpretation and production of English passive sentences.  This study supported the use of PI and MOI rather than the use of traditional instruction (TI) in EFL settings. The implication for particularly classroom teaching is that successful grammar instruction has to related to ultimate learning outcomes. Also, creating communicative tasks to offer opportunities for teaching grammar can lead to long-lasting learning effects.

This study examined raters' decision making variations in a writing assessment task focusing on individual differences in decision-making style (DMS). The participants' of the study were six TEFL instructors. A rating scale obtained from Turner and Upshur (2002) and a General Decision Making Style Inventory questionnaire, GDMSI, obtained from Scott and Bruce (1995) were administered to raters. The results showed the raters' behaviors were not equally the same in the same rating situations. These discrepancies suggested individual socio-cognitive differences in accounting for some rater's variability in scoring. In addition, characteristics of the texts (not just individual cognitive characteristics) favored certain decision-making behaviors. Accordingly, a re-visioning of the one-size-fits-all approach that is currently the norm in the training of raters for scoring writing assessments is needed. Further, a more individualized approach to rater training is needed. If the individual decision-making style to a great extent is dependent on basic cognitive abilities that are stable and not easily changed, then the decision support systems need to be flexible in order to match the needs of the individual decision makers. Upshur (2002) dan kwesioner inventori gaya pengambilan keputusan dari Scott dan Bruce (1995) digunakan oleh penilai. Hasil studi ini menunjukan bahwa perilaku penilai tidak selalu sama dalam setiap situasi. Ini menunjukan perbedaan sosio-kognitif dalam menghitung. Disamping itu, karakteristik teks mempengaruhi perilaku pengambilan keputusan tertentu. Oleh karena itu perlu dilakukan perubahan terhadap pandangan yang mengatakan satu pendekatan cocok untuk semua. Pendekatan peniai yang lebih personal juga diperlukan. Jika gaya pengambilan keputusan tergantung pada kemampuan kognitif dasar yang stabil dan tidak berubah, sistem pendukung keputusan harus fleksibel agar cocok dengan kebutuhan pembuat. Studi ini meneliti beragam pembuat keputusan nilai pada tes menulis yang difokuskan pada perbedaan individu dalam gaya pengambilan keputusan. Enam instruktur bahasa Inggris berpartisipasi di studi ini. Skala pengukuran dari Turner dan

Reading comprehension skill is widely used in EFL settings. English language learners, especially, in academic settings, are provided with a high level of literacy and comprehension of texts, where they are provided with a considerable portion of knowledge fused into written documents. Therefore, the skill of processing texts efficiently with sufficient comprehension gains significance in students’ academic accomplishments. Nevertheless, the concept of reading as a general term and strategic reading as an enabling skill should be differentiated in reading comprehension instruction.  Providing students with written texts without Empowering them to deal with the texts cannot yield fruitful results in designated goals of reading comprehension. In view of that, the present research tried to introduce strategic reading as a holistic concept and endeavored to enlighten each aspect of it using reading models and frameworks presented in the related literature on reading comprehension.  Instructors, with the awareness of strategic reading as an important reading skill, can determinedly instruct and implement it in their classrooms to enable students resourcefully for their educational goals which eventually leads to academic and professional achievements.