Abstract-This study aims to investigate how ideological differences manifest themselves in the discourse of The Los Angeles Times and Tehran Times dealing with Iran's nuclear program to have a wake-up call about the power of language in changing one's view about the events. After the critical analyses of six news reports based on van Dijk's (2000) framework, it was found that the two newspapers represent the same issues differently, according to their different ideologies by using two macro-strategies of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation which are realized by other discursive strategies such as: lexicalization, presupposition, consensus, hyperbole, illegality and disclaimer. Some implications of the findings are suggested.

Abstract-This study investigated the differences in the type and frequency of strategies used by high scoring and low scoring Iranian IELTS candidacies. The participants were required to read two types of Academic IELTS reading comprehension texts. The study used think-aloud procedures to have an in-depth investigation of reading strategies used by the readers while doing the reading module of the IELTS test. The strategies that emerged from the think-aloud procedures were coded and categorized based on Oxford's (1990) taxonomy of reading strategies. Then, the strategies used by the two groups were compared in terms of type and frequency. The results demonstrated a major difference between the two groups of candidates in the use of compensation and metacognitive strategies among the other strategies offered by Oxford (1990). The high scoring readers employed these strategies in different ways and more frequently than the other group.

In a usability test of a pre-commercialization product designed to minimize interruptions, we examined the ease of use and intuitiveness of the product through lab testing, while also surveying test participants on their perception of interruptions in the workplace. The results suggest that despite high ratings of ease of use and tool intuitiveness, participants were uncertain about likelihood of use in the office context. This discrepancy indicates usability is perhaps a necessary but insufficient driver of adoption, and other factors, such as the establishment of a receptive context and supportive social norms, are also important considerations when predicting new technological adoptions.

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Critical discourse analysis (CDA) aims to show how discourse shapes and is shaped by power relations in society. Conducted in a CDA framework, this study aims to investigate how The Los Angeles Times and Tehran Times represent the reaction of Russia after a speech delivered by Iran's ex-President on May 26, 2010 in order to have a consciousness-raising about the power of language in changing one's view about the events, and, more importantly, to shed light on the implications of CDA for language pedagogy. In this study, Van Dijk's (2000) framework was employed to detect the discursive strategies used by the two newspapers.After the analyses of news reports, it was found that the two newspapers represent the reaction of Russia significantly differently to their readers, based on their different ideologies by using two overall semantic macro-strategies of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation which are realized by other discursive strategies such as lexicalization, repetition, vagueness, illegality, and history as lesson.