Writing is considered a very complicated task for many EFL students and Iranian EFL learners have many problems in this regard. Present study through a mixed method design, attempted to investigate the effect of Structured Collaborative (SC) pre-writing task versus Unstructured Collaborative (USC) pre-writing task on the writing ability of Iranian EFL students. Among a population of 300 freshmen learners of English language translation of Islamic Azad University, 169 students were selected based on criterion sampling. The criteria for selecting the sample were English language proficiency of the learners, age of the participants and major of their study. On the other hand, 30 teachers were selected based on convenience sampling for the interview part of the study. Then the students were assigned to Unstructured Collaborative (USC), and Structured Collaborative (SC) pre-writing groups. These two clusters were considered as experimental group and as control group. The study was implemented over a period of 16 weeks and involved pre and post-tests. Results of the quantitative data analysis shows that students’ writing proficiency in both groups were improved. However, the outcomes of the study reveals that the (USC) group outperformed the (SC) group. The qualitative data analysis through classroom observation and teachers interview reveals that teachers of (IAU) practiced the collaborative tasks at the three stages of writing in their classes and they also favored and applied the five components of Cooperative Learning (CL). In this study, the researchers took the initiative to make a distinction between structured and unstructured collaborative pre-writing tasks. Consequently, the results of the current study are of benefit for several groups of people, namely language practitioners, university students and educational administrators.

No abstract

Pragmatic competence is an essential component in communicative competence (Bachman & Palmer, 2010; Canale, 1983). Therefore, teaching pragmatic knowledge plays an important role in a foreign language curriculum, particularly in teaching English as a ForeignLanguage (EFL). However, there exists a lack of literature about the teaching of pragmatics with little empirical research on teachers’ and learners’ perceptions in Iran. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of focus-on-form instruction (FFI) speech acts on Iranian EFL learners’ pragmatic competence. Cooperative grouping, role plays, and other pragmatically oriented tasks were used to promote the learning of the intended speech acts. To come up with conclusive and persuasive findings, 132 Iranian male and female learners, intermediate- above, served as the subjects. The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to evaluate the participants’ language proficiency level. Teachers’ and students’ questionnaires about the instructions and teachers’ interview were used as the instruments in this study. Data collected by different instruments were analyzed and compared by way of a mixed method and. then was triangulated to enhance its validity and reliability. The finding of the study showed that explicitness leads to better pragmatic knowledge development than the implicit knowledge. This study showed that consciousness-raising at the metapragmatic level improved EFL learners’ pragmatic performance and variety of form-strategy use substantially; thus, it should be taken more seriously in L2 instruction and material development.

In this paper the author is concerned with the role of cognitive and mental abilities of humans in the formation of hyponymy sense relation at the level of words of Persian language, additionally the importance of the role of developed image schemas in accordance with hyponymy, and also the function of some cognitive and analytical factors in the formation of these image schemas such as construal, consists of perspective (focus point and reference point), profile and scanning are so important to the author. The starting point is the study of the way of the formation of developed image schemas related to hyponymy sense relation. The author's fundamental claim is that the mentioned cognitive and analytical factors have a significant role in the formation of three developed image schemas related to hyponymy, and the mentioned schemas are given different names and they are shown through various figures as well. Next the theory of layered schemas (LST) is provided by analyzing some Persian simple structures including hyponymy. Moreover, we move towards a cognitive inter-lexical semantics in this paper by applying the proposed theory of the author (LST) on Persian linguistic data. For this purpose one example of Persian including hyponymy is analyzed on the basis of (LST). As the last step, the different stages of the formation of hyponymy sense relation between the words of Persian are shown through some cognitive figures to add a kind of consistency and support to the author's proposed program in this paper.Keywords: hyponymy; developed image schemas; cognitive inter-lexical semantics; layered schemas theoryDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6897Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.1-18

This study aims to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ perception and instructional practices towards form-focused instruction of speech acts specifically request, apology and invitation. To this aim, through sequential explanatory mixed methods design the researchers used criterion sampling and 30 English language instructors in Islamic Azad University (IAU) of North Tehran Branch served as the subjects. To attain general perception and teaching practices of instructors towards form-focused instruction of speech acts, they were asked to answer a pragmatic questionnaire. Besides, in order to achieve an enhanced awareness concerning instructors’ perceptions and practices regarding form-focused instruction a semi-structured interview was conducted for the same 30 English language instructors. Finally, six classes were observed by the investigators through convenience sampling. Likewise, through the triangulation approach, the investigators studied and merged the required data. The statistical results of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis revealed that form-focused instruction of speech acts is mostly focused by the Iranian EFL instructors. Most of them agreed with the use of explicit strategies for instructing request, apology and invitation speech acts rather than implicit strategies. Additionally, the explicit strategies were used by most of the instructors in EFL classes. The results of the current study are beneficial for syllabus directors and scholastic administrators to have a different outlook towards the curricula and textbooks' content, particularly for EFL settings.