Number 1 Volume 5

Open Access Article

1 - The Impact of Cooperative Learning and Mobile Learning through Bluetooth Device on Vocabulary Learning of Iranian EFL Learners
Sahar Gholamalizadeh Bahador Sadeghi

Cooperative learning has been found to affect different aspects of language learning by many researchers (e.g., Kagan, 1995; Kagan, 1999; Kessler, 1992; McGroarty, 1993). Likewise, mobile assisted language learning (MALL) has revealed significant impacts on the improvem More

Cooperative learning has been found to affect different aspects of language learning by many researchers (e.g., Kagan, 1995; Kagan, 1999; Kessler, 1992; McGroarty, 1993). Likewise, mobile assisted language learning (MALL) has revealed significant impacts on the improvement of different language skills and components (e.g., Comas-Quinn et al. 2009; Divitini & Chabert, 2009; Motallebzadeh & Ganjali, 2011; Zhang, Vibranovski, Krinsky, & Long., 2011). To the same end, the present experiment sought to investigate the effect of cooperative learning and mobile learning through Bluetooth on the vocabulary learning performance of female Iranian pre-intermediate learners. Initially, 90 students took part in an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) for the purposes of ensuring their homogeneity in terms of language proficiency and vocabulary. Those students whose scores on this test were beyond +1 and -1 standard deviation were excluded, leading to the selection of 60 students as subjects of this study. These subjects were divided into two groups namely, cooperative learning group and mobile learning through Bluetooth group. After the treatment, the post test of vocabulary was administered. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that both cooperative and MALL led to the improvement of the participants’ vocabulary learning performance. However, no significant difference was revealed between the effects of cooperative and mobile learning on the vocabulary learning performance. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - The effect of discourse markers on listening comprehension of EFL Iranian high and low proficiency Learners
Neda Javadi Ramin Rahmany

This research was designed to investigate the effects of discourse markers on EFL Iranianlearners' listening comprehension. Fifty eight male and female students took a pre-test as aproficiency test first, 39 students out of 58 are needed. To gain this aim, a language pr More

This research was designed to investigate the effects of discourse markers on EFL Iranianlearners' listening comprehension. Fifty eight male and female students took a pre-test as aproficiency test first, 39 students out of 58 are needed. To gain this aim, a language proficiencytest, i.e., Nelson test will be given to the total participants. After calculating Mean and StandardDeviation, each person with +1SD above the mean will be assigned to high level of languageproficiency and each one with -1SD below the mean will be assigned to low level of languageproficiency. Then they were assigned to two experimental groups and a control group, twentystudents for high level proficiency of DMs group, nineteen students for low level proficiency ofDMs group and nineteen students for control group were selected. During four sessions of thetreatment, each experimental group worked on four listening passages taken from IELTS sample.The participants in two experimental groups were encouraged to think and notice meaningfullyto the DMs and their functions how concepts are linked in listening passages by DMs. Alongwith the experimental groups, the participants in the control group also worked on the differentfour listening passages. At the end, three post tests were performed in one session. Finally OnewayANOVA was used to analyze the results of the control and the two experimental groups’post- tests, and a significant difference was observed in the high proficiency experimental groupof DMs and control groups, but there was not observed any remarkable difference between thelow proficiency group and control group. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - Metacognitive Strategy Instruction and EFL learners’ Listening Comprehension Ability: A Tale of Two Genders
Saeed Ranjbar Davood Mashhadi Heidar

This research aimed to probe the effect of two different models of metacognitive strategy instruction on the listening performance of EFL learners in Iran. 83 intermediate EFL learners in four groups, two male and two female groups were the participants. The participant More

This research aimed to probe the effect of two different models of metacognitive strategy instruction on the listening performance of EFL learners in Iran. 83 intermediate EFL learners in four groups, two male and two female groups were the participants. The participants in the first experimental groups – a male and a female group – were undergone a ten-week treatment including the linear strategy instruction of metacognitive strategies. The focus was upon planning, monitoring, and evaluation. The participants in the second experimental group were trained according to Metacognitive Pedagogical Sequence proposed by Vandergrift and Goh (2012) for ten weeks, and participated in a course in which a sequence of tasks helped them work on their metacognitive awareness of the processes underlying L2 listening through peer interactions. Through a test of listening comprehension, data were collected and changes were tracked in learners’ listening performance before and after the program. According to the findings of the study metacognitive strategy instruction led to a significant improvement in the overall listening performance of the learners in both groups, that is, no significant difference was found between two groups of male and female learners. Moreover, it was shown that the Metacognitive Pedagogical Sequence and the manner in which metacognitive strategies were presented according to this model led to significantly higher listening performance of EFL learners who participated in this study. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - The Effects of English as Foreign Language Proficiency on Lexical Retention of Iranian Learners
Zinat Sha'bani Mohammad Taghi Hasani

This study aimed at investigating the effects of English as foreign language proficiency onlexical attrition of Iranian learners in Nouroz holidays. For this purpose, 90 students studiedEnglish translation at Qazvin Azad University were selected. They were sophomore and More

This study aimed at investigating the effects of English as foreign language proficiency onlexical attrition of Iranian learners in Nouroz holidays. For this purpose, 90 students studiedEnglish translation at Qazvin Azad University were selected. They were sophomore and wereaccessible for the present study. After administering a proficiency test (OPT), 60 students wereselected according to the result of their OPT test for this study in which 25 students were maleand 35 were female. In Time 1 administration and just before Nouroz vacation, OPT(OxfordPlacement Test) was given to 90 participants to determine their level of proficiency and classifythem into three high, middle, and low groups of proficiency level according to their scores on thetest. Then, the devised test of receptive/productive vocabulary, modeled on The VocabularyLevels Test, was administered to the same participants to measure their acquisition of nounscovered in their Reading Comprehension book. The receptive/productive vocabulary test isadministered independently of the participants' final exam and before it. The results indicatedthat both types of tests were exposed to attrition. The results indicate that both types of tests wereexposed to attrition. Therefore, the hypothesis that both receptive and productive wordknowledge of learned vocabularies are more prone to attrition rather than retention after Englishdisuse by Iranian learners over Nouroz vacation is confirmed. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - A survey on speech style of Qazvin’s women based on age and education
Shabnam Besharati Nazanin Amir Arjmandi Marjan Taheri Osgouei

Language is a social factor connecting people together. There are different speech styles among individuals, this difference is due to the situation and the context they are in. The purpose of this paper is to study speech style of Qazvin’s women in different situ More

Language is a social factor connecting people together. There are different speech styles among individuals, this difference is due to the situation and the context they are in. The purpose of this paper is to study speech style of Qazvin’s women in different situations. The authors have sought to find answers to the following questions: What is the relationship between speech style and age among Qazvin’s women? What is the relationship between speech style and education among Qazvin’s women? In this article, key concepts including style, language, gender and different reasons for the origins of linguistic varieties are stated first, and then we will study age and education, as two variables, and their impact on speech style of Qazvin’s women. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - An Overview of Vocabulary Learning Strategies in English as a Foreign Language
Somayeh Shahidi Shalmani

Researchers in the area of EFL learning have tried to put the way(s) by which EFL learners learnEnglish vocabulary into some frames and present them as strategies. This paper reviewsdescriptive research on vocabulary learning strategies in English as a foreign language. More

Researchers in the area of EFL learning have tried to put the way(s) by which EFL learners learnEnglish vocabulary into some frames and present them as strategies. This paper reviewsdescriptive research on vocabulary learning strategies in English as a foreign language. Thereview focuses on common strategies that learners use in vocabulary learning such as dictionarystrategies, note-taking strategies, Focusing on Form: Word- Formation strategies, and it alsodiscusses other different strategies at length. Manuscript profile

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