most specialists in the field of foreign language teachingconsiderreading skill as an interactive process between the reader’s prior knowledge and the text.accordingly, the activation of prior knowledge for an effective comprehension is very important. it is generally agreed that the pre-reading phase is the stage where this type of interaction and activation may be enhanced throughcertain stra...

phatic communion is a cultural concept which differs across cultures. according to hofstede (2001), the u.s. tends to have individualistic culture; however, asian countries tend to have collectivistic cultures. these cultures view phatic communion differently. in individualistic cultures like u.s., phatic communion reflects speakers’ socio-cultural relationships in conversations. to see whether...

the caspian sea contains great resources of oil and gas. the caspian sea is a 700- mile- long body of water in central asia, land located between azerbaijan, iran, kazakhstan, russia and turkmenistan. iran was challenges and opportunities in the caspian region. key question in this thesis includes three section that first question, opportunities of iran in the caspian region, second question ch...

deployable scissor type structures are composed of the so-called scissor-like elements (sles), which are connected to each other at an intermediate point through a pivotal connection and allow them to be folded into a compact bundle for storage or transport. several sles are connected to each other in order to form units with regular polygonal plan views. the sides and radii of the polygons are...

there are two major theories of measurement in psychometrics: classical test theory (ctt) and item-response theory (irt). despite its widespread and long use, ctt has a number of shortcomings, which make it problematic to be used for practical and theoretical purposes. irt tries to solve these shortcomings, and provide better and more dependable answers. one of the applications of irt is the as...

according to cheng (1999), in recent esl/efl literature, asian (especially east asian) learners of english as a foreign/second language have been arguably reported as reticent and passive learners. the most common allegations are that these students are reluctant to participate in classroom discourse; they are unwilling to give responses; they do not ask questions; and they are passive and over...

abstract the problems caused by the traditional system of criminal justice (which are based on remuneration and rehabilitation) such as, lack of attention to victim’s rights and position and society, underlie the emergence of restorative justice which had the victim-centered perspective, with respect to the role of the offender and participation of civil society. meanwhile, criminal mediation ...

nowadays,tourism industry considered as one of the main sources of income of a country.unfortunately and despite of owning plenty of cultural historical and natural attractions, iran has not reached to a proper position in this field. besides, the historical cities of a country are considered as the income resource and national wealth of it. qazvin with a rich cultural precedent, have suitable ...

according to coates’s (2004, as cited in zhang, 2010) definition of "conversational dominance" (p.111), it refers to the phenomenon of a speaker dominating others in interaction. specifically, it means how a speaker makes use of certain strategies to get the floor and maintain the floor. thus, the amount of talk is the main measurement for the dominance of the conversation. whether a speaker do...

in the name of allah , the compassionate the merciful abstract shath ( blasphemic utterace made during spiritual ) is a complicated concept that deserves reflection in gnosticism and sufism ( mysticism ) and estem and westem scholars have alwaya paid attention to it. although principal essence of gnostic belief is the holy divine law ,gnosticism has pure and unique thoughts . by glancing at t...