The effective practice of medicine requires narrative competence, that is, the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. Medicine practiced with narrative competence, called narrative medicine, is proposed as a model for humane and effective medical practice. Adopting methods such as close reading of literature and reflective writing allows narrati...

In the present study, two different models of task complexity; namely, limited attentional capacity model and cognition hypothesis were examined. To this end, the manipulation of cognitive task complexity along +/- single task dimension on Iranian EFL learners’ production in terms of fluency was explored. Based on the results of the writing test of TOFEL (2004), 48 learners were selected as the...

Feministic criticism concerns the function of specific feminine cultural and ideological constituents in literal works. In its approach to narrative this kind of criticism follows two methods. First, the attributes of women and their role and personality in course of the story, and second a critique of women presented which studies female authors. Sorkhi-e-to az man by Sepedeh Shamlu is one the...

Task-based language teaching, which requires learners to transact tasks resembling their real life language needs, demands language learners to perform planning at different stages of their learning. Since various types of tasks can be used in task-based instruction, the present study examined the effect of task types and various participatory structures during pre-task planning on the quality ...

The difficulty of assessing the writing skill is well known. Different testing facets seem to affect the result of assessing the writing skill. In addition to the writer’s ability, the topic of the writing task, and methods of rating may contribute to the writer’s score. In this study, 50 EFL learners wrote four different types of writing tasks (convincing, describing, instructing, and explaini...

Reflective capacity is integral to core healthcare professional practice competencies. Reflection plays a central role in teacher education as reflecting on teaching behaviours with critical analysis can potentially improve teaching practice. The humanities including narrative and the visual arts can serve as a valuable tool for fostering reflection. We conducted a multinational faculty develop...

The purpose of this study is to find a practical solution for improving writing skill among Iranian high school learners of EFL. The main question was whether pragmatics had any priority over traditional methods in improving writing or not.  Forty high school students were selected on the basis of their performance in PET (2009). In addition the following instruments were also used in this quas...

This article describes how a group of Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners were guided through the practice of writing their first academic essays in English. The method applied the principle of scaffolding to the essay writing process by providing flexible support for the learners during the writ- ing their first essays. Scaffolding included a number of aspects, each of which is explained i...

This study investigated if different response formats (test methods) measure reading comprehension of expository text differently. The study was conducted with 48 semester 6 TESL students at a university in Selangor, Malaysia. These students received an expository passage having descriptive rhetorical structure followed by three response formats, namely, incomplete outline, graphic organizer, a...

INTRODUCTION Pulmonary hypertension is life limiting. Delays in diagnosis are common, and even after treatment has been initiated, pulmonary hypertension has marked effects on many aspects of social and physical function. We believed that a new approach to examining disease impact could be achieved through a combination of narrative research and creative writing. METHODS Detailed unstructured...