the aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency and the type of discourse markers used in the argumentative and expository writings of iranian efl learners and the differences between these text features in the two essay genres. the study also aimed at examining the influence of the use of discourse markers on the participants’ writing quality. to this end the discourse markers us...

the present study sought to investigate the role of dynamic assessment (da) in improvement of iranian efl writing performance at different language proficiency levels. to this end, after conducting the quick placement test, 60 iranian efl learners were assigned to two groups with different language proficiency levels. in both groups each participant wrote two compositions, one before and one af...

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...

simplification universal as a universal feature of translation means translated texts tend to use simpler language than original texts in the same language and it can be critically investigated through common concepts: type/token ratio, lexical density, and mean sentence length. although steps have been taken to test this hypothesis in various text types in different linguistic communities, in ...

this thesis attempts to investigate the effects of prelistening activities on enhancing iranian efl learners` listening comprehension. the present study investigated ways in which learners` background knowledge could be activated in order to enhance their l2 listening comprehension by limiting the number of possible text interpretations prior to listening. the experiments conducted in this stud...

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...

this thesis seeks to present a critical reading of virginia woolf’s mrs. dalloway and michael cunningham’s the hours in terms of an intertextual approach, concentrating on dialogic imagination, negativity, transposition and allusion. this study attempts to evaluate cunninghams perception of woolfs life and work by adopting kristevas conception of intertextuality and her consideration of the hou...

abstract the present thesis seeks to critically read george orwell’s nineteen eighty-four and animal farm in the light of louis althusser’s thought and theory. the present thesis proceeds to examine and demonstrate althusser’s major concepts including ideological state apparatuses (isas), repressive state apparatuses (rsas), the structure, the subject, and ideological interpellation which r...

the present study was carried on to investigate the use of face-keeping strategies in reaction to complaints by male and female in two different cultures, persian and american english. to see if apology strategies are affected by cultural, contextual preferences and gender of interlocutors in two distinct languages of persian and american english. the hypotheses to be tested were 1) ifids, acce...

the purpose of the present study is to find out whether bilinguals of khuzestan-arab origin or monolinguals of iranian origin code-switch during learning or speaking english and which group is more susceptible to code-switch. to this end, the students of 24 classes from high schools and pre- university centers were screened out, and interviewed and their voices and code-switchings were recorded...