the present study investigated construct equivalence of multiple choice (mc) and constructed response (cr) item types across stem and content equivalent mc and cr items (item type ‘a’), non-stem-equivalent but content equivalent mc and cr items (item type ‘b’), and non-stem and non-content equivalent mc and cr items (item type ‘c’). one hundred seventy english-major undergraduates completed mc ...

abstract: the present study is about prophet ishmael, some parts of his life; his personality in the quran and the bible; and the comparison of the content of these two religious books. compilation of the study has been done with a new perspective and new presentation approach. since prophets have been human beings’ role model and their life has been a perfect example for humanity in all ages,...

abstract poor reading comprehension can result in failure in using references, benefiting from professional gatherings and resources, keeping up with the growing body of knowledge in the virtual world of the internet, and failing to achieve in efl programs. the purpose of the present quasi-experimental study was to explore the effects of background knowledge and previewing narrative and expos...

in fact this study is concerned with the relationship between the variation in thematice structure and the comprehension of spoken language. so the study focused on the following questions: 1. is there any relationship between thematic structure and the comprehension of spoken language? 2. which of the themes would have greated thematic force and be easier for the subjects to comprehend? accord...

in this thesis, we consider a mathematical model of cancer with completely unknown parameters. we study the stability of critical points which are biologically admissible. then we consider a control on the system and introduce situations at which solutions are attracted to critical points and so the cancer disease has auto healing. the lyapunov stability method is used for estimating the un...

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...

abstract the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of using model essays on the development of writing proficiency of iranian pre-intermediate efl learners. to fulfill the purpose of the study, 55 pre- intermediate learners of parsa language institute were chosen by means of administering proficiency test. based on the results of the pretest, two matched groups, one as the expe...

the present study sought to investigate the impact of using mind-mapping technique instruction on female elementary efl learners reading comprehension; it also investigated their attitudes towards using mind-mapping technique as a tool to improve their reading comprehension. this study followed a quasi-experimental design with two intact groups as experimental, and control groups. the participa...

the construct of self-efficacy has received increasing attention in research over the past two decades. many studies have been carried out 1.3 significance of the study this study has pedagogical implications since improving students’ self- efficacy and autonomy is important for promoting actual performance on classroom academic tasks. in academic settings, it has been shown that self-effi...

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...