Language and Testing

Audiolingual is a method of teaching used in teaching languages based on behaviourist psychology and structuralist linguistics. At first, this method had many advocates, but later it was rejected as the result of having some problems. Later on new communicative methods were introduced. They emphasized the role of interaction as the means and the aim of learning a language. Similarly, they had their own problems. Therefore, it has been suggested that it is better not to hold rigidly to a single method, but instead use the points of strength of various methods. This paper intends to combine useful points of the two methods to devise an efficient method for teaching more especially in EFL contexts.

For many researchers and scholars the first and most important task is to search for finding the relationship between language and sex and becoming aware of the differences between men and women’s speech. The present article seeks to formulate the differences of male and female characterizations in using a number of discursive structures such as nominals, passives and address forms in English and Persian. This article also makes a comparison between using these structures in Persian and English. To do so, three English dramas and five Persian dramas and scenarios are selected. In each language, 120 dyads (pairs of speech act) are separately analyzed, 40 male-female dyads, 40 male-male dyads, and 40 female-female dyads. Then, the frequency of using nominals, passives, first names, imperatives, and tag questions are computed. By using statistical test of nominal data, chi-square, the differences between male and female in using discursive structures are examined to see if the differences are significant or not. Also these differences in male-male interactions as well as female-female interactions are analyzed. This procedure is done both for the English and the Persian data. At the end, the similarities and differences between English and Persian in using nominals, passives and address forms are discussed.

It was well known that syntax is a part of language which must be absorbed by the learners. By that way they can use the language in the proper manner. However, the teaching of syntax is not really meeting the objective of learning since it leads the teachers to give detail explanation of the language and create negative perception of the language learning itself. Thus this article will discuss the educator’s perspective on teaching of syntax in foreign language. To obtain a data of the study, researchers have constructed a set of structured questions for interview purpose. Eight respondents were agreeing to participate and to be interviewed. Findings demonstrated that syntax is very crucial for teaching and learning of foreign language. In the other hand, learners cannot avoid this part of language and in the same time, teachers must know how to gradually help learners in their learning process.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of using Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and speaking skill and also to investigate the feelings and notions of learners and their teacher with regard to the application of PBL approach in English classes. 26 EFL learners which formed two intact classes in a language institute participated in this study. The placement test which was administered in both groups indicated that the students of both groups were homogeneous and that they were in intermediate level. Experimental group was comprised of 14 female learners while the control group included 12 male learners. At the beginning of the study a vocabulary and a speaking test was administered in both classes as the pre-test. Learners in the control group were taught with the prevalent traditional lecture-based, teacher-centered teaching approach while students in the experimental group enjoyed being taught with PBL approach according to which learners were given problems which required learners to think, search about the problem and debate with their classmates. After a semester, learners in both groups were asked to take the vocabulary and speaking tests as the post-test. Result of the data analysis disclosed that learners in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group, both in vocabulary and speaking tests, which indicated that PBL approach can improve learners’ vocabulary learning and speaking ability compared to traditional methods. Moreover, the data gathered through learners’ self-report and interview with the teacher represented the general positive view of learners and teacher toward PBL approach. More elaborate description and report of the issue in this respect is provided in the discussion.

The primary concern of this study was whether there is a relationship among teachers' feedback and type of class (task-based or traditional) ,feedback in education has got various types and fields ,but tutor's feedback to students errors was the researcher's concern.How the tutor corrected the learners in these two kinds of classes can show the researchrers and tutors the effects of feedbacks on learning and teaching and also communicating.To aim this,The researcher examined the students in two groups and examining the teachers' feedback to defining four types of learners errors (M orphosyntax , Semantic, Phonological, Lexical ).Task which was taught in TB class was ordering and matching . Using various sorts of tasks in order to improve students performance in real world (Skehan 1996a).The method which used to analysis data was be Chi-square.The results of the present study revealed that there was no significant relationship between type of class and tutor's feedback .

In this information era in which people are facing huge amounts of incoming information and communicating too many people who are trying to convince others, teachers’ ability to think and to teach critically gains an ever greater saliency as a prime goal of education. To this end, the present study was an attempt to investigate whether collaborative assessment can enhance teachers’ critical thinking abilities through empowering them. The collected data consisted of think aloud protocols of 24 individual and 12 collaborative raters. The results were qualitatively analyzed in search of themes relevant to empowerment as a critical educational practice among raters/teachers. Transcription of think aloud protocols, comments written down by raters, marginal notes of papers, and qualitative analyses revealed that collaborative assessment as an activity in EFL pedagogy seems to empower raters and provide them with opportunities to express their ‘voice’. The findings of this study provide insight into a more effective assessment which contribute to enhancing teachers/raters’ critical thinking and present suggestions for further research.

There are number of postcolonial theorist and critics such as Frantz Fanon, Homi K. Bhabha, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak contributed to postcolonialism and the postcolonial intellectuals has developed a new perspective whereby the conditions of marginality, subalterneity, plurality, mimicry, hybridity are seen as sources of energy and potential change. Many women writers, thinkers and critics have formulated a school of thought that searches for such instances in literature. Feminist literary criticism primarily responds to the way woman is presented in literature. Postcolonial feminist criticism examines how women are represented in colonial and postcolonial literature and challenges assumptions which are made about women in both literature and society. Postcolonial feminists point out the ways in which women continue to be stereotyped and marginalised, ironically sometimes by postcolonial authors who might claim to be challenging a culture of oppression. The main task of the feminist literary critics seems to oppose patriarchal norms which exist in the society. The marginalizations of women, their predicament, struggle for identity, finding their own space, celebrating the female body are the chief subjects of this trend. The protagonists of all the novels of Manju Kapur are seen as women struggling against all odds. Manju Kapur has always tried to depict the picture of the sufferings of women at deeper level in her novels. In her novels, she deals with the problems of women and their struggle to establish an identity. She in particular takes up the cause of the females who are victimized on account of conservative and traditional mind-set of the Indian masses. Most of the protagonists of Kapur are women who assert their rights and raise voice against male chauvinism. Nina is one such character who rebels against the exploitation and oppression to assert her individuality.

The present students at the tertiary level need a learning environment in which they seek more involvement. The challenge for the English language teacher is to create such a situation and enhance the morale of the students. Cooperative learning certainly does augment the motivational levels of the students and provides a platform for better learning. The present paper explores the cooperative learning as a learning strategy and includes the findings of a questionnaire on English language learning at the tertiary level in VIT University. As competition is valued over cooperation, a student should be made aware of the need for healthy and positive interaction.

Despite the great emphasis laid on the importance of being critical, it is not really known whether English teachers are all aware of Critical pedagogy principles in ELT or whether different components of ELT curriculum, widely practiced in educational system, including material development, teaching styles and strategies, and testing methods and outcomes are consistent with principles of critical pedagogy. Therefore the present study was carried out to substantiate the relationship between the teachers’ critical thinking and their awareness of critical pedagogy principles as the vital essence of language teaching (Birjandi & Bagherkazemi, 2010; Braa & Callero, 2006; Canagarajah, 1999, 2003). To fulfill this aim, measures of critical thinking ability of 112 Iranian EFL teachers, obtained by the Farsi version of Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, Form YM (Watson–Glaser, 1961), were estimated and compared with the data collected through Critical Pedagogy Questionnaire (Maki, 2011). A statistically significant correlation between these two measures (r= 0.55, p ? 0.01) was indicated through analysis done by Pearson Product–moment correlation. The findings of this study provide insight into the effective teaching and present suggestions for further research.

There is a controversy over providing error correction feedback on L2 writing. Some researchers propose that it should be totally abandoned. Other researchers claim that the basis for the proof of these studies is insufficient and further investigation is required. In this research, it was examined whether the type of corrective feedback (direct, explicit writing feedback along with student-teacher conferencing; direct, explicit writing feedback alone; no corrective feedback) on three types of error (prepositions, the past simple tense, and the definite article) had any significant effect on writing accuracy of Iranian university students. For this purpose, 60 university students majoring in English Language Teaching were selected and they were separated into three groups. Each group was exposed to a distinct corrective feedback. The study found significant effect for the application of the first corrective feedback (direct, explicit written and conference feedback) on students’ writing accuracy in the case of past simple tense and the definite article. But these feedback types had no significant effect on writing accuracy when the three error types were considered as a single group.