English Language

این پژوهش با هدف بررسی رابطه میان گرایش به تفکر انتقادي و پیشرفت تحصیلی در درس زبان انگلیسی انجام یافت . همچنین نقش
هوش هیجانی به عنوان مؤلفهاي میانجی در رابطه بین این دو متغیر مورد کنکاش قرار گرفت.به منظور این مطالعه همبستگی، نمونهاي مشتمل بر 264
دانشآموز ( 145 پسر و 119 دختر) پایه سوم متوسطه، با روش نمونهگیري تصادفی چند مرحلهاي، از دبیرستانهاي شهرستان مشکین شهر انتخاب
شدند. میزان گرایش به تفکر انتقادي و هوش هیجانی آنان به ترتیب با بهرهگیري از پرسشنامه گرایش به تفکر انتقادي ریکتس (ریکتس، 2003 ) و
مقیاس هوش هیجانی تجدید نظر شده شات (آستین و همکاران، 2004 ) مورد سنجش قرار گرفت. از نمره امتحان زبان انگلیسی پایان سالدانشآموزان
به عنوان مشخصه پیشرفت تحصیلی آنان در زبان انگلیسی استفاده گردید. نتایج پژوهش رابطه معناداري بین گرایش به تفکر انتقادیو ابعاد آن یعنی
تعهد، بالندگی، شادکامی با میزان موفقیت دانشآموزان در درس زبان انگلیسی نشان داد. همچنین یافتههاي تحقیق حاکی از آن بود که هوش هیجانی
میتواند به عنوان یک عامل میانجی در رابطه بین این دو متغیر عمل کند

در این پژوهش، تلاش شده است تا رابطه بین تیپ شخصیتی زبان آموزان و عملکرد آنان در آزمون درک مطلب بر اساس دو نوع متن با ساختارهای متفاوت، یعنی متنهای روایتی و علی- معلولی مورد بررسی قرار گیرد. در همین راستا دو آزمون در میان 379 دانشجوی کارشناسی رشته زبان انگلیسی از چندین دانشگاه انجام شد. این دو، شامل یک آزمون درک مطلب محقق ساخته متشکل از هشت متن با دو ساختار متنی روایتی و علی- معلولی و یک پرسشنامه آزمون تعیین نوع شخصیت مایرز - بریگز بود. سپس داده های به دست آمده مورد بررسی و تحلیل قرار گرفت. نتایج حاصل از تحلیل داده ها حاکی از این است که توزیع نمرات برای هر دو ساختار متنی نرمال نبود. بنابراین از دو آزمون کروسکال- ولیس برای یافتن رابطه میان متغیرها استفاده شد. نتایج آزمون کروسکال- ولیس نشان داد که رابطه ی معناداری بین عملکرد زبان آموزان در این دو آزمون وجود ندارد. برای یافتن این که کدام یک از انواع شخصیت در یکی از این آزمون ها بهتر عمل کرده است، هشت آزمون تی زوجی برای هشت نوع شخصیت مورد مطالعه انجام شد. نتایج به دست آمده نشانگر این بود که همه انواع شخصیتی در آزمون متون روایتی بهتر عمل کردند اما برتری برای چهار تیپ شخصیتی حسی احساسی ادراکی، حسی احساسی قضاوتی، حسی متفکر قضاوتی و شهودی احساسی ادراکی چشمگیرتر بود. به دلیل وجود ویژگی احساسی در میان بیشتر آزمودنی ها در این چهار گروه، چنین نتیجه گیری شد که افراد دارای این ویژگی، به دلیل وجود همخوانی میان احساسی بودن و ویژگی های متون روایتی بهتر عمل می کنند.

The present study investigated the effect of cross-cultural background knowledge on Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension ability. To do this, sixty female EFL learners between 17 and 19 years of age were selected at a private language institute in Sabzevar based on their scores in language proficiency test and were randomly assigned to two groups of thirty. In order to determine homogeneity of students, a Nelson test was administered to the groups before any treatment. The teacher presented ten reading passages with the cultural content in both control and experimental groups. During the experiment, the teacher made her students familiar with target culture. On the other hand, the students in Control group did not enjoy any of the advantages of cultural warm-up activities which were designed to activate the cross-cultural background knowledge of students in Experimental group. At the end of this treatment, the two groups took a post-test to see whether the treatment had any influence on their reading comprehension ability. The post-test was piloted already. The results of the post-test showed that the groups performed differently on the post-test, which indicated that familiarity with specific culturally-oriented language reading text would improve Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability.

This study was conducted to investigate the possible effect of motivation and autonomy on students' English as foreign
language proficiency in two universities - Payamenoor (distance) and Islamic Azad universities (traditional)- in the city
of Gonbad-e-Kavous. To do so, 152 Azad University students and 144 Payamenoor University students were randomly
selected. Three questionnaires each dealing with one of the three variables of motivation, autonomy and foreign
language proficiency were distributed among students to collect the required data. Analyzing the data through Multiple
Regression and Fisher's r to z transformation, the results revealed that there is a significant relationship between
motivation and foreign language proficiency in both universities. In regard to autonomy, however, results showed no
significant relationship between autonomy and foreign language proficiency in Payamenoor University, while in Azad
University this relationship was revealed meaningful and significant. The findings of the current study will inform
teachers and curriculum developers of the status of motivation and autonomy in the success of students in their
academic performance, pointing out some procedures to enhance this idea.

This study investigated the relationship between foreign language classroom anxiety and English
language achievement among male and female high school third-graders in Urmia, a city in
north-west of Iran. A sample of 400 students (187 males, and 213 females) was assessed for their
levels of foreign language anxiety using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
(FLCAS). Participants' scores on their final English test were also used as the measurement of
their English achievement. The results of Pearson correlation revealed foreign language
classroom anxiety was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with English
achievement (r = -.472, p < .01). Gender was also found to be related to levels of anxiety,
indicating that girls had higher levels of anxiety than boys (t = -3.840, p = .000). Gender
differences were significantly correlated to English achievement and FLA. It was recommended
that foreign language teachers should be aware of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA)
level, its causes and results.

This article tries to explore critical approaches to language education as an instance of
socio-cultural theory that can inform second language acquisition (SLA) research and
practice. Critical education is first introduced as an alternative to mainstream cognitive views
of SLA. A number of foundational concepts of critical pedagogical perspectives and how they
may contribute to SLA are also reviewed. On the basis of these theoretical conceptions,
retrospective reflections of an advanced language learner on his previous experiences of
learning reading in English as a foreign language (EFL) are applied to illustrate critical
language education as a general approach that may shape an alternative socio-cultural
approach to SLA. Based on this case study it will be argued that from a socio-cultural
perspective, language learners move beyond limited cognitive and communicative language
acquisition. At the same time that they grapple with formal aspects of language and learn to
communicate, they also move towards becoming critically aware of their wider context of life
and their society.

This research has been performed to investigate
the relationships between the personality traits and
drug usage among the addicted society members.
200 people took part in the present investigation.
They were selected in clusters at random from
among addicted communities who referred to the
centers for stopping addiction and answered Neo
personality traits questionnaires and the
questionnaire for drug usage withdrawal.Resulted
data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation
coefficient and simultaneous regression. The results
of the research indicate that conscientiousness has
the highest correlation (P<0.01, r= -063), of course
personality traits of extroversion (P<0.01, r=-0.51),
neurosis orientation (P<0.01, r=0.43), and
compatibility (P<0.01, r=-0.43) with the use of
drugs, But openness to experience has no
correlations with the drug usage.Also, the results of
analyzing regression indicates that the differentials
of extroversion, conscientiousness explain
(P<o.001)0.56 of variance of drug usage. According
to the increase in the number of addicts, dangerous
drugs and frequent returns among the addicts,
identifying dangerous factors and critical
prerequisites of identifying addiction decreases the
range of its dangers.

Creativity is at the heart of the 21st century educational work. Learner’ creativity or learner’s creative thinking skills are among
the most important skills they need to be prepared for the knowledge society. The rapid development of technology in the modern
era sheds light on the place and importance of creativity in education. Technology also has brought change in the way the
students learn (collaboration strategy) and recently the computer-based instruction associated with electrical technologies has
been a popular way of instruction that learning is no longer confined to classrooms (distance learning). Also in the case of the
students if they want to take effective advantage of technology, they have to use the constructivist and cognitive skills
(psychological learning theory). Recently education experts have tried to show how a distance instructional can be designed. The
main question of this paper is what effects the distance instructional design based on the views of constructivism and cognitivism
have on the learners’ creativity .The definition of distance education (e-learning), the instruction design based on constructivist
view and its function in education and distance learning (e-learning), the instruction design based on cognitive view and its
function in education and distance learning (e-learning), the factors affecting the creativity development and accommodation
(comparison) the characteristics of the instructural context, and the impact of the appropriate learning on the creativity
development according to these settings are among the other main points of this review.
Keywords: Instructional Design, Distance Education, E-learning, Creativity, Cognitivism, Constructivism

In this paper, a descriptive - comparative analysis is used to compare the use of educational technology in the developed and
developing countries. In European countries advanced information technology is used in working groups while African countries
have been unable to independently create and use new technologies in their education system. Iran is investing in information
technology to be able to build the infrastructure and then train people in the necessary skills to use information technology. The
best development for developing countries is benefiting from experiences of developed countries and progressing in parallel.
Keywords: Comparative Study, Educational Technology, Curriculum, Developed Countries, Developing Countries.

It is hypothesized in the present study that when learners read an English text, they use their critical thinking ability beyond the language components such as meaning of words and structure of sentences to understand it better. The major goal of the present study is to examine whether there is any relationship between the learners‟ critical thinking ability and their reading comprehension score in general and their micro-skills (i.e. inference, main idea, and specific details) in particular. Also, this study tries to investigate the difference between the learners‟ critical thinking ability and their reading comprehension skills with regard to their gender. For this purpose, 120 (68 females and 52 males) Iranian EFL students majoring in Translation, English literature and English teaching of the English department in Isfahan state university in Iran participated by accomplishing two tests. This study showed that there is a close relationship between the learner‟s critical thinking ability and their reading comprehension score (r = .73), and their reading micro-skills: inference (r = .64), main idea (r = .63), and specific details (r = .53). On the other hand the study showed that gender is not a determinant in critical thinking ability nor in reading comprehension.