Ailin Firoozian Pooresfahani; Ferdows Aghagolzadeh; Arsalan Golfam; Aliyeh Kord-e Zafaranlu Kambuziya
Volume 10, Issue 19 , January 2019, Pages 1-21
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction Although it is believed that language is the sheer truth (Cook, 2003), this fact should not be ignored that language specifically the socio-political discourse is sometimes used to conceal the truth and conveys the purport the way that affects people and persuade them ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction Although it is believed that language is the sheer truth (Cook, 2003), this fact should not be ignored that language specifically the socio-political discourse is sometimes used to conceal the truth and conveys the purport the way that affects people and persuade them to accept the untruth. The translator who is responsible for transferring the content that in turn, includes meta-language elements such as culture, history, politics, authority, and different ideologies from the source language (SL) to the target language (TL) and by manipulating and altering the linguistic forms of source language, he affects the readers' schools of thoughts and feelings and finally lead them to a certain ideology (Mason, 2010; Penycook, 2004). therefore, it can be said that in a translation process, the translator can convey the source of language's content to the target language the way he likes by applying diverse strategies and techniques, consciously or unconsciously (Schäffner, 2007, 2009). As far as the way a socio-political translator’s choice of any of the linguistic forms considerably influences the reader’s mind, the research aims to augment the precision of translations done by students of English translation from different social classes, to improve people's critical thinking, to find and analyze manipulative syntactic structures of socio-political texts, and to express translators’ ideology or the dominant ideology of their society. Theoretical Framework The framework of this paper is based on critical discourse analysis and socio-cognitive Van Dijk’s approach (2004). His analytical method, suggest two levels of analysis: macro level and micro level. Macro-level is related to the analysis of meta-linguistic elements such as ideology. For investigating this level in this study, “ideological square” defined by Van Dijk (2004) will be used. The concept of this square based on polarization, designate the following dimensions: Emphasizing our positive actions or properties Mitigating their positive properties and actions Emphasizing their negative properties and actions Mitigating our negative properties and actions Microstructure as another level is related to the analysis of the text in terms of linguistic forms. This research focuses on all syntactic strategies which might be applied by translators’ in order to represent their ideologies. Methodology Among approximately 600 texts collected from different written English socio-political content that were translated to Persian language and were limited to national, international or regional issues related to subjects about Iran, 250 utterances were selected for analyzing. These excerpts had the most obvious syntactic manipulation done by Persian translators. They were taken from written news, interviews, resolutions and the like from different sources such as websites, press, and magazines. Searching all syntactic strategies and manipulations, the Persian translators’ ideology were then challenged within CDA framework and Van Dijk’s theoretical pattern (2004). After that, Van Dijk’s ideological square was used to analyze how Our and Their actions and properties were polarized and how they were reflected in translation were examined. In the end, the frequency of the applied syntactic strategies was calculated. Results and Discussion In this part of the research according to Van Dijk’s theoretical pattern (2004), the frequency and percentage of each syntactic manipulations including eight strategies (word order, passivization, topicalization, nominalization, addition, deletion, modality and tense shift) which were used to manipulate the syntactic structures of English (ST) in order to convey Persian translator’s dominant or intended ideology, are excluded and analyzed. Conclusion and Suggestions The conclusions show that the syntactic strategies and manipulations do have a salient role in representing Persian translators’ ideologies in English written translated socio-political texts through the polarization of us and them. In other words, the effectiveness of syntax, manipulations, and changes made on syntactic structures and the Van Dijk’s theoretical pattern (2004) syntactic strategies could considerably echo the Persian translators’ ideologies in translated socio-political English discourses. Hence, studying these analyses clearly demonstrates that the major strategies or strategies used for emphasizing and mitigating actions in the content that Van Dijk explained in his ideological square has been significantly effective in justifying syntactic changes and the manipulations done by Persian translators. Also, comparing syntactic frequencies showed that the findings of the mostly applied strategies such as deletion and addition represent that among all such strategies, Persian translators pick the clearest and most direct way to express intended ideologies and hitherto, they have been trying to affect the meaning and the ideology of the target language indirectly. As far as the current research chose to study syntax among different discourse terms, studying other terms can show a more comprehensible picture of changes that represent the efforts translators have made to demonstrate beliefs, principles, personal and social culture through words, structures, and ideological meanings.
Akram Khoshdoni Farahani; Ali Darzi; Razieh Mehdi Beyraghdar; Belghis Rovshan
Volume 10, Issue 19 , January 2019, Pages 23-46
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction The foreign linguists have answered the question of why English speakers use the preterite in complement clauses while using the preterite in head clauses by three hypotheses. It is not possible to argue for or against one of the three hypotheses without incorporating ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction The foreign linguists have answered the question of why English speakers use the preterite in complement clauses while using the preterite in head clauses by three hypotheses. It is not possible to argue for or against one of the three hypotheses without incorporating them into a coherent theory of tense. Within Declerck’s theory (1991a), comrie’s hypothesis (1986) is rejected but instead it is accepted that the tense of a complement clause in indirect speech according to the other hypotheses may be either a relative tense or an absolute tense. The study method is descriptive_analytic. The similarity between Persian and English examples, and the limitations governed on them are very amazing. Past perfect is one of the tenses which shows the priority on the past orientation time. The article investigates the past perfect in future domain, that is, when the head clause situation is in future. The data show using past perfect versus present perfect but our selected framework offers a natural explanation for them. Theoretical Framework Lack of acquaintance in persian makes us just state foreign linguists’ views about tense order and relations, traditionally called Sequence of Tenses (SoT). They offer three different hypotheses to answer the introduction questions. These hypotheses consist of 'absolute tense hypothesis', 'relative tense hypothesis', and 'formal SoT'. Absolut hypothesis says that the subclause situation is in the past tense because it refers to past time. Past tense as an absolute tense form relates a situation (i.e. event, state, etc.) directly to the moment of speaking. Relative hypothesis expresses that the subclause situation is simultaneous with the head clause situation, which lies in the past. Comrie's formal SoT hypothesis says if in direct speech the introductory verb is in past tense, in indirect speech a formal SoT rule automatically backshifts the tense forms from direct speech. Declerck (1990b) rejects Comrie's hypothesis and expresses that the tense of a complement clause in indirect speech may be either a relative tense or an absolute tense. While choosing Declerck’s tense theory (1991a) we see his hypothesis suitable for explaining Persian data. In his theory establishing and extending temporal domains, and the shift of temporal perspective are basic concepts that together with particular Semantics and pragmatics coming from Grice’s Conversation Maxims (1975) help us to find out some aspects of time such as SoT in Persian complex sentences. Methodology The study method is descriptive_analytic. In the study we have selected some complex sentences in Persian not needing to be indirect speech so that we can test implicitly the possibility of generation of Declerckʼs theory to the other sentences. The head clause situation is in present or future tense and the subclause prior situation is in present perfect or past perfect tense. The article writers provide a natural explanation for these Persian examples. Discussion Tense relations consist of priority, simultaneity, and posteriority. This study is an attempt to realize the temporal priority of situations in future domain called post_present domain in Declerck’s theory. The priority in future domain in unmarked case is shown by two pseudo_absolute tenses: pseudo_past and pseudo_present perfect, while in marked case it is indicated by a relative tense: past perfect. It is possible for the subclause situation refered by present perfect to be prior to the head clause situation in the present or future tense; however, using past perfect in this conditions needs to be explained because the past perfect functions as an instruction to look for a past orientation time, to which the situation time can be interpreted as being anterior. If head clause refers to the present or post_present and there is no contextually given past orientation time, it is the beginning of the head clause situation that is interpreted as being the past or pseudo_past orientation time in question. Self-evidently this is only possible if the head clause has a certain duration, so that its beginning can be seen as past with respect to the rest of the situation. Tense priority in the future domain is expressed by past tense or present perfect tense in unmarked case and by past perfect tense in marked case. Conclusion The similarity between Persian and English examples, and limitations governed on them are very amazing, while studying tense and SoT. The connotation of the similarity is that Persian and English languages follow the same principles which are the representative of the competence universality in spite of their external differences. Furthermore, Persian traditional grammar defines present perfect and past perfect so that it may not have any contrast with the core meaning of them in accepted tense system here, although it does not include all the details. Therefore, studying more about the tense forms assumes necessary.
Reza Morad Sahraee; Shahnaz Yegane
Volume 10, Issue 19 , January 2019, Pages 47-72
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction According to the studies, the grammatical metaphor has a special significance in the development of scientific writings, and it is one of the most important characteristics of the scientific language. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Persian language based ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction According to the studies, the grammatical metaphor has a special significance in the development of scientific writings, and it is one of the most important characteristics of the scientific language. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Persian language based on the systemic functional linguistics framework and it will attempt to answer the fundamental question that how many types of metaphorical processes have been used in the scientific articles in various disciplines including physics, chemistry, linguistics, and political sciences within three decades. The second goal is to compare the results of all four disciplines in different decades, in order to determine the development of these mechanisms in the scientific discourse of the Persian language at different decades. Theoretical Framework The basic roles of grammatical phenomena according to systemic functional linguistics are described through three meta-functions: ideational (consisting of empirical and logical cases), interpersonal, and textual. The whole model of systemic functional linguistics is based on the relationship and interaction between these three meta-functions. The ideational meta-function has to do with how we construe our human experience in and of reality through language. The interpersonal meta-function views language as interaction. The textual meta-function is concerned with the textual organization of the language. The ideational meta-function relates to the clause through which experience is seen as being encoded in language as processes, participants in these processes and circumstances. Each of these meta-functional representations of language can be expressed through metaphorical expressions. Halliday (2004) considers grammatical metaphor as the most important feature in describing the language of science and emphasizes that many features of the language of science are the result of grammatical metaphor. Methodology The present study is a descriptive-comparative study whose structure consists of four sets of research papers related to the fields of physics, chemistry, linguistics, and political sciences. 60 Persian academic articles from reputable journals were chosen for analysis. Each field is divided into the groups of 15 articles and each group is divided into three groups of 5 articles devoted to 1981-2011 in three decades. First, the number of the occurrence of metaphorical grammatical expressions in each text was determined, and congruent equivalent for each was presented. After analyzing the grammatical metaphors of selected articles in this way, the frequency of occurrence of each type of metaphors was obtained through the division of grammatical metaphors by the total words in the whole text and, accordingly, the average percentage of the use of metaphorical grammatical expressions in each text were assessed. The results of the calculations were compared using independent t-test using SPSS software. In this research, the significance level is less than 0.05. Results and Discussion Based on these findings, metaphors type (2, 10, 5, and 6) were the most frequent metaphors respectively, and type (7, 11, 4, and 12) were the least frequent ones respectively. Chemistry has the most use of metaphorical mechanisms, and physics, political science, and linguistics are ranked next. In addition, the results, on the one hand, show that the ratio of the general use of the type of grammatical metaphors contained in the experimental texts (chemistry and physics) is significantly more than the human sciences (political science and linguistics). On the other hand, the political science text (human sciences) with the average of 5/07 grammatical metaphors are not much different from the average of 5/09 physics texts (experimental science). In addition, the order of frequency occurrence of different metaphors in this field is the same as physics and chemistry. According to the results, "apparently" there is no direct connection between the scientific nature of a field and the application of metaphor. Conclusion and Suggestions The finding of present study showed the order of the occurrence of grammatical metaphors in each text was as follow: 2 > 10> 5> 6> 1> 9> 8> 3> 12> 4> 11> 7. In addition, it showed that the order of fields in using the most number of metaphorical processes is as follows: chemistry> physics> political science> linguistics. Findings of the research do not show a direct relation between the scientific nature of these disciplines and the application of grammatical metaphor. In addition there is also no significant difference in the number of grammatical metaphors diachronically. The findings of this research can be used in determining the promotion extent of the status of Persian language among the international scientific languages, which is one of the eight major objectives in the comprehensive scientific map of the country. In addition, the findings of this research can be used in various fields including planning, teaching and writing scientific texts to teach the Persian language to non-Persian speakers.
Zahra Hamedi Shirvan; Fatemeh Kazemi Motlagh
Volume 10, Issue 19 , January 2019, Pages 73-95
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction In this research, it has been tried to study and analyze a few books in teaching the Persian language based on critical discourse analysis (CDA) using the concepts discussed in the Fairclough and Van Dijk’s approaches. About analyzing the discourse of teaching Persian ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction In this research, it has been tried to study and analyze a few books in teaching the Persian language based on critical discourse analysis (CDA) using the concepts discussed in the Fairclough and Van Dijk’s approaches. About analyzing the discourse of teaching Persian to the speakers of other languages’ texts, no research has not been done before, except a case study and therefore, conducting such studies seems necessary.The main issue in this study is how one single issue – that is Iran, Iranian and Iranian culture – is represented by different authors in various educational books. What are the differences in terms of vocabulary and linguistic structures used in the books? What are the goals and attitudes that underlie these differences, and what messages are conveyed by these differences? Therefore, the main research questions are: How is the choice of vocabulary, terminology, attributes, predicates and their meanings about Iran and Iranian in the books in question and what does it indicate? What are the concepts, beliefs, attitudes, and ideologies about Iran and Iranian in the reviewed books? Through which linguistic structures are these ideologies and concepts expressed and conveyed to the audience? Theoretical Framework Fairclough believes that discourse is a concept used by sociological theorists and analysts as well as by linguists. In his view, discourse means "spoken or written language use; it also includes other semiotic activities such as visual images (photos, videos, etc.) and non-verbal communication (like gestures), (Fairclough, 1992, p. 62).Fairclough believes that CDA is the "Analysis of the relationship between the objective use of language and wider social-cultural structures". He considers three aspects for each discourse event: 1. Text: texts may be oral or written, and oral texts can only be audio (such as radio) or audiovisual (such as television), 2. Discursive practices and 3. Social practices the components (elements) studied in this study are: 1. Choice of vocabulary and their meanings 2. Predication 3. Transitivity 4. Modality 5. Topics or semantic macro-structures. Methodology This study was conducted as descriptive-analytical research. The population in the study is Persian teaching materials (books) for the speakers of other languages. The sampling method in this study has been accessible and purposeful sampling. The studied series in the present study are four sets of Persian language teaching books for non-Persian speakers, respectively, Modern Persian Teaching, Let’s Learn Persian, Farsi Shirin Ast and Persian of Iran Today. Of these four series, the first two have been published in Iran, while the other two series have been published outside of Iran. Given that the two books Farsi Shirin Ast and Persian of Iran Today are only published for the elementary level and do not have intermediate and advanced levels, only the elementary level of all the series are analyzed in this study. In reviewing and analyzing the books, all the content of books, including the reading part, dialogues, listening, and all types of the exercises and even the review lessons were carefully studied. Then, among them, the reading texts, dialogues, listening and exercises which were related to Iran, Iranian or the Iranian culture were selected for analysis. Results and Discussion In this research, the elementary level books of four Persian language teaching series was analyzed based on CDA using Fairclough’s approach. Reviewing the educational textbooks and determining their discursive structures can reveal the hidden ideologies and their hidden aspects of meaning. The content and subjects presented in these materials play an essential role in creating a logical and real or an unrealistic and wrong viewpoint about the destination language and culture. Thus, there is a great responsibility and burden on material developers and writers in this regard.In the first part of the data analysis, the main and secondary themes related to Iran and Iranians were discussed and analyzed and a summary of the themes were: important places of Iran, Iranian prominent characters, personality traits and attitudes of Iranians, Iranian’s culture and customs, Iranian’s celebrations, and Iranian’s way of life. Most Iranians depicted in the books which are published outside Iran (Group 1), have emigrated from Iran, and their life is closer to the Western lifestyle, they are separated from their parents and their families, and they are interested in the Western lifestyle. On the contrary, the Iranians in the books which are published inside Iran (Group 2), live in Iran and have an Iranian lifestyle; they even maintain an Iranian lifestyle, even if they have migrated; and they care about Persian language and Iranian culture and even teaching it to their children, too. In summary, in Group 2 books, no subject containing negative connotation about Iran and Iranian was found, while in Group 1, books, challenging issues, and even subjects containing negative connotation about Iran and Iranians were numerous. After the component of the topics, the chosen vocabulary and their meanings and also their predicted formats were discussed and analyzed in these materials. As the given examples show, the vocabulary, terms, and the attributions used to describe Iran and Iranians in group 2 books generally contain a positive connotational meaning and provided a positive, optimistic point of view to the audience. No negative words, terminologies, and traits with a negative connotation were observed in these books; while in group 1 books, some words, terminologies, and traits with negative meanings and connotations were observed, which conveys a negative and pessimistic view from Iran and Iranian to the audience.In the following, the syntactic components were analyzed and discussed. Since the sample was the elementary level books, it is obvious that at this level, the discourse of the books has less structural and syntactic variation. Therefore, only two syntactic components were analyzed in these sources. Regarding these two components, namely, modality and transitivity, there is a difference between the two groups of books. In the group1 books, the indicative mood in the sense of certainty has been used mostly to express the negative points about Iran and Iranians; while in the group 2 books, the same structure has been used to express positive points about Iran and Iranians. Also, in group 1 books, the subjunctive mode in the sense of compulsion has been used to express negative points in Iran, which can be a kind of expressing the absence of freedom. Conclusion and Suggestions The results of the data analysis in this study indicate that the discourse of all four sources is an ideological one, and the differences represented, is due to intellectual infrastructure, ideologies, and the goals of the materials developers and writers. In general, the producers of the two series of Modern Persian Teaching and Let’s Learn Persian, compare with the other two series, have tried to construct and present a more positive and optimistic view of Iran and Iranian in the minds of the non-Persian audience; and in their produced discourses, they have emphasized on the positive and honorable points of Iran and Iranians.In the end, it is suggested that quantitative and statistical researches be carried out on the use of discursive components in Persian language teaching textbooks for non-Persian speakers. It is also recommended that Persian teaching materials and resources for the intermediate and advanced levels, be analyzed and discussed from discourse analysis perspective; because of the much more diversity of vocabulary and grammatical and discursive structures at that levels.
Iran Abdi; Mehrdad Naghzguy Kohan
Volume 10, Issue 19 , January 2019, Pages 97-118
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction Agreement is one of the most important morpho-syntactic categories in linguistics. It commonly refers to systematic covariance between the semantic and formal property of one element and the formal property of another element. Agreement system of any languages contains ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction Agreement is one of the most important morpho-syntactic categories in linguistics. It commonly refers to systematic covariance between the semantic and formal property of one element and the formal property of another element. Agreement system of any languages contains six important elements: 1) controller, 2) target, 3) domain, 4) feature, 4) value, and 6) condition. The agreement system is distinct in different languages, and the extent to which agreement is used differs from one language to another language. It depends on language-specific factors in which contexts agreement is obligatory, optional, or even excluded. Due tohe importance of identifying these factors, in this corpus-based study, we tried to investigate the verbal agreement system in "Zein-Abadi" dialect. "Zein-Abadi" dialect is spoken by the Behdinan “the people of the Good Religion,” in other words, Zoroastrianism, who live in, Zein- Abad. Zein Abad is a village that is located in Yazd province. Theoretical Framework Corbett (2001) discussed six elements that are important in the canonical agreement. The element which determines the agreement is the controller. The element whose form is determined by agreement is the target. The domain of agreement is the syntactic environment in which agreement occurs (the clause for instance). Features are agreement categories such as number, person, and gender. Value is the classification of feature. For example, numbers in Persian have the values of singular and plural, but Arabic has singular, dual, and plural value. Conditions are the external factor which affect the domain of agreement. Agreement based on the grammatical number can occur between the verb and the subject. In a simple example like "she runs", the form "runs" is singular, agreeing in number with "she". This is information about the number of runners (just one), and it matches that expressed in its source "she". Patterns of agreement vary dramatically cross-linguistically, with great diversity in expression and types of variation found. Agreement is influenced by the conflicting effects of sentence structure and meaning and also metalinguistic (e.g., syntactic, semantic, and social) factors. Methodology In this corpus-based study, we tried to investigate the agreement system in "Zein-Abadi" dialect. Therefore, we gathered a written corpus consisting of "9881" verbal clauses and analyzed our research data according to canonical agreement theory of Corbett (2001). Within his criteria, we consider our database on three criteria which involve: The presence or absence of a controller: Several criteria are related to the controller. An important one is that canonical controller is present. Compare these two examples: a) xišân va mardom-e vey xâmuš namânand (Beyhaghi, 1345, 147). SBJ.3nd Pl V. PRS.3rd Pl 'His relatives and his people will not be silent' b) Ø open the window Ø V. PRS.2nd Obj In the first example (from Persian), the controller is present, while in the second one (from English), it is absent, so we see canonical type (a). The match between the controller and the target characteristic: Based on these criteria, in canonical agreement, the values of controller and target match together. To clarify, we have to address examples like this one: c) The committee have decided d) The committee has decided We cannot simply say that committee in example (c) is plural since we do not know these committees. From the feature value point of view, we can say that example (c) is less canonical than example (d). The condition or absence of a condition in the match: The construction which has a condition is less canonical than the construction with no condition. In Persian, if the subject consists of inanimate singulars, the verb will be singular. e) yek setare dar âsemân mideraxšad star. SBJ.3nd Sg in sky shine. V. PRS.3rd Sg 'One star shines in the sky' However, if the subject consists of inanimate plurals, the verb will be singular or plural. f) setaregan dar âsemân mideraxšand/ mideraxšad Stars.SBJ.3nd Pl in sky shine. V. PRS.3rd Pl/ PRS.3rd Sg 'The stars shine in the sky' Conclusion The three syntactic, semantic, and socio-linguistic factors (politeness) are among the most influential factors in Zein -Abadi dialect. Analysis of the investigation presents, in 3364 verbal clauses form 9881 verbal clauses equaling "34/05" percent of the corpus, there are also syntactic and semantic agreement between controllers and targets, and in 6517 verbal clauses, equaling 65/95 percent of the corpus, there are no syntactical and semantic agreement between controllers and targets. In non-canonical cases, Pro-drop clauses with 95/35 percent are most effective, then comes the animacy with 3/71 percent, and social politeness with 0/94 percent makes structures with non-canonical forms of verbal agreement.
Hassan Bashirnezhad
Volume 10, Issue 19 , January 2019, Pages 119-151
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction Communication in different verbal and nonverbal modes forms the core of our life. In the communication process, humans use a set of communication strategies based on their position and skills that depend on a variety of factors, such as the social status, age, level of ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction Communication in different verbal and nonverbal modes forms the core of our life. In the communication process, humans use a set of communication strategies based on their position and skills that depend on a variety of factors, such as the social status, age, level of education, and the type of culture of people. Among these specific linguistic strategies, one can mention the choice of pronouns, subject changes, hedges (such as perhaps), short questions, interruption, silences, and late responses. Some of these specific communication strategies are likely to be used by in the interaction between the teacher and the student at university. This research seeks to find out what kinds of verbal strategies in the university environment are commonly used by professors and what types of verbal strategies are used by students in the university environment and whether gender is involved in the implementation of these strategies. Theoretical Framework Lakoff (1975), in a general division, divided the verbal strategies into two groups of supportive strategies and aggressive strategies. Honorific terms that include polite phrases, sentences and words such as "Lady", "Sir.", "gentleman" "Please," and so on, are supportive strategies. Hedges such as "I think", "I believe", "maybe", "I guess", and so on which indicate the uncertainty and doubt of the speaker are another kind of supportive strategy. Also, some short / tag questions like "Do not you?", "it's true?" which indicate that the respondent is relatively uncertain about the subject and requires confirmation by others, is in some way an indication of respect and support in verbal communication. Acknowledgments, such as "yes", "ok", "well," and so on, whose use reflects the interest and willingness of the audience to continue the discussion, is another group of supporting phrases in the discourse. In contrast, aggressive strategies are strategies such as speech interruption, delay in response, or overlap in speech through which the speaker has sought to stabilize their domination. Silence is also one of the things individuals may use in a conversation, and when one uses silence in interaction with others, it can be considered as an aggressive strategy. Methodology The research community is composed of all instructors and students working at the Islamic Azad University of Ayatollah Amoli in Amol. In this research, a mixed method is used and the required data are obtained by two methods of questioning and recording the voice of instructors and students when interacting with one another. These data were collected over a period of approximately six months. A questionnaire consisting of a ten Likert scale questions on the verbal strategies was distributed among 50 male and female instructors and 50 male and female students at different faculties of Islamic Azad University, Ayatollah Amoli Branch. Also, forty communication situations have been recorded in the hallways, corridors, and classrooms of the university. By transcribing and categorizing the conversations recorded in these forty conversation situations, the communication strategies used by individuals were identified and analyzed. Results and Discussion The findings of the research showed that professors mainly use aggressive strategies. On the other hand, there are differences in the kind of aggressive strategies male and female professors use. While male instructors use interruptions in speech more than their female colleagues, female instructors have outstripped male teachers in using the verbal strategy of pause or silence. Generally, there is no significant difference in the use of verbal strategies among male and female teachers. This means that both male and female teachers are the same in terms of the use of verbal strategies, despite a negligible statistical difference. In other words, in this case, the factor of social power and social status has overturned the factor of gender. Students mainly show their respect and support by using supportive strategies such as hedges that are symptomatic of doubt and short/tag questions, among which hedges that indicate doubt are found among female students more than male ones. This research suggests that there is a significant difference between male and female students in terms of verbal strategies. That is, gender plays a decisive role in the use of verbal strategies among male and female students, while the same gender factor in the application of communication strategies by university professors is not very determinative. Conclusion and Suggestions The results of this study confirm the research achievements of Mohammadi Asl (2010) that claims in formal and in managerial positions, the linguistic authority is not much influenced by the gender factor, and the feminine language is as dominant as the masculine language. Also, the results of this study are consistent with the findings of Deborah Tannen (1984). According to Tannen's theory, language differences between men and women are not due to an imbalance in power, but because of different criteria that exist in the given verbal interactions, and each gender has its weaknesses and powers. However, the results obtained in this study are not consistent with the Lakoff’s theory. According to Lakoff (1973), women use linguistically specific features that indicate their disability against men. It seems that acceptance of this theory depends on considerations of many factors, and without considering other influential variables such as education, social status, occupation, and specialization of individuals; one cannot arrive at generalizations about the relation between language and gender.
Sārānā Ghavāmi Lāhij; Maryam Dānāye Tous; Abdorrezā Tahriri; Ali Rabi'
Volume 10, Issue 19 , January 2019, Pages 153-175
Abstract
Extended Abstract Introduction Reading is a complex skill and its complexity is revealed by observing people who have trouble with it. During the reading process, the spoken language symbols displayed in the form of written language is decoded. The ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend the author's ...
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Extended Abstract Introduction Reading is a complex skill and its complexity is revealed by observing people who have trouble with it. During the reading process, the spoken language symbols displayed in the form of written language is decoded. The ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend the author's message. Before, during and after reading, the reader may use a series of cognitive and metacognitive strategies to fully comprehend the text. Skilled and poor readers are very different in terms of applying the strategies of reading comprehension. This difference is more prominent in the use of metacognitive strategies. Among the metacognitive strategies of reading comprehension, the comprehension monitoring strategy is one of the most important ones that enables the reader to determine the correctness or incorrectness of his comprehension. When the skilled reader is aware of his lack of comprehension, he uses corrective strategies to solve the problem. These corrective strategies include re-reading, the use of related texts and resources, rational inferences according to the text, or the use of prior knowledge. Despite the importance of metacognitive strategy in reading comprehension, few studies have been done in Iran on this issue. Unfortunately, none of them proposed the comprehension monitoring methods and no tool has been developed for assessing this strategy in Iranian literate adults. To fill this gap in the relevant literature, a research with three questions has been designed. The questions included: what are the characteristics of comprehension monitoring tasks? What comprehension monitoring assessment tool can be constructed or nativized by applying the obtained results of the first question? Does the nativized tool have validity and reliability? Theoretical Framework Metacognition is the conscious and declarative awareness of the cognitive aspects of thinking. Metacognition in reading is the one's ability to understand, adjust and regulate oneself during the reading process. The two dimensions of metacognition in reading generally include metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive control. Metacognitive knowledge is defined as one's knowledge of cognitive processing, but it cannot guarantee metacognitive control during reading. For example, the reader may know that if he loses his concentration, he has to go back and read the text again, but during reading, he will constantly lose his concentration and fails in the comprehension process. Otero (1998) divides the comprehension monitoring strategy into three phases: evaluating, planning, and regulation. In the evaluation phase, the reader simultaneously evaluates his own understanding of what he is reading. In the planning phase, if there is a gap in understanding, the reader tries to select the appropriate strategies. And in the regulation phase, the selected strategies are used to solve the comprehension problems. These strategies include reconsideration, slow reading, and the reinterpretation of the particular parts of the text, evaluating mental representations and resolving the ambiguities. Methodology It was a mixed methods study. The aim was to answer three questions about methods for evaluating comprehension monitoring, using them for developing comprehension monitoring test and studying the validity and reliability of the designed test. The qualitative part of the study included finding an appropriate test for assessing comprehension monitoring of adult and its nativization, and also sending it to 5 experts in order to check its content validity. The quantitative part of the study included the pilot study of the nativized test to determine its reliability using Cronbach Alpha coefficient. The sample included 30 MA students of the University of Guilan, who were selected using the convenience sampling method. Results and Discussion In accordance with the three research questions, the findings are presented in three parts. In order to answer the first question, the results showed that there are three approaches to comprehension monitoring: introspective, calibration, and error detection. The introspective approach requires readers to report their mental activity during reading (think-aloud). In the second approach, the reader is asked to answer the comprehension questions and calibrating them according to his degree of assurance towards his answers. The third approach meaning the error rhgtory sentences, in the way that contradicts the subject's prior knowledge. The extent to which these contradictions are detected shows the reader's level of comprehension monitoring. In response to the second research question, it was identified that the most comprehensive tool which covers all these three approaches is Baker & Anderson's (1982) comprehension monitoring test. The nativized version of this tool was developed in the form of software which could record various comprehension monitoring components simultaneously, including the time of the study of inconsistent sentences, the number of re-readings, and the responses of the subjects. To answer the third research question, the test was sent to 5 experts and after revising the questions and contradictory sentences based on their comments, its content validity was verified. To ensure the test reliability, it was distributed among a sample of 30 MA students of the University of Guilan. The amount of Cronbach's alpha was 0.72 for answering the questions, 0.70 for error detection and 0.68 for calibration, showing the appropriate reliability. Conclusion and Suggestions This test can be a desirable tool for assessing reading comprehension monitoring level of Iranian adults in terms of ease of implementation and scoring. In the next study, the test should be distributed among a larger sample of high school students, university students and literate adults in order to examine its construct validity and compute the norms for each group, respectively. Then, it also can be used as a comprehension monitoring tool at different educational levels.
