Sharif Digital Repository

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has recently received great attention in the area of second language learning. Thus, the concept of willingness to communicate and what would influence the students' willingness to communicate gain importance. The current study employed a hybrid design to probe Iranian students' willingness to communicate. First, self-report questionnaires were administered to 431 language learners to collect quantitative data. Then, interviews were conducted with 41 randomly selected learners who had already completed the questionnaires. Pearson correlation coefficient, one-way ANOVA, independent t-test through SPSS .16 and the Structural Equation Model (SEM) analyses... 

Since speaking seems to be the foremost skill in language learning, the evaluation of speaking ability has become increasingly important in recent years. Moreover, research on rater effect in speaking performance assessment has provided evidence for a considerable degree of variability among raters. This study investigated the use of holistic vs. nalytic rating scales in rating Iranian EFL learners‟ speaking performance. Moreover, the current study explored the effects of gender and experience on raters‟ rating in rating Iranian EFL learners‟ speaking performance applying holistic vs. analytic rating scales. The effects of ater variables (gender and experience) on weighing components of... 

The gaps in the existing studies on L2 listening comprehension have been highlighted in the literature of second language learning. Accordingly, the necessity of the qualitative investigations in this field has been frequently addressed by the scholars (e.g., Vandergrift, 2007). The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the use of dynamic assessment (DA) in L2 listening comprehension within a group of six advanced EFL learners to extract the patterns of teacher mediation and learner reciprocity moves through a dyadic examination of their interactions. The examination of listening self-regulation was another incentive behind this study. This research also investigated learners’... 

Critical thinking has been the center of attention in education and academia over the last several decades. It can be fostered at different rates and extents in different academic disciplines given the diverse cognitive processes that students need to go through. Hence, an understanding over the extent to which a specific field of study in higher education aids the development of critical thinking might help educators and educational system to see what should be revised, substituted, and/or added in a curriculum. Accordingly, the major thrust of the current study was to compare the critical thinking ability of 296 humanities and engineering undergraduate students at four Iranian... 

There are several methods proposed for the instruction and assessment of interlanguage pragmatic competence of foreign language learners. Dynamic assessment as one of the recent methods arising from Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind incorporates assessment and instruction by engaging learners in a process of interaction with the mediator while the learners are trying to perform a challenging task. The present study aimed to explore the advantage of Dynamic Assessment as an instructional instrument over the Non-dynamic (traditional) Assessment and Non-assessment approaches and their effects on the Iranian intermediate level students. The target speech acts of apology, complaint, and... 

Inconsistent rating seems to largely emanate from the application of different rating criteria (Bachman, 1990). It follows that rater training programs may bring about higher rating consistency. The objectives of this study were to discover (1) EFL teachers’ criteria in rating L2 learners’ speaking ability, (2) the impact of a rater training program for speaking on the raters’ rating criteria, (3) EFL teachers’ accuracy in rating L2 learners’ speaking ability as measured against the professional raters’ rating, (4) the effect of teachers’ background variables on their speaking ratings, and (5) EFL teachers’ attitudes toward speaking assessment in general and rater training program in... 

Evidently, language knowledge is not limited to linguistic competence rather it is related to sociolinguistics competence as well. Moreover, the cultural norms of a society affect the way people communicate. In other words, language is the medium through which culture, tradition, and values are realized and manifested. Accordingly, speech acts such as congratulations and condolences are shaped by the cultural norms of societies and it is quite common to expect differences in congratulations and condolences strategies across cultures. The aim of this study was to contribute to the intercultural pragmatics by exploring the strategies used by Iranian Persian speakers, Iranian EFL learners, and... 

Crumb rubber, produced from shredding of scrap or refused tires, is one of the most commonly used modifiers of asphalt. Asphalt rubber, in addition to mitigating some of the environmental problems of disposing scrap tire, improves the flexural strength of pavement, extends the life of pavement and reduces the maintenance costs. The properties of asphalt rubber are highly dependent on the type and composition of base asphalt, type and amount of crumb rubber, and the production method.The goal of this research is to investigate the performance properties of asphalt rubbers produced from Iranian asphalt and crumb rubber, using an industrially feasible method. The Superpave testing procedure was... 

Mutually coupled oscillator arrays may be used for power combining at the millimeter-wave region. In addition, these arrays have the capability of beam steering without the use of any phase shifter. Using the strong coupling method is inevitable to obtain synchronization between all elements in the large arrays. One of the challenges in strongly coupled oscillators is the multi-moding problem or oscillation at undesired frequencies. In this thesis, we obtain mode distributions in a one-dimensional and a two-dimensional array with rectangular boundary, using a method based on circuit equations in the frequency domain. Then, we compared the results with the previous works and also verified... 

Pulsating heat pipes have been more studied in recent two decades as effective tools in dissipating waste heat from electronic components. Due to oscillating fluid flow model, these tubes have the potential of converting waste energy to power. This research presents a system that makes this potential to act. In this system, the oscillating slug-plug fluid flow pattern in an open-looped pulsating heat pipe makes a permanent magnet which is levitated in Ferrofluid to vibrate in an electromagnetic vibration-based generator in order to induce electro motive force. The fluid flow regime in pulsating heat pipe has been simulated numerically with finite element scheme. The model results for fluid... 

Understanding teachers’ conceptualization of different aspects of their professional life is of great importance in the field of teacher education. Besides, given the significance of intercultural dimension of language education, characterization of teachers’ lay theories and self-perceptions in this regard could be of much help to teachers and teacher educators as one of the elements affecting professional development. Therefore, the present study was aimed at scrutinizing various facets of Iranian EFL teachers’ intercultural and professional identities in order to provide a clear image of (1) teachers’ evaluation of their cultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes, (2) the role of teachers’... 

Understanding others has long been a goal of language teaching yet remaining in the background of educational practices (Liddicoat, 2012). However, the recognition of importance of intercultural competence and its integration into language teaching and learning has grown due to globalization, increased mobility, and technological development. The existing challenge in the language-teaching domain is the integration of culture and language. The benefits and significance of developing interculturally competent learners are not covert to anybody; however, the important consideration of teaching culture is the necessity of amalgamating language and culture in an interculturally oriented language... 

Scholars in the field of pragmatics consistently argue about the inadequacy of research on the concept of impoliteness. Compared to politeness, which was the focus of most investigations, the phenomenon of impoliteness has been greatly neglected. It is a truism that learning a language involves both politeness and impoliteness concepts of that language. Regarding this fact, researchers must pay greater attention to alleviate the imbalance between politeness and impoliteness studies. The current study is an attempt to investigate the criteria of (im)politeness as they were specified by two groups of English native speakers and Iranian EFL learners. Seventy-five native English speakers and 177... 

There has been a lively debate between two major strategist groups in innovation strategy literature. The first, with Ansoff being the protagonist, pose a rational approach in describing a corporate innovation strategy formulation process while the other group, with Mintzburg as the protagonist, prescribe an incremental approach.It seems that in continuous change and uncertainty, rational approach can weakly predict the reality and one can claim that in such situations incremental approach is more effective than rational approach. Based on the review of literature and consequent classification, most of the strategies that are named as innovation strategies in literature use rational... 

Identity and language are two interrelated concepts which can affect and control individuals' performance in learning another language. A person with L1 identity is able to make and comprehend pragmatic performance based on background information about the L1 context. The ability to comprehend without difficulty or conscious awareness of details of the context is due to the bilateral roles of identity and culture (Kasper, 2010). To shed light on pragmatic identity and language identity, this study was conducted on relationship between second language, pragmatic identity and their interactions on pragmatic competence of Iranian EFL learners. As many as 120 participants took part in this... 

In Private Equity funds, the manager (known as general partner) collects funds from the investors (known as limited partners) and invests them over a certain time horizon. Assuming that both parties seek to maximize their interests, a situation arises in which the manager does not consider the best interests of the investors. The manager's compensation package is one of the important parts of corporate governance, which consists of four components: management fee, performance based fees (or carried interest), hurdle rate and proceeds distribution method. In this research, first by conducting a semi-structured interview with 15 experts in the PE ecosystem and publishing a questionnaire, the...