Sharif Digital Repository

Despite the proven advantages of alternative assessment including self- and peer assessment, there is still uncertainty about the accuracy of these techniques especially in Iran since little research has conducted in this area. To this aim, a total of 2261 evaluation sheets were collected to investigate 118 peer assessments and 48 self-assessments of oral presentations in comparison with their teacher assessments. The data were collected during four semesters in general English classes held in Sharif University of Technology. Students were supposed to make an oral presentation for at least twenty minutes on a topic of their interest, and were then rated by their teacher, themselves, and... 

In this millennium there has been a thought-provoking dispute over the inclusion of Critical Thinking (CT) programs into teaching syllabi; this inspiring challenge of change has led researcher to investigate the teachability and transferability of Critical Thinking. Thus, this study investigated whether explicit critical thinking instruction can foster critical thinking skills of in-service EFL teachers and enhance their disposition, perception and attitude. To fulfill the purposes of this study, California Critical Thinking Skill Tests (CCTST), EMI Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, as well as perception and attitude questionnaires were utilized. The participants of this research were... 

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... 

This study investigated the effect of Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL) on the vocabulary learning and retention as well as anxiety and attitude of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) junior high school students in Tehran-Iran. After taking a vocabulary pretest, 46 beginner level female students at the age of 12, studying in their first year of junior-high participated in two groups of RALL (30 students) and non-RALL (16 students) in this study. The textbook used was the English book (Prospect-1) devised by the Iranian Ministry of Education for 7th graders, and the vocabulary taught and tested (pretest and posttest) were taken from this book. Moreover, the treatment given by a... 

According to Yook and Lindemann (2012), attitudes play a significant role in motivation and in the quality and quantity of acquiring a specific language. Moreover, the worldwide spread of English demands a more rigorous focus being directed toward the attitudes of users of English in the group which Kachru (1997) has referred to as the Expanding Circle. Yet, scant attention has been devoted to the issue of World Englishes in Iran. In addition, a dearth of large-scale studies on attitudes toward different varieties of Englishes in Iran has led to deficient theoretical and methodological bases. To niche this gap, the current study tried to shed light on some dark sides of this subject by... 

Drivers' behavior is an influential factor in more than 90% of driving accidents. Due to the increased traffic load due to the use of private cars, as well as traffic congestion restrictions for the use of private cars at large city centers, the use of public transportation means for transportation of goods and passengers in order to reduce traffic load is a very convenient option and it is sometimes necessary. Therefore, it is very important to examine the behavior and character of drivers of public urban vehicles in order to increase traffic safety. The purpose of this research is to present and develop a descriptive model that describes the behaviors leading to at-fault accidents for... 

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitude of young people towards luxury brands from the point of view of social identity (Case study: Luxury cars shopping in Tehran by young people).In this regard, while reviewing the concepts of attitude and luxury brands dimensions, using the method of regression and structural equation modeling, we investigated the attitude of young people towards luxury brands.The statistical population of this research includes customers of Del's Brandy Benz and BTBMW District 1 in Tehran. Their number is estimated to be 500, and the sample size is determined using Morgan Crujsi's table to determine the sample size of 217 people. Using the Simple random... 

There is a specific focus in sustainable transportation to three domains of safety, air pollution, and energy consumption. All these three domains are affected by the vehicle type choice. An important factor to estimate the impact of vehicle type choice on safety, air pollution, and the energy consumption is self-selection, defined as the tendency of people to make their travel-related choices based on their abilities, needs, and preferences. Ignoring the self-selection effect may cause a bias in the estimation of the coefficients of affecting variables on the travel-related choice. The main objective of this thesis is to study the self-selection effect in vehicle type choice considering the... 

Politicians and urban planners aim to improve citizens' overall life satisfaction. Researchers have offered various definitions of life satisfaction, making it difficult to provide a specific definition. However, life satisfaction can be seen as an assessment of different aspects of life. The method of travel and transportation factors undoubtedly play a crucial role in this assessment. Due to personal and social constraints, users' behavior in transportation can either may or may not align with their attitudes. This behavior leads to the categorization of users into two groups: consonant and dissonant users. Consequently, planning and policy-making to increase life satisfaction will differ...