Showing 6 results for Talebzadeh
Volume 4, Issue 3 (No.3 (Tome 15), (Articles in Persian) 2013)
Abstract
As an integral componet of discourse competence and professional expertise, generic competence is intervowen with the concept of multi-litracies, which in turn highlights the role of technology and multimodality. Conefernce PowerPoint presentations are among the research-process genres, which rely substantially on the textual and visual generic competences of discourse community members. In spite of their significant role for the membership in a community of practice, they are underexplored even in the "English for Specific/ Academic Purposes" tradition of genre analysis, where static versus dynamic nature of genres has been a controversial issue. The present genereic study utilized a typology of visuals along with a framework for description and explanation of their characteristics and features to analyze more than 400 conference slides by two groups of non-native applied linguists (a representative of soft scientists) in light of the definition of genre, its functions, and the influence of Microsoft software on its features. Apart from highlighting the importance of visuals and the dominance of scriptuals in soft sciences, the reported similarities and differences between the two groups and the obtained patterns revealed that PowerPoint presentation can be considered a genre, which would manifest a variety of identity expressions. Moreover, in the absence of disoursal and metadiscoursal elements, many slide characteristics and features can fulfill their fuctions. Sheding some light on the undeniable role of the software and its implications for methods of reasoning and argumentation, genre integrity, and definition of metadiscourse and genre along with some applied suggestions are among the main aims of the study.
Volume 8, Issue 3 (Summer 2023)
Abstract
Aim: Adolescence is a very sensitive and important period in everybody’s life, particularly in individuals with disabilities, because it can significantly impact their experiences. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of academic self-efficacy in the relationship between curiosity and academic well-being among adolescents with physical and motor disabilities.
Method and Materials: The statistical population in this descriptive correlational study included all the adolescents 12-18 years old with physical and motor disabilities in Khuzestan Province of Iran during the academic year 2022–2023. The study sample consisted of 282 adolescents who selected using purposive sampling. The research instruments included the Academic Wellbeing Questionnaire, the two-dimensional Curiosity and Discovery Inventory, and the Students’ Academic Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (SASEQ). The proposed model was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings: The results revealed that there was a significant direct path from curiosity to academic self-efficacy (P<0.001). However, the direct relationship between curiosity and academic well-being was not significant. In addition, a significant relationship, mediated by academic self-efficacy was found between curiosity and academic well-being linked by an indirect path (P<0.001).
Conclusions: Overall, the modified final model exhibited a good fit. Accordingly, this model can be considered a useful step in identifying factors that influence academic well-being of adolescents with physical and motor disabilities.
Volume 11, Issue 3 (Summer 2023)
Abstract
Aims: Individuals with substance use disorder often struggle with chronic and recurrent episodes, experiencing a lack of control over their behaviors and significant disruptions in motivation. This study investigated the relationship between anxious attachment, family well-being, and addiction susceptibility among university students with the mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation.
Instrument & Methods: This study utilized structural equation modeling, a widely recognized multivariate correlation method, to examine the relationship between various factors in the context of addiction susceptibility. The target population for this study comprised students from the Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz. Through convenience sampling, a sample of 300 students was selected. All participants completed the Potential Addiction Scale, Experience in Close Relationships Scale, Family-of-Origin Scale, and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale. The collected data underwent statistical analysis using SEM, revealing a well-fitted model.
Findings: Anxious attachment and family health significantly influenced participants' inclination toward addiction (p<0.001). These effects were directly and indirectly observed, mediated by cognitive emotion regulation (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Reducing addiction tendencies in young individuals can be achieved through training families and university students on cultivating secure attachment styles, employing adaptive cognitive regulation strategies, and promoting overall family health.
Volume 12, Issue 1 (April & May 2021 (Articles in Persian) 2021)
Abstract
One of the most innovative tools for researchers in order to improve the quality of education and assessment is the application of Cognitive Diagnostic Approaches (CDA) which is the result of the unification of cognitive psychology and educational measurement; unfortunately, they are scarcely utilized by (grammar) language education and assessment researchers (in Iran). Among the most important decisions to be made in the process of cognitive diagnostic assessment are determining the (sub-)skills required to respond correctly to each question as well as choosing an optimal cognitive diagnostic model. The present qualitative and quantitative study aims to develop a Q-matrix in order to identify such cognitive (sub-)skills, to determine the optimal cognitive-diagnostic model (CDM) for the grammar section of MA entrance examination for English majors, and to pinpoint mastery and non mastery states of the examinees who were 5000 MA entrance participants. The findings from the literature review, informants’ and experts’ evaluations, and think-aloud protocols in the Q-matrix development phase revealed that each MA examination grammar item taps into between two to four of the six attributes of verb tense, correct verb usage, idiomatic expressions, modifiers, agreement, and preposition. Evaluation of three alternative models [i.e. the Deterministic-Input, Noisy-And (DINA), Deterministic Input, Noisy-Or-gate (DINO), and Generalized DINA (GDINA)] from among the existing cognitive diagnostic models indicated that G-DINA was the best fit for the Grammar data. Considering the performance of master and non-master participants, the study concludes with suggestions, implications, and applications of the findings for high-stakes language education and testing
1. Introduction
Cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA) is designed to measure specific cognitive skills of students, so as to provide information about their cognitive strengths and weaknesses (Leighton & Gierl, 2007). Previous research on CDA in language testing mostly focused on reading comprehension and listening sections, whereas less attention has been paid to grammar. Moreover, in most of the previous studies (Baghaie & Ravand, 2015; Clarck, 2013; Jang, 2009; Lee & Sawaki, 2009; Ravand, 2015; Ravand, Barati & Widhiarso, 2013) just a specified cognitive diagnostic model (CDM) was fitted to the language test data while searching for an optimum CDM was generally overlooked.
Given the importance of high-stakes tests such as university entrance examinations, the current research aims to apply CDA to an Iranian high-stakes English grammar test to specify the underlying skills required to answer the test items correctly; furthermore, it intends to detect strengths and weaknesses of the students based on the identified skills. In doing so, searching for an optimum CDM was adopted to find the best fitting model to the second language grammar test data.
2. Literature Review
Cognitive diagnostic models are confirmatory multidimensional latent variable models with complex structures. These models let researchers propose exact hypotheses about the nature of cognitive processes that students use in response to test items (Rupp et al., 2010). Three classes of saturated, compensatory, and non-compensatory models of CDA are available to researchers. That is, a- the saturated model titled generalized deterministic inputs, noisy “and” gate (G-DINA), b-compensatory models (e.g., the Deterministic Input Noisy Output “OR” gate (DINO) and the additive CDM (ACDM)) which allow for other skills to contribute to the chance of responding to an item correctly, and c- the non-compensatory models (e.g., The Deterministic Input Noisy Output “AND” gate (DINA) and the reduced reparametrized unified model (RRUM)), where possessing all cognitive skills is necessary to answer a test item correctly (de la Torre, 2011).
In recent years, many CDM studies were conducted on data from different fields of studies including language assessment (Alavai & Ranjbaran, 2018; Alderson et al., 2015; Baghaie & Ravand, 2015; Clarck, 2013; Jang, 2009; Li, 2011; Lee & Sawaki, 2009; Minaei et al., 2014; Moghadam et al., 2015; Park & Cho, 2011; Ranjbaran & Alavi, 2016; Ravand, 2015; Ravand et al., 2013; Yie, 2016, 2017). Although Park and Cho (2011) applied CDA on the English grammar for Korean EFL learners, only Yie (2017) searched for an Optimal Cognitive diagnostic model in a second language grammar test data. The latter study is very similar to the present study in many respects but the eventual cognitive diagnostic model.
3. Methodology
A retrofitting approach (Jang, 2009) to CDA was adopted to reach the cognitive diagnostic model. In doing so, at the first stage of the CDM, a Q matrix (de la Torre, 2011) was qualitatively developed based on the findings from the literature review, the viewpoints of an English language expert panel, and the cognitive processes extracted from college students' think-aloud protocols. The resulting Q-matrix provided all of the required skills needed to answer all of the grammar test items of the Iranian MA entrance examination for English majors. Then, DINA, DINO, and the G-DINA models were empirically fitted to the grammar test data of 5000 participants through the CDM package of R (George et al., 2016).
4. Conclusion
The findings of this study showed that the saturated G-DINA model was the best fitting model for the grammar data. The compensatory DINO model also fitted the data, yet the non-compensatory DINA model did not fit the grammar item response data based on the absolute model fit indices.
In line with the results of Park and Cho (2011), this study also confirms that the six underlying skills including 1-verb tense, 2- correct verb usage, 3- idiomatic expressions, 4- modifiers, 5- agreement, and 6- preposition encompass almost all of the required grammar skills. Moreover, verb tense skill was identified as the weakness of the students, while idiomatic expressions skill was a strength point. Altogether, in a second language context, it seems that even the students majoring in the English language do not master all of the required skills of grammar. The study concludes with suggestions, implications, and applications of the findings for high-stakes language education and testing
Volume 20, Issue 3 (7-2013)
Abstract
The significance of research article (RA) abstract as a key academic genre has recently motivated analysts to focus on this neglected area. Considering a summary function for abstracts, most genre researchers have adopted the conventionally proposed Introduction- Method- Results- Discussion (or Conclusion) (IMRD) model for analysis. However, the problems reported, especially for Results and Discussion sections, question the vitality of such accounts and prompt further scrutiny. Moreover, in spite of claims about disciplinary and cultural variations which can affect communication within and across discourse communities, sufficient contrastive studies which address the Iranian academics' need to communicate with and participate efficiently in the international discourse communities are scarce. Inspired by English for Specific/Academic Purposes tradition of genre analysis, this paper tries to fill these gaps presenting a comparative generic analysis of soft sciences abstracts to see what the characterizing features of the texts of Iranian scholars and their international peers are. The macro-structure, micro-structure, and some features of 100 experimental RA abstracts taken from a number of reputable Iranian (Persian) and international (English) journals were analyzed and explained drawing upon some existing rigorous models. The results revealed similarities in the presence of Introduction, Method, and concluding units, while there were also differences in the realization of units, Moves, and Steps. It is argued that the differences can point to the varying cultural norms and values of the two groups. Plus, considering the inadequacy of the four-way macro-model, an alternative three-way model was suggested, instead. Some implications of the study are discussed, too
Volume 20, Issue 4 (Winter 2016)
Abstract
Securities transactions, like any other transactions, are primarily subject to contract law; however because, of government intervention in trading, these securities, by passing special legal regime called “securities regulations”,can not be considered as a subject of pure private law any longer (corrective justice) as they are also now in a sense under public law (distributive justice).
If we consider that conflict rules are only applied in private law cases and their application in public law cases has been, generally, prevented by legislators, a challenge for private international law is inevitable in cases that securities transactions place in the field of public law. So, if the court describes the case as a matter of private law, conflict rules can be applied, but if the judge describes the case as a matter of a public law, applying conflict rules is not permitted, and the courts usually apply their own countries, legal regimes.
In this article, we initially try to shed light on different legal regimes to the extent, which is related to the securities law including property law, contract law and securities regulations. Then we study the possibility of applying conflict rules in each legal regime.