Politeness strategies that speakers deploy when performing a speech act have been seen to be influenced by several factors among which gender and socioeconomic status are two prominent ones. The current study was an attempt to examine the relationship between gender and socioeconomic status (SES) on one hand, and choice of politeness strategies on the other. The focus was specifically on the realization of speech act of request in Persian (L1) and English (L2). The participants were 100 advanced-level Iranian EFL students. Based on their gender and responses to the socioeconomic status questionnaire, they were divided into four equal groups of twenty-five: 1. male-high; 2. male-low; 3. female-high; and 4. female-low. The data collection instruments were the English and Persian versions of a discourse completion test (DCT). The results revealed a significant relationship between gender and use of politeness strategies in speech act of request in L1 as well as L2. The findings, however, demonstrated no significant relationship between the participants' socioeconomic status and their use of politeness strategy neither in L1 nor in L2. This study can be another proof for Brown and Levinson's claim about the universality of politeness strategies.
Listening is one of the most important communicative skills and at the same time the Achilles heel of many L2 learners as it entails multi-level cognitive processes (Lynch, 2002). Besides, the measures of self-efficacy, as Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1990) claim, are closely tied to effective use of learning strategies. Considering the key role that concept mapping, as an indispensable cognitive learning strategy, and self-efficacy play on an individual’s achievement (Bandura, 1997; Chularut & DeBacker, 2004), the present study aimed to examine the influence of explicit teaching and utilization of concept mapping on Iranian EFL students’ listening achievement and perceived self-efficacy. The participants were sixty upper-intermediate university students, studying English as a foreign language. They were randomly assigned into two groups: One control and one experimental group, each containing thirty participants. The students in the experimental group were taught and trained to utilize concept mapping while doing listening tasks, and the instruments were a self-efficacy questionnaire and a test of listening achievement. The findings showed that the experimental group performed better in the listening achievement test after learning to use concept mapping. Likewise, their perceived self-efficacy in accomplishing listening tasks improved after the intervention period.
The present study examined two input modification techniques, namely lexical elaboration (LE) and typographical enhancement (TE), and the combination of these two (LE & TE) to seek the difference among them as far as incidental vocabulary learning through reading is concerned. Ninety-six Iranian EFL students whose reading proficiency was at intermediate level were divided into four groups and respectively read texts which were (a) lexically elaborated, (b) typographically enhanced, (c) both lexically elaborated and typographically enhanced, or (d) unmodified baseline. Right after reading, their incidental vocabulary learning was assessed by means of a modified version of Paribakht and Wesche's (1997) Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS). Results of the ANOVA demonstrated a significant difference among the four groups. In order to pinpoint where the differences exactly lay, a multiple comparison was done through the application of a post-hoc Scheffe Test. The results suggested that students performed significantly better on a text that had undergone both modification techniques (i.e. double-treatment). However, lexical elaboration alone did not have a statistically significant effect on incidental vocabulary learning through reading. More interestingly, there was no significant difference between the double-treatment and typographical enhancement groups although their mean scores were different.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.