No abstract

Learning a language involves knowledge of both linguistic competence and cultural competence. Optimal development of linguistic competence and cultural competence, however, requires a high level of acculturation attitude toward the target language culture. To this end, the present study explored the acculturation attitudes of 70 Iranian undergraduate students of English as a Foreign Language, following a one-semester academic sojourn in the United States. The data of the study were collected through a 29-item 5-point Likert scale acculturation attitude questionnaire. Findings indicated that sojourners tended to have close contact with the people of the target society while maintaining their original culture, adopting Integration and Assimilation strategies as their acculturation attitudes. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested providing opportunities for students of English as a Foreign Language to immerse in the target language culture through organizing academic exchange programs.

Abstract-Cultural intelligence is supposed to be influential to the development of pragmatic comprehension as individuals with a higher cultural intelligence can more easily navigate and understand unfamiliar cultures and adjust their behaviors to perform effectively in culturally diverse situations. To assess the actual relationship between cultural intelligence and pragmatic comprehension ability, a study was conducted over 120 Iranian learners of English in the intensive English program of universities in the United States. Data were collected through a cultural intelligence scale and a pragmatic comprehension test. The results of the Pearson product-moment correlation indicated a strong positive relationship between level of cultural intelligence and pragmatic comprehension ability. Pedagogical implications of the findings suggested exploring target language culture and interacting with target language speakers for language learners who are on educational sojourns.

Building on Baddeley's cognitive psychology (2007) and Skehan 's Limited Attentional Capacity Model (2009), this article reports a study of the effects of pre-task planning time (strategic planning time) on Malaysian English learners' written narratives elicited by means of a picture composition. 50 first-year undergraduate students studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang were served as the participants of this study. All the participants achieved band four from Malaysian University English Test (MUET). They were randomly selected and divided into two equal groups of with pre-task planning time and without pre-task planning time. Each group was asked to narrate a story under the two different conditions. Participants in pre-task planning time group was required to plan for their performance for 10 minutes and take notes before they performed the tasks, whilst the participants in without pre-task planning time group began writing immediately. The learners' writing performance was measured for complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). Independent samples t-test was employed to analyze the collected data. Results indicated that pre-task planning time had no effect on the accuracy of the learners' writing performances, but led to more fluency and complexity.