Despite previous works showing that mothers, fathers, and siblings provide input to their toddler, the role of siblings on specific changes that they may cause, remains obscure. Since most work in this area has concentrated on the input provided by parents, this study extended prior work by comparing how specifically parents and sibling could influence different aspects of language development in toddlers up to age 24 months. 20 children (1; 8) were videotaped interacting with their family members. Two groups of children were compared in this study: group A) toddlers who do not have a sibling, group B) toddlers who have a preschool- aged sibling (4:8). To see if there were a significant difference between the toddler's comprehension and production abilities, two separate t-tests were compared. Analysis of groups revealed that group A was superior on production but group B acted better in comprehension. These results are discussed in terms of quality and quantity of the input provided by family members.
The present experiment was composed of both qualitative and quantitative methods and aimed at investigating Reading Metacognitive Strategy Awareness (RMSA) and use by the aid of three inventory techniques including a questionnaire, a think-aloud protocol, and a Computerized RMSA System. The computerized system was specifically designed and validated to satisfy the needs of this study in measuring and practicing Reading Metacognitive Strategies. It also tried to explore any possible effects of Computerized RMSA System on reading comprehension of the participants. To this end, a sample of 25 university students majoring in English Translation and English Literature from a University in Iran were selected based on purposive and clustered sampling. The research data were selected using a number of instruments including the reading section of Test of English as a Foreign Language as pre/posttest, a researcher-made Reading Metacognitive Strategies questionnaire, think-aloud protocol and a Computerized RMSA System. The research findings show that the questionnaire, think-aloud and Computerized RMSA System results vary significantly. Moreover, Computerized RMSA System has a positive effect on reading comprehension of learners of English as a Foreign Language. Pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed.
The traditional form of teaching speaking skill has been via face-to-face (FTF) interaction in the classroom setting. Today in the computer age, the on-line forum can provide a virtual environment for differential communication. The pedagogical system benefits from such technology improvement for teaching foreign languages. This quasiexperimental research aimed at comparing the effects of two instructional strategies: synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) and FTF interaction. For this purpose, 60 EFL learners were selected from a private language institute as the control (n=30) and experimental (n=30) groups. A speaking test, designed by Hughes (2003), was administered as pretest and after a 12-session treatment the same test was administered as the posttest. The result obtained showed that participants taught based on SCMC fared better than those that were taught according to FTF interaction. Based on the findings of the current study, it is recommended that EFL teachers incorporate computermediated communication into their pedagogical procedures.
<p><em>In an effort with a two-fold research question regarding the role of teaching substitution as a kind of grammatical cohesion on the true identification of confusing substitution elements with cohesive or noncohesive roles in different contexts and also the production of modal, reporting and conditional contexts through clausal substitution acquaintance, the following procedures were taken. First 120 male and female EFL students were selected from Iranshahr Azad University. Having administered the language proficiency test, researchers selected 80 students as intermediate subjects according to their TOEFL band scores. First, pretests of cohesion identification (substitution) and production of modal, reporting and conditional environments were administered to both control and experimental groups. Then, the experimental group was exposed to the teaching of the above-said cohesive device. Finally, post-tests of substitution elements identification and modal, reporting and conditional contexts production through clausal substitution familiarity were administered. The results showed that cohesive device treatment helped students on the true identification of substitution elements. Another finding proved that EFL students may have no difficulty in learning certain rules or classification of rules and application of their clausal substitution knowledge in creating modal, reporting and conditional contexts. Our findings can have implications for the field of language learning and teaching by deepening our understanding of the nature of the cohesive devices used by Iranian intermediate EFL learners in the process of reading comprehension and also applying their knowledge of cohesive devices not only in reading skill but also in speaking and writing skills to have more fluent and accurate speakers, writers and successful readers.</em></p>
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