Papers by Amir Sarkeshikian
2nd Call for Papers: Mixed-Methods Studies in English Language Teaching, 2024
"This is an ideal introductory book for budding researchers who are embarking on the develop... more "This is an ideal introductory book for budding researchers who are embarking on the development and then analysis of data, and in this case, more specifically questionnaires using partly or exclusively closed questions amenable to statistical analysis." Primary Health Care Research and Development "The text is a welcome addition for nursing students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level research. Having reviewed the text I can only inform you how a student described a chapter in the book recently when she borrowed it. 'The language is clear and unambiguous'. I will be strongly encouraging students to either purchase the text ... with the purpose of giving them a foundation in statistics." William Evans, Institute of Technology Tralee, Ireland This accessible book is essential reading for those looking for a short and simple guide to basic data analysis. Written for the complete beginner, the book is the ideal companion when undertaking quantitative data analysis for the first time using SPSS. The book uses a simple example of quantitative data analysis that would be typical to the health field to take you through the process of data analysis step by step. The example used is a doctor who conducts a questionnaire survey of 30 patients to assess a specific service. The data from these questionnaires is given to you for analysis, and the book leads you through the process required to analyse this data. Handy screenshots illustrate each step of the process so you can try out the analysis for yourself, and apply it to your own research with ease. Topics covered include: Questionnaires and how to analyse them Coding the data for SPSS, setting up an SPSS database and entering the data Descriptive statistics and illustrating the data using graphs Cross-tabulation and the Chi-square statistic Correlation: examining relationships between interval data Examining differences between two sets of scores Reporting the results and presenting the data Quantitative Data Analysis Using SPSS is helpful for any students in health and social sciences with little or no experience of quantitative data analysis and statistics.
The traditional ways of language learning and teaching are being blended with or replaced by elea... more The traditional ways of language learning and teaching are being blended with or replaced by elearning or online learning, since it is found helpful in teaching language learners. In the same vein, universities and educational institutions in the Persian Gulf Region have given attention to and adopted e-learning. However, the universities and colleges in Dubai have used more e-learning innovations in their pedagogical activities than in other countries in the region. The trend is aimed at motivating students to study outside of the classroom and is, therefore, on vogue in the educational settings of Dubai. These technological innovations can directly influence the current university practices and may change the traditional definition of education as e-learning can be extended beyond the walls of classroom at anytime [1]. This paper is an attempt to analyze the elearning practices in teaching English as Foreign language in Dubai, such as Blended Model of Language Teaching, Totally On...
Self-regulation is considered as self-generated ideas and actions, which are directed towards ach... more Self-regulation is considered as self-generated ideas and actions, which are directed towards achieving academic objectives (Cleary & Zimmerman, 2004). The purpose of this mixed-method study was to investigate the English-Persian translators’ perception and use of self-regulatory strategies in translation process. To that end, three research phases were designed. In the first phase, 42 male and female translators were requested to participate in a semi-structured interview designed based on Pintrich’s (2004) model of self-regulation. In second phase of the study, 20 translators were requested to translate sample texts and participate in introspective and retrospective think-aloud protocols. Then, the data from think-aloud protocols and retrospective interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Based on the recurrent themes, a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire on self-regulation strategies of English-Persian translators was developed. This 31-item questionnaire was composed of three...
Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 2020
Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 2018
Group dynamic assessment grounded in Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory is believed to have the pot... more Group dynamic assessment grounded in Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory is believed to have the potential to provide a context for capturing a group of learners' Zone of Proximal Development (Poehner & Lantolf, 2010). The present study was conducted to compare the effects of interventionist dynamic, cumulative group dynamic, and static assessments on the grammatical accuracy of the EFL learners' narrative writing. The participants of the study were 75 female students studying in the third grade of high school. Employing a quasi-experimental research design, three groups of interventionist dynamic, cumulative group dynamic, and static assessments were formed. The researchers used some wordless picture-sequence prompts for narrative writings in the pre-test, treatment, and post-test sessions. After the pre-test, only the experimental groups received mediational support. All the control and experimental groups were treated the same in the pre-and post-test in a non-dynamic way (static assessment). The data obtained from both pre-and post-test were statistically analyzed by the one-way ANOVA. The results showed that cumulative group dynamic assessment had more effect on developing the EFL learners' accuracy in writing narrative paragraphs. The findings have implications for language teachers and material developers, and syllabus designers. article citation
Psychology of Language and Communication, 2018
This study investigated the psychometric properties of self-regulating capacity in vocabulary lea... more This study investigated the psychometric properties of self-regulating capacity in vocabulary learning scale (Tseng, Dornyei, & Schmitt, 2006) in the Iranian EFL context. For this purpose, a sample of 1167 high school students completed the Persian SRCvoc in the main phase. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was examined using Cronbach’s alpha. It showed acceptable reliability in both piloting and main phases. The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) showed that the SRCvoc is composed of three factors. However, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the three-factor model of the SRCvoc and Tseng et al.’s (2006) five-factor model of the SRCvoc with item-level indicators showed that both models did not fit the data. The findings of this study imply that the item-parcels in Tseng et al. (2006) may have masked the nature of the factor structure of the self-regulating capacity in vocabulary learning scale. It should therefore be re-theorized.
Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 2020
Finding a technique that helps the learners become more proficient readers in English is a very i... more Finding a technique that helps the learners become more proficient readers in English is a very important issue. In this research, the effect of two pre-reading activities, namely anticipation guides and concept mapping, were compared on Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension. For this purpose, 90 EFL learners at elementary level of proficiency in English were chosen based on convenient sampling to take part. Based on the results from Solutions Placement Test of homogenization, they were assigned to three groups of 30 students. Before the treatment, a pretest of Preliminary English Test (PET) was administered. During the treatment, in one of the experimental groups, the concept mapping technique was used as pre-reading activity, in the other experimental group, anticipation guides were used for prereading, and in the control group, no pre-reading activity was used. The course took 10 sessions. After the treatment, another PET test was administered as the posttest and the results were compared with the pretest. The results of data analysis (ANOVA) showed that 1) concept mapping had a statistically significant effect on learners' reading comprehension, 2) anticipation guide had a statistically significant effect on learners' reading comprehension, and 3) there was no significant difference between the effects of concept mapping and anticipation guide on learners' reading comprehension. Pedagogical implications for EFL teachers, institutes, materials developers and syllabus designers are also discussed, indicating that pre-reading activities are very important in the process of reading comprehension.
More recently, technology-based settings such as Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) have ... more More recently, technology-based settings such as Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) have developed amazing modern places for materials used to teach pragmatics. In terms of speech acts, one of the most fascinating conceptions of pragmatics (Eslamirasekh, 1993), no study has been focused on the presentation of speech acts in English language teaching software. This study aimed to analyze types, frequencies and distributions of speech acts presented in the dialogues of Tell Me More (version 10), a popular language learning software employed by a large number of academic institutions around the world, based on Searle’s (1976) speech act taxonomy. Using descriptive research including qualitative and quantitative investigations, the results revealed that interactive dialogues of entire 10 levels of Tell Me More totally provide learners with a noticeable number of speech acts along with numerous texts, pictures or movies to explain context. The results of chi-square test also show...
English Language Teaching, 2017
The current study intended to investigate the attitudes of Iranian intermediate EFL learners towa... more The current study intended to investigate the attitudes of Iranian intermediate EFL learners toward using British Council video clips and podcasts for listening comprehension. The participants were selected from among 132 intermediate learners based on their performance on an English proficiency test. 90 female EFL learners were selected and divided into three groups of 30 participants (i.e., one control group and two experimental groups). One of the experimental groups practiced British Council video clips while the other experimental group was instructed through British Council podcasts. The control group went through the same lesson plan without any video clips and podcasts. Once the treatment was over, the attitude questionnaire was administered to all groups. Based on the results of ANOVA and Scheffe test, it could be concluded that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the three groups on the attitude questionnaire. More specifically, the video clips h...
Cogent Arts & Humanities, 2019
Students from different cultures and first languages act differently in developing argumentative ... more Students from different cultures and first languages act differently in developing argumentative essays. This study aimed to compare the rhetorical models followed by the Iranian and Chinese EFL university students in writing argumentative essays. The research aimed to investigate the effect of first language on the use of rhetorical patterns in two different cultural settings. Hyland's model was used in order to compare students' writing. Hyland's model for interactional-source subtypes includes: hedges, boosters, attitude markers, engagement markers, self-mentions. The required data were collected from 80 EFL learners in Iran and China. Mann-Whitney U test was run to clarify the differences in using the metadiscourse markers. The results indicated there were significant differences between Iranian and Chinese EFL students in the use of all, but one, of the mentioned metadiscourse markers. The findings can provide a better perspective toward culture-specific variations in writing skill.
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2016
This study aimed to investigate the relatedness of five different operationalizations of explicit... more This study aimed to investigate the relatedness of five different operationalizations of explicit knowledge of English morphosyntax within the framework of levels of processing. Two groups of university students, majoring in English translation at BA level, participated in the study. For the purpose of the study, five different operationalizations of the explicit knowledge of English morphosyntax were drawn from the literature and two metalinguistic knowledge tests were constructed. The two measures were piloted; the one with 52 items showed strong overall internal consistency (α=0.98) and the other one with 30 items showed an acceptable overall internal consistency (α=.70). The data analyses using Pearson correlation revealed that there is no high correlation between the five variables, and therefore no serious covariation problem was detected. Moreover, the results of repeated-measures ANOVA showed that there was a significant within-group difference between the performances of ea...
Translation Studies Quarterly, 2020
Applied Linguistics, 2018
This study investigated the effect of story-based technique, L1 translation, and Whatsapp emotico... more This study investigated the effect of story-based technique, L1 translation, and Whatsapp emoticon puzzle solving on EFL learners’ learning proverbs. From among 90 female intermediate level learners at two language institutes in Qom, Iran, 60 homogeneous students were chosen following the administration of a sample of Nelson proficiency test and a pre-test. The 60 participants were then assigned to three experimental groups, equal in number. The experimental group 1 was instructed using story-based technique; the experimental group 2 was taught through L1 translation; and the experimental group 3 was exposed to Whatsapp emoticon puzzle solving. Subsequently, all three groups took part in a proverb post-test similar to the pre-test. The data were analyzed by ANOVA. The results showed that Whatsapp emoticon puzzle solving was significantly the most effective, and that the students’ level of learning proverbs was influenced by story-based technique more than L1 translation technique. T...
This study examined the contribution of self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs to the comp... more This study examined the contribution of self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs to the components of learning strategies of self-regulated learning in Iranian college students. The sample comprised 202 undergraduate EFL students. The shortened 37-item version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was used to assess the constructs in this study. Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that control of learning beliefs and self-efficacy components of the MSLQ are strongly associated with each other, besides a significantly positive association with other components of self-regulated learning strategies. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that both self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs had significantly positive contribution to the prediction of cognitive strategy use in the Iranian collegiate learning environment. Self-efficacy was also found to be a significant predictor of resource management strategies. The results are consistent with th...
There is a bulk of studies supporting the positive effect of strategy instruction on reading comp... more There is a bulk of studies supporting the positive effect of strategy instruction on reading comprehension. This study examined the effect of two reading strategies (i.e., false correction and inference strategy) on English reading comprehension of Iranian paramedical students, using a pretest, posttest, control group design. It also surveyed their attitudes toward the effect and usefulness of these strategies. The participants were sixty paramedical students, selected through availability sampling from the Medical University of Kashan. They were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (CG). The first experimental group was instructed to use inference strategy (henceforth IS), whereas the second was instructed to use a strategy based on elaborative interrogation theory (i.e., false correction strategy, henceforth FCS). The experimental data were collected through a researcher-made pretest and posttest, and survey data through a researcher-made questionnair...
This study aimed to investigate the relatedness of five different operationalizations of explici... more This study aimed to investigate the relatedness of five different operationalizations of explicit knowledge of English morphosyntax within the framework of levels of processing. Two groups of university students, majoring in English translation at BA level, participated in the study. For the purpose of the study, five different operationalizations of the explicit knowledge of English morphosyntax were drawn from the literature and two metalinguistic knowledge tests were constructed. The two measures were piloted; the one with 52 items showed strong overall internal consistency (α=0.98) and the other one with 30 items showed an acceptable overall internal consistency (α=.70). The data analyses using Pearson correlation revealed that there is no high correlation between the five variables, and therefore no serious covariation problem was detected. Moreover, the results of repeated-measures ANOVA showed that there was a significant within-group difference between the performances of each group on the metalinguistic test. The results of the study are discussed within the level of processing (LoP) framework and implications are offered
This study was conducted to see what impact explicit instruction of hedging and its associated li... more This study was conducted to see what impact explicit instruction of hedging and its associated linguistic elements has on EFL learners' understanding and using of these devices in journalistic English. Eighty five Iranian university EFL learners were selected from three universities to participate in the study. To elicit the second language learners' awareness of hedging devices, a pre-test was administered to the participants. Then, the participants were taught about the forms and functions of the hedging devices in Journalistic English through an instructional treatment. Finally, they were given a post test to see to what extent the explicit instruction had been effective. From the statistical analysis of the 3.6.
This study examined the contribution of self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs to the comp... more This study examined the contribution of self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs to the components of learning strategies of self-regulated learning in Iranian college students. The sample comprised 202 undergraduate EFL students. The shortened 37-item version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was used to asse ss the constructs in this study. Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that control of learning beliefs and self-efficacy components of the MSLQ are strongly associated with each other, besides a significantly positive association with other components of self-regulated learning strategies. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that both self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs had significantly positive contribution to the prediction of cognitive strategy use in the Iranian collegiate learning environment. Self-efficacy was also found to be a significant predictor of resource management strategies. The results are consistent with the findings of the previous investigations on motivation and its influence on SRL strategies use in traditional classrooms.
Conference Presentations by Amir Sarkeshikian
This study examined the contribution of motivational components of the MSLQ (Pintrich, 1991) to p... more This study examined the contribution of motivational components of the MSLQ (Pintrich, 1991) to predict the use of affective language learning strategies, as measured by Oxford’s (1990) SILL. The sample included 200 undergraduate EFL students, selected through purposive sampling from six universities in Iran. The results of stepwise regression analyses revealed that three models reached statistical significance (p<.001). In the first model, test anxiety was found to statistically significant predictor of the variance in affective strategy use (R2=.08, β = -.3). In the second model, test anxiety and task value were found to be statistically significant predictors of the variance in the dependent variable (R2 = .1, β = -.27 and β =-.14). In the third model, test anxiety, task value and control of learning beliefs were found to be statistically significant predictors of the variance in the dependent variable (R2= .12, β = -.34, β = -.24 and β = -.20). The findings have implications for language measurement experts and English language practitioners.
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Papers by Amir Sarkeshikian
The Journal of Mixed-Methods Studies in English Language Teaching (MMSELT) is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, refereed journal focusing on theories, methods, and applications of mixed-methods research in applied linguistics (AL) in general and English language teaching (ELT) in particular.
The Journal welcomes manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. To that end, we would like to ask you to contribute your mixed-methods studies in AL or ELT to the second issue of the journal.
You can submit your manuscript at:
https://sanad.iau.ir/journal/mslt
It is appreciated if you forward this mail to your colleagues and other AL and ELT researchers.
With Regards,
Amir Sarkeshikian, PhD in ELT
MMSELT Director-in-Chief
https://sanad.iau.ir/journal/mslt
[email protected]
Conference Presentations by Amir Sarkeshikian
The Journal of Mixed-Methods Studies in English Language Teaching (MMSELT) is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, refereed journal focusing on theories, methods, and applications of mixed-methods research in applied linguistics (AL) in general and English language teaching (ELT) in particular.
The Journal welcomes manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. To that end, we would like to ask you to contribute your mixed-methods studies in AL or ELT to the second issue of the journal.
You can submit your manuscript at:
https://sanad.iau.ir/journal/mslt
It is appreciated if you forward this mail to your colleagues and other AL and ELT researchers.
With Regards,
Amir Sarkeshikian, PhD in ELT
MMSELT Director-in-Chief
https://sanad.iau.ir/journal/mslt
[email protected]