Papers by Arshya Keyvanfar
Studies in Literature and Language, 2019
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of portfolio as a kind of alternative assessme... more This study was conducted to investigate the effect of portfolio as a kind of alternative assessment on grammar knowledge and writing skill of Iranian EFL learners at the intermediate level. Based on convenience sampling, 32 adult Iranian IELTS students attended in an intensive preparation course of English in two consecutive terms twice a week for 90 minutes over 5 weeks. It is necessary to mention that basic elements of an acceptable writing were presented in both control and experimental groups to make students aware of the fundamental requirements of writing. The results through ANCOVA revealed that all the null hypotheses of the study, except one, were rejected and significant differences were found between the average performance of the two portfolio and the non-portfolio groups in grammar, IELTS and PET and finally PET writing. However, no difference was found between the average performance of the two portfolio and the non-portfolio groups in IELTS. It was hence concluded tha...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Dec 23, 2022
This paper aims to draw your attention to an ever-growing issue, "Othering", in most societies, e... more This paper aims to draw your attention to an ever-growing issue, "Othering", in most societies, especially the United States of America, and the crucial role of political leaders on people in their society, and as a result, in the global village. Considering the aim of this research, a most heard political discourse, the first presidential debate of the United States of America in 2020, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, was analyzed based on Faircloughian critical discourse analysis in terms of othering. The three-dimensions of Faircough's model, description, interpretation, and explanation, were applied on the debate to compare and contrast the two representatives of the two main political parties of the United States of America. The results of t he research are described or, if possible, are shown in terms of percentages in tables and a figure. To conclude, based on the findings in this corpus comparative study Joe Biden had a better performance in terms of othering in comparison with Donald Trump in all dimensions of this study, at the first presidential debate in 2020.
International Journal of Social Science And Human Research
This paper aims to draw your attention to an ever-growing issue, “Othering”, in most societies, e... more This paper aims to draw your attention to an ever-growing issue, “Othering”, in most societies, especially the United States of America, and the crucial role of political leaders on people in their society, and as a result, in the global village. Considering the aim of this research, a most heard political discourse, the first presidential debate of the United States of America in 2020, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, was analyzed based on Faircloughian critical discourse analysis in terms of othering. The three-dimensions of Faircough’s model, description, interpretation, and explanation, were applied on the debate to compare and contrast the two representatives of the two main political parties of the United States of America. The results of the research are described or, if possible, are shown in terms of percentages in tables and a figure. To conclude, based on the findings in this corpus comparative study Joe Biden had a better performance in terms of othering in comparison...
IJELTAL (Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics)
The present quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design ... more The present quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design investigated the impact of back-translation teaching with collaborative activities on Iranian English translation students’ translation achievement. To this end, 30Iranian EFL translation students studying at Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch were nominated based on convenience sampling. The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and a translation pretest were directed to inspect the contributors’ homogeneity prior to the treatment. The groups were assigned to the Collaborative Back-translation Group (CBTG n=15) and Back-translation Group (BTG n=15). During 16 sessions, CBTG experienced back-translation with collaborative activities as a treatment, whereas the BTG experienced only back-translation every session. After the treatment stage, the participants were given a translation posttest. The study also examined the participants’ attitudes toward collaborative activities implementation v...
IRANIAN JOURNAL OF TEFLL, 2009
The present study tried to address the probable impact of three levels of context pregnancy on th... more The present study tried to address the probable impact of three levels of context pregnancy on the abilities of three groups of Iranian EFL learners to recognize and produce a set of low frequency target words. For this purpose, 101 learners studying at the intermediate level of Iran-Canada Language Institute were selected to participate in this study. A PET language proficiency test was employed to case match the subjects in three homogeneous groups which were then randomly assigned as the control, 1 st experimental and 2 nd experimental group. As the pretest of the study, the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale and the Word Recognition Test were employed to make sure that the participants had no active or passive knowledge of the selected low frequent target words. At the beginning of the instruction, all the learners were taught how to use "contextual clues" to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words through a leaflet. Then, the control group received the target words' definitions out of context, while the first and the second experimental groups encountered the target words in "directive contexts" and "general contexts" respectively. With the second administration of the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale and the Word Recognition Test as posttests, it was revealed that there was no significant difference among the three groups in their "productive" vocabulary knowledge whereas the "directive context" group and the control group both outperformed the "general context" group by their "receptive vocabulary" knowledge. It was concluded that the employment of directive contexts which are rich in contextual clues and exposing the students to the dictionary meaning of unknown words have a significant impact only on the students' receptive vocabulary knowledge.
Energies, 2021
Contingency analysis (CA) is a well-known function in power system planning and operation. In acc... more Contingency analysis (CA) is a well-known function in power system planning and operation. In accordance with CA results, the system operator dispenses information regarding static security of the power system (overloads and/or voltage outside tolerable limits). However, classic CA with remedial action schemes cannot distinguish safe operating regimes from potentially dangerous ones in terms of voltage (in)stability. In fact, voltage instability is considered as one of the major threats leading to power system insecurity. Therefore, in this study an enhanced contingency analysis (ECA) is presented where the classical CA is extended with static voltage analysis based on the modal analysis. The article presents a dedicated methodology for the proposed ECA tool, with special emphasis on the analysis of corrective measures provided by the system operator, intended for enhancing power system security (regulation transformer action, distributed generation and energy storage). Also the inf...
The present study aimed at investigating whether two types of assessment strategies, namely Dynam... more The present study aimed at investigating whether two types of assessment strategies, namely Dynamic Assessment and NonDynamic Assessment had any significant impact on elementary and preintermediate Iranian EFL learners’ performance on their final achievement test including reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and language functions. The participants of the study were 81 learners studying at the elementary and pre-intermediate levels in four classes in a language school in Tehran, Iran. Having tested them through the KET and PET respectively, one class at each level was randomly assigned as the experimental group. During 13 sessions, eight quizzes were administered in all the four classes. Following the principles of DA, participants of the two experimental groups received assistance when taking the quizzes while, in the two control groups, no assistance was provided. After the treatment, ANOVA was run on the results of the post-tests at the two levels, the results of which in...
Task-based listening tests such as IELTS require testees to listen to some information on a CD an... more Task-based listening tests such as IELTS require testees to listen to some information on a CD and simultaneously answer the related items. To answer such items, testees are expected to comprehend, analyze, compare and infer pieces of information while listening to the incoming audio material. The present research attempted to investigate whether the two major characteristics of question type and consecutive/simultaneous performance have any impact on the listening performance of Iranian EFL learners. Findings indicated that participants had a significantly better performance when they tackled the tasks consecutively, and performed even better in listening MC items rather than in listening task-based items. The researchers, thus, concluded that task-based listening tests such as IELTS listening module may be under the influence of construct-irrelevant variance. Keywords: Listening Task-Based Assessment, Test Method, Consecutive Performance, Simultaneous Performance, Construct-Irrele...
This study investigated the impact of nonverbal prompts on the speaking grammatical accuracy of I... more This study investigated the impact of nonverbal prompts on the speaking grammatical accuracy of Iranian male and female EFL learners. To this end, 80 EFL learners who were students of the intermediate level of a language school in Tehran and were randomly assigned to two experimental and two control groups took part in this study. The four groups were statistically compared in terms of their general language proficiency level and also speaking skill, indicating that they were eligible for this study. Two control groups of male and female participants received recasts and two experimental groups of male and female participants received nonverbal prompts in the form of body language and facial expressions. The results showed that using nonverbal prompts did significantly improve the speaking grammatical accuracy of the two experimental groups of male and female participants. Furthermore, female learners receiving nonverbal prompts outperformed their male counterparts. To investigate the degree of the impact of nonverbal prompts on male and female learners, the researchers conducted two regression analyses which revealed that male learners benefited more from the experimental condition than the female learners. Finally, this study showed that the speaking improvement of female learners, unlike that of male learners, is not influenced by the type of feedback they receive during instruction.
Task-based listening tests such as IELTS require testees to listen to some information on a CD an... more Task-based listening tests such as IELTS require testees to listen to some information on a CD and simultaneously answer the related items. To answer such items, testees are expected to comprehend, analyze, compare and infer pieces of information while listening to the incoming audio material. The present research attempted to investigate whether the two major characteristics of question type and consecutive/simultaneous performance have any impact on the listening performance of Iranian EFL learners. Findings indicated that participants had a significantly better performance when they tackled the tasks consecutively, and performed even better in listening MC items rather than in listening task-based items. The researchers, thus, concluded that task-based listening tests such as IELTS listening module may be under the influence of construct-irrelevant variance.
Journal of Language and Translation, 2010
Fuzzy Partial Credit Scoring Method (FPCS) was proposed with the primary aim of moving beyond the... more Fuzzy Partial Credit Scoring Method (FPCS) was proposed with the primary aim of moving beyond the zero-one view for measuring knowledge on MC tests. The present study compared 2229 test takers’ ranks on the Master of Art (MA) Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) State University Entrance Examination )UEE( obtained through the application of both the FPCS method and the conventional correction for guessing scoring. The results revealed that there were more than 70 differences in more than 50% of test takers’ ranks when the two scoring methods were compared. The findings also illustrated that the FPCS method had the greatest impact on the mid knowledge level, followed by low and high level test takers. Therefore, the researchers concluded that the FPCS method can include test takers’ partial knowledge and by distinguishing random and informed guesses, it provides a more reasonable ranking on the high-stake tests. The findings of this study signified the importance of paying m...
Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2009
Task-based learning and teaching in the realm of teaching young learners is still considered an a... more Task-based learning and teaching in the realm of teaching young learners is still considered an adventure since very few experimental studies to date have tackled its applicability in that age group. The present research was an attempt to find out whether using task-based reading activities has any impact on the development of text comprehension in Iranian young learners studying English as a foreign language at the beginner level. Two groups of 25 students, aged 11 to 13, were the participants of the study. Through a reading pretest, it was ensured that the two groups were at the same level and belonged to the same population in terms of the reading skill. Having instructed the experimental group with four task types and the control group with classical reading activities, the researcher compared the reading performance of the two groups through a t-test which, not surprisingly, manifested the better performance of the experimental group. A follow-up reading test also showed that t...
Differential item functioning (DIF) has been a recent success in the field of test fairness and o... more Differential item functioning (DIF) has been a recent success in the field of test fairness and or item biasness as it has been broadly used by many researchers worldwide based the present literature as a validity confirmation method. This paper has attempted to briefly introduce and explain the basic issues of DIF in simple terms and provide the reader with a fairly comprehensive review of the recent validation works done by researchers on English Proficiency Test (EPT) in Iran. EPT is a national high-stake test held in Iran for PhD students as a general English proficiency evaluation before they are allowed to be PhD graduates. Therefore, the study has highlighted the strong and weak points of the investigations been ran on the subject as well as that of the test development, validation, administration, scoring and interpretation itself.
This study investigated the impact of nonverbal prompts on the speaking grammatical accuracy of I... more This study investigated the impact of nonverbal prompts on the speaking grammatical accuracy of Iranian male and female EFL learners. To this end, 80 EFL learners who were students of the intermediate level of a language school in Tehran and were randomly assigned to two experimental and two control groups took part in this study. The four groups were statistically compared in terms of their general language proficiency level and also speaking skill, indicating that they were eligible for this study. Two control groups of male and female participants received recasts and two experimental groups of male and female participants received nonverbal prompts in the form of body language and facial expressions. The results showed that using nonverbal prompts did significantly improve the speaking grammatical accuracy of the two experimental groups of male and female participants. Furthermore, female learners receiving nonverbal prompts outperformed their male counterparts. To investigate t...
TOEFL iBT has turned recently heads to the impacts language tests can have on language learning. ... more TOEFL iBT has turned recently heads to the impacts language tests can have on language learning. Since error analysis-based instruction has gained a new life with the advent of the computer analysis of the learner’s language, the researchers of this study embarked on examining a sample of integrated and independent writing tasks of 45 Iranian TOEFL iBT candidates in order to identify and classify their errors. Examining 90 writing tasks in toto, the researchers categorized the errors into three major categories: grammar, mechanics, and content errors. Although, the errors of integrated and independent tasks at the levels of grammar and mechanics, with slight differences, had much to share, the content errors exhibited considerable differences. The content errors of the integrated task included plagiarism, for instance while the independent category was limited to organization of ideas and task fulfillment. Given the relative youth of TOEFL iBT for language teachers and learners, the...
Studies in Literature and Language, 2019
This study has investigated the impact of accommodation on test performance as well as achievemen... more This study has investigated the impact of accommodation on test performance as well as achievement scores of Iranian EFL learners at the intermediate level. Initially, 60 female EFL learners of a language school took a version of PET following the standard procedure of the test with no accommodation. Ten days later, the same 60 learners took the second version of PET with some forms of accommodation including: extended time, setting alteration, test illustration, and response presentation. In the second phase, the 60 participants were divided into two 30-member groups of experimental and control and their equality was checked in terms of language proficiency. The experimental group, in addition to its regular lesson plan, underwent accommodated formative assessment. Consequently, as they finished each session, they took quizzes in the next session and received feedback on their progress in terms of four skills. The accommodation activities used during instruction included extended t...
i-manager’s Journal on English Language Teaching
The role of grammar teaching is one of the most debatable issues in language teaching. In the ear... more The role of grammar teaching is one of the most debatable issues in language teaching. In the early years of the twentieth century the crucial part of language instruction was grammar teaching, while other aspects were either ignored or down played (Richards and Renandya, 2002). During that time, as Ellis (2006) states, "grammar teaching was viewed as the presentation and practice of discrete grammatical structures" (p. 84), which inevitably required learners to memorize grammar rules. He considers this approach to grammar as somewhat narrow on the grounds that there are different possibilities for a grammar lesson: (i) having presentation and practice, (ii) giving practice and no presentation, (iii) leading learners to discover grammatical rules on their own with no presentation and practice, (iv) exposing learners to input containing multiple exemplars of the target structure, and finally (v) providing corrective feedback on learners' errors while performing communicative tasks. Nevertheless, "for most teachers, the main idea of grammar teaching is to help learners internalize the structures taught in such a way that they can be used in everyday communication. To this NAEIMEH BAKSHIRI** By end, the learners are provided with opportunities to practice the structures, first under controlled conditions, and then under more normal communicative conditions (Ellis, 2002, p. 168). Richards and Renandya (2002) believe that" in recent years, grammar teaching has regained its rightful place, in language curriculum; people now agree that grammar is too important to be ignored, and without a good knowledge of grammar, learner's language development will be severely constrained" (p. 145). In the same line, Ellis (2005) warns that acquiring language naturally without any form-focused instruction would not allow adult L to achieve 2 full target language competence, especially because there seem to be some linguistic properties that cannot be acquired without instruction and assistance. According to Ellis, Loewen, and Basturkmen (2002), a close analysis of the discussions on how to teach grammar indicates that they usually center around the possible pedagogical options available to teachers and the relative benefits of each for learners. They complain that not enough "attention has been paid to the actual methodological procedures that teachers use to focus on
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Papers by Arshya Keyvanfar