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Volume 4 (1); March 15, 2015

Research Paper

Investigating ILI Advanced Students' Critical Thinking by Teachers' Questions: with the Emphasis on Bloom's Revised Taxonomy.

Sadeghi B. and Mahdipour N.

Int. J. Appl. Ling. Stud., 4(1): 01-07, 2015; pii:S232251221500001-4

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the Iran Language Institute (ILI) advanced students' critical thinking by teachers' questions based on six cognitive skills (i.e., remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating) of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy (BRT)in Qazvin and Karaj. A 63-question type checklist based on BRT was used to see to what extent the ILI Advanced teachers apply critical thinking questions during the class. Besides, a 75-item questionnaire of California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCDI) which was based on a six-point Likert-type Scale was used to assess 138Students' CT. The results showed that the teachers' focus on the sub-categories of cognitive skills in Qazvin and Karaj were not much far from each other and the lower-order cognitive skills (i.e., remembering, understanding and applying) were relatively more than the higher-order ones (i.e., analyzing, evaluating and creating). In addition, the students' critical thinking was not different among Advanced 1, 2, and 3 in ILI. Finallythe ILI advanced teachers in the chosen branches did not use a lot of higher-order questions in their teaching procedure.
Key words: ILI advanced students, critical thinking, teacher's questions, Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

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Research Paper

Strategies of Translation of Culture-Specific Items from Azerbaijan Turkish into English: A Case Study of "Dede Qurqud".

Akhesmeh P, Dabaghi A, and Moinzadeh A.

Int. J. Appl. Ling. Stud., 4(1): 08-16, 2015; pii:S232251221500002-4

ABSTRACT

Language is considered to be a system of communication used by particular community of speakers with specific customs. In every society, people have specific cultures that are unknown or vague for others. Thus every nation has own culture and related culture specific items. Turkish language is not exception to this matter. Also translation is recognized as an act of culture-specific communication. A translator is the ‘first reader’ of the other culture as is shown in the foreign language text and, consequently, has to present the other in a primary process. For him learning to translate means ‘learning to read’, i.e. to produce meanings which are acceptable for the cultural community the reader belongs to. The existence of Culture Specific Items in the process of translation results many problems for translator. Translators use some strategies for conveying true meaning of CSIs. Because of variety of CSIs many scholars proposed different categories and strategies. In this study, based on Thriveni ’s categories; culture specific items refer to the proper names , social relationships, life-styles, symbols, habits and so on that are available in one language and culture but nonexistent in the other language and culture. Mailhac’s proposed strategies of translation of culture specific items were taken as the model of this study. To achieve this aim, the researcher has chosen five chapters of the most famous Turkish epic "Dede Qurqud". The results of the comparison revealed that the most frequently used strategy was "cultural substitution" with 39%, and the most CSIs were proper names with 22%.
Key words: Translation, Culture, Translation Strategies, Culture Specific Items

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Research Paper

On the Understated and Avant-garde Language Teaching Methods and Theories.

Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki M.

Int. J. Appl. Ling. Stud., 4(1): 17-23, 2014; pii:S232251221500003-4

ABSTRACT

Language teachers have always been concerned about the paucity of efficient methods of language instruction in education systems. Consequently, the language teaching pendulum is swinging from methods to post-method era. Post-method is not a new language approach; rather, it is a theory pursuing reforms in language teaching praxis. The aim of the present paper is twofold: to present some of the emerging language teaching methods and techniques plus reviewing some of the less attended language teaching approaches and theories. The paper is drawn to a close by the discussion of Principled Eclecticism, which is considered to be at the heart of Post-methods debate.
Key words: Language Teaching; Teaching Methods; New Approaches; Teaching Techniques

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