The Investigation of Yazd Khan Bazaar with Emphasis on Bazaar Status in Eastern, Western and Islamic Thoughts

Trade as the most important form of social exchange is one of the main activities of human beings. An activity that has led to construction of special spaces and places called "Bazaar" in various forms, and also Islamic cities are recognized by the bazaar from all cities of different historical periods. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze the bazaar element in Yazd as an example of Iranian-Islamic cities. The method used in the above research is descriptive and survey. at first, the different utopias of Western thinkers and also ten Islamic cities, randomly inside and outside Iran(instead of eastern utopias) were selected based on age and reputation. They were examined and their indicators of bazaars were extracted. Finally, according to extracted indicators of bazaars in western and Islamic cities, the degree of conformity of Yazd Khan Bazaar with the bazaar of Western and Islamic thinkers was examined. The research shows that the bazaar element, in some cities such as Yazd, still plays a role as the main feature of the city and has the appropriate physical and social credibility. In addition, after examining the characteristics of different bazaars, it was found that Yazd Khan Bazaar is the most similar to the bazaars of Islamic cities in terms of physics and construction pattern.

The Impact of Source Text Culture on the Quality of Translation

The present article reports a study carried out to investigate whether or not awareness of ST culture has any impact on the translation quality of translator trainees. 20 Iranian graduated from English translation took part in this study. They were divided into two groups, one experimental and one control groups. After homogenizing the participants through a TOEFL test, a translation pre-test was given to them and then cultural backgrounds of ST were taught to the experimental group who were later required to use the taught material in their classroom translation practice during one academic semester. The control groups were run traditionally as widely practiced in Iranian graduated translation classes. A translation post-test was given to all the groups at the end of the semester. The statistical results demonstrate a significant difference between the pre- and post- tests in the experimental group as compared with the control group.

Delving into the Relationships among Iraqi EFL Learners' Willingness to Write, Personality Types and Writing Ability

It is highly conspicuous that learning and reaching high levels of mastery in writing and the psychological factors affecting it has an increasing importance. A common strategy that has attracted more attention in the field is the study of the possible effect of individual differences including willingness to write and personality type on the writing performance of language learners. As in particular no study in Iraq, to our knowledge, has considered such relationships, the present study dissects the links between EFL Iraqi learner’s willingness to write, writing ability and personality types. To homogenize the learners, 200 English university students from Diwaneyah English language departments were selected through convenience sampling and were required to participated in Oxford Placement Test from which 120 EFL language were considered intermediate. The intermediate participants were also asked to fill out two questionnaires of Willingness to write and five-factor personality type and complete a writing task. The Pearson correlation between the scores showed that willingness to write and writing ability are moderately correlated and that from among five sub-factors of personality traits, conscientiousness has the highest positive correlation and Neuroticism has the lowest negative correlation with writing ability. The findings of this study have important implications for teachers and administrators to know how to consider psychological factors to improve students’ writing ability.

Language Learning Styles and Writing Strategies as Predictors of Writing Anxiety among Iranian EFL Learners

The main aim of this study was to see if a significant relationship existed among Iranian EFL learners’ Learning Styles, Writing Strategies and Writing Anxiety. To this effect, 183 EFL learners studying English in three language institutes from the upper intermediate and advanced proficiency levels were selected based on convenient nonrandom sampling procedure. They completed the Kolb Learning Style (KLS), the Inventory of Learning Strategies for writing (ILS) and the Foreign Language Writing Anxiety Scale (FLWAS) self-report questionnaires. However, after the initial screening, 21 cases were discarded as their answers were incomplete, leaving 162 participants in the final sample. The relationship among EFL learners learning styles, writing strategies and writing anxiety were analyzed using the Spearman rank order coefficient of correlation. Since, the results indicated statistically significant relationships among them, multiple regression analyses were run to see if significant predictors of EFL learners’ writing anxiety could be identified. Interestingly, the analyses showed that pragmatist learning style made the strongest statistically significant unique contribution to predict writing anxiety while activist learning style failed to make such a significant contribution. To clarify, the negative relationship suggests that the more pragmatic the preferred learning style is, the lower the writing anxiety. Furthermore, only memory writing strategy made a statistically significant unique contribution to predicting writing anxiety while the other five writing strategies did not. To explain further, their positive relationship implies that learners who apply memory strategies more, face higher levels of writing anxiety. Thus, this study identified learners’ pragmatist learning style and memory writing strategy as significant predictors of writing anxiety in the EFL context. As a result, not only does this study provide statistical evidence of the relationship among these variables but it also stresses the importance of EFL learners’ language learning styles and writing strategies to their writing anxiety.

Test Anxiety: A Case of ESL Vocabulary Testing Using Multiple-Choice Items and Error Identification Tests

The current study seeks to discern the impact of test anxiety on English language students’ test performance. The major instruments which helped gathering data were two different formats of vocabulary test and a questionnaire survey which identified the level of anxiety. Participants were fifty female English language learners who were studying at intermediate and upper-intermediate levels of English. These students were grouped into two groups of MC and EI according to their scores in the examinations they were given in the pre-test phase, multiple-choice test and error identification test. The survey after the pre-test indicated the level of anxiety these tests have brought. During a span of twenty-week period students received different teaching plans respectively. The same tests in pre-test were administered in the post-test phase and the questionnaire illustrated the level of anxiety after each student has received particular treatment. The findings showed that the level of test anxiety is higher in the group which received and tested on error identification format of vocabulary knowledge test. This increase of test anxiety was by definition significant in comparison with the other group, MC. The other important part of this study was coming to this conclusion that while students were given their particular teaching plans, debilitative anxiety still impedes them from having a strong and high performance which in turn needs more considerations from their teachers and examiners.

The Effect of Nonverbal Communication Training on Iranian EFL Learners' Perception of Communicative Competence and Communication Apprehension

Researchers have asserted that the sense of uncertainty of the other person’s nonverbal cues during a conversation, could become an inhibitor for good communication and accordingly create anxiety. Since not much has been done to empirically prove such assumptions, this study explores the effect of Nonverbal Communication training on Iranian EFL learners’ perception of communication apprehension and communicative competence. In order to conduct this quasi-experimental study, intermediate level Iranian EFL learners from two intact classes studying in a language institute were selected through convenience sampling. These study participants were assigned to the Control Group (n=27) and the Experimental Group (n=32), respectively. Both groups were trained in speaking skills within a span of ten sessions in accordance with the regular method used in the study venue. The only difference was that the Experimental Group was trained in non-verbal communication incorporated into their regular speaking classes as an intervention program. The SPCC and PRCA-24 self-report questionnaires were used to collect learners’ perception of communicative competence and communication apprehension prior and subsequent to the intervention program. These pretest and posttest measures were then analyzed to test the null hypotheses of this study using two sets of the Analysis of Covariance. The results showed an empirically significant increase in the self-perceived communication competence and a simultaneous decrease in the personal report of communication apprehension scores of the Iranian EFL learners in the experimental group who participated in the intervention program. On the other hand, the control group students, who were not provided with the non-verbal communication training, perceived no significant changes in neither their communication competence nor their communication apprehension. This empirical evidence suggests that familiarity with non-verbal cues of the target language could positively affect learners’ perception of their speaking ability and lower speaking anxiety. Thus, this study not only provides evidence as to the effectiveness of incorporating non-verbal communication training in speaking classes in decreasing apprehension and increasing communicative competence but it also provides a sample within which this training can be integrated into a regular language learning class. The findings contribute to EFL research on the importance of nonverbal communication in the teaching and learning of the speaking skill and provide input for further analysis in this context.