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Showing 32 results for Elyasi
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Summer 2021)
Abstract
Even today, Sheikh Eshraq's cryptic stories can be a great guide to us. In the sense that they can make human beings and show us the world around them. Because Sheikh in these stories regularly seek to represent the hierarchy of the universe and the position of the human in his proof that the human soul was the abstract light that originated in the set of existence. But the material body that belongs from the sacred universe has fallen to the darkness of the material universe, and it has been captured there. Then happiness comes back to its original itself. So, to identify more the main place soul of human speech in these cryptic stories, he has arranged the quadruple hierarchy of the universe based on the problem of the sulk and love between lights in the form of secret and the form of detailed that consist of universe wisdom, universe egos, objects, and purgatory universe and example universe among these factors Sheikh Eshraq emphasized the universe or imagination. It is the storytelling scene of his cryptic.
Volume 4, Issue 11 (1-2016)
Abstract
In this paper we analyze word Order in four Persian Dialects of Khuzestan, namely Behbahani, Dezfuli, Shushtari and Hendijani, from the typological perspective. The main theoretical framework in this research is Dryer’s word order research (1992). Dabir Moghaddam (1392) has studied 24 features in his research about Iranian languages, which 19 of them are selected from Dryer (1992) and others from Dryer’s Database. In the present research, we also consider the same 24 features. The founded results are compared with the world languages and those of Europe and Asia. The data collection tool and method is a questionnaire based on the features and interviewing the native speakers of these dialects, which were Totally 30. Then, these recordings were transcribed and analyzed on the basis of the mentioned features. The typological behavior of these dialects both in comparison with the world languages and languages of Europe and Asia were studied. Broadly speaking, it was observed that these four dialects have a tendency toward VO languages and in this respect are different from the intermediate type suggested by Dabir Moghaddam (1392) in the case of Persian. It should be noted that these dialects only in 9th and 11th features behave differently and in all other features they share common behavior.
Volume 7, Issue 4 (No.4 (Tome 32), (Articles in Persian) 2016)
Abstract
In this Paper we analyze the pronominal Clitics of Behbahani - a Dialect of Persian – their function and their placement in the sentence. It is shown that pronominal Clitics of Behbahani have four functions, namely subject, direct or indirect object and possessive. Here, we show that subject Clitics have 15 functions in the sentence which is fully discussed in the paper. Direct object Clitics select the following elements as their hosts: the prefix of the imperative verb, the verb prefix in prefixed verbs, the non – verbal part of the compound verb, the prefix showing continuity, the verb and the negating prefix. The hosts of indirect object Clitics are the direct object and the continuity prefix. Possessive Clitics can also choose subject, direct object and the complement as their host. In terms of the grammatical category the host can be a verb, noun, adjective, personal pronoun, Demonstrative, ambiguous pronoun, Clitics, preposition, interrogative pronoun, plural suffix, and RA Ezafe marker in Persian. The dominant position of the Clitics in this dialect is the second position; known as wackernagel position – that is after the first word or the first constituent in the clause. The main point of difference and dissociation between Behbahani and Standard Persian is the subject Clitics; Since there are not such elements as subject Clitics in Standard Persian, but as is seen in the paper, Behbahani has a rich collection of these elements.
M. Elyasi, M. Bakhshi-Jooybari, A. H. Gorji,
Volume 10, Issue 3 (12-2010)
Volume 10, Issue 3 (12-2010)
Abstract
Tubular components, such as stepped tubes, conical tubes and box-shape tubes, are mainly produced by tube hydroforming process. Obtaining a sharp corner is the main goal in some of these components. In this paper, corner filling in stepped tubes is studied using a new multistage hydroforming die. The proposed die was simulated and filling of the die cavity was investigated. The finite element software, ABAQUS 6.4, has been used for simulation. In order to verify the simulation results, the new die of stepped tube was manufactured and then experiments have been performed on it. The results of the experiments verified the simulation results. It was shown that by using the new die, parts with sharp corners could be produced. The simplicity of the die and the low internal pressure are among the advantages of this die.Thickness distribution was also examined by FE simulation and via experiments and it is shown that a better distribution could be obtained by the proposed die set.
Volume 10, Issue 20 (Supplementary Issue (Tome 46)- 2006)
Abstract
This manuscript trying to study amount of importance, usefulness and comprehensiveness of the concept of environment munificence for measuring nature of Iran's corporations environment based on conceptual and systematic approach. Through reviewing literature, interviewing with experts, the environment munificence concept was redefined and based on subjective approach, some dimensions were added, meanwhile, the importance and priority of it's variables were determinated.
Volume 12, Issue 2 (June & July 2021 (Articles in Persian) 2021)
Abstract
The main purpose of the present study was investigating concrete, temporal and abstract meanings of prepositions "in" for Persian speakers and "dar" for non-Persian speakers. This study attempted to examine the impact of traditional approach compared to cognitive approach in learning different concepts of the prepositions. For this purpose, first the spatial and prototype meanings of preposition "in" were studied from Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary (2016) and then the spatial and prototype meanings of preposition "dar" were extracted according to Farhang Sokkan (Anvari, 2002), respectively. Finally, sentences and phrases including these prepositions were chosen according to Vision 1 (2016) and Farsi Biamoozim (2009) in the intermediate level. Data collection, took place among 30 students of Noor high school and 30 non-Persian learners at Jame-e-Almostafa of Mashhad. Sample groups were selected randomly, then they were divided into control and experimental groups. Data analysis in Independent T-Test (comparison of pre-tests in control and experimental groups) displayed there isn’t significantly improvement between prior knowledge of learners before teaching (control pre-tests 12.57, experimental pre-tests 12.43), whereas comparison of post-tests showed there is significantly more improvement between in experimental groups compared to control groups (control post-tests 12.33, experimental post-tests 25.73). The results indicated that compared to traditional approach, applying cognitive method had significantly improvement in teaching different concepts of the prepositions. The results of this paper suggests effective strategies in teaching prepositions for language teachers.
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Methodology
- Conclusion
Volume 14, Issue 1 (Spring 2010)
Abstract
Due to some practical limitations, it is not possible to adopt images which have both high spectral and spatial resolutions. Image fusion is one of the methods that utilizes image supplementary information, to the effect that it combines the spatial information of images with high spatial resolution, By the use of these spectral information of the images with high spectral resolution, one can creates an image that has high spatial and spectral resolutions simultaneously. Current methods and algorithms of image fusion are not efficient enough to combine new satellite images due to some changes in these satellites; therefore, providing new methods of image fusion is of paramount significance for the above-mentioned satellites. Image fusion methods should desirably maintain the spectral and spatial information of the original images. In the present study, a new algorithm was introduced to combine the spatial information of the IKONOS images with the spatial resolution of 1m with the spectral information of the SPOT images with the spatial resolution of 20m. This algorithm is in the feature-level and is based on the Retinal Model. Other existent fusion models such as IHS, HPF, PCA, Wavelet and the hybrid Wavelet-PC were also applied to these images. The results of the spatial and spectral assessments of the combined images indicated that the spectral and spatial information of the proposed method are better. One of the major advantages of this method is that there is no need for resampling, which is a must in other methods.
Volume 14, Issue 4 (September & October 2023)
Abstract
This study intended to investigate identity and its ramifications in the light of investment theory (Norton, 2000). Seventeen participants from different language institutions in Mashhad, Iran, 10 females and 7 males, were selected and interviewed according to their level of proficiency (C1 and C2) and the level of their involvement. Using MAXQDA software 18, the researchers employed the three levels of the open, axial, and selective coding of the grounded theory methodology to analyze the data and bring in the results. The results showed that some significant factors directly affected investment such as working hard, fear of failure, and personal interest in learning English. Moreover, the findings of this study indicated that those with high levels of involvement had high levels of being hardworking and their attitude towards language, class, teacher, and learning was positive. Another finding of the study was that describing the target community for the learners increases their motivation which in turn leads to increase in their level of investment. The results proposed some new insights into the relationship between the sub-constructs of investment and the factors that reinforce it as well as some practical premonitions for teachers and practitioners of English specifically as a foreign language.
1. Introduction
In the words of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2019), the great English poet, philosopher, and co-founder of the romantic literary movement, identity is multifaceted and the result of a series of factors that are intertwined: “I do not call the sod under my feet my country, but language-religion-government-blood-identity in these makes men of one country” (p. 145).
The concept of identity, for many years, had been regarded as a psychological issue (Balistreri et al., 1995; Erikson, 1959, 1967; Hall, 1996). Psychological factors can be separated into two categories: affective or emotional, and cognitive.
The tides have changed in the past few years, in favor of a more sociological perspective toward identity especially concerning language (Adel et al., 2015; Canagarajah, 2007; Norton, 2000; Talmy, 2008) which in turn has led to a change from micro-level investigation to macro-level studies in this realm. We can provide the image of identity from two more lenses; one as a photo and one as a video. In the first one, identity is considered as a unitary and fixed concept (Hall, 1996), and from the latter point of view, it is a multimodal, dynamic construct (Norton Peirce, 1995). Norton (2000) defines identity as the question of how an individual perceives their relationship to the world, how this relationship is constructed according to time and place, and how it is going to be shaped in the future. Duff (2002) believes that identity never stops reconstruction but, it continues changing in interaction with other people and gaining experience. Therefore, when students are entering English language programs at universities or private institutions, their identity will be affected.
According to Norton (2000), we need a more holistic view toward identity which also takes into account the language and the immense effects it might have on identity or vice versa. In the realm of identity and language, however, things have taken a turn in favor of more sociological perspectives that refute binaries and dichotomies.
This study mainly revolves around Norton’s notion of investment. This theory has altered the way many scholars consider motivation and identity in a social sense and their influence on language learning and the classroom. Norton Peirce (1995) asserted that the role of investment was more important than motivation when it comes to depicting the complex relationship between social context and language learning involvement and those Second Language Acquisition theories had not touched base with the ramifications of social inequality on language learning. She provided a hypothesis that was based on social identity and factored inequality into the equation while she tried to delineate that one simple reason cannot be the reason for learners to stay motivated. Rather, the learners will invest more in learning, in case they realize that by learning language and acquiring a wider range of symbolic and material resources, they shall be able to enhance their cultural capital.
Motivation is at the heart of investment, as a static specification of a language learner, and Norton Peirce (1995) assumed that unsuccessful students in acquiring the target language did not have enough (or appropriate) aspiration to learn the language. The point that Norton Peirce (1995) discovered was that high levels of motivation did not essentially cause decent language learning, and that inadequate interplay of power between language learners and target language speakers were regularly noticeable in her learners’ explanations. A learner might be extremely interested, however, they might not be invested in the activities of a class if the activities are sexist, racist or homophobic. Since identity is flowing, manifold and a site of struggle, the way students can invest in a target language depends on the dynamic work of power on various grounds, and hence, investment is complex and fluid (Norton, 2013).
In the past two decades, educational research in the realm of learning motivation has changed its perspective, from superficial study of motivation to the investment and how a learner’s identity interacts with their own learning background and the influence that the learners have on each other. With the advent of Norton Peirce’s (1995) theory of investment, investigations have been done to put to test the sociocultural nature of language learning, identity, and investment in different places and contexts.
1.2. Research Questions
2. Literature Review
The theory of investment was developed from the concepts drawn from the works of academics such as Bourdieu (1977), Weedon (1987), and Ogbu (1978). Weedon’s (1987) work on social identity pursued feminist post-structuralism but highlighted the important role that language has in the association between society and the individual. Furthermore, she was known for her work on the theory of subjectivity that she illustrated as an individual’s thoughts whether conscious or unconscious, their emotions, and how they comprehend themselves concerning the world. Norton draws greatly from Weedon’s work to formulate her hypothesis.
Norton and McKinney (2011) defined their identity approach to language learning as related to a sociocultural theory approach (Lantolf, 2000). The dominant idea of Norton Peirce’s (1995) study was the investment which she coined concerning the economic metaphor of cultural capital derived mostly from the work of Bourdieu. Cultural capital denotes the products of education such as qualifications, knowledge, and methods of thinking which are strange to a specific class or group. Norton’s investment is affected by social theory and Bourdieu’s various kinds of capital. Capital makes troubles in investment, reflect how the values of a person change in dissimilar linguistic settings, leading learners to lose or gain power (Darvin & Norton 2015). Moreover, through the notion of capital, investment allows us to observe how learners see their linguistic means and cultural capital as affordances that will be improved over the process of language learning, enabling them to form or reform their identity and their imagined identities.
Norton adheres to the post-structuralists declaration that language creates our intelligence of self, and that identity is manifold, altering, and a site of the struggle (Norton Peirce, 1995). By hypothesizing the complex association between the language learner and the community, she tries to improve the prospect based on which SLA scholarship observes the dealings of power related to the language learning process. This vision tests educational foundations of material circumstances and physical environment that let learning happen, and how the right to speak is given to or taken from students by gender, social class, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Investment keeps an important footprint in language learning for indicating the socially and historically-built association between learner identities and learning commitment. According to Kramsch (2013), investment underscores how agency and identity play an important role in acquiring symbolic and material capital. In other words, learners invest in learning with the knowledge that taking up this task will increase their material and symbolic capital and that, in turn gives prominence to social and cultural capital.
The concept of investment shows that students frequently have different requirements to involve in a variety of social communications and practices they are placed in. Former studies on motivation had commonly considered learners as having unitary, fixed, and ahistorical personalities while investment, perceives learners as having complicated identities that vary through different settings, and are made based on both social and individual experiences. Therefore, though motivation can be asserted as a psychological construct, investment is a sociological attempt to acquire a language through assuming various identities.
The investment approach keeps the research emphasis of the current study in that it develops the outlook of what pushes learners to contribute to language learning keenly and why they frequently resist. It does so by containing the idea of identity concerning its social and historical setting as part of the idea of motivation. The investment attitude might also contribute to giving a more comprehensive clarification for subjects associated with learners’ resistant classroom performance other than brushing it off as an absence of motivation.
The three foremost theoretical pillars of investment are identity, capital, and ideology. As said by Darvin and Norton (2015), anywhere the three pillars meet, the student’s investment in acquiring the target language happens. Norton (2013) describes that learner identity may vary constantly through time and space. Current research employs Norton’s model and applies the tenets of poststructuralist method to the research on the relationship between language and identity.
Figure 1
Investment Theory (Darvin & Norton, 2015)
3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
Seventeen advanced, adult English learners in private institutes in Mashhad, Iran, were selected to participate in this study. Dornyei (2007b) believed that “an interview study with an initial sample size of 6-10 might work well” (p. 127).
3.2. Procedure
The researchers started each interview with some easy factual and personal questions (Dornyei, 2007b). Based on the fundamental issues of investment and identity which were reviewed in the existing literature, the following central topics were considered in the interview questions: attitude toward language learning, English learning, teachers and the class, motivation, playing social roles, mark, identity as a learner, investment, imagined community, ideology, positioning, affordances, capital, and systematic patterns of control.
Then, these qualitative data were analyzed thematically through the principles of grounded theory (Creswell, 1998; Glaser, 1998). The individual interviews were transcribed integrally, coded, and analyzed with the MAXQDA 18. Grounded theory was utilized in this section to lead us towards exploration which might have resulted in theory making and shed light on prospective new constructs or confirming and analyzing the existing constructs of the theory that was our base for carrying out the qualitative section.
Grounded theory’s technique of evaluation includes three phases. The first phase is open coding which involves a cautious, comprehensive reading and coding of the data to construct the analysis outcomes inductively. The researchers employed their pre-determined theoretical ideas to make questions and particular codes. Various grounded theory methods let the combination of pre-conceptual groups in this first phase, on the condition that it does not affect the procedure signifying the investigator’s preconceptions (Seaman, 2008).
Then, several of the pre-determined codes were classified, and others were suited as part of a category that comprised the variables. The data analysis ultimately did not reject most of them. As the present researchers were pondering the data, they began classifying related matters to search more. This phase likewise includes classifying and defining the features of each code. A property is an important and expressive feature. A dimension identifies and collects disparity among perceptions (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). The open coding activity took incalculable hours of systematic wondering and reflection on the data over the questions and the extra devices, in addition to the writing of several valuable notes. Slowly this coding led to classifying the notions and arranging their assets and scopes.
The second phase was the axial coding. Here, codes were changed into groups contingent on their position and substantiality. This procedure indicates a profound analysis of the properties and dimensions of the categories, by inductive and deductive reflection on concepts that appeared from the subtleties between the analysis procedure and the theoretical outline. These concepts and opinions happened via memoing, the action of writing portions of reflective work recognized as memos (Clarke, 2005). The last result of axial coding is the recognition of associations among groups. Memoing was extremely positive since it was a regular method of materializing all the opinions (e.g. the replies that were provided to each of the uncountable questions; and thoughts that unexpectedly entered the researchers’ minds). Reflecting on each excerpt of data, the researchers compared all the participants’ data under a code based on associations they discovered between codes and categories.
Selective coding was the last phase that suggested a procedure close to the preceding stage but on a more intellectual analytical level. The main group was chosen by related criteria. The entire construction of the ideas’ associations settles around such groups.
4. Results
4.1. Codes and Meanings
In this part, codes are going to be introduced. Eight initial codes acted as variables for this phase of the study, and 35 more codes were later added during the process of coding. Over 800 vignettes contributed to the emergence of these codes. The relationship between these codes and their intersections are the key to understanding more about investment and its contributing factors. The variables which were taken from the theoretical framework are illustrated in Table 2 including Investment (In.), Identity (Id.), Capital (Ca.), Ideology (Ideo.), Affordances (Af.)/ Benefits (Be.), Positioning (Po.), Systematic Patterns of Control (SP of C), Imagined Identity (II.)/ Community (Co). The intersections between these and the other codes are the glow-in-the-dark material of investment.
After the open coding stage, the intersection between the codes and the variables was ascertained to explore the relationship between them. Codes were categorized based on their intersections and 6 categories were derived that indicated the constructs of investment. These main categories (themes) were as follows: Attitude, Motivation, Purpose, Identity and Thought, the Past and the Future, and Hard Work and Success. These categories reflect the core category of the study i.e. EFL learners’ perceptions of investment. In this section, these main categories and their sub-categories, illustrated in Figure 1, will be discussed along with some extracts from learners’ interviews supported and verified by literature.
Figure 2
A proposed Model of EFL Learners’ Perceptions of Investment
4.2. Conclusion and Implications
This study employed grounded theory to explore how the investment model is perceived in the EFL context. The present researchers proposed a model (Figure 2) that delineated the main constructs of investment in light of EFL context learners’ perspectives. The proposed model added the affective factors such as attitude and motivation, and practical aspects such as involvement and hard work to the existing model (Darvin & Norton, 2015). The present researchers also tried to suggest ways to increase the level of investment among adult EFL learners based on the proposed grounded theory that was derived from the experience of successful, advanced learners with high levels of investment.
The pedagogical implications of this study are that a learner’s investment has more to do with their achievement than merely their motivation status. How investment is affected by multiple, complex factors surrounding the learners is an element often ignored or not noticed by the instructors. The implications may go beyond the confines of the classroom and involve the policy-makers as well. The learners of this study refer to the inefficiency of the state school systems in teaching English on numerous occasions and almost unanimously believed fundamental changes were in order. Learners also should realize the gravity of paying attention to their investment level as a thrusting force in the process of learning English.
1. Introduction
In the words of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2019), the great English poet, philosopher, and co-founder of the romantic literary movement, identity is multifaceted and the result of a series of factors that are intertwined: “I do not call the sod under my feet my country, but language-religion-government-blood-identity in these makes men of one country” (p. 145).
The concept of identity, for many years, had been regarded as a psychological issue (Balistreri et al., 1995; Erikson, 1959, 1967; Hall, 1996). Psychological factors can be separated into two categories: affective or emotional, and cognitive.
The tides have changed in the past few years, in favor of a more sociological perspective toward identity especially concerning language (Adel et al., 2015; Canagarajah, 2007; Norton, 2000; Talmy, 2008) which in turn has led to a change from micro-level investigation to macro-level studies in this realm. We can provide the image of identity from two more lenses; one as a photo and one as a video. In the first one, identity is considered as a unitary and fixed concept (Hall, 1996), and from the latter point of view, it is a multimodal, dynamic construct (Norton Peirce, 1995). Norton (2000) defines identity as the question of how an individual perceives their relationship to the world, how this relationship is constructed according to time and place, and how it is going to be shaped in the future. Duff (2002) believes that identity never stops reconstruction but, it continues changing in interaction with other people and gaining experience. Therefore, when students are entering English language programs at universities or private institutions, their identity will be affected.
According to Norton (2000), we need a more holistic view toward identity which also takes into account the language and the immense effects it might have on identity or vice versa. In the realm of identity and language, however, things have taken a turn in favor of more sociological perspectives that refute binaries and dichotomies.
This study mainly revolves around Norton’s notion of investment. This theory has altered the way many scholars consider motivation and identity in a social sense and their influence on language learning and the classroom. Norton Peirce (1995) asserted that the role of investment was more important than motivation when it comes to depicting the complex relationship between social context and language learning involvement and those Second Language Acquisition theories had not touched base with the ramifications of social inequality on language learning. She provided a hypothesis that was based on social identity and factored inequality into the equation while she tried to delineate that one simple reason cannot be the reason for learners to stay motivated. Rather, the learners will invest more in learning, in case they realize that by learning language and acquiring a wider range of symbolic and material resources, they shall be able to enhance their cultural capital.
Motivation is at the heart of investment, as a static specification of a language learner, and Norton Peirce (1995) assumed that unsuccessful students in acquiring the target language did not have enough (or appropriate) aspiration to learn the language. The point that Norton Peirce (1995) discovered was that high levels of motivation did not essentially cause decent language learning, and that inadequate interplay of power between language learners and target language speakers were regularly noticeable in her learners’ explanations. A learner might be extremely interested, however, they might not be invested in the activities of a class if the activities are sexist, racist or homophobic. Since identity is flowing, manifold and a site of struggle, the way students can invest in a target language depends on the dynamic work of power on various grounds, and hence, investment is complex and fluid (Norton, 2013).
In the past two decades, educational research in the realm of learning motivation has changed its perspective, from superficial study of motivation to the investment and how a learner’s identity interacts with their own learning background and the influence that the learners have on each other. With the advent of Norton Peirce’s (1995) theory of investment, investigations have been done to put to test the sociocultural nature of language learning, identity, and investment in different places and contexts.
1.2. Research Questions
- How are the investment and its sub-constructs perceived by advanced adult Iranian EFL learners?
- What are the factors that enhance the level of investment in EFL learners?
- How does the identity of EFL learners change through the process of learning?
2. Literature Review
The theory of investment was developed from the concepts drawn from the works of academics such as Bourdieu (1977), Weedon (1987), and Ogbu (1978). Weedon’s (1987) work on social identity pursued feminist post-structuralism but highlighted the important role that language has in the association between society and the individual. Furthermore, she was known for her work on the theory of subjectivity that she illustrated as an individual’s thoughts whether conscious or unconscious, their emotions, and how they comprehend themselves concerning the world. Norton draws greatly from Weedon’s work to formulate her hypothesis.
Norton and McKinney (2011) defined their identity approach to language learning as related to a sociocultural theory approach (Lantolf, 2000). The dominant idea of Norton Peirce’s (1995) study was the investment which she coined concerning the economic metaphor of cultural capital derived mostly from the work of Bourdieu. Cultural capital denotes the products of education such as qualifications, knowledge, and methods of thinking which are strange to a specific class or group. Norton’s investment is affected by social theory and Bourdieu’s various kinds of capital. Capital makes troubles in investment, reflect how the values of a person change in dissimilar linguistic settings, leading learners to lose or gain power (Darvin & Norton 2015). Moreover, through the notion of capital, investment allows us to observe how learners see their linguistic means and cultural capital as affordances that will be improved over the process of language learning, enabling them to form or reform their identity and their imagined identities.
Norton adheres to the post-structuralists declaration that language creates our intelligence of self, and that identity is manifold, altering, and a site of the struggle (Norton Peirce, 1995). By hypothesizing the complex association between the language learner and the community, she tries to improve the prospect based on which SLA scholarship observes the dealings of power related to the language learning process. This vision tests educational foundations of material circumstances and physical environment that let learning happen, and how the right to speak is given to or taken from students by gender, social class, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Investment keeps an important footprint in language learning for indicating the socially and historically-built association between learner identities and learning commitment. According to Kramsch (2013), investment underscores how agency and identity play an important role in acquiring symbolic and material capital. In other words, learners invest in learning with the knowledge that taking up this task will increase their material and symbolic capital and that, in turn gives prominence to social and cultural capital.
The concept of investment shows that students frequently have different requirements to involve in a variety of social communications and practices they are placed in. Former studies on motivation had commonly considered learners as having unitary, fixed, and ahistorical personalities while investment, perceives learners as having complicated identities that vary through different settings, and are made based on both social and individual experiences. Therefore, though motivation can be asserted as a psychological construct, investment is a sociological attempt to acquire a language through assuming various identities.
The investment approach keeps the research emphasis of the current study in that it develops the outlook of what pushes learners to contribute to language learning keenly and why they frequently resist. It does so by containing the idea of identity concerning its social and historical setting as part of the idea of motivation. The investment attitude might also contribute to giving a more comprehensive clarification for subjects associated with learners’ resistant classroom performance other than brushing it off as an absence of motivation.
The three foremost theoretical pillars of investment are identity, capital, and ideology. As said by Darvin and Norton (2015), anywhere the three pillars meet, the student’s investment in acquiring the target language happens. Norton (2013) describes that learner identity may vary constantly through time and space. Current research employs Norton’s model and applies the tenets of poststructuralist method to the research on the relationship between language and identity.
Figure 1
Investment Theory (Darvin & Norton, 2015)
3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
Seventeen advanced, adult English learners in private institutes in Mashhad, Iran, were selected to participate in this study. Dornyei (2007b) believed that “an interview study with an initial sample size of 6-10 might work well” (p. 127).
3.2. Procedure
The researchers started each interview with some easy factual and personal questions (Dornyei, 2007b). Based on the fundamental issues of investment and identity which were reviewed in the existing literature, the following central topics were considered in the interview questions: attitude toward language learning, English learning, teachers and the class, motivation, playing social roles, mark, identity as a learner, investment, imagined community, ideology, positioning, affordances, capital, and systematic patterns of control.
Then, these qualitative data were analyzed thematically through the principles of grounded theory (Creswell, 1998; Glaser, 1998). The individual interviews were transcribed integrally, coded, and analyzed with the MAXQDA 18. Grounded theory was utilized in this section to lead us towards exploration which might have resulted in theory making and shed light on prospective new constructs or confirming and analyzing the existing constructs of the theory that was our base for carrying out the qualitative section.
Grounded theory’s technique of evaluation includes three phases. The first phase is open coding which involves a cautious, comprehensive reading and coding of the data to construct the analysis outcomes inductively. The researchers employed their pre-determined theoretical ideas to make questions and particular codes. Various grounded theory methods let the combination of pre-conceptual groups in this first phase, on the condition that it does not affect the procedure signifying the investigator’s preconceptions (Seaman, 2008).
Then, several of the pre-determined codes were classified, and others were suited as part of a category that comprised the variables. The data analysis ultimately did not reject most of them. As the present researchers were pondering the data, they began classifying related matters to search more. This phase likewise includes classifying and defining the features of each code. A property is an important and expressive feature. A dimension identifies and collects disparity among perceptions (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). The open coding activity took incalculable hours of systematic wondering and reflection on the data over the questions and the extra devices, in addition to the writing of several valuable notes. Slowly this coding led to classifying the notions and arranging their assets and scopes.
The second phase was the axial coding. Here, codes were changed into groups contingent on their position and substantiality. This procedure indicates a profound analysis of the properties and dimensions of the categories, by inductive and deductive reflection on concepts that appeared from the subtleties between the analysis procedure and the theoretical outline. These concepts and opinions happened via memoing, the action of writing portions of reflective work recognized as memos (Clarke, 2005). The last result of axial coding is the recognition of associations among groups. Memoing was extremely positive since it was a regular method of materializing all the opinions (e.g. the replies that were provided to each of the uncountable questions; and thoughts that unexpectedly entered the researchers’ minds). Reflecting on each excerpt of data, the researchers compared all the participants’ data under a code based on associations they discovered between codes and categories.
Selective coding was the last phase that suggested a procedure close to the preceding stage but on a more intellectual analytical level. The main group was chosen by related criteria. The entire construction of the ideas’ associations settles around such groups.
4. Results
4.1. Codes and Meanings
In this part, codes are going to be introduced. Eight initial codes acted as variables for this phase of the study, and 35 more codes were later added during the process of coding. Over 800 vignettes contributed to the emergence of these codes. The relationship between these codes and their intersections are the key to understanding more about investment and its contributing factors. The variables which were taken from the theoretical framework are illustrated in Table 2 including Investment (In.), Identity (Id.), Capital (Ca.), Ideology (Ideo.), Affordances (Af.)/ Benefits (Be.), Positioning (Po.), Systematic Patterns of Control (SP of C), Imagined Identity (II.)/ Community (Co). The intersections between these and the other codes are the glow-in-the-dark material of investment.
After the open coding stage, the intersection between the codes and the variables was ascertained to explore the relationship between them. Codes were categorized based on their intersections and 6 categories were derived that indicated the constructs of investment. These main categories (themes) were as follows: Attitude, Motivation, Purpose, Identity and Thought, the Past and the Future, and Hard Work and Success. These categories reflect the core category of the study i.e. EFL learners’ perceptions of investment. In this section, these main categories and their sub-categories, illustrated in Figure 1, will be discussed along with some extracts from learners’ interviews supported and verified by literature.
Figure 2
A proposed Model of EFL Learners’ Perceptions of Investment
4.2. Conclusion and Implications
This study employed grounded theory to explore how the investment model is perceived in the EFL context. The present researchers proposed a model (Figure 2) that delineated the main constructs of investment in light of EFL context learners’ perspectives. The proposed model added the affective factors such as attitude and motivation, and practical aspects such as involvement and hard work to the existing model (Darvin & Norton, 2015). The present researchers also tried to suggest ways to increase the level of investment among adult EFL learners based on the proposed grounded theory that was derived from the experience of successful, advanced learners with high levels of investment.
The pedagogical implications of this study are that a learner’s investment has more to do with their achievement than merely their motivation status. How investment is affected by multiple, complex factors surrounding the learners is an element often ignored or not noticed by the instructors. The implications may go beyond the confines of the classroom and involve the policy-makers as well. The learners of this study refer to the inefficiency of the state school systems in teaching English on numerous occasions and almost unanimously believed fundamental changes were in order. Learners also should realize the gravity of paying attention to their investment level as a thrusting force in the process of learning English.
Majid Elyasi, Hamed Aghajani, Morteza Hossinzadeh,
Volume 14, Issue 14 (Second Special Issue 2015)
Volume 14, Issue 14 (Second Special Issue 2015)
Abstract
Friction stir welding (FSW) has become a technology of widespread interest because of its numerous advantages, most important of which is its ability to weld otherwise unweldable alloys. In this study, friction stir welding process has been used to join A441 AISI steel and AA1100 aluminum alloy. Optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and Vickers microhardness tests were employed to study on the joint microstructure evolution and hardness. The results showed that after welding process, head affected zone (HAZ) and stir zone (SZ) were formed in steel base metal side and head affected zone (HAZ), thermo-mechanical affected zone (TMAZ) and stir zone (SZ) were formed in aluminum alloy side. Mg2Al3 spherical particles formed with the ferrite and pearlite constituents in the junction. These particles were formed between the aluminum grain boundaries and due to the difference in contraction coefficient with aluminum base metal, were causing hot cracks in stir zone during solidification. Due to the generated frictional heat, small grains of ferrite and pearlite with very fine grain size of aluminum were formed in stir zone. Base metals dynamic recrystallization and formation of intermetallic compounds led to stir zone microhardness became higher than other areas.
Majid Elyasi, Hamed Aghajani, Morteza Hosseinzadeh,
Volume 15, Issue 4 (6-2015)
Volume 15, Issue 4 (6-2015)
Abstract
Friction is an important factor that causes frictional heat generated in the friction stir welding process and makes the joint between work pieces. The objective of the present work is investigate on the effects of friction stir welding parameters on the mechanical properties and material flow in AA1100 aluminum and A441AISI joint. In this study, tool offset, plunge depth, welding linear speed and tool rotational speed were chosen as variable parameters. Comprehensive analysis using the experimental results showed that the strongest joint obtained at 1.3 mm tool offset and 0.2 mm plunge depth when to the offset tool rotational speed and linear speed were 800rpm and 63mm/min respectively. Fracture locations in tensile test at all samples were in aluminum sides. Internal defects that caused in lower tool rotational speed removed by increasing the revolving and with growing trend in linear speed due to the more forging force, the surface defects abated. The maximum strength of welded joints with selected parameters was 90% aluminum base metal. In this research, microhardness of joint interface ascended with increasing rotational speed. This phenomenon is due to formation of thick intermetallic layers in abutting edges of sheets.
Volume 15, Issue 4 (12-2015)
Abstract
Odour emission has been an obstacle for the development of composting facilities. Composting is an environment friendly process which produces secondary pollutants. Ammonia is the most existing compound in these facilities; therefore Odour dispersion studies depended on geographic and metrological conditions of these kinds of places toward residential cities are required. Ammonia is a Tang, toxic, reactive and corrosive compound. Determination the place of landfills and composting facilities must concord with environmental laws; otherwise the blowing wind could transmit pollutants toward residential cities. Industrial source complex is the most common method for modeling of odour emission from volume and area sources. Kahrizak landfill is located in the south of Tehran with latitude and longitude of 51°20'39" E and 35°28'05" N. The amount of waste discharged to this landfill is about 7000 ton per day. A mathematical model for odour and ammonia emissions from Kahrizak landfill based on Gaussian fluctuating plume theory has been developed in this paper. Using the two-dimensional theory of dispersion, the odour emission from that landfill has been calculated. Since the Gaussian dispersion equation is used for point sources, this equation should be changed to determine the ammonia concentration emitted from volume sources. Virtual point method is used to consider this problem. The mathematical dispersion model is based on Pasquill Gifford and Gauss theory. By using meteorological data cumulated from Emam airport meteorological station, In Pasquill Gifford equations, dispersion parameters and emission equation were calculated. WRPLOT software was used to determine the wind direction and Land gem software was used to calculate the ammonia emission rate. The data needed for this software cumulated from Kahrizak waste management Organization of Tehran. Monin obokhov length and net radiation used for stability class specification. Radiation angle and topographic parameters effects were considered in these calculations The wind velocity and temperature were respectively about 3.6 m/s and 8.4°C.. Bowen ratio, albedo ratio and surface roughness of the site were respectively 1.5, 0.35 and 1. The stability class in the mentioned condition was calculated C. Results show that ammonia emission rate from this landfill and composting facility are respectively about 60 g/s and 103g/s. According to EPA reports these values are reasonable. Finally ammonia dispersion equation was solved by Matlab computing program. Maximum ammonia concentration is about 180mg/m3 when x, the distance, is 80 meters and He, effective height, is1.5 m. Emitted ammonia from Kahrizak landfill could transport toward 2kms from this landfill. Since the nearest residential city is about 8.1 km far away from this landfill, therefore there is not a serious problem threatening people who live there. In order to protect environment and people, It’s recommended not to build any residential, commercial or industrial organization about 2 km from here.
Majid Elyasi, Hassan Yousefinezhad Gildeh, Mahmood Zabihpoor,
Volume 15, Issue 9 (11-2015)
Volume 15, Issue 9 (11-2015)
Abstract
Due to necessary of existence of access opening, inspection paths, installation, entrance and exit doors, etc, creation of cutouts on the vessel structure is unavoidable. On the other hand, composite structures and structural analysis is complex and create cutout and imperfection structure increase these complexity. The aim of this research is to determine the mechanical response of three cutout positions on composite pressure vessels under 30 bar external pressure, so that no buckling and fracture failure occurs. Also, the optimum composite vessel thickness for this condition and cutout effect has been determined in this study. The studied vessels are made from E-Glass fiber and Epoxy matrix. Finite element simulation used to investigate the parameters effect. For this reason, commercial ABAQUS software and linear and non-linear analysis carried out to examine the parameters. To evaluate the simulation results, two composite vessels manufactured and fractured under external pressure. Moreover, the final vessel with three cutouts tested under 30 bar external pressure. The concluded results show that the optimum thickness was 16 mm for vessel with three cutouts and create the cutouts led to decrease buckling pressure. Also, with increasing cutout size the percent of buckling pressure increased.
Majid Elyasi, Farzad Ahmadi Khatir, Morteza Hosseinzadeh,
Volume 15, Issue 9 (11-2015)
Volume 15, Issue 9 (11-2015)
Abstract
The present study investigates the manufacturing process of metallic bipolar plates made of SS316L with a thickness of 0.1 mm using rubber pad forming process. Two deformation types, convex or concave patterns, were used for producing channels in bipolar plates. The effect of concave and convex patterns on forming forces and slots filling will be created in this present study and then suitable condition for both patterns of deformation are achieved. For carrying out the experimental examination, two dies, convex and concave pattern within equal dimensions were designed and manufactured. In order to correct comparison of two die patterns, a rubber pad with hardness of Shore A 85 and thickness of 25 millimeters was used for forming of plates. A hydraulic press with capacity of 200 tons was used to make force on die. The concluded results signify that in an equal magnitude of force, die with convex pattern shows more depth of filling than concave die. By increasing magnitude forming force up to maximum limit, depth of filling in concave die will be constant and more increasing in magnitude of force will cause to destroy the rubber.
Majid Elyasi, Hossein Talebi Ghadikolaee, Morteza Hosseinzadeh,
Volume 15, Issue 12 (2-2016)
Volume 15, Issue 12 (2-2016)
Abstract
Metallic bipolar plate is one of the main parts of fuel cell. Several methods were used by researchers to manufacturing bipolar plate such as stamping, hydroforming and electromagnet forming. The effect of process parameters on dimensional accuracy of metallic bipolar plates in rubber pad forming process has been investigated in this study. ABAQUS/Standard finite element software is used to simulate the process. The accuracy of the results of simulation process is evaluated by using experimental results. To perform experimental procedures, rigid die with parallel flow field is used to form SS316 bipolar plate with 0.1 mm thick. For this purpose the effect of punch load, rubber hardness, rubber thickness and clearance between die and container on the dimensional accuracy of the formed parts is investigated. In this regard, rubber layer with hardness of 55, 70, 85 and 90 Shore A and thickness of 1.5mm up to 5.5mm were used. The result show difference between lateral and central channel depth, the amount of disparity will decrease by increasing in punch load, as a result the dimensional accuracy will increase. According to the result, increase in hardness and thickness of the rubber layer lead to improve the dimensional accuracy. Also considering clearance between die and container decrease the difference between lateral and central channel depth and eventually cause increasing in dimensional accuracy of formed part.
Majid Elyasi, Farzad Ahmadi, Morteza Hosseinzadeh,
Volume 15, Issue 12 (2-2016)
Volume 15, Issue 12 (2-2016)
Abstract
Rubber pad forming is a practical and low-cost method of producing metal bi-polar plates with complicated multi- array contours since it only needs a rigid die and a flexible rubber. In this study, 316 stainless steel sheets with the thickness of 0.1 mm were used. To form the plates, a polyurethane rubber was used with the hardness shore of A 85 with the thickness of 25 mm. In order to increase the depth of the channel flow and form filling plates with a high depth-to-width ratio, firstly, the effects of lubricants on shaping metal plates were ignored. Subsequently, by implementing lubricants, their effects on achieving a higher filling depth and a more uniform thickness distribution were investigated. The results showed that in rubber pad forming process, lubricants could be used to further enhance the depth of filling and have a uniform thickness distribution in the channels of generated plates. Moreover, among available lubricants, polypropylene nylon will be the best alternative for the production of bipolar plates due to its high tensile strength and low thickness.
Mojtaba Nadernejad, Majid Elyasi, Morteza Hosseinzadeh,
Volume 16, Issue 1 (3-2016)
Volume 16, Issue 1 (3-2016)
Abstract
Values of tensile strength and hardness of different welding joint area has great importance. In this study a combination of welding processes include Friction Stir Welding (FSW) and ultrasonic welding has been used in butt joint for ABS type plastic sheets. Thus ultrasonic vibrations is put on FSW rotary tool, then some parameters effects such as tool rotary speed, travel speed and tool shoulder diameter on tensile strength and hardness of welded samples have been studied. With attention to parameters number and related levels to each one for doing experiments with Taguchi method L18 array has been selected. Parameters effect has been studied separately. Results showed that ultrasonic vibration putting improves tensile strength and hardness of welded joint. After ultrasonic vibration, tool rotary speed, tool shoulder diameter and travel speed were the most effective parameters on tensile strength and hardness of joint in order. Results from optimization with analysis method showed that ultrasonic vibration put rotary speed of 1200 RPM, travel speed of 60 mm/min and tool shoulder diameter of 22 mm causes the most hardness and tensile strength of joint simultaneously.
Mehrdad Paluch, Majid Elyasi, Morteza Hoseinzadeh,
Volume 16, Issue 5 (7-2016)
Volume 16, Issue 5 (7-2016)
Abstract
Nowadays thin-walled tube rotary draw bending in small bending ratio is a production process widely used in advanced industries such as aerospace and automotive. Cross section ovality, wall thickness changing during tube bending are the main inevitable defects in this process. The purpose of this research is to obtain the smallest bending ratio and maximum pressure applicable in hydro-rotary draw bending of thin-walled aluminum alloy 8112 tube using failure criterion. For this purpose, the equivalent plastic strain at the critical extrados region used for necking prediction. Concluded results showed that this failure criterion by a maximum difference of 12.5% from experimental tests, is a useful method for predicting the necking onset in the bending process. Moreover, the effects of bending ratio and internal pressure on the defects such as cross section ovality and thickness changing are investigated with simulation in the ABAQUS software and experimental methods. The maximum ovality is not located at the mid-cross section of bent tube unexpectedly and regardless of the internal pressure and bending ratio, occurs at the cross-section with an angle of approximately θ=33°. The minimum achievable amounts of ovality at R/D1.6, R/D1.8 and R/D2 were 11.42%, 7.72% and 4.35% respectively. Furthermore, bending ratio and internal pressure had noticeable effects on the cross section of the bent tubes, so that as the bending ratio or pressure increased, cross-section ovality and the thickening of the tube wall at the intrados decreased, but contrary to bending ratio, as the internal pressure increased, extrados thinning increased.
Jaber Soleimani, Majid Elyasi, Morteza Hosseinzadeh,
Volume 16, Issue 9 (11-2016)
Volume 16, Issue 9 (11-2016)
Abstract
Nowadays, thin-walled tube bending (D/t≥20, D-tube diameter and t-tube thickness) in the critical bend ratio (R/D≤2, R bend radius) is a widely used manufacturing process in the aerospace industry, automotive, and other industries. During tube bending, considerable cross-sectional distortion and thickness variation occurs. The thickness increases at the intrados and reduces at the extrados. Also in some cases, when the bend die radius is small, wrinkling occurs at the intrados. In the industry, the mandrel is used to eliminate wrinkling and reduce cross-sectional distortion, which the choice of the mandrel depends on, tube material, bending angle, radius tube and bending radius. However, in the case of a close bend die radius, using the mandrel avoided. Because the mandrel, in addition to the cost of the process, the thinning of the wall increases at the extrados and this is undesirable in the manufacturing operation. So, in the present study regarding to development of tube hydroforming, internal fluid pressure is used instead of the mandrel. Therefore, the purpose of the feasibility study, observation and analysis of the formation of tube bending process, the tube rotary draw bending process with two of the mandrel and the internal fluid pressure is simulated by software ABAQUS.
Volume 18, Issue 4 (11-2018)
Abstract
Seismic wave propagation in surficial stratified soil and deep rock is studied in many engineering fields like Geotechnical earthquake engineering, Geophysics and seismology. Seismic waves might be generated by a significant seismic event, volume collapse in earth’s mantle, chemical or nuclear explosions and surface impact sources. Although the seismic waves’ path in soil layers may be shorter than their path in bedrock, they are influenced significantly by the mechanical properties of surficial soil layers. Soil layers may be saturated or not fully-saturated by a single fluid, which is known as unsaturated soil. Seismic waves generated at the source are known to be body waves of two categories (a) compressional wave (P-wave), (b) shear wave (S-wave).In spite of the abundance and deepness of theoretical analyses, experimental results on measuring the compressional waves in unsaturated soils and rocks are inadequate and mainly have focused on the relation between first compressional wave velocity and degree of saturation instead of suction. Furthermore, the experiments focus on the specimens of sandy soils and rocks with a series of repeated experiments in various degree of saturation conditions. This paper presents the results of three series of ultrasonic tests carried out on fine grained soils.The soils chosen for experimental study are three commercial kaolin named ZK1, ZK2, and ZK3, from Zenoz mine in northwest Iran. These materials have plasticity index (IP) of 9%, 15%, and 19%, and classified as lean clay (CL), silt (ML), and elastic silt (MH) respectively according to Unified Soil Classification System. 15 specimens were compacted at different initial water contents and void ratios and subsequently allowed to dry gradually until air-dry. cylindrical samples, 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm high, were prepared in a mold by compacting a soil – distilled water mixture at proctor optimum dry density and another four points of standard proctor compaction curves; two at 0.5 kN/m3 less than optimum dry density in both dry and wet side of optimum water content point and two at 1 kN/m3 less than optimum dry density in dry and wet side of optimum water content point. All samples were compacted in seven layers using the under-compaction technique to ensure specimen homogeneity along the height. Measurements of compressional wave velocity (Vp) (using ultrasonic) and matrix suction (using the filter paper technique), together with water content, were made at various stages during the drying process (4 times for each specimens; at the time of making the sample and after 4, 8, and 16 hours). The results of the tests suggest that, as a soil dries, its compressional wave velocity increases with increasing in suction. The results imply that in prediction of compressional wave velocity the effectiveness of void ratio must be considered as well as the suction effects. Both compressional wave velocity (Vp) and the corresponding suction (s), have been shown to vary in consist and predictable manner as a function of the initial void ratio at compaction state (ecomp), the suction and the soil’s plasticity index (PI). Thus, an empirical expression was developed which permits estimation of the value of compressional wave velocity, Vp of compacted fine grained soils subject to drying at the suction and material properties expected in prototype conditions.
Experimental investigation of pressurized steel pipes with mechanical defect under axial compression
Morteza Naghipour, Mehdi Ezzati, Majid Elyasi,
Volume 18, Issue 5 (9-2018)
Volume 18, Issue 5 (9-2018)
Abstract
Abstract In addition to the operational and environmental loads, an offshore pipeline may be subjected to accidental transverse loads by falling heavy objects or trawl gears. As a result, the load bearing capacity of the pipeline may be significantly impared by the dents, gouges or other types of damages caused by the impact. Such damage to an offshore structure may have serious environmental and economic consequences. In this study, results of experimental investigations on the residual strength of plain and gouged dented steel pressurized pipes under monotonic axial compression are presented. Some series small-scale specimens were fabricated from API-5L-X80 steel pipes with (D/t) ratio of 22 for the purpose of experimental tests. The specimens were dented by a spherical indenter with (d/D) ratio of 0.45 and gouges were applied along the pipe axis on the outer surface of the middle portion, whose cross section was rectangular. Defected and intact specimens were then collapsed by monotonic axial compression loading whilst subjected to constant internal pressure. In this research, effects of some key non-dimensional parameters such as dent depth, presence of the internal pressure and geometrical parameters of gouges have been studied.