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Volume 13, Issue 5 (November & December 2022 (Articles in English & French) 2022)
Abstract
In today’s world of education, a successful teacher can be assumed to be the one who benefits from Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), which demands consideration of teachers’ beliefs about tasks. The present paper takes into account developing a questionnaire regarding teachers’ beliefs about tasks. To this end, 300 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers from Mazandaran province participated in the study. The raw items for the questionnaire were collected by randomly interviewing 15 participant teachers and the related literature on teacher cognition research on TBLT. Then the items were factor-analyzed to develop the final version of the Teachers’ Beliefs on Task Questionnaire (TBTQ). Employing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) resulted in a six-factor structure including TBLT and teacher education, TBLT and the learners’ expectations, TBLT and challenges with Present-Practice-Produce (PPP) approach, TBLT and teachers' time limitations, TBLT and teachers’ characteristics, and the feasibility of TBLT resources. Findings revealed that although TBLT has been considered as an innovative approach due to its inspiration from Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), teachers’ attitudes towards TBLT implementation appear to have been taken for granted according to the components emerged from the factor analysis. It is suggested that TBTQ can be used in both foreign and second language contexts in order to identify different categories that can shape teachers’ beliefs about tasks and provide further pedagogical insights into designing and implementing tasks more effectively
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.
Rouhollah Talebi, Javad Marzban, Mehdi Haddadi,
Volume 14, Issue 10 (1-2015)
Volume 14, Issue 10 (1-2015)
Abstract
In this paper, a control system is designed to reduce roll angle which consequently leads into increasing vehicle roll threshold during high lateral accelerations. Accordingly, the two same rotation-electric actuators are mounted on front and rear suspension system anti-roll bars. This control system turns by applying an opposite couple that is acted upon the chassis, as time varying, reduce the lateral acceleration as it possible and improves lateral stability and roll threshold during extreme maneuvers. In order to find out the effects of the performance of this active system on vehicle stability, firstly based on a nonlinear eight degrees of freedom model of the lateral dynamics of the vehicle and by taking Steering angle as an input, the kinematic parameters and finally roll threshold that is defined lateral load transfer, is estimated. Then, the optimized second order control theory with three degrees of freedom of the vehicle model is used to design the controller. Finally, with the aid of comprehensive model of the vehicle, the lateral dynamics of the vehicle as well as the effects of the controller during path of standard Fish hook maneuver are investigated.
Volume 14, Issue 58 (Winter 2018)
Abstract
This article aimed to introduce Paul Simpson’s model (2004) at the point of view of "Ayenehaye Dardâr" and "Ham Navayie Shabaneye Orcestre Choobhâ". Simpson applies "sequence, duration, and frequency" in the spatial planes of point of view from "camera angle". He also uses "Modality" in psychology, and "Helidian transitional system" in ideological. Exploring the point of view provides a better understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
The research method is to evaluate the entire text of the novels in the temporal, spatial, and psychological points of view and identifying the "processes" and "aspects of verbs" in the "policy and beliefs motifs" of the authors’ ideology index.
The flashback in two novels plays an important role. Ghasemi, with a partial view, and Golshiri, with the "here and there" frequency pronouns show the contradiction between the origin and destination community in the lives of immigrants. A confirmative attitude is dominated on novels and the narrator explicitly speaks of his dreams and beliefs. The high frequency of material process reveals realism and reports the specific application of the news, personalities, and lives of the characters.
Volume 16, Issue 2 (May & June 2025)
Abstract
Silence is a topic that has been widely investigated in recent decades, and researchers such as Jaworski (1997), Kurzon (1997) and Huckin (2002) have published studies on this topic. Silence is usually considered as complementary to speech, but scrutinizing its nature reveals two points: first, silence is not specific to language, it exists in other semiotic resources as well; second, the non-use of speech does not always mean silence. Sometimes information is communicated not through words, but with the help of other types of signs. Therefore, analysis of just language is not enough to study silence; it is necessary to employ a multimodal approach that takes into account all the modes involved in communication. The purpose of this study is to investigate silence with respect to the various modes involved in novel as a communicative act. The question this research aims to answer is how silence is manifested in different modes that form a novel, how it is involved in creating meaning and how it makes a difference to the elements of novel. For that purpose, silence has been examined in three modes, conversation (representation of speech), text (writing), and narrative in the novel "Suvashun" by Simin Daneshvar. It is worth mentioning that due to the lack of an articulate single theoretical framework, a mixed approach has been adopted. Results show that different modes create different types of silence with different functions, and these types, besides communicating meaning, affect novel elements by developing unintrusive limited omniscient narrator, theme, characterization, etc.
1. Introduction
In recent decades, the discourse and communicative functions fulfilled by silence have been emphasized in various fields such as linguistics, semiotics, psychology, etc. Silence has been traditionally considered as complementary to speech; however, scrutinizing its nature reveals two important points: first, silence is not specific to language; it exists in other semiotic modes as well; second, the non-use of speech does not always mean silence. Therefore, to study the function of silence in any kind of text, including novel, relying solely on linguistic data is not sufficient, and other semiotic modes must be taken into account as well. The present study aims to investigate silence with respect to the various modes involved in the Persian novel “Suvashun” as a communicative act. These modes include speech (conversation), writing (author's text) and narrative.
The questions this research aims to answer are threefold: first, how silence is manifested in different modes that form a novel; second, how it affects the different elements of the novel; and lastly, how it participates in creating meaning.
2. Literature Review
There is a considerable amount of research on silence, addressing its meaning, pragmatics, typology, semiotic function, social and political functions and of course, its relationship to speech. In this regard, the works of Jaworski (1992, 1993, 1998, 2006), Kurzon (1997, 2007), Huckin (2002), Nakane (2007), and Dinkler (2013) are noteworthy. Also, relevant to this research are previous works on multimodality and multimodal semiotics. Multimodality (which means the existence of more than one semiotic mode in a given context) has its roots in Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics, social semiotics, and conversation analysis (Jewitt et al., 2016). Kress and van Leeuwen (2001) and Kress (2010) are the works addressing multimodality and whose theoretical principles have been employed here.
It should be noted that due to lack of a proper unified approach enabling the study of silence from different angles and in different modes, we have developed and utilized a mixed analytic framework based on the aforementioned resources.
3. Methodology and Analytic Framework
Using the mixed approach mentioned above, identifiable instances of silence in the novel "Suvashun" were examined in three modes: speech (conversation), writing (author’s text) and narrative. In the mode of speech, the participants in the communication are the characters of the story, and silence is explored in terms of how it can occur in the conversations of the characters. In the text, the participants in the communication are the author and the reader, and silence that is examined is usually the author's silence. In narrative, the participants in the communication are the narrator and the narratee, and the silence of the narrator is investigated.
To determine the types of silence that can occur in conversations, we have adopted concepts discussed in Nakane (2007), who proposes four types of conversational silence, including pauses during turn-taking, non-participation in conversations, lack of speech on various topics, and lack of speech specific to interactive situations. Additionally, we have utilized concepts from Kurzon (2007), who identifies four types of conversational silence: pauses, silent answers to questions, silence by some participants in conversations involving three or more people, and silence during interrogations (usually by law enforcement officers, intelligence agencies, etc.).
To explore the types of silence that can occur in the mode of writing or text, we have adopted the concepts outlined in Huckin (2002). These types of textual silence include speech-act silence, presuppositional silence, discreet silence, genre-based silence, and manipulative silence. Finally, to identify the types of silence in narrative, we have referred to the classifications provided by Dinkler (2013), who discusses two types of silence: narrator’s silences and those related to point of view.
4. Results
The results obtained from the novel show that the silences in the mode of speech or conversations are not limited to those mentioned in literature. We should also consider instances of irrelevant answers to questions, and discreet silence in conversations. Therefore, the identified types of silence were pauses, silent answers to questions, non-proportion in conversations, irrelevant answers to questions, and discreet silence in speech. Excluding pauses as they lack communicative value, the other types of silence were examined and analyzed. These silences often belonging to Zari (the main character), play an important role in plot progression and characterization.
In the mode of text, instances of discreet silence and genre-based silence were examined. In the novel “Suvashun”, the whole story can be considered as a type of discreet silence, as the author, out of caution, uses myths and historical events to indirectly criticize the country's state of affairs at the time of writing the novel. Also, bearing in mind that genre-based silence is unmarked and only its violations can be determined, it should be noted that in this novel no instance of its violation was found.
In the mode of narrative, instances of narrator silence and the types of silence related to the point of view were examined. The narrator’s silences mainly involve providing insufficient information and silencing some characters by summarizing their conversations. The types of silence related to point of view also include cases of ideological silence, as well as silence related to phraseology and psychology of the characters. By providing insufficient information, the narrator adopts a limited omniscient point of view. Additionally, silence at the ideological level of point of view help to form the theme of the novel, and silence at the phraseological level of the point of view aims to avoid the challenges of representing a specific dialect in Persian abjad writing system (Shirazi dialect in this case). In addition, silence at the psychological level of the point of view has helped to create an unintrusive narrator.
The findings of the present research show that investigating silence as an active and impactful element in discourse cannot be limited to linguistic data; and it is necessary to examine all modes involved in the novel as a communicative act. Silence can be manifested in different modes and in each mode, it has its own functions and meanings. It is the concurrent function of these silences across different modes that, along with the function of other elements, form the overall meaning and the reader's experience of the literary work.
Volume 18, Issue 3 (Autumn 2018)
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate optimal monetary and fiscal policies for the Iranian economy considering Ramsey problem. Using a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model, the effects of imposing various taxes such as consumption tax, capital income tax, labor income tax and profit tax are examined by different scenarios. The results indicate that Friedman’s rule, or zero inflation is determined as optimal monetary policy under scenarios with and without price rigidities. In addition, since the governments try to minimize the distortions from taxes levied on different economic sectors, necessity of a subsidy or negative tax is confirmed under Ramsey conditions. According to the findings, the inflation rate not only depends on nominal and real rigidities assumed in the model, but also to the number of instruments available to the Ramsey planner.
Volume 20, Issue 3 (9-2016)
Abstract
Promotion in providing public utilities usually needs to implement reforms in governance and management structures. This reforms and changes focus on soft direction, organizational dimension and institutional aspects of of managerial systems. This paper aims to foresight and depicts the various probabilities of our country’s power management structure in four widely known models as four scenarios and tries to clarify the possibilities of the people’s participation in power distribution management. In depicting the four scenarios, this paper is strongly determined to find the proper answer to this critical question:”What is the best probable optimized level of democratization, citizen’s participation and interaction- in energy management and what is its pros and cons?” To achieve this aim, scenario writing method-based on inductive model- is used, demonstrating the four macro energy management (governmental, quasi privatized, privatized and self-governance) models. it is obvious that the findings and consequences of the research, would be an appropriate way in policy and decision making for public sector strategic management.
Volume 22, Issue 2 (3-2020)
Abstract
The Egyptian cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval) , is known as an important and highly polyphagous pest species worldwide. The objective of the present study was to evaluate synergistic effects of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki and NucleoPolyhedroVirus (SpliMNPV) on the 5-day-old larvae (2nd instars) of S. littoralis under laboratory conditions. To do this, the larvae of S. littoralis were fed on the treated artificial diet containing only one or combination of Bt (8.31×105, 2.78×107, 9.69×108 spore mL-1) and SpliMNPV (5.26×10, 7.03×102, 9.39×103 OB mL-1). According to the results, the mortality rate for most of the Bt-SpliMNPV combinations (different concentrations) was higher than that in the treatments containing only one of the studied biocontrol agents. The Bt-SpliMNPV combinations showed different types of interactions, including synergistic, additive, or antagonistic effects. The treatment containing 8.31×105 spore mL-1 of Bt and 5.26×10 OB mL-1 of the SpliMNPV was interpreted as synergism effect, as the real mortality (72.41±12.43%) was significantly more than the expected (48.28%). In addition, application of the Bt-SpliMNPV combinations could significantly increase larval and pupal periods, and reduce pupation, pupal weight and the adult emergence rate compared to the control and treatments containing only one of Bt or SpliMNPV. Finally, it could be concluded that co-application of Bt and SpliMNPV can enhance economic and efficient control of S. littoralis.
Volume 23, Issue 2 (summer 2023)
Abstract
Aim and Introduction
The development of financial markets is critical for economic growth. One of the most important financial markets is the capital and stock market, where the prosperity of the stock market and financing through the stock market can develop any country's economy. Capital market development requires the efficient performance of financial intermediaries, including mutual funds. Iran’s economy has always faced the problem of insufficient liquidity and financing for production sectors. As a financial tool, mutual funds can moderate this problem with their existing potential. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the probable effect of mutual funds on economic growth.
Methodology
In the previous studies that have been done in this field, the descriptive-analytical aspect of the subject has been discussed. But these studies didn't provide an appropriate framework for analyzing the effect of mutual funds on economic growth. For this purpose, in the present study, based on the theoretical literature, a general equilibrium model has been designed, and the output of this model is obtained according to the optimization of different sectors of the economy. Assume a closed economy where mutual funds are investors with information and allocate capital to high-productivity firms. The economy has a single period with two production components, a representative mutual fund, and a representative household. We assume a high-productivity firm (H) and a low-productivity firm (L) with an equal number of producers. Both firms can obtain funds by issuing new stocks in the primary market. There is one representative mutual fund in the economy that can invest on behalf of the representative household. Therefore, the fund can invest as much as the fund flows (F) received from the household at the beginning of the period. We assume the mutual fund has sufficient access to information and production technology and can detect high-productivity firms. The household seeks to maximize utility, and the proposed utility function consists of only consumption. As utility and consumption are positively related, utility maximization is equivalent to consumption maximization. However, since the present study adopted a single-period economy, consumption equals income. Thus, maximum utility is represented by maximum income. Initial capital (W) can be directly invested in the primary market or indirectly invested in the secondary market by the mutual fund. This framework is a new aspect and the main contribution of research in this field. The output of the model is estimated using the GMM method for the period 2010:2 to 2020:4.
Findings
According to Table 5, most coefficients are statistically significant. The first lag of GDP was expectedly found to have a positive, significant impact on the GDP level and, thus, economic growth. Mutual fund investment was observed to have a positive, significant impact on GDP; a 1% rise in fund investment, on average, leads to a 0.473% increase in GDP. This finding is consistent with our theoretical framework. We expect mutual funds’ investments in the primary market, positively impact GDP since mutual funds have an information advantage over individual investors. Thus, they can optimally allocate resources to high-productivity firms (i.e., mutual funds have a higher ability than individual investors to identify high-productivity firms in light of their information advantage). The household wealth coefficient was estimated to be 0.255, suggesting that a 1% increase in the household’s wealth raises GDP by 0.255% on average. This finding is consistent with economic theories. The interaction of wealth and fund investment was estimated to have a coefficient of 0.257, implying a significant relationship. This coefficient was expectedly found to be positive, consistent with modeling. The interaction of fund flows and fund investment significantly affects GDP with a coefficient of -0.174. This coefficient was expectedly found to be negative, consistent with modeling. Fund flows were estimated to have no significant impact on GDP. Although it was found to have the expected sign, it has an insignificant impact on GDP and thus cannot be interpreted. The coefficient of the secondary market return was found to be significant only at a confidence level of 90%.
Discussion and Conclusion
Overall, mutual funds have a positive impact on GDP. These funds may improve the performance of Iran’s financial markets if they acquire an appropriate position in the financial market. A large number of individual traders have begun to trade on Iran’s stock market without financial knowledge and suffered massive losses in 2020-2021. If the mutual fund sector is active in Iran, in addition to the optimal allocation of resources, it can also help people for investment in the stock market and prevent crises such as 2020-2021. Eventually, the policy recommendation is that policymakers pay more attention to the development of mutual funds in short- and long-term policies.
Keywords: Mutual fund, Capital market, Economic growth, Primary market, GMM
JEL Classification: G11, G23, G51
Volume 25, Issue 2 (2-2023)
Abstract
The local strain of B. thuringiensis var. tenebrionis-BN2 (Btt-BN2) was used to control the alfalfa weevil. Experimental design using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied for the optimization of the culture medium and fermentation parameters in order to achieve a high level of Colony-Forming Unit (CFU) (spore mL−1). The parameters including the amount of carbon and nitrogen sources at three levels were investigated with CFU (spore mL−1) response for two sets of experiments. The obtained results showed that the maximum CFU (spore mL−1) for the minimum concentration of oat (2 g L-1), the minimum concentration of corn steep liquor (10 g L-1), and the maximum concentration of sugarcane molasses (10 g L-1) were equivalent to 1.4×1013 spore mL-1. Optimum fermentation parameters to obtain the highest value of CFU (spore mL−1) were determined as a maximum level of pH of eight and a medium level of temperature (280C). Amazingly, optimum conditions enhanced the CFU value to 8.06×
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