Applying Earlier Literacy Research in Iran to Current Literacy Theory and Policy

Brian Street

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 1-9

Abstract
  In this paper, I attempt to bring together approaches to literacy in theory and in practice, drawing upon various activities I have been involved in over the years–research in Iranian villages during the 1970s; linking research and theory to literacy policy, with particular reference to a contribution ...  Read More

Accommodating the Interactional Dynamics of Conflict Management

Jessica Gasiorek; Howard Giles

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 10-21

Abstract
  In this paper, we discuss the ways that communication accommodation theory (CAT) can be a useful framework for understanding and diagnosing interactional issues in interpersonal and intergroup conflict situations. We argue that the theory’s construct of attuning strategies provides a multidimensional ...  Read More

Educational Values and the English Language Curriculum in Hong Kong Secondary Schools Since 1975

Annie Siu-yin Tong; Bob Adamson

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 22-36

Abstract
  English is an important language in Hong Kong, an international city located on the southern coast of the People’s Republic of China that, for over 150 years to 1997, was a British colony. This paper describes and analyses changes in teaching methodologies in the English language curriculum formally ...  Read More

Specifying the Underlying Constructs of Home Culture Attachment Scale

Reza Pishghadam; Mohammad Reza Hashemi; Elahe Bazri

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 37-51

Abstract
  This study was conducted to extract first, the underlying factors of Home Culture Attachment Scale (HCAS) and second, to confirm these factors via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. To meet this end, the scale was distributed to 374 English language learners in private language institutes in ...  Read More

Learning Pragmatics through Computer-Mediated Communication in Taiwan

Zohreh Eslami; Chia Ning Liu

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 52-73

Abstract
  This study investigated the effectiveness of explicit pragmatic instruction on the acquisition of requests by college-level English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Taiwan. The goal was to determine first whether the use of explicit pragmatic instruction had a positive effect on EFL learners’ ...  Read More

Language and the Socio-Cultural Worlds of Those Who Use it: A Case of Vague Expressions

Vahid Parvaresh; Azizullah Dabghi

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 74-88

Abstract
   The present study is an attempt to investigate the use of vague expressions by intermediate EFL learners. More specifically, the current study focuses on the structures and functions of one of the most common categories of vague language, i.e. general extenders. The data include a 22-hour corpus ...  Read More

The Effects of Planned Instruction on Iranian L2 Learners' Interlanguage Pragmatic Development

Azizullah Mirzaee; Maryam Esmaeili

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 89-100

Abstract
  L2 research has shown that instruction in L2 pragmatics is necessary. The current study evaluated the impact of explicit instruction on EFL learner's awareness and production of three speech acts of request, apology, and complaint. It also probed whether learners’ language proficiency plays any ...  Read More

Greetings and Politeness in Doctor-Client Encounters in Southwestern Nigeria

Akinola Odebunmi

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 101-117

Abstract
  Doctors and clients sometimes experience interactive clashes during hospital meetings in South-western Nigerian hospitals because of their divergent culture-constrained orientation to politeness cues. The goal of this paper is to unpack the discursive elements that characterize interactive confluence ...  Read More

Gendered Communication in Iranian University Classrooms: The Relationship between Politeness and Silence in Persian Culture

Saeedeh Shafiee Nahrkhalaji; Mahboubeh Khorasani; Morteza Rashidi Ashjerdi

Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2013, Pages 118-130

Abstract
  This study examined naturally-occurring university classroom interactions at Iranian universities and provided an analysis of silence patterns as politeness strategies used by male and female students. Since empirical studies of silence in classroom settings are scarce, this paper aimed to explain such ...  Read More