Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research

1-11

Authors: Hassan Jalali

Previous research shows that part of mastering a given genre is correct, adequate, and appropriate use of a set of word combinations called chunks, clusters, and/or lexical bundles as these word combinations serve important discourse functions and are for the most part peculiar to and characteristic of a disciplinary field. While some few previous studies have demonstrated that even native speaker educated students may find it difficult to use these word sequences properly and sufficiently in their written academic production as compared with experts' choices, almost no work has been done to examine the extent to which EFL students are able to discriminate between different bundles and choose them appropriately. Using a reading measure of selecting word sequences which was administered to a group of EFL postgraduate students in applied linguistics, this study showed that in many cases, students' choices of these word combinations did not match those of experts. This finding suggests that such students who might still be novice members of their field were likely to encounter serious difficulties later in adhering to preferred accepted writing practices of the discipline especially when they would want to get their voices heard in a high-stake genre like research article. The paper closes with some pedagogical implications as well as suggestions for further research.

27-33

Authors: Morteza Montazeri, Hadi Hamidi, Bahman Hamidi, Javad Yaghoobi

Connectionism is the theory that sees brain in terms of neural or parallel distributed processing networks of interconnected units. The present paper reviewed the basic assumptions of connectionism and two main types of connectionist models were explained; the localist model and the distributed model. The drawbacks of the localist connectionism were mentioned. Properties of distributed connectionist networks were delineated. In the end, general problems with connectionist models were discussed. It was mentioned that the major drawback of connectionism that would cast doubt on the usefulness of a connectionist approach was that this approach had its basis on the sciences of math and physics, while the brains of human beings, or language learners, are biological entities. This seems to mar the usefulness of this approach to language learning, since it can be hardly assumed that the mathematical principles can be extended to biological ones. Language learners, language teachers as well as neurologists and psychologists may find the discussions of the present study useful in the process of language acquisition.

44-61

Authors: Atefeh Yoosefvand, Abbass Eslami Rasekh

This cross-cultural study presents a comparative investigation of the speech act of gratitude used by Persian and English speakers. This study aimed to investigate how native speakers of English and Persian would make gratitude in different situations. To achieve this aim, a discourse completion test (DCT) which introduced eleven natural situations was used and given to the participants of the study. Results indicated that according to statistical analysis of the data in this study, there were differences in the use of gratitude strategies between Persian and English speakers. In addition, Findings revealed that there were significant differences in the use of thanking, positive feeling, repayment and recognition of imposition strategies between Persian and English participants. Possible explanations are provided and the implications of the findings are discussed.

74-87

Authors: Abdollah Mohsenzadeh, Amin Marzban, Seyed Foad Ebrahimi

This study intends to find out the attitudes of EFL learners and instructors concerning the use of power point presentation in teaching and learning. To this end, 40 learners and 10 instructors were selected as participants. The learners and instructors were given questionnaires including 10 and 15 items, respectively. The results indicated that both learners and instructors have positive attitudes towards the use of power point presentations in teaching and learning as conducted in EFL classrooms. The results also illustrated that EFL learners and instructors, especially the participants in this study, are in need of being familiarized with the use of technology in general and power point presentation in particular while teaching and learning. The results of this study could contribute to our understanding of the barriers which would hinder the application of technology in teaching and learning in the EFL context as focused by modern ELT approaches and methods.