Books by Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi
This is a corpus-based book, containing 800 frequent idioms and slang in English movies.
Any in... more This is a corpus-based book, containing 800 frequent idioms and slang in English movies.
Any inquiry should be sent directly to: ali.rezvani85@gmail.com
چه کسی پنیر مرا جابجا کرد؟
Papers by Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi
Textbook evaluation can be a guide and reference to the educational institutions, curriculum desi... more Textbook evaluation can be a guide and reference to the educational institutions, curriculum designers, writers and educators in selecting the suitable material regarding their learners" needs. A checklist is one of the common instruments used in textbook evaluation studies. Many checklists have been developed to evaluate whole textbooks. However, few checklists are available that focus on a specific feature of an English language learning-teaching textbook. This study presents the development procedure of a checklist that focuses on the presentation of vocabulary in ELT textbooks. The instrument was developed in the light of a number of previous evaluation checklists. It was further refined based on interviews with a number of English language teachers, who commented on the relevance and clarity of its items. The reliability test revealed very high overall internal reliability of the instrument. The paper presents the checklist that can be used as a guide and reference to other researchers, curriculum designers, writers, teachers, as well as material evaluators.
Literature on Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' problems in their writing ski... more Literature on Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' problems in their writing skills is lacking. The present study analyzes a group of Iranian EFL students' written samples to diagnose their main area(s) of difficulty in writing argumentative essays. For this purpose, a sample of 69 argumentative essays was collected. Two raters used an analytic argumentative writing scale to score the samples. Based on the scores assigned to their written samples, majority of these students indicated excellent 'content' and 'organization' levels; competent 'task fulfillment', 'vocabulary', and 'style' levels; modest 'grammar' levels; and finally, very limited levels of 'mechanics' skills. The findings indicate the positive and promising role of English language institutes in students' writing skills. The results have pedagogical implications that will help English language instructors and program developers in Iranian English language learning-teaching institutes improve the outcome of their instruction. Further research is necessary to study the EFL writing skills of Iranian school students.
Micro level refers to those translation techniques which are applied for short textual segments a... more Micro level refers to those translation techniques which are applied for short textual segments and are usually of a prescriptive nature. In the other hand, the macro level refers to translation strategies as well as external factors that influence the decisions made by a translator and are of a descriptive nature.
The aim of this study was to find out the relationship between use of discourse connectors and co... more The aim of this study was to find out the relationship between use of discourse connectors and cohesion of writing in the writing samples of Malaysian school students. Thirty samples from each educational level (Form 4; Form 5; College; N=30) were chosen randomly from the Malaysian Corpus of Students’ Argumentative Writing. To assess the quality of the essays, two experienced raters, who were PhD holders in ELT, were asked to use ESL Composition Profile (Jacob’s et al., 1981). Although the rubric checks for five components, including content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics, in order to address to the purpose of the study only “Organization” marks were taken in to account since it is an only component which measures cohesion of an essay. The reliability test result showed that inter-rater reliability was very high (was 0.90). The
analyses indicated that there was a very weak negative correlation, but insignificant, between writing quality and the frequency of the use of the DCs in the writing of Malaysian ESL students. The findings of the study will also be discussed in detail.
Vocabulary learning is one of the most challenging factors that learners will face during the pro... more Vocabulary learning is one of the most challenging factors that learners will face during the process of second language learning. The main pursuit of the present study was to investigate the vocabulary language strategies among Malaysian ESL students majoring in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at University Putra Malaysia. There are five different categories of vocabulary leaning strategies determination, social, memory, cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Quantitative research design has been used in this study by providing a set of questionnaire of 58 items that was given out to 50 participants at the Faculty of Educational Studies in UPM. The findings of this research hope to help all educators to acknowledge the type of vocabulary strategies used by students in acquiring second language (L2).
Videos are very versatile. They can act as a tool for listening that enhances listening experienc... more Videos are very versatile. They can act as a tool for listening that enhances listening experience for our students. Other than that, the actions, gestures, emotions, settings, etc, that is observed by students in a video can provide significant visual stimulus for the practice and production of the English language. The study also considers the students perception of improving their English language proficiency through video composition. This research adopts a quantitative approach to establish relationships between variables and to explain the how they are related to each other. To this end, 110 students of Form 4 in MRSM Kuala Krai, Kelantan were involved in this study. Upon data collection, we analyzed the students' attitudes towards the conventional teaching classroom, video composition project, and also new teaching methodologies. Besides, we also discussed the significant difference between the perception of both male and female students of Form 4 in MRSM Kuala Krai, Kelantan.
English Language Teaching, , Oct 1, 2013
In today’s world, there are lots of methods in language teaching in general and teaching writing ... more In today’s world, there are lots of methods in language teaching in general and teaching writing in particular.
Using two different tools in writing essays and conducting a study to compare the effectiveness of these two
tools namely blog and pen-and-paper was the basis of this study. This study used a quantitative true experimental
design aimed at comparing the students’ writing performance scores by using pen-and-paper essay writing and
blogging among Iranian graduate students of University Putra Malaysia (UPM). The result of this study showed
that the tools by themselves could not effect on the quality of writing essays and improvement in the students’
writing performance. However, using technology and in this study, Internet can motivate the EFL learners to
write more eagerly since they may like innovation in learning in contrast with traditional old methods of learning
writing and practicing it. Yet it does not necessarily improve their writing performance only because of using
computer and Internet. The Iranian graduate students of UPM found blog more interesting and motivating tool
for writing, but it was not as easy using as pen-and-paper for them with which everyone is familiar. This research
could find answers to the research questions posed at the beginning of the study and investigated the hypotheses
presented then.
Research in materials evaluation has been an important focus in ELT since the 1980s. The objectiv... more Research in materials evaluation has been an important focus in ELT since the 1980s. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the general attributes of the textbooks and to evaluate the learning-teaching content. In this study, 944 male and female English teachers (Year 1 to Year 6 & Form 1 to Form 5) evaluated the English books using a valid and reliable checklist. In terms of general attributes and learning-teaching content of the textbooks, the results showed that Year 1 to Year 6 teachers reported that the current textbooks are 'highly useful' to the students, whereas Form 1 to Form 5 teachers contended that the school books are only 'moderately useful'. The findings of this study can be useful for curricula designers and Ministry of Education as a reference for improving or modifying the textbooks.
This paper analyzes the results of a corpus-based study on the usage of metadiscourse in argument... more This paper analyzes the results of a corpus-based study on the usage of metadiscourse in argumentative writing by Malaysian college students. The aims of the study is to examine the frequency and distribution of metadiscourse used by the particular students in argumentative writing as well as to analyze the errors that made by the particular students in using metadiscourse. The finding shows that Malaysian college students are more inclined to using textual metadiscourse instead of interpersonal metadiscourse. Besides, the selected students are using less code glosses and stance indicator in their argumentative writing. In addition, Malaysian college students committed quite a number of errors in using metadiscourse and practices are needed to train them in using metadiscourse correctly. These findings are useful for Malaysian tertiary level of educators or teachers as they help the educators to figure out the weaknesses of students in using metadiscourse.
Cultural stereotype plays an essential role in developing and preserving gender differences, and ... more Cultural stereotype plays an essential role in developing and preserving gender differences, and that speech stereotypes in particular serve to characterize the way that native speakers perceive how males and females normally talk. This paper investigates stereotypes about on-line gender difference in Iranian English weblogs.
Abstract: Although many Iranian students often achieve good qualifications in their home country,... more Abstract: Although many Iranian students often achieve good qualifications in their home country, many struggle with the academic adjustments to a foreign university. Some graduate students may suffer from coping with listening, reading, writing, speaking, grammar and vocabulary. It emerges particularly when they are planning to undertake research and write in a second or foreign language.
Many studies have investigated discourse connectors. However, researchers are still grappling wit... more Many studies have investigated discourse connectors. However, researchers are still grappling with the term in terms of its definition and classification in particular. Many researchers use the term discourse markers (DMs) while others have used terms like linking words, connectives, discourse operators and discourse connectors to refer to the same idea. This paper attempts to better define the term and propose a classification of DCs in written discourse. As is evident from the literature, researchers are unable to agree on the best definition for the term connectors or what is generally known as discourse markers. Researchers in the field have put forward a few different definitions and descriptions of what connectors are and their function in language and some researchers have also developed their own taxonomy and classification for connectors. After reviewing research conducted on connectors, we decided for purposes of this paper to use the term 'discourse connectors' mainly because we believe these connectors function to link one portion of information to another one in a text and that while the term discourse marker is a suitable term for spoken discourse, its definition and classification may vary for written discourse. We define DCs as words and expressions that can be accommodated within the text to join one sentence with another sentence or one paragraph to another paragraph or even one idea to another. Finally, we attempt to offer a comprehensive definition and classification of discourse connectors with the aim to provide a better understanding of what DCs are and how they function, with variation from previous reviews of the term.
This research study investigates the learning strategy use by adopting survey method. One hundred... more This research study investigates the learning strategy use by adopting survey method. One hundred and ten male (72.7%) and female (27.3%) EFL Turkish students participated in this study. They were selected randomly from five levels of proficiency, namely, beginner, , pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper-intermediate. The number of participants from each level was 22 students. A self-reported inventory, Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (ESL/EFL Version) developed by , was used to determine the participants' perceived strategy use.
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Books by Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi
Any inquiry should be sent directly to: ali.rezvani85@gmail.com
Papers by Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi
analyses indicated that there was a very weak negative correlation, but insignificant, between writing quality and the frequency of the use of the DCs in the writing of Malaysian ESL students. The findings of the study will also be discussed in detail.
Using two different tools in writing essays and conducting a study to compare the effectiveness of these two
tools namely blog and pen-and-paper was the basis of this study. This study used a quantitative true experimental
design aimed at comparing the students’ writing performance scores by using pen-and-paper essay writing and
blogging among Iranian graduate students of University Putra Malaysia (UPM). The result of this study showed
that the tools by themselves could not effect on the quality of writing essays and improvement in the students’
writing performance. However, using technology and in this study, Internet can motivate the EFL learners to
write more eagerly since they may like innovation in learning in contrast with traditional old methods of learning
writing and practicing it. Yet it does not necessarily improve their writing performance only because of using
computer and Internet. The Iranian graduate students of UPM found blog more interesting and motivating tool
for writing, but it was not as easy using as pen-and-paper for them with which everyone is familiar. This research
could find answers to the research questions posed at the beginning of the study and investigated the hypotheses
presented then.
Any inquiry should be sent directly to: ali.rezvani85@gmail.com
analyses indicated that there was a very weak negative correlation, but insignificant, between writing quality and the frequency of the use of the DCs in the writing of Malaysian ESL students. The findings of the study will also be discussed in detail.
Using two different tools in writing essays and conducting a study to compare the effectiveness of these two
tools namely blog and pen-and-paper was the basis of this study. This study used a quantitative true experimental
design aimed at comparing the students’ writing performance scores by using pen-and-paper essay writing and
blogging among Iranian graduate students of University Putra Malaysia (UPM). The result of this study showed
that the tools by themselves could not effect on the quality of writing essays and improvement in the students’
writing performance. However, using technology and in this study, Internet can motivate the EFL learners to
write more eagerly since they may like innovation in learning in contrast with traditional old methods of learning
writing and practicing it. Yet it does not necessarily improve their writing performance only because of using
computer and Internet. The Iranian graduate students of UPM found blog more interesting and motivating tool
for writing, but it was not as easy using as pen-and-paper for them with which everyone is familiar. This research
could find answers to the research questions posed at the beginning of the study and investigated the hypotheses
presented then.
accordingly little or no understanding of ‘corpora literacy’. Therefore, they may not be able to appropriately integrate corpora into their classroom. This study aims to find out to what extent integrating teacher-generated corpus into language classroom can benefit both teachers and students. To this end, a qualitative method was employed and purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. For data collection, a set of questions were adopted and used to conduct the interview and explore the respondents’ attitude towards the generation and exploitation of teacher-generated corpus in ELT classroom. The respondents were students who assisted in developing a
learner corpus as part of the fulfillment of a course assignment. The findings indicated that respondents found teacher-generated corpus a constructive tool to help them analyze student writings from different facets. The findings of this study can be very helpful to teacher trainers who may attempt to train their trainees to develop the necessary skills for generating and making use of their own corpora. The teacher-generated corpus can also enable the teachers to discover the problematic areas of learner language and exploit them for assessing purposes.