English language teaching curriculum in Iran: planning and practice

The present study investigates English language teaching (ELT) curriculum planning in Iran's Ministry of Education and its implementation by teachers. We studied programme evaluation; needs analysis; the ELT-specific documents; communication channels between planning and practice levels; teacher evaluation and student assessment; interpretation and re-examination of national policies within the Ministry; and the criteria set for ELT material development. Instrumentation included: curriculum documents; interviews with Ministry officials, material developers and headteachers; and teacher questionnaires. Results attested to the lack of any ELT-specific document for material development and absence of research-based needs assessment as the foundation of the programmes. Also, there are no pre-defined linguistic and professional criteria for evaluating teachers, and planning for students' assessment is limited to a set of general guidelines. Moreover, there is neither a programme evaluation nor an ELT evaluation model and national-level policies are not re-examined at planning level. Results also indicate that politico-ideological beliefs of material developers are as important as their expertise and communication channels between planning and practice levels are of a top-down nature. It is argued that the gap between planning and practice results from a highly centralised policymaking process in which local policymakers (i.e. teachers) are not involved.     

Construction of some hypergroups from combinatorial structures

Jajcay's studies(1993; 1994) on the automorphism groups of Cayley maps yielded a new product of groups, which he called, rotary product. Using this product, we define a hyperoperation ⊙ on the groupSym _e(G), the stabilizer of the identitye∈G in the groupSym(G). We prove that (Sym _e (G), ⊙) is a hypergroup and characterize the subhypergroups of this hypergroup. Finally, we show that the set of all subhypergroups ofSym _e (G) constitute a lattice under ordinary join and meet and that the minimal elements of order two of this lattice is a subgroup ofAut (G).     

Crack Saturation as a Mechanism of Acclimatization of Panel Paintings to Unstable Environments

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the process of crack saturation, which is fundamental to understanding why panel paintings have survived remarkably well in the uncontrolled environments of historic houses or places of worship for several centuries. The process of crack saturation was analyzed using finite element modeling. A double layer elastic model with fractured overlying paint layer was subjected to uniaxial tension. The critical separation between cracks was determined and compared with patterns observed in real paintings. In addition, the generation and propagation of delamination were studied to elucidate the effect of their propagation on the saturation distance of cracks, as well as the load carrying ability of the paint layer. Contributing modes of crack propagation and their significance are also discussed. The results demonstrate that shearing fracture mode dominates the process of delamination. The impact of crack saturation on the degree of relative humidity variation that is allowable is also discussed.     

Construction of some hypergroups from combinatorial structures

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Education in Europe and Muslim Demands for Competitive and Moral Education

While European education systems fundamentally rest on a rather monolithic world-view, some of them are explicitly oriented towards Christianity and others are comparatively secular. Apart from this, they differ in the way that they offer opportunities for Muslim minorities to enjoy a modern and competitive as well as religious-moral education. Principally, there are three approaches. The first allows private Muslim schools which are neither subsidized nor controlled or regulated by the state. Other countries require Muslim schools to apply for approval, and such schools are then subsidized and regulated; but they do not have to teach a national curriculum. In a third group of countries, only schools that teach the national curriculum are permitted, and they are subsidized and controlled by the state. In the latter case, because Islamic matters are not taught in these schools, many Muslim parents send their children to non-formal Qur’anic schools in the evening or during weekends. This study examines some typical arrangements in a number of countries.     

Authenticity in teaching and teachers’ emotions: a hermeneutic phenomenological study of the classroom reality

This study probed the conceptualization of authenticity in teaching and its link to teachers’ emotional life through critical emotional praxis because emotions are integral to discovering who we really are (McCarthy, E. D. 2009. “Emotional Performances as Dramas of Authenticity.” In Authenticity in Culture, Self, and Society, edited by P. Vannini, and J. P. Williams, 241–255. London: Ashgate). The participants were 20 Iranian university teachers. Data were collected using interviews, field notes, and observation and were analyzed through the lens of hermeneutic phenomenology. The results revealed that authenticity in teaching consisted of themes of being one’s own self, horizon of significance, and contestation resulted from the sense of responsibility, authentic relations, and de-constructive thinking which confirmed the dialogical nature of authenticity. The emotions connected to authenticity in teaching were Transition-Anger, love, and caring indicating that authenticity in teaching was a practice toward socially just teaching.     

Some Properties of Matrices with 1, -1 and 0 Entries

A class of matrices with 1, -1 and 0 entries, called the H-matrices, is introduced and properties of such matrices are investigated. It is shown that for an H-matrix K the matrix G = KDK^T, where D is a diagonal matrix with nonnegative diagonal entries, has certain properties applicable to topological synthesis of networks. A technique for decomposing a particular symmetrical matrix G, called the Q-matrix, into KDK^T, where K is an H-matrix and D is a diagonal matrix with positive diagonal entries, is also developed.