Patterns of some measured mental abilities among persian bilingual and monolingual children

The purpose of this study was to provide some empirical answers regarding the effects of home and school language upon some cognitive abilities of elementary school bilinguals where the two languages involved do not bear any resembalance.A Persian translation of CTMM adjusted to Persian population was administered to elementary school children of two types of bilingual and one Persian monolingual school. The results indicate that within bilingual schools home language does not show any consistent effect upon non-language abilities. The only consistent effect was in the language measure of Delayed recall, in favor of Persian speaking homes. Comparison of various schools indicate that in the third and sixth grades Persian control was superior to both type of bilingual schools in terms of Immediate recall and to immersion schools in terms of Delayed recall. An exposure variable to Persian was then defined showing a direct relationship with amount of retention. This relationship was explained by resistence to forgetting due to the degrees of overlearning of Persian in various groups.     

How Home Enrichment Mediates the Relationship Between Maternal Education and Children's Achievement in Reading and Math

Research Findings: This article addresses the mediating role of early childhood home enrichment in the association between maternal education and academic achievement in the reading and math of 1,093 children aged 7 (Grade 1). Data were extracted from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development database. We used the bootstrapping procedure, a new method recently developed to assess multiple mediator effects simultaneously. Five potential mediating aspects of naturally occurring enriching home environments (HOME) were measured at 54 months of age: learning materials, learning stimulation, parental responsiveness, modeling of social maturity, and variety in experience. Gender differences in the mediating role of aspects of home enrichment were also examined for the letter–word reading and math subscales of the Woodcock–Johnson Psychoeducational Battery–Revised. Results indicated that all 5 aspects of home enrichment mediated the association between maternal education and reading achievement, and 4 aspects of home enrichment mediated this association for math achievement. Some aspects of home enrichment were gender specific. Practice or Policy: Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Toward modeling reading comprehension and reading fluency in English language learners

This study investigated the adequacy of an expanded simple view of reading (SVR) framework for English language learners (ELLs), using mediation modeling approach. The proposed expanded SVR included reading fluency as an outcome and phonological awareness and naming speed as predictors. To test the fit of the proposed mediation model, longitudinal data from 308 ELLs from different linguistic backgrounds were analyzed using structural equation modeling. We examined the mediating role of Grade 2 word-level reading skills in the association between Grade 1 phonological awareness, naming speed, and listening comprehension and Grade 3 reading comprehension and reading fluency. The results indicated that word-level reading skills fully mediated the association between phonological awareness, reading comprehension and reading fluency. Word-level reading skills partially mediated the association between naming speed and reading fluency. Listening comprehension contributed directly to reading comprehension and reading fluency. It appears that reading development in ELLs is better understood when reading fluency is added to the SVR framework as an outcome and naming speed as a building block of SVR. Theoretical aspects of the mediation model in relation to ELL reading development are also addressed.     

An empirical investigation of entrepreneurship intensity in Iranian state universities

The purpose of this study is to propose a framework to evaluate the entrepreneurship intensity (EI) of Iranian state universities. In order to determine EI, a hybrid multi-method framework consisting of Delphi, Analytic Network Process (ANP), and VIKOR is proposed. The Delphi method is used to localize and reduce the number of criteria extracted from a deep literature review, according to the social and economic conditions of Iranian state universities by using an expert panel, including sixty-eight country-wide academicians and practitioners. After that, a group approach to ANP was utilized as an evaluation method to derive the weights of each criterion. Next, the evaluation data were gathered through a questionnaire, and, finally, the compromise ranking of universities was calculated using the VIKOR method. Moreover, this study applies weight-variance analysis (WVA) to suggest improvement actions. The paper proposes an evaluation framework for determining the performance of entrepreneurship development initiatives in universities. By using this framework, twenty-two Iranian state universities are evaluated in terms of their EI, and the results are discussed.     

ZPD-activated languaging and collaborative L2 writing

Recent second/foreign language (L2) research has witnessed the application of sociocultural tenets to L2 classrooms. This study aimed to probe whether Iranian L2 learners’ engagement in ZPD-activated collaborative dialogue, or ‘languaging’, mediates their learning process and, specifically, their appropriate use of metadiscourse to address content, organisation and audience issues in writing. English-as-a-foreign-language-writing classes at two universities were assigned to four different instructional conditions, namely, ZPD-activated collaborative, ZPD-free collaborative, fine-tuned L2-input provision and prevalent teacher-fronted approaches. The data comprised metadiscourse-oriented writing test scores, weekly writings and audio-recorded in-class collaborative dialogues of the ZPD groups. The results demonstrated the ZPD-activated collaborative writing approach significantly facilitated the learners’ appropriate use of metadiscourse. Complementary interpretative analysis of the ZPD participants’ metadiscourse-related episodes showed that the initially-other-regulated (undistributed) writing tasks became progressively reciprocal with less-skilled peers displaying microgenetic use of L2 metadiscourse resources and dynamically assuming more participatory roles in regulating the writing tasks. The findings suggest engagement in ZPD-activated ‘languaging’ is crucial to shaping opportunities for L2 learners’ microgenetic learning and to their longer term cognitive development. In sum, the application of sociocultural tenets and notions has shown to be highly fruitful in explaining the social genesis of L2 development as a higher order psychological functioning.     

Viability of construct validity of the speaking modules of international language examinations (IELTS vs. TOEFL iBT): evidence from Iranian test-takers

The aim of the present research is to examine the viability of the construct validity of the speaking modules of two internationally recognized language proficiency examinations, namely IELTS and TOEFL iBT. High-stake standardized tests play a crucial and decisive role in determining the future academic life of many people. Overall obtained scores of candidates are believed to reflect their general proficiency level. Appropriate interpretation and use of test scores depend on the extent to which items measuring a particular skill (here speaking) can meet the criteria to examine the intended construct. Speaking, amongst the other four skills, has a central place in assessing general proficiency of the candidates. This research seeks to scrutinize how IELTS and TOEFL iBT tap on the speaking proficiency of their candidates. Moreover, this study investigates whether obtained speaking scores of candidates in these two international high-stake tests show an acceptable degree of consistency in measuring the skill being examined. The chosen sample of the study consisted of 60 students who successfully completed TOEFL iBT and IELTS preparation courses in Tehran. The results of the statistical analysis show that there is a meaningful discrepancy between the two exams in assessing the speaking abilities of the exam-takers and therefore challenge the construct validity of the exams in question. Findings are then used to discuss the repercussions for language proficiency measurement and assessment.     

On the relationships between bibliographic characteristics of scientific documents and citation and Mendeley readership counts: A large-scale analysis of Web of Science publications

In this paper we present a first large-scale analysis of the relationship between Mendeley readership and citation counts with particular documents’ bibliographic characteristics. A data set of 1.3 million publications from different fields published in journals covered by the Web of Science (WoS) has been analyzed. This work reveals that document types that are often excluded from citation analysis due to their lower citation values, like editorial materials, letters, news items, or meeting abstracts, are strongly covered and saved in Mendeley, suggesting that Mendeley readership can reliably inform the analysis of these document types. Findings show that collaborative papers are frequently saved in Mendeley, which is similar to what is observed for citations. The relationship between readership and the length of titles and number of pages, however, is weaker than for the same relationship observed for citations. The analysis of different disciplines also points to different patterns in the relationship between several document characteristics, readership, and citation counts. Overall, results highlight that although disciplinary differences exist, readership counts are related to similar bibliographic characteristics as those related to citation counts, reinforcing the idea that Mendeley readership and citations capture a similar concept of impact, although they cannot be considered as equivalent indicators.     

Teachers’ roles in early childhood English language pedagogy: beliefs of kindergarten English language teachers

ABSTRACT

The present qualitative study explores the beliefs of Iranian early childhood English teachers regarding their roles in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to young learners at kindergarten and preschool age. The data were collected through classroom observations and interviews with 13 Iranian EFL kindergarten teachers who volunteered to participate in this study. More specifically, after initial introductory interviews with each participant, their classes were observed, and subsequently, verbal recollection interviews were conducted. Depending on the various administrative constraints at different kindergartens, each participant was observed two to four sessions, 36 sessions in total. Three major themes representing beliefs of the participants emerged from thematic analysis of the interview data. The themes included teachers’ beliefs about, first, the constraints affecting early childhood methodologies and pedagogical practices; second, the influence of English language on children’s native language, culture, and, identity; and third, the attempts required for achieving an ideal early childhood EFL instruction. As such, these results may provide potential implications for policy makers and curriculum designers responsible in this field to encourage reforms in kindergartens’ instructional, administrative, and marketing policies.