I am pleased to announce the publication of
the second issue of Applied Research in
English. The articles published in the current
issue are theoretical as well as research-based. I would like to extend my most
profound gratitude to all the authors who
submitted their papers to our journal.
Additionally, I could hardly deny myself the
pleasure of thanking Dr. Vahid Parvaresh,
Dr. Mohammadtaghi Shahnazari and Mrs.
Nadia Kazemi for all their invaluable help
and support. I am also very grateful to the
International Editorial Board members and
also to the anonymous reviewers who have
contributed greatly with their comments.
The articles comprising the journal’s second
issue are in line with the journal’s broad
scope. The first paper by Maryann
Overstreet focuses on some pragmatic
expressions that are characteristic of
informal spoken English, their possible
equivalents in some other languages, and
their use by EFL learners from different
backgrounds. These expressions, called
general extenders (e.g. and stuff, or
something), are shown to be different from
discourse markers and to exhibit variation in
form, function and distribution across
varieties of English, as well as in other
languages.
In “Towards a definition of intake in second
language acquisition”, Hayo Reinders
claims that intake is a concept that has long
fascinated second language researchers as it
provides a window onto the crucial
intermediary stage between input and
acquisition. He argues that a better
understanding of this intermediary stage can
help us to distinguish between input that is
used for immediate (e.g. communicative)
purposes only and input that is drawn on for
learning. The article traces the different
components from which intake can occur,
reviews existing definitions of intake and
suggests alternatives for its
operationalisation.
Vande Kopple’s essay, “The importance of
studying metadiscourse”, focuses on
metadiscourse, a name for elements of texts
that convey meanings other than those that
are primarily referential. It provides some
theoretical background to the study of
metadiscourse, briefly reviews a taxonomy
of metadiscourse, and explores four reasons
why the study of metadiscourse is
interesting and important: (a) Such study
shows how intricately structured language
is; (b) Such study opens up intriguing
questions about ethics and language use; (c)
Such study reveals differences in how
metadiscourse is used in similar texts in
different languages; (d) And such study
provides reasons why metadiscourse
deserves a special place in second-language
instruction.
Eli Hinke’s paper is based on the
assumption that being aware of socio-cultural frameworks does not mean that as
an outcome of instruction learners have to
become "native-like," but an awareness of
L2 cultural norms can allow learners to
make their own informed choices of how to
become competent and astute language
users. The author provides an overview of
practical approaches and techniques to
teaching culture in the classroom in
conjunction with instruction in the essential
language skills.
In the fifth study, “Investigating EFL
learners’ perception of narrative task
difficulty”, Saeedi and Rahimi Kazerooni
investigate EFL learners’ perception of task
difficulty. Drawing upon current models of
task difficulty, the researchers managed to
operationally define four oral narrative tasks
of varying degrees of complexity. Having
performed the tasks, the participants
attended a round of retrospective interviews.
The qualitative analysis brought to light five
major themes. To explore how current
models of task difficulty would explain the
learners’ attitude toward task demands, these
categories were juxtaposed with Skehan’s
model and Robinson’s triadic componential
framework.
Pirnajmuddin and Zamani’s paper, “A study
of the translations of terms related to
practical laws of religion (furū al-dīn):
Raising students’ awareness of culture-bound items”, is an attempt to identify
appropriate procedures used in translating
culture-bound terms. The study reveals that
literal translation is not only the most
frequently used procedure but also the most
appropriate one.
Finally, in “The effects of Curriculum-Based
Measurement on EFL learners'
achievements in grammar and reading”,
Tavakoli and Atefi Boroujeni examine the
effects of using Curriculum-Based
Measurement (CBM) on the learners’
achievements in grammar and reading. As
the study suggests, CBM significantly
improves EFL learners’ performance.
Many thanks, once again, to this issue’s
researchers for submitting their studies, to
the reviewers for contributing with
constructive feedback and to the readers of
Applied Research in English. We are now
accepting submissions for our next issue:
Volume II, issue I.
Best wishes,
Saeed Ketabi, PhD (Editor-in-Chief)
)