Abstract The role of L1 in second/foreign language learning has been the subject of much debate and controversy. This article reports on a piece of research carried out in a junior high school in Isfahan, Iran. This study was conducted to examine the effect of using translation from L1 to L2 on the improvement of EFL learners' language accuracy. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 62 students in grade three of junior high school were chosen by means of administering an experimental made pre-test. The participants were divided into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group received grammar exercises in translating some phrases and sentences from Persian into English related to the intended grammatical structures during the study period while the control group just did their textbook exercises. At the end, a post-test was given to the students and the mean scores of the two groups were identified. T-test revealed that the treatment had a considerable effect on students' language accuracy. تفاصيل المقالة

The present study investigated the effect of L2 communication failure on the identity of an individual. As identity is a social construct and a function of communication and group membership, we aimed to investigate how failure in language use by itself, as a dimension of socialization process, can influence an individual’s identity. To study the effect of communication failure on the mental states of individuals, 25 adult subjects of both genders, 13 men and 12 women having had a failing experience of L2 communication in L2 context were randomly selected. An in-depth interview including and reflecting the feelings of the research participants at the time of their unsuccessful communication rendered much information about the social effects of such failure. A qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed that communication failure resulting from low language proficiency can threaten a person’s identity not only in the second language, but also to some extent in the first language. تفاصيل المقالة

As opposed to western cultures, marriage proposal in Iran takes place in a formal family-gathering called Khaastgaari ceremony and develops through negotiations between the prospective couples’ families. There are embedded factors that invisibly control these negotiations; thus, word choices and behaviors of participants mirror the invisible sources of domination that govern these negotiations. Drawing on the definition of discourse as any meaningful symbolic behavior, this study aims to probe into the deep layers of discoursal exchanges in Khaastgaari events and address the salient sociocultural sources of domination that govern this ancient Iranian tradition. The data obtained from observation of typical Khaastgaari events were analyzed through a thematic analysis and interpreted in light of insights gleaned from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings revealed that discoursal exchanges in Khaastgaari events represent the traditional superiority of family and parents over children and also reproduce dominant gender relations in Iranian social life. Besides, seeking prestige and observance of religious norms are other sources of sociocultural prescription for participants’ discoursal moves. تفاصيل المقالة