Different test methods and the immediate

The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 ISSN On-line: 1836-8751 ISSN Print: 1836-8743 The Iranian EFL Journal December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 Chief Editors Dr Paul Robertson Dr Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh Iranian EFL Journal The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 Publisher Dr Paul Robertson Time Taylor International Ltd Senior Associate Editor Dr Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran Dr Roger Nunn The Petroleum Institute Abu Dhabi UAE Dr John Adamson Shinshu Honan College Japan Professor Dr Z.N Patil Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages Hyderabad, India Senior Statesmen Professor Rod Ellis University of Auckland New Zealand Iranian EFL Journal Associate Editors Professor Dr Dan Douglas Iowa State University USA Dr Reza Pishghadam Ferdowsi university of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran Dr Behzad Ghonsooly Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran Prof Dr Rana Nayar Panjab University India Dr Abdolmahdy Riazi Shirza University Iran Dr Mahmood Reza Atai Tarbiat Moallem University Tehran, Iran Editorial team Dr Pourya Baghaii Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Iran Dr Zohre Eslami Rasekh Texas A & M University USA Dr Azizullah Fatahi Shar-e Kord University Iran Dr Mohammad Reza Hashemi Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran Dr Parvaneh Tavakoli University of Reading, Humanities and Social Sciences Building Whiteknights England Dr Seyyed Ayatollah Razmju Shiraz University Iran Dr Shamala Paramasivam University of Putra Malaysia Dr Manizheh Yuhannaee University of Isfahan Iran Dr Antony Fenton Soka University Japan Dr Esma’eel Abdollahzadeh Iran University of Science and Technology Iran Dr Ingrid Mosquera Gende Bettatur University College of Tourism Tarragona, Spain Dr Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh Dr Christopher Alexander University of Nicosia Cyprus Dr Robert Kirkpatrick Dr Masood Khoshsaligheh Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran Shinawatra International University, Thailand Dr Masoud Sharififar Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman Kerman, Iran Iranian EFL Journal Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran Dr Abbas Zare’ee Kashan University Iran Dr Naser Rashidi Shiraz University Iran The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 The Iranian EFL Journal Press A Division of Time Taylor Publishers QC Pavilion Cebu http://www.Iranian-efl-journal.com Iranian.efljournal@yahoo.com This E book is in copyright No reproduction may take place without the express written permission of the Iranian EFL Journal No unauthorized copying All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Iranian EFL Journal Chief Editor: Dr Paul Robertson Senior Associate Editor: Dr Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran ISSN On-line: 1836-8751 ISSN Print: 1836-8743 Iranian EFL Journal The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 Table of Contents Foreword: Dr Paul Robertson and Dr Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh - 10 1- A Corpus Study of Lexical Bundles across Different Disciplines Mohammad Alipour, Alireza Jalilifar and Maryam Zarea 2- A Comparative Study of Traditional Translation Teaching Method and a Method Based on Translation-Oriented Text Analysis in an Iranian Context Kourosh Hemmati, Mohammad Ali Falahati and Hassan Shahabi 11 - 35 36 - 49 3- A Qualitative Study on the Language Students’ Beliefs in Error Correction Mozhgan Nili 50 - 64 4- The Role of Task-based Lexical Noticing Training in Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Retention Moussa Ahmadian and Valiollah Yousefi 65 - 82 5- The Impact of Visual Aids on Listening Comprehension Tests of Intermediate EFL Learners Mohammad Rasoul Homayoun 83 - 93 6- The Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Goal-oriented and Self-Regulated Learning and Their Reading Comprehension Hassan Emroozi Bajgiran 94 - 113 7- Developing a Writing Strategy Model for Iranian Context Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh, Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo and Fatemeh Javanmardi 114 - 130 8- The Relationship between Risk-taking and Vocabulary Learning Strategy Use of Iranian EFL Learners Parviz Maftoon and Neda Afroukhteh 131 - 148 9- Experiencing Flow and its Relation to Test Format and Reading Strategy Elaheh Iranrad and Behzad Ghonsooly 149 - 163 10- Translation and Gender: The Study of Persian Literary Translation Texts of Fe/male Translators under the Influence of Feminist Movements During 1980-2010 Bijan Bateni, Heideh Komeili Doost and Kazem Youssefi 164 - 179 11- The Relationship between Creativity and Iranian EFL Learners’ Narrative Writing Performance Shabnam Amini Naghadeh Iranian EFL Journal 180 - 206 The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 12- Towards Pragmatic Instruction of Apology in Iranian Context Farahman Farrokhi and Soheil Atashian 207 - 217 13-Learners’ Critical Thinking Ability and Learning Style Preferences: Differences in the Use of Listening Strategies Mehri Izadi and Farrokhlagha Heidari 218 - 229 14- A Comparative Analysis of the Translation of Stereotyped Allusions in English Subtitles of “A Separation” 230 - 241 Mohammad Sadegh Kenevisi, Ebrahim Davoudi Sharifabad and Seyed Alireza Shirinzadeh Bojnourdi 15- An Investigation into the Complication or Duplication Role of Image in Persian Children's Story Ali Reza Jalilifar, Saeed Khazaie and Bamshad Hekmatshoar Tabari 242 - 257 16-Corpora and Language Teaching: Implications for Language Teachers and Learners Shiela Kheirzadeh, Mahmood Saadatnia 258 - 275 17-Incentives for Academic Plagiarism in Iranian EFL Masters Students’ Perspective Fatemeh Khoshroo and Amir Mahdavi-Zafarghandi 276 - 302 18- The Interference of ones’ Native Language with the Foreign Language Speaking Skills or the Interference of another Previously Learned Foreign Language? Pegah Merrikhi 303 - 322 19- Kurdish EFL Learners’ Consonantal Mispronunciations: a Probe into Students’ Perceptions Behzad Moradi 323 - 337 20- Pronunciation through the Eyes of Some Traditional, Innovative and Modern Approaches to English Language Teaching: From the Twentieth Century to the Twenty-First Rozana Shamsabadi, Saeed Ketabi and Azizollah Dabbaghi 338 - 353 21- English Teachers’ Attitudes towards Lesson Planning Masoomeh Taghipour 354 - 363 22- English for Specific Purposes (ESP) From the Perspective of Iranian ESP Students Amir Hamid Forough Ameri 364 - 378 23- The Effect of Journal Keeping on the Accuracy and Fluency of EFL Trainee Teachers' Academic Writings Nader Assadi Aidinlou and Fereshteh Asadzadian 379 - 390 Iranian EFL Journal The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 24- On the Impact of ‘Station Teaching’ on EFL Learners’ General Language Proficiency Mohammad Aliakbari and Abdonour Bazyar 391 - 404 25- A Chronological Comparison of Unit Frameworks of EFL Textbooks; How Units Have Evolved during Time? Seyed Mohammad Mohammadi 405 - 415 26- Application of Two Different Reader Response Approaches to Teach Short Stories Mohammad Khatib and Majid Farahian 416 - 426 27- A Critical Review of Postmethod Pedagogy Sajad Kabgani and Pardis Zaferani 427 - 441 28- Different Test Methods and the Immediate Recall of Abstract and Concrete Texts Roya Khoii and Marjan Masoodi 442 - 462 29- Negative Interlanguage Pragmatic Transfer and Motivation (integrative/ instrumental) in Iranian English Language Learners Ali Salimi Khorshidi 463 - 478 30- Discourse Markers Functions in the Freidanian Variety of Azeri Turkish Mohammad Javad Mohammadi and Bamshad Hekmatshoar Tabari 479 - 490 31- Acquisition of Vocabulary through Input based Tasks: Focusing on Intermediate Iranian Learners Omid Rezaei Dastgerdi, Azizollah Dabaghi and Saeed ketabi 491 - 504 32- Language Attrition: In terms of Characteristics of Complex Systems Khadijeh Yasinzadeh and Leila Sajedi 505 - 513 33- The Impact of Different Text Types on Listening Comprehension Tests of EFL Intermediate Learners Leila Saberi and Mohammad Rasoul Homayoun 514 - 524 34- Different Interpretations of Vygotsky's Theory of Learning: An Applied Linguistic Perspective Parviz Maftoon, Parviz Birjandi and Abdulali Ahmadi 525 - 541 35- Catch Two Birds With One Shot: Group Dynamic Assessment, a Tool for Teaching and Assessing Critical Reading at One Shot Mahdi Mardani, Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi and Zohre Kassaian 542 - 564 Iranian EFL Journal The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 Foreword Welcome to volume nine and the special sixth edition of 2013 The Iranian EFL Journal is very happy to be with its readers for one more year and we wish our readers a very happy 2014 The journal has had strong growth over the last few years with a monthly readership now exceeding 2500 readers Statistically, readers of our journal are coming from almost eighty countries For a journal examining the topics of EFL/ESL, Literature and Translation studies, the growth and readership has been pleasing The bi-monthly Iranian EFL Journal has attracted many readers not only from the Middle East but also from different parts of the world and in this way; the number of our reviewers has also increased We have increased the number of our reviewers and now, more than ninety five reviewers are cooperating with the journal and evaluate the articles In this special edition of 2013, we have presented thirty five articles, discussing different issues of EFL/ESL, literature and translation studies In the first article, Mohammad Alipour, Alireza Jalilifar and Maryam Zarea present an article entitled, a corpus study of lexical bundles across different disciplines In the second article of the issue, Kourosh Hemmati, Mohammad Ali Falahati and Hassan Shahabi, have studied a comparative study of traditional translation teaching method and a method based on translation-oriented text analysis in an Iranian context In the third article of the issue, Mozhgan Nili presents an article entitled, a qualitative study on the language students’ beliefs in error correction In the next article, the role of taskbased lexical noticing training in Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary retention is presented by Moussa Ahmadian and Valiollah Yousefi In the fifth article of the issue, Mohammad Rasoul Homayoun presents the impact of visual aids on listening comprehension tests of intermediate EFL learners The next article which is a study of the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ goal-oriented and self-regulated learning and their reading comprehension is done by Hassan Emroozi Bajgiran In the seventh article of the issue, Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh, Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo and Fatemeh Javanmardi have presented developing a writing strategy model for Iranian context In the eight article of the issue the relationship between risk-taking and vocabulary learning strategy use of Iranian EFL learners is done by Parviz Maftoon and Neda Afroukhteh In the next article, experiencing flow and its relation to test format and reading strategy is studied by Elaheh Iranrad and Behzad Ghonsooly In the tenth article of the issue, Bijan Bateni, Heideh Komeili Doost and Kazem Youssefi have studied translation and gender: the study of Persian literary translation texts of fe/male translators under the influence of feminist movements during 1980-2010 Iranian EFL Journal The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 In the eleventh article the relationship between creativity and Iranian EFL learners’ narrative writing performance is studied by Shabnam Amini Naghadeh In the twelfth article of the issue, towards pragmatic instruction of apology in Iranian context is presented by Farahman Farrokhi and Soheil Atashian In the next article, Mehri Izadi and Farrokhlagha Heidari, have presented learners’ critical thinking ability and learning style preferences: differences in the use of listening strategies In the fourteenth article of the issue, a comparative analysis of the translation of stereotyped allusions in English subtitles of “A Separation” is studied by Mohammad Sadegh Kenevisi, Ebrahim Davoudi Sharifabad and Seyed Alireza Shirinzadeh Bojnourdi In the fifteenth article of the issue, Ali Reza Jalilifar, Saeed Khazaie and Bamshad Hekmatshoar Tabari present an investigation into the complication or duplication role of image in Persian children's story In the next article, corpora and language teaching: implications for language teachers and learners is studied by Shiela Kheirzadeh, Mahmood Saadatnia In the seventeenth article of the issue, Fatemeh Khoshroo and Amir Mahdavi-Zafarghandi have presented incentives for academic plagiarism in Iranian EFL masters students’ perspective The next article which is about the interference of ones’ native language with the foreign language speaking skills or the interference of another previously learned foreign language? is presented by Pegah Merrikhi In the next article of the issue Behzad Moradi has presented an article entitled Kurdish EFL learners’ consonantal mispronunciations: a probe into students’ perceptions In the twentieth article of the issue, pronunciation through the eyes of some traditional, innovative and modern approaches to English language teaching: from the twentieth century to the twenty-first is presented by Rozana Shamsabadi, Saeed Ketabi and Azizollah Dabbaghi In the next article, English teachers’ attitudes towards lesson planning is done by Masoomeh Taghipour In the next article of the issue Amir Hamid Forough Ameri has studied English for specific purposes (ESP) from the perspective of Iranian ESP students In the twenty third article of the issue, the effect of journal keeping on the accuracy and fluency of EFL trainee teachers' academic writings is presented by Nader Assadi Aidinlou and Fereshteh Asadzadian In the next article, Mohammad Aliakbari and Abdonour Bazyar have presented an article entitled on the impact of ‘station teaching’ on EFL learners’ general language proficiency Iranian EFL Journal The Iranian EFL Journal November-December 2013 Volume Issue SPECIAL EDITION OF 2013 In the next article of the issue, a chronological comparison of unit frameworks of EFL textbooks; how units have evolved during time? is presented by Seyed Mohammad Mohammadi In the next article of the issue, application of two different reader response approaches to teach short stories is studied by Mohammad Khatib and Majid Farahian In the next article, Sajad Kabgani and Pardis Zaferani, have presented a critical review of postmethod pedagogy In the twenty eighth article of the issue, different test methods and the immediate recall of abstract and concrete texts is studied by Roya Khoii and Marjan Masoodi In the twenty ninth article of the issue, Ali Salimi Khorshidi presents negative interlanguage pragmatic transfer and motivation (integrative/ instrumental) in Iranian English language learners In the next article, discourse markers functions in the Freidanian variety of Azeri Turkish is studied by Mohammad Javad Mohammadi and Bamshad Hekmatshoar Tabari In the thirty first article of the issue, Omid Rezaei Dastgerdi, Azizollah Dabaghi and Saeed ketabi have presented acquisition of vocabulary through input based tasks: focusing on intermediate Iranian learners The next article which is about language attrition: In terms of characteristics of complex systems is presented by Khadijeh Yasinzadeh and Leila Sajedi In the next article of the issue Leila Saberi and Mohammad Rasoul Homayoun have presented an article entitled the impact of different text types on listening comprehension tests of EFL intermediate learners In the thirty fourth article of the issue, different interpretations of Vygotsky's theory of learning: an applied linguistic perspective is presented by Parviz Maftoon, Parviz Birjandi and Abdulali Ahmadi In the last article of this special edition, catch two birds with one shot: group dynamic assessment, a tool for teaching and assessing critical reading at one shot is done by Mahdi Mardani, Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi and Zohre Kassaian We hope you enjoy this edition and look forward to your readership Iranian EFL Journal 10 introduction about critical thinking and critical reading which was followed by three parts each one elaborating on one sub-skill For each and every sub-skill a tangible explanation was provided to make the points as understandable as possible for all students The purpose of first day of mediation was to present a general picture of the CT strategies Days 2, 3, and When students got familiar with the all sub-skills of CT as a result of intervention of day 1, the teacher and students together reviewed the test items This reviewing part continued for the next three sessions During these three sessions the mediator adopted the interactionist DA which was based on dialogic interaction He proceeded each session by asking a series of question designed to elicit from the students the CR strategies required in order to answer the question (e.g., analysis or inference) Posttest two week after the mediation sessions were over the same test was used for post test Though the same test was used for pre and post test, in order to minimize the effect of test familiarity, the same items were rearranged in two different ways, so that the two tests would not look very much alike Furthermore, the students were not told that the same test would be used for pre and post test Though at first it may seem to violate the issue of ethics and human consent, but there was no other choice Moreover, the interval between the two administrations was long enough to minimize this test effect After administration of post test the results of pre and post test were compared First a paired-samples t-test was applied to show the degree of improvement from pre to post test Then, the learning potential score formula, created by Kozulin and Grab (2002), was used to operationalize the students’ learning potential score (LPS) The formula which is also known as LPS formula is as follow: LSP= (S post - S pre)/ Max S+ S post/Max S= (2 S post – S pre)/ Max S S pre= pretest score, S post= post test score, Max S= maximum score The advantage of using this formula is that it allows us to calculate the learning potential score of each participant The results and discussion of results are presented in next part The second question was based on the qualitative part of the study and as it was mentioned earlier it was concurrent with quantitative study It means that while the mediator was doing mediation and item analysis he gathered his qualitative data for the second question which states: Q What are the patterns of regulatory behaviour of students during group dynamic assessment? To gather his qualitative data for the second question the mediator had to observe the behaviours of students during the three sessions of item analysis and record their behaviour Iranian EFL Journal 550 patterns The data were collected through three observation protocols which were developed by researcher Like the quantitative study, the qualitative study also was conducted to the whole group by observing the interaction of the student during whole group class work The role of the mediator was to facilitate the discussion by providing one or some of the prompts which are presented in table 3.2 They were used by the mediator in the following way: first mediator asked a student, for instance student A, then he asked the student what is your response to question one, what critical reading strategy did this question had used? If the student failed he draw one of the hints or prompts from his mediation typology, and if that was not enough he offered more direct prompts Table 3.2 Mediation Prompts Typology Prompt Pause with a skeptical look Prompt Repeat the conversation by stressing the intended part of question Prompt This is not correct, think about it again Prompt It is true, but can you show us some clues in the text to justify your answer Prompt Repeat the answer along with explanation In fact, the author used the items of mediation typologies of Davin (2011) and Lantolf (2009) to create the above typology for the purpose of present study Prompts were arranged from the most implicit to the most explicit That is, if the first hint failed the mediator would provide the next level prompt(s) until the students understand the point Interaction between mediator (M) and student number (S2) while analyzing test item number 1, is presented as a typical example to show how interactions unfold and prompts were given The transcription convention used throughout this study is that of Wallace (2003) who has simplified transcription conventions for purposes of readability and clarity This means that while the transcription minor hesitations and overlaps were omitted M: What CT skill does this question address? S2: This question is about the skill of Inference? M: (pauses and looks sceptically at the student)* S2: yes, … the aim of this question is to make us infer something from the text M: Are you sure this question refers to the skill of inference?* S2: Is it about evaluation skill? M: This is not correct, think about it again.* S2: So, it must be about analyzing M: It is true, but can you show us some clues in the text to justify your answer?* Iranian EFL Journal 551 10 S2: yes… Agricultural biotechnology can help us meet ever-increasing needs During analyzing test items mediator carried a clipboard containing an “observation protocol” (see appendix B) that included the names of all students plus several columns (each column stands for one level of prompt) where the mediator recorded the level of mediation prompts offered to the individual learners during each interaction while they were reviewing test items Perhaps the most time-saving advantage of the protocol was that with this chart there was no need to transcribe the whole interactions for analysis This chart allowed the mediator to have an exact record of his interactions with students That is, the chart provided a documentation of the class’s needs and interaction Later the content of the protocols were quantified for the analysis the results are presented in the following part Results and Discussion The First Research Question To answer the first research question stating that “DA has no significant effect on CR of students” students participated in the Quantitative CT test The same test was used as a pretest and posttest A paired-sample t-test was run to compare the scores of the two groups As can be observed, the amount of t-observed value at degree of freedom is greater than the critical t-value of 2.26 To put it simply, t= 3.64, df= 9, p< 05 Thus, the first null hypothesis as “DA has no significant effect on critical reading of EFL students” is rejected and it can be concluded that DA procedure has a significant effect on critical reading of students The descriptive statistics for the two groups are presented in Table 4.1 Table Descriptive Statistics Paired Samples Statistics Pair Pretest Posttest Mean N Std Deviation Std Error Mean 150.5000 10 63.22491 19.99347 214.4000 10 70.40865 22.26517 What this t-test has revealed is that mediation was effective in promoting the post test performance of students as a group But, what we still not know is how much progress each student has really made Therefore, attempts were made to find the LPS for each participant The LPS helped to show the impact of mediation on every individual Table shows the data Table Each Participant’s Pre Post Test Score and LPS Iranian EFL Journal 552 Participants Pre test Post Test LPS 198 278 1.19 50 90 43 100 260 1.40 110 240 1.23 240 260 93 145 170 65 99 103 35 160 209 86 160 280 1.33 10 243 254 88 Based on this formula the range of score is to A participant who receives the same pre post test score would have an LPS of 0.77 In other words, an LPS of 0.77, or below indicates either no significant improvement or digression in their post test performance The higher an LPS is above 0.77, the greater the learning potential a student has According to table 4.2., it can be claimed that all participants showed improvement in their post test In terms of LPS distribution as shown in table 4, except students number 2, and who showed no significant improvement, the rest of participants had LPSs above 0.77 which indicate great learning potential Another significant finding of the study is that the data analyzed through the LPS showed new insights which did not lend themselves in non DA assessment Students number and both obtained the same score in pre-test but their LPS differed It signifies that they have different learning potential Two other cases are case number three and seven Although their pretest scores are nearly the same, they have had different post test scores In other words, their ability to make use of mediation or their learning potential differs significantly This research question could, to some extent, prove that a low pretest score does not necessarily indicate weakness It proved that if mediation given to students is based on the needs and within the ZPD of students, it could be very effective in promoting learning regardless of their initial performance The Second Research Question To answer the second research question qualitative data gathered through observation protocols were quantified to produce two sets of data One for analysing the number of prompts of the class as a whole and the other for every individual student Iranian EFL Journal 553 Mediation Required by class as a Whole One of the most important findings of this study was that not only the number of prompts required by the class as a whole decreased throughout the study, but also the type or category of mediation changed By type of mediation it means that students required less explicit prompts on the subsequent days of mediation The first interaction, for instance, was between student number and the mediator During this cumulative interaction the mediator provided only two levels of prompts before student could find the correct response The second interaction occurred between mediator and student number During this interaction the mediator provided levels of prompts for the student but he could not get the point Therefore, applying the strategy of concurrent DA, the mediator shifted to another student and resumed the same item This time the student could answer the question by getting a fairly implicit prompt Other interactions were recorded in the same was Mediator collected three of these observation protocols and compared the pattern of students’ behaviour To calculate the average number of prompt required on each day of large group DA, the mediator followed Davin (2011) who calculated the average number of prompt on each day by diving the total number of prompts required for that day to the total number of interactions that occurred during that day An interaction, as defined in this study, consisted of a mediator asking a question orally and then providing mediation through staged-prompts until he shifted to another student Graph 4.1 show the diminishing pattern of change from day two to day four As can be observed on the first day of mediation an average of 3.1 mediation prompts were required to the class It means that on average, they required at least three prompts to reach the correct item when analyzing test items of critical thinking test The following day, the average number of mediation prompt required was 2.7 The amount of prompts required by students during that day had a significant decline The third day of mediation, the average number of prompts required by the whole class decreased even further to 1.4 Graph Pattern of Prompts Change Iranian EFL Journal 554 Number of Prompts in Each Day Average Number of Prompts 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 3.1 2.7 1.4 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Therefore, we can see that throughout the three days of mediation the average number of mediation prompts required by the class as a whole decreased The following section gives details of each day of mediation and the regulatory behaviour of participants Mediation of Day Two In day 2, the class started to analyze some items of the pretest In this day mediator adopted the interactionist model of DA which was based on dialogic interaction In the second day, the mediator tried to elicit response from students by giving hints or prompts to students before they could reach the point Table shows the number of requred prompts during each interaction with students The column “number of prompts” also represent the level of prompts For instance a student who requred only one prompt had received the most implicit level of prompts, but student who received five prompts, received the most explicit level of prompts which was explanation of answer Table Mediation on day Two Number of interaction Number of prompts Interaction number one between M and S2 Interaction number two between M and S8 Interaction number three between M and S7 Interaction number four between M and S7 Interaction number five between M and S5 Interaction number six between M and S10 Interaction number seven between M and S3 Interaction number eight between M and S1 Interaction number nine between M and S9 Interaction number ten between M and S6 Note: M stands for mediator and S for student Iranian EFL Journal 555 Table 4.3 also shows the quality of each interaction It reveals that how many prompts were required in each interaction Except interaction three which required only two prompts, all other participants needed at least three level of prompts In the following details of days three and four, will be presented to allow for a comparison in pattern of regulatory behavior during three days Mediation of Day Three Day was to some extent different Now after two sessions of working on CT skills it was hoped that students would be more comfortable with analyzing test items The mediator recorded only 10 sample interactions in order to compare them with other two days The first sign of progress was that during day there were more interactions in the class and for most of interactions students needed fewer prompts Table 4.4 summarizes mediation required on day Three Table 4 Mediation on Day Three Number of interaction Number of prompts Interaction number one between M and S5 Interaction number two between M and S7 Interaction number three between M and S1 Interaction number four between M and S2 Interaction number five between M and S3 Interaction number six between M and S4 Interaction number seven between M and S6 Interaction number eight between M and S10 Interaction number nine between M and S8 Interaction number ten between M and S9 Note: M stands for mediator and S for student In general, there is a decline in the number of prompts needed by students although some students seem untouched by mediation Comparing day two and three it is revealed that there is a considerable decline in the number of required prompts only for four of the ten students and some remained the same One justification for lack of change in those students who remained the same is that during day it was tried to review test items which were shorter and easier but during day longer and more complicated items were reviewd Mediation of Day Four Iranian EFL Journal 556 Day four of mediation was the last day of mediation and during this day the remaining test items were reviewed During this day students were on track and could get along well with analyzing test items Although the remaining tets items were the most difficult ones, they required fewer propts and students could analyze test items in half of the time in comparison to day The results of obsevation protocol is sumarized in table Table Mediation on Day Four Number of interactions Number of prompts Interaction number one between M and S6 Interaction number two between M and S4 Interaction number three between M and S5 Interaction number four between M and S2 Interaction number five between M and S3 Interaction number six between M and S1 Interaction number seven between M and S7 Interaction number eight between M and S8 Interaction number nine between M and S10 Interaction number ten between M and S9 Note: M stands for mediator and S for student In general, there is a decline in the number of prompts needed by students In order to compare each student’s performance from day two to day three to day four, table shows the number of prompts required for each student during these days Table Comparison of day Two, Three, and Four Student Prompts on day2 Prompts on day3 Prompts on day 3 2 2 3 2 3 2 4 3 10 Iranian EFL Journal 557 Total number of 31 27 14 prompts During day four students required the most implicit level (s) of prompts to get the point By reviewing the mediation that occurred during each of the three days a clear decrease in the number of mediation prompts is observed It can be considered as a sign of progress for students because in spite of the fact thet items got more difficult but students required the fewest number of prompts in day 4 Interpretation of Results and Discussion The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of implementing DA in a critical reading course for EFL students It was tried to shed light on how to develop a group dynamic assessment program with the aim of teaching critical thinking skills through DA This is an important issue because at it was stated earlier, in spite of the fact that they are necessary to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world, critical thinking skills have not been given enough attention in the educational system of Iran Among other barriers to the development and inclusion of CT in our educational program, we can refer to lack of a consensus definition of CT, and unfamiliarity of instructor with the concept of CT As a result of these limitations, the researcher tried to incorporate CT skills in a reading course and assess students’ progress in this regard The most practical and feasible way to incorporate CT skills in a reading course and assess these skills simultaneously was to implement a DA program through which the researcher was able not only to teach CT skills but to assess them The finding is consistent with the finding of Kuzlin and Grab (2002), who provided evidence for the positive effects of DA on performance of students Based on the results of the study it can be discussed that DA is more than just a formative assessment As we have seen the aim was to promote development Thus, one possible explanation for the positive effect of DA on reading comprehension is that it is more than just a sheer form of assessment DA is a pedagogical approach which is supported by theories of mind and development It is an approach which stresses the inseparability of assessment and instruction Adding DA to the testing setting reduces the stress, gives learners extra confidence and they feel that there is someone who cares about them when they get stuck Conclusion As it was emphasized throughout the study the value of critical thinking in education is an important one since the ability to think critically opens new windows and brings new Iranian EFL Journal 558 interpretation of any text, either written or spoken Being able to have a critical view of text or to accept different interpretation of a text is considered to be an advantage for any educated person But the bad news is that despite so much interest in critical thinking no attempt, at a nation-wide level has been made to incorporate CT into Iran educational system and EFL program is not an exception To refer to some of the major factors we should speak about lack of a accepted or consensus definition of CT, inefficiency of teaching methods of CT and last but not the least is the assessment of CT What we tried to propose and achieve in this study was to examine the effectiveness of DA as an versatile approach for both teaching and assessing or to put it in other words for assessing and teaching of CT This ordering is very important because in any teaching circumstance the order is like this: first teaching and then assessing What makes DA a different approach, however, is that the mediator never has to adhere to this ordering and the boundary between teaching and assessment is removed Anytime during the assessment the mediator feels free to give hints to help the learner reach his goal because he believes even during assessment or testing session we can create learning opportunities Practically, there is time for learning even during assessment This is why we tried not to use teaching-and-then-assessment order Instead a dynamic order is the one which is works here Having the fact in the mind that there is no specific course to teach CT to EFL student and having the desire to empower his students with these necessary CT skills, the researcher tried to incorporate CT into a reading course The most cost-effective method, according to the author, was through DA approach because it was both a teaching method and an assessment approach It reduced the time, cost, and the human resource needed to implement each of these two phases separately The major finding of the study according to the research questions can be summarized in the following order: Research question one approach the problem from a purely psychological perspective by assessing the learning potential of students Results showed that DA has a significant effect on learning potential of students Mediation offered to student for this question was offered through an interventionist approach The second research question was the qualitative aspect of the study and viewed the problem a descriptive perspective by observing the pattern of behaviour of students during the whole study The study showed that DA has a positive effect on the pattern of student behaviour It means that while at the beginning of program students required more and more support, this level of support diminished as the course continued and students required less and less support or technically speaking they required less prompts from the teacher and they could reach to correct response relying on themselves Iranian EFL Journal 559 Although in this research we saw a change in the performance of our student, but we should also keep it in mind that mediation phase during which there is a dialogic interaction or interplay between mediator and learner may not necessarily result in immediate change in performance Moreover, DA is highly influenced by its reliance on the meditational skills of the examiner Put together, we should remember that even if we see no dramatic change it should not be interpreted as an indication of the lack of development, instead it impacts learner development In addition to the statistical findings of this research there are a number of advantages in implementing DA that can convince us to say that the end justifies the means Of major advantages of DA which justify its implantation is its fairness It should be pointed out that DA is an integral part of the assessment but not its entirety, because no one approach can provide adequate answers to all questions 5.1 Implication of the study As it has been emphasized throughout the study, the value and role of being critical thinking is so important in this changing world CR, as a form of realization of CT, is fundamental to participation in this globalizing world Even for students whose levels of English is acceptable and want to participate in an exam like TOEFL or IELTS, an introductory course on CT is mandatory What make such strategy instruction program so important is the consciousness-raising effects that it has on students It can be a starting point for students not to take the meaning of any text for granted, not to accept the biased meaning of text The problem, however, was that these valuable skills and strategies are not given enough time and energy in ELT context especially at private language schools Therefore, one significant implication of CT instruction is that it enlarges the teachers' curricular offering to students, and expands the horizon of students' viewpoint Critically-oriented materials and syllabus increase the learning opportunity and make the EFL class a place of fun and positive atmosphere A reading class with a CT view, for instance, allow for a more variety of real life materials including press, magazines, news, or even real objects such as a container of yoghurt, a bottle of soda or anything with a hyperbolic advertisement Therefore it is highly suggested that material designers not restrict their material to sheer content A little portion of CT in their materials can make a big difference in understanding and worldview of students who use the materials Other implication of study is for teachers, and test designers They should always have a look at DA not necessarily as a substitution but as a complement to standard test With its dialogic nature it can create a lot of opportunities for learning even when you are assessing your students Therefore teachers can make the dichotomy of teaching and testing more like a unified and integrated activity Iranian EFL Journal 560 Suggestion for Further Research Looking at the limitations of this study with an optimistic viewpoint, we can turn them into opportunities for further research If, for instance, this study worked with a limited number of students, next studies can have larger sample In fact this study tried to mix two vast areas in language teaching one was CT and the other DA which is a fairly less investigated area Although both have been around for a long time but it has only been recently that English teachers have focused on importance of CT in English classes DA, however is a remote topic in English education probably because of the aforementioned reasons This is not a good news for proponents of DA but we can take advantage of lack of work on DA and further research In this study, for instance, we only worked with 10 participants Future research can investigate the same research project with more subjects In this study we used the sandwich model of mediation Other researcher can use other models of mediation Research on DA has mostly focused on expert-novice relationship, but future research can work on the peerpeer interactions as possible sources of mediation And finally, here we worked only on three skills known as CR, while further research can open new avenues of research into other areas such as listening, writing, vocabulary acquisition and so forth 5.3 Concluding words This study was mostly motivated due to the fact that the researcher thought English language teaching in the context of Iran need a serious emphasize on incorporating CT into its syllabus As he had been teaching English to students in junior high schools, high schools, and universities for many years he has noticed that except a few students who care about the hidden meaning of text, majority of them not have such skills One reason, as he has assumed, was that English language teaching books, syllabuses, or curriculums not include a critical pedagogy In addition to all the above reasons, the passion to speak English is so deep that it usually prevents students to pay enough attention to other aspects of language Putting together all the pieces of this puzzle, it was decided to implement DA as teaching-testing framework to the present study References Ableeva R (2007) Assessing Listening for Development In R Alanen and S Poyhonen (eds.) 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Vygotsky's theory of education in cultural context [pp 99-116] New York: Cambridge Univeristy Press Poehner, M, E (2008) Dynamic Assessment: A Vygotskian Approach to Understanding and promoting L2 development USA Springer Science Poehner, M (2009) Group dynamic assessment: Mediation for the L2 classroom TESOL Quarterly, 43(3), 471-491 Poenher, M, E and Lantolf, J P (2005) Dynamic assessment in the language classroom Language Teaching Research 9, 3, pp 233-265 Roseberry, C A., and Connel, P G (1991) The use of an invented rule in the differentiation of normal and language-impaired Spanish-speaking children Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 34, 596-603 Iranian EFL Journal 562 Sternberg, R.J and E.L Grigorenko (2002) Dynamic Testing The Nature and Measurement of Learning Potential Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Tagliber, L K (2000) Critical Reading and Critical Thinking: the State of the Art Ilha Desterro (38), p.15-37 Tung, C & Chang, S (2009) Developing Critical Thinking through Literature Reading Feng Chia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences.(19) p.287-317 Wallace, C (2003) Critical reading in language education Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan Appendix A Information Page Introduction Critical thinking (CT) and critical reading (CR) have been defined by various authors but by reviewing the literature the close similarity between what is said about CT and CR is proven In fact, most critical thinking skills are the same or similar or the same as those used in critical reading In this study CR is defined as an dialogic and interactive process involving the three basic skills known as analysis, inference, and evaluation Analysis involves dividing the whole into its distinctive elements It involves two sub-skills: determining arguments and analyzing argument Detecting arguments includes, for instance, examining idea and defining abstract concepts Given a brief paragraph-sized argument or a newspaper editorial, the critical reader determines the main claim Analyzing arguments after determining the argument(s) in an editorial, for instance, the critical reader tracks back the various reasons the editor offers in support of their claim Determining the main conclusion and analyzing the various reasons given to support it Sample questions that can be asked about analysis include: 1) Is the information in the text accurate? Biased? What you use as evidence to support your judgment? 2) In analyzing this text, what would be the most important thing to consider? 3) Did the writer include all the necessary information the reader needs? Inference means the ability to identify information for drawing reasonable conclusion, or formulating hypothesis This skill has three sub-skills such as: Querying evidence means judging the accuracy of evidence or information relevant to a question or issue Conjecturing alternative refers to formulating multiple alternatives or developing a set of option for addressing a problem and finally draw conclusion Sample questions that can be asked are to help readers draw inference are: Iranian EFL Journal 563 Which of the following is not stated but could be concluded from the passage? What is the most logical conclusion to draw about this paragraph, text, or passage? Evaluation refers to the ability of the reader to assess the credibility of statements or opinion of others It also involves assessing the credibility of a source of information To be able to so the reader should have the following sub-skill: Assessing claim: refers to the ability of examining the truth-falseness of a given claim based on what one knows or can reasonably find out Sample question that can be asked to evaluate a statement, text, or opinion include: Do you think the ideas in this text are valuable? How does the author want to make their argument effective? Observation protocol S Interact T ion U Interact Interact Interact Interact Interact Interact Interact Interact Interacti ion ion ion ion ion ion ion ion on 10 D E N Level and Number of Mediation Prompts (from the most implicit to the most explicit) T 10 Iranian EFL Journal 564 ... on the other hand 726 on the other hand the 153 in terms of 1203 at the same time 337 at the end of the 138 one of the 1092 in the case of 334 it should be noted that 109 the use of 1081 the. .. be due to the 64 on the other 810 on the basis of 247 it was found that the 57 based on the 801 in the present study 225 to the fact that the 52 the other hand 730 is one of the 209 there are... experiences of the real world, and include: of the, the operation of the -quantification the magnitude of the, a wide range of, one of the most -description the structure of the, the size of the, the surface