The Iranian EFL Journal June 2015 Volume 11

The Iranian EFL Journal June 2015 Volume 11 Issue 3

ISSN On-line: 1836-8751 ISSN Print: 1836-8743


Chief Editors: Dr. Paul Robertson Dr. Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh

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Publisher ELE Publishing under the SITE Group

Senior Associate Editor Dr. Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran

Dr. Roger Nunn

Professor Dr. Z.N. Patil

The Petroleum Institute

Dr. John Adamson

Central Institute of English and

Abu Dhabi

Shinshu Honan College

Foreign Languages

UAE

Japan

Hyderabad, India

Senior Statesmen

Professor Rod Ellis University of Auckland New Zealand Iranian EFL Journal

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Associate Editors Professor Dr. Dan Douglas

Dr. Reza Pishghadam

Dr. Behzad Ghonsooly

Iowa State University

Ferdowsi University of

Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

USA

Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Mashhad, Iran

Prof. Dr. Rana Nayar

Dr. Abdolmahdy Riazi

Dr. Masoud Sharififar

Panjab University

Shirza University

Shahid Bahonar University of

India

Iran

Kerman, Iran

Editorial team Dr. Pourya Baghaii

Dr. Zohre Eslami Rasekh

Dr. Azizullah Fatahi

Islamic Azad University,

Texas A & M University,

Shar-e Kord University,

Mashhad Branch, Iran

USA

Iran

Dr. Parvaneh Tavakoli Dr. Mohammad Reza Hashemi

University of Reading,

Dr. Seyyed Ayatollah Razmju

Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,

Humanities and Social

Shiraz University,

Mashhad, Iran

Sciences Building White

Iran

knights England Dr. Shamala Paramasivam

Dr. Manizheh Yuhannaee

Dr. Antony Fenton

University of Putra, Malaysia

University of Isfahan, Iran

Soka University, Japan

Dr. Esma’eel Abdollahzadeh

Dr. Ingrid Mosquera Gende

Iran University of Science and

Bettatur University College of

Technology, Iran

Tourism, Tarragona, Spain

Dr. Christopher Alexander

Dr. Robert Kirkpatrick

Dr. Abbas Zare’ee

University of Nicosia,

Shinawatra International

Kashan University,

Cyprus

University, Thailand

Iran

Dr. Masood Khoshsaligheh

Dr. Masoud Sharififar, Shahid

Dr. Naser Rashidi

Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Bahonar University

of

Kerman, Kerman, Iran

Iranian EFL Journal

Dr. Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Shiraz University, Iran

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The Iranian EFL Journal Press ELE Publishing under the SITE Group http://www.Iranian-efl-journal.com [email protected]

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

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Table of Contents Foreword: Dr. Paul Robertson and Dr. Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh

8 - 10

1-Violation of Conversational Maxims: Drivers' Excuses toward Traffic Police's Questions Saman Ebadi, Ahmed Rawdhan Salman and Abdulbaset Saeedian

11 - 21

2- Contrastive Analysis of Sentence Patterns in English and Persian: A Review Article Mahdieh Noori and Ali Akbar Jabbari

22 - 33

3-The Effect of Using Creative Drama on Developing Oral Proficiency of Iranian Advanced EFL Learners Ahmad Mohseny and Delaram Firooz 34 - 48 4- Investigating the Relationship between Anxiety and Writing Performance among Iranian EFL Learners Naghmeh Jebreil, Akbar Azizifar, Habib Gowhari and Ali Jamilinesari 49 - 60 5- A Gender-Based Study of Compliments and Compliment Responses in Persian Movies Maliheh Khodabakhshi and Moslem Zolfagharkhani

61 - 79

6- The Effect of Massed/Distributed Sentence Writing on Perception of EFL Learners: A Qualitative Study Elaheh Sotoudehnama and Fattane Maleki Jebelli 80 - 93 7- Responses to mediation for six levels of reading comprehension questions based on Bloom's taxonomy Nava Nourdad 94 - 112 8- Contribution of SLA to the Brain Study: A Plausible Look Nima Shakouri and Marzieh Rezabeigi

113 - 122

9- Chaos/Complexity Theory in Applied Linguistics Adel Dastgoshadeh and ShahinAhmadishad

123 - 131

10- Bilingual vs. Trilingual; The Case of Learning Strategy Use in an EFL Context Ali Asghar Ahmadishokouh, Muhammed Parviz and Masud Azizi

132 - 143

11- Iranian EFL Teachers’ Attitudes towards Implementing Computer Assisted Language Learning in Writing Classes Sedighe Vahdat and Atusa Gerami

144 - 168

12- Iranian EFL Learners’ Notions of the Role of Imagery in Learning Idiomatic Expressions and its Application in Pedagogical Contexts Fatemeh Ghanavati Nasab 169 - 188

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13- Enhancing Listening Comprehension: The role of Metacognitive strategy Instruction Jafar Izadpanah, Abuzar Momen and Mohsen Chenari

189 - 200

14- Investigating a Relationship between Computer Literacy and Language Proficiency: A Survey of EFL Students in Sanandaj Reza Khani and Mohsen Kamangar

201 - 208

15-A Comparison between Distance Education and Conventional University EFL Students Regarding Their Use of Meta-cognitive Strategies Saman Khaksefidi and Habib Shirzaei 209 - 223 16- The Impact of Cognates on Target words in vocabulary retention of Iranian Monolingual and Bilingual EFL Students Abbas Bayat and Muhammad Oveidi 224 - 234 17- Task-Induced Engagement among Iranian EFL Learners’ Vovabulary Retention Mousa Faramarzzadeh Khaneqah and Seyyed Fariborz Pishdadi Motlagh

235 - 251

18-Manipulation in Poetry Translation: A Case Study of Shakespeare’s Selected Sonnets Masoud Sharififar and Asma Sabermahani

252 - 260

19- The Effect of Teaching Paraphrasing Strategy on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners Akram Shayani and Mehran Davaribina 261 - 269 20- Exploring Role of Academic Backgrounds in EFL Teachers' Language Assessment Literacy Zahra Shafiee 270 - 293 21- The Role of Negative Evidence in First Language Acquisition Ashraf Haji Maibodi

294 - 313

22- TQA of Morgan’s International Construction Contract Management Based on House’s Model Kourosh Akef and Zhila Afshin 314 - 330 23- Cohesion Shifts and Explicitation in English Texts and Their Persian Translations: A Case Study of Three Novels Azita Salimi and Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh

331 - 348

24- A Contrastive Pragmatic Study of Speech Act of Complaint between American Native Speakers of English and Iranian EFL Learners Javad Khalilpour and Ali Zolfagharian

349 - 369

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25- Issues in Implementing a Task-Based Methodology Reza Bagheri Nevisi

370 - 381

26- A Sociopragmatic Study of Discourse Markers’ Use across Different Genders: Case Study of Iranian EFL Learners Javad Ahmadi Fatalaki

382 - 401

27- Appraisal in Applied Linguistics Research Articles Written by Native and Nonnative English Speakers over the Course of Time Aasa Moattarian and Gholam Reza Zarei

402 - 415

28-The Effects of Teaching English Skills in Public Schools and Private Institutes on Student’s Language Abilities Nader Assadi Aidinlou and Saeed Mojarradi

416 - 422

29- Investigating the Notion of Face in Asking for a Favor in Everyday Conversations via SMS; A Case of Persian Fatemeh Ghanavati Nasab and Abbas Eslami Rasekh

423 - 442

30- A Comparative Study of Idioms Translation in three English-Persian Dictionaries with an Orientation of Naturalness, Quality, and Style Ali Akbar Khomeijani Farahani and Atefeh Mashayekhi Kerahroodi

443 - 454

31- Apology Strategies Used by Azeri-Persian Bilinguals in Persian Ali Akbar Ansarin and Abdolreza Khalili

455 - 474

32- Absurdism in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Mahdieh Noori

475 - 493

33-The Effect of Paradigmatic Presentation of Pronominal System on EFL Learners Ali Reza Bakhshi Haddadan, Ali Asghar Ghasemi and Mehdi Moharami

494 - 517

34- Target Language and Reading Comprehension; The Study of Different Proficiency Levels Mahmoud Mehrabi and Nafise Radi 518 - 535

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Foreword Welcome to volume eleven and the third edition of 2015. We are happy to announce that our readership is increasing day by day. For a journal examining the topics of EFL/ESL, Literature and Translation studies, the growth and readership has been pleasing. Our bi-monthly Journal has attracted many readers not only from the Middle East but also from different parts of the world. In this edition, we have presented thirty five articles, discussing different issues of EFL/ESL, literature and translation studies. The first article of the issue is Violation of Conversational Maxims: Drivers' Excuses toward Traffic Police's Questions and is studied by Saman Ebadi, Ahmed Rawdhan Salman and Abdulbaset Saeedian. In the second article of the issue, Mahdieh Noori and Ali Akbar Jabbari have studied Contrastive Analysis of Sentence Patterns in English and Persian. In the third article of the issue, The Effect of Using Creative Drama on Developing Oral Proficiency of Iranian Advanced EFL Learners is presented by Ahmad Mohseny and Delaram Firooz. In the next article, Investigating the Relationship between Anxiety and Writing Performance among Iranian EFL Learners is studied by Naghmeh Jebreil, Akbar Azizifar, Habib Gowhari and Ali Jamilinesari. In the fifth article of the issue, Maliheh Khodabakhshi and Moslem Zolfagharkhani have presented A GenderBased Study of Compliments and Compliment Responses in Persian Movies. The next article which is The Effect of Massed/Distributed Sentence Writing on Perception of EFL Learners: A Qualitative Study is done Elaheh Sotoudehnama and Fattane Maleki Jebelli. In the seventh article of the issue; Nava Nourdad has studied Responses to mediation for six levels of reading comprehension questions based on Bloom's taxonomy. In the eighth article of the issue, Contribution of SLA to the Brain Study: A Plausible Look is done by Nima Shakouri and Marzieh Rezabeigi. In the next article, Adel Dastgoshadeh and ShahinAhmadishad have studied Chaos/Complexity Theory in Applied Linguistics. In the tenth article, Bilingual vs. Trilingual; The Case of Learning Strategy Use in an EFL Context is studied by Ali Asghar Ahmadishokouh, Muhammed Parviz and Masud Azizi. In the eleventh article of the issue, Sedighe Vahdat and Atusa Gerami have presented Iranian EFL Teachers’ Attitudes towards Implementing Computer Assisted Language Learning in Writing Classes.

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The twelfth article of the issue is Iranian EFL Learners’ Notions of the Role of Imagery in Learning Idiomatic Expressions and its Application in Pedagogical Contexts and is done by Fatemeh Ghanavati Nasab. In the next article, Enhancing Listening Comprehension: The role of Metacognitive strategy Instruction is done by Jafar Izadpanah, Abuzar Momen and Mohsen Chenari. In the fourteenth article of the issue, Investigating a Relationship between Computer Literacy and Language Proficiency: A Survey of EFL Students in Sanandaj is presentd by Reza Khani and Mohsen Kamangar. In the fifteenth article of the issue, A Comparison between Distance Education and Conventional University EFL Students Regarding Their Use of Meta-cognitive Strategies ispresented by Saman Khaksefidi and Habib Shirzaei. In the next article, Abbas Bayat and Muhammad Oveidi have studied The Impact of Cognates on Target words in vocabulary retention of Iranian Monolingual and Bilingual EFL Students. In the seventeenth article of the issue, Task-Induced Engagement among Iranian EFL Learners’ Vovabulary Retention is presented by Mousa Faramarzzadeh Khaneqah and Seyyed Fariborz Pishdadi Motlagh. The next article of the issue is Manipulation in Poetry Translation: A Case Study of Shakespeare’s Selected Sonnets and is done by Masoud Sharififar and Asma Sabermahani. In the next article of the issue Akram Shayani and Mehran Davaribina have done a research on The Effect of Teaching Paraphrasing Strategy on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners. In the twentieth article of the issue, Exploring Role of Academic Backgrounds in EFL Teachers' Language Assessment Literacy is presented by Zahra Shafiee. In the twenty first article of the issue The Role of Negative Evidence in First Language Acquisition is done by Ashraf Haji Maibodi. In the next article of the issue Kourosh Akef and Zhila Afshin have done a research on TQA of Morgan’s International Construction Contract Management Based on House’s Model. In the twenty third article of the issue, Cohesion Shifts and Explicitation in English Texts and Their Persian Translations: A Case Study of Three Novels is done by Azita Salimi and Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh. In the next article, Javad Khalilpour and Ali Zolfagharian have done A Contrastive Pragmatic Study of Speech Act of Complaint between American Native Speakers of English and Iranian EFL Learners.

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In the next article of the issue, Issues in Implementing a Task-Based Methodology is studied by Reza Bagheri Nevisi. In the twenty sixth article of the issue, A Sociopragmatic Study of Discourse Markers’ Use across Different Genders: Case Study of Iranian EFL Learners is studied by Javad Ahmadi Fatalaki. In the twenty seventh article of the issue, Appraisal in Applied Linguistics Research Articles Written by Native and Nonnative English Speakers over the Course of Time is done by Aasa Moattarian and Gholam Reza Zarei. In the next article, The Effects of Teaching English Skills in Public Schools and Private Institutes on Student’s Language Abilities is presented by Nader Assadi Aidinlou and Saeed Mojarradi. In the next article of the issue, Investigating the Notion of Face in Asking for a Favor in Everyday Conversations via SMS; A Case of Persian is done by Fatemeh Ghanavati Nasab and Abbas Eslami Rasekh. In the thirtieth article of the issue, A Comparative Study of Idioms Translation in three English-Persian Dictionaries with an Orientation of Naturalness, Quality, and Style is done by Ali Akbar Khomeijani Farahani and Atefeh Mashayekhi Kerahroodi. In the thirty first article of the issue, Apology Strategies Used by Azeri-Persian Bilinguals in Persian is done by Ali Akbar Ansarin and Abdolreza Khalili. In the thirty second article of the issue, Absurdism in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is presented by Mahdieh Noori. In the thirty third article of the issue, Ali Reza Bakhshi Haddadan, Ali Asghar Ghasemi and Mehdi Moharami have done a research on The Effect of Paradigmatic Presentation of Pronominal System on EFL Learners. In the last article of the issue, Target Language and Reading Comprehension; The Study of Different Proficiency Levels is presented by Mahmoud Mehrabi and Nafise Radi.

We hope you enjoy this edition and look forward to your readership.

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Title Violation of Conversational Maxims: Drivers' Excuses toward Traffic Police's Questions Authors Saman Ebadi (Ph.D) Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran Ahmed Rawdhan Salman (M.A Student) Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran Abdulbaset Saeedian (M.A Student) Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran Biodata Saman Ebadi, assistant professor of applied linguistics at Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. His areas of interest are sociocultural theory, dynamic assessment, CALL, discourse analysis, language acquisition, and syllabus design. He has published and presented papers in international conferences and journals. Ahmed Rawdhan Salman, M.A student in TEFL at Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. He is interested in discourse analysis, testing and teaching skills. Abdulbaset Saeedian, M.A student in TEFL at Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. His research interests include dynamic assessment, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics.

Abstract This study deals with the paradox of the communicative nature of drivers' excuses when they are caught red-handed by traffic police due to different violation of driving Iranian EFL Journal

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regulations. This qualitative study aimed to find out which conversational maxims the drivers in Kurdistan province in Iran, driving from Sanandaj to Marivan and vice versa, violated when they infracted driving regulations and were stopped by police. Two DVDs, each containing one-hour traffic police interviews with a total of 10 infringing drivers, were analyzed to investigate the aim of the study. The data analysis of the study shows that all of the stops were for speeding and in most of the interviews the maxims of quality and quantity were violated by the infringing drivers while the maxims of manner and relation were observed. Keywords: Conversational maxims, violation, traffic police, quantity, quality, relation, manner

1. Introduction This study is concerned with the excuses that drivers make to answer traffic police's questions. The conversations between the infracted drivers (those who break the rules while they are familiar with them and know that disobeying them is a crime) and traffic police are analyzed in this study to find out if the conversational maxims are violated. The term "violating" has been preferred over the other terms such as flouting, opting out, and infringing because almost all drivers want to deceive traffic police when they are stopped. The distinction between them will be noted in the Literature Review. Paul Grice who introduced the Cooperative Principles states, "Make your contribution such as it is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged (Grice 1975, pp.41-58)." Though phrased as a prescriptive command, the principle is intended as a description of how people normally behave in conversation. It can be stated, hence, that the Cooperative Principle describes how people interact with one another. According to the Cooperative Principle, both speaker and hearer converse with the willingness to deliver and interpret a message. The speaker and hearer cooperate and that is why they communicate efficiently (Thomas, 1995). In order to show how we interpret meaning which Grice presented, in addition to the Cooperative Principle, four conversational maxims were introduced by him to show how we communicate efficiently in the light of certain rules. Thanks to Grice’s

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maxims, we can interpret and understand the underlying implication of an utterance (Thomas, 1995). Therefore, in order to show what goes on in conversation, Grice introduced four conversational maxims. A speaker might fail to observe a maxim but still get the intended meaning through to the hearer. Failing to observe a maxim is often referred to as ‘breaking a maxim’. Breaking these maxims may have several reasons such as creating "humor", emphasizing a message, creating irony or avoiding unpleasant situations; in other words, to communicate effectively (Dornerus, 2006), but in this article the reason for breaking maxims is "not being fined" by police traffic. In this article the researchers examined how infracted drivers use these conversational rules in order not to be fined and to evoke traffic police's feelings to at least reduce the amount of fine. In this study, the main focus was on the reasons the infracted drivers give why they have driven too fast. We explored which maxims were most frequently violated in the different infracted drivers' responses to the traffic police's questions.

2. Literature Review Violating, flouting, infringing, and opting out are the main key terms that while discussing Grice's maxims are used. Providing a distinction between these key terms is of utmost importance in this study in order to show which one has been focused upon and why. 2.1. Violating and Flouting According to Thomas (1995) and Cutting (2002), there is a difference between violating and flouting in terms of speaker's intention. If a speaker attempts to deceive a listener on purpose or intentionally, they are, in fact, violating a maxim. While flouting occurs if there is no sign of deception in what a speaker states, that is, the speaker may unintentionally misleads the listener. For instance, Cutting (2002) provides an example of a person (girl or boy) whose mother has gone on a short vacation to reconsider her situation if it is better for her to divorce or not, but the speaker internally states that she has gone somewhere to relax. In this case, the speaker intentionally intends the listener not to understand the truth; therefore he violates (not flouts) the maxim of quality. 2.2. Infringing and Opting out Infringing a maxim happens when a speaker does not have sufficient linguistic capacity to answer a question. This is more evident for those students who, for whatever reason, have not studied well, Iranian EFL Journal

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and when they are asked by their teacher to answer a question, they fail to do it. In this case they don't intend to mislead or deceive the listener, but their failure to answer the question is due to lack of information or linguistic knowledge. There are also some other cases when a person rejects to answer a question or says something. In this case that person is "opting out" of a maxim. This can be seen among spies who are caught by their foe but also do not want to give any information to them. Researchers also use (should use) "opting out" when they are asked to provide their participants' personal information. This should be taken into consideration since it is concerned with "confidentiality agreement they have with someone" (Paltridge 2006, p.65). In this study, "violating" has been preferred over the other terms because infracted drivers, in general, try to convince traffic police not to fine them by begging them or, in a clearer sense, deceiving them intentionally. Before going any further, a short discussion of the four conversational maxims can be helpful in understanding what the infracted drivers' violations of maxims were based on. The four conversational maxims are as follows: The maxim of quantity The maxim of quantity requires the speaker to give the right amount of information when s/he speaks. The provided information should not be either less or more than what is required (Thomas, 1995). An example of non-observance is when a speaker says: “I’m feeling good today, but yesterday I was very ill, and the day before that, even worse”, when someone asks, by way of greeting, “How are you doing today”? In the greeting context the utterance contains too much information and the maxim is not being observed or it is violated (Dornerus, 2006). Of course, this is not the one and only rule, that is, providing less information than what is required to convey the intended message is also regarded as violation of this maxim. For instance, in a study conducted by Engelhardt et al. (2006), they reported that speakers and hearers were not sensitive to over-informativeness but their sensitivity to under-informativeness was crystal clear. But in an empirical response to Engelhardt et al. (2006), the findings of Davies and Katsos' study provided evidence that "speakers and hearers are sensitive to both Quantity maxims" (2013, p.78). This has not been the end of the story, in a more interesting study, Engelhardt disagreed with Davies and Katsos' understanding of their study and encourages further discussions to "a better understanding of the situations in which people do and do not follow the Maxim of Quantity" (2013, p.107). The maxim of quality Iranian EFL Journal

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The maxim of quality is a matter of giving the right information. The speaker says nothing that s/he knows to be false or for which s/he lacks sufficient evidence (Thomas, 1995). The other maxims are dependent on this maxim since, if a speaker does not convey the truth then the utterance is false, even if the right amount of information is given or the speaker is clear and orderly when speaking (Finegan and Besnier, 1989). An example of non-observance is: “you look good with your new haircut” when one actually believes the opposite. The statement is then an untruth, the speaker fails to observe the maxim in order to be polite (Dornerus, 2006). The maxim of relevance The maxim of relevance requires the speaker to be relevant to the context and situation in which the utterance occurs (Thomas, 1995). For instance, a speaker should not say “I am on the phone” when someone asks if s/he wants dinner. Here the utterance meaning is irrelevant and the speaker fails to observe the maxim (Dornerus, 2006). The maxim of manner The maxim of manner is a matter of being clear and orderly when conversing. The speaker describes things in the order in which they occurred and avoids ambiguity and obscurity (Thomas, 1995). A speaker fails to observe the maxim of manner when s/he says “I went to bed and got undressed” when, of course, s/he undressed first and then went to bed. There are some studies which have just taken one of these maxims into consideration to scrutinize the maxim under investigation more closely. For instance, taken the maxim of quantity into consideration, Young (1999) carried out a study under the title of "Using Grice’s maxim of Quantity to select the content of plan descriptions". The findings of that study showed the more the participants followed instructions produced by the cooperative techniques, the less and fewer execution errors they made and could achieve more of their goals. The three interesting studies of Engelhardt et al. (2006), Davies and Katsos (2013), and Engelhardt (2013) which have carried out in response to each other, have only taken maxim of quantity into consideration. Unlike these studies, this study investigates all four Gricean maxims, i.e., it does not specifically takes only one of them into consideration. These maxims have been proved to be effective in teaching. For example, Lazăr (2013), in his study indicated that those students who had problems regarding comprehension of the authors' intended meaning while studying absurd literature had better performance if a transgressive point of view with regard to Grice’s conversational maxims is used to the absurd dramatic discourse. Iranian EFL Journal

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3. Methodology This is a qualitative study whose aim is to help the present researchers understand what excuses the infracted drivers give to the traffic police's question regarding overspeeding. In this qualitative study, ten such cases have been investigated closely

while taking Gricean maxims into

consideration. It is also worth mentioning that the transcription conventions which have been used in this study are made by the present researchers and have not been adopted or adapted from any specific study. In order to illustrate how maxims are violated in the infracted drivers' responses, the present researchers first watched the recorded videos and then having transcribed them, they analyzed carefully the drivers' responses. Due to the scope of this study, only each driver's main response and the traffic police's suggestions are written here. For convenience, in all of the ten examples "D" stands for "Driver" and "TP" for "Traffic Police". Since all of these drivers have been stopped by traffic police for overspeeding, the police officer's question which was as follows "Excellency, why are you overspeeding?" was only written here and should be applied to all ten conversations. It is also worth mentioning that all of these conversations have been synopsized to a large extent, i.e., to save time and place only the most important statement of the infracted drivers has been written in this section. D1. I am late for an important appointment and I have to arrive on time. TP: Always leave enough time for your journey. You have to remember that if you drive too fast, you may be stopped by police and this will certainly cause you to be late. D2. I am late and behind schedule. I have to arrive in my destination on time. TP: What schedule? If you want to continue to have a schedule, SLOW DOWN [our capitalization]. Allow enough time for your journey. D3. I didn't realize what the speed limit was. TP: There is a reason for determining these speed limits. It's your responsibility to be aware of the limit you are in and to drive within it. Please remember just because the speed limit is, for example, 80 KPH it doesn't mean that you should drive this fast; it may be safer to drive more slowly and adjust your speed with road conditions. D4. I was affected by other drivers' performance. The traffic was moving faster than I normally drive.

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TP: Just because they do it do you need to do it too? Take control. You decide the speed you travel at. D5. I was feeling stressed because of something. TP: It is one of the driving regulations [in Iran, our words] that you shouldn't drive while you think you are not OK or you are angry because of something. Stress can make the situations even worse. D6. It was all because of the driver behind me who was driving too close to me. TP: Tailgating (following an automobile very closely) is a serious problem but speeding up simply puts you more at risk. D7. I was overtaking a vehicle, with slow speed, in front. TP: What if he has been driving within the speed limit. You should not be affected by others either inside or outside the car. Overtaking isn't an acceptable reason for speeding. D8. I was listening to loud/fast tempo music. TP: You can't go fast when listening to hospital radio! Research has shown that listening to loud or upbeat music tracks can influence your speed. No-one is asking you to stop listening to your favorite tracks in the car - but be aware of your speed when you are driving. D9. I was distracted by other people in the car. TP: Their safety is in your hands! Don't allow yourself to be distracted. If necessary, stop the car and deal with whatever is distracting you. D10. I was searching for the right direction because I was lost. TP: Make sure you don't get to the wrong destination in break speed time. If you're lost, going faster isn't going to help. It simply isn't an excuse for breaking the speed limit. Slow down, stop and ask. What has been discussed in the Results is the summary of negotiation between the drivers and traffic police. It is of utmost importance to note that only the gist of the conversations has been written here because each conversation took about 15 minutes which needs a lot of place to be transcribed wholly. Hence, in some parts, mostly regarding maxims of quality and quantity, the results have been written based on what is said in conversations and has not been written here.

4. Results and Discussion In this part the results of the ten above-mentioned conversations, though summarized, were discussed in separate paragraphs for each case as follows: Iranian EFL Journal

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In the first conversation, the maxims of relation and manner are observed because the driver responds to the police in a relevant way and also he is not ambiguous at all, i.e., the reason for overspeeding is stated by this driver. However the maxims of quantity and quality are violated because he provides too much information which most of it is not necessary for the meaning to be conveyed and it was clear that he was not telling the truth because in one of his sentences he said that his wife is giving birth to a child which is not in line with being late for an appointment. Though concise, the police's tip was also as informative, relevant, unambiguous, and true as is required; hence it observes all the maxims too. The results of the first conversation is in line with the findings of Davies and Katsos (2013) but in contrary with those of Engelhardt et al. (2006) who reported that both speakers and hearers are sensitive to under-informativeness but not to overinformativeness. The same description is true about the second conversation too. That is, the maxims of relation and manner are observed but the ones of quantity and quality are violated. The maxim of relation is observed because the driver's answer is in line with the traffic cop's question. Again providing a reason by the driver shows the observance of the maxim of manner. The police's tip observes all Gricean maxims as well. The aforementioned comparison between the results of this study and those of the mentioned studies is also true about this conversation. In the third conversation the driver is absolutely violating the maxim of quality by stating that he didn't know the speed limit because he intended to mislead the hearer (the traffic police). The maxims of manner and relation are observed but the one of quantity is again violated due to the unnecessary speech of the driver. The police' tip violates the maxim of quantity by telling too much information such as an example, details, etc. but the other maxims are observed. Regarding the fourth conversation it is worth mentioning that the driver tries to convince the traffic police that it's been other drivers' fault that he has driven too fast, though it may not to a large extent be true, hence he violates the maxim of quality. In harmony with the previous conversation, in the fourth conversation the maxims of manner and relation are observed but the one of quantity is again violated. In this conversion all of the maxims are observed by the police's tip. In the fifth conversation the traffic police's sardonic response indicates that what the driver says is nonsense, ambiguous, and irrelevant. This shows that all four conversational maxims of relation, quality, and quantity, and manner are violated. Regarding the police's tips, it can be stated again Iranian EFL Journal

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that all of the maxims are observed. As in conversation five, the police's tip in this conversation is in line with the observance of the maxims. The sixth conversation is like the fourth conversation in which the driver tries to convince the traffic police that it's been other drivers' fault that has influenced on his performance, hence he violates the maxim of quality. In this conversation, the maxims of manner and relation are observed but the one of quantity is again violated. The police's tip also observes all of the maxims in this conversation. The seventh conversation is the only one, so far, that has observed the maxim of quality, i.e., the driver stated that he had driven too fast because he wanted to overtake a vehicle. What he said is related to the question and it is not ambiguous at all. The maxim of quantity, though, is violated again due to the driver's resolute attempt to satisfy the police not to fine him. The cop wants to make the driver aware of his mistake and the driver seems to be confused because after "What if he has been driving within the speed limit.", the driver asked: "What do you mean?" Accordingly, it can be stated that the police's tip does violate the maxim of manner by being ambiguous and making the driver confused, but it observes the other maxims. Unlike the fifth conversation, in the eighth conversation, all of the maxims are observed, i.e., none of them is violated. It seems that all of the maxims in this conversation are observed by the police too. In the ninth conversation the maxims of quantity and quality are violated and the other two are observed. The police's tip observes all of the maxims in this conversation and also in the tenth one. In the last conversation the maxim of quality is violated because of "If you're lost, going faster isn't going to help." The maxim of quantity is again violated but this time because of brevity. The maxims of relation and manner are also violated in harmony with the fifth conversation. The results of the last conversation, that is, the violation of the maxim of quantity because of brevity corroborates with the findings of Engelhardt et al. (2006) but it contradicts the findings of Davies and Katsos (2013) which was a response to the previous study. The findings of Engelhardt (2013) are in line with the results obtained in this section. In summary it can be stated that the most frequently violated maxim is the maxim of quantity. They drivers tried to convince the police not to fine them by expatiating. The second most frequently violated maxim is the one of quality. The drivers lie when they find no other way out of the discussion and they want to save face. The maxim of relation and manner are the least Iranian EFL Journal

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frequently violated maxims in these conversations. Since all of the drivers were male in this study, it can be a good idea to do further research on cases in which the drivers are females and see what maxims they mostly observe and violate and if there is difference between them.

5. Conclusion In conclusion, since our material consists of a small amount of data no generalization can be made as to which maxims are most frequently violated in drivers-traffic police conversations in general. However this study shows that being aware of maxims is important for traffic police in order to control their feelings and reactions toward what the drivers say and not to feel pity for them. In the conversation which we examined, maxims were violated in almost every interaction. Therefore, it is necessary for traffic police not to be deceived by the drivers who break the maxims in order to evoke the officers' feeling in their verbal interactions. Nearly all of the maxims are observed in the police's tips to these drivers which shows that they are trained enough how to deal with people properly, help them with their update information, and finally don't waste people's time either by asking them irrelevant questions or through elaborating on unnecessary and long responses. In a nutshell, without the help of Grice’s maxims, we would not be able to properly describe the dynamics of interaction and understand the phenomenon of cooperation and non-cooperation. It is highly recommended for future researchers who are interested in this area to investigate the violation of maxims based on gender (male and female drivers) and also include other reasons why drivers are stopped by traffic police. In this study, the only question which the traffic police asked was regarding overspeeding which is not enough to overgeneralize the findings to other reasons of infringing driving regulations. Because this study was qualitative, the number of investigated cases was only ten. In future studies, the number of involved cases to investigate can be more those of this study to make the obtained results more generalizeable.

References Cutting, J. (2002). Pragmatics and discourse: A resource book for students. London: Routledge. Davies, C., & Katsos, N. (2013). Are speakers and listeners ‘only moderately Gricean’? An empirical response to Engelhardt et al.(2006). Journal of Pragmatics, 49, 78-106. Dornerus, E. (2006). Breaking maxims in conversation: A comparative study of how scriptwriters break maxims in Desperate Housewives and That 70’s Show (Doctoral dissertation, Karlstad University).

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Engelhardt, P. E. (2013). Are listeners ‘fully’Gricean?: A comment on Davies and Katsos (2012). Journal of Pragmatics, 49(1), 107-113. Engelhardt, P. E., Bailey, K. G., & Ferreira, F. (2006). Do speakers and listeners observe the Gricean Maxim of Quantity?. Journal of Memory and Language, 54(4), 554-573. Finegan, E., & Besnier, N. (1989). Language: Its structure and use. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Grice, Paul (1975). "Logic and conversation". In Cole, P.; Morgan, J. Syntax and semantics. 3: Speech acts. New York: Academic Press. pp. 41–58. Lazăr, A. (2013). Teaching Absurd Literature–A Pragmatic Approach to Ionesco's Transgressive Dramatic Discourse: The Conversational Maxims. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 76, 441-445. Paltridge, B. (2006). Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. Continuum International Publishing Group. Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. London: Longman. Young, R. M. (1999). Using Grice's maxim of quantity to select the content of plan descriptions. Artificial Intelligence, 115(2), 215-256.

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Title Contrastive Analysis of Sentence Patterns in English and Persian: A Review Article Authors Mahdieh Noori (M.A) Yazd University, Iran Ali Akbar Jabbari (Ph.D) Yazd University, Iran

Biodata Mahdieh Noori, M.A in TEFL from Yazd University, Iran. Her main interest is applied linguistics, ESP, needs analysis, psycholinguistics, and English teaching methodology. She has published some articles in these respects. Ali Akbar Jabbari, associate professor of applied linguistics at Yazd University, Iran. His main research interest includes second language acquisition and phonology.

Abstract Hajizadeh (2011) in his article entitled as ‘Contrastive analysis of sentence patterns in English and Persian’ aims at presenting a general classification of clause structure in Modern Persian. To this aim, transitive and intransitive structures in Persian are discussed; five canonical Persian constructions based on valency and transitivity are enumerated, and the ways in which complements and adjuncts are distinguished from each other are analyzed. In addition, similarities and differences between English and Persian are described. However, the author’s contention in terms of the basic functions in Persian and English clause and sentence structure; transitivity, intransitivity, and ditransitivity in Persian; core and non-core complements in Persian do not seem to be well substantiated. Keywords: Adjuncts, Complements, Intransitive, Predicate, Transitive

1. Introduction Contrastive analysis as a branch of linguistics deals with the comparison of two or more languages or subfields of them in an attempt to identify their similarities and differences (Fisiak, 1981). Iranian EFL Journal

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Though the field is concerned with the identification of both similarities and differences between languages, it mainly deals with the differences rather than similarities (James, 1980). Correspondingly, it is believed that the more differences exist between the two languages, the more difficult it is for the learners to learn a second language; on the other hand, the more similarities exist between them, the easier it is to do so. In the case of differences, either transfer would be adopted or language learning may be inhibited. Accordingly, there are some significant similarities and differences between Persian and English. One of the areas of most difficulties for language learners of English or Persian is syntactic differences. This syntactic difference is mainly striking in terms of the clause structure i.e., complements, adjuncts and predicator in the respective languages. In addition, there are some significant differences in terms of canonical structures, order of the elements in the clause, accompanying elements with the indirect object, position of the predicate, flexibility of the word order in Persian but not in English, and ditransitivity. On the other hand, there are some significant similarities between the two languages. In both languages, the basic functions of the clause are the same. The subject is the first element of the clause in both cases. Both English and Persian have the same behavior in terms of intransitivity, monotransitivity, and valency. Complements in the two languages are distinguished by factors of licensing, obligatorness, category, and prepositional phrase which can differentiate complements from adjuncts. In the following part, different functions of the clause structure i.e., complements, adjuncts, and predicator in English and Persian are elaborated. The next section deals with the canonical intransitive and transitive structure. The subsequent section illustrates the concept of valency. Different factors distinguishing complements from adjuncts are enumerated in the Section 5. The following section concerns the strengths and weaknesses of the article written by Hajizadeh (2011) entitled as ‘Contrastive analysis of sentence patterns in English and Persian’, which aims at presenting a general comparison and classification of clause structures in Persian and English based on valency and transitivity. The current review article ends with the concluding remark.

2. Clause Functions in English and Persian In Persian and English, there are three basic functions in the clause i.e., complements, adjuncts, and predicator. The most central function in the clause is the predicator. Complements, which can Iranian EFL Journal

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be distinguished based on their semantic grounds, are more closely related to the verb than adjuncts. Adjuncts can be classified to adjuncts of frequency, time period, and location i.e., har rUZ, do sâ ât, and dar xane, respectively. In Persian, as in English, complements are classified into core and non-core appearing in the forms of NPs and PPs, respectively. NPs functioning as core complements (e.g., payâm / name râ) are directly related to the verb, but PPs functioning as noncore ones (e.g., be maryam) are only indirectly related to the verb: C

C

C

P

(1) a. payâm / name râ / be maryam / dâd-ø. b. Payam gave the letter to Maryam. The NP maryam which is governed by a preposition is traditionally called oblique. The preposition be 'to' in be maryam determines the semantic role of maryam with regards to the verb dad. In English the deciding factor determining a complement as core or non-core is the type of the category of the complement (NP vs. PP) rather than its position in the clause. (2) a. Kim gave Alice the letter. → core complement b. Kim gave the letter to Alice. → non-core complement The following example shows a significant difference between English and Persian. (3) a. Payam gave Ali the money/ Payam gave the money to Ali. * b. payâm ali pul râ dâd-ø. / *payâm pul râ ali dâd-ø. Sentence (3.b.) is nonequivalent in Persian because Ali should have been preceded by the preposition be ‘to’. In English, a canonical structure can contain an intransitive verb with three NPs as core complements but this is not the case in Persian. To express an equivalent clause in Persian, we have to use two NPs and one PP, as in the following sentence: (4) paâym pul râ be ali dâd-Ǿ. Claiming that a non-core complement i.e., PP does not appear as an object, so there is no ditransitive clause/verb in Persian (at least in the sense used in English). Among the complements, the subject (e.g., payam) is external to the VP; however, the other complements (e.g., be ali and pul ra) are internal to the VP. Unlike English, in Persian, the subject mayor is not absent because the person/number ending is always attached to the verb in Persian. (5) a. man âmad-am. b. I came. Iranian EFL Journal

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Any canonical clause has a subject as an external complement. However, based on the nature of its verb, a clause mayor may not contain a direct object as an internal object. So, clauses are classified as transitive and intransitive. A transitive verb takes an object while an intransitive does not. A clause containing a transitive verb is called transitive while a clause containing an intransitive verb is called intransitive. On the other hand, there are verbs appearing in both (in)transitive patterns. These verbs are called dual-transitive. (6) a. livân Šekast-ø. b. The glass broke. (7) a. puyâ livân râ Šekast-ø. b. Puya broke the glass. Some verbs appear in patterns containing just a direct object. They are called monotransitives. Some other verbs appear in patterns with both a direct object and an indirect one. They are called ditransitives. (8) a. u /name/ ra/xand-ø. → monotransitive verb b. S/he read the letter. (9) a. man/ sib râ / be hasan/ dâdam-ø. → ditransitive verb b. I gave the apple to Hasan. On the other hand, some verbs (e.g., goftan ‘tell’) appear in both monotransitive and ditransitive clauses. (10) a. nimâ/ haqhiqhat /râ/ goft-ø. b. Nima told the truth. (11) a. nimâ/ haqhiqhat/ râ/be /man/ goft-ø. b. Nima told me the truth. Some intransitive verbs take a predicative complement, but this complement is more like predicators than ordinary complements i.e., it's subject-oriented. Similarly, some transitive verbs take a predicative complement which is more related to the direct object of the clause. i.e., it's object-oriented. Such verbs and clauses use PCs for complex-intransitives and PCo for complextransitive. S PCs P → complex-intransitive (12) a. hamid bâhuŠ ast-ø. → related to the subject (Hamid) b. Hamid is sharp. Iranian EFL Journal

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S DO PCo P → complex-transitive (13) a. mehdi hamid râ bâhuŠ pendâŠt-ø. → related to the direct object (Hamid) b. Mehdi considered Hamid as intelligent. Oblique can also be used as predicative complements. (14) a. man to râ be onvân-e modir bargozid-am. b. I elected you as the manager.

3. Canonical Structures In terms of intransitive and mono-transitive structures, both languages contain the same elements but in different orders. In English, the predicator occurs in the second position of the clause while in Persian it occurs in the final position. Unlike English, Persian does not contain an intransitive structure because in Persian verbs like dâd-an 'give' obligatorily take a NP (core complement) and a PP (non-core complement). So, according to the proposed framework, a PP cannot function as an object.

4. Valency The above classification is based on the objects and predicative complements. Another classification is based on the number of complements which is referred to as valency. So, a verb is monovalent if it takes just one complement, bivalent if it takes two complements, and trivalent if it takes three.

5. Factors Distinguishing Complements from Adjuncts Five factors distinguish complements from adjuncts: (a) licensing, (b) obligatorness, (c) anaphora, (d) category, and (e) prepositional phrases. The following two subsections elaborate two of these distinguishing factors i.e., licensing and obligatorness. 5.1.Licensing The verb as the decisive element of the clause determines (licenses) the permissible complements. (15) a. rezâ xâne râ sâxt-ø. → licenses a direct object (xane ra) b. Reza built the house. But not: Iranian EFL Journal

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(16) a. *reza xane ra rasid- ø. → does not license a direct object (xane ra) b. Reza reached the house. → licenses a direct object (the house) In contrast to the verbs, adjuncts are used with different types of verb. Subcategorization shows the dependence between the verbs and their complements. Therefore, verbs like raft-an (to go) and xord-an (to eat) are classified as intransitive and mono-transitive, respectively. Some verbs (e.g., seda kard-an ‘call’) may take different complementation patterns: in SOP as well as in S O PC P. (17) a. man pesar ra seda mi-kon-am. b. I call the boy. (18) a. man pesar ra ali seda mi-kon-am. b. I call the boy Ali. In Persian, there are some verbs (e.g., xastan) that are used in four different patterns: in monotransitive pattern, complex transitive, ditransitive, and in a pattern without any label i.e., a PP + a clause as complements. (19) a. Man an ketab ra mi-xah-am. (mono-transitive) b. I want that book. (20) a. man an qatel ra zende mi-xah-am. (complex transitive) b. I want that murderer alive. (21) a. man in xane ra baray-e to mi-xah-am. (ditransitive) b. I would like you to have this house. (22) a. man az payam mi-xah-a ke ketab ra be-bar-ad. (PP + a clause as complement) b. I ask Payam to take the book. In the context of forms like the above-mentioned, two significant points need to be highlighted: the choice of preposition and the choice of subordinate clause. Concerning the choice of preposition, the verb determines which preposition can accompany it e.g., ‘goft’ takes the preposition ‘be’ but not ‘dar’. On the other hand, in any complex sentence, it is the verb of the main clause which determines the type of the subordinate clause i.e., declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamative, finite, nonfinite, etc. (23) a. farid porsid ke/ hasan/ che goft-ø. b. Farid asked what Hasan said.

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5.2.Obligatorness In Persian and in English, complements are sometimes obligatory because their absence makes the clause ungrammatical whereas adjuncts are always optional. The complements in (24.a.) and (24.b.) are obligatory while the complements in (25.a.) and (25.b.) are not. (24) a. hamid ketab ra avard-ø. b. Hamid brought the book. (25) * a. hamid/aVard-ø. * b. Hamid brought.

6. Strengths and Weaknesses In general, we are mostly in agreement with the author. The materials presented in this article are very interesting. As our search on the Internet showed, the article written by (Hajizadeh, 2011) which was entitled as ‘contrastive analysis of sentence patterns in English and Persian’ was the first and the only article written on the contrastive analysis of sentence patterns in English and Persian. The findings of this research can help EFL teachers to understand the problems that their Persian students may have in learning English as a foreign language. On the other hand, this article can give a better view of English structures and their differences with Persian ones to EFL Iranian students and hence facilitate their English learning. Moreover, this research can give some insights to researchers in both languages leading them to further research while revealing more similarities and differences between the two languages. The authors’ contention in terms of canonical structures (i.e., intransitive, mono-transitive, and ditransitive patterns), same elements in different orders in the two languages, and flexibility of Persian in terms of word order seems quite acceptable. In addition, the author well argues the difference between English and Persian in terms of their indirect object behavior and the five factors distinguishing complements from adjuncts. However, there seems to be some discrepancies in the above-mentioned article, which seems to be because of the few literature on the sentence pattern in English and Persian used. We are not sure that the author’s claim in terms of the same three basic functions in the clause in English and Persian is correct. Hajizadeh (2011) claims that in both Persian and English, there are three basic functions in the clause i.e., complements, adjuncts, and the predicator. However, in Persian, there are two basic functions in the clause and sentence structure: subject and predicate. In addition, Iranian EFL Journal

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there are three more significant functions in the Persian sentence i.e., complement, object, and verb (Farshidvard, 1382). In English, object, predicate, and subject are considered under the category of complements (Anvari, 2012). Therefore, there remain two basic functions in the English sense: complement and verb (having the same function as predicate). Predicator refers to the function of the main verb in a sentence. Nevertheless, in the case of to be verb acting as the main verb of the sentence, other elements in the predicate play the role of a predicator (Farhadian, 2012). (26) Mehdi saw him. → Predicator vs. (27) Mehdi is in the garden. → Predicator (28) Mehdi feels fine. →Predicator To us, the authors' claim in the sense of the two basic functions of the clause (complements and predicator) seems fine; however, the claim of adjunct as an optional element in both English and Persian modifying the verb as a basic function of the clause seems odd to us. On the other hand, the author has failed to recognize that there are significant differences between complements in English and Persian. The next two sections elaborate the ways in which the most common complements in English and Persian can be contrasted, respectively. 6.1. Complements in English Complements are the part of the sentence which follows the verb and thus completes the sentence. According to Longman (2002), they can be classified into the following categories: 6.1.1. Subject complement The complement linked to a subject by be or a linking verb. She is a doctor. 6.1.2. Object complement The complement linked to an adjective. We made her the chairperson. 6.1.3. Adjective complement The complement linked to an adjective. I am glad that you can come. 6.1.4. Prepositional complement The complement linked to a preposition. They argued about what to do. Iranian EFL Journal

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6.2. Complements in Persian Complements are Ns or NPs that add something to the meaning of another word, or completes its meaning by means of a preposition as a complement maker. The difference between complements in Persian and English is that complements in Persian should take a preposition but the ones in English need not. Different complements in Persian are described as follows: 6.2.1. Verb complement It completes the meaning of the verb by means of a preposition. It can be divided into two categories: a) object and b) adverbial complement. The object complement in Persian acts the same as its counterpart in English. 6.2.1.1. Adverbial complement It is N or NP acting as an adverbial by means of a preposition adding something to the meaning of the verb. The difference between adverbial complement and object complement is in their meaning because both of them have a preposition. The adverbial complement is a kind of adverbial. The difference between an adverbial complement and an adverb is that an adverb does not have a preposition but an adverbial complement does have. Based on their meaning, they can be classified into some kinds i.e., a) place, b) time, c) quality and manner, d) reason, e) purpose, f) tools and means, g) nature, h) agreement, i) luck, j) accompaniment, k) privation, l) exception, and m) exchange. In our opinion, in some parts, adverbial complements and in other parts, adverbials in Persian correspond to adjuncts in English in which all of them modify the verb of the sentence in which they occur. Verb complement in Persian does not have an English counterpart. 6.2.2. Noun complement It is an N or NP which adds to the meaning of an N by means of Ezafe construction. This complement does not correspond to any of the complements in English. Adjective complement Some adjectives either like N complements take an Ezafe construction (e.g., Nazire to ‘like you’, Negahdere Iran ‘guardian of Iran’) or take a preposition (e.g., Bikhabar az hameye Alam ‘ignorant of all the world’) or take both (e.g., Mokhalefe ba an ‘opponent to it’). Objects and Adverbial complements can be adjective complements. This complement in Persian can correspond to its English counterpart. 6.2.3. Adverb complement

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Adverb complement acts like adjective complement because in Persian both adjectives and complements act as adverbs. This complement in Persian does not have an English counterpart. (29) a. U bikhabar az hame ja vared shod. b. He came in while he was ignorant of everything. 6.2.4. Sound complement ‘Sout’ or sound acting as a verb or a sentence sometimes takes a complement like a verb e.g., ‘Salam bar shoma’ Hello, ‘Vai bar man’ Woe to me, ‘Afarin bar to’ Bravo (Farshidvard, 1382). This complement does not have a counterpart in English. Anvari (2012) claims that complements in Persian are related more closely to the verb or the whole sentence by means of a preposition but the adjunct acts as supplementary to the whole meaning of the sentence. (30) Ali be khaneh raft. →

complement

However, Hajizadeh (2011) claims that complements are divided into core and non-core ones and just the noun phrases functioning as core complements are directly related to the verb but those in the forms of PPs are only indirectly related to the verb. In our opinion, in Persian we have just non-core complements in the forms of PPs. Another discrepancy is in the authors' claim that there is no ditransitive verb (at least in the sense used in English) in Persian. On the other hand, in another part of the article (Hajizadeh, 2011, p. 6), he gives an example of a ditransitive verb ‘dadan’ in Persian. Besides, the author fails to mention that there is ditransitive verb in Persian (e.g., dadan, gereftan) but this ditransitivity is different from English sense of ditransitivity. Fallahi (2007) argues that in English, an optional transformational rule can be applied to the ditransitive pattern to reverse the direct and indirect object and delete the accompanying preposition with the indirect object. But, in Persian, such an object switch transformation is not applicable. This means that we cannot delete the preposition in order to leave the two objects in sequence in the surface Persian structure. Consider the following contrast: S/ IO / DO / P (31) * a. man/ hasan /sib râ / dâd-am. → unacceptable in Persian b. I/ Hasan/ apple comp/ give.

ps-1sg

√ c. I gave Hasan the apple. → acceptable in English

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In fact, Persian verbs are considered as ditransitive just because they take a DI and one or two IOs. However, in English in addition to the following criteria, another criterion is the acceptability of object transformation. In addition, Persian has a freer word order, which English does not have. So, Persian ditransitive verbs cannot be considered as their English counterparts. Also, the author fails to mention that the intransitive verbs in Persian can be transitivized by adding ‘andan’ or ‘anidan’ to the infinitive form of the verb e.g., Dow + andan = Davandan. On the other hand, the transitive verb can be further transitivized (Anvari, 2012). Consider the following example: (32) Push+ andan = Pushandan → Madar lebas ra be bache pushanid. Another discrepancy seems evident when the author in contrast to the ordinary and complex intransitive structures, which he has given on the same page (Hajizadeh, 2011, p.7), claims that unlike English, Persian does not contain an intransitive structure. He contends that this is because in Persian verbs like dâd-an 'give' obligatorily take an NP and a PP (non-core complement) which cannot function as an object. Nevertheless, in Persian, there is an intransitive structure. Some intransitive verbs (e.g., amadan) necessarily need a place adverbial complement to complete their meaning when object (NP) and adverbial complement (PP) come together. The verb needs both of them (Farshidvard, 1382). The last discrepancy seems to be in the author’s claim of obligatorness as a distinguishing factor differentiating complements from adjuncts. He argues that complements are obligatory but adjuncts are optional. In the first section, he mentions that there are three basic functions in the clause: complements, adjuncts, and predicator. How it is possible that something, which is optional in both English and Persian, can be the basic function of a clause! In contrary to our expectation, this question was unanswered during the whole article.

7. Concluding Remark Overall, Hajizadeh (2011) successfully contrast English and Persian sentence patterns although in some parts, there seems to be discrepancies, failures, and little evidences found in its argumentation. However, it is essential not only for this author but also for any author especially in the field of contrastive analysis to support his claims with more evidences found in the literature.

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References Anvari, A. (2012, June 13). Persian sentence structure. Retrieved from http://www.farsisugar.persianblog.ir Fallahi, M. (2007) Contrastive Linguistics and Analysis of Errors. Tehran: Iran University Press, 69-70. Farhadian, M. (2012, May 5). Persian sentence structure. Retrieved from http://www.farhadian.blogfa.com Hajizadeh, R. (2011). Contrastive analysis of sentence patterns in English and Persian. 1-12. James, C. (1980). Contrastive analysis. Longman. Richards, J. C., Schmidt R. (2002). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. London: Pearson Education. ‫منبع فارسی‬ ‫ شامل پژوهش های تازه ای درباره ی آواشناسی و صرف و‬:‫ دستورمفصل امروز بر پایه زبانشناسی جدید‬.)2831( .‫ خسرو‬،‫فرشید ورد‬ .‫ انتشارات گلرنگ یکتا‬.‫نحو فارسی معاصر و مقایسه آن با قواعد دستوری‬

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Title The Effect of Using Creative Drama on Developing Oral Proficiency of Iranian Advanced EFL Learners Authors Ahmad Mohseny (Ph.D) Islamic Azad University-South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran Delaram Firooz (M.A) Islamic Azad University-South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

Biodata Ahmad Mohseny, assistant professor at Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch. He has translated, and edited a number of books and articles. He is interested in teaching courses such as methods and principles of writing research papers, teaching L1 and L2 theories of learning and acquisition, teaching language skills, essay writing ESP/EAP, the history of translation in Iran, and seminar in Translation Studies and TEFL. He is appointed as an invited professor at American global university-college of Education in the state of Wyoming, USA from 2002 up to now. Delaram Firooz, M.A in TEFL at Islamic Azad University South Tehran Branch. She is interested in teaching courses such as Reading Comprehension, and Speaking/Listening Skills. She has seven years of experiences as a teacher in Tehran.

Abstract Improving oral proficiency in EFL classroom is usually a major goal for the most EFL instructors and an effective approach in teaching oral skill is the use of creative drama. This study aimed to examine the effect of using creative drama on developing oral proficiency of advanced EFL learners. This paper argues that using creative drama is more appropriate than using traditional method in teaching English in classrooms. It is also investigated how using drama effect their cooperative interaction.

The forty-one

homogeneous English students who were studying English at Hermes institute were selected as the as the participants of this study. This study utilized control & experimental group with two instructional hours per week for eight week and applied creative drama in experimental group. Before the teaching, the present researcher implemented an IELTS speaking as a pre-test to examine learners oral English proficiency and at the end of Iranian EFL Journal

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experimental, a post-test and post-survey were carried out to examine whether significant difference existed or not. In addition, an attitude questionnaire about using drama was used at the end of treatment in experimental group. The data were analyzed by SPSS. The result of this study indicated that the participants had better learning outcomes in English speaking proficiency in experimental group. According to the results, this researcher suggested that using creative drama in the language classroom is generally a rewarding learning experience for EFL students and teachers; therefore, this researcher recommended creative drama as an effective technique in helping students in the process of improving their oral proficiency as well as their cooperative interaction. Keywords: Creative Drama; Cooperative Interaction; Oral Proficiency

1. Introduction This research explores the positive effect of using creative drama on oral proficiency of Iranian advanced EFL learners. By conducting this study, the present researcher wishes to explore the value of using creative drama on developing oral proficiency of learners. Sun (2003) reported that “By doing creative drama in class, great benefits are found: It provides very comfortable classroom atmosphere where the students can open up their senses, and express themselves physically, emotionally, and verbally with spontaneity” (p.74). It creates a perfect environment to build communicative competence, and language learning occurs through making mistakes. It also allows more students to become involved in the learning process and guides them to experience emotional and non-verbal aspect of language. Therefore, teaching and learning are more enjoyable and fun for most of all. In the dynamic and interactive process of communication (O Neill & Lambert, 1982), the meaning of drama is “built up from the contributions must monitored, understood, accepted, and responded to by the rest of the group”. Creative drama teaching opens a new way for English learning, but Traditional learning focuses on memorization, repetition, drill practice, and so on. Students learn English in order to pass the exams. Therefore, most of the students lose the interests of learning English. Although English language now plays an important role in Iran, some problems that should not be ignored, still exists in the learning and teaching English. From student perspectives, English is regarded as a foreign language in Iran that many people have limited opportunities to use. After Iranian EFL Journal

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all, it is not a necessary tool for daily communication for people in Iran. It is noteworthy using drama to teach English results in real communication, because it is involving ideas, emotions, feeling, appropriateness, and adaptability (Barbu, 2007). The major consideration is that students even after years of English learning cannot gain enough confidence in speaking fluently in front of their classmates and teacher or speaking outside the classroom. The conventional English class hardly gives the students an opportunity to use language in this manner and develop fluency in it, because students lack the adequate exposure to spoken English outside the class as well as the lack of exposure to native speakers who can communicate with the students on authentic matters. Another point is that most of the teachers emphasize on writing answers for assigned works and on producing grammatically accurate sentences in order students to pass exam. Thus, they do not find opportunities to use language orally from a teacher’s perspective. Many Iranian students are used to sitting quietly with limited opportunities to speak in the class. They mostly show a reluctance to speak English, due to their fear in losing face when making grammatical and pronunciation errors .Chen and Chang (2008) suggested that through using drama, students use language without feeling a shame to make mistakes in the class. Thus, they are enhancing their linguistic ability mainly their cooperation together during dramatic activities and oral production skill. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, the present researcher has arranged the following questions: RQ1. Does the use of creative drama improve the Iranian advanced EFL learners’ oral proficiency? RQ2. Does the use of creative drama develop the Iranian advanced EFL learners̓ cooperative interaction?

2. Review of the Related Literature According to Byron (1986), drama is the most significant model of learning and a basic activity for learning. It is the way of helping learners to think about their individual or social problems. Learners can learn to explore issues, events, and connections by means of drama. In drama, learners draw on their knowledge and experience of the real world in order to create a make-believe world. Thus, drama is one of the few areas of the curriculum, built on dreams and voices. Fleming (2006) also said that drama being action, the verbal element in drama must also function primarily as action. In other words, drama as action is something of over simplification and within Iranian EFL Journal

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the field of drama in education something of a cliché, according to Bolton (1984), mischievously highlighted in his title for a conference addressing: ʺDrama is not doing". Commenting on this, he goes on to invite readers to accept a paradox that is the central component of good drama generally and of good improvised drama in particular. It means that, when an action in drama achieves a moment of heightened significance, it does so because the meaning created is largely released from its dependence on that action. O’toole (1992) proposed that writers on drama in education have recognized this as the embryo of drama in education and explored it in terms of the continuing dialectic that exists between the concrete and the abstract, the particular and the universal. They noted too that the meanings that emerge are to some extent collective. Drama, according to Maley and Duff (1978), released imagination and energy and this could be considered as an educational objective. It encourages students to exercise their sensitivity and imagination and thus makes learning more realistic and meaningful. As an educational tool, the use of drama fosters the social, intellectual, and the linguistic development of the child. Moreover, Dougill (1982) concurred that drama centers around language development, personal awareness, group co-operation, sensory awareness, and imaginative growth. Drama increases motivation and provides the incentive to work hard. The activities using drama tend to be purposeful. Stern (1980) also believed that the student sees the need to communicate and concentrates on how to go about a task, because drama provides him with a meaningful context. Drama fosters a sense of responsibility and cooperation among the students. Drama activities normally take the form of group work and students cannot afford to stay passive for too long. There is a need to belong to the group and to complete the task. The students develop a sense of self-Worth of themselves, as they work together. Brown (1994) defined learning to speak a foreign language requires more than knowing its grammatical and semantic rules. Learners should also acquire the knowledge of how native speakers use the language in the context of structured interpersonal exchange, in which many factors interact. Therefore, it is difficult for EFL learners, particularly adults to speak the target language fluently and appropriately.

In order to provide effective guidance in developing

competent speakers of English, it is essential to examine the factors, affecting adult learners’ oral communication, components underlying speaking proficiency, and specific skills or strategies used in communication. Nunan (1989) defined speaking a language is particularly difficult for foreign Iranian EFL Journal

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language learners, because effective oral communication needs the capability to use the language completely and perfectly in social interactions. Moreover, various cultural assumptions about the goal of special interactions and expected results of encounters also affect communication, consequently owing to minimal exposure to the target language and contact with native speakers. Nunan (1989) further maintained that many people feel that speaking in the new language is more difficult than reading, writing, and listening skills to learn for two reasons. Unlike reading or writing, speaking occur in real time, i.e. The person you are talking to is waiting for you to speak right then. In addition, when you speak, you cannot edit and revise what you want to say, as you can if you are writing.

3. Methodology Forty-one EFL learners, about 17-22 years of age who are currently studying English in Tehran participated in this study. Their L1 of participants was Persian and they were thirty-eight female and three male. After they took the Nelson Proficiency Test, the students whose scores fell within one standard deviation above and below the mean were chosen as homogeneous participants in this study. They were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups with twenty and twenty-one participants, respectively. The proficiency level of participants was advanced. Three sets of test were administered to the participants, respectively, the Nelson proficiency Test (1978), and IELTS Speaking (Cambridge University Press, 2009) as the pretests, and a posttest contained five selected questions from the one Shakespearian Drama entitled Othello. An attitude questionnaire based on Likert scale by Inozu, Tuyan, and Surreli (2007), toward learners’ attitude about the Nelson Proficiency Test was administered to the population of the study for the purpose of homogeneity and measuring the participants’ level of proficiency. The Nelson proficiency test consists of 50 multiple-choice items, although the questions are not separated to different parts, they measure the examinees’ general knowledge on grammar as well as vocabulary and meaning. IELTS speaking was administered as a pretest to both groups of students and they had 10 to 15 minutes to answer all the questions. The researcher asked seven general questions in the first part and students had one to two minutes to think and answer each question carefully that was recorded by the researcher. The instruction of the second part of IELTS speaking test was that students handed topics “Describe one of your school day, and they answered to different questions that Iranian EFL Journal

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related to that subject and had one minute to think about it and made some notes if it needed then they spoke about it one to two minutes. Inter-rater reliability of speaking IELTS at pretest and posttest was 84. Five questions based on Othello, a play by Shakespeare, were administered as a posttest to both experimental and control groups. Again, participants had 10 to 15 minutes to answer each question orally and the researcher recorded their voice. Finally, an attitude questionnaire toward students’ opinion in using drama and its effect on their interaction was designed in a way that included, 15 parts in order to be a tool to collect the data related to the participants, before it was piloted and validated by some of professional professors at Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch then it was administered to the experimental group at the end of treatment. The reliability of the attitude scale was calculated by using the SPSS method. The participants were given the opportunity to answer the questions based on a Likert scale of five levels ranging from Strongly Agrees, Agree, Undecided, Disagree to Totally Disagree. Both the experimental and control groups received instruction over the eight-weeks of study in regular English classes. The general experimental procedures for both groups were administered to the 60 students in the following sequence and 41 homogeneous students were chosen through the Nelson Proficiency Test as advanced EFL learners for this study. The Nelson test consisted of 50 multiple-choice questions and the allotted time was 45 minutes. The aforementioned participants were randomly split into two intact groups, there were 20 students in the control group and 21 students in the experimental group, and then an IELTS Speaking Test was used as pretest for both groups. During the administration of this test, students’ voice was recorded and they had 10 to 15 minutes to answered all questions, IELTS Speaking was estimated based on Weir's (1993) analytical speaking criteria and according to its fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical accuracy &interactional strategies , considered in speaking as a pretest. Next, in an eight-week course that used a Shakespeare's play entitled Othello, It was taught by the researcher who adopted using creative drama for the experimental group and the traditional method of teaching Othello for the control group, it means without using drama. After the instructional period, a posttest , consisted of 5 questions from Othello for both groups was administered, the researcher asked the participants to answer all questions separately in 10 to 15 minutes and recorded their voice, in order to estimate students’ oral proficiency based on Iranian EFL Journal

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Weir’s criteria as it was mentioned in pretest. Finally, an attitude questionnaire based on LikertType scale was adopted from a scale by Inozu, Tuyan, and Surreli (2007). It was piloted by some professional professors then it was given to the students in experimental group, in order to find out their attitude toward using drama and its effect on their interaction.

4. Result and Discussion To ensure the homogeneity of the participants, the Nelson Proficiency Test was administered to 60 participants. Those students (N=41)whose Nelson score fell within one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected as homogeneous participants for this study. The descriptive statistics of the participants’ scores on this test are set forth in Table 1. Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for Nelson Proficiency Test N

Range

Min.

Max.

Mean

Median

Mode

SD

60

27

17

44

30.45

30.00

29

5.893

The average mean, median, and mode score for Nelson Test were 30.45, 30, and 29, respectively. These central parameters are not far from each other revealing normal distribution of the scores. The range was 27, and standard deviation was 5.89, showing a large dispersion of scores around the mean. Distributions of scores of the participants on the Nelson Test are displayed in Figure 1.

Figure1. Normal Curve of Scores of the Participants on Nelson Test

In order to arrive at an answer to the first question that stated “Does the use of creative drama improve the Iranian advanced EFL learners’ oral proficiency”? First, two null hypotheses are used. In order to analyze the data to investigate the first null hypothesis one, two raters assessed the participants’ performances on oral proficiency pretest and posttest of control and experimental groups. Table 2 represents descriptive statistics of the scores of control and experimental by two raters on oral proficiency pretest and posttest. Iranian EFL Journal

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Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of the Scores of Control and Experimental by Two Raters on Oral proficiency Pretest and Posttest Source

Group

Rater

N Range Min. Max. Mean SD

Rater 1 20 4

10

14

11.95 1.191

Rater 2 20 5

10

15

12.25 1.446

Rater 1 21 5

10

15

12.43 1.326

Rater 2 21 6

9

15

12.52 1.569

Rater 1 20 6

11

17

13.65 1.663

Rater 2 20 6

10

16

13.60 1.729

Experimenta Rater 1 21 7

11

18

14.95 2.085

11

19

15.24 2.143

Control PRETEST Experimenta l

Control POSTTES

l

Rater 2 21 8

*Note. The average mean scores are out of 20 points.

The table 2 manifests the raw scores of two groups on oral proficiency pretest and posttest. The inter-rater reliability between two raters marking oral tests was estimated using Correlation Coefficient. The results of this analysis are manifested in table 3. Table 3. Inter-rater Reliability between two Raters on Oral proficiency Pretest and Posttest Source

Pre-test

Pearson

Group

Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

Control (R1-R2)

.833**

.000

Experimental(R1-R2)

.848**

.000

Control (R1-R2)

.827**

.000

Experimental(R1-R2)

.853**

.000

Post-test

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The inter-rater reliability between rater 1 and rater 2 in control and experimental groups at pretest were .83 and .84, respectively. In addition, the inter-rater reliability between rater 1 and rater 2 in control and experimental groups at posttest were .82 and .85, respectively.

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The oral proficiency pretest means scores of control and experimental were 12.10 and 12.48, respectively. On the other hand, posttest mean scores of two groups were 13.63 and 15.10, correspondingly. The oral proficiency mean score of experimental group exceeded the control group. Figure 2 graphically depicts the comparison between oral proficiency pretest and posttest means score of control and experimental groups.

Figure 2 .Oral Proficiency Pretest and Posttest Means Scores of Control and Experimental Shapiro-Wilk Test also was utilized to test the normality of the oral proficiency scores of two groups at pretest and posttest. Table 4 represents the information on Shapiro-Wilk test of normality for scores of two groups on oral proficiency pretest and posttest. Table 4. Shapiro-Wilk Test of Normality for Scores of Two Groups on Oral proficiency Pretest and Posttest Source

Pre-test

Group

Statistic

Df

Sig.

Control

.947

20

.320

.965

20

.644

.971

20

.768

.968

20

.720

Experimenta l Control

Post-test

Experimenta l

As it is obvious in table 4-8, the normality test results showed insignificant Sig. of .32 and .64 for control and experimental at pretest. In addition, at posttest, the result of normality test revealed no significant Sig. of .76 and .72 for control and experimental. The Sig. for both groups at pretest and posttest were more than selected significance, i.e. .05 (p> α). Thus, it can be stated that four sets of scores have a normal distribution. As a result, the parametric Independent Sample Test was applied to compare the oral proficiency mean of two

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groups at both pretest and posttest; otherwise, the nonparametric Mann Whitney U Test would be used. An independent-sample t-test was used, because Mackey and Gass (2005) believed that “The independent t-test is used when one wants to determine if the means of two independent groups are significantly different from one another” (p. 272). The results of independent samples test to compare the oral proficiency pretest scores of control and experimental are set forth in table 5. Table 5. Independent Samples Test to Compare the Oral Proficiency Pretest Scores of Control and Experimental Levene's

Test

for

Equality of Variances

95% t-test for Equality of Means

Confidence

Interval

of

the

Difference Mean Sig. (2- Differenc Std. Error

F

Sig.

T

df

.077

.782

-.905 39

tailed) e

Difference Lower Upper

.371

.4157

-.3762

-

.4646

1.2170

Independent Samples Test results did not show any significant difference between control and experimental (t = .90, p = .37, p> α), in which the t-observed was less than the t-critical of 2.02, and the p value was more than .05. Levene's Test for Equality of Variances in Table 6 demonstrates that the hypothesis of equal of variances between the oral proficiency pretest of control and experimental was proved, because Sig was .78 which is greater than the .05 significance level for this study (p>α). Table 6. Independent Samples Test to Compare the Oral Proficiency Posttest Scores of Control and Experimental

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95% Levene's

Test

for

Equality of Variances

Confidence

t-test for Equality of Means

Interval of the Difference

Sig. (2- Mean F

Sig.

t

df

1.082

.305

-2.551 39

Std.

Error

Uppe

tailed)

Difference Difference Lower

.014

-1.4702

.5764

-2.6362

r .3043

Independent Samples Test detected significant difference between the two groups at posttest (t = 2.55, p = .01), in which the t-observed was more than the t-critical of 2.02, and the p value was less than .05. Therefore, the first null hypothesis that stated that the use of creative drama does not improve the oral proficiency of Iranian advance EFL learners was rejected. Therefore, with high degree of confidence, it can be claimed that the use of creative drama improves the oral proficiency of Iranian advance EFL learners. In order to arrive at an answer to the second question that stated “Does the use of creative drama develop the Iranian advanced EFL learners' cooperative interaction”? The second null hypothesis was used.

In order to test this null hypothesis, the participants’ performances on attitude

questionnaire were firstly assessed. Table 7 represents descriptive statistics of the scores obtained on attitude questionnaire. Table 7. Descriptive Statistics of the Scores Obtained on Attitude Questionnaire N

Range Min.

Max.

Mean Median

Mode

SD

21

1.21

4.47

4.0219 4.06

4.20

.31232 .098

3.26

Variance

The mean, median, and mode of the participants’ responses on attitude questionnaire were 4.02, 4.06, and 4.20, respectively, which are very close to each other suggesting normal distribution. Furthermore, the range and standard deviation were 1.21 and .31which are relatively small showing small dispersion of scores around the mean. The figure 3 graphically demonstrates the relate results participants’ responses on interaction questionnaire.

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Figure 3.Participants’ Responses on Interaction Questionnaire In order to figure out whether the data is normally distributed, the present researcher used Shapiro-Wilk test. Table 8 manifests Shapiro-Wilk Test of Normality for scores obtained on interaction questionnaire. Table 8. Shapiro-Wilk Test of Normality for Scores Obtained on Interaction Questionnaire Statistic

Df

Sig.

.954

21

.400

The Sig. showed .40 based on the data which this researcher may consider that the scores are normally distributed, because p value is more than.05 (p< α). Therefore, the parametric OneSample Test was performed to analyze the results.

Table 9 clarifies one-sample test for

participants’ responses on interaction questionnaire. Table 9. One-Sample Test for Participants’ Responses on Interaction Questionnaire Test Value = 3 95% Confidence Interval of T

Interaction 14.994

Df

20

Sig. tailed) .000

(2- Mean

the Difference

Difference 1.02190

Lower

Upper

.8797

1.1641

One Sample Test results showed statistically significant difference (t =14.99, p= .000, p 0.50 indicates that the data distribution is normal. The results shown in Table 1 indicate that data for both the pre-test and the post-test showed normal distributions. Table 1 One-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (normal test distribution; calculated from data Pre-test

Post-test

N

60

60

Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z

1.187

.832

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

.093

.493

Levene's testof equality of error variancetests the null hypothesis that the error variance of the dependent variable is equal across groups.Table 2 shows that the variances were equal (p = 0.452). Table 2 Levene's test of equality of error variancea (dependent variable: post-test) F

df1

df2

Sig.

1.141

1

58

.452

a. Design: intercept + pre + group

Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the pre-test scores belonging to Groups 1 and 2. Table 3 shows that the pre-test mean for Group 1 was 13.3 and for Group 2 was 8.833. Table 3 Descriptive Statistics (dependent variable: pre-test)

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group Mean

Std. Deviation N

1

13.3000

1.62205

30

2

8.8333

2.96047

30

Total

11.0667

3.26702

60

Table 4 lists the descriptive statistics for the scores of the posttest for Groups 1 and 2. The mean for the post-test in Group 1 was 7.1 and the mean for Group 2 for the posttest was 7.13. Table 4 Descriptive Statistics (dependent variable: post-test) group Mean

Std. Deviation N

1.00

7.1000

2.07364

30

2.00

7.1333

4.04060

30

Total

7.1167

3.18413

60

Table 5 shows the main results for covariance. In this table, F = 3.374 and p =0/071. Since p > 0.05, the scores belonging to Group 1 and 2 were not significantly different from each other. This means that the first hypotheses that student participation in private classes improves student language ability over that of students who only learn English at school is not accepted at the 95% confidence level. Table 5 Between-subject effects (dependent variable: post-test) Type III Sum of Source

Squares

df

Mean Square

F

Sig.

Corrected Model

64.313a

2

32.157

3.433

.039

Intercept

12.901

1

12.901

1.377

.245

pre

64.297

1

64.297

6.865

.011

group

31.598

1

31.598

3.374

.071

Error

533.870

57

9.366

Total

3637.000

60

Corrected Total

598.183

59

R2 = 0.108 (adjusted R2 = .076)

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The English language students responded to pre-test questions similarly in the first stage because they all had similar levels English. The post-test was slightly more difficult and showed that students who had attended English institute classes also lacked sufficient language knowledge and other language skills, such as conversation. This indicates that private classes were not effective in strengthening spoken language and other skills. Private students only showed a stronger understanding of some grammatical points.

3. Conclusions and Implications The present study examined the assumption that student participation in private English institute classes increases student language ability over that of students who only study English in school. The hypothesis tested was that student participation improved a student’s ability to learn the English language as SL learners. The results did not prove the hypothesis. It is probable that difficulty with the private English classes relate to the methods and skills used to teach students. It should be possible for students who take part in private classes at an English institute to learn English well and develop better skills than those who only study English in school. Regular school teachers must teach English based on the syllabus prepared for them according to the accepted educational authority. This is the only accepted teaching method. Problems that can exist in schools include a shortage of proficient teachers, over-crowding of classrooms, deficient methods used in books and design of the weekly syllabus, and inexperienced teachers of other subjects conscripted to teach English. The majority of these problems relate to management of the schools. Educational problems generally arise from weak management. Management of a school or inside the classroom can change the outcome of the teaching process, but the problem is not simply management. The attitudes of both students and teachers may play a role. Today, most students spend much free time on computers, smart phones, tablets, and online games in focusing on meaningless content that conflict with learning and sidetrack their motivation. Many teachers, by contrast, have fallen behind students technologically. In many cases they lack computer knowledge and they do not try to fill the gap between themselves and their students. Some teachers lack motivation to teach well. It was observed in this study that students who attended private classes did not show a marked improvement in English classes. This may also relate to weak and untested methodological

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and educational politics of the institute their financial goals that overshadow educational targets. Their priority is to increase enrollment and they soon forget their original educational targets. The findings of this study will help students, teachers and educational systems decide how to approach the teaching of English language. Educators must incorporate scientific methods to achieve educational targets in teaching English. It would be beneficial for educational systems to adopt a supervisory policy for the process of teaching English in second language environments, both at educational institutes and at high schools.

References Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures and student motivation. American Journal of Distance Educational Psychology(84(3)), 261-271. Darus, S. ,. (2008). INVESTIGATING TEACHERS’ USE OF COMPUTERS IN TEACHIN ENGLISH: A CASE STUDY. www.tewtjournal.org. Gross, J. (1992). Special Educational Needs and School Improvement:Practical Strategies for Raising Standards. London: David Fulton Publishing. Jayakaran Mukundan, E. H. (2012). The Effect of an Intensive English Program on Malaysian Secondary. Malaysia: Canadian Center. Kannan, D. R. (2009 ). Difficulties in learning English as a Second Language. 8(5 (26)). Sawyer, R. (2008). Benefits of Additional High School Course Work and Improved . ACT, 2. Shin, J. K. (2014). Teaching English to Young Learners. Baltimore County: University of Maryland. Weiner, B. (1990). Human Motivation Metaphors, Theories and Research. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. . Weiner, B. (1991). Metaphors in motivation and attr (Vol. 46(9)). American Psychologist.

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Title Investigating the Notion of Face in Asking for a Favor in Everyday Conversations via SMS; A Case of Persian Authors Fatemeh Ghanavati Nasab Department of English, Faculty of foreign languages, University of Isfahan, Iran Abbas Eslami Rasekh Department of English, Faculty of foreign languages, University of Isfahan, Iran

Biodata Fatemeh Ghanavati Nasab, M.A in TEFL at University of Isfahan in 2014. Her areas of interest include second language acquisition, sociolinguistics and cognitive linguistics. Abbas Eslami Rasekh teaches in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Isfahan. His areas of research include sociolinguistics and discourse analysis.

Abstract This paper is an ethnographic case study aimed to examine the notion of face in 'asking for a favor' among native speakers of Persian. The gathered data is analyzed in terms of age, gender, social status, social relations, distance, solidarity and the degree of imposition between the interlocutors mainly within Brown and Lavinson's (1987) politeness model. The qualitative analysis of the data revealed that the probability of compliance in making a direct request was understimated by the participants. The data also revealed that asking for a favor is considered a conditioned and manipulative process which demands resorting to the right strategy to achieve the intended goals. Keywords: Politeness Theory, Face, Asking for a Favor

1. Introduction In our day-to-day interactions, we don't simply talk; we also construct and establish our relationships, roles and identities when conducting different types of speech acts (Austin, 1995). It is through SMS that we conduct most of our daily interactions and probably some of the extraordinary affairs of our lives. SMS sending as one of the easiest ways of communication has Iranian EFL Journal

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gained an ever increasing popularity in performing different types of speech acts. Searle (1976) defines speech act as 'the basic minimal units of linguistic communication'. Basic areas investigated within the speech act theory are apologies, suggestions, complains, refusals and requests which just like any other form of conduct are tangible, consequential, real and fundamental (Drew & Curl, 2007). Requests are the base of social interaction systems in many philanthropy communities. The success of any request is considered critical to the success of an intended interaction; yet, the requirements of making a successful request has been subject to debate. Generally speaking, to satisfy a request one must be aware of who is being asked, what is being asked, how, where and when it is being asked. These factors are what make a request to range from small favors to big ones. The analysis of speech acts has revealed that the way people formulate their utterances is affected by rules, conventions and principles of the particular society they live in (Sanders, 1987). Following the proper conventions of speech acts is one of the welding agents without which communication breakdown is most prominent (Filho, 1984). 'Requests' and more particularly 'Asking for favors' function as just one of the components of the broader category of speech acts. The way we perform different types of speech acts, and more specifically requests, is very much in dept to social factors which set limits on the way interlocutors interact. Asking for a favor can be examined within Brown and Lavinson's (1987) politeness theory. In Brown and Levinson's theory (1987) there is an underlying belief that individual's face motivates strategies of politeness in proportion to the seriousness of the act. As Brown and Lavinson (1987) point out "It is the mutual awareness of face, sensitivity and the kinds of means-ends reasoning that allows the inference of implicatures of politeness" (1987). There are numerous ways to go about getting what we want. In friendly gatherings, we adhere to use direct and informal phrases. However, we know full well that these phrases have to be modified when attending a formal situation. As thus, this study is motivated by a general concern for the visualization of politeness strategies in asking for a favor inspired by the work of Brown and Lavinson (1987). It is also to seek out whether asking for favors is dependent on social manifestations of relationships in an Iranian EFL context. The present paper mainly seeks to investigate the variables which delimit the way people ask favors from one another with a concern

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for the status of the individuals, social distance, degree of imposition, gender and age of the participants.

2. Review of literature 2.1 Asking for a favor Searle (1976) defines requests as the desire of the speaker to impinge the hearer to perform an act that works to his advantage. Searle et al. (1992) claim that this move prepares grounds of contrast as it involves linguists in various attempts to delimit the speech act theory within the discourse domain. However, it is done to be able to account for the necessary conditions which are needed to define the sequence of utterances in discourse. Speech acts are not regarded as isolated moves but rather appear in more global units called conversations. Speakers are continually involved in the process of performing speech acts with more or less the same collective intention in order to pursue success within a specific type of discourse. Therefore, language use is designated as a social manifestation of linguistic behavior with ordered sequences to achieve discursive goals. These ordered sequences for terminological convenience are called conversations (Vanderveken, 1994). 'Asking for a favor' as a subcategory of requests is one of the primary forms of social action conducted through conversations. Goldschmidt (1996) characterizes favors as the performance of a time consuming task beyond daily life which most often implies future reciprocity. However, it poses no obligation on the part of the hearer. The tasks involved are resultant from exigent circumstances with a special need. It can be exemplified by a speaker who asks for a ride to the airport but does not travel frequently. He further elaborates on favor asking as an emotional construct since the service is often carried out willingly even with ambivalent emotions. To get the picture, imagine asking a friend to feed your pet snake while you are away even with a phrase like 'Thanks, I owe you a lot'! A number of textual and social factors are considered influential in the success of a request. Among the textual factors, politeness takes utmost importance. Indicators of politeness such as deference, apologizing, greetings and the use of indirect language are undoubtedly among factors which help the success of a request. But the question that stands to attention is how influential are these factors in the process of asking for a favor and to what extend are the interlocutors aware of the importance of these factors in the process of favor asking.

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2.2 Conversation analysis and politeness Austin (1962) regards utterances as actions intended to change other people's beliefs and intentions which must satisfy social goals related to the notion of politeness. He explains indirect speech acts as the paradigmatic examples that can be explained in terms of rational behavior without which utterances would appear impolite. Utterances are linguistic manifestations to change other's beliefs and intentions. Illocutionary acts, however, must satisfy social goals. Generally speaking, politeness strategies confirm appropriate ways of expressing role relations, social distance and face saving acts within a speech community (Brown and Lavinson, 1978). Watt's (2003) notion of linguistic politeness is characterized in terms of formulaic or semiformulaic utterances. Formulaic utterances are realized in ritualized forms of verbal conversation such as apologizing, expressing thanks, refusing and conventionalized forms of leave-taking. Semi-formulaic expressions are indirect speech acts which are in congruence with social situations and consist of structures whose main function is to soften the illocutionary force. The absence of these ritualized utterances is most often interpreted as impoliteness. Lakoff (1973) was among the first linguists who took a pragmatic view of politeness. She defines politeness as the system designed to minimize conflicts and confrontations inherent in all human interactions. Her proposed system is built up on three basic strategies with varying degrees of intensity in different cultures. The first strategy is characterized in terms of impersonality or distance. The second is characterized in terms of hesitancy and third, in terms of camaraderie or informality. As she claims, while the use of the first strategy is widespread in European cultures, the second and third strategies are prevalent in Asian and contemporary American cultures. Leech (1983) examined politeness from the point of view of rhetoric. Leech argues that politeness principles are responsible for the maintenance of social balance and friendly relationships which finally avails a stable and appropriate environment for effective discourse. He considers politeness principles to overweight the cooperative principle as it serves to regulate what is said to reach a discoursal goal. As Leech claims, politeness principles are not applicable to all cultures in equal measures. He assumes that these principles are the interplay between cooperative and politeness principles. Brown and Lavinson (1978) try to provide an informal explanation for politeness strategies in terms of means-ends reasoning and social goals. They define politeness in terms of social goals with scant attention for explaining the parameters that impact the various dialogue situations. Iranian EFL Journal

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Politeness strategies are considered as redressive actions which serve to counterbalance the disruptive impacts of face threatening acts with a concern for the hearer's face. In their definition, politeness is regarded as the ability to maintain and save the desired conventional values related to the other person's face. Their theory abstracts away from the actual speakers and gives priority to their intentions, rationality and face. Goffman (1967) characterizes face as the positive social values that each individual assumes for himself during a particular contact. It is also characterized by specific properties which constructs a person's persona. Face in Brown and Lavinson's (1978) model is defined as the public self image that every individual wants to claim for himself. The notion of face consists of a set of goals for which the speaker desires respect from the hearer. As they assert, each and every individual has a face made up of a number of goals for which he tries to command the respect of others. Moreover, they consider the notion of face as either negative or positive. Negative face refers to the desire of the speaker to be unimpeded by others when giving orders, warnings, suggestions and asking for requests. Positive face, on the other hand, relates to the personality that both interlocutors wish to be respected and appreciated. In other words, positive face speaks for at least some degree of shared goals between the speaker and the hearer. This involves people in a challenge to reach their goals without infringing one another's face. More specifically, it directs people to redress imposing on others by taking advantage of indirect speech acts. It can clearly be exemplified in 'Could you pass the salt, please?' instead of 'give me the salt'. Indirect speech acts can be differentiated from more direct forms (on record acts versus off record acts) in that they refer to actions we wish our partners to execute. Self-respect and full consideration for the hearer's face are bare essential elements for a successful interaction without which face is not maintained or enhanced (Brown and Lavinson, 1978). Mills (2003) claims that recognizing the vulnerability of the notion of face in social relations helps adjusting the amount of verbal 'work' to lesson or eliminate potential threats in order to be polite. As he defines it, 'politeness' is the speaker's desire to mitigate face threats which are resultant from face threatening acts towards others. Brown and Lavinson (1987) claim that strategies of politeness such as solidarity, restraint and imposition are dependent on a person's self esteem or face. In their theory, every individual is a rational agent who tries to choose the best means to satisfy his needs. They point out that all individuals have a positive and a negative face which has to be maintained either by actions of mutual interest or satisfied by trickery or coercion. Politeness strategies are therefore, to minimize Iranian EFL Journal

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the risk of losing face on the part of either the speaker or the hearer. Their theory is established on the assumption that speakers have the ability to exploit language to achieve their goals. They relate language usage to strategies rather than relationships. They claim that as some actions are intrinsically face-threatening, a large number of strategies are required to afford pay-offs. In other words, Brown and Lavinson (1978) regard interlocutors as rational actors who try to realize their speech acts in a way that avoids threats to each other's face. They relate face threatening acts to illocutionary acts which have the potential to damage the other person's face. Face threatening acts are either on record or off record. While on record strategies refer to the unambiguous expression of your intention, off record strategies refer to its indirect expression to minimize the extent of the imposed threat. Face threatening acts can be modified by on record strategies whose main function is to give face to the addressee by using appropriate strategies to redress the threat. In other words, they believe that politeness strategies are intended to save the hearer's face. Face-saving strategies are attempts made to maintain the hearer's self-esteem in both public and private situations. As they state, politeness can be explained in terms of conflict avoidance which serves to minimize the inherent threats to the speaker and hearer's face wants. Politeness strategies are taken advantage of to deal with face threatening acts which infringe on the hearer's need to be respected. They further argue that sociological variables such as the assumed power of the hearer over the speaker, social distance between the interlocutors and the impositions in a given culture are determinants of the seriousness of face threatening acts. Power as an asymmetric discourse instance is associated with notions of control and submission. Social distance is related to mutual bonding and unfamiliarity between the interlocutors (Brown & Lavinson, 1978; Mills, 2003) which can be defined in terms of the degree of frequency of an interaction and the nature of exchange between the hearer and speaker (Brown & Lavinson, 1978). Solidarity is a reciprocal act and suggests intimacy. It is what allows for a mutual exchange of the singular second pronoun. In languages with second person pronouns, varying levels of politeness are identified which are affected and governed by the supposed power of one interlocutor over the other or the degree of solidarity between the two. Wealth, physical strength, age and gender are mentioned as the probable sources of power (Brown & Gilman, 1960). The rank of imposition is identified as the perception of the severity of a speech act which determines the strategic use of different speech act formulas (Brown & Lavinson, 1978). Iranian EFL Journal

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Their theory encompasses four types of politeness strategies which speak for human politeness behavior: negative politeness, positive politeness, bald on record and off record strategies. Bald on record strategies entail no effort to minimize threats to the hearer's face. Off-record strategies involve indirect language and pose no imposition on the interlocutor by taking advantage of hints, metaphors, tautologies, ironies, rhetorical questions, ambiguity, vagueness and the use of ellipsis. While on record statements convey no more than the literal meanings, off record statements convey some kind of indirectness in order to soften or alleviate the inherent face threats. Positive politeness strategies are those which concern the desire of the hearer to be respected. It is maintaining the positive face of others intended to mention that both speakers have a common goal. The use of positive strategies is indicative of a friendly relationship and group reciprocity. Negative politeness is respecting the right for personal preserves and non-distraction provided by freedom of imposition and freedom of action. It orients to save the other person's negative face by showing respect for his time and concerns (Yule, 1996). Scollon and Scollon (2001) extend the notion of face into three politeness strategies; a) solidarity politeness system, b) defense politeness system and c) hierarchical politeness system. In a solidarity politeness system, the interlocutors in equal social positions and close relationships take advantage of involvement strategies for mutual reciprocity to express a common point of view. In a deference politeness system, the interlocutors use independent strategies as both realize themselves in equal social levels with no one exerting power over the other. However, both conceive a distant relationship. The hierarchical politeness system is based on an asymmetric relationship as one is in a subordinate position regardless of the existing relationship between the two. According to their model, the interlocutor in the superordinate position might prefer to choose involvement strategies while the one in the subordinate position might take advantage of independent strategies to show respect and minimize threat. Brown and Lavinson (1978) assume that under normal circumstances people strive hard to maintain the hearer's face by resorting to politeness strategies. As they point out, requests and apologies are intrinsically face threatening acts which require people to adopt a variety of strategies to protect the intrinsic mutual vulnerability of face. 2.3 Universality of the notion of face Brown and Lavinson (1978) argue for the universality of the notion of politeness by presenting extensive parallels across unrelated languages. Although the issue of universality in language Iranian EFL Journal

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remains controversial, connotations of terms to observe the rules of politeness seem to be the same in different language communities with similar or identical manifestations. Brown and Lavinson (1978) regard the concept of 'face' a universal one but with its exact content varying across different cultures. They assert that people in different language communities select the most appropriate strategies and forms to adjust their utterances to the occasion. Sifianou (1992) argues that equivalent forms may serve different functions and these same functions can be realized in different forms. Therefore, it can be concluded that polite speech behaviors may vary across cultures and languages but with shared rules and assumptions. In the same line, Strecker (1993) criticizes Brown and Lavinson's model for its disregard of cross cultural variations. Spencer-oatey (2000) shed light on the notion of culture by defining it as a set of behavioral norms shared by a specific group of people which finally exerts influence on the way people's behavior are interpreted. The application of politeness strategies, therefore, is much in debt to the underlying values within specific cultures which finally determines what is polite or impolite (Cheung, 2009). Grundy (2000) believes that Brown and Lavinson's (1978) realization of politeness strategies are considered to be dependent on local cultural differences which trigger their use. Goffman (1967) votes in favor of the universality of the notion of face. However, he doesn't sideline the role of cultural differences which are driven from a logically coherent framework within specific cultures. 2.4 General Data Collection Procedures While agreement over the most appropriate method of data collection has remained a lasting concern in the area of pragmatic research (Kasper, 2002), field observation of spontaneous speech, role plays and discourse completion tests (DCTs) are recognized as the most widely used ones. Observation of verbal exchanges in daily life along with demographic and contextual information enables researchers to distance from approximation and conduct a research that reflects authentic language use (Tran, 2004). Therefore, this method enables researchers to be able to conduct an ethnographic study in a wide variety of settings (Kasper & Dahl, 1991). Although this method proves popular with many researchers, it suffers from several shortcomings. First, it is highly time consuming. Second, gaining control over variables such as age, status and power is not easy to come by (Yuan, 2001). Third, comparison of data in cross-cultural settings and different languages is not an easy task (Beebe, 1992). It's considered the best method since it reflects authentic language use (Tran, 2004). It was originally used in orthographic research in sociolinguistics by Iranian EFL Journal

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taking advantage of the verbal exchanges between the interlocutors in their daily life. What is included in this type of observation is all that is said, information about the interlocutors and their backgrounds. Although beneficial, it's time consuming and difficult to control. Moreover, memory loss to retain the information necessary for analysis on the part of the researcher is another drawback. Role plays are described as the simulations of social interactions with assumed roles in specific situations (Tran, 2006). Closed role plays refer to a single speech turn initiated by the researcher. Open role plays refer to multiple turns a participant takes in response to the one played by the researcher. The elicited data is a good portray of pragmatic features such as politeness and therefore, a close approximation of authentic speech (Demeter, 2007; Tran, 2004). Although largely advantageous, this method requires the transcription of a large amount of data which can be quite time-consuming (Jung, 2004). This method involves the learners in taking a different role and a different identity from his or her usual life (Tran, 2006). The data gathered is near-authentic containing politeness strategies and indirectness (Cohen, 1996). Discourse completion tests (DCTs) are defined as the written or spoken records of the participants' responses to presented scenarios (Rasekh, 2012). The method is not a reasonable approximation of authentic discourse (Golato, 2003) and confines the speakers to a single speech turn which delimits the opportunity for real spontaneous speech features (Cohen, 1996). This method is advantageous in that age, gender and social status are under control (Kwon, 2004) and eliminates the problems regarding the number of the participants.

3. Aim and Logic of the study The aim of this paper is to explicit the awareness of the interlocutors of the necessary and sufficient conditions to fulfill the speech act of asking for a favor in authentic interactions. Speech acts can not be considered as separate or isolated moves in communication. But they appear in global units of communication labled as conversations. Although 'asking for a favor' is generally classified as a subtype of requests, Goldschmidt (1993-1996) considers it as a separate speech act worth investigating on its own. 'Asking for a favor' is considered a face threatening act in that one needs employing the most appropriate strategies to minimize the involved imposition on the hearer who has the right to claim for his freedom of action (Blum-kulka et al, 1985). Moreover, 'the favor asking' as a requestive speech Iranian EFL Journal

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act represents a risky communicative behavior as it exposes one in an attempt to get others to perform an act to his benefit. Asking for a favor requires the ability to manipulate politeness strategies properly in different languages and different cultures and, thus, is an issue worth considering. To investigate politeness strategies in asking for a favor, this study draws on the concept of face within politeness theory and interactional sociolinguistics to analyze the data.

4. Data The widespread use of mobile phones has presented a unique opportunity to collect data in a way that is more time saving and practical. Its special functionality for sending Short Message Sending (SMS) has also led to a fertile proliferation of delivering information even while on the move. Therefore, this study takes advantage of Short Message Sending (SMS) to collect data. In order to gather the relevant data, a 24-year-old Iranian girl was asked to keep the record of all her SMS interactions during a period of about six months. She was chosen for the wide range of interactions she had with different people in different situations. Being a university student, working as a teacher, and being married required her to be in contact with different people. She had the chance to exclude the private SMS she didn't want to be included in the data. The researcher also deleted all the SMS interactions not relevant to the aims of the study. Finally, an acceptable number of SMS interactions related to favor asking were gathered for further analysis. This method was considered best as it allowed gathering authentic data in real-life interactions.

5. Data presentation The purpose of the present study was not just to examine Brown and Lavinson's theory or any other theory of politeness, but rather to study patterns of politeness in asking for a favor via SMS. The context for gathering the data was quite natural. The study was conducted with one Persian speaker as the main subject and other interlocutors who triggered variations in her use of politeness strategies with regard to the notion of face. The gathered data served as samples presenting the norms. In these entire samples, subject A was kept constant and the addresses varied. The recorded data were then analyzed qualitatively mainly with refer to Brown and Lavinson's theory. The samples are presented successively along with their English translations with the same style and the same level of formality. Then, the analysis and the comments are discussed in the analysis part.

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Extract 1(subject A & her husband)

‫ زود بیا‬،‫آ) سالم عزیزم قارچ لوبیا رب گوجه فلفل دلمه پالستیك فریزر بخر‬ Extract 1(subject A & her husband) A: Hi Dear Buy some mushrooms, beans, tomato paste, green pepper and plastic freezer Come back soon. Extract 2(subject A & her professor)

‫ ممکنه لطفا چک کنید ببینید به دستتون رسیده یا نه؟‬.‫ من فایل را فرستادم‬.‫عذر می خوام مزاحم شدم‬.‫آ) عصر شما بخیر‬ ‫ ممنون‬.‫ لطفا دوباره بفرستید‬.‫ هنوز نرسیده‬:‫ب‬ Extract 2(subject A & her professor) A: Good evening to you. Sorry to bother you. I've send the file. Would you please check out to see whether you have received it or not? B: Not yet, send it again please. Thanks. Extract3 (subject A & her brother)

‫ به اینترنت دسترسی داری؟‬.‫آ) سالم علی جان‬ ‫ب) برای چی؟‬ .‫آ) میخام کارت ورود به جلسه را از اینترنت برام بگیری‬ .‫ یه ساعت دیگه چک می کنم برات‬.‫ب) فعال که قطه‬ Extract3 (subject A & her brother) A: Hi dear Ali. Do you have access to the internet? B: What for? A: I want you to take the entrance exam card from the internet. B: It's not connected right now. I'll check it for you in an hour. Extract 4(subject A & her female class mate)

‫آ) سالم پاورپینت ها را برام فرستادید؟‬ .‫ب) برای بقیه فرستادم ولی شرمنده ایمیل شما را نداشتم‬ ‫آ) ممکنه لطف کنید امروز برام بفرستید؟‬ .‫اس کنید‬.‫ ام‬.‫ب) حتما آدرس ایمیلتون را اس‬ Salient 68@ yahoo .com:)‫آ‬

.‫ب) شب چک کنید‬ .‫آ) متشکرم‬

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Extract 4(subject A & her female class mate) A: Hello. Did you send the power points for me? B: I send it for others but sorry, I didn't have your e-mail. A: Would you mind sending them for me today. B: Sure. SMS your e-mail address. A: [email protected] B: Check it tonight. A: Thanks. Extract5 (subject A & the manager of the institute)

‫ می خواستم در‬،‫متأسفانه مشکلی آمده که نمی توانم به کالس بیایم‬.‫ تماس گرفتم گوشی را بر نداشتید‬.‫آ) سالم آقای احمدیان‬ .‫ از لطف شما بی نهایت ممنونم‬.‫را برای من ساب بگذارید‬4/3-1 ‫صورت امکان فردا‬ Extract5 (subject A & the manager of the institute) A: Hello Mr. Ahmadian. I called, but you didn't pick up the phone. Unfortunately there seems to be a problem so that I can't make it tomorrow. If possible, I wanted to ask for a sub from 4/5-6. I'm really thankful. Extract6 (subject A to her husband)

‫آ) چرا هر چی زنگ می زنم بر نمی داری؟‬ .‫ سر راهت از مهد کودک بگیرش‬،‫من امروز نمی تونم برم دنبال سامان‬ Extract6 (subject A to her husband) A: Why don't you answer my calls? I can't pick up Saman today. Pick him up from the kindergarten on your way. Extract7 (subject A & her male classmate)

‫ممکنه جزوه های استاد را بیارید تا زیراکس بگیرم؟‬.‫آ) سالم آقای شریفی‬ ‫خوب هستید؟ کدام جزوه ها؟‬،‫ب) سالم‬ .‫آ) جزوه های زبان شناسی‬ .‫ب) من فقط همونایی را دارم که اول ترم از استاد گرفتم‬ .‫همونا را می خام‬،‫آ) بله‬ .‫ب) باشه فردا براتون میارم‬ .‫ لطف میکنید‬،‫آ) ممنون‬ Extract7 (subject A & her male classmate) Iranian EFL Journal

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A: Hello Mr. Sharifi. May you bring the professor's hand outs tomorrow so that I can make a copy. B: Hello, how are you. Which hand outs? A: Linguistic hand outs. B: I just have those that I took in the beginning of the semester. A: yes, I want exactly those. B: Ok. I'll bring them for you tomorrow. A: thanks. It's nice of you. Extract8 (subject A & her husband)

.‫ دقیقه دیگه سر خیابون باش‬3 ‫آ) خانومی‬ .‫ب) باشه اومدم‬ Extract8 (subject A & her husband) A: I'll see you in five minutes missy. B: Ok. I'm coming. Extract9 (subject A & her younger brother)

‫ میشه امروز ماشینت را بم بدی؟‬.‫ب) سالم‬ ‫آ) میخای چی کار؟‬ .‫ سه ساعت بیشتر طول نمی کشه‬-‫ دو‬،‫ ماشین خودم تعمیرگاهه‬.‫ب) با بچه ها قرار داریم‬ .‫ کالس دارم ماشین را می خام‬3‫ من امروز تا‬،‫آ) شرمنده‬ Extract9 (subject A & her younger brother) A: Hi. Can I borrow your car today? B: What do you want it for? A: we're going to meet up. Mine is in the repair shop, it won't last for more than two or three hours. B: sorry, I have a class until eight tonight. I need it. Extract 10 (B: The car company)

.‫ سریعا جهت اخذ کارت اشتراک ایران خودرو با شماره ی زیر تماس بگیرید‬.‫ب) راننده عزیز‬ Extract 10 (B: The car company) B: Dear driver. To receive 'Iran Khodro' card call the given number as soon as possible. Extract 11(subject A & her friend)

‫ کتابای تستینگ جیمز براون و بکمن را داری ؟‬.‫ب) سالم گلم‬ ‫ امتحاناتون تموم شد؟‬.‫ هیچ کدوم را ندارم‬،‫آ) سالم‬ .‫ب) هفتم آخریشه‬ Iranian EFL Journal

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‫آ) راستی از صاحب خونتون چه خبر؟‬ .‫ب) هیچی لج کرده پولمونو نمیده‬ .‫آ) شاید پشیمون شده‬ .‫ معلوم نیست مشکلش چیه‬،‫ب) نه بابا‬ .‫ می بینمت‬.‫شب به خیر‬ Extract 11(subject A & her friend) B: Hi darling. Do you have James Brown and Backman testing books? A: Hi, I have none. Have you finished your term exams? B: The last is on Seventh. A: any news from your landlord? B: nothing, he's just messing around with us and not giving us our money. A: Maybe he's changed his mind. B: Nah! Don't know what his problem is. Good night. See you.

6. Analysis and Discussion Conversation analysis has recently become the focus of interest in the speech act theory not as a reactive move but rather as a natural extention of the speech act theory domain. It has therefore brought about a number of interesting issues whithin the discourse domain. The interpretation of speech act function is not set apart from the situation which includes all relevant factors in the environment, social conventions, and the shared experiences of the participants. On the other hand, no act of politeness can be analyzed without resorting to semantic and pragmatic factors like making use of modal auxiliaries, lexical choices, endearment terms, strategies employed in opening and closing conversations and the consideration of culture-specific norms. Therefore, this study took a qualitative approach to analyze the gathered excerpts according to the aims of the study. In the first extract, subject A uses a direct strategy, a want statement, to ask the hearer to perform a task. The imperative verb indicates the force of the statement. According to Brown and Lavinson's (1978) theory, it's a Bald-on-record strategy without any redress. Moreover, a time intensifier is used to increase the force of the request.

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A completely different phenomenon is seen in Extract 2. The interaction can be placed at the top of the hierarchical politeness system as the speaker is quick to put some distance between herself and the other interlocutor which is reflected in the high degree of elaboration. As a lower ranking female is addressing a higher rank male, she uses lots of formal words, politeness markers and plural pronouns to indicate deference. She begins with a greeting alerter as a type of modification to initiate communication. She then makes an apology which serves as a politeness marker to express her regret for imposing on the hearer. She finally takes advantage of a question to make a request. These strategies well match Brown and Lavinson's negative politeness strategies. On the other hand, subject B uses a short, direct statement, an imperative form, which is actually a bald on record strategy. In Extract 3, subject A addresses her brother by an address alerter. She then uses a strong hint, an off record strategy, to ask for a favor. It's a friendly conversation full of politeness strategies; using colloquial language, promising and asking for a reason. Extract 4 begins with a rhetorical question which is a form of an off record strategy. Although the social status of the interlocutors is the same, there seems to be a high distance which locates them in the deferential politeness system. This is reflected in the use of negative politeness strategies like using modal auxiliaries, formal words, plural verb inflections and plural pronouns. Furthermore, the pre-commitment which is used to get the hearer to commit the request is followed by a commitment indicator to show her full attention to the hearer. It can be indicated as another sign of politeness. In Extract 5, we have another case of hierarchical politeness system with social power and distance being highlighted. First, a formal address alerter is used for initiation. Her use of the formal address forms shows that she is well aware of the formality of the context along with her relationship with the other interlocutor. Then, an implicit excuse is made for sending the SMS. Finally, it gives a hint which is an off record strategy. She gives a reason to ask for a sub instead of making a direct request. A hedge performative and conditional clause is also used to modify and attenuate the force of the request. She takes advantage of an intensifier to express her 'great thanks' in the most formal way. This strategy can definitely be considered a negative politeness strategy.

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Extract 6 is a clear example of Bald on Record strategy reflected in the use of an imperative form to state the request directly without any redress. The grammatical mood of the verb also indicates the force of the claim. Extract 7 is between a male and a female with the same social status. However, the rather high distance between the interlocutors contributes to the elaboration of the request which is reflected in the use of modal auxiliaries and plural inflections. The use of the modal auxiliary can be considered an indirect strategy. More specifically, it is a query preparatory which asks for the possibility of performing a task. Subject B uses a small talk for greeting to reinforce social bounds and then uses positive politeness strategies by showing a concern for his classmates wants. Finally, he makes a promise. This Extract, intensifies the claim for gender differences as a determining factor influencing the kind of politeness strategies used. Extract 8 is another case of Bald on record strategy. It is similar to Extract 6 except for the fact that presupposition and in-group endearment identity markers serve as other positive politeness strategies not found in the previous one. In Extract 9, no distance is perceived between the subject and her younger brother. However, it's an intrinsically invasive speech act for which politeness strategies can't do much. The modal serves as a preparatory or indirect strategy to reduce the imposition of the favor asked for. Then, he applies another type of modification by providing a reason to minimize the imposition on the hearer. Although 'subject A' rejects his request directly, she provides an explanation so as not to impact the hearer's self image negatively. Extract 10 is a pure request which should not be confused with a favor due to the absence of emotional involvement. The last Extract (extract 11) is an interaction between close friends full of positive politeness strategies. An endearment marker, an in group identity marker, is followed by a direct question with no degree of elaboration. These positive politeness strategies indicate friendliness. The active involvement of both interlocutors and presupposition also adds to their positive face. At the end, a plan and a general wish is used to close the conversation. This can also be related to positive comments and positive politeness strategies. The way the speaker closes the conversation reveals that the speaker is aware of the potential face threats in closing conversations. She perhaps knows that in ending a conversation one must risk a series of interpretations like the unwillingness of the interlocutor to continue. By the same line, the speaker is aware that ending the conversation may Iranian EFL Journal

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pose threats to her own face as she may appear to be rude, blunt or impolite (Cameron, 2001). Like any other smart language user, however, she gets rid of the predicament by resorting to a statement like 'Good night, see you later' which alternatively respects the notion of face.

7. Conclusion Previously, philosophy of language was less obsessed with the language use than with its propositional meanings. But people and words both mean things. One should make a distinction between the meaning of a given linguistic expression and the speakers' intention in using it. We should keep in mind that expressions have meanings even if they are not being used; but it is by using the expressions that one expresses meaning. starting sirst as a unit of communication, it then turns to a unit of discourse. Performing different speech acts may involve all different kinds of odd and deviant structures with no strict rules. In the present study, the gathered data was analyzed to explain the interlocutor's underlying motivation for using different strategies. These strategies explain for how different variables set limits on the manipulative process of asking for a favor. Investigating the underlying motivations in relation to the highly selective speech act of 'asking for a favor' is crucial to account for using different strategies. The three wh-questions of 'how', 'why' and 'from whom' highlight the demands of our social structure as how to behave properly. Delving in to the process of 'favor-asking' can also reflect the social values of the society in which we live in. This, in turn sheds light on how the surrounding environment generates different patterns of social acts. The analysis of the data revealed that social power served as a controlling factor to impose limitations on 'asking for a favor'. The force of the request was strongly determined by the power hierarchy (having equal, more or less power). Distance, examined in terms of familiarity between the interlocutors, was another influential factor. Interaction with strangers, with unfamiliarity as a core element, brought about positive distance. On the contrary, familiarity between friends and family members caused negative distance. The degree of imposition was another influential factor affecting the degree of elaboration in asking for a favor. The more the inequality and distance between the speakers, the more elaboration in asking for a favor. Put it in a nutshell, Persian interlocutors realized that asking a favor requires applying the right strategies. The interlocutors were well aware of the importance of correct linguistic forms to observe the rules of politeness.

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This study has its own limitations and leaves open the way for further research in that the number of factors analyzed were confined to a limited number of recorded SMS. Therefore, increasing the number of samples under scrutiny can add to the validity of the data. In spite of the fact that the data elicitation method is authentic, it is by no means the perfect one. In fact, the ethnographic approach which aims to collect data with a concern for paradigmatic features is considered the best. Further research can focus on para-linguistic features like voice, intonation and the durance of the pauses.

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Drew, P. and Curl, T. (2007). “Conversation Analysis,” in Advances in Discourse Studies, V. Bhatia, J. Flowerdew, and R. Jones, Eds. London: Routledge. Ermida, I. (2006). Linguistic mechanisms of power in nineteen eighty-Four: Applying politeness theory to Orwell’s world. Journal of Pragmatics, 38, 842–862. Fasold, R. (1990). Sociolinguistics of Language. Oxford: Blackwell. Filho, M. D. S. (1984). Language and Action. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamin's Publishing Company. Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual, Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual. Penguin, Harmondsworth. Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face to face behavior. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Golato, A. (2003). Studying compliment responses: A comparison of DCTs and recordings of naturally occurring talk. Applied Linguistics, 24, 90-121. Goldschmidt, M. (1993). For the favor of asking: A sociolinguistic analysis. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Goldschmidt, M. (1996). From the addressee's perspective: Imposition in favor-asking. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 241256). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Goldschmidt, M. (1998). Do me a favor: A descriptive analysis of favor asking sequences in American English. Journal of Pragmatics. 29, 129-153. Kasper, G., & Dahl, M. (1991). Research methods in interlanguage pragmatics. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. Kasper, G., & Rose, K. (2002). Pragmatics development in a second language. Oxford: Blackwell. Lakoff, R. (1973). The logic of politeness, or minding your p's and q's. Chicago Linguistic Society, 9, 292–305. Larina, T. (2005). Cultural values and negative politeness in English and Russian. General and Theoretical Papers, Essen: LAUD 2006. Universitat Duisburg-Essen. (No. 647). Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. London: Longman. Martiny, T. (1996). Forms of address in French and Dutch: a sociopragmatic approach. Language Sciences 18, 3.4: 765-775. Mills, S. (2003). Gender and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Paulston, Christina B. (1976). Pronouns of Address in Swedish: Social Class Semantics and a Changing System. Language in Society 5, 3: 359-386.

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Pomerantz, A. (1984). Agreeing and disagreeing with assessments: Some features of preferred/dispreferred turn shapes. In Atkinson, J. and Heritage, J., editors, Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, pages 57–101. Cambridge University Press. Rasekh, A. E. (2012). Eliciting Persian requests: DCT and role play data. World Journal of Education, 2(3), 80-86. Sanders R. E. (1987). Cognitive Foundations of Calculated Speech – Controlling and Understanding in Conversation and Persuation. Albany: State University of New York Press. Schegloff, E. A. and Sacks, H. (1973). Opening up closings. Semiotica, VIII(4):290–327. Scollon, R., Scollon, S. (2001). Intercultural Communication, second ed. Blackwell, Malden, MA. Searle, J. R. (1976). A classification of illocutionary acts. Language in Society, 5, 1-14. Searle John R. (1992). “Conversation”. In John R. Searle et al., (On) Searle on conversation. Amsterdam: Benjamins.7-29. Searle, J. R. and Vanderveken, D. (1985) Foundations of Illocutionary Logic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sifianou, M. (1992). Politeness phenomena in England and Greece: A cross cultural perspective. Spencer-Oatey, H. (2000). Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk across Cultures. London: Continuum. Strecker, I. (1993). Cultural variations in the concept of “face”. Multilingua, 12, 119 –141. Tran, G. Q. (2004). Revisioning methodologies in cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 4(1), 25-49. Tran, G. Q. (2006). The nature and conditions of pragmatic and discourse transfer investigated through naturalized role-play. Munich: Lincom Europa. Vanderveken, D. (1992). “La théorie des actes de discours et l’analyse de la conversation”. Cahiers de Linguistique Française 13. 9-61. Vanderveken, D. (1994). “Principles of speech act theory”. Cahiers d’épistémologie 9202, Montréal: UQAM. Watts, Richard J. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Title A Comparative Study of Idioms Translation in three English-Persian Dictionaries with an Orientation of Naturalness, Quality, and Style Authors Ali Akbar Khomeijani Farahani (Ph.D) University of Tehran, Iran Atefeh Mashayekhi Kerahroodi (M.A) Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Iran

Biodata Ali Akbar Khomeijani Farahani, assistant professor of English and Linguistics in the English department of University of Tehran. His research interests include Discourse Analysis and Systemic Functional Linguistics. He has taught extensively in these areas at MA and PhD levels and has produced many papers with his students and alone. Atefeh Mashayekhi kerahroodi, M.A in Translation studies from Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch. Her areas of interest are translation form Persian into English and vice versa and she is an English teacher now.

Abstract Idioms are normal part of our language use and we rarely notice how vastly we use them in our everyday speaking and writing. As there are so many idioms in all languages, these language-fixed expressions are worth studying. The aim of this study was to analyze the translation of idioms collected from three dictionaries: Aryanpur, Millennium, and Pooya. The translation of idioms was compared in terms of Naturalness, quality and style. The analysis has showed that Naturalness feature has got the score of 70 in Millennium, the Quality 56, and the Style receives the score of 46. In Pooya, Naturalness has received the score of 82, Quality 67 and Style 53. Finally, in Aryanpur, Naturalness has got the score of 81, Quality 66, and Style 66. Thus, it can be concluded that the three dictionaries consider the Naturalness of the idioms as the most important feature. The compilers give the second priority to the Quality of the translation of idioms. Finally, they consider the Style of the idioms as the least important factor. Keywords: Idioms, Naturalness, Quality, Style Iranian EFL Journal

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1.Introduction Despite the extensive research on translation and challenges on translation of figurative language, in particular idioms, little is achieved to solve the challenges. Idioms are considered to be as one of the hardest and most interesting parts of English vocabulary. On one hand, they are considered as one of the most peculiar parts of the language; on the other hand, they are difficult because of their unpredictable meaning. Moreover, idioms are culture bound and this may cause great problems for translators. Therefore, in order to transfer a source language idiom into the target language, translators must choose the most appropriate strategy. It is noteworthy to state that the examination and evaluation of strategies applied in translating idioms are very useful for the translators. As idioms are part of culture, people may not understand the meaning of an idiom because the meaning of an idiom cannot be determined by knowing the meaning of the words that form it and some translators are not familiar with methods and strategies of translating idioms. Therefore, they delete some linguistic elements. Consequently, there is a need to do research in this area of translation. Why are idioms important and worth studying? Because idioms are common part of normal everyday language use. They are also fascinating parts of the language. As Fernando (1996, p. 25) states “idioms not only ensure that our communication is coherent and cohesive, but they also produce discourse that is socially acceptable as well as precise, lively and interesting”. 2. Translation of Idioms In all languages, there are a great number of expressions whose meaning cannot be deduced from the individual words of the phrase. Since each language has its own way of expressing certain things, idiomatic expressions are always language-and culture-specific. An expression in one language may not exist in some other languages, or the language may have a very different expression to convey the same meaning. This is why translation of idioms may sometimes be problematic. Due to the language-specific nature of idioms, their translation sometimes can be somewhat challenging. Idioms must be recognized, understood and analyzed before appropriate translation method can be considered. One must, first of all, be able to spot idioms from a text. It is very important that a translator recognizes an idiom when he sees it. The ability to identify idioms is importance because their meaning should never be understood literally. Concerning the identification of idioms, Larson (1984, p.143) states that “the first step in the translation of idioms Iranian EFL Journal

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is to be absolutely certain of the meaning of the source language idiom”. Therefore, the most important issue in translating idioms is the ability to distinguish the difference between the literal meaning and the real meaning of the expression. This is why recognizing and being able to use idioms appropriately requires excellent command over the source language. Various ways were suggested for translation of idioms among which Baker’s (1992) strategies seems more comprehensive. There are mentioned in the following: • Using an idiom of similar meaning and form • Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form • Paraphrasing, where the expression is often reduced to sense and translation loss occurs • Omission, if the idiom has no close match and paraphrase is either difficult or results in clumsy style 3. In Which Text and Context Do Idioms Occur? Idioms are applied in both spoken and written language, and are often used in newspaper articles. They are frequently used by native speakers, who feel the language at inborn genetic level. Scott Thornbury believed that idioms apply in specific contexts more frequently than others. They are being used more often in informal spoken than in formal written language, and often with an interpersonal function. The written texts which use a lot of idioms are conversational in tone as in Magazine horoscopes (2006). 4. Use of Idioms Any kind of language is not always appropriate in all occasions. In case where a writer or a speaker uses idiomatic language, s/he usually focuses attention on his shared cultural beliefs with the members of his/her community, and the kind of audience his speech is directed to. In this respect, s/he knows that it is not at ease to deliver a message using figurative language, and to have the same effect on the target reader as it is in the SL. This is mainly because unawareness of the connotations of a given expression or phrase may cause serious problems for the people being addressed. Idioms are also different and each one has a specific context to occur in. Standard idioms for example, are suitable for formal situations, while slang and informal ones are used in normal situations. Native speakers of a language can easily know the different uses of idioms and avoid the pitfalls of inappropriate ones. In case of non-native speakers, it will be better for them to learn idioms of the language the way they learn its other vocabularies, and try to master their appropriate contextual uses. Iranian EFL Journal

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5. Naturalness Naturalness is a reader –oriented approach and can be checked at both macro and micro structural level (Lambert and Vangorp, 1985). In order to judge about naturalness of translation, the norms of target language are considered as the scales of evaluation. We can determine the degree of the naturalness of a translated text by taking into consideration the syntactic structure and collocation in the target language. 6. Quality Quality of translation is “the quality of the writing has to be judged in relation to the author’s intention and/or the requirements of the subject matter” ( , 1998a p.15). In other words, we can determine the degree of the quality of the translated text by considering the original writer’s intention.

7. Style It means everything about your way of presenting yourself in words, including “grace, clarity, and a thousand indefinable qualities that separate good writing from bad” (Lynch, 2001, p.13). According to Abram (1993), “Generally style is used as an umbrella term for stylistic features including connotation, structure, rhythm and general sonic effects together with their interaction with each other to produce a certain general tone or register” (pp.203-4). To put another way, we ask the question of whether, the translation of the idioms have the same style (formal/informal) as the source language. 8. Methodology 8.1 Corpus The researcher chose three English-Persian dictionaries as the corpus of the study. These three English-Persian dictionaries are as follows: 1) AryanpurKashani, M. (2002).The aryanpur progressive English-Persian dictionary. Tehran: Compwrid 2) Bateni,M.R.(2009).Farhangmoaserpooya. Tehran. Farhangmoaser publishers. 3) Haghshenas, A. M. ,Samei, H. ,and Entekhabi, N. (2006). Millennium English-Persian dictionary. Tehran. Farhangmoaser publishers. 8.2 Design

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The method of investigation is a corpus-based study which has a descriptive approach and we did a contrastive analysis of English idioms with their Persian counterparts and then compared the frequency of features employed by the translators. To conduct the study, the researcher first examines three English-Persian dictionaries to compare idioms translation. The source text is selected purposely. 8.3 Procedure The current research was done through several steps as follows: firstly, the researcher would specify thirty idioms from each dictionary. Then, the Persian translation of each English idiom was found from the corpus. After that in order to compare the English idioms with the Persian ones, English idioms were put into three separate tables with their Persian equivalence written in front of them. In the last step the researcher would show that idioms translation is in qualitative, style and natural ways. 9. Results and discussion Having listed English idioms and their Persian counterparts, the researcher launched to analyze and classify the data. The following tables and figures show the findings and statistical figures obtained for each dictionary. Table 1. Idioms translated in Aryanpur Dictionary No Idiom

Persian Translation

Naturalness

Quality

Style

Total

1

Keep one’s ground

‫استقامت کردن‬

3

3

3

9

2

Split hairs

‫موشکافی کردن‬

3

2

3

8

Be green with envy

‫از شدت حسادت رنگ به رنگ‬ ‫شدن‬

2

2

2

3

6

4

Fly into a rage

‫از جا دررفتن‬

2

1

1

4

5

Sit on the fence

‫بیطرف بودن‬

3

3

3

9

Fend for oneself

‫بدون کمک به کار خود ادامه‬ 3

2

3

3

1

1

6

7

‫دادن‬ Feather one’s (own) ‫لفت و لیس کردن‬ nest

8

5

8

Without fail

‫البته‬

3

2

3

8

9

Fall for

‫خاطر خواه شدن‬

2

2

2

6

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10

Make a face

‫ادا در آوردن‬

3

1

1

5

11

See eye to eye

‫همعقیده بودن‬

3

3

3

9

12

Ever so

‫بینهایت‬

3

2

3

8

3

3

2

‫کردن‬

3

2

2

13

14

Make

(both)

ends ‫به اندازهی درآمد خرج کردن‬

meet Dwell upon sth

‫روی چیزی زیاد بحث یا تکیه‬

8

7

15

Drum up

‫بازارگرمی کردن‬

3

2

2

7

16

Go down the drain

‫به هدر رفته‬

3

2

1

6

17

On the dot

‫درست سر وقت‬

2

2

2

6

18

Down and out

‫در فالکت‬

2

2

1

5

19

Do's and don'ts

‫چیزهای موجه و غیرموجه‬

1

2

3

6

20

Die out

‫منسوخ شدن‬

3

3

3

9

21

Day in day out

‫هر روز‬

3

3

3

9

22

Cut and dried

‫مالل آور‬

3

2

1

6

23

Cut corners

‫صرفهجویی کردن‬

3

3

2

8

24

Chicken out

‫ترسیدن‬

3

2

2

7

25

Take advantage of sb

‫از فرصت استفاده کردن‬

3

2

2

7

26

Come of age

‫به سن بلوغ رسیدن‬

3

3

2

8

27

In the air

‫نامعلوم‬

3

2

2

7

28

All in all

‫به طور کلی‬

2

2

3

7

29

Back out

‫عهدشکنی کردن‬

3

3

3

9

30

Be in the clear

)‫آزاد (از قید یا گرفتگی‬

2

2

2

6

Table 2. Idioms translated in Pooya Dictionary No Idiom

Persian Translation

Naturalness Quality Style

Total

1

Keep one’s ground

‫سر حرف خود ایستادن‬

2

2

1

5

2

Split hairs

‫مته به خشخاش گذاشتن‬

3

2

1

6

3

Be green with envy

‫حسادت ورزیدن‬

3

3

3

9

4

Fly into a rage

‫کفری شدن‬

3

2

1

6

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‫‪7‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫موضع بیطرفی گرفتن‬

‫‪Sit on the fence‬‬

‫‪5‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫گلیم خود را از آب بیرون کشیدن‬

‫‪Fend for oneself‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪nest‬‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫بدون استثنا‬

‫‪Without fail‬‬

‫‪8‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫عاشق کسی شدن‬

‫‪Fall for‬‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫‪5‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫به کسی دهن کجی کردن‬

‫‪Make a face‬‬

‫‪10‬‬

‫‪8‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫موافق بودن‬

‫‪See eye to eye‬‬

‫‪11‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫تا دلت بخواهد‬

‫‪Ever so‬‬

‫‪12‬‬

‫‪7‬‬

‫دخل و خرج زندگی را با هم جور ‪ends‬‬

‫)‪(both‬‬

‫‪Make‬‬

‫‪13‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫کردن‬

‫‪meet‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫انگشت گذاشتن روی‬

‫‪Dwell upon sth‬‬

‫‪14‬‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫جلب کردن‬

‫‪Drum up‬‬

‫‪15‬‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫بر باد فنا رفتن‬

‫‪Go down the drain‬‬

‫‪16‬‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫ر ًاس ساعت‬

‫‪On the dot‬‬

‫‪17‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫بی خانمان‬

‫‪Down and out‬‬

‫‪18‬‬

‫‪7‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫بایدها و نبایدها‬

‫‪Do's and don'ts‬‬

‫‪19‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫ریشهکن کردن‬

‫‪Die out‬‬

‫‪20‬‬

‫‪5‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫هر روز خدا‬

‫‪Day in day out‬‬

‫‪21‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫بی چون و چرا‬

‫‪Cut and dried‬‬

‫‪22‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫سرهمبندی کردن‬

‫‪Cut corners‬‬

‫‪23‬‬

‫‪4‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫جا زدن‬

‫‪Chicken out‬‬

‫‪24‬‬

‫‪7‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫از کسی سوء استفاده کردن‬

‫‪Take advantage of sb‬‬

‫‪25‬‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫به سن قانونی رسیدن‬

‫‪Come of age‬‬

‫‪26‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪449‬‬

‫بار خود را بستن )‪Feather one’s (own‬‬

‫‪7‬‬

‫(وجود چیزی) در فضا احساس‬

‫‪27‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫شدن‬

‫‪In the air‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫روی هم رفته‬

‫‪All in all‬‬

‫‪28‬‬

‫‪6‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫دبه در آوردن‬

‫‪Back out‬‬

‫‪29‬‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫‪3‬‬

‫بیگناه بودن‬

‫‪Be in the clear‬‬

‫‪30‬‬

‫‪Iranian EFL Journal‬‬

Table 3. Idioms translated in Millennium Dictionary No Idiom

Persian Translation

Naturalness Quality Style

Total

1

Keep one’s ground

‫کوتاه نیامدن‬

3

1

2

6

2

Split hairs

‫ماللغتی شدن‬

1

1

1

3

3

Be green with envy

‫از حسادت ترکیدن‬

1

1

1

3

4

Fly into a rage

‫از کوره در رفتن‬

3

2

1

6

5

Sit on the fence

‫خود را کنار کشیدن‬

1

2

2

5

6

Fend for oneself

‫روی پای خود ایستادن‬

2

2

1

5

3

2

1

Feather one’s (own) ‫جیب خود را پر کردن‬

6

7

nest

8

Without fail

‫بی برو برگرد‬

3

2

1

6

9

Fall for

‫گیر کردن‬... ‫گلوی (کسی) پیش‬

3

1

1

5

10

Make a face

(‫برای کسی( قیافه گرفتن‬

3

3

2

5

11

See eye to eye

‫یکدل بودن‬

3

2

2

7

12

Ever so

‫هر چی بخواهی‬

2

2

1

5

Make (both) ends meet

‫به اندازهی جیب خود خرج‬ ‫کردن‬

3

2

1

13

6

14

Dwell upon sth

‫دل مشغول بودن‬

2

1

1

4

15

Drum up

‫دست و پا کردن‬

1

1

1

3

16

Go down the drain

‫ضایع شدن‬

2

2

3

7

17

On the dot

‫سر موقع‬

2

2

2

6

18

Down and out

‫آدم آس و پاس‬

2

1

1

4

19

Do's and don'ts

‫بکن نکن‬

1

1

1

3

20

Die out

‫منقرض شدن‬

3

3

3

9

21

Day in day out

‫روزهای پیاپی‬

2

2

1

5

22

Cut and dried

‫ساخته و پرداخته‬

3

3

3

9

23

Cut corners

‫میانبر زدن‬

2

2

1

5

24

Chicken out

‫منصرف شدن‬

3

3

2

8

25

Take advantage of sb

‫کسی را گول زدن‬

3

1

1

5

26

Come of age

‫بالغ شدن‬

3

2

2

7

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27

In the air

‫پا در هوا‬

3

2

1

6

28

All in all

‫بر روی هم‬

1

2

2

5

29

Back out

‫شانه خالی کردن‬

3

2

1

6

30

Be in the clear

‫تبرئه شدن‬

3

3

3

9

Graph1.

Total score of the features in the Millennium Dictionary.

Dictionary

Naturalness

Quality

Style

Millennium

70

56

46

Millennium Dictionary

Style 27% 27 Quality 32% Figure 1. Total score percentages of the features in the Millennium Dictionary Graph1 and figure1 show the total score with regard to the three features of naturalness, quality and style in the Millennium Dictionary. The highest percentage goes to naturalness which is 41%. The quality feature enjoys 32% and the lowest percentage which is 27% belongs to the feature of style.

Graph2.

Total score of the features in the Pooya Dictionary.

Dictionary

Naturalness

Quality

Style

Pooya

82

67

53

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Figure 2.Total score percentages of the features in the Pooya Dictionary. Graph 2 and figure2 show the total score with regard to the three features of naturalness, quality and style in the Pooya Dictionary. The highest percentage goes to naturalness which is 41%. The quality feature enjoys 33% and the lowest percentage which is 26% belongs to the feature of style. Graph3.

Total score of the features in the Aryanpur Dictionary.

Dictionary

Naturalness

Quality

Style

Aryanpur

81

66

66

Figure3.

Total score percentages of the features in the Aryanpur Dictionary

Graph 3 and figure3 show the total score with regard to the three features of naturalness, quality and style in the Aryanpur Dictionary. The highest percentage goes to naturalness which is 38%. The quality and style features are the same. They are 31%.

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Table 4.Total score of Naturalness, Quality, and Style in 3 dictionaries. Dictionary

Naturalness

Quality

Style

Millennium

70

56

46

Pooya

82

67

53

Table 4 shows that Naturalness feature has received the score of 70 in Millennium Dictionary, the score of 82 in Pooya Dictionary, and the score of 81 in Aryanpur Dictionary. This shows that Aryanpur Dictionary enjoys the highest score for Naturalness feature among the three dictionaries selected as the corpus of this study. The score of the Quality feature is the highest for Pooya Dictionary. Finally, the score for the feature of Style is 66 in Aryanpur Dictionary which is the highest. Based in this result we can conclude that to Pooya Dictionary the most important feature is Naturalness, and the least important feature is Style. In fact this conclusion also applies to the other two dictionaries.

10.Conclusion The aim of this study was to analyze the translation of idioms collected from three dictionaries: Aryanpur, Millennium, and Pooya. The translation of idioms in each dictionary was compared in terms of Naturalness, quality and style. The analysis has showed that Naturalness feature has got the score of 70 in Millennium Dictionary, the Quality feature 56, and the Style receives the score of 46. In Pooya, Naturalness has received the score of 82, Quality 67 and Style 53. Finally, in Aryanpur, Naturalness has got the score of 81, Quality 66, and Style has got the score of 66. Thus, it can be concluded that the three dictionaries which provided the data of this study consider the Naturalness of the idioms as the most important feature. The compilers of these dictionaries give the second priority to the Quality of the translation of idioms. Finally, the three dictionaries consider the preservation of the Style of the idioms which are translated as the least important factor.

References Abrams, M.H. (1993) A Glossary of Literary Terms, Orlando, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. AryanpurKashani, M. (2002).The aryanpur progressive English-Persian dictionary. Tehran: Compwrid Baker, M. (1992).In other words: A coursebook in translation. London: Routledge. Bateni,M.R.(2009).Farhangmoaserpooya. Tehran. Farhangmoaser publishers. Fernando, C. (1996). Idioms and idiomaticity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Haghshenas, A. M. ,Samei, H. ,and Entekhabi, N. (2006). Millennium English-Persian dictionary. Tehran. Farhangmoaser publishers. Lamber, J. and Van Grop, H. (1985).On describing translation, in the manipulation of literature: Studies in literary translation, ed. by T. Lynch, Jack (2001) Guide to Grammar and Style, at :WWW.Andromedia. Rutgers.edu [accessed November 20th, 2007] Larson, M.L. (1984). Meaning based translation: A guide to cross-Language equivalence. Lanham, NewYork& London: University Press of America. Newmark, p. (1998).Paragraphs on Translation. Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters Limited.

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Title Apology Strategies Used by Azeri-Persian Bilinguals in Persian Authors Ali Akbar Ansarin (Ph.D) Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran Abdolreza Khalili (Ph.D Candidate) Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

Biodata Ali Akbar Ansarin, associate professor at University of Tabriz. His research interests include second language acquisition and psycholinguistics. Abdolreza Khalili, Ph.D candidate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at University of Tabriz. He received his M.A. degree from University of Tabriz. Currently, he is teaching general English courses at University of Tabriz. His research interests include pragmatics and discourse studies.

Abstract Speech act strategies have been extensively researched in the field of pragmatics. However, few studies have investigated the speech act strategy use of bilingual speakers in the context of the second language. The present study investigated the realization patterns of apology (intensification) strategies of native Persian speakers and AzeriPersian bilinguals in Persian. The sample involved 60 native Persian speakers and 60 Azeri-Persian bilinguals. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) was employed to gather data from both groups of participants. The results revealed that Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID) and acknowledgment of responsibility were respectively the first and the second most frequent apology strategies for both groups of speakers. Furthermore, based on the results, intensifying expression and expressing concern for the hearer were the most frequent apology intensification strategies for both native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals. However, despite the overall similarity in the preferences of these groups of speakers, the results of data analysis revealed that there were statistically significant differences between their uses of apology (intensification)

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strategies. It was concluded that even very advanced learners like Azeri-Persian bilinguals may not perform apologies like native Persian speakers. Keywords: speech act theory, apology strategy, apology intensification, Azeri-Persian bilingual

1. Introduction Learning the pragmatic aspects of a second or foreign language is a major challenge for learners, since as Austin (1962) argued it involves the learning of the functions of second language utterances together with their appropriate uses in different social situations. According to BardoviHarlig and Dornyei (1998, p. 234) “research into the pragmatic competence of adult foreign and second language learners has demonstrated convincingly that the pragmatics of learners and native speakers are often quite different. Research has further shown that grammatical development does not guarantee a corresponding level of pragmatic development”. As they further argued the pragmatic knowledge of second language learners cannot be determined based on their grammatical knowledge. This issue suggests a clear need for research regarding the pragmatic behavior of second language learners in the course of their linguistic development. According to Ellis (2008) second language researchers have been mostly concerned with speech acts in pragmatic studies. As Austin, (1962) argued speech acts are actions that language users perform through the use of language such as requesting, asserting, ordering, or apologizing. The speech act of apology has attracted a lot of attention in interlanguage pragmatic studies (Ellis, 2008). As Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984, p. 206) stated “by apologizing the speaker recognizes the fact that a violation of a social norm has been committed and admits to the fact that s/he is at least partially involved in its cause. Hence by their very nature apologies involve loss of face for the speaker and support for the hearer”. As Ellis (2008) argued, apology is a face-saving speech act, and its linguistic realization strategies do not vary among different languages to a large degree. Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984) in a paper reported the Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Pattern (CCARP) project which aimed to determine the patterns for the realization of request and apology speech acts among different languages, and also tried to reveal the similarities and differences between the realization patterns of these acts for native and non-native speakers of the studied languages. This project has motivated a large number of cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics studies regarding the speech act of apology. Iranian EFL Journal

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As Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984, p. 196) stated, cross-cultural pragmatics studies aim to reveal the extent to which it is “possible to determine the degree to which the rules that govern the use of language in context vary from culture to culture and from language to language”. According to Kasper and Schmidt (1996, p. 150), interlanguage pragmatics is “the study of the development and use of strategies for linguistic action by non-native speakers”. In interlanguage pragmatics “focus is given to the ways non-native speakers’ pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge differs from that of native speakers and among learners with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds” (Kasper & Schmidt, 1996, p. 150). A number of the cross-cultural studies of apology have investigated the apology strategies used by native speakers of different languages such as Romanian (Demeter, 2006), Chinese (Hou, 2006; Shih, 2006) Arabic (Al-Zumor, 2011), British English and Persian (Chamani & Zareipur, 2010), Persian (Karimnia & Afghari, 2012; Shahrokhi & Mohd Jan, 2012; Shariati & Chamani, 2010), and Spanish (González-Cruz, 2012; Wagner, 1999). Considering interlanguage pragmatics studies of apology, a majority of these studies have explored the similarities and differences between the use of apology strategies of native English speakers and non-native learners of English from a variety of first language backgrounds (e.g. AlZumor, 2011; Farashaiyan & Yazdi Amirkhiz, 2011; Linnell, Porter, Stone, & Chen, 1992; Mirzaei, Roohani, & Esmaeili,2012; Tamimi Sa’da & Mohammadi, 2014). Other interlanguage pragmatics studies have investigated the similarities and differences in the apology realization patterns of native and non-native speakers of different western languages (e.g. Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984). Most of these studies have explored the apology strategy use of different groups of non-native learners of western languages especially English. However, despite this focus on western languages as the target languages in interlanguage pragmatics studies, there is a dearth of research regarding the apology strategy use of the non-native learners of non-western languages, and more research studies are required to provide information about this issue. Persian is a non-western language, and as the official language of Iran is spoken and used by the majority of the country’s people including native speakers of other languages spoken in Iran. Azeri is one of these languages and is mainly used in the North-West of Iran. Although Azeri speakers (especially the educated ones) are fluent in the use of Persian, and are mostly referred to

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as Azeri-Persian bilinguals, their pragmatic knowledge and behavior including their use of appropriate speech act strategies in Persian is open to question. A review of literature reveals that no research study has been conducted regarding the use of Persian apology strategies by Azeri-Persian bilinguals and there is an apparent need for research regarding this issue. Therefore the present study intends to explore the similarities and differences between the Persian apology strategy use of Persian native speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals. More specifically, the present study aims to find answers to the following questions: 1. What are the most frequent apology (intensification) strategies used by native Persian speakers? 2. What are the most frequent apology (intensification) strategies used by Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian? 3. Are there any differences between the apology (intensification) strategies used by native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian?

2. Method 2.1. Participants The participants of this study were 60 native Persian speakers and 60 Azeri-Persian bilinguals ranging in age from 20 to 32. In both of these groups half of the participants were male and half female. All of the participants were students of X and were selected from B.A., M.A, and PhD levels from different majors of this university. The participants were selected from among twohundred informants based on their reported mother tongue in the personal information section of the instrument of the study. That is only those informants whose reported native language was Azeri or Persian were selected to be the participants of the study. 2.2. Materials The following instruments were employed in this study: 2.2.1. Discourse Completion Test The main instrument of the present study was the original Discourse Completion Test (DCT) developed by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984) for the CCARP project. According to Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984), a DCT is a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions the answers to which reveal the patterns for the realization of a certain speech act for the speakers of a specific language. The employed DCT consists of eight situations which “vary on the social parameters of +/- social distance and +/- dominance” (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984, p. 198). A personal Iranian EFL Journal

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information section was also added to the DCT in which the informants were asked to report their mother tongue, age, gender, major, and educational level. For the purpose of the study the DCT was translated into Persian with very slight modifications (see Appendix A), and was distributed among two-hundred informants from B.A., M.A, and PhD levels of different majors in the *** to select the participants of the study and also to gather their responses to the DCT situations. 2.2.2. Coding Schemes Two coding schemes were employed in this study, one was for analyzing the apology strategies of the participants, and the other for analyzing their apology intensification strategies. From among the various coding schemes for the speech act of apology (e.g. Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Sugimoto, 1997), the scheme developed by Olshtain and Cohen (1983) was used in this study, because Olshtain and Cohen (1983) claim that this scheme is based on actual realization patterns of the apology strategies across the studied languages and as a result is regarded to be a valid instrument in determining the apology strategy use of speakers of different languages. In this scheme, there are two possibilities for the speaker in the speech act of apology: I: If the speaker accepts the responsibility for insulting the hearer, s/he may apologize by a number of different strategies. These strategies along with examples taken from Olshtain and Cohen (1983) are provided below. First the transliterated versions of the Persian strategies are provided in italicized form. Next the literal translations and English equivalents of these Persian strategies are given below them. 1. An expression of apology a. An expression of regret, for example: Transliteration:

moteasefam.

Literal translation:

Sorry I am.

English equivalent:

‘I’m sorry.’

b. An offer of apology, for example: Transliteration:

ozr/mazerat

mixam.


Apology

I want

English equivalent:

‘I apologize.’

c. A request for forgiveness, for example: Transliteration:

Lotfan

mano

bebaxshid.


Please

me

you forgive

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English equivalent:

‘Please forgive me.’

2. An explanation or account of the situation, for example: Transliteration:

otubus

dir

kard.


The bus

late

was

English equivalent:

‘The bus was late.’

3. An acknowledgment of responsibility a. Accepting the blame, for example: Transliteration:

tagsire

mane.


Fault

my is

English equivalent:

‘It’s my fault.’

b. Expressing self-deficiency, for example: Transliteration:

havasam

nabud.


My attention was not with me

English equivalent:

‘I wasn’t thinking.’

c. Recognizing the other person as deserving apology, for example: Transliteration:

hag

ba

shoma hast.


Rightness

with

you

English equivalent:

‘You are right.’

is

d. Expressing lack of intent, for example: Translation:

Manzuri

nadashtam.


Intention

did not I have

English equivalent:

‘I didn’t mean to.’

4. An offer of repair, for example: Transliteration:

man

pule

goldane


I

money of

English equivalent:

‘I’ll pay for the broken vase.’

vase

shekastaro

midam.

broken

will pay

5. A promise of forbearance, for example: Transliteration:

dige

tekrar

nemishe.


Again repetition

English equivalent:

‘It won’t happen again.’

it will not be

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II: If the speaker does not accept the responsibility for an apology, s/he may reply by the following two strategies: 1. A denial of the need to apologize, for example: Transliteration:

nabayad


Must not

narahat

mishodi.

insulted you became

English equivalent: ‘There was no need for you to get insulted.’ 2. A denial of responsibility a. Not accepting the blame, for example: Transliteration:

tagsire

man

nabud.


Fault

my

was not it

English equivalent:

‘It wasn’t my fault.’

b. Blaming the other participant for bringing the offense upon him/herself, for example: Transliteration:

tagsire

khodete.


Fault

is yours

English equivalent:

‘It’s your own fault.’

For analyzing the apology intensification strategies the framework developed by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984) was selected for data analysis in this study. Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984, p. 208) summarize these intensifier devices along with some examples as follows: 1. An intensifying expression within the IFID, a. adverbials, for example : Transliteration:

xeyli

moteasefam.


Very

sorry I am

English equivalent:

‘I’m very……sorry.’

b. repetition or double intensifier, for example: Transliteration:

xeyli

xeyli

moteasefam.


Terribly

terribly

sorry I am

English equivalent:

‘I’m terribly terribly sorry.’

2. Expressing explicit concern for the hearer—externally to the IFID, for example: Transliteration:

xeyli

montazer

mundi?


Long

waiting

English equivalent:

‘Have you been waiting long?’

you were?

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3. Using multiple strategies +/- IFIDs and any one or more of the four other strategies. In this coding scheme IFID refers to an Illocutionary Force Indicating Device which as BlumKulka and Olshtain (1984, p. 206) stated, is “the most direct realization of an apology” and “selects a routinized formulaic expression of regret” (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984, p. 206). As Ellis (2008) argued IFIDs are the same devices which are included in the expression of apology category of the coding scheme developed by Olshtain and Cohen (1983). 2.3. Design The DCT used in this study consisted of eight open-ended questions which aimed to determine the realization patterns of the apology speech act of native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals. Considering the data collection and data analysis procedures of the present study, it is apparent that it followed a survey design. 2.4. Procedures In order to achieve the aims of the study, first the DCT developed by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984), was translated into Persian with very slight modifications and was distributed among twohundred students from B.A., M.A, and PhD levels of different majors in the ***. In addition a personal information section was added to the DCT to gather demographic information of the participants including their mother tongue, age, gender, major, and educational level. Next based on the reported mother tongue of the informants, 60 native Persian speakers (30 male & 30 female) and 60 Azeri-Persian bilinguals (30 male & 30 female) were selected and their DCT responses were analyzed. SPSS 20 was used for analyzing the data of the study. First the frequency and percentage of apology strategies used by native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals were determined. Then chi-square tests were conducted to reveal whether there were any statistically significant differences in the frequency of apology (intensification) strategies used by these groups of speakers.

3. Results The first and the second research questions of the study focused on the most frequent apology strategy used by native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian. The frequency and percentage of the apology strategies used by these groups of speakers are summarized in Table 1. Iranian EFL Journal

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As Table 1 shows IFID with 300 times of occurrence was the most frequent apology strategy used by Persian native speakers (62.4%). The second most frequent strategy was acknowledgment of responsibility with 100 times of occurrence (20.7%). Moreover a closer look at the subcategories of IFID reveals that offer of apology with 102 times of occurrence (21.2%) was the most frequent IFID used by these speakers. On the other hand, promise of forbearance as the least frequent strategy was used 9 times (1.9%). Table 1 Frequency and Percentage of Apology Strategies of Native Persian Speakers and Azeri-Persian Bilinguals Strategy Type

Native

Azeri-Persian

Persians

bilinguals F (%)

F (%) 1. An expression of apology (IFIDs) a. An expression of regret

36 (7.5)

23 (4.8)

b. An offer of apology

102 (21.2)

98 (20.4)

c. A request for forgiveness

88 (18.3)

106 (22.1)

d. An expression of embarrassment

74 (15.4)

90 (18.8)

2. An explanation or account of the situation

45 (9.6)

22 (4.5)

a. Accepting the blame

13 (2.7)

11 (2.3)

b. Expressing self-deficiency

10 (2.1)

10 (2.1)

3. An acknowledgment of responsibility

c. Recognizing the other person as deserving

5 (1.0)

7 (1.5)

apology d. Expressing lack of intent

41 (8.5)

36 (7.5)

e. A denial of the need to apologize

12 (2.5)

23 (4.8)

f. Not accepting the blame

5 (1.0)

10 (2.1)

g. Blaming the other participant

14 (2.9)

26 (5.4)

4. An offer of repair

26 (5.4)

12 (2.5)

5. A promise of forbearance

9 (1.9)

6 (1.2)

Total

480 (100)

480 (100)

Furthermore, according to Table 1, IFID with 317 times of occurrence was the most frequent strategy used by Azeri-Persian bilingual speakers (66.1%). The second most frequent strategy category was acknowledgment of responsibility with 123 times of occurrence (25.7%). Moreover, request for forgiveness as the most frequent subcategory of IFID was used 106 times by these Iranian EFL Journal

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speakers (22.1%). An examination of the other strategies reveals that promise of forbearance was the least frequent strategy with 6 times of occurrence (1.2%). Table 2 illustrates the frequency and percentage of the apology intensification strategies used by these groups of speakers. Table 2 Frequency and Percentage of Apology Intensification Strategies of Native Persian Speakers and Azeri-Persian Bilinguals Strategy Type

Native Persians

Azeri-Persian

F (%)

bilinguals F (%)

a. Adverbials

65 (51.6)

76 (58.9)

b. Repetition or double intensifier

7 (5.6)

20 (15.5)

2. Expressing explicit concern for the hearer

42 (33.3)

20 (15.5)

3. Using multiple strategies +/- IFIDs

12 (9.5)

13 (10.1)

Total

126 (100)

129 (100)

1. An intensifying expression

The first and the second research questions also tried to reveal the most frequent apology intensification strategies used by native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian. According to Table 2, intensifying expression with 72 times of occurrence was the most frequent apology intensification strategy used by native Persian speakers (57.2%). Furthermore as the table shows adverbials with 65 times of occurrence (51.6%) were more frequent in this category of apology intensification strategies. The second most frequent intensification strategy of these speakers was expressing explicit concern for the hearer with 42 times of occurrence (33.3%). On the other hand using multiple strategies +/- IFIDs was the least frequent intensification strategy for these speakers. Furthermore, as Table 2 shows, the most frequent intensification strategy for Azeri-Persian bilinguals was intensifying expression with 96 times of occurrence (74.4%). Moreover adverbials with 76 times of occurrence (58.9%) were more frequent in this category of intensification strategies. The second most frequent intensification strategy for these speakers was expressing explicit concern for the hearer with 20 times of occurrence (15.5%). A look at the other strategies shows that using multiple strategies +/- IFIDs’ was the least preferred strategy with 13 times of occurrence (10.1%).

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The third research question of the study tried to determine whether there were any differences between the apology strategies used by native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian. A close look at Table 1 reveals that although the overall preferences of the apology strategies are similar for native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals, there are many differences between the frequencies of the individual apology strategies (along with their subcategories) for these groups of speakers. For example although IFID is the most preferred strategy for both native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals, there are differences in the frequency of its subcategories for these speakers. That is, offer of apology was the most frequent subcategory of IFID for native Persian speakers, while the most frequent subcategory of IFID for Azeri-Persian bilinguals was request for forgiveness. In order to determine whether these differences reached statistical significance a two-way group-independence chi-square test was performed. The results of the chi-square test are summarized in Table 3. Table 3 Chi-Square Test of Apology Strategies of Native Persian Speakers and Azeri-Persian Bilinguals

Chi-Square

Value

df

Sig

29.377

13

.006

As Table 3 shows the differences between the frequencies of the apology strategies used by native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals were statistically significant since the p value .006 (marked as Sig) was less than the level of significance .05. These significant differences are visually represented in Figure 1. 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Frequency of Native Persian Speakers' Aplogy Strategies Frequency of Azeri-Persian Bilinguals' Apology Strategies

Figure 1. Comparison between the apology strategies of native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals Iranian EFL Journal

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The third research question also tried to determine whether the differences between the apology intensification strategies of native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals were statistically significant or not. A look at Table 2 reveals that although the overall preferences of the native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals were similar, there were differences in actual frequencies of the intensification strategies used by these groups of speakers. For example native Persian speakers used repetition 42 times, while the occurrence of this strategy was 20 times for Azeri-Persian bilinguals. In order to determine whether these differences reached statistical significance a two-way group-independence chi-square test was performed. Table 4 illustrates the results of the chi-square test. Table 4 Chi-Square Test of Apology Intensification Strategies of Native Persian Speakers and Azeri-Persian Bilinguals

Chi-Square

Value

df

Sig

14.931

3

.002

As Table 4 shows the differences between the frequencies of the apology intensification strategies used by native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals were statistically significant since the p value .002 (marked as Sig) was less than the level of significance .05. Figure 2 illustrates these significant differences. 80 60 40 20 0 Adverbials

Repetition

Explicit concern for the Using multiple hearer strategies +/- IFIDS Frequency of Native Persian Speakers' Apology Intensification Strategies Frequency of Azeri-Persian Bilinguals' Apology Intensification Strategies

Figure 2. Comparison between the apology intensification strategies of native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals

4. Discussion The first research question of the study tried to determine the most frequent apology (intensification) strategies used by native Persian speakers. The results of the study revealed that Iranian EFL Journal

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IFID with 300 times of occurrence (62.4%), and acknowledgment of responsibility with 100 times of occurrence (20.7%) were respectively the first and the second most frequent strategies for these speakers. On the other hand promise of forbearance as the least frequent strategy was used 9 times (1.9%). These results support the results of studies by, Eslami-Rasekh (2004), Shariati and Chamani, (2010), and Shahrokhi and Mohd Jan, (2012), who also reported the same rank order for the frequency of apology strategies in Persian. There are both similarities and differences between these results and the reported results for apology strategies in other languages. Olshtain (1989, as cited in Shariati & Chamani, 2010) in a comprehensive study similarly found that IFID and acknowledgement of responsibility were the most frequent apology strategies in Canadian French, Hebrew, and Australian English. On the other hand, explanation was the least frequent apology strategy in his study. In Trosborg’s (1987) study acknowledgement of responsibility was the most frequent apology strategy and promise of forbearance the least frequent strategy for Danish speakers. However she reported offer of repair and explanation as the most frequent apology strategies in English. Brown and Levinson (1987, as cited in Ellis, 2008) argued that speakers may employ either positive or negative face-saving strategies in performing various speech acts. As the results of the present study revealed native Persian speakers mostly preferred direct expressions for apologizing by the use of different IFIDs. The use of direct apology strategies by these speakers shows their concern for the negative face of their interlocutors. Therefore, it seems that socio-cultural norms of the Persian language mostly favor negative face-saving strategies. The results of the study further revealed that an offer of apology (ozr/mazerat mixam) with 102 times of occurrence (21.2%) was the most frequent subcategory of IFID for native Persian speakers. The results support Eslami-Rasekh (2004), but not Shariati and Chamani, (2010), and Karimnia and Afghari (2012) who reported request for forgiveness as the most common IFID in Persian. The results are also different from Shahrokhi and Mohd Jan (2012) who reported expression of regret as the most common IFID in the responses of native Persian speakers. As Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984) argued there are many differences among languages regarding the most frequent type of IFIDs. According to them these differences are related to pragmalinguistics which as Leech (1983, p. 11) argued deals with “the particular resources which a given language provides for conveying particular illocutions’’.

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The high frequency of offers of apology among native Persian speakers may arise from Iranian culture in which respect for people is highly valued. Offers of apology seem to be more formal in Iranian culture in comparison with the other IFIDs; therefore, their use may be regarded as showing a high level of respect for the interlocutors. Another frequently used IFID of native Persian speakers was expression of embarrassment (sharmandeam) which was not included in the coding scheme of Olshtain and Cohen (1983). This strategy, like other IFIDs, is a direct expression of apology and its frequent use by native Persian speakers supports the idea that negative face-saving strategies are preferred in Persian. The results also revealed that intensifying expression with 72 times of occurrence (57.2%) and expressing explicit concern for the hearer with 42 times of occurrence (33.3%) were respectively the first and the second most frequent apology intensification strategies for native Persian speakers. Furthermore adverbials with 65 times of occurrence (51.6%) were more frequent in the category of intensifying expressions. These results support Karimnia and Afghari (2012) who reported the same rank order of the intensification strategies in Persian. The frequent use of these strategies may also arise from Iranian culture in which people make great efforts to appease their annoyed interlocutors. The second research question of the study tried to determine the most frequent apology (intensification) strategies used by Azeri-Persian bilingual speakers in Persian. According to the results, IFID with 317 times of occurrence (66.1%) and acknowledgment of responsibility with 123 times of occurrence (25.7%) were respectively the first and the second most frequent strategies used by Azeri-Persian bilingual speakers. On the other hand promise of forbearance was the least frequent strategy with 6 times of occurrence (1.2%). An examination of these results reveals that the overall preferences of the apology strategies of Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian were very similar to native Persian speakers. As Ellis (2008) argued, the learning context and the proficiency level of second languages learners play important roles in their use of the apology strategies in the second language. Persian is the medium of instruction in the country. Therefore, as Ellis (2008) noted, it can be argued that Azeri-Persian bilinguals learn Persian in a natural setting in which Persian is used in different aspects of daily life. As a result most of them learn Persian along with their mother tongue and become very proficient in its use. Therefore, the similarity in the overall apology strategy preferences of native

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Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals may be related to both the context of Iran and the bilingual speakers’ level of proficiency in Persian. The results also revealed that request for forgiveness (bebakhshid) as the most frequent subcategory of IFID was used 106 times by these speakers (22.1%). Many studies have revealed that the first language of learners plays an important role in their use of apology strategies in the second language (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Ellis, 2008). Most of the Persian IFIDs are used in Azeri language, however, it seems that only requests for forgiveness which are realized as ‘bagishla/baghishlayin’ in Azeri, are native to it and the other IFIDs have been borrowed literally from Persian and adapted to the phonetic system of this language (e.g. uzr istiram & sharmandiyam). Since request for forgiveness is native to Azeri language it may be used more frequently by Azeri speakers, and therefore the frequent use of this strategy by Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian may be the result of its transfer from their first language. Furthermore, like native Persian speakers, Azeri-Persian bilinguals employed expression of embarrassment frequently in their responses. As was mentioned previously most of the Azeri-Persian bilinguals are very proficient in the use of Persian, and this high level of proficiency may account for the frequent use of expression of embarrassment similar to native speakers of Persian. Finally the results revealed that intensifying expression with 96 times of occurrence (74.4%) and expressing explicit concern for the hearer with 20 times of occurrence (15.5%) were respectively the first and the second most frequent apology intensification strategies for AzeriPersian bilinguals. Moreover, adverbials with 76 times of occurrence were more frequent in the category of intensifying expressions. As these results show, the overall preferences of these speakers are very similar to native Persian speakers. However there were some apparent differences in the frequency of individual strategies in the responses of these groups of speakers. Azeri-Persian bilinguals used repetition 20 times (15.5%) which is equal in frequency with their use of expressing explicit concern for the hearer. On the other hand, native Persian speakers used repetition 7 times (5.6%) which is much less than the bilinguals’ use of this strategy. According to Ellis (2008, p. 185) “the learners’ attitudes about how apologies should be performed cross-linguistically” may affect their use of this speech act in the second language. It seems that Azeri-Persian bilinguals regarded the use of repetition as the norm in intensifying apologies in Persian and this perception resulted in their frequent use of this intensification strategy. Iranian EFL Journal

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The third research question of the study tried to reveal whether there were any significant differences between the apology (intensification) strategies of native Persian speakers and AzeriPersian bilinguals in Persian. Despite overall similarity in the general preferences of these groups of speakers regarding their apology (intensification) strategies, there were noticeable differences in the frequency of individual strategies in their responses. Two chi-square tests were employed to test these differences. According to the results of data analysis there were statistically significant differences in the use of apology (intensification) strategies of native Persian speakers and AzeriPersian bilinguals, and they employed different strategies in their responses. According to Bardovi-Harlig and Dornyei (1998, p. 234), many research studies have revealed that “grammatical development does not guarantee a corresponding level of pragmatic development” for second language learners. Furthermore, as Ellis (2008) argued the results of many interlanguage pragmatics studies have revealed that even very advanced learners may have various problems in apologizing, and their use of apology strategies may be different from native speakers. Based on the results of the study, Azeri-Persian bilinguals used different apology (intensification) strategies in comparison with native Persian speakers. Therefore, as Ellis (2008) argued even these bilingual speakers which are very proficient in the use of Persian may not use apologies like native speakers of this language.

5. Conclusion The present study examined the apology (intensification) strategies of native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian. It also tried to determine whether there were any differences in the use of the apology strategies between these groups of speakers. The results revealed that IFID and acknowledgment of responsibility were respectively the first and the second most frequent apology strategies for both groups of speakers. Furthermore based on the results intensifying expression and expressing explicit concern for the hearer were respectively the first and the second most frequent apology intensification strategies for both native Persian speakers and Azeri-Persian bilinguals. However, despite the overall similarity in the preferences of these groups of speakers the results of data analysis revealed that there were statistically significant differences between their uses of apology (intensification) strategies. Finally the results revealed that both native Persian speakers Iranian EFL Journal

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and Azeri-Persian bilinguals frequently employed expression of embarrassment in their apologies which was not included in the coding scheme of the study. These results support Ellis’s (2008) view that even very advanced learners like Azeri-Persian bilinguals may not perform apology strategies similar to native speakers of Persian. Therefore, as Bardovi-Harlig and Dornyei (1998) pointed out, it can be concluded that it may not be possible to determine the pragmatic performance of second language learners based on their grammatical development in the second language. However, the present study had some limitations which should be addressed in future research studies. First, as was mentioned previously the data of the present study was collected by the means of a DCT without any observation of the participants’ actual behavior in the use of apology strategies. Therefore, it is suggested that future studies should strive to record the actual apology behavior of participants. Second the present study only examined the apology (intensification) strategies of Azeri-Persian bilinguals in Persian. Thus future research studies should investigate the apology performance of other bilingual groups of speakers in Persian to complement the results of the present study.

References Al-Zumor, A. W. Q. G. (2011). Apologies in Arabic and English: An inter-language and cross-cultural study. Journal of King Saud University-Languages and Translation, 23, 19-28. Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Dornyei, Z. (1998). Do learners recognize pragmatic violations? Pragmatic versus grammatical awareness in instructed L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly, 32(2), 42-71. Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural study of speech act realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics, 5, 196-213. Chamani, F., & Zareipur, P. (2010). A cross-cultural study of apologies in British English and Persian. Concentric: Studies in Linguistic, 36 (1), 133-153. Demeter, G. (2006). A pragmatic study of apology strategies in Romanian (bachelor’s thesis). Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma. Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition, (2nd ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eslami-Rasekh, Z. (2004). Face-keeping strategies in reaction to complaints: English and Persian. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 14, 181–197. Farashaiyan, A., & Yazdi Amirkhiz, S. Y. (2011). A descriptive-comparative analysis of apology strategies: The case of Iranian EFL and Malaysian ESL university students. English Language Teaching, 4 (1), 224-229.

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González-Cruz, M. I. (2012). Apologizing in Spanish: A study of the strategies used by university students in Las Palmas De Gran Canaria. Pragmatics, 22 (4), 543-565. Hou, Y. S. (2006). A cross-cultural study of the perception of apology: Effect of contextual factors, exposure to the target language, interlocutor ethnicity and task language (master’s thesis). National Sun Yatsen University, Kaohsiung. Karimnia, A., & Afghari, A. (2012). On apologizing in Persian: A socio-cultural inquiry. Jezikoslovlje, 13 (3), 697-734. Kasper, G., & Schmidt, R. (1996). Developmental issues in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 149-169. Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. London: Longman. Linnell, J., Porter, F. L., Stone, H., & Chen, W. L. (1992). Can you apologize me? An investigation of speech act performance among non-native speakers of English. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 8 (2), 33-53. Mirzaei, A., Roohani, A., & Esmaeili, M. (2012). Exploring pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic variability in speech act production of L2 learners and native speakers. The Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 4 (3), 79-102. Olshtain, E., & Cohen, A. D. (1983). Apology: A speech act set. In N. Wolfson and E. Judd, (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 18–35). Newbury House: Rowley. Shahrokhi, M., & Mohd Jan, J. B. (2012). The realization of apology strategies among Persian males. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 692 – 700. Shariati, M., & Chamani, F. (2010). Apology strategies in Persian. Journal of Pragmatics, 42, 1689–1699. Shih, H. Y. (2006). An interlanguage study of the speech act of apology made by EFL learners in Taiwan (master’s thesis). National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung. Sugimoto, N. (1997). A Japan–U.S. comparison of apology styles. Communication Research, 24, 349–370. Tamimi Sa’da, S. H., & Mohammadi, M. (2014). A cross-sectional study of Iranian EFL learners' polite and impolite apologies. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 10(1). 119-136. Trosborg, A. (1987). Apology strategies in natives/non-natives. Journal of Pragmatics, 11, 147–167. Wagner, L. C. (1999). Towards a sociopragmatic characterization of apologies in Mexican Spanish (doctoral dissertation). Ohio State University, Columbus.

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‫‪Appendix A‬‬ ‫)‪Discourse Completion Test (DCT‬‬ ‫‪1. Persian form of DCT‬‬

‫لطفا موقعیت های زیر را مطالعه نمایید و مکالمات را کامل کنید‪ .‬لطفا تا آنجا که امکان دارد واقع بینانه پاسخ دهید‪ .‬آنگونه که در‬ ‫مکالمات روزمره ی خود برخورد می کنید‪.‬‬ ‫سن‪:‬‬ ‫رشته تحصیلی‪:‬‬

‫مقطع تحصیلی‪:‬‬

‫جنسیت‪:‬‬ ‫زبان مادری‪:‬‬

‫‪ . ١‬شما یک استاد دانشگاه هستید و به دانشجویتان قول داده اید که برگه ی امتحانی او را اصالح کرده و امروز به او تحویل دهید اما به‬ ‫دلیل مشکالت کاری برگه را اصالح نکرده اید‪ .‬اکنون که دانشجویتان را می بینید به او چه می گویید؟‬ ‫‪ .٢‬شما کتابی را از استادتان قرض گرفته اید و قول داده اید که آن را امروز به او بازگردانید‪ .‬زمانی که استادتان را مالقات می کنید‬ ‫متوجه می شوید که فراموش کرده اید کتاب را با خود بیاورید‪ .‬به استادتان چه می گویید؟‬ ‫‪ .٣‬شما رییس یک شرکت هستید و قرار است برای یک شغل با آقای محمدی (متقاضی شغل) مصاحبه نمایید اما به دلیل شرکت در یک‬ ‫جلسه ی پیش بینی نشده نیم ساعت آقای محمدی را منتظر نگه می دارید‪ .‬زمانی که آقای محمدی را می بینید به او چه می گویید؟‬ ‫‪ .٤‬شما خدمتکار رستورانی مجلل هستید که اشتباها برای یک مشتری که چلوکباب بختیاری سفارش داده مرغ سوخاری می آورید‪.‬‬ ‫زمانی که مشتری مرغ سوخاری را می بیند تعجب کرده و به شما میگوید که چلوکباب بختیاری سفارش داده است‪.‬شما به مشتری چه‬ ‫می گویید؟‬ ‫‪ .٥‬شما که اغلب با تاخیر سر قرارهایتان حاضر می شوید برای چندمین بار برای مالقات با دوستتان که با او در حال انجام یک پروژه‬ ‫ی کالسی هستید تاخیر می کنید‪ .‬زمانی که دوستتان را می بینید به او چه می گویید؟‬ ‫‪ .٦‬شما در حال پارک کردن با اتومبیلی که در پشت اتومبیل شما توقف کرده برخورد می کنید‪ .‬در این حال به راننده ی اتومبیل چه می‬ ‫گویید؟‬ ‫‪ .٧‬شما و آقای رضایی همکار هستید‪ .‬در یک جلسه ی کاری در حال بحث در مورد مسئله ای شما حرفی می زنید که به آقای رضایی‬ ‫برمی خورد و ایشان ناراحت می شوند‪ .‬بعد از جلسه وقتی آقای رضایی شما را می بیند به شما می گوید که از حرفتان ناراحت شده‬ ‫است‪ .‬به او چه می گویید؟‬ ‫‪ .٨‬شما چمدان سنگین خود را در قفسه ی اتوبوس گذاشته اید‪ .‬ناگهان اتوبوس ترمز می کند و چمدان روی سر مسافری می افتد‪ .‬به‬ ‫مسافر چه می گویید؟‬ ‫‪2. English form of DCT‬‬ ‫‪Please study the following descriptions of situations and complete them. Please answer them as realistically‬‬ ‫‪as possible just like your normal conversations.‬‬ ‫‪Major:‬‬

‫‪Mother tongue:‬‬

‫‪Educational level:‬‬

‫‪Gender:‬‬

‫‪Age:‬‬

‫‪1. You are a university professor and you have promised one of your students to correct and return his/her‬‬ ‫‪exam paper today. But since you were busy you have not corrected his/her paper. Now when you see your‬‬ ‫?‪student what would you say to him/her‬‬

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2. You have borrowed a book from your professor, and you have promised to return it to him/her today. When you meet your professor you realize that you have forgotten to bring the book. What would you say to your professor? 3. You are the manager of a company and you are supposed to interview Mr. Mohammadi (job applicant) for a job in your company. But due to an unexpected meeting, you keep Mr. Mohammadi waiting for half an hour. When you see Mr. Mohammadi what would you say to him? 4. You are the waiter of an expensive restaurant, and you mistakenly bring fried chicken for a customer who has ordered Chelo Kabab Bakhtiyari. The customer is surprised when he/she sees the fried chicken and tells you that he/she has ordered Chelo Kabab Bakhtiyari. What would you say to him/her? 5. You are often late for your meetings, and now you are late again for a meeting with your friend with whom you are working on joint project. When you see your friend what would you say to him? 6. When you are parking your car you back into a car which has stopped behind you. What would you say to the driver of the car? 7. You and Mr. Rezayi are colleagues. In a business meeting while discussing an issue you tell something that irritates Mr. Rezayi and he gets upset. After the meeting when Mr. Rezayi sees you, he tells you that he has become upset for what you said. What would you say to him? 8. You have put your heavy suitcase on the luggage rack of a bus. Suddenly the driver of the bus brakes and the suitcase falls on the head of a passenger. What would you say to the passenger?

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Title Absurdism in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Author Mahdieh Noori (M.A) Yazd University, Iran

Biodata Mahdieh Noori is an M.A. graduate in TEFL from Yazd University, Iran. Her main research interest includes applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, ESP, needs analysis, and English teaching methodology. She has published some articles in these respects.

Abstract Modern Period brought forward new movements and new philosophies, one of which is absurdism as a rebellion against the traditional beliefs and values of culture and literature. The significant manifestation of the Theater of the Absurd is Waiting for Godot (Beckett, 1945) as a representation of meaninglessness and purposelessness of human life. Accordingly, this study was an attempt to represent the elements of absurdism in the Waiting for Godot in terms of theme, plot, characterization, setting, and dialogues in general throughout the play. More Specifically, it revealed the elements of the absurd theater such as illogicalness, conflictlessness, abnormal setting, cyclical plot structure, rejection of round characters, inability to communicate, emphasis on situations rather than events, quest for identity, unresolved mysteries, hopeless characters, dehumanization of the individual, use of humor, and clash between good and evil, which seemed prevalent within this play. Keywords: Absurdism, Beckett, Modernism, Theater of the Absurd, Waiting for Godot

1. Introduction Samuel Barclay Beckett, an absurdist playwright, novelist, and poet of the twentieth century is most famous for the play EN ATTENDANT GODOT (Waiting for Godot) which was written originally in French in 1949 and published in English in 1954 (Shrikrishna, 2008). In his writings, Beckett turned to French stating that writing in a language that was not his mother tongue taught Iranian EFL Journal

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him discipline of language and contributed to a sparseness of style. With the change of language, he escaped from everything with which he was familiar, trying hard to create the literature of unword and to yield the silence that underlines them (Articleset editors, 2008). Beckett's works illustrates breaking from the realistic literature and theater, conventional plot, space, and time focusing on the human condition. His works include characters facing a meaningless and absurd existence without the comforts of religion, myth, or philosophical absolutes. His short fiction which is often described as fragments rather than stories shows his use of sparse language and stark images of alienation and absurdity to present truths that are free of rhetorical embellishment. His theatre is stark, absurd, and highly pessimistic about the human nature and the human situation. The reaction to his theatre is often dismay. Much of this confusion is brought about by the conflicting interpretations of the text on the part of critical commentators. The important point about his theatre is that the very simplicity of his words is disarming at the first sight incompatible with the tragic impact of the situations in which the characters find themselves. Soon, however, it becomes clear that the sparse and bare vocabulary is giving profundity to the statement. In other words, his unique style derived some critics to claim that Beckett was one of the ancestors of post-modernism (Esslin, 1980). Though Waiting for Godot is difficult to make sense of, it is one of the most important works of our time. It revolutionized theatre in the twentieth century and had a great influence on succeeding dramatists. After the appearance of Waiting for Godot, theatre was opened to possibilities that playwrights and audiences had never before imagined. Waiting for Godot is the most prominent example of the Theatre of the Absurd and modernism which are elaborated respectively in the following sections. The next section deals with the absurd elements in the above-mentioned play. The current paper ends with the Conclusion Section.

2. Theatre of the Absurd Although the Theatre of the Absurd as a tradition is often traced back to the avant-grade experiments of the 1920s and 1930s, in fact, its root dates back much further. Absurd elements first appeared shortly after the rise of Greek drama, in the wild humor and buffoonery of Old Comedy, and the plays of Aristophanes in particular. They were further developed in the late classical period by Lucian, Petronius and Apuleius, in Menippean satire, a tradition of carnivalistic literature depicting a world upside down. The morality plays of the middle ages may be considered Iranian EFL Journal

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a precursor to the Theatre of the Absurd, depicting everyman-type characters dealing with allegorical and sometimes existential problems. Absurdism also has origins in Shakespearean drama, particularly through the influence of the Commedia dell’Arte. This tradition was followed in the baroque allegorical drama of Elizabethan times, when dramatists such as John Webster, Cyril Tourneur, Jakob Biederman and Calderon depicted the world in mythological archetypes (Wikipedia editors, 2015). The mood of absurdity and absurdism, as a new movement and philosophy in the modern period, was predominately anticipated in 1896 in Alfred Jarry’s French monstrous puppet-play Ubo roi (Ubu the king) which presents a mythical and grotesque figure, set amidst a world of archetypal images. Ubu Roi is a caricature, a terrifying image of the animal nature of man and his cruelty. Moreover, the roots of absurdism emerges from the movements of expressionism, existentialism, and surrealism as well as the dream novels of James Joyce and Franz Kafka written in 1920s which created archetypes by exploring their own subconscious and searching in the universal, collective significance of their own private obsessions. In the 1920s and 1930s, the surrealists expanded Jarry’s experiments, and based much of their artistic theory on the teachings of Freud and his emphasis on the role of the subconscious mind as a great and positive healing force. Their intention was to do away with art as a mere imitation of surface reality, instead demanding that it should be more real than reality and deal with essences rather than appearances (Dru, 1938). Silent film and comedy as well as the tradition of verbal nonsense in the early sound films of Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields, and the Marx Brothers, the verbal nonsense of François Rabelais, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, and Christian Morgenstern would also contribute to the development of the Theatre of the Absurd (Dru, 1938). As a matter of fact, the Theatre of the Absurd is a term coined by the critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of his 1962 book on this subject. It refers to a particular type of play, which first became popular during the 1950s and 1960s, as a rejection of the traditional beliefs and values in culture and literature. The traditional belief was that human beings are rational creatures living in an ordered and intelligible universe, and these human beings are capable of heroism and dignity even in defeat. It presented on stage the sense of the futility, meaninglessness, and purposelessness of human condition and human life. It views human beings as isolated beings in an alien universe that human world has no inherent truth, value, or meaning and if there is such a meaning and purpose in human life, it is inaccessible to human beings, so human life is essentially absurd. It Iranian EFL Journal

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claims that human beings must recognize that a fully satisfying rational explanation of the universe is impossible and emphasizes on the absurdity of man’s hope and his insignificance (Smith, 1999). Abrahams (2005) defines the Theater of the Absurd as a number of dramatic works which illustrates that the human condition is essentially absurd and this absurdity can be just adequately represented in absurd literary works. World War II was the catalyst that finally brought the Theatre of the Absurd to life. The global nature of this conflict and the resulting fear of living under threat of nuclear annihilation put the essential meaning of human life into question. Therefore, there was no abstract thinker in order to be able to reflect about absurdity. In fact, the experience of absurdity became a part of a person's daily existence. During this period, a prominent figure of the absurd, Antonin Artaud, appeared. He rejected realism in the theatre, calling for a return to myth and magic and to the exposure of the deepest conflicts within the human mind. He demanded a theatre that would produce collective archetypes and create a modern mythology. He insisted that it was no longer possible to keep using traditional art forms and standards that are no longer convincing and valuable. Although Artaud would not live to see its development, The Theatre of the Absurd is precisely the new theatre that he was dreaming of. The terminology of the absurd was introduced in drama and theatre significantly by the works of Beckett, Adamov, Ionesco, Pinter, and Genet. It seems that Albert Camus in his essay, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), has provoked these playwrights. In this essay, Camus tries to understand what human condition is and then he concludes that human condition is basically meaningless and absurd. He states that man feels a stranger and exile in this universe, which is deprived of illusions, light, religion, and metaphysical, transcendental roots. Man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, and useless. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of absurdity (Smith, 1999). The people drowning in these meaningless activities can only be appeared grotesque and their suffering can be only tragic by derision in the literature of absurd (Abrahams, 2005).

3. Modernism Before any further information, it seems necessary to mention some of the characteristics of modern period in which Waiting for Godot was written. These features will help us more in the better understanding of this work of literature. Modernism, as a literary style, emerged after the First World War, beginning in Europe and then progressing into American literature by the late Iranian EFL Journal

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1920s. After the First World War, many people questioned the chaos and the insanity of it. The world’s universal truths and trust in authority figures were under question, and modernism was a response to the destruction of these beliefs. It was more than a literary movement, and it can be seen in many artistic works from the period 1928-1945 in America. This literary movement in writing has some important characteristics such as fragmentation in plot, characters, theme, images, and overall storyline. It means that many modernist works are not in the typical linear sequence. Loss is a huge theme in modernist works and the truth, as a common theme, is questionable. Therefore, we cannot always trust in the narrator to tell the truth, although in traditional literature, it is the narrator’s job to make the reader understand what is happening. In addition, there may be more than one narrator, showing the diversity of truth. Another characteristic of modernism is destruction of the family unit. In modernist works, characters may be given little or no physical description, and one or more characters is usually an outcast. Authority figures are often untrustworthy, reflecting the question of truth (Oppapers editors, 2011). Besides, there is a movement away from religion in modern literature, and the traditional roles are usually reversed. For example, women do something typically males do or vice versa. Alternatively, the customary racial roles are often changed. The ending in modern works is ambiguous and often many unresolved questions are left with the reader. In fact, everything doesn’t become clear for us by the end. Often, the setting in modernist works is more than just the setting. It means that there is more meaning in it than just where the story takes place, or, maybe there is no setting at all. In addition, improper grammar is used in modern works to show dialect. More sexuality is often found in these works and the first person narrative is more used to reflect the lack of universal truth i.e., there are only individual truths (Dru, 1938). Accordingly, Waiting for Godot, written by Samuel Beckett in 1945, is the manifestation of the Theater of the Absurd and modernism. This play illustrates a place in which there is nothing but a naked tree and two tramps- Vladimir and Estragon who are spending their time waiting for a rescuer named Godot. In fact, their life is meaningless with the exception of one task that is waiting for Godot. Two strangers, a cruel master named Pozzo and his servant called Lucky, cross their path and leave again. At the end of the first act, a messenger from the rescuer Godot arrives and promises that he will come tomorrow. In the second act, the waiting goes on, the other couple pass by once more, but Pozzo is now blind and Lucky is dumb. Both stumble and fall. Vladimir and Iranian EFL Journal

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Estragon help them on their way. The messenger appears again with the same promise. Everything seems as it was at the beginning. Waiting for Godot is the most prominent example of absurdism, the characteristics of which are elaborated in the following section. Accordingly, the current study attempted to identify the elements of absurdity by finding out an appropriate answer to the following question: What are the elements of absurdity in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in terms of plot, characterization, setting, theme, and dialogues?

4. Absurd Elements in the Waiting for Godot As mentioned earlier, Waiting for Godot is abundant with absurd elements. Absurd plays are highly unusual and innovative forms, aiming to startle the viewer and shaking him out of the conventional life of everyday concerns. In the meaningless and Godless post-Second-World-War world, it was no longer possible to use such traditional art forms and standards that had ceased being convincing and lost their validity. The Theatre of the Absurd obviously attacked against the conventional theatre. In fact, it was anti-theatre. Absurd drama, which is symbolized by the Waiting for Godot, have some characteristics such as, being illogical, conflictless, self-enclosed setting, cyclical plot structure, rejection of round characters, and distrust of language as a means of communication. Besides, it includes emphasis on situations rather than events, quest for identity, unresolved mysteries, characters being caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions depicting dehumanization of the individual, use of humor, and clash between good and evil. The most important characteristic of absurd drama is rejection of realism. In other words, absurd dramas subvert and abandon the logic, for the sake of freedom and seek of the infinite (Velissariou, 2012). They express the unexpected and the logically impossible. As exemplified in this play, the conventions of realism are violated because its characters are not the characters who act plausible in behavior in a familiar atmosphere within the chronological time. Another characteristic of the absurd drama is self-enclosed setting. This self-enclosed setting refract other than reflect the real world. In the Waiting for Godot, the setting of the act one and two is next to a naked tree on a road beside a mound in a remote area of an unknown countryside. Act One begins on the evening of one day and act two ends on the evening of the next day. All of the actions happen in this setting, and there is no other setting. All the characters enter just this Iranian EFL Journal

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setting and exit from it. The condition and the atmosphere of this setting seems abnormal. Throughout the play, there is no clue for the readers to point out the location of the play except when the author mentions that two men are waiting on a country road by a skeletal tree and that Estragon sits on a low mound. The plot structure of the absurdist drama is cyclical like a spaceship orbiting earth or a Ferris Wheel revolving on an axle. The spaceship and the Ferris wheel endlessly repeat their paths. The passengers on the spaceship and the Ferris wheel could not free themselves and fly off on their own. They are directed by forces beyond their control. In the Waiting for Godot, Vladimir and Estragon are so. They wait for Godot at the beginning of the play, wait for Godot in the middle of the play, and wait for Godot at the end of the play. Godot never comes, but Vladimir and Estragon continue waiting. They do nothing else but waiting. So they continue to revolve but do not evolve. Indeed, these characters are locked in to performances of habit and routine. They are caught in the absurdity of continuously moving but never progressing. There is no definite beginning, middle, and end for this play. In fact, the movement of plot tends to be zero i.e., there is absolutely no plot. This newly-devised convention by Samuel Beckett is the opposite of past conventions. Previously, it was taken for granted that if there exists a literary piece, there must be either a story (or plot) to tell or any character to be represented. Indeed, he did so to revolutionize his concept. He tells a plot which is nothing but variations in arrangements and sequences of few events with negligible movement or action. A plot usually has a clear cause and effect of the rising action, but here the characters continue doing their exploratory of the “self” without really seeing Godot. To illustrate this point more, we should mention that there is both linear and cyclical structure in the Waiting for Godot. The structural devices can be seen in dialogues, characterization, and the themes. In the cyclical structure, there is no change, no movement, and no development. Nothing happens but linear things have their ways of changing. The major structural devices are parallels. The two acts evidently show the use of parallelism, but this parallelism is saved from monotony by an admixture of contrast in it. Repetition is one of dominant structural devices of this play. In each act, Vladimir asks Estragon how he spent the night. In each act, Vladimir offers to embrace Estragon, but Estragon does not. All the time, Estragon says:“Let’s go” Vladimir atiently says:“We can’t”. Estragon wants to know why not, and Vladimir replies that:“We are waiting for Godot.”

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This is followed every time by a sigh of Estragon. In both acts, Estragon sleeps soundly and mean while Vladimir feels boredom. Estragon is waked up by Vladimir. Estragon has night mare every time to tell to Vladimir but Vladimir is not interested to hear it. In each act, they indulge in meaningless activities. By the arrival of Lucky and Pozzo, in both acts, the tramps are helped at a particularly tedious moment. When they feel that their situation is unbearable, the idea of committing suicide comes into their mind but in each case there is a major obstacle in their way. Each time they console themselves with the thought that they will bring a piece of rope next day, and then they would commit suicide. But they don't do so. Recognition and forgetfulness are the structural principles in both acts. In both acts the tramps take the arrival of somebody else to be that of Godot. Their wait is finished in both acts by the arrival of the messenger who is a boy. In both acts, they say that they are leaving the place, but they do not. They forget what they wanted to do. The conversation itself takes a rhythmic course. In the first act, Vladimir asks Estragon about his foot and Estragon in return asks Vladimir about his kidney problem. It seems that they forget what they were talking about. Vladimir wants to tell Estragon an incident in the New Testament and Estragon in return wants to relate an anecdote about an Englishman. “VLADIMIR: Ah yes, the two thieves. Do you remember the story? ESTRAGON: No. VLADIMIR: Shall I tell it to you? ESTRAGON: No. VLADIMIR: It'll pass the time. (Pause ) Two thieves, crucified at the same time as our Saviour. One– ESTRAGON: Our what? VLADIMIR: Our Saviour. Two thieves. One is supposed to have been saved and the other . . . (he searches for the contrary of saved) . . . damned. ESTRAGON: Saved from what? VLADIMIR: Hell. ESTRAGON: I'm going. He does not move. VLADIMIR: And yet . . . (pause) . . . how is it —this is not boring you I hope— how is it that of the four Evangelists only one speaks of a thief being saved. The four of them were there —or Iranian EFL Journal

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thereabouts— and only one speaks of a thief being saved. (Pause.) Come on, Didi, return the ball, can't you, once in a while? ESTRAGON: (with exaggerated enthusiasm). I find this really most extraordinarily interesting. VLADIMIR: One out of four. Of the other three, two don't mention any thieves at all and the third says that both of them abused him” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 2). Estragon says voluptuously: “Calm . . . calm . . . The English say cawm. (Pause.) You know the story of the Englishman in the brothel? VLADIMIR: Yes. ESTRAGON: Tell it to me. VLADIMIR: Ah stop it! ESTRAGON: An Englishman having drunk a little more than usual proceeds to a brothel. The bawd asks him if he wants a fair one, a dark one or a red-haired one. Go on. VLADIMIR: STOP IT” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 3). In fact, both are not ready to hear each other. Vladimir requests Estragon to take interest in his conversation, but he does not. In both acts, Vladimir asks Estragon whether he recognizes the place or not, and each time Estragon’s memory fails. The same case is true about Pozzo. In act two, Pozzo is unable to remember that he met Estragon and Vladimir on the previous day. Similarly, Estragon and Pozzo disbelieves the common notion of time and place. In fact, the structural cohesion of the play is gained by the repetition of certain themes, incidents, and situations. The structure of the Waiting for Godot is unique. However, there are important modifications in act two indicating that the pattern outside Estragon and Vladimir’s world is linear. The tree in act two shows a sign of growth because four or five leaves have sprout on the branches of it. Lucky and Pozzo do arrive as in act one. But in act two, Pozzo has become blind and Lucky dumb. The messenger boy of act one looks after Godot’s goats, but the messenger boy of act two looks after his sheep. In act two, lucky does not deliver a tirade. Another characteristic of absurd dramas is rejection of round characters. Of the tools of absurd dramas to show meaninglessness and absurdity of human life is rejection of round characters. In the waiting for Godot, there are five characters- Vladimir (Didi), Estragon ( Gogo), Pozzo, Lucky, and a boy. They are not round and multidimensional. They are flat characters being the same from the beginning of the play up to the end without any change. As the play begins, we come across four absurd characters, Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo, and Lucky. They are like old homosexual Iranian EFL Journal

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couples. All of them are without any purpose. In fact, the characters of the play mostly show absurdity. All of these characters are old except the boy who was the messenger of Godot. Vladimir is obsessed with his hat and Estragon with his boots. They are easily recognized however there is no information about them. They are not representative of human behaviors and it shows absurdity. Another important point about these characters showing absurdity is that all of these five characters are male characters. There is no woman character among them. According to Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider (1952), at the time of Elizabethan period, William Shakespeare, who was the greatest dramatist of the 16th century, used to assign the women roles to the young boys due to the disallowance of women to act in the plays in those days. However, women are forward enough to act in the plays nowadays. Accordingly, Samuel Beckett could choose any woman character in place of Estragon. The distrust of language as a means of communication and inability to communicate is another aspect of absurd dramas. In absurd dramas, language seems to be nothing but a vehicle for conventionalized, stereotyped, and meaningless exchanges. In fact, the language in an absurdist drama often goes nowhere. Accordingly, isolation and lack of human relationship is very dominant in this play. Each character of the play is isolated from the other. There is fear of loneliness and lack of any family relationships for the characters. They are disconnected and even hostile as is shown in Vladimir and Estragon. They are not able to communicate properly, but they do not leave each other because they fear from being isolated. They are physically together but not mentally. They do not fulfill the basic condition of living together that is to communicate properly. Their conversation is not communication but it is only the exchange of words. They are not able to understand each other’s feelings showing lack of communication between them. In fact, they are alone. For example, Vladimir does not listen to the dreams of Estragon who has a habit of sleeping wherever serious matters are being discussed. That time, Estragon always tries to change that particular subject and starts to complain about going home. “ESTRAGON: I had a dream. VLADIMIR: Don't tell me! ESTRAGON: I dreamt that– VLADIMIR: DON'T TELL ME! ESTRAGON: (gesture toward the universe). This one is enough for you? (Silence.) It's not nice of you, Didi. Who am I to tell my private nightmares to if I can't tell them to you? Iranian EFL Journal

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VLADIMIR: Let them remain private. You know I can't bear that. ESTRAGON: (coldly.) There are times when I wonder if it wouldn't be better for us to part. VLADIMIR: You wouldn't go far” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 3). Even though there are long speeches in this play, they are meaningless. Lucky’s speech is delivered in the manner of a robot. It has no punctuation of any kind showing his inability to communicate (Gidionsen, 2011). “LUCKY: Given the existence as uttered forth in the public works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell and suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons unknown but time will tell are plunged in torment” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 11). The dialogues of absurd dramas are frequently elliptical. Often, the primary things that the characters should address are replaced by ellipsis or dashes. The dialogues of this play are without any background and logical order. It is said that language is the means of communication. Nevertheless, in this play it is not so. In other words, language has lost its communicability. The communication made seems to be just for the pass of time while the characters are waiting for Godot. Characters misunderstand or misinterpret each other. They frequently respond to a statement or a question with an irrelevant or a ludicrous comment. They talk incoherently. There is a big communication gap between them. Beckett opens the Waiting for Godot this way. Estragon, who feels pain in his foot, is trying to take off his boot. Although he tries a lot, it won't come off. In frustration, he says, “Nothing to be done.” Vladimir replies, “I'm beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life, I’ve tried to put it from me, saying, Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven’t yet tried everything. And I resumed the struggle” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 1). In Act II, the two men agree that they are happy in spite of their problems. Then, Estragon asks: “What do we do, now that we are happy?” “Wait for Godot,” Vladimir says. “Things have changed here since yesterday.” “And if he doesn't come?” “We'll see when the time comes. I was saying that things have changed here since yesterday.” “Everything oozes.” Iranian EFL Journal

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“Look at the tree.” “It's never the same pus from one moment to the next” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 35). Pauses and silences are very significant in both plays showing that the characters are searching for words to communicate. Articulation is not natural and it requires effort and thinking. Pauses are used to show that language is a vague and meaningless tool that people use to hide their own discomforts. They show that to fill the silent gap, a person must think about what he is going to say (Articleset editors, 2008). “Vladimir: there's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet. (He takes off his hat again, peers inside it, knocks on the crown, blows into it, and puts it on again). This is getting alarming (silence). Vladimir deep thought, Estragon pulling at his toes.) One of the thieves was saved (Pause). Its reasonable percentage. (Pause)” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 1). Repetitions in dialogues show that they have nothing to say. They are alone. Just to avoid loneliness, they are repeating the dialogues and even on some occasions, they are repeating each other’s dialogues. “Estragon: what did we do yesterday? Vladimir: what did we do yesterday?” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 2). As it is said earlier, communication is something that gives meaning to life. But, in Waiting for Godot, communication is not fulfilling its purpose leading to the meaninglessness of life. Therefore, in order to give meaning to their life, the characters in the play are forced to do meaningless activities. “Nothing to be done” is repeated many times in the Waiting for Godot to show the meaninglessness of people’s life. In fact, the absurdity of the dialogues in this play is the author’s way of calling attention to the absurdity of life (Cummingstudy editors, 2010). Another characteristic of absurd dramas is having no dramatic conflict. Dramatic conflicts and clashes of personalities and powers belong to a world of values. Such conflicts lose their meaning in a situation where the realities have become meaningless. Although the characters act frantically, this only shows that nothing happens to change their existence. In the Waiting for Godot, Pozzo acts cruelly toward his servant Lucky, but there is no conflict between them. Lucky is being ill treated, but he does not want to leave his cruel master for the reason that his life will become meaningless without him. If he leaves Pozzo, he will have to decide and think for himself, but he does not want to think.

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In absurd dramas, there is an emphasis on situations rather than events. In this play, no event and action takes place. Vladimir and Estragon do nothing but wait. It is just the situation that is well depicted. In other words, absurd dramas are lyrical statements, very much like music. They communicate an atmosphere and an experience of an archetypal human's situations. The Absurd Theatre is a theatre of situation, against the more conventional theatre of sequential events. It represents a pattern of images. In doing so, it uses visual elements, movement, and light. Depicting the dehumanization of the individual is another characteristic of absurd dramas. In the Waiting for Godot, this dehumanization is well depicted in Pozzo. He acts cruelly toward his servant Lucky. He doesn't let him rest or eat. He calls him pig and has fastened him with a rope while Lucky is carrying all Pozzo's baggage. Pozzo always orders him and if he disobeys him, he would beat him hard. When Pozzo eats, he will throw out its bones to his servant justifying that: “Pozzo: ... but in theory the bones go to the carrier” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 7). Indeed the name Pozzo is similar in spelling and pronunciation to the Italian word, pazzo. As an adjective, it means insane, crazy, mad, or irrational. As a noun, it means wild man or mad dog as it is characteristic of Pozzo is in the play Waiting for Godot. The name Lucky, which is chosen for his poor servant, is ironical because Lucky is not indeed lucky. In fact, Pozzo lives by the monosyllabic orders that he gives to Lucky without ever looking at his direction. He thinks that no other person exists other than his own. Whatever he says or does means that “the universe is me”. He destroys whatever might be growing in time by not listening and he ignores urgency by talking time to fidget with his rope or his mouth spray. If we view Lucky differently, we can say that he deserves his name because he has a master who, however cruelly, organizes his life for him. Once, we are told that Lucky by dancing and thinking amuses and inspires Pozzo. But his state of slavery has gradually put an end to all that. Thus his spontaneity has died, and his original dancing is not left but a slouch and a totter and his thinking has deteriorated into an endless repetition of meaningless words. Lucky takes it for granted that only within a pattern of mutual servant-master relationship between him and Pozzo, there is safety for him. In the first act, Pozzo reveals this mutual torture in the words. “POZZO: (groaning, clutching her head). I can't bear it . . . any longer . . . the way he goes on . . . you've no idea . . . it's terrible . . . he must go . . . (she waves her arms) . . . I'm going mad . . . (she collapses, her head in her hands) . . . I can't bear it . . . any longer . . .” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 9). Iranian EFL Journal

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For this mutual fixation, Lucky has scarified everything even his soul and his creativeness. He accepts this misery and slavery as a matter that concerns nobody but Pozzo and himself. This is shown by Pozzo, commenting upon Lucky’s voluntary slavery: “POZZO: I do. But instead of driving him away as I might have done, I mean instead of simply kicking him out on his arose, in the goodness of my heart I am bringing him to the fair, where I hope to get a good price for him. The truth is you can't drive such creatures away. The best thing would be to kill them. Lucky weeps. ESTRAGON: He’s crying! POZZO: Old dogs have more dignity” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 8). However, when Estragon tries to wipe Lucky’s tears away with Pozzo’s handkerchief, Lucky suddenly kicks him in the shinbone showing that he himself has accepted this situation. Accordingly, it can be said that Pozzo is as a gruesome product of modern age. He says: “Do I look like one that can be made to suffer? Frankly?” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 9). However, deeply under the mask of hardness, there lies an unconscious nostalgia for lost values. He says of Lucky: “But for him all my thoughts, all my feelings, would have been of common things. (Pause. With extraordinary vehemence.) Professional worries! (Calmer.) Beauty, grace, truth of the first water, I knew they were all beyond me. So I took a knook” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 9). In the second act, Pozzo is blind and Lucky dumb. This is the only change that takes place in any of these figures. This is not really a change but rather a becoming manifest of what was there before. Pozzo’s inability to meet others has made him blind. His moments of hysterical groaning culminate later in the shouts for help, but he never realizes that he is defeated (Esslin, 1980). Absence, emptiness, and unresolved mysteries are other central features of absurd dramas. In the Waiting for Godot, the action is centered on the absence of a man named Godot for whom the characters are waiting. Estragon and Vladimir wait for Godot although they do not know who he is or when he will come. Even if they see him, they cannot recognize him. “POZZO: (peremptory). Who is Godot? ESTRAGON: Godot? POZZO: You took me for Godot. VLADIMIR: Oh no, Ma’am, not for an instant, Ma’am. Iranian EFL Journal

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POZZO: Who is he? VLADIMIR: Oh he’s a . . . he's a kind of acquaintance. ESTRAGON: Nothing of the kind, we hardly know him. VLADIMIR: True . . . we don't know him very well . . . but all the same . . . ESTRAGON: Personally, I wouldn't even know him if I saw him. POZZO: You took me for him” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 5). Another characteristic of absurd dramas is the use of humor. Perhaps, the easiest and also the most difficult thing to experience clearly in the Waiting for Godot is its sense of humor. It’s the easiest thing to experience because one can accept that the play Waiting for Godot is wildly funny. Nevertheless, the play's humor is also the hardest thing to experience because the reputation of Beckett's play has created another set of expectations—that its dark vision must be taken with utmost seriousness. However, a quick look at the subtitle of the play shows that Beckett called it “a tragicomedy in two acts”, and this balance between tragedy and comedy is probably the most essential component in the play. Numerous critics have pointed out that the Waiting for Godot is full of pratfalls, classic vaudeville bits like the wild swapping of hats in Act II, and the patter of comedians such as this from Act I: “Estragon: [Anxious] And we? Vladimir: I beg your pardon? Estragon: I said, And we? Vladimir: I don’t understand. Estragon: Where do we come in? Vladimir: Come in? Estragon: Take your time. Vladimir: Come in? On our hands and knees. Estragon: As bad as that?” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 4) In fact, laughter has been brought through tragedy and suffering of the characters. Actions of the characters make the audience upset even when they laugh. The whole of speech only seems to be funny; the characters in question are actually confronting some menace and fighting a battle for their life. In the Waiting for Godot, the activities performed by Gogo and Didi appear to be quite funny but in fact they are not. Hugh Kenner (cited in Gidionsen, 2011) has discovered the source

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for the farcical dropping of trousers at the end of the play. He pointed out that in Laurel and Hardy's film Way Out West (1937) this dialogue occurs: “Hardy: Get on the mule. Laurel: What? Hardy: Get on the mule” (Gidionsen, 2011). At the end of Waiting for Godot we have: “Vladimir: Pull on your trousers. Estragon: What? Vladimir: Pull on your trousers. Estragon: You want me to pull off my trousers? Vladimir: Pull ON your trousers. Estragon: [Realizing his trousers are down] True. [He pulls up his trousers.]” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 29). Black Comedy or black humor is laughter that is created by something truly painful. When we are led to laugh at a tragedy or a real suffering like death or something extremely horrific, we are in the world of black Comedy. In the Waiting for Godot, what comes after the “trouser” passage above is quite serious and solemn that concludes the play—“they do not move” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 29). The incapacity of man to perceive the meaning of life is also shown in the comical, almost burlesque hat-swapping of the actors which are all dressed up but have no place to go: “Estragon takes Vladimir's hat. Vladimir adjusts Lucky's hat on his head. Estragon puts on Vladimir's hat in place of his own which he hands to Vladimir. Vladimir takes Estragon's hat. Estragon adjusts Vladimir's hat on his head. Vladimir puts on Estragon's hat in place of Lucky's which he hands to Estragon. Estragon takes Lucky's hat. Vladimir adjusts Estragon's hat on his head. Estragon puts on Lucky's hat in place of Vladimir's which he hands to Vladimir. Vladimir takes his hat, Estragon adjusts Lucky's hat on his head. Vladimir puts on his hat in place of Estragon's which he hands to Estragon. Estragon takes his hat. Vladimir adjusts his hat on his head. Estragon puts on his hat in place of Lucky's which he hands to Vladimir. Vladimir takes Lucky’s hat. Estragon adjusts his hat on his head. Vladimir puts on Lucky's hat in place of his own which he hands to Estragon. Estragon takes Vladimir's hat. Vladimir adjusts Lucky's hat on his head. Estragon hands Vladimir’s hat back to Vladimir who takes it and hands it back to Estragon who takes it and hands it back to Vladimir who takes it and throws it down” (Beckett, Mostel, & Iranian EFL Journal

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Schneider, 1952, p. 21). The characters of absurd drama are caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions. Beckett's essential concept is centered on two tramps, Estragon and Vladimir, who are waiting for someone or something that never arrives. A direct result of this hopelessness is the daily struggle to pass the time. “VLADIMIR: Ah yes, the two thieves. Do you remember the story? ESTRAGON: No. VLADIMIR: Shall I tell it to you? ESTRAGON: No. VLADIMIR: It’ll pass the time. (Pause) Two thieves, crucified at the same time as our Saviour. One” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 2). In another place: “VLADIMIR: What about trying them. ESTRAGON: I’ve tried everything. VLADIMIR: No, I mean the boots. ESTRAGON: Would that be a good thing? VLADIMIR: It’d pass the time. (Estragon hesitates.) I assure you, it'd be an occupation. ESTRAGON: A relaxation. VLADIMIR: A recreation. ESTRAGON: A relaxation” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 20). In fact, they always seek ways to amuse themselves in the play in order to alleviate the pain of waiting and possibly to stop themselves from thinking or contemplating too deeply. Although the act of waiting seems hopeless in the case of Estragon and Vladimir, they are redeemed by their tireless commitment. Their only concern is passing the time. They engage themselves in several rituals in order to combat the silence and emptiness of a meaningless existence (Oppapers editors, 2011). Quest for identity is another important factor in absurd dramas. The characters are yearning for identity. They are nothing in themselves. In the Waiting for Godot, the characters have no identity as individuals; they do not know who they are. What was their past? What is there present or what will be their future? They are non-identities. They are nothing more than men. “Pozzo: who are you? Vladimir: We are men” (Beckett, Mostel, & Schneider, 1952, p. 25). Iranian EFL Journal

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The final characteristic of absurd drama seen in the Waiting for Godot is the clash between good and evil. Being a postwar play, the themes of menace, exploitation, and the clash between good and evil are very dominant. In the Waiting for Godot, Pozzo is the one who assaults and exploits his servant Lucky.

5. Conclusion The play Waiting for Godot written by Samuel Beckett in 1945 is known to be the symbol of absurd dramas. Absurd means out of harmony with reason or propriety, incongruous, unreasonable, and illogical. This statement indicates that absurd deals with something which is out of harmony, out of context, and beyond the limit. It was grown out of the sense of despair, futility, and meaninglessness, where in which man’s existence is a dilemma of purposeless, meaningless, and pointless activity. It is the complete denial of age-old values. It has no plot, no characterization, no logical sequence, and no culmination or climax. It shows that how man has lost his dignity and conventions. Absurd uses unconventional perspectives which can lead to nowhere and meaninglessness. Every single thing in absurd is illogical and unreasonable, so it will always leave a big question mark for the readers trying to interpret it. Waiting for Godot is a play which evokes much criticism and interpretation due to its unconventional style and characteristics which serves absurdity. As exemplified and illustrated in this paper, Waiting for Godot is considered as the violation of the conventions of realism in drama because of refusing to create the image of human beings who act plausibly in familiar scenes within the appropriate plot and chronological time. Generally speaking, we can claim that this play serves absurdity within its theme, plot, characterization, setting, and dialogues throughout the play. Specifically speaking, Waiting for Godot is abundant with the elements of the absurd theater such as illogicalness, conflictless, self-enclosed and abnormal setting, cyclical plot structure, uncertain arrangement of events, rejection of round characters, distrust of language as a means of communication and inability to communicate, emphasis on situations rather than events, quest for identity, unresolved mysteries, hopeless characters forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions, dehumanization of the individual, use of humor, and clash between good and evil. In fact, Waiting for Godot sets people thinking. However, on the surface level, it looks like banal, when we think deeply about our life, it is seems philosophical. The very first sentence of the play which opens with Estragon's idea “Nothing to be done” shows man is helpless, useless, Iranian EFL Journal

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and meaningless but the next sentence of Vladimir “I’m beginning to come round to that opinion” gives us motivation to restart our life. It shows that in this contemporary modern world, we are artificially supermen but naturally mere puppets in the hands of destiny and absurdity. In another way, this play represents the man’s helplessness on this barren Earth because it is said that the paths of glory lead to death. We are merely born on this Earth to have a journey up to death. What matters in between is just passing of the time. We are the mere travelers of this earth. In other words, in this contemporary period, people do not have any ideals before them to whom they can surrender their life and go on living with relaxation. We cannot imitate anybody’s ideals which is either too high or too below of the capacity of human beings. Therefore, man should try to identity his or her capacities and go on living. That is the only truth suggested by the play.

References Abrams, M. H. (2005). A glossary of literary terms. The United States of America: Thomson Corporation. Articleset editors (2008, February 7). Waiting for Godot. Retrieved at http: //www.com. Beckett, S., Mostel, Z., & Schneider, A. (1952). Waiting for Godot. Royal National Institute for the Blind. Cummingstudy editors (2010, March 10) waiting for Godot. Retrieved at http://www.cummingstudy.com Dru, A. (1938). The Journals of Soren Kierkegaard. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Enotes editors (2011, January 19). Waiting for Godot. Retrieved at http://www.enotes.com. Esslin, M. (1980). Samuel Beckett: A Collection of Critical Essays. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited. Gidionsen, M. C. (2011, February 25). Waiting for Godot as an abusrd play? Retrieved at http://www.answers.com/Q/Waiting_for_godot_as_an_abusrd_play Horne, J. W. (1937). Way out west. Available from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029747/ Kelly, Ch. (2010, April 29). Waiting for Godot. Retrieved at http://www.articlesbase.com. Oppapers editors (2011, February 11). Waiting for Godot. Retrieved at http://www.oppapers.com. Shrikrishna, Ananda, S. (2008). Absurdity in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, International Online Journal, 4-10. Smith, N. (1999, September 1). Waiting for Godot study guide. Retrieved at http://www.gradeserver.com. Velissariou, A. (2012, June 14). Waiting for Godot. Retrieved at http:// www.english.fsu.edu.com. Wikipedia editors (2015, July 5). Waiting for Godot. Retrieved at http:// www en.wikipedia.org.

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Title The Effect of Paradigmatic Presentation of Pronominal System on EFL Learners Authors Ali Reza Bakhshi Haddadan (M.A) Zanjan University, Tehran, Iran Ali Asghar Ghasemi (M.A) Allame Tabataba’i University Mehdi Moharami (M.A) Zanjan University, Tehran, Iran

Biodata Ali Reza Bakhshi Haddadan, M.A in TEFL. His main areas of interest are linguistics, discourse analysis and language teaching. Ali Aghar Ghasemi, M.A from Allame Tabataba’i University, is interested in teacher education, ESP and pragmatics. Mehdi Moharami, M.A from Zanjan University. His main research interests are language learning, language teaching and sociolinguistics.

Abstract In the process of learning English pronominal system, EFL learners commonly face problems due to the need in coordination of morphological attributes, syntactic and syntactic-pragmatic knowledge. In order to resolve the problem, this study proposes paradigmatic presentation of pronouns as a structural plan for teaching this category. In this regard, the present research examines the effect of implementing this technique on high school students' command over English pronominal system. To this aim, 60 students randomly assigned into two classes, viz. experimental and control groups were selected. A pre-test to identify the level of learners and a post-test to detect the effects of the independent variable i.e. paradigmatic presentation of the pronominal system were run. The results of data analysis revealed that learners' performance in the experimental group through paradigmatic presentation was significantly better than that of the control group. Iranian EFL Journal

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The results of the delayed post-test also signified that paradigmatic presentation of pronouns led to long term retention except for possessive and objective pronouns. Key words: Long term retention, Paradigmatic presentation, Pronominal system, Syntactic and semantic mismatch

1. Introduction 1.1. A Brief History of the Analysis of Pronouns Early investigation by the Greeks clarified two different functions of third person pronouns in spite of the fact that they have just one form. One of the earliest statements concerning pronouns is: 'Every pronoun is either deictic or anaphoric'(Heusinger, 2002, as cited in Horst & Heike, 2002). Following Greeks, Bloomfield (1967) continued studying pronouns. He believed that pronouns are words substituting nouns. He differentiated between two types of substitution, i.e., anaphoric and deictic use. After Bloomfield, other American structural and transformational linguists assumed that pronouns replace a copy of syntactic expression of its antecedent (Heusinger, 2002, as cited in Horst & Heike, 2002). The study of pronouns was followed by Quine (1960).He criticized the substitution method of structural and transformational linguists. He explained that when the pronoun 'it' is an indefinite term, it cannot be substituted by its antecedent. The pronoun 'it'remains a definite singular term whether its antecedent is in the sentence or no. Healso claimed that pronouns are short-hands replacing definite expressions in sentences. (1) Everything has a part smaller than it. He also argued that the sentence mentioned above is ambiguous since the pronoun 'it' refers to 'everything' in the world or to the indefinite 'a part' (p. 137). According to Heusinger (2002), all classical analysts believed that deictic pronouns are free variables and anaphoric pronouns are bound variables. Free variables are given a value by the context while bound variables getting the same value as their antecedent (as cited in Horst & Heike, 2002). Geach (1962) explained there are serious problems with the classical view. He stated that when a pronoun is represented outside of a sentence, it cannot be bound by the existential quantifier. In fact it is outside of the scope of that quantifier.

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Regarding the brief history of describing and analyzing pronouns, different groups of pronouns have been distinguished. Evans (1980) identified the following varieties of pronouns: i. Deictic pronouns (Free pronouns) Pronouns used to make a reference to an object (or objects) present in the shared perceptual environment, or rendered salient in some other way. ii. Pronouns of laziness (coreferential pronouns) Pronouns intended to be understood as being coreferential with a referring expression occurring elsewhere in the sentence. iii. Pronouns as bound variables Pronouns which have quantifier expressions as antecedents, and are used in such a way as to be strictly analogous to the bound variables of the logician. iv. E-type pronouns Pronouns which have quantifier expressions as antecedents, but are standing outside of the scope of the quantifier. They are used as referring expressions (p.337). In fact, Evans has included functional and E-type pronouns into the fourth category as a whole. These categories constitute the use-typology of pronouns. Evans claimed although pronouns can be used in any of the above mentioned ways, there are only two kinds of pronouns, i.e., referential and bound. These are the kind-typology of pronouns. These two kinds of pronouns are interconnected (As cited in Mario, 1984). 1.2. Defining Pronouns The classical grammarians defined pronouns as words 'standing for nouns'. This definition for pronouns is problematic in several different ways. First, it is not mainlyclarified what the notion 'stand for' applies and why it cannot be applicable to expressions other than pronouns. Another problematic point argued by Lyons (1968) is that pronouns do not stand only for nouns. They can also take the place of noun phrases. Bhat (2004) stated this notion i.e., standing for nouns can also be troublesome because all other pronoun types, excepting personal pronouns, may involve other categories like adjectives, adverbs and etc. Bhat (2004) in his introduction to 'pronons' discussed the point that the functional distinction between demonstratives, interrogatives, indefinites, etc. and nouns makes it difficult to regard the first category as 'standing for' a noun. Wales (1996) suggested that pronouns can be regarded as

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shorthand references that can take the place of more explicit or cumbersome forms. Since the key function of pronouns is avoiding repetition, they usually have a low semantic content. Jespersen (1924) suggested the term 'shifter' for personal pronouns and for common words like 'father' and 'mother', etc. He wanted to show that the meaning of these words changes according to the situation. This similar point between personal pronouns and the nouns mentioned above is that they both indicate the roles of the referents. However, the primary function of the former is denotation of the roles and the identification of the referents is the basic function of the latter. Jakobson (1971) used the term 'shifter' just for deictic words, i.e., words whose meaning is mainly dependent upon the context in which the speech act occurs. Demonstratives, adverbials, and tense markers as well as personal pronouns were regarded as shifters by Jakobson, too. According to Bhat (2004), the notion of 'shorthand expression' may be more satisfying for demonstratives, interrogatives, and indefinite pronouns in comparison with personal pronouns. However, only some of these pronouns play the function of 'reference' in utterances. 1.3. The Acquisition of Pronouns Linguists proposed different approaches on how children acquire their language pronominal paradigm. Two approaches of the usage-based and the innatess approach have been given a lot of attention. Both of these approaches assumed the acquisition of pronominal system is done through a process of structure building. However, they are different with respect to the way this mental process is done. 1.4. The Role of Pronouns in Language In the following, the role of pronominal system in reading comprehension, sociolinguistics, discourse and translation is briefly discussed respectively. 1.4.1. The role of pronouns in reading comprehension. Accurate identification of a pronoun in a text can drastically affect reading comprehension. Because of the important role of pronominal reference in reading comprehension, students should develop this skill as soon as possible. It is believed that ESL/EFl reading courses should provide activities that make learners locate instances of pronominal reference, practice identifying and using this skill (Celce-Murcia and Olshtain, 2000). Garrod (1994) argued pronoun reference is a complementary part of sentence comprehension that often occurs at the earliest point in language reading comprehension. The research of Sanford and Garrod (1981) portrayed the importance of pronoun reference in reading comprehension. The reader has to make sense of the whole thing in order to understand an Iranian EFL Journal

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extended text. The intersentential or intrasentential connection between phrases and sentences are called cohesion and coherence by linguists. Pronouns are the main cohesive links in the sentence. Coherence is necessary to make sense of the situations and events in the context as a whole (Garrod, 1994; Brown & Yule, 1983). 1.4.2. The role of pronouns in sociolinguistics. In analyzing people’s use of function words, a sense of their emotional state and personality, and their age and social class is obtained (Pennabaker, 2011). Pennycook (1994) argued that, a pronoun is always a highly complex piece oflanguage that can rarely stand in a simple relationship to something else.This is where the notion of the ‘politics of the pronoun’ arises. He also emphasized that pronouns always imply relations of power and one's choice of pronoun reveals a lot about his own self-concept and concept of others. 1.4.3. The role of pronouns in discourse.The role of pronouns in discourse is well documented, and the literature contains lots of illuminating insights to inspire further analyses (Fairclough 1989: 179-182; Diller 1994: 100-104; Johnson 1994).Pronouns were described as cohesive parts of discourse that connect the sequences of utterances together (Halliday & Hasan, 1976).Linguists and anthropologists are aware of the importance of pronouns in denoting the role of interactants in speech acts. 1.4.4. The role of pronouns in translation.Dutto et al. (2009) stated: The syntactic, semantic and discourse level divergence in natural languages posesdifficulty in the translation within two languages. Most of the machine translation systems have tried to capture the syntactic and semantic divergence as the translation takes place at the sentence level. The progress at the level of discourse requires multi sentence leveltranslation. One of the most important aspects in successfully analyzing multi-sentential texts is the capacity to establish the anaphoric references to preceding discourse entities (p. 55). 1.5. Paradigmatic Relation versus Syntagmatic Relation Different linguistic definitions of 'paradigm' preceded the distinction between paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations. According to Agamben (2002), an etymological analysis of 'paradigm' shows the word comes from the latin word 'paradigma'. The prefix 'para-' meaning' alongside', and 'digma' meaning 'to show', so the two words together sound as alongside shown'(as cited in Göktürk, 2011)

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A linguistic paradigm is any kind of rational tabulation of linguistic forms, such as phrases, words, or phonemes in order to illustrate contrasts and systematic variation (Bird, 1999). A characteristic property of paradigms is that interchanging entire rows or columns does not change the interpretation of the information.A 'paradigm' is a set of rules and regulations (written or unwritten) that does two things: 

it establishes or defines boundaries; and



it guides you inside those boundaries in order to besuccessful. (Barker, 1992).

One of the main assumptions of structural linguists is that the value of a certain linguistic element is dependent on the existence of other linguistic elements of that language. The two systems producing meaning in language are paradigmatic and syntagmatic. Two elements have syntagmatic relations when they concatenate, i.e., they appear together in some expression. On the other hand, two elements stand in a paradigmatic relation, if they appear in similar contexts. They are interchangeable in that context. These two elements are usually grammatically and semantically similar (Bordag& Heyer, 2007). Saussure defined a syntagmatic relationship and a paradigmatic relationship between two items as their sequential occurrence in a sentence and substitutability of items respectively (He used the term rapport associative for paradigmatic relations). In fact, Saussure has emphasized both 'admissible neighbors and admissible substitutes' as an important part of the syntactic properties of a word in language (Schotze& Walsh, 2008). Syntagmatic analysis involves the structure of a text and the relationships between its parts. There are three kinds of syntagmatic relationships: 1. Sequential relationships, as found in film and television narrative sequences 2. Spatial relationships, as found in posters and photographs (where signs and symbols are juxtaposed) 3. Conceptual relationships, such as in an arrangement A paradigmatic analysis involves studying ' the oppositions and contrasts between the signifiers that belong to the same set from which those used in the text were drawn' (Chandler, 2008, as cited in Myers, 2008)). Syntagmatic analysis studies the surface structure of a text, while paradigmatic analysis considers the positive or negative connotations of each signifier (Chandler, 2002). Paradigmatic analysis compares and contrasts the present signifiers in the text with absent signifiers which might have Iranian EFL Journal

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been chosen. Paradigmatic substitutions occur in different semiotic levels of a particular word, image, style, genre, etc. In other words, the choice of one signifier depends on many factors such as genre, convention, connotation, style, and the individual's own repertoire. Therefore, paradigmatic analysis tends to recognize the value of items in a text (Chandler, 2008). According to Mahfuza (2005), "paradigms could be phonemic, morphemic, lexical, phrasal, clausal or sentential as long as they share same linguistic or grammatical features". (p. 2) With regard to the significant role of pronouns in English structure, the fundamental role of pronominal system in discourse, sociolinguistics and translation, the need in the coordination of different types of knowledge in learning pronouns and the ambiguity of pronominal category in utterances, the researchers have decided to shed new light in this respect.This study aims at investigating the influence of paradigmatic presentation of pronominal system on the learners' command of English pronouns. In other words, the present research is an attempt to explore the relationship between presenting pronouns as paradigms on the students’ command over this linguistic category. It also attempts to discover whether paradigmatic presentation of pronouns leads to learner’s differential performance on various subcategories of English pronominal system. 1.6. Research Questions and Hypotheses In order to narrow down the scope of study in more concrete terms, the following questions are articulated as the central pivot of the study: Q1: Does paradigmatic presentation of pronominal system improve high school students' degree of mastery over this linguistic category? Q2: Does paradigmatic presentation of pronominal system enhance long-term retention of pronominal category by the students?

2. Methodology 2.1. Introduction This chapter presents the method applied in the study including selection of the participants, the instruments used, and the procedure for verifying validity and reliability of each test. 2.2. Participants The target population was defined as third- grade public high school male students in Iran which comprised 609 students. The sample, however, consisted of 60 third-grade high school students according to Morgan Sample Size Table with a normal intelligence quotient (IQ between 90-110). Iranian EFL Journal

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Their age ranged between 17 and 18. Thirty students using cluster random selection were categorized as control and experimental groups. 2.3. Instrumentation The instruments used in this research consisted of Raven’s Intelligence test as well as a teachermade test administered in three phases (i.e., pretest, posttest and delayed posttest). 2.3.1. Raven’s intelligence test. Raven's Progressive Matrices (often simply referred to as Raven's Matrices) or RPM, is a nonverbal group test typically used in educational settings (Appendix A). It is an IQ test commonly administered for groups ranging from five years old to adolescents. The test comprises multiple choice questions, listed in order of difficulty (Kaplan &Saccuzzo, 2009. pp, 325-327). Grading was done through counting the number of correct responses. For this test, the grades below 70 or two standard deviations below the mean would indicate impaired intelligence, while grades between 85-115 indicated normal intelligence; grades above 130 or two standard deviations above the mean on the other hand, indicated high intelligence. Table2.1 Results of Raven's Progressive Test IQ

90

Frequency 4

93

94

97

99

100

101

103

106

107

110

2

2

6

10

6

8

8

6

6

2

2.3.2. Teacher-made test.The dependent variable, i.e., students’ degree of control over pronominal system entailed a very specific type of test especially designed to measure this ability. Accordingly, a teacher-made test was developed to measure the intended knowledge. 2.3.2.1. Reliability of the test. The reliability of the test was computed through Kudar-Richardson formula (KR-21). The coefficient representing reliability was calculated as 0.86. 2.3.2.2. Validity of the test. Because of the lack of standard tests for pronominal system, validating the teacher-made test on the basis of standardized test was impossible. So, the researcher consulted with research supervisor and other specialists and colleagues. They all accepted the test as a valid one. Test items were analyzed by the researcher himself. Item facility and item discrimination were examined. The test items with IF higher than 0.63 and lower than 0.37 were improved. Item discrimination was also computed. The test items with ID lower than 0.40 were replaced by Iranian EFL Journal

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acceptable test items. Choice distribution (i.e., the effectiveness and appropriateness of the choices) was examined. The effective alternatives substituted for poor alternatives (i.e., nonfunctioning and deceiving alternatives). The same test was used in both pretest and posttests (Appendix A). 2.4. Procedure The procedure comprised several phases including pilot study, treatment, posttest and delayed posttest. 2.4.1. Pilot study. By permission of the educational administration, the pilot test was administered to a representative group to ensure the acceptability of the tests as the proper means of measurement. Ten students were selected randomly. The goal of the pilot study was to determine the required time for the test takers to accomplish the test and to identify too easy and too difficult test items. Ensuring the reliability and validity of the test, as well as examining the content and vocabulary load of the test were further objectives of this phase. 2.4.2. Pretest. A pretest was administered to both control and experimental groups before the treatment. The time allotted to implement the ninety-item test was 60 minutes. Grading was done by considering one point for each correct answer and zero point for incorrect responses. So, the range of grades was between zero and ninety. 2.4.3. Treatment. Treatment included a specific grammar instruction (i.e., paradigmatic presentation of pronouns for the experimental group) conducted by the researcher himself. The participants of the control group, however, took part in their ordinary English classes. Attending in some English classes in random, the researcher noticed that the grammatical points were presented to the students through grammar translation method. The teachers just explained the pronominal system to the students and presented Persian equivalents to the students. The students were asked to memorize the pronominal system and to provide sentences including the pronouns taught in the classroom for the next session. They paid little attention to the organization of subjects as paradigms. Few practice and repetition were made in the classes the researcher attended in. Some teachers did not believe in teaching grammatical points at all.

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Every session of instruction through paradigmatic presentation took sixty minutes. Each category of pronouns was treated in two sessions. Three sessions were held each week. Consequently, the whole instruction took four weeks. All types of pronouns were reviewed at the end of the last session. The instruction began by introducing pronouns and pinpointing the role of this category in grammar of all languages and English in particular. Each pronoun was practiced in two sessions. Possessive adjectives were also included in the program since they act as a pre-requisite for learning possessive pronouns. The pronouns were presented through paradigms so that the learners would understand the similar function of each group. Six charts were provided including different types of pronominal system separately. The goal was to organize the subjects to avoid overloading the working memory of the students. At the beginning of each session, pronominal paradigms were also presented on the whiteboard. Different animations through Powerpoint attracted the students to the paradigms presented through the computer system. A sample sentence was written on the blackboard and the students were asked to substitute the pronouns over and over. These substitutions repeated by the students one by one and in chorus. The greatest part of instruction comprised drilling, repetition and substitutions of pronouns in pattern sentences. All types of pronouns were reviewed at the end of the last session. 2.4.4. Post-test. Two days after the end of the instruction a post-test was administered to both the experimental and control group. This test was exactly the same as the pre-test. 2.4.5. Delayed post-test. Three weeks after the instruction, a delayed post-test was administered to both the experimental and control groups in order to study the effect of the instruction in the long term memory of the students. The goal of this phase was to study whether paradigmatic presentation of pronominal system enhances the retention of these items by the students after several weeks. 2.5. Research Design This research is considered as an experimental study (Pretest- posttest Randomized Group Design) including a pre-test and two posttests administered for both the experimental and control groups. The aim of the experimental studies such as the present one is to investigate the effect of independent variables on another variable (i.e., dependent variable). One dependent variable (i.e., Iranian EFL Journal

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students’ mastery over pronominal system) and one independent variable (i.e., paradigmatic presentation of pronominal system) were under investigation in this study. The schematic representation of the design is demonstrated in the following display. (REG) (RCG)

T1 T1

X

T2

T3

-

T2

T3

T1: Pretest T2: Posttest T3: Delayed Posttest X: Treatment REG: Random Experimental Group RCG: Random Control Group.

3. Results and Discussion This study was conducted to explore the effects of paradigmatic presentation of pronominal system on Iranian third-grade high school students’ command of these items. 3.1. Testing the first research question. Q1: Does paradigmatic presentation of English pronominal system enhance high school students' degree of control over this linguistic category? In order to answer this question, a pretest, including 90-item multiple choice questions was run to measure the students' knowledge of pronouns before the instruction. The same test was administered as the posttest after the instruction. Descriptive statistics and independent samples ttest were used to compare the mean scores of control and experimental groups in pretest and posttest 1. Table 3.2 illustrates the descriptive statistics of both control and experimental in pretest.

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Table 3.2 Descriptive Statistics of Control and Experimental Groups in Pretest

group

subjective pro. pretest

objective pro. pretest

possessive adj. pretest

possessive pro. pretest

reflexive-emphatic

Std. N

Mean

Deviation

Std. Error Mean

control

30

7.37

2.512

.459

experimental

30

7.23

2.079

.380

control

30

5.83

1.859

.339

Experimental

30

6.23

1.924

.351

control

30

7.77

2.991

.546

Experimental

30

6.90

2.234

.408

control

30

4.97

2.341

.427

Experimental

30

4.93

1.964

.359

30

5.90

2.964

.541

pro. control

pretest

Experimental

30

5.27

2.625

.479

relative pro. pretest

control

30

5.30

3.142

.574

Experimental

30

5.37

2.251

.411

pro= pronoun adj= adjective In Table 3.2, mean, standard deviation, standard error of difference between means are presented as descriptive statistics for the pretest. As expected, the mean scores in both control and experimental groups for all pronouns were nearly the same.

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Table 3.3 T- test for Equality of Means in Pretest

Levene's

Test

for Equality of Variances

t-test for Equality of Means Mean Sig.

F subjective pretest

pro. Equal

variances 1.195

Std. Error

(2- Differenc Differenc

Sig.

t

df

tailed)

e

e

.279

.224

58

.824

.133

.595

.224

56.044

.824

.133

.595

-.819

58

.416

-.400

.488

-.819

57.930

.416

-.400

.488

1.272

58

.209

.867

.682

1.272

53.677

.209

.867

.682

.060

58

.953

.033

.558

.060

56.297

.953

.033

.558

.876

58

.385

.633

.723

.876

57.168

.385

.633

.723

-.094

58

.925

-.067

.706

assumed Equal

variances

not

assumed objective pretest

pro. Equal

variances .448

.506

assumed Equal

variances

not

assumed possessive pretest

adj. Equal

variances .409

.525

assumed Equal

variances

not

assumed possessive pretest

pro. Equal

variances 1.768

.189

assumed Equal

variances

not

assumed reflexive-emphatic Equal pro. pretest

variances .601

.441

assumed Equal

variances

not

assumed relative pro. pretest Equal

variances 3.142

.082

assumed

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Equal

variances

not

-.094

52.564

.925

-.067

.706

assumed

T-test (Table 3.3) was used to test the mean difference between control and experimental groups. With a Sig. (p) value of more than 0.05 (sig>0.05), zero assumption for equality of variances was not rejected, i.e., the mean score with a 95 percentage of confidence were meaningfully similar leading to the result that the mean scores for both control and experimental groups were the same.

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Table 3.4 Descriptive Statistics of Control and Experimental Groups in Posttest 1

group

Mean difference Between Pre-

subjective pro. posttest 1

objective pro. posttest 1

possessive adj. posttest 1

possessive pro. posttest 1

Std.

Error test & Post-test

N

Mean

Deviation

Mean

1

30

7.20

2.188

.399

-.17

experimental 30

13.57

1.357

.248

control

6.10

2.234

.408

.27

experimental 30

13.43

1.331

.243

7.20

control

7.43

2.582

.471

-.34

experimental 30

13.33

1.446

.264

6.43

control

5.83

2.561

.468

.86

12.53

1.548

.283

7.60

6.67

2.905

.530

.77

control

30

30

30

experimental 30 reflexive-emphatic

Std.

pro. control

30

6.34

posttest 1

experimental 30

12.40

1.567

.286

7.13

relative pro. posttest 1

control

5.73

2.888

.527

.43

experimental 30

12.03

1.691

.309

6.66

Control

6.49

2.559

0.467

.30

12.88

1.490

Total

30

30

experimental 30

0.272

6.89

Table 3.4 compares both control and experimental groups in posttest 1 (after instruction) through descriptive statistics. The expectation was that the mean score of the experimental group would exceed the mean score of the control group. Table 4.3 clearly shows that this was the case, i.e., the mean score of experimental group (M=12.88, Sd=1.49) was higher than that of the control group (M=6.49, Sd=2.559). For example, the mean score for objective pronouns in control group was 6.10, while it was 13.43 for experimental group. The difference of mean scores between pre-test and post-test indicates that the effect size of the previous test is defendable. The indication was that instruction was really effective in promoting students' command of pronominal system.

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Table 3.5 T-test for Equality Versus Inequality of Means in Posttest 1

Levene's Test for

Equality

of Variances t-test for Equality of Means Mean Sig. F subjective pro. Equal posttest 1

Sig.

variances 8.342 .005

(2- Differenc Std. Error

t

df

tailed)

e

Difference

-13.547

58

.000

-6.367

.470

-13.547

48.428 .000

-6.367

.470

-15.448

58

.000

-7.333

.475

-15.448

47.285 .000

-7.333

.475

-10.919

58

.000

-5.900

.540

-10.919

45.566 .000

-5.900

.540

-12.265

58

.000

-6.700

.546

-12.265

47.693 .000

-6.700

.546

-9.515

58

.000

-5.733

.603

-9.515

44.561 .000

-5.733

.603

-10.310

58

-6.300

.611

assumed Equal variances not assumed

objective pro. Equal posttest 1



possessive adj. Equal posttest 1



possessive pro. Equal posttest 1



reflexive-

Equal

variances 1.533E .000

emphatic pro. assumed posttest 1

1

Equal variances not assumed

relative posttest 1

pro. Equal


.000

assumed

Iranian EFL Journal

509

Equal variances not

-10.310

46.801 .000

-6.300

.611

assumed

Table 3.5 tests the equality of means versus inequality of means through a t-test concerning posttest1 results. With a Sig. (p) value of 0.00 (p