Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and c... more Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and correct combinations of words. In international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, candidates' knowledge of collocations are always evaluated. Therefore, using correct collocations can greatly improve one's performance in both speaking and writing in these tests. This book is suitable for those candidates who are at intermediate level and wish to achieve a high score for their language use in IELTS and TOEFL.
The current study set out to investigate the cultural conceptualizations of the speech act of cri... more The current study set out to investigate the cultural conceptualizations of the speech act of criticism in order to find cultural schemata underlying Persian language. To that end, a corpus of 600 comments was collected from Persian speakers’ Facebook public pages which allow accessibility to all the wall posts and the comments. The pages with critical comments were the primary focus and the comments were filtered discreetly and one by one to ensure that all the comments were written by Native speakers. Content analysis of the data revealed that Persian speakers instantiated the cultural schemata of ‘sharmandegi (being ashamed)’, ‘tă’ărof (ritual politeness)’, ‘khejalat keshidan (being bashful)’ and ‘âberu (face)’ in varying degrees, in their criticisms. Sociocultural norms underlying the cultural schemata found in the criticisms of Persian speakers were also investigated through focus group interviews (FGIs) with 25 native Persian speakers. The findings of FGIs suggest that Persian speakers avoid making criticism, which is considered as a highly face-threatening act, due to the cultural schemata of ‘ru-dar-băyesti (state/feeling of distance out-of-respect)’ and ‘adab va ehterâm (courtesy and respect)’ and because it may damage the hearer’s ‘shakhsiyat (character/integrity)’. The findings also demonstrated the significant role of context on the instantiation of cultural schemata and highlighted the dynamic relationship between language and culture.
Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Cultural Schemata, cultural conceptualizations.
Journal of International and Intercultural Communication
ABSTRACT This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and t... more ABSTRACT This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and the strategies they employed to level criticisms on Facebook. Seventeen strategies were discovered, 10 of which were used by both groups, three by Persians, and four by only Americans. Content analysis demonstrated that Persian speakers employed more indirect strategies, while Americans mainly chose direct strategies. Underlying sociocultural norms were investigated through interviews which revealed Persians preferred to save hearer's face and respect their “shakhsiat.” It was also found that Persians observe the cultural schema of “ru-dar-băyesti” and “adab va ehteram” when criticizing, while Americans used direct assertive criticisms politely.
Criticism Strategies and Their Underlying Cultural Norms in Online Interactions: A Study of Native Speakers of Persian and English Abstract, 2019
This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and the strate... more This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and the strategies they employ to level criticisms on Facebook. Seventeen strategies were discovered, ten of which were used by both groups, three by Persians and four only by Americans. Content analysis demonstrated that Persian speakers employed more indirect strategies while Americans mainly chose direct strategies. Underlying sociocultural norms were investigated through interviews which revealed Persians preferred to save hearer’s face and respect their ‘shakhsiat’. It was also found that Persians observe the cultural schema of ‘ru-dar-băyesti’ and “adab va ehteram” when criticizing, while Americans used direct assertive criticisms politely.
The current study set out to examine how native Persian speakers and native English speakers perc... more The current study set out to examine how native Persian speakers and native English speakers perceive impoliteness in the speech act of criticism at workplace. To that end, volunteers were asked to record a range of their everyday interactions within the workplace over a period of two weeks. Afterwards the data were analyzed and an Oral Discourse Completion Task (ODCT) comprising 7 situations was devised, in which the participants (60 Persian speakers and 60 English speakers) were asked to rate the degree of impoliteness of each criticism based on a Likert scale and then provide an oral response to each criticism. ANOVA was run to analyze the participants’ ratings and identify the differences in the participants’ perception of the degree of impoliteness. Sociocultural norms underlying criticism of Persian speakers were also investigated through focus group interviews (FGIs). Content analysis of the responses demonstrated that Persian speakers mainly opted for a combination of politeness strategies including ‘seeking agreement’, ‘promising’, ‘offering’, ‘giving reason’, and negative politeness strategy of ‘apologizing’. They also favored impoliteness strategies in the situations in which there perceived there was a significant threat to their face. These strategies include ‘bald on record’, positive and negative impoliteness strategies of ‘being unconcerned, disinterested or unsympathetic’, ‘seeking disagreement’, ‘criticism’, ‘snubbing’, ‘using inappropriate identity markers’, and defensive counter strategy of ‘staying silent’. The English speakers, on the other hand, mainly used a combination of negative politeness strategy of ‘apologizing’, and positive politeness strategies of ‘seeking agreement’, ‘giving reasons’, ‘promising’, and ‘offering’. Unlike Persian speakers who employed impoliteness strategies in highly face threatening situations, only a few English speakers chose impoliteness strategies in the same situations.
Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Native speakers, Impoliteness, Politeness, Cross-cultural communication
Vocabulary for KET provides teachers with a guide to the vocabulary needed for students at the A1... more Vocabulary for KET provides teachers with a guide to the vocabulary needed for students at the A1 and A2 levels on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). There are over 800 new words which are presented in 23 units. The book can be used in the classroom or for self-study.
Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and c... more Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and correct combinations of words. In international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, collocations are always evaluated. therefore using correct collocations can greatly improve one's performance in both speaking and writing in these tests. this book is suitable for those candidates who are at intermediate level and above and wish to achieve a high score for their language use in IELTS and TOEFL.
Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and c... more Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and correct combinations of words. In international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, candidates' knowledge of collocations are always evaluated. Therefore, using correct collocations can greatly improve one's performance in both speaking and writing in these tests. This book is suitable for those candidates who are at intermediate level and wish to achieve a high score for their language use in IELTS and TOEFL.
The current study set out to investigate the cultural conceptualizations of the speech act of cri... more The current study set out to investigate the cultural conceptualizations of the speech act of criticism in order to find cultural schemata underlying Persian language. To that end, a corpus of 600 comments was collected from Persian speakers’ Facebook public pages which allow accessibility to all the wall posts and the comments. The pages with critical comments were the primary focus and the comments were filtered discreetly and one by one to ensure that all the comments were written by Native speakers. Content analysis of the data revealed that Persian speakers instantiated the cultural schemata of ‘sharmandegi (being ashamed)’, ‘tă’ărof (ritual politeness)’, ‘khejalat keshidan (being bashful)’ and ‘âberu (face)’ in varying degrees, in their criticisms. Sociocultural norms underlying the cultural schemata found in the criticisms of Persian speakers were also investigated through focus group interviews (FGIs) with 25 native Persian speakers. The findings of FGIs suggest that Persian speakers avoid making criticism, which is considered as a highly face-threatening act, due to the cultural schemata of ‘ru-dar-băyesti (state/feeling of distance out-of-respect)’ and ‘adab va ehterâm (courtesy and respect)’ and because it may damage the hearer’s ‘shakhsiyat (character/integrity)’. The findings also demonstrated the significant role of context on the instantiation of cultural schemata and highlighted the dynamic relationship between language and culture.
Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Cultural Schemata, cultural conceptualizations.
Journal of International and Intercultural Communication
ABSTRACT This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and t... more ABSTRACT This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and the strategies they employed to level criticisms on Facebook. Seventeen strategies were discovered, 10 of which were used by both groups, three by Persians, and four by only Americans. Content analysis demonstrated that Persian speakers employed more indirect strategies, while Americans mainly chose direct strategies. Underlying sociocultural norms were investigated through interviews which revealed Persians preferred to save hearer's face and respect their “shakhsiat.” It was also found that Persians observe the cultural schema of “ru-dar-băyesti” and “adab va ehteram” when criticizing, while Americans used direct assertive criticisms politely.
Criticism Strategies and Their Underlying Cultural Norms in Online Interactions: A Study of Native Speakers of Persian and English Abstract, 2019
This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and the strate... more This study investigated cross-cultural perception of Persian and American speakers and the strategies they employ to level criticisms on Facebook. Seventeen strategies were discovered, ten of which were used by both groups, three by Persians and four only by Americans. Content analysis demonstrated that Persian speakers employed more indirect strategies while Americans mainly chose direct strategies. Underlying sociocultural norms were investigated through interviews which revealed Persians preferred to save hearer’s face and respect their ‘shakhsiat’. It was also found that Persians observe the cultural schema of ‘ru-dar-băyesti’ and “adab va ehteram” when criticizing, while Americans used direct assertive criticisms politely.
The current study set out to examine how native Persian speakers and native English speakers perc... more The current study set out to examine how native Persian speakers and native English speakers perceive impoliteness in the speech act of criticism at workplace. To that end, volunteers were asked to record a range of their everyday interactions within the workplace over a period of two weeks. Afterwards the data were analyzed and an Oral Discourse Completion Task (ODCT) comprising 7 situations was devised, in which the participants (60 Persian speakers and 60 English speakers) were asked to rate the degree of impoliteness of each criticism based on a Likert scale and then provide an oral response to each criticism. ANOVA was run to analyze the participants’ ratings and identify the differences in the participants’ perception of the degree of impoliteness. Sociocultural norms underlying criticism of Persian speakers were also investigated through focus group interviews (FGIs). Content analysis of the responses demonstrated that Persian speakers mainly opted for a combination of politeness strategies including ‘seeking agreement’, ‘promising’, ‘offering’, ‘giving reason’, and negative politeness strategy of ‘apologizing’. They also favored impoliteness strategies in the situations in which there perceived there was a significant threat to their face. These strategies include ‘bald on record’, positive and negative impoliteness strategies of ‘being unconcerned, disinterested or unsympathetic’, ‘seeking disagreement’, ‘criticism’, ‘snubbing’, ‘using inappropriate identity markers’, and defensive counter strategy of ‘staying silent’. The English speakers, on the other hand, mainly used a combination of negative politeness strategy of ‘apologizing’, and positive politeness strategies of ‘seeking agreement’, ‘giving reasons’, ‘promising’, and ‘offering’. Unlike Persian speakers who employed impoliteness strategies in highly face threatening situations, only a few English speakers chose impoliteness strategies in the same situations.
Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Native speakers, Impoliteness, Politeness, Cross-cultural communication
Vocabulary for KET provides teachers with a guide to the vocabulary needed for students at the A1... more Vocabulary for KET provides teachers with a guide to the vocabulary needed for students at the A1 and A2 levels on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). There are over 800 new words which are presented in 23 units. The book can be used in the classroom or for self-study.
Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and c... more Collocation refers to how words are frequently combined together in order to create natural and correct combinations of words. In international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, collocations are always evaluated. therefore using correct collocations can greatly improve one's performance in both speaking and writing in these tests. this book is suitable for those candidates who are at intermediate level and above and wish to achieve a high score for their language use in IELTS and TOEFL.
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Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Cultural Schemata, cultural conceptualizations.
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Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Native speakers, Impoliteness, Politeness, Cross-cultural communication
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Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Cultural Schemata, cultural conceptualizations.
Keywords: Speech act, Criticism, Native speakers, Impoliteness, Politeness, Cross-cultural communication