Learning to rank refers to machine learning techniques for training a model in a ranking task. Learning to rank has been shown to be useful in many applications of information retrieval, natural language processing, and data mining. Learning to rank can be described by two systems: a learning system and a ranking system. The learning system takes training data as input and constructs a ranking ...

abstract the variables affecting the nature of reading comprehension can be classified into two general categories: reader’s variables, and text variables (alderson, 2000). despite the wave of research on vocabulary knowledge as reader’s variable, the role of this knowledge in c-test as a text-dependent test and its interaction with lexical cohesion of the test as a text feature has remained a...

the extent to which written corrective feedback on linguistic errors can play a role in helping l2 writers improve the accuracy of their writing continues to be an issue of interest to researchers and teachers since truscott (1996) mounted a case for its abolition. while there is growing empirical evidence that written corrective feedback can successfully target some types of linguistic error (...

the present study sought to investigate the role of dynamic assessment (da) in improvement of iranian efl writing performance at different language proficiency levels. to this end, after conducting the quick placement test, 60 iranian efl learners were assigned to two groups with different language proficiency levels. in both groups each participant wrote two compositions, one before and one af...

the debate whether esp teachers need to have knowledge of the specialized field they are teaching has been an issue in the literature over the last two decades. the aim of conducting this study was to explore iranian learners’ and instructors’ beliefs and attitudes concerning the role of specialized knowledge in teaching esp classes. a seventeen item questionnaire was administered to 400 esp le...

an investigation into oral interaction in language classes: a conversation analytic point of view the aim of this thesis is to analyze the interaction between language teachers and students in english language institutes. this work is done in the context of yasuj city. learning another language, which is in most cases english, involves many variables. one of these variables is the linguistic...

the purpose of this two-phase, sequential mixed methods study was to find out whether there were any decencies between male and female ma students’ theses regarding the common features of academic writing such as syntactic complexity, means of integrating cited information, and organizing arguments. i chose 10 male written theses and 15 female written theses in tefl and linguistics. in the firs...

abstract this study aimed at investigating the impact of etymology strategy instruction on the development of vocabulary of iranian intermediate efl learners. etymology, knowledge of origin of words, roots, and affixes, has proved to be a controversial issue and a question of long debate with regard to its impact on the process of vocabulary learning. this study employed etymology strategy in ...