Zahra Mohammadi

This study examined the influence of sex and racial discrimination on academic alienation among Iranian university students. Two groups of 60 girls and 60 boys were sampled through multi-stage cluster sampling from among first-year Tabriz University students in Tabriz, Iran. All participants, between18 and 22, were asked to respond on an academic alienation questionnaire. The findings of a two-way ANOVA revealed that girls and Turkish speakers had higher levels of academic alienation compared to boys and Persian speakers. An investigation of interactional effects indicated that Turkish girls demonstrated the highest levels of academic alienation, with no significant effects in the powerlessness dimension. Finally, the effects of the factors relevant to academic alienation were discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to compare differential functioning of Iranian English versus Persian teachers in responding to compliments and to investigate the possibility of sociolinguistic transmission of speech act of responding to compliments from English culture to native Iranian Persian speakers. Following Chen and Yang (2010), we hypothesized that exposure to English would affect the complimenting behavior of Persian speakers, leading to more acceptance of compliments compared to those with little or no exposure to English. Participants of the study were 50 English teachers, regarded as “exposed-to-English” or E group, and 50 Persian teachers, considered as “unexposed-to-English” or U group. The participants’ age ranged from 20 to 35 and they were selected through non-randomized convenience sampling. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) comprising eight complimenting situations was developed in two versions, i.e. English and Persian, in light of Mane’s (1983) taxonomy. The results revealed a significant difference in performance between groups and that Iranian English teachers’ Compliment Response (CR) behavior changed due to exposure to English and approached English culture. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.