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In the light of evidence that attention can facilitate and enhance learning, this study attempts to investigate the allocation of attention to meaning and form simultaneously in reading comprehension in the foreign language among monolingual and bilingual learners of English. To this end, three groups of learners namely, bilingual (knowing Kurdish, Persian), monolingual (knowing Persian) learners of English and mixed (equal number of bilingual and monolingual learners) as the control group were selected based on the results of a language proficiency test (MTELP). The learners in the two experimental groups were asked to read a written text for meaning and circle a designated lexical form. The learners in the control group were only required to read the text for meaning and answer the follow-up questions. To examine whether the type of attentional condition and bilinguality, as the two independent variables of the study, have any significant effect on comprehension scores, a two-way ANOVA was run. Think aloud technique was also employed to elicit the learners' targeted thought processes from the groups which had to circle the targeted lexical form. The results indicated that the experimental group who paid simultaneous attention to form and meaning and processed the targeted item for both form and meaning gained better comprehension scores regardless of the number of languages they knew. Moreover, it was shown that deeper levels of processing are associated with better comprehension ability. Therefore, we may conclude focus on the lexical form might improve comprehension as indicated by comprehension scores and may be an effective way to make texts more comprehensible.

Teacher professional development rests on the provision of knowledge, development of skills, and change of attitudes of teacher candidates and in-service teachers. Teachers’ professional knowledge, perceptions and teaching practice contribute greatly to student learning. This study sets out to investigate the relationships and inter-relationships among professional knowledge, academic self-concept and self-reported instructional practice which was found as a research gap in the literature. Using a sample of 92 pre-service TEFL teachers in Iran, a significant positive correlation was found between professional knowledge and academic self-concept. The findings also revealed that different domains of professional knowledge are not related to each other for TEFL. Finally, the obtained results indicated that academic self-concept affected instructional practice in total and at the level of sub-dimensions while professional knowledge had an effect on the two dimensions of instructional practice, namely cognitive activation and student learning support but not on the dimension of classroom management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Existing research in law and psychiatry point to schizophrenia as a risk factor for violence and offense behaviors. The present study aims to: 1) report on the prevalence and types of offensive or criminal acts in patients with schizophrenia; 2) identify attributes of schizophrenic offenders; and 3) examine factors associated with offensive or criminal behaviors within a sample of schizophrenic offenders. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 358 patients with schizophrenia who were admitted to a psychiatric ward in Iran between 2004 and 2008. Study data was collected using patients' medical, criminal records, as well as via personal interview with the family member. Study variables included criminality or offensive behavior, types of schizophrenia (paranoid vs. nonparanoid), experiencing hallucination, disease onset, and patients' demographics. Results: Of the sample, 64.8% were male, 80.7% were 45 years old or younger, and 74.1% were either single or divorced. Slightly over 59 % were offenders with criminal status, of which, 9.8% were legal offenders and 48.6% were hidden offenders. The results of unadjusted logistic regression between these variables and criminality show, except for employment, marital status, and opium use, all other variables were statically associated with criminality. Conclusions: Methodological difficulties arising from this study, as well as, the role of mental health professionals, family, and legal system for prevention of violence in and by patients with schizophrenia are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]