---

The views of the great poets on the essence of poetry and its constituent elements, expressed implicitly within the lines of their poetry, offer invaluable points that are often missed by literary critics. These critical views, which are sometimes expressed in a pseudo-philosophical statements, and are often wrapped in artistic expressions, are based in their actual experiences.  These views are usually expressed in brief, or wrapped in imagery, or even in an elegant indirect language, which may be extracted and, through analysis, may lead to our deeper understanding and invaluable views on poetry. These conclusions, we realize, are sometimes confirmed by the bulk of criticism. It is worth noticing that such conclusions were already preceded by great poets who were apparently the best critics themselves. The classification and the analysis of these poets’ views on poetry are considerable, and can constitute a new branch of study in the field of history of literary criticism in Persian Literature, and subsequently change the traditional system of evaluation of poetic styles.

---

Conceptual models are representations of a system that easily show us the abstract concepts of the relationships between objects in the system. In fact, no matter how systematic and meaningful the drawing of models in the field of science, can improve the understanding of issues and topics. Meanwhile, the region of Southwest Asia is of special geopolitical importance due to its privileged geographical facilities and locations, as well as its rich resources. But the developments in this region have caused the involvement of various actors. These actors, with different and even contradictory goals, ideologies, and behaviors, have caused the crisis in the region to continue. In other words, no matter how much the geographical source of power is geopolitically appropriate if there is a basis for more attractiveness to log in and the role of actors too large and large. If you are currently presenting a new tariff on geopolitics and dividing geopolitical actors into three groups: main and focal actors, semi-peripheral actors, and peripheral actors, in the next step you have tried to systematically present the geopolitical relations of Southwest Asia by presenting a conceptual model. Because accurate knowledge of the geopolitical relations between these actors allows geopoliticians to formulate the best strategy for the volatile region of Southwest Asia.

---

This paper deals with the role of the Theatre of the Absurd in the evolution of the history of Iranian dramatic literature. In the modern art everyone in a way is involved in the question of modern technology. Mechanization has made its way into everyday life and has affected all its aspects.This effect is so immense that everyone is in way occupied with the same subject. One of the concepts evident in the works of European authors and playwrights is absurdity and inefficiency of the modern time and the people. This article investigates how the concept of the absurd is reflected in the plays of Gholam HosseinSaedi. It has been tried to present an analysis of how Theater of the Absurd and its pioneershave influenced Saedi’s plays.

---

The effect of Spirulina powder at levels of 0 (control), 3, 7, and 10%, of food ratio on growth, survival, and total carotenoids of dwarf gourami fry (Trichogasterlalius) of 3.6 g average weight as well as its larval stage was investigated for a period of 8 weeks. Carotenoids was significantly increased with increase in spirulina level up to 7% (p<0.05), but not significantly different from 10% level (p> 0.05). Survival showed no significant difference (p> 0.05). In larvae, survival, total carotenoids and total length increased significantly with increasing spirulina powder (p<0.05). Overall, the spirulina powder at 3% improved the growth and total carotenoids factors in pre-adult gourami and 10% level for larval stage as the best treatments in this study.

---

Despite the bulk of literature on various aspects of anxiety, its multi-dimensional aspect generates many controversies among researchers. Sometimes, EFL learners may suffer from proficiency and gender dependent anxiety in language learning contexts. This correlational study aims to explore the relationship between the construct of general anxiety across different English proficiency levels including elementary, intermediate, and advanced in Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 108 male and female (54 in each group) Iranian EFL learners aged 14 to 18 took part in the present study at a private language school in Gorgan, Iran. The analyses explored the general relationship between anxiety levels and English proficiency levels and also EFL learners’ gender. Chi Square tests were run in R software did not demonstrate a significant relationship between anxiety and levels of proficiency in general. Findings revealed a significant relationship between EFL learners’ level of anxiety and gender. The results might help design future studies and assist teachers, teacher educators, and syllabus designers to devise their courses and tests considering affective factors which ultimately lead to students’ self-efficacy

1. Introduction
Language learning is a complicated process in which many factors are involved. Apart from cognitive factors, psychological factors play an inevitable role in the learning environment (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993). Affective factors such as empathy, self-esteem, and anxiety are rooted in psychology and encompass emotional side of human behavior and over the last 30 years many studies confirmed their undeniable role in language teaching (Brown, 2014). Cognitive and affective factors, once considered to be the opposite ends of a continuum are now seen as complementary to each other (Dewaele, 2005). Anxiety is among the affective factors which have attracted the most attention since foreign language teachers have always encountered learners who demonstrate different degrees of uneasiness and worry in the classroom. Horwitz’s study (1986) is considered to be the starting point for many other studies on the issue of “Foreign Language Anxiety” (FLA).
There are different perspectives with regard to FLA in the classroom; some believe that anxiety is a major problem and has detrimental effects on language learning (debilitative anxiety) (Gregersen, 2003; Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002); however, other scholars have the opposite idea and consider a small dose of anxiety as a facilitative factor in foreign language learning (Frantzen & Magnan, 2005).
Almost all studies in the field proved the negative influence of anxiety on foreign language learning (Horwitz, 1986). Several studies have focused on the level of anxiety among the learners whereas others have investigated the relationship between FLA and students’ oral performance or listening performance. Other researchers on the other hand have inspected its influence on students’ test performance. However, since the construct is a multi-faceted one, more studies need to be conducted to cover all its aspects. Most of the studies regarding the issue so far have been implemented in academic contexts among university students with different majors and mostly focused on the influence of FLA on test performance (Birjandi & Alemi, 2010; Cheng, Horwitz & Schallert, 1999). The exclusive EFL context of Iran in which students do not have the opportunity to be exposed to a great deal of English makes the situation even more challenging for the students to master a foreign language which adds to the importance of this research..
 
2. Literature Review
In Horwitz’s (1986) study significant negative correlation was found between FLA and English achievement of students who were learning Spanish or French. Chapell, Blanding, and Silverstein (2005) carried out a study among undergraduate and graduate students outcomes of which revealed a significant difference of academic achievement among students showing various degrees of anxiety. In the Thai context, the results of an investigation in an English language program revealed significant correlation between FLA and performance in English language as well (Anyadubalu, 2010).
Wigfield and Kennedy (2007) reported students who have high anxiety do poorly in tests. A study by Batumlu and Erden (2007) showed a significant negative correlation between FLA and English achievement test among university students. Rahimi (1999) found 36.9 % of high school students in Sanandaj, Iran had severe anxiety; Mozaffari’s (2001) findings were also in line with the previous research. Salehi and Marefat (2014) explored possible relationship between FLA and test anxiety and also the effects of FLA and test anxiety on foreign language test performance; the results displayed negative effects of both types of anxiety on test performance, and there was also a strong positive relationship between FLA and test anxiety. Daskzan (2004) documented that 37% of male and 53% of female high school students in Saghez, Iran had test anxiety and that there was a significant relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement. Mersi (2012) investigated FLA among male and females EFL learners and found out that females had higher level of anxiety. Rezazadeh and Tavakoli (2009) carried out a study on the relationship between gender, academic achievement, years of study and levels of test anxiety among university students, and it was revealed that females had a higher level of test anxiety. Two qualitative studies concluded that students in upper-level courses experience higher anxiety (Ewald, 2007; Kitano, 2001). However, Gardner, Smythe, & Brunet (1977) concluded that anxiety decreased when experience and proficiency increased.
Despite the number of studies (Ewald, 2007;Sparks & Ganschow, 2007;Daskzan, 2004), there are still no conclusive results on the issue and research on the differences in anxiety levels among proficiency levels among male and females EFL learners at private language institutes is rather scarce. To narrow the gap, this correlational study explored the relationship between the construct of general anxiety across different English proficiency levels including elementary, intermediate, and advanced in Iranian EFL learners. Based on the purpose of the research, the following research questions were formulated:
1. Are there any significant relationship among anxiety levels of EFL learners and their proficiency?
2. Is there any significant relationship among anxiety levels of EFL learners and their gender?
3. Are there any significant relationship among anxiety levels of female EFL learners and their proficiency?
4. Are there any significant relationship among anxiety levels of male EFL learners and their proficiency?
Method
The participants comprised 108 male and female (54 in each group) EFL learners whose age ranged 13-18 studying at three different proficiency levels at a private language institute in Gorgan, Iran. Cognitive Test Anxiety and Academic Performance based on 4-point Likert scale by Jerrell C. Cassady Ball State University and Ronald E. Johnson (2002) was used. A number of 108 out of the original 172 questionnaires were selected in the current study based on the learners’ age.
 
 
Data Analysis, Results, and Implications
The analyses explored the general relationship between anxiety levels and English proficiency levels and also EFL learners’ gender. Chi Square tests were run in R software did not demonstrate a significant relationship between anxiety and levels of proficiency in general. Findings revealed a significant relationship between EFL learners’ level of anxiety and gender. The results might help design future studies and assist teachers, teacher educators, and syllabus designers to devise their courses and tests considering affective factors which ultimately lead to students’ self-efficacy.
 

---

Considering one of the earliest calls for applying pragmatics in the second language, Kasper and Rose’s (2002) study “Is Pragmatic Teachable?”, pragmatic features have been analyzed during the last 20 years in EFL/ESL contexts. The amalgamation of studies has been conducted on many speech acts around the world within the two decades, among which request, apology, and refusal are considered as the most-appreciated speech acts in Iran. The purpose of the present paper is to unravel the overall effectiveness of the intervention on the speech acts of request, apology, and refusal in an Iranian EFL context. To this aim, out of a total number of 80 studies, 57 papers were chosen based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, which were coded for the analysis. The results of the study revealed that the instruction of request, apology, and refusal is effective and generated a mean of (g = 1.43) which is significant, reflecting a quite large gain of instruction. The paper concludes with pedagogical implications and suggestions for future studies.   
It is about four decades that pragmatics has been at the center of constant theoretical and empirical attention among the theoretician and practitioners around the world (Derakhshan & Shakki, 2021). In order to appropriately construct and reconstruct the meaning of spoken and written utterances, speakers need to have shared background knowledge. Hence, it may be a burden for a person to convey what she/he intends to communicate in a way that enables the interlocutors to find out it in the way that it was intended.
In a nutshell, teaching and assessing pragmatics are justified on the ground that language learners may encounter difficulties to produce and comprehend language appropriately due to cross-cultural mismatches regarding the linguistic and social appropriacy of target language norms, and negative pragmatic transfer from their L1 to L2, to just name a few (Shakki et al., 2021). More importantly, among those studies which have investigated pragmatic instruction (Derakhshan, 2014; Derakhshan & Arabmofrad, 2018; Derakhshan & Eslami Rasekh, 2015, 2020; Derakhshan & Shakki, 2020a; Derakhshan et al., 2020; Jeon & Kaya, 2006; Kasper & Rose, 1999, 2002; Kasper & Roever, 2005; Martínez-Flor & Alcón-Soler, 2005; Plonsky & Zhuang, 2019), none of them thoroughly synthesized the empirical studies on pragmatics to find the lacuna regarding teachability of the pragmatics.
The amalgamation of mentioned studies has been conducted on many speech acts, among which request, apology, and refusal are recognized as the most-appreciated speech acts in Iran. Due to the lack of adequate meta-analyses on the effectiveness of L2 pragmatic instruction (Derakhshan & Shakki, 2021; Shakki et al., 2021), which is under-researched in an Iranian EFL context, this study aimed to meta-analyze the body of research in L2 pragmatic instruction to check its effectiveness. Considering the substantial prominence of ILP in learning and teaching in EFL contexts, the purpose of the present study, as far as meta-analysis is concerned, is to summarize the magnitude and directions of the effects obtained in a series of empirical studies. The aim is to identify the effectiveness of teaching methods in the instruction of pragmatics in an Iranian context.
Apology, request, and refusal are the speech acts that were investigated in the present study. More specifically, the present study was an attempt to pursue the effectiveness of teaching L2 pragmatics, particularly the speech acts of request, apology, and refusal to EFL learners in an EFL context like Iran.  Following a comprehensive search, 80 studies were found to be coded based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria, and in the aggregate, 98 effect sizes reported from the 57 original studies generated a mean of (g = 1.43) which is significant, reflecting a quite large gain of instruction.
Despite the fact that this study may divulge several findings and implications in the field of teaching, and learning of pragmatics, like any other study undertaken so far, the present study is not exempt from limitations as well as delimitations which are enumerated as follows: One limitation is the lack of transparency and subjectivity inherent in this approach. Various reviewers might use different criteria to decide which studies should be included in their review, they may come to contradictory results and opposite conclusions. The second limitation is that the process of the analysis becomes hard and eventually untenable as the number of studies increases whereas a reviewer may be able to synthesize data from a few studies in his/her head. Some of the important studies may be ignored during the data collection, and it can be considered as another limitation. A common limitation of meta-analysis is that researchers combine different sorts of studies (apples and oranges) in the same analysis, so it leads to the argument that the summary effect will ignore possibly important differences across studies. There are still some unpublished studies lying dormant in the researchers’ filing cabinets contributing to the use of the term file drawer problem for meta-analysis which were not included in the current study.
The first delimitation refers to those dimensions of pragmatics that were not included in this investigation. Since pragmatic knowledge includes many more dimensions in each component like speech acts, politeness principles, deixis, conversational structure, presupposition, implicatures, routines, and so on. The present study tried to include the most influential components in ILP which are speech acts, among which request, apology, and refusal were selected to be investigated in this study. Though there appears to be a large amount of research in ILP, the studies which were published between 2000 and early 2020 were included in the present study. One conspicuous delimitation is the number of studies in which instruction was employed and the ones which do not implement instruction were removed from the study. The primary subcategories based on which the current study was conducted can also be extended and other moderator variables can be scrutinized.
Conducting this study brings some implications and suggestions for the researchers whose area of interest is L2 pragmatics. The results may have pivotal pedagogical implications for L2 pragmatics and future research. One of the tremendous implications of this study is that while searching for the speech acts, surprisingly, there were some speech acts that have received no attention such as congratulations, condolences, threats, and challenges, so the researchers may use these untouched areas of English pragmatic instruction for their future studies. The other implication is that the teachers would be able to utilize the most effective treatment types, which led to better performance, comprehension, and production, and they also should take care of other factors such as gender, age, and proficiency level of the learners to have better outcomes. The findings of the present study may be useful for researchers whose area of interest is pragmatics, particularly the speech acts to check the moderator variables which are helpful and predictor in teaching the speech act of request, apology, and refusal.
 

---

There has been mounting pressure on L2 academic staff to take on the role of researchers, thereby contributing to the knowledge economy in higher education. To this end, they have been required to acquire different types of literacies including digital, assessment, and feedback literacies, to name but a few. More recently, statistical literacy has been proposed as an important asset to researchers. Yet, what remains rather unnoticed and unclear is the nature and status of statistical literacy as an important dimension of literacy in teacher education, development, and appraisal research, inasmuch as the existing body of knowledge on statistical literacy is more focused on students rather than teachers. Informed by the relevant literature, this paper brings to attention academic staff’s lack of statistical literacy, as one of the possible driving forces behind their disinclination to do research and calls for further attention to L2 ـ specific statistical literacy as an appraisal tool in faculty evaluation schemes in higher education sector. The implications are discussed in the light of the literature.  

1. Introduction

In line with the internationalisation movement in higher education coupled with the ever ـ increasing demands enjoined by policymakers has constantly brought forth unexampled pressure on university teachers to assume greater responsibility in their career. In addition to their traditional role of teaching, university teachers have found themselves cast in the role of mentor, guide, pastoral carer, counselor, and more recently teacherpreneur. Encouraged by several initiatives and pressured by external forces, university teachers have been drawn into all these new roles save one, teacher as researcher. And herein lies a concern as to whether university teachers are able to serve new responsibilities. Such a paradoxical situation continues to bring to bear mounting pressure on academics.
In the context of the competitive milieu, universities have been obsessed with acquiring more international reputation and prestige, as a consequence of which world rankings have become a major concern in higher education contexts around the world. In view of the very nature of university rankings which is more directed towards research, the burning question herein is whether university teachers are prepared and inclined to play an active role in the researcher to fulfil their knowledge production mission. In addition, as suggested by the literature, much of what is known about statistical literacy and statistics anxiety comes from research on students with little room for teachers. Although there are different reasons as to why teachers tend to shy away from involvement in research, it is widely accepted in academia that statistics is an important ingredient of research, in particular quantitative research, and it could, therefore, be possibly a source of inhibition for teacher ـ researchers. With this end in view, this paper is an attempt to situate statistical literacy in a broader domain of language teachers’ multiple literacies.

2. The enigmatic nature of statistical language

Statistics tends to be an important course in many academic curricula and in particular in the field of education. In the domain of applied linguistics and TESOL, statistics is also of great significance not only in BA programme, where students need to acquaint themselves with core statistical concepts introduced in testing and assessment modules, but also in masters and doctoral programmes, where students are often required to submit a compulsory dissertation/thesis to graduate. One reason for teachers' and students’ apprehension and inhibition tends to be perhaps the language of statistics which is less straightforward in humanities and social sciences, compared to other academic fields such as STEM and medical education. Such a demand for statistics education in the field of language education, has risen the need for statistically literate teachers. Nonetheless, literature has shown that statistics remains enigmatic for researchers across different academic fields.

3. Teacher statistical literacy

There are various definitions of statistical literacy in the literature. There is a general tendency across academic fields which treats research as a demanding task for which rarely do university teachers have the minimum specialist knowledge required to conduct research on their own. This concern tends to be aggravated in quantitative and mixed methods research, in the event that university teachers’ unawareness of statistical concepts can potentially make research a daunting experience, leading to statistics anxiety. The literature is replete with numerous studies on statistics anxiety in different academic fields. It is, therefore, not uncommon to expect academic procrastination among students whose teachers themselves are of insufficient statistical knowledge. The solution to the challenge of statistics anxiety lies with identifying and removing the underlying factors contributing to statistics anxiety. Further research, however, is needed to understand the direction of the association between statistical literacy and statistics anxiety, if any. There has long been a common stereotype in the academic world, which absolves university teachers of all responsibility for statistical data analysis in their research projects. Not only is such a mentality generally reinforced by masters and doctoral students, but it is also propagated by some academic staff. The advocates are under the impression that statistics, similar to other academic fields, is a specialty and a distinct academic discipline and hence needs to be left to those with expert knowledge of the field, i.e., statisticians. And this is why some L2 university teachers as researchers simply ask statisticians to help them with data analysis. There is an opposite view, however, which tends to hold researchers accountable for every aspect of research including data analysis.
Informed by a constructivist dimension of learning, university teachers should be, therefore, encouraged to not only believe in, but also exercise agency, that is playing an active role in their knowledge production mission, for which they need to be both competent producers and consumers of (statistical) knowledge. They should be convinced of the indispensableness of statistical knowledge as a professional and pedagogical asset. In conclusion, this paper calls for statistical literacy appraisal as a needs analysis and professional development tool to evaluate L2 university teachers’ both knowledge of and attitude towards statistical reasoning. Minimising statistics anxiety and academic procrastination, statistical literacy would then make lecturer ـ researcher transition smooth

---

To establish a creative volition in unilateral engagements, the determinant should, firstly, create his/her internal will in his/her mind. Although some jurists believe that as we do not need other's interference, the internal will is sufficient to establish a unilateral engagement, it seems that this kind of will ought to be expressed in order to be realized as a social and legal fact. This view is also because of the fact that the unilateral engagement effects other's rights and its undertakings should be insured. Hence expressing is a "term", which effects the internal will and so creates the unilateral engagement. In process to establish the creative volition, we should use "the special ways to express volition" in order to make the internal will enter the external world. These ways and instruments are traditionally "word" and "act", and the new "electronic instruments". As it is doubtful to express volition with "gesture", "exchange", "inactivity" and "silence" in unilateral engagements, here we evaluate the possibility of using them. However, all these ways and instruments should explicitly or implicitly indicate the volition. In other words, the external will should accord the internal one. The explicit word (literal or written) indicates the volition equivalently while the implicit words and also acts, circumstantially and implicitly, indicate the volition.

---

---

For years, sun and hot air drying have been considered as traditional drying methods. Today, using microwave is one the newest methods of drying. Iran is one of the main producers of pomegranate fruit in the world. To manufacture better product, drying needs to be handled in controlled and optimized process, therefore investigation of process condition kinetic is an obligation. In this study, thin layer drying behavior of pomegranate arils using microwave drier at 4 power levels (180, 360, 540 and 720W), oven drier at 4 temperature levels (45, 55, 65 and 75°C) and sun drying was studied. Page, Henderson and Pabis, Midilli et al., Newton, Logarithmic and Two-Term models were compared according to their Root Mean Square error (RMSE), Chi-square (χ²), Mean Bias Error (MBE) and correlation coefficient (R²). The results of the studied models indicated that Midilli et al., model exhibited the best fit to the data obtained for oven, microwave and sun drying. Increasing the oven drier temperature and the microwave drier power lead to an increase in the drying rate. Dried samples at 75˚C exhibited the highest R²= 0.9998, and the least RMSE and χ², 0.2059 and 0.5576 respectively in comparison with other samples. While dried samples by microwave, 720W, showed the highest R²= 0.9998 and the least RMSE and χ² were 0.1894 and 0.4203, respectively in comparison with other samples. Sun dried samples had the highest R² in Midilli Model, the least RMSE and X² were 0.0338 and 0.7059 respectively.

---

Characteristics of the celebrities can have commercial values and be in use of different products. Nowadays the common ways for celebrities in this regard is that they let the investors use their name and image to advertise a certain product. This approach toward fame is becoming a developing business and in a way it can be called an industry which can amount to a lot of revenue. However use of the celebrities fame without their consent with commercial purpose can led to their dissatisfaction  and a legal complaint. Legal support extension to fame right in intellectual property rights can support these rights owners.
This paper will analyze features of fame and reputation, developed legal system regulation in this regard and capacity of theses legal systems for supporting the celebrities. By using these legal systems experiences we will introduce useful suggestion to Iran's intellectual property law. It should be said that in common law systems with the implications of intellectual property law principles and new legal establishments, fame and reputation rights has been supported. But in Iran legal system,  with the lack of the minimum regulation in regard to this matter, legal precedent doesn’t have the necessary effectiveness to act upon such matters.