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In the educational system of Iran, in which English is a foreign language, the duration of primary school is six years. After that, these English as a foreign language students enter high school and start to learn English during an additional six-year period. In years seven and eight, English textbooks are embossed in alphabetic English braille; but, for the next four years, these books are prepared in the contracted form. Visually impaired students in Iran use alphabetic braille to read and write in their own mother tongue (Farsi). Contracted braille is, therefore, a foreign concept to these students. In Iran, the exposure of students who are learning English to contracted braille in high school has affected the reading skills of these students. The present researchers interviewed four teachers regarding the teaching of contracted braille to English as a foreign language visually impaired high school students, and they also made some changes to the curriculum followed by the teachers. Since it is difficult for students to memorize a large amount of contractions quickly, all parties agreed that contracted braille needs to be taught as early as the first year of high school to Farsi-speaking students learning English. The present study aims to scrutinize the effects on reading fluency of learning contracted English braille. To do so, the researchers taught alphabetic and contracted braille to a visually impaired 12-year-old school boy to examine the degree of impact of teaching either of these two codes on his reading fluency.

Focusing on translators' personal characteristics and their individual differences has gained more momentum in the quest for exploring factors influencing the translation process. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between translator trainees' perfectionism and their preference for the use of different translation strategies. In this quantitative study, 100 translation students were recruited and asked to fill Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale survey and complete translation tasks. The translations were from English to Farsi and viceversa. The collected data from the questionnaire and translation tasks were analyzed using SPSS (22) and Smart PLS (3.0) software packages. The findings showed that perfectionism influenced the translation trainees' preference in using some translation strategies like literal translation, domestication, and foreignization. The finding further substantiated the importance of the personal characteristics of translators in the translation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For years, research in translation studies has focused on examining linguistic and sociolinguistic features of the source and target texts, and the active role of a translator as an important agent in the process of producing a target text has been underestimated. However, recently the importance of the influential role of translators and their personal characteristics have been highlighted. Considering this important development, the aim of this study was to examine the possible relationship between translation students' personality characteristics and their preference for using translation strategies based on two translation strategy models proposed by Vinay and Darblenet (1995) and Venuti (1995). For so doing, 100 translation students were asked to answer the NEO FFM Personality scale and choose one of the suggested translations for each of the 69 sentences designed based on the translation models. The data were analyzed using SPSS (version 22) and Smart PLS (3.0) software. The findings indicated that some of the participants' personality traits like neuroticism and openness to experience had a significant relationship with the use of some translation strategies such as adaptation, modulation and borrowing. The findings were discussed and the implications were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study on contracted versus alphabetical English Braille and English as a foreign language involving a Farsi-speaking visually impaired student in Iran. Results show that the most frequent spelling errors occurred in alphabetic braille substitutions and contracted braille omissions, that alphabetic braille had fewer unconscious errors, and that memorization and lack of concentration led to errors. Also noted is the preference for learning contracted braille.

The researcher administered a Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT) to 80 learners and then according to their grades limited them to 60.The subjects were divided into two homogenous groups (30 subjects in control group and 30 subjects in experimental). Then a pretest was administered to both groups. The subjects who played the role of the control group kept pace with the teacher who taught the book named "English for Computer Science". It should be noted that this group were taught the mentioned book without instructing grammatical collocations (just through a curriculum book). The experimental group was taught the same book through instructing grammatical collocations. Both groups had instruction for sixty- minute periods for ten sessions. To be sure of the effect of the treatment, the researcher tested both groups by using a posttest. The scores on the result of pre and posttest showed the efficiency of the two methods. Finally, a T-test was conducted to examine the differences of the mean test scores of the two groups. The results of the pre and posttest showed a t-value greater than the t-critical. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected and we came to this conclusion that grammatical collocation instruction had significant effect on understanding ESP texts for undergraduate computer engineering students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent interest in Cognitive Translation Studies have entailed a growing number of empirical study in translation process research designs (Jaaskelainen, 2000; Hansen, 2003; Munoz, 2008; Baqi & Mobaraki, 2011). Among other methodological issues, subject profiling has become a key factor if we are to control an experiment. Individual differences can act as independent variables, manipulated by researchers in order to gauge their effect, or extraneous variables not directly related to the purpose of the study, which need to be controlled. In Both cases, it is advisable to quantify them. There are different types of instruments for Psychological Evaluation and Description e.g. test measuring, most used in psychological constructs in Translation Studies; together with some factors to bear in mind when selecting the appropriate test for a given study design. Finally, according to the standards of Educational and Psychological Testing, some recommendations for bettering test administration are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]