Afsane Askari’s scientific contributions

The aim of this study was to compare the performances of EFL learners belonging to various personality groups in listening tests. A group of 30 high school EFL learners were selected for this study. All of them were at low-intermediate level of general English proficiency. Based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality questionnaire (2017), these participants were classified into four pairs of contrasting personality groups. The analysis of the participants" personality types was conducted online and took about twenty minutes. Then, they took a test of listening for minimal pairs. Scores of contrasting personality groups were compared with each other by running four paired t-tests. Results obtained by these t-tests showed that intuitive participants outperformed sensing ones, and perceiving participants outperformed judging ones in the listening test. No significant difference was found between the performances of contrasting personality groups in the two pairs of extrovert/introvert and thinking/feeling. Flexibility, adaptability, and being open to a larger set of options are suggested to be possible reasons behind the success of these groups. However, the influence of large set of interacting factors that might have a significant impact on the performance of people in listening test cannot be denied. Depending on the type of listening test, some of these factors might play a more significant role compared to other competing factors.

In their study, Khoshsima and Rostami Abusaeedi have investigated the appropriateness of materials that are employed in Iranian ESP classrooms. Since the profession of language teaching suffers from serious problems in Iranian educational system, conducting such studies seem to be necessary and even an urgent need. This is particularly the case with teaching materials that are employed in ESP courses in Iran. This urgent need is emphasized by Khoshsima and Rostami Abusaeedi where they say "…the majority of university graduates in Iran are not equipped with sufficient knowledge of English to read and understand the original specialized textbooks …". In several places of the article, Khoshsima and Rostami Abusaeedi say that these shortcomings in ESP courses need to be met. They pose a research question about the appropriateness of ESP materials used in Iranian ESP courses. They ask, "Do novel content-based texts motivate ESP learners more than simple and familiar texts?"