The Study of Difference Between Spoken and Written Forms of Persian Language According to Input Processing Theory ( The Case Study of Non Persian Speakers)

The distinction between speech and writing as two types of language skills is a controversial area in modern linguistic research. From this perspective, the Persian language, due to the considerable differences between the spoken and written forms, can be of particular complexity in education, especially in non-Persian speakers. Therefore, in this research we intend to study the use of speech forms in Persian productions of foreign learners. Besides we wanted to know to what extent language learners employ spoken words properly without providing them with direct Persian spoken instructions and relying solely on the native language environment and whether such utterances are subject to a particular pattern or not. Samples of this research were collected from intermediate level Persian students at Dehkhoda Institute. The results of this study indicate that language learners could produce spoken Persian variety without direct instruction of spoken forms by relying only on the native language environment. They were taught only academically and with a focus on reading skills and grammar at Dehkhoda institute; furthermore, spoken forms are used more accurately in vocabulary rather than in grammer. It is worth noting that in explaining the data of this study, the input processing theory in general and the principle of content word priority in particular have been used. Analysis of the data has shown that according to this theory, the utterances follow a certain pattern.

Extended Abstract:
The distinction between speech and writing as two types of language skills is a controversial area in modern linguistic research. From this perspective, the Persian language can be of particular complexity in education due to the considerable differences between the spoken and written forms, especially for non-Persian speakers. Therefore, in this research, we intend to study the use of speech forms in Persian productions of foreign learners. Besides, we wanted to know to what extent language learners employ spoken words properly without providing them with direct Persian spoken instructions and relying solely on the native language environment. Moreover, this research seeks to find out whether these products follow a particular pattern or not.
In this study, the distinction between speech and writing was based on Safar Moghadam's research. Saffar Moghadam explores the place of speech jn language teaching and categorizes and explains the most commonly used phonological and syntactic differences between spoken and written Persian in terms of teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers. These differences are in 8 categories of verbs, direct object sign, personal and common pronouns, plural, deletion, motion verbs, vocabulary and special speech constructions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the spoken variations of the Persian language concerning its written form based on standardized and conversational speech types. It is worth noting that in explaining the data of this study, the input processing theory in general and the principle of content word priority, in particular, have been used. Input processing theory, or IP, represents the moment-to-moment model of sentence processing as it understands how to connect particular statements with specific meanings.
Methodology
In this research, content analysis (quantitative approach in this study) is a method that describes and analyzes the explicit content of information regularly. In this way, messages or information are regularly coded and classified so that the researcher can analyze them quantitatively. The statistical population of this study included 46 sheets of writing from 23 middle-level language learners from Dehkhoda Institute. In the first place, they were asked to write an essay in memory of their trip to Iran. After collecting the papers, they were asked to write the same memory in spoken language as they described it earlier. Writing an essay, first in written and then in spoken form, was supposed to make language learners aware of the difference between writing and speaking. It is worth mentioning that these language learners were not trained in the use of spoken Persian formally.
After examining the students` written memories, spoken sentences were extracted and compared with the written forms. Among these sentences, 110 were selected out of the 23 language speech-production forms used for the study. The choice of these terms was based on the use of vocabulary and spoken constructs in general, without regard to any particular pattern.
In the following, we analyzed the differences in spoken and written language of these learners based on Safar Moghaddam's article entitled "Speech and Writing Differences in Teaching Non-Persian Speaking Speech Language Skills." Finally, after extracting the results, the data were explained based on the theory of input processing.
Results and Discussion
The results of the present study are explained based on the first principle of this theory, namely the principle of content words. This principle implies that the second language learner processes and understands the content elements before the grammatical words. This study is descriptive and based on content analysis. According to this research, the highest frequency of employing correct speech was related to the lexicon and the least frequency of using correct speech was related to the plural form. It means the highest frequency of using the correct form of speech was related to vocabulary with 52 cases and the lowest amount of using the correct form was related to the plural form, which is used in only 6 cases out of 110 sentences. The amount of speech forms used in content words is more than the grammatical words. For example, the use of speech forms in "ra", pronoun, plural and deletion is 60 out of 193 cases. The amount of speech form usage in verbs, verbs of motion, vocabulary and special constructions, which are considered part of the content vocabulary, reaches 133 cases. Therefore, it can be concluded that probably without direct training, the amount of correct speech forms in vocabulary is more than grammatical forms.
The main result is that the use of spoken words in content words is more than grammatical ones. The primacy of content forms over grammatical forms is one of the important tenets of input processing in the field of second language education, in which second language learners prefer the word to the non-word i.e. grammatical words.
To conclude, the present study seeks to elucidate the educational aspects of this subject in a small sample by considering Persian language spoken form in Persian language utterances. In this respect, the results indicated that the correct spoken words were more reflected in the application of vocabulary rather than the grammatical ones. Investigating the results of this research within the context of input processing theory may suggest that direct training in this field can be focused on the vocabulary and grammatical forms used in speech for further development. In the end, it is also worth mentioning that although learners were only academically trained in their teaching environment with a focus on reading and grammar skills, the use of correct spoken forms in their language production was far greater than expected, this per se emphasizes the tremendous impact of the environment on education. However, the Persian courses along with the potential in the native language environment can broaden learners` speaking skills. Without a doubt, the existence of spoken Persian courses, despite the potential in the native language environment, can help to strengthen the speaking skills of language learners.
Acknowledgement
This paper and the research behind it would not have been possible without the exceptional support from the Dehkhoda International Center for Persian Studies.
Conflict of Interest
No conflicts of interest are reported by the author for this article.