Openings and Closings in Textbooks forTeaching Persian to Non-Persian Speakers

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Openings and closings are words or expressions that speakers use to start or end a dialog. ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’ are typical examples of an opening, and ‘goodbye’ or ‘bye’ represent a usual closing. Some expressions like ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Merry New Year’ are of other examples which function as opening or ending words. The corpus of this study included six textbooks for teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers as Purnamdariyan (2006), Samare (2004), Zarghamiyan (2004), Saffar Moghadam (2011), Farzad (2004), and Shabani Jadid & Parviz Brookshaw (2010). Findings indicated that the textbooks have not provided their learners with a normal and conventional pattern of openings and/or closings words. Also, the use of formal titles was more frequently employed compared to informal ones. In addition, the openings were reported more frequent than closings, also many dialogs end artificially and abruptly interrupted with no closing or pre-closing clue. Results would reflect the weaknesses of the syllabi of Persian language learning and accentuate the necessary revisions to materials.

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 November 2012
  • Revise Date: 09 April 2013
  • Accept Date: 03 June 2014

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