Dr Ali Sorayyaei Azar
@msu.edu.my
Senior Lecturer, Department of Education
Management and Science University
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Education, Linguistics and Language, Philosophy
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Ali Sorayyaei Azar and Nur Haslinda Iskandar Tan
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Meng Li, Han Li, and Ali Sorayyaei Azar
FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
Dear Editor, We were delighted to come across the high-quality research article by Martino et al.1 entitled “Attitude and knowledge of medical students toward donation after circulatory death.” The study aimed to investigate and analyze the acceptance of organ donation in Brazil. Martino et al. conducted a survey among medical students at a public university in Brazil, utilizing a questionnaire comprising 26 goals and Likert scale questions. The results revealed that a majority of participants were familiar with the concept of brain death, and the acceptance of postmortem donation was significantly higher than that of living donation. These intriguing findings and valuable results have captured our interest. However, upon further reading and investigation, we believe that the conclusions reached by Martino et al. warrant additional exploration and research. We are enthusiastic about contributing to the ongoing debate and eagerly anticipate hearing from the authors. First and foremost, it is important to note that the authors of the study did not conduct a multi-center survey. The sample solely consisted of medical students from a public university in Brazil. By drawing conclusions based on a single center, the study deviated from the principles of a multi-center approach. It is well established that relying on a single sample source can significantly diminish the reliability of conclusions. There are various potential confounding factors that can influence medical students’ perceptions of organ donation, both living and postmortem. These factors may include the geographic environment, household income, cultural influences, regional policies, etc. Moreover, these factors can often interplay with one another. Additionally, differences in educational levels among various universities can contribute to distinct cognitive perspectives among students. Students attending higher-level universities may display a higher acceptance of organ donation, whereas those attending lower-level universities may exhibit relatively lower acceptance rates2. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the authors supplement their study with multi-center surveys to enhance the reliability of the data. Furthermore, we observed that the authors compared the willingness of Chinese students to donate kidneys to their relatives while alive with that of Brazilian medical students. However, it is important to acknowledge that the comparability between these two groups is relatively low due to the profound influence of Confucianism and culture in China. Chinese students are often influenced by family ethics and humanistic values, which may contribute to their increased willingness to donate organs to their relatives. Additionally, the authors mentioned the proportion of liver donation. It is worth noting that the liver has the remarkable ability to regenerate fully with just 30% of its original mass. As individuals with medical education are likely to be aware of this fact, they may exhibit greater acceptance of liver donations, whether in vivo or posthumously. Finally, it is worth noting that the author highlights a distinction between Eastern and Western countries regarding organ donations. According to the authors, Eastern countries, particularly China and Japan, heavily influenced by Confucianism, face difficulties in accepting living donations compared to postmortem donations. This is due to the emphasis on filial piety in Confucian culture, where the preservation of one’s body, including hair and skin given by parents, is considered paramount: “My body, including hair and skin, which is given by parents, shouldn’t be damaged. This is the basic principle of filial piety.” Filial piety holds great significance in these countries3. On the contrary, some scholars4,5 argue that socioeconomic factors, rather than religious beliefs or other considerations, are the primary barriers to organ donation in Western countries.
Meng Li and Ali Sorayyaei Azar
Frontiers Media SA
COPYRIGHT © 2023 Li and Sorayyaei Azar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Dialectical materialism and teaching by words and deeds applied to the education of clinical medical students
Guo Qingyan, Ali Sorayyaei Azar, and Albattat Ahmad
Sciedu Press
High-quality talents come from high-quality education and management, which largely depends on teacher quality. However, varieties of environmental forces are driving change in education, which impacts students' performance greatly. These challenges call for teacher quality management firmly on the agenda of all the school factors. Teacher quality in schools and institutions is one of the most important factors that influence student performance. This review paper aims to classify the connection between teacher quality management and student performance through three dimensions, namely classroom management, teacher qualification, and in-service training. In this literature review, the authors use past studies to certify the quality management and related theories that are used in vocational education. From this study, it reaches three conclusions: firstly, it can be concluded that school leaders can manage teacher quality through the supervision of classroom management, teacher qualification and in-service training. Then, it tries to highlight the significant relationship between teachers' classroom management. Finally, it focuses on enhancing teacher quality according to quality management criteria, it is a practical and effective strategy to cultivate qualified students. This research will help the leaders realize the importance of teacher quality management and strategies that improve teacher quality, thus impacts on student performance.
Ali Sorayyaei Azar, Praemela Hassaram, Farah Imani Mohd Farook, and Nur Hasyimah Romli
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM Press)
Ali Sorayyaei Azar and Azirah Hashim
LPPM Unsyiah
Authorial identity construction is one of many professional rhetorical strategies employed by authors in academic review genres. Authors usually create a persona to represent themselves, their seniority in the field, and the community to which they belong. The author’s visibility is made possible through several rhetorical devices. Perhaps the most remarkable way of such authorial identity construction in the review article genre is self-mentions. The aims of this research are (1) to find out what types of self-mention are frequently used in review articles, (2) to determine the frequency of use and distribution of self-mentions in the review articles, and (3) to investigate the rhetorical function of self-mentions in the different analytical sections of the review articles. The data, drawn from a randomly selected corpus of thirty-two review articles, were analysed using WordSmith Tools Version 6. The findings indicated that first-person plural pronouns were more frequently used than singular pronouns in the whole corpus except in the two review texts. It was also observed that the frequency of occurrence for the exclusive and inclusive pronouns was very close to each other. Most importantly, the inclusive pronouns were used not only as a politeness strategy to appreciate the readers and keep the writers’ claims balanced but also as a persuasive tool to seek the readers’ agreement in the evaluation of research developments. This study revealed that authors construct various professional personas as a rhetorical strategy to carve their authorial identity and credibility in the review article genre. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications in the field of academic writing in applied linguistics as well as other disciplines.
Ali Sorayyaei Azar and Nur Haslinda Iskandar Tan
Horizon Research Publishing Co., Ltd.
With the sudden changes caused by the ongoing worldwide pandemic in Malaysia and rapid progress in the educational learning system towards online learning, some teachers wondered about the application of technology in students' education and how it would impact their learning process Therefore, the main objectives of this research are (1) to contextually understand the university interns' perception of ICT Techs (MALL, Gamification, and VR) in teaching English for secondary school students during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia, and (2) to determine which of these ICT Techs (MALL, Gamification, and VR) would be most preferred by the interns for teaching English to secondary school students in Malaysia The research design for this study was quantitative and a web-based questionnaire was adapted from three articles (Mihaela Badea, 2015;Huseyin Oz, 2015;and Ali Rahimi, Niloofar Seyed Golshan & Hooman Mohebi, 2013) The reliability test indicated a value of 0 866 with Cronbach's Alpha reliability statistic From a total of 63 university interns selected from a private university in Malaysia, the results indicated that 38 1% chose MALL, 33% chose Gamification, and 29% chose VR, as their preferred technology to teach English for secondary school students during this Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia Evidence suggested that online learning can be more effective for students where they can control their own learning pace, compared to learning in a classroom environment Thus, future English teachers should explore and apply innovative pedagogical methods in the teaching-learning process during pandemic outbreak in Malaysia, while contributing to the development of motivation, participation, and engagement among secondary school students in acquiring the English language © 2020 by authors
Ali Sorayyaei Azar and Darshini Tanggaraju
LPPM Unsyiah
Lack of motivation is the critical factor which affects university students’ learning process in Malaysia. Hence, this study is an attempt to investigate the types of motivation which Bachelor students used in learning English at one of the private universities in Malaysia. It was also analysed to determine the motivational level of the Bachelor students who learn English as a Second Language (ESL). This study used a quantitative method where the data was collected through the questionnaire adapted from Gardner’s (1972) Attitude, Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). The questionnaire was distributed to 150 students and the data was analysed quantitatively. The findings showed that the majority of the Bachelor students were instrumentally motivated towards learning ESL. The result concerning the level of motivation showed that the students had a high level of instrumental motivation for learning English, compared to integrative, resultative, and intrinsic ones. Yet, it is also apparent that all four types of motivation are at a high motivational level. Based on the findings, a few suggestions were highlighted. First, the lecturers should always design a classroom environment that promotes students’ motivation towards learning ESL. Second, students should be given more opportunities to visit other English native countries under Global Learning Programmes (GLP). In that case, teachers or lecturers of ESL should promote all types of motivation in the classroom and guide students towards achieving goals.
Ali Sorayyaei Azar and Azirah Hashim
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM Press)
Academic review writing is not merely about providing an overview but taking a stance and evaluating other scholars’ views in evaluation-loaded texts. In academic review genres, the authors describe, analyse, and evaluate the developments of a research. Perhaps the most noticeable way of such an evaluation in academic review genres is the use of attitudinal lexicon and its categories. The main aim of this research is (1) to investigate what type of attitude markers are frequently used to enhance evaluation in the review articles, and (2) to analyse their functions in the different analytical sections of the review articles. The data, drawn from a randomly selected corpus of thirty-two review articles, was analysed using Wordsmith tools (Scott, 2012) to investigate how evaluation was enhanced by the use of attitudinal lexicon. The results indicated that the attitude markers were more frequent in the Conclusion section than other analytical sections in the corpus. Four types of attitude markers were identified, however only two types (i.e. attitudinal adjectives and adverbs) were the most frequent markers. They appeared more frequently in Move2 and Move3 of the Conclusion sections. This study revealed how the authors professionally communicate with their readers to clarify their evaluation through attitude markers and express importance, limitations and gaps, compare and contrast, and praise and criticize the developments of a research in applied linguistics. The findings of this research can be drawn on in EAP courses for novice writers to facilitate their achievement in academic writing.
Ali Sorayyaei Azar and Azirah Hashim
Canadian Center of Science and Education
The classes, purposes and characteristics associated with the review article in the field of applied linguistics were analyzed. The data were collected from a randomly selected corpus of thirty two review articles from a discipline-related key journal in applied linguistics. The findings revealed that different sub-genres can be identified within the applied linguistic review article genre. Three main types of review articles were therefore identified based on the analysis of linguistic devices often used by the authors, their communicative purposes, and the specialist informants’ feedback: (1) the bibliographic review article which gives readers a comprehensive and descriptive record of annual works and it encompasses the literature-oriented approach, (2) the critical evaluative review article which encompasses subject-oriented approach, that is to say it identifies an idea or raises a research problem, then gives its solution by analyzing and evaluating the selective works done before in the related field, and finally it suggests a new direction, and (3) the mixed-mode review article which has the twin roles and encompasses both literature-oriented and subject-oriented approaches. A possible colony of review genre was suggested and this study further examined some of the characteristics and purposes associated with the review articles. The classification continuum, purposes, characteristics, and linguistic devices of the review articles proposed thus provide useful guidance for graduate EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students and novice writers how to monitor and make use of the review articles during their research writing.
ELHAM NIKKHAH, MASOUD KHAIAMY, REZA HEIDARY, and ALI SORAYAIE AZAR
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK-ULAKBIM)