---

Due to deficiencies of the traditional models of standard setting, this study intends to suggest a new method for setting standards employing Rasch measurement. Precise and efficient methods for setting performance standards and linking tests to ability scales is a much-felt need in today's educational contexts. The introduction of the Common European Framework of Reference as a common paradigm for language teaching and assessment stressed the need for such methods. The suggested method combines the classic test-centered method of standard setting with the probabilistic properties of the Rasch model to set several cut points on the ability continuum. The Wright map which jointly depicts the difficulty location of items and the ability location of persons on a common scale is the cornerstone of this method.  

---

This study has as its main concern focusing on the assorted ways Iranian language learners view their language educational system and the impact of these views on their success in learning a foreign language.  For the qualitative aim of this study, metaphors being stated by the learners were collected by some unfinished sentences which learners were required to complete to demonstrate their beliefs about their teachers, the teaching process and how they view themselves as learners. Then, the analysis and categorization of these metaphors based on Martinez (2001) taxonomy of metaphors revealed the kinds of learning principles which seem to be more favourable to learners than others. Results of the analysis of the metaphors showed that the public school learners mostly attribute their level of failure in language learning to the ‘behaviouristic’ methods in their classes while the private school learners attribute their apparent success to the ‘cognitive’ style of learning. Finally, the results were discussed in the context of second language acquisition.