Amirreza Vakilifard was born in 1968 in Tehran, Iran . He obtained his Ph.D. in Education Sciences from the University of Montreal in Canada in 2007. He is the founding member of the first-ever Persian Language teaching department aimed at foreign learners in Iran. He has been teaching Persian language to foreign students since 1995 at the Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin, Iran. He established the M.A. program in Persian Language Didactics at the IKIU since 2014 and has been teaching the above program at other Iranian universities, including Allameh Tabatabyi, Beheshti, Payam-e Noor since 2010. Dr. Vakilifard was the Deputy-Director of the Persian Language Center at IKIU from 1995 to 2002 and again from 2011 to 2013, and he has been appointed as the Director of the Persian Language Center of the IKIU since 2013. In 2011, he established the "Journal of Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages", Iran's first academic periodical in the field, in which he serves as Director-in-Charge and Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Vakilifard is a frequent speaker at conferences and conducts regular workshops for Persian language teachers in Iran and abroad.
Published works
He has produced over 50 books and articles in Persian, French and English. Many of his books and articles are in the field of learning and teaching Persian as a second language. Among his well-known books are:
Persian Framework of Reference for teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages: Grammar, Vocabulary and Functions for Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced Levels ;
Beat of life, Improving semi-specialized vocabulary and comprehension of Persian language for medical purposes- Upper-intermediated Level ;
Pulse of life, Improving semi-specialized vocabulary and comprehension of Persian language for medical purposes- intermediated Level,
He has translated several books into Persian too, including Testing for Language Teachers, Conversation Inspirations. In 2002, he received the award for the Excellent Researcher of the academic year 2002-2003 among the professors of the IKIU, Iran In 2012, he was chosen Distinguished Professor of the academic year 2011-2012 among the professors of the IKIU, Iran. In 2016, he once again received the award for the Excellent Researcher of the academic year 2014-2015 among the professors of IKIU, Iran. In 2017, Dr. Vakilifard was once again chosen Distinguished Professor of the academic year 2015-2016 among the professors of the IKIU, Iran.
