The present article focuses on gender differences in using some types of taboos. In this sense, it explores the world of Arab women and investigates aspects of taboos surrounding their issues and language use. In other terms, the focal point of this paper is centered on the linguistic devices that females employ to express taboos. This paper also evaluates women’s discourse and the reasons that keep their lives surrounded by mystery and ambiguity. Hence, Arab...

The paper examines the use of discourse markers by Saudi English learners who struggle to master them when they write English essays. The hypothesis is, and based on previous studies of discourse markers by English learners, Saudi English learners overuse them. English essays are collected as a corpus for analysis and a concordance program is used to shed light on how frequently key words in contexts are used by learners. The study compares between Saudi...

Motivated by the need for more empirical evidence on factors affecting English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading enhancement, this paper aims at elucidating causal relationship between reading epistemic beliefs, reading motivations, and strategies use in reading. The present study provides an evaluative perspective with regard to the directions of influences among them. A model that reflects the hypothesis that epistemic beliefs affect strategies use in reading to read which are strengthened by reading motivation...

The presence of higher order thinking aspects in EFL learners’ productions constitutes one of the major achievements of the teaching process. It denotes learners’ ability to think, analyze and draw conclusions about the taught information. Different approaches were implemented to promote EFL learners’ critical thinking but they were limited into questioning strategies that raise speculation. The present paper is an investigation of the advantages of implementing technology devices to promote Algerian University EFL learners’ higher...

This paper is devoted to the study of the impact of class size on teaching and learning English as a foreign language. The investigation was conducted at the department of English at Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University. The department has witnessed a huge increase in the enrolment figure in the past decade which resulted into an increase in class sizes. This has created problems for staff and students alike. Despite the steps taken by the administrators...

This longitudinal study mainly attempted to investigate the effectiveness of one type of Focus on Form (FonF) language task (i.e. dictogloss) on female Translation university students’ grammatical competence. In general, since second language learners experience difficulties with grammatical tenses, these dictogloss tasks (which were developed by Wajnryb (1990) and preformed either with pairs or small groups) were utilized to find out whether their application lead to better performance on grammar tests, particularly in regard to...

The aim of the study is fourfold: to examine the nature of relationship between visual learning syle (VLS), auditory learning style (ALS), kinesthetic learning style (KLS), and read/write learning style (R/WLS) and students’ English achievement (EA) in technology-based learning environment among Moroccan university students. The present study adopts a quantitative research design. Therefore, the main instruments are questionnaires, and English achievement tests. Both the questionnaires and language tests are analyzed and interpreted quantitatively. The reliability...

Foreign language anxiety plays an essential role in language learning and negatively impacts on the whole learning process. This research aims to explore the Saudi learners’ perceptions of speaking anxiety in language classrooms and provide some effective and helpful solutions for reducing it. The sample of this study involved 10 Saudi female students, studying their foundation year at the English Language Institute (ELI), King Abdulaziz University. Their ages range between 18 to 20 years old....

This article aims to investigate what kinds of Professional Development (PD) activities done by Indonesian professional English teachers in developing their pedagogical competence dealing with teaching implementation as well as to identify how those activities contribute to their competence development. This qualitative study was done in two stages namely subjects selection and investigation on the subjects’ professional development for their pedagogical competence in teaching implementation. The criteria of subjects selection have reflected the four competences...

This study investigates the relationship between learner motivation and vocabulary size in English as foreign language (EFL) classrooms at Duhok University. The participants included 100 students (55 male, 45 female). All participants were pursuing their third years of study in an English department. Two instruments were employed: questionnaires regarding Motivation for Foreign Language Learning (MFLL) and Vocabulary Size Test (VST). The primary goal of this study is to determine which factors of motivation profoundly affect...

Instruction plays a major role in the development of speaking skills for second language learners. Different approaches and methods have emerged throughout the history of language learning/teaching based on the influence of different theories of language, psychology, and related domains such as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics and cultural studies. Two major trends in language teaching emerged under the influence of these mentioned language theories, namely, accuracy based versus fluency based approaches. This article gives a historical...

This study aims to analyze the passive participle in Standard Arabic within the framework of autosegmental phonology. It focuses on the pattern of non-derived, triliteral verbs /maCCu:C/. The sample of the study is collected from three sources Wehr (1994), Wright (1996), and Al-waSi:T Dictionary (2004). The study discusses strong, weak, geminated, and glottalized verbs using the X-skeleton of autosegmental phonology. It considers the imperfective stem as the basic form from which other forms are derived....

Technology and innovation are forging ahead the demand of tomorrow’s teachers to use technology critically and reflectively. In the era of modern technology self-access learning can be done through online. This means internet has become a popular medium for online educational information retrieval (Hambali, 2016). The use of E-portfolio, specifically in micro teaching class therefore might be one of the solutions to prepare better English student teachers before they face the real world of teaching....

This study aims to examine the potential effect of an e-mail and WhatsApp based instructional program on Jordanian EFL tenth-grade students' skimming and scanning skills of reading. To collect the data, two instrument were utilized: a pre-test and a post-test. The study used a quasi-experimental design. The participants of the study were 60 Jordanian tenth-grade female students from four sections who were purposefully chosen from Bahraini Basic School for Girls in Jordan. 15 students comprised...

This study assesses teaching writing skills to the second language learners by utilizing bench-marking strategies of classroom. The study has used mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate learning and writing skills of second language among 400 students from different primary and secondary schools in Riyadh. The teachers were instructed to fill an assessment form to evaluate skills of students in learning second language through Bench-marking techniques of brainstorming, fable writing, speed writing,...

This research is attempts to find out the types of teacher and students talk and also the patterns of teaching-learning interaction. This research was qualitative case study conducted in English Language 1 class Economics Education Study Program of Teacher Training and Education Institute Persatuan Guru Republik Indonesia Bojonegoro, East java. The participants were an English teacher and thirty four students. Observations were conducted twice in November 2016. The data were analysed by using the combination...

The knowledge related with lexical items can be realized as including relations of meaning a cross words. Words that share a similarity of meaning are called to be synonymous, and words that share a contrary of meaning are called to be antonymous. Both of them are universal linguistic phenomenon that exist in terms of linguistic system of every language. The present study aims at finding out areas of difficulty that Iraqi EFL learners encounter in...

This study aims to 1) explore the extent Iraqi high school students’ use of writing strategies; 2) identify the contribution of proficiency level to writing strategy use; and 3) compare male and female students’ writing strategy use. This study employed a quantitative approach, whereby a total of 132 high school students were randomly selected from the Karkh’sdistrict of Baghdad to constitute the sample of the study. A 30-item 3-point Likert scale questionnaire on writing strategy...

In the realm of language education, technology has reshaped the state of the teaching/learning framework in different ways and there is no surprise how a number of classes around the world have now turned from chalk and board classes to technology-based ones. However, whether teachers adopt or reject technology in their teaching depends primarily on the way they perceive it. Consequently, the current paper intends to capture the various perceptions of English as a foreign...

The aim of this review was to critically evaluate the research works done on power distance and individualism-collectivism in English as a foreign language (EFL) and other types of English language learning. There is a more or less agreement on what happens to teaching and learning processes in high and low power distance (PD) classrooms. However, there are some findings suggesting thesimultaneous existence of both individualism and collectivism (e.g. North Vietnam). In that case, individualism...

The purpose of this research is to investigate the complexities of compliments faced by English as foreign language (EFL) learners. It covers several aspects such as how interpersonal relationships relate to complimenting behaviour. In addition, it examines how the culture of complimenting is relevant with some conditions such as power relation, and gender. The significance of the study is to explore the cultural transfer might appearing in complimenting. The subjects of research in this study...

This empirical study aims at identifying the English consonant sounds that are mispronounced by native speakers of Palestinian Arabic. It also aims to explore the pattern of errors that Palestinian speakers follow in speaking English. Two main questions have been explored in the study: 1) what are the most common mispronounced English consonants produced by Palestinian students? and 2) what patterns do these students follow in so doing? 20 undergraduate students from the English Department...

Working paper--comments welcome.This paper argues that libraries collecting digital works should consider imposing temporary discovery and access embargoes on some copyrighted works. These embargoes can strengthen the library's fair use case for creating and preserving digital copies.