Search results for: arabic linguistics

Authors: Khadija Rafi, Neha Jamil, Laiba Khalid, Meerub Nawaz, Mahwish Farooq

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Speech articulation is a complex process to produce intelligible sounds with the help of precise movements of various structures within the vocal tract. All these structures in the vocal tract are named as articulators, which comprise lips, teeth, tongue, and palate. These articulators work together to produce a range of distinct phonemes, which happen to be the basis of language. It starts with the airstream from the lungs passing through the trachea and into oral and nasal cavities. When the air passes through the mouth, the tongue and the muscles around it form such coordination it creates certain sounds. It can be seen when the tongue is placed in different positions- sometimes near the alveolar ridge, soft palate, roof of the mouth or the back of the teeth which end up creating unique qualities of each phoneme. We can articulate vowels with open vocal tracts, but the height and position of the tongue is different every time depending upon each vowel, while consonants can be pronounced when we create obstructions in the airflow. For instance, the alphabet ‘b’ is a plosive and can be produced only by briefly closing the lips. Articulation disorders can not only affect communication but can also be a hurdle in speech production. To improve articulation skills for such individuals, doctors often recommend speech therapy, which involves various kinds of exercises like jaw exercises and tongue twisters. However, this disorder is more common in children who are going through developmental articulation issues right after birth, but in adults, it can be caused by injury, neurological conditions, or other speech-related disorders. In short, speech articulation is an essential aspect of productive communication, which also includes coordination of the specific articulators to produce different intelligible sounds, which are a vital part of spoken language.

Keywords: linguistics, speech articulation, speech therapy, language learning

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Authors: Rima Al Garni, Emad Al Shdaifat, Sahar Elmetwalli, Mohammad Alzaid, Abdulrahman Alghothayyan, Sara Al Abd Al Hai, Seham Al Rashidi

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Aim: To investigate the prevalence of non-adherence of patients on haemodialysis and explore their perception of the importance of adherence to the therapeutic regime and estimate the predictors for adherence to the therapeutic regime. Background: End-stage renal disease is commonly treated by haemodialysis. Haemodialysis treatment alone is not effective in replacing kidney function. Diet and fluid restrictions, along with supplementary medications, are mandatory for the survival and well-being of patients. Hence, adherence to this therapeutic regimen is essential. However, non-adherence to diet and fluid restrictions, medications, and dialysis is common among patients on haemodialysis. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional method was applied to investigate the prevalence of non-adherence to treatment, including adherence to diet and fluid restrictions, medications, and dialysis sessions. Methods: Structured interviews were conducted using the Arabic version of the End-Stage Renal Disease Adherence Questionnaire. The sample included 230 patients undergoing haemodialysis in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. Results/Findings: Most patients had good adherence (71.3%), and only 3.9% had poor adherence. The divorced or widowed patient had higher adherence compared with single (P=0.011) and married participants (P=0.045) through using the post hoc test. Patients above 60 years had higher adherence compared to patients below 40 years old (P=0.016) using the post hoc test. For the perception of the importance of adherence to the therapeutic regime subscale, two-thirds of the patients had lower scores (<=11). Conclusion: Adherence to therapeutic regime is high for three fourth of patients undergoing haemodialysis in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia; this finding is similar to results abstracted from the local literature. This result would help us highlight the needs of patients who are not compliant with their treatment plans and investigate the consequences of non-adherence on their well-being and general health. Hence, plan individualised therapeutic programmes that could raise their awareness and influence their adherence to therapeutic regimes.

Keywords: adherence to treatment, haemodialysis, end stage renal disease, diet and fluid restrictions

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Authors: Safa Kaka

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As more and more students are travelling to different countries to study and, in particular, to study English, the question of what motivates them to make such a large move has come under question. This is particularly pertinent in the case of Arab students who make up nearly 15% of the foreign student body in the UK. Given that the cultural differences between the UK and Arab nations are extremely wide, the decision to come to this country to study English must be driven by strong motivational forces. Numerous previous studies have considered what motivates foreign students to travel to the UK and other countries for their education or language learning but the specific motivators of Arab students have yet to be explored. This study undertakes to close that gap by examining the concepts and theories of motivation, both in general terms and in relation to English learning and foreign study. 70 Arab students currently studying in the UK were asked to participate in an online questionnaire which asked about their motivations for coming to the UK and for studying and learning English. A further six individuals were interviewed on a face to face basis. The outcomes have indicated that the factors which motivate the decision to come to the UK are similar to those that motivate the desire to learn English. In particular a motivation for self-improvement, career advancement and potential future benefits were cited by a number of respondents. Other indications were the ease of accessibility to the UK as an English speaking country, a motivation to experience different cultures and lifestyles and even political freedoms. Overall the motivations of Arab students were not found to be conspicuously different from those of other foreign students, although it was noted that their motivations did change, both positively and negatively following a period of time in the country. These changes were based on the expectations of the students pre-arrival and their actual experience of the country and its teaching approaches and establishments and were, as indicated both good and bad. The implications for the Arab student population and UK educational establishments are reviewed and future research pathways highlighted.

Keywords: motivation, Arab learners of English, language teaching, applied linguistics

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Authors: Timine Suoware, Sylvester Edelugo, Charles Amgbari

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The susceptibility of natural fibre polymer composites to flame has necessitated research to improve and develop flame retardant (FR) to delay the escape of combustible volatiles. Previous approaches relied mostly on FR such as aluminium tri-hydroxide (ATH) and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) to improve fire performances of wood sawdust polymer composites (WSPC) with emphasis on non-structural building applications. In this paper, APP was modified with gum Arabic powder (GAP) and then hybridized with ATH at 0, 12 and 18% loading ratio to form new FR species; WSPC12%APP-GAP and WSPC18%ATH/APP-GAP. The FR species were incorporated in wood sawdust waste reinforced in polyester resin to form panels for fireproof doors. The panels were produced using hand lay compression moulding technique and cured at room temperature. Specimen cut from panels were then tested for tensile strength (TS), flexural strength (FS) and impact strength (IS) using universal testing machine and impact tester; thermal stability using (TGA/DSC 1: Metler Toledo); time-to-ignition (Tig), heat release rates (HRR); peak HRR (HRRp), average HRR (HRRavg), total HRR (THR), peak mass loss rate (MLRp), average smoke production rate (SPRavg) and carbon monoxide production (COP ) were obtained using the cone calorimeter apparatus. From the mechanical properties obtained, improvements of IS for the panels were not noticeable whereas TS and FS for WSPC12%APP-GAP respectively stood at 12.44 MPa and 85.58 MPa more than those without FR (WSPC0%). For WSC18%ATH/APP-GAP TS and FS respectively stood at 16.45 MPa and 50.49 MPa more compared to (WSPC0%). From the thermal analysis, the panels did not exhibit any significant change as early degradation was observed. At 900 OC, the char residues improved by 15% for WSPC12%APP-GAP and 19% for WSPC18%ATH/APP-GAP more than (WSC0%) at 5%, confirming the APP-GAP to be a good FR. At 50 kW/m2 heat flux (HF), WSPC12%APP-GAP improved better the fire behaviour of the panels when compared to WSC0% as follows; Tig = 46 s, HRRp = 56.1 kW/2, HRRavg = 32.8 kW/m2, THR = 66.6 MJ/m2, MLRp = 0.103 g/s, TSR = 0.04 m2/s and COP = 0.051 kg/kg. These were respectively more than WSC0%. It can be concluded that the new concept of modifying FR with GAP in WSC could meet the requirement of a fireproof door for building applications.

Keywords: composite, flame retardant, wood sawdust, fireproof doors

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Authors: Mila Fantinelli

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Cairo is the perfect modern representation of a living hell between rising temperatures and failing architecture. The works of Egyptian writer Mohamed Makhzangi may prove to add more depth to the debate that surrounds the topic of pollution in Arab literature. This Egyptian writer, who studied medicine and psychiatry before dedicating his life to writing, sheds indeed further light on the ecological condition of Cairo. In relation to this, the short story “The breeze hunter” (2018) tackles the topic of “environmental architecture”, citing the research of Hassan Fathy in “Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment in Rural Egypt” which provides examples from history of inventions to counter the effects of the hot weather. Specifically, the main character of the story is a man living in Cairo in a small apartment, which turns into a living hell in the summer season because of the high temperatures. Catastrophic urban planning, therefore, prevents the mitigation of the torrid climate but rather worsens it. Makhzangi indeed refers to the environmental issue of pollution caused by the excessive number of air conditioners, which transform Cairo into an infernal island of heat while our country becomes warmer with the passing of time. His description of the city already intersects ecocriticism and environmental issues, tackling the topic of pollution inside of cities and the impact of climate change, of which Cairo is a perfect example. History has indeed provided ways in order to reduce the heat inside houses. Yet, these have all been ignored. As a result, through the teachings of Hassan Fathy, the narrator of the story builds an opening in the house to catch the natural breeze coming from the north. He, therefore, becomes the breeze hunter of Mansoura. However, polluted waves interrupt this brief rest, thus leading to a worsening of his conditions, leading to him suffering from the effects of crowding and the consequences of climate change and pollution. Makhzangi, therefore, reflects on how architecture and urbanism affect the psychological sanity of people and how the situation is worsened by the catastrophic consequences of climate change and pollution.

Keywords: ecocriticism, Arabic literature, pollution, environmental architecture, crowding

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Authors: Tahani Aljohani, Jialin Yu, Alexandra. I. Cristea

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The more an educational system knows about a learner, the more personalised interaction it can provide, which leads to better learning. However, asking a learner directly is potentially disruptive, and often ignored by learners. Especially in the booming realm of MOOC Massive Online Learning platforms, only a very low percentage of users disclose demographic information about themselves. Thus, in this paper, we aim to predict learners’ demographic characteristics, by proposing an approach using linguistically motivated Deep Learning Architectures for Learner Profiling, particularly targeting gender prediction on a FutureLearn MOOC platform. Additionally, we tackle here the difficult problem of predicting the gender of learners based on their comments only – which are often available across MOOCs. The most common current approaches to text classification use the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model, considering sentences as sequences. However, human language also has structures. In this research, rather than considering sentences as plain sequences, we hypothesise that higher semantic - and syntactic level sentence processing based on linguistics will render a richer representation. We thus evaluate, the traditional LSTM versus other bleeding edge models, which take into account syntactic structure, such as tree-structured LSTM, Stack-augmented Parser-Interpreter Neural Network (SPINN) and the Structure-Aware Tag Augmented model (SATA). Additionally, we explore using different word-level encoding functions. We have implemented these methods on Our MOOC dataset, which is the most performant one comparing with a public dataset on sentiment analysis that is further used as a cross-examining for the models' results.

Keywords: deep learning, data mining, gender predication, MOOCs

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Authors: Linnan Zhang

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Linguists, as well as psychologists, have shown great interests in implicit causality in reference processing. However, most frequently-used approaches to this issue are psychological experiments (such as eye tracking or self-paced reading, etc.). This research is a corpus-based one and is assisted with statistical tool – software R. The main focus of the present study is about the competition between verb-based implicit causality and theme structure’s influence on anaphora bias in Mandarin Chinese sentences. In Accessibility Theory, it is believed that salience, which is also known as accessibility, and relevance are two important factors in reference processing. Theme structure, which is a special syntactic structure in Chinese, determines the salience of an antecedent on the syntactic level while verb-based implicit causality is a key factor to the relevance between antecedent and anaphora. Therefore, it is a study about anaphora, combining psychology with linguistics. With analysis of the sentences from corpus as well as the statistical analysis of Multinomial Logistic Regression, major findings of the present study are as follows: 1. When the sentence is stated in a ‘cause-effect’ structure, the theme structure will always be the antecedent no matter forward biased verbs or backward biased verbs co-occur; in non-theme structure, the anaphora bias will tend to be the opposite of the verb bias; 2. When the sentence is stated in a ‘effect-cause’ structure, theme structure will not always be the antecedent and the influence of verb-based implicit causality will outweigh that of theme structure; moreover, the anaphora bias will be the same with the bias of verbs. All the results indicate that implicit causality functions conditionally and the noun in theme structure will not be the high-salience antecedent under any circumstances.

Keywords: accessibility theory, anaphora, theme strcture, verb-based implicit causality

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Authors: Maciej Buczowski

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This study investigates the impact of non-verbal communication training on enhancing the emotional intelligence (EI) of participants in higher education exchange programs. Recognizing the vital role EI plays in academic and professional success, particularly in multicultural environments, this research aims to explore the interplay between non-verbal cues and EI. Utilizing a longitudinal mixed-methods approach, the study will assess EI development over time among international students and faculty members. Participants will undergo a comprehensive non-verbal communication training program, covering modules on recognizing and interpreting emotional expressions, understanding cultural variations, and using non-verbal cues to manage interpersonal dynamics. EI levels will be measured using established instruments such as the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), supplemented by qualitative data from interviews and focus groups. A control group will be included to validate the intervention's effectiveness. Data collection at multiple time points (pre-training, mid-training, post-training, and follow-up) will enable tracking of EI changes. The study hypothesizes significant improvements in participants' EI, particularly in emotional awareness, empathy, and relationship management, leading to better academic performance and increased satisfaction with the exchange experience. This research aims to provide insights into the relationship between non-verbal communication and EI, potentially influencing the design of exchange programs to include EI development components and enhancing the effectiveness of international education initiatives.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, higher education exchange program, non-verbal communication, intercultural communication, cognitive linguistics

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Authors: Mohammad Jahangeer Warsi

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This is, perhaps, the first linguistic study of Maithili Urdu, a dialect of Urdu language of Indo-Aryan family, spoken by around four million speakers in Darbhanga, Samastipur, Begusarai, Madhubani, and Muzafarpur districts of Bihar. It has the subject–verb–object (SOV) word order and it lacks script and literature. Needless to say, this work is an attempt to document this dialect so that it should contribute to the field of descriptive linguistics. Besides, it is also spoken by majority of Maithili diaspora community. Maithili Urdu does not have its own script or literature, yet it has maintained an oral history of over many centuries. It has contributed to enriching the Maithili, Hindi and Urdu languages and literature very profoundly. Dialects are the contact languages of particular regions, and they have a deep impact on their cultural heritage. Slowly with time, these dialects begin to take shape of languages. The convergence of a dialect into a language is a symbol and pride of the people who speak it. Although, confined to the five districts of northern Bihar, yet highly popular among the natives, it is the primary mode of communication of the local Muslims. The paper will focus on the structure of expressions about Maithili Urdu that include the structure of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. There are clear differences in linguistic features of Maithili Urdu vis-à-vis Urdu, Maithili and Hindi. Though being a dialect of Urdu, interestingly, there is only one second person pronoun tu and lack of agentive marker –ne. Although being spoken in the vicinity of Hindi, Urdu and Maithili, it undoubtedly has its own linguistic features, of them, verb conjugation is remarkably unique. Because of the oral tradition of this link language, intonation has become significantly prominent. This paper will discuss the morpho-syntactic pattern of Maithili Urdu and will go through a sample text to authenticate the findings.

Keywords: cultural heritage, morpho-syntactic pattern, Maithili Urdu, verb conjugation

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Authors: Marina Fomina

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The paper focuses on the category of semantic subject within the framework of a functional approach to linguistics. The semantic subject is related to similar notions such as the grammatical subject and the bearer of predicative feature. It is the multifaceted nature of the category of subject that 1) triggers a number of issues that, syntax-wise, remain to be dealt with (cf. semantic vs. syntactic functions / sentence parts vs. parts of speech issues, etc.); 2) results in a variety of approaches to the category of subject, such as formal grammatical, semantic/syntactic (functional), communicative approaches, etc. Many linguists consider the prototypical approach to the category of subject to be the most instrumental as it reveals the integrity of denotative and linguistic components of the conceptual category. This approach relates to subject as a source of non-passive predicative feature, an element of subject-predicate-object situation that can take on a variety of semantic roles, cf.: 1) an agent (He carefully surveyed the valley stretching before him), 2) an experiencer (I feel very bitter about this), 3) a recipient (I received this book as a gift), 4) a causee (The plane broke into three pieces), 5) a patient (This stove cleans easily), etc. It is believed that the variety of roles stems from the radial (prototypical) structure of the category with some members more central than others. Translation-wise, the most “treacherous” subject types are the peripheral ones. The paper 1) features a peripheral status of spatial impersonal sentence models such as U menia v ukhe zvenit (lit. I-Gen. in ear buzzes) within the category of semantic subject, 2) makes a structural and semantic analysis of the models, 3) focuses on their Russian-English translation patterns, 4) reveals non-prototypical features of subjects in the English equivalents.

Keywords: bearer of predicative feature, grammatical subject, impersonal sentence model, semantic subject

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Authors: Thomas Soro, Tim Stott, Brendan O'Rourke

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The construction of artistic reputation has been examined within sociology, philosophy, and economics but, baring a few noteworthy exceptions its discursive aspect has been largely ignored. This is particularly surprising given that contemporary artworks primarily rely on discourse to construct their ontological status. This paper contributes a discourse analytical perspective to the broad body of literature on artistic reputation by providing an understanding of how it is discursively constructed within the institutional context of online contemporary art magazines. This paper uses corpora compiled from the websites of e-flux and ARTnews, two leading online contemporary art magazines, to examine how these organisations discursively construct the reputation of artists. By constructing word-sketches of the term 'Artist', the paper identified the most significant modifiers attributed to artists and the most significant verbs which have 'artist' as an object or subject. The most significant results were analysed through concordances and demonstrated a somewhat surprising lack of evaluative representation. To examine this feature more closely, the paper then analysed three announcement texts from e-flux’s site and three review texts from ARTnews' site, comparing the use of modifiers and verbs in the representation of artists, artworks, and institutions. The results of this analysis support the corpus findings, suggesting that artists are rarely represented in evaluative terms. Based on the relatively high frequency of evaluation in the representation of artworks and institutions, these results suggest that there may be discursive norms at work in the field of online contemporary art magazines which regulate the use of verbs and modifiers in the evaluation of artists.

Keywords: contemporary art, corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, symbolic capital

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Authors: L. Freeborn

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This paper discusses the application of complex dynamic system theory (DST) to the study of individual differences in second language development. This transdisciplinary framework allows researchers to view the trajectory of language development as a dynamic, non-linear process. A DST approach views language as multi-componential, consisting of multiple complex systems and nested layers. These multiple components and systems continuously interact and influence each other at both the macro- and micro-level. Dynamic systems theory aims to explain and describe the development of the language system, rather than make predictions about its trajectory. Such a holistic and ecological approach to second language development allows researchers to include various research methods from neurological, cognitive, and social perspectives. A DST perspective would involve in-depth analyses as well as mixed methods research. To illustrate, a neurobiological approach to second language development could include non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate areas of brain activation during language-related tasks. A cognitive framework would further include behavioural research methods to assess the influence of intelligence and personality traits, as well as individual differences in foreign language aptitude, such as phonetic coding ability and working memory capacity. Exploring second language development from a DST approach would also benefit from including perspectives from the field of applied linguistics, regarding the teaching context, second language input, and the role of affective factors such as motivation. In this way, applying mixed research methods from neurobiological, cognitive, and social approaches would enable researchers to have a more holistic view of the dynamic and complex processes of second language development.

Keywords: dynamic systems theory, mixed methods, research design, second language development

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Authors: Albina Vodyanitskaya

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Given the culture- and language-specific nature of evaluation, this phenomenon is widely studied around the linguistic world and may be regarded as a challenge for translators. Evaluation penetrates all the levels of a scientific text, influences its composition and the reader’s attitude towards the information presented. One of the most challenging and rarely studied phenomena is the individual style of the scientific writer, which is mostly reflected in the use of evaluative language means. The evaluative and expressive potential of a scientific text is becoming more and more welcoming area for researchers, which stems in the shift towards anthropocentric paradigm in linguistics. Other reasons include: the cognitive and psycholinguistic processes that accompany knowledge acquisition, a genre-determined nature of a scientific text, the increasing public concern about the quality of scientific papers and some such. One more important issue, is the fact that linguists all over the world still argue about the definition of evaluation and its functions in the text. The author analyzes various approaches towards the study of evaluation and scientific texts. A comparative analysis of English and Russian dissertations and other scientific papers with regard to evaluative language means reveals major differences and similarities between English and Russian scientific style. Though standardized and genre-specific, English scientific texts contain more figurative and expressive evaluative means than the Russian ones, which should be taken into account while translating scientific papers. The processes that evaluation undergoes while being expressed by means of a target language are also analyzed. The author offers a target-language-dependent strategy for the translation of evaluation in English and Russian scientific texts. The findings may contribute to the theory and practice of translation and can increase scientific writers’ awareness of inter-language and intercultural differences in evaluative language means.

Keywords: academic discourse, evaluation, scientific text, scientific writing, translation

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Authors: Marilei Amadeu Sabino

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Idiomatic expressions are linguistic phraseologisms present in natural languages. Known to be metaphorical linguistic combinations, a good majority of them provide elements that reveal important cultural aspects of their linguistic community through their metaphors. With the advent of Cognitive Linguistics (more specifically of Cognitive Semantics), the metaphor ceased to be related to poetic language and rhetorical embellishment and came to be seen as part of simple everyday language, reflecting the way human beings think, act and conceive reality, i. e., a fundamental mechanism of human conceptualizations of the world. In this sense, it came to be conceived as an inevitable mechanism for representing the nature of thought and language. The speakers, in conceptualizing reality, often use metaphorically parts of the body in expressions known as somatic. Several conceptual metaphors appear to be potentially universal or near-universal, because people across the world share certain bodily experiences. In these terms, many linguistic metaphors may be identical or very similar in several languages. These similarities, according to the Theory of Conceptual Metaphor, derive from universal aspects of the human body. Thus, this research aims to investigate the nature of some metaphors underlying somatic idiomatic expressions of Portuguese, Italian and English languages, establishing a pattern of similarities and differences among them from a trilingual perspective. The analysis shows that much of the studied expressions are really structurally, semantically and metaphorically identical or similar in the three languages. These findings incite relevant discussions concerning mother and foreign language learning and aim to contribute to the teaching of phraseological Lexicon as well as to materials development in mono and multilingual perspectives.

Keywords: idiomatic expressions, materials development, metaphors, phraseological lexicon, teaching and learning

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Authors: Carmen Nechita

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This research explores the world of Syrian refugee women living in Dresden and their efforts to reconstruct their lives in the state of Saxony in Germany. The focus is on the initial period of adjustment and understanding how refugee women use culture, family ties, and tradition to contest and rebuild new relationships with the host country. Faced with a new status as “the refugee”, women have to re-imagine their ethno-cultural identity in order to cope with life in Diaspora. In order to understand the coping mechanism and the displacement effects on Syrian women, interviews with twelve refugee women were conducted. Traumatic experiences of loss and oppression are at the core of their confessions. While gender violence, abuse and patriarchal framework shape their narratives, this research argues that there is a need to look at this from a cultural perspective and try to distance ourselves from the western paradigm. The way Syrian women refute and rebuild their national and ethno-cultural identity in order to negotiate for themselves new space within German borders is explored. Two discourses are bridged: one of multiculturalism and one of tradition in order to explain how Syrian women experience western notions of family, womanhood and spousal dynamics. The process is painful, traumatic and marked by feelings of low self-worth, but in the end, new codes emerge and these women come out more empowered. The paper includes the migration experience and explores the ways in which Syrian refugee women tend to tell their complex stories, and how they reconstruct their identity in a new territory while faced with a different culture that discriminates against them. During the research, four distinct phases in the acculturation period were identified: “the survival”, “the honeymoon period”, “the isolation period” and “the anger period”. Each phase is analyzed in order to understand what triggers them, how women migrate from one phase to another and what can be done to make the process easier. This paper contributes to the field of refugee studies by offering a thorough understanding of the initial phases of the acculturation process in the case of Syrian refugee women. The study examines the fleeing and settlement experience in order to understand the complex ways that refugee women cope with the traumatic experience of settlement in another country and in a different culture. *Almanya: The Arabic word for Germany.

Keywords: displacement, migration, refugee women, Syria

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Authors: Steeve Mercier, Joan Netten, Olivier Massé

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The traditional lack of success of most Canadian students in the regular French program in attaining the ability to communicate spontaneously led to the conceptualization of a modified program. This program, called Intensive French, introduced and evaluated as an experiment in several school districts, formed the basis for the creation of a more effective approach for the development of skills in a second/foreign language and literacy: the Neurolinguistic Approach (NLA).The NLA expresses the major change in the understanding of how communication skills are developed: learning to communicate spontaneously in a second language depends on the reuse of structures in a variety of cognitive situations to express authentic messages rather than on knowledge of the way a language functions. Put differently, it prioritises the acquisition of implicit competence over the learning of grammatical knowledge. This is achieved by the adoption of a literacy-based approach and an increase in intensity of instruction.Besides having strong support empirically from numerous experiments, the NLA has sound theoretical foundation, as it conforms to research in neurolinguistics. The five pedagogical principles that define the approach will be explained, as well as the differences between the NLA and the paradigm on which most current resources and teaching strategies are based. It is now 25 years since the original research occurred. The use of the NLA, as it will be shown, has expanded widely. With some adaptations, it is used for other languages and in other milieus. In Canada, classes are offered in mandarin, Ukrainian, Spanish and Arabic, amongst others. It has also been used in several indigenous communities, such as to restore the use of Mohawk, Cri and Dene. Its use has expanded throughout the world, as in China, Japan, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Russia, as well as Mexico. The Intensive French program originally focussed on students in grades 5 or 6 (ages 10 -12); nowadays, the programs based on the approach include adults, particularly immigrants entering new countries. With the increasing interest in inclusion and cultural diversity, there is a demand for language learning amongst pre-school and primary children that can be successfully addressed by the NLA. Other current experiments target trilingual schools and work with Inuit communities of Nunavik in the province of Quebec.

Keywords: neuroeducation, neurolinguistic approach, literacy, second language acquisition, plurilingualism, foreign language teaching and learning

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Authors: Tangyie Evani, Edmond Biloa, Emmanuel Nforbi, Lem Lilian Atanga, Kom Beatrice

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The dynamics of languages in contact necessitates a close study of how its users negotiate meanings from shared values in the process of cross-cultural communication. A transverse analysis of the situation demonstrates the existence of complex efforts on connecting cultural knowledge to cross-linguistic competencies within a widening range of communicative exchanges. This paper sets to examine the psychology of cross-cultural communication in a multi-linguistic setting like Cameroon where many local and international languages are in close contact. The paper equally analyses the pertinence of existing macro sociological concepts as fundamental knowledge traits in literal and idiomatic cross semantic mapping. From this point, the article presents a path model of connecting sociolinguistics to the increasing adoption of a widening range of communicative genre piloted by the on-going globalisation trends with its high-speed information technology machinery. By applying a cross cultural analysis frame, the paper will be contributing to a better understanding of the fundamental changes in the nature and goals of cross-cultural knowledge in pragmatics of communication and cultural acceptability’s. It emphasises on the point that, in an era of increasing global interchange, a comprehensive inclusive global culture through bridging gaps in cross-cultural communication would have significant potentials to contribute to achieving global social development goals, if inadequacies in language constructs are adjusted to create avenues that intertwine with sociocultural beliefs, ensuring that meaningful and context bound sociolinguistic values are observed within the global arena of communication.

Keywords: cross-cultural communication, customary language, literalisms, primary meaning, subclasses, transubstantiation

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Authors: Abdullah Alassiri

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Prompted by the widespread saturation of Facebook usage in Saudi Arabia, among university students to socialize with online members, this study investigated the usage, self-presentation, psychological and sociological consequences of the Facebook social networking site among undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia. The problem statement of this study was addressed by answering the following questions: 1) What motivation do undergraduate students have for joining Facebook? 2) How do undergraduate students consume Facebook? 3) In what condition do undergraduate students need Facebook? 4) How do undergraduate students manage their self-presentation via Facebook? 5) What are the experiences obtained by the undergraduate students from Facebook psychologically? 6) What are the experiences obtained by the undergraduate students from Facebook sociologically? 7) How have Facebook activities affected the lifestyle of the undergraduate students?. These questions were answered by analyzing in-depth interview data collected from twenty male undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 24 years selected from King Saud University (KSU) and King Khalid University (KKU) Saudi Arabia. Using thematic analysis, informants data were coded ‘R1 to R20’, validated and was transcribed to minimize error from translating into the study items from Arabic back to the English Language. Using purposive sampling method, informant perspective within the research context were explored. Data collection was confined to students’ motivations for engaging in online activities, self-presentation, psychological and sociological consequences to their everyday life was investigated based on the theoretical and philosophical perspective underpinnings media and gratification paradigm and social influence theory. The findings contributed to the development of important study themes that supported the development of a new research framework. Based on the analysis, all the study questions were answered. The findings of this study showed that the students use Facebook for the purpose of interacting with others, getting information and as knowledge sources. In terms of self-presentation, this study revealed that the students portray themselves in the real and not fake image while socializing with others. Psychological and sociological consequences from the usage of Facebook are recorded ranging from cheerful to stress and from loneliness to having many friends. As a conclusion, this study conclusively drew that Facebook is a very persuasive medium of communication among the University students in Saudi Arabia that bridges across socio-cultural boundaries and unite students to interact as a community.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Facebook, undergraduate students, social network

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Authors: Carmela Perta

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Among the studies flourished in the field of historical sociolinguistics, mainly in the strand devoted to English history, during its Medieval and early modern phases, multilingual texts had been analysed using theories and models coming from contact linguistics, thus applying synchronic models and approaches to the past. This is true also in the case of contact phenomena which would transcend the writing level involving the language systems implicated in contact processes to the point of perceiving a new variety. This is the case for medieval administrative-commercial texts in which, according to some Scholars, the degree of fusion of Anglo-Norman, Latin and middle English is so high a mixed code emerges, and there are recurrent patterns of mixed forms. Interesting is a collection of multilingual business writings by John Balmayn, an Englishman overseeing a large shipment in Tuscany, namely the Cantelowe accounts. These documents display various analogies with multilingual texts written in England in the same period; in fact, the writer seems to make use of the above-mentioned patterns, with Middle English, Latin, Anglo-Norman, and the newly added Italian. Applying an atomistic yet dynamic approach to the study of contact phenomena, we will investigate these documents, trying to explore the nature of the switching forms they contain from an intra-writer variation perspective. After analysing the accounts and the type of multilingualism in them, we will take stock of the assumed mixed code nature, comparing the characteristics found in this genre with modern assumptions. The aim is to evaluate the possibility to consider the switching forms as core elements of a mixed code, used as professional variety among merchant communities, or whether such texts should be analysed from a switching perspective.

Keywords: historical sociolinguistics, historical code switching, letters, medieval england

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Authors: Irene Yi

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Machine learning, natural language processing, and neural network models of language are becoming more and more prevalent in the fields of technology and linguistics today. Training data for machines are at best, large corpora of human literature and at worst, a reflection of the ugliness in society. Machines have been trained on millions of human books, only to find that in the course of human history, derogatory and sexist adjectives are used significantly more frequently when describing females in history and literature than when describing males. This is extremely problematic, both as training data, and as the outcome of natural language processing. As machines start to handle more responsibilities, it is crucial to ensure that they do not take with them historical sexist and misogynistic notions. This paper gathers data and algorithms from neural network models of language having to deal with syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and text classification. Results are significant in showing the existing intentional and unintentional misogynistic notions used to train machines, as well as in developing better technologies that take into account the semantics and syntax of text to be more mindful and reflect gender equality. Further, this paper deals with the idea of non-binary gender pronouns and how machines can process these pronouns correctly, given its semantic and syntactic context. This paper also delves into the implications of gendered grammar and its effect, cross-linguistically, on natural language processing. Languages such as French or Spanish not only have rigid gendered grammar rules, but also historically patriarchal societies. The progression of society comes hand in hand with not only its language, but how machines process those natural languages. These ideas are all extremely vital to the development of natural language models in technology, and they must be taken into account immediately.

Keywords: gendered grammar, misogynistic language, natural language processing, neural networks

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Authors: Said Ahmed Zohairy

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Significant shifts in the theory and practice of teaching vocabulary affect teachers’ decisions about learning materials’ design. Relevant literature supports teaching specialised, authentic, and multi-word lexical items rather than focusing on single-word vocabulary lists. Corpora, collections of texts stored in a database, presents a reliable source of teaching and learning materials. Although corpus-informed studies provided guidance for teachers to identify useful language chunks and phraseological units, there is a scarcity in the literature discussing the use of corpora in teaching English for academic and specific purposes (EASP). The aim of this study is to improve teaching practices and provide a description of the pedagogical choices and procedures of an EASP tutor in an attempt to offer guidance for novice corpus users. It draws on the researcher’s experience of utilising corpus linguistic tools to design vocabulary learning activities without focusing on students’ learning outcomes. Hence, it adopts a self-study research methodology which is based on five methodological components suggested by other self-study researchers. The findings of the study noted that designing specialised and corpus-informed vocabulary learning activities could be challenging for teachers, as they require technical knowledge of how to navigate corpora and utilise corpus analysis tools. Findings also include a description of the researcher’s approach to building and analysing a specialised corpus for the benefit of novice corpus users; they should be able to start their own journey of designing corpus-based activities.

Keywords: corpora, corpus linguistics, corpus-informed, English for academic and specific purposes, agribusiness, vocabulary, phraseological units, materials design

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Authors: Samira Essabari

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What, unfortunately, governs the Moroccan educational philosophy and policy today is a concerning neoliberal discourse with its obsession with market logics and individualism. Critical education has been advocated to resist the neoliberal hegemony since it holds the promise to reclaim the social function of education. Significantly, the mounting forms of sexism and discrimination against women combined with hegemonic educational practices are jeopardizing the social function of teaching and learning, hence the relevance of feminist critical pedagogy. A substantial body of research worldwide has explored the ways in which feminist pedagogy can develop feminist consciousness and examine power relations in different educational contexts. In Morocco, however, the feasibility of feminist pedagogy has not been researched despite the overwhelming interest in gender issues in different educational settings. The research on critical pedagogies in Morocco remains very promising. Yet, most studies were conducted in contexts which are already engaged with issues of theory, discourse, and discourse analysis. The field of ESP ( English for Specific Purposes) is pragmatic by nature, and priority in research has been given to questions that adhere to the mainstream concerns of need analysis and study skills and ignore issues of power, gender power relations, and intersectional forms of oppression. To address these gaps in the existing literature, this participatory action research seeks to investigate the feasibility of Feminist pedagogy in ESP higher education and how it can foster feminist critical consciousness among ESP students without compromising their language learning needs. The findings of this research will contribute to research on critical applied linguistics and critical ESP more specifically and add to the practice of critical pedagogies in Moroccan higher education by providing in-depth insights into the enablers and barriers to the implementation of feminist critical pedagogy, which is still feeling its way into the educational scene in Morocco.

Keywords: feminist pedagogy, critical pedagogy, power relations, gender, ESP, intersectionality

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Authors: Mohammed Asiri, Saleh Alsuwayt, Mohammed Bin Mugren, Abdulmalik Almufarrih, Tariq Alotaibi, Saad Almodameg

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Background: End-stage renal disease is a major public health concern with high incidence and mortality rate. Most of ESRD patients are on hemodialysis therapy which is a long-term treatment that disturbs patients’ lifestyle. As a result, he will be susceptible to develop psychiatric disorders like anxiety that may direct him to non-compliance on physician instructions and hemodialysis therapy. Although there are studies conducted on psychiatric issues in hemodialysis patients, but few studies focused on the effect of anxiety disorder and the patient’s compliance. Hence, we are interested in determining the prevalence of anxiety disorder among hemodialysis patients in Saudi Arabia, as well as in defining the correlation between anxiety disorder and compliance on physician instructions and hemodialysis therapy. We hypothesize that our study will show a higher prevalence of anxiety in hemodialysis patients than in general population. Also, we expect the anxiety to have a negative impact on their compliance. Methodology: We used a cross-sectional study design carried out at dialysis unit of four major hospitals in Riyadh, KSA. We interviewed 235 End Stage Renal Disease male and female patients who are on hemodialysis. We divided the patients into two categories according to their compliance. we used modified general questionnaire to get their demographic data, then we used a psychometric response scale called visual analog scale (VAS) to assess patient’s compliance to hemodialysis and physician’s instructions. Also, we used the Arabic validated version of the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD scale) used mainly for anxiety assessment. Results: The overall response rate was 54%. Respondents included 147 (62.6%) males and 88 (37.4%) females. The prevalence of anxiety among hemodialysis patients is 13.3%. According to visual analog scale, we found that 189 compliant patients and 45 non-compliant patients. For HAD scale, the mean ± standard deviation of the total score for females was (4.44 ± 4.7) and it’s higher than males which was 2.65 ± 3.08 (P-value= 0.002). The mean ± standard deviation of HAD score in the non-compliant group was (5.88  4.88) and it was higher than the compliant group (2.7  3.32) (P-value= 0.004). Among non-complaint group, 33.3% of anxious patients were males and 66.6% were females. There was a negative correlation between HAD score of anxiety and visual analog scale (R= - 0.285). Conclusion: We conclude that there is a high prevalence of anxiety among patients with End Stage Renal Disease that was higher in females with association of non-compliance to physician’s instructions and hemodialysis therapy.

Keywords: anxiety, end-stage renal disease, renal failure, anxiety disorder

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Authors: Agnieszka Kałdonek-Crnjaković

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Research on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is abundant but not in the field of applied linguistics and foreign or second language education. To fill this research gap, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of ADHD on skills and systems development in a second and foreign language from the teacher's perspective. The participants were 51 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Poland working in state pre-, primary, and high schools. Research questions were as follows: Do ADHD-type behaviors affect EFL learning of the individual with the condition and their classmates to the same extent considering different educational settings and specific skills and systems? And To what extent do ADHD-type behaviors affect ESL/EFL skills and systems considering different ADHD presentations? Data were collected by means of a questionnaire distributed via a Google form. It contained 14 statements on a six-point Likert scale related to the effect of ADHD on specific language skills and systems in the context of an individual with the condition and their classmates and situations related to inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity presentations of the condition, where the participants needed to identify skills and systems affected by the given ADHD manifestation. The results show that ADHD affects all language skills and systems development in both the individual with the condition and their classmates, but this effect is more significant in the latter. However, ADHD affected skills and systems to a different degree; writing skills were reported as the most affected by this disorder. Also, the effect of ADHD differed depending on the educational setting, being the highest in high school and lowest in the first three grades of primary school. These findings will be discussed in the context of foreign/second language teaching in the school context, considering different phases of education as well as future research on ADHD and language learning and teaching.

Keywords: ADHD, EFL teachers, foreign/second language learning, language skills and systems development

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Authors: Gustavo Naranjo Maroto, Dolores Fernandez Martinez

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Context has always been essential to understand any reaction from every human being, and words, whether written or spoken, are definitely a powerful representative sample of human reaction. This study starts with an accurate breakdown of the context in which the current president of the US, Mr. Donald J. Trump is conveying his discourses in order to be able to judge them from a critical discourse analysis point of view. The present world’s scenario with a pandemic disease in form of Covid-19 that is threatening the world and certainly putting at risk the so called 'Welfare State', the role of the United States as the first superpower on earth nowadays, the very peculiar profile of President Trump not only as a politician but as a persona, and the fact of being on the verge of a very controversial presidential elections are without doubt a great and undeniable opportunity for the implementation of the critical discourse analysis methodology. Hence, this research will primarily analyze in detail some of the most interesting discourses delivered by Trump in different media since the very beginning of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States of America (February, 2020), sadly very often downplayed by President Trump, until the final result of the upcoming presidential election scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2020, where the political discourse has been dramatically downgraded to a very dangerous state, putting in jeopardy the fundamentals of the political fair play in terms of speech. Finally, the study will hopefully conclude with the final outcome of the data analyzed, allowing to picture how significant the context can be concerning linguistics on the one hand, in terms of shaping or altering the message that the issuer thought to convey in the first place, and on the other hand, generously assessing to what extend the recipients of the message are influenced by the message in terms of receptiveness.

Keywords: Covid-19, critical discourse analysis, Donald J. Trump, political discourse

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Authors: Jou-An Chung

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the verb bias of the Mandarin verbs in children’s reading materials and provide the criteria for categorization. Verb bias varies cross-linguistically. As Mandarin and English are typological different, this study hopes to shed light on Mandarin verb bias with the use of corpus and provide thorough and detailed criteria for analysis. Moreover, this study focuses on children’s reading materials since it is a significant issue in understanding children’s sentence processing. Therefore, investigating verb bias of Mandarin verbs in children’s reading materials is also an important issue and can provide further insights into children’s sentence processing. The small corpus is built up for this study. The corpus consists of the collection of school textbooks and Mandarin Daily News for children. The files are then segmented and POS tagged by JiebaR (Chinese segmentation with R). For the ease of analysis, the one-word character verbs and intransitive verbs are excluded beforehand. The total of 20 high frequency verbs are hand-coded and are further categorized into one of the three types, namely DO type, SC type and other category. If the frequency of taking Other Type exceeds the threshold of 25%, the verb is excluded from the study. The results show that 10 verbs are direct object bias verbs, and six verbs are sentential complement bias verbs. The paired T-test was done to assure the statistical significance (p = 0.0001062 for DO bias verb, p=0.001149 for SC bias verb). The result has shown that in children’s reading materials, the DO biased verbs are used more than the SC bias verbs since the simplest structure of sentences is easier for children’s sentence comprehension or processing. In sum, this study not only discussed verb bias in child's reading materials but also provided basic coding criteria for verb bias analysis in Mandarin and underscored the role of context. Sentences are easier for children’s sentence comprehension or processing. In sum, this study not only discussed verb bias in child corpus, but also provided basic coding criteria for verb bias analysis in Mandarin and underscored the role of context.

Keywords: corpus linguistics, verb bias, child language, psycholinguistics

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Authors: Brindusa Grigoriu

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Inscribing itself in the field of the history of multilingual communities with a focus on the evolution of language didactics, our paper aims at providing a pragmatic-interactional approach on a corpus proposing to scholars of the international scientific community a relevant text of early modern European literature: the first romance in French, The Conte of Flore and Blanchefleur by Robert d’Orbigny (1150). The multicultural context described by the romance is one in which an Arab-speaking prince, Floire, and his Francophone protégée, Blanchefleur, learn Latin together at the court of Spain and become fluent enough to turn it into the language of their love. This learning process is made up of interactional patterns of affective relevance, in which the proficiency of the protagonists in the domain of emotive acts becomes a matter of linguistic and pragmatic emulation. From five to ten years old, the pupils are efficiently stimulated by their teacher of Latin, Gaidon – a Moorish scholar of the royal entourage – to cultivate their competencies of oral expression and reading comprehension (of Antiquity classics), while enjoying an ever greater freedom of written expression, including the composition of love poems in this second language of culture and emotional education. Another relevant parameter of the educational process at court is that Latin shares its prominent role as a language of culture with French, whose exemplary learner is the (Moorish) queen herself. Indeed, the adult 'First lady' strives to become a pupil benefitting from lifelong learning provided by a fortuitous slave-teacher with little training, her anonymous chambermaid and Blanchefleur’s mother, who, despite her status of a war trophy, enjoys her Majesty’s confidence as a cultural agent of change in linguistic and theological fields. Thus, the two foreign languages taught at Spains’s court, Latin and French – as opposed to Arabic -, suggest a spiritual authority allowing the mutual enrichment of intercultural pioneers of cross-linguistic communication, in the aftermath of religious wars. Durably, and significantly – if not everlastingly – the language of physical violence rooted in intra-cultural solipsism is replaced by two Romance languages which seem to embody, together and yet distinctly, the parlance of peace-making.

Keywords: multilingualism, history of European language learning, French and Latin learners, multicultural context of medieval romance

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Authors: Sebastianus Menggo

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The aim of communicative language teaching is to enable learners to communicate in the target language. Each learner is required to perform the micro and macro components in each utterance produced. Utterances produced must be in line with the understanding of competence and performance of each speaker. These are inter-depended. Competence and performance are obliged to be appeared proportionally in creating the utterances. The representative of competence and performance reflects the linguistics identity of a speaker in providing sentences in each certain language community. Each lexicon spoken may lead that interlocutor in comprehending the intentions utterances given. However proportional performance of both components in an utterance needed to be further elaborated. Finding appropriate gap between competence and performance components in a communicative competence must be supported positive response given by the learners.The learners’ inability to keep communicative competence proportionally is caused by inside and outside factors. The inside factors are certain lacks such as lack of self-confidence and lack of motivation which could make students feel ashamed to produce utterances, scared to make mistakes, and have no enough confidence. Knowing learner’s English learning motivation is an urgent variable to be considered in creating conducive atmosphere classroom which will raise the learners to do more toward the achievement of communicative competence. Meanwhile, the outside factor is related with the teacher. The teacher should be able to recognize the students’ problem in creating conducive atmosphere in the classroom that will raise the students’ ability to be an English speaker qualified. Moreover, the aim of this research is to know and describe the English learning motivation affecting students’ communicative competence of 48 students of XI grade of science program at catholic senior of Saint Ignasius Loyola Labuan Bajo, West Flores, Indonesia. Correlation design with purposive procedure applied in this research. Data were collected through questionnaire, interview, and students’ speaking achievement document. Result shows the description of motivation significantly affecting students’ communicative competence.

Keywords: communicative, competence, English, learning, motivation

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Authors: Nabil Mohammed Nasser Salem

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International advertisements targeting the Arab world are usually modified to be compatible with the conservative culture in many Arab countries. The portrayal of female models in international advertisements in Arab magazines avoids direct sexual representation. Arab culture is guided by religious teachings and social restrictions that prohibit the display of many parts of the female body. Exposure of shoulders, arms, armpits, cleavage, legs, thighs, etc., of the female body is usually avoided in international advertisements published in Arab magazines. Exposure to parts of the female body other than the face and hands may be considered offensive in many parts of Arab countries. Although extensive research has been conducted on Arabic advertisements, to our best knowledge, there are no publications in the literature that address the recent changes in the visual sign system in international advertisements in Arab magazines using semiotics as a research method. The present study aims to analyze the changes in the visual sign system of international advertisements published in Arab magazines that promote female fragrances. It tries to analyze the differences in the sexual representations of the same female models in some selected advertisements during different periods. The magazines are randomly selected from the period between 2000 and 2019. The selection of magazines is based on their availability and popularity. The study focuses on the Dior Jadore ads because they reflect important changes in the appearance of the same female model between 2000 to 2019. The result of the study shows important changes in the sexual representation of the same female body. The Dior Jadore advertisement in 2000 shows only the head of the female model. The model is modestly portrayed and shows clear cultural and religious restrictions on the sexual representation of the female body. The result shows that the same female model is portrayed differently in the Dior Jadore advertisement from the period 2005 to 2019. These versions of advertisements show more parts of the female body that are covered in the older versions and show stronger sexual representations. The study is an important contribution as it fills an important gap in the literature by extending semiotic research to the study of recent visual changes in the sign system of international advertisements published in Arab magazines during an important period in the history of international advertisement targeting the Arab world, as they reflect changes in the sexual representation of female models.

Keywords: Arab magazine, female body, international advertisements, semiotics, sexual representation

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Authors: Norah Alosayl

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English is considered the most important foreign language in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) because of the usefulness of English as a global language compared to Arabic. As students’ desire to improve their English language skills has grown, English writing has been identified as the most difficult problem for Saudi students in their language learning. Although the English language in Saudi Arabia is taught beginning in the seventh grade, many students have problems at the university level, especially in writing, due to a gap between what is taught in secondary and high schools and university expectations- pupils generally study English at school, based on one book with few exercises in vocabulary and grammar exercises, and there are no specific writing lessons. Moreover, from personal teaching experience at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University, students face real problems with their writing. This paper revolves around the blackboard-based collaborative writing to help the undergraduate Saudi EFL students, in their first year enrolled in two sections of ENGL 101 in the first semester of 2021 at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University, practice the most difficult skill they found in their writing through a small group. Therefore, a sequential mixed methods design will be suited. The first phase of the study aims to highlight the most difficult skill experienced by students from an official writing exam that is evaluated by their teachers through an official rubric used in King Saud bin Abdulaziz University. In the second phase, this study will intend to investigate the benefits of social interaction on the process of learning writing. Students will be provided with five collaborative writing tasks via discussion feature on Blackboard to practice a skill that they found difficult in writing. the tasks will be formed based on social constructivist theory and pedagogic frameworks. The interaction will take place between peers and their teachers. The frequencies of students’ participation and the quality of their interaction will be observed through manual counting, screenshotting. This will help the researcher understand how students actively work on the task through the amount of their participation and will also distinguish the type of interaction (on task, about task, or off-task). Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with students to understand their perceptions about the blackboard-based collaborative writing tasks, and questionnaires will be distributed to identify students’ attitudes with the tasks.

Keywords: writing difficulties, blackboard-based collaborative writing, process of learning writing, interaction, participations

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