Search results for: media language

Authors: Hsiaoping Wu

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With the wide use of Internet, learners are exposed to the wider world. This exposure permits learners to discover new information and combine a variety of media in order to reach in-depth and broader understanding of their literacy and the world. Many paper-based teaching, learning and assessment modalities can be transferred to a digital platform. This study examines the use of e-portfolios for ESL (English as a second language) pre-service teacher. The data were collected by reviewing 100 E-portfolio from 2013 to 2015 in order to synthesize meaningful information about e-portfolios for ESL pre-service teachers. Participants were generalists, bilingual and ESL pre-service teachers. The studies were coded into two main categories: learning gains, including assessment, and technical skills. The findings showed that using e-portfolios enhanced and developed ESL pre-service teachers’ teaching and assessment skills. Also, the E-portfolio also developed the pre-service teachers’ technical stills to prepare a comprehensible portfolio to present who they are. Finally, the study and presentation suggested e-portfolios for ecological issues and educational purposes.

Keywords: assessment, e-portfolio, pre-service teacher, reflection

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Authors: Du T. Tran, Quyen T. L. Hoang

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The role of language learning strategies in second language acquisition has received increased attention across several disciplines in recent years. Language learning strategies have been shown to occur in many studies over the passing years with the aim of improving the efficiency of language learning. Following previous studies, this study endeavors to scrutinize language learning strategies employed by the students at Vo Minh Duc high school and the effect of motivation on students’ learning strategy choices. The responses are examined quantitatively and qualitatively to enhance their validity and reliability. Data are collected from 342 students’ responses to the questionnaire, interviews with ten teachers and fifteen students, and classroom observations. The findings reveal that students’ motivation has an enormous impact on the choice of language learning strategies. The results simultaneously show that students use many language learning strategies to enhance their communicative competence, but the most frequently used ones are cognitive and affective ones. Significant correlations among types of learning strategies and the influence of motivation on the choices of language learning strategies were consistent with previous studies. The study’s results are expected to be beneficial to teachers of English and students in terms of narrowing the gap between the students' language learning strategies and their teaching methodologies preferences and sketching out the best strategies to enhance students’ speaking skills. The implications of these findings and the importance of viewing learners holistically are discussed, and recommendations are made for ongoing research.

Keywords: learning strategies, speaking skills, memorization strategies, cognitive strategies, affective strategies

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Authors: Oluyomi A. Abioye

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The 21st century has been witnessing a lot of technological advancements and innovations, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) happens to be one of them. Education is the cornerstone of any nation and the language in which it is delivered is the bedrock of any development. The French language is our choice in this study. French is a language of reference on the national and international scenes; however its teaching is clouded with myriads of problems. The output of students’ academic performance depends on to a large extent on the teaching and learning the process. The methodology employed goes a long way in contributing to the effectiveness of the teaching and learning the process. Therefore, with the integration of ICT, French teaching has to align with and adapt to this new digital era. An attempt is made to define the concept of ICT. Some of the challenges encountered in the teaching of French language are highlighted. Then it discusses the existing methods of French teaching and the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning of the same language. Then some prospects and challenges of ICT in the teaching and learning of French are discussed. Data collected from questionnaires administered among some students of some selected schools are analysed. Our findings revealed that only very few schools in Nigeria have the electronic and computer-mediated facilities to teach the French language. The paper concludes by encouraging 'savoir-faire' of ICT by the French teachers, an openness of students to this digital technology and adequate provision of electronic and computer-mediated gadgets by the Nigerian government to its educational institutions.

Keywords: French language in Nigeria, integration of ICT, prospects and challenges, teaching and learning

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Authors: Vidyarini Dwita, Rebecca Fanany

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This study will discuss the growth of the market for smartphone technology in Indonesia. This country, with the world’s fourth largest population, has a reputation as the social media capital of the world, and this reputation is largely justified. The penetration of social media is high in Indonesia which has one of the largest global markets. Most Indonesian users of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms access the sites from their mobile phones. Indonesia is expected to continue to be a major market for digital mobile devices, such as smartphone and tablets that can access the internet. The aim of this study to describe the way responses of Indonesian consumers to smartphone advertising using English and Indonesian will impact on their perceptions of the prestige and product image of the advertised items and thus influence consumer intention to purchase the item. Advertising for smartphones and similar products is intense and dynamic and often draws on the social attitudes of Indonesians with respect to linguistic and cultural content and especially appeals to their desire to be part of global mainstream culture. The study uses a qualitative method based on in-depth interviews with 30 participants. Content analysis is employed to analyse the responses of Indonesian consumers to smartphone advertising that uses English and Indonesian text. Its findings indicate that consumers’ impressions of English and Indonesian slogans influence their attitudes toward smartphones, suggesting that linguistic context plays a role in influencing consumer purchases.

Keywords: consumer purchases, marketing communication, product image, smartphone advertising, sociolinguistic

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Authors: Saad Saif

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Tourism promotion in the digital age is significantly influenced by social media, particularly in developing travel markets such as Pakistan. This study examines how travel bloggers use social media to inspire people to plan journeys and increase trust in destinations. It examines how trustworthiness works as a moderator to enhance the legitimacy of social media posts. This study aims to comprehend the dynamics of social media's influence on the travel and tourism industry. This study investigates the influence of travel bloggers' content, with a focus on tone (positive/negative) and emotional intensity (strong/weak), on prospective Pakistani travelers' travel preferences and levels of trust toward a particular location. The study used an experimental design to validate its hypotheses. The results indicate that the emotive content and tone of bloggers influence travel intentions and that destination trust mediates this relationship. It is interesting to observe that variations in the emotional intensity of positive and negative ratings are not always accompanied by changes in destination trust and travel intent. In addition, the influence of a blogger's review tone on travel intention and destination trust is moderated by the credibility of online reviews, whereas the influence of emotional intensity on these outcomes is unaffected by review credibility.

Keywords: tourism marketing, destination trust, travel intention, trustworthiness

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Authors: Annie Gedion, Johan Severinus Tati, Jacinta Caroline Peter

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Syntax error analysis studies have a significant role in English language teaching especially in the second language. This study investigates the syntax errors in written composition by 50 multilingual ESL learners in Politeknik Kota Kinabalu Sabah, Malaysia. The subjects speak their own dialect, Malay as their second language and English as their third or foreign language. Data were collected from the written discourse in the form of descriptive essays. The subjects were asked to write in the classroom within 45 minutes. 15 categories of errors were classified into a set of syntactic categories and were analysed based on the five steps of the syntactic analysis procedure. The findings of the study showed that the mother tongue interference, as well as lack of vocabulary and grammar knowledge, were the major sources of syntax errors in the learners’ written composition. Learners should be exposed to the differentiation of Malay and English grammar to avoid interference and effective learning of second language writing.

Keywords: errors analysis, syntactic analysis, English as a second language, ESL writing

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Authors: Elleuch Imen

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In this paper, it propose a new approach for learning Arabic as a foreign language via audio-visual translation, particularly subtitling. The approach consists of developing video sequences appropriate to different levels of learning (from A1 to C2) containing conversations, quizzes, games and others. Each video aims to achieve a specific objective, such as the correct pronunciation of Arabic words, the correct syntactic structuring of Arabic sentences, the recognition of the morphological characteristics of terms and the semantic understanding of statements. The subtitled videos obtained can be incorporated into different Arabic second language learning tools such as Moocs, websites, platforms, etc.

Keywords: arabic foreign language, learning, audio-visuel translation, subtitled videos

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Authors: Cheng Chieh Hsu, Alfred Chen, Yu-Pin Ma, Meng-Jie Lin, Fu Pai Chiu, Yi-Yan Sie

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In this study, it is attempted to construct an augmented reality display platform (ARDP), and its objectives are two facets, i.e. 1) providing a creative display mode for museums/historical heritages and 2) providing a benchmark for human-computer interaction professionals to build an augmented reality display platform. A general augmented reality theory has been explored in the very beginning and afterwards a systematic process model is proposed. There are three major core tasks to be done for the platform, i.e. 1) constructing the physical interactive table, 2) designing the media, and 3) designing the media carrier. In order to describe how the platform manipulates, the authors have introduced Tainan Confucius Temple, a cultural heritage in Taiwan, as a case study. As a result, a systematic process with thirteen steps has been developed and it aims at providing a rational method for constructing the platform.

Keywords: human-computer interaction, media, media carrier, augmented reality display platform

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Authors: Peter Mayeso Jiyajiya

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This paper discusses how the teaching of English as a foreign language in Malawi can enhance intercultural communication competence in a multicultural society. It argues that incorporation of intercultural communication in the teaching of English as a foreign language would improve cultural awareness in communication in the multicultural Malawi. The teaching of English in Malawi is geared towards producing students who would communicate in the global world. This entails the use of proper pedagogical approaches and instructional materials that prepare the students toward intercultural awareness. In view of this, the language teachers were interviewed in order to determine their instructional approaches to intercultural communication. Instructional materials were further evaluated to assess how interculturality is incorporated. The study found out that teachers face perceptual and technical challenges that hinder them from exercising creativity to incorporate interculturality in their lessons. This is also compounded by lack of clear direction in the teaching materials on cultural elements. The paper, therefore, suggests a holistic approach to the teaching of English language in Malawian school in which the diversity of culture in classrooms must be considered an opportunity for addressing students’ cultural needs that may be lacking in the instructional materials.

Keywords: cultural awareness, grammar, foreign language, intercultural communication, language teaching

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Authors: Rachel Williams, Shiqi Yang

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Our research explores the influence nationalism has had on media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to China in the United States through an inclusive qualitative analysis of two US news networks, Fox News and CNN. In total, the transcripts of sixteen videos uploaded on YouTube, each with more than 100,000 views, were gathered for data processing. Co-occurrence networks generated by KH Coder illuminate the themes and narratives underpinning the reports from Fox News and CNN. The results of in-depth content analysis with keywords suggest that the pandemic has been framed in an ethnopopulist nationalist manner, although to varying degrees between networks. Specifically, the authors found that Fox News is more likely to report hypotheses or statements as a fact; on the contrary, CNN is more likely to quote data and statements from official institutions. Future research into how nationalist narratives have developed in China and in other US news coverage with a more systematic and quantitative method can be conducted to expand on these findings.

Keywords: nationalism, media studies, us and china, COVID-19, social media, communication studies

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Authors: Amrin Moger, Sagar Bhalerao, Martin Mathew

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Advertisements play a vital role in dissemination of information regarding products and services. Advertisements as Mass Media tool is not only a source of entertainment, but also a source of information, education and entertainment. It provides information about the outside world and exposes us to other ways of life and culture. Public service advertisements (PSA) are generally aimed at public well-being. Aim of PSA is not to make profit, but rather to change public opinion and raise awareness in the Society about a social issue.’ Start with the boys’ is one such PSA aims to create awareness about issue of ‘gender bias’ that is taught prevalent in the society. Persons with disabilities (PWDs) are also consumers of PSA in the society. The population of persons with disability in the society also faces gender bias and discrimination. It is a double discrimination. The advertisement selected for the study gives out a strong message on gender bias and therefore must be accessible to everyone including PWDs in the society. Accessibility of PSA in the digital format can be done with the help of Universal Design (UD) in digital media application. Features of UD inclusive in nature, and it focus on eliminating established barriers through initial designs. It considers the needs of diverse people, whether they are persons with or without disability. In this research two aspects of UD in digital media: captioning and Indian sign language (ISL) is used. Hence a short survey study was under taken to know the effects of a multimedia on gender bias, in accessible format on persons with and without disability. The result demonstrated a significant difference in the opinion, on the usage accessible and non-accessible format for persons with and without disability and their understanding of message in the PSA selected for the study.

Keywords: public service advertisements, gender, disability, accessibility

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Authors: Shivani Tiwari, Prathibha Karanth, B. Rajashekhar

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Impairments of syntactic morphology are often considered central in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). In English and related languages, deficits of tense-related grammatical morphology could serve as a clinical marker of SLI. Yet, cross-linguistic studies on SLI in the recent past suggest that the nature and severity of morphosyntactic deficits in children with SLI varies with the language being investigated. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the morphosyntactic deficits in a group of children with SLI who speak Kannada, a morphologically complex Dravidian language spoken in Indian subcontinent. A group of 15 children with SLI participated in this study. Two more groups of typical developing children (15 each) matched for language and age to children with SLI, were included as control participants. All participants were assessed for morphosyntactic comprehension and expression using standardized language test and a spontaneous speech task. Results of the study showed that children with SLI differed significantly from age-matched but not language-matched control group, on tasks of both comprehension and expression of morphosyntax. This finding is, however, in contrast with the reports of English-speaking children with SLI who are reported to be poorer than younger MLU-matched children on tasks of morphosyntax. The observed difference in impairments of morphosyntax in Kannada-speaking children with SLI from English-speaking children with SLI is explained based on the morphological richness theory. The theory predicts that children with SLI perform relatively better in morphologically rich language due to occurrence of their frequent and consistent features that mark the morphological markers. The authors, therefore, conclude that language-specific features do influence manifestation of the disorder in children with SLI.

Keywords: specific language impairment, morphosyntax, Kannada, manifestation

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Authors: Narges Farokhshad, Milad Molazadeh, Saman Jamalabbasi, Hamed Babaei Giglou, Saeed Bibak

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The Persian language is an inflectional subject-object-verb language. This fact makes Persian a more uncertain language. However, using techniques such as Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ) recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction will lead us to a more understandable and precise language. In most of the works in Persian, these techniques are addressed individually. Despite that, we believe that for text refinement in Persian, all of these tasks are necessary. In this work, we proposed a ViraPart framework that uses embedded ParsBERT in its core for text clarifications. First, used the BERT variant for Persian followed by a classifier layer for classification procedures. Next, we combined models outputs to output cleartext. In the end, the proposed model for ZWNJ recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction performs the averaged F1 macro scores of 96.90%, 92.13%, and 98.50%, respectively. Experimental results show that our proposed approach is very effective in text refinement for the Persian language.

Keywords: Persian Ezafe, punctuation, ZWNJ, NLP, ParsBERT, transformers

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Authors: Wai Ha Leung

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Mother tongue language (MTL) curriculum is core to school education in most countries/regions' school curriculum. Through mother tongue language learning, students are expected to enhance their understanding of the nation's culture and foster the sense of cultural and ethnic identity. However, MTL education in Hong Kong is complicated by the colonial history. This study examines Hong Kong Chinese language teachers' perceptions of MTL education, and the implication on MTL curriculum development. The questionnaire was administrated to 97 teachers, and interviews were carried out on 17 teachers. Usually, MTL is both the tool with which knowledge and skills are taught and learned and the vehicle for students to learn about the traditions of the countries' literature and culture. In Hong Kong, 95% of the population is of Chinese descent. Traditionally, education in China was a mixture of philosophy, history, politics and literacy. Chinese as an MTL subject in pre-colonial Hong Kong has always been assigned the mission of developing students' cultural identity in addition to the development of linguistic proficiency. During the colonial period, the Chinese Language curriculum shifted to be more language skills based with less emphasis on Chinese culture and moral education. After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, although a new curriculum was implemented in 2002, teaching and learning in school as well as public examinations seem to be remaining language skills oriented instead of culturally based. This deviation from the trend of both Chinese traditional education and global mother tongue language education makes some Chinese language teachers feel confused. In addition, there is comment that in general Hong Kong students' Chinese language proficiency is becoming weaker and weaker in recent years. Thus, effectiveness of the skills oriented language curriculum has come under question. How a language teacher views the aims and objectives of the language subject he or she is teaching has a direct effect on the curriculum delivery and pedagogies used. It is, therefore, important to investigate what is the language teachers' perception of MTL education, and whether the current school curriculum can meet the teachers' expectation as well as achieve the aims of MTL education. Given this context, this study explored the views of Hong Kong Chinese language teachers on MTL education. The data indicate that teachers showed a strong resentment towards the current curriculum. Results may have implications on mother tongue language curriculum development.

Keywords: Chinese language education, curriculum development, mother tongue language education, teachers' perception

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Authors: Dinesh Kumar Yadav

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Short stories for language development are deeply rooted elsewhere in any language syllabus. Its relevance is manifold. The short stories have the power to take the students to the target culture directly from the classroom. It works as a crucial factor in enhancing language skills in different ways. This article is an outcome of an experimental study conducted for a month on the 12th graders where they were engaged in different creative and critical-thinking activities along with various tasks that ranged from knowledge level to application level. The sole purpose was to build up their confidence in speaking in the classroom as well as develop all their language skills simultaneously. With the start of the class in August 2021, the students' speaking skill and their confidence in speaking in the class was tested. The test was abruptly followed by a presentation of a short story from their culture. The students were engaged in different tasks related to the story. The PowerPoint slides, handouts with the story, and tasks on photocopy were used as tools whenever needed. A one-month class exclusively on speaking skills through sharing stories was found to be very helpful in developing confidence in the learners. The result was very satisfactory. A large number of students became responsive in the class. The proficiency level was not satisfactory; however, their effort to speak in class showed a very positive sign in language development.

Keywords: short stories, relevance, language enhancement, language proficiency

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Authors: Eugene Mashapa

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The age of information has witnessed countless unprecedented technological developments, which signal the articulation of succinct technological capabilities that can match these cutting-edge technological trends. These changes have impacted patterns in the production, distribution, and consumption of media content, a space that the Film and Publication Board (FPB) is concerned with. Consequently, the FPB is keen to understand the nature and impact of these technological changes on media content regulation. This exploratory study sought to investigate how content regulators in high and middle-income economies have adapted to the changes in this space, seeking insights into innovations, technological and operational, that facilitate continued relevance during this fast-changing environment. The study is aimed at developing recommendations that could assist and inform the organisation in regulating media content as it evolves. Thus, the overall research strategy in this analysis is applied research, and the analytical model adopted is a mixed research design guided by both qualitative and quantitative research instruments. It was revealed in the study that the FPB was significantly impacted by the unprecedented technological advancements in the media regulation space. Additionally, there exists a need for the FPB to understand the current and future penetrations of 4IR technology in the industry and its impact on media governance and policy implementation. This will range from reskilling officials to align with the technological skills to developing technological innovations as well as adopting co-regulatory or self-regulatory arrangements together with content distributors, where more content is distributed in higher volumes and with increased frequency. Importantly, initiating an interactive learning process for both FPB employees and the general public can assist the regulator and improve FPB’s operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Keywords: media, regulation, technology, film and publications board

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Authors: Pailin Klinkesorn

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The research aimed to study the use of learning strategies for Japanese language among college students with different learning achievements who study Japanese as a foreign language in the Higher Education’s level. The survey was conducted by using a questionnaire adapted from Strategy Inventory for language Learning or SILL (Oxford, 1990), consisting of two parts: questions about personal data and questions about the use of learning strategies for Japanese language. The samples of college students in the Japanese language program were purposively selected from Suansunandha Rajabhat University. The data from the questionnaire was statistically analyzed by using mean scores and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that Social Strategies was used by the greatest number of college students, whereas Memory Strategies was used by the least number of students. The students in different levels used various strategies, including Memory Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies and Social Strategies, at the significance level of 0.05. In addition, the students with different learning achievements also used different strategies at the significance level of 0.05. Further studies can explore learning strategies of other groups of Japanese learners, such as university students or company employees. Moreover, learning strategies for language skills, including listening, speaking, reading and writing, can be analyzed for better understanding of learners’ characteristics and for teaching applications.

Keywords: language learning strategies, achievement, Japanese, college students

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Authors: Shaden S. Attia

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This study investigated foreign language anxiety (FLA) and teachers’ awareness of its presence in the Egyptian ESL classrooms and how FLA correlates with different variables such as four language skills, students' sex, and activities used in class. A combination of quantitative and qualitative instruments was used in order to investigate the previously mentioned variables, which included five interviews with teachers, six classroom observations, a survey for teachers, and a questionnaire for students. The findings of the study revealed that some teachers were aware of the presence of FLA, with some of them believing that other teachers, however, are not aware of this phenomenon, and even when they notice anxiety, they do not always relate it to learning a foreign language. The results also showed that FLA was affected by students’ sex, different language skills, and affective anxieties; however, teachers were unaware of the effect of these variables. The results demonstrated that both teachers and students preferred group and pair work to individual activities as they were more relaxing and less anxiety-provoking. These findings contribute to raising teachers' awareness of FLA in ESL classrooms and how it is affected by different variables.

Keywords: foreign language anxiety, situation specific anxiety, skill-specific anxiety, teachers’ perceptions

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Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Fayza Alhammadi, Ayman Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Aayah Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari, Saleh Al Yami

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Background: A rapidly increasing number of studies that focus on the relationship between language and cortical (CD) and subcortical dementias (SCD) have recently shown that such correlation is existent. Mounting evidence suggests that cognitive impairments should be investigated against language disorders. Aims: This study aims at investigating how language is associated with dementia diseases namely CD &SCD in light of psychoneurolinguistic approach. Method: Data from multiple sources (e.g., theses, dissertations, articles, research, medical records, direct testing, staff reports, and client observations) have been integrated to provide a detailed analysis of the relationship between language and CD&SCD. The researchers identified over 20 most of dementia types, and described them. Having collected and described data, the researchers then analyzed these data independently to see to what extent CD&SCD are involved in matters concerning language. Results: Results of the present study demonstrate that language and CD&SCD are undoubtedly correlated with each other. The loss of the ability of some organs to perform certain functions (due to any of the dementia diseases) results in no way to the loss of some language aspects and /or speech skills. In clearer terms, it is rare to find a patient with dementia who is not suffering from partial or complete linguistic difficulties. Many deficits run through the current interpretation of linguistic disorders: language disorders, speech disorders, articulation disorders, or voice disorders.

Keywords: cortical dementia, subcortical dementia, diseases, psychoneurolinguistics, language, impairments, relationship

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Authors: Louisa Han Lin Tan, Poh Sim Kang, Wei Ming Loi, Susan Jane Rickard Liow

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The efficacy of music for improving speech and language has been shown across ages and diagnoses. Across the world, the wide range of therapy settings and increasing number of children diagnosed with special needs demand more cost and time effective service delivery. However, research exploring co-treatment models on children other than those with Autism Spectrum Disorder remains sparse. The aim of this research was to determine the efficacy of music for improving language in children with special needs, and generalizability of therapy effects. 25 children (7 to 12 years) were split into three groups – A, B and control. A cross-over design with direct therapy (storytelling) with or without music, and indirect therapy was applied with two therapy phases lasting 6 sessions each. Therapy targeted three prepositions in each phase. Baseline language abilities were assessed, with re-assessment after each phase. The introduction of music in therapy led to significantly greater improvement (p=.046, r=.53) in associated language abilities, with case studies showing greater effectiveness in developmentally appropriate target prepositions. However, improvements were not maintained once direct therapy ceased. As such, the incorporation of music could lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness of language therapy in children with special needs, but sustainability and generalizability of therapy effects both require further exploration.

Keywords: music, language therapy, children, special needs

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Authors: Reemiah Alotaibi, Muthu Ramachandran, Ah-Lian Kor, Amin Hosseinian-Far

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In the past decade, developers of Web 2.0 technologies have shown increasing interest in the topic of e-government. There has been a rapid growth in social media technology because of its significant role in backing up some essential social needs. Its importance and power is derived from its capacity to support two-way communication. Governments are curious to get engaged in these websites, hoping to benefit from the new forms of communication and interaction offered by such technology. Greater participation by the public can be viewed as a chief indicator of effective government communication. Yet, the level of public participation in government 2.0 is not quite satisfactory. In general, it is still at the early stage in most developing countries, including Saudi Arabia. Although it is a fact that Saudi people are among the most active in using social media, the number of people who use social media to communicate with the public institutions is not high. Furthermore, most of the governmental organisations are not using social media tools to communicate with the public. They use these platforms to disseminate information. Our study focuses on the factors affecting citizens’ adoption of social media in Saudi Arabia. Our research question is: what are the factors affecting Saudi citizens’ use of social media to communicate with the government? To answer this research question, the research aims to validate the UTAUT model for examining social media tools from the citizen perspective. An amendment will be proposed to fit the adoption of social media platforms as a communication channel in government by using a developed conceptual model which integrates constructs from the UTAUT model and others external variables based on the literature review. The set of potential factors that affect these citizens' decisions to adopt social media to communicate with their government has been identified as perceived encouragement, trust and cultural influence. The connection between the above-mentioned constructs from the basis for the research hypothesis will be examined in the light of a quantitative methodology. Data collection will be performed through a survey targeting a number of Saudi citizens who are social media users. The data collected from the primary survey will later be analysed by using statistical methods. The outcomes of this research project are argued to have potential contributions to the fields of social media and e-Government adoption, both on the theoretical and practical levels. It is believed that this research project is the first of its type that attempts to identify the factors that affect citizens’ adoption of social media to communicate with the government. The importance of identifying these factors stems from the potential use of them to enhance the government’s implementation of social media and help in making more accurate decisions and strategies based on comprehending the most important factors that affect citizens’ decisions.

Keywords: social media, adoption, citizen, UTAUT model

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Authors: Lamiaa Shehata

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The current (COVID-19) pandemic is one of the international crises, and a lot of efforts have been directed toward the improvement of efficient vaccines, however vaccine hesitancy is one of the universal menaces that make the fulfillment of society immunity very hard. The World Health Organization acknowledges vaccine hesitancy as the society’s maximum risk to people's health protection, especially in little and moderate-revenue nations. Social media is strong in observing audience behaviors and evaluating the circulation, which would supply useful data for strategy makers. It has a significant function in spreading facts during the pandemic, it could assist to boost protective manners. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of social media exposure on vaccine hesitancy. Data were collected using a survey in a form of a structured questionnaire conducted during December 2021- January 2022 using convenient sampling techniques (680) in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The results revealed that there was a significant relationship between the high exposure to social media and the refusal of the Covid19 vaccine also, the percentage of the refusal of the vaccine is higher in Egypt, however, UAE forced people to take the vaccine. Furthermore, public attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination vary from gender and region. In conclusion, policymakers must adjust their policies through the use of social media to immediate actions to vaccine-related news to support vaccination approval.

Keywords: COVID-19, hesitancy, social media, vaccine

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Authors: Maria da Gloria Guara-Tavares

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This article reports a synthesis of the research in Brazilian Sign Language conducted from 2000 to 2017. The objective of the synthesis was to identify the most researched areas and the most used methodologies. Articles published in three Brazilian journals of Translation Studies, unpublished dissertations and theses were included in the analysis. Abstracts and the method sections of the papers were scrutinized. Sixty studies were analyzed, and overall results indicate that the research in Brazilian Sign Language has been fragmented in several areas such as linguistic aspects, facial expressions, subtitling, identity issues, bilingualism, and interpretation strategies. Concerning research methods, the synthesis reveals that most research is qualitative in nature. Moreover, results show that the cognitive aspects of Brazilian Sign Language seem to be poorly explored. Implications for a future research agenda are also discussed.

Keywords: Brazilian sign language, qualitative methods, research agenda, synthesis

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Authors: Hui Shi

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This article examines the online popularity of Chinese neologism simida, which is a loanword derived from Korean declarative sentence-final suffix seumnida. Facilitated by corpus data obtained from Weibo, the Chinese counterpart of Twitter, this study analyzes the morphological and syntactical processes behind simida’s coinage, as well as the causes of its prevalence on Chinese social media. The findings show that simida is used by Weibo bloggers in two manners: (1) as an alternative word of 'Korea' and 'Korean'; (2) as a redundant sentence-final particle which adds a Korean-like speech style to a statement. Additionally, Weibo user profile analysis further reveals demographical distribution patterns concerning this neologism and highlights young Weibo users in the third-tier cities as the leading adopters of simida. These results are accounted for under the theoretical framework of social indexicality, especially how variations generate style in the indexical field. This article argues that the creation of such an ethnically-targeted neologism is a linguistic demonstration of Chinese netizen’s two-sided attitudes toward the previously heated Korean-wave. The exotic suffix seumnida is borrowed to Chinese as simida due to its high-frequency in Korean cultural exports. Therefore, it gradually becomes a replacement of Korea-related lexical items due to markedness, regardless of semantic prosody. Its innovative implantation to Chinese syntax, on the other hand, reflects Chinese netizens’ active manipulation of language for their online identity building. This study has implications for research on the linguistic construction of identity and style and lays the groundwork for linguistic creativity in the Chinese new media.

Keywords: Chinese neologism, loanword, humor, new media

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Authors: Naseer Ahmad

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This research investigates the intricate dynamics of language policy, ideology, and the choice of educational language as a medium of instruction in rural Pakistan. Focused on addressing the complexities of language practices in underexplored educational contexts, the study employed a case study approach, analyzing interviews with education authorities, teachers, and students, alongside classroom observations in English-medium and Urdu-medium rural schools. The research underscores the significance of understanding linguistic diversity within rural communities. The analysis of interviews and classroom observations revealed that language policies in rural schools are influenced by multiple factors, including historical legacies, societal language ideologies, and government directives. The dominance of Urdu and English as the preferred languages of instruction reflected a broader language hierarchy, where regional languages are often marginalized. This language ideology perpetuates a sense of linguistic inferiority among students who primarily speak regional languages. The impact of language choices on students' learning experiences and outcomes is a central focus of the research. It became evident that while policies advocate for specific language practices, the implementation often diverges due to multifarious socio-cultural, economic, and institutional factors. This disparity significantly impacts the effectiveness of educational processes, influencing pedagogical approaches, student engagement, academic outcomes, social mobility, and language choices. Based on the findings, the study concluded that due to policy and practice gap, rural people have complex perceptions and language choices. They perceived Urdu as a national, lingua franca, cultural, easy, or low-status language. They perceived English as an international, lingua franca, modern, difficult, or high-status language. They perceived other languages as mother tongue, local, religious, or irrelevant languages. This research provided insights that are crucial for theory, policy, and practice, addressing educational inequities and inclusive language policies. It set the stage for further research and advocacy efforts in the realm of language policies in diverse educational settings.

Keywords: language-in-education policy, language ideology, educational language choice, pakistan

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Authors: Ibtisam Mohammed Al-Quraini

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This paper examines how introducing Omani literature in foreign language classrooms can influence the students' motivation in learning the language. The data was collected through the questionnaire which was administered to two samples (A and B) of the participants. Sample A was comprised of 30 female students from English department who are specialist in English literature in college of Arts and Social Science. Sample B in contrast was comprised of 10 female students who their major is English from college of Education. Results show that each genre in literature has different influence on the students' motivation in learning the language which proves that literacy texts are powerful. Generally, Omani English teachers tend to avoid teaching literature because they think that it is a difficult method to use in teaching field. However, the advantages and the influences of teaching poetries, short stories, and plays are discussed. Recommendations for current research and further research are also discussed at the end.

Keywords: education, foreign language, English, Omani literature, poetry, story, play

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Authors: Erika Martínez Lugo

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Candidates to some graduate studies are asked to write essays in English to prove their competence to write essays and to do it in English. In the present study, language transfer (LT) in 15 written essays is identified, documented, analyzed, and classified. The essays were written in 2019, and the graduate program is a Masters in Modern Languages in a North-Western Mexican city border with USA. This study is of interest since it is important to determine whether or not some errors have been fossilized and have become mistakes, or if it is part of the candidates’ interlanguage. The results show that most language transfer is negative and syntactic, where the influence of candidates L1 (Spanish) is evident in their use of L2 (English).

Keywords: language transfer, cross-linguistic influence, interlanguage, error vs mistake

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Authors: Rose Shayeghi, Pejman Hosseiniun, Ghasem Ghorbanirostam

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The present study was conducted to investigate the Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward the use of computer technology in language classes as a method of improving English learning. To this end, 120 male and female Iranian learners participated in the study. Instrumentation included a 20-item questionnaire. The analysis of the data revealed that the majority of learners had a positive attitude towards the application of CALL in language classes. Moreover, independent samples t-tests indicated that male participants had a significantly more positive attitude compared with that of the female participants. Finally, the results obtained through ANOVA revealed that the youngest age group had a significantly more positive attitude toward the use of technology in language classes compared to the other age groups.

Keywords: EFL learners, Iranian learners, CALL, language learning

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Authors: Dimitrios Akrivos, Alexandros K. Antoniou

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This paper looks at the crucial role of the British news media in the construction of extreme pornography as a social problem, suggesting that this paved the way for the subsequent criminalization of such material through the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. Focusing on the high-profile case of Graham Coutts, it examines the British national press’ reaction to Jane Longhurst’s murder through a qualitative content analysis of 251 relevant news articles. Specifically, the paper documents the key arguments expressed in the corresponding claims-making process. It considers the different ways in which the consequent ‘trial by media’ presented this exceptional case as the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and eventually translated into policy. The analysis sheds light on the attempts to ‘piggyback’ the issue of extreme pornography on child sexual abuse images as well as the textual and visual mechanisms used to establish an ‘us versus them’ dichotomy in the pertinent media discourse. Finally, the paper assesses the severity of the actual risk posed by extreme pornography, concluding that its criminalization should not merely be dismissed as the outcome of an institutionalized media panic.

Keywords: criminalization, extreme pornography, social problem, trial by media

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Authors: Rachid El Aidani, Phuong Nguyen-Tri, Toan Vu-Khanh

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The filter media in synthetic fibre is the most geotextile materials used in aerosol and drainage filtration, particularly for buildings soil reinforcement in civil engineering due to its appropriated properties and its low cost. However, the current understanding of the durability and stability of this material in real service conditions, especially under severe long-term conditions are completely limited. This study has examined the effects of the chemical aging of a filter media in polyester non-woven under different temperatures (50, 70 and 80˚C) and pH (2. 7 and 12). The effect of aging conditions on mechanical properties, morphology, permeability, thermal stability and molar weigh changes is investigated. The results showed a significant reduction of mechanical properties in term of tensile strength, puncture force and tearing forces of the filter media after chemical aging due to the chemical degradation. The molar mass and mechanical properties changes in different temperature and pH showed a complex dependence of material properties on environmental conditions. The SEM and AFM characterizations showed a significant impact of the thermal aging on the morphological properties of the fibers. Based on the obtained results, the lifetime of the material in different temperatures was determined by the use of the Arrhenius model. These results provide useful information to better understand phenomena occurring during chemical aging of the filter media and may help to predict the service lifetime of this material in real used conditions.

Keywords: nonwoven membrane, chemical aging, mechanical properties, lifetime, filter media

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