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Writing in English for academic purpose is a difficult task for many Jordanian postgraduate students (JPS) as English is a foreign language to them. This study aimed to explore academic writing problems encountered by JPS at a Malaysian university and to investigate how they address the problems. Employing a case study approach, a total of 182 online questionnaires were administered via email to registered JPS at UniSZA to which 90 responses were received. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 of the respondents to get further clarification of the questionnaire data and to gain rich insights into the phenomenon being investigated. The findings reveal that JPS faced several problems such as lack of vocabulary, difficulties in expressing the ideas, organizing the sentences and creating paragraphs, paraphrasing, the inability to build critical discussions and ideas, erroneous grammar, spellings, weak referencing and difficulty in finding the article/journal for literature review. In order to address these problems, they acquire help from their classmates, seniors, teaching faculties, participate in educational forums, workshops and lectures, attend paid tuition classes, translate Arabic to English, subscribe to journals and magazines and used online resources. The JPS recommend the provision of extensive language support at the university, regular lectures and workshops on improving academic writing and availability of language enrichment centre at the university to aid JPS to resolve their problems related to academic writing.

The purpose of this review paper is to identify the core spelling errors in Arabic and Non Arabic Contexts. The most common difficulty that Arab learners may face during their English writing is correct spelling, for many different reasons such as the interference between English and Arabic language and the irregularity of the English language system. Several studies have been undertaken to evaluate writing mistakes and spelling errors in English, and most of them have classified spelling errors into three different categories: morphemic errors, where the errors occur in the morphemes parts (prefixes and suffixes); Intra-Morphemic errors, where errors occur in the word roots themselves such as deleting the final (silent) e vowel in the word write, and splits types, where the learners leave a space inside the word for example, write "my self" as two words instead of myself, one word. Apart from the three categories mentioned above, other studies claim that there are eight different types of error related to the abilities of the students and the nature of the error, and these include inversion, omission, substitution, segmentation, insertion, pronunciation, miscellaneous, and unclassified errors. In this review paper, we have found interlingual and intralingual--related errors where interlingual errors are mainly caused by the interference of the primary or mother language, while, intralingual errors are due to the system and instruction of the target language. Finally, suggestions are given based on previous research about how to review the spelling errors in Arabic and Non Arabic contexts to identify the error and also overcome the problem through alternatives that can be implemented to create a positive impact and can be furthermore used for all types of positive learning.

This study explores the affordance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to English language learning and teaching, focusing on its alignment with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It aims to investigate the role of AI in enhancing language education and fostering student-centered learning. Data for this study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 English teachers to gather qualitative insights into their experiences with AI-powered language learning tools. The findings reveal that the teachers have positive appraisals of AI that its use has six major impacts: i) enhancing the personalization of learning; ii) contributing to improved learning outcomes by advancing students' speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills; iii) playing a fundamental role in bridging educational gaps; iv) enhancing students' engagement and motivation; v) empowering educators with professional development opportunities; vi) and encouraging self-directed learning. This study argues that, if implemented thoughtfully, AI can enhance language learning outcomes and create an environment conducive to student engagement and success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employed a mixed-methods design to investigate the experiences of ESL students during their English language learning interactions through the WhatsApp platform. The primary objective was to examine the presence of social, cognitive, and teaching presences in the WhatsApp interactions using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model. A survey was administered to 349 undergraduate students in Malaysia to collect the quantitative data, which was then triangulated through interviews with 20 students. The interviews were categorized based on Braun and Clarke's reflective thematic analysis. The survey related to social presence indicates a strong interaction among students and a notable decrease in students' inclination for informal and humorous social interactions with their teachers. The findings related to teaching presence view instructors as actively engaging students in their learning process. However, they also pointed out that out less sharing of critical knowledge is taking place. On the other hand, the cognitive presence category was associated with the development of meaningful interaction The educational implications seek to provide guidance to educators and institutions on maximizing the utilization of WhatsApp, for the learning of English as a Second Language (ESL). This involves considering the social, cognitive, and teaching presences highlighted in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sheds light on how Malaysian former Muslims construct their anti-hijab discourse in the context of Facebook and Twitter interactions and how a dichotomous meaning is assigned to the hijab. The five participants were identified using the snowball technique, starting from a well-known Malaysian former Muslim. Data was generated by observing the participants' postings over nine months, from April to December 2019. Three hundred ten postings were collected which challenged Islam and its principles. However, this paper narrowed its scope to focus on 116 anti-hijab postings. The data were analysed using discourse analysis, particularly discursive psychology. The study revealed that participants' postings had thematic links through which an overall theme emerged; the hijab is a tool of women's oppression. This theme emerged through the discursive features such as assessment, category entitlement, extreme case formulation, blame, and corroboration with the anti-hijab ideology which exists on Facebook and Twitter, wherein former Muslims contest the wearing of hijab in certain Islamic countries and attempt to enhance the dichotomy of "women oppression versus women rights" to hijab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines Jordanian teachers' experiences navigating the complexities of teaching amidst the Israel-Palestine conflicts without receiving formal training in conflict-sensitive pedagogy. Through in-depth interviews, themes emerge, illuminating the challenges, practices, and perspectives of educators in conflict-affected classrooms. The teachers perceive significantly limited formal training in conflict-sensitive pedagogy among Jordanian teachers and express a pervasive disillusionment with educational authorities. However, they demonstrate proactive approaches, attempting to integrate war-related topics into their curriculum, promoting critical media literacy and fostering peaceful expression. This study provides a foundation for future research to explore practical pedagogical approaches and support mechanisms in conflict-affected contexts. • Identifies challenges faced by Jordanian teachers without conflict-sensitive pedagogy training. • Highlights the untrained teachers' proactive methods in conflict-sensitive contexts. • Lays groundwork for future studies on pedagogical approaches in conflict-affected regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education, reflective practice has become a dynamic, participatory, and cyclical process that contributes to educators' professional development and personal growth. While it is now a prominent part of educators, many still find it challenging to apply the concept for it carries diverse meaning for different people in different contexts. This article attempts to (re)conceptualize the complexity of reflective practice in an educational context. Scholars in this field have taken different approaches to reflective practice, but all these approaches consist of four main components in common: (i) reflecting; (ii) planning for future action; (iii) acting; and (iv) evaluating the outcomes. We extend the existing literature by proposing a model which integrates these four components with three key aspects of reflection: problem-solving, action orientation, and criticality. The novelty of this model lies within its alignment of the three key aspects with different levels of criticality in a comprehensive framework with detailed descriptors provided. The model and its descriptors are useful in guiding individuals who directly or indirectly involve in critical reflection, especially educators, in appraising their levels of criticality and consequently engage in a meaningful reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional syntactic approaches do not offer a plausible explanation regarding the use of the Arabic preposition "alā" with abstract nouns or states. This article adopts a corpus-based approach to investigate the semantic classification of the preposition "alā" in the Quran from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Conceptual metaphor theory (hereafter CMT) was employed to find out conceptual metaphors (hereafter CM) in the data retrieved from the Quran with the help of search Quran software. CMT holds that human sensorimotor neural structures help store spatial relationships, which are then used to map the abstract concepts in language and thought, and that prepositions are the products of human sensorimotor neural structures. This paper found nine key CM themes behind the usage of prepositions in the data. Contact and support schemas were at the heart of the literal andmetaphorical use of the spatial preposition "alā" in the Quran. However, it was also found that language generation and comprehension involve the role of multimodal perceptual schemas and linguistic knowledge rather than the unilinear process of one CM. This paper suggests further research into spatial relations across languages to explore the cross-cultural implications of image schemas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a linguistic ethnographic investigation of teacher identities in an English for Medical Purposes (EMP) classroom at one of the medical colleges in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It focuses on the discursive shifts of teacher identities in his classroom interactions. An eclectic qualitative methodology that incorporated principles of Linguistic Ethnography was employed in this study. Classroom observation was the main method for data collection. When necessary, an informal conversation with the teacher was carried out after classroom observation to obtain further clarification of what had happened during the observation. The class was observed for 13 times during the first semester of the academic year 2019/2020. Five salient identities were constructed by the teacher: the expert, the counsellor, the student, the storyteller and the controller. These identities were found to be fluid and multiple and became temporarily salient in different classroom interactions. The teacher mediated classroom discourses by constantly shifting relationships and identities along the inclines of power. This study concludes that teacher's discursive identities portray positive self-image and account for students' active engagement and involvement in the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]