Issue Information

The present study explored the perspectives of Algerian primary school EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers regarding nursery rhymes and their effectiveness in enhancing language skills across various areas, particularly vocabulary and pronunciation. This research focused on third- and fourth-year primary school pupils learning English as a foreign language in Algeria. To achieve the objectives of the study, a mixed-method approach was employed. Data were gathered using a questionnaire that included both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The questionnaire was distributed to thirty primary school English language teachers to gather their opinions on the use of nursery rhymes in teaching English to young learners in primary schools. The results revealed that Algerian EFL teachers hold significantly positive attitudes and beliefs regarding the pedagogical value of nursery rhymes. They also recognize the effectiveness of using nursery rhymes in teaching English as a foreign language to young learners. However, the qualitative analysis revealed a discrepancy with the teachers’ attitudes and beliefs. Despite their positive views on the pedagogical value of nursery rhymes, the results indicated that teachers did not frequently incorporate nursery rhymes into their English lessons due to various challenges they faced. Consequently, the study recommended that teachers should be provided with appropriate resources and materials to effectively use nursery rhymes in their classrooms. Additionally, it emphasized the importance of enhancing and developing teachers’ training to better equip them for incorporating nursery rhymes in their teaching practices.

This paper examines the constraints encountering translators upon attempting to transfer taboo words from the English comics into Arabic by maintaining optimal equivalence. Added to the linguistic challenges confronted when approaching a different genre of texts such as literary, the translator deals with the profoundly cultural-laden material of taboos that translatability becomes an enduring task. With a wide spectrum of strategies to select from, the translator delves into a variety of confounding alternatives in order to cater for the requirements of original text content against fidelity in the target language. In the present research, four translation strategies were selected and evaluated in terms of their suitability regarding guarding meaning in translating English taboo words of comics into Arabic: euphemism, omission, taboo-for-taboo and grawlix. In order to assess their efficiency, these strategies were applied in translating extracted taboo words from the English version of The City Hunter into Arabic. Overall, taking account of religious considerations in the first place, in the Arabic context, with differing degrees of appropriateness among the chosen strategies at issue, euphemism proves as the most useful mode of expressing foreign taboos.

This descriptive-correlational study examined communication anxiety and coping strategies and self-assessed oral communication among 43 third-year BSEd English majors at Zamboanga Peninsula Polytechnic State University to determine how coping strategies affect students' perceived oral communication abilities. The study employed two classroom instruments which included (a) an adapted Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale to evaluate communication apprehension test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation and (b) a Student Oral Communication Self-Assessment index. The coping scale contained nine items that measured students' preparedness and their application of positive thinking and their tendency to ask peers for assistance. The study used ordinal logistic models to analyze the relationships between oral-communication index bands while descriptive statistics provided data about cohort status. The participants showed average foreign/second-language anxiety levels (M = 3.21) but their subscale scores ranged from evaluation anxiety (M = 3.17) to communication apprehension (M = 3.27). The students achieved their highest scores during particular high-pressure situations - rapid pacing, public performance, and evaluative interactions, where anxiety intensifies and hinders retrieval and fluency. Students reported using reading and lexical exercises for preparation as they practiced positive self-talk. However, they mostly asked their peers for clarification rather than engage in independent practice. The study found that preparation activities improved students' oral communication skills according to their self-assessment (p < .001) although positive thinking (p = .105) and peer-seeking (p = .953) did not reach statistical significance. The findings revealed that students generally maintain emotional stability but continue to exhibit sensitivity to stressful events. Task-oriented preparation, implemented through controlled low-stakes practice activities, improves students' perceived speaking competence. The study suggests using three scaffolding methods: advanced organizers, timed micro-rehearsals, and peer feedback cycles, to help students manage anxiety and move smoothly from preparation to confident speech delivery.

This study investigated perceptions of AI-based speaking assessment tools in legal English education at Hanoi Law University (HLU) in Vietnam, addressing a gap in discipline-specific applications within non-native EFL contexts. Employing a concurrent mixed-methods design, quantitative surveys were administered to 105 second-year legal English students, while semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 lecturers to explore views on AI's role in evaluating legal discourse. Findings revealed positive perceptions of AI's efficiency (mean = 4.23 on a 5-point scale) and skill improvement potential (mean = 3.98), with perceptions varying significantly by student performance levels (ANOVA: F(2,102) = 5.24, p = 0.007 for feedback immediacy). Lecturers expressed optimism for AI's immediacy and advocated hybrid approaches. However, results are limited by self-reported data, a single-institution sample, and potential response bias, restricting generalizability. Future research should incorporate objective measures and multi-site designs for broader validation.

Over the last few years, the use of X (formerly Twitter) for political purposes has gained prominence in Kenya. The Kenyan political elite appear to strategically maximize on the platform to propagate their egoistic political agenda. X was extensively used during the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), a political season characterized by the Kenyan government’s quest to unite the nation. However, this initiative came at a time when the electorate was inflamed and yearning for new leadership. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the syntactic structures that characterized tweets by the anti-BBI micro-bloggers within Kenya’s political online space. The multi-modal theory was used to analyze eighteen tweets which were selected from six hashtags namely; #BBINonsense, #RejectBBI, #StopBBI, #NoToBBI, #BBIMustFall and #BBIniScam. The findings revealed that tweets were regulated by length constraints on the X platform. As a result, the written text and visual modes worked together to construct syntactic structures which included ellipsis, substitution, unique punctuation patterns, substitution, short-forms and emojis. According to the findings, the syntactic structures displayed non-adherence to prescriptive rules according to traditional grammar. Language was creatively used to compensate for the word limit constraints. The findings of this study will help shed light on language use in social media interactions and how this might affect language learning and teaching in Kenya. Additionally, the findings of this study shall be used by Kenyans on X (KoX) in a bid to understand the nature of the syntactic structures used in the platform.

The present study conducts a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the Single National Curriculum Early Child Care and Education (SNC ECCE) 2020 policy document of Pakistan; particularly it focuses on implementation of mother tongue teaching at the pre-primary education sector. The study uses three-dimensional framework proposed by Fairclough (2001, 2015) comprising linguistic, inter-discursive and social analysis to uncover the ideologies and hegemonic power relations reflected in the policy. The findings reveal a significant gap between the policy’s rhetoric and its vague guidelines for mother tongue instruction. The linguistic analysis of the policy document highlights the whole text organization, modality and reiteration. Inter-discursive analysis further highlights the policy alignment with national of linguistic homogenization. In social practices the curriculum reveals reinforcement of the dominance of Urdu as a unifying national language and English as the marker of global competence, while relegating mother tongue to a peripheral and optional status. The study implies the need for more inclusive language policies and stronger institutional support for minority languages.

This study examines society’s fascination with women’s suffering, exploring how it is aestheticized, commodified, and circulated in literature, art, and media. Drawing on Laura Mulvey’s male gaze, Judith Butler’s gender performativity, and Bell Hooks’s critique of marginalization, the study uses qualitative analysis of canonical texts (e.g., Sylvia Plath, Frida Kahlo, Ernest Hemingway) and contemporary media to trace patterns in the representation of female trauma. Findings show that female anguish gains attention mainly when stylized and monetized, whereas male suffering commands symbolic authority. This reveals that cultural scripts reinforce gendered hierarchies in the circulation of pain. The study underscores the need to reframe trauma as political rather than consumable, questioning how aestheticized narratives maintain social and economic power structures.

The issue of teacher evaluation stands as a central concern in contemporary Greek educational discourse. Following several decades of inactivity—during which various laws were enacted, multiple Presidential Decrees were issued, and systematic opposition and resistance from trade unions were observed, leading to the repeal or non-implementation of certain regulations—the Greek educational system is currently entering a new era. In this context, teacher evaluation is no longer a theoretical prospect but a concrete reality. This qualitative study explores teachers’ views, perceptions and experiences in the new evaluation process, identifying challenges, benefits, and its impact on their professional lives. The findings indicate that while teachers acknowledge evaluation as a tool for improvement, they criticize its bureaucratic burden and superficial execution while identifying it with a stressful, performative process lacking objectivity and fairness.

This study examined at which grade levels, within which conceptual frameworks, and with what frequency environmental and climate change issues were included in middle school Turkish language textbooks published in 2024. The study was conducted using document analysis, one of the qualitative research designs. Within the scope of the review, six Turkish language textbooks for the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade levels were evaluated. Content analysis was used to analyze the data, based on the codes of climate change, global warming, environmental awareness, disruption of natural balance, protection of natural balance, environmental threats, unplanned settlement, and environmental pollution. The findings showed that environmental and climate change content was included in the textbooks to a limited extent and did not display a balanced distribution across grade levels. The content was found to be concentrated particularly at the 5th and 6th grade levels, to decrease at the 7th grade level, and to be absent at the 8th grade level. In addition, environment-related content was mostly addressed at the level of general value transmission, while current environmental problems such as climate change and global warming were covered in a limited number of texts and activities. As a result, it was concluded that environmental and climate change issues in middle school Turkish language textbooks should be addressed through a more holistic and continuous approach that is also sustained at upper grade levels.

Policymakers in Algeria sought to promote internationalization in higher education through implementing English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI). The pedagogical implications of EMI bumped into substantial obstacles, such as difficulties in teaching content subjects in English and the students’ limited proficiency in English. This paper investigates the utility of pedagogical translanguaging in teaching content subjects in English. To this aim, 90 undergraduate students who took content courses in English were nominated from the electrical engineering department at Naama University Center, Algeria. Students were randomly allocated to an EMI-only version of the course (the control group) or a multilingual version of the course (the experimental group). The performance of the students was assessed through final examinations specifically constructed to evaluate both content knowledge and accuracy of academic English usage. Moreover, the researcher conducted interviews with teachers to collect data on whether translanguaging helps students deepen conceptual understanding and communicate it accurately in English. The test results demonstrated that the experimental group students answered statistically more test questions correctly and produced clear written answers compared to students enrolled in the control group. Furthermore, the analysis of the teachers’ interviews revealed positive attitudes toward translanguaging. This study advocates for translanguaging practices to effectively address the students’ English language proficiency and support their linguistic diversity in the EMI setting for better academic performance.