Reima Al-Jarf's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-28T23:40:03ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarfhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8297163672?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0iorv48xld6ul&xn_auth=noThe Power of the English Language.tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031792009-03-04T18:32:30.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
English is, undoubtedly, the global language. One of every four people in the world can communicate in English. English is the official language of 85% of world organizations. It is the language of political meetings, the language of international conferences, the language of technology, commerce, banking, tourism, most research papers, reference books, terminology, economics, and international business. It is the language of the most widely-circulated newspapers, T.V. programs, movies,…
English is, undoubtedly, the global language. One of every four people in the world can communicate in English. English is the official language of 85% of world organizations. It is the language of political meetings, the language of international conferences, the language of technology, commerce, banking, tourism, most research papers, reference books, terminology, economics, and international business. It is the language of the most widely-circulated newspapers, T.V. programs, movies, airlines, multinational corporations, and foreign labor. 90% of the material available on the internet is in English. What made English the most powerful language in the world? This study will explore the historical, political, economic, technological and cultural factors that made English a global language in the past and present. What does the future of English look like?<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>The Role of Higher Education Institutions in the Arabization Processtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031782009-03-04T18:29:44.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Findings of an exploratory study with a sample of students at the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, science, and computer science revealed that English is the language of classroom instruction and most textbooks used in most of the courses at those colleges. Students reported that they do not study the Arabic equivalents of English technical terms in their major area of study. It was noted that students have misconceptions about the Arabization processes. Most of them believe that borrowing and…
Findings of an exploratory study with a sample of students at the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, science, and computer science revealed that English is the language of classroom instruction and most textbooks used in most of the courses at those colleges. Students reported that they do not study the Arabic equivalents of English technical terms in their major area of study. It was noted that students have misconceptions about the Arabization processes. Most of them believe that borrowing and transliteration are the only ways English terminology can be transferred to Arabic. Most students never heard of the Saudi Arabic Terminology Databank hosted by KACST. On the basis of the findings, the study recommends that students at the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, science, and computer science be taught the Arabization processes as part of the university Arabic language requirements or in a special Arabization and word coinage course. Students at those colleges must study the Arabic equivalents to English technical terms in their major area of specialization and mastering them must be part of the course evaluation and course grades. To encourage university faculty to translate, publish books and articles in Arabic and Arabize terminology, use of Arabic must be a requirement of promotion. To encourage graduate students to write their theses in Arabic and to have an active role in the Arabization process, use of Arabic must be considered a partial requirement of the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. An Arabic glossary of terms should be appended to published books and theses. Students and faculty must be also familiarized with terminology databanks. They should be made accessible to them. Terminology databanks must be updated on a regular basis and their terminology must be used in writing specialized books in Arabic.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Global Themes in Saudi history textbooks for Grades 4-12tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031772009-03-04T18:27:03.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The study tried to find out whether Saudi history books for grades 4-12 contain global themes; in which grade levels global themes are introduced; the percentage of global themes, local history themes and Islamic history themes; and which global history themes are taught. A checklist of global history themes was developed. Those are: global systems; historical periods; ancient civilizations; world empires; world religions; human immigration; major wars; colonization and liberal movements;…
The study tried to find out whether Saudi history books for grades 4-12 contain global themes; in which grade levels global themes are introduced; the percentage of global themes, local history themes and Islamic history themes; and which global history themes are taught. A checklist of global history themes was developed. Those are: global systems; historical periods; ancient civilizations; world empires; world religions; human immigration; major wars; colonization and liberal movements; exploration expeditions; history of science and technology; the Industrial Revolution; international organizations; political and economic treaties and unions; conflicts; current global issues; social, economic, political and technological changes; emergence of the new world system. It was found that 68.5% of the themes were Islamic; 30% of the themes were local (focused on Saudi history); and only 1.5% of themes in the nine history textbooks were global. It was concluded that the global dimension is completely ignored in Saudi history textbooks for grade 4-12. Therefore, this study recommends that Saudi history books be reviewed and re-structured and global history themes be fused.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Combating Students' Difficulties with English Spellingtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031752009-03-04T18:25:51.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Although the language program at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University offers several English language courses: Listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary building, grammar a dictionary skills in the first four semesters, the spelling skill is completely ignored. Since many college students at COLT are poor spellers, I developed a spelling course that was integrated into the teaching of listening, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and dictionary skills…
Although the language program at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University offers several English language courses: Listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary building, grammar a dictionary skills in the first four semesters, the spelling skill is completely ignored. Since many college students at COLT are poor spellers, I developed a spelling course that was integrated into the teaching of listening, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and dictionary skills courses that she taught. The course aimed at providing students with the basics of English spelling and helping them associate the spoken sounds with the written forms. The course consisted of a series of graded spelling lessons that covered the following: English vowels, different pronunciation of the vowel letters; adding a final silent e; pronunciation of vowel digraphs; vowel digraphs and silent e; vowel digraphs with the same pronunciation; consonant letters with more than one sound; different pronunciations of consonant letters; silent consonants; double consonants; words with 2 pronunciations; 2 words with the same pronunciation; words with 2 parts of speech; words commonly confused; doubling consonants before –ed, -ing, -er; hidden sounds; spelling rules for regular verbs; dropping silent e before a suffix; doubling consonants before a suffix; changing y into I before a suffix; adding –s and –es to verbs and nouns; adding –ed, -ing, -er to verbs; spelling rules for the present progressive, the simple present tense and simple past tense; spelling of irregular verbs, plural nouns, adjectives, adverbs; rules for adding affixes (adding consonant and vowel suffixes, dropping silent e before a suffix, changing y into I before a suffix, doubling of consonants, adding a combining vowel or a combining consonant, consonant replacement before a suffix; changing pronunciation of a consonant before a suffix (assimilation); adding verb-forming, noun-forming, adjective-forming and adverb-forming suffixes; words with 2 parts of speech (words ending in –ate, -ment, -age, -ain); spoken vs written forms (assimilation, elision, flaps, reduction, vowel linkage, pause and juncture); punctuation (use of hyphenation in compound, apostrophes, contracts, ordinal numbers; acronyms and abbreviations; spelling variations (American vs British spelling). Each lesson consists of one rule and words illustrating that rule. To help the students compare and contrast, make the connection and recall the rules, a summary lesson was given every 5-7 lessons. Minimal pair practice is also given. The written forms are always associated with the spoken sounds and vice versa. The students were encouraged to make their own word families. Pre- and post-test results showed significant differences between students who took and those who did not take the spelling course in spelling performance as well as the spelling performance of students before and after taking the course.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>The Saudi National Reading Curriculum: Global Issuestag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031632009-03-04T18:02:55.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
This study aimed at finding out whether the National reading curriculum for grades 7-12 in Saudi Arabia contains global themes, in which grade level those global themes are introduced, the percentage of global themes in each grade level, and which global themes are emphasized more than the others. A checklist consisting of four main global themes was developed. Those are (1) global systems such as cultural, political, economic, ecological, technological, social, educational and healthcare…
This study aimed at finding out whether the National reading curriculum for grades 7-12 in Saudi Arabia contains global themes, in which grade level those global themes are introduced, the percentage of global themes in each grade level, and which global themes are emphasized more than the others. A checklist consisting of four main global themes was developed. Those are (1) global systems such as cultural, political, economic, ecological, technological, social, educational and healthcare systems, international organizations and international law; (2) global issues such as peace and conflict resolution, refugees; (3) human values like tolerance and cooperation, and (4) global history such as ancient civilizations, history of world religions, the industrial revolution, colonization and liberation movements. A content analysis of the reading textbooks for grades 7-12 showed that Quranic verses and Prophet Mohammed’s traditions constitute 10%, 29% of the themes focus on Islamic history, 13% focus on general topics, 11% deal with classical Arabic literature, 8% focus on the history and geography of Saudi Arabia, 6% focus on scientific issues, 6% focus on fauna and flora, 4% focus on Arab and Islamic countries, 1% are devoted to Arab and international organizations such as UNESCO, and 1% of the topic deal with foreign figures (non-Arab) such as doctors and inventors. It was concluded that the Saudi national reading textbooks do not develop global awareness in Saudi junior and senior high school students. The study calls for a re-selection of reading themes and re-structuring and of the reading curriculum.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Using 3 Online Course Management Systems in EFL Instructiontag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031622009-03-04T18:02:09.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Nicenet, WebCT and Moodle were used to teach grammar to freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. The subjects were divided into three groups and were randomly assigned to the three online courses. The same questions, discussion threads, grammar websites, daily grammar lesson, exercises and quizzes were posted in the three online courses. Daily observations of student reactions, questions and discussions as well as responses to…
Nicenet, WebCT and Moodle were used to teach grammar to freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. The subjects were divided into three groups and were randomly assigned to the three online courses. The same questions, discussion threads, grammar websites, daily grammar lesson, exercises and quizzes were posted in the three online courses. Daily observations of student reactions, questions and discussions as well as responses to post-treatment questionnaires showed that Nicenet was the most popular. The effective and ineffective use of Online Course Management Systems in EFL instruction by female freshman students in Saudi Arabia are discussed, November 10-12, 2005.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Connecting Students across Universities in Saudi Arabiatag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031612009-03-04T18:01:28.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The author and her students at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were connected with a professor and his students at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia shared an online grammar course using www.makkahelearning.net. The experiment proved to be a total failure. Factors contributing to students' inadequate participation in the online course, and hesitation to register and interact are discussed.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia…
The author and her students at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were connected with a professor and his students at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia shared an online grammar course using www.makkahelearning.net. The experiment proved to be a total failure. Factors contributing to students' inadequate participation in the online course, and hesitation to register and interact are discussed.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Task-based Instruction for EFL Struggling College Writerstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031582009-03-04T17:59:43.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
65 EFL freshman students were enrolled in a 4-hour writing course. Pretest results showed that the students could not put two words together. The posttest results showed a great improvement in writing ability. The students could write fluently and communicate easily. Spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors significantly decreased. Improvement was noted in essay length, neatness, mechanical correctness and style. Improvement was due to student factors and efficient task management…
65 EFL freshman students were enrolled in a 4-hour writing course. Pretest results showed that the students could not put two words together. The posttest results showed a great improvement in writing ability. The students could write fluently and communicate easily. Spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors significantly decreased. Improvement was noted in essay length, neatness, mechanical correctness and style. Improvement was due to student factors and efficient task management factors. Although the students’ English was extremely poor, they were eager to learn. They accepted comments on their essays and were always ready to try again. Each week a variety of small writing tasks were practiced. For each task, the objective was stated, what to be performed was explained and illustrated by examples while students are attentive. Then the students practiced the task under supervision. Individual help was provided. Extension Activities were done in class within a time limit. At the end of the week, all the tasks were put together in writing a one-paragraph essay. Students were encouraged to write and not to worry about spelling, grammatical, punctuation or capitalization mistakes. I gave communicative feedback focusing on meaning and only errors related to tasks under study were highlighted. Feedback was provided on the presence and location of errors but no correct forms were provided. Self-editing and peer-editing were encouraged. Extra credit was given for good paragraphs. Quizzes were given every other week. They required completion of similar tasks or writing of an essay alternatively. Graded quizzes were returned with comments on strengths and weaknesses, and with words of encouragement. Answers were always discussed in class. A Powerpoint presentation will show samples of students’ essays, students’ views, and T-test results of the pre- and posttests, in addition to descriptive statistics of the quizzes to show the gradual improvement.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>From Reticence to Fluencytag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031572009-03-04T17:58:41.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
52 EFL students were enrolled in a two-hour Speaking III course. At first, the students were shy, refused to talk, could not generate ideas and produce correct sentences. Three months later, students’ speaking ability significantly improved. They could speak fluently using correct grammar and pronunciation and could easily generate ideas. Improvement was due to efficient task-based instruction. Each week a variety of small speaking tasks were practiced individually, in pairs and in small…
52 EFL students were enrolled in a two-hour Speaking III course. At first, the students were shy, refused to talk, could not generate ideas and produce correct sentences. Three months later, students’ speaking ability significantly improved. They could speak fluently using correct grammar and pronunciation and could easily generate ideas. Improvement was due to efficient task-based instruction. Each week a variety of small speaking tasks were practiced individually, in pairs and in small groups. The students were divided into groups in advance, had to prepare for the following week’s tasks at home. The task objective was stated. I made sure the students understood what they were supposed to do. At the beginning of every class session, a public speaking tip was given. Vocabulary items, a function, or a grammatical structure that might help them express themselves was written on the board and explained briefly. Then the students had to rearrange the chairs, and practice each task. I went around, sat with each group, listened, gave feedback, helped and encouraged. Activities were always performed within a time limit. The best group was given extra credit. Students were encouraged to speak and not to worry about mistakes. To help students speak in front of class, I would smile at them, assure them they could do it, prompt them with a sense of humor using questions or key words and praise performance. Quizzes were conducted in the language lab and required completion of several tasks. Students were handed the tasks on paper, given time to think and plan responses before recording them. I listened to the tapes, wrote comments on strengths and weaknesses and words of encouragement for each student. Samples of students’ oral presentations, students’ views, and T-test results of pre- and posttests, and descriptive statistics of the quizzes will be provided.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Issues in Designing English for Islamic Studies Coursestag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031532009-03-04T17:57:13.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Undergraduate students majoring in Islamic Studies at the women’s colleges in Saudi arabia need to take an English-for-Specific-Purposes (ESP) course each year of the B.A. program. The material for all four courses was specially developed in-house by a group of instructors at those colleges. An examination of the course material in general and reading texts in particular revealed many weaknesses. It was found that each textbook consists of 6 units, each of which consisting of a reading text,…
Undergraduate students majoring in Islamic Studies at the women’s colleges in Saudi arabia need to take an English-for-Specific-Purposes (ESP) course each year of the B.A. program. The material for all four courses was specially developed in-house by a group of instructors at those colleges. An examination of the course material in general and reading texts in particular revealed many weaknesses. It was found that each textbook consists of 6 units, each of which consisting of a reading text, few vocabulary items and their dictionary definition and comprehension questions that students could answer by just matching the words of the question with those of the text. Vocabulary exercises required the students to fill in the blanks with the words that were defined or to look up the meanings in the dictionary. The reading passages lacked gradation in length and difficulty level and lacked variety in theme. They contained no context clues to develop the students’ ability to infer meaning of unknown words from context. English passages were simply a literal translation of Arabic sentences rather than connected discourse. The passages lacked cohesion, coherence and an organizational structure (enumeration, cause-effect, comparison-contrast, definition, sequencing, classification …etc). No devices signaling the text structure and no transitional words between sentences and paragraphs were used. Ideas are abstract, vague and have insufficient details. Stories had no theme, no setting, and no sequence of events. The passages lacked the stylistic features of English texts. Although the students are required to translate the same reading passages, translation skills and techniques were not mentioned. English for Islamic Studies courses need to be re-designed by a team of subject-matter, curriculum design and native English language experts. Discourse structure, stylistic features, register and specific reading and vocabulary skills should be taken into consideration in the course design.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>The Role of Grammar in Developing EFL Freshman Students' Writing Skillstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031512009-03-04T17:56:09.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
EFL Freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation are required to take a writing course (4 hours per week) in addition to a grammar course (2 hours). The aim of the present study was to find out whether grammar instruction had an impact on the development of freshman students' writing ability. For this purpose, two groups of freshman students participated in the study. The experimental group received a combination of writing and grammar instruction, whereas the control group…
EFL Freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation are required to take a writing course (4 hours per week) in addition to a grammar course (2 hours). The aim of the present study was to find out whether grammar instruction had an impact on the development of freshman students' writing ability. For this purpose, two groups of freshman students participated in the study. The experimental group received a combination of writing and grammar instruction, whereas the control group received writing instruction only. Both groups were taught (writing and/or grammar) by the author. Before instruction, pretest scores showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in writing ability. The control group outperformed the experimental group. Then, both groups received the same writing instruction using the same textbook. The book consists of 12 chapters, each of which has a theme and is divided into the following parts: Exploring ideas, building vocabulary, organizing ideas, developing cohesion and style, some grammatical points, writing the first draft, editing practice, writing the second draft and journal writing. Students in both groups completed all of the skills, exercises and writing tasks in each chapter and wrote the same one-paragraph essays. In addition, the experimental group studied the following grammatical structures: Parts of speech, prepositions, prepositional phrases, transitive and intransitive verbs, linking verbs, regular and irregular verbs, adverb placement, information, tag, negative and yes-no questions, negatives, regular and irregular plurals, count and non-count nouns, use of definite and indefinite articles, pronouns, subject-verb agreement, 8 tenses, modals, infinitives and gerunds and relative clauses, pronunciation of –ed, -s and -es at the end of verbs and nouns, spelling of –ing, -ed, -es. Posttest scores showed that the experimental group made higher gains than the control group. Using a combination of writing and grammar instruction by the same instructor was significantly more effective than receiving writing instruction only. Grammar instruction proved to be an important factor in enhancing the writing quality of unskilled, low ability EFL students and resulted in a significant improvement in their post-test (achievement test) scores.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Time Management for Teacherstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031502009-03-04T17:55:30.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The goal of this workshop is to introduce participants to strategies that maximize use of available time and assist them in alleviating time management problems. It will focus on time awareness, time wasters, getting the right things done, setting priorities, planning, handling interruptions, disorganization, dealing with procrastination, dealing with (or avoiding) crises, and controlling their life. After attending the workshop, participants should be able to do such things as: write a…
The goal of this workshop is to introduce participants to strategies that maximize use of available time and assist them in alleviating time management problems. It will focus on time awareness, time wasters, getting the right things done, setting priorities, planning, handling interruptions, disorganization, dealing with procrastination, dealing with (or avoiding) crises, and controlling their life. After attending the workshop, participants should be able to do such things as: write a personal mission statement, state and follow their long- and short-term goals, analyze their use and misuse of time, identify time wasters, use daily records and logs, trace their patterns of procrastination, recorded daily activities for one week on a time use inventory, decompose tasks into sequentially, temporally ordered activities, prioritize tasks and classify activities according to importance and urgency, develop a realistic "to-do" list, use a calendar, wristwatch or clock; practice punctuality, use a time management system such as a planner or computer program, maintain an organized work environment (organize desk, office, briefcase, and computer files), schedule uninterrupted time to engage in important tasks, control paper work, visitors, meetings, and telephone calls, undertake energizing activities.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Do ESL College Students' Comprehend News Headlinestag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031462009-03-04T17:54:26.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The present study aimed at investigating ESL college students’ ability to comprehend news headlines, to identify the stylistic features of news headlines, to find out the features that are easy to identify, and those that are difficult to identify and to identify error causes. 68 ESL junior college students enrolled in a stylistics course took a test which consisted of a sample of news headlines. The subjects were asked to identify the stylistic features of those news headlines, give examples…
The present study aimed at investigating ESL college students’ ability to comprehend news headlines, to identify the stylistic features of news headlines, to find out the features that are easy to identify, and those that are difficult to identify and to identify error causes. 68 ESL junior college students enrolled in a stylistics course took a test which consisted of a sample of news headlines. The subjects were asked to identify the stylistic features of those news headlines, give examples that illustrate the features they give, fill in missing words and substitute punctuation marks, infinitives and block language by their meanings. Analysis of the subjects’ correct responses showed that 75% of the subjects were able to identify initials in the news headlines, 72% could recognize surnames and infinitives used instead of the ‘future’, 51% could recognize places where articles are deleted, 49% could identify block language, 21% were able to identify passive structures used in the news headlines, 15% could recognize places were verb to be is deleted, and 6% could identify ellipsis. Analysis of the incorrect responses showed areas with which the subjects had syntactic, semantic, background knowledge problems. Recommendations for news headlines comprehension instruction will be given.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Should English Be Taught to Saudi Children under the age of sixtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031452009-03-04T17:53:29.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
English has become a global language. It is widely used in Saudi Arabia, although the official language is Arabic. As a result, many Saudi parents are wondering what the optimal age for teaching English to young children is. Should they talk to young children at home in English, in Arabic or both? Should they send their children to a kindergarten that uses English as a medium of instruction, teaches English as a subject or teaches Arabic only? Does teaching English (L2) to young Saudi children…
English has become a global language. It is widely used in Saudi Arabia, although the official language is Arabic. As a result, many Saudi parents are wondering what the optimal age for teaching English to young children is. Should they talk to young children at home in English, in Arabic or both? Should they send their children to a kindergarten that uses English as a medium of instruction, teaches English as a subject or teaches Arabic only? Does teaching English (L2) to young Saudi children affect their acquisition of Arabic (L1) and their academic achievement in later stages? The present study tried to explore parents’ perceptions of L2 acquisition and its effect on simultaneous L1 acquisition and academic achievement. Interviews with a representative sample of 300 mothers revealed that 70% believe that English instruction should start in kindergarten. 70% prefer to enroll their children in a kindergarten that would teach them both English and Arabic. 50% prefer to speak English with their children at home. 70% believe that teaching English to young children has no negative effect on L1 acquisition and has a positive effect on their scholastic achievement in later years. Findings also revealed many stereotypes and misconceptions among mothers about the optimal age for teaching L2, the effect of L2 acquisition on L1 acquisition and on scholastic achievement, and the attribution of failure to learn English by junior and senior high school students to their learning English at an older age, i.e, grade 7, rather than any other factors. Mothers also believe that children can learn both English and Arabic easily and effortlessly and can learn to speak English with a native accent. The second language acquisition literature and theories were reviewed to clarify those common misconceptions and stereotypes. Some recommendations regarding the teaching of English to children under the age of six will be given.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Can ESL students identify emphatic features of advertisementstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031432009-03-04T17:51:37.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The study aimed at investigating ESL students’ ability to comprehend and identify emphatic structures in advertisements, to find out the emphatic features that are easy to identify, and those that are difficult to identify. 60 ESL junior college students enrolled in a stylistics course took a test which consisted of an advertisement. The subjects were asked to identify the emphatic features of that advertisement and give two examples that illustrate the feature they give. Analysis of the…
The study aimed at investigating ESL students’ ability to comprehend and identify emphatic structures in advertisements, to find out the emphatic features that are easy to identify, and those that are difficult to identify. 60 ESL junior college students enrolled in a stylistics course took a test which consisted of an advertisement. The subjects were asked to identify the emphatic features of that advertisement and give two examples that illustrate the feature they give. Analysis of the subjects’ correct responses showed that the emphatic structures that the subjects could identify are: balanced sentence structure (53%), repeating key words (53%), arranging ideas in the order of climax, i.e. order of importance with the strongest idea last (45%), using active voice (33%), changing sentence length abruptly (33%), placing important words at the end of the sentence (32%), using periodic sentences (30%), placing emphatic words after a colon or a dash (27.5%), putting a word or phrase out of its usual order (23%) and identifying intensifiers, extraposition, exclamatory sentences, using anticipatory ‘it’, and changing sentence types together (20%). The percentages given reflect the difficulty level of the different emphatic features of the advertisement, and areas with which they had comprehension difficulties. Causes of advertisement comprehension problems and recommendations for instructional techniques that would help enhance the students’ ability to identify and comprehend emphatic structures will be given.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Videoconferencing for a Segregated Learning Environmenttag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031422009-03-04T17:44:35.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Male and female college students in Saudi Arabia study in a segregated environment. King Saud University (KSU) has 50,000 students in 3 campuses each of which is 35 kms away. Due to increasing student enrollment, all departments for female students are understaffed. Due to latest development in technology, all three campuses were upgraded and are now connected through fibre optics with a LAN. The Olaysha campus hosting women’s colleges of Education, Arts, Administrative Science, Languages, and…
Male and female college students in Saudi Arabia study in a segregated environment. King Saud University (KSU) has 50,000 students in 3 campuses each of which is 35 kms away. Due to increasing student enrollment, all departments for female students are understaffed. Due to latest development in technology, all three campuses were upgraded and are now connected through fibre optics with a LAN. The Olaysha campus hosting women’s colleges of Education, Arts, Administrative Science, Languages, and Graduate college has installed a new videoconferencing lab and two large-lecture halls. Through these, female students and instructors can attend conferences, classes, meetings, defenses, workshops, and functions simultaneously with men. However, facilities are not optimally used. Attendees will gain insight into use of new technology (videoconferencing) in educational settings in other cultures. They will gain knowledge about their set-up, equipment, applications, uses, capacity, limitations, students’ opinions of their effect, and causes of under-use. A description of the videoconferencing lab and large-lecture & videoconferencing halls at KSU will be given in terms of setup, equipment, software, capacity, hours of use per semester, how graduate and undergraduate lectures, conferences, presentations by invited speakers, live functions such as graduation ceremonies are broadcast, how workshops and defenses are conducted, and how interaction takes place, what problems are solved by the videoconferencing technology. The uses, causes of under-use, and male and female students and instructors' opinions of the effect of videoconferencing on learning, and student-instructor and student-student interaction will be reported in detail.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Academic Needs and Communication Strategies Revealed by Students’ e-mailstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031412009-03-04T17:43:40.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
E-mail messages from 190 students were analyzed for types of requests, academic needs, reasons for seeking help, communication strategies and cultural differences. The message content revealed no differences between Saudi, Arab and non-Arab students’, nor between male and female students’ requests. Differences were noted in communication strategies. Undergraduate students sought help with assignments and how to improve their English, whereas graduate students requested resources and help with…
E-mail messages from 190 students were analyzed for types of requests, academic needs, reasons for seeking help, communication strategies and cultural differences. The message content revealed no differences between Saudi, Arab and non-Arab students’, nor between male and female students’ requests. Differences were noted in communication strategies. Undergraduate students sought help with assignments and how to improve their English, whereas graduate students requested resources and help with thesis preparation. Students’ requests revealed many academic problems. Reasons for seeking help and recommendations for improving the educational setting are provided.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Boosting EFL College Student Writing Achievementtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031402009-03-04T17:26:14.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
65 EFL freshman students were enrolled in their first writing course in college. Before instruction, they were pretested. Pretest results revealed many writing problems. Then, the students studied Interactions One. Each week, one chapter was covered and the students completed all of the skills, exercises and writing tasks in the chapter and wrote two one-paragraph essays. They were encouraged to write and not to worry about spelling, grammatical, punctuation or capitalization mistakes. While…
65 EFL freshman students were enrolled in their first writing course in college. Before instruction, they were pretested. Pretest results revealed many writing problems. Then, the students studied Interactions One. Each week, one chapter was covered and the students completed all of the skills, exercises and writing tasks in the chapter and wrote two one-paragraph essays. They were encouraged to write and not to worry about spelling, grammatical, punctuation or capitalization mistakes. While doing the exercises and writing the paragraphs, I monitored their work individually and provided individual help. I gave communicative feedback. Self-editing and peer-editing were encouraged. Extra credit was given for good paragraphs. The students were tested every other week. Quizzes were always graded, returned to the students with comments on strengths and weaknesses. Answers were always discussed in class. At the end of the semester, the students were posttest. Posttest essays showed a great improvement in their writing ability. Improvement was noted in the students’ assignments, in essay length, neatness, mechanical correctness and style. A detailed account of the factors that lead to improvement in writing English will be given.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Current practices in reading instructiontag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-04:649749:BlogPost:3031372009-03-04T17:16:48.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The aim of the present study was to examine the amount of reading texts, reading exercises and reading skills covered by reading instructors in ESL college classrooms at each college level. Subjects of the present study consisted of 12 instructors (3 instructors per level) who taught reading in Fall 2000 and Spring 2001. Since students usually mark texts, do exercises and take notes on their textbooks, 3 reading textbooks per instructor were collected from students in levels 1-4. Each book was…
The aim of the present study was to examine the amount of reading texts, reading exercises and reading skills covered by reading instructors in ESL college classrooms at each college level. Subjects of the present study consisted of 12 instructors (3 instructors per level) who taught reading in Fall 2000 and Spring 2001. Since students usually mark texts, do exercises and take notes on their textbooks, 3 reading textbooks per instructor were collected from students in levels 1-4. Each book was examined page by page. The number of units, number of reading selections, number of reading skills and number of reading exercises taught in each textbook were calculated. It was found that the typical instructor taught 50% of the reading selections in Interactions I and Interactions II, 33% of the reading selections in Mosaic I and 20% of the reading selections in Mosaic II. In Addition, the typical instructor taught 62% of the reading and vocabulary skills and 50% of the testing skills in Interactions I. In Interactions II, the typical instructor taught 50% of the reading skills, vocabulary, and testing and study skills. In Mosaic I, the typical instructor taught 33% of the reading skills, 40% of the vocabulary skills, 55% of the testing and study skills. In Mosaic II, the typical instructor taught 25% of the reading, vocabulary, testing and study skills. A detailed report of the findings will be given. Results will be discussed in the light of issues affecting student achievement in ESL such as the amount of time allocated to reading instruction and the relationship between the amount of material covered and reading achievement.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Global Themes in Saudi history textbookstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027592009-03-03T21:12:20.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The present study tried to find out whether Saudi history books for grades 4-12 contain global themes; in which grade levels global themes are introduced; the percentage of global themes, local history themes and Islamic history themes; and which global history themes are taught. A checklist of global history themes was developed. Those are: global systems; historical periods; ancient civilizations; world empires; world religions; human immigration; major wars; colonization and liberal…
The present study tried to find out whether Saudi history books for grades 4-12 contain global themes; in which grade levels global themes are introduced; the percentage of global themes, local history themes and Islamic history themes; and which global history themes are taught. A checklist of global history themes was developed. Those are: global systems; historical periods; ancient civilizations; world empires; world religions; human immigration; major wars; colonization and liberal movements; exploration expeditions; history of science and technology; the Industrial Revolution; international organizations; political and economic treaties and unions; conflicts; current global issues; social, economic, political and technological changes; emergence of the new world system. It was found that 68.5% of the themes were Islamic; 30% of the themes were local (focused on Saudi history); and only 1.5% of themes in the nine history textbooks were global. It was concluded that the global dimension is completely ignored in Saudi history textbooks for grade 4-12. Therefore, this study recommends that Saudi history books be reviewed and re-structured and global history themes be fused.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Global Themes in Singaporean Secondary Social Studies Textbookstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027572009-03-03T21:11:16.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
This study aimed at finding out whether Singaporean secondary social studies textbooks contain global themes, in which grade level those global themes are introduced, the percentage of global themes in socials studies textbooks at each grade level, and which global themes are emphasized. A checklist consisting of four main global themes was developed. Those are (1) global systems such as cultural, political, economic, ecological, technological, social, educational and healthcare systems,…
This study aimed at finding out whether Singaporean secondary social studies textbooks contain global themes, in which grade level those global themes are introduced, the percentage of global themes in socials studies textbooks at each grade level, and which global themes are emphasized. A checklist consisting of four main global themes was developed. Those are (1) global systems such as cultural, political, economic, ecological, technological, social, educational and healthcare systems, international organizations and international law; (2) global issues such as peace and conflict resolution, refugees; (3) human values like tolerance and cooperation, and (4) global history such as ancient civilizations, history of world religions, the industrial revolution, colonization and liberation movements. It was found that 35 % of the social studies themes in the four high school grades together were global. Global themes constituted 16% of the first secondary grade textbook, 1.5% of the second secondary grade textbook, 64% of the third secondary grade textbook and 31% of the fourth secondary grade. It was also found that the first and second secondary textbooks mainly focus on world history. In the third secondary textbooks, 17% of the themes were allocated to global systems and human values, 27% to global issues, 7% to global history. In the fourth secondary grade textbook, 7% of the themes were allocated to global systems, 16% to global issues and 7% to global history. It was concluded that Singaporean secondary school social studies textbooks develop a global perspective in Singaporean students through a theme-based approach and a selection of a variety of current global issues in well-designed textbooks that develop independent and critical thinking skills and participation goals.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>The Role of Higher Education Institutions in the Arabization Processtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027492009-03-03T21:02:50.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Findings of an exploratory study with a sample of students at the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, science, and computer science revealed that English is the language of classroom instruction and most textbooks used in most of the courses at those colleges. Students reported that they do not study the Arabic equivalents of English technical terms in their major area of study. It was noted that students have misconceptions about the Arabization processes. Most of them believe that borrowing and…
Findings of an exploratory study with a sample of students at the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, science, and computer science revealed that English is the language of classroom instruction and most textbooks used in most of the courses at those colleges. Students reported that they do not study the Arabic equivalents of English technical terms in their major area of study. It was noted that students have misconceptions about the Arabization processes. Most of them believe that borrowing and transliteration are the only ways English terminology can be transferred to Arabic. Most students never heard of the Saudi Arabic Terminology Databank hosted by KACST. On the basis of the findings, the study recommends that students at the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, science, and computer science be taught the Arabization processes as part of the university Arabic language requirements or in a special Arabization and word coinage course. Students at those colleges must study the Arabic equivalents to English technical terms in their major area of specialization and mastering them must be part of the course evaluation and course grades. To encourage university faculty to translate, publish books and articles in Arabic and Arabize terminology, use of Arabic must be a requirement of promotion. To encourage graduate students to write their theses in Arabic and to have an active role in the Arabization process, use of Arabic must be considered a partial requirement of the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. An Arabic glossary of terms should be appended to published books and theses. Students and faculty must be also familiarized with terminology databanks. They should be made accessible to them. Terminology databanks must be updated on a regular basis and their terminology must be used in writing specialized books in Arabic.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Women, Gender and National Curricula: Gulf and Saudi Arabiatag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027482009-03-03T21:01:40.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The article assesses the impact of the national curricula including textbooks, women’s sports, how women are presented in a nationalist curriculum in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia on women. The article touches upon women’s experiences in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, women’s voices, women’s interpretations and understandings of women, gender and national curricula. The historical context is also described.<br />
<br />
Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia…
The article assesses the impact of the national curricula including textbooks, women’s sports, how women are presented in a nationalist curriculum in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia on women. The article touches upon women’s experiences in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, women’s voices, women’s interpretations and understandings of women, gender and national curricula. The historical context is also described.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Task-based Instruction for EFL Struggling College Writerstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027442009-03-03T21:00:32.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
65 EFL freshman students were enrolled in a 4-hour writing course. Pretest results showed that the students could not put two words together. The posttest results showed a great improvement in writing ability. The students could write fluently and communicate easily. Spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors significantly decreased. Improvement was noted in essay length, neatness, mechanical correctness and style. Improvement was due to student factors and efficient task management…
65 EFL freshman students were enrolled in a 4-hour writing course. Pretest results showed that the students could not put two words together. The posttest results showed a great improvement in writing ability. The students could write fluently and communicate easily. Spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors significantly decreased. Improvement was noted in essay length, neatness, mechanical correctness and style. Improvement was due to student factors and efficient task management factors. Although the students’ English was extremely poor, they were eager to learn. They accepted comments on their essays and were always ready to try again. Each week a variety of small writing tasks were practiced. For each task, the objective was stated, what to be performed was explained and illustrated by examples while students are attentive. Then the students practiced the task under supervision. Individual help was provided. Extension Activities were done in class within a time limit. At the end of the week, all the tasks were put together in writing a one-paragraph essay. Students were encouraged to write and not to worry about spelling, grammatical, punctuation or capitalization mistakes. I gave communicative feedback focusing on meaning and only errors related to tasks under study were highlighted. Feedback was provided on the presence and location of errors but no correct forms were provided. Self-editing and peer-editing were encouraged. Extra credit was given for good paragraphs. Quizzes were given every other week. They required completion of similar tasks or writing of an essay alternatively. Graded quizzes were returned with comments on strengths and weaknesses, and with words of encouragement. Answers were always discussed in class. A Powerpoint presentation will show samples of students’ essays, students’ views, and T-test results of the pre- and posttests, in addition to descriptive statistics of the quizzes to show the gradual improvement.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Effects of Listening Comprehension and Decoding Skills on Spelling Achievementtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027412009-03-03T20:59:40.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Thirty six EFL freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were given a dictation, a listening comprehension test and a decoding test. The purpose of the study was to find out whether EFL freshmen students' spelling ability correlates with their listening comprehension and decoding skills. Data analysis showed that the typical EFL freshman student misspelled 41.5% of the words on the dictation, gave 49.5% correct responses on the…
Thirty six EFL freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were given a dictation, a listening comprehension test and a decoding test. The purpose of the study was to find out whether EFL freshmen students' spelling ability correlates with their listening comprehension and decoding skills. Data analysis showed that the typical EFL freshman student misspelled 41.5% of the words on the dictation, gave 49.5% correct responses on the listening comprehension test, and 52% correct responses on the decoding test. The median and mean scores showed that the subjects’ spelling, listening and decoding achievement is low, which implied that the subjects were having spelling, listening comprehension and decoding difficulties. The students’ spelling errors and correct listening comprehension and decoding responses revealed strong correlations among spelling ability, listening comprehension and decoding skills. This means that good spelling ability in EFL is related to good listening comprehension and good decoding skills. The better the listening comprehension and decoding abilities, the fewer the spelling errors. When listening comprehension and decoding skills are poor, spelling ability is also poor. Recommendations for spelling, listening and decoding instruction are given (191 words).<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Large Student Enrollments in EFL Programstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027402009-03-03T20:58:28.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Year after year, EFL and translation programs at King Saud University are experiencing significant increases in female freshman student enrollments. This study aims to investigate the effect of female freshman student enrollment figures in EFL programs on student achievement and attitudes, program staffing, classroom instruction, management, assessment, resources and facilities utilization on the basis of female faculty demographic, female faculty teaching load, number of courses and total…
Year after year, EFL and translation programs at King Saud University are experiencing significant increases in female freshman student enrollments. This study aims to investigate the effect of female freshman student enrollment figures in EFL programs on student achievement and attitudes, program staffing, classroom instruction, management, assessment, resources and facilities utilization on the basis of female faculty demographic, female faculty teaching load, number of courses and total number of credit hours offered by the department, freshman students’ enrollment statistics, grammar test scores. Female students, instructors, department head and program coordinators' perceptions of the causes and outcomes of large female freshman student enrollments will be reported.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Making Connections in Vocabulary Instructiontag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027352009-03-03T20:57:22.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Vocabulary teaching and learning constitute a major problem for EFL instructors and students. The pretest showed that freshman students at COLT have difficulty in pronouncing, recognizing the meaning of, using and spelling English words. In their first semester, freshman students are required to take a vocabulary course that consists of 50 lessons (2000 words), each consisting of a presentation page and a practice page. To help the students learn, retain, apply and relate word, the…
Vocabulary teaching and learning constitute a major problem for EFL instructors and students. The pretest showed that freshman students at COLT have difficulty in pronouncing, recognizing the meaning of, using and spelling English words. In their first semester, freshman students are required to take a vocabulary course that consists of 50 lessons (2000 words), each consisting of a presentation page and a practice page. To help the students learn, retain, apply and relate word, the instructional approach focused on connecting the printed form of the word with its pronunciation (the hidden sounds, double & silent letters, and homophones), with its part of speech, singular or plural form, synonym or antonym, English & Arabic meanings, usage, component parts, previously-encountered words and others while presenting the new vocabulary items in each lesson. Categorization, association, and visualization skills and mnemonic approaches were emphasized. Out of class extensive reading and listening activities were also encouraged. Quizzes required the students to make the above-mentioned connections. Comparisons of pre and posttest results and of the experimental and control groups' test scores revealed significant differences in vocabulary knowledge and skills. The experimental approach proved to be effective in enhancing vocabulary learning by struggling EFL college students.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Unemployed female translators: Causes and Solutionstag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027342009-03-03T20:56:27.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
The present study found that 90% of female Saudi translators who graduated between 1990 and 1996 are not working as translators. Although translation jobs are available in hospitals, translation bureaus, and embassies, many graduates find the jobs open for women unsuitable because of working conditions, stringent qualifications, staff policies, salaries and benefits. Others disliked the nature of the work and cited insufficient information about employment opportunities, lack of motivation, and…
The present study found that 90% of female Saudi translators who graduated between 1990 and 1996 are not working as translators. Although translation jobs are available in hospitals, translation bureaus, and embassies, many graduates find the jobs open for women unsuitable because of working conditions, stringent qualifications, staff policies, salaries and benefits. Others disliked the nature of the work and cited insufficient information about employment opportunities, lack of motivation, and familial, social, and cultural factors as reasons for unemployment.<br />
<br />
Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Analysis of Grammatical Agreement Errors in L1/L2 translationtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027332009-03-03T20:55:15.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
159 grammatical agreement errors collected from the translation projects of nine Saudi graduating seniors majoring in translation were analyzed. A grammatical agreement error was defined as the incorrect inflection of nouns, verbs, adjectives, anaphoric pronouns, and determiners to show a mismatch in singular, dual, or plural forms or a mismatch in masculine and feminine gender in correspondence with a subject, modified noun or antecedent. There were more disagreeing verbs than pronouns than…
159 grammatical agreement errors collected from the translation projects of nine Saudi graduating seniors majoring in translation were analyzed. A grammatical agreement error was defined as the incorrect inflection of nouns, verbs, adjectives, anaphoric pronouns, and determiners to show a mismatch in singular, dual, or plural forms or a mismatch in masculine and feminine gender in correspondence with a subject, modified noun or antecedent. There were more disagreeing verbs than pronouns than adjectives. There were more gender than number agreement errors and more interlingual than intralingual. 27% were due to incorrect gender assignment to the controller or target, 3% were due to the inability to determine the number of the controller or target, 24% were due to inability to associate the verb, pronoun or adjective with its correct referent. There were more agreement errors when the controller was singular and plural, when the plural controller was non-human and when the controller was feminine.<br />
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Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>Word Order Errors in English-Arabic Translation.tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-03-03:649749:BlogPost:3027312009-03-03T20:54:18.000ZReima Al-Jarfhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ReimaAlJarf
Interlingual data, examined in the present study, consisted of advanced students' deviant use of VSO and SVO structures in the translation of expository texts from English into Arabic. Although English is an SVO language and Arabic has two word orders: VSO (verbal sentences) and SVO (nominal sentences), students seemed to translate imitatively rather than discriminately. Analysis of the syntactic context showed that VSO structures were avoided and SVO structures were overgeneralized in long…
Interlingual data, examined in the present study, consisted of advanced students' deviant use of VSO and SVO structures in the translation of expository texts from English into Arabic. Although English is an SVO language and Arabic has two word orders: VSO (verbal sentences) and SVO (nominal sentences), students seemed to translate imitatively rather than discriminately. Analysis of the syntactic context showed that VSO structures were avoided and SVO structures were overgeneralized in long NP's, when the verb is passive, where a parallel structure is required, and after certain particles. Avoidance strategies employed by the students were identified.<br />
<br />
Prof. Reima Al-jarf<br />
King Saud University<br />
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<br />
<a href="http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf">http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf</a>