International Journal of Linguistics and Translation Studies

Investigating the Relationship between Neuro-Linguistic Programming Techniques and EFL Classroom Management Satisfaction

Maroua Harrif — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) studies very closely the processes people use to build their unique, distinctive maps or models of the world. Bandler (1979) asserts that NLP is an attitude and a methodology, which leaves behind a trail of techniques. This study investigated the relationship between NLP techniques and Classroom Management (CM) Satisfaction. Eight NLP techniques including Win-win Situation, Representational Systems, Chunking, Pacing to lead, Modeling, Maintain Rapport, Anchoring, and Outcome Checklist are examined in this paper in terms of their correlation with CM Satisfaction. The Participants (N = 200) completed a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) divided into two parts. The first part had to do with CM satisfaction. The second part contained eight questions related to NLP techniques. To achieve the purpose, the researcher has adopted a correlational research design, and the main variables were NLP Techniques and CM Satisfaction. Cronbach Alpha was used to measure the internal consistency between items in the scale, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient to analyze the relationship between CM Satisfaction, the dependent variable, and NLP techniques, the independent variable. The analysis of the results shows that Pearson’s Correlation Coefficients of the variables used in this research paper vary between ⟦r =.556 and r =.886⟧. Therefore, CM Satisfaction and NLP Techniques are correlated positively and all the hypotheses tested are confirmed. It was concluded that there is a positive relationship between CM Satisfaction and NLP Techniques.

Project-Based Learning and Students’ Content Achievement: Second Baccalaureate Students as a Case Study

Abdessallam khamouja — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Students’ achievement refers to the extent to which learners have acquired their short or long-term educational goals. Good academic achievements give students the opportunity to enhance the necessary knowledge and practical skills they will need in their future schooling. This pushes teachers to rely on modern teaching methods in their teaching process, such as project-based learning, to make their students successful in their learning. Therefore, the researcher conducted a quasi-experimental research design to find out if there is any significant difference between the means of the experimental and control groups before and after the experiment at the second-year baccalaureate level. Forty students participated in the experiment. They were divided into the experiment and control groups. The experimental group was given a project to conduct, and the control group started studying Unit 4 of the Ticket 2 English Textbook. The findings indicate that there is a significant difference between the means of the experimental and control groups after the experiment. Consequently, it is suggested that teachers should adopt project-based learning in their teaching process to help students learn the subject content successfully.

Writing Development in the L2: A Look into Depth of Processing Using Verbal Protocols

Sergio Adrada-Rafael, Rose Meschi — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Depth of processing (DOP) refers to the way information is processed in the mind and how it affects recall. Studies have examined DOP in different areas of L2, such as reading, and more recently attention has been paid to learners’ writing, but it remains to be more thoroughly studied. Therefore, to better understand the role of DOP in the incorporation of corrective feedback on the writings of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) language learners, and to find out how DOP is related to changes in the learners’ final written product, the present study asked 30 intermediate EFL learners having Persian as their L1 to edit their writings based on the feedback they received, either thinking aloud or being silent. Findings suggested that learners processed lexical items at a deeper level than grammatical items. A significant difference was found when comparing the quality of the two writing versions. Thinking aloud did not impact learners’ performance when compared to the silent condition. These findings contribute to the strand of recent studies that have looked into the role of DOP in L2 writing and highlight how DOP contributes to L2 learners’ writing development.

Prioritizing Cross-cultural Competence in the 21st Century EFL Classroom: High School Teachers Perspectives and Pedagogical Practices

RACHID SLIOUAT, Ismail BENFILALI — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In today’s interconnected world, cross-cultural competence is a core skill for an individual to be able to navigate diverse cultural landscapes and effectively communicate and collaborate in cross-cultural situations. This study aims to gain insights from High School teachers of English on their perspectives and practices in developing cross-cultural competence among students. It also aims to understand how teachers perceive the importance of these skills, the extent to which they prioritize them in their teaching, and the challenges they face in fostering cross-cultural understanding. For doing this, a mixed methods approach was used to explore teachers’ perspectives, practices and challenges related to developing cross-cultural competence in their classrooms. The study examined 63 high school EFL teachers using a structured online survey with multiple-choice and open-ended questions as an instrument for data collection. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically; whereas the quantitative data were analyzed using the SPSS. Results show that participants view cross-cultural competence as relevant and important for students. The study also explored that understanding cultural differences and similarities is among the top skills teachers intend to develop through discussions and debates. The participants also declared that students’ level and insufficient resources and materials are the main challenges they face in integrating cross-cultural competence in their teaching. Most importantly, it was revealed that teachers are in desperate need of training and textbook updating. These findings provide policymakers with valuable insights to ensure the integration of cross-cultural competence in today’s EFL classes.

Subtitling the Sacred: Navigating Strategies and Challenges in Subtitling Religious Content

Safaa Al-Shlool — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Subtitling religious content, particularly sacred texts, presents complex challenges within audiovisual translation, requiring a careful balance between linguistic fidelity, cultural sensitivity, and technical constraints. This study explores the hurdles faced by subtitlers when working with religious material and examines the strategies they employ to navigate these challenges. A survey was conducted to gather insights into the nuanced practices of subtitlers across various audiovisual genres. The survey was distributed via professional networks on Facebook, targeting specialised groups with memberships ranging from 10,000 to over 100,000, and through direct outreach on LinkedIn. Despite efforts to encourage participation through anonymity, the response rate was limited, with only 28 subtitlers completing the survey. The findings reveal that subtitlers prioritise linguistic accuracy while employing strategies such as literal translation, compensation, transposition, and omission to handle the complexities of religious content. Participants identified challenges in preserving meaning and addressing culturally or theologically sensitive material. These challenges are classified into intrinsic factors, such as the theological and linguistic nuances of the source text, and external influences, including technical constraints, media platforms, media genre, censorship policies, audience perspectives, and subtitlers’ own perspectives. Moreover, the study highlights a significant gap in formal guidelines for subtitling religious content, leaving subtitlers to rely heavily on their professional judgement, expertise, and personal discretion. This research offers valuable insights that can inform the development of specialised training and standardised practices in this critical yet underexplored field of audiovisual translation.

Localizing Heritage Commission’s Website in Saudi Arabia (Arabic –English) Between Domestication and Foreignization

Atheer Almanjumi — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The current paper discusses the localization of the Heritage Commission's website in Saudi Arabia concerning Venuti's foreignization and domestication strategies. The study examines the translation strategies involved in localizing the Heritage Commission’s website in Saudi Arabia from Arabic to English. In addition, to investigate the most common strategy used in localizing the website. Therefore, the comparative qualitative and quantitative methods will analyze the data collected. Observations while studying indicate that the procedure for literal translation, transliteration, and descriptive equivalence is closely related to foreignization. It is noted that transposition, omission, addition and adaptation will be included in domesticating procedures. The study revealed that the website can be localized by domestication or foreignization depending upon the factors affecting the text, such as culture. Foreignization is the most frequently used method of localizing the Heritage Commission website in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Students’ Perceptions Towards the Effectiveness of Code-Switching in EFL Online Classes

Abeer Algethami — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly transformed the education field worldwide, shifting the teaching-learning process from traditional face-to-face classrooms to online learning environments. However, online learning often lacks essential elements that facilitate an effective teaching process, such as physical interactions, gestures, body language, and facial expressions. Consequently, teachers struggled to connect with students and subsequently adopted code-switching (CS) which involves alternating between students’ first language (L1) and the foreign language (FL) in English language classrooms. This study examines EFL students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of CS in online classes. A quantitative research approach was employed, and data were collected via a web-based questionnaire completed by 72 third-year students who had completed English language courses online. The findings indicate that most undergraduate students had positive perceptions of CS in online English classes. The study provides the reasons for employing CS and its role in enhancing the learning process in virtual classrooms. However, the study’s limitations highlight the need for further investigation in future research.

Challenges of Translating Metonymy in the Qur'ân with Reference to Some Selected Verses from the Cow and Women Chapters

Ramadan Elsayed — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study attempts to explore the challenges that translators of the Qur'ân may face when translating metonymy in the Qur'ân into English. The samples selected for analysis include the translation of 12 Qur'ânic verses from the Cow and Women Chapters from three Qur'ân translations: Hilâlî and Khân (1996), Ghâli (2003), and Abdel Haleem (2004). The study adopts a qualitative descriptive research methodology that depends on collecting qualitative data and analyzing them within the framework of pragmatics (Grice's Conversational Maxims), skopos theory, and Qur'ânic exegeses. The study findings show that translating metonymy in the Qur'ân is a problematic challenge requires a translator who is well-versed about both languages' peculiarities and culture particularities. Also, it is significant that reliable Qur'ân exegeses have to be consulted while translating metonymy in order to avoid mistranslations and inappropriate explanations. Furthermore, metonymy may be misunderstood due to the translator’s unawareness of its embedded meaning. The study concludes that intolerable mistakes may occur if the translator renders metonymy literally. So, the functional approach is preferable to be adopted in translating such structures. Moreover, metonymy may be used to talk about offensive and taboo issues in a refined and elevated style. Therefore, it is the role of the translator to transfer the implied meaning of metonymy using the same or the approximate refined style. Accordingly, the translator is, sometimes, forced to add explanations for the metonymy in footnotes, endnotes or a glossary when the metonymy is Qur'an-specific and has no equivalent in the TL.

Exploring Students’ Perceptions towards the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on their Reading Skills: The Case of S6 Students at the English Language Department

Abdessallam khamouja — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Reading is about the process of interpreting and understanding written language. It is a complex process that has attracted a lot of attention from educators, psychologists, and linguists for decades. It presents many difficulties and challenges that might be closely linked to the text or the reader. The rapid development in technology led to the appearance of artificial intelligence (AI), which played a significant role in improving and supporting university students’ reading skill. The main purpose of the current research is to explore participants’ perceptions toward using AI in the reading skill. A WhatsApp group consisting of S6 students studying English at the department of English studies in Ibn Tofail University participated in the study. They were given an online qualitative questionnaire to fill out. The findings denote that the participants have positive attitudes toward the AI because it helps them become more proficient readers who can access and understand texts that are getting harder to understand. This study suggests that teachers should integrate AI into their teaching process and encourage students to use it. It also proposes that the AI detector should be used to encourage students to read instead of cheating while conducting research.

Intra-Sentential Intricacies Pertaining to the AI- Recognition of Arabic Female Names Rendered into English

Fatima Elimam — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

AI-translation models unexpectedly fail in communicating messages in between natural languages, leading to errors that vary according to the degree and nature of relatedness between the Source and Target languages. By examining the lapses in the AI-translation of Arab female names into English, this paper red-flags error metrics in dealing with such Arabic texts. A reliable MT evaluation tool, compared to ‘BLEU and NIST measures’ according to Turian (2003), is the unigram-based F-measure, which uses a bitext grid to identify the texts’ similarities. Such evaluation mechanisms will evidently reflect the relegated TT quality resulted from the Source Text’s nature, a matter that necessitates AI-translation developers to parameterize their models in a way that handles such imminent inadequacies. This paper calls for novice ways to evaluate the AI translation systems in order to improve their efficacy on the one hand, and to abide by proper translation theories on the other.