Abdu Al-kadi

This preliminary cross-sectional study, focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI), aimed to assess the impact of ChatGPT on translation within an Arab context. It primarily explored the attitudes of a sample of translation teachers and students through semi-structured interviews and projective techniques. Data collection included gathering information about the advantages and challenges that ChatGPT, in comparison to Google Translate, had introduced to the field of translation and translation teaching. The results indicated that nearly all the participants were satisfied with ChatGPT. The results also revealed that most students preferred ChatGPT over Google Translate, while most teachers favored Google Translate. The study also found that the participants recognized both positive and negative aspects of using ChatGPT in translation. Findings also indicated that ChatGPT, as a recent AI-based translation-related technology, is more valuable for mechanical processes of writing and editing translated texts than for tasks requiring judgment, such as fine-tuning and double-checking. While it offers various advantages, AI also presents new challenges that educators and stakeholders need to address accordingly.

Dictionaries have become a ubiquitous tool in academia, extending beyond their common and essential purposes of checking spelling and meanings. This paper investigated the usage of dictionaries by 107 English learners in the Saudi context during their university studies, based on data collected from an opinion poll. Findings showed that learners use electronic and paper-based dictionaries for limited purposes. Besides surveying the dictionary type (online and paper-based), the study argues for a broader approach on their usage beyond checking spelling and meaning. The study considers dictionaries as valuable resources that facilitate second language learning by developing a multitude of skills, including spelling, vocabulary, grammatical usage, pronunciation, and semantic features of the target language (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, polysemy, and collocations). The study recommends that a dictionary should be used not just as a supplementary tool but as essential source for English language programmes, with dictionary-based tasks incorporated across the curriculum to promote sustainable language education.

This paper explored the load of literature courses in the teacher-training program at the collegiate level in Yemen. It dwells on teacher candidates' perceptions of the current status quo of literature teaching based on the learner-centered approach and humanistic curriculum. Data were elicited through an opinion poll from a sample of senior prospective teachers (n=112) who have undertaken courses in verse, fiction, and prose embedded in the program. Findings ensued from this analysis show that the participants had a wealth of difficulties that hamper achieving the objectives of embedding literature in the program, and most of such difficulties stem from teaching inadequacies in the given context. The study brings to the foreground some insightful ideas into curriculum reform. It generally informs the curriculum designers to readdress the existing program with an eye on the underestimated literature courses. It recommends that the overhaul of the existing syllabus should be fashioned to a new purpose, a new footing and a new perspective in line with the worldwide, extemporized changes in terms of curriculum development. A balanced approach to literature instruction to link the school curriculum with what is taught at the tertiary level would be a stepping-point to an improved literature teaching scenario.

This paper touches on the influx of technology in language learning and teaching with a focus on the post-method era. Scrutinizing this phenomenon within the framework of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) shows how technology has stimulated a transformation of language pedagogy from the traditional teacher-centered and text-bound classrooms to student-centered and interactive paradigms. While the former paradigm is based on methodology, the latter is guided by principled eclecticism in which teachers make use of a set of macro-strategies so as to make decisions while teaching, instead of reliance on methods that dictate ‘how to teach’. The teaching principles capitalize on teachers’ sensitivity to local contexts rather than general methods. Though CALL has been mooted as panacea for ELT flaws in the method and post-method eras, it is not a one-size-fits-all model. Due to changeable and diversified technological innovations, it is impractical to adopt an electronic device or...

Departing from Kumaravadivelu's (2006) post-method principles (PMPs), this study set out to explore the relationships between teachers' beliefs about PMPs and their teaching practices at the collegiate level in Yemen. Data were collected through a survey of perceptions of 57 university teachers during the academic year 2019-2020. Out of this initial sample, nine informants who claimed to be post-method teachers were singled out for classroom observations. Results show that the majority were less sanguine about the post-method practices, regardless of the magnitude of their teaching experiences. Besides questioning the existing practices, this paper brings to the fore some suggestions to liberate teachers from restrictions of conventional method-based teaching. Teachers are encouraged to shape and reshape their teaching relying on their own experiences to develop useful teaching ideas for their contexts. Instead of searching for a 'best' method to follow, they should find effective teaching strategies to enhance their teaching repertoire. Resumen Partiendo de los principios post-método (PMP) de Kumaravadivelu (2006), este estudio se propuso explorar las relaciones entre las creencias de los profesores sobre los PMP y sus prácticas docentes a nivel universitario en Yemen. Los datos fueron recolectados a través de una encuesta de percepciones de 57 docentes universitarios durante el año académico 2019-2020. De esta muestra inicial, nueve informantes que afirmaron ser maestros post-método fueron seleccionados para observaciones en el aula. Los resultados muestran que la mayoría se mostró menos optimista sobre las prácticas post-método, independientemente de sus experiencias docentes. Además de cuestionar las prácticas existentes, este trabajo trae a la luz algunas sugerencias para liberar a los profesores de las restricciones de la enseñanza basada en métodos convencionales. Se anima a los profesores a moldear y remodelar su enseñanza basándose en sus propias experiencias para desarrollar ideas útiles para la enseñanza en sus contextos. En lugar de buscar el "mejor" método a seguir, deberían encontrar estrategias de enseñanza eficaces para mejorar su repertorio de enseñanza.

This dissertation Intended to (a) elucidate, through a mixed-method research design, how the university EFL learners and teachers utilize available ICT tools/applications and (b) measure the impacts of this usage on the learners’ proficiency and academic achievements. Data were collected in three phases: surveys, tests and observations. The sample consisted of 428 senior students, 40 EFL teachers, and 10 head teachers, recruited from five public universities in Yemen. Of this initial cohort, 131 students were singled out for performance analysis. Again, within this subsample, 20 informants were kept under observation. Two types of data (quantitative and qualitative) were collected. The quantitative data were analyzed by applying appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics by using SPSS. Qualitative data were analyzed subjectively, establishing patterns and categories. Results indicated that most of the ICTs were used on an ad hoc basis. While there were no statistically significant impacts of using ICT on the learners’ performance, the respondents hold the view that such appliances offer some opportunities for engagement, interactivity and motivation to learn English formally and informally. The findings brought to the foreground some pedagogic and linguistic implications and useful points for further research.

In today’s modernized world, digital technology has taken the forefront in all aspects of society, including education. Students have access to numerous electronic devices, which has made online learning materials highly accessible. These technological impacts have blurred the distinction between formal and informal language learning methods. Informally learned English has lost proficiency when assessing student performance. Sizable research is necessary to study and understand the informal methods of language learning using technology.

Enhancements and Limitations to ICT-Based Informal Language Learning: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the implementation of technological opportunities within informal language teaching methods along with the drawbacks that limit its efficiency. While highlighting topics such as acculturation, student perception, and autonomous applications, this publication explores how learners perform ICT-based activities beyond the classroom and assesses the linguistic gains generated by informal ICT uses. This book is ideally designed for teachers, IT consultants, educational software developers, researchers, policymakers, and academic professionals seeking current research on technological techniques within second language learning and teaching.

The book First Exposure to a Second Language: Learners’ Initial Input Processing, published in 2014 by Cambridge University Press, is an edited volume, which is organized in six chapters of 224 pages. The chapters are preceded by a short introduction and followed by an epilogue. The publication is the product of joint efforts of 12 research scholars affiliated to universities in Canada, USA, France, and Korea. It gives a bird’s eye view of learners’ processing of input at the very early stages of exposure to foreign languages other than English: the Norwegian language in Chapter 1, Korean in Chapter 2, Polish in Chapter 3, German in Chapter 4, and Spanish/Romanian in the fifth chapter.

The publication is rather a collection of empirical studies that were, in part, an outcome of a colloquium at Georgetown University in 2009. It commences with an introduction in which the editors outline the theme and contents of the volume. They highlighted the difference between language input and language intake, giving reasons for selecting the topic of processing initial input of novice second language learners and defining input processing as “the mediating process of intake” (p. 1). When reading this book, it is important to keep in mind that much input that a learner is exposed to is not fully comprehended, and as a result may not affect the learner’s linguistic system.

Automated Translation, which developed over time from artificial intelligence, can help but not replace human translators because it does not use the cognitive processes as humans to translate texts.  While automated translation has taken its place, it is least appropriate for translating poetry, ads, idiomatic expressions and proverbs. In all cases, technology-based translation requires post-editing.