International Journal of Language and Literary Studies

Classroom Interaction: An Analysis of Teacher Talk in Moroccan EFL Classrooms.

Jaouad RIAD — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Classroom interaction has always been considered at the heart of the teaching-learning process since it allows students to deepen their comprehension of the course subject and improve their speaking skills. However, the previous studies denoted that teachers dominate when speaking in the classroom. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the nature of teacher talk along with the categories which are frequently used in the classroom based on the FLINT analysis system. The design of this research is descriptive qualitative. The sample of the study was 7 Moroccan secondary EFL teachers in Agadir. The data was gathered by naturalistic observation and recording. The data were processed using Moskowitz's (1971) Foreign Language Interaction (FLINT) system. The findings confirmed teachers’ use all of the categories of teacher talk as mentioned in FLINT. However, the most often utilized categories were found to be giving direction and lecturing. Moreover, the teachers primarily assumed the role of controllers in the classroom, frequently leading the flow of engagement. The findings have a number of implications for Moroccan EFL secondary classrooms.

Colonial/Orientalist Discourse in Western Campaign against Qatar 2022 World Cup

Mohammed Bennis, Lahoucine Aammari — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The image of Muslims in Western media has always been systematically tainted by virulent stereotypes, vituperating ideologies, and fallacious (mis)representations that manifestly echo how power relations regulate Western media's political agenda. Despite intermittent calls for inter-faith and civilization dialogue, orientalist and discursive practices about Muslims still persist which undeniably confirm that Eurocentrism is still haunting Western consciousness, exacerbating further the cultural and epistemological gap between East and West. The process of othering Muslims through Western media texts, narratives, and cartoons is blatant evidence of Western hegemony that seeks to freeze the Orient/Muslims in a permanent state of lethargy and disseminate Western assumed superiority. Western consciousness has been structured to internalize and normalize the superiority and the centeredness of the West, relegating at the same time the Orient to a peripheral position. In this context, the recent event of the FIFA World Cup 2022 held in Qatar is groundbreaking evidence of the continuity of Orientalism. Qatar, the Arab and Muslim nation, has been the target of a vitriolic Western campaign that churns out the same colonial stereotypes about the Orient, being represented as the land of desert corruption, ignorance and uncouthness, hence unfit for Western standards of democracy and human rights. It is, therefore, morally incumbent on the West only to hold such a prestigious event as the World Cup! It is the West’s duty to civilize the backward other! The echo of the infamous “mission civilisatrice” is still looming over! This paper seeks, therefore, through a postcolonial perspective, to expose, analyze, and debunk Western media discourse/campaign on Qatar World Cup by delving into selected samples of newspaper articles and cartoons.

Code mixing among Tunisian university students

Hassen Khammari — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The study sheds light on the phenomenon of code mixing among Tunisian university students and the factors motivating it. The study uses a qualitative descriptive approach by describing and analyzing the forms of code mixing used in everyday conversation. Muysken’s (2000) code mixing framework is used to classify and analyze the data.

The findings showed that code mixing reflects the Tunisians’ awareness of the bilingual and multicultural nature of society. Code mixing is also a way of gaining social prestige. Mixing codes among friends, in school, in everyday encounters, and even at home is also attributed to the speakers’ innate expectation to use more than one code to communicate and interact.

The Trauma Continuum: Narrating Deprivation, Dissent and Desecration in Elnathan John and Tricia Nwaubani’s Fiction

Opeyemi Ajibola — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Northern Nigeria has in contemporary time been renowned for dissent that manifests in civil unrest, violence and insurgency. Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday and Tricia Nwaubani’s Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree, are closely read, to underscore the texts’ recreation of northern Nigerian young adults’ experiences of trauma occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency. This is to foreground the writers’ insiders’ perspectives on the causes and consequences of dissent, with a view to underscoring the novels’ contribution to a nuanced understanding of dissent as a complex and multidimensional reality. Aligning with Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s certainty on the novel’s capacity to advocate for political change, and the estimation of trauma, especially within the postcolonial context as pluralistic, I read dissent, deprivation and desecration as normatively traumatogenic categories cum sites, thereby foregrounding the primacy of social contexts and historical processes in the complex interplay of place and power that undergird insurgency. The novels reveal that youths, who bear the brunt of insurgency-induced traumas the most, must arise and raise the cudgel against the inept leaders under whose watch insurgency and banditry have become the highest income-grossing enterprise, if the trauma continuum of deprivation, dissent and desecration will be terminated.

Extending 0-Search and 0-Merge Hypothesis to the Linearization of Syntactic Objects and its Biolinguistic Implication

Philip Jade Gazil, Rosemarie Bundukin — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

T0-Search and 0-Merge hypothesis proposed by Kato et al. (2016) and Fukui et al. (2017) attempts to reduce the operations outside the narrow syntax by further reducing Merge into a set of primitive operations. This is only possible if operations such as Agreement, Binding, Chain Formation, and Labeling are expressed as set-theoretic relations. With this premise, we argue that M₀S₀ hypothesis can be extended to the linearization of syntactic objects (SOs). In particular, we propose that (i) linear order of two SOs when expressed as a set-theoretic relation, {{?}, {?, ?}}, can be captured by M₀S₀, (ii) Minimality condition on M₀S₀(WS) and Structural Prominence can stand in place of Asymmetric C-command Condition adopted by Kayne’s (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom, (iii) M₀S₀only linearizes SOs inside a Current in line with the Multiple Spell-Out model of Uriagereka (2001, 2012), and (iv) this extension of the M₀S₀(WS) hypothesis to include linearization has an implication on Chomsky’s theory of evolution of language i.e., linear order may have been a result of exaptation of Internal Merge to another domain—speech.

Using CBI in ESP: The role of explicit instruction

Anastasia Shirav — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The current paper investigated the results of year-long teaching of a journalistic genre implicitly using a CBI-based syllabus. The participants were 20 Japanese learners of English at a vocational college in Japan. The feature articles written by the students at the end of the school year were compared to those provided as high-quality examples. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The two corpora were compared regarding genre-specific moves and lexical bundles used. The results indicated that the lack of explicit ESP-related instruction led to the inability of the participants to produce a feature article. They also supported a cognitive apprenticeship approach to raise learners’ awareness of the learning process. In addition, the results suggested that using CBI in ESP can be beneficial when integrated with ESP-specific methods.

The Language Barrier: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Assistant Language Teachers in Japan: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

Imee Lou Aswe, Luningning De Castro, Ronnie G. Cainglet — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe and interpret the lived experiences of Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Japan as they faced some challenges with language barriers. There is still a gap that needs to be addressed because little did these foreign English teachers know that teaching English in a non-native English-speaking country like Japan comes with a lot of challenges especially with the language barrier. The theories that guided this study were Krashen’s (1981) Monolingual Approach and Bandura’s (1997) Social Cognitive Theory. The central questions of this study were intended to determine the lived experiences of ALTs with language barrier and how the ALTs ascribed to their experiences. Purposive sampling was used in which nine (9) participants consented to be a part of this study. Six (6) out of nine (9) participants were from Kyoto City, while the remaining three (3) were from Hamamatsu City. The study used in-depth interviews, which was cross-examined through behavioral observations from recorded videos and poetic transcriptions. The findings indicated that ALTs experienced language barriers when communicating with students and Japanese co-teachers, lesson planning, and lack of professional development and training.

The Interpretation of Euphemism in the Holy Quran

Rahaf Al-Ahmad, Adel Awadh Alharthi — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The translation/interpretation of sacred texts is a thorny issue in translation studies as this type of translation involves dealing with words that represent real beliefs whose conveyance should be done accurately and adequately. The interpretation of the Holy Quran, which is the literal word of Allah, is no exception. This paper discusses the problematic issues and challenges in translating/interpreting sacred euphemistic expressions in the Holy Quran. It examines and analyzes these problems in terms of accuracy and quality. The data selected for this study comes from two different interpretations of two suras: Al-Nisa and Al-A'raf by Mustafa Khattab and Muhammad Mahmud Ghali. The taxonomy of translation techniques proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) is used as a theoretical framework in the current study. The study revealed that there were some interventional strategies used by the translators to transfer Quranic euphemistic expressions into English. These strategies include literal translation, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation. It is also found that literal translation was the most used technique, followed by modulation and equivalence. In some cases, literal translation of Euphemism in some Quranic verses didn't work because the intended meaning couldn't be achieved in the TL. The study contributes to our understanding of the problems posed by euphemistic expressions in religious texts and the possible strategies that can be adopted to solve these problems.

Keywords: adequacy, euphemism, Holy Quran, translatability, Vinay and Darbelnet.

Sources of Lexical Cross-linguistic Influence in English L3 Production

Bader Aghoulid, Naima Trimasse — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates lexical errors in English production by third-year university students, exploring their types, frequencies, and sources of Cross-Linguistic Influence (CLI). Content Analysis was utilized to systematically evaluate written and spoken English samples, facilitating the identification and categorization of lexical errors. James' Taxonomy (1998) was employed as the framework to classify errors into formal and semantic types, enabling a nuanced comprehension of error patterns. Employing Content Analysis and James' Taxonomy (1998), prevalent errors including overinclusion, omission, and calque were identified in both written and spoken forms. The impact of CLI was traced to the students' native languages, Moroccan Arabic/Amazigh L1 and French/Standard Arabic L2. Results illustrated that a substantial proportion of errors classified under the distortion category (overinclusion, omission, misselection) and one within the misformation category (calque) originated from L1 Moroccan Arabic/Amazigh, while overinclusion, misselection, and lexical borrowing errors were attributable to L2 French. The study encountered challenges arising from intertwined language sources and structural similarities between English and French. These results have interesting implications for English vocabulary learning and teaching in Morocco.

A systematic review of EFL research on the impact of reading comprehension on students’ vocabulary retention, and the relation between reading and vocabulary size

Kholoud Binhomran, Sultan Altalhab — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper is a systematic review of studies conducted in the past two decades that addressed the effect of EFL reading comprehension on vocabulary retention, and the relation between reading and vocabulary size. Twenty-seven studies linking reading comprehension to a positive impact on EFL students’ retention and vocabulary size were identified for inclusion. The analysis confirmed four major relationships: (1) learning vocabulary by reading supported participants’ comprehension in almost all cases; (2) reading before engaging in vocabulary tasks supported participants’ word retention in almost all cases; (3) repetition is crucial for enhancing new vocabulary recall, but the vocabulary should be introduced contextually; (4) there is limited evidence that EFL learners should cover 98% of the text to understand the vocabulary. However, some studies showed that reaching the lexical threshold required for reading is not necessary if the learner has covered enough frequent suffixes of word families to provide them with a basic coverage of the text.

Investigating EFL Saudi University Students' Reading and Online Habits and Interests

Mohammad khreisat — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the English reading habits and online activities of Saudi English language university students, the types of reading they undertake and potential reasons for their lack of reading. A questionnaire was used to collect data for this study as the primary tool for quantitative research. To evaluate the impact of the Saudi College of Arts and Science at Tabarjal, Jouf University on Saudi EFL university students, a self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to an online sample of 158 Saudi EFL university students. In free time, students read textbooks and online articles most often. In addition, students reported spending more than six hours online using social media apps. This study recommends to provide more reading resources at the institution to promote reading among students.

The Effect of Exposure Density on EFL Learners' Fluency in Saudi Arabia

Intisar Zakariya Ahmed Ibrahim — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Internet proliferation, information technology, and globalization as well as the importance of English as a global language cannot be overstated. It is widely recognized that Saudi university students, learning English as a foreign language, encounter numerous learning challenges stemming from various factors. This paper delves into the critical issue of English language exposure and postulates that inadequate exposure to English is a central contributor to students' learning difficulties. To investigate this, a questionnaire was administered to a cohort of 50 students, comprising both male and female participants enrolled in the Department of English and Translation at the University of Qassim. The findings from the survey revealed that, on average, the students reported moderate exposure to the English language. Additionally, the data indicated a noteworthy disparity, with male students exhibiting greater exposure to English compared to their female counterparts. These results serve as a preliminary exploration of the issue of English language exposure among Saudi university students. They underscore the need for further in-depth research in this area to comprehensively understand the dynamics of language exposure and its impact on the learning experiences of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. This concludes by suggesting the imperative for future research endeavours and outlining initial recommendations for augmenting language exposure among EFL learners. These recommendations aim to inform pedagogical practices and strategies that can enhance English language learning in the context of Saudi Arabian universities.

An Insight into Distance Language Teaching/Learning from Secondary School Teachers’ and Learners’ Perspectives during and post COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

Dania Alshamrani, Yasser Alsuhaibani — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of the study is to discuss the situation of implementing distance education from the perspective of secondary school English language teachers and learners in Saudi Arabia. The shift to distance education was determined on the 9^th March and started on 15^th March, 2020 respectively. The study has implemented a mixed-methods approach using two instruments; semi-instructed interviews and questionnaires; 1149 students and 398 teachers from both genders responded to the questionnaires, 3 teachers and 4 learners participated in the interviews. Results showed an overall acceptance for distance English language teaching and learning. The findings also revealed the main challenges for different aspects. From the management aspects, the findings confirmed an increase in teachers’ workload and learners’ assignments in distance learning that negatively affects the learning process. Turning to the educational issues, results indicated concerns about assessment accuracy and learner participation in distance learning. This study has found that technical issues generally play a vital role in missing classes and losing concentration.

The Effects of Extracurricular Activities on Developing Students’ Life Skills

Ousama Saki , Hanane Darhour — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study explores the views of teachers and students regarding the effect of extracurricular activities on the development of life skills for Moroccan high school students. To achieve this objective, the study uses a convergent parallel mixed-methods design and adopts UNICEF’s Life Skills and Citizenship Education Conceptual and Programmatic Framework (2017). The study collected quantitative data from 257 public high school students and 68 public high school teachers through anonymous surveys. Qualitative data were collected from 47 students and 16 teachers through focus groups. Quantitative data were analysed statistically using SPSS Version 20, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. The overall results reveal that extracurricular activities promote life skills almost moderately, though it is often unintentional. The study concludes with some recommendations for education stakeholders on how to use extracurriculars to promote life skills for Moroccan high school students.

Dialect Diversity in Modern English Literature: A Study of "Shuggie Bain" and "There There"

Mohammad Abdulhadi O Althobaiti — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This research explores dialect diversity in contemporary English literature through a comparative analysis of two seminal works, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart and There There by Tommy Orange. The purpose of this study is to unravel the nuanced ways in which authors employ dialects to convey unique cultural and socio-economic contexts, contributing to the broader discourse on linguistic diversity in literature. Using a qualitative research approach, the researcher closely examines the stylistic choices made by the authors, mapping out the dialectical variations present in the narratives and their significance. Through a detailed linguistic analysis, recurring patterns and variations in both novels are identified, shedding light on the role of dialect in character development, setting, and narrative voice. The findings reveal that dialect diversity serves as a powerful tool in characterizing the struggles, identities, and histories of multifarious communities. Additionally, it highlights how these authors challenge conventional literary norms, enriching the reader's experience with authentic voices and perspectives. This study underscores the pivotal role of dialect diversity in contemporary English literature, emphasizing its potential to bridge gaps and foster empathy among readers while amplifying underrepresented voices in the literary canon.

Staging the Iberian Moor in Thomas Colley Grattan’s Ben Nazir, The Saracen (1827)

Zakariae El idrissi — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Going beyond Edward Said's discursive coherence and internal consistency, this paper analyses Thomas Colley's Ben Nazir, The Saracen (1827) to illustrate the internal inconsistency, discursive incoherence, plurality, and complexity of Moorish-themed Orientalism. Unlike Edward Said's logic of monolithism and his notion of exteriority that he detailed mainly in his Orientalism, some critics, such as Lisa Lowe, Dennis Porter, Sara Mills, Peter Hulme, and Ali Behdad, to name but a few prominent critics, focus on the subtext, the hidden, and the non-said in order to transcend western hegemony, textual centrality, and fixed representation and stress the asymmetrical subversive practices that uncover discursive heterogeneities, contradictions, and slippages of authorial control. So, by exploring and adding to their productions, my reading of Ben Nazir would reveal how the representation of the Spanish Moor may be turned from a site of productive power into a site of subversive knowledge and how discursive statements may be fractured by their own gaps, silences, and incongruities. In my analysis, I argue that Colley's intention to discursively denigrate the Moor while ennobling the Christian is subversively thwarted by aesthetic demands, considerably disturbed by counter-ideologies and histories, and persistently challenged by dramatic dialogism.

Antisocial Behaviors as Indicators of Latent School Dysfunction in Urban Morocco: a Phenomenology Study

Aziz Ouladhadda, Adil Azhar — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This present research delves into the subjective experiences of EFL high school teachers in Morocco, elucidating their daily encounters with disruptive and anti-social behaviors and the coping mechanisms they employ. Conducted within the theoretical framework of structural functionalism, the study aims at measuring the extent to which schools as socialization institutions serve their designated social roles. A phenomenological methodology is employed, allowing five high school teachers to freely share and reflect on their lived experiences with regard to the topic under investigation. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data, which offered ample freedom for informants to voice their perceptions, feelings, sufferings, and to suggest practical solutions. From the testimonies of participants, three primary themes emerged. First, the Moroccan school is now embarking on undeclared roles pertaining to security and social order rather than to education. Second, the immense suffering experienced by teachers has a substantial negative impact on their professional performances, which, in turn, affects students’ academic achievements. Third, informants recognize disruptive behavior as a symptom of school dysfunction, and attribute it to teacher disempowerment, ineffective school legislations, the absence of a collaborative environment, the local authorities, the media and the family.

Social Fragmentation in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Head’s Maru: A Comparative Study

Godwin Yao Gaaku, Selina Ewoenam Ahorsu — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This qualitative research sought to do a comparative analysis of social fragmentation in Things Fall Apart and Maru. Textual analysis was employed to analyse, interpret and evaluate the two novels in the light of postcolonial criticism, focusing on otherness. The researchers engaged the texts in multiple readings to gain a descriptive understanding of them and take descriptive notes at every stage of reading. Excerpts were purposefully sampled from the novels and analysed thematically. The study revealed that in pre-colonial Africa, social fragmentation resulted from classism, patriarchy and bad tradition; hence, the society operates in a binary relationship. In colonial Africa, social fragmentation resulted from religion and racism. However, post-colonial Africa experienced the deepest form of social fragmentation; spiced by tribalism and other pre-colonial factors. The study concluded that both novels confirm the concept of ‘otherness’. So, future research can focus on emotional and structural fragmentations.

Language Shift or Maintenance? An Intergenerational Study of the Tibetan Community in Saudi Arabia

Sumaiyah Turkistani, Mohammad Almoaily — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The present study provides the first-ever report on the language shift from Tibetan to Arabic among descendants of Tibetan families who migrated from the Tibet region to Saudi Arabia around 70 years ago. The aim of this study was to determine whether three age groups had adopted different practices in terms of maintaining Tibetan or shifting to Hijazi Arabic. To this end, 96 male and female members of the Tibetan community responded to a questionnaire in which they were asked about their code choice in different domains (home, neighbourhood, friends and relatives, expressing emotion, and performing religious rituals). The data revealed significant intergenerational differences between members of the community in terms of the extent of the shift to Arabic, with Tibetan rarely used by younger members and older members making only slightly more use of it. The difference between the three age groups was significant, at a p-value of .001.

Technology and Human Agency in Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron and Player Piano

Erfan Zarei , Mahdi Safari Monfared — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The present study aims to explore the intricate relationship between technology and ideology in the formation of social structures. It highlights the increasing dependence on super-advanced technology and touches upon the potential dangers associated with its manipulative use. Furthermore, this study examines the dehumanizing effects of technology highlighting how it can serve as a tool for not only imposing ideology but also eroding a character's agency. Drawing on Slavoj Zizek's theories regarding technology and agency, the profound impact of technology and ideology on human agency is addressed. To illustrate the effects of technology on society and government control, Kurt Vonnegut's short story, "Harrison Bergeron," and the novel Player Piano are analyzed. In Vonnegut's dystopian stories, the government uses technological devices to enforce ideology and manipulate characters even leading to job unemployment. Ultimately, the article achieves its three-fold objectives by examining how ideological subjects regard their unfreedom as freedom, examining the dehumanizing effects of technology as a means of ideological enforcement, and analyzing the erosion of agency of ideological subjects in a technologically advanced society governed by an oppressive regime such as the one in Harrison Bergeron and the elites in Player Piano.

Heidegger, Death and 'Originary-Ethics'

Omar Hansali — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Outside the claim that Antigone’s blood relationship is a primal incentive towards her transgressive act, Heidegger’s readings of Antigone couch an overarching insight, which dovetails with the terrible (deinon) in Introduction to Metaphysics. For Heidegger, the deinon as the ‘terrible’ reconciles the historical role of Antigone with the utmost of risk of death. Antigone is able to preserve the essence of dik? through death’s radical negativity. In a remarkable passage, Heidegger says that the deinon is ‘the terrible in the sense of the overwhelming sway’. Instead of claiming that the deinon is transgression or kinship, and thereby reduce the terrible to an objective experience. I argue that the deinon resides precisely in the relationship between death and dik?. Death’s insurmountable risk is what preserves the deinon between fittingness and unfittingness; between homeliness and unhomeliness. I concur that this confrontation can only occur if Antigone’s impulse is neither her brother nor the gods. Both of these affirmations attenuate the risk of dik? since their essence reifies the inarticulate character of Antigone’s impulse. Antigone’s impulse carries that which cannot be named, or more acutely, that which elopes articulation. Antigone’s act is a consequence of a ‘risk’ that keeps itself more risky, more transgressive, and more terrible. As we ponder Heidegger’s understanding of death, it becomes clear that the ‘more terrible and distant’ is the limit beyond all limits. Death fulfills Antigone’s heroic venture in that her act is a concretion of the inarticulate nature of the deinon. The aim of this essay is to ascertain that neither familiar kinship nor transgression cohere with Heidegger’s claim on Antigone’s individual act. It suggests that dik? is the non-metaphysical risk that allows Antigone to envisage death’s radical negativity as the utmost limit that cannot be extinguished. The conclusion of this study ascertains that death’s radical negativity allows Antigone to perceive the finitude of her historical role as a citizen without naming her individual impulse, chiefly because she realizes that transgression is not a final resolve.

E-readiness of Engineering students in Morocco: students at Mohammadia school of engineers- Rabat as a case study.

Hicham Kasmi, Khadija Anasse — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In a fast-changing world, technology is invading every sector of life. Technology has implications in literally every domain: economy, governance, communication…etc. Education, as well, can benefit from the various advantages of ICT and online education. However, the latter is a unique form of education that requires human, pedagogical and infrastructural preparations. Scholars confirm that students must be e-ready in order to benefit from online education. e-readiness implies having pre-requisite skills and competencies of online education. This study sheds light on the e-readiness of students at Mohammedia school of engineers in Rabat following the framework of Hung et al (2010). It investigates the preparedness of students for online education by analyzing their’ attitudes, learning style, technical skills and motivation. This is a quantitative study that collects data with a questionnaire from 114 students. The result reveals that students at Mohammedia schools of engineers have a moderate level of e-readiness.

MBTI Analysis of Technical Translators in Kazakhstan: Personality Insights

Tatyana Em, Anna Kalizhanova, Danil E. Markus — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study introduces a novel approach for training technical translators and interpreters in Kazakhstan using international best practices. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), widely used globally but barely known in Kazakhstan, assesses individuals' decision-making, perception, and interaction styles relevant for translators. Twelve technical translators and five specialists were surveyed. Semi-structured interviews, code extraction, and descriptive analysis examined participants' personality profiles. Results indicated translators with intuitive-logical personalities (NT) outperformed sensory-logical ones (ST), although the latter succeeded given multimodal materials and professional networks. Communicating with coworkers proved challenging for NT and NF types; the former needs skill development and the latter career support. Effective technical translation and interpretation without technical knowledge requires strong communication, proximity to facilities, intuitive-logical reasoning, and experience.

"How great a good was Luria's having lived": Promoting the Moor of Sicily in Robert Brwoning's Luria (1846)

Zakariae El idrissi — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In an attempt to find a possible alternative to imperial orientalism, this essay brings to the forefront Robert Browning's Luria: A Tragedy (1846) as a case study exemplifying irregularity, volatility, and discontinuity in Western discursivity. Drawing upon critics such as Dennis Porter, Kathryn Tidreck, John Mackenzie, Robert Irwin, and Ali Behdad, who take history, context, the author's experience, and socio-cultural particularities as factors defining the heterogeneity of orientalism, I argue that Luria sharply deviates from hegemonic orientalism in a way that perfectly fits with Browning's mysticism and disengagement from politics. Away from stereotypical dogmatism, the play promotes its Moor on stage both militarily and morally and employs diverse strategies to delegitimize racial antagonism and refute clichéd statements about the Moor.