International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation
The International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (ISSN: 2617-0299) is a double-blind peer-reviewed, monthly, open-access journal published by Al-Kindi Center for Research and Development. It publishes high-quality articles across the breadth of linguistics, literature and translation research. With its uniquely broad coverage, all articles are free to access across the globe, allowing authors to share their research and maximise its impact. The journal is led by expert international editorial board members who take an objective approach to peer review, ensuring each research paper is reviewed and evaluated on its own scholarly merits and research integrity. Publishing your work in the International Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Translation means you will receive prompt and reliable publishing and a global platform for your research to reach its full potential. The journal is published in both online and print versions.
Al-Kindi Center for Research and Development
Creative Catalyst or Cognitive Crutch? Moroccan EFL University Students’ Perceptions of AI in Guided Reading
This paper explores the perceptions of Moroccan EFL university students regarding the adoption of AI as a cognitive partner in guided reading classes. The researcher examines whether AI tools, particularly ChatGPT, enhance or erode student’s divergent thinking skills. A qualitative methodology was employed, using semi-structured interviews, to gather in-depth insights of 60 Moroccan EFL university students who have attended guided reading classes at the Faculty of Languages, Lettres and Art in Kenitra, Morocco. Following the survey, the researcher invited voluntary students for further exploration. 08 volunteers took part in a focus group interview to discuss their perceptions and perspectives in detail. The findings of the study indicate that students' perceptions regarding AI tools were favourable in terms of Creativity and Idea Generation, and Cognitive Support and Metacognition. However, some challenges are unavoidable when employing these tools, resulting from factors like Cultural and Literary Interpretation, and Ethical Awareness and Trust. In sum, this study contributes to the growing discourse on AI in EFL higher education by highlighting how AI can function as a cognitive partner in guided reading when its use is pedagogically guided, culturally sensitive, and critically framed.
Artificial Intelligence; Guided Reading; Literary Analysis; Divergent Thinking; EFL Learners; Student Perceptions
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Connected and Free Exceptive Constructions in Najdi Arabic
In the syntactic literature, two types of exceptive constructions have been identified, namely connected exceptives (CEs) and free exceptives (FEs). While the exceptive phrase appears adjacent to its associate in CEs, it appears non-adjacent in FEs. Within the Arabic context, two competing lines of analysis have been proposed. The first treats the exceptive marker as a coordinating conjunction, conjoining two DPs in CEs and two CPs in FEs. The second, by contrast, analyzes the exceptive marker as a functional head projecting either an exceptive phrase (ExP) or a subtractive exceptive phrase (S-ExP), which may adjoin to the main clause or the associate DP either as an adjunct or as an apposition. The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of the two exceptive types in Najdi Arabic (NA). Following the first line of analysis, I argue that the exceptive marker ʔillaa ‘except’ in NA functions as a coordinating conjunction that conjoins two XPs. Specifically, in NA CEs it conjoins two DPs within a mono-clausal structure, while in NA FEs it conjoins two CPs within a bi-clausal structure. In the latter, the exception XP moves to the left periphery of the exceptive clause before the TP-ellipsis applies. Multiple strands of evidence, such as multiple exceptions and speaker-oriented adverbs, support this analysis, which considers the exceptive phrase as a phrase in CEs but as a clause in FEs. It is hoped that the analysis advanced here contributes to the ongoing discussion on the syntax of exceptive constructions.
Exceptive constructions, connected exceptive, free exceptive, Najdi Arabic, syntax
Copyright (c) 2026 Bader Alharbi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Plasticity of Discourse: A Critical Multimodal Analysis of Language and Gender in Barbie
Greta Gerwig's 2023 film Barbie provides a dynamic and culturally resonant framework for examining the interplay between language, gender ideology, and popular media. This study conducts a critical multimodal discourse analysis of the film’s linguistic and semiotic strategies, focusing on how dialogue, visual composition, and musical elements collectively construct and deconstruct normative gender scripts. By analyzing key sequences—including the utopian discourse of Barbieland, Gloria’s metacritical monologue on feminine contradictions, and the Kens’ parodic performance of patriarchy—this paper argues that Barbie functions as a form of public metalinguistics. It not only reflects but actively engages audiences in critiquing the ways language shape’s identity, authority, and social possibility. The film navigates the tensions between neoliberal co-optation and feminist critique, ultimately proposing that discursive awareness can serve as a catalyst for reimagining entrenched gender norms. This research contributes to the fields of cinematic linguistics and feminist media studies by illustrating how mainstream film can foster critical language awareness and public discourse on gender performativity.
Critical discourse analysis, multimodal analysis, gender performativity, feminist film studies, popular culture, sociolinguistics
Exploration of Colloquialization and Cyber-localization in Streaming Media Subtitle Translation
With the rise of global streaming platforms represented by Netflix, Disney+, and iQIYI, the practical environment and reception ecology of audiovisual translation (AVT) have undergone a fundamental transformation. Distinct from the “hallowed” and “elitist” orientation of traditional film and television translation, subtitle translation on streaming platforms exhibits a prominent new trend toward “colloquialization” and “cyber-localization”. This paper aims to systematically explore the underlying drivers, specific manifestations, theoretical challenges, and practical reflections triggered by this trend. The paper first analyzes how the immediacy, interactivity, and “circle-based” (interest-group) characteristics of streaming platforms reshape translation contexts and audience expectations. Subsequently, through a comparative analysis of subtitle versions for several streaming series (such as The Queen’s Gambit and Everything Everywhere All at Once) against traditional translation versions, it elaborates on the translation strategies of “colloquialization” (e.g. life-like dialogues, creative use of modal particles, and splitting of long sentences) and “cyber-localization” (e.g. internet slang, adaptation of meme culture, and interactivity presets for danmaku) across lexical, syntactic, pragmatic, and cultural dimensions. The study finds that this trend is a product of the synergy between media convergence, technological empowerment, and youth subculture. Although it significantly enhances the immediacy, intimacy, and communicative power of the translated text, it also harbors risks such as over-domestication, obsolescence traps (temporality pitfalls), and cultural discounts. The paper concludes that streaming subtitle translation is evolving from an “invisible” interlingual conversion toward a “visible” form of cultural adaptation and community co-construction. This research offers important insights for deepening translation ethics, quality assessment, and talent cultivation in the digital era.
Audiovisual Translation; Streaming Platforms; Subtitle Translation; Colloquialization; Cyber-localization
GenAI Disclosure in University EFL Writing: A Policy Discourse Analysis (2023–2025)
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has entered the tertiary writing ecology with unprecedented speed, fundamentally challenging long-standing assumptions about academic integrity, authorship, and the legitimacy of writing assistance. This study investigates how universities construct “acceptable use” of GenAI within policy discourse, with a specific focus on disclosure—what students are required to declare, when disclosure is triggered, and how it is proceduralized. Employing a qualitative Policy Discourse Analysis (PDA) framework, the research examines a cross-national corpus of official, university wide instruments published or updated between 2023 and December 2025. The corpus includes academic integrity frameworks, assessment regulations, and institutional GenAI guidance from six research intensive institutions: King Abdulaziz University, King Saud University, and Qassim University (Saudi Arabia), alongside the University of Toronto (Canada), and the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney (Australia). Findings indicate a significant divergence in institutionalization. International cases increasingly adopt structured “lane based” or “level based” frameworks that routinize disclosure as a metacognitive practice linked to assessment design, whereas Saudi institutions exhibit a rapid, tech forward adoption discourse aligned with Vision 2030 but a more variable picture of proceduralized disclosure at the university wide level, with some cases characterized by documented policy silence. The analysis foregrounds procedural justice risks for multilingual writers in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts, who face a “surveillance tax” due to systemic biases in automated detection tools. The study argues that disclosure functions as a vital visibility technology that renders AI mediated assistance legible, reduces reliance on forensic suspicion, and enhances fairness for language diverse writers, and it concludes with actionable recommendations for standardizing disclosure triggers and role descriptions to support valid assessment in the GenAI era.
GenAI; academic integrity; disclosure; assessment integrity; policy discourse analysis; EFL academic writing
A Critique of the English Translation of the Saudi Novel Mawt Ṣaghīr (A Small Death): A Case Study of Internal Paratexts Using Berman’s Model
This study presents a critique of the translation of a Saudi novel, taking Mawt Ṣaghīr (A Small Death) by Mohammed Hasan Alwan as a case study. It selects internal paratexts from the novel as a sample for application, offering a critical analysis of their translation according to Berman’s model of translation criticism. The study aims to highlight what Berman calls “deforming tendencies” in translation. The study is divided into an introduction, two main sections, and a conclusion. The introduction outlines the topic, objectives, and significance. The first section is theoretical: it clarifies the term “internal paratexts,” discusses the concept of translation criticism and its relationship to literary criticism, and explains Berman’s approach to translation criticism through the negative model he proposed. The second section is devoted to the application of the model, where the study operationalizes this model on the selected sample by identifying the deforming tendencies it contains. It examining how their occurrence affects the translation’s success and quality. The study concludes with several findings, most importantly that deforming tendencies dominate the sample at a rate of 85%, while good translation constitutes only (15%). This result calls for improving the translation of internal paratexts in Mawt Ṣaghīr. The findings also confirm that Berman’s model is suitable for critiquing literary translation, despite noting some shortcomings, such as repetition.
translation criticism, internal paratexts, Berman’s model, translation of a Saudi novel, Mawt Ṣaghīr (A Small Death), Mohammed Hasan Alwan
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Anger as Psychological Identity in John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger
This play by John Osborne, Look Back in Anger, was published in 1955. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1956 and was a landmark in the New Drama movement in British theatre. It focuses on Jimmy Porter, whose burning anger symbolizes the problems confronting the disenchanted lower classes of Britain in the 1950s to 1970s. As a result, Jimmy's anger at social injustices and his use of aggressive language make the play one of the greatest works of mid-20th-century literature. This article argues that feelings of anger are not just an emotional state, but can become a significant part of Jimmy's psychological makeup, stemming from intense frustration with his working-class roots and the conflict between his intellectual ambitions and the upper-class values he encounters. It explores how feeling angry alters Jimmy's self-image, influences his marriage and friendships, and portrays an identity shaped by anger. Research highlights how anger reflects inner conflicts, insecurities, and unmet needs; it also explains how individuals construct meaning in an alienated, hypocritical society, and ultimately how anger can be relevant for asserting existential identities in the modern era.
British theatre -John Osborne -Post British society -Angry Young Men -Jimmy Porter -Anger- Psychological Identity
The Emergence of a Low Back Vowel in Qassimi Arabic
This study investigates the phonemic vowel system of Qassimi Arabic (QA), a sub-variety of Najdi Arabic spoken in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. Previous descriptions of Najdi Arabic typically assume a vowel inventory of three short and five long vowels and treat certain vowel qualities—most notably the low back vowel [ɑ]—as contextually conditioned allophones rather than independent phonemes. These accounts are largely based on impressionistic description and have not been systematically evaluated for QA. Drawing on 157 elicited tokens produced by three native QA speakers, this study combines phonological diagnostics with acoustic measurements of vowel formants and duration, following established approaches to vowel analysis. The results support a vowel inventory of four short vowels (i, a, ɑ, u) and five long vowels (iː, eː, aː, uː, oː). Crucially, converging phonological and phonetic evidence shows that the low back vowel /ɑ/ functions as a phoneme distinct from /a/ in QA, challenging earlier analyses that treat [ɑ] as a conditioned allophone. Acoustic results further show that the low back vowel /ɑ/ is consistently separated from /a/ in the vowel space, supporting its phonemic status. More generally, short vowels occupy a relatively compact and partially overlapping vowel space, whereas long vowels exhibit clearer spectral separation and significantly longer duration. Together, these findings demonstrate that the vowel system of Qassimi Arabic cannot be fully captured by phonemic inventories proposed for Najdi Arabic as a whole . More broadly, the study underscores the importance of variety-specific, instrumentally grounded analysis in Arabic dialectology and contributes to ongoing discussions of phonemic contrast, allophony, and vowel system variation in Arabic.
Qassimi Arabic, Najdi Arabic, vowel system, phonemic contrast, acoustic analysis.
Copyright (c) 2025 Abdulmajeed Alrashed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copilot’s English Translation of Contrastive Emphatic Negation in Arabic Discourse: An Analytical Study
This study explores how AI, vis Microsoft Copilot (MC) translates Arabic contrastive emphatic negation (CEN) expressions, types of translation errors and translation strategies used. Analysis of a sample of 436 Arabic CEN expressions using a variety of negative particles showed that MC gave 65% correct translations of CEN expressions in the sample. MC gave more correct translations of expressions with a single negative particle than correlative conjunctions as لا ... ولا neither … nor, when the structure has a transparent rather than an underlying meaning, when negation is literal, and structurally simple (الكبير مش الصغير the big stand, not the small one; الكيف وليس الكم quality, not quantity; عاجلا غير آجل sooner not later). On the contrary, MC made semantic and syntactic errors as failure to understand and convey the meaning of idiomatic expressions and equivalent set idioms/phrases, difficulty with polysemous words, rendering faulty lexical choices, faulty structure and faulty wording, faulty choice of negative particles, faulty use of articles, and equivalents with faulty part of speech and derivatives. MC failed when the negation is idiomatic, culturally loaded, polysemous, or pragmatically marked. Nevertheless, CEN expressions were easier for MC to translate than zero-expressions, Gaza-Israel war terminology, Arabic grammatical terms used metaphorically, expressions of impossibility, Arabic folk medical terms with om and abu, Arabic abu-brand names using different prompts, and metonymic abu and umm animal and plant names. As in prior studies by the author, MC tended to translate word for word, rather than giving the fixed English equivalent or an accurate semantic equivalent (Finally, not lastly for أخيرا وليس آخرا rather than last but not least; دون كلل أو ملل without fatigue or boredom instead of tirelessly. Faulty translations demonstrated that MC’s weaknesses are concentrated in expressions that require recognition of multiword expressions with and idiomatic or metaphorical meaning, accurate particle selection, lexical choice, pragmatic interpretation, cultural competence and semantic inference. The study recommends that translators and students should not take MC translations for granted but should verify and post-edit its output.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Copilot, Arabic-English translation, word-for-word translation, contrastive emphatic negation, Arabic negations particles, Arabic negation devices, Arabic correlative conjunctions, idiomatic expressions, polysemous words.
Arabic as a Carrier of Civilization: Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Dimensions
Nobody denies the fact that Arabic is one of the four predominant carriers of civilization to the rest of the world due to its unique characteristics in the phonological, syntactic, and literary qualities. This status is fundamentally rooted in the language’s intrinsic characteristic, not merely a product of historical circumstance. Through analyzing the language system, the study demonstrates how the phonological system of Arabic, with its emphatic and guttural consonants, contributed to its resilience and phonetic distinctness. Then, the study investigates the syntactical framework of the language, emphasizing the derivative richness of its root-based morphology and its capacity for logical accuracy, which made it an ideal means for law, science, and philosophy. Finally, the study explores its unparalleled literary features, from the superior impact of the Holy Qur’an to the sophisticated traditions of poetry and prose, cultivating a great intellectual culture. By drawing on evidence from linguistics, literary criticism, and history, this study demonstrates that the distinctive structural properties of Arabic have functioned as a fundamental driver in transmitting and enduring preservation of a global civilization.
Arabic, Carrier of Civilization, Linguistics, Literature, Culture
Linguistic Diaspora in Leila Sebbar’s Je ne Parle pas la Langue de mon Père
This paper examines Leïla Sebbar's autobiographical narrative Je ne parle pas la langue de mon père as a critical exploration of linguistic diaspora and postcolonial identity. Through close textual analysis, the study investigates how Sebbar's inability to speak Arabic—her Algerian father's native language—represents not merely a communicative gap but a profound rupture in cultural inheritance and self-formation. Drawing on Marianne Hirsch's theory of postmemory, the paper analyzes how linguistic absence functions as a form of inherited trauma that shapes diasporic subjectivity across generations. The analysis unfolds in three sections: first, situating Sebbar's experience within the historical context of French colonial language policies in Algeria that systematically marginalized Arabic; second, examining the emotional and psychological dimensions of linguistic loss as manifested in feelings of guilt, fragmentation, and cultural dislocation; and third, exploring how Sebbar transforms this absence into narrative resistance by appropriating French—the colonizer's language—to articulate silenced histories and reclaim hybrid postcolonial identity. The paper demonstrates that Sebbar's memoir challenges essentialist notions of linguistic authenticity while revealing how literature can serve as a site of testimony and cultural reclamation in the aftermath of colonial trauma.
linguistic diaspora, postcolonial identity, postmemory, colonial language politics, hybrid subjectivity
Unvoiced Trauma: Narrative Silence and Ethical Boundaries in The Silent Patient
This paper explores the complex ethical dilemmas faced by psychotherapists in The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 2019. Through the lens of the novel's protagonist, Theo Faber, the paper delves into the blurred lines between therapeutic boundaries and personal involvement. It examines the ethical implications of a therapist developing a personal connection with a patient, particularly when that patient is a suspected murderer. The paper also discusses the power imbalance inherent in the therapeutic relationship and the potential for exploitation. By analyzing these themes, the paper aims to raise questions about the ethical responsibilities of mental health professionals and the challenges they may encounter in maintaining professional boundaries. The novel explores the tension between the desire to help a patient and ethical obligations of a healthcare professional. It leads the readers to consider the potential consequences of violating ethical codes. The novel raises questions about the patient and the therapist boundaries and the rule of ethics in the novel. The paper also discusses the power imbalance inherent in the therapeutic relationship and the potential for exploitation. By analysing these themes, the paper aims to raise questions about the ethical responsibilities of mental health and crossing lines between professional and personal involvement.
Boundaries, ethics, patient, tension, therapist, silent, manipulation
Copyright (c) 2025 Tawhida Akhter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Dance Imagery in Dancing at Lughnasa from the Perspective of Anthropological Ritual
Dance serves as the central trope in Brian Friel’s celebrated play Dancing at Lughnasa. This study analyzes the cultural and social functions of dance through the framework of anthropological ritual. Three distinct forms of dance within the play exhibit ritualistic characteristics: the five sisters’ tap dance in the kitchen represents a temporary transcendence of daily constraints and a release of carnivalesque; the waltz shared by Michael’s parents functions as a ceremonial affirmation of matrimonial bonds; and Father Jack’s African dance signifies his acceptance, appreciation, and assimilation into indigenous cultural practices. These ritualistic dances serve psychological, emotional, and communal healing roles, encapsulating Friel’s appeal for acknowledging cross-ethnic commonalities and advancing multicultural integration within contemporary Irish society.
Dancing at Lughnasa, dance, ritual, multicultural integration
Voicing the Past, Scripting the Future: Folklore Adaptation in Teacher Education
This study aimed to analyze the transformation of a South Sumatran folktale into a drama script as a pedagogical model in teacher education. Amidst the challenges of globalization that threaten the survival of oral traditions, higher education plays a critical role in reviving cultural heritage and ensuring its relevance to the younger generations. This study employed a qualitative approach with a case study design. Data collection took place in two stages: a focus group discussion (FGD) with cultural stakeholders to obtain the cultural mandate, and a comparative textual analysis of the folktale Putri Berambut Putih or White-Haired Princess (hypogram) and a drama script written by student teachers in the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Sriwijaya. Data analysis used an intertextual framework that combines Riffaterre's theories (expansion and conversion) with Pradotokusumo's (modification and excerption). According to the findings, expansion and modification processes dominate the transformation of drama scripts. Students enrich the plot by incorporating elements of humor and social critique (such as corruption and social media), as well as changing the language and characters to make them more relevant to modern audiences. Conversion is used to adapt the narrative to the technical constraints of theatrical performances. The excerption maintains the original story's conflict structure and moral values. The primary conclusion of this study is that literary transformation in teacher education is more than just a creative writing exercise; it is an active cultural preservation strategy in accordance with the cultural mandate of South Sumatran cultural stakeholders. This process enables prospective teachers to "voicing the past" and "scripting the future" by bridging traditional values into contextual and innovative media.
Copyright (c) 2025 Khotamar Kusuma Dinata, Nurhayati Nurhayati, Mulyadi Eko Purnomo, Ernalida Ernalida https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Elective Affinity and the Domestication of Islamic Discourse in English Translation
The translation of Quran provides access to the Word of Allah for non-Arabic speakers. This study explores the role of how elective affinities, a term made popular by Goethe and Max Weber, guide the translators’ choices in four translations of the Quran, i.e. George Sale (1734), Marmaduke Pickthall (1930), Abdullah Usuf Ali (1934) and M.A.S. Abdel Heleem (2004/2010). The study focuses on Surat Al-Baqara (Chapter 2), and draws on Lawrence Venuti’s domestication/foreignization dichotomy. Using elective affinities as an explanatory farmwork, the study adopts a close comparative, hermeneutic analysis of key Quranic concepts. The paper argues that translators’ lexical, stylistic and interpretive choices are not merely linguistic but reflect deep ideological, theological and cultural resonance between their worldviews and the dominant epistemic norms of the Anglophone target culture. The findings reveal four distinct domestication profiles: Sale’s Protestant-Orientalist domestication, Pickthall’s foreignized content in Biblical English aesthetics (stylistic domestication), Yusuf Ali’s universalist moralist domestication fed by early 20th century interfaith and Victorian ethics, and Abdel Haleem’s contemporary academic domestication that prioritises clarity and post-9/11 apologetic concerns. The findings also show that such domesticating tendencies can enhance readability and familiarity but they often entail semantic shifts and doctrinal flattening, and at times imply subordination of the Quranic concepts to target culture’s theological expectations. This study fills an underexplored gap in Translation studies, definitely unexplored in the translation of Quran. It offers a nuanced understanding of how ideological presuppositions give shape to the transmission and reception of sacred discourse in English.
A Hermeneutic Approach to the “Rebirth” of a Classic: Translator’s Subjectivity in Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf
Over the centuries-long translation practice of the Old English epic Beowulf, the modern English translation by the Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney is regarded as a classic "rebirth" of the epic. However, prior studies of his translation focus on partial discussions of cultural identity or translation strategies. It lacks a systematic interpretation of the translator's subjectivity under a unified theoretical framework. Therefore, backed by George Steiner's hermeneutic translation theory, this paper employs its four-step analytical framework — trust, aggression, incorporation, restitution, to interpret Heaney's translation practice combined with close reading and case studies. The study finds that Heaney creatively integrated Irish dialect vocabulary (e.g., "thole", "bawn"), modernized syntactic structures, simplified Old English compound words, and compensated for alliteration and cultural terms. Through these strategies, his translation not only faithfully recreated the epic style, but also infused the translation with Irish cultural traits, strengthening a cultural dialogue between Britain and Ireland. The paper demonstrates that translator's subjectivity is not a deviation from the source text (ST). Rather, it is the core factor enabling a classic to achieve "creative transformation" and "modern rebirth". Therefore, this paper provides a new interpretive path for Beowulf translation research. What’s more, it offers the practice for utilizing translator's subjectivity to achieve the cross-cultural "rebirth" of Chinese literature translation.
Hermeneutic translation theory; Seamus Heaney; Beowulf; Translator's subjectivity; Classic "rebirth"
Copyright (c) 2025 YUE YI GUO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Listening Comprehension in English-Chinese Interpreting: Problem Triggers and Intensive Linguistic Training
listening comprehension in English-Chinese interpreting is quite challenging for Chinese students. Prior interpreting research often focuses on memorization, note-taking, interpreting techniques, and production abilities, while to some extent neglecting listening comprehension. Additionally, problem triggers in listening comprehension are often discussed with a focus on increased training rather than their underlying causes and specific countermeasures. From both interpreting practice and teaching, it has been found that problem triggers in listening comprehension are largely due to insufficient bilingual proficiency of beginners, thus those triggers in this study are discussed from the perspective of phonetics, lexicons, and syntactic structures. To improve students’ listening comprehension, particularly in English, it is essential to strengthen linguistic competency through intensive linguistic training such as summary exercises, sentences retelling, and the combination of practice quantity and quality. Besides, using AI for pre-listening preparation and application of interpreting techniques are crucial to language enhancement training. The practical methods and examples provided aim to offer a reference for improving both the listening comprehension and English-Chinese interpreting guidance.
English-Chinese Interpreting, Listening Comprehension, Problem Triggers, Intensive Linguistic Training
Copyright (c) 2025 Lianya Xing https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Investigating Difficulties Faced by Iraqi EFL Learners in Pronouncing the Letters 'ng' in Different Positions of English Words
The enhancement of undergraduate oral proficiency and communicative competence represents a crucial aspect of the English language learning process. This study investigates the pronunciation difficulties of Iraqi learners of English as a foreign language at the undergraduate level in producing the English letter sequence ng in various phonological environments. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are employed. Data are collected from 245 undergraduate students at University of Baghdad who were tested on the pronunciation of 20 target words representing four phonetic realisations of ng: /ŋ/, /ŋɡ/, /nɡ/, and /ndʒ/. Their responses are analysed in terms of accuracy rates, with results presented in tables and percentages. The findings indicate that Iraqi students consistently struggled with the correct pronunciation of ng, with error rates often exceeding 65% across several word items. Words such as longish, language, ingredient and ranger proved most problematic, stemming from several factors, including orthographic confusion, limited awareness of morphological structure, difficulties with stress placement and syllable division, and insufficient pedagogical support.
Pronunciation difficulties, Iraqi EFL learners, Letter sequence ng, L1 interference, Phonological and morphological interaction
From Engagement to Stance Shifting: A Functional Linguistic Account of Power Deconstruction in Workplace-themed Stand-up Comedy
This study explores how Chinese workplace-themed stand-up comedians employ linguistic resources to negotiate stance and subtly engage with institutional power through humor. Drawing on a revised Engagement framework within Appraisal Theory, the analysis focuses on dialogic positioning in routines that combine personal narrative, social commentary, and audience interaction. The corpus consists of 21 performance segments from King of Comedy: Stand-up Season, featuring comedians from diverse occupational backgrounds. A tentative contribution is the identification of Institutional Recontextualization as a potential genre-specific engagement resource, which involves the ironic redeployment of authoritative or bureaucratic discourse to create alternative evaluative frames. The findings suggest that performers combine Institutional Recontextualization with conventional engagement strategies to enact stance shifts in workplace-themed stand-up comedy. Four recurrent patterns were observed in the data: Identity Reconstruction, Value Inversion, Responsibility Displacement, and Collective Alignment, which help comedians negotiate speaker roles and engage audiences in implicit critiques of workplace hierarchies. Although based on a limited dataset, the findings suggest that comedians achieve subtle critiques of workplace power by deploying engagement resources to shift stance. It further suggests that moderated humor and reflective stance-taking may enhance student engagement and wellbeing in educational contexts.
Stance Shifting; Power Deconstruction; Appraisal Theory; Workplace-themed Stand-up Comedy; Humor
Exploring the integration of CAT into translation programmes at Saudi universities
Important issues are yet to be explored regarding computer-assisted translation (CAT) integration into translator training programmes in the Saudi context. In this study, we sought to explore the realities of CAT integration into translator training programmes at Saudi universities by examining the characteristics of the CAT courses offered, trainers’ perspectives on using CAT activities in non-CAT translation courses, and the challenges encountered. We tried to profile these issues through reviewing translation programme study plans and CAT course descriptions, and collecting interview data from eight translation faculty members working at five Saudi universities. The results indicate the lack of CAT courses in a considerable number of undergraduate translation programmes. Besides, the available CAT courses in both the undergraduate and postgraduate translation programmes lack the sufficient training or a practical part. The interviewed faculty members were found unwilling to integrate CAT-based activities into non-CAT translation courses. Their reported obstacles to the effective CAT integration include the limited time, students’ non-responsiveness, and the unavailability of required applications. These results indicate the need for reforming CAT teaching practices and integrating CAT more effectively into translator training programmes.
CAT; translation technologies; translation applications; translator training; Saudi universities
Graduate – Level Research Papers Across Academic Departments: A comparative Analysis
This study Investigates the lexical diversity, sentence structures and modality embodied in graduate-level research abstracts across various academic departments. These abstracts have been written by graduate students enrolled in the University of Hilla and affiliated to the following departments: Nursing, Medical Physics, Radiology and Ultrasound, and Anesthesia. It endeavors to unravel concomitant linguistic features that grant franchise to each field of specialty. Such an approach is a handy tool that furnishes insights into the linguistic peculiarities of each discipline.
Research papers, , lexical diversity, modality. Sentence structures
Effective use of AI applications to enhance Saudi EFL learners’ writing ability: A study at the tertiary level
The increasing application of artificial intelligence (AI) in education provides new possibilities to facilitate second language (L2) writing development. Nevertheless, limited research has investigated the potential of AI-driven writing aids to expand the writing performance of Saudi EFL learners at the tertiary level. This research analyzes the effects of AI tools, Wordtune and Grammarly, on academic writing among Saudi university students and examines how these tools can be deliberately integrated as part of structured writing instruction. Using quantitative data, 62 students participated, with a group in each gender category assigned as an Experimental Group (EG) using AI tools and a Control Group (CG) following old methods. Descriptive Statistics, Independent-samples t-tests, and Regression Analysis in SPSS were conducted to compare pre- and post-writing tests, assessing changes in content development, coherence, cohesion, and grammatical accuracy. The EG achieved higher scores than the CG, with improvements in content development (57.40-75.20), coherence (55.60-74.10), cohesion (54.80-73.20), and grammatical accuracy (53.90-72.50). Independent t-tests showed extremely significant differences (p < 0.001) with large effect sizes (d=1.31–1.34), and regression analyses confirmed AI exposure as a strong predictor of writing performance (R²=0.68; β=0.32–0.34). The effects of AI were consistent across genders. Overall, the result indicates that pedagogically integrated AI writing tools can effectively enhance Saudi EFL students' academic writing, support their independence, confidence, and overall writing competence while overcome limitations of conventional instruction.
Artificial Intelligence, Saudi Tertiary Education, AI-Assisted Writing Tools, Writing Proficiency, Lexical Development, Academic Writing, Grammarly
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Language of Protest: Ideological Framing in Indonesian’s Demonstration News Headlines
This study examines the ideological representations constructed by Indonesian online news media in their coverage of the August 2025 parliamentary demonstrations, with particular emphasis on the linguistic strategies embedded in the headlines. The study highlights the lack of attention paid to a comprehensive ideological analysis of news headlines pertaining to Indonesian demonstrations. Using a descriptive qualitative design with a netnographic approach, thirty-seven headlines from several national media outlets were examined through Fairclough’s three-dimensional CDA model, supported by van Dijk’s socio-cognitive perspective. The analysis focused on transitivity patterns, thematic structures, nominalization, and representational strategies to identify underlying ideological meanings. The findings reveal that police-centered headlines frequently employ bald reporting, euphemism, and justification-of-action structures that can obscure agency or soften negative impressions of state actors. In contrast, demonstrator-centered headlines tend to use either direct (bald) constructions or condemnation-of-action patterns that establish causality and portray the protestors as sources of disruption. The analysis also reveals instances where victims are foregrounded in headline themes, creating a humanizing effect and drawing emotional attention to specific individuals involved in the events. Overall, the study concludes that the language used in these headlines is not neutral but strategically constructed to promote particular interpretations of the demonstrations. The identified patterns show how linguistic choices in headline formulation contribute to ideological framing that influences public perceptions of protest and social conflict.
Copyright (c) 2025 Baiq Wina Aisha Kamila, Yeni Artanti, Sulis Triyono, Nur Hidayanto Pancoro Setyo Putro, Susana Widyastuti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Present Situation of the Manipuri Meitei Language : A Study of the Socio-Cultural Aspects of Bangladesh
This article aims to highlight the real context of the Manipuri Meitei language that exists in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been known as a monolingual country since its independence in 1971.Manipuri Meitei, like other indigenous community, must adhere to the country’s multilingualism. After learning their mother tongue, Meitei people begin to communicate with the local Bengali community in which they live. Furthermore, throughout the academic phase, Meitei pupils need to study basic Bangla and English as well. In recent days, Multilingualism has become a threat to Meitei indigenous community. In a situation, this study involves finding out the historical background of the Manipuri Meitei language community in Bangladesh and how their language has been associated with their culture, arts, and literature beyond multilingualism. Furthermore, the researcher tried to investigate the attitude of Meitei different aged group generations of using Bangla and English in their daily life conversation. In this research, the researcher follows qualitative methods by doing some interviews and FGD (Focus group discussion).
Meitei language, Multilingualism, Bilingualism, Indigenous language, Meitei generation.
“Always Hungry: The Short Story as Cultural and Narrative Space in Anzia Yezierska’s Fiction”
This essay examines the short fiction of Anzia Yezierska. It argues that her literary imagination finds its most compelling realization in the short story, a form uniquely suited to the intensity, brevity, and culturally hybrid perspective of her work. Her narratives explore the immigrant Jewish woman’s struggle for cultural integration and personal emancipation, articulating a persistent tension between Old World deprivation and New World promise. Central to this study is the concept of “hunger,” both literal and symbolic, as a driving force in Yezierska’s prose, reflecting her characters’ spiritual, emotional, and aesthetic desires. The essay situates her writing within the broader context of early twentieth-century American realism and modernist experimentation, highlighting how the short story form enables her to navigate the constraints of her hybrid identity, linguistic innovation, and socio-cultural marginality. Ultimately, Yezierska’s stories are presented as a distinct narrative niche, a concentrated space where memory, desire, and cultural translation converge, producing a voice both intensely personal and resonant with collective experience.
Anzia Yezierska; hunger; short story; Hungry Hearts; Children of Loneliness
Copyright (c) 2025 Simona Porro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Translation Strategies of Cultural References in an Animated Film
This research focuses on the analysis of the translation strategies employed in the Spanish version of the screenplay of the film Coco (Disney-Pixar, 2017), based on its original English text. The aim of this study is to analyze the translation strategies used in the adaptation of Coco’s screenplay from English into Spanish, in order to identify, classify, and evaluate the cultural references according to Newmark’s typology, and to determine how these translational decisions preserve, adapt, or transform the representation of Mexican culture in the target version. In other words, it examines how cultural references related to Mexican traditions—such as the Day of the Dead, music, offerings, and religious symbols—are transferred to the Spanish-speaking audience. This study seeks to provide a critical perspective on translation decisions that favor the preservation of cultural identity versus those that opt for adaptation, thus contributing to the field of audiovisual and cultural translation. The research follows a qualitative, descriptive, and analytical approach, and its corpus consists of selected fragments from the original English screenplay of Coco and their equivalents in the Spanish translation, containing relevant cultural references. The findings aim to contribute to the field of translation studies and intercultural research by offering a critical analysis of how Mexican cultural values are represented and conveyed in a globally distributed film.
Copyright (c) 2025 Claudia Castañeda Gracía, Martha Alicia Vela Gámez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Morocco’s Football Diplomacy and Soft Power Projection: Reading Morocco Through The Guardian
This article presents evidence of the role of sports diplomacy in advancing national image, soft power, and foreign policy objectives through examining Morocco’s performance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This study argues that sporting events, particularly successful ones, can enhance the country’s symbolic and political capital. The article develops its own view of soft power through sport’s achievement by winning the hearts and minds of foreign audiences worldwide. This matches Morocco’s cultural diplomacy, which aims to spread the nation’s image/ reputation beyond borders, especially nowadays when there is fierce competition for public opinion through soft power instruments. This study assumes that international relations are subject to ongoing changes, and small nations can use their intangible capital to consolidate their international position.
The Syntax of Unaccusative Verbs in Moroccan Arabic: A Minimalist Approach
The present paper explores the syntax of unaccusative verbs in Moroccan Arabic (MA) within the theoretical framework of the Minimalist Program (MP). The study aims to delimit the gap in the literature concerning the analysis of unaccusative verbs in the context of MA. The primary objective of this research is to apply the VP split hypothesis to account for unaccusative verb constructions. The findings reveal that unaccusative verbs can appear in locative inversion constructions and expletive-insertion structures but cannot undergo passivization. Furthermore, the Split-VP hypothesis provides an appropriate account for these constructions and the alternating SVO orders of MA. Semantically, unaccusative verbs take one internal theme argument in their thematic grid. This internal argument originates within VP, where it receives nominative case, and remains in VSO order. To derive the SVO order, the theme argument moves to spec-TP to satisfy the EPP feature of T. Therefore, the study provides insights into the syntactic structure of unaccusative verbs in MA, which can supply information for comparative syntax in future research.
Unaccusative, unaccusativity hypothesis, the Minimalist Program, VP-split hypothesis, nominative case, Moroccan Arabic
Clinical Supervision in Education: A Formative Framework for Enhancing Instruction and Professional Development
Pursuing professional development is a fundamental goal for every teacher. This can be achieved through various avenues, including attending and participating in conferences, workshops, and seminars, conducting action research, or engaging in peer observation, among others. Within this process, supervision also plays a fundamental role. Traditional educational supervision models were predominantly summative, primarily focusing on controlling teachers and making judgmental decisions about their performance. However, the limitations of this approach created a need for a more formative model, leading to the development of clinical supervision. Accordingly, it is the intent of this paper to underscore the significance of this approach to supervision in the field of education, focusing on its theoretical tenets that serve as a foundation for enhancing the quality of instruction. This paper stresses the formative nature of clinical supervision through adopting a cyclical approach encompassing five key phases: the pre-observation conference, classroom observation, analysis, post-observation conference and post-conference analysis. By so doing, clinical supervision prioritises the enhancement of quality instruction and supports teachers’ professional development, rather than identifying faults or issuing criticism.
Clinical supervision, educational supervision, professional development, supervisory cycle
AI-Human Writing Divide: Pedagogical Considerations
The emergence of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has rapidly transformed the panoramic landscape of academic writing by defying the traditional ideas of authorship and creativity. This study examined the linguistic distinctions between AI-generated and human-written persuasive essays by analyzing five texts from each category. Utilizing computational tools like AntConc and UAM Corpus tool, along with qualitative methods, the study investigated key features of writing: lexical diversity, sentence complexity, nominalization, and the use of modals, epistemic, and discourse markers. Results indicate that human-written texts (HWT) demonstrated significantly higher lexical diversity, as measured by Type-Token Ratio (TTR), suggesting richer and varied vocabulary. Contrastingly, AI-generated texts exhibited a lower TTR but showed higher lexical diversity in keyword analysis, stressing methodological differences in assessing vocabulary richness. Sentence complexity analysis revealed that AI-generated essays tend to have longer sentences with more complex syntactic structures, while human texts contain a greater number of shorter sentences, indicating a more direct communication. Nominalization patterns differ between two corpora: human writers used process nominalizations, highlighting focus on actions and processes relevant to the nature of persuasive essays, while AI-generated texts preferred quality nominalizations, stressing attributes and descriptions. Furthermore, this study also found out that AI-generated texts overused the two modals ‘can’ and ‘must’ compared to human texts. In contrast, human writers used a broader range of epistemic and discourse markers, which made their essays natural and had a nuanced expression of certainty, source attribution, and argument coherence. These findings emphasize the need for language teachers to emphasize the flexible and context-appropriate use of linguistic markers, expand students’ modal verb repertoire, and deepen their understanding of nominalization types to enhance sophistication in academic writing. This study also highlights the importance of nurturing creativity and critical thinking in writing instruction in light of AI’s growing role. In conclusion, the AI-Human writing divide presents both challenges and opportunities for academic writing instruction.
AI, ChatGPT, writing, writing pedagogy, corpus linguistics, lexical diversity, sentence complexity, nominalization, modals, discourse markers
Copyright (c) 2025 Aisah Jamayesah Hadji Jamel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0