<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Many languages of the world have a grammatical gender system that divides all nouns into gendered categories. The gender assigned to a given noun requires gender agreement with associated items in the sentence, such as: determiners, adjectives, and demonstrative pronouns. Research in the area of grammatical gender acquisition has found that this grammatical category poses considerable difficulty for L2 learners. However, rarely was this area of difficulty the focus of L2 studies in Arabic. The present study focuses on the problematic issue of grammatical gender in Arabic as a foreign language. It examines advanced Arabic L2 learners’ written errors of gender assignment and agreement in the Arabic Learner Corpus (ALC) v2, compiled by Alfaifi, Atwel, and Hedaya (2014). Based on the classification and analysis of the errors, possible factors of the difficulty facing L2 learners in assigning the correct gender are discussed, and recommendations to reduce their effects are suggested.</abstract>

The problematic issue of grammatical gender in Arabic as a foreign language

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The present study compared the effects of reading input flooding and listening input flooding techniques on the accuracy and complexity of Iranian EFL learners’ speaking skill. Participants were 66 homogeneous intermediate EFL learners who were randomly divided into three groups of 22: Reading input flooding group, listening input flooding group, and control group. The reading flooded input group was exposed to the numerous examples of the target structures through reading. In the same phase, the listening group was given relatively the same task, through listening. The participants’ monologues in the posttest were separately recorded, and later transcribed and coded in terms of accuracy and complexity through Bygate’s (2001) standard coding system. The results of ANCOVA indicated the outperformance of reading input flooding group. The study also supported the trade-off effects (Skehan, 1998, 2009) between accuracy and complexity.</abstract>

PhD, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics TEFL Department, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch Babaii High way, Hakimiyeh,

Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch,

Reading input flooding versus listening input flooding: Can they boost speaking skill?

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Currently various industries using translation services stress the necessity of analytical, critical and practical knowledge of 2 foreign languages, substantial skills of translation technologies, as well as transferable skills for professional translator performance. A changing translator profile causes a shift in translation study programmes towards the development of transferable skills along with translation-related skills. Therefore, the paper focuses on employers’ expectations in relation to the abilities and skills of professionally trained translators. The outcomes of this study reflect the overall situation in the country, still undergoing significant changes in the translation-related industry from the perspective of employers who agree that together with translation-related skills graduates of translation programmes should possess a range of transferable skills, which empower them to act professionally in a changing environment.</abstract>

Translation studies: Translator training vs employers’ expectations

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This theoretical study analyses interpretation of quality in pre-school education with regard to the position of the children’s parents. This text is supported by research papers, mostly from the last two decades, and is based on three main sub-topics. The importance and benefits of systematic pre-school education for the child and the economic development of society is initially discussed. High-quality pre-school education for children gives them a strong start in their educational career and investment into effective education during the pre-school age provides a social and economic return to the whole of society. The following section defines the term quality and its interpretation in relation to education. Quality is interpreted through structure and process, the multi-dimensionality of quality and the objectiveness and subjectiveness of the interpretation of the quality of pre-school education are reflected. The interesting but undervalued position of parents, the perspectives of which are elaborated on in subsequent passages, appear in these concepts. This paper comes to two main conclusions. The first is that the quality of education is a multi-dimensional, variable and difficult to define concept. The second is that, although the status of parents in relation to pre-school education is strong, it is not adequately taken into consideration during definition of quality. When evaluating quality the perspective of the parents is only utilised to a limited degree, because it usually has different semantics to evaluation by experts.</abstract>

The perspectives of parents in relation to the concepts of the quality of pre-school education. Analysis of research discourse

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Negotiation of identities in communication entails affirming the identities we want others to recognize in us and ascription of identities we mutually assign to each other in communication. The study of intercultural communication focuses on cultural identity as the principal identity component that defines intercultural communication. In this article, the assumption that cultural group membership factors determine the context of intercultural communication is questioned. The article examines how intercultural interlocutors negotiate their identities in various intercultural interactions. The aims of the research presented in this paper are: 1) to examine which identities - cultural, personal, or social - intercultural interlocutors activate in intercultural communication; 2) to determine whether interlocutors’ intercultural communication is largely influenced by their cultural identities; 3) and to identify situations in which they activate their cultural identities (3). The research data were collected from 263 international students studying at Masaryk University in Brno in the years 2010 - 2016. Although the research results are not conclusive, they indicate that cultural identities predominate in the students’ ethnocentric views and that stereotypes constrain the students’ cultural identities and affect the negotiation of identities in intercultural communication.</abstract>

Negotiation of identities in intercultural communication

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Just like social occurrences such as human sacrifice and slavery enhanced retardation of progress in Africa in the past, trafficking is another social occurrence addressed in contemporary African literature that impedes progress and tarnishes the image of the victims. Human trafficking is rampant in Africans and some part of the world in this 21st century. This paper examines how Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked (2008) and Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters′ Street (2009) highlight social occurrences and how they contribute to the spread of girl trafficking in Africa. It also explores how both men and women are partners in trafficking, forming trafficking networks that lure girls from Nigeria to Europe and make huge profits from their misery. These pimps use ‘juju magic’ and rituals as a threat to exert complete control over the girls and also to ensure their compliance. The trafficked girls share their life experiences by telling their tales of woes exposing the shame that accompanies the sex trade and the stigmatization they suffer in the society. Their experiences are presented by the authors to highlight the trafficked girls′ pains, misery and struggle for freedom in order to appeal to everybody in the society to fight against human trafficking. The paper also examines how these exploited and depressed trafficked girls that have lost their self-esteem can still live fulfilled lives if government agencies and nongovernmental organizations come to their rescue.</abstract>

Human trafficking: Commercial sexual exploitation and forced domestic labour in African literature

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The deployment of e-assessments has been so frequent in educational institutions worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is worth questioning the efficacy of this newly adopted evaluation method. The study aims to determine how far this testing effectively achieves the Course Learning Outcomes. It also tries to explore the extent of difference between the online assessment method from the pre-pandemic testing methods stated in the course specification. Another aim of the study is to check the acceptance of e-tests by the learners. This study employs a quantitative approach encompassing a Likert-type online questionnaire to gather the response of 70 faculty members at the university in Saudi Arabia. The primary result of this study is that e-assessment succeeds in attaining Course Learning Outcomes to a great extent. Though these newly adopted tests shifted away from the stated measurement methods in the course specification, the learners accepted them enthusiastically. It was discovered in the study that if educational institutes have well-structured e-learning infrastructures and regularly use these setups competently, they confront minor complexities to switching to online ones and achieve Course Learning Outcomes applying e-assessment systems.
</abstract>

E-assessment during COVID-19 pandemic at a Saudi university: impact on assessment methods and course learning outcomes

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over many spheres of human life, including language pedagogy. While some areas need to find their ground with AI and resolve ethical issues arising from its use, other spheres of education, such as pronunciation, may benefit from the system’s ability to communicate with learners and provide them with implicit feedback while carrying out different communication tasks. This technical advancement of AI then opens doors for further educational opportunities that have not existed in the past. The study aims to explore the existing use of AI-powered tools in foreign language pronunciation training by meta-analysis of 15 research papers benefiting from using AI and AI-powered tools (mobile and web applications, chatbots, intelligent virtual assistants) and provide suggestions for their future applications in educational practice. The research results also indicate that this field of study is still underrepresented in language pedagogy. The existing experience with AI-powered tools confirms a relatively good experience in developing intelligibility, increasing motivation and addressing the speaking anxiety of foreign language learners in formal and informal learning settings.
</abstract>

AI and AI-powered tools for pronunciation training

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Teaching a foreign language is often associated with the development of communicative competence, interpersonal and social development, but also with the development of intercultural competence, aesthetic sensitivity, etc., as when learning a second language, the topics of literature, geographical and cultural differences with respect to the language and culture of the countries speaking the language are discussed. FL is the subject which can provide pupils with the greatest scope for developing the various components of education, as is documented by a review of the literature and teaching methods used abroad to teach a FL. A total of 342 teachers from Slovakia participated in the survey, 55 of them FL teachers. In our research, we focused on three areas, namely, 1) finding out the conditions for implementing moral education in primary school, 2) finding out whether foreign language teachers implement the moral component of education depending on their own moral setting, and 3) academic dishonesty in the context of assessing dishonest practices in pupils and academic dishonesty in teachers during their studies. Teachers participated in the research voluntarily and could refuse to complete the last section. 1) The results show that, FL teachers (N = 55) rate the need for moral education as the most important, but they are mostly concerned with intellectual (M = 4.09), physical (M = 3.56) and environmental education (M = 3.47) in the application of the different components of education. For better application of moral education, they would need adequate and quality training (67.3%) and methodological materials (78.2%). 2) it was found that teachers consider themselves as the basis of moral behaviour (M = 4.7) and at the same time, explicit rules set by them are important for them (M=3.75). Teachers do not trust in the moral behaviour of children and society (M = 2.25), which was also reflected in the fact that the treatment of moral topics is mainly done by the method of explanation (85.5%) and the method of example (80%). 3) Teachers rated the factor of gaining one’s own advantage (M = 4.27) significantly more negatively (N2 = 45; Z = -5.225; p = 0.0001) than the factor of cooperating with others (M = 3.24). On the other hand, FL teachers (N3 = 44) reported their academic dishonesty in terms of occurrence most frequently as a form of cooperation (M = 2.68). Relatively, they defined getting unearned benefits with external help (M = 2.16) or in a utilitarian manner (M = 1.72). We discuss ways to help develop moral education and support teachers.
</abstract>

Implementation of moral education by teachers of foreign languages

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Even though multilingual education has been in existence for a long time, the new era has brought another contestation around this educational substitute. Multilingual education which is often realized through multilingual language policy seems to be the best way to prepare future generations to participate in constructing democratic societies in and intercultural world. South Africa is no exception to this development. The language policy and governance in the schooling system of South Africa cannot be seen in isolation from that of the rest of the African continent and the world. This article disinters the extent to which the bodies responsible for the governing of schools in South Africa can formulate and implement language policies that serve the demographic language interest of societies that they serve. This article contextualizes the rights-based approach through fostering a deeper understanding of how different participants and role players in the education system can form the links between rights and participation with a view to bringing about change in language policy formulation and implementation in schools.
</abstract>

Focusing on education through multilingual language policy in South African schools

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article analyses anthropomorphic characteristics of death, specifically the mega-metaphor DEATH IS A LIVING BEING, manifested in the 16th-17th Century Latin mourning poetry by Vilnius Academy students. Employing the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) method, the study systematically identifies and analyzes the conceptual metaphors within these works. Focusing on the anthropomorphic attributes of death, the research reveals that death was personified as a CAPTURER, GRIM REAPER, ENEMY, ANCIENT MYTHICAL FIGURE in the poetic tradition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This analysis provides insights into the conceptualization of mortality during the late Renaissance and Baroque periods, unraveling the complex interplay between life, death, and human emotions. Additionally, the article serves as a methodological exemplar, demonstrating the application of MIP in historical literary texts and cataloging valuable resources for scholars and those interested in the mourning poetry of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
</abstract>

The mega-metaphor DEATH AS A LIVING BEING in 16th-17th century Latin mourning poetry of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The study generally determined the literary conventions in contemporary Ibaloi ba’diw as a genre. It aimed to draw the figurative language and theme reflected in the ba’diw text; and, classify valuable insights contained by the select ba’diw pieces by occasion. It employed a qualitative approach to research specifically the text analysis method highlighting formalistic and sociolinguistic approaches in literary criticism. The pieces were found to be replete with the following figurative language: character, symbolism, connotation, repetition, personification, apostrophe, and family-name wording. Themes considered the occasion where these are chanted. Alongside these are valuable insights on “adivay” or social gathering, high regard for elders and the spirit of the dead, sacredness of marriage and family life, and the group’s daily activities. It is recommended that audio-visual documentation on the ba’diw may be designed purposely for information, persuasion, and entertainment; studies to determine the foreign influence on Ibaloi ba’diw in pursuit of discovering the Ibaloi poetics may be conducted; a center on Ibaloi language may be established; and, further research like ways of documenting oral literature, in general, may be further explored.
</abstract>

Contemporary Ibaloi Ba’diw: Defining Conventions through Formalistic and Sociolinguistic Standpoints

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>As any other area of human lives, current state of foreign language education has been greatly influenced by the latest developments in the modern information communication technologies. The paper focuses specifically on the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI), which includes a wide range of technologies and methods, such as machine learning, adaptive learning, natural language processing, data mining, crowdsourcing, neural networks or an algorithm, into foreign language learning and teaching.First, the paper is concerned with changes brought to foreign language education specifically through the application of AI-powered tools and discusses ICALL (intelligent computer assisted language learning) as a subset of CALL. Second, it summarizes eight types of AI-powered tools for foreign language education and related results of the existing research, however scarce it is. Third, it discusses the frame for effective preparation of foreign language teachers in order to integrate AI-powered tools into their teaching to make it easier, less time-consuming and more effective. The author argues for reconsideration of the existing frames of requirements for CALL teachers.</abstract>

Preparing teachers for the application of AI-powered technologies in foreign language education

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The aim of the authors is to respond to the growing demands on the intercultural competence of university teachers due to intensified internationalization pressures on higher education, especially due to the growing number of students and teachers’ international exchanges. They report on an intercultural course design responding to this need, presenting a case study from Slovakia. First, they define the need of intercultural competence of university teachers, especially those teaching in English-medium study programmes. Then they share a) findings from a needs analysis preceding the design of a new curriculum for an intercultural competence course (ICC) at Matej Bel University (MBU) with three aims (development of linguistic, cultural and pedagogic competences); and b) results from action research during piloting the ICC course. A comparison of 2011 and 2018 surveys pointed to the growing dominance of the English language, including an increasing command of English by MBU teachers. The ICC curriculum, tailored to the pre-identified teachers’ needs, proved to be a feasible way of facilitating their intercultural competence. Its implementation revealed persistent prejudices and difficulties associated with overcoming them. It also confirmed a significant deficit in preparing university teachers for their role as intercultural mediators in English-medium courses.</abstract>

Intercultural competence of university teachers: a challenge of internationalization

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This paper reports on part of the research project in which instructor perspectives on the role of anxiety in an EFL speaking classroom and anxiety-coping strategies students employ when speaking English have been investigated. The existence of students’ speaking anxiety was revealed via a teacher interview. A total of 88 students from the intact classes also responded to an interview form for an analysis of anxiety-coping strategies they utilised when speaking English in class. The qualitative data from both instruments was analysed using the content analysis. The findings of the teacher interview data put forward that students of this study have experienced speaking-in-class anxiety. This anxiety may influence their grades, to some extent. Three factors that may hinder students’ development of oral skills emerge, including their lack of self-confidence, having poor English background and having neither intrinsic nor extrinsic motivation to use English. Using the target language as the medium of communication in class is viewed by the teachers as a must in theory, but flexibility is allowed in practice. Moreover, the results of the student interview data show a wide range of strategies employed to deal with anxiety (ie social, affective, meta-cognitive, compensatory, cognitive and memory-related strategies). Social strategies are the most frequently-used techniques. Suggestions for improvement in the overall oral English (ie vocabulary focus, audiovisual focus, self-practice, social focus, auditory focus, meta-cognitive focus, compensatory focus and affective focus) have also been given by the student participants. An increased repertoire of vocabulary is viewed as the most effective tool for such improvement.</abstract>

Reflections from teachers and students on speaking anxiety in an EFL classroom

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> This study is of a theoretical-conceptual nature and is a partial outcome of the research project VEGA MŠVVaŠ SR and SAV no. 1/0176/15. It deals with one of the problems currently faced by educational theory and practice, i.e. the foreign language education of seniors. The trend is typical for many EU member states, since it results from the needs of a modern society. In addition to strategic documents, programs and legislation which binds the Slovak Republic to create conditions for lifelong education, including foreign language education, the authors are more closely preoccupied with specificities and possibilities of the language education of seniors, which are explained on a comparative basis with the language education of children and youth. Even though in literature one can find results of many substantial empirical research projects devoted to foreign language education of children and youth, research into the education of adults and seniors in the area of foreign languages falls behind considerably. A sufficient platform for the methodology of language education of adults and seniors in Slovakia has not been created either, if compared with the methodology of language education of younger age categories. This shortcoming is often quite noticeable in practice. The study attempts to pay adequate attention to the analysis of selected teaching styles specific for adult and senior age as well as teaching methods which may be used in the language education of seniors.</abstract>

Foreign language education of seniors

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Cyber-culture points out the life in cyberspace and goes beyond national cultures. It is particularly attractive for the young people who use Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to express their attitudes, values, beliefs and thinking. Those do not need to be necessarily in accordance with the standards of an individual society. Cyberculture becomes dangerous. Great risk lies in cyberbullying that represents negative impact of cyber-culture on human behavior. The aim of the study is to detect cyberbullying as a negative impact of cyber-culture among of Slovak children and adolescents. The research was carried out on a sample of 1619 11-18-year old respondents (average age was 14.51). Results of cyberbullying research carried out using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) have proved the appropriateness of 3-latent-class module. Relative entropy of the module reached 0.915. It was demonstrated that 52.9% of respondents belonged to the group of uninvolved, 42.7% were victims and 4.4% were victims-aggressors. Being a negative consequence of cyber-culture, cyberbullying is a challenge that educators - including other assisting professions - face when educating children and adolescents to orientate in cyberspace, behave responsibly, express themselves in a way that would not interfere others’ integrity and identity (personal and virtual). The study was written under VEGA MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV č. 1/0244/15: “Detekcia a riešenie kyberšikany”.</abstract>

Cyberbullying as a negative result of cyber-culture of Slovak children and adolescents: selected research findings

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 Journal of Language and Cultural Education (JoLaCE) is a double-blind peer-reviewed international journal promoting international scholarly...