Ayman Khafaga

With the rapid evolution of virtual learning, teaching and learning practices worldwide have greatly changed, and the correlation between virtual learning and affective-cognitive variables (ACVs) is context-bound. This study seeks to fulfill in part this research gap by offering insights into the extent to which virtual learning is associated with the ACVs of Saudi EFL majors at the university level in relation to four psychological learning constructs: learning autonomy (LA), self-efficacy (SE), willingness to communicate (WTC), and motivation (M). The study draws on social cognitive theory (SCT), which postulates that the ACVs of learners shift dynamically through intricate relationships between the virtual learning environment, learners' beliefs, and communicative interaction. Quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to gather data from 200 EFL university students and 12 EFL instructors from one Saudi university. This paper has four main findings pertaining to the Saudi EFL context. First, there is a significant relationship between virtual learning, learners' beliefs, and the ACVs among Saudi EFL majors. Second, there is a positive correlation between virtual learning and willingness to communicate in low-anxiety virtual settings, particularly in asynchronous and small-group communicative contexts. Third, motivation is positively correlated with the teacher's presence, interactivity, and feedback. Fourth, a significant relationship is found among virtual learning, learners' beliefs, and their communicative behavior. Because this study is Saudi EFL context-oriented, its findings cannot be generalized across different cultural, linguistic, and educational settings.

Drawing on Zimmerman’s (1989) self-regulated learning (SRL) theory, this paper investigates how self-regulated learning constructs are associated with and predict academic performance among Saudi EFL learners within virtual learning environments. More specifically, it scrutinizes how goal setting, time management, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation predict academic performance in virtual EFL contexts. A quantitative approach was adopted, constituting a questionnaire administered to 270 students. Findings reveal that SRL constructs have potential in terms of being predictors of academic performance among Saudi EFL majors in virtual learning settings; and in this case, self-monitoring and self-evaluation have been the most effective predictors. Moreover, it is also observed that reflective behaviors and proactive attitudes on the part of students are significant correlates of Saudi EFL majors’ academic performance in virtual learning environments (VLEs). The educational suggestions derived from these results include the necessity to incorporate SRL-related programs into the virtual EFL classes as well as solve students’ metacognition and time management problems. Such recommendations are valuable for the design of SRL-promoting virtual EFL environments in Saudi Arabia.

This paper is based on the premise that virtual learning is a softener of gender segregation in the Saudi education settings. It explores how virtual learning interconnects with gender equality within the framework of sustainable development. The main objective of the paper is to demonstrate the extent to which virtual learning contributes to softening gender segregation, particularly in a gender-segregated-oriented culture, where gender segregation in education is predominant and virtual learning is a momentous avenue for educational access. The study uses a mixed-method analysis represented by both a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Two instruments are used in data collection: a questionnaire and an interview. The sample of the study consists of 373 female students, who are studying English as a foreign language in four different academic departments in one Saudi university, and 16 male teachers affiliated with the same academic departments in the same Saudi university. Results reveal that virtual learning can bridge gender gaps by providing equal learning opportunities, and, therefore, it can be perceived as a gender-segregation softener. Also, there is a statistically significant correlation between virtual learning and gender equality in terms of female students' academic performance and engagement. This study recommends additional pedagogical applications and uses of virtual learning platforms as a way to reduce gender segregation, particularly in educational settings that are gender-segregated.

Drawing on Saussure's (1916/1959) semiotic approach, this paper explores the various meanings pertaining to the concepts of al-birr (kindness) and al-qisṭ (justice) in the Qur'an. More specifically, this paper attempts to probe the extent to which Saussure's langue/parole binary can enhance our understanding of the Qur'anic language. The paper seeks to fulfil three main objectives: (i) identifying the various significations communicated by al-birr and al-qisṭ in the Qur'an; (ii) showing the extent to which the historical and theological context helps to mark the various significations associated with each term; and (iii) highlighting the practical meanings the two terms convey within their different contexts in the Qur'an. This paper has two main findings: first, the two words of al-birr and al-qisṭ communicate various meanings that are contextually shaped; and second, both al-birr and al-qisṭ portray Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance and being committed to fostering societal harmony through the principles of kindness and justice. Further, the findings of this study are anticipated to contribute to cross-cultural communication by fostering intercultural dialogue amongst people from diverse cultural backgrounds and, therefore, challenge the narratives in some media that represent Islam as intolerant or harsh towards non-Muslims and narrow a cultural gap that has always been nurtured and sustained by a We-Them discourse.

This study adopts a critical discourse analysis approach to decipher the different nonverbal strategies of domination communicated by the visual and vocalic nonverbal codes in George Orwell's allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945). The primary purpose of the paper is to investigate the use of nonverbal practices as mechanisms for manipulative and coercive domination in the selected novel. In so doing, the paper draws on two analytical strands: the first is the critical discourse analysis approach as discussed by Fairclough (1995), van Dijk (2015), Wodak and Meyer (2015), and Weiss and Wodak (2007), and the second is Andersen's (1999) categorization of nonverbal communication strategies. The paper has three main findings: first, four strategies are identified as indicative in the production of domination in Animal Farm: the use of violence and gestures at the visual level, and the use of threat and intimidation (manifested in the dogs' growls) and the use of confusion and distraction (represented by the sheep's bleating) at the vocalic level. Second, nonverbal practices in Animal Farm are employed manipulatively and/or coercively to shape, reshape, and/or change characters' attitudes and behaviors towards particular attitudinal positions that serve the benefits of those in power. Third, nonverbal practices contribute to the dynamics of power in the discourse of the selected novel and augment the rhetorical influence of discourse interlocutors at the intradiegetic level of communication, particularly in amalgamating the authority of the powerful over the powerless.

Besides their linguistic nature of directivity that necessitates a verbal and/or physical response, requests can also function as linguistic motivators of macro-speech acts. Based on this assumption, this paper explores the extent to which requests in some Qur’anic dialogues not only elicit a response but also motivate a sequence of ancillary speech acts that forms a macro-speech act communicating one macro-proposition. This objective is primarily pursued in light of an eclectic framework constituting van Dijk’s (1977) concept of macro-speech acts, Thornburg and Panther’s (1997) illocutionary scenarios, contributions on speech act theory and requests (e.g., Austin, 1962; Searle, 1979), and Blum-Kulka et al.’s (1989) categorization of modification strategies of requests. Three main findings are revealed in this paper: first, in some Qur’anic dialogues, requests are employed not only to create a position for a response or fulfillment on the part of addressees but also to motivate a sequence of other ancillary speech acts constituting one macro-speech act and profiling a shared logic-semantics representation. Second, unlike ordinary requests, macro-speech act requests (MSARs) in Qur’anic dialogues exhibit a high degree of contingency and a low degree of entitlement. Third, MSARs in Qur’anic dialogues are structured around three illocutionary scenarios, are modified internally and externally, and are illocutionary polysemous.

The Impact of Virtual Learning on Students’ Engagement in the Saudi EFL Context: A Connectivism-Theoretic Perspective

This paper explores the persuasive weight of modalities as presidential meaning carriers in Egyptian political discourse. More specifically, it probes the extent to which modalities, which are linguistically manifested in obligation modals and need-statements, go beyond their ordinary semantic function of communicating obligation and commitment towards further persuasive functions that target the successful communication of particular presidential meanings in one of President El-Sisi’s speeches. Two research questions are addressed in this study: first, to what extent are modalities employed as persuasion carriers in El-Sisi’s speeches? Second, what are the presidential meanings carried by modalities in the selected data? The paper theoretically draws on various approaches to the concept of modality and its categorization. The study reveals two main findings: first, modalities in El-Sisi’s speech go beyond their ordinary semantic function towards further pragmatic purposes that target the influence of the addressees’ cognitive background in a way that serves to confirm specific existing beliefs or to change them totally to adopt the persuader’s views. This, in turn, accentuates this paper’s assumption that modalities are persuasion strategies with a speaker-benefit-oriented goal of communicating particular intended meanings. Second, in political speeches, modalities are often accompanied with other lexical and grammatical categories to intensify the persuasion process. The study recommends further discussions of grammatical categories other than modality, such as pronouns, to show their significance as persuasion strategies in political and critical discourse studies.

The main objective of this paper is to explore the alternation between languages, or what is recognized as the code-switching (CS) phenomenon among English language instructors in Egyptian universities. This is conducted by investigating the various purposes that might urge university instructors to code-switch between English and Arabic in their class interactions. This study, therefore, probes the extent to which code-switching is dexterously used in classroom discourse to communicate particular conversational and educational purposes pertinent to the teaching and learning process. Data are taken from 10 classes taught by five university teachers (two classes each) at the English Department, Cairo University. Data are collected through audio recordings of teachers' interactions in the class, and extracts from the participants' speeches are transliterated and analyzed. There are two overarching research questions in this study: first, do Egyptian university teachers of English code-switch? Second, what are the functions of teachers’ code-switching in classroom interaction? Findings indicate that there are instances of code-switching in the discourse of all five participants at varying levels. Findings also reveal a variety of conversational and educational purposes triggering code-switching by the participants. Despite the fact that the findings revealed in this paper are solely thought to be relevant to CS among English language instructors in Egyptian universities, they can be further applied to other classroom discourses and in other EFL settings.

This paper attempts to investigate the extent to which linguistic misinformation via social networking platforms affects an attitudinal shift on the part of Saudis in terms of the social, political, and religious issues propagated by the various social networks. This study delves into the verbal and nonverbal linguistic strategies employed to influence the cognitive background of Saudis as well as their ideological beliefs in a way that targets a shift in their attitudinal behavior, socially, politically, and religiously. The paper analytically covers two linguistic dimensions of using language to influence others, either persuasively or manipulatively: the lexical level, which focuses on the lexical choices of particular words that serve to create a specific attitudinal shift in the recipients’ personalities, and the pragmatic level, which constitutes the intended meaning of speakers or writers that lies beyond the surface propositional meaning of the linguistic expression. To achieve its objective, the paper draws on two analytical strands: critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the social cognitive theory (SCT). The paper has three main findings: first, language is a rhetorical device for influencing the public’s political, social, and religious views, and, therefore, the rhetorical power of the word significantly contributes to attitudes shift; second, misinformation propagated via social networks influences the attitudinal behavior of recipients, particularly at the social level; and, third, social platforms are ideology conduits via which various meanings targeting attitudes shift are communicated.