Papers by Dr.Intisar S A L E H A H M E D Albondoq
Children’s literature is one of the recent fields in translation studies. It seems easy to be inv... more Children’s literature is one of the recent fields in translation studies. It seems easy to be involved in it at first, but it is what we call an abstaining plain. This research aims to explore the revised Hous’s Model (1997) at the language/text level. In addition, it aims to find out the type of translation followed by identity and whether an experienced translator is needed to convey, effectively, children's literature to the target audience. Content analysis was used as a data collection instrument qualitatively using the House Model 1997. The findings of the research revealed that the short story ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ fulfills the expectations of House Model 1997 successfully. Overtly translation is the type of translation that has been followed. The translator Fahd Al-Saidi conveyed the meaning to the target audience(children) without changing the inherent of the story or the tone of it. Based on the findings of the research, the following recommendations were made; in the translation of children’s literature texts, the language/text level of the child should be taken into consideration. Text culture should be considered the target audience, so children’s literature text should be translated by an experienced translator to produce a qualified translation.
Children’s literature is one of the recent fields in translation studies. It seems easy to be inv... more Children’s literature is one of the recent fields in translation studies. It seems easy to be involved in it at first, but it is what we call an abstaining plain. This research aims to explore the revised Hous’s Model (1997) at the language/text level. In addition, it aims to find out the type of translation followed by identity and whether an experienced translator is needed to convey, effectively, children's literature to the target audience. Content analysis was used as a data collection instrument qualitatively using the House Model 1997. The findings of the research revealed that the short story ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ fulfills the expectations of House Model 1997 successfully. Overtly translation is the type of translation that has been followed. The translator Fahd Al-Saidi conveyed the meaning to the target audience(children) without changing the inherent of the story or the tone of it. Based on the findings of the research, the following recommendations were made; in the translation of children’s literature texts, the language/text level of the child should be taken into consideration. Text culture should be considered the target audience, so children’s literature text should be translated by an experienced translator to produce a qualified translation.
As ideology presents significant difficulties and challenges throughout the translation process, ... more As ideology presents significant difficulties and challenges throughout the translation process, it has been the focus of numerous studies by a variety of researchers. When translating in political contexts, taking ideology into account has the potential to result in errors and can highlight the balance of power from a particular perspective. Thus, the present study aims to identify the political expressions that refer to the ideology of the agency news in translating political texts related to the war in Yemen. It also aims to identify the translation strategies used to manipulate political texts ideologically and to reveal the extent of the influence of ideology in translating political texts.
The data, which are three political texts (English and Arabic versions) about the war in Yemen, are collected from three different news agencies (Yemen post, South 24 news, and BBC news). To achieve the research objectives, the data are collected from this three different news with different ideologies as a purposive sample. Therefore, the qualitative research design has been utilized in the present study and accordingly the samples has been analyzed qualitatively. Hence, content analysis has been implemented and the model of Vinay and Darblent (1995) has been adopted for the purposes of this study.
As one of the results of the present study, it is found that each translator used some different political expressions which express the ideology of his/her news agency. The results also identified that modulation was the most strategy that was used by the translators during the process of translation of three political texts. Based on the results of this study, the translators adopted certain strategies in order to be appropriate with the ideology of the news agency that he /she works for. In addition, it is found that there was a significant function/role of the ideologies of the three news agencies in the translation process of the selected political texts. Consequently, based on the research results, some recommendations have been provided to help translators, news agencies, and researchers in the field of political translation.
This quantitative study investigated the topic of washback, drawing language educators' and asses... more This quantitative study investigated the topic of washback, drawing language educators' and assessors' attention to the irreducible importance of feedback for learners. Besides discussing key concepts such as language testing, feedback, washback, and backwash, it investigated the washback effects on (a) developing students' language skills and motivation and (b) teachers' techniques and materials. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 42 English language teachers and 200 students in two departments of English and Translation at the Faculty of Languages and Translation, University of Aden in Yemen. Findings revealed positive effects of washback on the (a) development of students' language skills, abilities, and motivation and (b) teaching techniques and materials. The study generally showed that the faculty members, because of academic loads, only sometimes give their students individual feedback on areas of weakness, and they believe they should not shoulder this burden alone. This provides an amalgam of ideas for more effective teacher-made test washback, considering the teaching loads and training on tests and washback and their effects on learning and teaching English in an Arab context.
Electronic journal of University of Aden for humanity and social sciences, Sep 29, 2021
The new trends in language testing towards the effect of testing in language learning and teachin... more The new trends in language testing towards the effect of testing in language learning and teaching helped in emerging a new concept ''washback'' or ''backwash'' to reflect the vital role that tests play, positively or negatively, in language learning and teaching. This study aims to investigate the washback effect of Yemeni General Secondary School Certificate English Examination (YGSSCEE) on teachers' teaching practices and classroom testing. The research methodology was quantitative approach design. Interview was used as a research instrument. The population of this study was 21 of English language teachers at Yemeni secondary schools namely: Aden, Abyan and Lahj. The study used purposive sampling method. The findings of the study revealed that teachers' teaching practices and classroom testing were, negatively, influenced by YGSSCEE. Most of the teachers used grammar translation method instead of implementation of communicative language teaching that was emphasized by Crescent English Course 6 for Yemen (CEC6Ym). Most of the teachers adapted the classroom tests from the past YGSSCEE papers. Reading, writing and grammar were given more emphasis; while listening skill was totally skipped in language teaching and testing. Most of the teachers considered the YGSSCEE as a role model in language teaching and testing in classrooms.
Many researchers emphasize that learners' performance in L2 is influenced by the
language that ... more Many researchers emphasize that learners' performance in L2 is influenced by the
language that she/he already knows. This study aims to investigate the effect of the
absence of the auxiliary verb (be) in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) on English
language learning.
For collecting the data, three procedures were used: i) the error correction task, ii) the
multiple-choice test and iii) the translation test. It was hypothesized that since the
auxiliary verb 'be' is absent in MSA, students face difficulties in the use of the different
forms of be in progressive tenses, present perfect progressive tense and passive voice.
Thus they fall back on Arabic and :
i) omit the different forms of be: am, is, are, was, were and be in the formation of the
progressive tenses.
ii) omit been in the formation of the present perfect progressive tense.
iii) omit the eight forms of be : am, is, are, was, were, be, been and being in the
formation of the passive voice.
Second year students at Faculty of Education-Zingibar were the subjects of the study.
They were 45 students selected randomly.
For the sake of test reliability, the simple frequency count method was used for
analyzing the data. In addition, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used as a statistical
procedure to find out the correlation coefficient between test and retest. The findings of the study have revealed that:
1. The absence of the auxiliary verb be in MSA has negative effect on English language
learning.
2. The subjects face difficulties in the use of the different forms of be in the passive
voice, progressive tenses and the present perfect progressive tense. Thus, they resort to
their mother tongue (MT) and omit them in their writings.
3. The students face difficulties in the use of be in passive voice more than in
progressive tenses.
4. The students use word-for-word translation as a communication strategy to express
the meaning in English when they face difficulties in the use of be.
Some pedagogical implications such as noticing certain structures and using contrastive
teaching were suggested for this study. To cover the different topics involved in this
work, the study was grouped into five chapters.
A number of studies in the field of language testing emphasized the vital
role of an achievement... more A number of studies in the field of language testing emphasized the vital
role of an achievement test positively or negatively on English language teaching and
learning (washback). The study sets out to analyze the test papers of the teachers at the
Faculty of Languages and Translation, University of Aden/Yemen, collect data on
teachers' attitudes toward designing and administrating tests, investigate the kind of
washback do teacher-made achievement tests have on students, investigate the kind of
washback do teacher-made achievement tests on teachers and investigate the extent to
what teacher-related factors play a role in washback.
This study focused on the utilization of quantitative research approach.
Triangulation was employed through conducting three data collection instruments:
documents analysis, teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire. Evaluation
Checklist, which adapted from previous studies, was used to analyze 32 teachers' test
papers. In addition, the researcher conducted the wider population sampling.
Accordingly, 42 questionnaires were distributed to 42 teachers. The total number of the
third year students in the two departments is 477. Therefore, the researcher depended on
the attendance sheet by which (50) students were selected randomly from each group of
the two departments: English (Business) and Translation. In the case of this study, the
inter-rater reliability was conducted for documents analysis using Spearman-Brown
Coefficient. While the internal reliabilities were employed to the questionnaires’ items
using Cronbach’s Alpha.
The findings of the study have revealed that he results of the test papers analysis (documents analysis) have revealed that
teacher-made achievement tests had the criterion of test reliability while they had
not the criteria of test validity and test authenticity.
The results of the teacher questionnaire have revealed that in designing tests,
teachers always consider: identifying the target language skills and/ abilities,
determining number of test items, medium and time, determining test
techniques/types of questions and determining scoring procedures. Whereas other
teachers sometimes consider: describing test purpose (s), determining test topics and
specifying criteria for success. In administrating tests, the majority of teachers
expressed their agreement ''strongly agree'' to consider preparing the place of
testing, arrangement of testing materials and equipment and determining the time of
testing. Similarly, other teachers expressed their agreement ''agree'' to consider the
preparation of the physical conditions in administrating tests. However; giving clear
written/oral instructions and reading the instructions of test questions had lower
percentages.
The results of questionnaires: student and teacher questionnaire have revealed that
there was a positive washback '' agree'' of teacher-made tests on the development of
students' language skills and abilities and students' motivation. However, most of the
students expressed their disagreement to that teachers write notes on their midsemester test papers. Moreover, the results of students questionnaire have revealed that
the texts that were used for listening and reading tests were not authentic in the way
that encounter their needs as Translation and Business English students.
The results of teacher questionnaire have revealed that there was a positive washback
of teacher-made tests on teachers' teaching techniques, teaching materials and the use of test-taking strategies. After conducting a test, however; more than half of the teachers
rarely gave the students feedback on areas they were weak in to help them improve in
future.
The results of teacher questionnaire have revealed that teachers' beliefs played a role
in washabck. However, more than half of the teachers expressed their disagreement to
that they have enough background knowledge on various testing techniques. While a
high majority of the teachers (38 out of 39) expressed their disagreement to that they
have enough background knowledge on the essential requirements for designing good
tests namely test reliability, test validity and test authenticity. With regard to the role
of teachers' teaching experiences in washback, the results of teacher questionnaire and
documents analysis have revealed that teachers' teaching experiences did not play a
vital role in washback.
Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that:
language testing and assessment course should be incorporated in the syllabus of
teacher training programme for the undergraduate students of B.A. at English
language departments/ Faculties of Education, University of Aden.
Faculty of Languages should execute remedial workshops for teachers to train them
on English language testing and assessment .
For promoting a positive washback of achievement tests, teachers should use testtaking strategies.
More focus should be on test content validity. Heads of departments should execute
a remedial work for teachers by creating a continuous and systematic evaluation
involving distribution of an execution sheet of the course contents on the prescribed
time as well as observation of classroom practices.
EJUA-HS Vol. 2 No. 3 (2021) h, 2021
The new trends in language testing towards the effect of testing in language learning and teachin... more The new trends in language testing towards the effect of testing in language learning and teaching helped in emerging a new concept ''washback'' or ''backwash'' to reflect the vital role that tests play, positively or negatively, in language learning and teaching. This study aims to investigate the washback effect of Yemeni General Secondary School Certificate English Examination (YGSSCEE) on teachers' teaching practices and classroom testing. The research methodology was quantitative approach design. Interview was used as a research instrument. The population of this study was 21 of English language teachers at Yemeni secondary schools namely: Aden, Abyan and Lahj. The study used purposive sampling method. The findings of the study revealed that teachers' teaching practices and classroom testing were, negatively, influenced by YGSSCEE. Most of the teachers used grammar translation method instead of implementation of communicative language teaching that was emphasized by Crescent English Course 6 for Yemen (CEC6Ym). Most of the teachers adapted the classroom tests from the past YGSSCEE papers. Reading, writing and grammar were given more emphasis; while listening skill was totally skipped in language teaching and testing. Most of the teachers considered the YGSSCEE as a role model in language teaching and testing in classrooms.
International Journal of English and Education, 2021
Teachers' questions and questioning techniques play an important role in classroom interaction, e... more Teachers' questions and questioning techniques play an important role in classroom interaction, especially in the 21st century in which learners and the development of their thinking skills become the center of the teaching and learning process. This study aims to investigate teachers' questions types and questioning techniques in classroom interaction at the Department of English, Faculty of Languages and Translation, University of Aden. The research methodology was quantitative approach design. Classroom observation checklist (structured observation) was used to collect numerical data. The population of this study was 10 of teachers at the Department of English, Faculty of Languages and Translation, University of Aden.. The simple frequency count method was used for analyzing data. The findings of the study revealed that convergent question is the type of teacher's question that was used in classroom interaction. It got the highest percentages (100%) while procedural question was used (80%) and divergent question was used (40%). Using positive promoting technique got the highest percentage (90%). Using wait time technique, using positive reinforcement technique and avoiding negative reinforcers technique were used (70%) while avoiding teachers' faviortism technique was used (50%).
G-jets, 2017
Abstract
Many researchers emphasized that textbooks are the stronger tool to transmit and trans... more Abstract
Many researchers emphasized that textbooks are the stronger tool to transmit and transform
values and beliefs of society to the learner. This research is a critical study which aims at
investigating gender bias in Crescent English Course for Yemen-Pupil’s Book 2 to determine
how gender is represented, there are four different categories:1) occurrence of female and
male characters in pictures and texts, 2) leisure time activities and family activities and
responsibilities, 3) occupations 4) analysis of a text. The selected textbook is Pupil’s Book 2
that is designed to pupils in adolescence period. The simple frequency count method was
used for analyzing the data. The findings of the study have revealed that:1) there is gender
bias in the occurrence of female and male characters in illustrations(pictures) and texts.
2)there is gender bias in not only in the active roles of males but also their dominance over
females in leisure time activities, family activities and responsibilities, occupations and
analysis of a text.
Global Journal of English and Translation Studies, 2021
The study sets out to analyse the cognitive levels of reading questions in
teacher-made achievem... more The study sets out to analyse the cognitive levels of reading questions in
teacher-made achievement tests that were designed for preparatory year
students, first year students and second year students at Faculty of Languages
and Translation/ University of Aden with reference to revised Bloom's
Taxonomy. The simple frequency count method was used for analysing data.
Friedman test was used to determine if there is, statistically, a difference (0.05)
in the means of lower- and higher- level questions in the preparatory year, first
academic year and second academic year. The findings of the study revealed
that lower- level questions: ' remembering' and 'understanding' were dominant
cognitive levels in the three study stages: preparatory year, first academic year
and second academic year, while 'applying' had been noticed in the teachers'
test papers of the second academic year. The majority of teachers' reading
questions lacked the use of higher-level thinking namely 'creating', while
'evaluating' (28.572%) had been noticed only in teacher-made reading tests of
the first academic year. The results obtained from Friedman test revealed that
the mean difference was not significant at (0.05) between the three study stages
to the lower- and higher- levels of reading questions.
Conference Presentations by Dr.Intisar S A L E H A H M E D Albondoq
Teaching Documents by Dr.Intisar S A L E H A H M E D Albondoq
Polysystem theory is defined by Even-Zohar as: a multiple system, a system of various systems whi... more Polysystem theory is defined by Even-Zohar as: a multiple system, a system of various systems which intersect with each other and partly overlap, using concurrently different options, yet functioning as one structured whole, whose members are interdependent.
Uploads
Papers by Dr.Intisar S A L E H A H M E D Albondoq
The data, which are three political texts (English and Arabic versions) about the war in Yemen, are collected from three different news agencies (Yemen post, South 24 news, and BBC news). To achieve the research objectives, the data are collected from this three different news with different ideologies as a purposive sample. Therefore, the qualitative research design has been utilized in the present study and accordingly the samples has been analyzed qualitatively. Hence, content analysis has been implemented and the model of Vinay and Darblent (1995) has been adopted for the purposes of this study.
As one of the results of the present study, it is found that each translator used some different political expressions which express the ideology of his/her news agency. The results also identified that modulation was the most strategy that was used by the translators during the process of translation of three political texts. Based on the results of this study, the translators adopted certain strategies in order to be appropriate with the ideology of the news agency that he /she works for. In addition, it is found that there was a significant function/role of the ideologies of the three news agencies in the translation process of the selected political texts. Consequently, based on the research results, some recommendations have been provided to help translators, news agencies, and researchers in the field of political translation.
language that she/he already knows. This study aims to investigate the effect of the
absence of the auxiliary verb (be) in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) on English
language learning.
For collecting the data, three procedures were used: i) the error correction task, ii) the
multiple-choice test and iii) the translation test. It was hypothesized that since the
auxiliary verb 'be' is absent in MSA, students face difficulties in the use of the different
forms of be in progressive tenses, present perfect progressive tense and passive voice.
Thus they fall back on Arabic and :
i) omit the different forms of be: am, is, are, was, were and be in the formation of the
progressive tenses.
ii) omit been in the formation of the present perfect progressive tense.
iii) omit the eight forms of be : am, is, are, was, were, be, been and being in the
formation of the passive voice.
Second year students at Faculty of Education-Zingibar were the subjects of the study.
They were 45 students selected randomly.
For the sake of test reliability, the simple frequency count method was used for
analyzing the data. In addition, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used as a statistical
procedure to find out the correlation coefficient between test and retest. The findings of the study have revealed that:
1. The absence of the auxiliary verb be in MSA has negative effect on English language
learning.
2. The subjects face difficulties in the use of the different forms of be in the passive
voice, progressive tenses and the present perfect progressive tense. Thus, they resort to
their mother tongue (MT) and omit them in their writings.
3. The students face difficulties in the use of be in passive voice more than in
progressive tenses.
4. The students use word-for-word translation as a communication strategy to express
the meaning in English when they face difficulties in the use of be.
Some pedagogical implications such as noticing certain structures and using contrastive
teaching were suggested for this study. To cover the different topics involved in this
work, the study was grouped into five chapters.
role of an achievement test positively or negatively on English language teaching and
learning (washback). The study sets out to analyze the test papers of the teachers at the
Faculty of Languages and Translation, University of Aden/Yemen, collect data on
teachers' attitudes toward designing and administrating tests, investigate the kind of
washback do teacher-made achievement tests have on students, investigate the kind of
washback do teacher-made achievement tests on teachers and investigate the extent to
what teacher-related factors play a role in washback.
This study focused on the utilization of quantitative research approach.
Triangulation was employed through conducting three data collection instruments:
documents analysis, teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire. Evaluation
Checklist, which adapted from previous studies, was used to analyze 32 teachers' test
papers. In addition, the researcher conducted the wider population sampling.
Accordingly, 42 questionnaires were distributed to 42 teachers. The total number of the
third year students in the two departments is 477. Therefore, the researcher depended on
the attendance sheet by which (50) students were selected randomly from each group of
the two departments: English (Business) and Translation. In the case of this study, the
inter-rater reliability was conducted for documents analysis using Spearman-Brown
Coefficient. While the internal reliabilities were employed to the questionnaires’ items
using Cronbach’s Alpha.
The findings of the study have revealed that he results of the test papers analysis (documents analysis) have revealed that
teacher-made achievement tests had the criterion of test reliability while they had
not the criteria of test validity and test authenticity.
The results of the teacher questionnaire have revealed that in designing tests,
teachers always consider: identifying the target language skills and/ abilities,
determining number of test items, medium and time, determining test
techniques/types of questions and determining scoring procedures. Whereas other
teachers sometimes consider: describing test purpose (s), determining test topics and
specifying criteria for success. In administrating tests, the majority of teachers
expressed their agreement ''strongly agree'' to consider preparing the place of
testing, arrangement of testing materials and equipment and determining the time of
testing. Similarly, other teachers expressed their agreement ''agree'' to consider the
preparation of the physical conditions in administrating tests. However; giving clear
written/oral instructions and reading the instructions of test questions had lower
percentages.
The results of questionnaires: student and teacher questionnaire have revealed that
there was a positive washback '' agree'' of teacher-made tests on the development of
students' language skills and abilities and students' motivation. However, most of the
students expressed their disagreement to that teachers write notes on their midsemester test papers. Moreover, the results of students questionnaire have revealed that
the texts that were used for listening and reading tests were not authentic in the way
that encounter their needs as Translation and Business English students.
The results of teacher questionnaire have revealed that there was a positive washback
of teacher-made tests on teachers' teaching techniques, teaching materials and the use of test-taking strategies. After conducting a test, however; more than half of the teachers
rarely gave the students feedback on areas they were weak in to help them improve in
future.
The results of teacher questionnaire have revealed that teachers' beliefs played a role
in washabck. However, more than half of the teachers expressed their disagreement to
that they have enough background knowledge on various testing techniques. While a
high majority of the teachers (38 out of 39) expressed their disagreement to that they
have enough background knowledge on the essential requirements for designing good
tests namely test reliability, test validity and test authenticity. With regard to the role
of teachers' teaching experiences in washback, the results of teacher questionnaire and
documents analysis have revealed that teachers' teaching experiences did not play a
vital role in washback.
Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that:
language testing and assessment course should be incorporated in the syllabus of
teacher training programme for the undergraduate students of B.A. at English
language departments/ Faculties of Education, University of Aden.
Faculty of Languages should execute remedial workshops for teachers to train them
on English language testing and assessment .
For promoting a positive washback of achievement tests, teachers should use testtaking strategies.
More focus should be on test content validity. Heads of departments should execute
a remedial work for teachers by creating a continuous and systematic evaluation
involving distribution of an execution sheet of the course contents on the prescribed
time as well as observation of classroom practices.
Many researchers emphasized that textbooks are the stronger tool to transmit and transform
values and beliefs of society to the learner. This research is a critical study which aims at
investigating gender bias in Crescent English Course for Yemen-Pupil’s Book 2 to determine
how gender is represented, there are four different categories:1) occurrence of female and
male characters in pictures and texts, 2) leisure time activities and family activities and
responsibilities, 3) occupations 4) analysis of a text. The selected textbook is Pupil’s Book 2
that is designed to pupils in adolescence period. The simple frequency count method was
used for analyzing the data. The findings of the study have revealed that:1) there is gender
bias in the occurrence of female and male characters in illustrations(pictures) and texts.
2)there is gender bias in not only in the active roles of males but also their dominance over
females in leisure time activities, family activities and responsibilities, occupations and
analysis of a text.
teacher-made achievement tests that were designed for preparatory year
students, first year students and second year students at Faculty of Languages
and Translation/ University of Aden with reference to revised Bloom's
Taxonomy. The simple frequency count method was used for analysing data.
Friedman test was used to determine if there is, statistically, a difference (0.05)
in the means of lower- and higher- level questions in the preparatory year, first
academic year and second academic year. The findings of the study revealed
that lower- level questions: ' remembering' and 'understanding' were dominant
cognitive levels in the three study stages: preparatory year, first academic year
and second academic year, while 'applying' had been noticed in the teachers'
test papers of the second academic year. The majority of teachers' reading
questions lacked the use of higher-level thinking namely 'creating', while
'evaluating' (28.572%) had been noticed only in teacher-made reading tests of
the first academic year. The results obtained from Friedman test revealed that
the mean difference was not significant at (0.05) between the three study stages
to the lower- and higher- levels of reading questions.
Conference Presentations by Dr.Intisar S A L E H A H M E D Albondoq
Teaching Documents by Dr.Intisar S A L E H A H M E D Albondoq
The data, which are three political texts (English and Arabic versions) about the war in Yemen, are collected from three different news agencies (Yemen post, South 24 news, and BBC news). To achieve the research objectives, the data are collected from this three different news with different ideologies as a purposive sample. Therefore, the qualitative research design has been utilized in the present study and accordingly the samples has been analyzed qualitatively. Hence, content analysis has been implemented and the model of Vinay and Darblent (1995) has been adopted for the purposes of this study.
As one of the results of the present study, it is found that each translator used some different political expressions which express the ideology of his/her news agency. The results also identified that modulation was the most strategy that was used by the translators during the process of translation of three political texts. Based on the results of this study, the translators adopted certain strategies in order to be appropriate with the ideology of the news agency that he /she works for. In addition, it is found that there was a significant function/role of the ideologies of the three news agencies in the translation process of the selected political texts. Consequently, based on the research results, some recommendations have been provided to help translators, news agencies, and researchers in the field of political translation.
language that she/he already knows. This study aims to investigate the effect of the
absence of the auxiliary verb (be) in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) on English
language learning.
For collecting the data, three procedures were used: i) the error correction task, ii) the
multiple-choice test and iii) the translation test. It was hypothesized that since the
auxiliary verb 'be' is absent in MSA, students face difficulties in the use of the different
forms of be in progressive tenses, present perfect progressive tense and passive voice.
Thus they fall back on Arabic and :
i) omit the different forms of be: am, is, are, was, were and be in the formation of the
progressive tenses.
ii) omit been in the formation of the present perfect progressive tense.
iii) omit the eight forms of be : am, is, are, was, were, be, been and being in the
formation of the passive voice.
Second year students at Faculty of Education-Zingibar were the subjects of the study.
They were 45 students selected randomly.
For the sake of test reliability, the simple frequency count method was used for
analyzing the data. In addition, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used as a statistical
procedure to find out the correlation coefficient between test and retest. The findings of the study have revealed that:
1. The absence of the auxiliary verb be in MSA has negative effect on English language
learning.
2. The subjects face difficulties in the use of the different forms of be in the passive
voice, progressive tenses and the present perfect progressive tense. Thus, they resort to
their mother tongue (MT) and omit them in their writings.
3. The students face difficulties in the use of be in passive voice more than in
progressive tenses.
4. The students use word-for-word translation as a communication strategy to express
the meaning in English when they face difficulties in the use of be.
Some pedagogical implications such as noticing certain structures and using contrastive
teaching were suggested for this study. To cover the different topics involved in this
work, the study was grouped into five chapters.
role of an achievement test positively or negatively on English language teaching and
learning (washback). The study sets out to analyze the test papers of the teachers at the
Faculty of Languages and Translation, University of Aden/Yemen, collect data on
teachers' attitudes toward designing and administrating tests, investigate the kind of
washback do teacher-made achievement tests have on students, investigate the kind of
washback do teacher-made achievement tests on teachers and investigate the extent to
what teacher-related factors play a role in washback.
This study focused on the utilization of quantitative research approach.
Triangulation was employed through conducting three data collection instruments:
documents analysis, teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire. Evaluation
Checklist, which adapted from previous studies, was used to analyze 32 teachers' test
papers. In addition, the researcher conducted the wider population sampling.
Accordingly, 42 questionnaires were distributed to 42 teachers. The total number of the
third year students in the two departments is 477. Therefore, the researcher depended on
the attendance sheet by which (50) students were selected randomly from each group of
the two departments: English (Business) and Translation. In the case of this study, the
inter-rater reliability was conducted for documents analysis using Spearman-Brown
Coefficient. While the internal reliabilities were employed to the questionnaires’ items
using Cronbach’s Alpha.
The findings of the study have revealed that he results of the test papers analysis (documents analysis) have revealed that
teacher-made achievement tests had the criterion of test reliability while they had
not the criteria of test validity and test authenticity.
The results of the teacher questionnaire have revealed that in designing tests,
teachers always consider: identifying the target language skills and/ abilities,
determining number of test items, medium and time, determining test
techniques/types of questions and determining scoring procedures. Whereas other
teachers sometimes consider: describing test purpose (s), determining test topics and
specifying criteria for success. In administrating tests, the majority of teachers
expressed their agreement ''strongly agree'' to consider preparing the place of
testing, arrangement of testing materials and equipment and determining the time of
testing. Similarly, other teachers expressed their agreement ''agree'' to consider the
preparation of the physical conditions in administrating tests. However; giving clear
written/oral instructions and reading the instructions of test questions had lower
percentages.
The results of questionnaires: student and teacher questionnaire have revealed that
there was a positive washback '' agree'' of teacher-made tests on the development of
students' language skills and abilities and students' motivation. However, most of the
students expressed their disagreement to that teachers write notes on their midsemester test papers. Moreover, the results of students questionnaire have revealed that
the texts that were used for listening and reading tests were not authentic in the way
that encounter their needs as Translation and Business English students.
The results of teacher questionnaire have revealed that there was a positive washback
of teacher-made tests on teachers' teaching techniques, teaching materials and the use of test-taking strategies. After conducting a test, however; more than half of the teachers
rarely gave the students feedback on areas they were weak in to help them improve in
future.
The results of teacher questionnaire have revealed that teachers' beliefs played a role
in washabck. However, more than half of the teachers expressed their disagreement to
that they have enough background knowledge on various testing techniques. While a
high majority of the teachers (38 out of 39) expressed their disagreement to that they
have enough background knowledge on the essential requirements for designing good
tests namely test reliability, test validity and test authenticity. With regard to the role
of teachers' teaching experiences in washback, the results of teacher questionnaire and
documents analysis have revealed that teachers' teaching experiences did not play a
vital role in washback.
Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that:
language testing and assessment course should be incorporated in the syllabus of
teacher training programme for the undergraduate students of B.A. at English
language departments/ Faculties of Education, University of Aden.
Faculty of Languages should execute remedial workshops for teachers to train them
on English language testing and assessment .
For promoting a positive washback of achievement tests, teachers should use testtaking strategies.
More focus should be on test content validity. Heads of departments should execute
a remedial work for teachers by creating a continuous and systematic evaluation
involving distribution of an execution sheet of the course contents on the prescribed
time as well as observation of classroom practices.
Many researchers emphasized that textbooks are the stronger tool to transmit and transform
values and beliefs of society to the learner. This research is a critical study which aims at
investigating gender bias in Crescent English Course for Yemen-Pupil’s Book 2 to determine
how gender is represented, there are four different categories:1) occurrence of female and
male characters in pictures and texts, 2) leisure time activities and family activities and
responsibilities, 3) occupations 4) analysis of a text. The selected textbook is Pupil’s Book 2
that is designed to pupils in adolescence period. The simple frequency count method was
used for analyzing the data. The findings of the study have revealed that:1) there is gender
bias in the occurrence of female and male characters in illustrations(pictures) and texts.
2)there is gender bias in not only in the active roles of males but also their dominance over
females in leisure time activities, family activities and responsibilities, occupations and
analysis of a text.
teacher-made achievement tests that were designed for preparatory year
students, first year students and second year students at Faculty of Languages
and Translation/ University of Aden with reference to revised Bloom's
Taxonomy. The simple frequency count method was used for analysing data.
Friedman test was used to determine if there is, statistically, a difference (0.05)
in the means of lower- and higher- level questions in the preparatory year, first
academic year and second academic year. The findings of the study revealed
that lower- level questions: ' remembering' and 'understanding' were dominant
cognitive levels in the three study stages: preparatory year, first academic year
and second academic year, while 'applying' had been noticed in the teachers'
test papers of the second academic year. The majority of teachers' reading
questions lacked the use of higher-level thinking namely 'creating', while
'evaluating' (28.572%) had been noticed only in teacher-made reading tests of
the first academic year. The results obtained from Friedman test revealed that
the mean difference was not significant at (0.05) between the three study stages
to the lower- and higher- levels of reading questions.