English allows for consonant sequences at the beginning of words, which poses a challenge for speakers of other languages, especially those whose native languages do not contain such sequences, such as Arabic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate students’ recognition and production of initial consecutive consonants in relation to gender, and the significance of the statistical differences between students in recognition and pronunciation of consecutive consonants. Consequently, a cohort of fifty-two Iraqi college students (18 males and 34 females) were selected as a sample. A multiple-choice test of two phases was used as a research instrument. The results showed that females outperformed males in recognizing and producing consonant sequences. Notably, the findings revealed that students' performance in recognizing initial consonant sequences was significantly higher than their performance in producing. In addition, the results indicate statistically significant differences in favor of females in both recognition and pronunciation. The study's findings highlight the importance of focusing on both recognition and production in educational contexts and developing teaching strategies that support both skills. Finally, the research reveals how students' linguistic background, such as the absence of initial consonant sequences in Arabic, can impact their performance in English
The interest in pre-service teacher training has become influential in teaching English as a foreign language, and the purpose of this training course is to prepare qualified teachers to teach effectively through the application of this technique by undergraduate students. This research aims to find out the effect of using the seven principles of good practice as a teaching technique on the fourth stage student-teachers’ performance at the College of Education for Women/University of Baghdad, during the academic year 2017-2018. The sample includes (60) students selected according to the stratified sampling method. The observational checklist used by the department to assess the student teachers’ performance during the practicum perio
... Show MoreIraqi EFL teachers face problems in teaching “English for Iraq Series” for primary public school pupils. In this paper, the researchers are going to identify the main problems faced by our teachers and try to find solutions to these problems. To achieve the aim of the study, list of questions asked and from teachers’ responses, the researchers have got an idea about the main problems which are related to textbook material, parents, learners, environment and technology. Therefore, the researchers adapted a questionnaire to achieve the purpose of the study with some changes and modifications. This questionnaire with five point scale (strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, strongly disagree). To achieve face validity, the
... Show MoreMany undergraduate learners at English departments who study English as a foreign language are unable to speak and use language correctly in their post -graduate careers. This problem can be attributed to certain difficulties, which they faced throughout their education years that hinder their endeavors to learn. Therefore, this study aims to discover the main difficulties faced by EFL students in language learning and test the difficulty variable according to gender and college variables then find suitable solutions for enhancing learning. A questionnaire with 15 items and 5 scales were used to help in discovering the difficulties. The questionnaire was distributed to the selected sample of study wh
... Show MoreUnderstanding breaking news necessitates a special attention, since they are written with a special style. The study aims at identifying the difficulties faced by the Iraqi university EFL learners in comprehending English breaking news. The study included 10 fourth year students enrolled at the Department of English, College of Education for Humanities, University of Anbar. Thus, a questionnaire as a research instrument, was sent online to the students. The questionnaire points were related to the identification of difficulties faced by the learners in comprehending English breaking news. The data of the study were (10) headlines selected purposively from Euronews website. The data were qualitatively analyzed based on quantifying the qua
... Show MoreFor over a decade, educational technology has been used sparingly in our schools and universities. Online training courses have been used since 2003 to fill the gaps in our learning system and to add extra program besides classroom learning. This paper aims to investigate the Iraqi EFL instructors’ participating in online training courses and its influence on the process of teaching and learning.
The sample of present study consists of 30 instructors from University of Baghdad. The questionnaire of sixteen items was constructed. After ensuring validity and reliability of questionnaire, it was applied on March 2013 and the result shows that most of instructors improve their teaching methods b
... Show MoreLearning a foreign language is a highly interactive process, and a belief that communicative activities foster a great amount of linguistic production provides language practice and opportunities for negotiation of meaning during communicative exchanges. Thus, this study examines what benefits learner-centered classroom setting offers compared with that of teacher–centered classroom, and how less proficient learners accomplish their tasks and activities with scaffolded help during interaction with the help of proficient classmates and under the guidance of a skilful person, i.e., the teacher. The subjects participating in this study are 30 Iraqi 4th year college students in the Department of English, College of Arts , Univer
... Show MoreLiterature on the use of the first-person pronoun in abstracts and conclusion sections of final-year projects is limited. In case of Algerian Master students, it is too scant. The present paper aims at filling this gap through a study concerned with students’ and engagement in their final projects (memoirs). This quantitative study examines the use of “we” and its various types, “our- us-I, my, the researcher” in memoirs chosen at random from the d-space portal of the University of Adrar, southern Algeria. Sixty-five papers, submitted in the fields of Linguistics or didactics between 2015 and 2020 and representing nearly half of the whole memoirs’ depository at the library’s d-space, constituted the corpus of study. The des
... Show MoreEuphemisms are advantageous in people’s social life by turning sensitive into a more acceptable ones so that resentful feelings and embarrassment can be avoided. This study investigates the ability of Iraqi English learners in using euphemistic expressions, meanwhile, raising their awareness and the faculty members in English teaching faculties regarding the relevance of discussing the topics that demand euphemisation. This study comprised three stages: initial test, explicit instruction with activities, and a final test for the students’ development in this domain. A test has been distributed among 50 respondents, who are at the fourth year of their undergraduate study at the University of Babylon/ College of Basic Education. The lo
... Show MoreThis study investigates the phonotactics of English obstruent clusters in the word-final position from a markedness theory perspective among Iraqi EFL College Students whose native language, Arabic, prefers only two-member word-final obstruent cluster as a maximum. The markedness of clusters is measured depending on Iraqi EFL College Students’ utilization of the simplification strategies. This study tries to answer whether or not word-final obstruent clusters are marked or unmarked for Iraqi EFL College Students, and whether or not the markedness of the obstruent cluster increases as to its length. In order to answer these questions, a test has been distributed among 60 Iraqi EFL Fourth-Year College students, Department of English, Colleg
... Show MoreWithin connected speech, RP speakers tend to shorten stressed long vowels end diphthongs in pre. Forties consonants in the same syllable on the basis of complementary Distribution, i.e., the phonological environment decides the influence of the forties plosives and fricatives, as far as they are in find position preceded by stressed long vowels and diphthongs, or particular voiced consonants plus vowels. The Iraqi learners, then, face.