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Sayed M. Mousa

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Papers by Sayed M. Mousa

Probing into the influence of EFL learners’ self-assessment and evaluation apprehension in predicting their personal best goals and self-efficacy skills: a structural equation modeling

Language Testing in Asia

Effective instruction and assessment are greatly affected by many factors. The ever-growing liter... more Effective instruction and assessment are greatly affected by many factors. The ever-growing literature on assessment outlined some cognitive, social, and emotional factors that directly or indirectly influence the learners’ academic achievement. In spite of the rosy literature on assessment, the possible interplay among the Core of Self-assessment (CSA), the Student Evaluation Apprehension (SEA), the Personal Best Goal (PBG), and Self-efficacy (SE) were untouched. To this end, this study intended to propose a model to disclose the association between CSA, SEA, PBG, and SE in higher education. Therefore, the Core of Self-assessment Questionnaire (CSAQ), the Student Evaluation Apprehension Scale (SEAS), the Personal Best Goal Scale (PBGS), and the Self-efficacy Scale (SES) were administered to 467 Iranian EFL university students at MA level. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that CSA and SEA can contribute to PBG and SE...

Modeling the impact of L2 grit on EFL learners’ core of self-assessment and foreign language anxiety

Language Testing in Asia

Learners’ personality traits and self-assessment have an essential role in their academic achieve... more Learners’ personality traits and self-assessment have an essential role in their academic achievement and the well-being of society. Although L2 grit and the core of self-assessment (CSA) have attracted considerable attention in educational research, few studies have focused on the impact of L2 grit on boosting CSA and managing foreign language anxiety (FLA). Drawing upon this existing research gap, the present study set forth to test a structural model of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university learners’ L2 grit, CSA, and FLA. The language-domain-specific grit scale (LDSGS), the core of self-assessments questionnaire (CSAQ), and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) were administered to 418 Iranian EFL university learners. The findings of structural equation modeling (SEM) reflected the contributions of L2 grit and CSA to overcoming language learners’ experienced anxiety. Furthermore, the significant influence of EFL learners’ CSA on FLA was concluded. The imp...

Social media and academic success: Impacts of using telegram on foreign language motivation, foreign language anxiety, and attitude toward learning among EFL learners

Frontiers in Psychology

Concerning the ubiquity of social media, this research tried to examine the impacts of using Tele... more Concerning the ubiquity of social media, this research tried to examine the impacts of using Telegram on Iranian EFL learners’ foreign language motivation, foreign language anxiety, and attitude toward learning. To achieve these purposes, 60 Iranian EFL learners at the intermediate level were selected and randomly divided into two groups: experimental and control. After that, both groups were pretested on motivation and anxiety variables. After pretesting, the participants in the experimental class received treatment via using the Telegram application, and the control students were trained traditionally without using any social media. After an 18-session instruction, a post-test of motivation and a post-test of anxiety were given to both groups, and also an attitude questionnaire was distributed among the experimental group to inspect their attitudes toward the Telegram application in language learning. The results of using two one-way ANCOVA tests showed significant differences bet...

Academic Procrastination Behavior among Public University Students

Education Research International

Academic procrastination among university students is a common problem. The authors examined the ... more Academic procrastination among university students is a common problem. The authors examined the prevalence, reasons, areas, and effects of academic procrastination in selected higher education institutions in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia. We also examined whether academic procrastination varied with respect to the institutional category and gender of the student. 323 students sampled from three universities, using a stratified sampling technique, completed the questionnaire. In a concurrent mixed-methods study, both qualitative and quantitative data are integrated starting from data collection through conclusion. The results indicate that nearly 80 percent of the students are procrastinators to varying degrees, of which half always procrastinate due to poor time management skills, lack of planning for academic activities, laziness, and stress. The results also showed that procrastination happens irrespective of gender and institutional realities and results in not only academic fail...

An Investigation of EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Retention and Recall in a Technology-Based Instructional Environment: Focusing on Digital Games

Education Research International, May 5, 2022

Using digital games in language learning is beneficial, but their effectiveness in the Bangladesh... more Using digital games in language learning is beneficial, but their effectiveness in the Bangladeshi EFL context has been overlooked. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of playing digital games on Bangladeshi EFL learners' ability to remember and retain the language. The Oxford Quick Placement Test was given to 78 Bangladeshi English as foreign language students. Based on the findings, 50 primary school pupils were selected based on the convenient sampling method as the study's target group for further investigation. Afterward, they were separated into two groups: one for the experiment and another for the CG. After that, all subjects were subjected to pretesting, and then, the therapy was administered. The EG was educated by the researcher via the use of digital games. The participants in the EG were taught English vocabulary via the use of a computerized game, which they found entertaining. On the other hand, the students of the CG received a traditional vocabulary teaching. After teaching 90 vocabulary in nine sessions, an immediate vocabulary posttest was conducted on both groups to determine the treatment's possible effects on their vocabulary recall. Three weeks later, a delayed posttest was given to the participants to examine the effect of digital games on their vocabulary retention. The results of paired samples and independent sample t-tests showed that there was a significant difference between the immediate and delayed posttests of the EG and CGs in favor of the EG. The EG outperformed the CG both on the immediate and delayed posttests. This study has some implications for teaching and learning vocabulary.

Edward Said's Concept of Critcisim: A Strategy for a Value System

Looking deeply into Edward Said's diverse writings, one might feel confused as to classify hi... more Looking deeply into Edward Said's diverse writings, one might feel confused as to classify his works under the rubric of culture, politics, history, anthropology, or even literary criticism. Thus, Said's critics launched their critique into him as anti-theory writer of paradoxical and ambivalent identity, synthesized due to early Diaspora. Hence, the author attempts to reveal dusty and blurred vision laid over both his identity and his works via psychological, cultural and hermeneutical understanding of identity and his works. Indeed, judging whether Said has a theory in literary criticism or not necessitate us to read his works as an integrated work and to have his humanistic concept of the world as a referential frame work and starting point for his critical venture. Reading Said's works as one unified work, the author get to the idea that there is invisible but felt thread that links amongst his diverse works, which is the pursuit of idealistic truth. Such thread cons...

A Comparative Study of Pejoration in English and Egyptian Vernacular Arabic from a Historical-Sociolinguistic Approach

Education Research International

Pejoration is an under-researched topic in the Arabic language. This study intends to examine pej... more Pejoration is an under-researched topic in the Arabic language. This study intends to examine pejoration in Egyptian Arabic, as well as its domains and causes. The study employs a socio-semantic approach for pursuing in-depth investigations of pejoration in Egyptian Arabic. Pejoration was contextually traced with the purpose of revealing how contextual realities, including historical, social, cultural, and even ethical norms, could contribute to the pejorative meaning of given linguistic expressions. The present used a mixed methodology combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. It has been discovered that pejoration in Egyptian Arabic has fallen into several domains such as morphological, prosodic, lexical, metaphorical, and pragmatic through conversational implicature and through slurs. The metaphorical extension of meaning has largely influenced the pejoration process in Egyptian Arabic, and it was found to be high in lexical items charged with sexual connotations. Nouns ...

An Account of EFL Learners’ Grammatical Knowledge and Motivation toward Learning in an Online Instructional Environment

Education Research International, Mar 24, 2022

The current research was an attempt to compare the impacts of online English language learning an... more The current research was an attempt to compare the impacts of online English language learning and face-to-face English language learning on Iranian EFL learners' grammatical knowledge and their learning motivation. To this end, the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) was given to 81 Iranian EFL students, and 50 of them who were at the intermediate level were selected as the participants of the study. Then, they were randomly divided into two groups; one experimental group (EG) (n = 25) and one control group (CG) (n = 25). After that, both groups were pretested by a grammar test and a motivation questionnaire. After pretesting, the participants of the EG received the treatment through online instruction. On the other hand, the participants of the CG were taught the grammatical points through a face-to-face instruction. At the end of the treatment, both groups took the posttest of grammar and motivation. The EG outperformed the CG on both the grammar and motivation posttests, according to the findings of paired and independent samples t-tests. Implementing online instruction assisted Iranian EFL learners to enhance their grammatical knowledge and increase their learning motivation. The implications of this research can encourage teachers to use online learning methods in their classes.

The Dilemma of Information Management and Decision Science in the Virtual World: A Study of the Disclosure of the Social Networking Sites Psychological & Manipulative Techniques and the Intellectual Security of Arab Mind

Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences, 2021

The dilemma of information management and decision science in the virtual world: A study of the d... more

Embodiment of Caged Women in Marginalised Black Community: A Study on Maya Angelous Poetry

Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 2021

Maya Angelou had often been identified with the "Caged Bird" of her poems. A victim of male patri... more Maya Angelou had often been identified with the "Caged Bird" of her poems. A victim of male patriarchal society and belonging to the racially, marginalised black community, her life had been one of pain; and suffering. Angelou's flair for poetry became her saving grace and gave her the much needed therapeutic support. According to Greek mythology, the Philomela or the nightingale is a song bird that sings of woes and anguish in full throated melody. As the legend goes this rather nondescript bird had been a beautiful girl by name, Philomela.

Reading Digital Texts vs. Reading Printed Texts: Which One Is More Effective in Iranian EFL Context?

Education Research International, 2022

Considering the development of technology in the current era, the present research aimed at inves... more Considering the development of technology in the current era, the present research aimed at investigating the effects of reading digital texts vs. reading printed texts on developing Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) was administered to 93 language learners, and 60 of them whose level was intermediate were selected. Then, they were assigned to two groups: one CG and one EG. After grouping the participants, a reading pretest was administered to gauge the participants’ reading comprehension before conducting the treatment. After that, ten digital texts in the format of PDF with their audio files were instructed to the EG. On the other hand, the same texts were taught to the CG in a printed format. After teaching all texts, a reading posttest was administered to both groups to measure the effects of the treatment on their reading comprehension. The gained data were analyzed using paired samples and independent ...

Revisiting Creative Teaching Approach in Saudi EFL Classes: Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspective

World Journal of English Language, 2022

The present study aims to address the aspects of similarities and differences between the traditi... more The present study aims to address the aspects of similarities and differences between the traditional and the creative teaching approaches in the Saudi EFL context by providing a comparative critical review of literature about the current teaching approaches. The study adopts a comparative critical approach that employs critical comparison to assess, critique, and synthesize the literature on a research topic in a way that enables new theoretical frameworks and perspectives to emerge. It also critically compares the previous studies dealing with creativity in teaching English as a Foreign Language with those dealing with traditional teaching approaches to explore the impediments of the application of the creative teaching approach to teaching English in a Saudi environment. The study has found that the previous studies on creativity and teaching English as a foreign language are in short of a clear understanding of how creativity can be used as an effective teaching approach and the...

Intercultural Understanding When Translating the Concept of Jihād Into English

This paper attempts to shed insight onto the significance of the intercultural and interreligious... more This paper attempts to shed insight onto the significance of the intercultural and interreligious understanding when translating the jihād concept. Religious concepts like jihād, are an intriguing area of research. Understanding and translating these religious concepts is shaped by the translator’s presuppositions. The translator cannot be detached from these presuppositions, consciously or unconsciously, because they are constituted by the narratives of his culture. He is embedded in these narratives and his understanding and translation has largely been shaped by them. As such, the translator must choose the best targeted English word or words to translate jihād. That choice, however, has its own conception and presuppositions on this issue. Therefore, the idea of intercultural and interreligious dialogue has become essential when translating religious concepts like jihād because it draws the attention of the translator to counter-narratives. This awakening informs him of discrepa...

A Semantic and Sociolinguistic Study of Pejoration in Egyptian Arabic

Airborne contaminants from viral pathogens, biological weapons, wildfires, industrial accidents, ... more Airborne contaminants from viral pathogens, biological weapons, wildfires, industrial accidents, and other sources present a complex policy and technology challenge for the public sector health and safety. During the global pandemic that began in early 2020, indoor air quality has become a focal point for companies and communities who seek affordable, technically sound processes to evaluate and mitigate threats to air quality in their work environments. This paper provides an overview of methods derived from observations of more than 190 scientific experiments to evaluate indoor air quality effects from wearing face masks and in public transportation vehicles. The methods can be adapted for locally administered indoor air quality programs, including high-risk environments such as nursing homes, schools, office areas, and public transportation. The approach follows an Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) hazards-control process and includes surveys, analysis and decisions based on science and mitigation selection, as well as a detailed description of implementing reduced-cost field testing.

Intercultural Understanding When Translating the Concept of Jihād Into English

This paper attempts to shed insight onto the significance of the intercultural and interreligious... more This paper attempts to shed insight onto the significance of the intercultural and interreligious understanding when translating the jihād concept. Religious concepts like jihād, are an intriguing area of research. Understanding and translating these religious concepts is shaped by the translator’s presuppositions. The translator cannot be detached from these presuppositions, consciously or unconsciously, because they are constituted by the narratives of his culture. He is embedded in these narratives and his understanding and translation has largely been shaped by them. As such, the translator must choose the best targeted English word or words to translate jihād. That choice, however, has its own conception and presuppositions on this issue. Therefore, the idea of intercultural and interreligious dialogue has become essential when translating religious concepts like jihād because it draws the attention of the translator to counter-narratives. This awakening informs him of discrepa...

University students' perception of how informal education influences cultural security: A Saudi institution experience

International Journal of ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES, 2020

This article reports a study conducted on Saudi university students, including both males and fem... more This article reports a study conducted on Saudi university students, including both males and females. The study used a 21 items questionnaire that aims to elicit students' responses regarding social security and to what extent formal education could affect their perception of cultural security. These questions are designed to check the students' perception and understanding of culture and cultural security within the Saudi context and they also aim to show how Saudi society could influence and shape many cultural and ideological concepts adopted by Saudi university students. Other questions were written in the questionnaire in order to elicit students' views on the role of informal education in enhancing their concept of cultural security, as the idea of informal education is subsumed under small categories like social, media, religious and family categories. After analyzing their views and responses to the questions of the questionnaire, it was revealed that both males and females agreed on defining culture as 'a scientific and academic knowledge' and a representation of 'social and family values' which construct the 'identity of individuals'. However, there has been a salient contrast between males and females regarding the role of culture. Females disagreed with the assumption that culture helps people 'to appreciate modern art'.

The Implications of Online Translation Courses on Instructors’ Philosophy of Teaching

Arab World English Journal, 2019

The paper aims to shed more insights into the impact of online learning on the philosophy of teac... more The paper aims to shed more insights into the impact of online learning on the philosophy of teaching online translation courses. It starts from the premise that online translation courses have peculiar epistemological and pedagogical characteristics which differ from those available in conventional teaching settings. The traditional styles of teaching translation courses have generally focused on linguistic competence and translation and interpreting skills with a little focus on the increasing demands and changing conditions of the translation industry. In spite of the effectiveness of online translation courses in addressing the needs of both translation students and labor market in terms of offering diverse programs and courses including computer-assisted translation tools, subtitling, document management, and localization software, different challenges remain unresolved. These challenges can be attributed to different factors including the lack of a reliable philosophy of teaching that addresses the peculiar epistemological and pedagogical characteristics of online learning. In order to explore the role of philosophy of teaching in the effectiveness and quality of online translation courses, twenty seven online instructors were interviewed about their philosophy of teaching and strategies of addressing the online learning problems and challenges. It is suggested that instructors' unawareness about the peculiar nature of online learning and learners' needs has negative implications on students' achievement and online learning process in general. Online translation instructors are thus recommended to integrate different teaching philosophies in order to improve interaction with students, better understand their needs, and prepare them for the translation industry and labor market.

Translating Dialect Embedded in Najdi Proverbs Into English

Dialectologia, 2017

The study attempts to provide an insight into the problematic issues arising from translating dia... more The study attempts to provide an insight into the problematic issues arising from translating dialect embedded in common sayings and proverbs. It proposes solutions to the problems of translating dialects. Owing to the fact that dialect has a cultural singularity and social privacy, it is only understood by the people who use it in their daily life. Thus, when an Arab translator attempts to translate dialect, he will be faced by a wide spectrum of problematic issues. For example, he/she cannot understand the meaning of the dialectal words in the same source language. In addition, he will not be knowledgeable about the cultural, social, and historical factors that change the meaning of these words. In addition, dialect is a form of oral speech which is delivered from a generation to generation through daily life contact. Accordingly, many words are subject to rapid changes and other words can be corrupted and distorted. These issues represent a great challenge for translators working in such a field. Thus, the study attempts to provide a translation approach which may constitute a good starting point for dealing with such problems.

Frequency of Using Najdi Arabic Words Among Saudi College Male Students

International Journal of English Linguistics, 2019

The study of dialects may be subsumed under the very broad rubric of colloquialism which comes at... more The study of dialects may be subsumed under the very broad rubric of colloquialism which comes at the bottom of the formality versus informality scale. We focus on the Najd dialect perception, as the central dialect in Saudi Arabia, among Saudi male college students. By conducting two experiments, questionnaires and follow-up semi-structured interviews, on 137 male students, user-based frequencies of the topper 50 Najdi words are generated. The second phase aims at semantically categorizing the topper content words so that conclusions can be drawn about the inclination of using Najdi words among the college students. Results show that the categorization of the retrieved 50 Najdi words, according to the part of speech, demonstrates that the most applauded Najdi Arabic words are verbs and adjectives. Synonyms are even retrievable from this method of compilation. Nouns are the most resistant part of speech at the morphological level.

Ethics and Semantic Change in Saudi Colloquial Speech

International Journal of English Linguistics, 2019

The paper aims to provide insights onto the relationship between ethics and semantic change and h... more The paper aims to provide insights onto the relationship between ethics and semantic change and how ethics could change the semantic values through tracing the historical development in meaning of selected lexical items in Saudi colloquial speech. The study starts from the hypothesis that there is a reciprocal connection between ethics and semantic change. It seeks to examine whether the common ethical values could result into changing the peripheral meaning of lexical items. In order to obtain more accurate and precise results about the effect of the ethics on the semantic shift in Saudi Arabic, the study applies a qualitative methodology through which it conducts an interview with more than thirty Saudi male and female belonging to different ages and different cultural backgrounds in order to get their feedback and response about their understanding of a set of chosen lexical items. The study has reached the finding that the common ethical values dominating a society can reshape t...