Iraqi EFL Research Articles

Iraqi EFL Students Perceptions towards the Integration of E-Learning into the Instructional Design

Iraqi EFL Students Perceptions towards the Integration of E-Learning into the Instructional Design

Exploring Evaluation Language in the Conclusion chapter of MA Dissertations: Analyzing of Iraqi EFL Learners' Writings

One of the most important functions of language for writers is to communicate their opinions or thoughts about people or things. Thus, in academic writing, a writer must be able to use evaluative and interactive language. In this study, we focus on the use of evaluative language, appraisals, in academic writings that were conducted by Iraqi EFL writers, as captured by appraisal theory (Martin & White 2005). We are interested in how those writers express evaluative meanings in their work. This study focuses on Attitude, one of the three subsystems of the Appraisal Theory. The results showed that Iraqi writers used more Appreciation resources than Judgment and Affect. This fact informs us that those writers chose to reveal less personal feelings and avoid clear ethical or moral evaluation.

Using Self-regulated strategy of development in Teaching writing for Iraqi EFL University Students

Self-Regulated Strategy of Development (SRSD) is an intervention designed to improve students' academic skills through a six-step process that teaches students specific academic strategies and self-regulation skills (mention them here). When it comes to writing, self-regulation allows students to manage tasks and monitor progress (also called self-monitoring), among other key skills. There are many ways to use strategy instruction to help students improve their writing skills in English.

Factors Influencing Comprehension of Metaphors in Academic Reading Texts among Iraqi EFL Learners

Metaphor is recognized as a valuable tool for analysis and as a means to effectively convey meaning. Although metaphor is supposed to be used to effectively convey meaning, learners of English, particularly those in the foreign language context, often have difficulty comprehending metaphors in academic text. The current study aims to contribute to understand deeply of the influencing factors on metaphor comprehension among Iraqi EFL learners when they read academic texts. The study draws on Steen’s (2010) MIPVU model and Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory to identify and analyze the metaphorical expressions. The data for the study were collected from two academic reading comprehension texts. Five Iraqi EFL university learners participated in determining the metaphors contained in the texts. The findings revealed that authors of academic texts often incorporate a wide range of metaphorical expressions. These expressions can vary in their familiarity, ranging from very familiar to less familiar and even unfamiliar, to engage readers’ cognitive processes and facilitate the conceptualization of the metaphor. The findings revealed that the factors influencing metaphor comprehension are varied and that they are of two broad types: external factors related to cultural and social considerations, and internal factors related to linguistic and educational settings. The findings could enable practitioners to devise more effective approaches for teaching metaphor comprehension to EFL learners.

The Relationship between Willingness to Communicate in English and Psychological Adjustment of Iraqi EFL Learners

The current research aims to examine the willingness to communicate and psychological adjustment of Iraqi EFL undergraduate students. To achieve the main aim, a sample of 100 male and female Iraqis’ undergraduate students studying English as a foreign language was chosen randomly from two different public colleges in Baghdad city for the academic year 2023-2024. Two scales have five Likert alternatives of 17 and 16 items developed by McCroskey & Richmond (1990) and Wais (2010), respectively were administered to the research sample to collect the needed data. The results revealed that Iraqi EFL undergraduate students have a willingness to communicate in the English language. Iraqi EFL undergraduate students have a good level of psychological adjustment. There is no statistically significant difference in the willingness to communicate between male and female students. There is no significant difference in psychological adjustment between male and female students, as for students’ willingness to communicate and psychological adjustment relationship, a positive correlation is proved. It implies that the more psychological adjustment a student experiences in the learning environment, the more students have a willingness to communicate in the English language. The researcher recommended creating a very encouraging educational environment would motivate language learners to communicate more.

The Effect of Using Cooperative Learning Strategies on Learning Grammar by Iraqi EFL Learners

The Effect of Using Cooperative Learning Strategies on Learning Grammar by Iraqi EFL Learners

Investigating the Grammatical and Lexical Coherence in Essay Writing by Iraqi EFL College Students

As the system of Arabic language is totally different from English, writing in English is considered a problematic issue for the Arab students including the Iraqi students as well. However, this problem can extend to university levels. Writing essays include not only writing correct sentences, but entail coherence in writing related to lexis, grammar and joining ideas in a coherent way. So, this article investigates the use of the grammar and lexical coherence in writing essays by Iraqi students at university level. This study is a primary data analysis of the responses obtained by two questionnaires set for the students and teachers. The study involves fifty students selected randomly from the third grade of Department of English at the College of Arts of University of Thi-Qar in Iraq. The students' answers and writing in essays are analyzed thoroughly to give the main findings. The analysis of the other questionnaire given to twenty teachers of the Departments of English of University of Thi-Qar comes in accordance with the results of the first questionnaire which set for the students and confirms the findings of the paper. The study reveals that Iraqi students have a good theoretical knowledge about types of essays and essay writings as well as conjunctions and coherence devices, yet they are weak in applying these devices in writing.

The Role of Using Chunks on Iraqi EFL University Students' Performance in Conversation

The current study aims at investigating the role of using chunks on EFL university students performance in conversation and sentential level in posttest and finding out whether there is any significant difference between the achievement of the experimental group in the pre and post-test. This study is hypothesized that ,there is no statistically significant difference between the mean score of the experimental group which taught according to chunks activity and control group which is taught by the conventional method in the post-test. The second hypothesis is that there is no statistical significant difference among the mean scores of the experimental group in post-test. The third hypothesis is that there is no significant difference between the mean scores of students' experimental group achievement in the pre and posttest. The sample of the current study consists of (120) students of third class. They are derived from Collage for Woman in Tikrit University during academic year (2022-2023). They are divided into two groups. Group A which has been randomly chosen as an experimental group and B have been chosen as a control group, each group consists of 60 students. Both groups have been equalized in many variables which are fathers and mothers' educational level, their age, their scores at the previous year, and pretest for both groups. Both groups have been equalized in many variables which are fathers and mothers' educational level, Pupils age, their scores at the previous year, and pretest for both groups. The experiment has lasted for six weeks and the researcher has taught the two groups in the first course of the year(2022-2023)to analyze data that obtained from students' posttests. To fulfill the aims of this study, an experiment has been designed. The two groups have been taught the same instructional material , for a period of six weeks. The experimental group has been taught according to chunks activity while the control group has been taught according to the traditional way. An achievement test has been constructed , validated, and applied to the two involved groups .The required data has been collected and analyzed statistically . Results indicate that there is a statistical significance difference in mean scores of the experimental group who taught according to chunks activity and the control group who is taught by using traditional method. This indicates that using chunks effective than using traditional method. Finally, the study ends with some conclusions, recommendation and suggestions for further studies..

Iraqi EFL University Students' Level in Reading Comprehension

This study aims to find out the level of Iraqi EFL university students' in reading comprehension through: Finding out Iraqi EFL university students’ level in reading comprehension. Finding out whether there are any significant differences between the achievement of the experimental group and that of the control group in the post-test. The following hypotheses have been posited to achieve the aims of the research. 1- The average level of the students’ achievement in the post-test within the theoretical mean scores of achievements in reading comprehension. 2.There are no statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the experimental group’s achievements and that of control group in the post-test. To verify the hypotheses of this study, a sample of sixty male and female students who represent 17% of its original population have been randomly selected from the second year of Basic Education collage in Mosul university .The sample is divided into two equal groups, i.e. the experimental and the control groups, both groups are equalized in their ages, parents’ academic attainment, and students’ scores in the pretest. An achievement test of twenty questions has been constructed, validated, and applied to the two groups . The collected data have been statistically analyzed and the main results are as follows: Iraqi EFL students` level in Reading Comprehension is within the average level. There are statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the experimental group’s achievements and that of control group in the post-test.

Creativity and its Correlation with Writing Report Texts

This research explores the correlation between creativity and writing report texts among EFL university students at Tikrit University. A quantitative research design is adopted to measure the degree of association between creativity and writing report texts. Using a correlation analysis. A sample of 100 third year college students is randomly selected from the population. Data collection involves two diagnostic tests the first one is to asses creativity and the second diagnostic test is to asses writing report text. Tests are scored based on predefined scoring schemes. The results of the correlation analysis utilizing person correlation coefficient, reveal that there is a correlation coefficient between Iraqi EFL University students' creativity and writing report texts.

Investigating the Textual Competence of Iraqi EFL University Students' Abilities in Essay Writing

Textual competence is important for an efficient writer because it concerned with coherence and rhetorical organization. The present research aims to identify, Iraqi University students' textual competence in writing an essay at Tikrit university ; Iraqi University students' knowledge about cohesion and rhetorical organization in writing an essay at Tikrit university and finally the difficulty in using textual competence among Iraq university students according to gender variable at Tikrit university. The sample consists of 160 Iraqi university students at forth stage in the department of English, College of Education for humanities at Tikrit University during the academic year 2023-2024. An achievement test is used to gather the data about students' textual competence in writing an essay. Results show that university students have high level textual competence than the theoretical mean score , also university students have a higher level in cohesion than the rhetorical organization finally, male students is better than female in their abilities in writing an essay.

Iraqi EFL learners' and Teachers' Perception of Difficulties in the Production of Diphthongs Compared to Actual Performance

Iraqi EFL learners' and Teachers' Perception of Difficulties in the Production of Diphthongs Compared to Actual Performance

Using Infographics as An Educational Technology Tool in EFL Writing: University of Baghdad Case Study

Infographics have the capability to organize and display information in a way that is easy for viewers to retrieve and make observations. While infographics have been successful in various fields, their potential benefits in composition writing have not been explored. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the perspectives of Iraqi EFL students who used infographics as an educational technology tool in composition writing, and to identify how gender influences students’ performance when using infographics in EFL writing classes. The significance of this study lies in its integration of infographics as an educational technology tool for teaching writing, aligning with the current trend of technology integration in education and meeting the demands of the 21st century. A pre-tests, post-tests, and questionnaires have been used to collect data. The questionnaire consisted of 28 close-ended items structured on a Likert rating scale, with responses ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. The responses were analyzed using Google Sheets and SPSS software for quantitative analysis. The conclusions indicate that a significant proportion of students consider using infographics to promote cooperative learning and teamwork. Furthermore, these results showed significant gender differences, with female students using infographics more frequently than male students. This demonstrates the substantial interest among women in utilizing technology in learning, highlighting the potential for investment in English language skills development and educational technology. Finally, it is recommended to incorporate infographics into teaching practices across disciplines to enhance students’ learning experiences and foster essential skills required in the 21st century.

Iraqi EFL university students' word recognition strategies and vocabulary proficiency: A correlational study

Word recognition is a cognitive activity widely acknowledged as a hallmark of fluent L2 readers. Understanding a text can only be accomplished with the ability to decode printed words efficiently. Another factor affecting students' comprehension is vocabulary. Therefore, this research aims to investigate whether there is any significant relationship between word recognition strategies and vocabulary knowledge among Iraqi university students. This study made use of four instruments to collect the data. A comprehensive framework for evaluating students' vocabulary proficiency consists of two tests: one measures the reception and production of vocabulary information and the other assesses orthographic coding and phonological decoding procedures. The results show that the respondents use both strategies to an average degree with over-reliance on the orthographic one in recognizing English words by employing a descriptive correlational research design with 400 respondents. Furthermore, a positive relationship was observed between word recognition strategies and vocabulary proficiency.

The Impact of Using Fishbowl Strategy to Enhance Creative Imagination in Writing Skill for Iraqi EFL College Students

This study aims at investigating the impact of using fishbowl strategy to enhance creative imagination in writing skill for Iraqi EFL college students. To achieve the aim of the present study , the following hypothesis has been put : There is no statistically significant differences at (á≤0.05) between the mean scores of the experimental group who is taught creative imagination in writing according to Fishbowl strategy and that of the control group who is taught according to the traditional way in the post test of writing. Thus , an experiment design was adopted . The sample of the study was Purposive sample consisted of 90 students from 2nd year class\ English department \college of basic education\ University of Diyala (45 students as an experimental group which are taught writing by the use of the Fishbowl strategy and 45 students as a control group which are taught writing according to the traditional way during the academic year 2021 -2022). Meanwhile, the subjects of both groups are matched according to their age, level of parents’ education , and their scores in the writing skill at the pre-test. Writing test ( pre& post ) have been designed and the validity of the tests have been obtained by exposing them to jury members in the fields of EFL and linguistics. The reliability of the tests has been secured by using Alfa Cronbach formula found to be (0.86) which indicates high reliability. Statistical analysis of data achieved through using the t-test indicates that there are statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the two groups in favour of the experimental group in the post test .
 The researcher concludes that using Fishbowl strategy enhances students’ creative imagination in writing , and provides them opportunities to actively develop writing skills. That enable them to locate, gather, analyze, critique and apply information in a wide range of contexts as they develop understanding and the researcher suggests to use it to make another study for other stages and other subjects .

The Correlation of Iraqi EFL Preparatory School Teachers' Language Awareness, and Classroom Language Proficiency

Education is critical to a nation's growth because it develops the mind of the individual to be a useful member. Reform of education has a central role in nation development. It should include teaching the students how to think of themselves and to have confidence in their knowledge. This requires highly respected and motivated teachers who have language awareness and they have good level in language proficiency .Teachers must be kept abreast of new teaching methodologies, scientific breakthroughs and literary master pieces. The purpose of this study is to finding out the level of Iraqi EFL preparatory school teachers' language awareness and classroom language proficiency. In addition, to improving the correlational relationship between teachers' language awareness and teachers' classroom language proficiency . To achieve the aim of the present study, a sample of (250)Iraqi EFL preparatory school teachers randomly chosen from the general directorates of education in Baghdad .The instruments of this study are a questionnaire has been constructed for measuring EFL preparatory school teachers' language awareness and the second tool is the EFL teachers' classroom English proficiency Scale. The main findings show that it is statistically significant and the sample has a satisfactory level of language awareness. Moreover, the results indicate a positive correlation between EFL teachers' level of language awareness and their use of classroom language proficiency .

"An Investigation of the Hierarchy of Realization of English Idiomatic Phraseology by Iraqi Learners of EFL

هنالك العديد من التراكيب الاصطلاحية التي تُعَد من المشكلات الرئيسة لمتعلمي اللغة الإنكليزية بوصفها لغة أجنبية. وكذلك التراكيب التعبيرية كمصطلح عام والأفعال المركبة بشكلٍ خاص والتي هي إحدى أشكال تلك التعابير الاصطلاحية ولا يمكننا إنكار حقيقة أن المتعلمين للغة الإنكليزية بوصفها لغة أجنبية يجدون صعوبة في فهم واستخدام تلك التراكيب التعبيرية، وهذا الأمر يقودهم إلى تجنب استخدام تلك التراكيب. تهدف الدراسة الحالية إلى التعرّف إلى أي مدى يستطيع المتعلمون العراقيون للغة الإنكليزية تمييز وإنتاج التراكيب التعبيرية الاصطلاحية كمشكلة من المشكلات التي يواجهها هؤلاء المتعلمون، كما تهدف هذهِ الدراسة إلى معرفة فيما إذا كانت تلك التراكيب التعبيرية تتدرج في صعوبتها خلال المراحل الأربع في الكلية. ولقد أفتُرِض انه هنالك بعض الفروق الإحصائية بين المتعلمين للمراحل الأربع في قسم اللغة الإنكليزية في جامعة تكريت/ كلية التربية للبنات. طبّق الاختبار على 100 طالبة في كلية التربية للبنات/ جامعة تكريت. تقع الدراسة بجزئين رئيسين، يهتم الجزء الأول بالجانب النظري المتمثل باصطلاحات فضلًا عن التراكيب التعبيرية، تعاريفها، أنواعها، وبعض خصائصها, كما يشتمل على التداخل الحاصل بين المصطلحين. بينما يعني الجزء الثاني من هذه الدراسة بالإجراءات الإحصائية المتبعة من الباحثتين. تشير الاستنتاجات بأنه ليس بالضرورة أن تتطور اللغة بشكل مستمر، وكما يبدو فأن بعض الاصطلاحات التعبيرية لا تتطور بينما البعض تتقدم نحوه. وفي نهاية البحث، ضمّنت الباحثتان هذه الدراسة عدداً من الاستنتاجات والتوصيات والمقترحات.

COVID-19 and Advice Speech Act: A Syntactic-Pragmatic Study

Advising is a significant activity in a number of organizational health settings, including face-to-face counseling and the dissemination of information via pamphlets, posters, television, and Internet. Health-related advice includes anything from medicine to stopping smoking, getting immunized, and modifying one's diet. A strange sickness initially manifested itself in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. This disease spread rapidly over the world and was eventually named coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Due to the disease's global expansion, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a pandemic, which indicates that it is spreading among individuals in a large number of nations, resulting in mortality. In early May, the WHO announced that more than 200 thousand individuals had died. The situation is worse, as the number of reported cases continues to rise daily. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the language of acts and advising actions, as well as the right method of advising. The advising act verbs and COVID-19 can be investigated syntactically and pragmatically. There is an effective function for advice speeches in relation to COVID-19 announcements and advice. Additionally, there is a strong correlation between the number of mistakes and accuracy in the eight questions across the eight groups. The study's findings indicate that Iraqi students do not follow health recommendations supplied by foreign health organizations. Concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO is one of the leaders capable of effectively managing its concerns and taking proactive measures to contain the disease by issuing directives addressing the viruses as contagious agents. By including these characteristics of syntactic-pragmatic advising acts, these sorts of actions may be comprehended and executed by everyone in any scenario when speaking. Iraqi EFL learners had an unsatisfactory performance evaluation result as a result of inadequate teaching of PV in connection with public advice during the COVID-19 epidemic.

تأثير الكفاءة الاستراتيجية على محادثات طلاب الجامعات العراقية في مجال اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية

Conversation is the most fundamental means we have of interacting with others. Through conversation, people share information, form relationships, solve problems, and accomplish a multitude of everyday goals. Thus, writing and speaking are one of the more traditional aspects of effective communication.
 Strategic competence is one of the competencies that contribute in communicative competence. It is the ability to convey information to a listener and correctly interpret information received. It includes the use of communication strategies to solve problems that arise in the process of conveying the information.
 Thus, the current study aims to evaluate EFL students' conversational performance in accordance to competence in the written and spoken conversation. In order to accomplish these objectives, the following research questions are formulate: Is there statistical significance in strategic competence as a general dimension between university students' performances at Tikrit and Samarra universities? Is there statistical significance among Iraqi EFL university students' conversational performances in strategic competence at both spoken and written levels? To achieve these research questions, the following aims are posed: Identify and compare influences of strategic competence on Iraqi EFL university students' conversational performance between two universities (Tikrit and Samarra). Moreover, Identify and compare strategic competence levels in spoken and written acts between the two universities (Tikrit and Samarra).
 Conversation is the most fundamental means we have of interacting with others. Through conversation, people share information, form relationships, solve problems, and accomplish a multitude of everyday goals. Thus, writing and speaking are one of the more traditional aspects of effective communication.
 Strategic competence is one of the competencies that contribute in communicative competence. It is the ability to convey information to a listener and correctly interpret information received. It includes the use of communication strategies to solve problems that arise in the process of conveying the information.
 Thus, the current study aims to evaluate EFL students' conversational performance in accordance to competence in the written and spoken conversation. In order to accomplish these objectives, the following research questions are formulate: Is there statistical significance in strategic competence as a general dimension between university students' performances at Tikrit and Samarra universities? Is there statistical significance among Iraqi EFL university students' conversational performances in strategic competence at both spoken and written levels? To achieve these research questions, the following aims are posed: Identify and compare influences of strategic competence on Iraqi EFL university students' conversational performance between two universities

The Perceptions of Iraqi EFL Preparatory School Teachers about Literature Spots in Iraqi English textbooks

The Perceptions of Iraqi EFL Preparatory School Teachers about Literature Spots in Iraqi English textbooks