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Translated Texts of the Qur’an (especially in English) have the benefit of being a major access source into the meanings of the Noble Qur’an especially for non-Arabic speakers. The focus of surveys and other studies conducted on this genre used to address issues related to the translators’ method, style, strategies and techniques aiming at evaluating and assessing the translation process itself (see for example Kidwai, 1987 , Khan 1997, Abdul-Raof, 2001 , Khalil 2005, to name but a few). Despite their crucial role in shaping human perception, cognitive meanings - resulted in the process of translating the Noble Qur’an - were not given enough attention. This study is devoted to investigating the construal of ‘Soul-Person’ dualism in three English Translated Texts of the Noble Qur’an (ETTQs); Pickthall (1930), Ali (1982) and the Reformists group (2007/2010). Based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory ( Lakoff and Johnson, 1980 ), with the support of Corpus Linguistics, a mixture of qualitative and quantitative method is utilized to analyze the data. The study shows two major different conceptualizations for ‘soul-person’ dualism. One construal emphasizes on the dualism of the (material) physical part of a person with its abstract (immaterial) counterpart ‘soul’ as ‘SOUL IS A PERSON’ with 116 instances in Pickthall and 176 instances in Ali ETTQs. Neglecting its counterpart ‘soul’, the other construal of PERSON IS A PHYSICAL ENTITY puts more emphasis on the physical portion of the ‘soul-person’ dualism in all instances in the Reformist ETTQ.

This preliminary study investigates the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives by adult Arab learners of English. The main question is to identify how Arabic language influences the acquisition of do-support. The influence of L2 proficiency level in the acquisition of do-support is also addressed. The study is conducted within the perspective of Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis and Differential Markedness Hypothesis. Do-support as a marked feature of English has received little or no attention in previous work on the acquisition of English as a second language by adult Arab learners. This study seeks to fill that gap by documenting the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives. To address these aims, a written production task, a multiple-choice task and a semi-structured interview were administered to 10 adult Arab learners of low and advanced English proficiency levels. The findings indicate that the role of Arabic is noted. While not the source of errors, it acts as a strategy that adult Arab learners use to dealing with limited L2 knowledge and the markedness of do-support, which is the main source of difficulty shown by adult Arab learners. The role of learners’ L1 is selective according to the learners’ perception of what is difficult or not. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between L2 proficiency level and the mastery of do-support in that high- proficiency learners outperform low-proficiency learners. It is recommended that future research examine the acquisition and markedness of do-support in the interlanguage of Arabic-speaking children.

In the Malaysian education system, attention is highly paid on reading words. Visual images are often treated as “decoration”, or are dismissed altogether (Kress & Leeuwen, 1996). Many local researchers (Saedah 1990, Bahiyah et al., 2008) have only analysed written texts to see how social practices deemed negative such as gender biasness are reflected in the words (lexical items) and linguistic structures. Currently, no systematic research has been undertaken in Malaysia to analyse visual images in English language school textbooks to study how visual images can reflect gender biasness. This research project addresses gender biasness found in visual images in school textbooks, i.e., the treatment of one gender over the other especially of women and girls. The project adopts three widely used approaches for analyzing visual images; content, socio semiotic and ethno-methodology analyses. This paper will however highlight its preliminary analysis focusing on image analysis based on participation, gender and representational meanings. Its aim is to identify the types of images and the representation of gender biasness and stereotyping found in the textbook. The preliminary findings should expose the sexism and gender biasness in the visual images of a sampled textbook; i.e. an English school textbook that is abound with visual images that sometimes, more so than written texts, can articulate more forcefully social and cultural meanings.

The study attempts to assess the awareness of morphemic knowledge among Iraqi high schoollearners in the domain of English Foreign Language (EFL) context. Two tests were employed in this study namely, “Morphological Relatedness Test (MRT)” and “Morphological Structure Test (MST)” adopted and adapted from Curinga (2014). These two tests are essential and crucial instruments employed to measure the students’ morphemic knowledge for this research. The students’ ability was measured by the two tests to reflect and manipulate morphologically complex derived words in English. Twenty Iraqi high schoolstudents were involved to achieve the purpose of the study. The study analysis disclosed that the participants accomplished poorly in both tests of MRT and MST. The findings also revealed that there was no significant difference between the students’ performance on MRT and MST. They were unable to reflect and manipulate efficiently. However, the students’ performance on reflective aspect was a little higher than manipulative aspect. It is true that Iraqi students are suffering from the phenomenon of the morphemic knowledge. They indeed need to be aware of the importance of the morphemic knowledge because this knowledge can drive to construct new words and deconstruct the complex words in addition to the reading comprehension.

This paper discusses the significance of learning and teaching culture as an inseparable part of language and invites language teachers to integrate cultural points into the syllabus of language programs. A learner may have a good command of grammar and lexicon, but have difficulty in comprehending the message. Understanding why communication is possible for certain readers but not for others can partly lie in the cultural shades of the words and events. For some nationalities, gestures, names, numbers, and colors are suggestive of ill manners, while in others, they are welcome. This study justifies the importance of including culture in the language teaching programs because familiarity with the cultural features of the target language people can help the learners see the world with open eyes and modify their attitude toward other cultures. This can generally enhance their tolerance not only as a language learner but also as a human being.

Learning a new language depends on so many factors such as learners, teachers, environment, purpose of learning or teaching, and more importantly textbooks. Textbooks are a key component in most language programs. For most teachers, textbooks provide the foundation for the content of lessons, the balance of the skills taught, as well as the kinds of language practice the students engage in during class activities. This paper aims to evaluate the authenticity of the Iranian English textbooks at high school level. It is based on Dougills’ textbook evaluation checklist. According to the feedback received from the teachers’ and the students’ responses, the home-made textbooks lack the authenticity of natural English in terms of content and presentation. They are short in the variety and attractiveness in the passages. The materials are not generally presented from the easy to hard order and they are mainly void of cultural and communicative points.