(Journal) Research Abstracts
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Mayyas, Mais B. (2017). the utility of blended learning in EFL reading and grammar: A case for Moodle. Teaching English with Technology, 7(3), 35-49. Available online at http://www.tewtjournal. Org.
This study examines the effect of Moodle-enhanced instruction on Jordanian EFL students’ reading comprehension and grammar performance. The study uses a quasi-experimental, pre-/post-test design. A purposeful sample of 32 students, enrolled in a language requirement course at a Jordanian state university, was randomly divided into an experimental group (n=17) and a control group (n=15). The former used blended learning in which Moodle supplemented in-class instruction whereas the latter used in-class instruction only. Using means, standard deviations, ANCOVA and MANCOVA, the analysis revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group (at α = 0.05) in both reading comprehension and grammar.
Keywords: EFL; grammar instruction; Moodle; reading comprehension
Bataineh, Ruba Fahmi, Al-Bzour, Wedad Khaled, & Baniabdelrahman, Abdallah A. (2017). On the teachability of communication strategies to Jordanian EFL beginners: Exploration and reflection. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching,4(3), 213-227. Available online at http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/ view/154/167.
This study examines the effect of communication strategy instruction on Jordanian EFL students’ oral performance and strategy use. Following a thorough content analysis of units 10- 13 of the prescribed Action Pack textbook, the instructional material was designed and implemented over a duration of eight weeks. A three-task oral pre-/ post-test, a communication strategies-based observation checklist, and a 10-item scoring rubric were used to collect data from a purposeful sample of 24 sixth-grade students. The (predominantly interactional) communication strategies of approximation, circumlocution, repetition, appeal for help, self-repair, appeal for confirmation, appeal for clarification, and guessing were targeted. The data analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, suggests that the utilization of communication strategies in language instruction both improves oral performance and increases strategy use.
Keywords: communication strategies, EFL, oral performance, strategy instruction
Bataineh, Ruba Fahmi and Alqatanani, Alaeddin Khaled (July 2017). The Effect of a Thinking Maps-Based Instructional Program on Jordanian EFL Tenth-Grade Students’ Critical Reading Skills. Asian EFL Journal, 101(2), 31-61.
As critical reading is a process of active reader involvement, learners interact with the author’s exposition and potentially construct conceptual understanding of its content, a process for which Thinking Maps® is a potential catalyst. This study examines the potential effect of an instructional program based on Thinking Maps® on Jordanian EFL tenth-grade students’ critical reading skills. It further probes the perceived effectiveness of Thinking Maps® in developing their critical reading skills. Both quantitative and qualitative data were sought by means of a pre-/post-test and a semi-structured interview. The findings reveal statistically significant differences in the students’ critical reading skills in favor of the experimental group. The qualitative analysis of the interview reveals that the participants perceived Thinking Maps® as highly effective. Some implications and recommendations for EFL practitioners and future researchers are put forth.
Keywords: Critical reading, EFL, Thinking Maps® (TMs)
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Salah, Na’em A. (Forthcoming, Dec. 2017). How Effective is Drama-Based Instruction in Improving Jordanian EFL Students’ Writing Performance? TESOL International Journal, 12(2),
Despite a plethora of research on the utility of drama in the foreign language classroom (e.g., Boudreaul, 2010; Gorjian, Moosavinia & Jabripour, 2010; Zafeiriadou, 2009; Ziltener, 2011), less research addresses its effect on skill development (e.g., Al-Rabadi & Bataineh, 2015; Bataineh, Al-Rabadi & Smadi, 2013). This study examines the potential effectiveness of drama in improving Jordanian EFL eighth-grade students' writing performance. A purposeful sample of two intact sections of 80 male students was selected from a secondary school in Irbid, Jordan. Using a quasi-experimental design, the two sections were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. The groups were pre-tested, treated, and post-tested. The instructional material comprised a story entitled The Boy from the Past from the students' own textbook, Action Pack 8. While the control group was taught per the guidelines of the Teacher's Book, the experimental group was taught a nine-week dramatization of the story, focusing on five aspects of writing (viz., thesis statement, unity, completeness and coherence, wording and cohesion, and organization). The findings reveal statistically significant differences in the students' performance on all five aspects in favor of the experimental group. The research concludes with relevant implications for writing instruction and teacher education.
Keywords: coherence; cohesion; drama; writing instruction
Al-Qeyam, Fatima Rasheed, Bataineh, Ruba Fahmi, and Smadi, Oqlah Mahmoud (2016). The Effect of Form-Focused Instruction on Learning and Retaining Pragmatic Knowledge among Jordanian EFL Tertiary-Level Learners. Journal of International Doctoral Research, 5(1), 28-50.
This study investigates the effect of form-focused instruction on Jordanian university students' learning and retention of pragmatic knowledge. The study adopts a quasi-experimental design. Forty-seven students of nursing attending an EFL course at Al Al-Bayt University, Jordan, were divided into an experimental group of twenty-seven students who received form-focused pragmatic instruction (viz. consciousness-raising and input enhancement tasks) on three speech acts (viz. apology, request, and suggestion) and a control group of twenty students who received instruction per the guidelines of the prescribed course book. Descriptive statistics, ANCOVA and paired-sample t-test were used to analyze the participants' scores on a pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test. The results showed that form-focused pragmatic instruction affects the learning and retention of pragmatic knowledge. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research.
Keywords: apology; form-focused instruction; request; suggestion
Bani Younes, Riyadh and Bataineh, Ruba F. (2016). To Dictogloss or not to Dictogloss: Potential Effects on Jordanian EFL Learners’ Writing Performance. Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies, 10(2), 45–63. Available online at: http://apples.jyu.fi/ ArticleFile/ download/728.
This study investigates the potential effect of a proposed Dictogloss-based program on Jordanian EFL tenth-grade teachers' writing instructional practices and on their students' overall writing performance. The participants were 20 Jordanian EFL teachers and 96 tenth-grade students selected from the public schools of AL-Kourah Directorate of Education in the second semester 2015/2016. The teachers were trained on both the theoretical and practical aspects of dictogloss. The students were divided into an experimental group (n=70) and a control group (n=26). The former was taught through dictogloss while the latter was taught per the guidelines of the Teacher's Book.
Descriptive statistics were used to compare percentages, means, and standard deviations of the teachers' performance on the one hand and that of students on the other. The findings revealed that the level of teachers' classroom instructional practices in writing was high on the three dimensions of the observation checklist, and that the teachers were reportedly highly satisfied with the content, method, and time of training as well as their interaction, motivation, and benefit. Moreover, statistically significant differences were found between the teachers' performance on the pre- and post- test, which can be attributed to the training. The findings further revealed statistically significant differences not only among the students of the experimental group on the pre- and post- test but also in the overall writing performance of the experimental and control groups, in favor of the former.
Keywords: dictogloss; instructional practices; Jordan; writing performance
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Obeiah, Salameh F. (2016). The Effect of Scaffolding and Portfolio Assessment on Jordanian EFL Learners’ Writing. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(1), 12-19. Available online at: http://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/viewFile/ 2643/ 1866.
This study examines the potential effect of scaffolding-based instruction and portfolio-based assessment on Jordanian EFL tenth grade students’ overall writing performance and their performance on the sub-skills of focus, development, organization, conventions and word choice. The study uses a quasi-experimental experimental/control group, pre-/post-test design. In the experimental group, 15 female tenth-grade students from the North-Eastern Badia Directorate of Education (Jordan) were taught to generate ideas, structure, draft, and edit their written pieces using agency scaffolding, the scaffolding principles of contextual support, continuity, intersubjectivity, flow, contingency and handover, and a slightly adapted version of Hamp-Lyons and Condon’s (2000) Portfolio Model of collection, selection and reflection. A control group of 28 students were instructed conventionally per the guidelines of the teacher’s book. Using descriptive statistics and ANCOVA to analyze the students’ scores on the pre- and the post-tests, the results showed that the group taught through scaffolding-based instruction and portfolio-based assessment outperformed the control group (at a≤ 0.05) in their overall writing performance and in their performance on the five writing sub-skills.
Key words: Jordan; portfolio assessment; scaffolding; writing performance; Zone of Proximal Development
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Bani Younes, Riyadh (2016). The Effect of Dictogloss on Jordanian EFL Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Students' Writing Performance. International Journal of Education and Training, 2(1), 1-11.
This study examines the potential effect of a proposed DG-based training on Jordanian EFL teachers' writing instruction and their students’ overall writing performance, using a mixed quantitative and qualitative quasi-experimental design. The participants are 16 EFL teachers and 120 tenth grade students selected from the public schools of North-Eastern Badia Directorate of Education, Mafraq, Jordan. The findings reveal a significant effect for Dictogloss on both teachers' writing instruction (along the dimensions of teaching, preparing and planning, and assessment, respectively) and students' overall writing performance. Several relevant recommendations and pedagogical implications are put forth.
Keywords: dictogloss; EFL; instructional practices; Jordanian; writing performance
Bataineh, Ruba F., Emad K. Qublan, and Rula F. Bataineh (2016). The Compatibility of Total English with the Arab Islamic Culture as Revealed by Content Analysis and Jordanian EFL Instructors' and Students' Views. International Journal of Language and Applied Linguistics, 2(2), 19-43.
This study examines the cultural content of the Total English (Upper Intermediate Level) textbook along a set of criteria: historical, economic, geographical, political, religious, biographical, social, man-woman relationship, and customs, habits, and traditions. It also attempts to identify Jordanian EFL instructors’ and students’ views about the compatibility of Total English with the students’ home culture. The content analysis revealed that even though it includes different aspects of the Western culture, no stereotypical or biased reference is made to the Arab Islamic culture nor is there any significant content that adheres to or clashes with it. The results also show that even though the instructors were undecided regarding the need to include references to the Arab Islamic culture in Total English and similar EFL textbooks, the students saw that as an absolute necessity.
Keywords: Culture, cultural content, criteria, EFL textbooks, Jordan
Obeiah, Salameh F. and Bataineh, Ruba F. (2016). The Effect of Portfolio-Based Assessment on Jordanian EFL Learners’ Writing Performance. Bellaterra Journal of Teaching and Learning Language and Literature, 9(1), 32-46. Available online at http://ddd.uab.cat/pub/jtl3/jtl3_ a2016m2-3v9n1/jtl3_a2016m2-3v9n1p32.pdf.
This study examines the effect of portfolio assessment on Jordanian EFL tenth grade learners’ overall writing performance and their performance on the sub-skills of focus, development, organization, conventions and word choice. The study is quasi-experimental in which an experimental group and a control group of 20 students each were purposefully drawn from tenth grade classes at the public schools for girls in the North-Eastern Badia Directorate of Education. The experimental group was instructed on how to generate ideas, structure, draft, and edit their written pieces following Hamp-Lyons and Condon’s (2000) while the control group was instructed conventionally as prescribed in the Teacher’s Book. The findings revealed that the portfolio group outperformed the conventionally-instructed group (at a≤ 0.05) in their overall writing performance and in their performance on the writing sub-skills of focus, development, organization, conventions and word choice.
Keywords: EFL, Jordan, portfolio assessment, writing performance
Al-Damiree, Rula and Bataineh, Ruba F. (2016). Vocabulary Knowledge and Syntactic Awareness as Potential Catalysts for Reading Comprehension among Young Jordanian EFL Students. Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education (University of Bahrain), 4(1), 53-59. Available online at http://journals. uob.edu.bh/JTTE/contents/ volume-1073/articles/article-2397.
This study examines the potential effect of vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness on Jordanian ninth grade students’ reading comprehension. The data were collected using pre-/post- reading comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar tests and an interview. The findings reveal significant differences (at α ≤ 0.05) in the students’ reading comprehension scores on the post-test in favor of the experimental group. A number of implications and recommendations for future research are put forth.
Keywords: reading comprehension, syntactic awareness, vocabulary knowledge
Obeiah, Salameh F. and Bataineh, Ruba F. (2015). Does Scaffolding-Based Instruction Improve Writing Performance? The Case of Jordanian EFL Learners. Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature, 39(2), 106-123. Available online at http://www.lsmll. umcs.lublin.pl/issues/39-2-2016/7bataineh.pdf.
The present study examines the potential effect of scaffolding instruction on Jordanian EFL tenth-grade students’ overall writing performance and their performance on the sub-skills of focus, development, organization, conventions and word choice. The study follows a quasi-experimental experimental/control group, pre-/post-test design. In the experimental group, 20 female tenth-grade students from the North-Eastern Badia Directorate of Education (Jordan) were taught to generate ideas, structure, draft, and edit their essays using agency scaffolding and the scaffolding principles of contextual support, continuity, intersubjectivity, flow, contingency and handover, within the Zone of Proximal Development. Another group of 28 students was instructed conventionally per the guidelines outlined in the Teacher’s Book. After the treatment, descriptive statistics and ANCOVA were used to analyze the students’ scores on the pre-test and the post test. The results showed that the scaffolding instruction group outperformed the control group (at a≤ 0.05) in their overall writing performance and in their performance on all writing sub-skills except the sub-skill of development.
Key words: Jordan; scaffolding; writing performance; Zone of proximal development
Al Omari, Taghrid M.; Bataineh, Ruba F.; and Smadi, Oqlah M. (2015). Potential Inclusion of Multiple Intelligences in Jordanian EFL Textbooks: A Content Analysis. Bellaterra Journal of Teaching and Learning Language and Literature, 8(1), 60-80. Available online at http://revistes.uab.cat/jtl3/ article/view/v8-n1-alomari-bataineh-smadi/597-pdf-en.
This study examines the potential incorporation of the principles of Multiple Intelligences Theory in the Jordanian EFL textbooks. More specifically, it reports on a content analysis of Action Pack textbooks for the first-, fourth-, eighth- and eleventh-grades by means of content analysis. The findings reveal that the moral, existential and spiritual intelligences are not incorporated in the activities of the textbooks under study; the verbal/linguistic, intrapersonal and spatial/visual intelligences are relatively more incorporated than other intelligences; and the inclusion of multiple intelligences is fairly unbalanced in the four textbooks.
Keywords: EFL textbooks, content analysis, MIT
Al-Rabadi, Raghd and Bataineh, Ruba F. (2015). Learning Strategies in Literature-Based Instruction: A Qualitative Study of Jordanian University Students. Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education (University of Bahrain), 3(1), 101-110. Available online at http://journals.uob.edu.bh /JTTE/ contents/volume-1053/articles/article-2083.
This study examines the learning strategies used by eight Jordanian university students during literature-based instruction. It extends the rather extensive research on the learning strategies by foreign language learners from diverse language backgrounds. Even though the research design is essentially qualitative, in which observation is the basic instrument used, triangulation was achieved through the use of a set of other instruments including a pre-/ post-test, interview, journal writing and role-play evaluation of oral proficiency. The findings revealed that the participants use three major types of strategies: cognitive, social and effective. Cognitive strategies were subdivided into critical thinking and creative writing and social and affective strategies into cooperative learning and self- confidence, respectively.
Keywords: learner-centeredness, learning strategies, literature-based instruction
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Al-Wazzan, Rawan A. (2014). Major Arabic Computational Linguistics Tools in Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Computer and Information Technology, 3(6), 1514-1520. Available online at http://www.ijcit.com/archives/volume3/ issue6/Paper030644.pdf.
This paper surveys language applications from Saudi Arabia in particular in an attempt to provide an index and synopsis of available Arabic Computational Linguistics tools. The tools surveyed were chiefly developed by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals. They have exerted tremendous efforts in developing eight Arabic computational linguistics applications: KACST Arabic Diacritizer, KACST Arabic Phonetics Database, KFUPM’s Experimental Arabic Text-To-Speech System, KACST Arabic Corpus, The Saudi Accented Arabic Voice Bank, the Automatic Stochastic Arabic Spelling Correction, the Arabic Morphological Analyzer and Arabic Stemmer, and the Arabic Phonetic Dictionaries for Speech Recognition. These efforts in the development and research of Arabic language tools are not only prominent but paramount in paving the way for future developments in the field of Arabic computational linguistics.
Keywords: Computational linguistics, language tools, language applications, natural language processing
Al Omari, Taghrid and Bataineh, Ruba F. (2014). Jordanian EFL Teachers’ Awareness and Incorporation of Multiple Intelligences into their Pedagogical Practices. Open Access Library Journal, 1(2), 1-22. Available Online at http://www.oalib.com/journal
This study attempts to explore EFL teachers’ awareness and incorporation of the Multiple Intelligences Theory (MIT) into their pedagogical practices in light of some variables. The sample consisted of 141 male and female EFL teachers who taught the first-, fourth-, eighth and eleventh grade Action Pack textbooks in the public schools of the First Directorate of Education (Irbid, Jordan). The findings revealed that, albeit moderate, EFL teachers' awareness and incorporation of MIT is influenced, to various degrees, by gender, grade level, age, qualifications, experience and training.
Bataineh, Ruba F., Raghd Y. Al-Rabadi, and Oqlah M. Smadi. (2013). Fostering Jordanian University Students’ Communicative Performance through Literature-Based Instruction. The TESOL Journal, 4(4), 655-673.
This study aims at investigating the effect of a literature-based program on eight Jordanian university students' communicative performance. The research design is essentially qualitative in which observation is the primary instrument; however, triangulation was achieved through the use of other instruments including a pre-post test, interview, journal writing and role-play evaluation of oral proficiency. The findings revealed significant differences in the students' communicative performance at (α=0.05) in favor of literature-based instruction. The study concluded with a number of recommendations and pedagogical implications.
Baniabdelrahman, Abdallah A. and Ruba F. Bataineh (2012). The Effect of the Medium of Assessment on ESL Children’s Achievement in Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Journal of King Saud University (Educational Sciences and Islamic Studies), 24(4),15-22.
This study explores the effect of the medium of assessment on the achievement of 26 Arab expatriate children’s in mathematics, science, and social studies. The subjects, students at both mainstream schools and an Arab school in the United States of America, have received instruction in both English and their native Arabic for three years. After the treatment, English-English, Arabic-English, English-Arabic, and Arabic-Arabic elicit-response combinations were examined. The findings reveal statistically significant differences in the students’ scores in mathematics, science, and social studies due to the method of assessment. The Arabic-Arabic method was found to yield superior scores to its English-Arabic, Arabic-English, and English-English counterparts, respectively.
Bataineh, Rula F., Ruba F. Bataineh, and Mohammad Al-Muhasien (2012). The Pedagogical Value of UAE English Skills Textbooks as Perceived by Supervisors and Teachers in Al-Ain Educational Zone in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences (University of Bahrain), 13(2), 11-35
This study examines the potential pedagogical value of UAE English Skills for seventh, eighth and tenth grade students in Al-Ain Educational Zone in the United Arab Emirates from the perspectives of 11 supervisors and 304 teachers who taught the series during the academic year 2007/2008. The authors adapted Al-Barakat, Bataineh, Al-Karasneh, and Bataineh’s (2006) evaluation checklist along the dimensions of content, layout, assessment, the Teacher Book, and teaching/learning resources. The findings suggest general agreement among supervisors and teachers on the pedagogical value of UAE English Skills to its target audience with no statistically significant differences (at =0.05) along the five dimensions of the Checklist. The findings further reveal that only the teachers poorly perceive the pedagogical value of the accompanying software, CD-ROM, DVD and laserdiscs. The authors conclude with relevant recommendations to those who are interested in UAE English Skills textbooks.
Al-Omari, Khalid, Ruba F. Bataineh, and Akram Al-Omari. (2013) Jordanian Teachers’ Perceptions of the Editorial Changes of First Grade Action Pack Textbook. University of Sharjah Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (In Arabic: آراء معلمي الصف الأول الأساسي الأردنيين حول ملامح تحديث كتاب اللغة الإنجليزية لهذا الصف ), 9(1), 1-28. (ISSN: 1996-2339)
تهدف الدراسة الحالية إلى الوقوف على آراء معلمي اللغة الإنجليزية للصف الأول الأساسي حول ملامح التحديث في كتاب اللغة الإنجليزيةAction Pack 1 ، حيث تكون مجتمع الدراسة وعينتها من جميع معلمي اللغة الإنجليزية للصف الأول الأساسي في مديرية اربد الأولى في الفصل الدراسي الأول من العام الدراسي 2007/2008، واستخدمت أداتان هما سؤال مفتوح واستبانة تكونت من 71 فقرة.
وقد كشفت نتائج الدراسة أن تقديرات المعلمين لملامح التحديث في كتاب اللغة الإنجليزية لا تلبي طموحهم حيث جاءت ولجميع مجالات الدراسة بمستوى تقدير متوسط، مما يؤكد عدم ارتقاء عملية التحديث إلى المستوى الذي يطمح إليه المعلمون. كما أظهرت النتائج أيضا أن الكتاب المحدث يعاني من مشكلات عدة، وأن متغيري الخبرة والجنس قد أحدثا أثرا ذا دلالة إحصائية، حيث كان الفارق لصالح أصحاب الخبرة الأعلى والمعلمين الذكور، على الترتيب.
وفي ضوء نتائج الدراسة، خرج الباحثون بمجموعة من التوصيات أهمها ضرورة إشراك المعلمين في عمليات تحديث الكتب للاستفادة من خبراتهم وتجاربهم العملية في استخدام هذه الكتب لتدريس الطلبة.
(English: This study examines Jordanian first grade English teachers’ views about the amendments resulting from the first round of review and update of Action Pack 1 textbook. The population and sample of the study consisted of all first-grade teachers of English at Irbid First Directorate of Education in the first semester of the academic year 2007/2008. The data were collected using an open question and a 71-item questionnaire. The findings revealed that the teachers under study exhibited moderate views of the utility of the amendments which they considered hardly satisfactory. The findings further revealed that the amended textbook suffers from several problems. Finally, statistically significant effects were found for gender and teacher experience on teacher's views, in favor of male and more experienced teachers, respectively.
Relevant recommendations were put forth, most important amongst which is to involve teachers in all amendment endeavors to make use of their first hand experience with textbooks and their utilization in the classroom.)
Bataineh, Rula F., Ruba F. Bataineh, and Samiha S. Thabet. (2011). EFL Teachers' Knowledge of and Classroom Subscription to Communicative Language Teaching: Embraced or Lip-Serviced? Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(4), 859-866
This study examines Yemeni EFL teachers’ knowledge of the major principles of Communicative Language Teaching (henceforth, CLT) and their classroom subscription to these principles. The findings reveal that although these teachers are fairly knowledgeable of the principles of CLT, their classroom behavior does not always reflect this knowledge, which is most evident in their tendency to resort to structure-based practices. The authors conclude with a number of recommendations and pedagogical implications.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Nedal A. Bani Hani. (2011). The Effect of a CALL Program on Jordanian Sixth-Grade Students’ Achievement. Teaching English with Technology (Journal of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language), 11(3), 3-24. Available on line at http://www.tewtjournal.org//VOL%2011/ISSUE3/ARTICLE1.pdf
This study examines the potential effect of a computerized instructional program on Jordanian sixth-grade students’ achievement in English. Four instruments were utilized: a pre-post achievement test, a student opinionnaire, a teacher opinionnaire, and an observation checklist. The findings reveal a statistically significant difference in student achievement in favor of the experimental group, that teachers and students have positive attitudes towards computer use, and that teachers are committed to computer use in language teaching, more so for those with a computer background. A number of implications and recommendations for future research are put forth.
Al-Barakat Ali A. and Ruba F. Bataineh (2011). An Exploratory Study of Effective Measures for Developing Young Children's Interest in Reading: A Prospective Teachers' Perspective. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25(2), 177-193.
This study examines teachers' practices for developing early primary stage (6-9-year-old) pupils' reading in Arabic in the northern region of Jordan using a 25-item self-assessment checklist and a semi-structured interview. The subjects reported that their practices stem more from extrinsic motivation (e.g., responding to calls for enabling children to take part in literary competitions) than from intrinsic motivation (e.g., a personal interest in reading). The findings showed that 22 items of the Checklist scored moderate to little degrees of practice, which was further confirmed by the results of the interview. Besides, although there were no statistically significant differences among the subjects' reports of their practices which may be attributed to the effect of gender and academic qualification, statistically significant differences were found due to teaching experience, having studied literacy-related coursework in pre-service preparation, and having a personal interest in reading. The study concludes with relevant implications for reading instruction and teacher education.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Ali A. Al-Barakat (2009). Jordanian Early Primary Stage Teachers’ Self-Reported Practices to Develop their Pupils' Reading in Arabic. Mediterranean Journal of educational Studies, 14(2), 65-92 (also available online at: http://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/89841/09_-_2_fahmi_nehal_barakat.pdf)
This study examines teachers' practices for developing early primary stage (6-9-year-old) pupils' reading in Arabic in the northern region of Jordan using a 25-item self-assessment checklist and a semi-structured interview. The subjects reported that their practices stem more from extrinsic motivation (e.g., responding to calls for enabling children to take part in literary competitions) than from intrinsic motivation (e.g., a personal interest in reading). The findings showed that 22 items of the Checklist scored moderate to little degrees of practice, which was further confirmed by the results of the interview. Besides, although there were no statistically significant differences among the subjects' reports of their practices which may be attributed to the effect of gender and academic qualification, statistically significant differences were found due to teaching experience, having studied literacy-related coursework in pre-service preparation, and having a personal interest in reading. The study concludes with relevant implications for reading instruction and teacher education.
Al-Barakat, Ali A. and Ruba F. Bataineh. (2008). Jordanian Student Teachers' Use of Computers to Develop Primary Stage Pupils' Literacy Skills. International Journal of Education and Development Using Information and Communication Technology, 4(4). Available online at: http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id= 598&layout=html
Primary stage teachers today face the challenge of using and integrating computers into their instruction in a way that develops children’s teaching and learning. Thus, there is a need to examine student teachers’ use of computers, as it provides the Teacher Education Program at Yarmouk University with feedback about its effectiveness in providing prospective teachers with the know-how to integrate computers into their instruction. Therefore, this study uses semi-structured interviews to investigate 33 Jordanian student teachers' use of computers to develop young children's literacy skills.
The data analysis shows that student teachers have a tendency to use the computer to develop young children's literacy skills. It further reveals that even though the time allotted to using computers for developing literacy skills is limited, a high degree of use is evident compared to its use with other skills stated in the school curriculum. The findings further reveal little diversity in the way computers are used to develop young children's literacy skills, with a few student teachers using computers as a resource for playing games, drill and practice, homework, and assessing children’s literacy skills, whereas the majority use them for presenting instructional content and designing instructional media and worksheets. In light of these findings, the authors put forth a number of recommendations for the Teacher Training Program at Yarmouk University, the Jordanian Ministry of Education, student teachers and future researchers.
Bataineh, Ruba F., Samiha S. Thabet, and Rula F. Bataineh. (2008). Obstacles of Using Communicative Techniques in Yemeni EFL Classes. Grazer Linguistische Studien, 67/68, 79-92
This study examines Yemeni EFL practitioners' perceptions of the obstacles facing the use of communicative techniques in Taiz public schools and their potential solutions for these obstacles. It further aims at measuring EFL practitioners' knowledge of the major tenets of the Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) and teachers' commitment to them. A questionnaire, a test and an observation checklist were used to collect the data from a sample of 172 school teachers, 7 instructors of the High Institute, 14 supervisors and 5 members of the Faculty of Education at Taiz University.
The findings revealed that (1) the respondents perceive large classes, shortage of funding, lack of teachers' and supervisors' CLT training, and the discouraging cultural view of CLT to be the major obstacles which must be resolved prior to the implementation of communicative techniques; (2) the respondents scored 46.56% on the test of CLT knowledge, which is much below the 70% standard set in this study; and (3) a statistically significant correlation exists between the practitioners' perceptions and their knowledge of CLT on one hand and between teachers' perceptions, knowledge of CLT, and classroom practices on the other.
Bataineh, Rula F. and Ruba F. Bataineh. (2008). A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Apologies by Native Speakers of American English and Jordanian Arabic. Journal of Pragmatics, 40(4), 792-821This study investigates the apology strategies used by the speakers of American English and Jordanian Arabic. The various strategies used by the two groups, in addition to the causes of any potential differences, constitute the crux of the analysis.
American and Jordanian respondents have been found to differ in their use of apology strategies. Differences involve using several manifestations of explicit apology among other less explicit apology strategies. The authors further examined the differences between male and female respondents in both groups and found that there were more differences between Jordanian male and female respondents than between American male and female respondents, which may be attributed to the fact that there is a greater similarity between how boys and girls are raised in the U.S. than between how these are raised in Jordan.
Bataineh, Ruba Fahmi, Samih Mahmoud Al-Karasneh, Ali Ahmad Al-Barakat, and Rula Fahmi Bataineh (2007). Jordanian Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of the Portfolio as a Reflective Learning Tool. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(4), 435-454
This study investigates how portfolios support pre-service teachers' learning to teach. The findings revealed that the portfolio provides pre-service teachers with productive learning experiences which help them develop their library use, knowledge, skills, attitudes, personal traits, motivation to learn, interpersonal relationships and an information source. The respondents were found to consider the portfolio a highly effective tool in their learning to teach.
Baniabdelrahman, Abdallah A., Ruba F. Bataineh, and Rula F. Bataineh. (2007). Jordanian EFL Students’ Perceptions of their Use of the Internet. Teaching English with Technology, 7(3). Available online at http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/j _article29.htm
This questionnaire study investigates 210 Jordanian English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ perceptions of their use of the Internet for both general purposes (e.g., e-mail, chat, aimless browsing, games, and music) and EFL learning purposes (e.g., practicing various language skills, vocabulary, and structure through instructional software). The findings revealed that 47% of the sample reported using browsers to view documents, while slightly smaller percentages reported using the Internet for personal purposes, mailing lists and discussion groups, and e-mail. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents reported never or rarely using the Internet for any EFL learning purposes, except for about 58% and 52% who reported using it for developing speaking skills through chat and locating authentic texts, respectively. The findings further revealed a weak correlation between the students’ use of the Internet for general and EFL learning purposes. Class level, but not gender, was found to significantly affect the students’ use of the Internet.
Al-Barakat, Ali Ahmad, Ruba Fahmi Bataineh, Samih Mahmoud Al-Karasneh, and Rula Fahmi Bataineh. (2006). Jordanian EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of the Appropriateness of Action Pack Textbooks. ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 151, 33-56
This study investigates the appropriateness of the Action Pack Textbook Series (APTS) currently taught in the first four primary stage classes in Jordanian public schools. An evaluation checklist, compiled from the literature, and a semi-structured interview were used to evaluate the content, layout, assessment tasks, teacher's book and the availability of supplementary materials. The findings support the following conclusions: Poor ratings were minimal; APTS is adaptable to the needs of both teachers and pupils and provides a broad range of resources that can be selectively integrated into the curriculum; APTS contains modes of instruction that are developmentally appropriate for a wide range of learners; APTS instructional materials are interesting, engaging and effective for the target teachers; the format of the teacher's book is easy to follow, the directions for implementing activities are clear, and the teacher's book itself is flexible and allows teachers to choose from a variety of activities to use with their pupils; for the most part, non-text materials are used appropriately to promote learning; and, overall, the materials for the pupils are well written, age-appropriate and compelling in content.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Abdallah A. Baniabdelrahman. (2006). Jordanian EFL Students’ Perceptions of their Computer Literacy: An Exploratory Case Study. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT, 2(2). Available online http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/ viewissue.php?id=8
This study investigated 210 Jordanian EFL perceptions of their computer literacy. The findings revealed that the majority of the students reported being fairly proficient to proficient in computer skills such as deleting files (81.43%), copying files (78.57%), formatting a floppy disk (67.15%), and installing a program on a hard disk (64.29%), while most reported being not or a little proficient in computer skills such as using images from a camcorder or digital camera in computers (84.76%), using PowerPoint (80%), and creating databases (78.09%). The results further revealed no significant effect for gender but a significant effect for year of study on students’ perceptions of their computer literacy.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Rula F. Bataineh. (2006). Apology Strategies of Jordanian EFL University Students. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(11), 1901-1927
This study is an investigation of Jordanian EFL university students' apologies, using a 10-item questionnaire based on Sugimoto's (1997). The findings revealed that male and female respondents used the primary strategies of statement of remorse, accounts, compensation, promise not to repeat offense, and reparation. They also resorted to the use of non-apology strategies such as blaming victim and brushing off the incident as unimportant to exonerate themselves from blame. The findings further revealed that male and female respondents differed in the order of the primary strategies they used. In addition, female respondents opted for non-apology strategies that veered towards avoiding the discussion of offense while male respondents used those which veered towards blaming the victim. This research is hoped to have implications for ESL/EFL pedagogy as well as the study of intercultural communication. The researchers put forth a number of relevant recommendations for further research.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Lamma H. Zghoul. (2006). Jordanian TEFL Graduate Students’ Use of Critical Thinking Skills (as Measured by the Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Level Z). International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(1), 33-50
This study investigates the critical thinking skills of 50 students currently enrolled in the Master's TEFL Program at Yarmouk University, Jordan. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Level Z is utilized to test the students' use, or lack thereof, of the critical thinking skills of deduction, semantics, credibility, induction, definition and assumption identification, and assumption identification. The effect of the variables of gender, age and grade point average on the students' critical thinking abilities is also investigated. The findings reveal that the respondents performed quite poorly on the test. Gender, age and grade point average were all found to have an effect. Male students outperformed female students. However, while older male students outperformed younger ones, younger female students outperformed their older counterparts. Respondents with higher grade point averages scored better on the test. The findings have implications for TEFL education in Jordan and other similar contexts. As teachers can be highly influential in creating a classroom environment that promotes critical thinking, they need to be informed about the importance of developing their students' critical thinking skills. To make this possible, EFL teachers should be allowed pre-service and in-service training opportunities to encourage the development of critical thinking.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Rula F. Bataineh. (2005). Apology Strategies of American University Students: An Intercultural Analysis of the Effect of Gender. Journal of Intercultural communication, 9. Available online at: http://www.immi.se/intercultural/
This study aims at investigating potential gender effects in American university students’ use of apologies within the framework of the two-culture theory which claims that men and women are so different that they comprise strikingly different cultures. The researchers used a 10-item questionnaire based on Sugimoto’s (1997). The findings revealed that male and female respondents used the primary apology strategies of statement of remorse, accounts, compensation, and reparation. They also resorted to the use of non-apology strategies such as blaming victim and brushing off the incident as not important to exonerate themselves from blame. The findings further revealed that male and female respondents used the same primary strategies but in different frequencies. In addition, female respondents used fewer non-apology strategies than their male counterparts and more manifestations of the statement of remorse. Both similarities to and differences from Sugimoto’s findings were detected.
Bataineh, Ruba and Al-Barakat, Ali (2005). The Reading Interests of Jordanian First-, Second-, and Third-Grade Pupils and the Obstacles Limiting these Interests. Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences, 6(3), 107-133. (In Arabic: اهتمامات القراءة ومعوقاتها لدى تلاميذ الصفوف الأساسية الثلاثة الأولى في مديريات التربية والتعليم في منطقة شمال الأردن)
قام الباحثان بمقابلة 150 من تلاميذ الصفوف الأساسية الثلاثة الأولى في المدارس التابعة لمديريات التربية في محافظات شمال الأردن بهدف تقصي اهتماماتهم القرائية، والتعرف على مصادر المواد القرائية وما إذا كانت لدى هؤلاء التلاميذ ميولاً إيجابية نحو القراءة، إضافة إلى الأدوار التي يلعبها كل من المعلمين والآباء والأمهات والأصدقاء في تنمية الاهتمامات القرائية لدى هؤلاء التلاميذ. كذلك، هدفت الدراسة إلى التعرف على أهم المعوقات التي تحد من اهتماماتهم القرائية.
وقد أظهرت النتائج أن القصص والكتب/المجلات المصورة تتصدر قائمة اهتمامات التلاميذ بينما تتصدر مكتبة المدرسة قائمة مصادر المواد القرائية. كذلك، تبين أن للتلاميذ ميولا إيجابية نحو القراءة، حيث تراوحت النسب المئوية لفقرات هذا المجال بين 70% و100%. وقد كشفت النتائج أيضا أنه على الرغم من قيام الغالبية العظمى من المعلمين بالحديث عن أهمية القراءة إلا أنهم لا يقومون بأدوارهم فيما يتعلق بتنمية الاهتمامات القرائية لدى تلاميذهم، بينما كشفت أن غالبية الآباء والأمهات لا يشجعون أطفالهم على القراءة الحرة بل يركزون فقط على تشجيعهم على قراءة الكتب المدرسية لغايات التحصيل الأكاديمي. أما الأصدقاء، فقد ظهر أنهم يشجعون بعضهم البعض على القراءة بنسبة مئوية تجاوزت 76%.
أخيرا، برز عدم تقديم حوافز للتلاميذ الذين يقرأون وكثرة الواجبات المدرسية كأهم المعوقات التي تحد من اهتمامات التلاميذ القرائية، يليها عدم توفر عدد كاف من الكتب لجميع التلاميذ وعدم توفر المواد القرائية الجديدة في مكتبة المدرسة وعدم شراء الآباء والأمهات المواد القرائية لأطفالهم.
وقد خلص الباحثان إلى عدد من التوصيات ذات العلاقة.
(English: The present researchers interviewed 150 first-, second- and third-grade pupils from the schools of the departments of education in the north of Jordan to determine their reading interests, sources of reading materials, and whether or not these pupils have positive attitudes towards reading. The researchers attempted to examine teachers’, parents’, and peers’ roles in developing the pupils’ reading interests and the obstacles that affect these interests.
The study revealed that stories and picture books/magazines top the pupils’ reading interests while the school library is their major source of reading materials. The pupils were found to have positive attitudes towards reading.
The findings further revealed that although most teachers talk to their pupils about the importance of reading, they hardly play a part in developing these pupils’ reading interests. The findings also revealed that most parents do not encourage their children to read materials other than their school textbooks, while peers were found to encourage one another to read.
Lack of incentives and much school homework were found to be the major obstacles facing the pupils’ reading interests followed by inadequate books for all pupils, lack of new reading materials in the school library, and parents’ unwillingness to buy reading materials for their children.
The researchers put forth a number of relevant recommendations for parents, teachers, and school authorities.)
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Maram S. Jaradat. (2005). Jordanian English Teachers’ Utilization of and Attitudes towards Instructional Games. Jordan Journal of Educational Sciences, 1(1), 115-122
This study investigates the extent to which Jordanian female EFL teachers use games in their classes and their attitudes towards them. The sample consists of all 150 first through fourth grade female public school EFL teachers in Irbid First Directorate of Education. Out of the 138 subjects who responded to the questionnaire, 47 subjects (31% of the sample) were randomly selected to be observed in their classrooms and interviewed two weeks after they had responded to the questionnaire to determine if there is a relationship between the teachers’ attitude towards instructional games, as revealed by their responses to the questionnaire, and their actual use of these games in their teaching.
The findings reveal that there is not a relationship between the teachers’ attitudes towards using instructional games and their actual classroom practice. In spite of the fact that the vast majority of the subjects tended to agree with the significance of using games in teaching English, they did not always use them in their teaching.
Bataineh, Ruba F. (2005). The Representation of the Local Environment in Jordanian Tenth Grade English Textbooks. Association of Arab Universities Journal for Education and Psychology, 3(2), 11-43
This paper reports on a holistic qualitative analysis of the content of the Jordanian tenth grade English textbook, Progress in English through Relevant Activities for Jordan (PETRA 6). The analysis is highly exhaustive, for it targets the use of environmentally related concepts in the entire corpus of passages, activities, exercises and other reading supplements in the Students’ Book, Workbook, Reader and Teacher’s Book.
The findings reveal that the Jordanian environment is moderately represented in the textbook under study. The environment, in general, is well represented and a lot of references are made to regional and international components.
A number of recommendations for including alternative or supplementary content, for the purpose of creating relevant curricula, which encourage the learners to achieve and to view learning as a matter of personal relevance, are put forth.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Ra’ed A. Al-Shorman. (2005). Jordanian EFL University Students’ Reading Interests. Abhath Al-Yarmouk Journal (Humanities and Social Sciences Series), 21(3a), 35-56
This study investigates the reading interests of state and private university EFL senior students in the northern region of Jordan, the obstacles hindering their reading efforts, the factors which determine what and why they read, and the language in which they read most. The statistical analysis of the questionnaires returned by 356 respondents revealed that the students have a wide range of interests, the top ten of which are short stories, women magazines, novels, magazines about religion, adventure books, picture magazines, newspaper world events, books about religion, romantic magazines, and fashion magazines. On the other hand, they were found to dislike reading economics books. The findings also show that the obstacles that hinder the students’ reading efforts are the unavailability of reading materials, time constraints, lack of local libraries, beliefs of having better things to do than reading, difficulty of the reading materials provided by English departments, and beliefs that improving reading is not as important as improving other language skills. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the students choose their reading material by interest, the name of the author, the main character, literary quality, teacher’s request, cost, and length. They also showed that the students read for improving their language, learning more about themselves and the world; keeping in touch with social, economic, cultural, scientific, and political developments; improving their academic achievement; improving one’s social status; and entertainment. In addition, the findings revealed that the students read mainly in English.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Nisreen Ayasreh. (2004). Jordanian Economics and Administrative Science Students’ Perceptions of the Need for Business English Courses and the Potential Impact of the Use of English as the Predominant Medium of Instruction on Academic Achievement. Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences (University of Bahrain), 5(4), 7-23
This study investigates the need for Business English courses, the impact of using English as the predominant medium of instruction on academic achievement and the potential difficulties resulting from this use as perceived by 326 students from the departments of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Yarmouk University, Jordan. The effect of the students’ field of study, year of study, and GPA on their perceptions is also investigated. The students were undecided as to the impact of the use of English as the predominant medium of instruction on their academic achievement. Field of study, year of study, and GPA were found to affect the respondents’ perceptions of the impact of and the difficulties resulting from the use of English as the predominant medium of instruction but not those of the need for Business English courses. The findings reveal that although the respondents seemed aware that their proficiency in English is positively related to their academic achievement, they were not always able to make the connection between business concepts and specialized Business English courses, probably because of their lack of exposure to these courses. It was fairly evident that the students across the sample are not fully satisfied with the content of the English language skills courses offered by the University and, thus, would welcome the provision of specialized Business English courses.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Rula F. Bataineh. (2002). The Difficulties Jordanian Graduate Learners of English as a Second Language Face When Translating English Idioms into Arabic. RASK: internationalt tidsskrift for sprog og kommunikation, 16, 33-83
This study is an investigation of the problems facing graduate students of translation at two Jordanian state universities, namely, Yarmouk University (Irbid) and the University of Jordan (Amman), in translating English idiomatic expressions into Arabic. It analyzes translations produced by forty-five subjects of a forty-five-item test that consists of sentences each of which contains an idiom.
The problems arising from those translations are: losing some shades of meaning, misunderstanding the meaning of the sentences, disrupting coherence and unintelligibility due to the culture-bound idiomatic expressions, the presence of counterparts similar in form but different in meaning, failure t0 determine whether the expression at hand is an idiom, lack of competence required to translate such expressions, lack of familiarity with the presence of idioms, and factors of carelessness and time pressure.
The subjects used the following strategies proposed by Baker (1992):
- using a target language idiom of the same form and meaning,
- using a target language idiom of the same meaning but different form,
- paraphrasing the idiom, and
- omitting the idiom.
Bataineh, Ruba F. (2002). A Case Study of the Impact of the Native Language of an Adult Arab Learner of English in an English-Speaking Environment. Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 28(1), 5-26
This paper is the result of a sixteen-week observation of an adult Arab learner of English in an English-speaking setting. It tests the hypothesis that the errors the subject makes are mainly attributed to the influence of his native language through applying the already internalized rules of Arabic to the yet unfamiliar structures of English.
Bataineh, Ruba F. (2001). Politeness Formulas: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. International Journal of Communication, 11(1-2), 221-233
This paper is an illustrative investigation of politeness formulas and cross-cultural variety. Formulas like thanks, greetings, apologies, congratulations, wishes, compliments, condolences, complaints, and requests in English and Arabic are discussed placing emphasis on the influence of cross-cultural differences and the challenges of coming from diverse linguistic environments where people do not necessarily share the same values, attitudes, and assumptions.
Bataineh, Ruba F. and Ali A. Barakat. (1998). The Major Obstacles in the Utilization of Instructional Media by Teachers of English in Jordanian Public and Private Schools: A Teacher’s Perspective. Dirasat (Journal of the University of Jordan), 25(2), 469-483
This study aims at investigating teachers' perceptions of the obstacles of instructional media utilization and the effect of variables of gender, training, academic qualifications, and school type on these perceptions.
The sample of the study consists of one hundred and forty-eight (83 male and 65 female) teachers of English from a randomly selected number of public and private schools in Irbid First District of Education.
The instrument of the study is a thirty-one-item attitudinal questionnaire in which the obstacles are grouped along five dimensions: the teacher, student, textbook, teaching equipment, and administration. The overall reliability of the questionnaire was computed using Cronbach Alpha and found to be 0.89. Its validity was established on the basis of judgments by specialists in the fields of Curriculum and Instruction, Measurement and Evaluation, and Educational Technology.
The analysis of data showed the following results:
- There were differences in the means of teachers' attitudes towards each of the obstacles both individually and along the five dimensions. The teachers' experience in instructional media utilization topped the list of teachers' concerns (mean=3.950), while the teachers' fear of instructional media utilization was perceived to hold their least concern (mean=1.953).
- There were statistically significant differences among the means of teachers' perceptions of each obstacle in the use of instructional media due to the effect of gender.
- There were no statistically significant differences among the means of teachers' perceptions of each obstacle in the use of instructional media due to the effect of training in instructional media utilization.
- There were statistically significant differences among the means of teachers' perceptions of each obstacle in the use of instructional media due to the effect of academic qualifications.
- There were statistically significant differences among the means of teachers' perceptions of each obstacle in the use of instructional media due to the effect of school type.
Bataineh, Ruba F. (1997). The Article System: A Cross-Sectional Study of Jordanian Learners of English as a Second Language. Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(1), 17-26
The study investigates the strategies Jordanian students of different proficiency levels use in learning the English article system. It has two main objectives: (1) to identify and analyze the errors made as well as their traceability to either or both languages, and (2) to compare the types and frequency of these errors among the different levels of proficiency. In addition to addressing thee objectives, this study attempts to draw some implications, however limited, for the improvement of teaching the article system.
The four most recurring errors are: (1) writing a as part of the noun/adjective following it; omission of a(n) and the, (3) wrong insertion on a(n) and the; (4) confusion of a(n) and the.
The findings of this study suggest that the majority of the errors made is the result of common learning strategies which appear to have been employed by students of all grade levels. The findings reveal that the impact of the learners' native language is, at best, minimal. The only major type of error that could possibly be ascribed to native language transfer, among other sources, is the omission of the indefinite article. The analysis indicates developmental differences among learners from different grade levels in the skill with which they used articles. In other words, their increasing command of the target language was a clearly detectible pattern of growth in the subjects' ability to conform to the rules of English.
Updated: 18 August 2017