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English, the lingua franca of the world, permeates a global teaching-learning space not only for communication per se but also as a medium of instruction and social interaction. The authors studied the lived experiences of five English-speaking university lecturers as regards English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching in a non-English-speaking Asian country.

Using a phenomenological inquiry and through Zoom interviews, the authors studied the lived experiences of five English-speaking university lecturers as regards EFL teaching in a non-English-speaking Asian country.

Thematic analyses guided the authors' understanding of the participants’ lived experiences in the classroom, such as the following: (1) Local students have a negative perception of EFL; (2) lecturers’ professional standards are hardly imposed and (3) local students have a mixed level of English proficiency. The authors also examined the participants’ lived experiences in the organization, where the following issues surfaced: (1) sending of communication messages beyond working hours, (2) bureaucratic working environment and (3) changing of policies.

The authors' research implies the need for programs and policies that will help EFL teachers deal with instructional and other socio-cultural challenges in an Asian context.

In the Asian setting, there is a dearth of literature that focuses on the experience of university lecturers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), in particular, their teaching challenges. The authors confronted this gap by understanding the local beliefs about EFL teaching among English-speaking university lecturers.

The objective of this study is to investigate the key determinants affecting the acceptance and utilization of Blackboard as a Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) platform among Saudi university students pursuing English as a foreign language (EFL) courses.

Understanding how to engage EFL students in their learning requires identifying the factors that influence their acceptance and use of CALL tools, particularly on Blackboard's LMS platform. This study proposes and validates a research framework that predicts students' behavioral intentions and usage of CALL by utilizing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) by Venkatesh et al. (2012). This research model provides insight into the various drivers that impact CALL acceptance via Blackboard LMS. The study's findings demonstrate UTAUT2's superior ability to address the fear of technology adoption and provide valuable insights into the factors that influence technology intention and usage.

The study's findings indicate that performance expectancy, social influence, effort expectancy and price value significantly affect the attitudes of EFL students toward using CALL. The habit factor was the most robust predictor of behavioral intention and technology use, indicating that CALL usage can become automatic for students and improve their engagement in EFL learning. The study highlights the importance of providing better technical and organizational support to EFL students who want to use CALL more effectively. The theoretical and practical implications of the study's findings are thoroughly discussed.

Understanding how to engage EFL students in their learning requires identifying the factors that influence their acceptance and use of CALL tools, particularly on Blackboard's LMS platform. This study proposes and validates a research framework that predicts students' behavioral intentions and usage of CALL by utilizing the UTAUT2 by Venkatesh et al. (2012). This research model provides insight into the various drivers that impact CALL acceptance via Blackboard LMS. The study's findings demonstrate UTAUT2's superior ability to address the fear of technology adoption and provide valuable insights into the factors that influence technology intention and usage.

This study probed the impact of using learning technologies (LT) on developing Yemeni English as a foreign language (EFL) students' autonomy and creativity toward English language learning. Also, the research gauged if LT impacts learners' autonomy and creativity across gender and university-type variables.

The study utilized a valid and reliable questionnaire, comprising 20 close-ended items, which was administered to 109 Yemeni EFL undergraduate students.

The researchers found that LT positively impacts learners' creativity and autonomy, with mean scores of 4.09 and 3.86, respectively. Furthermore, the results showed a medium correlation between creativity and autonomy with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.63 at a probability of Sig = 0.00. Likewise, the results revealed that LT impacted female learners' creativity more significantly than their male counterparts (Sig = 0.047). Nevertheless, no significant differences were found pertaining to the impact of LT on students' autonomy across public and private universities (Sig = 0.213).

EFL teachers are advised to encourage their students' autonomy and creativity throughout their lifelong learning journey in order to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the world.

This study investigates the impact of learning technology on Yemeni EFL students' autonomy and creativity.

This paper aims to outline research that explores the information literacy experiences of English as a foreign language (EFL) students. The question explored in this research was: how do EFL students experience information literacy?

This study used phenomenography, a relational approach to explore the information literacy experiences of EFL students. Phenomenography studies the qualitatively different ways a phenomenon is experienced in the world around us.

This research revealed that EFL students experienced information literacy in four qualitatively different ways. The four categories revealed through the data were: process, quality, language and knowledge. This research found that language impacted on EFL students’ experiences of information literacy and revealed that EFL students applied various techniques and strategies when they read, understood, organised and translated information.

This research was conducted in a specific cultural and educational context; therefore, the results might not reflect the experiences of EFL students in other cultural or educational contexts.

The findings from this research offer an important contribution to information literacy practice by providing important insights about EFL students’ experiences and perceptions of information and learning that can be used to inform curriculum development in second language learning contexts.

There is currently a lack of research using a relational approach to investigate EFL students’ experiences of information literacy. There is also limited research that explores the impact language has on information literary and learning in EFL or English as a second language (ESL) contexts.

This study attempts to assess the readiness of Saudi students for independent/autonomous learning, with a focus on learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The study used a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to gain insights from a population of 319 students (aged 15-24) about their perceptions of responsibilities, decision-making abilities, motivation, involvement in autonomy-related activities, and capacity to take charge of their own learning. The findings of the study confirmed the relatively low readiness of Saudi EFL learners for independent learning (M = 3.06 on a scale of 1 to 5, SD =.31). Learners demonstrated low responsibility levels, since only 17.27% of them perceived that they accept sole responsibility for their EFL learning. Respondents reported a moderate level of ability (M = 3.63) and motivation (M = 3.70) to learn English. A considerable percentage of participants (27.29%) reported that they are rarely involved in self-directed activities; they demonstrated high levels of teacher dependency and low levels of learner independence. Despite the participants’ reasonable level of awareness of the nature of learner autonomy and its demands, their responses identified them as EFL learners with low autonomy. This study informs EFL learning stakeholders in Saudi Arabia that learners’ readiness for such conditions must be developed before interventions aimed at promoting autonomy are implemented in this context.

.هيتاذ ةروصب ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا ملعتل نييدوعسلا بلاطلا ةيزهاج ىدم ميقت نأ ةساردلا هذه لواحت تفظونايبتسا ةساردلا ا تلاباقمو رظن ةهجو ىلع لوصحلل319 لوح ابلاط يتاذ لكشب ملعتلل ةيلوئسملا مهلمحت ىدمةيعفادلا ،رارقلا ذاختا ىلع مهتردق ، ةغللا ملعتلةيبنجلاا ةغللا ملعتل نييدوعسلا بلاطلا ةيزهاج فعض ةساردلا جئاتن تتبثا .يتاذ لكشب ملعتلا ىلع ةردقلاو ،ةيتاذلا ةطشنلأا يف ةكراشملا ،يلجنلإا = طسوتم( يتاذ لكشب ةيز3.06 = يرايعم فارحنا ،31. ثيح يتاذ لكشب ملعتلل ةيلوئسملل مهلمحت فعض نوكراشملا تبثا .)تبسن ام ىعداه طقف(17.27 ملعتلا ىلع ةردقلل ةطسوتم تايوتسم نوكراشملا سكع نيح يف كلذل مهلمحت نيكراشملا يلامجا نم )%3.63ةيعفادلاو ) لجنلإا ةغللا ملعتل( ةيزي3.70( نيكراشملا نم ةريبك ةبسن سكعت .)27.83يف مهتكراشم مدع )% يتاذلا ملعتلا ةطشنأ ريبك لكشب دامتعلااولوح نوكراشملا اهادبا يتلا ةطسوتملا تايوتسملا نم مغرلا ىلع .سفنلا ىلع دامتعلاا فعضو ملعملا ىلع فارتعلاا بمهتاباجا نا لاا هتابلطتمو يتاذلا ملعتلا ةيمهأ هذه يصوت .يتاذلا ملعتلل مهتيزهاج مدع تتبثا ةلباقملا ةلئساو نايبتسلاا ىلعلا جمد ةلواحم لبق يتاذلا ملعتلل ةبسانملا ةئيبلا ريفوتب ةيدوعسلا ةيبرعلا ةكلمملا يف ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا ملعت نع نيلوئسملا ةساردلا يف بلاط .ملعتلا نم عونلا اذه

The purpose of this paper is to explore EFL reading anxiety of first-year undergraduate engineering students and its effect on their reading performance in a public sector engineering university in Pakistan. It specifically aims to explore their top-down, bottom-up and classroom EFL reading anxiety.

Data for the present study were collected from 200 first-year engineering students to explore their reading anxiety. A 20-item questionnaire developed by Zoghi and Alivandivafa (2014) was used to measure students’ EFL reading anxiety, while an IELTS academic reading test was used to measure their reading performance. The data were analyzed through exploratory factorial analysis and multiple regression analysis to determine which type of reading anxiety has a significant effect on students’ reading performance.

It was found that the bottom-up reading anxiety and the classroom reading anxiety have a significant negative impact on the reading performance of the first-year undergraduate engineering students of a Pakistani university. However, top-down reading anxiety has an insignificant negative impact on the reading performance of university students.

The data for the current study were drawn from one Pakistani public sector engineering university, and all the students were first-year undergraduates. The data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire and IELTS (academic) reading test. Some of the students may be unfamiliar with the IELTS test pattern, so their reading performance might have been affected.

Teachers should adopt such a methodology in their EFL classrooms which helps students reduce their reading anxiety. Reading texts must be selected considering the proficiency level of students, and reading strategies must be explicitly taught to reduce bottom-up and top-down reading anxieties. Teachers should create a positive learning environment in their classroom by encouraging students to make an effort to improve their reading skills in order to deal with classroom reading anxiety. Students must be explained that they should help one another rather than ridiculing each other’s reading mistakes. Differentiated instruction can also be adopted to facilitate weak readers. The teachers can provide additional/out of the class support to weak readers in order to help them deal with reading anxiety.

The EFL reading anxiety among university students in the Pakistani context has received little attention from the researchers. Furthermore, although the impact of EFL reading anxiety on EFL students’ reading performance has been explored previously, the impact of three types of EFL reading anxiety on EFL learners’ reading performance has not been adequately investigated.

This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of Language Enhancement Program (LEP) activities in enhancing the oral communication skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at King Khalid University.

A mixed-method study design was used. Simple random sampling techniques were adopted to recruit the study participants. For the survey, a total of 58 male students were recruited and for interviews, 20 male students were selected. The 58 participants were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The traditional method was adopted to teach the control group, while LEP activities were conducted to teach the experimental group.

A post-test was conducted to examine the oral communication skills of the participants of the experimental group. The scores of both groups were analyzed using a t-test value at a significant level of 0.05. The content analysis method was adopted to assess the enhancement of the oral communication of the students enrolled in the LEP. The questionnaires and interview results showed that the LEP program has a central focus on improving students' oral communication skills.

It is limited to the EFL students at King Khalid University.

LEP is a good program and can be implemented in Saudi Universities.

Students can interact with one another through the LEP activities that promote their English proficiency as well as their personality characteristics.

The paper spells out the role of LEP activities in improving students' oral communication in English and students' opinions about LEP activities in enhancing their English language in different types of communicative contexts. Further, it suggests some pedagogical implications for overcoming the difficulties faced by EFL students in various communicative contexts.

The present study aims to examine the attitudes of future Saudi female English as a Foreign Language (EFL) student-teachers toward English native-like pronunciation to investigate their misconceptions about English as a Lingua Franca (ELF).

The researcher used a questionnaire to collect the data for the study.

The results indicate that students and teachers have positive attitudes toward native-like pronunciation. However, the results also show a realization on the participants’ part about the status of ELF. The study concludes that although they have positive attitudes toward native-like English pronunciation, students use ELF and recognize that such pronunciation is not essential for global communication. The study results show that the participants are aware of ELF, filling a vacuum in the literature about how Saudi students perceive ELF. It encourages EFL teachers, syllabus designers, developers and researchers to provide more information on this topic and stresses international communicative ability, as ELF speakers require.

As the study has some limitations that could be addressed in future research, other researchers should address these deficiencies in future studies. One limitation is that the study only involved Saudi female future teachers. Further researchers can investigate male Saudi future EFL teachers. Another limitation is that the study focused on future teachers of English in Saudi Arabia in only one institution. Other Saudi EFL teachers and other Arab future teachers could be further investigated to reject or support the study’s findings. Additionally, a more detailed demographic background could be specified in further research for more comprehensive results. In addition, similar studies could be conducted with participants from different EFL-speaking countries. Another limitation of this study is that it covers the attitudes of EFL future teachers toward native-like pronunciation and indirectly investigates their views on ELF. More research is needed to determine how EFL learners and teachers perceive ELF. The actual use of English globally could become more enlightened with further study.

This study’s findings have implications for instructors, syllabus designers and researchers. The results suggest that EFL instructors, syllabus designers and researchers should focus more on international communicative competence than native-like competence. While designing course materials or teaching, teachers and syllabus developers should be fully aware of the status of ELF. Designers of syllabi should include conversations among speakers from different linguistic backgrounds. Effective communication is a priority. Students should become more familiar with global communication outside the classroom and be prepared to engage in it.

Students should become more familiar with global communication outside the classroom and be prepared to engage in it.

Native varieties of English have gained popularity over the years among EFL teachers and learners. However, researchers have debated the importance of EFL students achieving native-like English proficiency.

Students of mixed-ability learning together in one class is a challenge for all educators, especially in English as foreign language (EFL) contexts. Timed reading activity (TRA) is an activity that can help educators address the learning needs of students in such a context. The present study investigated the effectiveness of the TRA in enhancing EFL students' reading rate and reading comprehension as well as in making them aware of potentially wrong reading strategies that they may be using.

A classroom intervention was designed for a group of preparatory year (PY) students at a Saudi university. The study sample consisted of one intact class of 29 students. Data were collected from pre- and post-tests of students' reading rate and reading comprehension as well as progress charts. In addition, a questionnaire was used to identify the reading strategies used by the students.

The results showed that the TRA generally enhanced the reading comprehension and the reading rate of EFL mixed-ability students as well as raised their awareness of their use of wrong fast reading strategies.

The results of the study support the use of TRA as a remedial reading activity in EFL mixed-ability classes.

Recent advancements in science and technology have led to an emphasis on using technology to make education more interesting. The inclusion of computers, internet and technological media has made education more diverse, vivid and enthusiastic. The use of technology such as YouTube in education stimulates visual and auditory learning, which results in favorable outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guideline for more systematic utilization of YouTube that has been possible in Saudi EFL classrooms at King Khalid University/Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

YouTube videos that illustrated a variety of special spoken discourse and interaction were selected to widen Saudi EFL students’ socio-linguistic experience. In total, 48 students were divided into two groups; one group intensively used YouTube through the course, while the other did not. A quasi-experiment method was used to collect data.

The use of YouTube in studying English spoken discourse played a pivotal role in enhancing Saudi EFL students’ proficiency. The experimental group students’ outcomes revealed positive gains through the integration of video elements in teaching.

This study is among the first to examine the use of YouTube technology for educational purposes, particularly in the context of Arab countries.