This study investigated critical thinking indicators of students’ postings on the asynchronous online discussion forums on the learning management system (LMS) at Arab Open University (AOU), Jordan. The models used to diagnose nineteen students’ postings were Garrisons’ (2001) thinking skills and Newman (1995). Results revealed that participants’ postings reflected the critical thinking indicators proposed by Newman like relevance and importance, but students need to enhance skills like justification, and critical assessment. According to Garrisons’ model, participants could identify, and explore problems, but they need support to evaluate the problem and integrate solutions into their existing knowledge. The findings reveal that participants acquire essential critical thinking skills, but they need to focus on higher order skills. Further research should be conducted using different courses issues to impart the critical thinking indicators that students need in higher institutions. In addition, instructors should be trained on how to formulate online tasks that stimulate high level of thinking.

This study investigates the Syrian refugees ' perceptions of blended learning (BL) at Arab Open University in Jordan as well as the effects of age and gender on participants' perceptions. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 93 Syrian refugees. Results revealed that the Syrian refugees have positive perceptions of the BL approach, and they are satisfied with it as it plays a transformative role in achieving their academic goals without negatively affecting their work and family affairs. Results also revealed there were no significant differences in participants' perceptions of BL attributed to gender, but age had a significance differences, that is, older participants view BL favorably. The current study also investigated the challenges that refugees face when experiencing BL. Based on the results, it is recommended to expand the use of BL approaches, especially for vulnerable groups like refugees while taking into consideration the challenges they stated. Further research should be conducted to investigate other variables that affect participants' perceptions like achievement, and majors.

The present study aims at analyzing 33 English paragraphs written by first-year students at Arab Open University in Jordan. The participants are from different academic majors, and, all the participants are English foreign language students and face challenges in learning the English language. The tool of the current study was the participants' written paragraphs. All errors committed by the participants were analyzed and classified into different categories. The results showed that the most frequent error category was omission and addition, and the errors committed by the participants are attributed to intralingual difficulties due to the deformation of language learning as well as limited interlingual errors. In the light of the obtained results, several recommendations and pedagogical implications were suggested in order to help instructors and teachers in general in their efforts in lessening the obstacles regarding writing paragraphs in the English language.

This study investigated in-service English as foreign language (EFL) teachers’ practices while teaching reading comprehension at schools. Thirty EFL teachers were observed to identify their current practices and teaching quality. To triangulate the trustworthiness of the data, out of those thirty, ten EFL teachers were interviewed. The observation data were analyzed using descriptive statistic particularly frequencies and percent, and the interview data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that teachers taught students reading comprehension traditionally. Most of the observed and interviewed teachers knew the names of the reading comprehension strategies and the stages of teaching reading comprehension. However, they did not know how to employ and practice them. Based on the results, it is necessary to design professional development programs to empower EFL teachers on how to present these strategies and to conduct further research on this topic while considering other variables, like experience and the nature of curricula.

This study investigated the effect of a proposed training program based on strategy-based instruction (SBI) on EFL female teachers' performance in teaching listening comprehension. The participants of the study were 36 EFL female teachers who were purposefully chosen by EFL supervisors from schools in Amman. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: 18 EFL teachers in the experimental group who were trained according to the proposed training program and 18 teachers in the control group who were received a conventional training program. A teaching listening comprehension scale and an observation checklist were used as research tools. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to identify any statistically significant differences between the two groups on teachers' performance in teaching listening comprehension. The findings revealed that the teaching performance in listening comprehension of female EFL teachers in the experimental group outperformed the control group, and employed most of the SBI when the participants were observed. Based on the results of the study, the researcher recommends that future research be investigated on the effect of research-based strategies on teacher effectiveness in teaching other language skills.