Extremism has been a problematic term to define and suggests different and opposing meanings. This study explores how Twitter users conceptualize extremism in Arabic and express their opinions/arguments to construct the term. A corpus of tweets was collected from Twitter API using the word ‘تطرف أو متطرف’ in Arabic for extremist/extremism. A topic modeling algorithm was then applied to the dataset to uncover latent associated concepts underlying extremism, followed by a critical discourse analysis using Van Dijk’s Sociocognitive approach. The discursive and linguistic strategies used by Twitter users to support and justify their views of extremism were examined. The findings demonstrate an ideological influence that controls the concept of extremism, keeping it open to manipulation to serve shared interests and goals. Arab users of Twitter use extremism to promote their groups’ positive schema against others-negative schema.
EFL learners are often taught English in college mainly for academic purposes. They focus their efforts on improving their language skills with limited, if any, attention to the critical aspects of language use. This study attempted to examine EFL learners’ capacity to critically evaluate news and information about world events. A focus group discussion was conducted to explore EFL learners’ perceptions of fake news, revealing that their reading skills lacked a critical lens. A training program on critical discourse analysis skills was designed. The training utilized a worksheet based on van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach to critical discourse analysis and included three workshops. Every workshop introduced two fake news stories from social media to be evaluated using the worksheet, starting with the native language before working on English texts. The participants showed a considerable level of improvement in using critical discourse analysis skills to approach news on social media. They developed awareness of their roles as members of society in effecting a positive change. They also realized the power of language to critically evaluate and judge world events.
Number and gender are two of the core grammatical categories in Arabic. The assignment of number and gender to foreign words is an area of conflict between MSA and other Arabic varieties. This paper investigates the factors that stand behind the seemingly irregularity of number and gender assignment in Arabic. It appears that speakers follow a form standardized by MSA or enforce another form following their dialects and community conventions. This variation in number and gender assignment to loans gives rise to multiple competing forms that may not be recognized by MSA or some other varieties of Arabic. Yet, the findings demonstrate consistency in assigning number and gender to loans by applying native patterns motivated by frequency of use and the semantics of the referents.
The number of English as a foreign language (EFL) programs has increased around the world. However, they lack a critical perspective. Throughout their learning, EFL learners are exposed to diverse sociocultural and sociopolitical content that should be approached with a critical stance. EFL educators play a significant role in designing the curriculum and teaching EFL programs. The current study explores their views and opinions on incorporating critical language awareness (CLA) in EFL or English as a second language programs to develop critical perspectives among learners. The findings of this study revealed a recognition of the need for CLA in EFL classrooms in the context of a more socially informed learning experience. Three major themes arose from the interviews: making EFL teaching and learning informed by the social context, applying critical discourse analysis (CDA) and critical thinking skills as analytical tools to social issues, and empowering EFL educators with the appropriate professional training. The study’s findings also showed that the participants had a positive attitude and readiness to integrate CLA in EFL classrooms.
Language users normally begin with a topic and, consciously or unconsciously, express their evaluative-attitudinal meaning toward that topic. When the topic includes an abstract term or is controversial, it becomes difficult for language users and learners to discern the implicit meaning. This study applies semantic or discourse prosody to identify implicit evaluative aspects using the topic of extremism as an example. A corpus of approximately 10,000 tweets was collected from Twitter using two Arabic keywords, "تطرف" and ",متطرف" corresponding to extremism and extremist. After the data had been processed, the Extended Lexical Unit (ELU) model was used as an analytical tool to identify discourse prosody. Instances of the corpus were analyzed to demonstrate the construction of the keywords and collocational relations. The results showed overall unfavorable prosody toward extremism based on subjective evaluation of the events related to extremism, such as associating them with a particular religion or social group. Language users seem more judgmental with opposing arguments and, accordingly, reveal more evaluative aspects. The implications of discourse prosody for language learning were explicated in light of the results.
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