Faculty of Education, Ismailia

The validation of surrogates formulated using a computational framework by Ahmed et al.[1] for two purely paraffinic gasoline fuels labelled FACE A and FACE C was undertaken in this study. The ability of these surrogate mixtures to be used in modelling LTC engines was accessed by comparison of their low temperature oxidation chemistry with that of the respective parent fuel as well as a PRF based on RON. This was done by testing the surrogate mixtures in a modified Cooperative Fuels Research (CFR) engine running in Controlled Autoignition Mode (CAI) mode. The engine was run at a constant speed of 600 rpm at an equivalence ratio of 0.5 with the intake temperature at 150 °C and a pressure of 98 kPa. The low temperature reactivity of the fuels were studied by varying the compression ratio of the engine from the point were very only small low temperature heat release was observed to a point beyond which autoignition of the fuel/air mixture occurred. The apparent heat release rates of di...

In attempting to conduct robust research-based evidence in teaching and assessment of reading fluency in Arabic, the author addressed oral reading fluency in monolingual and bilingual schools at different levels (grades 4, 5, 6, and 10) and with different genres (informational and poetic) and with different reading conditions (vowelized and unvowelized scripts). Three main conclusions were made (a) oral reading fluency has four indicators (rate, accuracy, prosody, comprehension) that are important in teaching and assessment of it, (b) bilingualism has a positive effect on oral reading fluency as bilinguals (Arabic-English) performed better than monolinguals (Arabic) in oral reading fluency in Arabic. A balance between teaching Arabic and English in bilingual schools should be maintained and not to focus on one language at the expense of the other, and (c) the type of genre and the nature of Arabic orthography are indispensible factors when examining oral reading fluency in science of reading.

This study examined oral reading fluency (ORF) of bilingual and monolingual students. The author selected a sample of 510 (258 males and 252 females) native Arabic-speaking sixth-graders (62 bilinguals and 448 monolinguals) in Egypt. The purposes were; (a) to examine oral reading rate, oral reading accuracy, prosody, and oral reading comprehension as indicating factors in ORF, and b) to investigate the impact of bilingual education on students' ORF in Arabic. Participants individually completed the author-developed Oral Reading Fluency Measure. Results indicated a very good fit between the proposed model and the observed data i.e., oral reading rate, oral reading accuracy, prosody, and oral reading comprehension are significant indicators of ORF. Interestingly, results revealed that the bilingual students performed better than their monolingual counterparts on oral reading rate, oral reading accuracy, and prosody but not on oral reading comprehension. The discussion concludes that (a) in addition to oral reading rate, oral reading accuracy, and prosody, oral reading comprehension is a significant indicating factor of ORF, (b) learning a second language, English, has a positive effect on ORF in the first language, Arabic, and (c) the nature of Arabic orthography is an indispensible factor when examining ORF in science of reading.

Most principles and propositions in the science of reading are derived from research on Latin orthographies, usually, in English while much less is known about Semitic orthographies, namely, Arabic. This study investigated the effect of vowels and type of genre on oral accuracy, oral rate, and oral comprehension in reading Arabic orthography. A convenience sample of 85 children (34 fifth male graders and 51 tenth male graders) was selected from two public schools in Saudi Arabia. The researcher developed two reading measures; the Fifth Grade Reading Measure and Tenth Grade Reading Measure. Each measure has two genres (informational and poetic) and two versions (shallow/vowelized and deep/unvowelized). Each child individually completed the two versions of the measure in his grade. The results revealed that the students read the shallow genres (informational and poetic) more accurately and with more comprehension but less rapidly than reading the deep genres. In addition, the students read the informational genre (shallow and deep) more accurately, rapidly, and with more comprehension than the poetic genre (shallow and deep). The discussion concludes that a) the nature of Arabic orthography, mainly vowels, is an indispensible variable to the literature of science of reading, b) oral reading accuracy, oral reading rate and oral reading comprehension are affected by the unique characteristics of the genre, and c) vowels in Arabic are important to improve oral reading accuracy, and oral reading comprehension for the first grades in primary school and later grades in secondary school as well.

This study investigated the effect of learning English (L2) on learning to read and spell connected texts accurately in Arabic (L1). The author selected a sample of 83 (38 males and 45 females; 45 bilinguals and 38 monolinguals) native Arabic-speaking fourth-graders in Egypt. Students completed the author-developed Oral Reading Accuracy Measure and Spelling Accuracy Measure. Interestingly, results revealed that the bilingual (Arabic-English) students performed better than their monolingual (Arabic) counterparts on the two literacy variables: oral reading accuracy (ORA) and spelling accuracy (SA). The discussion concludes that learning English (L2) has a positive effect on students' oral reading accuracy and spelling accuracy in Arabic (L1).

The key contribution of this research is to produce a proposal for a reading literacy curriculum design (RLCD) for secondary school students.This proposal includes four major components: targets, assessment, instruction, and content. Two complementary dimensions are investigated: the theoretical analysis (the researcher's perspective based upon analysis of reading literacy research) and the fieldwork (the empirical study using a questionnaire for teachers and supervisors and a semi-structured interview for other professionals). Those two dimensions are charted through seven chapters and introduction to and conclusion of these chapters. Results indicated that the practitioners' perceptions on the questionnaire and the professionals' answers in the semi-structured interview supported what was revealed by the theoretical analysis regarding RLCD. This suggests that the proposed RLCD is a practical proposition. It also raises the confidence in RLCD by triangulation of data by using the questionnaire for the practitioners and the semi-structured interview for other professionals and relating all of this to literature analysis.

The purpose of the research reported in this article is to present the notion of Culture of Traits (CoTs) and to develop a 'Communicative Traits Model' (CTM) in teaching, learning, and assessing of Arabic as a first language. The ultimate goal is to create a shared vocabulary, establish a common language and build a consistent understanding of what constitutes good teaching, learning, and assessing of Arabic. Towards this aim, two complementary dimensions were investigated; An analysis of the origins and nature of the notion of CoTs, of how language learning happens and of how to conceptualize and encapsulate this in a model to create such a shared vocabulary in the teaching, learning, and assessing of Arabic. To validate the usefulness of CTM, the Bahraini teacher candidates completed the researcher-developed questionnaire to survey their views about what has been revealed by the analysis regarding CTM. Results indicated a very positive agreement on the importance of CTM as a clear and a practical framework to teach, learn, and assess the Arabic language not only in writing but also in speaking, reading and listening.

This study investigated the impact of a critical view of variation in English on developing a critical view of variation in Arabic among Bahraini trainee teachers. The main focus was to clarify whether or not these critical views of world Englishes transfer to and develop critical views of Arabic as a first language. Bahraini trainee teachers, from the English specialization, participated in focus group discussions and completed an authors-developed survey. Interestingly, the results revealed positive criticality of Arabic as a consequence of training in world Englishes. Most noticeably, participants showed a critical view towards identity as speakers of a Bahraini variety, and developed new understanding of variety in the Arabic language from exposure to variety in English. The results suggest important implications for the diglossic situation in Arabic, the codification of varieties in Arabic, the balance between Arabic and English, bilingualism, and for language choices made in the classroom and school.

This article reports an investigation into the impact of presenting communicative traits of writing through cooperative learning on trainee teachers' pedagogical knowledge and attitudes towards a 'traits of writing' approach and cooperative learning. Mixed methodologies were used with the participants in a quasiexperimental repeated measure. Forty-two trainee teachers, enrolled in the Bahrain Teachers College, answered the pre and post pedagogical knowledge test and completed the two attitude scales at the end of semester. The results suggest that presenting communicative traits of writing through cooperative learning has a positive effect on the participants' pedagogical knowledge, and also has a positive impact on their attitudes towards communicative traits of writing approach, and attitudes towards cooperative learning. Further implications for teacher education are presented.

This article reports an investigation into the impact of presenting communicative traits of writing through cooperative learning on trainee teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and attitudes towards a ‘traits of writing’ approach and cooperative learning. Mixed methodologies were used with the participants in a quasiexperimental repeated measure. Forty-two trainee teachers, enrolled in the Bahrain Teachers College, answered the pre and post pedagogical knowledge test and completed the two attitude scales at the end of semester. The results suggest that presenting communicative traits of writing through cooperative learning has a positive effect on the participants’ pedagogical knowledge, and also has a positive impact on their attitudes towards communicative traits of writing approach, and attitudes towards cooperative learning. Further implications for teacher education are presented.

This study investigated the impact of a critical view of variation in English on developing a critical view of variation in Arabic among Bahraini trainee teachers. The main focus was to clarify whether or not these critical views of world Englishes transfer to and develop critical views of Arabic as a first language. Bahraini trainee teachers, from the English specialization, participated in focus group discussions and completed an authors-developed survey. Interestingly, the results revealed positive criticality of Arabic as a consequence of training in world Englishes. Most noticeably, participants showed a critical view towards identity as speakers of a Bahraini variety, and developed new understanding of variety in the Arabic language from exposure to variety in English. The results suggest important implications for the diglossic situation in Arabic, the codification of varieties in Arabic, the balance between Arabic and English, bilingualism, and for language choices made in t...

The key contribution of this research is to produce a proposal for a reading literacy curriculum design (RLCD) for secondary school students (15-17 year-old) in Egypt. This proposal includes four major components: targets, assessment, instruction, and content. Two complementary dimensions are investigated: the theoretical analysis (the researcher’s perspective based upon analysis of reading literacy research) and the fieldwork (the empirical study using a questionnaire for teachers and supervisors and a semi-structured interview for other professionals). Those two dimensions are charted through seven chapters and introduction to and conclusion of these chapters. Following an introduction to the research problem, purposes, questions, structure, rationale, and parameters, the successive focus of these chapters is on: - Clarifying the Egyptian context in terms of education system, culture of learning, critical analysis of the actual reading situation and how all of these elements revea...

Although listening helps with learning English as a Foreign Language, the use of specialized internet websites for developing the listening skills is limited. This study investigated the effectiveness of the Randall Website in developing EFL listening skills of college students in eight majors: The study adopted one group pre-posttest group design. Differences in mean scores between pre and post-tests and a practical difference significance equation revealed that the website was effective in improving students' listening skills. Also, students' expressed that the Website was easy to use, beneficial in terms of audio-script comparison, and useful in terms of self-learning. In conclusion, a recommendation for instructors to make use of the website was made and suggestions for further research provided.