The morpho-syntax of question particles in Standard Arabic.

Unlike wh-question questions in Standard Arabic (SA), which received much attention in the past decades in different approaches within generative grammar, question particles (yes-no questions) in SA have not yet been studied thoroughly in minimalist syntax, and less attention has been paid to them. There is a need to analyze SA question articles and explore their syntactic behavior within minimalism. The reason why this topic has been selected for study is that SA question particles have not been investigated in detail yet in Chomsky's Phase Theory; it has not been analyzed how question particles are derived and represented morpho-syntactically in a clause structure. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the morpho-syntax of SA question particles and provide satisfactory answers to the following questions: (i) Do question particles in SA undergo any syntactic movement to [Spec-CP] in the derivation of yes-no questions? If not, why?, (ii) Are question particles based-generated in [Spec-CP]?, and (iii) How can question particles be accounted for neatly in Chomsky's Phase-based Theory? The paper adopts Chomsky's Phase Theory to examine the interaction between the assumptions of this theory and the SA data on question particles. The study findings reveal that, unlike English, question particles in SA do not undergo any syntactic movement while deriving yes-no questions and are assumed to be base-generated in [Spec-CP]. Such question particles are not part of the verb morphology and are merely morphological affixes used as devices to mark interrogativity in the syntax; they do not carry any agreement and tense features that trigger syntactic movement to the clause-initial position.

The syntax of wh-questions in unaccusative and (Un)ergative structures in Mehri language: A Phase-based approach.

The Mehri Language is an endangered language spoken in eastern Yemen, a sub-group of the Semitic language family, and a Southern Arabic language. The syntax of Mehri wh-questions has not been explored within minimalism; hence, there is a morpho-syntactic need to provide a modern analysis of wh-questions in order to show how the interrogative structures can be derived. This study aims to examine the syntax of the wh-question movement in Mehri's unaccusative/ergative and unergative structures and answer the following questions within Chomsky's (2000 and 2008) Phase-based Theory: (i) Does the Mehri language allow fronting of wh-phrases to [Spec-CP]? And (ii) how can wh-movement in Mehri unaccusative and (un)ergative structures be accounted for? This work presents a novel analysis of wh-question movement in unaccusative/ergative and unergative structures in Mehri; it demonstrates that the source head C triggers the movement of wh-adjunct and wh-subject phrases. In wh-adjunct extraction, two strategies are employed: overt wh-fronting and wh-in-situ; when the head Foc inherits an edge feature from C, wh-adjunct overtly undergoes movement from its original position within v*P to the left peripheries of [Spec-FocP] and subsequently to [Spec-CP]. When the lexical wh-adjunct remains within v*P, its question features covertly move to [Spec-CP], because the head Foc does not inherit an edge feature from C. In wh-subject extraction, the wh-subject overly undergoes movement to [Spec-CP] because C obligatorily inherits the edge feature to the head Top, which triggers movement of the illogical subject in unaccusative/ergative structures and the logical external specifier in unergative structures to [Spec-CP]. Moreover, Mehri obeys the Phase Impenetrability Condition of Chomsky, where wh-subject and wh-adjunct phrases must pass through certain phases until [Spec-CP].

The effect of technology-assisted language programme on vocabulary learning among EFL students at the tertiary level.

Mobile technologies have drawn the attention of the researchers and are gaining popularity in a variety of academic backgrounds. However, there is currently unavailability of studies on the benefits that various mobile technologies give to learning results. The objective of this current study was to examine how the mobile assisted language programme, WhatsApp affected Bangladeshi tertiary level EFL learners' vocabulary learning. The study included sixty-four EFL students who had intermediate level of English competency, and they were chosen using random sampling. After establishing the learners' homogeneity with a vocabulary examination/test, the researchers separated the participants into two categories, namely experimental group (N = 34) and control (N = 30) group, and then their vocabulary knowledge (i.e., synonyms and antonyms) was assessed. The research involved 14 session treatment with the control group using the usual traditional method and the experimental section using WhatsApp to teach new words. A vocabulary post-test for the both classes was conducted after the completion of the course. In addition, both groups were given an attitude questionnaire to see how they felt about the traditional vocabulary acquisition method and utilizing the WhatsApp approach. According to the findings of this study, the experimental group performed better than the control group. Furthermore, as compared to the other group, learners who utilized WhatsApp to improve their vocabulary skills showed a more favourable attitude toward learning foreign language vocabulary. The current research would have further ramifications for English instructors, learners, researchers, and other stakeholders as well.

Examining the predictive role of derivatives of morphological knowledge to reading comprehension.

Morphological knowledge has been established as a critical sub-skill in the learning of bilingual reading and a strong predictor of spelling, word reading, and reading comprehension skills. The goal of this study was to investigate the prediction of morphological knowledge to reading comprehension in 185 university-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, using the four primary derivatives of morphological knowledge (i.e. adverb, adjective, verb, and noun). The current study, which took a quantitative method, used multiple regression analysis to analyse two English competence tests, i.e. a reading comprehension test and a morphological knowledge test. The findings indicated that verb derivative form statistically and significantly predicted the reading comprehension most. Additionally, the verb word class affected greatly in elucidating the dependent variable, namely reading comprehension, followed by the adverbial derivative form, the adjective word class, and the noun derivative form of morphological knowledge. Further consequences of the current study's findings will be felt by English language teachers, curriculum designers, and academics.