In this polylog to the special issue on "The rise of Chinese language education policies in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf: New players, discourses and linguistic markets," three researchers with different personal and professional connections to the three languages 'at play' in the region -- English, Chinese, and Arabic -- offer their…

This study, inspired by Vision 2030 and Saudi education reforms, offers a comprehensive framework for teachers and educators. It identifies English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' perspectives on online and in-person professional development practices (PDPs). Through the descriptive survey research design, data was collected from (N = 85)…

Research over the last two decades has shown that teaching pronunciation is both effective and important in language education. Nowadays, therefore, many English language textbooks include pronunciation activities. It is not clear yet how this has affected or changed teachers' beliefs and practices in different teaching contexts. The current study…

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which computer-assisted pronunciation (CAP) is influential in helping Hijazi students to develop their pronunciation of English vowels within a Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) context. It also examined whether Saudi Hijazi learners taught English vowel sounds by CAP outperform those taught…

The study investigates EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners' opinions, attitudes and the challenges of incorporating AI-powered teaching and learning. It also examines how their ideas and attitudes are affected by demographic variables. 258 students were selected using a random sampling method from a population comprising students studying…

Purpose: This study aims to explore how gender is represented in 64 English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebooks used in schools across seven Middle Eastern countries. It examines whether these materials promote gender equality, as outlined in the official curriculum. Design/methodology/approach: The coursebooks were analysed through content…

In this paper, we report a longitudinal study of the effects of procedural task repetition on learners' task performance (i.e., syntactic complexity in relation to lexical complexity). We investigated how task repetition results in differences at the group and individual level across each task interval (T = 7). Intermediate-level Saudi learners of…

With the spread of COVID-19 all over the world, the transformation of the educational system and the implementation of remote lessons became the only possible variant to continue the process of teaching students for English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers. This tendency was unexpected and became rather difficult for teachers and…

This study investigated the status of pragmatic awareness among Saudi EFL learners and the differences in pragmatic awareness between Saudi male and female EFL learners. The participants in the study consisted of 28 male and 28 female language learners whose proficiency levels ranged from intermediate to advanced. The instrument used for this…

With the large increase in online English language learners, there is a need to explore how those learners practise self-regulated writing in such an autonomous learning context. This article reports on an exploratory study of self-regulated learning strategies used by two writing-proficiency groups (low and high) of Saudi English majors within an…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the fastest growing technologies today. Its extraordinary scope and capabilities have led people of all ages and abilities to employ it in many of their activities. Language learning is a lifetime experience that could benefit from the use of AI and thus it is worth exploring people's awareness of this…

Studies that examine the rise of CFL policy in Saudi HE institutions are still rare. Through the "language comprehensive competitiveness framework" (LCCF) for the Chinese language? Consisting of policy, economic, cultural, and population competitiveness (Xu, J. 2007. [Chinese characters omitted]. [Language planning and language…

Vocabulary is crucial for mastering English as a Foreign Language (EFL) skills. Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) platforms like Wordwall can enhance active learning by providing multiple-choice, missing, and matching words. The current study aimed to addresses the impact of the Wordwall platform on EFL learners in Saudi Arabia. This study…

This study investigates how writing short stories can be integrated into the curriculum of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to consolidate students' knowledge of the language and promote their creative writing skills. It aims to understand students' experiences writing fiction and nonfiction short stories. The participants were 20…

This study has been conducted with eighty undergraduate EFL students at Qassim University, over a period of six weeks, with forty students each in control and experimental groups. The results from the mixed-method analysis show that the experimental group achieved higher scores in listening skills and general comprehension than the control group.…