Research in the field of English language as a foreign language (EFL) has been consistently highlighted the need for communicative competence skills among students. Accompanied by the validated positive impact of technologies on students’ skills’, this study aims to explore the strategies used by EFL students in enhancing their communicative competence using digital platforms and identify the factors of developing communicative competence using digital platforms (linguistic factors, environmental factors, psychological factors, and university-related factors). The mixed-method research design was utilized to obtain data from Iraqi undergraduate EFL students. The study was conducted in the Iraqi University in Baghdad Iraq. EFL undergraduate students from the English department from the second-year grade constituted the population of the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 EFL students to explore students’ usage of digital platforms to enhance communicative competence. A convenient sampling technique was used to select the students. The data from the interviews were analysed thematically using QSR NVivo software. Also, a survey questionnaire was demonstrated to the sample of the study to identify the challenges of development. 150 EFL students participated in the study sampled using the proportional sampling method. SPSS software was also used to analyse the data. The findings showed that students used digital platforms to develop grammar accuracy, pronunciation, vocabulary, cohesion and coherence, punctuation, and spelling. On the other hand, the challenging factors identified are grouped in four categories which are linguistic factors, environmental factors, psychological factors, an university-related factors. The findings of the study offer new insight for future directions research and recommendations to the university management as these findings could be the cornerstones of the planning for successful implementation of digital platforms in teaching and learning English in general and communicative competence in specific.
The impact of undergraduate research experiences on students' academic development and retention in STEM fields is significant. Students' success in STEM fields is based on developing strong research and critical thinking skills that make it essential for students to engage in research activities throughout their academic programs. This work evaluates the effectiveness of undergraduate research experiences with respect to its influence on student retention and academic development. The cases presented are based on years of experience implementing undergraduate research programs in various STEM fields at Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) funded by HSI STEM Grants. The study seeks to establish a correlation between students' reten
... Show MoreThis study examines postgraduate students’ awareness of pragmatic aspects, including Grice Maxims, Politeness, and Direct and Indirect forms of speech. According to Paul Grice’s theory of implicature, which is considered one of the most important contributions to pragmatics, this paper discusses how postgraduate students can meet the cooperative principle when communicating effectively. It also outlines how does politeness principles influence obeying or violating the maxims and how is the use of direct or indirect forms of utterances prompted by politeness. Sixteen master’s students of Linguistics and Literature were asked to take a multiple-choice test. The test will be represented along with the interpretation of each optio
... Show MoreBackground : To assess the actual practice of breast self-examination (BSE), as an early detection tool for breast cancer, among a sample of patients affected with breast cancer in Iraq.Methods: A random sample of 200 female patients with breast cancer was analyzed to evaluate the extent of their actual practice of breast self-examination before the diagnosis of the disease. The examined variables included the age of the patients, marital status, education, occupation, smoking habit, family history of cancer, frequency of gravidity, parity and abortions. Results: The age of patients ranged from (24-70) years with a mean age of 48 years. The highest frequency of the examined sample
... Show MoreThe bank deposits is fuel banking activity and raw material products for the commercial bank and the basis of its activity and its lifetime So the bank, which seeks to continue the successful development of the volume of cash deposits has translated the work of the bank to meet the needs of different sectors by providing the necessary funding, and from this point of view was the research problem a lack of interest departments of banking services to commercial banks as a means for the development of electronic cash deposits have, and which represents the basis for the supplier commercial bank fund.
Public-private partnership (PPP) has been used over the past 20-30 years by governments in developed countries to meet the public demand for infrastructural services. In Iraq, the PPP concept is comparatively new to the Government of Iraq (GoI), where the government has historically taken most of the responsibility for providing public services. There are few PPP projects in Iraq. However, the number is increasing. Recently the Iraqi market has experienced a number of attempts of PPP in different sectors, especially after the new investment law in 2006. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the investment environment in Iraq and to indicate the main factors affecting PPP in particular for infrastructure projects. Some literature review and
... Show MoreThis paper presents the intricate issues and strategies related to the translation of children's books, and it particularly focuses on the comparative analysis of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter and "Le Petit Prince" (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The study finds that the typical problems in translation are, idiomatic expressions, cultural reference, and the voice preservation, along side-sheet-specific challenges which each of the text faces. The translator of Potter's work should have skills of transposing all culturally oriented peculiarities of the UK land to the international audience to keep it accessible. On the contrary, "Le Petit Prince" translation will be the process of capturing the abstra
... Show MoreThe emergence of such widespread pharmaceuticals as a pollutant has become one of the world's critical environmental problems that may lead to both the public's health and biodiversity deterioration. This article provides an exhaustive account of the current understanding of the environmental persistence of pharmaceutical contaminants following in-depth analysis of the additive effects of existing natural biodegradation pathways on the human health impact of these drugs. Paying special attention to biodegradation decomposing agents such as bacteria, fungi, and algae the paper estimates their ability to convert drug ingredients to compound that is eventually less toxic. Although these biologic systems contain an enormous potential fo
... Show MoreThe present study aims at knowing the reasons of the student of secondary school abstention from participation in the theatrical activity, and to know the reasons that resulted in this abstention. In addition to that, the study aims at knowing the differences according to variables (gender, scholastic stage, and major of study). The sample of the study was chosen from the secondary schools in Baghdad in the random manner from Al-Karakh and Al-Rusafa districts of (147) students. The questionnaire was used to collected data.
The result showed that all the items are intense, the item of (Students do not know how to use their leisure time) obtained the hi
... Show MoreObjective: To determine the prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Iraqi repatriated
prisoners of Iran-Iraq war, and the relationship with demographic factors.
Methodology: A descriptive study was carried out from Oct. 18th, 2009 through Jan. 10th, 2010. A nonprobability
based snowball sampling technique was used to recruit 92 Iraqi repatriated prisoners of war
(IRPOWs) who had visited Ministry of Human Rights. A data collection instrument was constructed that
consisted of six demographic characteristics, and eight items to measure the level of PTSD in POWs. Data were
collected with the constructed instrument during a brief interview. Data were analyzed through the application of
descriptive statist
While many educators are highly focused on state test, it is important to consider that
over the course of a year, instructors can build in many opportunities to assess how learners
are learning. Therefore, assessment techniques are considered a good method to get benefit
for both instructors and learners in the process of teaching and learning. The sample consists
of 27 learners who participated in TOEFL training course in the Development and Continuous
Education Centre. Validity and reliability were verified.
To fulfill the aims and verify the hypothesis which reads as follows” It is hypothesized
that the TOEFL learners' scores will not be increased after TOEFL course training.” T-test
for two dependent samp