A quantitative analysis of the reactions of viewers with hearing impairment to the intralingual subtitling of Egyptian movies.

This study investigates how the viewers with hearing impairment reacted to the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) subtitles added to some Vernacular Arabic movies during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period. A sample group of 106 deaf participants was asked to watch the MSA subtitled version of the Egyptian vernacular movie, Boushkash, and fill in an 18-item questionnaire of five constructs, namely, (1) movie watching habits, (2) technical aspects, (3) linguistic and paralinguistic information, (4) attitude, and (5) future actions and recommendations. The analysis showed that the intralingual subtitling of vernacular Arabic comedy movies was received positively by the participants. The technical specifications of the subtitles were satisfactory and adequate. The paralinguistic information was helpful as it offers a better understanding of the movie and creates a sense of reality in the movie's scenes. This indicates that intralingual subtitling is a step in the right direction that makes audiovisual materials accessible to people with hearing impairment and enhances their feeling of social inclusion. The study concludes that more governmental care in the Arab countries should be directed towards this minority group by urging national TV channels to add intralingual translation to their various programs.

The use of YouTube in developing the speaking skills of Jordanian EFL university students.

This study examines the effectiveness of using YouTube videos in teaching the speaking skills among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Jordan. The study sample comprised 80 students attending Oral Skills classes in the English Language and Literature Department at a private university in Jordan. The participants were equally divided into a control group and an experimental group of 40 students each. The experimental group was taught through the use of YouTube videos, while the control group was taught the speaking skills using the traditional approach. A pre-test and a post-test were administered to the two groups. Four TEFL experts were asked to rate the participants' performance using the IELTS speaking band descriptors, which consist of four main categories: fluency & coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range & accuracy, and pronunciation. The findings showed that the performance of the two groups was improved. However, compared to the traditional group, the experimental group demonstrated a relatively better improvement. The results also showed significant progress in the speaking performance of the students subjected to the YouTube experiment. Of all the four constructs under investigation, pronunciation and fluency & coherence were the most noticeably advanced in the performance of the YouTube experimental group. The present study recommends that YouTube videos be embedded into the EFL classroom to improve students' speaking skills.

Dataset of Jordanian university students' psychological health impacted by using e-learning tools during COVID-19.

A dataset was compiled to examine the psychosomatic impact of COVID-19's e-learning digital tools on Jordanian university students' well-being. In response to the state of emergency imposed by COVID-19, Jordanian universities switched to the online learning model as an alternative to traditional face-to-face education. The researchers designed a questionnaire that consists of two main sections; the first section included demographic information including gender, level/year, age, and cumulative average (GPA). The second section comprised five main constructs: (1) use of digital tools (mobile phone, laptop, i-pad) before and after COVID-19, (2) sleeping habits before and after COVID-19, (3) social interaction, (4) psychological state, and (5) academic performance. The researchers contacted different instructors teaching compulsory courses at four public and private universities and asked them to distribute the electronic questionnaire. Using the snowball sampling method, the questionnaire was delivered to students studying at the selected universities, and a total of 775 responses were received. The data were analyzed according to Likert's five-point scale, where frequencies and percentages were calculated. The data will be useful for researchers interested in studying the relationship between the e-learning model and psychosomatic disorders. Policymakers can use the data to identify university students' emotional and psychological needs and propose practical solutions for their educational well-being.