Faculty of Languages and Translation

New students were embraced at the Level 1 Student Orientation on February 6, 2018, in the auditoriums of Building D. Incoming students were greeted with a warm welcome by the English Club and a presentation highlighting what the FLT would bring into their lives.  Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi, delivered a heartfelt welcome telling all students that we are all one family.  He introduced the numerous facilities that the FLT provides to students to bolster their experience, and he encouraged students to take advantage of the expanded opportunities we offer at the FLT by completely immersing themselves into campus life and academic events. Any student who missed this event can contact the English Club for further assistance. Date: 02-11-2018 Source: The Faculty of Languages and Translation

The Deanship of E-Learning awarded the Faculty of Languages & Translation by presenting a certificate of appreciation for supporting the Deanship in successfully delivering the eLearning Practitioner Course. Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi, Dean, and Dr. Yahya Asiri, Vice Dean, received the certificate. The university-wide eLearning Practitioner Course for faculty members was offered by the Deanship of E-Learning from 25/10/2017 to 09/11/2017. FLT E-Learning Supervisor, Mohsin Raza Khan, delivered the course. The importance of instructional design training and an enhanced learning environment for students is well known to all colleges of the university. It took place as part of a university-wide strategy to provide the knowledge and skills needed to capitalize on one of the fastest growing areas of education while creating captivating learning experiences for students. The primary objectives of the course were to improve student learning, engagement, interaction, and most importantly quality learning. These objectives were solidified by the core foundation of the program that participants would be able to: Create content items to present a variety of learning activities to enhance student learning. Deliver authentic assessments to evaluate student knowledge in a variety of meaningful ways. Use Blackboard communication tools to promote interactions between the student and instructor, the student and course content, and the student and peers. Effectively utilize Blackboard Collaborate™ tools to increase student engagement by providing a means to share and create knowledge. The course was an overall success and will continue on a periodic basis as a part of the developmental projects of the Tamkeen team. Special thanks to Mohammed Jarallah, Training Manager, and Dr. Khaled M. Mohanna, E-Learning Team Manager, for their holistic support. As a final note, Mohsin Raza Khan received a certificate of appreciation by the Deanship of E-Learning for his efforts. Date: 2/4/2018 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation

Earlier this month, internationally renowned author and professor James Dean Brown drew a capacity crowd of nearly 150 candidates as he unraveled his research expertise and demystified the characteristics of qualitative and quantitative research in applied linguistics research, and the continuum from which the mixed-methods research (MMR) paradigm emerged. The free webinar -- featured in Arab News and promoted throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- was conducted under the guidance of the FLT Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi, and supervision of the FLT Chairman, Dr. Munassir Alhamami, in cooperation with the E-Learning Deanship and their exciting KKU Now initiative.   Al-Melhi: I would like to thank everyone who initiated the webinar series we are launching and all who are in attendance. Your participation and support are much appreciated and will allow us to continue to offer our webinars. In his presentation, Prof. Brown emphasized that mixed-methods research is best explained in terms of its three main varieties, its differences from multi-methods research, and its capacity to combine the best features of qualitative and quantitative analysis by identifying connections and searching for convergence, divergence, and elaboration. He also discussed the underlying principles of validity and reliability by cautioning that researchers need to determine whether the study is primarily statistical or qualitative in nature.  According to Prof. Brown, MMR concepts are best viewed as a menu of strategies to be utilized when planning, conducting and explaining any study. He also discussed the four characteristics of sound quantitative and qualitative research studies: consistency, fidelity, verifiability, and meaningfulness. Another approach that he delved into involved data triangulation - all of its types - and examples appropriate to ELT research. To conclude, Prof. James Dean Brown provided personal accounts of how he succeeded in this field and the people who sparked the inspiration to do so. He further related that he still finds himself learning more and more every year and that we can learn more from engaging in research. All in all, the webinar lead participants on a journey through the complexities of MMR in a concise and effective method To view a recording of this webinar, please click here. Date: 1/11/2018 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation

The Second Annual Admissions Exhibition was designed to help prospective King Khalid University students successfully transition from high school to college. From the moment students stepped on our campus, they were greeted with the vibrant energy and differentiating value of the Faculty of Languages and Translation. The program was a concerted effort by faculty and staff to ensure that incoming students feel comfortable and welcome in their new surroundings. It gave prospective students the opportunity to examine their academic abilities, interests and educational plans before their first semester of classes. The exhibition provided prospective students with a basic understanding of what will be expected of them at King Khalid University and how their particular abilities and interests may fit with one or more of the University's majors. Hundreds of admissions packets containing infographics and pertinent details on the Faculty of Languages and Translation were provided to all prospective students who came to our booth. “The Second Annual Admissions Exhibition organized by the Deanship of Admissions and Registration was an exciting platform to introduce the Faculty of Languages and Translation to eager students. We interacted face-to-face with hundreds of students and showcased the strengths and uniqueness of the FLT under one roof," said Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi, Dean. The Faculty of Languages and Translation was exceptionally represented holding a host of interactive sessions that included but were not limited to: An Academic Counseling Overview  A Course Registration Overview  An E-Learning Overview  An English Language Center Overview An English Club Overview An IELTS Overview An Introductory Video on the FLT A Language Enhancement Program Overview  An interactive Q & A session with a significant portion of the faculty A big round of applause to all faculty members who represented the Faculty of Languages and Translation making it a spectacular success. Dr. Abdulmohsen Al-Qarni, Dean of the Admissions and Registration Department, commended the visible presence of faculty members and staff from the FLT interacting with prospective students. More importantly, he awarded the FLT first place on Thursday, December 14, 2017, for an outstanding admissions booth and visually appealing materials. A vote thanks go to the administrative employees of the faculty who tirelessly worked to ensure a first-class set-up. As the new semester dawns, the class of 2022 will join upperclassmen in September 2018 to begin their journey towards success. Date: 12/15/2017 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation Multimedia Contribution: Dr. Munassir Alhamami and MD Sherajul Islam This event was held over two days (December 13, 2017, and December 14, 2017).

The Language Research Center organized a seminar on November 22, 2017, which included a presentation by Mr. Rizwan Ghani titled, ‘Under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, KKU Can Help Bring the Asir Region’s Education and Admission Process to International Standards in 3-5 Years.’ His presentation attempted to familiarize the participants with the multipronged approaches being used by numerous countries including America, the UK, Europe and Asia to align the Asir region’s education and admissions system with international standards. In the start of the presentation, he outlined the role of national and international level education assessment programs, international indicators of education systems showing global trends in education, the role of accelerated education programs, entry and admission tests, international testing centers (ITCs), and admission processes and frameworks in improving the standards. It was also highlighted that these steps are not language specific.  Mr. Rizwan explained in detail the features of programs such as National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) USA and OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) that is available in 90 languages including Arabic. While explaining the role of entry and admission tests, he suggested the introduction of critical thinking and reasoning skill (CARS). He talked about America’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) policy and its role in improving education in the fields of science and technology. The importance of establishing ITCs to enhance education standards was also highlighted.       Mr. Rizwan concluded with positive results of those programs and recommended King Khalid University should play its role to help improve the education system in the Asir region including school education. The King Abdullah Road girls’ campus also participated in the seminar online. The presentation was very interactive and overall a great success. Please click here to view Mr. Rizwan Ghani's presentation. Date: 11/22/2017 Source: MD Adil Multimedia Contribution: Mohammad Sherajul Islam

Under the supervision of Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, the Faculty of Languages and Translation (FLT) extended its academic support to the College of Applied Medical Sciences (CAMS). The FLT facilitated a two-day student training workshop on 'Medical Terminology.' The two-day workshop was conducted by Mr. Naser Alhawamdeh, Mr. Javed Ahmad, Mr. Salahud Din Abdul Rab and Mr. Mohsin Raza Khan. The facilitators provided rigorous training spanning over two days [18-19 April 2017] to students from various departments of the College of Applied Medical Sciences. In his introductory session, Mr. Naser Alwawamdeh familiarized the students with the major medical terminologies. He discussed the importance of medical terminologies and general learning strategies. Mr. Javed Ahmad facilitated the second session.  He gave a detailed presentation proposing practical solutions for significant difficulties in learning medical terms. In his presentation, he highlighted various aspects of medical terminology from a linguistic point of view. Mr. Javed also focused on the etymological aspects of medical terms and showed how these words are related to Greek and Latin languages. He explained the way these terminologies could be acquired efficiently by using interactive worksheets. The second day of the workshop was initiated by Mr. Mohsin Raza Khan where he introduced morphological and phonological dimensions of the particular language register of medicine.  Mr. Khan consolidated the theocratical knowledge of students in the field of medical vocabulary through collaborative/cooperative learning activities.  In the course of his thought-provoking presentation, he familiarized the students with the standard abbreviations in the field of medicine. The fourth session of day two was conducted by Mr. Salahud Din Abdul Rab. Keeping in view the students' needs to comprehend the semantical and syntactical aspects of medical discourse, he opened his presentation with the contextual usage of medical lexis. Mr. Abdul-Rab classified and categorized the medical terminology according to the various specialties of the medical domain. Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi further related that service learning is an excellent opportunity to involve students in community service activities and enrich their learning experience. He stressed that it is vital the students apply the experience in their academic and professional development. Educational resources including handouts and worksheets were distributed among the students during the two-day workshop. Dr. Ali Ajab Al Shahrani, CAMS Student Activities Club Director, concluded the workshop by extending his vote of thanks. He further extended his sincere appreciation to the FLT, represented by its faculty members, for successfully conducting the interactive workshop. He appreciated the sincere efforts of the presenters by distributing certificates of appreciation. Date: 4/20/2017 Source: Salahud Din A. Rab Multimedia Source: CAMS  

The First Annual Forum on the English language titled Teaching English in the 21st Century was held on April 15, 2017, at Saudi German Hospital in Abha, Saudi Arabia. The forum was organized under the supervision of Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, in cooperation with Quality Education Holding Company and Oxford University Press. The aim of the forum was to train language teachers for professional development that would emphasize the enhancement of teaching competence regarding classroom management, activities, and handling overall language teaching. The program included two training sessions and four presentations on English Language Teaching (ELT). The participants included both male and female faculty members working at King Khalid University. The program began with a welcome speech by Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi.  In his speech, he emphasized the significant value of holding Forums which aim to advance the field of ELT. He reiterated such importance by focusing on the fact that forums of this nature always bring beneficial changes in language teaching and help to discuss new teaching concepts. He suggested there be more frequent language forums in the future for professional development. Terrie Craddock from Oxford University Press conducted two training sessions. In her first session, which was titled Motivating Students, she shared ideas about how to motivate language learners. During the session, the participants took part in an interactive discussion, where they exchanged their views on motivation. She highlighted different ways to make language tasks more interesting and engaging. Craddock’s second session, Differentiated Teaching and Learning, looked at dealing with groups of mixed abilities. Despite the challenges involved in handling diverse skill groups, she said, it is manageable if the teacher knows how to engage fast learners. She also highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of combining fast learners with slow ones. Overall, both the sessions were very interactive and informative.   What followed was Mohammad Adil’s presentation titled Exploitation and Adaptation in EFL Teaching. His presentation was based on a case study he had conducted on the usefulness of course materials used in skills and language courses. He pinpointed some issues associated with the use of published course materials. He emphasized that teacher’s creativity, control, and choice (McGrath 2013: 22-23) can make a difference.  He showed how a boring or monotonous lesson could be changed into an interesting and engaging one if the teacher uses his or her creativity. Adil concluded that it is illogical to believe that the course books are useless and at the same time, it is not logical either to depend strictly on published course books while teaching. In his session, the participants also exchanged their valuable thoughts. The next presenter was Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin who spoke about Second Language Acquisition (SLA). His presentation titled Theoretical Approaches to Second Language Acquisition was primarily centered on theories about language learning and acquisition such as Krashen’s (1982) Monitor model, behaviorism, and innatism. During his session, he showed some funny movie clips to highlight challenges involved in language learning and acquisition. Dr. Eyhab, through these video clips, also wanted to highlight how a learner’s mother tongue influences second language learning. He concluded that SLA theories are closely related to their counterparts in the mother tongue. Also, prior knowledge of mother tongue, usually acquired from the parents, may or may not be an advantage depending on the similarities and differences between the pair languages in question. Dr. Abdul Wahed Al Zumor’s presentation was centered on his study based on challenges encountered by King Khalid University Science faculty students, as a result of English Medium Instruction (EMI). The study revealed that the identified approach results in a failure in that it deteriorates lecture comprehension, understanding content, and communication with their instructors due to lack of adequate English proficiency. Dr. Al Zumor concluded that the additive bilingualism approach could enrich their learning environment. This presentation was worthwhile in that it successfully raised awareness among the participants of the drawbacks of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in teaching courses other than English.    Mohammad Sirajul Islam concluded the sessions by presenting about issues related to the use of e-learning. This was also based on a case study that aimed at investigating students’ attitude towards e-learning. Interestingly, students enrolled in language courses showed a positive attitude towards online learning. On the other hand, content course students’ attitude towards e-learning was negative. He pinpointed another crucial issue related to teachers’ expertise in using Blackboard. Many teachers fail to follow the rubrics while designing online courses. He concluded that there is a need for proper e-learning training for teachers so that they can enhance their expertise in teaching online. In the end, there was a closing speech by Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, who thanked the organizing committee for arranging such a program. He congratulated those who had worked behind the scenes to make the forum a real success.    We would like to recognize the following organizing committee members for their efforts in this event: Dr. Mwafaq Momani Mr. Javed Ahmed Mr. Mohsin Raza Khan Mr. MD Sirajul Islam Mr. Saleh Hokash Mr. Naser Alhawamdeh Mr. Mazharul Islam     Date: 04-17-2017 Source: MD Adil Multimedia Contribution: MD Sirajul Islam

In cooperation with the Deanship of Community Service and Continuing Education and under the supervision of Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, Dean, and represented by Dr. Eyhab A. Bader Eddin, Lecturer, an 18-hour short course titled "Introduction to General Translation" that ended on March 8, 2017, was delivered by the Faculty of Languages and Translation (FLT). The course took place in the Al Qimma room, on the 2nd floor of Building 4, Deanship of Community Service and Continuing Education. Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi asserted that tailored, in-depth short courses aligned with market demand provide invaluable knowledge acquisition opportunities. The trainees were mainly English teachers from the Ministry of Education. Some trainees were from the military sector while a few were from the Ministry of Health. The course was given by Dr. Eyhab A. Bader Eddin, a qualified expert in translation with prior first-hand experience in the European Union and United Nations. The trainer broke down the essential components of translation for the trainees so as to simplify things. He kicked off the course with a brief historical overview of translation, moving to the core elements making up translation. The first session saw an introduction to the general characteristic features of English and Arabic statements. Such issues as syntactic mismatch in both languages were touched upon, trying to find some strategies to overcome inherent problems that are puzzling. Session 2 saw how the linguistic phenomena of hyponymy and homonymy in translation are crucial to understanding. An in-depth review of specific issues in lexical semantics occurred in a bid to broaden the reflections of the trainees. The stylistic features of headlines were introduced, adducing evidence from official newspapers. Relevant pie charts were displayed to illustrate the frequency omission of articles occurs.  Attempts were made to translate many headlines in both languages, discussing some important issues of what made a good translation and what spoiled it. Simple translation quality assessment techniques were reviewed. An assignment wrapped up session 2. Session 3 discussed the translation of non-finite clauses, and if-conditional in both languages, demonstrating the resulting nuances of meaning.  The remaining sessions were devoted to translating short texts, ranging from journalistic, political, and scientific to literary text types. Some time was spent on working out translation problems when dealing with idiomatic expressions and proverbs. Cultural gestalt was copious in the two languages. An assignment was distributed every week to ensure they had understood the topics discussed. Assignments were corrected and returned to ensure students remained actively engaged and committed to improving. Anonymous individual feedback for use in future courses occurred via an evaluation form. The course sun sank with a ceremony during which attendance certificates were distributed to the trainees who attended at least 80% of the entire course.  Dr. Mubarak Al Hamdan, Dean of Community Service, and Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi participated in the closing ceremony and handed over the certificates, wishing all the best of luck. This is what some participants (anonymous) had to say about the course. “Active learning has been seen in an interesting environment. Teaching has been conducted in a way that comforts students or learners and attracts them." "An excellent course, I hope that it continues for several times so that we can benefit from it." "First thank you so much for this great course. This course changed my ways in translation." View Lecture 1 by clicking here. Date: 03-10-2017 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation Multimedia Contribution: Anas Al Sharani, FLT Student  

The Language Research Center at the Faculty of Languages and Translation organized a seminar on February 27, 2017, which included a presentation by Dr. Basim Kanan, titled The Effect of Expansion of Vision Span on Reading Speed. This presentation was based on a research study conducted by Dr. Basim Kanan, Salahud Din Abdul-Rab and Ahlullah Siddiqui.    It primarily emphasized the enhancement of reading speed. He pointed out the fact that reading comprehension is an important process that enables a reader to recognize symbols and understand the message. It showed the relation between eyes pauses and reading speed. Dr. Basim explained the terms reading span or visual span and eye-span. He demonstrated how a language learner gradually improves his or her reading speed from letter level to sentence level.  The research study had also involved some training for KKU students to improve their reading speed. It had shown noticeable improvement in reading speed among the learners after training. He concluded that the average reading speed of KKU EFL undergraduate students is 75 wpm with approximately 70% comprehension. The session was very interactive and informative. It is worth mentioning that Al Samer campus also joined the seminar through video conferencing.  Date: 2/27/2017 Source: MD Adil Multimedia Contribution: Sayed Karim

Summary The IT Department of King Khalid University is pleased to announce the development of ePrints KKU. This new system is a digital research repository that is available to all faculty members in all departments. ePrints KKU will increase our faculty’s exposure in their respective fields and maximize the university’s impact on academia worldwide.  What is ePrints? ePrints KKU is a research repository based on cutting edge technology. The ePrints system allows university faculty to upload and share their publications for online research and re-use. The original version of ePrints was designed and developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton (SOTON). The latest version of the program (ePrints 3) is a joint development project by SOTON in cooperation with King Khalid University (KKU). Why ePrints? A research repository is part of every advanced university’s critical digital infrastructure. The research repository provides for storage of and easy access to the digital content of the institution. This lowers document distribution barriers, allowing for increased use of the information by faculty and outside researchers. Leading universities worldwide have built robust repositories to improve ranking, quality, and increase the ability to leverage human capital. See Gibbons (2004). ePrints KKU will showcase our capabilities and increase the university’s participation in the expansion and development of relevant academic fields. Also, ePrints KKU is a critical component of achieving the higher educational goals outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 national transformation program. In reference to ePrints Dr. Salem Aleyani, CIO, states, "These efforts are for the sake of the homeland in general and for King Khalid University in particular towards achieving Vision 2030." Additionally, Abdulrahman Ibrahim, Software Engineer, asserts that the citation count of articles published by KKU staff will rise, and therefore, the cumulative impact of KKU will increase. The Deanship of Scientific Research further relates that only with complete ePrints cooperation of faculty members, will we be able to meet the National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA) valuation of General Standard 10 (Research) and its subsequent Key Performance Indicators. How Does ePrints Work? ePrints interfaces in conjunction with Google Scholar. Essentially, Google Scholar indexes websites with scholarly articles by utilizing software known as crawlers and includes them in search results. Moreover, an automated software program, "parsers," indexes the bibliographic and reference data of the publications. ePrints is structured in such a way that allows for optimal crawling and indexing by Google Scholar thereby contributing towards extending the range of knowledge sharing (Yeates, 2003). Get Involved We encourage you to visit eprints.kku.edu.sa to upload your previous publications and utilize ePrints for all future endeavors. Please direct any correspondence concerning this specific repository to eprints@kku.edu.sa. Date: 2/1/2017 Contributors: Hassan Costello and Dr. Charles Forman References Gibbons, S. (2004). Establishing an Institutional Repository. Library Technology Reports, 40(4), July-August 2004. Yeates, R. (2003). Over the Horizon: Institutional Repositories. VINE: The Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, 33(2), 96-99.