Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

The study aims to identify the availability of reflective thinking skills and their relationship to the academic achievement of fourth-grade literary students in the subject of literature and texts from the students' points of view. The questionnaire consists of (34) items about the availability of reflective thinking skills and their use by fourth-grade literary students and their relationship to academic achievement in the subject of literature and texts. The researcher relied on the triple scale to answer the paragraphs (strongly agree, agree, disagree). The research sample consisted of (70) male and female students in the literary fourth grade of (35) male students and (35) female students from two schools, one for boys and the other for girls, located in the city of Muqdadiya (the center), chosen by the researcher intentionally in the year (2018/2019),The researcher used the following statistical tools: one sample T. test , two-sample T. test, The arithmetic mean (Mean), Standard Deviation, Alpha Cronbach and Chi square. After analyzing the results and treating them statistically, the two researchers reached a set of findings, recommendations and suggestions.

The aim of the current research is to know the role of kindergarten institutions in developing social responsibility among children from the point of view of educators in Hama Governorate and to know the differences in their responses according to several variables. The sample consisted of (300) educators and a questionnaire consisting of (42) items was prepared. The results showed that the role of kindergarten institutions in the development of social responsibility among children from the point of view of educators was high on the questionnaire as a whole and in all its dimensions. There is a statistically significant difference on the questionnaire as a whole and on the dimension (responsibility towards society) according to the kindergarten affiliation variable in favor of private kindergartens, and on the questionnaire as a whole and all its dimensions depending on the variable number of years of experience in favor of less than 5 years, and on the dimension (responsibility towards society) according to the variable of training courses in favor of Those who followed more training courses. There are no statistically significant differences on the questionnaire as a whole and its dimensions depending on the educational qualification and age.

The current study aimed to identify the relationship between social support and achievement motivation amongst widowed female students in Palestinian universities. Descriptive analytical design was used as it is suitable for the current study. The researcher prepared the social support scale and achievement motivation scale. The sample consists of (169) widowed female students affiliated to the University College of Applied Sciences and the Islamic University of Gaza. The results showed that: The level of social support among widowed students was (77%) and the level of achievement motivation was (82%). There is a statistically significant positive correlation between social support and achievement motivation. There were statistically significant differences in social support according to age in favour for older students. There were statistically significant differences in achievement motivation according to the length of widowhood in favour for five years and more. There were no statistically significant differences in social support and in achievement motivation according to the academic level, specialization.

The study aimed to reveal the degree to which school principals practice situational leadership according to the theory of Hersey and Blanchard in the Buraimi Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman. The study population consisted of (1461) male and female teachers in Al Buraimi Governorate during the academic year 2021/2022 AD, and the questionnaire was applied to a random sample of (238) male and female teachers. The study reached a set of results, most notably: the practice of school principals of situational leadership according to the theory of Hersey and Blanchard in Al Buraimi Governorate came very high, the training style came in the first rank in practice, followed by the support style, then the delegation style, while the guidance style came in the fourth rank. The study also found that there were no statistically significant differences at the level (0.05 ≥ α) due to the study variables (gender, years of experience). In light of the findings of the study, it recommended finding a system of incentives for school principals who pay great attention to the practice of situational leadership, and to include the practice of situational leadership within the system of measuring individual performance and institutional proficiency to be applied instead of the current job performance report.

Mahmoud Darwish and Ahmed Shamlou are considered among the modern poets in the Arab and Iranian world. The presence of different cultures in their poems is one of the common characteristics between them, which led to the worldwide fame of their poems. Christian thoughts and Christian culture were among the common origins of their poems. Therefore, the presence of Jesus Christ and his stories were noticeable in the poems of both Darwish and Shamlou. By employing this great character in their poems, these two poets were able to give their poetry more depth dimensions on the one hand, and on the other hand they were able to convey their themes and ideas with artistic expression. The current paper aimed - through a comparative reading - to compare the poetry of Darwish and Shamlou about Christ and decode of the various connotations of it. This comparison is based on the American school, and for this the comparison will be achieved without paying attention to historical studies and finding the common roots of influence. The results obtained from this research revolved around the fact that the Christian examples is present in the poems of both poets and was used to express existentialism, Marxism, mysticism and emotional feelings, but the difference in the image of Christ by each of the poets lies in the fact that Christ in Darwish poetry was in some places a symbol of redemption and the new resurrection. In other words, Christ had an analogy to creation myths such as Adonis and Tammuz, while it was not in Shamlou's poetry.

The study aimed to identify the degree of faculty use of authentic assessment strategies at A'Sharqiyah University (Oman). The study sample consisted of (59) faculty at A'Sharqiyah University, the results indicated that the degree of use of authentic evaluation strategies was at the average level in general, with an average of (3.26) percentage (66%). The results also showed the statistically significant differences in the degree of use of authentic assessment strategies attributable to the variable of receiving training in favor of faculty’s who received prior training on authentic assessment strategies. As well as significant differences attributed to years of academic experience variable in favor of longer academic experience, while the results did not show statistically significant differences attributed to the variables: gender, job type, qualification, and college. The study recommended the implementation of workshops and training courses in the field of authentic assessment for faculty’s in university, and more emphasis on realistic evaluation when formulating systems, regulations, and policies for evaluating students in universities.

The issue of plagiarism is considered one of the most important topics of criticism. Critics paid a lot of attention to it, but this attention was often unfair. Emotions and feelings entered into it and were used to lower the status of poets or for the critic to show their ability to find similar poems. This issue has been discussed in Arabic literature since the pre-Islamic era and has been one of the most important issues since the beginning of the 3 AH century. As a famous poet and theologian, Sharif al-Murtada (436-355) sought to show his status as a prominent critic. Sharif Al-Murtada, by following the common meanings which poets quote from each other, shows his strength in criticizing and identifying the poet's merits or faults. Sharif Al-Murtada dealt with the issue of plagiarism in a different way from previous critics, and considered plagiarism to be specific to innovative meanings and not to common meanings. He did not use the word stealing when talking about plagiarism. Sharif Al-Murtada denied plagiarism in wording and meaning in most cases. This study aims to investigate the case of plagiarism from the perspective of Sharif al-Murtada.

This research aims to clarify the poem as a necessary tool for constructing and composing the poetic text, and an essential element for establishing the link between the tools of artistic foundation, structures and poetic concepts, as it is the means through which form and the idea and their semantic overlap are paved, because it is an essential component of the formal and formal construction of the poem. Ali Kanaan gripped the modern poem with great strength and skill, and mastered all the poetic techniques and modern literary arts, including clarifying the poem. In the present research, we will follow descriptive-analytical approach, through which we aim to study the poem "The Hurricane" from the collection "Questions for the Winds" by Ali Kanaan by presenting the models on which he built his clarification construction of the text. The results of the research are: the clarification construction of the textual thresholds of title, export and beginning, and the conceptual connection between them and the entire text, as well as the clarifying of the word, and image and music with him came with high accuracy.

The study aims to shed light on the important changes witnessed by Japan’s security and defense policy because of the regional impacts in East Asia after the end of the Cold War, represented by China's rise and its regional hegemonic ambition, through extending its maritime influence in the South and East China Seas. AS well as the continuation of the PLA modernization process, besides the ongoing maritime dispute in the East China Sea over the Senkaku\Diaoyu Islands, who claimed by China and controlled by Japan.
The study concluded that the maritime dispute between Japan and China in the East China Sea, besides China’s continuous pursuit of the process of military modernization and the power projection in the South and East China Seas, Founding an uncertain situation for Japan toward China’s future intentions. Japan considered China’s coercive behavior in the East China Sea as an attempt to change the status quo, which prompted Japan to change its defense policy in an accelerated way to increase the capabilities of the Self-Defense force to become more effective and capable to confront any future external aggression.

The aim of the present study is to identify the achievement goal orientations among students of Baghdad University according to gender and study specialization variables. A random sample of (176) University students was selected (92 males and 84 females), and (108 science, 68 humanities) as far as specialization of study is concerned. Achievement Goal Questionnaire by Elliot and Murayama (2008) was adopted, translated to Arabic, and used in the study. The questionnaire consists of four-subscales: mastery–avoidance, performance–avoidance, mastery–approach, performance–approach, and it have 12 items with 3 items for each subscale. The questionnaire is a 5-likert scale ranging from "strongly agree" (5) to "strongly disagree"(1).The results showed that the higher level of achievement goal orientations was performance-avoidance, followed by performance-approach among the research sample. There were no significant differences in achievement goal orientations according to gender except for performance-avoidance in favor of males. Moreover, the results showed that there were statistically significant differences in all achievement goal orientations subscales except for mastery-avoidance and in favor of scientific specialization.

The current research aims to know the level of reading comprehension and its relationship to the psychological aspects of the word among middle school students. In light of the foregoing, the researcher identified the research objectives as follows: Identify: The level of reading comprehension among middle school students. The differences in the level of reading comprehension according to (gender, specialization) among students of the preparatory stage. The level of psychological aspects of the word among middle school students. Differences in the level of psychological aspects of the word according to (gender, specialization) among students of the preparatory stage. The statistical processes indicated in terms of determining the levels of psychological aspects of the word (sensory, kinesthetic, and imaginative) in favor of a sample, and these levels were associated with the determinants of the sentence, and the chronological age of the student. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences in the level of psychological aspects of the word, and indicated that the psychological aspects of the word (sensory, imaginative, and kinesthetic) in the belief of the members of the current research sample towards sensory interaction and imagination to be associated with a specific motor performance with the nature of the word to represent it cognitively, and for the gender (male, Females) There are no statistically significant differences, but in the direction of specialization, it is significant in favor of the scientific branch. The reading comprehension and psychological aspects of the word affect each other among the students of the preparatory stage.

Language is a human phenomenon with multiple aspects. On the one hand, it is a psychological phenomenon and on the other hand it is a social phenomenon. Therefore, I found interest from scholars in various fields, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, and with the influence of the pioneer of sociology, Emil Dor Chayem, language was classified as a social phenomenon by the linguist de Saussure, and this classification resulted in the application of the principles of the positivism approach as defined by Dor Chayem on language.
This study aims to identify the positivism approach in its social form, the implications of its application on the language, and the position of modern Arab researchers regarding the application of its principles to the Arabic language.
Using the descriptive analytical approach, the study reached several results, including: that the social positivist thought has been associated since its inception with specific circumstances and has remained influenced by ideology, and the application of its principles to social phenomena has led to some contradiction. In addition, linguistics has turned into a taxonomic science steeped in descriptiveness; result; Therefore, some researchers called not to apply its principles to the social sciences.

The geographical study of diseases and epidemics and their spread in the world from 1918 - 2018 is one of the important studies. These diseases and epidemics are the totals of types of influenza and according to the chronological order, the Spanish flu (1918-1920), the Asian flu (1957-1958), the Hong Kong flu (1968) -1970), swine flu (2009-2010), as well as another epidemic that spread in most countries of the African continent, namely the Ebola virus (1976-2020). The indicators of these diseases and epidemics have been applied, and the degree of their spread and impact has been applied, and the study has included several aspects, the first side: the theoretical framework for research and the second side is the geographical distribution of diseases and epidemics in the world and their economic and social effects. The study concluded that the reason for the discrepancy in injuries among the countries of the world is the commitment of some countries to the provisions of the World Health Organization and its high capabilities, and other countries did not adhere to these provisions due to the situation imposed on them, especially the coincidence of the end of the First World War with the outbreak of the Spanish flu epidemic, and therefore the movement of fighters from The battlefield to the country to which they belong, as happened when the soldiers moved from the areas of operations to America, and they transmitted the Spanish flu epidemic after they were infected with it. ‏

The semantic equation that combines the two sections of grammar and statistics requires us to find the semantic dimension revealed by the Qur’anic contexts on the one hand, and confirms the objective interpretation of the verses of the commandments on the other hand. The study aims to show the importance of the commandments from the grammatical and statistical sides, as the research monitored the names contained in the verses of the commandments, leaning on their statistics with their distribution according to their grammatical chapters in terms of nominative, accusative, and ablative. This type of research is as close as possible to statistical translation, in which the student does not only benefit by collecting the names, but rather aims to clarify the meaning that is reflected in the statistical value of the names in the commandments of Surat Al-An’am. This study came on three axes, the first of which dealt with: the nominative nouns, and in the second: the erected nouns and the third: it was in the pronouns.

The Emotional intelligence is considered one of the modern concepts of purposeful rational thinking and effective dealing with the environment that surrounds the learner to succeed in the educational process and to allow students to express and enhance themselves and take the initiative to encourage them and to overcome crises with optimism, positivity and action. Emotional Literature has a lot of poetic pictures which include the emotional and flirting ones; the learner should perceive and feel them. Therefore, the current research aims to build a program that contains the components of emotional literature, as well as to know the impact of the program on developing emotional intelligence. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher followed the experimental method to identify the impact of emotional literature on developing emotional intelligence among third-year students, Department of Arabic Language, College of Education for Girls - University of Baghdad. After the research community of (180) students was identified, (50) students were chosen randomly at a rate of (33%) to represent the experimental and control groups. In building her proposed program, the researcher prepared according to basic stages, starting with (planning, implementation, and evaluation), she counted on the Emotional Intelligence Scale of Reuven Bar-On, and James Parker in (2000) and sought to extract its validity and stability. Once again, the last statistical procedures for its validity and reliability were carried out in (2010) by Al-Qaisi, and the results showed that the proposed program that belongs to the emotional literature in developing emotional intelligence, proved its effectiveness for female students, meaning that the program had an impact on the development of emotional intelligence.

The research aims to identify the difficulties of employing Instructional Technology in the preparatory stage from the point of view of teachers. The research population consists of (63) teachers (male s and females) from the schools of Baghdad, the directorate of education-Rusafa 3, and an exploratory sample consists of (25) teachers out of the research population. The researcher used the analytical descriptive method. The research tool is a questionnaire to the geography teachers consists of (34)items distributed on four fields ( difficulties related to the teacher, difficulties related to the student, difficulties related to the curriculum, and difficulties related to the financial facilities).
After calculating information statically, the researcher concluded that the difficulties of employing the Instructional Technology at teaching geography for the whole aid was middle in arithmetic average (3.51). The research result also showed that there were no statistical significant differences at the level of significance (a≤0.05) at the employing of Instructional Technology in the high schools in the view of geography teachers according to the variable of sex, the first rank was to the difficulties related to financial facilities with great evaluation degree, the difficulties that related to the teacher came in the last rank with middle evaluation degree.

The multiplicity of facets and possibilities in the analysis of a specific linguistic issue, or a specific grammatical issue, is a familiar matter that is common in the study of Arabic, indicating the occurrence of disagreement in opinions at the level of a single issue, as occurred in the name Al-Manun (Salsabil) mentioned in the Almighty’s saying: “An eye in it is called Salsabil.” ( [Al-Insan: 18] who was chosen by the research as his field, he saw in it what is sufficient to reveal this phenomenon in the sayings of the people of Arabic and the commentators, and the opinions they expressed and which indicate the difference of understandings and differing views and culture, which leads to a multiplicity of analysis and permissible in interpretation, Sometimes the intent is lost, and the idea is scattered about that one issue.
The research concluded that the most prominent of which were: It is unlikely that the noun noun (salsabil) is an imperative sentence (ask a way), because communication is not achieved and the benefit is non-existent, so this face was called wrong sometimes, weakness sometimes, and dimension third. Likewise, it is unlikely that it is a composite science, spoken or transmitted. Because it is one of the innovations of the Noble Qur’an and it is a single word or a singular name that cannot be separated from each other. Likewise, it is far from being a science spent on proportionality.

Al-Taher bin Ashour (d. 1393 AH-1973 AD) is one of the brightest linguistic interpreters in the modern era, as he was interested in explaining the meanings of the Holy Qur’an about its hidden and deep implications, and revealing the subtleties of his knowledge and secrets of his eloquence. He wrote his famous book (Al-Tahrir and Enlightenment) in the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an, in which he applied the linguistic lesson. Ibn Ashour was not satisfied with explaining the verses and explaining the reasons for their revelation. Rather he listed the linguistic aspects with their refutation and discussion.
The importance of the research is evident in two aspects: the first is highlighting the linguistic trend in the interpretation of liberation and enlightenmentand the second is presenting the linguistic views of Al-Tahir bin Ashour on Tahrir and Enlightenment, which indicate his exploration of the sciences of the Arabic language, with an explanation of the opinions of scholars who agree with his opinion and those who oppose it. The study showed the multiplicity of linguistic aspects in these specific verses for the study. The study noticed that the grammatical issues are the most present in these verses, and that the morphological issues are very few and were limited to the verb more and the infinitive. The study found that reasoning is present with Ibn Ashour during his presentation of most linguistic issues. The study revealed that Ibn Ashour disagreed with the scholars in most of the issues he dealt with.

The study addresses the period in which the Byzantine city of Nicaea became the first capital of the Roman Saljuks at the era of the reign Qutalmish dynasty, the cousin of the Seljuki Sultan Tughril of Anatolia. It was a period full of events, and we do not exaggerate if we say that the control of the Seljuks over Nicaea was the first motivator for the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus to write to Pope Urban II, who in turn declared the Crusades against the Islamic world. The study will focus on several axes, including the city location and its religious and strategic importance, the beginnings of the Seljuk presence in Anatolia and the demographic and religious change that followed the Battle of Manzikert in favor of the Seljuk Turks, and the position of the Roman Seljuks and its founder Suleiman Ibn Qutalmish from the Byzantine internal conflict and their role in weighting one hand over another to the degree to which they became representing the protectors of the Byzantine cities, including Nicaea, and then they declare Nicaea the capital of the Roman Seljuks , and the events that followed until the Byzantines regained the city with the help of the Crusaders.

This research is about leather industry in Iraq in general and Baghdad in particular. Leather industry is one of the most important industries in its modern history, which had its modern beginnings based on mechanical machines after the middle of the nineteenth century, with the individual efforts of some governors in Baghdad, such as Wali Namiq Pasha and Midhat Pasha. Leather industry was set with the aim of promoting the local industry, as this industry has gone through important developments especially after the establishment of the national government, and the policy of successive governments that encouraged industries with the aim of promoting the national economy. The study concluded that the leather industry in Baghdad occupied an important position in the manufacturing industry in Iraq, which reflected the active importance of the Iraqi economy at that time. And that the majority of those who established factories and factories among the merchants and investors during the stage of the rise of the national industry, did not take into account the quality or interest in those factories, as profit was their primary goal. Finally, the successive governments in the royal and republican eras were not concerned with the issue of planning and organizing regarding the establishment of leather factories, as most of them were random and unregulated, in addition to not setting a record or inventory of the number of leather factories. Accordingly, a number of leather industries were not included in the list of approved factories, while some claimed that their products were issued by factories or companies, although the truth is no more than a (shop). ‏

The state of South Sudan is one of the countries that emerged recently, after it was an area belonging to the state of Sudan. It fought a civil war that lasted many years, which led to the martyrdom of thousands of southerners, in order to obtain their independence from the state of northern Sudan. Indeed, southern politicians were able to obtain Independence and the declaration of the state of South Sudan in July 2011. The declaration of independence was the first step for the southerners who took through it to work to prove the entity of that country through openness to African neighboring countries and establishing relations with them at all political, economic and cultural levels. Perhaps one of the most important countries that welcomed By establishing relations with the state of South Sudan, namely Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya, as these countries were working to provide support to the southerners before and after the declaration of independence, as well as the ethnic and tribal interference that links the state of South Sudan with the neighboring African countries and the common borders between them.

In the light of the rapid technological development that we live in, the world has become a small village, in which a lot of science and information has grown, and new problems have been born in it that are rapidly spreading like wildfire, the most prominent of which are (social communication problems), and they are many, and the most important of them is the problem of (extortion), which has become an assault on the sanctities of people and their reputation as a prominent feature in it, in which the weak of souls found a way to bargain in the exploitation of information, with the intent of defaming reputation, financial gain, or infringing on the honor of others, or it may be all grouped in it. So, this research was to introduce its provisions according to Iraqi law and Islamic jurisprudence. In our research, it was necessary to divide the research material into two parts. The first section contains the conceptual framework of the terminology of the title, from standing on the concepts of jurisprudential rules, electronic extortion, synonyms for it, its images and its danger to Iraqi society, and the punishment of such a crime between Sharia and Iraqi law in particular. As for the second section, it was the search for the most important rules. The jurisprudence under which the provisions of the crime of electronic extortion fall in particular. At the end of the research, we stood on the most important results, including: Extortion is a crime that combines threats, defamation, and coercion to give money or even to practice adultery. Sharia prohibited all forms of extortion, taking money unjustly, and assaulting the honor of others, whatever their reasons. The blackmail of women is the most famous and widespread type of electronic blackmail, and it may meet in the victim of electronic blackmail being a woman as well as a minor, which doubles the chances of the blackmailer to obtain gains by putting pressure on the victim, who often responds for fear that the criminal will carry out his threat

The current study aimed to measure the level of critical thinking skills among the third intermediate grade female students in Makkah, and to determine its correlative relationship with achievement. To achieve this aim; the Researcher followed the descriptive Relational approach. The study used tool Test Watson & Glaser test for critical thinking, after ensuring its validity and reliability on a random sample of (704) female students.
The results of the study showed grade weakness of the critical thinking (Interpretation, Deducting, Evaluation Argument) each skill separately and skills as a whole among the third intermediate grade female students in Makkah and found a positive relationship between critical thinking and achievement, in addition to the presence of statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.05) in the level of critical thinking among the third intermediate grade students due to the variable achievement in favor of high-achieving students.
Based on the results, the researcher presented several recommendations; the need to pay attention to activating the critical thinking course in a more effective way to prepare the personality capable of thinking, criticism, and analysis, improving the educational environment in the middle school and enriching it with the necessary resources to motivate the practice of thinking.

The present paper aims to formulate Gilliam Scale GARS-3 for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ADS) according to the use of psychometric scale theory. In order to achieve the aim of the paper, the researchers have followed the scientific steps in formulating the scale and verifying the credibility of the translation via checking the accuracy and subjectivity in transferring all the thoughts of the scale. Then, an expert in Arabic language has checked the scale which consists of (58) items of six dimensions. The scale was applied to (500) students inside the governmental and the private centers and on a sample that was chosen according to the random class style includes the parents and trainers in Baghdad government. Likewise, to verify the psychometric features of the scale, three controls have been acknowledged for selecting the items. The controls are: the recognizing factor control through the use of the two extremist group style of the total score. Item credibility criterion that depends on an indicative associative relation between the score of the item and the total scores of the scale by using Pearson's associative factor. The ratio of the items saturation depending on the factor explorative analysis. The results of the analysis show that validity of all the items. The credibility of the scale has been verified by two ways, namely:The explicit credibility: through showing the instructions of the test and its items to a group of experts at the department of educational and psychological science. The construction credibility: through the explorative factor analysis: finding out the stability of the scale according to Alfa Cronbach, and the stability factor scored (0.941). In the light of the procedures followed by present paper, the researchers have reached to some recommendations and suggestions.

Black women have a long history and practise of activism that can be traced to pre-colonial Africa. Women writers of African descents have challenged the status quo of the cultural, political, and spiritual realms of their communities by using their skills to present women who challenge traditional roles and resist attacks of oppression. The paper deals with the suffering of women in general and black women specifically. The aim of the study is to give a voice to black women through Nikki Giovanni’s poetry, whom is considered the poets’ laureate. Her poems are like weapons against the oppressors. Using a cross-cultural analysis, will give voice to women who had long been silenced and devalued; women who, according to Zora Neale Hurston, "have the status of a mule".

This research depends on the critical analysis method for the main events and characters in the novel. It assumes that the novelist Charles Dickens, in Great Expectations, like in his other novels, keeps on his attack on some specific abuses and injustices in the social system in England during the 19th century. From the early beginning to the end of the novel, there is a parallel and simultaneous quest. The central character, Pip is an orphan boy who needs and unconsciously searches for a father, and the convict Ebel Magwitch who has lost his daughter, is looking for fatherhood. The fate of the orphan child is very strangely linked to the chased fugitive criminal. The paper consists of a general introduction about the novelist and his remarkable career followed by three sections: the first section briefly reviews some of the previous studies about the novel, the second explains the main characters and the plot of the novel, the third discusses the main hypothesis of the research and a conclusion which summarizes, briefly, the findings of the research.

Vocabulary knowledge is an integral aspect in learning a foreign language since the connotations of new vocabularies are widely highlighted, whether by language teachers or syllabus designers themselves. Vocabulary learning is the core of language learning and teaching due to the bouncing role vocabulary plays in supporting learner’s repertoire of language. The present term-paper is intended to shed the light on the importance of learning new vocabularies and the strategies developed by learners in learning more vocabularies. The research is based on an experiment that a sample of (30)students of 2nd -year students in English Department at the College of Education / Ibn-Rushd- University of Baghdad for the academic year 2018-2019 randomly selected to take a pre- test on antonyms and synonyms strategy developed in learning and comprehending the vocabulary embodied in reading passages within a textbook. After three months course teaching of selected passages of the textbook (Select Readings by Lee and Bernard:2011) where the antonyms and synonyms strategy highlighted among other strategies a post-test is administered. Eventually, so as to capture the possible significance of developing such a strategy on students’ achievement a(Mann-Whitney U test ) is utilized. The results come to refute the null hypothesis, and turn out positively the consolidation accomplished through developing the antonyms and synonyms strategy specifically when enhanced by up-to-date online dictionaries to search for the most appropriate synonyms or antonyms to the vocabulary embodied within reading passages.

Through all her work, Denise Levertov’s (1923-1997) penchant for describing religious issues is evident. Various religious images punctuate her work, an indication of either her deep conviction of the existence of a supreme deity, or just a mere description of the wonders of the metaphysical world. But even though her works are punctuated with these religious emblems, Candles of Babylon seems to have taken a new trajectory. There is an admission to the effect that she is on a spiritual odyssey; she gives a clear description of how she makes this journey. Like John Bunyan’s Pilgrims’ Progress (1678), she described her transition from a cosmetic believer into a profound spiritual understanding. Levertov’s spiritual journey shall be discussed in detail through her own lenses in her poems. The paper attempts to discuss her experiences of transformation through her spiritual experiences and how these have been captured in her poems. The research paper will attempt to discuss how she uses various literary devices to package her odyssey and how these have worked together to help the readers get a picture of her transition through life.

Given the importance of the idiomatic meaning of expressions, especially for EFL teachers who have the responsibility of writing research, so the present study aims at testing the ability of (40) of EFL teachers in Nineveh schools who have post-graduate certificates and work in schools, to identify two types of the idiomatic meaning in some sentences. The researcher prepared a test consisting of (40) items; each item consisted of four options, one is correct. Two types of idioms are included in the test which is divided equally: idioms of encoding and idioms of decoding. After confirming the validity and reliability of the test, the study concluded that EFL teachers with postgraduate certificates showed a high ability to discern idiomatic meaning. For the variable of gender, male EFL teachers showed greater ability than females in terms of idiomatic meaning. For the variable of years of work, EFL teachers with 15 or fewer years of service showed greater ability to discern idiomatic meaning and for both types: encoding and decoding than those with over 15years of service.