Journal of Tikrit University for Humanities

This correlational study aimed to examine the efficacy of the Kemp Instructional Design Model in facilitating the development of metacognitive strategies and consequently enhancing self-regulation within the domain of academic writing among advanced EFL learners at Tikrit University. Grounded in instructional design theory and second language acquisition frameworks, the study sampled 108 third-year undergraduate students. Data collection involved diagnostic assessments alongside validated questionnaires to evaluate metacognitive strategy usage, alignment with the nine elements of the Kemp model, and writing proficiency. Employing an experimental design, the research investigated the Kemp model’s role as a scaffold for fostering metacognitive strategy acquisition to improve self-regulatory capacities. Over an eight-week semester, participants engaged in Kemp-guided instructional interventions comprising learner analysis workshops, targeted strategy modeling, iterative drafting processes embedded with self-regulatory prompts, and continuous formative feedback cycles. Pre- and post-intervention writing tasks were assessed via an analytic rubric, complemented by a validated self-regulation questionnaire measuring planning, monitoring, and evaluation constructs (Cronbach’s α ≥ .84). Findings substantiate the Kemp model’s nonlinear phases as effective scaffolding mechanisms for cultivating metacognitive strategies, thereby enhancing planning, monitoring, and evaluative processes in EFL academic writing contexts. Pedagogically, the study advocates for the integration of structured instructional design phases coupled with explicit self-regulatory prompts and recommends faculty development initiatives focused on optimizing feedback delivery.

The aim of this study is to investigate the diploma students’ perceptions about their experiences learning English grammar as a general requirement course at a higher education institution- namely Umm A-Qura University (UQU) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Ten students from different diploma programs are selected as respondents for the study, representing a population of 320 students on the Applied College Male Campus. Using qualitative methods, structured interviews are conducted whether face-to-face or on Webex. Data collection techniques include individual discussion for more profound responses. The study finds that the main strengths of using the deductive method are straightforwardness, comprehensibility, meeting instructor’s expectations, building up learner’s self-confidence, self-learning, enjoyableness, time-effectiveness and building grammatical skill. For the negative perceptions, participants inform that they are contributed by obstructing fluency, difficulty to achieve a dual task on rules and free practice of English at the same time, attracting attention to rules rather than use of language, and the challenges some learners face to learn the rules. These findings will hopefully enlighten the Applied College lecturers to recognize the challenges and learning techniques experienced by their students to learn grammar, and eventually develop student-oriented solutions for more effective grammar teaching for future diploma students.

Questioning the Author Strategy (henceforth: QTA) gets the student the ability to think about the author’s ideas and meaning that appear in the real text, and this strategy focuses on a series of questions that are asked by the student naturally . This study aims at finding out the effect of Questioning the Author Strategy on the EFL preparatory school students‘ achievement in learning literature focus ; finding out the effect of (QTA) Strategy on the experimental group's achievement at the recognition and production levels. These aims have been achieved through verifying the following hypotheses: There is no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group which is taught by using (QTA) Strategy and the mean scores of the control group which is taught according to the communicative method; There is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores between the recognition and production levels of the experimental group in the posttest. The sample of this study is (60) students have been randomly selected from the Iraqi EFL fourth preparatory school students in Kirkuk city, Al Huda School for girls during the academic year (2024-2025), and has been divided into two equal groups, i.e. the experimental and control groups. The two groups have been taught by the researcher himself .The experimental group has been taught according to (QTA) Strategy, while the control group has been taught by using the traditional method. The results show that (QTA) has a positive effect and can be regarded as a helpful strategy in teaching literature focus.

While the importance of English as an international language cannot be overstated, Iraqi pupils need to develop skills for creative communication in both spoken and written forms; however, many pupils struggle with fluency and creativity due to insufficient exposure to effective teaching strategies. In this regard, Telegraphic Cue Activities play a crucial role as they may exploit the natural tendencies of learners in using cues composed largely of content words. However, the effect of Telegraphic Cue Activities on creative communication has not been significantly investigated in the Iraqi context. The current study, therefore aims to identify the impact of TCA on Iraqi EFL pupils’ written and spoken production and to test the hypothesis that hypnotized that There is no statistically significant difference in the experimental group of EFL Iraqi pupils who are engaged in TCA in their spoken and written communication than in the control group who are not. Following a quasi-experimental treatment, 60 fourth-year preparatory female pupils, consisting of an equal number of pupils from Al-Khansaa Preparatory School for Girls, Kirkuk, were equally divided into experimental and control groups. Pupils in the experimental group received Telegraphic Cue Activities-based classes while those in the control group followed conventional communicative courses. Both groups were administered a validated achievement test in both components of creative communication before and after treatment. The results revealed that Telegraphic Cue Activities are effective for spoken language development, as they significantly enhanced the pupils’ oral creative expression, whereas only a negligible improvement was noted in the written communication of the pupils, which shows that written communication needs extra supplementary support. The study therefore recommends that Telegraphic Cue Activities-based lessons should be integrated into the EFL instructional plan to promote oral creativity, accompanied by a different set of writing approaches to enhance written communication.