Papers by khalid khamees
Social Science Research Network, 2015
The concept of rhetorical questions and their role in conveying pragmatic meanings has been of in... more The concept of rhetorical questions and their role in conveying pragmatic meanings has been of interest to many researchers in the field of language learning as these questions form one of the pillars in language communication. The main purpose of this empirical study is to find out whether learners are able to recognize rhetorical questions as well as their pragmatic functions, i.e., their illocutionary force. A total of 30 junior students majoring in English, participated in this study. The data were collected via a 25-item test followed by post-performance. They listened to 19 dialogues, and were asked to identify and interpret the pragmatic meanings of the rhetorical questions contained. Data analysis showed that while it was relatively easy for the testtakers to recognize rhetorical questions, they encountered some problems when trying to interpret their pragmatic functions. Complexity of speech acts, availability of contextual clues, background knowledge, and natural reasoning seemed to be the main variables that affected the test-takers' inferencing. Making combinations between various ideas contained in a single dialogue in addition to lack of proper courses geared towards developing this skill, seemed to be responsible for learners satisfactory or unsatisfactory achievement.
International Journal of Linguistics, Jun 15, 2016
This study was set up to experimentally investigate the extent of EFL learners' ability to locate... more This study was set up to experimentally investigate the extent of EFL learners' ability to locate, decode, recover and reconstruct unstated information presented in discursive conversation. Specifically, the study examines the learners' ability to recover ellipted words, substituted forms and fully deleted sentences. It also sheds light on the techniques used and the obstacles they encounter in this respect. Thirty-five Iraqi sophomores majoring in English took three listening tests consisting of 27 items. The participants were asked to put the heard dialogues or single utterances with omitted information into their original complete and coherent forms. The overall result indicated that EFL learners were poor at identifying and recovering missing information. Data analysis showed that although the participants were able, to some extent, to identify and recover ellipted elements, their performance in recovering substituted element and unstated sentences was quite limited. It was also found that the more cognitively complicated the task is, the harder it will be to recover missing information.
Journal of The Iraqi University, 2015
During the first quarter of 2020, Corona Virus (also known as COVID-19), a virus that spread rapi... more During the first quarter of 2020, Corona Virus (also known as COVID-19), a virus that spread rapidly throughout the globe began to migrate from country to country, The impact of COVID-19 required swift changes implemented by individuals and organizations such as state and federal government entities, small businesses to large conglomerates, and educational systems at all levels from elementary schools to universities to survive and combat the virus. Educational systems, like other entities minimized face to face interaction as practicing social distance is one of the criteria to “flatten the curve” and slow down the COVID-19 community spread. Thus, communicating online via video chat apps such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Hangouts have become more popular as viable approaches to foster communication virtually with others. Thus, the new normal for many educators at universities around the globe required revamping their course curriculum and delivery as migrating from in-class...
International Journal of Linguistics, 2016
This study was set up to experimentally investigate the extent of EFL learners' ability to lo... more This study was set up to experimentally investigate the extent of EFL learners' ability to locate, decode, recover and reconstruct unstated information presented in discursive conversation. Specifically, the study examines the learners' ability to recover ellipted words, substituted forms and fully deleted sentences. It also sheds light on the techniques used and the obstacles they encounter in this respect. Thirty- five Iraqi sophomores majoring in English took three listening tests consisting of 27 items. The participants were asked to put the heard dialogues or single utterances with omitted information into their original complete and coherent forms. The overall result indicated that EFL learners were poor at identifying and recovering missing information. Data analysis showed that although the participants were able, to some extent, to identify and recover ellipted elements, their performance in recovering substituted element and unstated sentences was quite limited. It...
International Journal of English Linguistics, 2016
This exploratory study elicits learners’ views regarding the utility of using memorization as a s... more This exploratory study elicits learners’ views regarding the utility of using memorization as a strategy for learning English. It exclusively investigates the extent of learners’ use of the memorization strategy, the reasons that motivate them to memorize, the problems they encounter and the techniques they resort to to overcome these problems. 66 undergraduate participants answered a thirty-item questionnaire. The results revealed that most efficient as well as inefficient learners used the memorization strategy mainly for learning vocabulary, definitions, and literary texts. They were in favour of using this strategy because it helps them improve their achievements in English. It was found that understanding should be given priority over the memorization activity. Learners who adopt this strategy often forget what they memorized, could not differentiate between important and unimportant information, and were incompetent to make inferences. It can be concluded that memorization is ...
Arab World English Journal, 2015
The concept of rhetorical questions and their role in conveying pragmatic meanings has been of in... more The concept of rhetorical questions and their role in conveying pragmatic meanings has been of interest to many researchers in the field of language learning as these questions form one of the pillars in language communication. The main purpose of this empirical study is to find out whether learners are able to recognize rhetorical questions as well as their pragmatic functions, i.e., their illocutionary force. A total of 30 junior students majoring in English, participated in this study. The data were collected via a 25-item test followed by post-performance. They listened to 19 dialogues, and were asked to identify and interpret the pragmatic meanings of the rhetorical questions contained. Data analysis showed that while it was relatively easy for the testtakers to recognize rhetorical questions, they encountered some problems when trying to interpret their pragmatic functions. Complexity of speech acts, availability of contextual clues, background knowledge, and natural reasoning seemed to be the main variables that affected the test-takers' inferencing. Making combinations between various ideas contained in a single dialogue in addition to lack of proper courses geared towards developing this skill, seemed to be responsible for learners satisfactory or unsatisfactory achievement.
Conference Presentations by khalid khamees
An Evaluative Study of Memorization as a Strategy for Learning English
This exploratory study elicits learners' views regarding the utility of using memorization as a s... more This exploratory study elicits learners' views regarding the utility of using memorization as a strategy for learning English. It exclusively investigates the extent of learners' use of the memorization strategy, the reasons that motivate them to memorize, the problems they encounter and the techniques they resort to to overcome these problems. 66 undergraduate participants answered a thirty-item questionnaire. The results revealed that most efficient as well as inefficient learners used the memorization strategy mainly for learning vocabulary, definitions, and literary texts. They were in favour of using this strategy because it helps them improve their achievements in English. It was found that understanding should be given priority over the memorization activity. Learners who adopt this strategy often forget what they memorized, could not differentiate between important and unimportant information, and were incompetent to make inferences. It can be concluded that memorization is a low-level cognitive strategy that can be used among other high-level cognitive strategies in the process of learning English.
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Papers by khalid khamees
Conference Presentations by khalid khamees