Papers by Dr. Amal Kitishat
Drama and Education: The Role of Drama in Increasing the Achievements of the Students with Learning Difficulties, 2023
This study aims to analyze the relationship between drama and education with a special focus on t... more This study aims to analyze the relationship between drama and education with a special focus on the role of drama in increasing the achievements of students with learning difficulties. Because of their critical situation, students with learning difficulties need exceptional care to enable them to acquire new teaching input. This study aims at investigating the role that drama can play in facilitating the teaching of students with learning difficulties. The community of the study consists of teachers of special education centers in Jordan in the governorates of Irbid, Jerash, and Ajloun for the academic year 2021/2022. The study was applied to an intentional sample of teachers of special education centers (51) male and female teachers. The researchers used the descriptive approach to know the effect of drama on increasing the achievement of students. To achieve the objectives of the study, an assessment tool was designed to measure the effect of a training program based on the use of two types of drama: filmed TV drama and live-drama. To sum up, the study proved that drama could play a fundamental role in increasing the comprehension of students with learning difficulties by making the teaching environment both fun and effective on the one hand and increasing their academic achievements.
The study aims at investigating the increasing fear of Islam, or the so-called phenomenon of Isla... more The study aims at investigating the increasing fear of Islam, or the so-called phenomenon of Islamophobia. The study aims at arguing against the orientalists' perspectives of Islam as a source of fear and a threat to others. This view challenges the main doctrine of Islam as expressed in the Holy Quran as a mercy for humanity. The methodology the researcher adopted presents a deconstructive reading of the orientalists' claims regarding Islam as a synonym for terrorism. The study aims at refuting the accusations which regard Islam as a religion advocating terrorism by proving that Islam includes different nations, races, and colures all living equally and having the same rights, without any discrimination between them. This deconstructive reading studies the ways the main constituents of the Islamic identity made Islam a universal religion of people from different races and origins; not as a regional religion exclusive to certain people and refused "the other". The study concluded that much fear of Islam is without any reasonable grounds, mostly attributed to the misleading biased stereotype of Islam and Muslims presented by the media, the study also, and refutes all charges the orientalists attributed to Islam as a source of fear for others and proved that this fear comes from the fact that most people are ignorant of the Islamic religion. The study recommends researchers carry out more research projects to study the true spirit of Islam.
Theory and Practice in Language Studies
The study aims to highlight Brian Friel's employment of non-verbal communication methods to p... more The study aims to highlight Brian Friel's employment of non-verbal communication methods to present the major themes in his plays. Friel applied music, song, and dances as nonverbal language. Unlike other dramatists who applied these elements as a way for entertainment, or as marginal theatrical aids. However, this study attempted to reveal how these nonverbal elements played a very important function in expressing the inexpressible. They function at moments when language breaks, and are unable to express the characters’ motives, inner feelings, or even repressed wishes and desires. The plays that are selected for this study are Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), and The Faith Healer (1979). The study will use cultural materialism as a critical approach that helps in shedding light on the historic events that shaped Friel's vision. The study concluded that music, song, and dance were employed as a language that revealed repressed desires, and hidden secrets.
Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Jul 1, 2019
While Irish theatre assures that it reflects Irish reality and aims at building a national identi... more While Irish theatre assures that it reflects Irish reality and aims at building a national identity in which religion is a significant marker, the plays of O'Casey contradict with this tendency. This study aims at discussing the conflict between an anti-Christian and pagan beliefs and Christian values in favor of anti-Christianity over Christianity. In this article, the researcher takes O'Casey's The Drums of Father Ned as an example. The study discussed the tension between the pagan and Christian values as represented in the conflict between the pagan and religious characters, represented by Father Fillfogue who is the representative of Christianity; while The Celtic god Angus represents Pagan Celtic anti-Christian religion. Finally, the study proved that O'Casey presented a skeptical attitude toward Christianity and favored pagan Irish local, regional beliefs.
International Journal of English Linguistics, Sep 15, 2020
The present study employs corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis to investigate the a... more The present study employs corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis to investigate the attitudes of Jordanian news towards the Syrian refugee crisis. The corpus of the research, which consists of 10140 articles (Word types: 103170 and Word tokens: 1956589), were taken from the Petra news agency between 2016 and 2018. Antconc Tools Version 3.4.4w was used to analyze the data. The study used corpus statistical tools of collocates and concordance. Collocates tool used to create a list of 200 collocates associated with the words: /lad3iʔ/ 'refugee', /lad3iʔi:n/ 'refugees', /su:ri:/ 'Syrian', and /su:ryi:n/ 'Syrians'. These collocates were organized into two thematic categories: 'services and resources' and 'Jordanians and Syrians'. The study used a concordance tool to unveil the attitudes of newspapers towards the Syrian refugee crisis. The findings of the study showed that Jordanians see Syrians as "brothers" and "guests". However, Jordanian newspapers overstated the negative effect of Syrian refugees on the Jordanian economy, education, healthcare, etc. Jordanians were frustrated because Syrians compete with them on their resources and governmental services.
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Sep 30, 2022
The study aims to highlight Brian Friel's employment of non-verbal communication methods to prese... more The study aims to highlight Brian Friel's employment of non-verbal communication methods to present the major themes in his plays. Friel applied music, song, and dances as nonverbal language. Unlike other dramatists who applied these elements as a way for entertainment, or as marginal theatrical aids. However, this study attempted to reveal how these nonverbal elements played a very important function in expressing the inexpressible. They function at moments when language breaks, and are unable to express the characters' motives, inner feelings, or even repressed wishes and desires. The plays that are selected for this study are Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), and The Faith Healer (1979). The study will use cultural materialism as a critical approach that helps in shedding light on the historic events that shaped Friel's vision. The study concluded that music, song, and dance were employed as a language that revealed repressed desires, and hidden secrets.
The European Journal of Literature and Linguistics, 2019
Journal of Languages and Culture, 2012
This study aims at highlighting the role of the Irish theatre in reviving Irish culture and estab... more This study aims at highlighting the role of the Irish theatre in reviving Irish culture and establishing a dependent Irish identity. It also seeks to prove that theatre is used as means of resistance to English colonialism; it presents W. B. Yeats as an example of the Irish dramatists who played a significant role in the recreation of Irish national identity as an independent distinct identity. Actually, Yeats’ efforts in the national employment of literature for national purposes were the fountainhead by which he was able to present the national cause of his country. The study concludes that the Irish theatre played a great national role by presenting nationalism-oriented plays that aroused the sense of national feelings of audiences and created a national identity as well. Irish theatre imposingly for grounded itself powerfully not on the literary level, but also on the national level by its role in identity creation. Key words: Colonialism and the recreation of identity, theatr...
ANGLISTICUM. Journal of the Association for Anglo-American Studies, 2016
The study investigated the effects of the ‘Student Teams-Achievement Divisions’ (STAD) on reading... more The study investigated the effects of the ‘Student Teams-Achievement Divisions’ (STAD) on reading achievement of Jordanian University learners of English. It attempted to answer the following main question: • What is the effect of STAD on reading comprehension achievement of Low-, Average-, and High-achieving students compared with conventional method? Forty one Language learners of EFL participated in the study at Ajloun College in the academic year 2013. The participants of the study consisted of two assigned sections. The experimental group was taught according to STAD strategy; while the control group was taught according to the conventional way. The results indicated that the cooperative learning model STAD had statistically significant effects on reading comprehension for high- and average-achieving learners but it had not statistically significant on low-achieving students. Keywords: Cooperative learning, Reading comprehension, (STAD), Traditional method, Foreign Language Lea...
This article aims at shedding light on the concept of Islamic identity in light of the oriental s... more This article aims at shedding light on the concept of Islamic identity in light of the oriental stereotypes. The study sheds light on the way the main components of the Islamic identity are presented in the oriental studies .The study aims at proving that Islam is treated as a regional religion, which contradicts the main principle on which this religion aims to achieve; that is the universality of its message. The study also presents the barriers of identity such as race and colure and how the Islamic identity eliminates these barriers and unifies its followers to a higher level of loyalty which is piety and faith. The study concludes that Islam was distorted and presented as the “other ”,and is always presented as a threat of the west .The study proves that the concept of identity in Islam is sent for people all over the world; it does not matter if they belong to the east or the west . Islam is not an oriental religion, both the west and the east are embedded under its message.
This study intends to prove the importance of having knowledge of the culture as a background tha... more This study intends to prove the importance of having knowledge of the culture as a background that can play a direct role in learning the foreign language. The study takes English language as an example. Because there is an interactive role between cultural teaching and foreign language teaching, the study attempts to prove that teaching English language should not be limited to linguistic knowledge, but also to the cultural knowledge. Finally, the study concludes that having knowledge of the foreign culture can help students acquire English language better .The study recommends that universities should be provided with an appropriate environment to encourage the learning of foreign language. Keywords : Cultural education, Jordanian Universities, Socio Linguistics, Teaching of English as a foreign language, multiculturalism.
حوليات الآداب واللغات, 2019
Though much attention has focused on the issues of Irish language and culture in Yeats' e... more Though much attention has focused on the issues of Irish language and culture in Yeats' earlier dramatic production of the Abbey Theatre, Brian Friel's with his contemporary Field Day Theatre worth examining since he reveals a great resemblance concerning Yeats' thematic dramaturgy especially those challenging the cultural identity. The current study aims at proving that Yeats' dramatic vision, in which Irish language and culture were primary goals for his works, has been revived in the present time by works of Brian Friel. The study proved that Brian Friel follows Yeats' steps in presenting Irish culture. The significant areas of influence include the glorification of the Irish culture, the attitude toward politics and history and the establishment of theatres. To sum up, the study proves that though the tools vary, both writers presented Irish language, culture, and history as national markers that were able to face the cultural challenges of the past and contemporary Ireland. فريل بريان لندي االير المسرحي الكاتب مقارنه اسة :در يتس ونموذج ملخص المسرح على الضوء من كثير تسليط تم األول لندي االير-ايبي مسرح-باألعمال متمثال بتوظيف قام الذي (يتس) لندي االير لألديب المسرحية الهوية في اساسين كركنين اللغة و الثقافة من كال لهما لما الوطنية الشعور تحقيق في أهمية من االستعمار مقاومة وسائل من كوسيلة باألنتماء أن ألثبات تهدف اسة الدر هذه أن اال االنجليزي، تعتبر يل) أعمال(فر إ و يتس)المسرحية (لفلسفة حياء للجانب رؤيته بخصوص الوطنية ائه الر ا ً امتداد (بدأه لما ا ً مجدد يل) فر يعتبر( وعلية للغة. الحضاري للغة الثقافي و الحضاري بالجانب يخص يتس)فيما .
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews, 2020
Purpose of the study: The study will shed light on Friel's political and national doctrines. ... more Purpose of the study: The study will shed light on Friel's political and national doctrines. The premise of this paper is to define and address the politics of language and language role as a cultural marker in Friel's Translations (1980). The study aims at showing the cultural and political dimensions of linguistic identity. Methodology: The methodology adopted in this study is New Historicism. Friel related the historical and cultural context in Ireland to the political scene; the North Irish conflict in particular. Also, the study applied Post-Colonialism as a methodology since translation from Irish to English is not placed in a linguistic form; rather Friel sees it as a betrayal to the Irish national identity. Main Findings: The study proved Friel's Translations comes as an affirmation of Friel's cultural and political visions which presented Irish conflict in a dramatic form, yet it proclaims symptomatic employment of the political conflict in North Ireland. Th...
Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020
Taking the Historical background into consideration, the study will shed light on Friel's politic... more Taking the Historical background into consideration, the study will shed light on Friel's political and national dogmas. The study addresses large and important issue concerning Friel's role as the national dramatist of Ireland. The study examines the relationship between Friel's drama and his political stance and by extension the larger issues of literature and colonialism and literature and history. The study aims at proving that Friel is a nationalist but not a politician; in other words, the study argues that Friel's philosophy of the Field Day theatre is seen within a cultural perspective. Friel's plays are not only related to the political situation in Ireland, but they are also employed to shed light on the Irish cultural context. Thus, Friel's establishment of the Field Day Theatre comes as a confirmation of Friel's cultural insights which though presented Irish life. Still it did not follow a direct historical or a political treatment of the themes of his plays, rather he focused on stressing the national identity of the Irish audience. The study proved that Friel's works are nationalist in tendency within a cultural perspective.
Bulletin of Advanced English Studies, 2018
His importance refers back to his realistic portrayal of the Irish society in general and of Dubl... more His importance refers back to his realistic portrayal of the Irish society in general and of Dublin in particular. It is his experience in the slums of Dublin that provides him with the details that he employed in his plays. The study aims at proving that by describing Dublin slums, O'Casey indirectly directs a criticism of the social and political reality as a background of the bloody events that Ireland witnessed. The plays that are going to be studied are The shadow of a gunman, Juno and the Paycock, Red Roses for me. Unlike other Irish dramatists who idealized Ireland, O'Casey reveals the contradictions in the Irish society. Thus, the study concludes that O'Casey is distinguished from other Irish writers in avoiding the idealized portrayal of Ireland and offers us a mock-heroic treatment of his society
Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2019
W.B. Yeats the famous Anglo Irish poet and dramatist was accused of a lack of sense of nationalis... more W.B. Yeats the famous Anglo Irish poet and dramatist was accused of a lack of sense of nationalism. His achievements in the reviving of the Irish culture as a means to establish a dependent Irish identity was regarded with suspicions simply due to his being a descendant of Anglo -Irish origins.In this light, the study comes to shed light on Yeats’ tremendous achievements concerning his sense of nationalism and his role in the reviving Irish culture. Also, the study aims at refuting the charges against Yeats which considered him as a representative of the colonizer’s class. Finally, the study proved that Yeats revealed a mature vision of nationalism which most of his contemporaries failed to notice since they only focused on one aspect of Irish identity and neglected the other; in discussing the Irish question, they were either politicians or culturalists. Whereas Yeats shows a higher degree of awareness as he believed that establishment of an identical distinctive Irish identity mus...
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2019
This study aims at discussing Riders to the Sea; it aims to investigate nationalism and cultural ... more This study aims at discussing Riders to the Sea; it aims to investigate nationalism and cultural identity as two significant ways against the English cultural colonialism. Though many critics regard J.M. Synge as; and thus consider him as an example of regional dramatist because his works are related to the local Irish material. However; this study aims to correct this vision of Synge as only about Irish Celtic culture, but as an innovator of the Irish theatre and as a culturalist who shifted Irish theatre into a universal scope. Thus, though Synge's fame is due to his treatment of the "folk" drama; still, he finds in Ireland’s folk tales, myths, and traditional legends a rich source for universal interests. By tracing the reinforcement of the Irish setting and oral culture for a cultural function which aims at establishing the Irish identity and reviving its national heritage, the study argues that Synge's dramatic presentations were not only of regional or local ...
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2019
Renaissance England (1500-1660) is the most flourishing era of English history which testified th... more Renaissance England (1500-1660) is the most flourishing era of English history which testified the emergence of classical humanistic arts. Of course, drama is a literary genre that prospered, then, to entertain the interests of the Royal ruling families, especially Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603) and her successor King James 1 (1603-25), as theatres were built in London along with dramatic performances held in the courts like masquerades. This study aims at showing the distortion of Islam in Philip Massinger’s “The Renegado or The Gentleman of Venice”, via tackling the theme of “the self and the other” and analyzing the structure of the play. Why not, and English Renaissance citizens love to watch the non-Christians, the misbelievers, humiliated and undermined. Massinger, among other Elizabethan dramatists like William Shakespeare, uses the art of tragicomedy to show the Western hatred, which is “the self”, of the Oriental Islam that is in turn “the other”.
International Journal of Language and Literature, 2016
This paper aims at tracing the influence of T.S. Eliot on the Egyptian dramatist Mohammad Saladin... more This paper aims at tracing the influence of T.S. Eliot on the Egyptian dramatist Mohammad Saladin Abdel-Saboor (1931-1981) with regard to the style and themes. The study takes Abdel-Saboor's " Night Traveller" as a sample to trace how far Abdel-Saboor was influenced by Eliot. The study aims at discussing the stylistic and thematic aspects that Abdel-Saboor had adopted such as poetic drama and symbolism in addition to Eliot's view of the modern individual and the notion of authority and freedom. The study proves that Eliot had a direct influence with regard to his stylistic and philosophical ideologies which enhance the freedom of the individuals and the refusal of any form of authority which enslaves man and kills his hopes and ambitions.
International Journal of Linguistics and Communication, 2016
This study combines two methodological strands, namely, Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Li... more This study combines two methodological strands, namely, Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to identify the discursive practices relating to the construction of the former Libyan president, Qaddafi, before, during, and after the 2011 Libyan civil war. This is based on a new 19-million word corpus of two newspapers published in Arabic, namely Asharq Al-Awsat (a pan-Arab newspaper located in London, and mainly published in Saudi Arabia), and Al-Khaleej (a newspaper located and mainly published in the UAE) from 2009 to 2013. The analysis shows that Qaddafi was represented positively in the pre-uprisings period (2009/2010). During the Libyan uprisings (2011), the newspapers represented him negatively highlighting his violence against his own people. In the post-uprisings era (2012/2013), the newspapers tended also to describe him negatively by referring to the terrorist activities he was involved in, and criticizing his policies and behaviours during his 42 years in power. These results are connected to the political and social contexts of the particular investigated period. This study concludes that there is a wide range of discursive construction for Qaddafi based on the agenda of the investigated newspapers and the countries where they are based.
Uploads
Papers by Dr. Amal Kitishat