This study explores the ability of Jordanian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to comprehend metaphorical expressions in English and investigates whether the use of their first language (L1) conceptual and linguistic knowledge may facilitate the comprehension of these expressions. For this purpose, the study adopts a contrastive model developed by Charteris-Black, which consists of six types of metaphor to compare and contrast in both English and Arabic. On the basis of this model, the researcher designed a multiple-choice test to assess the participants' recognition of English metaphorical expressions. The results reveal that the participants' receptive knowledge of metaphors varied on the basis of the six types of metaphor. The study provides evidence of the possibility that EFL learners display general conceptualizing capacity regardless of their language, which hints, possibly, at the potential universality of conceptual metaphor. It also proposes some pedagogical implications that may assist EFL learners in acquiring metaphorical expressions in English.

This study explores the ability of Jordanian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to produce English metaphorical and metonymical expressions, using a completion task. It also examines whether the use of conceptual and linguistic knowledge of the participants’ first language, i.e. Jordanian Arabic (JA) would facilitate the production task. The study adopts a contrastive model to compare and contrast figurative devices in English and JA, consisting of six types that vary in relation to the conceptual bases and linguistic expressions involved. The results reveal that even though the participants’ scores were poor, the participants exhibited a general capacity to produce metaphorical/metonymical expressions that are similar in meaning to the ones required on the test, utilizing their L1 conceptual and linguistic knowledge. It was suggested that three important factors need to be satisfied to enable EFL learners to produce English figurative devices correctly, i.e. knowledge of the conceptual bases involved, a good command of English collocational knowledge and familiarity with the concept of partial synonymy, and continuous exposure to the figurative expressions in real-life English. Based on these results, the study proposes some pedagogical implications that may assist EFL learners to familiarize themselves with metaphorical/metonymical expressions in English and it concludes with recommendations for further research.

Societies are defined by their cultures which are deeply entrenched in their minds, and thus reflected in the way they perceive the world around them, and in their communication with others. Hence, this study investigates the extent to which Arab EFL students' understanding of culturally loaded words is similar to that of native speakers of English and whether their English proficiency level plays a role in their understanding of these words. The sample consists of three groups; 10 native speakers of English (NS), 10 advanced learners of English (ALS) and 10 intermediate learners of English (ILS) studying at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. The respondents were asked to rate the suitability of seven culturally loaded words in fully contextualized sentences. The study concluded that EFL learners both (ALS) and (ILS) have insufficient awareness and comprehension of culturally loaded words. Statistical analysis of the three groups' ratings demonstrated that (ALS) understanding of culturally loaded words seemed to approximate to that of the (NS) but still their results differed statistically from those of the native speakers. Additionally, the English proficiency level of the (ALS) and the (ILS) did play a role in their perception of culturally loaded words.

This study aims to examine the effect of incidental learning on the comprehension of 30 English affixes by 50 Arabic-speaking EFL learners in an attempt to determine which affixes are more easily comprehended. We adopt the experimental design of a pre-and post-test to measure the participants' knowledge of English affixes before and after the treatment, which involved taking part in the prediction of the meaning of English affixed words in context for one academic semester. To this end, we divided the 50 participants into two groups: treatment and control. We administered a 30-item multiple choice test as the pre-and posttest to determine whether the treatment helped the participants expand their knowledge of English affixes.

This study aims to examine the metaphors used to describe Syrian refugees in Jordanian politico-economic discourse, adopting a Critical Metaphor Analysis Approach for data analysis. I compiled a specialised corpus containing political and economic articles from two daily Jordanian newspapers. The data was analysed using WordSmith Tools (Scott 2012), which is compatible with Arabic data. The data analysis reveals that several metaphors are used to describe Syrian refugees in Jordanian politico-economic discourse. The majority of metaphors employed have negative connotations in the contexts in which they are used, especially in the years 2015 and 2016 compared with 2012. The metaphors used reflect the internal struggle of Jordanians in relation to whether Syrian refugees should stay or leave. The struggle stems from deeply-entrenched Arab traditions, which make receiving guests perceived as a duty on the one hand, and the economic struggle of Jordanians living in a fragile economy, on the other.