The study aimed at analyzing English questions of the Jordanian Secondary Certificate Examinations via Blooms' cognitive levels. An analysis sheet was prepared by the researcher for the purpose of the study, which was ensured to be valid and reliable. The whole questions of the general secondary examinations for English course in both levels (level three and level four) during 2010-2013 composed the sample of the study. Frequencies and percentages were tabulated to facilitate the analysis of the results. The result of the study revealed that the total percentage of the first three levels (comprehension, knowledge, and analysis) is (69.6) but the total percentage of the last three levels (application, synthesis, and evaluation) is (30.4) so it indicated that the English questions included in general secondary examinations emphasize low order thinking levels. The researcher recommended that the questions designers should improve their questioning techniques in writing questions of exams.

Background During the COVID-19 vaccination, the access to vaccines has been unequal among countries and individuals, for example low-income countries displayed significant low levels of vaccination. Furthermore, most refugees are living in developing low-income countries which struggling to access the essential health-care services including vaccination. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the experiences and perceptions of COVID-19 infection and vaccination among Palestine refugees in Jerash camp compared to resident Jordanian citizens. Methods A face-to-face interview-based comparative cross-sectional study was carried out among Palestine refugees in Jerash camp located in northern Jordan and Jordanian citizens from different cities in Jordan from October, 2021 to March, 2022. A Chi-square test was used to determine the differences in the experiences and perceptions of COVID-19 infection and vaccination between Palestinian refugees and resident Jordanian citizens. Logistic regression analysis was performed to predict factors associated with the beliefs, barriers and hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccines. Results The total number of participants was 992, with 501 (50.5%) Palestinian refugees and 491 (49.5%) Jordanian citizens. Most participants (64.1%) who have never been tested for COVID-19 were from the refugees (P < 0.001), whereas about 80.3% of the participants tested for COVID-19 at private healthcare institutions were citizens (P < 0.001). While 70.0% of the participants who tested positive for COVID-19 (n = 303) were from the refugees (P < 0.001). Compared to the citizens, the refugees had significantly lower levels of beliefs about the safety (P = 0.008) and efficiency (P < 0.001) of COVID-19 vaccines. They also had lower rates of vaccine hesitancy (P = 0.002) and vaccine uptake (P < 0.001), and a higher rate of facing difficulties during registration for COVID-19 vaccination (P < 0.001). Furthermore, refugees have more negative attitudes toward the importance and implementation of COVID-19 precautionary activities, including wearing face masks, practicing social distancing and following proper prevention hygiene compared to citizens (P < 0.001). The regression analysis showed that gender (P < 0.001), age (P < 0.001) and level of education (P = 0.001) were significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Also, being a refugee (P < 0.001) and being a male (P = 0.012) were significantly associated with facing more difficulties upon the registration to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusions This study showed that, compared to citizens, refugees had lower attitudes and practices toward COVID-19 infection and vaccination. They also had and a lower rate of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and uptake with limited access to vaccines. Government sectors and non-government organizations should implement policies and regulations to raise the awareness of refugees towards COVID-19 infection, testing, preventive measures, and the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

The present study investigates gender representation in EFL textbooks in Jordanian context using critical discourse analysis. The data were collected from the content of international ELT textbooks series, i.e. interchange 1A & 2B Student's Textbooks which were taught to undergraduate students at Al-Balqa Applied University. The study used Fairclough's (1995) three-dimensional framework to analyze the data. Variables such as women's and men's social and domestic roles, visibility of women and men, women's and men's activities, women's and men's semantic roles, and pictorial representation were analyzed to unveil inequalities or power imbalance between males and females. The findings of the study revealed that the EFL text books were biased in favor of men in certain roles and activities. For example, men occupied the role of a 'craftsman', a 'fitness trainer' more than women. The study also found out that the text books showed some degree of equality between males and females in terms of pictorial representation, visibility and some activities and roles. The results also revealed that even though there existed some stereotypical roles and activities associated with men and women in these books, males and females were represented equally in terms of social status, power, and dominance. In other words, there was no sign of feminism and anti-feminism in the analyzed text books. Contribution/ Originality: This study is one of very few studies which have investigated gender representation in university textbooks using Critical Discourse Analysis. This study documents the hidden gender representation, gender social roles, gender bias, gender dominance, and gender discrimination found in EFL textbook in Jordanian context.

The study aimed at discovering the impact of suggested Cornell Note-Taking Training Model on improving writing composition skills. The sample of the study consisted of (58) English students in the second year selected randomly from the English departments in Al-Balqa Applied university. The sample was divided into two groups: experimental and control group. The researcher designed an exam and examined the students in both groups in pre-test and post-test to find the equivilance and the difference between both groups. After examination and analyzing data, the results of the study show statistical significant differences at the significance level (α≤ 0.05) between the mean scores of the experimental group which taghut by using Cornell method and the control group which used the conventional method in teaching composition.

This study aims at investigating politeness strategies and pragmatic modifiers used by native speakers of Jordanian Arabic to perform the speech act of refusal. The data were collected from 24 hours of recorded conversations taken from different mixed and same-sex conversations by native speakers of Jordanian Arabic. The researchers observed these conversations and utterances that perform the speech act of refusal. The strategies of refusals were analyzed following Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss-Weltz (1990) model, while pragmatic modifiers were analyzed following House and Kasper (1981) and Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper (1989). The results of the study showed that the Jordanians used complex strategy more than direct and indirect strategies. The findings showed that Jordanians used many pragmatic modifiers to soften their refusals. The study found that external modifiers were more frequent than other types of pragmatic modifiers. The study also found out that culture affected the use of refusal strategies and pragmatic modifiers. The impact of culture appeared clearly in the fact that Jordanians tended to use Islamic religious expressions to mitigate their utterances. Besides, it seemed that Jordanians preferred complex strategies because they viewed repetition and using more than one strategy as a polite way to save the face of others.