Proficiency in English language depends on the knowledge of its vocabulary possessed by the second and foreign language learners and even the native speakers. Though developing the vocabulary is vital, it poses several problems, especially, to non-native students of English. Students with a low vocabulary knowledge show weak academic performance in different courses related to the language skills, linguistics, literature, and translation at the university level of education. This study, in particular, aims to investigate the problems faced by English majors in learning the vocabulary at Prince Stattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU) in Saudi Arabia. It also puts forward some vocabulary-learning strategies to minimize the potential problems. The data consist of the responses of 100 student-participants (undergraduates) randomly picked up from five different levels (four, five, six, seven, and eight) of 4-Year BA English Program at PSAU. This quantitative study uses an online questionnaire, as an instrument, to collect the data. The results reveal that the English majors at PSAU face several problems in learning the vocabulary such as knowing the meanings of new words, pronouncing new words, using new words correctly, memorizing and spelling new vocabulary and so on. To its contribution, this study emphasizes the importance of learning the English vocabulary, draws students' attention towards it, highlights the problems encountered by students, and raises their awareness of the vocabulary. Future research may explore teachers' perspectives on students' vocabulary-learning problems and instructional methods implemented to teach the vocabulary in English language classrooms.

Discourse markers, as words or phrases, play a significant role in promoting coherent segments of discourse. This paper investigates the use of discourse markers (DMs) in newspaper articles. By applying Fraser's framework, this study aims at investigating the functions and positions of DM but (English) and its equivalent lakin (Arabic) in newspaper articles written by native and nonnative speakers of English and Saudi and Egyptian speakers of Arabic. It also highlights the similarities and differences in the functions and positions of DMs but and lakin. This quantitative study adopts a corpus-based approach. The data consist of articles collected from 12 newspapers categorized as: Arabic language newspapers published in Saudi Arabia (Alriyadh, Al Jazirah, Al-Hayat) and Egypt (Al-Ahram, Al-Gomhuria, Eltahrir) and English language newspapers published in Saudi Arabia (Arab News, Saudi Gazette, Asharq Al-Awsat) and the USA (Washington Post, The New York Times, USA TODAY). Findings demonstrate, first, that DM but is used frequently as a confirmation or addition marker by both native and non-native speakers. However, second, lakin, functions as the primary correction DM in standard Arabic. Moreover, third, the native Arabic speakers mostly share the same functions of using lakin despite different dialects they have. This study also reveals that lakin can be found only in the medial position, whereas, but is found in the initial and medial position. It concludes that DMs but and lakin evidence that functions of DMs proposed by Fraser are universal and they could be generalized.

News framing of events often restricts us to either 'oppose' or 'favour' a particular side/party involved in a conflict. This paper examines the print media framing of the Arab Spring in the editorials of The News International (NI) of Pakistan and Arab News (AN) of Saudi Arabia. The coverage sample consists of newspaper editorials published from January 2011 to December 2012 when the uprising received phenomenal attention from the media worldwide. Qualitative content analysis of 48 newspaper editorials (24 NI/24 AN), demonstrates how senior media workers constructed the Arab Spring as an international conflict. Specifically, the lexical choices of editorial writers reveal that mainstream newspapers in both the countries positively framed the pro-Arab Spring protesters (public), who reportedly desired to bring the 'change'. On the contrary, the media framing of the uprising also reflects that the newspapers negatively framed the anti-Arab Spring authorities (ruling elite), who reportedly resisted the 'change'. A future research is recommended to investigate readers' perspectives, as well, on the media portrayals of the Arab Spring or other similar conflicts which can give insights into how language use can impact and is impacted by ideology, cultural nuances and identity of diverse individuals.

Learning a language becomes easier when it is interpreted through certain contexts, of which, the sociocultural ones are the most important. Sociocultural interests, norms, customs and values are represented by the language as forms of "persuasive social acts". Media discourses can be cited as one example in this regard where language is an inevitable means of communicating opinions, making one's voice heard. Persuasive use makes media discourse interesting to explore in the classroom given the specificities in editorial writing. This paper brings forth a comparative analysis of editorial contents from two newspaper editorials published in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The analysis draws attention to rhetorical strategies and persuasive type of language used by the editors which can be sourced to help in the teaching and learning of English in the classroom.

Diasporic literature surfaced in the post-colonial era and contributed much to the literary and educational ethos with genres and sub-genres like expatriate writings, immigrant writings, multiculturalism, hybrid writings, and others. This study analyses Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesakeas a fictional tale of a hybrid immigrant family that traverses between acculturation and deculturation. The novel is about cultural identities, both real and hyphenated, and about characters and events that oscillate between two extremely opposite cultures. Many diasporic themes emerge such as alienation, marginalization, rootlessness, distant homeland, and expatriate sensibility. The thematic content analysis approach was used to investigate the text by adopting Fairclough's (1989) three-dimension framework of critical discourse analysis (CDA): textual analysis (description), process analysis (interpretation), and social analysis (explanation). This study finds evidence that The Namesake is a perfect specimen of a narrative text that exposes the (diasporic) ideology hidden in its hybridity, hinting at the inter-mingling of two ideologies within a single text. It gives evidence of Fairclough's 'intertextuality' or 'multifunctionality of a text. The findings thus prove that the novel represents the ideology of diaspora from an immigrant's point of view. Towards its contribution to the educational domain, this study recommends that diasporic narratives such as The Namesake can be used to teach CDA techniques for exploring hidden ideologies embedded in a literary text.