This conceptual paper aims to concentrate on the transformational development of tools, machines, and software applications used to increase the speed of reading. There has been a need for modernization of the old-fashioned machines in the field of speed reading. Several practical steps have already been taken in the last three decades of the twentieth century, and several outdated speed-reading tools and various equipment types have already been replaced by quite a few speed-reading software programs and mobile applications. The earliest speed-reading tools are reading pacing machines, which work on various simple to advanced technological principles. Different types of machines are also used for tracking the movements of eyes in the form of saccades and fixations during reading. Subsequently, several speed-increasing software tools use the powerful text processing technique called the Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). Many of these tools have demonstrated significant productivity gains in the reading speed of learners. However, this transformational development has resulted in a multiplicity of speed-increasing function-specific software applications, there remains a need to choose the right combination of them, considering the diversity among learners and their goals. Though the distance covered in this journey of transformational development of tools, machines and software applications is quite encouraging, there is still room for improvements in terms of making the process of speed reading closer to natural reading.

One of the most significant debates among academics is the role of critical and logical thinking in constructing and assuring meanings of intertextual texts. This argument is, however, more valid in the context of undergraduate EFL learners, who have the potential to use their critical thinking and creativity in the act of reading. The phenomenon of intertextuality acts as a constructive and meaningful link between readers and texts. In other words, the reading texts become comprehensible when readers connect what they read to their prior knowledge, using critical thinking skills to understand and interpret them. This study examines how critical and logical thinking skills make intertextual connections between texts and readers’ personal and social experiences during reading tasks. For this purpose, a semi-structured interview based on an excerpt from an article ''Women in the Working Class'' was conducted with EFL students to collect their responses on intertextual connections. The analysis of the interviews revealed that intertextual reading helps promote critical thinking among readers of EFL and assist them in analysing, synthesising, interpreting, and evaluating texts. The findings of this study have some pedagogical implications due to the multicultural complexes of values and images in reading English literary texts.

This study addresses some significant issues related to Bangla-Arabic translation and their possible solutions. It describes the types of translation and the role played by the translator in the overall process. As translation is a complex and subtle area of language studies, translators must be conscious of all the probable professional intricacies. They primarily deal with the meanings; however, they also manipulate the transfer of all the corresponding characteristic elements of the source language into the target one. Translation from Bangla to Arabic is more complicated since it manages two languages with entirely different origins. The bulk of the complications in translation arises because of the fundamental differences between the two languages’ grammar, lexicon, usage, stylistics and phonology. This research tries to equip the Bangla-Arabic translators with the necessary knowledge about the related problems and the skills that may help them find smart solutions.  Finally, some practical recommendations are given to the experts as well as student translators and feasible suggestions are also extended to the future researchers.

Students’ reading speed in the English Department at a Saudi University is low, which, in turn, slows down their general proficiency in English. This research aims to show how and to what degree using a reading speed increasing software (the ‘7 Speed Reading’ program) could be a decisive factor in upgrading the reading speed of EFL-major students of KKU while maintaining their former level of comprehension. This study uses a pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design. The study sample comprised two groups (a control group and a test group), each consisting of 30 students from the third year of the EFL undergraduate program. The methodology incorporates comprehension tests to analyse the sample for reading speed and comprehension toward the study’s start. Training in increasing reading speed was extended to the test group students using the ‘7 Speed Reading’ software. Towards the end of the training, both the groups were tested again for reading speed and comprehension. The study illustrated essential outcomes in the form of increased reading speed and better comprehension.