The English Translation of Arabic Puns in the Holy Quran

The pun is a tricky use of a word or phrase which has very different meanings that are closely interrelated, or of words with the same sound but different meanings. The Pun is a term with a dual meaning: “close” using obvious reference, and “far” using obscure reference. The hidden is usually meant. The close meaning is the sooner that comes to the listener’s mind. However, the speaker targets at the far one yet use the close to hide it. Translating the Quran text always raises several serious challenges in translation; these challenges are due to the different translations of puns and the misinterpretations between the intended meanings of a pun with their basic concepts, which could result in a certain amount of ambiguity. The study examines the Quranic corpus and its three versions of English translations. The study utilizes the typology of Delabastita?s for horizontal puns, Nida’s techniques of dynamic and formal equivalent and Newmark’s translation methods. This research attempts to investigate the semantic meaning of puns in the Quran translation and to define the translation techniques applied in translating the Quranic puns from Arabic into English.     

Influence of a Reflective Explicit Activity‐Based Approach on Elementary Teachers' Conceptions of Nature of Science

This study assessed the influence of a reflective, explicit, activity‐based approach to nature of science (NOS) instruction undertaken in the context of an elementary science methods course on preservice teachers' views of some aspects of NOS. These aspects included the empirical, tentative, subjective (theory‐laden), imaginative and creative, and social and cultural NOS. Two additional aspects were the distinction between observation and inference, and the functions of and relationship between scientific theories and laws. Participants were 25 undergraduate and 25 graduate preservice elementary teachers enrolled in two sections of the investigated course. An open‐ended NOS questionnaire coupled with individual interviews was used to assess participants' NOS views before and at the conclusion of the course. The majority of participants held naive views of the target NOS aspects at the beginning of the study. During the first week of class, participants were engaged in specially designed activities that were coupled with explicit NOS instruction. Throughout the remainder of the course, participants were provided with structured opportunities to reflect on their views of the target NOS aspects. Postinstruction assessments indicated that participants made substantial gains in their views of some of the target NOS aspects. Less substantial gains were evident in the case of the subjective, and social and cultural NOS. The results of the present study support the effectiveness of explicit, reflective NOS instruction. Such instruction, nonetheless, might be rendered more effective when integrated within a conceptual change approach. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 295–317, 2000.     

Factors influencing Malaysian public attitudes to agro-biotechnology

Despite considerable research in advanced countries on public perceptions of and attitudes to modern biotechnology, limited effort has been geared towards developing a structural model of public attitudes to modern biotechnology. The purpose of this paper is to identify the relevant factors influencing public attitudes towards genetically modified (GM) soybean, and to analyze the relationship between all the attitudinal factors. A survey was carried out on 1,017 respondents from various stakeholder groups in the Klang Valley region. Results of the survey have confirmed that attitudes towards complex issues such as biotechnology should be seen as a multifaceted process. The most important factors predicting support for GM soybean are the specific application-linked perceptions about the benefits, acceptance of risk and moral concern while risk and familiarity are significant predictors of benefit and risk acceptance. Attitudes towards GM soybean are also predicted by several general classes of attitude.     

Analysing the types of TV programmes viewed by children from different socio‐economic strata based on their self‐report in the Turkish context

This research investigated the amount of time that children from different socio‐economic strata spend watching television per week and whether there was a difference among children from low, middle and upper socio‐economic strata with regard to viewing programme types, including action adventure, news and information, competitions, sports, paparazzi shows, cartoons, child informative and musical and comedy. Preparing and conducting this investigation involved a survey including TV programme types and the amount of time the participants spent watching television per week. Four hundred and ninety‐two primary school children participated. They came from low, middle and upper socio‐economic strata from three different primary schools in Turkey. The results indicate that significant differences exist among children from low, middle and upper socio‐economic strata with respect to viewing different programme types like action adventure, competitions, paparazzi shows, child informative and musical and comedy, while there was a non‐significant difference among the participants from different socio‐economic strata in viewing news and information, sports and cartoons. Some implications for further research have been made for prospective researchers.

L'analyse des types de Television programmes pour les enfants de differentes classes socio‐economiques basées sur leur proper rapport dans le contexte turc

Cette recherche a exposé la quantité de temps que les enfants de differentes classes socio‐economiques ont depensé pour regarder la TV par semaine; s'il y avait une différence parmi les enfants de hautes, moyennes et basses classes socio‐economiques du point de vue des types de programme tels ques l'aventure d'action, les nouvelles la compétition d'information, les sports, le paparazzi shows, les bandes dessinées, celle d'information pour les enfants et la comédie. Préparer et conduire cette recherche a developpé une enquete comprenant les types de programme et la quantité de temps que les participants depensent pour regarder la TV par semaine. Les 492 éleves d'école primaire ont participés à cette investigation. Ils sont venus des hautes, moyennes et basses classes socio‐economiques parmi trois differents écoles primaries en Turquie. Les resultats indiquent que les differences significatives existent parmi les enfants de hautes, moyennes et basses classes socio‐economiques du point de vue des types de programme tels ques l'aventure d'action, les nouvelles la compétition d'information, les sports, le paparazzi shows, les bandes dessinées celle d'information pour les enfants et la comédie et la musique tandis qu'il n'y a pas de difference importante parmi les participants de differents de classes socio‐economiques mentionnés en regardant respectivement les nouvelles et information, les sports, les bandes dessinées. Certaines déductions pour une recherché ont été executé pour les recherches prospective.

Analyse der von Kindern verschiedener sozio‐ökonomischer Schichten ausgewähltenTypen von Fernsehprogrammen, basierend auf Eigenberichten in türkischem Kontext

In diesem Artikel werden die Zeit, die Kinder, die aus unterschiedlichen sozio‐ökonomischen Schichten kommen, in einer Woche beim Fernsehen verbringen haben, und ob es einen zeitlichen Unterschied zwischen den Kindern, die beim Fernsehen von den Programmen wie Musik‐komödie, Kinderprogramme, Zeichentrickfilme, Paparazzi‐show, Sports, Wettbewerben, Nachrichten, Abenteuerfilme gibt, untersucht. Der Zweck der Vorbereitung und Durchführung dieser Unterschung ist die Feststellung der Zeit, die die Teilnehmer in einer Woche zu den Fernsehprogrammen angewendet haben. 492 Grundschulschüler haben daran teilgenommen. Die Teilnehmer sind Grundschulschüler, die zu den unteren, mittleren und oberen sozio‐ökonomischen Klassen in der Türkei gehören. Das Ergebnis der Forschung zeigte, dass unter den Teilnehmern von unterschiedlichen sozio‐ökonomischen schichten beim Fernsehen von programmen wie nacheinander, Zeichentrickfilme, Sports und Nachrichten keinen zeitlichen Unterschied, demgegenüber beim Fernsehen von Programmen wie Musik‐komödie, Kinderprogramme, Paparazzi‐shows, Wettbewerbs und Abenteuerfilme einen wesentlichen Unterschied gibt. Zum Schluss wurde für hoffnungsvolle Forschungen manche Vorschlaege gemacht.     

Regulation and socio-emotional interactions in a positive and a negative group climate

Collaboration in an online environment can be a socially and emotionally demanding task. It requires group members to engage in a great deal of regulation, where favourable emotions need to be sustained for the group’s productive functioning. The purpose of this cross-case analysis was to examine the interplay of two groups’ regulatory processes, regulatory modes, and socio-emotional interactions that contribute to or are influenced by emotions and socio-emotional climate perceived in the group. Specifically, this study compared a group of 4 students unanimously reporting a positive climate to a group of 4 students unanimously reporting a negative climate after completing a 90-min online text-based collaborative assignment. By drawing on two data channels (i.e., observed regulatory actions and socio-emotional interactions during collaboration and self-reported data about emotional beliefs and perceptions), four contrasting group features emerged: (a) incoming conditions served as a foundation for creating a positive collaborative experience, (b) regulation of emotions during initial planning, (c) negative emotions served as a constraint for shared adaptation in the face of a challenge, and (d) encouragement and motivational statements served as effective strategies for creating a positive climate. Implications for researching and supporting emotion regulation in collaborative learning are discussed.     

REVIVAL OF THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

The famous library of antiquity, that of Alexandria, is being revived as an ultramodern research library. During the first phase of this revival, the library will concentrate on the cultural heritage of the countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean. During a second phase, its scope will be widened so as to cover the scientific, technical, and economic heritage. The collections will not be limited to books but will include the most modern forms of media: microfilm, cassettes, video‐cassettes, electronic diskettes, etc.

     

Development and validation of a questionnaire for teacher effective communication in Qur’an learning

ABSTRACT

A student’s perception of teacher effective communication influences the learning atmosphere. The measurement of perception indicates how students view the quality of learning. As few studies have explored the development of an appropriate measurement tool of students’ perception of learning to read the Qur’an, this study aims to develop such a tool. Conceptual analysis and a survey using open-ended questions resulted in dimensions and items. Six experts and three instructors evaluated the content validity. The questionnaire was then administered to 421 participants – 201 for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and 220 for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The results successfully identified four dimensions that explained 64.6% of the variation. The instrument consisted of 13 items with satisfactory reliability and validity. The dimension with the highest coefficient path was ‘understanding and friendliness’ (UF), while the dimension of ‘learning media’ (LM) was the lowest. There was a significant influence of gender on the dimension of UF, as well as verbal (V) and non-verbal (NV) communication, while there were no differences in the dimension of LM. The questionnaire can be effectively used as a measurement device of dimensions related to students’ perception of teacher effective communication in Qur’an learning.