The study examined EFL instructors' perceptions of English textbooks. It also investigated whether the instructors' gender and the type of textbooks they used had a significant impact on their responses. A survey questionnaire with 30 closed-ended items was utilized to collect the data from 60 randomly selected EFL instructors who were teaching English in higher education institutions and English language centers. SPSS version 26.0 was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that the instructors had positive perceptions about English textbooks. They also believed that four skills of English were equally represented in the textbooks, and they contained adequate listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. In addition, the textbooks were enriched with the cultural issues of the target language and that they were appropriate for the Afghan context. The results also showed that textbooks served various roles in EFL classrooms, for instance, as a source of assessment and assignment. There were not statistically significant differences between female and male instructors' responses. However, the type of textbooks they used significantly impacted their perceptions of English textbooks. EFL Programs are recommended to encourage and support their instructors to use other English learning resources to optimize their students’ learning.

COVID-19 pandemic as an ugly phenomenon disrupted all educational sectors and Afghan higher education institutions in particular. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on Afghanistan higher education institutions. It also aimed to determine the effects of students learning practices before and after the pandemic. The impacts of virtual learning on students’ performance during the COVID-19 pandemic were investigated in this study as well. For collecting the data, a semi-structured interview was employed. After collecting the data, the data were transcribed verbatim and four major themes were constructed: (1) students’ perceptions of learning practices before the outbreak of COVID-19, (2) the impact of distance learning modality during the COVID-19 pandemic and its challenges on students’ learning, (3) students’ learning anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic, and (4) level of students’ satisfaction from face-to-face learning system after a decrease in the cases of COVID-19. The findings showed that students learning process across the higher education institutions of Afghanistan have been worst affected due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The results also revealed that virtual learning modality during the COVID-19 caused more anxiety in students learning practices and it led to more isolation in their learning process. Furthermore, the attitudes of Afghan EFL learners towards virtual learning in the presence of COVID-19 were more negative. Additionally, Afghan EFL learners showed a high rate satisfaction towards physical learning modality as they experienced before the pandemic.

The present study investigated effective techniques of teaching vocabulary in an Afghan EFL setting. It also attempts to determine the impacts of the participants’ demographic profile ((i.e., gender, age, first language, and teaching experiences) on their responses. The data were collected from 93 randomly selected English teachers through a questionnaire containing 25 items. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0 was employed to analyze the data. To answer the reserach questions, descriptive and inferential statistics (independent sample T-test and one-way ANOVA tests) were used. The findings revealed that the overall attitude of Afghan EFL instructors towards applying effective techniques of teaching vocabulary in an Afghan EFL setting is positive. The respondents also reported that they warmly welcomed the techniques which led students to enhance their motivation for learning English vocabulary. Moreover, the study revealed that the participants’ gender, age, first language, and teaching experiences had a signficant impact on their responses.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the perceptions of Afghan EFL teachers towards the use of Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) in English classrooms. It aimed to investigate the use of different techniques of teaching English to students through the application of GTM in classrooms. Furthermore, the study sought to determine how GTM helped teachers to use translation technique to translate short passages and other language items and effects of GTM on Afghan teaching classrooms through students’ performance. The study also tried to find out differences in the perceptions teachers by gender, age, first language, and teaching experience. The data collected from 150 participants who were teaching English at Takhar University and other English language centers. The study employed Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 to analyze the data. The results of the study revealed that teachers liked and welcomed GTM to be applied in English classrooms. Furthermore, the results also showed that participants considered GTM a very important method of teaching because it helped them teach grammar rules properly. Another finding of the study was that teachers would often translate short passages, instructions and any language items into L1 in order to help learners to learn the target language. Moreover, the study revealed that applying Grammar-Translation Method in language classroom affected the students’ performance. It also showed that there were not any statistically significant differences by their gender, age, and teaching experience except their language.

The principal aim of this study was investigating experiences of Afghan female university students towards online harassment, its effects and coping strategies. Also, it aimed to study the differences of participants’ experiences by age, class, and first language. The data were gathered from 150 undergraduate female students of Takhar University randomly via a Likert scale questionnaire containing 36 statements. SPSS version 25.0 was used for analyzing the data. Descriptive statistics were employed to determine the frequency and percentage. Inferential statistics one way-ANOVA test was also used to determine the difference in the experience of participants by age, class (year of study), and first language toward the issue. The outcome of the study revealed that 54–81 percent of the respondents that forms the majority have not experienced online harassment. Also the finding denoted that the effects of online harassment on the victims are considerably low because the majority of them have not experienced online harassment. Besides, the result indicated that forty five percent of the partakers agreed to use some coping strategies against online harassment such as: talking face to face with the harasser, talking online or via phone, reporting the case to the administrator of university, searching Internet for advice, asking their teachers to include online harassment preventive matters in their teachings’ programs, cleaning the received online messages, ignoring and keeping silence, deleting from their contacts individuals that they do not like to keep contact with them, and sharing the cases of harassment with their friends or family members. Moreover, the outcome represented that there is not any considerable distinction in the experience of participants by age, class, and first language concerning online harassment.