This study provides an analysis of Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds, extracted from a 20,000-word corpus, based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory. The analysis focuses on the semantic transparency of these compounds, on the one hand, and their linguistic creativity, on the other. In line with Benczes (2006,2010), we suggest that the comprehension of Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds is possibly one of degree depending on which element is affected by metaphor and metonymy. Here, it is proposed that there are compounds which are more creative than others. We argue that in addition to the degree of semantic transparency and linguistic creativity of Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds, there are other factors that can influence the comprehension of these compounds; namely, the frequency of the compound, the conventionality of the metaphors involved in the compound and whether conceptual metonymy acts on the compound. Our proposal is supported by the judgments of 12 native-speaker informants, who were asked to provide the meaning of 35 Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds. The study concludes with recommendations for further research.

This study investigates the effect of blended learning on the development of clause combining as an aspect of the acquisition of written discourse by Jordanians who are learning English as a foreign language. Sixty participants majoring in English language at the University of Jordan took part in this study. The participants were divided into treatment and control groups, and the experimental design of a pretest and posttest was employed to test the effectiveness of blended learning on the ability of these participants to combine clauses in English using parataxis or subordination through a writing task. The results reveal that the treatment group outperformed their control group counterpart on the posttest in terms of verb morphology, distinguishing between nucleus and subordinate clauses, use of parataxis, use of subordinate clauses for temporal reference and to structure information, among others. The results also show that the use of technological devices improved students' attitudes to learning clause combining and made the learning process easier and more enjoyable. We suggest that blended learning develops the techniques of clause combining by learners of English as a foreign language, which in turn enhances their discourse knowledge in the target language and positively affects their ability to package information.

This study reviews three university ranking methodologies: Quacquarelli Sysmonds University Rankings, The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities. It also aims to suggest two new methodologies, one for World University Ranking and one for Arab University Ranking, and to propose data collecting tools for the new indicators if any. An online survey which elicited quantitative data and two focus-group discussions which produced qualitative data were used. The results of the survey show that the importance of some indicators as ranked by the respondents was similar to those found in the three international ranking systems, while others were not. The focus-groups suggested new weights for the indicators, since ranking systems overlook the differences between the institutions, resulting in unfair assessment of universities in the Arab region. Thus, new sub-indicators were proposed for both ranking systems.

This study measures the extent to which Arab EFL learners are aware of euphemistic expressions related to two areas, namely, courtesy and physical appearance and whether they are able to recognise them in context. The study also attempts to investigate whether the participants' gender and English proficiency level may play a role in their use of euphemism in their day-to-day lives. For the purposes of the study, we developed a multiple-choice test in which the participants were asked to choose the suitable answer out of four choices. The contextualized sentences used in the test were adapted from the Corpus of Contemporary American English ( COCA ) to suit the participants’ English proficiency level. Results revealed that Arab EFL learners had little awareness of euphemistic expressions in English. Also, the participants' English proficiency level had little effect on their use of euphemistic expressions. However, the participants' gender played a significant role in their performance on the test. In particular, the female participants were significantly more aware of euphemistic expressions than the males. The study concluded with some pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research.

This study analyzes 30 cartoons depictingtheDeal of theCenturyas envisaged by two Jordanian cartoonists. Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier and Turner [2008,Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought, Cambridge University Press, 53–66]) and Multimodal Metaphor Theory (Forceville, 2008) are adopted as theoretical frameworks. The results reveal that the target domaintheDeal of theCenturywas conceptualized mainly through layered metaphors that have metonymic basis and event metaphors/allegories. Five groups were identified:objector a situation involvingobjects, situations involvinghumans/hybridsofhumansandobjects, ananimalor situation involvinganimal, hybrids ofweaponsandhumans, and event metaphors used to build a story/allegory. The results demonstrate that the most widely used configuration to construe the metaphors was cross-modal of the type pictorial source–verbal target in line with Lan and Zuo (2016,Metaphor and the Social World6, 20–51). This was probably due to the greater conceptual density and concreteness of visual representation as the target is better captured verbally because of its abstractness. In contrast, the source domains were mainly concrete and thus perceivable pictorially rather than verbally. The study mainly demonstrates the effect that metaphor and metonymy found in political cartoons can have on the perception of the target domain by the audience and by extension their attitude toward it.