This paper highlights a successful experience of assessing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner’s proficiency at Yanbu English Language Institute (YELI), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 restrictions. To investigate the existing problem various interventions were introduced such as replacing Google Classroom with Black Board, implementing online proctoring during the exams, and portfolios. The provision of online assessments was a forced response to Covid-19 restrictions, which brought many challenges and risks without any prior experience and precedence. Addressing these challenges and making well-informed decisions that can potentially affect the performance and career of hundreds of learners, requires judicious justification and reasoning. The paper reflects on the well-informed strategy TAM used to deploy and address the challenges of online graded assessments effectively during the current pandemic for EFL learners to continue their progress toward their specializations while maintaining academic rigor and quality. This paper also intends to provide an insight to language teachers, practitioners, and policymakers to tackle similar challenges in the future. One among many other objectives of this research was to address the role of digital assessment for effective teaching, learners’ motivation, achievements, and transferability.

Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in higher education reforms, positioning Quality Assurance (QA) as a central pillar of Vision 2030. This study investigates how these reforms are reshaping institutional practices while bureaucratic compliance cultures and the tensions between external accreditation models and local educational needs. Using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, survey data were collected from 248 faculty, administrators, and QA officers across four regions, complemented by 40 semi-structured interviews and systematic document analysis in two contrasting institutions. Findings show that QA is widely prioritized in strategic planning and leadership discourse, although faculty expressed greater skepticism than administrators. Leadership, technological integration, and faculty development emerged as key enablers, while resistance to change and bureaucratic compliance constrained innovation. Institutional documents demonstrated uneven alignment with Vision 2030 benchmarks, and cross-institutional comparisons revealed that the transferability of reforms depends on leadership style, institutional maturity, and faculty engagement. Applying Lewin’s framework, the study reveals that reforms tend to follow cyclical trajectories rather than being fully consolidated, shaped by cultural and institutional dynamics. Saudi Arabia thus offers an instructive case for the Global South, demonstrating that sustainable QA reform requires adaptive, context-sensitive practices supported by participatory governance, leadership development, and faculty training.

This study investigates the compounded digital literacy challenges faced by minority girls in Pakistan’s secondary schools. Adopting an intersectional and rights-based lens, it explores how overlapping factors like; gender, religion, ethnicity, and geographic marginality—interact to shape digital exclusion. A mixed-methods design was applied across 16 minority-serving schools in four provinces. Data were collected through student surveys (n=200), semi-structured interviews with educators (n=20), and ICT infrastructure assessments. Findings revealed low access to digital tools, inadequate teacher preparedness, and sociocultural restrictions on girls’ digital participation. Drawing on Crenshaw’s Intersectionality Theory and Sen’s Capability Approach, the study frames digital literacy as both a human right and a constrained capability. The paper calls for gender-responsive policies, inclusive teacher training, and community engagement strategies. This research offers novel empirical and theoretical insights to advance digital equity for marginalized girls in South Asia.

Multilingual households are rapidly expanding worldwide, yet most research still focuses on monolingual or bilingual families, leaving the dynamics of multilingual households underexplored. Guided by Coleman’s Family Capital Theory, this study investigates how multi-ethnic families in Canada, Pakistan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia negotiate heritage language transmission alongside English acquisition. Using a cross-country ethnographic design, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, video reminiscences, and archival research were conducted with 40 families (Canada 12, Pakistan 10, Jordan 9, Saudi Arabia 9), including children aged 5–18. Sample sizes were tailored to cultural access and feasibility rather than equal national quotas. Findings reveal that storytelling, moral teaching, and religious rituals are central to preserving heritage languages, while English is prioritized for education and employment. Families experienced accent-related identity issues, reduced heritage language proficiency among younger members, and intergenerational communication gaps. Children’s incidental exposure to digital platforms (e.g., educational apps, YouTube, online religious classes) and the challenges of displacement among migrant families were observed but not systematically measured. The study underscores that English supports integration and mobility but risks weakening cultural and linguistic identity. It recommends that educators and policymakers design pluralist, culturally responsive strategies—such as embedding family-driven literacy practices into curricula and fostering additive bilingualism through community and school partnerships—to sustain heritage languages alongside English. The comparative ethnographic approach offers a replicable framework for future cross-cultural studies. Longitudinal research and systematic examination of digital technologies and displacement contexts are proposed as key directions to advance understanding of intergenerational language maintenance and identity resilience.

The broad use of learning management system (LMS) in English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching indicates an increasingly urgent need for better methods to improve speaking skills. The research looks at the effectiveness of blended learning (BL) regarding fluency, pronunciation, and conversational improvement compared to the entire LMS approach within the learning process of EFL. It combines traditional face-to-face methods with digital tools to answer a significant need in language learning strategies. Therefore, the study compares the speaking proficiency of the two groups and investigates the impact of BL on motivation and engagement. The quasi-experimental design involved 100 intermediate EFL learners selected using purposive sampling from a Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) A1–B2 English program. Following 12 weeks, the BL outperformed the LMS-only group in the post-test, showing development in fluency from 3.5 to 4.8 and pronunciation from 3.0 to 4.5. The LMS-only group revealed moderate gains but less pronounced: fluency increased from 3.4 to 4.0, and pronunciation from 3.1 to 3.8. Moreover, motivation and engagement increased in BL. This means combining traditional approaches with digital ones creates a more dynamic and robust environment for learning, which raises participation and proficiency in speaking. Further research is needed to optimize these strategies across various educational settings.

The Technical English curriculum is constantly underrepresented in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) programs (Hyland, 2006). This study investigates using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to develop a backward design curriculum for Technical English in preparatory year programs, targeting the CEFR A2-B1 level. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, using 58 students and seven teachers as participants at a local university. The findings demonstrated a notable enhancement in student learning outcomes through implementing an AI-enhanced curriculum, as seen by considerably higher engagement scores in the experimental group. The thematic analysis revealed themes related to enhanced educational effectiveness, individualized learning, and the difficulties encountered during implementation. The research suggests that instructors should undergo professional development, investment in digital infrastructure, and collaborative curriculum planning should be implemented. The study was done in Saudi Arabia, but its findings may be used in transnational and cross-border contexts.