The Effects of Age, Gender, and Major on Measures of Jordanian Students’ Attitudes towards Academic Group Learning in Computer Training Courses

The purpose of study was to investigate students’ attitudes towards academic group learning in computer training courses in education department at a university in Jordan as well as the effect of age, gender, and major on students’ attitudes towards academic group learning. The participants in this study were 183 undergraduate and graduate students who were enrolled in on-campus educational technology courses at a public Jordanian university over two semesters. Cross-sectional survey design was selected in the current study. The questionnaires, which were designed to measure students’ attitudes toward academic group learning, were distributed and collected at the end of the semesters. The analysis of students’ responses showed that the students had positive attitudes toward academic group learning. In addition, students’ attitudes towards academic group learning were not different accordance with students’ gender and age. However, students’ responses for one of the scales of their attitudes toward group learning   were different accordance with students’ major, where computer science and computer engineering students showed more favorable attitudes towards academic group learning compared to education students. The results were useful in providing faculty members empirical data regarding students’ preferred teaching methods that they can employ in their educational practice. Keywords: Group learning, Students’ Attitudes, Computer Training Courses

The Pragmatic Meanings of Car Stickers in Jordan

This study is aimed at investigating the illocutionary forces of car stickers in Jordan as an under-researched area of Arabic pragmatics. The study is based on authentic data collected over a year as found displayed on cars in the south, mid and north of Jordan. The data collected were found to display a wide range of social, romantic and economic functions including displaying vehicle size and brand, protection against envy, disappointment and betrayal, giving advice, displaying love and romantic challenges, crises and car stickers aimed at attracting others’ attention. Stickers used as a protective measure against evil eye were found to be the most frequently used stickers in our data (32.65%). Though car stickers are equated with amusement and humor, they are used nowadays as a tool to indirectly criticize social, economic and political crises, and this could reflect the social and economic challenges of life. The overwhelmingly rhythmic car stickers examined in the study were found to be instances of decodable expressions whose overall meanings could be recovered by sticker readers