M. BOULANOUAR Sara

Through a sequential mixed-method, the research aimed at investigating teachers’ and students’ beliefs regarding intercultural competence (IC), the orientations of the teaching/learning objectives, the potential gap between the beliefs and the classroom practices, and the factors hindering the development of IC. Data for the quantitative phase were generated from two sources: a questionnaire for teachers and a questionnaire for students. The statistical data were analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science). On the other hand, the textual data collected from observation sessions, interviews with teachers, and focus group discussions with students were analyzed through thematic content analysis. The findings elicited that teachers’ and students’ understanding of intercultural competence was dubious and seemed to demonstrate an enlarged view of the communicative competence objectives. While the significance of intercultural competence in EFL teaching/learning was recognized by most of the participants, the small ‘c’ cultural aspects that support the acquisition of intercultural competence have not yet become a frequent concern. The cultural teaching practices were still governed by conventional teacher-centered teaching strategies. During the investigation many inconsistencies emerged namely the gap that exists between the beliefs and the practices, the exam-oriented practices and the process-oriented curriculum requirements, and the expectations of the curriculum and the teachers’ training programs. As the research was situated within the framework of Algeria, it aimed to provide meaningful and sufficient contextual knowledge and recommendations for the local language learning environment. Therefore, it is recommended that the curriculum has to be reviewed by supplying explicit instructions and directions about intercultural teaching and has to include further cultural resources.

Remote learning has been a necessity due to the unprecedent global circumstances of the coronavirus outbreak. It is synonymous with words such as distance learning, distance education, online learning, and e-learning, form of education. The shared elements in those concepts are the physical separation between the teacher/ the source of information and the students during instruction, and the use of different means to contribute to teacher-students communication. Algerian universities have been compelled to adapt their teaching/ learning practices to the current situation. The aim of this study is to report students’ perceptions of remote learning. The data required for this study were collected by the researcher through an online survey developed to identify students’ views on remote learning and its implementation process. The instrument consisted of four (4) sections collecting data on demographic information, attitudes towards distance learning, benefits of distant learning and challenges of distance learning. Besides, the survey instrument contained one open-ended question asking the participants to express any further comment or view about the implementation of distance learning in the university. Students shared a number of common viewpoints on distance education, including dissatisfaction with university experiences and "devices," a lack of planning and effective management of online courses, and the vulnerability of technical support for university establishments. This scenario was exacerbated by the limits and considerable challenges experienced, mostly owing to network problems, and mastery of the tools and digital platforms available. Furthermore, these students indicate a strong desire for future remote learning by underlining the need for assistance in innovative university teaching and on distance learning platforms.
Key words : Remote Learning ; Benefits; Challenges; Students’ View

No one is living in isolation anymore, as intercultural encounters are inevitable in our present multicultural world. Efforts were made by policy makers to integrate culture into EFL textbooks and classrooms for the purpose to raise learners’ intercultural communicative competence. Teachers are now required to prepare students to be world citizens. This paper presents the findings from a questionnaire inspired from Sercu and Bandura (2005) international investigation on teachers and intercultural competence. It aims at providing answers to the following aspects: EFL teachers’ perception of culture integration in the classroom, their tendencies in selecting cultural materials and the challenges they encounter in doing so. Results gathered have yielded that teachers are generally aware of the importance of teaching and integrating culture in the EFL classroom. Furthermore, it revealed that teachers are knowledgeable about the aspects of the target culture to some extent, but the way they deal with the target culture is affected highly by the curricular considerations and limitations.

The objective of the present study is to determine the extent to which ‎mandatory lockdown affected Algerians’ psychological state and their ways to cope ‎with the compelling situation of COVID-19. ‎ A quantitative anonymous online survey was posted on different social ‎networks. The survey revealed that Algerians displayed high levels of stress and ‎depression during lockdown. Socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, having ‎a history of mental health disorder and occupation were predictors of high level of ‎psychological distress. Prominent level of stress and anxiety was mainly found ‎among women, young adults aged 18-30 years old, and persons with anterior ‎chronic mental distress.‎

This study explores teacher professional development in Algeria, specifically focusing on novice English teachers in secondary schools. Since 2015, the Ministry of Higher Education has required new teachers to participate in compulsory training aimed at improving teaching quality in higher education. The training includes topics like educational policies, teaching methodologies, program structure, and the integration of ICT and e-learning. The research examines teachers’ perceptions of professional development, their training needs, and challenges faced in their roles. Fourteen English teachers from Bousaada secondary schools participated in the study, with most being female and having less than five years of experience. Data was collected through a questionnaire adapted from the OECD’s TALIS survey. The study aims to identify areas for improvement in teacher training and provide insights into enhancing lifelong education for teachers in Algeria. The results of this study highlight the challenges faced by newly graduated teachers in their professional development journey, especially in terms of lacking experience and training. These teachers must engage in ongoing professional development, not only for their own growth but also to enhance student learning, improve school performance, and contribute to the quality of the educational system. Professional development should be an intrinsically motivated process of personal development. The data reveals various barriers, including lack of prerequisites, high costs, insufficient employer support, time constraints, and limited relevant development opportunities. However, teachers also expressed the need for specific skills development, such as student assessment, classroom management, ICT integration, and teaching in multicultural environments. It is essential that professional development programs are tailored to teachers' needs, professional stage, and the educational context they work in. Moreover, school administrations and education authorities must provide the necessary support, both administratively and economically, to encourage teachers' active participation in professional development initiatives. The ultimate goal is to ensure that teachers receive the knowledge and training they need to be effective educators from the start of their careers, making the learning process more meaningful for students.

The effects of globalization have been felt in various fields for over a decade and the
foreign language teaching is of no exclusion. In this regard, many countries have learned the
English language either as a second or a foreign language. This study was conducted to
explore EFL teachers’ perceptions concerning the importance of integrating the intercultural
dimension in their classroom practices and the strategies they employ to raise students’
intercultural awareness. It involved forty five (45) Algerian EFL secondary school teachers
who were asked to answer a Likert-type questionnaire. The results showed that teachers were
not favourably disposed to integrate the intercultural dimension and mainly focused on the
linguistic aspect of language and their teaching practices reflected their reluctance, as they
tackled cultural aspects not recurrently.

Algeria presents a complex sociolinguistic picture, a country that officially speaking is monolingual (Femam, Ch., 2012). In effect, in its constitutional preamble, Arabic is recognized as the official and national language. But in social - and real – terms, it is a country where several languages coexist. The Algerian population is over 70% Arabic speaking. However, the Arabic mother tongue spoken by the Algerian is not that official language (standard Arabic) but rather a variant named Algerian Arabic or Daridja. To these two linguistic varieties are added the recently recognized Berber as a national language of Algeria, a French language known as a foreign language with special historical status and other foreign languages mainly English. A plethora of sociolinguistic research dealt with multilingualism within oral speech of communities; but scares are those dealing with online multilingualism.
The internet facilitates contact between the different communities of the world. Social networks have not existed for a long time. Indeed, it is in 1995 that we are witnessing the birth of Classmates, the first social network created by Randy Conrad. The goal of the latter was to reconnect former classmates. Classmates still exists, but has been dethroned by the startling arrival of many more social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. Social networks have subsequently formed a new generation of information consumers, ever more eager to know. These are of great importance in the lives of young people; they are at the heart of a digital identity. Facebook represents one of the most influential social networks, young people use this social network to communicate and share with their friends. It is currently the largest virtual community worldwide. In other words, it is the largest social network in the world. In Algeria, Facebook now has more than 5 millions user accounts. Since the emergence of online communication, we are witnessing the massive emergence of atypical linguistic forms. On the other hand, the latter has an impact on the way of speaking or writing of young people; new words are born. The reasons that led us to focus on this research topic are as follows, the massive use of social networks by young people, the influence of the spoken word of the new generation, the linguistic mix and creativity of young people.
The following study investigates the linguistic practices of Algerians on the social network Facebook. Through a survey it investigates the different languages used to communicate with their friends of the same cultural background, with foreigners, and what languages they prefer to use to express their different state of minds.
Furthermore, different samples of Algerian Facebook pages are displayed to exemplify the miscegenation of languages. It can be noted that the mixture of languages in the Algerian landscape (Algerian Arabic, French, standard Arabic; English) is a testimony to both the
complex identification of users with plural identities and the sustainment of national identity (attachment to Algeria and its origins).Finally, In continuity with the oral and daily situation lived by the Algerians, the virtual social network allows the diversity and the alternation of languages or minority dialects. The Algerian Facebook users practice this alternation of codes to better convey their messages

Translation is a cross-cultural endeavour where the translator plays the role of an intercultural mediator. To perform such complex task the translator must possess, among other things, the necessary skills to handle culture-bound terms (CBTs). The CBTs are elements that are particularly related to the original culture. Culture is defined by Oxford Dictionary of English (2010) as inherited knowledge, values, feelings, activities, traditions, customs, attitudes, beliefs, ideas, arts, social behaviour and organizations, and the way of life shared by a particular organization, country, or group of people or society. Harvey (2003) argued that CBTs represents a serious “trouble spot” for translators mainly when the source and target languages are distant cultures as in the case with French and Arabic. CBTs are characterized by their cultural specificity which results in translation obstacles. The translator must acquaint himself with linguistic and communicative ability in both the source language (SL) and target language (TL) to be able to translate such cultural expressions. CBTs encompass mainly the proper nouns, names and expressions related to the organization of life in the SL culture (related to the political system, the education system, the law, etc.), traditions and habits (culinary traditions, festivals, rites), citations and allusions strictly related to the literature of the source culture (novels, poetry, theater, but also small poems for children, songs etc), allusions to the history of the country, and allusions to art (painting, music, film). Translating CBTs presents a challenge for the translator since they do not exist in the TL culture or the TL usually has no equivalents for those terms .Strategies that are used to translate CBTs involve cultural substitution (choose an equivalent in the target culture), literal translation (provide a word-for-word calque), definition (provide the reader with a little extra support and explanation), lexical creation (creating a new term) and deliberate omission. This study explores the obstacles encountered by the students in translating Arabic cultural embedded words into French language. It investigates the difficulties faced by ENS French students in the University of Bou Saada in rendering Arabic culture-bound terms into French and the strategies they used in the process. All the participants have the Arabic language as a mother tongue and are advanced learners in French. A test that consists of carefully selected sample of Arabic culture-bound terms used in contextualized sentences was designed as a research instrument. The terms were drawn from multiple cultural aspects (religious, political and social among others).The participants were authorized to use dictionaries and search the Internet while taking the test. No time limit was set for the test.

In 2005, The Ministry of Education announced the educational reform and numerous changes have occurred concerning the situation of teaching English .The English secondary school curriculum guide clarifies the fact that teaching English in Algeria has shifted from a solely linguistic matter to extend further to methodological and socio-cultural objectives. The purpose of teaching English is to help our society integrate harmoniously in modernity by fully participating in the linguistic community that uses this language for all types of interaction. This participation is based on the sharing and exchange of ideas and cultural experiences which will allow a better knowledge of the self and the others (Ministry of education, 2006, p.4). In spite of the call for implementing intercultural dimension by official texts set by the ministry and within the reach of teachers, it seems that the promotion of the IC in schools still represents an unknown ground for a large number of teachers which is mainly due to the ambiguities in the documents provided for teachers and shortcomings in terms of teachers’ trainings. English teachers may find themselves destitute facing the demands of the ministry of education. They are incapable to achieve intercultural outcomes if no actual guidelines are presented from both the trainers and the documents provided by the ministry of education. As a consequence, it leads to the lack of a specific framework; teachers’ practices are subjective and unstructured

The following research is an investigation into the beliefs and practices of secondary school English teachers/learners in Bousaada (Algeria) regarding the intercultural dimension in English language courses. Broadly, ‘intercultural’ approaches to language teaching and learning are strongly promoted in curricular guidance in international frameworks. However, little prior empirical research has addressed the extent to which such approaches are actually operationalised especially in the Algerian context. Teachers and students in Algeria are currently faced with a new challenge; balancing linguistic competence with the intercultural one. In consideration to the demands of the new curricula, implementing the intercultural aspects is of major importance. The relationship between the beliefs and practices was explored to address reported inconsistencies among teacher/learners beliefs, teaching practices and reform goals reported over the past years. The current research draws on Sercu et al ‘s works(2005) .The research purposes are:1) to uncover the participants’ (secondary school teachers and learners in Bousaada) understanding of the intercultural dimension and their willingness to integrate intercultural content;2) to inquire into the teachers’ own perceptions of their pedagogical practices in the classroom, with an emphasis to what extent beliefs are congruent with their pedagogical practices;3) to consider potential factors that might affect congruency between the beliefs and the practices ; 4) to establish to what extent the teachers’ beliefs conform with the ‘intercultural competence teacher profile’; and 5) to identify to what extent learners beliefs conform to Byram’s ‘intercultural speaker’ model .To explore those research questions a multi-methodological research is employed, using surveys, teacher reflective journals , follow up interviews and students focus groups .