Dr. Anan Abu Mariam Lectures at the University of Jordan

The Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Jordan welcomed Dr. Anan Abu Mariam, Director of the Counseling and Special Education Center, as an educational expert in its program to host experts. This initiative is part of the university's effort to enhance the educational experience, particularly in the field of psycholinguistics for postgraduate students in the doctoral phase. During his lecture, Dr. Abu Mariam discussed the significance of language and its biological basis in the brain, focusing on the neural language processes. He also presented summaries of various scientific studies conducted on the brain to understand the nature of these linguistic processes. This included identifying the brain regions most responsible for receptive and expressive spoken language processes. Furthermore, Dr. Abu Mariam reviewed scientific research results related to the brain's relationship with sign language. He elucidated the primary differences in processing spoken and sign languages and the specific brain regions directly involved in receptive and expressive sign language. The session, which included interactive participation and questions from students, also covered the nature of sign language, its components, processes, and rules, which are distinct from other spoken languages. Additionally, Dr. Abu Mariam enlightened the attendees on the cultural specifics and language identity of the deaf community. Dr. Abu Mariam also engaged the students in an exercise to perform their names in sign language using the sign language alphabet and demonstrated various educational sign language concepts used within the deaf community in educational institutions.