SACM - United Kingdom
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9667
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Item Restricted A Corpus Study of Linking Adverbials in EFL Learners’ Writing(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Aldawood, Arwa Abdulaziz; Durrant, PhilipThe current study focused on a corpus-based approach to examine the variation of linking adverbials used by B1, B2, and C1 level EFL Saudi learners. It investigated the frequency, position, and forms of linking adverbials across different EFL proficiency levels. Most previous work on linking adverbials in written essays has concentrated on the differences between native and non-native speakers in using the linking adverbials not on the development of linking adverbials among the proficiency levels. The design and methods of this study were primarily quantitative and sought to identify the number of linking adverbials occurrences in the learner corpus. A qualitative approach was used to provide a more detailed analysis of the linking adverbials in the context, and to address the issue of the syntactic forms of the target linking adverbials by manual inspection of the concordance lines. EFCAMDAT (EF Cambridge Open Language Database) was sampled to include data from B1 level to C1 levels containing texts written by EFL Saudi Arabian students which are 7023 texts. Mixed-effects models as a statistical test used to examine the difference between the frequency of the linking adverbials in general. The results show that there is no significant difference between the overall frequency of use of linking adverbials across the proficiency levels. However, fine-grained analysis of the linking adverbials illustrated that the low-level learners used spoken like linkers in their written texts. Conversely, the advanced learners demonstrated a preference for linking adverbials more frequently found in academic writing, as evidenced by comparisons with the COCA native English corpus. However, the data revealed that there was no significant relationship between the spoken style of linking adverbials and the proficiency of the learners. As learners increased their proficiency, their use of linking adverbials does not become written in style. Furthermore, the findings related to the position of the linking adverbials revealed that there was a lack of variation across proficiency levels, indicating a stable pattern in their usage. This consistency suggests that learners across different proficiency levels apply similar approaches to placing linking adverbials in their writing. The results also indicated that Saudi EFL learners with different proficiency levels showed different preferences for the grammatical forms of linking adverbials used in their written texts. These differences appeared in single adverb, prepositional phrase and adverb phrase categories. Overall, these insights have valuable implications for creating instructional materials aimed at teaching linking adverbials in writing.9 0Item Restricted EFL Learners’ Perceptions of AI Tools in Enhancing their Target Language Use: A Quantitative Study of Saudi International Students in the UK(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-05) Alsubaei, Mouneerah; Thompson, PaulThe integration of AI tools into education has gained considerable attention in this era of technological advancement. In light of the increasing interest in the use of AI in language learning, it is essential to understand how EFL learners perceive the potential of these tools to improve their usage of the target language. Despite the growing prevalence of AI tools, there is limited research concerning Saudi international students' perceptions of these tools in the context of language learning, specifically in the UK. This study attempts to address the consequential gap in the literature by investigating Saudi international students' perspectives on AI tools for improving EFL use, particularly in overall language performance and four skills, especially in the UK. Moreover, it attempts to identify significant differences in students' responses to the questionnaire based on gender, age, current educational courses and years of language learning experience. Data collection questionnaires were distributed to targeted respondents (N= 237) and analysed statistically by SPSS. This study revealed interesting findings. Participants generally believe AI improves overall language performance and writing skills, particularly grammar, spelling and punctuation. However, AI's effect on critical thinking, reading, listening and speaking could not be proven by the research findings, except in terms of vocabulary use. There is no significant difference between participants' responses based on gender, age, current academic courses or years of language learning experience. However, there is a significant difference based on current academic courses in relation to the number of times the research participants use AI tools to improve their English Language use. Most comments from students were positive and they expressed the effectiveness of AI in improving writing skills.196 0Item Restricted What factors make reading comprehension difficult for English learners in Saudi primary schools from the teachers’ perspective?(University of Reading, 2023-10-03) Aljaloud Alhanouf; Tsakalaki, AnnaThis research investigated the challenges limiting reading comprehension abilities among young learners in Saudi Arabia's primary schools where English is taught to them as a second language. The study adopted a mixed-method methodology, employing both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gain a complete understanding of the factors influencing reading comprehension difficulties and potential strategies for improvement. The study recruited 23 participants, where 20 participated in the study survey while the remaining three were part of the qualitative interviews. The research was guided by two main research questions, them being: (1) What factors make reading comprehension difficult for English learners in Saudi elementary schools from the teachers' perspective? and (2) What strategies might help teachers improve reading comprehension ability for English language learners in Saudi primary schools? The outcomes from this study showed that a number of factors that contributed to the reading comprehension challenges faced by the young learners in Saudi Arabia primary schools, including linguistic elements, including grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, and language variations. Difficulties with grammar, limited vocabulary, and phonemic challenges hindered a proper pronunciation and spelling, ultimately affecting learners' capacity to understand English language texts. Moreover, the differences between the native Arabic language and English create a cultural void that limited an effective comprehension. There were also inadequacies in the syllabus and curriculum, particularly with lack of clear objectives in the curriculum and a steep learning slope presenting challenges for learners' reading comprehension abilities. The study recommended addressing the challenges with the curriculum and also employing active teaching and learning techniques to develop effective English reading comprehension skills among the young learners in the Saudi Arabia primary schools.59 0