SACM - United Kingdom
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Item Restricted A Corpus-Based Study of the Use of Sentence Connectors Among Arab Learners of English(The University of Leeds, 2024-08) AlOnayzan, Amani; James, Wilson; Serge, SharrofThis study is a corpus-based investigation into the use of sentence connectors in English-language argumentative essays written by Arab learners. It utilises both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine Arab learners’ use of connectors in comparison to that of native speakers of British and American English. The corpora used for this study are from ALEC (https://dspace.auk.edu.kw/communities/22a5e75c-b93d-4f26-b559-21f5d721b097), which represents Arab learners, and LOCNESS (https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/ilc/cecl/locness.html), which is a resource for native English speakers. The study focuses on three main aspects: 1) the frequency of connectors, 2) the placement of connectors within sentences, and 3) punctuation in clauses/constructions containing connectors. For categorizing connectors, I used Quirk et al.'s (1985) framework which classify connectors into seven distinct categories (as well as CIA2 by Granger (2015) for comparison). The outcomes of the study uncover significant differences, as well as some similarities, in connector usage between Arab learners and native English speakers. Arab learners use connectors significantly more than both American and British native speakers. However, this difference mostly arises from the increased use of some individual connectors (e.g. because, also) among Arab learners. Both Arab learners and native English speakers have a preference for using connectors in the middle of sentences. This trend is associated with the increased use of individual connectors (e.g. because, while) in this position. In addition, the analysis of punctuation surrounding connectors demonstrates a uniform and suitable usage among all groups; however, some errors were observed with connectors such as for example, suggesting areas for improvement in learners' writing skills. The study not only investigates the numerical differences in connector usage but also provides insights into the qualitative features of their usage, and its results are important for educators and curriculum developers to create language learning resources customised to the specific demands and obstacles faced by Arab learners as they work towards becoming proficient in English.33 0Item Restricted Exploring Arab learners’ use of lexical collocations of English: A corpus-based study(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-05-30) Alshammari, Reem Roghailan; Wilson, James; Dickins, James; Ingleby, MichealThis PhD thesis focuses on investigating the use of four different lexical collocations by Arab English foreign language learners (Arab EFLLs) from Kuwait and Dubai, and native British English students (NBESs) from the UK. The four types of collocation are the Adverb-Adjective, Verb-Noun, Verb-Adverb, and Adjective-Noun collocations. The main objective of this research is to identify issues with the use of lexical collocations by Arab EFLLs, who often struggle to produce natural collocations due to the influence of their L1. The study uses a corpus-based frequency approach to analyze data collected from two comparable corpora consisting of academic essays from both native speakers of British English and Arab EFLLs. The corpus data for Arab EFLLs is derived from two corpora, the Arabic Learner English Corpus (ALEC) and the BUiD Arab Learner Corpus (BALC), while the corpus data for native speakers is collected from the British Academic Written English Corpus (BAWE). The log-likelihood statistical test was used to identify significantly different collocations between Arab EFLLs and NBESs. The research also employed a contrastive error analysis approach to understand the difficulties that Arab EFLLs face when using lexical collocations. This study provides valuable insights into the use of lexical collocations by Arab EFLLs and highlights the impact of Arabic on their use of collocations in academic writing. The findings of this research can be used to develop targeted interventions that can help Arab EFLLs improve their use of lexical collocations in their academic essays.89 0Item Restricted The representation of Saudi Arabia in two American newspapers: A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis(2022) Assulaimi, Khadija; Myers, GregDiplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. began in 1933, when "a friendship and trade agreement" was signed (Abukhalil, 2004, p. 181). However, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 affected the relationship between the two countries, since most of the attackers were of Saudi origin. Thus, Saudi Arabia received much attention from the media and was seen as being directly or indirectly behind what happened (Blanchard, 2015). Despite the considerable work on the construction of countries in the media, there is very little research on the linguistic or discursive representation of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate the ways in which Saudi Arabia is represented in American newspapers. It presents a close analysis of news articles from four different time periods (1980-81, 1990-91, 2001-02, and 2010-11) to uncover potential changes in the construction of Saudi Arabia. The analysis also examines which discursive strategies and linguistic structures are instrumental in constructing the image of the country. The corpus comprises four sub-corpora of news articles about Saudi Arabia published in two American newspapers: the New York Times and the Washington Post, amounting to 4,541,582 words. To achieve its aim, the study draws on methodologies from Corpus Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. A central theoretical notion in the corpus analysis of this study is keyword analysis, which presents an initial focus for the analysis. It also takes account of van Leeuwen's (1996) social actor model, Halliday’s (1985) transitivity and Wodak's (2001) referential and predicational strategies. Findings suggest that there is a significant shift in the representation of Saudi Arabia in the periods before and after the 9/11 attacks. Even though negativity occurred in some news themes in the first and second periods, the third and fourth periods have more negative representations, especially with the emergence of controversial topics related to religion, extremism, terrorism and human rights. The hegemonic discourse found in such topics constructs Saudi Arabia, a Muslim Middle Eastern country, in a negative way, especially in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. These representations emphasize a stereotypical image of Saudi Arabia as a threat to the world, presenting it as the original source and funder of extreme ideologies. News related to oil is prominent in each of the four periods, in which Saudi Arabia is predominantly represented in a reductionist manner as a rich country with the largest oil reserves in the world. By tracing diachronic change across four periods, this research also demonstrates how stereotypical negative representations of the kingdom, particularly the ones related to the topics of terrorism and extremism, are reproduced in news discourse.212 0