Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Expanding our understanding of the uses of Modern Standard and Hijazi Colloquial Arabic in Education: A Study Exploring Learners’ Attention, Academic Performance, and Language Attitudes in Saudi Arabia(University of Sussex, 2024-07) Alamir, Sarah; Blair, Andrew; Alkabani, FerasThis study investigates how the use of Hijazi Colloquial Arabic (HCA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in oral instruction affects students' sustained auditory attention and academic performance and their attitudes towards both varieties in education. To form a clear picture of how effective both varieties are, the results of a nine-week pre-post-test classroom experiment, a follow-up questionnaire, and interviews were used for analysis. First, two groups of undergraduate female students (aged between 20 and 27) assigned to the 'History of the Americas' module at Umm Al-Qura University and a professor were selected for the experiment. One group had 29 students, whereas the other had 25. One group was instructed in MSA, and the other in HCA. The study findings showed that both HCA and MSA oral instruction improved the students' ability to sustain auditory attention, leading to better academic performance, with HCA instruction being slightly more effective. In addition, the disparities in automaticity and language execution between HCA and MSA were negligible. When it comes to attitudes, both HCA and MSA groups had more positive perceptions of MSA. Their actions, however, did not reflect their beliefs and feelings. Their attitudes and the underlying reasons could be grouped into six and five categories. Globally speaking, standard codes in diglossic contexts receive positive attitudes despite the changing social circumstances, while societal changes impact colloquial codes’ perceptions. These results implicate the field of higher education in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries when considering using Colloquial Arabic codes (CAs) as a medium of instruction, as they should go hand in hand with MSA. This can be done by further research and modifying language policies to promote the coexistence between the two codes, combining them in instruction according to contexts and the psychological aspects instructors want to provoke, and using non-featured CAs, such as the educated HCA or White dialect.50 0Item Restricted An Investigation into Promoting Cross-Cultural Collaboration among Students from Diverse Backgrounds: A Case Study of the University of Aberdeen(University of Aberdeen, 2024-03-05) Alshaiby, Sadiyyah; Carol, SmithThe study aimed to examine the promotion of cross-cultural collaboration among students with diverse cultural backgrounds at the University of Aberdeen. The research aim was met by fulfilling five main objectives regarding international students’ perceptions of cross-cultural collaboration, the challenges international students face in intercultural collaboration, the strategies employed by the university of Aberdeen in promoting intercultural collaboration, practical recommendations for promoting intercultural collaboration, and the role of the social identity theory in explaining the dynamics of cross-cultural collaboration. The study was based on a qualitative case study. Two pilot interviews were conducted to test the interview questions. Data was collected from 10 international students from the University of Aberdeen using semi-structured interviews and analysed using the thematic analysis technique. The findings demonstrated that students perceive intercultural collaboration positively because it helps them get social and academic support from colleagues. Students who embrace cross-cultural collaboration are less likely to be isolated or lonely. However, language and cultural differences undermine collaboration. Differences in dialect are a major cause of misunderstanding in intercultural collaboration. Differences in cultural perceptions about teamwork and superiority also undermine collaboration. However, universities like the University of Aberdeen have adopted strategic measures to promote cross-cultural collaboration. Some measures the university employs to promote cross-cultural collaboration include forming clubs, societies, and academic groups and offering language competence training for students from different cultural backgrounds. A recommended approach is internationalisation, which primarily focuses on creating a universal curriculum to cater to the learning needs of all students regardless of their nationality and cultural background. Based on the social identity theory, promoting cultural diversity and collaboration must entail establishing a common identity for all students to help them interact freely without facing any challenges that undermine their collaboration. Future research should focus on the specific factors influencing cross-cultural collaboration, including language, cultural differences, and university initiatives, while exploring their impacts on acculturation, academic achievement, mental well-being, and considering alternative theories beyond social identity theory to understand this dynamic better.15 0Item Restricted Pragmatic Elements In EFL Learners’ Request E-mails To Teachers: A Study Of Learners’ Communicative Success(2023-05-13) Kuriri, Hamzah Ahmad A; Trentman, EmmaLanguage is a tool for communication. People use it when they converse with each other. One way to comprehend what is being said is based on understating the intended meanings of the conversation, or what is called the underlined meanings (pragmatics). Pragmatic studies how different meanings are conveyed, depending on the utterances provided. A case study to investigate the phenomenon of pragmatics is selected as the methodology to specifically examine English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors’ perceptions of EFL students’ e-mails sent to their instructors. Qualitative methods are used to examine data for a period of almost three months (October, November, and December of 2022). Academic Saudi EFL staff at Jazan University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are selected as participants in this single case study. Interviews, observations while the participants are interviewed, and review contexts (i.e., formality, directness, and politeness of EFL students’ e-mails) are used to collect data during that period. Suggestions for instructions, limitations, and future research are presented.37 0