Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Cyclic Intervention Study: How Blended Learning Facilitates the Teaching and Learning of L2 Academic Writing in One Preparatory Year Classroom in Saudi Arabia(University of Exeter, 2024) Salagoor, Ala'a; Kleine Staaraman, Judith; Watson, AnnabelThis thesis investigates how adopting a blended learning approach may help in developing teachers’ pedagogical practices and have a significant impact on students’ ability to master academic writing in English as a second language (L2 academic writing) at a Saudi governmental university, with specific focus on Preparatory Year Programmes (PYP) classrooms. To ensure that blended learning facilitates the teaching and learning of L2 academic writing, this study is participatory in nature as it adopted a pragmatic postmodern standpoint with consideration to Social Constructivism. This was achieved by employing a cyclic intervention study in which the intervention programme was developed, implemented, iteratively refined, and evaluated in three macro cycles using different qualitative data sets collected from one L2 academic writing teacher and her advanced classroom. The developed intervention programme included several digital tools and teaching methods and techniques deemed to have the potential of 1) shifting the teaching of L2 academic writing from a predominantly linguistic and syntactic approach to a process/genre-oriented approach and 2) encouraging EFL students to construct knowledge in different ways and be able to develop their L2 academic writing skill in composing different academic genres. This study aimed to reach the most appropriate version of the intervention programme within three phases: 1) the preparation phase, 2) the intervention phase, and 3) the evaluation phase. In the preparation phase, the intervention programme was developed by triangulating the findings from the initial semi-structured interview with the teacher, with consideration to the conclusions from the literature, the taught syllabus, and the department’s requirements. In the intervention phase, the refinements of the intervention programme in the three macro cycles were presented using the data collected from the reflection sessions with the teacher at the end of each macro cycle. Also, the findings shared by the teacher in the initial semi-structured interview before implementing the intervention programme were compared to what she discussed in the reflection sessions in order to track the changes in her teaching practice before, during, and after the intervention programme. Nevertheless, the changes in the students’ writings were also tracked by analysing their individual writing samples for each unit. Finally, in the evaluation phase, the adopted teaching techniques and online platforms in the intervention programme were evaluated using qualitative data sets collected through two semi- structured interviews with nine students with different engagement levels and one focus group discussion with ten randomly chosen students. The findings of this cyclic intervention study indicated that the refined intervention programme which adopted a blended learning approach facilitated the teaching and learning of L2 academic writing in the chosen preparatory writing classroom. This was mainly reflected in changing the teacher’s teaching practice of teaching L2 academic writing with a predominantly linguistic and syntactic approach to teaching it with a process/genre-oriented approach. In addition, the students’ individual writing samples reflected progress and development at the sentence, paragraph, and essay levels. However, the findings also revealed unexpected results regarding the students’ needs for an appropriate amount of face-to-face teaching, online teaching, and teacher guidance. This study concludes with practical suggestions, implications, and recommendations that can benefit other EFL educational contexts and future research focusing on the teaching and learning of L2 academic writing in EFL contexts.7 0Item Restricted An Investigation of the Disciplinary Expectations of Postgraduate Writing in UK HE: A Case Study of Applied Linguistics Students’ Writing(The University of Southampton, 2024-07-30) Alharbi, Jabrah; Zotzmann, Karin; Robert, BairdThe literature on academic writing in HE often approaches the issues in the field by focusing on challenges that students face in academic writing based on students’ and tutors’ perceptions (Shaheen, 2012) or by examining the linguistic, socio-cultural features, or rhetorical moves in students' writing (Gardner and Nesi, 2012, Javadi-Safa, 2018, Hyland, 2016, Matsuda, 2003). Little research examines the use of knowledge forms that relate to integrating theoretical and practical knowledge to achieve knowledge building. This research addresses this problem by examining the valued practices in postgraduate academic writing in a discipline that requires students to relate to theory and practice. The main aim is to find out how students use theoretical and practical knowledge forms in their writing and how their tutors value and assess those practices. The research was more interested in providing an in-depth analysis of tutors’ disciplinary expectations of academic writing. Students’ perspectives were used for triangulation purposes and were not intended to be examined in-depth. The specific context of the study is an Applied Linguistics and TESOL module from a postgraduate degree programme in the UK. The module is titled Modern Language Teaching Methods (MLTM). The field of Applied Linguistics and TESOL and the MLTM module have been chosen as the context of this study because Applied Linguistics is a field that typically connects theoretical knowledge to practical and personal experiences of teaching and learning a language. To examine the underlying principles that relate to theory and practice in students’ texts, I used the theoretical lens of LCT Semantics gravity, which traces the relative strengths of context dependence and context-independence or the use of theoretical and practical knowledge forms in students’ texts. I used the same lens to examine tutors’ disciplinary expectations of valued knowledge forms and academic practices in students’ texts as they relate to theory and practice. Semantic density from LCT, which examines the condensation of meanings was also used to offer insights into the complexity of students’ texts and tutors’ expectations. ESP genre theory analysis was carried out before conducting an LCT Semantics analysis to gain a better understanding of the genre of students’ texts and its social function. The use of LCT Semantics and especially the tool of semantic gravity allowed me to examine academic writing in HE in the disciplines and offered me a different consciousness about some of the underlying principles of academic writing practices in the discipline of Applied Linguistics. It also offered me a different perspective on actors’ semantic codes, or the beliefs actors bring to the field. The use of this tool revealed important information about high-scoring student writing versus low-scoring student writing. A high-scoring text showed a higher semantic range, better semantic flow, more abstractions, successful movement from the theoretical to the practical, and higher epistemological condensation. By analysing assessors’ disciplinary perspectives, the tool of semantic gravity and density offered me a different consciousness of the role of assessors’ semantic codes in the assessment and evaluation of student’s texts. Tutors sometimes appeared to have different semantic codes from one another, which made them evaluate students’ texts differently. The students also appeared to have different semantic codes from those of their tutors, which could result in a code clash and learning challenges for tutors and students. Additionally, the findings of this present study showed that semantic profiles of successful students’ texts can also differ within the same module and the same writing task. Likewise, tutors’ semantic profiles of valued academic writing practices in student texts differ from one another and the same tutor can value more than one semantic profile.47 0Item Restricted An Investigation into the Challenges and Difficulties of Academic Writing: A Study of the Perceptions of Saudi Postgraduate Students Studying in the UK(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-11-03) Altamimi, Albatool Zaid I; Harwood, NigelThis research is an in-depth investigation of academic writing difficulties as perceived by Saudi postgraduate students who are studying different disciplines at the University of Sheffield in the UK. It also aims to investigate their perceptions regarding the contribution of their previous educational background in the KSA to these difficulties and the strategies they used to overcome them as master’s students. In line with the exploratory nature of this research, a qualitative methodology is employed in this study. The data for the study comes from two types of interviews: semi-structured interviews and talk-around text interviews. Ten interviews were conducted with five male and female master’s students. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that Saudi master’s students faced 10 difficulties when writing their essays/ assignments for their courses. These difficulties include insufficient academic vocabulary, lack of disciplinary knowledge, problems with using sources, problems with L2 proficiency, understanding task requirements, writing in a direct and clear style, writing in a critical style, writing in an argumentative style, establishing cohesion and coherence, and receiving undetailed written feedback. The findings also indicated that several features of Saudi education largely contributed to these academic writing difficulties. The key features are rote learning and memorisation, passive learning and lack of argumentation, lack of L1 and L2 writing practices, and lack of academic preparation. The participants mentioned 11 coping strategies to overcome their academic writing difficulties. However, the key coping strategies are attending a pre-sessional course in the UK, imitating the writing style and structure of their academic communities, socialising with their L1 and L2 peers from inside and outside the classroom, and reading academic papers. This dissertation ends by presenting pedagogical implications for Saudi policymakers based on the findings of the study.28 0