Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Exploring Arabic as a Second Language (ASL) Learners’ Imagined Communities, Communities of Practice, and Investment in Learning ASL in Saudi Arabia(The University of Memphis, 2024-09) Alsulami, Majed; Thrush, EmilyResearch on L2 learning and studying abroad has indicated that L2 students return with varying levels of language acquisition and differing reactions to the target language and host communities (Kinginger, 2009; Trentman, 2013; Quan, 2019). Scholars have examined various variables (e.g. gender, motivation, identity, etc.), to better understand L2 students’ experiences in L2 settings linguistically and culturally (Trentman, 2013; Quan, 2019). However, exploring L2 learners’ access to imagined communities and communities of practice remains under-researched, which is an important variable in understanding the complexity of L2 students’ investment in L2 settings (Norton, 2018; Darvin & Norton, 2021). Recent studies have emphasized the importance of exploring the relationship between the concepts of imagined communities, communities of practice, and L2 investment for L2 students while living in L2 settings (Trentman, 2013; Soltanian et al., 2020; Darvin & Norton, 2021). Previous studies have focused on immigrants and L2 students learning ESL/EFL (Sung, 2019; Aslan, 2020; Tajeddin et al., 2023; Savova & Azarnoosh, 2024). Little is known, however, about the connection between these three concepts in learning Arabic as a Second Language (ASL) in the Saudi context. This mixed-methods dissertation raises new questions in order to explore 116 ASL learners’ (male, n = 93; female, n = 23) imagined communities and communities of practice, and how these communities are connected and essential for ASL investment. Data were collected from three sources including an online questionnaire, 17 individual interviews, including 6 females and 11 males, and two focus group interviews, including 4 females and 5 males. Descriptive analysis and thematic analysis were employed to analyze the quantitative and qualitative results, respectively. Findings revealed that participants’ imagined communities significantly influenced their motivation. They were highly motivated to expand various ranges of possible selves through their imagined communities and believed in not distancing themselves from ASL teachers or other people or withdrawing from the language classroom. The results also illustrated that all participants males and females expressed a strong power of prior imagination, affiliation, and sacredness orientation toward learning Arabic in Saudi. However, the results showed a significant effect of gender where males expressed a higher sense of belonging regarding their imagined communities to explore possible identities and connect with desired communities more than females. Males were accessed and committed to attending various free religious lessons as local communities of practice, while females had limited opportunities to access, interact, and invest in such communities of practice, which made them less invested compared to males. This dissertation offers implications for ASL educators, policymakers, and stakeholders in ASL institutions and programs to effectively engage ASL learners in their desired communities and encourage them to be active members in multiple social and learning contexts.33 0Item Restricted Home, Belonging and Multiculturalism in Twenty-First-Century British South Asian Fiction(2023-04-16) Alhaisony, Anas Galet M; Poyner, Jane; Stadtler, FlorianThis thesis contributes to the literary and cultural debates surrounding multiculturalism and questions of home and identity in contemporary Britain, using the British South Asian novel as a case study. Through close readings of six novels, including Maps For Lost Lovers (2004) by Nadeem Aslam, Londonstani (2006) by Gautam Malkani, The Year of Runaways (2015) by Sunjeev Sahota, Home Fire (2017) by Kamila Shamsie, Exit West (2017) by Mohsin Hamid, and In Our Mad and Furious City (2018) by Guy Gunaratne, the thesis brings theories of multiculturalism, class, and race into conversation with contemporary British South Asian fiction. It re-examines multiculturalism, as represented in the fiction, in light of recent key events that have catalysed its reconfigurations (e.g. 9/11, 7/7, the 2011 England riots and Brexit) alongside conceptual developments of notions of race, class, home and identity. Stuart Hall (1990) suggests that identity is constructed “within, not outside of, representation”, which indicates that literature plays a potentially important role in the public perception of identity (222). The thesis seeks to demonstrate that terms like diaspora, migrancy, hybridity and liminality do not fully capture the experience of multiculturalism as depicted in the selected novels. Whilst the thesis does not fully dismiss these terms, it redirects attention to critical, non-celebratory conceptions of multiculturalism. In so doing, it makes interventions into debates on multiculturalism. It shows how the UK government has tended to present multiculturalism as “a management exercise” (Mishra 2007, 133) through a “series of hesitant moves and recommendations”, which, as Peter Morey argues, it would be “hard to call […] a multicultural policy” (Morey 2018a, 5). It argues that theories of multiculturalism might become more coherent if approached from specific theories of race, ethnicity, and class. Such mapping, as Vijay Mishra (2007) advocates, allows us to think more precisely about these theories, so that we can view multiculturalism as “a critical concept” rather than “a management exercise” (133). The thesis first sets out a theoretical framework by which to explore its central concerns with the modalities of representation of British South Asians in fiction and their engagement with ideas of home and identity that are always already inflected by the complexities of race, class, religion and multiculturalism. It then turns to the historical and socio-political contexts of diverse British South Asian experiences as they are depicted in the fiction. The research employs a mixed-method approach synthesising theories of multiculturalism, race, ethnicity, and class, with close readings of British South Asian fiction written between 2000 and 2020. In the process, this enables a critical re-evaluation of these theories (Gilroy 2004, Mishra 2007, Ahmed 2015). Finally, the thesis offers new ways of reading the various permutations of British South Asian identity as culturally diverse in contemporary literature produced by British South Asian authors.17 0