Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Straddling Two Worlds: How Linguistic Backgrounds and Sociocultural Norms Influence the Experiences of Saudi Female Expats in Australia(University of Wollongong, 2023-03-08) Alhassoun, Lamia Abdulaziz; Ward, RowenaThis study constructs a collective story of Saudi female expats (SFEs) as they navigate the transition from their conservative society in Saudi Arabia to a new one in Australia. It examines the impact of the SFE’s Arabic background and their English learning experiences in Australia on their lives and explores SFEs perceptions of their self-representation in the social and educational milieu in Australia. Additionally, it sheds light on the intricate relationships between language, culture, gender and self-representation. The study employs a demographic questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with twenty-two SFEs in Australia. The study adopts lenses from social identity theory (Erikson 1968; Tajfel & Turner 1979, 1986), Intragroup marginalisation (Castillo et al. 2007), Social learning theory (Bandura 1977; Ryle 2011) and Oberg's cultural shock theory (1960) to guide the analysis of the study data. The findings of this study reveal that SFEs, generally, have a positive attitude towards learning and using the English language. However, SFEs’ low self-confidence in their English language proficiency negatively impacted their cross-cultural interactions in Australia. The study attributes SFEs' low self-confidence to five factors: limited opportunities to practice English, a preference for socialising with Arabic speakers, the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia's English education policies and limited interest in English improvement. The study also explores how SFEs represent themselves differently in Australia. Their reflections in the research interviews revealed that they define their ‘in’- and ‘out’-groups differently depending on the context in relation to their interlocutor’s ethnicity, gender, language and faith. SFEs indicated that when interacting with Saudi male compatriots, they tend to be formal and direct in line with the norms of their Saudi culture and upbringing marked by gender segregation. However, they are friendlier and more open with non-Saudi male interlocutors due to the more relaxed gender norms in Australia. One of the key findings is that SFEs’ interactions with non-Saudis are influenced by their sense of obligation to represent their faith and nationality in the best light. The study also shows that the SFE’s insufficient knowledge of Australian culture and their low confidence in their English skills, tends to make their interactions with native-English speakers to be direct and to the point. SFEs are aware that they can appear terse for this reason. The lack of opportunities to interact with the host/Australian community and learn about Australian culture was negatively impacted by the social isolation policies imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study contributes to the limited literature on the experiences of SFEs as they navigate cross-cultural contexts and self-representation in Australia. This study offers valuable insights into the real-world challenges experienced by SFEs in adjusting to a more liberal society while maintaining their cultural identity. It sheds light on their perceptions of self-representations and attitude towards learning and using English and straddling cultures in Australia. Practical implications for improving cross-cultural interaction and strategies for enhancing English language education programs to better accommodate the growing SFE community in Australia are discussed in the conclusion.50 0Item Restricted Saudi female bilingual EFL teachers’ code-switching: from beliefs to community of practice(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-10-31) Alhendi, Reem; Koteyko, NelyaAlthough several studies on classroom code-switching exist in the global context, certain gaps in the literature in the Saudi context remain, particularly with respect to teachers’ identities and positioning in relation to code-switching. Additionally, there is a lack of discourse analysis-based studies in relation to this particular phenomenon in the Saudi EFL teaching context. Thus, the study was conducted to provide a more situated, discourse-based perspective for the understanding of the relationship between identity construction and code-switching practices and to further expand our knowledge of this phenomenon in relation to a myriad of aspects. The purpose of this study was to investigate how and why teachers use code-switching. It also investigated teachers’ awareness of their own code-switching and the multiple factors influencing language alternation, as well as seeking to uncover how teachers discursively construct their identities in relation to code-switching within a Community of Practice. The study adopted a constructivist and post-structuralist perspective on code-switching and identity which assumes that people construct meaning through social interaction and views identity as dynamic, multiple, shifting, and constructed through discourse. It followed an exploratory qualitative design, based on a combination of the thematic analysis approach (Braun and Clarke, 2013) and discursive psychology approach (Wiggins, 2017). Informed by Wenger’s (1998) notion of Community of Practice, the study also explored how teachers’ knowledge-sharing contributed to their code-switching. The participants were Saudi bilingual EFL female teachers teaching in a Saudi University, and data was collected through observation, interviews, focus groups, and participant diaries. For the first level of analysis, thematic analysis was used to develop an overall descriptive overview of the phenomenon. However, interviews also revealed a number of tensions and contradictions which prompted the researcher to further investigate how teachers manage to resolve such issues; pointing towards an in-depth analysis of teachers’ discourse through the lens of discursive psychology. The findings from the thematic analysis revealed that teachers hold positive beliefs regarding code-switching, using it for various pedagogic, classroom management, social, affective, cultural, and repetitive purposes. However, the data also revealed various negative feelings that appear to accompany such beliefs in light of an institutional culture that discourages the use of code-switching. The findings from a discursive psychology analysis of interviews highlighted three dilemmas that teachers face: resisting institutional culture, the status of monolingual EL teachers, and negotiating bilingual identities. Examination of diaries also revealed further insights into the nature of this phenomenon. By using various discursive strategies of assigning value to code-switching, displaying knowledge and competency, and using subject positioning, teachers in this study appear to achieve not only their aim of presenting themselves as independently-minded professionals but also in achieving their interactional goal of supporting the legitimacy of code-switching within their Community of Practice. Findings from focus groups also suggest that teachers’ sense of membership and knowledge- sharing in their Community of Practice helps them legitimise and de-legitimise certain code-switching practices. This study thus has several implications in relation to policy and practice, methodology, and future research in this area.71 0Item Restricted The Culture of Saudi Arabia: What makes the culture, the people, how it's changing and my personal relationship with it(Saudi Digital Library, 2022-06-09) Alhajri, Sara; Vicente, MercedesThis is a portfolio thesis made out of three essays about the culture of Saudi Arabia and the change that Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud the new crown prince of Saudi Arabia introduced. This thesis discusses the change and transformation that Saudi Arabia is currently going through. It explores it through the past, present, and future plans of Saudi, as well as my personal experience with the place and the culture. The first two chapters explain, explore, and compare past and present and neighboring countries. It also talks about the current interest in art and culture and the local's reactions to all the change. The last chapter goes through a timeline of my experience, memories, and the big steps that I took as a creative Saudi female39 0Item Restricted EMPLOYING CRITICAL LITERACY TO EXPLORE CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TO MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE IN A BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION IN SAUDI ARABIA(2023-06-30) Alqahtani, Nadia; Medina, CarmenMulticulturalism is about equality, social justice, and welcoming the differences of a group of people in the same world. It is a reform, challenge, and change of the domination of one culture, race, gender, ethnicity, and class in a society that consists of multiple people of diverse backgrounds. There has been a rapid change in Saudi Arabian society as it welcomes refugees as residents and tourists from around the world and it has lately granted citizenship to foreigners who have improved various aspects of Saudi society. Because of this, it is crucial to encourage citizens to value diversity and individual differences because they are vital to the country’s growth. With the growing diversity among students in Saudi Arabian classrooms, stakeholders and teachers need to start cultivating the ideology of multiculturalism and students need to accept and respect each other despite their different cultural backgrounds. The main goal of this study was to examine how a diverse group of students responded to a literary discussion in a book club while reading multicultural books. Literary texts and book clubs are a means to identify the challenges that students, especially diverse students, face. These experiences provide opportunities for students to analyze, delve into, and negotiate diversity issues as they construct their identities. A case study approach using critical thematic analysis was used to explore the responses of six high school students. Initially, the students expressed unconscious responses and knowledge that lacked critiquing, analyzing, examining the texts, and addressing multicultural issues. However, the students’ identities in this study were revealed when exposed to multicultural literature books. They demonstrated the possibilities of valuing themselves, reflecting with others, and shaping their identities for belonging, confidence, relationships, and familiarity. The book club provided a chance to speak, interrogate, and analyze the authors’ perspectives and thoughts by digging deep to reach issues hidden under the authors’ words. As a result of the study, a model was developed to guide teachers and other stakeholders of the educational system in Saudi Arabia to improve approaches to multicultural literacy.16 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