Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted An Investigation into Teachers’ Cognition: Saudi English Teachers’ Instructional Practices in the use of Code Switching.(The University of Hull, 2023-06-14) Abdulhafiz, Shahinaz Saleh; Hunter, DuncanResearch on teacher cognition and language instruction has recently attracted attention among researchers in the field of language teaching. Educational research has also revealed that the study of teacher cognition about all aspects of their work can help in understanding what they hold in their minds and how it contributed to their classroom practices. This study examined the origin of twelve English teachers’ cognition and understand how their mental perspectives are displayed through their instructional performances in classrooms regarding the practice of code switching in language teaching, particularly in the context of Saudi Arabia, where Arabic is its main language. The necessity of carrying out such a study is to contribute to finding out some significant aspects of teachers prior learning experiences that appear to be powerful in forming their cognitions and understand how these mental constructs underpin their instructional performances regarding the practice of code switching. Moreover, the study seeks to determine the role of contextual factors that might impact teachers’ instructional practices so as to improve and facilitate the teaching process. Qualitative data was collected using autobiographies and semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study showed that teachers perceived code switching strategies to be necessary as they shared similar prior educational experiences. Their focal concern of cognition regarding the practice of code switching, though it seemed to be against the policy on language teaching and some of participants’ perspectives, was to facilitate the teaching process due to the domination of the Grammar Translation Method in language teaching. The findings also revealed that teachers’ ongoing actual practices are significant as they are influenced by contextual factors imposed by institutional policies which appeared to be obstacles to the fulfilment of their tasks.2 0Item Restricted Exploring Teachers’ Teaching Practices when Engaging in Systematic Reflective Practice: Teacher Cognitions and Identity(University of Southampton, 2023-05-02) Alharkan, Abdulwahed Nasser; Baird, RobertCognition literature is as valuable as identity literature, but when combined in context, they provide a very rich understanding of how people think and interact with others. Thus, this study takes a view of cognition that is holistic and situated as part of analysing reflective practice. Cognition does not exist in isolation; it exists with a history, an environment, interaction with others, and in a specific role, which mean teacher identity and teacher cognition are interrelated areas that can help us understand teachers’ environments, behaviours, practices, and ideas. This research takes place in Saudi Arabia, a context in transition, in which teaching environments embody change in terms of what individuals carry with them from their past, such as education, training, and teaching experience, and what they experience in the classroom, with policies driving towards more communicative and open ways of teaching and learning. The method for this study involved observing, tracking, and interviewing four Saudi teachers of English, as they engaged with a CPD programme employing dialogical reflective practice, both through face-to-face interactions, and social media networks. The study’s findings showed the complexity of reflective practice, and that the often simplified term "reflection" encompasses a wide range of activity and practices, with different implications for teacher engagement. The influence of power relations on perceptions of reflective practice is one of the key findings in the current study, as participants reported that when they felt pushed to reflect as an abstract, mandated practice, it elicited unnatural and inauthentic reflection for them. It seems that, in their mind, authentic, useful reflection exists when they are in control of it, and often when it arises in what is perceived as authentic interactions. In other words, the authenticity and benefits of reflection, both individual and dialogical, are perceived more when thoughts and interactions are characterised by autonomy and choice, whereas the nature of ‘reflection’ is seen and experienced differently when a power structure is seen to be driving the activity. Participants reported engaging with genuine, active, sharing, and comfortable reflection (individual and dialogical) when power relations and communication were perceived as equal and natural, whereas marked power relations and forced communication was met with resistance and a sense of artifice. Overall, participants reported that engaging with contextualised and dialogical reflective practice allowed them to develop deeper understanding and awareness of themselves and their practices, accompanied by a sense of enhanced confidence and effectiveness. The study's findings contribute to literature on teacher cognition and identity, and they inform Saudi educational policy makers, teacher education programmes, and English language teachers.31 0