Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Saudi Students’ Experiences of Their Writing Transfer in Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Study(University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2024-12) Alnasser, Ahmed; Brown, Clara LeeAs writing transfer becomes increasingly crucial for students navigating diverse academic demands, understanding its mechanisms is essential, particularly for the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education. This study investigates the experiences of Saudi undergraduate students with writing transfer from EFL courses to discipline-specific courses, examining how they apply, adapt, and encounter difficulties with writing skills across various academic contexts. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five participants and analyzed using thematic analysis. The analyses identified two overarching categories of writing transfer: simple transfer, comprising (1) no transfer, (2) discrete application, and (3) assemblage and adaptive transfer, which included (1) reconceptualization and (2) modification. These findings shed light on the unique challenges and successes that college EFL learners experience when transferring writing skills across different academic contexts. Specifically, simple transfer often hindered students’ ability to meet the demands of new writing contexts, while adaptive transfer required them to make more substantial adjustments in their approach to more challenging writing tasks and to develop a clearer understanding of what writing skills and knowledge could be effectively transferred. This study underscores the need for targeted instructional strategies in EFL programs to promote effective writing transfer across genres and emphasizes the importance of broadening adaptive learning frameworks in EFL settings.39 0Item Restricted AN INVESTIGATION OF FIRST LANGUAGE (L1) INFLUENCE ON SECOND LANGUAGE (L2) PHRASEOLOGICAL USE: A CORPUS-BASED STUDY(The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2024-05) Alnufaie, Rana; Kisselev, Olesya; Bedrettin, YazanThis study investigates the use of phraseological units in academic argumentative essays written by English language learners from Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish L1 backgrounds. By employing corpus-based methods and using the analytical frameworks of structural taxonomy by Biber et al. (1999) and the functional taxonomy by Hyland (2008), the study identifies distinct preferences in functional and structural categories and sub-categories among the produced phraseological units from the four different L1 groups. The statistical analysis shows significant differences in the use and preference of these phraseological units influenced by the learners’ L1 backgrounds. These findings highlight the strong impact of the L1 on L2 academic writing, suggesting that the L1 repertoire significantly influences the production of phraseological units in L2 English academic writing, especially at the lower levels of proficiency. This study not only informs language teaching practices by highlighting the importance of considering L1 influence but also sets the ground for future research. To deepen our understanding of the interplay between the L1 and the L2, future research can investigate these dynamics in a more diverse range of L1 backgrounds and other written genres.47 0