EFL Teachers’ Views about their Roles in the Curriculum of the EFL Foundation Year Programme in Saudi Arabia

This research is an exploratory study that investigated teachers’ roles in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum within a Foundation Year Programme (FYP), at an English Language Institute (ELI) in one of the public universities in Saudi Arabia. The study focused on teachers’ roles in three different stages of the curriculum: development, implementation and evaluation. The participants of the study were twenty-two expatriate and Saudi EFL teachers, male and female, with experience in teaching in the FYP. The study adopted an interpretive approach to address the issues under investigation. Three research questions were raised to address the teachers’ roles in each area separately. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with teachers. Based on interpretative principles, data were analysed in the form of explanation and interpretation of the participants’ views about their roles in the investigated stages of curriculum. The findings indicated that EFL teachers had limited roles in the curriculum development process as they participated in only two different curriculum development tasks: the pre-use course book selection and the students’ language needs analysis. In the implementation stage, teachers were more active as they reported that they had the freedom to develop and use their own supplementary teaching materials in addition to having the freedom to adopt the teaching methodology they felt was appropriate for their students. In the evaluation stage, the teachers reported different levels of involvement in the evaluation of certain curriculum elements selected by the ELI administration, namely, course books, pacing guide, tests, the module system and students’ portfolios. Finally, teachers offered various suggestions for engaging them more actively in the curriculum decision-making process in the three stages of curriculum. The study made some recommendations for improving teachers’ roles in the development, implementation and evaluation stages of the curriculum for future consideration

Using mobile technology to foster autonomy among language learners

PhD ThesisMuch has been written about the value of Learner autonomy in language teaching and learning as it is believed to enhance students’ opportunities of success, enable life-long learning, and increase motivation. Extensive research has been dedicated to the investigation of different ways of fostering learner autonomy in language learning and teaching. However, it is not easy to encourage learners to be more independent, motivated, and committed, especially in a teacher-centred educational context. Therefore, this study seeks to explore how learner autonomy can be encouraged in support of language learning at a University in Saudi Arabia by incorporating the use of tablet devices into a language course. It is necessary to establish whether the iPad and iPad-like devices can contribute to developing student autonomy in language learning. More specifically, the study attempts to explore whether the multi-modal functionality and affordances of the iPad, when used in a Mobile Assisted Language Learning environment as part of a teacher-guided EFL (English for Foreign Learners) course, can encourage and motivate students to become more independent and take control over their learning. The study was carried out in the context of a 12-week deployment of the iPad device in the Community College at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (Previously Dammam University) with a group of 21 Saudi university students. Data was gathered from questionnaires, focus group interview, student diaries, think aloud protocol, and online tracker. The findings indicate that students used a wide range of cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies when working with the iPad, and there was a statistically significant increase in students’ reported use of language learning strategies by the end of the project. The study also provides evidence that the use of the iPad when integrated carefully into a language course, and with the teacher’s instruction, can have positive effects on students’ attitude and learning. There is evidence that these effects extended beyond the end of the course, as post –course interviews suggest that students continued to develop certain types of autonomous behaviour. They displayed a desire to continue to learn English despite the difficulties they encountered in the course. In addition, most students planned to do more practice outside classroom, collaborate with other students, and reflect on their personal beliefs about language learning. Based on these findings, there seem to be clear benefits to integrating the iPad into language courses

The effectiveness of co-operative education programmes for developing students’ awareness of the importance of generic competencies

The research problem of this study was based on the existing skills gap between education and employment in Saudi Arabia. The Institute of Public Administration like other educational institutions has established Co-operative education programmes (Co-op) in order to build a partnership with the private sector. Co-op was one of the objectives of the state’s sixth development plan (1414 – 1420h), (1995 – 2000) and is used to increase education sufficiency and improving its quality. It is argued that, to meet the future demands for appropriately skilled managers and workers, ongoing collaboration and consultation with industry is required to ensure the goals of all primary stakeholders - students, educators and industry employers - are met (Walo, 2000). The primary objective of the study was to explore the effectiveness of the Co-operative education programmes, which are provided by private sector companies and some government agencies under the supervision of the Institute of Public Administration, in developing the students’ awareness of the importance of generic competencies required for IPA’s Post-secondary Diploma degree for graduates entering the workplace. Through a quantitative and qualitative study, this research compared the perceptions held by employers, teachers and students (before and after particpating in the Co-op) about the importance of the generic competencies required for IPA's post-secondary graduates entering workplace today, and employers’ and teachers’ perceptions of the most important competencies required to be developed in the graduates. A survey questionnaire adapted from the research tool used in studies by Hodges and Burchell (2003) and Lin (2005), based on Spencer and Spencer’s work (1993) was administered to 38 of IPA’s eastern province’s organisations which participated in IPA’s Co-op programme in the last 3 years, 38 teachers from IPA’s Dammam branch, and 99 students from IPA’s Post-secondary programmes (before and after particpating in the Co-op). Employers were interviewed as a further qualitative component to give more depth to the study. The frequency distribution, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA plus post-hoc Seheffe, Kruskal-Wallis test plus post-hoc Mann-Whitney, and ‘Direct Ranking’ statistical methods were used to identify the differences between the participant groups. The findings revealed that there is a good agreement between the four groups on the importance of a broad range of competencies. The study has revealed the impact of Co-operative education programmes. This was clear for example when students (after particpating in the Co-op) joined employers in ranking English language (writing), English language (speaking), and English language (overall) among the ten most important competencies, and their awareness of the importance of competencies remained high across a broad range of competencies. This study has also shown the importance placed on ethical competencies by educators and industrial professionals. The study has also shown that employers’, teachers’, and students’ perceptions of the importance of competencies were affected by their different demographic characteristics. The study showed that all groups perceived both hard and soft competencies as important, and there was consistency between the four groups in favouring soft competencies over hard competencies. The results showed that there was an agreement between employers and teachers in the need to improve IPA’s Post-secondary graduates’ performance in the competency of English language (overall), as a priority as well as some ethical competencies, and the hard competency of computer literacy. The study showed that Post-secondary Programme (PSP) was ranked in first place as the most important source that developed students’ awareness of the importance of competencies, whether in an individual area or under the two categories hard and soft. Second was home/family/community, third came the Co-op Programme, fourth was school, and self-taught came in the last rank The study clearly reflected the effectiveness of IPA’s Post-secondary Programmes in developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies, and the impact of home/family/community in this objective. The study also asserted that Co-operative education programme was effective as well; based on its short-term impact in comparison to the long-term influence expected by other sources. The study revealed a lack of effort in schools directed to developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies. The results in general revealed the positive impact of Co-operative education in developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies to be closer to the requirements of employers

Challenges to Teacher Evaluation at Saudi Universities and Suggestions for Solutions: A Perspective of English Language Teachers

This thesis explores EFL teachers’ views concerning teacher evaluation practices and policies at five public universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research is informed by the interpretive paradigm due to its exploratory nature. With relativism as the ontological stance and constructionism as the epistemological stance, a mixed method sequential design was utilized to collect the required data. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied consecutively with more emphasis on the qualitative phase. The study utilised an online questionnaire in the quantitative stage in addition to one-to-one semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in the qualitative stage. The numbers of participants were 249 for the questionnaire, 21 for the one-to-one interviews and 9 for the focus group discussions. Descriptive statistics were conducted for quantitative strands, and thematic analysis for the qualitative data. Both types of data were analysed with the help of SPSS and NVivo, respectively. The analysis of both sets of data culminated in the emergence of three main themes, 10 categories, and 33 subcategories. The three emergent themes are the importance of EFL teacher evaluation, challenges to EFL teacher evaluation, and suggested solutions for better teacher evaluation. Following the abundance of ideas grounded in the data, a suggested participatory teacher evaluation model informed by EFL teachers’ voice is proposed. Based on the findings which provided evidence of challenges facing the current teacher evaluation in the Saudi higher education context, this study concludes by presenting recommendations for policymakers, administrators and teachers. For instance, a comprehensive framework needs to be developed for the professional development of teacher evaluators including initial training and continuous training programmes. Also, the management of higher education institutions needs to add a formative lens to the scheme of teacher evaluation at their workplace to help EFL teachers develop their instructional practice. Finally, suggestions for further research are also mentioned towards the end of the study

Evaluation of In-Service Female EFL Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in Saudi Arabia

This study explores the influence of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) on female English foreign language (EFL) teachers in Saudi Arabia. The primary goal of the study was to identify the weak and strong points of in-service TPD for female EFL teachers in order to improve the current situation for female teachers in intermediate and secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. The research presents and analyses the experiences of EFL teachers, headteachers and English supervisors through questionnaires and interviews, in order to assess the effects of TPD provided to them by schools and Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia. The participants of the quantitative study (using questionnaires) consisted of 121 female EFL teachers who were randomly selected from schools in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. More specifically, there were 68 teachers selected from intermediate schools, 27 teachers from secondary schools and 26 selected from mixed intermediate and secondary schools, where teachers teach at both schools. The vast majority of participants were native Saudi teachers and relatively few were expatriates. All participants spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Meanwhile, the qualitative study (using interviews) comprised 12 participants, namely, eight EFL teachers, two head teachers and two English language supervisors. The findings reveal that current TPD training courses benefitted teachers in the provision of knowledge, the reinforcement of their attitudes, and other effects relating to increased levels of motivation. Nevertheless, they were negatively perceived by female EFL teachers on the grounds that their needs were not appropriately taken into account, the courses were not useful or applicable to regular teaching practice, and they did not promote teaching improvement and were not presented in a way that integrated teachers’ schools within a wider system such as local society and other educational institutions in the area. The findings conclude that TPD training courses alone are not an effective way to raise teaching and learning standards in Saudi Arabia. The important factors to be considered, as highlighted by the Saudi EFL teachers, is the introduction of appropriate support structures, paired with systems of supervision and reward. This research proposes key factors that need to be addressed when implementing TPD in similar context.Saudi Embass

The Informal Language Learning of Female Saudi Undergraduates

Informal language learning provides opportunities to assimilate languages under natural conditions by providing authentic language learning materials: this is especially true in cases of drip-feed English in a foreign language context where English is not spoken outside the classroom. However, to date, informal language learning has not been as thoroughly investigated as a formal learning strategy due to certain difficulties in quantifying its effects and in observing learners outside the classroom. In light of this, the present interpretive study aimed to explore whether, and to what extent, female Saudi BA English language students engaged in informal language learning, the types of activities involved, and the materials they used to do so. The study also explored participant perceptions of the impact of informal language learning on their language proficiency. In order to fully interrogate the core research questions, this research design draws on a ‘mini ethnographic’ approach comprising two qualitative research methods (semi-structured interview and collected documents of examples of the activities used by the participants) for data collection. The study participant cohort consisted of eight female third- and fourth-year Saudi undergraduates, majoring in the English language. The ensuing data confirmed that these students employ various activities outside the classroom to learn English. In fact, the participants reported that the considerable time they maintained on informal language learning activities both assisted and supported their overall language learning and language development. In addition to social media, pop-songs, movies, other virtual materials such as TV programmes, were found to be the most commonly used informal language learning activities. The learning affordances arising from these activities were perceived to create numerous occasions and prospects to hone fluency and the accurate use of English. The participants specified a diversity of reasons for using informal language learning activities and materials: most notably, a sense of privacy and enhanced self-confidence in using the target language. Other factors included flexibility, portability, and the ubiquitous availability of tablets, mobile phones, and laptops, which offer greater learner privacy and control than the formal class setting. Moreover, the findings indicated that the participants find these types of activities more interesting. The study additionally reflected on the main difficulty encountered by Arab learners in adopting informal language learning from their perspective: namely, the significant lack of face-to-face English language usage in the Saudi context. The thesis concludes by offering practical recommendations for both language learners and TESOL teachers. The findings underscored learners’ belief that their use of informal language learning can provide an authentic source of language input to contribute to the development of overall language proficiency. I argue that English language teachers should promote more ‘natural’ extramural situations to extend student learning affordances beyond the paradigms of the traditional classroom environment

Lawrence Today, Volume 76, Number 4, Summer 1996

https://lux.lawrence.edu/alumni_magazines/1033/thumbnail.jp

A STUDY OF COHESION AS A TEXT-FORMING RESOURCE IN THE ACADEMIC WRITING OF SAUDI UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL)

Assuming academic writing as a genre-specific discourse which is linguistically and socio-culturally embedded both in the wider academic discourse community and the local context where it is produced, the present study sought to investigate Saudi EFL undergraduate students' use of cohesive devices as a text-forming resource in the creation of argumentative essays. More specifically, the study attempted to explain the use of cohesion in the creation of texture, and in the rhetorical structure of the sample texts. Structured questionnaires and interviews were also used to gauge the perceptions of the teachers and the students about the teaching and learning of academic writing and cohesive devices, and to triangulate the study. The researcher adopted a mixed-methods approach for analysis of the data. Halliday and Hasan's (1976) model of cohesion analysis was the mainstay of the data analysis; however, frameworks from other perspectives such as the Systemic Functional Linguistics, English for Specific Purposes, Academic Literacies, and English Language Teaching were also consulted to find out answers to the three research questions of the study. The results obtained through quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed that cohesive devices were statistically significantly correlated with the text length and sentence units. However, they varied significantly between two extremes of the text length. The appropriate use of cohesive devices was also significant as the non-significant misuse or overuse did not affect the texture or Exam/cohesion scores of the sample texts. The study also claims that cohesive density rather than the text length was the significant variable of differences in the Exam and cohesion scores for the texts. Referential and lexical cohesion appeared to be statistically significant, and thereby the most preferred cohesive devices in the corpus. The pattern of texture in the students' essays corresponded with Halliday and Hasan's (1976 p.296) notion of 'dense texture'. The study also claims to be the first initiative of its kind to have analyzed cohesion in the rhetorical structure of the argumentative essays. The move analysis revealed significant correlations between the moves in the three stages of the sample texts. The survey questionnaires unfolded statistically significant dichotomies between the pedagogic and learning beliefs of the teacher and the student participants. I argue that cohesion is an important non-structural resource in the creation of texture; however, it provides only a partial picture. The students do use cohesive devices but with instances of misuse and overuse. Moreover, there is the need to help students make use of other types of reiteration, collocations and conjunctions for a better cohesive effect, and lexical and semantic diversity. The study recommends raising awareness and functional ability of the students through explicit teaching of cohesive devices not as discrete grammatical items but as discourse semantic resources of text formation

Historical perceptions of Roman Catholicism and national identity, 1869-1919

This thesis seeks to illustrate and explain the fundamental changes which occurred in English attitudes to Roman Catholicism, and in the construction of English national identity, in the late nineteenth and early twentiethcentury. It argues that the excltisivist Protestant identity of the nation, which had hitherto been maintained by an anti-Catholic historical narrative, was challenged by the development of a confident Roman Catholic historical consciousness which was believed to be based on an authoritative, 'scientific' appreciation of England's medieval past. The thesis offers the first systematic analysis of Francis Gasquet's historical works. It examines their intellectual origins and formation, and situates Gasquet in relation to the increasingly respected academic discipline of history. It argues that his writing played an important role in reshaping scholarly and popular attitudes to the role Roman Catholics had played in the national past, and should play in the contemporary public sphere. Gasquet's historical credentials were essential to the English Roman Catholic Church's campaign to secure a papal condemnation of Anglican orders. This thesis analyses the role historical consciousness played in the inter-Church polemics of the 1890s. It argues that these texts reinforced popular recognition of the historical consistency of Roman Catholicism, and transferred much of England's residual anti-Catholic animus to Anglican ritualism. The thesis concludes by exploring how Anglo-Vatican diplomacy, stimulated by the national security imperatives of World War One, highlighted the political value of the new position of the Roman Catholic Church in the English public sphere. Through a study of the British Mission to the Holy See based on extensive use of British and Roman archives, it argues that English national identity was finally freed from its traditional opposition to the role of the papacy within Roman Catholicism

Towards an Understanding of the Appropriate Cultural Content of EFL Textbooks for a Specific Teaching Context: The Case of EFL Textbooks for Saudi Secondary State Schools

The purpose of this study is to understand the appropriate cultural content of EFL textbooks for Saudi state secondary schools according to the students’ and their teachers’ opinions. The design of this study is a sequential explanatory mixed-method design, and each stage is informed by the results of the previous one. Forty-five teachers and 151 students in Saudi secondary schools returned completed questionnaires. Of them, 11 teachers and 18 students participated in follow-up interviews and only two teachers were observed. Aside from this, the process of EFL textbook evaluation was applied to six EFL Saudi secondary school textbooks for students. Means were used to analyse the participants’ answers on a 5-point Likert scale, and inferential statistics were used to test the differences between the students’ and teachers’ answers. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The results showed that the participants were interested in including cultural items from all the suggested categories of culture and from a mixture of cultures as long as these cultural items were related to their learning goals and are committed to Islamic standards. However, it seems that many difficulties have reduced the effectiveness of the suggested ways for teaching the cultural content of Saudi EFL textbooks relevant to the students, teachers, and administration practices. The process of the textbook evaluation showed a prevalent result, that the participants’ preferences rarely coincided with their inclusion in their EFL textbooks. Furthermore, the ways for improving intercultural communication skills are purposefully neglected by or go unnoticed by the teachers