Sahar M . Alzahrani | Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia (original) (raw)

Papers by Sahar M . Alzahrani

Research paper thumbnail of Vocabulary Learning Strategies in ESP Context: Knowledge and Implication

Article, 2022

The present study aims to explore the knowledge level and preferences regarding vocabulary learni... more The present study aims to explore the knowledge level and preferences regarding vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) among the EFL university students studying English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses. It also investigates the impact of vocabulary learning strategies on EFL learners' performance. A sample of twenty students from an intact class participated in the study. For data collection, a triangulated approach has been employed through the usage of a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, together with classroom observations. Moreover, the cumulative percentage of scores in the pre-tests and post-tests has been incorporated to investigate the impact of vocabulary learning strategies. SPSS software is used to calculate the T-test value. The findings demonstrate that the implementation of various vocabulary learning strategies has a substantial impact on the performance of the English language learners within the context of an English for Specific Purposes classroom. The findings have pedagogical implications in the teaching and learning of vocabulary within the ESP context.

Research paper thumbnail of Exemplar-based genre instruction: The case of medical professional writing

Article, 2022

Medical students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL) need to master the ability ... more Medical students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL) need to master the ability to write professional reports. Several studies have focused on professional writing in the context of English as a second language (ESL) with advanced learners, but lower-intermediate EFL learners have yet to be examined. This study aimed to implement an exemplar-based genre instruction programme to examine its effectiveness in terms of improving Saudi EFL learners' ability to write patient reports. The study consisted of two phases: analysis of the moves/steps of patient reports and exemplar-based genre instruction. First, the moves/steps in 30 authentic patient reports were analysed to build the framework which was then compared to another framework based on the work of Bench et al. (2014). Second, an exemplarbased genre instruction programme was implemented over six weeks with 36 EFL Saudi medical learners, and the outcomes were evaluated. The findings revealed that increased genre awareness improved the quality of learners' writing, particularly their grammar and vocabulary. Teachers of English for specific purposes (ESP) may need to focus on increasing learners' awareness of the medical-report genre's lexico-grammatical features in addition to its moves.

Research paper thumbnail of Sociolinguistic Exploration of Language and Society in 'The Bluest Eye'

Article, 2024

The present study aims to investigate the sociolinguistic features surrounding “The Bluest Eyes”,... more The present study aims to investigate the sociolinguistic features surrounding “The Bluest Eyes”, a novel by Toni Morrison. In general, "The Bluest Eye" explores how cultural variables, particularly those about race, physical beauty, and identity, can affect the way people see themselves and the world. It is a compelling examination of the terrible and deeply personal effects that systematic racism and cultural beauty standards may have on individuals within a community. In an attempt to examine how societal dynamics are presented within a single-speech community, sociolinguistic literature has been reviewed. A thorough discourse analysis of the selected conversations of the fictional narrative is done using Hymes’ S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model. The samples are taken from the primary text – ‘The Bluest Eyes’ as the major corpus. The findings indicate that social variables like cultural norms, age, gender, race, class, etc. are very much prevalent in the language of the characters and influence the communication competence of the characters in the social milieu presented by Toni Morrison. To prove the viability of Hymes’ proposition of the S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model, the study may help teachers as well as learners to gain a better perception and understanding of any literary text. Moreover, it would be a useful guide to the analysis of the dimensions of communication.

Research paper thumbnail of Transnational English Language Teachers' Assessment Practices in Higher Education TESOL Landscape

Routledge eBooks, Nov 3, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Lessons on maintaining assessment integrity during COVID-19

International Journal for Educational Integrity

In an era where conditions for education are rapidly changing globally, online assessment present... more In an era where conditions for education are rapidly changing globally, online assessment presents several opportunities as well as challenges in the higher education landscape. The forceful transition from face-to-face to online assessments, as part of the emergency implementation of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has affected teaching, learning, and assessment experiences worldwide. This study explores how faculty members in Saudi universities secured their online assessment during phase one of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research aims were: 1) identifying faculty assessment practices before the onset of COVID-19 and comparing these with practices during the pandemic, and 2) identifying the major challenges faced by the faculty members of the study in securing their online assessment to ensure that academic integrity and assessment standards remained intact. Data were collected from seven university professors through a self-reporting survey, followed by semi-structu...

Research paper thumbnail of Conceptualizing life competencies: EFL teachers' qualitative perspective

Saudi Journal of Language Studies, 2022

PurposeMeeting the 21st century skills is critically significant to ensure success in today's... more PurposeMeeting the 21st century skills is critically significant to ensure success in today's world, collegiate context and neoteric careers. This qualitative study turns attention to teachers' mindsets, dispositions and perceptions concerning 21st century life competencies required to meet the current, emerging and future needs of learners.Design/methodology/approachOne-to-one structured interviews were conducted with English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers (N = 8), where open-ended questions were asked in order to determine the participants' perception of, support to, and integration of the life competencies into an EFL classroom setting. In addition, teachers' performance and implementation of life competencies (males and females) was observed in the classroom over a long time.FindingsThe results showed that teachers' practices contradict their conceptions of the life competencies. Critical thinking was seen as a priority from teachers' perspectives. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Assessment approaches of English language teachers in the Saudi higher education context

Language Testing in Asia

Assessment approaches including assessment purposes, assessment processes, fairness, and measurem... more Assessment approaches including assessment purposes, assessment processes, fairness, and measurement theory, and English teachers’ professional development needs remain underexplored in the Middle East and North Africa regions. This study provided empirical evidence on English language teachers approaches in the Saudi higher education context. A survey was used to examine the teachers’ current approaches to classroom assessment. A total of 287 subjects (191 women and 94 men) participated in the survey. The results revealed that both the male and female participants valued and endorsed assessments alike. However, female participants were found to value assessment purposes more than their male counterparts. Fairness in assessment approaches was the least valued item in teachers’ identified assessment approaches. Experienced teachers who identified themselves as competent in their role valued assessment fairness and measurement theory more than novice teachers. The present work broaden...

Research paper thumbnail of Assessment practices in Saudi higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Humanities and Social Communication, 2022

This study determines the assessment practices used by teaching staff in Saudi universities, expl... more This study determines the assessment practices used by teaching staff in Saudi universities, explores how these assessment practices have changed during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and investigates how teaching staffs' priorities and preferences for education on assessment during the pandemic were shaped. To support professional development, the study also aims to raise teaching staffs' awareness of assessment practices. Teaching staff in Saudi universities were invited to complete the Approaches to Classroom Inventory survey. The results showed that the most highly endorsed practices included giving feedback, linking assessments to learning objectives and learning outcomes, using scoring guides, and monitoring and revising assessment approaches. The least endorsed practices included mapping summative assessment to curriculum expectations, responding to the cultural and linguistic diversity of students, and accommodating students with special needs/exceptionalities in assessments. Further, during the pandemic, formative assessments were rarely used. Although faculty members from various colleges and fields of specialty showed similar patterns in endorsing assessment practices, they differed in their preferences and needs for assessment education.

Research paper thumbnail of Error Analysis in the Written Compositions of EFL Students: A Classroom Study

Published article , 2020

The aim of the study is to analyse the linguistic errors in the writings of EFL students in a Sau... more The aim of the study is to analyse the linguistic errors in the writings of EFL students in a Saudi university. For error analysis, the writing tasks of a group of students were collected and analysed. The results showed that the frequently committed errors were at the sentential level as well as the word level. The most frequent errors were the errors of spellings and the least were the errors of demonstratives. The marked errors were categorised as errors of omission, addition, misinformation and misordering. Further analysis of the collected data indicated interlingual interference, intralingual interference, inadequate practice in English writing and carelessness of students as the major sources of the errors. Hence, the study has pedagogical implications as it will help teachers to device appropriate measures for improving the students' writing proficiency.

Research paper thumbnail of Practices, challenges, and prospects of e-learning at a Saudi university: English teachers' perspectives

Practices, challenges, and prospects of e-learning at a Saudi university: English teachers’ perspectives, 2018

This research aims to examine the practices of university English Language (EL) teachers in e-lea... more This research aims to examine the practices of university English Language (EL) teachers in e-learning and to explore perspectives on the challenges and prospects of e-learning. It is an exploratory study which adopts a pragmatic paradigm and a mixed method approach to inquiry. A survey design and a phenomenological design are used in this research to investigate the use of technology by the teachers of EL at Umm AlQura University (UQU) in Saudi Arabia (SA) and to explore their lived experiences as well as their views in relation to the challenges and prospects of e-learning implementation. It uses both quantitative data taken from a closed-ended survey (N=43) and qualitative data taken from a Focus Group (FG) with ten university EL teachers who teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP, i.e. medical purposes) in a country where English is used as a foreign language. The research seeks to examine the university EL teachers' practices of e-learning in their teaching and to explore their perspectives on the challenges and prospects of the implementation of e-learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Empowering language learners through the use of a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme: an action research project

This paper implements and evaluates a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme in an ... more This paper implements and evaluates a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme in an Arabic primary school in the United Kingdom to empower learners and develop lifelong learning skills. It reports on an action research project with a reflective practice approach used at the beginning of the semester to identify potential problems before planning the action. A focus group interview and learners' written output were used to answer three research questions about learners' awareness, attitudes, and confidence about information literacy skills. Enhancement was found in these three aspects.

Research paper thumbnail of Design and Management of a Self-Access Language Learning Space integrated into a taught course

This paper reports on the design and management of an online self-access language learning (SALL)... more This paper reports on the design and management of an online self-access language learning (SALL) space that was used with a group of Saudi medical students to complement classroom-based learning. The aim was to increase the opportunities for communication and language practice and, more specifically, to help develop the learners’ language learning autonomy (Little, 1999). In a pre-study, a questionnaire and a focus group were used to collect information about the students’ needs and interests in language learning. The design of this space was informed by the students’ feedback on their language learning needs and styles as recommended by Breen (1986) and Marsh (2012). Desire2Learn, a widely used virtual learning environment, was used to provide learners with an online self-access center because of the many features it has which would help learners to take control of their learning. The learning resources and online tools included instant messaging (IM), a news stream, access to a facilitator and other learning support, moderated discussions, videos, images, activities and quizzes, as well as links to external materials and to free self-access language learning resources. A description will be provided of how the materials, the tools, and the facilities were integrated within this space along with the justification for each of the elements. A look ahead to how this study could be extended for use with all learners enrolled in the medical scheme of the university will be discussed at the end of the paper.

Research paper thumbnail of The Impact of Online Training on Saudi Medical Students' Attitudes, Awareness, and Use of Language Learning Strategies in Relation to their Developing Autonomy

In the context of ongoing debate about the relationship between strategy training and autonomous ... more In the context of ongoing debate about the relationship between strategy training and autonomous learning, this study set out in the belief that they are inextricably linked and sought to explore three important aspects of learner strategy development more deeply. An experiment was designed to investigate the effectiveness of learner training with three groups of Saudi students taking a course in English for Medical Purposes: control (no treatment), offline (treatment delivered on paper), and online (online treatment). The treatments used supplementary learning material focused on language learning strategies (LLS). The design and the delivery of the treatments was informed by Rubin, Chamot, Harris, and Anderson (2007), Cohen (1998), Murphy and Hurd (2011), and Murphy (2008a). This paper sought to answer three research questions related to the impact of learner training on students’ attitudes, awareness, and use of LLS in relation to their autonomous abilities after exposure to the treatment. Qualitative data from students’ reflective writings, interviews and focus group discussion was used to answer these questions. For the two treatment groups, the treatment impact was found to be positive in relation to the research questions and negative in the control. The online group outperformed the offline one in all the three investigated aspects.

Research paper thumbnail of Organization of Repair Structures in Dyadic Written Exchanges among Facebook Users

This small-scale case study examines the organization of repair structures in a small group of Fa... more This small-scale case study examines the organization of repair structures in a small group of Facebook users’ written conversation exchanges in an attempt to identify the types of repair employed, and further explores which repair types predominate in the organization of repair structures in participants’ written speech. To this end, a small corpus of written chat logs was garnered from ten undergraduate students studying at a UK university at the time of data collection. The data were then descriptively analysed to calculate the number and types of repair structures in this specific case of communication. The findings have indicated that for some particular reasons, not all repair types that can be identified in oral communication were available in written (synchronous and asynchronous) exchanges, and the total number of repair cases amounted to 36. The findings offer some implications for ELT practitioners in respect to the teaching of communication management strategies to English language learners, particularly tailored for written communication. These implications as well as limitations are shortly discussed in the final section of this paper.

conference papers by Sahar M . Alzahrani

Books by Sahar M . Alzahrani

Research paper thumbnail of A Framework for the Assessment of Learner Autonomy in Language Learning: Establishment of a Measuring Scale and Bands

Book chapter, 2020

This research reports on the assessment of the improvement in the language learner autonomy (LLA)... more This research reports on the assessment of the improvement in the language learner autonomy (LLA) of a group of Saudi medicine students at tertiary level following an intervention that aims to examine and enhance their LLA in a blended course. Thus, this study proposes a research model for the assessment of LLA in the 21st century and establishes a scale for its measurement. Because LLA is a combination of observable and non-observable behaviors, quantitative and qualitative methods were triangulated in a mixed method research to look at it through the learner voice and metacognition (process perspective) and through the learner gained test scores (product perspective). To overcome the problem that LLA is an unsteady state, the assessment model integrates summative and formative assessment methods. Findings show that the assessment of LLA helps to better understand the process of LLA enhancement and the potential factors that might influence learners' LLA.

Research paper thumbnail of Vocabulary Learning Strategies in ESP Context: Knowledge and Implication

Article, 2022

The present study aims to explore the knowledge level and preferences regarding vocabulary learni... more The present study aims to explore the knowledge level and preferences regarding vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) among the EFL university students studying English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses. It also investigates the impact of vocabulary learning strategies on EFL learners' performance. A sample of twenty students from an intact class participated in the study. For data collection, a triangulated approach has been employed through the usage of a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, together with classroom observations. Moreover, the cumulative percentage of scores in the pre-tests and post-tests has been incorporated to investigate the impact of vocabulary learning strategies. SPSS software is used to calculate the T-test value. The findings demonstrate that the implementation of various vocabulary learning strategies has a substantial impact on the performance of the English language learners within the context of an English for Specific Purposes classroom. The findings have pedagogical implications in the teaching and learning of vocabulary within the ESP context.

Research paper thumbnail of Exemplar-based genre instruction: The case of medical professional writing

Article, 2022

Medical students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL) need to master the ability ... more Medical students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL) need to master the ability to write professional reports. Several studies have focused on professional writing in the context of English as a second language (ESL) with advanced learners, but lower-intermediate EFL learners have yet to be examined. This study aimed to implement an exemplar-based genre instruction programme to examine its effectiveness in terms of improving Saudi EFL learners' ability to write patient reports. The study consisted of two phases: analysis of the moves/steps of patient reports and exemplar-based genre instruction. First, the moves/steps in 30 authentic patient reports were analysed to build the framework which was then compared to another framework based on the work of Bench et al. (2014). Second, an exemplarbased genre instruction programme was implemented over six weeks with 36 EFL Saudi medical learners, and the outcomes were evaluated. The findings revealed that increased genre awareness improved the quality of learners' writing, particularly their grammar and vocabulary. Teachers of English for specific purposes (ESP) may need to focus on increasing learners' awareness of the medical-report genre's lexico-grammatical features in addition to its moves.

Research paper thumbnail of Sociolinguistic Exploration of Language and Society in 'The Bluest Eye'

Article, 2024

The present study aims to investigate the sociolinguistic features surrounding “The Bluest Eyes”,... more The present study aims to investigate the sociolinguistic features surrounding “The Bluest Eyes”, a novel by Toni Morrison. In general, "The Bluest Eye" explores how cultural variables, particularly those about race, physical beauty, and identity, can affect the way people see themselves and the world. It is a compelling examination of the terrible and deeply personal effects that systematic racism and cultural beauty standards may have on individuals within a community. In an attempt to examine how societal dynamics are presented within a single-speech community, sociolinguistic literature has been reviewed. A thorough discourse analysis of the selected conversations of the fictional narrative is done using Hymes’ S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model. The samples are taken from the primary text – ‘The Bluest Eyes’ as the major corpus. The findings indicate that social variables like cultural norms, age, gender, race, class, etc. are very much prevalent in the language of the characters and influence the communication competence of the characters in the social milieu presented by Toni Morrison. To prove the viability of Hymes’ proposition of the S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model, the study may help teachers as well as learners to gain a better perception and understanding of any literary text. Moreover, it would be a useful guide to the analysis of the dimensions of communication.

Research paper thumbnail of Transnational English Language Teachers' Assessment Practices in Higher Education TESOL Landscape

Routledge eBooks, Nov 3, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Lessons on maintaining assessment integrity during COVID-19

International Journal for Educational Integrity

In an era where conditions for education are rapidly changing globally, online assessment present... more In an era where conditions for education are rapidly changing globally, online assessment presents several opportunities as well as challenges in the higher education landscape. The forceful transition from face-to-face to online assessments, as part of the emergency implementation of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has affected teaching, learning, and assessment experiences worldwide. This study explores how faculty members in Saudi universities secured their online assessment during phase one of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research aims were: 1) identifying faculty assessment practices before the onset of COVID-19 and comparing these with practices during the pandemic, and 2) identifying the major challenges faced by the faculty members of the study in securing their online assessment to ensure that academic integrity and assessment standards remained intact. Data were collected from seven university professors through a self-reporting survey, followed by semi-structu...

Research paper thumbnail of Conceptualizing life competencies: EFL teachers' qualitative perspective

Saudi Journal of Language Studies, 2022

PurposeMeeting the 21st century skills is critically significant to ensure success in today's... more PurposeMeeting the 21st century skills is critically significant to ensure success in today's world, collegiate context and neoteric careers. This qualitative study turns attention to teachers' mindsets, dispositions and perceptions concerning 21st century life competencies required to meet the current, emerging and future needs of learners.Design/methodology/approachOne-to-one structured interviews were conducted with English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers (N = 8), where open-ended questions were asked in order to determine the participants' perception of, support to, and integration of the life competencies into an EFL classroom setting. In addition, teachers' performance and implementation of life competencies (males and females) was observed in the classroom over a long time.FindingsThe results showed that teachers' practices contradict their conceptions of the life competencies. Critical thinking was seen as a priority from teachers' perspectives. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Assessment approaches of English language teachers in the Saudi higher education context

Language Testing in Asia

Assessment approaches including assessment purposes, assessment processes, fairness, and measurem... more Assessment approaches including assessment purposes, assessment processes, fairness, and measurement theory, and English teachers’ professional development needs remain underexplored in the Middle East and North Africa regions. This study provided empirical evidence on English language teachers approaches in the Saudi higher education context. A survey was used to examine the teachers’ current approaches to classroom assessment. A total of 287 subjects (191 women and 94 men) participated in the survey. The results revealed that both the male and female participants valued and endorsed assessments alike. However, female participants were found to value assessment purposes more than their male counterparts. Fairness in assessment approaches was the least valued item in teachers’ identified assessment approaches. Experienced teachers who identified themselves as competent in their role valued assessment fairness and measurement theory more than novice teachers. The present work broaden...

Research paper thumbnail of Assessment practices in Saudi higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Humanities and Social Communication, 2022

This study determines the assessment practices used by teaching staff in Saudi universities, expl... more This study determines the assessment practices used by teaching staff in Saudi universities, explores how these assessment practices have changed during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and investigates how teaching staffs' priorities and preferences for education on assessment during the pandemic were shaped. To support professional development, the study also aims to raise teaching staffs' awareness of assessment practices. Teaching staff in Saudi universities were invited to complete the Approaches to Classroom Inventory survey. The results showed that the most highly endorsed practices included giving feedback, linking assessments to learning objectives and learning outcomes, using scoring guides, and monitoring and revising assessment approaches. The least endorsed practices included mapping summative assessment to curriculum expectations, responding to the cultural and linguistic diversity of students, and accommodating students with special needs/exceptionalities in assessments. Further, during the pandemic, formative assessments were rarely used. Although faculty members from various colleges and fields of specialty showed similar patterns in endorsing assessment practices, they differed in their preferences and needs for assessment education.

Research paper thumbnail of Error Analysis in the Written Compositions of EFL Students: A Classroom Study

Published article , 2020

The aim of the study is to analyse the linguistic errors in the writings of EFL students in a Sau... more The aim of the study is to analyse the linguistic errors in the writings of EFL students in a Saudi university. For error analysis, the writing tasks of a group of students were collected and analysed. The results showed that the frequently committed errors were at the sentential level as well as the word level. The most frequent errors were the errors of spellings and the least were the errors of demonstratives. The marked errors were categorised as errors of omission, addition, misinformation and misordering. Further analysis of the collected data indicated interlingual interference, intralingual interference, inadequate practice in English writing and carelessness of students as the major sources of the errors. Hence, the study has pedagogical implications as it will help teachers to device appropriate measures for improving the students' writing proficiency.

Research paper thumbnail of Practices, challenges, and prospects of e-learning at a Saudi university: English teachers' perspectives

Practices, challenges, and prospects of e-learning at a Saudi university: English teachers’ perspectives, 2018

This research aims to examine the practices of university English Language (EL) teachers in e-lea... more This research aims to examine the practices of university English Language (EL) teachers in e-learning and to explore perspectives on the challenges and prospects of e-learning. It is an exploratory study which adopts a pragmatic paradigm and a mixed method approach to inquiry. A survey design and a phenomenological design are used in this research to investigate the use of technology by the teachers of EL at Umm AlQura University (UQU) in Saudi Arabia (SA) and to explore their lived experiences as well as their views in relation to the challenges and prospects of e-learning implementation. It uses both quantitative data taken from a closed-ended survey (N=43) and qualitative data taken from a Focus Group (FG) with ten university EL teachers who teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP, i.e. medical purposes) in a country where English is used as a foreign language. The research seeks to examine the university EL teachers' practices of e-learning in their teaching and to explore their perspectives on the challenges and prospects of the implementation of e-learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Empowering language learners through the use of a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme: an action research project

This paper implements and evaluates a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme in an ... more This paper implements and evaluates a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme in an Arabic primary school in the United Kingdom to empower learners and develop lifelong learning skills. It reports on an action research project with a reflective practice approach used at the beginning of the semester to identify potential problems before planning the action. A focus group interview and learners' written output were used to answer three research questions about learners' awareness, attitudes, and confidence about information literacy skills. Enhancement was found in these three aspects.

Research paper thumbnail of Design and Management of a Self-Access Language Learning Space integrated into a taught course

This paper reports on the design and management of an online self-access language learning (SALL)... more This paper reports on the design and management of an online self-access language learning (SALL) space that was used with a group of Saudi medical students to complement classroom-based learning. The aim was to increase the opportunities for communication and language practice and, more specifically, to help develop the learners’ language learning autonomy (Little, 1999). In a pre-study, a questionnaire and a focus group were used to collect information about the students’ needs and interests in language learning. The design of this space was informed by the students’ feedback on their language learning needs and styles as recommended by Breen (1986) and Marsh (2012). Desire2Learn, a widely used virtual learning environment, was used to provide learners with an online self-access center because of the many features it has which would help learners to take control of their learning. The learning resources and online tools included instant messaging (IM), a news stream, access to a facilitator and other learning support, moderated discussions, videos, images, activities and quizzes, as well as links to external materials and to free self-access language learning resources. A description will be provided of how the materials, the tools, and the facilities were integrated within this space along with the justification for each of the elements. A look ahead to how this study could be extended for use with all learners enrolled in the medical scheme of the university will be discussed at the end of the paper.

Research paper thumbnail of The Impact of Online Training on Saudi Medical Students' Attitudes, Awareness, and Use of Language Learning Strategies in Relation to their Developing Autonomy

In the context of ongoing debate about the relationship between strategy training and autonomous ... more In the context of ongoing debate about the relationship between strategy training and autonomous learning, this study set out in the belief that they are inextricably linked and sought to explore three important aspects of learner strategy development more deeply. An experiment was designed to investigate the effectiveness of learner training with three groups of Saudi students taking a course in English for Medical Purposes: control (no treatment), offline (treatment delivered on paper), and online (online treatment). The treatments used supplementary learning material focused on language learning strategies (LLS). The design and the delivery of the treatments was informed by Rubin, Chamot, Harris, and Anderson (2007), Cohen (1998), Murphy and Hurd (2011), and Murphy (2008a). This paper sought to answer three research questions related to the impact of learner training on students’ attitudes, awareness, and use of LLS in relation to their autonomous abilities after exposure to the treatment. Qualitative data from students’ reflective writings, interviews and focus group discussion was used to answer these questions. For the two treatment groups, the treatment impact was found to be positive in relation to the research questions and negative in the control. The online group outperformed the offline one in all the three investigated aspects.

Research paper thumbnail of Organization of Repair Structures in Dyadic Written Exchanges among Facebook Users

This small-scale case study examines the organization of repair structures in a small group of Fa... more This small-scale case study examines the organization of repair structures in a small group of Facebook users’ written conversation exchanges in an attempt to identify the types of repair employed, and further explores which repair types predominate in the organization of repair structures in participants’ written speech. To this end, a small corpus of written chat logs was garnered from ten undergraduate students studying at a UK university at the time of data collection. The data were then descriptively analysed to calculate the number and types of repair structures in this specific case of communication. The findings have indicated that for some particular reasons, not all repair types that can be identified in oral communication were available in written (synchronous and asynchronous) exchanges, and the total number of repair cases amounted to 36. The findings offer some implications for ELT practitioners in respect to the teaching of communication management strategies to English language learners, particularly tailored for written communication. These implications as well as limitations are shortly discussed in the final section of this paper.

Research paper thumbnail of A Framework for the Assessment of Learner Autonomy in Language Learning: Establishment of a Measuring Scale and Bands

Book chapter, 2020

This research reports on the assessment of the improvement in the language learner autonomy (LLA)... more This research reports on the assessment of the improvement in the language learner autonomy (LLA) of a group of Saudi medicine students at tertiary level following an intervention that aims to examine and enhance their LLA in a blended course. Thus, this study proposes a research model for the assessment of LLA in the 21st century and establishes a scale for its measurement. Because LLA is a combination of observable and non-observable behaviors, quantitative and qualitative methods were triangulated in a mixed method research to look at it through the learner voice and metacognition (process perspective) and through the learner gained test scores (product perspective). To overcome the problem that LLA is an unsteady state, the assessment model integrates summative and formative assessment methods. Findings show that the assessment of LLA helps to better understand the process of LLA enhancement and the potential factors that might influence learners' LLA.