Arab Word English Journal Volume 4 Number 4 (Metasynthesis of Qualitative Research (489 Pages)

AWEJ
Arab World English Journal

INTERNATIONAL PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL ISSN: 2229-9327
‫ﳎ اﻠﻐﺔ ﳫﲒﻳﺔ ﰲ اﻟﻌﺎﱂ اﻟﻌﺮﰊ‬
AWEJ Volume.4 Number 4. December, 2013
www.awej.org
AWEJ
AWEJ Volume.4 Number.4, 2013
Team of this issue
Editor
Khairi Obaid Al-Zubaidi
Language Academy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Associate Editor
Ronnie Goodwin, PhD
Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST), Kuwait
Prof. Dr. Noureddine Guella

College of Languages and Translation
King Saud University, Riyadh , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Kimberly Bunts-Anderson, PhD

Department of Language and Humanities, Northern Marianas College, Saipan,
Northern Mariana Islands
Marielle Patronis, PhD

Department of Languages, University College, Zayed University, Dubai, UAE
Channarong Intaraprasert, PhD

School of English. Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand
Dr. Saad TORKI

Department of English Language and Literature University Sétif 2 Algeria
Arab World English Journal www.awej.org

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AWEJ Volume. 4. Number 4, 2013
Dr Jeanette Sakel
Programme Manager Linguistics & English Language
University of the West of England, United Kingdoms
Abdul Hafeed Ali Fakih, PhD

Department of English, Najran University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Niel Hunt, PhD

Education Faculty, Al Ain Women's College , U.A.E
Jirada wudthayagorn, PhD.

Director Language Center , Faculty of Art, Maejo University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Nada Qanbar, PhD

Faculty of Arts, Taiz University Yemen
Choudhry Zahid Javid, PhD

Department of Foreign Languages, Taif University , Saudi Arabia
Jaishree Umale, PhD

Sur University College, Sur, Oman
Muhammad Aslam Sipra,Ph.D

Department of GRC (English), JCC, King Abdulaziz University , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Ahmad AL-Harahsheh, PhD

Translation Department, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Mohammed Qassem Al-Shormani, PhD

Department of English, University of Ibb , Yemen
Michael John Fennel, PhD
Tsze Sun Li, Ed.D.

Business Communication Unit, College of Economics and Political Science, Sultan Qaboos
University, Oman.
Arab World English Journal www.awej.org

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AWEJ
AWEJ Volume.4 Number.4, 2013 Pp.1-2
Contents
Article Title Pages
Team of this issue

Contents 1-2
Letter from the editor 3
Algerian University English Language Teaching Materials: How readable are 4-16
they?
Saad TORKI
A Sociocultural Exploration of English Faculty Perceptions of the Writing 17-44
Center in the Qatari Context
Molly McHarg
English Writing Proficiency among Three Types of Students in an ESL 45-59
Composition Course
Maxine E. Goldburg
A Discussion on Teaching a Language without Teaching its Culture 60-77
Ronnie Goodwin
Identity Construction and Negotiation through an EFL Syllabus in Sudan 78-94
Nada Sid Ahmed Eljak
Abdelrahim Hamid Mugaddam
Speech Act of Prohibition in English and Arabic: A Contrastive Study on 95-111
Selected Biblical and Quranic Verses
Sawsan Kareem Al-Saaidi
Ghayth K. Shaker Al-Shaibani
Hashim A. Mohammed Al-Husseini
Investigating Saudi EFL Learners’ Vision of Future-self and its Relationship to 112- 127
their Self-regulated Learning Behaviour
Sara M Al-Otaibi
The PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS Metaphor in the Financial Times 128-142
Maria Nader
Perception and production problems: To what extent is Sudanese English 143-166
intelligible to the native British and American listeners?
Ezzeldin Mahmoud Tajeldin Ali
The Pragmatic Suitability of the Algerian ELT Secondary School Textbooks: 167-182
The Case of Requests and Apologies
Boudjemaa DENDENNE
L2 Motivational Selves of Saudi Preparatory Year EFL Learners: A 183-201
Quantitative Study
Hamid Ali Khan Eusafzai
Arab World English Journal www.awej.org 1
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Contents
Student Perceptions of the Foundation Programme Assessment in Two 202-222

Colleges in Oman
Fatma Al Hajri
Negotiation for Meaning and Feedback in ESL Writing Class 223 -234
Samah Elbelazi
The Role of Cohesive Devices and the Interplay of Theme and Rheme in 235 -251
Consolidating the Argument of Krauthammer’s Free-lunch Egalitarianism
Emad Ahmed Saleem Abu Ayyash
Research Paradigms: Researchers’ Worldviews, Theoretical Frameworks and 252 -264
Study Designs
Sayyed Rashid Shah
Abdullah Al-Bargi
Hit Two Birds with One Stone: Idioms and Culture in FL Translation Class 265 -284
Ahlam Mohammad Alharbi
Loss and Maintenance of Somali Language in the UK 285-309
Shamsudin Abikar
A Comprehensive Method for Teaching English for Specific Purpose 310-322
Muhammed Ali Chalikandy
Code Mixing in the KSA: A Case Study of Expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian 323-338
ESL Teachers
Most. Tasnim Begum
Md. Mahmudul Haque
The Reproduction of Racialization and Racial Discrimination in Classrooms 339-353

and its Impact on ELLs' Social Interactions and L2 Development
Ayesha Mohammed Mudhaffer
The Effects of Metacognitive Awareness-Raising on Learners’ Reading 354-370
Proficiency and Strategy Use: Case of First- Year LMD Students at ABou Bekr
Belkaid University of Tlemcen
Yassamina HAICHA – ABDAT
Metacognition: Components and Relation to Academic Achievement in 371- 385

College
Amine Amzil
Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow
Perceptions of Bilingual Identity among Arabic-English Speakers in North 386-399
America
Jamie Elizabeth Gabrini
English as a Foreign Language Learning Beliefs and 400-419
Attitudes of Saudi College English and Non-English Majors
Hassan M. Kassem
Effects of MALL Applications on Vocabulary Acquisition and Motivation 420-447

Abdul Aziz I. Fageeh
The Use of Literary Texts and Questioning to Examine First-Year Central 448 -461

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Contents
Asian Students’ Critical Thinking Skills

Dinara Karimova
Bidirectional Influence between Languages: Theoretical Foundations and 461-484
Pedagogical Implications
Hosni Mostafa El-Dali

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Pp.1
Letter from the Editor
Dear Colleague,
A happy New Year to all our readers. It is my great pleasure to introduce the new issue of Arab
World English Journal (AWEJ). I want to also to express our gratitude and sincere thanks for all
members of our team for their hard work to make this year a success. Why do I call the last year’
work success? The international recognition increased. The number of manuscripts increased and
we selected only the best manuscripts for publication.
We would like to express our sincere apology to the authors whose papers are not published in
this issue due to a large number of submissions. We have given the priority to the date of
submission and the date of completion of the requirements.
On the other hand, we would like to extend a very warm welcome to all new colleagues joining
us and wish them all a successful and professional career with us.
Kind regards
Editor
Prof. Dr .Khairi Obaid AL-Zubaidi
Arab World English Journal (AWEJ)
[email protected]
www.awej.org

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Pp. 4-16
Algerian University English Language Teaching Materials:

How readable are they?
Saad TORKI
Department of English Language and Literature
University of Setif 2, Algeria
Abstract
The main thrust of the present study was to analyze the readability level of teaching materials
used both in Algerian departments of English and in secondary schools. The ultimate objective
was to determine whether these materials were written at a level appropriate for Algerian
freshmen and sophomores in departments of English. Text from lectures delivered at the
university and others used in secondary schools were analyzed for their readability level using
the four most popular readability formulas: The Dale-Chall Readability Formula, The Flesch
Reading Ease formula, Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease formulas, and The Lexile Formula. The
analysis of the data revealed a significant difference between the readability of reading material
in the secondary school and the university. The results suggest that there is a wide gap between
them. Consequently, this readability level is too far beyond the freshmen and sophomores’
reading ability to achieve the desired optimum comprehension. It is suggested that teaching the
reading skill and an emphasis on vocabulary at the university could be one step toward bridging
such a gap. Furthermore, there is a need for more careful matching of reading material
readability levels and Algerian students’ reading levels.
Keywords: readability, reading difficulty, reading formula, text difficulty.

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AWEJ Volume 4.Number. 4, 2013
Algerian University English Language Teaching Materials TORKI
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Algerian University English Language Teaching Materials: How readable are they?
It is a byword in educational settings that the most important instructional decision that
teachers make is supplying students with materials that are at the appropriate level of difficulty.
If students are given materials that are too easy, they may lose interest and motivation. If students
are given materials that are too difficult, they may struggle to understand the lectures and the
learning material. There is a good chance that they will be low achievers. They may also become
so frustrated that they simply fail and give up.
The present research aimed at investigating whether Algerian freshmen and sophomore’s
reading level enables them to achieve comprehension of reading material used in departments of
English, as well as comprehension of the lectures they attend. The motivation of this research
comes from the fact that complaints by teachers and expression of frustration about the students’
level at English as being far from the standards are often heard in staff rooms. However, no
evidence has been adduced in support of such assertion.
Matching learning material and students’ reading ability requires knowing the readability
level of materials. In the context of the present study, one way to reach such an end is to assess
the readability of the reading material used both at the department of English and in secondary
schools in order to (a) establish the difficulty level of these materials at both levels; (b) determine
the gap which may exist between student reading ability and the level of the materials being used
to teach them; and (c) know whether material used for university students is written at a level
suitable for them.
To this end, three main research questions were posed:
1- What is the reading difficulty of Algerian secondary school English language teaching
materials?
2- What is the reading difficulty of Algerian university English language teaching materials?
3- How does the reading difficulty of Algerian university English language teaching
materials compare with the difficulty of Algerian secondary school English language
teaching materials?
The results could be utilized in future studies to highlight the gap which may exist between
student reading ability and the level of the materials used to teach them.
Literature review
What do we mean by readability?
There is no consensus on the exact definition of the concept of readability. Simply defined,
readability is what makes one text more difficult or easier to understand than others. According
to Wimmer and Dominick (2010), it is the “sum total of the entire elements and their interactions
that affect the success of a piece of printed material” (p. 331). The most comprehensive
definition may be that of Dale and Chall (1949) who define readability as:
The sum total (including all the interactions) of all those elements within a
given piece of printed material that affect the success a group of readers
have with it. The success is the extent to which they understand it, read it
at an optimal speed, and find it interesting. (p. 12)
These elements make a reader’s comprehension of a text a function of the difference
between reader ability and text readability. It should be mentioned that in literature there is a
distinction between legibility and readability, though sometimes the two terms are used
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interchangeably. Actually, they denote different things. Research on legibility is concerned
mainly with typeface and format factors. In contrast, readability research focuses on linguistic
factors such as word and sentence length. Both seek the same objective, to ascertain the degree
of reading ease of a piece of text and eventually find ways to improve it, but their approaches are
totally different (Anagnostou and Weir, 2007).
Readability: a brief historical overview
According to Klare (1963), concerns about text readability can be dated back as far as the
antiquity, around 900 A.D. when word counts were used as a rough index of reading ease by
Talmudists who counted the occurrences of words and ideas seeking to distinguish differences in
meaning. However, the publication of Thorndike's Teacher's Word Book (1921) which provided
teachers with an objective means for measuring the difficulty of words and texts is considered as
the major breakthrough in estimating reading difficulty. Chall (1988) reports that the beginnings
of readability formula research came from two main sources: studies of vocabulary control and
studies of readability measurement. Vocabulary control studies were concerned with the
vocabularies that would be most effective for learning to read from reading textbooks while
readability measurement were targeted at the evaluation of the comprehension difficulty of
reading textbooks. Both types of studies sought objective means of measuring the difficulty of
texts for learning to read and for comprehending and learning from textbooks, newspapers,
novels, and so on. It follows that research on readability has a common ultimate goal consisting
mainly in finding objective means to measure the difficulty of reading materials for the intended
readers, or to predict how well reading materials will be comprehended by the intended readers.
The basic tenet of readability research is that it assumes that words encountered frequently by
readers are less difficult to understand than words encountered rarely, i.e., word frequency.
Readability pioneers focused on surface characteristics of written texts to determine the
extent to which readers could comprehend texts. They considered any measurable elements of
writing such as the number of personal pronouns in the text, the average number of syllables in
words or number of words in sentences in the text. Then, they compared the data with certain
predetermined standards. One such standard was tabulating the average grade level of students
who could correctly answer a certain percentage of questions from the text. Researchers judged
the characteristics with the most accurate standards as indicators of readability, which they
developed into readability formulas. There ensued the design of mathematical equations which
correlate these elements.
Over the past sixty years, the concept of readability has been revitalized and the notion that
reading difficulty needs to be matched with student reading ability has been emphasized by
readability investigators. Starting from the 1950s and influenced by new insights gained from
linguistics and cognitive psychology, new variables such as reader’s interest, motivation, and
prior knowledge came to be explored as variables affecting reading comprehension and
readability. This era was characterized by a certain number of features. The number of
researchers and studies that took interest in readability grew considerably. A large number of
researchers and studies took interest in readability and attempted to improve readability
formulas. Presently, there are over 200 readability formulas with varying degrees of accuracy
and success rate (DuBay, 2004).
Factors that influence readability
Graves & Graves (2003) identified a set of ten factors that can have an effect on a learners’
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comprehension. These ten factors can be divided into two groups. The first group comprises six
factors inherent to the text itself: vocabulary, sentence structure, length, elaboration, coherence
and unity, and text structure (or organization, i.e., narratives or exposition). However, the authors
are quick to point out that since reading is an interactive process that involves both the reader
and the text, no text factors are fully independent of the reader. The second group comprises four
factors that involve both the reader and the text: familiarity of content and background
knowledge required, audience appropriateness, reader motivation and interest. Factors
considered were described as "semantic" if they concerned the words used, and "syntactic" if
they concerned the length or structure of sentences.
The level of reader comprehension of the text is, as research tends to confirm, determined
by how well the reader variables interact with the text variables. Comprehension is, as already
mentioned, seen as a function of the difference between reader ability and text readability. These
studies have relied on readability formulas which are mathematical calculations based on some
text features. Traditionally, studies on readability have focused on linguistic and psycholinguistic
factors to explain text difficulties. Early readability studies (Dale and Chall, 1948; Flesch, 1943)
investigated observable text characteristics (e.g., number of words in a sentence, number of
syllables in a word, number of prepositions, and vocabulary frequencies). Studies conducted in
the last decades have continued to be interested in factors affecting readability (Fry, 2002;
Greenfield, 2003). More recently, researchers have made use of computer science (Litz, 2005;
Crossley, 2006; Campbell and Weir, 2006). These studies have tried to explain text difficulties by
measuring texts readability and the ability of readers by attempting to place the two constructs on
the same scale. Examples of such studies are: The Lexile Framework, The Strathclyde
Complexity Measure, and Corpus analysis studies.
Readability formulas
Readability formulas serve to give an estimate of text difficulty. Their sole purpose is to
predict such difficulty. They are multiple regression equations in which the dependent variable is
the reading difficulty predicted of a text and the independent variables are two or more directly
measurable characteristics of the text, such as the number of letters per word and the number of
words per sentence. The purposes for which readability formulas are designed might vary, but
they tend to have one objective in common, that is, to predict the difficulty of the text for the
intended readers without the latter’s actual participation in the course of readability evaluation.
The prediction of the text's difficulty is expressed as a grade level, a cloze score, or a score on
some set scale (Greenfield 2004). Text difficulty is measured according to the familiarity of the
vocabulary to the reader. It is assumed that if a word is familiar to the reader, its level of
difficulty is low, and vice versa. The common measurement of vocabulary familiarity is word
frequency. By word frequency, it is meant the frequency with which a given word occurs in a
sample of the target language. Word frequency and vocabulary difficulty vary inversely. The
higher the word frequency, the smaller will the vocabulary difficulty be, and vice versa (Lin,
2002, p.170)
According to Prichard and Hayden (2008), in the United States of America, many
government agencies now require that documents, such as loan agreements, rental agreements,
and property purchase contracts meet specific readability levels. Over thirty states have some
form of plain language, or readability component in their insurance laws, and a number of states
specify that insurance policies must be written at a minimum Flesch Reading Ease score to be
judged “sufficiently readable”.
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It should be mentioned that readability formulas differ in the features they consider in their
analysis. Common parameters include: average word length in characters, average sentence
length, average word length in syllables, ratio of difficult sentences, ratio of difficult words, ratio
of unfamiliar words, and number of unique words.
Below is a consideration of the four most popular English readability formulas listed by the
United States Institute for Academic Excellence (1998). All four formulas base their calculations
on at least two variables: (1) semantic difficulty as measured by word length, word familiarity, or
word frequency, and (2) syntactic difficulty as measured by sentence length—the average
number of words per sentence. As a result, the formulas tend to measure similar factors, correlate
well with one another, and, on average, yield only slight differences. These formulas are: (1) The
Dale-Chall Readability Formula; (2) The Flesch Reading Ease formula; (3) The Flesch-Kincaid
Reading Ease formula and (4) The Lexile Formula.
The validity of these formulas for predicting the readability of English texts in English as a
Foreign Language contexts has been demonstrated in a number of studies such as Nilagupta
(1975), Hamsik (1984), Brown (1998), (Greenfield, 2003), Crossley (2006), and many others.
For this reason, they were used in this research.
Flesch Reading Ease formula. The Flesch Reading Ease formula developed in 1948 is
one of the most widely used readability formulas in use today. It is considered suitable for all
kinds of text. This formula uses average sentence length and number of syllables. It multiples the
average number of words in the sentence by 1.015 and the total syllable count by .846. The
sentence length and syllable count are then added and subtracted from 206.835 to arrive at a
readability score (DuBay, 2004, p. 20).
The formula reads as follows:
Flesch Reading Ease Score = 206.835–84.6 x ASW – 1.015 x ASL
ASW = average number of syllables per word
ASL = average sentence length
It measures reading from 100 (for easy to read) to 0 (for very difficult to read). The higher
the score, the easier the document is to read. It is based upon a 50% comprehension rate. A zero
score indicates text has more than 37 words on the average in each sentence and the average
word is more than 2 syllables. This formula also has been incorporated into most word
processing programs including MS word.
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease formula. The Flesch Reading Ease Score was later revised
by other readability researchers (Kincaid et al., 1975, cited by Klare, 1984, p. 692) in a study
commissioned by the U.S. Navy, in order to provide grade level scores (Table 1). The adapted
formula became known by different names, like Flesch-Kincaid Index, Flesch-Kincaid Scale,
Flesch-Kincaid Score, Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score,
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Statistics, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index, Flesch-Kincaid
Readability Index, Flesch-Kincaid readability equation, and so on. The result is a number that
corresponds with a grade level.
The specific mathematical formula is:
FKRA = (0.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) - 15.59
Where: FKRA = Flesch-Kincaid Reading Age
ASL = Average Sentence Length (i.e., the number of words divided by the number of
sentences)
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ASW = Average number of Syllable per Word (i.e., the number of syllables divided by the
number of words)
A score of 5.0 indicates a grade-school level. It means that a student in the fifth grade
would be able to read the document. Such a score would eventually help teachers, parents,
librarians, and others to choose reading material.
For the purpose of comparison, Reader's Digest magazine has a readability index of about
65, Time magazine scores about 52, and Harvard Law Review has a general readability score in
the low 30s.
Table 1
Interpretation of the Flesch Reading Ease Score
Flesch Score Readability
90 - 100 Very Easy
80 - 90 Easy
70 - 80 Fairly easy
60 - 70 Standard
50 - 60 Fairly Difficult
30 - 50 Difficult
0 - 30 Very Difficult
The Dale-Chall Formula. Published by Dale and Chall in 1948, this is a very influential
formula. It was meant to bring improvements to the Flesch Reading formula. The formula uses
two variables, average sentence length and a percentage of difficult words. The idea behind this
formula is that readers typically find it easier to read, process and recall a passage if the words
are familiar. The Formula uses a count of difficult words. These difficult words are words that do
not appear on a specially designed list of common words familiar to most students. It is based on
the Dale list of 3,000 familiar words, 80 percent of which are known to fourth-grade readers
(DuBay, 2004, p. 23). In addition to the percentage of words found on the Dale list, the formula
uses average number of words per sentence (Chall and Dale 1995).
The formula is as follows:
Raw Score = 0.1579 PDW + 0.0496 ASL + 3.6365
Raw Score = Reading Grade of a reader who can answer one-half of the test questions on
the passage.
The first measure (PDW = Percentage of Difficult Words) is the percentage of words in the
passage not found on the Dale Word List. The second measure (ASL = Average Sentence Length)
is the average number of words per sentence, which is calculated by dividing the total number of
words in the passage by the total number of sentences in the passage. Table 2 displays the
correspondence of the raw score to grade level as calculated by The Dale-Chall Readability
Formula.
Table 2
Mapping Raw Score to Readability
Raw Score Readability
4.9- Very Easy

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5.0 - 5.9 Easy
6.0 - 6.9 Fairly easy
7.0 - 7.9 Standard
8.0 - 8.9 Fairly Difficult
9.0 - 9.9 Difficult
10+ Very Difficult
The main idea behind the Dale-Chall readability formula is that when a text is written with
familiar words, it becomes easier to read and, therefore ideas expressed therein are easier to
comprehend and recall.
The Lexile Formula. A more recent application of traditional readability formulas is
known as the Lexile Framework and which has been defined by its designers (Wright and
Stenner, 1998) as a scientific approach to reading and text measurement.
The Lexile Formula is based on two components. The first is a measure of sentence length,
which by hypothesis indicates the level of syntactic complexity. It is based on what the
proponents of the formula call the syntactic axiom: the shorter the sentence, the easier the
passage is to read. Worded differently, the length of a sentence is a good indicator of how hard it
is to read. Longer sentences take longer to read and require more concentration to understand.
The longer a sentence, the more likely it is to contain complex phrases and clauses, which will
complicate things for the reader, especially in a foreign language (Fry, 1989).
The second component is a measure of semantic complexity, based on word familiarity.
The more frequently a word is encountered the more chances there are for the reader to know its
meaning.
Lexiles evaluate the semantic difficulty of words by their frequency in standard written
text. The authors have developed a process that assigns a value to the reading capacity of a
person. The central idea is that, when a person is reading with 75% comprehension, he/she is at
optimal reading capacity. The process, therefore, assesses a person’s level of reading
comprehension, and then calculates what they called the lexile value of texts they can read with
75% comprehension. This is the measure of their reading capacity.
Designers of The Lexile Framework for Reading explain that it is made up of Lexile reader
measures and Lexile text measures, both of which are put on the Lexile scale. A Lexile measure
is defined as the numeric representation of an individual’s reading ability or a text’s readability
(or difficulty), followed by an “L” (Lexile). There are two types of Lexile measures: The Lexile
reader measures and The Lexile text measures. The Lexile reader measure typically is obtained
when an individual completes a reading comprehension test. Once a field study has been
performed to link Lexile Framework with the test, the individual’s reading score can be reported
as a Lexile measure. A Lexile text measure is obtained by evaluating the readability of a piece of
text, such as a book or an article. The Lexile Analyzer, a software program specially designed to
evaluate reading demand, analyzes the text’s semantic (word frequency) and syntactic (sentence
length) characteristics and assigns it a Lexile measure.
The Lexile scale runs from below 0L (Lexile) to above 2000L. Scores 0L and below are
reported as beginning reader and scores above 2000L are reported as high Level. By way of
example, the novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell scores 1100L, A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens scores 990, and American university textbooks 1250L-1450L.
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In sum, The Lexile Framework for Reading is an approach to reading measurement that
matches readers to text. The Lexile Framework measures both reader ability and text difficulty
on the same scale, called the Lexile scale (Table 3).
Table 3
The Lexile scale
Grade 1 200-350 Grade 7 880-1090
Grade 2 350-500 Grade 8 910-1140
Grade 3 500-750 Grade 9 1030-1160
Grade 4 620-910 Grade 10 1080-1210
Grade 5 730- 960 Grade 11 1130-1260
Grade 6 800-1030 Grade 12 1180-1300
Source: http://www.lexile.com/findabook/
In order to give the reader an idea about these measures, Table 4 gives the Lexile for a few
well known books.
Table 4
Lexile for a few well known books
Title Author Lexile
The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 260L
The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein 530L
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 880L
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 990L
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1100L
The Trial Franz Kafka 1100L
A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking 1290L
The Last of the Mohicans J. F. Cooper 1350L
Don Quixote Cervantes 1410L
Source: http://www.lexile.com/findabook/
Limitations of Readability Formulas. The main criticism that has been addressed to
readability formulas is that they can only measure the surface characteristics of text. Qualitative
factors such as sentence structure, concreteness and abstractness, and incoherence cannot be
measured mathematically. They have pointed out that material which receives a low-grade level
score may be prove to be incomprehensible to the target audience. As an example, they suggest
to consider what happens if the words are scrambled in a sentence, or on a larger scale, the
sentences are randomly rearranged in a whole text. The readability score could be high, but
comprehension would be lacking. In addition, readability formulas cannot give an idea of how
complex the ideas are, whether or not the content is in a logical order, whether the vocabulary is
appropriate for the audience, and whether there is a gender, class or cultural bias. For these
reasons, Klare et al. (1969, cited in DuBay, 2004) stated that formula scores are better thought of
as rough guides than as highly accurate values. Used as rough guides, however, scores derived
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from readability formulas provide quick, easy help in the analysis and placement of educational
material.
Methodology
Reading Material
In order to answer the research questions asked above, it was necessary to collect reading
material used in secondary schools and material used in Departments of English. In the latter
case, given the limitations of this study, materials (described hereafter) were collected by the
researcher from colleagues and students at the department of English Language and Literature at
the University Setif 2, Algeria. The university texts used in this study were handouts given by
teachers to students in the courses of literary studies and Linguistics.
Concerning secondary school material, it is available in the Ministry of Education-
approved secondary school textbooks, in term papers, and in the ‘Baccalaureate’ English paper.
The latter, being a paper taken nationwide by secondary school final year students, it is assumed
that it is aimed at the student with an average reading ability and hence as representative of the
“national reading ability level” as it has been designed by professionals working very close to the
secondary school students and the best aware of their reading ability.
Readability formulas used
The readability formulas used were: The Dale-Chall Readability Formula, The Flesch
Reading Ease formula, Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease formulas, and The Lexile Formula. It
should be pointed out once again that these formulas were selected for the present study mainly
because they have been proved to be valid for English as a Foreign Language context. Another
reason is their ease of accessibility online. In addition, The Flesch Reading Ease formula, Flesch-
Kincaid Reading Ease formulas are easily accessible via MSWord.
Procedure
The reading material selected was scanned using an OCR program. Then each passage was
transferred to a Microsoft Word (Microsoft Software 2007) document so that standard readability
statistics such as the Flesch and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Scale could be calculated via the formulas
included with MSWord's grammar checker. Next, the readability of these passages using The
Dale-Chall and Lexile formulas was assessed via software tools available online.
The passages selected were:
Secondary school material:
1- Two passages from the Ministry of Education-approved secondary school reading
textbook New Prospects, Secondary Education Year 3, were chosen for analysis of
readability. These were The Unicorn in the Garden (pp. 189-90), and Satellites (p. 206).
2- Baccalaureate English papers: Two Baccalaureate 2013 papers were selected. The
first was taken by students of the “Experimental Sciences” stream, the second by the
students of the stream “Foreign Languages”.
These streams were selected on the basis that the overwhelming majority of students
incoming to the department of English come from them.
University material:

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1- A handout in linguistics from the first lectures of the academic year entitled The Syllable
intended for freshmen.
2- A handout in literary studies from the first lectures of the academic year entitled The
Origins of a Nation intended for sophomores.
Results
For the interpretation of the results, the purpose here is not to compare Algerian student
reading abilities to that of American students. The idea is to use the American grade level as a
benchmark, a measuring tool and, most importantly, as a unit of measurement only in order to
compare Algerian secondary school and university reading material. The closer the level of
Algerian reading material is to the American one, the more it is difficult, and vice versa. The fact
to use the American grade level does not affect in any way the results.
Table 5 below displays the overall results for all the reading passages analyzed.
Texts analyzed:
1. The Unicorn in the Garden
2. Satellites
3. Baccalaureate Paper Foreign Languages
4. Baccalaureate Paper Experimental Sciences
5. Origins of a nation
6. The Syllable
Table 5
Overall results
Secondary school material University material
Passages 1 2 3 4 5 6
Words 515 337 286 256 587 676
Counts
Characters 2217 1632 1466 1244 2707 3220

Paragraphs 4 6 4 5 11 17
Sentences 38 25 13 13 21 31
Average
Sent. / parag. 12.16 5.0 3.2 2.6 5.2 3.1

Words / sent. 13.4 13.4 22 19.16 22.9 19.1
s
Charact/ word 4.0 4.7 5.0 4.7 4.6 4.6

Passive sentences 0% 20 % 46% 0% 23% 29%
Readability
Flesch Reading Ease 80.0 64.0 69.3 67.7 45.9 47.3

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 5.1 6.6 5.8 6.4 12 12
Lexile Formula 640L 790L 780L 620L 1250L 1230L
Dale-Chall Formula 5.0 5.3 5.1 5.2 7.9 8.7
The analysis of the data revealed that all the formulas used agree on the degree of difficulty
of each text under investigation. That is, the four formulas used yield roughly the same result
related to reading ease. For ease of presentation and interpretation, the averages of the results
yielded by the formulas have been calculated. These are displayed in Table 6.
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Table 6
Readability averages
Averages
Secondary University
school material material
Flesch Reading Ease 70,25 46,6
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 5,9 12
Lexile Formula 683 1240
Dale-Chall Formula 5,15 8,4
The following is an attempt to answer the research questions which guided this study.
Research question 1: What is the reading difficulty of Algerian secondary school English
language teaching material?
A close examination of the results in Table 5 and Table 6 shows that the reading texts used
in secondary schools do have more or less the same readability level. However, the passages
used in the official Baccalaureate paper do have a readability level a bit higher than those taken
from the textbook. The readability level of the secondary school material was rated by the Flesch
Reading Ease as 70.25, by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level as 5.97, by Lexile Formula as 683,
and by the by the Dale-Chall Formula 5.15. Any of these score corresponds to either ‘easy’ or
‘fairly easy’. However, this is not the main point in this research. This was done to serve as a
benchmark to answer the next research questions.
Research question 2: What is the reading difficulty of Algerian university English language
teaching material?
The readability of university reading materials was rated by all the formulas used as being
fairly difficult, difficult or even very difficult. According to the Flesh Reading Ease, the
readability score of university material (46.6) is between Time magazine scores (52) and …
Harvard Law Review (30).
According to the Lexile formula score (1240L), the university lectures are harder to read
than Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1100L) and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles
Dickens (990L). They are at the same level as novels written by renowned novelists such as
Kafka, Austin, and Hawking (see Table 4). They are not far from American university textbooks
whose score is 1250L-1450L (MetaMetrics, 2010). Obviously, this is too far out of the reach of
freshmen and sophomores.
Research question 3: How does the reading difficulty of Algerian university English language
teaching material compare with the difficulty of Algerian secondary
school English language teaching material?
Referring to Table 6 above, it appears that on the whole, the difference between the
readability level in the secondary school and the university varies from simple to double. That is,
university material is twice as harder as secondary school material. There appears to be no
common measure between what students are exposed to in secondary school and what they are
exposed to at the university.

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Conclusion and Implications
The major findings of this research reveal that, in general, the reading levels of the reading
material and the lectures at the university do not match with reading abilities of the freshmen and
sophomores. Specific implications drawn from these findings include the following:
1. There is a need for a more careful matching of the readability of reading material and
Algerian students’ level.
2. Reading material and lectures need careful analysis to determine their readability level to
match it with students’ abilities.
3. English Teaching will be more effective if instructional materials are selected for students
after their reading levels have been determined.
4. University teachers should be made aware of the reading level of students incoming to
the university to help them improve their reading abilities and to make their lectures
understood. Otherwise, students will reach the frustration level.
5. Careful consideration of relative syntactical difficulty is needed.
6. Educational authorities should find a way for bridging the gap between the secondary
school and the university
About the Author:
Dr. Saad Torki has a thirty-five-year long teaching experience at all levels in Algeria and the
Middle-East where he worked as a teacher trainer on a professional development program he
designed and implemented for native teachers of English. His scholarly interests include
EFL/ESL, vocabulary teaching and learning, reading, readability, phonetics, phonology, teacher
development, and materials development.
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Council on Education Research (ACER).

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AWEJ
Pp.17-44
A Sociocultural Exploration of English Faculty Perceptions of the Writing Center in the

Qatari Context
Molly McHarg
Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar
Abstract
This study examines English faculty perceptions of the Writing Center at American Design
University in Qatar (ADU-Q) through a sociocultural framework and social capitalist analysis i.
The current proliferation of American higher education branch campuses in the Arabian Gulf
region make this a timely study, as the local context warrants an in-depth analysis of how writing
centers are situated in this unique environment of language learners and dynamic social and
cultural changes. Data triangulation in this qualitative study was informed by three sources:
interviews with English faculty, interviews with the ADU-Q Writing Center Coordinator, and
archival documents. Preliminary findings suggest that collaboration between the Writing Center
and various stakeholders tends to improve positive perceptions of the Center. Furthermore, the
changing nature of the local context contributes to changes in these perceptions and ways in
which the participants’ viewed their own role as faculty. This research unites the fields of
Composition, TESOL, and writing center research; furthermore, it aims to inform an
understanding of teaching and writing center practices in Qatar.
Keywords: Qatar, writing centers, sociocultural theory, ESL, faculty perceptions

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AWEJ Volume 4.Number.4, 2013
A Sociocultural Exploration of English Faculty Perceptions McHarg
Introduction
In one of my first experiences as a writing center instructor in Qatar, a student came to
me and confessed, “My professor told me not to come to the writing center. She won’t know I’m
here, will she?” I found it ironic that this student’s professor was an English Language Learner
(ELL) herself, with limited English language proficiency. Furthermore, in Qatar, where most of
the students studying at the branch campuses of American universities are second language
speakers, I had anticipated the writing center to be flooded with students seeking assistance. I
have not experienced this influx, however, and when this particular student revealed to me her
concerns about a faculty member advising her against using writing center services, I began to
ponder faculty perceptions of the center. I found the warning to her students rather bewildering,
and it has remained a source of puzzlement that served as the impetus for this study.
Background
The findings in this article stem from a doctoral study that explored English faculty
perceptions of the writing center at the American Design University in Qatar (ADU-Q). A wide
range of open-ended questions were asked of English faculty about their personal backgrounds,
education, experiences with writing centers, and their work in Qatar ii. The primary data analysis
of this study involved transcript analysis and coding; this coding then led to the discovery of
emergent themes, one of which was the unique perceptions of the writing center in the Qatari
context.
Although writing centers have been in existence since the early 1900s (or perhaps even
earlier; see Boquet, 1999), writing center research has only substantially proliferated since the
wake of open admissions in the 1960s, and it remains an emerging field of inquiry (Gillespie,
Gillam, Brown, & Stay, 2002; Grimm, 1992, 2003; Pemberton, 2009; Rose & Weiser, 1999).
One of the under-researched areas is the faculty perceptions of the center (Boquet, 2002; Lerner,
2010; Masiello & Hayward, 1991; Pemberton, 2009; Thonus, 2001). Research suggests that the
more positive the perceptions of faculty about writing center work, the more effective writing
centers can be in outreach to students (Boquet, 2002; Clark, 1985; Eodice, 2003; Hall, 2007).
This relationship between perception and effectiveness suggests a collaborative model that lends
itself to a social capitalist data analysis, which this study adopted. For example, how does a
closer relationship between faculty and the writing center influence the growth of social capital
between the two? This research investigated one particular institution, American Design
University in Qatar (ADU-Q)iii, through a qualitative, sociocultural research approach in order to
investigate English faculty perceptions of the writing center; the study’s framework links writing
center theory to TESOL practices within this particular Middle Eastern context. The primary
method of data collection included interviews with English faculty at ADU-Q. Archival data,
such as tutorial and statistical reports, were also collected and analyzed. Interview questions
with English faculty explored the individual faculty members’ cultural, linguistic, and
educational backgrounds; for example, did they have experience with a writing center during
their education? If so, what were those experiences? What types of experiences had they had
with ADU-Q Writing Center? With an overwhelming majority of ELL undergraduates and
colleagues, how does language play a role in their expectations of students, the Writing Center,
and within their own classrooms?
This particular site, an American higher education institution in the Middle East, also
offers an important arena for exploring TESOL-related pedagogical challenges. Statistics reveal
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that English is the global language of many disciplines (Crystal, 2006; Hanauer & Englander,
2011; Jenkins, 2009; Maher, 1986).iv Therefore, the importance of English at ADU-Q is critical
to the overall institutional mission of educating students for a global community in a place where
the students and faculty often speak Arabic, Urdu, and a wide variety of other languages.
Furthermore, the importance of writing across the curriculum in a variety of educational and
international environments has become a recent focal point of scholarly attention and research
inquiry (Bazerman et al., 2012; Thaiss, Brauer, Carlino, Ganobcsik-Williams, & Sinha, 2012).
Finally, these ELLs often utilize the services of peer consultants, which presents a unique
consideration of faculty perceptions of the writing center because the concept of ELL peer tutors
teaching other ELL learners is relatively new (Eleftheriou, 2011; Ronesi, 2009, 2011).
A plethora of influences shape the status of a writing center within an institution. One of
these influences is the degree to which faculty are involved with the center (Hall, 2007; Harris,
2000; Masiello & Hayward, 1991; Mauriello, Macauley, & Koch, 2011). More importantly,
however, as the anecdote in the above introduction highlights, faculty can play an influential role
in encouraging or discouraging student visits to the writing center. Research has also
underscored the positive value of writing centers’ collaborative work with faculty, and how these
relationships can yield beneficial results for all stakeholders (Hall, 2007; Kinkead & Harris,
1993; Mauriello et al., 2011). When faculty support the writing center and encourage students to
utilize its services, this support benefits students’ writing success. In particular, student use of
the writing center can positively affect academic success for ESL students.
The frequency of writing center tutoring seemed to be especially valuable for ESL
students, who outperform their domestic cohorts, receiving significantly higher grades in
composition….it indicates that even students with minimal English proficiency are able,
when appropriate help is available, to make significant progress toward mastering
academic writing. (Williams & Takaku, 2011, p. 13)
In the current context at ADU-Q, where most students are ELLs, the writing center seemed to be
a valuable component in fostering student success.
While student success is critical in education and should arguably be the focal point of
educators’ concerns, a writing center’s overall position within the institution is also a vital point
to consider because it contributes to student success. Writing centers have always held rather
untenable positions; in the face of a budget crisis, writing centers are often one of the first lines
to be cut (Harris, 2000; McHarg, 2011; Pemberton, 2009). If faculty play a pivotal role in
supporting a writing center, then their perceptions are crucially instrumental in upholding
support for the center. By extension, faculty support for the center is key to maintaining writing
support for students and increasing their academic potential, especially in the face of budgetary
or political challenges. Social capital theory offers a framework for investigating this faculty-
writing center relationship because it focuses on the social and relational connections between
these groups, rather than financial or economic relationships. The social capitalist framework
utilized in this study will seek to analyze this relationship through the lens of collaboration.
Research Question
Data has been triangulated through three primary sources: interview transcripts with all
six full-time teaching English faculty, interview transcripts with the ADU-Q Coordinator, and

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archival artifacts, such as tutorial reports and institutional reports and statistics. Primary
Research Question: What are English faculty perceptions of the ADU-Q Writing Center?
Local Context
As previously noted, recent years have experienced an explosion of American higher
education institutions in the Arabian Gulf. Each of Qatar’s seven American universities
represents a branch campus that was established to identically replicate the home campus. Each
university in Knowledge Cityv also houses a writing or academic resource center, and these
centers vary widely in their goals and purposesvi. Nonetheless, writing centers in Qatar all deal
primarily with ELLs, who comprise the overwhelming majority of the student, faculty, and staff
populations. Within this group of ELLs is a subpopulation of Qatari students who receive
government benefits that provide them with a greatly privileged lifestyle. Social, cultural, and
political pressures to service and benefit Qatari students remain a constant undercurrent at all
institutions in Knowledge City and likely play a role in the construction and delivery of services
such as the Writing Center. It is hoped that this research will give insight into what is surely a
complex relationship among students, the writing center, the faculty, and the institution, and
allow a framework for enhancing the social capital of the writing center.
The sociocultural theory adopted in this study provides a lens through which the
researcher may identify the multiple and often conflicting viewpoints that a faculty member may
have in developing perceptions of the writing center. What factors have influenced a faculty
member’s understanding of the role of the writing center? Have faculty generally understood
writing centers to be facilitators and coaches in writing instruction in the United States higher
education context, but then developed a greater sense of need for editing and proofreading
services for the largely multilingual student population at ADU-Q? Have their experiences and
interactions with students, other faculty, or the writing center influenced what they perceive to be
the writing center’s role? What other societal factors in the Qatari context have shaped faculty
ideas about the writing center’s role? This social capitalist view provides a structure for data
analysis that connects faculty perceptions with the writing center from a collaborative viewpoint.
The historical background and rationale for these two theoretical perspectives will now be
discussed.
Sociocultural Theory
Sociocultural theory has its origins with Vygotsky (1986), who introduced the notion that
children are not individuals brought up in isolation, but rather formed as a result of the plethora
of external influences in society. Although his research focused on child development and
socially mediated learning, it laid the foundation for further inquiry into and development of
sociocultural theory. Wertsch (1985), who coined the term “sociocultural”, is credited with
“capturing the notion that human mental functioning results from participation in, and
appropriation of, the forms of cultural mediation integrated into social activities” (J. P. Lantolf &
Beckett, 2009, p. 459). Given the complex nature of the historical background and cultural
context of this research project, a Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical framework is appropriate.
Framing this study through a sociocultural lens takes into consideration the many variables that
come into play – this study considers gender, age, nationality, cultural and educational
background, history, language, social interactions, and more (Johnson, 2009; J. R. Lantolf,
2000):

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a sociocultural perspective also emphasizes the role of human agency…It recognizes that
learning is not the straightforward appropriation of skills or knowledge from the outside
in, but the progressive movement from external, socially mediated activity to internal
meditational control by individual learners, which results in the transformation of both
the self and the activity. Thus, cognitive development is not simply a matter of
enculturation or even appropriation of existing sociocultural resources and practices, but
the reconstruction and transformation of those resources and practices in ways that are
responsive to both individual and local needs.[emphasis added] (Johnson, 2009, p. 2)
Johnson’s description of a sociocultural perspective offers a useful framework for this current
writing center study because it allows for the possibility of fluid and dynamic perspectives. For
example, has a faculty member always had a particular perspective about the writing center? Or
has this perspective been reconstructed and transformed in response to changes at the ADU-Q
Writing Center? Do the sociocultural dynamics of the Qatari context play a role in a faculty’s
expectations and understanding of the writing center’s role?
Kim’s (2006a, 2006b, 2007, 2011) recent work on sociocultural theory provides a
particularly useful model of research inquiry. Kim’s work has primarily focused on
Sociocultural Theory (SCT) as it relates to motivation in second language learners. Specifically,
he has investigated how Korean immigrants in Canada have undergone changes in their
motivations and attitudes regarding language learning. His work reveals the numerous
influences that contribute to language learning successes and failures. Kim’s work is particularly
relevant for this study because it incorporates the multitude of social influences he identifies,
such as motivations for living in a foreign environment, length of time in the country, etc., that
may similarly play a role in how faculty perceptions are formed and developed in the unique
context of ADU-Q. Additionally, Syed (2003) notes the importance of sociocultural context in
English language teaching in the Arabian Gulf to teachers: “The sociocultural context is
important not only for the learner but also for the teacher” (p. 337). Syed’s call to understand the
faculty’s personal situation underscores the value of eliciting perspectives from English faculty,
as this study will do. The status of education reform in Qatar raises critical questions about the
linguistic imperialism of English in a country where Arabic is the official language. It brings to
the surface pedagogical and professional issues such as the role of faculty vis-à-vis the writing
center. It is imperative to explore and reveal the underlying origins and perceptions of these
issues in order to strengthen the relationships between the faculty, writing center, and other
stakeholders.
Social Capitalism
While sociocultural considerations were an important component of data collection, this
study primarily takes a social capitalist perspective in analyzing data. Social capital theory has
its origins with Bourdieu (1986), who based his theories on economics and global social
conditions in France at the time. He identified social capital as one type of capital whereby
“social capital is the sum of resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by
virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual
acquaintance and recognition” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 119). In the present study, I
explore the possibilities of social capitalism between English faculty and the writing center at
ADU-Q.

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Bourdieu’s theories focused on socioeconomics and class privilege, which is one relevant
component of the Qatari context. For example, Qatari students are granted significant privileges
– e.g., free education, stipends for attending school, and often guaranteed employment upon
graduation. In this scenario, Qatari students do not need to invest in the development of social
capital to supplement their economic wealth. On the other hand, non-Qatari students typically
find themselves having to borrow money or prove themselves worthy of financial assistance
from the Qatari government. These international students must demonstrate and develop a
higher level of social capital.
In contrast to Bourdieu, other scholars developed social capital theory in different ways.
For example, Coleman (1988), an American sociologist who wrote during approximately the
same time as Bourdieu, placed more emphasis on the value of social capital for the marginalized
and powerless. Non-Qatari students enrolled in higher education institutions in Knowledge City
parallel Coleman’s idea of “marginalized and powerless”, because they are not entitled to the
financial privileges that Qatari students receive. Coleman brought together the fields of
sociology and economics and suggested that people had the ability to use the resources available
to them in order to become more successful. “Social capital is productive, making possible the
achievement of certain ends that in its absence would not be possible”; furthermore, “social
capital inheres in the structure of relations between actors and among actors” (Coleman, 1988, p.
S98). More recently, Putnam (1995) made a passionate call for the reinstatement of social
capitalism with his publication Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American
Community. He argues that the changing society in America is leading to greater individualism,
with less emphasis placed on the importance of social connections and social capital. Although
Putman writes from an American framework, his theories are useful to consider in the Qatari
society where social connections are paramount (Zaharna, 1995). Putnam’s theory that social
connections should increase social capital raise questions about the Qatari context – is the ADU-
Q writing center, a focal point of collaboration and social networking, thriving because of the
local context? If it is not thriving, why not? Furthermore, ADU-Q is an American institution
that embraces many of the American values Putnam discusses, such as greater individualism.
Does the sense of greater individualism and personal responsibility conflict with the local Qatari
context? Do English faculty expect students to invest a greater amount of personal dedication to
their writing and academic development? Is there a disconnect between students’ expectations
of themselves and the writing center staff’s expectations of them? A sociocultural investigation
into the relationship between faculty and the writing center fits neatly within this framework
because how faculty perceive the writing center then results in actions that directly affect student
visits to the writing center (as the introductory anecdote clearly demonstrates).
Social capitalism and its relevance to writing center work is particularly noted in The
Writing Center Resource Book:
As we conceptualize ‘The Idea of the Writing Center’ for this new century, one of our
greatest ethical challenges will be to define and actualize the writing center as a form of
social capital that can produce aggregate growth within academic and social
communities…we should also recognize the transformative power of writing center work
and seek to envision the writing center as a locus of significant social capital for both the
academy and the community. (Murphy & Stay, 2006, p. 278)

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In 2007, Hall repeated this call to view writing centers through a social capitalist framework in
his description of a successful Writing-Across-the-Curriculum initiative (Hall, 2007). Both
Murphy & Stay and Hall cite Putnam’s recent contributions to the field of social capital, whereby
“social capital is found in social connections, from which emerge the most significant types of
networking and interpersonal relations that are the basis of community formation” (Murphy &
Stay, 2006, p. 278).
These frameworks of sociocultural theory and social capitalism are key and distinctive
features in this research study, because they allow a framework for exploring the multiple
converging, and sometimes conflicting, elements of perceptions that impact the use of the
writing center and the resulting institutional profile of the center.
Writing Center History

Boquet opens Noise from the Writing Center by sharing an email communication from
another faculty member who felt it was “inappropriate and discourteous to make such a racket as
I heard coming from the Writing Center this evening” (Boquet, 2002, p. xiii). Boquet goes on to
explain that the writing center, in fact, had been holding a meeting where they were discussing
and working on various professional development initiatives. Throughout the book, Boquet
continues to discuss the sheer and clear lack of understanding from the faculty about the nature
of writing center work.
Clark (1985), Bishop (1990), Perdue (1991), Masiello and Hayward’s (1991), and
Pemberton (1995) conducted writing center research related to faculty perceptions. Other
research into faculty perceptions of writing centers has been scant and has typically revolved
around quantitative data collection and analysis. Most information about faculty perceptions has
been conducted through satisfaction surveys at the end of each term, as indicated by the
WCENTER listserv, an electronic forum for writing center professionals across the globe. More
recently, Mauriello, Macauley, and Koch (2011) have provided an entire edited collection,
Before and After the Tutorial: Writing Centers and Institutional Relationships, which includes
various types of institutional relationships shared with writing centers; the volume, however, is
curiously silent about faculty perceptions.
Research relating to composition studies and English language learners typically has its
roots in contrastive rhetoric, as introduced by Kaplan (1966). Contrastive rhetoric focuses on the
idea that different cultures have different rhetorical patterns, and, therefore, explicit teaching
about these differences is imperative to developing successful writers in new academic contexts.
Recent years, however, have witnessed considerable growth in research more specific to ELLs
within U.S.-based writing centers; this scholarship has tended to maintain a focus on contrastive
rhetoric, in addition to concerns of effective pedagogical practices, linguistic differences, and
cultural considerations (Al-Issa & Dahan, 2011; Bruce & Rafoth, 2009; Thompson-Panos &
Thomas-Ruzie, 1983; Williams, 2004; Williams & Severino, 2004). Other studies have
investigated students’ and tutors’ perceptions of effective tutorials (Eleftheriou, 2011; Thonus,
2001, 2002; Weigle & Nelson, 2004).
Bruce and Rafoth (2004) made a significant contribution to scholarship on ESL students
in the writing center with ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors. A second edition of
this book, published in 2009, continues to be the sole book of its type specifically designed to

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guide tutors in working with ESL students. While the above literature focuses on ELL students’
experiences in the writing center, it is also critical to look at one of the most controversial,
recurring, and still unresolved themes in writing center scholarship regarding English language
learners: the debate between directive versus non-directive tutoring strategies. Current writing
center pedagogy tends to purport a very indirect, Socratic method of tutorial teaching (Ryan &
Zimmerelli, 2010); yet this model has been primarily based on work with native English
speakers. Lefort (2010) summarizes the debate concisely and appropriately concludes that
neither one is correct nor incorrect, but rather writing center professionals need to use
appropriate instructional strategies that reflect their context. This clear gap in research lends
itself well to my research questions: What are faculty perceptions of the ADU-Q writing center?
Specifically, what types of practices do faculty perceive are or should be taking place during
writing center tutorials? How does this type of instruction relate to the development of their
perceptions of the writing center? For example, occasionally members of the Doha Writing
Center Network have commented that faculty have suggested a student has received “too much”
assistance in the center. Direct instruction can often be interpreted as too much help and,
therefore, raises questions about academic integrity issues. The sociological approach to this
study seeks to reveal some of these underlying issues that may raise concerns for faculty,
especially with regard to peer tutors. For example, if a peer tutor is less skilled in explaining a
grammatical concept, might he or she simply rewrite a passage of the writer’s work? On the
other hand, some faculty might expect the writing center to provide more editorial-type services,
especially for ELLs. While it is not the focus of this present study to directly investigate this
particular phenomenon of direct versus indirect instruction, the results of the study may indicate
that this key debate does influence faculty perceptions. For example, do faculty who expect
direct, explicit instruction (perhaps even editing and proofreading) then get frustrated or
confused when a student submits a paper full of errors? Do faculty feel that their students, as
language learners or design students, need a particular type of writing instruction? As Bizzaro
and Toler (1986) have suggested, do the tutors’ and faculty’s own writing apprehensions
influence the nature of perceptions of the writing center? As Bauer (2009) aptly points out,
many faculty are simply not engaged with writing at all; therefore, the directive versus non-
directive debate may not even be at a conscious level for many faculty. This lack of engagement
with writing was an unlikely scenario in the current research, since the participants were all
ADU-Q English faculty and, therefore, were likely to be more engaged with writing.
Nonetheless, this study aimed to unearth these varying levels of understanding of writing and
viewpoints about teaching and tutoring writing to ELLs in a design institution in Qatar.
A similarly unique perspective is offered in Yavarow’s (2012) column “From the Interior
Design Studio to the Writing Center: One Tutor's Unconventional Journey to Designing a
Tutorial.” In this brief article, Yavarow articulates many of the ways in which she views the
process of design to be helpful in explaining writing concepts and processes to her peers in
writing tutorials. Yavarow’s article reinforces the idea that writing can be appropriately adapted
and situated in a discipline-specific context, such as at ADU-Q. It also highlights the positive
and reflective nature that a peer tutor can offer when working with other peers in the design
discipline. Nonetheless, it stops short of investigating faculty perceptions and connections more
relevant to the unique language learning environment in Qatar.

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Finally, Matsuda and Jablonsky (2000) have wisely cautioned about some attempts to
suggest that disciplinary writing is akin to writing in a second language. These authors clearly
outline their goals from the outset:
Our first goal in this paper, then, is to critically examine the “WID as a second language”
metaphor and consider its implications for WAC programs. Specifically, we want to
argue for a critical approach to the use of this metaphor because, as we will discuss, its
broad and uncritical use can mask the complexity of second-language learning and can
lead to the marginalization of second-language writers in WAC programs as well as in
the professional discourse of composition studies in general. By critiquing the use of the
L2 metaphor in composition studies, however, we do not mean to suggest that specialists
in both WAC and English as a second language (ESL) have much to learn from one
another. Our second goal, then, is to consider mutually beneficial ways of achieving
interdisciplinary collaboration between WAC and ESL specialists. (p. 1)
Matsuda and Jablonsky’s cautionary, yet optimistic, advice is particularly important and valuable
for this present study which investigates language learners in the context of a disciplinary-
specific institution.
Peer tutors have played a role in ADU-Q’s writing center since the program began in
2011, and, therefore, it is essential to explore the historical background of peer tutoring in
academia and in the present context. The concept of peer tutoring has always been complex, and
remained a source of constant debate since its inception. In 1983, Harvey Kail wrote
“Collaborative Learning in Context: The Problems with Peer Tutoring,” which delineated some
of the challenges that collaborative learning strategies, those typically used in writing center
work, faced in the academic context. While Kail’s work critically examined the value of peer
tutoring in academia, Bruffee’s (1984) work continued to espouse the benefits of collaborative
learning. In “Peer Tutoring and the ‘Conversation of Mankind,’” Bruffee articulates the
foundations upon which collaborative learning was based:
For American college teachers the roots of collaborative learning lie neither in radical
politics nor in research. They lie in the nearly desperate response of harried colleges
during the early 1970s to a pressing educational need. A decade ago, faculty and
administrators in institutions throughout the country became aware that, increasingly,
students entering college had difficulty doing as well in academic studies as their native
ability suggested they should be able to do. Of course, some of these students were
poorly prepared academically. Many more of them, however, had on paper excellent
secondary preparation. The common denominator among both the poorly prepared and
the seemingly well-prepared was that, for cultural reasons we may not yet fully
understand, all these students seemed to have difficulty adapting to the traditional or
‘normal’ conventions of the college classroom…to provide that alternative some colleges
turned to peer tutoring. (1984, p. 637)
This acknowledgment of poor academic preparation, as well as understanding
“conventions of the college classroom” reflects the current status of many students at ADU-Q,
who come from a very different and wide variety of educational backgrounds.

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Writing center research about peer tutoring has proliferated in recent years (Boquet,
1999; Bruffee, 1984; Eleftheriou, 2011; Fallon, 2010; Fels, 2010; Geller, Eodice, Condon,
Carroll, & Boquet, 2006; Kail & Trimbur, 1987; Ronesi, 2009, 2011). The existence and
development of such peer tutor initiatives displays the growing professionalism and solid
foundation of peer tutoring in writing. Nonetheless, this development primarily stems from the
U.S. context with Inner-Circle native speakers as tutors. The current study explores the
phenomenon of peer tutoring within the Arabian Gulf context, through the perceptions of English
faculty at ADU-Q. Are faculty perceptions, in fact, a result of the linguistic diversity found in
Qatar and on ADU-Q’s campus? Do faculty experiences in more monolingual educational
environments play a role in how they perceive the role of the writing center?
Although there has been a considerable growth of writing centers in the Middle East in
recent years, research and scholarship still lags behind that which is produced in the United
States. Jodi Lefort, Past President of the Middle East-North Africa Writing Center Alliance
(MENAWCA) plainly states, “There is virtually no literature about Writing Centers outside
North America.” (Lefort, 2008). Another recent contribution to the writing center field
investigates perceptions of the tutor and tutee in a Middle Eastern writing center (Eleftheriou,
2011). This study builds on Eleftheriou’s research by extending it to the exploration of outside
influences, such as faculty perceptions.
Eleftheriou notes, “There is evidence that qualitative evaluation strategies may be better
suited than quantitative ones for application in cross-cultural research environments”
(Eleftheriou, 2011). Given the unique international and cross-cultural environment and
atmosphere at ADU-Q, the qualitative methods adopted for this study are appropriate.
Therefore, this study pursues an exploratory methodology, “which seeks to understand how
individuals in a given social and educational context make meaning, draw conclusions and make
suggestions about their own learning” (Troudi & Jendli, 2011, p. 30). This methodology aligns
well with the sociocultural perspective that I take throughout the study because it allows for
fluidity in participants’ perspectives and an acknowledgment of participant agency.
Primary Research Question: What are English faculty perceptions of the ADU-Q writing
center?
Responses can best be captured through the voices of English faculty; perceptions of the
writing center were positive overall. English faculty expressed appreciation for the type of work
that the Writing Center provided to students, as well as the Writing Center’s strong support for
assisting and supporting English faculty. Cindy noted:
Here, I have loved the writing center. I love that we have a writing center. I um…I think
it has served me well and served my students well. It has...saved my students…many
times. I always have a close connection with the writing center staff and faculty. Um, I
consider them part of the….I’ve always considered them part of the English program
really….I think that, um, there is a general regard and respect for the writing center. At
least that’s the impression I get.
Alice supported this view:

I’ve loved the writing center here because I feel like the students cannot… they cannot
really benefit from [series of basic English courses], especially those 3 courses without
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the benefit, the added benefit of the writing center. I think to rely just on their professor,
you know, in the course, I think it’s asking…it’s just too much. They don’t…they need
other readers… and of course it helps when they, they…have their peer review in the
class, but they often don’t trust their classmates, so…uh, no matter how much we try to
emphasize how helpful they can be to each other…um…so to have the writing center
uh…tutors available um…I, yeah. It’s, I just feel like it’s most important…
Silvia similarly commented:

I always try to thank the writing center whenever they work with any of my
students…and make more comments if I have time. So I want them to know, even if it’s
just thank you, I want them to be thanked.
When describing his experience at ADU-Q, Jerry compared the Writing Center with his prior
institutional experiences:
I wouldn’t say that anywhere else that I’ve taught...has actually had, in my opinion, such
a well-defined and developed writing center. And by that I mean, you know, here’s a
clear schedule, with available um, tutors, and, um, you know, mission statement, and all
of that….which, which I actually think is fantastic….umm…at the [name of previous
university where Jerry taught], we …if there was any such a thing it wasn’t promoted,
which is really a shame.
Jerry went on to note that he promoted use of the Center to his students, “I always encourage the
writing center, basically with all my classes….”
In contrast, while Julia did not specifically convey a positive or negative attitude about
the Writing Center-English faculty relationship, she did indicate a lack of strong ties:
I feel like…often times I feel like the writing center gets forgotten in the minds of the
English faculty or not forgotten…well yeah I would say it’s put after…work for students
… and it’s not because I’m like “oh the writing center isn’t important” but just in the
scheme of things that are, you know, on my plate it’s one of the last things that I think
of…I feel like it could…there could be stronger ties between the two…
Julia also repeatedly suggested that her lack of collaboration was a result of trying to “mostly just
to avoid confusion for you guys” because:
there might be like a….I don’t know…a disconnect in terms of understanding like maybe
somebody’s saying “I would love for you to help my student with this paper” but there’s
all this backstory that I’d have to give you about where we are in the classroom in order
for you to help them, so maybe you should just help them with what they come in with
and then see how that goes.
The ADU-Q Coordinator shared this perception of a lack of collaboration, and she added
her own perception about how she believes the Writing Center is perceived and has shifted over
time:

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Well it definitely has changed….when I first came….If a student needed help with
writing…. then one of the English faculty, and I don’t know how decisions were made,
but one of the English faculty probably took that person under their wing and worked
with them….the English faculty were accustomed to pitching in because one person
could not manage the need that there was at that time. …. the English department
considered the Writing Center instructors their liaisons, or their colleagues…we
participated in their portfolio reviews, we collaborated with them, if there was a crunch
time such as at the end of the semester they pitched in….um, it was just a very
collaborative relationship. Then a few years ago the attitude changed, and I think it was
with the hiring of a few newer people who were um…not [just] one but perhaps they had
been teaching assistants…and they really didn’t want to re-live that experience because
they wanted to go do the “higher” work, if you will, of teaching in the classroom; in other
words they wanted to build their repertoire and their career. Traditionally …the English
department considers those who do the writing, you know the writing center people, to be
the second-class citizens if you will. And…that attitude certainly emerged in full force.
And we had some…notable disagreements and…priorities were made and um, the two
departments were more clearly differentiated. So today, um, we’re not accustomed to
collaborating very much with them, although we do work with them as we do with other
professors about the content of their courses. But the, the spirit of collaboration we once
had really is not there.
Participants’ experiences with writing centers, receipt of tutorial session reports, and
general experiences (personal friendships, hearing from students, having peer tutors in the
classroom) are the strongest contributing factors to what influences English faculty perceptions
of the ADU-Q Writing Center. Participants’ experiences with writing centers prior to ADU-Q
were highly varied. The Coordinator had never heard of a writing center prior to coming to
ADU-Q, whereas some of the English faculty had worked in them in the United States. Some
English faculty had utilized writing center services as clients, while others explained that they
felt their writing was at a high enough level that they often did not seek out support. Explaining
his understanding of a writing center’s role, Randy stated:
…my understanding is that they were there…they were there to help without writing the
paper. They were there to make suggestions, um, that could be very specific at times but
could be very broad at others. Um, and they were just…generally helping me to improve
everything that goes into writing, including the thought behind it….I mean I think why I
stopped using them was that at, when I was at [university] I would bring my stuff to the
writing center and they just wouldn’t have anything to say. You know they would just
say, “Wow this looks really good, I’m not sure, I think you’re writing sort of ‘above’ my
level”. Because often they were you know, undergrad tutors, maybe some from the
graduate school but even then they’d be in other disciplines and they would just say, you
know, your… maybe a couple commas to point out of something like that, but they really
stopped being sort of helpful at the level that I was at.
Despite the fact that Randy stopped using a writing center when he felt it stopped being
helpful, his belief of the writing center’s role did not solely encompass remedial-type work. He
clearly stated, “I think the writing center’s role is to help them think.” Cindy had been trained

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and educated as to the nature of writing center pedagogy in the U.S. context, but she also noted
the ways in which it needed to be adapted for the ELL population at ADU-Q.
In addition to previous personal experiences with writing centers, English faculty

understandings of the Writing Center were also influenced by the tutorial session reports they
received. Randy stated, “I appreciate the reports, I read them carefully, I respond to ones that
merit response…um I save them, I keep track of them…” Jerry further indicated:
one thing that I truly appreciate is the level of depth in the feedback that I get from the
email…um…for each visit. I think that’s fantastic. Because, you know, despite the fact
that we’re somewhat spoiled in having relatively small classes, um, still to get to that
level of…um…knowledge of your students’ writing on a one-to-one basis is very time-
consuming. So that we have a writing center where you or [name of Writing Center
staff] or [name of Writing Center staff] or even some of the tutors now that you have the
peer tutors can write up something and say I’ve seen this person, and this is what they
were dealing with. It’s just a tremendous help for me to understand that student, you
know? And to help to support them.
Silvia indicated that she appreciated the reports, although simultaneously confessed that
her grammar abilities were at a far lower level than that of the Writing Center instructors’, “It’s
just…I don’t even understand when she writes some of the notes back about some of the things
they did…you know, that they addressed in the writing center I’m like I don’t know what those
terms mean…dangling whatevers and…”. Julia also talked about how emailed reports could
help her, not necessarily in understanding the Writing Center, but in working with her individual
students:
I do talk to students about their experience post [writing center tutorial session] –
especially if I get an email about them going I talk about that with them and see, you
know, how it went ….but if they, if you guys have talked to them about a specific thing
then that’s something I’ll be sure to bring up the next time I sit down and talk with them
about their paper.
Samantha, the ADU-Q Coordinator, further validated the importance of session reports for
faculty:
in the case of a few professors I think we win them over when, you know, they receive
the reports that we write from working with the students….and once they begin to read
those reports and get those reports and they compare what those students are doing or
they realize what those students are doing compared to some of the others…. they begin
to realize, you know what, I don’t have to read these half-written, poorly punctuated
things, and it’s going to make life easier for me if I send them.
Experience with writing centers and interaction with the writing center through the
receipt of emailed reports emerged as the greatest influential factors in how English faculty
perceptions of the Center had been shaped. Nonetheless, other factors undoubtedly influenced
individual opinions, such as hearing back from students, the intimate work environment, and
more. Cindy also indicated that the small work environment allowed individuals to get to know
each other professionally during personal time:
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some of us are personal friends…I mean [name omitted] is my neighbor, has been for
years, and a personal friend of mine, and I know she’s that way with [name omitted], she
and [name omitted] came, started at the same time. Um…so, that’s, you know, some of
us are personal friends and then I think that, um, there is a general regard and respect for
the writing center.
Ongoing experience and interaction with the Writing Center at ADU-Q are the
overarching themes of how English faculty have formed their perceptions and understanding of
the Writing Center. These insights offer possible critical implications for the disciplinary faculty
who have far less experience with/interaction with the Writing Center.
Another overarching theme was that students should receive priority in receiving writing
center support. As Jerry said, “I do feel that the first line of services...is…you know, basically,
the students come first. And it has to be like that.” Randy clearly expressed, “I think the only
way it seems to me to go about it is to give the people the most support that need it.” Silvia went
further by discussing ways in which the Writing Center should not assume responsibility for
teaching subject matter that faculty might not be interested in teaching:
The writing center is there to support the classrooms not do all the heavy lifting that you
don’t want to do in the classroom. And I think particularly at an art and design school
it’s very difficult for designers who are uncomfortable with writing not to just throw
everything on the writing center.
There was also constant recognition that ADU-Q is a unique and entirely different
context in the ways that it employs many ELLs as faculty and staff. Consequently, participants
seemed to be searching for a model as a guide when it came to writing center support for faculty
and staff. When discussing faculty and staff clients in the Writing Center, Silvia stated:
I wonder though if it unduly strains the writing center, particularly the types of writing
that they’re bringing in which tend to be like dissertations or, you know, articles for
scholarly journals….these aren’t like a couple of pages. Um…and I don’t know of any
other writing center that caters to professors, um…so it’s a wonderful service…
Jerry reinforced this concern:
…my concern…for the writing center, though, is whether or not those requests from
faculty overtax the resources… something to think about is how, how are the work flows
managed? Can those requests from people like me and other faculty members really be
accommodated without sinking the ship?
Alice expressed similar concerns:
I think it’s a little tricky because I hate to think that they’re….that they’re taking up too
much of the time, and that students then can’t get in which happens so often toward the
end of the semester…which of course, that’s not the time for students to be waiting to go
but, but I do worry that if faculty is taking up too much time then students….it’s…not
fair, yeah. So I don’t know what the solution is there….
In contrast, Julia bluntly voiced her opposition to helping faculty and staff:
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I really don’t like it. I feel like it takes away from time that you guys should be spending
with students or could be spending with students or should be. I think that…this is
something that I…struggling with from the Master’s thesis point of view too, at what
point do you cut somebody off from the service that’s offered freely and what point does
it become a professional or, you know, money exchange service?
While Julia expressed her dislike for time spent on working with faculty and staff as
clients in the writing center, she offered advice for how this challenge might be overcome, such
as offering workshops to a group of faculty. Samantha also noted the overwhelming demand
placed on the Writing Center by faculty and staff clients:
The problem, here, one thing needs to be noted, we’re an atypical situation because so
many of our faculty are second language speakers. And once they find out what the
writing center can do, we have them as students. Uh, so we are at times, very
overwhelmed in our responsibilities.
English faculty and the Writing Center staff perceptions seem to align with regard to offering
priority services to undergraduate students before assisting faculty and staff. Further quantitative
research may offer insight as to the depth of the challenges with prioritization.
As expected, many of the English faculty expressed that one of the primary roles of the
Writing Center was that of providing grammar-related English language assistance. Cindy noted
how the role of ADU-Q’s Writing Center was unique as a result of the local context and
demographic composition of learners:
…it’s slightly different from perhaps on the home campus. Um, yes, generally I think
that it’s a support at any stage to the student in their writing.…but I think, too, that
what’s…an important component is working with students on grammar, and sentence
construction, and punctuation, these sorts of things. Because we don’t have a lot of time
to go over that in class. Um, we’re teaching the same things that are taught on the home
campus, and it’s expected that the student has all these sorts of skills and…um,
developed, and established before they get here. That’s not really the case here.
Silvia also echoed Cindy’s perspective that the curricular requirements assumed many of
these skills were in place for students when they entered ADU-Q:
…helping them build those critical skills…um…dealing with the ESL mechanical
grammar issues…that’s the biggest help to us because we don’t have the ability or the
time or both to do that as much as we can, and there’s really no room in the curriculum
for teaching grammar…all the [course] outcomes are based on other things that assume
that those elements are already in place…
Julia also acknowledged the problem of underprepared students but, when asked if these weaker
students should be required to visit the writing center, she offered a slightly more radical
response:
I think it’s something that should be headed off at the pass in Admissions if that’s an
issue. And I think that we really haven’t addressed it enough here, but… if a student’s

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not capable of writing at the university standards coming in, then…they should probably
not have been admitted to the school… I don’t think that’s fair to the student….So maybe
that means a readjustment of expectations from the university and a changing of the
curriculum of the lower level classes, or…um…restricting admission for students who
aren’t prepared…
Julia further explained:
…if there’s a student who is collectively not getting a lot of things then I’ll recommend
that they come see me or that they…go to the writing center for help with this particular
thing that…that issue…if it’s grammar-related or if it’s usage related…
Later, Julia also noted how she viewed her own support and that of the Writing Center as
equivalent:
I usually say that in tandem...either come to my office hours or go to the writing center
because, um…you know, if it’s super-busy here I don’t want them to feel like they can’t
come to see me for the same problem, you know?
Time constraints were cited by all English faculty. Randy plainly stated:
I think what it comes down to for me is a matter of time.…if I see that there is just a
student that is struggling with writing on so many different levels, I will often send them
to the writing center as well as continue to work with me because they need, obviously, a
lot of um…one-to-one instruction and time.
Similarly, the ADU-Q Coordinator commented on the importance of basic English language
support. She noted that this is one area in which the Writing Center and English faculty may
diverge in their roles, “Where we differ is I think we also have uh, the responsibility of the more
elementary parts of writing such as the grammar and the punctuation and um…the clarity
and…and conciseness and those things.”
When discussing language issues related to writing, English faculty and the Coordinator
often discussed the critical connection between thinking and writing. Samantha stated, “My
motto is clear writing means clear thinking. …And the courses we have here are very much
involved with teaching our students to think.” Randy articulated this as one of the roles of the
Writing Center, “I think the writing center’s role is to help them think. …they’re there to give
suggestions and help them think through things, and things like that…”. Alice echoed this
challenge, “I think one of the biggest problems is the critical thinking.” Cindy went on to note
the value of thinking in a different language than their native tongue:
… there are certain kinds of thinking that come around in English….So I, I’m wondering
if, I think it helps people you know, if you’re used to thinking in certain patterns in your
native language, to learn another language, you might find out that you’re thinking in
different patterns.
This recurring theme offers validation that while somewhat dated, Kaplan’s (1966)
discussion of contrastive rhetoric and cultural thought patterns remains a concern in the present
day.
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One interesting finding was that although English faculty recognized that they were in a
design school, they felt no particular need to teach to or within the disciplines. They seemed to
recognize that the issue of disciplinary writing may be part of their teaching context, but, as Jerry
commented, “…to be honest with you, other than trying to ground my students more in I guess,
academic um…register…um, I don’t find a heavy onus on me…I don’t feel that...heavy onus to
sort of teach to the field of design.” Randy felt that connecting design with English was
relatively natural in the ways that they share similar concepts, “…most of the skills or tools or
concepts or ideas that I articulate to them I will often try to, to re-articulate through the
framework of art and design in some way.” Alice similarly commented on how the English
faculty build on design studies to help shape their courses, “For example…[course name]…what
used to be that first essay….now it’s the writing about a piece of artwork.”
One of the oft-cited concerns from English faculty related to how their work connects
with a discipline-specific institution was that of the lack of transfer from English classes to other
classes (McHarg, 2013a, 2013b). This theme of problems with transfer of skills is another key
issue that could yield stronger social capital for the ADU-Q Writing Center within the entire
institutional context.
English faculty perceptions of the use of peer tutors were another aspect of this study’s
investigation. Cumulatively, English faculty perceived peer tutors as a positive addition to
ADU-Q’s writing center. Most suggested a general feeling of skepticism at the beginning; as
Silvia stated, “I think people were skeptical at first, um…but it has become a really strong
program…”. The ADU-Q Writing Center Coordinator, Samantha, further validated this
sentiment when she voiced how her perspective had changed over time:
Well, you have convinced me, actually, with the peer tutor program. You know [name
omitted], who trained me, uh, when…when I first began talking with her she said “Don’t
even try peer tutors. The students will not use them because they don’t trust their peers. ”
…we really had a changing student body, and we really had enough demand that we
needed peer tutors. …I’m tickled to see our students learning that these students who
have training can help them.
The English faculty voices indicate a positive perception of the peer tutor program;
however, feedback tended to focus on more general ideals of peer tutoring – being a positive
model or mentor, being closer in age to students, etc. – rather than any specific language and
writing development. Jerry commented:
Overall, I think it’s a fantastic, really a fantastic, um, endeavor, and uh…very worthwhile
because it feeds back into the whole idea of the culture of writing, and when you have
peers that can model to, you know, a freshman or whatnot, like “one day maybe you will
be a peer tutor” or you can be, you know, you’ll move to that level of confidence…that
sort of thing I think is…sends a really positive message, a hopeful message to our
students…as writers.…but just by virtue of A) having more people available to work with
them; B) having people…much closer, proximity I guess to their age group, umm, and
who are typically also students, whether here or elsewhere, uh, I think just sends a really,
really strong message to our writers that “you know what, you know, you can move in
this direction”, you know one day you can be a peer tutor here, you know.

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Cindy also stated:

I think it’s a great program. I really do.…Again, we are helping to develop student
leaders. And because they are responsible for helping other students with language, I
imagine that this will make them more conscious of language, conscious about how to
write well…I have a feeling it will help them develop in their, help them develop their
own ideas and also in their writing.
Silvia also responded with a positive perception of the peer tutor program:
I think it’s fantastic! …and I think people were skeptical at first, um…but that it has
become a really strong program, I think a peer can impact a student in even a different
way than an instructor can because the student feels like they can relate to this peer a
little more, but it also gives them something to aspire to like “here’s somebody like me
who writes well…” and can teach others and help others, um…so I think it breaks down
that idea that we can’t be good writers because we’re not native speakers or we’re
not…or because we’re ESL…I think it’s a fantastic program…
Julia further noted how the peer tutors and English department offer very similar methods of
teaching:
…and also it’s something that we do in our own classrooms you know, at least for
[course name] I can’t constantly be…I mean I can model thesis writing but I also have to
let them work in small groups a lot and so in some ways they are tutoring each other,
even and helping each other through the process of writing even…without having the
official peer tutor title so it’s not that strange or…you know…or like beyond the scope of
what they’re already doing.
Some English faculty still freely expressed their reservations about the questionable
competency of peer tutors. For example, despite Jerry’s great enthusiasm for the program, he
noted:
…the only concern that I’ve had, and it’s maybe crossed my desk once…? Once or
twice… is the actual level of competence, writing competence, of some of the peer tutors.
…one or two maybe… emails from the peer tutors, after a visit from, with one of my
students. And I’ve seen some grammatical errors in their email. Now I routinely…make
errors in my own email….but they don’t strike me to be that type of error, you know, of
just sort of quick writing, it’s more sort of verb accord, so to speak, and so that poses, for
me, a slight concern …still that small con is far outweighed by the pro of having another
student there who can write something coherent and can look for coherence in a piece
and can help spot the, the larger grammatical issues…
Randy similarly expressed concerns about peer tutor competence:
…there are some worries that they might not be as qualified as they could be, to help
other students.…I’m a little bit concerned that um…that they may not be getting the same
quality or level of instruction that is given from someone who has a lot of experience and
someone who has been well-trained in it.

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Cindy echoed Randy’s concerns with her feedback about peer tutors:
…I have a slight concern about maybe their um, level of achievement or their expertise
because they are second language, uh, still in college, students, um, but I trust the writing
center faculty to supervise and work with them on this. So it’s a concern that’s not really
deep. It doesn’t run deep, I just have wondered about it at times.
Despite any reservations or hesitations, all English faculty returned to being strong supporters of
the peer tutor program and perceived the tutors as a positive addition to the Writing Center.
In addition to responses from the interview questions, some additional themes emerged
during this study. The first, perhaps most salient theme was the emergence of unsolicited
suggestions and recommendations for ADU-Q’s writing center. Many of these stemmed from
questions about the role of the Writing Center in assisting faculty and staff. English faculty
indicated that although services for faculty might be valuable, necessary, and appreciated, they
should only be offered only if writing center staff time permits. Another emergent theme related
to the purpose and existence of the American higher education institution within Qatar.
Responses suggested almost an existential questioning of the governmental mandate in the
region. Jerry questioned the purpose of his mission when discussing the use of English in an
Arabic-speaking context:
… it’s really a philosophical slash ideological um…question. And it goes to the core of
what the purpose of, you know, the Knowledge City campuses are. Is it Westernization
slash modernization? Is it globalization? Um…or is it enhancement of local culture and
local skills? I think…clarity is desirable…
Randy said:
…you know, ideally we would not be here. I mean that’s sort of my opinion. Ideally
they would not need us nor want us...the powers that be that have invited all of these
branch campuses. I mean the upper levels of government, right, are the people that are
spearheading this whole endeavor. I mean…it’s so difficult because the system is set up
in such a monolingual way. You know like myself for instance…I can’t help them with
their Arabic, that’s just the reality of my position. I can help them enrich and strengthen
their speaking, writing, thinking skills in English…um, but I can’t help them with their
Arabic and…ideally they would… have some kind of system that that would be
multilingual or maybe focuses almost exclusively in Arabic with English as an option…
but the political…it’s so complicated, you know, the story of why we’re here goes back
hundreds and hundreds of years…
While English faculty tended to question their role in the country’s scheme, Samantha felt the
country’s vision was somewhat clear, “[W]e are here for…a particular reason, for a particular
time, and they don’t want us to have citizenship, they don’t want us to stay, this is their country.”
Undoubtedly, Qatar remains in a stage of rapid development that will continue to
transform the spheres of education, society, and politics. Participants also discussed this
phenomenon in relation to how they view Qatari and non-Qatari students. While Silvia admitted
“I don’t even really know a lot of times which ones are Qatari and which ones are not….,” most
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faculty indicated a clear distinction between the two groups. Jerry noted that despite the benefits
and services prioritize for Qatari students, this may, in fact, be a drawback:
I know this sounds funny to say this almost an at-risk population [Qatari students] when
it comes to equal access to um, the job market and education. And why I say that
is…basically inviting people to do something and having them actually do it are two
different things…
Alice shared this concern of Qataris becoming an at-risk population:
…because of the way their [Qatari] elementary and you know, all of that early learning
was happening the way it took place, um…it has…it’s penalized them a little…it’s put
them behind, so that when these other students from other places, other countries come
shining through….it’s….it’s not fair, it’s kind of sad…but I think….I think it’s
changing….
Randy echoed similar concerns about Qatari students being “left behind”.
I feel like the Qatari students are kind of getting left behind somehow. And that the expat
students because they’re so…they seem to be so well-educated, motivated, and
everything else to begin with, they’re the ones who are getting the most out of this
education. And the Qataris are somehow getting left out. Not intentionally…I think it’s,
it’s, it’s a sort of a product of the situation.
Another emergent theme related to questions of ethical responsibility related to helping
students. The question of ethics related to writing was an issue for both English faculty and the
Writing Center in terms of how much assistance students should receive. Randy explained his
conflicted feelings, “You know, when I’m going in to evaluate papers I think to myself, “How
much specific advice, you know, should I give?” Should I do sort of these line-by-line scans and
edits….is that really helping them to learn?” Alice indicated that her position had changed
throughout her years at ADU-Q, “…I’ve tried more and more through the years is to steer away
from doing that line-by-line editing, proofreading and I try to emphasize with my students the 3
levels of, of revising.” Jerry offered this question of levels of help as one of his reasons for
referring students to the Writing Center, “I feel, ethically, a little bit better if they’re able to sit in
with somebody else and work with them on their writing and then bring it back to me.”
Interestingly, Samantha also hinted that she did help too much at times, “I’m sure I earned a
couple of Bachelor’s degrees along with some of the students. I had repeat students who came in
daily, essentially, because their language use was ….not up to par.” Finally, although English
faculty questioned to what level and degree they should provide direct language assistance, they
were also optimistic about their students’ willingness to read feedback and incorporate
suggestions into their writing. Silvia recalls:
They ask for feedback more than they did in [home campus]. They follow feedback
more. Students here, and I’ve actually had to sort of limit this…they will revise
until…the last second… Students here, if you give them a C, they’re going to revise
until…they’re not at a C anymore.

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Cindy repeated this sentiment, “…they get tons of feedback and they appreciate it and they read
it.”
Results of this study reinforced the appropriate selection of a sociocultural framework.

Almost all participants’ responses related to notions of what it means to be teaching and working
in the local Qatari context. Work and life are inextricably linked. As Julia noted, “[E]verything
in my life is completely connected to this job, if I lost my job I would lose where I live.”
The local context also dictates that ADU-Q prioritizes local Qatari students.
Interestingly, this need for prioritization does not seem to transfer into the classroom. Despite
government requests and laws for developing Qatari nationals’ human capital, preference is not
given to Qatari students in the classroom. English faculty at ADU-Q maintain egalitarian
principles in the classroom, and, therefore, do not seem to give additional time or attention to any
particular group of students.
Other critical implications for the ADU-Q faculty-Writing Center relationship lie in the
social, cultural, and political trajectory of the country, which aligns well with the sociocultural
perspective of this study. Participants’ voices repeated a refrain of uncertainty with regard to
their own positionality and that of the students. The current institutional mandate is for them all
to teach solely through English medium, and yet recent political decrees and societal
undercurrents suggest that the country may be moving towards a bilingual society. Furthermore,
despite the prioritized services for Qatari citizens, these students seem to be falling behind the
educational curve in the classroom. What implications do these changes have for faculty in all
disciplines at National Institution? At ADU-Q?
Another unique finding relates to the first research question: What are English faculty
perceptions of the ADU-Q Writing Center? The participants’ voices, both from the English
faculty and Writing Center Coordinator, suggest that while English faculty perceptions of the
Writing Center may be positive, they have changed over time. These voices also offer insight as
to the possible sources of a changing dynamic and possible growing disconnect. In other words,
while Julia suggested that she may not collaborate as much due to time constraints and not
wanting to confuse the students or Writing Center staff, Samantha viewed this decrease in
collaboration as a reflection of the traditional lower status that writing centers have within an
institutional framework. She noted that ADU-Q’s Writing Center was similar to most “typical”
writing centers by its lesser prestige compared to other departments. Samantha also made
comments that echoed Perdue’s (1991) assertion that “Writing-center directors have another kind
of powerful evidence at hand…the progress reports and case histories we and our tutors write…”
(p. 18). ADU-Q English faculty perceptions related to conference summaries reinforce Cogie’s
(1998) findings that conference summaries do provide additional insight for faculty to
understand and appreciate the value of writing center work. Cogie’s survey “confirmed the
value of the weekly reports for the responding instructors” (Cogie p. 55).
While English faculty tended to agree that students should receive priority in receiving
writing center support services, there was also clear indication of the perceived need for writing
instruction for faculty and staff. As Silvia aptly stated, “We really do have professors who are
seriously ESL”. Therefore, there is an identified need and an identified possibility for improving
the level of English writing proficiency for ADU-Q faculty and staff. This finding may have
implications for the future of staffing at ADU-Q’s Writing Center; the level of staffing remains
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low, but with a demonstrated need to fill, the administration may consider the Writing Center a
more key component of the overall institutional success.
Another finding specific to the needs of Qatar is that most of the English faculty and the
ADU-Q Writing Center Coordinator commented on the need for more basic grammar instruction
with in the writing center. There was a shared acknowledgment that the Writing Center, indeed,
was an appropriate place to address the challenge of language development, in particular when
students entered the institution less prepared than most of their peers. This finding tends to
contrast with general writing center scholarship that recommends writing center work begins
with higher order concerns. And while some English faculty embraced this type of teaching
themselves, other English faculty participants saw it better-situated in the Writing Center. As
Silvia stated, “I’m like I don’t know what those terms mean…dangling whatevers and…”
English faculty and the ADU-Q Coordinator seem to agree that higher order concerns remain a
priority in the Writing Center, but the technical, lower order concerns of grammar and mechanics
also play a fundamental role in the work within ADU-Q’s Writing Center – more so, perhaps,
than in other contexts.
English faculty and the ADU-Q Coordinator shared the common stance that although the
genre of writing at a design school was seemingly of no major concern for own their teaching
practices, they all worked to support the design faculty through the teaching of writing.
Furthermore, there was agreement that transfer of knowledge between and across disciplines
remained a concern while working with students. This shared concern was one that offered
another avenue for future research. How can English faculty and the Writing Center at ADU-Q
work collaboratively and effectively to support disciplinary-specific writing?
English faculty also raised concerns about the relative academic weaknesses with which
many Qatari students enter into the classroom. This population of students, which receives
preference and priority services according to government mandates, may, in fact, be “falling
behind”. These sentiments echo recent news reports that suggest a level of underpreparation the
Qatari students face (Khatri, 2011). The ADU-Q Writing Center, a support service for university
students, faculty, and staff, may be best positioned to provide the language and critical thinking
support that English faculty indicate is needed. However, there remains uncertainty as to how
the various levels of administration and hierarchy within ADU-Q and National Institution may
implement such a prioritization. For example, American higher education institutions are bound
by egalitarian principles and legal constraints for all stakeholders – how might this conflict with
National Institution’s vision to give preference to all Qatari citizens? Participants’ voices echoed
similar concerns with questions about the direction in which the country planned to proceed.
While it was not the aim of this study to answer these types of questions, they do bring these
challenges to the forefront of education in Qatar.
Silvia asked the question about what English faculty might do for the Writing Center.
Walker (1991), who writes about the importance of a solid faculty-writing center relationship,
offers one way to enhance this collaboration: “A third way to involve faculty directly in the
Writing Center is to invite them to make short presentations to the tutors in an area of their
expertise” (p. 13). This suggestion is also worthy of further investigation. If English faculty
such as Silvia are offering expertise and others, such as Julia, are hinting that a more formalized
faculty-writing center relationship be formed, then Walker’s invitation to make presentations
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may be a likely solution at ADU-Q. Another key findings of this study relates to the challenge
that students face with regard to transferring skills across the disciplines. This perception related
to the English faculty-Writing Center relationship because both groups expressed concern that
students were not able to utilize the skills they learned in their English classes by transferring
those to their design majors. This challenge has great implications for future research, in
particular for enhancing the social capital of the Writing Center within the institution. The
ADU-Q Writing Center is positioned in such a way that gives Center staff access to students
throughout their entire university education – not just in particular courses or during particular
years of their studies. Therefore, it may be a positive benefit for the ADU-Q Writing Center
staff to focus on this opportunity to maintain continuous interaction with students. Would it be
meaningful and relevant for each student to be assigned to a particular Writing Center instructor
or tutor throughout their education at ADU-Q? What types of training strategies could be
implemented in the Writing Center to ensure continuity of teaching for each individual learner?
Interestingly, Silvia concluded our interview by asking, “What would the writing center
here want from the English program different than what we’re doing now? Like in an ideal
world, what could we be doing better for the writing center?” Her question began to indicate the
importance of simply conducting research – by asking questions and involving English faculty, I
was beginning a conversation that could extend to the future. Despite this sense of optimism, the
recurring theme of time restrictions and limitations remained pervasive, and suggests that
collaborative efforts between faculty and the Writing Center may need to be implemented, at
least initially, by imposing a top-down approach.
Taking the time to simply schedule a formalized meeting time and getting feedback
offered insight into English and Writing Center faculty perceptions. Participants felt actively
engaged; furthermore, they all expressed interest in learning about the results. For example,
Jerry ended our interview with the following sentiment:
[J]ust to do this, to just have that focus on writing center uh…I mean…clearly you’re
using here specifically, but as a wider area, um…I think is really, really valuable…umm,
you know, and for the same reason that I’m a believer in what the writing center does. So
that anything you can do that, to enhance its role, and its effectiveness, I’m all for it.
Silvia also concluded our interview with offers of assistance by asking, “What would the writing
center here want from the English program different than what we’re doing now? Like in an
ideal world, what could we be doing better for the writing center?” Her question opened the
door for increased dialogue between the Writing Center and English faculty. These positive
interactions suggest an optimistic future for the development of English faculty-Writing Center
relations, and suggest that additional research is worthy of exploring.
i
Selections of this article were taken from the original study; see (McHarg, 2013b).
ii
See Appendix for sample interview questions.
iii
All names and institutions are pseudonyms. To ensure confidentiality, any potentially identifying information has
been modified or omitted in this document.
iv
While statistics reflect the pervasive dominance of English in these fields, the linguistic imperialism of English is
not without controversy; Pennycook (1994, 2007) and others continue to problematize this linguistic imperialism.
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v
Knowledge City is an area of Doha that houses the branch campuses of the imported American universities. For a
more detailed description of the development of Knowledge City, see Kane (2011).
vi
While it is not within the scope of this study to examine the differences between the various centers, it is notable
that they do vary considerably and are constantly changing. Trimbur’s (2000) work on the changing identity of
global writing centers offers a clear indication of some of the changes that writing and academic centers in
Knowledge City struggle with now.
About the Author:

Dr. Molly McHarg is an Assistant Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University
in Qatar. She has lived and worked in Doha since 2005. She is currently President of the Middle
East-North Africa Writing Center Alliance and serves on the Qatar TESOL Executive Board.
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APPENDIX
Sample Interview Questions for English faculty Participants
1. Tell me about yourself — where were you born, where have you lived, what language(s) did
your parents speak, etc.
2. Tell me about your educational background (where did you go to school – which country(ies),
what was the language of instruction, public/private, etc.).
3. How long have you lived in Qatar?
4. How did you end up working at ADU-Q? Tell me about your experience at ADU-Q so far.
5. As you know, I’m interested in investigating your perceptions of the writing center. Therefore, I
am interested in any experience you have with writing centers, either in the past or the present.
When you were a student at other universities, did those institutions have a writing center?
What was your perception of it and/or interactions with it? What about as a faculty member?

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6. I’ve seen a wide range in the way faculty interact with their students, especially in the smaller,
intimate environment at Knowledge City institutions. For example, some faculty are very close
and friendly with their students, while others keep a greater distance because of cultural
differences. What kind of relationship(s) do you typically have with your students?
7. What type of language or other academic support do you give your students? How does this
affect the relationship between you, students, and writing center? Does gender play a role in
how you interact with a student? Nationality? What other factors influence your work with
students and the writing center?
8. What do you think is the role of the writing center at ADU-Q?
9. A lot of faculty (generally speaking, not specifically ADU-Q faculty) have told me that students
whose native language is not English should be required to go to the writing center for a quick
grammar check and proofread. Can you tell me about your thoughts on that?
10. You’re an expert in _____ (literature/English/other). Some people say that because you’re in
the English department, you should provide every type of English support. Since most students
at ADU-Q are not native English speakers, they often need more language assistance. What do
you think is your role in providing ESL support? The writing center’s role?
11. Can you describe the relationship between the English faculty and the Writing Center? How do
your roles intersect and/or differ?
12. Tell me about your experience with the writing center at ADU-Q (have you worked with the
Coordinator, do you know students who have visited, have you referred students?)
13. How does writing in the disciplines (WID) affect your role as English faculty? The Writing
Center’s role?
14. Have you ever been a client yourself to the writing center? How do you feel about faculty
and/or staff as WC clients?
15. How do you feel about yourself as a writer? (Do you like to write, do you feel you are a good
writer, what kinds of things do you write, do you receive support while you are writing, etc.?
What do you think your own strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?)
16. What do you know about peer tutors in the writing center? How do you feel about the use of
peer consultants (generally speaking and/or specifically at ADU-Q)?
17. How does the location of the Writing Center have any impact on your use of/relationship with
it? Please explain.
18. How do you think the writing center connects with students’ overall academic experience at
ADU-Q?
19. Obviously the mandate by NI is that English is the medium of instruction just as it is on the home
campus. However, it is also clear that many of the students will ultimately use Arabic as their
primary language in the workplace. What are your thoughts on this? What do you think about
being trained in English and then using Arabic in the workplace? Is there a role for the writing
center in this?
20. I have heard that sometimes faculty advise students not to visit the writing center. From your
personal experience, and/or from anecdotal experience, can you talk about that?
21. The program is primarily aimed at attracting Qatari students. Furthermore, National Institution
has clearly stated that Qatari students should be the primary recipients of services, including
academic support. How do you see this playing out in admissions procedures, the classroom,
and the institution?
22. Do you see differences in the classroom between Qatari and non-Qatari students? Please
explain.

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AWEJ
Pp.45-59
English Writing Proficiency among Three Types of Students in an ESL Composition

Course
Maxine E. Goldburg
Alliant International University
San Diego, California, USA
Abstract
This article reports the findings of a study that identified similarities and differences in the
perceived second language writing proficiency generation 1.5 students, immigrant/refugee
students, and international student brought to an advanced ESL composition course at a local
community college in Southern California. Under quantitative investigation was (1) students’
perceptions of their L2 writing proficiency as determined by self-rated perceived writing attitude,
perceived writing ability, perceived word processing/computer skills, and perceived writing
behaviors scores, (2) the regionalized distribution of participants’ overall L2 writing proficiency
as determined by the sum of the four component scores, and (3) students’ actual writing ability
and gain in writing ability as determined by teacher-graded in-class essay scores. G1.5 students
maintained realistic perceptions of their L2 writing proficiency, IMR students overrated
perceptions of their overall L2 writing proficiency, and IS students underrated perceptions of
their L2 writing proficiency. The results suggested that the experiences and perceptions of
academic literacy for different types of ESL students may not match ambitious standards and
expectations of the American ESL college-level reading-to-writing curriculum.
Keywords: L2 writing attitude, L2 writing, L2 writing behavior, L2 electronic literacy

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English Writing Proficiency among Three Types Goldburg
Introduction
In the past, writing instruction in second and foreign language classes was intended to
support oral language, grammar and vocabulary, but this has changed. Learning to write in a
second language has become a more worthwhile discipline in and of itself (Krashen, 2007, 2008;
Will-Harris, 2000). Second language writing has come of age and evolved into an
interdisciplinary field of inquiry with its own disciplinary infrastructure (Matsuda, 2003a, 2003b;
Matsuda, et al., 2003; Silva, et al., 2001). The current momentum of second language writing is
perpetuated by the acknowledgment of written English as the predominant medium in discourse
about English as the language of globalization and international communication (Kushner, 2003;
Rauch, 2000). Accordingly, a distinct complication when teaching academic English
composition is the form writing instruction should take given the interaction and variations
between ESL students’ L1 background, experiences, schema, and the meaning of academic
literacy in both the target language culture and student’s L1 culture (Kern 2000; Hyland 2002).
Changes in U.S. immigration laws and globalized processes produced unprecedented
human demographic shifts in higher education reflective of the cultural and linguistic diversity of
American society-at-large (Kirkpatrick, 2001). The diversity of race, class, religious and cultural
origins of student populations arrive in the U. S. from a wide variety of educational traditions
and cultures substantially different from the traditions they encounter in American higher
education (Aliakbara, 2002, Allison & Mei, 2001). Such a diverse student population brings a
large array of needs and educational aspirations, prior experiences, expectations and
qualifications that challenge community colleges in finding appropriate ways of responding to
the diversity of backgrounds and needs these students present (Erdosy, 2001; Szelényi & Chang,
2002). Local learning communities are now composed of a growing number of immigrants,
refugees, international students, and the economies of these communities are increasingly
dependent on positive relationships with other countries whose culture and belief systems require
understanding, regard and a degree of international sensitivity not demanded in the past
(Vaughan, 2006). Therefore, understanding the characteristics of three types of ESL writers is of
utmost importance for ESL writing teachers, administrators and researchers (Leki, 1992, 1999,
2003a, 2003b).
Despite the abundance of empirical evidence and commentary about learning and
teaching L2 writing, there are areas that remain open to further investigation (Petrić, & Czárl,
2003) because the international student population has not been the only source, and perhaps not
even the primary source of increasing linguistic diversity in higher education (Harklau, Siegal &
Losey, 1999). Few studies examined or compared generation 1.5 students, international
students’ and immigrant/refugee students perceptions of their L2 writing proficiency and what
they bring to the shared context of the ESL learning community in higher education. What
constitutes pluralistic writing instruction and good writing in the pluralism of a learner-centered
ESL classroom is problematic, particularly when teaching and learning a second language
extends beyond simply the use of the right words, or the correct grammar (Harklau, 2001, 2002,
2003).
The assumption frequently made in literature is that students’ progress in writing is
simply part of their oral L2 proficiency, but Archibald (2001) asserted that there are aspects of
writing proficiency specifically being developed through writing instruction aimed at improving
overall English language proficiency. Harklau (2002) further argued that writing, as a
communicative modality has been marginalized as a key to understanding second language
acquisition in the context and content areas of the ESL classroom where academic literacy plays
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a central role in communication and transmission of knowledge. This study favored Archibald’s
(2001) assertion, Harklau’s (2002) contention, and what literature described as the arduous and
slow process of acquiring a second language most L2 learners are involved while time trying to
learn and perform higher order academic writing tasks within a shorter period of time.
Research Site
A community college in Southern California, by virtue of its open access policies,
diversity, proximity and wide range of ESL course offerings was a suitable site for conducting
the study. Community colleges in California are among those nationwide engaged in a wide
range of efforts to internationalize the learning experience (“Community College Teaching,”
2009) and play an important role in providing foreign-born populations comprising persons
residing in the United States who are not American citizens at the time of their birth, and
individuals processing work, or student visas with opportunities to participate in the American
educational system (CCC Commission Statement, 2001).
Moreover, the implementation of the California Basic Skills Initiative (CBSI) mirrors a
nationwide concern about the ability of community colleges to meet the distinct educational,
socio-linguistic, socio-cultural and socio-emotional needs of non-traditional students who are
non-Anglo, older L2 students, with less college preparation in their background (Boroch, et al.,
2007) in need of additional instruction to acquire sufficient academic language proficiency to
pursue higher education and succeed in American academia (“Basic Skills Initiative,” 2008).
New to the ESL curriculum at research site was an advanced ESL composition course. It was the
fifth core ESL course required for all L2 learners proceeding through and out of the ESL
Program prior to enrollment in mainstream English composition courses that lead to associate
degrees, and/or transfer to four year college/university programs. Lectures covered the writing
process, rhetorical structures, and research writing. This credit-bearing, 16-week, advanced ESL
composition course was five semester units, 96 semester hours, and met two days a week for five
lecture hours plus one hour lab.
Participants
A total of 122 participants enrolled in seven intact sections of the new advanced ESL
composition course responded to a self-assessment questionnaire administered pre- and post-
semester. Ten students classified themselves as generation 1.5 students; 55 as immigrant/refugee
students; 57 as international students. Seventy-three were female and 49 students were male.
Eighty-seven students were between 18-28 years of age; 15 students between 29-39 years of age,
and 20 students were over 40 years of age. The length of stay in the USA for 83 students was
one to three years; five to ten years for 17 students, over ten years for four students, and 18
students were in the USA less than six months. Eight-four students had less than three semesters
of English composition or literature study at the college level, 35 students had three to five
semesters of study, and three students had more than five semesters of English composition or
literature study at the college level.
In the researcher’s estimation participants’ oral language skills ranged from low-
intermediate to advanced levels, and contrasted with participants written second language skills
that ranged from beginner to high-intermediate. For this reason, the spectrum of internal and
external factors that contribute to the socio-culturally distinctions between the three types of
students and their goals to acquire the English language socially and academically were
considered, but factors relevant to second language acquisition such as participants’ oral English
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proficiency, language aptitude, learning styles, motivation, levels of anxiety, and frequency and
use of language learning strategies (Ellis, 2008) were outside the scope of the study.
Variables and Operational Definitions

The independent variable type of student included three types of ESL students: (1)
generation 1.5 students (G1.5) with at least an American high school education, (2) international
students (IS) with temporary student status in America, returning to their country, and (3)
immigrant/refugee students (IMR) educated in their country, committed to staying in America
and not returning to their country.
The first dependent variable, perceived writing attitude (WAT) was defined as a score
obtained from the respondents’ about their position, thinking, opinion, judgment and degree of
like, or dislike for L2 writing as measured on various Likert scale items ranging from four to
one, where four indicated absolute agreement and one indicated absolute disagreement. A higher
score indicated that participants’ perceived themselves as highly skilled second language writers
with developed strategies to cope with and compensate for weakness and capitalize on strengths
in terms of academic literacy. A lower score indicated that participants perceived themselves as
unskilled second language writers with undeveloped or developing strategies to cope with and
compensate for weakness and capitalize on strengths in terms of academic literacy.
The second dependent variable perceived writing ability (WAB) was defined as the score
obtained from respondents about their writing competencies, abilities, predisposition, or
tendency to respond positively or negatively towards writing as part of the learning process as
measured on various Likert scale items ranging from four to one, where four indicated that
perceived writing ability was outstanding, and one indicated that perceived writing ability
needed improvement. A higher score indicated that participants perceived no problems
understanding the writing process and were confident second language writers. A lower score
indicated participants’ perceived serious problems understanding the writing process and lacked
confidence in their ability as second language writers.
The third dependent variable, perceived word processing/computer skills (WPC) was
defined as a score obtained from the respondents about their electronic literacy skills and
qualities that make their second language writing unique as measured on various Likert scale
items ranging from four to one, where four indicated that respondents believed they have
outstanding electronic literacy skills, and one indicated electronic literacy skills in need of
improvement. A higher score indicated that participants perceived themselves as knowledgeable
and knew how to use word processing software for written tasks and oral presentations, and were
familiar with online educational tools and databases for researching information. A lower score
indicated that participants perceived themselves as lacking knowledge and experience with word
processing software for written tasks and oral presentations, and were unfamiliar with online
educational tools and databases for researching information (Hebe & Storey, 2006).
The fourth dependent variable, perceived writing behavior (WBE) was defined as a score
obtained from the respondents about their preferences and dispositions to act in certain ways
before, during and after composing measured on various Likert scale items ranging from four to
one, where four indicated writing behaviors that always occurred, and one indicated writing
behaviors that never occurred. A higher score indicated that participants tended to exhibit writing
behaviors more frequently and perceived their writing behavior positively. A lower score
indicated that participants tended to exhibit writing behaviors less frequently and perceived their
writing behavior negatively.
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Region of origin was defined as historical, political, economic, cultural variations in

contact, variations in the meaning of academic literacy, and academic cultural capital based on
the country of birth and first language background reported. Participants identified themselves
as speakers of 29 different languages that when regionalized represented five geographical
regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Mexico/South America, and the Middle East. The dominate
languages were Arabic, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Perceived L2 writing proficiency (L2WP) was defined as thoughts, feelings, beliefs,
values, attitudes, actions or behaviors ESL students were consciously aware of and attentive to
when self-rating themselves as second language writers and their anticipated performance during
the semester. Participants’ perceived L2 writing proficiency was the composite score of their
self-rated perceived writing attitude writing ability, word processing/computer skills, and
perceived writing behavior scores. Self-rating put the participants in charge of rating their own
performance (Luoma & Tarnanen, 2003) throughout the course of the semester in this study.
In-Class Essay was defined as the diagnostic, mid-term and final essays students
composed under timed conditions. Students had 75 minutes to write approximately 600 words
for the diagnostic essay without the use of a dictionary, and 90 minutes to write approximately
600 words with the use of a non-electronic dictionary during the mid-term and final essays.
(Bishop, 2001).
Actual L2 Writing Ability was defined as a score on teacher-graded in-class essays as
determined by an ESL Essay Scoring Rubric, and Gains in L2 Writing Ability defined as scores
indicative of improved writing ability as determined by increases in teacher-graded in-class
essays scores from the diagnostic essay to midterm essay to the final essay. Essay point values
were converted to grade equivalent percentage scores based on the Essay Grading Scale
established at the community college research site. (Matsuda, Cox, Jordon & Ortmeier-Hooper,
2006).
Instruments
Participants were divided into two groups. For the purpose of examining perceived L2
writing proficiency, Group A consisted of 122 ESL students enrolled in the seven sections of the
new advanced ESL composition course. For the purpose of examining participants’ actual
writing ability and gain in writing ability, Group B consisted of 98 ESL students enrolled in six
sections of the advanced ESL composition course at the community college site. Twenty-four
participants were excluded due to zero “0” grades on in-class essays, and because all the L2
writing teachers in the study, except one, used the same ESL Essay Scoring Rubric to evaluate
the three in-class essays participants composed in the study. The instruments and sources of
quantitative data included:
1. The Writer’s Self-Assessment Questionnaire administered pre and post semester
measured perceived L2 writing proficiency and changes in student’s internal syllabus and
perception of themselves as second language writers as a result of general writing instruction
(Brown, 2005, 2007). The first part of the questionnaire asked participants for general
demographic information. The remaining four parts contained 55 items drawn from instruments
in previous L2 composition studies that examined similar issues related to L2 learners’ writing
attitude, writing ability, word processing/computer skills and writing behaviors. The sum of Part
A, B, C and D calculated separately then collectively yielded participant’s overall perceived L2
writing proficiency composite scores. The maximum score possible was 220. A higher composite
score indicated overall confidence and favorable perceptions of L2 writing proficiency, while a
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lower composite score indicated less confidence and less favorable perceptions of L2 writing
proficiency.
In Part A of the questionnaire respondents rated their writing attitude (WAT) on a four-
point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” There were 20 items
and the maximum score possible was 80. A higher writing attitude score was indicative of
favorable attitudes toward writing in English that tend to enhance learning and participants’
perception of themselves as second language writers, whereas, a lower writing attitude score was
indicative of less favorable attitudes toward writing in English that tend to impede or hinder
learning and participants’ perception of themselves as second language writers (Ellis & Yuan,
2004; Harklau, 2002; Krashen, 2002).
Respondents rated their writing ability (WAB) in Part B of the questionnaire based on a
four-point Likert scale ranging from “Outstanding” to “Needs Improvement.” There were 10
items and the maximum score possible was 40. A higher writing ability score indicated that
participants perceived no problems in their ability to express an understanding of the
composition course and the writing process. In contrast, a lower writing ability score indicated
that participants perceived problems in their ability to express an understanding of the course and
the writing process (“Academic Literacy,” 2002).
In Part C of the questionnaire, respondents rated their word processing/computer skills
(WPC), in other words, electronic literacy on a four-point Likert scale ranging from
“Outstanding” to “Needs Improvement.” There were five items and the maximum score possible
was 20. A higher score reflected participants’ knowledge, experience and familiarity with the
use of word processing software for written academic tasks, oral presentations, and with online
educational tools and databases for researching information, whereas a lower score reflected
participants’ lack of knowledge, experience and familiarity with word processing software for
written academic tasks and oral presentations, and educational tools and databases for
researching information (Brown, 2009, Pennington, 2003; Warschauer, 2000, 2002).
Respondents rated their writing behavior (WBE) in Part D of the questionnaire based on a
four-point Likert scale ranging from “Very Often” to “Never.” There were 20 items and the
maximum score possible was 80. A higher writing behavior score indicated that participants’
perceived their English writing behavior conducive for learning while a lower score indicated
participants’ perceived English writing behavior less conducive to learning to write academic
English (Laborda, 2006; Mohsin, 2009).
2. ESL Essay Scoring Rubric was the standard measurement all teachers of the
advanced ESL composition course were trained to use to evaluate students’ essays. The rubric
was in accordance with the student learning objectives (SLOs) for the advanced ESL
composition course at the research site. Point values for the components of writing measured
were: content (10 points), organization (15 points), word choice (5 points), sentence structure (5
points), grammar (10 points), and mechanics (5 points) for a total of 50 points. Point values and
letter grades were: 45-50 points=A grade; 40-44 points =B grade; 35-39 points=C grade; 30-34
points=D grade and less than 29 points= F grade converted to equivalent percentage scores.
3. In-Class Essays gathered quantitative data about participants’ actual writing ability
and gains in writing ability on in-class essays as measured by the ESL Essay Scoring Rubric
point values, letter grades, and equivalent percentage scores. Readings for in-class essay writing
prompts were selected collaboratively by the teachers of the advanced ESL composition course.
The score on the diagnostic essay was an indication of students’ readiness for the advanced ESL
composition course; the score on the mid-term essay was an indication of how well students
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fulfilled the expectations of the course eight weeks into the semester; the score on the final essay
at the end of the course was an indication of students’ readiness for the next level of English
composition courses.
Results for Research Questions

RQ1. Is there a significant difference between the three types of students’ perceived L2
writing proficiency at the beginning of the semester and the three types of students’ perceived L2
writing proficiency at the end of the semester? Table 1 displays the descriptive statistics of
means and standard deviations calculated for each of the three types of student out of a
maximum score of 220. The G1.5 group’s L2WP composite mean scores were higher than both
the IMR group and the IS group mean L2WP composite mean scores both pre- and post-
semester. The results of a t-test conducted to determine if there were significant differences
between participants’ pre- and post-semester L2WP composite scores revealed a significant
difference (t = -3.843, df = 56, p = .000) in perceived L2WP for the IS group, marginal
significance (t = -2.543, df = 54, p = .014) in perceived L2WP for the IMR group, and no
statistical differences in the L2WP composite mean scores for the Gl.5 group.
Table 1. Perceived L2 Writing Proficiency Pre-Post Semester
G1.5 Group IMR Group IS Group

(n=10) (n=55) (n=57)
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
L2WP Pre-Semester 153.3 8.95 151.2 13.03 146.4 12.4
L2WP Post-Semester 160.4 16.2 157.2 16.6 154.7 17.6
ANOVA comparisons of the dependent variables revealed that there was a marginal
difference approaching significance F (2, 119) = 2.638, p = .076) at the .05 two-tailed level
between the three sets of L2 writing proficiency (L2WP) composite scores pre-semester, and no
statistically difference revealed between L2WP composite scores post-semester. The eta squared
calculations at .042 and .010 indicated that approximately 4% of the total variance in perceived
L2WP between the three groups was accounted for pre-semester, and only 1% accounted for
post-semester. The remaining percentages in both instances were attributable to differences
within groups, error, or other factors. Prior general English writing instruction in addition to
general writing instruction over the course of the semester elicited change in students’
perceptions of their L2 writing proficiency post-semester.
RQ2. Is there a significant difference between the three types of students’ perceived
writing attitudes, perceived writing ability, perceived word processing/computer skills, and
perceived writing behavior pre- and post-semester? Table 2 summarizes the pre- and post-
semester mean scores and standard deviations for the dependent variables comprising L2 writing
proficiency for the three types of students. Pre-semester, differences between the three sets of
mean scores was marginal and the magnitude of statistical differences in mean scores between
the three types of students smaller post-semester.

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Table 2. Components of L2 Writing Proficiency Pre-Post Semester

Pre-Semester (n = 10) (n = 55) (n = 57)
Writing Attitude-WAT 61.10 5.78 60.45 5.90 58.02 5.25
Writing Ability-WAB 23.50 5.64 24.31 6.17 23.14 5.02
Word Processing/Computer Skills-WPC 16.00 3.43 13.11 4.36 13.42 3.75
Writing Behavior-WBE 52.70 6.85 53.31 6.50 51.86 6.08

Post-Semester (n = 10) (n = 55) (n = 57)
Writing Attitude-WAT 63.90 7.09 59.56 7.94 58.84 5.25
Writing Ability-WAB 27.50 4.79 26.60 5.94 25.82 5.02
Word Processing/Computer Skills-WPC 16.20 3.43 15.55 5.40 15.28 3.75
Writing Behavior-WBE 52.80 7.53 55.44 6.99 54.79 6.08
ANOVA results revealed a statistical difference in perceived writing attitude (WAT) just
under the significant p < .05 two-tailed cut-off (F (2,119) = 3.18, p = .045) pre-semester.
Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test revealed that the nature of difference in perceived WAT scores was
between the G1.5 group (M=61.10) and the IS group (M=58.02). The eta squared of .051
indicated that approximately 5% of variance between the groups was attributable to the group
students were assigned to rather than the type of student, and the other percent of the variance
came from the within groups, error, or the possible effects of social-psychological and social-
cultural factors.
Further analysis revealed a statistically difference in perceived writing behavior (WBE)
that coincided with the number of semesters the three types of students studied English.
Perceived writing behavior (M=53.20, SD=6.45) for students with three to five semesters of
English study was slightly higher (M=52.71, SD=6.03) for students with more than five
semesters of English study, and significantly higher (M=41.67, SD=3.77) for students with less
than three semesters of English study. There was no statistical difference found for perceived
WAB and perceived WPC means scores pre-semester, and no statistical differences in four
dependent variables post-semester. The obtained result suggested that prior educational training
in the English language probably influenced the perceived writing behavior self-ratings of the
three types of ESL student.
RQ3. Is there a significant difference in students’ self-rated perceived L2 writing
proficiency, perceived writing attitudes, writing ability, word processing/computer skills, and
writing behavior scores by region of origin pre- and post-semester? The demographic section of
the self-assessment questionnaire elicited participants’ county of origin. When consolidated
geographically, the countries of origin represented five regions of the world: Africa, Asia,
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Europe, Mexico/South America, and Middle East. Table 3 summarizes the means and standard
deviations by region of origin for perceived L2WP composite mean scores out of a maximum
score of 220.
Table 3. Regional L2 Writing Proficiency Pre-Post Semester
L2WP L2WP
Regions of Origin Pre-Semester Post-Semester
Africa Mean 161.20 169.60

(N=5) SD 5.85 14.99
Asia Mean 146.70 154.40

(N=53) SD 12.40 17.75
Europe Mean 148.80 149.70

(N=10) SD 11.43 16.02
Mexico/South America Mean 146.00 158.12

(N=17) SD 8.16 16.26
Middle Eastern Mean 152.54 158.14

(N=37) SD 14.28 16.19
The African group had the highest mean composite scores pre-semester (M=161.20) and
highest post-semester (M=169.60), followed by the Middle Eastern group (M=152.54) pre-
semester and (M=158.14) post semester. The results of a t-test conducted to compare pre- and
post-semester L2WP composite mean scores by region of origin revealed a statistical significant
difference (t = -4.838, df = 121, p = .000) at the .01 two-tailed level. The obtained result was
consistent with participants’ self-rated overall L2WP pre- and post-semester in RQ1 to suggest
that the regional groups of participants held more confident postures and perceptions of their
overall L2 writing proficiency post-semester than they did pre-semester. An awareness of
cultural variations in contact (Savignon & Sysoyev, 2002), and students’ confidence in the
academic cultural capital they possessed (Brammer, 2002) may have contributed to this finding.
With regard to the four dependent variables comprising participants’ overall L2WP by
region of origin, there was a statistical difference (F (4,117) = 4.21, p = .003) in perceived
writing attitude (WAT) pre-semester. The Tukey HSD post hoc test revealed a significant
difference in the perceived (WAT) scores of students assigned to the Middle Eastern group and
Asian group. The Middle Eastern group (M=61.97) was significantly different from the Asian
group (M=57.72), but not significantly different from the perceived WAT mean scores of

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students assigned to the Africa group (M=62.40); the Mexico/South American group (M=59.29),
and the Europe group (M=57.10). The magnitude of difference between the regional group
means in writing attitude was moderate. The eta squared calculation was .126. Approximately
13% of the total variance between the groups’ perceived WAT was accounted for. The other
percent of variance was attributed to within groups, error, or from other factors.
Statistical difference (F (4, 117) = 5.062, p = .001) in perceived writing ability (WAB)
by region of origin also reached significance pre-semester. Even though the regional groups
were unequal in size, Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test revealed significant differences between the
perceived WAB scores of students assigned to the African, Asian, European, and Mexico/South
American groups. The WAB scores of students assigned to the African group (M=31.80) was
significantly different from the WAB scores of students assigned to Asian group (M=22.66), of
students assigned to the European group (M=22.60), and students assigned to the Mexico/South
American group (M=21.71). The magnitude of difference between the regional group means in
writing ability was large. The eta squared calculation of .148 confirmed that approximately 15%
percent of the total variance between the groups’ perception of writing ability was accounted for.
Post-semester statistical difference reached significance (F (4,117) = 2.49, p < .05) in
perceived writing behavior (WBE) by region of origin. The Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test revealed
a significant difference in perceived WBE scores for students assigned to the African and
European groups. The African group (M=61.40) was significantly different from the European
group (M=50.10), but did not differ significantly from the WBE mean scores of students
assigned to the Asian group (M=55.57), the Middle Eastern (M=54.62), and the Mexico/South
American group (M=54.47). The eta calculation of .078 represented a moderate effect size.
Roughly 8% of the total variance between the groups writing behavior was accounted for in the
study. The rest of the variance came from within groups, error or some other factor(s).
There was marginal significance (F (4,117) = 1.93, p = .109) divulged in perceived
writing attitude (WAT) by region of origin. Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test revealed a difference
approaching significance at the .05 level in perceived WAT specific to the subset of mean scores
for the Mexico/South American group (M=62.47) and the European group (M=55.40). Marginal
significance (F (4,117) = 2.31, p = .062) was also found in perceived English writing ability
(WAB) by region of origin. The difference approaching significance in perceived writing ability
was specific to the African group (M=32.40) and Asian group (M = 25.21) subset of mean
scores. Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test confirmed a p-value of .049, and the more conservative
Scheffe post-hoc test a p-value of .111 for the African/Asian sub-sets of WAB mean scores.
There was no statistical difference in mean scores for perceived word processing/computer skills
(WPC) between the five regional groups post-semester.
RQ4. Is there a significant relationship between the three types of students’ actual L2
writing ability and their self-assessed L2 writing proficiency? Actual L2 writing ability mean
scores on in-class essays, and pre- and post L2WP composite means scores for 98 participants by
type of student are displayed in Table 4. The IMR final mean (M=79.61) was slightly higher than
the midterm mean (M=79.27), and the midterm mean higher than the diagnostic (M=76.71).
Similarly, the IS group final mean (M=79.67) was higher than the midterm (M=76.50), and the
midterm mean higher than the diagnostic (M=74.11). In contrast, the G1.5 group midterm mean
(M=80.22) was higher than both the diagnostic (M=75.89) and the final (M=78.11) mean scores.

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Table 4. Actual L2 Writing Ability and L2 Writing Proficiency

(n = 9) (n = 51) (n = 38)
Diagnostic Essay 75.89 5.8 76.71 10.5 74.11 12.7
Mid-term Essay 80.22 7.3 79.27 11.5 76.50 9.1
Final Essay 78.11 11.5 79.61 8.6 79.76 9.3
L2WP Pre-semester 151.67 10.3 151.86 12.7 147.74 12.5
L2WP Post-semester 159.67 13.5 157.22 16.5 153.71 16.0
Statistical differences (t = -2.663, df = 97, p < .05) between the diagnostic and midterm
essays; between the diagnostic and final essays (t = -3.908, df = 97, p < .01), and between the
pre- and post-semester perceived L2WP composite mean scores (t = -5.837, df = 97, p < .001)
across the three types of students were significant t-test results. Differences between midterm
and final mean scores did not reach significance. The strength of the relationships between actual
L2 writing ability and perceived L2 writing proficiency composite mean scores of participants
was then examined using Pearson correlations. Overall, there were more significant correlations
for the IMR students than for G1.5 students, and both the IMR students and the IS students
shared similar significant relationships.
The G1.5 group correlation revealed a significantly strong positive relationship between
the midterm and final essays (r = +.818, n = 9, p = .007) at the .01 two-tailed level; a
significantly strong positive between the midterm essays and post-semester perceived L2 writing
proficiency (r = +.706, n = 9, p = .003) at the .05 two-tailed level, and a moderate, positive
relationship approaching significance between the final essay and post-semester self-rated
perceived L2 writing proficiency (r = +.614, n = 9, p = .079). The results suggested that G1.5
students’ actual writing ability on the in-class essays were related to L2WP such that G.15
students with high midterm and final essay scores were inclined to have realistic perceptions of
their L2 writing proficiency post-semester.
Correlation results for the IMR group disclosed a significantly, moderate, positive
relationship between the diagnostic and midterm essays (r = +.655, n = 51, p = .000); between
the midterm and final essays (r = +.682, n = 51, p = .000) at the .001 two-tailed level, and a
significant, moderate, positive relationship (r = +.340, n = 51, p = .015) between the diagnostic
and final essays at the .05 two-tailed level. A significantly weak, positive relationship existed
between pre and post perceived L2WP (r = +.332, n= 51, p = .017) at the .05 two-tailed level, but

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this finding was unrelated to the actual L2 writing ability of the IMR group on in-class essays
and the overrated perceptions IMR students maintained of their L2 writing proficiency.
The IS group correlation showed a significantly, moderate, positive relationship between
the diagnostic and midterm essays (r = +.468, n = 38, p = .003) at the .01 two-tailed level; a
significant, moderate, positive relationship (r = +.618, n = 38, p = .000) between the midterm and
final essays, and a significant, moderate, positive relationship between the diagnostic and final
essays (r = +.542, n = 38, p = .000) at the .001 two-tailed level. Like the IMR group, the
significantly moderate, positive relationship (r = +.441, n = 38, p = .006) found at the .01 level
two-tailed level between pre- and post-perceived L2WP was unrelated to the actual writing ability
of the IS students evident in the underrated perceptions IS students maintained of their L2 writing
proficiency. In the final analysis of teacher-graded in-class essays participants produced and
grades assigned, actual L2 writing ability across the three types of students differed by only one
percentage point. The IMR students averaged 79% (C+), G1.5 students averaged 78% (C+), and
IS group averaged 77% (C+).
RQ5. Are there significant gains in L2 writing ability for the three types of students’
from the diagnostic to midterm essay to final essay scores? Table 5 shows marginal gain that
approached significance (t = -2.001, df = 50, p = .051) in IMR students’ diagnostic to midterm
essay mean scores, and marginal gain (t = -1.873, df = 50, p = .067) in their diagnostic to final
essay mean scores
Table 5. Gains in L2 Writing Ability
Diagnostic Midterm Diagnostic

to to to
Midterm Essays Final Essays Final Essays
IMR Group .051+ -- .067+
IS Group -- .017* .003**
G1.5 Group -- -- --
Statistically significant difference in gain was found in the IS group midterm to final
essay mean scores (t = -2.498, df = 37, p = .017) at the .05 two-tailed level, and statistical
difference in the IS group diagnostic to final essay mean scores (t = -3.192, df = 37, p = .003) at
the .01 two-tailed level. There was no statistical difference in gain revealed for the G.1.5 group.
Gain in L2 writing ability was, therefore, greater for IMR and IS students than for the G1.5
students. With low diagnostic and midterm mean scores, and a higher final mean score, the IS
students had the most gain in L2 writing ability.
Conclusion
Participants’ expectations, aspirations, and perceptions of the cultural realities of the
English academic written discourse community within the context of the L2 culture may not
have been fixed or immutable, but the three types of students certainly needed more time to
adjust, adapt and develop coping strategies and written academic language proficiency to
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succeed at the college level. Regional similarities and differences in perceived writing attitude,
writing ability, and writing behavior were specific to the African and Middle Eastern group, and
word processing/computer skills specific to European and Mexico/South American groups.
Generalizability of the findings was limited due to varying circumstances/conditions and
emotional/physical challenges created by immersion in a new society and different educational
environment. For some students from the African, Middle Eastern, and European regions
perceived L2 writing proficiency was overshadowed by the pressures of the resettlement,
challenges to traditional familial roles, and motivation for adaptation in a duality of cultures
(Lucey, et al., 2000). It is also possible that it may have been the first time students had a native
English-speaking teacher and exposure to rhetorical differences in their L1 and L2 reading-
writing skills and learning capabilities in the ESL context.
About the Author:

Dr. Maxine E. Goldburg is a TESOL educator/researcher, Academic Writing Editor and
Student Affairs Representative at Alliant International University, San Diego, California who
received a Master’s degree in TESOL education from Long Island University, New York and
Doctoral degree in TESOL Education from Alliant International University. After a seven-year
career as an ESL teacher in the American public school system, Dr. Goldburg accepted a
commission as EFL teacher, Vice Director and Dean of the International Education Center at
Shandong University of Science & Technology in Taian, China. There she authored in
collaboration with Shandong University of Science and Technology a teacher training manual
entitled Aiming Beyond, published by Taishan Shandong Foreign Language Training Center of
the State Administration of Foreign Experts. In addition to student advising, she provides
academic writing support and editorial services to domestic and international undergraduate and
graduate students and serves on the Review Board of the Arab World English Journal.
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AWEJ
Pp.60-77
A Discussion on Teaching a Language without Teaching its Culture
Ronnie Goodwin
Gulf University for Science & Technology
Kuwait
Abstract
The human elements of language and culture are intricately and intimately intertwined, which is
an aspect that has been studied by many linguistic scholars (Abdo & Breen, 2010; Annamali,
1989; Appel & Muysken, 2006; Gardner, 2012; Gregg, 2006; Hussein, 2013; Gumperz, 2001;
Schegloff, 2001). When learning a new language, the cultural attributes of the language become
relevant to the comprehension of the target language (L2). The purpose of this paper is to
discuss the practice of teaching a second language (L2) without teaching the relative or content
culture associated with the language. This is particularly relevant for individuals that speak
Arabic and are learning English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language
(EFL). The ensuing discussion will present a case study reflection of Jordanian Arabic speaking
EFL/ESL students and how culture affects the comprehension of the English language due to the
grammatical, syntactic, structural, and other differentiating characteristics in each linguistic
paradigm, as well as a study conducted at a Middle Eastern university.
Keywords: Language, Culture, ESL/ EFL, Arabic language

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A Discussion on Teaching a Language without Teaching its Culture Goodwin
A Discussion on Teaching a Language without Teaching its Culture
Why Investigate Teaching Language without Teaching Culture?

As the world becomes increasingly more globalized, being multi-lingual is a highly
beneficial skill to possess. This has inspired increased efforts in many developed nations such as
Europe, Asia, and the United States to establish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or English
as a Second Language (ESL) programs in their primary and secondary educational forums.
However, some linguistic concepts are culturally derived, making it difficult to teach the
language without explaining the cultural aspects associated with the concept (Annamali, 1989).
Within the English language alone, numerous slang terms and colloquialisms are actually
culture-specific in that different cultures use different words to describe the same things. For
example, the word ‘money’ is also referred to as ‘cheddar’, ‘cheese’, ‘ducats’, ‘dead presidents’,
‘Benjamin’s’, ‘moolah’, ‘cake’, ‘denero’, ‘pesos’, and ‘chips’, among many others, and the slang
used often depends on the cultural paradigms of the speaker.
The current focus on creating learner-centered environments for ESL/EFL individuals
requires the educator to take responsibility for the learning process by developing methods that
can be engaged to support linguistic autonomy in the target language (Casteel & Ballantyne,
2010). This brings into focus the customary practice for ESL/EFL programs that teach children
and adults to exclude cultural education and teach only the functional aspects of the target
language necessary for fluency and linguistic comprehension. Although programs have been
implemented to teach children English as a second language or English as a foreign language,
there has not been a preponderance of research literature that discusses the relevance of teaching
or not teaching culture in conjunction with the target language (Sybing, 2011).
However, existing studies do indicate that the absence of the learner-centered
environment is typical when learning a foreign language without the benefit of the adjoining
cultural dynamics and this can hinder the learner’s ability to properly comprehend the foreign
language and culture (Corrius & Pujol, 2010). In many instances, ESL/EFL learners attempting
to supplement culturally devoid linguistic instruction with English language translation (ELT)
dictionaries discover these can be of limited assistance. Typically categorized as monolingual,
bilingual, and bilingualized, ELT dictionaries are frequently of limited use because they tend to
be written from a linguistic or culture-centric, homogenizing perspective (Corrius & Pujol,
2010). Some EFL/ESL students seek supplemental cultural input from peripheral sources, such
as television or their peers, increasing the draw learners have to the pop culture associated with
the target language (Sybing, 2011).
Additionally, in countries where English is not the dominant language, EFL/ESL students
typically pursue such study because of a desire to communicate with native speakers and
research has identified cultural differences in the learning styles of various ethnic groups
(Sybing, 2011). The field of sociolinguistic anthropology examines the relationships between
the social variations, linguistic variances, and social contexts in which communications occur,
including non-verbal messages (Miller, 2007). Some analysts have speculated that the socio-
cultural attributes of language can be integrated into ESL/EFL forums through a series of
strategies that have to do with the “…localization, delocalization, globalization, and glocalization
of language and/or culture” (Corrius & Pujol, 2010, p. 135). The sociolinguistic theory indicates

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that culture, society, and individual social standing all have determining influence over language
(Miller, 2007). But how are these elements taught in ESL/EFL environments?
Understanding the depth and breadth of the synthesis between culture and language is an
important facet in assisting educators to provide EFL/ESL students with the most advantageous
practices that will assist in their educational pursuits. It is hoped that this discussion regarding
the practice and plausibility of teaching a language without teaching the native culture of that
language will underscore proposals indicating the best linguistic and cultural strategies to help
the EFL/ESL community improve students’ linguistic and cultural competencies. It is also
anticipated that this analysis will help teachers evaluate the efficacy of different EFL/ESL
programs and promote the creation of more effective EFL/ESL programs (Corrius & Pujol,
2010). The course of this examination will be guided by the research questions stated below.
Research Questions
The purpose of this project is to examine the dynamics of linguistic acquisition in order to
determine:
1. What is the impact of teaching language without teaching the relative culture?
2. What is the purpose of “teaching” a language and not teaching/learning its culture?
3. Do some institutions require this and if so, why ‘teach’ or try to teach the language?
4. How can someone learn English but not its culture, since in some cases this can be
disrespectful, and still respect its rules?
In examining these questions, this research will focus on certain dynamics specific in
Middle Eastern EFL/ESL learning environments through examination of grammatical and
structural similarities, as well as differences present in the Arabic and English languages.
Literature Review
The aim of this research is to investigate the importance of culture in the acquisition of
language. There are many indications that language and culture are derived from each other and
there is evidence that culture affects the way individuals interpret information (Miller, 2007).
The literature review is performed to gain a deeper understanding of the contextual setting of the
research questions in addition to the phenomena examined in the research.
The literature review will address the definitional issues and differences between code-
switching and code-mixing, and thus examine its forms of constraints and patterns. The literature
review will also discuss the dynamics of bilingual education, the functions of code-switching and
code-mixing, and the cultural impacts on language acquisition. In addressing these issues, this
literature review will draw on examples from empirical studies that have examined the state of
bilingual education, sociolinguistic and cultural-linguistic dynamics, and the prevalence of code-
switching involving other languages. The literature review will also discuss the extra-linguistic
features that affect the acquisition of a foreign language and the usage of different forms of code-
switching and code-mixing in individuals learning a foreign language.
Linguistics & Culture
All language learners consciously and unconsciously use language learning skills when they are
learning a new language. Despite this, research has focused on language strategies used by only
adolescents and adults (Griffiths & Parr, 2001). Education for ESL/EFL individuals in countries
such as the USA, Canada, and Australia has been the primary focus of studies regarding
language-learning strategies due to the large number of people migrating to these countries
(Oxford, 1990).
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There is a consensus that people do not acquire language skills in the same way,
illustrating that code-switching and code-mixing are common phenomena in speech, provided
that at least two languages exist in a community (Appel & Muysken, 2006; McKay &
Hornberger, 1996; Philip, Oliver, & Mackey, 2008; Walte, 2007; Weinreich, 1953). In some
societies, the expected means of communication is code-switched speech (Auer, 2002).
Although code-switching and code-mixing were once viewed as interference phenomena among
imperfect bilinguals, these entities have come to be recognized as imperative and indispensable
communication strategies (Myers-Scotton, 1993).
Studies have primarily investigated bilingual students placed in immersion classrooms, as
well as individuals in ESL classrooms when attempting to evaluate the efficacy of teaching
language without accompanying instruction regarding the parent culture (Allam & Salmani-
Nadoushan, 2009). The high influx of foreign immigrants in every developed nation has
increased the demand for EFL/ESL educational programs. This has facilitated an investigation
of language learning behaviors, principally how culture interacts with morphological
development (Cohen, 1998).
One common mode of speech alteration when Arabic speakers are learning a new
language is code-switching. Code-switching is considered as “appropriate changes in the speech
situation” rather than “an unchanged speech situation”, and it is also indicated that this switching
does not occur “within a single sentence” (Weinreich, 1953, p. 73). Simply defined, code-
switching is “the mixing of elements of two linguistic varieties within a single utterance or text”
(Gluth, 2008, p. 6). When used in ESL/EFL communities, this demonstrates how the meaning in
code-switching is derived from the stylistic association between sentences or phrases (Lefkowitz,
1991).
Defining conversational code-switching has been challenging because it frequently
occurs in conjunction with other kinds of language contact phenomena including convergence,
borrowing, and interference (Gluth, 2008; Halmari, 1997). In addition, codes themselves involve
a high degree of variability and are often viewed as non-standard, in particular when bilinguals
lack proficiency in what is known or perceived as standard codes (Gluth, 2008). Interestingly,
preceding studies determined that one needs to perceive differently the process of selecting one
definite code from the process of mixing as many as two existing codes, to generate the product
that may be regarded as a third code (Bentahila & Davies, 1983).
Furthermore, research has proposed that code-switching is performed only for the
duration of a conversational discourse, while the code-mixing is not performed with full
sentences and has the grammar structures from other languages (Annamali, 1989). Additionally,
it is suggested that code-mixing is essentially the mechanism of mixing elements from a
minimum of two languages within one utterance, differentiating it from code-switching in that
the latter is the product of this mix (Bader, 1995; Myers-Scotton, 1993).
Relevance to Current Cultural-linguistic Practice
Currently, many nations have programs implemented intended to provide ESL/EFL
individuals with a variety of competencies, such as English Composition/Reading classes in
overseas institutions outside of the U.S. However, these programs have traditionally approached
bilingual education using the submersion method, which does little, if anything, to preserve the
first language while the student transitions to the target language (Otto, 2010). Transitional and
developmental bilingual programs or dual-language and second foreign language immersion
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programs have been atypical structures in educational forums (Otto, 2010). Current knowledge
regarding the impact cultural paradigms have on overall educational success has warranted
further study regarding the direct effect of teaching language without teaching culture.
Although there is much support for the use of ‘proper’ or technical English as it is taught
in scholastic settings, it is commonly reserved for these environments and not often heard in
casual conversation (Gregg, 2006). Nonetheless, proper diction and speech is taught when
learning any new language, which is reflective of the absence of the cultural idiosyncrasies
apparent in every language (McKay & Hornberger, 1996). Considered as a skill, the ability to
speak multiple languages can be used in specific atmospheres, such as professional venues,
scholarly settings, when writing professional communications, and a variety of other similar
circumstances.
Research Methodology
This research will perform a case study analysis using the expertise from existing
research to help guide this examination of EFL/ESL linguistic acquisition and is the basis for the
decision to select the qualitative method. In adapting a qualitative procedure for examination of
the research questions presented, the phenomenological approach has been selected because
using case studies allows the researcher to obtain more intimate knowledge of EFL/ESL learners
within realistic contexts in order to understand the different behaviors of linguistic acquisition.
Interpretation through naturalistic observations creates opportunities to determine the differences
in the learning methods of the participants to examine how various attributes of the learner, such
as age, race, and gender, affects their learning experiences (Auerbach & Silverstein, 2003).
More importantly, a qualitative approach provides a better understanding of what influences
behaviors, but also the meaning that the participants derive from their actions, including the
human differences that can occur during linguistic acquisition (Auerbach & Silverstein, 2003;
Bloomberg & Volpe, 2008).
Examining existing case studies primarily involves reviewing existing studies to
consolidate the most recent, relevant professional deductions, which principally involves
drawing conclusions by analyzing existing sources of data. The analysis of current research
typically involves making decisions ahead of time so that the process of data collection is
smooth, simple, and systematic (Newman, 2011). This method of research provides a test of the
hypothesis by examining existing case studies and, thereby, avoids most of the ethical and
practical problems of other research designs (Babbie, 2007). Relative to this aspect, using case
studies as the seat of this research, also avoids common complications associated with participant
reactivity, as well as participant inclinations to behave in a different way when they know they
are being observed (Newman, 2011).
The dynamics of the Arabic language, the native tongue of individuals from the Middle East,
necessitates a method of inquiry based on the understanding that the reality of linguistic
acquisition consists of objects and events as they are perceived by the individual learner
(Hernandez, 2012). Case study research requires the use of relatively few resources since it
allows for the examination of only one participant at a time, sometimes requiring the dedicated
attention of more than one research assistant over a period of an hour or more (Babbie, 2007;
Newman, 2011). Once data has been collected through the case study research process, it is a
relatively simple matter to conduct an analysis of the compiled data.
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Data Collection and Analysis
Data collection for this study involved reviewing a case analysis detailing the learning
experience of Arabic speaking students in Jordan (Abdo & Breen, 2010). In the primary case
study used in analysis for this research, six student participants were used to study the linguistic
acquisition in the ESL/EFL learning environment with the subjects being categorized into three
groups according to their linguistic competence, behavioral characteristics and expressions, and
their overall performance as students (Abdo & Breen, 2010). The categories used to analyze the
subjects designated participants as “strong”, “average”, or “low-achieving” students and
additional features examined included verbal and non-verbal communication (Abdo & Breen,
2010). These facets of communication examined included traits such as nervousness, shyness,
mispronunciation, non-verbal communication, translation, and vocabulary with the subjects
being separated into groups of two (Abdo & Breen, 2010).
Additionally, the research will include analysis of the technique of code-switching and
code-mixing among the Arabic-English bilinguals using theoretical frameworks for linguistic
acquisition since these language paradigms present a primary example of the cultural differences
in how talk differs as it occurs in every day speech (Gumperz, 2001). Each of these tools helped
in collecting different forms of information about the participant that then assisted in the analysis
of the code-switching behavior of the participants (Schegloff, 2001). The case study selected
presented data collected during six meetings over a timeframe of three weeks with additional
data that incorporated other instructional aspects, such as student conduct and attitudes, the
classroom settings and conditions, teacher behavior and demeanor, and other general conditions
that were observed, documented, and analyzed by the researcher (Abdo & Breen, 2010).
The case study employs the devices of participant and naturalistic observation, as well as
interviewing as the primary modes of data collection so that the data could be examined using a
standard ethnographic communication archetype (Abdo & Breen, 2010). The data analysis
includes the incorporation of field notes containing verbal and non-verbal communication (such
as words, gestures, and eye contact) during the EFL classes, as well as both impromptu and
elicited verbal statements during individual interview sessions (Abdo & Breen, 2010). These
details supplied the evidence from which strategies deemed “effective” or “ineffective” were
identified (Abdo & Breen, 2010)
Theoretical Framework
The instructional strategy used by ESL/EFL educators determines whether they will
attempt to integrate cultural aspects into the lessons (Sybing, 2011). Instruction that is used for
teaching has changed focus and shifted to leaner-centered environments that place increased
attention to the learning processes that take place. The definition of strategy in this context is
taken as a procedure that is used to develop, and promote learning process, it is developed by
both the teacher and the learner based on the learning outcome desired (Hymes, 1964). The
choice of a learning strategy will affect the way the learner acquires, selects, integrates, and
organizes new information, and may alter the motivational state of the learner (Hymes, 1967).
The studies on strategy research that have been done mostly focus on the attributes of a
good learner, and show the strategies a good language learner employs in the process of learning
the second language (L2) (Joseph, 2013). This shows that all language learners use certain types
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of strategies, but the occurrence of use varies from learner to learner. Learners’ have
psychological and social differences, and therefore cannot use the same learning strategies.
Strategies used for adolescents and adults cannot be used for children.
Linguistic Development Theories
Cognitive
The cognitive development perspective is based on the theories of Jean Piaget and
speculates that linguistic acquisition comes with maturation and cognitive development, which is
the foundation for teaching language (Ball, 2010). This perspective of linguistic development
encourages early childhood educators to pay close attention to the cognitive developmental
stages of their students and encourage stimulatory activities as precursors to the onset of
linguistic development (Hill, 2007).
Behaviorist
The behaviorist perspective highlights the role of “nature” and the stimuli, responses, and
reinforcements that occur in the child’s environment based on B. F. Skinner and his theory of
“operant conditioning” along with the notion that children are “blank slates” before they are
taught through various situations and learn language through imitative speech (Decker, Decker,
Freeman, & Knopf, 2009). This perspective encourages teachers to focus on the types of stimuli
and reinforcements regarding language that children encounter and would encourage them to
communicate verbally.
Interactionist
The interactionist perspective is based on the sociocultural interactions that help children
develop their linguistic capacities and is based on the theories of Lev Vygotsky, whose premise
contends that language development in early childhood is formed through social interactions
with those in their surroundings that create a language acquisition support system (LASS)
(Giorgis & Glazer, 2008). This theory requires the adult to create conditions for effective
development and to be aware of the child’s zone of proximal development and know what the
child can accomplish on their own and what will require scaffolding from the supervising adult.
Cultural-linguistic Theories
Code-switching
Myers-Scotton’s model of a matrix language was developed to “account for and explain
structural constraints on intra-sentential code-switching” (Myers-Scotton, Jake, & Okasha, 1996,
p. 10). At the basic level, the model assumes that the two languages involved in a speech event
do not have equal participation (Myers-Scotton, Jake, & Okasha, 1996). Thus, this theory
hypothesizes that a base language exists during the process of code-switching. It is commonly
asserted that people are equipped with a language faculty in their being that makes them capable
of assessing linguistic choices (Myers-Scotton, 2000).
In this context, code-switching can be viewed as a phenomenon that permits morphemes
from two or more codes to be present in a subordinate clause, using complementiser to refer to a
subordinate clause. When a bilingual brings two languages together, a dominant language is
actively working (Liu, 2008). In this case, one language is delegated the role of matrix language,
which is the dominant language, while the other is the embedded language. The matrix language
becomes the source of the grammatical frame of constituents while both the matrix and

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embedded language supply morphemes (Joseph, 2013). The matrix language influence is always
present in bilingual societies, and each of the languages exists alone at its own time. In intra-
sentential code-switching there is always a matrix language (Hymes, 1964; Hymes, 1967).
Whorfian
According to Whorfian theory, our words are coded in language and so are our thoughts
and this linguistic pattern dictates more than just the language we speak. This pattern also
dictates our sense of reason, how we view nature, our relationship views, and every other aspect
of our conscious and unconscious mind (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011). This phenomenon is known as
linguistic determinism and is based on Whorf’s theory that every language utilizes a unique set
of semantic representations (Ajayi, 2008). These semantics determine aspects of our conceptual
representations which is how linguistics influences habitual thought (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011).
When analyzed, Whorf’s theory has proven to bear significant merit. Franz Boas’
linguistic analysis revealed that many languages exclude specification of gender, tenses, location,
and a vast array of descriptive terms present within the English language (Sybing, 2011). Other
linguists believe that lexical development is contingent upon the life experiences of those
speaking the language, meaning a culture that has only thatch-roofed huts would not be able to
conceptualize a building, thus could not fathom a skyscraper (Sybing, 2011). However, slang is
a lexical innovation created by individuals and often incorporates words and phrases from
various languages, as well as variations of standard words (Bullard, Johnson, Morris, Fox, &
Howell, 2010). Originally considered to be the lowest form of communication, slang is now
commonly used in the highest social circles and is perpetuated based upon its usefulness and
applicability (Bullard, Johnson, Morris, Fox, & Howell, 2010).
Convergence & Divergence

Convergence was seen as the strategy that allowed individuals to adapt to the
communicative behaviors in terms of the features identified. The convergence of speech reflects
the often unconscious need of a speaker to be socially integrated or identified with the other.
Basically, convergence assumed that more the speaker becomes familiar to the listener then
makes it more likely for the listener to also like the speaker. As such, convergence through
speech and non-verbal behavior is among strategies essentially adopted to enhance one’s
similarity with the other (Fleet & Torr, 2007). The result of convergence, generally, is the
speaker’s attractiveness (Chen, Kyle, & McIntyre, 2008).
“Divergence” is referred to “the way in which speakers accentuate speech and non-verbal
differences between themselves and others” (Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991, p. 8). The
linguistic divergence takes both verbal and non-verbal forms. In differentiating convergence
from divergence, it was observed that “Convergence is a strategy of identification with the
communication patterns of an individual internal to the interaction, whereas divergence is a
strategy of identification with linguistic communicative norms of some reference group external
to the immediate situation” (Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991, p. 27). Divergence borrows
from the theory of intergroup relations and social change proposed by Tajfel and colleagues
(Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991). This theory holds that the intergroup social comparisons
influence members of a particular social group to search for and at times create dimensions that
positively differentiate them from individuals in the other groups (DeCapua, 2008). In other

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words, divergence makes individuals feel more satisfied because they feel they belong to more
superior group. As a result, the individual feels they possess adequate social identity, and they
feel self-worthy (Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991).
Cultural Dynamics of Language Acquisition

Culture is technically defined as people’s learned, shared behaviors and beliefs (Miller,
2007). The culture of the Middle East entails values that consider teaching as a noble profession.
Teachers typically command significant levels of respect from both the students and the
community at large. This environment facilitates the student’s interpretation of the teacher as the
benchmark to which they try to emulate, which enables the educator to have a dominating
influence in their academic decisions (Gumperz, 1982).
It is through this perception that a second language learner will tend to rely more on the
teacher than the rest of the students (Gumperz, 2001). As stated earlier, the strategies should be
tailor made to meet the dynamic needs of the student including culture and therefore, the teacher
should lead the student in the best way to easily and comprehensively master the language as
there is a higher chance the teacher will dominate and influence the choice of strategy to be used
by such a learner. The teacher should take the cultural background to effectively deliver the best
as the learner expects the teacher to be perfect.
Gender is an issue that is of great importance, especially in the Arab world. The Muslim
religion and their form of government stipulate the separation of the two genders in relation to
learning; therefore, enhancing the natural differences in the cognitive processing of information
between the two genders that affects how each learns (Allam & Salmani-Nadoushan, 2009).
Social effectiveness is the worst hit strategy in the Arabic set up. Due to their gender bias set up,
the system maintains single gender relationship. The system blocks out the social effectiveness
of schooling, and they are forced to understand one relationship, i.e., gender biased relationship.
With such, the second language learner will have difficulty in learning language in an
environment that will differ from what s/he already knows (Oxford, 1990). The understanding of
such background information will help the instructors of these students to structure their
strategies in a manner that is acceptable by the learner. At no instance should there be a conflict
between the learner and the teacher concerning social setup or difference in belief; therefore, the
teacher should appreciate the cultural beliefs of the learner.
Language acquisition is based on mastery of the five aspects of language knowledge,
which are classified as morphemic, phonetic, pragmatic, semantic, and syntactic (Otto, 2010).
These elements constitute the foundational attributes that comprise the three levels of language
knowledge, which are linguistic knowledge, metalinguistic knowledge, and verbalization of
metalinguistic knowledge (Otto, 2010). Since the mother tongue is every child’s first language,
this is the foundation by which each individual bases all future knowledge concerning language
acquisition (Crim, et al., 2008). Learning how to communicate orally is the prelude to mastery
of an additional linguistic paradigm (Harris, 2009).
Every language has a standard lexicon and all cultures have forms of slang terminology
within their dialect (Battenburg, 2010). Slang is a cultural aspect of linguistic expression that is
typically defined as an informal way of speaking derived exclusively from the speaker’s
awareness of social and stylistic customs as well as the slang status of any word or phrase
(Bullard, Johnson, Morris, Fox, & Howell, 2010). Such terminologies often exist as culturally
relevant jargon that interjects various stylistic elements into daily vernacular and they are linked
to different kinds of social interactions that give the unique vocabulary meaning (Duff, 2001).
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The recognition of slang or jargon as a linguistic element is specifically linked with the
connection these expressions have to cultural or societal dynamics (Joseph, 2013). This includes
the social jargon of small, localized groups that may be widespread for a short period before
fading into obscurity. The origins and dynamics of casual speech tend to be ethnically inclined
and originate within various areas so those native to the area can deliver messages faster and
express ideas, events, or experiences (Bullard, Johnson, Morris, Fox, & Howell, 2010).
Individuals that are attempting to become bi or multi-lingual do not always speak in the same
way, illustrating that code-switching and code-mixing are common phenomena in speech, where
at least two languages communally exist (Annamali, 1989). The most basic definition of code-
switching describes an act that occurs in conversation where two languages come into contact
with each other and both languages are used interchangeably (Appel & Muysken, 2006; Deibert,
2008; Halmari, 1997; Hamers & Blanc, 2000; Liu, 2008; Poplack, 2001).
These transient dynamics create perpetual fluctuations in linguistic meaning that are
culturally derived and the creation of new terminologies ensures that languages are continually
changed and renewed (Miller, 2007). The migration of casual conversational terms between
cultures and races and the adaptations of these cultural terms by different groups help diverse
people connect through the assimilation of linguistics and magnify the boundaries of
interpersonal communication (Bullard, Johnson, Morris, Fox, & Howell, 2010). The paradigms
of linguistic acquisition are not restricted to simply words, but gestures and body language as
well and nonverbal messages are a large part of interpersonal communication.
During informal communication, people typically use physical gestures, facial
expressions, and many other informal types of body language to convey various messages.
Some of these informal communicative patterns are coded within the culture of language deeply
imbedded within the human vernacular not limited by social boundaries and can exist in all
languages, cultures, and classes of society. In examining the cultural aspects of linguistic
acquisition and the development of multi-language skills, the deeper relevance to EFL/ESL
individuals can be examined through analysis of current practice.
For example, students whose native language is Arabic face a particularly challenging
learning curve when attempting to learn English as a second language due to the significant
differences inherent in the dynamics of these vastly different languages (Abdo & Breen, 2010).
Although there are many differences, these are just a few of the major obstacles that present for
EFL/ESL learners whose native tongue is Arabic:
1. Arabic is written from right to left, which is the exact opposite of English,
2. Arabic orthography is subjective depending on the placement of the letter in the word,
which means that the shapes of letters varies according to their initial, medial, or end
placement in a word. Conversely, English letters only change shape if they are upper
or lower case,
3. In English grapho-phomenic rules that govern the treatment of vowels are
unpredictable and irregular, but predictable in Arabic,
4. Verb-free sentences in English would include a copula, but are allowable in Arabic,
and
5. Arabic tenses are indicated by the addition of a suffix to a root.
While these are simply a few of the rules that differentiate these two languages, the differences
are so vast that Jordanian ESL/EFL learners cannot rely on Arabic (L1) competence for building
English (L2) competence (Abdo & Breen, 2010).

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Results
Examination of the selected case study demonstrates that there is a need for the ESL
teachers to understand the skills, and cultural heritage that their students bring to the classroom
(Abdo & Breen, 2010). Additional research suggests that teachers should develop pedagogical
practices that investigate the relationship that exist between student’s cognitive progress, the
social, and the cultural context in which they engage in ESL/EFL educational paradigms
(Hernandez, 2012). The case study further indicates that learning is mediated by social-cultural
practices of students.
To supplement the indications presented in the case study, a survey was conducted (see
Appendix A) in which students and EFL/ESL instructors were asked about their views regarding
the inclusion of culturally relevant instruction amalgamated with the linguistic context. The
survey conducted incorporates the responses of 50 EFL (25 male, 25 female) students at a
Middle-Eastern university, 15 EFL professors (10 male, 5 female), 50 regular academic students
(25 male, 25 female), and 25 academic professors (18 male, 7 female). The results of this survey
is presented in Tables 1-4 and strengthen the argument posited in this paper, which favors the
inclusion of cultural paradigms when teaching ESL/EFL to Arabic speaking learners. Table1:
Survey Question 1 Results
Survey Question 1
50
44
40
30 23 27
20
10
0 0 6
Males that said
Yes Males that said
No Females that
said Yes Females that
said No Females that
were Unsure
The query presented for the first question of the survey was: Does culture have to be a
part of English Language Learning? The results illustrated in Table 1 show that 27 EFL male
students responded ‘No, we can learn culture as we go through university’; 23 EFL male students
stated ‘Yes, it is part of English language’; 44 female students responded ‘Yes, we need to learn
all to help with understanding of English language and culture’; and 6 female students were
unsure.
Social-cultural approach to be used in language learning requires a new shift for teaching
ESL since there are complexities involved. The learners are social beings who are complex and
whose language learning process is orchestrated throughout their socially and culturally
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constructed artifacts. Communication is mediated by the learners’ social and cultural identities,
and therefore, the language learning process should be viewed with respect of the social
background, and structure. Learning English in itself as a second language constitutes the
dialogical interdependence between the learner, the society, social practices, and the context of
learning must be brought a bout in the classroom.
The illustration in Table 2 presents the responses from the participants to the second survey
question.
Table 2: Results of Survey Question 2
Survey Question 2
25
25
20 15
15 0 Yes
0
10 No
EFL Professors
Academic Professors
The second survey question posed asked: Does culture have to be a part of English
Language Teaching? The question was focused on the educators in the respondent pool, both
EFL professors and academic professors, and all 40 faculty members replied ‘Yes, it is needed; it
is a requirement of the learning process. How can this not be put into teaching the language?’
Research suggest that social and cultural context of everyday brings about human
cognitive development, and its functioning, and that individual’s learning cannot be detached
from other people’s learning. The connection between the individual and the society do connect
learning together with the cognitive aspect of the mind. Thorne put that language is entrenched
into the society, and that people interprets information through their consultation of their social
and cultural backgrounds. Second language learning should be instituted within the context of
the micro-social and the structures of the institution. The social cultural approach suggests the
need to expound on language teaching knowledge situations, the possibilities that can be
afforded by social and cultural institutional structures, and the understanding of how teaching
relates to the pedagogical practices and the social background of the learners (Ajayi, 2008).
The illustration in Table 3 presents the responses from the participants to the third survey
question, which was: Is it possible to consider a language-learning environment without
teaching the culture?
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Table 3: Survey Question 3 Responses
Survey Question 3
50
45
40
24 26
30
20
10
0
0 5
Males that said
Yes Males that said
No Females that
said Yes Females that
said No Females that
were Unsure
The results for this survey question illustrated in Table 3 show that 24 EFL male students
indicated that, ‘Yes, we only need to know the words to communicate’; 26 EFL male students
said, ‘No, words do not tell us everything’; 45 female students said, ‘No, culture of words/how
and when to use them are important to understanding the life’ and 5 female students were unsure.
The fourth and final research question posed to participants was: Is it possible to consider
a language learning environment without teaching the culture?
Table 4: Results for Survey Question 4
Survey Question 4
25
25
20
15
15
0 Yes
10 0 No
EFL Professors
Academic Professors

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This question was also focused on the educators in the respondent pool, both EFL
professors and academic professors, and all 40 faculty members responded “No, culture must be
taught, always, since culture helps us explain why something is done a certain way, and culture
helps us to explain things when words are not used.”
Code-switching has been documented as a way of signaling ethnic identity and
unearthing shared background knowledge, which, for Arabic-speaking ESL/EFL individuals
provides a stronger platform for language acquisition (Hinkel & Fotos, 2002). Through etiquette
code-switching (also termed emblematic code-switching) speakers indicate that they are
members of a certain speech community or ethnic group and that they are in solidarity with the
other members of that group or community. Accomplishing this does not require extensive code-
switching. It is documented that in diglossic situations, the native language of the bilingual or
multilingual speaker tends to take the “we” code, and the second language is normally associated
with the “they” code. The “we” code has a sense of intimacy, personal attachment and
involvement, whilst the “they” code has authority connotations and distance attached to it
(Helfrich & Bosh, 2011).
Basically, the theory is based on the fact that in a communication process, losses and
gains are inevitable, which is why code-switching or code-mixing should be encouraged (Giles,
Coupland, & Coupland, 1991). It was further asserted that accommodation theory explains the
diverse contextual processes that impact sociolinguistic codes, styles, and strategies that speakers
select and consequences of such selections (Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991). Proponents of
this theory hold that during social interactions speakers are in need of social approval from their
listeners. Therefore, teachers should encourage and support code-switching in their students.
As a result, speakers tend to adapt their speech toward the direction of the code preferable to the
listener, as way of seeking their social approval. This is what has been termed convergence or
accommodation. Further, the theory retains that, during some speech instances, the speaker
wants to set himself/herself aside from the listener. To achieve this aim in a speech event, the
speaker places emphasis on the difference existing between the speaker and the listener. The way
in which speakers stress this difference is through the choice of code. This is termed as speech
divergence (Gardner, 2012). This speech behavior has been attributed to political, national, and
cultural reasons (Appel & Muysken, 2006). This is an indication that code-switching and refusal
to code switch, under this theory, all serves a particular purpose for the speaker.
Conclusion
Summarily, learning a new language is a complex task since many attributes of
linguistics are derived from the surrounding culture. Verbal comprehension of a new language is
the prelude to literacy in the target language and individuals that have strong oral competencies
are more successful in mastery of the new language than those that are not (Gardner, 2012). In
many circumstances, comprehension of the associated cultural dynamics adds clarity to the
linguistic formalities relative to the target language and can help instructors convey details to
their students (Gholson & Stumpf, 2005). The ability to comprehend spoken words will help
ESL/EFL learners develop the phonetic skills to become literate in comprehending written words
(Ajayi, 2008).

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As the individual learns to comprehend the meaning of the words being spoken to them,
they also learn how to mimic the sounds. As their linguistic skills increase, they become better
able to ask questions and articulate their thoughts, helping them to become better learners
(DeCapua, 2008). As the relevance of culture to the linguistic paradigm becomes better
understood, the practice of teaching culture in conjunction with the associated language requires
further study so that the real benefits can be better understood. Although this brief discourse has
revealed several elements of the relationship between language and culture, as well as several of
these benefits, there is still a need for a stronger body of literature based on research that can
provide details regarding helpful methodologies that can be employed when instructing
EFL/ESL students in a new language.
Limitations of the Study
Research using the findings of a case study has inherent limitations in that the study
sample may be limited, as well as the extent of control the researcher has since this process relies
on examination of information derived from restricted venues. Furthermore, restricting the
discussion to EFL/ESL learners from the Middle East that speak Arabic as their first language
limits the generalizability of the results since the Arabic language has numerous distinctions that
differ from the dynamics of other languages such as Spanish, French, or Italian. Another
limitation stems from the manner in which the data is collected because case study data often
represent natural behavior, making it difficult to categorize and organize responses in a
meaningful and qualitative way. Case study research often requires some creativity on the
researcher’s part, such as analysis, and the challenges mentioned will be addressed by careful
selection of the studies used in support of the findings to avoid inclusion of invalid details.
About the Author:
Dr. Ronnie Goodwin completed his doctorate in English: Rhetoric & Linguistics at Indiana
University of Pennsylvania in 2005. He has over 24 years of teaching experience in university,
community college, private and public school settings. He specializes in teaching Linguistics,
Business Writing, English Composition and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).
Dr. Goodwin is also experienced in teaching intensive English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses.
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Appendix A
Participant Questionnaire & Results
Questions and responses posed to 50 EFL (25 male, 25 female) students at a Middle-Eastern university,
15 EFL professors (10 male, 5 female), 50 regular academic students (25 male, 25 female) and 25
academic professors, (18 male, 7 female).
1. Does culture have to be a part of English Language Learning?

Twenty-seven (27) EFL male students said, No, “we can learn culture as we go through university.”
Twenty-three (23) EFL male students said, Yes, “it is part of English language.”
Forty-four (44) female students said, Yes, “we need to learn all to help with understanding of English
language and culture.”
Six (6) female students were unsure.
2. Does culture have to be a part of English Language Teaching?

From both EFL professors and academic professors, all forty (40) faculty members said, Yes, “it is
needed, it is a requirement of the learning process. How can this not be put into teaching the language”?
3. Is it possible to consider a language learning environment without teaching the culture?

Twenty-four (24) EFL male students said, Yes, “we only need to know the words to communicate.”
Twenty-six (26) EFL male students said, No, “words do not tell us everything.”
Forty-five (45) female students said, No—“culture of words/how and when to use them are important to
understanding the life.”
Five (5) female students were unsure.
4. Is it possible to consider a language learning environment without teaching the culture?

All forty (40) faculty members said, No, “culture must be taught, always.” “Culture helps us explain why
something is done a certain way, and culture helps us to explain things when words are not used.”

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AWEJ
Pp.78-94
Identity Construction and Negotiation through an EFL Syllabus in Sudan
Nada Sid Ahmed Eljak

Sudan University for Science and Technology, Sudan
Abdelrahim Hamid Mugaddam

University of Khartoum, Sudan
Abstract
This paper investigates the process of national identity construction among basic school pupils in
Sudan. The paper adopts the assumption that identity can be constructed and negotiated via
language. SPINE 3, a textbook of English as a foreign language taught to Grade 8 has been
chosen as a representative of language programs implemented at basic level schools in Sudan
and thus the main source of data for the study. Issues such as traditions, customs, good values,
religion, clothes, food, literature, historical events, famous people, etc, have been carefully
considered in terms of their representation in the textbook. A critical discourse analysis approach
has been employed in the process of data analysis. Results show that SPINE 3 promote and help
construct a national identity among the pupils. Yet, the identity constructed and negotiated
through the textbook is based primarily on the Arabic and Islamic culture which is thought to be
the most effective unifying factor of the Sudanese nation. As such, PINE 3 completely ignores
and marginalize Sudan’s rich linguistic, cultural and ethnic heritage. The paper concludes that
paying due respect to the cultural and linguistic diversity of Sudan will help realize political and
economic settlement in Sudan.
Keywords: national identity, ideology, school textbooks, content analysis

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Identity Construction and Negotiation Eljak & Mugaddam
Introduction
National identity is a collective feeling based on the belief of belonging to the same
nation. In national identity people share most of the characteristics that make them different from
other nations (Guibernaui, 2007). These characteristics include a common culture, history,
kinship, language, religion, territory and destiny. This suggests that people who belong to a
particular nation share a set of attributes that constitute their national identity. The specific way
in which the nation is defined affects the nature of these attributes.
The fact that Sudan is rich in different ethnicities, cultures, languages and religions
serves as an incentive for us to attempt the present study. Constructing national identity through
education is the main theme of the present study. Although this theme appeared in the 16th
century becoming widespread in the 19th century (Parmenter, 1999),very little research was
conducted in the Sudanese context. Construction of national identity in Sudan needs to be
initiated in the school syllabuses. Like any other type of learning process, identity construction
requires certain instruments (Smith, 1991). For example symbols such as the flags and the
national anthems are important instruments in building and maintaining a nation. In this paper
we are trying to show how national identity is constructed through written texts in school
syllabuses. It is argued that the current Sudanese national syllabus at basic level (henceforth BL)
is based on a policy favouring a certain ideology and culture. The main assumption here is that
the syllabuses adopted at school do not reflect the diversity of Sudanese society. That is, pupils at
BL are not provided with fair opportunities to negotiate, develop or construct their own identities
through the current syllabus. In this context, this specifically addresses the negotiation of
national identity in SPINE 3, an English language textbook taught to Grade 8 in Sudan.
Theoretical background
The term ‘identity’ proved to be highly significant in the 1960s, and acquired currency
across disciplinary and national boundaries. It has established itself in many fields such as the
journalistic and the academic lexicon. Foucault (1972) views identities (or subjects) as the
product of dominant discourses that are attached to social arrangements and practices.
Guibernaui (2007) claims that the two key questions in relation to identity are 'who am I?' and
'Who are we?' She argues that identity is a definition which she takes as a psychological and
social interpretation of the self which establishes what and where the person is.
Smith (1991) suggests that the self is composed of multiple identities and roles: familial,
territorial, class, religious, ethnic and gender. He also indicates each of these identities is based
on social classifications that might be modified or abolished. Musa (2007) argues that religion,
language, values and manners compose the main characteristics of identity and intersect with the
component of culture. He goes on to highlighting different kinds of identities: individual identity,
social identity and national identity. Moreover, Musa argues that discourse about identity is
always linked with the discourse about ethnicity and culture.This fact is very clear in the newly
independent countries which suffer from the existence of different ethnicities trying to
homogenize their society. Being one of those countries that are characterized by diversity in
ethnicity, culture, religion and languages, Sudan is a case in point. It has got about 572 tribes; 50
of them compose huge tribal groups which communicate through 115 languages. Addressing
this situation, Sudanese political pioneers did not succeed in building a homogenous society, but
a heterogeneous one that endangers prosperity, security and peace.
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The relationship between language and identity

Researchers draw some correlation between identity and language. Joseph (2006) argues
that language is of political origin which means that it is basically political. However, other
linguists, particularly psycholinguists, counter this by stressing that the function of language has
primarily to do with 'cognition' which is the connection with mental processes of understanding
and not with relationships between people (ibid). In the same sense, Benwell and Stokoe (2006)
define identity as essential, cognitive, socialized, phenomenological or supernatural
phenomenon that governs human action . Many questions arise from this understanding such as :
what identities people possess , how they may be distinguished from one another, and how they
correlate with a variety of social science measures. It is assumed that in spite of presenting
themselves differently in a number of contexts, beneath that presentation, people lurk a personal,
pre-discursive and steady identity. Thus, people should know who they 'really' are, and if they do
not, they may need the help of professionals, psychoanalysts, spiritual leaders, etc. to reveal that
knowledge (ibid).
Going back to the argument of Joseph (2006) that language is of political origin, the
significant question here is that what do we mean by 'politics'? Joseph elaborates the answer to
this question arguing languages themselves are constructed out of the practices of speech and
writing, and the beliefs (or 'ideologies') of those doing the speaking and writing. Language is
shaped by the audience and what the interlocutors communicate will affect their relationship. It
is believed that the politics of identity shapes the interpretation of the messages being exchanged
which is a prime factor in deciding the truth value of utterances (Joseph, 2006). Identity is also
understood as a "public phenomenon, a performance or construction that is interpreted by other
people" (Benwell and Stokoe, 2006:4). The construction of identity occurs in discourse and other
social and embodied conduct. Hence, some questions rise such as: how we move, where we are,
how we talk, etc.
To sum up, language and identity are inseparable. Thinking about language and identity,
as reflected by Joseph (2004), improves people understanding of who they are, in their eyes and
in others', which would deepen their understanding of social interaction. During their lives,
people engaged with language in constructing who they are, and who everyone is that they meet,
or whose utterances they hear or read. People from childhood engage in psychological and
developmental processes through which their subjective feelings, attitudes, behaviors, affective
and cognitive aspects, and beliefs are gradually constructed. The language they speak is crucial
to them and is linked with their subjective identities.
Joseph (2004:6) argues that individual or group identities ‘are not natural facts about us,
but are things we construct’. Some people would not accept this idea when they think of their
identities as related and grounded in a soul; or when they think of their identities as something
stable and unchangeable through their life. The separate and inner identity is never singular or
coherent. If one is to think about the fact that individuals usually have various roles with regard
to others, such as to children, parents, friends, spouses, etc, their identities shift and change
according to the context of whom they are talking to. People can construct others' identities
depending on what they have observed of each other.
It is generally argued that the negotiation of identities occurs where relations of power are
unequal. These situations are usually influenced by the social, cultural, political, and historical

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settings in which these identities are negotiated. Negotiation of identities occurs every day in
multilingual contexts where different ideologies of language and identities come into conflict.
This should be taken with regard to which languages or varieties of language are spoken by a
particular kind of people in particular contexts (Pavlenko and Blackledge, 2003).
Positioning and negotiation of identity in classrooms
Regan and Chasaide, (2010) argue that first language sociolinguistic research has
shown that identity construction is particularly intense during adolescence and young adulthood.
They suggested that language use is an especial key resource in this dynamic process. Eckert
(2000) and Rampton (1995) state that identity construction is at a particularly intense stage
during adolescence and young adulthood, and language is powerful factor in this process.
Norton (1997) uses the term ‘subjectivity’ for ‘identity’. Subjectivity refers to the ways in which
our identity is formed through discourse. She has worked to show how language learners take up
different subject positions in different discourses. Norton uses the notion of identity as multiple
entity constructed through discourse, and a site of struggle. From this point of view, a person
takes up different subject positions within different discourses. Language or discourse is a crucial
element in the formation of subjectivity. Kearney (2004) states that in addition to the traditional
factors which influence each individual learner such as age, previous experience etc., other
factors have come into play. Some of these are the socially constructed nature of language
learning and the effect that it draws on the individual learner.
Materials and methods

This study depends primarily on data derived from SPINE 3, a textbook taught to grade 8
pupils in Sudan. The textbook covers a wide range of topics and themes in English language. The
actual sample used in the analysis is taken from six units. The choice of language textbook is
based on the assumption that language is the field in which identity is more likely to be reflected.
SPINE 3 as a non-probability sample, is taken to represent the English language syllabus taught
at the basic level (SPINE2 at Grade 7 and SPINE1 at Grade 5). Selection of the units in this
study depends on the purpose of the research (exploratory and descriptive). This study adopts a
number of units of analysis such as: word, theme, characters, item, etc. Each unit of analysis is
defined accurately before being used in the analysis. The direct relationship between the
categories of analysis and the units of analysis is explicitly explained.
Data Analysis
The data were analyzed based on qualitative and quantitative approach in Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA). The quantitative data analysis (QNDA) was based on the instrument especially
developed for this study entitled Dimensions of National Identity Construction (DNIC). The
instrument was implemented on an inter-rater-based approach (see Cohen, Manion, Morrison,
2007). Two raters completed the checklist and the most commonly agreed rate was taken as the
most acceptable. The texts were examined under the sub-dimensions mentioned in the taxonomy
of the research instrument. The results of the tallying up of the checklist were tabulated and
presented in graphs. The second instrument adopted by this study was used to analyze
ideological expressions in the school textbooks. This instrument (ID) is based on a taxonomy
developed by van Dijk (2006). Cohen’s et al. (2007) approach to content analysis has been
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considered for handling the data. Three questions were raised to help organize the process of
content analysis. The questions are as follows:
1. To what extent does the current textbook, SPINE 3, support the process of constructing
national identity among the pupils ?
2. To what extent does SPINE 3 help deconstruct preexisting diverse ethnic identities of the
pupils?
3. Is SPINE 3 based on a certain ideology?
The entire content of the six units chosen for the study were scrutinized against the dimensions
of the checklist. Reference was made to different lessons that were examined under each of the
criterion set. A special focus was placed on making the data representative to ensure reliable
results. Teama’s (Tea'ma, 2004) Priori Coding was used in coding the data. The categories of
analysis were chosen based on previous studies and peer reviewing of three experts. To answer
the questions posed by the study, both qualitative and quantative approaches to data analysis
have been used in the present study.
Discussions and Results

With respect to the quantitative analysis of this textbook, Tables 1,2,and 3 as examples,
show identity percentages, while Graph 1 shows ethnic and national identity frequency by
dimension.
Table.1 shared values

Cultural dimension Lessons Examples Comment
Shared values Lesson(4),revision -He likes his farm The text focuses on
unit, page 9 ‘ Mustafa very much valuing certain
The Farmer’ customs and
-After that he says his traditions and tries to
prayers perpetuate them
through the language
and techniques used
in it.
Unit 3, Lesson 1 A boy scout, Pupils respect for all sorts of

‘People Who Help Us’ 'learn discipline, first occupations and
aid and many other exaltation of the value
useful things.' of work
Unit 3, Lesson 5, -They intended to keep -The texts try to

‘Keep Your Home it clean inculcate the values of
Clean 2’ caring for the
environment, self-
hygiene and
promotion of urban
behavior
- The texts enhance

the sense of civic
pride as well as civic
duties and

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responsibilities.
Unit 5, Lesson 9, ' Would you ----?' or -promotes the

‘Sarah and Mona’ 'Could you---?" practice of addressing
other people tactfully.
-This lesson
demonstrates the way
people should request
others to do things for
them in polite ways by
using certain
structures
Table .2 Symbols
Cultural Lesson Example Comment

dimensio s s
n
symbols Unit 2, Mohammed Ali Clay who has turned into a symbol for the blacks and his
Lesson victories in boxing has placed him in high position and he turned into an idol
12, amongst his fellow people not only in America but worldwide and for all
‘Sports coloured people let alone the blacks.
and
Games’
, page
45
Unit 3, talk about three figures who are real symbols. These people are:
Lesson (1) Mohammed Ahmed Al Mahdi.
2 (2) The great traveller Ibn Batutta
‘Great (3) Nelson Mandela
Men
and
Women
1’,
page 54
Table . 3 Traditions
Cultural dimension Lesson Example Comment
Traditions Unit 4, Lesson 9 ‘Juha ‘Amna, Amna, today A number of good

at the Chemist’s’, page I’m not feeling well’ traditions are presented
104 such as the good
relationship between
husbands and wives,
love between friends,
hospitality and
entertainment of
guests, and the kind

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way of treating the

elderly and showing
respect to them.
Unit 4 , Lesson 10, Oh, Juha! You must

‘Juha on a Sudan eat something’
Airways Plane’, page
108
Unit 6, Lesson 5 , ‘Juha ‘All right .I’ll give you all of the above
at the Dentist’s ‘, the money’ traditions are
page166 highlighted and in a
light-hearted manner
that sugarcoats the
pill of direct
instruction and makes
it palatable to the
young learners.
(a) Psychological dimension
x Internal or external enemies

There is a short text in unit3 Lesson 2 titled ’Great Men and Women 1’. This text is
about Al Mahadi. It speaks about him as a leader who drove away the Turks and who fought
great battles against enemies to his people. 'He did not want his country to be ruled by
foreigners'. The foreigners here refers to the Turks. The word 'foreigners' itself connotes
xenophobia and anti-colonization attitudes as well as nationalistic zeal.
Folktales represent one of the richest sources for instruction. They are also rich as
linguistic resources. Because they are intrinsically interesting, motivating and appealing to
the young. That is, the moral a folktale teaches is believed to be in producing the required
impact on the learners. SPINE 3 has made use of folktale in a trial to instill the dimensions
of national identity in the learners' hearts and minds. Two examples of this are Lesson 10 and
11 in Unit 3 entitled 'Stories from the Past (1) and 'Stories from the Past (2)'.
The former is an example of 'external enemy'. It talks about a king who was defeated by
his enemies losing seven battles. However, at the end he managed to lead his army to victory.
'The king and his army fought against their enemies and this time they won'. The latter is an
example of 'internal enemy'. It talks about a prince who was chased by his enemies. The
prince was helped by some of his loyal subjects who sacrificed themselves for him.
To sum up this sub-dimension is dealt with in a number of positive ways and is presented
in different context and genres. The textbook relies a lot on the national history of the
country and cites examples of how the Sudanese people and their historical leaders fought
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against all sorts of colonizers and invaders. In all of these instances a reference was made to
the Sudanese people as one nation. The learners are addressed as one unified group who
belong to one homeland . The sub-dimension is also treated through folktales and stories
from the past. Such texts are neutral in nature and do not favour any group to others.
x Belief in common ancestry
Here, SPINE 3 seems to adopt a method of avoidance behavior. It tries to give a broad
hint about belief in common ancestry. It uses the theme of great men and women to inject the
message and make it look more accidental than deliberate. No one would argue against including
some great Arab people in this theme, since they are considered part of human heritage.
However, the way they are presented may drop a hint. The two passages in Lesson 11, Unit 4,
“Great Men and Women (2)” are examples. These two passages are fairly long and are both
devoted to Arab scientists: Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Ibn al-Haytham. The topic sentences in the
opening paragraphs in both texts read as follows:
1. Jabir Ibn Hayyan is a famous Arab scientist.

2. Ibn al-Haytham was a famous Arab mathematician and scientist.
The writers talk about Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Ibn al-Haytham with pride, delight and
appreciation. Moreover, the choice of a great man such as “the traveler of Islam” and the lesson
about “across the sea” made it possible to mention the names of some Arab places (countries and
cities). It seems that the writer has deliberately created an opportunity in this theme to evoke this
belief. This might give readers the impression that they belong to one region and one race.
(b) Cultural dimension

Shared values
This sub-dimension is presented in a way that all learners are convinced to identify with.
Common, universal and desired values are offered. Equal opportunities are offered to learners to
position themselves within this system of values. As a result, learners will be apt to feel that
equity prevail in their classrooms. An example of “shared values” appears in Unit 3, Lesson 5,
“Keep Your Home Clean (2)”. The texts in this lesson talk about how pupils at Basic Level
worked hard to keep their school and village clean and green. The texts try to inculcate the
values of caring for the environment, self-hygiene and promotion of urban behaviour. The texts
enhance the sense of civic pride as well as civic duties and responsibilities. This intersects with
the political dimension as it stresses the duties of citizens and their responsibilities towards their
own local communities.
x Beliefs
The authors treated this sub-dimension wisely. They use themes from both Islam and Christianity.
However, the presentation of Islam first in the list might be interpreted as a sort of bias against other
religions or that Islam is the dominant religion. The authors did not intend to be biased in any way. All
pupils may feel that their religions and cultures are respected and catered for. This has a positive impact
on the entire group of learners. An example is from Unit 5, Lesson 7, “Hunein's Pair of Shoes”.
(a)We went to the mosque.
(c) We listened to the “Khutba”.
(d) We said our Friday prayers.
(d) We put on our best clothes.

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(e) We picked up our bibles.

(f) We went to church.
x Symbols
A whole unit beside other scattered lessons are devoted to encouraging learners to read about famous
men and women and. Reading about such characters helps learners acquire good values and more positive
attitudes towards the others. In this way, the authors can guarantee that the whole group of learners will
identify with this sub-dimension. For example the three texts in Unit 3, Lesson 2, “Great Men and
Women (1)” talk about three figures that are real symbols. These are:
(1) Al Imam Mohammed Ahmed Al Mahdi, who freed the Sudan from the Turks.
(2) The great traveller Ibn Battuta, who toured the world of his day and wrote about his travels.
(3) Nelson Mandela, who was one of the greatest freedom fighters in the history of humanity.
x Traditions
Traditions are presented through the popular character of “Juha”. In different units and lessons
“Juha” encourages learners and focuses their attention on the importance of good relationships between
husbands and wives; love between friends, etc. It is clear that the whole group of learners will identify
with this sub-dimension. The traditions mentioned are common and are presented without reference to
any specific creed or culture. Examples are in Unit 6, Lesson 5, “Juha at the Dentist's”, and Unit 6,
Lesson 7, “Juha at the Cafeteria”. A number of good traditions are presented such as the good relationship
between husbands and wives: “Amna, Amna, today I’m not feeling well”; love between friends: “All
right. I’ll give you the money”; hospitality and entertainment of guests: “Oh, Juha! You must eat
something”; and the kind way of treating the elderly and showing them respect.
x Food
SPINE 3 does not show great concern with “food” with which learners can identify. Some scattered
parts of lessons talk about food, although some of them do not relate to the Sudanese way of cooking or
traditional dishes. The texts focus on a few Sudanese ways of eating, and neglecting a great portion of
dishes peculiar to some ethnic affiliations in the Sudan. Here, some students might feel that part of their
traditions and customs are not catered for. For example in Unit 6, Lesson 2, “Cooking”, “[K]itchen
utensils” are presented. The text shows the language of recipes through a dialogue between two Sudanese
women. However, utensils are all modern ones and the meals the two women talk about have nothing to
do with traditional Sudanese dish: “they had vegetable soup, tomato salad, aubergine, salad, okra stew,
potato with minced meat”.
x Clothes
The authors do not give a proper regard to “clothes”. Various ways of dressing are presented in
different pictures and drawings. However, no tribal clothes, such as the laowo or the sidairi, are shown in
the pictures.
x Names of people
There are different names mentioned in the book, such as Kamal, Sara, Ohaj, Karlo, Arob, and
Mansoor. The names come from various places and groups. In short, the authors succeeded in presenting
this sub-dimension in such a way that all pupils can identify.
(c) Territorial dimension

x The country
This sub-dimension is presented in all aspects of the notion of country (the Sudan). It is presented
in a number of texts. In the Revision Unit, Lesson 1, Section B, there is a personal letter written by
two girls to their friend. The senders’ address contains 'Omdurman' which is always referred to as the

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'national capital' in contrast to Khartoum, the 'political capital'. Omdurman occupies a special place in
the history of the Sudan and is considered to be the melting pot of many Sudanese who belong to
different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. So, to choose it as part of the senders’ address has the
advantage of representing the broad spectrum of the Sudanese diverse ethnicities. The text also talks
about Khartoum and its beauty in winter and the two girls invite their friend to visit it. They also refer
to Jebel Marra and the nice holiday they spent there. Talking about these places in such a context
fosters the sense of belonging to one country.
In Section ‘D’ of the same lesson, the text talks about two friends from eastern and western
Sudan, Aroma and ElObied, repectively. Ohaj goes to visit his friend Ahmed in El Obied in
Kordofan. The text also mentions that when Ohaj went back to his home town 'Aroma', he ' told his
friends about the two beautiful towns', which further consolidates the idea of spreading the notion of
belonging to one homogenous national entity. The text, though short, capsulates a huge message. It
tries to unify the different parts of the country as well as the different ethnicities and cultures. Another
aspect that the language of the text implicates is the notion of taking pride in the homeland by
speaking about its beauty.
In Unit 2 Lesson 7 ' A Letter from Tom', Tom writes to His friend Mahmoud describing the
Sudanese as ' very nice and friendly people.' He also mentions that he 'visited some historical places'
and he ' shall never forget the beautiful green forests in southern Sudan.' This kind of discourse is
sure to raise the learners' awareness of nationalism. The most important issue here is the neutraly of
the language wher no given group is referred to. All learners will feel that they are included the text.
In Unit 2 Lesson 9 'Farming and Industry' the reading text speaks about some factories that are
national. They describe the textile factory in Hasahisa and other sugar and flour factories. The text
talks about the top cash crop of the Sudan, cotton, and that it is grown in the oldest and most
renowned project, the Gezira Scheme. It also mentions the Nuba Mountains as an area that produces
cotton.
The text also mentions that 'your jalabya is made of cotton' , a clever hint that uses the national
costume as something that unifies rather than discriminates. In reference to the national factories, the
text also uses the expression 'They produce different things which are made from what is grown on
farms'. This highlights the potentialities of the homeland as having plentiful resources that can secure
the basic needs of its people.
In Unit 4 Lesson 14 'Radio SPINE', and within the context of the 'Radio Programme for the Day',
the text mentions the name of a Sudanese Professor who works in a foreign university and who was
able to invent a substance that would help preserve the environment. One programme is about Hawa,
a popular singer from Western Sudan and two famous footballers who play for two popular clubs in
the Sudan.
In Unit 5, Lesson 2 'Port Sudan', the text talks about a very important city at the national level,
Port Sudan the national port of the country. All the country depends on it for imports and exports.
Most of the institutions there are national ones. Port Sudan is a cosmopolitan city. The people who
work and live there belong to all parts of the Sudan. The text talks about 'big ships and tankers'. It
talks about ships that are carrying goods and products from other countries for the benefit of the
Sudanese people. It also mentions a ship 'with some Sudanese products such as cotton, cow hides, and
dura loaded for export.'
The text mentions the sight-seeing tours that people can make in order to 'see the colored and
other beautiful creatures in the sea. The passage itself is written in the context where a young boy
travels by train from Khartoum to visit his sister and her husband in Port Sudan. This illustrates the
ties that bond people in the Sudan and encourages the vision of being one nation.
Unit 5, Lesson 5 and Lesson 6 talk about an important city in the Sudan, Al Gedaref. This city is the
centre for a big agricultural area which produces two important cash crops; sorghum and sesame.

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They contribute a lot to the national economy. Besides, sorghum is the main cereal used as food for
the Sudanese people. The text says that the two crops 'provide our country with hard currency when
they are exported'. By the phrase, ‘our country', the text includes all groups constituting the
population of the Sudan. It emphasizes the fact that ' people from all over the country live in Al
Gedaref', which reflects the peaceful co-existence of the different cultures and ethnic groups.
Moreover, the text stresses the role played by the network of roads and railways in the creation of
national unity and identity (see the qoutation below).
'the railway line and the main road, which join the town with most parts of the country, make it easy
for people to move to and from Al Gedaref whenever they wish.'
By and large, this sub-dimension is treated with great concern. Almost all of the units and lessons
hint at fostering feelings of pride of and gratitude to the mother land, Sudan. Different cities which
have significant roles in the history of Sudanese life are described. The notion of ‘country’ is
disseminated in different genres. They cover a wide range of ethnicities in Sudan. The message the
authors want to convey is that in spite of the diverse ethnic and cultural affiliations in Sudan, the
country is wide enough to accommodate all of its sons and daughters.
x Images specific to the homeland
Generally, the authors present a number of important images of Sudan. The images cover different
parts of the Sudan reflecting the rich ethnic and cultural diversity of the country. For instance, in Unit 4,
Lesson10, “Juha on a Sudan Airways Plane”, the authors have chosen the national carrier, Sudan
Airways, as a setting for the demonstration of the language items be taught. Sudan Airways, one of the
oldest airlines in Africa and the Middle East, is without doubt an image of the homeland. The choice of
the national carrier here is really very successful. The planes with the famous logo and the distinctive
colors are known worldwide and they have been flying through the skies for decades. Sudan Airways is
the mobile image of the country.
x Flora and fauna
Learners are sure to feel proud of the numbers of the country’s animal wealth. Two texts to reflect on
this important sub-dimension are not enough to help the construction of national identity. For example, in
Unit 2, Lesson 2, titled “At Dinder National Park”, the writer describes the national park and mentions
some of its features. The text talks about the park and that it is “full of beautiful green trees and grass”. It
also talks about the animals, which “are not in cages; they move freely among the trees”. On the whole,
SPINE 3 raises learners’ awareness of wildlife and domesticated animals. The Sudan is famous for its
wealth of livestock and wild animals. Any textbook that aims at enhancing the development of national
identity should not ignore this. In fact, the national emblem of the Sudan in the past was the rhinoceros, a
native of Sudan (enclosed by two palm trees). The present emblem is the secretary bird. Like the national
flag and the national anthem, an emblem is one of the greatest symbols for the country.
(d) Historical dimension

x Historic memories
Generally, “historic memories” are presented only in two places throughout the whole textbook.
These presentations are not enough to identify with this sub-dimension. An example is in Unit 3, Lesson
2, “Great Men and Women (1)”, where there is a short text that talks about Al Imam Al Mahdi who
devoted his life to fighting against the Turks: “He decided to drive them out and make Sudan free”;
“Before he died in 1885 he freed all the Sudan from foreign rule”.
x Sacred places

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With regard to sacred places, the only example is given in Unit 4, Lesson 2, and “Across the Sea (2).
The text here talks about the two holy cities, Mecca and Madina, as well as Al Haram Al Shareef “the
greatest Mosque in the world”. Sacred places are referred to in only one lesson in the textbook. The
authors failed to mention places in Sudan which can be considered sacred places. For example, places
such Shikan, where Sudanese heroes sacrificed themselves to free their people from the Turks; British and
French colonizers. These places are sacred in the sense that they remind the pupils learners of historic
battles and courageous heroes of the Sudan. Only Muslim learners identify with the above-mentioned
sacred places.
People’s creeds and beliefs represent a special area of concern in ideology. Religion is a sensitive
issue that should be tackled carefully. Omoniyi (2004) argues that religion has been established in recent
times as an important variable in identity construction. The representation of the history of different
religions in school textbooks minimizes the conflicts that can arise between learners in the classroom. The
texts in SPINE3 were to some extent successful in presenting categories that identify students’ identities,
self-image, cultures, and norms.
x Heroes and historic battles

In a number of texts, the textbook refers to some characters as heroes. For example the text about
Osman Digna in Unit 5, Lesson 3, a brief account of the life of Osman Digna is given. It shows his
struggle against the Turks and the battles he fought as a soldier and a commander in the army of Al
Mahadi and his Caliph. The text concludes by remarking that “Osman Digna was a real hero. He was
brave, honest and adventurous”. The same text presents an example of “historic battles”. In Unit 3,
Lesson 2, “Great Men and Women (1)”, the first text talks about how Al Mahadi fought against the Turks.
It mentions an important battle in the history of the Sudan. It is the first battle he fought against the Turks
in Abba Island. National heroes and historical battles are mentioned in a number of lessons. Bias is not
felt towards any specific group of people. Hence, all learners can identify with the heroes and battles
highlighted.
(e) Political dimension
The two sub-dimensions of ‘citizenship’ and ‘loyalty to the state’ are reflected here in a number
of ways. Lesson 11 of Unit 2 is about ‘The Football Match’. This is a very important symbol for the
nation, the National Football Team. In today's world football teams have turned into socio-political
institutions. The great sports competitions that are held at all levels, locally, regionally and internationally
stand as live examples of how people value these events. Winning or losing a football match – especially
if the National Football Team is involved – has become almost equivalent to winning or losing a battle.
This text describes the Sudanese National Football Team as a very skillful team which wins
matches against other teams that are not easy to defeat – such as the National Football Team of the
Cameroon. It pictures the victory the team achieved as a hard won success, ‘(…)the two teams tried hard
to score a goal’. The text refers to the Sudanese National Football Team as 'our' team. This makes the
pupils view the team as a representative of all of them. In this sense, it helps the construction of national
identity.
Another national institution mentioned in this area is in Unit 4, Lesson 3 ‘The Radio’ and in
Lesson 4, ‘A Radio Programme’. These two lessons speak about the national radio station in Omdurman.
Omdurman Radio Station, which started in 1943 has played a great role in the creation of a homogeneous
Sudanese nation. It broadcasted different programmes that covered all of the traditions, folklore and
heritage of the various groups.

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Being the voice of the Sudan since its establishment, Radio Omdurman has acquired the status of
being one of the greatest symbols of the country and 'Hona Omdurman' has been a call that represents the
whole of the Sudanese people. SPINE Three devotes these two texts to inculcate the love of Radio
Omdurman in the hearts of the young.
The first text starts with the famous announcement :'This is Radio Omdurman'. When a dispute
arose about listening to Radio Omdurman or Radio Monte Carlo, it was firmly settled. ‘Let's listen to
Radio Omdurman'. Text two makes a comparison between Radio Omdurman and Radio Dubai. The
comparison shows that Radio Omdurman is not in any way less than Radio Dubai, ‘Is Radio Dubai the
same as Radio Omdurman?’, and the answer came as, ‘ Yes it is’.
The two texts aim at making the pupils feel proud of their national radio station.
As for the rest of the sub-dimensions in this category, SPINE 3 does not at all show any bias towards one
culture or language. There is no a text that favors a specific language or misrepresents any culture. A
special technique is evident in SPINE 3 which resolves the conflict between national identity and ethnic
identity is juxtaposition of a number of texts and illustrations in one place.
The textbook does not devote any one text to one topic that talks about one ethnicity. It uses the
technique of putting two to three short texts, sometimes with illustrations to create a balance between
ethnic identity, national identity and international identity.
In short, a Great concern is devoted towards the positive construction of this dimension. National
institutions which foster feelings of pleasure and satisfaction among the pupils are well catered for. These
institutions play great roles in the life of Sudanese people and succeed in forming a homogenous
community that include all learners. The learners find good opportunities realize their duties to preserve
and respect these institutions as national symbols.
Furthermore, the authors succeeded to a great extent in maintaining a good balance between
national identity, ethnic identity , and international identity in the textbook. No bias is felt towards one
language or one culture. The authors follow a strategy of presenting more than one short texts in one
lesson to ensure variety and reflect diversity. Everyone in the classroom can see himself/herself or his/her
people presented in one of these texts. The successful technique adopted by the authors help learners to
identify with this dimension
The above findings in SPINE 3 go in line with what Parmenter (1999) came out with in a study in
Japan. Parmenter found that the issue of constructing national identity through school education has
become challenging in a changing world of internationalization and globalization. National identity can
never be a static entity, it changes every minutes and second. Students go through different processes and
possess national, international and hybrid identities.
The relationship between the other and self in the political dimension can clearly be supported by
Nasir’s study (2003) in which he found that the other was essential for the construction of self.In both
studies, this one and Nasir’s, the other is seen as a threat to the main stream nation. In the political
dimension colonizers represent the other entity to Sudanese people.
Ideological analysis
The ideological analysis of SPINE3 was restricted to context, overall strategy, and meaning. The
remaining elements, i.e. lexicon, syntax, format, rhetorical structures and action are not included in this
section. This is because the level of language in SPINE3 does not enable the learners to express and
appreciate any sort of ideology. SPINE 3 is an elementary level, if not beginner, and as such the language

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used in it will not be so rich as to utilize lexicons, syntax or rhetorical structures beyond this level. It
should be put in mind here that SPINE3 is the third book in the series used for teaching English to basic
level students. This makes it very limited in its choice of language elements and discursive structures. For
the same reason, the two other books (SPINE 1and SPINE 2) have not been included in our sample.
x Context
In this textbook, the speakers are the authors of SPINE 3.They speak as members of a social
group and address the recipients as audience. In their introduction to the series (Ismail and
Helen, 1995:4, emphasis in the original), the authors state that the series is a national syllabus
addressing itself to all Sudanese pupils and is based on the learner's environment; it contributes
to the education of pupils towards their becoming good Sudanese citizens.
The authors pinpoint three important facts here:
(a) The target group of SPINE is the entire population of Sudanese pupils.
(b) SPINE is based on the Sudanese environment which necessarily includes all of the
dimensions in the checklist.
(c) SPINE constructs good citizenship.
x Overall strategy
SPINE 3 adopts an overall strategy of Positive presentation of all groups and avoids Negative
presentation of any groups. The overall strategy also avoids polarity in emphasis. This is
manifested in the technique of providing texts that cover a wide range of daily life in Sudan
including culture and history. It also presents more than one text in each lesson to avoid any
tendency towards bias.
x Meaning
Topics
SPINE 3 selects topics that are fair to all groups. A quick look at the titles of some of
them reveals this, for example “At Dinder National Park”, “Sending a Message”, “A Telephone
Call”, and so on. Most of the topics deal with themes of a neutral nature. If and when a topic
calls for any type of specification, the authors make every possible effort to include as many
instances as they can in order to include some aspects of national identity. For example, in Unit
3, Lesson 1, “People who Help us”, the theme of jobs is used to cover names of people from
different parts of the Sudan, such as Yasir, Nasir, Adrob and Mansoor.
Local meanings and coherence
SPINE 3 tries to avoid polarization of Positive/Negative meanings for us/them. It adopts
a clear manifestation of the features which are common to most, if not all, of the Sudanese
people. For example, in Unit 2, Lesson 2,“At Dinder National Park”, the writers present the park
as a national institution. They give explicit details about it and the different features which makes
it identifiable by all of the learners.
This textbook is very precise in presenting the different aspects of national identity. It uses
specific examples from the history, geography and culture of Sudanese people. Examples are
topics about cities in Sudan (such as Gedarif and Port Sudan), framing in Shendi and Industry in

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Al-hasahessa. The authors also write about different activities and games, such as wrestling in
the Nuba Mountains and everyday activities that include people from different parts of the
Sudan, for example Unit 5, Lesson 8, which refers to Lima, Karlo and Deng from the south, as
well as Sami and Haajir from other parts of the country.
Conclusion
A Critical Ideological Analysis (CIA) of SPINE 3 revealed the properties of discourse
that signal the opinions, perspectives, position, interests ,etc., of the dominant group. It showed
that texts can make a significant change to learners’ knowledge. This is as Van Dijk (2006) puts
it, texts affect learners’ beliefs, attitudes and values, actions, social relations, and the material
world. Taking into account the fact that interpretation is a complex process, the CIA that has
been carried out in the present study not only depends on what is explicit in a text, but also on
what is implicit or what is assumed (Fairclough, 1995). The Analysis showed that the texts did
not give voice to those who have been traditionally silenced or marginalized. Indigenous
languages, others’ cultures, and minority groups of people are silenced, marginalized and not
catered for in the textbook. This is done through language which plays an important role in
establishing and maintaining ideologies. In SPINE 3 language creates an ideology that guides the
way learners think by creating and reinforcing certain value systems. It also shows the role of
discourse in shaping the beliefs and behaviors of the students. In short, language in SPINE 3 has
the power to establish certain ideologies as common sense and norms. In other words, SPINE 3
enhances the mainstream dominant Srabic Islamic identity among the pupils and completely
ignores the diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds they belong to.
The study, therefore, recommends that indigenous languages, diverse cultures and ethnic
groups in the Sudan should reflected on the schools textbooks at least at the basic level of
education. Those who are keen about their ethnic group, cultures and languages should find
equal opportunities in life to enact and negotiate their identities alongside with the national
identity. By doing so, decision makers can set the floor for political, economic and social
stability in a unified prosperous Sudan.
About the Authors:

Nada Sid Ahmed Eljack is assistant professor of Linguistics, Sudan University for Science and
Technology. Nada has a number of publications in sociolinguistics as well ELT.
Abdelrahim Hamid Mugaddam is associate professor of Linguistics, University of Khartoum.

Dr. Mugaddam has published intensively on issues related to language maintenance, language
shift, and language attitudes.

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References
Benwell, B. and E. Stokoe.(2006). Discourse and Identity. Edinburgh:Edinburgh
University Press
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (Eds). (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed.).
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Guibernau, B.M. (2007). The Identity of Nations. Cambridge: Polity. Retrieved from
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Joseph,J.E.(2004).Language and Identity:National,Ethnic,Religious.New
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Joseph,J.E.(2006a).Language and Politics.Edinburgh:Edinburgh University Press
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WPEL 20.1:47-69
Musa, A.M.(2007). Identities, Conflicts and Threats to Unity in Sudan. Sudan Centre
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Appendix (1): SPINE 3

Aspects National Identity Ethnic Identity
Dimensions 1 2 3 1 2 3
1. Psychological dimension:
x internal or external 9 9
enemy
x belief in common 9 9
ancestry
2. Cultural dimension:
x shared values 9 9
x beliefs 9 9
x symbols 9 9
x traditions 9 9
x Food 9 9
x Clothes 9 9
x Names of people 9 9
3. Territorial dimension:
x the country 9 9
x images specific to the 9 9

homeland
x flora and fauna 9 9
4. Historical dimension:
x historic memories 9 9
x sacred places 9 9
x Heroes 9 9
x Historical battles 9 9
5. Political dimension:
x citizenship 9 9
x loyalty to the state 9 9
x promotion of a specific 9 9
'national' culture
x promotion of a specific 9 9
'official' language
x indigenous languages 9 9
total 16 1 4 1 16 4

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AWEJ
Speech Act of Prohibition in English and Arabic: A Contrastive Study on

Selected Biblical and Quranic Verses
Sawsan Kareem Al-Saaidi

College of Education, Al-Qadisiya University,
Iraq
Ghayth K. Shaker Al-Shaibani

English Section, School of Languages, Literacies and Translation
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Hashim A. Mohammed Al-Husseini

College of Education, University of Wasit
Iraq
Abstract
Speech act theory has played an interesting role in the philosophy of language recently and has
drawn great interest among pragmaticists, anthropologists, philosophers, linguists, and
semanticists. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to investigate the speech act of prohibition as
one of the most essential communicative uses of language. It is defined as a desire or a wish to
forbid someone from doing something. The researchers attempt to show how the speech act of
prohibition can be used in both English and Arabic at various levels of analysis. Specifically, a
three-level analytical framework, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic, is suggested for textual
analysis through a set of linguistic devices. This means that in performing a linguistic act, we
often do further things. The data of this paper consists of a number of verses from the Glorious
Quran and the Holy Bible. The main findings of this paper indicate that prohibition in English is
most commonly realized by using a syntactic device, namely declarative sentences. Whilst
prohibition in Arabic is expressed by the negative imperative “do not do”. In addition,
prohibition can be expressed explicitly and implicitly in both languages. However, it was found
that Arabic is distinguished from English by its heavy use of explicit and implicit devices
expressing the speech act of prohibition.
Keywords: pragmatics, prohibition, semantics, speech act theory, syntax.

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Speech Act of Prohibition Al-Saaidi, Al-Shaibani & Al-Husseini
1. Introduction
Language serves different functions. One of these functions, termed “conative” by
Jakobson (1980), is to persuade and influence others through commands, entreaties, and
prohibitions. Allan (1986) stated that prohibition is a speech act whereby a speaker forbids
someone from doing something. Prohibition has been listed under different categories by many
scholars such as Austin (1962), Searle (1975), Bach & Harnish (1979) and Allan (1986) from
different perspectives. Searle (1975) and Allan (1986), for example, classified prohibition under
the category of directives which are defined as attempts to get the hearer to do something,
therefore they show world-to-word fit, and expressed speaker’s wish or desire that a hearer does
an act. Thus, a prohibitive sentence is classified as one of the chief varieties of sentence
generally accepted as belonging to the class of request. Therefore, speech acts including
prohibition “manifest the speaker’s intention (desire, wish) that his utterance or the attitude it
expresses be taken as a reason for the hearer to act” (Bach & Harnish, 1979, p.47).
However, Austin (1962) and Sbisa (1984) listed prohibition within the “exercitive” speech acts
which are “the exercising of powers, rights, or influence in the giving of decisions or in the
advocacy of decisions in favour of or against a certain course of action” (Austin, 1962, p. 153).
In line with Austin’s view, Haverkate (1979, p.39) contended that prohibition is an impositive
speech act performed in order to prevent a certain state of affairs from being brought about.
However, based on the literature reviewed, the researchers have found that there is a dearth in the
study of prohibition. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of prohibition in English and Arabic in
religious texts is scarcely studied.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Prohibition in English
2.1.1 Prohibition at the Syntactic Level
According to the syntactic point of view, there are various ways in which prohibition can be
achieved. These ways are as follows:
2.1.1.1 Imperative Sentence
Syntactically, prohibition could be expressed by a number of devices, the most common of
which is the imperative. Allan (1986) asserted that imperatives frame prohibition as in the
following example:
Example 1: Keep out. [Prohibition]
The imperative can be used to forbid an action. It is simply a negative command, viz. “do not”
that is used before the imperative to turn the command into a prohibition. According to Jawad
(2012), the basic difference between a ‘command’ and a ‘prohibition’ is that the former indicates
instructing the addressee to do something whereas the latter indicates instructing the addressee
NOT [author’s emphasis] to do a given thing. Thus, it could be claimed that a ‘prohibition’ is a
kind of a negative ‘command’. This view is supported by some scholars such as Zandvoort
(1962); Geiring, Graustein, Hoffman and Kristen (1987) and Swan (2000), who denoted that
prohibitive sentence is a negative imperative sentence usually with initial “do not” followed by
an infinitive without “to”. It is used when we tell somebody not to do something and in
accordance with the speaker’s intent underlying requests. For example,
Example 2: Don’t be such a nuisance.
2.1.1.3 Declarative Sentence
Allan (1986) confirmed that a declarative sentence can be used in performing any subcategory of
speech act including prohibition to denote an actualization of the illocutionary act. This is done
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either through clauses containing a performative verb, or through the meaning of the predicates
in such sentences as the followings:
Example 3: I forbid you to speak to him. [Clause containing a performative verb]
Example 4: Adam must not be allowed out on the balcony. [Predicate]
2.1.1.3 Negative verb be with to + infinitive
Thomson and Martinet (1980) stated that prohibition can be carried out through another common
construction which is the negative verb be with to infinitive.
Example 5: You are not to come into my room without knocking.
2.1.1.4 Block Language
Prohibition can be expressed by another construction that is of a block language. Quirk,
Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik, (1985) discussed that block language appears in functions as
labels, titles, (some) newspaper headlines, headings, notices, and advertisements. Hence,
prohibitions often take the form of nominal phrases introduced by “no” and the understanding of
the message is furnished by the context.
Example 6: No entry.
Quirk et al. (1985) and Swan (2000) agreed that a gerund is used with an ordinary determiner
especially “no” in public notices against activities expressing prohibition.
Example 7: No playing loud music!
Example 8: No smoking is allowed in school.
2.1.2 Prohibition at the Semantic Level

2.1.2.1 Modality
Semantically, modality is one of the most important features of English; a great variety of
meanings and attitudes may be conveyed through modalising and thus making the semantic truth
value of a given sentence more flexible. Modality is the way in which a speaker can express
his/her attitude towards a situation in interpersonal communication. Perkins (1983) confirmed
that prohibition belongs to deontic modality which can be defined in terms of social or
institutional laws. However, modality is exclusively concerned with the syntactic class of modal
auxiliary verbs which constitutes the only formally coherent class of modal expressions in
English (Perkins, 1983). The auxiliary verbs are called so because they cannot be used alone, but
rather with other verbs in order to convey a particular sense or ‘mode’ such as permission,
obligation, and prohibition. There are negative modal auxiliaries which can be used with
prohibitive sentences such as (must not, may not, cannot, shall not, and have not got to). For
example:
Example 9: Students must not use dictionaries in the examination.
Example 10: You cannot go abroad without a passport.
Example 11: You shall not ignore my wishes.
2.1.3 Prohibition at the Pragmatic Level
2.1.3.1 Prohibitive Performative Verbs
The most important constituent of an explicitly performative clause is the performative verb. On
this line, Perkins (1983) affirmed that many verbs could be subsumed under the heading
“performative verbs”, i.e. verbs that can be used to perform an act rather than merely describing
or stating an act. Consequently, Allan (1986) argued that the verb spells out the illocutionary
force of the performative clause effectively because the meaning of the performative verb
presents the essence of the illocution, e.g. I promise, I forbid, and I prohibit.

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To Haverkate (1979), the only specific verb that can be used in the explicit prohibitive
performative sentences is the verb prohibit. According to Fraser (1975, p.192), the prohibitive
performative verbs such as forbid and prohibit belong to the act of requesting, i.e. verbs
expressing “the speaker’s desire for the hearer to bring about the state of affairs expressed in the
proposition” and to the act of exercising authority which indicates “the speaker’s proposal to
create a new state of affairs by exercising certain rights or powers”.
2.1.3.2 Hedges
Following Fraser (1980), some illocutionary acts can be effectively performed by a type of
sentence which is called “hedged performative”. For example, to utter
Example 12: I must forbid you from saying anything
may count as an act of forbidding, though the literal interpretation of this is only a report of
obligation.
Additionally, Fraser (1975) pointed out that the hedged performative sentence differs from the
corresponding performative sentence in that it involves a modal or a semi-modal.
Example 13: I must forbid you from going out.
Fraser (1975) also said that ‘must’ is a strong performative modal that occurs most often with the
largest number of verbs.
2.1.3.3 Prohibition and Illocutionary forces
Having believed that the act specified by the proposition is in the interest of the hearer, the
speaker may attempt to diminish the degree of imposition. He/she can use the strategic device of
presenting his/her own interest as being advantageous to the hearer. Nevertheless, prohibition
speech act may be used to express various impositive illocutionary forces such as warning,
forbidding, and threatening.
2.2 Prohibition in Arabic
2.2.1 Prohibition at the Syntactic Level
2.2.1.1 Imperative Sentence
Prohibition is considered as the demand of abstention from an act, hence it is a negative
command (Syyibwiyah, n.d ; Ibn Manthoor, 1956). Accordingly, prohibition is “prevention from
carrying out an act by a particular speech from a position of superiority” (Ibn al- shajeri, n.d , p.
271). Its form is “do not do” ( ْ‫ )ﻻ ﺗﻔﻌﻞ‬and “Let him not do” ( ْ‫)ﻻ ﻳﻔﻌﻞ‬. He mentioned that prohibition
can be included in the field of command as in the following examples:
Example 14: Do not eat ْ‫ﻻ ﺗﺄﻛﻞ‬ َ
which is equivalent to the imperative
Example 15: Stop eating ‫ﺗﻮﻗﻒ ﻋﻦ ﺍﻷﻛﻞ‬.
However, al- Subki (n.d, p.324) and al- Jurjani (1986, p. 135) agreed that prohibition is the
opposite of command at which the superior says to the inferior “do not do” ( ْ‫)ﻻ ﺗﻔﻌﻞ‬. Generally,
prohibition can be realized by the imperfect verb (in the jussive mood) beginning with the
particle of prohibition (‫)ﻻ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﻫﻴﺔ‬. There is agreement among grammarians and rhetoricians such as
Syyibwiyah (1980, p.8-9), (al-Sakkaki, 1983, p.320) and al- Jurjani (1986, p.357) that prohibition
has only one particle which is (‫ )ﻻ‬in the form of “do not do”( ْ‫ )ﻻ ﺗﻔﻌﻞ‬. The prohibitive particle ‫)ﻻ‬
(‫ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﻫﻴﺔ‬is used for the third person as well as the second person (al- Muberd, n.d). For al- Sueeti (n.d
) and Syyibwiyah (1980), this prohibitive particle is mostly used for the addressee and slightly
with the first person such as “‫ ”ﻻ ﺍﺭﻳﻨﻚ ﻫﻬﻨﺎ‬I don't want to see you here.
2.2.1.2 Declarative Sentence
Scholars such as Ibn al-Shajeri (n.d), al- Qurtubi (1967), al- Maaini (1985) asserted that
declarative sentences can be used to ask an addressee not to do a particular action.
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Example 16: (2) ‫( َﺣ ﱠﺘﻰ ُﺯﺭْ ُﺗ ْﻢ ﺍ ْﻟ َﻤ َﻘﺎﺑ ِ َﺮ‬1) ‫ﺍﻟﺘﻜﺎﺛﺮ( َﺃ ْﻟﻬَﺎ ُﻛ ْﻢ ﺍﻟ ﱠﺘ َﻜﺎ ُﺛ ُﺮ‬/1-2)
Abundance diverts you, until you come to the graves. (Ali, 195, p.1204)
This example shows an implicit prohibition suggesting an indirect form of warning to the people
(Muslims and non-Muslims) who indulge in worldly life neglecting good deeds that approach
them to Allah then time flies to find themselves facing death where no more activities. However,
prohibition in its implicit form which is expressed by the declarative form is more effective than
an explicit prohibition expressed by the form of ( ْ‫ )ﻻ ﺗﻔﻌﻞ‬do not do it and ( ْ‫ )ﻻ ﻳﻔﻌﻞ‬let him not do it.
2.2.1.3 Interrogative Sentence
Haruun (1979) mentioned that prohibition can be expressed by using an interrogative sentence.
According to him, the questioner asks the listener to provide him with some information, to
make him know a certain thing.
Example 17: ِ ‫ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺋﺪﺓ( َﺃ َﺃﻧﺖَ ُﻗ ْﻠﺖَ ﻟِﻠ ﱠﻨﺎﺱ ِ ﺍ ﱠﺗ ِﺨ ُﺬﻭﻧِﻲ َﻭ ُﺃ ﱢﻣﻲ ﺇ ِ َﻟﻬ َ ْﻴ ِﻦ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﺩُﻭ ِﻥ ﱠﷲ‬/116)
didst thou say to men, take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah? (Ali, 1951, p. 275)
A closer examination of this verse unveils an implicit prohibition indicating an indirect form of
forbidding to Christians in the allegation of their worship of Jesus and his mother Mary. This
verse shows that the notion of Trinity is an offence against the concept of the oneness of God
(Allah) (Amer, 2010). In terms of heavenly religions, Islam is the last religion and the Holy
Quran is the last Godly Book directed to all human beings and this universality is reflected in
this extract.
2.2.1.4 Cognate Object ‫ﺍﻟﻤﻔﻌﻮﻝ ﺍﻟﻤﻄﻠﻖ‬
Prohibition can be carried out by the cognate object (henceforth CO). Ibn Aqeel (1964, p.557)
defined CO as “the verbal noun in the accusative case, emphasize its regent or showing its type,
or number.” ‫ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺪﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺘﺼﺐ ﺗﻮﻛﻴﺪﺍً ﻟﻌﺎﻣﻠﻪ ﺃﻭ ﺑﻴﺎﻧﺎ ً ﻟﻨﻮﻋﻪ ﺃﻭ ﻋﺪﺩﻩ‬
According to Hassan (1974), two conditions must be met for the explicit cognate verbal noun to
be omitted. First, it should have the same lexeme as its regent. Second, there must be a word that
substitutes the deleted verbal noun.
‫ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎء( َﻭﻟَ ْﻦ ﺗَ ْﺴﺘ َِﻄﻴﻌُﻮﺍ ﺃَ ْﻥ ﺗَ ْﻌ ِﺪﻟُﻮﺍ ﺑَ ْﻴﻦَ ﺍﻟﻨﱢ َﺴﺎ ِء َﻭﻟَﻮْ َﺣ َﺮﺻْ ﺘُ ْﻢ َﻓ َﻼ ﺗَ ِﻤﻴ ُﻠﻮﺍ ُﻛ ﱠﻞ ﺍ ْﻟ َﻤ ْﻴ ِﻞ ﻓَﺘَ َﺬﺭُﻭﻫَﺎ َﻛ ْﺎﻟ ُﻤ َﻌﻠﱠﻘَ ِﺔ ۚ َﻭﺇِ ْﻥ ﺗُﺼْ ﻠِﺤُﻮﺍ‬/129)
Example 18:
‫َﻭﺗَﺘﱠﻘُﻮﺍ ﻓَﺈِ ﱠﻥ ﱠ‬
. ‫ﷲَ َﻛﺎﻥَ َﻏﻔُﻮﺭًﺍ َﺭ ِﺣﻴ ًﻤﺎ‬
And you cannot do justice between wives, even though you wish (it), but be not disinclined
(from one) with total disinclination, so that you leave her in suspense. And if you are reconciled
and keep your duty, surely Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful (Ali, 1951, p.225).
In this example “‫ ” ُﻛﻞ ْﺍﻟ َﻤ ْﻴ ّﻞ‬total disinclination is substituted for the deleted ‫( ﻣﻔﻌﻮﻝ ﻣﻄﻠﻖ‬cognate
object), viz. ً‫ﻣﻴﻼ‬. However, this verse illustrates that there is a direct prohibition for men who are
legally permissible to have more than one wife (up to four) because they are responsible for the
sustenance of their wives, they have to provide a separate living accommodation for each wife,
and they have to support and treat them all equally.
2.2.2 Prohibition at the Semantic Level
Semantically, there are a number of devices that can be used to express prohibition. They are as
follows:
2.2.2.1 Would not ‫ ﻣﺎ ﻛﺎﻥ‬and Ought not to ‫ﻣﺎ ﻳﻨﺒﻐﻲ‬
Prohibition can implicitly be expressed by the use of would not and ought not to. However, the
use of ‫“ ﻣﺎ ﻛﺎﻥ‬would not” may have the idiomatic meaning “must not” as in the following Quranic
verse:
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Example 19: ‫ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎء( َﻭ َﻣﺎ َﻛﺎﻥَ ﻟِ ُﻤ ْﺆ ِﻣ ٍﻦ ﺃَ ْﻥ ﻳَ ْﻘﺘُ َﻞ ُﻣ ْﺆ ِﻣﻨًﺎ ﺇِﻻﱠ َﺧﻄَﺄ‬/92)

And a believer would not kill a believer except by mistake (Ali, 1951, p. 216)
This verse shows that life is absolutely sacred in the Islamic Brotherhood. Accordingly, the
killing of some Muslims by Muslims is forbidden; however mistakes sometimes happen. This is
apparently elucidated by the implicit prohibition in this verse indicating that when there is no
intention for killing, there is no murder; however there is a punitive measure for such killing to
ensure justice.
Example 20: ‫ﻴﻦ‬ ٌ ِ‫ﺁﻥ ﱡﻣﺒ‬ٌ ْ‫( َﻭ َﻣﺎ َﻋﻠﱠ ْﻤﻨَﺎﻩُ ﺍﻟ ﱢﺸ ْﻌ َﺮ َﻭ َﻣﺎ ﻳَﻨﺒ َ ِﻐﻲ ﻟَﻪُ ۚ ﺇِ ْﻥ ﻫُ َﻮ ﺇِ ﱠﻻ ِﺫ ْﻛ ٌﺮ َﻭﻗُﺮ‬Ya Seen, 69)
We have not instructed the (Prophet) in Poetry, nor is it meet for him: this is no less than a
Message and a Qur'an making things clear (Ali, 1971\1951, p.810).
This Quranic verse is a rejoinder to the disbelievers, who slighted the Prophet and his message
by branding him a poet when he preached and talked about the Hereafter, Hell and Heaven. This
verse explains that the only thing taught to the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his
family) by Almighty Allah is the message he was to deliver, that is the Quran. Thus, This Quran
that he has brought is not poetry, rather, it is a remembrance, an admonition to clarify and
manifest God’s (Allah’s) rulings (al-Mahali & al- Sueetti, n.d). Thus, the Prophet was not
allowed to become an independent source of guidance, but merely to transmit guidance from
Allah to the people. Thus, this verse expresses an implicit speech act of prohibition because the
Prophet was only Allah’s messenger and the Glorious Quran represents the words of Allah, the
Creator.
2.2.2.2 The Use of the act coupled with Threat of Punishment (‫) ِﺫﻛ ْﺮ ﺍﻟﻔﻌﻞ ﻣﻘﺮﻭﻧﺎً ﺑﻮﻋﻴﺪ‬
This is one way of expressing prohibition. It is meant to threaten with penalty those who disobey
(al-Zalami, 1991).
‫( َﻭﺇِ َﺫﺍ َﻛﺎﻟُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ ﺃَﻭْ َﻭﺯَ ﻧُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ ﻳ ُْﺨ ِﺴﺮُﻭﻥ‬2) َ‫ﺎﺱ ﻳَ ْﺴﺘَﻮْ ﻓُﻮﻥ‬ِ ‫( ﺍﻟﱠ ِﺬﻳﻦَ ﺇِ َﺫﺍ ﺍ ْﻛﺘَﺎﻟُﻮﺍ َﻋﻠَﻰ ﺍﻟﻨﱠ‬1) َ‫ﻄ ﱢﻔﻔِﻴﻦ‬ َ ‫ﺍﻟﻤﻄﻔﻔﻴﻦ( َﻭ ْﻳ ٌﻞ ﻟ ِ ْﻠ ُﻤ‬/1-3)
Example 21: (3)
Woe to the defaulters Who, when they take the measure (of their dues) from men, take it fully.
But when they measure out to others or weight out for them, they are deficient (Ali, 1951, p.
1155).
This verse elucidates that some merchants and retailers in Al- Medinah (where the Prophet
Muhammed peace be upon him and his family settled) defrauded customers when selling in
measurement (i.e. tricking them). First, Allah revealed ‫ َﻭ ْﻳ ٌﻞ ﻟﱢ ْﻠ ُﻤﻄَﻔﱢﻔِﻴﻦ‬woe to the defaulters,
however, the word ‫ َﻭ ْﻳ ٌﻞ‬woe is associated with the threat of punishment (Shuper, 1965). This
threat was directed to ‫ ﺍ ْﻟ ُﻤﻄَﻔﱢﻔِﻴﻦ‬defaulters who are defined by the following verses ‫ﺍﻟﱠ ِﺬﻳﻦ ﺇِ َﺫﺍ ﺍ ْﻛﺘَﺎﻟُﻮﺍ َﻋﻠَﻰ‬
ِ ‫(ﺍﻟﻨﱠ‬2)‫( َﻭﺇِ َﺫﺍ َﻛﺎﻟُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ ﺃَﻭْ َﻭ َﺯﻧُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ ﻳ ُْﺨ ِﺴﺮُﻭﻥ‬3) when they take the measure (of their dues) from men,
َ‫ﺎﺱ ﻳَ ْﺴﺘَﻮْ ﻓُﻮﻥ‬
take it fully. But when they measure out to others or weight out for them, they are deficient. The
word ‫ ﺍ ْﻛﺘَﺎﻟُﻮﺍ‬they take the measure means that they buy right measure without deficiency and the
word ‫ َﻛﺎﻟُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ‬they measure out to others which means those who sell food less than the due. Those
defaulters tended to be stingy with measurement and weight, either by increasing it if it is due
from the others, or decreasing it if it is a debt. However, they fulfil their right to full, and detract
right to others; thus, they accumulated between stinginess and miserliness. This Quranic verse
indicates that there is an implicit prohibition of making short measure or short weight. It also
implies a person or group may seek respect and honour from people, but they are not willing to
do the same for the others in similar circumstances.

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2.2.2.3 The Negation of the Act (‫)ﻧﻔﻲ ﺍﻟﻔﻌﻞ‬

This structure is used in the Glorious Quran to express a strong prohibition ordering abstention
and inhibition. Hence, the following Quranic verse may express prohibition implicitly (al-
Esfehani, n.d)
َ ‫ﻕ َﻭ‬
‫ﻻ ِﺟﺪَﺍ َﻝ ﻓِﻲ‬ َ ‫ﻻ ُﻓﺴُﻮ‬ َ ‫ﺚ َﻭ‬ َ ‫ﻼ َﺭ َﻓ‬َ ‫ﺽ ﻓِﻴ ِﻬ ﱠﻦ ﺍ ْﻟ َﺤ ﱠﺞ َﻓ‬َ ‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ( ﻓَ َﻤ ْﻦ ﻓَ َﺮ‬/197)
Example 22: ‫ﺍﻟ َﺤﺞﱢ‬ ْ
So whoever determines the performance of the pilgrimage there in, there shall be then no foul
speech nor abusing nor disputing in the pilgrimage (Ali, 1951, p.84)
As this verse prohibits the commitment of ‫ َﺭﻓَﺚ‬foul speech, ‫ﻕ‬ َ ‫ ﻓُﺴُﻮ‬abusing (insulting) and ‫َﺍﻝ‬
َ ‫ِﺟﺪ‬
disputing during pilgrimage, it is recommended that pilgrims should come with provisions.
However, this verse contains
(‫ )ﻻ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﻓﻴﺔ‬not of negation which is used to express prohibition indirectly.
2.2.2.4 It is not +Noun expressing a Good or a Bad Trait+‫ﺆﻭﻝ‬$‫ﺪﺭ ﺍﻟﻤ‬$‫( ﺍﻟﻤﺼ‬i.e.
‫ﺃﻥ‬+present tense form with subject) (‫)ﻧﻔﻲ ﺍﻟﺒ ِ ﱠﺮ ﻋﻦ ﺍﻟﻔﻌﻞ‬
Prohibition may be expressed by the implicit form as in the following example
‫ﻅﻬُﻮﺭِﻫَﺎ َﻭ َﻟﻜِ ﱠﻦ ﺍ ْﻟﺒ ِ ﱠﺮ َﻣ ْﻦ ﺍ ﱠﺗ َﻘﻰ َﻭ ْﺃﺗُﻮﺍ ْﺍﻟﺒُﻴُﻮﺕَ ِﻣ ْﻦ‬ُ ‫ْﺲ ﺍ ْﻟﺒِﺮﱡ ﺑ ِ َﺄ ْﻥ ﺗ َْﺄ ُﺗﻮﺍ ﺍ ْﻟﺒُﻴُﻮﺕَ ِﻣ ْﻦ‬
َ ‫\ ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ( ﻭ َﻟﻴ‬189
Example 23: ‫ﺃَﺑ َْﻮﺍﺑِﻬَﺎ‬
and it is not righteousness that you should enter the houses at their backs, but righteousness is
this that one should guard (against evil); and go into the houses by their doors (Ali,1917-1951,
p.86).
This verse prohibits the practice prevalent among the Arabs in the pre- Islamic period to come
home from the back after performing the pilgrimage. This act violates the right course of life,
while entering the house from the door is legally considered as acceptable and right. This verse
expresses an implicit speech act of prohibition using the structural form of the negation of the good
of bad acts.
Example 24: ‫ﻟﻴﺲ ﺍﻟﻜﻔﺮ ﺍﻥ ﺗﺸﺮﺏ ﺍﻟﺨﻤﺮ ﻟﻜﻦ ﺍﻟﻜﻔﺮ ﺍﻥ ﺗﺤﻠﻞ ﺷﺮﺏ ﺍﻟﺨﻤﺮ‬
It is not the disbelief to drink alcohol, but also to allow drinking it. (The researchers’
translation)
According to the Islamic approach to health, anything that is mostly harmful is forbidden.
Therefore, alcohol is undoubtedly harmful and adversely affects the mind and the body, causing
diseases, wasting money, and spoiling the individual's social life. Thus, Muslims would know
that alcohol is prohibited in Islam. Thus, Allah indeed dislikes those who would still deny the
prohibition of alcohol or allow the others to do such a prohibited act.
2.2.3 Prohibition at the Pragmatic Level
2.2.3.1 Prohibitive Performative verbs
There are a number of performative verbs that are in the form of imperative denoting prohibition;
they are as follows: ْ‫( ﺇٍﺟﺘﻨﺐ‬avoid), ‫ﻒ‬ ْ ‫( ُﻛ‬withhold), ‫( ٌﺫﺭ‬relinquish), and ‫( ﺇٍ ْﻧ ْﻪ‬prohibit). Al-Shwkani
(n.d), al-Maliki (n.d), and al- Maaini (1985) argued that performative sentences containing one
of these performative verbs are used as a metaphorical formula expressing prohibition.
2.2.3.1 Prohibition and Illocutionary Forces
It is not always easy to make precise distinctions between the illocutionary acts of certain
utterances because these acts depend on the relative authority of the speaker and hearer.
Nevertheless, situational contexts are helpful and appear to determine the illocutionary forces of
certain utterances. According to some Muslim scholars such as al- Sueeti ( n.d ) , al- Subki( n.d),
Syyibwiyah( n.d), al-Sakkaki (1983) and al-Zalami(1991), the researchers found out that the

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illocutionary forces can be ‫( ﺍﻟﺘﺤﺮﻳﻢ‬forbidding) 2. ‫( ﺍﻟﻜﺮﺍﻫﻴﺔ‬abstention)3. ‫( ﺍﻟﺪﻋﺎء‬prayer) 4. ‫ﺍﻻﻟﺘﻤﺎﺱ‬

(request) 5. ‫( ﺍﻟﺘﺸﺠﻴﻊ‬encouragement) 6. ‫( ﺑﻴﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻗﺒﺔ‬expressing consequence) 7. ‫( ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻘﻴﺮ‬contempt) 8.
‫( ﺍﻹﺭﺷﺎﺩ ﻭﺍﻟﻨﺼﺢ‬counselling) 9. ‫( ﺍﻟﻮﻓﺎء ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﻭﻥ‬gratitude and cooperation) 10. ‫( ﺍﻟﺘﻮﺑﻴﺦ‬reprimanding).
3. Theoretical Framework
The researcher adopted Allan (1986) and Al-Awsei (1988)s’ models of speech act of
prohibition in English and Arabic respectively.
Theoretical Framework of
Prohibition Speech Act
Prohibition in Prohibition in
English Arabic
Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Syntax Semantics Pragmatics
Imperative Modality Performative Imperative Would not and Performative

verbs ought not to Verbs
Declarative Declarative Illocutionary

Hedges The Use of the
act coupled with Forces
Interrogative Threat of
Negative verb Illocutionary
Forces Punishment
BE+ to
Cognate
+infinitive
Object Negation of the
Block Act
Language
It is not +Noun
expressing a Good
or a Bad Trait+
‫ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺪﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﻭﻝ‬
Contrastive
Analysis
Conclusion

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Figure 3.1: The Proposed theoretical framework of prohibition speech act in English and
Arabic
As shown in the above figure, there are three levels of analysis of the speech act of prohibition in
English and Arabic. The first to start with is the syntactic level, then semantic level, and finally
the pragmatic level. With each level, there are sub-categories that are slightly different due to
different structures in both languages.
4. Methodology
With the aim of providing a contrastive investigation that may serve the purpose of analyzing the
speech act of prohibition in English and Arabic, the Holy Bible and the Glorious Quran receive
due attention. The verses have been chosen from the Book of Exodus, namely (20) and the sura
(Chapter) entitled Al-Baqarah (The Cow) respectively to obtain adequate data of the speech act
of prohibition. To achieve this aim, the researchers adopted Allan (1986) and Al-Awsei (1988) s’
models of speech act of prohibition in English and Arabic respectively as mentioned in Figure
(3.1) as proposed by the researchers which also highlights the procedures of analysis. This means
that syntax, semantics and then pragmatics are analysed respectively in both languages, starting
with the English text sampled and then followed by the Arabic one to see if there are any
dominant patterns in the sampling.
5. Data Analysis
The data will be analysed according to the proposed theoretical framework (see Figure 3.1).
The section is divided into English texts analysis and Arabic texts analysis.
5.1 English Texts
Text1: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of
anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the
children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but
showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You
shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who
misuses his name (Ex. 20:3-7).
In these verses, Allah talked to Moses giving him the Ten Commandments (Decalogue). The
Decalogue is the core of the Mosaic Law; as instruction and deterrent it is valid in the New Law.
The first commandment you shall have no other gods before me indicates that Allah to be the
only true God, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly. Syntactically, the determiner no is
used here to replace not with the modal auxiliary shall to express the emphatic prohibition. The
expression before me, at the semantic level, has three possible interpretations in front of me, in
addition to me, and over against. The meaning over against, the usual meaning of the phrase, is
perfectly appropriate here as it suggests that all false gods are opposed to the true God, i.e. Allah.
The worship of them is incompatible with the worship of Allah.
Moreover, these biblical verses prohibit the false swearing including the idea of profane or vain
swearing i.e., the irreverent use of the name of Allah. Thus, all oaths are forbidden (Davies,
1971).Thus, these verses deal directly with modes of worship, i.e. the shaping of images to be
worshipped and adored; it forbids the making of idols either in heaven above or on earth beneath
(Walsh, 1966, p. 51). At the syntactic level, these verses have the structural form of shall not
+verb to express an explicit prohibition. Pragmatically, this command intentionally conveys the
illocutionary force of warning to express a speech act of prohibition. Hence, this verse involves

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more than simply a prohibition of swearing; it also prohibits the misappropriation of religious
language to commit a crime or to blaspheme against places or people that are holy to Allah.
Text 2: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your
work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do
any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor
your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns (Ex. 20:8-10).
In this verse remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, the imperative remember is used for
the commandment for the Sabbath day (Saturday). The imperative here functions in place of the
emphatic negative imperative do not forget to stress the basic verbal idea of the root-
remembering of the Sabbath day to make it distinct from the other week days. This form shows
that it was not now first given but was known by the people before. Consequently, the verb
remember implies a mental process which involves recalling and pondering as well as the
consequent actions for such remembering.
Text 3: You shall not murder. (Ex. 20:13)

Text 4: You shall not commit adultery. (Ex. 20:14)
Text 5: You shall not steal. (Ex. 20:15)
Text 6: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor‘s house. You shall not covet
your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to
your neighbor. (Ex. 20:16-17)
The commandments you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal and
you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor forbid suicide, murder, committing
adultery, stealing and false testimony respectively. The syntactic form of these speech acts of
prohibition is the modal auxiliary shall with the negative particle not resulting in the form of
shall not +bare infinitive. This verse forbids the taking of life of a fellow man as Allah is the
creator and owner of every life, and only He has the authority over it. Consequently, the
commandment forbids unnecessary bodily mutilation (Walsh, 1966, p. 63). At the semantic
level, the infinitive murder refers to the premeditated or accidental taking of the life of another
human being; it includes any unauthorized killing (Yoder, 1980, p.394).
Just as human life is sacred and is not to be violated by killing, so is marriage which is
considered as sacred and is not to be violated by infidelity. The verse you shall not commit
adultery prohibits infidelity within the marriage relationship which is considered a very serious
offense because Allah instituted marriage and blessed it as a means of proliferation on the earth.
Expansion of this idea prohibits “not only the act of adultery, but fornication and impurity of any
kind whether in an act, word, or thought” (Davies, 1971, p. 208). Thus, this verse conveys the
illocutionary force of forbidding.
Similarly, the law of you shall not steal forbids Israelites from theft and the deliberate desires or
plans to steal others’ property. Accurately defined, stealing is the appropriation of something
belonging to another against the owner’s wish (Stahl, 2000:3). This law is followed by another
command that you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour which has to do with
giving testimony in a legal setting. It is directed primarily toward guarding the basic right of the
covenant member against the threat of false accusation. The original commandment is, therefore,
not a general prohibition of lying, but forbids lying which directly affects one’s fellow (Childs,
1974, p. 424).

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The commandment you shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your
neighbour’s wife governs private thoughts. It is, in fact, supplementary to the eighth
commandment, for covetousness is the root from which theft grows. This commandment is a
reminder that Allah looks at the heart while man merely looks at the outward appearance. This
commandment is a staunch prohibition against taking something from a neighbour and/or
thinking of having this neighbour's wife as someone's wife. Semantically speaking, the verb
covet focuses not only on an external act but also on an internal mental activity behind the act,
the intention of doing an act. This prohibition aims at curtailing the greedy desire for trying or
thinking to possess something or the wife that belongs to a neighbor, and the repetition of the
structure, you shall not, is to underline the prohibition.
Text 7: They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen;
but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die. Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid,
for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.”
(Ex. 20: 19-20
The verse speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die
represents the people’s reaction towards what Allah has spoken to Moses giving him the Ten
Commandments. At the pragmatic level, the context of this verse employs that it has more of the
sense of a request than a negative command. The independent personal pronoun “you”
emphasizes the subject who is Moses and forms the contrast with Allah’s speech. This
illocutionary force of request can be realized in this verse by the negative imperative do not +let
which reflects a direct device of describing a speech act of prohibition.
5.2 Arabic Texts

The sura entitled “Al-Baqarah” (The Cow) is the longest sura in the Glorious Quran. Some of the
verses of prohibition that are included in it will be discussed as they exemplify kinds of
prohibition and its various implicit and explicit forms.
‫ ِ َﺃﻧﺪَﺍﺩًﺍ‬À‫ﻼ ﺗَﺠْ َﻌ ُﻠﻮﺍ ِ ﱠ‬
َ ‫ﺕ ِﺭ ْﺯﻗًﺎ ﻟَ ُﻜ ْﻢ َﻓ‬ِ ‫ﺽ ﻓِ َﺮﺍ ًﺷﺎ َﻭﺍﻟ ﱠﺴ َﻤﺎ َء ﺑِﻨَﺎ ًء َﻭﺃَ ْﻧ َﺰ َﻝ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﺍﻟ ﱠﺴ َﻤﺎ ِء َﻣﺎ ًء ﻓَﺄَ ْﺧ َﺮ َﺝ ﺑِ ِﻪ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﺍﻟﺜﱠ َﻤ َﺮﺍ‬
َ ْ‫ﺍﻟﱠ ِﺬﻱ َﺟ َﻌ َﻞ ﻟَ ُﻜ ْﻢ ﺍﻷَﺭ‬
Text 1: ‫َﻭ َﺃ ْﻧ ُﺘﻢ‬
(‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ‬/22) َ‫ﺗَ ْﻌ َﻠ ُﻤﻮﻥ‬
Who made the earth a resting place for you and the heaven a structure, and (Who) sends down
rain from the cloud then brings forth with its subsistence for you of the fruits, therefore do not set
up rivals to Allah while you know (Ali,1917-1951,p.19).
This verse has different interpretations, one of which is that it is related to the command do not
set up rivals to Allah. This is valid due to the fact that adoration is the act of the highest and
humblest reverence and worship. When one gets into that relationship with Allah, Who is the
Creator, his/her faith results in righteous deeds and this in turn leads to creating a real human
being who benefits a society. Further evidence of Allah's goodness to human beings is given in
this verse. Hence, the whole life, physical and spiritual, depends upon Him. Accordingly, this
verse conveys the illocutionary force of forbidding and expresses a prohibition by using the
explicit form of negative imperative to emphasize the worship of Allah alone because there are
no other rivals to Him in worship (Al-Zamkhshari, n.d).
‫ْﺚ ﺛَﻘِ ْﻔﺘُ ُﻤﻮﻫُ ْﻢ َﻭﺃَ ْﺧ ِﺮﺟُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ ِﻣ ْﻦ‬

ُ ‫( َﻭﺍ ْﻗﺘُﻠُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ َﺣﻴ‬190) َ‫ﷲَ ﻻَ ﻳ ُِﺤﺐﱡ ْﺍﻟ ُﻤ ْﻌﺘَ ِﺪﻳﻦ‬
‫ﻻ ﺗَ ْﻌﺘَﺪُﻭﺍ ﺇِ ﱠﻥ ﱠ‬
َ ‫ﷲِ ﺍﻟﱠ ِﺬﻳﻦَ ﻳُﻘَﺎﺗِﻠُﻮﻧَ ُﻜ ْﻢ َﻭ‬
‫ﻴﻞ ﱠ‬
ِ ِ‫َﻭﻗَﺎﺗِﻠُﻮﺍ ﻓِﻲ َﺳﺒ‬
Text 2: ‫َﺣﻴْﺚ‬
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َ‫ﺃَ ْﺧ َﺮﺟُﻮ ُﻛ ْﻢ َﻭ ْﺍﻟﻔِ ْﺘﻨَﺔُ ﺃَ َﺷ ﱡﺪ ِﻣ ْﻦ ْﺍﻟﻘَ ْﺘ ِﻞ َﻭﻻَ ﺗُﻘَﺎﺗِﻠُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ ِﻋ ْﻨ َﺪ ْﺍﻟ َﻤﺴ ِْﺠ ِﺪ ْﺍﻟ َﺤ َﺮ ِﺍﻡ َﺣﺘﱠﻰ ﻳُﻘَﺎﺗِﻠُﻮ ُﻛ ْﻢ ﻓِﻴ ِﻪ ﻓَﺈِ ْﻥ ﻗَﺎﺗَﻠُﻮ ُﻛ ْﻢ ﻓَﺎ ْﻗﺘُﻠُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ َﻛ َﺬﻟِﻚَ َﺟﺰَﺍ ُء ْﺍﻟ َﻜﺎﻓِ ِﺮﻳﻦ‬
‫ِ َﻓﺈ ِ ْﻥ ﺍﻧﺘَﻬَﻮْ ﺍ ﻓَﻼَ ُﻋ ْﺪ َﻭﺍﻥَ ﺇِﻻﱠ َﻋﻠَﻰ‬À‫( َﻭﻗَﺎﺗِﻠُﻮﻫُ ْﻢ َﺣﺘﱠﻰ ﻻَ ﺗَ ُﻜﻮﻥَ ﻓِ ْﺘﻨَﺔٌ َﻭﻳَ ُﻜﻮﻥَ ﺍﻟﺪﱢﻳﻦُ ِ ﱠ‬192 ) ‫ﷲَ َﻏﻔُﻮ ٌﺭ َﺭ ِﺣﻴ ٌﻢ‬ ‫( َﻓﺈ ِ ْﻥ ﺍﻧﺘَﻬَﻮْ ﺍ ﻓَﺈِ ﱠﻥ ﱠ‬191)
‫ﺼﺎﺹٌ ﻓَ َﻤ ْﻦ ﺍ ْﻋﺘَﺪَﻯ َﻋﻠَ ْﻴ ُﻜ ْﻢ ﻓَﺎ ْﻋﺘَﺪُﻭﺍ َﻋﻠَ ْﻴ ِﻪ ﺑِ ِﻤ ْﺜ ِﻞ َﻣﺎ ﺍ ْﻋﺘَﺪَﻯ َﻋﻠَ ْﻴ ُﻜ ْﻢ َﻭﺍﺗﱠﻘُﻮﺍ‬ َ ِ‫ﺎﺕ ﻗ‬ ُ ‫( ﺍﻟ ﱠﺸ ْﻬ ُﺮ ﺍ ْﻟ َﺤ َﺮﺍ ُﻡ ﺑِﺎﻟ ﱠﺸﻬْﺮ ِ ﺍ ْﻟ َﺤ َﺮﺍ ِﻡ َﻭ ْﺍﻟ ُﺤ ُﺮ َﻣ‬193) َ‫ﺍﻟﻈﱠﺎﻟِ ِﻤﻴﻦ‬
(‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ‬/190-194) (194) َ‫ﷲَ َﻣ َﻊ ْﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﱠﻘِﻴﻦ‬ ‫ﷲَ َﻭﺍ ْﻋﻠَ ُﻤﻮﺍ ﺃَ ﱠﻥ ﱠ‬ ‫ﱠ‬
And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you, and do not exceed the limits; surely
Allah does not love those who exceed the limits (190). And kill them wherever you find them,
and drive them out from whence they drove you out and persecution is severer than slaughter;
and do not fight with them at the sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight
you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers(191). But if they desist, then
surely Allah is Forgiving Merciful (192). And fight with them until there is no persecution and
religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then there should be no hostility except
against the oppressors (193). The sacred month for the sacred mouth and all sacred things are
(under the law of) retaliation; whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflect injury on him
according to the injury he has inflected on you and be careful (of your duty) to Allah, and know
that Allah is with those who guard (against evil)(194) (Ali, 1951, p.86-90).
Although these five verses have different structures dealing with the subject of fighting an
enemy, they express a speech act of prohibition. Verses (190) and (191) prohibit Muslims from
fighting except against those who first take up the sword. Here and in the subsequent verses, the
subject of fighting is clearly connected with that of pilgrimage. Muslims are forbidden to violate
the sacredness of Mecca and make it a territory of fighting. This can be explicitly expressed by
the form of negative command do not + bare infinitive. At the pragmatic level, verse (191)
conveys the illocutionary force of forbidding. Whereas verses (190) and (191) denote the explicit
prohibition, the form of the imperative expressing abstention in verses (192) and (193) expresses
implicit speech act of prohibition. In these verses, Muslims are prohibited to fight and they
should abide to Godly rules if the enemy desisted from fighting and also if the disbelievers
declare their repentance during the fight (Al- Tussei, n.d). Verse (194) is similar to what is said
in verse (191). This legal provision declares a permission to fight in the sacred months. If the
opponents violated the sacred months by attacking the Muslims first, then the Muslims are
permitted to fight against them in these months. Unlike verse (191), this verse is expressed by the
declarative sentence which is more expressive than the explicit form of do not do. This verse is
used here to fulfill the illocutionary force of threatening by saying sacred month for the sacred
month. This entails that fighting is prohibited in these sacred months but it is permissible only to
defend religion and uphold its rituals.
ُ َ ُ
Text 3: ‫ﻻ ُﺗﻠﻘﻮﺍ ﺑِﺄ ْﻳ ِﺪﻳ ُﻜ ْﻢ ﺇِﻟَﻰ ﺍﻟﺘﱠ ْﻬﻠ َﻜﺔ‬ْ ‫ﱠ‬
َ ‫ﻴﻞ ﷲِ َﻭ‬ ُ َ
ِ ِ‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ( َﻭﺃﻧﻔِﻘﻮﺍ ﻓِﻲ َﺳﺒ‬/195)
And spend in the way of Allah and cast not yourselves to perdition with your own hands (Ali,
1917-1951, p. 90).
ُ ‫ﺳ ُﻜ ْﻢ َﺣﺘﱠﻰ ﻳَ ْﺒﻠُ َﻎ ْﺍﻟﻬَ ْﺪ‬
Text ‫ﻱ َﻣ ِﺤﻠّﻪ‬ َ ‫ﻻ ﺗَﺤْ ﻠ ِ ُﻘﻮﺍ ُﺭ ُءﻭ‬ َ ‫ﻱ َﻭ‬ ِ ْ‫ِ ﻓَﺈِ ْﻥ ﺃُﺣ‬À‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ( َﻭﺃَﺗِ ﱡﻤﻮﺍ ْﺍﻟ َﺤ ﱠﺞ َﻭ ْﺍﻟ ُﻌ ْﻤ َﺮﺓَ ِ ﱠ‬/196)
ِ ‫ﺼﺮْ ﺗُ ْﻢ ﻓَ َﻤﺎ ﺍ ْﺳﺘَ ْﻴ َﺴ َﺮ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﺍ ْﻟﻬ َ ْﺪ‬
4:
And accomplish the pilgrimage and the visit for Allah, but if you are prevented, (send) whatever
offering is easy to obtain, and do not shave your heads until the offering reaches its destination
(Ali, 1917-1951, p.90).
Text 5: ‫ﻻ ِﺟﺪَﺍ َﻝ ﻓِﻲ ْﺍﻟ َﺤﺞﱢ‬ َ ‫ﻕ َﻭ‬ َ ‫ُﻮ‬ ‫ﺴ‬ ُ
‫ﻓ‬ َ
‫ﻻ‬ ‫ﻭ‬
َ َ
‫ﺚ‬ َ
‫ﻓ‬ ‫ﺭ‬
َ َ
‫ﻼ‬ َ
‫ﻓ‬ ‫ﱠ‬
‫ﺞ‬ ‫ﺤ‬ َ ْ
‫ﺍﻟ‬ ‫ﻦ‬‫ﱠ‬ ‫ﻬ‬ ‫ﻴ‬ ‫ﻓ‬ ‫ﺽ‬
ِ ِ َ َ َ ‫ﺮ‬َ ‫ﻓ‬ ‫ﻦ‬ْ ‫ﻤ‬ َ ‫ﻓ‬ ٌ
‫ﺎﺕ‬ َ ُ‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ( ْﺍﻟ َﺤﺞﱡ ﺃَ ْﺷﻬُ ٌﺮ َﻣ ْﻌﻠ‬/197)
‫ﻣ‬ ‫ﻮ‬
The pilgrimage is (performed in) the well-known months; so whoever determines the
performance of the pilgrimage therein, there shall be then no foul speech nor abusing nor
disputing in the pilgrimage (Ali, 1917-1951, p.91).
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Verse (195) commands Muslims to listen to what Almighty Allah forbids. Pragmatically, this
verse conveys the illocutionary force of warning; it is a prohibition about something harming
Muslims rather than forbidding. However, this verse commands Muslims not to hug their wealth
because this will help in their own self destruction. Rather, their wealth should be spent in the
Cause of Allah and for the good of their brethren because such good pleases Allah. This speech
act of prohibition is explicitly expressed by the form of negative imperative do not +verb i.e. do
not put yourself in trouble ‫ﻭﻻ ﺗﻠﻘﻮﺍ‬.
Pilgrimage is also a sacred month in which the chief rites are done during the first ten days of
the month of Dhu al Hajja. In these sacred days, the male pilgrims put on a simple garment of
unsewn cloth in two pieces and female pilgrims wear their garment with a scarf to cover their
head hair when they are some distance yet from Makkah. Putting on the pilgrim garb (ihram) is
symbolic of renouncing the vanities of life. After this and until the end of the pilgrimage he/she
must not wear other clothes, or ornaments, anoint his/her hair, use perfumes, hunt, or do other
prohibited acts. The completion of the pilgrimage is symbolized by shaving the head for men,
and for women cutting off a few locks of the hair of the head, putting off of the ihram and the
resumption of the ordinary garment when they come back home. This legal prohibition has the
structure of consisting of a verb preceded by not resulting in do not shave to express a direct
speech act of prohibition. Verse (196) prohibits Muslims who are performing the pilgrimage to
shave their hair until the offering reaches its destination (al-Qurtubi, 1967).
According to verse (197), the commitment of adultery and indecency during pilgrimage is
prohibited. Pilgrimage represents the peak of spiritual progress, and hence the pilgrim is enjoined
not to speak words which should be a source of annoyance to anybody. Syntactically, this verse
involves (‫ )ﻻ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﻓﻴﺔ‬not of negation which negates the verbs of the verse and hence the whole verse.
In other words, it is an implicit speech act of prohibition using the implicit form of the negation
of an act ‫ ﻧﻔﻲ ﺍﻟﻔﻌﻞ‬which is deeper than the explicit form of do not do.
َ ِ ‫ﻻ ﺗَﻴ َ ﱠﻤ ُﻤﻮﺍ ﺍ ْﻟﺨَ ﺒ‬
ُ‫ﻴﺚ ِﻣ ْﻨﻪ‬ َ ‫ﺕ َﻣﺎ َﻛ َﺴ ْﺒﺘُ ْﻢ َﻭ ِﻣ ﱠﻤﺎ ﺃَ ْﺧ َﺮﺟْ ﻨَﺎ ﻟَ ُﻜ ْﻢ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﺍ َﻷﺭْ ﺽ ِ َﻭ‬ ِ ‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ( ﻳَﺎﺃَﻳﱡﻬَﺎ َ ﺍﻟﱠ ِﺬﻳﻦَ ﺁ َﻣﻨُﻮﺍ ﺃَﻧﻔِﻘُﻮﺍ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﻁَﻴﱢﺒَﺎ‬/267)
Text 6:‫ﺗﻨﻔِﻘﻮﻥ‬ ُ ُ
O you who believe! spend (benevolently) of the good things that you earn and of what We have
brought forth for you out of the earth, and do not aim at what is bad that you may spend (in alms)
of it (Ali, 1917-1951: 128).
Text ٍ ‫ﻻ ﺍ ْﺑﺘِﻐَﺎ َء َﻭﺟْ ﻪِ ﱠﷲ ِ َﻭ َﻣﺎ ُﺗﻨﻔ ِ ُﻘﻮﺍ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﺧَ ْﻴﺮ‬ ‫ﻸﻧ ُﻔ ِﺴ ُﻜ ْﻢ َﻭ َﻣﺎ ُﺗﻨﻔ ِ ُﻘﻮﻥَ ﺇ ِ ﱠ‬ ‫ﻚ ﻫُﺪَﺍﻫُ ْﻢ َﻭﻟَ ِﻜ ﱠﻦ ﱠ‬
ِ ‫ﷲَ ﻳَ ْﻬ ِﺪﻱ َﻣ ْﻦ ﻳَ َﺸﺎء َﻭ َﻣﺎ ُﺗﻨﻔ ِ ُﻘﻮﺍ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﺧَ ْﻴﺮ ٍ َﻓ‬ َ ‫ْﺲ َﻋﻠَ ْﻴ‬ َ ‫ﻟَﻴ‬
7:
(‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ‬/272) َ‫ﻈﻠَ ُﻤﻮﻥ‬ ْ ُ‫ﻑ ﺇ ِ َﻟ ْﻴ ُﻜ ْﻢ َﻭﺃَ ْﻧﺘُ ْﻢ ﻻَ ﺗ‬
‫ﻳُ َﻮ ﱠ‬
To make them walk in the right not incumbent in you, but Allah guides a right whom He pleases;
and whatever good thing you spend; it is not your own good; and you do not spend but to seek
Allah’s pleasure; and whatever good thing you spend shall be paid back to you in full, and you
shall not be wronged (Ali, 1917-195, p. 129). Charity has a value only if something good
and valuable is given which has been honorably earned or gained by the giver. Using the form of
an explicit (direct) speech act of prohibition do not aim at, the verse (267) prohibits the Muslims
from spending bad things which signify the charity in the cause of Allah. This verse has an
especial occasion when Prophet Muhammad prohibits Muslims from spending bad kinds of date
in the name of Allah (al-Qurtubi, 1967). In connection with charity, this means that we must
alleviate those really in need with valuable things. Meanwhile, the prohibition of spending in
verse (272) can be realized by using a declarative sentence, though, the phrase do not spend is
paraphrased according to the context as this verse conveys the illocutionary force of consultation
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to express an indirect speech act of prohibition.

Text ‫ﻻ ﺗَﺤْ ِﻤﻞْ َﻋ َﻠ ْﻴﻨَﺎ ﺇِﺻْ ﺮًﺍ‬ َ ‫ﻄ ْﺄﻧَﺎ َﺭﺑﱠﻨَﺎ َﻭ‬
َ ‫ﻻ ُﺗﺆَﺍ ِﺧ ْﺬﻧَﺎ ﺇ ِ ْﻥ ﻧَ ِﺴﻴﻨَﺎ َﺃﻭْ َﺃ ْﺧ‬
َ ‫ﺖ َﻭ َﻋﻠَ ْﻴﻬَﺎ َﻣﺎ ْﺍﻛﺘَ َﺴﺒ َ ْﺖ َﺭﺑﱠﻨَﺎ‬ ‫ﻻَ ﻳُ َﻜﻠﱢﻒُ ﱠ‬
ْ َ‫ﷲُ ﻧَ ْﻔﺴًﺎ ﺇِﻻﱠ ُﻭ ْﺳ َﻌﻬَﺎ ﻟَﻬَﺎ َﻣﺎ َﻛ َﺴﺒ‬
8:
‫ﺍﻏﻔِﺮْ َﻟﻨَﺎ َﻭﺍﺭْ َﺣ ْﻤﻨَﺎ ﺃَ ْﻧﺖَ َﻣﻮْ ﻻَﻧَﺎ ﻓَﺎﻧﺼُﺮْ ﻧَﺎ َﻋﻠَﻰ ْﺍﻟﻘَﻮْ ِﻡ‬ ْ ‫ﺍﻋﻒُ َﻋ ﱠﻨﺎ َﻭ‬ َ ‫ﻻ ُﺗ َﺤ ﱢﻤ ْﻠﻨَﺎ َﻣﺎ‬
َ ‫ﻻ‬
ْ ‫ﻁﺎ َﻗ َﺔ َﻟﻨَﺎ ﺑِﻪِ َﻭ‬ َ ‫َﻛ َﻤﺎ َﺣ َﻤ ْﻠﺘَﻪُ َﻋﻠَﻰ ﺍﻟﱠ ِﺬﻳﻦَ ِﻣ ْﻦ ﻗَ ْﺒﻠِﻨَﺎ َﺭﺑﱠﻨَﺎ َﻭ‬
(‫ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺮﺓ‬/286) َ‫ْﺍﻟ َﻜﺎﻓِ ِﺮﻳﻦ‬
Allah does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability; for it is (the benefit
of) what it has earned, and upon it (the evil of) what it has wrought. Our Lord! Do not punish us
if we forget or make a mistake; our Lord! do not lay on us a burden as Thou didst lay on those
before us; our Lord! do not impose upon us that which we have not the strength to bear; and
pardon us and grant us protection and have mercy on us, Thou art our Patron, so help us against
the unbelieving people (Ali, 1917-1951,p.135-136).
This is the last verse in the chapter of Al-Baqarah which expresses Prayer for Divine help. In this
verse, the form of the negative imperative such as do not punish us a burden, do not lay on us,
and do not impose upon us is used to express an indirect speech act of prohibition. In this verse,
the burden is the spiritual duty in this context. Assured by Allah that He will accept from each
soul such duty as it has the ability to offer, we pray further for the fulfillment of that promise.
We must not be arrogant, and think that because Allah has granted us His favor and mercy we
have no need to exert ourselves, or that we are superior to those before us. On the contrary,
knowing how much they failed, we pray that our burdens should be lessened and we confess our
realization that we have all the greater need for Allah's mercy and forgiveness.
6. Conclusion
Speech acts confirm the essential roles in which the intention of the requester, his/her utterance,
and superficial form and function are interwoven within a context of situation, and all together
can be successfully conveyed in any text. Thus, the conclusions will be drawn according to the
three levels of analysis such as syntax, semantics and pragmatics respectively. At the syntactic
level, the researchers have found that the Arabic texts under analysis reveal that syntactic
markers which give the utterances the force of prohibition are more than those in English. To
elaborate, the syntactic structure in the verses of Al-Baqarah including the themes of
worshipping Allah, pilgrimage and charity have the forms of negative imperative and
declarative. Meanwhile, analyzing the Ten Commandments in the Book of Exodus validates that
the most typical strategy used to encode speech acts of prohibition is the declarative sentence.
At the semantic level, the researchers found that the implicit forms expressing prohibition are
appropriately used in the Arabic verses under analysis, whilst the explicit forms are heavily used
in expressing the Ten Commandments. In Arabic, there are five semantic forms can implicitly be
used to express prohibition such as would not, ought not to, the use of the act coupled with threat
of punishment, negation of the act, and it is not +noun expressing a good or a bad Trait+ ‫ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺪﺭ‬
‫( ﺍﻟﻤﺆﻭﻝ‬i.e. ‫ ﺃﻥ‬+present tense form with subject). This is possibly due to the sophistication of the
Arabic language which is further intensified through the language of the Holy Quran. Therefore,
the prominent semantic form used to express prohibition in some Quranic verses under analysis
is the negation of the act. It is implicitly employed to deepen the act of prohibition. This is
clearly shown in the verses of the prohibition of the commitment of adultery and indecency
during pilgrimage. Meanwhile, the direct form of the modal shall with not can frequently be used
to express prohibition relating to the fundamental rules in the Bible such as the worshipping of
God (Allah), committing adultery, murdering, and stealing.

ISSN: 2229-9327
At the pragmatic level, the researchers have also discovered that the Quranic verses are used not
only to prohibit someone from doing something forbidden but also to convey different
illocutionary forces such as forbidding, warning, consultation, threatening and request which can
be understood from their contexts in accordance with the semantic level. Thus, expressing
prohibitions in the Bible and the Quran are not identical. This is manifested by the use of explicit
and implicit devices in both texts. Therefore, prohibition fulfils the communicative function of a
language through an interaction between syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Such a finding may
be a contribution to the field of comparative studies with regard to the speech acts of prohibition
in the English Bible and Arabic Quran as the researchers have not found yet a similar study in
this respect. However, we cannot generalize these results because the data is not sizable enough
due to space constraints.
About the Authors:

Sawsan Kareem Al-Saaidi is an instructor of English at the College of Education/ University of
Al-Qadisiya, Iraq. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) doing
research on the discourse of terrorism. Her research interests include contrastive studies, critical
discourse analysis, discourse and politics.
Ghayth al-Shaibani is a senior lecturer in the English Language Section at the School of
Languages, Literacies and Translation at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). He received his
Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics/Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in 2011 from Universiti Sains
Malaysia. His research interests include critical discourse analysis and media studies.
Hashim Al-Husseini is an instructor of English at the College of Education/ University of

Wasit, Iraq. He published several papers on comparative studies and linguistics. Currently, he is
a PhD candidate at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) doing research on the kinship terms in the
Glorious Quran and the Holy Bible.
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AWEJ
Pp.112- 127
Investigating Saudi EFL Learners’ Vision of Future-self and its Relationship to their Self-
regulated Learning Behaviour
Sara M Al-Otaibi
University of Nottingham, England
Abstract
The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, based on the assumption that the imagery component of
the vision of future-self, particularly the ideal L2 self, has a powerful motivational influence on
the learning behavior of learners, the paper aims to investigate the relationship between the
learners’ vision of ideal L2 self (V- ideal L2 self) and their self-regulated learning (SRL)
behavior. The second purpose was to explore the concepts of vision of future-self and self-
regulated learning from the learners own experience in order to present a comprehensive picture
of how Saudi EFL learners may envision their future-self and what factors have contributed in
constructing their visions. In this study, data were collected by means of questionnaire and
interview. Both quantitative and qualitative data indicated that learners’ self-regulated learning
behavior are motivated by their V-ideal L2 self which highlights its motivational power in L2
learning. Furthermore, the qualitative data suggested that learners’ visions of future-self are
varied due to the contribution of several factors that influence shaping their vision including
learners’ self-efficacy, significant others, and learning experiences.
Keywords: Ideal L2 self, motivation, Saudi EFL Learners, self regulated learning (SRL), vision
of future self.

ISSN: 2229-9327
Investigating Saudi EFL Learners’ Vision of Future-self Al Otaibi
Introduction
In the field of second language learning and teaching, the concept of self-regulation has
attracted research interest recently, particularly in relationship to their motivation. Therefore,
several studies have been conducted to identify the role of motivation in promoting learners self-
regulation in different: leaning contexts (Lamb, 2011) cultures (e.g., Arab students by Malcolm,
2011) learning settings (e.g., the independent learning setting of SAC by Murray, 2011) and
distance language learning by Murphy, 2011).
Dörnyei’s (2005) framework of ‘L2 Motivational Self System’ has inspired several
investigations on learners’ SRL. According to this framework, “if the person would like to speak
an L2, the ‘ideal L2 self’ is a powerful motivator to learn the L2 because of the desire to reduce
the discrepancy between our actual self and ideal selves” (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 105). In other
words, learners who envision themselves as L2 users (i.e., image of ideal L2 self) will be
strongly motivated to attain this vision in order to reduce the discrepancy between their current
and their possible L2 self as compared with other learners who may possess similar goals of L2
proficiency, but are driven by such motivators as obligation to others’ aspirations or merely out
of fear of failure (i.e., ought to L2 self) (Lamb, 2009).
Among the studies that have employed this framework to interpret learners’ SRL in the
light of the concept of the vision of future-self is Lamb’s (2011) study which investigated the
future-self of Indonesian EFL learners and their motivation to learn. Murray (2011) also
investigated the role of imagination in learning English in an independent learning context, but
with Japanese EFL learners. Moreover, Malcolm (2011) considered the concept among Arab
learners. Of these various studies which have been conducted in different learning settings and
among different learners’ cultures, the concept of the visions of future-self has been highlighted
to be a crucial source that can motivate learners’ learning behaviour and promote autonomy or
SRL.
Aim and Significance of the Study

As “It is individuals’ motivation that explains their (learners) behavior. Why people
decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to
sustain the activity” (Dörnyei, 2001, p. 7), this study was motivated to investigate the visions of
future-self as a motivational source for SRL to identify whether learners’ active and persistence
to learn the language is related to the learners’ L2 self. In addition, Lamb (2011) noted that
motivation, autonomy and identity are key elements of L2 learning and teaching, but there has
been little attempt to fully identify the relationships between them because they are seen as
different fields and each is considered separately with their own individual ontological approach.
In the context of education in Arab gulf region, for example, only a few studies such as Malcolm
(2011) have discussed learners’ future-self and SRL. Others have investigated the concept of
self-regulation or imagination among Arab EFL learners but from different dimensions, such as
the study on the relationship between visual learning style, imagination, ideal language selves
and motivated behaviour by Alshehri (2009), and a study on the relationship between Saudi EFL
Students’ writing competence in their L1 and L2 and their Self-regulation ability by Alsamadani
(2010). Therefore, this paper is an attempt to address this gap by investigating Saudi learners’
vision of future-self and its relationship to their self-regulated learning behavior.
Literature Review

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In research of individual learner differences, learning strategy has been one of the most
investigated areas in an attempt to identify why some learners are more successful than others
(Dörnyei, 2006). Findings have shown that in addition to learner aptitude and motivation,
learners’ own creative effort in the learning process is important (Dörnyei, 2005), which in turn
has attracted researchers to investigate learning strategies. However, because of theoretical issues
regarding learning strategies, particularly the definitional problem and ambiguity, this area has
been the centre of heated debate. For example, Dörnyei (2005, 2006) argues that the theoretical
definitions on learning strategies are “fuzzy” and do not clearly differentiate between “normal
learning activities” and “strategies”. Consequently, this has led researchers in the field of
educational psychology to shift their focus to the new concept of “Self regulation”.
Self-regulation
Regarding the term of “self regulation”, the continuum of the interest in investigation of
“learning strategies”, as highlighted by Dörnyei (2005, p. 191) is from a new dimension which
focuses on the ‘process’ (self regulation) instead of the ‘product’ (strategies), was one reason for
the emergence of this concept. Accordingly, the main difference between self-regulation and
learning strategies is that the “proactive strategic learner is not necessarily the exact nature of
strategies, tactics or techniques they (learners) apply, but rather the fact that they do apply them”
(Dörnyei 2005, p. 190). Although the concept of self-regulation has attracted the attention of
several researchers, it is still vaguely defined. In this regard, Tseng et al (2006), point out that
the shift of focus from learning strategies to self-regulation has not provided solutions to the
issues over learning strategies. In fact it has merely resulted in the development of a broader
perspective to include goal setting, strategic planning, action plans, monitoring, control, self
motivational beliefs, evaluation, etc (ibid).
Given the multifaceted interpretations of SRL, it has been defined in more general ways as
follows. According to Pintrich (2000, p. 453) self-regulation has been defined as “an active,
constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor,
regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior, guided and constrained by their
goals and the contextual features of the environment”. Schunk (2001, p. 125) adds that Self-
regulation refers to “learning that results from students’ self-generated thoughts and behaviors
that are systematically oriented toward the attainment of their learning goals”. In addition,
Dörnyei (2005), more generally, defines self-regulation as “the degree to which individuals are
active participants in their own learning” (p. 191).
From these definitions, it can be agreed that the learners’ proactiveness is a main
component of self-regulated learners which is manifested by their creative engagement in setting
goals, initiating actions, regulating these actions through controlling their meta-cognition,
behavior and motivation with mentoring, and evaluating the outcomes of this engagement.
Who are Self-regulated Learners?

Zimmerman (1994, p. 5) gave an example of self-regulated student: “A Hispanic girl
staying after class pleading to practice her word processing ‘just a little longer."
It is suggested that self-regulated students have certain characteristics that can distinguish them
from other passive students, and in this vein, Zimmerman (1990) distinguishes self-regulated
learners as those who “proactively seek out information when needed and take the necessary
steps to master it” (p. 5). Zimmerman (1990) has also indicated that self-regulated learners seek

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their goals by applying appropriate strategies, have high self efficacy beliefs towards their
capabilities, and these have an impact on their goal setting and their degree of commitment to
achieve them. In addition, Wolters (2003, p. 189) gave another description of self regulated
learners which highlights the psychological side of self-regulated learners. He points out that
“self-regulated learners are thought to hold a collection of adaptive beliefs and attitudes that
drive their willingness to engage in and persist at academic tasks”
While various different characteristics have been presented of self-regulated learners, one
common conceptualization of self-regulated learners is that they are motivationally, meta-
cognitively and behaviourally active in their learning process (Zimmerman, 1990). From
Motivational perspective, self-regulated learners perceive themselves as self-efficacious and
have positive attitudes towards the target language. From the behavioral side, self regulated
learners select and structure action for learning purposes.
Motivation and SRL

The relationship between self-regulation and motivation has been widely investigated. There is a
general consensus that they are positively correlated. In this view, Zimmerman (1990) contends
that self-regulated learners are “not only self-directed in a meta-cognitive sense but are self-
motivated as well. Their skill and will are integrated components of self-regulated” (p. 6).
Pintrich (2000, p. 467) points out that some cognitive and self-regulatory learning strategies are
more demanding for learners, and thus require a higher level of engagement with their studies
than might usually be expected. Therefore, to invest the extra time and effort required in self
regulated learning, learners must be motivated.
Accordingly, ample research has been conducted to identify what level of motivation
students need to have to be successful self-regulated learners. As highlighted by Zimmerman
(1990) researchers’ view about the motivational dimension of SRL are differ as behavioral
theorists claim that it is the external rewards which motivate self-regulation, whereas
phenomenologists claim that individuals’ positive sense of self-confidence and self image are the
primary motivates. Other such as Zimmerman (2002) suggests that achievements, goal
attainment and self-efficacy are powerful motivators.
The L2 Selves and SRL

As noted by Dörnyei (2005, 2009b), based on the theoretical literature of Markus and
Nurius’ of ‘Possible Selves’ (1986), Higgins’ (1987) ‘Self-Discrepancy’ theory, and the
empirical findings of the longitudinal study by Dörnyei (2009b) on Hungarian teenagers’
language learning attitudes and motivation, the model of ‘L2 Motivational Self System’ was
drawn. According to this model, there are three motivational sources for language learning (see
below) which, particularly the first two sources, result from the powerful impact of imagery on
learners’ motivation.
x Ideal L2 self, which is the L2- specific facet of one’s ‘ideal self’: if the person we would
like to become speaks an L2, ‘the ideal L2 self’ is a powerful motivator to learn the L2
because of the desire to reduce the discrepancy between our actual and ideal selves.
x Ought-to L2 self, which concerns the attributes that one believes one ought to posses to
meet expectations and to avoid possible negative outcomes.
L2 Learning Experience, which concerns situated, ‘executive’ motives related to the
immediate learning environment and experience.

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Dörnyei (2009b, p. 29)

An important point that needs to be highlighted is the fact that the ideal L2 self can be
instrumentality motivated. Dörnyei (2009b, p. 28) points out that ideal L2 self component in his
model can reinterpret the integrative motive as “it is difficult to imagine that we can have a vivid
and attractive ideal L2 self if the L2 is spoken by a community that we despise”. Yet drawing on
Higgins’ (1987) distinction between the ‘promotion’ focus of the ideal self and ‘prevention’
focus of ought self, Dörnyei (2009b, p. 28) points out that instrumental motivation can be
involved in the ideal self when ”our idealized image is associated with being professionally
successful” (e.g. to learn English for the of professorial/career advancement). It has instrumental
motives with a promotion focus whereas when an individual want to learn English so he does not
fail or disappoint his parents, it reflects his ought-to L2 self which has instrumental motives with
prevention focus.
The Vision of Future-self and SRL

Here, we might start questioning how these possible selves can lead to self-regulation. Dörnyei
(2009b) noted that one main advantage of the concept of possible selves is the imagery
component, particularly of the ideal L2 self, which can be a motivational tool through creating
and enhancing language learners’ vision. In this vein, Dörnyei (2005, p. 102) points out that:
Our idealized L2-speaking self can be seen as a member of an imagined L2 community
whose mental construction is partly based on our real-life experiences of members of the
community/communities speaking the particular L2 in question and partly on our
imagination.
Therefore as Higgins (1987) claims that the discrepancy between ones’ current self and the ideal
or ought selves can create discomfort which in turn can serve as a motivator for the individual
behaviour to reduce this feeling. Markus and Nurius (1986) also contend that possible selves are
important as they can act as a tool of motivation: “they function as incentives for future
behaviour” (p.954). Accordingly, when an EFL learner envisions himself as a person who can
speak the language fluently, for example, this vision which reflects a desired possible self that is
different to the learners’ current self can influence the L2 learning process positively by shaping
learners’ behaviour to become this desired future self.
This new concept of investigating learners’ motivation has attracted a number of
researchers. For example, a study by Murray (2011) was conducted to explore the role of
imagination in learning English among a group of Japanese EFL learners in their first year of
university who were enrolled on a self directed learning course (independent learning setting)
which mixed self-access language learning and classroom-based instruction. Students were
required to take responsibility for determining their goals, choose the materials, decide the way
of using the materials, and monitor and asses their progress which means that there were no
teacher-based language lessons except short lessons at the beginning of the course on learning
strategies. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were employed in this
study of 296 students of whom 27 were interviewed. Findings showed that the learning context
has contributed to the development of the learners’ future vision and enabled them to identify
goals and actions needed in order to fulfill their future self. He also noted that a number of
participants indicated that they envisioned themselves as international individuals which
corresponds with Yoshima’s (2009) findings of ‘international posture’ in her study of how
students in a FL setting such as Japan relate to the community of the target language. Yashima

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et al. (2004, p. 125) describe the “international posture” as “the interest in foreign or
international affairs, willingness to go overseas to stay or work, readiness to interact with
intercultural partner…”
Another study, which investigates learners’ vision and autonomy but in a traditional
classroom context, was the longitudinal study by Lamb (2011). He investigated the presence of
‘future-oriented components of the self’ among Indonesian adolescents learners motivation to
learn English. Twelve junior high school Indonesian students, who were selected based on the
results of a previous study, were interviewed over two years. Using learning resources outside
school such as online chatting and private English courses were presented as evidence of
learners’ autonomy. Results of the qualitative data showed that motivated learners have a high
level of motivation to learn English, clear future vision of their selves and autonomous learning
whereas the unmotivated learner showed less clear and vague vision and absence in autonomous
learning. For the latter group of learners, the vagueness of their future vision was demonstrated
through their frequent use of headings during describing their vision. He also noted that some
learners were still motivated by a sense of obligating (i.e. to avoid failure) than by a real clear
vision of future speaking self. Accordingly, Lamb agreed that ought to-L2 self as a source of
motivation has a weaker motivational power and no link to autonomy compared to the ideal self.
Therefore, He concluded that that there is a link between a clear future-self, the L2 identity of the
learners and their motivation to learn and their level of autonomy.
Furthermore, studies highlighting the concept of learners’ future-self and self-regulation,

particularly Arabic EFL learners, are still rare. One of the few is Malcolm’s (2011) small scale
explanatory study on how the experience of failure can be a source of motivation to learner
autonomy. A semi-structured interview was conducted with four Arabic students studying
medicine. All of them were Arabic speaker from the Arab gulf countries including Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Also, they all experienced failure in the beginning of their study year
which was attributed to deficiency in English ability, as the medium of instruction and learning
materials and textbooks all in English for medical students. Findings showed that learners have
taken actions to overcome failure and to reach their ‘desired future identity’. They manifested a
degree of autonomy which was demonstrated by their own efforts to learn English such as
reading stories, study grammar book and enrolled in English courses abroad. He noted that their
vision of future self as competent doctors where English is an essential element for them has
motivated them to become autonomous language learners. He added that learners’ motivation to
learn English changed from studying merely to pass (extrinsic) to studying whilst recognising its
value and contribution towards their success (identified regulation). From the results, Malcolm
also noted that that the educational and cultural contexts as well as learners’ self-efficacy were
influential factors in developing learners’ identity from unsuccessful to autonomous learners and
competent user of English.
Research Paper Questions and Hypothesis

From the discussed literature above, it is clear that the way in which learners envision
themselves in the future is connected with their motivation to engage in the learning process.
Lamb (2011), for example, maintains that “the self-identity we wish for in the future can be a
source of motivation to engage in self-regulated, or autonomous, learning, which will help us

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achieve that identity” (p. 177). Therefore, this paper aims to; firstly, investigate the relationship
of the ideal L2 self image to students’ self-regulated behaviour in order to identify whether
learners’ SRL behaviour are motivated by their ideal L2 self image.
In addition, as clarified earlier, the investigation of the two concepts of learners’ vision of
future-self and SRL have been conducted in relationship to the learning context and the learners’
cultural-context; therefore, the visions of future-self of Saudi students majoring in English, are
worthy of exploration in order to gain insight from the learners’ real life experience. To achieve
this aim, this paper will address the questions:
x Is learners’ self-regulated learning behaviour related to the motivation of their vision of
ideal L2 self?
x What kind of vision of future-self do Saudi EFL learners have?
x What are the factors that have influenced its development?
Methodology
Participants
A purposeful sample of eight undergraduate students majoring in English from different
academic years were chosen to take part in an interview based on their response to the
questionnaire.
Initially, 39 Saudi female EFL students filled out the questionnaire but as 6 indicted their
unwillingness to take part in a later interview these were excluded from the sample leaving only
33 participants. Then, the quantitative data collected from the remaining 33 participants were
used to select the interviewees. Eight participants who reported different levels of motivation and
SRL were selected for a subsequent interview so the vision of future-self could be investigated
from a richer and more interesting dimension.
Instruments
Data were collected by means of questionnaire and interview. Several researchers who
investigated learners’ motivation and SRL employed mixed methods so they could select suitable
learners for the pursuant interview (e.g., Gillies, 2010) or based on the responses, can develop
further questions for the investigation. In this study the use of mixed methods was employed for,
firstly, validating some of the quantitative findings and to help in selecting the interviewees
based on their responses to the previous questionnaire.
Questionnaire
To collect quantitative data of the learners’ motivation intensity, SRL and their V- ideal L2 self,
a questionnaire was developed. In the questionnaire, three multi-item scales that were measured
by a five-point likert scale were included. The three multi-item scales were as follows:
x Learners’ motivation intensity: includes (5) items.

x Learners’ self-regulated learning: includes (6) items.
x Learners’ vision of ideal L2 self: includes (6) items.

Interview
The qualitative data of learners’ visions of future-self were obtained by means of a semi-
structured interview. By adopting a semi-structured interview, the interviewer can have a guide
for the questions to ask and at the same time the interviewees are allowed and encouraged to

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elaborate on certain topics (Dörnyei, 2005). Therefore, an interview guide was developed to
include warm up questions, main questions that are related to the research aim of investigations.
Results and Discussion
1. The Relationship between Learners’ Visions of Ideal L2 self and their Self-regulated
Learning
As discussed earlier, according to ‘L2 Motivational Self System,’ the power of imagination of
future-self which creates discrepancy between a person’s current self and an ideal L2 self can be
a great motivational tool in L2 learning process. Specifically, it is claimed that the motivational
power of the image of ideal L2 self is greater than the ought to L2 self as the motive of the latter
is derived from other people and not from the one own self, thus it less likely to promote
autonomous learning. Accordingly, it is hypothesized that learners with a V- ideal L2 self would
be motivated to self-regulate their learning in order to achieve this vision.
The quantitative data obtained from the Pearsons’ correlation analysis supports that learners’
self-regulated learning behaviour is related to the motivation of their V-ideal L2 self as a
significant positive correlation between learners V-ideal L2 self and self-regulated learning (r=
.403*, P<.05) was obtained. This is in turn supports that the ideal L2 self, in particular, is a
powerful motivational source on learners’ learning behaviour; “if the person we would like to
become speaks an L2, the Ideal L2 Self is a powerful motivator to learn the L2” (Dörnyei, 2005:
106).
The qualitative data obtained from the interview, when learners were asked about the
relationship between their vision of future-self and their effort of SRL, most of learners who
have a V- ideal L2 self demonstrated that the effort they make to learn L2 is in order to achieve
their visions. P3 and p4, for example, indicated that their visions of ideal L2 self has played a
primarily role for motivating them to become self-regulated learners.
P3: Honestly, very much because people without goals cannot do anything. But because I
have it (vision of becoming influential figure working at the UNICEF) in my mind I have
to learn more to reach it.
P4: Definitely becoming a successful language teacher is my dream. And I knew that
improving my language and especially my speaking skill is very important and this (self-
regulated learning) is the only way to achieve it.
One possible reason that may explain why learners with a future vision of their ideal L2
self are self regulated learners is the fact the motivational power of ideal L2 self stems from the
learner’s own aspiration and desire to learn the language which in turn makes investing the time
and effort to learn L2 more worthwhile and convincing whereas another motivational source
such as the ought to L2 self, as noted by Dörnyei (2009a), is drawn from other external factors
such as obligations and duties that are imposed by authoritative figures (e.g., parents and friends)
which makes it a less interesting task.
This also can be more clearly interpreted according to the degree of internalization. As all
learners, even those with a V-ideal L2 self (i.e. promotion-focused), demonstrated that their SRL

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is embraced in order to achieve their visions, which are either based on career objectives or
wanting to become excellent students, and not because they genuinely enjoy spending more time
learning the language, their self-determined behaviour is instrumentality-motivated. Yet,
according to the self-determination theory, it seems that when the learner’s actions are motivated
by their V-ideal L2 self, the importance and personal value of SRL are more likely to be
acknowledged ‘identified regulation’, since the motive is related to the individual’s own
aspiration, than when the actions are motivated by the learners’ ought to L2 self (i.e. out of
obligation to be similar to other people and thus improve their pride e.g. p7 & p.8) ‘interjected
regulation’. Accordingly, when the extrinsic motive is internalised and the value of the actions
are realized, this can positively influence the learners’ motivation to SRL.
Therefore, learners’ self-regulated learning behaviour is related to the motivation resulted from
their V-ideal L2 self which in turn supports that the ideal L2 self plays an important role in
motivating L2 learning, and accordingly learners’ SRL. Learners who envision their future selves
as L2 users and realized the importance of English for their personal or professional success are
greatly motivated to invest their time to learn the language.
2. Learners’ V- Ideal L2 and Ought-to L2 selves

In Murray's (2011) study, learners’ visions were noted to represent examples of an ideal L2 self-
image with an L2 community focus (e.g., learners who have a vision of their future English-
speaking self; becoming international individuals) as well as other examples of visions that
reflect the learners’ ought-to L2 selves (career-oriented focus). Similarly, in the semi-structured
interview when learners were asked about the person they would like to become, their answers
(in table 1 below) manifested various visions of future selves reflecting ideal L2 self and ought to
L2 self.
Table 1: Example of the Types of Learners’ Visions of Future-Self

Learners’ Visions of Future-self
P1 “I did use to think that someday I’ll be out there autographing the books that I wrote. Visiting
bookstores and, during the launch of the book and, talking to other young novelists to encourage
them”
P2 “ I imagined, I wanted to be an ambassador working in the embassy as a big figure in the
society”
P3 “A beautiful image. I have an image that I will do something in the future, most importantly,
my name to be known in any fields, to work at the UNCIF, the united nation, because I like to
help and I want to make change in the world I see” “my image is to be an influential person in
the world and if I couldn’t influence people, at least help them”
P4 “the idea of teaching used to come to my mind so I imagined myself teaching beginners and
not advanced learners at the university”
P5 “I used to dream of becoming an English language teacher. Though I used to dream of
becoming a lecturer at the university, but I always thought it is difficult. So that made me see
myself as a teacher and not a lecture”
P6 “ I envisioned myself as a teacher at any school teaching either secondary or high school

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students with different teaching methods, different to what I used to be taught”

P7 “I used to imagine myself finishing top of my class and with a high grade and GPA”
P8 “I see myself travelling abroad or going to a restaurant, or a hospital, and I want to speak
fluently and effortlessly”.
Based on their answers, learners possess different visions of their future-self from an
image that reflects the ideal L2 self (promotion focus) to others that reflect ought-to L2 self
(prevention focus). Interestingly, most of the learners’ visions (n=6) reflect future career
objectives which generally can be attributed to the fact that in a country like Saudi Arabia where
English is not widely spoken by the majority, people who speak English are perceived to be
privileged and always considered as special, clever people, therefore, EFL learners are aware of
the importance of English on their professional level.
Starting with the V-ideal L2 self, it was mentioned earlier that the ideal L2 self can be
instrumentality motivated when learning the target language is associated with success or
advancement in profession or career, for example. Accordingly, the Learners’ image of future-
self as a novelist, an ambassador, an influential figure working at UNCIEF, and as an English
language teacher reflects an ideal L2 self with a promotion focus as they want to learn and
improve their language level to be successful in their future career. Yet, p2’s and p3’s visions
seem to slightly differ as they represent a desire for working in a foreign country and interacting
and dealing with L2 speakers along with promotion focus. Therefore, these visions, which
combine learners ideal L2 self (promotion focus) with a degree on willingness to integrate with
L2, reflect the concept of ‘international posture’ proposed by Yoshima (2009). His view is that
EFL learners with a high level of international posture may envision themselves as an individual
communicating in English, “pursuing an international career, working in a foreign country”. In
addition, among of the eight learners, three (p4, p5, p6) had a similar image of future-self as
English language teacher. This actually seems to represent the common visions that would be
imagined by several female Saudi learners as it is a generally more plausible and favoured future
career especially for woman in Saudi Arabia.
The other examples of learners’ vision such as to graduate at the top of their class and to
be a fluent speaker present images of future-self that reflect the learners’ ought-to L2 selves
(prevention focus). A sense of obligation is noted in these images as they seem to be not resulted
from their own wish to improve their language ability level but to be similar to people around
them (e.g. P7) or to meet others’ expectations (e.g., p8). For example, P7 and P8 who imagined
gaining high grades and able to speak the language fluently, indicated that they want to be
similar to her cousins, please their family, and meet the expectations of people around them (see
the quote below)
P7: Even my family will be happy with me when I have a better GPA than my cousins
because all of them graduated with a GPA higher than 4 so I wish to become like them
and even better.

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P8: Because people look at me as a student majoring in English language so I should be

fluent to meet their expectations.
Accordingly, these different types of visions can represent three examples of how female
Saudi EFL learners may envision their future selves. A challenging vision (e.g., P1, P2 & P3)
that combines a promotion focus with a degree of interest in the L2 community, hence, English
seems to be perceived as the path for such different and unique goals where Saudi Arabian
speakers of English are always privileged. The other example represents a common future-self of
Saudi female EFL learners as three learners revealed similar images of becoming a teacher; and
this career is perceived as being the best for women as well as more available. Finally, there is
another image of future-self which can usually be possessed by learners who are externally
motivated to learn the language in order to satisfy certain demands or obligations created by
others around them. Clearly, several factors should have contributed to the development of
learners’ visions of future-self which will be discussed next.
3. Factors Influencing Learners’ Visions of Future-self Development

The various visions of future selves presented earlier, reflecting ideal L2 self and ought to L2
self, introduce us to some examples of what Saudi EFL learners’ may envision their future-self
and most importantly, raises an important question about the possible factors that had influenced
the development of their visions. Throughout the interview learners highlight a number of factors
including self-efficacy, significant others and learning experience which are discussed below.
Learners’ self-efficacy
In Malcolm’s (2011) study, learner’s positive self-efficacy was found to have contributed
in the transformation of their identity from unsuccessful to successful learners as a result of the
example of people around them who succeeded to learn the language after initially failing, as
well as the support from their family members that helped them to regain their confidence. In
line with this, results in this study have shown that self-efficacy influences the development of
learners’ visions of their future selves.
The best example of the influence of self-efficacy on learners’ visions is the contradiction
between how some learners, particularly P4 and P5, who because of their lack of confidence,
they envision their future selves as what they might become (more plausible and suitable image)
instead of what they would actually like to become (to teach a certain level of learners and at
certain places). For example, P4’s low self-efficacy made her to envision herself as a teacher
though she would like to become a lecturer. This is illustrated in the following construct as P4
illustrates that her lack of confidence in her ability to deliver the lessons and about her general
proficiency level made her to see herself as a teacher and not a lecturer:
I know the subjects but am not sure if I will be able to deliver them correctly and
clearly or not. This has always been the thing that I keep thinking about.
According to Bandura (1994), social modelling is one source of self-efficacy which can
help to create and strengthen people’s sense of capabilities. Therefore, individuals who are
surrounded by successful people who are similar to themselves can help to raise their confidence
in their capabilities and increase their efforts, whereas models perceived to be different do not

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influence their beliefs and efforts (ibid). P5 in this study shows an example of this as she
described having models (lecturers) with different levels of knowledge and proficiency, which
has lowered her confidence.
Yes possibly my level is not perfect and not bad at the same time. But there are lots
of difficulties in the learning process. And when I see them (Lecturers) I say NO
because there are other students better than me.
One the other hand, learners with a strong sense of self-efficacy have considerable confidence in
their ability, which in turn can facilitate envisioning the person that they would like to become.
To illustrate, one learner who envisioned herself as an influential person working at UNICEF
indicated that she is quite positive and confident about her ability to achieve her vision and added
that only external factors can hinder her from achieving that. When she, for example, was asked
about the possibility of achieving her vision, P3 indicated:
Yes I think it is possible. For me, if there are no obstacles, illness for example. I also
take into consideration other circumstances like getting married, and so if I don’t face
such obstacles I will achieve it (her vision).
Learning experience
As discussed earlier, the L2 learning experience is a component of Dörnyei’s (2005,
2009b) L2 motivational self system. With regard to the learning experience and the development
of a learner’s vision of his/her future self and autonomy, Kim (2009) argues that although an L2
learner may create an ideal or ought-to L2 self in the early stages of learning, that self image can
easily change without later appropriate L2 learning experiences. In this study learners
highlighted that teachers and friends have influenced the development of their future selves. For
example, the experience of P2 and P3 with their teachers has provided them with support and
encouragement to perceive their visions as achievable. For example, P2 attended a session at the
university held by a psychologist (a teacher from the psychology department) and this promoted
her vision as she indicated:
When she (the psychologist) came and read it (her vision) I was really proud. She is a
successful person and she sees my dream and said yes why not? Since that time I
believed in that idea more.
Likewise P3 said:
My teacher at high school, her name was x. she used to say x (P3) is American so
that made the idea easy and possible for me.
In addition, the unsatisfied learning experience has led two of the learners to envision what kind
of teacher they want to become in order to be different and better than the teachers who taught
them. The first one envisioned herself teaching English grammar and using different materials
and a lot of exercises and the second one developed her vision with a condition to be fluent, the
reasons for that were clarified as follows:
P5: Sometimes I don’t like how teacher gives the lessons so if I were in her position, I
would explain certain grammatical rules differently, and I will follow them with practice
and explain why this is like this whereas the other is like this. I would give more than one
examples.

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P6: But I always associate this image with having a very high level of proficiency at
speaking, to be the best skill I have.
Significant others
In Malcolm’s (2011) study, significant others, including the learners’ family members
and friends have contributed to changing learners’ identities from unsuccessful to successful
learners. In Lamb’s (2011) study, the role of significant others was also highlighted as it was
noted that parental encouragement and the available examples of successful models of
Indonesian EFL learners were instrumental for learners to create their future selves with
confidence. In this study, throughout the interview, some learners kept raising the role of
significant others in the development of their vision, both in constructive and deconstructive
ways. For example, it was noted that a certain vision was developed as a result of the support or
pressure created from people around them. One learner indicated that she was able to develop her
vision due to the encouragement of her father:
P3: And what has supported it (her vision) is my father who keeps saying yes you can do
it. It is easy just finish your study.
Accordingly, learners’ different types of visions indicates that different factors such as
self-efficacy, learning experience and significant others can contribute and influence
constructing learners’ images of future-self. Learners’ self-efficacy seems to be the tool to
define the boundaries of their future self images, as those with strong self-efficacy manifested
more challenging and diverse images than those with a weak sense of self-efficacy. In addition,
learning experiences including teachers and significant others seem to be significant sources for
encouragement or hindrance to the development of learners’ visions. Therefore, a learner’s
vision is not only the individual aspiration of what that person would like to become, but it is the
result of a dynamic process that can be influenced by different factors. Internal factors such as
perceived self-efficacy as well as other external factors such as significant others and the
learning experience, overlap to determine images for learners to possess.
Conclusion
This study focused on, firstly, identifying the relationship between learners’ V- ideal L2
self and SRL under the assumption that the image of ideal L2 self has a powerful motivational
influence on learners’ behaviour to become self-regulated learners. Findings of the quantitative
data supported this assumption as a significant correlation between learners V-ideal L2 self and
SRL was obtained. This was also validated by the qualitative data as most of the learners with V-
ideal L2 self indicated that their desire to achieve these visions motivated them to become self-
regulated learners which in turn highlights its major contributor and motivator role in learners’
SRL.
The second focus was to deeply investigate both concepts of learner’ vision of future self
and SRL among Saudi female students majoring in English, the qualitative data showed that that
learners’ visions are varied, and include images of an ideal L2 self that reflects a promotion
focus with a degree of willingness to integrate with the L2 community, images of an ideal L2 self
that reflect only promotion focus and lastly, images of a future self that reflect the ought-to L2

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self. Interestingly, It was noted that some of the females seem to consider English language to be
the path towards their ambitious and unique future self (e.g. a novelist, an ambassador, an
influential figure working at UNICEF) while other female learners shaped their visions more
realistically in that they envisioned a more plausible and common self with regard to their culture
(e.g. a language teacher).
A deeper analysis of the reasons behind the different visions revealed that there are a
number of factors including learners’ self-efficacy, significant others, and learning experiences
that have influenced the development of learners’ images of their future selves. Accordingly, it
was indicated that a learner’s vision of his/her future self does not only represent the learner’s
aspiration of what he/she would like to become, but it is also the result of a dynamic process
where a number of factors overlap together and can accordingly determine and shape an
individual’s vision.
Implications
As the findings revealed that the learners’ SRL behaviour is related to the motivation of
their vision of ideal L2 self, which in turn highlights its major contributor and motivator role in
learners’ self-regulation. This study, therefore, highlights the importance of promoting learners’
vision and particularly the ideal L2 self and suggests this would have a powerful motivational
influence on EFL learners’ motivation to become self-regulated learners. In this vein, Dörnyei
(2009b, p. 32) points out that the L2 motivational self system offers “new avenues for motivating
language learners” which suggests that “an effective way of motivating learners is to create in
them an attractive vision of their ideal language self” (Dörnyei, 2009b, p. 19). How can we then
promote learners vision of ideal self?
The answer has been proposed by Dörnyei’s (2009b) motivational program which consists of six
practical implications as motivational teaching methods and strategies for a language classroom
as follows:
x Constructing of the ideal L2 self: Creating the vision.
x Imagery enhancement: Strengthening the vision.
x Making the ideal L2 self plausible: Substantiating the vision.
x Activating the ideal L2 self: Keeping the vision alive.
x Developing an action plan: Operationalsing the vision.
x Considering failure: Counterbalancing the vision.
About the Author:
Sara Mhezal Al-Otaibi holds a master's degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of
Nottingham, England. Currently she works at the English Language Institute of King Abdul-Aziz
University. Her research interests include language learning motivation, self-regulation and
learner autonomy in foreign and second language contexts.

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AWEJ
Pp.128-142
The PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS Metaphor in the Financial Times
Maria Nader
School of Languages, University of Salford,
United Kingdoms
Abstract
This paper is dedicated to show how metaphors are employed to conceptualise economy in terms
of physical health and/or illness in economic newspaper articles collected from the Financial
Times. The way conceptual and linguistic metaphors are mapped from the source domain of
PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS onto the target domain of economy is discussed. One major
question this paper is trying to answer is: How are the conceptual and linguistic metaphors used
in the economic discourse, and what connotation they imply to portray the economic scene in
general and to highlight certain economic events or phenomena such as ‘inflation’ or ‘deflation’
in particular? For this purpose, the conceptual theory of metaphor (CTM) will be applied. In
addition, a rationalization of the meaning of specific examples and of the function of metaphor in
those examples is involved in the examination process. This paper is based on an extended study
that identified twenty three conceptual source domains in a number of economic newspaper
articles compiled from the Financial Times, mainly the columns ‘opinion’ and ‘comment’
between the years 2007 and early 2011.
Keywords: Health/Illness Metaphor, Economic Discourse, Conceptual theory of metaphor
(CTM), Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP)

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The PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS Metaphor in the Financial Times Nader
1. Introduction
Metaphor is traditionally defined as a figure of speech in which one subject-matter in a
certain field is used to denote another in a different field. For instance, that idea died on the vine
is a metaphorical expression that likens a newly born idea to a dead fruit that is no longer edible.
The reference in this metaphor is to the idea being inapplicable or unsuccessful. Metaphors
involve an action of implicit comparison without the explicit use of words of comparison (like,
as or such as). In other words, the resemblance is lucid in a sentence such as He is like a pig
where ‘pig’ is a simile, but it is implied in He is a pig in which case ‘pig’ is considered a
metaphor. In literature, metaphor is observed as a main feature of poetry because it enriches
poems with untraditional literary images. Moreover, metaphors are significantly used in science
and provide new explanatory mechanisms. In his article, Wu (2003, p. 74) defines metaphor as a
figure of speech which brings a notion or an impression into mind in a non-literal way. So, a
metaphorical expression is used to communicate the tenor 1 of the metaphor through bringing an
idea or an image to mind. As a matter of fact, “metaphor is everywhere in the language we use
and there is no escape from it” (Goatly, 1997, p. 2). In the same context, Newmark (2001, p.
125) claims that metaphor is the concrete expression of the ability to see resemblance or
differences as well as a sign of ‘innovation’.
In their seminal work, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) differentiate between the traditional
and contemporary views of metaphor. In brief, they consider metaphor as part of our daily life
and that human conceptual system is mostly metaphorical. They are against the old view of
metaphors being just a matter of extraordinary language. The significant role metaphor plays in
both linguistic communication and other forms of human/cultural interaction, including
translation, has been recognised by theorists from different disciplinary backgrounds and with
different research agenda. Johnson (1981: ix) states that “We are in the midst of a
metaphormania” as the subsidiary role of metaphor has changed and become a vital problem.
Only three decades ago the situation was just the opposite: poets created metaphors, everybody
used them, and philosophers (linguists, psycholinguists, etc.) ignored them; but today all
acknowledge the pervasiveness of metaphor in everyday language activities (Johnson, 1981, p. ix
cited in Yu, 1998, p. 2).
In short, metaphor is considered one of the most essential tools to help audience
comprehend (partially) what cannot be comprehended (totally) such as “feelings, aesthetic
experiences, moral pictures, and spiritual awareness” (Lakoff & Johnson 1980). Kövecses (2002,
p. 3-4) raised the question of why English speakers make extensive use of the concept of journey
to reflect on the highly abstract and elusive concept of life. Drawing on cognitive linguistics, his
interpretation of this phenomenon is that the concrete concept of journey facilitates the abstract
concept of life. The same idea was discussed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) who distinguish
between the literal and the metaphorical use of language stating that: “we understand experience
metaphorically when we use a gestalt from one domain of experience to structure experience in
another domain” (p. 230). In addition, Cooper (1986, p. 140) declares that metaphorical talk
creates a sense of ease or ‘intimacy’ between speakers, and between them and their work as well.
More importantly, metaphor plays the role of a mediator in our understanding of things. In other
words, conceptualising an abstract concept into a concrete one through the use of metaphor helps
to communicate what is hard to explain (Knowles & Moon, 2006, p. 5). For example, George
Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory of the socialist Russian revolution and its moral
deterioration into the communist dictatorship under Stalin. In this novel, the political and social
processes characterizing the entire Soviet nation are metaphorized by reference to animals in a
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small farm in England. Each animal is characterised by a certain attribute such as idealism,
greediness, ferocity, or gullibility. So, by the different interactions between characters, Orwell
was able to develop a good understanding of the complicated issue associated with communism
(Ashkenazi, 2006, p. 5). Besides, the implicitness of metaphors can be more effective and more
interesting to audience than explicit literal expressions.
The main questions this paper is trying to answer are: How the conceptual and linguistic
metaphors related to the physical health and illness of human beings are used in the economic
discourse particularly in economic newspaper articles published in the Financial Times, and
what are the connotations they imply to portray the economic scene? Do such metaphors work as
a helpful device to facilitate comprehension of economy or pose a linguistic problem? In order to
answer these questions, the conceptual theory of metaphor has been adopted as the theoretical
framework.
2. The Conceptual Theory of Metaphor (CTM)

Classical metaphor theorists consider metaphor as a mere figure of speech which is only
useful for rhetorical purposes. In contrast, contemporary metaphor theorists like Black (1962);
Schon (1979); Lakoff and Johnson (1980); Johnson (1981); Lakoff (1987, 1993) and Kittay
(1987) agree on the idea that, in essence, all language is metaphoric and all discourse is tailored
with metaphor (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). Schon (1979); Lakoff and Johnson (1980); Lakoff
and Turner (1989) and MacCormac (1985) have investigated the influence of metaphor on
people’s everyday thinking and came to the conclusion that it is pervasive in everyday language
and consequently inescapable.
The central argument of the cognitive approach is that metaphors are not just decorative
elements of language but rather vital resources for thought processes in human society. The
cognitive approach to metaphor was first discussed in Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live
By (1980). It was later developed by other scholars such as Turner (1987), Gibbs (1994),
Charteris-Black (2003, 2004), Kövecses (2002) and Deignan (2005). Moreover, the CTM refutes
all the precedent theories that considered metaphor as a literary and rhetoric use of language by
approaching metaphor as a process of thought more than language.
Conceptual metaphor is normally defined as a general principle that is neither part of the
grammar of English, nor the English lexicon. It is part of the human conceptual system which
comprehends the domain of love, for instance, in terms of a journey as suggested by Lakoff &
Johnson (1980). Goatly (2007) argues that:
One of the most important insights of conceptual metaphor theory is that these concrete sources
for abstract targets do not occur randomly but fall into patterns which we might call Conceptual
Metaphor Themes, or Conceptual Metaphors for short. These are conventionally referred to by
the capitalised formula X is Y (p.15)
For example, the conceptual metaphor theme LOVE IS A JOURNEY entails such set of
lexical items as ‘way’, ‘far’, ‘turn back’ and ‘track’. LOVE IS A JOURNEY conceptualises love
in terms of a journey in that lovers are travellers attempting to reach a certain destination that is
their love life and goals. In this journey, several hindrances may encounter them so they have to
take a decision of either stay together or separate from each other. Accordingly, LOVE IS A
JOURNEY is the conceptual metaphor that generates linguistic metaphors in sentences such as:
“Look how far we've come”; “We'll just have to go our separate ways”; “We can't turn back
now”; “This relationship isn't going anywhere”; “We've gotten off the track” (Lakoff & Johnson,
1980, p. 45). It is argued that the foremost purpose of a conceptual metaphor is to understand one
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conceptual domain in terms of another. For example, ECONOMY IS NATURE is a conceptual

metaphor where economy is the abstract target domain that is made comprehensible via the
source domain of nature that is more physical and approachable. In other words, the
metaphorical expressions or linguistic metaphors used to express such conceptual metaphor are
the means by which we understand the mapping between the source domain of nature and the
target domain of economy. Some of these expressions are ‘landscape’, ‘mountain’ and ‘plateau’.
These linguistic expressions “help understand what concepts are implied” (Yasynetska, 2005, p.
50).
Charteris-Black and Ennis (2001) compare conceptual metaphors and linguistic
metaphors in a corpus of English-Spanish financial reporting published in newspapers during the
stock market crash in October 1997. In this study, Charteris-Black and Ennis distinguish between
linguistic metaphors such as ‘storm’ and ‘hurricane’ and their main conceptual category BAD
MARKET CONDITIONS ARE BAD WEATHER. In another work, Charteris-Black (2003)
compares metaphors in two political corpora: the inaugural speeches of American presidents and
party political manifestos of two British political parties during 1973-1997. Here, the researcher
categorises metaphors according to their source domains creating conceptual subgroups like
‘conflict’, ‘journey’, ‘building’, etc. and then he relates the conceptual subgroups into
appropriate conceptual metaphors. The deficiency of this study is that the conceptual metaphors
SOCIAL PURIFICATION IS HEAT and SOCIAL CONDITION IS A WEATHER
CONDITION are only found in the American corpus. Commenting on this, Yasynetska (2005,
p. 32) argues that all conceptual metaphors in the two studies mentioned above were ‘identified
intuitively’ and that the second study by Charteris-Black (2003) “does not explain what types
and tokens exactly stand for the identified concepts” (Yasynetska, 2005, p. 32). Besides,
Yasynetska criticizes both studies as not showing “how metaphors are preferably expressed-
whether there is any difference in the frequency of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or set-
expressions” (ibid). In her own study, Yasynetska (2005) makes use of the theory of conceptual
systems and prospects for comparative analysis of concepts across languages within the
conceptual framework. She also argues that failing to observe “specific features of expressions
within conceptual mapping can result in an assumption that any expressions of any discourse of
any language are identical as long as they can be mapped onto the same concept” (Yasynetska,
2005, p. 33).
According to the advocates of the conceptual theory of metaphor, it is thought and not
language that is the main concern of this theory where metaphor is regarded as an important
phenomenon lying behind the surface manifestation of language. Moreover, supporters of this
theory believe that few or even no abstract notions can be expressed without metaphor in the
sense that there is no direct way of comprehending them unless they are interpreted in terms of
concrete notions. For example, the conceptual metaphor A PURPOSEFUL LIFE IS A
JOURNEY (Lakoff, 1993) is perceived linguistically through sentences like: “He’s without
direction in life”, “I’m where I want to be in life”, “He got a head start in life” (Lakoff, 1993, p.
223). Deignan (2005) believes that it is difficult to find linguistic expressions about the
development of an individual’s life which are not also used to talk about literal journeys.
Likewise, it is hard to find expressions that are not metaphorical in some way to talk about a
certain subject. The close examination of the expressions employed in the discussion of the
different topics might be of much importance in investigating people’s mental processes during
the construction of these abstract domains. Besides, the formation of conceptual metaphors

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depends mostly on our experiences and knowledge of our bodies and our physical interaction
with the world (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).
Lakoff and Johnson’s theory assists in observing “systematic semantic patterns, rather
than random expressions” (cited in Yasynetska, 2005, p. 36). Furthermore, the theory of
conceptual mapping facilitates conceptually more specific qualitative and quantitative
comparative studies of metaphors in different languages and corpora (Charteris-Black and Ennis
2001; Charteris-Black 2003). In fact, this is a correlative relation as metaphorical expressions are
tied to metaphorical concepts in a systematic way so that “we can use metaphorical linguistic
expressions to study the nature of metaphorical concepts and to gain an understanding of the
metaphorical nature of our activities” (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 7).
On the other hand, some other scholars believe that this theory has got a problem given that
“simultaneously used metaphors can be believed to incorporate different concepts in a single
statement” (Yasynetska, 2005, p. 30). In this case, the conceptual mapping does not explain, in
Yasynetska’s (2005) words, which conceptual mapping is more emphasized or intended in a
particular context. For example, Medicine for Europe’s Sinking South is the headline of one of
the economic articles under investigation where two concepts, HEALTH represented by
‘medicine’ and SEA represented by ‘sinking’ are incorporated in the same sentence (Nader,
2013).
The above overview of the conceptual theory of metaphor is just an introduction to the
main framework of metaphor categorisation adopted in this paper where specific linguistic
metaphors are primarily grouped together provided that they belong to the same conceptual
mapping.
3. Methodology
A number of methods and procedures have been pursued in order to identify and explain
conceptual and linguistic metaphors from the source domain of PHYSICAL HEALTH/
ILLNESS. The analysis involves methods for metaphor identification following the Metaphor
Identification Procedure (MIP) by the Pragglejaz Group (2007) 2, categorisation into conceptual
source domains in the light of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Charteris-Black (2004) and Kövecses
(2002) and the use of bilingual dictionaries. Taking the MIP into account, a manual search for
linguistic metaphors within context has been conducted as follows (Pragglejaz, 2007, p. 3):
1. Read the entire text–discourse to establish a general understanding of the meaning.
2. Determine the lexical units in the text–discourse
3. (a) For each lexical unit in the text, establish its meaning in context, that is, how it applies to
an entity, relation, or attribute in the situation evoked by the text (contextual meaning). Take into
account what comes before and after the lexical unit.
(b) For each lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in other
contexts than the one in the given context. For our purposes, basic meanings tend to be
—More concrete [what they evoke is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel, smell, and taste];
— Related to bodily action;
—More precise (as opposed to vague);
—Historically older;
Basic meanings are not necessarily the most frequent meanings of the lexical unit.
(c) If the lexical unit has a more basic current–contemporary meaning in other contexts than the
given context, decide whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the basic meaning but can
be understood in comparison with it.
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Another method of investigating the health/illness-related metaphors in economic texts is to

conduct a frequency count of the conceptual and linguistic metaphors involved, and later classify
them into their appropriate mappings. In the following section, an overview of the frequency of
the source domain in the fifty texts chosen for the study is presented in addition to discussing the
usability of this particular conceptual metaphor in economic discourse.
4. Discussion: The PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS Metaphor

As far as frequency is concerned, the PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS metaphor is a
quite common source domain in the language of economic newspaper reporting. It occurs in
thirty articles out of fifty under investigation with a total of thirty seven (37) expressions that
focus mainly on the state of health of economy. The metaphorical sense here lies in mapping the
health domain of a living being onto the condition and function of economic institutions such as
banks, or onto the economic situation in general using terms that refer to physical health or
illness. Table 1 below shows the four most common conceptual metaphors with examples of the
linguistic metaphors they involve. Some metaphors in this table are called ‘unclassifiable’
because it was not possible to classify them into a certain conceptual mapping due to the
generality of the metaphorical expression. This comes in line with Shuttleworth’s (2011, p. 308)
belief that “finding the right verbalization for a mapping is not always easy” and it “inevitably
involves an element of subjectivity”, in addition to the fact that finding a precise mapping
depends on the contextual motivation:
Table 1: The conceptual and linguistic PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS metaphor
Source domain Conceptual metaphor Linguistic metaphor
ECONOMY IS A DISEASE ‘blindness’, ‘fever’

ECONOMY IS A PATIENT ‘ pain‘, ‘injection’
ECONOMIC ISSUES ARE ‘contagion’, ‘malign’,
ILLNESSES AND/OR ‘benign’, ‘toxic’, ‘noxious’
DISEASES
ECNOMIC SLOWDOWN ‘Paralysis’, ‘cripple’,
IS A STATE OF PHYSICAL ‘disabling’, ‘emasculate’
HEALTH
Unclassifiable metaphors ‘symptom’, ‘disorder’,
‘addict’, ‘throes’, ‘collapse’
‘remedy’
Some expressions such as ‘recovery’, ‘healthy’, ‘contagion’, ‘operation’ and others which
already belong to the medical field have been realised to be part and parcel of the economic
terminology. In addition, PHYSICAL HEALTH metaphors are rather functional when it comes
to expressing the process of restoring the health of the economic system. Strictly speaking, terms
from the domain of medicine have enriched economic discourse. Metaphors in this category
either belong to general health condition, a specific health issue, and medicine or medical
practice, such as ‘contagion’, ‘anaesthetic’, ‘injection’ and others.
In medical terms, diseases usually attack living beings such as humans and animals. Likewise in
economy, inflation or deflation can infect the economic system and cause malfunction. These
diseases can be viral given that they proliferate rapidly and accordingly distress the performance
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of the system (the living being body and/or the economic system). There are levels in the concept
of health so metaphors can be positioned anywhere on the scale of good and bad health
according to the strength of the deliberate evaluation; for instance, ‘bout’ and ‘recovery’ are
metaphors utilized to convey mild forms of evaluation (Charteris-Black, 2005, p. 100-101).
While metaphors such as ‘wounds’ and ‘healthy’ express strong forms of evaluation, ‘robust’
and ‘paralysis’ communicate stronger evaluations (ibid 101). It is argued that “since most of us
have experienced loss of health at some point in our lives this is an easily accessible conceptual
frame” (Charteris-Black, 2004, p. 150).
The PHYSICAL HEALTH metaphors in the data examined cover the different stages of
illness, symptoms of illness and treatment, including prescribing proper medicine and semi or
full health recovery. The PHYSICAL HEALTH metaphors ‘contagion’, ‘diagnosing’, ‘eliminate’
and ‘recovery’ are some of many used to explain this gradation on the way of recovery. The
conceptual metaphors ECONOMY IS A DISEASE (Charteris-black, 2005, p. 102) and
ECONOMY IS A PATIENT (Charteris-Black, 2000, p. 156) are both identified in this study
along with the conceptual metaphor ECONOMIC ISSUES ARE ILLNESSES AND/OR
DISEASES which is accentuated through different examples. Some health conditions are
conceptualised and represented by words like ‘headache’ which is used in the data to describe
the implications of producing consolidated accounts, ‘blindness’ in reference to casual ignorance
of economic issues and ‘fever’ to depict the persistent efforts and challenges between France and
Britain on the economic level. In theory, a disease is caused by the spreading of a virus which is
called in medical terminology ‘contagion’. This expression is the second most frequent metaphor
after ‘healthy’ and ‘recovery’, as it occurs seven times in four different articles as a noun and
only once in the adjectival form ‘contagious’.
Charteris-Black (2004, p. 151) suggests that “as illness can spread exponentially and at a
very alarming speed” so can the Great Depression in the field of economics. Although the Euro
zone has avoided another Great Depression, some European countries are still struggling hard
with indebtedness. This problem is metaphorically portrayed as a ‘contagious disease’ that
approaches one European country after another:
1) Credit is tight and contagion is spreading to all highly leveraged points in the global economy.
2) The story of the other Eurozone stragglers is different in degree but not principle. All are
highly leveraged - the fundamental source of financial contagion.
3) The contagion throughout the Eurozone was severe. But globally, the incident was notable
chiefly for the lack of contagion to other regions and markets.
As some diseases can be fatal by nature like cancer, also some economic crises can be extremely
severe. To express this notion, two metaphors have been used in the source texts, i.e., ‘malign’
and ‘benign’ which both conceptualise deflation as having a dangerous or less dangerous
characteristic of a disease in example 4 below, and ‘pernicious’ which conceptualises private
ownership, implicit public backing and inadequate regulation as a harmful combination in
example 5:
4) A US economist, David Beckworth, has helpfully summarized the debate in the autumn 2008
issue of the Cato Journal. He distinguishes between malign deflation associated with a fall in
overall demand and the benign kind associated with a productivity acceleration, the benefits of
which are taken partly in the form of falling prices rather than entirely in rising wages.
5) There is no need to look back far to observe how pernicious a combination of private
ownership, implicit public backing and inadequate regulation can be.

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In addition, terms such as ‘toxic’ and ‘noxious’ which come from the source domain of medicine
are utilized in some examples and they are regarded metaphorical, because their use in the
context of economics is unusual:
6) The banking system still needs to be fixed. As Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of
the International Monetary Fund, has warned, many banks are still hiding toxic assets.
7) The resulting noxious mix of large current account and budget deficits led to rising foreign
debt. Some
metaphors like ‘dislocation’, which is defined in Oxford English Dictionary as “the displacement
of a bone from its natural position in the joint”, refer to physical injuries that are less dangerous
than a contagious disease. It is metaphorically used in the following example to refer to
economic imbalances:
8) We have analysed data on numerous severe economic dislocations over the past three-quarters
of a century; a record of misfortune including 15 severe post-second world war crises, the Great
Depression and the 1973-74 oil shock.
As mentioned earlier in this section, the concept of health has levels and metaphors of
PHYSICAL HEALTH vary according to the degree of good or bad health on an evaluation scale.
Therefore, ‘paralysis’ is a metaphor that symbolizes a strong evaluation (Charteris-Black, 2005,
p. 101). The metaphor ‘paralysis’ in the examples below is an accentuation of the conceptual
metaphor ECNOMIC SLOWDOWN IS A STATE OF PHYSICAL HEALTH where bad or slow
economy is conceptualised as an ill body which cannot move (paralysed).
9) The EU has a habit of getting there in the end, of making the right decision at one minute to
midnight. You can see this trajectory during the past six months or so. Paralysis has given way
to muddling through.
10) It has always been part of the recent history of Europe that integrationist leaps have been
interspersed with periods of paralysis and of messy improvisation.
Other physical health related metaphors detected in the economic discourse with the same
meaning of paralysis are: ‘cripple’ and ‘disabling’.
In the process of metaphor identification, we have encountered some lexical items that belong to
more than one source domain such as ‘emasculate’ which means the depriving of virility. This
term can stand for two types of metaphors; PERSONIFICATION in conceptualising hedge funds
as people and PHYSICAL HEALTH in reference to the dysfunctionality of the hedge funds:
11) So too, incidentally, does the determination to shut down tax havens and emasculate hedge
funds.
Furthermore, symptoms of illnesses and diseases are represented in the English economic articles
by such metaphors as: ‘symptom’, ‘disorder’, ‘addict’, ‘pain’, ‘throes’, ‘collapse’, ‘coronary’,
‘weak’, ‘ill’ and ‘distortions’. In the following example, the emphasis is on the notion that the
financial crisis hitting countries of Europe is no more than a symptom of a bigger disorder in
balance-sheet. The lexical item ‘disorder’ itself is not a metaphor but the existence of ‘symptom’
in the same sentence accentuates this health metaphorical sense:
12) Above all, the financial crisis is itself a symptom of a balance-sheet disorder.
Feeling painful might be the first symptom of a disease or illness so it is normal to speak of pain
in a medical discourse but it sounds novel in economic contexts. In the next example, slow
economic growth is depicted as a source of pain where the conceptual metaphor ECONOMY IS
A PATIENT is underlined:
13) In warning of a “choppy recovery”, however, Mervyn King, the Bank’s governor, signalled
that Britain could be in for a painfully extended period of sluggish growth.
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In addition, the process of restructuring the economy after the crisis, and the way to economic
recovery are metaphorically conceptualised as an agonising progression in the next example:
14) It is at the early stages of a long and painful deleveraging and restructuring.
Also, some economic crises such as destroying short-sellers and the European Central Bank’s
extension of its purchases of debt are portrayed as painful alarms for the European economies.
Moreover, there are some expressions that emphasise the state of pain particularly prolonged
pain such as ‘cry of pain’, ‘generation of pain’ and ‘throes’. In the next example, the metaphor
‘throes’ expresses the pains caused by economic and geopolitical disturbances:
15) Yet historians will record the summit as the moment when a world in the throes of economic
and geopolitical upheaval took a first, hard look in the mirror.
By definition, ‘throe’ in the singular form, means “A violent spasm or pang, such as convulses in
the body, limbs, or face” (OED). The word is also used to refer to the throes of childbirth or the
throes of dying. By the same token, economy has to go through throes of economic and
geopolitical upheaval in order to be relieved afterwards and recover.
Weakness is another symptom of an illness or a disease for if someone feels weak; it might be a
symptom of an approaching illness or disease. This idea is accentuated in some of the articles
investigated by the use of expressions like ‘weak’ and ‘weakness’ in reference to the flaws of
economy.
Another syndrome of physical health deterioration is ‘collapsing’. Different authors of the
articles collected have made use of the metaphor ‘collapse’ to conceptualise the collapse of
economic growth, of the Euro and of the world trade which are all but symptoms of an
approaching economic illness:
16) In particular, a collapse in financial intermediation can reduce the availability of loans.
17) Those who have predicted the collapse of the Euro are the same who 15 years ago, like
Milton Friedman, predicted the Euro would never see the light of day: wrong.
18) The Fund is warning, too, of a potential financial crisis in eastern and central Europe. The
collapse in world trade is a measure of how quickly bad news ricochets around the global
system.
Etymologically, ‘collapse’ is a term of physiology and medicine; however, Charteris-Black
(2004, p. 151-152) is inclined to treat it as a metaphor of DISASTER which highlights the
conceptual metaphor ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ARE NATURAL DISASTERS. His argument
is that words such as ‘collapse’ refer to “inanimate natural disasters rather than to animate
processes such as war and illness” (ibid 152). Nonetheless, the textual and contextual functions
of ‘collapse’ in the data examined suggest that this word can be categorised as a PHYSICAL
HEALTH metaphor.
Moreover, in the case of a disease, there is a need to diagnose the problem in order to prescribe
proper medicine and ensure a healthy recovery. This theme is metaphorically employed in the
following example by using ‘diagnosis’ in addition to two more physical health related
metaphors, i.e., ‘remedy’ and ‘ills’:
19) The final communiqué was replete with the linguistic fudges that speak to a difference of
diagnosis and remedy for the world's economic ills.
As doctors have different interpretations or diagnosis of a certain disease and consequently
different treatments; likewise, the 20 world leaders gathering in the London summit have
different opinions about the current financial crisis storming the world in general and Europe in
particular, and also each one of them is suggesting a different way to rescue the economy.

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The next stage after diagnosing the disease or illness is the treatment and this is again
conceptualised by using the metaphor ‘remedy’ as shown in the following examples:
20) There is no magic formula that remedies all these defects. But I have long been in favour of a
regime that would be a step improvement.
21) Mr Brown bought this remedy from top economists, who, again, exaggerated the efficacy of
their ideas.
The remedy in the second example above refers to Mr Brown’s following up the professional
opinion in making the Bank of England operationally independent in pursuing an inflation target,
a method that might help curing the Bank’s crisis.
One of the ways to recovery is to inject liquefied medicine in the human body. Charteris-Black
(2004, p. 165) argues that’ injection’, which is a single intense action, is a “biological metaphor
based on our knowledge of the medical treatment of an ailing body”. Once more the
conceptualisation ECONOMY IS A PATIENT is accentuated by using the lexical items ‘inject’
and ‘injection’ to refer to injecting more purchasing power into the economy, injecting liquidity
and injecting funds, e.g.
22) The new rules leave authorities with the same terrible choice should a systemically important
bank again find itself on the brink of failure: accept financial and economic turmoil, or inject
taxpayer money to keep it afloat.
Here, taxpayer money is conceptualised as medicine injected to rescue ailing banks which suffer
from financial and economic turmoil. In addition to this, ‘medicine’ is evidently used in some
examples in reference to treatment of economic illnesses:
23) But it is no cakewalk: Portugal has been deflating to boost competitiveness for a decade.
Harsh medicine is best ingested quickly.
The harsh medicine in the example above is needed to rescue Portugal before it becomes
indebted like Greece. Part of the suggested medicine is to have a credible austerity plan that can
restore solidarity with EU countries that are adjusting. Also, “Greece's adjustment would ideally
be backed by a large IMF3 programme to prevent a run on public debt and banks during the
tough times ahead” (Roubini and Das 2010).
In some cases, recovery of a certain disease requires an operation and in economic terms such
procedure is called ‘rescue operation’:
24) It is part of an unpleasant strategy that consists of avoiding the political drawbacks of using
taxpayers’ money to recapitalise banks, while abusing the central banking system by forcing it to
undertake a quasi-fiscal rescue operation.
The argument in the above example is about the banking crisis and the help banks need to
rebuild their depleted capital through helping them to notch up a few years of large risk-free
profits, i.e., implement a rescue operation.
On the other hand, some operations need an anaesthetic to alleviate the pain of the patient. This
image is conceptualised in the following example by using the term ‘anaesthetic’ metaphorically:
25) Whoever is advising Mr Obama that the progressive base matters more for his prospects than
the aspiring middle class deserves a reset, preferably without anaesthetic.
Here, the writer of the article is being critical of whoever advises Mr. Obama to take leftist
positions in his policies. The author maintains that these advisors need some kind of surgery or
rectification without anaesthetic, i.e. such advisers, according to the journalist, should suffer for
their bad advice.

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After proper use of medication, the stage of recovery and being healthy follows. This notion is
represented by the use of such metaphors as ‘health’ and ‘healthy’ to refer to the health of either
the economy, credit ratings, banks or general fiscal health:
26) Governments of wealthy countries have also put their healthy credit ratings at the disposal of
their misbehaving financial systems in the most far-reaching socialisation of market risk in world
history. 27) Should the
housing market turn uglier, as it could, the US will get an extra lesson in the need for healthy
banks.
28) Portugal urgently needs structural reform to restore economic dynamism and fiscal health.
Also, the metaphor ‘recovery’ is extensively used in the data and it occupies the first rank in the
frequency of PHYSICAL HEALTH metaphors with a total of eight occurrences in seven
different articles. After undertaking several crises, the economy starts to recover. This restoration
process is metaphorically represented by such words as ‘recover’, ‘recovery’ and ‘recuperate’:
29) All of these were examples of the challenge for 2010: to maintain the tentative progress
towards economic recovery in advanced economies while trying to return policy closer to the
normality of pre-crisis conditions.
30) The only difference is that lending is suppressed while the banks recuperate – keeping the
rest of the economy in the recession that the banks made in the first place.
Some other physical health related issue mapped onto the domain of economics is the issue of
drugs. The lexical item ‘drugs’ is used to conceptualise the transition from the state of being
accustomed to extraordinarily fragile banking structures to raising the equity requirements in
terms of the tough task of preventing an addict from taking drugs. Also, the term ‘distortion’ is
utilized to explain the idea that financial flows can cause ‘distortions’ in the financial sector if
there is no central financial regulation.
5- Conclusion
This paper has attempted to show the common elements between economy and physical
health and how both fields can be related to each other through conceptual metaphors. Apart
from the fact that the PHYSICAL HEALTH/ILLNESS metaphor is primarily used in the
economic articles as a rhetorical choice, this source domain and its metaphorical entailments
proved they are rather helpful in creating a better understanding of economic news reporting.
Moreover, illustrating the process of economic recovery in terms of the cycle of a living being
recovery from a certain disease or illness facilitates the comprehension of the real economic
condition and sustains taking timely or even prompt actions to find a solution. In brief, the data
identify several stages of economic recovery from the case of feeling ill and diagnosing the pain
to prescribing appropriate treatment and eventually achieving a full recovery. The analysis above
leads to the conclusion that HEALTH metaphors are strongly entrenched cognitively in the
English culture due to the extensive use of such metaphors. Also, data analysis reveals the
tendency to explain economic discourse in terms of human diseases and ailments.
Notes
1. Metaphor has two parts: the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which attributes
are ascribed whereas the vehicle is the object whose attributes are borrowed (Richards, 1936)
2. Pragglejaz Group: is a group of researchers whose research focus on the study metaphorical
language in everyday language and usage. The name Pragglejaz derives from the first letter of
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the first names of the ten original members of the group: Peter Crisp (HK), Ray Gibbs
(Berkeley), Alan Cienki (VU), Graham Low (York), Gerard Steen (VU), Lynne Cameron (Open
Univ), Elena Semino (Lancaster), Joe Grady (Berkeley), Alice Deignan (Leeds) and Zoltan
Kövecses (Hungary).
3. IMF is an abbreviation of the International Monetary Fund.
Examples:
Examples 1, 2, 7, 23 and 28 are taken from (Medicine for Europe's sinking south)
Example 3 is taken from (Pleasingly positive signs emerge amid ugly week)
Example 4 is taken from (Deflation is the wrong enemy)
Example 5 is taken from (Don’t set Goldman Sachs free, Mr Geithner)
Examples 6, 15, 18 and 19 are taken from (A summit success that reflects a different global
landscape)
Examples 8 and 16 are taken from (Beware those who think the worst is past)
Examples 9, 10 and 11 are taken from (An ever-fearful Europe risks forfeiting the future)
Examples 12, 14 and 26 are taken from (Why the ‘green shoots’ of recovery could yet wither)
Example 13 is taken from (Spectre of gloom haunts nervous Britons)
Example 17 is taken from (A spluttering Europe has its mojo back)
Example 20 is taken from (What comes after inflation targets)
Example 21 is taken from (The economic legacy of Mr Brown)
Example 22 is taken from (Follow the Swiss lead to avoid another Lehman)
Example 24 is taken from (There is no easy way out for central banks)
Example 25 is taken from (Lead from the centre, Mr President)
Examples 27 and 30 are taken from (We have failed to muffle the banks
Example 29 is taken from (Central banks’ steps back to normality)
About the Author:

Dr. Maria Nader is a Tutor of Specialized Translation at the University of Portsmouth, UK and
work as an interpreter in the medical sector. She has MA in Translation Studies from the
University of Surrey and PhD in Translation Studies from the University of Salford. Her main
research interest lies in the study of metaphorical language in business discourse and its
translation into Arabic. She is also interested in the translation of political and literary discourse
into Arabic.
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Authers, J. (2010). Pleasingly positive signs emerge amid ugly week, Financial Times, 3
December, viewed 5 March 2010, <http://cachef.ft.com/cms/s/0/39545196-ff13-11df-956b-
00144feab49a.html#axzz1FlGfRHdxt>
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0000779fd2ac.html#axzz1Fg2n4rLO>
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00144feabdc0,s01=1.html>
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30 September 2010, <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/66eed2bc-be99-11df-a755-
00144feab49a.html>
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00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Fg2n4rLO>
Gapper, J. (2009). Don’t set Goldman Sachs free, Mr Geithner, Financial Times, 15 April,
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Giles, C. (2010) Central banks’ steps back to normality, Financial Times, 1 March, viewed 3
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Münchau, W. (2009). There is no easy way out for central banks, Financial Times, 26 July 2009,
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a1df-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1F10oFwYq>
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Perception and production problems: To what extent is Sudanese English intelligible to the
native British and American listeners?
Ezzeldin Mahmoud Tajeldin Ali

Department of English Language, Faculty of Education
Gadarif University, Sudan
Abstract
This study addresses the pronunciation and perception problems experienced by Sudanese
university learners of English. Specifically, the study examines how intelligible these learners are
to British and American listeners. The whole work was done on the basis of segmental analysis
of the English speech sounds, which included vowels, consonants and SPIN sentences in three
different experiments. Single-item (word) stimuli were constructed on the basis of the Modified
Rhyme Test (MRT) but with a few potential improvements. The target stimuli above were
recorded from ten Sudanese-Arabic learners of English as foreign language (EFL). On the basis
of a pilot test, one male speaker was then selected as the optimally representative Sudanese
Arabic-accented English speaker. The same stimuli were recorded from a male native speaker of
RP English. Results revealed that vowels are the most difficult sounds to pronounce and the
English dentals produced by Sudanese speakers are strongly influenced by their L1 equivalents.
Native English speakers are more intelligible to British and American listeners, while they are
less intelligible to Sudanese speakers.
Key words: segmental measurement, intelligible, interference, merge

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Perception and production problems: To what extent is Sudanese Ali

1 Introduction
Researchers need to test in a greater detail the ways in which non-native speech of English varies
from that of the native speakers determining the extent to which such variation can impede or
enhance intelligibility. A task such as this requires looking at the phonetic and phonological
difference between L1 and L2 to find out which segmental variations are responsible for speech
intelligibility problems. This is often necessary since phonemic variation between languages has
negative effects on the learning of L2 speech. According to Jenkins (2000), (incorrect) habit
formation is one of the major factors responsible for intelligibility problems where the muscular
habits that are always operated to produce the L1 speech sounds, are automatically activated in
L2 production. This process requires non-native speakers to pay more attention producing
accurate speech. However, as soon as, these speakers release control to focus on the content of
the message, they produce erroneous pronunciation. This situation continues until sufficient
practice leads to the mastery of L2 sounds, which are phonetically different from those of L1.
However, incorrect speech habits are not the underlying cause of the pronunciation problems in
foreign-accented speech. The incorrect production of L2 speech sounds occur due to categorical
differences between L1 and L2, where non-native speakers use incorrect perceptual
representations (normally L1 sounds) for the production of L2 (Flege 1976). Many L2 speakers
of English fail to distinguish between phonemic and allophonic sounds of English, or they often
conflate or confuse some speech sounds as result of differences between L1 and L2. For
example, Arab speakers of English conflate /D/ and /R/, because the latter has no phonological
representation in Arabic (Cruttenden 2008, Flege 1976). Similar problems occur among Russian
speakers who confuse clear /N/ as in leaf, black and lose and dark / /as in pool, full and milk,
which form contrastive phonemes in Russian, but allophones in English.
This study attempts to investigate segmental intelligibility problems that Sudanese-Arabic EFL
learners face. It reports an experimental analysis of the English speech sounds including vowels
and consonants to test how intelligible Sudanese EFL learners are to British and American
listeners. The study provides cognitive insights into the nature and the causes of error patterns
detected.
2 Method
2.1 Intelligibility tests used
Intelligible speech is defined as speech that is understood by native speakers (Munro et al. 2006).
This means that speech intelligibility is principally a hearer-based construct that depends on
interaction in an appropriate context involving the comprehension of the message between the
listener and the speaker. It is also possible to refer to speech intelligibility as any successful
communication that involves both native and non-native speakers of English. Since the non-
native listeners in this study are expected to have an incorrect conception of English speech
sounds, focus will be on examining vowels and consonants. Priority is given to segmental
properties, firstly because vowels and consonants form the basic sounds of the English language,
the mastery of which is required for perfect learning of speech. Secondly, because the assessment
of whether speech is intelligible or not is attributed to segmental factors, more than 50% of
speech intelligibility is accounted for on the basis of speech sounds (Pascoe 2005, Fraser 2005).
The Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) was used in the experiments. The MRT is considered to be the
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most accurate and reliable measure of intelligibility (Logan, Greene and Pisoni 1989) at the
phoneme level. Speech intelligibility measures involve word identification tasks in a closed-set
of four-items, where the listeners are asked to select the response they think the speaker
intended. The score is the number of correctly responded to items. Test items normally target
phonemes and words. Phonemes refer to vowels and single consonants. The formal assessments
of phonemes interpret the responses as either intelligible or unintelligible; put in figures, a score
of (close to) 100% is interpreted as completely intelligible performance (Lafon 1966).
Word intelligibility, on the other hand, was established by having listeners recognise 25
keywords; each word was embedded final position in a short everyday sentence taken from the
SPIN test. SPIN is an abbreviation of ‘Speech Perception in Noise’ Test (Kalikow, Stevens and
Elliott 1977, Wang and van Heuven 2003, Wang 2007). An example of SPIN-test items would
be 'She wore her broken arm in sling' (keyword underlined). Listeners write down the final word
that they think they heard in each sentence. This part of the SPIN test proved to be efficient at
assessing speech recognition abilities (Rhebergen and Versfeld 2005). Although the listeners’
performance is primarily quantified in terms of number of whole words correctly recognized,
partially correct answers are also important since they give information about the perception of
phonemes in onset, nucleus and coda position.
3. Participants
3.1 Sudanese speakers of English
The study participants were ten Sudanese University students in the Department of English at
Gadarif University in the Sudan. The learners involved in these experiments specialized in
English language teaching (TEFL). They had finished six semesters out of eight semesters of
their studies when they participated in the listening test.
3.2 Selection procedure of a model Sudanese EFL learner

A Sudanese model speaker was selected by means of a quality sound test from among a number
of 11 Sudanese speakers of English. The quality sound test was operated online and candidates
of different nationalities were invited to listen to the test and then assess the sound quality of the
speakers by clicking on one of the grade options provided. Assessment of the speakers’ sound
quality depended on the computation of the total mean of the results of each speaker in the test
wherein the speaker with the average mean was chosen as a representative learner.
3.3 Native speakers of English

In the control part of the study a single male native speaker of English (RP accent) was used as a
model speaker of English.
3.4 Native listeners of English: British and American listeners

The group of native English listeners comprised ten British and ten American speakers of
English preparing for BA or MA degrees at Leiden University. Listeners were recruited by
means of online or poster invitation. The recruitments were asked to fill in short questionnaire
before they started answering the perception test. In the questionnaires, they provided
information about their nationalities as British or American speakers of English and their
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linguistic backgrounds. Moreover, the listeners did not speak Arabic, which represents the first
language of the Sudanese speakers involved in the experiments. So, they were expected to be
unfamiliar with English spoken with Sudanese Arabic-accent. Distribution of male/female is not
considered in this study since the final objective of the tests did not set out any gender
specifications involving the results to be obtained; therefore, the experiments were right to any
one who speaks English as a native language.
4 Overall structure of the test battery
The experimental stimuli include three tests. These are (i) a vowel test, which is composed of
minimal quartets including short and long vowels as well as diphthongs, and (ii) single
consonants in either onset or coda position. These target sounds were embedded in meaningful
C*VC* words (where C* stands for one to three consonants). The third test comprised 25
sentences taken from the high-predictability set included in the SPIN (Speech Perception in
Noise) test (Kalikow, Stevens and Elliott 1977). These are short everyday sentences in which the
sentence-final target word is made highly predictable from the earlier words in the sentence, as in
She wore her broken arm in a sling (target word underlined). Word stimuli in the first three tests
were embedded in a fixed carrier sentence [Say…again], which insured a fixed intonation with a
rise-fall accent on the target word. The vowel and the single consonant tests contained items on
each individual vowel or consonant phoneme in the RP inventory. Inadvertently, the vowel test
did not include an item targeting the vowel /7/ as in boat. Moreover, the consonant test targeted
all the consonants in onset position and in coda position. All items in the tests were chosen such
that they occurred in dense lexical neighbourhoods, i.e. there should be many words in English
that differ from the test item only in the target sounds. These so-called lexical neighbours,
differing from the target word in only the identity of the test sound, make up the pool of possible
distracters (alternatives) in the construction of the MRT test. When selecting the three distracters
needed for each test items, lexical neighbours that differ from the target in only one distinctive
feature were preferably selected. For the target pit, we selected alternatives with vowels that
differed from /+/ in just one vowel feature, i.e. pet (differing in height), put (differing in
backness) and pot. The latter alternative differs from the target in both height and backness; we
preferred this to the one-feature difference in peat (or Pete) as we decided to exclude proper
names and low-frequency alternatives as much as possible, which may show a larger decrement
in recognition than high-frequency words. The full set of test items is included in the Appendix.
4.1 Tests materials
The stimulus sentences were typed on sheets of paper (one sheet for each test), and then read by
male Sudanese and native speaker of RP English (see 3.2.2). Recordings took place in a sound-
treated room. The speaker’s voice was digitally recorded (44.1 KHz, 16 bits) through a high-
quality swan-neck Sennheiser HSP4 microphone. The speakers were instructed to inhale before
uttering the next sentence so that clear recording is achieved. The target words were excerpted
from their spoken context using a high-resolution digital waveform editor Praat (Boersma and
Weenink 1996). Target words were cut at zero-crossings to avoid clicks at onset and offset.
Target words and SPIN sentences were then recorded onto Audio CD in seven tracks. The first
track contained two practice trials for the vowel test and was followed by track 2, which
contained the 19 test vowel items. Tracks 3 and 4 contained the practice and test trials for the
single consonant tests. Track 5 comprised the 25 SPIN sentences with no practice items. In the
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single consonant test, trials targeting onsets preceded the items targeting codas. Other than that,
the order of the trials within each part of the test battery was random. Trials were separated by a
5-second silent interval. After every tenth trial a short beep was recorded, to help the listeners
keep track on their answer sheets.
4.2 Test procedure
The stimuli were presented over loudspeakers in a small classroom that seated ten listeners.
Subjects were given standardized written instructions and received a set of answer sheets that
listed four alternatives for each test item. They were instructed for each trial to decide which of
the four possibilities listed on their answer sheet they had just heard on the CD. They had to tick
exactly one box for each trial and were told to gamble in case of doubt. Alternatives were listed
in conventional English orthography. In the final test (SPIN), subjects were instructed to write
down only the last word of each sentence that was presented to them. There were short breaks
between tests and between presenting the practice items and test trials. Subjects could ask for
clarification during these breaks in case the written instructions were not clear to them.
5 Overall results
5.1 Vowels
This section will present the results of the test battery in four sections, one for each test. Each
section will first outline the structural differences between the sounds in the source language,
Sudanese Arabic (SA) and in the target language, RP English. Such comparisons may help
understand why certain English sounds are difficult for Sudanese learners and others are not.

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5.1.1 Vowel results
Figure 1 Mean correct responses (%) of English vowel tokens of ten British and ten American
listeners. The vowels were produced by one Sudanese and one native speaker of British English.
As Figure1 shows, the perception level of the native listeners (British and American) is higher
when they were exposed to English vowel tokens produced by the native speaker but low when
the same vowel tokens were read by a Sudanese speaker. Overall mean correct for the British
listeners is 67% and 93% against 65% and 91% for American listeners in the vowel tokens of
English, respectively. A repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) with native
language of the speaker (native, foreign) as a within-subject factor and nationality of the listener
(British, American) as a between-subjects factor shows that only the effect of speaker type is
significant, F(1, 18) = 152.3 (p < .001). The effect of listener and the listener × speaker
interaction are insignificant, F(1, 18) < 1 for both main effect and interaction.
The confusion matrices in Tables 1 and 2 present details about the listeners’ performance on the
vowel level. The tables show that listeners found the English vowels produced by the Sudanese
speakers more difficult than those read by the native speakers. In Table1, the British listeners
totally misperceived the English front mid close /G/ as /+/ and less often as /KÖ/. The English open
/3/ also proved to be difficult for the listeners. It was frequently misheard as /¡/ and less
frequently as /7/. Another type of perception error which also occurred frequently was the
confusion of the English tense /KÖ /for its lax counterpart /+/. Moreover, the English tense /KÖ/ was
replaced by /3/ or /G/ but less often. Important perception errors of the central and back English
vowels included the replacement of the English /n/ by /7/ and less often by /¡/ or /3/, whilst the
back low /#Ö/ was substituted for /«Ö/. Other few miscellaneous errors were the misperception of
/n/ as /¡ or 3/ and /nÖ /as /#Ö/. Interestingly, similar perception error patterns were made by the
American listeners exposed to the same English vowel tokens, which were spoken by Sudanese
speakers. More interestingly, most of these errors have to do with central and back vowels,
which imply a systematic relation with the production of the English source vowels. This relation
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will be described later. On the other hand, no serious problems were found when the English
vowels were read by the native speaker. However, the English lax- tense pairs /7~WÖ, + ~ KÖ/ were
often substituted by both British and American listeners.
Table 1. Confusion matrix of English stimulus vowels and diphthongs produced by Sudanese
EFL learners and perceived by ten British listeners. Correct responses are on the main diagonal,
indicated in bold face.
Perceived RP vowels
Target
«Ö ¡ #Ö 3 #7 C+ G G G+ + KÖ + n nÖ n+ 7 WÖ 7 W
«Ö 6 1 2 1
¡ 9 1
#Ö 3 7
3 5 3 2
#7 9 1
C+ 10
G 0 9 1
G 2 7 1
G+ 1 3 6
+ 10
KÖ 1 1 5 3
+ 10
n 2 1 0 7
nÖ 1 9
n+ 1 1 8
7 1 9
WÖ 1 1 8
7 2 1 7

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Table 2. Confusion matrix of English stimulus vowels and diphthongs produced by Sudanese
EFL learners (in the rows) and responded to by ten American listeners (in the columns). Correct
responses are on the main diagonal, indicated in bold face.
Perceived RP vowels
Target
«Ö ¡ #Ö 3 #7 C+ G G G+ + KÖ + n nÖ n+ 7 WÖ 7
«Ö 5 1 4
¡ 6 4
#Ö 1 8 1
3 7 1 1 1
#7 10
C+ 9 1
G 1 9
G 10
G+ 4 2 4
+ 10
KÖ 1 5 4
+ 1 1 8
n 3 1 6
nÖ 10
n+ 10
7 9 1
WÖ 1 5 4
7 1 9

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5.1.2 Discussion and conclusion
Most likely many of the errors which were made by the British and American listeners
identifying English vowels produced by Sudanese speakers, resulted due to linguistic factors. In
more detail, the replacement of the English /G/ by /+/ can be attributed to two elements. Firstly, it
is probably triggered by L1 effect which permits only vowel sounds available in the Arabic
vowel repertoire such as /K, C, W/, while it blocks /G/ which is not part of the vowel system (see
Kopczwski and Mellani 1993). This assumption is less probable, however, since previous studies
showed that Arabic speakers developed /G/ (Munro 1993, Dickins 2007). Actually, Sudanese
Arabic also developed monophthongs. These include /G/ derived historically from the diphthong
/CL/ as in /CLP/ ‘an eye’, which coalesced (merged) in dialects such as Cairene and Central
Sudanese. In Sanani and a number of Peninsula dialects, the diphthongs are maintained in all
phonological contexts. Moreover, among some Cairene speakers the monophthongs are
shortened in closed syllables to give short /G/ or /n/, hence they are not considered to be separate
vowels (Watson 2002). Secondly, a replacement error of this type can most probably be referred
to spelling/graphical differences between English and Arabic, where the Sudanese-Arabic
speakers pronounce English /G/ in the way it is spelt as a transfer of the Arabic spelling system
which maintains a direct letter-sound relation. Therefore, the English vowel /G/ in words such as
enter, envelope, wet, let, etc., are often mispronounced as /+/ by the Sudanese speakers which
forms the major cause of confusion in this context. It is also possible to describe this
phenomenon as an interlingual error, which results from faulty or partial learning of the L2 rule.
Similarly, the misperception of /3/ as /¡/ or /7/ is due to an incorrect English vowel. That is,
Arabic speakers almost always have problems with the pronunciation of the front open /3/. They
tend to pronounce the English /3/ in the same way they produce their L1 vowel back open
lengthened /C/; i.e., in Sudanese and Cairene Arabic /C/ is pronounced as in /D3ÖD/ ‘door’ (Kaye
1997). It is likely this is the reason that why native Arabic speakers are advised to keep the
English short vowel /3/ fully front (Cruttenden 2008). A similar conclusion was drawn by Bobda
(2000) that Sudanese speakers of English fluctuate between /¡, «Ö, 7/ due to interference from
their Arabic linguistic background. The confusion of lax-tense /+ ~ KÖ/ by the British and
American listeners can also be attributed to an incorrect vowel production, which probably
resulted from the wrong implementation of English vowel categories. It is less probable that
these errors of substitution are the result of length element of the learners’ L2. This is because a
vowel distinction in both English and Arabic vowel systems is based on short/long contrasts.

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5.2 Consonants
5.2.1 Consonant results
Figure 2 Mean correct identification of English onset and coda consonants by 10 British and 10
American listeners of English. Stimuli were produced by one Sudanese and one native speaker of
English.
As Figure 2 shows, the perception level of the British and American listeners in English
consonants is very high. The overall mean correct of such listeners is 85.0 and 84.8 % when the
consonants were produced by the Sudanese speakers and 99.0% and 99.2% when they were
spoken by native speakers of English. The RM-ANOVA shows that the effect of speaker type is
highly significant, F(1, 18) = 94.5 (p < .001). Moreover, the British listeners showed better
understanding of the English consonants read by the Sudanese speakers, but the difference is
insignificant, F(1, 18) < 1. Furthermore, the level of performance in the consonants read by the
native speakers between the two listeners is almost the same, so that the speaker × listener
interaction remains insignificant, F(1, 18) < 1. It is probably because both listener types are
native speakers of English. However, few English onset and coda consonants were misperceived
(see Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6).

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Table 3 Confusion matrix of English stimulus onset consonants produced by a Sudanese EFL
speaker (targets, in the rows) and responded to by ten British listeners (in the columns). Correct
responses are on the main diagonal, indicated in bold face.
Perceived RP consonants
Target
D V5 F V & H I J L M N O P R T U 5 6 X Y \
D 10
V5 10
F 2 5 3
V 4 6
& 0 10
H 10
I 8 2
J 1 8 1
L 10
M 10
N 10
O 10
P 9 1
R 1 1 8
T 1 9
U 10
5 10
6 5 5
X 2 7 1
Y 10
\ 10

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Table 4. Confusion matrix of English stimulus onset consonants produced by a Sudanese EFL
speaker (targets, in the rows) and responded to by ten American listeners (in the columns).
Correct responses are on the main diagonal, indicated in bold face.
Target
D V5 F V & H I J F< M N O P R T U 5 6 X Y \
D 10
V5 10
F 0 10
V 5 5
& 0 10
H 10
I 10
J 1 9
F< 10
M 10
N 10
O 10
P 10
R 10
T 10
U 10
5 10
6 7 3
X 9 1
Y 10
\ 10

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Table 5. Confusion matrix of English stimulus coda consonants produced by a Sudanese EFL
speaker and responded to by ten British listeners. Correct responses are on the main diagonal,
indicated in bold face.
Target
D V5 F F< & H I M N O P 0 R U 5 V 6 X \
D 9 1
V5 10
F 10
F< 10
& 7 3
H 10
I 10
M 10
N 8 1 1
O 10
P 10
0 3 7
R 1 9
U 10
5 1 9
V 10
6 1 5 4
X 1 9
\ 6 4

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Table 6. Confusion matrix of English stimulus coda consonants produced by a Sudanese EFL
speaker (targets, in the rows) and responded to by ten American listeners (in the columns).
Target
D V5 F F< V5 H I M N O P 0 R U 5 V 6 X \
D 10
V5 10
F 10
F< 10
& 5 5
H 8 2
I 10
M 2 4 4
N 10
O 10
P 10
0 1 9
R 3 7
U 10
5 1 9
V 10
6 4 1 2 3
X 1 9
\ 4 6

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Correct responses are on the main diagonal, indicated in bold face.
On the onset consonants, both British and American listeners totally misidentified the English /&/
as /\/, whilst frequent misperceptions of /6/ as /U/ and /F/ as /V/ were also observed. It is worth
mentioning that the American listeners totally misperceived /F/ as /V/. These are probably the
most serious perception errors experienced by the listeners involving the English consonants read
by Sudanese speakers. Similar error patterns of the dental fricative consonants of English were
made in the coda consonants read by the Sudanese speakers. These included the replacement of
/&/ by /\/, /6/ by /U/, /\/ was replaced by /U or 6/ whilst /6/ was replaced /U or &/ and /0 ~P/ mostly
by both listeners. Other miscellaneous substitutions such as /M~I, H~X/ were made by the
American listeners only.
The British and American listeners also made other miscellaneous perception errors, which
included /X~R, 5~V5, R~M/ in coda position. The error frequency made in the fricative consonants
is higher for onsets but lower for the coda position.
In contrast to the above, the listeners showed nearly perfect perception of English onset and coda
consonants articulated by the native speakers. On the onset consonants, the British listeners
misperceived /&/ as /6/ and /6/ as /U/, whilst the American listeners showed perfect perception.
On the coda consonants, the most prominent type of error was an interchangeable substitution of
/O~P/ by British and /P/ as /0/ American listeners.
5.2.2 Discussion and conclusions
The conflation of /&/ with /\/ and /6/ with /U/ which were read by Sudanese speakers can be
attributed to incorrectly produced English consonants. This conflation resulted to due
interference of (L1) Sudanese colloquial Arabic (in formal Arabic these sounds are pronounced
correctly) (Mohammed 1991). In the Sudanese consonant inventory the interdental /6, &/ merged
with the apico-dental (often labeled as alveolar or sibilant) /U, \/ (Dickins 2007, Watson 2002,
Corriente 1978). Thus, Arabic words like /J3&C/ ‘this’, are mispronounced as /J3\C/, whilst
/63DKV/ ‘firm’ is mispronounced as /U3DKV/, which influenced the production of the English dental
and alveolar fricatives. Actually, in a number of Arabic dialects, the line separating dental
continuants from sibilant (hissing) sounds is becoming blurred (see Watson 2002, Dickins 2007,
Schmidt 1987). This change, therefore, has side-effects involving the perception of L2 dental
fricatives. According to Kopczwski and Mellani (1993), to avoid these types of confusions,
Arabic speakers (of different colloquial dialects) of English need to rearrange the distinctive
features lying between inter-dentals and alveolar from those of Arabic. Furthermore, distinction
between English /6, &/ does not always lie in their articulation since most EFL learners can
perform them correctly in isolation. However, the problem aggravates when such dentals are
combined with /U/ and /\/, particularly in languages which contain no dental fricatives. All of /U,
\/ and /6, &/ are produced nearer to the upper incisors, so that learners need to practice drills
containing combinations involving such sounds (Cruttenden 2008).

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In terms of international English intelligibility, the incorrect pronunciation of the English dental
fricatives /6, &/ and /U, \/ represents a learning problem for second language learners across-
language sounds. It is probably because /6, &/ are relatively infrequent phonemes in the sound
patterns of many of the world’s languages. However, the assumption does not show consistency
as such substitutions were also observed among EFL/ESL speakers descending from language
backgrounds with similar dental fricatives, e.g. Arabic, etc. Intelligibility problems as such
probably arise in interactions involving non-native and native speech participants of English due
to factors like (i) the number of the minimal pairs the distinction of which is dependent on
contrasts of such phonemes and (ii) the potential frequency of such pairs in interactions. This
claim motivates the prediction that in an error hierarchy, contrast between phonemes such as
/6~U, &~\/ may imply a high functional load due to their rare occurrence in many languages
which in turn leads to intelligibility problems. Thus, the intricate learning nature of these
phonemes, as both rare and highly marked across-language sounds, practically plays a major role
in labelling them as a prominent issue of speech intelligibility problems (see Van den Doel 2006,
Seidlhofer 2005, Jenkins 2000).
Other substitution errors of English /M~I/ coda consonants which were read by the Sudanese
learners are likely made due to the lack of a clear voicing feature separating voiced from
voiceless stops, which occurs across very narrow (VOT) boundaries.
5.3 SPIN sentences

5.3.1 Results
Figure 4 presents the mean correct scores on the SPIN test obtained by ten British and ten
American listeners. The sentences were read by one Sudanese and one British speaker of
English. Error bars (± 2 standard error, SE) are also shown. The figure also shows the correct
identification scores on components of the SPIN keywords. Separate scores were computed for
the onsets, vocalic nuclei and codas of the SPIN keywords. Also, a composite score was
computed by taking the mean of these three component scores. Note that the composite score is
always higher than the word-recognition score: for a keyword to be counted as correctly
recognized all components had to be identified correctly by the listener. I will present and
statistically analyse only the word-recognition scores. The component scores will be analysed in
a later section when I will make an attempt to predict word recognition from the component
scores.
As Figure 4 shows, the perception level of the simple predictable English meaningful sentences
of the British and American listeners reveals nearly perfect performance of the SPIN sentences
produced by the British speaker; total mean value are 93 and 95%, respectively. However, lower
rates were obtained when the same sentences were read by the Sudanese speaker of English: total
mean rates 65% and 69 % for the British and American listeners, respectively. Moreover, in
comparison to the British listeners, the American listeners show a higher intelligibility level of
the SPIN sentences irrespective of the speaker’s accent. The main effect of speaker type
(Sudanese EFL versus native British) was highly significant by RM-ANOVA, F(1, 18) = 239.9
(p < .001). The effect of listener type (American versus British), however, is a trend at best, F(1,
18) = 3.3 (p = .085). The speaker × listener interaction is totally insignificant, F(1, 18) < 1.

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Figure 4. Mean correct recognition of keywords by ten British and ten American listeners of
SPIN sentences produced by one Sudanese and one British speaker of English. Error bars are
± 2 SE)
Figure 4 provides details on the listeners’ performance in the perception of the SPIN keyword
components produced by the Sudanese and the British speaker. The correct identification by
British and American listeners of onset consonants in the keywords is 85 against 93% when the
consonants were read by the Sudanese and British speaker, respectively, F(1,18) = 90.8 (p <
.001). However, the listeners responded perfectly to the same consonants spoken by the British
speakers; total mean correct 100% for both listener groups, F(1, 18) = 7.5 (p = .013) for both the
main effect of listener group and for the speaker × listener interaction. The nucleus vowel results
show a small difference of perception between the British and American listeners; total mean
correct are 76 against 84% when the items were read by the designated Sudanese EFL speaker,
and 97 and 100% when the items were read by the native speaker, F (1, 18) = 136.2 (p < .001)
for the speaker effect and F (1, 18) = 10.4 (p = .005) for the main effect of listener nationality.
However, the interaction between speaker and listener groups is a trend at best, F (1, 18) = 3.0 (p
= .099). On the other hand, performance in the coda consonants proved to be the lowest of all
and the British listeners had higher scores than the Americans when the sentences were read by
the British speakers; total mean is 97 against 96%. However, both listener types showed a lower
score when the same coda consonants were read by Sudanese speakers; total mean correct is 69
against 75%, respectively. Again, the effect of speaker type was highly significant, F (1, 18) =
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191.2 (p < .001), whereas the effect of listener group was not, F (1, 18) = 1.3 (p = .271). The
interaction between speaker type and listener group just fails to reach significance, F (1, 18) =
4.3 (p = .053).
5.3.2 Discussion and conclusions

Both British and American listeners had high perception of simple and predictable English
sentences produced by the native speakers. However, the American listeners showed a slightly
higher perception level than their British counterparts, from both Sudanese and native speakers
of English; total mean evaluation of these two groups of listeners are 69 and 95% and 65 and
93%, respectively. The listeners’ performance is always better when they hear native speakers.
Interestingly, the American listeners tend to have better scores irrespective of speaker type.
Possibly, the SPIN sentences, which were developed in the USA, refer to American rather than
to British everyday situations. The coda consonants proved to be a difficult area in which the
listeners showed a low performance, in comparison to the onset consonants and nucleus vowels.
The correlation tables 11 and 12 may provide more insight.
6. Correlations
Tables 11 and 12 present correlation matrices for vowels, single, and the component scores on
the SPIN keywords: i.e. nucleus vowels, consonants, the mean of the latter three components,
and the recognition scores on the entire keyword in the SPIN sentences. The correlation
coefficients were computed for the mean percent correct scores of British (upper part of tables)
and American (lower part of tables) native listeners, separately for the non-native Table 11, and
native speaker Table 12. The tables present linear product-moment correlation coefficients (r)
between the listeners’ perception scores for all tests and test components in the battery.
Table 11. Correlation matrix for scores on vowels, single consonants, and (components of the)
SPIN test read by one Sudanese speaker of English.
SPIN sentences MRT

Listeners
onset nuc. Coda Mean vowels cons
British Nuclei .339**
Codas .375** .552**
onC .655** .776** .895**
vowels –.163** .000** .099** .006**
consonants –.151** –.111** –.386** **
–.312** –.104**
Words correct .380** .448** .802** .745** –.075** –491**
American Nuclei .692**
Codas .445** .573**
**
onC .815 .905** .810**
vowels –.411** –.553** –.362** –.528**
consonants –.320** –.490** .222** –.232** .192**
Words correct .549** .597** .670** .719** –.097** .175**

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The computation of the correlation of the SPIN results provided different figures with respect to
listener and speaker nationality backgrounds (for an explanation of the concept of the correlation
coefficient, see chapter three). With regard to SPIN test components read by the designated
Sudanese EFL learner, a correlation between the onset consonants and nucleus vowels yielded a
positive significant correlation at r = .692 (p < .05) for the American listeners, whilst it shows a
positive but insignificant r = .339 for the British listeners. These figures imply that the vowel
nucleus is predictive of the onset correct perception, in particular, those of the American
listeners. Moreover, the coda consonant components correlate with the onset and nucleus vowels
positively at r = .375 and .552 for the British listeners and at r = .445 and .573 for the American
listeners, respectively. These relations indicate that both British and American listeners identify
the onset consonants well whenever they succeed in identifying nucleus vowels, coda consonants
and vice versa. On the other hand, we find no useful correlation between vowels, consonants and
their SPIN components, which we did not expect. There are weak relations exist between SPIN
coda consonants and consonants at r = .222. This indicates that vowels and consonants have a
negative association with the SPIN components, except the coda consonants, which have a
positive relationship to consonants. Similarly, English vowels heard by American listeners
showed a high positive correlation with coda consonants but not significant at r = .625.
Table 12. Correlation matrix for scores on vowels, single consonants and SPIN test read by one
British speaker of English.
SPIN sentences MRT

Listeners
onset nuc. Coda Mean vowels cons
a
British Nuclei .
Codas .a .068**
on C .a .663** .792**
a
Vowels . –.583** –.181** –.493**
consonants .a –.167** .272** .102** –.111**
words correct .a –.089** –.582** –.491** .386** –356**
American Nuclei .a .a
Codas .a .a
onC .a .a 2.000**
a a
Vowels . . .625** .625**
consonants .a .a –.218** –.218** –.307**
words correct .a .a .667** .667** .742** –327**
Individual vowels and consonants show some kind of correlation. These figures help us predict
that vowels, nucleus and coda consonants are the most decisive elements of correct scoring. They
also reflect that more positive relations tend to occur more often within SPIN components than
between the combination of vowels and consonants, which mean that the subjects’ better
performance in the nucleus vowels does not indicate that they do better in vowels.

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7. Conclusions
Errors made by British and American listeners in the perception of the English front, central and
back vowels produced by Sudanese speakers were largely due to fact that the learners' native
language, Sudanese Arabic, distinguishes merely three vowel qualities. These English vowels are
not part of the speakers' L1 inventory so they represent learning difficulty. Moreover, the paucity
of knowledge of the English sound-letter correspondence on the part of the learners often leads
to the misperception of English vowels. Such perception errors often take place due to partial
learning or insufficient practice.
Frequent confusions were made by the British and American listeners of English in the
perception of the English dental fricatives /U, 6/ and /\, &/ read by the Sudanese speaker are
probably due to interference from Sudanese –Arabic source consonant system; i.e., by the filter
effect of the speaker L1 Sudanese Arabic (SA) consonant inventory.
British and American listeners showed no serious perception problem with English speech
sounds which were produced by the native control speakers.
The results also reflect the effect of the linguistic backgrounds of speech participants on
intelligibility. Native listeners are better equipped to interpret the speech of a native talker. On
the other hand, non-native talkers may produce the L2 speech sound with a base of articulation
that is typical of their L1 rather than of the target language which leads to misinterpretation of
such a sound. This means that ESL/EFL listeners from the same native language background as
the talkers will be more likely to access the correct phonemic category than ESL/EFL listeners
and speakers who do not share the same native language.
Vowels and coda consonants rather than initial consonants of English proved to be the most
problematical area of perception Sudanese Arabic-accented English for native British and
American listeners.
About the Author:
Ezzeldin Mahmoud Taj eldin Ali obtained a BA degree in ELT from Gezira Univeristy in1995,
MA degree English also from Gezira University in 2001. A lecturer of English Gadarif 1997,
assistant professor 2011. He obtained a PhD degree from Leiden University 2011, in
Experimental linguistics and phonetics of English. Published papers and participated in many
international conferences.

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Appendices
Appendix 1.Vowel list: /hVd/ meaningful words in a fixed carrier phrase (say …..again);19
different full vowels and diphthongs read by Sudanese EFL learners and native speakers of RP
English. The stimuli were used in the perception tests.
No. Vowel
1. Air
2. Pet
3. Pat
4. Pot
5. Nut
6. Pit
7. Peat
8. Fool
9. Full
10. Mile
12. Peer
13. Poor
14. Late
15. Out
16. Boy
17. Bird
18. Bard
19. Board
20. Boat
Appendix 2. Onset and coda consonants list of meaningful words in a fixed carrier (say
…..again). The stimuli were read by Sudanese EFL learners and native speakers of RP English.
The stimuli were used in the perception tests.
No Onset consonants Coda consonants

1 Got Sack
2 Bang Mash
3 Shut Page
4 Pin Heath
5 Fit Sad
6 Then Pat
7 Thaw Safe
8 Zeal Pub
9 Den Rave
10 Sip Match
11 Job Cop
12 Vest Lace
13 tame Raze
14 Cold Cog
15 Chat With

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Appendix (3) SPIN sentences presented part of the perception test.
4- High predictability SPIN sentences

1- Throw out all the useless junk.
2- She cooked him a hearty meal.
3- Her entry should win the first prize.
4- The stale bread was covered with mood.
5- The fireman heard her frightened scream.
6- Your knees and your elbows are joints.
7- I ate a piece of chocolate fudge.
8- Instead of a fence plant a hedge.
9- The story had a clever plot.
10- The landlord raised the rent.
11- Her hair was tied with a blue bow.
12- He’s employed by a large firm.
13- To open the jar twist the lid.
14- The swimmer’s leg got a bad cramp.
15- Our seats were in the second row.
16- The thread was wound on the spool.
17- They tracked the lion to his den.
18- Spread some butter on your bread.
19- A spoiled child is a brat.
20- Keep your broken arm in a sling.
21- The mouse was caught in the trap.
22- I have got a cold and a sore throat.
23- Ruth poured herself a cup of tea.
24- The house was robbed by a thief.
25- Wash the floor with a mop.

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AWEJ
Pp.167-182
The Pragmatic Suitability of the Algerian ELT Secondary School Textbooks: The Case of
Requests and Apologies
Boudjemaa DENDENNE
Department of English, University of Constantine I
Constantine, Algeria
Abstract
The present study investigates the extent to which the Algerian ELT secondary school textbooks
are pragmatically-suitable with regard to the speech acts of request and apology. The study aims
at exploring the appropriacy and adequacy of the input at the pragmalinguistic and the
sociopragmatic levels. It also aims to explore the metapragmatic information associated with it.
All the requests and apologies that appear in these books have been identified, then coded and
analysed. The findings show that although the textbooks provide a minimum of the linguistic
forms used for the production of these two speech acts, they are rather limited when it comes to
associating them with the relevant contextual and cultural factors. Also, there is a paucity in
supplying the metapragmatic information. In this respect, the material used cannot lead to the
acquisition of these two speech acts. It is, therefore, recommended that the textbook writers
should address these shortcomings.
Keywords: Algerian Secondary School textbooks, apologies, pragmatic instruction, requests,

pragmatic suitability.

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The Pragmatic Suitability of the Algerian ELT DENDENNE
Introduction
The textbook is a part and parcel of the teaching/learning process in foreign language
(FL) and second language (SL) contexts. In communicative language teaching (CLT), the
textbook is not only supposed to provide learners with the linguistic knowledge, but also with the
contextual and the pragmatic aspect of it. In Algeria, English is taught as a FL. The new
curriculum for teaching English, as reformed by the Ministry of National Education in 2005, has
incorporated the CLT. The textbooks writers state that the syllabus and, thus, the textbooks are
prepared on the Competency-Based Approach with the objective to enable learners to interact
orally in English, interpret and produce oral/written texts (Riche et al. 2006: 4). This amounts to
saying that the pragmatic development is at the heart of the newly introduced syllabus.
Since then, no comprehensive study has ever been conducted to assess the extent to
which the stated objectives have been fulfilled by the proposed input in the material. The present
study aims to contribute in this direction. Requests and apologies have been selected as they are
among the frequent speech acts in the target language.
The paper addresses two main questions:
1. Does the provided input cover the production of speech acts in their pragmalinguistic
and sociopragmatic dimensions?
2. What kind of metapragmatic information related to the production of these two speech
acts is provided and is it adequate?
Theoretical Background:
Linguistic proficiency and Pragmatic Competence:
The models of Communicative Competence (CC) which have been developed in the
context of pedagogy sought to strike a balance between linguistic abilities that enable learners to
produce grammatically acceptable sentences and the potential of being appropriate in a particular
social context. Celce-Murcia (2007) proposed a model which includes the following
competencies: the sociocultural, the discoursal, the linguistic, the formulaic, the interactional and
the strategic. According to Celce-Murcia, this model gives importance to culture and discourse
as well as strikes a balance between language as a system and as a formula (communicative
means). It also focuses on the dynamic aspects of interaction as well as learners’ strategies
(2007: 51-54).
There is a controversy in the literature on the issue whether linguistic proficiency helps in
better pragmatic achievement, especially at the level of speech acts production. That is, some
studies have proven that proficient learners are better able to approximate the native
performance, while others have not proven marked advantage for the proficient learners over the
less proficient ones. Maeshiba et al. (1996) suggested that the more proficient the learners the
less likely they were to fall back on their native language ‘guidelines’ and, thus, were better able
to emulate American apologies. The study of Sabaté and Curell i Gotor (2007) suggested that the
increase in the proficiency level leads to the decrease in ‘non-L2-like’ pragmalinguistic
performance, but exhibition of more sociopragmatic ‘non-native-like’ performances in L2
apologies.

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All in all, such studies show that, oftentimes, even advanced learners in terms of grammar
are likely to face pragmatic problems (Salazar Campillo 2007: 208). For this reason, researchers
are investigating the possible ways of direct and explicit teaching of pragmatic competence.
Teaching Pragmatics:
Kasper and Schmidt (1996: 160) state that, “There is every reason to expect that
pragmatic knowledge should be teachable,” especially in the FL setting where the chances of the
full range of human interactions are very limited. To test whether pragmatic knowledge is really
teachable, many studies have been conducted to realize the outcome of instructions on learners’
performance. Olshtain and Cohen (1990, cited in Cohen, 1998) dealt with the effect of explicit
teaching on the performance of advanced EFL learners in apologies. The learners were first
pretested to determine the state of their pragmatic knowledge, then posttested after exposing
them to three 20-minute lessons on the strategies for performing the speech act sets of apology
and the different modifications that go with this act. The researchers concluded that aspects like
intensification and downgrading as well as differences between strategies and the situational
features can really be taught. Eslami-Rasekh et al. (2004) exposed a group of Iranian EFL
learners to twelve-sessions on metapragmatic instruction like teacher-fronted discussion, role
play of the intended speech acts, discussion of the frequent pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic
deviations of examples produced by students, then responding to a discourse completion task.
The subjects were pretested and posttested regarding their comprehension of request, apology
and complaint. The authors concluded that explicit metapragmatic instruction facilitates
interlanguage pragmatic development. This, therefore, suggests that pragmatic competence does
not seem resistant to explicit instruction. To put it in Cohen’s words “[d]espite the studies with
mixed results, it would still appear that learners stand to benefit from explicit focus on
pragmatics (2005: 287).”
Among the very likely ways to present learners with pragmatic input is through the
textbook. The growing literature on studies which assess the pragmatic input reveals a shortage
in pragmatic information in learning/teaching materials. Vellenga (2004) and Salazar Campillo
(2007) are archetypal of such studies. Vellenga (2004) analysed eight ESL and EFL textbooks to
determine the amount and the quality of the pragmatic information. As her findings indicated,
there was a dearth in metapragmatic and metalinguistic information as regards the spoken
language; the EFL textbooks included more information while the ESL textbooks had better
quality regarding variety of the speech acts and the metapragmatic cues. Additionally, the
included metapragmatic information was limited in the range of options. This led the author to
conclude that the acquisition of pragmatic competence via these materials is highly unlikely.
Salazar Campillo (2007) analysed request mitigation in ELT textbooks. The findings suggest the
ignorance of a number of mitigators and the focus on a small number of them, namely the use of
please and some other combinations.
Producing and Analysing Requests and Apologies:

The appropriate production of the illocutionary force requires sociocultural and
sociolinguistic abilities (Cohen, 1996). That is, the skill to choose the appropriate strategies
given the target culture, age, gender of the interlocutors, their social class etc. and the skill to
select the appropriate linguistic forms to realise the speech act like the choice between sorry or
excuse me in apology (p. 22-23).
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To cope with the different semantic formulae/strategies used for realising these two acts,
many models have been developed for analysing them.
Requests:
As defined by Trosborg (1995: 187), “a request is an illocutionary act whereby a speaker
(requester) conveys to the hearer (requestee) that he/she wants the requestee to perform an act
which is for the benefit of the speaker.” Requests can be divided into two parts: Head Act (HA)
or core request and peripheral element.
Example 1:
Could you please lend me your dictionary? [Core request] I just need it for a minute. [Peripheral
element]
Table 1 represents the taxonomy suggested by Trosborg (1995) for HA strategies.
Table 1: Trosborg’s (1995) Taxonomy for HA Strategies
Request Strategies (Increasing Directness)
Situation Speaker Requests to Borrow Hearer’s Car
Hints mild I have to be at the airport in half an hour.
Indirect
Strong My car has broken down.
Hearer-oriented conditions
Ability Could you lend me your car?
Willingness Would you lend me your car?
Convention- Permission May I borrow your car?
ally Indirect Suggestory Formulae How about lending me your car?
Speaker-based conditions
Wishes I would like to borrow your car.
Desire/needs I want/need to borrow your car.
Obligation You must/have to lend me your car.
Performatives
Hedged I would like to ask you to lend me your car.
Direct
Unhedged I ask/require you to lend me your car.
Imperatives Lend me your car.
Elliptical phrases Your car (please).
HA strategies are not often used alone; they are accompanied by mitigating devices so as
to increase the probability of success of the requestive act. Modifications are classified into
Internal and External. External modifications are also known as Supportive Moves (SMs).
Example 2:
I forgot my wallet at home and I need some money to make photocopies.[External; SM] Do you
think that [Internal] you could lend me 30 cents?
Alcón et al. (2005) suggested this taxonomy for SMs.

Table 2: Peripheral Modification Devices in Requests (Alcón et al., 2005)
Type Sub-Type Example
Internal Openers Do you think you would open the window?
Modification Would you mind opening the window?
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Softeners Understatement Could you open the window for a moment?

Downtoner Could you possibly open the window?
Hedge Could you kind of open the window?
Intensifiers You really must open the window.
I’m sure you wouldn’t mind opening the
window.
Fillers Hesitators I er, erm, er– I wonder if you could open the
window
Cajolers You know, you see, I mean
Appealers -OK?, Right?, yeah
Attention-getters Excuse me …; Hello …; Look …; Tom, …; Mr.
Edwards …; father …
External Preparators May I ask you a favour? Could you open the
Modification window?
Grounders It seems it is quite hot here. Could you open the
window?
Disarmers I hate bothering you but could you open the
window?
Expanders Would you mind opening the window? … Once
again, could you open the window?
Promise of Could you open the window? If you open it, I
a reward promise to bring you to the cinema.
Please Would you mind opening the window, please?
Apologies:
Bergman and Kasper (1993: 82) define apology as a “compensatory action to an offence
in the doing of which S [the speaker] is causally involved and is costly to the H [hearer].” The
following strategies make up the speech act set of the apologising act (Cohen 1998: 386):
1. An expression of apology [IFIDs: illocutionary force indicating devices], a word, expression

or sentence which contains a relevant performative verb like apologise, forgive, excuse, be
sorry.
2. An explanation or account of the situation which indirectly caused the apologiser to commit
the offense.
3. Acknowledgement of responsibility, the offender recognises his or her fault in causing the
infraction.
4. An offer of repair, the apologiser makes a bid to carry out an action or provide payment for
some kind of damage which resulted from the infraction.
5. A promise of nonrecurrence, the apologiser commits himself or herself not to have the offence
happen again.
Each of the above strategies may stand by itself as an adequate apology, but often they
appear in combination (Example 3). The expression of apology may also be intensified by means
of adverbials like very, so, terribly, awfully and emotional expressions like oh no!, oh crap!, oh
my gosh, oops!!
Example 3

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I’m so sorry I forgot the book at home. Can I bring it by your office tomorrow morning? (strategy
1 + intensifier + strategy 4).
The Study
Data:
The data for this study incorporates speech acts of all the requests and apologies, whether
spoken or written, that appear in the Algerian secondary school manuals. Both the textbooks and
the Teacher’s Books are considered in this paper. Therefore, the pairs of textbooks and Teacher’s
Books of the three levels are referred to as Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3 respectively.
Results and Discussion:
Requests:
As shown in Table 3, most of the requests appear in Book 1. The higher we move, the
fewer requests we encounter. This is, most probably, due to the fact that learners are prepared
step by step for the Baccalaureate exam which is of a written nature. The author and his
collaborators state this explicitly in the third year’s Teacher’s Book, “the graded tasks are of the
type to be found in the English paper of the Baccalaureate examination (Arab et al., 2006: 10).
Table 3: Number of Requests in the Three Textbooks
Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Total

Requests No. (%)
61 (62.50%) 23 (22.12%) 16 (15.38%) 100 (100%)
As for the HA strategies (core requests), we have got the following statistics:
Table 4: Use of HA Strategies in the Three Textbooks

HAs
Sub-Types Book 1 Book 2 Book 3
No. (%)
Indirect Hints 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Hearer- Oriented
Ability 40 (61.54%) 7 (30.43%) 5 (31.25%)
Willingness 6 (9.23%) 6 (26.09%) 1 (6.25%)
Convention- Permission 3 (4.62%) 1 (4.35%) 0 (0.00%)
ally Suggestory Formulae 0 (0.00%) 4 (17.39%) 0 (0.00%)
Indirect Speaker-Based
Wishes 2 (3.08%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Desires/Needs 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Total 51 (78.46%) 18 (78.26%) 6 (37.50%)

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Obligation 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 2 (12.5%)

Performatives 2 (3.08%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Direct Imperatives 10 (15.38%) 5 (21.74%) 5 (31.25%)
Elliptical Phrase 2 (3.08%) 0 (0.00%) 3 (18.75%)
Total 14 (21.54%) 5 (21.74%) 10 (62.50%)
General Total 65 (100%) 23 (100%) 16 (100%)
In Book 1, the use of conventionally indirect HAs outnumber the use of direct ones. The
indirect HAs (hints) have not been used at all, though the author has encountered some
utterances that can be considered indirect requests in the three textbooks. He has not been able
to take them into consideration, because the interpretation of hints as such requires contextual
information like the description of the situation, the intent of the speaker etc. that the textbooks
do not offer. The conventionally indirect HAs found in the textbooks correspond, in terms of
frequency, their presence in native production (e.g. Blum-Kulka et al, 1989). It is also shown in
the table that the hearer-oriented HAs are more frequent than the speaker-oriented ones. This, we
assume, is motivated by the use of modal verbs which is an interactive feature in English
requests and, presumably, has nothing to do with context. In most cases, the contexts used in the
textbooks are rigid where participants have not been specified, though in a number of cases they
are, and their relationship could be inferred from the context like friend-friend, chairman-
attendants, teacher-student, customer-secretary, phonecaller-answerer, interviewee-interviewer
and pedestrian-passerby. It is obvious that ability is the most used sub-type (61.54%), then
willingness (9.23%), permission (4.62%) and wishes (3.08%). In direct forms Imperatives
(15.38%) are the most used than performatives (3.08%) and elliptical phrases (3.08%). The
elliptical phrases need the teacher’s intervention to draw the learners’ attention to show that they
function as requests. They are always dependent on the contextual factors to be interpreted as
requests. All in all, Book 1, disregarding the absence of hints, provides the learners, at this level,
with common forms for realising requests. We recommend that teachers give enough attention to
direct forms and highlight the cases when there is a taboo (i.e. impoliteness) against using them
as presenting them with such high frequency might lead learners to think that they are a common
choice in the target requests. These forms need not be analysed in a vacuum since they have been
accompanied with mitigating devices that we will consider later.
Like Book 1, Book 2 offers the common linguistic forms for realising requests. The
conventionally indirect strategies are more frequent than the direct ones while the indirect
strategies are totally absent. We notice the decrease in the use of ability, the appearance of
suggestory formulae and the disappearance of speaker-oriented HAs. As for the direct strategies,
they are limited to some imperatives. Generally speaking, there is a reduction in the overall
number of requests and an insertion of certain forms like suggestory formulae. The question that
arises here is whether that is purposeful or haphazard?
Book 3 includes very few HA strategies. Here, the direct forms outnumber the indirect
ones. Like Book 1 and Book 2, imperatives and ability are the most used forms, 30.43% and
21.74% respectively.
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One important aspect of the requestive act in English is the use of modality since it has
pragmatic consequence. In the three textbooks, a variety of modals have been employed as
shown in Table 5:
Table 5: Use of Modals in the Three Textbooks

Modals
Can Could Will Would May Shall Total
No. (%)
7 3 51
Book 1 24 (74.06%) 16 (31.37%) 0 (0.00%) 1 (1.96%)
(13.73%) (5.88%) (100%)
5 1 14
Book 2 1 (7.14%) 5 (35.71%) 1 (7.14%) 1 (7.14%)
(35.71%) (7.14%) (100%)
2 0 2
Book 3 2 (28.57%) 0 (0.00%) 1 (14.29%) 7 (100%)
(28.57%) (0.00%) (28.57%)
In Book 1, the modals can (74.06%) and could (31.37%) are the most used respectively.
The high frequency of these two modals seems to be counterintuitive. The textbook writers may
have done that to push learners to learn these two modals, but presenting them with such
frequency may lead learners to over-learn them and, thus, open the door for induced errors i.e.
errors resulting from the faulty presentation of a structure in the textbook (Stenson, 1974). Would
has been used less frequently (13.73%), also may (5.88%) and shall (1.96%). In Book 2 and 3,
fewer modals have been used, but their presentation is more balanced as no modal is noticeably
overused. From a pragmatic standpoint, modals in English ought to be handled with care,
because they have a pragmatic value; they are indicators of politeness and register. Some of them
are more polite and formal than others; the past forms of the modals are more polite than their
present counterparts (Palmer, 1979).
The above core requests have been modified by internal mitigators and SMs as presented
in Table 6. Openers, understatements, downtoners and attention-getters are the internal
modifications used in Book 1. The relatively frequent use of openers and attention-getters is a
feature which really reflects the actual use of these mitigators in native requests as they are
considered a common speech routines. Attention-getters, for instance, were the commonest
modification in requests drawn from a sample of films in a study conducted by Martinez-Flor
(2007). The absence of hedges, intensifiers, hesitators, cajolers and promises in Book 1and some
other mitigators in Book 2 and 3 reveal that they may not be the salient features to be included in
an input directed to FL learners (Salazar Campillo 2007: 219), despite the fact that such
categories, namely cajolers and appealers, are quite common in authentic data drawn, for
instance, from films (Martinez-Flor, 2007). As for the SMs i.e. external modifications, apart
from the over-presentation of please and the absence of the promise of reward, they seem to be
balanced. The use of grounders is relatively higher and this is intuitively concordant with the fact
that this mitigator is one of the typical sub-types of SMs (e.g. Trosborg, 1995 and Martinez-Flor,
2007).
Table 6: Internal and External Modification in the Three Textbooks
Type Sub-Type No. (%) Book 1 Book 2 Book 3
Openers 2 (4.08%) 2 (5.41%) 0 (0.00%)

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Softeners Understatement 3 (6.12%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)

Downtoner 1 (2.04%) 1 (2.70%) 1 (16.67%)
Hedge 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Intensifiers 0 (0.00%) 2 (5.41%) 0 (0.00%)
Fillers Hesitators 0 (0.00%) 2 (5.41%) 0 (0.00%)
Cajolers 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Appealers 1 (2.04%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Attention-getters 4 (8.16%) 0 (0.00%) 1 (16.67%)
Total 11 (22.45%) 7 (18.92%) 2 (33.33%)
Preparators 2 (4.08%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Grounders 4 (8.16%) 6 (16.22%) 0 (0.00%)
External Disarmers 2 (4.08%) 1 (2.70%) 3 (50.00%)
Modifica- Expanders 1 (2.04%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
tion Promise of a reward 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Please 29 (59.18%) 23 (62.60%) 1 (16.67%)
Total 38 (77.55%) 30 (81.08%) 4 (66.67%)
General Total 49 (100%) 37 (100%) 6 (100%)
As for preparators and disarmers, they are equally employed (4.08%), whereas
expanders and appealers are relatively fewer (2.04%). Pragmalinguistically speaking, exposing
learners to the main external modifications at this level is considered an advantage. Yet, the more
we proceed in the analysis the more we feel a lack in sociopragmatic and metapragmatic
knowledge that guide learners to the appropriate use of such features and only suffice to knowing
them. A very outstanding feature in Book 1, as well as Book 2, is the overuse of please (59.18%
and 62.60% respectively). Using this category in such a high frequency may have counter-effects
i.e. overlearning and overuse. The placement of this politeness marker within the core requests
is, to a certain extent, concordant with its presentation in natural speech. It means, please has
been found in initial (6.90%), middle (10.34%) and final (82.76%) positions. According to
Sifianou (1999), its occurrence at initial position may best be considered as an attention-getter or
apology for interruption. Please can fulfil other functions and can also substitute the core request
itself in real interactions (Martinez-Flor 2007: 271). In our analysis, it has only been considered
as a politeness marker due to the lack of the contextual clues that would guide us to other
interpretations.
In Book 2, we notice the appearance of intensifiers and hesitators which are of the form I
wonder if you could. Furthermore, we notice a relative increase in using grounders while please
is still overused. In Book 3, there are only few modifications, and it is no surprise, as their
occurrence is concordant with that of the core requests themselves. The reason behind that is
once again, most probably, linked to the pre-set objectives by the textbook writers that prioritise
the written language at the expense of the spoken one.
For further insights, the different combinations of mitigating devices spotted in each
textbook have been considered. The combinations found in Book 1 are illustrated below:

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a. Can you do one thing for me? When you bring the photocopy, can you also bring the
book you have promised to lend me? (preparator + expander)
b. Can you help me? At the end of every term at school, we have a thorough
examination...Please, tell me what shall I do? (preparator+ grounder + please)
c. Excuse me, my name is Lydia Chenneb. I’m doing a survey on high school students’
leisure time activities. Can I ask you few questions? (attention-getter + grounder)
d. Could you be kind enough to speak more slowly, please? (disarmer + please)
e. Right. Can we start, please? (appealer + please)
In Book 2, the following combinations have been identified:
a. Can you possibly give me your pen, please? (downtoner + please)

b. I wonder if you could help me, please. (hesitator + please)
c. Do you mind giving me your dictionary, please?(opener + please)
d. Would you therefore please let us know about your wishes as soon as possible so that
we can serve the room you need? (please + grounder)
Due to the over-representation of the marker please, it appears in almost all the
combinations. A close look at the data drawn from the native speakers’ production reveals that
please does not often combine with such a range of mitigators (author’s data). In other words, the
textbook input should be based on patterns and frequencies inspired by natural language [or
imperially-validated data] so as to avoid the bias of being counterintuitive (Vellenga, 2004). As
expected, there are no combinations of the mitigating devices spotted in Book 3. This is due to
the fact that few HAs and modifications have been presented in this book.
Having dealt with core requests and peripheral elements individually, now we see them in
combination. This allows us to identify the overall structure of requests in the three textbooks.
Table 7 includes various structures found in the material.
Table 7: Use of Request Structures in the Three Textbooks

Structures No. (%) Book 1 Book 2 Book 3
HA Only 28 (43.08%) 9 (39.13%) 13 (81.25%)
HA + SM 28 (43.08%) 9 (39.13%) 2 (12.50%)
SM + HA 9 (13.85%) 4 (17.39%) 1 (6.25%)
SM + HA + SM 0 (0.00%) 1 (4.35%) 0 (0.00%)
Total 65 (100%) 23 (100%) 15 (100%)
As can be seen in the above table, in all the three books, HA-Only category is widely
used. This indicates the oversimplification that characterises the textbooks, something which is
likely to hinder the learners’ pragmatic development than to foster it. It is quite understandable
that the textbook writers might have opted for that considering the learners’ level which might
not permit them to access natural or near natural data, but this should not be at the expense of
their pragmatic progress. In terms of frequency, the table implies that all the categories are
presented in the textbooks. In terms of content, these structures do not really reflect the
requestive patterns in natural production since in most requests of the type HA + SM and SM+
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HA, the SM stands for please and attention-getter respectively. In other words, learners are
offered a limited range of pragmatic choices.
We still have some comments to make concerning the metapragmatic information that
accompanies the requestive act. By metapragmatic information we mean “any information
related to culture, context, illocutionary force, politeness, appropriacy and/or register” (Vellenga,
2004: 5). In this paper, we consider pragmatic information that is directly related to the
requestive act as well as any piece of information that has a pragmatic consequence in its
production. As for counting information, one instance of metapragmatic information is the bit of
information which is mentioned at one go. In Book 1, as can be seen from table 8, there is a lack
of metapragmatic information. This is concordant with the fact that the largest portion of
requests is implicitly tackled. That is, they have not appeared in tasks specifically centred on
requests.
Table 8: Metapragmatic Cues in the Three Textbooks
Metapragmatic Cues No. (%) Book 1 Book 2 Book 3
Politeness: Appropriacy/Illocutionary Force 2 (7.69%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Register: Formal/Informal 2 (769%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Culture-specific 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Contextual Situation 3 (11.54%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Participants 19 (73.08%) 6 (100%) 10 (100%)
Relationship 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Total 26 (100%) 6(100%) 10 (100%)
As for appropriacy, while dealing with clarification-asking task, learners have been
explicitly offered strategies and shown how to use them in context. Furthermore, teachers have
been asked to demonstrate how they are used in real spoken interactions. Though limited, such
explicit metapragmatic cues may provoke pragmatic awareness of how linguistic forms fit the
context. As for politeness, it has been explicitly dealt with the issue of the voice tone and its role
in conveying pragmatic attitudes (e.g. peremptory or polite). This is pragmatically relevant
request performance. Register is the pragmatic issue that has received most attention. That is to
say, rich information has been included. It has been explicitly mentioned that requests are made
formal and informal using could and can respectively. Somewhere else in the Teacher’s Book,
teachers are recommended to draw the learners’ attention to formal and informal (colloquial)
English and their most salient features. In addition, how the choice of the right register should be
made to fit the situation has been tackled. In a phone-conversation task, learners are offered a
description of situations and, thus, the contextual factors. This is pragmatically relevant because,
in phone conversations, making requests is almost inevitable. On 19 occasions, the requester and
the requestee have been specified. This helps in inferring their relationship, the context and the
type of interaction (e.g. customer-secretary). However, no explicit discussions have been found
as regards the relationship between participants and its impact on pragmatic choice. In, almost,
all the cases these pragmalinguistic cues have been implied; it has not been explicitly stated that
they are pragmatically relevant in the production of an utterance. All in all, these pragmatic cues
are unlikely to motivate pragmatic awareness and development as the general presentation of
input seems to link functions of requests to particular language forms and this would limit the
range of pragmatic choices learners may opt for to make their requests (Vellenga, 2004), unless
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the teacher intervenes to fill in this gap. By experience, teachers do not always indulge in such a
problem as they are restricted with a tight deadline to finish the programme and faced with
learners who keep asking about translating words into their mother language and thus making
only grammatically-correct utterances.
Book 2 and 3 are rather limited in terms of metapragmatic information offered except
from specifying the participants on certain occasions. Knowing the participants is never enough
if learners are not aware that the relationship and the degree of familiarity between interlocutors
have an impact on the requestive act. Actually, in the three textbooks little has been done to
make learners aware of these factors.
Apologies:
In comparison with requests, the three textbooks contain very few apologies. The
occurrence of apologies is far from reflecting the occurrence of the apologising act in real
language use settings. Findings from interlanguage and cross-cultural pragmatic studies have
suggested that this linguistic act is frequently realised in speech act data gathered through various
data collection instruments (e.g. Blum-Kulka et al., 1986). Book 1 includes 34.50% of the
apologies; Book 2 includes 30.67% while Book 3 includes 26.09 %. It is worth mentioning that
we have coded as apology not only the ones uttered for social offences, but also those that
precede refusals, asking for clarification and those for hearing offence. On the whole, the
distribution of apologies seems to be random and non-patterned.
Table 9: Number of Apologies in the Three Textbooks
Number of Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Total
Apologies No. (%) 9 (34.50%) 8 (30.67%) 6 (26.09%) 23(100%)
As can be seen from Table 10, expression of apology is the most used strategy in the
three textbooks. This really reflects its high frequency in real interactions, but the overuse may
always be a source of bias. This can also be counted as an oversimplification of the apologising
act which is realised with a cluster of strategies no less complex than those of request.
Table 10: Use of Apology Strategies in the Three Textbooks

Apology Strategies No. (%) Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Total
Expression of Apology (IFID) 7 (70.00%) 8 (72.73%) 6 (100%) 21 (77.77%)
Explanation/Account 3 (30.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 3 (11.11%)
Acknowledgement of
0 (0.00%) 3 (27.27%) 0 (0.00%) 3 (11.11%)
Responsibility
Offer of Repair 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Promise of Nonrecurrence 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%)
Total 10 (100%) 11(100%) 6 (100%) 27(100%)
The table also indicates that the textbooks are rather limited when it comes to the other
strategies. The explanation/account strategy appears just three times in Book 1 and the
acknowledgement of responsibility strategy three times in Book 2 while offer of repair and
promise of nonrecurrence strategies are not traceable in the three textbooks. Book 3 is always the
most limited in terms of strategies since it contains only IFIDs. In terms of content, the textbooks
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do not offer varied strategies even for expression of apology; (I’m) sorry has been used 80.95%,
to apologise/apologies has been used 9.52% and the verb to beg (pardon) has been used 9.52%
too. The over-presentation of one linguistic form in the textbooks is likely to push learners to
over-learn it and, thus, over use it later. Findings from interlanguage studies have supported this
claim. In her study, Trosborg (1995) reported that Danish learners, including the proficient ones,
used the expression I’m sorry with a very high frequency. She argued that this item was over-
learnt. Textbooks are likely to interfere in shaping such apologetic behavior in learners’
interlanguage. The wide occurrence of one item at the expense of the others may also provoke
overgeneralization in the learners’ performance when they are not sure about the other forms
(Sabaté i Dalmau and Curell i Gotor, 2007: 300). So far as excuse me, the linguistic counterpart
of I’m sorry, is concerned, it is worth mentioning that the occurred instances do not serve as real
apologies, but rather as attention-getters used before the issuance of requests. For this reason, it
has been considered only in the requests above.
In accordance with the number of apologies, few combinations have been spotted. Two
combinations are dominant: IFID + explanation/account and IFID + acknowledgement of
responsibility. Here are some examples:
Book 1
a. I am writing to apologise for the absence of my daughter Melinda from school yesterday she
had to take care of her little sister, because…… (IFID + Explanation).
b. I’m sorry I can’t. I have to go to the dentist. (IFID + Explanation)
Book 2
c. Sorry. I should have asked for your permission first. (IFID + Acknowledgement)
d. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. (IFID + Acknowledgement)
Another important aspect of the apologising act is IFID-internal intensification. Table 11
shows types and frequencies of the intensifiers found in the three textbooks. It is obvious that the
provided data do not conform to the naturally occurring data neither in terms of content nor
frequency. In Book 1, very is used just once. In Book 2, really is used once and sincere twice, in
written apologies. In Book 3, one apology was intensified by the emotional expression Oh! It is
obvious that some frequent intensifiers have been overlooked like so, truly, extremely.
Table 11: Use of Intensified Apologies in the Three Textbooks
Intensification
Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Total
No. (%)
Very 1 (100%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (20.00%)
Really 0 (0.0%) 1 (33.33%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (20.00%)
Sincere 0 (0.0%) 2 (66.67%) 0 (0.0%) 2 (40.00%)
Oh! 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (100%) 1 (20.00%)
Total 1 (100%) 3 (100%) 1 (100%) 5 (100%)
Like in requests, the metapragmatic data relevant to the production of the apologising act
is found to be limited in the textbooks examined. In Book 1, teachers are recommended to guide
learners on how to ask for clarification using forms of apology. This might be helpful in raising
awareness about the dynamics of the apologising act that is not only used for compensating
social offences. Elsewhere, learners are supposed to transform a formal apology to a less formal
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one through employing sorry instead of the verb to apologise. This is an attempt to make
learners distinguish between registers. Unfortunately, this task has been dropped from the later
editions of the textbook. As for intensification, learners are given cues how to intensify their
apologies when expressing sympathy. They are explicitly guided to intensify their apologies
using very, really and extremely (sorry). No explicit metapragmatic cues have been given in
Book 2. In Book 3, there is an occasion where degrees of friendship in the English culture are
discussed. The teacher could illustrate through apology, as well as request, how this aspect
influences language as used in context. This pragmatic cue gives the teacher a chance to shed
light on the sociopragmatic aspect of language. To sum up, the provided metapragmatic cues are
very limited and, thus, unlikely to provoke pragmatic awareness and/or development.
Summary of the Results:

The present study has revealed the following results which, in common, suggest that the
acquisition of requests and apologies through the input presented in the Algerian secondary
school textbooks is highly unlikely:
1. The distribution of input under question in the three textbooks seems to be, on the whole,
random and non-patterned as the occurrence of certain forms does not seem to vary in
accordance with the level of the learners while the occurrence of some others appears to be
counterintuitive.
2. At the pragmalinguistic level, learners, generally speaking, are exposed to the minimum
linguistic forms for producing requests and apologies. However, certain forms are overused
like the modals can and could, the politeness marker please, in requests and IFIDs, in
apologies. This may result in counter-effects i.e. overuse of these forms.
3. At the sociopragmatic level, the impact of the socio-cultural and the contextual factors on the
production of these two acts, like the age and the participants’ relation, is hardly ever tackled
and, thus, the three textbooks put learners’ awareness of the impact of such factors at stake.
4. As for the metapragmatic information, there is a severe shortage in the material. That is,
learners may actually learn a linguistic form but miss to learn how to use it in context.
5. The general tendency in the three textbooks is towards linking functions of request and
apology with certain linguistic forms and, hence, limiting the learners’ pragmatic choices
(Bardovi-Harlig, 2002, cited in Vellenga, 2004: 12). Such a tendency hinders the acquisition
of the pragmatic repertory by which a choice is made to convey the right intention with the
right pragmalinguistic form.
Conclusion:
Concordant with the findings, the following recommendations are in order. Textbooks
should be enriched with empirically validated data. Here, the textbook writers can benefit from
the already existing bulk of studies on interlanguage and cross-cultural pragmatics to identify
areas of instruction. Data can also be sought out in authentic and spontaneous speech. As regards
this point, Martinez-Flor (2007) points out that films can be a source of rich pragmatic input.
Once the data is selected, it should be boosted with explicit metapragmatic information so as to
show how the socio-cultural and the contextual factors influence the pragmatic choice. We agree
with Cohen (2005) that the appropriacy of data is not the only issue to consider; the focus on this
data should be explicit without neglecting learners’ strategies in learning and performing speech
acts. Cross-cultural awareness is also an inescapable factor for developing the communicative
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potential of FL and SL learners. To put it in Celce-Murcia’s (2007) words, “[i]f the role of
language instruction is communicative competence, language instruction must be integrated with
cultural and cross-cultural instruction (p. 51).”
About the Author

Boudjemaa DENDENNE is currently working as a teacher of EFL in a secondary school in
Algeria. The author got his BA and MA from University of Constantine I (Constantine, Algeria)
and he is presently a PhD candidate at the same university. His research interests include
interlanguage/cross- cultural pragmatics, translation studies and EFL teaching
References:
Alcón E, Safont MP, & Martínez-Flor, A. (2005). Towards a typology of modifiers for the
speech act of requesting: A socio-pragmatic approach. Ræl, Revista Electrónica de
Lingüística Aplicada, 4, 1-35.
Bergman, L & Kasper, G. (1993). Perception and performance in native and nonnative apology.
In Kasper & Blum-Kulka (eds.), Interlanguage Pragmatics, (pp. 82-107). Oxford and
New York: Oxford University Press.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and
apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Celce-Murcia, M. (2007). Rethinking the role of communicative competence in language
teaching. In Alcón Solar and Safont Jorda (eds.), Intercultural Language Use and
Language Learning (pp. 41-57). Dordrecht (Netherland): Springer.
Cohen, A. (1996). Investigating the production of speech act sets. In Gass and Nue (eds.), Speech
Acts across Cultures: Challenges to Communication in a Second Language (pp. 21-43).
Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Cohen, A. (1998). Speech acts. In McKay and Hornberger (eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language
Teaching (pp. 383-420). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Pragmatics, 2, 3, 275-301.
Eslami-Rasekh, Z., Eslami-Rasekh, A., & Azizollah, F. (2004). The Effect of explicit
metapragmatic instruction on the speech act awareness of advanced EFL students. In
TESL-EJ, 2, 8, 1-12.
Kasper, G. & Schmidt, R. (1996). Developmental issues in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in
Second Language Acquisition, 18, 149-169.
Kasper, G. & Blum-Kulka, S. (1993). Interlanguage pragmatics. New York and Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Maeshiba, N., Yoshinaga, N., & Kasper, G. (1996). Transfer and proficiency in interlanguage
apologising. In Gass and Nue (eds.), Speech Acts across Cultures: Challenges to
Communication in a Second Language (pp. 155-190). Berlin and New York: Mouton de
Gruyter.
Martinez-Flor, A. (2007). Analysing request modification devices in films: Implications for
pragmatic learning instructed foreign language contexts. In Alcón Solar and Safont Jorda

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(eds.), Intercultural Language Use and Language Learning (pp. 245-279). Dordrecht
(Netherlands): Springer.
Palmer, F. R. (1979). Modality and the English modals. London and New York: Longman.
Sabaté i Dalmau, M. & Curell i Gotor, H. (2007). From "Sorry very much" to "I'm ever so
sorry:" Acquisitional patterns in L2 apologies by Catalan learners of English.
Intercultural Pragmatics, 4, 2, 287-315.
Salazar Campillo, P. (2007). Examining mitigation in requests: A focus on transcripts in ELT
coursebooks. In Alcón Solar and Safont Jorda (eds.), Intercultural language Use and
Language Learning (pp. 207-222). Dordrecht (Netherland): Springer.
Sifianou, M. (1999). Politeness phenomenon in England and Greece. A cross-cultural
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Second Language Learning. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House.
Trosborg, A. (1995). Interlanguage pragmatics: Requests, complaints and apologies. Berlin:
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Textbooks:
Arab, S. A., Bensammene, M., & Riche, B. (2006). New prospects: Teacher's book, year three.
Algiers (Algeria): The National Authority for School Publications.
Arab S. A., Riche, B., & Bensemmane, M. (2009). New prospects: Secondary education, year
three. Algiers (Algeria): The National Authority for School Publications.
Riche, B., Arab, S. A., Bensemmane, M., Ameziane, H., & Hami, H. (2011). Getting through:
Secondary education, year two. Algiers (Algeria): The National Authority for School
Publications.
Riche, B., Arab, S. A., Bensemmane, M., Ameziane, H., & Hami, H. (2006). Getting through:
Teacher's book, year two. Algiers (Algeria): The National Authority for School
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Teacher's book, year one. Algiers (Algeria): The National Authority for School
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AWEJ
Pp.183-201
L2 Motivational Selves of Saudi Preparatory Year EFL Learners: A Quantitative Study
Hamid Ali Khan Eusafzai

English Language Centre, Colleges & Institutes Division,
Royal Commission, Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah
Saudi Arabia
Abstract
The study examined the English language learning motivation of Saudi preparatory year EFL
learners in higher education institutions in the western coastal city of Yanbu Al-Sinaiya in Saudi
Arabia. The current study is significant as so far only one study, investigating the language
learning motivational selves of Saudi students, exists. The current study used Dornyei’s L2
Motivational Self System as a theoretical frame work. Data was collected through a
questionnaire and subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) and regression analysis. PCA
revealed seven salient components of motivation of the preparatory year students. Language
learning environment and experience emerged as the strongest predictor of inducing English
language learning effort.
Keywords: Attitudes, EFL, L2 Motivational Self, language learning, motivation,

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L2 Motivational Selves of Saudi Preparatory Year Eusafzai
Introduction
For more than five decades Gardner’s theory of integrative motivation has been the
dominant approach to understanding second language learning motivation. However, due to
changing global scenario and evolving multicultural identities, the theory was found lacking in
explanation for English language learning motivation in a globalized world with English as its
lingua franca. Dornyei (2009) tried to bridge the gap by presenting his L2 Motivational Self
System (L2MSS). The system was validated through studies in several EFL contexts. However,
more research is advocated to “clearly define what is appropriately conceptualized as a possible
L2 self” and to discover “the different cross cultural meaning of the self” (MacIntyre, Mackinon
and Clement, 2009, p. 50, 54). The current paper aims at presenting an attempt exploring L2
motivational self in Saudi context. The aim of the study, reported in this paper, is to investigate
the L2 motivational self profile of the Saudi preparatory year students in L2MSS perspective. An
additional aim was to discover strong predictors of L2 motivation for this population. Data was
collected through an adapted questionnaire and was subjected to the statistical procedures of
principal component analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Factor analysis revealed
seven salient components of motivation; namely, attitude towards learning English, attitude
towards L2 people and culture, instrumentality-promotion, value of studying English,
instrumentality-prevention, parental encouragement and English anxiety. Attitude towards
learning English was discovered to be the strongest predictor of motivation among this group of
research participants.
Literature Review
L2 Motivation is “the extent to which an individual works or strives to learn the language
because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity” (Gardner, 1985,
p.10). The affective factor of motivation is “often seen as the key learner variable because
without it nothing happens” (Cohen & Dornyei, 2002, p.172). Corder (cited in Dornyei, 2009,
p.1) goes to the extent of saying, “given motivation, it is inevitable that a human being will learn
a second language if he is exposed to the language data”. The implication is that motivation is
the controlling power and impetus behind second or foreign language learning behaviour
(Dornyei, 1998), and probably also that motivation can be the determining factor in successful or
unsuccessful language learning. Oxford and Shearin (1994) suggest that actions required by the
learners for success in L2 acquisition are directly influenced by motivation. The crucial role of
motivation in L2 acquisition can also be highlighted by the fact that motivation has been termed
as an indicator of learners’ future success in the language they learn. Probably, motivation can
influence all aspects of the learning engagement and action. Dornyei (2005) sums up the
significant role of motivation in the following way:
It [Motivation] provides the primary impetus to initiate L2 learning and later the
driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process; indeed, all the
other factors involved in SLA presuppose motivation to some extent. Without
sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot
accomplish long-term goals, and neither are appropriate curricula and good teaching
enough on their own to ensure student achievement. On the other hand, high
motivation can make up for considerable deficiencies both in one’s language aptitude
and learning conditions. (p.65)

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Thus, motivation can rightly be termed as a central factor influencing second language
learning and one of the most important individual differences (Dornyei, 2010). Understanding
this significant individual difference can lead to the teacher’s ability to enhance learners’
motivation and resultantly learners’ achievement in their language acquisition.
Owing to the abovementioned essential role of motivation in language acquisition,

substantial research has been dedicated to investigating and developing the concept of L2
motivation (Dornyei, 2010), rather motivation has been a dominant research area in second
language acquisition since 1960s (Ushioda & Dornyei, 2012). The research in the area, during
these decades, can be divided in three phases (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2011), and the researchers
and theorists adapted different approaches to understand and explain the concept. The most
influential of these approaches was the social-psychological approach of Gardner and Lambert.
The approach placed motivation at the heart of second language acquisition. The main tenet of
the approach is that one learns a second language to “come closer to the other language
community” (Gardner, 2001, p5). The tenet has been termed as integrativeness. Gardner (2001)
defined integrativeness as:
Integrativeness reflects a genuine interest in learning the second language in order
to come closer to the other language community. At one level, this implies an
openness, and respect for other culture groups and way of life. In the extreme, this
might involve complete identification with the community (and possibly even
withdrawl from one’s original group but more commonly it might well involve
integration within both communities. (p.5)
The definition suggests that learning a second language is directed by the learner’s need of a
‘psychological and emotional identification’ (Dornyei & Csizer, 2002, p.453) with the target
language community. The process of identification may involve relinquishing previous identity
by the learner that the learner possessed by virtue of being the members of his/her L1
community. The concept of integrativeness attributes attitude towards the target language
community as an important factor in successful acquisition and learning of a foreign or second
language (Ushioda & Dornyei, 2012). The learner is interested both in the target language group
and their culture, and also their speech behaviour (Dornyei 2010). The willingness to learn the
language springs from this interest and also from the desire to assimilate in the target language
community. The attitude towards the target language community and their culture can influence
the attitude towards learning the language of the target group. “The learner’s ethnocentric
tendencies and his attitudes toward the members of the other group are believed to determine
how successful he will be, relatively, in learning the new language.” (Gardner & Lambert, 1972,
p.3)
Despite its pioneering nature, Gardner’s social-psychological approach to motivation has

not been without criticism. The studies, which were foundational to informing Gardner’s
approach, had mainly been conducted in the Canadian socio-educational environment. The
society has the existence of an L2 or target language community and any learner has ample
opportunities to communicate with the members of the L2 community; the need for integrating in
this community is quite distinct. However, these features of a society, where L2 community and
wider opportunities of communicating and interacting with the members of the L2 community
are present, do not exist in EFL situations. The situations are characterized by teaching a target
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language to the learners ‘without any direct contact’ with the members of the L2 community
(Dornyei, 2009, p.24), and if a need to integrate exists, it exists more for the teachers coming
from the L2 community rather than the foreign language learners. For example, native teachers
of English, living abroad and teaching their L1 as a foreign language to the learners in that
country, are probably more in need to integrate with their learners and the society of the learners
as the dominant community is the community of the learners. Then, in most of the EFL
situations, the contact of the learners with the target language is limited to the boundaries of the
classroom only, and they predominantly use their L1 outside the classroom. Hence, in such
foreign language learning situations, the concept of integrativeness as a desire to “learn more
about the language group” and “a willingness to be like valued members of the language
community” (Gardner & Lambert, 1959 in Dornyei & Ushioda, 2009 ) does not hold any ground
in the changing modern day global world.
Additionally, in the changing linguistic scenario of a global society, the idea of English
language belonging to a particular group or people is changing (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2009).
English language has evolved as a global and international language, and associating or
affiliating the language with a particular cultural group has probably lost its validity (Dornyei,
2005). Smith (cited in Coetzee-Van Rooy, 2006) opines that the ownership of English can lie
with anyone in a global world, and to make this claim of ownership to the language one needs
not to adopt the identity of the members of the Anglophone societies, and also that knowledge or
understanding of the native speaker culture is no more an imperative for being a proficient user
of English. The reason, for Smith’s claim, lies in the fact that due to the development of the
international ownership of English, the distinction between L1 and L2 communities of English
speakers is becoming extinct (Lamb, 2013). English can now be identified with ‘an amorphous
imagined community of the international English language users” (ibid, p.1000) and not with a
geographically or culturally distinct group. The perspective of globalization, in which English
does not belong to any clear geographically or culturally restricted group, invalidates the concept
of integrativeness as a desire to identify with the target language community. Coetzee-Van Rooy
(2006) criticizes this concept of integrativeness as a simplistic view of identity and is of the
opinion that such a view is based on “incorrect assumptions made about the sociolinguistic
contexts of many learners of English as a second language across the world” (p.441). The phrase
‘incorrect assumptions’ is referring to the idea embedded in the concept of integrativeness that
learners learn English because of their interest in the target language community or owing to
their desire to be like the members of that community. The situation may be contrary. In a
globalized world, with English as its lingua franca, the learners may learn English “to
communicate to the rest of the world their identity, culture, politics, religion and way of life”
without any intention “to be like a native speaker of English” (Smith cited in Coetzee-Van Rooy,
2006, p.441, 442). The interest and learning of English may be a result of the desire of the
learners ‘to be identified with either more educated and cosmopolitan members of one’s own
group” (Lamb, 2013, p.1000) or because of the learner’s “interest in foreign or international
affairs, willingness to go overseas to stay or work, readiness to interact with intercultural
partners, and… openness to non-ethnocentric attitude towards different cultures” (Yashima,
2002, p.57).
The perspective presented above necessitates reconceptualization of language learning

motivation in a way as to account for the complexities existing in English language learning
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contexts in a global world. Integrativeness cannot, probably, be presented as a valid reason or

motive for learning English language because there is an absence of interest in the target
language community and also a lack of the desire to identify or assimilate in the target language
community. Rather, the learner may be learning English language as a result of “an internal
process of identification within the individual’s self-concept” (Ushioda, 2006, p.150). Dornyei
(2009) tried to bridge this gap by presenting his model of L2 motivational Self System (L2MSS).
The system also tries to account for the internal processes of identification of the learners. The
underlying idea of the system is that “the motivationally important identifications are not with
others but with future versions of the self” (Lamb, 2013, p.1000). Dornyei’s model is based on
Higgins’ (1987) theory of self-discrepancy and Markus and Nurius (1986) concept of possible
selves. Markus and Nurius (1986) described possible selves as a “type of self-knowledge” which
“pertains to how individuals think about their future. Possible selves are the ideal selves that we
would very much like to become. They are also the selves we could become, and the selves we
are afraid of becoming. The possible selves that are hoped for might include the successful self,
the creative self, the rich self, or the loved and admired self, whereas the dreaded possible selves
could be alone self, the depressed self, the incompetent self, the alcoholic self, the unemployed
self, or the bag lady self ” (Markus & Nutius, 1986, p.954). Higgins (1987) presents two aspects
of possible self: ideal self and ought to self. Ideal self is what people hope or wish to become,
and ought-to self is what a person wish to become as a result of the influences of the “significant
others” (Higgins, 1987, p.320) like parents, teacher, or friends and peers. These possible selves
provide a reason for motivated behaviours, that is, a person may act either to achieve the hoped
for self or to avoid becoming the dreaded self. Motivation results when a person tries to bridge
the gap between onse’s current self and the self the person wants to be or would avoid to
become.
Dornyei (2009) based his model of L2MSS on these two frameworks of possible selves.
L2 Motivational Self System has three aspects: the ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self and L2
learning experience. The ideal L2 self, in the case of foreign language learning motivation, is
“the L2-specific aspect of one’s ideal self” (ibid, p.106). Ideal L2 self represents an internal
image of the target language user which a learner aspires to be in future. Thus, if the image
represents an L2 speaker, who is benefitting from the technological advances of the modern
world because of the target language skills, the learner would aspire to learn the target language
to be akin to the ideal or this internal image of a target language speaker, and this may result in
motivation to learn the language. The second aspect of L2MSS, the ought-to self represents those
duties, responsibilities and obligations which the learner has to fulfil in order to meet the
expectations of the people around him/her. The learner, while aspiring to fulfil these duties and
responsibilities, aims at preventing the negative outcomes like not meeting the expectations of
parents or teachers. Simply put, this aspect represents the “attributes that one believes one ought
to possess” (Dornyei, 2005, p.105). The third aspect of L2MSS is the L2 learning experience.
The construct represents the attitude of the learner towards the target language, and the attitude is
subject to influence by the learning environment or experience. Thus, the third aspect can also be
termed as situation-specific motives rooted in the learning environment and experience (ibid).
Dornyei’s L2MSS has been praised for being a more education-relevant framework,
having foundation in the already existing approaches to motivation, having the potential to
explain the complex concept of language learning motivation, and at the same time
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reconceptualising the concept of integrativeness for a multicultural and multilingual globalized

world (MacIntyre, Mackinon and Clement, 2009). The model has also been subjected to
empirical tests to validate it and also to find a correlation between the socio-psychological model
of Gardner and L2MSS. Studies were conducted in diverse EFL environment. Taguchi
conducted a study in Japanese context. Magid conducted an investigation in Chinese context, and
Papi investigated the L2MSS of Iranian context. The findings of all three studies were reported
in a joint paper (Taguchi, et al., 2009). Ryan (2009) conducted a research based on L2MSS in
Japanese context. All these studies discovered evidence of validity for the model in their
contexts. Csizer and Kormos (2009) validated the model in Hungarian context. They compared
the motivational and attitudinal behaviour of secondary school and university students. They
found ideal L2 self and language learning experience as the best predictor of motivated
behaviour. Kromos, Kiddle & Kizer (2011) conducted a study in Chile on a diverse population of
EFL learners including school students, university students and young adult learners. The study
confirmed that self-related beliefs play a role in language learning motivation. The most
important finding of the study was the students’ desire for integration in international culture and
they looked at English language as a mean to this integration. The other important factors
contributing to the motivated learning behaviour were immediate learning environment and
family support. Kim (2012) investigated L2MSS of Korean EFL students and discovered that the
model was more suitable for explaining the L2 motivation of Korean students as compared to
Gardner’s model due to changing educational context resulting from globalization. Kim
discovered that L2 motivation was significantly correlated to promotion and prevention based
instrumentalities, thus, partially validating L2MSS model. Lamb (2013) investigated L2
motivation in Indonesian settings. Lamb discovered that positive learning experience was the
strongest predictor of motivated language behaviour among rural group of participants, whereas
among the urban group L2 self was the strongest predictor.
Most of the above mentioned studies discovered that Ideal L2 self can be taken as an:
equivalent to integrativeness, strengthening the argument that integrativeness is
simply a local manifestation of a much more complex, powerful construct, […..].
What has been identified as integrativeness in numerous studies is simply one of a
much greater whole. [……] Integrativeness may indeed exist in many contexts
but it does so as part of a broader L2 self concept. (Ryan, 2009, p.137)
MacIntyre et al. (2009) is of the opinion that whereas L2MSS contributed to broadening
the idea of L2 learning motivation and also has the potential to effectively predict motivated
behaviour, there has not been enough research based on the model. The scenario is true of Saudi
Arabia and especially of the research on the motivation of Saudi preparatory year students. Only
one published research, by Al-Sheri (2009), could be discovered using L2MSS framework in the
Saudi context. However, the participants of his study were not exclusively Saudi students. The
participants were a mix of Saudi and non-Saudi UK-based Arab students. Further, Al-Sheri did
not report the findings population wise; therefor, the study is not very helpful in deriving
conclusions about the motivational orientations of the Saudi students (Weger, 2013). Thus, there
is a need to investigate L2 motivational orientations of an exclusive group of Saudi students
within the framework of L2MSS to explore how the Saudi preparatory year students
conceptualize their L2 selves. Further, as MacIntyre et al., (2009) expressed the need for more
research to help shaping a clearer approach to the meanings of possible L2 selves and how
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culture affect these meanings, there is a need to understand how Saudi students conceptualize
their L2 motivational selves in their particular educational, social and cultural context. The study
is conducted with the aim of achieving these ends. The research questions for this study are:
1: What are the significant factors of L2 motivation self of Saudi preparatory year students?
2: Which of these factors are the best predictors of L2 motivation?
Method
Participants
The participants of the research were Saudi preparatory year students of three Saudi
higher education institutions in a western coastal city of Saudi Arabia. Preparatory year students
are higher secondary school graduates with an age range of eighteen to twenty, and they have to
complete a foundational year study before embarking on their undergraduate study. The aim of
the preparatory year study is to equip the students with academic and linguistic skills to enable
them to cope with the demands of the university study. The main thrust of the preparatory year
study is to enhance students’ English language proficiency as the medium of instruction in the
undergraduate study is English (Yushau & Omar, 2006). Thus, the students have to undergo an
intensive English language instruction generally for two semesters (in some cases for three
semesters if the students’ proficiency level is too low). These semesters are labelled as English
000, English 001, and English 002. Students with beginners or low beginners level join English
000, and are expected to achieve elementary level of language proficiency at the end of the
semester. Students with elementary level are placed in English 001, and are allowed to proceed
to English 002 if they achieve pre-intermediate level at the end of the semester. Students in
English 002 level are expected to achieve intermediate level of English language proficiency at
the end of the semester, and are admitted to undergraduate study. The placement, in different
levels and semesters of the preparatory year English language program, is dependent on an
English language placement test in some universities. Hence, the general aim of the intensive
program is to raise the general English language proficiency of the students to intermediate level.
The students receive English language instruction for four hours a day and twenty hours a week.
Each semester spreads over a period of sixteen weeks. It may be worth mentioning that education
in Saudi Arabia is segregated by sex.
A total number of 500 preparatory year students were approached for participation in the
research. As mentioned earlier they were from three higher educational institutes, and from
different levels of preparatory year studies. However, only 434 participants’ data was selected
for analysis as the remaining 66 questionnaires had substantial number of missing or patterned
responses. Table 1 and Table 2 provide the demographic information of this final number of
participants.
Table 1: Gender-wise Demographics
Gender Number Percentage

Male 203 46.8 %
Female 231 53.2%

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Table 2: Level-wise Demographics
Level Number Percentage

English 000 105 24.2 %
English 001 111 25.6 %
English 002 218 50.2 %
Instrument
Data was collected through a questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from
Taguchi, Magid, & Papi, (2009). The questionnaire was originally used in Japanese context. As
the Saudi context is similar to Japanese context in terms of English language instruction being a
foreign language instruction in Saudi Arabia as well, thus the questionnaire was deemed suitable
for adaption and use in the Saudi context. Then, a pre-existing instrument was also adapted
because such instruments are more valid and reliable (Dornyei, 2010). The questionnaire had two
main parts. Part 2 required the students to provide demographic information like name of
institution, age, level of study, English language instruction in a native country and by a native
teacher, and their self-perceived level of English. Part 1 of the questionnaire had 67 statement
type and question type items. Forty-nine items were measured by six-point Likert scales ranging
from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6) and eleven items were measured on six-point
rating scales ranging from not at all (1) to very much (6). The 67 items ranged across 16
motivational factors. The factors included criterion measure, ideal L2 self, ought to L2 self,
parental encouragement, instrumentality-promotion, instrumentality-prevention, linguistic self-
confidence, attitude towards learning English, travel orientation, fear of assimilation,
ethnocentrism, English anxiety, integrativeness, cultural interest and attitude towards L2
community.
Instrument Adaption Procedure
Appropriate permission procedure was followed to obtain approval for adapting the
instrument. The instrument was translated in Arabic. Translation was necessitated by the limited
English language skills of the participants. A questionnaire, in the participants’ first language,
facilitates comprehension of the questionnaire items and facilitates acquiring accurate responses
(Dornyei, 2010). Translation and back translation (ibid) technique was used to acquire an
original-like Arabic version of the questionnaire. Additionally, the final version was again shown
to three bilingual translation experts to ascertain the accuracy of the Arabic version. They gave a
positive opinion about the accuracy of the Arabic translation.
Data Collection Procedure

The copies of the questionnaires were sent to the groups of the students through their
teachers. The students were informed about the purpose and aim of data collection through the
teachers and also through a prefatory note in the questionnaire. They were also informed of the

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voluntary nature of their participation, and were also assured of the confidentiality and
anonymity of the data.
Data Analysis
Data was subjected to post-hoc analysis through statistical package SPSS (version 20). The
decision of the post hoc analysis was led by the consideration that:
Questionnaires used as research instruments are developed following a theoretical
frame-work and the item response pattern typically corresponds to some extent to
this initial theoretical structure, particularly if the questionnaire has been properly
piloted. However, this correspondence tends not to be perfect and therefore we need
to conduct post-hoc item analysis and pattern verification before we can start
working with the reduced set of variables. (Dornyei & Csizer, 2006, p.32)
As the original questionnaire had questions related to 16 constructs, and was designed for
another context, thus it was decided to conduct factor analysis to reduce the number of variables
and to cluster inter-correlated variables together. Therefore, the data was, initially, submitted to
an exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis (PCA) to discover the main
constructs of the participants L2 motivation. Promax, a non-orthogonal method of rotation was
performed. Factor loadings of .4 or higher were considered significant. Factor extraction criteria
were based on Cattell’s scree test. Factors not loading more than two items, or items cross
loading on more than one factor were discarded.
Table 3: Principal Component Analysis Summary
F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7
% Variance 19.94 6.60 4.46 3.67 3.37 3.10 2.83
Eigenvalue 13.36 4.42 2.98 2.46 2.26 2.08 1.90
I really enjoy learning English. .861
I find learning English really interesting. .763
I always look forward to English classes. .632
How much do you like English? .547
I like the atmosphere of my English classes. .487
I am working hard at learning English. .438

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Do you like English magazines, newspapers, or books? .736
Would you like to know more about people from English-

.733
speaking countries?
Do you like TV programmes made in English-speaking

.730
countries?
Do you like meeting people from English-speaking

.650
countries?
Do you like people who live in English speaking

.608
countries?
The things I want to do in the future require me to use

.791
English.
Studying English is important to me because, if I

don’t have knowledge of English, I'll be considered a .706
weak student.
Studying English is important to me because with English

.651
I can work globally.
Studying English can be important for me because I think

.620
I’ll need it for further studies on my major.
I have to study English; otherwise, I think I cannot be

.564
successful in my future career.
Whenever I think of my future career, I imagine myself

.526
using English.
Studying English can be important to me because I think it

.863
will someday be useful in getting a good job.
Studying English is important to me because English

.766
proficiency is necessary for promotion in the future.
If I make more effort, I am sure I will be able to master

.626
English.

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I believe that I will be capable of reading and

.526
understanding most texts in English if I keep studying it.
I have to study English because I don’t want to get bad

.802
marks in it at university.
Studying English is necessary for me because I don’t want

to get a poor score or a fail mark in English proficiency .712
tests.
I study English because close friends of mine think it is

.635
important.
Learning English is necessary because people surrounding

.607
me expect me to do so.
I have to learn English because without passing the

.582
English course I cannot graduate.
I have to study English, because, if I do not study it, I

.576
think my parents will be disappointed with me.
My parents encourage me to study English. .820
My parents encourage me to take every opportunity to use

.805
my English (e.g., speaking and reading).
My parents encourage me to study English in my free

.796
time.
My parents encourage me to attend extra English

.690
classes after class (e.g., at English conversation schools)
If I met an English native speaker, I would feel nervous. .837
I would feel uneasy speaking English with a native

.789
speaker.
I would get tense if a foreigner asked me for directions in

.769
English.

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I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my

.638
English class.
Based on the criteria, seven factors loaded 35 items explaining 44% of the total variance.
The KMO measure of sampling displayed a strong value of .89 which indicates the suitability of
the sample for running a factor analysis. Table 3 reports variance, eigenvalue and item loading
for each factor.
The first factor loaded six items. In the questionnaire, four of the items were related to
attitude towards learning; one was related to integrativeness, and one was part of the criterion
measure. As the items loaded on this factor are related to positive and enjoyable learning
experience and interest in learning English, thus the factor can be named as attitude towards
learning English.
The second factor loaded five items. Three of the items probed students’ attitude to the
target language community and one investigated their likeness or otherwise of the print media
and one asked them about the TV programmes of the English speaking countries. The factor can
be named as attitude towards L2 people and culture.
The third factor loaded six items. Three of the items were related to instrumentality-
promotion, two to ideal L2 self, and one to instrumentality-prevention in the adapted
questionnaire. The items were related to their future academic and career use of English- the
academic and career instrumentality of English. Based on the shared theme of the future image
of the students’ English using self for academic and career related objectives, the factor can be
named as instrumentality-promotion as instrumentality-promotion is related to “ goals and hopes
of becoming professionally and personally successful in the L2” (Dornyei, 2009, p.29).
The fourth factor loaded four items. Two of the items were related to instrumentality-
promotion and the other two were related to the construct of linguistic self confidence in the
adapted questionnaire. Thus, the factor combines two themes: first, the theme of linguistic self-
confidence of the learners in becoming proficient in English language; second, how this
proficiency can help them in future. The apparently different looking themes can, by
connotation, be taken as referring to the future results of studying English by the students:
studying English may lead to proficiency in English language skills and subsequently also to
future success in professional life. Studying English is the current self of the student and the
linguistic and professional success resulting from the current self may be termed as linguistically
and professionally successful future self of the student. The future is based on the value attached
to the current studying of English language. Thus, the factor can be named as the value of
studying English.
The fifth factor loaded six items. Two of the items were related to instrumentality-
prevention and four of the items were related to ought-to self in the adapted questionnaire. The
questions shared a common theme of learning English in order to avoid failure in future
academic pursuits and displeasure and disappointment of parents and people around resulting
from the failure. The factor can be given the name of instrumentality-prevention as the shared
theme of the items loading on this factor was related to preventing the negative effect of failing
in English.

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The sixth factor loaded four items. As all items were related to the construct of parental
encouragement in the adapted instrument the name of the construct from the original
questionnaire, parental encouragement, was retained for the factor.
The seventh factor loaded three items. The items measured students’ anxiety in using
English inside and outside the classroom in the adapted questionnaire, and therefore the factor
was termed as English anxiety.
Reliability Measures/Mean Analysis

For further statistical analysis the 35 items loading on the seven factors were averaged in
seven composite scales and reliability measures and mean analysis were conducted of the items
and the scales. The 35 items loading on seven factors were subjected to reliability analysis which
resulted in a Cronbach’s alpha of .85.
Reliability analysis was carried out for each composite scale. The Cronbach’s alpha of all
the seven composite scales, resulting from the loading on factors, was within the acceptable
limits (>.7) (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Criterion measure showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.6;
however, the lower alpha value can be a result of lesser number (3 only) of items in the scale.
Table 4 reports the reliability measures and mean analysis of the seven composite scales.
Table 4: Reliability/Mean Analysis
Scale/Composite Scale Number Cronbach’s
of Items Alpha Mean SD

Value
Reliability of all items 39 .87
Attitude towards learning English 6 .81 4.85 .86
Attitude towards L2 people and 5 .75 4.33 1.04

culture
Instrumentality-promotion 6 .75 5.27 .74
Value of studying English 4 .75 5.66 .56
Instrumentality-prevention 6 .73 4.07 1.06
Parental encouragement 4 .78 4.59 1.11

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English anxiety 4 .76 3.67 1.19
Criterion Measure 3 .60 4.73 .93
Mean analysis of the seven factors indicate the highest mean of 5 for both value of studying
English and instrumentality-promotion. The highest mean score of these two factors is indicative
of the prominence of the two factors for this set of research participants.
Multiple Regression Analysis

Mutiple regression analysis was run to determine the best predictors of L2 motivation of
the Saudi preparatory year students. The criterion measure was used as the dependent variable.
Prior to running the analysis, multicollinearity, linerarity, and normality assumptions were tested
and no violations were discovered. Concurrently, any strong correlations (r=.07) were non-
existent among the variables. The prediction model (Table 5 ) contained six of the seven
independent variables. The prediction model is statistically significant, F (6, 427) =61.791,
p<.001, and accounted for 45% variance of the criterion measure. The strongest weight went to
attitude towards learning English, followed by instrumentality-promotion, parental
encouragement, value for studying English, instrumentality-prevention and attitude towards L2
people and culture. The unique variance explained by each of the predictors is approximately:
9% by attitude towards learning English, 0.3% by instrumentality promotion, 1.3% by parental
encouragement, 1.82% by value of studying English and less than 1% by both instrumentality
prevention and attitude towards L2 people and culture.
Table 5: Multiple Regression Analysis

Model b SE b Beta Pearson r
Constant -.631 .349
Attitude towards learning .411 .050 .382 .612

English
Instrumentality-promotion .103 .057 .082 .445
Parental encouragement .108 .033 .129 .388
Value of studying English .281 .074 .171 .488
Instrumentality- .089 .033 .102 .239

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prevention
Attitude towards L2 .086 .036 .096 .379

people and culture
Dependent variable: CM , R2=.46, Adjusted R2=.45, P<.05, sr2is the squared semi partial
correlation
Discussion
The study investigated the language learning motivation selves of the Saudi preparatory
year students, and explored as to which motivational selves construct are applicable to this set of
research participants. Factor analysis revealed that only seven motivational factors are salient for
the group, whereas the adapted questionnaire had a total number of 15 motivational factors. The
salient factors for the group are: attitude towards learning English, attitude towards L2 people
and culture, instrumentality-promotion, value of studying English, Instrumentality-prevention,
parental encouragement and English anxiety.
Factor analysis revealed that the first factor, attitude towards learning English, loaded all
(n=4) items from the same scale in the adapted questionnaire whereas one item each loaded from
integrativeness and criterion measure. One item loaded was loaded from the scale interest in
English language in the adapted questionnaire but was discarded as it loaded on two factors. The
factor also emerged as the strongest predictor of motivation in the regression analysis. The items
in the factor mainly aimed at investigating the students’ attitude towards contextual, situational
and environmental elements that play a role in English language learning. The emergence of the
factor indicates that attitude towards learning English plays a vital role in motivating Saudi
preparatory year students. The findings are in line with the studies conducted by Cizer and
Kormos (2009), Kromos, Kiddle & Kizer (2011) and Lamb (2013). The findings confirm that in
Saudi context students’ making effort does not necessarily depend on “inter or externally
generated self images but rather from successful engagement with the actual language learning
process” (Dornyei, 2009, p.29). The students’ effort towards learning English language will
result from their feeling “positive about the learning process” (Lamb, 2013, p.1014). The
findings, related to the emergence of the attitude towards learning English, also “suggest the role
of the teacher is potentially important in converting generally positive attitude towards English
into actual learning effort” (ibid). The importance of the role of learning environment is also
proven by my personal observation resulting from teaching to Saudi preparatory year students
for last five years. Students, with a lot of enthusiasm and drive, would lose interest in investing
further effort as the semester proceeds. Informal chats with them reveal that they do not find the
lessons very interesting. Invariably, the main reason explained is monotonous teaching routines.
The students have to attend the English language classes for four hours of every weekday.
Sustaining the learners’ interest during these hours for nearly sixteen weeks depends
predominantly on teachers. Students in intensive preparatory year are already under a lot of
pressure as they have to attend at least 7 hours of lessons daily. If the classes are not interesting,
the students will not feel motivated to attend the classes or participate in the learning activities.
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Thus, the responsibility lies with the teachers to make the learning environment pleasant and
enjoyable in their lessons to help students sustain their motivation.
The second factor, attitude towards L2 people and culture, loaded three of the four items
from the scale of attitude towards L2 community and two of the four items from the scale of
cultural interest. The loading of the items indicates that students consider people and media as a
representation of the L2 community. The reason can be that many students in Saudi EFL context
do not come in direct contact with the members of l2 community. The minimal contact is either
through the teachers or other professionals from the L2 community teaching or working in Saudi
Arabia, or through the electronic media. The media in such case becomes representative of the
L2 community. Attitude towards L2 community or culture is the main focus of Gardner’s model
of integrativeness and “reflects a positive non-ethnocentric approach to other community”
(Gardner, 1985, p.133). The factor indicates a positive outlook of the Saudi students towards the
target language community. However, the regression analysis shows that the factor plays
minimum role in inducing effort in learning English language by the students.
The third factor, named as instrumentality-promotion, is a blend of items from three
different scales in the adapted questionnaire. The factor loaded items from the independent scales
of ideal L2 self, instrumentality-promotion, and instrumentality-prevention. Majority of the items
(three of six) were contributed by the scale of instrumentality-promotion in the adapted
questionnaire. The main theme of these items is related to the instrumental use of English in
future for two main purposes: academic and career/professional success. Students consider
academic and professional success in future tied to the use of English. The factor is the second
highest predictor of motivation in the regression analysis, and is linked to the utilitarian benefits
of English language proficiency. Though only two of the items from the construct of ideal L2
self blended in this factor, the factor may be interpreted as the ideal L2 self of the participants, as
ideal L2 self includes “internalised instrumental motives” (Dornyei, 2009, p.29). The factor has
not loaded items related to integrative orientation and attitude towards L2 speaker, but certainly
the aspect of instrumentality of the ideal L2 self blended in the factor. Thus, we can interpret that
the ideal L2 self of the participants is more of a person speaking English and using English for
instrumental reasons than for integrative reasons.
The next factor, value of studying English, blended items from the scales of
instrumentality-promotion and linguistics self confidence. As mentioned earlier, the items loaded
on the factor, make a current state of studying English and investing effort in learning English as
a basis for some future gains, that is, the future gain of proficiency in English and professional
gain in terms of a good job and better career prospects in future. Hence, the name value of
studying English was given to the factor. The factor is not among the highest predictors of
motivation in regression analysis. The factor is related to the internalized self of an effort making
student with a future image of the efforts resulting in English language proficiency and career
success.
The fifth factor, named instrumentality-prevention, blended items in equal number from
the scales of ought to self and instrumentality-prevention. The theme of the majority of the items
is studying English to avoid failure or under-achievement in English language tests. One item
each is related to studying English for the reason of not disappointing parents, and one item to
fulfil the expectation of the people around them. The factor can, probably, be taken as a
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representation of the students ought-to self as “motives with a prevention focus - for example, to
study in order not to fail an exam or not to disappoint one’s parents- are part of the ought self”
(Dornyei, 2009, p.28). Apart from preventive stance, the ought to self also includes duties and
obligation to ‘significant others’ (Csizer & Kormos, 2009, p.103). The factor loaded one item
related to the duty of the students towards their parents. My personal observation, in Saudi
preparatory year context, is that most of the educated mothers take a lot of interest in the
academic pursuits of their children. The students often express their concern regarding
disappointing their mothers by attaining low grades. Instrumentality-prevention is not among the
best predictors of intended effort in the regression analysis, though preventing failure in English
tests and exams is highly important for the students of preparatory year. The rule of the most of
the higher education institutions is that any student scoring a low GPA on English is eliminated
from the preparatory year program even if the student has scored well in other subjects. Thus
success in English language course becomes mandatory for the student to stay in the university
and continue his/her study.
The sixth factor, parental encouragement, loaded all items from the same scale in the
adapted questionnaire. Parental encouragement is the next strong predictor of motivation in
regression analysis, preceded only by the factors of attitude to learning English and
instrumentality-promotion. The role of the parents can be taken as akin to extrinsic motive of
learning English language for the students: “Parental encouragement also contributes to the
students’ non-internalised L2 self-concept” (Csizer & Kormos, 2009, p.107).
Factor seven, English anxiety, loaded items related to the scale of English anxiety in the
adapted questionnaire. The construct is the only one which did not appear as a predictor of
intended learning effort in the regression analysis. However, English anxiety and attitude to
learning effort are possibly related to each other. Anxiety may lead to a negative attitude and
reduced anxiety may result in positive learning attitude. Thus, the teachers while trying to
provide a conducive, pleasant and enjoyable learning environment should strive to reduce the
level of anxiety resulting from linguistic tasks or performance for the learners.
The overall picture L2 motivational selves of the Saudi preparatory year students, emerging from
principal component analysis and regression analysis can be summed up now. The motivational
selves of these students are shaped by their immediate learning and societal environment. The
ideal self appears to be of a learner investing efforts in learning English in order to gain
proficiency in the language and the proficient English language user affording utilitarian benefits
in future academic and professional career. The factors which can help in sustaining this effort
are a conducive and learners’-friendly learning environment, the image of an academically and
professionally successful proficient English language user, and parental encouragement.
Conclusion
The aim of the current study was to explore the L2 motivational self of the Saudi
preparatory year students. The study revealed seven factors important to L2 motivation self of
the group of students under research. The strongest predictors of motivation among these factors
were attitude towards learning English and instrumentality-promotion. The findings of the study
may be used to understand the motivational selves or the internalized and external factors related
to L2 motivational selves of the students. However, generalizability claims would remain weak

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as the sampling approached was based on convenience sampling technique and the participants
belonged to one city only. It is also felt that a mixed method approach can be utilized to explore
the L2 motivational selves profile of these students and the issues attached with it further and
deeper. Concurrently, there is also a need of involving a larger and more representative sample
of the population for generalizing conclusions of the future research.
About the Author

Eusafzai is in the field of English language teaching for nearly 14 years. He has initially taught
in his home country Pakistan, and later joined the English language teaching faculty of a higher
education institution in Saudi Arabia. Currently, he is working as Lecturer in Royal Commission
English Language Centre at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. His academic interests are classroom
dynamics, role of technology in language learning, professional development and teacher
cognition.
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AWEJ
Pp.202-222
Student Perceptions of the Foundation Programme Assessment in Two Colleges in Oman
Fatma Al Hajri
Ministry of Higher Education, Oman
Abstract
This study investigates student perceptions of the English language assessment in terms of its
effectiveness, reliability, validity and the students’ preference of its constituting instruments. It
included 184 students from two Colleges in Oman who participated in responding to a
questionnaire, of those 106 students participated in gender specific focus groups. The data
obtained from the questionnaire was analysed for descriptive statistics and significant differences
amongst the groups using Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis Test. Student views
expressed in focus groups were analysed using thematic content analysis. The results suggested
that the students perceived FP assessment as generally effective but they were ill-informed about
its nature and contents. The data also indicated that there was a perceived need for more
assessment instruments and an unexpected low social impact of FP assessment considering its
high stakes.
Keywords: Assessment, English Language, Higher Education, Tests, Continuous Assessment.

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Student Perceptions of the Foundation Programme Al Hajri
Introduction
In Omani higher education, a level of proficiency in English is a requirement to access
most higher education institutions (HEIs), and English is considered a vital tool to access the
national labour market (Al-Lamki, 1998, 2006; Donn &Al-Manthri, 2010; Al-Issa, 2006). Al
Shemli (2009) looks at the role of English in higher education in the globalised context, and
argues that “the main effect of globalisation in the Sultanate of Oman is the need to diversify the
economy and raise standards; and the concomitant pressure to supply skilled graduates for
rapidly changing economic conditions” (p.10). In this context, improving the English language
skills of students is identified as a major challenge in higher education, though reforms have
been undertaken at both the school and university levels (Al Shemli, 2009). Reforms in school
education that target improving proficiency in English language alongside skills in other subjects
are highlighted by Alsarimi (2001), who calls for innovative methods to assess these skills and
lessen the use of assessment tools that solely rely on memorising or rote learning.
The new educational system aims to strengthen student competencies in
mathematics and science, to improve student proficiency in English, and to teach students
to use scientific methods and problem solving … it is crucial that student assessment be
reformed as well (pp. 27-28).
Changing the assessment instruments does not result in improving students’ English
language proficiency per se. How these instruments are implemented and how students and
teachers view these instruments participate in their effective implementation. This paper
investigates the student perceptions of FP assessment and suggests a number of areas to enhance
its effectiveness.
Literature Review
As graduates’ proficiency in English language is required by both the national and
international labour markets, it has been identified as a vital asset in higher education. Though
the internationality of English language as a lingua franca has also been emphasised as one of the
reasons for this (Al-Issa, 2006; Al-Mahrooqi, 2012), the fact that the private labour market
mainly operates in English has been seen by others as a more compelling reason. The need for
graduates with an acceptable level of proficiency in English is clear in Al-Lamki’s exploration of
the barriers to Omanisation (i.e., replacing expatriates by Omani nationals in the labour market).
Since English is the international language of communication and is also the medium
for international business transaction, and since English is the operational language
in Oman’s private sector, it is recommended that the level and standard of English
taught in schools and colleges be improved (2011, p.395).
In response, the governing bodies responsible for education in Oman have set conforming
goals. The Ministry of Education states that:
The government recognises that the facility in English is important in the new global
economy. (Reform and Development of General Education, Ministry of Education,
1995, p. A 5-1: as cited in Al-Issa, 2006).
The Ministry of Higher Education proclaim similar views on the role of English language
in CAS. English language teaching is associated with national development in Oman; the
National English language Policy/Plan (NELP) states that:
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the English language skills of Omani nationals must be seen as an important resource
for the country’s continued development. It is this recognition of the importance of
English as a resource for national development and the means of wider
communication within the international community that provides the rationale
for English in the curriculum (Al-Issa, 2005 , p.2, emphasis in original).
Despite such stated intentions, plans and policies to promote the English language
proficiency of the labour force, recent studies of graduates’ English skills have found that these
are inadequate for the needs of the private sector (Al-Mahrooqi, 2012; Al-Lamki, 2006). Al-
Mahrooqi asserts that “research and experience have proved that the majority of school and
college graduates possess neither adequate English language skills nor communication skills to
function effectively in the workplace, which is dominated by expatriates from around the world”
(2012, p. 124).
A similar view has been reported by the graduates themselves who “felt that their
communication skills were very poor. Even the students on the verge of graduation expressed
this, with much regret and sorrow” (Al-Mahrooqi, p.129). The students’ conciousness of their
lack of adequate language skills seems to have deterred them from applying for vacancies in the
private sector; Al-Lamki reports that “students felt that the private sector discourages and
disqualifies Omanis from applying because of the requirements for work experience and English
language skills” (2006, p.392). She found that 72% of the 58 graduate students, in this study,
considered English language a barrier to work in the private sector. All in all, the issue of
employability is very complex; one can only speculate that factors such as motivation,
proficiency in English language or possessing other skills might be relevant, but the magnitude
of these roles is still under-researched.
A common concern that is raised about pre-sessional programmes in general is that they
allow students to embark on academic study with an inadequate level of English proficiency
(Allwright & Banerjee, 1997; Fox, 2004). Cotton and Conrow (1998) report thatstudents
expressed a need for extra EAP instruction even after they had reached the IELTS level required
by their universities. Though most internationally recognised higher education institutions do not
permit embarking on higher education before reaching a certain minimum level of English
language proficiency, some others do allow students to start academic studies at lower levels of
language proficiency and provide them with language support programmes (Fox, 2004). The
Colleges of Applied Sciences (CAS) follow this approach: students are provided with two EAP
courses in their first year and two English for Specific Purposes courses in their second (one each
semester) to help them overcome some language challenges they might face when starting
academic study. The role of assessment in enhancing language programmes and improving
student proficiency has been highlighted (e.g., Alsarimi, 2001; Al kharusi, 2008).
This study was conducted in two Colleges of Applied Sciences: Sur and Rustaq. It is
estimated that almost 80% of the students admitted to higher education in Oman require English
language courses in the Foundation Programme (FP) before starting their academic study (Al-
Lamki,1998). The FP is a pre-sessional programme that can be considered an integral part of
almost all of the HEIs in Oman. Its general aim is to provide students with the English language
proficiency, study skills, computer and numeracy skills required for university academic study
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(OAAA, 2009). The aim of teaching English language is stated to be “equip[ing] students with
both the English Language and academic study skills they will need to succeed in their subject
studies” (CAS, 2010a, p.33).
The FP consists of twenty hours per week of English language instruction, and two hours
of mathematics and/or computer skills courses in each semester. The English language
programme is divided into two major courses, the General English language (GES) and
Academic English Skills (AES), the acronym (FP) will be used to refer to the English language
components only of the programme.
The present assessment system in CAS uses both standardised tests and Continuous
Assessment (CA) as the way forward for education and assessment reforms in Oman. In a
description of the assessment used in CAS, it is stated that “academic regulations mandate the
allocation of 50% of marks to a final examination and 50% to CA” (CAS, 2010a, p. 35).
Assessment in FP also included tests and CA instruments. Table 1 shows that assessment in the
GES course includes a mid-term test and a final test, whereas assessment in the AES course
includes writing a report and presenting it orally (i.e., CA).
Table 1. Assessment instruments in the foundation programme courses

Course Assessment % of Course % of Foundation Programme
Instruments Total Total
General Mid-term Test 40% 50%
English Skills Final Test 60%
Academic Presentation 50% 50%
English Skills Report 50%
In order to pass, students must obtain 50% of the total marks in each course; failing to
achieve this means failing the FP and consequently being denied access to higher education.
Study Questions
This study investigates student views of FP assessment in terms of its effectiveness,
reliability and validity, social and educational impact, and their preference of various assessment
tools. It provides a preliminary, small case study that was used as part of a larger study
conducted to fulfill the requirements of a PhD at the University of Edinburgh. This paper mainly
looks into the following questions and triangulated data from two different data collection
methods: a Questionnaire and focus group.
1. How effective was the process of assessing students' English language performance,
through continuous assessment and tests, in the Foundation Programme (FP) as viewed
by students?
2. How was the reliability and validity of FP assessment viewed by students and teachers?
3. How was the impact of FP assessment perceived by students and teachers?
4. What were the differences between the 'continuous assessment' model used in the
Academic English Skills course and the ‘test’ model used in the General English Skills
course in terms of effectiveness, accuracy, and preferences of students?

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Methodology
The Questionnaire
A total of 220 FP students were invited to participate in this study, which was conducted
over two academic semesters. Of those a total of 184 students participated in responding to the
questionnaire; 127 (69%) of them were from Rustaq College and the other 57 (31%) students
were from Sur College. The sample consisted of 119 female students (64.7%) and 65 male
students (35.3%). At CAS, when the students were admitted to the FP, they had already selected
their intended specializations. The participants were from four different departments:
Information Technology (IT), Communications Studies (CS), International Business
Administration (IBA) and English Language-Education (see Table 2).
Table 2. The distribution of participants by specializations

Specialization n %
Information Technology 50 27.2
Communication Studies 25 13.6
International Business Administration 85 46.72
English Language-Education 24 13.0
Total (N) 184 100
The 184 students who completed the questionnaire forms were invited to take part in the
focus groups and 106 of them agreed to participate; 12 focus groups were conducted seven of
which were female only groups and the other five were male only groups. The participants
expressed their preference of gender specific focus groups.
Table 3. An overview of the participants in focus groups
Group College Gender Number of Students Length/minutes

Group 1 Rustaq F 12 53 min.
Group 5 Sur M 9 33 min.
Group 7 Sur F 12 38 min.
Group 8 Rustaq F 13 26 min
Group 9 Sur M 8 38 min
Group 12 Rustaq M 13 51 min.
Total 106 418 min.
All of the groups’ discussions were carried out in Arabic and were video-taped. The
recordings were translated into and transcribed in English.

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Data Analysis
Questionnaire
Appendix 1 displays the number and percentage of the students who responded to each
item by selecting a point in the five-point likert scale questionnaire. The points 1 to 5
respectively denote Strongly Agree (SA), Agree, (A), No Opinion (NO), Disagree (D), and
Strongly Disagree (SD). The appendix also shows the means of the students’ responses to the
items including the recoded ones.
It is important to note here that the views of the students and teachers on assessment validity are
actually a form of “face validity”, they are not evaluations of the “construct” or “content” aspects
of assessment validity.
The questionnaire items were organised into groups for later analysis based on their
themes. In some cases, shown in the table, this entailed recoding (i.e., changing responses to be
1=5, 2=4, 3=3, 4=2 and 5=1) so that semantically opposite or near-opposite items could be more
directly compared. The expectation was not that the items in a group would be found almost
totally equivalent, but that they might reveal broad trends of satisfaction, dissatisfaction and
perhaps other feelings and perceptions, whilst anomalous response patterns might offer further
insights.
These expectations were only partially met. In the large section on Perceived Validity,
mean scores were fairly similar within and even between sub-sections: all were below 2.9 (3.0
=No Opinion), indicating broad but not overwhelming acceptance of FP assessment validity. In
some other sections, however, means varied more widely and fell on both sides of the middle
point (M=3.0). Some of these cases will be discussed below.
Focus Group
Though content analysis is sometimes linked to quantifying the elements of the content
according to a set of categories in a systematic manner (Bryman, 2008), thematic content
analysis is linked to qualitative data analysis. According to Bryman interpretation of Althiede’s
analysis (1996), ethnographic content analysis involved an element of “constant discovery and
constant comparison of relevant situations, settings, styles, images, meanings, and nuances”
(p.393). In this study, thematic (ethnographic) content analysis which focuses on “what is said
rather than on how it is said” (Bryman, 2008, p.412) was used to analyze the transcripts of the
student focus groups.
The term “coding” though is widely used; it usually entails different procedures that
sometime authors do not explicitly describe (Richards & Morse, 2007). It is essential for the
enhancement of the quality and validity of any study to delineate not only the procedures
followed in data collection but also in data analysis (Creswell, 2011; Maxwell, 1992; Mishler,
1990). In this study, the transcripts were coded using topic coding which links the ideas to the
data rather than labelling the data only (Richards & Morse, 2007). A list of 20 codes emerged
from reading the transcripts and referring to the study questions. The codes were selected based
on their re-occurrence of the ideas and relativity to the study questions. Once the list of codes
was refined, the steps below, which were adapted from (Miles & Huberman, 1994), were applied
to focus group scripts. These steps were:
a. Assigning codes to the appropriate extracts in all interview scripts or audio recordings.
b. Reading the extracts linked to each code and clustering them into groups.
c. Looking for possible themes.
d. Comparing and contrasting the themes within the same phase and between the phases.
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e. Splitting or combining themes.

f. Building a logical chain of evidence.
g. Making conceptual coherence.
The codes were categorised into three main themes: uncertainty about assessment
instruments’ weightings and scales, tests in students’ perceptions, and CA in students’
perceptions. The latter two themes were divided onto six subthemes that covered the students’
views on the reliability and validity of FP assessment.
Results
Students’ Responses to the Questionnaire
This section aggregates the average responses to the individual items and presents the Mean and
Standard Deviation of the responses to each topic to obtain an overview of students’ perceptions
of Perceived Reliability, Perceived Validity, Preference of Tests, Satisfaction with Current
Assessment Practices, and Impact of FP assessment. Table 4 lists the questionnaire’s topics
which are hierarchically ordered according the means of the responses to each topic.
Table 4. Means of the student questionnaire’s topics

Topics Mean Std. Deviation
Political Impact 1.81 .78
Preference of Continuous Assessment 1.99 .75
Perceived Construct Validity 2.06 .75
Preference of Tests 2.36 .79
Perceived Content Validity 2.73 1.04
Perceived Reliability 2.83 .78
Social Impact 2.85 .58
Satisfaction with Current Assessment Practices 3.17 .51
The results showed that the students seemed to positively perceive the reliability and
validity of the FP assessment as the mean scores were Perceived Reliability (M =2.83),
Perceived Construct Validity (M=2.06) and Perceived Content Validity (M=2.73). It can be seen
from appendix 1 that the students seemed to show less satisfaction with the content validity of FP
assessment than they did with its construct validity. A closer look at the elements of the Content
Validity topic reveals that the mean of one of its items was close to the disagreement range (i.e.,
M ≥ 3.1). The means for the four items were respectively item 1.1: M = 2.7, item 1.2: M = 2.4,
item 1.3: M = 2.9, and item1.4: M = 2.3 (appendix 1). The students’ responses to the third item
implied that their certainty level of how their achievement would be exactly assessed in the FP
courses was not high. Actually, 41% of the students responded with Disagree or Strongly
Disagree to this item, while 47% of the students responded with Agree or Strongly Agree. It
seems that a considerable percentage of the students were ill-informed about how they would be
assessed in their English language courses. The students’ lack of knowledge about the
assessment procedures could have lowered the average mean of FP Perceived Content Validity.

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Another interesting point in Table 4 is that the mean score of the perceived Political
Impact of FP was lower than that of perceived Social Impact of FP assessment. The means of the
responses to FP Political Impact and Social Impact topics are 1.8 and 2.85 respectively, both of
which fall in the agreement range (from M= 1 to M= 2.9). There seemed to be a majority
agreement with the statements that indicates that FP assessment could entail considerable
political impact by affecting the job opportunities in the labour market and the country’s
international status. Also, there seemed to be a moderate agreement with the idea that
assessment in FP did not entail negative or drastic social impact on students’ lives. Though FP
assessment could be considered high-stakes, most of the students felt that the assessment was
relatively fair, not frightening, and did not depend on luck. It is worth noting that though most of
the students felt that both Continuous Assessment (CA) and tests were not stressful, they seemed
to believe that the tests (item 6.1: M= 2.26) were less stressful than the CA (item 6.2: M=2.1).
Some of the reasons for this view were discussed in focus groups.
The topic of Satisfaction with Current Assessment Practices had the second highest mean
(M= 3.17). This implies that most of the students were not satisfied with the FP assessment.
Investigating the items under this topic shows that though most of the students seemed generally
satisfied with the FP assessment (item 5.1: M=2.15), most of them also believed that the FP
assessment should be changed (item 5.2: M= 3.42) and that the change should not include fewer
assessment instruments (item 5.2: M=2.29). Interestingly, this response was found to conform to
what most of the students said in the focus groups about increasing the number of assessment
instruments. In general, it could be concluded that the students seemed to be satisfied with the
assessment practices, but they tended to believe that there should be more assessment
instruments.
The last point about the means of the responses to questionnaire topics is that the respondents
seemed to prefer AES continuous assessment (item 4.2: M= 2.23) more than the GES tests (item
3.1: M=2.46). This preference resonated with their opinions as expressed in the focus groups as
discussed below.
Comparing Perceptions amongst the Groups

This section further explores the students’ responses to the questionnaire by investigating
significant differences in responses to the items of each topic amongst the groupings by gender,
college, specialization and self-evaluation. This exploration aims at identifying any clear pattern
of consistent differences in the groups’ responses that might shed some light on the participants’
perceptions using filters such as college or gender.
Before looking at the results of these tests it is important to clarify the rationale for using
non-parametric tests. First of all, the data generated by a likert scale is an ordinal and sometimes
categorical type of data that is best investigated using non-parametric techniques (Pallant, 2007).
Second, these two tests were selected because the data set was found to be not normally
distributed, so non-parametric tests are ideal in this situation (Fielding & Gilbert, 2006). The data
set of students’ responses was tested for normality of distribution using Kolmogorov-Smirnov
test, skewness values, histograms and box plots. The results showed that the distributions of
students’ responses to each topic violated the assumptions of a normal distribution. Thus, Mann-
Whitney U Test was used to investigate significant differences between two groups and Kruskal
Wallis Test was used amongst three groups or more.

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Differences between College Groups

In the college groups, a significant difference was found between Sur College’s students
(Mean Rank= 95.49, n= 56) and Rustaq College’s students (Mean Rank= 79.45, n= 124) in their
responses to Perceived Reliability, U= 2,853, p<.05. This indicates that the students at Sur
College were significantly different in their perception of Perceived Reliability than the students
at Rustaq College (see Figure 6.1). Sur Students viewed the assessment tools as more reliable
than did their peers in Rustaq College. This can be deduced from the Mean Rank values
presented above and Mean values in Table 5.
Table 5. Means of students’ responses to questionnaire topics by colleges

Topics Rustaq College’s Sur College’s
Students Students
Mean n Mean n
Social Impact 2.38 96 2.26 55
Preference of CA 1.93 125 2.01 55
Preference of Test 2.31 126 2.45 56
Political Impact 1.79 124 1.80 57
Perceived Reliability 2.16 124 1.90 56
Perceived Construct Validity 2.14 122 2.02 55
Perceived Content Validity 2.70 121 2.38 57
Satisfaction with Current Assessment 2.83 114 2.71 52
Practices
Figure1. Students’ responses to perceived reliability by colleges
Rustaq (n) =124

Sur (n) = 56
Differences between Gender Groups

The results showed that the male and female students differed in responding to two topics
namely Preference of CA and Political Impact. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed a significant
difference between the female students’ responses (Mean Rank=80.61, n=116) and male
students’ responses (Mean Rank= 106.13, n=62), U= 9,351, Z= -3.2, p=0.001). The female
students showed more Preference of CA than did the male students. Likewise, the male students’

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responses (Mean Rank=102.52, n=62) and female students’ responses (Mean Rank=84.18,
n=118) were significantly different on the Political Impact of FP assessment: the female students
seemed to believe that FP assessment had higher Political Impact more than did the male
students, U= 2912, Z=-2.3, p=0.21. All in all, this means that the female students seemed to
prefer CA more than did the male students and they seemed to emphasise the political impact of
FP more than did the male students (see Table 6 & Figures 2 &3).
Table 6. Means of students responses to questionnaire topics with gender

Topics Male Students Female Students
Mean n Mean n
Social Impact 2.32 58 2.34 92
Preference of CA 2.23 62 1.80 116
Preference of Test 2.45 62 2.30 118
Political Impact 2.00 62 1.69 118
Perceived Reliability 2.13 62 2.04 117
Perceived Construct Validity 2.09 61 2.11 115
Perceived Content Validity 2.57 61 2.59 115
Satisfaction with Current FP Assessment Practices 2.73 51 2.83 105
Figure 2. Responses to preference of CA by gender
Male (n) =62

Female (n) =116

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Figure 3. Responses to political impact by gender
Male (n) =62

Female (n) =118
However, the difference between the female and male students’ Preference of CA was not
matched by a significant difference in their AES continuous assessment scores as shown by the
results obtained from using Mann-Whitney U test. Actually, the female and male students’ mean
grades in both of the FP assessment instruments (i.e., AES continuous assessment and GES tests)
showed no significant differences (see Table 7).
Table 7. Mean and quartile of scores in GES and AES courses by gender
Gender GES AES
Male n Valid 61 61
Missing 3 3
Mean 1.82 2.71
25 1.30 1.70
Quartile 50 1.70 3.00
75 2.30 3.70
Female n Valid 101 101
Missing 18 18
Mean 1.95 2.85
Quartile 25 1.70 2.70
50 2.00 3.00
75 2.30 3.30
Differences among Self-Evaluation and Specialization Groups

In the first section of the questionnaire the students were asked to self-evaluate their language
proficiency by selecting one of five levels to represent their language proficiency levels (i.e., 1=
poor, 2=average, 3= good, 4=good, and 5= excellent). Kruskal Wallis was used to explore the
differences, and the results showed no significant differences in the students’ responses to the
questionnaire topics with regard to their self-evaluation groups. Similarly there were no
significant differences in responding to the questionnaire’s topics among the specialization
groups.

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To summarise, it could be concluded that the responses of participants to the

questionnaire’s items were not significantly different between the specialization and self-
evaluation groups, but they were between the college and gender groups. The college groups
showed a significant difference in responding to Assessment Reliability, and the gender groups
showed a significant difference in responding to both Preference of CA and Political Impact
topics.
Focus Groups
This section presents the results attained from the student focus groups which are
intended to partly answer the questions of the study stated above.
Uncertainties about GES and AES Assessment Instruments

The majority of the students in seven focus groups tended to express uncertainty about how the
scores were distributed on the main FP assessment instruments. Though, all of them seemed to
be aware that the assessment of the General English Skills (GES) course included a midterm test
and a final test and the assessment of the Academic English skills (AES) course included essay
writing and a presentation, many of the students seemed uncertain about the scores distribution.
The following extracts reveal this uncertainty as demonstrated in the students’ discussion of the
weightings of the assessment instruments. This extract comes from Focus Group 9.
Student 3: In the GES course, there will be 50% of the total scores on the presentation and 50%
on the essay.
Student 7: It is still not very clear how the scores in the AES course are divided. Some teachers
say the project is allocated 50% of the total scores while other teachers say that it is
worth 20% of it only, so we do not know yet…
Student 3: It is not clear. In the GES course, we have a speaking test and in the AES course, we
have a presentation. So are they accumulated and how many scores each is awarded?
In addition to the uncertainties about scores distributions, many students seemed ill-
informed about the criteria used in marking scales to evaluate their language performances in the
essay and presentation. When asked about how scores would be given, most of them were aware
that their teachers would be using marking scales but seemed oblivious of the scales’ criteria.
Few students, in three groups only, mentioned several criteria of the scales such as: eye-contact,
posture and grammar with regard to the presentation marking scale; and grammar, organization
and content with regard to the essay marking scale. The following extract manifests the lack of
clarity of the marking scales as experienced by many students.
Group (3)
Student 1: This semester the way we are going to be assessed is not clear. No one explained to us.
The course plan seems not stable and the teachers seem not sure of how and what the
assessment will look like
Students’ uncertainties were not limited to the distribution of scores and marking scale
criteria, there were also uncertainties about the test sections. In one group, few students stated
their confusion about whether grammar would be included in the midterm and final tests or not.
In another group, the students’ discussion suggested that they were not aware of the fact that
grammatical rules were actually tested in a section in the test titled “Language Knowledge”.
They kept on speculating whether the grammar rules would be tested or not.

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GES Tests in Students’ Perceptions

The presentation of students’ views of FP assessment categorises the views into two main
sections: views about GES tests and views about AES assessment. In each of the categories,
examples of students’ discussions were provided.
The Content of GES Tests

In the focus groups, issues about the content of the midterm test and forthcoming final test
were raised and debated. One of the issues was the difficulty of the reading tasks in which they
faced new topics. One instance mentioned was that in the midterm test the reading test task was
about “human cannonball”. They said it was a new type of sport that they had never heard of
before, thus they found it difficult to respond to the task questions. Group (11) discussed this
issue saying:
Student 3: The reading passage was incomprehensible without the picture.
Studen6: True, it was about an unknown kind of sport.
Student 1: We have never heard of such a thing so comprehending what the passage was
about, was so difficult.
It was discussed that in the midterm test, it was not only the topics that were new to
them, but also the vocabulary of the reading task and length of the writing task.
The second issue raised was about the lack of proper preparation for the grammar test tasks.
Though the midterm and the final tests allocate only 10% of the total mark to the Language
Knowledge task (i.e., grammar and vocabulary test items), almost in all focus groups, the
students expressed their need for additional grammar tutorials. In several groups, it was reported
that even though the textbooks included activities on grammar rules, the teachers tended not to
teach them. This was because they, as many students believed, seemed to be unqualified to teach
grammar rules or because the teachers expected the students to study the rules by themselves as a
form of autonomous learning. The students felt that more grammar lessons were needed to
succeed in their future academic study and to pass the GES tests as manifested throughout the
following extracts.
Group (9)
Student 1: We did the midterm exam and it was very difficult. We had not been given any
practice quizzes before it. It was a shock.
Student 2: Our teachers do not explain grammar and we found the grammar part of the test very
difficult. None of the teachers discuss grammar with the students.
The listening task, on the other hand, seemed to be considered by almost all groups as the
most difficult task of the GES tests. Likewise, it was claimed that the listening activities
undertaken in classroom were simpler than what was in the tests and fewer than what was needed
to be able to perform well in the listening test tasks. The difficulty of the listening test task was
conveyed in the extracts below.
Group (11)
Student 2: The listening (part two) was so difficult. We are not used to such a thing. We need a
book on listening to practice listening.
Student 5: It was very quick; we could not answer the questions in the pace that we were
supposed to.

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The Consequences of GES tests

When asked about the fairness of the assessment instruments and importance of passing the FP
assessment, the students’ responses varied from arguing that the assessment was very fair and
passing was very important to claiming that assessment was unjust and passing FP assessment
was unimportant. In almost all of the focus groups, FP assessment seemed to be regarded as
unfair because of the distribution of scores on test tasks, type of test tasks, or inappropriate
curriculum. It seems that the meaning of the concept “fairness” did not only include tests’
qualities but was stretched to include course curricula.
Group (3)
Student 12: Tests are not fair; they test grammar more than the other skills. Most of the scores are
on grammar and since we are weak in grammar we lose a lot of scores in the tests.
Student 13: I felt that the test let me down. I was depressed because of my low scores.
The significance of passing the FP assessment was considered differently in the focus
groups. Most of the students believed that they would definitely pass the FP and refused to
consider the possibility of failing. For few students, considering the consequences of failing
triggered negative social and psychological connotations such as: shame and depression.
Students’ Perceptions of AES Continuous Assessment

Like the previous section, this section presents the results of the student focus groups on
AES assessment categorised into sections. Categorizing the evidence from the focus groups is
intended to facilitate understanding the students’ views on FP assessment effectiveness. These
categories were not used to imply a view of distinct types of validities rather they were used to
present validity evidence on a clearer way.
What AES Continuous Assessment Measures
Though the report and presentation were considered as good assessment instruments per se,
many students seemed to believe that CA was not suitable for everybody and it did not fully
reflect their language skills. Two main reasons for this belief recurred in the focus groups. The
first reason was that writing and presenting could result in a performance inhibition caused by
students’ personal traits (e.g., low confidence and shyness) or learning styles (e.g., auditory,
visual, and kinaesthetic). The second reason was the lack of proper guidance, training and
practice on writing and presenting (e.g., different criteria sets used by different teachers). The
intertwining of the students’ opposite feelings of appreciation of CA’s role in FP assessment and
worry of its shortcomings are apparent in the following discussion.
Group (1)
Student 3: But if you were a silent student by nature, presentations and other oral means might
not be just in terms of assessing students levels.
Student 8: I think it should be looked at as a comprehensive thing, I mean assessment. The tests
with the presentations complement each other in terms of assessing students English
language levels and showing their abilities. Some students are more capable of
undertaking the exams while the others are more capable of presenting so the various
ways of assessing the students give a fair chance to all.
Student 5: Still presentations influences confidence and does not show the real level.

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The Content of AES Continuous Assessment

Few students in three groups doubted the content of the AES assessment (i.e., essay and
presentation) and said that the essay was too complicated for their English language levels and
research skills; and that they sometimes intentionally plagiarised or cheated in other ways. These
discussions went as follows:
Group (7)
Student 12: They [the teachers] teach us steps on how to write an essay but never ask us to
practice. We need to practice in class or out but the teacher always says that he will not
mark our work. How do they know that the end result is my own work if they do not see
samples throughout the semester? Last semester I asked my sister to write the essay for
me and I will do the same this semester because I simply cannot write it though I know
the steps.
Consistency in Implementing AES Marking Scales

As has been pointed out earlier, most of the students seemed to be aware of the fact that the
marking scales will be used AES assessment but not of how they will be used. It was
apparent from most focus groups that many students felt that the marking scales were
inconsistent in how they were implemented or interpreted.
Group (7)
Student 12: But teachers differ in terms of the criteria they use to assess the students. We know
that other groups are told different things about how they will be assessed in the essay.
This is wrong, we are not assessed equally. All students should be given the criteria at the
beginning of the semester before starting to write the essay or preparing for the
presentation.
The Feedback Given in Continuous Assessment

A recurring theme in focus groups was the lack of teacher feedback offered in the essay and
presentation. Generally in most of the groups the students expressed dissatisfaction with the
amount and nature of feedback provided; and argued that the appropriate feedback could
improve their language skills. It was claimed that sometimes the feedback imparted was
ambiguous, negative, delayed or non-existent. The subsequent extracts display some of the
students’ comments on teacher feedback.
Group (8)
Student 2: there is no feedback at all, we do not see our scores and we do not know how we are
doing so far, we just wait until the end of the semester and wait to see the result at the
end. We should have been given some feedback to lead us on what we should be learning
and how we should do things right.
Student 6: we need more quizzes more things to tell us about our levels and guide us in learning.
But most importantly we need feedback on the tools.
The Consequences of Continuous Assessment

The essay and presentation were described as subjective and unfair by most of the groups.
Teaching styles, marking scales, scores distribution and availability of resources were all
considered factors that participated in characterising CA as being unfair.
Group (8)
Student3: The fairness of assessment depends on the teachers. Some teachers are unfair in
marking the exams. For example sometimes we cannot revise the exam results with the

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teacher or discuss any concerns some of them get angry when you try to discuss the
scores with them.
Discussion
FP Assessment Effectiveness in Student Perceptions
Most students seemed less satisfied with the GES assessment (i.e., tests) than they were
with the AES (i.e., presentation and report). The content of the GES tests was severely criticised
by students. The students emphasised the difficulty that they faced in the grammar, reading and
listening sections of the mid-term test. They elaborated that the reading topic was new; the
grammatical rules were not all covered in the course; and the listening genre had not been
introduced to them before.
Though AES assessment was generally positively viewed by the students, they both made
comments signalling its problematic content and construct. They raised three concerns about the
essay: (1) high difficulty level, (2) plagiarism, and (3) variability in implementing marking
scales. In focus groups, some students admitted to committing plagiarism because they found the
essay very difficult for them to write using their own words. Students’ interactions with the
assessment tasks have been identified as a parameter in understanding students’ performances
and difficulty of assessment tasks (Bachman, 2002). Hamilton (2003) discussed a number of
studies that investigated cheating in tests; one study (Jacob and Levitt, 2003) found that the
cheating instances increased when the tests were high-stakes. Another study on students’
perceptions of plagiarism in higher education found that students sometimes perceived
plagiarism as “a strategy for coping with the demands of higher education level work and the
pressure to succeed” (Ashworth, et al., 1997, p. 194). A similar perception was documented in
other studies in the field of second language learning and assessment (Currie, 1998; Pecorari,
2003). The findings of this study conform to the findings of the studies that have recognised task
difficulty as a contributing factor that influences students performances (Bachman, 2002); and
considered it a principal factor in resorting to plagiarism (Hamilton, 2003).
Furthermore, the difficulty level of the essay task was not the only element of AES
assessment criticised; the students expressed their apprehension of the inconsistency in
implementing the marking criteria. This concern seems to match similar concerns documented in
several studies on performance assessment (Brindley, 1998, 2001; Hay & Macdonald, 2008).
Brindley (1998) reviewed a number of articles and identified numerous problematic issues with
the validity of the scales used to mark students’ performances; he categorised them into political,
technical and practical. He asserted that “subjective judgements of language performance are
likely to show a good deal of variability” (p.65). Addressing this concern, Gipps (1999) advised
that rater inconsistencies should be minimised to reach a better reliability especially in high-
stakes assessment tasks. Given the high-stakes nature of FP English language assessment, and
the concerns raised by the students about inconsistency in implementing marking measures, there
seems to be an urgent need for implementing the standardization and moderation procedures
discussed.
Uncertainties about the FP Assessment Elements

In the focus groups, most students seemed uncertain about specific aspects of the AES
and GES assessment instruments. Some of these aspects were: the weightings of the assessment
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instruments and the criteria of the marking scales. Empirical evidence have suggested that the
students’ understanding of assessment requirements might well be different to that of their
teachers’ as Green (2007) indicated in reference to Weir and Green’s study (2002). In line with
this suggestion, this study found that indeed students expressed a less certain understanding of
what was required by the assessment activities than that of their teachers’. In AES assessment,
for instance, most students complained about the lack of information on some aspects of which
their teachers seemed very well aware.
Students’ uncertainties about aspects of FP assessment could be also referred to the
unavailability of sample or mock tests. It was reported that past exams were not accessible for
them and consequently they were not completely aware of the exams’ structure and contents.
Rea-Dickins (1997) asserted that in centralised systems where teachers were not involved in
assessment development, they could be not “prepared sufficiently for the task of
implementations” (p.308). In the context of the current study, though GES tests were written by
individual assessment coordinators from different colleges, the tests were not distributed to the
rest of the teachers several of whom were novice in the Colleges and had never seen these tests
before. Understandably, several teachers and many students seemed ill-informed about FP
assessment.
Perceived Need for More Assessment Instruments

Regardless of the previously mentioned concerns about the effectiveness of FP
assessment, students tended to express the need for more assessment instruments. The students’
declared a request for more assessment tasks can indicate and be linked to the need for more
feedback. Administering additional assessment tasks and feedback might appear unrelated but
they actually are when considering the findings of the studies conducted on feedback suggesting
that summative assessment provides less feedback than formative assessment. Brindley (1998),
in a comparison of summative and formative assessment, stated that the former was more
suitable for the purposes of policy makers and educational bureaucrats for its skimmed
aggregated details, while formative assessment provided detailed and elaborated feedback.
Broadfoot (2007) identified the purpose of summative assessment as to “sum up to progress of
an individual in relation to some given criterion” (p.110), and the purpose of formative
assessment as to provide “information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and
learning activities they are engaged in” (p.111). In the higher education context, there seems to
be a move towards less formative assessment and more summative assessment with late or
insufficient feedback (York, 2003). Revisiting the findings of this study, it could be noticed that
both GES and AES assessment instruments might be considered as summative with regard to the
time and type of feedback with which the students are provided. Though the students received
some sort of feedback on the first and second drafts of the essay; this feedback, as considered by
the students, was occasionally detrimental, late or insufficient. Even, the few students who
seemed to believe that feedback on the essay was appropriate attributed their satisfaction of the
feedback provided to having a good teacher.
Hamilton (2003) reviewed a number of studies that provided evidence of better students’
performance when more feedback on how to improve performance was given to them. Likewise,
reviews on the effectiveness of feedback showed that it varied based on different aspects
(Bangert-Drowns, et al., 1991). Recent reviews that focused on what the feedback was about
(i.e., task, processing, regulatory) found that feedback was most effective when it attended self-

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regulation (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). A conforming finding was reported by Black (2003, as
cited in Broadfoot, 2007), who asserted that ‘task-oriented’ feedback enhanced the ‘learning
power’ of the students and enabled them to take control of, and encouraged them to get involved
in their own learning.
Tests vs. CA in Student Perceptions

Most of the students preferred CA over the tests according to their questionnaire’s
responses, although, both were considered useful. These results differ from those of a recent
study by Cheng, et al. (2011) which explored students’ and parents’ perceptions on the
traditional examinations compared to a currently applied School Based Assessment (SBA)
system in China. They found that no significant difference in how students viewed SBA and
exams. They also reported that the students differed in how they percieved the SBA and exams
items based on their self-reported language levels; “students with high perceived language
competence responded more positively to the items relating to the external examinations while
students with low perceived language competence responded more positively to the items
relating to SBA” ( p. 238). The results of the current study did not report any significant
difference amongst students’ self-evaluations of their language proficiency levels in their
perception of CA compared to tests. Actually all self-evaluation groups responded more
positively to CA than they did to the tests.
Similar to the results obtained from the questionnaires, the students’ views in focus
groups seemed to generally prefer CA more than the tests for several reasons. The students’
preference of CA seemed to be propelled by their appreciation of the process of learning that
takes place in the evaluation process of the students’ language proficiency. This apparent
students’ appreciation of learning through assessment is in line with and reinforces the voices
calling for “assessment for learning” as a way forward in assessment for its ability to improve
students’ performances as supported by empirical evidence (Broadfoot, 2007).
Student Views of FP Assessment Impact

Interestingly, students’ responses to the Social and Political Impact topics in the
questionnaire were similar in rating the political impact higher than the social impact and in
implying that FP assessment entailed political but not serious social consequences on students,
teachers and society. They seemed to recognise the “prestige” and importance of the English
language assessment for future national employment and international status of the country, as
well as its role as a gatekeeper to higher education; this finding conforms to previous studies
(e.g., Shohamy, 1996; Ross, 2008). However, the students disagreed with the view that FP
assessment had drastic social consequences. The social impact was not considered great in the
students’ responses. Their responses showed a majority agreement with the items that suggested
that FP assessment was fair, not frightening and not stressful.
This finding is substantiated by the findings obtained from the focus groups. An unexpected
result obtained from the focus groups was the relatively moderate to non-existent social impact
of FP assessment considering its high-stakes nature. Failing in FP could mean that students lose
their scholarships to study at CAS or become suspended for one academic year during which an
accredited proof of a specific language level should be attained from a recognised private
language teaching institution. However, not only very few students expressed that failing in FP
assessment could entail a negative social stigma, most of them seemed to be confident that they
would pass and did not show any concern of failing in FP. Shohamy (2001) explained that there

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are a number of factors that could contribute to understanding the consequences of a test like
language status, purpose of assessment, format of assessment and low/high-stake nature of tests.
Though all of these factors when considered in the context of FP assessment predict a strong
negative social impact, the findings of this study arrived at a different conclusion. A possible
logical explanation for this finding is what the students indicated about inconsistent
implementation of FP assessment marking criteria.
When the students were asked whether the tests and CA were not stressful in the
questionnaire, their responses were positive. But they agreed more with the statement “tests are
not stressful” than with the statement “CA is not stressful”. This finding is in line with the
argument that performance based tasks involve communication stress or anxiety which may well
influence students’ performance along with other factors (Bachman, 2002; Philip, 2011). It was
also found that performance assessment did not produce better results than test in terms of the
writing skill (Hamp-Lyons, 1997); therefore, if AES assessment, which includes performance
based tasks, against common expectations (e.g., of teachers), did not provide a less stressful
environment than tests, and did not result in better performance, the advantages of using this type
of assessment in FP assessment should be reviewed.
The results showed that the students seemed to be very confident of passing the FP
assessment which indicates a low educational impact of FP assessment. However, the students
revealed their concern that their language level would be lower than what is required for FY
Study. The FP results in 2011 showed that more than 90% of the students in both colleges passed
to the first academic year, though, the teachers generally expected less than 80% of their students
to pass (as another part of the PhD study suggested). In Sur College 92% of the FP students
successfully passed and in Rustaq College 97% of the FP students passed. The students’ and
teachers’ view of FP assessment inability to fulfil the role of filtering the linguistically able
students to study in FY, could pose a threat to the validity of FP assessment.
Conclusion
This study investigated students’ views of FP assessment. There are some limitations and
recommendations that can be deduced from the results obtained. One limitation is using focus
groups in this study as it posed some challenges. These challenges included training participants
in this method of sharing views, re-coding all opinions, transcribing and analysing generated
data. The other two main challenges were the “no shows” which is a common and documented
disadvantage of focus groups (Bryman, 2004), and ensuring free and equal expression of views.
There are several recommendations that can be inferred from the findings, two of them
are discussed here. First, there are uncertainties about the assessment content and structure.
Assessment details should be shared with both the students and teachers at the beginning of the
academic semester to eliminate any underperformance due to uncertainties and increase the
validity of FP assessment. Second, the students shared that they received a lack of feedback that
could be attributed to the summative nature of FP assessment. Instead, formative assessment
instruments that provide enough feedback to students and that show a high degree of validity
should be considered. This could be achieved by incorporating smaller units of classroom
assessment early in the semester to allow enough time for feedback. These units should be
validated prior to use and teachers should be trained to mark them as consistently as possible,
preferably using a similar marking scale to that used for other performance assessment tasks.

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About the Author:

Fatma Al Hajri is a lecturer at the Colleges of Applied Sciences – Sur. She attained her PhD
from the University of Edinburgh in Language Assessment and Programme Evaluation. She did
her MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Queensland. She worked as an English
language lecturer for several years before being appointed as the Deputy Director for the English
Language Programme at the Colleges of Applied Sciences in the Ministry of Higher Education,
Oman.
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AWEJ
Pp.223 -234
Negotiation for Meaning and Feedback in ESL Writing Class
Samah Elbelazi
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract
Teacher and peer feedback may appear as a controversial aspect in ESL writing classes. Many
researchers have studied the effects of teacher/peer feedback on second language writing.
However, very few have discussed the impact of negotiation meaning when feedback is
provided. This paper attempts to find out whether negotiation for meaning improves second
language writing. In doing so, a number of studies are examined. Although the findings of the
studies support negotiation for meaning while feedback is given, research is still needed to
consider the role of negotiation for meaning with grammar and writing style. The aim of this
paper is to give an overview of whether learners’ use of social interaction and negotiation for
meaning facilitates learning and improves ESL writing.
Key words: Feedback, sociocultural theory, negotiation for meaning, attention, peer training.

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Negotiation for Meaning and Feedback in ESL Writing Class Elbelazi
Introduction
Second language learners face many challenges when learning English. Parts of these
challenges are influenced by their cultural and environmental backgrounds. For instance, one of
the most important cultural artifacts of countries [with a highly oral culture] is their sense of
orality (Bigelow, 2010). That is to say, they are more powerful when they speak than when they
write. Ong (1991) maintained “The shift from orality to literacy and on to electronic processing
engages social, economic, political, religious and other structures” (p. 3). Therefore, the need for
interactional feedback has increased as one of the methods that might assist ESL students in their
understanding of the target language (Lantolf, 2000; Gass, 2003, 2008; Foster and Ohta, 2005).
However, I believe misunderstanding or vague feedback can be a drawback in this process and
lead to negative results. Consequently, interaction and discussion can be favored as one
approach to improve ESL students’ writing during the feedback process. Thus, because second
language students are coming from different backgrounds, negotiation for meaning is used as a
good technique, which is encompassed, by interaction and discussion to diminish the confusion
in writing and produce better essays.
Negotiation for meaning (NFM) is a technique that can be used while giving feedback
through interaction that may facilitate learning and produce better writing (Foster and Ohta,
2005). This paper attempts to highlight the importance of adopting sociocultural theory in
second language writing classes by exploring Gee’s (2012) concept of negotiation for meaning
and Long’s interaction hypothesis (Gass, 2003). Furthermore, this paper will define peer
reviewing in relation to these theories by examining NFM in a number of studies dating from
1999 to 2011. In conclusion I will demonstrate some problems associated with peer/teacher
review and NFM.
Theoretical Background
Sociocultural theory
Vygotsky claims “[H]uman behavior results from the integration of socially and
culturally constructed forms of mediation into human activity” (Lantolf, 2000, p.8). This claim
shows that humans are ingrained within their cultures and societies. As they produce the
language they are directly or indirectly influenced by their societies and cultures; therefore, for
sociocultural theory, learning a language is a social process in which students mainly rely on
social interaction within a given social practice. For example, Foster and Ohta (2005) state that
sociocultural theory “view[s] mind and learning as something inter-mental, embedded in social
interaction” (p. 403). In other words, people are part of their environment and they cannot be
separated from these environments. In this way, knowledge is not generated by the learners
alone, but by the interaction between the learners and the social context (Foster and Ohta, 2005).
Students learn the language through their interaction with the social context in their classroom,
when they interact with their peers, a new social context appears. For example, second language
learners usually think in their first language and they write in the target language, which is also
influenced by the new set of social practices. Lantolf (2000) states that even if the students in
the same class are doing similar tasks they do not respond equally to those tasks because students
have different motives, desires and goals that make the classroom interactions more significant
and valuable.

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Furthermore, one of the fundamental concepts in sociocultural theory is the Zone of

Proximal Development (ZPD), which is defined as the differences between what learners can do
alone and what can the same learner do with the help of other learners (Lantolf, 2000).
Vygotsky (as cited in Foster and Ohta, 2005, p. 414) defines the ZPD as “ the distance between
the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of
potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in
collaboration with more capable peers.” Foster and Ohta (2005) state “ZPD is used to
understand how assistance is related to language development” (p. 414). In other words, the
ZPD according to Vygotsky is evidence for utilizing peer reviewing in ESL classes (Vygotsky,
1971). As mentioned in Vygotsky learners at certain stages need some kind of assistance
(scaffolding) and they can receive this assistance from their peers (ibid). Scaffolding occurs
when students adjust their roles and type of assistance according to the student who needs that
assistance. In writing class the social interaction and the cultural clashes may improve the
students’ writing when discussion is provided. Some students for example, who come from oral
societies, prefer speaking to clarify their ideas (Bigelow, 2010). Therefore, according to Gee
(2012) meaning is not stable; it is negotiable and shared within cultures and societies. He argues
that it is better to study writing and speaking within their social context because both speaking
and writing are inseparable and complete each other.
Negotiation for Meaning

When speaking or writing meaning is significant in order to send correct messages. Gee
(2012) argues that meaning is not fixed in the mind like any other concept rather “meaning is
primarily the result of social interaction, negotiations, contestations and agreements among
people. It is inherently variable and social” (p. 21). When using a second language, many
students think that words have fixed meanings so they can always use them to imply the same
concept. When writing like you speak the meaning of the words are changed according to the
context in which the words are used. Let’s consider the following example from Gee (2012)
about the meaning of a simple word like coffee:
“If I say, “The coffee spilled, go get a mop”, I am talking about a liquid. If
I say, “The coffee spilled, go get a broom”, I am talking about beans or grains. If
I say, “The coffee spilled, stack it again”, I am talking about tins or cans. If I say,
“Coffee growers exploit workers”, I am talking about coffee berries and the trees
they grow on” (p. 21)
Gee (2012) adds, “All words vary their meanings in different contexts. All words can take
on new meanings in new contexts. And all words are open to negotiation and contestation” (p.
14). In other words, meaning is what students have in minds and try to put into words as well as
being what they are looking for when they read their peers comments. Ibid argues that meanings
are bounded by negotiation between different people in different social contexts. The fact that
students are coming from different backgrounds may make classrooms a new social context that
could provide them with various social practices allowing them to negotiate different meanings.
According to Gass (2003), negotiation between native speakers and second language speakers
and between two or more second language students is very important in developing second
language skills. That is to say “conversation is not a medium of practice, but also the means by
which learning takes place” (p. 234). When giving feedback, negotiation and discussion are
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required in order to understand what the student wants to write and what the reviewer wants to
ask.
Additionally, Long (as cited in Gass, 2003, p. 234) defines negotiation for meaning in the
Interaction Hypothesis as follow:
“Negotiation for meaning, and especially negotiation work that triggers
interactional adjustment by the NS or more competent interlocutor, facilitates
acquisition because it connects input, internal capacities, particularly selective
attention, and output in productive way. It is proposed that environmental
contributions to acquisition are mediated by selective attention and the learner’s
developing L2 processing capacity . . . Negative feedback obtained during
negotiation work or elsewhere may be facilitative of L2 development, at least for
vocabulary, morphology and language –specific syntax, and essential for learning
certain specifiable L1-L2 contrasts”
According to Long, negotiation for meaning is significant in learning

a second language because it enables students to get feedback to facilitate understanding.
Moreover, Long claims that attention is another required act during negotiation. Attention may
help students figure out their mistakes and learn not to make them again. That is to say, during
negotiation the learner’s “attentional resources” may be focused on the new language that he/she
knows nothing about and his/her old native language (Gass, 2003, p. 235). Gass maintains that
during this interaction and attention preliminary learning takes place. When the input (feedback)
is available, attention should be central during the negotiation. This might help learners focus on
their mistakes and their language production. Consider this example about “reading glasses”:
From Mackey (as cited in Gass, 2003, p. 135):
“NS: there’s there’s a pair of reading glasses above the plant

NNS: a what?
NS: glasses reading glasses to see the newspaper?
NNS: glassi?
NS: you need to wear them to see with, if you can’t see. Reading glasses.
NNS: ahh ahh glasses to read you say reading glasses.
NS: yeah.”
From the example it is noticeable that the nonnative speaker is confused about the
meaning of the phrase (reading glasses) until the native speaker explains it. The learning
experience from this phrase comes from the negotiation being offered to the NNS, who is paying
attention to the conversation. Jungmi (2003) states, “The negotiation of meaning in NNS’s
interaction is a very important part of conversation because it shows that learners could offer the
numerous interruptions to receive comprehensible input and to produce appropriate output,
which could facilitate second language learning” (p. 206). Therefore, during negotiation second
language learners have the chance to ask as many questions as they like in order to understand
the writing task. The following figure summarizes the input process while giving/receiving
feedback:

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Figure. 1. Feedback and the input process
Peer Feedback and Negotiation for Meaning

Peer feedback, also referred to as peer review, peer editing, peer response and peer
evaluation is commonly used in L1 and L2 writing classes, it is an activity where students have
a chance to help each other by giving comments on their writing (Lundstrom and Baker, 2009).
It also means students working together to improve, edit, rewrite and revise (Mi-mi, 2009). Peer
feedback provides students with the opportunity to experience different knowledge through
reading each others’ assignments, and help students to work with different types of errors.
According to Gass, (2008) interactional feedback is an essential source of information for
learners (p. 329). Gass also points out that “through interaction, the learners’ attention is drawn
to some element(s) of language with possible consequence that that element/those elements will
be incorporated into a learners’ developing system” (p. 330). That is to say, through peer
feedback students learn from each others’ mistakes and ideas. Thus, whether the feedback is
positive or negative it still provides a learning experience that L2 students are pursuing. One
example of adopting feedback strategy, as suggested by Tsui and NG (2000,p. 152), is as
follows:
Figure . 2. Writing Cycle

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Figure 2, the writing cycle presents an outline of how interaction in the writing class
might take place. Although this process might take a longer time during class, it gives an
opportunity for students to discuss their ideas with the teacher’s supervision. According to the
figure, after the brainstorming the first outline should be written. The idea of beginning with
brainstorming engages students in an interactional process where they can generate as many
ideas as possible. Immediately after the first outline, peer review takes place in order to help
students gain comments and discuss their topics with their peers. Hence, the first real draft
should be ready, then another peer feedback is required. At this point students will have more
focused negotiation and assistance from their peers about content and grammar. When the
second draft is ready, the teacher would provide his/her comments. These comments should be
associated with negotiation and oral discussion. Finally, when the final draft is written, both
peers, and teacher provide further comments on the final draft.
The following section argues the relationship between teachers/students feedback and
negotiation for meaning in order to clarify how students view negotiation for meaning during
feedback.
Teachers/Students Feedback and Negotiation for Meaning
Although students prefer working with their peers, different studies report contrary
findings. On the one hand, some of these findings report that students favor the teacher’s
feedback because they think that the teacher never presents a wrong a comment (Tsui and NG,
2000; Bitchener et al 2005; Yang et al 2006; Zhao, 2010). Some students believe that their
writing has improved only when they have a chance to negotiate their mistakes, whether or not
these comments are provided by the teacher (Zhao, 2010). To find out whether negotiation for
meaning improves second language writing during peer/ teacher review, the following studies
are examined as below
Tsui and NG (2000) investigate whether students prefer teachers or peers feedback. They
examine groups of students in a secondary school level by conducting questionnaires, interviews,
and writing analysis methods. The findings show that even some of the groups report similar
results about the preference of teachers and peers feedback; higher results favor the teacher’s
feedback. The students comment that they have more confidence in the teachers’ comments than
their peers because they believe that teachers are more experienced and authoritative than their
peers, so their feedback is more important. Other comments are that teachers can explain the
writing problem and that may help them more. Therefore, negotiation with teachers is what the
students look for. This study shows that students prefer discussing and explaining their problems
than just correcting it. The study also suggests that students prefer talking about their topics
while writing. Similar findings are reported by Miao, Badger, and Yu (2006), who examine two
ESL writing classes, the findings reveal that students adopt more teacher feedback than peer
feedback. In the interview, students report that the teacher was more “professional,”
“experienced,” and “trustworthy” than their peers (p. 188). The main complaint about their peer
feedback is that their peers do not give accurate responses to the writing and they do not know
how to explain the problem. Both studies indicate that students favor oral discussions and
negotiation about their writing problems over written comments about these problems.
Another study by Zhao (2010) distinguishes the learners’ use of comments from their
understanding of peer and teacher feedback (p. 3). Eighteen ESL learners participated in the
study to find out whether students understood their teachers’ feedback or if they apply it without
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understanding. The findings report that students use the feedback comments without
understanding their purposes because negotiation is not provided. Also, the teachers discover that
their comments are not delivered accurately. Consequently, students’ writing has not improved.
The following example presents what kind of feedback the teacher provides and how the student
responded to this feedback:
The original sentence: Virtually, there is boundless love hidden in fishbone.

Teacher’s comment: Look up meaning?
The revised sentence: Actually, there is boundless love revealed by fishbone.
(p. 9)
This example shows that ‘Jin’ applies the teacher’s comments without understanding because she
does not discuss the comments with him when she is asked to look up the word virtually.
However, during the interviewing, Jin explained to the researcher how she responded to the
feedback as follow:
Researcher: Do you need help with the feedback received in the first paragraph?
Jin: Yes, this one. What is the difference between ‘virtually’ and ‘actually’? I
was suggested by Art [the writing teacher] to look up ‘virtually’. In our
meaning, Art suggested actually. But could not virtually be used in this way?
I’ve used it in this way for a long time. I used ‘virtually’ and ‘actually’
interchangeably. I feel they have the same meaning. I used them as alternative
to each other to avoid overusing one word. I still feel they are the same.
R: Well, let’s look them up in the Oxford advanced Learners’ Dictionary. [ . . . ]

You see, virtually means almost, or very nearly. For actually, there are four
meanings. Do you want to read them through?
[Jin read for 45 seconds and looked at me]
R: You see, actually is used to emphasis what is true, similar to in fact, right?
Jin: Yes. They are different. Thank you. (p. 9)
In her comment about the second part of the sentence, Jin said: “I felt if I used hidden in
fishbone, if you translate it into Chinese, it is more meaningful. It does not make that sense in
English. I think Art’s suggestion was right” (p. 10).
I underlined the word ‘meaning’ to show that the conversation between Jin and the
researcher is about the meaning of the words. When Jin has the chance to negotiate for meaning,
she recognizes that words have different meanings in different contexts. The study claims that

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teachers and students should have focused their discussion on meaning, as the written feedback
is not adequate, allowing students to improve their writing.
Another study by Bitchener, Young and Cameron (2005) investigates whether the type of
feedback (directive, explicit or conference feedback) has any effect on writing improvement, in
particular on the grammatical level such as: prepositions, past tense, and definite article. The
study was conducted on 53 migrant students, who are divided into three treatment groups. Two
types of feedback are given to the students: direct written feedback and conference sessions. The
conference sessions are provided so that students understand their errors and they have
opportunities to ask and negotiate with their teachers about their mistakes. The findings of the
study indicate that direct feedback and conference sessions have a significant impact on students’
writing accuracy. When students pay attention to their errors as identified by the study such as
preposition, past tense and definite article, they learn how to use them correctly in their next
writing draft. The study suggests that “classroom L2 writing teachers should provide their
learners with both oral feedback as well as written feedback” (p. 202). This suggestion raises
awareness on how important negotiation is in writing development when it is conditioned by
attention.
A similar study was conducted by Wingate (2010), which focused on the effect of
formative assessment that is provided for L2 writing class in a first year undergraduate program.
Thirty-nine students were asked to submit their essays online or in class. After that, their peers
gave them feedback on their writing, including grammar and ideas. Some feedback comments
such as “‘a more critical/analytical approach is needed’ or ‘too descriptive’ are regarded as
unhelpful”, (p. 522) because some students find them very difficult to understand. The findings
of the study reported that “students who had utilized their feedback comments improved in the
areas previously criticized” (p. 530). When students consider their peers’ feedback, they’re
writing improved. However, other students who had paid little attention to their feedback
comments have fixed problems in their writing. This study encourages the use of formative
feedback in the writing class because students have an opportunity to write several times, receive
oral/written feedback and concentrate on their writing errors.
The same findings are reported by Tithecott and Tang (1999). The concern of the study is
whether ESL students change their writing as a result of peer review sessions. Like the previous
studies, students submit their essays and receive feedback comments. The results indicate that
students tend to be positive about their peer’s feedback and their writing improved. Students are
engaged in conferences to understand their mistakes. These conferences help them to figure out
their errors and learn not to repeat their mistakes again. When one of the students is asked about
sharing each other’s essays, he/she says we appreciated the opportunity to “find out how others
are using different words” and “good sentences” (p. 30). During negotiation students are
engaged in various tasks like listening and note taking, and this can help them to pay attention to
their errors. However, researchers such as Min (2004, 2006, 2008) recommend that students
should be well trained in order to assist each other appropriately.
The last study conducted by Gielen, Tops, Dochy, Onghena and Smeets (2010) examined
whether peer feedback can be a substitute for teacher feedback when discussion is provided.
Gielen et al. divided the students into two groups: experimental and control group. Students
wrote essays and were provided with either teacher or peer comments according to their groups.
The findings of the study claim that there are no significant differences between both groups.
This indicated that peer feedback could be substituted for teacher feedback. The findings also
reported that students work more positively with their peers than with their teachers because they
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can discuss their ideas informally and find out the appropriate words for specific meanings.
Student can also ask their peers when they do not understand the comments.
Although all of the previous findings encourage peer and teacher feedback, only Tithecott and
Tang, 1999; Wingate, 2010; Geilen et al., 2010 report positive results regarding students’ writing
improvement. Other studies by Tsui and NG, 2000; Bitchener et al. 2005; Miao et al. 2006; and
Zhao, 2010 show that peer and teacher feedback might be effective in writing if it is conditioned
by negotiation and discussion. These studies also reported that the students prefer teachers’
feedback comments to students’ feedback. The following figure summarizes the feedback
process with regard to NFM and attention:
Figure. 3 (Summary of feedback process)
Teacher
Feedback
Input
Trained Student
NFM
Student Out put
Conditioned by
Attention
Problems Associated with Feedback and Negotiation for Meaning:
Although peer and teacher review can help students overcome their writing problems, there
are some problems associated with feedback and negotiation for meaning in the feedback
process. A few of the problems are as follows:,
1. Time: teachers of ESL writing classes have some concerns about the amount of time they
can spend with their students to offer oral and written feedback, and how much time is
needed for students to work together during the class. Rollinson (2005) states, “whether
feedback is oral or written, the peer response process itself is a lengthy one” (p. 25). Students
need to write drafts, and then read each other’s drafts. They also need to negotiate the
feedback before writing the final paper.
2. Student/student response: peer feedback can be seen as untrusted and inaccurate. Some of
the previous studies such as Tsui and NG, 2000; Bitchener et al 2005; Yang et al 2006; Zhao,
2010 found out that students do not consider their peers comments. Yang et al (2006) argues
that “most common reason for the rejection of peer feedback was that the writers did not
accept the feedback for the reason that it seemed “incorrect” to them” (p. 189). Shashok
(2008) claims that some peers do not understand the content of the essay. Therefore, they
provide inaccurate feedback that misleads the writer and the reader. ESL students feel
“instinctively” that only native speakers or better writers can provide a good judgment
(Rollinson, 2005, p. 23). Tsui and NG (2000) stated that some students do not respond to
their feedback because their peers are not authoritative, which will not harm the students if
they do not respond. Tang and Tithecott (1999) maintained that some students argued that it
was very difficult to give a negative feedback to their classmates, because they do not want
to hurt their feelings (p. 31).

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3. Teacher/student response: although many comparative studies about teachers and students
feedback reveals that students prefer their teachers’ comments than their peers, teachers’
comments also can be viewed as problematic. Zhao (2010) states that some students view the
teacher’s comment as a requirement that they have to follow. One student said: “I view
teacher feedback as the revision requirement but peer feedback as suggestions. He is a native
speaker and he is the teacher . . . Whether the essay is good or not is in the teacher’s capable
hands” (P.12).This student is mainly influenced by his cultural background where the
teacher’s comments are not questionable. However, this trust in the teacher leads students to
apply the teacher’s comments without understanding like the previous example of ‘Jin’ in
(Zhao, 2010). Therefore, teacher/student conferences are significant to assure that students
understand the feedback comments.
4. Oral discussion: apart from the amount of time that oral discussion and negotiation require
during class time, Tang and Tithecott (1999) claimed that few students had some complaints
about difficulty to understand the pronunciation of their peers. Moreover, the students
recommended written comments with the discussion to fully comprehend the feedback,
because this might help to avoid communication failure.
7. Peer Review Training: How Negotiation for Meaning Works
In the quest of some solutions, the following section will discuss the effects of peer review
training on students ESL writing. Some of the previous problems can be solved by training
students on how to provide oral feedback and how to consider time in the oral discussion part.
Firstly, when student are trained for giving feedback and negotiating for meaning, they should be
aware of the three Cs (Long’s dissertation as cited in Foster and Ohta, 2005, p. 9). Long defines
the three Cs as follows:
x Comprehension checks: reviewers should check whether the students understand the
comments. Therefore, questions like: Do you understand? Is important while
discussing feedback comments.
x Confirmation checks: reviewer should make sure that the student is able to apply the
feedback comment by asking them to repeat what the reviewer has said.
x Clarification check: unlike confirmation check, at this stage the reviewer provides
some clarifications while negotiating. Clarifications include giving examples so the
student learns how to apply the comments.
Min (2004) conducted a study to find out whether training students to give feedback
would facilitate learning and expand discussions. Similar to Long’s three Cs, Min applies four
characteristics of comments during training: Clarifying writers’ intentions, identifying problems,
explaining the nature of problems and making specific suggestions. During training the
comments were classified into two categories: one related to global issues such as ideas and
organization and the other is related to local problems such as words usage, grammar, spelling,
and pronunciation. Trained students then marked each comment according to the four
characteristics: clarifying intentions, identifying problem, explaining the problem and make
suggestions. These characteristics are presented in the example below:
Comment “Call for” means to need a particular action or behavior [explain].

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(1)
Did you mean that? [clarify] If not, try to think a more appropriate word to
replace it [suggestion].
Comment I think on this point, the description of the two cultures is not parallel
(2) [problem]. (Chinese=the definition of chingkeh (treat friends); America=the
way they split bills [explain]) (p.298).
The findings of the study report when students are trained to give feedback, they benefit
as reviewers and as writers. As reviewers, the study indicates that students raise awareness on
different aspects of language skills. They learn how to organize ideas and construct proper
grammar. Through negotiation and interaction, they learn how different cultures have an impact
on the students writing. Therefore, some cultural and social practices are taken into
consideration. As writers, students learn from their peers how to focus their discussion and their
ideas. When negotiation takes place, they learn how to revise their grammatical mistakes. The
findings of the study suggest that with proper training, students are capable of providing
assistance that is considered critical for development to writers (p. 302). Other studies by Min,
2006 and 2008 report similar results of encouraging peer training before negotiation starts. In her
2006 study, Min argues that training students on how to provide feedback and how negotiate
meaning has a positive outcome on students writing.
Conclusion
Students in general and second language learners in particular encounter many problems
while writing in the target language. Based on the data set that are examined in this paper, many
students believe that their writing has improved when they have a chance to negotiate for
meaning and discuss the reviewer’s comments orally. This paper has argued the importance of
negotiation for meaning when feedback is provided, it also argues the central role of attention
while negotiating or interacting. However, research is still needed to consider other factors with
negotiation for meaning like grammar. According to the evidences from the previous studies,
negotiation is not the only aspect that helps students to improve, but if it is provided during the
feedback process students’ writing improved.
References
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ESL student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14, 191-205. doi:
10.1016/j.jslw.2005.08.001

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Foster, P and Ohta, A. (2005). Negotiation for meaning and peer assistance in second language
classrooms. Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 402-430.
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of Second Language Acquisition Malden, MA: Blackwell
Gass, S. M. (2008) Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course. NY: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Gee, J. P. (2012). Social Linguistics and Literacies. New York: Routledge.
Gielen, S., Tops, L., Dochy, F., Onghena, P., and Smeets, S. (2010). A Comparative study of peer and
teacher feedback of various peer feedback forms in a secondary writing curriculum. British
Educational Research Journal, 36(1), 143-162.
Jungmi, K. (2003). A Study of negotiation of meaning in NNS-NNS interactions –focusing
on synchronous CMC. Paper presented at the 8th conference of Pan-Pacific
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quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 15, 118-141. doi: 10.1016/j.jslw.2006.01.003
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Shashok, K. (2008). Content and communication: How can peer review provide helpful
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Wingate, U. (2010). The impact of formative feedback on the development of academic
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10.1016/j.asw.2010.01.002

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AWEJ
Pp.235 -251
The Role of Cohesive Devices and the Interplay of Theme and Rheme in Consolidating the
Argument of Krauthammer’s Free-lunch Egalitarianism
Emad Ahmed Saleem Abu Ayyash

The British University in Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Abstract:
Ever since they were introduced by Halliday and Hasan (1976), cohesive devices have been used
as an instrument of analysis in a plethora of research papers that have investigated a variety of
textual types. The reason behind using the 1976-model of cohesion in textual analysis is that it is
probably the most comprehensive account of cohesive ties to-date. Of equal importance are the
notions of Theme and Rheme since the interplay of these components has a major effect in
analysing different genres. This paper espouses a micro-analytic approach, text-based analysis to
explore the role of cohesive devices and the interplay of Theme and Rheme in reinforcing
arguments found in newspaper editorials. Specifically, this paper analyses Krauthammer’s Free-
lunch Egalitarianism in terms of the author’s employment of grammatical and lexical cohesive
devices and Theme and Rheme variations to support his argument. Following the textual
analysis, the paper concludes with a number of implications that the textual analysis can have on
education, particularly the teaching of writing.
Keywords: grammatical cohesion, lexical cohesion, Theme and Rheme, editorials

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The Role of Cohesive Devices and the Interplay of Theme Abu Ayyash
The Role of Cohesive Devices and the Interplay of Theme and Rheme in Consolidating the
Argument of Krauthammer’s Free-lunch Egalitarianism
In 2011, President Barack Obama issued a tax plan called the “Buffett Rule”, which
brought too much controversy in the media between proponents (Seckan, 2012; Tilson, 2012
Weigel, 2011) and opponents (Calmes, 2012; Krauthammer, 2012; Milbank, 2012), who linked
Obama’s plan to political agendas. To communicate their purpose and to highlight their
argument, those writers, like all others, have had to use language as their tool. Linguistic-wise,
writers usually utilize certain syntactic structures to get their messages across (Gee, 1999; Hatch,
1992). It is a rule of thumb that linguistic forms utilized by writers are affected by two factors:
the genre these forms are employed in and the writers’ choice of the structures that, in their view,
will consolidate the text’s message. On the readers’ part, considering syntactic structures in a
certain text might lead to better understanding of the entire message and its exact meaning. The
current paper examines whether analyzing syntactic forms, particularly cohesive devices and
Theme and Rheme, can contribute to the consolidation of meaning in a certain genre. In order to
do that, the text of Kauthammer’s Free-lunch egalitarianism will be analyzed, and links to the
entire meaning of the article will be established accordingly. Structurally, this paper explores the
conceptual framework that encompasses context, genre, cohesive devices and Theme and
Rheme, analyzes Kauthammer’s Free-lunch egalitarianism in light of the conceptual framework,
and finally links the analysis to the educational context, particularly teaching writing. In doing
so, the research is intended to answer the following questions:
1. What role do cohesive devices play in consolidating the meaning in Kauthammer’s
argumentative article?
2. What role does the interplay of Theme and Rheme have on fostering the article’s
message?
3. Does this solely linguistic analysis help understand the nature of argumentative genre?
4. What implications does the current study have for education in the context of writing
classes?
Conceptual Framework
Linguistic features can be rightly considered the core of textual analysis. According to
Jorgensen and Phillips (2002), “Text analysis concentrates on the formal features (such as
vocabulary, grammar, syntax and sentence coherence) from which discourses and genres are
realized linguistically” (p. 69). Despite the significance of textual features in analyzing a certain
text, the following conceptual analysis will also touch on context and genre as it is almost futile
to consider a text without referring to its background and type. Basically, the following review
will be divided into four major parts: context, genre, cohesive devices and Theme and Rheme.
Context of written discourse

Quite understandably, it is not easy to analyse a text in isolation from its context (Brown
& Yule, 1983; Thornbury, 1999). Henceforth, whenever the word “text” is used throughout this
paper, it refers to a cluster of sentences that are mutually dependent on each other (Crystal,
2006), or alternatively, a stretch of language that is structurally more than one sentence (Salkie,
1995). To Blommaert (2005), in addition to the text itself, context is a primary issue to be
considered in critical language analysis. Nevertheless, acknowledging the significance of context
in analysing written texts lends itself to a plethora of issues, one of which is what is exactly
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meant by ‘context’ as far as written discourse is concerned. Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000)
define context as “all the factors and elements that are nonlinguistic and nontextual but which
affect spoken or written communicative interaction” (p. 11). Similar to this view of context as
something outside the text is the description of contexts as socio-cultural conventions that exist
outside the text, or code (Widdowson, 2004). In fact, depicting context as entirely
“nonlinguistic” and “nontextual” makes the above definitions far from being accurate. Put
differently, not all context types are nonlinguistic, or nontextual. Linguistic contexts are
acknowledged in many works on discourse analysis (Cook, 2001; McCarthy,1991; Mike and
Tribble, 2006). Table 1 below outlines how these authors have approached textual context.
Table 1. Textual Context
Author Textual context
McCarthy A co-text consists of linguistic elements that exist within the text itself and
(1991) that function as the immediate context of other parts of the same text.
Cook (2001) Immediate context is important in making sense of vocabulary items used in
the text.
Mike & Tribble Immediate context involves concordances, or the position of a word in a
(2006) sentence, paragraph or a text.
Linked to the concept of immediate context, or co-text, are lexico-grammatical relations that
bind different parts of the written text. Reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical
cohesion are all components of lexico-grammatical ties and will be discussed thoroughly in the
third part of this review. The second element of the conceptual framework under discussion
probes the issue of genre.
Genre
McCarthy and Carter (1994) state that genre is about prototypical features that occur time
and again in certain groups of texts. The authors maintain that choice is an underlying concept
within genre. The textual level of choice functions within the lexico-grammatical system. By
way of exemplification, the authors explain that
To choose a simple past tense in preference to a simple present tense or to
choose a particular range of temporal conjunctions rather than a set of non-temporal
conjunctions is to make choices which result in different types of texts (pp. 29-30).
Apparently, the definition of McCarthy and Carter (1994) does not provide any indication about
the nature of “features” that characterize genre. For example, whether these features are
linguistic and/or nonlinguistic or not is an issue that should be harbored in the definition of
genre. Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000) define genre as “a culturally and linguistically distinct
form of discourse” (p. 6), thus confirming that features underlying genre are not merely textual.
The main underlying concept of genre as introduced by Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000) is
purpose. They maintain that what determines genre’s internal structure is the communicative
purpose. Blommaert and Bulcaen (2000) refer to functional purposes as an essential concept in
genre studies. Bhatia (1993) acknowledges the centrality of communicative purpose to genres yet
distinguishes between major changes and minor ones. To him, while major changes in the
communicative purpose is likely to lead to a different genre, minor modifications only lead to
sub-genres. Emphasizing narrative, descriptive, procedural and argumentative text genres,
Richards (1990) and Hatch (1992) seem to be emphasizing purpose, too.

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In accordance with the proposition that genre houses a twin focus, Thornbury (2005) and Luke
(1995) indicate that genres involve both regular, predictable linguistic forms hand in hand with
fixed forms of social action. Like Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000), though, Luke (ibid)
acknowledges the ever-growing flexibility within text types, yet at the same time, stresses that
genres do have distinctive textual structures and as such operate within particular disciplinary
fields. In other words, “genres tend to have identifiable and conventionalized lexical and
syntactic characteristics” (Luke, 1995, p. 17). Luke (1995) asserts that genres are goal-oriented, a
claim that is conspicuously compatible with the idea that purpose lies at the core of genre
analysis.
An absolutely different attempt to define genre is perpetrated by Crystal (2006) who
states that genres are “linguistically distinct activities” (p. 327), therefore, tacitly dismissing
“cultural” features from the definition. Away from “choice”, but not from “purpose”, Crystal
(2006) places activities and varieties at the heart of genres. He lists examples of activities that
determine genres. Examples of these include everyday activities, such as writing out lists;
information activities, such as works of reference and instructional material; and all kinds of
academic publication. Crystal (2005) recognizes that within some of these activities, there are
flexible sub-varieties. For example, newspapers house a range of varieties that range from news
reports to crosswords. Table 2 summarises the myriad views of what matters most in genres.
Table 2. Core concepts within genre

Author(s) Core concepts within genre
McCarthy and Carter (1994) Choice: The textual level of choice results
in different genres, or types of texts.
Bhatia (1993); Blommaert and Bulcaen (2000); Purpose: Communicative/functional
Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000); Hatch purpose shapes the genre and provides its
(1992); Luke (1995); Ricahrds (1990) internal structure.
Crystal (2006) Activities: Activities and varieties
determine genres.
As far as types of genre are concerned, Carter and McCarthy (1988) suggest that
summary, report, argumentation, narrative, description, explanation and instruction are all types
of what they call “discourse-genres”. Hatch (1992) draws distinction between two common types
of genres: narrative and argumentative. While narratives tend to inform readers about the world
of the story, “argumentation has often been defined as the process of supporting or weakening
another statement…” (Hatch, 1992, p. 185). He distinguishes between six types of argumentation
formats: zig-zag (pro, con, pro, con, …), problem-refutation-solution, one-sided argument,
eclectic (the author accepts some points and rejects others), opposition followed by author’s
argument and the other side questioned pattern (questioning an a proposal rather than refuting it).
Despite the above genre distinctions, a number of writers (Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000;
McCarthy & Carter, 1994) believe that there is no limited set of genres basically because genres
are as dynamic as social systems. However, genres have distinctive textual structures (Luke,
1995) and can be quite similar linguistically (Smith, 2003). Therefore, textual analysis can be a
pivotal tool in understanding certain types of texts within certain genres. The following parts of
this review focus on two major linguistic, textual elements: cohesive devices and Theme and
Rheme.

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Cohesive devices
The content of this part relies heavily on the seminal work of Halliday and Hasan (1976)
on the concept of cohesive devices. The reason for this is that their account of cohesive devices
appears in a significant portion of literature that tackles the same issue. A list that is not at all
exhaustive includes Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000); Crystal (2006); Hatch (1992); Luke
(1995); McCarthy (1991); McCarthy and Carter (1994); Richards (1990); Scott and Tribble
(2006) and Widdowson (2004). Whenever there exists an addition that enriches Halliday and
Hasan’s model, it will be highlighted within the discussion. Halliday and Hasan (1976) identify
five types of cohesive devices, which are reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical
ties. Following is a rough discussion of these types.
Reference. Reference encompasses linguistic items that cannot be interpreted semantically in
their own right. The list includes, but is not limited to pronouns, possessive forms,
demonstratives and the definitive article. Figure 3 outlines the different types of reference.
Figure 3: Types of Reference (Halliday and Hasan 1976)
While both types of endophoric reference refer to linguistic items within the text, exophoric
reference involves shared worlds that exist outside the text (Widdowson 2004). Consider the
following text:
“The principal was leaving the school, and everybody felt sad. He was a true role-model”.
The italicized words are examples of exophoric reference because they go beyond the text to
establish referents. Hence, identifying the principal, the school and its population (everybody)
depends on a shared world between the writer and reader. On the other hand, the underlined
pronoun “He” is endophoric because the referent exists within the text itself. Two sub-types can
be recognised within endophora, which are anaphora and cataphora. Following is an example of
both types:
“When Mary’s father came home, he brought her a gift. The gift was something that she really
wanted – a watch.”
Because the reader needs to look backward in the text to decode the three underlined
pronouns, they are considered to be examples of anaphoric reference. On the other hand,
“something” is cataphoric because it cannot be interpreted except if we look forward in the text.
McCarthy (1991) sheds light on the fact that some reference items, such as it, this, and that are
more difficult to decode than others. The reason behind this difficulty is that such items can refer

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to longer stretches of text, or entire situations. The pronoun This in the following example seems
to refer to “the situation of reading for three days”:
“Peter has been reading day and night for three days. This is very exhausting.
Ellipsis. Writers omit some linguistic items when they assume that they are obvious by virtue of
the immediate context. By and large, there are three types of ellipsis: nominal, verbal and
clausal. Table 4 depicts the three types of ellipsis, identifies their characteristics and provides
examples on each.
Table 3. Types of ellipsis (adapted from McCarthy 1991)

Ellipsis Characteristic Example
Type
Nominal A noun headword is omitted. I achieved the highest mark. My brother had
the lowest.
Verbal A verb is omitted from a verbal A: Has anyone finished?
group. B: John has.
Clausal Whole stretches of clausal If nobody talks to him, I will.
elements are omitted.
Some ellipsis-related structures call for consideration, though. Thomas (1987, cited in
McCarthy 1991) identifies two types of verbal ellipsis, namely echoing and auxiliary
contrasting. The former involves repeating an element in the phrasal verb, whereas in the latter,
the auxiliary verb changes into another. Following are examples on both:
1. A: Is he leaving:
B: Yes, he is.
2. A: Is he leaving?
B: He already has.
The first example represents echoing since the auxiliary verb is repeated, or echoed. The
second example is a case of auxiliary contrasting because is has been changed into has. Another
verbal ellipsis issue arises from the possibility of confusing it with clausal ellipsis. It should be
noted that ellipsis is verbal when only part of the verbal cluster is omitted. If the entire verbal
phrase is crossed out, it is a case of clausal ellipsis. Consider the following examples:
1. A: Who is winning?
B: John. (Clausal ellipsis)
2. A: Who is winning?
B: John is. (Verbal ellipsis)
A final issue linked to ellipsis is the controversy over whether or not ellipsis can be employed
cataphorically. Crystal (2006) confirms that ellipsis “can be recovered only from the preceding
discourse” (p. 261). However, McCarthy (1991) confirms that English does have cataphoric
ellipsis and provides the following example (p. 43):
If you could, I’d like you to be back here at five thirty.
Accordingly, ellipsis can be used cataphorically in front-placed subordinate clauses (McCarthy,
1991).

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Substitution. The only difference between substitution and ellipsis is that the former involves
replacing the omitted linguistic item with another. Like ellipsis, substitution can be nominal,
verbal, or clausal. Following are some examples:
1. I bought a blue jacket. My sister preferred to buy a pink one.
2. I encourage you to study. You will pass the test easily if you do.
3. Does James like parties? If so, please, invite him.
The first text houses an example of nominal substitution with one replacing jacket. In the second
text, do substitutes for study, and is, therefore, an example of verbal substitution. Finally, so in
the third text replaces an entire clause, James likes parties, which is why it is an instance of
clausal substitution. Although one, do and so are the most common substitution items, other
words can be used to substitute. For example, McCarthy (1991) provides the following example
in which the same is used to substitute a noun:
She chose the roast duck; I chose the same (p. 45).
Salkie (1995) draws the attention to the fact that one, do and so are not always used as
substitutions items. He provides the following examples (p. 36):
1. One and three make four.
2. If you do the right thing, you will be fine.
3. I’m so glad you could come.
Conjunction. Conjunctions are linguistic items that signal a relationship between segments of
the discourse. Halliday and Hasan (1976) identify four categories, which are additive (e,g.
moreover, in addition) adversative (e.g. however, nevertheless), causal (e.g. because, as a result)
and temporal (e.g. then, next). Locke (2004) adds a fifth category, which is listing. This category
employs some temporal conjunctions, such as first and second mainly to list elements of an
argument. Despite these attempts, McCarthy (1991) states that it is not easy to produce an
exhaustive list of the entire universe of English conjunctions. This is not hard to believe given
that some conjunctions can fall outside any known category. For example, a conjunction like
“and yet” is hard to classify since it consists of an additive “and” and an adversative “yet”. Some
other conjunctions fall within more than one category, such as “first”, which can be a temporal or
a listing conjunction.
Lexical cohesion. Halliday and Hasan (1976) and Hatch (1992) divide lexical ties into two broad
categories: repetition and collocation. Under the heading “lexical chains”, Cook (1989) also
approves of the same categorization. A more, convenient categorization, however, is that of
McCarthy’s (1991), who states that collocation is not a semantic relation since it is merely about
the probability of co-occurrence of lexical items. Therefore, lexical cohesion is basically the
result of repetition of lexical items. This technique is sometimes referred to in terms of
“keyness”, whereby words that mirror what the text is about are reiterated to reflect their
importance (Scott & Tribble, 2006). Table 5 illustrates different types of repetition that can
occur in written discourse.
Table 4: Types of lexical cohesion (Adapted from McCarthy, 1991)
Type of repetition Examples

Direct repetition Discourse…discourse…discourse
Synonymy Big/large
Antonyms Beautiful/ugly
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Hyponymy Rose/flower
Theme and Rheme

According to Wang (2007), Theme and Rheme are two concepts used to depict the
distribution of words in a sentence. Basically, Theme serves as the message’s point of departure
and contains familiar, or given, information, whereas the remaining part of the clause is called
Rheme (McCarthy 1991; Wang, 2007). Highlighting the sense relationship between the two
concepts, Fries (as cited in Coulthard, 1994) explains that the Theme of a text unit serves as a
framework that in turn helps interpret the Rheme. Johnstone (2002) refers to Theme and Rheme
as Topic and Comment, respectively, yet maintaining that a clause moves from the familiar
(Theme, or Topic) to the less familiar (Rheme, or Comment) or from “what” to the “what about
it”. Following are some examples on Themes (italicized) and Rhemes (underlined):
1. Barbara lives in a very nice villa.
2. That boy in the playground is my best friend.
3. In front of my house, there is a huge tree.
Analysis Method
This paper basically adopts a microanalytic approach (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000) in
the analysis of Krauthammer’s Free-lunch Egalitarianism (Appendix A). This article was chosen
to be the unit of analysis in this paper because it is rife with cohesive devices and a variety of
Theme and Rheme varieties, which are the main focus of the analysis. The microanalytic
approach is used here because it goes in line with bottom-up language analysis where forms are
the starting point of the analysis, which then proceeds towards links between forms and
discourse functions (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000). The microanalytic approach is sometimes
referred to as linguistic/register analysis (Bhatia, 1993). According to Bhatia (1993, p. 5),
“register analysis focuses mainly on the identification of statistically significant lexico-
grammatical features of linguistic variety”.
Although the microanalytic approach employed in this paper focuses on the text itself, some
important links to context and genre have also been made by virtue of the text itself. To
elaborate, the text is an argumentative article (genre-related issue) and contains some reference
to an incident outside the text, which is the Buffet Rule (context-related issue). The
microanalytic approach of this paper, therefore, describes the text as it stands, which is the lion’s
share of the analysis, and comments on the role of linguistic elements in building up the
argument of the article under discussion. Hence, it can be said that the microanalytic approach
utilized here is a combination of both descriptive and predictive content analysis as described by
Neuendorf (2002). Table 6 provides a brief account of the two notions as introduced by
Neuendorf (2002):
Table 5. Descriptive and predictive content analysis (Neuendorf, 2002)
Descriptive Researchers limit their conclusions to the content being analysed, yet
content analysis have a desire to anticipate outcomes of the messages.
Predictive The main goal is to predict the outcome or effect of the message.
content analysis

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Mixing the two types of analysis within a microanalytic approach is an essential

technique dictated by the very nature of this paper. By way of illustration, as far as the article’s
text is concerned, linguistic elements related to cohesive devices and Theme and Rheme will be
analysed, which justifies the use of the descriptive content analysis. However, the paper also
examines the implications of the analysis’s outcomes on education, which is why predictive
content analysis is needed. In a nutshell, the microanalytic method of this paper embraces the
emphasis that any textual analysis should include both form and content (Fairclough, 1992).
Analysis and Discussion

Since Krauthammer’s Free-lunch egalitarianism revolves around what has become to be
called the “Buffet Rule”, it is crucial to consider some factors that exist outside the text (Celce-
Murcia & Olshtain, 2000; Widdowson 2004) to clarify this rule. Of probably the same
importance, too, is considering the textual elements (Crystal, 2006) in building the article’s
argument. In a nutshell, discussion of the article’s context will encompass both factors outside
and elements inside the text, called as immediate context, or co-text (Cook, 2001; McCarthy,
1991; Mike & Tribble, 2006). Since the analysis includes an account of the article’s argument, it
is also indicative to look at text type, or genre. Following suit of the conceptual framework
outlined earlier, this analysis will sequentially flow to discuss the following concepts
respectively: context, genre, cohesive devices and Theme and Rheme. The article (Appendix A)
has been divided into sixteen texts, T1 to T16, following the same distribution of the paragraphs
as they appear in the original article published in the Washington Post (2012).
Context
Starting with the background context (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000; Widdowson,
2004), Free-lunch Egalitarianism revolves around the “Buffet Rule”. The rule derives its name
from Warren Buffet, who according to Forbes ranks as the second billionaire in the United States
and the twentieth powerful person worldwide (Forbes, 2012). The proposal of the rule comes
from Buffet himself, who suggests that highest earners should pay more taxes, the matter which
has urged the Obama administration to propose the Buffet Rule one month later (Goyette, 2012).
This rule would impose more taxes on millionaires, taxes that may hit more than 30% and that
are basically intended to close America’s financial deficit (Goyette, 2012). Kauthammer’s Free-
lunch Egalitarianism argues against the Buffet Rule. In doing so, Kauthammer uses a plethora of
textual features to build his argument. Immediate context, or co-text (Cook, 2001; McCarthy,
1991; Mike & Tribble, 2006), employed in the article will be discussed later in this analysis in
terms of cohesive devices and Theme and Rheme.
Genre
Considering Hatch’s description of argumentation as aiming to ‘strengthen or weaken’ a
statement (1992), it becomes obvious that Free-lunch Egalitarianism falls typically within
argumentative genre since the article aims to weaken the proposal of the Buffet Rule. In fact,
weakening the Buffet Rule is the purpose on which the entire argumentation is built. Purpose as
a core element in genre analysis goes in line with the works of many authors, including Bhatia
(1993), Blommaert and Bulcaen (2000), Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000), Hatch (1992), Luke
(1995) and Richards (1990). Accordingly, the textual analysis of the article will be directly
linked to the purpose as the main generator of the article under discussion. Another important

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dimension lies in the linguistic choices (McCarthy & Carter, 1994) Krauthammer makes in order
to build his argument.
Cohesive devices
In order to establish a tight argument, Krauthammer utilizes a number of cohesive
devices, including reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion (Halliday &
Hasan, 1976). Starting with reference, the article includes a variety of reference items that fall
within the two main categories of exophora and endophora. As indicated earlier, exophoric
reference involves shared worlds that exist outside the text (Hatch, 1992; Widdowson, 2004).
Krauthammer’s article is replete with examples of this kind of reference. For example, the
definitive article in “the country” in T2 is exophoric since the writer does not mention the name
of the country within the text, but assumes that the shared world between him and the readers
will lead them to identify that America is the meant country. One more example on exophoric
reference involves the use of the definitive article in T16. The text reads “Nice idea, but the
iceberg cometh”. Once again, the writer assumes a shared knowledge between him and the
readers, this time some knowledge about what caused the Titanic to sink, which is crashing into
an iceberg. Using exophoric references is a clear indication that background context is highly
significant to understand a text.
While exophoric reference relates the text to factors outside it, endophoric reference links
parts of the text together (McCarthy, 1991). Krauthammer employs endophoric reference, both
anaphoric and cataphoric, heavily in the article and utilizes them to foster his argument against
the Buffet Rule. By way of illustration, the reference items “he” and “his” are only used to refer
to Barack Obama, not anyone else. In T2, the pronoun his in “At the beginning of his
presidency…” is used cataphorically since readers have to read on to figure out that “his” refers
to Barack Obama. In all the other occurrences, “he” and “his” are used anaphorically since their
referent can be identified by going backward in the text. Consider these two stretches from T13:
“For Obama, fairness is the supreme social value. And fairness is what he is running on –
although he is not prepared to come clean on its price.” Obviously, the italicised words are
examples of anaphoric reference since their interpretation requires the reader to go backward.
Utilizing linguistic items that refer to Obama intensively more than any other referring items is a
tacit consolidation of Krauthammer’s argument against the Buffet Rule since it is the rule of a
“he” rather than a “they”, for example.
Another dimension of the role of reference in building the article’s argument lies in the
usage of referential items that link longer stretches that house main ideas in the argument. The
items under discussion here are it, this, and that (McCarthy, 1991). For instance, That is used in
T2 twice, in “That is true” to agree with Obama’s argument about health-care costs being the
cause of the country’s debt and in “That was not true” to disagree with Obama about the health-
care reform being the cure. In T3, “it could never be true” and “that costs” both strengthen the
author’s argument presented in T2 via the use of “it” and “that” to refer to Obama’s suggested
cure. Similarly, in T15, Krauthammer uses “This” to refer to Obama’s claim that capital gains
tax hike will spur economic growth, and describes this claim as free-lunch egalitarianism.
Therefore, the use of referential items, such as this, that and it empowers the argument of the
article against the Buffet Rule.

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Another cohesive tie employed to consolidate the argument of the article is ellipsis, or zero-
substitution (Halliday and Hasan, 1976; McCarthy, 1991). Kauthammer uses clausal ellipsis for
different purposes that serve his main argument against the Buffet Rule. T11 starts with “Clever
politics” to describe the probable political gains behind the Buffet Rule. This instance of clausal
ellipsis is meant to undermine the gains and mark the launch of a counter argument. Another
example of ellipsis that serves to undermine Obama’s claims is found in T14 with “Growth?”
starting the text. This is another clausal ellipsis in which the key word of Obama’s previous
argument is reiterated only to mark the beginning of a hard response. A third example on clausal
ellipsis is “Nice idea” (T16), which again sets the scene for a counter argument. Interestingly,
and probably wittingly, two of the clausal ellipsis, “Clever politics” and “Nice idea”, are
followed by “but”, which indicates disagreement with what has been argued.
Conjunctions used in the article reflect the argumentative nature of the text. Used more
than other sets of conjunctions, adversatives (Halliday and Hasan, 1976) reflect the ‘hot’
argument nested in the text. Examples of adversatives that spread across the entire text include
but, yet, in fact, while, even if, or even, although, instead and on the contrary. While causals, for
example Hence, occur only once in the text (T9), and additives, for example and and also, occur
only three times (T4 and T13), adversatives occur fourteen times in T8, T9, T11, T12, T13, T14
and T16. Dispersing adversatives through the article is a characteristic of the zig-zag
argumentative model (Hatch, 1992) discussed earlier, where an argument is introduced and
immediately followed by a counter argument. One can rightly argue that the higher frequency of
adversatives aims to foster the idea that the article’s writer does disagree with Obama’s Buffet
Rule.
Finally, the article is rich with examples of lexical cohesion that add more meaning to the
content of the article. Direct repetition (McCarthy, 1991), or keyness (Scott & Tribble, 2006),
which refers to reiterating key words, is one of the most noticeable lexical ties in Free-lunch
Egalitarianism. The article also contains examples of synonymy and antonymy. Table 7 below
outlines some occurrences of these lexical ties.
Table 6. Examples of lexical ties
Lexical Tie Example

Direct repetition debt (T2, T4, T6, T8, T9, T16)
tax (T5, T6, T7, T9, T11, T14, T15)
Buffet (T5, T7, T8, T9, T11, T16)
free lunch (Title; T3, T13, T15)
Synonymy Spiraling, exploding (T2)
Obvious (T3), clear (T4)
Add (T4), raise (T6)
Wit (T10), clever (T11)
Fairness (T13), egalitarianism (T15)
Antonymy Reduces, raises (T11)
Stupid (T8), clever (T11)
Raising, lowering (T11)

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Apparently, a quick look at the cohesive ties used in the article reveals what the argument
is all about. One can discern that it is about the relation between the Buffet Rule, taxes and debts.
The author’s argument against the rule is represented in challenging it, not only at the idea level,
but also at the word level. The rule, according to Krauthammer, is clever political-wise, but we
are not stupid. It raises taxes but does not lower the debt. It is basically a free lunch that will not
reduce the spiraling, exploding deficit. Obviously, lexical ties reflect the power of the argument.
Theme and Rheme

This part of the analysis will highlight how Free-lunch Egalitarianism employs Theme
and Rheme as described by McCarthy (1991) and Wang (2007) to convey messages that enhance
the argument against the Buffet Rule. To illustrate, in most instances, if “the Buffet Rule” is used
as/in Theme, it is criticised in the Rheme, and vice versa. Consider the following examples from
the article:
Table 7. The Buffet Rule: Interplay of Theme and Rheme
Theme Rheme Te
xt
As an approach to the Buffet Rule is a farce. T8
our mountain of
debt,
The Buffet Rule is nothing but a form of redistributionism that has vanishingly T9
little to do with debt reduction and everything to do with
reelection,
The Buffet Rule is, in fact, a disguised tax hike on capital gains. T1
1
The interplay between Theme and Rheme is also used to add emphasis on certain arguments in
the article. In such cases, Theme is deleted to add more power to Rheme. For example, “Costs a
lot” (T3) is a stand-alone Rheme of a deleted Theme that can be implied from the preceding co-
text. Theme ellipsis adds emphasis to the argument that health insurance to 33 million uninsured
will cost a lot. In other instances, Theme and part of the Rheme are deleted to express irony.
Examples on this kind of Theme and part-of Rheme ellipsis include “Clever politics” (T11), “No
matter” (T12) and “Nice idea” (T16). In all the three examples, Theme (probably It) and part of
the Rheme (probably is) are deleted to reflect Krauthammer’s belittlement of certain arguments.
Implication
The microanalytic approach (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000) employed in this paper can
be viewed as a model for a teaching strategy that can be used in writing classes. The reason
behind this claim is that the microanalytic approach employed here has a twin focus on both
content and form (Fairclough, 1992). Although the paper has discussed the effects of cohesive
devices and Theme and Rheme on one type of genre, namely argument, utilization of these forms
can be expanded to encompass different forms of academic writing that take place inside
classrooms. Following are some suggestions for utilizing cohesive devices and Theme and
Rheme in teaching academic writing.
One of the best ways for teachers to utilize cohesive devices in teaching writing is by using
intensive, or controlled writing. The reason why this form of writing is appropriate for the use of

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cohesive ties is that it is “sometimes used as a production mode for learning, reinforcing, or
testing grammatical concepts” (Brown, 2007, p. 400). For example, the teacher can present a
written text to students and then ask them to re-produce the same text by replacing some
highlighted nouns with referring items, such as pronouns and demonstratives (Salkie, 1995). This
guided-writing exercise might even be done with academically-distinguished students by asking
them to produce certain texts using it, this and that, which refer to longer stretches of language
(McCarthy, 1991). Brown (2007) suggests the writing form of a dicto-comp, where the teacher
reads a text as many times as required and then asks learners to re-write from memory. This
exercise can be adapted to focus on the use of certain cohesive devices, such as reference and
substitution.
Another controlled-writing activity that may involve cohesive devices is “kill the text
then bring it back to life” (Lindstromberg, 2004). In this activity, the teacher writes a text on the
board and asks students to pick two conjunctions, for example, from the written text. Each
student will then be asked to provide sentences using the conjunctions he/she has selected.
Whenever a conjunction is used correctly, it is erased from the board, thus killing the text as the
exercise goes on and on. After all conjunctions have been removed from the text, students will be
asked to re-produce the text using either the conjunctions that have been deleted, or conjunctions
that belong to the same group – additive, adversative, causal or temporal (Halliday and Hasan,
1976).
Guided writing may involve argumentative genre where different classroom techniques
can be used to introduce cohesive devices and Theme and Rheme (Wang, 2007). One of the
techniques that focus on lexical cohesion involves the teacher displaying the first paragraph in an
argumentative essay and then asking students to come up with a list of key words that should be
repeated in their essays. The words should be listed on the board, and alternatively, students may
be asked to come up with synonyms, antonyms and hyponyms (McCarthy, 1991) for the listed
words. After the essays have been written, students might be asked to change the focus of some
sentences by reversing their Themes and Rhemes where possible. In addition to the use of
additive, adversative, temporal and causal ties (Halliday and Hasan, 1976), students might also
be encouraged to use listing (Locke, 1995) as it is a direct and simple way of stating different
items of an argument.
In order to draw students’ attention to the relationship between form, represented here by
cohesive devices and Theme and Rheme, and content, it will be a good idea for teachers to
display some ‘good’ models and attract students’ attention on how form has added, or in some
cases, established the content, or the message. Brown (2007) stresses the importance of
connecting reading and writing, stating that “by reading and studying a variety of relevant types
of text, students can gain important insights both about how they should write and about subject
matter…” (p. 403). Therefore, ahead of any writing task that focuses on the use of cohesive
devices and Theme and Rheme, teachers can start with written texts, which will serve as models
for students to follow.
Finally, for advanced levels, the teacher may urge the students to write a fully-fledged
counter-argument on an already written argument. In this case, students will have to be taught
the different alternatives for presenting their arguments - zig-zag, problem-refutation-solution,
one-sided argument, eclectic, opposition followed by author’s argument and the other side
questioned pattern (Hatch, 1992). Adopting one of these patterns will help students decide on the
type(s) of cohesive devices to be employed in the text and on the shape of the interplay between
Theme and Rheme. For example, if a student chooses a zig-zag model, he/she can use a zig-zag
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Theme and Rheme structure, where a main word in the Rheme of a clause is transferred into the
Theme of the following clause.
Conclusion
The textual analysis conducted on Krauthammer’s Free-lunch Egalitarianism reveals that
even though cohesive devices and the interplay of Theme and Rheme are form-related concepts,
they can be utilized effectively to build and consolidate the content of a certain text on the
writer’s part and to obtain better understanding of the text’s message on the part of the reader.
The micro-analytic approach employed in this paper also houses a tacit acknowledgement that a
decontextualised text is hard to interpret, and thus, emphasises the role of background context on
forming more insight about the content. One more important element of the textual analysis is
the examination of the type of text, or genre, and its role in both making linguistic choices and
designing the purpose of the text.
The cohesive devices, including reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical
ties, have been found to play a primary role in consolidating the argument in the article under
discussion. The writer’s choice of reference items, elliptical forms and conjunctions has had a
noticeable impact on conveying his message and in fostering his argument against the Buffet
Rule. Having in mind the argumentative nature of the article, it becomes quite understandable
why, for example, adversative conjunctions have had the lion’s share over other conjunctions
used in the article. Lexical ties, represented in repetition of key words, synonymy and antonymy,
have also added emphasis to the writer’s viewpoints.
In addition to the role of cohesive ties, the interplay of Theme and Rheme has also played
a major role in conveying the article’s message. Basically, the writer employs two techniques as
far as Theme and Rheme are concerned. Firstly, the interplay of Theme and Rheme has been
used to criticise the Buffet Rule, the core around which the argument is built. Secondly, elliptical
Theme is used whenever the argument’s emphasis is one of the Rheme’s elements. This is
highlighted in the example of “Costs a lot” (T3) discussed earlier.
Finally, the paper has examined the implications of this paper’s analysis on education,
particularly on teaching writing. The analysis makes it quite patent that teachers can use different
techniques to highlight the significance of using cohesive devices and Theme and Rheme in
writing tasks. Therefore, these concepts can be used effectively in writing, be it controlled or
advanced.
About the Author:

Emad Abu Ayyash is a Doctorate student of education at the British University in Dubai. He
completed his Masters Degree in Translation with the honor roll from Yarmouk University,
Jordan in 2007. He is currently an Instructional Leadership Co-ordinator at the Ministry of
Education, UAE.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Free-lunch Egalitarianism
By: Charles Krauthammer
The Washington Post, April 13 2012
T1 Here we go again.
T2 At the beginning of his presidency, Barack Obama argued that the country’s spiraling
debt was largely the result of exploding health-care costs. That was true. He then said the
cure for these exploding costs would be his health-care reform. That was not true.
T3 It was obvious at the time that it could never be true. If government gives health insurance
to 33 million uninsured, that costs. Costs a lot. There is no free lunch.
T4 Now we know. The Congressional Budget Office’s latest estimate is that Obamacare will
add $1.76 trillion in federal expenditures through 2022. And, as one of the Medicare
trustees has just made clear, if you don’t double count the $575 billion set aside for the
Medicare trust fund, Obamacare adds to the already crushing national debt.
T5 Three years later, we are back to smoke and mirrors. This time it’s not health care but the
Buffett Rule, which would impose a minimum 30 percent effective tax rate on
millionaires. Here is how Obama introduced it last September:
T6 “Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a [higher] tax rate than Warren Buffett. . . . And
that basic principle of fairness, if applied to our tax code, could raise enough money” to
“stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade. . . . This is not politics; this is math.”
T7 Okay. Let’s do the math. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates this new tax would
yield between $4 billion and $5 billion a year. If we collect the Buffett tax for the next
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250 years — a span longer than the life of this republic — it would not cover the Obama
deficit for 2011 alone.
T8 As an approach to our mountain of debt, the Buffett Rule is a farce. And yet Obama
repeated the ridiculous claim again this week. “It will help us close our deficit.” Does he
really think we’re that stupid?
T9 Hence the fallback: The Buffett Rule is a first step in tax reform. On the contrary. It’s a
substitute for tax reform, an evasion of tax reform. In three years, Obama hasn’t touched
tax (or, for that matter, entitlement) reform, and clearly has no intention to. The Buffett
Rule is nothing but a form of redistributionism that has vanishingly little to do with debt
reduction and everything to do with reelection.
T10 As such, it’s clever. It deftly channels the sentiment underlying Occupy Wall Street
(original version, before its slovenly, whiny, aggressive weirdness made it politically
toxic). It perfectly pits the 99 percent against the 1 percent. Indeed, it is OWS translated
into legislation, something the actual occupiers never had the wit to come up with.
T11 Clever politics, but in terms of economics, it’s worse than useless. It’s counterproductive.
The reason Buffett and Mitt Romney pay roughly 15 percent in taxes is that their income
is principally capital gains. The Buffett Rule is, in fact, a disguised tax hike on capital
gains. But Obama prefers to present it as just an alternative minimum tax because 50
years of economic history show that raising the capital gains tax backfires: It reduces
federal revenue, while lowering the tax raises revenue.
T12 No matter. Obama had famously said in 2008 that even if that’s the case, he’d still raise
the capital gains tax — for the sake of fairness.
T13 For Obama, fairness is the supreme social value. And fairness is what he is running on —
although he is not prepared to come clean on its price. Or even acknowledge that there is
a price. Instead, Obama throws in a free economic lunch for all. “This is not just about
fairness,” he insisted on Wednesday. “This is also about growth.”
T14 Growth? The United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world.
Now, in the middle of a historically weak recovery, Obama wants to raise our capital
gains tax to the fourth highest. No better way to discourage investment — and the jobs
and growth that come with it. (Except, perhaps, for hyperregulation. But Obama is
working on that too.)
T15 Three years ago, Obama promised universal health care that saves money. Today, he
offers a capital gains tax hike that spurs economic growth. This is free-lunch
egalitarianism.
T16 The Buffett Rule redistributes deck chairs on the Titanic, ostensibly to make more
available for those in steerage. Nice idea, but the iceberg cometh. The enterprise is an
exercise in misdirection — a distraction not just from Obama’s dismal record on growth
and unemployment but, more important, from his dereliction of duty in failing to this day
to address the utterly predictable and devastating debt crisis ahead.

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AWEJ
Pp. 252 -264
Research Paradigms: Researchers’ Worldviews, Theoretical Frameworks and Study

Designs
Sayyed Rashid Shah

Faculty of Engineering
King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Al-Bargi
English Language Institute
King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
For novice researchers, in the fields of educational and social research, the choice of an
appropriate research paradigm and relevant methodology is an uphill task. The vast amount of
literature on this subject further exacerbates the confusion of early-career researchers. Hence, the
current paper introduces them to the philosophical underpinnings of three major research
paradigms in research. It delineates the positivistic, interpretive, and critical paradigms with an
aim to seek a connexion among the ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods of each
paradigm. In addition, it explores various underlying assumptions in educational research that
have an impact on researchers’ world views, theoretical frameworks and study designs.
Keywords: methods; methodology; research paradigms; study designs; worldviews

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Research Paradigms: Researchers’ Worldviews Shah & Al-Bargi
Introduction
To explore the nature of educational research and to understand its underlying
philosophy, novice researchers must be fairly familiar with major research paradigms and their
underlying ontological and epistemological assumptions. For new researchers, it is essential to
recognize how these assumptions narrate the chosen methodology and methods in connection to
the findings of a research study. Therefore, to raise research awareness, this paper briefly
discusses the terms Research and Paradigm; and reveals the philosophical underpinnings of
three major research paradigms, known as Positivistic, Interpretive and Critical, which are
mainly used in educational research. Their theoretical and philosophical issues are addressed in
the light of ontological, epistemological and methodological positions.
Nature of Research
One of human kind's most persistent endeavours has been the search for the truth and the
exploration of nature. This immutable obsession has been accomplished primarily through
experience, reasoning and research (Moley, 1978 cited in Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007).
Research is considered a combination of both experience and reasoning, particularly in the
natural sciences (Borg, 1963 cited in Cohen et al, 2007). If research is such a powerful tool for
uncovering the ultimate truth, researchers must know more about its purpose and process.
Research is a systematic and methodical process that investigates a phenomenon,
addresses an issue, answers a particular question and solves problems, all of which help increase
existing knowledge (Sekaran, 1992: 4). Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized
effort to gain new knowledge” (1993, p. 10). Similarly, Bassey (1990) considers research as "a
systematic, critical and self-critical inquiry which aims to contribute to the advancement of
knowledge" (p. 35). These two definitions emphasise the systematic production and expansion
of knowledge through research.
In the investigative process, a researcher attempts to link and build on existing
knowledge, uses an organized process of enquiry, and engages in theory development (Cohen et
al., 2007; Ernest, 1994). We believe that these elements assist a researcher to scrutinise the
research phases while assuming a self-critical and principled position. This systematic and
critical approach helps explore and develop knowledge in various domains of the social and
natural sciences.
Paradigm
The term paradigm was first introduced by Kuhn in his seminal work The Structure of
Scientific Revolution. Kuhn defines paradigm as “an integrated cluster of substantive concepts,
variables and problems attached with corresponding methodological approaches and tools” (cited
in Flick, 2009). Guba and Lincoln (1994) call paradigm “a basic system or worldview that guides
the investigator” (p. 105). Likewise, for Chalmers (1982), paradigm is “made up of the general
theoretical assumptions and laws, and techniques for their application that the members of a
particular scientific community adopt” (p. 90). It is generally acknowledged that a paradigm has
five components:
1. Explicitly stated laws and theoretical assumptions.
2. Standard ways of applying the fundamental laws to a variety of situations.
3. Instrumentation and instrumental techniques that bring the laws of the paradigm to bear on
the real world.
4. General metaphysical principles that guide work within the paradigm.
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5. General methodological prescriptions about how to conduct work within the paradigm.
(Chalmers, 1982, p. 91)
Hussain, Elyas and Nasseef (2013) believe that the term paradigm can be utilised in three
ways in human sciences: it can be used for the institutionalisation of intellectual activity, for the
broad groupings of certain approaches and perspectives to the study of any subject, and for the
description of broad approaches to research, e.g. the positivist or interpretive paradigms (Grix,
2010). It is generally believed that the paradigms we build in our minds have a powerful effect as
they create the lens through which we see the world (Covey, 1989).
Positivist Paradigm
Positivism is regarded as "scientific method" or "science research" and is “based on the
rationalistic, empiricist philosophy that originated with Aristotle, Francis Bacon, John Locke,
Auguste Comte, and Emmanuel Kant” (Mertens, 2005, p. 8). Positivism is related to various
schools of thought such as empiricism, naturalism, behaviourism, scientism and determinism,
and reductionism. Furthermore, it “reflects a deterministic philosophy in which causes determine
effects or outcomes” (Creswell, 2003, p. 7).
Positivism was propounded by the French philosopher Auguste Comte who interprets it
as a doctrine that defines observation and reason as a means of understanding behaviour. He
maintains that true knowledge is based on sensory experience and only observation or
experiment can accomplish it (Crotty, 2003, Cohen et al., 2007). On the same grounds,
positivists in social sciences apply scientific methods, used in natural sciences, to study a social
phenomenon, considering it value free and subject to scientific explanation. Thus, researchers
pursue the social world objectively (Mertens, 2005), and adopt all those approaches that
synchronize scientific methods with human affairs (Grix, 2010).
The twentieth century saw the emergence of post-positivism which shares somewhat
similar ontological and epistemological grounds with positivism. In a scientific paradigm, the
generated truth simply signifies a shared belief in its current tested hypotheses (Popper, 1959, p.
415-9). With regards to the principle of falsification, scientific theories can never be proven true
(Ernest, 1994, p. 22) and can only be accepted tentatively true when all attempts to refute them
fail. Hence, “every scientific statement must remain tentative forever” (Popper, 1959, p. 280).
In addition, for a better understanding of scientific theories researchers need not restrict
themselves to empirical data but are required to go beyond that in order to minimise the element
of uncertainty. For instance, in light of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, it is highly unlikely to
understand the precise position and velocity of a subatomic particle concurrently (Crotty, 1998,
p. 29). Thus, Post-positivistic knowledge claimed to be more objective and certain in nature than
knowledge originated from other paradigms.
Ontology
Positivist paradigm takes realism (naïve realism) as its ontological stance, assuming that
reality exists and is driven by immutable natural laws and mechanism (Guba & Lincoln, 1994).
For a positivist, reality is "out there" in the world independent of the researcher (Pring, 2000a, p.
59) and essentially discovered through scientific and conventional methodologies (Guba &
Lincoln, 1994: Bassey, 1995). Positivist researchers perceive the world as an external and
objective reality where the observers are independent and detached (Cohen et al., 2007, p. 176)
and their philosophical treatise is that the world is knowable which could be explored through
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quantitative methodologies. Further, positivists see the world as a meaningful object once the
conscious beings engage with it and make sense of it. This is also evident from the researchers’
claim that human beings could be studied as a scientific entity in a world that exists independent
of human consciousness (Cohen et al., 2007, Grix, 2004 and Crotty, 2003).
Epistemology
Epistemology pertains to the nature of knowledge (Crotty, 2003). The epistemology of
the positivist paradigm is dualist and objectivist, in which the investigator and the investigated
exist as independent entities and the former is able to study the object or the investigated without
influencing each other (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Therefore, the role of a researcher is to maintain
an aloof, distant and non-interactive position and not to impede the research procedure (Cohen et
al., 2007) whereas, phenomena have an independent existence and can be discovered via
research. Moreover, meaning exclusively rests in objects, not in the researcher’s consciousness,
of those objects and the researcher aims to obtain that meaning as Crotty (1998) elaborates:
A tree in the forest is a tree, regardless of whether anyone is aware of its existence or not.
As an object of that kind, it carries the intrinsic meaning of treeness. When human beings
recognize it as a tree, they are simply discovering a meaning that has been lying in wait for
them all along (p. 8).
Methodology & Methods
Positivist methodology is concerned with explaining relationships among various
phenomena. Positivists adhere to the principles of demonstration, verification and causal links
between the bits of information used (Dash, 2005) and identify causes which influence outcomes
(Creswell, 2009, p. 7). Their research is related to quantitative methods, i.e. experimental (cause
and effect) and non-experimental wherein questions and hypotheses are posited in advance in a
propositional way and are subjected to an empirical test (falsification) for verification under
conditions that are carefully controlled (manipulated) so that the results are not influenced
(Guba & Lincoln, 1994). This approach aims to study the fundamental relationship between
variables that are consistent in time and context. An essential part of it is to deal with researchers'
control and manipulation of conditions independently to determine the events according to their
interests. In non-experimental approaches, especially, in correlational studies, the researcher
would refrain from manipulating the independent variable. It is primarily concerned with
researcher’s links between the variables (Cohen et al., 2007). The limitations of this linkage are
that the researcher cannot generalize the results due to the probability of other justifications that
could be gathered as in cause and effect research.
The scientific paradigm seeks predictions and generalisations, so different methods often
generate quantitative data. Examples are: experiments, quasi- experiments, standardised tests,
scales, questionnaires, closed ended questionnaires, structured interviews and descriptions of
phenomena employing standardised observation tools (Pring, 2000, p. 34). However, it is on the
researchers’ discretion to choose a method appropriate to their paradigmatic stance and design of
the study to present and analyse the data statistically (Bryman, 2008; Creswell, 2009). Similarly,
post-positivists seek to understand and establish causal relationships by designing
experimentation and correlational studies. Post-positivists also aim to collect sense-data through
seeking participants’ perspectives. Consequently, as knowledge is considered tentative,
hypotheses are neither simply proved nor rejected (Creswell, 2009, p. 7).
The quality of the quantitative research is dependent upon its validity and reliability,
however, Wellington (2000) believes that researchers often find the terms difficult to understand.
For Cohen et al. (2007) reliability is a pre-condition of validity in research, but not the opposite.
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Creswell (2009) relates reliability to consistency in test administration and scoring whereas
validity pertains to the possibility of drawing meaningful and useful inferences using a particular
instrument.
To measure the reliability of a result, Bryman (2008) considers three vital factors:
stability, internal reliability and inter-observer consistency. Stability denotes that the outcomes
are related to a sample’s measurement and are consistent. Internal reliability examines if the
respondents’ scores on different indicators are similar. Inter-observer consistency involves more
than one observer in the process of categorization of the data or recording of the observation.
There are various kinds of validity. Two of them are significant i.e., external and internal: the
external provides the precise description of an issue or an investigated event through the obtained
data; internal validity is concerned with the contingency of generalizing the results beyond a
specific research context (Bryman, 2008; Cohen et al., 2007).
What is more, validity and reliability could be influenced by the participants’ unknown
interests. For example, if a questionnaire is given to students to evaluate the teacher’s
performance, they might not respond to the questions in an impartial way, bearing in mind the
teacher’s rapport with them and his authoritative position. Also, the questions that are beyond
the participants’ understanding may lead to unreliable results and interpretations.
Sampling
In a positivist study, sampling is of paramount importance. All quantitative sampling
aims at approaches that draw a representative sample from the target population, hence, the
results of studying the sample can then be generalized back to the population. The quality of
quantitative research is not limited to the appropriate use of methodology and instruments, but
hinges on the suitability of the sampling strategy adopted by the researchers (Creswell. 2009).
Positivists commonly use random or probability samples. A random sample defines the nature of
the population and offers all members an equal chance of selection. Area sampling and stratified
random sampling are variants of random sampling and allow sub-groups to be studied in more
detail.
Critique of the Positivist Paradigm
The positivist paradigm has been criticised from different perspectives. First, it fails to
differentiate people and social sciences from natural sciences, and deals with human beings like
any other natural objects (Bryman, 2008). Second, it seeks to dilute the complex to the simple
by simplifying and controlling variables, which is why its application seems difficult in
educational research. Third, it assumes that generalization is applicable in social sciences.
However, it seems inapplicable based on differences in culture, belief and human experience.
Last but not least, positivists shred contexts from the meanings while developing quantified
measures of phenomena (Guba & Lincoln, 1994) and give no value to research. In fact, research
is a value-laden activity with its meaning residing in the context. Accordingly, the context of the
study gives value to the research by explaining and signifying the participants’ roles, different
variables and interpretation of findings.
Interpretive Paradigm
This paradigm is considered as constructivist, naturalist, humanistic and anti-positivist
which emerged in contradistinction to positivism for the understanding and interpretation of
human and social reality. According to Crotty (2003), this approach “looks for culturally derived
and historically situated interpretations of the social life-world” (p. 67). Interpretive research is
concerned with subjective meanings as it seeks to recognize the individuals’ interpretation and
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understanding of the social phenomena (Schwandt, 1994). Since social research is guided by the
researcher’s desire to understand social reality, all is interpretive. Hussain et al. (2013) argue that
researchers cannot distance themselves from the object being observed, the subject matter and
the methods of the study. In contrast to positivists, interpretivists assume that there is no
objective knowledge which is independent of thinking and reasoning by humans, so knowledge
and meaning are acts of interpretation (Schwandt, 1994). Moreover, interpretivists believe that
adopting a cause-and-effect relationship in social sciences is not applicable. Thus interpretivist
researchers aim to explore individuals’ perceptions, share their meanings and develop insights
about the observed case (Bryman, 2008, Grix, 2004). This type of research investigates and
highlights how the subjective interpretations of individuals and groups shape the objective
features of a society. In interpretivist research, terms such as credibility, transferability,
dependability, and confirmability replace the usual positivist criteria of internal and external
validity, reliability, and objectivity (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998).
Ontology
Ontology of interpretive paradigm is relativist. Realities exist in the form of multiple and
intangible mental constructions that are based on experience, local and specific in nature and
dependent for their form and content on the persons or groups holding the constructions (Guba &
Lincoln, 1994). Interpretivists do not believe that reality is "out there”, rather they view it as
socially constructed. They maintain that people make their own sense of social realities that
emerge when consciousness interacts with objects (Crotty, 1998). Interpretivists adopt the idea of
multiple realities to conduct qualitative research on individuals. Intending to report these
realities, language does not passively label objects, but actively shapes and moulds reality
(Frowe, 2001, p. 185). Therefore, reality is constructed through interaction between language and
various aspects of an independent world while actual words of individuals become the evidence
of multiple realities (Creswell, 2007).
Epistemology
Interpretivism espouses subjective and transactional epistemology, therefore, the inquirer
and the inquired are fused into a single (monistic) entity and their interaction leads to certain
findings. Subjectivity serves as the only means of answering the constructions kept by the
individuals which is thrust upon us by human conditions. Subjective interaction can access the
realities that are in respondents’ minds (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Interpretivists believe that the
world does not exist independently of our knowledge of it (Grix, 2004, p. 83) and the
individuals’ interpretation and participation can influence the observed phenomena (Glesne &
Peshkin, 1992 cited in Alwan, 2007). They present how the individuals or groups construe the
social phenomena and how the researchers’ interpretation establishes different concepts, theories,
strategies and procedures (Bryman 2008; Cohen et al., 2007; Ernest, 1994). Crotty (1998)
elaborates the example of trees that “We need to remind ourselves here that it is human beings
who have constructed it as a tree, given it the name, and attributed to it the associations we make
with trees” (p.43).
The meaning of a tree is not discovered but, in fact, is constructed through interaction
between consciousness and the world. To experience the world is to participate in it by
encountering and shaping it simultaneously (Heron & Reason, 1997, p. 3).
Interpretive methodology seeks an understanding of phenomena from individual’s
perspective, investigating interaction among individuals as well as the historical and cultural
contexts which people inhabit (Creswell, 2009, p. 8).
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Research methods used by interpretivists are hermeneutical and dialectical (Guba &
Lincoln, 1994). The varying personal constructions are explained through hermeneutical
techniques and equated through a dialectical interaction to reach a consensus construction that is
more informed (Guba & Lincoln, 1994).
Interpretivists think that quantitative research methods are not adequate to comprehend
social phenomena so they believe in qualitative techniques that are diverse. The qualitative
aspect of these techniques presents human beings as the primary research instrument. These
techniques include phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case study, historical and
documentary research and ethno-methodology. Following are brief definitions of these methods:
Phenomenology considers the experiences of different individuals and focuses on what
all participants have in common while they experience any social phenomenon.
“Phenomenologists talk about the ‘primordial phenomena’, the ‘immediate, original data of the
consciousness” (Crotty, 2003: 79). Husserl and Schutz are the main advocates of this school of
thought.
Grounded Theory evolves from the research study and is developed from the data while
the research is carried out.
Ethnography is considered to be the essence of qualitative research. It intends to
investigate the beliefs, ideas and practices of a particular cultural setting and its influence on
people.
Case study is an approach that employs in-depth investigation of any social phenomenon,
using various sources of data. A "case" may refer to an individual, an event, a social activity,
group, organisation or institution (Jupp, 2006). It could be a descriptive, explanatory or
exploratory form of research inquiry.
Historical and documentary research deals with qualitative historical studies as it
depends on verbal and other symbolic materials largely derived from past cultures.
Ethno-methodology is a research perspective that foregrounds the intentional activity of
human beings and describes inter-subjective negotiations between individuals (Scott & Morrison,
2005, p. 93). It delineates everyday life and defines how common sense reality is constructed in
everyday interaction. The ethno methodologists’ core interest is to interpret how people perceive
their social settings (Creswell, 2009; Creswell, 2007; Dornyei, 2007; Grix, 2004).
Symbolic Interactionism explores the understandings prevalent in culture as the
meaningful matrix that guides our lives (Crotty, 2003, p. 71). The hallmark of this approach is
that it shows how human beings interpret and define each other’s actions rather than reacting to
them.
Narrative research is a form of research in which the researcher analyzes the lives of
individuals by asking one or more individuals to narrate their life stories (Creswell, 2003;
Dornyei, 2007; Grix, 2010).
The data collection techniques include observation (participant / non participant), open-
ended questionnaires, interviews (semi- structured / unstructured / interactive), focus-groups,
think aloud protocol and role-playing, document reviews, and visual data analysis. Interpretivists
do not rely on statistical analysis rather they employ an investigative, holistic and inductive
approach for data analysis (Cohen et al., 2007; Creswell, 2003; Dornyei, 2007).
Klein & Myers (1999) contend that
...the word interpretive is not a synonym for qualitative – qualitative research may or may
not be interpretive, depending upon the underlying philosophical assumptions of the
researcher (Myers 1997). This implies that case study research can be positivist (Yin
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1994), interpretive (Walsham 1993), or critical, just as action research can be positivist
(Clark 1972), interpretive (Elden and Chisholm 1993) or critical (Carr and Kemmis 1986)
(p. 69).
Sampling
The quality of a piece of research not only depends on suitable methodology and
instrumentation but also on the suitability of the sample (Cohen et al., 2007). There are three
extensive approaches to select a sample in interpretive research known as convenience,
purposive or theoretical but the most important sampling technique is purposive sampling, which
helps in obtaining thorough information (Cohen et al., 2007; Marshall, 1996).
Critique of the Interpretive Paradigm
Whilst Interpretivism is sensitive to individual meanings, it can be buried within broader
generalizations (Samdahl, 1999). The subjective and contextual nature of interpretive research
findings prevents researchers from generalizing the results to different organizational settings.
Moreover, carrying out interpretative research could also become costly because of the
prolonged research time that is needed to observe and describe idiosyncratic interactions.
Replicating original research and reaching an inter-subjective agreement about the results is also
problematic. Furthermore, as researchers’ views are reflected in the interpretive research
process, their personal subjectivity may influence the research outcomes and compromise the
participants’ privacy and autonomy due to the open-ended nature of the adopted methods; that
may lead to the unintended discovery of secrets, lies and oppressive relationships (Howe &
Moses, 1999, p. 40). Owing to the lack of participants' control over the subjective interpretations
of the researcher, interpretivists often produce theorized accounts that represent participant’s
sociological understandings (Danby & Farrell, 2004, p. 41).
Critical Paradigm
Critical theory challenges both positivist and Interpretivist paradigms and attempts to
uncloak beliefs and practices that shackle human freedom (Scott & Usher, 2011). The main
proponent of this paradigm, Jurgen Hebermas worked at the Frankfort school in Germany to
develop an approach of investigation and action in social sciences.
The critical paradigm research tries to emancipate people by changing their social,
political, and cultural settings. It is concerned "with questions of power, control, and
epistemology as social constructions with benefits to some and not to others" (Muffoletto, 1993,
p. 4). Research in this paradigm advocates changes in societal and educational structures and
aims at practicality (Alwan, 2007; Crotty, 2003; Pring, 2000). Moreover, it vouches for
collective freedom and social transformation (Cohen et al., 2007). It considers the researcher to
be a transformative intellectual who liberates people from their historical, mental, emotional and
social conditions (Crotty, 2003; Guba & Lincoln, 1994).
Critical theory doubts all the culturally constructed meanings and emphasizes that
meanings are created in peculiar social conditions which might attend to certain hegemonic
concerns, “Each set of meaning supports particular power of structures, resists, moves towards
greater equity, harbours oppression, manipulation and other modes of injustice and denial of
freedom” (Crotty, 2003, p. 59-60). The issues encountered by the marginalised groups, such as
oppression, domination, suppression, alienation, and hegemony are given paramount importance.
The researchers study and expose these issues and give participants a voice, raise their
consciousness and improve their lives (Creswell, 2003, p. 21). The goals that critical inquirers
set may not obtain the absolute results, yet they regard their struggle for social justice, freedom
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and equity to be worthwhile. They explore the relationship between power and culture through
the lens of the marginalised and hope for "universality and universal validity of culture" (Crotty,
2003).
The critical paradigm is considered anti-foundational attacking the reality and asserting
that people are not only in the world but also with it (Crotty, 1998, p. 149). It also considers
reality a commutable human action. The emancipatory aim is achieved through addressing issues
of social justice and marginalisation. Various theoretical perspectives of critical research
embraces: Marxism, queer theory and feminism.
Ontology
Historical realism is the ontological stance of the critical theorists who view reality as
tangible and historically placed in social and institutional structures (Guba & Lincoln, 1994).
Reality is shaped by social, political, cultural, ethnic and gender values; that was deemed plastic
once and has become crystallized over time (ibid). Interaction between language and aspects of
the independent world helps shape the reality (Frowe, 2001, p.185).
Epistemology
The epistemology of the critical paradigm is transactional and subjectivist which is based
on real world phenomena and associated with societal knowledge. It assumes the investigator
and investigated objects are interactively linked and closely related to the practical conduct of the
research that is likely to influence the enquiry (Crotty, 2003; Guba & Lincoln, 1994). The
researchers characterize knowledge as socially constructed and human perception as value laden
and prejudiced (Ernest, 1994: Creswell, 2003). They also believe that our actions depend on the
meanings we comprehend (Ernest, 1994).
Critical methodology aims to interrogate values and assumptions, to expose hegemony
and injustice, to challenge conventional social structures and to engage in social action (Crotty,
1998, p. 157). Critical theorists adopt dialogic, dialectical and transformative methodologies. The
transactional nature of the inquiry involves the researchers and the subjects in the dialectical
nature of dialogues to transform ignorance and misapprehension (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). For
researchers, a research methodology is not value-free and their utilised methods aspire to initiate
dialogues with participants as sources of information (Pring, 2000b, p. 250).
Cohen et al. (2007) associate two research methodologies with critical paradigm,
ideology critique and action research. Ideology critique aims to uncover the vested interests and
illegitimate actions of those in authority, to raise the awareness of marginalised people about an
unjust social system. Therefore, a crucial relationship exists between theory, data, research
questions and interpretation (Talmy, 2010). Action research is mainly concerned with practice
which gives researchers’ a "voice" (Cohen et al., 2007). It is a strategy that sets out to change the
situation being researched and improve the standard of practice in various contexts (Scott &
Morrison, 2005). In educational practices, it is assured to have an in-depth view of the context to
enhance learning outcomes through developing reflective practice and acquainting the school
environment with effective changes (Mills, 2003). Dornyie (2007) considers it a vital tool for a
research project that establishes a close link between research, teaching and teachers. However,
novice researchers may find it challenging to establish these links, thus they collaborate with old
hands to conduct sound research.
Critical researchers may adopt qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods to design their
research studies in order to critically examine the realities from a cultural, historical and political
stance. Triangulation can be used to obtain more valid and reliable results (Mertens, 2005).
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Purposive sampling is a key to understand the target groups, their problems and expected
changes to happen. Moreover, open-ended interviews, focus groups, open-ended observations,
open-ended questionnaires, and journals are commonly used methods which usually generate
qualitative data. Like interpretivsim, analysis often includes thematic interpretation of data
placing explicit values on them.
Critique of the Critical Paradigm
Critical theory has been criticised on a number of grounds. It has a deliberate political
agenda where researchers place themselves as ideologues when they should remain objective,
dispassionate and disinterested (Morrison, 1995, cited in Cohen at el., 2007, p. 30). This may
lead the researchers to introduce political changes with ulterior motives. As a result, that may
encourage people to make radical changes irrespective of their desires and needs. On the other
hand, the hidden institutional forces of resistance to change, like teachers, students and
institutional structures, etc. may foreclose the attainment of desired results, thus rendering the
whole process a futile exercise. Furthermore, to conduct critical inquiries in various
marginalised contexts in order to liberate and empower people, critical theorists often lack clarity
in terms of guidelines and roadmaps to achieve the desired outcomes. These shortcomings
notwithstanding, the immense strength of critical paradigm cannot be denied due to its plainly
stated goal of transforming the phenomena under study (Ernest, 1994).
Mixed-Method Approach
This discussion would not be complete without touching upon the acceptance and utility
of the mixed-method approach in research. The use of mixed methods finds its roots in
triangulation which aims to enhance and strengthen research validity and credibility (Grix,
2004; Creswell, 2009; Bryman, 2008) through complementarity, convergence and dissonance
among the findings (Erzerberger & Prein, 1997). Its benefits include ‘increasing confidence in
research data, creating innovative ways of understanding a phenomenon, revealing unique
findings, challenging or integrating theories, and providing a clearer understanding of the
problem’ (Thurmond, 2001, p. 254). For example, using interviews as well as questionnaires add
depth to the results that would not be possible using a single-strategy study, thereby increasing
the validity and utility of the findings.
The nature of mixed-method research reflects the practical orientation of an approach that
equips a researcher with a variety of tools to be used in different contexts in line with the
research design. However, philosophically oriented writers question the possibility of mixed-
method research as it mixes paradigms or worldviews. It is believed that paradigms or
worldviews have rigid boundaries and mixed-methods research is untenable due to the
incompatibility of the paradigms underlying them (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Also, methods are
linked to paradigms, and mixing of methods results in mixing paradigms (Holmes, 2006),
whereas the process of combining two different paradigms in the same study is challenged by
researchers (Foss & Ellefsen, 2002), who have a purist stance and believe in the "incompatibility
thesis" (Howe, 2004; Pring, 2000). For them, mixed-methods research is unfeasible and
fundamentally flawed (Johnson et al., 2007).
On the other hand, some scholars acknowledge the fact that there is no direct
correspondence between paradigms, methodology and methods. In fact, “…research
methodologies are merely tools, instruments to be used to facilitate understanding” (Morse,
1991). Since, strategies related to types of data and methods of data collection and analysis do
not have paradigmatic characteristics, there is no issue with using numbers, text, visual and
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sensory data synthetically in combination (Gorard, 2012). Moreover, both qualitative and
qualitative methods may be simultaneously used with any research paradigm with the increasing
support for mixed-methodologies (Guba & Lincoln, 2005, p. 200).
Conspectus
This paper has critically viewed three major research paradigms and offered some
foundational literature on researchers’ worldviews, theoretical frameworks and study designs. In
the domain of educational research, the positivist paradigm seeks to generalize, the interpretive
paradigm aims to understand, and the critical paradigm attempts to emancipate. Since, each
paradigm has its own ways of realizing its goals, the literature has revealed the fact that a
comprehensive understanding of these paradigms is essential to a research endeavour. Troudi
(2010) asserts that it is imperative for researchers to establish a clear link between the
paradigmatic nature and the theoretical framework of their studies, which will help them choose
a suitable research design, methodology and method(s). In choosing a method, we should be
more flexible in order to maximise our research potential and produce valid and reliable research
results. However, the ontological and epistemological beliefs of a qualitative researcher should
not prevent them from utilizing data collection methods typically used in quantitative research
approach (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2007). If a researcher utilises any data collection method,
qualitative or quantitative, that should not be interpreted as an indicator of an ontological or
epistemological position (Troudi, 2010).
About the Authors:

Mr. Sayyed Rashid Shah is a lecturer in English at King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia.
He earned a master degree in TESOL from Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is currently
enrolled on EdD TESOL programme at University of Exeter, UK. Mr. Shah’s research interests
include language teacher development, educational leadership and management, TESOL
pedagogies, and EFL classroom teaching and learning.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Bargi is Vice-Dean for Development at the English Language Institute (ELI),
King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia. Prior to joining the ELI, he served as an
advisor to the editorial board of the Saudi Gazette Newspaper, the first English daily in the
country. He was recently featured in the ASU Alumni Magazine "Learn Locally, Work Globally."
He also teaches linguistics courses at the European Language and Literature Department at
KAU. Dr. Al-Bargi earned his Master's in TESL and PhD in Linguistics/Rhetoric & Composition
from Arizona State University, USA
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AWEJ
Pp.265 -284
Hit Two Birds with One Stone: Idioms and Culture in FL Translation Class
Ahlam Mohammad Alharbi

Taif University, Saudi Arabia
Abstract:
A foreign language (FL) translation class should be invested in teaching translation as well as
pragmatic competence including culture. The current study has suggested a multilayered method
of teaching idioms and culture in FL translation class to provide learners with the required
background to communicate successfully. Idioms are one of the important aspects to achieve a
successful communication in L2, because it is cultural-oriented, need different methods of
translation, and enrich the pragmatic competence of L2 learners. This study has suggested a
comparative method in FL translation class to achieve the previous aims. The comparison
between the idiomatic expression of L1 (Arabic) and L2 (English) has revealed interesting
subclasses of comparison based on cultures, which also indicate the different translation tactics
in translating English idioms into Arabic. The subclasses are cultural-identical idioms, cultural-
semi-identical idioms, cultural-equivalent idioms, and cultural-specific idioms.
Keywords: Idioms and culture in FL translation class, Cultural-identical idioms, Cultural-semi-

identical idioms, Cultural equivalent idioms, Cultural-specific idioms.

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Hit Two Birds with One Stone: Idioms and Culture Alharbi
1. Introduction
The purpose of learning a new language is diverse; yet, good communication skills are
essential. Successful communication, as Kramsch (1994: 2) explains, involves “learning how to
use words, rules and knowledge about language and its use in order to communicate with
speakers of the language”. This way of looking at language views a language not only as a body
of knowledge but also as a social practice (p. 2). Similarly put, as Nyyssonen (1999: 160) claims,
“communicative [or pragmatic] competence is a highly complex ability. It includes grammatical
accuracy, intelligibility and acceptability, contextual appropriateness and fluency.” Moreover,
communication, according to Çakir (2006: 137), “is functional, purposive and designed to bring
about some effect on the environment of hearers and speakers.” Hence, second language (L2)
learners are required “to understand the purpose of communication, developing an awareness of
what the purpose of a communicative act is and how to achieve that purpose through linguistic
forms” (Çakir, 2006, p. 137).
Needless to say, most L2 learners are encouraged at schools and, especially, universities
to use the foreign language for successful and effective communication. Yet, it has been noted
that most of the L2 learners fail in achieving such a goal (see e.g., Lo Bianco 2009,
Calviño 2011, McDougald 2009, Li 2013), especially university level learners. Cook (1995: 52)
argues, “[m]any L2 learners achieve only minimal L2 competence after long years of struggle
and effort.” The researcher has noticed that L2 learners sometimes cannot express themselves in
the second language effectively, perhaps, because they do not possess certain degree of
pragmatic and communicative competence of the target language. This problem, as Tran (2012:
76) explains, “may come from the lack of idiomatic phrases in teaching and learning English
whereas idiomatic expressions are of great popularity in English in use.” Similarly, Barcroft
(2012: 1) adds, “[a]dvanced L2 learners also suffer from limited vocabulary knowledge, such as
when it comes to their command of idiomatic expressions.” On the other hand, this problem also
may be due to the fact that the focus in the learning process is on feeding EFL learners with
rules, forms, and decontextualized sentences. However, it is well known that the focus on form
should be supplemented by the study of function in context to enrich the students’ vocabulary
and promote successful communication. Hence, it has been argued that teaching fixed
expressions and lexical chunks such as idioms to EFL learners especially at the university level
may help enhance their pragmatic competence (e.g., Yorio, 1989, Duquette, 1995; Schmitt,
2004). Such research indicates that the proficiency level of L2 learners can be shown through his
mastery of idioms and there is a positive correlation between the number of idioms memorized
and the success of L2 learners in communicative tasks. In the same vein, as Lewis (1997:15)
points out, “fluency is based on the acquisition of a large store of fixed and semi-fixed
prefabricated items.” Such fixed expressions can also be “retrieved and processed as whole units,
which may not only enhance the accuracy and fluency of the language, but also speed up
language processing significantly” (Zhao, 2009, p. 1). Zhao (2009: 10) further explains that a
number of studies indicate that such fixed phrases are helpful to L2 learners not only because
they increase their motivation but also because they “contribute to the aspect of language
fluency, accuracy, creativeness and cohesion to a large extent.”
In essence, the significance of idioms in everyday language cannot be over looked.
Copper (1998) argues that the native English speaker uses about twenty million idioms in his
lifetime of sixty years, which means each speaker uses 356,720 idioms a year (i.e., 980 idioms a
day and almost five idioms a minute). These statistics indicate the importance of idiomatic
expressions in the daily language use of L2 learners (Tran, 2012, p. 76). In addition, Tran (2012:
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76-77) explains that the idiomatic competence is one of the pivotal criteria for IELTS speaking
score, as they are considered “as indicators for the use of lexical resource in bands 7, 8 and 9.”
With reference to other significant aspects of idioms, idioms are culture-bound expressions; they
“contain rich, unique features of the language and culture” (Zhang, 2009, p. 2). Thus, they can
enrich their knowledge of the culture of the target language as well. Furthermore, teaching L2
learners idioms can emphasize and highlight some historical, social, and linguistic issues. By
learning idioms, L2 learners will be able to identify issues that English-speaking people are
sensitive to such as ethnicity, religion, gender, death, just to mention a few, and also learn the
strategies to avoid offending people and enable them to express themselves. Needless to say,
cultural knowledge is one of the necessary aspects of forming communicative competence and
an educational objective in itself. In other words, it is one of the necessary aspects “of
communicative competence but an educational objective in its own right” (Agbedo, 2008, p. 9).
It is difficult to detach language from its cultural identity. That is, one language cannot give the
same meanings of another because sometimes there is a distinction between the meanings built in
a sentence and the meanings that must be expressed. In this sense, each language predisposes and
forces its speakers to think differently, i.e., direct their attention to different aspects of the
environment.
In short, the significance of teaching idioms is not a hypothesis any more. In fact,
according to Fernando (1996), “[n]o translator or language teacher can afford to ignore idioms or
idiomaticity if a natural use of the target language is an aim” (p. 234). Idioms, according to Chen
and Lai (2013: 13), “have long been regarded as problematic for L2 learners due to the
arbitrariness of their meanings and forms. Traditional methods of teaching idioms focus on rote
learning and memorization.” In the same vein, Zhang (2009: 1-2) explains, “L2 idiom learning
constitutes a difficult part in second language acquisition because idioms are word collocations
with figurative meanings that cannot be easily predicted from the literal meanings of their
constituent parts.” In practice, the researcher has noticed that teaching fixed phrases such as
idioms at the university level has been problematic and could be boring as well. As Cook (1995:
52) argues, “[a] main goal for second language acquisition research is seen as explaining this
dismal failure.” Thus, the current study suggests a method of integrating teaching idioms in
foreign language (FL) translation class through which learners may learn form, meaning, and
new uses; it is worth to note that these dimensions refer to syntax, semantics, and pragmatic
respectively. In so doing, the researcher hits two birds with one stone, i.e., teaching different
methods of translation (to solve the problem of translating idioms) and at the same time teaching
idioms and culture of the foreign language. According to the researcher, the translation class is
one of the suitable classes to teach such material. It is worth to note that Rostamzadeh (2008: 10)
argues that translation class can be invested to improve foreign language competence. Similarly,
“translation class can be evolved by exploring the culture-bound Englishness” (Kao, 2009: 1).
Through teaching idioms in FL translation class, the researcher attempts to make the translation
class as a class in which “students and teachers are active at the same time” (Jakobsen, 1994:
147). FL translation class is also the ideal class, because bilingual competence is needed to invest
L1 knowledge as well as control L1 interference.
2. Translation and Culture

More often than not, translation in FL classes gives the learners the wrong impression
about the concept of translation. Most of L2 learners perceive it as a matter of finding similar
words that carry the same meaning disregarding the cultural differences between the two
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languages and the appropriate way to say the same thing in another language. This linear
perspective may result in inaccurate translations. Below is a diagram (Fig. 1) that clarifies the
task of a translator viewing translation as transferring the meaning in the appropriate way in the
receptor language.
Fig. 1Overview of Translation Task1
Catford (1965: 20) defines translation as “the replacement of textual material in one
language by equivalent textual material in another language.” Similarly put, Newmark (1981: 7)
defines translation as “a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or
statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language.” Hence,
“the linguistic competence is a necessary condition, but not yet sufficient for the professional
practice of translation” (Badawi, 2008, p. 5). More accurately, as Karamanian (2002) puts it,
“translation, involving the transposition of thoughts expressed in one language by one social
group into the appropriate expression of another group, entails a process of cultural de-coding,
re-coding and en-coding”. She suggested the term “transcoding” to refer to the process that
focuses “not merely on language transfer but also—and most importantly—on cultural
transposition”. Newmark (2001: 328) indicates, “whilst some see culture as the essence of
translation, I see culture as the greatest obstacle to translation, at least to the achievement of an
accurate and decent translation.” Similarly put, in practice, according to Badawi (2008: 3),
“translating the cultural aspects of any source language is not an easy job.”
It seems that “differences between cultures may cause more serious problems for the
translator than do differences in language structure” (Nida 1964:130). Accordingly, Loescher
(1991:8) views the translation strategy as “a potentially conscious procedure for solving a
problem faced in translating a text, or any segment of it.” Accordingly, this research is an
attempt to participate in solving one of the many problems EFL learners and teachers may face in
FL translation class and at the same time propose a way of integrating teach culture and language
(i.e., idioms) at the same time in FL class. As Badawi (2008: 3) indicates, “[c]entral to culture
and communication is translating culture-bound expressions.” Yet, as Badawi (2008: 7) argues,
“the role of culture in translation is marginalized in the research [carried out] in the Arab world.
This means that more studies are needed in the area of culture and translation.” Furthermore,
Badawi (2008: 7-8) notes that the role of culture in translation is also marginalized in most of the
available translation programs as well as courses at some Saudi universities. Needless to
mention, this problem is widespread problem that faces EFL teachers and learners as well as
1
This diagram is from Larson (1998, p.4)
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translators. Badawi (2008: 7-8) notes, “translating culture-bound expressions is expected to be

one of the most nagging translation problems facing EFL prospective teachers at the University
of Tabuk, KSA” (Badawi, 2008, pp.7-8). I have to admit that this problem is not only confined to
the teachers of the University Tabuk; it is a widespread problematic issue. Al-Dosari and
Mekheimer (2013) suggest exposing translators as well as learners to “different socio-linguistic
and cultural features of target texts that deal with both the source language and the translation
language cultures.”
In this study, FL translation class is designed so learners can learn idioms through
investing their prior knowledge of their first language and analytical power to develop their
pragmatic competence and polish their translation skills at the same time. This method can make
teaching idioms fun, too. As noted earlier, comparing English and Arabic idioms in translation
class can provide a good source for teaching vocabulary, grammar, and culture besides enriching
the learners’ pragmatic competence and teaching them how to translate problematic fixed
phrases. In addition, this study suggests a new way of looking at idioms in EF translation class
through presenting a new typology of English<>Arabic idioms. The translation of non-literal
meaning such as idioms has been viewed as being non-literal translation solely. Yet, a
comparison between the idioms of the source language and those of the target language can
result in some interesting possible methods of translation depending on the culture of the two
languages under investigation. These different methods can be invested in EF translation class to
teach different methods of translation as well as enrich the learners’ vocabulary.
3. Idiomatic Expressions
Cacciari (1993: iii) defines idioms as “strings of words whose semantic interpretation
cannot be derived compositionally from the interpretation of their parts.” One of the universal
prosperities all languages share is the arbitrary relations between form and meaning. According
to Abel (2003: 329), “idioms are described as fixed expressions, i.e., as phrases or sentences
whose figurative meaning is not clear from the literal meaning of their individual constituents.”
Abkarian et al (1990) explain that Alexander (1984) has highlighted the importance of teaching
idioms to L2 learners. They agree with Alexander (1984) regarding “the close relationship
between knowledge of idioms and knowledge of a culture” (p. 247).
Some L2 learners believe that idioms are rare; hence, they have been overlooked. Yet, idioms are
very common in spoken language (see, Carter and McCarthy, 1997; Cockcroft, 1999). Many
idiomatic expressions are used on daily basis. Pollio et al (1977) claimed that almost “four
figures of speech (many of them idioms) are uttered every minute by adult speakers” (qtd. in
Abkarian, 1990, p. 247). Hence, learners are supposed to memorise such idiomatic expressions,
as they do in their native language. Teaching culture through idioms by exploring the historical
origin of an idiom, i.e., ‘the fable’ behind it may offer a logical explanation for L2 learners and
keep them motivated as well. Some of the metaphors and the colours used in idioms can provide
learners with some information of the culture of the L2, because the metaphors underlying
idioms are usually deeply embedded in the culture of the language. In addition, some of the
idioms are based on the L2 traditions, festivals, folklore, religion, etc., which can indirectly give
L2 learners some insights of the L2 culture providing them with certain degree of competence to
enable them to communicate successfully and effectively.
As Chen (2010: 227) puts it, “[i]dioms are the gems of a language.” Hence, translating
idioms is not an easy task, especially from English to Arabic because not all English idioms have
equivalents in Arabic idioms due to linguistic and cultural differences. To solve the problems of
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translation facing learners, Ghazala (1995) simply divides idioms into three divisions: direct
idioms, indirect idioms, and phrasal verbs. However, in the proposed study, the comparison
between English and Arabic idioms has resulted in some new divisions based on culture, which
in turn result in different methods of translation. As noted above, these divisions may be used in
translation classes in order to teach idioms, culture, and different methods of translation. The
subclasses the present study offers are cultural identical idioms, cultural semi-identical idioms,
cultural equivalent idioms, and cultural specific idioms. Connecting the cultures of two
languages can make the task of the learners easier to memorize these idioms and enjoy doing so.
In essence, native speakers do memorize these expressions and it is the same task L2 learners
should do. Yet, comparing the two cultures and showing the similarities and the differences can
simplify things for them.
Richard-Amato (1996) argues that adult learners “construct language from prior
conceptual knowledge and develop language in predictable stage” (qtd. in ZhonggangGoa, 2001,
p. 1). In more detail, L2 learners are usually inclined to use their prior knowledge and their
analytical power to compare between L1 and L2 consciously and unconsciously. Hence,
Richard-Amato (1996) urges teachers for L2 learner to invest these analytical abilities and prior
knowledge to enable them to learn a new language easily. This power can be invested and
directed to facilitate the process of learning instead of hindering it. Therefore, the current study
encourages L2 teachers to invest the prior knowledge of the learners to facilitate the process of
teaching and at the same time to control L1 interference. The next section shows some examples
of the comparison that can be carried in FL translation class.
4. Data and Methodology

The data of the present study comprises 62 English idioms that were selected randomly
from the internet to be taught to L2 learners. The researcher translated these idioms from English
into Arabic utilizing different methods of translation. In addition, a transliteration of each idiom
is provided. As noted above, these idioms are divided into subclasses based on the cultural
aspects which in turn determine the method of translation. This resulted in four subclasses of
idioms; they are cultural identical idioms, cultural semi-identical idioms, cultural equivalent
idioms, and cultural specific idioms. It is worth to note that the purposes of the typology of the
present study are threefold: (a) to offer suitable divisions of idioms for translation reasons, (b) to
describe the development of idiom comprehension among learners from a cultural perspective,
and (c) to suggest some activities to enhance idioms learning as well as cultural comprehension
development among L2 learners. The following are the discussion of the subclasses of idioms
based on cultures.
5. Typology of Idioms
As mentioned above, in this study there are four subclasses of idioms based on culture
and methods of translation. Each subclass is discussed below with examples providing their
transliteration and translation when needed.
5.1 Cultural-identical Idioms

Cultural-identical idioms are those idioms that are identical in both languages (i.e., English
and Arabic). That is, there are identical idioms in both languages English and Arabic that can be
translated following the method of literal translation (word-for-word), because the idioms in this
category are completely similar in form (syntax), meaning (semantics), and usage (pragmatics).
The following are some examples with their transliteration:
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1. When one wants to tell someone that a person says unpleasant things about him to other
people in his absence, one may say:
- behind your back
- /min wara Dahrak/
2. When one would like to let others know that he found out about a piece of information
without naming the person who told him, one may say:
- a little bird told me
- /?l‫؟‬Sfuurah qaalt lii/
3. When one is ready and eager to listen to what a person is saying, one may say:
- be all ears
- /Kuuluna ?ðanin Sagyyah/
4. When one intends to say that something is considered as a very important part of a person
and seems natural to him, one may say:
- in your blood
- /fii damak/
5. When one wants to say that something makes him angry, one may say:
- make my blood boil
- /xallat damii yigli/
6. When one wants to indicate that he does not like an action or a plan and will do anything
to prevent it, one may say:
- over my dead body
- /‫؟‬ala juθati/
7. When one wants to say emphatically that something happens throughout a person’s life,
one may say:
- from the cradle to the grave
- /minn ?lmahd iila ?laHd/
8. When one wants to say that a person pays no attention to things one is saying, or forgets
about what has been said immediately, one may say:
- go in one ear and out the other
- /yudxul minn ?uðn wa yuxruj minn ?aθanyyah/
9. When one is too embarrassed to do something because of something happened, one may
say:
- not have the face
- /maali wajh/
10. When one says that something is taken care of by a trustworthy person and therefore it
will not be damaged, one may say:
- in safe had
- /fii ?ydii ?miinah/
11. When one asks a person to keep him aware of changes or developments in any situation,
one may say:
- keep me in the picture
- /xaliini fii ?Suurah/
12. When one gets or obtains the largest part of anything leaving very little for others, one
may refer to the largest part as being:
- the lion’s share
- /naSiib ?l?asad/
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13. When one sees something without using any equipment such as a telescope, one may
say:
- the naked eye
- /bil‫؟‬ayyn ?lmuujaradh/
14. When one sees something and wants to win it, one may say:
- have one’s eye on something
- /‫؟‬yinii ‫؟‬alihaa/
15. When one is looking for something and he wants to say that it is difficult or even
impossible to find it, one may say:
- like looking for a needle in a haystack
- /yiidawir ibrah fii kumat qash/
16. When one asks a person to slow down and not to do something hasty, one may say:
- hold your horses
- /ikba jiimaaHk/
17. When one wants to say that a person does something by means of hard physical work,
one may say:
- by the sweat of one’s brow
- /bi‫؟‬arq jabiinii/
18. When something bad happens, one sometimes may try to console himself or another
person by suggesting that the consequences of the events are not as bad as might seem by
saying:
- It is not the end of the world
- /mihii nihayat ?l‫؟‬aalam/
19. When one wants to describe a person who does whatever others need to get what he
wants, even if it may involve stepping on his principles or doing something wrong, one
may say:
- sell ones’ soul
- /tiibii‫ ؟‬ruuHahaa/
Surprisingly, in both languages, there are such cultural identical idioms. Interestingly,
these few examples illustrate the intercourse between Arabic and English and the exchanges of
some ideas and concepts. Through translating these idioms, learners can be taught not only a
method of translation, i.e., literal (word-for-word) translation, but also such an aspect of
language will be a good material to be translated literally to show how cultures of different
languages interrelated and intertwined with each other. Idioms in this category can be understood
in isolation, because learners will relay on their prior knowledge of L1. This wealth of L1
knowledge of L2 learners can be invested to teach them how to use such already learnt idioms to
express themselves in English just as they do in Arabic. Most of the idioms in this category are
to a great extent universal and L2 learners need to express themselves in the L2 as fluently and
efficiently as they do in their L1. Broadly speaking, L2 learners are already equipped with the
cultural-linguistic knowledge their L1 and such idioms are not problematic with reference to first
language interference. On the contrary, in this category L2 learners can benefit from first
language interference to develop their L2 and help them to know when to avoid such
interference.
5.2 Cultural-semi-identical Idioms

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The second subclass is the semi-identical idioms. The idioms in this category are semi-
identical, because the translation of these idioms needs to be modified to fit the structure of the
idioms in the source/target language. Such idioms can be translated literally; however, one has to
take into consideration the L2 culture, which will have its impact on some lexical choices. The
following idioms are identical in their meanings; yet, there are some slight differences in the
lexical choices:
1. When one wants to refer to a person whom he is fond of, one may say:
- the apple of my eye
- /qurat ‫؟‬ayinii/
2. When one criticizes a person, who is making an unimportant problem seem big and
important, one may say:
- make a mountain out of a molehill
- /y‫؟‬mal minn ?lHabah kubah/ (i.e., make a dome from a seed)
3. When one wants to excuse the way a boy is behaving as being normal for boys to be
boyish, one may say:
- boys will be boys
- /Hamiid walad/ (i.e., Hamiid is a boy)
4. When one wants to describe two persons who usually have violent arguments with each
other, one may say:
- fight like cat and dog
- /zayy ?lbis wa ?lfaar/ (i.e., like cat and rat)
5. When one wants to describe the policy of a person who is in power and wants stay in
power by making sure that the people under his control quarrel among them, one may
say:
- divide and rule
- /fariq tasud/ (i.e., divide and dominate)
6. When one wants to say that it is very obvious to people that a person is relieved or
miserable, one may say:
- written all over your face
- /bayin ‫؟‬ala wajhak/ (i.e., it is clear on your face)
7. When one is criticizing people for talking about unpleasant or personal matters in front of
others, one may say:
- wash their dirty laundry in public
- /nasharat gasiilahaa/ (i.e., to hang one’s laundry)
8. When one wants to indicate that a person is in a very bad mood without an obvious
reason, one may say:
- get up on the wrong side of the bed
- /nayim ‫؟‬ala janbuh ?lyasar/ (i.e., he/she slept on his/her left side)
9. When one wants to make a fresh new start after a period of difficulties and problems, one
may say:
- turn the page
- /nibda? SafHah jadidah/ (i.e., start a new page)
10. When one wants to clarify that it is impossible to be loyal to two opposing principles,
ideologies, or organizations, one may say:
- cannot serve two masters
- /SaaHib balayn kaðaab/ (i.e., who has two minds is a liar)
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11. In a race or contest, if two competitions are exactly level with each other, one may say:
- neck and neck
- /raas bi raas/ (i.e., head and head)
12. If there is something one doesn’t understand at all, one says:
- be all Greek to me
- /Talaasm/ (i.e., mystery)
13. If one wants to say to someone not to remind him of an unpleasant experience in the past
that one would rather forget, one may say:
- don’t open old wounds
- /laa tiqaliibii ?lmawaaji‫؟‬/ (i.e., do not recall wounds)
14. To say something has both a good and a bad side, one says:
- a double-edge sword
- /silaah ðuu Hadyin/ (i.e., a weapon with two edges)
15. If one intends to say that it is easy to forget about someone or something, or to stop
caring about them, when one has not seen them for a long time, one may say:
- out of sight, out of mind
- /?lba‫؟‬iid ‫؟‬n ?l‫؟‬iin, ba‫؟‬iid ‫؟‬n ?lqalb/ (i.e., away from the sight, away from the
heart)
In this category, learners can give the correct translation of the English version depending on
their prior knowledge of L1 with some changes regarding some lexical choices. Hence, FL
teachers should highlight these differences in regards to the lexical choices. Undeniably, these
lexical differences will help them to understand the culture of the target language. To a great
extent, learners can use literal translation but they have to modify their translation afterwards. As
identical idioms, these idioms can be utilized in EF translation class to invest their first language.
5.3 Cultural-equivalent Idioms
It is common that any two languages can express the same thing in two different ways. Each
language has its own differences whether they are arbitrary or non-arbitrary (cultural); however,
all languages can express its needs fully. Cultural-equivalent idioms are the ones that their
meanings can be found in both languages with different fixed expressions. Thus, the idioms in
this category can be found in both languages sharing only the meaning, yet the expression itself
is completely different:
1. When one wants to express his sympathy for an unhappy person, poor etc. one may say:
- I feel for you
- /qalbii ma‫؟‬aakii/ (i.e., my heart is with you)
2. When one wants to show that he is attracted to a person, one may say:
- make eyes at someone
- /sabal ‫؟‬inih/ (i.e., soften his/her eyes)
3. When one wants to say that something makes a person conceited, one may say:
- turn his head
- /kibir ra?suh/ (i.e., he/she makes his/her head big)
4. When one is wants to say that two things are completely different in every aspects, one
may say:
- Apples and oranges
- /zyi ?asamaa? wa ?al?rD/ (i.e., like sky and earth)
5. When one gets a piece of information directly from main sources, and so he is sure it is
true, one may say:
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- from the horse’s mouth

- /minn maSadir mawθuuq fiihaa/ (i.e., from a trustworthy source)
6. When one wants to say that an idea or a promise are very unlikely to happen, one may
say:
- pie in the sky
- /fii ?lmishmish/ (i.e., in apricots)
7. When one wants to say that he can do something very soon and very quickly, one may
say:
- in two shakes
- /fii lamH ?albaSar/ (i.e., in the twinkling of the eye)
8. When one wants to say that there is no more cause for criticism, hate, anger etc., one may
say:
- a clean slate
- /saafii ya laban/ (i.e., clear Oh yoghurt)
9. When one promises to give people things that he cannot give them, one may say:
- promise the moon
- /laban ?al‫؟‬aSfuur/ (i.e., the milk of the bird)
10. When one is in a difficult situation where he has to choose between two equally
unpleasant choices, one may say:
- between a rock and a hard place or between the devil and the deep blue sea.
- /bayin naarayin/ (i.e., between two fires)
Interestingly, these cultural differences can be explained by the fable behind some of the
idioms or some of their concepts and beliefs that are rooted in the culture of L2. Most of the
languages have this type of idioms which can be used as a good material for teaching translation,
culture, and idioms. In essence, explaining these differences through examining these fables can
motivate learners and make teaching and learning idioms fun, too.
5.4 Cultural-specific Idioms

The following list may mark a language from another, because of cultural and religious
differences; however, they are limited in number. The following English religious/cultural
idiomatic expressions are a few examples that illustrate such differences:
1. In English, one may say that a person is as poor as a church mouse, when one intends to
say this person has very little money.
2. One may describe a person who chooses to do a particular thing using “like turkeys
voting for Christmas” to emphasize that he is unlikely to do it because it would very
obviously be bad for him.
3. A person may say “if Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain must go
to Mohammed”, if someone you want to see does not come to you (then, you are
supposed to go to him). Of course, this idiom is based on a story about Prophet
Mohammed (PBUH) 2 “who was asked to show how powerful he was by making a
mountain come to him” (‘If Mohammad’, 2010).
4. In English, when one describes something as being a “forbidden fruit”, one means that
one wants it very much and he is not allowed or supposed to have it. Such an idiomatic
expression is based on the story of Adam and Eve when they violated God’s commands
2
Peace be upon him.
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when He asked them not to touch a particular tree and its fruits. Their violation led to
their expulsion from Heavens (see Quran, Surah Al Baqarah (The Cow), verses, 30-39).
There are other cultural-specific idioms in English that flow from the English history,
literature, and beliefs, such as:
1. When one talks about the “halcyon days of something”, he is referring to a time in the
past when he or someone was successful. Based on the English myths, Halcyon is a bird
that calms the sea in “for the seven days before and seven days after the winter solstice”
(‘Halcyon’, n.d.).
2. When a situation is describes as being “a Gordian knot”, he means that this situation is
very complicated and difficult to resolve. If a person succeeds in resolving it, one may
say that this person “cuts the Gordian knot”. “Gordian knot” is a knot fastened tightly by
Gurduis who was the king of Verigia. It is claimed that it will be united by the coming
Lord of Asia. When Alexander the senior comes, he cuts it by his sword (Gardner, 1959).
3. In English, one may say that a person is “crying wolf”, when he means that this person is
continually and falsely asking for help, or warning about false danger. Thus, people have
stopped believing him and they will not help him when he needs them. This idiom is
based on a story from the English folklore. It is based on the story of a little boy whose
name is Aesop. Aesop was a shepherd and he used to call falsely and continually for help.
Accordingly, when a wolf really attacked his sheep, the villagers did not believe him and
the sheep were killed (‘The Boy’, 2010).
4. Also, if something goes wrong and the person in a position of authority “walks the
plank” or “walks the gangplank”, this means that he has accepted the responsibility for
what has happened and accordingly he left his position. This idiomatic expression is
based on a belief that pirates used to kill their prisoners by forcing them to walk along a
plank or gangplank sticking out from the edge of a ship until they fell into the sea
(‘Walking the’, 2010).
5. When one says that someone “pulls a rabbit out of the hat”, he means that this person
unexpectedly does something to solve a problem or help other achieve something. Of
course, this idiom refers to a traditional magician’s trick, in which a rabbit is produced
mysteriously out of an apparently empty hat (‘Pulling a Rabbit’, 2006).
On the other hand, the Arabic language is rich in cultural-specific idioms. The Arabic culture
is, like any other culture, rich in its resources and its own expressions. The following list clarifies
some religious and cultural idiomatic expressions that differ from the idioms in the English
language:
1. The Arabs sometimes describe two similar things by saying /?alHasan wa ?alHuusayin/
(i.e., like Al-Hassan and Al-Hussayn). Actually, these two names are the names of the
sons of Ali bin Abitalib who is the cousin of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
2. When something is easily known by common sense, Arabs usually say /?alah ma
shifnah bi ?al‫؟‬aql ‫؟‬irifnaah/ (i.e., we have not seen Allah, but with our minds we
did), because Muslims believes in the existence of Allah without even seeing Him.
3. In Arabic, when two fight severely, one says as /daaHs wa ?alghabraa/ (i.e., like Dahes
and Al-Ghabraa). These two names are camels’ names. During the pre-Islamic era,
there were two tribes, namely Abas and Dhubian, who used to race camels for money.
Each tribe used to select its fastest camel, and the winner would win the prize that was
put up by both parties. In one event, Dahes, the camel of Abas ran against Al-Ghabraa,
the she camel of Dhubian. “The two tribes had bet 100 camels each on each animal, but
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the outcome was contested. Hundreds perished in the 40-year war of Dahes Wa Al-
Ghabraa, named after the racing camels” (‘Divide and’, 2009).
1. If someone is asked to do something and he failed, one may say /raj‫ ؟‬bii zufayy
Hunayyn/ (i.e., come back with Hunayn’s shoes). This expression is based on the
Arabic folklore.
2. In addition, something is describes as /mismaar juHa/ (i.e., Juha’s nail) as being a
feeble excuse. This expression is based on the Arabic folklore. Juha is a famous comic
character who is claimed to be imaginative; yet some says it is a real man who was born
in 673H. Once he sold his house to someone on the condition that Juha maintain the
ownership of a nail on one of the walls of the house. The buyer agrees especially because
the price of the house is low. Juha used this nail as an excuse to come to his house every
now and then bringing his family with him to visit his nail. The new owner of the house
get sick of Juha and in order to get rid of him he decides to buy this nail from Juha for a
price that is higher than that of the house (Kenner, 2008).
3. Finally, when two persons are similar everything especially their way of thinking, one
can say /waafaq shanon Tabaqah/ (i.e., Let Shan follow Tabaqah or Shan and
Tabaqah match well) (Farghal & Al-Hamly, 2005, p. 12). This expression is based on
the Arabic folklore too. Shan is a man who is married a woman, called Tabaqa, who is
similar to him in everything even their stupid way of thinking.
Although each language has its own cultural and religious beliefs, there are some basic ideas and
some beliefs both languages agree on. Yet, such similarities are expressed in different idioms
carrying the same meaning:
1. In English, one may say “Rome was not built in a day” to point out that it takes a long
time to do a job or task properly, and one should not rush it or expect to do it quickly. On
the other hand, when Arabs want to express the same idea, they say /rabanaa xalaaq
?al‫؟‬aalam fii sitat ?ayyam/ (i.e. Allah created the heavens and the earth in six days).
Muslims believe that Allah created the world in six days. Allah says in the holy Quran:
“Indeed your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in Six Days” (see
Quran, Surah Al-a’araf, 54).
2. Also, in English, one may say someone “has nine lives”, when one means that this
person keeps managing to get out of difficult or dangerous situations without being
harmed. This expression comes from a saying that a cat has nine lives. It is known that
the ancient Egyptian worshipped the cat and considered it sacred. They had a goddess
called Pasht, who had the head of a cat. The Egyptians believed their goddess Pasht had
nine lives, and this explains why many people still think a can has nine lives (‘Why do’,
n.d.). On the other hand, Arabs think that a cat has seven lives. Therefore, they say that
someone is /biisab‫? ؟‬arwaaH/ (i.e., seven souls).
3. In English, one may call any devoted lovers as being “Romeo and Juliet” and the Arabs
say /qayyis wa laylah/ (i.e., Qayis and Layla) or /‫؟‬antarah wa ‫؟‬ablah/ (i.e., Antarah
and Ablah). Of course, “Romeo and Juliet” is a play written by Shakespeare it was about
two devoted lovers. On the other hand, /qayyis wa laylah/ or /‫؟‬antarah wa ‫؟‬ablah/ are
real Arab lovers who died for the sake of their love.
Such cultural-specific idioms are among the most interesting subdivision of idioms, because
they are purely cultural; yet, they might be hard to translate. Translating such idioms require
more than translation. That is, it requires cultural knowledge of the both languages in order either
to find the equivalent idiom in the target language or to translate the meaning of the idiom into
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non-idiomatic expression. Hence, to translate such idioms L2 learners are encouraged to invest
their L1 cultural knowledge as well as learn the culture of L2. It should be noted that this
subdivision of idioms should be introduced to intermediate-advanced L2 learners, who might
appreciate the cultural aspects of L2 and thus may enjoy working on the most accurate
translation for these idioms.
6. Pedagogical Implications and Suggested Activities

The significance of both cross-cultural pedagogy and the contrastive methods of teaching
a foreign language has proved fruitful, because according to Garces (1999: 33), “the influence of
the mother tongue is inevitable”; thus, it could be invested to correct some mistakes and “makes
it possible to work with authentic materials in both languages” (p. 33). He also believes that L1
linguistic competence of learners can be invested to increase and strengthen L2 linguistic
competence through comparing and contrasting both languages. Introducing learners to
similarities and differences between L1 and L2 through contrastive methodologies increases
“their communicative competence and producing, as a result, effective communication” (Graces,
1999, p. 34).
FL translation class was among the most suitable classes, because, as Graces (1999: 33)
claims, “translation is a natural and necessary activity. Our own culture is a translated culture,
and, everyday it is used in banks, airports, travel agencies, and most businesses in general. Why
can it not be used in the classroom?” In addition, translation, as Duff (1989: 7) explains, helps to
develop three skills learners need: it “trains the learner to search (flexibility) for the most
appropriate words (accuracy) to convey what is meant (clarity).” Moreover, contrastive studies
highlight the pivotal elements in each culture and thus explain the implied (deeper) meaning of a
sentence. In other words, when the learners examine cultural elements, they examine the
pragmatic meaning rather than the syntactic superficial structure.
Providing learners with L1 or L2 idioms and asking them to put forward their own translations
promotes both their linguistic and translation skills in both their native language and the target
language. It should be noted that this study does not suggest teaching idioms in context only;
rather, it suggests investing L1 linguistic knowledge. The beauty of idioms is that they can be
taught in contexts, i.e., in text, or it could be taught individually, i.e., out of context and then
cultural context will be utilized. Some of the activities that the implications of this study can
suggest are as follows:
1. The FL teachers may introduce selected idioms individually and encourage students to
think about their meaning utilizing L1 knowledge. Then, the teacher can give the students
the same idioms in context in order to be translated.
2. Based on the type of translation, the FL teacher may introduce a method of translation
and give the students a number of sentences including the suitable type of idioms to be
translated following the given translation method. This way the teacher will be teaching
translation but at the same time the teacher will be teaching idioms indirectly.
3. Also, the FL teacher can give the students an exercise where there are both English and
Arabic translation in order to match and specify the methods of translation that were
employed in each idiom.
4. The same divisions and examples in this paper can be used as they are to teach students
idioms in FL translation class. That is, the teacher may introduce translation and its
methods employing them on the given idioms.

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5. FL teachers can give the students the divisions and the examples in the present paper and
require them to look for more idioms that list them under their category.
It is worth to mention that in all the suggested exercises above, the teacher should highlight
the element of culture and meaning in these idioms in order to enhance and strengthen their
knowledge, competence, and understand of L2. From the researcher’s teaching experience,
learners usually face some difficulties when they translate idioms. When the learners are given
“straight from the horse’s mouth” or “play it by ear” to translate, things become complicated.
They may not appreciate such an aspect of language at the beginning. However, teaching them
first the identical idioms in both languages may help them to develop their way of thinking to
reach a higher level in which they can work out any new idioms in the target language without
restoring to the source language, because sometimes one cannot find the same meaning in the
source language due to cultural differences.
The activities above are only examples of the types of activities teachers can integrate in FL
translation class and they are a guideline and subject to change according depending on the
lesson plans and goals. It should be noted that these divisions can be conducted using languages
other than English and Arabic.
7. Discussion and Conclusion

Looking at the contrastive analysis above, it is safe to say that the results of this study
have pedagogical implications for L2 researchers, teachers, and learners. Considering the
findings of this study, it can be argued that this multilayered method of teaching idioms and
culture in FL translation class demonstrates the challenges of translating idioms, whether
identical or not, in FL class. At the same time, however, the figurative Arabic/English idioms
allow learners to see how images may cross cultures, regardless of the differences of some terms
or expressions. It also shows the importance of idioms to communicative competence and how to
enhance learners’ communication skills through investing their previous knowledge of L1 by
carrying out a comparison. In addition, this study has built a system for differentiating idioms
within languages and suggested an activity for teaching idioms to L2 learners. It stands to reason
that such a methodology in teaching cultural material such as idioms might lead to facilitate
learning. Griffin (2004) claims:
[T]ranslation encourages [learners] to have fun with language and to think about
language as a creative tool, while realizing the potential for misunderstanding when
communicators lack a common culture. By making learners active decoders and
translators, this [method] allows learners to experience that potential and to realize, in a
memorable way, the rationale for prescriptive warnings about figurative idioms in
intercultural communication . . . [He argues] that it deepens an appreciation for the kinds
of translation learners do daily, as they navigate between worlds that only partially and
imperfectly share a common language and shared meaning. (p.463)
Another pedagogical implication of this study that is based on the comparison between idioms in
Arabic and English is the new divisions of idioms have emerged: cultural-identical idioms,
cultural-semi-identical idioms, cultural equivalent idioms, and cultural-specific idioms. In
addition, this study has shown how to set a comparison between the idiomatic expressions of L1
(Arabic) and L2 (English) and vice versa and how FL Translation class can be invested to teach
more than translation. It should be noted that a comparison between different languages may
result in interesting new divisions. Yet, most of the comparisons may perform at least five
functions: (a) illustrate the intercourse between languages and the exchanges of ideas and some
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concepts, (b) show how cultures of different languages interrelated and intertwined with each
other surprisingly, (c) encourage learners to invest their prior knowledge of L1 to learn L2 easily
and effectively, (d) help learners to appreciate and understand arbitrary and non-arbitrary
differences, (e) introduce different methods of translation to solve the problem of translating
idioms. These functions may explain how FL translation class is one of the classes that should be
invested in teaching not only how to translate from L1 to L2 and vice versa but also
communicative (pragmatic) competence.
It is worth to remind the reader that this paper does not suggest how to teach idioms in FL
class. Rather it only shows how to integrate teaching idioms in FL translation class (to teach
idioms, method of translation, and culture). It is plausible to assume that utilizing translation as a
method of teaching idioms helps learners to appreciate idioms and to play an active role in
understanding their meanings through comparing them with their prior knowledge of L1. That is,
learners will attempt to understand the deeper meaning of the idiom through experimenting
different methods of translation.
However, certain limitations of the study exist. The first limitation is the sample size due
to the purposes of this study, i.e., to (a) illustrate how to build language competence development
into FL translation class and (b) introduce a method to invest FL translation classes in teaching
other aspect of language to help L2 learners to build their pragmatic competence to be able to
communicate effectively. Furthermore, the scope of the paper is limited to the discussion of the
types of idioms from a cultural perspective providing some examples from both languages as
illustrative examples of how a comparison between the languages in EFL classes is fruitful and
might be invested to teach more than abstract rules.
About the Author

Ahlam Alharbi holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Monash University, Australia. Currently, she is
an assistant professor at the Department of Foreign Languages at Taif University, Saudi Arabia.
Her primary research interests are semantics, pragmatics, forensic linguistics, and the
applications of critical discourse analysis within linguistic studies. Her other research interests
relate to the area of TEFL.
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Appendix
Transcription Conventions
In transcribing examples and extracts from the sample Arabic data, the study uses the
following symbols – in addition to the common English phonetic alphabet:
? ‫ء‬ Voiceless glottal stop

ð ‫ﺫ‬ Voiced dental fricative
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θ ‫ﺙ‬ Voiceless dental fricative

j ‫ﺝ‬ Voiced palatal fricative
H ‫ﺡ‬ Voiceless pharyngeal fricative
x ‫ﺥ‬ Voiceless uvular fricative
sh ‫ﺵ‬ Voiceless palatal fricative
S ‫ﺹ‬ Voiceless pharyngealized fricative
D ‫ﺽ‬ Voiced pharyngealized plosive
T ‫ﻁ‬ Voiceless pharyngealized plosive
‫؟‬ ‫ﻉ‬ Voiced pharyngeal fricative
gh ‫ﻍ‬ Voiced uvular fricative
q ‫ﻕ‬ Voiceless uvular plosive
w ‫ﻭ‬ Voiced bilabial semi-vowel
y ‫ﻱ‬ Voiced palatal semi-vowel

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AWEJ
Pp.285-309
Loss and Maintenance of Somali Language in the UK
Shamsudin Abikar
Bristol Primary School Teaching Assistant
Abstract
This study attempts to investigate first language attrition in Somali (L1) speakers of English as
L2. Specifically answers were sought for the questions on Somali language features that are first
susceptible to attrition when they come in contact with the English language; and the perception
of Somali parents on maintaining the Somali language by their children.The data collected was
based on 11 tape recordings (to elicit oral narrative) of six Somali pupils’ voices,
structured/unstructured interviews with pupils and parents while case study approach is used.
The six pupils were divided into two groups: group1, which included three Somali siblings who
are newly arrived in the UK whilst Group 2 consisted of three Somali siblings who are already
established in the UK. Initially it was assumed that Group1 would constitute as a control group.
This was later disregarded for two reasons: 1) the utterances provided by them, at this early
stage, illustrated demise of their L1 verbal ability and 2) due to time and space. Therefore,
Group2’s utterances were analysed and the outcome indicate strong indicatars for attrition in
their L1 lexical retrieving and L1 sentence structure skills.
Keywords: First Language, Second Language, Language Attrition.

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Loss and Maintenance of Somali Language Abikar
Introduction
Over the past twenty five years, since the disintegration of the Somali central government
in 1991, the number of Somali immigrants into the UK increased dramatically. Many children
and young learners form part of that population. For example in Bristol, The demographic
changes of Bristol saw the number of Somali population in Bristol rapidly increased for the last
decade and this increase is predicted to raise as the birth rate of Somali children rapidly
increases. This means that in Bristol schools, one in 25 pupils is Somali whereas eight years ago
it was one in 500 pupils. For secondary education, the Somali population of four secondary
schools in Bristol have more than 10% Somali pupils (The Post, July 22, 2009). This learning
age population learns English as an additional language and have experienced disadvantage in
terms of their inclusion to mainstream education and the way the local authorities meet their
needs because of language barrier.
The British government embraced an inclusion policy, namely Section 11 grant of the
Local Government Act 1966, which availed the payment of grant to local authorities to empower
the education institutions. The purpose of the grant was to enable addressing the disadvantage
brought about by differences of language or culture in accessing education (Multiverse, 2000-
2001). There has been improvement in this trend as strategies for the acquisition of English as
the second language (L2) was realised by successfully gathering date for informed planning.
However, the importance of the L1 seemed to be overlooked. Barwell (2005) quoting Cummins
(2000) emphasised that a) proficiency in L1 (first language) and L2 (the second language) by
bilinguals leads to cognitive advantage, b) less proficiency in L1 and L2 by bilinguals leads to
cognitive disadvantage , and c) fluency in one language by bilinguals offers neither cognitive
advantage nor disadvantage. This suggests that negative consequence is associated with losing
L1.
Therefore, till now, there had been no literature on the issue of Somali (L1) loss by
Somali natives who learn English as L2. This can be attributed to two reasons: unfamiliarity of
Somali language by the teachers/ education managers around the world and the inception of
Somali language is fairly juvenile and its further development was
staunchly arrested by the civil war.
Particular problem areas which can be associated to L1 loss by Somali pupils in the UK
include ineffective interaction with parents and extended families, loss of identity and possible
negative consequence for academic achievements by the learners (Barwell (ibid).
Based on these trends this study examines a) what Somali language features are susceptible to
attrition when they come in contact with the English language and b) how to prevent the
language attrition. For the first part (a) voice recording of six Somali pupils in Bristol, UK, are
analysed to identify discrepancies about what and how they used the Somali language; and for
the latter part (b) pupils’ parents were interviewed to explore their views on the importance of L1
& the L2 and how can the loss of L1best be prevented.
Literature review
Schmid & Kopke (2009) noted that language attrition means the changing of bilingual’s
language system while acquiring and using an L2; Van Els (1986) citing De Bot & Weltens
(1985) defined the attrition research types in terms of ‘what is lost’ and in which environment it
is lost and proposed four types of attrition research: 1) Loss of L1 in an L2 environment such as
in the case of ‘dialect community; 2) Loss of L1 in an L2 environment such as migrants in an L2

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country; 3) Loss of L2 in an L1 environment such as foreign language loss and 4)Loss of L2 in

an L2 environment such as loss by aging migrants.
Language loss was not researched in great depth until fairly recently (Guardado;
ibid).Now we know that the cause of language loss can be attributed to many factors such as
‘lack of use or exposure to the language’ as ‘an immigrant may move to an environment where
they disuse their L1 (Loewen & Reinders; 2011; Caruso; ibid). Moreover, Sherwood and Van
Buren (1991:22) explained that two conditions must be fulfilled in order language attrition to
occur: ‘L1 deprivation and cross linguistic influence from another language being acquired’.
Thus cause of attrition may be experienced due to ‘disuse of a language system (that) affects
accessibility of lexical items most immediately...’ (Schmid, 2007:135; Schmid & Kopke,
2009:211).
However, caution needs to be exercised where identification of attrition is required as
‘one of the common fallacies of research on L1 attrition is that any indication of CLI (Cross
Linguistic Interference) is interpreted as evidence for attrition, particularly in the area of the
lexicon’ Schmid & Kopke, ibid:211).
Therefore, Caruso (ibid) explained an advantageous typology by citing De Bot and
Weltens (1995:20) for classifying language attrition which he termed as 1.’the nature of the
language being lost whether it is a native language, L1, or a second language L2’ and 2) ‘The
environment, in which it is lost whether the language functions as a native language or as a
second language in the environment’.
On the other hand, many factors need to be considered when dealing with methodical
consideration of language attrition. For example, Schmid (2002) explained that how the data was
gathered, what language features are considered and what is regarded as evidence for language
attrition need be taken into account when considering methodical consideration of language
attrition and ‘the analysis of variables on any linguistic level…has to make the basic distinction
between what is lost and what is retained’ (Schmid, ibid: 31).
Nonetheless, Wong Fillmore (1991) presents a depressing picture of minority children
studying in the United States as she found that the younger the children are when coming into
contact with English the greater devastating impact the L2 has on the L1( Guardado, ibid).
Furthermore, Guardado (ibid) clearly stated that where failure to maintain L1 during childhood is
experienced it is entailed by devastating consequences. Furthermore, Guardado (ibid) noted the
causes for L1 loss by citing various studies. The most notable factors were devaluing L1 in the
community and language shift in home. Consequently, citing a study by Schecter and Bayley
(1997: 538), Guardado (ibid: 4) described ‘the social conditions under which children were
expected to retain their home language’. This seems to mean losing L1 is a Quagmire and
enfeebles one’s identity.
The phenomena of losing identity needs for remedial and, therefore, Kahin (1997), as a
result of a longitudinal study, found that in order Somali parents in the UK to counter a) the
inadequacy of mainstream education and b) children’s prolonged involvement in the mainstream
education system in the UK which they view as undermining the Somali culture (identity), they
send their children to supplementary school as a remedial measure. Besides, prolonged sojourn
in L2 environment also affects the L1’s retrieval ability. For instance, Schmid (2010:1)
recounted her interview with two German siblings who migrated to the USA and the UK and
observed her participant’s laborious efforts in retrieving words ‘… she frequently asks the
interviewer to help her with particular German words which has difficulty remembering’. Yet, as
far as literature on word retrieval, especially picture naming tasks, is concerned there is
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concession that age is a crucial factor for name retrieval. For example Goral (2004:33) claimed
that ‘the cross-sectional studies, comparing groups of younger and older participants,
demonstrated that older adults performed significantly less well than younger participants’.
Furthermore, due to the nature of the research questions and participants’ first languages,
presenting how the Somali grammar functions seems to be of important factor for the study as it
is believed that it will shed light on the similarity and dissimilarity of the English and the Somali
grammars and will enable contrasting analysis to be made.
The verb of Somali language has many functions and each verb can be divided into many types
and each type has information to deliver. However, there are two main parts the ‘root’ and
‘prefix and suffix’ (Mansur, & Puglielli (1999). For example, the Somali root words have the
character of an imperative like the English:
go, eat , walk, jump
tag, cun, soco, bood
Unlike Arabic root words which are in past tense form: iwm
‫ﺧﺮﺝ‬ ‫ﺍﻛﻞ‬ ‫ﺫﻫﺐ‬
Walked ate went
As a way of summarising the literature review, although not yet researched in great
depth, the literature review looked at the phenomena of the first language attrition, what it is
meant, in which environment it happens, under which conditions it occurs and the
methodological consideration for the research of language attrition. . The literature review also
touched on the importance of maintaining the first language for cultural (identity) purpose in the
context of supplementary schools. Finally, the literature review glanced briefly the structure of
the Somali grammar. All literature review contents are believed to have direct bearing to the
study and helped me for research questions and will be used in analysing the data.
Ethical issues
As my research sample involves six pupils with English as additional language learners
of Somali origin (Group 1 and Group 2), it is important to comment on how I accessed the
participants. A participant of Group 2 attends my workplace (primary school in Bristol) where
through her I became acquainted with her family. On the other hand, Group 1 dad is a long time
friend of mine, and I provided him support for the children to settle down as newly arrived pupils
in the UK.
Furthermore, the term ethics refers to questions of right and wrong (Fraenkel & Wallen,
2006:54). Likewise, Opie (2004), Pat Sikes citing Siber (1993:25) explained ‘Ethics has to do
with the application of moral principles to prevent harming or wronging others, to promote the
good, to be respectful and to be fair’. Researchers firmly emphasise the importance of a)
informed consent and b) that nobody suffers as the results of the findings to ensure quality
outcome.
Therefore, I have chosen to adhere to the British Educational Research Association
(BERA) Ethical Review Guidelines (2004) as Clough and Nutbrown (2002) noted that every
institution has different procedures for the ethical protocol.
Participants
The participants in this study are pupils and parents. Pupils included three Somali newly
arrived siblings (arrival UK date January 2012): three girls Hodon Yr4, Hanna Yr8 and Hibo Yr9
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(not their real name)-Group 1; and other three Somali participants who are already established in
the UK (arrival UK date October 2011): a boy and two girls Bilan Yr4, Abdi Yr8 & Jihan Yr9
(not their real name) - Group 2 they are also siblings. Prior to arriving into the UK both groups
have had no formal education in home country and mastery of L1 is confined only to verbal
communication.
Group 1 was selected merely due to the assumption that they master L1 whereas group 2
was selected for the criteria of being longer in the UK than group 1 and that both groups’
academic year groups as well as their ages match . Both group 1 and group 2 attend different
schools. Group 1’s use of L2 can be characterised as an input (receptive language mostly) whilst
Group 1’s use of L2 can be termed as input/output as shown their language profile below.
Table 1 Participants’ language profile
Participant Language used

Somali English
Hibo TV 9 9
Radio X X
Teachers X 9
Friends (at school) 9 9
Parents 9 9
Hanna TV 9 9
Radio X X
Teachers X 9
Parents 9 9
Hodon TV 9 9
Radio X X
Teachers X 9
Parents 9 9
Abdi TV 9 9
Radio X X
Teachers X 9
Friends (at school) X 9
parents 9 9
TV 9 9
Jihan Radio X X
Teachers X 9
Friends (at school) X 9
Parents 9 9

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Binti TV 9 9
Radio X X
Teachers X 9 9 M
Friends (at school) X 9 e
Parents 9 9 a
n
s yes
X No
Also two fathers and two mothers constitute parents of Group1 and Group2 and were
they selected by purposive sampling. Guardado (ibid: 6) noted that ‘all sampling is purposive to
some degree, since identifying a target population invariably expresses the researcher’s interests
and objectives’
Methodology
Due to nature of research questions consent forms in English and in Somali (App. A); and
participant information sheet (App. B) also in English and in Somali were sent to pupils and their
parents as well. As for an approach, I have chosen a case study approach as it is the umbrella
term for various research techniques with the aim of reconstructing and analysing a case or cases
from social point of view (Verma & Mallick, 1999; Hamel & et al, 1993).
Tape recording (for pupils) for recording their narrative stories (App.C & D) and
structured interview to understand their language profile (App. E) and unstructured interview
(for parents) were employed (F) as a method to collect data as they are assumed to answer
research questions. During the tape recording, participants were asked to retell two picture
stories: one of Handa’s Surprise by Browne (2006) and the lion and the mouse story (pictures
downloaded from online- Google). The pictures were photocopied and texts were excluded to
enable independent narrative speeches by participants when recording on a tape machine. This
was designed to produce data to answer research question (1). The rationale of the first story lay
mainly on the fact that the background and characters in the story were almost identical to
Somalia geographically therefore, the assumption was that cultural references would not be
unfamiliar to the participants. The rationale for the second was a) to get diversity in narrating
when recounting two different stories b) it was familiar among the Somali folk tales. Group 1’s
voices were tape recorded (App. G) twice (once a week with one week skipped: Week 1 & Week
3) the reason for skipping was unavailability of participants whilst Group2 voices were tape
recorded (App. H)once a week+ Week1, Week 1 II. The latter 1 & 1 II to clarify which story
they were narrating).
The recordings were conducted at participants’ houses. They recorded separately and
lasted for almost two minutes each session. There were 11 recordings in total with 1 fault due to
recorder problem.
The unstructured interview was chosen as it is ‘… a way of getting a writing project off
the ground … and helps a writer get past that initial block of not knowing where to start’ (
Strauss & Corbin, 1998: 90) . It enables interviewees to avail an opportunity to speak out using
their own words which may develop deeper, more complex meaning. It is a way of discovering
rather than a way of just checking. Besides, it will generate rich and valuable data in contrast to
structured interview where ‘researchers are trying to collect large volume of data from wide
range of respondents’ (Denscombe 1998:112). Parents have been asked about the importance of
L1 and the L2, the possibility of L1 eroding and how this can be challenged (Appendix I)
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Data analysis and discussion

It was an assumption that Group 1’s language mastery is intact and will act as a base line
for Group2 in order to shed light on any deviation from normal Somali language use. However,
this became futile as they after such a short period of sojourn in the UK their L1 seem to shift by
using L2 words such as banana (muus-in Somali), apple (tufaax) and pear. This latter is
comprehendible as the pear fruit is unfamiliar in Somalia. Also using and L2 connective and in
the first week is notable. Furthermore, omission of the subject or the object of the verb by both
Group1 and Group 2 is observed. However, due to time and space the study will confine to the
deficiencies of lexical retrieval and incorrect sentence structure by Group2.
Challenge of lexical retrieval:

Abdi Week 1
6 Een...( unclear: UC) kanna waxay ka soo buuxsatay tufaax iyo
...(long pause) moos iyo liin iyo canbo
Een... (UC) and this she filled with apple and ….( long pause)
bananas and lime and grapes
The above seems to demonstrate an ability to retrieve the bag in L1

Transfer (CLI) sentence structure
Abdi Week 1
7. iyo... (UC) kanna waxay wadataa...(long pause)

and... (UC) and this she is carrying ...( long pause).
This is deviation of how L1 is used; at least, even though explicitly mentioning the object, it
should
have been
She is carrying this
Waxay wadataa kan
The above structure is like putting the object of the verb in front of the sentence as if using a
passive voice sentence.
Jihan Week 1
Challenge of word retrieval:
1. Waxay gabartaan dambiisha waxay ku wadatay cananaas, canbo,

liin iyo ... (UC),avokaato.
This girl is carrying pineapple, mango, lime and (UC) avocado
Above an L2 name (avocado) is used and the cause for this is that unfamiliarity of this fruit in
Somalia

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Deviation from L1 sentence structure
2. ...(UC) waxay dhigtay baaldi.

... (UC) She put a bucket.
The above L1 this structure contradicts the L1 correct pattern as the object of the sentence is
omitted (where the bucket was put)
3. Waxay kor saartay dambiisha.

She put the basket.
Again the object of the sentence is omitted
4. Dambiishana waxay kor saartay cananaas iyo oranjiga iyo canbaha iyo
isbaandheeyska iyo muuska.
And the basket she put on pineapple and the orange and the mango and
the isbandeis (Somali fruit)
Above demonstrates an L1 deviation in terms of the use of a preposition. The pineapple was put
in the basket not the basket on the pineapple. Also there is L1 deviation in terms of how the
article the orange= oranjiga is used. It was rather to use an article in front of the pineapple which
could have made the sentence correct in terms of L1.
Jihan Week 1 II
1. Shabeel ayaa meel fadhiyey.
A tiger was sitting somewhere.
The above sentence demonstrates that there is confusion over the animal’s name tiger when in
fact it was a lion. Jihan completed her supposed L1 acquisition period (8 years) prior to arriving
in the UK and should have known the animal.

3. Doolligaa qabtay oo isku cambajuujiyey
The mouse caught and squeezed.
Here the mouse did not catch the lion but contrary the lion did. So there is confusion over who
did what. Further, the sentence is grammatically unacceptable in L1 as well as the L2.
6 Libaaxaa waxaa ku jira shabaqa
in the lion there is a net.
The above instead of the sentence being the lion is in the net she expressed that the net is in the
lion. The sentence is grammatically unacceptable in L1 as well as the L2.
Binti Week 1
1. Tufaax, mango.
Apple, mango

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2. Tufaax, mango... I don’t know (me don’t worry)

Apple, mango… I do not know (me don’t worry)
In (1 &2) Binti lost the fruit name Canbo =Mango in L1, a fruit she used to enjoy in Somalia.
Repetition of the fruit names possibly in English may indicate she is experiencing difficulty in
retrieving a suitable word, a suitable sentence or found difficulty in naming another fruit as
participant said ‘I don’t know’ .
Out of 18 Utterances 12 of them, 1 – 12, do not make sense as they contain lots of pauses and
incomplete sentences.
Binti Week 1 II
1. Doolliga...iyo...( long pause =LP)...iyo libaax.

The mouse… and …( LP)…and a lion.
2. Doolliga...een...sankiisuu koray.
The mouse…een…claimed his nose.
3. Libaaxa...een...doolliguu qabtay.
The lion…een… caught the mouse.
4. Doolliga...doolliga... please ammaan is ii...uu dhahay.

The mouse…the mouse…please let me go…he said
From 1 – 4 above the long pauses may indicate difficulty in the retrieval process

1. Doolliga...iyo...(LP)...iyo libaax.
The mouse… and (long pause)… and lion.
The long pause may indicate difficulty in either completing the sentence or maintaining the
fluency of story narrating.
4 Doolliga...doolliga... please ammaan is ii...uu dhahay.
The mouse…the mouse…please let me go…he said
Here an L2 word please is used.

5. Libaaxa shabaqaa lagu riday
The lion was put in the net.
The above sentences it is unclear who did what: This could be because of English familiarity by
the participant. In English this sentence is correct as English permits leaving the subject in
passive voice. For instance, I was told to come to the office.
7 Libaaxa wuu ka soo baxyey.
The lion came out from
Sentence (7) the object of the sentence is missing. It is not clear where the lion came from. In the
story the lion came out of the net. Why the word net is not mentioned is unclear since in (5)

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above the word net was used. It seems that a word is retrievable at one point whilst it is not at the
other time.
The data collated on pupil participants seem to strongly show that group 2’s L1 mastery
is negatively affected in terms of lexical retrieval and sentence structure of L1. Their L1 word
retrieval and sentence structures, considering such limited period of stay in the UK, their ability
of L1 is strongly influenced by their L2. Of particular interest is Binti who seems to be strongly
affected her L1 by L2 as out of 18 Utterances 12 (Week 1) of them, 1 – 12, do not make sense as
they contain lots of pauses and incomplete sentences. The reason for this can be assumed as
Wong Fillmore (ibid) claimed that the younger the children are when coming into contact with
English the greater devastating impact the L2 has on the L1. Moreover, the other reason for the
challenge of L1 word retrieval can be due to infrequent L1 disuse can be because of the ‘disuse
of a language system affects accessibility of lexical items most immediately...’(Schmid; ibid:135;
Schmid & Kopke; ibid:211). In general both: lexical retrieval and sentence structures
deficiencies can be attributed to the fact that pupils have had only mastered the verbal domain of
the L1 as they are inexperience in L1 literature.
Analysing Parents’ view

Parents’ views were analysed and the two main emerging factors were that 1.the L1 is
important for maintaining the identity of children and 2. That L1 can be maintained by providing
L1 lessons in formal and informal settings and visiting to L1 country by the children.
The importance of First Language (L1)
The importance of the Somali language for the Somali pupils regardless how established they are
in the UK is clearly explained by the Somali parents. For example, Saalim explained
Waa u tahay muhiim, maxaa jira hadda waxay kula hadlaayaan familkooda iyo
qaraabadooda…
It (L1) is important because they now communicate with their family and relatives…
Likewise Nafisa noted that
wuxuu muhiim u yahay hadhoow haddii ay waddankooda ku noqdaan in ay ku hadlaan
khasab waaye.
It (L1) is important if they (children) later go to their country of origin they must
communicate with it.
Binti’s father
Waa muhiim sababta waxaa waaye qofka luqadda uu u dhashay waa inuu haaystaa
taasoo asalka ahayd
It (L1) is important the reason for that is the person must maintain his first language
which is the origin.
Binti’s mother
Haa waa u yahay maxaa yeelay waa luqaddoodii hooyo waa in ay ku hadli karaan.
Yes it (L1) is important because it is their mother tongue they must be able to
The date indicated that parents view the L1 as an asset for their children in that they will use it
for communicating with their immediate family when they later visit their home country as
Nafisa claimed that
It (L1) is important if they (children) later go to their country of origin they must

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Also, parents believe that L1 serves as an identity symbol for the children of which they must
maintain. Henceforth, Binti’s father explained that
It (L1) is important the reason for that is the person must maintain his first language
which is the origin.
Likewise, Binti’s mother emphasised
Yes it (L1) is important because it is their mother tongue they must be able to
Maintaining the L1
Saalim
…waxaa muhiim ah in guriga iyo, maxaa la dhahaa, community-yaasha ay tagaayaan
Soomaali kula hadlaan si Soomaaliga uu meesha uga bixin oo ay u fahmaan wax walba.
…It is important that in the house and the communities they (children) go communicate
with the Somali language in order it to be maintained
Nafisa
mar walba waa inaad geysaa waddanka si uusan uga dhumin ama fasax oo kale haddii
aad geysid Soomaliya xoogaa inuu ka dhumin macquul waa noqon kartaa.
Always you have to take them (children) to their home country in order to maintain the
L1 for example during the holidays if you take them to Somalia it is possible that they
may not lose it.
Binti’s father
Marka wuxuu ku haaysan karaa luqadda waa in guriga loogu hadlaa oo famiilka
habarta iyo aabahay luqadda ay ku hadlaan iyo in ay baxaan oo waddankii la geeyaa oo
markastaba luqadda Soomaaliga ku soo hadlaan. Haddii loo heli karana waxbarasho loo
furaa oo luqadda Soomaaliga macallimiintana Soomaali ah u dhigaan, casharrda
qaarkood lagu soo daro iskoolka waa fiicana tahay.
So the child can maintain his L1 it must be used at home with family: the mother and the
father should speak it; and that they visit their home origin and must always speak
Somali. If it possible provision of L1 by L1 teachers and some Somali lessons would have
been better.
Binti’s mother
Waxaa looga hortagi karaa in la geeyo meelo community ah oo looga hadlaayo luqadda
Soomaaliga oo in loo furo in ay bartaan casharro Soomaali ah
It can be prevented that they visit community venues where L1 is spoken and provision of
L1 lessons
Parents’ view of maintaining L1 and countering against the peril of losing L1 by their children
accords Kahin’s (ibid), claim that they used remedial strategies to maintain L1. Moreover,
parents advanced different views on how to maintain the L1. ¾ or 75% of parents believe that
the use of L1 in home enables the maintenance of L1. For example, Saalim and Binti’s father
believe that social interaction by the chidren with their community while using L1 is crucial. For
instance, Saalim noted that
…It is important that in the house and the communities they (children) go communicate
with the Somali language in order it to be maintained
Furthermore, Binti’s father also urged that L1 is important and further added that ,to maintain it,
children should use it at home with their immediate family

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… So the child can maintain his L1 it must be used at home with family: the mother and the
father should speak it…
On the other hand, Binti’s mother commented on how the L1 errosion can be prevented by
further providing L1 provision in the form of lessons
L1 lessons
Consequently, Binti’s family is of opinion that provision of L1 beyond the community cicle is
plausible. i.e L1 provision by L1 teachers during the school hours where possible. For example,
Binti’s father illustrated
If it possible provision of L1 by L1 teachers and some Somali lessons would have been
better.
Binti’s mother further elaborated the issue
L1 lessons.
Nonetheless, ¼ or 25% of parents believes that L1 can be maintained by facilitating contacts by
the children with their relatives back in home country as Nafisa claims
Always you have to take them (children) to their home country in order to maintain the
L1 for example during the holidays if you take them to Somalia it is possible that they
may not lose it.
Threfore, parents’ perception on the importance and the maintenance of L1 by their children
affirms Ahmed (ibid:29) claim that ‘…the provision of Mother Tongaue classes for Somali
pupils is viewed by both schools & community as a fundamental element in maintaining the
cultural integrity of Somali pupils’.
Conclusion
The study aimed to answer two research questions: Which Somali language features by
Somali pupils in the UK are first susceptible to attrition when they come in contact with the
English language? And what is the perception of Somali parents on maintaining the Somali
language by their children?
Tape recording, structured and unstructured were used as a method of data collection from
pupils and parent. The recorded voices were subjected to transcription and analysed. The
outcome of the analysis illustrates deficiencies in L1 lexical retrieving and L1sentence structure.
Analysing parents’ view on countering L1 erosion include provision of L1 lessons by L1
teachers, visiting community venues where L1 is spoken by pupils and a visit to home country.
Refering back to the research questions above, L1 lexical retreivig and L1 sentence structure,
among other issues, by Somali pupils were found to be blamed for the L1 attrition at this early
stage of L2 acquisition. For the second part of the research question, visiting home country by
the children, interaction with L1 community using L1 and provision of L1 by L1 teachers are
beleived to serve as counteract measures to arrest the L1 attrition.

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Reference
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Appendix
App. A
Participant consent form: ' Loss and Maintenance of Somali Language in the UK
I hereby give my consent to participating in the study on Somali language attrition by Somali
pupils.
I have been informed about the purposes of the study. My data will be treated confidentially and
I can opt out of the study at any time.
Signature
Print name
Date
App. A1 (Somali)
Participant consent form: Loss and Maintenance of Somali Language in the UK
Foomka Oggolaanshaha ka-qeybqaadashada: Lumidda iyo ku dheggenaanta luqadda Soomaaliga

marka ay ku milanto luqadda Ingiriiska.
Waxaan halkaan ku bixinaayaa oggolaanshaheyga ka qeyb-qaadashada baaritaanka habka loo
ilaaliyo in ay luqadda dhumin
Waxaa la igu wargeliyey qasdiga baaritaanka. Macluumaadkeyga waxaa loo tixgelin doonaa si
xafidan waxaanna dooran karaa inaan ka baxo baaritaanka waqti walba.
Saxiixa
Daabac Magaca
Taariikh

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App. B
Participant information sheet

The study: Loss and Maintenance of Somali Language in the UK
Dear participant,
Thank you for your interest in this study that aims to identify the challenges faced by the Somali
children using the English language in their day to day lives.
These challenges are not unique to the Somali community, indeed they appear whenever two
language come into contact. Some of the outcomes are similar, others depend on the languages
and individual speakers involved. I am interested in finding out what happens when the Somali
language comes into ontact with English.
The study will be conducted for a short period: one to two weeks. Tape recording and interviews
will be used and will take (ca. 5 minutes): A short story pictures will be shown to the children
that they will have time to study. Then they will be asked to tell the story in Somali and English.
Finally, I will ask children a few general questions in English, or Somali if they prefer, about
their age and background and their use of English & Somali. They can choose to opt out of the
interview at any time - without having to give a reason to the researchers.
The results will be used to fully understand Loss and Maintenance of Somali Language in the
UK which I hope will be beneficial for the Somali children in terms of academic achievements
and also for the wider community.
The child’s name will only be known to the researcher. I will make his/her data anonymous,
which means removing his/her name and other identifying information. That means that others
won’t be able to see the answers his/her gave. If his/her wants, his/her can listen again to what I
recorded and let me know if anything in particular should be treated confidentially.
Thank you for your help!
App. B
Warqadda akhbaarta ka-qeybgalaha Daah-furidda habka ay bartayaasha ku cusub UK ee

Soomaalida ay u bartaan luqadda Ingiriiska
Gacaliye ka-qeybqaate,
Aad ayaad ugu mahadsan tahay daneyntaada baaritaankaan kaasoo u qasdeysa in ay cayimto
Raadraaca habka ay bartayaasha ku cusub UK ee Soomaali ay u bartaan luqadda Ingiriiska
Dhab ahaan bartayaasha imaanaaya UK waxay maraan hab ay ku bartaan luqadda. Habkaan ma
aha mid isku si u ah barte walba waxaanna si gaar ah u daneynaayaa inaan ogaado khaladaadka
ay bartayaasha ku cusub UK ay sameeyaan marka ay luqadda Ingiriiska baranaayaan iyo waxa
loo sababeyn karo arrintaas iyo waxa horumariya habkaas.
Baaritaankaan waa qeyb ka mid ah waxbarashadeyda heerka MA wuxuuna socon doonaa laga
billaabo bisha Sibtember ilaa Disember 2010 (duubista codka waxay dhaceysaa Jimce walba,
qoraalka xusuus qorkana wuxuu dhici doonaa labadii usbuucba mar; marka laga reebo
mashruuca tijaabada oo la sameyn doono mar, bisha June 2010 gudaheeda , natiijooyinkana
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waxaa loo isticmaali doonaa in si buuxda loogu fahmo habka kor ku xusan kaasoo aan
rajeynaayo inuu waxtar u noqon doono Soomaalida ku cusub UK ee baraneysa luqadda
Ingiriiska iyo dhammaan bulshada Soomaaliyeed.
Ururinta macluumaadka baaritaankeyga wuxuu ka koobnaan doonaa wareysi gaaban (ilaa 10
daqiiqo): sawirro sheekooyin gaaban ayaa la tusi doonaa bartayaasha taasoo ay waqti u heli
doonaan in ay darsaan. Ka dib waxaa la weydiin doonaa in ay sheekada ku sheegaan luqadda
Ingiriiska taasoo cajalad lagu duubi doono.Inta la duubaayo waxaa kaloo la sameyn doonaa
qoraal xusuus qor si loo qoro xaaladaha khuseeya deegaanka iyo habka loo sheegaayo sheekada
afka. Ugu dambeyn,bartayaasha waxay dooran karaan in ay joojiyaan ka qeybgalka barista waqti
walba iyagoo aan siineynin wax sabab ah baaraha.
Magaca bartaha waxaa ogaanaaya oo keli ah baaraha. Waxaan qarin doonaa
magaciisa/magaceeda iyo akhbaarta cayimeysa. Taas macnaheedu waa in dadka kale ay awoodi
doonin in ay maqlaan sheekooyinka la duubay. Haddii bartuhu doono waa uu dhageysan kaa mar
kale waxa aan duubay waxayna ii sheegi karaan in waxyaabaha qaarkood ay rabaan in gaar ah
loo xafido.
Waad ku mahadsan tahay caawintaada!

App. C (handa’s story)
App. D
The lion and the mouse story
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App. E
Structural interview on language profile
1. Do you often listen to an English speaking TV?
………………………………………….
2. Do you often listen to an English speaking TV?
……………………………………………………
3. Which language do you speak to:
Your peer group? ………………….

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Your teacher ? ……………………

Your parents? ……………………
App. F
Parents’ unstructured interview
1. Do you think mastery of Somali language by your children is important? Why?
2. Do you think mastery of English language by your children is important? Why?
3. Do you feel that mastery of Somali language by your children is diminishing? If so
what do you think can be done to encounter it?
App. G
Week 1 HBQ Comment
12.5.13
Time taken 1. Gabartaaan ayaa waxay u socotay x (1 &2) Use of English

01:32 saaxiibteed. words: fruit names (lack of
Handa’s 2. Waxay u qaadday orange ,tufaax Somali word: pear,
surprise story cananaas iyo peela (pear). orange(to differentiate
3. Ka dib wey soo qaadday waxay u orange (bambelmo ?)
tirineysaa min hal : tufaax, beella, x Use of English connective:
banana and orange. and.
4. Waxay ku ridatay meeshoodii : x Generally good
banana, cananaas, beella, orange Excellent recounting though
and tufaax. unfamiliarity of tape
5. Wey soo qaadday wey soo baxday. recording might have been a
6. Waxaa geed sarnaay oo ay aragtay bit influence
daanyeer...................
7. Waxay soo martay geed hoostiisa
oo saaran shirmbir.
8. Waxay aragtay geedka oo eber ah
waxaa ugu soo daatay liima orange.
9. Waxay u soo socotay saaxiibteed.
10. Waxaa geedka uga buuxay orange.
11. Waxay saaxiibteed u soo ororday
iyadoo naxsan.
12. Geedkii ayey iska cuneen.
Week2
Week3 HBQ 1.maalin maalmaha ka mid ah ayaa libaax x (1 -8) unclear who did what:
(8.6.13) wuxuu ku arkay jidka doolli. confusion over the subject
The Lion and 2.Asagoo meel hurdaaya ayuu soo qabtay... and the object of the
the mouse kor istaagay...waa ku kor fadhiya. sentence; but it might be that
story 3. Asagoon fileynin ayaa gacanta lagu participant is assuming that
0:58 qabtay. the researcher knows what
4 Ka dibna gacanta ayuu ku majiijinaayey. she is talking: the subject
5. Wuxuu sameeyey inuu iska sirsiro oo and the object of the
yiraahdo. sentence.
6. Ka dib wuxuu dhahay bax iga tag.
7.Wuxuu ku dhax-dhacay shabaq qeylada
oo.... doolliga .
8.Ka dibna doolliga ayaa u imaaday oo ka
soo furay ka dibna laga furfury

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Week 1 HNI Comment

12.5.13
Time taken 1. Gabartaan waxay wadaa cananaas, x (1, 2) Use of English words:
01:14 beella apple. fruit names (lack of Somali
2. Weel ayey ku rideysaa. word: pear).
Handa’s 3. Moos iyo beella iyo cananaas iyo x (3)Use of English words: fruit
surprise story tufaax. names apple. Used later in
4. Haddana weel ayey fiirineysaa Somali tufaax- use of Somali
wixii ku jiray. & English interchanging.
5. Wey sii socotaa saaxiibteed ayey x (4,8,10) (1 -8) unclear who
u socotaa. did what. Specially (10) they
6. Daanyeer ayaa ka dafaaya wixii ate the thing. The thing- is not
madaxa u saarnaa. explained previously though
7. ... Daanyeerki waa ka she termed it cananaa
dhammeeyey, waxaa ku (pineapple. In Somali it
dadanaaya cananaa. should have been cananaas
8. ... waa u imaaday saaxiibteed wey left the s. Prticipant should
salaantay. have used .
9. Wey isku soo ordeen iyada iyo x Generally: good command of
saaxiibteed. Somali language
10. Hab ayey isa siiyeen wixii ayey
cunaayaan.
Week2
Week 3 1. Sheekadii libaaxii iyo x (2) clear who did what. Used
(8.6.13) doolliga. passive voice: The lion’s back
The Lion and 2. Libaaxii ayaa waxaa korka ka was claimed by a mouse.
the mouse koray doolli. Active: A mouse climbed on
story 3. Waa juqjuqeeyey isagana wuu the back of a lion.
xanaaqay. x (3,4) repetition: the lion got
4. Libaaxii wuu xanaaqay angry.
(repetition), doolliga ayuu soo x (6)He, the mouse begged.
qabtay. Even the Somali language this
5. Wuxuu dhahay ma i dhaafee mise sentence is incorrect
waa ku dilaa. grammatically further who
6. Isaga, doolligana waa iska baryey. begged who is unclear.
7. Iga tag ayuuna dhahay. x (10) half instead of the Somali
8. Libaaxii shabaq ayuu ku dhacay. word nus.
9. Wuu qeyliyey, dooligii ayaa u x (11) Participant might have
imaaday. meant to complete (10) about
10. Xarrigii half ayaa laga furfuray. the rope (xarigga) then
11. Xerigii... (pause) shabaqii uu ku decided to conclude the story.
jiray bannaanka ayaa looga soo This could be to escape the
saaray. pressure of the recording,
could be to maintain the
fluency of storytelling.
Language Attrition Transcript Group 1

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Week 1 MHD Comment

12.5.13
Time taken 1. Handa saaxiibteed ayey u wadday

01:24 liin iyo iyo liintaan.
2. b...way xisaabineysaa hal hal ayey
u xisaabinoysaa tan Liintaan.
3. Haddana dhulka ayey u yaallaan
...Madaxa intey saaratay ayaa
daanyeer hal hal xabo ayuu uga
qaadanaa.
4. Hal hal xabo ayuu u qaadanooyaa.
5. Liintaan oo geedaha ka soo dhax
baxoyso.
6. Hello ayey dhahday liinta...
liinta... kaalay ayey dhahday.
7. Liintaan wax fiican ayaan kuu
wadaahe.
8. Inteey fiirisay ee eber. Haddana
wey isla cunooyaan.
Week2
Week 1 HDA Comment

12.5.13
Time taken 1. Gabartaan waxay wadataa x (1)The use of beella

01:37 Cananaas, beella iyo tufaax iyo (pear & orange) is
Handa’s orange. because of lack of
surprise story 2. Waa tanaa haddana hal hal xabo these words in
ayey u tirineysaa. Somali: pear is
3. Cananaaski ayey saartay orange- unknown in Somalia
gii ayey ku xejisay, mooska ayey & Orange is used as
ku xejinee, beelalaha yeye ku liima oranj: orange
xejinee, tufaaxeey ku xijinee. lime.
4. Haddana waa kanaa wey ku x (4)... ee... (paused
riddayba. Wey socotaa, hadda possibly wanted to
walaasheed ayey ku socotaa...ee... finish the sentence
rabtaa... but changed her
5. Wixi waa kanaa hal hal xaba looga mind):
qaatay daanyeeki ayaa hal hal ugu Wey socotaa, hadda
qaatay. walaasheed ayey ku
6. Wixii eber waaye ma wadato. socotaa...ee...
Ee... geed liin ka buuxdo ayey rabtaa...
hoos mareysaa. she is walking, now
7. Geedkii ayaa liin...oo...ku she is walking to her
buuxsamay. sister...ee... she
8. Gabarti ayey aragtay. wants...
9. Saas ayey dhahoysaa.
10. Wey salaameysaa. x Generally: good
11. Haddana waa kaasaa ciyaalkii recounting in Somali
ayaa meesha joogaan. language due to her
12. Iiima oranigii ayaa meesha ugu age & the pressure of
buuxo. recording.

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13. Haddana waa kanaa gabartii ayey

afka u gelinoysaa
Week2
Week 3 1. Libaaxaan wuxuu fiirinoobaa
(8.6.13) doolli. (2) wanted to say Lion-libaax (li...li...)
1:00 2. Haddana li...li... doolligii sankoo then instead doolligii-the mouse) self
wuxuu ka koray libaaxii. correction
3. Libaaxaana wuu xanaaqay (3) and the lion became angry and
indhahoow gaduud ka dhigay. made his eyes red. This seems to
4. Haddana waa kanaa libaaxa demonstrate participant’s ability of
gacanta ku qabtay doolliga. associating the red clour with the
5. Doolliga waa kanaa haddana waa angre.
ku tuugaa iga qallee ayuu (5) iga qallee(street talk- ability to use
dhahoobaa. street talk seems to demonstrate her
6. Hadana baxaa la dhahay, bax soco command of the Somali language).
(repetition). Generally: Good command in Somali
7. Libaaxii waa kanaa shabaqa with creativity skills
asagoo ku jira.
8. Doolligii ayaa u imaaday.
9. Doolligii ilkahuu ku gooyoobaa
xeregga.
10. Waa kanaa waa laga furfuray
xeriggii.
App. I Parents’ unstructured interview

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Balqiisa’s mother answers to the questions L1 important for:

A1. Haa waa u yahay maxaa yeelay waa luqaddoodii x For identitiy
hooyo waa in ay ku hadli karaan. x For survival in the UK
A2. Haa maxaa yeelay waxay joogeen waddankaan

wax walba oo ay rabaan in ay sameeyaanba waa in ay
yaqaannaan English.
A3. Haa waa ka sii dhumaayaa. Waxaa looga hortagi x L1 is losing (no reason give)
karaa in la geeyo meelo community ah oo looga x Prevention: 1) providing community meeting
hadlaayo luqadda Soomaaliga oo in loo furo in ay venues where L1 is spoken. 2) provision of L1
bartaan casharro Soomaali ah lesson
Balqiisa’ dad
A1 Waa muhiim sababta waxaa waaye qofka luqadda x For identity
uu u dhashay waa inuu haaystaa taasoo asalka ahayd x Loss of L1 leads to L2 loss as well
midda koowaad. Tan labaad luqadda uu baranaayo
waa luqaddiisii labaad laakin luqaddiisa koowaad waa
inuu haaystaa. Qofka hadduu luqaddiisa ka tago tan
kalena waa ka tagaa.
A2 Ee... luqaddaas waa luqad muhiim ah oo x L2 is prestigious as an international language.

international ah oo caalamka oo dhan laga yaqaan.
Marka muhiim waxay u tahay waxayna kula
dhaqmayaan dadka jaaniibta ah iyo dadka kaloo ah.
Waxbarashadenna waa iska fiicnayd Ingiriiska,
Carabiga iyo Soomaaliga iyo Talyaaniga intaba waa
lagu dhiganaayey, laakin waagii dambe luqadda
Soomaaliga waxay gaartay ilaa dugsi sare Jaamacad
oo keli ah ayaa dhinnayd. Ilaa dugsi sare ayaa lagu
dhiganaayey.
x L1 is influenced by enrivirnment.
A3. Haa waa is-dhimeysaa sababta waxaa waaye qof x L1 loss can be prevented by using L1 at
beyad kale yimaada beyadda kale ayaa ka xoog home (family) + visiting home (L1) country
badineysa. Luqaddiisa hore waa ka tagaayaan ama ha + provision of L1 lessons by L1 teachers +
yaraado ama ha weynaado. Marka wuxuu ku haaysan provision of L1 lessons by the school.
karaa luqadda waa in guriga loogu hadlaa oo famiilka
habarta iyoaabahay luqadda ay ku hadlaan iyo in ay
baxaan oo waddankii la geeyaa oo markastaba luqadda
Soomaaliga ku soo hadlaan. Haddii loo heli karana
waxbarasho loo furaa oo luqadda Soomaaliga
macallimiintana Soomaali ah u dhigaan, casharrda
qaarkood lagu soo daro iskoolka waa fiicana tahay
Nasteexo
A1 Waxaan qabaa inuu ka dhumi karo mar walba oo x L1 is important for maintaining their identity.
kula hadashaa... x L2 is important for future economical
Q2 So is Somali not important? wellbeing.
A1 waa muhiim waaye x L1 loss can be prevented by visiting home
Q Muxuu muhiim u yahay? (L1) country
A1 wuxuu muhiim u yahay hadhoow haddii ay
waddankooda ku noqdaan in ay ku hadlaan khasab
waaye
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Q when they return to Somalia? Confirmation

A Haa
A2 Haa muhiim ayuu u yahay. Waa ku
shaqeysanaayaan mustaqbalkooda wax alla waxaa ay
jecel yihiin ayey ku sameysanaayaan
Q3 waa macquul in xoogaa uu ka dhumo maadaama
caadi u noqdaan?
Q Haddii uu ka dhumo maxaa la sameyn karaa?
A mar walba waa inaad geysaa waddanka si uusan uga
dhumin ama fasax oo kale haddii aad geysid Somaliya
xoogaa inuu ka dhumin macquul waa noqon kartaa.
WAAD MAHADSAN TAHAY
x (1-4) incorrect use of connective and:
APP. H (1)This girl is carrying apple
GROUP2 (2) and she is carrying mango
Abdullahi (3) and she is carrying...and lime and grapes
Handa’s Surprise 15.10.2013 1.35 x (4) and she is carrying...een (long pause)...
x (6) unable to retrieve the Somali word of the
1. Gabartaan waxay wadataa tufaax container: Een... (not clear) and this she filled with
2. iyo waxay wadataa canbo... apple and... (long pause) bananas and lime and
3. iyo waxay wadataa..iyo liin iyo canab mango..
4. iyo waxay wadataa...een (long pause)... x (7) doesn’t make sense: and...(not clear) and this
5. Inta liin iyo tufaax ay wadataa she is carrying ...(long pause).
6. Een...(not clear) kanna waxay ka soo x (8) unnecessary addition of verb: she is carrying to
buuxsatay tufaax iyo ...(long pause) moos iyo eat…ee…lime…ee…mango…and orange she is
liin iyo canbo carrying and also start the same with (9) she is
7. Iyo...(not clear) kanna waxay wadataa...(long carrying…
pause) x (10) Grammatically wrong in Somali: A monkey
8. Waxay wadataa in ay took with bananas.
cunto...ee...liin...ee...canbo...iyo oranj ayey x (11) repetition and the sentence is not finished.
wadataa.
This because may be it is hard for participant to
9. Waxay wadataa...(not clear) cuntey u
produce the sentence: She is walking to her friend.
wadataa.
x Generally: poor fluency: many repetitions with
10. Daanyeer wuxuu ka qaatay mooska.
grammatically incorrect
11. Hadda waxay...haddana waxay...(not clear).
12. Waxaa u soo ordaaya saaxiibteed u soo
ordeysa...(not clear) mise wey u imaaneysaa.
x The use of avocado (no word for it in Somali
Jawaahir language)
Handa’s Surprise 15.10.2013 0:48 x (2)unclear/incorrect: she put backet
5. Waxay gabartaan dambiisha waxay ku x (3) unclear subject & the object
wadatay cananaas, canbo, liin iyo ... x (4)Incorrect use of an articles: oranjiga, canbaha
(NC),avokaato. iyo isbaandheyska +incorrect preposition andshe
6. ...(NC) waxay dhigtay baaldi put the basket on pineapple, the orange and the
7. Waxay kor saartay dambiisha mango and the isbaandheyska (a blum like
8. Dambiishana waxay kor saartay cananaas iyo Somali fruit).
oranjiga iyo canbaha iyo isbaandheeyska iyo x (5 &6) Repetitition of daanyeeka (the monkey).
muuska.
9. Wey socotay waxaa ... (NC) mooska waxaa
ka qaatay daanyeerka
10. ...daanyeerka ...saaxiibteed ayaa u soo
orodday
11. Dambiisha waxay ku wadatay liin badan.
12. Saaxiinbteed iyo iyadana liinta ayey isla
cuneen

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Jawahir Lion & the mouse 0:32 x (1) incorrect identifying of an animal: Shabeel
2. Shabeel ayaa meel fadhiyey. (tiger) instead of lion.
3. Doolli ayaa korka ka fuulay...sanka. x (3) confusion over subject & the object
4. Doolligaa qabtay oo isku cambajuujiyey. x (4) Somali expression: walaaloow I daa (let me
5. Wuxuu dhahay walaaloow i daa. go brother).
6. Doolliga wuu fasaxay, wuxuu dhahay iska x (6) grammatically incorrect.
bax.
7. Libaaxaa waxaa ku jira shabaqa.
8. Maya wuxuu dhahay...shabaqaan ka furay.
9. Shabaqa markuu ka furay saas ayuu ku
baxay.
Balqiisa x (1 &2) Repetition of fruit names possibly
Handa’s Surprise 2:32 experience difficulty in retrieving a suitable
3. Tufaax, mango. sentence or found difficulty in naming another
4. Tufaax, mango... I don’t know (me don’t fruit as participant said‘I don’t know’ .
worry) x (11) difficulty in retrieving an animal name:
5. (me what is this?) iyo gabar. daanyeer (monkey)
6. Gabarta...(LP) tufaax iyo...(LP) (me gabarta x Generally: unable to produce a single sentence
maxay sameyneysaa?-prompt) (1 -12) with lots of pausing.
7. Waxay sameyneysaa...een...een... tufaax
iyo...iyo...pineapple...ee...ee... caag ku
ridoysaa.
8. Baaldi...baaldi...ee...ee...ee... saartay.
9. Ba...banana...mango...tufaax...pineapple.
10. Gabarta wey socotaa.
11. Mar...markaasna qof...een...markaas...
weelkana...caagane...caagga
kor...pineapple...pineapple...
12. pa... markaasne een (LP) (me kan muxuu
yahay?-prompt)
13. Monkey? Monkey (I confirmed. OK muxuu
sameeyey? Prompt)
14. Wuxuu sameeyey...een...banaanada) uu ka
soo qaatay.
15. Markaas gabartii...gabartii...gabartii waa
socotay.
16. Shimbirta waxa dhan ayey qadatay.
17. Gabartana wey socotay.
18. Saaaxiibteedaa dhahday waa ku soo oroday
19. Gabartana oranjey soo qaadatay.
20. Iyada iyo saaxiibteed oranjada ayey fiiqdeen
eey cuneen
Balqiisa x Generally: lots of pausing (possible difficult to
The lion & the mouse 1:36 speak normal in Somali (retrieval).
6. Doolliga...iyo...(LP)...iyo libaax. x (5) unclear who did what: Libaaxa shabaqaa lagu
7. Doolliga...een...sankiisuu koray. riday: the lion was put in net.
8. Libaaxa...een...doolliguu qabtay.
9. Doolliga...doolliga... please ammaan is ii...uu
dhahay.
10. Libaaxa shabaqaa lagu riday.
11. Libaaxa...wuu...(LP) libaaxa inuu cuno... inuu
ka baxayo...inuu cunayo uu rabaa...doolliga
inuu cunyow rabay.
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12. Libaaxa wuu ka soo baxyey.

Saalah x L1 is important for maintaining identity.
A1 Waa u tahay muhiim, maxaa jira hadda waxay kula
hadlaayaan familkooda iyo qaraabadooda oo guriga ay
aad ugu fiican tahay in ay wax ku fahmaan maxaa
yeelay waalidiinta qaarkood ayaana fahmeynin
luqaddaan...ee.. Ingiriiska sidaas darted in ay fahmaan
luqadda Soomaaliga aad ayey muhiim u tahay.
Luqadda Soomaaliga dhaqanka ayey muhiim ugu
tahay iyo maxaa la dhahaayey wada xiriirka qaraabada x L2 is important for academic achievements +
iyo wax walba ayey muhiim ugu tahay in ay bartaan interaction with teachers+ prevention of
luqadda Soomaaliga oo aysan ka tegin luqaddooda. academic regression +social interaction.
A2 Wey u tahay in ay bartaan luqadda ay baranaayaan

subjaktiyada ay bartaan waxay ku baxaan English bal
sidaas darted haddii aysan English fahmeynin waa ku
adkaaneysaa in ay fahmaan waxyaabaha loo dhigaayo
iyo xataa macallinka wax u dhigaayey in ay fahmaan
waa ku adkaaneysaa sidaas darteed si uusan canugga
tacliinta ugu soo harin waxay aad ugu anfaceysaa inuu
luqaddii xoogga saaro oo barto.
QIngiriiku ma wuxuu keli anfacaa iskoolka mise

waxyaabo kale ayuu nafacaa?
A2(e) Waddanka ay ku nool yihiin waxaa looga

hadlaa Inglish sidaas darted xataa saaxiibadood iyo
xataa meel kasto haddii shopping haddii ay
sameysanaayaan waxay u baahan yihiin in ay ku
hadlaan English, haddii ay bas raacaayaan sidoo kale
marka waxaa wax walba community-gii dhexdiisa aad
ayey muhiim ugu tahay in au fahmaan Ingiriiska oo ay
bartaaan.
A3 Waa laga yaabaa in ay is-dhinto maxaa jira

because wixii ay yaqaaneen waxaa beddelaaya ereyo x L1 Loss can be attributed to influence by the
kale oo cusub ayey barabaayaan marka sidaas darted si L2
ay tan, maxaa la dhahaayey, ay focus-ka u saaraan
ayey mar kasta ugu xeran tahay oo ay maadaama
maskaxdooda ka sii baxeyso waddankaan lagu nool
yahay dadka ay la macaamilaayaan kulli waxay ku
hadlaan English marka ereyada qaarkood oo
Soomaaliga ah waa laga yaabaa in ay ka dhumaan oo
xitaa marmarka qaarkood ay fahmi waayaan oo
markaas ay ku adkaato waxyaabaha qaarkood haddaad
weydiiso ay ku dhahaan Soomaaliga maxaa lagu
dhahaa sidaas darted waxaa muhiim ah in guriga iyo,
maxaa la dhahaa, community-yaasha ay tagaayaan
Soomaali kula hadlaan si Soomaaliga uu meesha uga
bixin oo ay u fahmaan wax walba.

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AWEJ
Pp.310-322
A Comprehensive Method for Teaching English for Specific Purpose
Muhammed Ali Chalikandy

Department of English
Al Buraimi University College
Buraimi, Sultanate of Oman
Abstract
English for Specific Purpose (ESP) is a market driven, need oriented and purpose driven course
but a snap shot of an ESP classroom in gulf countries will reveal that it is often taught on the line
of teaching General English focusing on language teaching methods. ESP teachers often forget
that ESP has some distinguishing features unlike General English. ESP is a separate activity
within English Language Teaching (ELT) with its own approach, material and methodology by
adapting and integrating with other disciplines and it encourages learner investment and
participation. Since ESP uses distinctive approaches, materials and methods based on learners’
specific needs, ESP practitioners must assess learners’ needs, design course, develop materials,
choose appropriate instruction and implement it to satisfy the identified needs of the learners.
Therefore, just knowledge of language system and ability to deliver this is not enough for an ESP
teacher. This article is going to delineate how to teach an ESP course successfully.
Keywords: ESP, need, design course, develop materials, evaluation

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A Comprehensive Method for Teaching English Chalikandy
1. Introduction
English for Specific or Special purpose (ESP) has become prominent part of EFL (English as
a Foreign Language) or ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching since 1960. Nowadays
both material writers and teachers realize the importance of need analysis due to the influence of
ESP on English language teaching in general. ESP is a broad area consisting of English for
business, English for science and technology, English for engineers, English for waiters etc. It is
a branch of English Language Teaching (ELT) with its own approaches, materials, and methods
which have been developed by adapting from other disciplines and integrating with other
disciplines. ESP has been very actively influencing ELT since it is material driven, learner
centered and learning centered approach. There is a growing diversity in ESP now.
2. The Origin of ESP

ESP did not begin just because of some new theories or ideas in any field. It was mainly
because of the necessity of the time which shaped ESP in the present form. The proverb
‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ is very relevant to the origin of ESP. ESP has been
changed since it originated because of the developments in education, business, computer,
information technology, global economy, applied linguistics and ELT. There were many events
which paved the way for ESP. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987) the demands of a
brave world, a revolution in linguistics and focus on the learner were the three common reasons
for the birth of ESP. They further argued that Second World War and the Oil Crisis of 1970 were
the two historical events that were responsible for the origin of the ESP. Firstly; the Second
World War changed the world politics drastically, the immediate result of which was the
emergence of the US as the world super power, the expansion of science and technology, growth
of global economy and becoming English as the international language for communication.
Secondly, because of the Oil Crisis of 1970, western money and new knowledge flowed into the
oil rich countries. Naturally, English was the language of this knowledge. As a result, there was a
pressure on ELT to modify its approaches, methods and materials according to the needs of the
learners and clients. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) aptly said, “English now became subject to
the wishes, needs and demands of people other than language teachers” (p, 7).
Around this time, changes took place in linguistic in general and in ELT in particular. For
instance, traditional linguistics viewed language as an object to be described and segmented into
discrete elements like phonemes, morphemes and words while the revolutions in linguistics
forced linguistics to view language as means of communication used in the context.
Consequently, language has been viewed that it varies depending on the context, participants and
purposes. In addition, there was a shift from teaching method and the teacher to the learning and
the learner due to the popularity of Communicative Language Teaching. Learners use different
learning strategies as they are different and their needs are divergent. In fact, all this lead to the
importance of considering learners’ varied needs in learning context. Focusing on learner and
learning resulted in adapting the language instruction according to their needs and designing a
course that suitable to the specific needs of the learners.
3. ESP Vs General English

Generally, ESP is a branch of EFL or ESL, which are the main branches of English Language
Teaching (ELT) in general. According to Hutchinson and waters (1987) ESP is an approach to
language learning based on learners’ needs and centered around the question: “Why does this

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learner need to learn a foreign language?” (P. 17). Scrivener (2005) differentiated both terms
clearly:
ESP contrast with the rather mischievous acronym LENOR (Learning English for No
Obvious Reason); it implies that we are going to take the client’s needs and goals more seriously
when planning the course, and rather than teach ‘general English’, we are going to tailor
everything to his or her character and particular requirements. (p. 324)
According to Strevens (1988) ESP is designed to meet learners’ specific needs by choosing
content from particular disciplines and using activities, syntax, lexis and discourse suitable to
these activities, and he added that ESP may not use any pre-planned instructional methodology.
Dudley- Evans and St. John (1998) revised Strevens definition and accepted most of his claims.
However, they elaborated and broadened the concept by adding more variables such as:
x ESP may be related to the specific subjects;
x It may use teaching methods and situations different from General English (GE);
x It may be designed for adult intermediate or advanced learners. (pp. 4-5)
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) defined ESP more broadly as “an approach to language
teaching in which all decisions as to content and methods are based on the learners’ need for
learning” (p. 19). These definitions, thus, makes it clear that learners’ specific need is the
foundation on which the entire edifice of ESP is established. Although every learner has their
own reason to learn a language such as improving communicative skills, passing exam, these are
too vague in General English. Basic interpersonal communication skills refers to the language
skills used in everyday informal contexts with friends, family and co-workers, while academic
skills refers to a language skills required in academic setting. Successful communication in an
occupational set up requires the ability to use the particular jargon specific to that context, and
use everyday communicative language effectively in non- occupational context, for instance,
chatting over a lunch with a colleague. Unlike General English, ESP has to blend both
interpersonal communication skills and academic communication skills effectively and naturally.
It is the challenge of the ESP practitioner to integrate all these skills effectively in the ESP
course naturally by balancing and blending structures, lexical and discourse into the course.
4. Types of ESP
Traditionally ESP is divided into English for Academic Purpose (EAP) and English for
Occupational Purpose (EOP), both of which are sub-divided into further like English for science
and technology, English for law, English for vocational purpose etc. Hutchinson and Waters
(1987) divided ESP into three: English for Science and Technology, English for Business and
Economics and English for Social Science, each of which is subdivided into EAP and EOP. They
didn’t see much difference between EAP and EOP, and pointed out that “people can work and
study simultaneously; it is also likely that in many cases the language learnt for immediate use in
a study environment will be used later when the students takes up, or returns to, a job” (p. 16). It
is implied here that the end purpose of both EAP and EOP are one and the same but the means to
achieve this is very different. However, there is a difference between these two terms. EAP
refers to English requires in an educational institution like school, college and university and it is
concerned with those communication skills in English which are required for study purpose in
formal educational system. Whereas, EOP refers to English required for professional
communication in professional context like medical, engineering, aviation and business.
According to Hamp- Lynos (2001) EAP is:

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a branch of applied linguistics consisting of a significant body of research into effective teaching
and assessment approaches, methods of analysis of the academic language needs of students,
analysis of the linguistic and discoursal structures of academic texts, and analysis of the textual
practice of academics. (p. 126)
In the view of Strevens (1977) EAP is a shift from teaching literature and culture of
speakers of English to teaching English language for communicative purpose. He added that
English language should be matched to the needs and purpose of learners.
EAP takes place in a variety of setting and circumstances. The students need EAP for
higher education. The teachers may be native or non- native speakers. The course may be pre-
sessional (full time), in- sessional and usually part time. It may be a short term or long term. The
course may include formal teaching program, self access situations, distance learning materials
or CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning). GE (General English) course teaches learners
conversational and social genres of the language, whereas EAP course teaches formal academic
genres and EOP course teaches genres related to occupation. To be precise, EAP and EOP are
specific because they teach language skills required for learners’ immediate purpose by selecting
vocabulary, grammar pattern. In addition, they use the topic and themes that are relevant to
learners’ immediate needs and address learners’ immediate communicative needs.
4.1. Current Practice of EAP
Unlike General English, EAP begins with learner and situation and teaches academic genres.
According to Swales (2001), it started with a goal, genre and focus which are different from
literary language in the 1960s, to which many additions and adaptations have been done since
then. Carkin (2005) has stated that EAP has broadened its scope by including more disciplines
and texts to it, for instance, EAP course in Agronomy and ESP course in computer repairs.
Currently, EAP is offered in variety of international setting. Dudley- Evan and St. John (1998)
reports that there are four types of EAP offered in higher education contexts. The first type of
EAP is taught either intensively or extensively in English speaking countries like the USA, the
UK and Canada where it is done for international students of graduates and undergraduates. The
second type is offered in countries like Singapore and Zimbabwe where many native languages
exist and English is recognized officially in education. The third type of EAP can be seen in
Middle East countries where subjects like medicine, technology, business, science and IT are
taught in English in higher education. The fourth type of EAP is taught in South American
countries where higher education is in L1 (mother tongue), but English is recognized as an
auxiliary language. According to Snow (1997), in English speaking countries EAP is largely a
pre- university bridge program, in which it links English language with content courses and both
ESL instructors and content instructors work as a team. The aim of such program is to enable the
learners to enter university directly by making them proficient in English language required for a
specific academic program. Furthermore, such courses assist second language (L2) students in
acquiring language skills needed for successful work in higher education. Whereas, in non-
speaking English countries such as Middle East countries EAP is a part of academic program, in
which students are required to take a compulsory subject like study skill as an intensive program,
which is a part of pre- planned syllabus.
Generally, an EAP course “usually consists primarily of study skills practice (e.g. listening to
lectures, seminar skills, academic writing, reading and note taking, etc.) with an academic
register and style in the practice texts and materials” (Hamp- Lynos, 2001, p. 127).

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5. ESP Around the World

ESP is a major ELT enterprise in English speaking countries where English for occupational
purposes for new migrant and refugee population and English for academic purpose in academic
context for non native speaking students are offered. However, the present trend is spreading
ESP into non- native English speaking countries where English is taught as either as a second
language or as a foreign language. According to Johns (2001), “… ESP continues to be even
more common in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts, where an increasing number of
adult students are eager to learn business English or academic English in order to pursue their
career or study in English medium educational institutions” (p. 43).
ESP started late in China; however, it has developed quickly because “the boom of ESP
teaching both in college education and continuing education is rightly the result of social demand
of the English language, rapid development of linguistics, and educational psychology” (Wang,
2007, p.122). According to him, business English has been a part of ESP for long, but now the
trend is spreading into aviation industry. Though grammar translation method has been
dominating in ESP, bilingual method and a contrastive approach along with linguistic analysis is
used in aviation ESP, where a contrastive analysis of aviation language between English and
Chinese is done in order to provide suitable ESP approach to the Chinese context.
In Iran ESP is a part of academic subjects and locally produced ESP textbooks are used.
However, Iranian ESP text book are not based on learners’ need analysis (Eslami, 2010;
Iranmehr, Erfani and Davari, 2010).
Liton, Muhammed and Alom (2012) investigated the effectiveness of ESP courses for
business administration students at Community College of Jazan University in Saudi Arabia and
found that the existing ESP course is not based on students’ work place needs. Further more,
they reported that ESP in Malaysia needs to be redesigned to meet the demand of the job market.
ESP courses are getting popularized in Middle East, East Asian countries, Iran, Lebanon and
South Asia due to global trade and career growth. As a result, universities in these countries
started offering ESP recently.
6. Future of ESP
According to Nunan (2001), the demand for English language education around the world is
increasing because it is the language of international business, technology and science.
Therefore, ESP will flourish and grow more in non- native English speaking countries.
ESP will use computer based curricula and authentic texts. In other words, ESP will use more
sophisticated learner centered curricula. Since ESP is sensitive to the learners’ background and
the context in which the learners use English, it will be sensitive to cross cultural issues (Connor,
1996). As a result, ESP will research the cross cultural issues related to ESP learning. ESP will
still use need analysis, however, the focus of need analysis will be shifted because ESP will be
done more in non native English speaking countries.
ESP will be the part of ESL or EFL teaching, which will be the part of English Language
Teaching in general. Developments in applied linguistics will certainly influence ESP teaching in
particular. Furthermore, Content Based Instruction and Task Based Instruction will become more
popular in ESP.
7. Characteristics of ESP
What makes a course really an ESP course? There are many features that stand out in an ESP
course. Firstly, ESP is a multidisciplinary activity; therefore, it is necessary to understand how
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written and spoken text works in a particular discipline or profession and essential to be sensitive
to cultural differences both academic and professional world. Secondly, it uses authentic
materials which are used as vehicle of information rather than linguistic object. Thirdly, ESP
exploits learners’ previous and current academic skills and knowledge and professional
experience. In the ESP classroom the teacher may not have the knowledge of the content, but
learners have. For instance, an ESP teacher may not know how exactly a business run, but they
know what language and how it is used in it. Therefore, the ESP practitioner must use the
learners’ greater knowledge of the content. Furthermore, the practitioner needs to include
specific subject content and balance content level and language level to have real content as
language learning approaches and subject learning approaches are integrated in an ESP course.
Fourthly, distinctive teaching methodology which is different from General English is used in
ESP except pre-study or pre –work ESP where learners have not started their academic study and
professional activity. For instance role play, case- study, project work and task based teaching
are commonly used in ESP classes. Fifthly, ESP is designed for specific discipline or profession
for limited duration or longer duration and for learners who are often advanced or intermediate
adults with at least some basic knowledge and skill of English. According to Dudley- Evans
(2001) need analysis is the central feature of ESP. Chambers (1980) calls the initial need analysis
as target situation analysis since it provides information about the target situation and the
purpose of the course. Present situation analysis provides information about learners current
level in English, weakness in English and skills needed. Register analysis is another feature
because certain grammatical and lexical items are more frequently used in particular subject and
occupation. To illustrate, simple present and passives are used in scientific and technical English,
and vocabulary items like consists of, contains; enables appear more in academic writing.
Therefore, register analysis is done to identify the grammar, syntax, lexical items which are
particular to the specific ESP. Last not the least feature is, discourse analysis. It is done to find
out specifies discourse used in a particular discipline and explains why certain text is preferred
how they are used in the text. Dudley- Evans (2001) “… the ESP teacher considers the (written
or spoken) texts that the learner has to produce and /or understand, tries to identify the texts’ key
features and devises teaching material that will enable learners to use the texts effectively”(p.
134).
Authentic discourse, vocabulary and situation are very important in ESP since ESP consists
of special English and contexts. How to provide authenticity? There are two traditions according
to Johns (2001), the first of which is to deliver the course onsite target situation like oil rigs,
dockyard, military and police training centers, banks, factories and other work places and
delivering the lesson concerned university departments as a part of academic subjects. Raof and
Yousof (2006) have found ESP course embedded with learners’ work place or discipline is very
effective because learners acquire knowledge about their specific subject and future work place
as it provides authentic input. Moreover, learners interact with the professionals and gain
knowledge about their subject. The second tradition is to provide specific oral or written
discourse (creating artificial target situations through role play, real play and simulation play).
8. Structure of ESP Course

It is impossible to run an ESP course haphazardly since the basic structure of the course is
definite. There are certain building blocks which form an ESP course. Analyzing needs,
preparing syllabus, designing the course, developing materials, selecting methods and evaluating
the course are the necessary steps involved in an ESP course.
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8.1. Need Analysis

Need analysis is an integral part of ESP and it is an ongoing process because students are
culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse, their objectives and the levels of academic
literacy are different. The method of doing need analysis have become more sophisticated due to
the development of new technology. The most common ways of doing need analysis are
questionnaires, surveys, interviews and observations (Johns, 2001).
The learners' needs or goals are the foundation of the course. A need analysis is the essential
starting point for ESP teaching. Need is defined as the reason for which the learner is learning
English, which varies from learner to learner, context to context and discipline to discipline. To
demonstrate a learner may want English to study in an English speaking country, or work in a
multinational company as an IT expert. Need analysis is asking questions about students’ needs
and wants. Broadly learners’ needs can be divided into two: immediate and delayed needs.
Immediate needs refer to those needs that students have at the time of the course, whereas,
delayed needs refer to those needs that students will have later or after the course. ESP teachers
should be aware of the options and limitation arising from learner expectations and requirements.
When developing an ESP course, the designer needs to answer these questions: What English do
learners need? Why do they need it? Which specific skills do they require? And what genre do
they need to achieve their goal. According to Burmfit (1984) need analysis is not exclusive to
ESP, but it is rather common in all language teaching program. However, ESP starts with need
analysis and it is done by ESP practitioner or teacher, not an outsider. Specific learners’ need
analysis has to be done by explaining the context in which learners are going to use the language,
and the text used in that situation because Dudley- Evan (2001) asserted that “for ESP courses to
be successful and to have a lasting effect on learners, ability to study or work using English, the
environment in which English is taught versus that in which it is used must be assessed” (p. 133).
Furthermore, the course designer has to see the four dimensions of needs: target situation, the
sponsor, students and course designer (Jordan, 1997). Need Analysis should be the starting point
for devising syllabus, course material and the kind of teaching and learning that are going to
take place in the ESP course. In nutshell, need analysis includes: necessities, demands, wants,
likes, lacks, deficiency, goals, aims, purposes and objectives. Thus, a typical need analysis
includes these: job contexts; academic contexts; learners’ multiple intelligence; learning styles
and ways of working in a particular job.
8.2. Syllabus
Need Analysis will give the necessary background to draw up the syllabus. Basically, a
syllabus is a specification of what is to be included in an ESP course. Designing a syllabus
involves examining need analysis and establishing objectives of the course. It then entails the
selection, grading, sequencing the language and content and the divisions of the content into
units. (Jordan, 1997)
8.3. Course Design

After obtaining the syllabus, the next step is to design the course around the syllabus.
According to Hutchinson and waters (1998) “course design is the process by which the raw data
about learning need is interpreted in order to produce an integrated series of teaching – learning
experience, whose ultimate aim is to lead the learners to a particular state of knowledge” (p, 65).
There are two types of course design available for a designer: fixed and flexible. According to
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Nunan (1988) a fixed course design is prepared in advance and rarely deviated from it, where as
a flexible one allows changes and modification based on negotiation with the learners and
feedback from learners. For instance, if an EAP is a part of an academic program and is assessed,
it follows a fixed course design.
Designing an ESP course is not easy, but a really challenging task. In ESP, it is the teacher
who develops the course after analyzing learners’ needs to suit their requirement. The ESP
teacher has to investigate a number of issues before taking decision. They are: whether the
course is intensive or extensive; it is assessed or not; it meets immediate needs or delayed needs;
it is done as a pre-study or work, while study or work; the learners are homogenous or
heterogeneous.
In short, course design is to adapt or write materials in accordance with the syllabus, to
develop a methodology for teaching those materials and to establish evaluation procedure by
which progress towards the specified goals will be measured.
8.4. Material Development
It is important for ESP teachers to have a great deal of experience both in teaching and
material development – providing and writing. According to Jones (1990) “ESP teachers find
themselves in a situation where they are expected to produce a course that exactly matches the
needs a group of learners, but are expected to do so with no, or very limited, preparation time”
(p. 91). Even though plenty of commercially published ESP textbooks available now, none of
them are suitable to meet students’ specific needs. Consequently Jones (1990) argues that there is
no book to be called as an ESP textbook and suggests having a resource bank with variety of
materials for the teachers to choose. It does not mean that every ESP practitioner needs not be a
good material designer, but needs to be a provider of suitable material, be creative with the
available material, modify according to learners needs and supplement with extra materials.
There are certain key issues that ESP practitioners must consider when they develop materials.
ESP materials need to be more visually illustrative to help learners showing the processes of
relationship, and the language used in the illustration has to be functional. Therefore, ESP
material should be visual based in order to improve learners’ visual literacy like increasing the
power of observation and reporting what they observe. As a result, video clips, sound files are
compulsory in ESP material. As ESP follows learner centered approach, it should explore
technology to provide learners varied choices. Furthermore, ESP should use topics, themes,
activities and methodology that are specific to subject and the profession. To demonstrate, an
English course for medical students use medical situations like diagnosing and performing a
surgery to present appropriate language and discourse. Dudley Evans (2001) argued that “ESP is
a materials- led field. Most materials, however, are prepared by individual teachers for particular
situations, and there is not a huge amount of published ESP material” (p. 135). In addition to
this, in an ESP class the group generally has mixed abilities. Therefore; it is required to have an
eclectic approach to material catering every learner.
Adaptation and revision of ESP materials are part of any ESP program whether published or
tailor made material is used. In EAP, ESP teachers consult with the content teachers or work
with them as a team to provide and update ESP materials suitable to learners’ academic program
and EOP teachers include specific language skills and linguistic items required in a particular
job.

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8.5. Methodology
ESP makes use of the methodology of other content subjects. This is the strength of ESP
methodology that integrates language learning approaches and subject learning approaches.
Widdowson (1983) wrote “ESP (or ought logically to be) integrally linked with areas of activity
(academic, vocational, professional) which… represent the learners’ aspirations” (pp. 108- 9).
For instance ESP uses case studies, project work and tasks. Furthermore, a typical ESP class uses
video discs, CD-ROM, the internet, e-mail and Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL).
Role play, real play and simulation play have a key role in an ESP classroom. Content Based
Instruction and Task Based Instruction are very useful in ESP classrooms.
ESP teachers make use of learners’ specific subject knowledge, which makes classroom
interaction and methods different from General English. A good ESP teacher will try to
minimize the negative effects of the learners' emotional reactions to learning and will instead try
to boost the positive emotions by using the following strategies:
x Use pair work and group work to minimize the stress of speaking in front of the
class, for example, pyramid discussion;
x Structure the task, i.e. introduce the task, remove hurdles, give clear instruction,
concept checking, demonstrating the task, run the activity, close the activity and
give feedback;
x Give time to think and do, listen to the learners, ask questions, give enough time
to think and answer, allow them to complete;
x Emphasis on the process rather than the product as the correct answer is not the
most important issue but getting the answer is important;
x Include fun, variations, varieties;
x Avoid monotonous and mechanical teaching.
9. Evaluation
In narrow sense, evaluation is the process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting
information about what is done to make a judgment about it. Nunan (1998) views evaluation
more broadly:
The data resulting from evaluation assist us in deciding whether a course needs to be modified or
altered in any way so that objectives may be achieved more effectively. If certain learners are not
achieving the goals and objectives set for a course, it is necessary to determine why this is so.
We would wish, as a result of evaluating a course, to have some idea about what measures might
be taken to remedy any short comings. Evaluation, then, is not simply a process of obtaining
information, it is also a decision- making process (p. 118).
It is imperative to evaluate an ESP course since the ESP course normally has specified
objectives and the learners, sponsors, course designers and practitioners of the course want to see
the end result of their effort. They want to see how far their divergent objectives are achieved,
what went wrong what went according to the plan. This would give the plat form for the future.
There are two kinds of evaluation that are used in ESP teaching. They are: learner assessment
and course evaluation
9.1. Learner assessment

Brindley (2001) defined the term assessment as “a variety of ways of collecting information
on a learner’s language ability or achievement” (137). “Assessment refers to the processes and

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procedures whereby we determine what learners are able to do in the target language” (Nunan,
1992, p. 185). Both formative and summative (Brindley, 2001) form of assessment should be
used to get the desired results. According to Douglas (2000), a specific purpose language test is:
One which test content and methods are derived from an analysis of the characteristics of a
specific target language use situation, so that test tasks and content are authentically
representative of the target situation, allowing for an interaction between the test taker’s
language activity and specific purpose content knowledge, on the other hand, and the test tasks
on the other. Such a test allows us to make inferences about a test takers capacity to use language
in the specific purpose domain. (p.19)
According to Day and Krzaanowski (2011), assessment depends on the objectives of the
course and should be based on need analysis. The test we administer should be the one that
captures the kind of behavior, skill or performance we are interested in studying and attempting
to evaluate. Furthermore, ESP assessment should be appropriate to the context of learning. To
illustrate, if the ESP is learner led, assessment should evaluate learners’ performance in the work
place. In ESP there are three basic types of learner assessment. They are: placement test,
achievement test and proficiency test.
9.1.1. Placement tests

A placement test is used at the beginning of the course to place the learners in the course
most suited to their needs. It is done to see the learners' proficiency in the beginning and it is also
a tool for need analysis. According to Harmer (1998), generally it tests learners’ linguistic
competence and assess their four language skills to determine their level, after which suitable
syllabus and materials are decided. Placement test are done in relation to previously decided
levels.
9.1.2. Achievement tests

An achievement test is done to assess the learners' progress. It can be done at any time during
the course. Harmer (1998) has observed that “these tests are designed to measure learners’
language and skill progress in relation to syllabus they have been following” (321). He further
argues that like a progress test, an achievement test should indicate learners’ progress not the
weakness as it is based on the syllabus and course objectives. Achievement tests decide whether
or not the learners have successfully achieved what they are supposed to learn if they have done
at the end of the course. In short it is done to see how much progress has been made in terms of
goals.
9.1.3. Proficiency tests

A proficiency test is to assess whether the learners can cope with the demands of particular
situation or not. According to Brindley (2001), it “refers to the assessment of general language
abilities acquired by the learner independent of a course of study” (p. 137). Standardized
commercial language proficiency test like IELTS and TOEFL are used to assess students’
proficiency before they enter a university in native English speaking countries. According to
Harmer (1998), proficiency tests assess learner’s general language ability, not their progress
since they are not based on any syllabus or curriculum. On the other hand, they measure the
degrees of proficiency of learner in the skills or sub skills of a language.
9.2. Course evaluation

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This is very important because the future of the course depends on the feedback it receives.
The ESP course is to satisfy a particular educational need; therefore, evaluation helps to
understand how far it has achieved it objectives. Furthermore, evaluation tells us that whether the
course is capable of meeting its stated and required needs of the clients. Course evaluation
includes assessing the syllabus, the materials, teaching and learning methods. Generally, it is
done through both formal methods like evaluating test results, questionnaires, discussions and
interviews, and informal means like chatting or comments. As a common practice, ESP teachers,
the learners, the sponsors or a special body evaluate the course. They have many options like
during the course, at the end of the course and even after the course.
10. Role of an ESP Practitioner

ESP involves more than teaching; therefore, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) use the term
“practitioner” rather than “teacher” to emphasize that ESP work involves much more than
teaching stressing the varied role of the ESP teacher. Generally teachers’ role in an ESP class
matches the expectation and needs of the learners. The teacher usually provides information
about skills and language and controls the activities. Therefore, teachers are provider of input
and activities. They manage rather than control learning. In reality, they are the facilitators and
consultants. As a result, they negotiate with students about what is appropriate to include and
when to include or what to exclude. Johns (2001) observed that “there is considerable demand
for ESP teachers who can perform variety of need assessment tasks, such as collecting authentic
discourses and analyzing them, making appropriate observations, and consulting various
stakeholders-and then produce curricula sensitive to the students and context” (p. 52). A typical
practitioner has four key roles: teacher, course designer and material provider, collaborator,
researcher and evaluator.
10.1. As a Teacher
ESP focuses on helping students to learning; therefore, the practitioner is not the primary
knower of the content of material. On the other hand, students know more than the teacher.
Accordingly, the practitioner has to organize the class, negotiate with the students to exploit the
students’ knowledge and skills and their work experience to achieve the objectives more
effectively. Since the relationship between teachers and students is more of partnership,
traditional IRF (Initiation- Response- Feedback) will not work. In contrast, it is learners who ask
and the teachers who answer learners’ questions. ESP practitioners have to be flexible to
accommodate what comes up during the lesson. Furthermore, they have to be prompt to respond
to the events. Apart from these, they need to take risks in their teaching which is one of the key
points in succeeding as ESP practitioners.
10.2. As a Course Designer and Material Provider

ESP practitioners often have to plan their course that they teach and provide material.
Generally, they need to choose suitable published materials if there are, adapt materials or even
write if there are no materials available.
10.3. As a Collaborator
ESP teachers have to work with subject specialists because ESP often involves using specific
subject content material. This can be either a simple cooperation like discussing syllabus or tasks
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in the academic context, or specific like integrating specialist subject studies or activities and the
language. For example, the teacher uses a chapter on surgery as a reading part of English for
medical profession. Here the subject teacher acts as the content provider, whereas language
teacher prepares learners for the subject lecture, conference or seminar. In another situation, both
content teacher and language teacher can team teach ESP class. To demonstrate, a language
teacher and business trainer work together to teach both the skills and the language related to
business communication, or a subject teacher and language teacher work together to help
students to prepare a project or a thesis.
10.4. As a researcher and a Evaluator
ESP teacher needs to be in touch with research to incorporate new things that ongoing
research brings because they are doing need analysis, designing a course or writing materials.
Furthermore, they need to do research in order to explore the discourse of the text that the
students really need to use. ESP practitioners use various types of evaluation techniques. They
evaluate students’ performance, the course and teaching material. They do evaluation while the
course, at the end of the course and even after the course.
ESP teachers are not specialists in learners’ specific content material, but they are expert in
language teaching. Their main aim is to help students who have better knowledge and skills
about their subject and profession and skills than their teachers. ESP teachers enable learners
acquire essential skills in their academic studies and profession. Therefore, they need to shift
from one subject to another and use authentic, updated and relevant material from learners’
specialized subjects.
11. Conclusion
All four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are usually stressed equally
in an ESL/EFL classroom, while in ESP it is learners’ needs that decides which language skills
are focused, and the course is designed accordingly. ESP students are usually intermediate or
advanced adults who already have some acquaintance with English and are learning the language
in order to communicate in a particular academic or professional context. Practically, ESP
combines subject matter and English language teaching together. Above all the origins of ESP
lie in satisfying learners' needs. Therefore, evaluation of the course helps to assess how far the
identified needs have been satisfied. There is no dominating movement in ESP now; however,
there are different approaches, materials and methods used in ESP. To conclude, ESP always
goes with ESL/EFL teaching, but whatever the current trend is it is the responsibility of ESP
practitioners to be sensitive to learners’ needs and their learning contexts.
About the Author:

Muhammed Ali Chalikandy is a lecturer at English Department, Al Buraimi University College,
Burami, Sultanate of Oman. He has master degrees in Linguistics and English. He holds PGCTE and
CELTA. Currently I am working on my doctoral degree.
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AWEJ
Pp.323-338
Code Mixing in the KSA: A Case Study of Expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian ESL
Teachers
Most. Tasnim Begum

King Khalid University, Abha, KSA
Md. Mahmudul Haque

King Khalid University, Abha, KSA
Abstract
This study investigated English-Arabic code mixing as a socio-professional phenomenon among
the expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers at the
tertiary level of education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A socio-linguistic perspective
was drawn to determine functional aspects of code mixing usage between the expatriate teachers
and the native Arabian speakers. The study also examined the teachers' attitude towards the
effect of code mixing in their socio-professional life. A triangulation method was adopted for the
investigation: questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and observation. The findings of this
study recognized the hypothesis that code mixing serves as a highly functional linguistic tool in
the socio-professional life of the expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian ESL teachers in the KSA. It
also identified code mixing as a common speech pattern in the communicative dynamics of these
teachers’ campus discourse through an analysis of domain exposure to code mixing. The study
unfolded a significant socio-linguistic and socio-professional aspect of campus communication:
how code mixing is intertwined with that of the professional and social needs of expatriate
teachers in monolingual situations as in the KSA. This study clicked on the current linguistic
situation in the KSA education and thus showed how far the English only educational language
policy is effective in its implementation phase in higher education. The researchers believe that
the teachers' attitude would provide supplementary data for the language policy makers and
educators in the Kingdom to consider this phenomenon into deciding pragmatic institutional
language policy in higher education.
Keywords: Code Mixing (CM), Socio-linguistics, Language and Education in the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia (KSA), English as a Second Language (ESL) in the KSA.
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Code Mixing in the KSA: A Case Study of Expatriate Begum & Haque
Introduction
The study of code mixing in educational backgrounds exposes assorted social,
psychological, and linguistic attributes. Investigations on code mixing in academic domain have
been carried on in many of the bilingual and multilingual settings like India (Kanthimathi ,
2009), Pakistan (Abbas, Aslam, and Rana (2011), Hong Kong (Chen, 2005), Malaysia (Jdetawy,
2011), China (Leung, 2010),etc. However, the English-Arabic code mixing in the verbal
repertoire of the expatriate Indian and Bangladeshi teachers in the context of Saudi Arabia is yet
to be traversed. English-Arabic code mixing is prevailing in the verbal repertoire of the Indians
and Bangladeshis, who form the bulk of expatriate population in the kingdom. This study
focused on these teachers' motivation and perception to English-Arabic code mixing usage in
their socio-professional communication. A sociolinguistic perspective into this code mixing
manifestation is significant in understanding the language contact phenomena in the campus
setting and into getting the mindset of the code mixers.
The researchers hypothesized that code mixing serves as a highly functional linguistic tool in
the socio-professional domain of the expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian ESL teachers in the
KSA. Additionally, frequency and use of this sort of mixing is deeply associated with the
perception and attitude of the teachers. To get the insight into this language contact phenomena,
the best way is to investigate the functional and attitudinal aspect of these instances.
The Linguistic Background of the KSA: An Overview

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a virtually monolingual country where Arabic, the
L1, is the medium of all sorts of spoken and written communication. This predominant Arabic
monolingualism is also deeply associated with the native Arabian’s religious and cultural
identity. The native speakers of Arabic take pride in their language as it is the language of the
Holy Quran and the language of the last Prophet(sm). Arabic is the national-official language
that is used as a medium of communication, education, government, and law and mass media
(Khan, 2011). However, being one of the Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC), the country is
placing increasing importance on English and English Language Teaching (ELT) recognizing the
role of English in achieving excellence in science and technology, white-collar jobs, higher
education and international communication. Multibillion dollars are being invested in ELT to
produce highly competent English speakers (Al -Issa, 2011). Students must attain a level of
proficiency in English in order to be able to pursue their studies. Foreign language classes in
KSA commence at the fourth grade and English is one of the subjects taught in nearly all
government-sponsored and private elementary education (Alsamaani, 2012; Rahman, 2011).
This emphasis is picturesquely perceived in the higher education sector. Students from all
disciplines in higher education now have to undertake basic courses on developing English
language skills. The universities are also running bachelor and master's program in English
language and literature. Since 1980, the English departments of Saudi universities have been
assigned the task to train Saudi English teachers. As an ongoing part of flourishing the ELT field,
the education ministry is also hiring competent English teachers from countries like India and
Bangladesh ( Javid, Farooq, and Gulzar, 2012; Al-Zubeiry, 2012). Despite the obvious emphasis,
English finds a very limited use and has a very restricted purpose in the everyday lives of the
Arabians since Saudis speak their native language at home and during their interaction with their
friends, peers, and classmates. Consequently, the South Asian expatriate Indian and Bangladeshi
teachers find a 'bleak chance' to communicate virtually in English in their socio-professional
communication with the native Arabian speakers (Ansari, 2012; Khan, 2011). Because of this
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stark Arabic monolongualism in the Kingdom, these expatriate teachers soon develop English-
Arabic bilingualism. Therefore, in their regular verbal repertoire, English-Arabic code mixing
instances frequently occur.
In this background, it is worth investigating how this code mixing phenomena is functioning
in the socio-professional life of these teachers. Hence, this present empirical study endeavours to
explore these teachers' perception and attitude to the code mixing instances in their socio-
professional life. The research approaches to address the following questions:
1. What are the reasons and functions of code mixing in the communicative dynamics of the
Bangladeshi and Indian teachers' campus discourse at tertiary level of education in the
KSA?
2. What perceptions and perspectives do the expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian teachers
have towards the effect of code mixing in their socio-professional life in the campus
setting?
Literature Review
Code and Code Mixing (CM):

Code is a neutral term that implicates languages, dialects, language varieties, styles and
mixed languages. Myers-Scotton (2006), Romaine (1995), and Rahman and Hossain (2012)
echoed almost the identical proposition when delineating code. To Romaine (1995), the idea of
code is confined not only to different languages but also to varieties of languages and styles.
Myers-Scotton (2006), used code as a cover term for separate languages, dialects and styles.
Rahman and Hossain (2012) added certain types of mixed languages to the range of code.
In steady bilingual and multilingual communities, code mixing replicates a consistently
systematic pattern of speech in the verbal repertoire of the bilinguals and multilinguals who
'make use of both the languages with the same interlocutors, in the same domains and within the
same conversational topic' (Poplack and Meechan, 1998, p. 128). Muysken (2000) propounded
that code mixing designates “all cases where lexical items and grammatical features of two
languages appear in one sentence." (p. 1). In other words, code mixing is that manifestation of
bilingual interaction where the lexical and grammatical properties of one language are
incorporated into the 'utterances' of another language (Appel and Muysken, 2005, p. 117).
Poplack and Meechan (1998) defined code mixing as 'any use of two or more languages in the
same discourse' (p. 127).
Types of code mixing:

Classifying code mixing occurrences poses the greatest controversy in the analysis of
language contact phenomena. Linguists and researchers overlap and expose disagreement as
regards code switching and code mixing. Principally, two types of switches have been proposed
by linguists and researchers: intra-sentential and inter-sentential. Intra-sentential type of mixing
occurs within a sentence and within clausal boundaries, whereas inter-sentential type of mixing
occurs in between sentences.
Some linguists preferred the term code mixing only for intra-sentential and intra-clausal
switches and claimed code switching to be a cover term for all types of switches, Poplack (1993),
Grosjen (1996), Myers-Scotton (2006), while some others used code mixing as a cover term for
any type of language contact phenomena, Muysken (2000). Some others, for example, Clyne

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(2011) used the term 'transference' as covering mixing at all linguistic level: phonological,
morphological and syntactic.
To Muysken (2000) code mixing is a cover term for all types of switches: insertion,
alternation and congruent lexicalization. He characterized insertion as the process of
incorporating lexical items of one language into the structure of another language. By
alternation, he meant the juxtaposition of grammatical structures of two languages. Congruent
lexicalization is related to the style shifting of languages. He claimed that code mixing is a
more appropriate cover term for all types of switches since code switching is suitable for only
alternational type of mixing. Unlike Muysken (2000), Poplack (1993) used code switching as the
cover term for both intra-sentential and inter-sentential mixing of two languages when she
indicated code switching to include switches at all level of linguistic structures, "Code-switching
may occur at various levels of linguistic structure (e.g. sentential, intra sentential, tag) and it may
be flagged or smooth" (p. 255). In Grosjen's (1996) definition, the cover term is code switching
that involves switching in 'word, phrase and sentence level'.
Muyers-Scotton (2006) involved both inter-sentential and intra-sentential switches as
instances of code switching. She explicated inter-sentential switching as containing complete
sentences in the clause boundaries'. She preferred the term Intra-clause switching rather than
intra -sentential switching for the reason that intra-clause switching involves switching within
one clause rather than switching between two clauses.
The present study is based on Muysken's (2000) definition and classification of code
mixing.
Functions of code mixing

Code mixing is no longer seen as the manifest of bilinguals' want of language proficiency
rather it is empirically and ethnographically proved that with "great fluidity and ease' code
mixing occurrence takes place in specific points and carries characteristically social,
psychological and linguistic properties (Muysken,2000; Appeal and Muysken, 2005).
Perspectives drawn from sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and structural analysis of code mixing
instances unfolded that code mixing is a systematic process of bilingual interaction and it denotes
particular social and cultural meaning in specific settings.
Michael Clyne (2011) denoted that bilingual speakers 'cluster' languages together for
reasons as such, 'religious and dietary ones and chain migration'. Grosjen (2013) clustered the
general reasons behind every type of switching as: using the right word or expression, filling a
linguistic need, marking group identity, excluding or including someone, raising status etc.
Myers -Scotton (2006) depicted that in the business world, code mixers intend to expose their
multi-dimensional persona, solidarity with customers, to assert their modernity and power
dimension through mixing the codes.
Leung (2010) found that mixing English with Cantonese and Chinese is the norm in Hong
Kong advertising industry. Commercial print advertising draws on visual and linguistic resources
to attract consumers to 'achieve positive country-of-origin effects'.
Baynham (1985) noted that bilingual usage of languages functions as a communicative resource
in the ESL teaching in UK and mother tongue is considered as an useful tool to classroom
teaching and learning. Creese and Blackledge (2010) has argued that flexible blend of languages
is as an instructional strategy to make links for classroom participants between the social,
cultural, community, and linguistic domains of their lives. Pedagogy in these schools appears to

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emphasize the overlapping of languages in the student and teacher rather than enforcing the
separation of languages for learning and teaching.
In the sociolinguistic milieu of Bangladesh, Alam (2006) explored that Bangla-English
code mixing characterized the socio-professional identity of the white collar professionals. Both
intra-sentential and inter-sentential code mixing take place in their conversation for the following
reasons: spontaneity, to draw the attention of others, to showoff, to impress for professional
purpose, to impress the opposite sex, to alienate a particular group or to take the advantage of
knowing a separate language, lack of translation equivalent, and euphemism. She identified the
following arena of code mixing: social party, official party, club, every situation, out in shopping
mall, writing Short Message System (SMS), family party and chatting. She conveyed a
'complicated attitude of the people towards code mixing'. Even though, they accept language
alternation only in official environments, they apprehended that code mixing will 'eclipse
Bangla, which is an essential part of Bangla culture' (p. 65).
Investigation in educational domain showed forth distinct functional and attitudinal dimension of
code mixers.
Kanthimathi's (2009) study exposed that Code mixing of the mother tongue and English is
a common speech behavior used by bilingual people in India. Code mixing in the form of lexical
insertions is frequently found in the discourse of Tamil-English bilinguals. Less fluent bilinguals
resort to mixing of nouns, verbs, or use the English words with Tamil inflections. Mixing is
leading to a new hybrid language system. This study showed that the mixed code, called
Tanglish (Tamil-English mix), is becoming popular among the youngsters.
Research Problem
Despite the English only institutional language policy at tertiary level of education in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian ESL teachers are engaged in
English-Arabic code mixing uses in their campus discourse. Whereas there is no formal
instruction for bilingual use of Arabic and English in campus discourse, the teachers are found to
do regular code mixing in their campus. This is worth investigating so as to apprehend why the
ESL teachers are employing this language behavior and what attitudes they nurture towards code
mixing in campus communication. Therefore, the researchers aimed at giving a sociolinguistic
perspective into the socio-psychological orientation of the teachers behind their code mixing
usage in campus discourse.
Hypothesis
Code mixing serves as a highly functional linguistic tool in the socio-professional life of
the expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian ESL teachers in KSA.
Objectives of the study

This study primarily aimed at investigating English-Arabic code mixing phenomena at
tertiary level of education in the KSA. It attempted to test the hypothesis which claimed that
code mixing serves as highly functional linguistic tool in the socio-professional life of the
expatriate Bangladeshi and Indian ESL teachers in the KSA. It also endeavored to explore these
teachers' attitudes towards the effect of code mixing in their socio-professional life. Therefore,
the objectives of this study are:
x To identify the domains of code mixing occurring as a regular speech pattern of

conversation
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x To find out the reasons and functions of code mixing in the educational setting
x To investigate the effect and significance of code mixing into the socio-professional life
of the Indian and Bangladeshi ESL teachers
x To examine Indian and Bangladeshi teachers’ attitude towards code mixing in campus
setting
Significance
Investigation of this sort bears significance on both theoretical and practical level. At
theoretical level, the study seeks to fill the gap on the sociolinguistic aspect of code mixing in
educational context. It will also render pedagogic implications in the field of ELT by adding its
significance and effects in teaching and learning environment. On the practical level, this study
sheds light on the existing contradiction between the formal language instruction and the actual
language use in educational context. This is expected to provide vital data for the Ministry of
Higher Education, and language policy makers in the Kingdom to address the issue of bilingual
campus discourse in the language policy.
Method
Participants
The study centered on a pool of 30 Indian and Bangladeshi ESL teachers at King Khalid
University (KKU) situated in the Asir province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The ESL
teachers were prudently chosen on account of their unswerving involvement in code mixing
phenomena in the campus context. Among the participants, 10 were Indian teachers and 20 were
Bangladeshi teachers. The mean age of the teachers is 28-40. Bangla is the mother tongue of all
the Bangladeshi teachers; the Indian teachers have different mother tongues: Hindi, Urdu,
Kashmiri, Asami. The mean year of their teaching in the Kingdom is 1-10 years. English is a
second language to all these teachers. The study covered the university campuses situated in the
following places: Abha, Boulquarn, Dahran, Mahayl, Khamis, Ahad Rufaida, and Al Namas.
Procedure
In this study, the researchers adopted a triangulation method to safeguard validity and
reliability of the collected data. Data emerged from three primary sources: questionnaire survey,
online interviews, and participant observation. Permission to conduct data collection in the
campus was sought from the Dean of the researchers’ respective campuses.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was divided into 3 parts- Section A, B and C. Section A sought
demographic information of the participant teachers. Section B was designed to identify the
domain usage of code mixing. Section C contained 15 statements to test the teachers' attitude
towards the effect of code mixing in their socio-professional life. To measure their attitude, they
were given five-Point Likert-scale options of choice- Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree,
and Strongly Disagree. The questionnaire was circulated online among 30 teachers; instruction
to fill the questionnaire was illustrated in the email letter. The participants filled the
questionnaire anonymously and emailed back to the researchers.
Semi-structured Interview

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Interviews with 10 teachers were conducted online over Skype application on prior
appointment to generate more personalized, in-depth information and free responses on the code
mixing issue (Seligar & Shohamy, 2003). These teachers were given pseudonyms to sustain
anonymity and confidentiality. The pseudonyms are: Sami Salman, Minal Mansoor, Tanya
Hasin, Abeer Ali, Ryan Khan, Rana Islam, Saad Sharifullah, Fatma Zubaida, Nashid Ahmed,
Plabon Barua.
Observation
The researchers carried on a month long ethnographic participant observation data
collection procedure in our respective campus during the second semester session of the year
2013. Being participant observant, they got ample space to collect audio-taped samples in
naturalistic socio-linguistic context (Punch, 2005). Although the 30 teachers were the unit of
analysis three teachers were chosen for observation in the researchers’ campuses.
Results and Discussions

Domain Analysis: Code Mixing Exposure
To recognize code mixing as a regular speech pattern among the teachers, this part of the
questionnaire presented a total of ten campus situations: department colleagues, colleagues of
other departments, students, administrative staffs, authority, canteen, classroom, library,
computer lab, guards and caretakers.
Figure 1: Domain analysis of code mixing exposure
The dominant domains of code mixing occurrences are indicated by positive response:
colleagues of other departments (17), students (25), administrative staffs (20), in the classroom
(25), and in the library (18). By contrast, lowest usage of code mixing is indicated by negative
response; department colleagues (20), guards and caretakers (26), authority (20), and in the
computer lab (20). Conversation with students and classroom teaching are the highest scoring
domains of code mixing; this is indicative of the real need of teachers to mix codes to
communicate with students for pedagogic issues. Administrative staffs and library

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are the second highest scoring domains. This finding indicates that the teachers mostly use code
mixing to accomplish their pedagogic and professional purposes.
Attitude towards code mixing

The questionnaire data is analyzed under four principal themes: code mixing and language
proficiency, language pedagogy, acculturation, and professional growth. Frequencies were
produced manually and fed into Excel spreadsheet for percentages. Detailed results are presented
using 2-D bar graphs in terms of percentages. The teachers expressed a highly positive attitude
towards code mixing in relation to its functional role in their socio-professional life.
Figure 2. Code mixing and language proficiency
1. Mixing of English and Arabic lessens my English language proficiency

2. Mixing of English and Arabic should not be practiced since it distracts the language
structure of both the languages
3. Mixing reveals lack of English language proficiency of the teachers.
In Figure 2, the highest score for item 1 appear to be in the positive (64% agreed) while
highest scores in item 2 and 3 appear to be in the negative, 53% and 67% disagreed. This
finding clearly indicates that the teachers perceived code mixing to have a negative impact upon
their English language proficiency; yet interestingly they did not encourage a complete stopover
of code mixing in the campus communication
Figure 3.Code mixing and language pedagogy

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4. Mixing of Arabic and English makes me a better teacher in the classroom.

5. Mixing of Arabic with English solves communication gap with the Arabic students
6. Mixing helps to clarify complex lesson content in classroom teaching.
7. Code mixing in classroom context increases student's level of motivation.
8. Code mixing lessens students learning anxiety since they understand the teacher
more through code mixing.
Figure 3 presents the teachers' highly positive attitude towards the functional role of code
mixing in language pedagogy. The teachers agreed upon all the statements in higher percentage:
53%, in item 4, 80% in item 5, 60% in item 6, 77% in item 7, and 77% in item 8. This denotes
that code mixing functions as a helping tool in teaching the Arabic students and in effect it
acquires positive attitude of the expatriate teachers.
Figure 4. Code mixing and acculturation
9. Mixing adds fun, humour into the conversation with Arabic students and colleagues
and office staffs.
10. Mixing of Arabic words brings comfort and happiness of students, office staffs, and
colleagues who have little proficiency in English
11. Mixing is an effective way to acquire Arabic language.
12. Mixing helps to get exposed to the Arabic culture.
Figure 4 shows that participants agreed with the statements in higher percentage: 47% in
item 9, 87% in item 10, 56% in item 11 and 46% in item 12. This again recognizes the social
and cultural application of code mixing in the social life of the teachers. The teachers have
perceived it to be a need for acculturation with the Arabic speakers in the campus.

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Figure 5. Code mixing, professional growth and survival
13. Code mixing helps me to solve spoken and written official tasks.
14. Mixing provides me with better understanding with the college
staffs and authority and helps me grow professionally
15. Without mixing Arabic into English, my survival is challenged due to the
linguistic constraints with the native staffs in the campus
In Figure 5, the participant teachers recognized the role of code mixing for their
professional activities and growth, 50% in item 13 and 60% in item 14 agreed. However, they
have neutral standpoint regarding the role of code mixing in their professional survival, 67%
expressed neutrality in item 15. This indicates the teachers’ state of doubt on how far code
mixing is progressive for their professional survival.
In brief, these findings indicated that code mixing in a greater way functions as a
facilitative tool in the socio-professional life of the Indian and Bangladeshi teachers. They
perceived it to be highly facilitative in classroom communication and acculturation. They found
it to help them deal with their professional tasks. Hence, they discouraged a complete
discontinuation of code mixing in campus communication.
Interview Findings
Reasons of code mixing

1.1 To ease communication with the native Arabian speakers: A commonly-perceived
reason of code mixing in the campus discourse is to expedite communication with the Arabic
speakers. They identified that except a few, most of the Arabic interlocutors cannot communicate
in English and a potential communication gap inevitably emerges while they speak to them. To
fill this gap, mixing is inescapable. This has been reflected in the following expressions:
It's mainly due to communication gap . . . Mixing the two languages facilitates the
communication. This process helps the native Arabians understand me better. (
Nashid Ahmed, Khamis)

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Except the teachers of English department and a very few from departments like
Computer Science, Chemistry and Mathematics, nobody in the campus
understands English. So, in order to communicate with other staffs and co-
workers, mixing is inevitable. (Fatma Zubaida, Mahayl)
1.2 To define the key terms in conversation: Most of the teachers exemplified that
mixing some Arabic words into their conversation aids clarification of their message to the
interlocutors. They recognized that mixing in defining key terms has solved some of their
professional problems in the campus:
I had some terrible experiences in the first few days in my campus. For example,
regarding my first plane ticket from Bangladesh to KSA, I had to struggle several
times to make the man in the administration understand that I was not getting my
ticket refund. So, I talked to my colleagues about it and learnt the Arabic words
for the words like Plane, Ticket, and Money and then again when I talked to him,
he understood and the problem was solved. (Plabon Barua, Bisha)
1.3 To exploit the pedagogic benefits of mother tongue in classroom: All the teachers
denoted how code mixing is useful in the context of classroom communication with the Arabic
students. One teacher explicated how code mixing increases the students' level of motivation and
comprehension:
. . . I observe that when I continuously use English, students look blank, and some
of them go bored and feel sleepy because they understand nothing. So I mix some
Arabic words to make them active and get their attention. (Rana Islam,
Bisha)
1.4 To meet students' expectations: One teacher reported that code mixing is inspired by
the expectations of the students and their guardians:
The guardians and the students expect code mixing from me. In the class I have
varieties of students and they are of different linguistic levels. So at the end of
the class, I do mix codes. (Sami Salman, Khamis)
1.5 Students' linguistic level: Another reason outlined by the teachers is that the beginner
students do not meet the required level of language proficiency to understand the lecture fully in
English. In some cases, there are mixed-ability students in a single classroom. This requires code
mixing uses on part of the teachers to accommodate students' linguistic level.
2. Code mixing as a necessity

A common view among the teachers is that code mixing is a necessity in the campus
setting. They pointed to the pedagogic and social benefits of code mixing in the campus. They
exemplified how over the year’s code mixing has helped them manage the students and the
Arabic staffs. Some of the comments are as follows:
It’s a necessity for our survival in the campus setting. I always have the fear that
may be the students will complain that they didn’t understand anything in my
lecture. Since it is a monolingual setting, I have to mix code; otherwise the
communication is meaningless.(Minal Mansoor, Dahran)
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I believe that code-mixing is a linguistic compromise in the campus. It may also

regard as a middle-way to make people/students able to understand the
text/discourse. (Saad Sharifullah, Abha)
3. Code mixing and English language proficiency

The teachers expressed a mixed reaction concerning code mixing effect on their linguistic
repertoire. 6 of them felt it to have no negative influence on their English language proficiency
and they considered it as a resourceful practice to achieve skills in another language, while 4 of
them felt to lose their English language proficiency gradually. Some of the comments are as
follows:
It lessens my proficiency since I go very slow and mix Arabic words. (Fatma
Zubaida, Mahayl)
It's degrading our linguistic status as English language teachers. (Abeer Ali,Ahad
Rufaida)
It doesn’t have any negative influence on my own language; rather I am learning
one more language too. (Rana Islam, Bisha)
4. Students Motivation and Learning Anxiety

All the teachers opined that code mixing has a great facilitative influence in flourishing
students motivation and lessening learning anxiety.
I do mixing deliberately in introducing the topic. I make sure they get to know
what they are going to learn. This helps me take them into the text. I must say this
does motivate them. (Tanya Hasin, Dahran)
Their anxiety is reduced because it's kind of fun, because whenever I code mix
and make some mistakes in Arabic pronunciation they laugh and they want to
teach me Arabic. So this way it's fun. (Sami Salman, Khamis)
5. Institutional Language policy versus code mixing

The teachers expressed mixed reactions concerning the relevance of code mixing and the
implementation of the institutional language policy. Three of them perceived the policy to be less
pragmatic in its implementation phase and advocated code mixing uses in campus discourse.
Their comments are as follows:
Theoretically, mixing can be discouraged, but the reality does not allow us to do
so, because most students have very little knowledge about English. Even, some
of them don’t know the meaning of read and write. In this context, code mixing is
very important. (Rana Islam, Bisha)
I think there is a gap between the policy and the practical situation. We cannot
blame the teachers because at least the teachers are honest enough to teach the
students something through code mixing. So the policy should reconsider all
these issues. (Minal Mansoor, Dahran)
Seven of them spoke in favor of the policy and forwarded their suggestions to educators
and language policy makers. However, they did not discourage mixing Arabic words until the
interlocutors reach a certain level of linguistic competence in English.
In case of higher education, the policy is absolutely ok. If we use only English,
there will be no problem, and in the course of time, it will be their habit to
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understand everything in English. So, my suggestion is that, in higher education

the teachers should use only English. (Abeer Ali, Ahad Rufaida)
My suggestion is something quite different. I would suggest to improve the
primary and secondary the standard of English in primary and secondary level
of education. Trimming the trees will not do much rather attention should go on
what is happening in the root level. (Ryan Khan, Khamis)
English is a very widely accepted policy. I believe it to be a very effective. But
use of learner's mother tongue cannot be banished completely until the learners
reach a certain level of proficiency in target language. (Sami Salman, Khamis)
Observation Findings
Patterns of code mixing

1. Intra-sentential code mixing:
The teachers were observed to do intra-clausal mixing through the process of insertion i. e.
where mixing occurs in word level within clausal boundaries (Myesken, 2000). The following is
one selected manifestation:
Ia Gaeta, come here… I want Shaei with Halib. And fi chips? Give me itnan chips, Ok.
(Hello, Gaeta, come here… I want tea with milk. And do you have chips? Give me two
chips, ok).
(Utterances in the college canteen in conversation with the Arabic canteen girl)
2. Inter-sentential code mixing

The teachers also employed inter-sentential code mixing. The mixing in this case occurs at
sentence level.
Ostada Fatma, ana bukra fi ikhtebar. But no rooms for two sections at 11 O' clock.
Please see if any room is free at 11O'cloc, Ana abga itnan kaa.
(Teacher Fatma, I have exam tomorrow. I want two rooms for two sections. Please see
if any room is free at 11 O'clock.)
(In the control room with the Arabic Examination controller)
Functions of Code Mixing
Following are two adapted recorded transcripts to analyze the social meaning of code
mixing:
Recorded Sample 1
1 T: Kullu, talibat ismaee. Today I will discuss 'Adverbial Clause'. Hada very
2 important for exam, ok. There are four types of adverbial clause: Adverbial clause of time
3 tani Adverbial clause of purpose baden Adverbial clause of reason, Adverbial clause of
4 contrast. Understood? Talibat talk to me. Kam adverbial clause?Heyfa, Tell me awwal.
5 S: Adverbial clause of time, adverbial clause of purpose, adverbial clause of reason and
purpose.
6 T: Now, see, Adverbial clause of time kalam time. when, before, till are used for this7 clause.
Maslen, :" I met him when he came to my college."Hina WHERE mouzud, so hada
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adverbial clause of time. Hada Adverbial clause of time because hadakalamtime.

9 RanaMisfer, read hada example
10 S: "I met him when he came to my college."
11 T: Ok. So hada khalas.
(T refers to the teacher and S the students.)
This is an excerpt of code mixing phenomena in pedagogic context. The teacher, an Indian
ESL teacher in the campus, is found to be a frequent code mixer. He is mixing Arabic in his
grammar class to clarify the grammatical items clearly(Lines: 6, 7, 8, ). Additionally, he is
strategically doing the mixing to accomplish a number of classroom tasks: asking questions
(Line:4), giving order ( Line: 9) seeking students' attention (Line: 1, 4).
The following is another adapted sample between an Indian ESL teacher and an Egyptian
Arabic Physics teacher. The Indian teacher mixes code to explain her problem, to make question
and to inquire about certain official information.
Recorded Sample 2
T1: Dr. Ashjan. Can you tell me what I have to do now for resignation?
T2: Inti write letter to jamiah?
T1: yes, yes, letter, khalas.Now, alan esh kalam to do?
T2: Now. We wait. After one month, jamiah send form, o baden kalam ruh Abha.
T1: Ah! Ruh Abha, Lazem?
T2: Aiuah, lazem. After kullu finish baden ruh Abha. Jamiah tell you when go to Abha, ok.
(T1 indicates the ESL teacher and T2 the physics teacher.)
Limitations
The researchers have some limitations concerning this research. All the ESL teachers of the
concerned university could not be included due to the problem of access with the teachers of
different campus in different regions of the Kingdom. Only code mixing occurrences among the
Indian and Bangladeshi teachers have been investigated, whereas it is also found among
teachers of other nationalities for example: Egyptians, Sudanese, and Romanians. However, this
leaves space for further research into this language contact phenomena.
Conclusion
This study designated how code mixing can serve a functional and facilitative role in the
communicative dynamics of educational context in monolingual countries like Saudi Arabia. The
participant teachers’ highly positive attitude recognized the functional role of English-Arabic
code mixing in their socio-professional life. Thus, the study exposed a significant socio-linguistic
issue concerning the socio-professional life of the Bangladeshi and Indian ESL teachers in KSA.
The teachers have regular exposure to code mixing uses in different context in their campus
conversation. They purported some pragmatic reasons behind their code mixing application in
campus exchange. Being expatriates they found English-Arabic code mixing to be highly
facilitative for acculturation, language pedagogy and professional growth. As non-Arabic
expatriates, they observed mixing of Arabic as a helping tool for communication with the native
Arabic speakers who have little proficiency in English. This led to the conclusion that code
mixing is a need-based bilingual behavior for the expatriate non-Arabic professionals in KSA.
This further recognized the role of code mixing in education as part of bilingual education.
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The study also left some significant implication towards the language policy for education
set by the Ministry of Higher Education in KSA. The suggestions and observation forwarded by
the participant teachers not only concern the linguistic situation of tertiary level of education but
also include the primary and secondary level of education in the Kingdom. For a smooth
implementation of the English only language policy in higher education, the ministry needs to
consider the present bilingual situation. This necessitates further investigation, especially into the
relevance of language policy and code mixing issue while deciding the medium of campus
conversation in higher education. Hence, the researchers recommended further investigation into
this bilingual phenomenon so as to find out some more distinct aspect of code mixing in
education setting. This sort of investigation will help build a mutually cohesive professional
environment for the educators in the Kingdom.
About the Authors

Most. Tasnim Begum is lecturer in English at King Khalid University in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. She achieved MA in English Language Teaching (ELT) from the Institute of Modern
Languages (IML), University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her research interest includes: Socio-
linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Educational Psychology, E-learning, Computer
Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Language Testing and Evaluation.
Md. Mahmudul Haque earned MA in English Language and Literature from Rajshahi
University while specialized in English Language Teaching (ELT). Currently, he is lecturer in
English at King Khalid University, KSA. His research interests include Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT), Teaching Foreign Language and Cultures, the use of technology for
language instruction and E-Learning and EFL teaching.
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AWEJ
Pp.339-353
The Reproduction of Racialization and Racial Discrimination in Classrooms and its Impact
on ELLs' Social Interactions and L2 Development
Ayesha Mohammed Mudhaffer

English Language Institute
King Abdulaziz University
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
The consequences of racialization and racial discrimination against English Language Learners
(ELLs) in many schools and classrooms are reflected in their degree of socialization in the
academic community which ultimately affects their English language development. Since second
language acquisition is a social rather than an individual process, ELLs may not find the support
they need for essential progress (in the second language they are learning) in their classrooms
due to the limited opportunities for social engagement. Inferiorizing newcomer ELLs and
discriminating them due to their difference of skills, orientations, and actions will also affect
ELLs' degree and forms of participation in the practices of the classroom community. Ignoring
such an issue can result in the reproduction of the marginalized social status of newcomer ELLs
and the reproduction of the dominating and accepted forms of cultural capital. In the light of
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory that supports the social development of language learning, the
different forms of discrimination which students are subject to can have a negative impact on
learners' social and language development. Racialization decreases opportunities for healthy
socialization and thus limits students' development in their L2 and access to the classroom
practices.
Keywords: English Language Learners, marginalization, racial discrimination, racialization

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The Reproduction of Racialization and Racial Discrimination Mudhaffer
Introduction
Many second language (L2) studies have focused on the role of students' motivations,
investment, attitudes, orientations, and skills in enhancing or limiting social interactions and
language development (Gillette, 1994; Norton, 2000). Other studies examined the role of
teachers' scaffolding, feedback, and teaching strategies on L2 learners' social and academic
success in second language learning (Sullivan, 2000; Linn, 1999). While both students and
teachers are the primary members of the classroom who impact learners' social interactions and
L2 learning, the classroom environment (the social context) in which the learning occurs is also
an important component which influences the success of social interactions and language
learning for English language learners (ELL). In this sense, schools are considered by families,
educators, and researchers as important sites for promoting the acquisition of knowledge,
language, and building social relationships. They are considered 'safe spaces' for new encounters,
interactions and learning opportunities. However, schools (and the classroom environment) can
not only facilitate, but can sometimes hinder language development and social engagement. In
fact, Duff's (2002) study shows that "large numbers of minority students in schools worldwide
are at considerable risk of alienation, isolation, and failure" (p. 316). ELLs who study in foreign
countries and who come from diverse backgrounds and races with orientations and skills
incompatible with those of native speakers' (NS) and institutions are often subject to different
forms of marginalization that impacts their social interactions and language development, and
one of the most profound constraints is the racial discrimination existing in schools worldwide.
The question is: Why are schools reproducing the same oppressive conditions that marginalize
newcomers? And what are the manifestations of racialization and racial discrimination done by
teachers and students against ELLs? How can we, as teachers, not reinforce such racialization
and racial discrimination in schools in order to provide a healthier learning environment for
ELLs?
In this paper, I argue that while educational institutions are considered 'the safe
environments' for ELLs to develop socially and linguistically, they can be the very sites that
hinder social engagement and limit language development through the reproduction of various
manifestations of racialization and racial discrimination by teachers and peers. As theoretical
frameworks of this paper, I will begin by reviewing Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of cognitive
development and its relation to language development to show that learning occurs in and
through social interactions in schools and classrooms, and that social engagement plays a
significant role in successful language development (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994; Johnson, 2004;
Storch, 2002). Bourdieu's concept of social reproduction will also be part of the theoretical
framework because it helps explain the continuance of racialization and racial discrimination of
ELLs in educational settings (Lin, 1999; Richardson, 1986; Tzanakis, 2011). I will then explore
the meanings of the notions of racialization and racial discrimination in order to lay the
foundation for this paper, and I will offer some examples of its manifestations against
newcomers (ELLs). I will conclude by discussing some possibilities of decreasing racialization
and racial discrimination, and what needs to be done by leaders and teachers to overcome such a
serious issue.
Theoretical frameworks
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
Throughout the field of second language acquisition, many theories have been developed
to explain how the process of learning English occurs. Some theories focused on the effect of
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learners' external environment on language learning and regarded learning as a "habit formation"
(Behaviorism, for example). Other theories focused on the innate ability of learners to acquire
language (Chomsky 1965, 1980, 1981in Johnson, 2004). Vygotsky, however, proposed a new
theory of second language learning: learning occurs in and through social interactions.
The basic and most fundamental premise of Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development
is that "development is social": Learning is constructed through the internalization of the
interactions that occurred between individuals of a society (Storch, 2002, p. 121). According to
Vygotsky (1978), social interactions have a deep impact on individuals' cognition and
understanding of the world (cited in Gnadinger, 2008). In fact, one of the fundamental tenets of
sociocultural theory is that "human mental activity is essentially a mediated process in which
socioculturally constructed artifacts, the most pervasive of which is language, play an essential
role in the mental life of the individual" (Aljaafreh and Lantolf, 1994, p. 467). In a classroom
context, learners can interact with their teachers or peers. The collaborative work between ELLs
and their teachers and peers in order to reach higher levels of consciousness of L2 or any subject
matter helps L2 learners internalize that knowledge and enables them to use that knowledge
individually in the future. Zinchenko (1985) refers to the process of internalization, or in other
words appropriation, as "the bridge between external and internal activity" and explains that
internalization is not simply appropriating the knowledge of others, rather it "transforms the
process itself and changes its structure and functions"(Cited in Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994, p. 4).
From the definitions and explanations provided previously, the essential role of social
interaction on learners' cognitive development and thus language learning is clear. In schools and
classrooms, ELLs interact with teachers (experts) and old-timer students (either old-timer ELLs
or old-timer native speakers NS) where old-timer students can also 'act as experts' in supporting
each other. I agree with Storch (2002) when he claims that this is not only helpful for newcomer
ELLs, but old-timer ELLs, as well because "the act of teaching or explaining to others may help
L2 learners construct a more coherent and clearer representation of their own L2 knowledge" (p.
122). This suggests the importance of collaborative work for ELLs among themselves and with
NS students. It shows that social interactions are essential for all learning and specifically
learning a second language. However, not all classrooms or schools have or can create a
harmonious learning environment for ELLs where they can successfully, socially engage and
develop language competence without being positioned for their different cultures, histories, and
languages. ELLs' unique cultural capital, which is different from the dominant and accepted
forms of cultural capital, can sometimes be used against them to position them and/or
discriminate them. When this kind of positioning and downgrading continues without attempting
to solve the problem, the inferior social status of ELLs in schools continues. Bourdieu's notion of
social reproduction will better explain the problem ELLs face in English speaking schools
worldwide.
Bourdieu and Social Reproduction

ELLs come from different educational backgrounds, cultures, and traditions. As they
move to different countries, they transmit with them their existing cultural values and norms
from generation to generation. This transmission, continuity, and sustainability of cultural
experiences across time are referred to by Bourdieu (1990) as Cultural Reproduction. As
children internalize certain practices, skills, and dispositions "endowed with by virtue of

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socialization in their families and communities" they are gaining and shaping their Cultural
Capital (Lin, 1999, p. 394). As Bourdieu further explains, cultural capital is "the forms of
knowledge, skills, education, and advantages that a person has, which give them a higher status
in society. Parents provide their children with cultural capital by transmitting the attitudes and
knowledge needed to succeed in the current educational system" (Richardson, 1986, p. 47).
Through the disparities of such cultural capital that some students have (students of
socioeconomic elite), and others do not, community stratification results. This aspect of society
(class) when transmitted through generations leads to Social Reproduction. Thus, cultural
reproduction leads to social reproduction because inequalities in cultural capital reflect
inequalities in social class, and thus community stratification (Tzanakis, 2011). How is this
related to schools and educational institutions?
Schools facilitate the reproduction of social inequalities through the various practices of
teachers and students who possess the dominant cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1998, cited in
Hattam, Brennan, Zipin and Comber, 2009). Students with the 'right' cultural capital that fits in
with the school curriculum and social and cultural norms are valued and praised depending on
how near they are to the 'standard' of school curriculum and norms, whereas students with
weaker, non-normative, or less desirable cultural capital tend to be labeled by teachers and
students as 'disadvantaged' and far from the standard. I argue that this categorization of students
results in community stratification and thus racial discrimination.
The educational system . . . maintains the preexisting order, that is, the gap between
pupils endowed with unequal amounts of cultural capital. More precisely, by a series of selection
operations, the system separates the holders of inherited cultural capital from those who lack it.
Differences in aptitude being inseparable from social differences according to inherited capital,
the system thus tends to maintain preexisting social differences. (Hattam, et al., 2009, p. 304).
When ELLs come with dispositions, skills, knowledge, and educational backgrounds that are
different from the school learning methods and contents, they are often labeled as disadvantaged.
Their unique forms of cultural capital are not "utilized to fit with the culturally arbitrary
selections that are valued by school" (Hattam et al., 2009, p. 304). Rather, schools try to help
them adapt to the dispositions and skills that the school considers 'right' for successful social
engagements, language learning, and thus a successful future. Inability to match the standard
cultural codes that are dominant in the schools' mainstream curriculum, pedagogy, and
assessment marks ELLs as 'failures', and through the reproduction of this acceptable, standard
cultural capital results the reproduction of the marginalized social statuses of ELLs.
The reproduction of the curriculum also causes social reproduction of marginalized students.
When the curriculum does not make connections with ELLs' "learning in their community
context, there becomes no intrinsic value to engage them in the educational experience" (Hattam
et al., 2009, p. 304). The problem is that although most policy and institutional structures,
curriculum designers, and teachers are aware of the lack of connection curriculum makes with
students' worlds, they sometimes fail to change or transform the school curriculum. The
curriculum continues to legitimize only certain forms of cultural capital and thus contributes to
the reproduction of inequalities.
Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital and social reproduction helps to explain the
continuity of racial discrimination of ELLs in schools worldwide. The injustice of treatment
caused by teachers and students against ELLs has an impact on the degree of social engagement

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ELLs have with native speakers or old-timer ELLs, and since social interactions is an essential
part of language learning (Vygotsky), this reproduction of racialization (intentionally or
intentionally) can be seen to hinder ELLs' language development in the classroom community. I
agree with Mills (2008) that "the injustices of allowing certain people to succeed, based not upon
merit but upon the cultural experiences, the social ties and the economic resources they have
access to, often remains unacknowledged in the broader society" (p. 84). The notions of
racialization and racial discrimination are examined in the following section.
The Notions of Racialization and Racial Discrimination

As mentioned previously, the classroom is an important site that can facilitate as well as
hinder social interactions and language development for ELLs. In Sharkey and Layzer's (2000)
study examining the factors that affect language learners' access to academic success and
resources, ELLs considered the ESL (English as a second language) room as "a safe haven, a
second home" (pp. 352, 353) where their various forms of cultural capital were valued and
respected. ELLs often came back to the ESL classroom even after they transitioned out of the
program just to be in a friendly environment (Sharkey and Layzer 2000). Many ELLs do not feel
this way in their mainstream classrooms due, sometimes, to the racialization they are subject to
by native speaker students (old-timers), teachers, and school officials. In such cases, schools are
considered places where learners are marginalized due to their different backgrounds and cultural
capitals. As Talmy (2010) claims,
Schools are key institutions where [people] “make each other racial”. . . not only are
[they] central places for forming racial “identities,” but they are key places where we
rank, sort, order, and differently equip our [students] along “racial” lines even as we
hope for schooling to be the great societal equalizer (p.39).
From the many scholars who explore these notions, Miles and Brown (2003) believe
"racialization can be defined simply as racial categorization, a dialectical process by which
meaning is attributed to particular biological features of human beings, as a result of which
individuals may be assigned to a general category of persons that reproduces itself biologically"
(cited in Kubota and Lin, 2006, p. 477). Markose and Hellstén (2009) believe that racialization
involves "processes, attitudes and behavior which amount to discrimination through unwitting
prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping" (p. 62). The two definitions show
that there are different forms of racialization. Miles and Brown believe it can be merely the
categorizing of people according to their biological features, and this categorization is
reproduced throughout the generations. On the other hand, Markose and Hellest'en believe that
racialization is based more on attitudes and actions that can lead to categorization of groups
according to difference and is associated with discrimination. What the two possible definitions
have in common is that racialization is a process by which certain groups are categorized either
due to their color and the way they look, or due to their different conducts and manners, or their
national and cultural backgrounds. It is based on individuals' histories, cultures, and orientations
(cultural capital) and is sometimes learned through the society. "Thus, [racialization] produces
[and reproduces] and legitimates difference among social groups based on perceived biological
characteristics, yet it is a dynamic and historically situated process in which racial significations
are always shifting" (Kubota and Lin, 2006, p. 477). The shifting nature of categorizing people
and groups helps explain why some categorizations of ELLs are created, some are transformed,
some are destroyed, and some are reproduced in schools worldwide.

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Because racialization can be more than mere categorization, it can sometimes lead to
discriminatory actions. Categorizing people according to certain racial features and stereotyping
them without taking into consideration their unique differences and individual cultural capital is
racialization. However, when certain attributes of people, their actions, their cultures, their
language, and their ways of thinking are inferiorized and used against them, it is an act of
discrimination. People with different forms of cultural capital are considered unique, but when
sometimes their differences are negatively or unfairly compared to the so called 'normal' or
standard or probably mainstream behavior and traits, then that is considered racial
discrimination.
As mentioned previously, racial discrimination against ELLs can have different forms as
well as various causes. ELLs' accents, their biological features, their unique but different cultural
capital, their degree of accepted English language proficiency, their actions or even non-actions
and silence can all be causes for their racialization and marginalization in classrooms. It involves
the personal racialization between students and students or students and teachers (e.g., avoiding,
silencing, making offensive jokes, insulting, name calling, and even through physical violence
with members of racially identified groups) or can be as simple as treating ELLs in a 'rude'
manner. Racialization and racial discrimination also involve the institutional racialization of
policies, curriculum, and discussion topics that intentionally or unintentionally discriminate
newcomer ELLs. In this paper, the examples I draw on to illustrate racialization and racial
discrimination in classrooms are the stereotyping of certain nationalities, laughing and teasing,
harassment, resentment and being disrespectful to ELLs. Exploring the notions of racialization
and racial discrimination helps us understand ELLs' limited social interactions and its effect on
their language development in a setting that is established to promote them. These different
forms of racialization and discrimination affect ELLs' engagement with peers and limit their
classroom interactions which are essential aspects of effective language learning (Vygotsky's
sociocultural theory of language learning).
Manifestations of Racialization and Racial Discrimination in Classrooms

Teachers
In order to make ELLs feel included in classrooms practices, some teachers put endless
efforts in trying to achieve engagement and inclusion. Some teachers focus on group discussions,
others prefer pair activities, and some teachers make an effort by focusing on discussion topics
that are related to ELLs' cultures and histories. In the attempt of raising interesting discussions
that will help learners interact, teachers can unintentionally racialize students and make them feel
discrimination. This will not only affect their participation in classroom practices, but will also
limit their language development. More importantly, unawareness of the influence certain
discussion topics have on ELLs especially describing the issues in a negative manner leads to the
reproduction of the curriculum, in particular an insensitive curriculum, and thus the social
reproduction of community stratification.
In Duff's (2002) study of examining issues of respect and integration of newcomers into
classroom practices, the author focused her analysis on one classroom and teacher, Ms. Smith,
who taught Canadian Social Studies 10 (SS10) in a Canadian secondary school (grades 8-12).
Concentrating on events in two lessons "that illustrate issues of variable participation,
socialization, and positioning in-and through- classroom discourse", Ms. Smith undertook
various approaches to integrate ELLs more fully in class, but also considered it a challenge for
her (p. 295).
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In one of the lessons where students saw a film about an aboriginal student who was
trying to negotiate her own cultural values which the school tried to eliminate, Ms. Smith raised
a discussion about the racial term 'banana' in relation to the topic 'turning white' and the issue of
being "caught in between cultures" for aboriginals (Duff, 2002, p. 308). Her awareness of the
issues of intercultural differences existing in the school, her desire in implementing "respect for
cultural diversity and difference, social justice, and empathy for others", and her interest in
finding ways to engage ELLs into classroom discussions encouraged her to raise such a topic. In
asking the students about their understanding of the term 'banana', Bradley (Chinese/Honk Kong,
NNES) responded "I don't know?", Mary (Chinese/Taiwan NNES) said "it means ummm…",
and Liz (2nd generation Asian/UK) very quietly answered "usually refers to Chinese" (p. 307). In
the discussion that followed about 'being caught in between cultures', Kim (first generation
Korean) chose not to participate in the discussion by responding 'no' three times to the teacher's
question "Have you ever experienced any of that (caught in between cultures)?" (p. 309).
In this example, Ms. Smith aimed to engage ELLs in whole class discussions by relating
the lesson to their cultures and personal experiences. It is important to note that before relating
both topics to ELLs' personal experiences, she described 'turning white' and 'being caught
between two cultures' as being "totally lost" and as a "hideous" position to be in, and that the
people from aboriginal students' own culture consider them now doing things in a "different,
weird, and funny way". Unfortunately, Ms. Smith's negative description of the situation of
aboriginal students unintentionally made ELLs feel that they are not only racialized as 'bananas',
but also made them feel discrimination. This feeling of racial discrimination was probably the
reason behind ELLs' such responses and limited participation. As Duff (2002) states, Kim
"persistently rejected being positioned as someone 'caught between two cultures' or perceived by
self/others as 'a banana'" (Duff, 2002, p. 309). She was not willing to negotiate her strong sense
of belonging to her Korean identity and neither was she open to accepting a label imposed upon
her by others. The teacher's insensitive description of the topic of discussion made Kim and other
ELLs feel racially discriminated against.
Another topic was about corporal punishment for aboriginal students in residential
schools. The topic speaks for itself, but Ms. Smith added that "it is hard to imagine" and that it's
a "theory that is totally dead in the world". She then assumed that some ELLs experienced such
punishment and related it to specific countries "Taiwan and Hong Kong and possibly Korea" (p.
302). Connecting such a topic to specific countries made some ELLs feel racialized and
discriminated.
The teacher's primary intention of connecting racial issues to ELLs' cultures and personal
experiences was to maximize ELLs' interaction in classroom discussions. Her aim was to raise
consciousness of some racialized problems existing in the school, and make connections to show
how racialized students feel towards such discrimination. Her sincere intentions to engage ELLs
into class discussions and bringing the connections into consciousness sometimes positioned
them in a discriminatory manner, especially describing such situations negatively. Although her
purpose may have been to transform the social order and intercultural issues existing in the
school, she unintentionally reproduced the discriminatory position (the social order) by
negatively describing the situation of aboriginal students and connecting serious issues (corporal
punishment) to ELLs' cultures and countries which made them feel discrimination. I agree with
Mills (2008) that

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those involved in reproducing the social order often do so without either knowing they are doing
so or wanting to do so. In particular, teachers frequently do not see and often do not intend the
social sorting that schooling imparts on students (p. 84).
More importantly, such positioning and discrimination impacts ELLs' forms of participation
which relatively affects their language development because social engagement is essential for
language learning. Although silence can be a strong form of participation, in Kim's case, her
non-participation was a form of protecting her cultural capital and her unwillingness to connect
the discriminatory position of aboriginal students to her personal experiences and history.
While some teachers unintentionally racialize ELLs and sometimes make them feel
discrimination, other teachers deliberately racialize them. Since racialization can have different
forms, the following example shows how one teacher simply ignored the fact that one of her
ELLs was marginalized in her classroom. During Ms. Giles' social studies class in a Canadian
high school, Edouard (an immigrant refugee from Rwanda and the only ELL in the class) "never
spoke during the lecture format, and during group work his desk was physically outside of the
small circle of his group" (Sharkey and Layzer, 2000, p. 362). The classroom teacher should
have encouraged Edouard to take part in classroom discussions or she could have encouraged the
native speakers to include him in group activities and discussions and raise the sense of
community among her students. She was aware about his situation but simply chose not to act
upon it. As she mentions "I have a feeling that he [Edouard] is a little bit left out. He has moved
his seat to the back row and I don't force assigned seats because [very softly] I don't care [laughs]
... I just haven't tried to manage the situation basically" (p.362). This kind of action from teachers
makes ELLs feel more marginalized than they already are and prevents them from socially
interacting with classmates and taking part in classroom practices. In this kind of situation
(Edouard's case), I believe teachers hold full responsibility for ELLs' marginalization.
Many ELLs are categorized as quiet, shy, and not very social and this is usually in
relation to their cultural backgrounds. This can sometimes be true, as in the case of the
Vietnamese participants in Phans' (2007) study. They were students of a TESOL program in an
Australian university and they strongly valued the traditions of the education system of their
home country which is based on respecting instructors and asking only meaningful questions.
They considered asking not meaningful and unnecessary questions disrespectful for the educator.
Their limited interaction in class discussions was not due to marginalization, but due to their
respect to their own cultural capital. These reasons for not asking questions are often not
recognized by teachers. As for Edouard, his non-interaction was due to the unfriendly
atmosphere of the classroom, but he was positioned likewise, as a typical ELL (quiet, shy, not
social). Just as the teacher did not undertake any effective strategies to include him in classroom
practices, students also reproduced his social status and did not seek his inclusion. Perhaps this
is the reason why most ELLs prefer their ESL classrooms and often returned just to be in a
friendly environment free of racialization, judgments, and community stratification. As Edouard
describes his ESL classroom, "It's like a home. Who wouldn't want to come back here?" (p. 356).
Although Edouard has transitioned out of the ESL classroom, social interaction is still
essential for him to maintain his language development. Social engagement should be facilitated
by the teacher, especially in Edouard's case since he is the only ELL in the classroom.
Unfortunately, his social status as a newcomer or ELL was not transformed despite his progress
in the ESL classroom. The teacher simply did not care about his position in the classroom, and
did not take on any action to transform the social order in her classroom.

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Native Speaker Students

Racialization among peers can be caused by the inequalities of cultural capital that
students have. Since ELLs are considered newcomers and they are in the phase of learning the
language, their lack of language competence can be used to racialize them and sometimes
discriminate against them, as well. Old timers (NS) use their language proficiency and the so
called 'standard' accent to racialize ELLs and make them feel discrimination. Qin, Way, and
Rana's (2008) study of adolescent Chinese American students in Boston and New York is a great
example that illustrates racialization and discrimination of ELLs by old-timer native speaker
students. The aim of the study was to explore the reasons behind the racial discrimination
Chinese Americans were subject to from their peers. The authors believe that discovering these
reasons "can help … protect students from perpetual harassment and victimization" which will
improve their socialization and thus language development (p. 30). One of the findings of the
study indicates that some students were subject to peer discrimination (from NSs) due to their
English accent, or for speaking Chinese at school: "When I was in sixth grade, people would
always say that I was speaking Chinese with others. They would imitate what we said and laugh
about it" (16-year-old Tina). Or else students would feel discrimination for making mistakes
while speaking: "The most difficult thing is English. My English is still not as good as my
classmates’. If I make a mistake while I’m talking, they laugh at me.” (Tommy) (Qin et al., 2008,
p. 33). Asian students also "reported being called names, and close to 50% reported being
excluded from social activities or threatened as a result of their race" (p. 29). Stereotyping of
Chinese Americans such as use of the term "Chino" and maintaining that "Typical Chinese can't
speak good English" were forms of racial discrimination used against ELLs in the study. Old
timers tended to always find ways to marginalize ELLs. The examples from Qin et al.'s study
made me realize the truth of Mathews' (2008) study that "ideological and discursive processes of
racialization deploy images, symbols, terminology and classifications that make skin color,
ethnicity and nationality distinct, meaningful and able to be inferiorized" (p. 38).
Qin et al.'s (2008) study also suggests that teachers themselves can be the cause of
racialization and discrimination among peers. Although some ELLs are considered non-
proficient language speakers of English, they are stereotyped by some teachers as "so
hardworking and so respectful, always on time, just such a delight to work with! If they get me to
teach students like this, I will never retire for the rest of my life!” (p. 35). Such explicit
statements and high expectations of ELLs caused frustration and anger for non Chinese students
(in this study) "and they vented their anger on the Chinese American students themselves" (p.
35). Teachers are human beings and they are going to have preferences. However, in delicate
situations like this, what teachers need to do is not express those publicly in front of other
students, and they need to behave in a non-discriminatory fashion.
High academic achievement can also be the cause of the racial discrimination ELLs are
subject to from native speakers. The Chinese Americans in Qin et al.'s (2008) study are usually
stereotyped as “being too smart,” being “geeks,” “nerdy,” “studying too much,” and “not having
fun” as indicated by the ELLs during their interviews. NSs related these features to ELLs'
nationalities and they teased, resented, and harassed ELLs for their academic skills. Although
their academic achievements are validated by their teachers, ELLs felt "isolated and shunned by
their peers" (p. 34).

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Old-Timer ELLs in ESL Classrooms

ELLs can also be exposed to racialization by old-timer ELLs. This can be seen in Talmy's
(2010) study of the ESL program in a Hawaii public high school (Tradewinds High) and the
examination of the "racializing and racist conduct directed at Micronesian students by a group of
old-timer ESL students, primarily of East/Southeast Asian inheritance" (p. 36). Old-timer ELLs
constructed their identities on the expense of the 'difference' between themselves and newcomer
ELLs. Newcomers were positioned as FOBs ("fresh off the boat") for various reasons, such as
their lack of cultural knowledge about Hawaii and U.S. schools and their low degrees of English
proficiency (as well as lack of expertise in Pidgin which is the local language of Hawaii). This
racial discrimination also took different forms such as mockery of newcomers' mistakes in
English, making racist jokes, teasing them about their clothing, hairstyles, and some practices
that teachers and non-Micronesian students found odd, such as "eating Kool-Aid drink powder
straight from the packet; applying liberal quantities of perfume during class; frequently
massaging moisturizer onto themselves and their friends; and chewing betel nut" (Talmy, 2010,
p. 46).
To further illustrate how old-timers racially identified the Micronesian newcomers and
constructed their identities based on this discrimination, I will draw on an excerpt from Talmy's
(2010) observations of one of the ESL classes in Tradewinds High. In the following excerpt,
students were assigned to give an oral presentation, which includes both a visual diorama and a
written report, about a unique holiday from their countries. Two of the Micronesian girls, G-
Koput and Star, have prepared their presentation well on New Year’s as celebrated in Chuuk
State (one of the Federated States of Micronesia). Ms. Ariel is the ESL teacher and China and
Nat are old-timer ELLs from China and the Marshall Islands, respectively.
01. G-Koput: okay. Mine is about New Year. I did New Year at my country.
02. Ms. Ariel: and your country is?
03. G-Koput: oh, [Chuuk.
04. ‫ލ‬: [Chuuk.
05. Ms. Ariel: okay.
06. China: that’s a country?
07. Ms. Ariel: Chuuk?
08. G-Koput: yeah. It’s a country, yeah.
09. China: It is?
10. Nat: It’s a island.
11. ‫ލ‬: [country!
12. G-Koput: [country!
13. Ms. Ariel: yeah. Chuuk State.
14. G-Koput: Okay. ((holds up the pop-up)). This is a guy with a sack and a stick.
15. ‫ލ‬: ((giggle))
16. G-Koput: okay. I’m gonna read it. okay. Happy New Year. um, I do mine on Happy New
Year. ((reading)) Okay people. I am going to present my presentation about Chuuk.
the New Year. On the first day of the New Year, the people of Chuuk go to church
first. then after church some people walk around or cruise around in car and they
yell, sing Happy New Year everybody. In New Year, for our country, we use cab.
that’s all.=
17. China: =((loud, exaggerated clapping))
18. ?Ss: ((clapping))
19. G-Koput: Thank you.
20. China: YAAAOOOOWW! ((laughs))
21. Raven: ((sarcastic)) That was good. (Talmy, 2010, pp. 46, 47).

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In the previous excerpt, the author shows how "subtle [old-timer] ESL students’
racialization of Micronesian classmates could be" (p. 47). The first is downgrading the status of
Chuuk from a country to an island due to the fact that there is some question about whether or
not Chuuk is a national entity, especially in that in a previous assignment, Micronesian students
specifically had had a difficult time finding reference materials about their country and their flag
(Talmy, 2010). Old-timers took advantage of this fact to racially discriminate against the
newcomers and identify them in comparison to their own countries whose status is not in doubt
(e.g., China, Tawan, Korea, etc.). This comparison suggests that Chuuk "is less well known; less
worthy, perhaps, of being known, an association that binds to students who are 'from' there" (p.
47). The ridicule implied by the exaggerated applause made by China, and the sarcastic comment
by his friend Raven is also a form of racialization.
The ridicule made by the three old-timer ELLs is not only an example of verbal peer
discrimination to identify new timer ELLs as FOBs, but it also shows how stratification occurs in
a classroom community. I agree with Talmy (2010) that this kind of ridicule does not only cause
categorization of students from different countries into certain subordinate groups, but also sets a
hierarchy among students. Such stratification based on difference in cultural capital is itself a
form of racial discrimination.
While students are usually discriminated by the old-timers of the target language
community, the previous example shows that old-timer ELLs can also be the cause of
positioning new comer ELLs. Rather than supporting them in the process of language
development and social interaction, old-timer ELLs used their dominant cultural capital (as they
assume) to discriminate new comers. Old-timer ELLs did not utilize the opportunity of helping
newcomer ELLs to discover their own language abilities and maximize social interactions for
themselves. Rather, old-timer ELLs rejected newcomer ELLs, identified them as FOBs, and
constructed new local identities for themselves based on insensitive comparison with the
newcomers. By doing this, they reproduced the social order of newcomer marginalization.
All the reasons that may cause teachers, NS students, or old-timer ELLs to marginalize
newcomer ELLs and discriminate against them in one form or another have an inevitable effect
on learners' language development, especially when viewed from the Vygotskian perspective.
Newcomer ELLs are in a critical point of their language learning and they need all the support
they can get from their teachers and peers. What they learn in their ESL classes is not enough.
They need to engage in social practices outside the ESL classroom because language learning is
a social process not a merely cognitive and individual one. ELLs need to internalize the
knowledge they received in their ESL classrooms through social interactions in order for this
knowledge to become part of who they are not just something they learn and forget. According
to Johnson (2004), internalization is a complex process where learners move from the
interpersonal "(social, historical, institutional) plane" to the intrapersonal plane "(the individual)"
through the internalization of the "patterns of the social activities to which the individual has
been exposed" to (p. 111). Internalization is an essential aspect of Vygotsky's sociocultural
theory of language learning, and social engagement helps learners appropriate the language.
Unfortunately, the patterns of racialization and racial discrimination newcomer ELLs are subject
to decrease their opportunities for social engagement with old-timers which lessens their
opportunities for improving the language they are learning and internalizing it because, as
Vygotsky puts it, "learning is the internalization of the social interaction" (Storch, 2002, p. 121).
Negative remarks, unfair treatment, an insensitive curriculum, ignoring, and any other forms of
racialization and racial discrimination have a negative impact on ELLs' appropriation of the L2.
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In fact, they can cause "high levels of depression, low levels of self-esteem, and poor levels of
social adjustment" (Mills, 2008, p. 38). And when these causes are ignored or not appropriately
dealt with by teachers or administrators, racialization and racial discrimination against ELLs, the
marginalized social statuses of ELLs, the disvalue of their unique yet different forms of cultural
capital becomes reproduced throughout the generations.
Implications: (Teachers/ Leaders, Students, Curriculum)

After exploring the notions of racialization and racial discrimination against ELLs and
how they manifest in classrooms by teachers and students intentionally or unintentionally, it is
now important to examine how schools can decrease the rates of such racialization and
discrimination in order to provide a healthier learning environment for ELLs. Since teachers,
leaders, students, and the curriculum are all important constituents of the school and classroom
community, I will suggest how each component can play an effective role in amplifying ELLs'
social engagement which is important for facilitating language learning, and thus transforming
the social structure rather than reproducing it.
First, school leaders (principal, vice-principal, social supervisors … etc.) need to be
aware if racialization and discrimination exists in their schools. More importantly, they need to
know what racialization and racial discrimination is and how they manifest. Through periodical
meetings with ELLs and their families, issues of racialization and language learning can become
apparent. These meetings can also provide opportunities for discussing possible solutions from
the learner's perspectives, especially those who are being racialized against. Although parents
and ELLs are not always likely to be open and candid about such issues, these kinds of meetings
will require sensitivity on behalf of the leaders. More importantly, if marginalized ELLs know
that they can find the support of both their families and leaders, they are more likely to be open
and candid about these problems. Also, the consciousness that leaders can gain from such
meetings can help them undertake various actions to help overcome or decrease the problem.
Holding school events such as a 'cultural day' or a 'multicultural festival' where students from
different backgrounds can share their histories, languages, educational backgrounds, cultures,
and traditions can take part in raising awareness of the existing diversity among students and
teachers, but they might even contribute to unintended racialization due to their occasional
reoccurrence. Therefore, such ‘cultural days’ need to occur daily and be an established part of
the norms of the school. When students and teachers observe how leaders appreciate and respect
difference of appearance, language, skills, and orientations of ELLs on a daily bases, students
(NSs and old-timer ELLs) and teachers will also learn to show consideration of diversity and
learn to value it, as well. Leaders need to be models that represent positive attitudes towards
ELLs' unique forms of cultural capital in order for students and teachers to reproduce ELLs'
social statuses as legitimate and equal members of the school and classroom community. Leaders
need to show that they value difference, although it might not always work to eliminate
marginalization, but it would definitely help reduce it.
Leaders can also minimize racialization and discrimination through their close
observation of classroom practices. Taking part in some practices, and becoming members of the
classroom community is a great way of showing that there should not be a hierarchy among
members of the school; what exists are different roles members take upon themselves and hold
responsibility for. Visiting the classrooms and other school sites (e.g. cafeteria, gym, etc.)
regularly can also bring to consciousness the practices or discourses that unintentionally racialize
or discriminate ELLs by students and teachers.
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Second, since leaders are not always in direct contact with and have observation of
classroom practices, both ESL teachers and mainstream classroom teachers can create better
learning environments for ELLs through various approaches. Usually, when teachers notice
discrimination of ELLs, they advise discriminators not to engage in it. Their attempt to prevent
racial discrimination among students is through not accepting discriminatory behaviors, words,
or attitudes. What teachers should do is confront students for the reasons they are positioning
their peers and treating them in a rude manner. Teachers should work together with students who
are treating their peers unfairly to find solutions for creating a healthier learning environment for
everyone. Confrontation should not only be between students who are marginalizing their peers
and teachers, but should also include the marginalized students to show discriminators the
inappropriateness of their behavior, and help them sense what ELLs are experiencing.
Confrontation should not only be by asking why students are racially discriminating their peers,
but should also be by asking them to imagine they are in that position … how would they feel?
Another possible way for teachers to lessen racial discrimination among students and
prevent them from categorizing and stereotyping newcomers is through maximizing activities
that require NSs and ELLs to work together. Group discussions are a great activity that can
provide opportunities for social engagement. However, if not well organized by teachers or
group leaders, they will not be an effective strategy for ELLs. Teachers should not only give
clear instructions about the purpose of group discussion and its benefits for both NSs and ELLs
old-timers and newcomers, but should also facilitate how the discussions are undertaken, who is
dominating the discussion, who is being left out, and can also take part in some discussions.
Teachers can also choose the members of the group that they believe might work best for all
sides (combination of weak or quiet, strong or dominating). Listening to conversations and
sharing opinions is also an effective strategy teachers can carry out. Maximizing collective
scaffolding is considered a successful approach for increasing social interaction among learners
and supporting language development (Donato, 1994).
As for the curriculum, "instead of being a site of ‘disjunction and dislocation’, schools
can relate curricula to students’ worlds, making the classroom more inclusive" (Mills, 2008, pp.
84, 85). This was evident in Ms. Smith's classroom, and, although, it did not always have a
successful outcome, her purpose of implementing a hidden curriculum was thoughtful. As
Naicker and Balfour (2009) claim, "the strategies that an educator employs can have either a
positive or negative impact on the language learner" (p. 343). However, to ensure the success of
a hidden curriculum and teaching strategies, teachers can discuss with ELLs before class to see if
any connections between the lesson or topic and their backgrounds exists. This can be done
through e-mail or during the same periodical meetings that leaders hold for ELLs and their
families. They can organize a special time to discuss the curriculum. It can raise teachers' and
leaders' awareness of how ELLs feel about the curriculum, and can probably prevent any
discrimination or positioning. Through such dialogue, teachers and leaders can become
enlightened on how to transform the curriculum or integrate learners' different forms of cultural
capital rather than reproduce the same curriculum and teaching strategies that marginalize and
discriminate ELLs deliberately or by mistake. Leaders should allow teachers to bring to class
their lived experiences and engage with the "lived curriculum" rather than following the
"curriculum as plan" (Aoki, 2005, p. 159).

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Conclusion
The consequences of racialization and racial discrimination against ELLs in many
schools and classrooms are reflected in their degree of socialization in the academic community
which ultimately affects their English language development. Since second language acquisition
is a social rather than an individual process, ELLs may not find the support they need for
essential progress (in the second language they are learning) in their classrooms due to the
limited opportunities for social engagement. Inferiorizing newcomer ELLs and discriminating
them due to their difference of skills, orientations, and actions will also affect ELLs' degree and
forms of participation in the practices of the classroom community. Ignoring such an issue can
result in the reproduction of the marginalized social status of newcomer ELLs and the
reproduction of the dominating and accepted forms of cultural capital. In the light of Vygotsky's
sociocultural theory that supports the social development of language learning, the different
forms of discrimination which students are subject to can have a negative impact on learners'
social and language development. Racialization decreases opportunities for healthy socialization
and thus limits students' development in their L2 and access to the classroom practices.
The classroom environment needs to be a healthy environment that promotes equality
between teachers and students and students with their peers, and a respectful environment where
students' different forms of cultural capital are valued. Schools need to establish a positive
climate and "a learning community in which all [students are] included and valued" (Hite and
Evans, 2006, p. 102). Collaborative work between school leaders and teachers to help raise
cross-cultural awareness and consciousness of the negative effects and consequences of
racialization and racial discrimination against ELLs can be an effective start to overcome such an
issue.
About the Author:

Ayesha Mohammed Mudhaffer is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the English Language
Institute (ELI) in King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Saudi Arabia. She received her BA in
English Language at KAU and her M.Ed in TESL at Simon Fraser University in Canada. After
spending a year at ELI, she joined the exam preparation unit. Currently, She is a member of the
grading committee.
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AWEJ
The Effects of Metacognitive Awareness-Raising on Learners’ Reading Proficiency and Strategy

Use: Case of First- Year LMD Students at ABou Bekr Belkaid University of Tlemcen
Yassamina HAICHA – ABDAT

English Department
Tlemcen University
Algeria
Abstract
Within the field of education, one of the most important responsibilities that each teacher needs
to assume consists in equipping the learners with all the necessary tools to cope with the
demands of an ever-changing world. With no doubt, for a more successful fulfillement of such a
prominent responsibility, the learners need to be consciously aware of the true nature of the
learning process as well as the crucial role of acquiring skills and strategies that would certainly
engender an effective learning process. These two concerns have led to a plethora of research on
how to help the individuals become successful learners, and what teachers can do to assist their
learning. Bearing all this in mind, the present exploratory research endeavours to elucidate the
major effect of an explicit and integrated instruction of metacognitive reading strategies on
learners’ English as a Foreign Language reading proficiency and strategy use. The researcher has
randomly chosen ten Algerian speaking students studying at the Department of English in Abou
Bakr Belkaid University of Tlemcen. Data were collected by means of three essential data-
gathering tools, namely questionnaire, proficiency tests and think-aloud protocol (TAP). The
researcher confirmed that metacognitive reading strategy instruction had a positive effect on the
learners’ reading proficiency and strategy use which was empirically verified during the
implementation of the Think Aloud protocol.
Key words: metacognitive awareness, reading strategies, explicit teaching. EFL learners, TAP(
think Aloud Protocol)

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The Effects of Metacognitive Awareness-Raising HAICHA – ABDAT
Introduction
It would be with no exaggeration to note that English functions as a universal
language due to its pervasive importance in this changing time of globalization, and has
consequently become the language widely adopted for political, technological, social and
educational development. Similarly, it has witnessed such development in its role in the Algerian
educational context since 1962, and more importantly after the advent of globalization process in
the early 1990s.
Yet, within the field of education, more specifically in EFL process a significant
number of oriented studies has clearly shown that learners still encounter some serious issues
throughout their studies that are in some part due to the unsuccessful equal consideration of four
fundamental linguistic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Despite all the efforts and
much time consumed by EFL teachers, the results seem strikingly unsatisfactory, and the
learners still display low achievement in English language use. Perhaps inspired by this thought,
the present article endeavours to review theoretically the significance of the teaching / learning
of reading skill at university level paying due attention to elucidating and unearthing to what
extent the explicit and integrated metacognitive reading strategy instruction at awareness-raising
level may affect positively the learners’ reading proficiency and strategy use.
Theoretical Background
1. Reading Comprehension
Over the last few decades, a set of considerable investigations in Foreign Language
reading have been conducted that have provided numerous insights for FL reading theories and
reading instruction. The basic rationale of such research was to seek for the most suitable
definition of reading. It has led to the argument that reading can be defined from two
standpoints: common knowledge, and scientific view.
For the popular literature, reading is the ability of processing one’s aptitude or capability
to recognize the shape of a finite number of letters and alphabetical symbols that are connected
to form an infinite number of meaningful words, clauses and sentences respecting the
punctuation and division of paragraphs. In this respect, the process of reading follows a common
sense description of three related dimensions:
As an opening stage, the learner recognizes the written characters he/she meets in print,
which are organized in particular spatial order; (from the left to the right when speaking about all
Indo-European languages, while it is completely the reverse for Hamito- Semitic ones); and
masters their pronunciation.
In the subsequent phase, he/she combines them into meaningful conventional items and
sentences respecting the rules of syntax that may not resemble those of his/her native language.
Additionally, the mastery of the printed words can be done successfully through a consistent
vocabulary and syntax activities, which should not be underestimated for they contribute well in
enhancing learners’ comprehension of reading.
Once the recognized written symbols are combined into meaningful items and sentences,
the learner can successfully understand and interpret the entire meaning of the given sentence (s).
In such a case, the three related dimensions discussed above are then closely related to three
linguistic skills i.e. recognition with phonology (how to pronounce sounds in various
combinations), structuring with syntax (rules that govern word order), and interpretation with
semantics (when the learner assigns the accurate meaning of the printed symbols, then
comprehension takes place).
However, from the scientific perspective, numerous neurological researchers notice that reading
is not merely a product-oriented approach that constitutes language form, but also an intricate
process actively involving both hemispheres of the brain that endeavours to negotiate
understanding between the learner and the writer of the text. Here, reading is merely regarded as
an end product or a process-oriented approach that deals with language content.
Urquart and Weir have endeavoured to summarize the complexity of this process as
follows: “Reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded in language
form via the medium of print.” (1988, p. 22).
Reading as a Language Skill

It is pertinent to note that reading strives not only to teach the learner how to establish
components necessary for reading process, but attempts also to model this process by specifying

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these components, and reveal correlations between them. According to Hoover (1990), “reading
consists of only two components; one that allows language to be recognized through graphic
representation and another that allows language to be comprehended”, (p.01).
For the sake of communication to take place, there should be, however, a direct
association and interaction between the interlocutors, i.e. the learner being ‘the reader’ of the
text, and the writer. In this respect, the learner necessitates both ability, and proficiency to
understand the message conveyed by the writer of the text. In the same line of thought, Davies
(1995) assumes that, reading is private. It is a mental, or a cognitive process which involves a
reader in trying to follow and respond to a message from the writer who is distant in place and
time, (p.01)
However, it is unrealistic to believe that reading can be acquired without special effort i.e. as
a passive skill, as it requires the learner’s mental and experimental input than is suggested by the
mere decoding of symbols. In this context, Goodman (1973) maintains that, the learner:
“As a user of a language interacts with the graphic input as he seeks to
reconstruct a message encoded by the writer. He concentrates his total prior
experience and concepts he has attained, as well as the language competence he
has achieved.” (p.162)
2. The survey of reading strategies (SORS)
Before classifying reading strategies, it would seem undeniably wiser to consider the
question: what is meant by the term strategy? And what makes it different from a skill?
The term ‘strategy’ can be operationalized as learning techniques or behaviours that help
learners iron out the frequent difficulties encountered whenever learning is taking place, and
enable them to effectively and efficiently interact with the written passages. This concept has
been defined differently by numerous specialists in this field of research. Anderson (1991), on
deliberate cognitive steps that, “[…]readers can take to assist in acquiring, storing, and retrieving
new information”, (p.460).
Therefore, it can be obviously stated that reading strategies are paramount for they enable readers
to better tackle different reading tasks, and construct meaning from the written passages as
competently as possible. These strategies may involve a wide range of cognitive mental activities
which can be summarized as follows:
“The strategies may involve skimming, scanning, guessing, recognizing
cognates and word families, reading for meaning, predicting, activating general
knowledge, making inferences, and separating main ideas from supporting
ideas.”, (Phan 2006, p. 01)
Furthermore, there are other more recently recognized text-processing strategies such as
activating prior knowledge, and recognizing textual organization, which have been added to the
list of strategic behaviours. These strategies discussed above have been later grouped by Carrell
(1989) as ‘local’ bottom-up decoding types of reading strategies and ‘global’, top-down types of
reading strategies. As the former, it concerns sound-to letter correspondence (phonetics-based
approach), the latter has to do with readers’ activated background knowledge (readers-driven
types of information processing) and recognizing text structure.
Reading researchers generally typify reading strategies into two main categories: cognitive and
metacognitive reading strategies. Cognitive strategies serve as primordial learning techniques that
assist learners in constructing meaning from the text, which are made up of bottom-up and top-
down strategies. In the case of using bottom-up reading strategies, the learners’ minds
“Repeatedly engage in a variety of processes ... Readers start by processing
information at the sentence level. In other words, they focus on the
identification of the meaning and grammatical category of a word, sentence,
syntax, text detail and so forth.”, (Salataci, 2002, p.02)
Whereas top-down strategies consist of integrating one’s background knowledge to the reading
process to construct meaning from a text rather than passively identifying words in the text,
predicting and getting the gist of text or skimming. In this sense, ‘reading is asking questions of
printed text, and reading with comprehension becomes a matter of getting your questions
answered’ (Smith, 1975, p.105).
Metacognitive reading strategies, on the other side, function as a valuable means to
monitor and regulate cognitive strategies which include “ checking the outcome of any attempt to
solve a problem, planning one’s next move, monitoring the effectiveness of any attempted
action, testing, revising and evaluating one’s strategies for learning. (Brown et al,1984, p. 354)
Reading researchers, later could obtain some strategies through other several case studies that
successful readers generally employ to enhance reading comprehension and overcome
comprehension failure. These strategies will be shown in the following list

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Table1. Strategy Coding Scheme: reading strategies (strategy type + strategy behaviour) Singhal
(2001)
STRATEGY STRATEGY
DESCRIPTION
TYPE BEHAVIOR
Paraphrasinng/ x The reader rephrases content using different words but

Summarizing. retains the same sense.
Anticipating/ x The reader predicts what content will occur in succeeding

Predicting. portions of the text.
Previewing x The reader previews the text to see how it is organized

Ttext. and related to what they know.
Employing x The reader uses clues in the story in order to make

Context Clues. predictions or increase understanding.
Repeating x The reader repeats unknown words.

Words
x The reader analyzes word structure, grammatical
Cognitive Analyzing structures or expressions to determine the meanings of
these words/sentences/expressions.
x The reader divides the words into parts to make it
Word Division. comprehensible.
x The reader uses illustrations/graphs, etc. in order to

Using facilitate understanding of the text.
Illustrations.
x The reader uses titles/headings to facilitate understanding
Using Titles. of the text.
x The reader uses connectors to identify continuing ideas.

Using
Connectors. x The reader rereads parts of a text several times in order to
facilitate comprehension.
Rereading.
Guessing / x The reader guesses the general meaning of a word by

Compensation
Hypothesizing using context clues.
x The reader creates an association between new material

Associating.
and what is already known.
x The reader places the new words in a group with other

Word Grouping.
similar known words to determine meaning.
Memory
Word
Associating. x The reader associates a word with a known word in order
to determine meaning.
First Language
Associating- x The reader remembers a new word by identifying it with
Cognates a word in their first language.
Monitoring. x The reader self-monitors their own understanding /

pacing/ pronunciation of words.
Metacognitive
Correcting x The reader tries to correct their language/reading errors.
Errors.
Word x The reader is able to recognize unknown words by
Recognition. repeating them.

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Recognizing/ x The reader recognizes what is important and not

Important. important and can skip those words or information
x The reader makes encouraging statements to his/ her

Self-
Affective students and pays attention to factors that may interfere
Encouragement
with performance or comprehension.
Clarifying x The reader asks for clarification when something is not

understood.
Social Verifying x The reader asks for verification that something has been
understood or said correctly.
Seeking x The reader asks others for feedback about his or reading,
Feedback. responses, etc.
Reacting to Text x The reader can react to a text and express opinions about
the text and characters.
Textual Interpreting x The reader draws a conclusion about the text in terms of
Text theme or interpretation of text.
Emotional x The reader reacts emotionally to the text.
Reaction
The importance accorded to these strategies can be shown in numerous empirical case
studies which have been conducted by SL/FL researchers seeking to understand why some
learners are likely to be more successful readers than others. (Hosenfeld, 1977; Knight, et al
1985; Block 1986; Jimenez, et al 1995). In a qualitative study, Hosenfeld attempted to identify
the direct relation between certain types of reading strategies and successful or less successful
learners. The results obtained have clearly demonstrated that the differences lie in the fact those
successful learners:
- kept the meaning of the passage in mind during reading.
- read in broad phrases.
- skipped words viewed as unimportant to total phrase meaning.
- had positive concept of themselves as readers (Hosenfeld, 1977,p. 110).
In contrast, the unsuccessful learners tend to be those who:

- lost the meaning of sentences as soon as they were decoded.
- read in short phrases.
- skipped words as unimportant and viewed words as equal in their contribution to total
phrase meaning.
- had a negative self-concept as a reader ( Carrell, 1989, p. 03)
4. Metacognitive Awareness and Reading Comprehension
Although studies on SL / FL reading strategies are a major trend of second / foreign
language research, recent research interest has focused on language learners’ metacognitive
knowledge or awareness of strategies, and the primordial role it plays during reading process.
Yet, before tackling this effect, it would be indeed helpful to provide at first definitions-based on
the concept of metacognition, and have a brief and synchronized look at its history.
The term metacognition has been variously defined as ‘cognition of cognition’ (Carrell,
et al, 1989, p.647), ‘the conscious awareness of cognitive processes’ (Bernhardt 1991:52), and
‘knowledge about learning’ (Wenden, 1998, p.516). In the context of learning reading
comprehension, ‘metacognition is the knowledge that takes as its object or regulates any aspect
of any cognitive endeavour’ (Flavell, 1979, p.08).
Historically speaking, metacognition has its root in research conducted prior to 1976
during which Flavell’s pioneering work greatly helped in giving form of this concept and
provided an impetus for its study. During this period, research occurred in the field of
developmental and educational psychology whereby to offer more sophisticated methodologies
for asserting metacognition (Nelson, 1988). The studies based on metacognition were grouped
into four categories, the former category incorporates studies of cognition monitoring whose
purpose consisted in examining people’s knowledge of their knowledge and thought processes,
and how accurately they can monitor the current state their knowledge and processes, the second
category stresses on ‘regulation of one’s own thinking processes in order to cope with changing

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situational demands. The third category of metacognitive research has examined how people
regulate their choice of strategies and recently, the fourth category stressed on the ways in which
metacognitive theory can be applied in the educational settings.
In the context of teaching / learning of reading, metacognition can be divided into five primary
interrelated components of which none of them can function in isolation. These components
concern:
- Preparing and planning for reading.
- Deciding when to use particular reading strategies.
- Knowing how to monitor strategy use.
- Learning how to orchestrate various strategies.
- Evaluating reading strategy use. (Anderson, 2001).
Those processes were and are still considered to be part of metacognitive skills which
play a great role in self-regulated monitoring that takes place during reading comprehension. By
practising and applying these components, learners will unquestionably become good readers
and capable to handle any text across a curriculum. As explained in Flavell’s study,
metacognitive knowledge can be categorized into two components: knowledge about cognition
and regulation of cognition (1978, p.08). Knowledge of cognition includes three related
components that are involved within any learning task. They have been labelled: ‘declarative’,
‘procedural’, and ‘conditional’ components.
- Declarative knowledge: refers to ‘knowing what’ strategy to use in specific learning task
e.g. one may know what is skimming or scanning.
- Procedural knowledge: refers to ‘knowing how’ to perform various activities or putting the
knowledge into action e.g. how to sum up a text, how to skim (to get the gist of the selected
passage) or how to scan (to spot the information required by the learner)… and so forth.
- Conditional knowledge: refers to ‘knowing why’ to use a particular strategy, and when it
would be applicable and transferable effectively and appropriately in another language area, or
new task to be mastered.
Whereas regulation of cognition is directly related to those processes involved within
metacognitive strategies, i.e. planning, monitoring, problem-solving and evaluating. Philip
presented those major macro metacognitive strategy categories which include planning,
comprehension monitoring, problem-solving and evaluating and modifying in the table below:
Table 2. Processing framework (Philip et al, 2006, p. 23)
Micro strategy Macro strategy

(PL 1) analyse goals.
(PL 2) Identify relevant and useful LS.
(PL 3) Deciding and implementing on strategies.
Planning (PL) (PL 4) Planning strategic moves.
(PL 5) Making preview / overview.
(PL 6) Scanning information in text.
(PL 7) Skimming for gist of information in text.
(PL 8) Predicting content of text.
(CM 1) Monitoring one’s strategy use.

(CM 2) Double-checking on one’s comprehension.
Comprehension (CM 3) Relating one’s prior / Background knowledge.
Monitoring (CM) (CM 4) Relating one’s academic knowledge.
(CM 5) Attending selectively to important / familiar terms to facilitate
comprehension.
(PS 1) Infer from contextual clues.
(PS2) Make logical and intelligent guesses.
Problem-Solving (PS 3) Integrate information into a summary.
(PS) (PS 4) Seek clarification from teacher.
(PS 5) Question peers and cooperate with them.
(EVA 1) Evaluate the effectiveness of strategy.
Evaluation (EVA) / (EVA 2) Identify most useful feature (s) of strategy.
Modification (EVA 3) Reflect on context within which strategy successfully
(MOD) implemented.

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(EVA 4) Modify strategy based on task demands.

(EVA 5) Evaluate on strategy best combination.
(EVA 6) Assess suitable conditions (when) to use strategies.
(EVA 7) Evaluate ways to re-implement unsuccessful strategic
moves.
Rationale of the Present study

This project has the following research objectives:
¾ To identify the main causes behind learners’ comprehension difficulties.

¾ Explore the usefulness and the effect of explicit / integrated instruction of metacognitive
strategies on learners’ reading proficiency and strategy use.
Participants of the Study

The informants chosen for this experimental-based research were ten (10) students
enrolled in the English Language Teaching Department at the Faculty of Arts, Human and Social
Sciences of Abou Bakr Belkaid University, Tlemcen. The study was carried out during the
beginning of the academic year (2008-2009). Male represented 30% percent (3) of the sample
and 70% percent (7) females. Their chronological age ranges from seventeen to twenty-three
years old. Two of them were in the Literature and Islamic sciences whereas the majority belongs
to Arabic literature and foreign languages whose coefficient is 3 and Literature and Human
Sciences. They have been exposed to the learning of English Language for five to seven years so
far.
Research Instruments
This empirical study was carried out via three-attention worthy tools: questionnaire, tests
and think-aloud protocol.
Questionnaires: Description and Administration
The present investigation has been conducted through a questionnaire which was distributed to
first year university EFL learners. Conducting a metacognitive questionnaire to first year
university EFL learners was of paramount importance since it helped to elicit from the
respondents their retrospective data about:
- their profile, proficiency level and reading background and their learning preferences.
- their potential difficulties and needs in reading comprehension.
- the main strategies they often orchestrate in problem solving tasks to sort out these
difficulties.
Proficiency Test Description and Administration

The informants, chosen as population sampling, were tested before training them through
metacognitive strategy instruction. The aim of conducting the pre-training proficiency test
consists in assessing their current abilities in the area of reading comprehension, whereby to
yield the results about:
1- their ability to orchestrate different strategies appropriately and in meaningful manner,
prior to reading strategy training sessions.
2- the sources that threaten their reading proficiency.
During reading proficiency test, the learners were provided with a text followed by a set of
comprehension activities related to the text content, and which were replied during one session.
After completing this pre-test, learners’ performance of reading was or measured, elicited, and
then evaluated by the researcher.
Think-Aloud Protocol: Aims and Procedure

Within classroom and research contexts in general, especially in terms of language
learning / teaching strategies, research tools may be numerous, nonetheless, the use of
introspective methods seem is to be increasingly the most prevalent ones. Think-aloud technique
is often said to be an advantageous introspective data gathering method for any researcher trying
to unveil and describe one’s conscious mental processes undertaken while performing a specific
language task rather than his / her own outcomes or product. Think-aloud, according to Chamot,
“is a technique in which a person verbalizes his or her own thought processes while working on a
task … Generally, these processes are the person’s strategies for completing language task”
(1999, p.68).

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Therefore, within this empirical phase, the researcher, selected reading passage followed
by a set of comprehension activities taking into account the type of the tasks which should be
challenging to require the application of some reading strategies.
Results Analyses
Learners’ Questionnaires Results

Admittedly, the analysis of learners’ responses to this metacognitive questionnaire clearly
revealed a variety of strategies they reported using while dealing with reading passages which
can be precisely summarized and thoroughly described in the table:
Table 3. Types and frequency of learners' strategies employed in the questionnaire.
Learners' employed strategies Strategies classification Number of students

(out of ten)
Scanning (analyzing particular points). Cognitive 07
Using external resources. Support strategies 03
Rereading. Cognitive strategies 05
Guessing from context. Cognitive strategies 04
Reconsidering the problematic part of the Metacognitive strategies 01

text.
Activating background knowledge. Metacognitive strategies 08
Distinguishing important from less Metacognitive strategies 02

important details.
Planning. Metacognitive strategies 07
Summarizing. Cognitive strategies 01
Identifying the purpose of the task. Metacognitive strategies 03
Proficiency Test Results

As previously noted, the test was a second step undertaken prior to the strategy training
instruction sessions which consisted in assessing learners' reading proficiency, their linguistic
level, as well as their capability in utilizing adequately the five reading strategies of predicting,
skimming, scanning, inferring and contextual guessing. During this procedure, the researcher
relied more on the quantitative approach for analyzing the data obtained from this test. It
consisted of an informative text followed by a set of nine comprehension questions related to the
content. The number of respondents who could respond correctly on the required tasks was
counted. And then, the researcher through the analysis could differentiate between the proficient
and less proficient readers. The results could be better illustrated in the following table:
Table 4. Frequency of learners' answers to test questions prior to the instruction phase
Predicting Skimming Scanning Inferring Guessing from

context
A.F R.F A.F R.F A.F R.F A.F R.F A.F R.F
07 70 % 10 100 % 05 50 % 03 30 % 4 40 %
As for the analysis of predicting question, seven students out of ten could respond
correctly to the present question since the topic tends to be very famous history that was known
by almost all learners at different levels. Nevertheless, the three remaining students could not
respond which is probably due to their inability to extract even one idea from the given title.
Skimming strategy was examined through question two during this activity, the learners
were encouraged to make predictions over the content by reading through it quickly. As shown

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in the preceding table all the informants could perform the skimming strategy and thus gave the
convenient answer about the main idea.
Similarly, scanning was processed through question three, four and five, during which
the informants were required to read the text quickly but for different purposes. Five learners
could be able to find the answers required for these scanning questions in a very short period of
time, whereas five other students could not respond correctly especially to question four since
the term strategy is still new and unfamiliar.
Inferring strategy was inspected through question six and seven during which the
learners were required to read carefully to be able to adequately infer what was implied in this
passage. The analysis has shown that only three students could be able to perform this strategy in
a convenient manner. Conversely, seven students, through their written answers have really
displayed a difficulty in providing the correct answers to the present inference questions.
This strategy was processed through the last two remaining questions where only four
students were able to guess the meaning of the selected words from their context (30 %) while
the remaining were unlikely to understand their contextual meaning from the given passage. All
in all, the number of the subjects who could respond correctly to the provided tasks representing
30 % of the total number, which may be taken to mean that these learners can be characterized as
proficient readers.
Think-Aloud Protocol Results
In order to answer the third research question, both quantitative and qualitative data
analyses were deployed. First of all, results generated by the implementation of think-aloud were
carried out immediately after completing the pre-training proficiency test. Therefore, each
learner while being interviewed was given enough time to think and report exactly what he /she
was thinking about while reading. It is probably due to this factor which led to the absence of
vocalizing inner speech, i.e. hum, ok, ah ... etc. Yet, the analysis of these protocols clearly
revealed that the learners suffered and are still suffering from some striking linguistic
deficiencies since the researcher has transcribed each word uttered and produced by the learner
while listening to their recorded speech from the tape.
Before discussing and analysing the data obtained from the learners’ verbalized protocol,
the researcher as a starting point provided two pre-planned questions during which the learners
were required to answer. The first question “What kind of strategies do they use before reading
a text?” was analysed. Thus, it was clearly observed from their verbalized answers that the
majority of the learners could not offer any answer to this question. To prove it, it is worth
considering the following answers provided by the learners themselves during which they relied
heavily on mixing code approach (using Arabic, French, English and even dialectal Arabic) from
time to time whereby to purposefully make the invisible processes of reading visible.
‫ ﻭ ﻧﻌﺎﻭﺩ ﻧﺸﻮﻑ ﻛﻴﺶ ﺩﺍﻳﺮ ﺍﻟﻨﻮﻉ ﻣﺎ ﺩﺍﻡ ﻣﺎ‬paragraphe ‫ ﻛﻴﻔﺎﺵ – ﺁﻩ؟ ﺷﺎﻧﺪﻳﺮ ﻣﻔﻬﻤﺘﺶ ﺑﻼﻙ ﻧﺸﻮﻑ ﺷﺤﺎﻝ ﻣﻦ‬-
.plan ‫ﺗﻌﺮﻓﺘﺶ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﻮﺿﻮﻉ ﻣﺎ ﻛﺎﻧﺶ ﺣﺘﻰ‬
- What,.. ahh, what to do . I couldn’t understand, maybe I am going to check how many
paragraphs it contains, then I’ll try to check the type of the provided passage, yet since I still
have not the text, so no plan is utilized
(The present question therefore was misunderstood for they have been told to elicit the
steps undertaken before distributing the text).
- Aucune idée about the text no idea about the text so no particular plan
is used (student B).
- Je réfléchis, imagine about the type of the text, then ... hum. no plan, ‫ﻣﺎ ﻛﺎﻧﺶ‬
I try to think about the text, type. Above all, no plan is used).
These answers may be taken to mean that the non-strategic readers tend to read without setting a
purpose, thus no self-planning strategy was utilized. On the reverse, three out of ten students
responded as follows:
- Ah ... bon, ... imagine about the type
I try to get the meaning from the title and think ‫( ﻭﺍﺳﻢ ﻳﺠﻲ ﻣﻤﺒﻌﺪ‬Student F, appendix G)
.Or,
‫ﻭ‬ ،‫ ﺃﻭﻝ ﻣﺮﺣﻠﺔ ﻧﻘﻮﻡ ﺑﻬﺎ ﻫﻲ ﻣﻌﺮﻓﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﻨﻮﺍﻥ ﻭ ﺫﻟﻚ ﻟﻤﻌﺮﻓﺔ ﺣﻮﻝ ﻣﺎ ﻳﺪﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻮﺿﻮﻉ‬،‫ ﻗﺒﻞ ﻗﺮﺍءﺓ ﺍﻟﻨﺺ ﻣﺒﺎﺷﺮﺓ‬-
…‫ﻣﻤﺒﻌﺪ ﻧﺤﺎﻭﻝ ﻧﺠﻠﺐ ﺍﻷﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﻟﻲ ﻋﻨﺪﻱ ﻣﻦ ﻣﻌﺮﻓﺘﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺑﻘﺔ ﻭ ﺃﻳﻀﺎ‬
I see the key words of the title.)

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Before reading a text, the first step I should normally go through is to read the title, I try to
simultaneously activate my content schemata about the topic the text discusses; in addition, I will
circle or underline the key words of the title.
These learners may be classified among the strategic readers since they could notice the
crucial importance of self-planning strategy as a primordial metacognitive process that each
learner should go though prior to reading activity for enhancing better reading performance.
As for the frequency of strategies mentioned under the question “What do you normally do
when you don’t understand a part of reading text?” Almost able reported using some
comprehension monitoring strategies like rereading, willing the key works, and guessing their
contextual meaning by reading the section around them to figure out their meaning which was
evidenced several times. Yet, only one student assumed that using either social strategies or
support strategies may be the most convenient solution for solving the problem under
consideration. Thus, they responded as follows:
- I try to understand the whole text.
- I underline the key words.
- I read the text several times or
‫ ﻭ ﺃﺛﻨﺎء ﻗﺮﺍءﺗﻲ ﻧﺠﺪ ﻛﻠﻤﺔ ﺻﻌﺒﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻟﺔ ﻧﺤﺎﻭﻝ ﻧﻔﻬﻢ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺮﺓ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺔ ﻟﻲ ﺑﻌﺪﻫﺎ ﻭ‬،‫ ﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﻧﻘﺮﺃ ﺍﻟﻨﺺ ﺟﻴﺪﺍ‬-
.‫ﻟﻲ ﻗﺒﻠﻬﺎ‬
‫ ﻭ ﻻ‬،‫ ﺃﻡ ﻧﺤﺎﻭﻝ ﺑﻌﺪﺍ ﻧﻔﻬﻢ ﻭﺍﺳﻢ ﺗﻘﺼﺪ ﺑﻌﺪ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻗﺮﺃ ﺍﻟﺠﻤﻞ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺎﻭﺭﺓ ﻟﻬﺎ‬... ‫ ﻋﻨﺪ ﻗﺮﺍءﺓ ﺍﻟﻨﺺ ﻭ ﻋﺪﻡ ﻣﻌﺮﻓﺔ ﺃﻟﻔﺎﻅﻪ‬-
dictionnaire ‫ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻷﺳﺘﺎﺫ ﻭ ﺁﺧﺮ ﻭﺳﻴﻠﺔ ﻧﺴﺘﻌﻤﻞ‬،‫ ﻋﻠﻴﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻔﻬﻢ‬fort ‫ﻧﺴﻘﺴﻲ ﻭﺍﺣﺪ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻷﺻﺪﻗﺎء ﻟﻲ ﺷﻮﻳﺔ‬
- i.e. while reading, I come across an unfamiliar word, in this way I try to read the section
around it to figure out its meaning. If I still unclear, I ask the help from one of my peers,
or my teacher and as a last solution, I check its meaning in the dictionary. (Student G).
As for the analysis of the answers obtained from the five cognitive strategies (predicting,
skimming, scanning, inferring and contextual guessing), the rationale of examining these
answers during think-aloud procedure consists in providing insights on the metacognitive
strategy used by the selected participants during their actual reading process. Because of the fact
that the strategy changes for different purposes, frequencies and percentages are determined for
each strategy type used by the participants which are presented in the following table
Table 4. Types and frequency of strategies employed in think-aloud (pre-training

phase).
Strategy unveiled Strategy classification R.F A.F
Activating background Metacognitive strategy 09 90 %
knowledge
Translation. Cognitive strategy 01 10 %
Predicting Re-reading. Cognitive strategy 01 10 %
Self-management. Metacognitive strategy 02 20 %
Underlying key words of Cognitive strategy 01 10 %
the title.
Advance organizing. Metacognitive strategy 01 10 %
From the above table, it might be obvious and well observed that on the whole, the respondents
made use of more types of cognitive strategies than metacognitive ones, while performing
predicting strategy. The examples of cognitive and metacognitive strategies the learners reported
using them prior to the strategy training instruction can be well explained through the following
answers:
‫ ﺍﻟﺤﺼﺔ ﻟﻲ‬،‫ ﻣﺎ ﻋﻨﺎﺗﺶ ﻛﻴﺴﻤﻬﺎ‬... ‫ ﺁﻩ‬،‫ ﺗﻔﺮﺟﺖ ﻟﻠﻔﻴﻠﻢ ﺷﺤﺎﻝ ﻣﻦ ﻣﺮﺓ‬،‫ ﻭ ﺯﻳﺪ ﺑﺰﻳﺎﺩﺓ‬،‫ ﻋﺮﻓﺖ ﻣﻦ ﻣﻌﺮﻓﺘﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺑﻘﺔ‬-
(Student A)..‫ ﺁﻩ ﺳﺎﻳﻲ ﺗﻔﻜﺮﺕ "ﺳﺎﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺫﻫﺐ" ﻭ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﻩ ﺷﻴﻄﺎﻥ ﻋﻈﻴﻢ‬... ‫ ﺁﻡ‬، Titanic ‫ﺟﺎﺑﻮﺍ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ‬
‫ ﺗﻔﻜﺮﺕ ﺍﻷﺣﺪﺍﺙ ﻧﺘﻊ ﺍﻟﻔﻴﻠﻢ ﺑﺎﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ ﻭ ﺑﺪﻳﺖ ﻧﺘﺮﺟﻢ ﺑﺎﻹﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ‬-
Concerning skimming strategy, the learners made use of set of strategies that can be
categorized into cognitive and metacognitive strategies which are exposed in the table below:
Table 5. Type and frequency of strategies employed in skimming strategy
Strategy employed Strategy classification R.F A.F
Finding key words. Cognitive strategy 06 60 %
Re-reading. Cognitive strategy 03 30 %

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Using background Metacognitive strategy 03 30 %

Skimming knowledge
Directed attention. Metacognitive strategy 02 20 %
Self-management. Metacognitive strategy 03 30 %
Ignoring unnecessary Metacognitive strategy 02 20 %
details.
Reading with a purpose. Metacognitive strategy 01 10 %
Linking sounds with Cognitive strategy 01 10 %
imagery.
Selective attention. Metacognitive strategy 01 10 %
Table 5. Type and frequency of strategies employed in skimming strategy

As shown in the above table, when the frequency with which these students used such strategies
was analysed, it was seen that the most frequently employed strategy when performing skimming
was ‘identifying the key words’ (cognitive strategy) which was employed by seven students,
whereas the use of metacognitive reading strategies which was clearly employed once the
learners were interviewed during the think-aloud was ‘integrating one’s background knowledge’
which was employed by three students as far as the second question of the pre-test was
concerned. To prove it, one may consider the following answers as exactly recorded on the tape:
‫ ﻓﺘﺸﺖ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻷﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﻟﻲ ﻋﻨﺪﻫﺎ ﻋﻼﻗﺔ ﻣﻌﺎﻩ‬،‫ ﺗﻴﺘﺎﻧﻴﻚ ﻫﻲ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺘﺎﺣﻴﺔ‬puisque ‫ ﻭ‬، text deux fois ‫ ﻗﺮﻳﺖ‬-
.‫ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻨﺺ‬
- I.e. I have read the text twice, and since the word ‘Titanic’ represents the key word, I
went straightforward to highlight the main ideas that are related to ‘Titanic’. (Student A)
.‫ ﻭ ﺭﺍﻧﻲ ﻋﺎﺩ ﻋﺎءﻟﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻔﻴﻠﻢ‬... ‫ ﻗﺮﻳﺘﻮ ﺷﺤﺎﻝ ﻣﻦ ﻣﺮﺓ‬-
- I have read the text several times ... and I still remember the events of this story.
Concerning scanning, the respondents rely on a set of cognitive and metacognitive strategies
which are clearly identified and thoroughly explained in the following table:
Table 6. Type and frequency of strategies employed in scanning activity.
Rereading. Cognitive strategy. 06 60 %
Selective attention. Metacognitive strategy. 07 70 %

Scanning Linking sound with Cognitive strategy. 01 10 %
imagery.
Highlighting main ideas. Metacognitive strategy. 02 20 %
Finding key words. Cognitive strategy. 03 30 %
Therefore, to prove the idea that the already elicited strategies explained above were put into
practice during think-aloud, it might be worthwhile to consider their answers which were of
course provided using mixing code approach.
.‫ ﺃﺣﺪﺍﺙ ﻭﻗﺎﺋﻊ ﻭ ﻻ ﺷﺨﺼﻴﺎﺕ‬،‫ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻷﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﻟﻲ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﺍﻋﺪﺍﺩ‬surtout ‫ ﻭ‬les details ‫ ﺭﻛﺰﺕ ﻋﻠﻰ‬-
-I focus on the main ideas (especially those imprising numbers, events and characters). (Student
B).
As regard the use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies when performing
inferring activity, which were unveiled during think-aloud by the participants, it is clearly felt by
the researcher that most of them neither reply the question of the pre-test that required the
utilization of this strategy nor unveil any particular strategy to help them solve such problem,
claiming that the lack of vocabulary was more influential than the effect of background
knowledge. Through the story of ‘Titanic’ was well known by almost the majority of people, it
was hard for some to understand the entire content of the text because of several unfamiliar
words. In addition, it was even difficult and complex for them to infer the meaning implicitly
stated in the text. The results are to be shown in the table:
Table 7. Type and frequency of strategies employed in inferring activity.

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Self-management. Metacognitive strategy. 02 20 %
Inferring Circling the key words. Cognitive strategy. 01 10 %
As obviously shown in the present table, only two students out of ten respondents tended to
use self-management metacognitive strategy. However, the least frequent of all the cognitive
strategies observed in the TAP1 circling the key words and re-reading strategies, which were
employed more than one time. Thus, one may consider what was exactly uttered by the learners
themselves while performing ‘inferring’ strategy during the think-aloud procedure.
captaine ‫ ﻛﺎﻧﺖ ﻣﻮﺟﻬﺔ ﻝ‬l’alarme ‫ ﻫﺎﺫﻳﻚ‬normalement ‫ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻘﺼﺔ ﺑﺤﺪﻙ ﺗﻔﻬﻢ ﺑﻠﻲ‬-

repetition ‫ ﺑﺎﺵ ﻳﻤﻨﻊ‬her / she ‫ ﻭ ﺯﻳﺪ ﺍﻟﻜﺎﺗﺐ ﺧﺘﺎﺭ‬-
- It was clearly understood that the alarm had been given to the captain (1 st question).
- In addition, the writer preferred to use ‘she’ and ‘her’ just in the case to avoid repetition.
(2nd question Student B)
Concerning the last activity, which concerns the performance of guessing strategy, some of
learners still encounter some difficulties, while the others utilize some cognitive and
metacognitive strategies as shown in the following table:
Table.8 Type and frequency of strategies employed in guessing activity
Self-management. Metacognitive strategy. 02 20 %
Using words around them. Cognitive strategy. 01 10 %

Contextual Integrating one’s Metacognitive strategy. 02 20 %
background knowledge.
Translation / knowledge Cognitive strategy. 01 10 %

Guessing transfer
As shown in the above table, concerning the use of metacognitive strategies with the ten
students in think-aloud, the most frequent strategies were trying to integrate one’s background
knowledge (employed twice), and self-management strategy (also employed two times).
However, the least frequent strategies, which were both employed only one time. On the other
hand, the remaining students could neither provide answers during the pre-test nor unveil any
particular strategy as noted as follows:
. contexte ‫ ﻭ ﻋﺎﻭﺩﺕ ﻗﺮﻳﺖ ﺑﺎﺵ ﻧﻘﺪ ﻧﻔﻬﻢ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﻣﻦ‬hum ... ‫ ﻟﻲ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﻫﺎﺫ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺎﺕ‬section ‫ ﻗﺮﻳﺖ‬-
- I have read the section around these words to figure out their meaning and guess also their
contextual meaning. (Student A).
.‫ ﻓﻬﻤﺖ ﺑﻠﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﻧﺘﺎﻋﻬﺎ ﻱ ﻛﺒﻴﺮﺓ‬donc ،(colossal ) ‫ ﺑﻠﻲ ﻛﺎﻳﻦ ﻫﺎﺫ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﻔﺮﻧﺴﻴﺔ‬Je savais -
. ‫ ﻭ ﻻ ﻧﻔﻴﺾ‬sink ‫ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﻫﺎ‬flooded ‫ ﻭ ﺗﻔﻜﺮﺕ ﺑﻠﻲ‬،‫ ﻗﺮﺍﻫﺎﻧﺎ ﻫﺬ ﺍﻟﺤﻜﺎﻳﺔ‬lycée ‫ ﻧﺘﺎﻋﻬﺎ ﻧﺘﻊ‬Prof -
- I have already known that the word ‘colossal’ has a Latin origin, (in French colossal), so I
could understand its meaning.
- Our teacher, of the secondary school, acquainted us with this story, and I could remember
the meaning of floated. (Student C).
Above all, one may claim while analysing the data obtained from the learners’ verbalized
protocol that they do possess some cognitive strategies since they reported using them during the
implementation of think-aloud, however, it was clearly felt that they almost have absolutely no
metacognitive strategies as was better proved in the preceding tables.
Table 9. The type and frequency cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies in TAP1 and
TAP
Strategies employed TAP1 TAP2

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Frequency Frequency
- Integrating one’s background 10 07

knowledge.
- Making inferences. 00 01
- Identifying key words. 01 04
- Advance organizers. 01 00
Predicting. - Planning ahead. 00 02
- Translation. 01 00
- Self-management. 01 04
- Re-reading. 00 01
- Finding key words. 04 05
- Summarizing. 00 01
- Self management. 03 06
- Skipping unnecessary details. 02 02
- Re-reading. 02 02
- Integrating one’s background 03 02

knowledge.
Skimming.
- Directed attention. 01 00
- Reading with a purpose. 01 00
- Skimming as needed. 01 00
- Selective attention. 00 02
- Scanning. 01 00
- Re-reading. 00 01
- Selective attention. 06 03
Scanning. - Highlighting important ideas. 08 06
- Linking sounds with visual 01 01

imagery.
- Identifying key words. 00 01
- Ignoring unnecessary details. 01 00
- Re-reading. 01 02
- Summarizing. 00 03
Inferring. - Circling key words. 01 00
- Self-questioning. 00 01
- Selective attention 01 03

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- Note-taking. 00 01
Guessing - Self-monitoring. 01 01
from the
context. - Re-reading. 01 00
- Knowledge transfer. 00 01
- Activating content schemata. 00 01
Discussion of the Results

In an attempt to consider the results obtained from think-aloud in the pre-training and
post-training phases, one may notice that the most frequently used metacognitive strategy was
integrating one’s background knowledge; which was employed ten times during the first and
seven times during the think-aloud protocols; while the least frequent metacognitive self-
management, directed attention, and self-monitoring strategies which were all evidenced not
more than three times as far as the strategies unveiled while performing the five reading
strategies of predicting, skimming, scanning, inferring and guessing.
Apart from the most frequent and least frequent metacognitive strategies explained
previously, it was obviously noticed during the learners’ protocols that they did rely on a set of
cognitive strategies (as already shown in the table above) among which the most frequent
strategy was re-read (employed six times), and circling and identifying key words (employed
four times). However, the least frequent of all the cognitive strategies observed in think-aloud
TAP1and TAP2 were skimming and scanning as needed (employed solely in the think-aloud two
times), summarizing, and linking sounds with imagery (employed one time), knowledge transfer,
translation and note-taking strategies as well.
All in all and to put it in a nutshell, it might be worthwhile to note down the following
points:
- First of all, the qualitative and quantitative analysis obtained from think-aloud data has
proved the fact that some participants, if not all, have already possessed some strategies which
can be categorized into cognitive and metacognitive strategies, which socio-affective ones could
not be unveiled during their verbal protocol.
- Secondly, some strategies; which are clearly identified and objectively explained from
the inventory compiled from the works of Barker et al (1984), Wilson (1981), Hosenfeld
(1977,1979) as well as the inventory which comprises a set of learning strategies categorized into
metacognitive, cognitive and socio-affective strategies, which are themselves made up of some
sub-categories have not been employed by the learners when being interviewed individually
during think-aloud procedure.
- Finally, the results which were discussed and interpreted in a step-by-step process during
this assessment verify the validity of the fourth hypothesis which states that the explicit /
integrated strategy instruction can have to some extent positive effect on learners’ reading
proficiency in EFL setting though results obtained in the present study have not shown
statistically significant and remarkable difference in terms of the types and frequency of
strategies employed which is probably due to the fact that the learners may have already learnt or
possessed effective strategies before coming to the university.
Conclusion
The present article at hand has endeavoured to deal with the results and has offered
interpretations for the various findings. It was designed under four research questions that the
study has set out to answer. Thus, in the first part the results obtained from learners’
questionnaire have helped in answering objectively the first research question which sought to
unveil the real causes behind learners’ comprehension deficiencies. Then the results, that helped
to yield information about what the second research question aimed at revealing, have been
considered through analysing the learners’ scores of the pre training proficiency test as far as the
five reading strategies were concerned .While the third research question which has sought to
assess whether the learners are metacognitively aware of the usefulness of reading strategies
could be empirically answered once implementing think aloud prior to the strategy training

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instruction . The last research question, on the other hand, which was set out to unveil the
possible effect of an integrated and direct instruction of metacognitive strategies in reading at
awareness raising level on the learners’ reading proficiency at EFL setting was answered though
a post test and another think aloud making use of course both quantitative and qualitative data
whereby to analyse the type and frequency of strategies deployed as well as comparing the result
obtained before receiving explicitly strategy training instruction with those obtained once
strategy instruction was completed .
Thus, in an attempt to offer convincing answer to the first question, and at the same time
confirm the validity of the first stated hypothesis, one may notice that the real causes behind
learners’ comprehension weaknesses can be either due to:
- Their incapability to utilize adequately and effectively some cognitive reading strategies
and how to transfer them in newly provided situations that condition their application
- A dilemma which faced the learners particularly when employing the embedded
approach which was evidenced by numerous researchers whose findings have clearly
proved that such approach generally leads to little use and transfer of strategies to other
tasks.
As for the second research question which sought to assess whether the learners already
possess some reading strategies or not, the analysis of the pre-test clearly proved that some
learners are unable to utilize some reading strategies in the required activities, while others could
utilize them in the most convenient way whenever necessary.
As regards the third research question which sought to find out whether the learners are
metacognitively aware of the usefulness of the strategies employed during the pre-test, the
answers could be empirically and objectively provided once the first think-aloud protocol was
conducted. Their verbalized data have proved that not all the learners were consciously aware of
the strategies employed, while the others were not. This difference can be regarded as a factor
that helps characterize the difference between strategic learners and non strategic ones.
As for the fourth research question, the researcher confirmed the validity of the last
hypothesis which states that metacognitive reading strategy instruction at awareness-raising level
had to some extent an effect on the learners’ reading proficiency and strategy use which was
empirically verified during the implementation of the second think aloud protocol.
About the Author :

Mrs Yassamina HAICHA – ABDAT has a master degree in Applied Linguistics and TEFL.
She has been concerned with educational linguistics, Didactics , ESP and Research
Methodology. She has a five years- experience as a teacher of English in Tlemcen University.
Her research field involves: reading skill, foreign language teaching, ESP and needs analysis,
References
Anderson, N. J. (1991). Individual Differences in Strategy Use in Second Language Reading
and Testing. In Modern Language Journal. 75, 460 – 472.
Brown, H D. (1994). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice Hall.
Carrell, P. L., Pharis B.G., & Liberto, J. (1989). Metacognitive Strategy Training for ESL
Reading. TESOL Quarterly, 23, 647-678.
Carrell, P. L. (1998). Can Reading Strategies Be Successfully Taught? The Japan Association for
Language Teaching Journal.
Chamot, A. U., El Dinary. P.B., & Robbins, J. (1999). The Learning Strategies Handbook.
White Plains, NY: Addition Wesley Longman.
Davies, F. (1995). Introducing Reading. Penguin Group.
Flavell, J. H. (1978). Metacognitive Development . In Scandura, J. M., & Brainerd, C .J. (Eds)
Structural / Process Theories of Complex Human Behaviour. (213-245). The
Netherlands: Sijthoff and Wordhoff.
Goodman, K. (1973). Analysis of Reading Miscues. In Smith, F. Psycholinguistics and Reading.
New York: Rinhart and Winson.
Hoover, W. A., & Tunner, W. E. (1993). The Comonents of Reading in Thompson, G. B, &
Nichlson, T. (Eds) Reading Acquisition Processes. (1-19), Cleverton, UK: Multilingual
Matters.
Hosenfeld, C. (1977). A Preliminary Investigation of the Reading Strategies of Successful and
Non-successful Second Language Learners. System (5, 110-123)
Phan, N. (2006). Effective Reading. Teachers Article. (11, 1- 4).

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Philip, B., & Hua, K. (2006). Metacognitive Strategy Instruction (MSI) For Reading: Co-
Regulation of Cognition. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Salataci, R& Akyel,A. (2002). Possible Effects of Strategy Instruction on L1 and L2 Reading.
Reading in Foreign Language Journal.14,1.
Singhal, M. (2001) Reading Proficiency, Reading Strategies, Metacognitive Awareness and L2
Readers. In Reading Matrix (1, 01-09).
Smith, F. (1978). Reading, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Urquhart, S., & Weir, C. (1998). Reading in Second Language: Process, Product and
Practice. London: Longman.
APPENDIX A: Learners’ Questionnaire

Dear students,
The following questionnaire submitted to you attempts systematically to collect information
about your current difficulties you commonly encounter when reading an English text, and assess
the strategies you may incorporate to face up these frequent issues.
Therefore, you are kindly requested to answer the following questions by checking on the
answer you think it is more appropriate, and make comments when necessary.
1- Age…….
2- gender: male female
3- Stream of secondary school studies.....................................
4- Do you enjoy the Reading Comprehension Module?
¾ Yes
¾ No
Write why …………………………………………………………………………..
5- During reading sessions, what kind of materials do you find yourself much more
motivated in?
¾ General
Algerian
¾ Culturally based
British
¾ Others Specify …………………………….
6- What do you do if you encounter a word you do not understand?

¾ Use other words around it to figure out its meaning
¾ Use other reference materials such as dictionaries and textbook indices
¾ Pinpoint my problem by sounding it out
¾ Ignore it temporally, and wait for clarification
7- What do you do if you come across an entire sentence which you cannot understand?
¾ Keep on reading, and hope for further clarification
¾ Spot the unfamiliar words and look for their contextual meaning
¾ Disregard it completely
¾ Read the problematic part of the text
8- When reading an English text, what do you do to remember specific information?

¾ Relate it to your prior experience and knowledge
¾ Ignore the secondary details
¾ Realize I need to remember one point rather than another
9- Before you start to read, what kind of plan do you make to help you understand better?
¾ No specific plan is needed
¾ Think about what I already know about the topic

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¾ Think about why I am reading
10- Why would you go back and read the entire passage over again?
¾ I cannot understand the overall meaning of the text
¾ To clarify a particular idea
¾ To summarize the passage
11- According to you, which sentences seem not important in reading passage?
¾ Almost all sentences, otherwise they would not be mentioned at all
¾ The sentences that contain details or facts
¾ The topic sentences that have close relation with the main idea
12- The best reader, according to you, is the one who is capable of ….
¾ Recognizing words
¾ Using dictionary
¾ Integrating the information in the text with what you know already
¾ Differentiate between the supporting details and the unnecessary ones
13- According to you, what are the most important strategies thaÿÿhelp learnÿÿs who have
difficulties with reading better understand the text and therefore complete the tasks in
appropriate ways?

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AWEJ
Pp.371- 385
Metacognition: Components and Relation to Academic Achievement in College
Amine Amzil
Faculty of Education, Mohammed V University-Souissi
Rabat, Morocco
Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, USA
Abstract
We report an investigation into the relationships of metacognition with academic achievement in
college and with confidence in academic achievement. Based on a three-component model of the
Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI by Schraw & Dennison, 1994), findings indicated that
both metacognitive monitoring and control are good predictors of academic performance in
college, while metacognitive knowledge is not. Moreover, consistent with the idea that relatively
poor monitoring skills contribute to lower academic achievement, ratings of confidence revealed
that low achievers tend to over-estimate their performance.
Keywords: academic achievement in higher education, metacognition, metacognitive regulation

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Metacognition: Components and Relation Amzil & Stine-Morrow
Metacognition: Components and Relation to Performance in College
Metacognition can be defined as the ability to think about and control one’s own learning
and mental processes. It is widely argued that metacognition plays an important role in learning
because it enables learners to reflect on and guide their learning (Schraw, 1994; Sperling,
Howard, & Staley, 2004; Young & Fry, 2008). Although most research that has investigated the
relationship between metacognition and achievement has been done with school-aged students
(Artzt & Armour-Thomas, 1992; Meyers, Lytle, Palladino, Devenpeck, & Green, 1990;
Olshavsky, 1976–1977), there is evidence that college students with higher metacognitive
knowledge and skills are more likely to perform better on a number of measures of learning and
performance than peers with low metacognition (Steinberg, Bohning, & Chowning, 1991; Maki,
1998a; Commander & Stanwyck, 1997). However, research relating metacognition and long-
term academic achievement, such as measured by grade-point average (GPA) have produced
inconsistent findings (Sperling et al., 2004). The present study set out to investigate this issue, by
specifically focusing on the roles of the distinctive components of metacognition in academic
achievement.
Metacognition: Definition and Components

According to Flavell (1976, 1979), metacognition refers to thinking about one’s own
cognitive processes and comprises two aspects: (1) knowledge or awareness of cognitive
processes, and (2) control of cognitive processes. This definition set the foundation for a later
and widely adopted theory of metacognition suggested by Brown (1987), which conceptualized
metacognition as a combination of knowledge and regulation of cognition. In fact, most modern
research frames metacognition as a construct comprising knowledge of cognition and regulation
of cognition (Baker, 1989; Cross & Paris, 1988; Jacobs & Paris, 1987; Lin & Zabrucky, 1998;
Nelson & Narens, 1990; Otani & Widner, 2005; Pareira-Laird & Deane, 1997; Schraw, 1997;
Schraw & Dennison, 1994; Sungur, 2007). Knowledge of cognition refers to what learners know
about themselves, their cognitive capacities, abilities, and limitations. This knowledge can be of
three types: declarative, procedural, and conditional. Declarative knowledge corresponds to
statable knowledge about one’s general thinking and processing abilities, as well as learning
strategies (e.g., one’s knowledge that he/she does better in multiple choice questions than
inference questions, that he/she performs better in a quiet environment, or that background
knowledge facilitates learning new information). Procedural knowledge refers to knowledge
about how to use strategies and procedures in order to optimize learning, and conditional
knowledge corresponds to knowledge learners have about when and why to use strategies
(Schraw & Dennison, 1994).
Regulation of cognition, on the other hand, refers to the active tracking of cognitive
processes as they occur and the use of regulatory heuristics to facilitate cognitive performance
(Baker & Brown, 1984; Flavell, 1979; Schraw & Moshman, 1995). According to Schraw (1994;
also cf. Artzt & Armour-Thomas, 1992; Baker, 1989), regulation of cognition involves a number
of specific skills, including planning, information management, monitoring, debugging, and
evaluation all of which could be labeled either monitoring of cognition (one’s on-line awareness
of comprehension and task performance, and the ability to engage in periodic self-testing while
learning) or control of cognition (the conscious and non-conscious decisions that we make based
on the output of our monitoring processes) (Nelson & Narens, 1994). Research in metacognition

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focuses on three main skills: knowledge of cognition, monitoring, and Control (Pressley &
Ghatala, 1990; Schwartz & Perfect, 2004)
Although there seems to be general agreement on what the components of metacognition
are, there is also consensus that the relationship between these components remains largely
unclear and under-investigated (De Corte, Verschaffel, & Op’t Eynde, 2000, Winne & Perry,
2000). This lack of insight into the relationship between metacognitive components constitutes a
challenge to the development of the construct, its measurement, and its translation into training
models in applied settings. Thus, in the present study, we set out to examine the
interrelationships among the three metacognitive components (i.e., knowledge, monitoring, and
control) as well as their distinctive contributions to academic achievement. In other words, given
the key role of metacognitive sub-processes such as monitoring and control in learning, we have
decided to examine metacognition under a three-component model in order to assess how it
relates to/predicts college achievement. We hypothesize that breaking down regulation into its
two main processes will give us a better insight into how it relates to performance.
Metacognition, Learning, and Academic Achievement

The relationship between metacognition and learning has been widely researched in the
field of cognitive psychology, educational psychology, and classroom pedagogy. Compelling
evidence from the metacognition literature suggest that metacognition is a strong predictor of
academic success, and that metacognitively aware learners are more strategic and perform better
than unaware learners (Pressley & Ghatala, 1990; Ruban, 2000; Smitely, 2001). In general,
metacognition has been investigated from two main perspectives: (1) the extent to which
knowledge and regulation of cognition relate to achievement, and (2) the malleability of
metacognition and impact of interventions on metacognitive skills and academic achievement. In
the following paragraphs, we focus our discussion on the first perspective which is central to the
present study.
Within the first perspective, researchers have adopted two main approaches to measure
metacognition: the first approach focuses on paper-and-pencil instruments such as inventories,
questionnaires, and self-reports that tap awareness of metacognition. This approach is used in
order to look at relationships between metacognitive awareness and different achievement
measures (Schraw and Dennison, 1994; Sperling et al., 2004). The second approach on the other
hand examines metacognitive judgments and monitoring accuracy and their relation to various
reading and memory tests (Everson & Tobias, 1998; Nietfeld, Cao, & Osborne, 2005; Schraw,
1994).
In a study examining the relationship between metacognitive knowledge and
metacognitive regulation, Schraw (1994) measured metacognitive knowledge by asking students
to give estimates of their monitoring ability (Knowledge of their monitoring ability) on a series
of multiple-choice reading tests. Metacognitive regulation was measured both at the local level
through students’ accuracy ratings after each test, and at the global level, that is rating accuracy
after completion of the eight tests. Results from this study suggested that adult students do not
vary in their metacognitive knowledge as much as they do in the regulation skills. Results also
suggested that metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation develop independently
and that knowledge of cognition does not necessarily translate into a high degree of regulatory
competence. Finally, Schraw found that differences in metacognitive knowledge translated into
significant differences in test performance, confidence, and regulation of cognition, meaning that
high monitors performed better and showed more confidence and accuracy than low monitors.
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Everson and Tobias (1998) were interested in the relationship between metacognitive
regulation in the form of knowledge monitoring accuracy and learning in college. Knowledge
monitoring ability was measured as the mean differences across students’ estimates of their
knowledge in a particular domain (procedural and declarative) and their actual knowledge and
skill as determined by their performance on a test. Learning was measured as grade-point
average. Results from this study showed significant correlations between monitoring ability and
end of course grades in English, the humanities, and students’ overall GPA.
Schraw and Dennison (1994) developed a self-report measure of metacognition called the
Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). The 52-item inventory tapped metacognitive
knowledge and regulation. Schraw and Dennison used the MAI to examine relationships
between the two components and explore its ability to predict performance. Results showed that
there was strong support for the dissociation of two factors, the knowledge of cognition factor
and the regulation of cognition factor. Interestingly, they found that the knowledge of cognition
factor was related to higher test performance while the regulation of cognition factor was not.
In another study, Sperling et al. (2004) used the MAI to assess metacognitive knowledge
and regulation in college students and reported correlations between the MAI and measures of
academic achievement such as SAT scores and high school GPA. The results showed a
significant correlation between the knowledge of cognition factor and the regulation of cognition
factor, but no relation was found between MAI scores and academic achievement. On the other
hand, the findings showed a negative correlation between MAI scores and credits dropped during
the fall semester, which lead to the conclusion that metacognition as measured by the MAI may
be related to the ability to manage the collegiate system. Finally, the findings showed a strong
correlation between the MAI and the Learning and Study Strategies (LSS) Inventory.
Young and Fry (2008) examined the extent to which the knowledge and regulation
components of the MAI relate to both broad and single measures of academic achievement in
college, as measured by GPA and course grades, respectively. Results showed that both the
knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition factors (as well as the composite), were
predictive of both GPA and course grades, which supports a monolithic model of the MAI in
contributing to performance. However, the two scales were differentiated in comparing graduate
and undergraduate students in metacognition, who showed significant differences in scores on
the regulation factor but not the knowledge factor. Results from this study provide support for a
two-factor model, even though these factors are correlated.
While findings from the research reviewed here suggest a close relationship between
metacognition and academic performance, the nature of this relationship is still not clear and
research has not yet come up with definite findings as to which of the main components of
metacognition has a more direct impact on achievement. Findings from researchers such as
Everson and Tobias (1998), Nietfeld et al. (2005), and Schraw (1994) claim a significant
correlation between regulation of cognition and measures of academic achievement such as
GPA, whereas other findings from Schraw and Dennison (1994), and Young and Fry (2008)
show that the relationship between metacognition and achievement at university relates more to
knowledge of cognition than regulation of cognition.
The Current Study

As it has been mentioned above, the present study is an attempt to examine relationships
among three metacognitive components namely knowledge of cognition, monitoring, and
control, and how each of these relates to academic performance as measured by grade-point
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average (GPA). In the same vein, it further examines the MAI as a measure of metacognition and
its ability to predict performance for high and low achieving college students. In other words, we
investigate the existence of any logical links that make students’ awareness of their cognition
(the metacognitive knowledge dimension) and ability to control and monitor it (the
metacognitive skills dimension) account for academic achievement at university level. Finally,
the study explored the characteristics of high and low achievers as to metacognitive knowledge,
regulation, and prediction of performance; the latest is investigated in order to find out the extent
to which results from the present study corroborate findings attesting that both high and low
achievers have low accuracy prediction of performance (Grabe, Bordages, & Petros 1990;
Jacobson, 1990; Maki, 1998b), and that low achieving students tend to be over-confident on pre-
test predictions because they have low monitoring skills (Hacker, Bol, Horgan, & Rakow, 2000).
Method
Participants
Sixty-eight students from the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences and 20 students
from the Faculty of Education-Rabat, a total of 88 third-year university students were the
participants in this research. The group consisted of 38 males (43.2%) and 50 females (56.8%)
with an age range between 19 and 28 years, inclusive (M= 21.34, SD= 1.68).
The choice to include only third-year university students was motivated by a number of
reasons: first and mainly, third-year students have accumulated enough experience with learning
so that they would have a relatively mature understanding of their own learning processes,
enabling them to meaningfully engage with the metacognitive statements in the inventory.
Second, the accumulation of course grades over the two previous years in college provided a
relatively stable measure of achievement measure. Finally, given the fact that Morocco is an
Arabic-French bilingual country, English department students were selected to participate in this
study to avoid the limitations and reliability issues related to translating existing instruments.
Measures
Data for the first phase of the present study consisted of scores from the Metacognitive
Awareness Inventory (MAI) and the students’ cumulative GPA in their first two years at
university.
The Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). The Metacognitive Awareness Inventory
(Schraw & Dennison, 1994) is one of the most comprehensive surveys that assess metacognitive
awareness for adult learners. This comprehensive inventory (see Appendix 1) consists of 52
statements allowing an in-depth assessment of metacognition. The MAI was selected because it
provides a reliable assessment of metacognitive awareness among older students, it has good
psychometric properties, and easily adapts to the three-component model of metacognition tested
in this study.
Its two component categories, namely Knowledge and Regulation of Cognition can be
divided into 8 sub-components, which allow computing scores for individual subcomponents.
While the Knowledge component comprises statements of declarative knowledge (knowledge
about self and strategies), procedural knowledge (knowledge about strategy use), and conditional
knowledge (why and when to use strategies), the regulation component provides statements
about planning (setting goals), information management (organization), monitoring (assessment
of learning and strategy use), debugging (comprehension-error correction strategies), and
evaluation (end of task analysis of performance and learning effectiveness ). Statements from the
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inventory are rated in a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1: I never or almost never do this, to 5:
I always of almost always do this.
Since one of the objectives in the present study is to test a three-component model of
metacognition (knowledge, monitoring, and control) as opposed to Schraw’s two-component
model (knowledge and regulation), the items in the MAI were grouped to form the three above-
mentioned factors. While no changes were made to the knowledge of cognition scale, items from
the regulation scale were divided into monitoring and control subscales based on whether the
items reflected monitoring or control processes. The monitoring scale included items such as: “I
ask myself periodically if I am meeting my goals”, “I consider several alternatives to a problem
before I answer”, and “I ask myself if I learned as much as I could once I finish a task”, and the
control scale comprised items such as: “I consciously focus my attention on important
information”, “I ask others for help when I don’t understand something”, and “I organize my
time to best accomplish my goals”. The rationale behind testing the three-component model of
metacognition is to look closely at the interaction between monitoring and control and how it
relates to performance. (Cronbach’s alphas for the reliability of the MAI originally and within
the three-component model are presented in the results section)
Confidence Rating. One item tapping achievement confidence was added at the end of the
MAI. This confidence in academic achievement was measured by asking participants to rate how
well they thought they would perform in upcoming final exams that were scheduled one week
hence. Ratings were on a 4-point scale (1=very well, 2=quite well, 3=average, 4=bad).
Students’ two-year GPA. Academic performance of the participants was measured by
their cumulative GPA for the two years spent at university. In Morocco, (following the French
system) successfully completing two years at university gives students the chance to join what is
called “les grandes écoles” (literally translated into “the big schools”: Schools of engineering,
architecture, and commerce). As proof of the successful completion of the two first years at a
university, students get a ‘Diploma of General University Studies’; the translation of the French
‘Diplôme d'études universitaires generals’ (DEUG). In this system, DEUG GPA scores range
from 0 to 20 with 10 being the average score and 12+ being the criterion for distinction at the
end of the second year.
This mark is a cumulative average of 16 modules the students have taken during their
first two years. The “DEUG” GPA was used as a measure of academic performance rather than a
one-time test that would not reflect the students’ real academic level and would not be reliable
enough to help categorize students as high and low achievers (in the present study we use DEUG
scores and GPA interchangeably). Finally, a number of studies in the area of metacognition and
self-regulated learning used cumulative GPA as a measure of academic performance and argued
that it is a reliable measure in research (Everson & Tobias, 1998; Nietfeld et al, 2005; Schraw,
1994; Trainin & Swanson, 2005; Young & Fry, 2008).
Procedure
Participants were tested just before final exams of the Fall term. A meeting with the
students was arranged, with the head of the English department and the professor who was
teaching them. Professors were both briefed about the research objectives and data collection
procedure prior to meeting the students. Students were informed about the researcher’s visit in
the beginning of the class period and an explanation was given to them as to the purpose of his
visit which is to collect data using a questionnaire and recruit students for a workshop (the latter
is reported elsewhere). Near the end of the class period, the researcher introduced himself to the
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students and explained to them the importance of participating in similar studies as a way to
contribute to research. In addition to that, the researcher explained how important it was to
understand each item of the inventory before answering, and rate it as accurately as possible.
Prior to completing the inventory, respondents were asked to provide their age and
gender information in a section attached to the inventory. The researcher distributed the
inventory and explained to the students that the information they would provide would remain
confidential and used only for the purpose of the research. Participants were informed that data
analysis would be conducted in the United States and that their information would be de-
identified. Finally, the researcher explained the scale and encouraged students to ask questions if
they had problems understanding the inventory items. Indeed, students asked questions about a
number of items, particularly Item 4 of the inventory, which probed the ability to “pace oneself
during study,” so the researcher provided an explanation and a few practical examples. Students
were then asked to make their confidence ratings. The item was explained and students were told
to be as accurate as possible. Finally, permission was secured from the students to obtain records
of grades (DEUG scores) from the department office.
Results
Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics for the MAI Total and its subscales. The first
row shows the total MAI mean for the whole group. This mean score includes students’ ratings
of the 52 items of the MAI. The second and third rows respectively have mean scores and
standard deviations for knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition based on Schraw’s
two-component model of metacognition, while the fourth and fifth rows have means and
standard deviations of monitoring and control relating the three-component model of
metacognition suggested in the present study.
Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations for MAI Scores for All Participants
Minimum Maximum Mean SD

MAI Total 1.98 4.56 3.78 .44
Knowledge of Cognition 2.12 4.59 3.68 .47
Regulation of Cognition 1.91 4.62 3.83 .50
Monitoring 2.31 4.83 3.71 .55
Control 1.67 4.82 3.89 .52
The first goal in this study was to examine scale reliabilities for alternative models of the
MAI component scales and to investigate the relationships among the knowledge and regulation
components of metacognition. Cronbach’s alpha for the total 52 items of the MAI was .89, and
based on Schraw’s two-component model of metacognition, the knowledge of cognition factor
has a reliability of .76, while the regulation of cognition has a reliability of .87. Based on the
three-component model suggested and adopted in the present study, knowledge of regulation has
a reliability of .76 while the two subcomponents of regulation have a reliability of .81 for control
and .79 for monitoring. This model was suggested in order to look at how the two main
components of regulation differentially predict achievement in college.
The second goal of the present study was to examine the extent to which metacognition
predicts academic performance. The correlations among MAI scales and between MAI scales
and GPA are presented in Table 2.
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Table 2. Inter-correlations among Subcomponents of Metacognition and GPA
MAI Total Knw. of Cog. Reg. of Cog. Monitoring Control

Knw. of Cognition .77**
Reg. of Cognition .95** .56**
Monitoring .86** .50** .90**
Control .92** .54** .96** .75**
GPA .44** .11 .52** .45** .52**
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
The knowledge of cognition and regulation scales were moderately inter-correlated,

however, the knowledge of cognition scale was relatively less correlated with the whole
instrument and with regulation and its components. More importantly, while results show that
MAI can be a good predictor of GPA, correlations between subscales of the MAI and GPA
clearly indicate that this correlation is driven by the monitoring and control scales rather the
combination of these and knowledge of cognition. The latter does not predict GPA at all.
To better visualize the role of metacognition within subgroups of high- and low-
achievers, students were categorized based on the DEUG score. This was done based on the
DEUG criterion for distinction in the Moroccan and French educational systems where a
distinction starts at the score of 12 out of 20 (12/20) and above (as explained in the measures
section). Students with DEUG scores of 12 and higher were classified as high achievers (n=38);
students with DEUG scores lower than 12 were classified as low achievers (n=50). Table 3
shows means and standard deviations for the MAI and its subscales among high and low
achievers.
Table 3. Means and Standard Deviations of the MAI among High and Low Achievers
High Achievers Low Achievers

M SD M SD
MAI Total 3.95 .44 3.65 .40
Knowledge of Cognition 3.69 .48 3.68 .47
Regulation of Cognition 4.07 .49 3.64 .42
Monitoring 3.95 .54 3.52 .48
Control 4.17 .51 3.71 .44
The results show a significant difference between high and low achievers in MAI total,
t(86) = 3.22, p< .05, however, the differences between high and low achievers were specific to
the regulation components. Scale scores for the MAI were analyzed in a 2 (Academic
achievement group: high, low) x 2 (MAI scale: knowledge, regulation) repeated measures
ANOVA, in which the MAI scale was measured within-subjects. The interaction between
metacognition scale and achievement, shown in Figure 1, was significant F(1.86)= 22.10,
p<.001. This shows that the metacognitive advantage among high-achieving students was totally
driven by the regulation factor of metacognition. To examine whether the advantage of high
achievers could be further localized to the monitoring or control component of regulation, we
analyzed metacognitive scores in a 2 (Academic achievement group) x 2 (MAI scale:
monitoring, control). This interaction was not significant F(0.000044)= .001, p=.98 showing

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that the advantage in regulation among high achievers was equally attributable to the two sub-
components of regulation namely, monitoring and control.
Figure 1. MAI Scale Scores as a Function of Academic Achievement
4.2
Knowledge
4.1 Regulation
4
MAI Scale
3.9
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.5
Low High
Academic Achievement
The third and last goal of the present research was to examine the relationship between
confidence rating and achievement both for the whole group and groups by achievement. Results
are shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Correlations for Performance Confidence with GPA and with Metacognitive
Component Scores.
GPA MAI Tot. MAI Kn MAI Reg Monitor Control

ALL PARTICIPANTS -.43** -.33** -.15 -.36** -.39** -.31**
High Achievers Only -.19 -.05 .02 .08 -.22 .001
Low Achievers Only -.32* -.40** -.31* -.40** -.35* -.38**
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Correlations among Confidence judgment, GPA and metacognitive components for all
participants were calculated. Results show an overall negative correlation between GPA and
confidence rating. However, examining correlations between GPA and confidence rating in high

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and low achievers shows that confidence rating is negatively correlated with GPA for low
achievers while it shows no correlation in high achievers. Results also show that confidence
rating is negatively correlated with the MAI and all its subscales for low achievers while they
show no relation for high achievers.
Discussion
The present study explored relationships among components of metacognition, and
between metacognition and academic performance measured by GPA. In the same vein, it
examined the extent to which confidence relates to metacognition and academic performance.
For the first objective here-above, findings indicate a strong correlation among
metacognitive components both in the two-component and the three component factors. These
findings support previous attempts to look at relations among metacognitive factors in the MAI
(Schraw, 1994; Sperling et al., 2004, Young and Fry, 2008).
When it comes to the relation between achievement and metacognition, high achievers
showed more awareness of their metacognitive knowledge and skills than low achievers, and
while scores for general metacognition are not significantly different, scores for metacognitive
regulation and its subcomponents show a wider gap between the two groups. This finding
supports those of Schraw (1994) and Young and Fry (2008) who found that more experienced
and less experienced learners differ in metacognitive regulation but not in metacognitive
knowledge. The results also show a significant correlation between overall metacognition and
GPA, as well as a strong correlation between regulation and GPA. These results support the
findings indicating that metacognition is set of skills that are highly correlated to academic
success (Garcia & Pintrich, 1994; Pintrich 1994), and that metacognition is a strong predictor of
academic success in college (Ruban, 2000; Smitely, 2001). It also corroborates with research
indicating that metacognitively aware learners are more strategic and perform better than
unaware learners (Garner &Alexander, 1989: Pressley & Ghatala, 1990). However, a closer look
at the interaction between achievement and sub-components of metacognition showed the
correlation between metacognition and achievement to be driven only by the regulation
component of metacognition. This finding raises questions as to the inconsistency in the
literature on metacognition and achievement which could be due to the varying involvement of
knowledge in measuring metacognition, while the operative elements are really only monitoring
and control.
Regarding the third goal of this study, results indicate that, in the whole sample, there
was a negative relationship between confidence and both metacognition and GPA but when one
looks at group differences among high and low achievers, the negative correlation was only true
for low achievers, since confidence results for high achievers show no relationship with neither
metacognition nor GPA. This is in support of findings by Jacobson, (1990), and Maki, (1998b)
indicating that both high and low achievers have low accuracy prediction of performance, and
that low achieving students tend to be over-confident on pre-test predictions because they have
low monitoring skills (Hacker et al., 2000).
Implications and future research

As findings from the present research indicate, metacognition and more particularly
regulation of cognition is central to effective learning. Consequently, it is essential that
instructors devote time to tapping their students’ metacognitive knowledge and regulation, and
accordingly plan subsequent metacognitive training for those lacking metacognitive skills. This
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can be easily done via the MAI, the easy-to-use instrument in classroom settings which is not
only a reliable tool for measuring metacognition, but a rich metacognitive-strategy base for
planning remedial training that targets specific aspects of metacognition. Furthermore, the MAI
could be used as an instrument to predict students’ performance in college if it is administered
with placement and/or entrance tests in college. This could provide instructors with a strong and
reliable tool to anticipate students’ low performance and remedy to it through both effective
placement of students or tutoring programs for at-risk students. Future research should use
experimentation to examine effective methods of training students in metacognitive skills that
link to academic achievement. Moreover, it would be interesting to design a metacognitive
intervention that is based on the skills in the MAI to assess the extent to which metacognition, as
measured by the MAI, links to performance in an experimental setting.
Acknowledgments
We thank the Fulbright Commission and the Moroccan-American Commission for
Educational and Cultural Exchange for providing this wonderful research opportunity at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Special thanks are also due to Dr. Badia Zerhouni
from the College of Education “Faculté des Sciences de l’Education- Rabat, Morocco” for her
contribution to this modest work which is part of a doctoral dissertation.
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Appendix 1: the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory

The Inventory
The information hereunder shall remain confidential and used only for the purpose of the present research.
Full Name: Age: Gender: M F
Email address:
Section 1
Directions: Listed below are statements about what people do while learning. Five numbers follow each statement
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) below and each number means the following:
1 means “I never or almost never do this.”

2 means “I do this only occasionally.”
3 means “I sometimes do this.” (About 50% of the time.)
4 means “I usually do this.”
5 means “I always or almost always do this.”
After reading each statement, circle the number (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) that best describes you, using the scale provided.
Please note that there are no right or wrong answers to the statements in this inventory. It is a simple matter of
what is true for you.
Thank you very much for your participation!
Statement Scale
1. I ask myself periodically if I am meeting my goals. 1 2 3 4 5
2. I consider several alternatives to a problem before I answer. 1 2 3 4 5
3. I try to use strategies that have worked in the past. 1 2 3 4 5
4. I pace myself while learning in order to have enough time. 1 2 3 4 5
5. I understand my intellectual strengths and weaknesses. 1 2 3 4 5
6. I think about what I really need to learn before I begin a task 1 2 3 4 5
7. I know how well I did once I finish a test. 1 2 3 4 5
8. I set specific goals before I begin a task. 1 2 3 4 5
9. I slow down when I encounter important information. 1 2 3 4 5
10. I know what kind of information is most important to learn. 1 2 3 4 5

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11. I ask myself if I have considered all options when solving a problem. 1 2 3 4 5
12. I am good at organizing information. 1 2 3 4 5
13. I consciously focus my attention on important information. 1 2 3 4 5
14. I have a specific purpose for each strategy I use. 1 2 3 4 5
15. I learn best when I know something about the topic. 1 2 3 4 5
16. I know what the teacher expects me to learn. 1 2 3 4 5
17. I am good at remembering information. 1 2 3 4 5
18. I use different learning strategies depending on the situation. 1 2 3 4 5
19. I ask myself if there was an easier way to do things after I finish a task. 1 2 3 4 5
20. I have control over how well I learn. 1 2 3 4 5
21. I periodically review to help me understand important relationships. 1 2 3 4 5
22. I ask myself questions about the material before I begin. 1 2 3 4 5
23. I think of several ways to solve a problem and choose the best one. 1 2 3 4 5
24. I summarize what I’ve learned after I finish. 1 2 3 4 5
25. I ask others for help when I don’t understand something. 1 2 3 4 5
26. I can motivate myself to learn when I need to 1 2 3 4 5
27. I am aware of what strategies I use when I study. 1 2 3 4 5
28. I find myself analyzing the usefulness of strategies while I study. 1 2 3 4 5
29. I use my intellectual strengths to compensate for my weaknesses. 1 2 3 4 5
30. I focus on the meaning and significance of new information. 1 2 3 4 5
31. I create my own examples to make information more meaningful. 1 2 3 4 5
32. I am a good judge of how well I understand something. 1 2 3 4 5
33. I find myself using helpful learning strategies automatically. 1 2 3 4 5
34. I find myself pausing regularly to check my comprehension. 1 2 3 4 5

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35. I know when each strategy I use will be most effective. 1 2 3 4 5
36. I ask myself how well I accomplish my goals once I’m finished. 1 2 3 4 5
37. I draw pictures or diagrams to help me understand while learning. 1 2 3 4 5
38. I ask myself if I have considered all options after I solve a problem. 1 2 3 4 5
39. I try to translate new information into my own words. 1 2 3 4 5
40. I change strategies when I fail to understand. 1 2 3 4 5
41. I use the organizational structure of the text to help me learn. 1 2 3 4 5
42. I read instructions carefully before I begin a task. 1 2 3 4 5
43. I ask myself if what I’m reading is related to what I already know. 1 2 3 4 5
44. I reevaluate my assumptions when I get confused. 1 2 3 4 5
45. I organize my time to best accomplish my goals. 1 2 3 4 5
46. I learn more when I am interested in the topic. 1 2 3 4 5
47. I try to break studying down into smaller steps. 1 2 3 4 5
48. I focus on overall meaning rather than specifics. 1 2 3 4 5
49. I ask myself questions about how well I am doing while I am learning something new. 1 2 3 4 5
50. I ask myself if I learned as much as I could have once I finish a task. 1 2 3 4 5
51. I stop and go back over new information that is not clear. 1 2 3 4 5
52. I stop and reread when I get confused. 1 2 3 4 5
Section 2
Please underline the answer that applies to you.
1. How well do you think you will do in the upcoming finals?

very well quite well average bad

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AWEJ
Pp.386-399
Perceptions of Bilingual Identity among Arabic-English Speakers in North America
Jamie Elizabeth Gabrini
Department of Education
D’Youville College, Buffalo, New York
USA
Abstract
This grounded theory study results from interviews with seven bilingual Arabic-English adults
living in the United States. Participants were interviewed about their experiences as bilinguals,
their perceptions of bilingualism, and their interpretations of American perceptions. Data was
compared against previous research about bilingualism and relevant news stories were
considered. Based on participant experiences, the overarching theme was the experiential
dichotomy between men and women and how shifted identities affected home-culture
relationships.
Keywords: Gender, identity, intercultural communication, bilingualism

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Perceptions of Bilingual Identity among Arabic-English Gabrini
Introduction
Arabic, as a language and as a culture, is still addled with confusion in the United States.
Due to post 9/11 hostilities between the US and the Middle East, Americans have exhibited a
tendency to blur the delineations between Arabic and Islam and extremism and terrorism. Too
often, media depictions are limited to violent fundamentalists, thereby creating a threatening
stereotype in the American public consciousness.
Middle Eastern image problems are particularly salient in Western New York.
Lackawanna, a suburb of Buffalo, became infamous for ‘The Lackawanna Six,’ a group of
childhood friends arrested and sentenced as terrorists for visiting a training camp run by Osama
bin-Laden before 2001 (Buffalo News, 2009). Western New York also witnessed the gruesome
case and conviction of Muzzammil Hassan for beheading his wife in early 2011 (Huffington
Post, 2011). Despite strong evidence of severe domestic violence throughout the course of the
Hassans’ marriage, popular media debated whether Aasiya’s death was an ‘honor killing,’ an act
supposedly justified by the Qu’ran to preserve family honor.
Since language and culture are so deeply interwoven, it is difficult for non-Arabs and/or
non-Muslims to understand nuances and delineations. Aburumuh, Smith, & Ratcliffe explored
confusion of terminology and ideology in North America reporting that many participants were
unsure of popular concepts about the role of women in both Islamic and Arabic societies. What
does it mean to be Arab What does it mean to be Muslim? And how is that expressed by Arab
bilinguals currently in the States?
Literature Review
Understanding how language can affect self-view is complicated because language
penetrates every aspect of our consciousness. Although thoughts are abstract, the human ability
to express thoughts within the parameters of a language provides shape and structure to such
abstractions. Can the possibilities and limitations of a given language, then, shape possibilities
for understanding the surrounding world?
Although considered strictly behavioristic in his work, Whorf (1941) explored how words
elicit certain behaviors based on the ways people have come to understand their meanings. The
implications are important because words give shape to abstraction and the meanings attached to
utterances are internalized enough to elicit responses without further direction. This indicates
that language can affect the way in which different people conceptualize the world.
Boroditsky (2001, 2009, 2010) has performed several studies about the inextricability of
language and cognition, including how varying spatial descriptions of time that are culturally
based (2001) and gendered descriptions of objects that vary by culture (2009). Boroditsky’s work
implies that the words available in our languages provide boundaries to possible descriptions,
therefore limiting our perceptions, as well.
Despite the large role language plays in developing culturally bound perceptions, is it the
only factor? What other factors could shed light on our preconceptions of self and of others?
Expressing identity via discourse is both intentional and inevitable; even if one attempts
to adopt an accent to mask his/her true background, this masking speaks volumes about his/her
intentions. This intentional construction of identity occurs via indexicality, which requires
speakers to provide cues, or indexes within an interaction context to be understood by a listener
(Bucholz & Hall, 2005). Indexicality depends on cultural beliefs to be understood; in other
words, indexes are the cues used among members of the same speech community as indicators of
symbolic competence and meaning. Indexes may very well be available to all speakers of the
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same language, but they will only be interpreted as intended by members of the same speech
community. Indexicality can, then, be used as a tool of exclusion or inclusion depending on a
speaker’s intentions. Indexicality may be used by speakers of subordinate linguistic communities
to express pride of heritage or ethnicity, or as a way to distance oneself from the oppressive,
dominating culture.
Indexicality is a powerful tool in identity-construction, but only if understood as
intended. The interpretation relies upon the audience, and they provide another partial account.
This partial ‘other,’ or partialness (Bucholz & Hall, 2005), is a crucial component of identity
construction because it provides the catalyst for reaction: if one is seen as, for example, African-
American, he/she will be treated as such, despite his/her indexes intended to be viewed as
Dominican. Our partial views of ourselves will likely affect the way in which we as people
assess our interactions, and alternatively, other’s partial views of us will affect their assessments
of those same interactions.
Indexicality and partialness help explain the dichotomy between self-view and societal
view, which is important when one considers interpretations of speech and speech communities.
This dichotomy provides a bit of insight into the chasm between popular conceptions of Arabs
and Muslims: the indexes provided by Arabic or Islamic speakers are not understood by those of
other speech communities. Interlocutors then interpret indexes and construct their own partial
identities, largely based on media representations.
Despite the influx of immigrants and refugees from war-torn countries in the Middle
East, few studies have examined how Arabic speaking adults living in the United States view
themselves and their language. Dahbi (2004) claims that in our current post-9/11 world ‘English
is also referred to as a major cultural weapon that had been used by the West to impose its
domination’ and feels that such perceptions do not allow for genuine discourse ‘as a means of
cultural exchange and mutual understanding.’ Due to this lack of discourse, is it reasonable to
assume negativity from Arabic speakers towards English? Or, from English speakers towards
Arabic? How does this effect speakers of both? Further, how do media representations of women
affect speakers’ views? Little research to date has explored any of these questions.
Theoretical Framework
This grounded theory study was performed through both constructivist and social
constructivist lenses. Specifically, it is informed by the Bakhtinian (1981) view of dialogic
discourse. For discourse to be truly dialogic, both or all interlocutors are changed by each other’s
input, even if such changes are barely perceptible. Here, the concept of dialogic discourse will
support Bucholz & Hall’s sociolinguistic analysis of identity construction through interaction
(2005). Bucholz & Hall propose five principles to challenge traditional views of identity
construction that allow for flexibility; identity is not static and is in constant, continuous flux.
The five principles are (a) emergence, which states that identity is not pre-fabricated but rather
an emergent product, (b) positionality, which states that interlocutors position themselves
according to local social categories rather than analytical categories, (c) indexicality, which
states that interlocutors provide culturally specific indexes that rely upon social ideology to be
understood, (d) relationality, which states that identity is constructed in relation to other positions
and societal exchanges, and (e) partialness, which states that identity is in part deliberate, but
also in part determined by those who interpret it. These works both guide my inquiry and the
analysis of my data: how do the five principals of identity construction affect the self-view in the
context of Bakhtinian dialogical discourse?
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Methodology
In order to best access, understand, compare, and describe the experiences of the
participants, I developed a grounded theory study. Grounded theory is well-suited for such work
because it relies in part upon theoretical sampling, interviewing, and constant comparison with
data and against literature (Creswell, 2007; Glaser, 2002). Despite several well-formulated
criticisms of it (Creswell, 2007; Glaser, 2002), a constructivist grounded theory paradigm holds
literature as an integral part of analysis and not as a separate entity entirely (Mills, Bonner, &
Francis, 2006, p. 29). It also allows for researcher subjectivity within grounded theory analysis:
despite safeguards against bias, subjectivity is inherent in interpretation, and the interplay
between researcher, participants, and literature constructs meaning and theory (Mills, Bonner, &
Francis, p. 26).
Participants
Research participants were seven bilingual Arabic-English adults. The definition of being
bilingual is hotly debated, but Baker (1996) posits that bilingualism can take many forms and by
abandoning the ‘monolingual’ view of bilingualism we can view the use of each language
independent of use of the other. Drawing from this view, bilingualism is here defined as
communicative competence in two languages and participants set the parameters for determining
the extent of their own proficiencies.
Procedure
Participants were largely recruited through snowball sampling via friends, colleagues,
and other participants. One participant clarified that she was a native Farsi speaker and that
Arabic was her third language. Both participant and researcher agreed to conduct the interview
anyway because it was determined that her experiences are in-line with those of native-born
Arabic speakers. This will be further discussed in the findings section.
Data collection
This study is based upon recorded interviews with participants. All interviews, except
one, were conducted in person, and the exception was the telephone interview that became
necessary when the participant was called out of town. As each interview was conducted, field
notes were taken on word choice, hesitations, body language, or any other possible cultural cues
that were then expanded into narratives to best capture the essence of each participant’s
experience.
The interview questions were based around personal experience with bilingualism, but
they served more as guidelines than a strict format. Maintaining ease and naturalness during the
interviews was very important, so participants often pursued different topics. Despite being off-
topic at times, this approach provided richer descriptions rather than simply recording replies to a
pre-fabricated list of questions. It also enabled us to access a wide swathe experiences through
story telling which was crucial because participant experiences varied greatly due to age, gender,
ethnicity, country of origin, home language, and educational level.
Although the interviews were the primary source of data, data drawn from literature
memos on relevant research were also included. Such memos helped situate the data within the
context of bilingualism and gender in society.

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Data analysis
Data analysis began during the interviews. Recording interviews allowed me to take
notes as we talked, which were then expanded and used to help create categories.
After all of the interviews were conducted and transcribed, categories were finalized and
data was coded accordingly. Themes were then compared for possible connections or
contradictions (Seidman, 2006), which was then linked to media stories and previous research
about identity. Finally, after all data was analyzed, coded, and compared, findings were
interpreted to develop theory through a social constructivist lens.
The Interviews
The following table displays important demographics about each participant that may
influence the experiences and perceptions of each. Participants represented both genders almost
equally, a wide range of home countries and included a 20 year span. Such a wide span allowed
for varying experiences to be explored.
Table 1. Participants
Name Gender Age Ethnicity Educational Languages Spoken Years

Level in US
Mohammed M 23 Iraqi Kurd Graduate student Kurdish, Arabic, 14
English
Anna F 23 Caucasian Completed English, Arabic, 23
American bachelor’s degree German
Faid M 23 Iraqi Some college Arabic, English 11
Aadam M 24 Palestinian Graduate student Arabic, English, 7

Hebrew
Ibrahim M 38 Egyptian Completed Arabic, English 20
master’s degree
Roshni F 40 Egyptian Doctoral student Arabic, English 2
Zahra F 45 Iranian Completed law Farsi, English, 30

degree Arabic, Hindi, Urdu
To follow are descriptions of the interviews in order to provide some insight into their
experiences.
Anna
Although not a native-born Arabic speaker, Anna responded to an online ad for
participants because she worked as an Arabic tutor and therefore felt close to fluent. She seemed
interesting to interview because she would provide a voice for those who chose to learn the

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language, rather than those who were born into it. Anna agreed to meet at a coffee shop near her
job during her lunch hour on a Saturday.
Anna arrived about five minutes late, apologetic for her tardiness. She was very tall – it
seemed over six feet – with her hair pulled back in a braid and a small silver stud in her nose.
She was Caucasian with large, expressive hazel eyes lined in black eyeliner. She otherwise wore
no make up. She wore a t-shirt from her company with a nametag clipped by one of her
shoulders.
Anna sat and listened as the researcher explained a bit of background information about
the study and she said she was pleased to be able to participate. She described her own
background and educational history, leading up to her learning Arabic and traveling extensively
through the Middle East. She never mentioned why, precisely, she was first attracted to Arabic
culture but her passion was evident with her word choices and her inflection as she spoke.
Anna’s hands mostly rested in her lap during our conversation, unless she was making a
particularly impassioned statement. Her brows would knit with sympathy as she spoke of the
suspicion many Arabic-speakers met in America, or as she spoke of her fiancé in Syria. It was a
struggle to stay on track with the interview and Anna, too, would often stop and redirect her line
of reasoning due to time constraints.
The conversation began to wind down, the discussion turned to a Vogue magazine article
about the Syrian president, which she requested to read. She gave her address and asked that she
be sent a copy of this article as well. Anna was fascinating and has chosen a challenging path in
her life. By converting to Islam, she has created a distance between herself and her family, and
by becoming engaged to a Syrian man, she has set herself up for suspicion.
Mohammed
While seeking to recruit participants for this study, an email was sent to a local K-12
Arabic public school. The principal responded that she would forward the email and information
to teachers to see if there were interested in participating. Mohammed replied about a week later
and said he would be willing to be interviewed. He agreed to meet at a coffee shop near his
university midday on a Saturday.
Mohammed was a handsome young man in his early 20s. He carried himself confidently
and made eye contact throughout the interview. His ethnic background (Kurdish) seemed to be a
source of pride, as was his mastery of English.
Throughout the interview, Mohammed was eating, so some of his answers may have
been shorter than they would be otherwise. However, it is possible that this brevity was also an
indication of sensitivity: although he seemed comfortable, he was discussing his background
with a complete stranger, and so his brevity may have instead been an indication of discomfort or
insecurity.
Regardless, Mohammed talked easily throughout the interview, seemingly self-assured
and relaxed. He indicated a closeness of family that contrasted with Anna. In fact, the theme of
family ties permeated his interview – he mentioned an uncle who sponsored his family to come
here, a sister who had struggled a bit more in English than he did, and his father who was
currently working on a graduate degree as well. Despite any difficulties Mohammed may have
faced, he expressed his self-confidence and satisfaction with his achievements and indicated a
desire to further the achievement of himself and his family.
Roshni
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Roshni was referred to researcher through a mutual friend. She was contacted, and it was
stressed that participation was completely optional and that she was under no obligation to
participate. She responded immediately noting that she was happy to help out. Roshni proposed
to meet at her office a few nights later.
Roshni appeared to be around 40 or so, with thick black curly hair. She looked tired and
maybe even discouraged, but this was a feeling that could have been due to the intensity of her
profession.
Roshni had a very strong presence and seemed intelligent, eloquent, and a little short of
patience with those not up to par. She talked briefly about frustrations with her studies. Her
frustrations could also be part of her tired appearance.
Throughout the interview, Roshni responded slowly and with precision. Not a word was
misspoken. She would pause to collect her thoughts before continuing, and would very often
give extremely detailed stories in response. However, when she discussed her family, she would
shift in her seat or cast her eyes downward, body language that indicated her discomfort.
Roshni’s descriptions about her choices in education were similar to Anna’s descriptions
and were in contrast to Mohammed’s descritions: it seemed that, so far, further education (and
the bilingualism that came with it) distanced women from their families by defying familial and
cultural expectations. Mohammed, on the other hand, noted the benefits of his bilingualism for
his family.
Aadam
The researcher knew Aadam through previous tutoring experiences together. Therefore,
when considering participants, Aadam immediately came to mind because: (1) Although he was
born in Israel, he is Arab and he is a devout Christian. This combination might provide a unique
perspective, and (2) Aadam speaks English without a noticeable accent. His multilingual ease
might provide a unique perspective.
Aadam was out of town when first emailed, but he replied that he would be happy to
participate when he returned, so a time was arranged. When he arrived for the interview, he was
as energetic as ever. Aadam speaks very quickly in English, and one can only imagine his Arabic
must be the same. Like Mohammed, Aadam stressed the utility of his bilingualism over any
problems that might be linked to it. He mentioned several times that it has enabled him to
translate for incoming refugees and at churches. His dedication to community service was
evident.
However, unlike other participants, Aadam seemed to have thought about issues related
to language before the interview. Perhaps his experiences as an Arabic instructor allowed him to
become more self-aware. Whatever the cause, Aadam hesitated less than anyone else and
provided many more direct answers.
As the interview finished up, Aadam made the differentiation between language and
culture. This was really the essence of the interview: language was often seen as representative
of culture. He liked this and offered a few more observations in response.
Zahra
Zahra was the wild card of all participants. She was a native Farsi speaker from Iran and
remained committed to Iranian causes. She also spoke Arabic, Urdu, and Hindi. Despite this her
multilingualism being slightly off target, we agreed to interview anyway. Her focus on Qu’ranic
law might put perceptions in perspective. She offered to meet at her law office.
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For the interview, Zahra wore jeans and a t-shirt and explained that she was not seeing
any clients that day. She was tall, which thick curly black hair and black-lined eyes and was very
elegant and poised, even in her jeans. As this study was explained more fully, she listened
thoughtfully. She replied to interview questions slowly and carefully. She did not seem hesitant
in any way and she precisely enunciated her words.
Zahra fully explored all of the questions asked and was not brief with any. Since she had
been in the US for thirty years, she had many experiences from which to draw. She has also
straddled the Iranian and American communities and described criticisms she has received from
both. Despite the criticisms, she did not appear upset or bitter in any way.
The issue of family came up once again, just as it had with all of the participants so far.
Family ties were growing increasingly complicated. Although Zahra did not note the distance felt
by both Anna and Roshni, she said that she had to ask her parents for help with Farsi because
hers was frozen at an adolescent proficiency. She noted the discomfort that came with such
requests.
Zahra firmly noted that the US is her home. All of her family was now here, and she said
that is what ultimately determined home for her.
Faid
Faid already know the researcher for several years before the interviews, so his family
history as refugees from Iraq was already known. Because he was called out-of-state during the
time of the interviews, he agreed to a phone interview.
It was rather difficult because phone interviews do not allow access to body language.
Further, although the researcher and Faid were acquaintances, they were not familiar enough to
understand reasons for pauses or breaks in the conversation. For this reason, even field notes
were difficult to take.
It is therefore imperative to take note of what Faid did not discuss: Faid had been arrested
on petty charges a few years back and spent close to 9 months in jail due to mistaken identity.
His name came up as not having a green card, which he does indeed have. He was sent to a state
other than the one in which he had been arrested and could not contact his family. According to
Faid, the entire reason for the debacle was that he was driving while Arabic.
That said, it is unclear whether this is fact or whether this is how he explained his long
absence. Without access to his records, there is no way of knowing what the actual charges were.
Was her really profiled, or is that his way of covering up a more serious offense? There is simply
no way to know.
Ibrahim
Ibrahim initially emailed in response to an ad placed seeking participants. He replied that
he was happy to participate and proposed to host a dinner at his home. Since the researcher and
Ibrahim had mutual friends, this seemed a welcome option.
Ibrahim’s family was present during the interview and he proudly introduced everyone.
His children were warm and friendly. Ibrahim’s friend Ali was over, who was also originally
from Egypt. Ibrahim and Ali discussed general things at first as Ibrahim’s wife, Yasmin, came in
to say hello hello before disappearing into the kitchen to prepare the meal.
When interview began, Ali stayed, which made for a very relaxed and friendly setting.
He teased Ibrahim occasionally about his English, and Ibrahim teased Ali back about his Arabic
(which apparently is not very strong since Ali grew up in the States.) Ibrahim was very
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expressive and did not withhold emotions at all. When he described his feelings about certain
things, the emotions registered immediately on his face.
After the interview, Yasmin brought out a large meal and set up the children to eat in the
kitchen. Yasmin served a pasta dish, an Egyptian soup, and a salad. Everything was delicious,
and their trust and generosity was impressive. The discussion continued for several hours,
including everything from politics to education and cultural difference.
Findings
Within each interview, several themes continued to appear regardless of who was being
interviewed at the moment. The initially broad categories of ‘distance’ and ‘assistance’ were
delineated into the codes of ‘freedom,’ ‘ambition,’ ‘pride,’ ‘benefit,’ and ‘liability.’ For the
purposes of analysis and discussion, these terms are defined as follows:
Freedom includes the linguistic and cultural flexibility and competencies to maneuver
within two (or more) domains to best express oneself.
Ambition includes the desire to advance and achieve beyond that which is deemed
average, and is a direct result of access provided by bilingualism.
Pride includes the self-confidence and satisfaction that come with the knowledge of
achieving bilingualism. Pride also includes dissatisfaction when one does not understand or
forgets parts of either language.
Benefit includes the advantages that one has obtained with bilingualism, either for self or
for broader community.
Liability includes the disadvantages that have come with bilingualism.
It is important to note that bilingualism is not seen in isolation. Rather, it is representative
of the education and circumstances that lead up to mastery of two or more tongues. Indeed, none
of these themes occurred in isolation. Pride and liability could be expressed consecutively and
are firmly embedded in the participant’s perception. All of these perceptions are also rooted in
participant experience with different communities and families.
Bucholz & Hall’s components of identity construction (emergence, positionality,
indexicalilty, relationality, and partialness) are the connectors between themes. Each participant
expressed an emerging identity only because identity is never fixed. Their current position, as a
graduate student or as a long-time resident, guided their responses at the moment because it is
part of the lens through which they currently view the world. Indexicality linked their
experiences with those of friends and family; for example, Aadam noted the subtle jokes he
could make with bilinguals, all of which would not be possible without the indexes he provided.
Relationality situated each participant within the context of interviewer-interviewee, a setting
that likely provided insights unlike those that would crop up in natural conversation. Finally, and
perhaps most significantly, the themes developed here can help explain the fuller picture when
one considers partialness: although participants described their experiences, situating them and
comparing them against each other and against current events shows that their interpretation is
only partial. The interpretation and the perceptions of others reveal a side of identity that they
had not.
Theme: Freedom
Freedom was a universal theme. All of the participants described their bilingualism as a
means of access to opportunities they would not otherwise have. For Anna, Roshni, Mohammed,
Zahra, and Ibrahim these opportunities were crucial to their lives. Anna was engaged to a Syrian
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man, an event unlikely had she not been fluent in Arabic and traveling through the Middle East.
Roshni was in New York studying, another even unlikely without her bilingualism. Mohammed
described his ease in English and his ability to work within it to help bewildered travelers, a
phenomenon that would not be possible without his fluency in both Arabic and English. Zahra
managed to complete a law degree and publish in English, both of which were probably not
possible in her native Farsi due to her rather low level of proficiency. Ibrahim was an educator,
an opportunity that simply would not exist for him without his bilingualism.
However, Aadam and Faid both downplayed such freedom of expression. Aadam felt that
he took freedom of expression due to his bilingualism for granted. Still, even he felt that his
bilingualism allowed him to play with language in a way that monolingualism would not permit.
Faid, however, only noted the negative image of this: he expressed frustration when he could not
find words because he had both languages to work within.
Theme: Ambition
Roshni, Zahra, Anna, Aadam, Mohammed, and Ibrahim all expressed ambition through
their interviews. For Roshni, her personal ambition was what led to the distance between herself
and her family, a problem that will be explored further under the theme of ‘Liability.’ Anna, too,
had set clear goals that Arabic helped her achieve: she loved the language and cultures and
therefore converted to Islam and will be marrying into Syrian life. Zahra’s ambition led her to
the US, and her ambition was further driving her mastery of language because criticism of her
and her ‘Americanness’ was driving her to perfect her academic Farsi. She may not have felt the
need to do this without a driving sense of ambition. Finally, Ibrahim wanted to further his
education by pursuing a doctoral degree. All of his academic goals had been supported by his
bilingualism, and his current ambition, as well.
Aadam’s ambition took a slightly different tone. He was driven to work within both
languages, but part of his drive is religious. He was a devout Christian and since most of his
evangelical work has taken place in America, he affiliated it more with English. Still, he was
keenly aware of the insights that bilingualism have afforded him and noted that he was able to
take the best of both cultures in order to be a better person.
Mohammed’s ambition was slightly more subtle. He discussed wanting to further his
education here in the US, an ambition that is possible through his bilingualism. Faid was the only
participant who did not discuss ambition, beyond that of helping his siblings with their Arabic.
Theme: Pride
Like ambition and freedom, pride was also expressed by almost all participants. Pride
took two forms: while all expressed self-satisfaction in achieving bilingualism, Mohammed,
Faid, and Ibrahim described shame and embarrassment when they could not recall certain words
or structures. In fact, Mohammed was particularly bothered that someone recently noticed his
accent. Although the intention was not negative at all, Mohammed still felt that it signified him
as an ‘other’ and not as a native speaker of English. It ultimately detracted from his
accomplishment. Thus, the pride he had previously felt turned to shame when his self-perception
was challenged. Mohammed similarly reported that he does not ‘like to see myself’ as a non-
native speaker. He was very bothered if an American noted his accent or other elements of
language that indicated his second language learner status. This indicated that his pride was
injured because he didn’t note that people made such comments as criticism.

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Theme: Benefit and liability

Perhaps the most significant findings from this study are the categories of Benefit and
Liability. These two themes clearly fall along gender lines.
All of the participants reported benefits to some degree, but the men described more overt
benefits. For example, Aadam described being able to translate for members of his church, and
Faid talked about using his linguistic skills to help keep his younger siblings proficient. Ibrahim
used his mastery of both to petition that New York State offer Arabic as a Regents-level course,
which would allow students to study it for diploma credit.
However, the men did note a few negative experiences associated with language use.
Faid briefly mentioned of suspicion among non-Arabic speakers, but it is safe to assume this has
happened often enough to make an impression worth recalling during the interview. Ibrahim
described Americans yelling ‘This is America – Speak American!’ to him and his wife as they
walk down the street speaking Arabic. Although these instances are not due to bilingualism, it is
their bilingualism that allowed them to be insulted: they understood the criticisms perfectly well
because they were proficient in English.
Although the men described some instances that were most likely the result of ignorance,
the women reported negativities that became crucial aspects of their lives and their identities.
Despite, or perhaps because of, having higher levels of education then the men, the women
interviewed described liabilities associated with their bilingualism, and for each, the liabilities
were big. Anna noted ‘lingering animosity’ among family members for her conversion to Islam.
She also was questioned by the FBI for her ties to Syria, an experience that certainly sets her
apart from most young American women. Anna also felt a responsibility to show Arab culture
and Islam as deeper than what most people see on television. She called herself a ‘cultural
ambassador,’ a weighty title indeed.
Zahra also described the liability attached to her ‘Americanness’ that none of the men
described. She has received criticism from the Iranian community for her lack of Farsi because
they see it as evidence of her cultural transformation. In doing so, her extensive studies about –
and advocacy for – women’s rights in the Muslim world are belittled as being from the American
perspective. Although Zahra did not address this specifically, it is clear that language can lessen
the societal importance of her work due to pre-conceived notions.
Finally, and perhaps most drastically, was Roshni. Roshni had the unique experience of
being placed in one of the top schools in her area as a child, and then being later chastised for her
academic pursuits. She noted several times the distance that her education, which is directly
linked to her bilingualism, has forced between her and her home culture. Even her brother has
commented on her lifestyle as a single woman. Roshni specifically created more distance
between herself and the Muslim population at her university in New York for what she perceived
as a snub by one of the male members; although she now admits she may have been too
sensitive, her fears are well-founded. As a woman in her 40s who has never married or had
children, she has chosen a strange path in the eyes of most Egyptians. Her bilingualism and
education have become a liability because she is now past the marriageable age. In a society for
which marriage is seen as the ultimate goal for women, Roshni poses a threat to those values.
Discussion
Linking these themes back to the initial research questions, then, it is clear that the
participants described a wide range of experiences as bilinguals while living in North America.
For the most part, the experiences have been positive because their bilingualism is invariable so
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deeply connected to education that they have experienced achievement, both personally and for
the larger community. As Shaaban & Ghaith (2003) state, “The use of English… seems to be
based on utilitarian and rational considerations rather than emotional or ideological ones” (p. 72).
Indeed, all of the bilinguals interviewed seemed well aware of the utility of language and were
adept at using it to their advantages.
Despite the tumultuous political climate, only Anna expressed fear. She was also the only
participant who mentioned being investigated by the government. The current turbulence of the
Arab Spring has left her fearful for the safety of her fiancé, and worried that his arrival will be
delayed. Both Faid and Mohammed came to the States as refugees, but neither discussed how the
recent war in Iraq has affected them. Similarly, Roshni and Aadam did not mention any personal
affects resulting from the revolution in Egypt or the constant hostilities in Palestine, respectively.
Ibrahim talked about how his home country of Egypt has declined, but he did not cite recent
events in particular. Zahra mentioned that Americans often tell her how ‘lucky’ she is to be in the
States, specifically when wars in the Middle East are front-page news. She does appear to be
grateful for her life, but she seemed understandably weary of this comment.
One important consideration is that of sympathy: are Americans reacting more or less
sympathetically to Arabic-speakers due to the ongoing revolutions? While the interviews focused
on overall experiences and not only current ones, recent events can provide a more positive or
negative spin on total experience. It would be helpful to revisit each participant in a year and
determine if their perspectives have changed at all.
Only Ibrahim described hostility from Americans. Aside from a few negative experiences
based on ignorant stereotyping (i.e. Zahra’s experience at the border, suspicion of Faid’s Arabic
use in front of monolingual Americans), most of the participants reported Americans as being
curious about their language. Anna articulated why she feels Americans are so curious and then
surprised when they hear her speaking Arabic; she feels that the only times Americans hear
Arabic is when it is screamed by an extremist ‘holding an AK-47’ on television. These images
sully the overall image of both the language and the cultures attached. Cahill (2004) a similar
phenomenon occurring with Gaelic. Gaelic speakers expressed disdain with the use of their
tongue by the Irish Republican Army as a rallying cry for violence. He quotes a Protestant
speaker of Gaelic as saying ‘Every time [Gerry Adams] opens his mouth he puts a nail in the
coffin of the language for the [Protestants.]’ (p. 161). Anna would surely sympathize.
The findings indicate that the most important variable is that of gender. In this study,
gender greatly influenced both self-perception and perceptions of others. Shaaban & Ghaith
(2003) note that … ‘“linguistic attitudes’ covers the following variables: perceptions of the
utility of the foreign language compared to the native language; language as a status marker;
language use in media; language use and cultural identity; language in education and society…”
(p. 55). All of the women interviewed described both their own linguistics attitudes and those of
others. Interestingly, they described almost no discrimination expressed via American linguistic
attitudes; rather, the deepest issues stemmed from gender roles within their home cultures.
Although Sarroub (2005) highlights the differences in Yemeni and American culture,
these ideas were extended to the Arabic-speaking world. Sarroub notes that American society
emphasizes the individual’s moral responsibility to and for himself, but that in Arabic society,
the entire community is responsible for an individual’s moral development. This has strong
implications for the behavior of women and girls since modesty is a highly valued commodity.
What is deemed modest varies within Arab society, but the burden of maintaining the acceptable
levels falls on the shoulders of girls and women, sometimes with brutal punishment for
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transgressions, both real and imagined. Although not from such a socially strict country as
Yemen, Roshni’s experience with both Egyptian family members and Arab students within her
graduate program show the cultural expectations tied to gender that profoundly affect her
perception of self and others. Not as drastically, but still quite noticeable, is Zahra’s experience
as being ‘American’ in the eyes of the Iranian audience. Was she seen as American because of
her lack of Farsi, or was it more because of her passion for gender equality? The two may be so
intertwined that her audience would not even be able to untangle them.
Sarroub (2005) also argues that “… the process of identity formation is one of
socialization as one gains access to social institutions… but it also means that rules can be
suspended and that the notion of self shifts with time and location” (p. 5). While this may be true
for the male participants, none of the women seemed able to fully suspend rules about identity, at
least not permanently. Roshni is in a location that allows her more freedoms than she would have
in Egypt as a single woman, but she is still confronted with pre-existing attitudes about her
choices and what they mean about her deeper character. Anna’s choices have lead to animosity
among family members and scrutiny by the federal government. Rules of identity formation were
never fully suspended for these women and they are facing the consequences.
There are several limitations to this study. The most obvious is that of the number of
participants; seven people cannot be representative of the general population, particularly when
Arabic is spoken is such a wide range of societies.
The second limitation is that of location. Would Arabic-English bilinguals in a different
place, such as a politically conservative American city, differ in their perceptions of Americans,
bilingualism, and self? Even without having interviewed any such adults, it can be assumed that
the answer is yes simply because local society can certainly affect perception. All of the
participants were in a fairly liberal state and were therefore surrounded by certain aspects of
American culture and ideology that would likely be different elsewhere.
The biggest limitation to this study is that of educational level. All participants had at
least some college classes completed, and most had (or were working towards) advanced
degrees. Their bilingualism was crucial to this level of academic achievement, so it is likely that
bilingualism is viewed as more of an asset than anything else. Such levels of education also
indicate that participants are more likely to be based in a domain that is open to inquiry; the
further one pursues one’s education, the more likely one is surrounded by curiosity rather than
prejudices.
Despite these limitations, this study indicates that women have very different experiences
as Arabic-English bilinguals than men do. Given the separation of the sexes in many Islamic and
Arabic-speaking societies, this study raises certain questions for further investigation. Is the
experience of the current participants typical of other college-educated bilingual women from the
Middle East? How would religious, national, age, or cultural differences affect the findings?
How do these women reconcile the benefits with the liabilities tied to their bilingualism? Future
studies using discriminative sample to focus solely on similar women would provide more
answers.
For the women who participated in this study, the liabilities are ultimately the results of
their own choices. The women interviewed had control over their own lives, but what would this
study look like if all participants were less educated? Some refugees have a 6th grade education
at best. How could this study help us understand the sociocultural environment of such women to
help improve their educational chances here in the United States? This is an important
consideration because many immigrant women do not have many employment options here
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without English, but how can they begin to study English when they are not literate in their home
language? For now, these questions will remain unanswered.
About the Author:

Jamie Elizabeth Gabrini is the Director of TESOL Education at D’Youville College in Buffalo,
NY. Her research interests include identity construction among bi- and multilinguals, gendered
speech, and intercultural communications.
References
Aburumuh, H. A., Smith, H. L., & Ratcliffe, L. G. Educators’ cultural awareness and perceptions of
Arab-American students: Breaking the cycle of ignorance. In The journal of multiculturalism in
education, 4. Retrieved from http://www.multiculturaljournal.com/volumes/4/.
Baker, C. (1996). Perceptions of bilinguals. Interculture education, 7(1) 45 – 50.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogical imagination: Four essays. TX; University of Texas Press.
Boroditsky, L. (2010). Lost in translation. The wall street journal, Saturday, July 24th.
Boroditsky, L. (2009). How does our language shape the way we think? Retrieved from
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/boroditsky09/boroditsky09_index.html.
Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought? Mandarin and English speakers’ conceptions of
time. Cognitive psychology, 43. 1 – 22.
Bucholz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociolinguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7
(4-5) 585 – 613.
Buffalo News (August 20, 2010). U.S. gives half of the Lackawanna Six a fresh start. Retrieved from
http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article159216.ece.
Cahill, S. (2004). “The English tongue to be extended”: Irish Gaelic and the construction of identity in
Ireland under British rule. In Ashley, L. R. N, & Fink, W. (Eds) Geolinguistics 28: Language and
identity. New York: Cummings + Hathaway Publishers. 158 – 172.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd
Ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dahbi, M. (2004). English and Arabic after 9/11. The modern language journal, 88(4) 628 – 631.
Glaser, B. G. (2002). Constructivist grounded theory? From Forum: Qualitative social research, 3: 3.
Art. 12. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative- research.net/index.php/fqs/article/viewArticle/825/1792.
Huffington Post. (02/07/2011). Muzzammil Hassan convicted of beheading wife. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/08/muzzammil-hassan-convicte_n_820389.html.
Mills, J., Bonner, A., & Francis, K. (2006). The development of constructivist grounded theory.
International journal of qualitative methods, 5(1) 25 – 35.
Rubin, H, and Rubin, I. (1994). What did you hear? In Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data.
226 – 251. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Sarroub, L.K. (2005). All American Yemeni girls: Being Muslim in a public school.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Seidman, I. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide to researchers in education and
the social sciences. New York: Teachers College Press.
Shaaban, K., & Ghaith, G. (2003). Effect of religion, first foreign language, and gender on the perception
of the utility of language. Journal of language, identity, and education, 2 ( 1)53 – 77.
Whorf, B. L. (1941). "The relation of habitual thought and behavior to language."
Language, culture, and personality: Essays in memory of Edward Sapir.
75-93.

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AWEJ
Pp.400-419
English as a Foreign Language Learning Beliefs and

Attitudes of Saudi College English and Non-English Majors
Hassan M. Kassem
Tanta University, Egypt & Shaqra University
Saudi Arabia
Abstract
The primary aim of the present study was to investigate EFL learning beliefs and attitudes held
by a group of college Business Administration freshmen at a Saudi college. A second aim was to
explore the relationship between EFL learning beliefs and attitudes in the same group of learners.
Using a comparison group of English freshmen in the same college, the study also aimed to
explore the differences in EFL learning beliefs and attitudes between English and non-English
majors. Twenty three Business Administration freshmen and 32 English freshmen completed a
44-item questionnaire probing beliefs and attitudes towards learning English. Factor analysis of
the questionnaire resulted in a 5-factor solution. The five factors are: self-efficacy, the
importance of learning English, the difficulty of learning English, the nature of learning English,
and threat to mother tongue/culture. Results revealed that the beliefs of the non-English majors
concerning self-efficacy, and the difficulty and nature of learning English were below average.
Meanwhile, their beliefs about the importance of learning English and threat to mother
tongue/culture were moderate. A significant correlation was found between the non-English
majors' EFL learning beliefs and attitudes, indicating that stronger beliefs about a FL are
accompanied by more favorable attitudes towards learning it. As to the comparison between
English and non-English majors, significant differences in EFL learning beliefs and attitudes
were found between the two groups of language learners. Pedagogical implications and
suggestions for further research are reported.
Keywords: EFL learning beliefs, EFL learning attitudes, English majors, non-English majors

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English as a Foreign Language Learning Beliefs Kassem
Introduction
With the advent of cognitive psychology, the role such learner variables as learning
styles, strategies, attitudes and motivations play in language learning began to capture
researchers’ interest. One of the more recently investigated learner variables is learner beliefs
about language learning, which refer to “general assumptions that students hold about
themselves as learners, about factors influencing language learning and about the nature of
language teaching” (Victori & Lockhart, 1995: 224). It has been noted that successful learners
develop insightful perceptions about language learning, their own abilities and effective learning
strategies. On the other hand, learners can develop uninformed or negative beliefs about
language learning, resulting in their reliance on less effective strategies and negative attitude
towards learning and autonomy (Victori & Lockhart, 1995; Cotterall, 1995), classroom anxiety
(Horwitz, 1989; Kunt, 1997; Truitt, 1995), and poor performance (Peacock, 2001; Mori, 1999).
For instance, adults who believe that children are better language learners may begin language
learning with some negative expectations of their own achievement (Bernat, 2004).
Influenced by their previous language learning experiences and their own cultural
backgrounds (Liao & Chiang, 2003), FL learners often hold different beliefs about FL learning.
Knowledge of such beliefs may provide language educators with a better understanding of their
learners᾽ “expectation of, commitment to, success in and satisfaction with their language classes”
(Horwitz, 1988: 283). Based on this knowledge, teachers can make more informed choices about
teaching (Bernat & Gvozdenko, 2005; Frugé, 2007) and adopt “a more sensitive approach to the
organization of learning opportunities” (Cotterall, 1999, p.494). Another purpose of identifying
language learning beliefs is to investigate whether detrimental beliefs contribute to poor
performance in a given group of learners, which is the case in the present study.
Research has investigated the relationship between language learning beliefs and such
affective variables as anxiety (Tsai, 2004; Kunt, 1998), motivation (Kim-Yoon, 2000; Banya &
Chen, 1997), and attitude (Banya & Chen, 1997). Overall, findings revealed that learners who
hold positive beliefs about language learning have better affect than learners who hold negative
beliefs. The relationship between EFL learning beliefs and attitudes was explored in the present
study to identify whether the two variables are interrelated in the current sample. Investigating
the relationship of beliefs to other factors, according to Bernat (2006: 203), “bears consequences
for possible instructional intervention methods in the classroom attempting to change those
beliefs, which may hinder the learning process”.
Research findings concerning the relationship between language learning beliefs and
proficiency (as indicated by major in the present study) are not consistent. In a study conducted
by Tanaka and Ellis (2003) the correlation between students’ responses to the belief
questionnaire and their TOEFL scores was weak and statistically non-significant. Conversely,
Bagherzadeh (2012) found that more proficient participants held strong beliefs in the category of
“motivation and expectations” and “aptitude”. Similarly, Huang and Tsai (2003) found that there
were marked differences between high and low proficiency English learners in four out of the
five dimensions of the BALLI. Firstly, high proficiency learners believed that they were more
equipped with special abilities for learning English. Secondly, they perceived English learning as
an easy task. Thirdly, high proficiency learners perceived access to listening and reading
materials, rather than translation, as more important. Fourthly, they enjoyed practicing English

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with native speakers. Such inconsistent findings indicate that the relationship between beliefs
about language learning and proficiency needs to be further researched.
Statement of the problem

Learners᾽ poor performance in language learning can be attributed, in part at least, to their
holding negative beliefs about themselves as learners, factors influencing learning and the nature
of language learning. This contention is what urged the researcher to investigate EFL learning
beliefs of a group of Saudi college freshmen majoring in Business Administration (N = 23). The
investigation was also inspired by the fact that students occasionally voiced negative beliefs
about EFL learning, i.e., “English is complicated and difficult to learn”, “Only students majoring
in English should study it”, “Some students have a special ability to learn English”, and “poor
learners of English will remain so throughout years of study”. The present study therefore aimed
to explore those students᾽ EFL learning beliefs and the relationship that might exist between their
beliefs and their attitudes. In addition to this main sample, another sample of English majors (N
= 32) was used as a comparison group. The aim of using that second sample was to explore if
there were significant differences between the two samples in EFL learning beliefs and attitudes.
More specifically, the study addressed the following questions:
1. What are the beliefs that non-English majors hold about EFL learning?
2. What is the relationship between EFL learning beliefs and attitudes of non-English majors?
3. Are there differences between English and non-English majors in EFL learning beliefs and attitudes?
Literature Review
With the advent of cognitive psychology, research interest in FL has shifted from teacher-
directed instruction to student-centered learning. It is now agreed upon that FL learners bring to
the language classroom a complex web of attitudes, experiences, expectations, and beliefs about
language and language learning (Benson, 2001). That such beliefs affect language learning has
been supported by research studies over the past few decades (e.g. Parviz, 2013; Csizér &
Dörnyei, 2005; Masgoret & Gardner, 2003; Siebert, 2003; Pajares & Schunk, 2002; Zeldin &
Pajares, 2000; Mori, 1999). Beliefs about language learning are often described as subjective
assumptions, representations, and notions that learners hold to be true about language learning.
Such beliefs form a metacognitive framework with certain conceptions that learners hold about
themselves, the nature and difficulty of language learning, the role of variables such as age,
gender or aptitude on the learning process, and the usefulness of certain learning strategies (Öz,
2007; Richards & Schmidt, 2002).
Researchers identified several sources that shape learners᾽ beliefs about language
learning. These include family and home background (Dias, 2000), cultural background
(Alexander & Dochy, 1995), classroom/social peers (Arnold, 1999), interpretations of prior
repetitive experiences (Gaoyin & Alvermann, 1995; Kern, 1995), and individual differences such
as gender (Siebert, 2003) and personality (Langston & Sykes, 1997). For instance, Gabillon
(2005) asserts that beliefs are of social nature in that they are constructed and shaped through
interactions between groups in a society. Accordingly, the society’s general vision about
language learning, the learner's past educational and personal experiences influence the
formation of his/her beliefs and language learning culture. In this same respect, Wenden (1999)
confirms that learners᾽ beliefs can be both conscious and unconscious. They can be acquired

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unconsciously through observation and imitation, and consciously through listening to teachers,
parents or even partners when giving advice about how to learn.
Regardless of their origins, beliefs FL learners hold about language and language
learning can be positive or negative. Positive or supportive beliefs help to overcome problems
and thus sustain motivation, while negative or unrealistic beliefs can lead to decreased
motivation, frustration and anxiety (Kern, 1995; Oh, 1996). Negative beliefs are therefore
debilitative to language learning. An example of negative beliefs that learners may hold is beliefs
about the difficulty of language learning. These beliefs were found to associate with foreign
language anxiety (Horwitz, 1989; Truitt, 1995) and poor performance (Mori, 1999). Learners
who perceived the target language as difficult were found to have higher anxiety than those who
believed they were learning an easy language (Horwitz, 1989; Truitt, 1995). Mori (1999) found
that learners who perceived the target language as an easy language tended to do better than
those who believed that they were dealing with a difficult language.
Another set of negative beliefs relate to foreign language aptitude. Learners who believe
that they lack given skills will not engage in tasks in which those skills are required, and these
beliefs about their competencies will affect “the choices they make, the effort they put forth,
their inclinations to persist at certain tasks, and their resiliency in the face of failure” (Zeldin &
Pajares, 2000: 215). Mori (1999: 408) hints to another risky consequence of the belief in the
existence of language learning aptitude. She maintains that learners who perceive language
learning ability as “uncontrollable” or “fixed” may not exert the required effort to proceed in
learning. In her study of learners of Japanese as a FL, she found that learners who believed that
foreign language learning ability was innate and could not be improved tended to achieve less in
language learning than those who “perceived their own ability as a controllable, increasable
entity”. Other beliefs can be facilitative to language learning. Cohen and Dörnyei (2002) found
that certain beliefs about language learning have significant effect on learners’ motivation to
learn the target language. Similarly, Banya and Chea (1997) revealed that students with positive
beliefs about foreign language learning tend to have stronger motivation, hold favorable attitude
and use more strategies, which leads to better achievement.
Admitting the significant role that beliefs play in language learning (Frugé, 2007),
researchers and practitioners have stressed the importance of identifying learners’ beliefs. Riley
(1996) maintains that what learners believe affect their language learning much more than their
teachers do. Mantle-Bromley (1995: 382) concludes from her study that learners with realistic or
informed beliefs are more likely to behave productively and persist longer with study. On the
other hand, students may have erroneous or negative beliefs, which may lead to a reliance on less
effective strategies, resulting in a negative attitude towards learning, classroom anxiety and poor
performance. Language teachers with an understanding of learners’ beliefs about language
learning can help enhance learners’ success in language learning in two ways: by reinforcing
their students’ beliefs that are facilitative to language learning and challenging those that are
debilitative. Teachers who have access to their learners’ beliefs are better equipped to engage in
meaningful dialogues about learning with their learners (Cotteral, 1999).
Four approaches are used to identify beliefs (Bernat & Gvozdenko, 2005: 4-5). The
normative approach is characterized by the use of Likert-scale questionnaires in the investigation
of learner beliefs. Horwitz (1985, 1987) is generally credited with initiating significant research
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into beliefs with the development of the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI).
Since developed, the BALLI has been used extensively in research conducted to examine learner
beliefs. The inventory covers five areas of language learning: foreign language aptitude, the
difficulty of language learning, the nature of language learning, learning and communication
strategies, and motivations. The metacognitive approach employs semi-structured interviews and
self-reports to collect data about learner beliefs. The contextual approach is based on variable
means of data collection like classroom observation, discussions, discourse analysis, etc. Another
recent approach used to explore language learning beliefs is the metaphorical approach (Ellis,
2002; Farrell, 2006) that identifies beliefs by means of metaphor analysis. According to the
metaphorical approach, the researcher analyzes the metaphors learners use in their writings about
specific topics like expressing their opinions about language learning and the role of the teacher.
An example of metaphors mentioned in research is "language learning is a struggle" implicating
the difficulty of language learning.
A large number of studies about language learning beliefs aimed to investigate frequent
beliefs in different groups of language learners (e.g. Daif-Allah, 2012; Atas, 2012; Peng & Hui,
2012; Fujiwara, 2011; Mohebi & Khodadady, 2011; Boakye, 2007; Bernat, 2006). Another
research interest was devoted to the investigation of the relationships between beliefs about
language learning and other factors such as language learning strategies (Wen & Johnson, 1997;
Yang, 1992, 1999), anxiety (Horwitz, 1989; Tsai, 2004; Kunt, 1998), motivation (Kim-Yoon,
2000; Banya & Chen, 1997), autonomy (Cotterall, 1995; Victori and Lockhart, 1995; White,
1999), attitude (Banya & Chen, 1997), and proficiency (Bagherzadeh, 2012; Huang & Tsai,
2003; Mori, 1999). What follows is a brief account of some studies exploring the relationship
between language learning beliefs and other factors that contribute to language learning.
The relationship between language learning beliefs and strategy use was explored in a
number of studies using different samples of language learners. Parviz and Nima (2013)
investigated language learning beliefs and strategy use among 80 EFL college freshmen (39
males and 41 females) at Roudbar Islamic Azad University. A moderate correlation was found
between beliefs and strategies. Ghavamnia, Kassaian, and Dabaghi (2011) examined the
relationship between EFL learners’ strategy use on the one hand and three other variables
(motivation, proficiency, and learners’ beliefs) on the other hand. Findings revealed a positive
relationship between strategy use and language learning beliefs. Li (2010) found moderate
correlation between foreign language learning beliefs and strategy use among English major
sophomores of vocational colleges in Jiangxi. Chang and Shen (2010) experimented with 250
Taiwanese remote junior high school EFL learners. Again a moderate correlation was found
between beliefs about language learning and frequency of strategy use.
Talebinejad and Nekouei (2013) investigated the relationship between beliefs about
foreign language learning and foreign language anxiety among 42 children in the Iranian context.
The findings revealed that participants held the same idea with regard to BALLI and FLCAS.
Sioson (2011) conducted a study to determine which among the subscales of language learning
strategies (LLS), beliefs about language learning and anxiety was the strongest predictor of
performance in an academic speaking context. The relationship between and among the factors
was also explored. Results showed that all the subscales of language learning strategies, beliefs
and anxiety were positively correlated with their respective subscales. Beliefs about language
learning and anxiety subscales had generally no relationship with each other. Again, the results
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of Sioson's study confirm that the relationship between language learning beliefs and such
affective variables as anxiety and attitudes need to be further researched. This is why the current
study explored the relationship between EFL learning beliefs and attitudes in the Saudi context.
Research results concerning the relationship between beliefs about FL learning and
achievement are inconsistent. Tanaka and Ellis (2003) reported a study of a 15-week study-
abroad program for Japanese university students, examining changes in the students’ beliefs
about language learning (measured by means of a questionnaire) and in their English proficiency
(measured by means of the TOEFL). Pearson Product Moment correlations between the
students’ responses to the Belief Questionnaire and their TOEFL scores both before and after the
study abroad period were weak and generally statistically non-significant. Conversely, low and
high proficient SL and FL learners were found to possess different beliefs about language
learning. For instance, Mori (1999), in her study of 187 American college students studying
Japanese, found significant correlations between some beliefs and achievement. The findings
revealed that learners who performed well in the learning of Japanese were those who 1) see
Japanese as an easy language and 2) believe that the learning ability is not innately fixed.
Bagherzadeh (2012) investigated language learning beliefs of non-English majors with different
levels of English language proficiency. The participants were 125 (86 female and 39 male)
Iranian non-English majors who were studying biology, geography, accounting and science. The
more proficient participants were found to hold strong beliefs in the category of “motivation and
expectations”. Also results indicated that there was a significant difference among the aptitude of
the four groups of participants. Similarly, Huang and Tsai (2003) used the BALLI together with
interviews in Taiwan and found that there were significant differences between high and low
proficiency English learners in four out of the five dimensions of the BALLI. Firstly, high
proficiency learners believed that they were more equipped with special abilities for learning
English. Secondly, they perceived English learning as an easy task. Thirdly, high proficiency
learners perceived access to listening and reading materials, rather than translation, as more
important. Fourthly, they enjoyed practicing English with native speakers. No difference
between high and low proficiency learners in their motivation was found.
Method
Participants
Twenty three Business Administration and thirty two English freshmen at Thadiq and El-
Mahmal Sciences and Humanities College, Shaqra University participated in the study. The
researcher taught Business Administration freshmen a proficiency course, and taught English
freshmen reading comprehension and vocabulary building. The mean age of the participants was
19 years. Their average experience in studying English was six years. The study was mainly
conducted to investigate language learning beliefs of the Business Administration students to
identify whether their poor performance in language learning can be attributed, in part at least, to
their holding negative beliefs. The English freshmen sample was used as a comparison group to
explore if there were significant differences between the two samples in EFL learning beliefs and
attitudes. The inclusion of the English freshmen sample aimed at shedding more light on the
beliefs and attitudes held by the non-English freshmen sample.
Instrument

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A questionnaire was developed by the researcher to assess the participants᾽ EFL learning
beliefs and attitudes towards learning English. It has two subscales: one for beliefs and the other
for attitudes. Relevant literature helped the researcher in developing the items concerning beliefs
(Horwitz, 1985, 1987) and attitudes (Boonrangsri, Chuaymankhong, Rermyindee, &
Vongchittpinyo, 2004; Gardner, 1985). Furthermore, the researcher used the comments that
learners who took the course before voiced about learning English. The researcher used to jot
down any comments relevant to beliefs about learning English in a special diary. There are two
important observations about the belief subscale. The first is that beliefs tested are of the general
type that can affect attitude to the language and willingness to exert the due efforts to learn it.
For instance, items relevant to the nature of learning English tapped general principles (e.g.
Success in learning English depends on the teacher, not on the student) rather than such specific
aspects as the relative importance of learning vocabulary or grammar rules. The second
observation is that this subscale, unlike the BALLI, can provide overall scores. Items that
indicate positive beliefs if disagreed to are reverse coded so that higher means indicate more
positive beliefs. Hence, a participant can get high means if he agrees to some items and if he
disagrees to others. It all depends on the beliefs expressed being positive or negative. Reverse
coded items will be highlighted when presenting and discussing results.
The belief subscale that initially included 35 items was content validated by three EFL
professors to decide on its validity for probing beliefs about learning English. Based on the
recommendations of the specialists, some items were either reworded or deleted. The
questionnaire was then piloted on 46 students to check its internal consistency. A factor analysis
with Varimax rotation and eigenvalues of ≥ 1 was conducted on the responses of the pilot sample
to decide on the items to be included in the final version of the questionnaire. Prior to the
principal component analysis, the suitability of the data for the factor analysis was assessed. The
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was .773, which is larger than the recommended value of .6.
This indicates that the relationships among the items are strong enough. The Bartlett’s Test of
Sphericity result was significant, χ2 = 884.331, p < .000. All these test results together affirmed
that the items are sufficiently intercorrelated to produce underlying factors. Thus the factorability
of the data was supported. Items with factor loadings less than .4 or those that loaded
significantly on more than one factor were deleted and the correlation matrix was reanalyzed. A
five factor solution was found, which accounted for 63.30% of the total variance in beliefs about
learning English. Examining the content of items that loaded onto the five factors, the researcher
labeled the five factors as follows: (1) self-efficacy (9 items: variance explained: 18.052%), (2)
the importance of learning English (6 items: variance explained 16.879%), (3) the difficulty of
learning English (3 items: variance explained 12.076%), (4) the nature of learning English (3
items: variance explained: 8.764%), and (5) threat to mother tongue/culture (2 items: variance
explained: 7.53%). The alpha estimate of the questionnaire's internal consistency was.88. Details
of factor loadings of items constituting each factor are given in Appendix 2. The final form of the
belief subscale consisted of 23 items.
The attitude subscale aimed to probe participants' attitudes towards learning English. The
items were partly adapted from the attitude questionnaire employed in a study by Boonrangsri,
Chuaymankhong, Rermyindee & Vongchittpinyo (2004). Other items were taken from Attitude
and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) designed by Gardner (1985). Furthermore, some items
were developed by the researcher. Items were selected and developed in the light of three aspects

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of attitude presented in relevant literature: behavioral, cognitive, and emotional. The behavioral
aspect deals with the way one behaves and reacts in particular situations. The cognitive aspect
refers to beliefs language learners hold about the knowledge they receive and their understanding
in the process of language learning. Inner feelings and emotions of FL learners are included
under the emotional aspect. Selecting and developing items within these three aspects was meant
to make sure that all aspects of attitude are represented. However, overall scores were only used
in statistical treatment of data since, in the present study, attitude comes second in importance to
language learning beliefs. The preliminary subscale consisted of 30 items, some of which were
negatively worded. It was then submitted to a cohort of TEFL specialists to decide on its validity
for assessing EFL learners' attitude towards learning English. Recommended changes were
performed by deletion, addition, or modification. This left the attitude subscale with 21 items
that were then administered to a pilot sample of 46 students to establish its reliability. Its alpha
estimate of internal consistency was found to be .93, which is quite reliable.
The summated rating method was used in scoring the two subscales in the questionnaire.
Participants were asked to respond to items by indicating how far they agree to the statements on
a five-point rating scale. Each response was associated with a point value, where “Strongly
agree” was assigned a point value of 5 and the response “Strongly disagree” a point value of 1.
Items with negative statement in the attitude subscale were reverse coded so that higher scores
indicate more positive attitude.
Data Collection and Analysis
The data obtained from the 55 completed questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS
15.0 package program. Percentages were used to identify frequency of target beliefs. The
correlations between beliefs and attitudes were computed using means. Means were also utilized
to examine the differences between the two groups in beliefs and attitudes.
Results and Discussion
The results section begins with the frequency of beliefs held by Business Administration
students. Then the correlation between learning beliefs and attitudes of the same group is
presented. No reference was made to English majors here to place more emphasis on beliefs and
attitudes held by Business Administration students. The final section presents the results of the
comparison between the two samples in learning beliefs and attitudes.
The beliefs that non-English majors held about EFL Learning
The percentages presented in Tables 1-5 below provides the answer to the first research
question “What are the beliefs that non-English majors hold about EFL learning?” The two
points (agree and strongly agree) and (disagree and strongly disagree) were grouped together so
as to find out whether the participants had positive or negative beliefs on one item. Data
concerning each belief factor are presented separately.
Table 1: Self-efficacy
Items Agree Disagree Neutral
2. Saudi people are good at learning English 43% 30% 26%
3. I have a special ability for learning English 51% 22% 27%
5. I believe that I will ultimately learn to speak English very well 48% 17% 35%
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7. A poor learner of English will remain so throughout years of study 30% 65% 4%
10. I know how to improve my English 39% 30% 30%
12. I think I learn English well compared with my classmates 48% 30% 22%
19. When I encounter difficulties in learning English, I do not give up 48% 26% 26%
20. I can identify and overcome my weaknesses in English 48% 30% 22%
Note: The percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number, so the total of all the percentages of one item isn’t
always one hundred.
The items in the above table relate to self-efficacy beliefs, i.e., learners' perceived
aptitude and competencies. It is obvious that learners' evaluation of their aptitude to learn
English and their competence in progressing in language learning is below average. From 39% to
51% of the participants agreed that they had aptitude to learn English (item 3), believed they
would ultimately learn to speak English very well (item 5), and had the ability to identify and
overcome weaknesses (item 20) and improve their English (item 10). These beliefs about self-
efficacy are consistent with a belief 43% of the participants held about Saudi people being good
at learning English (item 2). Less than half of the participants (48%) agreed that they learn
English well compared to their classmates (item 12). They also revealed moderate persistence in
the face of difficulties (item 19). The only somehow strong belief they held was that a poor
learner of English does not necessarily remain so throughout years of study. That is, they
believed that an unsuccessful learner can promote himself and that no one is doomed to be weak
in learning English. Overall, participants' beliefs in their aptitude and competencies proved to be
below average.
Table 2: The importance of learning English
1. English is the most important language all over the world 52% 22% 26%
8. Saudi people respect persons who speak English well 56% 13% 30%
11. Saudi people think it is important to lean English 56% 9% 35%
13. Learning English should be limited to persons who need it 26% 52% 22%
16. Learning English increases one's understanding of the world 83% 9% 9%
18. There's no need for English in my country because Arabic can suffice 17% 56% 26%
Table 2 reveals that participants held moderate beliefs about the importance of learning
English. Fifty six percent of the participants agreed that Saudi people think it is important to
learn English (item 11) and respect persons who speak English well (item 8). Only 52% of the
participants saw English as the most important language all over the world. The reason for this
somehow low percentage may be bias towards Arabic. There seems to be a cultural belief in
Saudi Arabia that Arabic comes at the top of human languages because it is the language of
Islam and Holy Qura'n. However, more than half of the participants saw that English should be
taught in Saudi Arabia (56%) and that its learning should not be limited to persons who need it
(52%). A strong belief held by most participants (83%) is that learning English increases one's
understanding of the world. Overall, participants' beliefs about the importance of English were
moderate. One possible reason for this is bias towards Arabic which they conceive of as a holy
language.

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Table 3: The difficulty of learning English

6. English is a very difficult language 52% 48% 0%
15. Learning English is easy to me 35% 39% 26%
21. Saudi people think that learning English is difficult 30% 48% 22%
Table 3 provides information concerning participants’ beliefs about the difficulty of

learning English. Only 30% of the participants agreed that Saudi people conceive of learning
English as difficult (item 21). A bigger number (48%) held the belief that learning English is
easy in Saudi culture. However, when it comes to personal experience, more than half of the
participants (52%) confirmed that English is a very difficult language (item 6). Concurring with
this, only 35% confirmed that learning English is easy to them (item 15). It seems that there is a
difference when judgment is based on culture and on personal experience. Learners may hear it
around that learning English is easy, but in reality they may be facing difficulty in learning
English. This seems reasonable taking into account that participants’ proficiency is poor.
Table 4: The nature of learning English
4. It is necessary to know about English-speaking cultures 39% 48% 13%
9. Success in learning English depends on the teacher, not on the student 52% 26% 22%
14. You should not say anything in English until you can say it correctly 30% 30% 39%
As shown in Table 4, only 39 percent of the participants agreed that it is necessary to

know about English-speaking cultures. A bigger percentage (48%) reported knowing about the
culture of English-speaking countries as unimportant. More than half of the participants agreed
that learning English depends on the teacher, not on the student. Placing more emphasis on the
teacher than on the learner may be used, unconsciously at least, to justify poor performance in
learning English. This is evident in students’ comment that they are not good at learning English
because they did not have good teachers in their pre-university education. It is beyond doubt that
the role of the teacher is important, but the role of the learner is of more importance. The same
number of students (30%) agreed and disagreed to the item that you should not say anything in
English until you can say it correctly. Perhaps students did not understand that the item meant
that one should use language even if he makes mistakes. For this reason, a bigger percentage of
students (39%) were neutral to this item. Overall, participants’ beliefs concerning the nature of
learning English tended to be negative.
Table 5: Threat to mother tongue and culture
17. Learning English threatens the Arabic language 35% 43% 22%
23. Learning English can violate the traditions of the Saudi society 26% 39% 35%
Responses to items 17 and 23 in Table 5 show that a large percentage of participants did
not see English and its learning as threatening to the Arabic language or the traditions of the
Saudi society. Only 35% and 26% of the participants agreed that learning English threatens the
Arabic language (item 17) and that learning English can violate the traditions of the Saudi

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society (item 23) respectively. What should be noted here is that several students were neutral to
the two items, indicating that they did not have established beliefs concerning this factor.
Students’ beliefs about this factor were inconsistent with the researcher's expectation that was
founded on past students comments.
Based on the descriptive statistics presented in the above section, the present study
indicated that Business Administration students held various beliefs about EFL learning. Their
beliefs about their self-efficacy, and the difficulty and nature of EFL learning were below
average. Meanwhile, they held moderate beliefs about the importance of EFL learning and threat
to mother tongue and culture. The unexpected finding in this respect is that beliefs about EFL
learning being threatening to the mother tongue and traditions are not frequent among students.
The researcher expected that such beliefs would be highly frequent based on past student
comments. Those comments did not seem to reflect a mainstream of bias against EFL learning in
the Saudi context.
The relationship between EFL beliefs and attitudes of non-English freshmen
The data presented in Table 6 below provides the answer to the second research question
“What is the relationship between EFL learning beliefs and attitudes of non-English freshmen?”
Table 6: Correlation between beliefs and attitude
Importance of Difficulty of Nature of EFL Threat to mother
Self-efficacy Total Belief
EFL learning EFL learning learning tongue & culture
Attitude .743** .799** .562** .412 .265 .850**
** Correlation is significant at the .01 level
As illustrated in Table 6, significant correlations were found between attitude and three belief
factors: self-efficacy, importance of learning English and difficulty of learning English. That is,
students who have higher self-efficacy, see English and its learning as important, and perceive
English as an easy language tend to have more positive beliefs about EFL learning. Nevertheless,
no significant correlations were found between attitude and two belief factors: the nature of
language learning and threat to mother tongue and culture. The correlation between attitude and
the nature of EFL learning was near to significance (r = .412). Overall, data revealed a strong
relationship between attitude and beliefs about English learning. This means that students who
hold strong beliefs about EFL learning tend to have more positive attitudes towards it.
The Effect of major on EFL learning Beliefs and attitude
Another aim for the present study was to find out whether there are any significant
differences in learners' beliefs and attitudes towards EFL learning that are attributable to major.
Hence, the ANOVA test was used to probe the differences, if any exists, between Business
Administration and English freshmen in beliefs and attitudes towards EFL learning. (See
appendix 3 for belief frequency of English freshmen).
Table 7: Differences between the two groups in beliefs about self-efficacy
Items Group M SD F P value
Adm. 3.2 1.0
2. Saudi people are good at learning English 6.2 .016
Eng. 3.9 .90
3. I have a special ability for learning English Adm. 3.3 1.2 5.9 .015
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Eng. 4.1 .96

Adm. 3.4 1.0
5. I believe that I will ultimately learn to speak English very well 27.5 .000
Eng. 4.5 .57
Adm. 3.3 1.6
*7. A poor learner of English will remain so throughout years of study 4.1 .048
Eng. 4.1 1.1
Adm. 3.1 1.2
10. I know how to improve my English 8.6 .005
Eng. 4 1.0
Adm. 3.3 1.0
12. I think I learn English well compared with my classmates .3 .589
Eng. 3.5 1.1
Adm. 3.4 1.2
19. When I encounter difficulties in learning English, I do not give up 4.5 .038
Eng. 4 1.0
Adm. 3.2 1.1
20. I can identify & overcome my weaknesses in English 11 .002
Eng. 4.1 .84
Adm. 2.7 1.1
*22. I do not think that I am a good learner of English 6.8 .012
Eng. 3.6 1.3
* These items were reverse coded, so higher means indicate stronger disagreement
Table 7 shows that there are significant differences in self-efficacy beliefs between
English and Business Administration freshmen in 8 out of 9 items in favor of English freshmen.
English freshmen hold stronger beliefs that they have a special ability for learning English, will
ultimately learn to speak English very well, know how to improve their English, have the ability
to persist in the face of learning difficulties, can identify and overcome their weaknesses in
English, and are good language learners. They also hold a more positive view that Saudi people
are good at learning English and that a poor learner of English does not necessarily remain so
throughout years of study. No significant difference was found between the two groups in item
12 about learning English well compared with classmates. Overall, English freshmen have
stronger self-efficacy beliefs than do Business Administration freshmen.
Table 8: Differences between the two groups in beliefs about the importance of EFL learning
Adm. 3.6 1.3
1. English is the most important language all over the world 5.9 .018
Eng. 4.3 .93
8. Saudi people respect persons who speak English well Adm. 3.7 1.0
.6 .429
Eng. 3.9 .93
Adm. 3.6 .98
11. Saudi people think it is important to lean English 10 .002
Eng. 4.4 .75
*13. Learning English should be limited to persons who need it Adm. 3.3 1.2
6 .016
Eng. 4.1 .99
16. Learning English increases one's understanding of the world Adm. 4.1 .92
.009 .926
Eng. 4.1 1.0
*18. There's no need for E in my country because Arabic can suffice Adm. 3.6 1.1
10.3 .002
Eng. 4.4 .75
Data in the above table reveal that English freshmen have significantly stronger beliefs
than their business Administration counterparts in 4 out of 6 items that relate to the importance
of EFL learning. Their perceptions are more illuminated concerning English being the most
important language all over the world, the importance of EFL learning in Saudi culture, the
necessity to extend EFL learning to all students, and the need to learn English side by side with
the mother tongue. The two groups share the same beliefs that Saudi people respect persons who
speak English well and that learning English increases one's understanding of the world.
Table 9: Differences between the two groups in beliefs about the difficulty of EFL learning

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Adm. 2.9 1.2
*6. English is a very difficult language 4.7 .034
Eng. 3.6 1.1
Adm. 3 1.2
15. Learning English is easy to me 6.5 .014
Eng. 3.7 0.9
Adm. 3.3 1.2
*21. Saudi people think that learning English is difficult .93 .338
Eng. 3.6 1.3
It is clear from Table 9 that the two groups have the same belief that Saudi people think
that learning English is easy. However, English freshmen possess stronger beliefs than Business
administration freshmen that English is an easy language and that its learning is easy. That EFL
learning is easier to English than it is to non-English majors is logical. Students make for
specializations that are learnable and enjoyable to them. Perhaps students who made for EFL
learning in the university had more successful EFL learning experiences in their pre-university
education.
Table 10: Differences between the two groups in beliefs about the nature of EFL learning
4. It is necessary to know about English-speaking cultures in Adm. 3 1.4
11.1 .002
order to speak English Eng. 4.1 .9
*9. Success in learning English depends on the teacher, not on Adm. 2.5 1.1
14.8 .000
the student Eng. 3.7 1.1
*14. You should not say anything in English until you can say Adm. 3.1 1.1
Eng. 4.1 1.2 8.3 .006
it correctly
Data in Table 10 shows the presence of significant differences between Administrative

and English freshmen in the three items constituting perceptions about the nature of EFL
learning in favor of English freshmen. This means that English freshmen are more
understandable of the nature of EFL learning. This seems logical taking into consideration that
they are English majors. They therefore have stronger beliefs that knowing about English-
speaking cultures is necessary for speaking English well, that success in learning English
depends more on the student than on the teacher, and that one should not postpone speaking the
language until s/he masters it. Undoubtedly, such beliefs make the learner more energetic in his
endeavors to learn the FL.
Table 11. Differences between the two groups in beliefs about threat to mother tongue/culture
Adm. 3.2 1.3
*17. Learning English threatens the Arabic language 2.1 .159
Eng. 3.6 1.1
Adm. 3.1 1.2
*23. Learning English can violate the traditions of the Saudi society 7 .011
Eng. 4 1.1
As listed in Table 11, English freshmen have stronger belief, compared to Administrative
freshmen, that learning English does not violate the traditions of the Saudi society. However, the
two groups of students share the same belief that learning English does not threaten the Arabic
language. This is consistent with the moderate beliefs that Administrative freshmen held about
the importance of EFL learning. Another possible explanation is that the Arabic language, being
the language of the Holy Qura'n, will persist in the face of any other language. This seems to be a
common belief in Saudi Arabia and other Arabic-speaking Moslem countries.
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Table 12. Differences between the two groups in total scores of belief factors
Belief Factor Group M SD F P value
Adm. 3.2 .25
Self-efficacy 28.6 .000
Eng. 4 .31
Adm. 3.6 .26
Importance of learning English 17.7 .002
Eng. 4.2 .19
Adm. 3 .18
Difficulty of learning English 26.3 .007
Eng. 3.6 .07
Adm. 2.9 .34
Nature of learning English 21.5 .010
Eng. 3.9 .20
Adm. 3.1 .031
Threat to mother tongue and culture 13.8 .065
Eng. 3.8 .24
Adm. 3.3 .34
Total belief 52.4 .000
Eng. 4 .30
Data in Table 12 confirm that English freshmen have stronger beliefs about EFL learning
than do Business Administration freshmen in 4 out of 5 belief factors: self-efficacy, the
importance of learning English, the difficulty of learning English, and the nature of learning
English. A difference was found between the two groups concerning threat to mother tongue and
culture in favor of English freshmen, but it was not significant (F = 13.8, p= .06). This indicates
that both groups did not conceive of English as threatening to the mother tongue and culture.
Overall, English freshmen held much stronger beliefs about EFL learning than Business
Administration freshmen.
The finding that Saudi English majors hold strong beliefs about EFL learning is
consistent with the study of Daif-Allah (2012) who used BALLI with a comparable sample, i.e.,
Saudi first-year English language majors. The finding that English majors hold stronger beliefs
than non-English majors is not consistent with the findings of Tanaka and Ellis (2003) who
found weak and nonsignifiant relationship between proficiency and beliefs. This finding is
nevertheless in line with other studies (e.g., Mori, 1999; Bagherzadeh, 2012; Huang & Tsai
(2003). For instance, Huang and Tsai (2003) found significant differences between high and low
proficiency English learners in four out of the five dimensions of the BALLI. That English
majors hold stronger beliefs than non-English majors does not necessarily mean that stronger
beliefs alone make the difference between the two groups of language learners. What can be
safely contended is that beliefs constitute one of the factors that differentiate low and high
proficiency language learners.
Table 13.Differences between the two groups in attitudes towards EFL learning
Group M SD F P value
Adm. 3.4 .51
Attitude 16.2 .000
Eng. 4 .41
As listed in Table 13, a significant difference was found between English and Business
Administration freshmen in attitudes towards EFL learning in favor of English freshmen. This
means that stronger beliefs about EFL learning are accompanied by more positive beliefs
towards it. This is consistent with Banya-Chen's (1997) finding that students with positive beliefs
about FL learning tend to have strong motivation and hold favorable attitude.

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Conclusion and implications

The purpose of this study was to investigate EFL Learning beliefs and attitudes in a
group of non-English Saudi college freshmen (Business Administration). It also explored
differences between English and non-English freshmen in beliefs and attitudes towards EFL
learning. Results revealed that non-English freshmen's beliefs about their self-efficacy, and the
difficulty and nature of EFL learning were below average. Meanwhile, their beliefs about the
importance of EFL learning and threat to mother tongue and culture were moderate. Contrary to
the researcher's expectation, non-English freshmen did not conceive of learning English as
threatening to their mother tongue and culture. A strong relationship was found between the non-
English freshmen's EFL learning beliefs and attitudes, indicating that stronger beliefs are
accompanied by more favorable attitudes. The findings also revealed that English freshmen hold
stronger beliefs and more favorable attitudes towards EFL learning than do non-English
freshmen.
The study stresses the importance of identifying beliefs in different groups of FL learners.
The identification of beliefs, if done prior to teaching a given group of FL learners, can be very
valuable to practitioners. Language teachers with an understanding of learners’ beliefs about
language learning can help enhance learners’ success in language learning in two ways: by
reinforcing their students’ beliefs that are facilitative to language learning and by challenging
those that are debilitative. Teachers who have access to their learners’ beliefs are better equipped
to engage in meaningful dialogue about learning with their learners. For instance, it can make a
big difference if a teacher succeeds through dialogue and practice to dispel a belief that learning
a FL is an intricate task in a sense that demotivates learners. Urging learners to be confident in
their ability to learn the FL and giving them the feel that they are progressing well can also have
a good reflection on their performance. Such decisions and others depend on the identification of
learners’ beliefs. The positive relationship between beliefs and proficiency indicates that holding
negative beliefs can be partially responsible for poor performance of low achievers. This directs
teachers’ attention to an area that needs careful consideration if they wish to help low achieving
learners.
The small sample in the present study makes it difficult to generalize the findings of this
research to the entire population of non-English majors in Saudi Arabia. Future research
therefore needs to be conducted on a wider scale in order to generalize the findings to the entire
population. Teachers’ beliefs about language learning also need to be researched to identify their
match or mismatch with learners’ beliefs. The match or mismatch between teachers’ beliefs and
their classroom practices is also an area that needs to be researched in EFL settings including
Saudi Arabia. It is also recommended that teacher education programs be surveyed to explore the
beliefs embedded in them concerning FL learning and teaching. Finally, future research is
needed to explore other factors that shape learners’ beliefs such as demography and family
background.
About the Author
Hassan Kassem is an assistant professor of TEFL at Tanta Faculty of Education, Egypt.
Currently, he is teaching reading, writing, linguistics and translation at Shaqra University, Saudi
Arabia. His research interests include, among other things, learner variables and language
learning strategies.

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Appendices
Appendix 1: The Attitude Subscale
24 Studying English is a lot of fun
25 I wish I could speak English fluently
26 I feel stressed when the English teacher chooses me to answer questions
27 The English language will play an important role in the future of my country
28 I think that mastering English is indispensable for a literate person
29 I feel more stressed in English classes than in other classes
30 Learning English makes me feel proud
31 I will pursue improving my English when I finish schooling
32 I do not feel enthusiastic to come to English classes
33 I appreciate good learners of English
34 Learning English helps me to develop good feelings
35 I feel internally motivated to learn English
36 Learning English is one of my life's important goals
37 I would like to have friends from English-speaking countries

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38 I enjoy doing activities in English

39 To be honest, I am not highly motivated to learn English
40 Studying English helps me to improve my personality
41 My attention is distracted when I study English
42 I do not care much about how others will look at me if I make mistakes in the English class
43 Learning English makes me more self-confident
44 In English classes I think of things irrelevant to the lesson
Appendix 2: Factor Structure of the Learning Beliefs of the Pilot Sample
Items F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
Factor 1: Self-efficacy
10. I know how to improve my English .77
3. I have a special ability for learning English .77
19. When I encounter difficulties in learning English, I do not
.72
give up
22. I do not think that I am a good learner of English .68
2. Saudi people are good at learning English .67
7. A poor learner of English will remain so throughout years
.63
of study
12. I think I learn English well compared with my classmates .60
5. I believe that I will ultimately learn to speak English very
.58
well
20. I can identify and overcome my weaknesses in English .57
Factor 2: Importance of learning English
18. There's no need for English in my country because Arabic
.78
can suffice
8. Saudi people respect persons who speak English well .75
16. Learning English increases one's understanding of the
.75
world
1. English is the most important language all over the world .66
13. Learning English should be limited to persons who need it .62
11. Saudi people think it is important to lean English .61
Factor 3: Difficulty of learning English
21. Saudi people think that learning English is difficult .83
6. English is a very difficult language .75
15. Learning English is easy to me .67
Factor 4: Nature of learning English
14. You should not say anything in English until you can say it
.686
correctly
9. Success in learning English depends on the teacher, not on
.685
the student
4. It is necessary to know about English-speaking cultures .570
Factor 5: Threat to mother tongue and culture
23. Learning English can violate the traditions of the Saudi
.828
society
17. Learning English threatens the Arabic language .749
Appendix 3: Frequency of beliefs held by the English freshmen sample

Self-efficacy
2. Saudi people are good at learning English 69% 9% 19%
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3. I have a special ability for learning English 78% 9% 12.%

5. I believe that I will ultimately learn to speak English very 97% 0% 3%
well
7. A poor learner of English will remain so throughout years 9% 78% 12%
of study
10. I know how to improve my English 75% 12% 23%
12. I think I learn English well compared with my 53% 19% 28%
classmates
19. When I encounter difficulties in learning English, I do 81% 16% 3%
not give up
20. I can identify and overcome my weaknesses in English 81% 6% 12%
22. I do not think that I am a good learner of English 28% 66% 6%
Importance of learning English
1. English is the most important language all over the world 87% 9% 3%
8. Saudi people respect persons who speak English well 69% 3% 28%
11. Saudi people think it is important to lean English 97% 3% 6%
13. Learning English should be limited to persons who need 9% 84% 6%
it
16. Learning English increases one's understanding of the 84% 12% 3%
world
18. There's no need for English in my country because 3% 91% 6%
Arabic can suffice
Difficulty of learning English
6. English is a very difficult language 25% 72% 3%
15. Learning English is easy to me 81% 19% 0%
21. Saudi people think that learning English is difficult 25% 72% 3%
Nature of learning English
4. It is necessary to know about English-speaking cultures 84% 13% 3%
9. Success in learning English depends on the teacher, not 19% 75% 6%
on the student
14. You should not say anything in English until you can say 13% 81% 6%
it correctly
Threat to mother tongue and culture
17. Learning English threatens the Arabic language 19% 65% 16%
23. Learning English can violate the traditions of the Saudi 16% 78% 6%
society

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AWEJ
Pp.420-447
Effects of MALL Applications on Vocabulary Acquisition and Motivation
Abdul Aziz I. Fageeh

Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences
King Khalid University
Abstract
Mobile devices can induce increased vocabulary learning and enhanced motivation for
vocabulary acquisition by encouraging ubiquitous learning via their portability and access to
various activities. The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits of mobile phone
applications with regard to their potential for improving vocabulary learning and motivation.
Learning theories and cognitive techniques were explored to provide a theoretical foundation for
this study. Following a pre-test/post-test design, 27 experimental students and 31 control students
participated in this study by using mobile device-based vocabulary applications thrice a week
over the course of one semester. The results indicated statistically significant differences in
performance between the two groups in post-test scores and increases in the post-test scores of
the experimental group indicating enhanced vocabulary learning. A motivation scale was
employed to measure the motivation of the participants in both groups at post-test. The results
indicated that experimental participants had enhanced motivation perceptions compared to the
control participants. While further research is needed, the analysis of data indicates that the use
of mobile phones is a viable vocabulary instructional/learning method at the college level. The
paper ends with pedagogically informative conclusions, recommendations and implications for
teaching and research.
Keywords: Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Digital Texts, Human-Computer
Interaction, Learners- Attitudes

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Effects of MALL Applications on Vocabulary Acquisition Fageeh
Introduction
Since the early 1990s, technology has revolutionized teaching and learning milieus and
aids across disciplines via scaffolding, assisting and supplementing traditional classroom
learning materials and activities. In addition, the ubiquity of the internet has made these
technologies more efficient in revolutionizing language pedagogy. As these newly touted
technologies for foreign language learning and teaching have waxed and waned, and as
professional concerns have shifted between areas and technologies, the field of computer-
assisted language learning (thereafter CALL) has begun to develop a scientifically and
empirically grounded basis for emerging research in English Language Teaching (thereafter
ELT). CALL is a discipline whose insights have historically been largely anecdotal and
idiosyncratically descriptive, but this discipline has been shaped over the past two decades by
attempts to statistically validate the claims of classroom practitioners and the postulates of ivory-
tower theoreticians infatuated with the touted advantages and merits of CALL.
The change in focus regarding technology-assisted language learning and teaching has
yielded two significant results, one positive and one negative. On the positive side, the
introduction of CALL into language classrooms has vastly increased our professional knowledge
about “what works” in specific settings and conditions via the mushrooming plethora of research
that has been conducted in the field. On the other hand, the insights yielded by currently
practiced CALL research have become incomprehensible to many, if not most, classroom
practitioners. Another disadvantageous corollary is that technology swiftly becomes obsolescent.
Both researchers and practitioners are constantly racing to catching up with the current state of
research (Aldosari & Mekheimer, 2013).
Recently, a new generation of CALL has come into active existence; namely, integrating
mobile assisted language learning (thereafter MALL) technology (via personal multimedia
players, cell phones, and handheld devices) has recently invaded the foreign language curriculum
because MALL technologies are convenient, easy-to-use and accessible on devices that are
malleably suitable for use in higher education institutions (Abdous, Camarena, & Facer, 2009;
Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008; Kukulska-Hulme, 2009; Shih,
2007; Nah, White & Sussex, 2008).
Redd (2011) aptly observed that learners are presently equipped with mobile technologies
"in the palm of their hands" with which they can "embark on the use of tools that can expand
their content knowledge" (p. 1). Ching, Shuler, Lewis, and Levine (2009) concur in this regard
and state the following:
“Mobile technologies can help advance the goal of achieving digital equity
because of their ubiquity, low cost, and familiarity. The anytime, anywhere
availability of mobile devices also has potential to promote a seamless 360-
degree learning experience that breaks down the barriers between formal and
informal educational environments” (p. 28).
Mobile phones and other related digital devices such as tablets, iPads, iPhones and
personal digital assistants (PDAs) belong to the category of smart phones and have become so
pervasively popular that, according to the U.N. Telecom Agency Report, more than 6 billion

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people are currently mobile phone subscribers. This report indicates that 2.3 billion people, or
approximately one-third of the world's 7 billion inhabitants, were internet users at the end of
2011, and this number is likely to increase in coming years, although there is a strong disparity
between rich and developing countries. Given the ubiquity of mobile devices and internet
connectivity, smart phones, and their innate pedagogical potential, are becoming pervasive,
indispensable, and most likely inevitable digital tools that are currently commonly adopted (Cui
& Wang, 2008; Hsu, Hwang, Chang & Chang, 2013; Lari, 2012; Taki & Khazaei, 2011; Zhang,
Song & Burston, 2011).
Additionally, given this boom in technology, language researchers and educators have
claimed that some aspects of language acquisition, such as vocabulary, can be mediated through
digital tools such as connected mobile devices. Given the global emphasis on the development of
21st century skills, researchers and teachers need to explore new, digital means of teaching
vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to explore an alternative method of vocabulary
instruction that utilized smart phones (mobile devices, iPhones, tablets and SIM iPads) in
comparison with the traditional method of vocabulary instruction. The research question
underlying this study was the following:
What are the effects of smart phones on EFL college learners’ vocabulary learning and
motivation?
This question was followed by the following two sub-questions:
1. What are the effects of mobile devices on inducing and maintaining vocabulary learning?
2. How does vocabulary learning via mobile devices enhance motivation towards MALL-
based vocabulary learning?
Hypotheses of the study

The hypotheses of the present study were as follows:
1. Students who are taught according to a mobile-based experimental method will score
higher on post-tests than on pre-tests of vocabulary learning.
2. Students who are taught via an experimental method employing mobile applications will
score higher than the control group on vocabulary learning upon post-testing.
3. Students who are taught according to a mobile-application-based experimental method
will show enhanced motivation for MALL-based vocabulary learning compared to
control participants at post-test.
Literature Review
Research on vocabulary acquisition in Computer-mediated Communication (CMC)
settings is well established and promising in terms of the technology’s abilities to increase the
effectiveness of vocabulary learning compared to traditional learning settings or approaches (Al-
Seghayer, 2001; Groot, 2000; Horst, Cobb, & Nicolae, 2005; Hulstijn, 2000; Jones, 2006; Jones
& Plass, 2003; Koren, 1999; Loucky, 2003; Nakata, 2008; Okuyama, 2007; Tsoua, Wang, & Li,

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2002; Yeh & Wang, 2003; Yoshii & Flaitz, 2002). A few studies have explored the pedagogical
applications of smart phone vocabulary learning (e.g., Alemi & Lari, 2012; Cavus & Ibrahim,
2009; Hsu, et al., 2013; Khazaie & Ketabi, 2011; Levy & Kennedy, 2005; Kennedy & Levy,
2008; Lu, 2008; Redd, 2011; Song, 2008; Stockwell, 2007; Stockwell, 2010; Taki & Khazaei,
2011; Thornton & Houser, 2001; Thornton & Houser, 2005; Zhang, et al., 2011). A general
overview of the findings of these studies indicates that vocabulary learning via mobile devices
and other smart phones is more effective than learning via traditional settings and methods
because the distributed or spaced presentation and repetition of lexical items that accompanies
mobile-based learning is more effective than the massed repetition that accompanies traditional
book-based, self-regulated vocabulary learning (Nation, 2001; Thornton and Houser, 2005;
Zhang, et al., 2011).
Additionally, mobile devices equipped with smart technology software and up-to-date
multimedia features can open up new vistas of language learning (Reis, Bonacin, & Martins,
2009; Godwin-Jones, 2008; Ryu, & Parsons, 2009; Hede, & Hede, 2002). Thus, smart phones
can function as miniature classrooms wherein learners can partake in the “anytime, anywhere”
learning movement (Schachter, 2009). Given this fact, mobile technology can be useful in
seamlessly inducing a transfer of learning from inside to outside the classroom (Redd, 2011).
The theories and implications related to the use of smart phone applications in language
learning are, however, still in their infancy, suggesting that students and teachers are ahead of the
new media that are characterized by challenging trial-and-error processes, and teachers and
students are involving these smart phone devices and applications in the intricate process of
language learning (Chen & Chung, 2008; Conacher, 2009). Furthermore, despite the increasing
body of research in both the areas of ESL and EFL, relevant theory and empirical findings have
not been taken seriously when designing language learning materials (Bull and Kukulska-Hulme,
2009; Taki & Khazaei, 2011).
Underlying Theories of MALL
MALL is a new trend; however, the theories that underpin MALL can easily be derived
from established learning theories. Specifically, there are five main theories of learning that can
be utilized to explain MALL; namely, behaviorism, cognitivism, zone of proximal development,
social learning theory, and the law of effect.
Some critics have noted that early explanations of the effects of computer-mediated
technology on learning were deeply rooted in stimulus-response theory and suggested that future
research should consider characteristics of the learner, such as the cognitive aspects of learning,
in these technology-based milieus, attitudes, and motivations (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Chen,
Hsieh, & Kinshuk, 2008; Yearta, 2012). For instance, Alavi and Leidner (2001) observed that
“the majority of previous studies have mainly relied on the stimulus-response theory, which
probed only the relationship between technology [stimulus] and learning [response] (p.99).
Cognitivist theories
According to cognitivist theories of learning, linguistic information is processed verbally
and visually (Jones, 2004; Mayer, 1979, 2005; Paivio, 1986). Thus, the multi-store model of
cognitive processing theories proposed by Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) hypothesizes that there are

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three types of memory: Sensory, Short-Term (STM), and Long-Term Memory (LTM). This
model has been empirically examined by testing the relationship between vocabulary acquisition
and verbal short-term memory (Gupta & MacWhinney, 1977; Greffe, Linden, Majerus, &
Poncelet, 2005).
The use of multimedia stimuli is appealing because it can provide audio-visual and verbal
stimuli in the form of verbal schemata via different modes of stimulus reception. The use of
multimodal cognitive tools, in turn, appeals to the variety of learners and learning styles present
in any educational setting. Although, according to cognitive theories, people process verbal and
visual stimuli in dual channels, each of which processes only a portion of the available
information at one time.
Another theory offered by this approach is the cognitive load theory, which implies that
learning material should be designed to minimize the cognitive load of the learners during the
learning process (Mayer, 2005). Given that working memory capacity is restricted, learners may
be showered by a rapid inflow of information that will result in cognitive overload if the
complexity of the instructional materials is not properly managed. This cognitive overload can
inhibit the schema acquisition process and, consequently, result in poorer performance (Sweller,
1988). The cognitive approach to mobile learning thus assumes pre-orchestrated pedagogical
content, which permits highly modular content that can be easily assimilated by students in
natural or semi-natural learning settings (Klas & Zaharieva, 2004).
A third theory is the Zone of the Proximal Development proposed by Vygotsky (1978).
This theory proposes that learning occurs in three phases. In the first phase, independent learners
feel comfortable and can achieve or solve problems on their won by relying on their current
knowledge and skill level. The next stage occurs when the learner is able to work on a problem
that is just beyond the level at which he can complete it independently, and the problem
eventually creates confusion or tedium. This is the stage in which the zone of proximal
development occurs (Murray & Arroyo, 2002; Vygotsky, 1978). The third phase is that of
frustration; in this phase, the learner is or should be provided a scaffold with which to build up
his database and/or skills so that he can solve the problem or perform the assigned task
independently. This theory suggests that learners work within a state of instruction and
development (Chaiklin, 2003).
The use of mobile devices (smart phones in the present study) enables learners to move
beyond their current skill level using the mobile device as a scaffold (Benson, 1995; Ganske,
2000). By being presented with lists of vocabulary via the Whatsapp application on mobile
phones, students are introduced to words that are currently beyond their knowledge base but
within their grasp. Then, through the interaction with these words provided by strategically
placed scaffolds that are represented by the learners' excessive and repetitive access to an online
dictionary, increases in vocabulary are attained.
Thus, learning vocabulary words using a mobile device to access online dictionaries
provides ample scaffolding or support at the present level of the learner's knowledge base. Next,
through these scaffolded experiences, knowledge levels advance beyond their previous levels.
Slowly, the scaffolds are phased out, which leaves the learner with the ability to apply the
knowledge gained in conditions in which support was provided in scenarios without any support
(Chaiklin, 2003; Murray & Arroyo, 2002). Ultimately, it is the learner’s responsibility to acquire
lexical knowledge and apply that knowledge to word usage independently, which allows the

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cycle to begin. The Zone of Proximal Development seeks to engage learners at the optimal
instructional level in a safe and supported manner.
Social learning theories

The fourth theoretical model that explores the way mobile device-based learning occurs
based on social learning theory. Using mobile phones for learning can, in theory, mesh well with
the implications of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, which assumes that peoples’ actions are
strongly influenced by their consequences (Bandura, 2006). Accordingly, learners conceptualize
and anticipate the possible consequences of their behavior. During this process, learning can be
induced by four essential factors; i.e., attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation (Child,
1993; Erickson, 1974; Gu, 2003; Kirsch, 2010; Moore, 1999; Yearta, 2012).
Learning vocabulary via mobile phones can also fit well with this theory. First, the
amount of attention paid to the task and the steps needed to complete it are essential for success
in the learning tasks, and the Whatsapp and Online Dictionary applications must be accessed to
acquire the tasks. Revamping the learners' motivations towards the assigned tasks, making the
tasks a part of their weekly scheduled assignments and the expected rewards of receiving extra
credit can also increase the attention the learners’ pay to the models and important components
deemed necessary to achieve the reward (Bandura, 2006). Second, the text, graphics, audio and
video that can be downloaded to the mobile devices can potentially increase memory of the
content experienced. Memory is used to organize and mentally code the items to be attended to
and experienced. Third, based on feedback from the teacher via Whatsapp, learners' behaviors
are modified, and the correct responses for the task can be reproduced. This feedback can also be
considered imitative learning because observing and focusing on the feedback provided helps
learners’ make decisions that will attempt to maximize the rewards earned (Bandura, 2006).
Finally, there are motivational incentives of using applications such as Whatsapp and the Online
Dictionary (Yearta, 2012). These incentives can come in the form of intrinsic factors, such as
feelings of satisfaction that come from learning something through curiosity, exploration, and
manipulation, or extrinsic factors, such as incentives, rewards, punishments, co-operation, and
completion (Child, 1993; Yearta, 2012).
Theory of the law of effect

Finally, the fifth theoretical framework that can explain how mobile device-based
learning occurs through trial and error is based on Thorndike’s theory of the law of effect. The
theory is a branch of behaviorism and according it, the learner opts for the path of least resistance
to the goal that results in the greatest satisfaction (Thorndike, 1905). Accordingly, behaviors are
modified based upon experiences and their consequences (Thorndike, 1913). This position is best
exemplified by trial-and-error learning (Simpson & Stansberry, 2008). Mobile devices and their
applications can provide repeated opportunities for learners to engage in an activity. In this
regard, Erickson (1974) notes that “the learner is rewarded or punished depending upon what he
does; the ‘effect’ (satisfaction or annoyance) contingent upon how the learner responds to the
environment (p. 15).
This interaction between the user and the mobile device allows for the learner to
experiment with different actions and experience rewards and punishments based upon those
decisions. These outcomes can increase the motivation and attention of the learner who is
playing a game (Erickson, 1974). Once the learner has discovered the behavioral principle

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behind the learning, which can occur through a combination of positive and negative
reinforcements, the learner can continue to learn in new contexts (Blachowicz & Fischer, 2008;
Erickson, 1974; Skinner, 2006). Receiving word lists and being tasked with looking those words
up the Online Dictionary on a mobile device can create new educational possibilities for
learning. These five general theories can construct a complete picture of the underpinnings of
learning theories as applied to vocabulary learning on a mobile device.
Methodology
This is an experimental study that involves a pre-test, posttest, control group design.
Participants
The 58 participants were chosen randomly. Participants were divided into the
experimental group (27 students) and the control group (31 students).
Table 1: Descriptive statistics of the research groups

Group Frequency Percent
Experimental group 27 46.6
Control group 31 53.4
Total 58 100.0
Figure 1: Group participation in the study

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Figure 2: Research design
Pre-test Treatment Post-test

Research Experimental Group
sample
Q1 TT Q2
Randomly assigned
Post-test
Q2 TC Q2
Pre-test Treatment
Control Group
Where:
Q1 and Q2 represent the pre-test and post-test assessments of the dependent variable, XT represents the treatment
condition and XC represents the control or standard treatment condition.
As shown above in Figure 2, an experimental group and a control group participated in

the study. Participants were randomly assignment to one of the groups. The pre-test was
administered to each group at the same time.
Training sessions occurred thrice weekly for the duration of the first term of the
2012/2013 academic year. Next, post-tests were administered to both groups. In the control
group, only 31 participants completed the pre- and post-tests. Comparisons of performances on
the pre- and post-tests for the 27 experimental group participants and the 31 control participants
were performed with SPSS (version 16).
Procedures
The experimental group was sent a list of words selected from the textbook using
Whatsapp 3 times a week after each class. Learners in this group were asked to define the words
using the Android Online Dictionary (http://dictionary.reference.com/) application, use the words
in sentences they created and send those sentences back to their peers and the teachers for
correction.
Control group participants were asked to do the regular homework while they studied in
the traditional way. Control participants were given the same word lists and were asked to turn in
their homework on paper each class.
Each class for each group continued for three hours and met three times per week. The
groups were taught by the same instructor to avoid instructor-related effects. Pre-test and post-
tests were used to determine the efficacies of vocabulary acquisition for each group and
determine the effects of each instructional approach on the motivation of the participants in each
group.
Instrumentation
The study involved pre- and post-testing with the Vocabulary Test (See Appendix A).
Below are descriptions of the test’s reliability and validity.
Test validity
A test is valid when “it measures what it is supposed to measure” (Oller, 1979, p. 70). To
ensure that the test employed was valid, the researcher examined the internal, face, construct,

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trustees, and content validities of the test. The test items were evaluated by experts in the field to
validate the suitability of the test items for measuring the students' lexical knowledge, the
students’ abilities to use the lexicon, the clarity of the instructions, the feasibility of the test
items, the suitability of the allotted time, and the test organization. Changes to the test items were
made based on feedback from the experts.
Test reliability
The test-retest method was used to examine external reliability. For this purpose, a pilot
study of 37 students was conducted. The Vocabulary Test was piloted to ensure that the test was
appropriate for this level. To further investigate the test's internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha
was calculated for the data from the pilot study. The alpha value was .937, which is considered
high. Thus, the test was found to be statistically reliable.
Statistical methods
The SPSS statistical package was used to analyze the data from the pre- and post-tests.
Analyses included calculations of frequencies, percentages, means and the Pearson product
moment coefficient, which indicates the strength of the relationship between two sets of
numbers. Paired and independent samples t-tests were also used to determine whether
differences in means between the two groups were significant at the .05 level.
Findings of the Study
The statistical analyses listed above were used to compare the following: the pre-test
means for both groups, the pre- and post-test means for both groups, and the post-test means for
both groups.
Tables 2 and 3 present the descriptive statistics of the pre-test data for the control and
experimental groups
Table 2: Group statistics

Std. Std. Error
GROUP N Mean Deviation Mean
pretest Experimental group 27 59.85 4.761 .916
Control group 31 58.81 4.963 .891
Table 3: Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test t-test for Equality of Means

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for Equality of 95%
Variances Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
pretest Equal .203 .654 .815 56 .418 1.045 1.282 -1.523- 3.614
variances
assumed
Equal .818 55.453 .417 1.045 1.278 -1.516- 3.607
variances not
assumed
Findings from the t-tests

The tables below show t-test analyses of the groups’ participants that demonstrate the
equality of the groups on the variables of the study before the experiment was initiated. To
determine whether this difference between the pre- and the post-tests was statistically significant,
a t-test was applied as shown in Table 4 below:
Table 4: Comparison of Pre-test and Post-test achievement scores of students in the

experimental group
Paired Samples Test Std. Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean N Deviation t
Experimental pretest 59.85 27 4.761 -17.755 .000
group
posttest 83.22 27 4.246

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Figure 3: Performance of the experimental group in the pre- and post-test.
According to the data presented in Table 4, the average pre-test score of the experimental
group was 59.85, and the average post-test score 83.22. A dependent t-test revealed that the pre-
and post-test scores from the experimental group were significantly different (t(26) = -17.755,
p<0.05 (.000)).
Tables 5 and 6 provide descriptive statistics of the post-test for the control and
experimental groups.
Table 5:Group statistics
Std. Std. Error
GROUP N Mean Deviation Mean
Posttest Experimental group 27 83.22 4.246 .817
Control group 31 61.06 5.221 .938
Table 6: Independent samples test.

Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means

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95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
posttest Equal 1.078 .304 17.561 56 .000 22.158 1.262 19.630 24.685
variances
assumed
Equal 17.814 55.760 .000 22.158 1.244 19.666 24.650
variances not
assumed
The data in Table 5 reveal that average post-test of the experimental group was 83.22,
and the average post-test score of the control group was 61.06. An independent samples test
revealed that the difference in these scores was statistically significant (t (56) = 17.561, p<0.05
(p = .000).
Figure 4: Post-test scores of the experimental and control groups.

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Hence, the main hypothesis of the study, which states that students taught by the mobile
application-based experimental method will score higher on the post-test than on the pre-test,
was verified. This result indicates that the vocabulary skills of the experimental group improved
over the course of the experiment.
A motivation questionnaire designed to recognizing the motivational patterns of the
students in the experimental design was used to probe the motivations of the students in the
experimental group (see Appendix B). The results of this questionnaire showed a moderate
reliability value of 0.941. Before investigating the scores from this questionnaire, inter-rater
reliability was demonstrated with by Pearson correlation coefficient.
Table 6: The Pearson correlation coefficients for inter-rater reliability

Statements Correlation significant
I feel enthralled using smart phones to learn English vocabulary. .922** 0.000
I feel more motivated to do my vocabulary assignments when there is internet
connectivity for my mobile phone or after I get the assignments via Whatsapp. .800** 0.000
It is great fun learning the new vocabulary list via Whatsapp and the Online
Dictionary application on my smart phone. .715** 0.000
Using the Online Dictionary application on my smart phone makes it easy for me to
look up and learn new words, their derivations, their etymology and their usage in
illustrative examples. .912** 0.000
I will continue to use the Online Dictionary application and its dictionary, word
dynamo, thesaurus, and translator capabilities to learn and actively use newly
learned vocabulary. .658** 0.000
I have developed an e-lifestyle using Whatsapp and the Online Dictionary and
frequently, on a daily basis, look up and learn new words. .894** 0.000
I prefer to use digital dictionaries and vocabulary lists over paper-based dictionaries
and traditional word power activators. .818** 0.000
I am increasingly engaged in learning vocabulary via mobile devices compared to
paper-and-pencil methods. .840** 0.000
Over time, smart phones have become less of a distraction and more of a tool for
learning new vocabulary. .792** 0.000

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Statements Correlation significant
I can get more vocabulary assignments done when I am working on my smart phone
than when working with paper-and-pencil sheets. .712** 0.000
The inter-rater reliabilities of the ten statements of this questionnaire were estimated with
Pearson correlation coefficients. The 10 items were rated on 5-point Likert scales. The five
available responses were the following: (1) Strongly Agree (5 points), (2) Agree (4 points), (3)
Neutral (3 points), (4) Disagree (2 points), and Strongly Disagree (1 point). Most of these items
were asked from the positive point of view (e.g., I feel enthralled using smart phones to learn
English vocabulary), and these questions were scored as 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 point.
The same questionnaire was given to the students in both groups after the post-test was
completed. Fifty-eight copies of the questionnaire were distributed, and the students’ responses
were cross-validated. No invalid responses were detected; thus, the total number of valid
questionnaires collected and analyzed across both groups was 58.
Findings from the Motivation Questionnaire
The researcher first examined intra-group motivational changes. Table 7 illustrates the
students’ motivations toward learning.
Table 7: Post-test comparisons of group participants on the motivation scale
Statements GROUP N M SD t
I feel enthralled using smart phones to learn English vocabulary. Ex. 27 4.11 .934 6.926
Ctrl 31 2.42 .923
I feel more motivated to do my vocabulary assignments … Ex. 27 4.04 .898 6.333
Ctrl 31 2.45 .995
It is great fun to learn new vocabulary lists sent via Whatsapp and Ex. 27 3.56 .577 5.876
the Online Dictionary application on my smart phone. Ctrl 31 2.42 .848
Using the Online Dictionary application on my smart phone makes Ex. 27 4.81 .396 10.940
it easy for me to look up and learn new words … Ctrl 31 2.68 .945
I will continue to use the Online Dictionary applications Ex. 27 3.93 .730 8.157
Ctrl 31 2.26 .815
I have developed an e-lifestyle using Whatsapp and the Online Ex. 27 4.30 .669 8.586

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Statements GROUP N M SD t
Dictionary and frequently, on a daily basis, look up and learn new

Ctrl 31 2.45 .925
words.
I prefer to use the digital dictionaries and vocabulary lists over Ex. 27 3.96 .854 7.796
paper-based dictionaries …. Ctrl 31 2.16 .898
I am increasingly engaged in learning vocabulary via mobile Ex. 27 4.19 .834 7.627
devices compared to paper-and-pencil methods. Ctrl 31 2.45 .888
Over time, smart phones have become less of a distraction and Ex. 27 4.15 .907 7.476
more of a tool for learning new vocabulary. Ctrl 31 2.35 .915
I can get more vocabulary assignments done when I am working on Ex. 27 4.26 .712 7.563
my smart phone ….. Ctrl 31 2.52 .996
As illustrated in Table 8, the mean scores from the motivation questionnaire were
41.2963 and 24.1613 for the experimental and control groups, respectively, after participation in
the MALL intervention for one semester. The difference in the means between groups was
statistically significant (p =. 000).
Figure 5: Motivation for vocabulary learning

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Analysis & Discussion

The experimental participants’ experiences using a mobile device may offer a glimpse of
the possibilities of educational mobile applications as tools for formal learning. The instructional
protocol included using Whatsapp to send the students’ words they could look up using the
Online Dictionary application for Android, and this protocol effectively taught vocabulary and
maintained participants’ motivation for learning new vocabulary.
The formal vocabulary learning via mobile devices, mastery learning through self-
regulated word look-ups using another Android application (the Online Dictionary), peer review
of word usage in participant-generated sentences, transfer of learning, and engagement in the
learning process via MALL were all aspects that contributed factors to the results revealed by
our thorough data analysis.
In addition, vocabulary learning involves memorizing the sounds, the written forms, and
the meanings of words and the ability to retrieve these three aspects of the words from memory.
The quality of this retrieval, from the cognitive perspective, largely depends on the effective use
of short- and long-term memory. The ability to freely move between the Whatsapp lists, the
Online Dictionary Android application, word applications for mobile devices, and text
messaging applications for dissemination of student-created sentences on the same mobile device
may have improved attention spans and involvement in the learning process; this speculation
finds support from prior research (Alemi & Lari, 2012; Hsu, et al., 2013; Khazaie & Ketabi,
2011; Redd, 2011; Taki & Khazaei, 2011; Zhang, et al., 2011).
Furthermore, the ultimate goal of learners is to retain newly acquired vocabulary, keep
the vocabulary in long term memory, and store the vocabulary in layers of schemata that are
easily and effectively retrieved when needed. However, newly acquired vocabulary is usually
stored in the short-term memory and few words can be transferred to long-term memory without
“multiple encounters with a lexical item, cognitive depth, affective depth, personalization,
imaging, use of mnemonics and conscious attention that is necessary to remember a lexical item”
(Pavičić Takač, 2008, p. 10). Accordingly, Wang and Thomas (1992) revealed that rote learning
or memorizing vocabulary using traditional vocabulary lists students study at home is less
effective than imagery-based instruction. Therefore, for long-term memory retention and
retrieval of vocabulary, constant and effective reinforcement through frequent peer-motivation,
robust self-motivation and active associations are necessary to facilitate the process of language
learning (Gu, 2003; Kirsch, 2010; Moore, 1999).
The findings of the present study are commensurate with those of prior research (e.g.,
Alemi & Lari, 2012; Cavus & Ibrahim, 2009; Hsu, et al., 2013; Khazaie & Ketabi, 2011; Levy &
Kennedy, 2005; Kennedy & Levy, 2008; Lu, 2008; Redd, 2011; Song, 2008; Stockwell, 2007;
Stockwell, 2010; Taki & Khazaei, 2011; Thornton & Houser, 2001; Thornton & Houser, 2005;
Zhang, et al., 2011), demonstrating that short-term spaced vocabulary learning via mobile phones
can be more effective than massed vocabulary learning through paper-based mediums. This
increased efficacy may be due to the students’ easy access to the mobile devices, and the easy-to-
use Android applications that can facilitate improved vocabulary learning through repeated
exposure to and frequent practice with the vocabulary items in a spaced manner on a daily basis;
this speculation is also compatible with prior research findings (Abdous, Camarena, & Facer,
2009; Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Hsu, et al., 2013; Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008; Kukulska-
Hulme, 2009; Shih, 2007; Nah, White & Sussex, 2008; Nation, 2001; Thornton and Houser,
2005; Zhang, et al., 2011).

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Overall, the findings of the present study indicate that technology has the ability to
increase learning rates compared with traditional methods. Overall, the students felt that mobile
devices with Android applications such as Whatsapp, text messaging and the Online Dictionary,
were faster, easier, and more motivating. Furthermore, the mobile device applications utilized in
the MALL meet the classifications deemed necessary for quality vocabulary instruction by Nagy
(1988). Nagy (1988) found that vocabulary instruction should include integration, repetition, and
meaningful use. According to Nagy (1988), integration entails tying new learning to familiar
concepts; semantic mapping is essential. Repetition, which entails providing students with many
encounters with the new vocabulary so that new knowledge can move into their reading
vocabulary, was accomplished by sending the word lists thrice a week and the frequent swapping
among peers of the student-generated sentences. Thus, the students had ample opportunities to
observed their progress, which resulted in ample and efficient contexts for vocabulary learning in
the case of the experimental group and echoed what Nagy (1988) recommended in this regard.
Conclusions
Several conclusions that may impact students’ vocabulary acquisition, retention, and
motivation can be made from the findings of this study. First, the results suggest that mobile
device applications harnessed for vocabulary instruction and learning are useful and effective
tools. Thus, the researcher conclude that incorporating explicit vocabulary instruction into daily
classroom activities is an effective way to increase students’ vocabulary learning, retention,
retrieval and motivation for learning inside and outside of classrooms. Additionally, the results
indicate that collaboration among students, represented in the current study by peer review, is
also important for enhancing vocabulary learning. In sum, the present results suggest that
integrating smart phone technology and vocabulary instruction increases the motivation and
engagement of most students and motivation and engagement are further increased when
students possess connected mobile devices.
Furthermore, repetitious work in meaningful contexts is also vital to vocabulary learning
(Allen, 1999; Baker, Simmons, and Kameenui, 1995; Nagy, 1988). In addition, Baker, et al.
(1995) state the importance of meaningful, frequent use of the words students are attempting to
learn. Students should also have the opportunity to frequently engage in word learning (Allen,
1999; Baker, et al., 1995; Nagy, 1988). Word lists generated via Whatsapp and the text
messaging of sentences illustrating word usage provide this targeted, frequent, and engaging
instruction of vocabulary in the classroom. The findings also suggest that vocabulary building
instructors should assign time for daily explicit vocabulary instruction via CMC technologies.
The daily vocabulary lessons in this study had three main parts: (1) explicit instruction from the
teacher, (2) collaboration among students, and (3) presentation of student work. Every other day,
the vocabulary lessons of the mobile device MALL-based intervention began with explicit
instruction. This notion is congruent with research recommendations indicating the significance
of explicit, or direct, instruction when teaching vocabulary (Beck & McKeown, 2007; Dalton &
Grisham, 2011; Rupley & Nichols, 2005; Taylor, et al., 2009).
Furthermore, ‘explicit explanation, modeling, and guided practice’ (Rupley, Blair, &
Nichols, 2009, p. 127) rest at the core of explicit or direct vocabulary instruction, which was
mediated in this study via the use of the Online Dictionary Android application to look up words
from the instructor’s word lists.

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Although not the focus of the present study, our results illustrate a byproduct of
collaborative learning via the peer review of sentences illustrating word usage; namely, the
development of an online learning community via connected mobile devices. Learners should
develop an online community to learn with one another (Dalton & Grisham, 2011). Learning is a
social process, and social interaction has a central role in the development of cognition
(Vygotsky, 1978).
Furthermore, as students found various aspects of MALL appealing and conducive to fun
and enthrallment, engagement in the vocabulary activities was vital. This finding is
commensurate with the observation made by Mountain (2002) that engagement and motivation
make vocabulary learning more fun and, therefore, more powerful. The data from this study
suggest that most of the participating students felt more engaged when learning with smart
phones connected to the internet.
The use of text messaging applications also proved useful, confirming the results of prior
studies that have indicated the usefulness of SMS for pedagogical purposes, especially purposes
related to language and vocabulary learning (e.g., Alemi & Lari, 2012; Lu, 2008).
Implications
Below the researcher describes the implications of this study. First, assuming that
integrating mobile technology into vocabulary instruction is a viable teaching/learning method
for promoting engagement and motivation on the part of students, vocabulary instructors should
ensure that students have access to the necessary technological tools and reliable internet
connectivity. Second, language instructors at the college level should have quality professional
development available to ensure they are able to maximally utilize of mobile phone technologies
as was done in this study. Third, our results suggest that the encouragement of additional
collaboration among students, teachers and researchers to share knowledge about how and when
to utilize technology in the classroom is beneficial for the use and effective, widespread
deployment of these technologies. Collaborative language learning and teaching can be fostered
with reliable networking systems such as email, blogs, or social networking sites that are
available through language management systems that are installed in universities, such as
Blackboard.
This study further investigated the implications of embedding technology within the
vocabulary building curriculum. To utilize mobile technology for vocabulary teaching and
learning, the stakeholders must have access to reliable internet connectivity and be open
enriching, enthralling educational opportunities.
Limitations of the study

When relating the findings of this study to the larger research picture, some of this
study’s limitations need to be acknowledged, and may offer opportunities for further research or
replication of the present study. There are several limitations of the present study.
Indeed, the researcher has identified three main limitations: (1) the small size of the
sample, (2) the design of the study, and (3) the duration of the study. The small number of
participants should be enlarged in prospective replication studies to control for sample size
effects. Additionally, this study utilized an experimental approach that inevitably involved
uncontrolled environmental variables that may have influenced the findings. For example, the
experimental group worked under a fixed schedule of exposure to the new vocabulary words,

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whereas the control group did not; this difference may have had as much influence on the
outcome as the use of smart phone applications. To clearly establish the influence of mobile
phone technology on vocabulary learning, future studies and/or replications should better
identify and control for the frequencies and durations of the students’ exposure to the target
vocabulary. Finally, while effective methods and tools for the gathering, organizing and
analyzing of relevant data may influence the effectiveness of learning via of mobile devices, but
these tools need to be developed and standardized, and their effects on learning performance
should also be controlled for.
Suggestions for Further Research

The limitations of this study may provide useful insights for future research. To expand
on the findings of the current study, future researchers could do the following: (1) utilize a more
diverse or larger sample size, (2) participate solely as research instructors, (3) study the effects of
digital word lists disseminated via mobile technology applications in the Android environment
for a longer duration of time, and (4) refine the outcome measures in terms of validity and
reliability.
The contributions to the field of the present research could be greatly improved and
expanded through longitudinal replication studies. Overall, continued research in the areas of
vocabulary acquisition, retention, and motivation is crucial and should be performed across
different levels of study, proficiency and varying vocabulary spans of the learners.
About the Author:

Currently, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, in Department of English, Faculty of
Languages and Translation, Abha, King Khalid University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He
obtained his Ph.D in Applied Linguistics, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA, 2003. He
obtained his MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in Michigan State
University, Michigan, East Lansing, USA, 1994.
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Appendix A
The Online Vocabulary Test
1. For each question, choose which of the four possible answers fits the space best and write THE
CORRECT LETTER into the empty box. Also think about why the other three answers are not possible.
1. Normally, before you are able to get a job, you have to attend a(n) . If you do well in that, they offer
you the position.
a. appointment
b. arrangement
c. interview
d. meeting

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2. And when you go, make sure you bring your to show the manager. This is a sort of record of your
education and employment history.
a. RSVP
b. CD
c. CV
d. VCR
3. I am feeling really today. The weather is terrible and I got some bad news this morning too!
a. lazy
b. punctual
c. miserable
d. starving
4. My uncle four years ago but he is still very active and says he wished he had stopped work years
before!!
a. graduated
b. retired
c. resigned
d. fired
5. I think a teacher should be quite so that the students who want to learn can, without worrying about
other students playing around.
a. serious
b. strict
c. harsh
d. cold
6. If you turn off the central heating if you are away from home for more than a couple of day, you will a
lot of money.
a. earn
b. save
c. win
d. gain
7. We watched the carnival and then stayed behind for two hours afterwards to help the organisers clear away all the
.
a. garbage
b. dirt
c. mud
d. pollution
8. I with you. This movie is really boring! Let's change the channel.
a. accord
b. meet
c. agree
d. join
2. Choose the correct prefix to build new words. The explanations help you.
1. _____-board = fair and unconcealed
up over on above
2. _____accessible = difficult or impossible to reach or to get
dis im in un
3. _____affected = not loyal to your situation, organisation, belief etc.

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dis in un under
4. _____atomic = smaller than (or found in) an atom
under sub micro in This exercise is brought to you by www.nonstopenglish.com
5. _____balance = lose your balance and fall
under un over im
6. _____beat = positive and enthusiastic
down out over up

7. _____byte = a unit of computer memory (equal to about 1 million bytes)
mega kilo giga extra

8. _____carious = not safe or certain
dis pre un under

9. _____estimate = think or guess that the amount of something is smaller than it really is
down out un under

10. _____genic = good-looking (on television)
hyper hypo mega tele

11. _____hold = look at or see somebody or something
with up over be
12. _____law = to make something no longer legal
by out over un
13. _____normal = not normal; not typical or usual or regular or conforming to a norm
non in il be ab
14. _____qualify = make unfit or unsuitable, to outcast
dis mal re sub un
15. _____sensitive = extremely physically sensitive to particular medicines, lights etc.
hyper mega out over

16. _____shore = Away from shore; away from land
down in non off up
17. _____shore = on the land rather than at sea
up over on in
18. _____structure = a structure that is built on top of something
super sub over mega

19. _____terrain = Being or operating under the surface of the earth

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a in re sub un
20. _____wind = in the direction in which the wind is blowing
up under down cross
3. Choose the person being explained.

1. _____ = the person who leads an orchestra
conductor conductist conducter conductee conductant
2. _____ = the contestant who wins the contest, a gambler who wins a bet
winor winnor winning winner winer
3. _____ = someone whose occupation is printing
printant printee printer printist printor
4. _____ = someone whose occupation is cleaning
cleanor cleanner cleanex cleaner cleanee

This exercise is brought to you by www.nonstopenglish.com
5. _____ = someone who maintains and audits business accounts
accountant accountee accounter accountist accounts
6. _____ = someone who has retired from active working
retirant retiree retireer retirer retirist
7. _____ = someone who fights - often for a cause
fightant fightee fighter fightist fightor
8. _____ = someone to whom a right or property is legally transferred
assignant assigne assignee assigner assignor
9. _____ = someone to whom a licence is granted
licensee licenser licensing licensist licensor
10. _____ = one that is absent or not in residence
absentant absentee absenter absentist absentor
11. _____ = any member of a ship's crew, a serviceman in the navy
sailor sailist sailiant sailer sailant

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12. _____ = an agent who conducts an auction
auctionor auctionist auctioneer auctionee auctionant
13. _____ = a theatrical performer
acter acting actor acts actter
14. _____ = a person who participates in competitions
contestant contestee contesteer contester contestist
15. _____ = a person who grows, makes or invents things
creatant createer creater creatist creator
16. _____ = a person who buys, a purchaser
buyeer buyee buyant buyer buyor
17. _____ = a person to whom legal title to property is entrusted to use for another's benefit
traster trustee truster trustist trustor
18. _____ = a high ranking police officer, an investigator who observes carefully
inspecter inspecting inspection inspector inspectour
19. _____ = a follower, distant admirer
devotant devotee devoteer devoter devotor
20. _____ = a criminal who is a member of a gang
gangbang gangs gangsteer gangster gangstor
Appendix B
The MALL Motivation Questionnaire
Statements Strongly
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree
Disagree
1. I feel enthralled using smart phones to learn English
vocabulary.

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Statements Strongly
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree
Disagree
2. I feel more motivated to do my vocabulary
assignments when there is internet connectivity for
my mobile phone or after I get the assignments via
Whatsapp.
3. It is great fun to learn new vocabulary lists sent via

Whatsapp and the Online Dictionary application on
my smart phone.
4. Using the Online Dictionary application on my

smart phone makes it easy for me to look up and
learn new words, their derivations, their etymologies
and their usages in illustrative examples.
5. I will continue to use the Online Dictionary

application and its dictionary, word dynamo,
thesaurus, and translator capabilities to learn and
actively use newly learned vocabulary.
6. I have developed an e-lifestyle using Whatsapp and

the Online Dictionary and frequently, on a daily
basis, look up and learn new words.
7. I prefer to use the digital dictionaries and

vocabulary lists over paper-based dictionaries and
traditional word power activators.
8. I am increasingly engaged in learning vocabulary

via mobile devices compared to paper-and-pencil
methods.
9. Over time, smart phones have become less of a

distraction and more of a tool for learning new
vocabulary.
10. I can get more vocabulary assignments done when I

am working on my smart phone then when I am
working with paper-and-pencil sheets.

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AWEJ
Pp.448 -461
The Use of Literary Texts and Questioning

to Examine First-Year Central Asian Students’ Critical Thinking Skills
Dinara Karimova
Language Center, KIMEP University
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Abstract
This research project reports the results of the study on freshman Central Asian students’ critical
reasoning skills before learners actually become familiar with the concept of critical thinking
through formal instruction. In addition, the researcher explored the effect of the fourth-level
foundation English course upon the development of critical thought of students in the fifth-level
foundation English course taught at a major Kazakhstani university. Overall, 37 first-year
Central Asian students enrolled in the Foundation English 5 course in Fall 2011 participated in
the project. Besides, seven Foundation English 5 course faculty members participated in a small
survey with four open-ended questions inquiring their beliefs about critical thought and
questioning as well as observations of the possession and use of critical thinking skills
demonstrated by the foundation English learners. The researcher used three different types of
questions – questions of fact, questions of preference and questions of judgment - as the basis for
constructing a more inclusive instrument for grouping questions produced by the students after
reading literary texts. The results indicate that many learners who have been taught various
critical thinking skills in the lower-level foundation English course asked fewer factual
questions, more preferential and almost the same number of judgment questions compared with
those asked by the newcomers. The research and teaching implications suggest possible ways for
educators to help first-year Central Asian students to further develop their critical thinking skills
for study and career purposes.
Key Words: critical thinking, questioning, students, texts

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The Use of Literary Texts and Questioning Karimova
I. Introduction
Many institutions of higher education worldwide have a requirement of formal
instruction in critical thinking to be incorporated in diverse academic disciplines in liberal arts,
business, economics, law, social sciences and other program curricular. This policy is based on
the grounds that university graduates should become intelligent citizens conscious of their rights
and responsibilities in the global community. Besides, the ability of graduates to think critically
affects their employability in the global markets. Indeed, potential employers expect young
professionals to be prepared to face work-related challenges. In other words, novice
professionals should be able to develop effective solutions to problems, consider issues from
multiple perspectives, apply specific and general knowledge appropriately and reflect on both
personal and collaborative short- and long-term performances. However, many university
graduates still possess insufficient reasoning skills. Surprisingly, only 6 percent of American
graduates in 2005, for example, demonstrated proficiency in critical thinking (Association of
American Colleges and Universities, 2005). Taiwanese students are even more immature in
critical thinking than their western counterparts (Tung & Chang, 2009).
Although American faculty can estimate critical thought potential of their first-year
students based on the SAT tasks and results that test high school graduates’ ability to think
critically, Kazakhstani educators do not have this opportunity. The reason is that prospective
university students either present their high school Unified National Testing scores or take a
university-created test that indicate only the level of factual knowledge of different subjects, but
do not disclose learners’ critical thinking skills. For example, to enter the Kazakhstan Institute of
Management, Economics and Strategic Research (thereafter KIMEP), which is considered to be
one of the best institutions in Kazakhstan and entire Central Asia and is based on the American
educational credit system with English as the main language of instruction, the applicants should
pass a special complex test. But again this test checks only their knowledge of math, history of
Kazakhstan, native language and English. As a result, both faculty and administrators remain
unaware of the admitted students’ critical thinking potential.
However, the development of learners’ critical thought is a crucial component of higher
learning at many Kazakhstani universities. Thus, a lot of effort is placed by their faculty on
teaching students how to think critically and express their thoughts in English, which is the
students’ second or third language, through a variety of in-class activities and self-study
assignments. For instance, KIMEP has an institutional policy to provide those students who
score below 80 percent on the English Entrance Test with the opportunity to develop their
English proficiency, study skills and cognitive thinking through foundation English courses in
order to help them prepare better for their further academic courses in their undergraduate or
graduate degree programs. Particularly, the aims of foundation English courses are to “offer
intensive practice in the use of English in all four skill areas (speaking, listening, reading and
writing)” and to “guide students from the outset in the acquisition of effective study methods,
sound academic skills, higher-order thinking and problem-solving, and critical thinking”
(Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research, 2010, p.61).
In order to find out English language faculty’s opinions about their students’ critical
thinking, the researcher of this paper conducted a quick survey (the method is explained
thoroughly in the third part of the study) among seven instructors who teach the Foundation
English 5 course (thereafter FE5) at one of the Kazakhstani universities with the Western-style
education system (thereafter the University). Overall, all foundation English faculty members
observe that critical thought potential differs from student to student, but often their learners
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demonstrate insufficient critical thinking ability for succeeding in higher education. One faculty
member even stated that the completion of foundation English courses does not significantly
affect students’ ability to think critically because it is actually an innate feature of a person’s
mind, in other words, a learner either possess or lack it.
Moreover, four out of the seven surveyed instructors generally agree that lower-level
foundation English courses enhance students’ critical thinking skills in higher-level foundation
English courses. For example, these educators have noticed that most FE5 students who took the
Foundation English 4 course (thereafter FE4) possess and use more critical thinking skills than
the newcomers whose FE5 was the first course at the University. The latter also differ in their
ability to think critically depending on their previous schooling. For instance, several instructors
have noticed that those students who finished special schools like international high schools and
lyceums and usually possess and use more analytical thinking than those learners who studied in
general state Kazakhstani schools.
Since there is no formal evidence yet gathered in Kazakhstan on natural critical ability of
the first-year students, this research aims to examine freshman learners’ innate critical thought
potential. In addition, the researcher will explore the effect of the fourth-level foundation English
course upon the development of critical thought of students in the fifth-level foundation English
course taught at the University.
The study asks the following research questions:
1. What kind of questions do first-year students in the upper-level foundation English ask
after reading a literary text?
2. What is the difference in critical thinking skills between those students in the upper-level
foundation English who took a lower-level foundation English course and the
newcomers?
3. Why is there a difference, if any, in the upper-level foundation English students’ ability
to ask reasonable and thoughtful questions that indicate the learners’ possession and use
of critical thought (graduates of a lower-level foundation English course and the
newcomers)?
II. Literature review

This section will review educational researchers and practitioners’ statements and
perceptions of critical thinking and the possibility of its development by students through reading
and questioning literary texts.
In terms of critical thinking, various educators provide similar definitions of this mental
competence. For instance, Dewey (1908) thought that critical thinking includes maintaining
some degree of doubt during simultaneous systematic and protracted inquiry. According to
Tierney, O’Flahavan, and McGinley (1989), “critical thinking entails making a commitment to
thinking about ideas-ideally, from different perspectives-as well as thinking about the quality and
nature of that thinking” (p.136). All seven surveyed FE5 instructors consider critical thinking as
the ability to raise and examine an issue from different perspectives by providing supporting and
opposing arguments and exploring its reasons and consequences. Moreover, this issue
examination should be based on reliable evidence gathered from various sources as well as
personal opinion, which has to be rather skeptical and questionable to avoid bias.
The choice of literary texts as an effective means of developing both critical thought and
English skills is justified with several reasons. First of all, daily literature reading is an important
self-study task for foundation English students at the University as well as any learner of English
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as a second or foreign language. Secondly, Lazere (1987) claimed that literature as an academic
discipline “can come closest to encompassing the full range of mental traits currently considered
to comprise critical thinking” (p. 2). These mental capacities include unification and relation of
ideas and issues in the text with those in a reader’s experience, engagement in mature moral
reasoning, formation of conclusions, demonstration of skepticism resulting into critical
examination of an issue in the text, perception of ambiguity and relativity of one’s viewpoint and
awareness of multiple aspects of form and meaning (Lazere, 1987). Wallace (1993) also asserted
that “literature texts may well, in part at least, encode students’ own experiences and give rise to
strong or varied responses”, thus, leading to reasoning within multiple domains (p. 106). The
author adds that through interactive reading English language learners can explore even
uncomplicated literary texts with complexity because “material which is linguistically simple
may invite complex interpretations, that is the demands made on the reader may be aesthetic and
intellectual rather than linguistic” (p. 69). Later, Jaffar (2004) echoed Lazere’s statement by
noting that critical thinking involves active interaction with the text, good readers bring their
own understanding to the text and add to its dimensions.
Recently, Tung and Chang (2009) wrote that “literature reading is a complex process that
requires readers to recall, retrieve and reflect on their prior experiences or memories to construct
meanings of the text” (p. 291). In addition to the capacities mentioned by Lazere (1987), these
authors mentioned the other traits that readers might develop through literary texts: “to
differentiate facts from opinions; to understand the literal or implied meanings and the narrator’s
tone; to apply what they have learned from this process to other domains or the real world” (p.
291). Finally, one of the surveyed FE5 faculty responded to critical reading as a “deep analysis
of texts through posing incisive questions to look for hidden meanings, literary techniques and
author’s agenda; it helps to read between the lines.”
In addition to defining critical thinking and validating the choice of texts to be used in
this study, the researcher reviewed existing works on the effect of questioning literary texts in
relation to critical thought development. Most researchers consent that posing intelligent
questions lead to a better examination of a literature piece and, thus, to the reader’s
contemplation development. For instance, Tankersley (2003) claimed that proficient readers, in
fact, pose questions at any reading stage because such an inquiry enhances their understanding
and links existing knowledge with new information through analysis and synthesis. Thus,
questioning helps readers to “examine the text, the author’s purpose and style, and their own
interpretations of the text they are reading (p.133). The author asserts that only through asking
challenging and thoughtful questions students truly develop as literate readers and thinkers. Paul
and Elder (2006) argued that “it is impossible to become a good thinker and be a poor
questioner” because “thinking is not driven by answers but by questions” (p. 84). Moreover, they
emphasized that the quality of questions determines a person’s thinking and learning processes.
Therefore, those people who want to enhance their cognitive ability should ask meaningful
questions related to purposes, reasons, assumptions, logic, and effects of an article, issue or
activity. As for the educational process, Paul and Elder (2006) assumed that “most students ask
virtually none of the thought-stimulating questions” (p.86). The learners, thus, tend to ask only
dead questions such as “Is it going to be on the test?” or “Who is the protagonist in this story?”
that do not encourage students to think critically. Furthermore, Nosich (2009) exemplifies that
when asked to solve a homework problem, students often just try to resolve the problem by any
method they can think of instead of asking themselves, “How can I best solve the problem?” The

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researcher then claims that critical thinking learners need to first question the problem and its
possible solutions. Thus, he highlights asking the following questions:
“What are some alternative ways of solving the problem assigned?
“What is a good way to begin?”
“Do I have all necessary information I need to start solving the problem?”
“What is the purpose behind the problem?”
“Can the problem be solved? Does it even make sense?” (p. 6).
As for the surveyed FE5 instructors, they have also confirmed that the ability to ask
questions help a learner to develop his or her critical thinking skills. To illustrate, one teacher
wrote that “through asking questions we not only get the information we need, but also create a
context in which we think and define the direction of how we can apply the work of mind.”
However, most of them are positive that only thought-provoking questions do really enhance
students’ critical thinking potential.
III. Research methodology

The researcher has used the descriptive research type with a comparative descriptive
design to answer its research questions. With the chosen research design, the researcher aims to
compare critical thinking skills of two groups of freshman students – those who were introduced
the concept of critical thought in the FE4 course and the newcomers who have not been taught
any critical thinking skills in the university courses yet.
A. Participants
Overall, 37 local and international Central Asian first-year University students enrolled in
the FE5 course in Fall 2011 participated in this research project. Among them were 15
newcomers or students who did not take FE4 and 22 students who finished this course in earlier
studies. All participants were either second or third users of English. Most students’ native
languages were either Kazakh or Russian followed by the Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tadjik, and Turkmen
languages. Four other faculty members volunteered to conduct the same research procedure in
their FE5 classes for generating a more representative sample for the study.
Besides, seven FE5 faculty members participated in a small survey with four open-ended
questions inquiring their beliefs about critical thought and questioning as well as observations of
the possession and use of critical thinking skills demonstrated by the foundation English learners.
B. Instrument
The data measuring instrument was based on Paul and Elder’s (2006) question
classification table with the three types of questions focused on examining learners’ thinking and
learning processes (Table 1).
Table1. Three types of questions and their impact on people’s thinking and learning
Question Example Estimated Possible answer Effect on
type reaction thinking and
learning
Questions of What is the boiling Require evidence A correct answer Lead to
fact point of lead? and reasoning knowledge
within a system
Questions of What is your Call for stating a A subjective Cannot be
preference favorite type of subjective opinion assessed
food? preference
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Questions of What is the most Require evidence Better and worse Require reasoned
judgement important thing we and reasoning answers judgement
can do to “save” the within multiple
earth? systems
Student questions were first grouped into questions of fact, questions of preference and
questions of judgement based on Paul and Elder’s question classification table. However, during
the data processing stage, the researcher has realized that not all of the various student questions
about literary texts can be placed into these three categories because many questions
simultaneously encompassed features of two different types. Therefore, for a more effective
arrangement of questions and, as a result, a more objective analysis of the results, the researcher
had to modify Paul and Elder’s question classification table to include other miscellaneous
questions (Table 2).
Table 2. Five types of questions and their impact on students’ thinking and learning
Question Example Estimated reaction Possible answer Effect on
type thinking and
learning
Questions How did Mr. Brock Require evidence and A correct Lead to
of fact become the murderer reasoning within a answer knowledge
of electronic devices? system
Questions of Why did people in Call for stating A subjective Can be partially
preference/ the story loose hope a subjective opinion assessed and
fact and were afraid of viewpoint partly partially based lead to
technology? supported by on factual knowledge
evidence within a information
system
Questions of Do you believe in Call for stating a A subjective Cannot be
preference love at first side like subjective preference opinion assessed
it happened with the
characters in the
story?
Questions of Why aren’t most Call for stating a A subjective Can be partially
preference/ teenagers in real life subjective viewpoint opinion that assessed
judgement (like people in the based on reasoning lead to better because require
story) interested in within multiple and worse reasoned
art? systems answers judgement
Questions of What is the writer’s Require evidence and Better and Require
judgement philosophical reasoning within worse answers reasoned
position in this story? multiple systems judgement
C. Procedures
Classroom research
All participating FE5 students were assigned to read a literary authentic short story at
home and then in class to think about and write down several interesting and thoughtful
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questions related to the story that the learners wanted to discuss with their instructor and peers.
As a result, each participant read five classic or contemporary stories and compiled the total of
17 questions. In order to examine students’ natural critical ability expressed through their own
questions, the participating teachers neither explained what critical thinking included, nor
showed any samples of critical thinking questions.
Student participant survey

The student participants were also asked to participate in a survey by filling in the
questionnaire with some personal demographic (e.g., age, gender, country of origin) and
educational background information (e.g., completion of FE4 course). Additionally, they
responded to a few open-ended questions about the definition of critical thinking, role of
questioning in developing a person’s critical thought, types of questions that cultivate reasoning
speculations and types of critical thinking skills learned in the FE4 course.
Faculty participant survey

All seven FE5 participating instructors were asked to reply to four open-ended questions
aimed at investigating their own definitions of critical thinking and the function of questions in
developing a student’s critical thinking skills. Also, they shared their observations of critical
thought demonstration by their FE5 students. In particular, they commented on (1) what critical
thinking is; (2) whether questioning ability helps students to develop their critical thinking skills;
(3) whether newcoming students in their classes demonstrate critical thinking skills; and (4)
whether those students who took the lower-level of foundation English courses, particularly FE4,
possess and use more critical thinking skills than the newcomers.
III. Research results

The research results include both the participants’ numerous questions to literary texts
and their responses to the following survey inquiries: (1) students’ understanding of critical
thinking; (2) role of questioning in the development of learners’ critical thinking skills; (3) types
of questions that enhance critical thought; and (4) learners’ critical thinking skills learned in the
FE4 course, if applicable.
A. Student questions
Overall, 37 FE5 students produced 629 questions with 374 and 255 posed by those
learners who took the lower-level FE4 course and the newcomers, respectively. According to the
results, first-year students in both groups asked many factual and preferential questions (over 70
percent) that do not encourage the development of critical thinking; however, they also
constructed questions that lead to critical thought development (25-30 percent). The general
tendency is that those participants who had finished the FE4 course asked fewer factual and more
thought-stimulating questions than the newcomers with about 9 and 7 percent differences,
respectively (Figure 1).

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Figure 1. Types of questions asked by FE5 students
Total percentage
40
35,3
35 33,4
31,4
30
25 23,6
Finished FE4
20
16,8 Didn't take FE4
14,5 13,9
15
12,3
10,2
10 8,6
5
Types of questions
0
Fact Pref./Fact Pref. Pref./Judge. Judge.
B. Student responses to the questionnaire items

Besides responding to general demographic and educational background items, the
participants replied to the four research-related open-ended questions. First, the participants were
asked to explain what they understand by critical thinking. The majority of students in both
groups – those who were introduced and practiced critical thinking skills in FE4 and the
newcomers - defined critical thinking as the analysis of an issue from different sides, in other
words, the consideration of its benefits and drawbacks (52.2 and 45 percent, respectively). Other
students who took FE4 (7.8 percent) mentioned that critical thinking includes identification of an
issue and its possible solutions as well as development and justification of personal opinions.
Ten percent of the newcomers pointed out that critical thinking should be based on examining
other people’s thoughts about a topic or issue, however, none of the students from the first group
noted this component. The complete list of all responses is overviewed in Table 3.
Table 3. Students’ definitions of critical thinking

Took F4 Didn't take F4
Percent- Percent-
Students' understanding of critical thinking Number age,% Number age,%
knowing what an issue is 3 7.8 1 5
finding reasons and main points of an issue 2 5.2 0 0
analyzing an issue from different sides 21 52.2 9 45
finding solutions to issues/situations 3 7.8 1 5
drawing conclusions 1 2.6 0 0
developing and proving own opinion 3 7.8 0 0
criticizing information 2 5.2 1 5
understanding the meaning between the lines 0 0 1 5
asking and discussing critical questions 1 2.6 1 5
researching what other people think about a topic/issue 0 0 2 10
thinking thoroughly about important things 2 5.2 1 5
thinking effectively in critical situations 0 0 1 5
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thinking about a question/issue during more time than usual 0 0 1 5

brainstorming 0 0 1 5
Second, all 37 participants believed that questioning does develop learners’ critical
reasoning skills. The majority (19.4 percent) of learners who practiced critical thinking skills in
the FE4 course believed that thinking about and discussing new information through questioning
stimulates the development of critical thought, whereas most newcomers (28 percent) indicated
that questioning helps learners think about and answer posed questions and, as a result of this
mental process, students develop their critical thinking skills. Table 4 lists various students’
reasons of why asking questions improves learners’ critical thinking skills.
Table 4. Students’ reasoning of why questioning leads to critical thought development

Percent- Percent-
Reasons why questioning develops critical thinking Number age,% Number age,%
receiving new information 3 8.3 4 16
thinking about/discussing new information 7 19.4 2 8
finding the main idea/details of an issue 5 13.8 2 8
finding reasons of an issue 1 2.7 1 4
analyzing an issue 3 8.3 3 12
understanding a topic/issue better 2 5.5 1 4
raising debatable/relevant questions 2 5.5 3 12
thinking about and answering posed questions 1 2.7 7 28
sharing and learning about different ideas 5 13.8 0 0
building and justifying own opinion 5 13.8 1 4
checking one's intelligence 1 2.7 0 0
being skeptical about something 0 0 1 4
developing logic 1 2.7 0 0
Third, the participants were asked to suggest those types of questions that encourage the
development of critical thinking skills. The majority of participants in both groups (18.7 and 16
percent, respectively) are positive that the “Why?” questions support the development of critical
thinking skills. The second most frequently occurring questions in both groups include those that
are concerned with personal opinions about some issue and personal reasons of making a
particular decision or choice. The student choices of these question types are presented in Table
5 below.
Table 5. Students’ responses to the types of questions that develop critical thinking
Percent- Percent-
Types of questions that enhance critical thinking Number age,% Number age,%
what is the issue/its details? 3 6.2 0 0
what are the reasons of something? 3 6.2 2 8
what are the advantages and disadvantages of something? 0 0 1 4
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what is the difference between items? 3 6.2 0 0

what are the author's purposes in writing this story? 1 2 0 0
what is the moral/main meaning of the story? 2 4.1 2 8
why did the author create such a character? 1 2 0 0
why was the ending of the story like this? 1 2 3 12
what do you/people think about something? 4 8.3 2 8
why do you think so/choose something? 3 6.2 4 16
what would you do in someone's place? 1 2 1 4
what alternative would you prefer? 1 2 1 4
do you agree or disagree with something? 0 0 1 4
WHY questions 9 18.7 4 16
HOW questions 4 8.3 1 4
WHAT questions 3 6.2 0 0
WHO, WHEN, WHERE 1 2 0 0
questions that require thoughtful answers 1 2 2 8
questions connected with symbolism in a story 0 0 1 4
political, economic questions 2 4.1 0 0
informative questions 2 4.1 0 0
rhetorical, logical questions 1 2 0 0
brainstorming questions 1 2 0 0
I don't know 1 2 0 0
Finally, the respondents from the first group recalled those critical thinking skills they
had learned in the FE4 course. Their notes are provided in Table 6 below. Most participants
(36.6 percent) learned to analyze information in articles followed by the obtained skills to
identify and discuss issues as well as to compare and contrast arguments in essays. One
interesting finding is that although all participants believe that questioning develops critical
thinking skills of learners, only two students indicated that in the FE4 course they learned how to
ask relevant, thoughtful questions to literary texts.
Table 6. Students’ responses to critical thinking skills learned in Foundation English 4

Responses
Critical thinking skills learned in the FE4 course Number Percentage,%
to define critical thinking 1 3.3
to identify/discuss issues 6 20
to contrast/compare arguments in an essay 6 20
to find solutions to problems 2 6.6
to analyze articles (finding main points, author's purpose) 11 36.6
to ask relevant, thoughtful questions to literary texts 2 6.6
to think logically 1 3.3
I don’t remember 1 3.3

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IV. Discussion
A. Discussion of the results
The first research question aimed to explore and describe a range of possible questions
that first-year students in the upper-level foundation English ask after reading a literary text. The
results of the project show that freshman students ask various questions ranging from pure
factual, content-oriented to critical, judgment-requiring questions (see Figure 1, p. 12). Such a
variety of question types can be partially explained by previous students’ educational
background, for instance, the fact of taking the FE4 course where learners practice using critical
thinking skills in different assignments might have caused the creation of more judgment
questions by the participants in the first group. The reason why about 30 percent of all questions
constituted preferential ones might be the participants’ willingness to know their fellow students’
opinions about and perceptions of stories’ content, characters, processes, choices and other text
aspects.
The second research question inclined to examine the difference in critical thinking skills
between those students in the upper-level foundation English who took a lower-level foundation
English course and the newcomers. The results indicate that those students who took the FE4
course are more likely to ask fewer factual questions compared with the newcomers. This can be
explained by the fact that the former were explicitly taught and practiced different critical
thinking skills in the lower-level foundation English course. However, since the majority of FE5
students in both groups still asked over 70 percent of factual and subjective, preferential
questions, the researcher has concluded that most learners were unfamiliar with the fact that
these types of questions do not develop their critical thinking skills and should not be the focus
of learners’ attention when thinking about or discussing a story. To the researcher’s surprise,
about a forth of the entire student sample posed judgment questions that require reasoned
analysis and, therefore, enhance one of the important upper-level critical thinking skills. This
result indicates that about 25 percent of the participating freshman students use their critical
thinking skills regardless of the fact whether they were introduced them in lower-level
foundation English courses.
The third research question inquired why there is a difference, if any, in the participants’
ability to different questions. The biggest difference exists in the number of factual and
preferential/factual questions constructed by the students in two various groups. This variation
appears to be linked to factor that the majority of the students who took the FE4 course had
learned to analyze issues and information in general from different perspectives (see Tables 3
and 6). Therefore, they might have used this analytical skill to construct less factual, content-
related questions to literary texts than the newcomers.
Surprisingly, the results also revealed that there is a minimal difference in the number of
judgment questions posed by the participants in both groups. One of the reasons why about 25
percent of the newcomers demonstrated some critical thinking skills expressed in their
judgement questions is grounded on their understanding of critical thinking, which mainly
includes an analysis of an issue from positive and negative sides (see Table 3). Besides, since
another 10 percent of the newcomers highlight the necessity to examine other people’s views on
some issue, this notion might have directed the learners’ attention to posing more objective,
analytical questions that require critical considerations of a number of people, not only their own
personal speculations. Furthermore, there are two possible explanations why the participants who
had finished the FE4 course produced almost the same number of judgment questions like the
newcomers. One of them might be that their learning in the FE4 course was not directed to
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thinking about and asking more judgment questions to literary and perhaps other texts. Another
reason entails a cognitive explanation that many entering young students mentally are not
capable of exercising many critical thinking skills during their first year of study, and only
subsequent academic studies will help them build such skills. However, the last explanation
needs another research study focused on exploring cognitive aspects of learners’ performance in
relation to their critical thinking skills’ development.
The students’ choices of types of questions that presumably (from the learners’
perspective) lead to developing some critical thinking skills need to be discussed, too. Although
most students in both groups consider the “Why” questions as the ones calling for critical
thinking, not all of them, in fact, become judgment inquires. For instance, a student might ask,
“Why did the family decide to move from city X to town Y?” or “Why do you like character A
better than character B in the story?” Such questions might be based only on factual answers or
subjective opinions that do not develop critical thinking at all.
B. Teaching implications
There are a few teaching implications based on this project that might be considered not
only by foundation English faculty at the University, but also by a wider international education
community. First, teaching students to distinguish and construct different types of questions to
literary and other texts (and then preferably discuss them in class) might better develop learners’
critical thinking skills. Second, since the results have shown no significant difference in the
amount of judgment questions produced by the participants in both groups, the focus of learners’
attention in foundation English courses need to be directed to producing and employing more
judgment queries. These reasoned questions can possibly build a solid foundation for the
advancement of students’ critical thinking skills. The researcher believes that such an intended
and explicit differentiation of questions with the spotlight on those requiring reasoned judgment,
which are supported by legitimate reasons and evidence, will nurture the development of critical
thinking skills in learners. It is important to address student questions in the classroom to further
develop their ideas and thoughts and encourage in- and out-of-class participation. Next, since the
students identify all “Why” questions as the ones expanding people’s critical thinking skills,
language faculty ought to help them differentiate the structure and meaning of the “Why”
questions so that learners can focus on producing more judgment than factual or preferential
questions.
Finally, both educators and learners are suggested to also explore the deep foundations
their critical thinking contemplations through the Socratic questioning approach in in-class small
group or whole class discussions for a better understanding of the nature and quality of cognitive
resolutions (Paul & Elder, 2006). The “Socratic questioning” method is aimed at “assessing the
truth or plausibility of things” through “an integrated, disciplined approach to thinking” (Paul &
Elder, 2006, p. 91). The authors claim that it is possible to promote better critical thinking by
helping learners understand the foundation of their statements or beliefs, in other words, by
asking such questions as “What is the basis of your statement? Can you please explain your
reasoning in more detail?” Moreover, connecting ideas and arguments with further thoughts will
generate more critical enquiry in the classroom. For example, the teacher might follow up some
student’s assertion by asking “If what you say is true, then wouldn’t another argument be also
valid?” Furthermore, Socratic questioning urges people to often clarify and develop their
accounts. For instance, faculty might ask, “Can you please elaborate on your suggested
solution?” Finally, this approach calls for the recognition of prior, presupposed questions that
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students should also explore. To demonstrate, learners might be asked, “To answer this complex
question, what other questions do we need to answer?”
C. Limitations of the study

The results of the study might have been affected by a few limitations. First, since the
researcher focused on questioning as the only instrument to examine students’ critical thinking
skills, there might be more differences in the results based on other data measuring instruments.
Second, since the participants represented only about 30 percent of all FE5 students in Fall 2,
2011, this number might still not be a very representative sample. In addition, the researcher
studied two unequal groups of learners in terms of their prior educational background, in other
words, there were more participants in the group who had taken the FE4 course (22 students)
than in another one with the newcomers (15 students). This fact might have affected the
representation of diverse question types produced by the second group; consequently, the amount
of judgment questions might have been different percentagewise. Finally, with a larger sample
size it will be possible to conduct a quantitative analysis for more objective results and
conclusions.
V. Conclusion
This research project intended to investigate newcoming students’ critical reasoning skills
before they are formally introduced the critical thinking skills they need to utilize in the
academic studies as well as to compare their critical thinking skills of those learners who have
been taught such skills in lower-level foundation English courses. The researcher used five
different types of questions (see Table 2, p. 9) as the instrument for grouping participant-
produced questions after reading literary texts. The results indicate that many learners in the FE5
course who have been taught different critical thinking skills in the lower-level FE4 course asked
fewer factual questions than the newcomers. However, since the participants in both groups
constructed almost the same number of judgment questions, language faculty are recommended
to review their teaching practices to provide more opportunities for developing learners’ critical
thinking skills through reasoned questioning or other useful methods.
Further research projects might include a quantitative study of a larger first-year student
sample with the purpose of conducting a statistical analysis of different learners’ critical thinking
skills. In other words, through questioning literary texts, it will be possible to statistically
compare the number of factual, preferential and judgment questions generated by those students
who have already gained knowledge of and applied various critical thinking skills in lower-level
foundation English courses with the those questions produced by the newcomers. Another
quantitative research might explore the impact of the explicit introduction and practice of
different types of questions through a variety of integrated linguistic, academic and cognitive
skill activities upon students’ critical thought development. It will be interesting to compare the
differences, if any, in the development of critical thinking skills in the control and experimental
groups.
About the Author:

Dinara Karimova received an MEd in Higher Education Administration from the University of
Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA. Dinara is currently pursuing an MA in TESOL at KIMEP

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University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Her main research interests include English language learning
and teaching; literature; critical thinking; and reflective practice in education.
References
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2005). Liberal education outcomes: A
preliminary report on student achievement in college. Washington, DC, USA:
AAC&U.
Dewey, J. (1908). How we think. Boston, USA: Heath.
Jaffar, S. (2004). Teaching critical thinking through literature. Journal of Research (Faculty of
Languages and Islamic Studies), 5, 15-26.
Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research. (2010). KIMEP
Catalog 2010-2011. Almaty, Kazakhstan: KIMEP.
Lazere, D. (1987). Critical thinking in college English studies. Retrieved from ERIC Digest
database.
Nosich, G. M. (2009). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the
curriculum (3rd ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). Critical thinking: Learn the tools the best thinkers use (concise ed.).
New Jersey, USA: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Tankersley, K. (2003). The threads of reading. Strategies for literacy development. Virginia,
USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Tierney, R. J., O’Flahavan, J. F., & McGinley, W. M. (1989). The effects of reading and writing
upon thinking critically. Reading Research Quarterly, 24(2), 134-173.
Tung, C.-A., & Chang, S.-Y. (2009). Developing critical thinking through literature reading.
Feng Chia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 19, 287-317.
Wallace, C. (1993). Reading. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

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AWEJ
Pp. 461-484
Bidirectional Influence between Languages: Theoretical Foundations and Pedagogical

Implications
Hosni Mostafa El-Dali

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
United Arab Emirates University
Abstract
There has been extensive research into how L1 affects L2, commonly known as ‘negative
influence’, but a lot less about the opposite direction, commonly known as ‘Reverse or
Backward’ transfer.The present study attempts to examine and critically review pertinent
research into the question of bidirectional influence between languages. First, it traces the
conceptual framework of the notion L1 →L2 effect. Second, it attempts to demonstrate how an
emerging new language (L2) affects the existing L1. Although there are several ways of
conceptualizing L2 influence on L1, the focus, in the present study, is on the concept of “Multi-
Competence” introduced by Cook (1991) and how it shifts the evaluation angle of the
interlanguage system. Third, it examines the pedagogical aspects of both directions, as
manifested in L2 classroom.
Keywords: L1 effect on L2; Reverse transfer; Pedagogical aspects

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Bidirectional Influence between Languages: Theoretical El-Dali
1. Introductory Remarks
It is commonly believed that the first language (L 1) has an effect on the second language
(L2). Second Language Acquisition (SLA) literature has shown extensive research on how the
learning and use of an L2 is affected by the L1. What has hardly been investigated, however, is
the influence that foreign language has on the learner’s first language. The reason for this
neglect may have been twofold: (a) for a long time, researchers have been interested in the non-
advanced learners of L2. At the beginning stages of L2 learning the influence is mostly
unidirectional, from L1 to L2. (b) L2 acquisition research has been dominated by English as an L2.
And, advanced learners of English who supplied the data for research were immigrants to
English-speaking countries, and knowledge of English was vital for their integration into the new
society. Therefore, the development of this knowledge provoked researchers’ interest and the
state of their native language, on the other hand, was less important, and did not raise the same
amount of interest (See Miller, 2011).
The issue of whether the L2 affects the L1 has provided a rich new question for L2
acquisition research to investigate. Relatedly, it has profound implications not only for our
conceptualization of the mind with two languages, but also for our view of all human minds.
2. Statement of the Problem
Almost anywhere we turn, we can find textbooks, articles, and workshops on the art and
science of teaching and learning L2. However, we are a long, long way from finding ultimate
answers to the many difficult questions we have been asking. According to Brown (1988), we
have grown accustomed to the absence of final solutions as we discover an overwhelming
multiplicity of variables at play in the process of L2 learning. Specifically, there has been
considerable progress in the study of native language influence during the last hundred or so
years; however, because of the controversies that have accompanied this progress, the findings of
transfer research must be interpreted cautiously.
Skepticism about the role of language transfer has had a long life not only among L 2
teachers and researchers, but also among linguists interested in questions of language contact and
language change. Some scholars have argued for the importance of transfer; some have gone so
far as to consider it the paramount fact of L2 acquisition. Yet other scholars have been very
skeptical about its importance (See Kellerman, 1984; Faerch, 1984). Moreover, Schachter
(1994) thinks that although it is true that much uncertainty remains about many issues related to
cross linguistic influences, and it is undeniably true that researchers are far from able to predict
with full accuracy when transfer will occur, it is also true that skeptics are far from able to
predict when transfer will never occur. In this regard, Brown (1988: xii) points out that “no
single discipline or theory or model or factor will ever provide a magic formula for solving the
mystery of second language acquisition”. Moreover, in discussing native language influence on
L2 acquisition, we need to keep in mind that there is no single scientific truth, In this connection,
McLaughlin (1988: 6), correctly, points out that “disciplines tend to become fragmented into
'schools', whose members are loath to accept, and are even hostile to the views of other schools
using different methods and reaching different conclusions. Each group becomes convinced that
it has a corner on 'truth'. One philosophical position contends that truth can never be known
directly and in its totality”. McLaughlin (1988: 6) adds that “multiple ways of seeing result in
multiple truths. Scientific progress is achieved as we come to illuminate progressively our
knowledge in a particular domain by taking different perspectives, each of which must be
evaluated in its own right”.

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3. Rationale for the Study

Keeping the above in mind, I argue that (1) viewing transfer as the single most important
reality of second language acquisition is risky, though no more so than viewing transfer as a
negligible factor in L2 acquisition; and (2) the learning of a language must be viewed as a very
complex process of which the development of a grammatical system is only one part. Properties
of L1 and L2 certainly do have some influence on this process and may account for some aspects
of the learner's interlanguage. Other factors especially psychological ones are likely to be of
much greater importance for our understanding of the process of L2 acquisition, including
linguistic and non-linguistic strategies involved. This view seems to be compatible with Ellis
(1985: 40) view:
“While the learner's native language is an important determinant of
second language acquisition, it is not the only determinant;
however, and may not be the most important. But it is theoretically
unsound to attempt a precise specification of its contribution or
even try to compare its contribution with that of other factors”
(See Midgley et al., 2009; Akamatsu, 2005; Luk & Bialystok, 2008).
4. Theoretical Background
4.1. “Transfer” as a Notion
In the terminology of second language research, the term ‘transfer’ is as problematic
as any. Whitney (1881) used the term 'transfer' to refer to crosslinguistic influences, long
before any linguists thought of it or linking it to the notion of habit formation. After that,
Thorndike and Woodworth (1901) proposed one of the first, and most durable, theories of
transfer. They suggested that transfer from one task to another would occur only if the two
tasks contained identical Stimulus Response (S-R) elements (Oldin, 1996).
Much of the dislike of the term "transfer" comes from its traditional association with
behaviourism. Behaviourism is now so widely discredited in the field of psycholinguist ics
that some leading textbooks in that field give no attempt to behaviorist analysis (See
Carroll, 1968; Corder, 1983; Krashen, 1983; Kellerman & Smith, 1986).
Regardless of the divide in opinion as to “transfer” as a term or notion, there are a
number of reasons for language teachers and linguists to consider the problem of transfer.
Odlin (1996) points out that (1) teaching may become more effective through a consideration
of differences between languages and between cultures. (2) Consideration of the research
showing similarities in errors made by learners of different backgrounds will help teachers
to see better what may be difficult or easy for anyone learning the language they are
teaching. (3) Research on transfer is also important for a better understanding of the nature
of language acquisition in any context and is thus of interest to anyone curious about what
is common to all languages; that is; language universals. (4) Many people believe that the
study of one language (e.g. Latin) will make easier the study of a closely related language
(e.g. French). (5) Finally, for historical linguists, knowledge about native language
influence can lead to insights about the relation between language contact and language
change.
To summarize, although language transfer has been a central issue in applied
linguistics, L2 acquisition, and language teaching for at least a century, its importance in L 2
learning has been reassessed several times. It must be kept in mind that serious thinking
about cross-linguistic influences dates back to a controversy in historical linguistics in the

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19th century. Those who were involved in this controversy were not interested in L 2
acquisition or language teaching but rather language classification and language change
(Odlin, 1996).
4.2 SLA Research in the 1960s: Focus on Learners’ Errors

Most SLA research in the 1960s was conducted within the frame work of Contrastive
Analysis. As noted by James (1980: 27), contrastivists see it as their goal to explain certain
aspects of L2 learning; their means are descriptive accounts of the learner’s L1 and L2 to be
learned, and techniques for the comparison of these descriptions. In other words, the goal
belongs to psychology while the means are derived from linguistic science. In fact, there have
been at least two significant approaches in the analysis of learner difficulty in acquiring L 2. The
first approach is Contrastive Analysis (CA). The second approach is Error Analysis (EA).
In the course of the controversy over the viability of the CAH, two versions of this
hypothesis have emerged: “The strong vs. the weak” or “predictive vs. explanatory” versions as
proposed by Wardhaugh (1970). The idea of the strong version is that it is possible to contrast
the system of one language with the system of L2. On the basis of the result of this contrast,
investigators can discover the similarities and differences between the two languages in question
so that they can make predictions about what will be the points of difficulty for the learners of
other languages. According to the strong version, wherever the two languages differed,
interference would occur. That is, language transfer is the basis for predicting which patterns of
the target language will be learned most readily and which will prove most troublesome. This
version relies on the assumption that similarities will be easier to learn and differences harder.
The strong version of the CAH has long since been rejected (Wardhaugh, 1970; Riebel,
1971; Dulay & Burt, 1973) on a number of grounds. The apriori version of CA sometimes
predicts difficulties that do not occur, particularly in the syntactic component of a language. It
predicts positive transfer: similarities which should be easier to learn, that which does not occur.
If wrong predictions are made using the apriori hypothesis, then the hypothesis must be wrong.
In his evaluation of the strong version of CAH, Wardhaugh (1970) marks that although some
writers tried to make this version the basis for their work, it is quite unrealistic and impractical.
The weak version which has emerged relies on two assumptions. First, error
analysis may help investigators know, through errors the learners make, what the
difficulties are. Second, investigators may realize the relative difficult y of specific errors
through the frequency of their occurrence (Schachter, 1974). The weak version may be
easier and more practical than the strong version on the basis that it requires of the linguist
that he/she use his/her linguistic knowledge to explain the observed difficulties in L 2
learning.
In their discussion of the validity of CAH, Whitman and Jackson (1972) support the
idea that CAH is inadequate from the theoretical and practical points of view. Their
arguments are based on two justifications: first, CA is not reliable to predict the interference
problems of a language learner; and second, interference of native language plays such a
small role in language learning performance that no CA could correlate highly with
performance data. However, most of the valid CA evidence seems to be phonological; that
is, contrastive analysis may be most predictive at the level of phonology and less predictive
at the syntactic level. Present research results (Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982) suggest that the
major impact LI has on L2 acquisition may have to do with accent, not with grammar or
syntax.
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The assumption that similarities between the native and the target languages will be
easier to learn and differences harder is rejected by a group of scholars. Pica (1984), for
example, maintains that the divergent areas between the learner’s L1 and the target language do
not represent the greatest learning difficulties may be attributable to those areas which share
considerable similarity. For example, speakers of Spanish, which, like English, has copula verb
forms, frequently omit forms such as ‘am’ and ‘is’. Such ‘errors’ are found not only among
Spanish speakers but also among speakers of other languages, and also among children learning
English as their native language.
Some differences between languages do not always lead to significant learning
difficulties. As Stockwell, Bowen and Martin (1965) pointed out, the two verbs conocer and
saber in Spanish correspond to different senses of the English verb know. While this lexical
difference poses many problems for English speakers learning Spanish, Spanish speakers
learning English seem to have little difficulty in associating two lexical senses with one form.
Moreover, CA, the structural basis for prediction of transfer, normally relies on comparisons of
collective, not individual, linguistic behaviour. The problem is that variation is one of the most
important characteristics. The existence of such variation poses an important problem for the
study of transfer. As Odlin (1996: 130) states:
“As descriptions of collective behavior, contrastive analyses may
frequently give rise to inaccurate predictions of individual
performances. Even while some kind of transfer is likely in the
second language performance of most learners, the
manifestations of transfer can vary from one learner to the next”.
Another serious challenge for any contrastive description is the interaction of linguistic
subsystems. As Sanford and Garrod (1981) and Bock (1982) point out, psycholinguistic research
has demonstrated a strong interdependence among discourse, syntax, phonology and other
subsystems in the comprehension and production of language.
The error analysis (EA) approach is based on the assumption that the frequency of
errors is proportional to the degree of learning difficulty (Brown, 1980). As has been
mentioned before, many of the errors could not be explained in terms of L 1 transfer. The point
which should be clear is that the EA can be characterized as an attempt to account for learner
errors that could not be explained or predicted by the CAH.
EA research has come under fire. For example, Schachter and Celce-Murcia (1977)
have pointed out that it is difficult to be certain precisely what type of error a second-language
learner is making or why the learner makes it. The reasons for errors made by L 2 learners are
numerous. In this regard, Taylor (1975) found that the early stages of language learning are
characterized by a predominance of interlingual transfer, but once the learner has begun to
acquire parts of the new system, generalization within the target language is manifested. In his
definition of intralingual errors, Richards (1971) points out that these errors can be listed under
three headings: (a) errors attributable to incomplete application of rules; (b) errors attributable
to over-generalization or the creation of ill - formed structures based on the speaker's
knowledge of the other structures in the second language; and (c) errors attributable to failure
to learn the conditions under which rules apply.
On the other hand, many studies have shown that developmental factors provide
another explanation for some of the errors made by L2 learners. Felix (1980) presents the
theoretical assumption of the developmental nature of L2 acquisition. As long as L1 learners
produce ungrammatical structures before they achieve adult competence, L 2 learners appear to
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pass through developmental stages which reflect general regularities and universal processes of
language acquisition. These developmental stages are not determined by the structural
properties of the learner’s L1. The same idea is presented by Pica (1984).
As a reaction to the ‘product’ orientation of the morpheme studies and error analysis,
and the feeling that a more ‘process’ oriented approach was needed, researchers began to work
according to the interlanguage framework, which was developed in the late 1970s and 1980s.
So, rather than focusing on the first or the target language, researchers began to develop data
analytic procedures that would yield information about the dynamic qualities of language
change that made the interlanguage a unique system; both similar to and different from the first
and target languages. The next section will discuss the interlanguage framework, and how the
issue of language transfer was analyzed by researchers working according to it.
4.3 SLA Research in the 1970s/1980s: Interlanguage Framework

The term "interlanguage" was coined by Selinker (1969; 1972) to refer to the interim
grammars constructed by L2 learners on their way to the target language. The term won favour
over similar constructs, such as "approximative system" (Nemser, 1971) and "transitional
competence" (Corder, 1967). Since the early 1970’s "interlanguage" has come to characterize a
major approach to L2 research and theory. Unfortunately, the term has taken on various
meanings, some authors using it as synonymous with L 2 learning generally. Generally
speaking, the term "interlanguage" means two things : 1) the learner's system at a single point
in time, and 2) the range of interlocking systems that characterize the development of learners
over time. The interlanguage is thought to be distinct from both the learner's L 1 and from the
target language. It evolves over time as learners employ various internal strategies to make
sense of the input and to control their own output. These strategies were central to Selinker's
thinking about interlanguage. Specifically, Selinker (1972) argued that interlanguage was the
product of five cognitive processes involved in L2 learning (1) language transfer from L1; (2)
transfer of the training process used to teach L 2; (3) strategies of L2 learning; (4) strategies of
L2 communication; and (5) overgeneralization of the target language linguistic material. The
development of the interlanguage was seen by Selinker as different from the process of L 1 de-
velopment because of the likelihood of fossilization in L2.
In contrast to Selinker's cognitive emphasis, Adjemian (1976) focused on the dynamic
character of interlanguage systems, their permeability. Interlanguage systems are thought to be
by their nature incomplete and in a state of flux. In this view, the individual's L 1 system is seen to
be relatively stable, but the interlanguage is not. The structures of the interlanguage may be
"invaded" by L1 when placed in a situation that cannot be avoided, L2 learner may use rules or
items from L1. Similarly, the learner may stretch, distort, or overgeneralize a rule from the target
language in an effort to produce, the intended meaning. Both processes Adjemian saw to reflect
the basic permeability of the interlanguage.
A third approach to the interlanguage notion has been taken by Tarone (1979) who
maintained that the interlanguage could be seen as analysable into a set of styles that are
dependent on the context of use. Tarone proposed capability continuum, which includes a set of
styles ranging from a stable subordinate style virtually free of L 1 influence to a characteristically
superordinate style where the speaker pays a great deal of attention to form and where the
influence of L1 is, paradoxically, more likely to be felt. For Tarone, interlanguage is not a single
system; but a set of styles that can be used in different social contexts. In this way, Tarone added

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to Adjemian’s linguistic perspective a sociolinguistic point of view. However both Selinker and
Adjemian stressed the influence of L1 on the emerging interlanguage.
To conclude, the shift from a product to a process orientation has drawn attention to the
more subtle and non-obvious effects of L1 on interlanguage development. It has become
apparent that L 1 does affect the course of interlanguage development but this influence is not
always predictable. In addition, as McLaughlin (1988: 81) points out, "more recent work on
transfer has made apparent the folly of denying L 1 influence any role in interlanguage
development”. He, further, maintains that "the bulk of the evidence suggests that language ac-
quisition proceeds by mastering the easier unmarked properties before the more difficult marked
ones". This issue will be discussed next.
4.4 Markedness and Language Transfer
In L 2 acquisition research, the term “markedness” was used by Kellerman
(1979, 1983) to predict when transfer is likely to occur from L1 . More marked structures in
the learner's L 1 (those that are perceived to be more irregular, infre quent, and
semantically apaque) were predicted to be less transferable than regular and frequent
forms. Other authors distinguish marked or unmarked structures according to their degree
of complexity. Unmarked forms are thought to be less complex than marked. In addition, Zobl
(1983; 1984) argued that to overcome the inadequacy of the CA approach; that is, to explain why
some differences between L1 and L2 lead to learning difficulty and other differences do not,
it is necessary to look at the interaction of transfer forces with other influ ences on the
learner. Specifically, Zobl proposed that one reason for transfer from L 1 is that L 2 rule is
obscure. There are two main reasons suggested for this obscurity: 1) L2 is typologically
inconsistent in that it violates a universal implicational pattern, or 2) the rule is itself
typologically variable, so that there are a large number of possibilities. In either of these
cases, learners are likely to fall back on their L1 and L2 influence will be found in the
interlanguage.
Kellerman (1979) reported that learners initially transfer both marked and unmarked
features from their L1, but that in the more advanced interlanguage, they resist transferring
marked features. This not to imply that beginners will necessarily transfer marked features from
their L1. In this regard, Zobl (1984) noted that L2 learners at all stages of development tend to
avoid transferring marked L1 rules. Eckman (1985) has argued that transfer occurs principally
where Li feature is unmarked and L2 feature is marked. According to Eckman's Markedness
Differential Hypothesis, those areas of the target that will be most difficult for L2 learners are
those that are both different from L1 and relatively more marked.
4.5 Sociolinguistic Perspective

A number of researchers studying L2 acquisition without formal instructions have been
struck by the relationship between social psychological acculturation and degree of success in
learning the target language In this regard, Schumann (1978: 15) characterized the relationship
between acculturation and L2 acquisition in the following way: “Second language acquisition is
just one aspect of acculturation and the degree to which a learner acculturates to the target-
language group will control the degree to which he acquires the second language”. In this view,
acculturation and, hence, L2 acquisition is determined by the degree of social and psychological
"distance" between the learner and the target-language culture. Social distance pertains to the
individual as a member of a social group that is in contact with another social group whose

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members speak a different language. Psychological distance is the result of various affective
factors that concern the learner as an individual, such as resolution of language shock, culture
shock, and culture stress, integrative versus instrumental motivation, and ego permeability. It is
assumed that the more social and psychological distance there is between L2 learner and the
target-language group, the lower the learner's degree of acculturation will be toward that group.
It is then predicted that the degree to which L2 learners succeed in socially and psychologically
adapting or acculturating to the target-language group will determine their level of success in
learning the target language (See Bylund, 2009; Caspi, 2010). More specifically, social and
psychological distance influence L2 acquisition by determining the amount of contact learners
have with the target language and the degree to which they are open to the input that is available.
In a negative social situation, the learner will receive little input in L 2. In a negative
psychological situation, the learner will fail to utilize available input. Schumann argued that the
early stages of L2 acquisition are characterized by the same processes that are responsible for the
formation of pidgin languages. When social and/or psychological distance is great, the learner
will not progress beyond the early stages and the language will stay pidginized.
Moreover, Odlin (1969) argues that when individuals feel a strong sense of belonging to
a group, they are frequently concerned about preserving the linguistic forms believed to
characterize the group. However, negative transfer should be a cause for concern in light of the
social significance of foreign accents. Some evidence suggests that the more heavily accented a
person's pronunciation is, the more likely it is that listeners will have negative reactions (Brennan
and Brennan 1981). Negative transfer, however, does not always prompt negative attitudes. For
example, despite his noticeable German accent, Henry Kissinger achieved distinction in public
affairs.
4. 6 Transfer in the Cognitive Theory
Cognitive theory is based on the work of psychologistics and psycholinguistics.
Individuals working within this framework apply the principles and findings of contemporary
cognitive psychology to the domain of L2 learning. According to McLaughlin (1988), the theory
is, in this sense, derivative That is, it represents the application of a broader framework to the
domain of L2 research (See Bialystok et al., 2008; Jiang, 2007). Within this framework, L 2
learning is viewed as the acquisition of a complex cognitive skill. To learn L2 is to learn a skill,
because various aspects of the task must be practiced and integrated into fluent performance.
Learning is a cognitive process because it is thought to involve internal representations that
regulate and guide performance. In the case of language acquisition, these representations are
based on the language system and include procedures for selecting appropriate vocabulary,
grammatical rules, and pragmatic conventions governing language use. As performance
improves, there is constant restricting as learners simplify, unify, and gain increasing control
over their internal representations (Karmiloff-Smith 1986). In this regard, Lightbown (1985)
pointed out that L2 acquisition is not simply linear and cumulative, but is characterized by
backsliding and loss of forms that seemingly were mastered. She attributed this decline in
performance to a process whereby learners have mastered some forms and then encounter new
ones that cause a restructuring of the whole system: [Restructuring] occurs because language is
a complex hierarchical system whose components interact in non-linear ways. Seen in these
terms, an increase in error rate in one area may reflect an increase in co mplexity or accuracy
in another, followed by overgeneralization of a newly acquired structure, or simply by a sort
of overload of complexity which forces a restructuring, or at least a simplification, in

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another part of the system. (Lightbown 1985: 177)

In their discussion of transfer, SLA theorists have argued whether bilingual individuals
have two separate stores of information in long-term memory, one for each language, or a single
information store accompanied by selection mechanism for using L1 or L2 (McLaughlin 1984).
In this regard, O'Malley, Chamot and Walker (1987) pointed out that if individuals have a
separate store of information maintained in each language, they would select information for use
appropriate to the language context. To transfer information that was acquired in L1 to L2 would
be difficult because of the independence of the two memory systems. An individual in the early
stages of proficiency in L2 would either have to translate information from L1 to L2 or relearn L1
information in L2, capitalizing on existing knowledge where possible. A contrast to this ar-
gument for separate L1 and L2 memory systems, Cummins (1984) has proposed a common
underlying proficiency in cognitive and academic proficiency for bilinguals (See Montrul, 2008;
Ribbert & Kuiken, 2010). Cummins argues that at least some of what is originally learned
through L1 does not have to be relearned in L2, but can be transferred and expressed through the
medium of L2. L2 learners may be able to transfer what they already know from L1 into L2 by (a)
selecting L2 as the language for expression, (b) retrieving information originally stored through
L1 but presently existing as non-language-specific declarative knowledge, and (c) connecting the
information to L2 forms needed to express it. Learning strategy research (O'Malley, Chamot,
Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper and Russo 1985a, 1985b) indicates that students of English as L 2
consciously and actively transfer information from their L1 for use in L2 (See Kim et al., 2010).
5. Part Two: Reverse/Backward Transfer

There are several ways of conceptualizing L2 influence on L1. (1) The concept of
Multi-Competence (Cook, V. 1991); (2) The common Underlying Conceptual Base (CUCB);
(3) Representational Redescription Model; (4) The Dynamic model of Multi ligualism; (5)
Analysis/ Control Model; (6) The Chomskyan Minimalist Program. The above approaches
share the following common features: (a) at some level of the L 2 users mind is a whole that
balances elements of the L1 and L2 within it; (b) keeping in mind the number of people who
use second languages, monolingualism can be considered the exception, not only statistically
but also in terms of human potential; (c) relatedly, if monolingualism is taken as the normal
condition of humanity, L2 users can be treated as footnotes to the Linguistics of
monolingualism (See Cook, 1983; 1989; 2002; 2003).
5.1 Focus on Multi-Competence
Multi-competence: A declaration of independence for the L2 user
It was introduced by Cook (1991) to mean “Knowledge of two or more languages in
one mind”. It was introduced because while “Interlanguage” had become the standard term for
the speaker’s knowledge of a second language, no word existed that encompassed their
knowledge of both the L2 and their L1. Before, we used to have the L1 on the one hand, and on
the other, “the interlanguage”, but nothing that included both. The notion of multicompetence
has added a new spin by shifting the evaluation angle of the interlanguage system (Selinker
1972) from one being filled with deficiencies, when compared to native speakers’ competence,
to one that deserves to be studied in its own right. Multicompetence thus presents a view of
second language acquisition (SLA) based on the second language (L2) user as a whole person
rather than on the monolingual native speaker. It, therefore, involves the whole mind of the
speaker, not simply their first language (L1) or their second. It assumes that someone who

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knows two or more languages is a different person from a monolingual and so need to be
looked at in their own right rather than as a deficient monolingual (See Cook, 2006; 2007;
2008; 2009). From the multicompetence perspective, the different languages a person speaks
are seen as one connected system, rather than each language being a separate system. People
who speak a second language are seen as unique multilingual individuals, rather than people
who have merely attached another language to their repertoire. Multi competence is thus not a
model nor a theory so much as an overall perspective or framework: It changes the angle from
which second language acquisition is viewed. To avoid implying deficiency of the part of
second language speakers, Cook prefers the term L2 user to L2 learner. An L2 user is anyone
who knows a second language and uses it in real life, irrespective of their language level.
Particular developments from multi-competence were: (a) The re-evaluation of the use of
native speakers as the norm in favour of L2 users in their own right; (b) Seeing transfer as a
two-way process in which the L1 in the L2 user’s mind is affected by the L2, as well as the
reverse (See Cook, 2003; 2005; 2006).
5.2. Against the Concept of “Native Speaker”
Until the 1990s it was tacitly assumed that the only owners of a language were its
native speakers. The objective of L2 learning was therefore to become as like a native speaker
as possible; any difference counted as failure. A working definition of a native speaker is “a
person who has spoken a certain language since early childhood” (Mc Arthur 1992). The
native speaker construct has, howeve,become increasingly problematic in SLA research. SLA
research has then been questioning its faith in the native speaker as the only true possessor of
language. On the one hand, it is a highly idealized abstraction. Native speakers of any
language vary from each other in many aspects of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary for
dialectal, social and regional reasons. So which native speaker should be used a model? On
the other hand, this seemed to be one group exercising power over another. Since Boas,
linguistics has refrained from value judgments about different groups of speakers. Treating the
native speaker as the model for SLA is falling into the same trap of subordinating the group of
L2 users to the group of native speakers, to which they could never belong by definition (See
Cook, 1997; 1999; 2000; 2002).
The object of acquiring a second language should be to become an L 2 user, and people
should be measured by their success at being L2 users, not by their failure to speak like native
speakers. The L2 user is a person in his or her own right, not an imitation of someone else.
Relatedly, one group of human beings should not judge other people as failures for not
belonging to their group (Grasjean, 1989; Cook, 1997, 2003). The interest of SLA research
should be ‘discovering L2 users characteristics, not their deficiencies compared with native
speakers” (Cook, 2003:5). The concept “Multi Competence” leads us to see the L 2 user a
person in his or her own right, not as an approximation to a monolingual native speaker. L 2
users make up the majority of human beings, and they form a very substantial group.
Accordingly, people who have native-like skills in both languages are the exception rather than
the norm among L2 users. Accordingly, The use of native-speaker measure “will blind us in the
future to the overwhelming majority of L2 users who are far from native – like across two
languages. However, a comparison of the L 2 user with the native speaker may be legitimate
provided any difference that is discovered is not treated as matters of deficiency. Persistent
use of this comparison led, for example, to a view that code-switching in adults or children was
to be deplored rather than commended. (Is it a sign of confusion or a skillful L 2 use? (See

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Genesee, 2002). Two points to remember: (A) According to Kecskes & Papp (2003), two
interacting factors play a decisive role in shaping the L 2 L1 influence: (1) Level of
proficiency and the development of a common Underlying Conceptual Base; and (2) nature of
transfer. (B) The nature of the L2 L1 effect can vary depending on the social context of the
language contact situation (See Cook, 2011).
5.3. The Nature of the Relationship between L1 and L2.
There are five models which may symbolize language representation in the brain of a
person who uses two languages, and the nature of the relationship between those languages.
According to the separation model, L1 and L2 are stored in two separate entities with no
possible connection between them. Support for this view came from the research on the
Natural Order of Acquisition in L1 (Brown, 1980) and L2 (Dulay & Burt, 1973). Support came,
also, from Coordinate Bilingualism studies, which claimed that coordinate bilinguals have two
separate systems for storing and processing the two languages. Accordingly, this model sees
no point to discussing the effects of the L2 on the L1, as they do not exist (See Cook, 1991;
1997; 2006; 2011). According to the integration model, the language forms a single, unitary
system. As Caramazza & Brones (1980) argued, rather than two separate mental lexicons, the
L2 user has a single lexicon where words from one language are stored alongside words from
the other. This can be also applied to phonology (Williams, 1977). L 2 users can choose which
language to use in a given context. In this model, accordingly, the discussion is not about the
influence of L2 on L1, but about the balance between elements of a single language system (See
Cook, 2003; Cenoz, 2003; Coleman, 2006). The linked model represents a significant
variation on the separation Model. It involves two separate systems which interact with other
and cause bidirectional influence. The extent of influence might be related to a number of
variables such as age and proficiency level (Kroll & Tokowicz, 2001). Most of L 2 transfer
research supports some kind of a linked model where both positive and negative transfer take
place from L1 and L2 and vice versa (See Silva, 2000; Tran, 2007; Wannaruk, 2008).
The partial integration model represents a significant variation on the integration
Model. It claims the existence of a shared area between the L 1 and L2 systems. This area is
most likely in the form of a Common Underlying Conceptual Base (Kecskes & Papp, 2000)
related to various aspects of language such as vocabulary, phonology, and syntax. Dominance
of one language system over the other is quite common in this area and most of the time the
dominance is in favour of L1 because it is the language of cognitive development in children.
Finally, according to integration continuum model, L1 and L2 systems may go through changes
in the nature of their relationship. They could start as two separate systems, and then gradually
turn into one system, as it is the case in consecutive Bilingualism. Conversely, they could start
as one, and then gradually turn into autonomous systems, as it is the case in Simultaneous
Bilingualism. Furthermore, the integration Continuum Model allows for different relationship
among the various language skill and elements. For example, the lexicon of two language
systems might be unified, but the phonology is separate. In general, the model views the
nature of the relationship between two language systems in the brain as very complex because
it can be influenced by a number of issues such as social status of the target language, stages of
L1 and L2 development, and a number of personal and contextual factors (See Qu et al., 2005;
Rose, 2000; Sasaki & Beamer, 2002; Seidlhofer, 2005; Jia, 2007).
The above models tempt us to refer to the Language Mode Continuum (Grosjean,
2001), according to which it is not about which language to use but about how much of each.
As Cook (2003:10) explains:
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“It is like a mixer tap that merges hot and cold water, but
neither tap can be completely turned off. The L 2 user is the one
who decides the proportions of the two languages to employ at
a given moment in the light of multiple factors on a continuum
between effectively activating only one language and activating
both simultaneously”
(See Kecskes et al., 2003; Jarvis, 2003; Chang, 2009;
Athanasopoulos, 2009).
5.4. Positive Effects of L2 on L1
5.4.1 Knowledge of the First Language:
When people learn a second language, the way they speak their first language changes
in subtle ways. These changes can be with any aspect of language, from pronunciation and
syntax to gestures the learner makes and the things they tend to notice. Garfinkel & Tabor
(1991) found that children in elementary foreign language programs outperformed their
monolingual peers in the acquisition of basic skills. Thomas et al., (1993) and Hakuta (1986)
found a correlation of bilingual proficiency with higher scores on standardized tests and tests
of both verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Yelland et al., (1993) found that English children
who are taught Italian for an hour a week read English better than those who are not. Balcom
(1995) found different acceptability judgments of French passive sentences in Francophone
speakers who did or did not know English. Kecskes (1998) has found beneficial effects on the
development and use of mother skills with regard to structural well-formedness in Hungarian
students of modern languages. Marcos (1998) found that learning a second language in an
elementary school usually enhances a child’s learning ability in English. Satterfield (1999)
showed that knowledge of English as an L2 caused increased use of overt pronouns in non-
emphatic contexts in L1 Spanish by Spanish/English bilinguals. Another study on the influence
of the second language on the first language is a study conducted by Darwish (1999) in
Australia on Arab migrants which showed that, negative transfer from English into Arabic
seems to produce a new variety of Arabic that diverges from the norms of Arabic spoken in the
Arab world. This variety of Arabic is an interim stage within the process of language shift
from Arabic to English. However, the presence of a pseudo-language is alien to both the
culture and the language. The notion of “pseudo-language” is interesting because the variety of
Arabic is a result of the blending of Arabic and Australian English, and thus, making it unique.
Because it is neither recognizable as Arabic nor Australian English, it has established itself as a
culture and variety of English on its own.
A Louisian study (Dumas, 1999) showed that regardless of race, gender or academic
level, students taking foreign language classes did better in the English section of the
Louisiana Basic Skills Test than those who did not. Kecskes & Papp (2003) found that
Hungarian children who know English use measurably more complex sentences in their L 1
than those who do not. Bialystok (2001) has found that L 2 user Children have more precious
metalinguistic skills than their monolingual peers. Genoz (2002) found that there was a bi-
directional interaction between English and Spanish in the pragmatic Component of Spanish /
Bosque L1 Speakers (See Jarvis & Pavlenko, 2009; Laufer, 2003).
In the United States of America, educationists are aware of the second language
influence of the first language. In a progress report made by the San Juan School District in
California (2003), it stated that 59% of the student has a second language influence (the first
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language being English). This is seen as a hindrance for the students to be fully English
Proficient, and they are categorized as having English language issues. Murphy & Pine (2003),
also revealed that bilingual children represented the knowledge of language more explicitly
than the monolinguals of the same age. Laufer (2003) showed that an experienced Russian
speaker of Hebrew uses a less rich vocabulary in Russian than comparative new comers.
Pavlenko (2003) showed that Russian learners of English begin to rely on expressing emotions
as states rather than as process. Cook et al., (2003) showed that Japanese speaker of English
are more prone to prefer plural subjects in Japanese sentences than Japanese who do not know
English. Serrano & Howard (2003) conducted a study in the United States of America on The
influence of English on the Spanish Writing of Native Spanish Speakers in Two-Way
Immersion Programs. They discovered some influences of the second language (English) on
the students’ first language (Spanish).
Hashemian (2011) has found a qualitative increase in the L1 skills of the English major
senior students who are intensively exposed to the L2 instruction for, at least, four years. He
concludes that L2 learners may transfer the meaning system they already possess on their own
to a new language. Intensive and successful L 2 learning can have-beneficial effect on the
development of L1 skills. Kaushankaya et al. (2011) examined the influence of second
language experience on native-language vocabulary and reading skills in two groups of
bilingual speakers. English-Spanish and English-Mandarin bilingual adults were tested
vocabulary knowledge and reading fluency in English, their native language. Participants also
provided detailed information regarding their history of second-language acquisition, including
on the age of L2 acquisition, degree of L2 exposure, L2 proficiency, and preference of L2 use.
Comparisons across the two bilingual groups revealed that both groups performed similarly on
native-language vocabulary and reading measures. However, in English Spanish bilinguals,
higher self-reported reading skills in Spanish were associated with higher English reading-
fluency scores, while in English-Mandarin bilinguals, higher self reported reading skills in
Mandarin were associated with lower English reading –fluency scores. These findings
suggests that second-language experiences influence native-language performance and can
facilitate or reduce it depending on the properties of the second-language writing system (See
Tsimpli et al., 2004; Al-Eryani, 2007; Mennen, 2004).
5.4.2. Thought Processes
The effects extend outside the area of language. L2 users think more flexibly than
monolinguals, are more aware of language in general, and have better attitude towards other
cultures. Bialystock (2001) found that children who have learned a second language have a
sharper view of language if they speak an L2. Yelland et al., (1993) found that they learn to
read more quickly in their L1. Diaz (1985) found that they have better conceptual development,
creativity and analogical reasoning (See Williams, 1977; Kroll, Tokowicz, 2001; Genesee,
2002; Athanasopolos, 2001; Pavlenko, 2003).
Current research is exploring whether certain basic concepts are modified in those who
know a second language. For example, Athanasopoulos (2001) found Greek Speakers who
knew English had a different perception of the two Greek words covered by the English
“blue”, namely (ghalazio “light blue”) and (ble, “dark blue) than monolingual Greek speakers.
Bassetti et al. (2002) found that Japanese people who had longer exposure to English chose
shape rather than substance more often in a catogorisation experiment than those with less
exposure. This means that some concepts in the L2 users’ minds may be influenced by those of

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the second language; others may take forms that are the same neither as the L 1 or the L2. This
seems to suggest that people who speak different languages think, to some extent, in different
ways, a revival of the idea of linguistics relatively that has been gaining ground in recent years
(Levinson, 1996; Caramazza & Brones, 1980).
To conclude, central to Cook’s argument is the way in which people’s language
knowledge changes when they learn a second language. He makes three main points: (1) L 2
users’ knowledge of the second language is not the same as native speakers’ knowledge of that
languages; (2) L2 users’ knowledge of their first language is not the same as that of
monolingual native speakers; (3) L2 users think in different ways than monolinguals (See
Thomas et al., 1993; Murphy & Pine, 2003).
6. Conclusion / Pedagogical Implications
The idea of multi competence as the compound state of a mind with two grammars has
many implications. The starting point for language teaching should be the recognition that the
second language user is a particular kind of person in their own right with their own
knowledge of the first language (L1) and the second language (L2), rather than a monolingual
with an added L2. An L2 user is a person who uses another language for any purpose at
whatever level (Cook 2002). Multi competence has two major implications for language
teaching. The first is about the question of what the final goal should be for language learners.
The multicompetence viewpoint sees the goal of learning as becoming a successful L 2 user.
Language teaching, therefore, should reflect this: the goal of language learning should be based
on what successful L2 users can do, not what monolingual native speakers can do. Also,
teaching materials should show positive examples of L2 use and L2 users. The second
implication is for the use of the first language in the classroom. If the first language can never
truly be separated from the second language in the mind, it makes no sense to forbid the use of
the first language in the language classroom. Cook argues that banning the use of the first
language will not stop learners from using it to help with their language learning. It will only
make its use invisible to the teacher. Instead, Cook suggests that teachers should think about
how they can make use of both languages in suitable ways.
Cook (2001) states that over the last century, the use of the first language has been
largely taboo in second language teaching. In the strongest form, L1 use is banned, and in the
weakest sense, it is minimized. However, he advocates a more positive view: maximum L 2
use. Since multi competence means that the L1 is always present in the user’s minds, it would
be artificial and sometimes inefficient to avoid its use. Language is not compartmentalized
within the mind, so there is little reason they should be in the classroom. Some reasons for
using the L1 in the classroom are to convey and check the comprehension of lexical or
grammatical forms and meanings, to give directions, and to manage the class. These things
may be difficult or impossible to do without resorting to the L 1 (See Kecskes, 1998; Kecskes &
Papp, 2000; Marcos, 1998)
The issue of the place of mother-tongue in foreign language instruction is one of the
controversial topics in the field of foreign language teaching. Many arguments have been
raised and the various language teaching methods (conventional and non-conventional) hold
different fluctuating opinions. Some recommend while others condemn the use of mother-
tongue in the FL classroom. There are two extremes which are represented by the Grammar
Translation Method and the Direct Method. The former, as its name suggests, makes Iiberal
use of mother-tongue. It depends on translation and considers the first language a reference

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system to which the foreign language learner can resort so as to understand the grammatical as
well as the other features of the foreign language. The latter- (the other extreme)- tries to
inhibit the use of mother-tongue. It depends on using the foreign language in explanation and
communication in the language classroom and excluding the first language and translation
altogether (Garfinkel & Tabor, 1991).
The problem does not lie in whether mother-tongue has a place in FL teaching /
learning or not, but in how much of it is permitted. In this respect, it can be said that there are
many factors determining the quantity to be used. The quantification will differ according to
the maturity level of the learners and their linguistic level. It also depends on the competence
of the teacher, the material to be taught and the availability of teaching aids. Another point is
that it is the individual teacher who sensitizes when to switch codes and when not to. It is also
the teacher who can decide the pragmatic quantity to be used because what is workable in a
certain class may not be so in another.
Those who condemn mother-tongue use view that optimal FL learning can be achieved
through the intralinguaI tackling of the various levels of linguistic analysis as this helps
provide maximum exposure to the foreign language. It is true that providing maximum
exposure to the foreign language helps a lot in learning that language. However this, with
confining oneself to the foreign language only, may be done at the expense of understanding
and intelligibility or in a routine and non-creative way. With careful and functional mother-
tongue use intelligibility can be achieved and the time saved (by giving the meaning in the
mother-tongue) can be used for practice. Therefore, mother-tongue use does not mean wasting
time that can be better used for providing maximum exposure to the foreign language.
Disregarding the mother-tongue and considering it "a bogey to be shunned at all costs" is a
myth. Those who recommend nothing but English in English lesson neglect many important
facts: First, they have forgotten that FL learners translate in their minds and think in their own
language and this cannot be controlled:
"The teacher who says: I forbid the use of the pupil's own
language in my class, nothing but English in the English
lessons is deceiving himself. He has forgotten the one thing he
cannot control - what goes on in the pupil's mind, He cannot
tell whether, or when, his pupils are thinking in their own
language. When he meets a new English word, the pupil
inevitably searches in his mind for the equivalent in his own
language. When he finds it, he is happy and satisfied, he has a
pleasurable feeling of success".
(French 1972, p.94). Supporting this idea, Finocchiaro (1975: 35) says: We delude
ourselves if we think the student is not translating each new English item into his native
language when he first meets it. Second, they have also forgotten that “the unknown (a second
language pattern) cannot be explained via something less known (the second language)"
(Hammerly, 1971, p.504). This idea was supported by Seleim (1995). Third, they have
forgotten that the mother-tongue is first in terms of acquisition and proficiency and so FL
learners cannot escape its influence:
"The mother-tongue is so strongly ingrained that no amount of
direct method drill can override its influence. Therefore,
according to this line of thought it is better to capitalize on the

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students' knowledge of (mother-tongue) than to pretend it is not

there".
(Grittner 1977, p.165). Fourth, they have forgotten that there are individual differences among
students and that the weaker students may have difficulties in grasping a point in the foreign
language. They do not advise FL teachers what to do in cases where attempts at English-
English explanations have failed (See Grosjean, 1989; 2001; Bialystok, 2001).
It is pedagogically important to emphasize the element of meaningfulness in the
teaching learning process. Students become motivated and active if they understand what is
involved and if they know what they are doing. Therefore, it is important not to disregard the
learners' need for the comprehension of what they learn or exclude the mother-tongue because
it is their right that they should make sense in their own terms of what they are learning. It is
also important to use the learners' native language so as to avoid misunderstanding and achieve
intelligibility (See Proctor et al., 2006; Sparks et al., 2008).
Mother-tongue plays a vital role in diminishing or at best eliminating the psychological
factors that have an inhibiting effect on FL teaching and learning. It has been noticed that the
non-conventional methods of language teaching make use of the mother-tongue and translation
in FL/SL teaching and learning. They emphasize that mother-tongue employing removes the
fear of incompetence, mistakes and apprehension regarding languages new and unfamiliar. One
point is that, to overcome the problems of dissatisfaction and avoidance, FL teachers should
permit some mother-tongue use. Students, having linguistic inadequacies, can get confused and
become hesitant about their oral participation. They may abandon a message they have started
because a certain idea or a thought is too difficult to continue expressing in the foreign
language. To overcome the feeling of dissatisfaction and psychological avoidance, FL
learners should come to terms with the frustrations of being unable to communicate in the
foreign language and build up, cognitively and effectively, a new reference system which
helps them communicate an idea. This reference system is the mother-tongue which is
indeed very important for enhancing the FL learners' feeling of success and satisfaction.
Another point is that mother-tongue use helps create a climate that alleviates the learners'
tension, insecurity and anxiety. It makes the class atmosphere comfortable and productive
and helps establish good relationships between the teacher and his students. However, it
must be kept in mind that mother-tongue should be used as little as possible, but as much
as necessary. Mother tongue should be rule-governed and not be freely or randomly used:
"The individual is able to switch from one language to another... in a rule-governed rather
than a random way" (Bell, 1978, pp. 140-141).
It is important to emphasise the fact that mother-tongue should not be used in the
wrong way. It is desirable in cases where it is necessary, inevitable and where ot herwise
valuable classroom time would be wasted. We do not want the FL teacher to use the
mother-tongue freely and to automatically translate everything on the learners' book. This
unlimited use is so harmful that it discourages the learners from thinking in English (the
language they are learning) and so it will not be taken seriously as a means of
communication. "Translating can be a hindrance to the learning process by discouraging the
student from thinking in English" (Haycraft, 1979, p.12). Students in most cases think in
their mother-tongue and lean too much on it. This makes them acquire and develop the
habit of mental translation. They interpose the mother-tongue between thought and
expression developing a three-way process in production and expressing their intentions:
Meaning to Mother-tongue to English Expression. They always think, while trying to
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express themselves (in the foreign language), in their mother-tongue and all their attempts
to communicate in the foreign language are filtered through the mother-tongue: "The
mother-tongue is not relinquished, but it continues to accompany - and of course to
dominate the whole complex fabric of language behavior.... all referent - whether linguistic
or semantic - are through the Mother tongue” Grittner 1977, p.81).
FL teachers should guard against mental translation. This can be achieved by
permitting the learners to express themselves (in speech or writing) within their linguistic
capacities and capabilities. This means that the student, for instance, s hould first practice
expressing given ideas instead of trying to fit language to his free mental activities and "if
he is freed from the obligation to seek what to say, he will be able to concentrate on form
and gradually acquire the correct habits on which he may subsequently depend" (Morris,
1959, p.133). It is important to familiarize the learners with the fact that no word in one
language can have or rightly be said to have the same meaning of a word in another
language. FL teachers should provide more than one native equivalent for the FL word;
give the meaning on the sentential level and in various contexts (See Nakamoto et al.,
2008; Michael & Gollan, 2004).
According to Byram et al., (1994), cultural learning positively affects students'
linguistic success in foreign language learning. Culture can be used as an instrument in the
processes of communication when culturally-determined behavioral conventions are taught.
Tavares and Cavalcanti (1996: 18), further claims that 'culture shouldn't be seen as a
support to language teaching but that it should be placed on an equal footing with foreign
language teaching'. Post and Rathet (1996) support the use of student's native culture as
cultural content in the English language classroom. In fact, a wide range of studies has
shown that using content familiar to students rather than unfamiliar content can influence
student comprehension of a second language (Anderson and Barnitz 1984; Long 1990). In
other words, unfamiliar information can impede students' learn ing of the linguistic
information used to convey the content: Why overburden our students with both new
linguistic content and new cultural information simultaneously? If we can, especially for
lower-level students, use familiar cultural content while teaching English, we can reduce
what Winfield and Barnes - Felfeli call the 'processing load' that students experience (Post
and Rathet, 1996: 12). In this regard, Tavares and Cavalcanti (1996) argue that the
development of people's cultural awareness leads us to more critical thinking as citizens
with political and social understanding of our own and other communities (Serrano &
Howard, 2003; Darwish, 1999; Dekeyser, 2003; 2005).
Another model that could be provided to the L 2 learners is a non-native speaker
teacher. Cook (2002) points out those students are more likely to identify with and to be
able to emulate non-native speaker teachers than native speakers. Also, these teachers
would be able to share their own experiences of learning the language, and may be more
sensitive to the difficulties faced by the students (See Noor, 2007; Wang et al., 2003;
Bialystock et al., 2005; Harrison & Kroll, 2007).
Metaphorically one could compare the languages in contact in the individual’s mind
to two liquid colours that blend unevenly; i.e. some areas will take on the new colour
resulting from the mixing, but other areas may look like the new colour, but a closer look
may reveal a slightly different hue according to the viewer’s angle. Multi-competence
should be seen as a never-ending, complex, non-linear dynamic process in a speaker’s
mind” (Dewaele and Pavlenko, 2003: 137). It is hoped that Cook’s recommendations, “can
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convince students that they are successful multicompetent speakers, not failed native
speakers” (Cook, 1999, p.204). (For more, see Gottardo & Muller, 2009; Kroll &
Sunderman, 2003; Ivanova & Costa, 2008; ChiKamatsu, 2006).
About the Author:

Dr. Hosni Mostafa El-dali is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the College of Humanities
and Social Science, United Arab Emirates University. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Linguistics
from the University of Pittsburgh, United States of America in 1991. He has authored and
published over 40 scientific papers in national and international journals, and he authored six
books.
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ISSN: 2229-9327

Arab Word English Journal Volume 4 Number 4 (Metasynthesis of Qualitative Research (489 Pages)

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AWEJ

Arab World English Journal

AWEJ Volume.4 Number.4, 2013

Team of this issue

Prof. Dr. Noureddine Guella

Kimberly Bunts-Anderson, PhD

Marielle Patronis, PhD

Channarong Intaraprasert, PhD

Dr. Saad TORKI

Arab World English Journal www.awej.org

Abdul Hafeed Ali Fakih, PhD

Niel Hunt, PhD

Jirada wudthayagorn, PhD.

Nada Qanbar, PhD

Choudhry Zahid Javid, PhD

Jaishree Umale, PhD

Muhammad Aslam Sipra,Ph.D

Ahmad AL-Harahsheh, PhD

Mohammed Qassem Al-Shormani, PhD

Michael John Fennel, PhD

Tsze Sun Li, Ed.D.

Arab World English Journal www.awej.org

Article Title Pages

Team of this issue

Student Perceptions of the Foundation Programme Assessment in Two 202-222

The Reproduction of Racialization and Racial Discrimination in Classrooms 339-353

Metacognition: Components and Relation to Academic Achievement in 371- 385

Effects of MALL Applications on Vocabulary Acquisition and Motivation 420-447

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Asian Students’ Critical Thinking Skills

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Letter from the Editor

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Algerian University English Language Teaching Materials:

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Characters 2217 1632 1466 1244 2707 3220

Sent. / parag. 12.16 5.0 3.2 2.6 5.2 3.1

Charact/ word 4.0 4.7 5.0 4.7 4.6 4.6

Flesch Reading Ease 80.0 64.0 69.3 67.7 45.9 47.3

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A Sociocultural Exploration of English Faculty Perceptions of the Writing Center in the

Keywords: Qatar, writing centers, sociocultural theory, ESL, faculty perceptions

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Writing Center History

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Alice supported this view:

Silvia similarly commented:

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In addition to previous personal experiences with writing centers, English faculty