The aim of the current study was to investigate the reasons behind Saudi learners' poor reading skills. To this end, the objectives were to identify the reading habits of Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) middle school learners, to understand the extent to which Saudi EFL middle school learners use reading comprehension skills and to explore the perceptions of learners, teachers and supervisors regarding Saudi EFL learners' reading abilities. The study sample consisted of 90 Saudi EFL middle school students, eight EFL teachers and six supervisors. The students were surveyed and interviewed about their reading habits and use of reading skills, while the teachers and supervisors were interviewed to explore their perceptions about reading instruction in the Saudi context. The results revealed that most Saudi EFL students lack the necessary reading habits in L1 and L2. In addition, they rarely make use of important reading skills when they read English texts. This study identified "lack of exposure to target language", "poor teaching skills and teacher training programs", "little attention to comprehension and more attention to reading aloud", "students' lack of motivation", "little emphasis on reading skills in textbooks", "unfamiliar and unsuitable reading topics", "lack of reading skills training for students", "students' limited vocabulary" and "lack of parental involvement" as the most important factors behind Saudi students' poor reading abilities. The study concluded with important recommendations and suggestions for future research.
Despite the efforts made by the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, there is still much to be done in order to nourish creativity in schools. According to a number of studies, there is an urgent need to reconsider the role of creativity in the current educational programmes because there is an increasing gap between the reality of the classrooms and the expectations that students and others, such as parents, might have. Studies have shown that Saudi public school students lack the necessary creative thinking skills, especially in language classrooms. In fact, as claimed by some researchers, Saudi students' low level of achievement in English is mainly a result of the approaches and methods practiced in schools that do not promote creativity. The current study explores whether or not EFL teachers promote creativity in their classrooms in Saudi Arabia, while also taking into consideration their own perceptions and attitudes towards this important concept.The sample in this study included 45 Saudi EFL teachers and six EFL supervisors. After teachers responded to a creativity questionnaire that explored their attitudes and the extent to which they promote creativity in language classrooms, eight of the teachers and the six EFL supervisors were interviewed. The results revealed that most Saudi EFL teachers put little effort into fostering creativity in their teaching practices. Also, their attitudes towards creativity seem to be divided. The study identified a number of factors as being responsible for these results. They highlight the need to familiarize textbook designers, EFL supervisors, and teachers with the importance of creativity and its various applications. The study concludes with important practical recommendations and suggestions for future research.
Universities utilize language as a powerful tool to influence people's perceptions. By employing language as a means of information and representation, electronic websites are becoming increasingly important for both universities and students. There are unanswered questions related to the portrayal of Saudi universities through the use of linguistic representation on their websites and the contribution of these websites to understanding the overlapping factors that reinforce academic practices within the Saudi social structure. This study compares and analyses the various discourses that are used to represent Saudi universities on their websites in terms of social constructs (e.g., gender and race). To that end, critical discourse analysis (CDA) is utilized to describe, analyse, and interpret the textual and visual representations of five Saudi university websites at the local, institutional and societal levels. The results indicate that the universities use a common systematic promotional discourse to represent themselves, emphasizing prestige and uniqueness. This finding means that universities are in control of the informational message with which their viewers interact. Moreover, terms such as "leaders", "Vision 2030", "distinguished education" and "competent" frequently appear without further explanations, thus triggering uncertainty. The findings also
The current study's objective examines the effectiveness of using a Think-Aloud strategy in improving Saudi EFL learners' reading comprehension and attitudes towards learning. A quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design was implemented through applying two different instruments: Reading Comprehension Skills Test and Attitude Scale towards learning EFL. The study adopts a pre-post control group design where forty students were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group. Students of the experimental group were instructed by using metacognitive Think-Aloud strategy, whereas, the control group received traditional treatment such as skimming and scanning techniques. The findings of the study showed that the attitudes and reading comprehension skills of the experimental group improved significantly as opposed to the control group. The study gives more insight into the importance of applying a Think-Aloud strategy in teaching reading comprehension inside EFL educational context. The study also suggests recommendations for EFL teachers to increase the efficiency of applying this strategy through their teaching procedures.
Abstract-The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of Creative Circles approach in developing Saudi EFL middle school learners' reading comprehension. The study was carried out at a Saudi middle school in Jeddah, involving three intact third grade classes. A triangulated approach was adopted in order to collect data by means of multiple instruments-reading comprehension test, reflective journals and semi-structured interviews over the period of a school term. The results revealed a significant improvement in the experimental group's reading comprehension abilities. The success of Creative Circles approach could be attributed to its adoption of collaborative reading as a teaching/learning technique, explicit teaching of reading skills, attention to low-level and high level reading processes and metacognitive awareness. Moreover, the experimental group as well as their teacher indicated that the new approach has immensely helped in addressing the issue of vocabulary learning. They also described the approach as efficient and flexible in large and mix-abilities classes.
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