The study examined the impact of the conjunction of structured journal writing and reading for pleasure on students' reading and writing skills. Forty male students from UAE University participated in the study. The participants are of different academic abilities, majors and nationalities. Many of them have little experience with reading for pleasure and reflective writing. They were advised to select interested academic articles they would like to read and then reflect on the articles in their journals by filling different types of maps and summarizing the main points in the articles. The data includes the students' interviews. The study explored whether the approach positively affects students' academic reading and writing and helps students overcome their reading and writing anxiety. The study results are relating topics to students' major deepen the students' knowledge in their specialization. Selecting topics of students' interests encourages them to continue working on reading the articles even though they face some challenges. Content and organization in reading and writing were improved in students' dialogue journals project and story mapping strategy. The students' awareness of building a large vocabulary is significant. However, students 'fear of making semantic errors in their writing delays their work. Knowledge and experience gain, creativity and personality improvement are indicators of students' enjoyment of reading and writing topics of their choices and interest even though they struggled initially.
The study examines writing challenges Emirati and Saudi students face at U.S. universities. Based on a sample of 219, a mixed methods approach was used to analyze responses from the participants. The results of the questionnaire reveal that Less than 31% Emirati and Saudi students feel "comfortable" in completing written assignments. The interviews results indicate that Emirati and Saudi students have different opinions regarding writing difficulties. An Emirati student, stated: "I am worried a lot because writing is not easy. Writing is very difficult for us." However, a Saudi student expressed the easiness of her writing assignments. Emirati students stated that grammar, word choice and sentence construction are "somewhat easy"; however, Saudi students indicated that grammar, word choice and sentence construction are "Somewhat difficult." An Emirati student, stated: "Most Arabs students are told that we do not have vocabulary or grammar. For me, grammar is okay but my difficulty is how to choose the appropriate word for a sentence. A female Emirati student expressed her worry for grammatical mistakes, which she tries to correct: "When I write my reports, I have to reread my report again because I am sure I will have some grammatical mistakes because English is not my first language. The study implies that the students need more coursework in academic writing to prepare them for their academic writing in their disciplines. U.S. universities need to increase the visiting hours of writing centers and design more workshops that teach the students about writing in various genres.
This study presents preliminary results based on a survey administrated to a sample of 400 students enrolled in undergraduate courses offered at a Higher Education Institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The paper examines opportunities and challenges university students face when instructors introduce -structured‖ mobile learning in higher education. In part, this article presents qualitative findings of the larger study involving a subset of the sample, to gain in-depth data. Closed-ended and open-ended questions probed students' experiences and perceptions about the use of mobile devices in academic work. Findings reported in this paper focus on students' perceptions on opportunities and challenges. The analysis revealed that a majority of students used iPads, cell phones, and laptop computers to study anytime and anywhere. Respondents reported that these technological devices enabled students to meet deadlines faster than students without mobile devices. In addition, students indicated that they faced difficulties accessing Internet networks in most places. This phenomenon has afflicted students' productivity and efficiency levels, since most academic work required Web searches and Internet connectivity. Nevertheless, students benefited a great deal in using such mobile technological devices and admitted that the benefits outweighed the challenges they encountered.
Writing has always been regarded as playing a prominent role in learning a second language. UAE university writing center provides a key support service within the institution, and as such must find ways to evaluate the impact of the instruction they provide. However, many studies of tutorial effectiveness lack adequate analyses of tutorial services and of both student and tutor awareness and outcomes. The purpose of the study is to explore the effectiveness of the writing center and its proposed services to improve students' academic writing skills. The study combined quantitative and qualitative strategies involving surveying 50 students followed by in-depth interview with the supervisor of the UAEU's writing center. Some major findings are that the study indicated that some students who visit the writing center are not aware of how to use it effectively. The study shows that 76% of students stated that the role of the writing center is to edit their assignments. The study indicates that 32% of students who visited the writing center were encouraged by their instructors to visit the writing center. This study implies some strategies to raise the students' awareness of the writing center purpose and services.
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