This qualitative study employed informal conversational interviews and semi-structured individual interviews to capture the Saudi students' opinions about the feedback they receive, and about their perceptions on what constitutes helpful feedback. Sociocultural theory was used as the framework of this study. The findings suggest that the Saudi students do not think highly of the feedback, and that the feedback they desire is markedly different from what they receive. The students mentioned several impediments to feedback. From a sociocultural perspective, the feedback practices do not adhere to the best practices of the theory, resulting in major hindrances to the students' learning/writing development.

Embarking in an educational research paper is one of the daunting processes any scholar can go through. And the process if even harder for novice education students who wander through the plethora of terminology, styles and paradigms trying to figure out their way in that jungle called educational research. The following of the review presents the constructs and basic theoretical components needed. By illustrating the differences between, strengths, weaknesses and research methods attached to each paradigm, this paper aims at introducing the first step in the thousand mile journey for novice education researchers and graduate students. Moreover, the paper is aiming at extending a departure point for the novice educational researchers, and strives to supplement the work of professors and supervisors who are engaged in training future educational researchers.

The literature abounds with many researches and articles that are written in a way that portray the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the poster child of hegemony, essentialism and women oppression. In recent years, no aspect of Saudi Arabian society has been subject to more scrutiny and debate than the women’s domain. Women’s rights and responsibilities have been controversial issues among both conservatives and progressives in Saudi Arabia; nevertheless, Saudi women remain among the least studied population. This study draws on the academic and professional experiences of the author dealing with Saudi women in Canada, the UK, the USA and inside Saudi Arabia to further the critical scholarship on Saudi Arabia and Saudi women as site and population of academic research to avoid the essentialist, orientalist and Westernized understanding of Saudi Arabia and Saudi women. This article is a springboard to any researcher interested in studying – critically- Saudi women’s issues.

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