Finding a Place for Critical Thinking and Self-voice in College English as a Foreign Language Writing Classrooms

Barnawi, Osman Z.

doi:10.5539/elt.v4n2p190

Cited by 32 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Student K states that "we are the bad outcomes of the bad education system". The students' perceptions reinforce the views of Saudi scholars Al-Miziny (2010); Al-Essa (2009); Barnawi's (2011);Kafe (2009);Al-Sagoube (2009);Al-Qahtani (1995) and Elyas (2008) all of whom found that critical thinking was lacking in the Saudi education system. These scholars argue that there is a necessity for education reforms to incorporate CT in all educational sectors in Saudi Arabia.…”

Section: Education Systemsupporting

confidence: 62%

Learning Critical Thinking in Saudi Arabia: Student Perceptions of Secondary Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs

Allamnakhrah¹

2013

JEL

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Saudi scholars have been agitating for education reforms to incorporate critical thinking in education programs. This paper is a qualitative case study undertaken at King Abdul Aziz University and Arab Open University and examines students' perception of learning critical thinking in secondary pre-service teacher education programs in Saudi Arabia. Definitions of critical thinking are based on the Delphi Report (Facione, 1990). The findings underscore the need for education reforms based on critical thinking to elevate the quality of education in Saudi Arabia.

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Section: Education Systemsupporting

confidence: 62%

Learning Critical Thinking in Saudi Arabia: Student Perceptions of Secondary Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs

Allamnakhrah¹

2013

JEL

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“…The second reason for this lack of critical thinking and self-voice in their writing. might be because these elements have not been explicitly taught in their education system, which is comparable with previous studies (Alagozlu, 2007;Barnawi, 2011), and with work by Moodie (2001) whose study indicated that lack of familiarity with the expectations of their new discourse communities "makes it particularly difficult for international postgraduate students to write reviews of the literature where they need to express critical evaluations" (p. 1).…”

Section: Example (6) Student Irsupporting

confidence: 80%

Investigating the Manifestation of Textual Themes in Argumentative English Assignments Written by Iraqi and Australian Postgraduate Students

Bakaa

2014

IJALEL

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This study investigated the manifestation of Textual Themes in argumentative English assignments written by Iraqi and Australian postgraduate students. Textual structure is a core component of argumentation in academic writing. How the themes in a text are organized as a message component constructs voice and authority. An important question is how novice writers and in particular international students are able to handle these textual devices when they write their English academic assignments. To this end, four academic assignments were selected and analysed to uncover the similarities and differences in textual features, and how students of different cultures stamp their authorial voice on the text through the element of theme and rheme in their academic arguments. The data were analysed based on Halliday's (2004) model of thematic organization. The findings showed that the failure to use theme appropriately in constructing a voice and authority in academic writing may have disadvantaged the non-native writers. The paper argues that this has occurred because critical thinking requires a clear self-voice in forming an academic argument. This has not been explicitly emphasized in the writers' Iraqi curriculum for writing. In contrast, these elements are more explicitly emphasized in the Australian writing curriculum.

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“…More specifically, the students did not construct arguments comprising claims with reasons and evidence from the texts they had read, and the essays they wrote revealed that they were just copying or writing what they had read rather than filtering them through their arguments. In agreement with Alagozlu's (2001) viewpoint, Barnawi (2011) discussed the place for critical thinking and self-voice in a college EFL writing classroom from the perspective of post-process theories of composition. The results showed that the lack of critical thinking and self-voice in EFL students' academic writing was because the elements of critical thinking and self-voice were not developed in their traditional education systems in their country of origin.…”

Section: Individual Voice and Academic Writingmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…For example, research with Arab postgraduate student writers has illustrated that a lack of text cohesion and coherence is clearly visible in their academic writing (Ahmed, 2010). Although Kaplan (1966) suggested this is linked to cultural modes of expression, other writers suggest this is due to the method of teaching writing in their home countries (Alagozlu, 2001;Al-Khasawneh, 2010;Barnawi, 2011;Rabab'ah, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Individual Voice in Thematic Development in Academic Assignments Written by Iraqi and Australian Postgraduate Students

Bakaa¹

2014

IJELE

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The notion of individual voice is an important aspect of functional grammar in student's academic writing, as taking a stance is one of the most important requirements of academic assignments at Australian universities. Jalilifar (2009), for instance, demarcated thematic development as an element which plays a crucial role in the message function of language. This raises an important question as to how postgraduate students as academic writers deal with the function of thematic development in terms of individual voice in demonstrating a critical argument. Unfortunately, few studies have focused on this aspect in relation to Iraqi postgraduate students in the Australian context of writing. To this end, four academic assignments were selected and analysed to uncover the similarities and differences in the function of the thematic development, and to determine whether and how students of different cultures stamp their individual voice on the text through the thematic development elements of their academic arguments. Using Eggin's (2004) model of thematic development, this paper concerns a corpus of four academic assignments from four Masters Students (two Iraqi and two Australian students). The data analysis revealed marked differences in these four academic assignments regarding the functions of thematic development as a starting point for their academic argument. The findings showed that the Iraqi postgraduate students struggled both in expressing their individual voice through the function of thematic development, and in supporting their claims with evidence from what they had read. The study presents a critique of Kaplan's claims (1966) that the zig-zag pattern is a characteristic of Arab students' writing, in contrast to the linearity of English writers. Instead it found that the Iraqi non-native writers of English were writing their assignments by copying and writing what they read from their texts and one reason for this was that the element of individual International Journal of English Language Education

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Finding a Place for Critical Thinking and Self-voice in College English as a Foreign Language Writing Classrooms

Cited by 32 publications

References 16 publications

Learning Critical Thinking in Saudi Arabia: Student Perceptions of Secondary Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs

Learning Critical Thinking in Saudi Arabia: Student Perceptions of Secondary Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs

Investigating the Manifestation of Textual Themes in Argumentative English Assignments Written by Iraqi and Australian Postgraduate Students

Investigating Individual Voice in Thematic Development in Academic Assignments Written by Iraqi and Australian Postgraduate Students

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