Dissertations for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

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https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/476

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Browsing Dissertations for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) by Subject "Arab learners"

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    A Brain Based Approach for Teaching English Language Vocabulary to ESL Learners: An Investigation Based on Arabic-speaking Learners
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2013-05) Nafa, Mahmoud Sultan
    This dissertation focuses on the low attainment of L2, second language, vocabulary acquisition by grade 12 Arab learners of English studying at a public secondary school in Dubai. Learning vocabulary is the core of teaching and learning foreign languages as learners cannot fully master the L2 skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing without having a highly advanced lexical competence. Accordingly, this dissertation implements the brain based approaches and strategies in order to enrich L2 vocabulary teaching and learning processes. In addition, it adopts the mixed research method that is the use of both the quantitative and the qualitative approaches for exploring the problem of the students’ L2 vocabulary low attainment by grade 12 Arab learners at Al- Maarif Secondary School in Dubai. Therefore, the findings and the recommendations of this dissertation have a practical pedagogical importance as they present practical brain based teaching methodologies that enhance the teachers’ and the learners’ experiences of teaching and learning L2 vocabulary. To conclude, the key findings and the empirical studies of this study show that the brain based approach is proved to be effective in treating the problem of L2 vocabulary low attainment. Markedness has also been proven to be a useful analytic tool in analyzing the current situation of teaching and learning L2 Vocabulary. Thus, the recommendations of this dissertation can be implemented on all ELS students all over the world due to the universality and the practicality of the brain based approaches and the markedness framework.
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    The Effectiveness of Using the Genre Approach to Enhance the Writing Skills of Grade Seven Students' Writing of Exposition Text Type
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-11) Khalil, Wael
    Recent research in second language writing suggests that the genre based writing approach may help different students to develop their literacy skills (Martin and Rose 2012). Therefore, this study investigates the effectiveness of using the genre based approach to enhance the writing skills of adolescent Arab learners in the UAE (12-13 years). The genre focused upon is the argumentative essay embodied in the exposition text type. The instructional intervention originated at the Sydney School of Linguistics as explained by Martin & Rose (2012). The study also uses Feez’s (2002) model referred to as the Genre-Based Approach. In this approach the students are explicitly taught the linguistic and text structural features of the target text type. The study also examines the students' attitude towards the genre based writing course. This research employs a mixed method approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods. It uses a quasi-experimental pre-test- post-test design to examine the effectiveness of the genre based approach. The questionnaire measures the students’ attitudes towards the genre based writing course. The statistical analysis of the students’ genre writing performance level shows that students significantly improved from the pre-test to the post-test due to the genre based writing intervention. This improvement is a direct result of the explicit instruction that helped the students construct meaning in this genre. The analysis of the questionnaire regarding the students’ attitudes towards the genre based writing course shows that the target students have a positive attitude towards the genre based writing approach. The approach not only raises their genre awareness but it also provides the students with the scaffolding help they need to write more valued texts. This study highlights the pedagogical implications of using the genre based approach. It emphasizes the role of the teacher in explicitly teaching the structural and linguistic features of the target genre and the target text type to the students. It also sheds light on the steps the teacher should follow such as: building context, modelling, scaffolding, deconstructing the text, and designing appropriate materials. It also adds to research on genre pedagogy and to research on the second language acquisition of adolescent Arab UAE students in cycle two.