This study examined teachers and learners’ beliefs about teaching English grammar at Tripoli University. It explored the role of grammar in this context and the optimal method or approach of teaching grammar in such a context. The present investigation aimed at identifying the causes behind the learners’ difficulties in using their knowledge of grammar to communicate effectively and the challenges, which confront the lecturers when dealing with grammar instruction. Grammar teaching has been and continues to be a source of controversy, and heated debate, which has led many second language researchers to rethink the status of grammar in language learning and teaching. Grammar has often generated conflicting views. Thornbury (2009) argues that no other issue has preoccupied theorists and practitioners as much as the grammar debate which has brought about a split of views, specifically into those who claim that grammar should not be taught at all, and others who believe that grammar should be given a central role in English language teaching . In order to achieve reliable and valid results, this research employed a mixed methods approach, since relying on one single research approach and strategy could reduce the effectiveness of this study. The underpinning philosophy identifying this study is positivism because of the large amount of quantitative data. The justification for combining a quantitative and qualitative research approach is related to the purpose of the study, the nature of the problem and research questions. Accordingly, quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire involving students at the English language department at Tripoli University. This was supported by qualitative data collected by using semi- structured interviews for lecturers teaching grammar at the English department. The findings of this study showed that students and lecturers at Tripoli University valued the role of grammar instruction and that it should be recognised in all the different skills. The findings also revealed that the participants were unhappy with the way grammar is taught in lectures. They also suggested that further research be conducted in all the different teaching skills. This study is pertinent because it has academic value. It has added to the literature on the importance of English grammar and contribute to the ongoing debate of whether grammar should be taught or acquired. In addition, it will benefit the students and lecturers in developing communicative competence by enhancing grammar teaching. It will raise awareness about the challenges of teaching English grammar in Libya and benefit future researchers interested in the teaching of grammar.

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Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) of any country could be a source of providing professionals to the country in many fields. By doing so, HEIs could play a pivotal role in the economic growth of the country. In Pakistan, it seems that, in the wake of this realization, steps have been taken to reform Higher Education. Drawing on the Triple I model of educational change covering Initiation, Implementation and Institutionalization (Fullan, 2007) this study focuses on the planning and implementation of reforms in the Education system of Pakistan at higher education level that have been introduced by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) since its inception in 2002. Kennedy’s model of hierarchical subsystems affecting innovation and Chin and Benne’s (1985) description of strategies for implementing change also provided guidelines for analyzing the changes in education in the country to highlight the role that the authorities expect the language teacher to play in the process of implementing these changes. A qualitative method is followed in this study to gather data from English language teachers at three universities of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. A questionnaire was developed to look into the perceptions of English language teachers regarding the impact of these reforms. This was followed up by interviews. Responses from 28 teachers were received through questionnaire out of which 9 teachers were interviewed for detailed analysis of their perceptions. Thematic Content analysis was used to analyze and interpret the data. Some of the most significant changes that the respondents reported knowledge of included the introduction of Semester System, extending the Bachelors degree to four years from two years, promotion of research culture, and increased teachers’ autonomy in classroom practices. Implications of these reforms for English teachers’ professional development were also explored. The data indicate that the teachers generally have a positive attitude towards the changes. However, the data also show concerns that teachers have about the practical effectiveness of these changes in improving English language teaching and learning in Pakistani Universities. Some of the areas of concern are worries regarding resources, the assessment system, the number of qualified teachers, and instability in the educational policy. They are concerned about the training facilities and quality of the professional training available to them. Moreover, they report that training opportunities for their professional development are not available to all the teachers equally. Despite the HEC claims of providing regular training opportunities, the majority of the teachers did not receive any formal training in the last three years, while some teachers were able to access these opportunities multiple times. Through the recent reforms HEC has empowered the teachers in conducting the learning/teacher processes but this extra power has reduced their accountability and they can exercise these powers without any check on them. This empowerment is limited to the classroom and there appears to be no or minimal involvement in decision making at the top level of policy making. Such lack of involvement in the policy decisions seems to be generating a lack of sense of ownership among the teachers (Fullan 2003a:6). Although Quality Enhancement Cells have been developed in the universities to assure the desired quality of education, they might need a more active role to contribute in achieving the level of enhancement in education expected from them. Based on the perceptions of the respondents of this study and the review of the relevant literature, it is argued that it is unlikely for the reforms to be institutionalized if teachers are not given the right kind of awareness at the initiation stage and are not prepared at the implementation stage to cope with the challenge of a complex process. The teachers participating in this study, in general, have positive and enthusiastic attitudes towards most of the changes, in spite of some reservations. It could also be interesting to see if the power centers of the Pakistani Higher Education appreciate this enthusiasm and channel it for a strong Higher Education system in the country.

This research aimed to provide insight into the use and possible value of purpose built multimedia computer software for the study of English Literature. The software in question was developed in light of many years practical experience of teaching English Literature to secondary school students preparing for external examinations and was designed with the aim of improving their knowledge and understanding of particular works of literature. Informed by a critique of the main research findings about ICT use in learning and teaching since the period when computers were introduced into mainstream schools from the 1980s, the empirical research investigated two of the most prominent theoretical and practical perspectives that have been applied to understanding the relationship between educational resources and learning: Learning Styles Theory and Cognitive Load Theory. These two approaches and their associated instrumentation were applied in a quasi-experimental controlled empirical study in four schools in the north-east of England where the multimedia software was used with groups of students embarking on a study of Shakespeare's Macbeth for GCSE examination. Learning Styles theory and the instrumentation used (Kolb's LSI and Honey & Mumford's LSQ) proved less successful than Cognitive Load Theory in demonstrating reliability and validity and therefore in explaining the relationship between different instructional resources and individual learning. The theoretical integrity and usefulness of these two approaches is discussed and, in particular, the rationale behind the continued use of Learning Styles was explored via interview with school faculty who gave reasons of face validity; the pressure from external inspection; the mechanisms through which they were held professionally accountable; senior management and institutional policy; the legacy of initial teacher training; and established classroom practice. Students using the multimedia software demonstrated improvements in their knowledge and understanding of Macbeth equivalent on average to one GCSE grade above those not using the multimedia resource and Cognitive Load Theory was found to be successful in explaining this and in predicting the relationship between instructional resource and the learning gains of individuals. Limitations of the study are drawn along with conclusions for further research and for enhancing teaching and learning with multimedia resources.

The growing field of mobile learning (m-learning) research concerning the use and effectiveness of mobile assisted language learning (MALL) in second and foreign language (L2) education reflects the possibilities of smart mobile technological devices to facilitate students’ control over their own learning. This research aims to find the pedagogical affordances of mobile learning in combination with Web 2.0 tools with a particular focus on the use of smartphone and Facebook as tools to enhance teaching and learning of English for English as a Second Language learners. Using Design Based Research (DBR) as an approach to conduct this study, the initial design framework was developed from the literature and the exploratory phase. It was tested and developed through a series of iterations and the impacts of each iteration were evaluated using interviews and qualitative data analysis. 37 participants were involved in this study; 12 in the Exploratory Study, 17 in Iteration 1 and 8 in Iteration 2. One of the most important findings reported in the first iteration is the impact of a sense of social obligation whereby participants felt under pressure from their peers to post and to participate. This social obligation effect can have both positive and negative consequences for learning and was further explored in the second iteration. Based on the findings from both iterations, this study suggested a design framework to be used by future research that explored ways in which pedagogical designs for m-learning with social networking can take this social obligation effect into account in order to avoid its negative consequences and make best use of its positive consequences.

Writing has increasingly been emphasised in EFL classrooms in recent years, and Korea is no exception to this trend. The literature indicates that L2 writers experience language problems and attempt to solve them while converting their thoughts into another language. At the moment when learners struggle with a linguistic feature, they become aware of their lack of linguistic knowledge, and try to resolve the problem either by employing their own previously acquired knowledge sources, or by trying to access external knowledge sources. This problem-solving process may occur repeatedly during the L2 writing process. The aims of the current research are threefold: first, it investigates what Korean university learners of English notice while they are writing in L2; second, it attempts to examine what variables are related to and affect learners' noticing during the L2 problem-solving process and; third, the knowledge sources employed by learners when they face language problems are analysed. In order to achieve these aims, 108 English major students were recruited from three high ranked universities in Korea; think-aloud protocols and stimulated-recall interviews comprised the primary means of data collection. All participants were asked to do a writing task in L2 and to verbalise their thoughts while producing written text. Building on the data gathered from the writing task, stimulated recall interviews were carried out in order to identify the sources of knowledge employed to resolve language problems. The results of quantitative data analysis showed that the 108 participants in this study noticed approximately five language problems while writing an L2 text for 20 minutes, and verbally expressed many more lexical episodes than grammatical episodes. Regarding the relations between learner-related variables and noticing during the L2 writing process, previous study abroad experience and L2 proficiency affected learners' noticing. It was also found that L2-based verbal working memory had an effect when learners notice language problems in L2 text production, while L1-based verbal working memory had no effect. Moreover, qualitative data analysis indicated that the participants employed various types of knowledge sources in order to solve lexical or grammatical problems. It was found that both explicit linguistic knowledge sources, such as previously acquired L1-L2 translation word pairs, aspects of word knowledge (i.e., form, meaning, or use), episodic memory or analogy, and implicit knowledge sources, such as intuition, were used during the L2 problem-solving process. Based on these findings, possible implications for L2 writing teaching are discussed, stressing the importance of providing many writing opportunities for students, and suggestions for future research are presented.

The study is about the experience of Arab University students whose main subjects are taught in English. It investigates and discusses many English language problems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in teaching, learning and studying medicine, pure science and technical English. In general, Arab learners of the English language encounter problems in the four skills of the English language, in speaking, writing, reading and listening. They also show weaknesses in many aspects of the English language such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, spelling, morphology and syntax. The question is how these language difficulties affect their studies in medicine. The initial hypothesis was that all depended on the students’ facility in English, but this turned out not to be the case. The research started with the analysis of students’ written replies to questions. This was followed by the development of a questionnaire distributed to 736 medical students. This explored various factors in relation to their success in exams to find out which factors might be significant. There were few correlations between success in medical exams and previous encounters with the English language. The one correlation between the test results and the questionnaire findings was not the uses of and familiarity with English but the parents’ background. The research therefore went on to explore, through interviews, and analysis of written statements, the students’ attitudes towards the teaching of medicine in relation to the use of the English language. It was found that the hypothesis of the importance of English as a prerequisite for success was not borne out. What was discovered was the students’ pragmatic attitude towards their study and that what they thought they needed as medical practitioners depended on a kind of secondary technical vocabulary. The research discusses some of the effects of learning and teaching theories and their relationship to the process of the education system. Whilst social constructivism is held to be the ideal one to apply to the learning process, this research demonstrated that behaviorism and rote learning still dominated the experience of the students in their learning of medicine. Despite their continued commitment to the ideals of learning English, the students took a pragmatic approach to their studies, which consisted of a mixture of Arabic and English medical vocabulary.

In the past few years in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) there has been an overwhelming focus on the use of English at all levels of education, in both public and private schools. In addition, the UAE has given English a fairly central role in both the educational sphere and within society. This rapid spread of English has caused concern among members of the general public, some political figures, and the media. Much of the concern with the spread of English is that the language is taking away from young people’s attachment to and fluency in Arabic. In addition, there is a major concern that any loss of Arabic is tantamount to a loss of Arab identity. The discourse of Arabic as an identity marker needs to be assessed in order to determine the validity of these concerns. In order to evaluate this discourse, this study examines how students, who are native speakers of Arabic, perceive their Arab identity. This is done in two ways: first, by asking them to articulate their perceptions about their own Arab identities, and secondly by asking them to discuss their use of both languages. The study asks the students directly what they believe marks their Arab identity. The research for this thesis took place at an American curriculum, English medium university in the UAE. The data for the study was collected in two ways, through a questionnaire that 304 Arabic speaking students completed, followed by semi-structured interviews with 12 of those students. The findings of this study reveal that Arab youth living in the UAE have a complex Arab identity which is made up of a variety of markers or affiliations. Most participants were unable to state definitively that Arabic was the main marker of their Arab identity, or even a major marker. In a world of globalization and global English, these Arab youth have found another language in which to communicate. They see both Arabic and English as resources for facilitating communication, and do not see a strict bond between Arabic and an Arab identity. The participants view their identity as fluid and display agency in their understanding of their Arab identity and in how they use both languages. The results reveal that there is some concern with a loss of Arabic literacy, but there seems to be very little concern about any loss of Arab identity. Overall the findings show that researching Arab identity is a complicated process, and the responses that are garnered show how complex this process is in the UAE. Based on these findings, it is argued that in this particular setting within the UAE, Arabic is not looked upon as an identity marker. However, due to the paucity of research directly interrogating Arabic and Arab identity construction in the Arab world, this study recommends that further studies be carried out in other institutions of higher education in the UAE, where students may not be as proficient in English, and in other Arab nations where English is perhaps not as firmly entrenched.

This thesis investigates the interaction of student learning approaches and course design at a tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates. The students involved in the study were mostly male students attending an English for academic purposes program. This study employed a mixed methods design utilizing questionnaires and interviews. The students completed the Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) to assess their learning orientation along the deep and surface approach dimensions. The questionnaire results on the deep and surface dimensions were inconclusive. However, the results of a factor analysis suggest a disposition among the students towards attainment of satisfaction from learning. The evidence from the interviews indicates that the students were highly disposed towards practical learning outcomes, especially when these were linked to career skills. Interview evidence also points to the role of social relations amongst the students and with teachers as important learning factors. Finally, the interview analysis suggests the importance of affective factors. The results of separate questionnaires administered to a small group of faculty and the students at large, along with the interview data, indicate that the English for academic purposes courses broadly supported deep learning approaches. However, contextual factors at the college led to a highly structured and outcome based approach to the course curricula. Although the courses may have been supportive of deep learning approaches for most of the students, the courses’ prescriptive and structured approach may not have been optimal for high achievers. The implications of the findings of this study for EAP courses in the Gulf context are discussed as well as their implications for learning theory.

This thesis studied young, struggling readers, all of whom had participated in the Reading Recovery literacy intervention, and investigated whether differential progress was made by children learning English as an additional language when compared with their native, English-speaking peers. The children were assessed on a pre- and post-test basis on literacy measures associated with reading comprehension in a UK context. Following a Pilot Phase, 52 children who were learning English as an additional language, and 48 native, English-speaking children were recruited from twenty-three primary schools in 8 local authorities across the UK. The children were administered standardised literacy measures, including the British Abilities Scale (BAS) single word reading test, the British Picture Vocabulary Scales (BPVS) vocabulary knowledge test, the Phonological Assessment Battery (PHAB) pseudo-word reading test, and two reading comprehension measures: the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT) and the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC). Statistical analyses were conducted on the data and the results indicated that differential progress was made by the groups, after initial levels of decoding or vocabulary were covaried. The first research question investigated the differential progress made by the two groups, and over the course of the intervention, the EAL children made more progress after controlling for initial skills at entry. After controlling for initial vocabulary levels, the EAL group made more gains than their NS peers, as measured by the BAS single word reading assessment. The second research question examined differential predictors of reading comprehension, and multiple regression analyses showed that vocabulary was a stronger predictor for EAL learners, whereas decoding was found to be a stronger predictor for NS learners. The findings suggest that it is important to develop the vocabulary abilities of EAL learners, as the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension acquisition was found to be stronger for this group than for the NS group. The findings also suggest that NS children’s decoding abilities must be supported, as the relationship between single word reading and the acquisition of reading comprehension was found to be stronger for this group than for the EAL group.