The thesis investigates the lived experiences of Qatari university students with regards to education, language and identity. Qatar provides a unique site for such research, since it has a strange demographic situation in which Qataris are a minority compared to foreigners; English is dominant when compared to Arabic; and the education system of Qatar is being revolutionized continuously in the 21st century. This context has motivated the study to conduct an inquiry into how young Qatari students experience these phenomena in their lifeworlds. The research questions of the thesis are concerned with how the participants understand themselves; how they experience their educational activities; what their perspective is about academic achievement; and how they see the language situation in Qatar and how it influences them. The methodology chosen for the study is a phenomenological interview-based design. For reasons described, the theoretical background that seemed most useful for such a project is interpretivist-constructivist because the main line of inquiry is about the lived and shared experiences of the participants. Many methodological measures are taken to ensure that the results of the thesis are trustworthy. As the data is analyzed, a concept of identity is construed, based on the relevant literature and the initial review of the interviews, and it is applied to the analyses in relation to education, achievement and language. As the findings point out, the participants of the study experience a complicated process of negotiation in multiple layers of social reality and multiple circles of belongings in living through the complex and unique socio-cultural situations of present day Qatar.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:634192 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Amir Abou-El-Kheir |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/a-phenomenological-study-of-qatari-student-experiences-of-identities-languages-and-academic-achievement(d2b6723c-15f8-4260-8d02-eaabe6a54183).html |
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