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Languages, Linguistics and Academic Literacy

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Browsing Languages, Linguistics and Academic Literacy by Author "Aljoundi, Entisar Khalifa."

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    Idea generation and planning time in second language academic writing: an empirical investigation at Howard College campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
    (2015) Aljoundi, Entisar Khalifa.; Tappe, Heike Magdalena Elfriede.
    Ideas generation is a cognitive process which underlies the production of coherent writing. However, little is known about the nature of this process and how it is affected by different preparatory conditions. The current study examines the effects of three planning time conditions; “planning time” (10 minutes), “extended planning time” (20 minutes), and “no planning time” and two task conditions namely “topic given” and “topic and ideas given” and their effect on the quality and the quantity of idea units produced in the planning notes and essays of thirty English Second Language (ESL) learners at a South African University. The study aims to replicate an earlier study by Ong (2013) and tests four hypotheses: Hypotheses (1) and (2) state that an extended planning time has a positive effect on both the quantity and the quality of ideas generated in the planning notes (hypothesis 1) and essays (hypothesis 2). Hypotheses (3) and (4) state that additional ideas alongside a topic enhance the idea generation process in both the planning notes (hypothesis 3) and the essays (hypothesis 4). My findings do not verify hypothesis (1) as neither in the planning notes nor essays was the quantity of ideas affected by the planning time conditions. Hypothesis (2) was partially verified as the quality of ideas in the essays – but not in the planning notes – improved as an effect of an extended planning time. These results differ from Ong (2013) whose data fully support both hypotheses (1) and (2). My data falsify hypotheses (3) and (4) as the topic given condition consistently produced both a better quality and a larger quantity of ideas in the planning notes and in the essays of my participants. This finding concurs with Ong (2013). In conclusion, my attempt at a replication of Ong (2013) only partially yielded the same results. Interestingly, my data indicate that the idea generation process differed between the production of the planning notes and the production of the essays.
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    Learning English in an Arabic context: a study of first-year Libyan university students' challenges in the learning of English.
    (2022) Aljoundi, Entisar Khalifa.; Sheik, Ayub
    This study sought to identify the challenges that lecturers and students faced in developing English language communicative competence for academic purposes at a university within the College of Humanities situated in Zliten city in the north of Libya. This research canvassed students’ and lecturers’ experiences and perceptions in the teaching and learning of academic English in a foreign language context. Within a case study approach, a convergent mixed methods research design was used. Data was collected through qualitative and quantitative methods in an interpretative paradigm. The study employed three data generation methods, a semi-structured interview, focus group discussion, and questionnaires. The findings suggest that the qualitative and quantitative findings in this study can be classified into four categories of EFL Libyan learning challenges namely: linguistic, cultural, institutional, and structural challenges. Linguistic challenges are those related to language issues confronted by both lecturers and students. Most participants (lecturers and students) agreed that Arabic and English are linguistically dissimilar. They are unable to comprehend academic literature in the English language because of the phonological differences between Arabic and English. It is considered the most common linguistic challenge with respect to student anxiety and inadequacy regarding the attainment of academic English proficiency. The cultural challenge manifests as a dissonance between students’ cultural predilections and the decoding required for meaning making in English as a foreign language. A cultural insistence and expectation for Arabic hegemonic communication exacerbates the development of communicative competence in the target language. Institutional challenges are described as the general position of higher education in Libya, and the problems students encounter when joining this education system. The effect of insular politics also negatively impacts effective institutional operations. Finally, structural challenges were related to the overall teaching program coherence. This included the lack of appropriate curriculum design standards and poorly designed policies of English language teaching and learning. The study concludes by making suggestions to improve communicative competence in the target language at the research site.