Academic Writing Teaching Method for Arab Students: A Case Study in a Health Sciences University in the U.A.E

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-19
Author(s):  
Omnia Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Arab Students ◽  
Potential Methods ◽  
English Academic Writing

This study examines the difficulties faced by Arab students in the tertiary level in creating a well-written paragraph in English academic writing. The participants were approximately 40 students from RAK Medical and Health Sciences University located in Ras Al Khaimah in The United Arab Emirates. The study’s significance is to propose potential methods and solutions for academic English instructors to improve the students’ performance by designing a writing course based on the pre-and post-tests that were used to monitor students’ progress in writing before and after the course of Academic writing. Pre-tests were conducted to analyze the needs of the students. The analyses revealed that the participants had trouble using the writing fundamentals like grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. After implementing the course topics, the results of the post-tests showed changes in the students’ academic writing performance. The study concludes that to obtain the best results from the courses of English Academic writing, the course should be based on the difficulties faced by the students. It also shows that before applying any academic writing course, the instructor has to carry out an error or needs analyses to identify the weak points of the group, then the course can be designed accordingly.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study between Monolingual and Bilingual Teaching Methodologies of English in a Health Sciences University in the United Arab Emirates

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Omnia Ibrahim Mohamed ◽  
Zita Lobo
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Bilingual Teaching ◽  
Arab Students ◽  
Performance Results

This study examines the monolingual and the bilingual methods of teaching English to investigate which method is more effective and best achieves the learning outcomes of a language course. It also examines which method is preferred by the English language learners and gives better performance results. The study was conducted in RAK Medical and Health Sciences University located in The United Arab Emirates. The participants were Arab students who were divided into two groups. Each group was exposed to a different teaching method but the curriculum was the same. Then a questionnaire was distributed to determine the method that was preferred by the students as well as the method which resulted in a better performance. The results of the survey and the students’ performance results showed that the bilingual method proves to be a more successful and convenient method in English classes than the monolingual method.

scholarly journals Utilization of active and passive constructions in English academic writing

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 413
Author(s):  
Erdoğan Bada ◽  
Ömer Gökhan Ulum
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Applied Sciences ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Citation Index ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Active Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
English Academic Writing

By its nature, AW represents adversity compared to other types of writing. It owns the characteristics of more notable patterns and language usage compared to other writing styles such as literary works, news, etc. Without discriminating the language used, this kind of writing generally bears similarities across languages due to the description and representation of scientific concepts. Therefore, there stands a must that objectivity is observed in AW as much as possible.  In terms of language usage, diverse structures may be seen to be used in varied frequencies. Within this study, articles written in English and published in scientific journals covered by high ranking field indices such as Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index/Health Sciences Library, and American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information were perused depending on their related fields classified as the Social Sciences, Natural and Applied Sciences, and Health Sciences, and then active/passive dispersion of these articles was identified through descriptive content analysis. The results suggest that active structure usage (61%) in overall analysis outnumbered that of passive (39%); the decline in its utilization depending on fields is rather significant, in that while the gap between active (74%) and passive (26%) usage in Social Sciences is rather wide in favor of active construction, we can observe a significant narrowing of the divide in Natural and Applied Sciences (60% active, 40% passive), and Health Sciences (51% active, 49% passive). The findings of this descriptive study may contribute to prospective research carried out in the specified fields in AW.

scholarly journals Academic Writing Students’ Affective Reactions towards Joint Reconstruction Phase of Reading to Learn

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Listyani Listyani
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Affective Reactions ◽  
Joint Reconstruction ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Reading To Learn

Academic Writing can be considered a difficult writing course which can make students exhausted and even frustrated. The principle of the more you read, the better you write may be applicable to this course. One way to make students write better is by asking them to read more and giving them some model texts to learn. Asking them to work collaboratively with their peer students can also help. The series of steps are included in Reading to Learn (R2L) teaching method that I developed for my Academic Writing Class in Semester II/ 2015-2016 Academic Year. This study mainly tried to describe how introverted and extroverted students of an Academic Writing class of the Faculty of Language and Literature, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana Salatiga, Indonesia, reacted to the phase when they were supposed to work with their peers to produce an outline and an essay. Among other 21 students in the class, five who were found to be introverted, and five other extroverted, became the respondents of the study. They were selected based on questionnaires they filled in the previous semester. Data were mainly derived from journals that they submitted every time they passed a step, and also from observation done through video recording during the whole semester. Findings show that the ten students showed different affective reactions towards collaborative writing

scholarly journals Using Simulations in Teaching Research Academic Writing Course

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 68-75
Author(s):  
Ye. V. Luganskaya
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Simulation Games ◽  
University Of Maryland ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Teaching Research ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Positive Learning Environment ◽  
Dual Degree

The article focuses on teaching research academic writing to undergraduates taking a Russian-American dual-degree program offered by Baikal International Business School and its partner University of Maryland Global Campus. As the American program is online, writing courses are mandatory. Being the final course in the writing module, research academic writing is challenging not only for students but also for the instructor. This makes the teacher look for new ways to improve the quality of teaching and to motivate undergraduates. The paper describes action research aiming at introducing simulation games in research academic writing course to engage students in classroom activities, vary practical assignments, and make classes more interactive. Using observation, student questionnaires and interviews, the author compares her class atmosphere and student involvement before and after the intervention. As a result of her research, the author comes to the conclusion that simulation activities, besides other advantages, can be successfully used for teaching academic writing since they increase motivation and student engagement creating a positive learning environment. Moreover, pair or group work can minimize difficulties, which helps to better understand the material. Furthermore, simulation activities have a practical value enabling students to develop skills and competences vital for future managers. Also the paper offers simulation activities developed for the course which are given in the appendices

scholarly journals Saudi Arabia EFL university students’ voice on challenges and solution in learning academic writing

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Abdullah Alharbi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Writing Improvement ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Before And After

The present study aims to investigate the difficulties faced by 74 English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate students in developing a well-written paragraph in academic writing by designing a writing course based on the students’ voices. The self-report survey (5-point Likert scale) was used as the pre- and post-questionnaire, and pre- and the post-tests task was used to track students’ writing improvement before and after taking a writing course. Pre-questionnaire and pre-tests showed that participants had difficulties in using the mechanics of writing (punctuation, spelling, grammar, topic sentences, and supporting sentences). The majority of the students’ responses in the post-survey shows that they believed their writing improved and encountered fewer difficulties in writing as compared to their views in the pre-questionnaire. The result of the post-tests indicates improvements in students’ writing samples. The study concludes that EFL writing courses should be designed on the basis of challenges faced by the students in order to get the best outcome from the course.

scholarly journals Flipping the classroom in an academic writing course

2014 ◽  
pp. 94-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Engin ◽  
Senem Donanci
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Course

This article describes a series of video lessons the authors prepared using the iPad application Educreations to teach elements of the academic essay in an English-medium university in the United Arab Emirates. The authors give a brief introduction to the topic, a rationale for flipping the classroom, and provide a step-by-step account of how the academic writing course progressed.

Grammar Mistakes in English Written Academic Discourse

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Bakhov ◽  
◽  
L Lozynska ◽  
A Alyeva ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Modern Information Technology ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Grammatical Error ◽  
The Right ◽  
English Academic Writing

Abstract. Grammar is an important component of written academic discourse. Knowing the grammatical basis of a sentence avoids grammatical errors. The purpose of the study is to reveal the peculiarities of making grammatical errors in English-language written academic discourse. Results of research. As practice shows, most often in English-language written academic discourse the following grammatical errors occur: errors that occur in the process of matching the subject and predicate in a sentence; errors that occur when using the right time in verbs and / or adverbs; errors that occur in the use of articles. The reasons for non-compliance with the requirements for the use of articles are: the use of the noun "author (s)" without the specified article; use of the specified article "the" without grounds; frequent neglect of the inability to use a computable noun in the singular without an article. Regarding the incorrect use of prepositions, in the phrase "practical research is aimed at the system" the preposition "at" should be used instead of the preposition "to". A grammatical error, which consists in using the adjective "own" without a possessive pronoun, occurs in the following phrases: "the search for directions of own activity", "formation of own strategy of activity". Grammatical error related to non-compliance with the requirements for the use of specific and temporal forms of the verb: in today's conditions, in order to solve personal problems, some people use illegal acts. There are cases when in the translation of the English text instead of the noun complex definitions or a number of such definitions are used. An example of incorrect construction of a sentence structure is the expression of a predicate in a sentence in the passive form of a verb. A compound noun is not used in English. In English, the error is quite common when the infinitive is used after the verb "allow". Also a grammatical error is the frequent use of the noun "readiness" in articles of psychological and pedagogical direction. According to the results of the research, the peculiarities of grammatical errors in the English-language written academic discourse are revealed; features of English-language written academic discourse in the context of the analysis of the programs of educational disciplines developed by the leading institutions of higher education of Ukraine are considered; the parameters according to which the evaluation of academic written texts is carried out are revealed; features of English-language academic writing are analyzed. It is noted that as an option to avoid grammatical errors in English written academic discourse, you need to use modern information technology, including programs to check English academic writing for grammatical errors. Based on the results obtained during the study, the prospects for further research are seen in a comprehensive study of the features of English-language academic discourse.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document